Well, we're finally ready to dive into the next arc of "Through the Rough"! And not a moment too soon! With how Edens Zero is progressing right now, I'm super psyched to keep this story moving along as steadily as possible!
On top of that, there's the fact that My Hero Academia is getting a lot of work done, too! With Season 6 on the rise, I'm excited for what's to come! So without further delay, let's get ourselves into this next big arc!
"Hello, Rebecca!" Inko greeted warmly upon seeing the Leaper Quirk user at the door with Happy in her arms.
"Hi Missus Midoriya!" she greeted back, "Thanks for having me over for dinner again!" she mentioned gratefully.
"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Inko assured with a dismissive wave of her hand, "Anyways, Izuku's in the living room," she noted, "I'm sure you two wanna catch up after the insanity that was the Sports Festival..." she pointed out additionally with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, pretty much..." Rebecca responded.
'And we also gotta talk about my Quirk...' she recalled inwardly.
"Oh, Rebecca!" Izuku called out, snapping her away from her thoughts as she saw him waving to her from nearby on the living room couch. She smiled. Moments later, they were playing video games as Inko cooked, also being sure to feed Happy as well, as he meowed contently. After a little while, the Leaper Quirk user exhaled a sigh as she put down her controller.
"Hey, Izuku?" she whispered, getting his attention, "Think we can talk in your room for a bit?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah, sure," he replied, making sure to pause the game before they both got up from their seats. Inko hummed a tune contently to herself until she heard a door close. She looked back around to see Izuku and Rebecca nowhere in sight. As a mother, she wanted to trust her son's judgment. But she couldn't help herself from foaming at the mouth as she thought of whatever was going on between him and the Leaper Quirk user privately.
"Huh..." Rebecca exhaled afterwards, inside her best friend's room.
"So what'd Witch tell you about your Quirk?" he asked her.
"Well... she doesn't know what it could actually be..." she answered, putting her right hand onto her chin, "but she mentioned that it might have something time-related to it..." she pointed out.
"Oh, like when we almost got zapped by Kaminari during the cavalry battle? Or your fight against Slime?" Izuku guessed.
"And my nightmare about what happened at the USJ..." Rebecca added in recollection, "I wonder if there's... some kind of key to using it..." she noted aloud.
"Well..." the One For All inheritor began, making her perk up, "how did you feel when you accidentally used it those times?" he inquired, "Like, what was going through your head before you went back in time?" he questioned on to clarify.
"Hmmm..." Rebecca hummed, narrowing her eyes in thought. In each instance of a time jump, whether forward or back, she remembered it as a sense of... desperation. But another similarity between those instances... was the person standing in front of her. She blushed a little.
"Did you figure something out?" Izuku guessed, getting her attention.
"O-Oh, uh..." she stammered out, "um, maybe..." she finally answered, "Let's try something," she insisted, making him blink in surprise. Moments later, she handed him a notebook. "Write a word and don't let me see it," she requested.
"Okay..." Izuku responded, taking the notebook and opening it before readying a pen, "What are you gonna do?" he asked.
"I'm going to guess the word," the Leaper Quirk user replied, turning away. Her bright blue markings at her legs appeared as she closed her eyes. "Is it... apple?" she inquired. The One For All inheritor looked back at the notebook page he had written on.
"Nope," he responded, "It's All Might," he told her. She giggled a little.
"All Might, huh?" she noted, much to his embarrassment as he blushed, "Okay..." she uttered, concentrating and taking a deep breath. Nothing was happening for a moment, much to her frustration. She opened her eyes and sighed.
'If it's desperation... and time gets reversed for me...' she wondered inwardly, blushing a bright red.
"Um... I'm gonna try something else..." she decided, turning around to face Izuku, who blinked in surprise.
"Uh, can you not go back?" he guessed, arching an eyebrow.
"I don't think I'm in the right mindset..." his best friend admitted as she slowly approached him, inwardly shaking with nervousness. If this didn't get her desperate enough to turn back time, nothing would. And it would be really awkward if she couldn't...
"Wait, then what are you gonna d-?" Izuku's question was interrupted as Rebecca suddenly closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his. He went a mad red, realizing that he was getting his first kiss from the girl he had known almost all of his life. And she was just as embarrassed about the whole matter. She quickly pulled away after a moment, peeking out to see how cherry red the One For All inheritor was. "Th...That...That..." he stammered, raising a shaking finger toward the Leaper Quirk user. She trembled with embarrassment, having basically given in to her desires. She clenched her eyes shut, and her markings brightened.
Once she opened them, she blinked in surprise to find her best friend still writing his word in the notebook. And he didn't look embarrassed at all. Rebecca smiled brightly.
"I think I did it!" she exclaimed, causing Izuku to blink in surprise.
"Y-You did?" he stuttered out, "But... I haven't even finished my word yet..." he noted, looking at the notebook page.
"It's All Might, right?" she guessed with a cheeky grin. Her best friend widened his eyes.
"Wow, you really did go back!" he realized as his eyes sparkled with excitement, "What'd you think about to use it?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, I just..." Rebecca started to reply, only to remember that she had locked lips with Izuku, thus triggering her time leap. A blush spread across her face. "I-I..." she stuttered out, shaking with embarrassment, "I just acted as if I needed to get away from something is all!" she claimed, laughing nervously. Izuku blinked in confusion. "Anyways..." the Leaper Quirk user continued, calming down, "I wanna try a couple more times," she insisted.
Activating her power again, she reversed time and found herself back in the same place as before, correctly guessing Izuku's chosen word as she giggled with delight. She finally had some control of her new power. But when she activated it a third time...
"Ah!" she gasped, falling onto her knees as a crack formed upon her face, much like breaking glass.
"Rebecca!" Izuku cried out, quickly going over to her as he crouched down, "You okay?!" he asked immediately in concern.
"Huh... huh..." she exhaled, sweating madly as she felt her face slowly reform.
'Looks like I can only use this power at three times before I hit a limit...' she concluded through her thoughts, 'But now, I can use it!' she noted inwardly as she clenched her right fist.
"I'm... okay, Izuku..." she assured, wiping the sweat off of her face, "Thanks for helping me figure this out," she said with gratitude. The One For All inheritor blinked in surprise.
"I... didn't really feel like I did anything though..." he admitted inwardly while scratching at his right cheek, "But... you're welcome," he remarked as he nodded, "I'm happy to help you anytime," he assured additionally. At that, Rebecca found herself blushing a little. That kiss she gave Izuku was still fresh in her mind...
"That's sixteen offers sent," Creed noted from his desk as he typed on his keyboard.
"Homura Kogetsu, Kleene Rutherford, Ibara Shiozaki, Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya, Kris Rutherford, Shoto Todoroki, Setsuna Tokage, Shiki Granbell, Momo Yaoyorozu, Itsuka Kendo, Fumikage Tokoyami, Weisz Steiner, Laguna Husert, Rebecca Bluegarden, and Katsuki Bakugo..." Victory listed off, "Geez... that's way too many, even for us..." he muttered out.
"It's not like all of them are going to accept..." his partner pointed out.
"As the agency home to six of the top twenty heroes in Japan, they'd be stupid not to..." Victory argued.
"There'll be students who accept and ones that don't," Justice chimed in, getting their attentions as they saw him approach alongside Jaguar, "We'll need whatever help we can get as requested," he stated firmly.
"Sir!" Creed greeted, standing to attention alongside Victory.
"At ease, you two," Jaguar insisted, "We're about to begin a Prayer Council," he told them as they blinked in surprise.
"We'll inform you when we're done," Justice assured. Both of his sidekicks nodded, heading out of the room. The windows shuttered afterwards, followed by four holographic screens appearing around the two I.U.A. heroes.
"I've been hearing about the rumblings in Japan lately..." a voice from one of the screens noted curiously, coming into focus, "Sounds like this Hero Killer is starting up quite a storm..." he mentioned, being a tall and muscular young man with short, messy black hair and eyes. He wore a pale gray, skintight spacesuit that had a black-colored flame mark on the left side of his body and the symbol of the I.U.A. on the front collar of a device with two horns. Additionally, he had a long, flowing cape and a metallic boot on his right leg.
"Eraser..." Justice greeted.
"I'm more concerned about little Hermy potentially being in that bastard Müller's clutches..." a female voice chimed in, belonging to a slender, well-endowed young woman with purple eyes and matching long, wavy hair that covered her left eye. She wore a black and red dress that had a cleavage window, a headdress shaped like horns, and a long slit skirt exposing her left leg. She also had a mark of the I.U.A. on the front of her neck. "Weren't you supposed to be making sure you found her, Justice?" she inquired.
"Holy..." the number three hero uttered out, somewhat irritated by the question. One of the other two people upon the screens was a vaguely fish-like humanoid being with long wavy green hair and red eyes and had robotic lines on his emotionless face. He wore a black skintight suit and a distinct headband that bore the symbol of the I.U.A. on the front. The other was a curvaceous young woman with long, wavy white hair and wore a gray skintight outfit with a feather-themed headdress.
"Cure and Feather..." Jaguar noted, "I'm sure everyone's aware why we're having this Prayer Council early..." he pointed out to the group.
"Naturally," Eraser responded.
"Sixteen potential interns?" Holy noted with a chuckle, "Sounds like someone's greedy..." she pointed out cheekily.
"Helping young heroes grow is a part of our own duties," Jaguar noted seriously.
Hero Name: Jaguar! Current Rank: 19th!
"But of course..." Eraser agreed with a grin, "After all, they're the next generation that we hope can surpass us," he mentioned.
Hero Name: Eraser! Current Rank: 6th!
"I think we should get to talking about the League of Villains, too..." Holy added insistently, "After all, they're the ones who declared war in the first place..." she pointed out.
Hero Name: Holy! Current Rank: 8th!
"It matters not what happens with the hero world as is," Cure chimed in, "All we need to do is to snuff out and extinguish all evil at its source..." he affirmed.
Hero Name: Cure! Current Rank: 11th!
"..." Feather said nothing, listening carefully as her eyes were closed.
Hero Name: Feather! Current Rank: 14th!
"As of now, the interns we bring in will be divided into different groups amongst each of us," Justice explained to his fellow heroes of the I.U.A., "We'll be training them and having them take part on small missions to start," he mentioned.
"To start?" Eraser repeated in confusion, "What exactly are you planning, Justice?" he asked curiously.
"Whether or not these students accept this proposal to intern at our agency, we'll be requesting their assistance in the operation to find and take down Doctor Müller," the number three hero explained in response, "And our sidekicks will join us in the endeavor, as will other heroes," he added assuredly.
"My, you're willing to put those kids in quite a dangerous situation..." Holy pointed out, "I'll have to coddle them if they get hurt, you know..." she noted with a smirk.
"In the name of achieving justice, this is the path we must go down..." Justice declared firmly.
Hero Name: Justice! Current Rank: 3rd!
"...What?" Katsuki uttered in disbelief, standing across from Nezu, who was seated at his desk. Standing alongside him were Midnight and Cementoss.
"The past few days, we had been making calls to your former middle school to garner information based upon Bluegarden's accusation and Midoriya's confirmation of your actions," the principal explained in reply, "And based upon our assessments..." he continued seriously, "we've decided to appropriately punish you," he said.
"You won't be allowed to take part in the internship program as of this week," Midnight told the Explosion Quirk user, whose eyes were shaking, "Additionally, you'll have to come to UA during the week for special counseling and detention," she mentioned. Katsuki couldn't believe it. After all this time, Izuku was actually putting him in this position?
"Bakugo, I would take time to reflect on your past during this week," Cementoss advised seriously, "Even if it was meant as a joke, telling someone to kill themselves is not befitting of a man who wishes to be a hero someday," he added firmly. The Explosion Quirk user wanted to argue so very badly. But at the same time, he found himself unable to. He exhaled a deep sigh.
"Do you have anything you'd like to say, Bakugo?" Nezu inquired.
"...No," his student answered, lowering his head, "Guess... I just gotta live with this," he concluded, turning around and walking out of the office. As he closed the door behind him, he thought back to when he lost to Shiki in the finals. That frustration of losing was going to drive him forward... and allow him to change.
And our internship arc is about to be underway! Who'll end up going to the I.U.A.? And what kind of shenanigans are going to follow for Izuku and Rebecca after that little situation?
Answers will come soon so long as I get some feedback from everyone! See you all later!