I appreciate all the positive feedback, everyone. It feels really good to be back to regularly writing fics and getting that sweet creativity going.
If I wanted to, I could just skip all the way to the entrance exam, but because I really wanna stop doing paragraph after paragraph of exposition, you're getting bit of a filler chapter to pad out the pacing.
IV. My Preparation
"Well, on the bright side," All Might began. "You're already well on the way to getting your body ready for One for All."
From the ground, Subaru was currently trying his damnedest not to pass out from sheer exhaustion. A few hours before, he agreed with All Might (whose name was actually Yagi Toshinori) to meet at Takoba Beach Park to figure out a training plan to build his body up so it could actually handle the Quirk and wouldn't, you know, die from the first time he tried to use it.
At first, he thought that it wouldn't be so bad—exercise was one of the first things he tried when he finally started wanting to change himself. But because the modern world of Earth didn't give him nearly as much of an incentive to improve his physical condition as when he was part of the Emilia Camp, he wasn't nearly as fit as he remembered having been.
(That, and he also kinda let himself go a bit from all the katsudon and mayonnaise he indulged in.)
Subaru expected the training seriously push him to the limit, sure, but he didn't think it would start off being this difficult. Only two days had passed since he first accepted taking on One for All, and already, the man had him carry several reasonably-heavy bits of trash to the truck he brought with him, before having him run several laps around the beach.
Having had (and still did) the ability to die, many, many times, he was intimately aware with what death felt like, but man, it almost felt like he was getting close. He never would have imagined dying from exhaustion to be a Return by Death trigger.
Had anyone ever actually died from that?
"Obviously, you still have a long way to go," All Might said. "But I'd say this is a pretty good start, so far."
"Are...you..." Subaru panted. "...sure...? I...I just need...a breather...but...I can still...keep going..."
"I think that's enough for today," All Might replied. "I was just trying to test you to see how much you can already handle. But you're going to need to start sticking to the regimen I came up if you don't want your body to give out on you a month in—don't think I don't see you there trying not to pass out. If you want to increase the pace and intensity, then I'll tell you when you're actually ready for that."
...Yeah, that's fair. Subaru opened an eye, and seeing the man offering him a water bottle, sat up and wordlessly took it with Invisible Providence.
"You shouldn't be so careless with your Quirk usage."
"Yeah, but doesn't being around the top hero in the country give me a pass?"
"No one's going to put two-and-two and recognize me. And I'm also not the one using their Quirk to drink water right now."
"...touché," Subaru admitted, before switching to actually using his hands continue drinking his water. When he finished downing the entire bottle, he wiped his mouth with a satisfied sigh, before flopping back to the ground.
"So what now?"
He watched as All Might hummed and took a look at his watch. "Well, now, you have to get going, don't you? It's already seven."
Subaru's eyes snapped open, and he immediately stood up and rushed to check his phone. And true enough, he saw that he had a little over an hour left to get back home and get ready if he didn't want to be late.
"Shit," he whispered, before heaving himself up and grabbing his windbreaker, and starting the jog back home. "See you tomorrow, Yagi-sensei!"
"Remember to keep up with the diet!" All Might called out behind him, to which he waved a thumbs-up behind him as he kept jogging.
For years, Subaru, like just about the entire rest of the world, saw All Might the hero as basically a a modern folk hero or even a demigod like in the old European religions, but Yagi Toshinori the man actually seemed like someone that Subaru could actually see himself getting along with. He could count on one hand the amount of older adults he could seriously rely on in Lugunica (with Inko and maybe Katsuki's parents in this world), but having an actual mentor figure this time around was actually kind of exciting.
(He still didn't think he was the best fit, but hey, he also just started the training, so you never know.)
One for All seemed like probably the most important secret in the world, and Subaru couldn't help but feel a good amount of pride in the fact that the top hero chose him to follow in his footsteps. He really did want to live up to the man's confidence in him, but he also felt like he really owed him for telling him the secret in the first place.
So what would All Might think of him being a former isekai protagonist?
One of the most vivid memories Ochako had of her childhood was from when she was around seven years old. She remembered seeing a new doll from her favorite TV show for the first time, and instantly wanted her parents to buy it. When they said no, she, like how you'd expect a normal seven-year-old to react, immediately threw a tantrum through the entire trip home.
Later that night, after having been woken up by the sound of mild arguing, she snuck in to the kitchen to see her parents wearing the most devastated expressions she had ever seen them with. Her anger at her parents for not buying her the toy was instantly replaced by the anger at someone having made them sad.
It took her the next two years to find out the truth about her family's financial situation, and another six months before her father told her they almost lost their house because of a canceled contract, on that same day she threw a tantrum in the toy store.
(Ochako's shame in her actions only kept growing when she found out.)
Like just about every other child, she had dreams of becoming a pro hero when she grew up, but her reason for doing so was primarily because the job paid well. While she liked to think of herself as a decent person, she cared more about making it so her parents would never have to worry about their financial situation again and finally live comfortably, rather than doing what she could to help people using her Quirk.
U.A. High School was the dream school every hero-hopeful wanted to attend, but with its notoriously difficult practical exam and extremely low acceptance rate into the hero course, her parents initially refused to accept her idea of moving schools and staying with her older cousin in Musutafu City in order to take the entrance exam. But after a week of arguing back and forth (with her saying she hated seeing her parents worry like they did), they finally relented.
Which, after about a year, brought her to today, where she was currently having lunch with the (hopefully) few friends she made on her first day at Aldera Junior High.
"Did you hear? Midoriya got another one today."
"Really? That's already what, like the fourth one now? Who is it this time?"
"Takemiya from 1-B, apparently. I asked around and one of the guys there said he saw her putting a note in his locker."
Right now, the two gyarus sitting across from her were gossiping about their class's elusive Midoriya Izuku, who despite having had several girls confess their love to him, never once actually dated anyone the entire three years he was at this school.
He was honestly a bit plain-looking, she had to admit, but she could kinda see the appeal, she supposed.
An idea popped up in her head. "Is he just not into girls?" She remembered that being a thing in a lot of the romance manga some of the girls from her previous school would talk about.
But then again, they were all BL. Probably not the best example to use.
"That's what we all thought," said one of the gyarus (Ueno Yoshiko, if she remembered correctly) on the other side of the table. "But I remember him trying to catch a peek at my boobs when we were swimming in PE last year, so he's definitely not gay."
"Oh." Ochako tilted her head in confusion. "Then what's the issue?"
Ueno-san took a sip of her milk tea. "No one knows. Rumor has it he got rejected and called it quits with girls for the rest of his life. I think he actually already has a girlfriend and just doesn't wanna tell anyone. Shiori, like the romance sap she is—" she pointed to the other gyaru (Hayashida Shiori?) next to her. "—thinks the right girl just hasn't come along yet."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she paused for a moment, before breaking into a grin as if a thought suddenly came to her. "Maybe that's where you come in, Uraraka-chan."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean—" Ueno-san leaned in. "—you could be the one Midoriya finally falls for."
Ochako's eyes widened, her cheeks flaring up. "W-what? But I just got here!"
"Pfft, you've still got a whole year, don't you?" Ueno-san waved her off. "Good luck~"
Ochako wanted to groan and bury her head in her hands. This was not on the list of things she expected to talk about—she had better things to worry about, for crying out loud! The gyarus' own relationships? Yes. Gossip? Yes. But getting her to think about dating? No. Nuh-uh. No way. Even if she had crushes on boys in the past, she was supposed to leave that behind once she started going to a new school, like that one quote everyone mentioned after New Year's.
She suddenly got the urge to look around the cafeteria, before that distinct head of green hair finally caught her attention, and took a moment to take in his facial features.
...Okay, now she thought about it, she supposed Midoriya didn't look that bad, all things—
Midoriya suddenly looked up from eating his food, eyes darting through, before he locked eyes with her. She immediately felt embarrassment overcome her, and unconsciously let out a tiny eep! as she tore her gaze away. Ueno-san and Hayashida-san were now laughing at her, and Ochako put her face in her hands as she felt heat flood her cheeks.
Why did she have to sit with the gyarus, of all people?
Subaru was currently staring at his curry rice pensively.
In his hurry to run back home, take a quick shower, change his clothes, and then run to the train station, he ended up forgetting to bring his bentō with him. In reality, he could've just gotten a salad, but he actually ended up showing up to the cafeteria late to the point where his choices were this, or a yakisoba bun, and the latter was obviously a terrible option.
"You gonna just keep staring at your food?"
Subaru looked up to see Katsuki looking at him with a quizzical expression. "Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about something."
Eh, I'll just apologize to All Might tomorrow, he internally shrugged. A single mistake wouldn't end up in One for All killing him, and it wasn't like he wasn't gonna follow the meal plan for dinner and every day after.
But still, he really did need to be following everything All Might planned out for him down to a T if he wanted any shot at getting into U.A.
After a minute or so into eating his food, Subaru got a feeling in the back of his mind of being watched by someone, and started scanning through the endless crowd of students in the classroom, and after only a moment, finally found the culprit to be one Uraraka Ochako, who was staring at him for some reason. The moment, they locked eyes, he watched as she immediately grew flustered and look away.
Huh.
That...was a bit weird. They haven't talked at all yet, but the new girl was now staring at him for no reason. Did he have something on his face or something? Or was she actually just looking at something else in his direction and they accidentally made—
Oh. Was she another one? She was another one, wasn't she?
Subaru took a deep breath through his nose. "Katsuki."
"'Sup?"
"You've got the Quirk, the looks, the grades," he began. "But why the hell am I the one getting all the kokuhaku?"
Katsuki snorted. "All that focus in class and studying, but you still really don't pay attention to other people, do you?"
Subaru furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait, what do you mean?" But instead of actually answering him like he thought he would, Katsuki just continued slurping up his ramen noodles.
"Katsuki, what do you mean by that?"
Nine Days Later...
"Midoriya-shōnen."
'Pain is an old friend,' was a quote that Subaru used to feel like was literally made for him. Even when when loop from Return by Death from the moment he was summoned to Lugunica did nothing to dull the physical sensation, he liked to think his mind got a little bit more used to it each time.
Except he was currently kneeling on the sand, trying to somehow lessen the intense, sharp pain in his left thigh. It looks like he pulled his hamstring. It hadn't even been two weeks, and he's already injured himself. Nice going, Subaru.
(He also didn't stop to consider the whole 'new body' thing.)
"Damn it," Subaru hissed, punching the sand below him in frustration.
"Midoriya-shōnen."
Was it because of the curry rice last week? He knew it was a bad idea. He couldn't be affording these setbacks. Why the hell couldn't he have just stuck with the plan instead of getting impatient and overextending—
"Midoriya-shōnen. Look at me."
Subaru was suddenly made aware of All Might with his hand on his shoulder and still shaking him.
"Relax. It's not the end of the world."
Subaru sighed. "Yeah, but didn't you say I only had a year to get all this—" He gestured to the beach behind them. "—done?"
"Ah, but you see—I may or may not have neglected to tell you something," All Might sheepishly replied, suspiciously scratching the back of his head.
"...what?"
"To be honest with you, I made the 'Aim to Pass: American Dream' plan for someone who was in poor shape. But because you've been at least semi-regularly exercising before this, you've actually been following this—!" In pure, American overdramatic fashion, he buffed up back to his 'peak form', and was now holding out a packet of paper with the words 'Make America Great Again' written in bold English.
"I know I told you it would take you until February to clear the beach," All Might continued. "But you're actually progressing along well enough to where you might actually finish in seven months, instead of the ten like I originally said."
"...You couldn't have just led with that from the beginning?" Subaru deadpanned.
"Heh, sorry about that, but I couldn't exactly tell for sure whether or not you'd start slacking if I told you there'd be a good amount of time to spare," All Might replied, offering his hand to Subaru, who stared at the hand for a moment, before he sighed and accepted it.
The dull ache coming from his thigh flared from moving to stand back up, causing him to wince from the pain.
"Uh...any chance you've got some painkillers on you?"
All Might boomed out a laugh and clapped him on the shoulder, almost causing him to fall over. "Not right now, but I'll give you a ride back home." With that, he deflated back to his skinny version, and gestured for Subaru to follow him. "Pulling a muscle usually isn't very serious, but you'll need to take at least a few days off from this training and your PE class."
"Wait, so what about the training and clearing the beach?" Subaru asked.
"Push-ups and sit-ups should be best until you can actually comfortably walk again," All Might replied, opening the truck's passenger door for him. "But seeing how it's Sunday—you want to get some breakfast?"
For anyone who doesn't know, 'kokuhaku' is the Japanese term for 'love confession', but specifically the cultural act professing your love to someone and asking them out. That's why I used it as a loanword here.
I had to call on every single romance anime I've watched just to get Ochako's scene done. Did I do good?
The MAGA plan thing is a reference to an earlier fic that came up with it first (something about Izuku passing a nationwide test and proving he's the only one who's worth of OFA, iirc), just so you know.
To ArguableReader (Guest): Ah, but you see, I can't maximize the chances of people coming across this fic that way. If you look at my profile, you'll find three other fics that are actual crossovers, but are only listed under MHA. That's because the actual crossover categories barely have any fics, and the ones that do only have a couple hundred follows/favorites at best. I'm far from the first guy to do this.
TL;DR I'm keeping it only under MHA to max out the stats. Shameless, I know. ;)
