04/06/2024
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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 25 - Quirk Apprehension Test
Inasa stood with a group of other hero students. This morning, they'd been told to dress in their sports uniforms and then, after breakfast in the UA cafeteria the group had been instructed to report to one of UA's many playing fields.
It was interesting. There were six playing fields at UA and Inasa couldn't help but wonder if they had been split up so as to hide the fact that there weren't as many of them as there were yesterday. He'd noticed at breakfast because he'd looked. Shusa was nowhere to be seen. It was possible Shusa had breakfast early or late and was now assigned to one of the playing fields he wasn't at but he was more inclined to believe Shusa had been politely told to leave. He hadn't had a chance to ask Koi yet but he thought he was right. This might be a training course, but they were weeding people out.
He wished he knew what the requirements were.
The other thing he'd noticed, was that with six playing fields in use, no one was with any of their school mates. He was, however, in the group that included Saiko and Ishina. A quick look around told him there were two UA students here too. Despite his height, Inasa couldn't get a good look at them to determine who they were.
"Today we want to get an idea of your physical abilities and the abilities of your quirk so that we can plan training sessions appropriately," one of the teachers said.
Inasa didn't think the teacher was from UA, though he could see an UA teacher nearby. It wasn't just any teacher either. It was Class 1A's teacher, Shouta Aizawa. A purple-haired UA student stood with him, dressed in his sport's uniform. It was a bit odd but the entire situation was a bit odd.
"That's Kawari from Hokubuko," Saiko said as she came up to him.
Inasa nodded and gave her a smile. "Do you know which UA students we have?" He asked quietly.
Seiai's sport's uniform was much simpler than their regular uniform, consisting of a simple track suit but Saiko carried herself as if she was still wearing her more formal uniform. "I believe we have Kirishima and Tamaki," she told him.
Inasa looked over at them. Now that they were identified, Kirishima's red hair was readily identifiable and Tamaki's dark purple kind of blended actually. "Interesting," he murmured. It appeared they were keeping the UA students away from their friends as well. Tamaki was a third year, while Kirishima was in first year.
"Very," Saiko agreed.
He couldn't be sure they were talking about the same thing but Inasa was inclined to believe they were. This training… It was obviously to combat villains but it was interesting that UA was letting those who had lost their quirks participate. Their presence last night might have just been- No, it was clear that UA was letting them continue. But Inasa knew they weren't all continuing. Bakugou, Kirishima and Iida were. Todoroki was as well, but since his quirk was returned there was no question he would continue to study to be a hero.
There was something he was missing, some reason UA would let them continue but nothing immediately sprung to mind. They might have knowledge of how the quirk worked but- That could be shared through debrief. There was no requirement for the students to continue to be trained as heroes. And two of them had taken other class options. Kaminari had accepted a transfer to General Studies and Yaoyozoru had transferred to Management.
"We are going to use the standard physical tests, both with and without your quirk," Kawari continued.
Inasa couldn't help the frown that crossed his features. The standard physical tests would favour some quirks over others. From the pinched expression drawing on Saiko's face, she realised that as well.
"This is not the only testing," Kawari said but there was still some discontent in the student group. "For now come and get a number," he said, gesturing towards a box.
Tamaki and Kirishima seemed to know what was going on, since they moved forward quickly and grabbed numbers out of the box. Their movement got other student's moving, and eventually they had all drawn numbers. .
"Line up," Kawari instructed. It was kind of amusing to see Aizawa roll his eyes at the instruction. The student with him was practicing looking expressionless.
Inasa lined up, and was surprised to see he'd gotten the number next to Kirishima. They were about half way through the group and they watched as the first students stepped forward. They were going in groups of four. They lined up on the starting line for the 50 metre dash.
"Without quirk first," Kawari said and the group dashed off at the tone. The times seemed okay but Inasa really couldn't remember what was a good time. His training with Magnetee, Shadowcrawler and Spinner didn't exactly focus on being 'good'. They had trained him to be better.
The second group lined up and made the dash and the rest of the groups moved into place to take their turn. He lined up next to Kirishima.
"Good to meet-cha," the UA student said, giving him a toothy grin and holding out his hand.
Inasa shook his. "You too," he said. "My name's Inasa," he introduced himself.
"Kirishima," the UA student said.
"Yeah, I know," Inasa couldn't help but say.
Kirishima huffed. "Yeah," he muttered.
He would have said more but they were called to run. Kirishima was surprisingly fast but he was faster.
"That's without your quirk?" Kirishima demanded as they caught their breath again.
"I trained a lot," Inasa told him. He didn't see any reason to mention that he was a recommendation student.
"It paid off!" the red-head congratulated him! "So manly!" he added.
Inasa wasn't sure what to think about that. Kirishima wasn't what he expected for someone who'd lost his quirk. He was… almost cheerful but…
He really didn't know what he'd been expecting. They lined up to run again, this time using their quirks. Inasa grinned to himself as he made a concentrated whirlwind to push at his back. His time, as expected, was better this time. Kirishima's was… Unchanged.
"If-" Inasa broke off. He wasn't sure how to word the question.
"If?" Kirishima asked him, cocking his head slightly.
"Would your quirk have helped?" There was no easy way of asking it.
"Nah," the teen shook his head. "Mine was better for the grip test and the pitch," he replied.
"You've done this before?" Inasa asked.
Kirishima chuckled. "Yeah, first day," he told him.
"Oh." Was this one of UA's standard tests? Inasa felt vaguely disappointed at that. "So which test is next?" He asked.
"Probably grip strength," Kirishima told him.
Kirishima was right, and they were given the grippers, which were wired into a recording device. They both squeezed them as instructed. Without a quirk, Kirishima's grip strength was about the same as his, which given that the UA student was quite a bit more slight than him, was impressive. The red-head had probably worked on his grip strength a lot.
"Who needs a new gripper?" Kawari asked before letting them try again with their quirks.
"I'll take one," Inasa said. He was pretty sure he could push the grip tighter but he wasn't sure how tight it would go.
The teacher handed him another gripper. The only difference was that it appeared chunkier. Kirishima watched and while Inasa initially thought his expression was neutral, he could see that he was pained. There wasn't anything he could say to that, and so Inasa focused on gripping the tool. With his whirlwinds, he compressed the grip and got a better result.
Inasa grinned for a moment before he saw the way Kirishima was biting his lip.
He might have seemed all right but the loss of his quirk was- How could it not hurt? Inasa realised. He couldn't think of anything to say and… Inasa sighed sympathetically. "Was it really Izuku?" the question popped out before he realised what he'd said.
Kirishima's head jerked up and red eyes stared at him.
Actually it was more than red eyes, the entire group was staring at him, including Aizawa.
"You know him?" Kirishima demanded, his hands forming into fists.
Inasa shook his head. "I thought I knew him," he answered because there was no other way to put it.
It didn't calm the group.
"Come with me." The order was from Aizawa, who had somehow moved to stand in front of him without making any noise or disturbing anyone.
"Sir?"
"Come with me," Aizawa ordered again, turning away.
It was technically true, that UA teacher's had no authority over him but Koi had made it clear to them that when they signed up for this training event, that they had given quasi authority to all the teachers from each school to be his instructors.
Inasa nodded and moved as the black clad teacher moved away. The purple haired student who had been standing with Aizawa went with them and Inasa was curious about him. Since he was standing with Aizawa, he wasn't in the special course but who was he… Inasa was sure he'd seen him before but he couldn't remember who it was. Though if he had seen him before then it had to be at the Sport's Festival.
The realisation made Inasa remember who it was. Hitoshi Shinsou, from the General Studies course. Now wasn't that interesting that he was shadowing Aizawa? It told Inasa without words that there was a lot more going on here than had been made public.
Aizawa moved towards the main UA building with confidence, and gave Inasa no time to look around as he moved to one of the towers. They ascended the stairs quickly. Inasa was aware that there were several floors of class rooms and then they moved into an administrative area. The underground hero moved down a plush corridor and then knocked at one of the doors. There was nothing to say there was anything special about the door. Without waiting for a response Aizawa opened it and ushered him in.
Inasa froze as he entered the office.
Nezu was sitting behind the desk.
This was UA's principal's office!
"Ah, Inasa and Aizawa!" The anthropomorphic rat greeted them.
There was another man there, and another UA student. This one had a bird-like head and Inasa remembered he was in Class 1A but couldn't remember his name and, if he was honest, Inasa didn't really care, because the other man was All Might.
The Number One Hero was in his small form and he exuded a sense of presence that was almost inhumanely calming. Just feeling it gave him a better understanding of what it meant to be one of the best heroes.
"Shouta?" All Might questioned.
"He knows Izuku," Aizawa responded shortly, jerking his head at Inasa.
"You know Izuku?" The entire office's attention shifted to him.
"I do," Inasa said. "Or I did," he corrected quickly. "Given everything that happened, I'm not sure who I knew," he added.
There were a few nods. "How did you know him?" All Might asked gently.
"I didn't go to school with him," Inasa told them immediately. "I just used to meet him for quirk use days."
If they were surprised at that, the adults at least, kept their expressions neutral. Inasa couldn't see the student behind him, that was Hitoshi and it was hard to read the bird headed student but he thought they were surprised.
All Might nodded slightly. "What quirk did he use?"
Inasa knew why they were asking. "Izuku never told me exactly what quirk he had but he said it was a dragonish type one," he explained.
That seemed to surprise All Might and he watched as the Number One Hero swallowed carefully. It was a simple reaction. It didn't say anything but Inasa was worried seeing it.
"What effects did his quirk have?" Nezu asked.
"Fire breath, and flight were the two I saw," Inasa told them immediately. "They aren't one quirk, are they?" he asked suddenly.
All Might sighed. "We don't believe so," he replied, "but we don't know where they have come from," he added.
"I first met him when I was-" Inasa said and then paused as he tried to remember. It had seemed like he'd known Izuku forever but it wasn't that long. "Ten, almost eleven," he gave them the information.
"Was he ever accompanied by someone else?"
Inasa shook his head. He'd never thought about it at the time because he'd never been accompanied by others but it was unusual. "He was always alone," he confirmed.
All Might nodded slightly at that. "Thank you for letting us know. I'll need you to detail the times you saw him and think about if you ever saw him use another quirk… even if you think you imagined it."
The reasoning behind the request was obvious. They were trying to document the quirks Izuku might have, because the more they knew about, the less likely they were to be surprised by them and the more quirks they could counter.
"Is there anything else you can think of now?" Nezu asked.
Inasa shook his head. Nothing was of immediate attention and he kind of wondered why Aizawa had pulled him from the testing for something he could have told the UA teacher easily.
"We are sharing information on Izuku," All Might answered his unspoken question. "We have gotten into this situation, in part, because of secrets, and they are no way to get us out and so, we are going to share as much information as we can with as many people as we can," he explained.
That made sense, and Inasa was smart enough to hear the caveats All Might put on the information sharing. It was now public knowledge that Izuku could steal quirks and use multiple quirks, so there was no need to hide what quirks he had. It was detrimental if they did. But Inasa was sure there was other information that wouldn't be so easily shared.
The Number One Hero looked at him and sighed. "I am sorry you have lost a friend," he said. He sounded sincere.
Inasa nodded. "I don't think we saw each other enough to be friends," he said with a sigh. "But maybe one day that would have changed. Izuku-" he gulped. "Izuku helped me a lot with my quirk," he added. "He never took it!" Inasa said quickly. That was something he would have mentioned. "He just always seemed to know how I could get the best out of it," he clarified.
"We believe he's been studying quirks for many years," All Might told him.
That made sense and while Inasa nodded, he became aware that the office was now looking at him. It felt kind of awkward. He made to go.
"No, stay," All Might said before he'd done more than shift his weight.
Inasa nodded and looked around. The other UA student, the one with the bird-head seemed uncomfortable as the attention turned to him.
"You were going to tell us something about Izuku, Tokoyami?" Nezu prompted.
The young man nodded. "It's something Dark Shadow noticed at the Sport's Festival but I didn't know what it meant. We still don't know what it means," he said. As he spoke, a shadow stretched out from his body and Inasa recognised that as Dark Shadow, his quirk. The shadow had a distinct beak like face itself.
"What did Dark Shadow notice?" All Might asked.
"Dark Shadow can see things that I can't, and I don't think anyone can."
"I can, I can!" the shadow said.
"See things?" Aizawa asked.
Tokoyami nodded. "There's been a few times when Dark Shadow has seen something that no one else has reacted to," he explained.
"And Dark Shadow saw something about Izuku?"
Tokoyami nodded and then shifted slightly to nod at Dark Shadow. "Tell them," he encouraged.
For Inasa it was fascinating watching the interaction and he was now genuinely curious as to what the quirk had seen.
"Around Mitei," Dark Shadow said. "There were people. Some were alive, others were dead," the quirk announced.
Inasa had no idea how to respond to that. He wasn't alone. The entire office was staring at Tokoyami.
"People?" All Might asked slowly.
"People," the quirk replied and it almost appeared as if it wasn't to say more but Tokoyami kept his quirk silent.
"How many?" Aizawa demanded.
Tokoyami and his quirk shared a look before Tokoyami shook his head. "We aren't sure. Dark Shadow says there's more than 5 but Dark Shadow didn't count."
There were nods from the Heroes. "Dark Shadow," All Might addressed the quirk directly. "Do you think you could describe any of the people well enough for them to be drawn?" he asked.
Dark Shadow immediately shook its head.
All Might seemed to be expecting that answer. "Can you see them through cameras?" he asked his next question.
At that, Dark Shadow seemed to consider it. "Not sure, but most likely not," the quirk answered directly.
Again, Inasa got the impression that Dark Shadow was holding back on an explanation. He wasn't the only one.
"Why not?" Nezu asked.
This time, Dark Shadow turned towards him. Inasa saw it. They all saw it. "I'd rather not say," the quirk said.
Oh, so the quirk was holding back information because he was here. "I'll go," Inasa offered. One thing Shiketsu emphasised was operational security and need to know. If you didn't need to know, then knowing might actually be dangerous for you.
"Thank you," Tokoyami said with obvious relief.
Inasa was aware of all eyes on him as he walked back to the door. Hitoshi Shinsou was standing next to it and gave him a nod as he went out. The door closed again and he realised he wasn't sure what to do. He should have asked and… It was too late to go back.
Principal Nezu's office was obviously sound proofed. He couldn't hear a thing from behind the door. And so… He'd just have to wait.
And be curious, Inasa admitted to himself.
Shiketsu might emphasise the need to know but they also acknowledged that people would still be curious.
After hearing that about Izuku, he was really curious but…
Inasa sighed and looked up at the ceiling. With everything that had happened, the question he'd been pushing aside came back.
Had he ever been Izuku's friend?
The corridor didn't answer.
-ted-
Inasa is making more friends but he let slip he knows Izuku. At least things don't appear too bad, for now.
Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
-ted-
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