Todoroki and Izuku entered Todoroki's dorm room, and Izuku was shocked.
The dorms were massive! Easily 20 feet by 20 feet. It was bigger than most of the rooms in Izuku's apartment put together!
And Todoroki's was surprisingly… stylised. It had a traditional Japanese look, and there was a distinct lack of furniture.
Izuku started walking across the room, but as he stepped on some of the wooden floorboards, they creaked very loudly.
"Wow, they really didn't put that much effort into the floorboards!" Izuku said, surprised by the creek.
Todoroki replied. "No, that was done by my request"
Izuku was puzzled by this, and asked why on earth he would ask for such a thing.
"Back in Japan's feudal era, the builders of the house would make the floorboards purposefully loud in order to warn the owner of ninjas or other assassins"
Izuku stared at Todoroki, completely befuddled. "I'm sorry but… why?"
"I just explained why"
"No- I mean, like, we have UA's defence system, so why would you need any more protection?"
Todoroki stared at him, before slowly saying:
"I don't trust machines. The only thing I trust to defend me is myself"
With that, he started walking to the exit of the dorm. "Now, do we not have to go to your room?"
Izuku followed him quickly, putting that awkwardness behind him. "Right!" He answered curtly, and they walked down the hallway.
The rooms were split up across different floors, having two wings of 3 rooms on each floor, one wing of girls, and one wing of boys.
It turns out, Todoroki and Izuku were on the same floor! Izuku was relieved. Imagine if he'd been put on the same floor as Kacchan.
He shuddered at the thought.
He was right next door to Todoroki, though that was still a bit of a walk given the size of each of the dorm rooms.
Izuku and Todoroki entered his room, and Izuku's eyes lit up. The room was as big as Todoroki's, Izuku should have expected it, but a part of his mind was telling him that he'd probably get the short end of the stick again.
He got the same basic stuff that Todoroki got. A bathroom, a king sized bed, a walk-in wardrobe, and a desk with a state of the art laptop on it.
All of his All Might memorabilia was scattered around the room. Despite it being enough to fill his childhood room from top to bottom, it only filled a corner here.
Todoroki walked over to the merchandising corner. "I see…, so you are a fan of All Might?"
Izuku nodded. "He's my idol! He inspired me to keep going even when no one else did…"
He looked down at his hands, remembering the day when he opened that letter.
"I owe everything to him"
Todoroki nodded in understanding. "I too, owe that man many things"
"Really?" Izuku responded. "I thought you'd look more up to your dad, with how he's number two and all"
Todoroki didn't respond. He strayed from the merchandising corner, and took a look at a strange artifact in the center of one of the walls adjacent to Izuku's bed.
"Midoriya, I didn't know that you were also into collecting ancient weaponry"
Izuku was puzzled. "What?" He said, as he came up beside Todoroki.
Sure enough, Todoroki was looking at a traditional Japanese katana, or atleast Izuku presumed that it was one, as it was fully sheathed.
He walked over, closer to it. Tied to the handle was a small note. He picked it up and read it.
"To Izuku.
When you need help, you'll know what to do.
Thank you for being such a good student.
You are a new hope for this legacy.
-That old lady, N.K."
Izuku frowned, wondering what the initials could stand for. The old lady never told him her name.
Todoroki was not-so-subtly peeking over his shoulder, examining the hilt of the blade, and the end of the sheathe. "How curious, there appears to be a locking mechanism preventing the blade from leaving the sheathe. Why would a blacksmith create such a mechanism?"
This confused Izuku. What was the point of a sword that couldn't be used? Still though, looking at it, proudly displayed, the one not All Might themed decoration in his room.
It didn't look too bad.
Izuku looked at the rest of the room. It was shockingly bare. He had a couple of weights on a rack next to a wall, but his room was empty. Too bad he had nothing to fill it with.
"Welp, that was a nice little tour!" He exclaimed, as he sat down on his bed. Todoroki remained standing.
"Your room is… very basic"
Izuku was beginning to understand Todoroki's lack of a filter. He didn't care about getting friends, so he said what he wanted to say without caring about how people felt, but he didn't go out of his way to hurt people.
Todoroki began to leave the room. Before he could, Izuku stood up. "Hey, do you want to check out the Dorm kitchen and living areas?"
Todoroki seemed to think about this for a moment, before shaking his head. "Perhaps another time. My room needs renovating"
And with that, the boy left, leaving Izuku alone. He debated with himself about just not going down to the kitchen, but his rumbling stomach told him otherwise.
So, sighing to himself, he took the stairs down to the dorms common area.
In it, almost everyone had gathered around the living part. The only ones missing were Bakugo, Todoroki, and the purple-haired kid called Shinso.
Everyone there was huddled around as Kaminari and Jiro were fighting in a video game that beared a suspicious resemblance to Street Fighter.
Just as Kaminari was about to take Jiro out with one last attack, Jiro used her character's ultimate, taking out half of Kaminari's healthbar in one fell swoop, winning the game.
Jiro cried out in joy, as she fist bumped the air. "Take that, Idiot!"
The girls all cheered as the guys simultaneously cried out in agony, barring Iida who was remaining neutral, because he believed that a class president had no right to have biases in class debates. He was instead chastising Yaoyorozu for being that biased.
Izuku slipped into the kitchen part of the room without anyone noticing. That was good, he didn't want to deal with them right now. Or ever, really. He had one friend, that was all he needed!
Unfortunately, as he went to open the fridge to grab some food, it made a very loud creak that echoed throughout the common area, causing everyone to shift their attention to him.
"Uhhhh… hi?" He said nervously, giving a shi wave.
"Yo, new kid, Jiro totally cheated, right!" Kaminari said, while dodging the controller that Jiro threw at him for making such an accusation. "Oh, you just can't accept that I'm better than you!" She retorted.
They both aimed their attention at him, waiting for him to be the deciding vote.
He put his hands in the air. "I didn't see anything!" And he turned around, trying to walk away.
Suddenly though, Kirishima had an arm hung around him. "Nah man, you can't escape us that easily! You gotta be the judge now!" He said, pushing Izuku over to the gaming area. Izuku weakly protested as he was dragged into the social event.
The teachers were in another meeting. As usual, Midnight, ever so chatty, was the first to speak up. "So, how are the second year's taking to their dorms?"
"About the same as the third year's did last year" replied Nezu. "It's all going quite well, which is surprising. With their temperaments, I expected a much more eventful first day!"
Snipe spoke up next. "So, will we be moving the sports festival up like we discussed?"
Nezu hummed to himself before answering. "I'm not quite sure. If our plans with the other hero schools will go ahead, then the sports festival will need to go ahead earlier than usual. It's all about whether or not the other schools agree to the plan"
The teachers seemed satisfied with this answer, and the meeting continued, with them having one more thing to discuss.
The second years field studies.
Apparently, once you went into second year, you were forced with one of UA's teachers to work on actual cases.
Everyone seemed happy about it. After last night, Izuku was just excited to get out of the dorms. Turns out you weren't allowed off of school grounds at all apart from holidays or every second weekend. It was frustrating Izuku. Despite last night breaking the ice between Izuku and the rest of 2A, he couldn't really call any of them friends. He knew almost nothing about them and well…
They certainly didn't know anything about him.
Besides, it was more than a little awkward. Mina especially, didn't know how to act around him after finding out. Atleast she hadn't told anyone! Maybe she was nicer than she seemed!
Or maybe no one believed her.
That small voice echoed in the back of his head, but he ignored it.
He picked up the piece of paper on his desk, and looked at the name.
Eraserhead.
So they were using their hero names? Well, it made sense.
Izuku started getting changed into his hero outfit. No upgrades had been made to it, compared to everyone else's, his was relatively low-tech. Mainly because he didn't know anyone from the support department, and was too scared to go near that place. He kept hearing maniacal laughter and screams coming from there, and he was no horror movie character. Not a chance he was going in there anytime soon.
Unless he had, like, the All Might personally chaperoning him.
He walked outside the main IA building, with Eraserhead waiting for him.
"Good, you got dressed quick. No time to waste, there's been an attack. A couple of C-rated villains are attacking heroes with quirk erasing tech"
This shocked Izuku. Quirk erasing!
Eraserhead seemed to read his mind. "Yeah, some prototypes started popping up last year. They've been getting more advanced lately, and are causing us quite a bit of trouble"
"Woah" Izuku responded. "So, we're going to deal with the villains?"
Eraserhead shook his head. "No. We're going to deal with the suppliers"
And without another word, he started moving, leaving Izuku to catch up.
This wouldn't be as simple as a few hours of patrol.
-
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Izuku and Aizawa were in an empty room, decorated with nothing but a few chairs. They weren't here for the room's content, but rather, it's positioning.
One of its windows was facing one of the rumoured bases of their culprits.
The Shie Hassaikai. A Yakuza gang, one of the strongest around.
Aizawa frowned. He was sure that they were responsible for the quirk erasing bullets. They pop up, and a few weeks later, the yakuza are offering heroes ways to get back their quirks? It was obvious.
But why? While Aizawa never knew the old Yakuza boss personally, he knew of his methods. The old man definitely wanted to be on the right side of the law, he didn't like hurting innocent people, or heroes.
But that changed all of a sudden last year. So a new boss? But Aizawa knew how the yakuza worked. A boss only stepped down when he had a trusted successor. One that shated his ideals.
So a forced takeover then? No, that still made no sense. The yakuza were strong, for someone to take over, there would have been a big battle.
And yet, there had been nothing.
He was stewing there in his thoughts, before Izuku spoke up.
"Uhh, Eraserhead, sir? What's the plan?"
Right, he wasn't just on the job. He was also supposed to be teaching.
He grumbled. Why did he have to be the one to get the new kid caught up? He was in the middle of preparing for a raid, for God's sake!
But he knew why. He was the only one who would take the kid.
All the other teachers either had a student in mind that they wanted to take on, or refused to take a quirkless kid.
So he couldn't take Shinso. It was a shame, but Shinso had already had a deal of training with him, so it was probably better for him to train with other heroes.
He responded to Izuku. "Right now, we watch. We are in the middle of a stakeout right now. So we wait to see if anything suspicious happens"
"And if something does happen?" Izuku questioned.
"It depends," Aizawa answered. "Civilians come first, if one is in danger, we jump in. If they are doing anything else, we watch, we wait, and we see if we can learn anything"
Izuku nodded in understanding.
They both found a nice place to sit down and mull over their thoughts.
Aizawa looked up to see Izuku sitting cross-legged, taking deep breaths in and out. He ignored it. Probably some weird form of training.
And so, they watched, and watched, and watched. No one was going in or out.
"No one seems to be around," Izuku said. "Are you sure that this is the place?"
Aizawa nodded. "That's precisely why. No one has come in and out. Not even the homeless scattered around here. Now why is that?"
"Because they're scared of someone," Izuku answered.
Aizawa nodded. "Exactly"
Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a shout.
"Eri, get back here"
Izuku looked over to Aizawa, who gave him a nod of approval to leave the post. He let Izuku go.
It was probably nothing.
Izuku rushed out of the door. He entered the alleyway right beside the building they were in, and felt someone bump into him.
He looked down to see a small girl, with a big horn, reminiscent of that old lady. Bandages covered her arms and legs.
She was crying.
She was crying and was covered in bandages.
Izuku looked up as a man came into view. He wore a surgical mask. His eyes seemed to scan Izuku for a few seconds, before returning to the small girl.
"Eri, come back here. No need to bother this lovely young man"
She clutched to Izuku.
The man started to remove one of the gloves she was wearing.
Seeing this, she let go, and jumped out of Izuku's arms, over to the man.
"Very good, Eri" The man said venomously. He took her hand, and started to walk away with her in tow.
"WAIT!" Izuku shouted.
The man came to a stop, as did the young girl named Eri.
The man turned to face him. "What would be the problem, hero?" He said, eyeing Izuku.
"Let the girl go," Izuku said. He was no fool. The tears, the bandages. It said it all.
The man rolled up his sleeves and took off his gloves.
Izuku spotted a particular tattoo on his arm, that made him freeze up immediately.
In the briefing Eraserhead had given him before they embarked on the stakeout, there was one thing he mentioned in particular.
"This is the mark of the most powerful man known to be in the Yakuza. He's an A-rated villain.
If you see that tattoo, run immediately"
Izuku knew that he didn't stand a chance. He was torn.
He couldn't just let him get away. But he couldn't beat him in a fight.
Maybe he could try to distract the man long enough for Eri to get away? Or maybe-
He was interrupted by Eri.
"mister, please.. i'm fine!"
She said this, as she tried to put on a smile. As tears streaked down her face.
That tear melted any self preservation that Izuku had left. He drew his sword.
"Sir, let her go" He said, trying to keep the rage in him from showing in his voice.
The man snarled, abandoning the kind persona he had put on as he threw Eri behind him. She landed with a thud, and a small grunt of pain on her end.
She sounded so defeated. It tore Izuku apart.
How could someone treat a child like that?
The man slammed his hand onto the ground, and pillars of earth erupted from the floor, flying over in Izuku's direction.
He swung his sword, parrying the first two, as he dodged the next three with a spinning jump.
In the air, he flipped backwards to dodge another pillar that was coming from his left.
It scraped by him, cutting his stomach, drawing blood.
He stifled a groan of pain, and jumped out of the way of another pillar. Each pillar that shot after Izuku doubled as a defensive wall. Each attack put more and more between Izuku and him.
Izuku scanned his surroundings as he dodged more pillars. He was cut more, but dodged them, and noticed something.
The two buildings were close together. This was making it harder to dodge the pillars, but it could be used to his advantage.
He ran forward, sliding underneath another pillar, and jumped and kicked off of the wall in front of him.
He twisted in the air, and kicked off of the other wall, and repeated this, dodging more earth spikes.
When he was high enough, he launched himself off of the right wall, pushing over the barrier of earth that the man had constructed.
He landed with a roll, and slashed at the man, who narrowly dodged the attack.
The man took a step back, forcing Eri back with him.
"You don't want to do this, hero" The man snarled at that last part. "You're going to regret this"
Izuku gritted his teeth. "The only thing I would ever regret is not saving that little girl!"
"Fine then, have it your way. Your career is over, hero" The man said, as he chucked a futuristic-looking grenade at Izuku, who could do nothing but put up his arms in a weak block.
The grenade exploded, and Izuku was caught in a continuous blast. It shook him to his very core, but it didn't hurt him.
The grenade was one of those advanced quirk removers that Aizawa had mentioned. Designed from a quirk that rewinds, they attack a quirk, rewinding it to nothing.
However, for Izuku, there was no quirk for it to attack.
Instead, the explosion latched onto something else to rewind.
Memories raced through Izuku's mind, but they weren't his. They were of a time long gone, where the supernatural was unnatural, and heroes had no quirks.
Flashes of men and women, dressed in strange uniforms, with unique blades.
Flashes of demonic creatures, evil villains also flashed through his mind.
And then, the blast reached its climax, and Izuku's mind felt like it had been set aflame. Just when he was about to lose consciousness, it stopped abruptly.
Izuku fell to the ground, too weak to stand, but when he looked up, the man he was fighting had stopped paying attention to him. He was now paying attention to another man, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
This man had bright orange hair, eyes of the same colour, and wore a white cloak tipped with red flames.
His smile was so wide that the tips of his mouth reached his cheeks, and his eyes were wide open.
Izuku's scabbard and katana rested on the man's hip. When had he taken them?
The man turned his head towards Izuku.
"We have been watching you, young Sparrow. I don't know why, or how I'm here, but listen well. You are the last of the demon slayers, and are one of the weakest warriors I have ever seen"
This crushed Izuku. Hehad spent those two years training, and for what? Was he really that weak?
The man continued. "If you want to grow stronger, then pay attention to this fight!"
His grin grew wider.
"Do this, and you too, young Sparrow, can become strong!"
Izuku's eyes widened. This man believed in him? Why?
When he couldn't even save a small child!
How could this man believe in someone as worthless as himself?
"I know that look, young Sparrow" The man said. "Do not give into despair! Everyone starts out weak! You must simply grow faster than others! So pay attention, young Sparrow, to this fight, and learn how to improve!"
He turned his attention back to the Yakuza man. "Foul being, my name is Rengoku"
The man seemed puzzled by this. "Why the hell are you telling me this?"
The man pulled Izuku's blade from his scabbard. "The man who killed me said that every warrior deserves to know the name of their murderer"
He pointed the blade at the Yakuza member.
"I simply want to give you the same luxury!"