The Hero & The Demon
Chapter Nineteen
Tomura Shigaraki had a lot on his to-do list.
Organising a raid of this size wasn't easy, after all. He needed to be spending as much time handling the planning of the operation as he did ensuring he had enough party members to stand a chance against the final boss. Probably some mini-bosses as well. The dungeon certainly had enough high-level enemies to qualify. He wasn't too worried about the small-time mobs. His raid party could take care of them, and if they couldn't it wasn't like the mission was over.
The goal was simple – kill All-Might, the so-called 'Symbol of Peace'. As long as everything went as it was supposed to, he would handle things just fine. Master was giving him access to a special weapon, after all. One that had been prepared for exactly this purpose. It had taken a while to complete, but all of the ingredients were in place now. They would be ready soon.
They would need a little bit of information, but that wouldn't be hard to get. Once they found the window, the special event would begin and everyone would jump into battle. There was nothing he needed to worry about.
Or at least, that was the case yesterday.
Master had seen fit to deliver unto him an additional goal. A special, extra win condition he needed to meet in order to truly call the mission a success. Killing All-Might was still the priority, of course. Master would never take that away from him, nor would he ever be against making the damn man suffer. But there was now another target.
"Why him, master?" He scratched at his neck, already irritated just looking at the image he was being shown on the computer screen. A boy in a UA gym uniform with black hair and gold eyes. It looked like the picture had been taken during some kind of exercise, because there was sweat visible on him. Nothing about the boy stood out much to Shigaraki. Just another brat he would usually write off.
"This boy, Kage Sekai, is a matter of interest." His master's voice came through the screen. If Shigaraki's tone bothered him, he didn't show it. As always, he maintained a calm composure that belied his empowering rage and hatred. Those same traits were growing in Shigaraki, though his were more volatile. "It is important that he be captured and brought back, preferably alive."
"What's so interesting about some brat?" Shigaraki asked. "He's just a kid; I could destroy him in an instant." There was a pause on the other end of the screen, and Shigaraki could have sworn he heard...laughter? That couldn't be right. A new voice spoke up, one showing a strange sense of amusement.
"I'm sure you could try," the doctor said. He changed names often enough that it wasn't worth calling him anything other than 'the doctor'. "But the problem is that he's been dead before, and so far, it's yet to stop him."
"Indeed." Master agreed. "This is why you need to obtain him, Tomura. We thought we had already taken care of Kage Sekai, but it seems we weren't as thorough as we thought. Somehow, he must possess some ability that I was unaware of. This won't do."
"I get it now." Shigaraki grinned. "You're looking for a power-up, and this brat has the item you need."
"Precisely." His master praised. "I'm counting on you for this, Tomura. I have no doubt you'll be able to succeed in your mission. You are my star pupil, after all. Ensure the boy is brought to me alive, and I'm certain you will enjoy the results as much as I do." With that, his master cut off the communication. Shigaraki stood and stretched his arms out.
Kage Sekai, huh? The name certainly didn't ring any bells, so it stood to reason that he was likely only remarkable for his Quirk. Something that allowed a person to come back from death seemed like exactly the sort of thing his master would love. Anyone would love such a power, really. An extra life was one of the most valuable things a person could obtain. No doubt UA must have thought the same.
Still, on its own, it didn't sound like the flashiest power. Not the sort of Quirk one would expect a place like UA to jump at with how he understood them. It wasn't violent or strong on its own. Whatever power this was, it would be beyond a simple regeneration ability. Shigaraki had to admit to a little bit of curiosity of his own. It wasn't often that the master approached him about a Quirk he wanted.
"Tomura Shigaraki," A low voice came from behind him, and he turned to see Kurogiri appearing through a portal of mist. As usual, he was remarkably well dressed for someone whose Quirk covered up any physical features. His sense of aesthetic made him a good choice for the bartender role of their little base. "I trust your conversation with our benefactors went well?"
"Of course it did." He said, taking a seat on one of the barstools. "But we've got a new sidequest to complete during the main mission. He wants us to capture one of the students. Someone named Kage Sekai. Black hair and yellow eyes. I'll see if he can get us a picture to spread around later." Kurogiri gave a curt nod in response. No matter what Shigaraki told him, he remained patient and obedient. The perfect servant.
"Understood. I'll ensure our forces are aware." Kurogiri had been in charge of handling the bulk of recruitment, given his more presentable attitude and ability to reach people much easier than Shigaraki could. Everyone knew who they were supposed to really follow, but Kurogiri made for a great intermediary.
"You do that." Shigaraki replied casually. "We'll have to find an opening to get the schedule too. I don't suppose we could use one of them to create a distraction?" Kurogiri gave it a moment's thought before shaking his head.
"I'm afraid that any brazen attack by our forces before we're ready would draw too much attention." He explained. "Most of the villains we've been able to recruit aren't particularly known for stealth. It would be unwise to make any sudden moves right now."
"Yeah, yeah." Shigaraki said, waving a hand dismissively. "I get it. We need to meet the right conditions before we can face off with the final boss. We'll figure something out." He started to think on the subject. He couldn't keep so many recruits just waiting around with nothing to do but take up space across old warehouses. They needed to get the operation moving quickly. Kurogiri was right to warn against a direct assault, though it would have been easy in the short term.
Ideally, they needed All-Might to be separated from the bulk of the school. That was why they needed a class schedule – to identify the perfect point to strike at. He needed to be far enough away that he couldn't immediately call the other pros for help. Ideally, he would be teaching a class at the time. Even putting their new goal aside, the students would make great hostages and meat-shields. If nothing else, their deaths would demoralise him.
Shigaraki found himself grinning at the thought of All-Might standing in the pool of blood and bodies they could leave behind for him. Oh, how glorious it would be to see his iconic smile twisted in pain before it was stripped from his flesh. The world would crumble before the League of Villains when their task was complete. With their hero exposed as no longer the invincible beacon of hope they thought he was, they would never recover.
Wait a moment. Exposing All-Might…
That could work.
"Hey, the press wants to know about All-Might, right?" He asked Kurogiri, already knowing the answer before the man nodded. "What if we arranged a little anonymous tip? Tell them that All-Might will be there tomorrow to give a statement. They'll eat that up."
"It would most likely distract the heroes," Kurogiri agreed. "But what do we do about the school's defences? We still need to find a way through the UA barrier that won't draw the entire faculty to us, after all."
"That's the easy part." Shigaraki drummed his fingers against the table, careful to never let them all make contact at once. Kurogiri quickly caught on to the gesture. Shigaraki couldn't see his face, but he could tell the man had an eyebrow raised. He sighed.
"Everyone is going to want to get closer to All-Might." He said. "All we need to do is let them get a little further. There's no way they won't all jump at the chance to get into the UA grounds, and that'll keep all the heroes busy at the front of the school. Meanwhile, you can get a few guys in there discreetly and get them out before anyone notices. Best of all, just doing this sends them a message – they'll know they aren't as safe as they think they are."
"A brilliant plan, Tomura Shigaraki." Kurogiri said. "The master would be proud. These men you want me to sneak into the school, should I give them information on our other target? With the heroes all distracted, it might prove a useful opportunity."
"Hm? Yeah, maybe." Shigaraki said thoughtfully. It would be convenient to achieve this extra goal early, but that posed its own set of potential problems. Taking a UA student would do far more than just opening the barrier in terms of setting the whole place on high alert. It would also get the heroes hunting for them before they could make their big move, which could cause the whole operation to go under early.
However, if they managed to play their cards right, they could kill two birds with one stone. It might be possible to sneak the boy away without the school noticing his absence. One kid having gone home early might not be immediately suspicious. If they could somehow present it as him having simply ran off or gone home in the confusion, that would hopefully give them enough time with which to make their attack.
Perhaps they could use the kid's body to taunt All-Might into a blind rage. Or, even better, the master could have him turned into another Nomu. Having All-Might face off against a grotesque monstrosity that he found out later was a missing student would destroy him. And if anything could destroy the image of the symbol of peace, murdering a child seemed like the perfect thing to do the job.
There were both risks and rewards to consider, but Shigaraki couldn't deny the appeal.
"Tell them." He decided. "But make sure they only try to grab him if they're sure they can do it without being caught. We don't want anyone to know we were there until it's too late for them to stop us." He placed his hands together and held them under his chin. The strategy was coming together, the party was forming well. Everything would soon be ready for the debut of the League of Villains.
"Understood." Kurogiri gave a bow. "I shall see who amongst our available forces might be most suitable to the task and get back to you." Shigaraki gave a brief nod of his head and gestured with one hand for Kurogiri to leave.
"You do that." Was all he had to say before the man disappeared into one of his portals of black mist, leaving Shigaraki alone at the bar to consider his options. Soon, he would be able to do more than simply wait around for the moment to strike. Everything was coming together for the plan. This little complication of Kage Sekai wouldn't even slow them down.
The League of Villains was soon to be ready.
It was nearly time for the game to start. All Shigaraki would have to do was press the button.
"Count your days, All-Might." He found himself saying. "It won't be long until this whole world sees you for the fraud you are. We'll wipe that damned smile off your face." With the master's ultimate weapon and the right plan to use it, there was no way they could fail.
The world would fall. No one would stand in their way.
Sora Kinzoku had trouble sleeping that night.
It was only natural, she thought. Even knowing that today would be safe, she knew there was a very serious threat on its way just the day after. It wasn't something she could tell anyone about, either – neither she nor Kage had any proof of the villain's plans. She was trusting he knew what he was doing, whilst his knowledge came from a frankly insane and unbelievable source.
They could count on each other, but that was all. For now, at least.
"We just need a way to prove what we already know." She said to herself as she rose out of bed and got herself dressed. Her room was something of a mess, with loose clothes scattered across the floor and little else to distract from them. Sora didn't have a great deal of personal possessions. She had never seen much point in putting up posters or placing little trinkets around. She had a few prizes from trips to the arcade, but that was about as much as she cared to get. She didn't have a lot of spare money to go around.
With her father's support, she could keep herself living and eating well enough, but only barely. She didn't mind that, although it would have been nice to be able to afford a bit more. Still, she was content with what she had.
Besides, all future drama and financial troubles aside, she was in a place that would let her fly for the first time in years. She couldn't bring herself to complain. Especially knowing that today would be her first official hero lesson.
Not wanting to make the same mistake as her first day, Sora skipped out on breakfast entirely and made a mad dash out the door. UA's first class started at 8:30, so she had made a point of getting up at just about 7am. Even taking the train ride into account, she could comfortably arrive with an hour to spare.
It would be faster if she could just fly her way over, but alas, that was still illegal. One day, though. One day.
Until then, however, she would manage just fine with the regular train station. It travelled quick enough above ground, so it was close to the real thing. If you squinted, at least. In all honesty, she wasn't particularly fond of trains. Tight spaces in general bothered her, as did being stuck with a bunch of people she didn't know.
Fortunately, she quickly found that wasn't entirely the case as she arrived at the station.
"Uraraka?" She noticed a familiar bundle of brown hair and walked over to find her new friend, who had seemingly just run to the station and arrived just before her. She tapped her on the shoulder. Uraraka turned and smiled upon seeing her.
"Oh, Sora! Hey!"
"Yo." Sora casually returned the greeting. "Nice to see you here. I was worried I'd be all alone until we arrived." She admitted. Uraraka nodded.
"Yeah, same." She said. "I arrived pretty late last time, and I don't want to give mister Aizawa any reason to dislike me, you know? He already seems like a bit of a jerk."
"He's a lot of a jerk." Sora remarked, getting a laugh out of Uraraka. "But at least you were only close to late and not actually late. I'm still not convinced he doesn't hate me over that, but I'm also not convinced he's a pro and not just a homeless man in disguise."
"Maybe he's both?" Uraraka said. "He could be a wandering hero, travelling wherever there are people in need! That'd be kinda cool." She pumped her fist up dramatically as she spoke. Sora had to admit, that almost made Aizawa sound cool.
Almost.
"I dunno about that." She shrugged. "It would kind of suck for a hero to not have anywhere to really settle down, you know? Always being on the move means leaving a lot of stuff behind. That's no good for anyone." Her voice lowered into a bitter whisper as she concluded her thoughts. Her mind drifted back to the underground station she had taken Kage to the day prior.
Without meaning to, she clenched her fists.
"Yeah, I guess so." Uraraka snapped her out of her thoughts. "It's always better to have somewhere to put your stuff, even if it's not much of a home. My apartment's pretty cheap and threadbare, but I'd rather have a roof over my head than be moving around all the time."
"Hey, same here!" Sora smiled. "I swear, finding any decent places in this city was a nightmare. Still, it's not so bad. Is your place far from here?" She asked. Her own apartment building was only around a fifteen minutes' walk from the station, which was well-suited to her needs. There were a few places that were cheaper, but they were too far away to be all that convenient.
They were also in neighbourhoods that were said to have increased crime rates and more frequent villain attacks. Sora could do without putting up with those. Then again, the thought occurred that she would have to deal with some in mere days' time. Curse the stupid, annoying future.
"Yeah, it's only about fifteen minutes away." Uraraka said, and Sora blinked as she pointed in a very familiar direction. The direction she had just come from, in fact. "Just over in that direction. It's small, but it's cheap."
"Uraraka," Sora said slowly. "I think we might live in the same building." She gave Uraraka the address – they were friends anyway, inviting her to come over sometime didn't seem like a bad idea – and Uraraka gasped.
"We do!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down as she did so. "What floor are you on? I'm on the second floor."
"Third floor." Sora replied. "That explains why we've never really noticed each other. I like to be high up so I could jump out and go for a flight if I ever need to. N-not that I would, of course, since that'd be illegal and stuff." She half-heartedly protested, scratching the back of her head. She would be lying if she said the thought hadn't occurred to her, at the very least.
"I understand." Uraraka nodded. She leaned in close and whispered. "Sometimes I like to try floating around my apartment as training. Technically it's not allowed, but basically no one notices if I don't bump myself too hard into the ceiling."
"That explains those weird bumps in the floor at night!" Sora smacked a fist into her hand as she made the connection. "Man, I thought my place was just haunted. I think you live right below me. Small world, huh?"
"Small world." Uraraka agreed. "I only moved in a little bit before school started, but it's still weird we've never seen each other before now." Sora nodded her head. It wasn't impossible she had seen Uraraka in passing before and not noticed, but it was still strange to think about. It made her wonder for a moment if she had ever seen any of her other classmates before UA.
Come to think of it, she recalled seeing someone hauling trash at a beach once that looked an awful lot like Deku.
"I only just moved in myself." Sora explained. "My dad lives further out, in Tokyo. I only moved in around when the entrance exams happened. Before that, I was staying with him. I'd only ever been to this city a few times before moving. It's been a little different, but I've had fun adjusting."
"That makes sense." Uraraka said. "My parents are even further away. We're from Yokkaichi, so if they want to see me, they have to take a bullet train. They said they wanted to move closer when I got into UA, but they can't afford to. Besides, their best work comes from in the city."
"What do they do for work?"
"Construction." Uraraka explained. Her face had fallen slightly. It seemed this wasn't a topic she brought up all that much. She wasn't unwilling to talk about it, but she seemed to be a little sad about it. "We don't get a lot of villain attacks back home, but when they do happen, they tend to be big. Whenever that happens, they get a lot of good work in helping with repairs and stuff. But when it's quiet, the work really dries up. They can manage okay, but…" Her hands tightened around the straps of her backpack. She didn't finish, but Sora could easily figure out what she meant.
"Maybe when you get a licence, your Quirk could help them cut costs." She said. "Floating materials around and making things weightless would really strip down the need for cranes and stuff. I mean, I don't know all that much about this stuff, but it sounds like it'd help." Uraraka snapped her fingers and pointed towards her.
"I said the same thing!" She cried. "I wanted to try pushing for a licence early, but mom and dad wouldn't have it. They said they'd rather I focus on doing what I wanted to do, not just helping them. So, I decided to focus on both." She looked forward with determination burning in her eyes.
"I'm going to become a good hero, sign with a good agency, and make a lot of money." She declared. "I won't let my parents struggle anymore. They're going to have an easy life." Sora looked at her in awe, unsure of what she was supposed to say. She had such a strong drive to help, even if her goal wasn't as totally selfless as someone like Kage or All-Might. It didn't feel any less noble for it, she thought. Uraraka wasn't the kind of person who could turn away anyone in need, even if she was ultimately focused on her family.
There was a conviction in her kindness that Sora couldn't hope to match.
"That's inspiring." She said without thinking. Uraraka blinked and looked a little sheepish, but Sora continued. "It's really cool of you to want to do so much for your parents. I'm sure they're proud of you. You're a really cool person, Uraraka!" She gave her a thumbs up. Uraraka looked uncertain for a moment before smiling.
"Thanks, Sora." She said. "You're pretty cool too. I was a little worried I'd be judged as being too selfish, honestly. It feels weird to only be trying to be a hero because of my parents. A hero shouldn't be selective like that."
"The fact that you think that and you're trying to be a hero proves you're not selfish." Sora said firmly, not willing to allow her friend to think any less of herself. "It's not like you're not going to help people who need it, so who cares why you're doing it? What, do you think people who get pulled out of a burning building or who see you stop a bad guy are going to think you're doing it wrong because you care about your family? Anyone who sees things that way is full of shit. Don't listen to them." She explained. Perhaps a part of her was seeking to justify her own shallow reasoning as she spoke, but she stood by every word she said.
A hero was defined by actions, not intentions. If that wasn't the case, then Sora would never have gotten into UA in the first place. She hadn't intended to save Kage from the zero-pointer, not consciously. Her body had moved before she had a chance to think about it. Her actions were the key.
So long as she was helping people, did it really matter if all she really wanted was being free to fly and use her power? If she thought of the innocent strangers she would save as a bonus, did that make any difference?
She had to think it didn't. Otherwise, she would never sleep at night.
"Thanks." Uraraka said again. "I guess I never really thought about it like that. It would be pretty hard to find a hero who doesn't care about their family, right?"
"I'd hope so." Sora said. "I mean, it's a hero's job to care about everybody. It doesn't really have to be spread equally so long as they're doing their jobs. That's the kind of thing I think a lot of people just don't really get. If you put too much value on everyone, in a way, it's kind of like you value no one." Once more, images of the underground station flickered into her mind as she spoke.
She shouldn't have taken Kage there yesterday. That place never failed to spoil her thoughts.
"I'm not sure about that." Uraraka said thoughtfully. "I think I get what you mean, but I don't know if I agree that valuing everyone really means valuing no one. Caring about all the people around you doesn't have to mean you see them all as the same, even if the way you care about them is."
"Maybe." Sora said after a reluctant moment's pause. "It's not really something I think too hard about, I guess. After a while, it all gets a bit too philosophical for me." She smiled, scratching the back of her head and forcefully removing any tension from her mind. It wasn't something to get worked up about, not really.
The train screeched into the station at that moment, snapping attention away from the moral discussion of the morning. Sora sighed in relief. She was already dealing with enough without throwing on an ethical crisis. She looked to Uraraka.
"None of this will matter if we don't make it to school." She said. Uraraka nodded.
"Right, we gotta go!" She grabbed Sora suddenly by the arm and the two ran into the train, quickly grabbing a seat as the train cars all filled up. Uraraka was surprisingly strong, Sora noticed as she was pulled along.
The train doors closed and the two were sent hurtling away to school. Sora looked at Uraraka. Maybe it didn't matter that she couldn't bring herself to rush to the aid of every possible stranger.
Maybe focusing on the people she cared about would be enough.
She had to think so.
For once, Kage Sekai found himself feeling relaxed.
There was still plenty to worry about, but none of it would matter for at least this one day. He had Sora as backup to help him manage things in the future, but for today, everything would go just fine. It would be an ordinary day for the most part, and the hero lessons wouldn't give him any trouble.
Even the injuries he knew might befall others, like Izuku's damage from his fight with Bakugou, would be quickly fixed. By the next morning, everyone would be safe and comfortable. And, as a bonus, he would get to watch Bakugou be slammed into a stone floor by Izuku!
There was no way he could bring himself to feel worried when he had that to look forward to.
There was also still plenty to keep his mind occupied throughout the day as it passed. UA was still a school at the end of the day, despite all the nonsense that would occur both within and outside its walls. That meant there were still regular lessons he was expected to attend on all the usual boring school subjects.
Well, there were a few other ones of some interest. Subjects relating to hero history and culture popped up alongside typical studies of English, maths and the usual school setup. He felt glad to learn about those elements of the world in more detail than the original canon presented. There were certainly parts of it, but nothing that matched an actual educational course on the subject.
The world was generally a lot bigger than he was expecting, and it filled him with equal parts joy and dread. Joy because it made the whole place feel more alive, dread because it added plenty of potential new complications if he wasn't careful. He knew that was likely more of a paranoid impulse talking, but knowing it was irrational didn't make it go away at all.
The human mind, Kage realised, was a complete mess.
Even at the best of times, there was plenty to struggle with. He was a little worried about the battle training that approached, but he pushed that down. In theory, it wouldn't be all that different from his sparring sessions at the gym. He'd even fought one of his classmates during those, so he knew that he could handle taking on people he knew.
At lunch, he and Sora sat together, along with Izuku, Uraraka and Iida at a table. The food was nice, though Kage didn't take any particular note of it beyond that. Izuku had been ecstatic to see the food being prepared by Lunch Rush, a pro hero who, as far as Kage recalled, as only mentioned here and nowhere else. For some reason, he was also Sora's favourite.
"I don't get it." He asked, watching her completely demolish a large meal, the contents of which were lost to the blur of her hands shovelling it into her mouth. "Out of every hero you could possibly pick, why Lunch Rush?"
"'Cause he's not just a hero." Sora replied, though it came out a bit garbled as she swallowed her food down. She sighed once she finally managed. "He's also a chef. My mom used to try and replicate all of his recipes for me when I was little. I guess he makes me feel nostalgic." She shrugged.
Kage didn't know anything about Sora's family, he realised. It struck him that he had never thought to ask, and she had never really tried bringing the subject up before. He wondered if her family was in some way related to those underground tunnels she had told him about yesterday, but there was no way he was going to get an answer to that question here. Technically speaking, those tunnels were probably illegal. A shelter for people with Quirks that kept them out of normal society likely meant a lot of unregulated Quirk use happened back there.
"That's nice of her." Kage said. "How does her food compare to the real thing? Was she a good cook?" The question seemed like a small enough one to prompt a further conversation without coming off as pushy. Sora paused for a moment, tapping a finger against her chin in thought.
"I don't really remember." She said. Her voice sounded sad for some reason as she spoke. "It's been a long time…" She trailed off before shaking her head, seeming eager to dismiss the subject before it could get to her any further.
"I get it, I don't remember my parents either." Kage tried to sympathise, tapping a knuckle against his head. "I'd like to think they're good people, but it's really hard to say. The whole amnesia thing sucks sometimes." Sora raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.
"So, you really don't-" She cut herself off, glancing to the others at the table. Kage realised she was probably about to say something about his reincarnated situation, so he gave a subtle shake of the head. She cleared her throat. "You really don't remember them at all?" She asked instead. Kage thought about it.
He was fairly sure he didn't remember any of the details of Kage Sekai's life before his arrival, but there were one or two things that stuck out in his head whenever he allowed himself a moment to consider them.
"I think my dad might be a doctor." He recalled. "Or something to do with medicine. Whenever I try to think about him, the image of a white coat like Recovery Girl's pops into my head. I don't know about my mum, and…" He trailed off. There was one more thing that was present in his head, though like everything else, it was fuzzy.
"I don't think I was an only child." He said after a pause. In his original life as Darren, he had been the youngest child and had an older sister. Frustratingly, remembering his own name hadn't brought him any closer to remembering hers. He was pretty sure she was only about a year older than he was before his death.
Kage's memories, what little of them he could manage to dredge up at least, conveyed things a little differently. He was pretty sure that Kage had been the eldest child of his family, and he had at least one younger sibling. He couldn't conjure anything to mind about them beyond that, however. They could have been a brother or a sister or neither or both.
He tried to avoid thinking on Kage's memories too much. Confronting the life that he had stolen, intentionally or not, made him feel sick to his stomach. That didn't stop the memories from flickering their way into his dreams on occasion, though. It hurt that he was able to pull them up easier than he was details about his original life at some points.
He was haunting himself. It was quite a bizarre situation.
"Wait, back up." Uraraka chimed in to the conversation with a confused look on her face. "You have amnesia?" Kage was about to explain, but Izuku helpfully took care of it for him.
"Kage lost all his memories prior to about a year ago." He explained. "He's actually living with a detective who's investigating the situation, but there haven't been any developments. Still, it doesn't really change anything about who he is now." He smiled at Kage. Kage nodded enthusiastically and held a fist out. Izuku bumped it, though his expression showed surprise.
"Damn right." He said. "I think, therefore I am. Honestly, I try not to think about who I was before much. Who I am now and what I'm doing in the moment are the things that really matter, you know? Knowing who my parents are isn't going to help me in hero class." Sora tapped a hand against her head.
"Right, I almost forgot about that!" She said, much to the shock of everyone else at the table. "There's been a lot on my mind. So, who's beating who in battle training?" She asked casually, leaning over towards Kage. Kage shrugged his shoulders.
"I guess you'll have to wait and see." He smiled. She gave a clearly fake pout in response, which made Kage laugh just a little. "How am I supposed to know? It's not like I can see the future." Sora narrowed her eyes, but Kage simply met her expression with a grin.
"How do you know we'll be conducting battle training?" Iida asked. His expression was always firm, but Kage had to admit it made him just a little nervous this time. "Our lesson plan simply indicates that today will the first day of hero lessons."
"Well, you see, Iida," Kage said. "Since I am, as you are well aware, an agent of the UA staff here to sabotage everyone's endeavors, I have access to secret information that regular students do not. Present Mic personally contacted me earlier this morning to inform me of the plans." Iida looked at him with his jaw hanging open before eventually sighing.
"I suppose it's only fair that you get your laughs out of that." He said, his head down. "It was quite a silly assumption of me at the entrance exam. Once more, I apologise." Kage noticed Izuku frown ever so slightly for a moment as Iida spoke, but he decided not to comment on it. He wasn't bothered at all, so he hoped Izuku wouldn't get offended on his behalf.
It was a little flattering, though. He was a good friend.
"It's no big deal, really." Kage reassured him. "It doesn't bother me at all. Anyway, the battle training thing is really just a guess. I mean, the next step after seeing the limits of our Quirks would be testing our control against other people, right? It's the kind of thing we'll be expected to do as heroes."
"Testing our control, huh…?" Izuku held up a finger and looked at it, bending it open and closed with a nervous expression on his face. "Oh boy."
"You'll do fine, Deku." Sora looked to him and smiled. "Trust me, I've got a good feeling. You're smart, you can pull something together if you need to. And if all else fails, just use your middle finger to smash your opponent away!" She joked. Kage nearly choked with laughter, whilst Izuku only managed an amused smile from the effort. He was understandably still tense.
"Y-yeah, maybe you're right." He said, clenching his whole fist instead of just one finger. "I can figure this out. I just have to picture the egg not exploding…" Sora looked a little confused at that, but she nodded nonetheless.
"That's the spirit!" She said cheerfully. "You've got this, Deku."
"Absolutely. I have faith in your ability, Midoriya." Iida added. "After all, you figured out the truth behind the entrance exam. Your reasoning skills and your drive will carry you far."
"Yeah, what they said!" Uraraka said, pumping her fist up into the air. "We're all gonna kick some ass today, Deku! You've got this!" Kage smiled warmly. It was just great to see such supportive friends all looking out for one another. Being a part of it was even better.
There were many issues he had with his situation, but today, he was happy. He opened his mouth to add on to the support, but the bell ringing drowned out anything he could have said. He shook his head and stood up.
"Well then, I guess it's time to prove everyone right."
AN: Originally, I had planned to end this one on All-Might and everyone getting their costumes, but I think that'll work well as an opening for chapter 20 – holy shit we're nearly at 20 chapters that is insane to me – so instead, we get this really fun character interaction! This lunch was originally going to be skimmed over almost entirely, save for the bit about Lunch Rush being Sora's favourite hero. But I just had so much fun with the rest. I hope it's as fun to read as it was to write! I'm glad I was able to get this chapter done so soon. Have a great time with it, everyone!