Izuku rose with the sun, as he had the day before. He sat up and looked around, seeing the guys of his class laying on the ground throughout the room. Izuku had distanced his sleeping bag from the others' due to what had happened last night, with Ragdoll. If something was going to happen to him, he didn't want to hurt anyone else in the process. But, it seemed nothing had happened. Izuku sighed, climbing off the ground and beginning to wake everyone up for training, as Aizawa had told him to do during that first night they'd spent at the lodge. Izuku got through everyone and went to change into something a little more workout-friendly, as Aizawa had told him that he wasn't going to be excluded from training. He didn't know how Aizawa expected him to train One for All if he couldn't use it without All for One sucking the life out of him, but he supposed he was going to find out.
The guys got going soon enough, but some needed a little extra nudge, such as Hitoshi, who whined like a kid when being woken up. Izuku couldn't help but laugh at the way he tried to push Izuku away when he rocked Hitoshi by the shoulder, but he quickly woke up then, eyes wide and staring. Izuku stopped laughing, wondering why he'd had such an extreme reaction to laughing. It suddenly struck Izuku that he'd admitted to having a bad time at school before UA, so he'd likely gotten treatment similar to Izuku, where being laughed at and degraded was the only real interaction that was to be had there. He nodded to Hitoshi, who hesitantly nodded back, and the two were on their way.
As Izuku arrived at the dining area for breakfast, seeing most of classes A and B already digging in, he spotted Kota sitting off to the side, eating his own breakfast. Izuku felt a pang of regret go through him, as he'd caused the kid to get scared the day before when the mess with Ragdoll had happened. Izuku hadn't had a chance to talk to Kota yet, so he decided that he would now. He looked over at Mandalay, standing over by the other Pussycats, Aizawa and Vlad King, who was looking at him in a strange way, but hesitantly nodding to him. He nodded back, and made his way over to where Kota had sat, away from the two Hero course classes.
"Be gentle. He's not the best with strangers," Mandalay's voice warned him in his head.
Izuku nodded to her once again as he sat down opposite Kota. The boy looked at him like he'd done something wrong, which he supposed he had. Izuku thought about what to say, but Kota beat him to it.
"What do you want?" Kota asked, narrowing his eyes at Izuku.
"I wanted to say hello. And that I'm sorry. I know that what happened with Ragdoll yesterday was scary, so I wanted to see how you're doing. Have you talked to her since then?" Izuku said.
"Yeah. What did you do to her, anyway? She said that she tried to use her power on you, but it didn't really work right," Kota asked.
"That's right. I've been sick, so we thought that she could see what was wrong with me. Turns out, the way it works meant that she got a little bit of it, too. She's alright, now?" Izuku explained.
Kota looked at Izuku for a moment, seemingly trying to puzzle something out by the way his mouth was vaguely forming words under his breath. Izuku resisted the urge to laugh, sharing that trait with Kota. Izuku waited for Kota to get through whatever he was trying to figure out, but was surprised by what he said next.
"If you think that I'm falling for your 'nice guy' thing, then forget it," Kota said.
Izuku reeled back. He'd been caught off guard by that, so he breathed in a little too harshly for comfort. Looking at Kota, it looked like he was actually offended by whatever he thought Izuku was doing, which felt worse than being accused, if he was being honest with himself. Izuku laughed nervously and fixed his posture.
"Why do you think it's a 'thing'? Why can't I just be nice?" Izuku asked, smiling at Kota to ease his obvious discomfort with him.
"That's what all you Heroes do," Kota said.
Izuku wasn't able to get a word in about all that before Kota ran away. He looked as Kota ran around a corner and disappeared. Izuku sighed, propping his head up on his hands and covering his face. How had that gone so wrong? Had it been anything he'd done? Why did Kota hate Heroes so much? That was so confusing. It seemed wrong for such a little kid to say such hateful things. He sighed again, not knowing what to do with himself now. He'd started the day off by getting a boy so angry that he'd run away from him. That wasn't a good starting point.
"Midoriya, are you okay?" Mandalay asked, though the voice wasn't in his head now.
Izuku turned around to see Mandalay standing there, looking at the corner Kota had disappeared behind. He saw regret written all over her face, but didn't think it was his place to comment on it. Izuku held in another deep sigh, knowing that it wouldn't be good to openly be disappointed with his interaction with Kota in front of his … sister? Izuku was still confused about the relation between any of the Pussycats and Kota.
"I'm alright. I'm more worried about Kota, though. He seemed so angry, but I could tell that it wasn't true anger. It was the kind of fake emotion that covers up pain. I know it well," Izuku said, chuckling to try playing it off as a joke but not quite getting there.
"He's not really an angry kid. He's confused, and hurt. For good reason, too," Mandalay said, sitting down and letting her shoulders relax.
Izuku saw his chance to ask about Kota's place here, so took it.
"Why exactly is Kota here, again? I don't recall if you ever explained him to us. You don't have to, of course, I'm just curious about a kid being at a lodge owned by Pro Heroes," Izuku said.
"He's my nephew. He's in my care because his parents died a few years ago in a fight against a Villain. His parents were the Hero duo known as Water Hose; my sister and her husband," Mandalay said.
"I read about that. Wait, Water Hose both had water Quirks. How does both telepathy and hydrokinesis come from the same two people?" Izuku said, unaware that he was speaking out loud.
"Genetics are weird, and Quirks are even weirder, kid. Sometimes you get the strangest of mutations, and you never know it until you do a deep dive into your family tree. That's besides the point, though. They died when Kota was just three years old, so he was put into my care. I've had him ever since, but he's grown bitter. I've tried to get him to talk about his feelings, but he just can't. It's too painful, and not just for him," Mandalay explained.
So that was it. Kota hated Heroes because his parents had died in battle. That made sense, but why did he think that Heroes were pretenders? It was like he hated his own parents for what they did. They'd died protecting civilians, from what Izuku had read, so he should be proud of his parents for doing what they'd done. Izuku couldn't figure it out. He breathed in deeply, and spoke.
"I'm sorry for making both of you dredge up the past. I'll leave it alone, if you want. I have to get to training, anyway. Again, I'm sorry," Izuku said, standing slowly. His muscles were still stiff from the lack of proper movement he'd had since yesterday, and he was ready to get going.
"No, it's fine. I've made peace with it. Kota hasn't, though, and he needs just a little bit of help. I can sense that you've got good in you, Midoriya, so if you want to try being that help, then I say go for it. I can't say that he'll appreciate it, but it never hurts to try," Mandalay said, joining Izuku in standing.
"Trying when you don't have to is the essence of being a Hero," Izuku said to himself, looking out at the classes getting ready to pack up the cooking supplies.
"Get some food, before you can't," Mandalay said.
Izuku walked over to the main dining area and put together breakfast for himself, eating it quickly before everything was packed up and the students had to move on to managed to put the food away at a pace that earned him a frowning stare from Hitoshi, who walked up to him but paused as he saw the speed at which Izuku was shoveling food into his mouth. As the classes banded together, Izuku was brought to the training grounds they'd been using since yesterday. Previously, Izuku had been with Tiger and the strength type Quirks, but he had no clue where Aizawa would put him today.
As the classes came to the meeting spot they'd assembled at the day before, Aizawa, Vlad King and the Pussycats joined them. Aizawa got to dismissing different students from 1A to their training grounds and routines, until all that was left was Izuku. He looked at Aizawa with questioning eyes, but Aizawa's didn't seem to give an answer. Aizawa gestured to him and began walking, Izuku following his teacher in a confused panic.
They walked away from the classes, so far that they came to a stop a few dozen steps into the Beasts' Forest. Izuku looked to Aizawa for answers, but the man just stared at him for a moment. Izuku was starting to get anxious now, and he began to fidget with his fingers until Aizawa spoke.
"Do you know why you're here?" Aizawa asked.
"Because of my issue?" Izuku asked back.
"Precisely. I've reworked your training plan to be a little bit more … laid back," Aizawa said, seemingly taking a moment to find the right words.
"Laid back? I don't want to be babied because of this thing," Izuku said.
"And you won't be. I just think that we need to get to the root of the issue, which means you'll have to talk to your friends," Aizawa said.
"The vestiges won't talk to me. They haven't for months, so what's gonna change now?" Izuku asked.
"You've never initiated contact with them, right?" Aizawa continued.
"Right. They always came to me. So, what? I'm gonna go to them? How would that even work?" Izuku asked again.
"We'll start off with meditation," Aizawa answered.
"Meditation?" Izuku asked.
"Yes. Sit down," Aizawa ordered, and Izuku obeyed. The ground wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't too rough. "Close your eyes. I want you to clear your mind. Think of nothing beyond this current moment. Can you hear your own heartbeat?" Aizawa said.
"No," Izuku said.
"Well, then …" Aizawa trailed off.
Izuku suddenly felt the ambient energy of One for All vanish from his core. It startled him, but Izuku figured that Aizawa had used his Quirk on him. He didn't know why, until he felt that he could now feel his heart beating in his chest. Izuku smiled, knowing that Aizawa had gotten a kick out of that, but focused on his heart, and how it beat.
"I can hear it now," Izuku said.
"Good. Now, focus on that. Listen as it slows down, and comes to a resting rate. Hone in on that," Aizawa instructed.
Izuku did as he was told, focusing on his own heartbeat as it slowly went back to normal. It felt like a small hammer inside his chest, and slowly getting quieter and softer. It settled at some point, Izuku didn't know when, and he managed to keep the beating within his senses as it evened out. As he focused his senses inward, Izuku didn't truly recognize that everything around him, from the leaves blowing in the wind to the distant sounds of the others' training, had grown quieter and quieter as his heartbeat had grown louder in his ears. It was as if everything else had faded away, and all that was left was Izuku, his own heart the center of everything he was experiencing. Izuku's chest started to tingle from this feeling, this all encompassing sense of something.
"You've got it?" Aizawa asked, startling Izuku out of the state he'd slipped into.
"Uh, yeah? I think so. How does this help me?" Izuku asked, regaining his wits.
"Focusing on one, monotonous, repeating thing, like a heartbeat, will lull you to somewhere between stages of sleep. It allows you to slip into a state between consciousness and unconsciousness. When that happens, you'll be awake and asleep at the same time. From what you've told me, this is the state you're in when you speak with the vestiges. I think it's time that you get this problem of yours under wraps. For good. By next semester, I want to see you using your Quirk without the current consequence. Got it?" Aizawa said.
"Got it," Izuku said, nodding at his teacher.
"Good. Now, I've still got to oversee the rest of your class. I trust that you won't cause too much trouble while I'm gone," Aizawa said, turning to leave.
"Of course not," Izuku laughed.
Aizawa grumbled something that Izuku couldn't hear, but began to walk away anyway.
Izuku smiled to himself and began to focus back on his heartbeat. He let his training with Danger Sense help him along, allowing him to direct his senses inward and focus on what was happening inside. Izuku found his heartbeat, slow and steady, and let himself feel the rhythm of his body working. It was like an odd song, with the heart acting as percussion. The thumping of his heart eventually became all Izuku could hear, with the beating filling him with a sense of calm that permeated his very soul.
Everything else was drowned out by this peaceful calm. It was like Izuku had no more worries, or that his worries seemed small, now. Izuku felt light when he knew that everything else didn't matter. That he could just sit here and listen was the greatest gift that could be given, and Aizawa had given it to Izuku. He felt the ground under his legs be taken away, or was he Floating? It didn't matter which, because it only heightened the feeling of freedom that this gave Izuku. He could just stay like this, for hours, and that felt right. It felt like a break from all the stress that the first semester of school had been, one that he'd so desperately needed. Maybe he should do this more often.
Just then, a pair of red eyes pierced through the darkness Izuku's closed eyes provided. It tore his focus into shreds and forced his eyes open to see the forest floor slowly racing up to meet him. Izuku didn't know when he'd started screaming, but he knew that he stopped as soon as he landed face down on the ground. Izuku laid there for a moment, catching his breath and trying to make his heart stop screaming in his chest. He looked around, searching for anything that could be making him feel this way, but stopped when he realized. Izuku must have been connected to the vestiges, just for that moment. How else would those red eyes appear to him while he was awake? Those were the same red eyes that he'd seen belonging to All for One in vestige form. He'd been a tall man with white hair and red eyes, and those eyes had been the same red that had pierced through to his soul when he'd stood up to All for One at the Sports Festival. It had been him, and that had meant that he'd gotten through to the vestige realm at least a tiny bit. That meant that meditation really was the way to go for contacting the vestiges.
"Ow!" a small yelp broke through the trees to get Izuku's attention.
The only person that could sound that young was Kota. Izuku got up from the ground, not noticing how light his limbs felt, and made his way over to where he'd heard the sound come from. He pushed through the bushes and low branches to emerge onto a path in the forest that had been carved out. It was the same path that 1A had trekked along while fighting off Pixie-Bob's Golems on their first day of camp. Izuku stepped onto the path and saw Kota sitting on the ground, holding his knee.
"Kota! Are you okay?" Izuku asked, stepping closer to the boy.
Kota looked up at him with wide eyes, which then went narrow as he scowled at Izuku. He stepped back, not wanting to make Kota even more uncomfortable, and took a look at his knee. Izuku saw a line of red sliding down his leg already, so it was easy to say that he needed to get it cleaned and covered. Izuku took a deep breath, readying himself to be yelled at, and spoke.
"Do you want help?" Izuku asked, keeping his voice as calm as possible.
"No. Go away," Kota said, trying to spin around to face away from Izuku but hissing in pain when he moved the knee that was bleeding.
"I can see that you're hurt. Not just your knee, too. I want to help you. Can I?" Izuku asked, stepping closer and offering Kota his hand.
Kota stared at Izuku's hand, held out to him in a gesture of peace between them. Izuku smiled, wanting to show Kota that he meant no harm, but he could see the torn look on Kota's face. The smile dropped when the boy's eye locked on the ground in front of him and he started to ignore Izuku.
"I get it. You don't like Heroes because of what happened to your Mom and Dad," Izuku said.
"Who told you that?" Kota snapped.
"Your aunt. She's nice. I'd trust her if I were you," Izuku said.
"Well, you're not. You're just some Hero wannabe who's gonna get himself killed one of these days," Kota murmured.
"Is that how I come off? Do I seem like I'm doing this for fame?" Izuku asked, getting Kota to look him in the eyes for the first time.
"It's what all you Heroes do. Villains, too. You try to look nice, and pretty, and powerful, but you just like attention, so you go and kill each other with your fancy Quirks. You leave the people who love you behind to deal with it, and don't care who you hurt to get what you want," Kota rambled.
That was heavy for a five year old. Kota had experienced something awful in his parents' deaths, and it had given him this view of the world; that everything was pointless and everyone was selfish. The icing on the cake for Izuku was that Kota wasn't wrong. That was a valid viewpoint of Heroes and the society they'd cultivated. Izuku sighed, and sat down in front of Kota so that they could be on the same level.
"I could leave you, y'know," Izuku said, trying to keep his voice neutral.
"What?" Kota said, leaning back and frowning. Izuku resisted the urge to frown at himself, too.
"I could. I could've seen you on the ground, bleeding, and not cared. I could've gone back to my training and not told anyone about what I'd seen, because who cares about some dumb kid?" Izuku said, watching as Kota became more and more horrified at his explanation. "I could've done that, if I was selfish. If all I cared about was getting stronger, that's what I would've done. But, I didn't. Did I?" Izuku continued.
"No," Kota admitted.
"No, I didn't. Look, I'm just trying to understand. I'm not saying that you're wrong, or that what you feel isn't right. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Hero society either," Izuku said.
Kota looked up at him with awe and confusion all in one expression. He was a cute kid when he wasn't scowling and faking anger, and the realization, and the expression itself, made Izuku laugh lightly. He nodded and hummed at Kota's silent question, making his eyebrows raise with even more internal questions.
"That's right. I was like you, once. Small, scared and hurt. I was different from the other kids, so they were unkind to me for it. Not just the kids, too, but the teachers and even some other adults. I tried so hard to have that special spark that others seemed to effortlessly show off, but I just couldn't. I fit in better now, but I still carry that with me. I remember how it felt to have no hope, no friends and nobody to count on other than my Mom. I know how unfair this world is, Kota. I know what you're feeling," Izuku said.
"What's your point?" Kota asked, his voice shaking. He was obviously holding back the tears that wanted to flow, and Izuku felt the urge to comfort him. Izuku needed to get through to his point, though, as Kota had said.
"My point," Izuku laughed, "is that we're more alike than you realize. I used what I did have to rise above that unfairness. I'm doing what I can, now, to work toward changing how our world works to be a little better, for everyone. Not just the strong who stand over the weak, and not just the people that get their fifteen minutes of fame without the consequences of living past it. Kota, your parents are gone, and that's unfair to you. However, they didn't abandon you because they didn't love you. I'm sure that they did their best to come home to you, even if they couldn't quite overcome what they were facing. You do have people who love you, though, in your aunt, and the rest of the Pussycats. There are ways to move past the pain, Kota, and I can help you find them if you'll just let me," he said.
Kota was looking at him with wide eyes. Honestly, Izuku wasn't sure how he'd take all that. Izuku had been speaking from personal experience, but their lives weren't exactly analogous, so it was hard to predict how Kota would react to that dump of personal baggage. He shouldn't have done that to a kid, Iuzku knew, but he had to make Kota see that the world was unfair, but that he didn't have to let it drag him down. That was the lesson Izuku was learning, too, even if it took him a little longer. They had changes to make, and it would be better if they made those changes together. Izuku smiled at Kota as his eyes widened even further in what looked like deep thought.
"You're not just saying all that stuff? Everyone said that their deaths were 'noble', and 'heroic'. You really think they were wrong?" Kota asked, a hopeful tone to his voice.
"You shouldn't have had to hear that. Water Hose were Heroes, but they were also your parents. That's a delicate balance, and it's not kept level very often. They gave their lives to defeat a Villain, which is what the ideal of a Hero is in our society, but nobody should have to lose their parents that way. You're hurting, and that's perfectly fine. You just need help, and the Pussycats are more than ready to give you that help. Your aunt especially is looking forward to giving you a hand in moving forward. So, what do you say? Can I help you back to the lodge?" Izuku said, ending his little ramble by holding his hand out to Kota once again.
Kota hesitantly placed his hand in Izuku's, and Izuku stood.
"Now, does your knee hurt?" Izuku asked.
"Kinda. It hurts when I move it," Kota said.
"Alright. Do you think that you could walk back to the lodge, or do you want me to carry you?" Izuku asked again.
Kota's face flushed red, and Izuku knew his answer. He hooked his arms under Kota's legs and lifted him up, feeling Kota's arms wrap around his neck. Izuku felt like Kota was just a bit too big to carry comfortably like this, so he came up with an idea that was sure to cheer him up and make it easier to carry him.
"Hey, have you ever flown before?" Izuku asked, grinning.
"No," Kota said, his voice small but excited.
"Well, hold on tight, then. The first time's always a little bumpy," Izuku said.
Izuku shuffled Kota around so that he was giving the smaller boy a piggyback ride of sorts. He felt Kota's hands clasp together around his neck, and he readied himself to jump. Izuku crouched down, holding Kota's legs against his sides, and then used Float to leap high into the sky at an angle toward the main area where he knew everyone was. He Floated through the air for a while before his momentum ran out, forcing him to use Blackwhip from his foot to drag the two of them along. It was janky, and unprofessional, but it was a serviceable enough force for their needs. They eventually reached the main area, and Izuku landed on the ground as gently as he could for Kota's sake.
Aizawa and Mandalay looked at him with differing looks of worry and confusion. Mandalay's was for Kota, who'd now bled all the way down his leg and was getting his leg more bloody by the second. It hadn't looked like a major scratch at first, but it seemed that he'd gotten just the right spot for it to bleed quite a bit. Izuku let Mandalay carry Kota off to get patched up, and stayed behind to face Aizawa for abandoning his training.
"So, did you seek that one out, or did it come to you?" Aizawa asked once Mandalay had carted Kota off.
"He fell near my training spot, so I had to help. Speaking of seeking someone out, I think I managed to connect with my friends for a split second," Izuku said, using their code now that he was somewhere they could be overheard.
"And?" Aizawa asked.
"All I got was him. He forced me out of the whole tranquil thing. I fell on my face, much the same as Kota," Izuku said, getting a hum from Aizawa.
"Right. You used Float and Blackwhip to get here; did that give you any hassle?" Aizawa asked.
"No. I'm thinking that he's only attached to the core power stockpiling aspect. It was once his, so that makes some sense in a weird, nonsensical way. I'll get back to work on meditating to see if I can get past him and through to my friends, though. See you, I guess," Izuku said.
"See you," Aizawa said, turning to further instruct the classes.
Izuku turned to walk back to his secluded spot in the forest, intent on getting into contact with the vestiges. He could do this, even if it put him in opposition to All for One himself. This was going to happen, whether the vestiges liked it or not.