"Hmm, you're right. This can't be good."
Izuku sat across from All Might, Ochako and Tsu at his sides on the couch in one of the break rooms on campus. Katsuki stood off to the edge of the conversation, staring at his shoes, and Hitoshi stood at Tsu's side, resting a hand on their shoulder. The students were all looking at All Might, who sat opposite them and kept his gaze trained on Izuku as he relayed the story of his mysterious sickness and his talk with the fourth user of One for All. It had been a few hours since then, and he'd told the story what felt like a dozen times, but it never got less terrifying. Saying that man's name never stopped making his chest tighten. The first person he'd told had been Ochako, who'd come to get him for dinner and found him sitting at his desk and staring at the wall after he'd dismissed Hikage Shinomori's vestige. She'd panicked briefly, but suggested that Izuku tell All Might immediately. They'd gone around gathering up the small group of secret keepers and called All Might to get him down to the dorms, and they'd gone over the story a few times for each new addition to the conversation, until they'd gotten everyone together to discuss as a group.
"So what do we do?" Izuku asked, his voice breaking.
"For now? Nothing," All Might said.
"What?" Izuku yelped, accompanied by Ochako.
"You heard right," All Might said with a small smirk. It quickly dropped into a grim frown. "All for One is locked in the deepest cell Tartarus has. If he attempted to escape from the inside, then the security measures would engage and he'd either be fired upon by weapons that make some of his deadliest Quirks look like toys, or crushed by the water pressure as his cell is ejected from the prison and left to collapse under the crushing weight of the ocean. Tartarus can contain him, or kill him if he tries to prove that wrong. You kids have nothing to worry about."
"But then what's with this signal from One for All? That has to mean something," Hitoshi said.
"I agree. I don't know what he could be trying to do, but I believe something is happening, so I will give you that," All Might sighed.
"Maybe he's trying to communicate," Katsuki said, his first words since he'd reluctantly followed Izuku down to their meeting place after dinner. "After all, he's got connections to both One for All and Deku. They both came from him."
"Kacchan," Izuku protested, looking down at his lap where his hands curled around each other.
Everyone paused. Izuku wasn't dumb — he knew they'd all been thinking it, but didn't want to say it. He'd thought the same thing. One for All, a power that had only come into existence with All for One's help, had found a wielder that had his blood running through their veins, almost entirely composed of the Demon Lord's genetic code because of the tricks he'd pulled to sire Izuku. It was like fate, or destiny. Maybe this was meant to happen. Izuku shook his head. He couldn't think like that, even if it could be true, because that meant that he let All for One's evil control him, and he refused to let that man win. He still remembered the exact words that All for One had used this past summer to try and get Izuku on his side. He'd appealed to Izuku's longing for a family, for his father, but it hadn't worked. Izuku had kept it in his mind that he had a family now, and they were all around him. He'd never admit it out loud in fear of passing out on the spot from embarrassment, but he had a father, too, and he was looking that father right in the eye as they spoke.
"You're right," Izuku said after a long, uneasy silence. His chest got tight as his heart hammered in his chest, but he ignored it and continued speaking. "I think I need to stop being scared of it. Heismy father, and he did create the power I have now. That has to be relevant to this. Right?"
"It may be relevant, yes. Young Bakugo may be correct, and he could be attempting to communicate with you like he has at times in the past. There are also an unknowable number of other, valid answers right now. At this time, we have no idea what is happening, so I advise you all not to think about it too much," All Might said.
"But that's stupid!" Katsuki said, leaning toward All Might with a fiery look in his eyes. "You and Deku told us about this stuff so that we could act when shit started happening. Now you're telling us to do nothing?"
"Did everyone hear how he just said 'we' and 'us'?" Hitoshi said across the couch from Katsuki with a grin.
"I'll end you, Eyebags," Katsuki replied, not taking his eyes off All Might.
"That's enough. I'm sorry, Young Bakugo, but there are things that I must look into before we act, otherwise we risk making mistakes. I will keep you children updated, I promise you that, but for now, I think it would be best for you all to put this out of your minds and focus on your current goals," All Might said with a huff, something that sounded like disappointment to Izuku.
Katsuki scoffed and kicked the couch just enough for it to jolt Ochako, who was sitting closest to where he was standing, but not to damage it in any irreversible way. He then stomped out of the room, grumbling under his breath about something that Izuku couldn't catch. Izuku was surprised just how invested Katsuki had gotten in One for All. Part of him thought that Katsuki wanted it for himself and the best way he could compromise with his ideal reality and the reality of the situation was to involve himself in these discussions. Izuku sighed, and looked down at the table between the two sides of the discussion. Those that remained where they were stayed silent for a moment, but the silence was broken by All Might, who coughed into his hand and luckily didn't have to hide any red from his students.
"So how is it going with your preparation for the festival?" he asked. Izuku could see it was a hasty attempt to lead the conversation away from the stressful nature of their shared secret.
"We've still got about a week and a half until the festival and there's still so much to do. I think we'll be fine, but I don't know," Izuku said.
"You're doing well with keeping everyone on track and focused," Tsu said.
"Yeah, the dance squad is looking really good now! And the band is sounding great. I think we could perform right now if we really wanted to!" Ochako said with a bright smile on her face. Izuku doubted it was that simple as they were dismissed from the break room to return to the dorm.
He was proven right when, over the course of the next week or so, things got harder and harder as they approached the day of the festival. She was partially right about the performers being all but ready to go, since they sounded and looked amazing during their joint rehearsals, but the technical team still needed to get their trick down to a science so that they could both pull it off correctly and not hurt anyone. Still, Izuku managed to work it out before the big day, and before he knew it all the different parts of their big show were coming together to form an impressive whole. Suddenly, like he'd gone to sleep in September and woken up at the end of October, the school festival arrived, and it was time to put on their big show.
Fortunately, the day of the festival was the only day in the week leading up to it that Izuku didn't get that strange sickness. He woke up feeling totally fine and began to prepare for the day ahead of him with a clear head and a settled stomach. This was odd, since that sickness had kept reappearing and was only getting worse, but just for that one day where he needed to be at the top of his game, it subsided and allowed him to work unimpeded. He almost thanked whatever god had let that happen, but thought better of drawing attention to himself if there was indeed someone listening. He didn't need that at all.
Unfortunately, Izuku still had things to do before the show could begin. In the hours leading up to their event starting, Izuku worked on the last little details that required his help. He and Yaoyorozu split up those tasks so that they were done with about an hour to spare. Then, he got changed into the outfit the girls had demanded the dance squad wear when they danced. Since Izuku was, regrettably, one of the dancers, he had to wear it as well. The dance outfit was made up of a golden suit jacket and matching pants, a white undershirt and a red tie, like their school uniform. Ashido had allowed them to wear whatever shoes were comfortable, so Izuku opted for his favourite red sneakers. He tried to tie his tie, he really did, but the fingers on his right hand started shaking and not bending the way he wanted them to, and he couldn't do it. Luckily, Ochako was walking past at that moment and was able to save him from the truly Herculean task of dressing himself, though she had to get embarrassingly close to him to do that, the realisation of which made her turn red, which caused a chain reaction to turn Izuku red, which caused the reaction it always caused and made Hitoshi lose about a few minutes of his prep time to keeping himself from laughing at the two of them.
A few minutes before they started, Izuku hopped down from the stage and reached into the core in his chest, letting the power of his Quirks flow into him. He hadn't had much use for this Quirk yet, evidenced by the fact that he still needed to go through the process of calling on it when he wanted to use it, but he'd had an idea a few weeks ago and wanted to try it. He got on one knee and put his hands on the ground in the middle of the space where the audience would be in just a few minutes. He called on the feeling he'd experienced when he manifested this Quirk months ago and pushed out with his hand, pressing his fingertips against the cold concrete floor. Purple mist issued from the palm of his hand, spilling out through his fingers and spreading low across the ground. Izuku stood and watched Smokescreen work its magic, and though the fog didn't manage to spread very far, as it was only a test, Izuku liked what he saw. He then knelt once again and pushed the Quirk harder, getting a low-hanging layer of mist the colour of Hitoshi's hair to stick to the ground, rising to about knee-height. He walked around and did it a few more times, covering the entire area of the audience's space with Smokescreen. Izuku would've done it in one large burst, but it had to stick low to the floor, and the larger the Smokescreen got, the less control he had over the shape and how it spread. He smiled as he watched his idea become reality, and he realised that he could use his new Air Force to disperse it when the concert was done. He really loved his Quirks, especially at times like these.
Eventually, finally, it was time to begin. The audience began shuffling in about five minutes before their listed start time, and Izuku, from the very edge of the stage as he peeked his head out, recognised a number of faces. All Might, Aizawa, Present Mic, even his mother was there, which gave him a bit of pause. There was a strange duo at the very front of the crowd that caught his eye immediately, a tall man with white hair and eyes outlined in thick eyeshadow and wearing a suit that looked cheap and expensive at the same time, somehow, and an very small girl with long red hair put up in ponytails and carrying a decently expensive looking video camera and looking through it with her strangely coloured eyes. She also had those dark rings around the eyes, though hers were less like the man she was with and more like Hitoshi after a few bad nights of insomnia. Something in Izuku stirred at the sight of them, a barely noticeable itch at the back of his skull, and he frowned. They looked strange, but they probably weren't any trouble. Just a man and what seemed to be his daughter enjoying the festival. They were probably just the visiting family of a student. After all, he did spot his own mother in the crowd, even when she was fairly short, so it was only natural that his eyes were drawn to two eccentric dressers. Izuku told himself that was the reason he'd paused on them and moved on.
The lights dimmed, and 1-A walked onto the stage as a collective. Everyone got into their positions, and Izuku heard mumbled swears as drumsticks clattered against each other. After a few moments, the lights came back on and the harsh white bulbs became so bright above him that Izuku could no longer see the audience. It was just a sea of black, and not being able to see peoples' faces really did wonders to dull his nerves. He wondered if this was what professional musicians and dancers felt, but thought that it probably wasn't since a professional would surely be able to get over stage fright. How could someone be nervous to do something they'd done hundreds of times? Izuku smiled, just like Ashido had told them to, and Jiro walked up to the lead microphone, adjusting the strap of her guitar.
"Hey, everyone! We're Class 1-A — welcome to our show. Hope you enjoy!" she said into the microphone, and it reverberated throughout the hall.
Then the music started, and Izuku found himself dancing. He didn't know the names of the moves he was doing, even though Ashido had put together a whole slideshow presentation to explain to them what was what. She even had anecdotal evidence for their 'awesomeness', as she'd put it, though they were unplanned as Ashido often found herself derailing her own explanations and veering into personal stories and memories about when she'd first been learning dance and little detours like that. It had been a lot of fun getting to know Ashido better through joining in on one of her passions, and even though Izuku spoke with Ashido relatively often during game nights that they both attended, he felt thatthiswas the thing that had truly gotten him to understand the way she saw things, what made her tick. The enthusiasm she had when it came to dance was the same as Izuku's when it came to heroism. It helped him see deeper into her personality than the jokes that were frequently made at her expense about how she often failed tests, or passed only by the thinnest margin. The more he learned about just how much Ashido loved this passion of hers, the more he could see how it informed everything else about how she interacted with the world, the time he'd scraped his knee and she'd had a bandage on her due to how much she tripped while trying some new move, those kinds of things. Izuku couldn't help but smile as his muscle memory took over and he relished how much more he understood his friend now.
About halfway through the song, as the music slowed down for a slower interlude, Izuku knew it was time. He looked over at Hagakure, all the way down at the other end of the stage, and ran forward. He brought out three percent of One for All into one leg, his right, and leapt. He didn't use his Quirk with his Full Cowling style, so there was no sparking energy around him, just a brief gust of wind that blew back everyone's hair, as well as the Smokescreen he'd poured out over the floor, but otherwise didn't do much. This burst of strength propelled him upward, and he soared up toward the scaffolding up above the lights and out of the audience's field of vision. He was most of the way there, and prepared to turn around upon landing, and—
!
Izuku flinched as Danger Sense unexpectedly triggered, and he got the strangest, intrusive feeling that he was going to hit his legs on something if he didn't move them. A frown on his face, he tucked his legs up and cleared the scaffolding easily, quietly landing on it so that he didn't drown out the song. He turned around and threw his hand out, aiming at Hagakure as she broke out of the formation the dance squad was in and ran at the audience with a bright smile on her face. She was visible right now, but as she neared the edge of the stage, she became invisible again, leaving her clothes to express her body language. She'd recently learned how to control her visibility outside of the device she and Izuku had worked on with Power Loader, and it brought a smile to Izuku's face to see her hard work pay off. Izuku aimed to snag her with Blackwhip before she jumped, and reeled his hand back to throw the inky tether.
!
Izuku gasped almost silently as Danger Sense went off again. He got the feeling that if he shot Blackwhip right at that very moment, something bad would happen, so he didn't. He waited until Hagakure had moved a few steps forward and took her leap off the stage, only feeling like the risk of firing off his Quirk was warranted when she hit the apex of her jump. He wrapped her in an extra-thick Blackwhip and swung her around, letting her conserve her momentum as she was flung over the heads of the audience members. As this happened, Izuku wondered what the hell was going on with Danger Sense. It had never gone off this much while he wasn't in active combat. There had to be something causing this, but he kept playing his part in the big show for now. He wasn't about to ruin everyone's hard work.
Aoyama stepped up, but that wasn't the next step in the plan. Izuku glanced behind him and saw that they were indeed on track, as Todoroki squatted a few metres down on the same row of metal scaffolding and held onto a rail to keep himself up. He held his right hand down below the scaffolding and glittering snowflakes, little shimmers of frost dropped from his hand and began falling into the audience, like it had become winter inside the hall without the cold and wet parts of winter, just the little icicles glittering in the overhead lights that evaporated by the time they reached the audience. It was then that Aoyama's part was due, and as Hagakure came back around toward the stage on her swing, he fired off a thin, weak beam of his Navel Laser, colliding with her head on.
Nobody knew the exact science behind it, but Hagakure had never been harmed by Aoyama's Quirk. Instead, she simply bent the light around her and refracted it into a million little beams that lit the audience up like a rainbow, casting every colour of light across the hall. This diluted the Navel Laser enough to where it wouldn't harm anyone, and as most of the beams caught on the snowflakes Todoroki was sending down, it lit the whole hall with glittering lights of all different shapes and colours as the light from Aoyama was refracted dozens of times over. Izuku looked down to gauge the audience's reaction to this, and saw a sea of smiles and happy faces, looking up at the display and cheering as the music picked back up with a faster, louder, more energetic section.
!
Another warning from Danger Sense, the most severe yet. He got the feeling that the way he was swinging Hagakure would end up hurting someone, and looked down at her to see her grinning ear to ear and having the time of her life. Izuku knew his control of Blackwhip could get a bit shaky when he let himself be overwhelmed by his emotions, but he was stable and feeling good, so that wasn't the reason. He physically could not let go of Blackwhip, since it was a Quirk and could not be disconnected from him. The only reason why Izuku chose to hold onto his Blackwhips like they were real ropes was for leverage and other physics-related reasons, so that wasn't why he got this ping from Danger Sense. As Hagakure swung over the crowd again, Izuku's eyes were drawn past her, and they came to rest on two people as if they had a mind of their own. His intuition guided his gaze to those two from earlier, the man dressed in the tacky suit and the young girl with the strange eyes. As he stared down at them, the man looked up, his icy blue eyes piercing through the lighting effects of the concert and meeting Izuku's gaze evenly and without hesitation.
Izuku's blood ran cold as he realised that he'd misjudged those two. He'd ignored his gut feeling and now it was coming back to bite him. That sickness in his stomach came back in full force as Izuku had to curl himself up and tense every muscle in his body to stay balanced up in the scaffolding. Those eyes had the same kind of intent he'd seen over and over in the villains he'd faced last semester. Those eyes were looking for a way to cause some chaos. Izuku couldn't do both, though — he couldn't keep playing his role in the concert and stop that man from doing whatever it was that he was attempting. The people down there in the audience, and even the kids in his own class all needed this concert to go off without a hitch, and he wasn't about to stop everything just for some man who hadn't even done anything yet. Izuku stayed in place as the duo began to prematurely walk off before the performance was even over.
When the song ended, and everything ramped down, Izuku did what he was supposed to do. As the applause began, he lengthened Blackwhip until Hagakure touched back down on the stage safely. He then gave Todoroki a Blackwhip tether and they both dropped from the scaffolding, only to be cushioned by Float as they slowly sank through the air and landed on the stage with a light thud. Izuku regretted having to leave his class as they were celebrating, even having to tell his own mother that they'd have to talk later, but he ran over and found Aizawa after he'd vacated the hall and pulled him aside. He told Aizawa all about how Danger Sense had been triggered three different times, and how he thought it was those two who'd been the cause of it. He told Aizawa all about the pair, what they looked like and what they were wearing, but had a strange request.
"Can you look for them without alerting everyone?" he asked.
"Why?" Aizawa asked, gritting his teeth. Izuku knew he didn't like to play these sorts of games when it came to doing his job as a hero, but he'd feel bad if he didn't at least ask.
"I don't want the festival to be shut down if it turns out they're villains. I want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves no matter if we catch the guy or not," Izuku explained before sending Aizawa a rapid, stream of consciousness, mumbled flow of apologies.
"Fine. If this guy gets away because we can't openly search, you'll get detention forever," Aizawa said, and power-walked off to go tell the other teachers to be on the lookout.
Izuku searched for about half an hour. He kept running into his friends, who were wondering what he was doing, but he brushed them off. He told Hitoshi and Tsu, who were going around and trying out all the different games — Hitoshi always tried to win a plush toy for Tsu, but it was always Tsu who ended up getting one for him — that he was looking for a bathroom. He told Katsuki that he was just being his regular old weirdo self when the blond called him out for combing through a crowd three different times looking for the strangers. He told Ochako he was looking for his mother, and later spotted the two of them talking and laughing together over a cup of tea, which very nearly made him abandon the search for those two strangers in favour of finding out exactly what they were talking about and if Izuku's mother was telling Ochako anything embarrassing about him — not that he wanted Ochako to think he was cool for any particular reason. All Might knew what was happening by the time Izuku bumped into him, so he was okay with letting him wander around. By the time he was ready to take a break, Izuku was beginning to sweat from the sheer effort he was putting into the search attempt, as he could not let this day turn bad.
Finally, he found them. The white haired man's snow-coloured head poked out from behind a sign advertising some stall or something by some of Izuku's upperclassmen. Izuku gasped softly and looked around for any point higher up that he could get to in order to have the advantage when he attempted to catch them. There wasn't, so he was stuck with a ground assault. He could've used Float to get above them, but that would draw the attention of everyone else, which would alert the strangers to the floating boy above them, so that was off the table. Going through his options, Izuku found that all he really had was a straightforward capture attempt from the ground. He took a few breaths to steady himself, and walked around the side of the stall without saying a word. Izuku braced himself for anything. It could either go very well or very poorly, and civilians could pay the price. He had to be at the top of his game. Izuku had this. Surely.