"Next!"
The line shuffled forward slightly at the call, with people both in front of and behind Izuku inching forward at a snail's pace. Grumbles arose from various people as their entrance to the Sports Festival was delayed, but Izuku was a little more understanding than them.
For one, he kind of expected it to take a while. Nejire had told him that there was a break-in recently, and that the principal had gone out of his way to make sure that nothing similar occurred anytime soon.
He didn't expect it to be so… bureaucratic, though.
"Next!"
As one, everybody took another small step forward.
He had gotten here relatively early, heeding her warning and expecting a wait to enter, but so had the rest of Japan by the looks of things. Izuku had been here for well over an hour, and was still nowhere near the entrance.
"Next!"
Damn. At this rate he wasn't even going to make it to the closing ceremony. This wasn't even the only line they had - he could see at least two more stretching out beyond his field of view.
At least he wasn't here to see the first year students compete. Their festival was two days ago, with U.A. spreading out each year over the course of the long weekend.
Thank God for that. If Izuku had to come here and run the risk of bumping into Bakugou, Nejire would have had a much tougher time convincing him to show up - if he didn't outright refuse immediately. It would have been painful (and he was positive he would have felt like a colossal prick), but his fear of ever seeing Bakugou again far outweighed his sole tentative friendship.
Besides, this was all going to come crashing down on Izuku sooner or later. It was a miracle she hadn't asked about his Quirk yet - aside from a fleeting question if it was the reason his hair was green when they met - but when she eventually did, he had a sinking feeling she wasn't exactly going to be happy with the answer.
"Next!"
Speak of the devil. His phone started buzzing the moment Nejire popped into his head.
Izuku was quick to pull it out of his pocket, hiding a smile at the profile picture Nejire's contact now bore even though no one was looking at him. He had finally replaced the blank bubble with the picture Nejire had made him take of her back during their second meeting, and even though it wasn't a very good picture (which he was in no small part to blame for) it suited her very well.
Nejire
Izuku! are you here yet? we start in like 30 minutes!
i think
they havent made an announcement yet but im pretty sure its soon!
Izuku
I'm in the line to get in right now
Nejire
what?! dont tell me u just got here! :(
Izuku
No, I've been outside the stadium for about two hours now in line to get in. There is a big wait
Nejire
oh no! i didnt realize that there was going to be that many people, im sorry! i woulda told you to come earlier!
it wasn't like this last year at all!
are you at least close?
Izuku looked up at the absolutely gigantic stadium, now fully hidden in its massive shadow. They were nearing midday, so it was shrinking slightly as the sun rose higher and higher, but he was still pretty far along. There was still a large swath of people ahead of him though, so who knew when he'd actually arrive.
Izuku
I think. I don't know how far into the stadium the line goes, so maybe? I'm close to the stadium itself, though. And I think the third year Festival is usually the most popular, right? Because it's the last one people will see before you become a full-on pro, and they usually have the best fights apparently
Nejire
yeah that sounds smart
Ryukyu was telling me something about that the other day but its in one ear and out the other with her sometimes. shes great but she can talk a LOT!
dont get her started on the rankings system
Izuku
I'll take your word for it
"Ticket, please."
Izuku looked up in surprise at the gravelly voice, only to freeze as he realized he was staring down a pro Hero.
Ectoplasm, to be specific.
It seemed like he had just found another way U.A. had ramped up security; pro Heroes had quite a knack for keeping areas nice and peaceful, and who wasn't going to have second thoughts about committing crime when Ectoplasm's smiling visage was the first thing to greet them at the Sports Festival? Especially considering his reputation as one of the top Heroes around, even with prosthetic–"
"Well?" Ectoplasm raised an eyebrow. "I need to see your ticket, not listen to you spout off about my legs."
Izuku tensed as he realized that he had started muttering. Again. "S-s-sorry, s-sir."
He was quick to fish around in his pockets for the ticket Nejire had given him, trying really hard to ignore the way his face was proudly displaying the shame he felt. The instant he had the ticket in his hands he was offering it to Ectoplasm, not even bothering to try and meet the Hero's eyes.
Obviously, since his eyes were firmly trained on his feet, he couldn't see the way Ectoplasm's eyes widened at his ticket. Quickly shaking his head, he handed it off to yet another clone, whose sole purpose was to verify tickets for all entries.
It only took a moment for him to scan it with a small reader, placing it into a shredder and returning to the original clone with a fresh lanyard. Ectoplasm offered it to Izuku, who quickly took it with a mumbled 'thanks' as he was ushered inside.
The stadium was a lot bigger on the inside. After walking through a small tunnel, it widened into a massive hallway full of little shops. Some were filled with generic Hero merchandise, the same you could find at any basic outlet, while others seemed to be more U.A. branded. There were also several brand-name stores prominently displayed, likely paying the school a small fortune to be allowed to set up shop here, and a handful of food stands.
And that was just what Izuku could see. There were probably six times as many stores littered throughout the other parts of the miniature colosseum, each with a horde of people looking to spend as much money as they could in the little time they had here.
"Izuku!" A voice called. Izuku didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
Nejire pushed through the crowd with the authority of someone who knew they were better than everybody around them. She didn't blink as she moved people much larger than her out of the way, eyes firmly trained on the green fluff known as Izuku's hair.
"There you are!" She said happily, "I've been waiting for you!"
"H-hi," he replied, "Um, sorry. I didn't think it would t-take so long."
She giggled. "You don't have to apologize!" Nejire took a moment to give him a once-over, nodding appreciatively at his attire. "You look good!"
Izuku blushed so hard it looked like his face was allergic to compliments. When was the last time someone said something so… flattering about him? It was probably something else Nejire had said to him, all things considered.
He was wearing a plain emerald t-shirt from their time at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall, as well as a simple pair of jeans. It wasn't exactly what he'd call fashionable, but what did he know?
"T-t-thanks," he mumbled, "You look n-nice too."
And that was the truth. To be fair, Nejire was just wearing what Izuku assumed was the generic U.A. gym uniform - a dark blue tracksuit with the school's name blazoned across the front of the jacket in big white letters, but she always looked nice.
Nejire gave him a bright smile. "You think so?" She asked, "Thanks! I'm not a big fan of the fact that we have to wear them instead of our Hero costumes, but it's nice to know somebody likes them!"
Izuku just nodded, not bothering to tell her that it wasn't because of the outfit - even if it, ahem, hugged her figure nicely. But he was smart enough to not say something that would result in her slapping him.
"Come with me!" Nejire said suddenly, reaching out and taking his hand and sending him through the usual motions of blushing like an idiot, "I want to introduce you to my friends!"
In all honesty, it was probably for the best that she was holding onto him this time. With the way she was moving through the hordes of people, it was more likely than not that he'd either wind up losing her or be swept away by the crowd. Nejire seemed to have a knack for getting people out of the way.
Izuku silently mourned the loss of his chances at getting something from the katsudon stand.
She dragged him through what felt like the entirety of the stadium, taking so many twists and turns that he was beginning to think that she was just trying to get him lost. If that was the case, then Nejire was doing a wonderful job at it, but there seemed to be a method to her madness.
At least, a method that didn't wind up with him in the Cask of Amontillado.
She stopped in front of what seemed to be a green room, banging on the door loudly and bringing all chatter inside to a halt. "Mirio! Tamaki! Get your butts out here!"
Nejire immediately walked over to the door on the other side of the wall, repeating her actions. "Yuyu!" She cried out, a lot nicer than she was for her first attempt, "Come out here! I want to show you something!"
"Something?" Izuku repeated to himself quietly, lost. Was he an object to Nejire? She was way too similar to a cat.
The door on their right swung open. "Alright, Nejire," a masculine voice that Izuku knew all too well groaned, "We've only got like fifteen minutes before we're set to go, so what is it this ti–"
Togata froze like a deer in headlights as his eyes locked on Izuku, and Amajiki wasn't very far behind (in both the literal and figurative sense). "Uh…"
They were saved from having to formulate a response by the fact that the door Izuku and Nejire were standing in front of opened less than a second afterwards. A girl with short, spiky, peach-colored hair peeked out, an admonishment on her lips–
And then her eyes fell on the short, green-haired boy at Nejire's side, and she promptly closed her mouth.
And then opened it again.
"Nejire," she began slowly, eyes not daring to leave Izuku, "Did you… kidnap this boy?"
Nejire snorted. "Of course not!" She laughed, "This is my friend, Izuku! Say hi!"
Izuku offered Yuyu and the boys a shy wave. At least he didn't have to pretend to be nervous now that there was someone he actually didn't know in front of him. "H-hello, I'm Midoriya Izuku."
Yuyu narrowed her eyes at Nejire. "You kidnapped him."
She huffed in protest at Yuyu's accusation, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out at her female friend. "Not true! Tell them, Izuku!"
"She didn't k-kidnap me," he confirmed, "Um, she invited me here. I've, ah, heard good things about all of you…"
Yuyu looked as though she still didn't believe Nejire, but she seemingly gave up with a sigh. "Nice to meet you, Midoriya-san. I'm Haya Yuyu."
"L-likewise."
Nejire gave Togata and Amajiki, who had both been strangely silent (well, maybe not Amajiki, but definitely Mirio) a weird look. "C'mon guys!" She urged, "Be nice!"
She elbowed Togata in the side for good measure, but it looked like he didn't even feel it. He coughed awkwardly into his fist. "R-right! Nice ta meetcha, Midoriya-kun! I'm Togata Mirio!"
He offered Izuku a thumbs up, and he dimly realized he could probably ruin Togata and Amajiki's day if he called them out for spying.
Maybe a little more than that, actually.
But he wasn't a cruel person. Also Nejire probably valued those two as friends way more than himself, so he was just fine playing along.
"Nice to meet you too."
Amajiki was too busy muttering something about potatoes to greet him, but at least he looked guilty about the whole stalking incident.
"I met Izuku a few weeks ago," Nejire explained, "And he's really smart! And fun! He doesn't go to U.A., so I made sure to invite him to our Sports Festival to watch me win in style!"
Haya nodded slowly, an understanding look on her face. "Is that why you were unable to go to that fashion show in Saitama with me two Sundays ago?"
Nejire bobbed her head. "Yep! We already had plans in Kiyashi. Sorry!"
"You don't have to apologize," Haya snorted, "It's good to see you making new friends. As for you, Midoriya…"
Her gaze fell onto Izuku, and a dark look briefly took over her visage. "If you even think about hurting our Nejire, I will make sure you wish you'd never been born."
Oh, the irony. There already were days he wished he'd never been born… but he hadn't had many since he met Nejire.
Still, he understood that Haya clearly wasn't one for empty threats. "G-got it."
He offered her a nervous, jerky nod.
Nejire pouted. "Be nice, Yuyu!" She admonished her friend, who looked completely unbothered, "Izuku isn't like that! And if he was, he wouldn't have given me all those cool new ideas on how to use my Quirk!"
Togata froze. "You mean…"
She nodded happily. "Yup!" Nejire pulled Izuku into her arms, giving him a hug from behind that turned his cheeks so red you could cook an egg on them. "Izuku's my secret weapon today!"
"U-uh…" He stuttered like an idiot. It was one thing to be so friendly in private (it still made him blush like a fool), but to hug him in such a public space, in front of her friends?
He was right. Nejire was going to kill him. Slowly and painfully, with tons of embarrassment sprinkled in.
Togata's eyes widened slightly. "Woah," he breathed out, "You must be crazy smart, then!"
Amajiki looked even more out of his depth now, inching closer to Togata to be out of Izuku's line of sight. "C-crap, so he's the reason Nejire's gone crazy in training!"
Izuku blinked, blush rising even higher on his face. "U-um, I-I'm sure i-it's not that impressive, a-and if it is it's because N-Nejire–"
"Nope!" Nejire interrupted, squeezing him even tighter and shaking him like a big teddy bear, "It was all Izuku! He's, like, a genius! He came up with some ideas that I couldn't even dream of for Wave Motion!"
She suddenly gave Togata, Amajiki, and Haya a dark smirk, betraying the gentle way she hugged Izuku. "You'll see exactly what I mean soon, 'kay?"
The trio sweatdropped as she immediately went back to playing with Izuku's hair (with him having no clue what sort of look Nejire had shot them), almost like nothing had ever happened.
Sometimes they forgot how scary Nejire could be when she was determined. And she was really determined to win this year.
"A-anyways," Togata tried, "We're about to start. You might want to bring Midoriya-kun here to his seat before we walk out."
Nejire gasped. "Oh crap, I completely lost track of time!" She looked down at him, a frantic look on her face. "We gotta go! I'll be right back!"
Before Izuku could blink (let alone say goodbye) he was on the move, with Nejire once again pulling him through the twisting corridors of the stadium. In a fraction of the time that it had taken them to reach the locker rooms - or at least that's what Izuku assumed they were - Nejire had deposited him right at one of the tunnels that led out to the stands.
"Ok thanks for coming but I gotta go get ready really quickly because wow I can't really keep track of time and I kind of got lost in the stadium I hope your seat is closeby but I really need to go now I'll see you after the second round okay BYE!"
She zipped off before he even had a chance to process what she said.
–
A few minutes later, after somehow finding his seat, the students marched out in two-by-two formation, determination clear on their faces.
"And would you look at that folks!" Present Mic shouted. He seemed to be the color commentator for each Sports Festival. "Class 3-A and 3-B of the Hero Course are walking out with pride! Give them a round of applause, everyone! I'm sure they're here to make an impression on the many Heroes in the audience!"
"Quite right!" Nedzu added, also in the box. "With this being their final Festival, I expect many standout performances today!"
Izuku tried to ignore their voices to the best of his ability. While there wasn't anything wrong with listening to the announcers per se, he didn't really care about any of the other classes.
Scratch that, he didn't really care about any of this at all aside from Nejire. She was the only reason he attended, and the only reason he'd even think about showing up in the first place. He had thought it would sting to be here, watching an event he'd dreamed of competing in since he was a kid from the stands… and it kind of did, but it was drowned out by the numbness of apathy.
Realistic, he'd call it. After all, it wasn't like he had any real shot of ever making it to U.A. in the first place.
It was easy enough to pick Nejire out of the lines of students that marched out onto the field - her hair and height were more than enough to help her stick out among the crowd, and the fact that she was waving at everyone watching didn't make that any more difficult.
He was pretty sure he was imagining the way he thought her wave grew a little stronger as her eyes trailed over his row of seats.
"And now, for our student representative speech!" Present Mic announced, "Led by, once again, Togata Mirio!"
Izuku blinked. Togata was the leader of the entire student body?
He trotted up to the podium set up confidently, like he knew he deserved to be there. A broad smile sat on his lips, and his gym uniform looked like the perfect outfit for him.
But despite that…
The small twitch of Togata's fingers, something he could only see because of his seat, told Izuku that he was nervous.
The stadium fell silent as he stepped up to the small microphone. His hands gripped the sides of the lectern coolly.
Izuku thought it looked like the wooden structure would collapse if he put any more strain on it.
"My name is Togata Mirio!" He said, practically shouting into the microphone. "This time, with pants!"
The crowd roared with laughter at what was surely a reference that went over Izuku's head. Togata offered them a bright smile, more than happy to wait for them to quiet down.
"I'm here to show everybody - Heroes, villains, and civilians alike - that I am here!" He roared, "The new generation of Heroes is here, and we're ready to show you what we got! And what we got is…"
He paused for a moment, the entire stadium on the edge of their seats.
"POWER!"
The crowd exploded. Izuku didn't think he'd ever heard anything so loud.
"What an incredible introduction to our Festival this year by Togata Mirio!" Present Mic lauded, clapping alongside the crowd as Togata returned to his class, "It seems like he, and everybody else here, is ready to make a statement to the world! What do you think, Snipe?!"
Snipe, who was not only 3-A's homeroom teacher according to Nejire but also the referee for the Festival today, offered the booth a simple nod.
Clearly, he approved.
"And now, for our first event… A favorite of American high schools…"
The stadium grew silent. And eager.
"The Obstacle Course!"
As one, the crowd seemed to groan in disappointment. Whatever the thousands of people present were hoping for, this wasn't it.
Present Mic just laughed. "Now, now, you haven't even let us explain the event! Principal Nedzu, if you'd do the honors?"
Nedzu hummed into the microphone. "Of course!" A small sound, almost like a child clapping, echoed through the stadium. "As some of you may know, this year our first years competed in a simple, if not difficult, segmented foot race around the stadium. In homage to their juniors' epic clash, the third years will be doing something a little similar."
The ground beneath the stadium began to shake, causing many in the stands to gasp - but the students looked completely unfazed. A large portion of the dusty field sunk into the earth, but it seemed to be by design.
"In no small part thanks to the wonderful efforts of our very own Cementoss and Power Loader, with a very special thank you to Pixie Bob of the Wild Wild Pussycats," Nedzu continued, narrating over the sound of the shifting field, "We have come up with what we believe to be the greatest opportunity for each and every one of our gathered students to show off their skills."
Where the ground previously sank, a new field arose. It was as if concrete was vulnerable to radiation mutating it - and a miniature Chernobyl had gone off below the dirt. Imagine a jungle gym with absolutely zero wasted space, completely interconnected with itself in one incredible test of endurance and dexterity.
And went on for three miles. Based on the live footage they were showing of the area around the stadium, that was exactly what was going on.
Also, it looked alive. Machinery whirred and hummed across every aspect of the course, creating something that looked far scarier than any villain Izuku had ever heard of.
He hoped Power Loader got a good bonus for this.
"A true test!" Nedzu chuckled, "We want our students to have some fun today, don't we? This five-kilometer course has everything an athlete needs - rope climbs, log rolling, blind leaps of faith - and even more! Of course, a clever few among you may find the need to skip such difficult events and simply head for the finish, but where's the fun in that? As such, there are colored flags at the end of each segment - twenty in total - and you need to collect at least fifteen to have your time count at the end of the course. The first fifty students to garner a valid time will advance to the next round! Wonderful, isn't it? It doesn't matter how you make it through - over, under, through… It's all fair game!"
Hmm. Izuku had a funny feeling about what was going to come next.
Nedzu's speech seemed to bring life back to the crowd - maybe a little too well, actually. The cheers were now even louder than previously, and Izuku was struggling not to cover his ears as they were assaulted. When a hundred massive TV's rose up from the nosebleeds of the stadium, offering constant coverage of each aspect of the course, he did cover them.
"Woohoo!" Present Mic cheered, only exacerbating the problem, "Any students our beloved fans should keep a close eye on for this one, Principal?"
He hummed. "Well, the Big Three are as lively as ever, and Togata-kun's Quirk makes him quite suited for dodging some of the more… unfavorable parts of the course, but Sana-kun from 3-D has quite a useful Quirk to deal with concrete, and we can't forget about all the little tricks our Support Classes are sure to have in store…"
If he could see the principal, he was sure he would have been shrugging at that moment. "I guess we'll have to wait and see!"
Izuku smirked, a real rarity these days. He could probably count on one finger the number of time's he'd done so since he was four; maybe less.
They probably wouldn't be waiting very long.
"On my mark!" Snipe barked, immediately silencing the crowd as he raised a pistol to the skies, "Three!"
The entire third year tensed. Some got into running positions, some seemed to be firing up their Quirks, and some did both at once.
"Two!"
Nejire did neither. Instead, she simply locked eyes with Izuku, smiled, and nodded.
He smiled back. He didn't need to wish her good luck; he already knew she'd easily win.
"One!"
And he knew exactly what technique they had crafted that she would use.
Izuku did kind of hope she didn't get in trouble, though. The principal had said through, after all…
A single gunshot rang out from the otherwise silent stadium.
A pulse.
The entire swarm of students surged forward as one, scrambling and fighting to be the first one into the course–
"NEJIRE-COMET!"
But they would all be disappointed.
Flying was fun, and it was one of Nejire's plethora of strong suits. Not too many Quirks were as versatile as hers, and even less offered the power to reach the skies with the relative ease Wave Motion did.
Or the speed. Of course, speed was a moot point if and when you didn't have the reaction time to keep yourself from crashing into the first tree you passed, and even more so if you didn't have the ability to turn on a dime mid-flight.
Nejire, on her own, was pretty mobile in the air. With the breakthrough Izuku had found of corkscrew spirals eliminating time and cutting waste, she could be pretty damn fast too.
But what if she used her Quirk on herself? Better yet - what if she coated herself in Wave Motion as she did so?
The answer was heighted, well, everything. Heightened reflexes, speeds, and a layer of the classic spiral Nejire was known for around her body to shield her from the worst effects of putting your body through the sound barrier several times over. And with the twin streams of corkscrews shooting out of her legs, there wasn't much that would stand in her way.
Especially not a measly little obstacle course.
A blazing streak of gold blasted through the ranks of students, leaving behind rustled clothes and ruffled hair - as well as a broken sound barrier as Nejire hit Mach 2. She likely could have been quicker if she needed to, but there was no point in doing that when she'd be decelerating and making ninety-degree turns so much through the course.
Of course, there were points where that would be untenable, and certain structural damages would be accrued as Nejire went through the obstacle course's foundations, but that wasn't her problem.
It was everyone else's, for all the people who had to make it through the course after her.
"What is this?!" Present Mic screamed as the glass around the stadium began to crack and shatter. "Principal, were you expecting anything–"
Izuku tuned him out. There was no use for the color commentary at the moment - he had no chance to keep up.
Nejire's little stunt had briefly frozen some of her fellow competitors, but by the time they had all started moving again (some, like Togata, hadn't stopped in the first place) it was far too late.
Fifteen seconds later, Nejire was back at the start, slightly behind the lagging tail of the third years.
Ten colored flags sat in each of her hands as a buzzer went off signifying her victory.
The crowd went ballistic.
But Nejire only had eyes for Izuku.
–
It was an awkward forty minutes as Nejire waited patiently for the rest of her classmates to finish the obstacle course.
Or rather, for any of her classmates to finish.
At least, Izuku hoped she thought it was awkward. By the five-minute mark, she was all over HeroTube. By the fifteen-minute mark, which was how long it took for Togata to show up, panting in exhaustion with green-lighting flashing in little sparks off his body (which was drenched in sweat), the crowd had finally lost their ability to scream. Not Present Mic, though. He couldn't keep quiet if he tried, it seemed.
Nedzu was not in the same boat. He hadn't spoken since Nejire blasted off, oddly enough.
The worst part for everybody present (not named Hadou Nejire or Midoriya Izuku) was probably that Nejire didn't even look winded. Of course, she was certainly drained by such a move, but Izuku imagined that she'd prepared a lot of pent-up energy for the Festival. She probably couldn't maintain it for much more than five minutes, considering she wasn't literally bursting at the seams before they started.
But that just meant fifteen seconds was a drop in the bucket to her. The really scary part was what happened after she got well-acclimated to the ultimate move after some time honing it and upping her stamina.
They had only gotten a working prototype five days ago, after all.
Amajiki showed up around eight minutes after Togata, and that was when the race for fourth-place began. Unfortunately, it seemed like Nejire-Comet had turned a good portion of the course into a literal disaster, complete with collapsing concrete structures and unstable earth, so maybe their tardiness could be forgiven.
At least Nejire was having fun. She hadn't stopped smiling since she finished, and every time Izuku blinked her grin just got bigger.
"And with Naoe Yamato rounding out the top fifty, that's it for the first round!" Present Mic announced, "Let's give everybody a big round of applause for their efforts!"
Present Mic's shouting dragged Izuku out of his thoughts, his eyes darting over to the fiftieth-placed third year who just barely edged out one of his comrades. He collapsed into the winner's circle, but nobody there really felt like a winner.
Aside from you-know-who, but that was a given.
His call revitalized the flagging crowd, who gave out a final massive cheer for the competitors who had made it to the second round before finally giving into their exhaustion. A quick peek around the stadium showed that some particularly dedicated fans had already thrown together some signs declaring their support for Nejire… among other things.
If she ever wanted a boyfriend, she certainly wasn't starved for options. It seemed like every other guy in the crowd wanted her number.
To be fair, he couldn't say he didn't see the appeal. Nejire was the most amazing person he knew for a reason - even Bakugou didn't compare.
So he could neither condone nor condemn; Izuku merely understood.
…It was still pretty creepy, though.
"Anyways!" Mic shouted into the microphone, creating a painful feedback loop that silenced the stadium. "Snipe! Tell us what we've got in store for our Hero-hopefuls in round two!"
The cowboy-clad Hero nodded at his coworker's words, adjusting the mic that sat on his collar. "Cops and robbers. If you'll all take a look towards the big screen with me…"
His hand pointed the audience in the direction of the biggest television in the stadium - the one standing on top of Present Mic and Nedzu's broadcasting booth. It displayed what looked like… a city?
"Our fifty remaining competitors will be taking a quick trip over to training ground Gamma," Snipe began, "Where the battlefield will consist of the entire city. Two teams will be made - cops and robbers. To advance, the rules are simple - eliminate at least one member of the opposing team using any means necessary. You can work together with your teammates if you want… but in the real world, it's a dog eat dog world, and only one person can claim a bounty. If you want to leave your pals swimming with the fishes, that's up to you - but remember that your actions will be judged by the viewing world."
The screen suddenly shifted to show a list of every remaining student, with their name placed right next to a picture of their head. "Of course, back in the Wild West the most notorious criminals had bounties placed on their heads by the law in an effort to entice people to take them down - a good plan, by the way - but that was a double-edged sword. For each Billy the Kid taken out, there was a Pat Garret who was the bane of the scum of the earth, and there were underground rings that demanded his head too."
Beneath each student's name, seven zeroes appeared, slowly ticking up. "Each one of you will have a bounty that determines seeding for the final round," Snipe elaborated, "But they'll also have another purpose - you need at least ten-thousand dollars worth of bounties collected to be allowed to finish your time in the city. No room for slackers, you have to earn your keep. Once you've collected enough bounties, which will be marked by a special armband worn by all competitors, you're free to make a break for it back to the stadium to claim your spot in the final sixteen. Your own bounty doesn't count towards your total, however - what kind of criminal just turns themselves in?"
Most of the numbers - bounties, Izuku corrected - had finished ticking up by the time Snipe had finished his speech. At the lowest was Naoe Yamato from earlier, a measly 2,500 dollars listed below his name - as well as a golden police badge to symbolize his team. In forty-ninth, the contestant had a slightly higher bounty of 2,750 dollars, forty-eighth had 3,000, and so on.
Except for Nejire.
Her bounty was 100,000,000 dollars. Robber.
Plus Ultra, Izuku thought dumbly as every single eye in the stadium landed on her.
At least she looked excited.
–
It was a very fair fight.
For one simple reason.
Once you got your 10,000 dollars worth of bounties, you had to leave. No running up the score and preventing others from getting a chance to move on. Also, eliminating the entire enemy team by yourself would have ruined the game.
(This rule was announced just before the second round started. Izuku had a funny feeling they didn't think it would be necessary until recent developments made it clear a 25-0 sweep was in the cards.)
The moment Snipe's gun went off, Nejire was on the hunt for her friends. Luckily for Amajiki and Haya, they had placed third and ninth respectively, meaning they were on her team.
Togata was not so lucky.
She shot off like a rocket in pursuit of whatever place the boy had taken shelter in, nearly taking his head off alongside his armband in the blink of an eye. He ducked and disappeared into the floor, and what resulted was a five-minute long game of cat-and-mouse across the entire city. Nobody wanted to get between them - at least, not when Nejire was taking buildings down like they were made of cardboard.
Eventually, however, Togata gave her the slip in the middle of the wreckage. Izuku had a funny feeling that Nejire would pay him back with interest in the third round for his dedication to self-preservation.
Regardless, it didn't take long for Nejire to accrue 10,000 points. She just zipped through the dense city streets, taking down anyone and everyone not wearing a dark beanie atop their heads like the criminals of old. She took out three people, checked her numbers, and flew away disappointed.
He figured she would have had more fun if she got to fight all twenty-five of her opponents. Or at least if someone tried to take her armband. Nobody even considered approaching her.
She was the first one back to the stadium as a result, once again greeted by thunderous applause and ecstatic cheers. Nejire was forced yet again to wait for the competition to go on without her, but considering the fact that she had completely and utterly decimated everyone in her year twice in a row by this point Izuku figured she didn't mind.
Since most of the other teens didn't have flight or super-speed, they had to wait for the round to end to escape in their 'getaway cars' and ride back to the stadium.
To say they were surprised to see Nejire already waiting would have been a lie.
But that had happened already. They were on break now, intermission having started five minutes ago to allow the eliminated competitors a chance to show off for the crowd while the remaining sixteen fighters warmed up for the one-on-one bouts.
Izuku thought about just waiting in his seat, but the rumbling in his stomach forced him up. He'd probably just get something light before returning to the stands, since he couldn't imagine Nejire wanting to do anything other than hang out with her friends–
"Izuku! Hey, Izuku! Over here!"
Nejire proved him wrong once again as she pushed through the crowd of people around her. This time, instead of simply being in the way of everyone, they seemed to be in the way of Nejire specifically. People were flashing cameras, offering her pens and shirts for autographs, and crying out for her to give them her phone number, with the horde moving around her like a plague.
She seemed more than happy to ignore them the moment she locked eyes with Izuku though.
"Come with me!" She shouted, her tone leaving no room for argument as she flew over her adoring fans to snatch him up, "Let's go get some food!"
Even if he didn't want to, he wasn't exactly in a position to refuse. Nejire literally had him in her claws - of course that was just a figure of speech, and her hands were actually really soft and gentle and not like claws in any way, shape or form–"
"You're funny, Izuku!" Nejire giggled, no longer flying and instead dragging him towards… somewhere, "Your little mutters are so cute!"
"C-c-cute?!" He shrieked, voice high and beyond embarrassed (and too focused on her words to think about what dumb stuff he had apparently just said to her). The crimson in his cheeks rivaled the color of pomegranate seeds. "I-I-I t-think y-you have the w-wrong p-person!"
Nejire bobbed her head as she walked. "Nope! I definitely have the right person. You are the one who helped me with my Quirk, right? You don't have any secret siblings?"
Steam was blowing out of his ears with every word. Izuku's hypothesis remained correct; she was definitely going to wind up killing him today.
"Nejire, over here!"
At the sound of her name being called, Nejire quickly changed her direction. Her eyes lit up as they landed on her trio of friends, and Izuku soon found himself standing alongside his four seniors once again (who had all made it to the final round, by the way).
Haya looked partly confused, partly afraid, and partly disinterested as she stared at him. "...What happened to your face?"
Oh right. He was currently doing his best strawberry impression. Izuku's eyes darted to the floor. "N-nothing, H-Haya-san."
Togata let out an awkward laugh. "So, Nejire…" he began slowly, "That a new ultimate move of yours?"
Nejire laughed. "Yep! You guys should have seen the looks on your faces when I blasted off, it was hilarious!" She turned to Izuku. "You wouldn't happen to have been filming it by any chance, right?"
He shook his head quickly. "Um, n-no, but p-plenty of other p-people were…"
He offered Nejire his phone, HeroTube already on full display for her. Her eyes widened as she looked at the top five trending videos, slowly realizing that each and every one of them was on her.
Amajiki peered over Nejire's shoulder to see what she was looking at, only to freeze. "T-t-ten million views?!" He gasped, "I-it's only been, like, an hour…"
Nejire shrugged easily. "I guess word travels fast! Look out world," she said loudly, "Nejire-chan is here!"
She seemed to be taking her newfound fame well. "Anyways, Yuyu," Nejire began, turning towards her pink-haired friend, "Are you ready to perform?"
Haya rolled her eyes in frustration, even as Togata and Amajiki tilted their heads in confusion. "I told you," she groaned, "That isn't something we're doing!"
"But the first years did!" Nejire pointed out, pouting slightly.
"They were tricked!" Haya cried, grabbing at her hair. "We went over this!"
Togata placed a hand in between them. "What are you guys even talking about?" He asked, "Us guys are kind of lost here."
Nejire beamed as a result of him giving her the opportunity to explain. "You see," she hurried to say, edging out Haya for speaking time, "The first years had a cheerleading routine they did in between events, and I wanted to do that too! I got my outfit and everything!"
Izuku most certainly did not look as she pulled out a thin, revealing two-piece cheerleading outfit donning the U.A. logo and a pair of pom-poms. If he did, he likely would have gotten a nosebleed as his imagination went wild. Instead, he merely blushed like a maiden and looked away, completely lost for words.
"And I keep telling her that they were tricked!" Haya shouted, "It wasn't planned, it wasn't approved, it just happened out of nowhere! Some pervert probably just blackmailed them or something! And even if it was approved, there is no way in hell I'm wearing that, or letting you wear that in front of millions of people!"
Nejire deflated like a burst balloon. "But I did get approval from Kayama-sensei!" She whined, waving her cheerleading uniform haphazardly in the air, "What am I supposed to do with this now? I'm not going out on my own…"
Nope. Izuku wasn't even going to think about so much as entertaining a response to that question. No way, no how. Out of sight, out of mind.
Togata offered his friend a pat on the back. "We'll figure it out later," he said, trying to comfort Nejire, "But we should get some food now, right? Isn't that why we're at the cafeteria?"
She brightened up immediately. "Oh, yeah!" Nejire facepalmed. "I completely forgot about that!"
The periwinkle-haired girl hurried into the lunchroom, Togata and Haya hot on her heels…
Leaving Amajiki alone with Izuku.
Great.
The older (and somehow shyer) teen tapped his fingers together awkwardly, and Izuku found himself reading the exit sign instead of trying to make small-talk.
It was pretty bad for a few minutes.
Until Tamaki remembered that he was a Hero, that Midoriya was Nejire's friend, and that he should at least try to make him feel welcome… right?
He nearly lost his nerve remembering what the kid had apparently done to make Wave Motion into such a monstrously powerful Quirk.
"U-um…" he started, getting the verdette to slowly turn towards him, "I-I g-guess we should go inside, too… I-if you're hungry, you can eat with us, if you want. Lunch Rush makes pretty good food, and it's probably better than what everybody else has to g-get…"
Izuku nodded slowly. "O-okay…" he mumbled, "U-um, if y-you all d-don't mind me i-intruding…"
Amajiki shook his head, even slower than Izuku had nodded. "Uh, I'm s-sure it's fine. You're Nejire's friend, after all…"
He trailed off awkwardly.
Izuku had never felt like he could relate to someone so well.
–
Lunch was a rowdy affair.
And messy.
The four Hero-students ate with no care for decency, scarfing down as much (and in Amajiki's case, as diverse) food as they could to build up energy for the next round. Izuku was content to just poke around at the katsudon Lunch Rush had prepared for him - he was very embarrassed to order it, by the way - until crumbs started flying into it.
He lost his appetite pretty quickly afterwards.
"So!" Togata clapped his hands together. "You gotta tell us, Nejire, how'd you two meet? And how'd he, uh–"
"Make your Quirk super scary." Haya finished.
Nejire scarfed down the rest of her udon as quickly as she could, slamming the bowl against the table so strongly that it shook Izuku to his core. "I threw Izuku into a lamppost!"
Silence.
"Uh, you're joking right?" Haya asked.
She shook her head. "Nope! I was in a hurry one day, used Wave Motion to try and get home quicker, and ran into Izuku - literally! Recovery Girl was really mad at me for that," she explained happily, "I walked him home, gave him my phone number, and the rest is history!"
Togata shot a brief glance towards him. He looked even more guilty about following him home now. "Oh, uh, interesting."
Nejire nodded. "I know, right? Anyways," she continued, "One day I took Izuku out to that ice cream place I like in Musutafu, you know the one Yuyu, and I showed him my Quirk to explain why the ice cream was so good there, right? And he asked me some questions about it, and I was like, 'Oh, that's so smart! I've never thought about that aspect!', and I tried out some of Izuku's suggestions, and I swear it was like he completely flipped Wave Motion on its head!"
"I'll say," Haya muttered, "I would have never imagined that you'd be able to do… whatever that was in the first round. You called it what, 'Nejire-Comet'?"
"Yep! We've been working on it for a few days, it's pretty awesome, right?"
Izuku raised his head slightly. "W-well," he began, chiming in for the first time and nearly losing his nerve as four pairs of eyes flickered to him, "I-it's mostly y-you working on it, N-N-Nejire. I only r-really offer ideas…"
He fell silent. The weight of their combined gazes was way too much pressure for Izuku to bear. Maybe one of the students here had a Quirk that could bury him alive–
The girl reached over to play with his hair again. "You think too much!" Nejire chastised, "Take my compliments, okay?"
He wilted like a decaying flower beneath her touch. "O-okay…"
Togata, Amajiki, and Haya shared a look while the two of them were in their own world, coming to a quick agreement as they nodded their heads.
They…
Had no clue what was up with Nejire and Izuku.
But it seemed like they were a good influence on each other.
So they approved!
"Anyways," Togata began, interrupting the assault on Izuku's hair, "How did you come up with those ideas for Wave Motion, Midoriya-kun? Do you have any–"
"Attention all competitors, please return to the field for the final round. Have a nice day, and good luck."
Togata was interrupted by the droning sound of the PA box, frowning slightly. "Already?" He complained, "I feel like we just sat down!"
Haya sighed. "I know, right?" She groaned, "I still can't feel my fingers."
She shuddered, and Izuku was reminded of the fact that she had faced someone with a numbing Quirk earlier - rendering her completely immobile for a good portion of the second round. If it wasn't for Amajiki's intrusion on her behalf, she likely would have been eliminated.
Nejire's cheeks puffed up as she did her best impression of a chipmunk. "Yeah!" She agreed, stuffing another takoyaki in her mouth, "No fair!"
Haya silenced her with a glare. "You don't get to complain. You literally stole the show."
All she received in return was a childish glare and Nejire sticking her tongue out at her.
Izuku really felt like an outsider among the friends. He was really jealous.
He wished he had friends like that. But that would never happen, would it?
Noting the way his face fell and the crestfallen look upon it, Nejire discreetly waved off her friends.
And by discreetly, he meant she ordered them away.
"Alright guys," she said loudly, "Go on ahead! I gotta get something else from Lunch Rush before I go - I need some more sugar before I start kicking ass!"
Amajiki, Haya, and Togata all nodded, waving Nejire and himself goodbye as they hurried to not be late. Izuku got up as well, intending to leave her to her own devices and return to his seat, but a hand shot out and held him back.
"Come with me," Nejire said cryptically, making him raise an eyebrow in confusion as he dutifully trailed behind the taller girl.
His behavior reminded himself of a puppy. He didn't know how bad that was.
Izuku blinked as she led him towards an empty hallway, completely void of people and noise. "Um…" he started slowly, "S-shouldn't you, uh, be getting ready for the third round?"
She hummed. "In a minute," Nejire replied calmly, "I've got plenty of time to make it over there. You saw how quick I was!"
He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "R-right…"
"Besides," she added, "They can't start without their best contestant!"
Izuku nodded. She was the most popular student left - and who could stop her? "G-good luck!" He said, forcing himself to meet her eyes, "I believe in you, N-Nejire."
Nejire's smile hurt to look at. It was blinding. "Thanks, Izuku," she giggled, "I'm glad you're out there cheering for me! And for, y'know, figuring out how my Quirk works over the course of an afternoon better than I could in thirteen years."
Izuku's face flushed, his cheeks betraying the turmoil of his inner thoughts. "I-it was nothing," he said quickly, "I-I'm sure y-you'd be doing great even without m-my h-help."
She shrugged. "Maybe! But who knows! I do know that you've been a great help though, Izuku."
Nejire watched in amusement as he started to mumble incoherently, before mercifully putting a stop to it. "I think I need a little more luck for the next round, though…"
He cocked his head to the side. "W-what did you have in mind?
A bolt of white-hot fear shot through his spine as she stretched her arms out, a sly smile on her face hidden by the fact that Izuku was completely incapable of looking at her at that moment. "A good luck hug!"
Izuku froze. "A-a-a w-what?"
Nejire smiled unwaveringly at Izuku. "You heard me, silly!"
A beat passed.
So his ears weren't lying to him.
Nejire hugged him… well, not all the time, but frequent enough that he sort of expected her to do it once or twice whenever they met up. He wasn't used to it by any means, but he sort of accepted its occurrence - not that he was complaining.
But now she wanted him to do it?
"Well?" Nejire asked, eyes alight with mischief as she waited patiently for Izuku's brain to reboot, "We don't have all day! Get to it!"
No. He must have died. No way, no how. She killed him, and he was in hell.
Or heaven.
Almost robotically, Izuku walked forward, closing the gap between the two of them. He very slowly brought his arms up from his sides, awkwardly holding them in the air before he wrapped them around Nejire's torso.
He was so out of his depth. He couldn't even fathom doing this with, well, Nejire, but also literally anyone in the world who wasn't his mom.
And good lord was that sad. It was literally just a hug.
Nejire cooed as she wrapped her arms around him in return, clearly more adept at this than him.
It was nice, Izuku decided as she played with his hair.
He liked Nejire's hugs.
It ended far too soon for his liking - not that he'd ever admit that out loud.
"That was good," Nejire decided, "But I might need one after I win, you know? Keep the good luck flowing!"
Izuku choked on whatever words he had been meaning to say. "U-uh… o-okay?"
She giggled as she turned away, hurting to make it back to the field as a second warning rang out through the otherwise silent halls. "I'll see you later, Izuku! I hope you enjoy the show!"
He could do nothing but wave like a dumbass at her retreating form.
–
Nejire's first fight was over before Present Mic even got a word in. She was up against someone from her class, and the poor guy was literally shaking in his boots as Snipe signalled the start of the match. No introduction to the round was needed; just about every Sports Festival had a one-on-one tournament to determine the winner.
Anyways, Nejire got in close and threw him out of the ring before Snipe could say 'go'.
Izuku would have said it was anticlimactic, but he wasn't surprised in the slightest.
He had some time between matches as he waited for Nejire's next bout in the top eight - he could have watched the match between Amajiki and Haya that came just after, but to be honest he really needed to use the bathroom.
So he drank a little more than his fair share of water. Sue him.
As he… relieved himself at the urinal, his ears couldn't help but be drawn to the conversation that seemed to be taking place directly outside. Izuku would never consider himself an eavesdropper, but when there was nothing else for him to focus on as he stood there, he found himself drawn into whatever muffled sounds he could hear.
"Sir," a faint voice urged, "I'm sorry… be better…"
At least, that was what he could make out. There were plenty of other words shared in between whatever they were saying, but they were either too quiet or too quick for Izuku to piece together.
An older, gruffer, even weaker voice responded. "It's okay…" they said softly (making Izuku really strain to hear them over the sound of the sink as he washed his hands), "There's time… patience…"
Okay, whatever they were talking about was none of his business. He really needed to stop. It was rude of him to listen in on what was clearly meant to be a private talk.
It seemed to end before he stepped outside, so it wasn't like he knew who was talking anyways. As he pushed open the door, there was nobody left in the long, airy hallway except for a tall, thin man with blonde hair in the unmistakable shape of a V–
No.
No.
Izuku immediately stopped himself and prepared to run the other way, completely uncaring of the fact that his seat was past where the man was standing, but it seemed like fate had other plans for him. He stumbled as he tried to flee, letting out a hiss of pain as he hit the ground.
All Might turned around in concern, his deflated form doing nothing to conceal his true identity to Izuku. "Are you alright Young Man–"
He cut himself off as he locked eyes with Izuku. "..."
"..."
Silence.
Fine by him.
Izuku pulled himself to his feet before All Might could offer him a helping hand. "Sorry for disturbing you," he said quickly, praying to whatever gods were out there that he didn't recognize him and making to leave as soon as he could–
"Young… Midoriya?" All Might asked.
No.
It seemed like he didn't forget after all.
"H-h-hello," he said quietly, making sure not to accidentally reveal the Hero's identity to any possible listeners.
All Might looked surprised, if nothing else. He coughed into his fist, clearly just as uncomfortable as Izuku was…
Okay, that was impossible. He hated every second of this.
"You look… well," All Might said after an eternity of silence, "I, ah, didn't expect to see you here of all places…"
Yeah, right. He probably expected to find Izuku in the Sunday paper's obituary list.
"May I ask what brings you here?" He said.
"Can I be a Hero without a Quirk?"
No. No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no NO NO NO NO NO NO NO–
Izuku felt like he couldn't breathe. His eyes shrunk down to pinpricks, his body started to shake, and he felt hot and cold and wrong all over and hated it and–
All Might stepped forward, concern etched in his face as he looked at Izuku. "Are you unwell?"
"A hero without power… I think not."
He shook his head so quickly he was worried it might go flying off his body. "I-I-I'm f-fine!" Izuku practically shouted, "I'm a-actually j-j-just l-leaving!"
Without sparing him a second glance, Izuku turned on his heel and started to sprint away. He ignored All Might's frantic calls asking him to wait, or maybe he didn't even hear them. He couldn't tell anything anymore, aside from the fact that he needed to get away.
And if there was one thing that Izuku was good at, it was running away.
Like a coward.
–
The door to Nedzu's office slid open smoothly - Nejire didn't even have the chance to knock before it swung wide, her fist frozen in front of the space formerly occupied by the dark oak planks.
"Ah, Hadou-san!" A squeaky voice beckoned, "Come in! Come in!"
Shrugging, Nejire walked into the large office Principal Nedzu called his own, eyes roaming over the countless little artifacts sitting peacefully atop the shelves and the smattering of papers strewn across his desk.
"Hi, Principal Nedzu," she greeted, "Snipe-sensei said you wanted to see me after the closing ceremony?"
Nedzu nodded, waving his free hand in a request for her to take a seat.
He didn't need to tell her twice. Nedzu was, from what Nejire could tell based on all of their previous interactions, a very pragmatic and practical person.
"Tea?" The headmaster offered, pouring himself a single cup.
She shook her head. "Sorry, but no," she declined respectfully (or as respectfully as she could), "But Wave Motion doesn't really like when I drink depressors."
Nedzu hummed. "Of course, silly me!" He took a sip of his own tea, eyes closing in delight as he continued to tap away at his keyboard. Whatever he was doing on his computer was anybody's guess. "I suppose congratulations are in order, Hadou-san! Well done today indeed."
Nejire lit up like the 4th of July. "Thanks!" She smiled at her teacher. "It was awesome!"
Her final three fights weren't even that difficult. Tamaki fell relatively easily after an exhausting battle against Yuyu in the top sixteen, and beating Mirio in the final match was really satisfying - even if it was a bit easy due to the fact that he couldn't even get close to her.
Served him right for running away during the second round. She didn't even get a chance to show off!
After the first round, of course.
"Indeed," Nedzu agreed quietly, "I'm quite surprised by the leaps you've made in training this year, if you don't mind me saying."
Nejire shook her head happily. "No problem! I am too! I never knew what kinds of things I could do with Wave Motion until a few weeks ago!"
Her smile fell slightly at the thought of Izuku. For some reason, she just couldn't find him after her match against Watanabe, and he never returned to his seat either. She had asked Mirio, Yuyu, and Tamaki, and each of them were in a similar boat.
She had even tried texting him, but she was left on delivered each time.
Izuku had never left her on delivered before. Nejire had a feeling something was wrong.
Nedzu's beady eyes caught the change in mood immediately. "Everything alright, Hadou-san?"
The girl was quick to place a smile back on her face, shaking her head bashfully. "Yep! I'm super happy to have finally won!"
He could accept that. She had been fighting to win the Sports Festival since her first year, after all - even if they were both nabbed by Amajiki Tamaki in the end. "I see…"
Nedzu let silence pervade the air for a moment, before dispelling it with a smile. "Well then!" He clapped his hands together. "I don't want to waste too much of your time, Hadou-san, as I'm sure you want to go celebrate with your family, so I'll keep this little meeting brief. I was just curious as to how your Quirk evolved so rapidly - after all, I was under the impression that you could only use it in large, sweeping waves, no?"
Of course, he figured there may be more to her Quirk than meets the eye - he was the principal, after all - but what was the point in giving your pupils all of the answers when they have the opportunity to figure it out themselves?
Hadou puffed out her chest proudly. As she should, considering her decisive victory. "That's what I thought, too!" She admitted, "But I made a friend who likes Quirks and he figured out all these crazy ways I could utilize Wave Motion. We're still figuring out new stuff, even though we've been at it for weeks!"
She suddenly blushed, slightly embarrassed by how much information she had just given up. Perhaps said friend was a lover, or someone similarly unscrupulous.
Humans were odd.
Nevertheless, the answer was not what Nedzu expected. "Oh?" He replied, nodding his head in understanding. "How interesting! Do they attend U.A. as well?"
Hadou shook her head, even more embarrassed than before. Perhaps she found his gaze unnerving. "Um…" she began slowly, "Remember about a month ago when I, er, hit somebody out front and destroyed our mailbox?"
Nedzu nodded. "I am aware, yes."
It was a lot of paperwork to deal with that little catastrophe, but Nedzu was very savvy. A few nice words here, an empty threat there, and the fact that Hadou was able to prevent the boy from pressing charges meant that there was nothing anyone could do but sigh and ask U.A. to cover the costs. And that was a drop in the bucket compared to the funds that he had accrued for the school over the year.
Hadou still got detention. He could have overlooked the incident if she was a little more discreet, but that was neither here nor there.
"Well…" she trailed off slowly, "Um, I became friends with the guy I hit, and he's the one who came up with most of my new moves."
He blinked. That was something.
"Err… are you okay, sir?" Hadou asked.
Nedzu was quick to nod, already pulling up the incident report he had filed and security camera logs. "That boy's name… Midoriya Izuku, correct?"
Hadou didn't need to nod to confirm his suspicions - he knew he was right. From what little information Nedzu had on hand the boy lived in Musutafu and had applied to U.A.'s Hero course last spring before abruptly cancelling his application.
And he was also Quirkless. Hmm.
Interesting…
Nedzu's eyes flickered back to Hadou, who was more confused than anything else. "I see," he said slowly, "Thank you for the talk, Hadou-san. It was very enlightening! Congratulations again on your victory."
The girl stood, recognizing a dismissal when she saw one. "Thanks, sir!" She made for the door, but it didn't open right away.
"One last thing," Nedzu hummed, his paws clattering away against his keyboard, "This Midoriya… he didn't apply to U.A.? I'm sure with his ability to analyze Quirks he would have been a shoe-in for our general education course, at worst."
Hadou shrugged, but she looked unconvinced. Maybe she asked herself the same question. "I don't know," she admitted, "I asked him about that once… and he said something about it being unrealistic."
Unrealistic. What an odd choice of words.
The door opened as she spoke. "Very well," Nedzu spoke, eyes glued to his computer as he pulled up the boy's middle school record, "Have a good weekend, Hadou-san."
"You too, sir!"
His door closed behind her. He had some work to do.
Midoriya Izuku… what an interesting individual. A mystery wrapped in an enigma, by the looks of things.
Nedzu loved dissecting mysteries.
And if it bore fruit, well…
There was a reason U.A. offered mid-semester transfers.
—
A/N: Izuku has accidentally created a monster and Nedzu would like to see him do it again.
Nejire will be very OP from here on out, I have decided. It will be fun. For her and Izuku at least. Not so much the rest of the verse.
Sorry this one took so long! First 10k chapter in a while so it took a bit out of me haha. Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think! See you next time!