Chapter Nine: Incursion

Another morning dawned and Itsuka looked over at the old-fashioned pocket watch, winding it back up and got ready for the day, making her way to the car with a cup of coffee in hand, where Officer Tamakwa and Obsidian were waiting.

Pulling close to the campus, a rather conspicuous crowd was gathered outside, hounding students as they tried to get to school.

"It looks like word of All Might's presence at the school got out," Tamakawa noted

"He recorded the acceptance videos this year," Obsidian muttered. "I'm surprised it took so long." She shook her head. "No matter. Pull us into the garage and drop us off there. I saw Eraserhead and Present Mic handling the mob, so I'd rather not deal with that if we can help it."

When she and Obsidian parted ways, Itsuka ambled to the classroom at a sedate pace when a tail patted her on the shoulder, snapping her out of her zombie-like stupor.

"Earth to Kendo," he said, "anyone home?"

"Hey, Mashi," Itsuka answered groggily. "How you doing.

Mashirao paused and smiled nervously. "Ah. One of those morning?"

"Mm. Had to visit Recovery Girl yesterday after Foundational Heroics. Still feeling out of it right now." She swirled around the remaining contents of her cup around before downing it in a single gulp. "You catch the commotion outside?"

"Yeah, they were trying to interview us on All Might. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's awesome learning from him, but it's only been a single day of instruction with him."

Itsuka glanced outside in time to see the barrier slam shut in front of the reporters. "With how pushy Almost makes a girl want to go for the Underground route."

"I hear you," a recognizable voice said behind her.

The two of them turned to the white-haired girl with her arms hanging oddly in front of her.

"Hey, Reiko."

"You look like death warmed over," she replied, looking Itsuka over.

"Eh. Just tired. Didn't think I pushed myself that hard yesterday. I figure the caffeine will kick me into gear by the time home room starts. Anyway. Reiko, this is an old friend of mine, Mashirao Ojiro."

"Nice to meet you. I'm in Class 1-A, just next door to you guys."

"Reiko Yanagi, Class 1-B."

"Mind if we talk along the way?"

"Not at all."

"Why did you have to visit Recovery Girl, anyway?"

"Hit my back against the ceiling," Itsuka replied.

"She means she went through the ceiling," Reiko added.

Mashirao blinked in surprise. "How did you manage that?"

"Jumped too hard."

More blinking. "How…?"

Itsuka didn't want to lie, but she couldn't give them the truth either. "Well, I'm not sure how it came about, but it seems like my Quirk evolved somehow while I was training for U.A."

"You mean that crazy training regimen you were undertaking?"

"Yeah. Anywho, during the Entrance Exam, my arm nearly exploded punching out one of the zero-pointer. A sort of mass-effecting thingy from my mom's Quirk. It never really popped up before because I'd never really pushed things that far. Simply put, my Quirk is starting to effect the rest of my body."

"So, do you grow like Mount Lady?"

Itsuka cringed a little. "Not the comparison I'd really care for, but I guess I see where you'd get that. But no, I don't think it works quite like that. Then again, I haven't really tested it out, just the extra mass and weight to my punches."

"Huh."

"So, yeah. That's what's happening." Itsuka spared a quick glance at the clock on the wall. "Also happening is homeroom, so let's not be late for that."

[IB]

Some days, Itsuka didn't know what to make of U.A. Granted, she hadn't been going there long herself, her father had, and she had followed some of the past sports festivals. It was place that trained future heroes, but was still a place of education. Today was one of those reminders.

"How are we supposed to pick a Class Representative when we hardly know each other?" someone asked.

"We could each give a speech outlining our qualifications."

"That would take forever," Awase countered.

"What if we collectively decide someone is unfit for the post?" Monoma asked, then turned to Vlad King. "Sensei?"

"That would be entirely up to you," he replied. "For continuity's sake, I wouldn't recommend changing too often, but if you decide something's not working, work together to find a workable solution. That being said, we are limited on time, so at least get an initial position worked out before you decide whether or not to revise."

Itsuka stood up before everyone started talking over one another. "Okay, who actually wants to take the job?" she asked, raising her hand along with almost the entire class. "Remember that this is going to be an actual job with duties and responsibilities. If you're not ready to handle that, lower your hands."

That reduced the number to seven.

"Okay. Everyone else can do their name, their Quirk, and a hobby or fun fact about yourself. The candidates can go at the end, with a short talk about why they think they're a good fit for the job."

While everyone seemed agreeable, Itsuka wondered if she had pressed too hard, and spent the rest of introductions nervously waiting her turn, only keeping half an ear open to the other class rep. candidates.

Inasa Yaorashi's boisterous and impassioned speech set the tone, and his enthusiastic approach was infectious. He would make for a good motivational speaker, if he had any comprehension of what "inside voices" meant. She was curious as to why he had withdrawn from the Recommendation Exams only to retry with the general enrollment, though it looked like everyone else was of a similar mind on that.

Next up, Setsuna Tokage made a case for her being raised by and among Pro-Heroes, and being a recommended student had some of the class nodding thoughtfully in consideration.

Monoma made a compelling argument that his Quirk offered a degree of versatility as a training medium, but lost points for obnoxious filibustering. Of all the other candidates, he had chewed up nearly half of their available time all by himself, and showed no signs of stopping and had missed or ignored all indicators telling him to stop, including an increasingly disinterested audience.

Inhaling sharply, Itsuka raised a hand and bopped him on the back of the head, catching him before he hit anything on the way down.

"There's other people needing to talk, Monoma," she said, gently laying him out behind the podium.

Shisida raised his hand and said, "I hereby withdraw my candidacy."

Itsuka turned and blinked at the Beast Man as he returned to his seat. What? she thought, then shook off the confusion and stepped up to the podium. "Alright, out of consideration of the remaining candidates, I'll make this quick…"

[IB]

"Congrats, Itsuka," Reiko said, placing herself across from the newly minted class representative.

Ituska chewed over her lunch, "I still don't know how I did that."

Kinoko Komori glanced back and forth between the other two as Setsuna took the remaining spot at the table.

"You took charge, put together presented ideas in a coherent fashion, and added onto the plan in order to improve efficiency. Then there's your handling of the Trial of Battle. You're good with your Quirk, and you can work well with others, even under pressure. And you're not afraid of getting a little rough if needs be."

Itsuka scratched her cheek at Setsuna's breakdown of events. "I really thought that'd lose me points, not score win half the class over and convince one of my competitors to withdraw."

"Well, Juzo was right in that you'd be a difficult act to follow." Setsuna leaned back, crossing her arms behind her head. "I'm more surprised anyone voted for Monoma. He didn't even vote for himself." "So…got any ideas of what to do, Madame President?"

"Probably set up some sort of chat group. After that, I'm thinking about setting up some kind of fitness group-."

An alarm rang out across the room,

The intercom buzzed over the noise. "There has been a Level 3 security breach. All students, please evacuated outside promptly, I repeat…"

Itsuka turned the nearest, older student. "What's a Level 3 security breach?"

"It means someone broke past the security barrier. It hasn't happened in the three years I've been here. We should hurry."

Evidently, everyone else had the same idea. In the mad rush to get out of the cafeteria, the exits had turned into bottlenecks, students pushing against one another and jockeying for positions closer to the doors, one such pinning Itsuka against the window, giving her a good look at what the commotion was about.

The press? What are they doing here? How did they get in? She shook her head, deciding to file that train of thought for later. Twisting around, she could see no sign of the ruckus subsiding. No one else had noticed, too distracted by the panic to take a look out the window.

Wedging herself out, Itsuka gripped and braced against the window frames and got about the crowd. The hallway was wide, but that made it nearly impossible for her to rebound off the walls. She wasn't confident she could get across the entire crowd without falling, punching through a window, or tripping over the throngs if she wanted to try running atop of everyone.

An invisible force eased her weight from her handholds. Searching for the ghostly girl, she found her nearly being crushed while trying to hold Itsuka aloft.

"Pitch me," she mouthed, jerking her head towards the door.

Reiko nodded and started guiding the redhead to the spot of wall over the doorway. At first, the ride was a little shaky, either because Reiko was not used to lifting a nearly full-sized human with her Quirk or because of the crowd disrupting her concentration. Then, entirely without warning, Itsuka suddenly accelerated down the hall, all but crashing above the exit sign.

Grabbing hold of the pipes overhead, she felt the pressure against her abate. Now that she was in prime position, and her flight had caught everyone's attention, she took a deep breath and shouted, "Everyone, calm down! Everything's fine! It's just the press! There's no need to panic."

The ruckus tapered off as word rippled through the crowd, relayed to those still in the cafeteria. Once the rest of the students began to disperse, Itsuka dropped to a clearing in the crowd, mentally congratulating herself on wearing shorts underneath her uniform.

Reiko talking with-

"Midoriya?"

The green-haired teen lazily turned to face Itsuka with a smirk. "Hm? Oh, hey, Kendo."

Itsuka squinted a little. While she couldn't claim to be an expert on reading people, let alone Midoriya specifically, she could help but notice there was a tension to him that he had lacked in their previous encounter.

"So you two have met?" Reiko asked.

Itsuka blinked and stared at Midoriya. "A couple of times, yes."

"He helped me move you into position to deescalate our panicking peers. It is rather likely that I wouldn't have been able to get you to your destination without his assistance."

Midoriya shrugged and answered, "Happy to help."

"Well…thanks," said Itsuka. "Listen, we didn't exactly get to talk yesterday. I didn't know you were applying for U.A."

"Well, you didn't ask, and I never volunteered the information. Class 1-I, if you're curious."

Itsuka crossed her arms. Listing off his class could be considered an olive branch for the earlier deception, even if only by omission. Not like she wasn't guilty of the same thing. She cast the thought aside as being awfully suspicious for no rational reason.

Reiko stared at him for a second. "Management? I would have imagined that you were from the other Heroics course."

"I figured my talents were better applied elsewhere," Midoriya answered, enigmatically. "Now, unless you have any further questions, lunch calls, so I won't keep you ladies any longer. Have a good day, Kendo, Yanagi."

"Right," Itsuka replied. "See you later." Watching Midoriya disappear into the crowd, she turned to Reiko and asked, "What do you think of him?"

"He has symptoms common with chronic sleep deprivation and post-traumatic stress disorder, and he has a hollow gaze." She paused and looked at Itsuka. "He has the 1000-yard stare and looks like he needs more sleep."

"Pot, kettle?" Itsuka mused, an eyebrow raised.

Reiko smirked. "After how you showed up this morning, I don't think you have much more room to talk in that regard, either."

Itsuka playfully waved it off. "Yeah, yeah, let's finish lunch before the bell rings again."

[IB]

At the first opportunity, Izuku was strolling across the school grounds with his hands thrust into his pockets.

"Why are we doing this again?" Nakayama asked.

Izuku smirked and threw a glance over his shoulder. "Aren't you curious about how the media was able to break in?"

"Well, yeah, but isn't that the police's job? Wouldn't this be construed as contaminating a crime scene?"

"We're not messing with anything. Just looking."

"Sure~" Osaki sang.

"No, really. I don't want to cross the perimeter, just see what they did to the gate to break it."

Stooping down, Izuku looked over the ruined gateway. The destruction of the barrier was complete. No explosives, or any directed force. Curious, he ran his hand through the grass downwind of the incident, picking up clumps of dust and rolling it around in his hands. The tell-tale signs of disintegration. Tenko's handiwork.

Izuku's brain immediately kicked into overdrive.

It wouldn't take much for Hisashi to locate him, but he hadn't done so in the past decade, even with Kurogiri at his beck and call. The million-dollar question was whether this was a message aimed at him, at All Might and U.A., the Hero world, or something else entirely.

"Midoriya!"

Izuku lurched upward and looked over his shoulder at Osaki. "Hm?

Osaki recoiled under his stare. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

"Peachy," Izuku replied.

"Well…"

"You looked like you were ready to kill someone," Shinso elaborated.

"I'll be fine. It's just…"

This was definitely a distraction; a random attack for the hell of it wasn't the old man's style, and Tenko aspired to be All for One. If it was an earnest attack, it would be with force. There was another purpose behind this incursion, but Izuku couldn't quite see it. A probe for information, or testing reactions, possibly?

But how to communicate that without either tipping his hand, or connecting himself to the intrusion? He did have multiple witnesses during the actual break-in, but that was no guarantee if the wrong ears heard.

Letting the remains of the gates fall from his hand, he turned to face his companions, features schooled back into a blank mask.

"After this, I can't help but imagine that an attack is coming."

"Excuse me, children." Said children turned around and down to look at the principle. "I applaud your enthusiasm, but could you please clear the area while repairs are underway?"

"Of course! Come on, Midoriya."

Begrudgingly, Izuku complied.

[IB]

Izuku could sleep. All efforts to take his mind off of the day's events came to nothing. Not a venture to the beachhead, or shooting blasts of air and energy into the ocean. Physical exertion just left him feeling more tired than usual with no benefit. He was too restless to focus on any of his other projects, so he finally gave it up as a bad job and went home.

Predictably, Yuri was still up waiting for him.

"Dinner's over by the fridge," she said, looking over the top of her book. Thought you'd be hungry when you got back."

Izuku wordlessly walked into the kitchen, but ignored the food, steadily punching at the countertop. Not hard enough to break anything, but it was distinct and carried across the house.

Thump….thump…thump…

He always knew he was going to be at a disadvantage. Without that steady sieve from Unending Spirit, he could feel every iota of that the bone-deep exhaustion.

"Are you going to tell me what had you out practically all evening?" Yuri asked, but received no reply. "Is it about the break-in at school?"

Izuku paused and sharply inhaled and exhaled in quick succession before starting again.

Yuri got up and put on the kettle and found a seat to wait for him. She was good for that, patiently waiting for him to disentangle himself from whatever nasty snarl of emotions he was working through.

"They were there, Yuri," Izuku rasped. "Tenko, Kurogiri, and who knows all else. On school grounds."

Yuri's eyes widened as her jaw slammed shut.

"I need more time."

"Unfortunately, my Quirk won't help with that," Yuri answered. "So, boss, what's your plan?"

Izuku snorted. "Plan…if I had known they'd start with U.A., I would have gone ahead with the Heroics program."

"Maybe. You plan wasn't half-bad, but it's better suited to secrecy. But maybes won't help at this juncture. What are the facts, how do you want to deal with, and how much of that are you able to carry out?"

What were his options? Running was never an option. Ideally, he was in the best possible position for the amount of time he had. Doing nothing would be just as bad, if not worse. The next option would be to take the offensive, but Izuku couldn't even begin to figure out where to start, and an anonymous tip would only tell them what the school, police, and Heroes already knew.

Should still leave a tip, just in case, Izuku noted.

While other options existed, the only remaining tenable option was to stand fast and react when whatever schemes Tenko and the old man were put into play. How he could get involved without divulging his secrets, he couldn't rightly say, but if there was an attack on the school, Izuku planned to step up and fight.

He needed more time. Time to gain strength, gather allies and assets. But the old man was making the first move. He had all the cards, the plans, and a greater freedom than Izuku. If he was moving forward, he also had the manpower to carry out whatever plans he had.

There was nothing else Izuku could do but tackle the problem with the assets he had on hand and hope it would be enough, and pray that it wouldn't be his friends who paid the price.

[IB]

Wednesday morning, Obsidian called her overachievers together, congratulating them on their progress, and informing them of a deviation to their class schedule. They were going to be observing one of the Heroics classes during their excursion to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.

So, instead of returning to homeroom after lunch, Izuku, Suzume, and Haru made their way to the bus station. When they got there, they were met with three costumed individuals hanging out by the bus.

One was blond with "1000000" emblazoned on the chest of his costume, an ensemble of white, gold, and blue, with some green at the waist and shoulder, and a red cape hanging from his shoulders with matching gloves. The lone female of the group wore a royal blue, skin-tight bodysuit with teal trim, with long, periwinkle hair trailing behind her in spirals. The last, a dark-haired male with a black bodysuit with gold plating, covered by a white tunic and matching hooded cape, with a purple utility belt around his waist.

Their arrival was soon noticed, the girl, energetically waving at them. "Hello~!" she sang, then zeroed on Nakayama. "Can you feel anything with those tentacles?" she asked, suddenly next to the boy, then immediately followed up with, "Tamaki can feel with his!"

Behind her, Tamaki cringed when the younger students looked his way, earning a playful pat on the back from the blond.

"Nejire…" Tamaki groaned.

Seemingly oblivious of her peer's discomfort, Typhoon Nejire was still on the move, inspecting Osaki. "Are those wings strong enough to fly? Are you a crow or a raven?"

Osaki was about to answer when her attention was drawn to the last of their group, a hand reaching out to him.

"Your hair is so fluffy!" she cooed, until her hand suddenly swerved away from the intended target, causing a momentary stumble.

"Please don't touch me," Izuku rasped. His chest heaved a couple times as his breathing returned to normal, and he plastered on a smile. "Sorry about that."

Nejire inched away, but inspected him more closely. "Are you getting enough sleep? You have some serious bags under your eyes."

"I noticed. Thank you."

Nakayama looked at the older girl, fidgeting as attention shifted to him. "Um…excuse me, but who're you?"

"Nejire Hadou, Mirio Togata, and Tamaki Amijiki," said Thirteen, stepping into view, "collectively referred to as the Big Three."

"The Big Three?" Osaki asked.

"They're the highest ranked students here at U.A.," Izuku answered. "All of them are considered Pros in their own right and they haven't even graduated yet."

"They'll be helping the teachers with Foundational Heroics today, mostly as an extra set of eyes and hands. Speaking of which, we have some setup we should take care of. If you would follow me? You can introduce yourselves properly on the bus.

Following their upperclassmen, the students sorted themselves on the bus, the six of them sat close together, the upperclassmen sitting across from the Management students.

Through the entire bus ride, Izuku had fought to keep his emotions in check. If there was a place to attack, a relatively isolated training grounds would be the ideal location to hit, especially if their target was present.

Feathers waved in front of Izuku's face, drawing his attention to a worried Osaki.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked. "You were rather tense earlier. No, scratch that, you've been tense since the break-in."

"I'll be fine," Izuku answered. "A small relapse, nothing I haven't dealt with before. It'll pass."

"Hm…what can you tell us about the Big Three?"

"Like I said, they're already taking the Pro scene by storm. People are even betting when each of them gets their spot on the Top Ten. Togata even has people betting how long it will take to reach the Number One spot."

Togata laughed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Word gets around, doesn't it?"

"Last I heard, Amajiki is working with Fatgum, Hadou is signed on with Ryukyu, and Togata is working with Nighteye. Are any of you looking at starting your own agencies after graduation? Or even together?"

"Not right away," Togata answered.

"But possibly later?"

"Maybe. Right now, I want to learn as much as I can from Sir before I strike out on my own. There's no need to grow up to fast."

Izuku inclined his head, but said nothing more for the rest of the trip.

[IB]

Aizawa led Class 1-A into the facility. Some of the students appeared to be happily gabbing away, awestruck at the scope of the facility. On the way in, Momo caught Izuku's stare while he was handing them a tablet.

Momo wanted to go to Izuku and check on him right away. Something had him on edge, and while she had a couple of ideas, she wouldn't know unless she asked directly, and he wouldn't volunteer his fears openly, not in front everyone else. For now, she focused on finishing her headcount and turned to Aizawa.

"All present and accounted for," she announced.

"Not everyone," said Aizawa.

"Who are these people?" Kaminari asked, pointing at the trio of students in school uniform.

"They're students from the Management Course. They're here to observe you for today's class and take notes for potential marketing. Specifically on you."

Uraraka gave them a thumbs-up, which Izuku returned more discretely.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Mineta asked, suspicious.

"N-no," she stumbled out, blushing at the accusation.

"Jealous?" Sero asked, leaning in with a teasing smile.

"Shut up," Mineta mumbled.

"Where's All Might?" asked Asui.

Momo watched Thirteen hold up three fingers. What's that about? she wondered, then said, "Looks like Thirteen and Aizawa are discussing that right now."

After introducing the Big Three, Thirteen explained their Quirk and the dangers associated with it. The Heroics students appeared to be listening intently. For the most part, at any rate. Bakugo didn't appear to think much of it, but was at least paying attention anyhow without interruption. A rather impressive feat, if Momo was any judge.

Thirteen finished their presentation as the lights flickered, and a swirl of black appeared at the fountain in the central plaza.

[IB]

Izuku's hair stood on end the moment the lighted cut out, and again when a portal formed in the middle of the facility. He could recognize that shift of pressure anywhere. The Quirk had a rather distinctive pop whenever it first appeared.

Kurogiri.

Izuku ground his teeth as dozens of villains pulled out of the black mist. Some of them took positions around their insertion point, but made room when a large, ugly bird-looking creature with an exposed brain emerged.

At the end of the formation, coming to a stop next to the monstrosity, was the lanky form of Tomura Shigiraki.

"Whoa, who are these guys?" Kirishima asked.

All for One: Initial Release.

"Stay back!" Aizawa's voice rang out. "Those are villains!"

[IB]

Reiko Yanagi, Quirk: Poltergeist (allows her to telekinetically manipulate objects, with a current weight limit comparable an average human)

Mashirao Ojiro, Quirk: Tail (a strong prehensile appendage extending from his lower back)

A/N: I could almost swear that these chapter are getting longer. This chapter was also incredibly frustrating to hammer out, specifically the part with the selection of the class representative. I eventually got tired of rewriting and just plowed on through. If something's screwed up in the formatting or the tempo of the chapter, that's why.

On the plus side, I have most of the USJ incident written out, and the interval between this chapter and the next should be much shorter.

In related news, the previous chapter had some extra material added, both to improve clarity and to better lead into this chapter. If you haven't already, feel free to check it out.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let me know with a review or PM. Constructive criticism is, as always, much appreciated.