A/N: Today is Tuesday, 22 February 2022. Observe All 2's Day, get yourself a taco.
Chapter Twelve: Cognition
Toshinori was ashamed for being grateful for Midoriya's collapse, but once Uraraka popped out of hiding to help Kirishima haul the boy away, it was an easy excuse for urging the other boys to vacate the area.
Cementoss' walls helped spare him any further embarrassment as he let himself collapse while the rest of the faculty rounded up the rest of the villains.
While he remained suspicious of young Midoriya, he was willing to give the boy the benefit of a doubt. There had been too many openings he could have taken advantage of, and All Might would have been too preoccupied with the Nomu and Shigaraki to handle a dagger to the back. He could have let All Might whale on the Nomu until he was exhausted and let the rest of villains dogpile him.
Putting Midoriya out of his mind for the moment, what remained was that someone had either inherited or stumbled upon All for One's leftovers. That would be more than enough to occupy his thoughts for the foreseeable future.
[IB]
Tomura stumbled into the bar, his surviving minions being similarly deposited nearby with differing recoveries. Grumbling curses, he searched for medical supplies, barely paying his surviving minions any mind while they sorted themselves out.
Megalodon set his hammer aside and stretched. "That was intense," he sighed, popping his joints. "We should do this again sometime."
Blade slid into a seat at the bar and placed an empty firearm on the counter, but otherwise remained silent while Kurogiri stepped behind the counter and pour himself a drink. The rest were not nearly as graceful. Some girl with hair drills and a four-armed guy that had gotten caught in the warp were still on the floor, groaning from the sudden departure and a couple of bullet holes.
Wimps.
Patching up his own wounds, Tomura tossed the first aid kit at them and found his way to the back room where a video call was already waiting.
"Perfecting timing, Sensei," he whispered to himself. "Kurogiri, get over here."
Answering the call, the visual changed to indicate an answer.
"How was your venture, Tomura?" All for One asked.
"Could've been better, Sensei," Tomura answered, cutting a chunk of medical tape with his teeth. "He's still plenty strong. And the brats had a higher challenge rating than expected."
"What of the Nomu?" the Doctor asked, eagerly. "How did it perform?"
"All Might booted him from the server. Unless he came back down from his flight, I'm assuming he's stuck somewhere up in orbit."
The doctor made some noise on the other end. "What?!"
"Now, now, let Tomura explain."
Tomura scratched at his neck before catching himself. "All Might found an exploit that didn't come up in testing. Some sort of gravity canceller gave an assist, and sent Nomu through the ceiling."
Something on the other end indicated the doctor being more agitated before he suddenly simmered down. "After all we did to make it powerful enough to take on All Might…"
"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped," said All for One. "Unfortunate, but not a death knell for any plans we have in store."
"One more thing, Sensei. Izuku was there."
A thoughtful silence, and, "Truly?"
"Yeah. Teaming up with the heroes."
"Hm…Well, that was hardly outside of expectations. However, I thought you had reviewed the class roster. Something like that would have turned up during research."
"He wasn't wearing a costume."
"He was with some other students in the school uniform," Kurogiri added. "He is likely from another class that was there as an observer."
"I see. Thank you for telling me this, Tomura. Rest and recover, and have your underlings do the same. I will speak with you again soon."
The signal cut off, leaving Tomura staring at his own, smiling reflection. Today had been a success, even if not a victory.
[IB]
Black receded from Izuku's vision as he opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling, squinting against the harsh light before closing them again. An unfortunate side effect of using Time Dilation. Without having to look, he could tell Momo was at his bedside, hands resting on her lap.
"You have a distinct knack for worrying me, Izuku," she said.
"Mm. Sorry about that."
Sitting himself up, his vision was swimmy and his throat was parched. He also wasn't the only one in the room for injuries from the fight.
A girl with dark greenish hair was laid up in a bed in the opposite corner of the room, bandages covering the right side of her face, and presumably more. Another guy with multiple arms sat up on his own bed, staring out the window.
"How are you feeling?" Momo asked.
"Like I lost a couple pints of blood," Izuku answered.
"That's because you did. You blacked out as soon as the fight ended. Just because you can walk off losing 40% of your blood doesn't mean the rest of us are okay when you do."
"Again, sorry for worrying you. Not like I wanted that guy to blast off chunks of my flesh." Taking a glass of water from Momo, he greedily gulped it down. "What happened? Is everyone else alright?"
Momo inhaled sharply. "Tsuyu, Tokoyami, and Aoyama were ambushed almost as soon as they landed in the Conflagration Zone. One of the villains had a fire manipulation Quirk landed a direct hit, but Hadō was able to get them out and call for help. Amajiki and Shōji were cut up pretty bad, but they're on the mend. Osaki, Kouda, and Togata were hit with some kind of toxin and a mind Quirk. Physically, they're fine, but they're with Hound Dog right now. Iida and Shiozaki were in for a little bit, but they were out as soon as Recovery Girl checked on them."
Memories of Tomura's Quirk destroying Eraserhead's arm came to fore. "What about Aizawa?"
Momo looked away. "He and Thirteen were hurt pretty badly, but they'll live."
"Right." Izuku swung his legs off the bed and tested the weight before committing. "I had a feeling something like that would happen. Ever since the break-in, I couldn't not think of it."
"Was that why you were so tense before?"
Izuku nodded. "I should have done more, been better prepared. Could've told someone."
"That's enough self-flagellation, young man," Recovery Girl said, walking into the room. "While this is not something I would wish upon anyone, least of all children, as I hear it, the lot of you acquitted yourself admirably. Unless you had detailed foreknowledge that you held out, there's no need to beat yourself up over this."
"Easier said than done."
"Just remember, you're free to talk to the teachers." She poked him lightly with her cane. "Now sit yourself back onto that bed while I check up on you."
[IB]
Itsuka poked her head into All Might's recovery room. The man was bandaged up, but he was awake and Recovery Girl was finishing up with him.
"I think my time limit's gone down." "Midoriya and Uraraka helped, but I think it may have gotten halved after today. We'll see."
"All Might?"
The man sat up, running a hand over his scalp. "It's nothing I wasn't already expecting. Just a little sooner than I would have liked."
"Excuse me," said Tsukauchi.
Itsuka froze. "Detective Tsukauchi?"
"All Might, it's been awhile." The detective doffed his hat entering the room. "Ms. Kendo, a pleasure to see you again, though I wish it were under better circumstances."
All Might nearly spat out blood in his surprise. "Tsukauchi! You're here, too?"
Itsuka's eyes flicked back and forth between the two. "Uh…"
"It's fine, Itsuka. Tsukauchi is my best friend on the force, and he already knows about my condition."
Snapping her jaw shut, Itsuka hummed and murmured to herself. "Ah. Okay, then."
"Way to cut to the chase, All Might." The detective laughed, before sobering. "While I'd like to catch up, I have to do the same. Can you give me details on the villain-?"
"Wait," All Might interrupted. "Please, wait. More importantly, the students? Are they all okay? What about Eraserhead and Thirteen?"
"A lot of injuries, but nothing that healing Quirks can't fix. Most of the serious concerns were with the teachers. Aizawa's orbital floor was broken into small pieces, so his vision may be impacted, but there's no sign of brain damage. Midoriya is laid up from blood loss, but is recovering pretty quickly. The only other concern was with Asui, but that's more because burns are a little tricky when healing. They're all in stable condition now."
Itsuka and All Might sighed in relief.
"Since we're here, I figured this might interest you, Kendo. We managed to identify some of the villains involved in the attack. Calagione was among them."
"He was here?" Itsuka hissed through her teeth.
"Yes. And unfortunately, he was also among those that managed to escape."
Itsuka's head drooped at this news. "…I see." Her mind whirled as she processed the information, comparing it to what she knew of Calagione.
Did he think I was going to be there? Who had the kind of persuasion necessary to put a detour on the man's bloodlust? Was he bartering his services to get to his main objective, or was there some other game he was playing?
"Don't worry, Kendo," the detective said, cutting her train of thought off at the station. "Megalodon's patterns are fairly recognizable, so it should be easier to track his movements, and it might help catch the rest of his associates."
Itsuka wished she could be reassured.
[IB]
Recovery Girl had informed Toshinori that his fight at the U.S.J. hadn't aggravated his old injury overly much, there were signs of strain. As such, she had ordered light activity and ample bed rest.
Which is why he was sitting in the meeting with the teachers as Tsukauchi prepared to deliver the police's findings. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but it was more familiar than teaching students.
"It's been a mess sorting through the various reports," Tsukauchi began. "This is what we have managed to gather concerning the attack on the USJ: the police have investigated the group calling themselves 'League of Villains' including a list of known participants in the attack on the USJ. Between questioning the villains captured and the reports compiled from the students and other Heroes on scene, we determined some of the known quantities that managed to escape in the chaos."
Three pictures went up, mug-shots of the villains that. A rocky-looking man with four arms, a young brunette with twin-tails, and a man with electrical burns marking his face, typically covered by a mask.
"First off, the relative small fry of the bunch. These were among the numbers assembled, but hadn't rated more than C-Rank. Yotsubu Yamashita, a.k.a. Steel Bulwark; Susumu Kamimaki, or Martial Hair; and Hirai Nishin, a.k.a. Tesla." Tsukauchi flipped through the file in his hand. "The next four are B-Rank at the minimum."
Four more pictures and names appeared, each of them more concerning than the last. Louis Hannes – Blade, Itachi Kanrume – Scarecrow, Ryoko Otsuchi – Digzone, Haemon Calagione – Megalodon. Quite the collection of names, if Toshinori was any judge. He had only fought Megalodon during the Deep Six crisis, but Nighteye had profiles on most of the major villain groups, gangs, and notable criminal figures while tracing All for One's movements.
"Excepting Hannes, all of them had been awaiting transfer to Tartarus until they were sprung from their cells and their guards disintegrated."
The next slide held three more pictures, taken from the cameras at the USJ before the villains had made their escape. Listed were the aliases they had referred to one another, along with an indicator for the third's unknown status.
"That brings us to our unknowns, Shigaraki and Kurogiri, both newcomers to the scene. Their Quirks don't match up with any known records or directories, so it's entirely possible they've been off the grid up until this point. They might even be from outside of the country."
"Unregistered Quirks?" Vlad asked.
"Most likely," Tsukauchi replied. "Warping Quirks are rare enough as it is, let alone mass teleportation."
"What about the big guy?" Snipe asked.
"The villain known as Nomu was sent into through the roof and is presumed to be a low orbit, courtesy of the combined efforts of All Might and Uraraka. It's unlikely we'll be able to track it until it eventually makes landfall."
Snipe crossed his arms. "Petty criminals are a dime in a dozen, but a former INTERPOL agent, a deranged bio-terrorist, one of Vector's Coterie, and the last surviving member of the Deep Six. This Shigaraki either has a lot of influence or deep pockets to pull that those kind of numbers on short notice."
"He's supposed to be young, right?" Midnight asked. "How did he come into those kind of resources or reputation?"
"It's possible that Shigaraki might not be the mastermind," said Nedzu, "merely the field commander or a successor to an older villain."
Toshinori was wary of letting a possible thread to All for One out, even with the man's supposed demise, but at this rate, it was a matter of time befre they would be caught up in the matter, and Nedzu had reasoned that it would be better to ease the staff into the knowledge, and the sooner the better if this was the pace their enemy was setting. And some fresh perspectives would keep him from clouding the investigation with his bias.
"Apart from the Nomu, the ones we rounded up were mostly small fry. I think we can say that aside from him, the more dangerous among their ranks were the ones that escaped." The detective sat down. "Even without the Nomu, the ones that escaped could pose a serious threat. They have significant connections and resources, and many of them are seasoned veterans.
The Principal looked over the information a final time, then closed the file in front of him for the time being. "Well, a danger known is a danger halved."
"We really need to hurry," said Snipe. "Once their ringleader is healed, they'll definitely try again."
[IB]
Tomura flexed his hand. The healing was coming along well, though he'd rather not have to go through something like that again.
The doctor had been pissed when he had heard of the Nomu's fate. Sensei was understanding, though, and apparently the Nomu hadn't broken orbit, though it was out of range for the moment. It was a matter of waiting for it to make landfall and they could snag it back from whoever picked it up.
His pack of scrubs had gotten decimated. Four others had had managed to make it to Kurogiri before he warped them out, even if two of those had been on accident. All others were as good as dead.
A mission failure, at least on the surface. The Nomu had proven its worth as a solid tactical option. All Might had nearly wiped, even with Izuku helping. It had taken a player jumping on just long enough to clutch and drop, and that still only temporarily banned Nomu from the server.
More importantly, they had gauged All Might's status. Injured, but not softened up for game-finisher. Not yet.
There was still the matter of his successor, though that should be confirmed by the time of the Sports Festival. U.A. was the best tutorial for Heroes, and would be ever-ready to save face to keep their place at the top of the leaderboard.
Someone knocked on the door. "Pizza delivery!"
The bar's occupants paused and glanced at one another.
"Who ordered a pizza?" asked Four Arms.
"Do any of the local joints deliver here?" Megalodon asked.
Everyone reached for weapons and prepared for a fight while Hair Drills and Megalodon moved towards the door, the former cracking it open.
"It's Doctor Mindbender," she said, more for easing tensions.
"Scarecrow is fine," was the reply, the former doctor sliding in dressed in casual clothes. "Found someone else along the way."
Digzone threw the door open, striding in with another villain across her back.
"Surprise~!"
"Who's that idiot?" Megalodon asked, returning his drink.
"One of the guys dropped into the Mountain Zone. I patched him up a bit, but he's gonna need more work."
"What happened to him?"
"Eh, he took a few bullets on the way out."
Her passenger perked up, snarling, "You used me as a meat shield, you b-ahck!"
"Details," Digzone retorted, rolling her eyes and dropping the man onto the ground. "So this is all we brought back?"
"Up until you showed up," Tomura replied. "Assume the old warehouse is being searched from top to bottom."
"So…what now?"
"We'll be hanging offline for a bit while we recon the next objective."
"Which is?"
Tomura smirked when the TV popped on to a press conference for the scrubs handling the Sports Festival. The screen had been muted, but the headline had the villains looked at Tomura like he had grown a second head.
"Are you insane?" asked four-arms.
"You're not seriously considering crashing the U.A. Sports Festival, are you?" asked Digzone.
"Of course not. But since they're so kind to show their strategies in front of the world, why not study them?"
And if we find some promising party members, all the better.
[IB]
Ochako walked along the street, holding a bag of cookies, when she spotted a familiar patch of purple hair ahead of her in the crowd. Picking up the pace, she pulled alongside him, leaning into his peripherals, and said, "Hey."
The boy stood a little straighter, not quite scared, but definitely caught off-guard by her appearance.
"Oh. Uh…hey?" he replied, awkwardly. "How are you doing?" Shinso immediately regretted asking, stumbling over his words, and nearly stumbling physically as he scrambled to apologize. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"
"It's fine," Ochako interjected, then leaned over to look at his bag. "So, what did you bring?"
"I bought some cookies," he answered, then ducking his head in shame. "I've literally never been to something like this. No one ever invited me."
"Don't feel bad. I almost never have the money to buy anything, and I'm not that good at baking. I bought cookies, too."
"…I see."
"Hey, Uraraka! Shinso!" Hajime called out, waving at them. "Over here!"
Hajime had a covered cake pan, though Ochako was wondering if he had cut some corners somewhere, as he seemed to want to hide it. Beside him, Hatsume had brought what looked to be half her own body weight in gummy bears.
Makes me feel a little less awkward for buying cookies.
Walking along, Ochako turned to the Support students. "Hey, Hajime."
"Mm?"
"You're friends Midoriya, right?"
"Yep. Since we were in elementary school."
"Does he do this sort of thing frequently?"
Hajime scrunched his face "'zuku doesn't do much socializing outside of work; a bit of a workaholic, even back when we first met. So if he's cordoning off a day like this, my guess, he's trying to get his mind off of the U.S.J. and is helping us do the same."
"Oh."
"It might not seem like it, but he tends to fret, and when he does, he goes all out in solving the problem. In this instance, party."
Are you sure this is the place?" asked Shinso, stopping in front of a metal gate.
The rest of them gathered around to look while Hajime opened the way for them and led them into the yard.
The Midoriya residence was made after a pre-Quirk modern style, and it looked expensive. Midoriya had never talked about family, but this place had to be sprawling for a small family. It also felt…empty, for some reason.
Ochako whistled when they arrived at the front door. "I mean, we kind of knew he was rich, but wow."
"You've never been to Castle Yaoyorozu," said Hajime, giving the door a couple of knocks.
"Yaomomo lives in a castle?!"
"No, but it's ritzier than this by a mile, at least."
They were presently greeted by a stern-looking, silver-haired woman with red eyes. There were too many differences, so Ochako didn't think they were related, or at least not directly
"Uh…hi," she said, waving.
The woman looked them over, then gave them a polite smile. "Hajime, welcome back. And the rest of you are Izuku's friends, right? Come in."
The four teenagers dropped off jackets and shoes, joining another two more sets.
"Osaki and Nakayama arrived a little bit earlier. They're in the living room. Now, introductions?"
Hajime cleared his throat and went from right to left. "Hatsume, Uraraka, and Shinso."
"Hi!" shouted Hatsume.
"Sayuri Emiya, the butler," she answered. "Izuku is still waking up, but he should be out to greet you shortly. Why don't you take the food to the kitchen?"
"Right."
Contrasts of white and black, with occasional splashes of grey intermingled. While the quality shouted "RICH", everything seemed…Spartan. Minimalistic, ordered to the point of mathematical precision. The furniture, the art, all of it was arranged at right angles and at strict intervals of distance.
"So, what is it that you do, Miss Emiya?" Ochako asked.
"She buttles," Hajime answered.
A faint smile tugged at Emiya's lips. "Chauffer, bodyguard, sometimes chef, acting legal guardian while his father is abroad, tutor, trainer. Anything he needs."
"So his father's gone most of the time?" Ochako asked.
Emiya nodded, but did not elaborate.
After dropping the food off, they found Midoriya's classmates sitting in the living room. Nakayama was perusing the movies, reading out titles and descriptions to a wrung-out Osaki sitting on the couch. The winged-girl had her knees pulled up to her chest and seemed spaced out, but was cognizant enough that she didn't jump when they arrived.
What happened in the area they got dropped in?
This was supposed to be a time for relaxing and forgetting about the U.S.J. for a little while, not swapping stories.
"So, what do you guys want to do first?" she asked.
Midoriya ambled into the commons, bleary-eyed and disheveled, hair flowing as if underwater. Dressed in baggy clothes, including a shirt with the word "shirt" emblazoned across the front. It was a far cry from the usually pristine and collected individual they saw at school and training.
"Oh. Hey, guys," he mumbled, then squinted. "Do I have something on my face?"
"Nothing," Shinso answered. "It's just you're usually bright-eyed and bushy-tailed during training."
"Considering I had to regenerate a good chunk of tissue around my ribs and on my foot, yeah, I'm feeling a little drained." A wave of light ran across his hair, restoring it to a semblance of order. "Coffee, anyone?"
"I'll take some."
Midoriya nodded. "Right, I'll-"
"I'll take care of it," Emiya interjected, striding into the kitchen.
Midoriya glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "Okay. Make yourselves at home. Look at the movies and games. Let me know what you like."
While everyone perused the movies. Ochako looked around at the walls adorned with sketches of people, objects, scenery from around Japan, and a few that were from Europe or America.
"You drew all of these?" she asked.
"Yup. Plus a bunch of other stuff that didn't warrant presentation."
Shinso laughed at some of the contents of the cabinet. "Discount Felonies? Supersonic Tumbleweeds? Never thought you'd be into that sort of thing."
"What sort of music did you think I listened to?" Midoriya asked. "Whatever. My old man liked collecting older works, and I picked up a taste for it. It starts with Elvis and goes to the Collapse."
Ochako peered over Nakayama's head. "You might like talking with Jirou, then."
"She's the punk rock chick, right?"
"Yeah."
Osaki looked between a couple of movies that Nakayama had handed her. "There's so much here. I don't even know where to start."
"I brought a setup for Super Smash Bros," Hajime interjected, holding up an old looking console with a number of controllers.
Ochako perked up at the sight. "Ooh!"
"Sounds like one vote for Smash Bros," said Hajime.
Shinso raised a hand. "I've never played it, but I'd like to try."
"Make that three," said Midoriya.
Booting the system up on an oversized TV, the lot of teenagers gathered into the living room, passing around controllers and a couple of bags of chips.
In the midst of this, Shinso spoke up.
"I've heard of this series, but really, how much has it changed? Is it a remaster, or…?"
"They just kept rereleasing it with new characters and maps after I-Island made that huge archive," Hajime replied. "I mean, none of the copyright laws applied after that time, so I think the devs went a little nuts with all of the content they could cram into the project. For example…"
Doom-Slayer.
Midoriya snorted. "Whelp. Have to pick Isabelle, now."
"You play Animal Crossing?" Ochako asked as she dragged her cursor over and- Jigglypuff.
"Huh. Would have thought you to be a Kirby kind of girl."
Ochako shrugged.
"And yes, Sho got it for me a while back. Kind of got hooked for a bit."
The first round ended with the pink, singing blob sitting at the forefront of the crowd if defeated adversaries.
Midoriya pinched the bridge of his nose. "…How?"
Ochako smiled mischievously. "Three words: Killer. Ariel. Acceleration."
"Alright. Another round. Let's see if that was luck or skill."
"You're on!"
Several more rounds ended with Ochako the victor, though that streak was soon constest by Hajime. Yaoyorozu and Iida showed up a bit later, further spreading out Ochako's victories, but it was still fun. Even the time Iida's awkward button-mashing netted him a near-victory.
Around noon, a baseball team's worth of teenagers descended upon pizza and assorted snacks with vigor. Amidst stuffing their faces with pizza and snacks, Ochako, despite reservations, shunted her nerves and asked, "Do you think the Sports Festival is still on?"
She had been getting herself excited since the beginning of the semester. The Sports Festival was the first debut of most, if not all prospective Pro-Heroes coming out of U.A. It also happened to be part of Midoriya, Osaki, and Nakayama's grade, and Shinso's own plans changing courses. Really, there was no way of avoiding the subject forever.
Which, of course, made her feel awful when Osaki cringed a little.
"It sounds as if the Sports Festival is still proceeding as scheduled," Yaoyorozu answered.
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?" asked Osaki.
"My brother has it from Aizawa," Iida replied. "Security is to be increased specifically to mitigate any risks."
"Yeah, dropping into a national event would be a great way to be publicly humiliated."
Midoriya raised an eyebrow, then went back to eating.
"So, Midoriya-?" Ochako began.
"We all fought alongside each other. Given names is fine. At least for me."
"It's fine," said Hitoshi, nervously avoiding eye contact as the others quickly reintroduced themselves.
"Is there a particular movie you want to watch together?"
"Something funny," said Suzume.
After much deliberation, they went with Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.
[IB]
As much as Hitoshi appreciated being actually invited to a sleepover, he had enough trouble sleeping under ideal conditions, let alone in an unfamiliar environment. Most of the other kids had gone home, but Ochako, Mei, and Sho slept quite soundly despite the circumstances.
Getting up, he went about his usual routine when insomnia kept him up. On his walk the kitchen, the familiar aroma of coffee wafted to his nose. He cautiously poked his head in, low lighting providing enough illumination to navigate to the freshly brewed coffee. He nearly jumped when he saw the shadowed figure hanging out by the window.
"Mugs are in the cabinet up and left," said Izuku in a stage whisper. "Cream's in the fridge door. Everything else is next to the coffee maker."
Fixing up a mug for himself, Hitoshi followed Izuku out onto the balcony looking out into Mustafu, greeted by distant sirens and barking dogs. Ordinarily, Hitoshi would have thought it peaceful, but after having not only the break-in, but an actual attack on the school grounds, his mind wandered to the many possibilities the seeming quiet was hiding.
Sitting in silence, Hitoshi barely avoided jumping again when Izuku spoke up.
"If you want to ask, there's nothing stopping you."
Hitoshi squinted, then looked down at his mug, mustering the right words. "Not to sound ungrateful, but why did you even bother with me?"
"I believe you've asked this question already."
"Yeah, and I'm not entirely sure you weren't fibbing or hiding something."
That netted Hitoshi a pointed stare.
"…Specifics. I can answer that in a bunch of different ways."
"Ever since my Quirk came in, I've had to deal with whispers behind my back, and even some people telling me to my face that I was fated to be a Villain. Not just kids, either. I had some of my teachers give me a wide berth because they thought I'd drag their reputation down. Spent a lot of time alone because no one wanted to be associated with a future villain. Why would you stick your neck out?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Izuku asked back, as if it were of no consequence. "You could talk someone down from a suicidal leap. It'd be easy to defuse a hostage situation. And maybe you can calm someone from a panic attack, especially if there's a Quirk involved. Your Quirk is untapped reserve of potential. Squandering it would be practically criminal unto itself."
"Says you."
"Have you ever abused it? Get someone to turn over their homework? Buy something for you? Hurt anyone by a poorly worded request."
Hitoshi's mouth twisted in disgust. "No."
Izuku swirled his mug around. "Has anyone died because your Quirk?"
"What!? No!"
"Then I don't see why anyone should have a problem." Something unreadable passed over Izuku's face. "Point is, neither of us got a say in what Quirk we got."
What do you mean by "we"? Hitoshi wondered. He knew it was statistically likely that there were others like him; he had read enough articles to know that. But it seemed so unlikely that Izuku was in the same demographic. That a Quirk that looked every bit what everyone would like to see in a Hero was something to fear or be shunned. But-
"Has anyone ever died because of your Quirk?"
Asking felt like prying too far into Izuku's personal life, and Hitoshi was sure he wouldn't like what he found if he tried. The memory of the zero-pointer came to mind, and he quashed that line of thought before it could run too far.
Instead, he asked, "If you could, would you get rid of it?"
The green-haired teen stood up and walked to the railing, looking up into the night sky.
"Your Quirk isn't everything about you," said Izuku. "Yeah, you got dealt a bad hand, and our society places too much stock in that, but that's their failing, not yours. You want to prove everyone was wrong about you, but is that the sort of reason to risk your life for others?"
"When that's the only option…yeah?"
Izuku snorted derisively. "I could take your Quirk and shove into anyone else, but they wouldn't know to do with it. It wouldn't mean the same to them. They wouldn't appreciate the struggles you've endured."
Hitoshi blinked at the frank appraisal as Izuku turned back to him, eyes glinting in the shadows.
"To answer your question, despite all the pain and heartache it's caused me…no. Why? Because I decided that no one else will have to live like that. No one will have to live with that pain again. Not while I had a chance to do anything about it." Stepping towards the table, Izuku set the mug down with a thunk. "So if helping you come to terms with your Quirk and achieve your goals makes your life a little less crappy, then I'll consider it a job well done."
[IB]
Mashirao was feeling a bit like flotsam, bobbing along without a clear purpose. Since the U.S.J., memories of all those narrow escapes were never far from his mind. Several of his peers were much the same. Shouji and Kirishima were a little shaken, but if they hadn't had the Quirks they did, they'd be crippled or dead.
So, going back to school like nothing happened was both a relief and nerve-wracking to the extreme.
Not helping matters, homeroom had started with Aizawa, bandaged like a mummy, walking into class as if it were any other day. He had then – in the most ominous manner – informed them that the Sports Festival was still on, along with all that entailed for them.
A normal school event, with established parameters and expectations. After all they had been through on their first week, it was hard not to be excited about it, especially with Uraraka hyping everyone up. He could have done without Bakguo pissing off all of their other classmates before lunch, though.
He had been just about to leave with Shouji, Hakagure, and Kouda to make their way to the cafeteria. Shouji picked up on it first, hearing the first stragglers show up, and had suggested holding off until the crowd dispersed; Kouda was still a little twitchy, and neither of them wanted to risk him going catatonic by ramming straight through a crowd.
"What are they doing here?" Mineta demanded.
"Scouting out the enemy, small fry," said Bakugo, oddly quiet and calm. "We're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack."
"They probably want check us out before the Sports Festival," Mashirao suggested.
"There's no point in doing stuff like that." He glared at the crowd, and when no one moved, he yelled, "Outta my way, extras."
"Don't antagonize our classmates, Bakguo," Yaoyorozu chided.
"I came to see what the famous Class A was like…" A girl with long, lavender hair pushed to the front. "And I must say, my disappointment is immeasurable."
"Can I help you?" Yaoyorozu asked, positioning herself to prevent a fight from breaking out.
Lavender hair turned to 1-A's Class Rep. and sneered. "I see the consistency of your company is the same as ever, Yaoyorozu," she drawled.
"What do you want, Suzuki?" Yaoyorozu asked, almost tiredly.
"I tried to get into Heroics, too, you know," said Suzuki, playing with a strand of hair. "But there's only so many slots, and some of us had to settle for other courses. Funnily enough, those of us who're still interested can still find our status evaluated depending on the results of the Sports Festival. Presumably, the reverse is also true." Her lips pulling into a cruel smile. "What I want…is to take one of your spots." She eyed Bakguo. "Maybe I'll take yours?"
"Over my dead body," he growled. There were some crackling at his hand, but thankfully, his temper held, though Mashirao could only guess why.
Suzuki wasn't finished, her stare sweeping over the rest of the class. "Scouting the enemy? I have no need for such plebian tactics, not for something as trivial as this. Consider this is a declaration of war."
"Hope you enjoy losing."
"Hey!" someone shouted. At first, Mashirao hoped it was a teacher or upperclassman there to break things up, but his hopes were quickly dashed as a silver-haired teen with some crazy eyebrows pushed his own way to the forefront. "I'm form Class 1-B next door!" he shouted. "I heard you fought against villains, so I came to hear 'bout it! Don't get too full of yourselves! If you bark too much, it'll be embarrassing for you durin' the real fight!"
Bakugo promptly pushed past the crowd, ignoring the mocking look and bushy-brows yelling after him.
"Wait a minute, Bakugo!" Kirishima hollered. "What're you going to do about all this? It's your fault that everyone's hating on us!"
"It doesn't matter. All that matters is rising to the top."
Yaoyorozu stared at by Suzuki, who all too happily returned it before walking off.
Before bushy-brows could scream anymore, a hand grabbed wonder brows, Itsuka making her presence known. "Take a chill pill, Tetsutetsu," she said, pulling him back. "It's not like they asked to be attacked."
"Hey, it's the exit sign girl," someone said.
Ignoring the crowd and nickname, Itsuka poked her head into the classroom. "Hey, Mashi, we were going to grab some lunch when we saw the crowd. Figured we'd pick you up along the way."
Thankfully, the crowd began to dissipate, and cleared readily for their little entourage.
"Seriously, why are they focusing on us?" asked Mashirao, more for himself than anything. "We weren't even the only first-years there, and I think those third-years did more than us."
Itsuka sighed. "…Yeah, well. People can be stupid sometimes."
Without any warning, All Might burst from one of the side corridors.
"Young Kendo is here!" he boomed.
Needless to say, it was a shocking experience for everyone but Itsuka, who took it in stride, already familiar with the man's antics. Or was just inoculated by her own father's enthusiastic personality.
"All Might?" she asked. "Is something the matter?"
"Lunch," he answered, much more quietly, holding up a wrapped up bento. "Wanna eat together?"
Itsuka raised an eyebrow. "Uh, sure." She gave her classmates a quick wave. "Go on. I'll catch you guys later."
At first, no one could find anything to say. While standing in line, however, Reiko finally found a voice.
"What was that about back there?" she asked.
Not sure how much to share, but also wanting to avoid being seen as avoiding the question (and invite more), Mashirao stuck with the basics. "With All Might? He's her mentor and a family friend of some sort."
Tokage's head whipped around, almost entirely. "Really?! That's cool!
"Now that I think about it, their Quirks are pretty similar," Reiko added. "Super strength, super tough…"
"Similar vibes, too."
"Really? Always thought of her more like that reliable big sister type."
"Big sisters can beat the crap out of people, too. Remember the first day of Foundational Heroics?"
Ahead of them, Todoroki pulled away from the serving line, ruminating over what he had just heard.
A/N: Aside from my usual frustrations whilst writing (namely rewriting the same section repeatedly), since Shinso has his own track settled, someone else had to get Bakugo riled up, as well as the rest of the first-years. Almost skipped this sequence, but between All Might and Todoroki, some things needed to be established before the Sports Festival. Luckily, I had someone who could be just as belligerent in his stead.
Fun Fact: those thugs from the canon U.S.J. Incident (the ones that held the camera's focus for a couple of seconds, at any rate) all had aliases and names for their Quirks. I only discovered this recently. The only thing they were missing were their actual names. Once again, my spotty comprehension of kanji is on display.
For the uninitiated, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a 2001 movie that looks like a 1950s B-movie, but feels like it was a college project done by a handful of broke, sleep-deprived Theater Arts majors raiding the prop closet and their grandparents' attic. If you haven't seen it and have a couple of hours to burn, give it a watch.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Requests for signs of life? Let me know with a PM or Review. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.
Winterman, Out.