"I'll admit that even I have a difficult time controlling this one. But it should serve you quite well."
"What is-"
"Don't worry my boy, you will feel no pain. Go on and achieve your dream. And you'd do well to know that if you ever chose to return to me, I am here...for you."
"Ah!" Midoriya shouted, launching himself up from his bed. The boy's eyes darted around the room, looking to see where he was. His breath was unsteady and his mouth was dry. It only took a few seconds for him to notice to excessive amount of sweat covering his entire body.
"What the hell was that?" He wondered out loud as he ran a hand through his hair.
Midoriya didn't dream that often. Actually, the boy would say it was a rare occurrence altogether. But something about the hazy image in his head was odd. It felt...real. If he didn't know any better, he would say it felt more like a distant memory rather than some random fabrication that his mind had concocted.
Deciding not to dwell on it, the green haired teen quickly got himself out of bed and made his way towards the bathroom to get ready for school.
The early morning commute to U.A. was just as chaotic as it usually was. Midoriya was sitting in a train car that looked to be just about filled minus the seat next to him and a few others scattered throughout the area.
Ever since making it into the most famous hero school in the country, and his "success" in the Sports Festival, the boy had grown accustomed to random passersby recognizing either himself or the uniform he wore. Pretty much all of the comments that people gave him were positive, which he was thankful for. But a few people here and there couldn't help but mention how "wild" or "awesome" he looked choking out his classmate on national television.
Luckily for him, everyone seemed to be too busy to say something to him on this particular morning. Which he silently hoped would become a more frequent occurrence.
"Excuse me, may I sit here?" A deep voice said to him once the automatic doors closed after picking up another set of passengers.
Midoriya looked up only to be met with the sight of another student wearing the same uniform as he was. The person in question had a head similar to that of a crow and the boy immediately recognized him as one of the other hero course students from the Sports Festival. If his memory was correct, the guy had some sort of shadow spirit quirk.
"Uh sure." Midoriya simply nodded.
"Thank you, Midoriya." The boy gave a polite bow before taking the open seat next to him.
"It's no problem…."
"Tokoyami." He answered his silent question.
"Right, it's no problem Tokoyami-san."
"So I am to assume that your class had their internships brought to a halt as well?" The bird headed teen inquired in rather peculiar manner of speech.
"Y-yeah."
"I see." Tokoyami replied. "You wouldn't happen to know the reason why this is do you? None of my other classmates seem to know and I am rather curious."
"No clue. Everyone in 1-B is pretty much in the dark."
"I see."
The two sat in rather peaceful silence over the next couple of minutes. It was weird how this was his first real interaction with someone from the other class. Aside from his short talk with Iida after their match and that time after class with that Uraraka girl. You would think that by this point in the school year they would've had more time to get to know each other. But considering the mess their class went through, it was understandable.
"So...what's it like in 1-A? If you don't mind me asking?" Midoriya said in a rather nervous tone. His curiosity getting the better of him.
"As normal as one would expect, I suppose. It's not much different than what I've seen in previous institutions. Though our homeroom teacher is quite eccentric. I am curious about your class as well?"
"Pretty much the same really."
"You seem to have a lot of capable students in your class. I was able to rewatch some of the footage from the Sports Festival and you all performed admirably well. I admire how you worked together to overcome the obstacle course. It was a sound strategy."
"Yeah, we kind of just freestyled everything to be honest. But your class were the ones who everyone was paying attention to."
"You have a point."
"You also have a lot of really strong guys." Midoriya continued. Not only did they have Bakugou in 1-A. But they had the son of the number two hero, the brother of another popular hero. And if his assumptions were correct, the daughter of one of the biggest business conglomerates in the entire country. On paper, it seemed like 1-A was where all the top candidates were placed in.
"The same could be said for your class, or you in particular."
"Huh?"
"You left quite an impression on my classmates, myself included. You bested Todoroki and Iida in the competition. And you came close to defeating Bakugou as well. Objectively speaking, those are our three strongest members."
Midoriya blushed a little and began scratching his cheek. "It r-really wasn't all that impressive. I pretty much got l-lucky in my match against Todoroki-san and I had just had the advantage over Iida-san when it came to quirks."
"Do you mind if ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Bakugou seems to harbor a bit of a grudge against you. Ever since your match he's been marginally more irritable as of late. He's mentioned you quite a few times and doesn't exactly hold you in high regard. Might there be a history between you two?"
'I can't exactly say that I wasn't expecting that.' Midoriya sighed internally. Of course Bakugou was still pissed at him. What else was new? He made it a point to avoid the 'explosion' quirk user whenever possible. But now it seems like he'll have to be extra careful in the future.
"Something like that." Was all Midoriya felt like replying with.
"I see, forgive for prying into your business in such a way." The raven headed teen apologized.
"It's no problem."
That was the last thing said before the two teen ended their conversation. Midoriya and Tokoyami sat in peaceful silence for the rest of the train ride. Admittedly, the boy found it someone refreshing that not everyone in 1-A was like his former friend.
There was no shortage of chatter and excitement in the classroom as the students of 1-B patiently waited for the bell to ring. Naturally, the only thing everyone could talk about were their internships and how they went. For the most, everyone seemed to have a fun time with their pros and a few people were even talking about all the stuff they learned.
"That's still pretty crazy though. I don't know what I would've done if I was there." Kendou said after Tokage finished telling their group about their last day with Katsuragi and Kamihara. At the moment, the 'lizard tail splitter' user's desk was surrounded by Kendou, Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki, Kaibara, Honenuki and Tsunotori.
"Seriously, I'm thankful that you came out of that unharmed." The vine haired girl added.
"Yeah...if Blizzard wasn't there, it would've been bad."
Kaibara was the next to speak. "Still, a ton of crazy stuff happened last week. Shoda said that one of those attacks happened close to where he was interning. It's no wonder why the school pulled us out early."
"I wonder what the assembly is going to be about this morning. It's just all of the hero course first years, right?" Honenuki asked.
"No clue, Aunt Nemuri wouldn't spill." Tokage shrugged. The R-Rated heroine was acting rather odd this morning. Normally her and Tetsutetsu would take the train over to school, but she insisted on driving the two of them there herself just to make sure that they made it on time.
The conversation went on pretty normally for the next few minutes. That was until Awase suddenly shouted loud enough to catch everyone's attention. "Oh shit! Midoriya, is that you?!"
Every set of eyes currently in the classroom turned towards the door and a collective gasp escaped their mouths once they got a look at their classmate. It was Midoriya. Standing there with a not-so-subtle amount of redness on his cheeks. Looking very different from the last time they saw him. From the neck down, everything was the same. Right down to his signature red boots. But that's not what everyone was focused on.
The real story of the morning was his hair. The fluffy mop of green locks that they were all so used to seeing was gone. The sides and back of his head were shaved close to the scalp. And on the top, his hair was still thick and curly but cropped to about half of its original length.
'What...the...fuck….' A slightly bewildered Tokage thought as she visually inspected his person.
At the front of the room, Midoriya was quickly regressing into a blushing mess at all of this unwanted attention. Literally every single one of his classmates was staring at him as they tried to process what they were seeing. And the boy was now regretting not wearing some type of hat over his head. "H-hey guys." He greeted them with a shaky wave.
All of a sudden, the floodgates seemed to open and almost half of the students shot out of their seats and ran up to him.
"Dude, what the hell is this? Why'd you cut your hair?!" Tetsutetsu was the first to speak.
"Oh man, what the hell happened to you?" Tsuburaba was the next to comment.
"You look so different!" Komori smiled at him.
"I like it." Kendou gave an approving nod.
Over the next few seconds, all Midoriya could do was give everyone an awkward laugh as he tried his best not to faint from being the center of attention. Right as the boy was about to speak, a set of hands placed themselves on either side of his face and his head was turned to the left. Two sets of green eyes locked onto each other and they boy's face reddened even further.
Tokage was definitely having a hard time trying to contain herself as she inspected the boy's features from top to bottom. She wasn't prepared for this at all. Not in the slightest. Why didn't he say anything about getting his haircut? This was way to monumental to just spring on her out of the blue like this. The girl subconsciously began running her fingers through what was left of his mane and she suddenly felt a bit of heat welling up in her face.
'Oh shit...he's kinda hot.' The girl thought.
'Is she actually blushing?' Tetsutetsu looked at his longtime friend in disbelief. This may have actually been the first time in his life that he'd seen the girl flustered in any type of way.
The sound of Shiozaki coughing into her hand snapped the green haired duo out of their awkwardly intimate moment and brought them back to reality. There were a few jokes and snide remarks at the girl's bravery to grope one of her classmates right before their very eyes. But it was nothing inappropriate.
"You're an asshole." The girl fake pouted as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Huh?" Midoriya blinked.
"Now I have to come up with a new nickname for you. I can't call you Moptop anymore." She explained.
"Oh…" He gave her a nervous grin.
"Still man, you look pretty stylish." Honenuki joked while patting him on the back.
"Yeah Midoriya, you look like a total fuckboy!" Tsunotori smiled at him.
…
…
…
"Pony!"
"Pffft!" Tokage couldn't stop herself from laughing after hearing that.
"Oh damn." Awase nearly double over as he failed to contain his own laughter.
"What?" The horned teen looked around in confusion.
A few steps behind her, Monoma was cackling like a madman while supporting himself on Tsuburaba's shoulder. The blonde teen was doing his best to remain calm but he just couldn't do it after witnessing something so hilarious. Luckily Kendou was quick to scold him by chopping him in the back of the neck. "That's not funny, Monoma-kun!"
"What's wrong?" The American girl inquired again.
"Dude, do you know what you just said?" Tokage asked in English.
"I told him that he looks really cool."
"That's definitely not it."
"Well what did I say?"
"You called him a "fuckboy"!" The girl announced while grabbing her sides and leaning over the nearby desk.
Immediately, Tsunotori's face reddened and she began bowing to Midoriya in an attempt to apologize. "I'm so sorry Midoriya, I didn't know! I thought I was giving you a compliment. Monoma tricked me. I didn't mean it. Please forgive me!" She frantically said with a slight tear in her eye.
"It's okay, Tsunotori-san." Midoriya waved off in a slightly dejected tone.
"What's going on?" A stoic voice suddenly spoke up. Everyone's attention now turned to the perpetually emotionless face of Yanagi who just walked into the classroom. A pale blue eye lingered on Midoriya's form for a few seconds before the girl made the journey over to her seat. "Nice haircut, Midoriya-kun."
"T-thank you, Yanagi-san." He replied. "Oh yeah, were you able to do that thing I showed you?"
"Sort of, I was going to ask you a few more questions later when you get the chance. I'm having some trouble with it."
"Oh~." Tokage interjected in a teasing tone. "What's going on here? You showed Ghosty a new "trick" huh?"
The implication of what she was saying was not lost on either of the two telekinesis users at all. Midoriya was about to fumble his way through an explanation. But luckily for him, Yanagi was faster in her response. "Midoriya-kun showed me a new way to apply my quirk. I think it will be a very useful skill to use."
"Man...I can't crack you at all, can I?"
"Unlikely."
Things settled down after the bell finally rang and Kan walked into the room. Their homeroom teacher looked like he had seen better days and some would say that his shoulders look particularly heavy this morning. "Alright students! I know you all want to discuss your time interning with your pros, but we're going to hold off on that. We need to hurry up and get over to the auditorium. I'm telling you now, if anyone says something that makes me angry...detention will be the least of your worries."
A few students gulped at this. Kan never made any type of threat, this might have actually been their first time hearing one coming from the man's mouth. Whatever was about to happen, it certainly wasn't good.
In no time, all of the first year students of the hero course were gathered together in the school auditorium. There was a weird tension in the air as everyone eyed each other across the seats. This was the first official introduction the students were given to their sister classes since starting at U.A. and no one had any clue what the reason was for bringing them together.
In his seat between Tokage and Yanagi, Midoriya could feel a set of eyes boring a hole into the back of his head. If he were to turn around to get a look at what was causing this slight disturbance, he would've seen Bakugou grimacing at him a couple of rows away. Luckily, the boy chose not to do that.
On the stage at the front of the auditorium sat almost all of their teachers including Snipe, Thirteen and Hound Dog. All of them looked rather unsettled and it was pretty obvious that something major was going on.
"So what do you think they want to talk about?" Tsuburaba whispered to the group while leaning forward in his seat.
"No clue." Kendou shrugged.
"I bet you five hundred yen that all of us are in trouble." Kamakiri commented.
"It seems that way." Tokage stated.
Before the whispers and assumptions could get out of hand, Principal Nezu and All Might entered the room. The hulking hero walked with his usual strut, but Midoriya noticed that "Symbol of Peace" wasn't sporting his usual trademark smile. Whatever was going on, it had to be serious for him of all people to be wearing a frown on his face.
Once they were on the stage, Nezu wasted no time walking up to the podium and addressing his students. "Greeting everyone. It warms my heart to see that you all safely returned from your internships and are able to join us today. As much I would love to pretend that this assembly I've gathered you all for was a positive one, I can't quite bring myself to do that." The white furred mammal said in a somber tone.
"I'd prefer not to mince words when speaking about this subject, so I'll just get right into it if you don't mind. A couple of you are already of this and we've managed to keep it a secret up until now. But it brings me great sorrow to announce to you that your classmate, Tenya Iida, died last Thursday."
Silence fell over the room as the hero course hopefuls processed the man's announcement. Everyone began looking around at one another with a myriad of different expressions but no one dared to say a single word. Some were confused, others were just plain shocked. And Shiozaki immediately let out a silent prayer as she clasped her hands together.
"The Iida family has chosen not to disclose this information to the general public for the time being, but have given us permission to tell you all. They're family is going through quite the troubling time as of right now, so this was no doubt hard for them to do. They ask that you keep this information to yourselves until the official announcement has been made."
"What the hell…" Tokage said under her breath while sinking into her seat.
Beside her, Midoriya was still in shock. Sure, he only ever met the guy one time and didn't know him at all. But this was still alarm news.
It was already bad enough that 1-A had to go through that whole business at the USJ, but this was just too much. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that their class was cursed. The boy turned around to where Class 1-A was sitting and they all look absolutely gobsmacked. Apparently, none of them knew about this either.
"Principal Nezu, sir. What happened?" Monoma raised his hand as he was the first person to work up the nerve to speak out loud.
A heavy sigh escaped the principal's mouth before looking towards the blonde haired student. "Young Iida's life was brought to an end by the hands of the 'Hero Killer' Stain. He and another individual were found dead at the scene after the attack on Hosu was brought to an end."
Midoriya's mind began connecting dots that he wasn't sure even existed. Stain was responsible for this? The unknown villain had already brutally maimed Ingenium not even two weeks ago. And now he was responsible for killing his younger brother? From everything he had seen on the news about the man, there wasn't any real method are common denominator to whom he crossed paths with other than the fact that they were heroes. But now he was going over students? A part of Midoriya had to wonder if the guy had some sort of grudge against the Iida family.
"Oh my god." Kendou drug her hand across her face.
The sound of sniffling and coughing echoed from the back row of the group and Midoriya once again turned his gaze to see what was going on. In his line of sight he could see the brunette girl, Uraraka, looking as if she was on the verge of a break down. Tears were running down her face and he couldn't help but feel awful for her. At the very least, the dark haired girl with the scar on her face who went by Tsu was consoling her.
"I understand that this is very alarming news for all of you." Nezu stated once again. "I also want you all to know that our faculty is here for you if you need it. Inui-kun will be providing counseling sessions to anyone that wants to speak with him after we conclude this assembly. And anyone who feels as though they need time off can request it through their homeroom teacher."
That certainly made a lot of sense. Of course some of the students would need time to wrap their heads around and come to terms with this entire affair. They just lost a classmate to a deranged murder.
"In addition to this, the funeral for young Tenya Iida will be held this Saturday in Tokyo for those who wish to pay their respects. All of you have been invited and I would be grateful if you were to attend and give his family your regards."
A long moment of silence followed that announcement. It didn't take long before the waterworks were in full effect and most of 1-A were sobbing in their seats. The only people who didn't seem to be shedding any tears were Todoroki, Bakugou, Tokoyami and the masked boy with six arms. All of them still looked pretty surprised by this, so maybe they were still reeling.
"Now students, I'll turn the floor over to Aizawa-kun. He has a few things that must be addressed. I know all of you still need time to come to terms with the passing of your classmate, but please do your best to listen to what he has to say."
As Nezu stepped down from the podium, Aizawa made his way up. By this point, Midoriya was well aware that Eraserhead was the homeroom teacher for the other hero class. From what he knew, he was one of the teachers injured during the USJ attack along with Thirteen. And judging by the fact that he was wearing an eyepatch over his right eye, he went through his own fair share of hell during that time.
"Forgive me for having to change the mood so drastically." The black haired man began. His voice was tired and raspy and he looked as if he hadn't gotten any sleep in days. "But there are some details about this situation that you all need to be made aware of."
"Can you please elaborate, sensei?"
"From the information that we have along with several eye witness testimonies, it has come to our attention that this incident could've been avoided." He stated.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to give it to you straight. Iida purposely went looking for a fight with Stain. The pro hero that he was interning under told us that as soon as the League of Villains attack started, your classmate ran off on his own and tried to hunt down the Hero Killer."
"What?!" Several students shouted in disbelief.
"As many of you know, his brother was injured by the man as well. With this in mind, along with the fact that he chose an internship in Hosu over anywhere else, it stands to reason that Iida went there with the full intention of confronting the 'Hero Killer' himself. Stain is known to operate and secluded alleys away from the public and that's exactly where Iida's body was found. I'm not going to speculate what his exact reasons were. But the fact of the matter is, he went looking for a fight and he found it."
"That can't be true!" Uraraka suddenly shouted. The girl look absolutely ragged. "Iida-kun would never do something that reckless!"
"Uraraka's right! Iida's way too smart to go after someone like that on his own." Kirishima followed up.
'Honestly, it does make sense though.' Tokage thought to herself. The guy's brother was paralyzed by the man barely a couple of weeks ago and he had the perfect chance to settle the score. Revenge may not have been the "hero way", but she could understand why the indigo haired teen might have done it. He had a damn good motive and the means to do something about it. In all fairness, she doesn't know what she would do if she was put in that situation.
"I understand how you feel, but take all of this into account. Several local heroes spotted him running through alleyways in the area and it was confirmed that he abandoned the pro hero that he was with the first chance he got"
"You can't be serious?"
"I want all of you to understand that you are still students. Some of you may have gone through your fair share of ordeals, but you are a long way away from being licensed heroes. Acting foolishly and taking things into your own hands will almost always result in outcomes like these. You all need to understand that so something like this never happens again."
"Geez, he could stand to be a bit more compassionate." Kan leaned over and whispered to Kayama.
The R-Rated heroine let out a low sigh before responding. "It's better that hear this now instead of later. I agree with you though. But ripping the band-aid off is probably the best way to do it for right now."
Deciding that his students had enough of his bluntness, Aizawa backed away from the podium and retook his seat. The assembly ended shortly after that and the students made their way back to their class. As expected, a good portion of 1-A stayed behind to talk to Inui and amongst themselves. A part of Midoriya felt compelled to try and console his classmates, but he decided against it since it wasn't really his place.
However, as his group exited the assembly hall he noticed Todoroki glaring it him with a cold expression on his face.
The rest of the morning went on rather quickly after the assembly. There was a metaphorical storm cloud looming over the hero course students heads due to the information that they were given earlier that morning. But luckily their teachers decided to take it easy on them today. Once the bell rang, the students began filing out of the classroom to make the short trip over to the cafeteria.
"Are you going off on your own again today, Izuku?" Tokage asked the boy while pulling out her dinosaur themed bento box filled with a healthy serving of yakitori and steamed rice.
A few curious heads darted over to the two of them after hearing the girl call the boy by his first name. And Midoriya lightly blushed.
"Wow, you two finally on a first name basis? What a surprise." Tetsutetsu said in a joking tone.
"I-I u-u-um…"
"You should totally eat with us today." The green haired girl continued as if it was a normal day.
"That reminds me, where do you disappear off to during lunch, Midoriya-kun? I never see you in the cafeteria and you're always here before anyone else." Honenuki inquired.
By this point Kendou, Shiozaki, Tsunotori and Awase were already huddled around them and Midoriya suddenly felt the need to jump out the window and fly away from all of this unwanted attention. He really didn't want to reveal his not-so-secret hiding spot to his classmates yet. Sure, he was slightly more comfortable talking to them than when the school year started. But the boy still felt as if he needed his afternoon break from all the social interaction.
"If Midoriya-kun doesn't want to eat lunch with the rest of the class then we shouldn't bother him about it." The stoic voice of Yanagi answered for the boy as the pale girl walked passed the group.
"Oh c'mon, Ghosty." Tokage whined. "Aren't you the least bit curious about where he runs off to?"
"Yes, I am." The 'poltergeist' user responded without missing a beat.
"Seriously?" Tetsutetsu quirk an eyebrow at her.
"I'm also curious about where Midoriya-kun goes during lunch. But it's none of my business."
Kendou was the next to speak up. "Yanagi-chan's right you guys. Anyways...we should hurry and get to the cafeteria before the rest of the crowd shows up. We'll see you after lunch, Midoriya-kun."
"Alright…" Tokage deflated as she fell in step behind her class rep. "See you in a bit, Izuku!"
"Have a good lunch, Midoriya-kun." Yanagi flatly stated as the rest of the group walked out the door.
Midoriya wasn't expecting his grey haired classmate of all people to come to his rescue. But he was glad that the girl was able to get the heat off him. The boy made a mental note to tell her thank you for that before making his way out of the classroom and up towards the roof of the building.
Midoriya let out a sigh of relief as he planted himself on the ground and opened his bento box. Despite the terrible mood of the first few hours of the day, the almost perfect weather seemed to make up for it. As the boy began digging into the generous serving of katsudon that his mom had prepared for him, he reached into his back pocket and retrieved a small metal rod no bigger than the size of a pencil.
One of the training methods that he had learned from Katsuragi was to use this metal stick to practice his control in his downtime. And ever since returning home from his internship, he had been doing it practically non-stop. From what he had been told, reshaping things on a smaller scale would help him out when it came to bigger objects the more he practiced. He still couldn't mold the rod into a coil shape like Katsuragi could, but now he was able to create a "crescent-moon" with little difficulty.
'And I'm still having trouble performing "Hellstorm".' The boy thought to himself as he took another bite of his lunch. Although he knew the steps that went into the super move, doing them was a whole different story. He had spent nearly all of Saturday trying to replicate what the woman had shown him, and he had succeeded to some extent.
When it came to lifting up and rotating the pieces, that part was easy. But the real problem came when he increased the speed. For some reason, whenever he tried to make the cyclone of debris move faster it would just fall apart after about ten seconds. Which wasn't nearly good enough.
"Maybe it has something to do with my visualization?"
"Ooh what are trying to visualize?" A familiar voice asked.
Out of instinct, Midoriya jumped back and launched himself into the air. Once the boy was able to reorient himself, he looked back to where he was previously sitting to see none other than Nejire Hadou casually floating towards him. "Hadou-senpai?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out! Sorry for startling you, I was trying to get your attention but you had this really intense look on your face and you were talking to yourself. Do you do that often?" The blunette asked while going in circles around him.
"I-it's a habit that I'm trying to break." Midoriya blushed slightly.
Oh yeah, this was still a thing. With all of the excitement going on the boy forgot that his favorite lunch spot had been compromised. He didn't have anything against the 'wave motion' user, but he really wasn't in the mood to deal with a seemingly endless ball of energy at the moment.
"So...what are you doing back in school so soon? Don't the first years have their internships this week?" The blunette inquired.
"They got cut short." Was Midoriya's response.
"Wow that sucks."
"Yeah."
"Ooh hey, I bet you learned a lot of cool stuff from Blizzard didn't you? We should totally train together some time. I think it would be a lot of fun!"
"I don't know about a-all that." Said Midoriya in a nervous tone. Something in the back of his head was telling him that he didn't want to run the risk of getting into a fight with this girl. She may have added herself into his hero notebook. But he had a sneaking suspicion that she left out a few major details when it came to her quirk.
"Come on, it'll be fun! Third years get to reserve the training grounds when they're not being used for class. So we can have the entire place to ourselves. We can even bring your girlfriend along so she won't get jealous!"
A wave of emotions washed over Midoriya's body as his face heated up. Oh...right, there was also this worry about. The last time they spoke, Tokage put the idea in her head that the two were dating. This was already bad enough in and of itself. But the fact that the blue haired girl definitely seemed like the type to gossip certainly wasn't helping.
"S-she's no-"
"Hey, did you know that you look a lot like a tomato when you get all flustered?
"She's-" The boy was cut off when the girl's phone went off, alerting her that she had a text. Hadou held the device up to her face for a moment before her eyes widened in a cartoonish fashion.
"Sorry kohai, I gotta run. Work study stuff. I'll see you around!" Was the last thing the girl said before making a beeline for the door and disappearing into the building.
Seeing as he once again missed his chance to set the record straight, all Midoriya could do was let out a defeated sigh and fly back over to his food. Although he was glad that he could once again eat his lunch in peace, he made a mental note to resolve this issue as soon as possible.
"Settle down, my young pupils." Cementoss said to the class. "All Might had an emergency and won't be able to make it. So your heroics class this afternoon will be treated as a free period so to speak. You can spend this time however you like. Also…Midoriya and Yanagi, Kan-kun informed me that you two need to head down to the support studio for possible updates to your costumes. Maijima-kun is there right now, so he should be able to assist you."
"Yes, sensei." Both telekinesis users nodded before getting up and walking out of the room with their briefcases.
Midoriya was curious about what the support department was like. So far as he knew, he had never interacted with any of the students in that class. Just like the hero course, the support course was regarded as one of the best in the country and for good reason. Many widely known inventors and engineers got their start there.
"So what did you need to go down to the support studio for?" Yanagi stoically asked.
"I got a gift from Fubuki-san that I want to add to my costume. Apparently, I need to fill out a form and get it cleared by Powerloader." He replied. Midoriya was by no means the best conversationalist in the world. But even he had to admit that talking to the grey haired girl was a bit…weird. She never changed her tone of voice and her face remained neutral at all times. The only other person in their class who seemed more emotionally disconnected was Kodai.
"Oh…"
"How about you?"
"It actually has to do with the "air surfing" technique you told me about."
"Really?"
"Yes, I tried doing it a few times but I keep running into an issue. Because I can't use my quirk on myself, I'm having trouble staying on top of whatever I use." The 'poltergeist' user explained.
'That makes since.' Midoriya thought. Although their quirks were similar, fundamentally they worked in different ways. The fact that the girl couldn't manipulate her body along with whatever she chose to ride on meant that she would be at risk of falling every second she was in the air. When he tried doing the move himself, he didn't have too much trouble with it other than maneuvering. But Yanagi had an entire different hurdle she needed to work around.
"So you think that the support department will be able to make something for you?"
"Possibly." The girl gave him a lazy semi-shrug.
It didn't take long for the two students to finally reach their destination. The hallway that was designated for the first year classes of the support course was a lot quieter than either one of them had imagined. In truth, they were expecting the place to be buzzing with activity. But that just wasn't the case.
Deciding not to dwell on it any further, the two stopped at a large iron door labeled "Support Studio" and Midoriya wasted no time sliding it open.
"Ah!" The boy shouted as a large wrench flew past his face. If he had been standing a few more centimeters to his left, he probably wouldn't be conscious right now. 'What the hell?!' Midoriya turned around to see the thing lodged firmly in the wall behind him.
"Are you okay?" Yanagi inquired in her monotone voice.
"Yeah…"
"Whoops! I guess I shouldn't have left that next lying around, huh?" A female voice said in a jovial tone.
"Dammit Hatsume!" An angry sounding Powerloader caught the duo's attention as they turned their gaze inside the room. There, the 1-B students watched the man wave his fist at a girl with pink dreadlocks who was covered in a layer of what they assumed to be some type of oil. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop leaving your tools all over the place? Someone could've gotten hurt!"
"No harm no foul, sensei. At least now we know that I was able to increase the lateral speed on this robotic arm baby!" The girl smiled as she picked up what looked to be some type of tablet on a nearby table.
"That's not the point!"
"Um…" Midoriya nervous interjected. "Is this a bad time?"
Both occupants of the room turned towards them. "Ah…Midoriya and Yanagi, correct? Kan told me that you two were going to be showing up." Maijima greeted the two of them. "Sorry about that, Hatsume here still hasn't fully grasped what the word "safety" means."
"It's okay." Yanagi answered.
"Please, come in." The helmet wearing hero waved them on. "You two were hoping to make some updates to your costumes, right?"
"Yes, sir." Midoriya was the first to speak. "I was told that I have to fill out a form to add a new piece of gear to my costume that I received from the hero I interned with."
"That's right. The school board is pretty lenient when it comes to adding personal items to your costumes, but you still need to file it with us first." The pro hero explained before turning to Yanagi. "How about you?"
"I'm looking to see if I can make a new addition to mine, sensei. I've recently learned a new way to use my quirk but I'm having trouble applying it without the proper gear. I was hoping that you could help me."
"So what did you have in mind?"
Yanagi proceeded to go into a brief explanation on the concept of "air surfing" and what her difficulties were. While she was doing that, a certain pink haired girl crept closer and closer to where the group was standing.
"I see…" Maijima nodded. "So not only do you need something to transport yourself on that's lightweight, you also need a way to keep yourself attached to it."
"Yes."
"I know exactly what you need!" Hatsume suddenly appeared in front of them with a giant smile on her face. "The solution is actually really simple. I can whip something up for you in no time!"
"Wow, really?" Midoriya wondered.
Maijima let out an exasperated sigh as he pitched the bridge of his nose. "Since she won't introduce herself properly, I guess I'll have to do it. This is Mei Hatsume, she's also a first year and I've assigned her to be the one that works on both of your costumes. It's the reason why she's here."
"Nice to meet ya'!" The girl beamed.
"Both of ours?" Yanagi tilted her head.
"Yes, the support course only seats ten in each class so our students double up on which hero course student they're assigned to. As luck would have it, both of you have been assigned to Hatsume here."
"Well that's convenient."
"Oh, now I remember you! You're the one with the helmet I worked on. How do you like it?" Hatsume eagerly asked while completely disregarding his personal space. Seriously, does every girl he runs into not know what boundaries are?
"I-i-it works f-fine." The boy blushed while backing away.
Without any warning, the pink haired teen grabbed the two telekinesis users by the arms and dragged them into the room. "We don't have a moment to waste! I can already tell that the three of us are going to be making a lot of babies together!"
…
…
…
…
"What?!"
Relief is the emotion that Midoriya felt when the final bell of the day rang. With all the excitement today, the boy was ready to head home, kick his feet up and just relax for the remainder of the afternoon. His mom wasn't going to be home, he wasn't volunteering at the orphanage and it was "rest day" from his gym routine. Which meant that it promised to be a nice and quiet evening.
As he navigated himself through the hallways en route to the exit, Midoriya was so deep in thought that when he turned the corner onto the next hall he couldn't stop himself from colliding with another person. The green haired teen was able to stay on his feet. But judging from the loud thud that heard, the other person wasn't so fortunate.
As soon as Midoriya look down towards the ground his heart almost stopped beating. Of all the people he had to run into today, this was by far the worst one. The person in question was a blond man with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes. He was bone thin and dressed in an awful looking yellow suit that wasn't anywhere near filled out.
"All Mi-" Midoriya clenched his jaw shut before he could finish. Silently hoping that the man didn't hear him.
Unfortunately for him, the man got his wits about him just in time to catch his verbal folly. Toshinori Yagi's head shot up, only to be met with the sight of short green hair and emerald eyes looking down at him. And a weird feeling welled up in his chest as he gauged his student's reaction. However, for a brief moment the two locked eyes and Yagi was able to catch something that unsettled him. It passed as quickly as it came, but the emaciated blonde could see the glint of an emotion that he had only seen a few times before.
Pure and utter disdain.
"S-sorry s-sir!" The green haired boy bowed and apologized before fast-walking down the hall and around the corner.
An odd sensation formed in what was left of the man's gut. And something in the back of Yagi's mind told him that he should follow the kid and ask him some questions. But he decided against it. Something wasn't right. That boy recognized him...in this form. He may have tried to hide it, but the man heard him as clear as day before he shut his mouth and ran off.
Instead of heading towards Gym Gamma like he had planned, the blonde man turned around and padded the ground towards the principal's office. All while pulling out his cellphone and dialing one of contacts.
"Toshinori, what can I do for you?" The man at the other end of the line inquired.
"Namosa, I need your help."
"With what?"
"Can you do some digging on someone?"
"Depends on who it is."
"It's one of my students."
"I'm...sorry?"
"I'm being serious. I need you to put together a file on whatever you can find."
"Y'know...I wouldn't do this if it was anyone else but you asking. But I can tell that it's important. Who is it?"
"His name is Izuku Midoriya."
Author's Notes: Wow…a lot of things happened in this chapter, huh?
-FYI: Monoma will absolutely get his moment(s) in the spotlight. I've already got a couple of things planned for him so don't worry. He hasn't had much presence in this story as of yet, but there is a good reason for that.
Like always, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a comment/review.