Chapter 3: Enter the Martial Arts Hero

Izuku was making his way through the halls of the school at the start of the day and was anticipating his next lunch with Tooru mainly out of curiosity. Who was her partner during the training from the day before? Once Midoriya found out his partner for the activity was Uraraka, it took all he could to keep his composure in front of the floating heroine that day. He had gotten somewhat used to Tooru's presence but Ochako still felt nervous around. So he missed out on who Hagakure's assigned partner was. All he knew was that it was another male, like him. Midoriya hoped that whoever he was would be supportive in his plight in stressing out when interacting with Tooru. Especially after what had happened yesterday afternoon.

Tooru's blazing quick change to her honorifics when talking to Izuku and mentioning his nervous behavior as being cute put his emotions through the ringer. Was she just teasing again? Was it just a heat of the moment thing? Was she genuine? If so, why? How could him panicking seem cute to a girl? Were all girls like this? Or was this just unique to her? Girls seem complicated, is all he could conclude.

As Izuku's mind remained stuck on this thought, a hand was placed on his shoulder. A sharp but caring voice followed. "Midoriya-san is everything okay? Our classroom is the opposite way, and you'll be late for class if you don't make haste," suggested the glasses wearing Tenya Ida. He let go of Midoriya's shoulder as he turned towards him. Ida then continued by noting, "Also, I don't know if you noticed, but your breathing was rapid and heavy. You were also muttering something just seconds ago. Are you perhaps having trouble getting any sleep? Might I suggest some night time exercises that I do?"

While Tenya talked, it astounded Izuku how drastic a change his relationship with the tall teen compared to when they first met. The shorter teen attributed his actions in both the entrance exam and the first lesson with All Might to have considerably altered Ida's behavior when around him. Midoriya responded with, "Thanks for the concern, Ida-san but no, I have been sleeping fine lately. I-I was just r-remembering our t-training from yesterday. Um, so many things could have gone w-wrong during the exercise and I guess I was letting that thought get the b-best of me."

Tenya adjusted his glasses and commented, "Ah, I see. The idea of potential failure clouding the mind is indeed a frightening thought. But rejoice, in my opinion, you did exceedingly well with the training exercise. At first, I thought your plan was as hot-headed as my partner was, but yet again you surprised me and quickly allowed Uraraka-san to secure the objective."

"Than-," Izuku tried to respond but was grabbed by his speedy classmate.

Ida swiftly explained, "No time for thanks, Izuku-san, if we do not hurry, we will be late for class. And that simply will not do for either of us."

Lunch tray in his hands, Izuku made his way to the desired lunch table. As it came into view, he did not see any sign of Tooru but did recognize a classmate that was sitting there. Izuku gave a soft wave as he approached and said, "H-Hello, you're Ojiro-san, right?

The tailed boy smirked and said, "Heh, didn't expect Hagakure-san's friend to be our newly elected Class President. Please, take a seat."

Izuku was still processing his appointment as Class President just hours before. He had only won because of getting four votes, out of a class of twenty. Sure, it was because most of his classmates only voted for themselves but it didn't seem earned. As Midoriya sat down, he noticed a plate full of food on the other side of Mashirao. Izuku then asked, "So, where is Hagakure-san?"

Ojiro replied with, "You just missed her. She booked it to the cafeteria as soon as we got out of class so she could get food quickly and be sure I made it to the right table. I got here a few minutes ago but while we waited for you she was fidgeting around a bit." Mashirao sighed, "Poor girl. She needed to go to the bathroom during class but wanted to make sure I got to this table. Unfortunately, Hagakure-san couldn't take it anymore, and she went to the bathroom after apologizing."

Izuku put a hand on the back of his head and laughed a bit, "Yep, that sounds like something she would do."

Both boys began eating their lunch as a way to pass the time until Tooru came back, but after a few minutes of waiting Ojiro broke the silence by asking, "Midoriya-san, if you don't mind me asking, how did you get roped into being here?"

Midoriya gave him a puzzled look and said, "Do you mean coming to U.A. or having lunch with Hagakure-san?"

"The latter," the tailed teen quickly responded.

Izuku knew he did not want to mention his up-heaved breakfast from that day and to not over-complicate things only said, "I met her right before the entrance exam. Our first meeting was n-nothing much; we just exchanged a few w-words."

(For the last time you didn't say anything.)

Izuku continued, "She then called me over to this table on our first-day and," The boy then paused. What was the reason he wanted to continue to come to this table? He remembered at the time he only came over to not cause further embarrassment for himself as Tooru shouted the nickname from halfway across the cafeteria. But that explained then, not now. Sure, he had missed the meetup yesterday for obvious reasons. However, Tooru couldn't accept that and met him at the nurse's sickroom to chat. And boy, what a talk that was.

Ojiro raised an eyebrow at Izuku's silence and the creeping blush that was appearing on his face. Midoriya cleared his throat, "H-Hagakure-san gave the i-impression of wanting to be f-friends, which is something I've l-lacked for such a l-long time. I couldn't say n-no. Sorry if that sounds d-desperate."

Mashirao looked a bit surprised but answered, "No need to apologize. I mean, I came here today for the same reason. However, it was more the lack of knowing anybody here well enough to sit down with them, well minus Koda-san but that's complicated, versus having any friends at all like you." The boy's last few words changed to a sympathetic tone.

Izuku noticed the change in the tailed hero's voice, and it hit him how pathetic it must have sounded to say he had no friends and decided to change the subject quickly. He did note that the name Koda sounded familiar. Was that another student in their class? He had to admit he was more absorbing the lessons than his classmate's names at the moment. "Hagakure-san mentioned you both lost, pretty hard yesterday. What happened? I was unconscious at the time and she skipped on the details of it."

Mashirao groaned, "Yeah, it was very one-sided. Before we started I asked Hagakure-san if she had any strategy, she just said we'd play the waiting game. I would be the bait and then she would sneak behind and knock them out. I liked the idea of staying together and holding down the room, the rest of the plan was a bit lacking. She proceeded to take off her gloves and shoes so she could be fully invisible." Ojiro leaned in a bit and said almost in a whisper, "I don't know about you, but it still unnerves me that I had to work with a girl that has to be in the nude to take full advantage of her quirk. Even if she is invisible, it just doesn't seem ethical."

Izuku simply stared a bit and said, "W-Wait, what? She d-doesn't have a h-hero uniform?"

"Apparently not," Ojiro said bluntly.

Izuku hoped he didn't have to work with Tooru in the field anytime soon. He just wouldn't be able to function knowing he was alone with a naked girl. Invisible, but still naked. Again, hoping to change the subject, Midoriya rapidly said, "Hey s-so your q-quirk. That's a pretty big tail. Reminds me of a lion's tail, if it was thick."

Mashirao looked over at his tail and gave the extra appendage a bit of a twitch. He then said with a grin, "Oh this? Yeah, it's quite strong and durable, though it's only good in close range combat. So, I decided if I were to be a hero I would need to learn some martial arts to best use my quirk.

Izuku thought that explained why he wore a karate-like outfit as his hero uniform. Intrigued by this he asked, "So do you follow any particular martial arts disciplines?"

Ojiro's face lit up, and he happily explained, "Of course. I started with Aikido when I was young but got into Muay Thai when I was old enough."

Both these words were foreign to even Izuku, and before he could ask to know more, an ear-wrenching alarm sounded.

Afternoon classes were over. Izuku was sitting at his usual desk with Tooru in front of him turned to face her friends and Mashirao sitting in the desk on Midoriya's right. The invisible heroine was again denied lunch with her new friends and demanded that they have a get together after school. They both agreed and notified their parents they would be coming home late. Since it was convenient, they had it in their classroom.

Tooru began by whining, "Oh, of course, I just had to go to the bathroom near the school entrance." Both had been told before this point, at breaks between classes, that Hagakure had tried to go to the bathroom by the cafeteria but it was all occupied. As she was exiting the alternative bathroom the alarm for the level three security breach sounded and she got caught up in the chaos. Sure, it was just the media trying to get more scoop on All Might, but it had caused a decent panic in the school during lunch. Enough so that she wasn't able to get together with the two boys until class had started again.

Ojiro simply stated, "Could have been a lot worse. If it wasn't for our newest Class President, you might have been stampeded by everyone that was trying to leave the cafeteria."

Tooru responded in an annoyed tone, "I still cannot believe Midoriya-san gave up his position to Captain No Fun Zone, of all people!"

This got a chuckle out of Izuku. He had to admit that was a good nickname for Tenya. Midoriya had noticed that the girl would usually give a nickname to someone but would only mention it once. Minus him of course, he counted three times he was puke-boy. However, another thing he had noticed was Tooru had switched back to the previous honorific. Was it because she truly was just teasing him the day before? Or was it because they weren't alone here? Had she just changed her mind? Was she starting to get the hots for Ojiro? Wait, why would he care if she did? They were all just friends, right? But, should he care?

Mashirao interrupted Tooru's fuming and Izuku's thinking by stating, "Hey now, let's be honest, the way that Ida-san handled the situation earlier in the cafeteria was leader material."

The stealth heroine angrily responded, "I wasn't in the cafeteria you dope, remember?"

Ojiro calmly replied with, "Still you heard what everyone else said in class; they supported Midoriya-san's decision and the idea of Ida-san being our leader to represent us. End of story. You lose this argument."

Tooru muttered, "Fine, but you only get a pass today because you have a big fluffy tail and you said I could squeeze it sometime during yesterday's training." This statement was news to Midoriya and did not help calm his mind from what he was previously thinking.

"I said you could touch it; I never uttered the word squeeze," the tailed hero proclaimed.

"Well, I changed our agreement because you couldn't see the benefits of all the cool stuff we could get away with if Midoriya-san was class president," Tooru argued.

Izuku interjected, "H-Hey now that's a-abuse of power H-Hagakure-san, right Ojiro-san?" Midoriya turned to the boy on his right only to see him deep in thought.

Mashirao then noted, "Hmm, I hadn't considered that." Ojiro sighed, then said, "Okay fine, you have a point, I'll let you squeeze my tail, gently, tomorrow."

Izuku turned to Tooru and said, "See I told y-, wait, what? You agree with her?"

Ojiro nodded. "I mean she's not wrong, we could pull off some neat things at school if you were there to cover things up."

Midoriya groaned, "I cannot believe this."

Mashirao agreed, "I cannot believe I didn't consider her angle on this."

Tooru finally joined back in by saying, "I cannot believe this was even up for debate. Glad you finally saw the light Ojiro-san."

Before Izuku was able to interject a sound rumbled in front of him. It was Tooru, and her stomach was growling.

Ojiro smirked a bit and said, "You never did eat lunch, huh?"

Hagakure apologized, "Oh, sorry guys, do you mind if I go get some snacks from a vending machine? I should only be a minute."

Mashirao laughed a bit, "Like when going to the bathroom was only going to take a few minutes?"

The invisible gal made her way to the door but stopped to say, "Just you wait, your tail is getting so crushed by me tomorrow." The tailed teen simply just laughed it off as she left.

Izuku then asked, "Hey, why do you egg her on like that?"

Ojiro held up his hand as a fist but proceeded to raise his index finger pointing up and explained, "First, I doubt Hagakure-san is strong enough to do anything to my tail, her quirk is invisibility not super strength, like you." His middle finger now extended itself, making a peace sign. "Two, she's easy to get a reaction from, and it's kind of hilarious." His ring finger now came up. "And three, it's all in good fun Midoriya-san, friends should be able to ruffle each other's feathers every once in a while, if they truly are friends."

Everything was happening so quickly to Izuku. Regular friendship was foreign to him ever since his playmates developed their quirks and he did not at the age of four. Midoriya had to work for months if not for years to make sure certain classmates of his just let him be and not bully him, while with others it was a lost cause. Here, he was meeting people that established meaningful bonds in just a matter of hours. It was just all so overwhelming at times. Izuku pushed this internal note to think about till later and thought back to his conversation with Mashirao just before the alarm sounded. He wanted to know more and asked, "Hey before the press broke in and sounded the alarm you mentioned some martial arts you've followed. Could you tell me more about them?

Ojiro seemed to ponder the thought for a second before responding, "Sure, but I'd like to know about your quirk before I do if you don't mind."

Midoriya was again stuck in a hard place. Be truthful but possibly reveal too much, or be reserved and give a half-ass answer? To keep his story straight amongst his friends, he decided to discuss his quirk with the same details he had told Tooru.

After hearing what Izuku's quirk entailed, Ojiro responded with, "So basically your quirk makes you a glass cannon?

Midoriya shrugged, "I mean at the moment yeah. I'm hoping I can better control it so it's not so dangerous to use. Remember I'm still really new to having a quirk at all."

Mashiro nodded and said, "True, could also be why you got it at such a late age. Imagine having that kind of power as a four-year-old, and what kind of damage you could have done to yourself and others at such a young age."

Izuku hadn't thought about that. It made the boy appreciate it somewhat that such an ability was not bestowed on him at such a tender age. The sound of a door opening got both boys looking to see that Tooru was back with snacks. "That seems like an awful lot of junk food just for you Hagakure-san."

Tooru laid her goods on Midoriya's desk and said, "Silly, that's because I got some for you boys too. I asked you both to stay here today. I should at least thank you in some way, no?" The girl returned to the desk in front of Izuku and asked, "So, what did I miss?"

Ojiro quickly responded, "Midoriya-san wanted to know more about my martial arts, but I asked if he could explain his quirk first before I would talk, which he did."

"You sure you two weren't gossiping? That would have been a lot more interesting," Tooru whined.

After opening and taking a sip of one of the sodas that Tooru had brought, Ojiro said, "Sorry, that's not my thing."

"Fine, just try to keep your explanation short Ojiro-san," Tooru said with her arms crossed.

Ojiro turned his head back to Izuku and began by saying, "As I said before, I began my martial arts training by practicing Aikido but switched to Muay Thai."

As Izuku grabbed some chips, he questioned, "Why did you switch styles?"

Mashirao scratched his head and said, "Well I kind of just did Aikido till I got older, they won't teach Muay Thai to kids until they are at least nine."

Tooru was surprised by this and asked, "Wait, how young were you when you started doing martial arts training?"

Ojiro pondered the question a bit but eventually answered with, "Since I wanted to be a hero, so I guess seven. Before that, I just thought of my quirk as an extra limb that could help with doing chores and stuff, like my dad's. But I suppose I got convinced by my peers that I should be a hero not long after I started primary school."

Izuku was moved by Ojiro's motivation at such a young age. That would mean the tailed hero had spent more than half his life training in the martial arts. What was Izuku doing at that age? Being bitter about his quirkless-ness and hiding his pain by watching videos of heroics by pro heroes like All Might. Sure, eventually he began channeling his energy into writing many of his observations into his notebooks, but it wasn't the same as over eight years of martial arts training.

"I quickly realized my quirk would require me to always be close range to an opponent, so learning martial arts seemed like the obvious thing to do. I spent a few weeks trying to decide on a style I wanted to learn with the help of my parents. I eventually chose Muay Thai but ran into the age issue. So while I waited to get older, I thought I would try the more traditional Aikido so I could just learn some basics of self-defense."

Hagakure stopped eating her chips to ask, "Couldn't you just have stuck with Aikido?"

Ojiro sighed, "I mean, I guess so, but it was just too traditional for what I wanted. Aikido has a lot of spiritual and philosophical training that I wasn't into. Plus, Aikido is more like caricatures of a fight than actual fighting. It lacks the realism of a true fight. All style, no power." Izuku saw the tailed teen's logic. Heroes fought villains in the streets, not a dojo. Mashirao continued with, "Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the time I spent with the style. I learned a lot, my basic jabs and kicks, good stretching exercises, various fighting stances, the physical plus mental feeling in the flow of battle, and how to cool down my body after fighting or working out."

Tooru stepped in by saying, "Hey, I thought I said to keep this short."

Ojiro laid a hand on his chest and said, "Hey it's my passion, I live and breathe the art of fighting. I can't just give a quickie note of what my very being is."

Izuku chipped in and said, "Well I think it's all fascinating, please continue Ojiro-san!"

Tooru seemed to shrug and admit defeat and said, "I can't argue with Midoriya-san when he has that kind of attitude. Continue if you must."

The tailed hero thanked them both and continued. "So when I finally turned nine my parents hired a trainer for me, and I have been absorbing Muay Thai ever since. It doesn't have the same finesse as the previous style, but it fits with my view of martial arts for a hero."

Izuku questioned, "Doesn't it use boxing gloves though? I don't remember seeing you ever wearing any with your hero costume." He had looked at a fight at some tournament that was using Muay Thai on his phone between classes to familiarize himself with the fighting style and noticed this detail.

Mashirao answered with, "You are not wrong Midoriya-san. The style is also known as Thai boxing because competitively they use boxing gloves but it still works without them as that's how it was originally done."

Tooru mused, "So how does it work with your quirk?"

At this Ojiro proudly grinned and said, "With my quirk, the 'Art of the Eight Limbs' becomes the 'Art of Nine Limbs' and improves the style ten-fold."

Hagakure snapped as she stated, "Um Ojiro-san did you forget to count? You only have five limbs."

The tailed teen chuckled a bit, "Muay Thai counts points of contact as limbs. It doesn't just involve punches and kicks; it includes knee and elbow strikes as well. Other martial arts either use two points, with just the arms, or four points, with both arms and legs. Some even use the head, but I am not about that." Tooru gave a small grunt signaling her acceptance of Ojiro's answer but also showing she had thought she had caught the boy on a mistake in his logic.

Mashirao continued his lecture, "The biggest reason I use Muay Thai though is how defensive it can be. Most punches in this style avoid body punching, so you don't expose the head to counter strikes. Its elbow techniques can be used to effectively block body punches or kicks plus certain knee attacks from your opponent. Foot thrusts also prevent attacks but are also essential in distance control with the adversary. I could keep going, but I want to say that the style likes to use a concept called the wall of defense. The idea is that you use your arms to disrupt your challenger from executing their moves. Usually, this involves blocking and then counter-attacking. The faster and fewer motions you use, the less energy you must apply to your counter attacks which eventually makes them powerful attacks you can use for virtually free effort once you get good enough. This requires precise timing however and can only be learned by repeatedly practicing and adjusting to the speed of whoever you are fighting."

Hagakure replied with, "That still doesn't explain your quirk is involved in your fighting style."

Ojiro continued with, "Well that's where my tail comes in. It can take more of a beating than any of my other limbs combined. I've conditioned it the most, and it truly is a sight to see what it can block. It isn't the best at countering, as it's slow compared to my other limbs, but I've been working on getting faster with it over the years."

Izuku was a bit dumbfounded. It had been a while since he had seen another person like himself that was all about the details. The boy was kicking himself for not bringing one of his notebooks today. He would have been writing nearly every word the tailed hero had spoken; it was all gold.

Mashirao finished with, "When I envisioned being a hero, I wanted to be like a wall. The one that could stand up to any physical attack to protect his teammates and civilians. And thanks to my quirk and my proficiency with Muay Thai I can do just that!"

Midoriya cheered, "That sounds awesome Ojiro-san! That really pumped me up!"

A beeping sound was heard from the tailed teen. He looked at his watch and apologized, "Sorry, it's getting a bit late. Where I live, the train doesn't go often. If I don't start making my way to the station, I'll miss the next train and have to wait an hour till the next one." Ojiro turned to the Tooru and said, "Thanks for inviting me Hagakure-san and thanks for the drink." He then looked at Izuku, "It was nice talking to you Midoriya-san, it's rare to meet people that can appreciate my passion. I'll see you both at lunch tomorrow, hopefully with no interruptions this time." With that Mashirao left the room and closed the door behind him.

"I can see why you invited him," Izuku said after a few moments of silence.

"You know I brought him here because I thought you two would get along. I didn't expect this to work so well," the Tooru said as she grabbed what snacks were left and put them in her backpack. She then started making her way towards the door.

Confused, Izuku asked, "Wait, you did this for me? Why?"

The invisible gal opened the door and said, "I've had friends before, sure I lost those friendships, but I've at least had some. It sounds like you've never had a true friend Midoriya-kun and what's wrong with having more than just me. I'm willing to share." With that Tooru closed the door and left for home.

After some time passed, Izuku let his head slowly hit the desk. "Girls are complicated," he whispered to himself.

Damn all you and your positive feedback! ;p

Got over 1,100 views, 52 follows, 32 favorites, and 11 reviews! So yeah, here's another chapter a week in advance.

In some of the reviews, it was brought up that I was only focusing on Izuku + Tooru and should include some other characters. Hopefully, this chapter helped in that regard. Either way, this was planned from the beginning. I wanted chapter one thru four and seven to introduce the main cast. Chapter one, of course, was Izuku and two for Tooru. Chapter three while having a short Ida scene was mostly for Mashirao. I included a bit of Ida this time because chapter four will feature both him and another character so things are not so crowded (but man it's probably going to be a long one anyway, by my standards). Finally, seven will add our final main character. From there it will be group bonding up to the conclusion of the internship arc (maybe some All Might and Eraserhead shenanigans with Izuku and his friends) and then the central theme of the story should kick in. Big changes start to happen at that point, though I don't know when or if I ever will fully diverge from the manga, just haven't thought that far ahead.

But enough about potentially spoiling the entire story, let's talk a bit about Mashirao Ojiro. This is another hard character to write about because of the lack of screen time (though he does appear more than Tooru). While I did delve a bit into what I am envisioning for his character (I thought him having a playful side would add more than just being a hard worker who's always serious or something), the main thing I wanted to get across in this chapter was his quirk and my expansion of his "martial arts." The time I spent trying to choose what style to go took quite a bit of time to research. Hope you enjoy it!

Some of you might be wondering, um wasn't Tooru absent this day in the manga? Only nineteen students voted that day, her being the one absent. I know this is one of the many hints that people suggest that she is the traitor. I left her in, as the story is written as if she won't be the traitor. More on that another time.

If you haven't already noticed, I've been going with the English manga's spelling for Ida's name. It's just easier for me to remember and say over Iida for me. Plus I constantly have the English version of the manga by my side for reference (only up to volume 9, however, I, of course, keep up with online postings of new chapters). However, I am keeping Tooru's Japanese spelling over the English spelling, which is simply Toru, because it seems more masculine, at least in English, with only one "o." Of course, not knowing Japanese myself, I later found out that Tooru is usually a guy's name. She was originally pitched to be male but the author thought it would be funnier if she was female and changed it. Going forward I will probably mostly stick with the English spellings for most names, (though I know for sure I am going with Ochako over Ochaco). Minor nitpicks, but I thought I should at least explain myself.

Next chapter will be the lengthy double character intro, which will be out on August 5th, for sure this time.