Welp, that Manga ending sucked... RIP

Chapter 13: Preparation and Curiosity

"Gah!" Izuku croaked out as he fell back onto the mat with a small thump. This was starting to get tiring. Itsuka had been coming at him nonstop for over half an hour now, and frankly, he was starting to get tired of dodging. But it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter, the few times she had tagged him with a solid blow were definitely wake up calls for him to try harder. Even without using her quirk, Itsuka's fists were like cement blocks.

Stepping towards the green haired boy assertively, Itsuka pounced, not intending at all to give her opponent a chance to recover. Unfortunately for her however, the boy didn't miss a beat and got up with an impressive kip-up.

Just like he had every other time…

"Damn it, Midoriya! How do you keep this up so long!? Your endurance to keep dodging is crazy," she said breathlessly.

Blushing as he paused for a moment, Izuku at last took a deep breath of his own and let some of his fatigue show. A detail that didn't go unnoticed by his training partner. "Yeah, sorry about that Kendo-san, dodging is just kinda my specialty I guess. It's one of those things that I specifically trained to excel at."

The boy expected that answer to satisfy her, but if the burning look in her turquoise eyes told him anything, it was the opposite.

It's like she's trying to read my mind…

Turning his gaze away and attempting to calm his burning face, the super powered teen tried his luck a second time. "Forget about my dodges though, those hands of yours are the real deal Kendo-san. I couldn't tell which hurt more, the punches or the karate chops. What style were you using? Is it a variation of different styles? Can martial arts even be combined that way? I sure hope so, since I just copied a bunch of random stuff from movies and comics…"

Watching with a now amused smile at how her friend was muttering himself into oblivion, Itsuka shook her head and relented her intense attitude. "Wow, good eye Midoriya, you got it spot on, I was using a karate and kickboxing hybrid."

The girl watched as her student beamed with confidence, not having any idea of what was to come next.

"But… That's about it as far as good things to say. Your form is even worse up close, Midoriya."

Feeling like his proverbial airplane had been shot out of the sky, Izuku scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "That bad, huh?"

Nodding firmly, the orange haired teen put her hands on her hips. "Atrocious. It actually kinda hurts watching you."

With a sigh, Izuku brought a small grin back to his face and adopted a fighting stance once again. "Well, I should have figured that when I couldn't even land a single hit on you… Take it away then sensei, show me how it's done."

Itsuka noted the sarcasm in the boy's voice and did her best to hold back her own blush. "Oh it is on now, Midoriya. Keep that up and I'll actually make you start calling me sensei."

She was not joking…

By the end of the two hour session, Izuku had more bruises on him than he liked to admit, and he only ever ended up landing a single solid blow onto his classmate.

Or should he say sensei now…

Damn, Peter, my mouth came back to bite me.

"Not bad Midoriya. I still wiped the floor with you, but it looks like you adapted pretty well to kickboxing. I think that's the one we should focus on for now.

Acknowledging the girl's words, the boy nodded from his very wet and very sweaty spot on the floor. The energy to respond leaving him for the moment.

Hearing a thump right next to him, the green haired boy opened his eyes to see Itsuka laying right next to him on the mat before he turned his attention back to the ceiling in exhaustion.

For a while, the teens stayed in comfortable silence, the peaceful sound of their breathing calming down to a relaxed state, the only sound in the gym.

Eventually it was Itsuka who broke the silence.

"Midoriya, how did you know to shove me out of the teleporting quirk? And how did you see Todoroki's iceberg coming?" She asked curiously between breaths.

Not caring about his guard being down, Izuku spoke truthfully. "Spider sense."

This caused the big fist user to sit up abruptly and look over at her new student. "I'm sorry?"

Taking one last deep breath and pasting an amused expression on his face, Izuku joined his friend in sitting up, making sure he was locking eyes with her before giving a proper explanation.

"Spider sense. It's a part of my spider quirk. It's like a short burst of precognition a few seconds before danger."

"So… You're like, psychic?" Itsuka said blankly.

Chuckling a bit, the boy shook his head. "No, that would be weird. It's more like a sixth sense that just warns me when something is about to happen. I get like a ringing in my head and goosebumps all over my body. And I recently found out that it's for more than just danger, I think it might be for anything negative affecting me all together. You remember the other day when you tried to warn me about Monoma-san stealing my quirk?"

Totally engrossed in her friend's explanation, Itsuka simply nodded.

"Well right before you said that, my spider sense activated. Granted it was much softer than normal, but it must have been because of the low threat level."

"That. Is. So. Cool! That's how you're so good at dodging! I can see why you focused on that in your training. Dodging rocks from a bunch of neighborhood kids was probably childsplay to you.

Izuku nodded sheepishly. Still not used to receiving praise.

"Ugh, sometimes it frustrates me seeing such cool quirks! Mine is so simple and bland! Meanwhile you're over here predicting the future!"

Watching her lay back down in frustration, Izuku was about to correct the girl on her claim of his spider sense being future sight, but wisely decided against it. Something told him now was not the time for sarcasm.

"Don't say that Kendo-san, Your quirk is awesome!"

The girl responded by blowing her hair out of her eyes defiantly. "I mean, yeah, it is strong, but sometimes I feel like something is missing. You know?"

Rather than responding, the boy only reached over for his backpack excitedly, growing his classmate's curiosity more and more as he rifled through his belongings.

After a few more seconds of looking, Kendo observed closely as he brought out a familiar looking notebook and flipped to a page by memory before handing it to her.

Taking a good look at the piece of parchment in her hands, Itsuka's eyes widened at what she saw before her. Right there in the notebook with its own dedicated page was a very detailed sketch of her in her hero costume. And that wasn't all, on the sidebars there were descriptions of her quirk and different applications for it. This was incredible… And the drawing was clearly done with a lot of care. It looked just like her!

"I uh, I obviously don't have all the info on your quirk yet, but um, I still wrote down as much as I could observe."

Itsuka was speechless, she had no clue what to say. There was absolutely no way to relay how touched she felt right now. She knew he was being genuine by the lack of bravado and that affected her all the more. She also didn't fail to notice how he added the word 'yet' as far as him knowing the ins and outs of her quirk.

Noting her silence and slightly panicking, Izuku spoke up again. "I uh, sorry if you think that's weird. I-I really like studying quirks as a hobby. I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable.

Snapping out of her stupor and shaking her head vicariously, Itsuka cursed herself for giving him the wrong idea. "No! I love it, Midoriya! This is so amazing! I didn't know you were such a good artist! I'm actually flattered that you'd even consider me and my quirk worthy of a page in your notebook."

Sighing in relief, this time it was the super powered teen's turn to shake his head. "Again, don't think that way Kendo-san, your quirk is strong! And I'm convinced that there are other ways you can use it more creatively. Would you like to hear some ideas I've brainstormed?"

Shifting her view between her friend and the notebook a few more times, Itsuka nodded curiously.

Not needing any more of an invitation, Izuku opened the floodgates with delight. "Alright, first off, to be able to gauge your quirk better, I'm gonna need a rough estimate on how much you can lift with and without it. I know you told me last time that you've never tried it, so it's ok, we can run tests later. But trust me, that information will go a long way in not only developing your quirk, but also showing you where to train."

Kendo nodded with even more vigor than before, the storm inside of her turquoise orbs demonstrating how closely she was listening. "Got it."

"Sweet," Izuku bubbled. "In that case let me hit you with the obvious path right now. Have you ever grown your hands any larger than what I've seen?"

This got the girl's attention as she got to her feet and grew one hand. In the blink of an eye she had her hand at "full" size. "Unfortunately I've tried that before, and I can't grow it any more than this. Watch.

This was where Izuku nodded and paid close attention. Already knowing what to expect, the boy noticed that his friend began to struggle and grit her teeth, clearly putting conscious force towards growing her hand more.

The effort is there, but her hand hasn't even twitched.

"I see, you can stop now Kendo-san, what did that feel like?"

Grunting in frustration, the nearly red faced Itsuka gave in and let her hand fall down to her hip, now at its normal and small size.

"Ugh, I can't explain it, it's like… Like there was a wall there, one that wasn't even budging."

Interesting, the boy thought, his fingers gripping his chin.

"Well, what about smaller?"

Freezing in place as if she misheard him, Itsuka questioned. "What do you mean smaller?"

"You know, kinda like a medium size. Just by looking at your full sized hands, lets go ahead and say that they're three times the size of your body. Why not try making them smaller? You may lose some of your strength, but then you would also gain speed and mobility. It's not a bad trick to have up your sleeve. Just think of it like wearing heavier boxing gloves that happen to be your fists…"

Izuku couldn't finish his last sentence without chuckling a bit, something his friend soon joined him in after taking everything in.

After stifling her giggles, Itsuka didn't bother to say anything else, closing her eyes and concentrating on her quirk, focusing as hard as she could to expand her hand more slowly than normal.

This time Izuku noted that there were results attached to the girl's struggles, and while it didn't look like she could hold it very long, for about four full seconds, her 'big fist' was about the size of an average basketball. "That's it Kendo-san! That's just what I imagined! Just like a big boxing glove!"

Letting out an exasperated breath, Itsuka fell back onto the mat grinning victoriously. "Heck yeah… Take that, quirk!"

Laughing softly at his friend's sarcasm, the super powered teen plopped down in front of her, taking his own seat before speaking. "Heh, you sure showed your quirk whose boss, hopefully it doesn't decide to abandon you when you try to use it."

Rolling her eyes, Itsuka sat up to face the boy, her orange hair sticking to her forehead and her cheeks red and puffy. "Har har, very funny Midoriya, I'll have to work on keeping my hands that size and making it second nature. I'm already getting a couple ideas on how I can use this!"

Izuku couldn't help but beam at the girl's renewed enthusiasm, closing his eyes and falling back onto the mat in exhaustion with a big stupid grin on his face.

Over the coming two weeks, to bolster themselves for the sports festival, the pair would spar everyday after classes ended without fail.

During this time, Kendo made sure to take full advantage of Midoriya's close proximity and asked him all sorts of questions he couldn't squirm out of.

Not to say he didn't try like hell though, but it was pointless to try and dodge questions from someone who constantly had you cornered and could beat you up at any moment.

"Ugh, I'm starting to feel like a punching bag Kendo-san…"

Smiling sheepishly to herself as her pupil fell onto the mat with a thud, Kendo allowed her posture to slump as she relaxed back into her familiar seat next to him.

"Alright, my turn!"

Izuku gulped in between his gasps for air. They had begun taking turns asking each other questions throughout their sparring (her idea) and frankly, her turns were starting to get more personal than he was comfortable with.

You can do this! I need to break out of my comfort zone somehow!

At first she had only asked him more about his quirk, which was easy enough, but things heated up on him much faster then he would've liked.

Throughout the two weeks they had discussed USJ and how scary it was, what their feelings were on the sports festival coming up, and a little bit about what prefecture they were from. Also, much to Izuku's relief, Itsuka had even asked about what secret All Might could be keeping. He almost had to hold his breath when answering so he wouldn't respond too quickly and show his relief.

None of that however, could prepare him for the question she would ask him today, only two days from the festival.

Currently, the pair were sprawled across the mat breathing heavily since their session had just come to a close. It didn't take long however, for Itsuka to leave Izuku breathless in a different way.

"You've gotten a lot better, Midoriya. Far from perfect, but at least you won't look stupid at the sports festival." She spoke through light laughter, making her pupil's head drop in disappointment.

"I've been searching for some videos on the internet that are pretty educational, and I know you originally learned from watching, so I thought it would be helpful if I sent you some of them. What's your phone number?"

…

…

…

What? The green haired teen thought as a panic arose within him, his previous sorrow totally forgotten. My number? A girl wants my number!?

"Uh, or I can just show you on my phone?" The girl backtracked, sensing the awkwardness.

"N-no! Of course you can have my number! Or uh- I mean, yeah, you can have it if you want… Or uhhhh."

Itsuka found herself giggling for what felt like the tenth time today. As a matter of fact, she couldn't even remember a time where she laughed as much as these last two weeks.

"Relax dork, It's not that big a deal. We are friends after all." She said calmly. Definitely not trying to convince herself as well.

"Y-yeah. Of course, friends… Friends give each other their phone numbers…"

Itsuka frowned, remembering what he had told her earlier about how she was his first real friend he'd ever had. Tch, stupid Bakugo, you don't deserve the way Izuku sees you as his friend.

Getting back on topic, Itsuka soon realized something about her thoughts just now that made her blush. But after a moment, an idea sprung into her head and she smiled widely. While a bit forward, she had the perfect idea to make her new friend feel more comfortable around her!

"Here you go Kendo-san," the boy spoke, breaking her train of thought.

The big fist user looked down at what he was handing her and beamed. It was a small piece of paper with his phone number scribbled on it hastily. The boy must have been quick to pull out his backpack while she was distracted.

Now's the time! Itskua thought to herself, overflowing with optimism.

"Thanks a lot dork," she started, looking him directly in the eyes. "But we're friends, remember, call me Itsuka."

…

…

…

Instantly the boy's face turned a brand new shade of red as he collapsed back onto the matt…

Ahh! It had the opposite effect! The orange haired teen thought frantically as she began to panic.

"Sir? You wanted to see me?"

Taking his attention off of his office computer, All Might took in the presence of his student, not giving him an answer right away.

"Young Togata, thank you for coming. Sit down."

The blonde teenager nodded and did as he was instructed. Judging by his teacher's expression, what he was about to hear was probably not great news.

I hope I get the chance to tell him about the aches my body has been having lately…

While it had almost been a year since he inherited One For All, his body was still having trouble adjusting to it. And despite him having no issues firing off attacks at one hundred percent, it felt like it was too much sometimes. The boy couldn't remember the last time he woke up without some random pain burdening him.

"The reason I have called you here today is serious, but I don't want you to overreact. Understood?"

Mirio nodded profusely. His cheerful face never wavering once.

"Do you know an Izuku Midoriya?"

Togata reacted calmly, bringing a hand up to his chin in thought. "Hmmm, the name sounds familiar, I can't quite picture him though."

Pulling something out of his pocket, All Might quickly remedied the situation. "This is him. He's a first year here in class 1-A of the hero course."

"Oh! Izuku! Yeah, I know him! He was training one day at Dagobah before you got there. He was really nice. When I told him my trainer was meeting me to train he was polite enough to pack up and go before you arrived."

The number one hero took a moment to contemplate his pupil's story, nodding his head in the end. "All the more reason we shouldn't overreact, he seems like a nice kid, but we need to be careful."

Togata looked confused, waiting for his master to continue.

"You see, it was recently discovered by Nezu that we have a leak in the school, someone who's secretly with the villains. And while I'm not completely sure yet, I have a hunch that it's Midoriya."

"What!? But why? What has he done?"

"Well, he hasn't made a mistake yet, but something is fishy about him. What would you say if I were to tell you that I met that kid almost a year ago, right before I met you, and he was quirkless…"

The blonde hero in training took a second before the switch flipped in his head and turned his eyes into saucers. "No… All For One…"

"Exactly my thought. Again, there is no hard evidence yet, so just keep an eye out. I'm only telling you this so you can be on watch if you ever do interact with him."

"Yes sir!"

All Might cracked a small smile at his student's determination. "Thanks a lot kid. And sorry for this big bombshell. I know you must be crazy busy with the sports festival on the horizon."

"It's not a big deal All Might! I feel honored that you felt you could tell me all that! Thank you!"

"Heh, go crazy kid, I wanna see you wipe the floor with everyone in that festival. Just uh, try not to use One For All, I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping it a secret, and it's not like you need it anyway."

With that, the symbol of peace stood up and walked out of the office, heading home for the day. Only allowing his student to nod in approval at his final words.

Aw man, I didn't get to tell him… Eh, oh well, I'm sure it's just growing pains. After all, it is a whole other quirk on top of my own…

Speaking of which, I'm glad I'll be just limited to permeation. I've gotten WAY too rusty with it since picking up One For All…