Neito was aware he had checked his phone for the third time since he had his blood drawn half an hour ago, however that did not stop his impatience from rising.
He had been understanding of why he was asked to come in for medical testing when he originally got his letter back from U.A.
Quirks which affected, interacted with, or could be influenced by other quirks were still a rarer breed of quirks.
And copy quirks specifically were of even greater interest and controversy.
His mother used to go on a lot of talk shows to show off their copy quirks, made them a lot of money using her quirk as a cheap party trick.
Not that it was really needed since their family was already quite wealthy due to his grandparents' wise financial decisions even after retiring.
However, wealth and having a pair of famous heroes in the family did not stop the comments from others.
Neito had been through the range of reactions when someone learned what his quirk was if they didn't already know the second they heard his name.
Copycat was a name that followed him all throughout life, even within his family almost like the damn word was branded on his forehead.
He hated it.
Each and every time the rest of his family called him 'Kitten', or 'Kitty' if his brothers were being even more annoying than normal, made him want to rip his hair out.
That even in his own family he was nothing more than some mirror image of someone else.
Neito knew it caused him to act out, getting called to the office and his sessions with previous school counselors made that little fact hard to ignore.
Issues of identity apparently were common in nuclear families where there were more than four kids.
Still though, even if he was considered over-reactive to most people, he felt that he had the right to be just a little annoyed for having to wait in the medical ward after having his blood drawn.
Perhaps if he had a friend to wait with him it would not be so bad, but Neito had never been in supply of such people.
His eyes traitorously glanced over to where Kirishima and Shinsou of were sitting, the two of them almost beyond where he could see out of the corner of his eye, Shinsou being a touch pale after he had his blood drawn and only half listening to whatever Kirishima was saying about some cat named Captain.
And he couldn't help a flare of envy as he watched them.
He knew that Shinsou was no doubt treated badly for his quirk, there was no way the guy hadn't been called a villain before, but he clearly had at least one friend, if not multiple from how the Uraraka girl and a few others in 1-A cheered for him.
Whereas he was already being seen as a problem child no doubt.
Aizawa-Sensei hadn't said it, but he could hear the man calling him it like some of his past teachers had when they thought he couldn't hear them.
But he was a rich brat with hero brothers in the hundreds, so of course no one would ever kick up too much fuss about his behavior.
"Monoma-San," Someone called softly, bringing him out of his thoughts, the Yaoyorozu heiress standing in front of him now.
"Deku-Sensei said he'd like to speak with you next." She politely informed him, apparently finished speaking with her teacher.
"Thank you, Yaoyorozu-San." Neito told her, moving slightly so she'd have a clearer path to the door since she'd have no reason to stay much longer.
"You're welcome, Monoma-San." Yaoyorozu replied with a nod, then turned around and walked back over to the benches instead of leaving like he expected her to.
Yaoyorozu sitting down over with a small group of her other classmates, entering quiet conversation with them.
Neito ignored the faint twisting in his chest at the sight and instead walked over to the room that Deku-Sensei had been using.
The stuffy heiress making such fast friends within her own class shouldn't affect him so much.
The room wasn't that impressive, so he didn't linger on it, instead looking over to the only other person in the room Deku-Sensei.
He'd heard about the greenette often before, he had done his research about the staff before he took the entrance exam.
The scandal of a quirkless quirk teacher was hot gossip at family dinner after all.
"Hello Monoma, thank you for being patient." Deku-Sensei greeted him.
"Good afternoon, Deku-Sensei." Neito replied taking the open seat across from Deku-Sensei.
"Given the nature of your quirk, and along with the notes of your previous counselors I assume you've got a very good understanding of your own quirk." Deku-Sensei commented.
Neito nodded.
"Yes, Copy," Neito began to say, holding back a sneer as he said the chosen name of his quirk.
"Allows me to copy up to three quirks of either Emitter or Transformation types at a time, for five minutes in total though I can only use one at a time. Copying requires myself to physically touch the person I wish to copy from, and I cannot copy quirks from hair, fur, spit, blood, nail-clippings or mutation types." Neito listed off for Deku-Sensei.
Having so many copying quirks in the family made the testing rather easy and only needed double-checked official by a doctor.
Deku-Sensei hummed, opening and flipping to a page in a notebook.
"Yes, the testing of your quirk on DNA samples has been extensive." Deku-Sensei said in response.
"Most likely your quirk requires a living donor to successfully register the quirk you wish to use." Deku-Sensei mused.
Neito wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, only his oldest sister was able to copy from DNA samples, likely she was the only one with a quirk that could work with non-living samples.
"From the notes passed on to me, you've mentioned feeling nothing from the samples during that testing, can you explain more about that?" Deku-Sensei requested.
Neito gave a non-committal hum.
"The easiest way to explain it would be like the difference of resting your hand on someone's chest over their heart or resting it on the table here." Neito answered, leaning forward to tap his finger onto the table in between them.
"If you put your hand on someone's chest you can feel the warmth of their skin, the rise and fall of their chest as they breathe, and at times you can even feel their heart beating too if you're really focused." Neito detailed, surprised when Deku-Sensei hadn't stopped him there and was contently listening to him.
"This table though, is just dead wood. There's nothing alive about it to feel anymore, no internal warmth, no breathing, and no pulse either." Neito added before leaning back and putting his cheek in his hand.
Deku-Sensei scribbled down on another page of the notebook, taking a minute to write before he asked his next question.
"How about when you acquire someone else's quirk? Can you tell me what you feel when you register it? Is there a difference when it's a transformation or emitter?" Deku-Sensei inquired next.
Neito didn't answer right away, noting Deku-Sensei's odd way of speaking when it came to his quirk, though it might not mean anything.
"The way I described placing your hand on someone's chest is pretty accurate." Neito said at first.
"Each quirk has its own warmth, or chill in some cases, its own way of breathing and its own pulse separate from the person it comes from that I can feel once I rest my hand on someone else." Neito described, looking away from Deku-Sensei.
"Every quirk feels different, even between a pair of identical twins their quirks, it felt different when I copied their quirks." Neito said, his other hand tracing a circle on his leg.
Deku-Sensei, nodded along clearly, interested in what he was saying.
"Is there any cross over between quirks when you feel them? Could you tell the three types of quirks apart just by resting your hand on someone's shoulder?" Deku-Sensei questioned, his head tilted.
"Somewhat, fire-based quirks feel hotter than most, and ice-based quirks are the opposite for one, I can't always know the full picture of what a quirk can do just from touching someone." Neito answered.
Emptying his stomach of rainbow-colored glowing bile in front of both classes and teachers should have made that fact glaringly clear for everyone.
"But after feeling quirks for years I've gotten myself a decent rough guide for most quirks to know how to use the quirks that I can, to tell when I've gotten my hands on a five-point activation quirk or voice quirk even if I haven't seen them use their quirk before." Neito further explained it.
"I always know if it's an emitter, transformation, or mutation quirk. Think of it like the difference of air, land or sea." Neito mused.
"Emitters are like land, something I'm familiar with likely because my own is an emitter as well or because it requires the least change for me. Transformation the sea, I move easier on land, but I can still swim rather well." Neito detailed.
"And Mutant quirk the air, you can feel it and even understand flying but aren't capable of doing it yourself in most cases." Deku-Sensei said following his metaphor rather easily.
Neito nodded.
"That is fascinating to hear, have you ever felt what a quirkless person feels like?" Deku-Sensei asked, and Neito faltered.
"I'm afraid not, I haven't met anyone other than yourself who isn't quirked." Neito admitted.
Deku-Sensei didn't seem disappointed by his response, merely nodded.
"Given the way things are and the small percentage of people that are quirkless in Japan I'm not surprised you haven't met anyone before myself." Deku-Sensei commented offhandedly.
"Would you like to see how your quirk reacts to me? We don't have to now or ever. I merely wish to offer the option in the case you are ever curious about exploring that." Deku-sensei suggested.
Neito took a moment to think about it.
He couldn't help thinking about what Deku-Sensei would feel like, would there be anything to feel? Would his quirk only find some oddly vacant space instead of the pulse of someone else's quirk?
"I think I'd like to see." Neito answered, sitting up straighter now.
Deku-Sensei silently offered his hand palm side up.
Neito extended his hand and though he hesitated a moment before resting his hand on top of Deku-Sensei's.
Deku-Sensei's hand was warm, Neito could feel the phantom sensation of his pulse as well where his fingertips rested just over Deku-Sensei's wrist.
But there was no second heartbeat thumping under Deku-Sensei's skin, no tingling warmth or creeping chill of a quirk teasing his fingertips.
Nothing that could feel anything close to something that was breathing in tune with Deku-Sensei.
There was no vacantness either, no hollow ringing or unpleasant emptiness pinging back at him.
No cognitive dissonance from his quirk at all.
It… was odd.
Neito traced the lines on Deku-Sensei's palms, the sensation of someone's skin without the feeling of their quirk was unfamiliar to him as a whole.
Was this how everyone else felt someone's skin?
Deku-Sensei's skin was rough from callouses, tiny lines of white scar tissue in all sorts of patterns.
Neito pulled his hand away a couple minutes afterward, not wanting to make things awkward by feeling up Deku-Sensei's hand.
The greenette might be his age but he was his teacher still and Neito shouldn't just keep tracing the guy's hand.
"That was… different." Neito commented.
"Would you be willing to tell me how?" Deku-Sensei requested, laying his hand in his lap again.
"I think I'm just too used to feeling a person's quirk, even when a quirk isn't developed, I can still feel it so while it wasn't like an emptiness or feel like you were lacking anything it was just different to just feel someone's skin and only that." Neito clarified for him.
Deku-Sensei nodded.
"That's interesting. Thank you for indulging my curiosity, Monoma." Deku-Sensei told him, writing in his notebook again.
"Would mind indulging me a bit more by telling me more of how quirks feel after you take hold of them? And even what it feels like when you get to the end of your time with those quirks?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Neito brows furrowed.
He'd brushed it off before, but this time Neito was sure that Deku-Sensei was purposely not using the word copy when it came to his quirk.
He… wasn't sure how he felt about that.
He despised the word sure enough, but it was frankly a very easy label, and it wasn't like he voiced any negative opinion of the word to Deku-Sensei.
It… might still be a coincidence so he wouldn't point it out for now.
But he'd pay attention to how Deku-Sensei phased him and his quirk though, and if it continued for say a week then he'd ask why Deku-Sensei wasn't using the word copy.
For now, though, he'd answer Deku-Sensei's questions.
Sadi hummed a soft tune that popped into their head, they were resting on top of Fumi's head amusing themself watching their brother as he texted Bakugou.
Mainly Fumi assuring Bakugou that the both of them would be back soon and that they'd come back before he'd finished making supper.
With Bakugou threatening to bitch Izuku out over text if they don't, and Fumi pleading with him to please not do that.
Sadi couldn't help a smile as they watched the back and forth.
Izuku wouldn't mind if Bakugou did blow up his phone with texts, but it did highlight the weird sort of situation they were in, being sort of friends-of-friends with their teacher.
Like it was super cool, and they knew that Izuku was absolutely fantastic teacher to them, on the other hand though Sadi wasn't sure they wouldn't slip up and let on that they knew or were close to Izuku.
They could keep a secret absolutely; they had managed to bite their tongue and pretend to be just a quirk for most of their life after all.
But there was one little problem, Bakugou was planning on telling all of their classmates his past.
They knew that was the plan from the very beginning, Bakugou pulled them all aside during the day they all got their letters to warn them beforehand of what he was going to do.
And they could understand why Bakugou felt the need to explain his past to the others, they wouldn't let him do it alone this time though since that ended up with Bakugou getting his nose broken.
It was something that still affected Bakugou deeply, and as it was his past Bakugou had every right to tell their class about it whenever and however he wished.
They and Fumi would stand behind him when he did, still dread over the conversation would bloom inside of them.
Sadi tried not to think of it so that they wouldn't lose their head over the future meal.
The opening of the door and the blonde boy from 1-B walked back out and walked over to them.
*Fumi, think our turns next.* Sadi warned their brother.
Fumi quickly finished the conversation with Bakugou and turned to the 1-B boy just as he made his way over to them.
"Deku-Sensei asked me to send you both in next." The boy told them.
Fumi nodded "Thank you Monoma." Fumi replied and walked over to the room.
"Thank you Monoma!" Sadi chirped with a wave to the boy just as Fumi opened the door.
Sadi couldn't see much of the small room, the sun was just right for it to flood the room and leave them blinded for the most part.
They could just barely make out where Izuku was with a small concentration of green.
"Good afternoon Fumikage-San, Sadi-Chan." Izuku greeted.
"Hi Izu-Kun! I'd hug you but I can't really see you right now." Sadi said back, waving to where the faint green blob was.
Izuku laughed softly.
"Would you like me to pull the curtains and dim the lights for you Sadi-Chan?" Izuku offered while Fumi moved to sit down.
"That would be much appreciated, thank you Izu- Deku-Sensei." Fumi answered, turning bashful once he again slipped up for the fourth time today.
"It's not a problem, and you can call me by my name if you feel more comfortable with that in private Fumikage-San." Izuku assured them, getting up and Sadi could see better without the direct sunlight.
Fumi's shoulders relaxed as well.
Then as the lights were dimmed Sadi could see the rest of the room they were in.
"You can stop, this lighting is where we both see best at together." Fumi informed Izuku as they reached night-light levels.
"I'll make sure to add this to my notes, I was going to ask about what lighting would be best for both of you since Katsuki mentioned your light sensitivity before." Izuku commented as he settled back into his chair.
"Yes, he is correct, I have poor vision in low lighting, but Sadi has night-vision respectively so most of the time one of us or the other must guide myself depending on the lighting of the area at the time." Fumi told Izuku.
"Not surprising, the type of crow your mutations are based on isn't nocturnal and with Sadi-Chan's body being elemental in design it would only make sense they could see especially well in the dark." Izuku said pulling out a notebook and flipping through the pages.
*Do you think it would be okay to ask if I can look at his pages on us?* Sadi asked Fumi.
They were rather curious about what Izuku could have written about the both of them so far.
*Maybe next time, Bakugou did mention it was a sore spot that was targeted before.* Fumi answered, his tone apologetic.
They were disappointed but understood what Fumi meant, Izuku had moved on from what used to happen to him when he and Bakugou were in school together but they didn't want to poke at old wounds just in case.
"There are a few things I like to ask you before we jump to your quirks, if you both don't mind." Izuku said, bringing Sadi and Fumi's attention back to him.
"About us being chimera twins?" Fumi guessed.
Izuku nodded.
"Indeed, I've looked through the notes from your recent doctors visits and I'm very glad to see that Sadi-Chan's placement in Fumikage-San's body will not cause any foreseeable problems down the road." Izuku confirmed.
Sadi nodded their head in total agreement.
The two of them had been very, very lucky that their body ended up where it had inside of Fumi without attaching to anything vital or developing any physical traits like feathers or a beak which could have caused problems for Fumi.
Not all chimera twins could be kept for the developed twin's health and that fact didn't even occur to them until a doctor brought up the possibility during one of their visits post-discovery of their space inside of Fumi.
It was chilling to think about and they both agreed not to talk about it since there was nothing good to think about there.
"Sadi-Chan you're strictly an obligate carnivore, correct?" Izuku asked, turning to them.
"Yeah, I've tried eating most things but other than meat stuff it all falls out of me. Fumi can eat plants and stuff though!" Sadi explained.
"Oh, but Fumi can't have avocados, coffee, chocolate, coconut or too much salt in his food." Sadi remembered after a moment.
Mother was the same, they were bad for birds apparently and they were just glad that the both of them weren't affected by garlic or onions since that would mean they couldn't enjoy a lot of Mother's family dishes.
"I believe there is a full list of foods I can and cannot have that was made from when I was five." Fumi brought up.
Izuku hummed, flipping through the notebook.
"I'll text your mom later for a copy of that, it wasn't included in the medical documents your primary doctor faxed over to Recovery Girl." Izuku commented, writing a note quickly before turning back to them.
"You can just ask Bakugou, Izu-Kun. We gave him a copy since he wanted to make us all dinner tonight." Sadi suggested.
Izuku smiled back at them.
"Thanks for the idea, he'd definitely get back to me faster, but I should go through your parents as your teacher." Izuku told them.
"Oh." Sadi replied.
"Considering you've been eating fairly regularly," Izuku said moving on "That has likely contributed greatly to why Fumikage-San's health hasn't been as bad as it could have been while carrying an undiscovered twin before now." Izuku told them.
"Yes, the doctors mentioned that as well after we've had a reassessment with a dietitian." Fumi responded, nodding his head.
"Thank god I don't have to give you guys that talk as well." Izuku said with a sigh, his shoulders slumping.
"Do you have to talk about diets often?" Sadi asked.
Izuku groaned "You have no idea, I'm on a first-name basis with a dietitian from every prefecture at this point and they've sent me gift baskets for sending them so much work." Izuku informed them, his head buried in his hands.
Sadi knew it was bad of them but they couldn't help giggling over Izuku's complainant.
*Sadi.* Fumi scolded.
"Moving on from your dietary needs though," Izuku sitting back upright.
"I wanted to talk with you today about scheduling Fumikage-San for a brain scan." Izuku told them.
"A brain scan?" Sadi repeated.
"Why?" Fumi asked, a touch concerned.
"Sadi-Chan's shadow manifestation quirk is completely separate, given your lack of ability to manipulate or manifest shadow yourself Fumikage-San, but there is a chance that your physical mutations aren't the full depth of your quirk." Izuku elaborated for them.
Sadi cocked their head.
"Then what do you think his quirk is?" Sadi inquired.
"Your mom, Kimiko-San has a telepath quirk, one that lets her feel the 'thoughts' of places, and your grandfather on her side is where the shadow-aspect of Sadi-Chan's quirk comes from. I think it's possible that Fumikage-San inherited traits from both of them and developed the ability to... Shadow-speak if you'd like to call it." Izuku further explained for them.
"Do you mean that our mental link is possibly because of a quirk?" Fumi questioned, blinking.
"Yes, and that is why I'd like you to have a brain scan while talking to each other mentally, since the brain patterns for telepaths are well documented and easily proven." Izuku confirmed.
"I do not think that is the case, I haven't been able to… 'speak' with any other shadows before." Fumi told Izuku and Sadi nodded.
"Yeah, there was this kid back before middle school that could make shadow beast things and Fumi tried talking with them but didn't get any kind of reply from them." Sadi added.
Izuku hummed, drumming his fingers as he let his head tilt to the side.
"Hm, that is good to know, but Fumikage-San might only have a closed network and not be an open networked telepath." Izuku pointed out to them.
"Closed network?" Fumi repeated, both of them tilting their heads.
"Telepath quirks come in quite a few fashions, but they rarely are able to do everything you can think of." Izuku began, pulling out a few little toys that he placed on the table.
"An open network telepath can speak or hear multiple people mentally, like how Mandalay can direct large scale search parties or disaster responses with her quirk, but the loop might not be complete which for her is her inability to connect people with each other or hear their responses to her directions without a comms system." Izuku described for them.
His hands moving as he spoke, from one toy to all of the others on the table.
"Prioritizing a wide signal over full communication, with a closed network working in the opposite direction." Izuku said next.
Izuku picked up and placed it right next to another.
"A closed network would usually need a point of establishment, either thinking about the specific person they want to speak with mentally or physical contact to connect with them initially, the benefit of which is that the person connected can reply through the link made." Izuku told them.
"So, if Fumi had a closed network, he might not be able to connect to all shadows mentally? Just me?" Sadi guessed.
"I think that is probably the case." Izuku answered.
"But then why can I only speak with them? I touched the shadow beasts and did not feel any sort of 'connection'." Fumi inquired.
"Well, there could be a couple reasons for that, for one you might have a very specific requirements for your quirk to work on someone who only has been filled by Sadi-Chan so far given their unique elemental body type and you're in constant physical contact with." Izuku listed off for them.
Well, Sadi did have to admit they couldn't think of any other person that had a shadow body like themself whom they met.
"The second idea I have is that your quirk could have different needs that aren't shadow-based, again physical contact might be what connects you and not their shadow body." Izuku pointed out pointing to Sadi.
Sadi doubted that one, their conversations had never been listened in on by anyone else when they were physically touching anyone else.
"Or, like your mom and grandfather, your telepathy is restricted only to a single person, and you can't make a new connection to someone else." Izuku told them.
That could also be possible, Mom couldn't tell them the history of two buildings even if she was touching both of them at the same time.
"Could we test to see which of those it might be?" Fumi questioned.
"Unfortunately, testing like that is hard to do." Izuku warned them.
"Mental quirks, while easily confirmed with scans are much harder to prove the boundaries of given their nature is entirely based in the mind of the person holding it." Izuku elaborated taping the head of one of the toys.
"We can easily test the physical connection one, but if there are restrictions such as only a single person can be involved in your link or need to be a specific type of person it will be much harder to prove." Izuku added.
Sadi gave a sad warble and nuzzled Fumi.
Fumi nuzzled them back, chirping as well to assure them.
"I'm sorry, I wish I could give you an answer to those questions for you." Izuku apologized.
"It is alright Izuku-San, confirming a telepath quirk is more than enough. Would there be special needs that would come from that kind of quirk which have not already been accounted for?" Fumi told him.
Izuku nodded.
"I can walk you both through the things mental quirks need, including mental exercises or things you'll need to start eating for your brain to stay health." Izuku answered, digging in his bag again for another notebook.
Sadi kept nuzzling Fumi as Izuku began listing off things for Fumi.
Hanta could confidently say he'd never been in this kind of situation before now.
Sure, he'd been in a nurse's office a couple times in his life, heck he'd even waited around before as well to meet with a quirk counselor once before.
But he couldn't recall ever having a counselor express concern about him before.
All of his past sessions had been pretty casual, he'd just talk with them about the progress he made with his quirk, like how he figured out to make his tape only sticky on one side instead of double-sided.
Or how he needed to get better claw files for his fingers and toes cause his nails were getting tougher as he grew.
But the only time he could recall a counselor asking him anything was when he tried swinging from his tape without protection when he was younger.
Yeah, that wasn't one of his better ideas but to his credit, he was only six at the time and really wanted the snacks his grandma hid on top of the fridge.
He was much better about his wall 'crawling' now and made sure to put in for a helmet to protect his head.
And some padding but wasn't sure how much would be added since he wanted to keep his flexibility.
Having his blood taken was easy enough though and the sucker Recovery Girl gave him was nice too.
Kind of wished that he had someone to chat with to pass the time though.
Kamakiri was grumbling off in the corner he claimed for himself, Todoroki was very clearly uninterested in people in general, Monoma already left along with Fukidashi.
Sato was nice enough, but he was getting his blood drawn right now.
Kaminari was great to talk with, but he didn't feel comfortable coming over to interrupt whatever conversation Kaminari was having with the girls of his class.
At least Kaminari was looking better, he'd probably trade numbers with the guy once he was done so that they could talk later after setting up their rooms.
Almost like clockwork the Tokoyamis walked out of the room and the shadow one crossed the room over to him.
"Hi! Deku-Sensei told us to send you in next, hope you have a good talk with him!" The shadow chirped at him before the two swiftly left the medical wing.
Hanta didn't even have a chance to reply, he rubbed the back of his neck and just went over to the room Deku-Sensei was using.
"Um, hey teach, how are you doing?" Hanta asked as he walked inside.
"I'm doing alright, how about you Sero? Would you like something to drink?" Deku-Sensei replied, thankfully alright with the casual address and Hanta would be lying if having a bottle of milk tea wouldn't tempting.
"Just a bit faint from the blood draw, but the sucker is helping. You wouldn't happen to have some milk tea would you?" Hanta asked as he sat down in the chair across from Deku-Sensei.
Deku-Sensei stood and went to a small little mini fridge he didn't see tucked away and pulled out a bottle of milk tea for him.
"Thanks Deku-Sensei." Hanta said as he took the bottle, popping the cap off easily and taking a big gulp of the drink.
"Not a problem, Sero." Deku-Sensei commented waving his hand and opened up a notebook after he sat down.
"So, I know that you were confused about why I asked you to come in," Deku-Sensei brought up.
"Yeah, I've never had any problems before and I'm not sure what we'd need to talk about honestly." Hanta replied with a shrug.
"Well, Sero I have a few questions for you, like how much meat would you say you eat regularly?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
"Uh... In most meals actually, pork or chicken usually since that's usually what my nana buys for us, though she made these really great beef skewers for us once." Hanta answered, his mouth watering a little thinking about it.
"The meat was super tender, you could actually see it falling off if you didn't eat it fast enough and it legitimately melted in your mouth too. But um, what does that have to do with my quirk?" Hanta asked as his mind trailed back to why he was here.
Deku-Sensei jaunted down something in the notebook before answering him with another question.
"Sero, what do you know about spiders and how they make their webs?"
"More than most people do I think, wrote a report about them way back when, like I think the year before I went to middle school." Hanta responded, trying to think back.
"They use spinnerets to make their webbing and they'll usually eat their webs to regain whatever nutrition that they lost to make the web if its damaged." Hanta recounted, though the names of the exact aminos they used currently was escaping him.
"That is correct, alanine and glycine are the two main components used by spiders to make their silk, compounds which are typically found in meat." Deku-Sensei said.
Hanta blinked before an idea came to him.
"Wait do you think I make my tape the same way spiders make webs?" Hanta asked.
"I doubt the process is one-to-one, more like convergent evolution but essentially yes I do think your quirk shares a lot of traits with that of web building spiders." Deku-Sensei informed him.
"Damn, that would be awesome if it were true, like who wouldn't want to be a Spider-Man right? But I'm not sure you're right about that teach." Hanta told him before holding up one of his arms to look at his bulky elbow.
"Cause this doesn't really look like a spinneret you know, more like a tape dispenser." Hanta pointed out.
His short-sleeved shirt allowing the whole of his elbow to be seen in all of its glory.
The rounded joint was easy to hide under his uniform, but it sure didn't look like any spider spinnerets he ever saw before, more like a tuna can if Hanta had to guess at its shape.
And instead of any of the little things that wove spider webs, he had this little line where his tape would come out just below his elbow, kind of looked like it would lead to secret pouch in his elbow but that was it.
"You are correct that your elbows don't look like a spiders' spinnerets, however I think you are neglecting to account for two very important details," Deku-Sensei said.
"Firstly, spinnerets are a lot bulkier than a person would think, which is another reason for why a spider's abdomen is so large, so the extra bulk in your elbows would be expected." Deku-Sensei pointed out.
"And secondly, you are a human, and your quirk will work with your biology, which is why I said you shared traits with spiders because of your quirk and not have a spider-related quirk." Deku-Sensei corrected.
"Making specialized webbing with spinnerets inside your elbow, which we can confirm either with an X-ray of those joints, or with a tiny camera which can be inserted with minimum discomfort." Deku-Sensei told him.
Hanta looked at his elbow with a soft huh and considered the idea.
Being spider-like was hardly a bad thing in his mind, again who wouldn't want to be a Spider-Man?
"Well, that would be cool I guess. Hey, do spiders have claws too? Cause I thought I just got that from my dad's side, one of those hold-over mutations but I can't remember if spiders have them too." Hanta asked looking over his hand.
It was hard to tell if he even had claws because of how well rounded he ground them down but he started growing them ever since he was born, hence why they all thought it was a hold-over mutation.
"Spiders don't have claws, but they do use their fangs to cut their webs at times. Your teeth and claws are likely another adaptation your body made, or kept in the case of your claws, to deal with your webbing, including ease of consumption." Deku-Sensei answered.
"My teeth?" Hanta repeated with a blink.
"Yes, just from looking at your teeth I can see you have a larger number of incisors compared to the average person. Incisors are the teeth primarily used for cutting through food, which would be necessary for re-eating your webbing." Deku-Sensei further explained.
"I thought canines were for cutting through food?" Hanta brought up, a hand coming up to rub at his mouth.
"I understand the misconception there. Canines are the most prominent teeth in predators, or people with predator-traits from their quirk. But the function of canine teeth is to help keep prey in their mouth or tear flesh, hence the hook-like shape in the majority of that branch of teeth." Deku-Sensei informed Hanta.
Hanta could follow that train of thought and nodded along, looking back to his elbow.
"So, I can eat my 'webbing'?" Hanta asked, he'll admit that he considered doing it from time to time but never did since everyone thought that it was tape and not webbing.
"Most likely, yes." Deku-Sensei confirmed.
Hanta with that confirmation made a little square from his elbow, tearing it out which will probably be easier on him if he grew out his claws admittedly, and placed the piece in his mouth.
He expected it to be a bit harder, but Deku-Sensei was right about his teeth being suited for eating his webbing.
Taste wise it was a bit bland but honestly not that bad.
"Well, not the tastiest but I can confirm I can eat it." Hanta told Deku-Sensei after swallowing the piece he ate.
"I wouldn't expect it too, it would be more of a last resort thing to be able to make more webbing if you can't eat prey items to get back the amino acids to make webbing." Deku-Sensei replied.
"Is that why you asked how much meat I eat? Cause I can't remember ever being tempted to eat live prey." Hanta asked, the guys first question coming back to mind.
"Yes, that is why I asked, and you probably won't feel that need." Deku-Sensei answered.
"Spiders are predatory but more along the lines of scavengers in behavior and you get plenty of 'scavenged meat' to take care of your body's needs, so you'd have little to no predator instincts being only spider adjacent at best." Deku-Sensei elaborated for him.
"Ah, that's good. I don't think I have what it'd take to eat anything with a face still on it anyways." Hanta said rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about it.
"Moving on from your diet though, I would like for you to have tests done to examine your joints and blood circulation." Deku-Sensei told him.
"To see if I'm extra flexible? I can confirm that, I'm just used to covering that up since it freaks people out to see me bend in half like I don't have a spine." Hanta brought up somewhat embarrassed, standing up and showing Deku-Sensei what he meant.
Turning to the side and letting his body bend backwards until his head was almost level with his feet.
"Hm, that is impressive, though I can see why it would look concerning to others." Deku-Sensei mused.
"Still, I would like for you to come in to have your circulation checked." Deku-Sensei informed him.
"Okay, why? Should I be concerned about blood clots or something?" Hanta questioned standing back upright.
"No, while web-slinging is a common trope now because of the popularity of Spider-Man, the human body isn't usually made for the intensive G-forces that come from such an activity." Deku-Sensei explained.
"And one of the biggest problems is that when swinging like that, is all of our blood will be forced down to our feet due to how we circulate blood, if you are more spider-like then we should have you tested to see if that would be a problem." Deku-Sensei laid out for him.
"Ah, that would be a big problem since I did plan on web slinging." Hanta admitted, having not thought of that before.
"I could see that from your costume form, and since you plan on doing that actively it is important to figure out if you need anything to keep you from fainting mid-swing." Deku-Sensei replied.
"Well, tell me when to show up then." Hanta said with a shrug.
"Anything else you need to talk about with me, teach?" Hanta asked.
Deku-Sensei hummed, tapping his pen on his chin.
"I think we covered everything big, but I would like to have a sample of your webbing if you wouldn't mind." Deku-Sensei requested.
"Not a problem teach." Hanta replied with a thumbs up, making a strip of webbing since he wasn't sure how much he'd want for testing, tearing it after it was as long as his forearm and handed it over.
"Thank you Sero, could you please send in your classmate Kamakiri next?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
"Sure teach." Hanta responded with a wave as he walked out of the room.
Togaru huffed as he waited for someone to tell him to get into the damn room and talk with the green pipsqueak of a teacher.
He had other shit to do, he still needed to put up the rest of his collection and put the rest of his crap away so he could figure out which of the gyms would be best for his workouts.
He'd need to chase down something to settle his nerves after this, the smell of a damn hospital aways made him extra pissy.
Togaru would double-check if there were any hunting grounds nearby, or if U.A. had any places he could hunt live prey.
There had to be some kind of wildlife living around in the forest areas at least.
Finally Flat-teeth came out of the room and he walked over to him.
"Oi, Flat-teeth, how much longer am I going to have to wait?" Togaru questioned.
"You don't have to dude, Deku-Sensei asked to see you next, just go on in." Flat-teeth told him, motioning to the door with his head.
Togaru huffed and without giving any more thought to his classmate and went into the room to get this all over with so that he could go and get his hands on some prey.
The green pipsqueak was sitting in one of two chairs in the room, and he sat himself down in the chair across from the tiny sensei.
"So, what the hell did you want to talk with me about? And make it quick I've got shit to do." Togaru demanded.
Deku-Sensei raised an eye at him but didn't make a comment about his harsh words.
"Alright, do you eat a lot of iron or take supplements?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"Yeah, the fuck do you think my blades are made of?" Togaru questioned holding up his hand and letting a blade jut out of his palm.
"You'd be surprised how often things like that do not occur to people, have you ever eaten other metals to see if you can make blades of different types of metal?" Deku-Sensei replied, pressing forward.
"Wanted to, but the morons before you didn't want to risk heavy metal poisoning." Togaru answered with a scoff.
His body was made to utilize metal, why shouldn't it work with other metals too after eating them?
Fucking cowards.
"That is a valid concern since we can't be sure if your body will metabolize all metals the same way, we can give you a few metal chips to test out how your body handles each type of metal." Deku-Sensei.
"Fine with me, that all?" Togaru questioned.
"No, what can you tell me about how your body makes the blades? Where does the metal for the blades come from exactly?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"From my body." Togaru told him flatly, holding back from pointing to his hand where the blade still was jutting out of his palm.
He literally saw him make the damn thing in front of him.
"Yes, but does the metal come out of your pores and build itself on your skin outside of your body? Or is it formed within yourself and then pushed to the surface? What is the base of your blades?" Deku-Sensei pressed.
"One of my scales is the base, the metal comes out of my pores and forms based on my idea of what the damn thing is supposed to be. Happy?" Togaru answered with a scowl.
"Have you only made blades before?" Deku-Sensei questioned instead.
"The fuck else am I supposed to make?" Togaru asked back, spiting the words as he let the blade un-make itself.
"Armor? Other types of weapons such as brass-knuckles, or even a bat perhaps? Maybe more animal-like traits such as claws or talons?" Deku-Sensei threw out there for him to consider.
Togaru frowned as he considered those things.
Armor, if he couldn't eat other metals wouldn't work that well for the stronger shit, iron was tough but not the strongest metal, if he could use other metals then he'd consider it.
Couldn't see making any bats or clubs though, a crowbar though would be useful if he needed a blunt force weapon to use.
Brass-knuckles, though sounded interesting to make.
He focused on the image of what brass-knuckles were supposed to be, and watched silver metal build until the item was resting on his hand, a little spike over each knuckle, and the metal seemed to fit rather well in between his fingers.
Togaru huffed with a smirk as he turned his hand over and flexing his fingers to test how it felt.
He could work with this.
But that claw shit sounded like a much better idea to try, hell he already had a plan for which one he'd make.
The brass-knuckles melted back and then reformed to make the wicked looking claws he imagined.
The metal building on his finger nails into long metal spikes with a slight curl, then like rings to support the claws down his fingers from different scales.
Ones that looked like a mirror for his uncle's.
Oh, he was absolutely using these later when he was hunting, maybe he'd find a place where he could try to hunt for larger prey like deer just to see how well these claws tear though something.
He hadn't hunted anything that big before but hell if the idea didn't excite him in a primal way.
Not sure he could eat all of it though, might need to check if he could bring back any of his game to share with the rest of his dormmates or if he could store the meat in the dead prey section of the pantry at least.
Which would leave Togaru with the bones to deal with, but he was sure he could cure those easily enough.
His uncle taught him how to bleach and cure bones, he'd just need a bigger pot if he moved up to larger game like deer.
His uncle would probably like them actually, use them to make more of his jewelry.
"Kamakiri," Deku-Sensei called bringing him out of his musing about his future hunting trips and back to the green pipsqueak.
"Yeah, yeah I'm listening." Togaru said letting his wicked new claws melt back into him and waved the hand dismissively.
"Could you tell me about your current scale care routine?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
"Hn, I usually take baths twice a day. Warm water and then spend the the next half hour scrubbing myself with a toothbrush. Don't use any store-bought shit, make a homemade scrub my uncle taught me." Togaru answered.
There was probably some good crap in the store, but it was fucking expense when vinegar, salt, lemon juice and baking soda did the job just as well at a fifth of the price.
Price gouging fuck-heads.
"Could you tell me more about the scrub?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"Just lemon juice, salt, baking soda and white vinegar, crap you can get at any corner store." Togaru answered, rolling his eyes.
"Do you know that those things are usually used for cleaning iron?" Deku-Sensei brought up.
"No, but my uncle has iron scales so that tracks." Togaru replied thinking about his uncle's gleaming silver forearms and claws.
"If you add other metals to your regular diet then you'll need to adjust your scrub so that you can take care of the additional metals that will be left in your scales." Deku-Sensei told him.
Togaru frowned at that, but he conceded the point was valid.
He didn't start using his uncle's scrub until after he started eating more iron and the scrub his mom and dad used stopped helping him with the itching sensation.
God that was such a fucking terrible time, his kept scratching all over until his uncle stepped in and tried his scrub.
The lemon juice stung because of the scratches but it kept him from tearing open his skin raw.
He didn't ever want to go through that crap again.
"I'll make up a list of cleaning ingredients for the various metals we'll have you try, and we can figure out which ones to add or use after having you try the new metals." Deku-Sensei commented writing down in his notebook.
"That's all then?" Togaru asked again.
"We're almost done, I've worked with predator-quirks before, so I'm familiar with the need to consume live animals but according to your file you partake in active hunting rather than farmed prey, correct?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"Don't know about most people but I can't enjoy prey that don't run for its life," Togaru responded with a shrug.
"I understand that there ain't enough wild game out there to feed the world, but I'll be fucked if I'll ever eat a farm rabbit when I can track down a wild one. I ain't a pussy-footed fucker that's afraid of staring down my meal or have a meal that will actually fight me back." Togaru further defended himself.
Sure people were more accepting of the predator based needs some people had, but actively hunting of their own prey was still something of a taboo for some damn reason.
It wasn't like people didn't fucking enjoy trophy hunting before quirks were a thing, at least he and his uncle made sure to use as much of their prey as they could to reduce waste from their hunting trips.
"That makes sense, some people need more enrichment from their prey than others, it usually depends on the kind of animal your quirk has roots in." Deku-Sensei said, being surprisingly at ease with him.
Which was weird, he normally expected some kind of push back about his need to hunt, even from that wolf-like fucker from his middle-school tried to get him more into those pushover farm animals rather than wild game.
But fuck it if he would question it.
"Pretty much, was actually going to see if there is any hunting areas or places around here where I can let loose." Togaru told him.
"I'm afraid there isn't, can't open a hunting ground near a school zone legally speaking but you can schedule to use the forest areas to hunt ahead of time, Nezu-San made sure to re-populate the forest zones so you won't have to leave to get yourself prey." Deku-Sensei informed him.
Togaru huffed crossing his arms, but he understood.
Hunting grounds weren't that popular and watching someone rip apart a rabbit in front of a grade-schooler would probably traumatize the little shit, especially if they had a prey-based quirk.
It fucking sucked but he understood.
"How big would you say the game is on the grounds? Like are there any deer I could take down?" Togaru questioned.
Deku-Sensei thought for a moment.
"I think there are a few herds of deer over at the main forest zone, but you'll probably have more luck finding stray animals or rabbits as the biggest prey animals on the grounds." Deku-Sensei replied.
That was disappointing to hear, but he liked rabbit well enough and could save deer for special occasions instead, it wasn't like it would change much for him diet wise.
"At least I won't have to go back to Nagasuki to hunt, hey teach would it be okay to bring in wild game to release and eat here? I know my uncle plans to visit and he'll want to hunt here if he can." Togaru inquired.
"Certainly, you'll go through the same screening as you would if you brought in live prey from a shop," Deku-Sensei answered.
"As long as you provide evidence the animal is clean and where you got it, book an area to hunt, and inform the staff of your plans beforehand, then there should be no problem bringing in and hunting wild game on the grounds with your uncle." Deku-Sensei further clarified to him.
Togaru grinned.
Hell yeah, he'd be telling his uncle as soon as he got back and check in with Hobo-Sensei if there were any free-time slots in the forest area so he could hunt something today.
His uncle would go feral if he heard they could get their hands on a deer to hunt.
At least he knew what he'd be doing for his birthday next year, god he couldn't wait to get his hands on one of those antler-headed fucks.
His mouth was watering just thinking about it.
"I think we covered everything we need to talk about today if you'd like to leave Kamakiri, I'll have Aizawa-San inform you when your next appointment will be." Deku-Sensei said, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Hm? Yeah, sure fine. See ya later." Togaru told him half-heartedly, his mind still wrapped up in the idea of going out for a hunt.
He stood up and quickly left to head back to the dorms to see if he could talk with Hobo-Sensei if he could book some time to go and hunt today or if he'd need to wait for tomorrow.
Tenya stood on his own and waited patiently for his turn to speak with Deku-Sensei.
He wasn't nervous, certainly not.
Admittedly, Tenya hadn't given a good first impression of himself to his class, or his teacher but he was sure that he could recover from it.
Confronting Bakugou about placing his feet on his desk was a mistake, he had been far too hasty and shouldn't have been so accusatory when he approached him.
Tenya was familiar with the need for medical or learning aids, he'd been in classes with people who needed to take notes through a recording of the teachers before.
Bakugou had been abrasive, however that was somewhat understandable given he was being rather disrespectful not only to Bakugou himself about his medical needs but also rude to his friends.
He'd prefer that his classmate hadn't cursed at him though.
Thinking about how he approached speaking with Uraraka next though brought the need to duck his head from his shame.
Nii-San had talked with him more than once about being careful with his words, especially when he was younger.
And yet, when he went to speak with her about how she had a better head on her shoulders then he originally thought given her dismissive attitude at the entrance exam, he'd managed to offend her.
It was not his intention, but thinking over his choice of words and how he came over to her, again he could see why she might not have appreciated how he said it.
Uraraka didn't pay much attention when Yamada-San spoke about the details of the exam, which he initially thought was rather disrespectful of her and Kirishima.
But she had known to reply to Yamada-San when called upon and hadn't let the fact they were being tested override her sense of duty to those around her.
Something that he embarrassingly hadn't thought of, far too used to scolding his classmates who acted in similar but truly uncaring fashion.
He hadn't even considered that she was merely trying to quietly comfort Kirishima much like his brother used to comfort him.
Glancing over to where Kirishima was sat with Shinsou, the two of them attempted to have a conversation in sign language, made his shame in that regard burn him even more and he quickly looked away from them.
His behavior towards Shinsou had been rather atrocious.
He had unfairly assumed that Shinsou was just asking for help from a friend and not following the rules Deku-Sensei and Aizawa-San had set.
Yes, not all quirks were visible but even then he had no right to contest Shinsou's result if both Aizawa-San and Deku-Sensei hadn't spoken up when he asked for Uraraka to help him.
Even Aizawa-San, one of Nii-San's friends had made a point of telling him he shouldn't be so quick to judge things the first time they met, in addition to all of the times Nii-San asked him to consider things before speaking up.
And while he wasn't the best at picking up on others emotions, he knew very clearly that his attempt to have Shinsou unjustly punished had made Shinsou feel bad.
Shinsou had essentially retreated over to Kirishima's side and stayed there not looking at anyone unless he was approached or called upon.
He had wanted to apologize for his rashness as soon as he could, but he seemed to once again got too far ahead of himself.
He knew that most people thought that arriving a full half-hour beforehand was too early and he shouldn't have scolded the others for that, he knew that his scolding tone had become much worse over time from his attempts to rein in his middle-school classmates.
So, when he immediately whirled around and exclaimed Shinsou's name, a boy that was already very skittish from what he'd seen, it should have been no surprise that the boy would take shelter behind Jurota from him.
Nor that Sadi would come to Shinsou's defense and try to keep him from further scaring his classmate.
Tenya had never gotten along with his peers, he was often too strict about rules and following what adults said, he'd been called a tattle-tail often when he was younger because he always went to the adults.
Others were annoyed with him because of how often he'd tell on them.
But never had he ever made someone feel unsafe.
It… was not a good feeling knowing he scared his classmate, or that his other classmates believed they had to step in order to protect someone from him.
It made Tenya feel a touch nauseous to even think about.
That did not change the fact he had done just that.
He knew that Nii-San would be so disappointed in him when Tenya told him about it later, but Tenya needed to apologize properly to Shinsou and the first step in doing that would be to get his brother's advice.
He was wildly out of his depth and couldn't fix this himself, Tenya had to speak with Nii-San to better understand where he went wrong and what steps he needed to take to prevent himself from making things even worse than he had.
Once he finished with his meeting with Deku-Sensei he'd go to his room and call up his Nii-San.
He might have dinner in his room though, since it would only be fair to give Shinsou and his friends space.
Even if the idea of eating in his room made his skin crawl, because he was supposed to eat in a proper dining area and not where he slept but he was the one in the wrong so he'd… he'd manage.
Tenya jumped when the door to the room Deku-Sensei had been using opened so loudly, Kamakiri the last person to go in rather quickly without acknowledging anyone.
Deku-Sensei coming out afterwards to collect the next person he wished to speak with no doubt.
"Iida, come along please." Deku-Sensei requested after coming over to where he was standing, motioning for him to follow him.
"R-right, of course Sensei." Tenya replied walking with Deku-Sensei.
The room was rather small but since it didn't have much it was easy to find where he was supposed to sit down and Tenya made sure to swiftly take his seat and wait for Deku-Sensei to start the session.
"How are you feeling Iida? Would you like anything to drink?" Deku-Sensei asked taking out a bottle of water and drinking from it.
"No thank you Sensei, I don't need anything." Tenya answered before ducking his head.
"I however do believe I should apologize for my disruptive behavior during class." Tenya told him.
Deku-Sensei hummed, sitting down before he spoke.
"While I will agree that your behavior wasn't what I expected from you, what exactly do you want to apologize for Iida?" Deku-Sensei asked, his head tilted.
Tenya looked away from Deku-Sensei and he tapped one of his fingers against his leg.
"Unfortunately, I think there is many things I must apologize for, starting with presuming you were another student whom was out of uniform Sensei." Tenya answered.
Deku-Sensei was most likely quite used to being mistaken for someone much younger than he actually was, however that didn't mean that he shouldn't acknowledge that what he'd done wrong by his teacher.
"Ah, that… I can, somewhat understand your confusion there given my appearance, however it does make me question your awareness of the world around you since I've been a part of multiple press conferences in the last year, and for you not to be even passingly aware of myself as a part of the staff with the media coverage… is concerning." Deku-Sensei replied.
Tenya flushed and ducked his head.
"I… I hadn't been paying much attention to the news of late, I've spent the year studying very intensely." Tenya admitted.
"Do you often miss things going on around you when you're focused on something?" Deku-Sensei inquired.
"It is likely so, Nii-San has asked about my thoughts on things I wasn't aware of going on at the time because I was busy with my studies or training." Tenya confessed, wincing as he thought of those times.
"And do you ever feel the need to flee a tense situation? Or to runaway whenever you feel anxious?" Deku-Sensei asked next.
Tenya was shocked and embarrassed that Deku-Sensei knew of that.
"Did you read my notes with my past counselors?" Tenya asked back.
Nii-San had tried to reassure him that the urge to run was completely normal and that he too was once afraid just like Tenya, but it was still a great shame he carried knowing that his first instinct was not to fight but run despite coming from a family of heroes.
"No, but I've seen Prey anxiety before." Deku-Sensei told him.
Tenya blinked.
"Prey anxiety?" he repeated the term, having not heard it before and unsure of its meaning.
"You're familiar with how people with predatory instincts are common in people with animal quirks based on predatory animals right?" Deku-Sensei brought up.
"Ah yes, I've had classes with such people before." Tenya confirmed.
Nii-San had explained that sort of thing to him when he was much younger and someone at a restaurant ordered a bunch of raw chicken.
"Well, there are the same prey instincts in people with quirks based on prey animals, most notably anxiety which can cause them to either flee or lash out when stressed." Deku-Sensei explained.
"But my mutation isn't animal based. Why would I have, prey anxiety?" Tenya pointed out.
"Yours isn't but I believe that everyone other than your mother had a roadrunner quirk on her side of the family, don't they?" Deku-Sensei countered.
"Yes, they do." Tenya confirmed.
"So, it is very likely that you inherited Prey anxiety from her side of the family, such anxiety is common in animals whom evolved to be fast, even in humans." Deku-Sensei said, moving to write down in his notebook.
"But how can you tell if its prey anxiety and not anxiety?" Tenya questioned.
"Does this room make you feel claustrophobic?" Deku-Sensei asked back.
"Or have you felt uncomfortable when people have their teeth showing when they face you, especially if they have sharp fangs in their mouth?" Deku-Sensei pressed, with a brow raised.
Tenya, again was shocked Deku-Sensei managed to figure that out about him.
"Are… those common symptoms of prey anxiety?" Tenya replied.
"The flashing of teeth? Yes, in the animal kingdom very few animals bare their teeth outside of hostility, so the sight of teeth usually means danger." Deku-Sensei answered.
"But the claustrophobia is species specific to you, you'd fall under migratory, fast moving prey animals I believe, think a gazelle, so being in an enclosed space where you can't easily flee will naturally make you anxious." Deku-Sensei elaborated.
"That makes sense." Tenya muttered, thinking about the many times when he was younger and had been put in uncomfortably small rooms like this one, or how he used to flinch whenever people grinned at him.
"Those with prey-anxiety have a tendency of being reactive to perceived negative behaviors, along with your OCD making you more sensitive to disorder, it would only make sense that your anxiety would cause you more problems than the average person." Deku-Sensei mused out loud.
"Not that it would be an excuse for how you behaved earlier, but it will help us going forward to help you get a better handle on your prey-anxiety." Deku-Sensei commented again writing down in his notebook.
"So, I don't overreact to others?" Tenya guessed.
Deku-Sensei stared at him for a moment.
"I was going to say so you don't jump to the most negative outcome, as is common with prey-anxiety, but I think I shall have to ask now why you think your overreactive?" Deku-Sensei questioned.
Tenya's cheeks flushed.
"Today was not the only time my… dedication to the rules has caused problems for others, or where I've jumped to conclusions." Tenya informed Deku-Sensei.
They weren't listed since most of those incidents happened outside of school.
Deku-Sensei hummed.
"Hm. Tell me Iida, how many words can you read a minute?" Deku-Sensei asked, crossing his legs.
"Oh, I believe the last time I recall testing that, I was able to read about six to seven hundred words a minute Sensei." Tenya answered.
Nii-San had decided to time him reading for some reason, something about a bet he made with Yamada-San if he recalled correctly.
Though he was confused by the change of topic.
"Iida, are you aware that is nearly double the speed of the average adult?" Deku-Sensei asked him.
"No, I am afraid I was not." Tenya replied with a blink.
He had always felt like he'd been a rather slow reader in his family.
"Given your quirk though this is within the normal range, as many people with speed quirks need to have minds that can keep up with their body, a necessity given the alterative would involve a lot of crashing." Deku-Sensei explained.
Tenya nodded, such a thing made quite a bit of sense.
"Something that no doubt plays as another factor into your anxiety, I'll likely need to consult Hound-Dog about whether you'll need medication addition to therapy for your anxiety." Deku-Sensei stated making Tenya's heart drop.
Tenya had been aware that he'd need a therapist at some point, Nii-San had made the fact he would be seeing someone a non-negotiable when he chose to go into hero work.
But to need medicine before he had even had the chance to start training?
"Do… do you really think that will be necessary Sensei?" Tenya couldn't help asking.
"Depending on how your sessions go, possibly. With how those three things could feed into each other, it can cause doom spirals or easily lead you into panic attacks." Deku-Sensei told him.
Tenya's legs tensed, his need to leave this conversation high or to flee he supposed, but Tenya appreciated Deku-Sensei for being honest with him.
He'd had only a handful of panic attacks at most, more than the average child he was sure but he knew how they felt and going through more of them was not something he wanted to experience.
"Can I ask how being able to process so fast would affect my… prey anxiety?" Tenya questioned, not fully following why that would be the case.
"Well, as I'm sure you know, the longer someone panicked is left to do so, the worse panic or anxiety can become." Deku-Sensei begin to explain.
Tenya nodded, his brother had explained to him a few different ways to help someone calm themselves if they were in a panic attack.
"Naturally, with a brain capable of processing so fast you would be in a panic state for far longer than the average person in less time meaning, Doom spirals of say a minute would be akin to ten minutes for the average person just as an example." Deku-Sensei supposed for him.
"And by the time someone could have noticed your panic, you'll have likely already convinced yourself of the worse conclusion. Or if you were having a panic attack you would start hyperventilating far faster than the average person." Deku-Sensei further told him.
That was all very understandable, however it was little comfort to Tenya about his position now.
"It will be difficult at times, but having all three can be manageable even in such a high-risk career as hero work, we'll simply need to start working on your mental health earlier in your life than we previously would have." Deku-Sensei assured him, likely seeing his distress.
Tenya shifted his foot so that he could remove some of the nervousness out of his body and couldn't bring himself to meet Deku-Sensei's eyes.
"Moving on from your prey-anxiety since I'll need to consult Hound-Dog about how to help you with that," Deku-Sensei said, shelving the topic for now.
"What can you tell me about your engines and how they've been integrated into your body?" Deku-Sensei asked.
Ah, a much easier line of conversation. One which would let him focus on something else for now.
"My main engine is located just below my stomach and connects to it directly along with my liver, allowing for easy drainage of old fluid and refueling." Tenya explained.
"The secondary engines are in my thighs and directly connected to my radiators in my calves, which are prone to overheating if I use all three engines for prolonged periods." Tenya further detailed, shifting his leg to better show off the bulk of the radiators connected to the exhaust pipes sticking out of his legs.
"Has anyone in your family considered drinking antifreeze to help combat overheating?" Deku-Sensei asked.
"No, given the inherent dangers of consuming it and the risks involved it wasn't considered a worthy risk." Tenya answered.
"True, antifreeze poisoning is very intense. Though there are ways to test your resistance without severe harm, a liver and kidney sample can tell us if your body can safely process antifreeze." Deku-Sensei pointed out.
"I'll consider it." Tenya replied, he'd bring up the idea to Nii-San.
Even if Recovery Girl would likely heal him up post operation, he'd feel better about having a second opinion on when it would be best to take such a test.
And if he could in fact drink antifreeze it would be a big game changer, not only for him in how far and fast he could go without harming himself but perhaps for Nii-San as well, if he was able then his brother might be able to drink it too.
"Iida, do you have any ideas why those of your family with the bio-engines need to drink citrus specifically?" Deku-Sensei inquired next.
"While I am very well read in chemistry Sensei, I am afraid I would not be able to answer that." Tenya admitted.
"Perfectly understandable, your bio-engines are a mixture of three different and complicated fields of science, I do have some theories myself though about what role citrus plays for your health." Deku-Sensei informed him.
Yes, his family's bio-engines were very complicated mixes of biology, chemistry and engineering.
That being said Tenya found himself curious what theories Deku-Sensei had about his family's need to consume citrus fruit.
"What kind of theories?" Tenya questioned.
"For one, citric acid is considered a very good cleaner for the sensitive metal in regular engines, so your body would likely utilize it to keep the metal parts of your internal biology from rusting." Deku-Sensei suggested.
Tenya considered the thought for a mere moment before he found himself agreeing.
"That is probably true, I cannot recall anyone in my family having problems with rust or rust poisoning." Tenya replied.
A problem which would have been likely to happen at some point given how the metal inside of their bodies were prime candidates for becoming rusted over.
Their bodies were full of oxidized blood and it no doubt ran over and around the metal inside of them, in addition to the moist environment of a living human body.
"The citric acid might also be used by your bio-engines to create the explosions use by your body to increase your speed." Deku-Sensei said next, much to Tenya's confusion.
"But citric acid isn't a reactive compound, Sensei." Tenya brought up.
"In most cases yes, but sodium is one of the few materials which does cause a explosive reaction in citric acid, add in the hydrochloric acid from your stomach it would be easy for internal explosions or a chemical reaction of equal measure to be created." Deku-Sensei pointed out.
Tenya paused to consider that.
Normally to make metal nitrates one would need nitric acid, but the hydrochloric acid of the stomach would be just as strong, so with both sodium and citric acid involved as well it would cause a volatile chemical reaction if not an explosion outright.
How would that chemical reaction increase their speed though, either as an explosion in their engine or a chemical solution?
"I can understand how an explosion would make me go faster, as it works the same as a car, but how could a chemical reaction in my engine allow me to run faster?" Tenya couldn't help asking.
Deku-Sensei hummed softly.
"Mix baking soda and an energy drink, pour it down a horse's throat and it'll increase the carbon dioxide in the blood, which lessens lactic acid buildup. Making the horse run faster." Deku-Sensei replied, almost absent-mindedly, as if he wasn't talking about drugging an animal.
"Your body can possibly make a similar reaction with orange juice as a catalyst, though it would take a close examination of your bio-engine in action to see if that is the case." Deku-Sensei said.
Tenya was not sure what to do with that knowledge.
Mainly because it sounded like he was effectively able to naturally drug himself to run faster with his quirk.
Which was highly illegal and beyond immoral if it was true.
He quite hoped that was not how his quirk worked.
"I think I would prefer the idea of my engines making explosions like car engines Sensei." Tenya replied.
His reasoning, despite not saying so out loud must have been obvious given what Deku-Sensei said next.
"The energy drink and baking soda was the closest example I could think of Iida to what your body would be doing, it does not mean you are drugging yourself when you use your quirk." Deku-Sensei stated.
"Your quirk merely allows you to access a function that normally can only be triggered by extreme circumstances for others." Deku-Sensei corrected.
"It would be no different than if you could tap into your adrenaline gland to use the adrenaline to run faster. Your bio-engines are simply a healthier alternative to tapping straight into your brain for actual chemical overdose." Deku-Sensei further clarified for him.
"Of course, Sensei." Tenya told him, despite still feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
"I think we've talked about the major points I wanted to cover with you today, we can talk further about everything later Iida." Deku-Sensei said back, maybe noticing how uncomfortable Tenya was still.
"I'll want you to come in later to have a couple tests done to see how your body is doing when you're actively using your quirk to run faster, your previous counselors haven't recorded any data for that, and I would like to see what changes occur in your body when you're using it." Deku-Sensei informed him.
Tenya found himself nodding along with that, that was a reasonable ask since his quirk might have him using a chemical reaction to power his speed.
"I would be amenable to that Sensei, please inform me when a time has been decided." Tenya requested.
"Of course, Iida, I'll also speak with Hound-Dog about arranging a schedule for you to speak with someone about your prey-anxiety as well." Deku-Sensei told him.
Tenya's legs tensed again over the thought.
"If you'd like to get any nervous energy out, the track on the P.E. grounds hasn't been booked by any of the students and you can feel free to run a lap or two." Deku-Sensei suggested.
He briefly considered the idea.
Running would certainly help his body relax, but he'd already made a plan for today and he needed to get his room fully in order before supper.
It would be hard enough to eat in his room, eating in his room while it was still being put together simply would be impossible.
"Maybe later Sensei, I'm still getting settled in my room and would like to get it finished before anything else." Tenya answered standing up.
"If that's what you need, feel free to go. I'll collect Jurota myself." Deku-Sensei told him as the two of them walked over to the door.
Tenya opened his mouth to protest; he was perfectly capable of relaying to his classmate that it was their turn next when the door was opened by Deku-Sensei.
Jurota had just finished getting his blood drawn and was in perfect view of the door as he rubbed his arm.
Clawed finger-tips and gleaming fangs of his large and tall classmate made his heart skip and legs tense almost instinctively.
As if preparing him to bolt the second Jurota's eyes landed on him.
*Perhaps... Sensei is right about the prey anxiety.* Tenya thought distantly as he dryly swallowed a lump in his throat.
With very tense legs Tenya walked out of the medical wing at a perfectly reasonable speed despite his body's urge to bolt as soon as he got a clear look at an open path to the doors.
He might take that run that Deku-Sensei suggested.
Various results of the sessions prt2
Neito: What do you wish to know peasant?
Deku-Sensei: Look I just want to vibe about your cool quirk, you down?
Neito:... again what do you wish to know peasant?
Sadi: So, I shadow demon and he's my personal psychic?
Deku-Sensei: Either that or I have to admit you have somekind of twin magic
Hanta: I can be spider-man?
Deku-Sensei: No
Hanta: Why not?
Deku-Sensei: Too depressed, you can be spider-punk instead
Hanta: :D
Kamakiri: Why are you so chill with my violence to animals?
Deku-Sensei: In most cases I ain't, but you're respectful about it
Kamakiri: when the f*k did I become respectful?
Iida: I am very sorry for my behavior
Deku-Sensei: It's not okay but I understand you're suffering from prey animal PTSD
Iida: I, what?