Chapter the 3rd: Similar, But...

It was next to impossible for her to sit still. The day had arrived, much as it had before. And in the quiet of the morning, as the bus pulled away from the main campus, she felt One for All burning in her chest, her anxiety and frustration making the day just that much more unbearable.

It had been a busy few weeks. The blaring alarm and resultant stampede in the cafeteria had set off her own internal alarms, as she realised just how close she was to the first significant event of her hero career.

Well, his hero career…

She had tried valiantly to pass on the tiniest amount of her foreknowledge, but she couldn't be sure whether it took…


"Sir."

Her dark-haired homeroom teacher turned lazily and regarded her with a blank stare. "What is it, class rep?"

Izumi took a stabilising breath before answering. "I… Sir, are we sure it's just the media?"

The crowd out in front of the school had cleared fairly quickly, and she had waited until the end of the day to approach the man with her concerns. The tiny frown that showed through his features as he fully turned around to regard her where she stood at the front of his empty classroom. "Explain."

To her credit, the blush that crept up on her face was minimal, and more related to the scrutiny in his gaze than anything else. "Well, they were only on the front grounds, and… Wasn't that the internal alarm?"

One dark eyebrow rose up. "And you know this, how?"

She blinked, lowering her gaze to the floor. "I-It's in the student handbook, sir. One tone for external alarms, two for internal."

Aizawa regarded her for a scant minute before shaking his head. "External means outside the grounds. Internal covers the whole campus." He explained. He refrained from commenting when she flinched visibly in front of him.

"Ah." She managed, giving a small bow. "Thank you for correcting me, Sensei."

She hurried out of the room without waiting for a response.


Said instructor stood at the front of the bus, leaning against a handrail and casually watching the scenery slowly move by. She bit back a sigh and settled back further into her seat, hardly noticing the conversation going on around her about hero personalities.

At least they'd all taken her suggestion at face value. Classes were a touch slower and less dynamic since All Might had taken her advice to heart. Their first few hero classes were more about their gear and general heroics, which was a stark contrast to battle trials, but it also provided her with her first taste of a side of hero society that she had previously been blissfully ignorant of.


"This… Is NOT what I submitted."

Izumi scowled at the tiny, stretchy monstrosity that lay in the silver case on her desk. Some of the class had already filtered out of the room to change into their hero gear.

Midoriya did not.

All Might, puffed up in his muscle form, heard her displeasure and raised one eyebrow as he approached her desk. "Is there a problem, Young Midoriya?" He asked, peering around the case.

Izumi's scowl became thunderous as she lifted what was clearly a pair of stiletto-heeled boots from the case. "This is not what I asked for, nor is it in any way either effective or safe for doing hero work." She growled. "Who in their right mind wears STILETTOS for HERO WORK?"

The large man blinked several times, coughing to cover the tiny blush in his cheeks. "Err… Well, it's actually relatively…" He trailed off as she turned a withering stare on him.

"I gave them a specific design, with specific requirements, with very specific reasoning that I WROTE OUT for them. I sent them-" Her voice hitched, and she lowered her face to hide the hurt that was flashing in her eyes.

"...My mom made that for me…"

She dropped the heeled boots and lifted the main fabric part out. It was clearly some form of unitard, with an attached skirt. "I won't wear this."

He didn't force her to. He DID, however, have a conversation with Principal Nezu about the issue.

He was informed later that day that someone was working on the original request, and it should be done before the first major exercise of the semester.


She glanced down at her suit, briefly allowing a small smile to flicker across the frenzy that was her thoughts. The suit that came back the second time was much closer to what she had asked for, and they even incorporated parts of the jumpsuit her mother had made. The deep green brought back thoughts of another life, hard and full of pain, but also hope.

The white cape and the red belt-skirt, however, were homage to another person entirely, one she'd never met in either of her lives. They had removed the sleeves of the jumpsuit for her, leaving her hard-earned muscles exposed to the air, and the red boots and gauntlets completed the look, sturdy material designed to brace her limbs against the blowback from her strength.

Not as good as what would come, but a starting point, to be sure.

She hoped Nana would be proud.

She hoped All Might would like it…

Monoma complained from his seat, tugging at the sleeve of his suit coat as he adjusted the sheath of the throwing knives hidden inside. "I don't know why you insisted we carry our whole loadout for this, Midoriya." He griped, still unused to how the outfit felt.

"I'm starting to regret some of these supplies I added at the last minute." Kaminari agreed.

Aizawa's voice interrupted loudly from the front. "You should train as you fight." He cast a scrutinising glance backwards towards his students. "The sooner you learn what does and doesn't work, the sooner you can start adjusting your loadouts." Dark eyes locked with bright green, and the tiniest nod of approval was offered. "Midoriya is right. You all should trust your class rep more"


"M-Me?!"

One caramel-scented hand clamped down on her head, messing up her hair even more. "What, did you think I was going to vote for someone else?" Her erstwhile brother grinned, even as her shocked expression turned into a glare at the rough contact, her eyes finally leaving the writing on the whiteboard.

Midoriya - 4 votes

Yaoyorozu - 2 votes

Izumi had been one of the two votes for Yaoyorozu, and she would bet the other was Iida. But if Bakugou, Uraraka and Yaomomo had voted for her, where had the fourth come from?

She did figure it out, though it took her most of the rest of the day. And it had come from another of her bits of future insight. The day before the vote, she had approached one of her classmates.

The empty school uniform twitched in front of her as Hagakure looked up to see a small, oblong pink plastic case being held out in front of her. "Wha-? What is this?" The invisible student asked.

Midoriya sat down across from her classmate, placing the case on the table between them. "I… Well, this is going to sound weird and judgy." Green eyes glanced down before raising up past the collar of the shirt and up towards-

Hagakure froze as green eyes made direct eye contact with hers.

"Trust me for a second on this one?"

"O-Okay…"

"Close your eyes."

She did.

The gentlest touch on her face was immediately followed by the weight of something metal and plastic on her nose and ears. Her eyes opened in shock, and she blinked through the clear frames of the small pair of glasses, too stunned to say anything.

Midoriya smiled. "You know, it doesn't take a genius to know that it bothers you when people stare at your 'shirt'." She said quietly, barely audible over the sound in the cafeteria. "Invisible or otherwise, I know I don't like it when people stare at my boobs."

Hagakure giggled, her eyes never leaving her classmate.

"Just gotta give them something to aim at." Izumi's smile faltered a little bit, and her gaze dropped to the table. "I… My quirk came in crazy late. For most of my life, everyone thought I was quirkless…" She glanced up. "I know there's a difference between being invisible, and not being seen."


They had been close friends ever since. It might not have been fair to use information from her past life, but every insight that she used to bring her class together could only help them for what was coming. Hagakure's insecurities were something that she could correct with minimal effort, and if she became a better friend as a result, so be it.

The night after the vote had been hard for her, as she sat in her room, searching her mind for any memories of whether the class rep position had been important or not. She hadn't slept much that night, but had managed to get through the next day without anyone catching onto her inner turmoil.

In the end, it became one of those things that she would just have to accept, and move on from.

She glanced up as the bus rounded another corner, and a large domed building loomed up over the next hill.

Some things, she hoped, she would not have to accept…


It was rare that they saw each other outside of school, which was odd after their constant companionship in the months before the entrance exam. A weekend meetup on the beach might draw someone to the wrong conclusions, particularly one between a high school girl and a middle-aged man.

Izumi didn't care. He had sat down next to her on the sand dune and hadn't said anything when she had immediately leaned against him, careful not to put any pressure on his injured side.

They sat for a moment and watched the waves. The beach wasn't empty, their work from earlier in the year having inspired many to come out and use the beach again, but they were left alone.

"What has you so upset?" He finally asked, breaking the silence. She had asked if he could take some time to meet her that day, but had not said anything about why. The expression on her face was hidden behind her loose hair, but he could feel the tension in her body, and it concerned him greatly.

She took a long time to reply, and when she did, her voice was quiet, her tone uncertain. "If… If you knew that something was wrong… But nobody would believe you… What would you do?"

He sighed, dark eyes looking out over the sparkling waves. "Well, there is almost always someone who will believe you." He said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "But, if not…" His own memories of a lifetime struggle chased around the corners of his mind. "I trust that you will be able to make the right decision about what to do." He looked back down into tear-filled green eyes. "But I can tell you that I will believe you. No matter what you think it is, I trust you implicitly." He squeezed her gently, and she shifted closer, leaning her head against his chest.

"I… I think things are broken." She said slowly. "And… I'm just a kid. And a rookie hero in training. So what chance do I have of fixing the system I'm trying to become a part of?"


The conversation had been a long one, with the sun half-submerged beyond the horizon before they had stood to leave. She didn't know what would come of it, but turning her mentor onto some of his future revelations early was her first real hard diversion from her future knowledge.

It was her first major move.

But, as the lights inside the USJ flickered, and a black-purple mist appeared in the center of the building, she set her jaw in a hard line and clenched her fists in anticipation.

It would not be the last.

It all changes now…


A/N: Sorry if the flashbacks aren't your jam. This is a bit of an experiment for me.