Chapter 1: Hear, Feel, think
Chapter Text
"It's not bad to have a dream, young man. Just make sure that your dreams are attainable, realistic, understand?" spoke the 'deflated' number one pro hero All-Might, looking back towards the green-haired boy that had asked him if he could be a hero, despite being quirkless.
While Toshinori Yagi, aka All Might, had felt for the kid, he truly did, but being a hero meant you had to deal with villains that often would be just as or even stronger than the hero… being quirkless left one at an extreme disadvantage. He was merely trying to keep the boy safe. He even offered other alternatives like being a police officer like his best friend and ally, Naomasa Tsukauchi.
He shut the door behind him and reached for the bottle in his pocket, "Well, let's get you to the-" he stopped, feeling around the now empty pocket and even checked the other one before staring out the window from inside of the stairwell and seeing a plume of smoke rise over the cityscape, "Oh no…"
Meanwhile, as All Might had shut the rooftop door, Izuku Midoriya's semi-calm face slowly began to tear up. He hiccuped before he fell to his knees and broke down, the tears coming down his cheeks burned him as he clenched his eyes and sobbed.
The memories of the years of negativity and neglect flooded his mind as if further to bombard him into the cement of the rooftop. How he suffered for the last fourteen years at the hands of his friend- no, former friend Katsuki Bakugo. The dulled pain of the most recent burn marks on his shoulder, reminding him of what happened before being attacked by the sludge villain.
"I... I guess you were right, Kaachan…" Izuku spoke softly as he clenched his hand into a fist, "I really am a Deku…" slowly rising to his feet, the tears still streaming down his cheeks, which were now puffy.
"All it had to take for me to realize that you were right was to have All Might tell me the same thing… Who was I kidding? I already knew…" he huffed as he turned slowly towards the rooftop edge, "... I was just a hopeless dreamer too stubborn to realize how useless I am."
Slowly the teenager began to walk towards the edge, looking down to the ground. He felt scared, but also very tired… tired of the bullying, tired of hiding his injuries from his mother and worrying her… he knew this was the "coward's way out," but when most, if not the entire world doesn't care if you exist or not… then why should he?
Izuku slowly leaned back and was about to take a step forward when his head started to hurt slightly, grunting out in pain as a single word echoed deep within his mind.
'Hear...'
Izuku gasped loudly as the pain faded; he blinked and realized he had stepped a few feet back from the edge of the rooftop. The voice that spoke within his mind had confused him slightly; it felt almost motherly in a sense and had left his body feeling warm once the pain had faded. His thoughts about what just happened were interrupted as he heard an explosion go off in the distance and seeing the plume of smoke. Izuku blinked for a few moments but then took off running to the rooftop door, his body feeling drawn towards the chaos.
It didn't take long for Izuku to make it to the chaotic scene before him. He could see a group of pro heroes trying to do damage control. Mt. Lady was currently in her giant form and trying to figure out a way to maneuver through to get to the villain. Death Arms struggled to get even close to the villain, shouting how he took a hostage.
Backdraft was using his water hose quirk to help keep the fires from spreading to other buildings because of the explosions caused by the hostage trying to escape. Simultaneously, Kamui Woods was using his wooden limbs to keep two other teenage boys from the fire. Izuku's eyes widened when he recognized the two as Bakugo's 'lackey's' and turned his head towards the sludge villain once again.
'How did he escape All Might?!' the green-haired boy shouted internally before it dawned on him. When he had grabbed onto his leg just as All Might jumped, the bottle must have fallen out!
...This was his fault…
Izuku's thoughts began to grow in despair once again as he watched the scene before him.
'Why are the heroes not doing anything?'
'This is my fault!'
'Someone save him!'
'I'm so pathetic!'
The green-haired boy's thoughts were knocked out of him as the sludge villain roared and laughed.
"HAHAHAHA! GIVE IT UP, KID! WITH YOUR QUIRK, I CAN DEFEAT ALL MIGHT!" shouted the sludge villain firing off a few more explosions at the buildings as well in the general area of the watching public. Katsuki Bakugo roared back as he kept using his explosive quirk to try and free himself.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME AND CRAWL BACK INTO THE SEWER WHERE YOU BELONG!"
"You got spunk, kid! It will be great once I take over your body!" the putrid being chuckled darkly as his sludge began to pour more over the trapped blonde. Izuku watched from the sidelines, eyes wide and soon catching a glimpse of his bully's scared look. The warm feeling from before pulsed over Izuku's body. A single word echoed out as time was slowing down.
'Feel...'
"YOU IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" shouted Death Arms as he saw the green-haired teenager run past him straight towards the villain. Izuku was just as confused as the pro hero.
'WHY am I running? What am I going to do? I have no way of taking out the sludge villain; I'm quirkless! A stupid, useless Deku that liked to write in- That's it!' thought Izuku as he pulled off his high school backpack and lobbed it towards the face of the slimy being before him. A pencil case slipped out and nailed the villain in the eye, causing it to cry out in agony and loosen his grip on the trapped boy.
Katsuki took a deep breath as he watched Izuku climb up the sludge and begin to try to claw and dig him out, "What the fuck are you doing here, Deku?!" screamed the bomber blonde as he continued to struggle. However, he stopped when he looked to his 'victim' trying to help him.
"I don't know! I just ran without thinking!" Izuku shouted back as the warmth enveloped his body again, the voice speaking to him like a whisper.
'Think…'
Izuku blinked and shook his head slightly before giving Bakugo a teary-eyed and wobbly smile, "I-I just couldn't let you die, Kaachan."
"Touching…" a dark voice drew the attention of the two boys before Izuku was knocked a few feet away, grunting as his back hit the pavement and stared up at the sludge villain who seemed to be growing larger.
"But I have a new toy now; YOU ARE NO LONGER WANTED!" it screamed, raising it's thick arm up and began to bring it down.
"He's going to kill him!" shouted one of the pro heroes as they ran forward to save the idiot. Izuku rose his hands up and clenched his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
The 'inevitable' didn't happen.
Nothing had happened.
Izuku slowly began to open his eyes, moving his arms away as he didn't feel the pain of the incoming attack, and the area around him was silent. Blinking as if he saw this right, he looked around as he would take in the vast emptiness of space around him. He slowly got up onto his feet and realized there wasn't even a ground to step on. Where the hell was he?!
As he took in more of his surroundings, he noticed what could have possibly been a sun far to his right. Oddly feeling compelled to get closer to it, he started to walk towards it, his footsteps as silent as the area around him. As he walked for what felt like minutes, a flick of blue light caught his eyes as it danced towards him like a firefly.
Izuku stood there as what appeared to be a small shard of that looked like crystal humming and glowing brightly. The boy raised an eyebrow, staring at the weird little thing before him; he felt the warmth once again envelop his body. The soft motherly words echoing not only in his mind, but he could feel it within the vastness of… whatever… space he was in.
'Hear… Feel… Think.'
Izuku frowned, reached out, and took the crystal with no hesitation.
All Might was watching the boy he had just admonished break past the line to run towards the villain, seeing him haphazardly toss his school bag at the being and nailing it in the eye with a pencil case (an All Might one he would muse later on) and start to claw at the sludge to free the hostage. He heard the snippets of chatter between the two, both obviously knowing one another and seeing the green-hair boy give a weak but bright smile as if to let the other boy know he was going to be alright.
What a fool he had been.
The skeletal form of Toshinori Yagi started to steam a little before bulking up to his "alter ego," smiling brightly and started to run to block the blow meant for the green-haired boy on the ground. But a bright pillar of light soon engulfed the alleyway, blinding the number one hero as well as everyone in the area. It hummed for a few moments before, just as quickly as it appeared, it faded away. All Might opened his eyes and gasped as what stood before him was not the scared boy, but someone completely different.
The crowd gasped as there stood what looked like a medieval knight. Pure alabaster-white plates with gold trims adorned with grey metal patches accenting certain parts of the armor. Several of the motifs were like wings of birds or something angelic in nature.
The helmet was the most striking as it entirely covered the head of the person. While covered with the white, grey, and gold trimmings like the rest of the armor, there was a mane of darkened hair coming out the backside and said hair had green highlights, making the Pro Hero behind him widen his blue eyes.
On the left arm of the 'knight' was an equally exquisite heater shield; a beautiful light blue orb sat neatly near the top. And in the right hand was a sharp sword, glowing in power. While not precisely matching the exquisite armor's colors, it looked like something from a fantasy world with how elegant and 'bizarre' it was.
The sludge villain got its sight back just then, taking in the new foe, and growled, "Who the hell are you?!" it bellowed loudly and got no verbal answer in return before it screamed out in agony when the shield was tossed expertly into the eyes of the being again.
Bakugo's eyes widened as he watched the metal-clad figure take hold of the returning shield and then dashed in a single leap towards the pair, spinning in the air and cutting him out of his slimy prison. He grunted as he fell hard onto the ground, which snapped All Might out of his stupor of amazement.
The blonde hero dashed and quickly scooped up, Bakugo into his arms and brought him back to the other Pro's, who were merely watching the fight as it continued within the alleyway. All were mesmerized as the knight kept tossing his shield to bash the sludge villain's eyes over and over again. In contrast, he kept cutting away at the flailing sludged limbs.
"ARRGH! YOU WILL DIE!" exclaimed the sludge villain as it pulled itself back together and filled out more of the alleyway to try and enclose around the knight. As it was doing so, the sword was plunged into the ground as the metal-clad being shouted a single word that echoed loudly off of the walls.
"CONFITEOR!"
Within mere milliseconds, a golden circle full of strange runes surrounded the villain. Within the center mass came a giant golden blade that shot up through the villain, who screamed in pure agony as it exploded in a sludge-filled mess that covered the walls and some of it splattering on the heroes and Bakugo from how close they were.
A few silent moments passed, and the knight slowly placed his sword to his side and the shield onto his back., turning his head back towards the group of heroes who were awe-struck by such a feat.
The knight was about to say something, but he vanished with a twist of sparkles and a bright shining light in a blink of an eye.
Izuku groaned as he placed his hand upon his head, running his fingers through his hair as he had a massive headache. He slowly and tiredly pulled himself from his bed. He stomped towards the bathroom to get himself ready for another day of hel- school. He sighed as he opened the medicine cabinet to get the toothpaste, and after closing it, he dropped it into the sink and exclaimed, "WHAT THE HELL?!"
His reflection was much different from the previous day, as the ordinarily scrawny Izuku was now not. Still lithe in build, but he was cut and muscular as he also noticed he even grew a solid foot in height! His hands searched and roamed his body, and he even pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Ow! O.k. this is not a dream!"
The green-haired boy looked down to his legs and saw them tense as he shifted around; he began to analyze himself and was muttering out loud, "... I don't remember being this fit ever! How the hell did this happen overnight?" he asked before taking a peek at his "little Deku," more out of curiosity and to make sure nothing was wrong.
He paled; apparently, he was proportional now to his new physique.
Izuku stormed out of the bathroom quickly, muttering a mile a minute as he searched through his clothes to find something to wear. Still, to his dismay, nothing fit anymore!
Dashing to his mother's room, he knew his father's clothes were much larger than his, and thankfully, his mother was still very sentimental in regards to his long-dead father. He found a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt and muttered out a "sorry dad" as he put them on.
The clothes were still a little tight, but they were more manageable; as Izuku wandered down the hallway, he began to retrace his steps about what happened yesterday. Izuku remembered the awful day at school, then the sludge villain trying to take over his body, then… All Might… and lastly, he was trying to save Bakugo from the sludge villain, then… nothing.
He stopped in his small kitchen, thinking hard now as he realized he had no memory after almost being killed by the villain. He didn't remember how he got home and into bed!
"You sure mutter very loudly, Kupo!" a high-pitched voice spoke to him that froze the teenager in his tracks. Slowly, Izuku panned his eyes towards the origin of the mysterious voice and gazed upon an odd creature.
Before him was a sizeable white-furred creature floating in the air with little flapping bat wings keeping it aloft, its eyes seemed shut. Still, he could tell it wasn't blind as he looked up to see an odd sphere attached to the creature's head. The silence between the two continued before it spoke up again.
"Good Morning, Kupo!"
Izuku screamed.
Chapter 2: Karma to all things good and bad
Summary:
The aftermath of the sludge villain incident hasn't gone unnoticed by a few key people. How will this affect the newly dubbed "Warrior of Light"?
Notes:
Welcome to chapter 2! and HOLY SMOKES all the support everyone has given me just for chapter 1 alone. Thank you to everyone who read/followed/subbed and I hope I can keep entertaining you with this story!
A special thanks to 'Evil Angel' over on the Epsi's Hoard discord server for editing this chapter!
Chapter Text
"So… let me get this straight," Izuku prompted as he struggled to put on his high school uniform. His screaming session had lasted for a good solid three minutes before the small creature pulled a comically large mallet from thin air and bopped him on the head with it. He didn't know what was more strange; the fact that the creature had conjured up a weapon or the fact it didn't hurt, but it made a loud 'squeak' sound when used against his head.
"You are a creature called a 'Moogle,' your kind has been around since who knows when, and the reason no one has discovered you is that they haven't been blessed by a giant sentient crystal named 'Hydaelyn,' who just so happens to be a GOD! And she chose me to be a, what was it… 'Warrior of Light'?"
"Yep! That's pretty much the gist of it, Kupo," spoke the now identified Moogle, who was buzzing about and looking over the vast amounts of hero memorabilia, picking up the figurines and dancing around with them much like a small child would. Izuku had asked it not to play with them so many times already that he'd just given up, for now, seeing as it wasn't listening to him and was just curious.
The high schooler grunted as he fastened the last button of his school jacket. He could barely move as he turned towards his new… companion? "A-and Hydaelyn had to alter my body… why?"
"Well, I don't really know, to be honest, Kupo, though if I had to guess…" the Moogle picked up a more recent photo of Izuku that was taken at the beginning of the third year of high school with his now definitely shorter mother standing beside him.
"It's because you were skinnier than a twig, and some of the jobs you'll get as you grow stronger require some muscle. Not to say that if you slack off, you'll always be in top shape! Working out and maintaining your body would be a good idea, Kupo."
The creature slowly looked over the still struggling boy and then snapped its fingers. Izuku felt his body shiver slightly as the clothes seemed to expand and conform better to his body. The green-haired boy sighed in relief and thanked it, but then remembered one crucial detail he had missed and blushed gently, "I-I'm sorry, but I didn't get your name in all the explanations."
The Moogle stared at the boy for a definite few moments; the silence in the room grew heavy for some reason before the creature smiled and bowed, "That's alright, Kupo! Greetings Izuku Midoriya, my name is Mog!"
Izuku had hoped that today would be a much more relaxing day at school than yesterday's 'disaster,' and thankfully, that was the case for the most part. What wasn't easier was that he could hear whispers throughout the day, which made him very self-conscious. He was used to being outright ignored and left in the background to avoid being bullied about his quirkless status unless it was Bakugo, who usually kept hunting him down day in and out to make sure he "remembered his place."
The whispers and comments were worse during gym class as the school's uniform had clung tightly to his body; he was red as a tomato from overhearing some of the things being said but sighed internally once he heard the phrase 'If only he wasn't quirkless' after every positive comment, especially from the girls who were eyeing him up.
Like it was his fault that genetics had screwed him over, making him an oddity amongst humans with superpowers just because he couldn't change his eye color at a whim or be a salty douchebag with a garbage personality that could cause explosions more beneficial to a terrorist than a future hero.
Izuku's train of thought halted abruptly as he was sitting in the last class of the day, eyes wide. 'Where did that come from?'
But before he could even begin to deduce that odd bit of thought, the intercom squawked loudly and called him to the principal's office. 'Now what?' he thought as he quickly collected his things, tossed his bag over his shoulder, and headed towards what would likely be yet another reason to hate this school.
When Izuku had entered the principal's office, he was stunned to see the deflated All Might sitting across the desk. He introduced himself as Toshinori Yagi, the secretary of All Might. He had come by to return his student ID. Izuku had blushed in embarrassment and thanked him, but as he reached to take it, the principal cleared his throat and asked for the card.
Toshinori looked at the portly principal with a raised brow but slowly did as he was asked, looking back towards the equally confused teenager. The principal thanked him for his time and asked the skeletal man to leave both of them; they needed to discuss something privately. Toshinori gave one last look to Izuku before stepping out of the room and closing the door softly behind him; he cupped his ear to the door to listen in, and what happened next truly shocked him.
"YOU'RE EXPELLING ME?!" shouted Izuku as he rose from his chair, the piece of furniture toppling to the ground from how quick the teenager had leaped up. The boy's green eyes were wide, a disbelieving gaze directed at the nonplussed expression of the man before him, still holding onto his student ID.
"Of course. You broke the law by running past a police line and engaged in vigilante activities."
"B-but the heroes were doing nothing! They were waiting for another hero to show up with the right quirk, and Ka-Bakugo could've been killed!"
The principal leaned back in his chair; it creaked under his weight, "Be that as it may, if it were leaked that you were a student at our school, then it would look bad on all of us."
Izuku stared at the man for a few solid minutes. Slowly the shocked look on his face shifted into a deep frown. The teenager growled low in his throat as he spoke, "This, just to protect your 'star pupil.' Having it be known that a strong quirk user needed help from someone would damage his reputation, and thus the school's own."
"NOT just from anyone, brat." scowled the portly man as he stared back at the still frowning teenager, "The fact is that you, the quirkless runt that keeps sullying our grounds with your presence here and showing up Bakugo at every turn, is the problem here," he spat out, but the boy never backed down.
"How is it my fault? That's called doing my best, even if the tests I get back are marked lower to make Bakugo look better!" growled out Izuku again, his hands clenched into fists as he continued, "Every black mark on my file was because Bakugo kept bullying me and starting fights, and I had the "gaul" to defend myself."
The portly man slammed his fist onto the desk, startling the boy, "Enough! As of this moment, you are not welcome at this school anymore, nor will you be able to slander any of our students once I get the police involved."
Izuku froze, the hatred in his core dissipating into fear, "T-the P-Police?"
The principal grinned darkly, something akin to Izuku's memory of the sludge villain from the previous night. "Of course! You fled a crime scene after your little stunt when that knight showed up, adding to the charge of attempted vigilantism. A nice detention cell is perfect for a freak like you." He chuckled as he lifted the phone receiver. "You won't be a problem for anyone anymore."
"HE IS NOT THE PROBLEM!" a voice boomed as the door to the office slammed open, embedding it into the wall with cracks splitting the drywall; the principal and Izuku twisted in that direction. One with a look of pure horror and the other joy and hope respectfully as the number one hero in Japan, All Might, strode in. The giant man turned his head towards the small, portly principal as the hero's voice boomed, a scowl on his lips. "BECAUSE I AM HERE, AND NOW YOUR PROBLEM IS ME."
"Thank you again, All Might," Izuku murmured gently from where he sat beside the now skeletal man in a dumpy pick-up truck. While the man was keeping his eyes on the road, he smiled as the boy continued, "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't stuck around."
"Think nothing of it, Young Midoriya! And you can call me Yagi Toshinori in this form. Best not to give out my alter ego, right?" A glance and a chuckle came from the pro hero in disguise as Izuku smirked.
"Y-yes, Yagi-san… and I'm sorry to ask, but where are we going, exactly? N-Not that I'm complaining or distrustful of you!" the boy stuttered with an embarrassed tone of voice, "B-But, I'm still trying to reel in the fact that I don't have a high school to go to. It's close to the end of the school year, so I will have to get into another one next year. Then mom is going to worry moreandthestresswontbegoodforher—" At this point, Izuku was hyperventilating while muttering; usually, a deadly mix for the eighteen-year-old. Toshinori pulled over to the side of the road as quickly and safely as he could, turning to the teenager and rubbing his back.
"Breath slow and deep, Midoriya... It will be alright." He smiled softly as the boy began to calm himself and breathe easier. "And do not worry about your schooling; everything has already been taken care of!"
"W-What? How?" Izuku asked with a confused tone that caused Toshinori to chuckle loudly. Something the boy took note of in the back of his mind was that he could still tell it was All Might, even in such a state.
"That… is a surprise!" He spoke loudly before turning back to his steering wheel and starting the truck once again. The remaining journey was silent between the two, which honestly didn't surprise the pro hero. All Might, his idol, had crushed his dreams. Toshinori had spent most of the previous night re-thinking what the teenager beside him had asked; the actions that followed, while dangerous, embodied what being a hero had meant to Toshinori. What struck him as odd was the fact that he thought he was quirkless.
Had the boy been lied to all his life? Had Midoriya lied to him? Or did this eighteen-year-old boy develop a quirk at the last minute to save himself? That final thought had confused the man immensely since most 'late bloomers' usually cropped up at the age of eight or nine, not eighteen!
And what a quirk that was! It was like he'd already mastered it with how he kept expertly slamming the shield into the villain's weak point while keeping the focus on him! It was like the boy had trained for decades with the skill he displayed. Another thought brought the hero to glance at the boy beside him.
When did the boy go from a twig to an adonis?
Izuku could hardly breathe since the truck pulled up to UA's front entrance, to the university of his dreams. Somehow they hadn't turned away his application into the hero course despite his quirkless status. While that alone filled the boy with hope, the question remained as Toshinori (now buffed up) was escorting him down the university's vacant halls.
'Why was he here now?'
His attention was brought back from his thoughts as the blonde knocked on a door, and a soft 'come' could be heard past it. Once the door opened, All Might watched as the teenager walked in and sat down on one of the two chairs before a large desk with an equally large chair behind it. He "deflated" once the door was shut and sat in the chair beside Izuku.
The room was silent for a few moments before the large chair in front of them swung around, and sitting upon it was a small creature. It had white fur similar to Mog's and beady black eyes, one of which had a nasty scar that looked deep. The strange creature lifted its paws into the air and finally spoke.
"Am I a bear? A mouse? Or a dog? More importantly, I'm the dean!"
"D-Dean Nezu?!" exclaimed Izuku, who nearly jumped from the chair, causing both adults to laugh loudly from the boy's antics. Once somewhat calmed down, Izuku stuttered out, "H-Hello Dean N-Nezu. I-it's a pleasure to m-m-meet you."
"And it is a pleasure to meet you, Mister Midoriya! I must say you gave everyone quite a shock with the display of your… 'quirk' yesterday." replied Nezu. The pause in his sentence made the green-hair boy raise an eyebrow before starting to go into panic. Did the Dean already know?
Toshinori was also curious about the pause, sharp blue eyes moving back and forth between the two as Nezu continued, "Regardless, we are here to discuss with you what will be happening in the coming months leading up to the UA Entrance Exams, but first." The dean looked towards the skeletal man, "I believe Mr. Yagi wishes to speak to you about something."
"Ahem, yes…" the blonde man turned himself to face Midoriya properly, "Young man, yesterday you had asked if you could be a hero without a quirk… and suffice it to say, I told you no."
Izuku's eyes seemed to drift downwards, the painful memories of that conversation on replay along with all of his other self-doubts. Toshinori quickly picked up on the boy's mental anguish and continued, "But yet, you… at the time, a quirkless and timid boy rushed in to save that other boy while the pro heroes, including myself, shamefully… watched from the sidelines! I told you that being a hero meant having to put your life on the line to save others, yet I was a hypocrite." Toshinori buffed up suddenly, standing tall with that ever-present smile, looking down upon the still sitting teenager whose eyes started to tear up.
"If not for your brave actions, I would have remained a pedestrian, but you, young man…" Toshinori pointed to the boy's chest, "With your conviction and actions, reminded me of my own words, and you inspired me to act!"
Izuku was now crying, the tears dripping down his face not from sadness but from his idol words and the build-up they were leading to. He bowed his head and clenched his eyes, trying to hold back the soon to be oncoming flood. Toshinori beamed at the boy, continuing his speech. "Even though you have a quirk now, even if that was not the case… Izuku Midoriya, you too can be a hero!"
Izuku fell off his chair, his body curled up as the floodgates opened, the sobs of the heroic fanboy echoed in the office. However, it wasn't bothering the adults. The actions were that of joy, of validation, something Toshinori noted and stored in the back of his mind.
While he had his suspicions after hearing the conversation earlier between the principal of Aldera High and the boy, it genuinely hurt the pro hero to see what had been said was true, this boy… this heroic boy had gone through so much in his short life.
He wasn't finished though, as he cleared his throat to get the attention of Izuku once the sobbing started to calm down. "Young Midoriya, I deem you worthy of being my successor. My power is yours to inherit!"
Silence filled the room. Izuku's emerald eyes stared at All Might in confusion for a moment before the gravity and meaning behind those words made them widen. There was only one response to such a proclamation.
He fainted.
Chapter 3: Tests and Truths
Summary:
An all-important question is asked once again by the Number One Hero, what will Izuku's answer be?
Notes:
Here we are Chapter 3! And sorry for the air everyone, considering how popular this got all of a sudden. (seriously, I cannot thank everyone enough for the support!) Please enjoy this chapter.
Now, on to some not so good news.
Currently, I am staying at my parent's house due to my dad using my apartment for self-isolation due to COVID, since he works out of the province. SO until Dec 15th, I will be taking a small hiatus from both this and my other story, Phantasia due to basically been unable to juggle the time of helping my mother with her brand new puppy as he needs to be constantly watched X_x.
Chapter 13 of Phantasia has already started to be written and hopefully drop within a day or so after the hiatus, followed by chapter 4 of Bearer of the Light. So I thank you for your patience during this time.
Before the story, some lovely reviews from FF.net (as a03 allows me to respond easier to the comments there.) starting in chronological order from oldest to newest:
Guest: Awesome! and hope you enjoy this latest chapter.
Karlos1234ify: Thanks!
Daniel xros: More? MORRRRE?!... sure here's a new chapter, enjoy!
Afro121 - Aries Rifter: Kupo!
Sweet Kagamine Kiss: Glad I got ya hooked and enjoy!
human dragon: Awesome, hope you enjoy it!
Sageofchaos: Well here's some more!
Digitalreaper360: Yea, not so much a "lil Deku" anymore" -winkwinknudgenudgeknowwhatImean-. Also, Mog will be a guide to Izuku, though the little fuzzball will get into shenanigans. And yes, I usually prefer the later teen stories myself.
Ragnerock: I am sorry to hear that, but there are a few reasons I aged up the characters. The development of quirks hasn't changed, people are supposed to get them at the age of 4 normally, the reason why UA is a university now is to allow more "adult situations" into the story, as well as, let's be real... by having students learn how to be heroes around the age of 15-16 is really awful, basically making them training child soldiers. I hope you do find other stories to enjoy though.
DragonOfChallenges: That wasn't the plan tbh, but it's going to be more of how Izuku will develop over time from not only his "bonuses" of his powers but also his interactions with his new classmates. From scaredy-cat nerd to a ... less than scaredy-cat nerd.
SPECIAL THANKS TO RAEF, SCION OF GRAMMER ON THE EPSI'S HOARD DISCORD SERVER FOR EDITING THIS!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Toshinori Yagi had seen many things in his long life and hero career.
From horrible natural disasters, to having to prevent international threats during his time in the USA, to odd villains of the week that would often cause Toshinori to question his own sanity. Seriously, what sort of villain calls himself 'Major Underwear' and plots to steal everyone's underwear and somehow make a profit?
Yet the oddest thing of all was the young man sitting beside him just muttering up a storm that was mostly inaudible, though at times he would catch little snippets here and there. The boy was trying to figure out how someone could pass off a quirk to someone else after he had remembered what Toshinori had told him before he passed out.
The boy was out cold for only five minutes before waking up and starting to mutter rapidly.
That was ten minutes ago.
Having enough of the boy's random thoughts, the pro hero took hold of Izuku's shoulder and shook him gently. "For all that is good, Young Midoriya… BREATHE!"
Izuku's head shot up to look at the skeletal man, then to the principal, who was merely smiling and sipping tea. The teenager blushed and shrank down in his seat. "S-sorry… o-o-old habit of mine since I was a kid."
"It is fine, young man. It shows how great of a mind you have, and to be honest, I would love to pick your brain further," Nezu said after placing his teacup on its saucer. "But you have an important question to ask, do you not, Yagi?"
Toshinori nodded and moved off of the chair, buffing up to his hero persona as he plucked a hair from his head. "Young Midoriya, you have the heart of a hero and the determination of one as well. I deem you worthy to inherit my quirk and become my successor." He smiled down at the boy, who was sitting still and listened intently. "Do you accept?"
Izuku looked straight into his idol's eyes, seeing no sort of trickery or falsehood within the deep blues, and he doubted that All Might would make a bluff about this. His emerald eyes moved down to the hair that the hero had plucked, he had thought out the pros and cons of such a decision as he stared at the thin blond strand. Izuku snapped out of his musings, looked up to All Might, and opened his mouth to give his answer.
"Y—"
"NOOOOOOO!"
The shrill shriek startled both Izuku and Toshinori as a fluffy projectile collided with the teenager, sending it and the boy to fall backward and grunt loudly from the impact. After pulling itself off of Izuku's face, it floated up to the large man and started to poke his nose as it ranted and raved at him.
"Who do you think you are? Trying to turn the warrior of light away from her will! Do you have any idea what would happen to him if he took your power? HUH? KUPO!"
Izuku shook his head from the blow before looking up to see a familiar fluffy creature berating All Might. "M-Mog? When—how did you get here?"
The Moogle turned towards the green-haired boy and floated down to him, conjuring the hammer once again and bonking him several times. "You. Had. Me. Worried! Not only did you not come home when you said you would, but your mother was home and was frantically trying to call you, kupo!"
Izuku blinked as he went for his bag and pulled out his cell and paled to see over thirty missed calls and fifty missed texts. His phone flared with life as it vibrated with another call from his mother. The boy looked up to All Might, who seemed to still be in shock, but his attention returned once Izuku spoke up. "A-All Might, sir… I'm sorry, but I really need to take this."
All Might nodded and deflated back down to his skeletal form, watching the young man move to the other side of the room to answer the call. The blond's attention went towards the small creature that had repeatedly booped him on the nose, which was now talking to Nezu of all people. He began to listen to the tail end of the conversation, and his hollowed eyes widened.
"—Of course, I wasn't going to allow Toshinori to pass on his quirk to the boy, Mog. I was just curious to see what would have happened once he took the hair."
"You were always the troublemaker, Nezzy." Mog sighed as it turned its head towards the frantic teenager talking into his phone. "Still, what All Might said is definitely true; Izuku has the heart of a hero… reminds me of the last one." The Moogle smirked, as did Nezu, both watching the boy try to placate the woman on the other end of the phone line, and looked to be failing spectacularly.
Their attention was brought to Toshinori, who was simply pointing at them, his expression one of confusion as he spoke gently so as to not to interrupt Izuku and his phone call. "Nezu sir, what in the world is that?"
Both creatures looked to each other, then to All Might, and slowly the realization that the 'Symbol of Peace' could see the supposedly INVISIBLE Moogle! Mog shuddered in fear and zipped behind the chair to hide while Nezu placed his paws together, and his ever-present smile seemed to grow bigger."Well, I will give you a summarized version, as explaining everything would take too much time."
"In short, This creature that is hiding behind my chair is called a Moogle, magical creatures that were brought to Earth a few centuries ago, but unless you had prior knowledge of them or as in Midoriya's case, being blessed by the crystalline Goddess known as Hydelyn, you would never see the little rascals!" spoke the dean with his hands on his desk, staring at the flabbergasted skeletal man before him, "How you are able to see Mog is truly a mystery, but I have a theory or two cooking in my mind at the moment."
"It's hard to believe, but… considering all that's happened." Toshinori rubbed his chin in deep thought, sitting on the chair again as Nezu had finished the short explanation of Moogles. The pro hero then looked up to the dean, who was sipping another cup of tea. "If I may ask, sir… how do you know so much about them?"
"Let's just say I have had knowledge of their existence for a very long time, and let's leave it like that," Nezu replied and took another sip of his tea. His beady eyes glinted at the blond man as if to indicate that was all that was going to be said.
"Y-Yes, sir."
"Good!" The small dean and chuckled merrily before a clearing of a throat interrupted him. Both adults turned their attention to the teenager with his one hand covering the receiver. "Is there something we can help you with, Mr. Midoriya?" asked the dean, beaming a friendly smile at him.
"A-Actually, could one of you talk to my mom? I've t-tried to explain to her what's been going on… but apparently, Aldera had phoned before meeting Mr. Yagi and me and—" The boy was stopped as the small white paw rose up and offered to take the phone. the dean smiled still.
"Let me see if I can calm your mother, my boy."
Inko Midoriya wasn't always the greatest mother, at least in her own opinion. Sure, she loved her son unconditionally and worked hard at the local hospital to make sure she and her baby boy could have a roof over their heads. Often she would come home from a late shift with a wrapped dinner made for her by her beloved son in the fridge, ready to be reheated.
But over the years, when she did see him, the fire in his eyes that he had had as a child seemed to dim and was now barely present. She also noticed he tended to wear more long-sleeved shirts to school, even during the summertime. While she had wanted to ask him about this, often her job as a nurse would pull her away and leave very little time to actually talk to her son. Still, because of her training, she could tell the signs that her precious boy was being bullied and possibly doing his best to hide it from her.
That is what hurt her the most, the fact he couldn't trust her to come to with his problems, and he had started to grow incredibly distant since entering high school.
Then the Sludge Villain happened.
It had started earlier that morning. Izuku had already left for school, and Inko had just finished another twelve-hour shift at the hospital. She was exhausted and began to fish out a meal for herself and noticed that Izuku hadn't made her anything that morning, which was odd to her, and had sighed as she pulled out some fruit to at least sate her for now. As she was finishing off a banana, the house phone rang, and she used her quirk to pull the receiver to her. "Hello, Midoriya Residence."
"INKO! Oh my god, I finally got a hold of you!" shouted Mitsuki Bakugo, Inko's best friend since high school and unofficial aunt to her Izuku. The shout caused Inko to move her phone from her ear. She loved Mitsuki dearly, though she was abrasive at times, and could get excited all too easily… and had a short fuse to match.
Lord help those poor souls that tried to hit on her friend.
"Inko! Did you just get home? I've been trying to reach you since last night!"
"I'm sorry, my cell died during my shift and I couldn't charge it. Why? What's wrong?" asked Inko as she poured herself a glass of strawberry milk, a little guilty pleasure of hers that she would pick up on occasion for something after work.
"Last night Katsuki was attacked by a Villain!" Mitsuki blurted out, causing Inko to choke partially on her milk, coughing for a few seconds.
"Oh, my goodness! Is he all right?"
"The brat is fine. A little roughed up, but could have been worse if not for that Knight-looking vigilante and Izuku."
Inko spritzed the rest of her milk in a large cloud of mist at the mention of her son, coughing more harshly and after a few minutes was able to blurt out a struggling 'WHAT?'
"Yeah! The heroes were doing nothing because the brat's explosions kept going off. Suddenly a high school student wearing Aldera's uniform came rushing out, nailing the creep in the eye with a pencil case! And before you start saying it couldn't be your "baby boy," the kid had the most unruly green hair, and the pencil case, if you zoomed into it, was an 'All Might' one," Mitsuki said, her voice dropping as she added that last tidbit of information. Inko blushed a little due to her friend basically catching what she was going to say.
"Anyway, a bright pillar of light suddenly shone down, and this really weird-ass Knight appeared and kicked the villain's ass, Koko! Like it literally made the thing explode into chunky pieces, which landed on the heroes and Katsuki, HA!"
"Suki, that's not very nice, " Inko said with a pout to her tone. "B-but why were you trying to reach me so urgently?"
"Well…" Mitsuki paused in her comments, trying to think of an excellent way to tell her friend without causing a flash flood in the apartment. She sighed and decided to bite the bullet. "All right, look…"
Inko's morning had been entirely shot after Mitsuki had told her that Izuku hadn't been seen since the Knight had appeared. She wailed for a few moments as she searched the apartment for any signs of her son, dashing here and there before barging into his room to find that his futon was still out and looked slept in. That had calmed her down to a degree.
Until she received a phone call from Aldera High.
She had spent an hour protesting the school's decision of her son's expulsion, and they just weren't giving her the time of day. Giving stupid reasons and eventually just hung up on the poor mother. Desperate to reach Izuku, she had called and left numerous messages on his cell phone and spent most of the day trying to reach him. Finally, around four in the afternoon, she got a hold of her son. She started to sob uncontrollably as Izuku was trying to explain himself, which he was failing to do with his stuttering and her uncontrolled sobs.
It was then that a new voice could be heard on the phone, and Inko reeled back her sobs to soft hiccups. "H-hello?"
"Ah hello, Ms. Midoriya, this is Dean Nezu of UA University of heroes," said a softened voice on the other line. Inko's eyes went wide as she did her best to recompose herself since she was talking to the DEAN of UA, of all people. She cleared her throat and held the phone tightly, all the while thinking about how Izuku had gotten himself in this situation.
"You have my apologies for your son not being able to contact you for most of the day. It seems he had an impressive run of it, and there is still much to discuss," continued Nezu. She could hear her son's voice in the background, though it was muffled, as well as someone else's she hadn't heard before. "With that being said, as his mother, I would like to invite you to UA so we can further explain today's events to you in person!"
"O-oh! Oh, that sounds wonderful, Mr. Nezu! W-Well, I should be there in an hour or so by train if you d-don't mind waiting."
"That won't be necessary, Ms. Midoriya," the dean replied as the sound of a horn went off outside of Inko's apartment door. She moved to the living room window, and her eyes widened at the limousine parked out in front with the symbols of UA on the side of it. "I had assumed you would be joining us and sent my driver to pick you up. We shall see you momentarily." And like that, the phone hung up.
Inko stood there for a few moments to process everything, and then, with a determined look in her eye, rushed to get her jacket and keys. Though she was rattled by all the information that had been dumped upon her today, she had her mind set on one thing. Even though she loved her son unconditionally and would never blame him for anything, she was still his mother, and he had worried her sick.
She was going to give him an earful once she got her hands on him.
"MY BABY BOY!" came Inko's shriek as soon as she went into the office where Nezu and Izuku were waiting patiently for the mother. One look from his emerald eyes was all that it took to break the mother out of her "angry" mode to one full of unkempt joy at seeing her sweet angel of a son and nearly tackled him to the ground as she sobbed uncontrollably.
Izuku gently held his mother, wrapping his arms around her and rubbing her back as he rested his head atop of her own. Inko gently sniffed as she soon took notice of Izuku's new features. She gently pulled back from his hug and took in his now muscled form and his sudden growth spurt. She became somewhat hysterical again as she patted his arms before looking up at him and giving him the 'mom glare.'
"Izuku Midoriya! Are you taking steroids?"
"W-What? No! I woke up like this after my quirk came in, honest!" Izuku said fearfully as his mother stared into his eyes to check if he was lying.
They did this for a few moments before his words registered with Inko, and she stepped back from him, tears brimming. "Y-Your quirk? B-but the doctor said you have a second joint in your toe! You would never…" she drifted off, not wanting to remind her son or her about that fateful day or what she had said to him when he asked her if he could be like All Might.
Izuku started to rub the back of his head and chuckled softly, hoping to detract his mother from speaking of that time as well. "W-Well, I have one and i-it sort of...'activated' …during the sludge villain incident yesterday." He smiled at her with a nervous chuckle. Inko blinked and slowly started to think, muttering softly to herself, causing the two other adults, who had been quiet this entire time, to slowly smile, both having the same thought of, 'Ah, that's where he gets it from.'
Their thoughts snapped back to the small, semi-chubby woman, who pointed her finger at her son and cried out, "Y-You were the Knight?" Izuku slowly nodded to confirm her question was in fact true, and Inko burst into tears and hugged her son tightly. "MY BABY BOY HAS A QUIRK!" she shouted to the high heavens and squeezed her son, who merely gasped and was starting to turn blue, tapping her shoulder to let him go.
While he caught his breath, Inko introduced herself fully to Toshinori and Nezu and apologized if she had ignored them, for which the small furred creature gently waved her off.
"It is fine, Ms. Midoriya; Yagi and myself understand that you needed to see your son and focus on him." Nezu clapped his hands together. "Now! Since you are both here, let's have young Izuku give us a demonstration of his quirk!"
Gym Gamma, also known as "Training Kitchen Land," was a large enclosed space covered in cement. It was controlled by the Pro Hero Cementoss, and while Cementoss would typically be around to control the cement in the area, he had been instructed to escort the recommendation students who were visiting and show them the university grounds.
Izuku stood within a small area of smooth concrete with many cliffs and ridges surrounding the area. He had "shifted" into his Paladin armor and stood proudly in the now-familiar plate, sword and shield drawn. Not far from him were Nezu, Inko, and Toshinori.
"Now, we will be releasing five combat drones for you to take down or suppress, Midoriya! Full force is authorized, so don't hold back!" called out Nezu, who got a nod from the 'knight' before twirling the sword in his hand skillfully, making Inko gasp in shock.
"H-He's never even held a sword before now. W-wow is that possible?"
"Truth be told Ms. Midoriya," Toshinori spoke as Nezu pressed a blue button on the controller he was holding, releasing the drones and causing the dean to chuckle in glee, "while I don't completely understand the quirk itself, it seems his quirk could be a form of transformation and emitter, considering he was able to dish out damage from afar."
"It's strange; my husband had a fire-breathing quirk, and I can repel and attract very small objects… how do those two quirks become, well, that?" she asked, pointing to Izuku slicing one of the drones in half while deflecting the laser fire from another.
Toshinori frowned and nodded to Inko. "I can... see your point." Toshinori then looked at Nezu, "Also sir… the third year combat drones, really?" the blond asked the dean, who was smiling brightly.
"Of course! I had to give him a good work out!" exclaimed the small creature, who cackled loudly as another explosion went off in the distance to signify another destroyed drone. Then another voice caught the attention of the three adults with a very deadpan sort of tone.
"I leave for half an hour and already you're causing explosions in my gym, Dean… who's the poor soul this time?" spoke Cementoss as he walked up to the group with two young women behind him. The first one had vibrant green hair similar to Inko's, though it seemed much fuller. She was sporting a big toothy grin full of fangs, while the other was a black haired young woman who wore a ponytail that seemed to spike out at the end with onyx cat-like eyes. The blocky looking pro hero turned to the two behind him and raised a hand. "My apologies; these two are some of our recommendation students, Setsuna Tokage and Momo Yaoyorozu. We had a third, Shoto Todoroki, but he was pulled away by his father."
The girls bowed respectfully, as did the adults in turn. Cementoss continued his speech. "Ladies, this is Toshinori Yagi, Dean Nezu and…" he looked at the short, green-haired woman, blinking a few times. "My apologies, we have not been introduced, Miss..?"
"Ah! I-Inko Midoriya, my a-apologies, Mr. Cementoss," Inko squeaked out and bowed a few times. Cementoss bowed his head once again before looking at Nezu, who seemed to be watching the chaos not far from them.
"So, who are you testing today, sir? By the lasers, I assume you are trying out a third year again?"
"Oh, far from it, Cementoss! It's an applicant to our beloved UA I'm testing out your new toys on, and so far, he has been quite impressive!" Nezu smirked as he began to turn a few dials on the machine, clearly up to something.
"Sir, what are you doing?"
"You know our motto... 'Go Beyond.'" Nezu smiled as he pushed the big red button on the controller. "Plus Ultra!"
The others watched as a sixth drone appeared from somewhere and had aimed its laser at the boy. Izuku heard the hum of the prepared laser and shifted his stance to turn and face the robot as it fired. Quickly raising his shield to deflect it, he then rushed and made short work of the drone with a single strike of his sword. His attention, though, was caught as he heard the sound of a laser cutting on stone, and under his helmet, his eyes went wide, and he dashed towards the group.
Said group was puzzled as to why Izuku was dashing towards them. Still, a growing shadow caught the attention of Toshinori, who called "LOOK OUT!" Momo and Setsuna turned their heads up and realized that the boulder was too close to safely escape. Both huddled together and screamed.
Izuku skidded to a stop in front of the girls, raising his shield and shouted with a booming, almost ethereal,voice, "PASSAGE OF ARMS!" As he finished speaking the words, a brilliant projection of light bloomed from his metallic shield, forming what looked like angelic wings that caught the large cement boulder. The two girls looked up to see the knight standing before them and protecting them with his bizarre quirk, their attention brought to him as he turned his head back, and while they couldn't fully see his face, the smirk in his voice rang out to them. "Don't worry, I have this!"
Both girls watched in pure awe as the armor-clad boy's sword began to glow brightly in his hand. The giant wing-like veil that surrounded them began to flicker in and out before disappearing in a shower of sparkles.
Time seemed to slow as with a mighty upward swing, Izuku roared once again, his voice sounding ethereal as the sword peaked above his head and a bright line of light arched from the tip of the blade before forming a line into the boulder. "ATONEMENT!"
The line of light burst wide, cleaving the cement boulder in two and causing it to fall to the wayside of the three teenagers. The adults could see a long gouge of the floor missing as well, directly in the same path that sliced the boulder. With a heavy sigh, Izuku sheathed his weapons and pulled off his helmet, his now longer green hair waving back and forth, but still retaining the fluffiness it was known for.
Placing his helmet under his arm, he turned to the two girls still huddled up together and offered his hand to both of them, his eyes sharp and shining brightly as he asked, "I'm sorry about that; I didn't take into account the sixth drone and misjudged the angle of the shot. Are you two all right?"
Setsuna looked him up and down, her shocked expression turned to a sly smirk, her cheeks a soft rose.
Momo's cheeks were a far deeper red than her fellow recommendation classmate, her onyx eyes staring deep into his bright emerald ones and for once in her life, her heart skipped a beat.
Chapter 4: Gunbreaking the Norm
Notes:
Wow, this took... longer than I wanted to post.
So! Hope everyone is doing alright. Getting ready for the holiday season and all that. I know it's been a difficult year for everyone, but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
So fair warning, I haven't written from a female's perspective to such a degree and I do hope I did an o.k. job with it.
No review answers this time around, and lookout for the next chapter after Christmas! And this chapter was not edited this time around as I wanted to get this out for all my lovely readers... so pardon any grammatical errors this time around
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
To say Momo Yaoyorozu had simple dreams would be an understatement. Sure, many young people her age would dream about becoming a pro hero and leave it at that, but when it came to the young heiress?
Nothing was that simple.
Her quirk was something of pure wonder, being able to create any inorganic object she wishes using the lipids of her body. However, to make such devices, she needed to know the exact chemical make-up of the materials. When it came to particular creations that required multiple materials to make, she needed to understand how they fit together to work correctly once finished.
It also didn't help that she had to eat very fat-enriched meals and still keep herself healthy with the amount of food she ate.
Yet, Momo was dedicated to her desire to become a pro hero. She had studied strenuously and memorized hundreds of chemical formulas, blueprints for various devices and worked them out. She also learned mixed martial arts with weapon mastery included in the lessons. Momo had done everything she could do to earn her place at UA, the best university to train the future generations of heroes.
Six months after the tour at UA, she wasn't sure of herself or her abilities now. And that was all because of one Izuku Midoriya.
She had never met a young man like him before. At one point, a literal knight in shining armor saving her from a boulder that would have crushed her and Setsuna and exuded an aura of confidence and determination of a pro hero, and then all of a sudden he was a very shy and timid teenager that acted like he was some nuisance to everyone around him.
The boy was an enigma. What was genuinely boggling her was the fact he had only gotten his quirk not even a day before meeting him, and he already HAD that much control? If someone had told her this without hearing it directly from his own mouth, she would say it was right out of a bad comedy.
Still, she did admire his spirit and drive to be a hero. And having spoken with him a few times, their schedules would have allowed her some insight into the boy. He was brilliant, incredibly so when it came to quirk analysis as he had given her some ideas regarding her own that she would never have thought of. Plus, his excitement when it came to quirks and heroes in general was always a surprise, and he had enjoyed the conversations they would have, matching her own most of the time as well.
When she had explained her quirk to him, she watched as his emerald eyes shone brightly. That particular analysis had lasted for almost an entire day, both teenagers discussing and losing track of time. What shocked Momo most during the exchange was how he would always look at her face, more specifically her eyes, only diverting away when she made something with her quirk via her hand or arm. Not once did she see his gaze stray over her body as so many people had done so before, nor did he ask for anything and would make sure that she would never need to make anything for him. She was genuinely astonished at this at first because she would have to defend herself from the lewd gazes of men and those that would exploit her quirk for their benefit through most of her life.
Izuku did none of this and often would take measures to never use her quirk for him, stating that such a great quirk shouldn't be used on someone like him. That had sent her some red flags, but she would never pressure as to why he would say something like that. She had considered him a friend, and likewise, she hoped he did as well with her, but their relationship was still reasonably fresh, and she didn't want to push it.
What indeed was the mystery regarding Izuku was his quirk, a new type of transformation/emitter that hadn't acted like any quirk in the past. A name needed to be given, and despite all the brainstorming they did, the name they came up with was "Manifest." She had thought that to create such items would require energy or fuel source of some sort, but he suffered from no drawbacks, not even exhaustion. They appeared with no real way of existing or being created initially; they were just there. Momo had kept trying to figure out how his quirk was doing this independently. Still, everything about 'Manifest' was odd and could not be adequately explained.
Especially after what had happened three months prior.
Izuku yawned, stretching in his chair as Momo looked up from the book in front of her with a sly smirk on her lips, "Oh? Am I boring you, Izuku?"
Izuku snapped his attention to her and chuckled gently, rubbing the back of his head, "N-no! Far from it Yao- um M-momo…" he took a deep breath in and exhaled as he calmed down, "J-Just Mr. Yagi and Nezu have been running me ragged with the weight training and homework."
Placing the book she was reading down, Momo raised her eyebrow at him, "You mean the beach that was being used as an illegal dumpsite, and you are single-handedly cleaning it?"
Izuku's eyes went wide as he started to blush brightly, trying to form words as Momo smirked at him, answering the question that was struggling to come out from his lips, "And how did I find out?… well, aside from rumors of a green-haired teenager with a skeletal blonde man that would show up at times cleaning the beach, Setsuna did happen to see you pull a fridge across the beach a week ago."
"S-she saw that?" Izuku stuttered and had turned his head away to hide his blush, remembering how troublesome that particular appliance was as it was one of those industrial-sized fridges you would see in a restaurant. It had taken him most of the day to shove it across the sands of the beach to the truck and trailer that Toshinori had left there for him to load up.
Momo nodded as her smirk grew to a soft smile, "Yes, she did, and frankly, Izuku, I am shocked you were able to even lift such a thing onto a trailer by yourself! You should be careful not to hurt yourself."
"I-I'll try to be careful, but you know what they say… 'no pain, no gain,' right?" he chuckled nervously as Momo was giving him a stern glare. Izuku flinched as she lightly smacked his upper arm.
"While it is true that some pain is to come during working out, you should not be actively trying to harm yourself, Izuku! Think how I- everyone that cares about you would feel and how sad they would be if you got hurt due to being dumb like that!" Momo spoke with the same tone of voice that matched her frown as Izkuku hung his head, muttering a 'Yes, Momo The heiress sighed gently and was thankful that he had not caught her slip of the tongue. .'
Slowly pushing her chair back and standing up, Momo smiled down at Izuku as he looked up to her, "Well, as much as I would love to stay, I must be off for an appointment to keep with my mother."
Reaching for her bag, Izuku started to pack his own things up, "I-I can walk with you if you'd like, Momo." He stuttered as Momo placed a hand on his book before he could close it, she smiled sweetly at him.
"As much as I would love the company, you need to keep with your studying, plus I will be fine." she gave him a sly smirk then, "Unlike someone I know, I usually don't go rushing towards danger to watch a hero and villain fight." Momo mused as Izuku's face once again turned crimson with embarrassment, "Now, I know you have the next few days booked, but we are still going to meet up and hang out with Setsuna on Sunday, yes?"
Izuku nodded and reopened his book, "Y-yea, two pm at the station… you sure you want to hold the study session at your house, Momo? I don't want to be a bother-"
"None of that." Momo sternly spoke, interrupting him before he continued that line of thought, "Setsuna and I agreed to help you study for the entrance exam for saving us and given how difficult it should be, and not to doubt your intelligence in any way, but having some help with studying is not being a "bother" to either of us and will benefit you in the end." Her smile returned after that, and she headed out of the library with Izuku watching her.
"She's right. I need to focus, especially if Nezu will probably test me harder on the written exam." He said to himself in a low mutter as he started to get back to work. As he turned a page, his head throbbed for a moment and caused him to pause. The familiar warmth flowed throughout his body as the motherly voice of Hydaelyn filled his brain once again with a single phrase.
"Hear… Feel… Think..."
Momo knew she should have called for her family's chauffeur.
Usually, she would have, but today she wanted to use the public transportation system. There would be times during her hero work she would need to traverse throughout the streets, which meant getting familiar with traveling by foot, train, and the like.
But now, she was in a bit of trouble.
Momo had heard screams coming down an alleyway and had bolted towards them, and when she arrived, she came across an odd scene. Standing in front of her was a large mutant man with the head of a shark with clawed hands. He was staring down two teenage girls, approximately her age though one had bright pink skin and two small yellow horns poking out from her fluffy pink hair (which looked similar to a certain green-haired boy she knew) who was holding a petite looking girl with jacks that dangled from her ears, she looked a little beaten up with some bloodied claw marks across her face, and the side of her upper body was torn with a similar pattern to the injury on her face.
The sharkman cackled loudly, smiling with hundreds of sharp pearly rows of teeth down at the two, not noticing the third person that had joined them from afar, "That's what you get from getting in my way, you flat-chested bitch! All I wanted was some 'fun' from your pink friend, but now you've only gotten me angry… and hungry."
Both girls seemed to freeze at what the man before them was insinuating, and quickly rushed them, separating the two with one hand grabbing the pink girl by her wrist and the injured one by her head. His clawed hand wrapped around her head, and she struggled, the jacks on her ears trying to poke and prod the man's skin but couldn't pierce through it. He laughed darkly as both girls screamed, "I'll start with you first flatty, then I'll enjoy the main course."
Thankfully the only thing the man's mouth was able to chomp down on was not the punk girl's torso, but several bean bags that were launched with painful impacts into the shark's maw, as well as one that struck the eye. The beastial man roared in agony as he dropped both girls, and they turned their heads towards the person who saved them. Seeing the ponytailed heiress wielding a shotgun to their left, they both scrambled behind her and clung to her softly.
Momo huffed as she reloaded the shotgun and turned to the two, "Let's leave and get the police or wave down a hero-"
"I don't think so, bitch!" Shouted the recovered sharkman as he hurled himself and swung his left hand around to knock all three girls against the alley wall and sent Momo's shotgun back down the alleyway. All three groaned as the considerable shadow of the man encompassed all three, "Now I'm famished, and it looks like I'm having three dumb bitches for dinner!" He cackled loudly once again as now all the girls huddled together, one hand reaching out and flexing its sharp claws to pick one of them to eat.
Momo watched as the hand grew closer to them, her mind wracking itself to think of anything to create to save them, but she was scared and unable to concentrate. She pulled the two girls beside her closer as she clenched her eyes tightly. With her vision blacked out, the bright light and familiar voice shouting "LIGHTNING SHOT" saved Momo from being blinded by the attack as she heard the pained groan of the shark villain. Opening her eyes, she turned her head towards the alleyway entrance opposite them with the other two girls.
All four people turned towards the silhouetted figure before them, wearing a long coat of some kind with heavy combat boots and tactical looking pants becoming more visible as the figure walked towards them. A tight forming shirt pressed against the man's muscular body. It was lined with various belts of bullet cartridge pouches that also lined parts of the deep grayish-green coat.
Within one of the fingerless gloved hands was a particular sort of weapon. It was shaped like a sword with a definite sharp edge to it; however, it seemed to be smoking as it had just fired a bullet or something, which further caused some confusion to the onlookers as the hilt of the "sword" was stylized like a revolver!
Green eyes could now be seen as the light from their side of the alley forced the silhouette to reveal the person who attacked the villain. Momo began to smile brightly to see Izuku once again, though he was sporting an almost smug-looking smirk on his lips. She noted how much shorter his fluffy hair was, "This place used to be such a nice part of town, shame how much it has changed…" Izuku spoke as he held the weird weapon up and got himself into a fighting stance, the blade pointed at the shark man, "and not at all for the better…"
The villain roared, barreling towards the young man who took an incredible leap at the mutant shark. As the two closed the gap, Izuku narrowly dodged a right-handed slash of claws though he got struck along his chest. Simultaneously, the green-haired boy swung the blade against his opponent, striking the ribcage and pulling the trigger on the weapon, causing an explosion that sent the mutant hurtling to the street and into the guard post to the road.
Izuku landed, sliding across the cement, and shifted his body into another battle-ready stance should the villain still be up. He waited for a few moments as he eyed the downed foe until sighing in relief that they weren't getting back up. He was then startled when he felt the smack of a hand upside the back of his head, and he dropped the gunblade, which clattered loudly with a metallic twang sound on the cement ground, "OW!"
"IZUKU MIDORIYA! What on earth are you doing?! And how did you create all this?" Momo screamed at him as he flinched, turning his head to her and giving her a nervous chuckle. Momo's eyes went from furious to worried as she saw the clawed marks along his chest and the blood starting to ooze a little, "Izuku, You're injured!"
He looked down and rose an eyebrow, sure he had felt the burning sensation now, but he chose to ignore it. As he lifted his head and seen the girl who looked far worse off than he did, he gently pushed past Momo, picking up his blade and attaching it to his back as he knelt beside the earphone jack woman. Momo soon joined him as she started to create some bandage gauze from her arms.
The punk-looking girl grunted as she was lifted against the alleyway wall by the pink girl and the guy that saved them. She hissed as he looked over her wounds and glared her eyes at him as if to tell him not to get any funny ideas. He smiled at her to reassure her, "Your bleeding, but the wounds don't look too deep.. I'll fix you up real quick."
"With that? That weird-ass gun… sword thing on your back?" huffed the punk girl with her friend sighing at her pink friend's usual off-putting demeanor, Izuku, however, chuckled lightly and shook his head.
"No, sadly I doubt 'Aurora' will heal this up quickly," he spoke with a certainty that even Momo rose an eyebrow at, and with a flash of light that nearly blinded the three women with how close they were, now a literal knight with long green hair out of the back of the helmet. Izuku quickly removed his helmet and let the now longer curly hair drop against his back.
After placing his helmet on the ground beside them, he held his hands up towards the more serious wound on the punk girl, and after muttering a few more words, rose his hands up into the sky and shouted, "CLEMENCY!".
The punk girl gasped as she felt a rush of energy pass through her. It felt like a cool-mist swept across her body that felt cool yet relaxing. As quick as it came, so too did it fade as the teenager placed his helmet back on and, with another bright shine of light, reverted to what looked like regular street clothes. He smiled at the girl he just healed, ignoring the flabbergasted looks of all three women, "You may still feel some aching for a little while, which is normal, but that should have fixed up the most serious injuries."
"T-thanks…" the punk girl said as she stared at him in utter shock before checking her wounds to see that he was right! The injuries were closed and had barely left even a scar on her. Her deep purple eyes looked to the smiling boy, "M-My name is Kyoka Jiro, and this is Mina Ashido… a friend of mine." she spoke with a little gruff tone to her voice, while Mina was smiling brightly.
"That was SO COOL! How did you leap like that? That was such a cool explosion, too!" the pink-haired girl beamed and reached over Kyoka to grab his shoulders and shake them, excited to such an incredible display of power. This, however, caused Izuku to stutter and blush as he tried to answer her. Kyoka was snickering at her friend's outward personality to make the rather seemingly heroic boy fluster that bad.
All that came to a stop as a loud clearing of a throat broke them out of their revelry as they turned towards an irate looking Momo, her arms crossed under her ample chest and glaring at the green-haired boy who gulped.
"So, " she started getting into his personal space and her onyx eyes directly looking into his emeralds ones. Izuku leaned away as not to have her so close, "When could you change into something other than your knight outfit, and since when can you 'magically' heal people?"
As police sirens' sounds could be heard getting closer to them, Izuku knew he was in big trouble this time.
Though he didn't know which would be worse; the police or his very angry looking friend.
Laying in her bed, Momo sighed as she finished her, reminiscing about the day where Izuku 'manifested' what he had called a "gunbreaker" kit or some nonsense like that. As to how he had healed Kyoka, all he could say was that he could feel a "power within" him to perform such an act and couldn't really explain it, much to her jargon.
Thankfully, neither she nor Izuku faced charges of vigilantism thanks to the timely arrival of All Might. She was commended for stepping in to help the other two girls with minimal force used with her beanbag shotgun. (though she had to surrender it to police custody as evidence.)
Izuku, however, was given one final warning not to commit another act of vigilantism as this was technically his second time caught doing so. The amount of force he used would have normally landed him in jail with a record.
However, it wasn't all bad as Momo had become fast friends with both Kyoka and Mina. They would often join up and hang out with Setsuna and Izuku when he was given the time to considering he had explained how his mother had grounded him for a solid few weeks with nothing to do but study, exercise, or clean the beach.
Momo couldn't tell if that was a punishment or not, given how determined Izuku was with all three of those subjects.
She thought back to the last 'girls night' she had with the three other women and smiled at the antics that came up between the four of them. Introducing Mina to Setsuna should have sent red flags to Momo, considering how often Setsuna liked to tease and flirt, especially with her and Izuku. Adding Mina to that mix was a recipe for a teasing disaster that would usually revolve around Izuku of all people. The photos that Setsuna took of him working out at the beach did not help matters.
Thankfully, Kyoka seemed to be the cooler and level headed one of the new pair of friends and would prefer talking with Momo. Their conversations were so relaxing most of the time. However, she too was easy to fluster as proof of Mina and Setsuna tag-teaming her.
Sighing once again, Momo flipped over in her bed to her side and gazed at the picture sitting on a nightstand. It was a group pic of them all taken during the previous week, where Izuku had finished cleaning the beach. To celebrate, the group had come over to Momo's to have a celebratory dinner.
All five friends clung to one another, with Kyoka and Izuku being the obvious ones to blush and fluster the most, with Setsuna and Mina hanging off them. Momo was stuck in the middle with both blushing teenagers pushed against her. She smiled at the memory and slowly began to close her eyes, silently wishing her three new friends luck on their entrance exams tomorrow.
Chapter 5: Dreams and Nightmares
Notes:
Wow! this one took forever to write, and only because of my mind being numb from the holidays!
To much fruitcake and shortbread, I think.
Anyway, here comes chapter 5 and we finally hit the UA entrance exam! Decided to change a few things and leave some other things out as we all know how it goes down in canon (Like the practical exam explanations).
Now let's get on with the reviews! (oldest to newest)
Maximum Rhapsody:1. Dec 4 comment: The Poly relationship has already been decided, they are the entire cast of females in Class 1-A, 1-B, and Mei. As to traveling to other worlds, I am going to just be keeping it in the BHNA universe as by the logic of Final Fantasy 14 (XIV), traveling to other worlds is STUPIDLY hard.
2. Dec 18 Comment: This is a Final Fantasy XIV and MHA story... there are no keyblades. What Izuku was wielding was something called a Gunblade that is used by a tank Job Class called a "Gunbreaker". There are no elements of Kingdom Hearts to be incorporated in the story.
Thank you again for reading the story and hope you continue enjoying it.
Karlos1234ify: Kinda!
ProjectIceman: Dec 4 - Not that I would force anyone to read the full story of FFXIV as it is pretty long (and convoluted at times.) But honestly, some of the best writing to come out of the series in a long time, especially with the latest expansion of Shadowbringers.
Dec 5 - Maybe, maybe not... who knows? ;) and yes I'm sure he could easily pull off some fancy commercials with how the jobs change his hairstyle's hehe.
Dec 21 - Thank you! I try! :D
AshbladeHentai: Thank you so much! I hope you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses!
Guest: Thank you! I am honestly trying to make it believable
aliestrikehero: Haha I was wondering if anyone picked up on that! and it will be addressed in this chapter to a point. and don't worry about how RDM!Izuku will act... it will be worth the wait ;)
iron-slayer-dragon: Wait no further for here is chapter 5!
Vantage77: Thank you for your support and to answer your questions- Will Izuku be mentored by Y'stola? In a sense, yes...And he will also be mentored by the other major characters in the game at points as well.
So an actual relationship with Izuku will not be possible, but... well... something along those lines could happen... bad enough I have a majority of the girls in 1-A and 1-B going to be pining after the light-infused cinnamon roll. Something that most Warriors of light (especially FF 14's player character) tend to make many people they interact with thirsty xD
Anyways, onto the story!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was another dream, at least Izuku had thought of it as a dream. Something akin to what would hopefully prove to be a form of 'deja vu' in the future, though the green-haired boy could see he was standing in what looked like an oddly decorated office space with the walls being of sandy in color brickwork. Shadowy visages were standing around him though not of any hostile intent; any murmurs they would make were muffled and unrecognizable to Izuku as he remained focused on the woman he could see in front of him.
She was an immaculate beauty; while her current mood looked determined for some reason, he could tell that a smile from her could win a thousand hearts to whatever she wished. Her blonde hair looked short, given the small sprawled-out ponytail on the back of her head. Still, in reality, it could be much longer given the attractive braids that rested at the side, with one dangling down behind her ear. Her outfit was almost outlandish in Izuku's opinion, covered in various straps of leather with a long skirt and concise top that appeared to expose her midriff to all and show off the young woman's curves.
Least of all, her top seemed to accentuate her bust size while looking like it barely contained her chest within the thin-looking pink cloth bound underneath the various leather harnesses. Thankfully, Izuku had only just glimpsed (though he had not meant to) at the display before focusing on her eyes, how they burned with that raw determination he would often see in Momo when she would talk about her goals as a hero.
"I know not what it is you desire of yourself, nor what it was that first brought you to Eorzea." The woman spoke to him, her eyes transfixed on his own, slowly crossing her arms over her ample chest, staring him down considering he was shorter than her if only by slightly, "But I firmly believe that the power we possess was given to us for a purpose. Why else would the gods entrust man with a gift so extraordinary, if not to have him use it?"
Izuku had attempted to ask what she had meant about this particular power; was it similar to a quirk? But whatever he was going to say was pure silence, as if his voice was muted somehow.
"And so…" the woman continued, her ice-blue eyes staring straight into his own with her eyebrows still posed with that determined look to them, "I implore you, lend us your power."
Izuku rose suddenly, heavily sweating and panting, his eyes open wide as he looked around to find him back in his bed, his room covered in various hero merchandise and his clock on the nightstand showing that it was currently 5:30 am.
Running his hand through his wet but still somewhat fluffy hair, he calmed down. He started to breathe normally before flopping back down onto his pillow once again and staring at the room, his bare chest rising and lowering as he breathed deeply.
The woman seemed so familiar to him, yet he had never seen her before until this night and what he heard her speaking of made him more confused.
What was this gift or power she spoke of? What was "Eorzea"? And why was the word 'Minfilia' repeating in his head? Was it her name?
And why, as he was laying on his back, was he tearing up and the pain felt within his chest hurting him more than anything he had ever felt before?
Relaxing against the seat cushions of the bus that were currently taking the UA entrance exam attendee's towards the different battle zones, Izuku looked out of the window as his mind began to wander and reminisce about how the exams were going so far.
The written tests were pretty simple, at least according to Izuku. Turns out all that extra help studying from Momo and Setsuna did help him out in the end since he was sure that Nezu had personally written his exam. However, he had kept the same amount of questions the same. What gave away the idea that the furry dean had adjusted his exam, in particular, was the delicate scent of tea leaves.
The other reason he figured out that Nezu was causing shenanigans was when he had met up with Mina and Kyoka during the middle of an hour-long lunch break to allow the students to destress from the written test before the practical.
Mina had looked like she blew a fuse when he first came upon them, resting against a tree that was outside on campus while Kyoka was sitting beside her, legs pulled to her chest and her jacks massaging her temples. Izuku smirked down at them as he approached and asked how they felt they did. Both were giving him deadpan stares that seemed to voice how they thought they did. Still, he had tried to reassure them that it may have been difficult; they weren't entirely unprepared as they had both Momo and Setsuna to help them study as well.
A jack poked him in the forehead as Kyoka kept staring at him. She stated that he had also helped them study when he was around and gave them exciting ideas on using their quirks. He blushed a little and chuckled nervously at the praise, but that only made Kyoka frown and keep jabbing him at certain spots on his body, causing him to blush and curl up from the onslaught.
Izuku knew she was teasing him, trying to "toughen him up," as she put it since she said he acted so differently from the smug look he had when he took down that shark villain when they first met. Mina and Momo had pointed this out at specific points since he met them, which caused him to reflect on that.
He had "felt" different when he switched between what he was calling "kits" now. Still, from what the women were telling him, the one with the sword and shield (which he hadn't named yet) was often seen as stoic and a beacon of hope, while the 'gunbreaker' made him be a little more snarky and humorous.
However, when this was brought up to Nezu during one of their study sessions, the dean chuckled and waved it off, telling him that it was more of a "shift of personality traits" than an entirely new persona. This baffled Izuku when he was told this as he never considered himself snarky or to joke around.
He didn't think he could even pull off snark, truthfully.
The bus lurched to a stop, which knocked Izuku out of his reminiscing. And the hopeful students of UA began to unload off the vehicle to prepare themselves. Izuku was gasping when he saw the ruined city battle scape before him and the thoughts of how much a single one of these areas could cost.
And UA had apparently six of them.
Shaking his head to get the numbers of the astronomical costs out of his mind, he turned his attention towards the other students with him. Everyone around him dressed in gym clothes or workout clothes, and some with essential support gear. He smiled as he readily stretched his arms back and forth, thoughts of how his friends were going to do running through his head before a loudspeaker squawked loudly, let it be known as the pro hero named Present Mic was quite loud when he wanted to be.
Which was a lot of the time, Izuku surmised.
"ALRIGHT, LITTLE LISTENERS! YOU GOT TEN MINUTES TO DESTROY AS MANY ROBOTS AS YOU CAN! NOW GET GOING!"
Everyone merely stared up at the pro hero as the gates to the sizeable faux city opened, and a few moments later and realizing that Mic wasn't going to say anything else and also learning that they just lost maybe half a minute or so by standing around, all of the student hopefuls dashed out into the city.
Izuku smiled as he shifted into his "gunbreaker" kit, and with his odd weapon resting on his shoulder, he ran and ducked into an alleyway. And within a few moments, spotted a one-pointer robot and made short work of it with a single 'lightning shot.'
"Well, let the hunt begin, I guess."
Five minutes had passed since the beginning of the practical exam. Within a darkened monitoring with various screens lit up, UA's pro heroes and teachers watched all six trial arenas on the cameras set up across the cities' various 'ruins.'
"A good bunch of applicants this year." spoke one pro hero as they reclined in their chair, watching a multi-armed student take down a three-pointer by themself while protecting a smaller boy with round balls on the top of his head.
"Indeed, such vigorous youth running about and showing off their stuff! It certainly gets the blood pumping, doesn't it?" exclaimed the female pro hero known as Midnight, who was giggling to herself as she looked over some of the more "able-bodied" students, licking her lips. The hero beside her named Powerloader shook his head. He sighed at his colleague's antics, but as he was about to return to the screen with the one student with the explosion quirk, a clearing of a throat caught his attention as he turned his head towards the cowboy looking hero named Snipe.
"Hey, Pardner… need yer opinion on this one applicant's gear. Never seen a gun like it before."
"Oh, yea? You think he snuck it in and didn't properly register it? What's the battle arena and camera?"
"Arena B, and cameras seven and eight." Snipe replied as PowerLoader typed it in. On the main screen appeared the green-haired student applicant swinging around a weird looking sword. The support course teacher leaned closer to the screen as if he was squinting under his helmet, mouthing out a 'what the hell' as he looked at the hilt, which was some sort of 'gun.'
"Never seen a gun like that before, couldn't tell ya what caliber it is from here, but the shells it seems to expel look pretty big." Snipe commented as his attention was being kept on the student as he was helping out a blonde boy that almost had a two-pointer sneak up behind him.
A clatter of chairs hitting the floor interrupted some of the other teacher's viewings as Snipe loudly proclaimed, "IS HE POINTING THAT GUN AT ANOTHER PARTICIPANT?!"
Now all the teachers were looking at the monitors just in time to see the green-haired boy pull the trigger, only for a green mist expel from the weapon and envelope the other participant, and within a few seconds, the other boy who patted his stomach for some reason, smiling brightly at the green-haired boy and then both shaking their hands. The teachers watching the exchange fell back into their seats and sighed in relief, although Snipe was the first to point something out that once again got the teacher's attention.
"D… did that boy's gun thing just heal that other student?"
Silence overtook the room once again at the question the gunslinging hero had asked, only to be broken by the chuckles of the dean filled the air as all the teaching staff looked to the furry being sitting in his large chair with a cup of tea. The beady eyes of Nezu looked to PowerLoader, who cringed when he was being stared at, "PowerLoader, was the zero-pointer for area B updated as I had requested?"
"Erm… yea, yea I did the shell changes as you wanted, sir… But why make B's different than the others?"
Nezu didn't reply to the support teacher, taking a sip of his tea before Cementoss stood up and stared at the dean. What he said next would confuse the other teacher's present and their gazes, looking from the cement hero back to the dean.
"You are testing him again, aren't you?"
Nezu chuckled once again, except it sounded nothing like the previous one. It was somber and also dark in tone. Nezu then flipped over a cover that revealed a big red button, and placing his paw on top of it, he looked towards Cementoss with that same every present smile.
"Oh, you know me," Nezu spoke, pressing the button, "I am always up to see how far humans can get creative in dire circumstances."
[At the same moment]
Izuku wasn't sure what to expect after using his 'Aurora' ability upon the blonde-haired boy after stopping that one robot from sneaking behind him. The look in the boy's eyes when he pointed his gunblade at him told him that he should've tried to explain himself first, but there wasn't time for a full explanation.
That and he doubted a "Hey, let me shoot you, and it will get rid of your tummy ache" would suffice as well.
The boy shot back up to his feet and posed elaborately, and what seemed to be sparkles radiated off of the boy. He exclaimed that his "tummy" felt much better and wished to know what Izuku had done.
"Erm… a little long-winded to fully explain, given the time limit, but maybe afterward, if you want to hang out, I can give you a better explanation. But in the simplest of terms, my quirk 'healed' you."
The boy stared at Izuku for a moment. With another elaborate pose, he spoke, "A healing quirk that can also damage as well using that dazzling weapon of yours? C'est Magnifique!" The blonde bowed to Izuku, "I am Yuga Aoyama! And it is a pleasure to meet you as it is likewise to meet moi, monsieur!"
Yuga held out a hand to Izuku after the bow, which Izuku slowly took. He was a little shocked at the dazzling display, but still was respectful, "I'm Izuku Midoriya, and … I'm sure it is a pleasure to meet you." and after giving a fair shake, released the young man's hand, "So, dunno about you, but we should probably get out of this alleyway and see if we can knock out a few-"
*CRASH*
The ground and buildings rumbled violently and nearly sent the two boys to the ground had they not grabbed onto the walls. Once the rumbling stopped, they could hear screams and see students fleeing from something. When both boys looked at one another, their faces frowned and nodded, racing out of the alleyway to see what was happening.
Pushing past a few of the fleeing students, the sight that awaited both Izuku and Yuga was something neither of them would have expected. Down the street, where many of the buildings were destroyed and rubble covering the streets, stood a massive robot. The supposed zero-pointer.
Although bent forward, two massive mechanical arms hissed out steam as pistons and turbines spun on its large arms, with sharp but spindly fingers it's upper body was bulky as well with glowing lights lined down the middle with two large blue plates covering the chest as if some sort of weird breastplate similar to Izuku's "knight" look. Its head looked out with slanted but bright blue lights for eyes, as what looked like metallic wings flexed behind it.
The "beast" was resting on what could be considered a metallic skirt. Still, Izuku had surmised that there might have been tracks underneath. The sizable metallic body hissed as it moved towards the fleeing students, Izuku reaching out to the closest fleeing applicant, which was the tall blue-haired boy from the explanation of the practical exam that had interrupted Present Mic, "Oi! where the hell did that thing come from?"
The boy roughly took his arm back, staring at Izuku with a stern look for a moment, then started to chop his arm up and down as he spoke, "It is the zero-pointer that was mentioned by our proctor! And we should be following his advice and keep ourselves a-"
"HELP!"
The sudden cry for help caused all three boys to twist their heads towards some of the rubble on the path in front of the menacing robot coming towards them. All three would see the young woman with brown hair and what could be considered permanent blushes on her cheeks struggling to get her trapped legs free from under the large slab cement that had pinned her down.
Izuku looked at the two other boys, face stern and giving off a "don't argue with me" sort of look, "You two go and see if you can lift that cement off of her legs; I'll keep the big guy's attention on me."
"But-" the blue-haired boy was about to protest this, but he couldn't get anything more out before both Izuku and Yuga dashed past the incoming students towards the incoming zero-pointer. The blue-haired boy watched them head off, being shoved a little by passing students as in his head he started to think of the pros and cons of the decision the green-haired boy had made.
Izuku watched as the giant robot continued to lumber down the street, it's metallic wings crashing and scraping along the building's walls as it moved. With gunblade in hand, he dashed past the downed girl, turning his head towards her, and both of their eyes met.
Izuku beamed her a bright smile, similar to the one that All Might would give people when he saved them to let them know that everything would be alright. The girl's auburn eyes widened as she stared into the bright emerald eyes of the boy running past her before his line of sight broke off from hers so he could look towards the zero-pointer and leaped toward it, swinging his gunblade down and slashing at the mechanical monstrosity's right arm, unloading an explosive shot.
The girl watched on as the lone boy was facing off against the behemoth until another one, a blonde boy, skidded down and knelt beside her and tried to lift the large cement debris off of her leg. With a grunt, and the explosions coming from the battle between the green-haired boy and the zero-pointer to further frame him struggling, the blonde boy looked to her. He gave her a thumbs-up, "Do not fear, mademoiselle! Moi should have this pesky block off of you *grunt* in no time while monsieur Midoriya handles that mechanical brute!"
The brunette was about to give her thanks when another boy had shown up, the tall blue-haired boy kneeling beside the blonde-haired one and was now lifting the debris enough for the girl to move out from.
Yuga looked to the new boy beside him and struck a pose once the girl was out, and both he and the other boy helped her up with an arm slung around over their shoulders to support her. Helping her limp away from the battlefield to a safer location, with his casual smile, "It is good to see you come and help! I dare not hope you would leave moi and mademoiselle to idle to come!"
The blue-haired boy looked to Yuga with a stoic look, "We are here to be heroes! What kind of hero would I be if I merely stood back when someone was in danger?"
"Ah, too true too true, let us hope monsieur Midoriya can keep the robot busy long enough for us to -" Yuga was not able to finish his sentence as another explosion went off behind them. Izuku was flung overtop of them, landing on his back with a pained grunt and sliding a few feet away from the trio.
Izuku groaned as the other students rushed towards him as fast as they could. As they took in the boy's look, they would see that his coat was torn in places with parts of his shirt and pants torn or singed in places. Izuku slowly rose up, shaking his head to clear a headache and refocus.
"Monsieur Midoriya! What happened? Are you alright?" Yuga asked with worry in his voice, matching the looks of the other two with him.
"Well, I feel like utter garbage right now, to be honest with you, but we have bigger problems," Izuku said as he stuck the pointed end of the blade into the ground and used it to hoist himself up.
"What bigger problems do you mean?" asked the blue-haired boy as before Izuku could answer, a sickening sound of metal against metal was heard behind them. The four students watched in fascinated horror as the what could be the assumed lifeless eyes of the zero-pointer robot brightened ominously, slamming its fists down onto the ground with a hiss of steam expelling from several spots on its body, before raising its fists and pulling it's 'wings' close to its body.
Time seemed to stop at that moment. Not only for the students standing before the zero-pointer, but also the ones that had run away from it and even the teachers watching from the monitor room could only gasp at what was happening
The zero-pointer brought its arms back down, bent in front of its body as it's back arched backward with the wings extending out and smashing any buildings in their wake. The four students that stood before it would have nightmares in their futures for what would happen next, as it was unexpected to ever occur in the first place.
The beast roared.
Notes:
If your curious as to what the Zero pointer looks like, look up FFXIV's "the Tycoon".
Chapter 6: Magnificent Rouge
Summary:
Part two of the entrance exams and four applicants seem to be in a pickle.
Notes:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well, kinda.. last week has been hell for everyone. Scary too, despite the fact I don't live in the US. (Have a lot of US friends however so worried about them.)
Anyway, Chapter 6 is finally here! And oh boy, we got a rogue robot running amok? what caused it! Stay tuned and find out!
I will be honest, I am still new to writing and action scenes are still ***VERY*** new for me to write, so thank you in advance, and hope you enjoy it.
Onto the reviews (FFN)
The Casual Noeru-kun: Thank you! I am glad you are enjoying it. I'll be honest, when I was thinking of the 'circle' I kinda forgot about Nejire D: and while yes, she is one of the loveable ones, most of the girls have a part to play within the story in regards to Izuku's abilities. I may change this at some point but for now, she will appear but any sort of 'romance' with her is still up in the air.
AfroAries: I'll see your twenty animal crackers, and raise you twenty-five!
ProjectIceman: You'd think, lol.
alistrikehero: Not exactly the Twinning per se, but the OST really helped me write this chapter. And thankfully it's not the real Tycoon or hell, not even All Might could keep up with that thing.
As for your prediction, read on and find out! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
The sounds of cement and asphalt crunching under heavy metal treads echoed in the now empty road. The zero-pointer hissed out steam as it lowered itself and "looked" through the empty windows of the buildings close to it; a low metallic rumble came from the mechanical monster before it smashed the building and started to tear it down.
Izuku and Yuga watched the monster from half a block away in one of the hallowed building windows, ducking back down before the monstrosity looked their way. They both turned towards the other two applicants with them, the blue-haired boy and the auburn-haired girl, who was looking a little green on her otherwise pink cheeks and also hissed a little as the blue-haired boy very carefully removed her sneaker to check over her injured ankle.
Izuku knelt to the other side of the girl, "Hey, my name is Izuku Midoriya, and aside from your ankle, are you in pain anywhere else?" he asked with a soft tone, a smile on his lips as he looked straight into her eyes. It was a technique he had read and learned about to keep injured civilians focused on something else rather than any pain they were currently feeling.
"Just.. feel a little nauseous, " She spoke gently, staring directly into his emerald eyes, "N-name's Ochako Uraraka, a-and thanks for saving me… I couldn't get away in time when the zero-pointer came out of the ground."
"Yea, I would imagine seeing that big ass robot popping out of anywhere would give even All Might at double take." Izuku mused, earning a soft chuckle from Ochako before she hissed in pain from her ankle.
"As long as we are getting names, I am Tenya Ilda, and should we not be trying to evacuate away from the giant robot?" asked the now introduced Tenya, who now had balled up his workout jacket to place under the foot of the injured girl. Izuku looked at him with a huff before moving his focus towards the injured ankle.
Yuga struck another 'majestic' pose before speaking up, "As much as I would like to agree with you monsieur Ilda, that brutish robot is searching either for us or something at this very moment... but moi, Yuga Aoyama believes that we should make a stand until the time runs out, which should be soon moi thinks."
"But we were told to keep away from the zero-pointer and to avoid it as an obstacle." Tenya pointed out, chopping his arm up and down as he continued to argue with the still posing Yuga. The two kept going back and forth before a clearing of the throat interrupted the both of them; both boys turned their attention to Izuku, who stood up and walked a few feet away before turning around on them.
Ochako was the first to speak up, "Um… what do you think we should do, Midoriya? It looks like you have a plan."
"Going to be honest, I think this is one of those 'damned if we do, damned if we don't.' scenario's." Izuku shrugged as he crossed his arms, "And judging by how it's acting now, compared to when I was distracting it while you two were getting Uraraka from out under the debris, it's malfunctioned."
"Not to point fingers, but do you think one of your attacks against it caused the malfunction?" asked Tenya as he stared at Izuku, who had raised an eyebrow at him. The silence in the room was thick with tension as Izuku stretched gently suddenly, cracking his neck and back with audible pops that made the others wince.
"Never got close enough to the head sadly, so your theory falls a little flat." Izuku's gaze turned towards Yuga for a moment, "Hey Aoyama, could you go keep an eye on what the zero-pointer is doing while I heal Uraraka?"
The french-speaking boy blinked before pointing to the weapon holstered onto Izuku's back, and what he said next caused the other two room occupants to pale, "You mean using that mist that shot out of your gun sword at moi in the alleyway, monsieur?"
"YOU SHOT HIM?!" both Ochako and Tenya shrieked or shouted aloud, causing Izuku to jump towards them and cover their mouths. Yuga, sensing that the shouts could alert the robot, dashed towards a window to see if it had.
"Will you two calm down?" Izuku hissed, hands over their mouths, "I didn't shoot him! I merely expelled the shell with one of my abilities called 'Aurora' to heal his stomach ache from quirk overuse." He slowly removed his hands, glaring at them sternly, then looked to Yuga, giving them a thumbs up.
Izuku sighed gently, "Sorry to do that, but rather not have big and clunky hearing us."
"S-sorry for shouting, I was just scared since I saw you cause explosions with your… um…"
"Gunblade."
"Y-your gunblade…" Ochako stammered a little, still not liking the idea of the strange weapon being used to heal her. Izuku nodded gently but gave her a smile that was understanding.
"Yea, that's a pretty normal reaction, but thankfully I won't be healing you with 'Aurora'… not the best when compared to 'Clemency' anyway."
"Clemency?" asked Tenya, who had remained quiet up to this point, but the random words the green-haired boy was spewing out were just confusing him at this point. Ochako looked a little lost herself and tilted her head.
Izuku chuckled gently, backing up from them as with a brilliant flash of light and sparkles, the trenchcoat-wearing boy now stood in the alabaster white with gold trim medieval knight armor, sword and shield in hand with the flowing green mane out of the back of the helmet. The others all gasped to see such a change occur, especially Yuga who's eyes shot wide open, muttering a 'c'est Magnifique' under his breath.
Izuku slowly walked over to Ochako, who squeaked a little from the imposing-looking knight before her, before reminding herself that it was Izuku under that helmet. The plate covered boy raised his hands slightly, glowing for a few seconds before he clapped his hands together and spoke in a soft tone, "Clemency!"
A bright light shone down upon Ochako as if sunlight sneaking past some clouds with what looked like sparkling feathers descended down upon her. It felt warm to her as she sighed in relief from not only the nauseous feeling in her stomach being lifted, but the pain from her swollen ankle now reduced to practically nothing.
Izuku offered a hand to her, which she took, and hoisted her up on her other foot as she used him to balance herself. Carefully, she placed her bare foot down onto Tenya's jacket to put a little pressure on it, as if to see if Izuku's claims were valid. She beamed up at him with a smile when she let him go and stood by herself.
"That's amazing! How on earth did you do that?" Tenya said in awe, causing both of the teenagers to turn their heads toward him. Izuku rubbed the back of his helmet, and a metallic-sounding chuckle resonated from underneath it.
"It's… hard to explain, but like I offered Aoyama after this is all said and done, we can all hang out with my other friends, and I can hopefully give a proper explanation to how my quirk works."
Yuga spoke from the window, "To see such sparkling brilliance, to heal mademoiselle with such extravagance, Like a 'Paladin' one could find in the greatest of fairy tales!" The boy posed dramatically, causing all three to stare at him for a moment before Ochaco went for her discarded shoe and began to put it on.
"Anyway…" Izuku said, turning back to Tenya and Ochako, "We should try and co-ordinate something, you two seen my quirk in action, and Aoyama can fire lasers out of his stomach from what I saw earlier. What are yours?"
But just as they were about to tell him what their quirks were, the buzzer went off throughout the arena, signaling the end of the exam. The ever loud voice of Present Mic then followed afterword, "ALL RIGHT, LITTLE LISTENER'S! THE EXAM IS NOW OVER! JUST HEAD ON BACK TO THE MAIN ENT-" *ROOOOAR*
Whatever the Pro Hero was going to say was quickly drowned out by the roar of the zero-pointer and the sounds of metallic claws and treads filling the air as it got closer to the building that the small group of teenagers was hiding in. However, Izuku was already out the door and charging the beast with his sword and shield out. Another flash of light surrounded the boy before hurtling the shield at the monster's head and getting its attention on him.
Yuga, Ochako, and Tenya watched for a moment from the window as they saw their new comrade basically rush towards the berserking robot, before they all looked to one another and nodded with determination in their eyes, running out of the building and joining the fray.
"Sir!" Power Loader shouted out to the dean as for the last five minutes, they were focusing on trying to get some sort of control over the area B zero-pointer. While they were still able to see through the cameras around the area and within the robot's 'eyes,' any sort of control had died after the first initial roar.
Nezu looked to the support teacher, his usual smile now almost drawn to a straight line, which looked odd on the beast, "Yes, Power Loader?"
"I haven't gotten control back yet on the zero-pointer in B yet, but I was able to activate it's kill switch when the exam buzzer goes off!"
The smile returned, a sigh of relief escaping from his lips as he took a sip of tea, "Ah excellent, thankfully it hasn't caused too much damage or hurt any of the applicant's. How much time left until the exam finishes?"
"Ten seconds… five… four… three… two… and killed!" Power Loader exclaimed as the signs of the robot slowly started to fade. The entire room collectively sighed now, if only to gasp in shock as the warning lights and sirens blared in the room, and the "dead" robot sprung back to life and roared once again.
Nezu quickly pressed an intercom button by his chair. Though he had a calm tone of voice, the seriousness to act was heavy within it, "Attention Staff, Code Omega! I repeat, Code Omega! Report to Area B and evacuate civilian's top priority." Taking a breath, watching most of the heroes save for Power Loader who stayed behind as Nezu raised a paw to him, "All Might; Code Epsilon! I repeat Code Epsilon, Area B!"
Letting go of the button, he turned his head towards Power Loader, "I need you here to keep trying to find out what the hell is going on with that zero-pointer." spoke the dean with a nasty tone to his voice, which caused the teacher to flinch before going back to work. Nezu sighed as he watched the various screens of his university staff escorting the applicants away from the training areas, more so from the problem area.
"Sir! Some of the applicants are fighting the rogue zero-pointer!" Power Loader called out as he brought up the viewing camera from the robot's head to only see a shield hurtled towards it before returning to its owner. Nezu smiled at this while keeping his gaze upon the scene before him, paws resting in front of his mouth as he was analyzing and thinking of the events transpiring before him.
'It's good to see your heroic spirit is still there.'
The zero-pointer's right arm crashed down, sending bits and pieces of debris towards Izuku, who dodged the blow before retaliating with a sword swing and 'Atonement' back at it. He grunted in frustration as he watched both attacks not leave that much of a dent in the armor and thinking to himself, 'what the hell did they make this thing out of?'.
His thoughts were interrupted as the robot roared and raised it's left arm up in an attempt to strike the "knight," only for it to recoil when a large piece of building debris nailed it in the side of its head. Izuku turned to his left to see Tenya and Ochako working together, the girl pressing her hands onto large pieces of building debris, causing it to float somewhat, and the boy picking them up and racing around at blinding speeds to various points around the zero-pointer and hurling them with Ochako shouting 'release,' causing the weight to return to make-shift ammunition and denting the metal shell of the robot and recoiling it a few times.
He did ask them what their quirks were, and he was always a fan of demonstrations over explanations.
Lobbing his shield again at the robot to once again keep its attention on him, a brilliant beam of light shot over Izuku's head and pierced through the skirt of the robot. A call out of an outstanding and dazzling shot from behind him made Izuku turn his head for a brief moment towards Yuga.
Even though said boy looked alright (and odd given that he was posed in another elaborate way), Izuku noticed that Yuga brought a hand to his midsection, and a visible wince twitched from his right eye.
'I had a feeling 'Aurora' wasn't going to be enough for his stomach, but having him fight the zero-pointer wasn't on the agenda.' Izuku thought as he dodged another ground smash from the robot's right arm, 'But, his shot did show that we can breach the armor… piercing strikes seem to do it. But nothing I can do as I am now or as a gunbreaker is going to help out here, dammit!'
"Aoyama!" Izuku shouted as he side-stepped past one of the boulders on the ground that was launched at the zero-pointer, "How many shots do you think you have left?"
"A-about… two or three, monsieur!"
Izuku grunted in frustration as he brought his shield up to block some of the smaller pieces of debris that had flown off when another large boulder collided against the 'wings.' He knew the staff would send someone eventually. Still, they were at least ten to twenty minutes out from the main building and then for the heroes to try to locate them. They needed firepower right now, and something that could pierce this thing's metal body and get into the inner workings, or if it could damage the head and render it useless.
As Izuku's thoughts kept racing as he dodged and weaved through the strikes of the zero-pointer, tossing his shield and slamming his sword hard against the shell of the hand and arms. He winced and brought his hand to his head. The pain he was all too familiar with pounded against his brain as the warmth of Hydaelyn washed over him. His head turned towards Yuga after he fired another laser over his head into the forearm of the beast's right side, his eyes under his helmet widened as he struck an epiphany, smiling, he turned his head back to the zero-pointer to see the right arm closing in on him.
The three other applicants watched as a cloud of dust erupted from the slam of the strike, their breaths caught in their throat, seeing as there was no sign of Izuku. Just as they were about to call out his name in some vain hope, a bright sphere of light shot out of the dust cloud, impacting the chest of the zero-pointer, and exploded like a bomb of sparkles only to be followed up by a bolt of lightning after it and striking the same spot.
As the dust settled, the three applicants and the two teaching staff watching from the cameras looked upon a most peculiar sight, in place of the knight that was there but a moment ago stood Izuku, wearing a deep red outfit that looked straight out of medieval France.
With a tight-fitting red coat with a large coattail that hung off his waist in the back, a green frilled ascot hung down the front with black leather gloves and thigh-high boots, all of which had accents of golden accessories to add to the flair of his attire. His green hair was tied back into a fluffy ponytail with a red tri-corner hat sitting upon his head, a large green feather sticking out of the side.
What was most curious was the oddly shaped rapier he held with his right hand, as where the blade and handguard had met, it dimmed a red color with strange markings along the side which were a more pronounced reddish color. Floating above his left hand was an odd-looking gem housed in some sort of casing that looked right out of a museum. It glowed a deep red similar to the markings on the blade. What was odder was that the gem seemed to follow almost entirely with any sort of movements the boy would do with his left hand.
Their focus on his new outfit was interrupted with another mighty roar of the zero-pointer, only to watch as Izuku, unphased by such, started to run up the arm. The zero-pointer rose it's other arm up and attempted to squash him. The hand came down, and the sound of metal on metal echoed out to cause those watching to wince from the auditory pain, though they could see the red garbed boy reach out with his left hand and the gem, and his voice shouted, "CORPS-A-CORPS!"
A beam of light shot out instantly out of the gem and reeled the boy towards where it latched onto the beast's head. As quickly as it appeared, it blinked out of existence as Izuku pocketed the gem on his belt to his side to free up his hand and grab onto one of the edges of the head. Izuku thrust the rapier into one of the beast's eyes as the shattering of glass could be heard once he pulled it out.
Thrusting the rapier in again, he was making quick motions with the weapon, which had caused the beast to roar and bend it's back up as if in pain.
"RIPOSTE! ZWERCHHAU! REDOUBLEMENT!"
Izuku cried out as he swiftly struck into the gaping hole he had made with the rapier. The first was a simple few thrusts of the weapon, digging deep to the machine's innards. The second strike was a wide slashing of the letter "Z" across its face, opening it up more to the outside world. Finally, the rapier was thrust deep in once more, but with a swirl of his wrist, ethereal like points similar to his blade appeared and widened the hole even more.
The zero-pointer was now trying to recover from the quick and brutal attacks, struggling to right itself as Izuku let go of his hold, backflipping off of the enormous beast with a tremendous leap shouting, "DISENGAGEMENT!"
As he righted himself in mid-air, he swung his blade in a cross that hurled another bolt of light in the same cross action he had done. Landing on the ground with a short skid, Izuku lightly tossed the rapier out of his hand and then retook it with a different holding position, the blade now pointed to the ground as he took the gem and swung his hand over the top of the butt of the rapier hilt, a 'click' was heard as the gem now attached to the pommel of the sword.
The zero-pointer was able to finally recover from the onslaught, and just before it could move, Izuku's voice rang out once again as the entire sword and gem began to glow a brilliant white, "VERHOLY!"
Spinning orbs of light appeared above the robot, descending down quickly in a column-like rotation before striking the ground and a pillar of light bloomed out of the circle of orbs. The pillar of light reached over to buildings around them as the right arm of the zero-pointer had been torn off from the impact of the ability.
Izuku grinned devilishly at the robot and rose the weapon in front of him, his left hand close to the gem as it began to glow brightly, "Time to say good night… SCORCH!"
Pulling his hand back as if the gem was something hot and untouchable, a sphere of glowing red with a circle vertical around it appeared in the hole that Izuku had made prior with his rapier strikes, and from it blossomed into a fanned out windmill-like explosion, blowing the head clean off of the zero-pointer's body and tossing it into the building to its left side. The body sputtered and seized before slowly powering down before the red-clad boy as Tenya and Ochaco had moved from the building they were located in towards Yuga, staring at Izuku.
Easing himself up, Izuku turned himself around and tossing the strange rapier and gem up and spinning it like a baton, performing a few tricks and ended with him adjusting the front lapels of his jacket like a showman before catching the weapon, separating the two in a spin of his body, and sheathing them to his belt. Izuku was panting and bowing to his friends, with only Yuga clapping at the performance.
Izuku rose up and began to walk towards them, a big smile on his face as sweat seemed to run slightly down his cheeks. Tenya was the first to reach him, followed by Ochaco and Yuga, "Mirdoriya, What on earth was that?! But more importantly, are you alright? We had thought you were crushed before you… changed into that rather garish garb!"
Izuku stumbled a little and looked with a hurt sort of gaze on his face at the blue-haired boy, "G-Garish? But performing such feats of agility and magic require one to look good while doing it, right?"
"Not when they look like a mixture of a Christmas tree and a french renaissance nobleman!" Tenya chopped the air before he stopped and raised an eyebrow at Izuku, "Wait, 'magic'?"
Before any more questions could be asked or Izuku to even begin explaining what he had meant by 'magic,' A loud crash of something hitting the damaged road behind the other three with an ever-familiar voice shouting.
"HAVE NO FEAR! FOR I AM…. apparently too late?" All Might had begun to speak his catchphrase but then stopped to see the utterly destroyed zero-pointer down the street. His blue eyes looked to Izuku, who gave him a soft wave and a big grin, which was thankfully not seen as the others had looked away to the Pro Hero.
"Well! To see such heroic spirits in all of you! It makes this old hero's heart swell with pride!" he flexed as the applicant's raced towards him, all in looks of pure awe from the presence of the number one hero. Ochacho had looked back to gush this to Izuku when she gasped in fright, getting the attention of those all around her.
"MIDORIYA!"
All eyes were now on the green-haired boy as his body shimmered lightly, sparkles disappearing around him as the red clothes he was wearing simply vanished off of him, revealing the workout clothes he had started with at the beginning of the exam with no weapons, rolling his eyes back and began to fall forward.
A burst of wind whipped around the three other teenagers as the boy fell into the waiting arms of All Might. He shifted the boy lightly in his arms to free a hand to press against a communicator in his ear, "Sir, one of the students seems to have passed out for some reason- Yes, of course. I'll take him there once the others show up." He moved his hand down from the communicator and held the boy close, as the others soon caught up to their fallen comrade.
Nezu sighed gently as he watched the events unfold on the large monitor before him, sipping his tea when he seen the heroes Midnight and Present Mic reach the small group by the 'corpse' of the zero-pointer and All Might explaining to his colleges before racing off with the passed out Warrior of Light.
His attention turned towards Power Loader, who was grumbling words he knew the teacher would never repeat in his classroom. He cleared his throat to get the metal-headed man's attention, "Report."
"Damndest thing, no matter what system I check, everything just keeps reporting "ok" until the kid blew it's fucking head off."
"Language."
"S-sorry sir…" Power Loader flinched slightly, "Anyway, once we get the pieces back, we can have a more thorough check of whatever made that thing go rogue." He finished as Nezu nodded to the teacher.
"Good, take it to our robotics hanger and wait for me there. I would also like to work on this, as well. But I wish to see the rest of the applicant's safely leave the grounds, and we take care of those that are injured first." Nezu said, then sipped his tea. Power Loader nodded and headed out of the monitoring room to await the furred dean at the mentioned hanger.
As the monitors continued to play and display the various staff member's helping out evacuating the arenas and university grounds, Nezu sighed gently as he placed his cup on the saucer, "What is your take on it, Mog?"
Descending down from the darkened rafters came the tiny Moogle as it floated beside Nezu, who was staring at the screens, "To be honest, kupo? Izuku did great taking out that big robot thing!" It exclaimed happily before floating towards one of the monitors, "But why was it starting to act like a beast is what confuses me, kupo."
"Indeed, and your assessment of our dear Warrior of Light is spot on. He acted how I expected him to." Nezu smiled brightly at this, though his beady eyes still watched the various monitors, "Still, to think that a mere mock-up of 'The Enigma' I had planned to see if the blessing of Hydaelyn would unlock more of his abilities, would come to life and act similarly to the original."
"Good thing it didn't have its weapons, kupo?"
"Indeed, rather not have Midoriya or any of the youngsters applying to our halls be dealing with 'Time manipulation'... at least not until their third year." He mused much to the jargon and worried look of the Moogle beside him, "In any case, I'd suggest you return to the boy's home for now and keep an eye out on anything suspicious... If you see anything, you know what to do."
Mog nodded and saluted, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Nezu sighed as he took one last sip of his tea and watched the clean-up crews start gathering the zero-pointer. He climbed down of his chair and proceeded to head to the hanger himself, all the while thinking dark thoughts.
'Is this a declaration of some sort… or someone playing a game that I have yet to have all the pieces to.'
High above the mock cityscape and floating within the air, a dark-robed being smiles under the cowl after witnessing the battle that took place. A gentle chuckle soon escapes their lips as a chaotic looking portal of darkness appears behind them.
"Three down... Fourteen to go…" is all they say before disappearing into the void.
Chapter 7: More Questions than Answers
Summary:
Izuku wakes up after the entrance exam, shenanigans happen in the medical room and at home, and the first day of school!
Notes:
What up! The new chapter is out and all I gotta say it's a long one! some exposition with a little fluff here and there. Hopefully, you all enjoy it, and look out for the next chapter as we start the Quirk assessment tests! Woo!
Reviews (Old to new) FFN:
The Casual Noeru-kun: Thank you! and it is starting to get boiling hot, glad this is a "cool down" chapter haha.
ProjectIceman: *insert evil cackle here* All will be revealed... soonish
Guest: Thank you and I am glad you enjoyed it!
LegendaryMob: Well you got your wish, new chapter!
aliestrikehero: We shall see with the Summoner/Scholar summons since there are no active ways for the "engi's" to get aether. And unlike Genji, FFXIV Ninja's can actually heal themselves. As for the Miruko in Fran's outfit? eh, probably not, considering Miruko would complain it sucks for fighting.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
If someone had told Izuku he would be feeling great after the entrance exam, it would be a lie.
A very blatant lie, and he would kindly correct them in their error.
A heavy groan escaped his lips as he brought his hand up to his forehead, fingers tangling into his green curls before huffing gently and fighting off his still throbbing head. Opening his eyes, his vision was filled with the beige-white colored ceiling he was somewhat familiar with. Turning his head to his right, he noticed he was currently lying on a medical stretcher. Turning his head back to look straight up, a sigh escaped his lips as he thought,
'Great, wound up in the medical room again… Recovery Girl is going to kill me.'
"You're lucky all you have is just a headache after the stunt you pulled, you nincompoop!" Recovery girl exclaimed loudly, causing Izuku to flinch and rub his still sore head. Before he could ask how she heard his thoughts, the short elderly woman huffed and walked over to the side of his bed, "You muttered it."
"Ah… o-oops… so what h-happened after I passed out? Are the others that were with me ok?" Izuku had begun to stammer out; Recovery Girl stared at him for a few moments before shaking her head and huffing once again.
"While thinking of others before yourself is heroic, you need to MAKE SURE YOU are ok first, young man." She hissed and poked her cane end into his chest a few hard times as if trying to drill it into him. He chuckled nervously before she climbed up the small step ladder beside his bed.
"As for your questions, the other applicants were fine. The blonde-haired boy was suffering from some mild indigestion. Still, your healing arts with your "gunbreaker kit" as you call it, are negligible at best… I will not fault you for using it initially on the boy in the alley, but keep in mind that it's the best use is to give someone a 'pick me up' so they can escape, not follow your idiocy into danger." Recovery Girl frowned at Izuku, who looked down to his lap and gently nodded.
"Y-yes, ma'am..."
"The other boy suffered no injuries, though he was winded a bit, but that was easily solved with some of my gummies."
"That's good."
"And as for the girl," she paused to watch his reaction, and she could see him starting to blush, which brought a smug smirk to her lips, "Your decision to use your 'Clemency' was indeed correct, though she did have some discomfort still when I was able to get to her, she assured me that is was because of the battle with the zero-pointer, but before that, she was "feelin' fine."" The elderly hero emphasized the verbiage with air quotes that gave Izuku a weak chuckle; she smiled at him for a moment before her lessening to a relaxed look, "As to what happened while you were knocked out, the dean had the cleanup crew gather the pieces of the rogue robot and is now with Power Loader to figure out what happened."
Izuku nodded gently, rubbing his chin in deep thought, and began to mutter up a storm, though this time Recovery Girl was not having it, smacking him lightly on the head with her cane to get to stop, "I'm not done yet you dummy... "
Rubbing his head, Izuku looked at her and softly spoke a 'Sorry' to the older woman.
"Now, as to what happened with you." she started climbing down the step ladder to go over to her desk, Izuku watching her from his bed, "With what Nezu had explained to me of your… powers is you unlocked one that uses that 'mana' within your body to fire willy-nilly at whatever you want, and to follow up with those fancy strikes of that rapier weapon."
"Y-yea… The feeling of sending off that 'jolt' and 'verthunder' felt kinda nice, to be honest." Izuku chuckled gently, rubbing the back of his head again, but then suddenly stopped when he saw the cold stare of Recovery Girl looking directly at him.
The silence in the room was heavy as she kept staring at him until she finally spoke again, turning her eyes away, "...Regardless, you passed out because you essentially "ran out" of mana. While your healing abilities also use up such a resource, the new skills you gained as that... red magician?" She looked back to Izuku, who now was thinking for a moment, before looking suddenly up.
"Red Mage, quick and easy to remember."
"Fine, the abilities you gained as a Red Mage eat up mana far more than the other two kits. So, as your physician-"
"B… but you're the school's leading medical personnel."
"AS your physician," Recovery girl interrupted, glaring at the boy who cowered and nodded rapidly, "Until the school year begins, you are not to do any training, not until we can get you here and I can keep you within eyesight, so you don't pull off something boneheaded again." Recovery Girl pointed her cane at him in a threatening manner, which caused the teenager to raise his hands in defense and nod rapidly in agreement.
"Also, you can wait to show your friends your new abilities when and if they get into this school as well; I do not want you to "manifest" at all, do I make myself clear?" The elderly hero frowned once again as Izuku slowly nodded. A few moments of silence passed before she turned around to go through her desk drawers, "Now, I've already called your mother while you were resting, and one of Nezu's drivers will take you home. Your belongings are already there waiting for you."
Izuku swung his legs off the side of the bed as he grunted out a 'yes' to her. He placed his sneakers on the ground and slowly pushed himself off the bed, adjusting himself to let the feeling of weight placed on his feet and legs return.
How long was he out for?
As his body was getting readjusted, another thought came across his mind, "Oh, Recovery Girl?"
"Hmm?"
"There was one ability I seemed to have learned with the new kit, something called 'Verraise,' didn't get a chance to look too deeply into-" *CRASH*
Izuku's head quickly turned to see Recovery Girl staring straight at him, but the look she was giving him was not of anger. No, the look was something akin to fear or disturbed before it shifted into something cold.
The medical equipment she had been carrying and dropped easily forgotten as she stormed over to him. He could feel the cold stare she was giving him bear deep into his soul as if he said something sacrilegious. She stopped a foot away from him, took a deep breath, and began to speak in a tone of voice similar to the look she was giving him.
"That spell is never to be used or mentioned unless Nezu or I are present and ONLY between the three of us. This is your only warning. Now, go home, Midoriya. Your mother sounded worried."
Midoriya didn't even say anything as he made a mad dash out of the infirmary, skidding out as he pushed past the door. After a few moments when she could tell that she was indeed by herself, Recovery Girl sighed gently, rubbing the bridge of her nose before heading back to her desk.
"...That's all we need now is for the boy to learn he can bring people back from the dead. I'll let the furball know about this later, but right now, I really need a slice of Archon Loaf."
The ride home from UA was quiet, which was the norm. Often, Izuku didn't mind it, especially as he was going over what just happened with Recovery Girl.
Whenever they would talk about his abilities, she would often seem aloof; even when he told her of his healing spells, she seemed to shrug and explained that while healing quirks were rare, a good bunch of them were quite flashy.
But the first tip-off that something wasn't right during the previous conversation was when he described the feeling of using the two spells as pleasurable. The look Recovery Girl gave him was something Izuku thought he would never feel coming off of her. It was the coldness that got to him mostly, but there was recognition in her stare as if she had heard of this previously. Perhaps Nezu had told her something that was not yet explained to him?
The second instance that he felt something was wrong was the mention of 'Verraise.' Recovery Girl's reaction was, again, totally out of character for her, but what she basically commanded him to do and how she said it threw him for a loop. Not once since they had first met did she ever call his abilities a "spell," and the way she spoke seemed like it was something dire. The real question was, how much more did she know, and how?
He knew Nezu would have given Recovery Girl some information regarding his 'blessing.' Hopefully, he tried to play it off as a very rare quirk. Because, in reality, who would believe that somewhere out in some divine realm, there existed a giant 'mother crystal' that blesses certain people to be able to combat some great evil. And said crystal deemed him, a worthless Deku, such a gift.
He still didn't know the reasons behind that, but trying to figure out what a "goddess" was thinking would be like figuring out what the Space Hero Thirteen looked like under their hero suit. Any more thoughts on the matter or Recovery Girl's sudden change of demeanor were halted when the car finally stopped.
With his school bag hanging over his shoulder, Izuku began to ascend up the stairs to the little apartment he and his mother shared. Soon, it would just be her considering the university had a dorm system he would be using for the next few years. He knew he was getting in as long as he tried hard enough, and even if he didn't quite make it, there was no doubt Nezu would pull something.
Pushing open the apartment door, he kicked off his red shoes lightly to the side and called out an 'I'm home.' The smell of Katsudon filling his nostrils brought a soft smile to his lips; it was rare for his mom to cook for him, given her usual working hours. But for the past week, she had been home during the daytime, and that allowed him a little more freedom to sleep in just a wee bit more.
As he headed into the living room to get to the kitchen/dining area, he spotted his mother sitting on the couch with a few boxes around her, one of which was opened. She was placing something wrapped in newspaper inside of it. He raised an eyebrow at this and walked closer to her, "Mom?"
Inko turned her head to look up at her son, her eyes wide. Izuku could see they were slightly red and puffy as if she had been crying for a while, "O-Oh Izuku sweety, welcome home!" She smiled brightly at him, wiping her eyes with her sleeve as if to hide any tears, "Dinner is ready and on the table… b-but, I need to speak with you about something important first, can you sit with me please?"
Izuku slowly nodded and sat beside his mother, who in turn had shifted around to look at him, her hands on her lap as she looked down for a few moments, "Sweety, I just want you to listen to what I need to say first and don't answer unless I ask you something, and don't interrupt... alright?" Inko asked in a soft tone of voice as she looked up to stare into the emerald eyes of her son, who was staring back into his mother's own similarly colored eyes. He idly nodded, which Inko nodded back and took a deep but relaxing breath.
"So, as you know, I've been home a lot more recently… and there is a reason for that. As of two weeks ago, I quit my job at the hospital." Inko began to speak, watched her son's reaction, and immediately started to see his mind asking a billion questions a minute.
"This was… not an easy decision, to be honest, I almost didn't quit my job, but the offer I got was JUST too good, Izuku! I mean… Yes, I did enjoy time working at the hospital, but you know how little it left me with a home life."
"It was rare to see you up before two p. days, I will admit…" Izuku smirked at his mother, who pouted at him.
"It's not nice to tease your mother, Izuku… anyway, this new job will be something exciting for me, and well…" Inko started to fidget a little now, looking away from her son as Izuku tilted his head, "The.. first part of the job is to be Recovery Girl's assistant, and from what Dean Nezu had explained, her possible successor? Though I d-don't know how that would work given my quirk isn't a healing one."
"Still a great nurse, the best one in my opinion," Izuku said with a smile as Inko looked to him, lightning smacking his chest with a huff.
"You're just biased because I'm your mother!"
"Maybe, maybe not," Izuku smirked at her again, which earned him another light smack, which caused him to chuckle. Inko then began to giggle herself, enjoying the little back and forth with her son, something they hadn't done in quite some time due to her old job and his training.
"So, while I'm ecstatic that you are going to be working at UA, I don't see how this ties into packing things into boxes."
Inko took a deep breath in, steeling herself for what came next; she didn't know how Izuku would take this next bit of information. Would he be happy? Would he be upset? Truthfully that's what worried her the most, and with an exhale, she answered her son's curiosity, "Well, the assistant job is part-time for now, just for the first couple of semester's… my main duties would be in making sure the new students don't trash the dorms they are in." Inko stood up and held her arms out in a weak attempt to be grandiose, "You're looking at Class 1-A's 'Dorm Mother'... Erm.. surprise!"
Izuku stared up at her, eyes wide in shock, before slowly standing up and kept his eyes on her. Inko was about to say something before she was engulfed in a tight hug. The shorter woman was shocked at first but then slowly returned the hug, and after a few moments, they broke off, and Izuku was the first to speak, "Mom, that sounds awesome! Plus, we get to spend more time with one another!"
"Of course, sweety… but don't be just focusing on your old mother now! You will have a ton of people to make friends with!"
"R-right…" Izuku chuckled nervously, earning a non-threatening glare from his mother before he cleared his throat, "S-so your room at the dorms... Will it be around the same size as our apartment?"
"Actually, it's going to be a little bigger! From what the dean said, they had to remodel the entire first years' dormitories due to some previous students having destroyed some of the dorms by accident with the previous Class 1-B, as well as something happening with Class 1-A, though Nezu didn't quite mention what though…"
"Huh, so when are you moving into the dorms?"
"Well, sweety… WE are moving in two days. We both know you are getting into UA.," she beamed at him as he blushed gently, "and even if somehow you fell through the cracks, Nezu would pull some strings."
"You know, I thought the exact same thing."
"Well, what do you expect? You HAD to get your smarts from somewhere… and bless your father, while you have his dashing looks, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed." Inko gave a soft sigh and a smile as she remembered her husband again, knowing that he would've been proud of their son. But now was not the time for reminiscing, as Inko started to walk towards the dining area, "Now, enough chit-chat! Our dinner is getting colder, and we have a LOT of packing to do!"
Izuku smirked at this and followed after her. She was right, of course; they had a lot of packing to do. As he began to dig into his still-warm Katsudon, his previous worries and thoughts seemed to fade away as he enjoyed the rest of his evening with his mother.
Izuku gazed up at UA's large building once again, taking in its sheer size in awe once again. It was now Friday, and his week had been hectic, what with moving into the dorms on Wednesday and the decoration/setup of his room as well as his mother's living space.
To say it was "slightly bigger" than their old apartment was an exaggeration. It was twice as large, and there was so much room still left over! It was made more for a small family dwelling than a single person abode. Still, Izuku knew it was perfect for his mother and something she deserved.
As he began to climb up the stairs and walk down the halls, his thoughts went to his friends, with whom he had minimal contact during the week because of how busy he was. He did respond to them as much as he could. Still, his attention was focused on other things; what he did learn though, is that Mina and Kyoka had passed the entrance exam and placed well within the top thirty-six. Mina was ranked fifteenth, and Kyoka was seventeenth.
He hadn't heard from the three other applicants that were with him, granted he was knocked out, and he wasn't left with any sort of contact info to reach them. However, he held in his belief that those three would make it in, especially given that when Izuku asked about the others, Nezu merely waved his little paw with a non-committal 'you shall see' as his only response.
Sometimes he hated that little rat, bear, dog thing.
Eventually, Izuku was standing before the massive door to Class 1-A, his nervousness starting to get the better of him once again as he stared at it with his hand holding the handle. While he knew that UA would be much different than his schools in the past, especially now with his 'quirk.' There was, however, still that small part of his mind where his darker thoughts stewed in, the elements that would remind him that he was still a 'pathetic Deku' and that it was sheer luck that he had been blessed. And on the worse days, he would question the decision made by the supposed crystalline being.
Why did she choose me?
Am I worthy of being chosen?
Thankfully, as if a reminder of some of the good in his life, Izuku was knocked out of his dark thoughts when he felt an arm wrapped around his shoulders, a hand over his eyes, and the sudden but familiar weight on his back followed by a gentle voice whispering a 'guess who?' into his ear.
Izuku blushed a deep red and shivered at the sensory overload, plus the feeling of the 'mystery' person's "assets" against his back was not helping. After a few moments of his brain restarting, Izuku spoke, or more accurately, squeaked out a reply, "M-M-Mina?"
"Oh Poo, and here I thought I could make you so flustered that you'd lock up and not be able to answer me!" Mina pouted as she let go and took a step back, giving the still blushing boy some space. Yet, her pout soon shifted into a smile at seeing his current state, "Well, I did turn you into a tomato, so mission accomplished!"
Izuku sputtered at that, hiding his face in his hands as he was trying to desperately calm himself down, "W-when was that an m-m-mission?!"
"I keep asking her that myself, but her only response is "Because it's fun!" and sorry about that, Green, I would have tried to stop her from sneaking up on you, but you were just staring at the door and looked like you needed the shock," spoke Kyoka coming up towards the two, but her answer mostly made Izuku sputter more before slouching and sighing, giving up defending himself.
Kyoka frowned and jabbed him in the side lightly with her jack, causing him to straighten up and wince, "Oi! what did I say about slouching?"
"S-sorry Kyoka…" replied Izuku, who was still blushing slightly. The purple-haired punk rocker sighed and moved past him, opening the door and walking into the classroom. Izuku watched her go in for a few moments before he felt two hands press against his shoulder blades. Turning his head, he looked to Mina, who was beaming her usual bubbly smile at him.
"C'mon Midori! Don't wanna be late on the first day, right?"
Izuku merely smiled at her and chuckled nervously before allowing himself to be pushed into the classroom. As he started to walk in on his own, he stopped a few feet from the door, allowing Mina to move past him, but giving him a wink and bumping his shoulder. He watched her waltz over to an area of desks where he noticed the familiar ponytail of Momo, who looked up from the book she had been reading when Mina made her presence known, by hugging the young heiress in glee.
Momo was giggling at her friend's antics, returning the hug. Her attention was then brought to the front of the class, where she spotted Izuku. She gave him a gentle smile and wave, which he returned gently with his blush still present on his cheeks and a nervous smile.
"AH! If it isn't, Monsieur Midoriya! I knew moi would see you once again!" an accented voice loudly proclaimed, which got the attention of some of the other students already in the classroom. Izuku turned his head to see the familiar blonde from the entrance exam.
"Aoyama! I-I see you made it in as well, Congrats!"
Yuga posed 'elegantly' as he stood before Izuku, some of the onlookers snickering at the dazzling display, "Oui! As if UA would deny our sparkling selves to become heroes! Especially after our dazzling performance against that nasty zero-pointer robot!"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously, "I-I mean, yea, it did malfunction and would've gone after the other a-applicants when the alarm went off."
"Ah! But you, good monsieur, were the one to charge out with a brilliant sword and shield in hand and occupied the beast's attention. In contrast, moi, monsieur Iida, and mademoiselle Uraraka attempted to subdue it!"
Feeling all the eyes and attention of the classroom on him and the french boy now, Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "I-I … w-well we were only able to do it with teamwork."
"There is no reason to be humble, Midoriya!" Tenya came walking speedily into the classroom, his arm waving up and down robotically, "While I will not diminish myself or the others of their involvement! You truly acted like a hero, and how you destroyed it was also a most excellent display of power!"
Izuku blushed more. From the corner of his eye, he could see the frowned stares being given to him by Mina and Kyoka, who obviously hadn't heard about him taking out a zero-pointer, nor the look of general confusion present on Momo due to her being a recommendation student. His eyes focused back on the two boys in front of him, but before he could make a rebuttal of Tenya's claims, a soft, more feminine voice came from the doorway.
"Oh! It's Midoriya!"
The three boys looked towards the door and watched as Ochaco came rushing past the two others before standing right up to Izuku, who was blushing again from how close she was, "I knew you'd make it in! Especially with how awesome you blew off that robot's head! It was like 'woosh,' 'zap,' 'pow'!" The excitable brunette spoke with accompanying hand gestures that almost rivaled Yuga's own.
"Kero, Ocha-chan… you're too close to him and making him uncomfortable." a raspy voice came from behind her, and she stepped aside and pouted.
"But Tsu! I told you what he did and how awesome it was!"
"But getting in his face and causing him to turn into a tomato isn't helping matters, Kero." replied the now visible girl. Izuku blinked as he looked upon the green-haired girl before him. Her wide eyes and seemingly emotionless face were the more predominant features of her looks. Still, somehow Izuku could tell there was a curiosity in her eyes, especially when she was staring back at him with a tilt of her head, tongue sticking out slightly to the side. Was that a part of her quirk? What was more strange was the sense of warmth he felt throughout his body once again, but this time, the 'headache' that would typically accompany the blessing of Hydaelyn was significantly dulled and mute to a point he almost didn't feel it.
However, before anything else could happen or for the two greenettes to properly introduce themselves, the door to the classroom slammed shut, and the gravelly voice that spoke from the individual that looked like a disheveled homeless man with long black hair, a scruffy 'five o'clock' shadow and ragged looking scarves that hung around his shoulders, "If you're here to socialize, you can leave and stop wasting my time."
As he spoke, everyone got quiet and rushed quickly to any open desks in the classroom. The homeless looking man walked up to the teaching podium. He sighed heavily, "Twelve seconds to settle down, if you were out in the field, you'd already be dead."
His tired eyes looked over all of the students, squinting when he came across Midoriya, who flinched at the teacher's reaction, "I am Shouta Aizawa, and I am your homeroom teacher. Now," He reached into the podium and pulled out what looked like a gym uniform inside of a large plastic bag, "You will all grab one of these with your names on them and then head to Field Sigma for a Quirk assessment test. And no, we will not be going to orientation as it is a waste of time. You are here to hopefully be heroes, and attending such frivolous things will not help you in the long run."
He reached under again and pulled out the rest of the bagged uniforms and slammed them on the desk in front of him, startling the student currently occupied there, "You have fifteen minutes starting now to get to the changing rooms, get dressed, and meet me on the field. Now move."
Aizawa then left the room, heading to the field as the bewildered students snapped out of their shocked state and made their way to grab their gym uniforms. As Izuku was rummaging for his own and making sure he handed out the ones meant for his friends if he spotted them, he didn't notice two sets of eyes watching him.
The first was the heterochromatic eyes that belonged to one Shoto Todoroki, who had been idly listening to the dramatics of the blonde boy and brunette. From what he could gather, this 'Midoriya' would or could be an obstacle for him and someone to watch and learn about.
The other set of eyes belonged to one Katsuki Bakugo, who glared in pure hatred at the green-haired boy. He hadn't seen much of him since that day that the nerd was called to the principal's office back in Aldera, but since then, his "glorious" rise to be the number one hero had hit a few speed bumps.
One such bump in the road had him re-tested on most of his final year exams; he did as well as he did before, nearly acing them. But to have his intelligence questioned really pissed him off, and the excuses the staff at that shitty high school had given him was that there was "some irregularities" with his previous tests. What really pissed him off was that somehow "Deku" was involved in this.
He was the last one left in the classroom. As he got up and made his way to get his gym uniform, he snarled and made a personal promise that he would remind Deku exactly where he belongs.
At the bottom of his boot.
Chapter 8: Here there be Dragoons
Summary:
The start of the QAT tests and already Aizawa needs a drink.
Notes:
Ho boy! Another update! huzzah!
Hope everyone has been doing alright these past few weeks, considering all the craziness in the world right now. Truthfully, this chapter was very hard to write and get out mostly due to medical reasons.
Severe asthma fucking sucks, let me tell you.
Anyway, while my initial plans for this chapter was going to be the entire QAT's, it didn't work out like that sadly. But I promise next chapter that we will get the full class revealed and moved into the dorms! Plus they meet their new "dorm mother" :D
Praise be to Mamadoriya.
Onto the reviews! (Old to new) (FFN):
Guest: Thank you! and hope you keep enjoying it.
Silvanium: Glad you have been enjoying it! Also, good mention about the soul crystals... because how in the world is Izuku even able to access his jobs without them? Hmmm...
aliestrikehero: I see, makes sense now. And that will be revealed later.
ProjectIceman: As much as I would have loved to get them over with, sadly it wasn't possible this time around, I will say that aside from some slight changes with Izuku, the QAT's will be similar to the canon version.
draculyn28: Hello, yes it will continue, and thank you for finding it interesting!
There will be endnotes to explain two things in this chapter, so enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Shota Aizawa was a very rational man, often dealing with logic and facts that helped him be the underground hero that he is. He had read the files of all the students assigned to his class this year, and he noted a few that he would consider "problematic."
Four of which were on the top of his "shit list."
The first being Shoto Todoroki, the son of Endeavor. His quirk was called "Half Hot, Half Cold," the ability to create and manipulate fire from the left half of his body while doing the same with ice on his right side. In his file, it was noted that during the recommendation tests, while he stated he could use his fire, he was adamant and refused to use it.
While naturally, Aizawa would immediately expel any student who purposely hinders their abilities, usually out of arrogance and unwilling to put their all into it. Something in the back of his mind was telling him there was more to this, given that the teenager had a nasty looking scar around his left eye, and the designs of his hero suit partially hid his entire left side of his body. Perhaps there were troubles at home? It was no secret that Endeavor was a… hard person… to get along with, even with him being the number two hero. Still, if something at home was preventing Shoto from using his fire, then perhaps time away from the flame hero could help, as well as allowing the boy to open up more.
The next one on his "list" was Katsuki Bakugo, a "prodigy" apparently, from what the files from his previous schools stated, he had excellent marks and nothing but praise from teachers, especially from his last high school.
Aizawa could smell bullshit coming off of the file. And apparently, Nezu had as well.
He remembered when he overheard the furry dean contact the boy's former high school and "kindly" asked them to retest him. When that was done, the test papers were given to Nezu to mark himself, and apparently, he was satisfied with how the teenager did. During the practical examinations, Aizawa noticed the manic smile and glee the boy had in destroying robots, ignoring all the other applicants, and just taking anything out. It was apparent that he had an ego, especially given the praise he probably got throughout his schooling. Had there been no attempts to curb his over-inflated ego? He would soon learn that he wasn't "top dog" here at UA and had hoped that the boy would figure that out sooner or later.
The third "problem child" was one Minoru Mineta. While his quirk had an interesting application of purple balls being thrown from his head and stuck to anything, it was the user himself that the tired-looking teacher had an issue with. There had been multiple incidents involving sexual harassment with former female classmates at his previous schools. However, it seemed to decline dramatically during his high school years. Possibly due to harsher punishments if he had kept up with what he pulled in middle school. Still, the boy looked like he had never trained his body at all, and if he couldn't keep up, then there was an extra spot in General Studies just waiting for him.
And finally, the last student on the list was one Izuku Midoriya.
Where to start with such an enigma?
A teenager that only just got his quirk approximately one year prior and had already two cases of vigilantism under his belt. Normally, Aizawa wouldn't bat an eye at that as he had worked with some of the more "nicer" vigilantes throughout his hero career. Still, it was the fact that both times it was All Might vouching for the boy, allowing him to get off with only a warning each time. If Midoriya were a side-kick to the number one hero, that would be one thing. Still, the blonde pro hero hadn't taken any sidekicks in nearly six years after the supposed falling out with Sir Nighteye.
Then there were the boy's school records, dozens upon dozens of "black marks" that would have immediately put him out of any attempts to register even for the General Studies course. But half, if not all of them didn't make sense, especially when one would notice that he was always in Bakugo's classes and how he always seemed to do remarkably poorer than the "prodigy."
Again, Aizawa called bullshit, and sure enough, he was right.
He had seen the written exam Midoriya had answered and nearly dropped his jelly drink. The green-haired boy had responded to everything so precisely and logically that he got an almost perfect score of ninety-five percent, and this was one of Nezu's tests that he would give graduating students as a final exam to make sure they were ready for the outside world of Pro Heroes.
Most of those averages were the low fifties; even Aizawa only came out with a sixty-three when he was a UA student.
Then, the practical examination and how Midoriya acted and performed further solidified that the boy's school files were mishandled. When he had gone to Nezu after the exams were all graded and the letters sent out, he had asked what was to be done with Midoriya and his falsified school records.
Apparently, as always, the smart rodent was three steps ahead of the underground hero and informed him of what Midoriya had been up to since the sludge villain incident and his plans with the students' former high school. Nezu had bought the school's ownership and fired most if not all of the teaching staff and the administration through some legal groundwork. Replacing the faculty were some other educators that Nezu could trust to run the school until proper staff could be hired temporarily.
There was also the boy's mother, who now would be working at UA not only as Recovery Girl's assistant but also as Class 1-A's Dorm Manager. However, she decided to call herself "Dorm Mother" for whatever reason. When Aizawa had gone to meet her privately to discuss some of the basic rules and general maintenance areas of the rebuilt dorms, he found her to be quite pleasant, for the most part, a bit of a worrier. Still, given what he knew of Midoriya's past, he couldn't fault her for it. But there was a sense of danger about her as well, as Nezu had informed him in that meeting about Aldera that Inko had sued the former principal and the school board and many of the other teachers and faculty for gross negligence, child endangerment, and discrimination charges. She won, possibly due to not only All Might's testimony when he had interrupted an attempt to put Midoriya in prison for the slime villain fiasco falsely but also of the lawyer's UA had provided her.
When the judge had asked Inko Midoriya if she would grant any sort of leniency as the defense asked it, she merely looked at them. She asked why she should if they hadn't shown any compassion or mercy when her son was being tortured by not only his peers but by some of the staff themselves.
Aizawa learned reasonably quickly that day to never piss off Inko Midoriya.
He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he began to think about the last issue about Midoriya that he knew would be a problem and rightly placed him at the top of his "shit list."
Midoriya's quirk made no goddamn sense.
It was called 'Manifest,' the boy could summon armor and weapons at will, and each had unique abilities tied to them. Even worse was that Nezu had explained to the tired teacher that he felt there would be even more forms that Midoriya could 'unlock' given the right circumstances similar to what happened against the zero-pointer. So far, with the information provided to him by the Dean, the green-haired student had three 'kits':
Paladin: His first manifestation and more used of the current three. It came with a suit of armor, and he wielded a sword and shield, which he could somehow expertly wield. One of the boy's abilities was called "Clemency," which could heal various injuries, as seen with Ochako Uraraka. Still, some abilities were more combat orientated that was caught on surveillance during the training in Gym Gamma that one time.
Gunbreaker: The second kit he manifested during one of those vigilante incidents was similar to the Paladin one, albeit not wearing armor as cumbersome as full plate mail, allowing for better movement. The weapon he carried also didn't make sense to him, even after both Snipe and Power Loader could get their hands on it, with Midoriya's permission, of course, and tried to figure it out. It was called a "gunblade," a half gun and half sword, which could be loaded with 28 gauge sized magnum bullets from what Snipe could figure. Still, while not firing out a projectile (most of the time), it could heal or cause explosions. What they were made of was also a mystery as to when they attempted to open one of the casings, there was nothing inside. When Midoriya took an empty shell and loaded it into the weapon, and with a few strikes, he had caused an explosion which nearly blew apart the training dummy he was currently attacking. Power Loader theorized that it was some sort of built-up kinetic energy that "filled" the cartridge before being shot out, and even then, he still couldn't figure out HOW it was doing that.
Whatever this "gunblade" was, it was far more advanced in technology than anything in the world, and it made no goddamn sense.
And lastly was Midoriya's latest "kit," the one he had obtained during the practical exam and caused him to pass out from afterward. He had called it "Red Mage," and while the outfit was outlandish and something one would see from an outdoor play theater, the weapon he wielded in such a "form" was just as odd as the gunblade.
An oddly designed rapier with a floating orb or crystal of some kind affixed itself to his hand or on the sword's pommel. What was odd was that the teenager could fire bolts of… well… for lack of a better term, "projectiles" from the crystal with it attached to the sword. Aizawa was not going to humor the notion that Midoriya could use "magic." Still, to be able to fire off bolts of what looked like lightning, fire, earth, and air were unheard of, plus according to the notes Midoriya had made, he could also heal with something called "Vercure."
Insufficient naming aside, there was one ability called "Verraise" with the asterisk beside it stating 'unknown function, Recovery Girl to provide information at a later date.'
Aizawa felt he would need to open that bottle of whiskey after today's test for some reason.
The dark-haired teacher slowly began to rub the bridge of his nose when he could hear the clambering of sneakers and shoes rushing towards him. He looked to his stopwatch to see that the students were a solid five minutes early.
Good, they may have some potential after all.
Izuku huffed gently as he and the rest of his classmates had finally changed and made it out to Field Sigma, pulling up the sleeves on the navy blue sports jersey up to his elbows and was eager to get started. As the students began to start speaking again, Aizawa quickly quieted them with a cold stare and clearing of his throat.
"Listen up and keep quiet," shouted the homeroom teacher, "We are going to be doing the same fitness tests that you all would have done in high school, but this time, unlike the illogical reasoning of most school boards and the government, you will be using the FULL extent of your quirks."
A soft murmur started to echo across the confused students before Aizawa's eyes flashed a bright red, and his hair stood on end, making most of the students flinch. Once he deactivated his quirk, Aizawa looked towards Bakugo, "Bakugo, you scored the most villain points in the entrance exam. What was your old ball toss score in high school?"
The blonde tilted his head for a moment, thinking about it since it had been quite a while. Katsuki looked to Aizawa and, in his usual gruff voice, replied, "About seventy meters, give or take."
Aizawa tossed a ball to the blonde as he went to stand by a drawn-out circle on the ground, "I want you to stand in this circle and throw the ball WITH your quirk, do not hold anything back, and you can do anything as long as you remain in the circle."
The student maniacally grinned as he gripped the ball in his hand, pulling back his arm to throw it. As he was doing this, Izuku's eyes shot wide as he watched Katuski wind up, immediately turning towards Kyoka and rushed to her. Before she could ask what he was doing, he clasped her ears with his hands and held her head as the shout of 'DIE' rang out, followed by a slight earthshaking explosion ringing out that caused a bit of dust to kick up.
Once he knew it was safe, he slowly removed his hands from Kyoka's ears as she was staring straight at him with a blush across her cheeks; he gave her a worried look, "Kyoka, are you alright?"
She didn't answer him at first until her eyebrows furrowed, and suddenly he was attacked by her jacks, jabbing in the side, "Don't do that so suddenly!"
"S-s-sorry I was- ACK! I k-knew that his loudest explosions could hurt your hearing since you h-have a heightened sense of hearing! I-I had to act fast, and warning you wouldn't have been quick enough!" Izuku stammered out as her 'attacks' gradually slowed down and ended. Kyoka looked away. Her blush returned, muttering out a 'thank you,' which caused Izuku to rub the back of his head and nervously chuckled.
"If you two are finished," Aizawa called out as he walked back with Katsuki, who was wearing a smug smirk on his face, "As I was about to say, the point of these tests is to give a baseline for your current strengths and weaknesses to work on for your years here at UA." The teacher turned to Katuski, "Bakugo, your score was nine hundred and seventy meters."
Katsuki smiled like he knew he would get an impossible score to beat, and some of the other students began to mimic his feelings. After all, he was the best, and these extras knew they could never be better than him. Though his smile soon turned into a scowl as he looked upon Izuku, who didn't even seem impressed and was thinking about something and muttering. Katsuki huffed and went to stand further from the other students as Aizawa began to explain the rest of the tests.
"Now, we are going to do the fifty-meter dash first. It will be done in pairs. But first…" Aizawa paused as he looked over the students who were starting to relax a little, "since it looks like many of you aren't taking this seriously, let's up the challenge a bit." The students shivered as he gave them a smile, as he crossed his arms and stared directly at them, pushing up his scarf a little, "The person to place last in these tests will be expelled."
To say that the silence was deafening was an understatement before a collective 'WHAT?!' rang out, followed by a few protests. Aizawa was able to pick up on Ochako's, 'but that's not fair!' comment and focused on her.
"Surprise villain attacks, unavoidable weather disasters," his eyes squinted at her, causing Ochako to flinch, "Robots that go rogue in a controlled environment are all unfair. Life, in general, is unfair. You are all adults now, time to grow up." and with the finality in his voice, he headed towards the track for the fifty-meter dash. All of the students hurriedly keeping up with him with worried looks upon their faces. Still, a few of them had a look of determination, as if aiming to prove to their teacher they had the drive needed.
Once everyone was at the track, Aizawa turned to the students and shouted, "Tenya Iida and Tsuyu Asui, you'll be the first pair to race. This test is more about how fast you can make the fifty meters, again, go to your absolute limits."
As the two students walked up towards the starting line, Izuku was watching them like a hawk. His left hand curled on his chin as he was deep in thought. While he knew or had the basic idea of Tenya's quirk thanks to the noticeable engine exhausts on his calves and his performance at the practical exam. The green-haired girl he had met prior in the classroom was an absolute mystery to him. While he just learned her name by accident thanks to their teacher, his attention was still on her.
The warmth of the blessing enveloped him as he mentally analyzed Tsuyu, using his fingers to keep his muttering to the absolute minimum (an idea given to him by Nezu). His eyes focused on her body movements and her general appearance, noticing her larger hands and feet. Thinking back to the classroom, he remembered a verbal 'tic' of hers as she spoke, making a sound similar to the croak from a frog or toad. As he watched her still, he saw her squat down into a very frog-like position to get ready for the race.
As Izuku was lost in his thoughts and observations, another set of eyes were watching him. Ochako couldn't exactly figure out what Izuku was doing, she had seen him stare at her friend for quite a bit in the classroom, and now he was just staring at her with some kind of look she couldn't quite figure out. The auburn-haired girl would never assume anyone of ill intent. Still, her only interaction with her green-haired classmate was during the practical exam. While he did help her, there was only so much Ochako knew about him, and that worried her.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt the poke of a finger against her upper arm; Ochako turned her head to meet the black sclera eyes of her classmate, Mina Ashido. She was smiling brightly at her as she moved beside Ochako and began to whisper to her, "It's a little freaky, isn't it?"
"Huh?"
"When Midori goes into "analyzing mode."" the pink-skinned girl jabbed her thumb towards the boy, "At first, even me and Kyoka were weirded out about it, but then later we learned it's a bit of a hobby of his since his quirk came in so late." Mina continued to whisper into Ochako's ear gently, both still watching Izuku, "He's really smart and was able to give me a few pointers on how to better utilize my own quirk. As long as you don't mind him asking a few dozen questions or talking your ear off for a while, he'd be more than happy to help you learn something new about your quirk as well."
"But…" Ochako looked to Mina, her face still worried, "The way he's looking at Tsu…"
"Oh! You think he's looking at her negatively?" Mina asked with a tilt of her head, though her smile has faded. Her brow furrowed, she shook her head and sighed, "Nah, Midori isn't like that; in fact, he told me that he found physical mutations caused by quirks to be the most interesting. Like how my skin is super pink due to my acid quirk, as well as my eyes." Mina beamed at her suddenly; her cheeks were now a little purple, "You'd be surprised how easy it is for him to casually flirt by accident."
Ochako's own cheeks erupted into a pink mess and whisper-yelled out, "F-flirt?!"
"Mhmm, he said my eyes were like 'little stars in the vast darkness of space,' I know he didn't mean it to sound like a flirt. He's not the type of guy to just do that willy nilly." Mina smiled gently as she looked to Izuku, who Ochako's eyes also followed suit, "but it felt nice to be complimented like that truthfully."
The auburn-haired girl turned to her pink-skinned classmate who was still looking at Izuku, then returning her gaze back to him before she too began to think it was maybe not for any ill intent he was staring at her friend. Still, she would talk to him about it and perhaps have Mina there with her. It was still rude to stare at someone.
As the two girls continued to watch Izuku, said boy felt a chill run up his back, as if warning him of something in his near future. He snapped out of it as Aizawa fired the pistol to start the race and watched as both Tenya and Tsuyu took off. Tenya was obviously going to be faster, and in fact, seemed to have a burst of speed at about the twenty-five-meter mark, the drone by the finish line calling out his time of three seconds and fifty-two milliseconds.
Izuku's attention went back to Tsuyu after he realized Tenya would finish first. As he did, his eyes widened as Izuku watched her leap and bound, similar to a frog. What was most interesting is that he thought he saw her hang in the air slightly when her jump would be at the apex. Perhaps she had some sort of small 'floating' ability as there were known species of frogs that could glide in the air due to their webbing between their feet. If that was the case, how many 'aspects' of frogs did her quirk possess? His thoughts were interrupted when the drone called out her score of seven seconds and fifty-seven milliseconds.
As the frog girl stood up and dusted herself off, she turned her head towards the others and gave a small thumbs up to Ochako, who smiled and did the same back. However, her attention turned towards Izuku and how he was just looking at her like he had a million questions just eager to spill out; she tilted her head quizzically in return. Still, the gruff voice of her teacher brought her back to reality.
"Head back to the others." Aizawa spoke before yelling out, "Bakugo and Midoriya, you two are next!"
Both teenagers nodded and jogged back to the small gaggle of students while the two called boys made their way towards the starting line. Tsuyu made her way to her reasonably new friend, who smiled brightly at her as she came up, "Tsu!" Ochako said and bounced lightly, "that was amazing! I didn't know you could jump so far."
"Thanks, kero; truth be told, I had hoped to do a little better."
"You did awesome regardless!" Mina spoke up, "Besides, you were up against a guy with freaking engines for legs, so being a little slower isn't the end of the world when you're going against someone who's literal quirk is going fast."
Tsuyu nodded gently, then looked towards the two boys at the starting line, "Who do you think is going to be faster between those two?"
"Between Bakugo and Midori? As much as I want to root for my fellow 'fluff-buddy,' I don't think any of his 'kits' can outspeed literal explosions." Mina crossed her arms, frowning as she stared at Bakugo, "Though I really hope he does beat Bakugo, to be honest."
"Oh? Why do you say that, kero?"
"I don't know, there's something about him that just rubs me the wrong way; plus, since we began this whole test thing, he's been glaring at Midori like him being here offends Bakugo or something." Mina huffed as the small group of girls turned their attention back to the track.
Tsuyu placed a finger on her chin, thinking about how he looked at her when she was coming back to the others, the 'million questions' gaze he had intrigued her, and if they were to pass these tests, she could also ask him things about his own quirk. These 'kits' sounded exciting, and making new friends had been one of her goals when coming to UA, which thankfully she had when she met Ochako after the practical exams.
As Aizawa readied the pistol once again, Tsuyu's interest in the mysterious green-haired boy's quirk would grow following what had happened next, as a blinding light soon enveloped the starting line when the pistol was fired.
Izuku was a bit of a mess as he was walking towards the starting line, not only because he was going to be pit against Bakugo but also of his three kits; none of them were great at crossing great distances.
Sure, His 'red mage' could pull him towards the end of the lane when he was close enough. However, he had no idea how far the limit was before he could even pull off a corps-a-corps, plus Izuku needed to make a good impression here, or else he'd be expelled. Nezu had warned him that the teachers were given free rein in how they taught their classes, and Aizawa obviously was no exception.
It also didn't help that he could feel his mind continually going back to Tsuyu, how her jumping and leaping was just reminding him of something. The feeling and warmth he was getting from Hydaelyn's blessing were just urging him to think about it. Izuku didn't even realize he was at the starting line with Aizawa and Bakugo ready to start.
The blonde boy snarled as his hands began to spark with tiny explosions, reading himself as Aizawa sighed heavily and rose the pistol into the air, "Start when the pistol goes off in 3…"
Izuku froze as he looked at Aizawa, eyes wide in frantic searching before looking down into his hands; oh god, what was he going to do? He hadn't even switched into anything yet!
"2…"
'CRAP! Think Izuku, think! It's evident that Tsuyu's quirk is frog-based, so why are you stuck on it? Is it because of the jumping? Is it because it's like a frog?! What else jumps and leaps? Um.. uh… '
"1…"
'Leaping frogs! Jumping Amphibians! Wait, no, she was gliding partially in her jumps, so flying frogs? Maybe lizards?.. Wait… gliding lizards… flying lizards! Just like a drac-' "AH!"
As that last thought entered Izuku's mind, the pistol went off. While Bakugo had launched off with his explosions, Izuku clenched his head as the motherly voice of the crystalline goddess echoed in his mind before enveloping him in a blinding light.
Aizawa quickly brought his arm up to shield his eyes from the bright light one of his students had let off, squinting to see what the hell was going on as gasps and shouts came from the students that were further away. For a brief moment, he swore he could see a darkened figure leap out of the light and down the track, effortlessly passing Bakugo, who was astonished and angered that someone had passed him.
The drone buzzed with a racer passing the finishing line, leaving a cloud of dust with what sounded like metal skidding across the gravel and obscuring the person that had completed it. Bakugo was still racing, and Aizawa looked to find that Midoriya was no longer at the starting line.
*BZZT* "two seconds and fifteen milliseconds."
Aizawa's attention was brought back to the drone at the end of the track, where the dust was beginning to settle, and his ordinarily tired eyes slowly widened at the sight before him. Where he was expecting his student in the typical navy blue UA gym uniform stood a figure wearing the most wicked looking armor.
It was a mix-match of what looked like scale or plate mail similar to one of those fantasy games on Mic's phone he would often gush about in the break room, with dark matted lavender cloth pieces holding the odd costume together. Parts of the upper armor from what he could see revealed the teenager's body from what Aizawa would assume would be for better mobility, which usually Aizawa wouldn't have too much issue with, but how those shoulder plates seemed to keep close to Midoriya's body was just… odd.
Another striking feature of the boy's new look was the helmet itself. It didn't look like it was made from the same material as the other metallic pieces, almost like leather, yet still held the same colorization and looks like the other pieces. It had an odd sort of beak to it where the teacher could see a small part of the boy's face underneath with two red slits meant for the eyes he suspected, and two large fins adorned on the sides of his head with a "tail" at the back.
It was when Midoriya turned around to face his teacher did Aizawa see the weapon, a fantastical looking spear or lance that had edges that seemed to pulse with a bright purple as he held it. The buzz of the drone with Bakugo's score of four seconds and forty-five milliseconds didn't even phase Aizawa out of his thoughts as he watched his armored student begin walking back to the others, passing by him and not even acknowledging the scruffy man.
"Midoriya."
That single word stopped the boy, who was now only five feet away. Turning towards his homeroom teacher, the sound of what could be heard as skin being peeled back could only be heard as the helmet 'shifted' to reveal the face of Aizawa's student.
Izuku looked with a tired and emotionless face that seemed to match his teacher, his fluffy green hair looking longer now, and straight at the roots but retaining the curls he was known for at the ends, "Yes, sir?"
Aizawa motioned his hand like he was waving over the boy's body, "Explain."
"I was able to 'awaken' another kit from my quirk, sir. This one is dubbed 'Dragoon,' and while I would fully explain it's abilities right now, it would be illogical at this time since there is a schedule to keep." Izuku answered back with a light tone of voice to match his expression. Aizawa merely sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, already getting a headache from the boy, but then looked at him and held out a hand.
"Also, surrender your weapon, while it is a part of your quirk, I rather not risk any accidents. Should you need it for any of the tests, you will only need to ask, understood?"
With no hesitation, Izuku held out the strange spear out to Aizawa, who took it and grunted from the heft and shockingly weighted thing. Once Izuku let go of the weapon, the purple ends dimmed to an almost deep purple color and no longer shone. Holding the spear up now, Aizawa nudged his head towards the other students waiting, some of them looking flabbergasted as they stared at the green-headed boy.
Izuku nodded without another word, answering his teacher's question and acknowledging what was asked of him. As the strange armored boy began to head back, Aizawa turned to Bakugo, who had been silently watching the exchange. Still, he could tell the blonde-haired teenager was seething in anger, "Bakugo, head back to the others."
The boy's red eyes met Aizawa's tired ones, and the only response the teacher got was a huff. As Bakugo walked past, Aizawa sighed silently but heavily to himself.
It was going to be a very long day.
Notes:
Izuku's Dragoon armor is the "Weathered Pteroslaver" Set from the game FFXIV as seen here: https://tinyurl.com/dekudragoon
Also the comparisons Izuku was leading up to where the small lizards that can leap and glide called "Dracos", are found in the jungles of Southeast Asia, and in my mind, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that Japan has some zoo's Izuku could've visited for school trips that had these little guys.
Chapter 9: Eye of the Dragon
Summary:
QAT and a surprise in the locker room!
Notes:
HO there! Welcome back to Bearer of the Light!
So big chapter this time, dealing with the QATs as well as some minor stuff.
Just want to say that we have hit over 10k of collective views on FFN and over 3k on Ao3! :o so THANK YOU ALL for enjoying this story! While I'll admit it has been harder to write recently, it's more my own personal health than anything, but to know people are genuinely enjoying the story is wonderful news for me :D
Without further adieu, let's see get to some reviews (FFN)
Guest 1: Glad you enjoyed the chapter, truthfully I thought it was a good stopping point, so sorry if it did feel a little short :(
draculyn28: Thank you!
ProjectIceman: I honestly had a blast writing that part, because Aizawa is a very smart man. He would have read all the profiles of his student hopefuls to get a better idea of what he's dealing with and to properly train/teach them. And he was right, Izuku is a god damn enigma, his quirk more so.
Honestly, that Dragoon outfit is the best IMO, hence why our green bean is using it.
I do have an account already on Ao3, same name and everything, I just crosspost between there and here to reach a wider audience. :3
Animefan13579: He will at some point, as Tsuyu will bother him about it as well. And while there is the potential of her gaining more frog-like abilities, I am going to keep them closer to canon. So no genderbending aspect or anything that would have extreme body modifications (which includes gliding, but I can fix that easily)
Guest 2: Oh Dark Knight will be introduced, and with it will come quite a big change for Izuku and some of the other characters.
Anyway, here is the new chapter, please enjoy and review :D
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
One would think Momo would already be used to the weird things that would happen to her friend, given his quirk. Even after nearly a year knowing the boy, the raven-haired heiress still couldn't quite figure out everything about him, not like she would often try and pry into his past or get to know him on a more intimate level past their friendship. Still, it bothered Momo that one of her friends was always such a mystery to her, even more so his quirk and the vast ways it just kept saying 'fuck the rules of logic.'
While they had discussed their quirks at length in the past, most of the time, it would often shift away from his and just go back to focus on hers. If there was one thing Momo did not like about Izuku, it was the way he wanted to dodge questions in regards to himself.
As much as she hated to admit it, she would need to find a way to corner him and have him answer her truthfully, especially now that Izuku unlocked a supposed fourth 'kit' and this one just looked 'wrong' to her. Not that she would ever feel any ill will about Izuku, far from it, but the way he carried himself and his general look of 'aloofness' was a little off-putting to her as Izuku had made his way back from the track.
Where was the caring, if timid boy she knew from a year ago? Momo knew that his different forms would alter his personality slightly, but this one seemed just to override that notion as if replacing his character entirely with one that didn't seem to care about anything or anyone in general. When he did rejoin the rest of the class, he was standing front and center, arms crossed and just watching the tests. Some of the boys had attempted to try and talk to him, but all the green-haired boy would do was side-eye them and simply said 'Later' before going back to watching the tests.
Momo brought a hand up to her chest and looked worried before turning towards Mina and Kyoka, who also wore their shared looks of worry. Kyoka looked more upset than anything, huffing gently with her jacks, gently swaying like two little snakes. At the same time, Mina crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.
A red-haired boy soon joined Mina's side as he huffed gently, "Geez, talk about a cold shoulder. You'd think people would be more friendly on the first day."
"He is friendly, Kiri!" Mina turned to the boy beside her, frowning now with her pout, "It's just one of the 'flaws' of his quirk!"
The sharp-toothed boy looked to the pink girl, raising an eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest now, "Wait? How do you know that, Mina?"
"That's Midori!"
"Wait, THAT'S the 'Midori' you kept telling me about?" The boy, identified as 'Kiri,' turned to look at the armored boy with a raised eyebrow, "Huh, from the way you described him, I didn't figure he'd look so..."
"Look so what, Eijiro Kirishima?" Mina glared at the boy now, her hands on her hips as Kirishima's hands rose in surrender.
"So buff and manly! I mean, look!" Kirishima pointed towards Izuku as Mina's eyes followed her friend's finger and her cheeks slowly began to turn a dusty purple. Of course, she already knew that Izuku was pretty buff and built thanks to those photos from the beach Setsuna had taken when she spotted him there cleaning it, but those were almost a year old.
Those photos did no justice to what she saw now.
Mina shook her head to clear it of any thoughts about Izuku's body and what he would look like shirtless, clearing her throat to get Kirishima's attention, "I don't know the reasons why he hides it, but maybe you should ask him for tips! I mean, he could be a potential workout buddy!" She exclaimed softly with Kirishima nodding his head with a giant shark-toothed grin, "But, I'd wait till after this is all over."
"Yea, that's fair… Oh, it's my turn, wish me luck!" Kirishima said as he immediately began to jog towards Aizawa and the small boy with purple balls on his head standing beside the teacher. Mina watched her friend head off before turning her attention back to Izuku, and she crossed her arms over her chest again, looking at him deep in thought before biting her lower lip.
Perhaps she should schedule that class beach trip sooner rather than later.
The morning progressed as one would expect it to, each student pushing their limits to please their teacher and his expectations. Once the fifty-meter dash was completed, the students had moved on the seated toe touches, and unsurprisingly most of the boys didn't do too well with that particular test. Even Izuku could only go so far despite his armor not hindering him in the slightest. Mina and the invisible girl, Tooru, easily bested everyone, followed by Tsuyu and, shockingly, Yuga.
Following that test were the sit-ups and distance running; while the former was pretty standard in the results for most of the students, the distance test set a high bar for a fair amount of students. While only Mineta and Tooru were one of the few that did poorly on this particular test, Aizawa would make a note for future generations of students that one needs actually to run the distance test, and all because of one student, one he didn't even take to consider to be a potential 'problem child.'
Momo Yaoyorozu, heiress to a major industrial company and possibly one of the class's smartest students, with another 'logic-bending' quirk similar to Midoriya's. Who knew that her 'creation' quirk could be pushed to such a degree? It's not like anyone could just create a moped from literally nothing. Aizawa couldn't fault her though, part of the reason he did these tests were to see if the hopefuls would be creative in using their quirks in any way to give them an advantage, and Momo had proven to be resourceful with hers. He knew a few of the students wouldn't be able to utilize their quirks in a creative sort of matter due to said quirk's limitations. Many quirks that involved mutations of one's physical body were proof of this. However, they could be improved upon either by training or by support gear designed with the individual in mind.
What was a little surprising to Aizawa was the fact that Izuku and Tenya had been keeping up to one another in stamina before both dropping out due to exhaustion. One would have thought that the armor the green-haired boy was wearing would have weighed him down, but he could keep up with his peers quite well considering. After Aizawa had waved down Momo to stop, he gestured to a box that was close by full of grip testers. As he watched the students slowly make their way towards the chest, Aizawa had hoped there would be no further surprises with the tests and they would end sooner than later.
Of course, nothing ever goes Aizawa's way.
"Sir." Izuku had come up to the tired teacher, who kept his eyes on the scorepad, reading off the numbers as they came in, the corner of his eye twitching when he noticed the results from the multiarmed giant of a man, Mezo Shoji, which was an astonishing five hundred and forty kilograms.
"What is it, Midoriya? I doubt your weapon will be of use for this test."
"My apologies, sir, but it is not for my lance." replied the teenager staring at Aizawa, the same aloof facial features the teacher shared, though not as tired looking, "I wish to ask two things, Would you prefer I did this without the use of my gauntlet? Considering my peers are using their bare hand- *SKRRT*."
Both student and teacher quickly turned their heads towards the sounds of metal being crushed, only to see that Momo Yaoyorozu had bent the logic of the world once again and created a hydraulic press with her quirk and wholly destroyed the grip tester she was using. After the machine had finished its "cycle" of crushing the device, Momo looked up to see everyone staring at her, which caused the girl to blush and fiddle with the machine's controller.
Izuku turned his head back to Aizawa, "-considering most of my peers are using their bare hands, what would you prefer?"
"Use your bare hand then, Midoriya." Answered Aizawa with a heavy sigh, watching as the teenager began to undo a few straps of the taloned gauntlet and placing it under his other arm once it was off, "what was your second question?"
"My second question is in regards to using my regular strength or using my boosted strength." replied Izuku as Aizawa raised an eyebrow at that, asking a silent question which the boy was immediately able to pick up on, "While my normal strength is equal amongst my other 'kits,' this one offers an ability that boosts my strength, and I would like to put my all into it, however providing a baseline would be ideal for any future tests where I may not be a 'Dragoon.'"
A few more moments passed in silence, the teacher and student staring at one another before Aizawa sighed and nodded. Izuku made his way towards the box of grip testers and pulled one out, fitting it in his hand and taking a slow but deep breath. On the exhale, he squeezed the device hard until he could no longer pull on it, holding it for ten seconds before the final result was displayed on the device, a soft ding going off. Aizawa looked to his score pad before addressing Izuku, "Your base is ninety-eight point nine kilograms."
Izuku nodded and walked a few feet away from Aizawa, which caused the man to raise an eyebrow. As he watched his student getting ready to do something, many of the other students had turned their attention towards the Izuku, eager to see what else his quirk could do.
They were not disappointed.
Izuku's body began to shimmer a bright blue with wisps of smoke coalescing around his body. The smoke grew though, shining brighter as what looked like long serpentine scales coiled around his body before blooming out with what could be described as a 'dull roar' of a mighty beast echoing in the air. Everyone watched as a gentle blue mist still swirled around Izuku, who now took another deep breath, looking at the grip tester and, with no hesitation, squeezed it as tightly as he could.
Everyone could hear the tester's metal squeaking under the pressure as Izuku held it, staining to not fall apart under the boy's grip as what felt like the longest ten seconds finally ended with a wobbly 'ding' noise. Aizawa looked at the score pad in his hand as he could hear the grip test fall apart as soon as the boy released it. Upon finding his latest score, the tired teacher took a deep sigh, muttering something under his breath that Izuku couldn't quite hear, but what he did hear was his results.
"Nine hundred and ninety-seven point six kilograms."
Silence hung in the air for a brief moment as the number processed in everyone's mind before a collective 'WHAT?!' filled the air, as well as few other choice words, even a 'manly' was heard amongst the noise before Aizawa quickly turned his head and activated his quirk to silence them.
Not far from Izuku, who was walking off to stretch as he waited for the next set of tests, Ochako had her mouth open in shock to hear how well the green-boy had done. Sure, the first test was nothing to sneeze at, but when he started to glow blue and then practically crushed the grip tester, she didn't know what to make out of that.
Ochako turned towards Tsuyu, who had been standing beside her about to try her hand at the grip test, "Did you see that, Tsu? He crushed it like All Might would crush a car!" She beamed to her froggie friend, though her excitement slowly faded as she noticed Tsuyu was staring blankly at Izuku. Her already dark beady eyes had shrunken down to almost pinpricks as Tsuyu's gaze continued to watch the boy. However, that ended as a slight shake of her shoulder snapped her out of her daze, and a squeaky 'kero' came out of her throat.
Both girls were blushing, Ochako more so, and after a tense few moments, finally spoke, "Y-you alright, Tsu?"
Though the frog girl's face remained as stoic as ever, the dusting of pink on her cheeks quickly gave away her embarrassment, "I'm fine, kero, let's just finish our tests." Tsuyu said with a finality in her voice, which Ochako silently nodded at, both focusing back onto the grip tests.
"Infinity," called out Aizawa as he held up the counter. Most of the class gave a collective gasp and a few cheers while Ochako blushed and rubbed the back of her head before jogging back off towards the group. As she did, Izuku had already been walking towards the circle with the same expression he had throughout most of the tests, though his cheeks were a little red since the side-step test took a bit out of him.
As Izuku stood in the circle, Aizawa tossed a ball to him, "Now," began the teacher with his stern tone of voice, "No baseline for this one, I want you to give it your ALL, if you hold back, I will expel you."
Izuku stared at his teacher, who was also staring back at him. The air was so tense between the two that you could cut it with a knife as they looked at one another in silence, finally though, Izuku gave a small nod and replied with an 'Understood, sir.'
The green-haired boy looked down to the ball, tossing it in the air a few times before taking a slow and steady breath in. As he exhaled, the blue serpentine mist swirled around him again before blooming out, and the dull roar echoed in the air; the power radiating off of him forced Aizawa to grab his capture scarf, many of the students watching the spectacle also taking a step back, except for a couple of obvious exceptions. Izuku was still silent as he took another breath in, winding his arm into position.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Izuku slowly frowned before opening his eyes again; the 'aloof' expression he had been making the entire testing day morphed into a scowl as he shouted, throwing the ball as hard as he could. As it soared into the air, Izuku looked up to the ball and brought himself into another stance, the blue mist beginning to solidify around him as he shouted, "MIRAGE DIVE!".
As the words left his lips, the dull roar echoed out once again as a beam of light shot out from the green-haired boy's 'mist.' As it did, the shaft morphed into a serpentine body with large glowing wings and chased after the ball, roaring as it did before catching up with the small projectile and pushed it further and at more incredible speed.
Both students and teacher watched as the literal dragon of light soon faded out of sight, and the ball descended to the ground with a visible puff of dirt at the impact. Izuku was panting gently, catching his breath from all the shouting as he heard the ding of Aizawa's measurement device go off; without turning his head, he asked, "How did I do, sir?"
The tired teacher looked at his device, noting it down on his scorepad before looking up to Izuku;. However, his lips were hidden in his scarf, the boy could hear the small smirk in the man's tone of voice, "Two thousand, four hundred and sixty-nine meters."
Izuku gave off a small huff of a chuckle before the sound of an explosion rang out from the cluster of students followed by the scream of one Katsuki Bakugo, "DEEEEEKKKUUUU, YOU BASTARD!"
As if on instinct, Izuku spun himself towards his attacker, his right hand reaching out in the spin towards Aizawa as the lance the teacher was still holding onto yanked itself away and into the boy's waiting grasp, twirling it once before he fully faced his would-be attacker. As he looked upon Bakugo speeding towards him in a cascade of explosions, the blue mist that was still coalescing around him suddenly turned blood red, and Izuku's typically emerald left eye began to glow bright with a similar shade of red.
The presence that Izuku was giving off gave Bakugo pause, skipping to a halt on the gravel. Though he was stopped, he held his hands up threateningly as small explosions kept popping out of his palms as both boys stared down one another. Bakugo's red pupils transfixed onto Izuku's one emerald and one glowing bright red eye, gritting his teeth as the pressure the blonde boy felt was keeping him rooted in place.
Even Aizawa was having an issue standing near Izuku. The pressure the green-haired student gave made it hard for even the veteran underground hero to breathe. The teacher watched Izuku's hand gripped the shaft of the lance tighter. However, it was off to the side and not pointed directly at his attacker; Aizawa knew that with one twist of his body and thrust with his hand, Bakugo could easily be skewered like a shish-ka-bob. When Izuku's lips curled into a snarl, and the tired teacher could hear some kind of 'unnatural and guttural' growl escape the boy's lips, Aizawa activated his quirk first on Izuku, but seeing as nothing changed on the boy, he shifted his gaze over to Bakugo, flinging his capture scarf out and securing him.
"Midoriya. Bakugo. Stand down, or you both will be expelled."
Bakugo kept struggling slightly, his mouth covered, so any words he was shouting were muffled, but eventually stopped trying to escape. Meanwhile, Izuku relaxed his stance and the blood-red mist soon dissipated to blue before vanishing completely; as it did, his left eye soon returned to normal and let out a heavy sigh.
Pulling the bound blonde closer to him, Aizawa deactivated his quirk and looked to Izuku, frowning at him, "While I understand you were responding to a threat Midoriya, never take a surrendered weapon from me or any teacher again. Do I make myself clear?"
Izuku looked to his teacher, the 'aloof' look back once again, "Crystal, sir."
"Good, now go tell the others that the results for the tests are on the display screen outside of the change rooms; if they ask if anyone is getting expelled, explain to them that it was a 'logical ruse' to motivate them. Then to report to the classroom for their syllabus' before having the rest of the day off. I need to speak with Bakugo in private."
Izuku nodded to his teacher as Aizawa pulled Bakugo with him, the blonde-haired boy snarling at Izuku as he was led off. Watching the two leave, the rest of the class soon rushed towards him, a few of them with worried looks and keeping themselves back from the green-haired boy. Still, a few others with Momo, Jiro, Yuga, and Mina were leading the pack.
"Izuku!" Momo called to him, which caught his attention, and turned towards her, placing the lance onto his back, "Izuku, are you ok? What on earth did you do?" Momo continued as she got close, looking him over before staring at his eyes, mainly his left one.
"When Bakugo decided to charge at me, with my "Blood of the Dragon" ability activated, I was able to shift it into a more powerful form called "Eye of the Dragon." Using its presence to halt him in his attack and allow our teacher to subdue him." Izuku answered with his monotone voice as Momo looked over him, her hand on his cheek and chin, turning him left and right as if to check over something, "Is something the matter, Momo? I am not exactly fond of this."
After turning his head back to face her, Momo realized what she was doing and quickly let go, backing up a little and blushing heavily, much to the snickers of Mina and Jiro behind her, "I'm sorry Izuku, but when you did that ability, your left eye was glowing bright red as well! It was worrisome."
"My left eye turned red?" Asked the boy with a tilt of his head, looking at Mina and Jiro, who nodded their heads in agreement with Momo.
"Oui! It was shining like the most dazzling Ruby!" Yuga exclaimed loudly, making Izuku turn his head to him, raising an eyebrow and bringing his gauntleted hand to his chin, thinking upon his friends' words and claims.
"Interesting, something to note for later." Izuku rubbed his chain; as he did so, his body simmered for a moment before exploding into a burst of sparkles, his clothes and hair returning to normal. However, the change caused those who hadn't seen it before to jump back in surprise, which startled Izuku as well, "W-what's wrong?"
"Dude! How did you do that?" asked the blonde boy with the black streak, who was followed closely by a boy with odd-looking elbows and Kirishima. Izuku blinked, looking confused for a moment before gasping lightly and blushing, rubbing the back of his head with a soft chuckle.
"O-Oh? You mean the whole sparkling lights and changing outfits thing? My quirk i-is called 'Manifest' and… I can kinda… sorta... " Izuku began to press his index fingers together, trying to find a good explanation of him switching between the different kits. Though what he heard next, he knew he would never let down, mostly since Mina was present.
"The cool armor and weapon, right?" the blonde body smirks and leans back on his heel, "It's pretty damn cool, though admittedly, it could be seen kinda girly."
"G-girly?!"
"Dude, totally! Not to knock your quirk, but allowing you to change into different outfits and give you awesome powers… that's pretty much something out of a 'Magical Girl' show!" the boy beamed, though everyone else was simply staring at him. Though after a few moments, Mina began to smile, Kyoka was doing her best to not bust out in laughter along with Kirishima and the odd elbowed boy, Momo looked confused when it came to the comparison and poor Izuku?
The poor boy's face paled a ghostly white, his mind racing with thoughts to try and disprove such a notion, but as he processed it in his mind, one thing was adamantly clear.
His new classmate was right. His blessing WAS like something from a magical girl anime. Izuku collapsed onto his hands and knees, muttering up a storm, which kinda freaked out some of his classmates. Still, it was Kyoka to the rescue once again as she jabbed the green-haired boy in the sides with her jacks, "Enough of that, Green! You were acting all 'high and mighty' a few moments ago, and now you're going back into your shell, stop it!"
As Izuku groaned from the jabs and slowly began to pick himself up, with the aid of Tenya and Momo, the odd elbowed boy snapped his fingers, "Yea! I was curious about that." He looked to the still-recovering Izuku, "What's the whole deal when you, well, 'transform' for the lack of a better term into the different armor and weapons. No offense, but up until that point where you were jumping like a maniac, you were giving off this whole timid but friendly attitude."
Once he finished dusting himself off, Izuku looked to the curious boy, "W-well… when I shift into my 'kits,' it's what I call them, certain aspects of my personality traits kinda get… rearranged, I guess is the best description."
"That's pretty funky, not going to lie, but the way you blew some of those tests out of the water was MANLY!" exclaimed Kirishima, who had made his way towards Izuku and grabbed his shoulders, shaking the poor boy, "We totally gotta work out at some point! I can tell you must have an intense routine already!"
"Kiri! Stop shaking him, or you'll break him!" Mina pouted and attempted to free her timid friend from her excited friend. Kirishima stopped shaking Izuku and released him, chuckling out an apology. It was then that he introduced himself to Izuku, as well as the blonde-haired boy and the one with the odd elbows, Denki Kaminari and Hanta Sero, respectfully.
Just as Izuku was about to ask them about their own quirks, Momo had gently tapped his shoulder and got his attention, "Izuku, I'm sorry for bugging you, but what did Mister Aizawa say before he left with Bakugo?"
Izuku blinked for a few moments before that familiar blush dusted across his cheeks as he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "R-right, thank you for reminding me, Momo." He turned his attention back to the others, clearing his throat, and took a deep breath.
'O.k. you got this Izuku, just like Mr. Yagi and the dean taught you.'
"Everyone!" shouted Izuku, his voice wavering a bit, and he could feel his nerves beginning to get the better of him with everyone's eyes upon him; he gulped silently before continuing, "Mr. Aizawa said that our results are on the Display screen outside of the change rooms, A-and that no one is going to be expelled because it was… um… a-a "logical ruse to make sure we drove ourselves to do our best." As everyone gave a collective sigh when he said that, Izuku internally beamed, thinking maybe this public speech thing wasn't so hard.
"Our syllabus' are in the homeroom for us to take after we change, and then we have the afternoon off!" He finished, and once again, all the other students cheered and began to head towards the change rooms. Just as Izuku was about to head there himself, he was stopped when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. Turning his head to see who had stopped him, the smile he had faltered slightly but still remained, "Oh, Mina! I-is something wrong?"
Izuku asked this as his usually smiling pink-skinned friend gave him a stern pout, indicating something was wrong. He watched Mina point towards Tsuyu and Ochako, and he raised his eyebrow at her, "You were staring too much at Tsuyu during the first test we did, and it spooked poor Ochako! Now you go march over there and apologize, mister!"
"B-but I wasn't… I didn't mean… I w-was only-"
"I know, Midori…" Mina said with a gentle but exasperated sigh, "I know you didn't mean any harm by it, and I explained it to Ochako, but as we told you before, some people WILL get creeped out by you analyzing them like that. So go apologize, and maybe after we all move into the dorms, you can sit down and do your 'million questions about quirks' thing with them." She smiled at Izuku, who now sported his own pout, and looked away, mumbling out an 'I don't ask that many questions.'. She gently nudged him forward, indicating for him to go, which he began to jog towards the two girls, calling to them to get their attention.
Mina watched as he began to speak to them, obviously flustered and bowing down in apology to them. Her mind was on other thoughts as she began to head her own way towards the change rooms.
She definitely needed to move that beach trip sooner than later.
Meanwhile, having caught up to the two girls, Izuku was currently bowing towards them, hastily trying to explain himself, not hearing Ochako or Tsuyu calling out his name. That was until he felt a flick on his head that caused him to stand back up, grunting a little in pain.
"About time we got your attention, Kero." Tsuyu said with her usual tone of voice, "Now, try and explain slowly. We couldn't understand a word you were saying when you were bent over."
"R-Right, well… as I was saying, I-i wanted to apologize for staring too much earlier. Mina m-mentioned it to me just now and h-how I made Uraraka upset."
"Well," Ochako said, crossing her arms over her chest, "She did say why you were doing it and told me to give you the benefit of the doubt."
Tsuyu looked first to Ochako, then her gaze went back to Izuku, "Why were you staring at me then, kero? I may be used to such things, but I would like the honest truth."
Izuku blushed gently, tapping his index fingers together a few moments, before taking a slow but steady breath, "S-since I was little, I've always been fascinated by quirks… like how they worked or how the human body had to adapt to them. As I got older, it became such an interest for me that I began to analyze quirks in-depth… it had its drawbacks, however, as I tended to m-mutter to myself and hyper-focus on one particular person."
The two girls nodded and waited for him to continue, "My quirk, 'Manifest,' also… p-plays a part in it. Because I am a late-bloomer, sometimes one person will take up my entire focus due to a ... erm... let's say "pull" I get and cannot stop focusing on them and their quirk." Izuku looked to Tsuyu, who tilted her head when his gaze met hers, "I-it's thanks to Asui here that I was able to unlock a new 'kit' for my quirk... The one you saw today, which is called 'Dragoon.'"
After his explanation, both girls simply stared at the boy, Ochako blinking in surprise while also now fully understanding what Mina had meant and smiled sweetly at him. Tsuyu, on the other hand, had placed a finger on her chin, thinking for a moment before staring directly into Izuku's eyes to see if he was earnest, "You say that because of my quirk, which is simply me having the abilities of a frog, allowed you to become that powerful 'Dragoon' person?"
"'Simply having'? Asui, your quirk is amazing!" Izuku said with no hesitation, moving a little closer to her and locking his gaze with hers, "You were able to toss the ball with just the strength of your tongue and got an amazing score, not only that but how far you can leap, jump and glide shows just how much hard work you must have put in to get into UA!" The green-haired boy smiled brightly at the frog girl, whose cheeks had a small dusting of pink across them. Seeing this, however, Izuku's own face began to turn red, and he back off, chuckling nervously, "S-Sorry about that, but like I said, quirks really fascinate me."
Tsuyu stared at Izuku for a moment, her cheeks returning to their usual color as she spoke, "Midoriya, I tend to speak my mind, so I am going to start off to say that staring at people for too long may give them the wrong impression and be a little creepy, kero." spoke the frog girl, watching Izuku gently slump forward.
"However, I can tell you are a good person at heart, and it's part of your quirk that you may not be able to help with. Much like myself when I was younger with my croaks, people would find them odd."
"Why? To be honest, your little ribbits are pretty cute to me and just another interesting aspect of who you are."
Both girls blinked, staring at Izuku, who tilted his head in confusion as he didn't realize what he just admitted. The blush of Tsuyu's returned with a vengeance, while in Ochako's mind, she couldn't help but think back to what Mina had told her about Izuku being an accidental flirt. After a few moments of silence, and Izuku still looking unaware of what he said, Tsuyu cleared her throat.
"Kero, thank you… regardless, I accept your apology Midoriya, and please call my Tsu as I would like all my friends to do so."
"Y-your welcome, As-Tsu! Ehehe… sorry, it may take me a while to adjust to that." Izuku chuckled gently, "You can call me Izuku as well since you're allowing me to call you Tsu." He then looked to Ochako, who had been silently watching the two. He smiled at her, and she politely returned it, "And you can too, U-uraraka, if you want, of course."
"Of course! And you can call me Ochako; I mean, you did save my life and heal me during the exam after all." She beamed a smile as well, causing both Tsuyu and Izuku to squint slightly from how bright it was. A soft gasp coming from the brunette refocused the two, "Oh yea! You promised to explain your quirk with Iida, Aoyama, and me, but you were rushed off before you could."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "Y-yea, and I plan to keep that promise, but perhaps when w-we all move into the dorms proper, I'd be glad to go over it with you three, and T-tsu as well, if you're interested."
"Sure, kero, after all, I want to know how I helped unlock that 'Dragoon' thing for you." Tsuyu spoke as she began to walk away from Izuku and Ochako, "But let's go see our results first, then make plans, kero."
Both teenagers looked to one another, nodded, and followed their new froggy friend.
"So! Did he apologize properly?" Mina asked after pulling down her shirt over her head, smoothing it out the casual black t-shirt with the neon rainbow text of 'ACID' across her chest; she was looking at Tsuyu and Ochako, who was in the middle taking off their gym shirts, her black sclera eyes taking in lovely views of both girls quickly before quickly looking up at their faces.
With her back turned towards the others, Tsuyu had reached into her locker for her regular shirt, then looked to Mina, "He did, Kero, even gave a small explanation that I helped him 'unlock,' I guess would be the correct term, that Dragoon thing."
"Apologize?" Momo asked as she walked back from the sinks to make sure her ponytail was redone correctly after changing out from the gym uniform.
Mina turned her head to Momo, her arms crossed over her chest, and sighs, "Yea, Midori was doing his 'analysis' thing again on Tsuyu and freaked out Ochako when he was staring."
"Ah." was all Momo had said, sighing gently to herself. She had been trying to help Izuku break that little habit of his ever since they first met, but it was so ingrained that it was proving difficult. Though admittedly, Momo did find another aspect of Izuku cute in a way, especially with how excited he got when he discussed the quirks he saw or observed.
"He kinda scares me." spoke Tooru as she was tying up the shoelaces of her sneakers, "Not to be rude or anything, but the way his quirk works and changes his personality like that, plus how that power around him made him feel so intimidating." The invisible girl shivered slightly, which Mina went directly towards her and gave the poor girl a gentle hug.
" I can understand that really I do, but Midori is such a sweetheart!" Mina spoke as she 'looked' at the quivering girl, "And even I was a little frightened when those weird mist things swirling around him appeared, but I can say with one hundred percent that Midori is an awesome guy, though a little dense at times." the pink-skinned girl beamed a smile, which seemed to calm down Toru somewhat.
"Still though, when his left eye was glowing red when that Bakugo tried to attack him, and that mist stuff turned red too, the pressure he was giving off…"
"Speaking of that," Kyoka spoke up, putting on her jacket with the band 'Deep Dope' stitched on the back, "What was that idiot's beef with Green, anyway? Who just attacks someone randomly like that?"
"I don't think it was random." Tsuyu spoke up, fixing up her light green skirt and standing up to face the other girls, "Throughout the tests, Bakugo kept staring and watching Izuku, always with a frown or a snarl whenever he was beaten by him, kero. That and the odd nickname of "Deku" would suggest they know each other previously, Also…" the frog girl looked to Kyoka, who raised an eyebrow at the sudden attention, "He also knew what Bakugo's quirk was before he tossed the ball, and how loud they were when he covered your ears to protect you. That would also suggest they knew each other before UA and that Izuku already analyzed him."
As the girls all looked to one another, taking in the words of the green-haired girl as she continued, "What the nature of their relationship is, I don't want to assume the worst… but I can bet it was very negative." She looked towards Mina, Kyoka, and Momo then, "You three have known Izuku longer than the rest of us. Has he ever mentioned Bakugo before?"
"No, in fact, he usually avoids talking much about his past, at least when I've asked him." Mina said, looking at Kyoka, who nodded her head in agreement; they both turned to Momo, "You knew him longer than us, Momo… did you ever ask him anything about his old schools or friends?"
Momo rose a hand up to her chest, thinking for a moment, "Well, I've only known him for a little less than a year. There was one time another of our group, Setsuna, had asked about any other friends Izuku had aside from myself and her at the time, to know if they enjoyed talking about quirks as well and perhaps meeting up…" Momo's face slowly saddened at the memory, all the girls catching on that something was off, "He looked so down and distant then, his eyes were almost glazed over and since then we never brought it up."
Now with the mood in the room ruined by that revelation, as well as the implications in regards to how Bakugo reacted, the silence was interrupted by the loud shutting of Kyoka's locker door that rattled within the small room, the purple-haired rocker turned towards the group, more specifically Toru, "Look, trust us when we say that while Green's personality can take a different turn at times, he's generally a good guy that often doesn't know what he's saying most of the time."
"W-what do you mean 'doesn't know what he's saying most of the time'?" asked the invisible girl, looking between her and the other two that knew the boy more. Mina giggled gently at what Kyoka was referring to, while Momo gently blushed and continued to get dressed. Ochako, Toru, and Tsuyu merely blinked, confused, until the auburn-haired girl gasped and then giggled gently.
"Ooooh, I get it!" Ochako said, "Mina told me about this, and sure enough, you were right!"
"Oh. My. God!" Kyoka groaned, and her head rested against the locker door again; Toru jumped when the loud bang from the metal echoed.
"What? What was Mina right about?" asked the invisible girl, feeling the bench she was on shift slightly as Ochako went to sit beside her. If one could see her, they would see that Toru had her head tilted in confusion because of the smile beaming off of Ochako.
"So, Mina mentioned to me that Izuku was an 'accidental flirt,' and when he was talking to Tsu and me earlier, he complimented the ribbits she made and called them cute and said, 'they were just another interesting aspect of who you are.'. And oh my gosh, he said it with such a straight face and clearly didn't realize what he did!" Ochako bounced in excitement, joined in by Mina and Toru, who cooed and joined in the bouncing.
"You know, if I already didn't know him and how dense he can be when it comes to romance, I'd swear he was doing it on purpose and trying to sweep every girl he meets off of their feet," Kyoka grumbled loudly, sighing with exasperation in regards to how dense the green bean she was friends with could be. The locker room erupted into loud giggles at her comment but was thoroughly silenced with what was said next.
"I wouldn't mind that, kero."
All the girls looked at the green-haired frog girl with eyes widened in shock; she returned their gazes with her own emotionless one, "While he may have done it by accident, I could tell he was honest with what he said about me and my ribbits, kero. Izuku, while timid at times, can be very passionate about what he loves. Though his personality does change when he switches into this different 'kits' of his, from what we witnessed today to how Ochako spoke about him and his actions during the entrance exam to me, he's clearly much more than just timid… which is cute in its own way, kero."
Tsuyu picked up her bag and shut her locker door before turning back to look at her fellow classmates, "When he used that 'blood of the dragon' ability for the first time, the blue one, I could feel a powerful presence off of him but one that seemed to be protective in a way as well. While he may analyze quirks, he sees them as another aspect of a person, instead of defining them like many people do nowadays. I don't think I need to explain how often I've been looked down upon due to my mutation. Still, Izuku didn't see me as the person mutated by her quirk… he saw me as a person, kero, plain and simple, even called my ribbit's cute." Tsuyu blushed gently as the others kept listening to the girl speak her mind.
"While I am clearly not going to pursue anything romantic as of yet, considering this IS the first day of university, I am going to get to know him better, see where this all leads too." Tsuyu continued while looking over the girls before her, " And, if I am going to be honest, which I tend to do, kero." The frog girl giggled low in her throat that sounded like a bunch of little ribbits, "For someone, we assume to have gone through a very rough life, with people like Bakugo around to try and keep putting him down, and yet still comes out looking on the brighter side of life… well, kero, that's very attractive to me." With that, the frog girl turned around and headed towards the door of the locker room, stopping suddenly as she gripped the door handle, turning her head back, "It also helps that he has a cute butt, kero kero." and quickly opened and shut the door behind her.
The rest of the girls looked flabbergasted at the now-closed door until Mina cleared her throat to snap everyone out of their collective shock, "W-well, she's not wrong about how Midori with that last part… if he's had to deal with Bakugo for most of his life, how Izuku acts all timid makes total sense now, plus the fact that he still comes out as strong and passionate as he does despite all that crap is admirable."
The collective agreements echoed from all the girls as they began to grab their own bags, shut their locker doors, and head out. Kyoka stopped in her tracks to see that Momo was simply staring into her locker; she walked over to the heiress and lightly tapped her bare shoulder with a jack, "Earth to Momo, You there?"
Momo gasped and jumped a little, blushing slightly and turned toward the punk rocker. She gave a soft smile while calming down, "Y-yes, my apologies Kyoka… just something on my mind at the moment, but we can talk about it later, alright?"
Kyoka stared at Momo for a few moments, then sighed and nodded, "Alright, but hurry up, or else you'll be left behind… I'll wait for you outside the door, so we can walk back to class together."
"Of course, thank you, Kyoka."
And thus, Kyoka left the room, and once Momo was sure she was alone, she sighed heavily, resting her head against the locker door. After hearing Tsuyu confess about liking Izuku and how after one day knowing him, the frog girl had figured out so much about him that Momo had missed, and she knew him for a longer set of time!
She was disgusted at herself for not seeing the signs or putting two and two together, but now she also felt slight heartache for how much he must've suffered. She was supposed to be training to be a hero, and yet she couldn't tell that one of her closest friends was hurting!
What hurts worse yet was that now another girl was going to attempt to claim Izuku for herself. Someone was going to try and take HER knight.
'Well...' Momo thought, closing the locker door with her school bag in one hand.
'Two can play at that game.'
Notes:
Here are the results of the QAT for those interested:
1. Momo Yaoyorozu
2. Izuku Midoriya
3. Shoto Toderoki
4. Tenya Iida
5. Katsuki Bakugo
6. Fumikage Tokoyami
7. Mezo Shoji
8. Eijiro Kirishima
9. Mina Ashido
10. Ochako Uraraka
11. Tsuyu Asui
12. Koji Koda
13. Rikido Sato
14. Mashirao Ojiro
15. Yuga Aoyama
16. Hanta Sero
17. Kyoka Jiro
18. Denki Kaminari
19. Toru Hagakure
20. Minoru Mineta
Chapter 10: Deep Thoughts and Scare Tactics
Summary:
Kyoka thinks upon two of her closest friends, and the class meets their new dorm manager!
Notes:
Finally, it's Chapter 10 of Bearer of the Light!
Annnnnd it's honestly pretty tame compared to the QAT's, huh?
Well, don't worry as for the next chapter, it's Battle Trails and HO BOY.. that's gonna be a biggy.
Anyway, hope everyone has been doing alright, and once again thank you for reading my silly little crossover fic.
ONTO THE REVIEWS! (FFN obviously):
Qwho: Her knight, indeed ;D
Masterblade47: Oh trust me, for certain people, that eye is going to mean they are about to have a bad time. Thank you for the compliment and yea, I'm honestly a little scared about the romance part of the story truthfully since this will be my more serious attempts at it. Want to make it believable, you know?
SSJ-Jolt: Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised at this point.
AnimeFan13579: As the great wise man, Abraham Simpson once said "A little from column A and a little from column B". But More from A if you catch my drift ;)
Xerzo LotCN: Hello! hope you enjoy it here as much as you did on Ao3!
Before I go, I'd like to call out a few writers that I think you all should enjoy:
Evil Angel: He's the writer of such awesome MHA fics like "Blood of the Moonborn", "Songs of Tomorrow", "Emerald Ignition", "My Reality is How you see me", and "Concupiscent Cravings". And I strongly recommend those fics when you have a chance. [If your over the age of 18 of course as most of those fics are mature]
3wolves: author of "The Monsterous Hero: Goliath", an excellent Izu/Tsu which helped me get the drive to write in the first place.
Pizzaplate: Author of "The Devil is in the Details" an MHA/Warhammer 40k fic that has both elements of the main universe of WH40k, but also some of every Popular "If the Emperor had a Text to Speech device" and is awesome!
You can find these fic's here on Ao3 so go look them up and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Kyoka would think she'd have a decent understanding of the people she was friends with. Sure, Mina and Setsuna were easy to figure out, as both were hopeless teases and knew just how to push someone's buttons, and it was Mina that helped her discover things about herself.
Granted, that was a one time deal, and it helped both girls become better friends since both learned more about one another during the 'date.' For Kyoka, it was knowing that while Mina loved to breakdance, she was also taking lessons in other forms of dancing to keep in shape and using those said dancing techniques with her quirk.
Meanwhile, Mina had learned that though Kyoka loved to play the guitar and bass, the earphone jack user could also play many classical instruments. Violins, trumpets, harps, flutes, to name a few, though she preferred her guitar more than anything, and the way Kyoka sang? When even the ever flirty Mina is left a blushing mess after the song, you know how good one would consider the punk rocker.
The kiss she got afterward also helped.
While nothing more than a tighter friendship came out between the two women, Kyoka was still someone troubled by how her two new friends acted not only with one another but also with others.
Izuku was easy to figure out; while he was mostly timid and shy, he was an amiable boy. He was quick to apologize for everything, like if he made a small little mistake that he needed to make a grand gesture of apology. Honestly, it annoyed Kyoka quite a bit originally, especially given how she first met him when he was in his 'gunbreaker' form.
However, after the little discussion in the change room that happened not even ten minutes ago, and from what Tsuyu had hypothesized, Izuku did not have an easy life. Given how that blonde asshole acted towards him and pretty much outright attacked him, it made clear sense why the green-haired boy was a ball of nerves most of the time. And Tsuyu was also correct regarding Izuku, and the fact that he still pushed on and always have such positivity to him was really admirable.
You could see it when he was using his different kits, his Paladin one moreso. His smile was always so bright, like nothing wrong would go wrong, and he was there to make sure. Admittedly, Kyoka loved that smile of his and was one reason why she kept trying to badger him to stop thinking so negatively about himself. Granted, it wasn't the only thing she loved about him… his determination to be a hero, how hard he worked to get his body in shape for the entrance exams, and to follow said dream. However, he looked pretty buff already when they first met.
There was also the fact that Izuku actually treated and thought of her as a girl, which sadly was not common to the punk rocker throughout her childhood. She had some guy friends in the past but mostly only thought of her as another boy, which hurt Kyoka's feelings quite often. It wasn't until she met Mina that someone outside of her parents and other family members treated her how she wanted to be, a woman with a tomboy-like personality (which probably didn't help now that she thought about it) but also had a sense of femininity to her.
However, after meeting Izuku, Kyoka noticed that he reacted to her similarly to the others within their small group. When she confronted him about it, citing she didn't have the curves like the others and didn't act all girly like Mina. And what followed something was genuinely awe-inspiring and caused Kyoka to blush brightly for a moment at the memory.
Izuku, mister 'timid and shy' himself, had given her a small lecture explaining how despite not looking "curvy" like their other friends, she was still a stunning woman. For a straight ten minutes, he would compliment her looks, personality, and how she held herself in her confidence and kept it very tame and respectful while also keeping the straightest and honest face.
This was where Kyoka learned about his "accidental flirting," and by the rock gods did her heart skip a few beats while he gave her this lecture. Thankfully, while stammering and blushing madly, she was able to halt the boy's talking with her hand on his mouth, which also caused his face to turn a neon red.
Smirking to herself, her gaze shifted over to the taller girl walking beside her, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.
This was another issue that Kyoka seemed to be having; looking ahead once more, her thoughts went to the feelings she had toward the young heiress.
If there was one word that the purple-haired punk rocker could describe Momo, it would be "goddess." The woman basically exuded the best qualities of a woman: Intelligence, beauty, and charm, just to name a few, and that confidence she had when it came to her quirk usage and how she was able to keep up with Izuku's mutterings, which even with her enhanced hearing, Kyoka still hadn't even managed to thoroughly pick it up from time to time.
Regardless, she sighed to herself, thinking how Momo would react if Kyoka had the guts to confess her feelings. At best, Momo would be polite and tell her that she saw her as only a friend, making things awkward for a while. At worst… she'd probably lose said friendship. It also didn't help that Kyoka was also crushing on the same boy as the heiress.
It was no secret that Momo was crushing hard on Izuku, how often she would blush at even the tiniest compliment he'd give her or how much her heartbeat sped up when they were going back and forth in their discussions. However, Kyoka noticed that Momo could get jealous quickly when a girl would get close to Izuku. One example was when Setsuna and Mina were teasing and flirting hard with the boy one particular day. However, that second part often flew over the boy's head. It seemed they had immediately stopped when both girls could 'feel' the aura of jealousy that Momo had radiated off her.
It was one of the reasons why Kyoka had yet to confess her feelings to Izuku and her crush on Momo at the same time.
Why was love so complicated?
The laughter coming from behind the door to Class 1-A snapped her out of her thoughts; mentally sighing again and adorning the classic Kyoka expression of 'uncaring' look, she turned to Momo, who seemed to have been knocked out of her own thoughts.
"Welp, we better get used to this… I swear it's going too loud at the dorms. Let's hope the dorm manager can keep some of these knuckleheads in line."
"Now, Kyoka, it's rude to talk about our fellow classmates like that." Momo pointed out with a gentle smile on her lips, "But yes, I do hope they are to keep up with some of the more… 'rowdy' ones."
"And gods help them if they have an interesting quirk." Kyoka mused as she reached out to the large door, Momo giggling softly at that, knowing full well what would happen. As the door slid open, the two women looked on to see many of their classmates laughing loudly at some kind of joke. The punk rocker scanned the room and raised an eyebrow as she walked towards the small group by her desk, "Yo, where's Green?"
"Green?" asked Kirishima, who had stopped laughing at an anecdote Mina had been telling him, "Oh! You mean Midoriya? Yea, he got a text message when we were changing and had to book it." the red-headed boy with shark teeth shrugged, "By the time we came back, his syllabus was already gone, so was Bakugo's now that I think about it."
"Ugh, fantastic…" Kyoka sighed gently, "I guess when Mr. Aizawa said no one was getting expelled, that included him."
"In any case, what was everyone's plan going to be after this? I was thinking of visiting the cafeteria and getting some lunch before checking out the dorms." Momo spoke up as she looked to the small group of her classmates, eager to change the subject away from the missing blonde.
"Yea, that sounds like a good idea, would help see what we are dealing with when we start moving in." Sero replied as he crossed his arms in front of him, "Don't wanna pack too much stuff and find out it won't all fit."
A loud stomach growl echoed across the classroom. The room was going silent as everyone turned towards the culprit, which was Momo and was a blushing mess. Mina smiled at her friend, walking up and wrapping her arm around her shoulder and giving the heiress a soft side hug, "Not surprising that your super hungry, Yaomomo, given how much you created today during those tests." She let go of Momo and rose her first up, "Let's go eat!"
A collective cheer rang out in the classroom; even the ever silent Todoroki had joined in, though he was still as expressionless as ever.
Groans of pure delight came out of the students of Class 1-A as they were walking towards their dorm. No one had considered that the chef of UA's cafeteria would be the pro hero "Lunch Rush." The food he prepared for every student was just so delicious it was hard to stop going back for seconds or thirds!
Fifths and sixths in Momo's case.
Some of the students were idly chatting, talking about how full they were or how tasty even just the plain white rice was when Tenya suddenly spoke aloud and caught everyone's attention.
"Ah, here we are! The 'Heights Alliance' dorms for Class 1-A" spoke the blue-haired teenager, his arm waving in the arm like a robot, which at this point everyone in the class assumed was another tick that the students would have to get used to. As they began to make their way to the front doors, someone they didn't expect had already slammed open the entrance door and stormed out, his face a clear sign of anger similar to how he had looked to the class earlier in the day. Still, they did notice his complexion being paler than usual.
"MOVE IT, EXTRAS!" screamed Bakugo as he pushed past a few of them and speedily walked towards the front gate of the University. Many of the students groaned and sighed as they remembered they would have to put up with the blonde from now on. Tenya was the first to recover and cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention again.
"Let's… put aside Bakugo's behavior for now and go inside; perhaps our new dorm manager is someone that can keep him in line."
"I dunno, dude." Kaminari spoke up, hands behind his head as he walked towards the entrance, "Kinda hard to keep a guy with a short fuse and can toss out explosions in line that easily."
"Well, regardless, let's head inside," Momo spoke up and walked into the building, thanks to Tenya holding the door for everyone.
As the entire class walked inside, they were all gasping and taking in the beautifully decorated floor. By the entrance, one could find an organized, although empty, coat room where lockers marked with their class numbers adorned on gold plates awaited their rain/winter coats and boots. Just past that was a large open space with a giant LCD TV and entertainment center sitting against the wall facing towards the dining area. In front of the TV were several soft and comfortable looking couches and loveseats, with two coffee tables spaced evenly between them. Across the way, several of the students were checking out the very spacious kitchen area with its vast array of cupboards and lazy susan hideaways that formed a 'U' shape counter to separate it and the dining area. What marveled them more was the three large and brand new looking stoves that lined against the wall, with one large fridge and a gaping empty spot beside it close by.
And sitting in the dining area, where the students came to look upon a giant wooden dining table and twenty-two matching chairs lined and wrapping around it. However, two of said chairs were occupied by two people, a man and a woman, who were mildly chatting and talking over tea.
The man could be best described as a skeleton wearing a yellow suit two sizes too big on him, his blond hair wild with two large bangs hanging over his gaunt face. At the same time, his eyebrows casted dark shadows over his eyes; one could see the bright blue irises shining from within those shadows that, for some reason, made the students feel 'safe.' The woman sitting next to him, giggling gently from what may have been a joke told before the students came in, was a shorter woman with shoulder-length deep green hair, though a short ponytail could be seen from the back of her head.
The silent question running through everyone's head since looking upon her was immediately answered when Momo walked forward and spoke, "M-Ms. Midoriya? What are you doing here?"
"Hmm? Oh! If it isn't Momo, so good to see you dear." spoke the now identified Inko Midoriya, who said something to the man beside her in a whisper who nodded back, possibly to just excuse herself while she went to go meet the students. As she walked towards them, her true height revealed that she was on the shorter side. Still, the smile she beamed was very familiar to a few of the students and cemented that this was Izuku's mother.
"It's good to see you too, Ms. Midoriya… but I am still curious as to why you are here, not to be rude, of course."
"That's alright, Momo; I can understand the confusion, given that it would be odd for one of your classmates' mother to be here on the first day," Inko spoke gently before turning her attention to the other students, a few she had quickly put names to their faces now, given Izuku's descriptions of them during the year that he was training. The older woman turned and faced the others, bowing gently before raising up, "Good afternoon everyone, my name is Inko Midoriya."
The class bowed and welcomed her back; Inko smiled at this and held her hands in front of her as she continued, "So before we get started on the dorm orientation, I'll tell you a little about myself."
"As some of you may have guessed, Yes, I am Izuku's mother. I am a widower, and my former occupation was as a registered nurse at the hospital in Musutafu prefecture. The hours were very long, but it was very meaningful work, and I loved helping those that came in, even met a few pro heroes at times when they came in injured." Inko giggled gently, remembering how she would often try to get an autograph for Izuku once the pro heroes were discharged, "Anyway, I've been hired by UA to not only be an assistant to Recovery Girl but also as Class 1-A's dorm manager!"
"Weren't you calling yourself 'dorm-mother' but a few moments ago?" spoke the skeletal man from the table, who followed up his comment with a dry chuckle. Inko turned around to face him and gasped with fake indignation and a soft blush on her face.
"Toshinori! You weren't supposed to say that yet!" The older woman pouted at him but then realized that she had a class full of students still, so she turned around and chuckled nervously, then cleared her throat.
"Yes, well, as Mr. Yagi has just said, I would prefer the term 'dorm-mother' since we will all be living here for quite a while, and it seems more friendly than 'manager.'" she continued as the sound of a chair moving back made her ears twitch, "and the gentleman behind me is Mr. Toshinori Yagi, he's another one of the staff here at UA as Nezu's assistant as well as personal secretary to All Might."
The man smiled as some of the students gasped at the mention of All Might; a few of them began to ask questions about the Pro Hero before Toshinori raised his hand up to quiet them down,
"Now, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions at a later date, but I must get back to the dean and finish up some paperwork that All Might may have missed; this is his first teaching job, so I please ask you be patient with him." The skeletal man turned to Inko, "and thank you again for the tea, Inko, and I am glad to see you and young Midoriya have adjusted well to the dorm suites already."
As she waved him off and told Toshinori not to fret about them, a bang on the door caught everyone's attention. The small boy with purple balls on his head spoke up, "I got it.". As he went towards the door, the small boy screeched loudly, "HOLY HELL?! What are you carrying?"
"It's the second refrigerator, the other one had a busted motor, and I was asked to bring a new one, and thank you Mineta." Izuku spoke as he walked in holding the large boxed appliance in his arms as they flexed with the 'heavy' load they were carrying; his legs tightened with every step he took as he casually strolled towards the kitchen, smiling at his classmates, "Hey everyone… sorry I can't properly greet you…" his attention turned to his mother, "And sorry it took so long, they had delivered the unit to Lunch Rush, but it was also late, so I asked if he needed help during the lunch hour until it came in."
"It's fine honey, do you need any help with that?" Inko asked, her hand close to her chest in worry, but he beamed a smile at her in reassurance.
"Actually, yes… it would make it easier to lift the fridge out of the box with some help." He looked back to his classmates, and Tenya was the first one to immediately pick up on the gesture.
The blue-haired boy turned to the others and, with a wave of his arm, spoke loudly once again, "Yes! It is our duty as students of UA to help out a fellow classmate; I shall aid you, Midoriya, but we should keep the group small, any volunteers?"
"I'm in!" Kirishima shouted out as he went to stand beside Midoriya, turning towards the other boys, "C'mon! The sooner we get this done, the quicker we can check this place out!"
Some of the other boys nodded, and soon Kaminari and Sato joined the small group as they all headed into the kitchen. Izuku placed the box down, and they all immediately began to get to work. Inko smiled softly, watching some of the others helping out her son, then turned her attention back to the remaining fifteen, "While they do that, I'll explain the rules of the dorms and some other little things."
"First, while I shouldn't need to say it as we are all adults, but while I have no issue with quirk usage in the dorms, please do be careful. Accidents happen, and I'd rather you come to inform me as soon as possible than try and hide it."
"Secondly, there is a curfew set in place for 10 p.m. this means that anyone outside of the dorms must be back before then unless you have been given permission to stay out longer. If you are off-campus and are going to be late, again, call me and let me know."
"Third, a chore list will be set up starting Monday, and while it may need to change due to internships and work placements, as long as we can all coordinate on this, there should be no issue."
"Fourth, there is a garden behind the building that was being taken care of by the graduates from last year, and everyone here is responsible for it, including me. This will help alleviate some costs in regards to vegetables during the summer months."
"Fifth, There is to be no fighting outside of training or in the dorms." Inko said with a touch of venom to her voice as well as gleam within her eye, sending shivers down everyone's spines, including Tosnhinori, who had kept standing beside her while she did her speech, "Arguments happen, and tempers flare, but we are all adults here, and I WILL get involved in disputes before it gets physical. Dean Nezu has also authorized me to prevent any physical altercations using my quirk."
"W-what is your quirk, Ms. Midoriya?" asked a somewhat frightened Mineta, eyes slightly bulging and his knees shaking. He flinched when she turned her gaze to him; something within her glare made the wish for the end right there.
"My quirk is that I can attract small things to me. Be it a pen, a novel, remote control… nerve endings. I don't need to visually see what I pull on. My training as a medical professional has allowed me to 'tug' on the small parts of one's body." she kept staring at him, causing Mineta to flinch once again, "Also, harassment also falls under the rule as well… simple and friendly teasing is still o.k, but go too far. Well… you wouldn't like what happens."
Inko cleared her throat, then appeared to be smiling gently one again. The sudden one-eighty kept everyone's attention on her still, now understanding why Bakugo looked a little pale when he left, and they learned quite quickly one of the many rules of survival in the world.
You don't piss off Inko Midoriya.
"And while not the last rule of the dorm, as the rest are outlined in the syllabus, and I don't think I really need to stress this enough…" The 'dorm-mother' shifted in her stance, a little rosy-cheeked as she spoke, "You are all young adults, and certain 'urges' can occur, especially with a mixed dorm and while relationships and what goes on in the privacy of your rooms happen, contraceptives are available from Recovery Girl, or from me as well." Inko turned her attention towards the girls, "And ladies, for birth control, only Recovery Girl would be able to provide you with that, so I would recommend getting a consultation with her first."
With everyone thoroughly embarrassed by that last little bit of information, Inko's cheeks turned to normal, "I may be here to supervise you, but I am also here to help guide you as well, not only as future heroes but as people too. Some people seem to forget that Pro heroes are still human, not immortal gods that can never be vanquished; I can say this with one hundred percent honesty from how many of these supposed "gods" ended up having to retire due to lost limbs."
Inko gave the group in front of her a sad smile, "So please, remember that you are all just learning to be heroes, you will make mistakes, and don't be afraid to come and talk to me should you need any help. My door is always open."
As the class began to relax and calm down, not only from the somewhat embarrassing talk before Inko's heartfelt speech but also the fear she gave them in regards to her quirk, they all turned their attention towards the kitchen when they heard Tenya exclaim, "Midoriya! Be careful when lifting that!"
Everyone walked around the counter to see what was going on, and some merely gasped to see that Izuku had dead-lifted the new fridge out of the box. He held it above his head, his body tensed as before, but his t-shirt rose to reveal the small of his back to the onlookers. Izuku's head turned to Tenya and the green-haired boy smiled.
"It's fine, Iida. It's not that heavy, and Denki, is it plugged into the wall socket yet?"
"Yep!" called out the electric-quirked boy with a thumbs-up as Kirishima and Sato pushed the cut open box and various styrofoam pieces out of the way. With the way clear of refuse and one blonde student, Izuku slowly knelt down to the ground and tilted the appliance down before standing up and adjusting the fridge into the formerly vacant slot. After sliding it in, he sighed with a smirk on his lips, dusting his hands at the completed job.
Izuku patted the door to the chrome appliance, then began to turn around to face the others, "Now, Lunch Rush told me that we should wait a few hours before we put-" stopping mid-sentence, the green-haired boy's eyes went wide with fear and backed up into the fridge as he looked upon the while smiling, dangerous look on his mother's face, "M-mom? W-what's wrong?"
"Izuku, sweety, when did you get a tattoo on your back?" Inko asked slowly, but there was that tone to it that matched the look she had. Izuku, on the other hand, blinked owlishly and tilted his head before quickly making his way to the main floor bathroom.
As he did, and putting on a brave face, Tenya moved slowly to Inko and gently cleared his throat, "M-Ms. Midoriya...", his voice stuttered when her gaze suddenly shifted towards him, Tenya quivered as he stood tall, "M... Midoriya d-didn't have that tattoo before our Quirk Assessment tests, b-but when they were finished, it w-was there. We d-didn't have a chance to tell him before he left in a hurry."
The air around Inko immediately faltered, and her malicious look turned to worry, "W-What? How is that possible? W-what happened during the tests?"
Tenya sighed as he felt there was air to breathe now, "During the one hundred meter dash, he 'unlocked' another aspect of his quirk, something called a "Dragoon" kit."
Whatever else was going to be said immediately died in their throats as Izuku rushed back in, his eyes wide in terror and confusion as well as being completely shirtless. Many of the girl's cheeks blushed a deep rose with a few of them looking away (as well as the silent clicks of a phone app going off because of a particular pink-skinned troublemaker) Izuku quickly turned around to reveal said mysterious ink upon his back to his classmates.
His very toned back flexed as what could be described as an elongated crystal ran up his spine in full view of his classmates. The image lines were green in color, with four odd symbols seemingly floating within the crystalline object.
Izuku turned his head, gaining the attention back from the tattoo or his back muscles, and in a panic, he exclaimed:
"WHEN DID I GET THIS TATTOO?!"
Chapter 11: Calm before the Storm
Summary:
Izuku's headaches start to get worse and worse, causing him to lose more sleep.
What will happen when he reaches his breaking point?
Notes:
Hello all! It's Chapter 11 and 12 of Bearer of the Light!
So yea, was a little late on this one, sorry... and honestly, I had to ultimately split the chapter into two because of how big it go (seriously 20+ pages X_X), So enjoy
Now for the Reviews! (old to new on FFN):
Silvanium: Without spoiling too much: Yes, but also no (?)... it will be revealed a little later in the story. And I'll be honest, I COMPLETELY forgot about the Legacy Mark from the game, but it is not that. Think of an image of a crystal shard with 17 faces that make up the said image.
Guest: Well here's a new one! enjoy!
AnimeFan13579: Here's the thing after I wrote the tattoo scene, I learned that it's a big social NO in Japan. Like if your a foreigner and have a tattoo, you'd be barred from entering bathhouses and stuff.
It's due to the fact that a lot of the Yakuza have Tattoos, so it's got its stigmatism there. But this is just another hurdle for our dear green bean.
Xero LotCN: Yep, poor Jiro... stuck between softness and hard as rock muscle... granted I don't think she'd mind.
I'm probably going to skip over the lunch reveal for now, but it will come back to bite Izuku on the butt later. And who said Inko wasn't scary in canon either? If she had trained her quirk even a little, good lord she could easily bring down many a foe with just a pull of a nerve.
The 'lifting the fridge' over the head was based upon a comic someone did where Kyoka's phone was kicked under the dorm's fridge and while they were trying to figure out who to call, Izuku just deadlifted it.
Mina is not going to share those photos as of yet, a personal treasure for her. And the tattoo, as revealed in this chapter is more than meets the eye ;)
draculyn28: Thank you, and hello!
Coleptera: Thank you kindly, and I hope you enjoy this new chapter.
Anyway, enjoy the story, leave a comment or review on how I can improve it... you guys know the drill!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Another dream, another sleepless night.
To say that these were becoming a common occurrence over the last few days would be an understatement. Initially, they were nothing but little whispers of words, and vague images sped through Izuku's mind that had begun on the first night of sleeping at UA. His lack of sleep for the first couple of days was chalked up to simply be from exhaustion caused by the move, as well as the excitement of starting his education at the university.
However, as the days progressed, the dreams grew in strength, leaving Izuku's mood a little less than stellar. Both Saturday and Sunday were tough since it was the two days that the others would be moving in. Because of his show of strength with the fridge on Friday, his mother had him 'volunteer' to help his new classmates move into their room.
The look in her eye as she said this was probably a punishment for the new tattoo on his back. After everyone had headed home on Friday, he had gone straight to Recovery Girl with Inko to figure out what the deal was with the mysterious inkings. Izuku explained as best as he could to the older woman what he and his mother had been told by the boys of his class that his back was bare when they first changed before the assessment tests. But when they had changed afterward, the mysterious image of the crystal and symbols were just there.
With some examinations and a few tests, Recovery Girl had told them that it wasn't an actual tattoo, much to both parent and child's relief, but some sort of 'effect' of his quirk. As to why this had happened now all of a sudden, she couldn't give them a proper explanation but deemed it wasn't adversely affecting Izuku's health, so it shouldn't be anything to worry about.
As Inko sighed again in relief, Izuku, though, was staring hard at the older medical professional for a few moments. The usual wide-eyed expression of his eyes now gave a sharper look to them as he studied how Recovery Gril acted and spoke; ever since the incident after the entrance exam, he would be on the lookout for any signs she was hiding more than she let on.
Their eyes met for just a moment, and the ordinarily stoic woman's eyes quickly looked away, causing Izuku to squint suspiciously. Eventually, Izuku sighed and slowly got up, thanking Recovery Girl for her assistance and heading back to the dorms with his mother to further get things ready for the weekend and the antics that would surely arise then.
If only he knew.
The general moving-in throughout Saturday and Sunday wasn't hard, especially with Izuku there to help. But considering a lot of the things some people had brought with them, the green-haired boy was glad he took his mother's advice and placed a good portion of his All Might merchandise within boxes and safely hidden in a closet within his mother's private dorm room (which was almost an entire floor to herself).
The first student to show up was the ever quiet Shoto Todoroki. The bi-colored hair boy seemed to have little when it came to personal belongings from what Izuku could gather with a couple of boxes that were carried in. What struck as odd was the large number of tatami mats that the movers were bringing up the boy's room, and then once they were gone, Izuku had not seen or heard from Shoto for the rest of the day.
The next to show up was Momo, driving up the main building in her family's limousine, which was normal for her, but what was odd was that there were three limousines there. Still, Izuku's curiosity was sated when he saw all of his female classmates exit out of the car, followed by another limousine revealing their mother's and the last, of course, was the father's.
Inko had already made it outside to meet the parents and the girls, bowing to them and introducing herself. As the 'dorm mother' was busy talking with the parents, Izuku had come out of the building to greet his friends and new classmates.
As he got closer to the group of the girls, Momo was the first to point out the beginning of dark circles under his eyes and asked him in her usual concerned tone if he was alright. Izuku politely denied the allegation, waving it off with the same reasoning as it had been for the last few days. Momo, of course, gave him a deadpanned look, along with Mina and Kyoka.
From there, more of their classmates had begun to arrive along with the moving trucks that held their belongings. Thankfully, Izuku wasn't alone in helping to bring in the bulky items as some of the others had helped carry in the larger items, much to Izuku's joy, considering some people clearly overthought what to bring.
Case in point, Momo had decided to bring her rather large and extravagant bed from her home. And while the bedframe was easy to set up since it was already in pieces, the difficult part was now how to bring in the rest of her furnishings. Apparently, much to the embarrassment of the heiress in question, she had not adequately measured the dorm room's size compared to her bed.
At most, the rooms themselves could at least hold a queen-sized bed, big enough to allow a dresser and perhaps a shelf. Momo's regular bed was apparently bigger than that; the official name for her bed's size was "California King," and the dorm room could barely fit the frame, let alone trying to get the box spring in without damaging it.
Thankfully, there was a solution, as the top floor of the dorm house where Inko's private living area was had one spare room that was a little bigger than most others. Initially, this was something that Inko had requested so she could have Izuku be in the bigger dorm room; however, her son thought it would be better if he had one of the regular rooms so that he wouldn't feel like he was getting better treatment than the others just because the 'dorm mother' was his mother.
Of course, there was a bit of an argument, which devolved into Inko crying waterfalls, thinking that her 'baby boy' was trying to leave her already and was growing up too fast. Izuku had calmed her down and explained his reasons as well as convincing her. Thankfully this had happened as now Momo had taken up the residence beside Inko and had a larger room for her belongings.
Of course, it had taken almost five hours to get the mattress and the box spring into the room, as the door was still too small for the box spring at least, so using Ochako's and Sato's quirks combined, they were able to gently float the box spring up to the bedroom balcony and use the larger doors there to bring it in.
As the last class member moved in on Sunday, which was Bakugo, and he snarled at anyone who had tried to help him, the rest of the day had gone smoothly, with most of the students finally doing a proper meet and greet.
The only ones that had declined or outright refused to participate were, of course, Bakugo, Todoroki, and surprisingly Izuku. The first two were obvious. Bakugo's personality was less than desirable, plus the fact that many of the girls who were friends with Izuku didn't want anything to do with him. While Todoroki hadn't been outwardly negative for anyone, the boy's cold personality was a bit of a turn-off. However, some people had tried to speak with him, but only to receive a greeting and nothing more.
Izuku, on the other hand, was just so tired by the end of dinner that he had nearly passed out while he was finishing up his meal. Of course, he waved it off as his mother, Momo, and a few others of his class had asked him if he was alright, believing he shouldn't have to worry them with his troubles. After dinner, he excused himself to get some kind of sleep and was thankful that his dorm room was only on the second floor as he trudged up the stairs.
After getting himself ready for bed and sliding himself under the covers, Izuku sighed as he looked up to the ceiling of his dorm room. It had taken a few days, but the realization of where he was finally had kicked in; he made it to UA and was going to become a hero like he always dreamed of.
And despite the lack of sleep, the moving in, and helping the others move in, Izuku smiled gently to himself, thankful that for once in his life, something had gone right. Sure, it had taken pain, sweat, and some tears…. O.k. a LOT of tears… But ever since he felt the warmth of Hydaelyn's blessing 'that' day, everything just seemed to get better and better.
Gently closing his eyes, his mind began to drift off with the last thoughts of excitement for tomorrow was the first official day of university, the next to become the best hero he could be.
He just hoped that he would finally get some rest.
Izuku finally admitted it to himself. The universe hated him.
The green-haired boy huffed in annoyance and irritability at his desk with his head covered by his arms. The dreams, or rather nightmares, had returned full force once again. But this time, the images were vivid, almost like memories considering he saw it through a first-person perspective.
Flashes of battlefields with alien technology that walked on two legs and a cannon that fired out of a mechanical maw into crowds of soldiers as a great beast of a dragon exploded out of some kind of sphere-like prison and utterly decimated by the wyrm. Other parts of the nightmares revealed other fantastical creatures with human-like features of wielding the elements of fire, wind, and earth to devastating effect. Every scene flashing before his eyes were horrible visions with the screams of people dying all around him until he woke up with a start, sitting up in a deep sweat and panting heavily before collapsing back into his bed, only for his alarm clock to go off.
It also didn't help that the morning classes were all the standard ones needed in university, things like math and modern literature, which were taught by the pro heroes Ectoplasm and Cementoss respectfully. Under normal circumstances, Izuku would have been thrilled to be taught by such great heroes. However, he hadn't taken into account their speaking mannerisms, which he almost passed out due to how tired he was.
Modern Hero Art class was also another annoyance to the green-haired teen today, as Midnight as being… well Midnight, which wasn't all too great considering how she was basically referring to Izuku as "Aizawa Jr." from how grumpy and tired he looked.
English with Present Mic was pure hell for the most part. While a decent teacher of the language in his own right, often Present Mic would use his quirk while he talked, projecting his voice louder and louder and causing the already painful headache Izuku had to increase in intensity. Though, in the back of his mind, he did wonder how Kyoka was dealing with it, considering her amplified sense of hearing.
Lunchtime was nothing extraordinary. After grabbing his tray, Izuku made his way outside to eat by himself, missing Kyoka and Mina stopping Momo from trying to follow him.
Once outside, Izuku sighed in relief from the university's courtyard's gentle quietness to be precisely what he needed. As he began to eat today's dish of ramen with extra pork, his mind began to go over the constant images and sounds that had been running through his mind all throughout the last week.
It was apparent it was somehow tied to his 'blessing'. He knew that after the second night. The sense of deja vu was constant throughout the visions as if Izuku had previously experienced the harrowing events first hand. The green-haired boy was at a loss as to what to do about the situation. He couldn't exactly tell any of his friends or his mother since they didn't honestly know how his powers worked. He had thought about talking to All Might, considering he knew more than the others, but that in of itself wouldn't amount to much. Nezu and Recovery Girl were his only real options, but he couldn't fully trust the elderly medical professional at the moment. She was hiding things about his abilities from him on purpose, like Verraise. Also, she knew more than she was letting on about with his tattoo, but with his mother with them at the time, he could let that one slide.
It was also how she looked at him at times, like looking upon an old friend long since past or some kind of trauma that happened because of or involved him. Izuku was curious about it, considering that in her detailed history that was public knowledge, she never met someone that looked like him. But then again, whatever was released to the public was just that. Some heroes would or could hide things from the press or use their influences to keep it out of the limelight, All Might did that with his injury, so it made sense if she had done so as well.
Nezu was just an enigma, whether it be asking him questions about his blessing or Hydaelyn in general, or just himself for that matter. Sure, the white-furred animal-like being did answer any questions Izuku had asked in the past. Still, the answers were always vague, either to have Izuku discover the solutions for himself or Nezu was holding back on the information for a later date, but not like Recovery Girl was, however.
His inner thoughts were interrupted by the bell ringing loudly in the air for the five-minute warning that lunch was ending. Izuku quickly finished gobbling up the rest of his meal and headed back inside to drop off his tray and utensils but then head to class.
He wished that the next teacher would be a little quieter.
Wishes were lies, and thinking they would come true is a fool's errand.
Izuku's somber mood that he had recovered during lunchtime came to a crashing halt when All Might slam the door to Class 1-A open and shouted out how he entered the room like a 'normal person'. With his headache now back in full force, not only from the entrance but the excitement that followed from his fellow classmates upon seeing the number one pro hero just left him staring with a glazed look at his desk.
He quietly listened to All Might quickly explain what their first heroics class would be and presented the students with their costume cases. Thankfully that had brought Izuku's mood up a bit.
Once inside the change room, Izuku opened up the case to his costume. He smiled fondly at the soft green fabric that laid within, remembering who had made it for him in support of his dreams.
As he began to pull off his shirt, a commotion happening further down from him caught his attention. What could be heard as arguing made Izuku turn his head towards the disturbance and check it out, for which he soon came upon Tenya berating Mineta about something. Once he got close enough to hear what the issue was, the usually calm green-headed boy's blood ran cold.
"I'm telling you, it's a gift from our seniors and past heroes in training!" squealed Mineta as he pointed to a small hole in the wall that normally would have been missed by almost anyone, but apparently, being at the height he was, Mineta had spotted it reasonably easily.
"And I'm telling you it is not only quite rude but also criminal to use such a vulgar thing, Mineta!"
The smaller boy waved his hand to blow off the warning Tenya had given him, "Fine, if you don't wanna use it, your loss, buddy. For me, it's hello sweet delights!" Mineta shouted while some of the other boys were shouting at him to not do it. No one had noticed the small flash of light until it was too late, as standing behind Mineta, Izuku was covered entirely in the knight armor of his Paladin kit with his arms crossed and his right leg blocking the part of the wall with the hole in it.
The helmet of the imposing figure tilted itself down and was staring at the diminutive boy, "Iida told you to don't do it."
"Or what? Y-y-you can't physically stop me, t-that would be an assault against another student!" Mineta spoke, trying to find the confidence to stand up to Izuku. Still, his knees were rattling together as Izuku raised his hands up to the helmet and took it off, placing it under his arm to stare hard at Mineta, who was now sweating bullets and looked more frightened.
A few of the boys stepped back once Izuku's face had been revealed. The baby-faced, usually smiling teenager's look was now more hardened, a scowl upon his lips as well as his ordinarily green eyes flickering between their typical emerald hue to a brighter red color. The armored covered boy soon knelt down and spoke slowly to Mineta, looking him square in his beady eyes.
"I can't stop you physically according to the university charter, but should a fellow 'classmate', and I use the term loosely to describe you right now, try and commit intentional acts of villainy, as a student within this great school to be trained as a hero. I will stop you."
An audible gulp came out of Mineta before he bolted out of the change room shrieking like a scared banshee, many of the boys dodging out of the way. Izuku merely rose to his feet before gripping his head gently, the headache deciding to make its presence known once again. As he groaned, shifting back to his casual clothes with a small flash of light, he felt someone grab hold of his arm to help steady him.
Izuku looked up to see Tenya beside him, a worried look upon his brow, "Midoriya, are you alright?"
"Y-Yea, I'm fine… just the headache and my lack of sleep caught up to me a little is all."
"Normally, I would make a comment that you should be getting proper rest, but you have been going to bed earlier than one should over the weekend. You think you would be alright for the exercise?" Tenya asked with a raised eyebrow; the caring nature within his voice's tone made Izuku smirk a bit, considering how alien it sounded when it was about him.
"I should be fine, gotta push through it. Plus ultra, right?"
Tenya's brow furrowed again and stared directly into Izuku's eyes to see if there was any falsehood. Finding none, he sighed, "Fine, but we should alert a teacher to the existence of this hole so it can be repaired while our class is going on."
Izuku nodded, and as he was about to respond, he felt a poke at his leg calf and looked down. Tenya, noticing him do so, also looked down to see what looked like an earphone jack tapping the greenette's leg, "Kyoka?"
Upon hearing her name, the appendage "looked" up to Izuku and shook itself up and down as if nodding to him. Izuku merely smirked at the action, "I'm guessing you heard the shouting?"
Another nod from the jack.
"If Momo is still in there with you, could you see if she could make something to block or stuff into the hole?"
The only response he got was the jack to poke his knee and "slither" back through the hole. Both boys chuckled at that before Tenya looked to Izuku, "Anyway, I am off to Gym Gamma. You should hurry and get dressed, Midoriya." and with that, he left.
Izuku blinked and looked down to himself, seeing as he had yet to even get started changing into his hero costume, and looking up, he noticed he was the only one left. He sighed and quickly began to strip, all the while thinking of why no one other than himself or Tenya had attempted to reprimand the purple pervert and the one person he thought who would have stepped in sooner hadn't.
That one thought alone further infuriated him with the darker connotations floating in his mind as to why Katsuki Bakugo had ignored the clearly villainous act.
~oo~
"Thank you for letting me know, young Iida, and also for young Midoriya's absence." All Might grinned with a thumbs up, the armor costumed teen nodding his head in acceptance, "Now, I shall make the call and see if Cementoss can fix the hole from the boy's side, pardon me for a moment."
As the number one hero walked off to pull out a cell phone and make a few calls, Tenya went over to where a small group of people consisting of Kyoka, Momo, Mina, Kirishima, Ochako, Tsuyu, Tooru, and Yuga was standing around and talking amongst one another. When he approached them, he waved his hand up to get their attention, "All Might has been notified of the hole and is calling someone to fix it now. On behalf of the men, I apologize if this was an uncomfortable experience."
"It's fine, Iida… It's just a good thing that Kyoka heard you and Mineta arguing with her hearing." Momo said with a courteous bow of her head in thanks for the apology, "Plus, it's nice to know that… aside from someone who shall remain unanimous… that you all didn't try to use it for yourselves is enough."
"More importantly, how was Greenie feeling after his little 'threat'? It sounded like he was about to pass out." Kyoka spoke up, and the other girls who were with them perked up at that new tidbit of information. Tenya merely crossed his arms as he looked to the punk rocker, his metallic helmet covering his facial expression as he spoke.
"I worry that these past few restless nights of his are taking their toll on him, but he honestly answered he was fine. Perhaps after these trials are over, the exhaustion will kick in, and he'd pass out for a small nap. I doubt All Might would mind if we explained to him what has been going on."
The others nodded their heads, though clearly a few of the girls' faces betrayed the worry, mostly Momo and Mina.
A call of 'hey!' caught everyone's attention as they turned their heads towards the running form of Izuku, everyone taking a look upon his, admittedly, very basic costume. The fabric's pastel green color somewhat clung to his body as he moved, clearly designed to be snug against his body, with thicker white patches of cloth running down the sides of his body—a many pouched red belt matching the color of his often seen sneakers, which he was wearing. Black elbow and knee pads covered his joints while wearing a pair of white gloves that looked like something a police officer would wear but thicker.
Tenya was the first to run up to Izuku, walking with him towards the group but keeping Izuku's attention none the same, "Midoriya! Your hero costume is an interesting choice, though I have to admit, the fabric used looks a little… basic? I'm shocked a support company would use such materials."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, blushing a bit, "Well, actually, my m-mom made this for me, as sort of a "congratulations getting into UA" gift. Turns out she found one of my old notebooks from when I was a kid, and I had made up a Hero costume in it… so she made it." Izuku looked at his gloves, "The only thing she didn't make was the gloves. These used to be my dad's when he would be working."
"Your father was a police officer?" Tenya asked curiously, coming up to the group, who were now close enough to listen to the rest of their conversation.
"H-He was one, but when I was born, he requested to be transferred to a position for a court officer, that way, he could be around more at home when my mom would have to work the late shifts at the hospital."
"He sounds like a good man, though I find it odd that he isn't here at UA with your mother."
Izuku stopped, turning away from Tenya and rubbing the back of his head. However, his expression was sadder than embarrassed. The metal-clad boy froze and robotically bowed himself over and over again, "I am incredibly sorry if I upset you Midoriya, I had no idea-"
"I-it's fine, Tenya! You didn't know!" Izuku shook his hands in front of him to get his friend to stop bowing and apologizing, "It happened many years ago. I only just turned three when he died."
Tenya rose up, his eyes under his helmet, taking a quick look to his right to see that the group had stopped in their approach, listening in. He sighed and looked at his green-haired classmate, "If.. you don't mind me asking… how did he..?"
"I-It was during a court session…" Izuku spoke gently, looking down at the ground, "From what I found out after I got older, there was a suspect with a quirk that could fire a projectile like a bullet after chewing on any sort of metal with his metal teeth. The criminal had found a yen by his holding cell. Because his mouth would already be detected by the metal detectors, he was able to sneak it in. His goal, according to the reports, was to kill the judge who was high profile."
"My dad noticed something off about the defendant during the session, and just before he could fire the makeshift bullet… my dad dove in and took the hit… it pierced his lung, and he died nearly instantly." Izuku finished his story looking at his gloves, smirking gently, "His quirk was to breathe fire, and he had dreamed to be a hero as well when he was younger, but he couldn't improve it well enough to get into any hero schools, so he went the police route."
Raising a glove up, both boys stared at it with interest, "These are fire-proof gloves, considering after he ate spicy foods, which he loved to do, he would sometimes just keep breathing out fire. The downside to his quirk was that his fingers and toes would get really cold, really fast, almost to the point of losing all their heat… so his fellow officers got him these gloves as a gift when he transferred."
"It sounds like he got his dream of being a hero." Tenya said softly, with Izuku chuckling lightly.
"He was always a hero to me, even when I was still a toddler, it was him and All Might."
A clearing of Kyoka's voice brought the attention of the two boy's towards the group. Some of the more emotional girls like Ochako and Mina could be seen with tears in their eyes. At the same time, Kyoka and Momo gave off sad expressions. Tsuyu and Tooru were the only two with hardly any signs of sadness. You quickly tell from looking at Tsuyu she was upset at what was said, with Tooru's gloves playing with one another.
However, Kirishima and Yuga were the worst offenders as they were openly tearing up, "Midoribro! That was so sad, but your dad was so manly!" the red-headed, practically shirtless boy cried out loudly. Yuga was merely nodding in agreement, his bottom lip quivering and tearing up as well. Izuku tried to calm both of them down until he heard Momo speak to him.
"It's no wonder where you get your heroic spirit, Izuku, if your father is anything to go by."
"My mom would often say the same thing when I was younger, but thank you, Momoooo…." Izuku had begun to reply to her, but he finally noticed what the young heiress was wearing for a hero costume when he looked in her direction. His voice petered out with his eyes going wide and face starting to turn bright red.
All the women but perhaps Kyoka and Tooru were wearing skin-tight spandex suits or, in Momo's case, a leotard that just clung tightly to their bodies, displaying many of the young women's more pleasing assets. From how curvy Mina and Tsuyu's hips were in spandex, to the very form fitting 'out of this world' pink and black suit of Ochako and least of all, Momo's bright red leotard that just proved the point of how the body of a 'goddess' should look like.
Tooru's simple pair of gloves and boots would be confusing to some. Still, given how her quirk worked, her hero costume was basically just a textbook definition of a "clothes optional" policy. Kyoka's outfit was not what Izuku had expected at all though, given the fact that he had helped her design most of it half a year ago when she was having difficulties trying to incorporate her quirk into it.
The punk rocker was wearing a pastel pink sleeveless shirt that was torn at the hemlines of her collar and waist, with a short black leather jacket with its sleeves torn off. Her arms were revealed fully to the world to show off that while her figure was petite, she had some muscle built-in due to the self-defense classes she took as well as her music playing abilities.
On her hands were leather gloves with small amps placed upon them, with similar-looking ones on her combat boots, which were partially tipped at the toes with blunted metallic studs. And finally, what truly shocked Izuku about his friend's hero outfit was her pants.
When they were designing her costume together, she had wondered if cotton or leather would be more beneficial to her. Izuku had pointed out both pros and cons of the materials, but she hadn't told him what she chose. Now he was seeing it for the first time, and the leather pants she had chosen just fit her perfectly with the way they hugged her hips and legs. The final touches to her costume were the little red triangle marks under her eyes, along with a choker around her neck. However, in his state of mind at seeing all of the beautiful women together and close to him, he didn't notice that the garment's color around Kyoka's neck wasn't black like the rest of the leather on her.
It was a very dark forest green.
Izuku finally 'rebooted' once All Might had come back and announced for everyone to return. Turning his attention back to everyone around him, he noticed the expectant looks on some of the women's faces. He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling nervously, "W-we should be joining up with the o-other's now… but um… You all look beautiful and stunning in your hero costumes."
And with that, Izuku made a beeline towards a cluster of his other classmates with Kirishima and Yuga snickering behind the embarrassed boy while Tenya brought up the rear.
The girls, however, stayed back a little when they finally joined the group. One reason was to keep as far away from Mineta as possible. The other was for them to discreetly talk while All Might was explaining the exercise.
"So, that's the "accidental flirt" thing you mentioned last week?" Tooru asked quietly, moving close to Mina and Ochako. The pink-skinned woman turned her head a little too (supposedly) where the invisible girl was.
"That was tame to how it normally is, but yea, that was basically it. But, he means every word of it."
"Even though he can't actually see me?" Tooru asked with a tilt of her head, pumping slightly into Mina gently.
"Mhmm, even then… sit down with him to discuss your quirk and let the good times roll basically." Mina grinned with a sly smirk, and if she could see the face of one of her new 'besties', she would see the faint blush on the poor girl.
"ALRIGHT!" shouted All Might as he stood by a large box with two holes by a large white marker board, "I will be drawing your names now at random for teams as well as which side you will be on, the hero team or the villain team!"
"Do not be discouraged if you are on the villain team!" he spoke loudly and with a commanding tone of voice, "Think of it as you are defending an important target from villainous invaders. As the world is not always strictly painted black and white, good or evil. There are times where heroes need to do what is necessary to ensure not only victory but also limiting casualties of civilians and property damage."
"Now, to start us off…" said All Might as he reached into both the holes in the box to pull out the first two names as well as what team they were on. Izuku watched as the teams slowly began to fill up, but turning his head slightly, he could see the near-feral smirk on Bakugo's face that just screamed he was looking for a fight.
And how could he not, given they were to be pitied against one another. As the headache started to come back and throbbed hard against his head, Izuku made no showing of it as he stared back at Bakugo with a determined look of defiance.
Chapter 12: Gentle Man's Fury
Summary:
Oh Bakugo... you dun goofed.
Notes:
Double chapter, WOO!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Izuku huffed as he crossed his arms across his chest, eyes sharpened as he simply stared at the building before them. The events of the change room earlier had still not rested well with the exhausted teenager. How could a hero in training be so callous and perverted? Especially when the ones the purple prick was trying to peek on were his friends and acquaintances.
A low and guttural growl creeped out of his throat when Izuku remembered how Mineta waved off Tenya's warning, as well as the disregard Bakugo had for the act itself. Typically, this wouldn't surprise the green-haired boy as unless it affected the blonde, Bakugo usually didn't give a damn. But, the blonde never put up with perverts and would use his explosions to silence them or halt them, and he just ignored Mineta's antics?
Two reasons ran through Izuku's mind: Either Bakugo's focus was on the current exercise to display his power, considering how he was acting after the assessment test, it wasn't that much of a long shot since he always loved to "prove" how much better he was then everyone else. The second reason he dreaded if it was true was to allow Mineta to do whatever he wanted because Izuku was good friends with most of the girls.
Bakugo hurting him was one thing, and Izuku was 'fine' with that. But using his friends to get to him?
Izuku narrowed his eyes and growled a little louder, which caused Izuku's partner to clear their throat, "Midoriya? I can understand if Mineta's actions were troubling you still. Still, we should plan for our confrontation with Iida and Bakugo."
"Hmm?" Izuku snapped out of his brooding and then sighed, giving Tokoyami a nervous smile afterward, "S-sorry… and yea, your right… It may be a trial, but this is a chance to fully show off how we all are going to be heroes." Moving his arms from his chest, placing a gloved hand on his chin to think.
"I admit I may be at a disadvantage with whom we are facing." The raven-headed boy huffed, the plume of feathers on the back of his head puffed up a little, "Iida is incredibly fast, though the tight corridors may hinder him quite a bit; even still, his speed is nothing to scoff at." Now Tokoyami's arms crossed in front of him, squinting his eyes in deep thought, "Bakugo, on the other hand, is my true weakness when it comes to their pairing, the light from his explosions hinder Dark Shadow but not only how bright it is, but also hurt him… If he corners me-"
"It won't happen." Izuku interrupted, looking to his partner, "I mean no offense to you when I say this, but Bakugo is probably going to be going after me and completely ignore you." He sighed gently, shaking his head a little, "Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he makes Iida guard the bomb just to hunt me down."
"His animosity towards you was something that I picked up on during the previous test, even before he attempted to launch himself at you. I will not pry, but I can assume you two have a past together?"
"It's… complicated, to say the least." Izuku admitted, rubbing the back of his head, "Even though I halted him with my "eye of the dragon," I don't think it will work again; he's always quick to overcome obstacles and would probably expect me to go Dragoon for this."
Tokoyami tilted his head in confusion at Izuku, "Oh? What makes you say that?"
"Well, despite being the way he acts, Bakugo is a great strategist, especially in combat." Izuku began to say with his hands on his hips, "Worst thing one could do is prolong a fight with him, since that will make him sweat more, and truthfully I didn't like the look of those grenades he uses for gloves."
"Indeed, given his behavior, I'd imagine when pushed into a corner, he'd use them." Tokoyami sighed gently, "Still, why would he think of you using your "Dragoon" … kit, was it?"
Izuku smirked at the fact that the bird-headed boy remembered what to call it. It would take people a little time to call them by how he wished them to for some reason, "Yes, that's it… anyway, with me being a Dragoon, I could leap us up to the roof, and we ambush them from above. But sadly, I'm not as light on my feet when I land, especially if I'm carrying someone. Also, there's the fact that we don't know where they are in the building and could possibly see me jump up."
Tokoyami nodded his head in agreement, "So, what's our best course of action."
"Sadly, I think our best bet is to just go in through the front door and try and make our way up, hoping we don't come across Bakugo. But like I said, he will try and hunt me down, so that may be a chance for you to sneak off and go take on Iida while I have his focus." Izuku looked to the gothic bird boy, a look of determination in his eyes, "I know what I said about prolonging a fight with him, but I do know some self-defense techniques thanks to Momo and Kyoka."
"And what are you going to do about his explosions?"
"That… I'll have to consider. Bakugo knows two of my forms already, and while I'd like nothing more to use the other two against him, I have reservations on them."
Tokoyami blinked while staring at Izuku as he spoke that last comment, "Limiting yourself would do more harm than good, Midoriya. Surely you know this already?"
"Oh, I do. It's more I haven't actually used them against a living target yet… well, Gunbreaker I have before, but the villain had strong enough skin that my gunblade didn't cut him." Izuku smirked gently; the incident was a fond memory of how he first met Kyoka and Mina, "And Red Mage is primarily a ranged kit, not a particularly fast one either. "
"Red Mage sounds almost like you are a wielder of magic with a name for that particular kit." Tokoyami huffed a small smirk of his beak, considering his interests in the occult and the like. However, the smirk faded as he now stared at the green-haired boy who was looking away nervously. The bird-headed boy's mouth gaped as he quickly went to Izuku's side, "Y-your joking, correct? You can actually control and use MAGIC?!"
"I.. think so? I don't know how else to describe it other than 'magic,' to be honest." Izuku rubbed the back of his head gently, looking down now, "Only thing I used my magic against was the zero-pointer back in the entrance exams, so I don't know how negatively it will be against human targets yet."
"What did it do to that massive monstrosity?"
"It… well… My 'Verholy' blew off the arm first, and using a gaping hole I made, I cast my most powerful spell 'Scorch' and sent its head flying into a building." Izuku spoke meekly with a slight chuckle as Tokoyami kept staring at him silently. The silence surrounding the two for a few moments was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the bird boy's quirk, Dark Shadow, which popped out from under his user's cape and tapped the top of Tokoyami's head.
"Oi! You're going to freak him out with the silent treatment, Fumi."
Tokoyami snapped out of his stupor and turned his head to the shadow being on his shoulder, "Hush, Dark Shadow." and returned his attention back to Izuku, "My apologies, when it comes to things like the occult and the like, I tend to get… over-excited."
"I completely understand; I'm like that with quirks myself." Izuku gave him a bright smile that made Dark Shadow return back into the cover of darkness under the cloak, squeaking out a 'too bright!' that gave both boy's a bit of a chuckle.
"So, what sort of mad bouquet of darkness would you suggest? Considering we are just waltzing right in."
Izuku gave his partner a determined smirk at that, "Well, how well can Dark Shadow mimic shadows?"
"ALRIGHT TEAMS! COMMENCE THE TRIAL!" exclaimed All Might into the microphone on the console before him, all of Class 1-A watching on the monitor's as Izuku and Tokoyami entered the build from the front entrance, as well as Iida sighing in an exasperating look of body language as Bakugo stormed out of the room with the bomb.
Though the video feed was silent on the monitors, one could tell that the hero team was whispering and keeping to the shadows as best as possible in the narrow hallways of the faux abandoned building. All Might's gaze never left the monitor's, but he did do his best to listen in on his other students as they began to murmur amongst themselves.
"So, who do you think will win?" Kaminari asked as he leaned back against a wall, talking to Sero, who was beside him. The tape-dispensing boy rubbed his chin under his odd-looking helmet as he thought about the question.
"Tough call… I mean, nothing against Midoriya or Tokoyami, but Bakugo's quirk is stupid strong. Iida left to guard the bomb isn't a bad strategy, but you'd think with his superior speed, he'd have gone with Bakugo to locate the heroes first."
"But Midoriya is super strong in that 'Dragoon' thing; I wonder why he isn't in it right now?"
"It's obvious." Momo spoke up, looking at the two boys, "While it is indeed powerful, the fact is that the Dragoon kit requires space for him to perform the various acrobatics needed. Plus, with the weapon it uses, wielding a large lance in such a narrow hallway would be very difficult." The heiress spoke with such a factual tone of voice that many of the students ignored how lewd that last bit of her analysis sounded.
All except for Mineta, who was cackling like a gremlin to himself, before earning a slap to the head by Tsuyu's tongue and a jack in his ear by Kyoka.
"In any case," Momo continued, ignoring what her friends had done to the purple pervert, "Why he hasn't "shifted" is still perplexing me, though from how you described his 'Red Mage' to us, Ochako… it would be the most ideal for keeping Bakugo at bay."
"Oh total!y!" Ochako beamed for a moment, then slunk down into a thinking pose, "though it did take him a couple of seconds to fire out that sparkly bolt at first, which Bakugo could take advantage of... " As she continued to think, her face began to pale slowly, remembering the destruction those sparkles had done to the rampaging robot, "P-Plus… I don't think I-Izuku used those attacks on a person before, and how it m-mangled up the zero-pointer…"
That was all she said as the rest of the class could quickly tell what she had implied as well from her paled face. Yuga spoke next as he went up to Ochako and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder to help ease her worries, "Do not worry, mademoiselle Uraraka… I do not think monsieur would intentionally harm a person that severely."
"Wait, what exactly did Izuku do to the zero-pointer anyway?" asked Kyoka with a few of their classmates around the gravity user, but it was Yuga once again who spoke up.
"Ah, first he fired a dazzling bolt of sparkles that tore open a hole in the robot, followed up by a bolt of lightning to further open it." Yuga spoke while posing dramatically, "Then, he ran up the mighty arm of the monstrous and rampaging robot before firing up a brilliant line from a red crystal he was carrying, and upon reaching the head of the mighty beast and a flurry of attacks from his rapier to open the hole he had initially made, he backflipped off of the head and landed a good few yards from the staggered machine."
He then smiled as he twirled in place for a moment, "With a sparkling shout of the utmost holy of intentions, a beam of light shot up from the ground and tore the arm off of the mechanical beast, followed by a scorching explosion centered within the hole and sent the miserable thing's head careening into the nearest building."
Everyone watching the energetic boy bow from the retelling blinked for a moment before turning their attention to Ochako, who nodded gently to confirm that Yuga wasn't overhyping the story a tad bit.
Whatever was going to be said or thought about in regards to Izuku's crazy power as a 'Red Mage' was halted when Sato pointed to the screen with a 'Bakugo ambushed them!'. Everyone turned their attention back to the monitors to see Bakugo standing before both hero team students with his hands popping and smoking in the air, the corner from which he attacked them broken and singed from the explosion.
"An ambush is so unmanly!" cried out Kirishima, frowning and crossing his arms over his chest in disgust at what the blonde bomber had done. Before any of the students could call him out, it was All Might who spoke first.
"There are times where an ambush is the most logical thing one can do, Young Kirishima, some heroes like Edgeshot and even your homeroom teacher rely upon the tactic while out in the field." The pro hero turned towards the redhead and gave a bright smirk and a thumbs up, "An ambush is the best way to try and take out a villain before a fight even begin's, especially if the area is still full of civilians. And learning how to ambush will help give your own 'spatial awareness' some training so that villains won't use the same tactic on you."
Kirishima looked towards All Might, listening to his words and rubbing his chin in thought. While the pro hero was correct in what he said, the idea of ambushes still left a bad taste in the boy's tongue.
The hardening hero in training looked up to his teacher and nodded, though still had a frown on his face, as he then looked up to the monitors to show that Midoriya had yanked Tokoyami away from the blast but had taken a good hit from it, parts of his shoulder and lowered hood burnt away.
The two boys on the hero team looked to one another as Izuku said something to Tokoyami, who nodded in agreement and dashing past Bakugo, the blonde bomber not even stopping the gothic bird as he ran past.
There was silence between Izuku and Bakugo on screen before the two started to talk at one another, which then turned into shouting, and Bakugo launched himself towards the green-haired boy with a right hook prepared to strike.
But much to the amazement of the entire class, with a few cheers and hoots of celebration that followed after, Izuku had not only dodged the right hook but grabbed the limb and slammed Bakugo down onto the stone floor with a judo flip.
However, this was short-lived as Bakugo retaliated with an explosion to Izuku's chest, which made him stumble back, and further shredding his costume. Mina groaned and made a pouty face as she spoke, "Awwww… Mamadoriya's gonna be so sad the costume is getting destroyed."
"Perhaps it can be salvaged? I know Green was sentimental about it before we started the trials." Kyoka spoke beside her, swinging an ear jack around her finger slowly as she continued to watch the fight.
A few gasps from the students as they see Bakugo fire off another set of explosions at Izuku's chest that had sent the boy careening and hitting his back against a concrete wall, cracking against the impact before Izuku fell onto his knees, panting and spitting up saliva mixed with some blood.
Bakugo was still unrelenting as he chased down after his opponent, winding up a kick as he did so. Once he was close enough to swing his leg, a brilliant light burst out around Izuku, and the bomber's boot connected to not his foe's body but with an all too familiar metallic shield blocking it.
The snarl on Bakugo's face could be seen on the monitor as the all too recognizable alabaster-white armor of the 'Paladin' appeared. The helmet rose quickly, and Izuku lunged forward, plunging something hard into Bakugo's stomach, which sent the boy flying down the corridor.
Momo's eyes went wide as she first thought that Izuku had just stabbed Bakugo in the gut; even All Might's smile faltered for a moment since no one could see the weapon due to the shield blocking the camera. As All Might reached out to the intercom button to call the match due to Izuku's excessive force, Bakugo slowly began to sit up, rubbing his stomach as he looked surprised towards Izuku.
In fact, everyone was. Instead of the beautiful and shining sword that generally accompanied the shield was a large wooden paddle-like weapon with rows upon rows of what could be seen as blunt metallic studs. The class's murmurs filled the room once more as the screens showed Izuku and Bakugo talking or shouting at one another. It wasn't until Mineta spoke up that he silenced everyone with what he said.
"What the actual hell?! He berates me earlier for being a pervert, and yet now he is swinging around some sort of kinky paddle-ACK!" The boy cried out in anguish and collapsed to the ground, unconscious thanks to a well-placed chop to the head by Shoji. All Might cleared his throat to get everyone's attention once again.
"Young Shoji, I do not condone knocking your fellow classmates outside of training, but… thank you." The multiarmed student nodded to the blonde pro as the older man continued, "And while I am not familiar with the name of the weapon young Midoriya is using, I have seen something similar to it used by a villain in America known as "The Aztec Man," though it seems young Midoriya's version is more for bludgeoning an opponent than cutting them down."
"But… couldn't he use the flat part of his sword to do the same thing?" asked Mina, watching as the two boys began to fight again, Bakugo shouting about something as he hurled explosions at Izuku with his shield raised up to protect himself.
It was Momo who spoke up next, turning to her pink-skinned friend, "In hindsight, yes he could, but the sharp edges of the blade could harm Bakugo more than what would be necessary for training. Plus, with the explosions' air pressure, it would make it easier for Bakugo to knock away the weapon and possibly disarm Izuku. It would allow Bakugo to try and wield it… and I doubt he has the level of skill as Izuku does to use it non-lethally…"
After the heiress's explanation, the thought of someone possibly being killed while training made a few of them turn ghostly pale. Once again, though, All Might's voice rang out to get their attention, "Excellent analysis, Young Yaoyorozu, and you are indeed correct." The man beamed a smile to the students, "Plus, it also shows how much excellent control Young Midoriya has on his quirk to think of a new way to subdue his opponent while under duress! An excellent trait to learn for a hero. Now let's also take note of how well young Tokoyami is currently luring Young Iida towards more shadowed areas of the room where the bomb-"
"OH MY GOD, MIDORI!"
Mina's outcry made everyone focus on the battle of Bakugo and Izuku once again, as they watched on in silence as Izuku's form was sent hurtling into walls and busting through them until nothing but darkness could be seen between the two combatants. Bakugo once again shouted out something as he slowly crept into the holes to go after his target. All Might's eyes slowly began to widen as he was able to listen in on the entire fight and what was and had been being spoken between the two young teenagers during their skirmish, and what he had been hearing was twisting his non-existent stomach into knots.
As the teacher and classmates of 1-A watched the scene before them, everyone collectively thought of one thing, a quote they all learned in pre quirk history when they were younger.
To beware the fury of the gentle man.
Izuku groaned inside his helmet, his back resting against a wall that he had landed hard against. Shaking his head to clear his mind to get his bearings, he looked out from the multiple holes through the cement walls made when Bakugo sent him flying after taking a twin explosion to his chest.
Bakugo and explosions? Right… It was the battle trial, and he was facing off against the blonde bomber.
Grunting in pain, Izuku slowly rose up, using the Macuahuitl he had 'summoned' to hold himself up as he stood. The green-haired boy hadn't figured out how he was able to change his weapon like that but figured he'd look more into it after this, as well as a long nap.
God, he was tired and also angry.
The lack of sleep was finally getting to him, if not helped out by the back and forth arguments between himself and his former childhood friend. The ideals of what being a hero were between the two boys was one subject they were bickering viciously about, Izuku's being that a hero was someone who saved people and would do anything to protect civilians while Bakugo's was to simply be the best and defeat all the villains he could.
Izuku's inner thoughts about how Bakugo came to that reason of thinking halted when he heard the blonde bomber's loud 'barking.' The 'paladin' looked through the gaping holes in the wall to see the silhouette of his former tormentor slowly and cautiously walk towards him, hands sparking with tiny explosions as if to give an air of menace to him.
"You goddamn pathetic Deku! Even after all this time, you still don't know your place?"
"The hell are you on about now, Bakugo?"
Bakugo stopped his advancement towards Izuku, the explosive pops still going off in his hand to reveal the snarl on his face, "I'm talking about you looking down on me all this time, the reason why I hate you so much!"
The hollowed sounds of silence filled the darkened and dusty rooms as in the cover of his helmet; Izuku's eyes slowly widened, stuttering out in disbelief at the accusation, "L-Looking down on you?"
"Yes! Looking down on me, you shitty Deku! Lying about being quirkless for all these years to hide the fact you have such a powerful quirk! No wonder how much I kept telling you how pathetic you are, nor how many times I tried to break that fucking annoying dream of yours of being a hero, you just kept smiling and doing the exact opposite!"
"This was supposed to be MY story of greatness! My rise to be the number one hero!" Bakugo snarled loudly, "But no, you had to almost fuck up my chances to be the best, Deku! Everyone questioning my greatness ever since the fucking Sludge Villain, all because you had a quirk this entire time!"
As Bakugo kept ranting and raving, Izuku was standing as still as stone. His mind was processing everything the blonde boy had been telling him, thinking that Izuku had purposely withheld that he had a quirk all this time to lord over Bakugo's head? Fourteen years of beatings and insults flashing through his mind as the grip on the weapon and shield he was holding tightened.
"Bakugo." Izuku's voice spoke out in a tone of cold realization, which halted the ranting of the clearly delusional blonde, "You think I put up with all of the name-calling, the beatings… the suicide baiting… just so I could personally ruin your chances to get into UA and lord over the fact I had a powerful quirk for over fourteen years?"
"Obviously! When they kicked you out of that shitty high school, they made me redo all of my tests from that year, never giving me an answer as to why! They even threatened to remove my application to UA if I didn't do it!"
Izuku still remained where he stood like a statue, his breathing very slow as he processed this new information, "...And the reason why you didn't stop Mineta in the change rooms? I know you hate perverts like most people and never tolerated it before, so why didn't you try and stop him then."
Bakugo eased up a little on his explosions, darkening his face with the shadows, but Izuku could still hear the smirk upon his voice, "Despite what you did to me, I still made it to UA, Deku. I could care less what those extras do; I'm here to prove that I'll be the future number one because I AM the strongest!"
"And why should I care how that purple pervert get's his rocks off? He doesn't matter, no one else matters, the only one that matters is me!"
The silence was deafening as Katsuki Bakugo finished speaking; it was thick in the air between the two boys as the echoing sounds of combat between their partners could be barely heard by them.
"Now!" Bakugo barked out, "Stay still like a good Deku, and I'll put you back in your place! A pebble on my road to gre-"
"Kaachan."
That single word stopped Bakugo in his tracks. The old nickname Izuku had used when they were young children before everything that happened, before Bakugo's quirk manifested. The blonde boy growled low as he hated that name so much as they got older before Izuku finally stopped in middle school after one particular nasty beating he had given the green-haired boy. He raised an eyebrow waiting for whatever the pathetic loser was going to say.
"There's something about my quirk no one knows about, something that's hard to explain, but it's important right now." spoke the 'knight' within the darkness. However, Bakugo could see some of the shine off of the metallic plates a little, "When I unlock a new aspect or 'kit' of my quirk, I get a small headache and a warmth envelops my body, like a summer breeze of warm air. Also, a heavenly voice repeats three words in my head: Hear, Feel, Think."
"What the hell are you jabbering on about, Deku?" Bakugo questioned as he glared into the darkness.
"But right now," Izuku continued, ignoring the question asked of him, "That usual warmth is now a raging inferno of agony, like a caged beast trying to escape from chains that are digging into its skin. And Kaachan… the three words I mentioned?"
Bakugo took a step back as he heard the metallic clink of Izuku's foot hit against the concrete floor, "I HEAR the beating of my own heart, enraged at how you believe that I purposely hid my quirk from you just to spite you. I FEEL that there's nothing I can do to turn you from this destructive path of yours. And I THINK it's time someone knocked some sense into you, Katsuki Bakugo!"
A brilliant flash of light exploded out of Izuku once again, similar to when it had happened during the assessment tests, and blinded Bakugo from how close he was to it. He had no time to recover from being dazed as he felt the hard grasp of a hand on his face and felt his head pushed hard against the wall, smashing the blonde bomber through several of them before being picked up into the air and hurled down the corridor he and Izuku were previously at.
Bakugo laid on the floor, seemingly knocked out and unmoving as the full figure of Izuku was presented before everyone on the monitors. Once there was a knight in shining armor now stood a man wearing various thick furs around his body. His feet and forearms were wrapped in tight straps to keep the bracers and moccasins close against his body, a long skirt with intricate designs hung off of his waist, covering his leather and fur shorts underneath.
Pauldrons of bone and fur adorned his shoulders and held together in the front by a strap folded into a knot of some kind attached to a flowing fur cape upon his back. Resting upon his shoulder was an enormous great ax. However, the bit of the ax was shallow, looking to be made more for bludgeoning than cutting, and was designed with various animals and markings along the shaft.
What a lot of the students would notice first, however, was the look of pure anger that seemed quite misplaced upon the usual smiling teenager, his emerald eyes glowing a bright red like a monster ready to kill. His hair was longer as well, single braided on each side of his head but was more wild than usual as it hung past his neck in the back.
Izuku was staring at the fallen form of Bakugo, who wasn't moving from off the floor, but he could see the rise and descent of the bomber's chest, meaning he was merely knocked out. Izuku turned slightly, giving the entire class a perfect view of his bare chest and legs as they tensed with muscle; the red glowing of his eyes faded slowly as he reached a hand up to his ear where his earpiece was still hung, "Tokoyami?"
"Yes, Midoriya? How was your battle with Bakugo?"
"Revealing, to say the least, and I was able to unlock a new 'kit' thanks to it." Izuku said nonchalantly into the device, "Have you secured Iida and the device yet?"
"I was just about to contact you once I heard the explosions stop; Dark Shadow has Iida hanging upside down from the ceiling. You were correct in your assumption that it can hide in the shadows without going berserk."
The scowl on Izuku's lips soon curled up into a smirk, "Good! A joyous day of discoveries for you then."
"Quite, in truth, I had to lead Iida quite far from the bomb room, and I am making my way there now."
"Excellent, I shall join you momentarily after I wrap the capture tape on Bak-"
"DEKU!"
The shout caused Izuku to quickly turn to the source, seeing a barely standing Bakugo before him down the hallway and holding up the sizable grenade-like gauntlet at Izuku.
"DIE!"
With no hesitation, Bakugo snarled a manic grin on his face as he pulled the pin on the support gear, sending a massive explosion hurtling towards the barely clothed opponent. However, as Bakugo had pulled the pin, Izuku unclasped the knot on his chest and let the pauldrons and cape fall behind him as he beelined towards the raging inferno coming towards him. His eyes began to glow red once again as he roared like a beast and gripped the ax shaft with both hands, winding it up as he plunged into the explosion.
Bakugo, still with his manic grin and about to gloat about how he beat the pathetic Deku, was shocked when out of the fires of his blast came an enraged looking Izuku, his ax wound up like a batter in a baseball game while also shouting out with a bestial roar, "ONSLAUGHT!". The blonde bomber's grin shifted into a surprised look as he tried to bring up his arms to defend the attack of the raging green-haired boy and to hopefully send another set of blasts back in retaliation.
What he got instead was being sent through the exterior wall of the building, ragdolling a few times across the dirt and smacking against the outside of another abandoned building with a noticeable crack from the impact. Bakugo's gauntlets were utterly smashed on his arms as he laid out truly unconscious, this time in the dirt, the cloud of dust dissipating from around him.
Izuku growled for a few moments, taking deep breaths as the buzzer for the end of the trial rang out, followed by the ever loud voice of All Might through the speakers.
"HEROES HAVE CAPTURED THE BOMB! TEAM A WINS!"
And unbeknownst to everyone watching and cheering for the hero team's victory, nor to Izuku's knowledge as his mind and attention were focused on calming himself down as he stared out of the hole that was created when he sledged Bakugo through it.
Upon the greenette's back, where the ever-present crystal tattoo sat in the middle of his back, within one of the faces of the illustration, a small flash of red appeared. As quickly as it did so, it faded to reveal what looked like a symbol resembling a double-bladed ax nestled within its confines.
But it was no mere symbol. It was a sigil.
The sigil of the Warrior.
Chapter 13: Aftermath and Revelations
Summary:
In the aftermath of the battle trial, Izuku explains his past with Bakugo with surprising results
Notes:
Greetings one and all! Another fine update we have here :D
So, a couple of things I want to point about this chapter: It's gonna get sad and I'm putting a warning because there is mention of attempted suicide. Granted that would be evident as that was chapter one now that I think about it.
But yea, time for the reviews! (FFN obviously):
Guest: Thank you, and while yes, the exposition can get pretty heavy in some chapters, if I had all the characters talk to one another, some of these chapters would be like... 20-30k words X_X. So thank you for the suggestion, and I'll try to keep it down as much as I can, but can't make any guarantees.
aliestrikehero: While it's true the healers in FFXIv have some Crowd Control elements to the story, Bakugo is quick enough to get past the obvious casting time, plus with how angry the blonde bomber gets, Warrior just fits better for the unlock. Plus I'm holding back on healers for a few more chapters due to the fact how broken they would make Izuku and any combat scenario.
draculyn28: Thank you and greetings once again!
Animefan13579: I had thought of those when it came to tattoos, but considering how ingrained it is within Japanese society, I still believe there would be some stigma towards it, despite the Yakuza's influence. Because remember, They are still there and operating, but not as strong as they once were.
FanfictionReaderIne: Thank you! I'm glad you have been enjoying the character interactions as while I may prioritize Izuku and those of his soon-to-be Poly relationship, we still need the others to be around and show off their stuff, right?
and trust me, Bakugo deserves all the pain that's coming towards him.
The Incomparable Tim Curry: Trust me, Mr. Curry, I'd like nothing more to expel the hothead, but considering his current mentality, that could harm not only Izuku more but UA in general.
Sabertoothfox: Well have some more!
Xerzo LotCN: Warrior!Izuku's personality is one more in tune with being brutally honest, as evident in the chapter (at least I hope so), When it came to the dreams/nightmares, they were simply the flashbacks of the previous warrior of light, similar to what happens in the Shadowbringers opening cinematic.
Well, hope everyone enjoys this next chapter and I'll see you all again next time.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MENTION OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE, READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED
Chapter Text
"So, that happened," Kaminari spoke as he had his hands behind his head, watching the monitors that displayed All Might with the three remaining boys of Teams A and G load up an unconscious Bakugo onto a stretcher to be carried away by two robot's to Recovery Girl, "Great first match and all, but I kinda wish we could've heard what they were saying."
A few other boys nodded their heads in agreement, Kirishima with his arms crossed over his chest turned his attention away from the monitors to look at the others, "Honestly, their back and forth conversations must have been heated for Midoribro to lash out like that, I don't think I've ever could see him that angry before."
"It is kinda hard to picture him like that, I will admit. However, everyone has their breaking points," Ojiro spoke next, rubbing his chin softly as the puff of fur on his tail patted against his chest which was covered in a karate gi, "But Bakugo can get under your skin rather quickly and brutally, I don't think even Midoriya's patience and good nature could last that long."
"And grabbing him by his face and repeatedly smashing his head through the walls and breaking through them was pretty brutal in of itself; amazingly, Bakugo was able to stand up after all that." Shoji spoke from one of the mouths formed off of one of his tentacles, "And then Midoriya jumped through that inferno to charge at him… I'm amazed his hair wasn't on fire as he exited it."
"Aren't you guys forgetting something?!" shrieked Mineta, who had woken up from being knocked out prior by Shoji. The diminutive purple-clad boy's eyes were wide with fright as he was shaking in his boots, "His personality changes when he's in those 'kit' things, remember?!"
"Yea, so?" asked Sato with Kaminari nodding his head in agreement to the question.
Mineta stared hard at the two other boys, beady irises mere pinpricks with worry, "So what do you think it's going to be while he's in that particular one? You know, the ONE WHERE HE GETS ANGRY EASIER AND MORE STUPIDLY STRONG THAN NORMAL?!"
A few of the boys looked to one another as Mineta said this; the pervert had a point that this 'form' of Midoriya seemed to get enraged rather quickly, as well as being more savage in his attacks.
As some of the worries were starting to show on a couple of them, Yuga had stepped up with a huff, looking down at Mineta with his hands on his hips, "While you may be correct vous pervers violet, I doubt monsieur Midoriya would attack one of us outright." The smile upon the french boy's lips almost looked smug for a moment as he continued, "You are just worried what he may do since he was close to murdering you in the change rooms."
"And he's a damn hypocrite when he somehow had that weird as hell paddle thing!" Mineta scoffed back, trying to deny he was afraid of Midoriya. However, many of the other boys could see Mineta sweating bullets.
As Yuga and Mineta continued to bicker, Ochako had turned her attention back towards the girls of the class as they had separated themselves to not only keep away from Mineta but also deal with a new issue that had arisen.
When the battle was called, and after some of the cheers of celebration at the takedown of Bakugo and Tokoyami's capture of both the bomb and Iida had died down. Momo had turned her head towards Kyoka with a smile, before her face instantly shifted into one of shock and worry as the punk rocker looked deathly pale and her mouth was covered by her hands, a single tear rolling down her cheek, but her eyes were doing their damned best not to break down into more.
Momo gently took hold of Kyoka's shoulder and arm, silently moving them to a corner of the room in a way that no one could see the distressed look of her friend. Rubbing her back to try and comfort her as they moved, Momo swore from the corner of her eye that she had seen their teacher turn his head slightly, his usual everlasting smile no longer on his face and a single bright blue eye watching the two women move to the back and away from the others. Something within that bright blue iris of the pro hero had told Momo that he knew what was wrong with Kyoka and gave silent permission to move the girl far from the group to prevent others from noticing.
It had been a solid ten minutes since then; all of the other girls had noticed the disappearance of the resident rocker and heiress only to find them off in the corner with Momo comforting Kyoka. Of course, most of them silently moved towards the pair, also trying to do their best to comfort the girl since she had yet to say the reason why she was so upset.
The monitoring door opened with a noticeable click, though Mineta's ranting had nearly drowned it out as in walked the three remaining students and their teacher. All Might was beaming his usual smile now. However, Momo had seen him make a side glance at the small gathering of the girls and looked at the still upset form of Kyoka beside her before turning his attention to the rest of the class. The heiress gently nudged Mina on the shoulder and whispered to her and the other girls to join the others.
With a soft nod from the pinkette and a gentle rubbing of Kyoka's arm as silent support and promise to check up on her in a bit, Mina gently led the other girls back to the rest of the class, who were now gathering up for the debriefing. Momo had turned her attention back to Kyoka, who she noticed now was staring at the back of their fur-covered friend amongst the others, confirming what the raven-haired woman initially suspected.
She must have heard something between Bakugo and Midoriya through the communicator All Might had on. Despite her friend's current mental state, Momo was very impressed with how strong Kyoka's hearing was.
"Now class, while I would like to see you all go out and do your utmost best," exclaimed All Might with a finger raised in the air, looking over all of his students before settling his gaze upon Izuku, who flinched a little when he saw the pro hero's eyes harden on him for a moment, "I would also like to point out to not go overboard and land each other in intensive care, you are here to train to become heroes and heroes do know how to show restraint."
"Now, who can tell me which student is the MVP of the round?" asked the large man as he looked over several of the students. Many looked like they were thinking, though, in truth, they were mostly stalling because they had focused on the fight between Izuku and Bakugo.
Two minutes had passed before Izuku rose his hand him, a big smile upon his lips as he did so as All Might nodded his head to the barely clothed man, "Yes, young Midoriya?"
"It's clear that the MVPs of the round are Tokoyami and Iida." exclaimed Izuku with a big smile.
"Oh? How do you figure?"
"It's quite simple. Bakugo basically ignored what he was supposed to do to hunt me down in some vain attempt of ego." Izuku said with a shrug of his shoulders, "That was evident when he let my partner escape without any trouble, so he couldn't possibly be the MVP."
All Might nodded gently, as he and the rest of the class waited for Izuku to continue, "As for myself, while I did take into account that Bakugo would abandon his teammate and the objective, and following the plan I had made with the help of Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, I was at first following said plan, but then the fight started to get… personal… and I let my feelings cloud my judgment in certain aspects, like not properly wrapping the capture tape around Bakugo before contacting my partner for a status update."
The savage-looking green-haired teenager crossed his arms over his bare chest, "Even though Iida did lose, both he and Tokoyami kept to the nature and purpose of the exercise. So they both should get the MVP." Izuku finished off by giving a thumbs up to both boys, who looked at him stunned. Not just from being as honest as he was, but not trying to hype himself up. All Might nodded as he looked over at the pair of boys.
"An excellent analysis, young Midoriya, and it was also my reasoning as well. So, young Iida and Tokoyami, congratulations for being this match's MVPs!" exclaimed the seasoned hero as the rest of the class cheered and clapped for the two boys, who were bowing their heads in thanks to the others. All Might rose his hand to silence the class, and once that was done, he pointed to the monitor with the next set of pairs, "Now, the next set of teams to face off are Teams D and B, if you'll follow me to the new battle site we can keep this train going!"
As the students of said teams went to stand by their teacher, Izuku felt a soft hand on his upper arm and turned his head to see who it was. He blinked in confusion when he saw the concerned look of Momo, "Momo, is something the matter?" he asked in a low whisper.
The only answer to his question was his raven-haired friend shifting her eyes to the side and turning her head slightly. Izuku followed her gaze to see the still, very distressed Kyoka, though now she was looking away from the group.
He frowned slowly until he could see her eyes were slightly red and part of her mark-up on her cheeks ran a little. At first, he was confused why Kyoka was so upset until he looked upon her twirling an earphone jack around her finger, and slowly his frown dissipated into one of utmost fear, and the realization hit him.
She somehow heard everything he and Bakugo said during their fight.
His attention returned to Momo, who looked back to him with that still same concerned look before but had grown even more distraught when she saw his varied expressions. With a simple nod to Momo, he patted her arm in comfort, "I'll go talk with her; you should get focused for your own trial since you're on team D." Izuku then gave her a bright smile, one that made her heart melt softly as she slowly returned it, Izuku chuckled a little as he removed his hand from her arm, "Knock'em dead, Momo."
"I hope it doesn't come to that; what kind of hero would I be if that were to happen?"
"True, but then you could always just flash that beautiful smile of yours, and they'd surrender immediately." Izuku quipped back, shrugging his shoulders and failing to notice how his friend's cheeks turned bright red. As Izuku turned to head towards Kyoka (who was also madly blushing because she had overheard what he said), Momo was shaken out of her stupor by Mina as she spoke in a harsh whisper.
"Holy hell, did that new kit of his make his "a.f." that much worse?"
"I-I would hope not… it's bad enough as it is." Momo said quietly as she and Mina headed towards All Might and the other two students waiting for them.
Meanwhile, Izuku had walked over and stood beside his punk rocker friend, leaning against the wall, slid down to sit, and turned his head towards her. She had refused to look at him but was still idly twirling her earphone jack around her finger absently. After a few moments of silence, Izuku finally spoke up.
"So, I take it you heard everything?"
Kyoka remained silent for a few more minutes until she sighed and gently nodded, "Not the stuff at the beginning, because of the chatter between both sides of the teams… but then All Might seemed to be very focused on what you two were saying after that asshole blasted you through those walls… and that's when..."
She couldn't finish, and Izuku watched as she began to shudder and did her best not to cry out loud. Typically, Izuku would be trying to calm down Kyoka in his usual stuttering and apologies, but in his current mindset, he thought of a different approach.
Kyoka stopped suddenly, feeling the firm yet gentle hand of her friend pull her close to his body in a side hug. She froze as her smaller hand rested on his chest, and she could feel the heat coming off of his body, and with how close her head was to his chest now, the steady beating of his heart echoed through her mind and body.
She felt him tighten his grip on her side, his hand placed between the bottom of her jacket and just above where her leather pants held tight against her waist. Because of the rips and tears made along the pastel pink shirt hemline, she felt his fingers pressed against the bare flesh of her stomach, which caused her to blush hard with the tingling sensation from said touch.
"Iz-Izuku, what are-"
"I can't go into full details right now," interrupted her green-haired friend, "A lot of it is personal, and I don't really want the others to hear or know about it, at least some aspects of it." Izuku turned his head to look down at Kyoka, his green eyes warm as he stared into her dark violets, "We can talk about it later if you want, your room if it makes you feel more comfortable, I can bring a new cd I picked up before classes started, some new rock band called "The Primals"."
He smirked gently at her, which caused Kyoka's cheeks to go supernova in how red they were. She quickly moved away from him (already missing the warmth and touch of his body) and cleared her throat, looking away and her jacks tapping in front of her for a good few minutes before she finally dared to speak, "Y-yea, that sounds fine, how does after dinnertime sound?"
When nothing but silence was the only answer given, she turned around to find Izuku passed out, his head lowered and his chin resting against his chest with his knees bent close and his arms resting on top of them. Kyoka's embarrassed look slowly turned to a deadpan before she slowly smiled. Kyoka pushed herself off the ground and took one last look at Izuku as he slept before shaking her head in mild amusement and headed back towards her classmates.
A loud yawn echoed within the monitoring room as Izuku slowly began to stir, raising himself up from the floor as he stretched, cracking his back with a soft grunt. Smacking his lips together from how dry they seemed, Izuku ran his fingers through his still longer hair, pushing one of the braids behind his ear. He blinked for a moment before looking over himself, thinking out loud as he did so, "Huh, so my 'kit' doesn't go away if I pass out, that's good to know." His eyes stopped upon seeing a rather peculiar object covering his legs and balled up at his waist from when he rose up.
"Where did this blanket come from?"
"That was created by young Yaoyoruzu after the third trial; you had fallen to your side as you slept and with some help from the others, they were able to put that pillow under your head as well," spoke Toshinori from the control console as Izuku whipped his head towards his direction. To the teenager's shock, the rest of his classmates were no longer within the monitoring room. Instead, standing beside the shrunken number one hero was Aizawa and the dean. The homeroom teacher with a pointed yet tired look of his own and the dean smiling at the green-haired boy as he scrambled to stand up.
"A-Aizawa, sir... D-Dean Nezu… I am sorry for falling asleep during the heroics class! A-And you, Mr. Yagi, I wasn't-I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright, young Midoriya." Toshinori interrupted the stammering boy who earlier today had seemed so calm and collected, and to watch him stammer as his usual self made the old pro smirk gently. But that smirk didn't last as Toshinori cleared his throat, "Your classmates explained what you have been going through these past few days, and you passing out in exhaustion after such intensity is not uncommon in our line of work. But, we wished to speak with you in regards to what happened during the battle trial between you and Bakugo."
Izuku visibly shook when the previous fight was brought up. Of course he knew that his teacher would have listened in through the communicator's, primarily if Kyoka had heard it.
Something else he was going to have to deal with afterward.
Nezu spoke up to take over the conversation, "While what Yagi said after your trial is correct, with your current skill set, holding back would be quite difficult given your temperament. Bakugo is lucky that he only had a few broken bones and his destroyed gauntlets."
"You make it sound like he could've killed Bakugo if given a chance." Aizawa said in his usual grave tone, looking at the Dean, who merely said nothing, letting the silence be the furred being's response, and both Yagi and Aizawa looked on in shock, with Izuku looking away in embarrassment, "... You have got to be kidding me…"
"I am indeed not kidding you, Shouta." Nezu said as he turned his head slightly to the hobo-looking teacher, "It's by not only Mr. Midoriya's heroic nature to not outright kill any of his foes, but 'Her' will preventing that sort of calamity."
Aizawa heavily sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose; of course the 'problem child' would be far more trouble than he initially thought. With another exhale of breath, the grungy teacher asked, "How strong is the 'problem child' if he wasn't being held back?"
"Strong enough to beat back and take out avatars of gods."
One could cut the tension and silence of the room after that particular comment. Even Izuku was staring in surprise as he hadn't realized he was THAT strong because of his blessing, but now realizing that aside from his desire to hold back, Hydaelyn was also keeping his real strength in check. While that thought alone set him at ease a little, in the back of his mind, a darker thought had sprung up.
What if she hadn't been holding his strength in check, and Izuku had decided not to hold back?
His attention was pulled away from his thoughts once again when another question came from Aizawa.
"And whose 'will' is keeping the boy's power in check? And what if it can be broken? It's a quirk I cannot erase and prevent him from splattering his fellow students."
Nezu looked at the underground hero, then to Izuku, who blinked gently before his eyes shifted to the other two teachers and slowly nodded. The dean looked once again to Aizawa, "Alright, I'll give you the basics at least; we can talk finer details in my office later."
And so, Nezu began to explain.
Izuku yawned gently as he walked towards the dorms, now wearing his regular clothes and finally out of both his 'warrior' kit and his torn-up hero suit. He grimaced slightly at how much damage it had sustained from Bakugo's attacks. Thankfully, Aizawa had informed him that he could see the support department at lunchtime tomorrow and see about possible upgrades without altering the original design after their little meeting.
He then thought back to the meeting itself, Nezu giving Aizawa the basic rundown of Hydaelyn and Izuku's blessing, what it potentially could do as well as explaining why Aizawa couldn't 'erase' it. For all intents and purposes, Izuku was technically "quirkless" still, but his blessing acted like a quirk, and with the dean and All Might's help, they were able to register it as one to avoid specific issues that the dean would not divulge with Izuku around apparently.
That nearly set off the green-haired boy because, once again, other people had known more or were learning more about his blessing. At the same time, he was being kept purposely in the dark with a "we will discuss it at another time." excuse. It also didn't help his mood when Nezu just casually brushed off his quirklessness like it was nothing and there was no problem with being quirkless.
At that time, the dark thought of how far Izuku could punt the 'rat' and show him how far a quirkless 'nothing' could launch him floated about in his mind.
Thankfully, he was taken out of such thoughts when Aizawa prompted his history with Bakugo and did not skip out on the details. It took nearly an hour and a half, but Izuku had told them everything that Bakugo had done. However, the other kids were just as bad. Although, Izuku had also pointed out that growing up, it wasn't like anyone outside of Bakugo's parents had tried to discipline him or correct his behavior. What took the longest for Izuku to talk about was 'that' day, the one where Bakugo had suggested the suicide and how he almost went through it when he ended up on the rooftop.
He had to come clean about how he knew of Toshinori's injury at this point. Still, he had made sure to ask the pro hero first before he went into details. Thankfully he was able to keep the secret of 'One for All' hidden, or at least he'd hope so.
Aizawa was not a stupid man by any means.
To say that the looks of pure rage from Aizawa and even Nezu, though hard to tell with the latter because of the ever-present smirk on the dean, when Izuku had said to them that All Might had destroyed his dream in a not so subtle matter, and then leaving an obviously devastated person on top of a rooftop hadn't sent shivers down both Toshinori and Izuku's spines did not help matters.
Toshinori had apologized many times for the error of his judgment; he even did so again to avoid the dean's wrath and the underground hero as well. Izuku had stated that he'd forgiven the man months ago because he was right in a way.
Izuku hadn't appropriately trained before that day, sure his intellect would've been spot on for the written exam, but he'd have been nowhere near capable of taking down the robots in the practical exam without the aid of support gear, which he wouldn't have been able to develop or anything until he had gotten into UA in the first place.
From there, Izuku explains how his blessing 'saved' him and drew him towards the now infamous 'Sludge Villain' fight where he first used his Paladin kit. He finished his story about how Toshinori had saved him from his old high school's principal and how he first met Nezu, Momo, and Setsuna.
Once he was done, the three teachers looked to one another before asking Izuku to go change and come back once he's done while they discussed how to go forward. The warrior nodded his head solemnly before heading out, returning within fifteen minutes with a gentle knock on the monitor room door. Another few moments passed before he was let back in, and he learned what was going to happen not only to Bakugo but also himself.
For Bakugo, once he was recovered, he would be put through mandatory anger management classes offered by the school and given a verbal warning that should Bakugo be found repeating what he did in the past during his time at UA, he would immediately be expelled from the hero course. He would also be put through a mandatory sensitivity class during his time at UA. If he failed to comply with any of these choices for him, he'd be expelled from UA forthwith.
For Izuku, while he had been doing splendidly so far with all the negativity in his life, Nezu requested that Izuku go in for at least three weeks of therapy by the university on-site therapist/guidance counselor Hound Dog. It wasn't mandatory, like Bakugo's punishments. Still, it was clear there was mental damage caused over the years. All three teachers felt it was needed to make sure Izuku had a stable foundation of support so when he completes his hero training, he can enter the profession with a 'clean' state of mind.
Izuku thought about it for a few moments but came to the same conclusion, and he accepted, with one request from him. His request was that his mother was never to be told about the suicide baiting, as when he had come clean to her about the bullying, it had put a significant strain on the friendship between Mitsuki and Masaru Bakuo and her. He revealed that his and Bakugo's parents had been friends for a long time. Because of Mitsuki, she helped give Inko the confidence to ask out his father back in their high school days.
Nezu agreed with this request, but Izuku would need to inform her about the therapy sessions to not worry her.
The thought of how to tell his mother had kept going through his mind, that he hardly noticed that he had arrived back at the dorms and was walking past the crowd of his classmates cheering at something on the television screen in the living room and arrived in the kitchen where he came upon someone drying the dishes. He blinked out of his thoughts when he heard the clatter of plates bumping into one another and looked to the one person he was hoping to avoid right now, "Mom?"
"Oh, Izuku, there you are!" His mother smiled brightly at him, placing the drying cloth on the counter beside the drying mat, and walked up to him, hugging him tightly. Izuku grunted because the hugs she gave him were always bone-crushing, even with his blessing, but he always returned them back… just not as strong as she did. Once the hug was over, Inko stepped back to the counter to pour herself some tea, "Your friends told me you passed out after your battle trial, and no matter how hard they tried, you wouldn't wake up."
Izuku chuckled in embarrassment, "Y-yea… sorry about that… Nezu, All Might, and Mr. Aizawa were there when I woke up and wanted to speak with me."
"Oh? What about sweety?" Inko asked as she finished pouring her tea and began to add some milk and sugar to it, stirring it lightly.
Izuku stood frozen for a few seconds, still thinking of ways to tell her about his upcoming therapy sessions. Eventually, he decided to just come out with it, remembering that he and Inko had promised to be more open about their problems with one another, "A-Actually, it was about me and Ka- Bakugo's past, I had to f-fight him because our pairs were set to square off a-and some things were said aloud that All Might was able to hear through our communicator's."
Another brief silence, albeit not as heavy due to the chattering of boys in the living room. Inko had stopped stirring her tea, and with the most emotionless tone of voice Izuku had ever heard coming from her, "Yes, I was helping Recovery Girl with a few of the older students when the robots brought him in… took us nearly an hour to remove his gauntlets safely from his arms and remove all the shrapnel." She turned around after saying that, of course, she didn't mention the crushed rib cage or hairline fractures to the blonde's skull with the added concussions on top of all that, to say that the boy wasn't killed was a good omen or just more of Bakugo's luck in life, but she wasn't told WHO had done that to him.
And now the culprit was standing before her, looking as timid and innocent looking as he always did.
"Y-yea, during our... skirmish… I was able to unlock another kit, it's called 'warrior', and it uses pure rage and anger to fuel my abilities." he quickly rose his hands up and waved them frantically as if to prevent his mother from getting mad or nearly flood the dorms again with worry, "B-But I can control it and hold back the power, s-so it's not like I'll go wild or anything."
Inko gave her son a gentle smile, placing her hand on his cheek and patted it a couple of times, "I know, sweety, and judging by his state when he came in, you got really angry."
"T-to say the least, y-yea."
"So, what's going to happen with you? I can imagine the dean will inform me of what they are going to do with Bakugo later."
"Well…" Izuku started, rubbing the back of his head and pausing in his thoughts once again; Inko merely waited for her son to speak, "Nezu requested that I see Hound Dog for therapy because it would be another 'foundation of support' for me after all the years of… well, you know… It wasn't mandatory, and I was given a choice… I accepted it and will see him for the next three weeks every couple of days. The first session is tomorrow."
As Izuku finished what he needed to say, Inko merely looked up into his emerald eyes, the same eyes she and her son shared to see if he was hiding anything. Not like she would suspect now of doing so, but he had a habit of playing down significant issues, much like his father. But upon seeing that this was him being honest, she merely hugged her son again, not saying a word as she smiled with pride with how fast her baby boy was growing up.
Once the hug had ended though, she went back to her tea and continued to add another spoonful of sugar into it as she spoke, "Well, I'm happy you were able to make the decision on your own, sweety… Also, your dinner should be in your room, we had spaghetti with some delicious meat sauce made by Sato and Aoyama tonight, but sadly there were no seconds."
"Oh? How come?" Izuku asked as he had turned towards the stairs but stopped and looked back at her.
"Momo had eaten most of it; I swear I have no idea where that girl puts it all... plus you'd think with all that food she had, she was eating for two." Inko sighed softly as she went to go sit at the kitchen table, looking at her son with a gentle smile that caused Izuku to tilt his head in confusion.
Inko was no fool; seeing how close Momo was to her son and how she interacted with him, it was painfully evident that the young heiress fancied him. Despite his ignorance of it, though Inko would attribute that to all the negativity growing up within the school system, Inko couldn't help but think of someday in the future where the pitter-patter of tiny feet and child-like giggles could be heard within her mind.
Izuku blinked gently at the rather fond smile and far-off stare of his mother, "Um... yeah, it makes sense she has to eat so much because of her quirk; I think I mentioned that before? Anyway, what's for dinner?"
"Hmm?" Inko looked up lazily at her son for a moment before snapping out of the fantasy of future grandbabies and blushed, smiling warmly at him again, "It's the leftover katsudon from yesterday. It should still be warm as I brought it up there a few minutes ago."
Izuku's eyes widened, and he smiled with glee, racing up the stairs, and a 'Thanksmomloveyou' echoed from the stairwell with Inko giggling at the antics of her son when his favorite meal was mentioned.
Izuku had made it to his door in record time, licking his lips and his stomach growling for the tasty meal waiting within his room. But upon reaching the entrance to said room, he stood frozen, and his heart sank while his stomach growled angrily as he looked upon the sign staring right in front of him.
'Come to my room as soon as you get back.
P.S. We have your katsudon hostage.'
Izuku sighed in exasperation as he sat uncomfortably on Kyoka's bed, his hands clasp together and in between his legs. Bad enough that he was in her room and sitting on her bed, which was doing wonders for his nerves, but sitting beside him was Momo on his right, while Mina was on his left, with Tsuyu seated in a chair by the desk that had the now empty plate of what was once his dinner and Kyoka, owner of said room, resting against the door and having her arms crossed over her chest.
It was of little surprise that two-thirds of his female classmates were in the room currently; Mina, Momo, and Kyoka made sense for the most part as they were the ones closest to him and had been his friends for nearly a year, while Tsuyu had been hanging around him more since the QET's, which he didn't mind of course. Izuku had noticed that Ochako and Toru were not present with them. Still, Tsuyu, in her usual blunt sort of way, explained that Toru had been asked by Yuga to hang out and go over what had happened during their battle trial where a misfire of his laser bent around her. Ochako had been waiting for him to come, but she had received a phone call from her parents and had to take it, so she went back to her room for privacy.
"So, should I say what I heard first? Or you tell them?" Kyoka asked as she looked emotionlessly at him and the green-haired boy flinched slightly before nodding, finding the music note carpet more interesting than what was to come.
With all eyes on her now, Kyoka sighed gently, "So, to start off with, the real meat and potatoes of what upset me wasn't until just before Green went full ham on Baka-go. From what I could hear before, it sounded like it was an argument of how a hero should act or something."
"Anyway, after Mina's shout when Green got launched through the walls, ouch by the way, what have I said about shouting close to me?" Kyoka glared at the pink-skinned girl who whimpered a 'sorry' back, "So at this point, All Might is focused on those two, and I can hear them more clearly, everything from that blonde dumbasses reasoning for hating Green, and to what he did."
"What was his reasoning? I'll admit that has always eluded me during these past few days with how much animosity he has shown to Izuku." Momo spoke up as she placed a hand on his arm to try and comfort the boy who was still finding the carpet much more interesting to look at.
"He thinks that Green here purposely hid his quirk, just to lord it over him behind his back, and apparently also thinks it's his fault about some crap that happened after the sludge villain attack."
"What an arrogant asshole!" Mina exclaimed, rubbing Izuku's back as he was shuddering slightly. However, the emotion on his downturned face was slowly growing angrier at the mention of that pathetic excuse.
"Izuku, if you don't want to say it, I can understand, kero." Tsuyu spoke up from the desk, though her face remained the stoic nature it always had; Izuku had looked up at the frog girl as she mentioned his name and could see the barely contained sadness hidden within those dark irises of hers, "But what did Bakugo do to you? And for how long?"
Silence filled the room then, thick in the air as Izuku shifted nervously and took a few deep breaths, "Since we were four when his quirk manifested… Before then, Bakugo was always a bit of a hothead, but he wasn't mean about it, just someone who would always be charging in first and thinking of the consequences later…" Izuku smirked a little then, a happier memory of himself and Bakugo as two-year-olds and raiding Aunt Mitsuki's pantry for some cookies before they were caught and both got scolded by their mothers.
The memory soon faded as the smirk did as well, "After his quirk came in, the teachers, other parents, and kids were always complimenting him about how powerful it was and what a great hero he would be. He would then start to pick on others for having weaker quirks as they came in. Most of the time, I'd try and reign him back but often got beaten because of it."
"When I was told I was supposedly quirkless, that's when things took a darker turn. I was still adamant about being a hero, despite my lack of a quirk." Izuku continued, as the girls smiled fondly at that, picturing a smaller Izuku running around pretending to be a hero; that was short-lived however as Izuku continued, "When other people found out, things really got worse… the other kids started to bully me as well, though not nearly as bad as Bakugo then, and the teachers turned a blind eye to most of it."
"Once we started to get into the grades where the marks actually mattered, teachers would often alter my tests to get lower grades to make sure Bakugo was always on top. I don't think he ever noticed, but we nearly tied each other at times, so it was barely noticeable when they did it. Of course, at this point the attacks by Bakugo only got worse, so much so that um…" Izuku fidgeted a little, sucking in some air through his teeth before he continued, "... so much so that I had to learn first-aid to treat the wounds to hide them from my mom."
"Wait, Mamadoriya didn't know about the bullying?!" Mina spoke up again as the other girls were left stunned by what Izuku was telling them. Izuku turned his head to Mina, his eyes looking dead straight into hers.
"Mom had tried to stop the bullying when I was much younger, but often she would get platitudes and empty promises, but her job at the hospital had kept her far too busy most days, so I was able to hide it decently then… though when I started to use the first-aid kits to hide the wounds when I got older, Mom did put together what was happening, but at the time and by her own admission, she felt like she had failed me because she couldn't protect me then."
"Of course, I told her that I never blamed her for that!" Izuku suddenly spoke up, startling a couple of the girls, "S-she was a single mother working late shifts as a nurse so she and her quirkless son could live in a decent apartment… and it was her old medical books that helped me patch myself up…"
"Izuku, I know this is hard for you, but you may want to get to 'the big one'... '' Kyoka spoke gently, using his first name instead of the nickname to emphasize the point. He slowly nodded and took another deep breath.
"So, when we were in high school, and the university and college applications were given out, I obviously put down UA. However, the teacher decided to throw me under the bus and announced it once all the forms came back to him; Bakugo was enraged, to say the least. Once classes ended, he and a couple of his 'goons' cornered me in the empty classroom, and he warned me not to even attempt going to UA."
"After destroying one of my notebooks, Bakugo said something that honestly still haunts me to this day..."
"If you want a quirk so bad, why don't you take a swan-dive off of the roof and pray to have one in the next life."
Soft gasps echoed in the room; even Kyoka, who knew of the suicide-baiting, was shocked to the degree Bakugo had gone, tears near threatening to leave her eyes as were Tsuyu and Momo, who had been holding back their own. Mina, however, was letting them fall freely as she suddenly hugged Izuku, gently crying into his shoulder and nuzzling her face against it. Izuku, blushing, of course, gently wrapped the single arm around her to help comfort her, his warm hand slowly rubbing her back, and he was obviously ignoring the softness pressed up against him.
As the scene before them was playing out, Momo had a horrible thought cross her mind, "Um... Izuku…?" She waited until she could gaze into his emerald eyes, the light shine of them showing how hard it was for him to not break down and cry himself, "I don't... want to upset you further... But you never did follow up on what he suggested to do… did you?"
The other girl's eyes shot open, Mina looking up to stare at him in horror and anticipating the worse as Izuku looked down at the ground with saddened eyes of his own. Momo's hand went to her mouth to cover it as tears started to roll down her cat-like eyes.
"It was on the same day when he told me that, the same day of the sludge villain attack and before my quirk fully manifested… due to some events I honestly cannot go into full details on, I had ended up on top of a roof and after asking a top hero if a quirkless boy could ever be a hero, and was… well not very subtly told no… it broke whatever resolve I had."
Another silence fell in the room, with more sniffs and gentle sobs coming from the girls as Izuku licked his very dry lips, "If… if it had not been for my quirk manifesting and knocking me out of those thoughts... I would have-OOF!"
Whatever he was about to say was immediately stopped as the remaining girls glomped him to the bed, with Kyoka and Tsuyu sniffling and sobbing against his chest and holding him tight. Momo openly crying with Mina now as the heiress was nuzzling his cheek and whimpering into his ear things like "No" and "Never ever".
Izuku slowly looked around to see his friends crying and hugging close to him, his brain functions halting at the feeling of the four bodies on top of him. He could feel his chest starting to tighten up and his heartbeat increasing the more the girls were crying and holding onto him. It suddenly clicked for Izuku right there.
For the first time in his life, Izuku Midoriya had felt the gentle kindness of true friendship and, dare he think of it, the love of people who actually cared about him. For the first time in the fourteen years of his life since he was diagnosed as quirkless, the weight of such compassion fell upon him like a ton of bricks and slowly but surely, while wrapping his arms around her friends tight against his body...
Izuku Midoriya cried both in pain and joy.
Chapter 14: Healing Process
Summary:
What's that strange lump in front of the TV? and also who's in Izuku's room?!
Notes:
Well, here we are, another chapter down! WOO! Just one more after this and we finally get to a big arc... the USJ :O
Now that chapter may take a little longer to write, as I will be not only writing it in its entirety but also look into getting a beta reader or two to make sure it flows well.
Now, onto the Reviews (FFN)
Survivor: Well you were partially right, I didn't include Toru in this yet as I want to have her find out just a little later on... because a certain dazzling boy is taking up too much of her time ;D
aliestrikehero: I get that, but Most CC movies aren't that well done. and it was decided Warrior would be best unlocked by Bakugo because of his rage.
And he may/will get them, you'll just have to wait and see.
draculyn28: Thank you as always! :D
evanonymous: In all honesty, I wanted Inko to have more of an impact in the story, plus with how she is in the story, it's set up for some pure comedic gold involving disciplining Mineta. -cackles-
There are very valid reasons they are both hiding things from him, as hinted at in this chapter. But thank you for the compliment :D
Xerzo LotCN: It has to start somewhere ;) and again, it's going to be poly.
Please see my comment above in regards to them hiding shit from him. And of course, the green bean is going to be holding back with certain abilities. Hell the Warrior alone has some nasty sounding ones like "Onslaught", "Fell Cleave", and "Inner Beast". And yes, every job he unlocks is basically a max-level job class (as of now).
Eeeeh, he still got to see them.
For the summoner/main healer classes, those won't be a thing until after the USJ but before the Sports festival. As for the USJ?... well, you'll have to see it in two chapters.
Nabe-chan: Thank you, and trust me, some interactions of Moogles do look like balloons.
Gues: Well, you're in luck as chapter 13 is not the end!
Once again, thank you all for reading and enjoying the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
And in other news today, Captain Celebrity is facing further allegations of sexual misconduct involving several members of-'
"Geez, you'd think a pro hero would know better than to be doing that," Hanta Sero spoke from his spot on the couch, with Kaminari to his left and Mineta on his right. They were currently watching the 'Hero News Network' or HNN for short as Sero reached into the bowl of popcorn that was on his lap and tossing a few kernels into his mouth, "I mean, I get wanting the attention of fans, and the stories you hear of how far some of them will go… but to actually 'ACT' upon it…"
"Totally." Kaminari spoke with a mouthful of popcorn before swallowing it and downing a part of his soda afterward, "But there's nothing wrong to have the girls hang off of ya for a little bit, right?" He slyly smirked at the other two boys beside him, only for Sero to snicker as well. Mineta, however, 'tsked' the two and waggled his finger.
"Amateurs, what's important is that you become so popular that the women would just practically throw themselves at you."
"Dude, seriously?" Kaminari raised his eyebrow at the dwarf of a student, with Sero's expression matching his, "You really need to tone it down; what if Midoriya heard you? Or worse yet, one of the girls or Ms. Midoriya?"
"You're just scared to embrace the benefits of being a hero!" Mineta exclaimed as he stood up on the couch with a fist raised, "Being a hero is all about getting the ladies and being super popular! That's the reason why I am -ACK!" Mineta's 'declaration' of why he was training to be a hero was halted by the timely intervention of jacks striking him and sending out violent vibrations to cause the diminutive boy to collapse onto the ground with one leg twitching on the couch.
Kyoka frowned, crossing her arms as she stared at the last two; behind her were all of the other girls as well as Tenya, Yuga, and Kirishima, with all of their faces showing some frown of emotion similar to it, "Alright, you two, spill."
"Hey, hey! We did nothing wrong!" Kaminari jumped from the couch and turned to his classmates, "We were trying to keep Mineta in line."
"Oh? And what about 'There's nothing wrong to have the girls hang off of ya'?" Kyoka said with a smug tone of voice, for which Kaminari flinched in response when he saw the girl's ear jacks waving about like two serpents ready to strike.
Thankfully, Tenya was able to avoid another boy falling victim to the punk rocker, waving his arm up and down robotically, "Jiro, it is very unheroic to strike your fellow classmates, despite their views being... skewed… on what it means to be a hero." eyeing Mineta as he said that last bit, before turning his attention to Kaminari, "And while you did try and curb Mineta's comments, saying such things is also disrespectful."
"R-right… I was just goofing, you know? Hangin' out with the boys and 'shooting the shit'?" Kaminari tried to defend himself, chuckling nervously. At the same time, Tenya stared him down in a scowl before sighing gently and rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Regardless, it's best to watch how others may perceive your "goofing off", as we are training to be heroes."
"R-right… sorry everyone." Kaminari bowed a few times and rather quickly, shaking his head from the sudden rush of blood to his head.
Momo spoke up next, seeing what the three boys were watching, and blinked in surprise, looking at Kaminari as she spoke, "The HNN?"
"Not like we had a choice in the matter," Sero spoke up from the couch, as he looked back at the others with a handful of popcorn in his hand as everyone looked at him, "When we got here about three hours ago, Midoriya had already claimed the T.V." He continued but now turning his head towards the said appliance. The others finally had noticed what could be a bunch of pillows surrounding someone covered up in a blanket; gentle mutters could barely be heard over the volume of the television.
"And when Mineta tried to take the remote from him, Midoriya literally 'hissed' at him like a damn cat… funniest shit I have ever seen." The tape user chuckled and ate the handful of popcorn.
Kaminari chuckled at that and the others following suit, though some had more endearing smirks upon their face. Tsuyu was the first one to break from her giggling, which sounded like tiny ribbits, and tilted her head with a finger on her chin as she stared at the lump of pillows and a blanket.
Toru, who was beside the frog girl, tapped her shoulder and got her attention though she was still staring at the lump, "Whatcha thinking, Tsu?"
"Well, one of us should try and get Izuku out from under his little 'fortress of solitude', kero... and I think I know of a way to snap him out of it.."
Izuku scribbled note after note within one of his older notebooks as the t.v. screen showed off recent footage of Captain Celebrity taking down a bunch of petty criminals. Sure, he had updated the tally of how many scandals the hero was into a whopping twenty-three, and that wasn't even counting the minor charges he had throughout the years as well.
Izuku only had so much space per hero entry after all.
Still, the new footage revealed a few things he had noticed that answered a couple of his assumptions, and it was a good thing he always wrote in pencil. As he was writing though, his mind started to wander a little at what had happened throughout the week since the battle trials.
What he remembered first was the state that Ochako had found him and most of the other girls when she had came back to Kyoka's room after her phone call. Turns out, crying your hearts out exhausted the four girls and single boy and they had passed out still wrapped up together in their tight embrace.
As Ochako had described later on after, she too, had tackled Izuku in a bear-crushing hug from learning what he had told the other girls, was that everyone looked so peaceful and cute snuggled up in a big pile. Though the other girls were blushing hard, Izuku's brain had stopped functioning as he remembered how he had woken up.
When he slowly awoke to the sounds of movement from the door, his eyes fully opened wide in shock as he felt the warm and soft curves of all the women lying with him that were still passed out.
He dared not move his head as he felt the softness of Momo's chest pressed against the side of his neck. Apparently, the heiress had shifted during the impromptu nap and had cradled the right side of his head. Hence, it rested between her very generous bust and under her chin, her arms gently lowered to rest limply on his collar bone. He could hear her breathing as well as the soft beating of her heart with how close his ear was to her.
Mina, also, had shifted in her sleep, though it wasn't as much of a change as Momo's was. He could feel Mina's breath from her lips on his cheek, which sent goosebumps down his body and caused him to shiver in delight at the feeling. What really took the cake was when, as she slept, she kept gently placing tiny chaste kisses on his cheek, murmuring so soft he couldn't hear what she was saying. Izuku doubted if he had Kyoka's super hearing, he would still be able to make out what the pink girl was talking about.
Speaking of the punk rocker, Kyoka was nestled against his side with her head resting upon his abdomen. She was breathing gently with one hand resting beside her face, fingers tensing a little as she must've been dreaming of something. Izuku's hand was resting on her shoulder, but anytime he tried to readjust it or move it away, the ear jack wrapped around his wrist kept him from moving from that spot.
And lastly, there was Tsuyu.
Though he could not move his head, he could see the frog girl's recognizable deep green hair resting upon his left pectoral. Izuku watched as her head rose with his own breathing, nuzzling close with her left hand resting on the other side of his chest. When she nuzzled closer, as if trying to hear his heartbeat, her lips gently opened, and he swore he listened to the cutest of ribbits and croaks escaping with her breath.
The problem, however, was not how close her head was to his own. No, it was the fact that she had draped a leg around his, and as she shifted a little in her sleep, her thigh would keep rubbing against his crotch. And of course, with all of the combined sensual touching from the other women, it was challenging for Izuku to try and keep his arousal down, even when he had shut his eyes trying to calm himself down and recite old math equations or anything for that matter.
Sadly, Mina was the one to break that concentration when between a few of her kisses, she very quietly spoke his name in a soft but breathy sort of manner into his ear. His eyes shot open once again as his cheeks had gone deep red in color. His eyes bolted down when he heard a slightly audible 'kero?' and his emerald irises looked upon the smaller black ones of Tsuyu looking up at him. There was a brief silence between the two until Tsuyu's cheeks began to lightly color up to a soft pink hue, and she spoke the two words he dreaded the most at this time.
"It twitched."
From there, it was pure chaos of apologies and explaining to Ochako that there was nothing 'lewd' about what he and the others were doing. Granted, she understood at the end when she, too, had tackled the boy in a firm hug when she was told about his past. After that, everyone had decided to retire to their own rooms for the evening.
School, for the most part, went by almost too quickly in Izuku's eyes. Sure, most of the content in the morning was a review for Izuku, due to Nezu having given him the first-year academic course during the tutoring he had done to get his high school diploma a year ago, which, of course, the 'rat' never told him about.
Surprisingly, the heroic's class for the past week had been a more in-depth review of the battle trials they had on Monday. The reason was that Bakugo was still wearing a cast over his left arm and a bandage over his head and Recovery Girl had given him a week to properly rest and heal up since she did all that she could do with her quirk.
The other reason could have been to help ease All Might into his new teaching role. Izuku thought it was mostly this reason because, while he still respected the man immensely, even the eternal fanboy had to admit that while All Might embodied the meaning of a true hero, the man couldn't teach a fish to swim.
Tuesday's class had Aizawa there with them. Most of the time, All Might had kept stumbling over his notes and sweating at the presence of the man who kept glaring at him with every mistake the number one hero made during the entire class. Wednesday to Friday, the mood had shifted, and All Might seemed to have picked up on how to properly teach, though stumbling a couple of times. As the class seemed to be enjoying and participating more, Izuku had noticed a few Moogles flying about the room with papers, passing close to the All Might and whispering into his ear. The boy smiled to himself as he began to fill out another notebook of his classmates' quirks with his usual gusto, contributing when he could, though letting the others toss in their own thoughts and ideas as well.
Speaking of the Moogles, it had been some time since Izuku had seen Mog. He was a little saddened at this since the little creature had been a little more forthcoming with the answers to some of Izuku's questions. When Izuku was told as to why Mog had to hold back on some of his answers, the little Moogle explained that it was 'Hydaelyn's will' not to overload the poor boy's mind with some of the concepts and responsibilities of being a 'Warrior of Light', and that it would only be time before he would learn everything.
He was still not satisfied with that answer. Still, Izuku couldn't hold it against Mog, and at least it was better than Nezu or Recovery Girl's dodging of the topics.
What he did notice though, not just of Mog, but by all of the Moogles he had seen zip and flit about the school was that they were the ones maintaining the campus grounds and buildings. This theory concluded when Izuku had gone to see the support studio to get his hero suit fixed up during his lunch period on Tuesday. However, he was shocked to see that the studios were closed off and construction signs all over the main entrance. Thankfully, Power Loader had been there speaking with some of the older students, so he was able to ask what had happened.
The support teacher explained how a first-year student had been trying to repair some gauntlets that looked like comically large grenades through a heavy sigh. During the repair, they got a new idea for an invention and tried to incorporate the gauntlets' design into it. The worst part was when said student had found some kind of nitroglycerin within one of the busted gauntlets and was able to filter and distill it into its "purest" form overnight.
Izuku paled when he heard that the student had then tried to use the explosive as their 'babies' power source and tried to test it out this morning, only for the thing to explode in a large fireball and destroy nearly everything. No students or faculty were harmed, which was a godsend.
Izuku had asked what happened to the student since he knew Power Loader would give them a severe punishment for the negligence. Still, the teacher sighed as the worst they had gotten was a warning and to be given a separate studio at the request of Nezu. Apparently, the dean liked their chaotic sort of thinking and would be safer to keep them away from the other students in case of accidents. Also, they would need to keep up with their studies or lose access to the private studio.
Though it would take a week before they could look into repairing his suit, Power Loader was able to take it and explained he could just use the UA sports uniform instead for the time being. He would also inform Aizawa and All Might for him. As Izuku bowed and thanked the man, his eyes quickly looked over Power Loader's shoulder to see three Moogles flying slowly into the construction zone.
All three were wearing tiny little hardhats with holes on the top to allow for their poms, with matching tool belts as well. One of them had spotted Izuku and chirped out a friendly 'kupo' before darting in.
Tuesday was also when Izuku started his therapy with Hound Dog. Despite his rather tough-looking appearance, the counselor was a very patient man and kind in demeanor. The first session was merely an introduction to one another, plus Izuku going into fanboy mode and asking some questions that had plagued his mind since the hero had debuted. Hound Dog found it quite charming, given how he often was stuck at UA and didn't have much of a presence outside of the university.
The second session was more or less similar, though the counselor had begun to ask Izuku about his home life with his mom, and of course, ask about his dad. Though the dog-like man could see the young man hesitate initially, Izuku slowly opened up a little to talk about his parents. He held back some information, from what Hound Dog could tell. Still, the counselor knew that they needed to go at Izuku's pace to gain his trust. It was evident that because of his schooling, Izuku barely trusted most school faculty, if even at all.
The third and fourth sessions were pretty much the same, a comfortable atmosphere and Izuku slowly opening up more. But the session they had today, Hound Dog suggested something since their time had to be cut short today due to an impromptu staff meeting. The canine-looking hero had suggested that Izuku spend the rest of the evening doing something for himself and only himself.
When asked why, Hound Dog stated that he noticed that Izuku tended to look out for other people's feelings or concerns over his own throughout their last four sessions. While an excellent trait for a hero, it can also have a negative side to it. He explained that bottling up all of his emotions, positive or negative, he'd be a ticking time bomb.
A prime example was the battle trials where Izuku brutalized Bakugo. While he didn't blame the green-eyed boy for what he did, as it was training and having some time with the blonde bomber gave Hound Dog the knowledge that Bakugo really liked to push buttons. He noted how Izuku had looked at Bakugo from the hole in the wall in the video playback and how it was like Izuku had been watching and daring the unconscious boy to get back up.
And that's where he is now, taking the advice and enjoying what he loved the most, while covered under a blanket with a couple of pillows around him for support and under the said blanket, he wore a simple short and shirt combo, with the kanji on the t-shirt reading "dress shirt".
As he kept scribbling down his notes and the news network began to show off some footage of the latest trailer for the Godzillo movie coming soon, Izuku snapped out of his 'analysis' mode when he felt a gentle but slightly cold fingertip push into his cheek.
As he turned his head to see who it was, his emerald eyes soon stared into the vacant eyes of Tsuyu, who was crouched down beside him, her finger having slide down to rest on his chin, but still pressing against it, "Y-Yes, As-Tsu?- I meant Tsu." he stammered out and quickly corrected himself when Tsuyu gave him a quick glare.
"Kero, you've been watching the HNN for a while now, Izuku… what do you remember last doing and the time you did it?"
"Last doing?... O-oh! I saw the TV was free and m-made myself a sandwich for dinner and then started watching the hero news, that was around… four?" Izuku questioned as he tilted his head at her, "W-why do you ask?"
"She asked because you've been watching nothing but the hero news for about five hours, Izuku," Momo spoke up, making him turn his head under the blanket to see her worried look as well as the rest of the class that was present. Izuku turned his head the other way to look at the clock and flinched when the device showed it was currently almost nine-thirty, and Momo was telling the truth.
"OMGOSHIAMSOSORRY!IDIDNTMEANTOTAKEUPTHETVFORTHEENTIR-" *thunk* *thunk*
Izuku froze as when he had risen to bow and apologize to his classmates for hogging the TV; he had let go of the blanket that was wrapped around him. The numerous notebooks he had underneath tumbled out and hit the floor beside his feet.
His eyes were wide as dinner plates, irises pinpricks as he looked over the shocked and intrigued looks of some of his peers. Momo, Mina, and Kyoka were wide-eyed as well and looked on as Izuku slowly snapped his head to Tsuyu when she gave an inquisitive ribbit and knelt to pick up one of the notebooks that had opened. The boy felt dread as he recognized the page it was on and the color of the cover.
It was one of the notebooks he had made of his classmates, and the page it had opened to was of the frog girl in question.
With a rough sketch of her In her hero suit, in a dynamic pose with her tongue lashing out.
She was quiet as she was reading her particular entry, and Izuku's attention was then turned towards Kirishima when he exclaimed, "Holy smokes! That's a lot of books! What's in them?"
Izuku stood there for a few moments, frozen as he contemplated what to say or do. But he slowly straightened himself out and took a slow but deep inhale of air before exhaling, using one of the few calming methods Hound Dog had taught him during the week when he was panicking, "T-there my… 'Hero Analysis' books… r-remember when I mentioned my mom using an old notebook of mine for my hero costume?"
Kirishima and the others nodded, though Kaminari and Sero blinked in confusion, despite nodding as well, "Y-yea, that one was from when I was about… eight or so…? So I've been doing them for a long time, actually since I could learn to write really."
"That sounds awesome!" Kirishima said with a big grin, "Especially with how smart you are, plus when we were reviewing the battle trials over the week, you did bring up some manly points about how I can improve my quirk and strategies."
"Y-you think so?" Izuku asked, sounding surprisingly shocked and blinking at the red-headed boy.
"Yep! And Mina told me about how you helped her figure out some new moves with her quirk before we got to UA, so I'm super excited to see what you wrote about me!" Kirishima gave Izuku a thumbs up, which startled the boy as he looked at Mina, giving him a peace sign and sticking a small bit of her tongue out at him.
Izuku nodded and looked back to Kirishima, "Y-Yea, that sounds good… if anyone else wants to look at their entries, we can do a… 'quirk study' thing? I guess… like we all gather at the dining table tomorrow since it's Saturday, and you guys can look through them?" Izuku asked with a shrug of his shoulders, chuckling nervously as he still wasn't too sure if anyone wouldn't have found it creepy.
Sero was the first to speak up, placing the empty bowl that once held the popcorn on the table, "Sounds pretty good to me, but it is getting late."
"Indeed!" Tenya spoke aloud, his finger raised in the air, "It would be best we all get some sleep for now."
Everyone had nodded as Izuku looked to Tsuyu, who was still reading the notebook, and her face was covered by it. He blinked as he gently called her name, only for her to quickly lookup and using the book to hide the lower part of her face for some reason. Tsuyu's beady little irises glanced over the ground of people still there before quickly closing the book and handing it back to Izuku, a little forcibly.
She gave a gentle bow in gratitude. With a soft 'kero', she immediately hightailed it up the stairs to the dorm rooms without saying another word. A few of her classmates watched with a raised eyebrow and confusion at the frog girl's sudden retreat. Izuku mentally sighed, watching her runoff.
'And so it begins…' Izuku thought as he began to pick up his notebooks; his face sulked slightly as he gripped the notebooks in his hands.
"Are you sure about this, Toshinori?" Nezu asked as he looked upon the shrunken hero before him, both enjoying a nice hot cup of tea in the dean's office where the various security cameras were watching the students' antics in their general purpose areas of the dorms.
"It's been nearly a year since I last brought it up, and I still believe my choice is correct." The blonde man said after drinking some of his tea, "Despite the more recent issue with Bakugo, I still believe that young Midoriya is a perfect candidate for 'One for All'."
"And if it doesn't take? Considering how it affected you since you were quirkless yourself, I'd think it would just be more of a stronger version of that. However, Izuku is not your typical quirkless; even I don't know what could happen if the quirk is affected by the blessing."
"Or vice versa…" Toshinori looked pointedly at the dean, who didn't flinch or move from the accusation, "We both know that you care more about the boy's blessing than anything else."
"And I have my reasons for that."
"Which are?"
"...Nothing to inform you about at this current time." Nezu said before sipping his tea, eyes closed as the number one hero sighed heavily and hung his head.
"I can see why young Midoriya often leaves here with a look of utter frustration."
"And it is not my intention to keep Izuku in the dark, believe me when I say that his frustrations and displeasure at both myself and Recovery Girl have not gone unnoticed." Nezu spoke in a quiet tone, staring into his cup with the ever-present smile the dean was always sporting faded into a small scowl, "It hurts me greatly not to be able to tell him everything… about himself, myself, Recovery Girl, or Hydaelyn for that matter."
Toshinori stared at the rare appearance of melancholy upon Nezu's face, raising an eyebrow at his admission of displeasure and the way he spoke. He watched as the dean got out of his chair and walked over to the large office window, arms behind his back and staring over the campus grounds, "You make it sound like young Midoriya is some sort of amnesiac then a young man with powers he doesn't understand fully yet."
"... In a way, he is, but in reality, he isn't." Nezu answered gently, still looking out the window for a few more moments before taking a deep breath and slapping his cheeks with his small pawed hands, "Now, should Izuku accept 'One for All', do you have plans in place to explain any changes to boy's abilities?"
Toshinori leaned forward with his hands clasped together, a little miffed the subject changed again, but they were running late into the night, and he was tired, "Given young Midoriya's 'quirk', it would be safe to assume that it could be a form of 'quirk evolution'. It was possibly due to how late it appeared in his life and now adapting to the boy constantly using it."
Nezu nodded gently, turning towards the other man in the room and walking over to the security monitors, "And I'm assuming you will need to inform Aizawa about this as well? I know you have your reservations in letting people know about the secret of your quirk. Still, he is Izuku's homeroom teacher and the one to be training him primarily."
Toshinori sighed gently, "I had a feeling you would bring that up, plus I remember how angry he was when you had failed to tell him everything about young Midoriya's blessing."
"You'd be surprised how easy it was to calm him down with some of the more exotic jelly pouches he consumes on the daily." Nezu shrugged gently, with Toshinori chuckling softly.
"I'll keep that in mind, just in case… but I do see your point, and I will inform him before asking the boy."
"Plus, I'm shocked you haven't asked for my permission yet… or was I not part of the plan?" Nezu asked with a hint of coldness in his tone that made the taller man flinch; Toshinori began to sputter and refute the claim before he caught the mischievous smile of the dean, "Oh don't worry, Toshi… While I initially was against giving Izuku the quirk a year ago, I'm all for it now, especially given the circumstances."
"Sir?"
"It is of no concern at this time, Toshinori." Nezu spoke with finality to it, "It would be best to wait to inform you when Midoriya and Aizawa are present. To save time."
"Erm.. right, sir…" The blonde man slowly rose and, after bowing, began to head towards the door, "If that's all, I should be heading back home for now."
"Of course, and Toshi?" Nezu called out as the skeleton turned to face him, "Perhaps wait till after the USJ trip next Tuesday to place another weight on the boy's shoulders, hmm?"
Toshinori chuckled at that, nodding before opening the office door, "I will sir, have a pleasant rest of your evening." and after that, shut the door behind him.
Nezu sighed as he shook his head in quiet amusement, moving away from the monitors to look out the window once again, arms behind his back, "Now to figure out my two major problems..."
"Where is his crystal to combat the darkness."
Nezu turned toward the monitors, his face grim as he hit a button on the remote by his desk and the screens filled with various images of a bright blue sky, with a small black-robed figure floating within, "...And what are you planning, Ascian?"
Izuku stretched gently, grunting low in his throat as he finished his pre-bedtime workout of twenty situps and twenty push-ups. Nothing to make him sweat a lot and take a shower, but something to ease his muscles a bit and get warmed up for a relaxing night of sleep.
Drying himself off with a towel, he had grabbed a new t-shirt (this one saying 'pajamas') when he heard the soft knocking against his door. Pulling down the garment over his body, Izuku gave a curious answer of 'one moment' as he strode towards his door. He opened it and froze when he saw the recognizable green hair tied into a bun at the back of her head and the vacant eyes of his classmate, "Ts-Tsuyu? W-what can I d-do for you?"
The frog-girl stood before him wearing a very long green t-shirt that hung off of her shoulders, along with baggy pastel green PJ pants and, admittedly, adorable frog slippers. She looked up to him and, with a tilt of her head to the side, "Sorry to disturb you this late, Izuku, but could I come in? I'd like to speak with you, kero."
"Y-Yea, sure, no problem." Izuku squeaked out, moving aside as Tsuyu walked right in. Izuku quickly shut the door and was shaking as he kept staring at the wood texture of it, his mind going a million miles a second arguing with himself.
'There's a girl in my room… MY room!'
'She just came here to talk, and she's a good friend; why should that matter?'
'Because there is a beautiful girl in my room, one who rushed off after reading her entry!'
'Maybe that's why she's here? To clarify some of my theories about her quirk?'
'She could be here to tell me it's creepy and never speak to her again.'
'If that was the case, why would she need to come into my room?'
'Maybe she came here to confess?'
That final thought almost made him laugh out loud at the very notion of that. Tsuyu was a smart, attractive, and beautiful woman who could obviously do a lot better than the quirkless and plain-looking boy. Taking a deep breath, he straightened himself out and began to turn around, "he was about to speak when he froze again, and his mouth went agape a little.
Tsuyu was sitting on his bed, both toned legs stretched out, and one was over the top of the other as if to show them off, her hands rested back behind her as she leaned back, arching her back slightly in a stretch as if to put her chest on display for some reason, and once she finished her 'stretch', her shirt had shifted to reveal her bare shoulder to him, Izuku's mind freezing at the one thought once he saw her shoulder.
'S-she isn't wearing a bra…'
Shaking his head to get those thoughts out of his mind, Izuku stiffly walked over to his desk chair and sat down. As he did so, Tsuyu sat a little back up and brought her feet in, with her hands now clasped on her knees. Izuku could see a small dusting of red on Tsuyu's cheeks, granted he wasn't too much better as his cheeks were almost atomic red at this point, "S-s-s-so what did you wanna t-t-t-talk about?"
Silence fell heavy in the room as Tsuyu took a calming breath, evident that she was a little put off from being in a boy's room. With her emotions in check and the dust of red faded from her cheeks, she stared at Izuku, "A couple of things, if that's alright, and a favor as well."
"A f-favor?" Izuku asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion as well as intrigue.
"Mhmm, first off… you know I tend to speak my mind freely. So I will be blunt with you."
Tsuyu shifted, so she was a little off the bed, closer to him, "Your analysis of my quirk was a little creepy, not going to lie to you about that." She spoke gently, trying not to make it harsher than it already was. Tsuyu saw some of the light within his eyes fade as if he seemed to be dreading something, but she reached out with her finger and pressed the tip against his lips, "Let me finish."
He nodded gently, now blushing more from the feeling of her cool finger against his lips, "While it is a little creepy, I know it's not out of malice or any ill intentions. Plus, what you wrote about me, was very flattering…" Tsuyu's tone remained gentle as she slowly moved her finger away… admittedly, she missed the warmth that came off of his lips.
"Truthfully, I couldn't believe most of it because you were talking about me."
"What's not to believe, Tsu?" Izuku asked as she stared at him; she tilted her own head in confusion as Izuku began to speak, a determined look in his eyes, "Everything I write in those notebooks are how I see and feel about the people within them. I may love heroes, but that doesn't mean I like all of them and some of the scandals they can get up to."
Tsuyu listened on as the boy spoke his mind, her hand still on the edge of the bed gripping it hard as if trying to stop her from doing something foolish, "But that way you were talking about me like I'm this special unique person when I'm just a girl that looks like a frog-"
"So?" Izuku interrupted, "Just because your quirk had altered your looks doesn't mean that you aren't a beautiful woman still, heck, it just makes your more beautiful sinc-mmph" Izuku was shushed again by her finger on his lips, Tsuyu was staring him down hard now, though not in anger, but the look within her eyes she was clearly holding something back.
"Let's… just get to my favor now; it's getting late." She said with a stern tone, and Izuku quickly nodded, "I did notice that you had a theory that my quirk gives me some behavioral characteristics, Well you are correct, and that is what the favor is for."
"I need your help to train my 'predator/prey' instinct."
Tsuyu moved her finger away, leaning back a little as Izuku raised an eyebrow, "I'd be more than happy to help, Tsu… but how can I help?"
Tsuyu shuffled her feet slightly in her slippers, looking down, "Well, it's because of your 'Dragoon' kit, to be quite honest. When you transformed and remained as a Dragoon, kero, I felt the 'presence' of a predator radiating off you during the assessment tests. While that is normal for me at times, it wasn't until you activated that 'blood of the dragon' ability that I froze up."
"I also froze up when you used the 'eye of the dragon', the red one on Bakugo." She continued as Izuku was about to start apologizing for what he had done, but the glare he got from Tsuyu halted him.
"I don't blame you for that, as it was a new 'kit' for you, but I need to build up a resistance to it for the future, so I just don't freeze up if we are working together on a team for heroic's class."
Izuku nodded gently as he settled into his chair, it was a reasonable request, and it was true what she was telling him, "When would you like to start?"
"Sunday after lunch, if possible, Ms. Midnight told me about some private training studios used by students to practice in." Tsuyu said as she got up; Izuku stood up with her.
"Sunday works fine for me; we could leave from here if you want."
"That sounds lovely, kero." Tsuyu said as she began to head towards the door but stopped after taking two steps, turning around to see Izuku looking at her with a puzzled look on his face.
"Is there anything else, Tsu-mmph!" And once again, Izuku was interrupted not by her finger this time. No, it was the fact the frog girl had marched right up to him and planted her cool lips against his own.
Her hands had gripped his head as she held it in place, standing up on her tiptoes due to the height difference, and had shut her eyes. At the same time, Izuku's were as wide as dinner plates before slowly closing them, and his face went utterly atomic red. Tsuyu soon felt the touch of his hands on the small of her back and attempted to pull her body closer, but that's when she slowly pulled away from his embrace and the kiss. She smiled inwardly as when she did so, he had started to chase after her slightly.
She took a step back as Izuku opened his eyes slowly; they had a glazed-over look to them as she ribbited gently in a giggle, "That was for all the nice things you said about me… Have pleasant dreams, Izuku."
The boy mumbled out a weak goodbye as Tsuyu turned around, swaying her hips from side to side as if to hypnotize him with her butt, which was now being shown a little more predominantly due to her shirt riding up from when his hands were on her back and displaying it for him, as she walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her while turning slightly giving the boy a wink just as it closed.
Izuku took a single step forward to go after her before taking a few steps backward in a daze and falling back against his bed and his glazed eyes staring up at the ceiling.
Izuku.exe had stopped working.
Chapter 15: Sensual Dreams
Summary:
Another mysterious dream happens, but this one is quite different than the rest. Also, something new awakens in Izuku, with who knows how it will affect him going forward.
Notes:
Hello all, short chapter this time as I felt the way it ended was just perfect for what happened within the story :D
So, chapter 16 will be the second part of this and then we have the USJ shenanigans which will be different in some ways. You'll just have to wait and see. I would also like to point out that this is where some of the more "steamy" aspects of the story come into play... so be warned now, THERE WILL BE LEMONS AT SOME POINT, but I will make them for those that don't wish to see them.
Onto the reviews (FFN)
Silvanium: Nope, but good guess though!
livesinshadows19: Well, glad you been enjoying the story, and hope you enjoy this chapter.
Xero LotCN: His crystal is around, but you'll have to wait and see what the deal is with it.
Don't worry about his power scaling compared to the major fights within the canon, Hydaelyn is always watching and Izuku would know when to not hold back.
I will tell you this, OFA is not going to function as it did in canon, but you will have to wait and see what it does.
Geo995: Thank you for reading and summoner/scholar will be an interesting unlock... As for the egi, I will spill the beans that it is still the main three from the game.
Guest: Thankfully, this Izuku has made attempts (as well as having some help from Nezu and Momo) to curb his outward muttering.
draculyn28: Thank you and hello! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
The sunlight from out of his bedroom window shone upon Izuku as he groaned from it hitting his eyes, bringing up a scarred up arm to cover them, and yawned softly while under the 'cover of darkness'. As he contemplated if he wanted to even get out of the very fluffy queen-sized bed he was laying in; his nose was assaulted gently by the wafts of food cooking. As he sniffed the delectable scents coming from his kitchen, his stomach growled in annoyance at the man not moving from his spot.
He sighed heavily, slowly pulling himself up and out of bed, slowly looking around the room to take in all of the furnishings that had been recently purchased. While not cheap when it came to the amount of Gil used for the furniture and the house, Izuku couldn't help but smile as he ran his fingers across the mahogany desk that was filled with various books and pieces of *BZZT* technology.
The protesting growl of his stomach forced him out of thoughts, grabbing the housecoat folded over the wooden chair at the desk. The soft robe clung to his body as he very quietly began to make his way to the kitchen, passing by several windows that were showing a bright and sunny day across the coastline with the distant squawks of seagulls that could barely be heard thanks to the handcrafted glass panels.
As he got closer to the kitchen, the smell of eggs and sausages became that much more apparent, as well as the soft feminine humming that he could vaguely hear over the crackling of the cooking food. When he stopped just outside of the door frame to the kitchen, he took in the sight of the blonde woman with what looked like scaled horns protruding from the sides of her head, neatly framing her long hair that was going down her back as she used the cooking stove.
He stood hypnotized as the woman's hips swayed back and forth to the rhythm of her humming. At the same time, he couldn't see most of her due to the housecoat she was sporting but could see the pale yellow scaly tail that swung behind her as her hips moved, somehow added to the gentle swaying. He could still feel the phantom touches of said tail wrapped slightly around his waist during the previous night's 'activities'.
Silently he started to saunter into the kitchen, being as quiet as he could. As he kept getting closer and closer, there was a buzzing sound building up in his head, the edges of his vision slowly becoming similar to that of 'snow' on a TV screen. Once he got close enough, he could barely see the woman turn around and start to speak to him over the noise. A sudden loud screeching sound echoed in his head.
And then he woke up.
Izuku shot up in his bed, heavily sweating and running his fingers through his messy and partially moist curls. He panted heavily for a few moments before calming himself down and slowly turning towards his blaring All Might alarm clock that showed the time as '11:30 am'. Nest to the odd clock was a small folded paper with his name printed on it; he reached over for it after turning off the alarm and laid back down on his bed, opening it up and reading it aloud.
"Good morning sweety, you looked like you had a rough night, so I thought you could use an extra bit of time to sleep… If you're not up by noon, then I'll come and wake you up."
Izuku smiled at the note his mother had written him, then noticed there was more on the back through the light coming out of his window, and he slowly turned it around. As he silently read this part, he nearly choked at what had ended the note from his own mother.
'Or I could see if one of the girls can come to wake you up.
-Love, Mom'
Groaning gently and loudly at the blatant teasing his mother was giving him, Izuku huffed as he looked up at the ceiling, still somewhat tired and in need of a shower before going downstairs to meet his classmates for the quirk study session he had proposed yesterday. Slowly, he rose up from his bed, stripping out of his clothes, and walked over to where a clean towel hung by the bathroom and then entered.
Izuku sighed in relief as he felt the warm water running down his body, slowly running the bubbly body soap down his torso before rinsing it off and focusing on his hair. As he did this, his mind started to wander back to the dream he was having and how odd it was that it seemed more clearer than the dreams he had been having the previous week.
Before, they were all scrambled with horrendous noises and sounds filled with brutal scenes of violence and carnage. Though of the scenes, Izuku remembered a select few that still sent shivers up his spine, ones where he was being attacked by giant monsters that looked like dragons or other creatures of myth or legend… heck there were creatures he just couldn't describe what they were.
But now, this latest dream felt more like a memory, or some weird form of deja vu similar to that time he 'watched' the scene with the woman named Minfillia in it. The sense of a warm home, the sounds of the ocean from the windows… the woman… he couldn't see her face or hear her voice in the end, but she was like no one he had ever met before. Obviously, the tail and 'horns' were wholly unique, similar to how some people had their quirks mutate their bodies.
Was this something similar, or were there more like her?
The more he thought about the woman, the sensations of phantom touches could be felt along his body. Gentle caresses sliding up and down his arms, the feeling of a hand taking in his own while the ghost of lips pressing tightly against his. That final feeling brought him back down to earth to realize that the lingering feeling wasn't from the dream but from what had happened the previous night.
Tsuyu had kissed him, and it wasn't just some chaste kiss.
While her lips felt a little chilled against his own, he didn't hate it. No, at the time, Izuku felt the draw to keep kissing her and to share the warmth of his body with the froggy female. He remembered how his hands had begun to slide gently around her sides towards her back, wanting to keep her close.
But then she pulled away, and Izuku tried to reach out and retake hold of her, almost desperately now that he thought about it. Izuku was in a haze as the warmth of the shower beat down upon him as his mind began to devolve into what if's, such as what if he had given in to his base instincts, to feel her soft skin with his hands, committing every inch to memory while bringing her back towards his bed and-
The sudden spurt of the showerhead with a quick shot of cold water knocked him out of the haze as he gasped from the immediate temperature change before reverting back to the warmth he felt. Izuku blinked as he realized he was fantasizing about one of his classmates and one of his friends, frowning at the stupidity of it while also blushing.
Was Tsuyu attractive? She was god damn gorgeous like the rest of his fellow female classmates, each with their own unique traits of beauty that made them all the more special. Did Izuku wish to perhaps see them more than friends at some point? I mean, what hormonal young adult man hadn't imagined themself with one of their female friends before?
But this was different, not some random idle thought that disappeared just as quickly as it had popped up. No, this was a need to bed his froggy friend, and worst of all, she wasn't the only one he thought about. He remembered one particular night while at his old home, where he had a brief dream about Momo, Mina, Kyoka, and Setsuna. It was only once, and since then, as he did now with Tsuyu, he knew it was nothing more than a hormonal and delusional dream.
The girls were all leagues above him, and while the kiss with Tsuyu caused his heart to skip a beat, it was only in thanks for what he had written about her in the notebook. Obviously, Izuku should take it as a mere friendly gesture because no girl could possibly like him in that sort of way as there were tons of better-looking and more emotionally stable guys around. Sure, his blessing made him a little 'special', but not enough to warrant any romantic intentions from anyone really.
As he rinsed off his hair and turned off the shower, his gaze had lowered, and he noticed another 'issue'. With a deadpan look on his face and grunt of 'goddammit'... Izuku decided to fix the problem.
~oo~
With one towel wrapped around his waist and another overtop of his head and ruffling his hair to dry it, Izuku walked back into the bedroom with his sight limited to just what was in front of him, which was his closet doors.
Tossing the used towel into the laundry hamper, he opened the closet door. He sighed gently, looking over the various clothes hanging in the storage unit. His hands rested above the towel covering his lower half, emerald eyes looking through the multiple shirts, "Hmm, which one should I wear today…?"
"How about one that doesn't have a bad pun on it?" Mina spoke up from his bed as she watched him.
"You always say that… but fine…" Izuku sighed as he pulled out a simple black t-shirt and shut his closet doors.
"Why do you and all the others bad mouth my- Hold up." Izuku had begun to say before freezing on the spot. Slowly, he turned his head towards his bed to see Mina, wearing a simple yellow tank top that did nothing to hide her upper body's curves with bright green short shorts, sitting on his bed and relaxed against the wall. She had a big mischievous grin on her face and wiggled her fingers at him with a cutesy wave. In contrast, Izuku's face went nuclear red and gave her his best 'deer caught in the headlights' impression.
There was a silence in the room as they both stared at one another before Izuku jumped back and his back slammed into the closet door, and shouted, "M-M-M-MINA!? W-WHAT ARE Y-Y-YOU D-D-DOING HERE?!"
Mina kept staring at him, although she seemed out of it for a moment, before snapping to attention at the shout. She tilted her head and just gave him the most innocent smile she could muster. However, Izuku knew it was hardly innocent at all, "Mamadoriya asked me to come to wake you up since it's almost noon." Mina said with a shrug, and Izuku shot his eyes towards his clock to see that, in fact, it was past noon already, "Also, I was wondering if I could nab that notebook you put all the girl's info in."
"H-huh? Oh yeah, sure... It's in a new notebook, the t-t-teal one." Izuku stuttered out, still not moving from his spot, but he also had one hand now clenching the waist of his towel to avoid the thing from falling off when he jumped back. Izuku used his free hand to point to the desk as Mina clambered off his bed and headed towards where he was pointing.
"Why a new notebook? Your old one still was half empty the last time we looked at it." Mina asked as she picked it up, silently reading the title, 'UA Hero Analysis: 1-A & 1-B WOMEN.' and raised an eyebrow at that, idly opening the book and flipping through to see her own page. Izuku sputtered to try and stop her but failed as he couldn't really just march over in his current state of dress.
He sighed as he ran his free hand through his hair, the blush on his face still present but faded compared to before, "W-Well, the last one had a mixture of both boys and girls in it, a-and Momo did suggest that I'd split it because w-we didn't know what the guys to girls ratio would be like." He stammered as Mina idly nodded her head, still listening but focusing on reading her entry, the lilac blush on her cheeks slowly appearing, "P-plus, with Mineta around, that book is typically locked up in my desk… Anyway, the only entry I haven't fully completed yet is Setsuna's… we've texted a few times. Still, we haven't nailed down a day to g-go over if she's improved since the last time I updated her entry."
"Oh? That's unusual; she's usually the first one of us to 'talk shop' with you in regards to quirk improvements for her." Mina said, still nose deep and reading.
"Y-Yea… I still need to tell her about… everything… still, but she's been busy helping tutor a couple of her classmates already." Izuku said softly, still feeling rotten that Setsuna, his only friend that hadn't been told about his life before 'that day'. All the girls knew now, though Toru was told by the other girls, with Izuku's permission as the invisible girl was still a little nervous around him.
"It's only been the first week; how does she get stuck tutoring people already?" Mina rose an eyebrow and looked at the partially naked man before her, closing the notebook and still sporting her lilac blush.
"O-one of their classmates is a foreigner… an American, I think… her grasp on Japanese isn't one hundred percent, and Setsuna is one of the few in their class that could help her. She said in a t-text that some guy, Monoma… I think that was his name, was helping her before, but kept teaching her rude phrases." Izuku explained while rubbing the back of his neck, standing at a more relaxed pose, but his hand that was holding the towel was gripping it hard, "T-the other classmate isn't great with Math and English, so helping both would benefit both… two birds, one stone."
Mina nodded gently; she knew that despite how the dino-loving girl was her "teasing buddy", Setsuna was brilliant, almost on the level of Izuku and Momo most of the time. Hell, she was the other recommendation student to get in after all. But that wasn't important right now; as Mina had finished reading her newly updated entry in Izuku's notebook, she saw the new ideas from Izuku's random thoughts about her quirk, giving her options about glue bombs and the like that she would need to test during training. The pink-skinned girl slowly began to walk towards Izuku, who blinked and stepped back a little until he was against the closet doors, "M-mina?"
"You know, I saw Tsuyu leaving your room last night…" Mina spoke gently with a mischievous tone to her voice, her smile was small at first but grew when she saw the boy's cheeks redden up again and tried to sputter out a response, "Now what was that all about? Especially since she was acting a little funny when she was finished reading this…" Mina gently held up the notepad, waving it back and forth.
"S-she asked i-if we could do some t-t-training tomorrow… to h-help offset something that happened when I went D-Dragoon…" Izuku stuttered slowly, slowly taking deep breaths to calm himself down as Mina stopped a few inches from him, hands on her hips as the woman smirked at him, her eyes half open and watching him as Izuku continued, "S-she also thanked me for w-what I wrote in the book… t-though I dunno why? I-I was just honest with my n-notes."
Mina smiled more as she moved closer to him, feeling his body stiffen up when she pressed her soft chest against his bare torso and was staring up at the man who visibly gulped, his cheeks almost as red as an apple, "Oh? Was that all she did?" The pink girl pressed herself more against him to move her head up so her lips were by his ear, causing Izuku to shiver from the sensation of her breath as she spoke softly, "Considering the groans of pleasure I could hear when you turned off the water… thinking about a certain cute froggy, huh?"
Izuku shivered and gasped more when he felt Mina take a soft bite of his earlobe before pulling away from him and giving a big grin, looking rather pleased with the current state of the boy before her, "Well, I'll see you downstairs, Iz~uk~ku…" And with that, Mina turned around and began to head towards the door, funnily enough swaying her ass as she did so, similar to what Tsuyu had done the night before.
As she was leaving though, Izuku's thoughts were running a million miles through his head, panicked thoughts rushing by as he was taking this all in. He was used to Mina or Setsuna, or hell, both of them teasing him similar to this, but Mina had gone far beyond what she usually did. Not once had she ever pressed herself against him in such a way, nor had she spoken like that or bit his ear before.
Izuku's thoughts started to form questions of why this was happening, taking deep, slow breaths when his eyes shifted and caught the swaying hips of Mina as she was reaching his door. He stared for a few moments before a single thought popped up into his mind; somewhere deep in the darker parts of his mind, the sentence had emerged, and Izuku unknowingly smirked to himself.
'Two can play at this game…'
As Mina began to open the door, she yelped suddenly when it was slammed shut again thanks to a sizeable masculine hand holding it closed. Her eyes turned to her left to see the muscular arm of Izuku beside her, but before she could turn around to face her friend, she felt his other arm wrapped around her midsection and pull her close to his body, feeling his muscular chest against her back along with his hips pressed against her ass. Mina's eyes widened, and a soft gasp escaped her lips as slowly with her cheeks turned a deep lilac color as she felt the throb of Izuku's towel-covered cock pushed in between her ass cheeks.
"I...Izuku?"
"You were partially correct…" Izuku spoke in a low husky tone that was almost nothing like how the young man naturally sounded to Mina. His breath against her neck and ear as she shivered against him, still frozen in place as he continued to speak, "Though I'm sure you would agree of how beautiful Tsuyu is… she wasn't the only one I had thought about…" Izuku said softly as the hand on the door slowly moved back to idly rub her upper left arm, "How could I not when most of my friends are all gorgeous women… who care about me is such a way that would make most men jealous… especially a particular someone who keeps teasing me."
Mina's breath hitched when she felt the lightest of nips on her neck, shivering more against the half-naked man behind her as her arm not carrying the notebook (which she was struggling to keep close to her) moved in a way so she could run her hand up and down the arm across her stomach. Izuku huffed a chuckle, "You may know her... An otherworldly beauty whose eyes are the reflection of space itself, one could get lost in them for hours staring upon the golden sun's within her vision… "
Izuku now began to drag his lips slowly up her neck towards her ear, chaste little pecks similar to the ones she gave him when she napped beside him the week prior; his hand on her arm slowly moved down until his palm rested against the back of her hand, his fingers idly rubbing her more delicate ones before she slowly spread them and he moved his own in between. Mina was panting softly as she pressed herself more into Izuku because of his teasing; the green-haired teenager purred into her ear like a cat before he continued to speak.
"...She has a boundless energy to her that not only brightens up the room or any situation she is in… but also brings smiles to those around her… it's also within her dancing that she incorporates into her fighting style… the way she bends and spins around her foes…" Izuku continued to say in that odd husky tone of voice that Mina whined gently as he felt him nip at her earlobe, "In fact, it's got me curious about something to test sometime in the future…"
"W-What's that?" Mina asked in a soft whisper, licking her lips that seemed to be very dry at the moment.
"I would love to see how flexible she is… and help her test those limits…" Izuku chuckled into her ear as the pink girl shivered in delight and moved her hand that was entangled with his against the closed door in front of them, bending her body a little forward as her knees were feeling weak. Mina was panting gently as she felt the large hand slowly move from hers, sliding down her arm as the other one gently unwrapped from around her waist.
Mina gasped from the sudden coolness that she felt against her back, as well as the lack of presence of Izuku's body behind her. As she caught her breath to calm down, she suddenly yelped in surprise as Izuku had just apparently groped her ass!
Spinning around to face him, she was taken back by the fact he was just standing there, arms crossed over his chest with the most mischievous smirk. His eyes were also sharing almost the same sort of look as the smirk. However, Mina blinked for a moment as she swore that his usual emerald eyes had an orange tinge to them before fading back to his standard color and the smirk reduced to the usual smile she was used to.
"I still need to get ready, don't exactly feel like walking around in my towel… so I'll see you downstairs with the others?" Izuku asked as Mina dumbly nodded, still in awe of what just happened, and quickly opened and shut the door as she left.
Once outside, Mina's eyes were still wide in shock and the lilac color deep on her cheeks. She stood there for a few moments contemplating what just happened with Izuku, and taking a few deep breaths to calm down, her lips slowly formed into a big grin… she NEVER knew Izuku had that in him… and admittedly, she loved and wanted it more.
Back in the room, once the sound of the door closing echoed in the room, Izuku blinked for a moment and shook his head. Running his fingers through his hair as he could feel a dull throb in the back of his head that made him wince. As he started to recollect what just happened with Mina… his eyes shot open in panic, his body shaking as he began to hyperventilate a little. In his mind, only one question was running through it.
'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!'
Chapter 16: Pacts and Warning Signs
Summary:
It's quirk study time, and shenanigans happen... 'nuff said.
Notes:
Alo all! Welcome back to another chapter of "What the hell is wrong with Midoriya this time?"
I kid, but welcome once again to another chapter of 'Bearer of the Light'. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, as honestly, it was a little hard to write this one... the last couple of days have not been the best and the muse decided to say 'fuck it'.
So a couple of announcements and background stuff before we get to the reviews:
Firstly, this story has hit over 38k views on FFN as of writing this, with almost 550 followers and 400 favorites...(we hit 2.5k views in a single day when chapter 15 was released) and in all honestly, HOLY SHIT! I cannot thank you guys for the support and for giving me the drive to continue writing this story. Not saying I was losing interest... hardly... it's just RL tends to kick people in the balls and prevent things from happening. Still, the support from all of you has been great, and please keep enjoying reading this story as well as leave feedback!
Over on the Archive side of things, we've almost hit 7k "hits/views" as well as 161 kudos and 67 bookmarks! ;w; this is awesome for a small-time writer over there (my assumption at least). So yes, thank you all over there for the support as well!
Now, big announcement, some sad news, and some good news...
The sad news being is that the next chapter is going to take longer than the typical "weekly" schedule I've been keeping myself to. It sucks I know, but read on and the reason makes sense.
The good news, as stated, is that the next chapter IS going to be dealing with the USJ... which means it's gonna be a big one. How big you ask? Well... three chapters worth at the very least. Things are gonna get crazy for Class 1-A and their Cinnamon Roll of Light, and even more, will be revealed. Also I'm having the USJ story beta read by a good buddy of mine, just to make sure it flows well.
Afterward, it's going to be the lead-up to the Sports Festival, but not in two weeks' time... no no... Our favorite students will have two months to prepare, and this would include many specialized chapters focusing on the growing relations within the class (even ones not focusing on Izuku *le gasp*) So yea, be prepared for that.
Also, dunno about you guys, but did anyone hear a "Kweh" just now?... no?... must be my imagination.
Anyway, onto the reviews (FFN)-
Qwho: Nothing but :D
Silvanium: Bits and pieces, you'd think he'd be having more of those, but for some reason, it's all jimmy-jammed... hmm...
and yes, they should be worried :D
YamamotoRyu: *bites his knuckle*
draculyn28: Thank you!
Xero LotCN: No idea ;D, and OFA's changes will make some kind of sense in terms of what it will do for Izuku, but again, won't happen until after the USJ.
Tandiian: I think that particular kit is just Izuku being himself ;D, and thank you! hope you enjoy this next chapter!
One last thing to note before we get started, If you'd like to come to talk with me or see me post sneak previews of future chapters of the story and some of my thought processes, you can find me over on the "A Blood-Moon Gathering" discord server.
It's run by the awesome EvilAngel and it's a nice small community with a bunch of other great authors that post great stories as well, so come check it out - discord.gg/Tr5smB2C
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
While most of the residents within the class 1-A dorms couldn't feel it, there was a certain tension in the air once the quirk study session had started that afternoon. Mainly, it wasn't felt until Izuku had come out of the elevator with a few dozen notepads and had sat down with the boys of the class that both Momo and Kyoka would notice the change.
For Momo, it was more confusing than anything else. She would have thought Izuku would sit between the two groups to better explain things within the notes he had made. But she did notice that whenever he looked over to the small gathering of women, Izuku would blush profoundly and go back to speaking with the boys and avoiding looking over at them again for a while.
Perhaps it was from what he wrote within the teal notebook that was causing him to be like this? When Momo had read her updated entry, she blushed at just how honest he was within his notes, praising her quirk and the applications she could do with it, plus even in the ways it could be counteracted, or herself were almost flattering to the heiress.
From time to time, whenever her blushing crush would steal a glance over to their side of the table, Momo would offer a small wave and a gentle smile that he did return with a smile of his own before being pulled back into the conversation amongst the boys.
While Momo seemed to take this sort of reaction in stride as another example of Izuku's usual timidness. The girl sitting beside her did not.
No, Kyoka was frowning at the way Izuku was acting. Could it be his usual timidness? Sure, it was nothing new that Izuku had some issues regarding people and the opposite sex, and given what the girls knew now, it totally made sense. But unlike the beautiful raven-haired woman beside her, Kyoka could also hear his heart beating irregularly at certain times he would look over to their side of the table. When he did, Kyoka could hear the most sickenly sweet and sultry sounding giggle coming out of one Mina Ashido.
Shifting her gaze over to the pink girl, Kyoka could see that Mina just smiled and stared at their mutual green-haired friend, but the look she was giving him was far from innocent. Mina looked at him as a predator would a meal, giving the punk rocker many 'red flags'. Eventually, Kyoka sighed and stood up from her chair, keeping her frown as she felt the gaze of Momo look at her, "Kyoka? Is something the matter?"
Turning to her friend with a gentle but fake smile, Kyoka spoke softly so only Momo could hear, "Yea, I just remembered I had a load of laundry I need to switch over."
Momo nodded and turned back her focus towards Izuku, waving his hands around and apologizing to Koda about something, and the other soft-spoken boy was doing the same while the raven-haired girl giggled at the display. Kyoka had seen this as well and sighed gently, shaking her head with a bit of smirk at the antics as well before turning her attention back to the 'problem' at hand.
A firm hand gripped Mina's shoulder that knocked her out of her 'Midori watching'; she then looked up to see the very knowable frown of her favorite musician looking down at her. Mina silently gulped as the hand on her shoulder tightened slightly, "W-what can I help you with, Kyoka?"
"You wanted to use the washer after I switched over, right? Might as well do that now before you forget." Kyoka said and patted Mina's shoulder as if to tell her to hurry up. Mina sighed and rolled her eyes once the rocker was gone and grumbled under her breath; considering the look in Kyoka's eyes, she was not taking 'no' for an answer.
"What did you do?" Kyoka asked as she leaned against the women's laundry room's closed door, arms crossed and staring down Mina. The latter was resting against one of the washers with an uncharacteristic scowl and her arms resting behind her on the machine.
A few moments of silence went by before the pink girl answered her friend, "I have no idea what you are-" "Bullshit, you don't." Kyoka interrupted with a snarl that made Mina flinch for a moment before pouting and crossing her arms in front of her body, pushing up her chest as she did so.
"I know you're lying, Mina… even if I couldn't hear your heartbeat, I know something happened between you and Izuku that's now made him more a nervous wreck than ever. So I will ask again, What. Did. You. Do?"
Both girls now stared at one another, both unrelenting, until one of them broke and lost their resolve. Of course, it was Mina who did with a heavy sigh and an overdramatic 'fine', rolling her eyes as she pushed off of the washing machine, "Alright so, you know how Mamadoriya asked me to go and make sure Izuku was awake?"
Kyoka nodded, staying quiet to listen to the story, scowl still on her face as Mina continued, "So, I went up to his room, knocked on it a couple times and even called his name out… got no response, and then I realized his door was unlocked, so I went in nice and quiet-"
"Oh god, you didn't." Kyoka's eyes went wide, her cheeks went flush with a pink hue, imagining what was coming up next, but that was dismissed with a 'pfft' coming from the storyteller.
"Nah, I mean, if he WAS still asleep, I'd have crawled in with him and snuggled close. I wouldn't do anything!... but you gotta admit that he was very comfy when we had that huge cuddle pile last week after he told us about… the stuff." Mina spoke in a somber tone, and both girls' expressions fell slightly at the mention of that talk's contents. Still, the pink-haired girl kept spinning her tale, "So, yea… he was up already and taking a shower, and I figured I'd give him a little surprise. So, I climbed up onto his bed, rested myself against the wall, and just waited until he noticed me."
"He DID notice you… right?" Kyoka asked, blinking and the scowl on her face gone now as she listened to Mina's recollection.
"He actually didn't at first, it wasn't until he asked a question out loud, and I answered him did he notice I was there… and GIRL! Let me tell you… Izuku wearing only a towel around his waist… WHEW!" Mina fanned herself as if to sell the point home, which obviously did as Kyoka's face changed to that of a christmas light with how red it was.
"So, I asked him where the notebook for us was, and he stammered out it was on the desk. So I grabbed it and began to read my own entry to save time, you know?" Mina shrugged as Kyoka moved away from the door to listen closer without her friend talking as loud, figuring this was getting to the root of the problem, "And honestly, the things he wrote in there… you can't blame a girl for what I did…"
Kyoka looked at her, seeing the lilac blush on Mina's cheeks slowly forming and the punk rocker put two and two together, sighing and leaning back on her right foot, a hand on her hips, "So, what? Did you kiss him?"
"Oh no, nothing like that… I was teasing a little more… sensually… than I normally would with him. Basically, I pressed my body into his, all the while telling him what I heard in the bathroom and who he was maybe thinking of while he was doing 'that' in there…" Mina said with a purr to her voice as Kyoka's blush returned with a vengeance at the implication.
"After that, I gave him a nip on his earlobe and then started to head to the door, and that's when something magical happened."
"Something 'magical'?"
"Yep!" Mina said with a popping sound on the 'p' for emphasis, her cheeks growing darker in lilac, "Izuku grabbed hold of me from behind, wrapped one arm around my stomach while taking my free hand with his other one… Kyoka, he didn't deny it… at ALL, he mentioned… " Mina was getting a little hot in the collar, fanning herself as Kyoka gulped in anxiousness.
"He mentioned he wasn't just thinking of whoever set him off earlier, he was thinking of all of us… and to drive that point home, he kept talking about me while kissing my neck and shoulder, nipping at my ear! And Kyoka, I practically gave into him! How could I not? he was holding me so tightly against his body, and his hips were right up against my butt! Hell, his 'thing' was in between my cheeks and hoooooly shit… If he hadn't pulled away… I don't think we'd leave that room for a while…"
That little tidbit hung in the air as both of the girls blushed, though Mina was looking down and away, holding her arm with her hand, "S-so… yea… that's what happened…"
At first, Kyoka stared incredulously at Mina, the look in her eyes basically telling the pink girl that she didn't believe a word she had said. Granted, she had a good reason as they were talking about Izuku, the one guy who would stutter and blush at the slightest contact with women while also unknowingly flirting when he was just honest with his feelings.
But Kyoka knew that Mina wasn't lying, given the fact that she could hear her heartbeat, and she knew Mina's pretty well from their close friendship. She was about to ask Mina what he had told her when she realized that the pink girl had said something important, "Hold on, you said 'he wasn't just thinking of whoever set him off'... what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Mina looked away, finding the ceiling more interesting than looking at her punk rocker friend. She spoke, "Well… going by how honest he usually is… he was thinking about all of us… maybe some of us? I dunno, but I can at least think of four women that come to mind."
"F-f-four?!" Kyoka squeaked, her pupils shrank as the very idea of Izuku thinking about her in that light while her cheeks went rosy. It couldn't have been her, she was petite compared to the rest of the girls, and Kyoka felt she had no sex appeal when she looked at herself and how in the world would-
"OW! What was that for?!" Kyoka exclaimed after getting flicked in the forehead by Mina, who was now frowning and pouting at her.
"None of that, Kyoka Jiro! I told you before, as have Setsuna and Momo, and heck, even Izuku has said you're cute and beautiful! So stop it." The pink girl said with finality in her voice, crossing her arms over her chest, "I may have curves for days, but a lot of people are turned off by the eyes and skin; even my cute horns make them think of me differently!... and let's not get even started when they find out what my quirk is… ugh, assholes." Mina huffed and looked away and had missed the look of sadness her friend gave her.
While it was very accurate that Mina was a social butterfly, often able to befriend people or bring the energy or mood of a room up several notches, Kyoka also knew from their time in middle school that her mutation and her quirk did earn some discrimination and bullying. The punk rocker sighed gently, deciding they needed a change of subject, "So, who WAS the one that 'set him off'?"
"That would have been me probably, kero."
Both Mina and Kyoka whipped their heads towards the now shut door with Tsuyu standing before them; her usually stoic face was present as she walked forward as if she hadn't dropped a bomb like she just did. Kyoka blinked at the frog girl, who was now bent down and pulling things from the washer, "Ts-Tsu…. How much did you hear?"
Tsuyu walked with her wet bedsheets and covers towards the dryer between the two girls, who moved to give her room as she replied, "Since Mina began her story of how she practically threw herself at Izuku, kero, and how he turned the tables on her, where she almost succumbed and broke the pact." Tsuyu turned to look pointedly at Mina, who was whistling and looking away from her friend's cold stare.
"Hold on, Pact? What pact?" Kyoka raised an eyebrow now at both of them, silence filling the room before Tsuyu sighed and finished setting the dryer with her wet laundry inside. Once that was done, Tsuyu looked back to Kyoka.
"Kero, you remember when I basically told my intentions for Izuku back on the first day?" Tsuyu asked as the punk girl nodded her head, arms crossed over her chest as she listened to Tsuyu's explanation, "Well, after what happened last week and after the huge cuddle pile, I realized that I wasn't the only one who was attracted to Izuku. You, Mina, Momo, and myself…"
Kyoka blushed at the mention of her in the grouping but was able to stammer out a question, "W-what? B-but what about Ochako and Toru? T-they have been getting close to Izuku as well."
"Ochako sees Izuku more like a friend, I think… that, and she has been blushing more when she and Kirishima are talking ever since they got paired up at the battle trials, kero." Tsuyu said with a tilt of her head, and her tongue stuck out a little.
"Oh my god, it was so hilarious when Ochako used Kiri to send Mineta flying out of the building." Mina giggled loudly in pure glee, not only from the memory but also the possible ways to hook up the two. She finished and cleared her throat, "And as for Toru, she still finds Izuku a little intimidating… plus she's been fairly chummy with Yuga lately."
"Anyway," Tsuyu interrupted, "Later that night, I had decided that maybe there was a way that everyone can be happy, kero, as it stands, Izuku would be forced to choose one, and that could be disastrous."
"Disastrous, how?"
"Come on, Kyo… you know how Izuku is." Mina said with a soft but sad smile, "He wouldn't want any of us to get hurt, so he probably just won't choose at all…"
Kyoka looked to both Mina and Tsuyu after she had said that, and truth be told, it's precisely what Izuku would do. He'd sacrifice his own happiness just so he wouldn't hurt anyone else's feelings. Tapping her jacks together in thought, Tsuyu caught her attention with a soft kero, "So, I went to Mina and told her my idea that I had, and we've been working out the details and were supposed to be subtle about our attraction towards him." Tsuyu said, looking towards Mina, who stuck her tongue out defiantly at her.
"It's not my fault that he went all 'alpha male' with his flirting! I don't even think Momo or Kyoka would be able to resist him like that!" Mina defended as Kyoka's blush returned full force, tapping her jacks together and trying to keep those thoughts of Izuku manhandling her similar to what he did to Mina out of her mind.
"Honestly, I'm shocked Momo hasn't already claimed Izuku with how defensive she gets when another girl tries to openly flirt with him or just talk with him in general." Tsuyu said while looking between the other two girls.
Kyoka sighed gently and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Momo reads too many romance novels and thinks that Izuku should be the one to ask her out first, similar to how a knight in shining armor courts a princess."
"I mean… from what Setsuna told us, he literally saved her and Momo from being crushed by a large boulder in his Paladin kit thingy and then offered his hand out to them and asked if they were alright… He literally was her 'knight in shining armor'." Mina continued as Tsuyu nodded gently, thinking of what to do with the heiress now.
"Regardless, the plan was to subtly give him hints of our attraction for him… hugs, chaste kisses on the cheek… things like that. It's obvious that Izuku hasn't had much or ANY positive physical contact outside of his mother; we shouldn't rush things while also having him get used to these sorts of interactions." Tsuyu continued to explain, her finger on her cheek as her vacant-looking eyes looked at Kyoka.
"So, what does this all lead up to? You said that there was a way for all of us to be happy."
"There is, and I've seen it work quite well, kero." Tsuyu said as she straightened up slightly as if to get comfortable for what she was about to say, "It's called a Polyamorous relationship. Basically, it's where a group of people doesn't just date one person, but each other."
Kyoka looked stunned at the frog girl, trying to comprehend how that would exactly work, and was staring out into space as she thought of the other implications that would come about. Tsuyu seeing her friend look more and more confused as the seconds passed, suddenly croaked to get her attention again, "To put it simply, instead of all of us just dating Izuku, we'd all be dating each other equally… well to a degree."
"To a degree?" asked the still, somewhat confused rocker.
"Mina already told me she was bisexual, as were you." Tsuyu bluntly stated, which caused Kyoka to glare at Mina, who was staying quiet and simply waved at her, "But I am straight, so while you both could date one another and have an intimate relationship within the group, kero, when it comes to me, I'd rather be just intimate with Izuku, but wouldn't be adverse to going on 'dates' with either one of you, kero…to help build up that bond, but sex? That would take some getting used to… at least for now."
"Exactly, and we wouldn't force that on you." Mina spoke up, hugging Tsuyu with one arm while looking at Kyoka, smiling brightly, "And if anyone else wants to date either of Izuku or us, then they would need to know we are a package deal." Mina's smile faded slightly into a soft smirk, "And we were going to let you know this sooner than later; in fact, we were going to discuss that later today after the study session… but now is as good a time as any."
Moving her arm from Tsuyu, Mina walked up to Kyoka and gently took her hands into her own, "I'll admit it's different, and I won't lie and say I'm nervous it could all blow up in our faces… but I honestly don't want anyone to get left behind or hurt… "
"The hurt part, especially when it comes to Izuku, he's had it rough for too long, kero." Tsuyu spoke up and walked towards the other two, placing her slightly larger hands on top of theirs, her vacant looking eyes shifting back and forth before looking at Kyoka, "Well, what do you think, Kyoka?"
The punk rocker looked at both the hopeful looks on her friends' faces; well, Tsuyu's had looked somewhat more optimistic than how her usually emotionless face showed. Her dark purple eyes then looked away as she slowly moved her hands out of Mina's and Tsuyu's grip and began to twirl a jack around her finger and began to think to herself.
While the idea of sharing Izuku between the girls was an odd idea of itself to Kyoka, it wasn't uncommon of a relationship as the punk rocker had heard of similar ones before. And it wasn't exclusive to just Izuku, she could possibly date the other girls as well if she so wanted to, and that wasn't a bad thing in its own right… Hell, that fixed one of the significant issues she was having, choosing between Momo and Izuku, but now she could have them both!
"Fine, I'm in." Kyoka stopped playing with her jack and placed a hand on her hip, "But we need to set some ground rules, so we don't take it too far or jump him."
"There are, but we should go over them and revise them later, kero." Tsuyu spoke as she turned and headed towards the door, but turned back to look at her friends/accomplices, "Because I'll be blunt, as I usually am... when I kissed Izuku last night, kero, it took all of my willpower to not push him onto his bed and try to make a couple of 'tadpoles' together."
Seeing the agape mouths and shocked eyes of Mina and Kyoka, Tsuyu gave them a sweet sort of smile like what she just said was completely normal, "Kero, nothing wrong in trying to bring the future a little closer to the present, right? I'm a frog with needs, and one of those needs is the man that tastes like cinnamon." Tsuyu turned away and went through the now open door, leaving the two other girls stunned still.
A few brief moments passed before Mina finally spoke up, "... remind me never to get in her way when that time comes…" and Kyoka slowly nodded before they, too, left the laundry room and headed back to the dining area to continue the quirk study session, all the while thinking one thing.
'Frogs are scary.'
As the three returned to the dining room, they all stopped and were somewhat shocked to see two new additions to the group. The first one was a shorter brown-haired girl who was politely, albeit shyly, speaking with Ochako. There were two interesting things about her.
Her hair looked like that of a mushroom top, and it bopped as she shifted her head slightly; despite it covering her eyes, one could quickly tell where she was generally looking at. It was Tsuyu who noticed from the subtle shifts of her hair that the new girl had kept stealing glances towards Izuku and, with a soft but deep croak in her throat, had a feeling where that was heading.
The new girl's other unique thing was her clothes, as it was a very stylish and frilly dress with soft pastel colors. The style screamed 'lolita', and the way she sat was like that of one of those old porcelain dolls, with her legs gently swaying underneath her and her hands resting in her lap.
The other person, if one could call her that at the moment, was a face that both Mina and Kyoka recognized instantly, where the pink-haired girl began to smile in glee and the punk rocker groaning over the fact she felt another headache starting to come as resting atop of Izuku's fluffy hair was the detached head of Setsuna Tokage.
Izuku was blushing hard as Setsuna kept nuzzling her head against his scalp, like a bird roosting in a messy sort of nest, which also didn't help the fact that since their hair color was almost the same in pigment, that it looked like the freckled boy had long flowing hair instead of his usual mess of curls.
And in Kyoka's opinion, it didn't look half bad.
The other guys tried to hide their snickers when Setsuna shifted her head and covered Izuku's face, which startled him out of his inner thoughts. With a sharp tooth grin, similar to Kirishima's, Setsuna hurtled her head towards the newly arrived trio, lightly jamming her head into Mina's chest, and then looked up, "I was wondering where my teasing buddy went off to!"
"Suna!" Mina exclaimed and snuggled the head, "It's been so long! How's 1-B doing?"
Pulling her face out of Mina's chest again, Setsuna huffed some hair out of her face and smiled widely, "It's going alright… Vlad King is a bit of a stick in the mud, but he's a good teacher. I'd give you all big ol' hugs, but my body is still sore from heroics class yesterday, hence why I'm just a head at the moment." The head spun slightly in Mina's arms to look at Kyoka, "Heya Jacks, keeping cute as per the usual I see!"
Kyoka merely stammered and looked away, tapping said jacks together while she was blushing. Setsuna cackled loudly before shifting her gaze towards Tsuyu, who simply was watching the antics happen before her. The head lifted itself from Mina's grasp and floated in front of the frog girl, "Oh? And who is this new cutie?"
"Tsuyu Asui, but you can call me Tsu, kero."
Setsuna gasped at the response, stars in her eyes before the look of surprise shifted into one that looked much better on a predator finding its next meal, "Oooh, she's adorable! I just wanna eat her up!"
Tsuyu slowly moved behind Mina a little, letting out a squeak of a croak from her throat, "I'd rather not be eaten at all, thank you." as all she said that sent the disembodied head to cackle once again, which was followed by a giggle by Mina.
"So what brings you here, Suna?" Mina asked as the floating head started to calm down.
"Eh, I was hoping to catch green bean to do our usual stuff, but also show one of my new buds around the campus." Setsuna gestured towards the girl in the frilly dress, "I kinda promised her I would and figured, why not go see you guys while doing it and introduce ya to one another."
"And I take it she's already talked to Green, hence why she's sitting so far from him?" Kyoka asked as her jack pointed towards said shy girl giggling along with Ochako and a now bouncing Toru beside the gravity user.
With a shake of her head, Setsuna sighed gently as she continued to look at her friend, "Nah, Kinoko's been avoiding him, and the rest of the boys in general now that I think about it… she does the same in our class as well, so baby steps, like we do with Izuku.'' Once saying that, Setsuna shifted back to the three other girls and froze when she saw their crestfallen looks, "Hey, you three alright?"
The three girls looked between one another, their sullen faces a stark contrast to what Setsuna was used to seeing, which meant something bad had happened. Mina gently wiggled her finger to have the floating head come closer to whisper something when chaos erupted with the sudden appearance of a very loud blonde.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!"
Everyone flinched when an irate-looking Bakugo stomped over, his red eyes ablaze from the light above the dining table. The blonde bomber was wearing a simple black tank top with red shorts and black sneakers, a towel hung around his neck with the ends resting against his chest. The air was filled with the slight scent of sweat as it was clear that Bakugo had finished doing his workout.
It was no secret that once his arms were fully healed that he had spent most of the time working out by himself, at least for most of the time. Kirishima and a couple of the other boys had made attempts to be friendly with him, albeit with not much success.
Once Bakugo was close enough, he 'tsked' when he saw a few of his classmates were looking in Izuku's notebooks. His eyes scanned over the others, frowning when he saw the girls' intense glare, internally he wondered what the hell their problem was.
"You think that looking through Deku's notes is going to give you an edge or one-up me? HA! None of you extra's have got what it takes. I'm reaching for the top, and none of you will ever be better than me or my quirk."
He grinned smugly at all the responses he got from the rest of the class, many protests from the guys, and an odd challenge from Kirishima. His sights then went to Izuku, whose eyes had been covered by his curly hair. Good, the nerd may have finally realized his place. With this in mind, Bakugo began to head towards the stairs, the arguments to his claims dying down as he placed his foot on the first step.
"Your quirk isn't all that great."
A deathly silence filled the room as everyone. However, Bakugo slowly turned their heads toward the one who said it, the green-haired boy whose head was still tilted downward and eyes still shadowed by his hair.
"What was that shitty Deku? Got something to say?" Bakugo growled low as he slowly turned around, a hand raised up with a few sparks and pops of tiny explosions going off as a warning to Izuku. However, to the shock of everyone, even Bakugo, the response to the threat was a mere chuckle and shaking of the green-haired boy's head, who slowly got up from his seat and began to walk towards the blonde, his eyes hidden in shadow as he did so.
"You must be more hard of hearing than I assumed, so let me repeat what I said nice and slowly…" Izuku said with a coldness to his voice as he stopped just short of a foot away from Bakugo, who blinked once Izuku's eyes were revealed to him. Red eyes met with the other boy's emerald ones' odd coloration as there was a difference to them. The difference being of a more orangey hue around the edges of his irises and the way he was staring at Bakugo was more calculated, watching every little move he was doing as Izuku continued, "I said your quirk isn't all that great… well in certain aspects."
"Izuku, maybe you should-" Momo had begun to speak up, hoping to prevent a fight that would and more than likely occur. Still, her sentence was cut short from a tilt of Izuku's head, looking back at her with his oddly colored eyes.
A few moments of silence passed before Izuku turned his head back to Bakugo, who was staring at how odd the boy in front of him was acting, "As I was saying... sure, your explosions are great when it comes to fighting, but the other aspects of hero work? Not so much."
Holding up his hand in front of Bakugo, Izuku started to lift each finger up as he spoke, "First, you're limited in terms of rescue, being only to possibly blast apart rubble if the need calls for it, otherwise having explosions go off usually doesn't lend much help in terms of aid."
"Second, you can and have caused a lot of collateral damage to buildings, which can hinder missions then help." Izuku raised his second finger, but his gaze never left the blonde bomber's own as Bakugo was gritting his teeth.
"I could keep going, but honestly, we'd be here for another hour at least… not to mention how easy it is to neutralize your quirk anyway." Izuku stated with a shrug of his shoulders, which made Bakugo snarl even louder.
"Like hell that could ever happen! I'm the strongest in this damn-"
"Your middle of the pack, Bakugo." Izuku interrupted the incoming rant, which caused everyone to gasp at the proclamation. Even some of the students in the living room that had turned their attention that way had ducked behind the couch as if it was a barricade.
Bakugo merely stared in shock at Izuku, who kept staring at him with that same cold and calculating look he had been wearing on his face during this entire conversation, "You're in the middle, Bakugo."
"YOUR LYING, YOU DAMN NERD, I'M THE FUCKING STRONGEST AROUND HERE!"
"Pfft, hardly!" Izuku huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "Sure, you got the brains, combat practice…" the venom dripping off of the word made Bakugo flinch a little, which most of the class looked on in confusion at not understanding the reason for said venom, only the girls that knew of the two's past would connect the dots for the tone the word 'practice' had as Izuku continued, "... and quirk to be a strong hero, but compared to some of the amazing quirks in our class? You are in the middle… high middle… but still middle."
Then something unexpected happened, an event that many in Class 1-A and one of the quests from 1-B could attest would never happen. Izuku Midoriya got into Katsuki Bakugo's face and spoke in a low tone to him, though loud enough for everyone to hear him, "This isn't Aldera anymore, Bakugo… no one is going to put up with your bullshit anymore or cater to your sensitive ego. So, start acting like the goddamn hero I know you can be and keep up with the rest of us or keep being the way you are… a pomeranian throwing a temper tantrum whose bark is worse than their bite… because frankly, if your strongest attack was that explosion from your gauntlet, well, I'm not impressed."
And with that, Izuku stepped back and turned around, everyone staring as Izuku went back to his seat and opened up one of his notebooks, flipping to a particular page and began to scribble something into it. All eyes slowly looked to Bakugo, who had remained transfixed in his spot for a few moments, staring out into space before snapping out of whatever trance he was in and then looked to see everyone staring at him.
"The fuck you extras looking at?" Bakugo growled before stomping his way up the stairs; the distant slam of a door echoed from the stairwell as everyone turned their gazes towards Izuku, who was still writing.
No one moved for a few moments before Yuga very slowly walked up beside him and nudged his shoulder, "Monsieur Midoriya? Are you alright?"
"Hmm?" Izuku looked up from his work; Yuga and the others that were behind the blonde frenchman could see that Izuku's eyes had returned to their natural emerald color, "I'm fine? Why, what's up?"
The silence was the only answer given as Izuku looked around at his classmates in confusion. Even the girls looked worriedly at him, and he tilted his head again.
"Did I do something wrong?"
Chapter 17: USJ - Part 1: All Fun and Games...
Summary:
Class 1-A heads to the USJ, all the while Izuku reveals an aspect of one of his kit's.
Notes:
Greetings one and all! Hope you all have been doing alright.
Here is Part 1 of the USJ arc, just as a heads up, I had to split the story into 4 parts now, for pacing reasons. So part 2 should be up within a week, followed by part 3 within a few days after that, and part 4 afterward.
As a reminder and update, here is the chapter titles:
Chapter 17: All Fun and Games...
Chapter 18: Game Over
Chapter 19: Darkness Beckons
Chapter 20: Faces New and Old
So, once again, thank you for your time and patience, and enjoy this first part of the USJ.
Reviews from last time:
PMC-Midnight Mariners: I see you are one of the ones to figure out what's been happening to our cinnamon roll. And who's to say if Izuku could keep 'Fray' back under control, you'll just have to see the upcoming chapter to figure it out.
Krasus1988: Honestly I had a very nice discussion over on the discord server I'm mostly talking with people on story ideas and how to make this story flow in regards to this. Fun Fact: Nitroglycerin is water-soluble.
Laplase: Totally agree with you on that point, and personally I was somewhat self-venting during that as well with how Bakugo's character is being handled. Has it gotten better? Yes, it has somewhat... does that mean I like his character or see why he's a fan favorite? Not a damn clue haha.
Xerzo LotCN: Well, better get those tissues my dude ^^; I know a lot of people have voiced their sadness that Ochako and Toru aren't going to join the poly relationship, but I made this decision on a few key deciding factors.
1. Ochako at the beginning of the story wasn't looking for love, and she actively suppressed her feelings of anything like that up until Yuga basically told her at the final exams, and then she admitted it during the licensing exam.
And unlike Ochako in Bearer, sure, she likes Izuku and thinks he's a great guy, but it's nowhere near the pedestal Canon puts him on with her feelings. And spoiler warning, she and Bakugo do not get together in Bearer.2. In terms of Toru, I have nothing against her or her character, but I already have one of the girls currently who has a similar personality with her lined up already. Doesn't mean she isn't getting together with someone, but it will be a real crack pairing I'll admit that hehe.
Draculyn28: Thank you! I am glad you are enjoying it. Hello!
AnimeFan13579: Oh they will...
***Sadly I had to deleted all the comments from the update chapter to post this one, sorry about all that :(***
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Izuku sighed gently as he stared out of the window of the bus with the events of the last three days still playing through his head on repeat. The first part of his turmoil was from Saturday of how he had apparently told off Bakugo, which he had no recollection of doing, and the study session's aftermath. When some of the boys had told him of how his eye color had changed slightly to that of a dull orange around the edges of his iris', Izuku had booked it straight to his room and immediately checked his eyes within his bathroom mirror to see if any of the discolorations had remained.
Thankfully, they were the same emerald color he knew and loved, and it had not only relaxed Izuku's mind but also somewhat frustrated him as this was clearly another kit about to be 'unleashed'. However, unlike the previous awakenings, this one had no catalyst… none of his classmates were triggering the pull he would often feel when they were needed to bring out a new kit, nor was it an object.
Perhaps it was himself this time?
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the gentle knocking on his door, opening it to find Tsuyu, Momo, and Yuga all standing there with all of his notebooks in their arms. Izuku had blinked for a few moments before going wide-eyed at the fact he was in such a rush that he left all of his notebooks downstairs!
Stuttering out an apology, his three friends chuckled at his antics as he took the notebooks from them and began to place them back into their correct places by his desk, making sure to hide the teal book in a good place first.
Sunday had been a tranquil day. Sadly, Tsuyu had to go to her parents for the day to watch her younger siblings until the early evening, so their plans for training were canceled. Izuku wasn't upset about the change of plans; with the short amount of time he had gotten to know the frog girl, he could tell she was a very mature and responsible woman and that this was simply brought upon her with no prior warning.
However, when his thoughts started to head back towards the kiss she had given him and how he reacted to her, he slapped his cheeks to focus on the homework given to him by Nezu. He grumbled and inwardly berated himself for thinking those thoughts again. He didn't deny that she was beautiful, much like the other girls in his class, and if he was honest… he may have had a slight crush on not just her but also some of the other girls he was friends with.
However, it didn't matter how he felt about them; they were there to be heroes first and foremost. Besides, they would find someone far better than the quirkless deku anyway… no need to get his hopes up.
Settling in for the rest of the day, he had remained alone in his room for most of it, only coming out when it was time for meals and simply grabbing them, his eyes and face buried in a notebook as he muttered softly to himself. What the green-haired boy hadn't noticed was Kirishima had called out to him. Still, Izuku had already ascended the stairs, not hearing the red-headed boy much to his dismay as well as a few others.
Momo sighed gently as she went up to the hardening-quirk boy and merely told him that Izuku tended to get into this sort of tunnel vision when he was upset with himself over something, and he would eventually come out of it, it was just a test of time really. Kirishima huffed gently, not in anger towards Izuku, but more the fact he couldn't help the obviously distressed classmate of his. Momo simply smiled at him gently and nodded, for she too felt that way at times.
And so, Sunday passed by quickly for Izuku. Like he had been doing since his 'sleeping' issues had been taken care of, he had just finished coming back from a morning run around Gym Gamma, which was the closet building, and an excellent way to measure his breath control and stamina.
The morning classes started off the same, with a quick homeroom lecture followed by the announcement of a particular heroics class happening the following day, and a quick follow up homeroom just before lunch, when asked what it was to be about (not that anyone minded an hour free of Present Mic's bombastic style of teaching.), Aizawa merely gave the entire class a deadpan stare and simply said, 'you'll find out later.'
From that point on, Izuku had no idea how the events of that one homeroom lecture would cascade into a whirlwind of chaos for the rest of the day.
If one could call it that, the class was merely the announcement that the students had to choose a class representative. After a chaotic declaration by a few people wanting the position, it was Tenya to 'save the day' by suggesting to hold a class vote to decide the outcome.
Izuku sighed with genuine relief that he had not been chosen as either the class president or vice president. However, the latter was darn close as he had somehow gotten four votes. He watched with a genuine smile as Tenya and Momo stood before the class; his smile was more for Momo because he knew she would best fit the role of leading the class, and she seemed a little upset for some reason. Possibly because she was the vice?
Still, in Izuku's mind, Momo would be the best vice president for Tenya. While Izuku had no qualms with the speedster, in fact, he was proving to be quite a great friend, Izuku did notice how much of a stickler for the rules Tenya was, and having Momo as his vice would counterbalance such ways to make sure that while the rules were followed, it wouldn't be stifling and uncomfortable for the rest of the class. That and truthfully, he could see people going to Momo if there was a problem as she would have listened to them.
Izuku knew this, as this was often the case for him before they were at UA.
When lunch started; Izuku, Momo, Tsuyu, Kyoka, Mina, Ochako, Tenya, Toru, Tokoyami, and Yuga were all seated and discussing various little things, as well as for Izuku apologizing for his behavior during the study session and his lack of being around on Sunday, the green-haired boy's vision went dark suddenly, and he froze as he felt very soft and warm hands covering his eyes.
His own hands quickly shot up, and realizing there was the lack of arms attached to said hands, he huffed softly and called out the giggling trickster who was sitting a few tables away. He sighed as he gently pulled the detached limbs from his head and held them like one would with a pair of hands. He excused himself and headed to the table where Setsuna was just grinning like an idiot at him.
He placed them on the table and politely asked to not spook him again… for the millionth time. For his troubles, Setsuna merely teased him lightheartedly, all the while wiggling her eyebrows at him as to insinuate something that she knew he wouldn't dare even think about, causing Izuku to blush and stammer.
Setsuna giggled at his reaction, as well as a blonde-haired girl sitting beside her with two large horns on the sides of her head, Kinoko who was across from Setsuna, was doing her best not to giggle as well, not from the teasing, but the very adorable way Izuku's face had blossomed into a bright red. A groan came from the other side of Setsuna that came from an orange-haired young woman who lightly karate chopped the top of the sharp-toothed girl's head.
She introduced herself as Itsuka Kendo. The blonde-haired girl with a somewhat and heavily accented broken form of Japanese introduced herself as Pony Tsunotori, all the while beaming a big smile that everyone at the table with them, including Izuku, had to cover their eyes from how bright it was. Izuku then nodded his head in greeting to Kinoko, who very timidly did the same while also supporting a soft blush on her cheeks with her hair still covering her eyes.
Just when Izuku was about to introduce himself, an alarm went off in the cafeteria that caused massive panic amongst the students. As the students began to panic and push and shove their way to the exits, believing the alarms to signal a villain attack against the university, Izuku had been pressed against the windows, and somehow both Kinoko and Pony had been pinned between him and the window.
Izuku grunted not only from being hit continuously in his back by the panicking students but also to not crush the two girls in front of him. He looked down at said girls, both looking utterly confused and frightened, one from not clearly understanding the cacophony of rapidly spoken Japanese. The other was just scared at the thoughts of a villain or a group of them attacking the school. Somewhere deep in his subconscious, this felt wrong to Izuku, and he tried to think of some way to help the two girls.
When in doubt, do what All Might would do.
Izuku spoke out to them, and upon seeing the brilliant blue eyes of Pony, as well as the one revealed brown eye in the shape of a shiitake mushroom of Kinoko look up to him, he gave them the biggest smile he could muster considering someone kept jabbing him in the back with their elbow. Both girls stared up at him, Pony's frightened look turned into one with just as big of a smile as his own, while Kinoko was merely staring up at him with a dusting of pink across her cheeks.
The moment soon ended though, as movement from above had caught their attention. All three students blinked in disbelief at the floating Tenya Iida zipping past them and landing against the wall above the main exit, loudly proclaiming that it was the press that had gotten past the gates to UA and that everyone should calm down and exit the building properly.
From there, the rest of the day had been somewhat quiet; the afternoon classes and any programs afterward had been canceled. Returning to the present, Izuku sighed as he kept thinking about how the press had managed to take down the security gate in the first place. His gaze watched the ground pass by him as he and his classmates were on their way to the special rescue training at a unique building called the USJ or 'Unforeseen Simulation Joint', much to Mina and Kaminari's disappointment.
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a gloved finger poke his cheek, and he turned his head to see Tsuyu staring at him with a tilt of her head, "You've been deep in thought, kero, I've been trying to get your attention for the last ten minutes."
"O-Oh, s-sorry Tsuyu… erm… why were you trying to get my attention?" asked Izuku as he did his best to keep his eyes transfixed onto hers, the reason being she was in her hero suit and the way it hugged tightly against her body left little to his imagination and for the other reason being that he still had no idea how to feel about her ever since they kissed in his room.
Granted, it's not like she would see him in some sort of romantic light; he was only a deku afterall and way out of his league.
"You never did fully explain how your quirk works during the study session, kero, and while I'm not trying to push you if it makes you uncomfortable, now would be a good time while we are still driving to the USJ." Tsuyu said as most of the class turned their heads towards the two green-haired students, obviously eavesdropping on their conversation.
Izuku looked about to see the curious looks all pointed directly at him, except for Bakugo, who he wasn't surprised in the least; he turned his attention back to Tsuyu, "I-it's fine, Tsuyu… and I did promise I would... just so everyone knows, it has some… odd characteristics."
"Every quirk has a bit of an oddness to them," Kirishima spoke up, leaning on the barrier cushion in front of him, "I mean, look at mine, I can harden my body up sure, but it gets more rigid and has sharper edges to them."
"Or the user can be odd themselves, right Fumi?" spoke Dark Shadow as it coiled around the bird-headed boy, who grumbled out a 'hush demon'. Everyone chuckled at the exchange between the two, which made Izuku lose some of his nervousness.
"T-thanks guys… Well, most of you know it's called 'Manifest', which I mentioned back when I gave that very brief explanation after the assessment tests, and how it can… manipulate my personality a little."
"Riiight, still think it's similar to a 'magical girl' anime," Kaminari spoke up, which caused a few of the students to snicker and Izuku to groan and hide his face in his hands. The electricity quirk user yelped in pain from a jab of Kyoka's ear jack to his side and gave him a warning glare that made him flinch and cower slightly.
Izuku sighed gently after taking a deep breath in to quell his embarrassment, "That aside… there is another part I didn't really go over before." Izuku had paused to collect his thoughts, hoping what he was about to say would make some lick of sense for his classmates, "when my kit's 'manifest', it's not exactly at random… I mean, it's random to what I get! But how I get it, there's a... catalyst to it."
"A catalyst?" Tenya asked, raising an eyebrow as there were a few of the others who looked just as confused; the class president pressed on, however, "What do you mean a 'catalyst'?"
"It's… It's like a pulling feeling. Like a tugging motion where my brain just can't stop focusing on it, and the catalyst can be objects I come across…" Izuku slowly shrank a little, tapping his index fingers together, "or people…"
"People can be catalysts? How in the heck does that work?" Mineta had asked while thinking for a moment, then snapped his fingers and pointed at Izuku suddenly loudly exclaiming, "THAT'S WHY YOU WERE CHECKING OUT TSUYU DURING THE TESTS!"
That particular outburst got a sudden slap upside the head by the mentioned frog girl's tongue, followed up by a frown at the diminutive boy while Izuku was blushing like mad and trying to explain himself. Thankfully, Tsuyu was the first to speak in his defense, "As he just mentioned, it was due to the pull of his quirk that he was staring at me, which he already apologized for, and I forgave him for it."
"I-it was still r-r-rude though..." Izuku weakly spoke up, having Tsuyu turn back to look at him, frown gone, and she sighed, well, keroed gently.
"And I told you already that I accepted your apology. Now, it's obvious that I was the reason you have that 'dragoon' kit, correct?" Tsuyu asked, causing the boy to gently nod his head, "Then, kero, has anyone else been a catalyst in our class?"
"Y-yea… Momo and Yuga were the ones to unlock my Gunbreaker and Red Mage kits… Warrior was unlocked due to the events of the battle trials…" Izuku spoke gently, but everyone on the bus could feel the tension at the admittance of that last one, with a scoff coming out of Bakugo, who merely looked away and finding the outside much more appealing.
"So, I've been curious about something," Sato spoke up, his arms crossed over his chest as the thick-lipped teenager had a thinking look to him. "You keep mentioning this 'Red Mage' over and over, but what entails it to be a 'red' mage exactly? Like are there other colors of mages?"
Izuku stared at the boy in yellow spandex for a few moments before looking down to the bus floor and letting his mind race, going over the question a few dozen times while his eyes slowly began to widen. He never once thought about other types of mages. Yet, while he couldn't think of any presently, one idea cropped up that may give him a better understanding.
A flash of light bloomed inside of the bus suddenly, causing a few of the riders to wince as the one to cause the flash was now in fancier red clothes instead of the gym uniform he was wearing due to his hero outfit still being worked on. Izuku was smiling now; the red tricorn hat upon his head was taken off, revealing the somewhat still curly hair now pulled back into a short ponytail of sorts. Upon his lap was the rapier, sheathed and the crystal focus resting on the belt he was wearing.
Everyone was merely staring at the boy and was silent for a few moments. Izuku turned his attention to his classmates with a tilt of his head in confusion… before Kaminari once again opened his mouth.
"Dude! What the heck are you wearing?!"
Soon the bus erupted into laughter and giggles; even the girls were having a hard time trying to hold back at how utterly gaudy and ridiculous Izuku had appeared, leaving the said 'red mage' to blush and put his hat back on to hide his face. The only one who seemed to take any offense to this was Yuga, "Si vulgaire! To mock an amazing outfit such as what Monsieur Midoriya is wearing is vraiment horrible!"
Momo gently cleared her throat, blushing slightly and getting the attention of everyone, "While I do agree with Yuga that it was very rude of us to laugh at your outfit… I'm sorry Izuku, but what on earth is with all the red? I get it's your 'red mage' kit… but even this is a little too far."
Some of his classmates continue to giggle, and Izuku merely hid under his hat again, groaning gently in embarrassment until he felt the gloved hand of Tsuyu on his shoulder; at this point, he looked to the frog girl, "I'm sure you can change our outfit later, kero, but why did you suddenly change into this kit?"
Realizing there was a reason he did go into this kit, Izuku quickly went to his belt and held the focus in his hand. Everyone watched as it slowly began to float just above the palm as Izuku gently cleared his throat, still somewhat embarrassed from the laughter of his classmates, "Y-yes, I figured that since when I go into one of my kits, I get a better understanding of it's… for the lack of a better term, 'nature' and how it works."
"This is going to sound weird, but… I call it 'Red Mage' because it utilizes the Aether or "mana" within my body to… well… cast spells."
"Wait," Sero had spoken up now, "you're saying you can actually use freaking magic?! Is that why that crystal thing is floating?" The tape-quirked boy asked loudly, and everyone waited for the answer, but when Izuku found the outside of the bus more exciting and had remained silent, the whole class put two and two together, and a few gentle gasps could be heard. Sero once again spoke up to get rid of the heavy tension in the air, "Dude, what the heck is your quirk anyway? I know Denki said it's like something from a magical girl anime, but I think it's more like a bloody video game!"
This got a chuckle from Izuku, who had shifted back to his 'normal' look; he looked back towards the class, "I… c-can't deny that myself. It certainly feels like it at times. But back to what Sato had asked, I honestly couldn't tell you if there are other colors or how many… a 'red mage' utilizes both forms of white and black magic, keeping it balanced between the two and, in doing so creates 'red' magic."
"Well, what's the difference between those two?" Sato had asked once again, a few of the other students nodding in agreement to the question.
"W-well, w-white magic is sort of… it's like it's 'harmony' and 'order', I guess? Most of the spells I could cast were more controlled like using air or earth, as well as being able to use white magic for healing." Izuku spoke gently, "Black magic is the direct opposite… it's more about 'destruction' and 'chaos', for which the elements of fire and electricity are perfect examples of 'black magic'. So, when they are balanced, red magic is created and when used, can cause some devastating effects." Izuku looked towards Ochako, Tenya and Yuga then, "R-Remember that spell I used to take off the head of the zero-pointer? That was red magic at its full power."
"Y-you mean that 'Scorch' spell?" Ochako had spoken up and looked a little pale when Izuku gently nodded. Most of the class also grew quiet from both Yuga's looks, who shivered slightly at the idea of such a thing being used against an actual person, and Tenya, who frowned and pushed his glasses up his nose.
"I trust you have taken some sort of care not to use such dangerous… spells… against other people, correct? Seeing first hand what it is capable of, and as much as I hate to even think that magic exists or even call it that… I cannot deny what my own eyes have seen."
Izuku had smirked at the comment Tenya had made; given how short of time they had known each other, it was so surprising that the very rational young man could believe in magic actually existing. Hell, Izuku didn't think it at first himself, but then, Izuku also knew that his 'quirk' wasn't a quirk at all, so magic was definitely the only possible explanation. He had wanted to try and fudge some of the details of his red mage kit to make it sound that much more believable and rational. Still, when it came to his blessing, nothing was reasonable about it.
Still, the green-haired boy chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his head, "To tell you the truth… I haven't used it much, just for the fear that I cannot control its output… I did ask the school to set something up to test it out, but I'm still waiting to hear back from the administration. Y-You know… safety protocols and all that."
"I would totally be down in helping with that!" Kirishima spoke aloud and was grinning like a madman, "With my quirk, I can take a pretty good beating! So while you practice how strong you can make the spells, I get to practice reinforcing my quirk, just like your notebook had suggested!"
"R-really? You'd want to help me with that?" Izuku asked, a little bewildered, which Kirishima nodded enthusiastically. As the discussions amongst the class continued, at one point, Bakugo yelled out threats after being roasted by Kaminari for calling his personality "flaming crap mixed with garbage.", Aizawa slowly opened one of his eyes and watched the chaotic class continue to speak.
The teacher had been silent for most of the trip, leaving the responsibility of keeping the young adults in check to Iida and Yaoyorozu so he could privately think to himself. It had been a few days since the underground hero had that meeting with the dean regarding the 'problem child'. In all honesty, Aizawa wouldn't have customarily believed the explanation if it was from anyone else, but this was Nezu of all people. Plus, the damned 'rat' had some pretty convincing evidence that further cemented the realization that most of what Aizawa had known as a confirmed fact was actually false.
Magic was real.
Midoriya's quirk was a blessing by some sort of celestial being that was made up of crystal.
And the fact that the school was being maintained by furry little creatures that seemed to listen to Nezu of all people and were living in some sort of cavern system underneath the school grounds, which given how large it was, baffled the tired man at how no one had detected it yet.
What further confused the teacher and also propelled his heavy drinking throughout the weekend (much to Hizashi, Nemuri, and Emi's worry) was one thing that was located within the 'Moghome'.
How the hell did they get a crystal THAT big down there.
Izuku was chuckling gently at the antics of Ochako once they had arrived at the USJ, for the reason that one of the special instructors was her favorite hero, 'The Space Hero' Thirteen. Just watching the friendly girl totally fan out on the astronaut suit-wearing hero had brought a smile to his face as Thirteen began to give a small speech about how important it was for heroes to help people, even if their quirks weren't always the best suited for the job.
Their quirk, 'Black Hole', in particular, was a very deadly one if it was misused, but Thirteen explained how it could also be used not to harm but to help those in need. As Izuku listened to the rescue hero continue to speak, Aizawa had interrupted the already too long lecture and asked where All Might was, for which Thirteen said that he had an important meeting that suddenly came up with the hero commission while also holding up three fingers.
Izuku frowned a little at the motion, considering what he already knew of All Might's time limit; he could guess that Toshinori had overdone it on his commute to the university, and no doubt was 'recharging' in Recovery Girl's medical office. While he kinda felt bad for the number one hero, considering it would be hard for him not to jump at every call for help and do his duty, Izuku did think Toshinori needed to tone it down, considering he was supposed to be teaching the first year heroic's class, while in his 'buffed up' state.
At least Inko was there to hopefully protect Toshinori from Recovery Girl's wrath for a bit.
It had been a relief to Izuku that they were able to tell his mother about All Might, considering Izuku felt that lying to his mother more than what already had happened before with the bullying and was still was doing in regards to his blessing, it had taken Izuku to bow down before Toshinori and Nezu that Inko could be trusted with his secret.
Thankfully, Nezu came to his rescue once again; as Toshinori was thinking it over, Nezu had pointed out that the university's staff members had known about his condition, and Inko is technically one herself now. Plus, it would help to have an extra medical professional know to help counteract any adverse effects if Recovery Girl was unavailable or too far to help him.
Izuku chuckled softly to himself at the memory of his mother fainting a few times from the reveal and the explanation of Toshinori's injury before the dorm move-in. Since then, the green-haired boy would notice that his mother seemed to be hanging out more with his favorite hero, and whenever they were together, Inko had the biggest smile… something Izuku had not seen for many years.
Whatever thoughts he had on the matter were lost as Thirteen had called for the class to follow them inside the rather large complex. As Class 1-A entered, they had all gasped at the sights before them as the large door they had entered shut itself tightly. Thirteen then explained how the different 'zones' around them simulated real-world disaster areas, all the while connected to one central plaza.
As Thirteen began to explain what the day's schedule was going to be like, a shout from Kirishima caught everyone's attention to a swirling mass of darkness appearing in front of the large fountain in the central plaza. More swirling mist began to crop up around the larger one, and various people started to slowly pour out.
"Oh, cool! Are these fake villains to help with the simulations?" asked Kirishima as he looked to Aizawa, who merely took hold of his scarf and narrowed his eyes, and what he said next caused the entire class to freeze in shock and some in pure horror.
"Those aren't fake villains, Kirishima. They are real."
As the teacher sternly stated this, out of the more giant swirl came out three particular beings. One wore a fancy dress suit with a rather large metallic collar that had encapsulated the being's smokey head with bright yellow eyes staring out of the abyss. To the far right of the group of three was a hulking brute with the beak of a bird lined with sharp-looking teeth, bulging muscles twitched as it walked beside the other two. At the same time, it looked crazed, especially with the exposed brain currently around its eyes.
And lastly, the pale-haired young man in the middle of the other two, who was simply wearing a black tracksuit that was covered with many dismembered hands clutching all over his body, with one placed over his face. Pure red, beady irises looked up towards the entrance of the USJ and giving out a soft but airy chuckle as he spoke in a hoarse tone of voice.
"Time to have some fun..."
Chapter 18: USJ - Part 2: Game Over...
Summary:
Scattered across the USJ, how will Izuku and his classmates survive the villain's attack?
Notes:
Here is chapter 18, and oh boy...
So really quickly, gonna save all the reviews for FFN until chapter 21, that way it doesn't break up the story for those who are binging the chapters.
And also a BIG warning for this chapter and the next.
For this chapter, there WILL be mentions of rape/non-con but it's only mentioned, none of it will happen OR EVER happen in this story. nor do I condone such acts. but in context, we have 18+ teenagers fighting off basically scum and villains willing to kill the students, it's easy to assume that many of them wouldn't mind doing more despicable things to either male or female members of the class.
For this chapter and the next one, plus from here on... there will be excessive violent scenes at times and the results of which leading to "permanent consequences".
... that last bit will make sense in Part 4.
Anyway, please enjoy part 2!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"Now that I am no longer being interrupted…" spoke the villain known as Kurogiri as the shadowy portal had enveloped and taken Bakugo and Kirishima, who had leaped at the villain during his monologue and introduction, only to get displaced somewhere much to the horror of Thirteen and the remaining students.
"But, I shouldn't be surprised," continued the rather gentlemanly villain, "you are all here to train to become future heroes… well, sadly… I daresay that those dreams will now have to be cut short. Now DISPERSE!"
As Kurogiri shouted the last word, the black mist of his body enveloped all around the class on the top platform of the USJ; various shouts and screams could be heard from outside of the abyss as Izuku was fighting against the wind pressure caused by the villain's quirk, covering his face with his arms and hands to try and see.
That was, however, short-lived as he felt himself begin to fall. Once he felt the wind pressure dissipate a little, he opened his eyes and, once again, to his horror, watched as he began to tumble out of the misty portal over top of what amounted to a large lake with a half-sunken boat smack dab in the middle of it.
Except as he was tumbling, Izuku had noticed that he wasn't going to fall into the water… no, he had been teleported above the boat and was rapidly moving towards it from a great height above! Izuku shouted a few expletives unlike himself as he tumbled faster and faster towards the boat's front deck.
The green-haired boy's back slammed hard into the wooden floorboards with a resounding thud. A short gasp of air escaped out of his throat as he bounced once down the deck before he came to a stop looking up at the dome ceiling of the USJ. He blinked a few times before slowly sitting up, grunting slightly from the slight pain of his back, and realized he just survived a several-story fall.
Despite his miraculous survival and how he got nothing more than a slight pain in his back, Izuku's eyes slowly widened as he realized that he could have DIED just now. What the mist villain had said was true. They were not only here to kill All Might, but in place of him not being present at the moment, they were going to 'break his spirit' by killing his classmates and the two teachers as well.
Just as those worrisome thoughts had arrived, they quickly disappeared when Izuku heard the softest and high-pitched sneeze he ever heard before.
"AH-KUPO!"
Scrambling to his feet, Izuku made a dash towards where he heard the sneeze, which was behind some crates not too far from his landing. Once he got close enough, he slowly peeked around the faux boxes to see a smaller Moogle curled up within some netting and ropes. Izuku gently reached out and placed his hand on the head of the creature, "Hey there, I'm not going to hurt you…"
"Kupo?" The Moogle slowly turned its fuzzy head towards the teenager who was giving it the biggest smile; it squeaked and suddenly tackled the face of the hero student, bawling its eyes out as it nuzzled his face. Izuku would normally be chuckling at the small furred creature's antics and was also desperately trying to remove the Moogle from his face since it was cutting off his air supply.
That and it was shouting at such a fast pace that Izuku couldn't quite make out what it was saying… Was this how it was like for others when he had a 'mumble storm'?
Pulling the Moogle off his face with an audible 'pop', Izuku did his best to calm down the clearly frightened creature, "Shhh… hey now, just take a few deep breaths o.k.?" Izuku spoke gently, patting its head softly as the Moogle sniffed and slowly did what was asked, "That's great, just like that… now, can you tell me your name and what you're doing all the way out here?"
"*pant* K-kupo… *pant* Y-yes, I am sorry for my behavior, Warrior of Light, kupo… it's just so scary with so many bad people around and how they popped up so quickly!" The small Moogle whimpered as Izuku gently rubbed its head gently again, making sure not to touch the pom or how it was connected to the creature's head, something that Mog told Izuku never to do as it was very sensitive.
Izuku smirked still, doing his best to try and keep it calm, "I can understand; I'm a little scared too… but you can call me Izuku, ok?"
"Y-Yes, Warr- I mean… Izuku, kupo."
"That's great." Izuku beamed a more giant smile which further thrilled the Moogle, at least from what Izuku could make out, "Now, what's your name and what are you doing here?"
The Moogle perked up its ears and floated a little away from him, moving past the crates where it was hiding to look over the water-filled area, as well as the more visible zones of the USJ, before turning around and facing Izuku, "M-My name is Mogal… I am part of Moogle squad number 86, kupo, and I-I am here because our squad is in charge of keeping this complex in tip-top shape."
Izuku nodded gently, rubbing his chin, "Then, are the other Moogles about?"
Mogal gently rubbed the back of its head, looking peevish, "N-no… they left an hour ago; I stayed behind because this zone was mine to make sure it was prepared for today's classes. I-it's my first assignment by Nezzy, and I-I wanted to make sure everything was perfect, kupo! .. but then the scary people showed up… a-and I hid."
As the small Moogle continued to speak, Izuku looked out towards the other zones; he could hear the fighting of the central plaza still going on and his ever-growing worry for his fellow classmates and his homeroom teacher as well. Not that he doubted Aizawa in his combat skills and the fact the underground hero was not a 'one-trick pony' as he stated to the green-haired boy before diving into the mass of villains in the central plaza.
Something about the other two beings that were beside Kurogiri made Izuku's skin crawl, and in the back of his mind, he knew that they were the real threat of all of this. Izuku looked back towards Mogal just as they both heard a loud thud coming from the boat's opposite end. Izuku turned to Mogal with a determined look, met with the Moogle's more scared-looking one.
"Mogal, I know you're scared, but I really need your help right now." Izuku whispered to the creature, who suddenly perked up and nodded its head, "Are there anyways for you to get back to the university?"
"There's a tunnel entrance that leads to Moghome in that mountain zone place, but it's only big enough for Moogles, sadly…"
"That's fine; I need you to go to the mountain zone and get back to…wait, 'Moghome'?" Izuku raised an eyebrow at Mogal, who nodded its head in return to the question.
"Yes! It's where the Moogles live, underneath the main university building, kupo."
Izuku blinked a couple of times at Mogal before sighing to himself and internally muttered to himself that he and Nezu would need to speak about that when and if they survived this, "Right, I know it's going to be scary, but we need to let the school know what's going on, and you're the only one here that can sneak past all the bad people… can you do that for me, Mogal?"
The Moogle stared at Izuku for a few moments, quivering slightly, but then suddenly puffed its chest out and saluted before flying off towards the mountain zone with a rather loud charge of 'kupo!'. Izuku sighed gently, thinking that Mogal must have been a younger Moogle as while no one could technically see them, HEARING them was an entirely different matter.
But, now was not the time to think about that. Someone just climbed onto the deck from over the side. While Izuku had no qualms with fighting any villains, he was more worried about how many of them he could take before he was overwhelmed and who knows what they do to him then.
Or worse if they had captured any of his classmates.
As he peeked around the corner, ready to jump and ambush the would-be attackers, his guard was instantly dropped as he watched Yuga slowly pick himself up off the deck, with Tsuyu slowly climbing over the railing. Izuku beamed brightly as he ran over towards his two friends, "Tsuyu! Yuga! Are you guys alright?"
Yuga spurted out some water as Izuku had reached him first, and Yuga took the offered hand given to him by Izuku to help him stand up, "O-Oui, if not for Mademoiselle Asui… I would be that shark man's appetizer!"
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the french-speaking boy before moving towards Tsuyu, helping her over the railing and receiving a gentle 'kero' in thanks, before turning her attention to Yuga, "I thought I said you can call me 'Tsuyu'."
"Ah, you did, but pardonnez mes manières, I shall try and correct myself in the future," Yuga said with a gentle bow, only to look towards Izuku who was looking over the railing with a frown, Tsuyu had noticed this as well as gently placed her hand on Izuku's arm.
"Is something wrong, Izuku?"
"Hmm?" Izuku turned his head towards his two classmates but then blushed as he came away from the railing, "S-sorry about that, just making sure that it was the same shark villain from before."
"Wait, 'before', kero? What do you mean before?" Tsuyu asked with a tilt of her head, Yuga beside her and nodding in agreement to the question.
Izuku gently rubbed the back of his head, looking away while still sporting his blush, "I-I know him because he was attacking M-Mina, Kyoka, and M-Momo, and I was able to take him down with my gunbreaker kit…" He then started to tap the ends of his index fingers together, looking a little ashamed, "... and the second time I almost got charged for vigilantism…"
Both Tsuyu and Yuga stared at Izuku, processing that little tidbit of information about their friend. They stayed silent for a few moments before the ribbit from Tsuyu caught both of the boy's attention, "Anyway, what are we going to do?"
"That depends. Should we not wait for our teachers to come rescue or wait for the university to send more pro heroes?" Yuga asked, leaning against the faux boat's wall with his arms crossed and looking at the two greenettes.
"Kaminari couldn't get through with his headset, remember, kero? Plus, what Todoroki had said could be true as well; this was all planned and accounted for." Tsuyu spoke up, and though her face was hiding it pretty well, Izuku could hear the somewhat frightened tone of her voice. As Izuku was looking at the frog girl, his eyes slowly widened as he came to a realization.
"It wasn't all accounted for."
"Hmm? What do you mean, Monsieur Midoriya?"
Izuku looked at his two classmates, making sure he wasn't going to break out into a mutter with his explanation, "Yesterday, we had that incident at the gates where the press got in, right? It is easy to see now that it was a distraction for these 'League of Villains' to sneak into the university and find a schedule."
Both Tsuyu and Yuga nodded their heads as they listened to the relatively quick explanation, "So they get the time and place where All Might is supposed to be, but nothing else… from what that Kurogiri guy said, it sounds like they never took into consideration if All Might would should up or not, only that he was said to be here."
"So, they have poor timing, kero… I don't see how a small detail like that is going to help us." Tsuyu stated with a tilt of her head, part of her tongue sticking out, her arms crossed over one another and under her chest.
Izuku smirked at her, "That's not all; if they had accounted for everything, then why did they send you to the flood zone, Tsuyu?"
Tsuyu looked stunned when Izuku had asked her that and thought about it herself; Yuga soon came to the same conclusion as well and spoke gently, "They don't know our quirks."
"Exactly, and why do you think the villains haven't done anything or attempted to board the ship after us? Sure, we may be teenagers, but they don't know what kind of quirks or how powerful we are." Izuku said as he looked down to the villains then, gently saying, "the problem is that we don't have quirks that can subdue them or prevent them from chasing us…"
"And fighting them in the water would not be wise, as Mademoiselle Tsuyu would be the only one that can effectively fight them." Yuga stated as Tsuyu gently nodded; however, any further discussion was halted when the boat suddenly shifted. Something had hit and exploded against the faux vessel's hull. Cheers and laughter could be heard from the water as the three students looked over to see the villains with eager smiles.
"You brats were taking too long! So we got bored, and now you'll have to come down and 'play' with us!" One of the villains shouted, holding up a harpoon and cackling evilly.
"Oi! Save the girly for last; we can have some fun wit' 'er after we take care o' the lads." another villain spoke up, getting a few wolf whistles and many hungry eyes. Now, usually, Tsuyu wouldn't be intimidated by this as she dealt with perverts in her own unique way, smacking upside the head with her tongue or drop-kicking them.
But the way these villains were staring directly at her, jeering at her with lewd looks and shouting the crude things they would do to her, all the while laughing. Tsuyu shrank slightly at the thought that she and the others were not going to make it out alive, and her fate was going to be far harsher than Izuku's or Yuga's. A flash of light caught her off guard as well as Yuga, and when they both could see again, stepping in front of Tsuyu was Izuku, now wearing the gaudy-looking red mage outfit.
"The hell is up with that getup?" called out one of the villains as they all began to laugh now at the uniform Izuku was wearing, all the while the green-haired boy unsheathed the rapier and focus and hopped up onto the railing of the boat.
"And what are you gonna do with that tiny little toothpick? Buhahaha! I think he wants to die!" shouted another villain, causing more laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of the hero student's actions.
Izuku, for the most part, turned his head slightly back to his classmates and staring directly at Tsuyu. She could see the slight orange tinge around his emerald irises again, "Twenty meters is your tongue's maximum length, right?"
"Y-yes, kero, Izuku… what are you doing?"
He turned his head back towards the villains, and in a tone she would never expect to hear coming from him, was an icy voice that sent shivers up her spine as he spoke out to the villains, "You dare insult and threaten those dear to me, well, count on this you bunch of low-life degenerates, I will take you out in one shot. So if I were you, I'd get myself out of the water damn quickly."
"HA! Yer bluffin'!" called out a villain, "Yer nothing but a weak lil' shit! Thinking he's all high and mighty cuz he thinks he can be some sort of hero right now? Well, I got news for you, boy, we ain't going to kill ya outright and force you to watch as we use yer lil' friend as our personal whore!"
Izuku snarled loudly at the mere mention of such a despicable act and leaped from the railing. The villains all smiled with glee and readied themselves for the all-red-wearing boy to crash into the water, and they could take him out.
That never came to pass, however, as they watched the student spin his rapier around, and with an audible click coming from that odd crystal bauble thing, the gaudy-looking hero wannabe shouted out something that caused the villains face's to turn deathly pale.
"SWIFTCAST! VERTHUNDER!"
A giant beam of electricity shot forth from the crystal as the villains had begun to scramble in fright, only for the shouted pains and cries of agony to fill the area as it brightly lit up. Izuku was suddenly yanked back towards the boat and landed, rather harshly, on his butt. He winced, and just as he was about to say something, he felt the sudden sting of a hand slapping his cheek, which had somehow knocked him out of his kit and back into his gym uniform.
"Ow! W-what was that-" "You are an idiot, kero!" Tsuyu had interrupted and had knelt down in front of him, pulling her hand back to her side from the slap she had given him, staring 'angrily' at him before suddenly tackling the boy and kissing him deeply.
Izuku 's eyes went wide as he froze stiff from not only the kiss but the softness and weight of the frog girl on top of him. After a few moments of the relatively deep kiss, Tsuyu gently pulled away from his lips, panting softly, "That was for sticking up for me… the slap was for doing something so stupid…You ever pull a stunt like that again, It will be more than just my hand, kero."
Izuku nodded dumbly as Tsuyu slowly crawled off of him and helped the still frozen boy up to his feet. It took a few more moments for Izuku to snap out of his current state to notice that Yuga had come from around the front of the boat, having 'mysteriously' been absent since Izuku was reeled back onto the ship. Tsuyu gently cleared her throat, calming herself down and doing her best to hide her blush as she turned to Yuga, who either seemed to not notice or care for the current state of his two classmates, "Is it clear on the other side of the boat, kero?"
"Oui, it seems that most of the villains were gathered on this side." Yuga smiled at the two, giving a subtle wink to Izuku, who blushed crimson once again, "We should be able to swim across with relative ease."
"A-actually, there is another way…" Izuku gently raised a hand, "I c-could jump us towards shore with my dragoon kit."
"Would you be able to carry us all in one jump, kero?" Tsuyu asked, tilting her head and placing her finger on her chin as if she was thinking. Izuku gently nodded but was tapping his index fingers again.
"Just one thing… I want to head towards the central plaza instead of straight back towards the entrance. I'm worried about Mr. Aizawa."
"Izuku." Tsuyu stared at him, though her face gave no emotion, the green-haired boy flinched from the somewhat angered gleam in her eyes. Izuku raised his hands up and waved them back and forth.
"I-it's not to directly get caught up in the fight with all those villains, n-nor am I saying that Mr. Aizawa couldn't handle it… b-but given the looks of those three that came out of the portal after all the other villains, and f-from what that Kurogiri guy had said… it sounds like they may have a way to kill All Might, and Aizawa should focus more on them… so if we maybe take out a few of the lesser villains to lighten his load…" shrinking and muttering softly, going into further speculation of what could occur, Tsuyu and Yuga looked to one another.
Both students were worried about their teacher; there was no doubt about that, but Aizawa was a pro hero. Having just survived one encounter with many villains to just head straight to another was a very unappealing option. However, Izuku did have a point, Aizawa was only one man, and he would tire out eventually, leaving him open for the other villains as well as the ones Izuku had hypothesized to be the real threat.
With a gentle sigh and a smirk, Yuga spoke first, "You are indeed correct, mon ami, we should aid our teacher as best as we can… after all, we are only students, and while I do not doubt your or mademoiselle's fighting prowess, I… may be lacking in terms of my ability with fisticuffs."
"Out of the water, I can only do so much, kero." Tsuyu admitted and looked to Izuku, "But no jumping in unless we absolutely have to."
Izuku nodded immediately, and with a flash of light, was now dressed in the familiar dragoon armor that the other two students had not seen since the assessment tests, though currently lacking the helmet for some odd reason. The aloof look coming off of the boy as he shifted the spear on his back slightly reminded Tsuyu that this was one of the 'kits' she had trouble with, though it seemed his presence now was far more dimmed down than before.
Something she thanked the high heaven's for as that was the last thing she needed currently.
As the three students walked to the other side of the boat, Izuku stopped close to the railing and narrowed his eyes in concentration for a few moments before turning towards his classmates, "I can get us there in about two jumps; however, once we make it to the shore, I will be shifting my current kit towards the warrior."
"Why is that?" Yuga asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.
"I can take hits better in that kit; also, the weapon I wield as a warrior is blunted enough that should combat be necessary, I won't need to hold back on my attacks, unlike with my spear, which is sharp enough to cause… major injuries."
Tsuyu and Yuga now looked at the wicked-looking weapon. They got what Izuku had meant, granted they had seen Izuku change his weapon's style during the battle trial with Bakugo. Still, perhaps there wasn't a 'blunt' option for this particular kit. Shifting slightly, Izuku cleared his throat to get their attention again, "Now, I can carry both of you while I jump, but one person will need to hang from my back while the other is being held-" "I'm in the front, kero."
Both boys looked to the frog girl who was just staring at Izuku, "I'm being held in the front, kero, or is that a problem?"
Silence came across the group for a few moments until Yuga picked up on the implications and chuckled softly, patting Izuku's shoulder and walking behind him, "I shall wait to climb up on your back while you carry ton amant, mon ami."
Izuku looked back to Yuga for a moment in utter confusement; he really needed to learn french after this so he could understand what his friend was saying half the time, before turning back to Tsuyu, who was still staring at him, "...I am fine with that?" was his answer before the frog girl leaped up in such a way that she ended up being caught in Izuku's arms in what was called 'bridal style'.
Tsuyu looked up at Izuku's face to see his reaction. While she was slightly disappointed that he wasn't stuttering like a big mess of emotions like he usually would, she could see the dusting of pink across his emotionless face, which she returned with a fake innocent smile.
Yuga was snickering lightly as he climbed up on the back of his armored classmate, careful not to jostle the spear from whatever sort of power was keeping it attached to Izuku's back, "I am ready, Monsieur Midoriya."
Izuku cleared his throat, giving an affirmative 'hmm' sound. He turned towards the open water and the central plaza's shoreline; he held tightly to Tsuyu as he squatted down for a moment before leaping up high into the air.
And as he was doing his best to ignore the soft curves of the frog girl in his arms, who was currently nestling her head against his chest for some unknown reason to him. Izuku was hoping that Mogal had made it to the mountain zone's hidden entrance and help was already on its way.
Meanwhile, at that same time…
"Don't even think about it! Drop your weapons or I'll fry this brat's brain!" shouted the giant villain with a metallic looking skull on his head, as he was holding Kaminari, who was slowly regaining his mental awareness after using a large area of effect electrocution to take out most if not all the villains that had surrounded himself, Momo, and Kyoka earlier, "Just because we have similar quirks doesn't mean I can't liquefy his brain!"
Kyoka tsked as her plan to try and snake her ear jacks and stun the big lout had been found out, and slowly began to lower the blunted sword that Momo had created her, the creation user herself also doing the same with a scowl as the villain bellowed out a laugh to see the two girls raise their arms up in surrender.
"Oh, this is perfect! Having you two do whatever I say so long as I have this pathetic boy's neck grasped in my hand... " The villain sneered under the helmet, which further upset the girls, "But since this is a university, I'll teach ya something that even your lame-ass teachers won't… Wanna know what it is?"
Both girls remained quiet, not only afraid of where the villain was going with this bit of speech, but also for the growing worry what the villain had planned for them and could force them to do. When the villain flexed his fingers against Kaminari's neck, earning a choked cough from the boy, he chuckled darkly, "You see, ladies, just because you do what was demanded of you doesn't mean they weren't lying!"
The villain roared with laughter as both girls' scowls turned into pure fright as Kaminari started to struggle and try to escape before he was killed, only for a resounding metallic thunk to echo in the mountain area.
The villain's laughter ceased, and his grip on Kaminari's neck loosened before the lumbering man fell onto his knees and then face down in the dirt. The rocker boy quickly dashed away from the now unconscious villain towards his two classmates, who were staring in the direction he had just fled from, "Sorry about that, ladies, couldn't really do much in the state I was in, are you both alright?"
When he was met with no reaction or response, Kaminari raised an eyebrow before turning back to where the giant villain was. His eyes went wide as well when he saw the small, white-furred creature floating above the knocked out man, tiny arms wielding a large frying pan before 'poofing' it out of existence with a small cloud of smoke and placing its little hands on its 'hips', "There, kupo, took out the mean man before he hurt that boy! Exactly what the Warrior of Light would do!"
It seemed to pause for a moment before patting its chubby cheeks together, "No, kupo, he said to call him Izuku! Right, Izuku… now I need to get back to Moghome, kupo." It spoke in a high-pitched voice, floating off with tiny little bat wings flapping on its back. It made its way towards a large jagged boulder as it continued to speak, "Shame the students couldn't see or hear me, kupo, maybe they would have said thank you, and I would have more friends, kupo! Oh well, such is the life of a Moogle."
The creature floated around the large boulder, and for a few moments silence once again took over the mountain zone and the three members of class 1-A.
"What in the world was that thing?!" Momo shouted loudly, completely in shock at such an adorable creature and just how… physically impossible it seemed to be, given it was flying around on the tiniest wings with a large fluffy body that would generally make it hard for any sort of flight in the logical sense.
"Hold on, it knew Izuku, but why did it call him 'Warrior of Light'? " asked Kyoka with Kaminari nodding in confusion as well, however, before anyone else could say anything, Kyoka's ear jacks rose up, and her eyes went wide, as she could faintly hear the distant shout of her green-haired friend/crush, and turning her head towards the central plaza were a sudden explosion of dust could be seen from where the three stood.
Both women turned to one another after seeing the plume of smoke and dust rise, then nodded as they quickly made their way towards the central plaza, leaving an awestruck and frustrated Kaminari in their wake.
"...I'm fine, by the way," he said to no one as he quickly went to go catch up with his two classmates.
Back at the central plaza…
Izuku could not believe what he saw, along with Tsuyu and Yuga, who was crouching down in the water and watching the events play out as they did. They had observed their teacher systematically take down scores of the thugs and lower-class villains using his quirk and techniques with his scarf.
Izuku marveled at watching the display. It was rare for any footage of their teacher in combat, giving his status as an underground hero. During his younger years, the hero-obsessed boy would only find the odd photo that barely showed the man during his many attempts to get information out on him.
But now, Izuku felt like a kid in a candy store as he watched Aizawa do his heroic duty… if only he had his notebook with him.
This moment, however, was shattered when the pale-haired man had suddenly launched himself at incredible speeds towards Aizawa, lunging with open hand strikes as if to grab the tired-looking teacher for some odd reason. Thankfully, Aizawa was able to dodge and weave from the strikes, as well as blocking them with his arms hitting the villain's own arms away. Things were going relatively smoothly as the two continued to fight until they two held one another in an arm lock that gave nether one an advantage, with one of the villain's fingers all clasping Aizawa's right elbow, except for a raised up pinky finger.
"You're really cool, Eraserhead… but I got you figured out." stated the villain in a raspy, dark tone of voice, "While you cover your eyes with those goggles to prevent anyone from seeing where you are looking, your hair floats up when your quirk is activated...that's your tell… and seeing it raise up and down so often is when your blinking, possibly due to keeping your eyes nice and moist."
Aizawa grunted as he internally scolded himself to let such a thing be noticed, holding the arms of the villain tighter as the beady red eyes staring at the underground hero looked gleeful. Before Aizawa could retort to the villain's claims, he shouted in pure agony as he felt incredible pain coming from his right elbow. He pushed the villain back and away from him, turning his attention to his elbow and grunting in annoyance now more than pain, seeing part of his shirt totally missing along with what looked like his skin and exposing his bare muscle to the air.
"Hehehe…" the villain chuckled lowly, shrugging his shoulders and now standing more relaxed, "To think I was able to get a hit on THE Eraserhead, well… as you may have guessed, it was me who took down your pathetic little security grid, what with my quirk." He raised his hand up, wiggling his fingers, "Anything I touch with all of my fingers turns to dust… disintegrated to nothing!... you wouldn't believe how many controllers I destroyed by gripping them too hard."
"And what? That's how you'll kill All Might? You wouldn't be quick enough to touch him before he smashes your face in." Aizawa shouted loudly, though, from the cover of his goggles, he could see three of his students ducked in the water and was internally fuming that they were there when they should have stayed together with the rest of the class.
The teacher's attention was brought back to the manchild before him; however, when the villain bellowed a sickly laugh, "What? Do you think I'm the final boss of this encounter? No no… That's reserved for him... NOMU!" As the name was called out, a large shadow encompassed Aizawa, who looked behind to see the large ebony being with an exposed brain staring him down, ".. break him."
Izuku clutched the ax in his hand as he and the other two students watched as the being known as 'Nomu' began to fight their teacher. The odd villain's presence was overwhelming even from where they stood as it seemed to radiate this aura of terror. While it looked bulky and muscular, Nomu appeared to be just as quick or even quicker than Aizawa, having grappled the underground hero and started to slam him over and over again into the ground.
All the while, the pale-haired villain was laughing maniacally, "Nomu was designed to kill All Might; anything you do is useless compared to the power of my 'Anti-Symbol of Peace'!"
Izuku growled as he began to lift himself from the water, only to feel a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to look at Yuga, who frowned and shook his head, "I know it is painful to watch, but we cannot go against that kind of power!"
Tsuyu had croaked in agreement, which seemed to settle Izuku down a bit. However, all of their attention returned towards the 'fight' before them when a dark portal appeared beside the hand-covered villain.
"Tomura Shigaraki," spoke the elegant sounding Kurogiri, who had gained the attention of the now named Tomura, "Thirteen has been indisposed; however, one of the students has escaped, and reinforcements from the heroes will be here momentarily."
"Dammit, Kurogiri!" Tomura fumed as the villain scratched the back of his neck roughly with only four fingers, "If you weren't our means of escape, I'd dust you right here and now." He sighed heavily as he watched the Nomu pin Aizawa down and grab the arm with the partially destroyed elbow and suddenly yanking it back and, with a bone-crushing crack, broke the teacher's arm.
Aizawa was doing his best to bite down and not shout in complete agony. Still, his partially broken goggles betrayed the look of utter pain in his eyes. Tomura grunted boredly, idly watching the Nomu keep the underground hero pinned down, "Well, so much for this 'kill quest', time to wrap this up, I think, and not waste any more time."
"See? They are leaving. It's almost over…" Yuga said in a whisper to his two friends, though something deep down in Izuku's gut told it it was far from over and gripped the ax of his warrior kit even harder.
"Ugh, and it was the perfect plan to kill All Might too!" whined the villain as he continued to scratch the back of his neck, "Oh well, might as well break his spirit," Tomura said in a dark tone as he slowly turned his head a little to the three students.
At first, what happened next felt very quick; Shigaraki had leaped a great distance towards the three students at a tremendous amount of speed, his right arm reaching out and his hand ready to grab Tsuyu's. Time then seemed to slow down as Izuku turned to look at the frog girl. His eyes widened as he imagined the villain had completed his intended path, and the girl that Izuku knew and cared for would be turned to dust.
Tsuyu was no better as she watched the hand enclose around her face, feeling the relatively dry fingertips of the villain around her face. Her short life flashed before her eyes, expecting her rather gruesome end before she could tell Izuku how she felt about him.
However, nothing happened, and everyone stayed like that for a few moments as Tomura chuckled lowly, "You are so cool, Eraserhead…."
Aizawa, while not being able to keep focus for long and was barely breathing with blood running down his head, had raised his head just enough to look at the pale-haired villain with one of his eyes, straining his eye to keep his quirk active while the villain held his student in his grasp.
Izuku snapped suddenly out of his stupor at the horrible thoughts that just plagued his mind momentarily, his emerald eyes flashing fully over into that dull orange from before, then turning into a burning and deep red as he snarled and leaped from where he was, his ax reeled back as Tomura began to look towards his direction, only to see a face full of rage and absolute hate.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH HER! ONSLAUGHT!"
Izuku roared loudly as he swung the blunted ax rapidly towards Tomura's stomach. Though the villain looked shocked at first, his vision was soon encompassed in all black before he and his 'guardian' were sent hurtling back and skipping across the central plaza, crashing into the fountain that laid at the direct center and then further past that until a large plume of smoke erupted upwards.
"SHIGARAKI!" Kurogiri shrieked loudly and disappeared into a portal, hurryingly chasing after his struck master. Izuku was panting heavily, his muscles flexed as he began to calm down, and his pure red eyes faded back into his normal emerald ones, panting gently as he looked to the rising plume of dust and smoke from his swing. He then turned his attention to Tsuyu, who seemed to still be out of it, and after placing the ax back onto his back, and knelt down to the frog girl. Gently he put his hand on her cheek, holding it there as the warmth of his hand snapped her out of whatever daze she was in, her beady irises meeting his large emeralds. He beamed her a soft smile as he spoke in a low tone of voice, "Hey Tsuyu, are you alright?"
The only response the warrior had received was a deep croak and a large blush running across her face as she was shaking slightly as if chilled. Izuku, thinking something must be wrong, quickly brought her into a warm embrace, holding her tightly against his bare chest as his hand gently rubbed the back of her head, continued to speak softly in that same tone as before, "It's alright, Tsuyu… you're safe now…"
In reality, Tsuyu wasn't shaking due to the dread of nearly dying; that was only a tiny part of the issue. No, it was because Izuku had just protected her in such a powerful way that she wanted to pretty much tackle the boy and mate with him right then and there, screw the consequences. The bare-chested boy mistaking her issue as being frightened of nearly dying and embracing her and rubbing the back of her head was not helping matters as she was doing her best to not simply croak in pleasure.
Thankfully, the 'torture' soon ended as Yuga had called for their attention towards their downed teacher and made Izuku slowly pull away from her and begin to head towards the underground hero in need of aid. Tsuyu, once calming herself down, eventually joined them as Izuku and Yuga started to look over the various wounds.
Thank god for that first-aid class the previous week.
"I… thought… I told you *cough*... to stay together…" Aizawa wheezed out as Yuga had taken off his cape and ripped it into long lengths for a semi-workable arm sling for their teacher.
"I'm sorry, sir, but the class was all separated when the mist villain teleported up to the entrance and used it to send us all across the USJ. However, the villains waiting in the zones for us seemed to be very ill-prepared from what we could tell with the ones in the flood zone." Izuku spoke in a firm tone, debriefing the situation to his teacher, something Aizawa would make a mental note of, because for a teenage boy who just started learning how to be a hero… that was just as good as a regular pro would give.
Izuku had taken off the fur cape back he had been wearing to place it gently under Aizawa's head, Tsuyu helping him left the head to also bring the broken goggles down his face to check his eyes for any possible damage to them as well as look for signs of a concussion. As the two young heroes were doing this, Yuga had been standing guard, watching and looking around for a surprise attack. They all know that Kurogiri could teleport anywhere. While the smoke had dissipated a little, the villains had yet to merge from its blinding camouflage.
A cough from Aizawa made Yuga turn his head towards the teacher, seeing his two friends tend to him when something dark caught the french boy's attention coming from behind Izuku, a small portal that would be easily hidden from Tsuyu's sight due to Izuku's larger size. Yuga didn't hesitate as he leaped towards Izuku with a side tackle.
*SQUELCH*
Izuku's eyes went wide as he watched the sharpened piece of rebar and cement pushed through the portal, intended to impale him and instead hit Yuga in the chest on the right side. Blood splattered across the other three's bodies as Yuga landed hard onto the ground, Izuku looking at his unmoving friend for a solid moment before his eyes shrank, "YUGA!"
Izuku scrambled to the boy's side, carefully turning him over and looking on in horror at the large piece of cement embedded into his friend's chest. His hands twitched as he frantically searched and thought of ways to try and treat this sort of wound; nothing in his memories was coming to mind until the blood-filled cough of Yuga got his attention, "Yuga! Hold on, we can get this patched up!"
"N-Non, mon ami, I-I don't think I can last… much longer…" Yuga wheezed and coughed up more blood, some of it landing on Izuku's bewildered face as the blond french boy looked up to his friend, "Mon-Mon… Izuku… can you tell me something…"
"What? What is it, Yuga?"
"Was.. *cough* Was I dazzling til the end?" Yuga asked gently, causing Izuku to tear up a little as he slowly smiled.
"Yes.. yes, you are the most dazzling person I've ever known, and you will continue to do so! Just hold on!" Izuku spoke softly at first but raised his voice, hoping that it would make his friend all better. Yuga chuckled softly at his friend's antics before looking towards Tsuyu, whose hand was covering her mouth, and tears also began to roll down her cheeks as she watched what was happening before her as well.
His gaze came back to Izuku, whose eyes were tearing up wildly like streams of a river, "Izuku, mon ami… prom-promise me… one thing."
"Anything! Just stay with us, Yuga!"
"Promise me… to… always smile." Yuga coughed harshly this time, more blood running down the corner of his mouth, "Smile when… you save people… always smile. Because…"
"Yuga, no! Keep holding on!"
Yuga's gaze slowly began to fade, growing cloudy in appearance as he gently breathed out the last thing Izuku would ever hear from his often flamboyant, kind, and wonderful friend.
"...A smile better suits… a hero…"
Something close to a cold breeze followed the silence of the last sentence of Yuga Aoyama, despite no wind to cause it, crept along with the remaining two hero students, while Aizawa was grunting and gurgling in pain to at least see if he could assist in some way to save his fallen student to no avail. Izuku very gently lowered his friend back onto the ground and gently moved his hand over his friend's eyes to close them, making sure to use a part of it that was not covered in the young man's blood.
A slow clapping killed the silence of the moment as the three villains slowly walked out of a portal a few yards away, none of them looking the worse for wear as Shigaraki chuckled lowly before exploding in a burst of maniacal laughter, "Well, wasn't my first choice, but that's one annoying newb down… nineteen more to go! GAHAHAHA!"
Tsuyu growled out a croak as she was about to attack the insensitive and clearly evil man laughing, but a firm hand grabbed hers as she looked down to her teacher, who was glaring deathly at her as if to root her in place. The metallic sound of a weapon being dragged caught both their attention as Izuku was now standing up, still facing away from them, with his ax now being held in both hands.
"Midoriya," Aizawa said in a dark and warning tone of voice before violently coughing, Tsuyu moving to help him ease his pain before they both looked at the green-haired teenager.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we need to keep them preoccupied until help can arrive; punish me when all this is over, but I have to protect you and my classmates," Izuku spoke in a firm tone, without looking back towards them, keeping his eyes only on the villains before him.
Aizawa grunted, laying his head back down onto the fur pillow, clearly exhausted and barely able to keep himself awake anymore. Usually, he would reprimand the student for disobeying him, this was no normal circumstance, and he was right. They needed time.
"... Fine, be lucky I don't expel you if we survive this."
Izuku grunted an amused response to the teacher's threat, knowing it was half-heartedly true. He turned his head slightly, still watching the villains, "Tsuyu…"
"Kero?"
"When this is all over, let's go to a cafe off-campus and talk…."
Tsuyu's eyes widened in shock at what Izuku had just said, unable to respond to his statement as the warrior began to jog towards the group of enemies, raising his weapon high and reeling it back while he let out a mighty roar of a battle cry.
All the while, a grin hidden under his 'hand mask' as Shigaraki watched the wannabe hero charge straight towards his doom.
Not too far from the central plaza, three groups of students had arrived at the outskirts of the central plaza as they just witnessed their classmate raise up his weapon and charge towards the villains, only to be intercepted by the one with the exposed brain. When they collided, they felt the air pressure from every blow as Izuku roared with every swing.
From the edge of the 'Ruins Zone', Kirishima and Bakugo stood watching the fight. The red-headed boy cheering Izuku on with encouraging words while also using the word manly every third or fourth cheer. Bakugo, on the other hand, was growling in anger as he watched Deku mercilessly swing and hit the odd villain over and over again, though seeing that the blunt ax head while connecting wasn't doing any sort of lasting damage. In his mind, Bakugo was quick to realize that the beaked person clearly had some kind of shock absorption or something.
All this came ahead when the pale-haired villain gleefully called out how Deku was an idiot, that the 'Nomu' had a quirk akin to near-limitless shock absorption. His point was made when the now named Nomu had grabbed the head of the weapon and crushed it under its grip before nailing their green-haired classmate with a right hook and sending him flying towards the raised edge of the zone he and 'shitty hair' were at and soon collided hard into it.
Though it did not last long as a light shone from within the falling rubble, and Deku was back out in the fight, wearing that stupid dragoon armor crap, and began to zip past and back at his opponent while landing hits on it with his weird-ass spear.
"Midoribro… isn't kidding around, is he?" Kirishima had asked, looking to the still snarling Bakugo, who ignored the question and continued to watch the fight, getting more angered that it looked like the nerd hadn't come at him with his full strength during the trials, and that was really starting to tick Bakugo off even more.
Kyoka was snarling as she was listening to the inane laughter of the pale-villain who was so focused on the fight with the Nomu that he hadn't seen the small group consisting of herself, Momo, and Kaminari, who were hiding down in the bushes not far from where they saw Izuku, as a dragoon, slicing and slashing at the calves and arms of the Nomu.
"Ugh, this guy is so annoying! Now he's claiming that Nomu… thing…. has a second quirk and is regenerating any of the slices that Green is giving it!"
"H-hold on… that's kinda impossible, right? No one can have two quirks." Kaminari spoke up, clearly afraid of the fight going on and the massive weight tossed about by two prominent titans. Momo had kept her eyes strictly on the battle, her hands clasped together as she watched Izuku use that red serpentine aura once again and unleashed stabs and slices across the 'beast's' chest.
"It sounds impossible… but from what you told us, Kyoka… you sure you heard that 'Shigaraki' person saying that Nomu was 'made' to kill All Might?"
"That's what the psycho claims, and honestly, I wouldn't trust any word he says, but given how the Nomu looks and the fact its brain is exposed?... It's hard not to believe it…" The punk girl crossed her arms in thought for a moment before a screech from the 'creature' caught their attention as on a pass made by Izuku, the Nomu had allowed its hand to be penetrated by the spear only to grab it and hurtle Izuku over its head, snapping the weapon and sending the weaponless dragoon far from the where he was launched.
Izuku had righted himself, and his metallic boots were skidding along with the cement with obvious sparks coming from under his shoes against the stone before he shifted again, this time to his Red Mage outfit, and with no pause, began to hurtling balls of fire, wind, earth, and electricity through the use of the combined crystal focus and rapier. Each hit, battering and blasting bits of the Nomu off as Kaminari slowly began to turn green from the display.
"R-remind me never to make fun of his outfit's ever again…*urp*"
"NO! LET ME GO! I NEED TO GET TO YUGA!" Toru screeched and fought against the grapple hold around her stomach by Shoto, who was gritting his teeth trying to keep the invisible girl away from the very clearly dangerous fight.
"If you go out there, you may end up in the crossfire!" Shoto grunted at her when he got an elbow to his face. The heterochromatic boy turned his head to Mineta. He hoped that the purple-clad classmate would help keep Toru under control.
However, Mineta had been crying and whining about the fight and how overpowered these villains were, and they were all going to die… at that point, Shoto just ignored whatever the short boy was complaining about now, turning his attention back to the girl in his arms.
"He's one of my besties! I can see he's on the ground! He could be hurt, and I need to make sure he's ok!" Toru slowly began to slow down her arm and leg waving, and Shoto could hear a soft sniffle and the hiccups of the girl crying.
He sighed as he turned to focus on watching Izuku pummel the creature with various forms of the elements, even fire, with it having no effect albeit slowing down its noticeable regeneration quirk, "Hagakure, I mean no disrespect, but Midoriya is focused on fighting the villains right now, you running in would be catastrophic should the villain suddenly move behind you and YOU got hit by one of Midoriya's attacks... "
Toru sniffed loudly as Shoto figured she had turned her head towards the ongoing fight. Typically Shoto wasn't the best in social circumstances, given how he was 'raised' by him...to surpass the number two and one heroes, he understood that some of his social skills needed improvement… his battle trial results made that abundantly clear, "Look, Asui is with Aoyama and our teacher, he may have gotten hit by something and is just resting… once everything calms down, you can rush over to your… 'bestie'... but for now, you need to stay here and out of the fighting area."
Toru huffed, sniffling again, and muttered out an 'o.k.', for which Shoto had slowly moved his arms from around the clearly distressed girl. Just before he could say anything else, the creature had leaped towards Izuku and grabbed his wrist, tossing him across the battlefield like he was a skipping stone on a pond, the rapier and crystal being flung away and bent from the action.
Shoto frowned as he watched the rest of the fight play out, as well as the other groups, and the lone frog girl for what they witnessed next would forever change their opinions on the very odd quirk of one Izuku Midoriya.
"GAH!" Izuku had cried out as he finally came to a stop after skipping across the central plaza ground, his red mage outfit torn and shredded in places. He shook his head to get his bearings before a giant shadow loomed up above him. Izuku shot his head to look up and quickly manifested his Paladin outfit, raising the shield up to block the incoming foot of the creature he had been fighting.
He heard the cackling of Shigaraki not too far from him, who was pointing and laughing at Izuku, \pinned under the massive weight of the Nomu's foot. He could feel his shield beginning to bend slightly as he gritted his teeth under his helmet.
"HA! What a poor excuse of a mini-boss!" The villain screamed out in pure glee, "Nothing but a shitty class changer thinking he can take out my all-powerful Nomu! HAHAHAHA!"
The Nomu screeched loudly in amusement as well, or some sort of unrealistic chuckle, as Shigaraki kept on chuckling, "Go Nomu, Finish him! Pulverize that tin can on his head until nothing comes out but mush!"
Another screech from the Nomu in acknowledgment caused Izuku to struggle more, trying to free himself from being under the pin of his own shield but was not budging. Izuku looked up wide-eyed as the incoming closed fist began to descend down, time flowing slowly to him as he clutched his eyes tightly. The cries and calls of his name by his classmates were deafened by the head villain's cackling as the young hero waited for the inevitable.
One second.
Two seconds.
Five Seconds.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds had passed, and still no blow or blows to his head. Izuku slowly opened his eyes to see that he wasn't at the USJ anymore. It was pitch black and nothing but darkness all around him, even the floor he had been laying on had no tangible form to call it such. He slowly picked himself up, noticing he was back in his gym uniform as he looked all around him.
Where am I now?
Chapter 19: USJ - Part 3: Darkness Beckons
Summary:
Hello Darkness, my new friend?
Chapter Text
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Izuku called out into the dark abyss all around him; a slight echo of his voice rang out before eventually being swallowed up by the nothing around him. The green-haired boy frowned as his eyes continued to look out and try to make sense of his current surroundings.
If he could relate it to something, it felt similar to when he first awakened his powers during the sludge villain fight. However, unlike then, there was no vast field of stars around him or any indication of outer space entirely.
No, this was just pure darkness, within the hues of pitch blackness fettered about with what could be considered faded and dull streaks of purple and red, similar to curtains blowing lazily in the wind. Izuku called out a few more times to receive the same results as before, which further annoyed him, and he grumbled low to himself.
His thoughts started to retrace his steps to see exactly what was going on, starting with how that villain with all those hands covering him had made an attempt to grab hold of Tsuyu, followed by Izuku smashing the hell out of him and that Nomu thing that had protected him clear and far away from the small group.
Then Tsuyu, Yuga, and himself had made their way to check on Aizawa and make sure he had survived his beat down by the Nomu creature.
Of course, that's when things went further downhill as Yuga had stepped in the way of a piece of the concrete to protect Izuku, and it ended up killing his friend and classmate. The rest from that point went hazy.
He remembered rushing off to take out the Nomu but was sent flying back after his ax was destroyed by the creature. He jumped back into the fight as his dragoon form, but then whatever slashes he made mended just as quickly as he could create them. He then faintly remembered casting a few spells at full force against the Nomu, only to be knocked back with the creature attempting to jump onto his chest with it's large foot, shifting to his Paladin form to keep the thing from crushing his ribs. After that, it was this place.
Wherever here was.
Sighing gently to himself and coming to the conclusion that this was somehow a part of his blessing, Izuku looked about for a few moments, frowning slowly and with utter frustration, shouted into the either, "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!"
"To stop yelling for one thing."
Izuku whirled around upon hearing the ethereal-like voice and looked upon the strange person that appeared behind him. The clothes they were wearing looked like simple plate mail one would find from an American-themed role-playing video game, with a dark red cloak hanging off their back and shoulders. The hood was up upon the person's head and covered their face. However, Izuku could see faint wisps of black mist dissipating from inside of the hood to keep the person's identity a secret, much to his jargon, "Are you the one that brought me here?"
"In a sense, sadly, we do not have time for pleasantries or grand explanations. While it feels like time has stopped, similar to when the 'crystal mother' reawakened your blessing, that is not the case now…" The being before him spoke sternly, causing Izuku to take a step back at that short answer. Still, his eyes frowned in confusion as he thought back to what the person in front of him just said.
"Wait… what do you mean 'reawakened my blessing'?"
"That's not important right now-" "Well, I think it is important!" Izuku interrupted with a snarl to his voice, causing the teenager to walk up to the heavily armored being and poking his finger hard against the metal chest piece, green irises staring into the misty blackness within the hood, "I am sick and tired of people holding information from me in regards to my blessing! You clearly know what's going on, and I want some goddamn answers! So help me if you don't tell me what I want to know, I will-"
"Strike me? Force the information out of me? Tell me, Izuku Midoriya, is that how a hero… no… a rational person would act?" The person interrupted as they walked around and past Izuku, who had been stunned by the accusations the armor-clad person had thrown out.
No, they weren't accusations. Izuku was thinking those thoughts and was about to say them in the heat of the moment. The pit he felt within his stomach hurt severely as he was taking slow and deep breaths to calm himself down. As he did though, he heard the annoyed sigh of the only other person with him, "You're doing it again."
"W-what?"
"Bottling everything down, keeping it deep within you, never owning up to your own feelings and emotions, and all for what? To keep yourself small and hidden." The person shouted loudly as Izuku could feel a rush of air around him shift. He clenched his eyes, only opening once he felt the pressure move off of him, and he gasped.
Izuku moved his gaze from the stranger floating before him to look at what had happened. That pit in his stomach felt much heavier considering where he was standing now. It was the roof edge where he almost committed suicide. He looked down to see nothing more than the abyss to his surroundings already, then he looked behind himself. All he saw was a vast empty white floor that continued on into the horizon.
"You've suppressed these feelings all your life, Izuku." continued the shadowy being in front of Izuku, gaining his attention once again as it crossed its arms over their chest, "Putting others' feelings and opinions over your own, even if it meant getting beaten or forgotten in the process."
"Yet here you are, shining brightly still with so much darkness building up inside of you, a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode."
"W-what do you mean?" Izuku asked, still standing on the edge of the rooftop from that day while the heavily armored shadow sighed gently, shaking its head.
"Aside from your little outburst a few moments ago, need I remind you of everything that happened to you ever since you were told you were quirkless? The times you wished you could get back at your tormentors?"
"W-what? N-no! I would never do that!" Izuku exclaimed, looking horrified at the idea of taking revenge on those from his past. He could somehow feel the deadpan look staring at him from within the darkness under the hood.
"Deny it as much as you want, Izuku… but I know you are smarter than that. Do you not remember how you felt after wrecking Bakugo's shit during the battle trial?"
Of course Izuku remembered; how could he not? Especially after re-watching the video footage of the fight afterward in class. In his warrior 'kit', Izuku had felt delighted and joy from how he stood up to the blonde after so many years of Bakugo putting him down, though he did not show it at the time. However, the feelings that came afterward were nothing pleasant, seeing how mangled Bakugo truly had been after the fight, nearly crushing his ribcage with that swing from 'Onslaught'.
"I-I went too far, and I got too a-angry and nearly k-killed Bakugo." Izuku whimpered out, the tears slowly starting to fall down his cheeks. The silence within the void did nothing to hide the gentle sobs of the teenager standing on the rooftop precipice, the shadow figure remaining silent for a few moments as he watched the green-haired teenager break down.
"And that's what I'm talking about, and it's what Hound Dog has been telling you these last few days. You have been suppressing all these dark and negative emotions with no true way to release them. What happened to Bakugo was… not a mistake per se… but more proof that you need a proper outlet, and this is where I come in."
The being moved closer to Izuku, a cold metallic hand resting on his shoulders, "Here in this void, you can release all those pent-up feelings and emotions without any judgment from anyone."
"I-I can?" Izuku asked, looking up with a few tears streaming down his cheeks still; he sniffed as the being's 'head' nodded at him.
"Yes, give it a try, start small and build up from there."
"O-O.k…" Izuku spoke gently, then cleared his throat. He slowly looked around the vast darkness of the void, taking a deep breath as he thought of the first thing to come to his mind, "Um… I-I… I dislike how some heroes are only doing their jobs for fame, to i-inflate their ego's when they should be focusing on saving people."
"Good start, go on…"
"... I hated the fact that my old teachers and schools would use me to help prop up Bakugo's 'greatness'." Izuku spoke once again, getting a little more into it, the various frustrations he felt deep within his soul slowly trickling out.
"I hate how mom sometimes still coddles me like I'm made of glass at times."
"I want to tell those closest to me how I feel about them, tell them just how beautiful and wonderful they are in my eyes… and hope to god they don't think of me as a creep." Izuku was blushing gently, ignoring the huff of amusement from the shadowed figure as he continued.
"I wish I could rub it in the faces of everyone that told me I couldn't be a hero, even if it's because I have this blessing now. Even mom and All Might."
"Speaking of my blessing, I am so incredibly frustrated that people know more about it than I do but are purposely holding information back that could help me master it!" Izuku started to growl low in his throat now, the being beside him crossing their arms again, and watched on as the teenager continued to rant and rave.
"And If I am "Hydaelyn's Chosen," then why haven't I met her yet? All this time, it's been those three fucking words in my head, and the headaches?! Why so many gods damn headaches?"
"And why…" Izuku began to speak in a harsh but calm tone of voice, tears flowing once again, "... why even with all this power, my friend had to protect me and die? Why am I still such a pathetic Deku."
"Because you are not a god…" the being spoke in a calm tone as well, "You are mortal, and like the rest of them, you make mistakes and cannot protect everyone. Some people need to be reminded that a 'Warrior of Light' is still just a person, and relying solely on you will be their downfall. I'm sure you don't need a reminder of the condition that All Might is in, correct?"
Izuku's head shot up at that, his eyes wide as he began to think about the shadowy being's words, and he concluded that it was right. All Might had been the number one hero for such a long time that people began to rely solely on him, worship him even; in fact, they kept doing that despite his injury limiting him to only a few hours of the day and was slowly killing himself to keep up the illusion that he was fine.
Even Izuku was guilty of doing that.
"I see you realized it, good…" The shadowy being spoke as it seemed to be staring at Izuku, "And while it was unfortunate about Yuga, there is a chance to save him."
Izuku's eyes widened at that but then turned sharply, the look of determination once again on his face, "How? What do I need to do to save my friend?"
"You may already have what you need, but you must first deal with the monster and its master."
"Already have it? But I have nothing that could-" Izuku stopped as he suddenly realized what the being had said as he whispered, "It's 'Verraise'... that spell can bring back Yuga."
"Perhaps, though not the most potent revival spell, it will have to do." the being spoke and crossed his arms, "However, there are dangers to using the spell over and over again, not only for those you cast it upon but also yourself… it's not a "quick fix" like it was back on Eorzea."
Izuku slowly nodded, noting the word 'Eorzea' for later, he clenched his fist, "Then how can we subjugate the Nomu?"
"You cannot."
"Huh?"
"You cannot merely subjugate the monster." Spoke the shadowed figure before him, "As stated by that manchild, it was designed to kill All Might."
"So… you're telling me I have to- heroes don't kill villains!" Izuku protested, glaring at the thing before him as it gave off a huff of air in amusement.
"It would be best to beat them and knock them out, yes, but that 'thing' is not normal. I wouldn't even call it a 'beast', given how it acts. It only obeys the call of its master, and you cannot harm the master as the monster will always protect him." The shadowed being kept its arms crossed, speaking in that same calm tone throughout the explanation, "There is no other way out of this scenario… either you take it out… or it will kill you and everyone in your class."
"B-but All Might and the other heroes could be-"
"And you would rather wait on the off chance they are? Like those heroes who waited while Bakugo was drowning in sludge?"
Izuku froze when the shadow spoke of that day; his chest tightened at the memory of seeing his former tormentor struggling against all odds to survive while the 'heroes' did nothing but wait at the sidelines. The silence in the void was deafening for a bit before Izuku relaxed and spoke in that once again determined tone of voice, "Your right, we can't wait… and I cannot hold back this time… what must I do?"
"You mean, what must 'we' do."
"Eh?"
"Izuku… I know you figured out who I am; you're not that dense to put the clues together."
"They say that the brightest light casts the deepest shadows, like two sides of the same coin... if there must be a Warrior of Light…" spoke the armored clad man as the shadows slowly disappeared off of his face as his hood was lowered, revealing messy dark green hair and the very recognizable diamond-shaped freckles upon his cheeks. However, the one key difference was the dulled orange irises his "doppelganger" had, "then there must also be a Warrior of Darkness."
The two stared at one another, taking in the opposites of themselves before the Izuku, now in dark-clad armor once the hood was moved down and had disappeared into the void, spoke once again while smiling gently, "A long time ago, I asked if you ever wished to end the "charade" of being a hero, you need only ask for me to take the reins… but as time passed, that wasn't needed, as I learned, at that time that we are both the same."
"The brave hero, the tortured soul, the altruist, the pragmatist… I can tell you that after all this is done, others will see us differently than what they perceived us to be, but you and you alone know what and who we are." The smile faded slowly to a face of calmness as the tone of the doppelganger dropped and became more serious in nature, "Your body can keep going, but the shift from the light to the powers of darkness is something your mind can't handle under these current conditions. I would suggest that-"
"Do it."
The darker side of Izuku blinked and flinched from the sudden response from the boy in front of him, especially since he could see the gentle smile on his lips, "You said it yourself, I can't handle the shift mentally right now, and if I'm correct in what you were about to suggest… You need to take the reins." The manifestation slowly nodded in response as Izuku continued, "Well, if I can't trust myself, then who can I trust, right?"
The shade huffed in amusement as he shook his head, a smirk on his lips, "You know your classmates may think and act differently towards you after all this is over."
"Yea, but let's face it… when hasn't that been the case before?" Izuku chuckled lightly while the shade leaned back with a raised eyebrow, a smirk still remaining.
"And where did this sassiness come from? You think because you got a kiss from one girl while also grinding and teasing another that you're 'mister big shot' now?" It quipped, which caused Izuku to pause and chuckle nervously; the dust of pink on his cheeks was evident more so with what little light there was.
Izuku cleared his throat gently to calm himself down, looking at the shade again, "So… how do we do this?"
The shade at first said nothing; his orange eyes shifted down before looking back to Izuku. As Izuku caught the meaning of the eye gesture, the shade slowly began to fade back into the darkness, his voice echoing out into the void as it spoke, "We both know the answer to that…"
Izuku was now alone, standing upon the rooftop edge from the same building nearly a year ago where his heroic journey had truly started. Izuku looked back to the endless white behind him, understanding now what it had represented after this little talk with his doppelganger. He then chuckled lightly to himself, and like he had done reaching for the ball of light back then with no hesitation, Izuku did not merely walk off the edge.
He jumped.
The bloody roar of pain that came out of the Nomu caught the attention of those around the scene where it had pinned the green-haired hero in training to the ground. Shigaraki's inane laughter halting as his eyes widened in absolute horror and shock, as where the fist and arm that was coming down upon the head of the wannabe hero had been sliced off by a rather large and dark looking blade that seemed to be emitting some deep purple mist around it.
As everyone, both around the central plaza and within it, stared at the raised-up sword that looked more like a sharped hunk of metal, the mist around it thickened for a brief moment before exploding out; the sound of another slice echoed in the air as the Nomu was sent hurtling onto its back, now without its legs.
The purple mist that surrounded the sword billowed and pulsed around the now standing silhouette of the sword wielder, everyone around them covering or cowering slightly from the intense pressure given off by it. The Nomu began pushing itself up by its remaining arm as its other limbs started to regenerate, albeit slowly. Its head was suddenly slammed back onto the ground when the blade of the claymore-like sword sliced through its upper beak and part of its brain, catching one of the eyes in the cut as well.
The monster screamed in agony as blood sprayed out of the wound like a small fountain, while also pouring out from the entry point of the injury, covering the blade and the pure ebony armor of its assailant in it's blood. However, due to how black the rancid-smelling liquid was, it only had a wet sheen look on said armor. The purple mist quickly retracted itself into the blade as the sword wielder slowly lifted the weapon up slightly before driving it down with a roar, "FLOOD OF SHADOW!"
A hum of pure power burst straight down the blade into the Nomu's head; it screeched more in pain as wave after wave of the purple mist spewed out of the edge as the assailant kept thrusting the blade up and down until the cries of agony from the creature went silent
The dark armored being tugged the sword tip out of the small crater he had made with his last attack, straightening his back as he stepped over the now lifeless body of the monster and began to slowly walk his way towards Shigaraki, the mist on the sword still billowing out of it slightly, but not in the same amount as it was while fighting the fallen creature. And because of said lack of obscuring mist, the students that were watching and the two villains could now see the armor.
If the class of 1-A had thought that the Dragoon kit looked wicked before, it couldn't compare to this demonic armor before them. It was covered head to toe in plates that looked more akin to sharp-looking pieces of chitin, to the few that would know; however, it would be considered a more sinister mockery of Izuku's paladin armor, although lacking a helmet.
That was the one thing Tsuyu wished for now; well, she hoped for many things currently. Still, the one on the top of her list was the wish that whatever this new 'kit' of Izuku's was currently, was that it had a helmet or something because she hated seeing the face of her crush as it was right now.
It was a cold imitation of the boy she knew, a good part of it covered in the blood of the monster he had just slain as his once emerald eyes were now this dull orange color that seemed lifeless as if it wasn't Izuku at all. It also didn't help that her damn "instincts" had kicked in again, keeping her rooted to the spot beside her dead classmate and unconscious teacher, but unlike before where it was both the fear of a predator and the desire of a powerful mate, this time it was a pure terror that kept her at bay.
The sudden shout of indignation and frustration coming from the villain covered in hands snapped the frog girl out of her own thoughts, making sure she remained quiet to keep her presence hidden from the three towering behemoths before her as she watched the scene play out in front of her.
"You cheater!" Shigaraki roared and pointed at Izuku, whose face remained emotionless as the villain snarled at him, "You absolute cheater! You can't just get some power up during a fight!" He raved on and continued to do so as Kurogiri just watched the hero student come to a stop, causing Shigaraki to cease his shouting and speak in a dark tone with a smirk underneath the hand covering his face, "Well, aren't you going to say anything for yourself? Didn't realize they were teaching you to KILL your enemies… not very heroic, I'd say."
The response the villain had got from Izuku was not the one he was expecting; no, Shigaraki was hoping for the typical heroic speech that 'heroes don't kill, but he had no choice', and then the pale-skinned man would retort that he didn't even try and attempt to subdue the Nomu and would hope in breaking the student's spirit long enough to reach into a portal and grab the cheater's head and dust him. Instead, all he received was a deep chuckle, which soon blew out into laughter that caused both villains to flinch at the somewhat ethereal tone it had.
"Don't… don't even start trying to pull that bullshit." Izuku spoke with a smug smirk on his lips, still chuckling slightly, "You don't get to say that when you broke into a hero school with a monster designed to kill All Might, all the while bringing a few dozen thugs and petty criminals to cause havoc and attempt to kill the other staff members and students."
"And why not? It's to change society and end the reign of All-"
"Yes, yes… 'need to change and/or destroy society' and all that…" Izuku said in a deadpan tone with a look to match, "You think this is the first time I've heard this speech before? Does it make you think you're 'special'?" The gaze of the orange eyes bore into Shigaraki as he continued to speak.
"You'd like to think you're some sort of 'mastermind', with the perfect plan to kill the number one hero, but you're not. You are nothing but a petulant child throwing tantrums left and right when things don't go your way."
Shigaraki snarled at the accusation, his fingers twitching on his right hand as he really wanted to grab this student's face and dust him to shut him up, "How fucking dare you-."
"I'd bet money you're not even the one to come up with the plan." Izuku interrupted the coming rebuttal, "It's painfully obvious considering you probably never took into account what would happen if All Might hadn't shown up; IF you did, then you would have allowed some communication to get through so we could warn the school and 'lo and behold', He shows up!"
"I mean, one of us did escape, so good job on fixing THAT mistake." Izuku said with a smirk and a thumbs up to Kurogiri, who merely squinted at the dark-clad boy.
"And who the hell do you think you are to question me?!" Shigaraki snarled again, his fingers wiggling stiffly as he kept his eyes on the student, "You're nothing but an ignorant brat! How dare you lecture me like I'm nothing."
"That's because you ARE nothing, or have I not been making that painfully clear yet?" Izuku shot back with a condescending look, earning him another snarl from Shigaraki, "You think of this as nothing but a game, something to amuse yourself with while you had that monster do your dirty work for you, and look what happened to it."
The reminder that the person before him had killed his 'ultimate weapon' was the final straw for the villain, quickly raising his hand and thrusting it forward into a dark portal created by Kurogiri, as the misty being had anticipated his young master to need one eventually, Shigaraki grinned widely as his hand quickly made its way towards the face of the green-haired bastard that dared to insult him.
However, that grin turned into shock as time had slowed to a crawl to allow those that could see what was transpiring. As the dark armored boy shifted to one side, making Shigaraki's hand miss its intended target, only for his wrist to be grabbed harshly by the clawed gauntlet of his 'victim' and his arm pulled more into the portal while also watching the large sword rise up into the air.
What followed next was the loudest blood-curdling scream ever to echo within the giant dome of the USJ, which caused everyone not aware of what was transpiring in the central plaza to stop and look towards where it originated from.
Shigaraki collapsed back, his left hand gripping the end of the long sleeve of his right arm, which was profusely bleeding as he backpedaled against the ground. Kurogiri had warped himself to be beside his master, helping the young man quickly tie up the wound.
"SHIT! FUCK! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHAT SORT OF HERO CUTS A MAN'S HAND OFF!" The pale blue-haired man screamed at Izuku, whose blade now had the much more distinct color of red upon it. The green-haired boy lazily looked towards the screaming man, flicking his sword as if to messily get the blood off of it before he slowly began to walk towards them.
"What sort of Hero am I?" asked Izuku with his orange eyes glowing brightly and causing both villains to flinch a little, "I'm the sort that knows when to send a puppet back to their master with a message." The giant sword was raised up to a point directly at Shigaraki, the sheen off of the blade still present from not only the Nomu's blood but his own as the dark warrior continued, "Tell him or her that if you or ANY of their other followers dare set foot upon the soil of UA ever again… Well, it won't be just a hand next time."
Kurogiri took this opportunity to create a portal large enough for himself and his ward, taking the boy's medical needs into consideration. Kurogiri began pulling the raving and delusional from blood-loss Shigaraki through the portal he had made, not even bothering to retrieve the dead Nomu or the lost limb as he didn't know how long of a window their adversary would give them a chance to flee.
Izuku watched the two villains disappear into the portal of darkness, his gaze never leaving the spot for a few seconds more; he slowly sheathed the massive sword onto his back and sighed heavily, "Well, that was a bit anticlimactic…"
His gaze soon turned towards Tsuyu and the two bodies lying close to her, his orange eyes staring at the usually overdramatic boy's dead body. As he began to walk towards the pair, the being known as Izuku currently felt his mind go ablaze with flashbacks to a similar situation long ago, a valiant knight that had saved his life and had given him some advice before dying in his arms.
A croak caught his attention and out of his thoughts as standing between the body and the dark-clad warrior was Tsuyu, ready in a defensive stance and her fists raised up. While it usually was hard for her to show emotions, he could clearly see the rage within her eyes as she continued to give croaks of warning.
"Stay away! Don't you dare come any closer and give me back Izuku!" the frog girl demanded, forcing herself to remain rooted in place. She kept her eyes upon this… stranger… before her while questions ran through her mind as to what exactly was going on with Izuku. Usually, when he would get a new kit, it would only slightly shift his personality and he would still remain virtually the same.
However, this was far more different.
The way the 'person' before her carried himself was like they only ran on pure cold logic, a set path forward with no alternative course of actions even considered. She could feel her 'instincts' telling her to back off or flee. Still, Tsuyu knew she couldn't, not with her guarding over Aoyama and Aizawa's bodies as well as hopefully seeing if she could break Izuku out of whatever hold he was currently under.
As she kept looking over the person in front of her, Tsuyu's beady black eyes soon found it's way to where Izuku's usually green ones were supposed to be. When she got herself a good look at the now pure orange irises that he sported, her mouth went agape a tiny bit as she finally figured it out, "It was you...you're the one that's been making Izuku act differently."
"Differently?" asked the being with the still ethereal tone of voice that still sent shivers down her spine; Tsuyu took a step back if only to get into a better defensive stance as the dark armored person crossed his arms over his chest, "Oooh… were you referring to when the boy called out the blonde screamer or the way he teased and toyed with the pink-skinned woman?" The smirk that formed on his lips sent more shivers of uneasiness throughout Tsuyu's body; it looked and felt wrong upon the visage of her crush's own features.
"I would take full credit where it was due, but no… that wasn't entirely me, though I did have a hand in it." he shrugged as he leaned back a little, arms still crossed, "No, what happened was more of me letting all that 'inner darkness' within his heart flow out… you'd be surprised how much he has bottled up in there."
Tsuyu tilted her head in confusion, glaring at the person still who merely raised an eyebrow at her reaction. He then sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "To put it simply, everyone has those dark thoughts or emotions that they tend to bottle up deep inside, whatever the reason being, it normally stays that way." He looked at her again, his hand away from his nose and resting overtop the other arm again, "However, for Izuku, because of his 'gift', it can manifest into another aspect of himself, one that can and will act out those things he wishes to keep buried deep down if he didn't come to a compromise with it at least."
The look of utter confusion on the frog girl's face wasn't outwardly projected. Still, one could sense how confused she was by blinking her eyes a few times with that, oddly, cute tilt of her head, "...From the way you're wording it, it sounds like you are said manifestation."
"In a sense, but while I do harbor his darker tendencies, I'm not exactly his…"
"And what does that make you? You came from his quirk; no, you should be a part of it."
"Ah, yes… I forgot that is what you call the powers of this world." The being before her shrugged his shoulders, his orange eyes half-lidded as he continued to stare at her, "I am a part of his power, but I am not his power."
"That… doesn't make sense." Tsuyu spoke suddenly, "How can you be a part of his quirk, but not be his quirk, kero?" She asked as she frowned and readied herself again, "What are you?"
"A ghost... from a time long past."
The question and answer given were left hanging in the air, filling it with tension as the frog girl was clearly trying to weigh her options. On the one hand, she could possibly try to restrain him, keep him still, and hope that the staff would get there soon. The problem with that was clearly before her as she could still see the headless corpse of the Nomu, as well as the dismembered hand of the villain that escaped, was not too far from the person before her. Clearly, attacking or trying to subdue the 'ghost' as he called himself was out of the question.
That only left Tsuyu with the one option given to her. To stall for time.
"When you said you let some of Izuku's… 'inner darkness' out… What did you mean by that? I know it would be naive to think that anyone wouldn't have any dark thoughts or things they would want to keep secret, kero, but this is Izuku we are talking about."
"And you think he wouldn't have such dark intentions?" The 'ghost' questioned with a raised eyebrow, "The times where he could show all those that tormented him how much stronger he is now, rubbing it in their faces that HE made it to UA? Hell, the battle with Bakugo was nothing to what he could have done to the boy." The sly smirk returned and grew across his lips, which again made Tsuyu shiver slightly once more, "Or better yet, his true thoughts towards you and the other close to him…"
Tsuyu froze instantly at this, her face blank with emotion and a dusting of red on her cheeks; the look he was giving her was not helping in the slightest as he chuckled softly, "Curious? Do not worry; he's currently asleep and unaware of our little talk right now."
"That would still be a betrayal of his trust though, kero."
"True, but you have seen some of those thoughts already, those lovely little notes he made in his notebooks." He said with that smirk still plastered on his lips, slowly walking towards her as he continued to speak, "Take, for example, when you kissed him in his room, oh the things he wanted to do…"
Tsuyu was frozen as he kept approaching her. Eventually, he was standing right in front of her, a good foot away as he continued to speak, "How Izuku wanted to keep that kiss going, to run his hands all along your body as if to worship you like the goddess he believes you are… he thought about the possible future then as well, working side by side while being heroes, returning home after a long hard day on the job to spend time together… dinners at fancy restaurants, spending the holidays with one another and your families…" The 'ghost' leaned in and began to whisper, while the poor frog girl's heart was starting to rapidly beat as he continued, "marriage… the prospects of how cute the children would look… raising them…"
"I don't… I don't understand…" Tsuyu rasped a gentle breath as if to calm herself down to speak, "Those don't sound like anything dark or wrong… at all... "
"It's quite simple." whispered the person with the ethereal voice, "Despite everything he would think of, the darkness of all that can be summed up with one simple little phrase so ingrained in him, that he believes it to be one hundred percent truth."
What was said next had completely broken Tsuyu to the core; the ache in her heart nearly tore it in two, as with a perfect mimicry of Izuku's voice, he spoke gently.
"Who would fall in love with a quirkless deku like me anyway?"
Leaning back and walking away from the visibly distraught-looking frog girl, a sudden explosion could be heard coming from the front entrance of the USJ.
"TO THINK YOU HAD THE GALL TO ATTACK MY STUDENTS!" Shouted the number one hero, the scowl on his face as he took in the various states of the students at the entrance of the USJ, the looks of despair turned to bright smiles upon seeing him as All Might made his way towards the stairway to look over and assess the situation, "IT'S FINE NOW, FOR I AM- - " but his iconic catchphrase halted as his blue eyes caught the sight of the central area.
All Might was no stranger to horrific scenes throughout his hero career, but this one was one of the far more brutal ones he had witnessed. He looked on to what could be seen as a headless corpse with black blood slowly oozing out of the body into a small crater in the ground, the bloodied hand on the floor with an extensive trail of red a few meters away. Finally, to the two bodies beside Tsuyu Asui, one of which looked beaten to hell but alive while the other, another of his students, was pale in his skin tone, and the piece of debris lodged in his chest made it evident that the boy had not survived.
However, what got his full attention was Izuku Midoriya, wearing the evilest looking set of armor he ever did come across, which was saying something given how many villains he had fought. All Might could see the boy staring up at him with pure orange eyes that looked far older than they should have on the teenager from his perch above.
He heard the small gasps of the other students who had come close to the edge to look on with him; he heard a soft and almost frightened gasp coming from Mina Ashido, "Iz… Izuku?"
"I'm sorry, young Ashido…" All Might said quietly as the mentioned boy narrowed his eyes at the pro hero above, "But I don't think that's young Midoriya anymore…"
Chapter 20: USJ - Part 4 (Finale): Faces New and Old
Summary:
All Might gets scolded by Nezu until an unexpected visitor shows up.
Notes:
Short chapter I know, but this is more of ending the USJ and setting up for the coming storm with the next chapter :D
Chapter Text
[During the events of the USJ, back at the University]
"I understand that this will be a drastic change for you Toshinori, but you really need to not overexert yourself." Nezu spoke with his arms behind his back as he looked up to the emancipated number one hero who was hanging his head down in shame.
This had been the third time in a week where Toshinori had practically run around and continued his heroic duties, so much so that by the time he had got to UA, he was running on 'empty' when it came to how much time he had left in the day to teach while in his hero persona.
Though the dean was smiling at him, Toshinori could feel the anger radiate from the tiny being before him as the blonde gently nodded, "I-I understand, sir... I truly do… but I simply cannot stop being who I am and ignore the cries of those who call out for help!"
Nezu sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, shaking his head as Recovery Girl huffed as well, looking over a few charts on a clipboard before retreating into her office, not willing to hear the same talk given to the oaf once again. As her door shut, she slowly walked over towards her desk and placed the clipboard on top.
The older woman stretched, hearing and feeling the popping of her wizened bones as she sighed heavily… she was really getting too old.
Using her cane to continue walking around her desk, she slowly opened one of the more oversized drawers and reached in towards a prepared bagged lunch full of some of her things she would need to 'keep her levels up'... she really wished she had something sweet to go with her snack though, as it had a taste to it that either you grew to like it… or just eat it as quickly as possible and get over it.
Her hand paused when her eyes came upon the wooden box that laid beside it. She blinked for a moment before reaching in and pulled the elegantly carved box out, and placed it on her desk as she climbed up onto her chair.
Once settled, she let her hand gently run along with the divots of the designs, tiny carvings depicting scenes of nature and beauty with various peoples etched along with such splendid scenery. Recovery girl's fingers soon hit the latch that had firmly kept the box sealed, gently moving it up and slowly opening the lid. Her old eyes gazed upon the two objects neatly sitting in the silken wrappings inside.
One sat pristinely, the size of a golf ball though it had a slightly oval shape to it that had a somewhat dim white colorization to it that made it more pearl-like in its appearance. One would merely pass it off as a polished stone of some kind had they not taken a closer look at the multi-aspected nature of the thing to reveal it was, in fact, a crystal, with very faint swirling white mists cascading within it.
Beside the perfect gem was a similar one; however, it looked far older than its counterpart. Much of the opaque coloring had all but faded away. The mists within barely visible, with a large crack traveling three-quarters down its surface. Recovery Girl kept staring hard at the damaged thing with a sad look… the memories it stirred up of days long since past, and of the friends and family she missed to this very day.
A crash and muffled high-pitched shouting knocked the old nurse out of her stupor as she grumbled lowly, closing and latching the box tight as she slid down off her chair and 'hastily' made her way towards the closed door and ready to smack whoever was making such a ruckus. Her anger, however, shifted into confusion when she came upon the scene before her.
A small Moogle was hugging the dean, crying and shouting, though muffled, into the vest of Nezu so fast that it would even put Midoriya to shame. She walked over and stood beside the equally confused Toshinori. The skeletal man looked down to Recovery Girl once he noticed her, "I didn't realize they could be much smaller than they already were."
"They are still sentient creatures, you oaf, of course they can have offspring… they don't just 'pop' out of thin air." Recovery Girl frowned and huffed back, causing Toshinori to wince before both heroes looked back at the spectacle before them.
"Shhh… calm down, Mogal." Nezu had said as he gently held the much younger Moogle like a concerned parent, "If you made a mistake at the USJ prep, it's perfectly fine; this was your first-"
"BAD MEN!" Mogal blurted out loudly, stunning the three other occupants as the tiny creature was panting, "Bad men at the USJ! They hurt some of the students, and there were a lot of them and-"
Whatever Mogal was going to say next was cut short as a gust of wind erupted in the room, and the door to the infirmary slammed open against the wall. Recovery Girl and Nezu looked to the now unoccupied bed and the missing Toshinori once the wind had died down, easy to realize what had caused such an event. Nezu looked down to the child of a Moogle who was shaking hard in his arms.
"Mogal, you did a great thing to come to me with this, but go to Moghome for now… I'll check up on you and the others once we get this sorted out, alright?" The dean spoke softly as Mogal 'looked' up to him, a few nods given, and the tiny creature floated up to one of the many 'Moogle Doors' and disappeared.
Nezu turned his attention to Recovery Girl, the smile gone and a fierce look in his eye, "Contact Ms. Midoriya and have her come to the infirmary and set up a triage. You are coming with me to the USJ to assess and prepare for the extraction of our students."
Recovery Girl nodded and briskly went to get her medical kit for any sort of first-aid that would be needed. At the same time, Nezu moved quickly to a panel against the wall, flipping it open and pressing the large red button that caused the alarm from yesterday to blare once again. The dean announced that the students remain in classes until further notice and for heroes within groups B-F to report to the vehicle bay for immediate departure, stating this was a 'code: omega.'.
Moving his small paw from the button, the dean began to head out of the infirmary with Recovery Girl, both with stern looks on their faces, though they were merely masks for their true feelings. For the older woman, it was a concern for the students and hoping that both Eraserhead and Thirteen would protect them as best as they could… despite being young adults, the students were still children in terms of the world of heroics, and something like this was far more than what they should be introduced too.
Nezu, on the other hand, was thinking more about how this would be the reason for the 'press attack' during the previous day. He frowned at the implications of what this could genuinely turn out to be.
Unbeknownst to the two leaving figures, from within the office of Recovery Girl, the wooden box that had been left on top of her desk slowly began to shine a brilliant white through the crack of the sealed lid before soon dissipating like nothing had happened.
[One hour since the arrival of All Might at the USJ]
Nezu's beady black eyes were taking the scene before him in its entirety.
At the entrance plaza of the USJ, the police were escorting out all of the defeated villains in half a dozen police vans, all in quirk inhibitor cuffs and collars. A few choice villains had to be placed in a single truck due to being identified as 'cannibalistic', as was the case with the one shark villain that had to be dredged up from the flood zone.
At the entrance, the students were given blankets and some tea, speaking with the police and sharing their testimonies with Recovery Girl checking over the still unconscious Thirteen. The damage from the reversal of their quirk was clearly evident as their spacesuit was practically destroyed from the back, and the older nurse was checking over the hero's vitals as carefully as she could.
But now, Nezu was looking over the scene of the central plaza, of the utter destruction and bloodbath which the small furred being knew would be a PR nightmare should word get out. Not for the mere fact that within twenty-four hours after the incident of the UA security gate being destroyed, had a group of villains broke into and attacked the school, specifically first-year heroic students, all in some vain of glory to murder the number one hero, All Might. But for the fact that one of the students had viciously killed and dismembered two of the villains. The one that had lost a hand had gotten away from what was conveyed back to the police as 'sending a message'. Simultaneously, a rather large and odd-looking villain was left headless, now covered by a white cloth.
Nezu looked to the left side to see the small gathering of the students present during the events of the fight. Many of them with blankets wrapped around them like the others far up at the entrance, but unlike their classmates, these few students were not in a calm state like their counterparts.
Toru Hagakure, the invisible girl within class 1-A, had been in hysterics since coming upon the scene when she had seen the dead body of Yuga Aoyama, the only 'friendly casualty' of the event. She was currently being held close and comforted by Momo Yaoyorozu, who, while keeping the calmest of the girls at least, the dean could sense her worry over one of her classmates.
Tsuyu Asui was standing near her classmates, Kyoka Jiro, Denki Kaminari, and Minoru Mineta. Kyoka was speaking with Tsuyu in a hushed sort of tone, while both the boys were not that far from them, talking amongst themselves but clearly looking frightened or sick from the scene before them.
Then there were the other three boys, who seemed to be guarding the rest against the unknown force before them. However, if Nezu had to guess of the three, Bakugo was more interested in starting a fight and taking out the 'villain' before him.
Nezu noted he should raise Hound Dog's salary after this.
The other two, Eiji Kirishima and Shoto Toderoki, were actually looking out for their classmates from what he had observed, both ready to jump in if necessary to do so. The dean usually would be proud of their initiative to protect their fellow classmates if the circumstances were normal, however with the current unknown presented before them, Nezu had a horrible thought that not even All Might, who was standing beside him, could take on the threat all of them were facing.
And that possible threat was one Izuku Midoriya.
He was kneeling on the ground, both hands on his thighs and eyes staring directly at Nezu, which he noticed the dull orange color they now sported, which didn't sit well with the dean. In front of the now dark armored boy lay two people, Yuga Aoyama and Shota Aizawa.
Nezu looked over the underground hero from where he was, noticing the first-aid he had received and seemed to be merely knocked out. However, if not correctly taken care of by Recovery Girl soon, then the customarily tired teacher could face much more dire circumstances.
There had been a few attempts to reach the two bodies before Izuku. However, every time anyone had approached, the sword began to pulse with a dark sort of aura and mist, and the boy's eyes would shift to look in the direction of the person who was attempting to sneak upon him.
It only took two attempts to make the heroes realize that going anywhere near the boy or the two bodies was not an option.
Hound Dog growled low in his throat as he stood beside Nezu and All Might, not from any sort of anger or hostility but from confusion over the entire situation. To see a promising young and bright student cause so much chaos and carnage… the pro hero/guidance counselor did not know what to think. The dog man's thoughts were interrupted when Nezu began to speak to the 'being' before them.
"I guess introductions are in order; I am Nezu, dean of the UA Hero University. From your demeanor and my interactions with Izuku Midoriya previously, it is safe to assume you are not him."
The 'doppelganger' kept his gaze upon the small furry dean before a short huff of a chuckle escaped his lips; as he spoke in that ethereal tone, everyone could feel the area's temperature drop a few degrees, "You are a smart one… as I told Ms. Asui earlier, I am not Izuku Midoriya, yet I harbor… aspects of him to say the least."
"I see…" Nezu said and frowned slowly as he stood with his hands behind his back, "I will be blunt then, You have committed murder, and I am sure you are well aware that it is not tolerated here."
"If you are referring to the creature known as 'Nomu', there was no other choice."
"I find that highly doubtful, " Spoke the blood hero, Vlad King, whose arms were crossed over his chest and was one of the few heroes that were surrounding the boy from a distance, "Heroes must always do their utmost to subdue or incapacitate a villain."
'Izuku' looked over to the teacher with a raised eyebrow before suddenly breaking out into laughter, filling the area with such a dark tone to it that caused most of the students and some of the students to flinch, "Funny enough, the boy said that to me as well…"
The dark armored being glared at Vlad King then, causing the hero and teacher to immediately get into a battle stance, though was held back when the hand of Nezu rose up to prevent Vald King from outright attacking him, "So tell me, Vlad King, if the boy's memories and knowledge of heroes are anything to go by, how best would you deal with a literal 'monster'... something created to kill one of your 'gods'?"
"I'm sorry, but 'killing a god'?" Present Mic spoke up suddenly, looking utterly confused, "I hate to tell ya Listener, but gods aren't real… and it sounds a little too far-fetched to even think anyone could 'make' something to kill one."
Orange eyes soon shifted to the rocker hero, a smirk still on the mysterious beings lips, "Oh? How naive to think there are no such things as gods…" His eyes soon began to drift across some of the heroes as well as the students, a glint in his eyes flashed as he looked upon Momo, who shivered slightly from the gaze before the orange irises landed upon All Might, "Considering we have one standing before us right now…"
"P-Preposterous, I am not a god!" The number one hero sputtered at the thought, but a heavy sigh escaped the 'possessed' boy's lips.
"True, you are not physically a god… given the circumstances." The kneeling figure said that caused all the teachers to get nervous, primarily All Might, since none of the students had known about his injury, "But this society you live in, they certainly treat you like one… Tell me, How would Japan react if you suddenly... disappeared… or worse yet, die?"
The question hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity, though it was a mere few minutes. Most of the other pro heroes had looked towards All Might, awaiting his answer. Still, despite the smile he was displaying, the eyes of the person... no… thing staring directly at him and asking the question gave him pause.
He then looked to his students, as they too were awaiting his answer, many of them looking hopeful and for him to tell them what they were expecting him to, that it would be alright. But a twisting feeling within his gut, or what was left of it, made him realize that if things were going to change… hell, needed to change, then he'd have to start here.
"I'd… wish I could say that there would be my fellow pro heroes who would be able to carry out what was needed to keep the peace, as well as the promising students not only with this school but also the others across this fine country… nor do I doubt any of their skills or their achievements…"
All Might spoke solemnly, the smile on his face fading as everyone kept watching and listening to him, "But… you are correct, I have seen it myself… and I am guilty of perpetuating this 'worship' you speak of. And the day I either retire or die… I fear the chaos that will ensue if this is not properly dealt with before such a time will cause untold devastation due to the villains that would normally hold back and hide within the shadows because of my presence."
Many of the students were shaking as the number one hero spoke; some looked fearful of what he said while Bakugo snarled while looking at his kneeling 'classmate'. The teachers and even Nezu were simply staring at All Might, who now was clenching his fist as he began to speak once again, "But that's why I am here... supposed to be here for! To teach and guide the future generations of heroes for however long I am on this mortal coil so that they will rise up above me and not have just a 'symbol of peace' but a multitude of them so that people wouldn't just have a single person to rely on."
What happened next stunned everyone as All Might stood straight up before bowing towards his students who were present there, "My dear students, forgive me for not being here today, as well as forgive me for not being the proper teacher you were expecting me to be. I now know what I must do, and I ask you to please be patient with me in the future so I can properly guide you along with the help of my fellow teachers to become the best heroes you can be!"
The students slowly began to smile, a few cheering at the number one hero, with a few exceptions. All Might then turned towards his teachers and bowed again, "My colleagues, I understand I have not been the best coworker and may have gotten some ire for my lackluster teacher methods; I am very sorry for my attitude towards the work ethic I have displayed so far, I kinda ask for your forgiveness as I strive to become just as wondrous educators as you all."
The teachers were smiling back at the number one hero. It was Present Mic that spoke up first, "Hey, it's not easy teacher right out the gate, and to be fair, we should have said something before, but I know I'd be more than happy to give ya a few pointers when it comes to teaching these troublemakers." He and a few of the teachers chuckled at the light jab while some of the students looked aghast to be called such a thing.
All Might then faced Nezu, kneeling down and bowing with his head on the ground to the small dean, "Sir, I understand I have been a poor example of a teacher here at this prestigious school, I humbly beg for another chance for teaching here and the next generation, as well as future ones as long as I am able. I will accept any punishment for my previous actions."
Everyone grew silent after that little proclamation, though more so the teachers worried looks and the students looking on in confusion. The silence was interrupted as a gentle sigh came from the dean and patted the head of the number one hero, "Apology accepted, and we shall see about that punishment later… but for now, we need to deal with our 'guest'."
"Who's a guest?" asked Ochako as the rest of Class 1-A and Recovery Girl had come down the stairs now, joining the circle formed around the three bodies in the middle. The newly joined group of students looked on in confusion at the still kneeling and bowing All Might as well as the kneeling form of Izuku, whose gaze seemed to be locked onto the older nurse.
Recovery Girl raised an eyebrow at the staring Izuku Midoriya before her, squinting at him for a few moments before the emotions on her face slowly turned to dread to one of pure ice as she spoke low, "Why are you staring at me, Midoriya?"
The boy in question's look went to one with a soft smile, eyes half-lidded as he chuckled low, and as he spoke to her, the voice of the doppelganger shifted once again from that ethereal voice to one that sounded utterly different even from Midoriya's own voice. It was soft and airy, with a hint of playfulness to it that was alien to the ordinarily stuttering boy, "To think I would see you once again after all this time…"
The older woman froze as she gripped the cane in her hand, clenching it tightly as he continued to speak.
"Hello Krile, it's so nice to see you again."
Chapter 21: Dressed in White
Summary:
Revelations Galore!
Notes:
HELLLOOOOO!
Well, that was a ride, wasn't it? So many crazy things that happened and makes you wonder how else it can go wrong, right?
Anyway, I said I would comment on all the reviews I had gotten for chapters 17-20, which I have, however, I actually made another document called "Bearer of the Light: MEGA REVIEW COMPILATION" - on both FFN and Ao3!
So go over there and check it out, though admittedly I should copy the questions next time so it would be easier to understand some of the answers haha.
For FFN readers, you can just look it up in my profile since this site freaking hates links.For Ao3 Readers, I'll post the link --> https://archiveofourown.org/works/30736982/chapters/75860360
So sit back, relax and hope you all enjoy this chapter, as we have passed a hurdle in many of MHA fan fics!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The absolute silence that surrounded the group of people, hell the entire complex of the USJ, was stifling, to say the least, when the being that was currently in use of Izuku's Midoriya's body had greeted Recovery Girl in such a voice that was utterly different from Izuku's own as well as the more ethereal tone it had adopted previously.
The older woman was staring in shock at the kneeling 'boy' before her when she not only heard the voice but the name he had called her. As everyone watched from the sidelines, they were mostly ignored as Recovery Girl clenched her hypodermic-looking cane tightly still.
Her shocked face slowly morphed into one of anger as she suddenly leaped towards the armored being; a shimmer of light coming from her cane had revealed a large shepherd's crook adorned with vines and flowers and a small crystal floating within the 'hook', which was now pointed directly at the face of the unmoving boy and glowing a bright white light.
"How dare you possess that boy's body!" Recovery Girl snarled low as everyone tensed up, the pro heroes looking to join her if need be while some of the hero students flinched to see a staff member turn a weapon against their classmate, 'possessed' or not.
"Leave him now apparition!" demanded the older heroine, the wooden hook inching closer to the unflinching face of Izuku, who slightly sighed and looked deadpanned at her with his dull orange eyes.
"You know that's not how this works, Krile, as I'm sure Quinn told you in the past, hell I'm sure he did." spoke the being in his ethereal like voice once again; he raised a gauntleted finger up and gently moved the crook from his face, "The boy agreed to do this, and trusts me to make sure nothing untoward happens."
"'Untoward'?... UNTOWARD?! Then care to explain why there is a dead body and a dismembered hand?" Recovery Girl screeched and suddenly smacked him on top of his head a few times, something that All Might winced at since he had been on the business end of one of her cane's more recently. What surprised the currently 'struggling to maintain his form' pro hero was how the boy's body didn't even flinch or react to the hits.
"I understand that killing one's enemies is frowned upon, as I have learned from the boy's memories as well as hearing it myself from him, but that 'thing' was far more than anyone here could have handled." Spoke the being with no emotion in his voice as he was stating the facts, "It took full hits of the Warrior with little effect, something about it having a 'shock nullification' quirk… so when the boy had switched to using more sharper weapons, whatever cuts and slices he delivered, all to hopefully incapacitate the monster mind you, had mended itself almost as quickly as he was making them."
All the teacher's eyes widened as they heard the abilities of the dead corpse not far from them as the possessed boy continued, "Magic seemed to have slowed down the regeneration partially. So when I entered the battle, I knew what I had to do."
"It had a fairly obvious weak spot," shrugged the kneeling boy, "Its brain was exposed to the open air, so utterly destroying it would have stopped the regeneration." He then looked to Krile, who was still glaring at him, "Krile, if I would hazard a comparison to something we have faced in the past, this 'Nomu' as it was called by the manchild, was very similar to one of the 'Hypertuned'..."
The older woman's eyes widened and turned suddenly to the corpse not far from them, her anger fading into fear, something quickly picked up by the other heroes.
"Erm... sorry to point out the obvious, but… what exactly is a 'Hypertuned'?" asked Midnight, looking just as confused as everyone else. Before the older woman could stop him, the 'entity' answered.
"Basically, take a living person or animal, and through the use of horrific experimentation that is quite painful, created unrelenting and powerful machine people that only obeyed the will and command of the ones who did that to them." the orange eyes stared at the thinly dressed heroine as he addressed her, "Worse part, most of their 'subjects' were forced into the procedure… usually their enslaved population or prisoners of war."
The shock on the faces of not only the teachers, but the students as well now looked to the corpse as the 'dark knight' continued, "Thankfully, the Nomu seemed more… organic, in its design, which frankly should be worrying in itself more than anything I'd imagine. As for the hand, the villain that it used to belong to could disintegrate anything he touched with it, and was attempting to grab my face… so I took the appropriate action and, pardon the pun, 'disarmed' him."
He sighed gently, slowly rising to his feet as everyone turned their attention back to the possessed boy who had reached for the sword implanted into the ground and removed it, placing it on his back as he groaned gently and tilted his head as if to stretch it.
"What are you doing?" Recovery Girl or Krile had asked with a frown, the wooden staff she held still raised up to attack him if he would attempt anything. But all she got in return was an emotionless look that shifted into a slight smirk.
"Time's up, I'm afraid… despite not being truly him, it was good seeing you again, Krile… may I ask one question? Something to put this old ghost's heart at ease?"
With a heavy sigh, having a feeling what was coming, she lowered her staff, "Fine, I figured it would pop up eventually before you would vanish back into whatever dark abyss you crawled out of… go on, ask it."
"In the end... was she happy?"
The question hung in the air for a few moments before the sound of wood meeting metal echoed in the air from the cane smacking against the leg of the armored individual, the smaller woman frowning up at him.
"You oaf! Of course, she was happy in the end. Granted, she was furious with you at first for not coming back… but then, she knew the life you led. There was a chance it would happen, yet she still fell for you…" Recovery girl sighed heavily as the being nodded his head, chuckling softly, but stopped when the older woman continued, "Besides, it's not like you totally left her alone, she had the others and myself, of course, to help her get through the first while… but that 'last gift' you left her is what kept her happy."
The being tilted his head in confusion at first, "'Last gift'?... I don't remember leaving- wait." For the first time, it was his eyes wide in shock, the dull orange eyes of his had actually lightened up a little, and the rather cold and confident tone of voice it had stuttered, "Y-you mean- s-she was…?"
He stopped speaking when he saw the smile on the older woman's lips; the entity blinked as before him stood the once more youthful visage of Krile staring up at him with that same smug yet mischievous smirk she often had as well as her long brown hair hidden underneath that yellow hooded jacket. He smiled softly before blinking again, and her visage returned to the more present-day look she now adopted.
He looked around to the people surrounding him before looking down at Krile again, "Try not to take it too hard on the boy. He honestly did his best… and help in regards to 'him'." A gauntlet finger pointed at the lifeless body of Yuga, and Recovery Girl huffed gently, knowing full well what the 'ghost' was referring to.
Without another word, the boy slowly stood up straight, his arms raised slightly out at his sides, and much to the shock and honestly pure awe of everyone around him, what looked like dark mist slowly started to roll off of Izuku's body, moving backwards like someone was peeling off a tightly worn blanket from around his frame.
As the mist began to coalesce into a being of pure darkness walking within his shadow, the dark armor that Izuku had been adorned with had reverted back to his paladin armor. However, it had some dirt patches on his back. It was still that same pristine white that was familiar to Class 1-A. In fact, any of the blood on his body seemed to have vanished as more and more rolled off Izuku until everyone could see two people standing back to back.
One, of course, being the green-haired boy looking straight out in front at nothing, his emerald eyes dulled, while the being of pure darkness behind him was doing the same. However, the orange eyes it wielded were just as bright as its 'host'.
"Before you go…" Tsuyu had spoken up, her eyes frowning at the being though it wasn't looking at her, but still awaited for what she was going to ask, "You... never gave us a name to call you by…"
The being behind Izuku huffed in amusement, and those that could see from that side saw a wisp of a smirk formed on the 'face'. Without a word, it raised its gloved hand towards the hilt of the sword on its back, plucking it off and slamming the tip of the blade into the shadow.
Everyone tensed as the being slowly knelt down to one knee as if it was swearing fealty to royalty. Its eyes were looking at the ground as it got into the pose, still remaining silent before the irises shot up and were staring directly at the person straight ahead of it.
Momo shivered as the orange eyes looked up to her gaze as if it was looking deep within her soul. She felt breathless for whatever reason and unable to look away from the being while she still held the frightened Toru. A few moments of silence passed before the 'being' spoke again.
"Call me… Fray."
And within a blink of an eye, the shadowy being now known as Fray had 'fallen' into young Izuku's shadow, causing the boy to release a breath of air he had not realized he had been holding in. He collapsed onto his knees, panting for breath as he held himself up with his arms shaking on the ground.
Cries of his name in worry filled the air as armor on his body disappeared in a flash of dim light, putting him back into his now torn-up UA gym outfit. Some of the teachers and students gasped to see how mangled up the clothes were, as parts of it were shredded and torn, revealing the many cuts and now forming bruises across his back as that part of his uniform had been totally blown open.
The same spots that were shared upon the boy's red outfit during his fight with Nomu.
As people went to rush to him and check if he was alright, he quickly raised a hand up to halt them. He dry heaved for a moment, spitting on the ground below him as he started to speak something in a hoarse tone of voice. With the small elder Recovery Girl close to him, she raised her eyebrow, "What was that, Midoriya? I couldn't make that out."
"R... Rapier… I need… my rapier…"
The older woman's eyes frowned in confusion for a moment. Still, then realization struck, and her eyes went wide before frowning once again, "No, absolutely not! You are in no shape to cast that!"
"N… Need to… save… Yuga… Rapier… where's my rapier?" Izuku began to ask again, almost ignoring the advice of the older woman.
"Midoriya! It will not work! Your weapon was damaged; it's too dangerous to cast such a high-level spell without it!"
"Recovery Girl, what is he trying to do?" asked Nezu, who had been watching this entire exchange from the start and had grown quiet as he let 'Krile' talk to Fray. The older woman groaned gently as she looked back to the dean, with an exasperated look on her face.
"The idiot wants to bring young Aoyama back to life using Verraise! " she exclaimed loudly; everyone around them looked on in confusion and shock as she turned back to the muttering boy on the ground, "You are going against the natural order of this world, Midoriya! What you are planning on doing here could change everything!"
"Need… Need to save him...want to be… a hero that saves everyone…"
"As much as I admire that spirit, young Midoriya… sometimes you cannot save everyone." All Might had spoken up, though he was far more muted than what he usually would be. The blond hero watched as his student kept looking around for the broken weapon like the boy had not even heard him. Despite the fact that the number one hero hated admitting that to Izuku and all of the other students standing around the scene, it was the truth, sadly.
Even All Might would often do his best to save everyone. Still, his many years of being a pro hero had quickly made him not only realize but live through the reality that not everyone can be saved, no matter how hard one wished it was possible. Still, watching his future successor willing to make that sacrifice to save someone did make his heart fill with pride, but also worry considering how 'out of it' the boy seemed to be.
"No… no more… no more death… not again… can't let it happen again." Izuku kept muttering, he had stopped looking, and his hands were curled up against the dirt; a stray tear fell from his cheek as his head looked over to his dead friend beside him.
"Happen again? What are you talking about, little listener?" Present Mic had asked as everyone on that side of the circle around him could see the almost lifeless look in his eyes and facial features. Being on that side, Mina gasped loudly while bringing her hands to her lips, aghast at how utterly 'destroyed' Izuku had looked.
Izuku had looked to his English Teacher; the glassy-eyed look given to the pro sent shivers down his spine as the boy spoke, "Won't let it happen again… Not Yuga… Not Haurchefant… never again…"
"Recovery Girl!" Mina cried out, tears streaming down her eyes as Izuku slowly began to shift himself to kneel beside Yuga, "What's wrong with Izuku? He's not acting right!"
"The fight with the Nomu and Fray's 'intervention' must have horribly depleted the Aether within his body. He's not thinking straight- SOMEONE STOP HIM!" Recovery Girl shrieked as she explained what was going on with the boy, only to interrupt herself when she saw he had his hands raised above Yuga's body, with flickers of what she could see as white magic pulsing from his hands.
As she, along with several of the pro heroes and some of the students, had lept towards Izuku, the green-haired boy was clenching his eyes shut trying to focus on what he was trying to do, time seemed to slow down as he could feel the presence of everyone trying to stop him, but Izuku kept thinking of how he wanted to save his friend… he NEEDED to save his friend! No matter the cost!
Shrieks and shouts of surprise as a blast of wind had knocked everyone back who was trying to get to the Izuku, who himself had tumbled backward onto his butt and hissed in pain as his probably now bruised tailbone. He then winced in pain as a brilliant white light had flashed and shone brightly in front of him, who slowly opened an eye to stare at the most peculiar sight.
Floating in the air, bathed in a brilliant ray of light shining down upon it, was a small opaque white crystal before him, swirling white mists moving slowly like clouds across the sky. It was round in shape, but not entirely a circle or oval… and what was peculiar about it was the strange symbol that rested upon its surface, one of an oversimplified version of Recovery Girl's hook cane, though it was slightly dulled.
He took a heavy breath in and exhaled out, now noticing the ringing in his ear similar to white noise, as his eyes adjusted and he could see the various people around him getting their bearings back. Some of them had shouted something at him, but he couldn't hear it over the ringing as his green eyes fixed upon the floating crystal before him. They grew determined as he quickly, though struggled to, rose up and reached out to the strange thing before him.
As he made a fist over it and clutching it tightly, it pulsed in his hand with heat, like a hot rock that had bathed out in the sunlight all day. The ringing in his ears stopped, only to be replaced with three familiar words that rang out in his head as his vision suddenly went pure white.
HEAR.
FEEL.
THINK.
A gentle beam of sunlight slowly poked through the curtains of Momo's dorm room, settling upon the heiress's eyes, causing her to face to scrunch before moving her arm over top to avoid the offensive wake-up call from the star hanging in the sky.
She groaned gently as she slowly rose from her mattress, stretching and giving off a soft mewl of discomfort as she stretched and opened her eyes. Her hair hanging down her back was a bit frazzled looking as she slowly reached over to her bathrobe that was lazily hanging upon the back of her desk chair.
It had been another night of restless sleep for the poor girl, with nightmares about what she had experienced within the USJ and what could have happened if things had played out differently. Several times during the night, she awoke sweating and panting in fright only to pass out shortly after calming herself down and remembering that she had made it out safely.
In fact, to say that the outcome of that terrible experience she and her classmates had been a part of came out as well as it did was nothing to say short of a miracle.
And what a miracle it was.
It had happened so fast as well, the way Izuku seemed to move between the two people before him after touching that mysterious stone that just… appeared before him. Once the light had subsided, many people were shocked to see the state of dress Izuku was in. The outfit was pure white, like freshly fallen snow. Yet, it looked regal in its design, almost holy in a way with all the silver trimmings and sewn in ornaments patterned across the very tight-fitting clothing.
And yes, Momo had to admit that she really couldn't look upon her classmate without blushing just from the fact how the outfit just fit so snugly against his frame, even with his shoulders and half of his pectorals bare to all who could see him due to the odd sort of coat he was wearing. However, what was most strange about his outfit was the fact that his eyes were covered in a simple white cloth wrapped around his head and covering his eyes and possibly his ears from what she could see at the time.
It wasn't until after the event that Momo had asked Recovery Girl, no... Krile, what that was all about, and she remembered how the older woman sighed and told her it was of a familiar mantra of 'See no evil. Hear no Evil' that was commonly known throughout the world.
And possibly the most surprising aspect of Izuku's new kit was the weapon he wielded. It was a beautiful ornate metallic staff that would typically be placed in a museum. For some reason, at the top of the staff, it was glowing and pulsing with a bright white light that seemed to give off a sense of warmth and calm.
What followed once he was placed back on the ground, even Momo wouldn't come to a logical explanation. Izuku had turned his head towards their fallen teacher as if he could see past the bindings over his eyes and muttered something under his breath. The heiress watched as what looked like sparkles and mist surrounded the boy before he slowly brought the top of the staff down and hanging above Aizawa's chest, with the said teacher looking up to the boy as he had been woken from the shriek earlier.
"Mi… doriya… what are you… doing?"
"Shh…" Izuku lifted a finger to his lips, a gentle smile on them as he spoke, "Just relax, Mr. Aizawa… this won't hurt, but you will feel a slight numbness over your entire body. Benediction."
As he spoke that last word, a whirlwind of white surrounded the teacher and swirled around him for, but a few moments before dissipating into two thinly lined rings above him that spread out and faded along with the 'winds', if one could call them that. Aizawa slowly rose up from his back as everyone gasped to see the outcome of the 'spell'; seeing how cleaned up the teacher was, considering he was covered in blood and cuts across his skin. The tired-looking teacher looked down to his arm sling and slowly removed it, looking over his elbow. Even he looked astonished to see what was once just bare muscle out into the world had been fully healed, without any sort of scarring left to even show he was wounded there.
Aizawa moved his eyes to look upon the outreached hand of Izuku, who was smiling down at him, and then took it, "I would recommend getting a full night's rest, despite the healing I have provided, any lingering pain will still be present within the next few hours due to the fading of the magic from your body."
"Are you trying to order your teacher around, Midoriya?" asked Aizawa as he rose to his feet, wobbling slightly due to a bit of lightheadedness from having been on the ground for so long. His student chuckled lightly, which made Momo's heart smelt from how soft and happy it sounded.
"I wouldn't dare try to, sir, but you know the old saying… 'Never mess with the white mage.'."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow at that, especially with how Izuku had said it in such a way that was not only a little threatening but also with some truth behind it. The teacher sighed heavily and rubbed the bridge of his nose as Izuku kept smiling at him before both of their focus turned towards the student covered by a blanket.
"You should step back, Mr. Aizawa…" Izuku spoke somberly, the smile on his lips still present, though everyone who could see a hint of sadness as he 'looked' down to the body before him, "With how big of a wound Yuga had received, I'm going to have to go all out with this…"
Aizawa looked to his student with a frown, sighing gently and muttering out a 'problem child', which caused Izuku to chuckle lightly again. It was Recovery Girl who strolled towards Izuku next, her face still in a frown, "Me telling you that you're pushing your limits as they are right now due to the earlier fight is not going to make you stop this foolishness, is it?"
"He risked his life to save mine, Krile. I have to make an attempt to save him."
"And you're FAR too young to be calling me by my first name, brat! No matter how much you remind me of Quinn," she said with a huff and waving of her staff at him, ready to strike him in the shin. Izuku chuckled again, scratching his cheek with the hint of a blush coming across them.
"S… sorry, Ms. Baldesion."
The older woman lowered her cane back down, a shocked look in her eye as she sighed gently and headed towards the dean, who was merely smiling at the exchange.
Once she was far enough away, Izuku had turned his attention back to the sheet-covered body, slowly taking a deep inhale of breath before exhaling slowly. Everyone around him watched in pure fascination as most of those 'wisps of magic'; at least that's what Momo would identify them as; they would encircle around the green-haired boy's feet and lower legs while moving upwards before lifting him off the ground. Izuku would spread his arms wide as if to be carried by some unseen force.
When he ascended up off of the ground slowly, even Momo had to think there was someone around using a quirk to do so. Still, her mind reeled at the fact when two brilliantly beautiful wings made of the white magic blossomed out of his back, then slowly brought him back down onto the ground just as gently.
The bright new additions to Izuku's body did not move, and the way they moved around with his back was like the one time her mother had dressed as an angel, stiff and there for decoration. But the gentle sense of warmth the boy was radiating now had made her feel stronger, like she was able to take on a hit from any foe and would still be strong enough to create and fire a cannon in return. Her onyx eyes opened in pure awe as Izuku now raised his staff over top of Yuga's body, the top of the odd metallic cane slowly beginning to brighten and flicker as time passed while Izuku was muttering something low to himself.
It was Izuku's voice once again snapping her out of her amazement and awe of seeing actual magic being used as he waved his staff and called out in a loud voice, sounding almost similar to the way that Fray had spoken with an ethereal tone, but unlike the darker being's voice sending shivers of dread, Izuku's made her feel 'safe' and 'joy'... amongst other things.
"RAISE!"
As the green-haired boy spoke that word, two baseball-sized orbs twirled around and descended upon the unmoving corpse, colliding into one another at the center before bursting into a small blast of air and what appeared to be images of feathers bursting out from the collision. The blanket lifted off of the body during the burst, however before anyone could see the corpse, a flash of light enveloped it similar to whenever Izuku had changed kits and vanished, only to appear above said cloth with his arms spread open wide and slowly rotating his body in the upwards onto his feet with another pulse of magic causing the blonde boy to shake from the sudden 'impact'.
With his feet settled on the ground, Yuga slowly brought his hand up to his forehead, groaning in pain as he was slightly hunched over, his voice sounding weak and hoarse as he spoke, "Pourquoi j'ai la tête qui tourne après un week-end chez grand-mère…"
"I… don't quite understand what you just said, Yuga, but I can guess it's about you feeling a little weak due to being revived." Izuku spoke calmly and gently, walking towards Yuga and placing his hand on his shoulder as the 'wings' on his back dissipated into nothing but sparkles of tiny lights that fell and faded to the ground. Yuga looked towards Izuku and saw the bright smile of his classmate, "Like you said, a hero should always smile… Welcome back, Yuga."
The french boy blinked for a few moments before realization came upon him. He quickly patted himself where the sharpened piece of broken cement had lodged itself, only to find nothing but his bare skin where the hole in his hero suit indicated where the offending thing had once been.
Yuga looked to Izuku, who was still smiling before a sudden weight almost took him down once again, and the crying wails of Toru filled his ear as he could feel her hug his head close to her chest. Yuga wrapped his arms around his invisible friend before more cheers of joy and jubilation came from all around him as most of his classmates had suddenly joined in on the impromptu group hug.
Standing back from the ensuing chaos, Izuku was smiling as he 'watched' the scene. Momo watched from afar and out of the current mass of people welcoming Yuga back, with a look of pure awe at what friend had just performed.
Never before had she witnessed such a miracle being done by a quirk, to bring back someone from the dead with what she could see with no drawbacks. It then dawned on Momo at what Recovery Girl had said just a few minutes ago, about how Izuku was going against 'the natural order of this world' by doing what was deemed impossible in any sort of logical sense.
As the pony-tailed girl continued to watch Midoriya, she noticed as his smile faltered. He clenched his teeth, dropping the cane with a loud metallic clang echoing in the air as he brought both hands to his chest, and he was finding it difficult to breathe.
A cry of his name escaped her lips as Momo leaped towards him as Izuku fell to the ground, the outfit he was wearing reverting back to the mangled gym uniform, with Momo sliding down beside him to make sure he was breathing, and unbeknownst to her and everyone else, a new symbol appeared within one of the panels of the 'crystal' on his back.
Momo sighed heavily as she looked into her bedroom mirror, putting on the finishing touches of today's outfit and tying her hair back into the classic ponytail she often sported and was well known for. She kept staring into the mirror for a few moments as the events of Izuku's newest awakening kept replaying in her head, then quickly going over her itinerary of the day's activities that hadn't changed since the USJ incident.
Momo would have a small breakfast, then attend the small group therapy with Hound Dog for the first part of the morning. She would have her one on one with the hero afterward until it was lunchtime, where she would spend the rest of the day sitting by Izuku's side while reading a book until he had awoken.
This was the third day that Izuku had not yet woken up since he collapsed after reviving Yuga. Nezu had given everyone two weeks off of classes so that there would be new security cameras and various other devices put around the school to prevent what had happened from happening again, given that a villain had used a teleportation quirk to get into the USJ, which was rare in of itself.
For the last three days, the school was on lockdown while the new security was being put in, and now that it was the weekend, many of the students could go and visit families who were no doubt worried… Momo sighed heavily at the reminder sitting on top of her bedroom desk.
She loved her parents, very much so! But, there were times where the 'obligations' of being one of the better-off families would get to her, not like any of the other families of similar wealth seemed to care about her opinion at least. As many times as she could remember, Momo had constant offers of marriage proposals due to her quirk and the fact the groom and their families had more interest in the Yaoyorozu Company than her.
She smiled gently to herself when she remembered the 'scandal' it had caused when it was announced to the crowd at the last party hosted by her family that Momo would be training to be a pro hero.
Still, her smile faded, and he went to pick up the small envelope with the candle wax seal still on it. While often noted to be quite old-fashioned, it was something her father took pride in doing when it came to these parties. Momo honestly loved the wax seal, as it reminded her of how young couples would send notes to one another in the romance novels she often read.
The thought of receiving one such letter like this from a certain green-haired boy made her blush madly and coo gently.
Momo quickly shook her head and clapped her cheeks gently to remove such thinking, as lovely as it was. She tucked the envelope into one of the pouches of her bag, which carried things for the group therapy, and made her way out of her dorm room, ready to get her day started.
"Oh goodness, pardon me…" Momo spoke gently as she covered her mouth with a tiny fist as she gently burped. Today's lunch had been incredibly delicious, and honestly, the creation user could not get enough of it and was once again thankful her quirk caused her metabolism to be hyperactive.
She was sitting alone in the medical room where Izuku was resting in one of the beds. Her eyes wandered from the textbook she had been reading to look towards her sleeping friend and give off a gentle smile. Izuku had been sleeping somewhat peacefully, but Momo could see the way his closed eyes darted left or right, with his hands and legs twitching at times, which meant he must have been dreaming quite intensely.
She sighed as her gaze drifted down from his sleeping face to his bare upper body with a rather odd-looking crystal resting over the top of his heart. Her cheeks blushed as she once again took in the view of Izuku's muscles and the thoughts oh how they would look with him over top of- *SLAP*
The heiress winced after she struck her own cheek to get those invasive, perverted… but admittedly pleasant thoughts out of her head. Sighing softly, she turned her attention back towards her textbook and puffed her cheeks a little with a soft frown as she had gotten rather bored of it. She blinked as she quickly closed the book and then reached for her bag.
Exchanging thick textbook for a much smaller novel that had been given to her by Recovery Girl, Momo smiled gently as she ran her fingers across the leatherbound cover before her, taking in how the embossed insignia the was proudly displayed in the middle of it while the beautifully stitched-into-leather letters that, while written in English, had expressed the name of the book in such elegance that anyone who would find the title would be instantly intrigued by the name.
'HEAVENSWARD'.
She had already finished reading the first couple chapters of the book, and Momo found it a pretty exciting tale, surprisingly. The first few chapters had described the beginning of an event called 'The Dragonsong War', a one thousand year conflict between the citizens of a grand city known as Ishgard and the Dravanian Hordes of a being known as Nighogg, a mighty dragon bent on revenge for the death of his sister.
It then went on to describe some of the 'Houses' of Ishgard as well as the 'Holy See', a religious faction that was in charge of the government of Ishgard, and Momo had a nasty feeling where the story would go in regards to this religious group in control of everything, despite how the first chapter had painted them in a good light, she knew they must have had some skeletons in their closet as no organization was that 'clean'.
It also helped that many of her favorite novels had similar organizations that turned out for the worst.
She was just starting the third chapter now. The narrative soon became something closer to memoirs… in fact, that's what they actually were as they were written by one Lord Edmont de Fortemps, head of House Fortemps. He was just describing the day that three young people on the run and brought to his house to become wards, thanks to the recommendation of his son, one Commander Greystone.
Momo thought it was odd that the Lord's son had a completely different last name than him, and no mention of a first? Well, perhaps later on, she will get his name.
She kept reading about the descriptions of the three new 'wards' of the house and how Lord Fortemps initially thought of them. The first one was an 'elezen' boy, approximately two years younger than Momo or her classmates, but with an intellect that far surpassed his years named Alphinaud Leveilleur.
The second of the new wards was a young female 'lalafell' named Tataru Taru. From what was described of her general demeanor, she was overexcitable and probably the most innocent woman he had ever come across. However, she seemed to be very shrewd when it came to bookkeeping, something she often berated Alphinaud for on occasion.
The last person was someone who Momo was genuinely interested in, as there was no initial description of the being in the beginning. Lord Fortemps had started off listing the many accomplishments of the person, how they did so many fantastic things like kill horrible creatures known as 'Primals', and saving the lives of many people, including Commander Greystone.
In her mind, Momo smiled at the image of Izuku in his paladin kit in place of this hero and how he would often be heroic when it mattered, only to be his typical but adorable stuttering mess. Coming out of her thoughts, she went back to reading where the Lord was about to describe what the young man had looked like when a voice caught her attention.
"M… Momo?"
Immediately, the heiress closed the book and placed it back into her bag as she moved beside Izuku's bed. The young man had risen up slightly, the crystal on his chest falling into his lap as Izuku turned his head towards his friend, "Where… am I?"
"You are in the infirmary of UA… how are you feeling? What do you remember last?" Momo asked with a slightly worried tone to her voice, though it was barely holding back the sheer joy of seeing Izuku wake up.
"Like… someone just ran me over with a truck…" Izuku groaned and rubbed his forehead softly, "And the last thing I… well… it was everyone hugging Yug-" His eyes opened wide in alarm, "Yuga! Is he alright? Is everyone alright?"
Momo smiled wistfully as, of course, Izuku would think of others before himself. She gently took his hand and held it gently as she spoke, "He's fine, whatever you did brought him back, though he was in here with you for the first day, Recovery Girl gave him a clean bill of health after spending the night and some tests."
"And everyone else?"
"Some cuts and bruises, but those have long since passed at this point." Momo gently rubbed her thumb over his, causing Izuku to blush lightly at the contact, "Thirteen is still recovering, but should be up and about on Monday from what we were told… Mina and Ochako were anxious since they were with them at the time."
Izuku nodded gently, rubbing his chin in thought before getting flicked on the forehead by his friend. Izuku frowned and turned to look at her, only to see her own frown, and his look shifted into one of worry, "Don't you even think it, Izuku Midoriya… Recovery Girl said she had it covered and told me explicitly that you are not to use any of your kits until she gives you the go-ahead."
Izuku chuckled nervously, nodding his head in agreement as Momo sighed. She then let go of his hand, both young people already missing the warmth as she slowly stood up, grabbing her bag as well, "I'm going to go let your mother and Recovery Girl know you are awake now… I'm sure they will have much to discuss with you."
Izuku looked fearful for the moment before hanging his head in despair at the thought of what both older women were going to do to him. Momo giggled gently at his antics; seeing him already looking and acting like himself had relieved some of her worries.
However, she slowly began to blush and fidget a little, reaching into her bag and pulling out the envelope from before, pushing it towards Izuku. The green-haired boy looked at it before looking up to Momo in some confusion, "It's… an invitation to a party this Sunday night… hosted by my parents, and I was allowed to bring someone… so I was wondering if-"
"S-Sure."
Momo froze and looked at Izuku, who was blushing lightly with that gentle smile of his as he spoke, while gently taking the envelope, "I'd... I'd be happy to attend with you… if I'm well enough, of course."
Momo kept staring at him for a brief moment before her lips curled into a bright smile as well, suddenly leaning close and kissing Izuku's cheek, pulling back and giggling gently, all the while the bed-ridden boy was staring at her in shock, with a deep crimson blush running across his cheeks.
"I'll send you the details after I finish packing my things. The dean has allowed us to go home for the weekend and Monday." Momo said excitedly as she flung her bag over her shoulder and dashed quickly out of the infirmary to do as she said she would while giggling and smiling brightly.
Now alone in the room, Izuku blinked out of his stupor, looking at the fancy piece of paper in his hands. His mind began to replay the scene that just happened, and his blushing face slowly turned into one of shock and utter confusion.
"D… Did Momo just ask me out on a date?"
Notes:
Because I know this will be asked, here is the link to get a good idea what White Mage looks like! https://tinyurl.com/whmizuku
Chapter 22: Social Distance
Summary:
Izuku attends the fancy party, but what awaits our timid hero?
Notes:
Hello all! Once again, thank you for the patience with this one.
Not going to repost the FFN review comments as that was a huge amount of writing, and I just want you guys to get straight to the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"I hate bow ties…" Izuku muttered as he was fidgeting and fighting while trying to tie the stubborn piece of cloth. He grumbled before throwing it across the room to have it lightly land on his bed as he stared daggers at the thing. Currently, the green-haired boy was dressed in a reasonably expensive-looking tuxedo that fit nicely against his body to not show off his body (which he preferred), with various golden adornments at his cuffs and lapel. Underneath the dark ebony jacket he was wearing, Izuku had a pure white dress shirt with an equally darkened vest over top of it while also wearing black dress pants to match his coat and polished black dress shoes.
The hours it took Inko to convince Izuku NOT to wear his trademark red sneakers were even longer than trying to find him a suit to wear.
"Ah yes… ties… our natural enemy." Fray had spoken softly from within Izuku's mind, causing the said boy to look towards the mirror he was standing in front of to see not his reflection but the dark armored version of 'himself' staring back at him with crossed arms over his chest, "Just another obstacle to overcome, granted we could never do it and often had either Alisaie or another Scion tie it for us."
"Well, I'm sure it wasn't as embarrassing as when mom was doing it in the store…" Izuku said softly in frustration as he went to grab the tie from his bed and try again.
"Pfft, hardly… You'd be surprised how often Thancred would poke fun at our expense." Fray had muttered coldly as he looked to the side, and in a mocking sort of tone spoke like this person as mentioned earlier, "You can fell Primals just by looking at them, stop entire armies by just your presence alone… yet, the one thing that stops the mighty Warrior of Light, is a piece of cloth that goes around your neck?" Fray rolled his eyes within the reflection of the mirror, with Izuku snickering gently.
"Did you ever get back at him for that?"
"A few times actually, like reminding him of all the times I had to save his ass during some of our missions, or the time he was running around in the nude after being teleported from Ul'dah, and was stuck like that for quite some time." Fray chuckled as Izuku balked at the idea of someone running around an environment full of monsters with no protection.
"How in the world did that happen?" Izuku asked, hearing the light chuckles of the 'ghost' soon fade into a more somber sigh. The boy turned to the reflection in the mirror to see the rather sad expression upon his face, "F-Fray? Did I ask something I shouldn't have? I am so sor-"
"It's fine. Just… I'd rather not remember the events that led up to such an event itself… at least for now." Fray said gently with a look in his orange eyes, basically saying to drop the subject, which Izuku merely nodded, before the look on the reflection shifted into one with a sarcastic smirk, "Besides, we need to be focused on YOU, boy… getting invited to a party by that very stunning friend of yours." the being leaned in, though of course, it didn't have the desired effect, "You do realize that you are going out of your comfort area, correct?"
"I-I know…" Izuku blushed gently, tapping his fingers together nervously, "but she did ask me, and I did agree to go… so I can't back out on this. Besides, I did some thinking while I was getting dragged around the store by my mom… and I don't think this is a date."
Fray now raised an eyebrow at this statement, having a feeling where this was going; the entity sighed heavily, but silently, as he spoke, "And how, pray tell, did you come across this wondrous conclusion?"
"Well, I'm certain that Momo knows I am not that great with groups of people, and I mean… I'm going to a party meant for the rich and elite… and while Momo and her family and the staff have never mistreated me or made me feel inferior whenever I went to her place to study with her and the others… I don't think the same could be said with the other people coming."
"Then ignore them." Fray spoke with finality, "You are not there to pander to snobs and sycophants. You are going because Momo asked you to come and to spend time with her."
"That's… another reason why I think she asked me…" Izuku spoke gently and a little sadly, his eyes now looking at his laptop on the desk beside the mirror, with a 'HeroTube' video playing a tutorial on how to tie a bow tie, all being dictated by the pro hero, Gang Orca.
"Momo has told me before how she hates these parties given how often many guys would try and seduce her only because of her body or her parent's company… so by inviting me, it may keep some or all of them away."
"So, you think she would ONLY ask you to be a mere wall between her and the cretins?" Fray had asked with a cold and icy tone of voice to the question, "You honestly think that Momo, one of your best friends, would think so little of you that the ONLY reason she would ask you to come to this party, something she admitted to hating… was to prevent her from being accosted?"
"W-well, I-I mean… what other reason could it be?" Izuku asked with a naive look on his face. Fray merely stared at him for a moment, slack-jawed for a moment before sighing heavily and rubbing the bridge of his nose. Admittedly, the entity was going to ask 'who hurt you to make you even think of this?', but then remembered that being a part of Izuku also meant he got the boy's memories, so he KNEW who had made him think like this in the first place.
Funnily enough, it wasn't Bakugo this time.
Sure, the blonde bomber's damage to the boy's confidence played a big part in this. Still, Fray knew that it initially stemmed from incidents where some of the females in his previous schools would often play a 'prank' on him before destroying any hope for any sort of early romance within his life.
Twelve help those fools if four particular women of Class 1-A ever found out about those pranks.
Fray watched as the boy struggled with the bow tie, ending up with at least something manageable for the moment as he spoke once again, "Despite what you may be thinking, she DOES care about you."
"I know…" Izuku said a little forlornly, looking back to the mirror with a sad smile on his lips, "Plus, you are right… Momo would never treat or think of me like that… but… it's hard, you know? To think that people actually care for what I have to say or put up with me, let alone so many beautiful women…"
"And all the attention that four specific women in your class have given you isn't some indication there could be more?" questioned Fray as he leaned back a little, arms still crossed, "Like the time that Tsuyu kissed you? Or how often Mina flirts with you? Even Kyoka and Momo have both shown some interest in you romantically."
"T-that can't possibly be right… I-I mean… M-mina teases me, but thoughtfully, so it can't be flirting… Momo looks out for me because she's my friend and doesn't want to see me get hurt… Kyoka wants me to 'toughen up' and be less… stuttery, I guess? "
"And Tsuyu?"
Izuku looked down, his arms at his side as not to meet the judgemental gaze of his 'darker' counterpart, "T-that kiss was only as a… thanks for the kind words I wrote in my hero analysis about her."
"And the one at the USJ?" asked Fray as Izuku's hands slowly curled into tiny fists, his eyes clenching as the reflection could see the building up of a tear forming at the sides of his eyes. The dark aspect sighed gently, shaking his head as he watched the young man do his best to suppress that small glimmer of hope that, yes... someone actually liked Izuku for who he is romantically.
"Fine, we won't talk about it, for now." Fray spoke gently as the visage in the mirror faded away and made the boy's regular reflection appear once more in the mirror; as Izuku slowly opened his eyes, quickly wiping away the tears that were beginning to form, he heard the voice of Fray echo in his mind, "You better head downstairs, it's almost time for whatever sort of vehicle that Momo sent will be arriving."
Izuku sighed, gently nodding, and quickly looked over himself in the large mirror now, the sad expression now shifting into one of pure surprise. He had seen himself in the suit before at the store where he, his mother, and Toshinori had gone to and bought it from. Izuku was shocked to see that his favorite hero and mentor had come along the trip with them and even politely asked the skeletal man why he had come.
Toshinori's answer was pretty straightforward. It all stemmed from the fact that as a Pro Hero, he may have to attend functions like this one in the future for fundraising or some other kind of event, so going to this one tonight would be good practice. Toshinori had wished to add in his input for appropriate attire as he had gone to many of them in the past. But even the green-haired boy could sense some kind of ulterior motive from his mentor, especially when he noticed how both his mother and Toshinori interacted with one another.
Izuku just chalked this up to both of them being friendly, despite how often he saw his mother blush a few times or even how Toshinori, ALL MIGHT himself, stuttered a couple of times while the two adults were looking over suits for him.
A beep came from his cell phone that snapped him out of the memory, looking over to it and seeing the familiar message that slowly caused Izuku's eyes to widen and then audible groan.
While he knew that Momo was well-meaning, whenever she had sent one of her family's cars to pick him up to study at her place, she had always sent the fanciest one to do so, and no matter how much he asked her to just send one of the regular vehicles… Momo seemed to ignore his demands.
With a heavy sigh, he put his wallet into the inside of his jacket, along with his UA access card, and opened his door, all the while thinking.
'I hope no one is downstairs right now…'
'I can't believe they took pictures…' Izuku groaned as he was sitting in the limousine's back, leaned over, and his face in his hands. Apparently, not only were people down in the commons room at the time but also his mother, who was nearly about to burst into tears from seeing how well Izuku had cleaned up and looked immensely grown-up.
What was worse was the fact that a few of his classmates had decided to whip out their phones and take pictures, which of course, didn't help his cheeks from not turning crimson. In fact, now that he thought about it, the one who kept taking the most pictures was a very purple-cheeked Mina, who couldn't go home due to how far her parents were over in Chiba.
Beside her was Kirishima, who had Ochako beside him, and while they were talking about something, both of them had seen him and flashed the biggest smiles to him with their thumbs up in approval. Even Shoji and Sato, who were baking in the kitchen, complimented him, and honestly, it was getting too much.
So, with a squeak of thanks to everyone stuck at the Class 1-A dorms for the weekend, Izuku had made a mad dash towards the limousine and then was on his way.
Eventually, he calmed himself down from that particular experience, reminding himself that they weren't teasing or making fun of him. They actually complimented how he looked and even approved! A smile slowly crept across his lips, realizing that perhaps Fray was correct?
It was during the three-day 'coma' he was in, or from how Rec- Krile… her name is Krile, had explained it that while Yuga had suffered no ill effects from the 'Raise' spell being used upon him, Izuku seemed to have brought down the total weight of the negative repercussions upon himself, and having already been drained of his aether because of his fight with the Nomu creature, but also Fray's manifestation and possession of his body, had lead to the several day sleep.
But while everything on the outside was being taken care of, with his 'sleeping' body surrounded in various crystals that the Nezu had procured from… somewhere. Izuku had been conversing with Fray within that mindscape from earlier, though without the rooftop this time.
It had taken the form of a vast snowy mountain range, both of them standing over a cliffside that was looking over a sizable medieval-esque castle. However, Fray explained that it was actually a fort, surprisingly. The hero in training gasped at how many people could be fit into such a large building until a glint of metal caught Izuku's eye.
Before him was a single tombstone, written in a language he couldn't read. Still, the most intriguing thing about it was the rather large shield, bearing an insignia of a head of a red unicorn with branches underneath it, but what was most telling was a rather large gaping hole that left little to the imagination of what had transpired.
'Haurchefant Greystone, son of Count Edmont de Fortemps, commander of Camp Dragonhead, a stalwart ally, and friend to the Warrior of Light… that's who rests at this summit, buried and remembered close to the stronghold that he held so dear.'
That is what Fray had said when Izuku was looking at the small memorial and then went on to tell how this man had sacrificed himself to protect Quinn during a skirmish with the traitorous Holy See of Ishgard when one of the knights had taken to a rooftop to launch a sneak attack. From there, Fray began to talk about the many other people who also sacrificed either their lives or limbs to aid or help the Warrior of Light and how it often plagued Quinn's mind with doubt of ever being able to live up to his status.
Izuku was also feeling like that himself, given how important both Krile and the shade had gone on about the man…
Fray, feeling what the green-haired boy was thinking, suddenly smacked him upside the head. He told him to stop thinking like that, and that to let the past actions remain in the past, to focus on the present and the future, like learning how to properly wield the 'darkness', as Fray had told the young man that he was in no shape to take on the powers of the Dark Knight just yet, not until he deemed it so.
From there, Izuku moved past the reminiscing of what else happened in the mindscape, considering he was only thinking about it now because of what he and the shade were talking about before. The smile he was wearing slowly began to morph into one of confusion and then slowly into fear.
If Fray had been correct about his classmates actually wanting to be friends with him, then was the shade also valid when it came to the feelings of the four girls he was close to? Kyoka was one he wasn't too sure of yet, but from how she interacted with him in the past, there were signs that she may have feelings for him?
Mina was another one where he wasn't one hundred percent sure of what her intentions were. Yes, she was often the one to hug him or get into his personal space… hell, she often teased him, which he was thinking now more as her flirting with him, and the fact she had been doing it more since the incident in his bedroom, where… HE was the one to tease her… almost aggressively so!
Quick to end that line of thinking, he was now focused on a rather urgent matter at hand, his feelings and intentions for both Momo and Tsuyu.
While only knowing Tsuyu for such a short amount of time compared to the rest of his friends, she had become a great source of strength for him. She never minced words with him and always spoke her mind, even if they were unintentionally hurtful or blunt; Izuku knew the frog-like girl any sort of ill will when she spoke with him.
But, what perplexed him was how she would act around him sometimes, losing a bit of her calm and relaxed attitude and demonstrating a sort of dominance over him. The way she would just up and kiss him, or the way she could just 'force' him to give in to her demands, as few and far between as they were… he knew Tsuyu had him wrapped around her finger at times, but again, it wasn't to be manipulative or have anything of that sort. Tsuyu liked to be in control, from what he learned about her home life. She would often have to babysit her two younger siblings due to her parent's jobs as lawyers, constantly keeping them away.
Now that he thought about it, it was probably the reason why Tsuyu originally wanted to train with him to help her get used to her 'predator/prey' instincts. The lack of control it made her go through would rattle anyone with such strong instincts. This actually gave Izuku more answers and questions about Tsuyu's quirk.
The one question plaguing his mind, though, the lingering doubt within his body that seemed to grasp at the notion that Tsuyu had no romantic feelings for him at all.
What if those same instincts were also causing, almost forcing her to like him romantically?
Quickly moving on from that dark train of thought, Izuku now began to focus on the woman he was heading towards at this very moment, Momo.
To be honest, what was there to say about his first friend? She was stunningly beautiful and had an intelligence to match, not to mention her caring nature added to her quite frighteningly good sense of combat strategies that, given time, she could improve upon and react more quickly. If one would only see her from afar, they would consider her a goddess with all of those features plus near god-like quirk.
But Izuku knew better, and even though he had to admit having a crush on Momo, and to his credit, who wouldn't, Izuku knew that she could do FAR better than him. What was he to the Momo Yaoyorozu? Some fatherless, quirkless nobody that only was able to meet such a wonderful person because of a blessing from an otherworldly being, a bloody true to life miracle, and the first time they had met was because he saved her from a scenario that HE had caused, on accident sure, but still his fault regardless.
Just as Izuku was slowly traveling further down another dark train of thought, the door to the limousine opened suddenly. It startled the slightly frazzled boy as the driver peeked in, "Master Midoriya, we have arrived."
Slowly nodding back in response, Izuku began to climb out of the vehicle, all the while hoping that Hydaelyn heard his inner pleas that tonight would work out in the end.
"I am sure everything will be alright, dear." Mrs. Yaoyorozu gently said as she watched her daughter pace back and forth, the older woman was sitting in a rather fancy and elegant armchair, looking bemused at her daughter's desperate plight, "You honestly think that Izuku would cancel last minute?"
"It's not that…" Momo said as she stopped her pacing, looking towards what one could obviously see as an older version of herself staring back at her with her similar onyx cat-like eyes and ponytail, though her hair color was of a shade of gray and a few 'laugh lines', "I'm thrilled that he accepted to come, and I'm anxious for his arrival…"
"But?"
"Since I came back home, I was wondering if my actions were hasty… He JUST woke up from being out cold for three straight days, and barely five minutes pass, and I give him the invitation to the party for tonight! Oh, what was I thinking?" Momo sat on one of the couches within the waiting room they were in, looking downcast. Her eyes looked up when she felt the soft touch of her mother's hand on her cheek, who was smiling gently at her.
"My dear daughter, considering what you had just gone through at USJ…" Her mother paused, seeing her daughter looked down once again, "I'm sorry to bring that up, sweety… but hear me out."
"After what happened to you and your class during that horrific event, something within your mind must have told you that you may have not survived that experience, and from what you could tell us, Izuku had barely made it out as well."
The older woman continued, her daughter looking away as if to hide that scenario from her thoughts, "Now, I know you knew the risks when you decided to become a pro hero… the fact you may not come back from one of your missions, and frankly, it still terrifies me to the core… but, while you were tending to him while he slept, you subconsciously took in the full realization of one day… even Izuku may not come back."
Momo's eyes suddenly shot open, and she looked at her mother, ready to protest such a notion only to be silenced by the stern look she was getting from her mother. Momo sat a little straighter and now was avoiding the gaze with a cold bead of sweat running down the side of her head. She heard her mother sigh and felt the hand slowly move off of her cheek, "I'm not saying the first mission he takes as a pro hero, he may get extremely injured or worse… but there is the possibility."
Her mother let those words sink in before the older the stern look faded back into a gentle smile, "So, you subconsciously decided that you were going to take the initiative because let's face it, while Izuku is a very charming young man, he is very skittish and timid." She giggled when Momo let out an exasperated sigh at the comment.
While Momo did find that part of Izuku very charming, it did take its toll at times, and to be honest, with not only Tsuyu declaring her intentions for the boy but also seeing some of her other friends and classmates show interest in him was starting to worry her.
And while she would have loved to have Izuku ask her out first, she knew that with his personality and what she knew of his past, that wasn't likely going to happen any time soon. Still, the thought of their first 'date' being one of her parent's parties wasn't what she had thought of, but the timing couldn't be better.
Plus, she honestly wished to see Izuku in a suit, and hopefully out of those red sneakers of his.
A knock at the door snapped Momo out of her thoughts as her mother headed towards the door and slowly opened it, revealing one of her family's butler's named Roland, "Yes, Roland? What is it?"
"Ma'am, Master Midoriya has just arrived. Should he wait in the ballroom with the other guests?"
Miss Yaoyorozu slowly looked back to her daughter, then turned to face Roland, "If you could direct him here, Roland, that would be most excellent… I shall join my husband momentarily if you could inform him before bringing the boy to my daughter."
"Of course, ma'am." replied the older gentleman and bowed to his employer before leaving to complete the tasks given to him. Mrs. Yaoyorozu turned to smile at Momo, who looked like she was thinking hard about something and not paying her any attention. The older woman giggled gently and shook her head as she left the room and closed the door, all the while thinking of how cute she and the green-haired boy would look together.
And perhaps also wondering how just as cute their children would be.
"S-so... how have you been, Roland?" Izuku had asked as he was currently walking behind the older gentleman. It was not uncommon for Izuku to be friendly towards many of the household staff when he was invited over. Much to Roland and the other's surprise, the green-haired boy didn't make himself act or sound superior to them in the slightest and often tried to downplay the aspect entirely.
"If I may be frank, it has been a stressful time these last few days." admitted the elderly butler as he replied without looking back at Izuku, "While the party planned for this evening was merely a fundraising event for one of the local charities when the news about the USJ was released to the public… Well, you can imagine how Master and Mistress Yaoyorozu took the news."
Izuku gently nodded, imagining the kind of reaction any parent would have to learn that their child was attacked by a group of villains where it was supposed to be safe from them, and added to the fact of the influence and money the Yaoyorozu name carried… Well, Izuku was glad he wasn't in Nezu's shoes for that.
"So, what was the fundraiser going to be?"
"Oh, it's still going on; the Master couldn't go back on his word, you know." Roland corrected as they turned a corner, "The fundraiser is for one of the Hero Association's side projects, involving the assisting and relocation of those whose homes had been misplaced or providing an education to children who lost relatives to villain attacks."
Izuku blinked as he looked at the older man, "R-really? T-that's amazing! Wait, if it's because of the Hero Association… does that mean there are going to be heroes here?"
Roland did his best to hide the smirk that crept along his lips and the huff of amusement, as it was very commonly known amongst the housing staff about the boy's fascination with heroes and quirks, "A few of the top ten will be present tonight, though I'm sure you have someone more important that you should be paying attention to, correct?"
Izuku squeaked and blushed lightly, looking away and giving the butler another chuckle under his breath.
The rest of the walk had remained silent, except the odd time Izuku would say hello to some of the passing staff. Eventually, they had reached the door leading to the waiting room, and just as Roland was about to knock and make their presence known, Izuku caught his attention with a clearing of his throat, "I-I think I can take it from here, Roland… I-I'm sure you have a ton of other things for the party you need to get back to... B-but thank you for leading me here."
Roland raised an eyebrow at Izuku, a little surprised to see the usually timid boy make such a request. But without another word, he gently bowed his head towards Izukuand, then heading off down the hall to continue the plans needed for tonight's festivities.
Now left alone to his own devices, Izuku was staring hard at the door, contemplating what he should do and trying, and failing, not to overanalyze and freak out about this whole situation as his talk with Roland had made him realize the full scope of this. Here he was, a plain-looking commoner about to attend a fancy party with basically a princess to a corporate empire… AT HER REQUEST.
Now, Izuku was never one to let someone's social status dictate how he should treat people, especially given his history of others doing the same to him as a quirkless person. But, up until now, her social status never really fully sunk in until tonight… Was it the rush of staff scurrying about to make sure the party was going to turn out alright? Was it the sounds he could hear coming from the main ballroom of the estate with music and laughter that just seemed to exude nobility?
Or was it the fact that right behind this door was one of his friends, who may or may not have romantic feelings for him and no doubt would look absolutely gorgeous for tonight, all the while having him around her as the only 'blemish' to her perfection.
With a heavy sigh, Izuku gently knocked on the door to hear a gentle reply of 'come in', and resting his hand on the doorknob, Izuku clenched his eyes and turned the knob, swinging open the door and began to speak loudly, "HiMomothankyouforinvitingmeto-"
A heartwarming giggle interrupted his nervous, mutter-stormed greeting. Izuku slowly opened his eyes to look at his friend, only for them to widen in shock and awe when he looked upon her.
Izuku felt breathless as his eyes gazed over the lovely strapless red dress that, while clung snuggly to her curvaceous upper body, had flowed like a silk curtain past the darker red sash wrapped around the midsection, and around her arms was a rather fluffy looking shawl that in his honest opinion looked much more expensive than his entire suit.
What really struck Izuku in pure appealing shock was the fact that Momo wasn't wearing her hair up in the traditional ponytail he had seen her have since they first met. Currently, her hair was hanging loose and had been styled to have a slight wave to its look. However, Izuku could see the strand of hair that often hung in front of her face typically had still remained, though now worked into the new hairstyle. All in all, Momo's entire ensemble made her look far more mature-looking and beautiful than even Izuku thought was possible.
Momo looked upon Izuku with a cute tilt of her head, slowly walking towards him with intrigue as he had remained silent since looking upon her. As she got closer, her cheeks suddenly went red as he could barely hear the whispered mutter storm of the green-haired boy describing how she looked with words like 'breathtaking' and 'goddess' passed through his lips until the heiress pressed a finger against his lips to silence him, knocking him out of his stupor and causing him to blush madly now.
"I'm glad you like how I look, Izuku… even if it is something as simple as this." She stated as Izuku blinked in confusion at her comment. Her own eyes slowly looking down at his own attire, and the boy swore he could see a glint in her eyes that he never saw her give off before. Momo's eyes then shot up to his own, the look in her eye faded, and as she continued to smile, "But you, you look absolutely handsome in your suit… and did you get a haircut?"
"Huh? O-oh yea… mom said I needed a trim since my hair was getting longer than it should be." Izuku chuckled gently, rubbing the back of his head until he saw her gaze now move down to his bowtie, "I-I know it's probably not done right… b-but I never could tie one correctly."
"Oh, that's fine Izuku!" Momo spoke up with genuine surprise, giggling gently as she continued to speak, "I wasn't judging you for how it was tied, truth be told, my father could never tie them as well and would often have mother or I, once she taught me, fix it up for him."
"R-really?"
"Mhmm, she said that 'a good woman always makes sure her man looks his best, even when he tries to dress himself up.'" Momo smiled at him as she suddenly undid the bowtie with relative ease, "If you don't mind, I think a different kind of tie would better suit you."
"It would?" Izuku blinked as Momo nodded, and the familiar glow of her creation quirk shifted his gaze towards her bare arm as she made a rather long red silk piece of cloth.
"Mhmm, while I found the bowtie quite cute, I think a seven-fold will make you truly dashing." She said as she suddenly flipped the collars up around his neck and wrapped the red cloth around him, even pulling him slightly closer as she began her work. Izuku had tried to see what she was doing by looking down, but immediately shot his head up when he realized not only how close Momo was to him, but with her breasts pushing against his chest while she worked made them push up a little more and the poor boy was trying his best to control himself.
Izuku swore he could hear the manic laughter of Fray somewhere in the back of his mind.
"There!" Momo spoke up and caught Izuku's attention again. She created a small mirror and presented it to him, showing off the new tie to him as he blinked in astonishment. Not that he doubted Momo's tying abilities or the softness of the fabric she made it with. Still, he slowly smiled at the reflection presented to him.
"Momo, it's lovely! But you didn't have-" "I know I didn't have to, but I wanted to." Momo interrupted with a smile, "You have never once asked me for anything created with my quirk, and always did your best to make sure I never used it if we needed supplies or anything when we were studying… but I felt this was a more special occasion, so consider this a gift."
Izuku gazed into her eyes as he swore he felt his heart slowly warmed up at the gesture; any of his doubts and anxieties that were plaguing his mind became dull noise as he smiled brightly back at the woman before him. Without another word, he turned to the door and held it open for her, offering Momo his left arm, "Shall we h-head to the party? Don't want to keep everyone waiting, right?"
Despite the slight stutter, Momo blinked, and her smile faded from her lips as she witnessed this little more confident side of her friend. She quickly took his offer armed with hers, bowing gently with the heartwarming smile returning once again and a light dusting of pink to her cheeks, "Of course, good sir… lead the way."
If Izuku had felt confidence before walking into the ballroom, it all but soon faded back to nervousness the instant that everyone's eyes suddenly turned towards the pair as they entered through the double doors. Despite the lovely music playing, Izuku could hear the hushed whispers of some of the socialites as if they were judging every little thing about him, and he could feel his hands start to shake a little.
He then felt the tightening but welcoming grasp of Momo on his arm, which he turned to look at and see the worry within her eyes. Silently, he gave her a nod and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Once he opened his eyes, Momo swore she could see that same look of determination that he had whenever they were in hero training, "So… would you like a drink? Or should we say hello to your parents first?"
"It would be best to speak with the hosts first during these events," Momo said gently as Izuku nodded, and after weaving through some of the groups that had formed and having to pull Izuku lightly when he spotted the pro hero Best Jeanist, the two teenagers soon came upon the small group that consisted of their intended targets.
Waiting off to the side as Mr. Yaoyorozu was speaking with a few other people, Momo had caught the movement of her mother coming towards the pair after politely excusing herself from the small group of women she was conversing with, "It is so good to see you again, I hardly recognized you in your lovely outfit." The older woman spoke while looking him over. Momo watched the exchange as that 'edge' Izuku had slowly melted into his more usual appearance as her mother addressed the boy.
"T-thank you, Mrs. Yaoyorozu… It was because of my mom and Mr. Yagi that I was able to get this on short notice." Izuku explained/stuttered as casually as he could, doing his best with the circumstances as he could still feel the eyes of some of the event-goers still watching him.
"She has excellent taste then, and how is your mother? I do hope to one day meet the woman who raised such a fine young man as yourself sometime soon."
"O-Oh really? That would be great, actually!" Izuku perked up, already liking the idea of his mom having more adult friends, considering her old job's awkward hours, "With her new position at UA, I'm sure she would love to have more company to talk to."
"She works at UA?" Mrs. Yaoyorozu asked with a raised eyebrow, "I had no idea she was a pro hero herself." Momo could see a few of the other women from the small group and others around now listening to the conversation as she spoke.
"A-ah no, she's not a pro hero…though a 'hero in another vocation' if I do say so myself." Izuku said with a chuckle and rubbing the back of his head, "She works as Recovery Girl's assistant."
"Really now? And her quirk is something similar to Recovery Girl's?"
"N-no actually, my mom's quirk is a telekinetic one; she can pull or push small object's under a certain weight… which is great when it comes to her nursing profession." Izuku explained with an endearing smile. It was no lie to himself that he admired his mom for the work she did as a nurse, despite the long hours she put in and how often she wasn't home because of it. Still, he meant what he said about her being a hero to him, just like his dad was a hero to him to this day.
Momo's mother tilted her head, amused by the apparent hero worship that Izuku was known for, considering how often he would go into small lectures about heroes and quirks with Momo previously, "Well, I'll be more than happy to meet her for some tea then…" Mrs. Yaoyorozu then noticed the rather expensive-looking red tie he was wearing. Of course, the older woman turned her gaze to Momo, who was now avoiding the look of her mother, "Tell me, Izuku… where did you get such a lovely tie? Usually, I see you wearing some sort of green article of clothing, and the redness of the cloth is certainly… intriguing."
Momo was about to protest, hearing the rather pointed word directed at her, meaning that her mother had caught what she did with the tie. Still, before she could say anything, Izuku had spoken up to confirm what she feared he would say, "Y-yes! Momo created this for me just before we came to the party. It is lovely and something I'm going to cherish."
"Really now?" Momo's mother asked, eyeing her daughter with a smirk while Momo looked away and was pouting with a puff of her cheeks, "Well, if you don't mind, I would like to speak with my daughter for a few moments, privately."
"O-Oh, um, a-alright… I'll go say hi to your dad then if that's ok, Momo?" Izuku asked Momo, who quickly dropped her pout, to smile at her classmate and not have him any the wiser of her scheme.
"I'll be fine Izuku, but you should go say hello to my father, and I'll be with you shortly." She said with a gentle tone of voice to match her smile, which caused Izuku to blush a little once again just from how lovely it was; he nodded dumbly and soon made his way towards the group with her father. Momo then felt the presence of her mother beside her, with a smirk on her lips that made Momo think of the Cheshire Cat when she looked at her older counterpart.
"So, you made him the tie, hmm? Embroidery and all?" teased her daughter, who huffed again, dropping the facade once Izuku was no longer in earshot, "Very clever to make it the same color as the tie itself, but also making it reflective so only when he moved did it reveal our family crest on the knot."
Momo was quiet for a few moments, still with her puffed-out cheeks as she contemplated how to best explain her actions. But she knew how her mother would see through any of her false claims or bluffs, so she sighed and relented, "While I was waiting for him to come to the room, I did some thinking and perhaps… decided to be a little more assertive when it comes towards Izuku."
"So you created a tie for him, just so you can have our family crest around his neck to claim him for yourself and for the other women to back off?" Momo's mother asked with a bit of amusement.
"Well, I thought I should follow your example when you were courting father after all." Momo shot back with a smile almost similar to her mother's, which caused the older woman to giggle forebodingly.
"Ah, there's my little girl… Now come, we should get drinks before we rejoin our men."
"Ah Midoriya, so good to see you, my boy!" Mr. Yaoyorozu exclaimed once he took notice of the approaching hero in training. He was an older man, pushing his early sixties with greyed or 'silvered' hair with a matching mustache; his facial features were somewhat smooth, but he had a few wrinkles creasing his forehead and the jowls of his cheeks, and while not a large man, one could tell that he kept himself in decent shape.
Reaching his hand out, Izuku immediately took it and gave it a firm handshake, much to the surprise of Mr. Yaoyorozu. However, a smile was still on the older man, "I hope you have been enjoying the party so far, though I do apologize for the short notice, given what happened at the University."
Izuku could see the smile of the man fade when the USJ was brought up. From what Toshinori had told him while suit shopping, Mr. Yaoyorozu was one of the many parents who were extremely upset about the villains breaking in, so much so he was ready to pull Momo from the school entirely, against her wishes if need be. This alone shocked Izuku as he knew Mr. Yaoyorozu encouraged Momo's dream of becoming a hero. From what his mentor had told him, it wasn't out of malice or incompetence on the part of the school because who could really be prepared for an unknown villain with a 'warping' quirk or ways to counter such a thing then.
Thankfully, Mrs. Yaoyorozu was there to reel him in, although not pleased herself, of course, but she wore the cooler head and convinced her husband to calm down. It also helped that 'All Might' had bowed his head in forgiveness to all the parents that were upset and Nezu explaining the new security measures being put in place to combat this sort of attack in the future.
Thankfully, none of his classmates were forced to leave the school because of the USJ incident.
Izuku looked his friend's father directly in the eye as he spoke, letting go of the man's hand, "It's alright, sir, we were all caught unaware; I'm just thankful that none of my classmates were injured or worse."
"Indeed, from what Momo has told us, you were instrumental in that fact!" Mr. Yaoyorozu said with a serious look to his face, brows furrowed as Izuku seemed to be shocked by that fact, "She said you had kept the tougher villains at bay until All Might showed up to finish them off, aside from that, not much else has been said or publicly released until the conference tomorrow."
That seemed to put Izuku at ease a little, happy that the cover story that was explained to him by Nezu after he woke up was already starting to make its rounds. The dean had presented the need for such a story was due to the death of the Nomu creature and to protect Izuku from any sort of backlash because while technically it was Fray that had slain the beast, the media and public would still pin the death upon the hero student, and that would dog him for the rest of his life.
And if the word got out how he killed a villain designed to be a match against All Might, who knows the backlash that in of itself would cause.
"It was… dicey… till the end, but yes, It was awesome to see All Might fight up close like that!" Izuku said with enthusiasm, hoping to use some of that 'hero worship' that he was known for to further sell the lie. The smile and laughter of Mr. Yaoyorozu made had reassured the green-haired boy that his ruse had worked, but the laughter soon quieted when a deep clearing of the throat could be heard from behind the host of the party as he turned around to allow Izuku to see two other men standing behind Mr. Yaoyorozu.
One was an older man, looking to be around his late fifties and was much shorter and stocker fellow that was rather rotund in his appearance, but his face had heavy jowl lines and a tiny mustache under his nose, plus a bald head with pure white semi-curled hair wrapped around from the sides around to the back of his head.
Standing beside him was a taller man, looking to be in his early to mid-twenties, with slicked-back black hair and what could be seen as a permanent sneer on his face. He had a reasonably built frame to him. However, if Izuku had to guess, he was probably not as built up as many of his classmates or even himself now that he thought about it. He was knocked out of his thoughts as Mr. Yaoyorozu spoke up suddenly, putting his arm on Izuku's shoulder to bring him closer to the new pair of people, "Ah! Esteban, my apologies about that." He turned his head to Izuku with a big smile, "Izuku Midoriya, this is Esteban Kaneko, the CEO of the Kaneko Support Industries and one of the leading companies when it comes to mutation quirk support items."
Izuku shook the man's hand, and Mr. Kaneko was smiling up at him, "So THIS is the Izuku MIdoriya you keep talking about? I say he's got a good grip on him from what you've said about him."
"W-Well, I-I hope they were good things…" Izuku stuttered out, a little embarrassed and shocked that Momo's father was apparently talking about him; this had caused the shorter man to chuckle.
"Oh, trust me, young man, it has all been good things. I swear from the way he talks about you, it's like you were his own flesh and blood son."
Izuku froze at that, and his cheeks went red in embarrassment as both the older men were laughing at the scene. However, their humor was cut short when a disgruntled-sounding throat-clearing caused everyone to look at the ever sneering man. Mr. Kaneko sighed gently, "Ah, my apologies... Mr. Midoriya, this is my son Daichi."
As Izuku reached out his hand for the customary handshake he was hoping for, all he got instead was a droll-sounding 'charmed' from the man. Izuku raised an eyebrow in confusion at this person's attitude. The two older men sighed heavily, with Mr. Kaneko looked at his fellow businessman with an apologetic look.
"So…" Mr. Kaneko said abruptly, "From what Kanshiro here has told me, you have a knack for quirk analysis. I am curious to know just how in-depth it is considering, and I mean no offense by this; you are quite a young man."
Izuku shook off his confusion when he was being spoken to, only to chuckle lightly with embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head, "I-it's honestly just a hobby since quirks always interested me since I was kind of a late b-bloomer, I honestly don't think it's all that great, to be honest."
"And that, Izuku Midoriya, is where you are wrong." The sudden and almost proud sounding voice of Momo could be heard as the young heroine went to Izuku's side and wrapped her arm around his once again as she looked to Mr. Kaneko, bowed her head after the comment, then continued, "Mr. Kaneko, while Izuku here may be too humble to say it, but his quirk analysis is leagues above then some of our own within the Yaoyorozu corporation. He has such strong observational skills; he even hypothesized the limitations of his own classmate's quirks before they even told him."
"I'm sure that if his dream to become a pro hero wasn't as strong as it is, he would've had several offers of employment to our company already." Mrs. Yaoyorozu came up to the side of her husband, offering him the drink she had gotten for him as the man nodded gently. Izuku, of course, hearing all this praise started to stutter and mumble, causing the small group of adults to chuckle at the scene.
All except for one.
"Hmph, for such a bland and nervous wreck, does he even have what it takes to be a hero?"
All eyes shot towards to the one who spoke, the laughter went as well as Izuku's embarrassed mumbles as Daichi somehow sneered moreso than before, all the while glaring daggers at Izuku, "Even if he was holding back the villains before All Might had shown up, they couldn't have been THAT strong if this 'late bloomer' is anything to go by."
"Now wait just a minute-" Momo had begun to protest but was interrupted by the still ranting socialite, "and you Momo? Choosing this commoner over everyone else in this ballroom? What makes him so special?"
By now, most of the party was listening in on the rather loud conversation; even the music was quieting down as to not interrupt the drama unfolding, "To think that you would look to the bottom of the barrel just to spite me after you turned down my offer? I thought you had some taste and class, but obviously, I was wrong since you wish to be conversing with the uncivilized like this pathetic worm." Daichi tilted his head upward, the sneer looking like one of hatred and disgust. Both Momo's parents and Mr. Kaneko looked absolutely livid at the comments made by the rude man, while Momo was gritting her teeth in anger, a fist clench, and already her mind thinking of the formula for a taser gun.
"Maybe I actually treat Momo with respect and look past her status to see the beautiful woman she is."
The mood shifted as everyone looked to Izuku, who had spoken up and was glaring at Daichi, moving in front of Momo with an arm out to protect her, "I have no idea who you think you are, but you have no right to judge Momo for who she chooses to associate with. I know I am a nobody when it comes to anyone in this room, but Momo sees me for who I am, just like I can see who she is past the family name and social status."
Izuku turned his head towards her, smiling at her, "She's kind, passionate, and above all else is not afraid to voice her opinion. Heck, she's scolded me a few times when I've done stupid things." He turned back to Daichi, the frown and rage-filled eyes returning to him, "So you can insult me all you want because I can tell you that I've dealt with FAR much worse than any of this pitiful whining. But if you insult Momo anymore…"
Izuku narrowed his eyes at Daichi, who looked stunned from how he was being talked to by the green-haired boy, as Izuku let the empty threat hang in the air to mull over. However, Izuku turned his head as he felt the warm hands of Momo holding the one he had outstretched before her and was giving him the biggest and warmest smile, with a light dusting of pink on her cheeks. For Izuku, he swore she had taken his breath once again this night as he stared at the lovely sight behind him.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU BASTARD!" screeched Daichi as his arms suddenly expanded and turned a bright golden color, shredding his suit sleeves in the process and hurling a punch at Izuku's direction. Without turning around to know what was coming, Izuku suddenly shifted his entire body so his back was facing the attacker while pulling Momo close to his body, shielding her if the man's unknown quirk would have hit her as well. To further make sure Izuku could minimize any damage to Momo's person, he shifted into his 'Warrior' kit.
Momo's eyes went wide as she felt the now bare arms and chest of Izuku press against her as she was shielded from the incoming attack, curling up and clenching her eyes, pressing herself more into the 'warrior's' bare skin and waiting for the grunt of pain that would escape from Izuku's mouth from the impact of the attack.
However, no impact had come; only the sound of tightening thread echoed in their ears as Momo slowly opened her eyes along with Izuku as they both slowly turned around to see that Daichi was now on the ground, wrapped in hundreds upon thousands of threads like a bug stuck in a spider's cocoon.
Both hero student's eyes traveled up the line of threads from the trapped body leading to the Pro Hero, Best Jeanist, who was staring down the would-be attacker for a few moments before speaking, "It's a good thing I prepared while listening to the boy defend his friend, now…" The hero glared down at the entangled Daichi, "you are under arrest for unlawful quirk usage and attempted assault; you have the right to remain silent…"
Izuku had drowned out the rest of the practiced arrest practices as he turned towards Momo, who still had his arms around her, though now around her midsection. However, he had one hand on the back of her head to 'force' her to duck under his frame before anything could hit her. The bare-chested boy tilted his head in confusion as he saw Momo just blankly stare at his chest, with her hands resting on top of his pectorals, "Momo? Are you alright? You didn't get hurt did you?"
The heiress blinked and looked up to see the concerned look of his face staring down at her, the short puffy hairstyle he had previously was now past his shoulders, and the once hardened eyes of the warrior revealed the softness of the boy whom she cared for. Slowly, Momo smiled and gently reached a hand up to cup his cheek, which caused him to smile as well, "I'm fine, Izuku… Daichi didn't actually hit you, did he?"
"Didn't even get close, I think; otherwise, I didn't feel it." Izuku chuckled low and deep in his throat, sending a shiver down Momo's spine, but both still smiling at one another. However, this was short-lived when a loud clearing of the throat of Mr. Yaoyorozu caught their attention.
"I do hope we are not intruding upon this… magical… moment. But, an explanation would be perfect right about now, given the current dress of our guest, dear daughter."
Both teenagers blinked for a few moments before they both looked down and fully realized the position they were in, as well as Izuku's current attire (or lack thereof). However, both of their reactions were vastly different.
Momo's entire face went scarlet in embarrassment, though deep within herself, she couldn't get enough of the way that Izuku had clung her to his partially bare body and wouldn't mind being there for the rest of the evening. Izuku, however, had turned deathly pale at the realization that he just shifted into his warrior kit and now was holding one of his best friends intimately in front of an entire ballroom of socialites AND least of all, her parents.
He didn't know what to expect, but he knew that whatever sort of impression he had made now… was probably shot down.
An hour had passed since the police had arrived and hauled the still trapped Daichi Kaneko away. They had taken testimonies of everyone present that was close to the incident when it happened. After they were done, Izuku had been given a small lecture about the proper way to de-escalate a potentially violent situation by Best Jeanist before being told that making sure the innocent were protected instead of retaliating was the ideal decision and complemented Izuku on the excellent call.
That, of course, was before he had to explain his kit's to Momo's parents and Mr. Kaneko and that the one he had chosen to use would cause the least amount of harm both to Momo and to Daichi. When he was asked to explain this, Izuku simply just shifted into his Paladin kit, and everyone instantly knew what he meant.
Still, the looks he was getting from the other party-goers since then finally made him reach his tolerance, and now leaning on a balcony railing outside of the main ballroom, Izuku sighed heavily, feeling like he made a fool of himself.
"I was wondering where you were…" Momo said gently as she walked up beside him, her hands resting beside his on the stone railing as Izuku kept looking over the vast courtyard, "How are you feeling, Izuku? I know this sort of event can be exhausting, and this many people… I had hoped I didn't go past your-"
"It's fine, Momo," Izuku said suddenly, looking towards her with the most honest face he could muster. However, his classmate had been giving him a look of disbelief, to which he only responded with a nervous chuckle. Once he stopped chuckling, Izuku gave her a half-smile and spoke gently, "I'm honestly fine, but t-thanks for asking…" Izuku slowly moved a hand on top of hers, which Momo blinked at and blushed slightly as she gazed up at his own crimson blush across his cheeks, "Honestly, I was more concerned I did something to upset everyone… considering I had switched to my warrior kit."
"Izuku, you did so to mitigate any possible harm to not only myself but also Daichi…" Momo said with a bit of venom when she spoke of the man. Still, whatever sort of anger she felt soon dissipated when she felt the squeeze of his hand on hers, and her gaze returned to him, clearly seeing the look on his face telling her to take a deep breath and relax. She did so and then did something that made Izuku freeze on the spot and stare at his classmate.
Momo had leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder, "So, mind answering a question for me?"
"Uh.. s-sure?"
"I know a few of your weapons were broken during your fight with the… Nomu." Momo hesitated as the vague images of the brutality of the fight flashed in her mind, but seeing as Izuku didn't seem to even flinch at the mention of the creature, she continued, "Well, when you became the 'warrior' tonight, I couldn't help notice that the brown-furred cloak you usually wore in that kit wasn't on your person… Where did it go?"
Izuku nodded gently at her statement and gently shrugged his shoulders, "Last time I saw it was when I, Tsuyu, and Yuga had used it to prop Mr. Aizawa's head up like a pillow… so someone from the class must have picked it up, or possibly a teacher. I'll ask tomorrow once everyone is back at the dorms."
Momo hummed in agreement to his answer, then once again rested her head on his shoulder, looking up into the night sky. Izuku joined her shortly after, and with some kind of inner confidence brewing within him, his hand on top of Momo's slowly and carefully intertwined their fingers together, as both remained just enjoying each other's company. At the same time, the muffled and soft music from within the ballroom continued to play.
[Earlier, after Izuku had left the dorms for the Party]
CHAT ROOM: GREEN BEAN FANCLUB
[ACID QUEEN HAS ENTERED THE CHAT]
Acid Queen: GIRLS!
Acid Queen: GIRLS!
Acid Queen: GIRLS!
Acid Queen: YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST PASSED THROUGH THE COMMONS ROOM JUST NOW!
[ROCK GODDESS HAS ENTERED THE CHAT]
[FROGGY STYLE HAS ENTERED THE CHAT]
Rock Goddess: Mina, calm down, and this honestly couldn't wait until tomorrow?
Acid Queen: Trust me Kyo, this cannot wait!
Froggy Style: I do hope it's worth it. You just woke me up from a rather hectic day with my siblings.
Acid Queen: Oh, Tsu! I'm so sorry! But seriously, this cannot wait!
[ACID QUEEN HAS UPLOADED TEN IMAGES]
Rock Goddess: … is that…
Froggy Style: Kero
Acid Queen: I KNOW right? And these are the ones that turned out the best! I have SOOO many more, but they were pretty blurry from how many I was taking.
Rock Goddess: I had no idea he cleaned up so well… could you imagine if he was just wearing the vest and shirt?
Acid Queen: Kyoka! Swear to the gods, please don't say anymore, it's bad enough I'm still down here in the commons area!
Rock Goddess: Fine, I'll be nice… for now.
Froggy Style: I'm curious to know where he was going dressed up like that.
Acid Queen: That's the other reason why I'm texting you two so late… Apparently, Izuku got invited to a fancy party by Momo.
Rock Goddess: HUH?! When did she do that?!
Acid Queen: Dunno, but I'm going to guess it was right after he woke up since Mamadoriya had been zipping around the dorms when Momo had come to tell her Izuku had awoken.
Froggy Style: We should have seen this coming, well… We DID see it coming but I guess what with everything happening lately, we just never got around to talk with Momo and see if she wants in on the polyamory.
Rock Goddess: You think she'd be ok with it? I mean, me and Mina have known her a little longer than you Tsu… no offense.
Froggy Style: None taken, kero
Rock Goddess: But since we have known her, she can be EXTREMELY possessive of Izuku, I had no idea anyone could radiate that kind of malice like that.
Acid Queen: Yep, I can confirm that jealous Momo is a SCARY Momo!
Acid Queen: I honestly would have asked Izuku out by now if it wasn't for how frightened I am of her.
Rock Goddess: Momo is smart, just tell her what you told me in the laundry room and she will see the logic behind it… just leave out the parts where you told me how you kissed him and how he ground hard against your ass.
Froggy Style: I'm not going to apologize for expressing my feelings for Izuku the way I did.
Acid Queen: 10/10 would do that again hehe! Maybe without clothes this time.
Rock Goddess: *sigh* look, let's just talk with Momo sometime this week before school starts, probably Wednesday if that works for everyone.
Acid Queen: Works for me!
Froggy Style: As does me
Froggy Style: But it's getting late and I am going to be leaving my house early in the morning to get back to the dorms. Good Night.
Rock Goddess: Night Tsuyu.
Acid Queen: Night Tsu!
Tsuyu sighed gently as she placed her cellphone on top of the nightstand beside her bed. The images of Izuku in a suit and tie saved to the device to look at later when she wasn't so tired.
She yawned gently, ribbiting as she did so before pulling the rather furry but very warm brown cloak around her body, smiling gently as the phantom touches of Izuku holding her close and safe to his body once again lulled her back to sleep.
Chapter 23: Connecting the Dots
Summary:
Momo has some explaining to do, while Mogal makes a new friend!
Notes:
Finally done!
So much writing in one day, and look how late it is after editing... I need a life haha!
Anyway, hope you all enjoy this next chapter, and This was one I had struggled with for a couple of days before I buckled down and got straight to work! Need to get back into the groove of it.
And I'm going to say this here and now so no one asks me later on:
ENDWALKER CONTENT/JOBS WILL NOT BE A PART OF THIS STORY AS THIS WAS FIRST WRITTEN WITH NO KNOWLEDGE OF THE STORYLINE AND NO IDEA HOW THE JOB CLASSES WORK... THIS INCLUDES ANY NEW RACES/BEAST TRIBES INTRODUCED (YES, THAT MEANS NO MALE VIERA)
THOUGH REAPER WOULD BE KICKASS WITH OFA... D:
But yea, dat trailer though! Can't wait for November!
Anyway, onto the reviews!
Dragon: I completely understand, and thanks for pointing them out. I'll watch out for them in the future. But I won't be going back to edit them as it is a pain to re-edit/post on FFN.
darkkrt: Initially, Setsuna was going to be a part of the Poly relationship, however, I decided against it as given how she acts, I already got two girls that 'fill the gap' as it were in terms of their personalities (Mina and Kyoka).
PMC-Midnight Mariners: Trust me, having Tsuyu take the cloak just made more sense to me than say Kyoka or Mina for two reasons.
1. Tsuyu was close by to it and would have been able to sneak off by grabbing it with her tongue when no one was looking. (or said she'd look after it until Izuku woke up, like the good student she is)
2. It's still springtime, so it's super chilly... what frog-like girl wouldn't want a warm fur blanket to snuggle up in?
But glad you liked the IzuMomo scene! It was an interesting challenge to do, and I'm glad it worked out.
YamamotoRyu: Your not the only one to guess that when I was showing my friends some previews of that particular scene, but I think as wild and chaotic as the "Dancer" is needs an equally wild and chaotic girl to unlock it... and maybe a grand stage to perform on! *hinthintnudgenudge*
fallendemon248: Well, I figured if the weapons can get broken or tossed away and left when she 'shifts', I figured parts of his armor could as well.
Notasavior: What Momo wants, Momo will get... at any cost! :O... well not any cost, you need to think of the economy after all!
Guest: Well, I'm sorry to hear that, and I understand that I have lost some readers due to this. Nothing wrong with having an IzuOcho relationship, but how MANY of them are there? or how many of the Poly/Harem stories is she a part of?
I have nothing against the character, nor the pairing really, I just figured that I'd try something different.
Anyway, onto the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
To say the rest of the weekend after the social party was going smoothly would be far from the truth for Momo. It wasn't like things went downhill right after she and Izuku had shared that adorable moment out on the balcony.
Far from it!
After making sure her 'date' was settled enough to return to the party, with her on his arm for support, of course, the rest of the evening went just as well as Momo had hoped for. They reconvened with her parents and Mr. Kaneko, who constantly apologized to the boy for Daichi's horrid behavior. Izuku had nervously told the man there was no ill will but still accepted the apology nonetheless, which Momo had made sure to squeeze his arm in reassurance while he did so.
From there, the rest of the night went much more smoothly. Food was eaten with drinks to follow suit; even Izuku had partaken in a single glass of red wine, though it did take a while for him to finish it. Afterward, the most beautiful thing had happened that Momo would treasure for many nights to come.
Izuku, albeit somewhat nervously and with a bit of stuttering, had asked Momo for a dance. From what her mother had told her after the party, the look on the young heiress's face going from pure shock to absolute joy was something she hadn't seen since Momo was a little girl figuring out how to make a simple machine with her quirk. What surprised Momo and her parents was how well Izuku could dance, even leading Momo into an elegant waltz when the music had picked up.
Even though many of the guests had left the dance floor to give the two heroes in training plenty of room, Momo didn't notice as the only thing she could see was just Izuku in front of her, with one hand holding hers outward. At the same time, she felt the firm grip of his other hand on her hip. In her mind, it was just her and Izuku, alone while the music played and the two danced for what could be felt like hours. But reality came back when the music ended, and the loud claps from the rest of the crowd broke the 'spell' that had captured Momo's attention.
Seeing how red his cheeks were, as well as the nervous yet cute chuckle he gave, Momo knew that Izuku was really pushing himself well past his 'tolerance' at this point. While the boy was clearly trying to reassure her he was fine, Momo had won out in the end, and surprisingly, her parents gave her their blessing to return to UA with Izuku, even so much as to have one of the maids pack up her belongings at some point in the night.
So, once she had changed into some more casual clothes, as her dress that she had worn during the night would hardly see any usage while it languished in her dorm closet, at the very least, it would be maintained and looked after by the staff for the next party in the future.
The ride back to the university was reasonably quiet. Izuku, still wearing his suit, had passed out in exhaustion with his head slumped forward within five minutes of leaving her parent's estate. Of course, such a golden opportunity hadn't passed the now 'assertive' Momo as she very gently pulled Izuku down and had his head rested upon her lap. She gently began to run her fingers through the mess of curls upon Izuku's head, petting him as the sleeping boy murmured something under his breath and had actually nuzzled more into her lap. Momo giggled silently at how he was acting, thinking of him as some sort of cat while she continued to rub and pet his head.
Sadly, the drive back to UA was quicker than she expected. A very sleepy Izuku had to be taken up to his room by Mr. Yagi, while Inko had helped Momo bring in the few bags to her room. Apparently, Momo's mother had called UA as they were being driven back to explain that Izuku may need some assistance getting in.
This, of course, had caused Inko to mildly freak out about what had happened at the party and had been asking question after question in regards to why her baby boy was so tired. Mrs. Yaoyorozu had giggled at how Inko was acting over the phone and merely stated that Izuku had a grand time, even sharing some of the main events like the dance and just Izuku's overall genuine positivity he brought to the party.
Momo realized that her mother had purposely left out the confrontation with Daichi, which she was thankful for. After Momo had regaled some more about the evening's events as well as complimenting Inko for choosing such a handsome outfit, the young heiress was able to sign in relief as she shut the door to her dorm room behind her, resting her back against it with the biggest smile on her face.
As she was changing into her nightgown, she was happily humming the tune of the song of which she and Izuku had shared the waltz, giggling gently from the sheer one-eighty in Izuku's attitude as he led them in the dance. As Momo was brushing her hair, a stray thought accorded of where and when did Izuku learn to dance like that, which caused her joyous smile to slowly begin to fade a little into a more somber one.
Her first thought was Mina, the avid dancer that she is, but she didn't know if Mina could learn or teach anyone to waltz. Not that she didn't think the pink-skinned woman couldn't! Far from it! But Mina tended to prefer dances that were more 'in trend' as she once said, hence her love of breakdancing.
Perhaps Inko?
It wouldn't be strange for a mother to teach her son how to dance if such an occasion would occur. Still, even the elder green-haired woman's surprising reaction to learning about Izuku's skills on the dance floor ruled that out.
Or Inko was an outstanding actress.
Well, whatever the case was, Momo was still too 'wound up' from not only the party but from the wonderful time she had with her fellow classmate, so she decided that the best way to help her sleep would be some light reading. But instead of picking up one of her 'romance' novels, which she often hid when someone had come to her room, Momo had picked up the book on loan from Recovery Girl and quickly opened it to the bookmark she had made when she was a child.
She was smiling brightly as she settled herself under the covers of her bed and began to read where she had left off. As her eyes began to scan over the words of the last paragraph she was reading, her smile slowly began to fade into one of confusion.
She brought the book closer to her eyes to make sure she was reading what was basically describing the looks of the supposed main hero of the novel and their attitude and personality, which further confused and started to even upset Momo to a slight degree. As she turned the page, her eyes went wide for a brief few moments before slamming the book closed.
"That's… that's impossible… how can… but then...?" Momo began to mutter to herself as she desperately tried to come to terms with what she saw. She knew she had to ask the elder nurse what she was trying to pull here… as there was no way this wasn't a trick or something along those lines.
But what if it wasn't a trick?
If what this book had revealed to her just now was true, then…
Who or what was Izuku Midoriya?
The following day proved to be a day full of disappointments for Momo, nothing too catastrophic, mind you. However, it still irked her a bit as Izuku had been basically 'stolen' for most of the day by his mother in picking up supplies for the week, as well as other running around they needed to do, so she couldn't ask Izuku about what she saw.
Furthermore, just before he and his mother left, Tsuyu strolled up and offered him the missing cloak from the USJ, basically saying that she grabbed and held onto it just in case but was already at home when he woke up. Izuku, of course, thanked her greatly, shifting into the kit and tying the fur around his neck before shifting back into his more 'modern' attire.
He thanked her once again with a bright smile, which Momo could see Tsuyu's cheeks begin to redden before Inko came to drag him off so they wouldn't be late for the trains. Something within Momo's gut hurt when she saw her two classmates and friends interact, and she sighed gently before going to see if Recovery Girl could possibly answer the questions she had.
Sadly, even that turned out to be fruitless as the 'backbone' of UA was gone to help out a local hospital after a rather nasty skirmish between some heroes and a massive villain, which took place not too far from the University. Now resting in her large bed, looking up at the ceiling deep in thought, her musings were interrupted when a rather sharp set of knocks were heard from her door. With a heavy sigh, Momo rose from her bed and slipped on some slippers, and opened the door to see the most peculiar sight, "Oh! Good evening ladies… is there… something I can do?"
Standing before Momo was Tsuyu, Mina, and Kyoka. All three in their more casual set of clothes that really matched who they were. Mina spoke up first with a bright smile, "Hey Momo! Sorry to drop in on ya like this, but just wanted to let you know that Mamadoriya and Izuku are going to be late getting back."
"Oh? Has something happened?"
"Nothing bad." Kyoka spoke up next, "Just the trains leading to this part of town are out of service due to that massive incident earlier. Izuku sent a mass text about half an hour ago, but you were the only one to not respond to it."
Momo blinked at the comment made by the punk rocker before moving to her desk and picking up her cellphone, opening it up and seeing the message, "Oh dear… I must have had my phone on silent since the previous evening. Thank you for informing me, though." Momo said with a smile, which soon faded as she saw all three girls walk into her room and shut the door behind them, "...Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Actually, we wanted to discuss something with you." Tsuyu had said with the same bluntness in her voice that everyone had grown somewhat accustomed to, "And it involves Izuku."
"ACHOO!"
"Izuku! Goodness, where did that come from?" Inko had asked as she looked at her son, carrying various bags of different sizes in his hands and on his shoulders. Granted, she also had a few bags in her hands, but Izuku had obviously taken the bulk of them, "Do you need a tissue, sweetie?"
"Nah, I think I'm alright… Don't know where that came from, to be honest." Izuku chuckled gently as he leaned up and went on his tiptoes to see over the crowd; he sighed heavily as he lowered himself back down and looked to his mother, "I don't see the crowds moving up ahead, so it looks like they are still cleaning off the tracks."
"Oh dear, well… it's a good thing you were able to text your classmates and let them know we will be late."
Izuku smirked at his mother, "It will be fine, mom." he looked forward. He moved a little ahead as the crowd slowly began to move a little bit, "Besides, Tenya came back this morning; I'm sure he can hold down the fort."
"Oh, I'm sure he could… but you have to admit… and I'm not trying to be rude…." Inko sighed with an embarrassed look on her face, "He's very strict with the rules, more so than I think anyone I've ever met could be… it's like-"
"He's a 'stick in the mud'?" Izuku answered her as his mother looked at him aghast at saying such a thing about one of his friends, but she was met with a kind chuckle from her son, "I don't mean it as a bad thing, I mean sure… I can be a little stifling at times. But, he does it with no malice or any ill intent, and if he does go overboard, he's quick to make amends."
Inko sighed gently, "Well, at least he's self-aware of it... "
Izuku chuckled lightly, enjoying this moment he was able to have with his mother. Sure, they often saw one another during the day at the school or in the dorms. But, more often than not, it was rare for him and his mother to get any sort of alone time without the interruption of any kind from his classmates.
As Izuku was about to ask his mother something, he felt something 'pull' at the back of his mind, and he whipped his head around towards the source, brows furrowed. This had not gone unnoticed by Inko as she was trying (and failing) to look in the same direction as he did. With a worried look and tone of voice, she quietly asked what was wrong.
"It was weird… like something pulling me to look that way." Izuku spoke gently and in a calm tone of voice to ease his mother's worries, "But it's nothing to worry about, it was like someone poked the back of my head, and it was gone just as quickly as it happened." Izuku smiled down at her, which did lessen her worry, but he could still see some of it within her eyes and facial expression.
Before either of them could say another word, however, the sound of a 'bing-bong' echoed throughout the train station, followed by announcing that the trains would be running within another two hours. Both mother and son sighed with exasperation, hanging their heads as they grumbled and muttered out silent expletives.
"So, let me get this straight…." Momo spoke as she had her arms crossed under her bust and looking at the three other women in her room all sitting on her bed as she was sitting at the desk, "Since all four of us really like Izuku and want to date him, instead of us fighting one another for his attention or have him make a choice between one of us, which he wouldn't do to spare the other's feelings… all of you have made a 'pact' of some kind to 'share' Izuku amongst the four of us?"
"Possibly others as well, kero." Tsuyu spoke up as everyone looked at her, "Let's face it, Izuku could unintentionally woo someone and would never even realize he did so, and this can be proven with how many times all of us have flirted with him, and he still doesn't get it."
The rest of the girls muttered in acceptance as that would be the case and had already seen it with that one girl from class 1-B during the quirk study session.
Tsuyu continued on, "And it's not all of us 'sharing' Izuku; it's a polyamory relationship, meaning that we would be all dating one another."
"Well, some of us will be dating one another." Mina spoke up with a smirk and lightly poked Tsuyu's cheek, causing the frog girl to retaliate by using her tongue to lightly slap the finger away, but not so much to cause harm. Momo, however, looked in confusion at the two women when Kyoka sighed slightly.
"What Mina means is that while some of us date another person of the group, anyone that isn't attracted to the same sex or whatever can just go on 'dates'." The punk rocker made air quotes as she looked at Momo, "Basically just a more intimate outing between friends, and anyone that wants to come in isn't joining just for one person, it's all or nothing."
"I see…" Momo said softly, looking down at the floor deep in thought. Kyoka was watching her and doing her best to not check out the heiress in such a state, or the way her arms had hefted her chest up even more. Tsuyu and Mina were still poking and slapping one another, with the pink-skinned girl gleefully giggling. At the same time, Tsuyu gave off more ribbits that sounded like she was being annoyed by her friend.
A clearing of a throat caused everyone to stop what they were doing as Momo sat straight in her chair, "After thinking about it… as much as I would have loved to, and I mean no offense, 'claim' Izuku for myself… I never thought of this option, and the idea does intrigue me. But, I'm sure there are 'rules' when it comes to this relationship?"
"Oh, totally!" Mina said as she scurried her way from Tsuyu and sat at the edge of the bed, "The first rule is 'No Jealousy', we are all in this together, and there's plenty of love to go around."
"The second is that no one is to be forced to do anything they are not comfortable with." Tsuyu spoke up suddenly, "Like if one of us and Izuku decided to have sex, that shouldn't pressure anyone else to follow in their wake if they feel they are not ready, kero."
"The third rule is that if anyone wants to join the relationship, it has to be ok'd by everyone in it currently, kero, as well as they understand it's not just one of us or they only join to get their hands on Izuku." The frog girl continued as both Kyoka and Mina nodded, "The last rule is that when it's the person's… 'first time'... they and whoever is joining them are to be left alone."
Everyone began to blush as the last rule was spoken; the common thought of having a certain green-haired boy being there for said first time crossed their minds as Momo coughed gently, her face more red than usual.
Once they had all calmed down, Momo took a steady but deep breath of air to further calm herself down. The rest of the girls waited for what her decision would be, but when they saw the gentle smile of their friend, it was pretty obvious what she was going to say.
"Well, you three have convinced me… and honestly, thinking about it still, this is the path of least resistance...Though when should we bring this up with Izuku sooner than later, as if he ever did start taking notice of our advances, surely that would add more stress onto him since he would feel like he would need to make a choice between the four of us."
"Agreed, but perhaps near the end of the week would be best; he JUST woke up from what you could label as a 'semi-coma'." Kyoka said with a frown as the others gently hummed in agreement, "Especially when it comes to asking him out on dates." she continued while frowning at Momo, who merely blushed and was looking away, feeling a little in shame.
Thankfully, it was Mina to rescue as she poked Kyoka's arm, "Hey now! After all that we went through at the USJ, I can't exactly blame her for doing what she did… Would any of us have done differently if we were there when he woke up?"
The question hung in the air for a little bit, all of the girls quiet as they contemplated what Mina had just spoken. Of course, the one to break the silence was Tsuyu, with her fingertip on her chin and thinking as she said, "To be honest, kero, if it was me in the room when he woke up, I would have stripped naked and seduced him."
"TSU!" All three of the other girls cried out, both Momo and Kyoka blushing up a storm and looking at her with pure shock, while Mina was cackling in delight.
"What? You two know how Izuku saved me at the USJ, as well as what he did in the flood zone. You can't blame me for wanting him like that, kero. Plus, after all the times I've kissed him and had him not act upon it… kero, well, there's only so much I can do to get the point across aside from straight-up telling him."
"Then why not just straight up tell him instead!" Kyoka said with a flustered shout, her cheeks a deep red as she stared down the frog girl, who merely looked back at the punk rocker and tilted her head in response.
"Where would be the fun in that?"
A heavy groan escaped Kyoka's throat as she placed her face in her hands, clearly done with dealing with the thirsty frog girl, who merely kept her head tilted to the side in slight confusion as Mina crawled off of the bed and went towards Momo, "Girls, I think you broke Momo."
Now that they had noticed the very quiet vice president, it was indeed true that Momo was simply staring out into space, muttering the word 'kissed' over and over again like a broken record; her face was also a little pale. She was snapped out of it by the flick on her nose by Mina, who was pouting, "None of that, Missy! While we weren't happy as well that Tsuyu has been kissing our boy when we found out, it doesn't make it the end of the world."
Momo blinked at her pink-skinned classmate for a few moments until her head shook as she came to the very realization that they weren't going to be fighting over Izuku now. She softly blushed and quietly mumbled an apology to the rest of them.
"You're fine, Momo. Me and Kyoka were fuming as well since we haven't had a chance to kiss him yet either. Still, again, there is to be no pressure to do something you aren't willing to do right now, nor to try and 'one-up' one another… he's our man, and there will be PLENTY of times we can snog him." Beamed Mina with a bright smile that got a cute giggle out of Momo, who nodded her head in agreement. Kyoka smirked at the exchange as well, as well as the de-escalation of an incoming 'jealous Momo' incident.
The reverie was interrupted by a clearing of her throat as Tsuyu looked at the three of them with a sort of serious vibe coming off of her, "There is one thing we should discuss in regards to Izuku… something most of us had seen before All Might showed up."
"It's about that 'Fray' personality, right?" Mina asked as she sat beside the frog girl once again on the bed, leaning back, "Yea, though I didn't see what happened as me and Choko were trying to stabilize Thirteen, I did notice Shoji was looking more terrified as he was able to watch and hear the fight."
"That's the thing, Mina…." Kyoka spoke up as everyone now looked at her, "I don't think this Fray was a different personality… from the way he talked and how he acted, this was something completely different than a mere 'trait shifting' that we have seen before with his various other kits… I think it was a different person altogether."
"Wait, how is that possible?!" Mina cried out, not fully understanding but doing her best to follow along, "So, like… is it like something similar to Dark Shadow?"
"Not… entirely?" Kyoka said as she brought her knees up to her chin and was doing some serious thinking now, "From what he said, and Tsuyu can vouch for me… is that he was 'Of his power, but not HIS power.' and that he was a ghost of some kind."
"That makes… zero sense! How can a quirk be a ghost and not be Izuku's?!" Mina cried out and flopped backward onto the bed, groaning loudly since she couldn't wrap her head around the idea. Tsuyu gently rubbed her arm in comfort before she spoke as well.
"There was also the way Recovery Girl acted when Fray called her 'Krile'... did anyone else notice how she was able to change her syringe-replica walking cane into that shepherd's crook just like how Izuku moves between his various kits?"
Silence fell in the room as everyone began to remember that entire exchange between the elderly woman and the supposed 'ghost'. From the familiarity between the two and how Krile was ready to strike him down with that weapon she had wielded when she threatened him. Their discussion was also troubling as they spoke of truly horrible things like the 'hypertuned' as they called it.
Momo, who had been silent during the entire time the others were talking, suddenly pushed off of her chair, her eyes wide in surprise before getting a determined look as she moved towards her nightstand dresser. All the girls watched as she pulled open a drawer and took out a rather old-looking book and began to flip through the pages rather quickly, scanning over the words, while a fancy bookmark kept its place near the front.
"Erm, Momo? What's with that book? And… What does the cover say?" Mina asked as Kyoka tilted her head to the side to read it as the tall woman kept flipping page after page.
"It says 'Heavensward'-"
"Here!" Momo called out and interrupted Kyoka, who moved to the side when Momo plopped herself onto the bed amongst the other girls, "I thought that name sounded familiar as I was thinking about it just now… but listen to this."
From there, Momo had begun to read out what was written as she regaled them with a tale of how a man named Quinn had confronted a mentor of his named Fray in the teachings of becoming a 'Dark Knight' when the person had begun to attack the guards of Ishgard, a climactic showdown between the two would occur once Fray had revealed to be Quinn's 'inner darkness' made manifest.
As all three girls listened on, they were entranced by the way Momo was reading the book aloud and lost in their imaginations as, for some reason, they were thinking of a certain green-haired boy clashing with their literally inner demon. But once Momo had finished and closed the book, it was Tsuyu that suddenly jolted in realization, "Wait… Momo, are you saying that the 'Fray' in this book is the 'Fray' I spoke with at the USJ?"
"It sounds ludicrous, I know, but… What I just read to you basically describes what Fray and Recovery Girl were talking about before… Also, the fact that Fray had also named Quinn, which Recovery Girl did react to and who she seemed to know. Then there's this..."
Momo now opened the book to where the bookmark had been placed. As she did, all the eyes of the other girls widened as they looked upon the picture revealed to them, and each had their own reaction to it.
"No way..."
"Kero."
"Oh my god!"
Momo tilted the book to get some more light onto the picture within its pages as all four of the girls were now looking over a very detailed drawing of what appeared to be Izuku, wearing a heavy suit of armor with a very basic sword and shield being held in each hand. However, there were two key differences to the Izuku they knew compared to the drawing.
Their Izuku didn't have cat ears and a tail.
As they stared at the drawing for a little bit, Momo gently closed it as she stood up and placed the book back into her nightstand, "I wasn't sure of it now, but after this little discussion and looking back at everything that happened when Fray appeared… I can say one hundred percent conclude that cat-person is Quinn, and somehow, Izuku is related to him in some way."
"I would think it was a distant ancestor, given Recovery Girl knows him, and she's maybe in her early sixties at best." Kyoka said as she crossed her arm, trying to ignore the way Mina was gleefully talking about how cute 'Cat-zuku' was… as well as maybe planning on finding some cat ears and tail and somehow get Izuku to wear them.
"If that was the case, wouldn't he or possibly Inko have any sort of mutations similar to Quinn?" Tsuyu asked as she once again had her finger on her chin, "I mean, me and my siblings look more like my mom, even my little brother compared to my dad who's mutation is more extreme than the rest of the family."
"Oh! Maybe it's from his dad's side!" Mina spoke up, kneeling on the bed with hands in front of her, "None of us have ever seen a picture of him yet, and the only thing we got from Izuku is that he could breathe fire."
"It's possible, but Izuku also would have still inherited some aspects of the tail or ears… I mean, despite him being diagnosed quirkless as a kid, he would still show some signs of the mutation as he got older, like how my earlobes slowly transitioned into my jacks." Kyoka said as she wiggled her jacks in front of everyone.
"Wait… that's another thing Fray had said to me." Tsuyu spoke suddenly as everyone looked at the frog-girl, "He was telling me how Izuku felt when I first kissed him… saying things that he wanted to happen or thought to happen."
"What did he say?" asked Mina, and as she did, she watched Tsuyu's cheeks begin to gain a dusting of pink. This, of course, set Mina's mind into overdrive at what sort of possible things the green-haired boy was thinking, only to get a jab of an ear jack at her side from a rather irate-looking Kyoka.
"Oi, don't even think of teasing her about that kind of stuff!"
"I wasn't going to! But I wanna know the details!"
"It wasn't explicit, kero." Tsuyu had finally spoken after calming herself down from the thoughts those words had conjured up as she remembered them, "They were very wholesome… like going on dates, spending the holidays with each other and our families…."
"AWWW! That sounds so swee-"
"-and marriage and what the kids would look like, kero…."
The last sentence caused the room to go silent once again, the rest of the girls thinking of such things similar to what Tsuyu had done just previously. Momo was fidgeting with her hands, thinking of the dress she would wear for that one particular day, while Kyoka was idly twirling a jack around her finger at the thoughts of Izuku and her playing music together while relaxing inside on a winter's evening.
Mina was the one to break the silence as she giggled gently, shifting herself on the bed, "... they would look adorable with green hair and pink skin…."
"But that's not the only thing that was said." Tsuyu, once again, knocked everyone out of their stupor as she continued, "Fray spelled it out pretty literally that Izuku probably does know that we like him as we do… those notes that he makes in his notebooks are part of that knowledge sneaking out, though he passes it off as nothing romantic."
"So then why hasn't he actually asked one of us out already? He's got four gorgeous women wanting him and does nothing?" Mina asked with a bit of confusion in her voice, looking at everyone as she did, "I mean, I know he was bullied to hell… but he knows us well enough we wouldn't humiliate him if we said no, right?"
All the girls nodded; it was apparent that if they did turn down Izuku had he asked them out, it would have been done lightly, especially given what they knew. Tsuyu sighed gently as she sat cross-legged on the bed now, "It may have to do with that actually…. "
"How so?" Kyoka asked as Tsuyu looked at her, tilting her head.
"You didn't hear Fray when he was coming closer to me, kero?"
"I can proudly say I can hear practically everything when it's not being muffled out by sound-proof rooms like mine… but he was talking a lot quieter the closer he got to you, and I only heard mumbling," Kyoka said with her chest stuck out pridefully at the beginning, but soon returned ta a more relaxed stature as she spoke.
"Well… part of what… I guess… is 'feeding' the darkness within him… is the fact Izuku believes a phrase that makes him think no one could possibly fall in love with him."
"What a load of garbage!" Mina spoke up again with pure hatred, "Izuku is the sweetest, kindest, most handsome, and built cinnamon roll in the world! What could possibly make him think-"
"Who would fall in love with a quirkless Deku like me anyway?"
Mina had stopped the beginning of her rant when Tsuyu spoke those words as all three stared at the frog-girl, who shifted uncomfortably not only from the stares but also from having to repeat what she was told, "... Fray even did it in Izuku's voice as well…."
No one said a thing, letting the silence once again fill the air as Kyoka slowly began to growl and her jacks waved about like two snakes ready to strike, "... If Fray wasn't a part of Izuku, I'd blast his head full of vibrations until his brain was nothing but mush."
"... I have the sudden urge to go to Bakugo and melt him down into nothing but pomeranian goo," Mina said with a venomous tone of voice; she was followed up by an immensely angered croak from Tsuyu. Momo, though upset by what was said, suddenly looked at Kyoka.
"Kyoka! That's it!"
"What? Melting the douchebag blonde? Or frying a ghost's brain?"
"No, not that… though the first option is one to put on the backburner for later. I think I figured something out."
"Oh, yea?" Mina scooted closer to the edge of the bed, "What's that, Momo?"
Momo looked at Kyoka with a sad look on her face first, which caused Kyoka not only to blush slightly but look back at her confused. The heiress then looked towards the other two girls and sighed gently, "... It's painful to bring up… but back at the USJ, we almost lost Kaminari to a Villian."
As Momo spoke, Kyoka instantly recognized why she got that look and looked down in shame. Both Mina and Tsuyu looked at the punk rocker, and as her mood soured, Mina, being the closest to her, moved behind and wrapped her arms around Kyoka in a soft embrace to brighten her mood.
This also had the effect of brightening up Kyoka's cheeks, but she gently wrapped her jacks around Mina's arms loosely as if to say thanks. Momo was smiling at this interaction, finding it very adorable as she continued, "After Kaminari unleashed a powerful electrical blast that left him… well.. 'indisposed' let's say… a villain who was waiting underground had grabbed him and was about to kill him when we were saved."
"Oh? Was it Izuku?" Mina asked with her chin resting over Kyoka's shoulder, though she spoke softly to not harm the girl's hearing.
"It couldn't have been, kero, since he was with Yuga and me for most of it," Tsuyu said as she crossed her arms over her chest. Momo and Kyoka gently nodded to confirm this.
"It wasn't Izuku sadly; however, it was this small furry creature that said it knew Izuku and called him the 'Warrior of Light'." Momo leaned back in her chair as she spoke; Kyoka had hummed out an agreement.
"Yea, it called itself a 'Moogle' and seemed pretty carefree all things considered."
"But that's the thing, it called Izuku a 'Warrior of Light', and in that book I read to you, Quinn was THE warrior of light."
"So? Something that just further connects Izuku to this 'Quinn' guy, like maybe something hereditary?" Tsuyu asked as she was now thinking about how this was all connected.
"From what the book explained, 'Warriors of Light' are people who are gifted their powers by a divine being known as Hydaelyn… it's not something one gets through bloodlines. It's given only by them." Momo said with absolute fact and leaned forward a little, "And remember, Izuku has been telling us since we first met him that he is a 'late bloomer', and how it first manifested when he tried to… well…."
Momo got quiet, getting upset as she remembered what Izuku had attempted to do the day before the two of them met. She gripped her hands tightly at the thought of losing all those happy times that came after the incident with the boulder and silently blamed herself for not seeing the signs of what had transpired with Izuku in the past and helped cope with them as they hung out.
Her dark thoughts were interrupted when Tsuyu had gone up and hugged the heiress. Though it was hard to know what the girl's emotion was, Momo could sense that Tsuyu had thought the same thing and was doing her best to help rid those terrible thoughts. She then felt the sudden weight of both Kyoka and Mina hugging her close to further chase away those feelings as well.
Momo smiled and quietly thanked her friends, holding them close to her as she continued, "Anyway, given that Izuku was diagnosed quirkless at the appropriate age, and the fact that his 'quirk' literally breaks everything we know about them in general… from his personality shifts with every kit, how late it came in, the fact they stood up against a monster that was literally designed to kill All Might…."
"So, you're saying Izuku is still quirkless, has been this entire time, but has some kind of nifty powers given to him by some god?" Mina asked as she looked between the three other girls, who were staring at her, "What? I could care less if Izuku had a quirk or not; it's still Izuku!"
"Agreed, but still, kero…." Tsuyu said as Mina huffed with her cheeks inflating slightly and her lips puckered up; Momo cleared her throat to get their attention.
"Mina is correct in her assumption… the question is, what do we do with this information?"
"Well, we can just go up and ask him." Kyoka said as she removed herself from the hug pile as she stretched gently, "I can hear him and Inko downstairs putting away whatever they bought...sounds like a lot too."
Izuku sighed as he rested his head against the cool countertop of the kitchen when there was room, of course as he let his arms hang limply at his side. Turns out that even with a blessing from a divine crystal and working out every day, one can still lose all feeling in his arms after carrying about twenty bags of groceries and other household supplies for about three hours.
Inko was humming a tune as she was unpacking everything, which wasn't hard for her to do given her quirk and just how organized she was. Despite the lateness of the train delay, Inko obviously had a wonderful time spending it with Izuku and was happy to see that Tenya had somehow gotten everyone upstairs to their rooms for a quiet last hour or so before lights out.
Now it was just her and Izuku downstairs, after convincing the strict class president to leave her and her son to finish the rest.
However, her humming was interrupted when she heard the sounds of the elevator door opening and turned her head towards whoever had just gotten off, only to gasp, "Oh! Hello ladies, what are you doing up so late?"
Izuku had turned his head and lifted it up when he saw Tsuyu, Mina, Kyoka, and Momo walk towards him. Mina was unsurprisingly peppy still as she smiled at Izuku before turning to Inko, "Hey Mamadoriya! Can we talk to Izuku privately for a little bit?"
"Of course, dear, but make it quick as it's late already." Inko smiled as Mina quickly went to grab Izuku's arm and shockingly pulled him off of the chair he was in and began to lead him down the hallway towards the laundry room, the other three bowing their heads in thanks and quickly followed after the pink and green-haired pair.
Inko giggled as she watched her son stammer and blush at the way Mina had dragged him off, then to be followed by the other three girls. She began to hum another tune as she went back to work, thoughts of little feet running around echoing in her mind.
Izuku was leaning against one of the dryers as the last one of his closest friends came into the laundry room and watched as Tsuyu locked the door behind her. He raised an eyebrow at this and the rest of them as he pushed himself off to stand back up, "So… um… w-what's up?"
None of the girls had answered at first, which further confused the boy until Tsuyu took a calming breath and took a few steps forward before suddenly hugging him tightly. Izuku blushed and sputtered, though returned the hug all the same as she looked up at him, "I couldn't really do this earlier, or when you first woke up."
"O-Oh, well, thanks Ts-MMPH?!" Izuku had begun to chuckle weakly before he was interrupted by one of her hands reaching up behind his head while he talked and pulled him down and smashed their lips together.
As Tsuyu kept their lips connected, Izuku's eyes slowly began to close. He was slowly losing whatever willpower he had from not thoroughly enjoying the kiss until a clearing of a throat had his eyes shot open to look up and see the other THREE girls staring at them.
Feeling Izuku regain some of his composure again, Tsuyu slowly broke the kiss and subtly licked her lips as she let go of him and walked back towards the other three, hips swaying. Izuku was barely able to make a single word as Momo had come up to him next, though her face was emotionless as she spoke, "Just breath, Izuku… no one is upset with you about this."
"O-oh… um… O.k. that's-MMPH?!" Izuku was once again interrupted by another deep kiss, but this time by the beautiful Momo, who had gently grabbed both sides of his face and pulled him into the passionate embrace. He could feel her lips shifting to massage his own, and he slowly began to reciprocate with his own lips following suit. However, this was short-lived as Momo gently pulled away and smiled gently at him, her cheeks bright with a soft pink.
"Oi, don't hog him," Kyoka said right beside the two as Momo giggled gently and let Izuku go to be suddenly pulled down into a kiss by the punk rocker. Izuku's mind at this point was pretty frazzled as he felt the metallic ends of Kyoka's jacks slowly trial up and down the back of his neck as she slowly pulled from the kiss. She wasn't smiling, but he could see the joy in her eyes from having done the act.
Kyoka pulled away silently to join with Tsuyu and Momo, the latter recovering from her kiss with Izuku as the green-haired boy slowly looked up at the last one. Mina.
The pink-skinned girl was smiling brightly, her black sclera eyes half-open before she suddenly dashed towards Izuku and leaped up. Izuku, despite losing about half of his current thinking processes, was quick to catch the girl in his arms with her legs wrapping around his waist and his hands holding her up by her ass. Mina purred as she suddenly pressed her lips hard against Izuku's own and groaned in delight as she did so.
Izuku, by this point, had just accepted his 'fate' now, returning the kiss with as equal of passion as Mina was giving to him. He grunted low in his throat as his hands gripped her ass, which he found very soft yet firm.
When the grunt that came out of Izuku was heard, he could feel Mina shiver in delight. Slowly she pulled back from their liplock, only to lightly bite and pull his bottom lip before letting go. At this point, Izuku was panting for air as he still held up the 'alien' girl in his arms, both gazing into one another eyes with soft smiles as she, too, was panting a little as well.
"Kero, I should have thought to do that."
Oh right, the rest of his friends were there with him and just all kissed/made out with him.
Before he could retort or say anything, he watched as Mina shifted her body around in his arms slightly to look back at the others and blurted out, "You were totally right Tsu, he DOES taste like cinnamon!"
-Izuku .exe has stopped working-
Turning back around and seeing the figurative 'blue screen' within Izuku's eyes. Mina chuckled gently as she slowly began to move down off of his body. Despite not being fully 'rebooted' yet, Izuku was able to help her get back onto her feet, where she skipped back to the rest of the girls, giggling as she did.
It took Izuku about three minutes to come back to his senses and, with a terribly confused look, while also sporting a deep blush, tried to ask for an explanation as to why they all did that.
He never got one, however, as the tone of the room slowly went somber. Momo looked directly at him, locking her eyes with his as she spoke, "Izuku, we will explain… all that… in a moment, but right now… we have a critical question to ask you."
"H-huh? O-Oh s-sure… w-what is it?"
He watched as the vice president of the class looked to the other girls as if to get some sort of confirmation before she looked back to him and took a deep breath, "Izuku… Are you a 'Warrior of Light'?"
Izuku's eyes shot open at the question, a cold sweat ran down the side of his face as he was staring directly at Momo. There was only one thought running through his mind as he felt the expectant stares of everyone in the room.
Oh no.
[Earlier, while the trains were delayed]
Run!
Run!
Keep away from the bad man!
Those were the thoughts of the small child running and weaving through the alleyways of the tall buildings as fast as her little feet could take her. She was crying as she ran due to how sharp the stones and debris on the ground were hurting her bare feet.
Her dirtied white smock of a dress billowed against her tiny frame as the ends of the bandages on her arms and legs were flowing behind her along with her snow-white hair. As she kept zipping around various corners, hoping that she could keep far away from the mean man that was put in charge of her today.
She couldn't go back.
Not to the birdmen.
Especially not to Kai.
She turned her head to look backward, to see if she was able to lose her pursuer, but ended up tripping over something and tumbled down to the hard cement ground, crying out in pain. She sniffled and began to cry through her clenched eyes when she felt something brush up against her finger.
Slowly opening up her ruby-like irises, the tiny girl came upon the prettiest stone she had ever seen! It was long, with many sides to it that led up to points at the supposed top and bottom of the strange object. It was partially see-through, though the child could see that it was green in coloration. Slowly, she reached out and took it into her small hand, sitting up onto her knees and held it up to her face to get a better look at it.
It was strange, as she held it with both of her hands; she thought it was giving off a warmth of some kind as if she was being hugged by a much bigger person than her. It was a foreign feeling, as she had not felt such a thing in a long time. It reminded her of a much happier time, where she still had a proper home, it reminded her of-
"Errri…. Where are you?"
Eri snapped out of the trip through her memories and, with the stone in hand, quickly dashed towards a pile of garbage and refuse, burying herself under the smelly junk as a rather large man rounded the corner not far from her.
"Alright brat, where the hell did you go?" spoke the very crude-sounding man as he scratched his head, looking up and down the alleyway. The small girl whimpered and clasped the stone tighter in her hands, muttering silently for the big man to go away.
Said big man noticed the trail of bandages leading up to a pile of garbage, and he smirked a devilish smile as his voice got more whimsical, "Now, where, oh where can little Eri be? She knows how Chisaki hates it when she tries to run away from his 'care'."
Eri could hear the man's footsteps get closer and closer, and she was desperately holding onto the stone and now wishing she could just escape the bad man. As she heard the echoing sounds of the man's shoes on the cement end right in front of her, the tiny girl clenched her eyes tightly, crying and whimpering, but failing to notice the stone within her grasp slowly begin to glow.
The large man chuckled darkly as his two big hands reached out and grabbed two of the larger trash bags, and with no effort to the task, flung them to the side, "GOT YO- Wait, what?"
He looked around, and sure enough, no little girl was waiting underneath the trash bags as he leaned back up and scratched his head in worry, "Oh.. the boss isn't going to like this…."
Silence, that's all Eri was hearing now.
Not the sounds of passing machines, nor the voice of her pursuer. She didn't even smell the putrid stench of the garbage she was hiding underneath. Slowly, she began to open her eyes, and as she did, she gasped loudly in pure awe at what she had seen.
Floating in front and slightly above her was a massive stone, similar to the one she held in her hand. But, unlike the green hue her's had, this one was bright blue and had rotating golden rings floating around it in such a pretty display that Eri was sure she was dreaming.
Slowly she began to pick herself up and slowly took in the rest of her surroundings. It was a dark place, only being lit up by the massive stone in the dead center of the very rocky area. She could see tiny openings embedded in the wall, and as she stood up on her very sore feet, she very gently called out.
"H-Hello?"
"Kupo! Hello!"
Eri shrieked and whipped around to find an adorable-looking creature floating in front of her; it was such an odd little thing that looked like no animal she saw before, which wasn't many. It tilted his head and gently floated towards her, not even moving away when she flinched as it moved up and down and was looking her over.
"What's your name?"
"M-My name?"
"Yea, kupo!" it squealed in joy, "Everyone has a name! Mine is Mogal!"
Eri looked at the strange creature, still wary of it as she held the stone in her hand closer to her, "M-My name is Eri…."
"Eri? That's a beautiful name, Eri!" Mogal began to float and dance around her, not noticing or caring about the strange look the girl was giving it, "I don't know how you got to Moghome, but let me be the first to welcome you to the home of the Moogles, kupo!"
"M-Moogles? What's a 'Moogle'?"
"What's a Moogle? Well, I'm a Moogle! And this is my home with the rest of my friends and family!" It squeaked and floated in front of her, "It's almost time for dinner, but I can't bring you to it, sadly."
"Oh? D-did I do something bad?" Eri asked with a bit of sadness in her voice, it was often when she didn't do as Kai asked that she wouldn't be fed any sort of meals, and any one of his bad men that did try and feed her were never seen again.
"What? Oh, no-no-no! It's just that it would be hard to get to since you would need to fly ALLLL the way up to the surface, kupo." The Moogle said as he seen the little girl get upset, which really seemed to upset him even more, "But I can take you to my room, and I got some tasty apples you can munch on!"
Eri tilted her head gently, blinking at the creature, "Apples?"
"Mhmm, it's a super tasty and sweet fruit! Moogles LOOOVE apples! And I know a fun way for you to get there and not walk on your sore-looking feet!"
Eri looked in confusion but slowly nodded her head in agreement. After all, her feet were pretty sore. Mogal let out a delighted cheer of "Kupo" and did a little airborne dance around the child, who merely watched the creature mutter out a weird phrased before exclaiming, "Moogle Magic: Float!"
Eri gasped as she suddenly felt her body raise up slightly, and she slowly began to somersault in the air. Mogal cheered before zipping close and gently placing his tiny paw on her shoulder to stop her from flipping upside down, "See? Super fun, right?"
All it got in response was a gentle nod of her head as Mogal held out a tiny paw to her, "I'll bring us to my room, and you can rest on my bed until your feet stop hurting, and while you have some apples, I can tell you about the Warrior of Light! Mmk?"
"The Warrior of Light?" Eri asked, slowly but gently taking the hand/paw of the Moogle as it began to steer the both of them towards its tiny home, all the while Eri kept a firm grasp of the stone in her hand, and the loving warmth it seemed to be giving off.
Chapter 24: Countdown to Mei-Day
Summary:
Some revelations happen, as well as more questions. And a new girl enter's the scene and they make a baby!
Notes:
Hey ho, everyone!
So still trying to get back into the groove of posting once a week. Sadly, it's going to take a little more time than usual as real life has decided to kick me hard in the butt, so my focus on finding a new job is in full swing.
Doesn't mean I'm going on hiatus or anything, just means I may need an extra day or two to post :) So thank you for your continued patience.
On a lighter note, I am very happy with everyone who grew excited with the arrival of the adorable Unicorn, but sadly she seems to be tuckered out so nothing new from her this week, but don't worry, Mogal is taking good care of her!
5.55 was released for FFXIv as well, and holy smokes they made it so much easier to get the mettle from the Bozjar Front.
BUT HOLY SHIT THEY REVEALED HYDAELYN'S "HUMAN" FORM!
I would also like to point out the discord server I hang out most with some other authors and we are always looking to welcome more into our growing community
Anyway, thank you for once again reading "Bearer of the Light" simply follow the link here and enjoy the antics of not only myself but other wonderful content creators! - discord.gg/aSdNaZk6
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
It had been barely a month since Izuku had been in UA, and already one of his worst fears since starting the school term had happened. Sitting in a chair, with Toshinori beside him, Izuku's eyes were looking at the four girls in similar chairs in front of him as they discussed how they came upon the discovery that Izuku had the blessing of Hydaelyn with Nezu.
His gaze soon looked towards the dean, who had his paws in front of his face as Izuku could tell he was deep in thought, listening to every word that Momo, Mina, Tsuyu, and Kyoka were saying. Off to the furred creature's side was Recovery Girl, or 'Krile', who was lazily flipping through a book that Momo had brought with her. The older woman had stopped at a few pages, and Izuku could see her eyes scanning over certain pages, and the look of pure fondness was cast upon her face that Izuku could hardly recognize the woman at all.
"-and that's when we asked Izuku if he was a 'Warrior of Light, and well… that leads up to here." Momo had finished explaining to the dean as the other girls nodded, Izuku being snapped back out of his own thoughts near the tail end of her words. He watched as Nezu gently leaned back into his rather large chair, still deep in thought. Everyone in the room could feel the tiny beady eyes staring at them at specific points. The silence in the room was thick with tension, and Izuku feared the worst.
The sudden clap of his pawed hands startled the entire room as Nezu's smile had returned in full force as he chuckled lowly, "Well, that's that then… I honestly didn't think anyone would figure it out for at least until the end of the first year, truth be told."
"W-Wait!" Izuku shot up from his seat, looking worried, "Y-you thought that my secret would be found out within a year?!"
"Oh, of course, my boy." Nezu said with a cheeky tone to his voice, "And not from you spilling the beans early, oh no, you did a wonderful job keeping it believable with the story we had concocted a year ago."
"B-but then…?"
"Hmm? Oh, it was more to the fact that several of our first years this term are VERY inquisitive and would eventually connect the dots. Plus, I know how you feel about withholding the truth from people. As your fellow classmates gained your trust, you'd eventually ask me to reveal the truth of your blessing to some of them, perhaps ones that showed more… 'intimate' feelings for you." Nezu had spoken with a mischievous smirk at that last little tidbit, causing all the teenagers in the room to look away and their cheeks to blush with various hues of color.
Toshinori merely raised an eyebrow at the way the dean had said that last bit before looking at Izuku, still slightly confused. Well, that is until he put two and two together and shook his head in shock as he looked at the four girls sitting before him. His shocked face turned to one with a big smile as he chuckled low enough to catch Izuku's attention, giving him a not-so-subtle thumbs up. Izuku slightly groaned with embarrassment and placed his face into his hands to hide how red it had gotten, while Toshinosi was chuckling.
Nezu cleared his throat to get everyone's attention once again and was smiling still as he continued, "Still, it was unfortunate that you saw little Mogal though, as both you, Momo and Kyoka, will now be able to see any Moogles that are not using their magic to keep invisible."
"We… weren't the only ones to see him…" Momo said as she fidgeted with her hands, "Kaminari was with us as well when he showed up and saved us from the villain at the landslide zone."
"Yea… don't think we need to worry about him on that front." Kyoka spoke up and relaxed in her chair as everyone looked at her, "He barely remembers anything between when he made that massive shock attack that knocked out most of the villains, up until he was watching the fight with Izuku; with you and me."
"Hmm… regardless, it would be best to keep an eye on him just in case. But thank you for letting me know." Nezu said as he got off his chair and made his way towards Izuku, standing a foot away from him as he looked up towards the confused-looking teenager, "Before we continue, I would like to ask you one quick thing, Mr. Midoriya."
"Uh… o-ok, what is it?"
"Since the events of the USJ, I was curious if you have been in communication with the being known as Fray."
Everyone watched as Izuku's face slowly started to pale, his eyes darting around the room to all who were present to see the various shocked or worried looks on his classmate, to the faces of interest from both Recovery Girl and Toshinori, before looking down to see the still natural smile of Nezu as he kept looking at him. Knowing that the dean could see through any sort of lie that Izuku could come up with, he sighed and gently nodded.
"I see, and he hasn't tried to sway your views on anything? Or been hinting at allowing him to retake control over your body?"
"N-No! No, he's actually been… helping me."
Nezu raised an eyebrow, or at least mimicked the gesture, "Oh? How has he been helping you, my boy?"
"W-well…" Izuku spoke softly as he moved a hand to rub his arm, "He's been… h-helping me come to terms with things in regards to my own feelings… like re-evaluating how people have been looking and acting around me… coming to some... conclusions that I never would have thought possible." Izuku had said while looking at the group of women that were all watching him, each with a hint of a blush on their cheeks while he was now a bright cherry red. "A-also, he's been showing me things and places from where he… came from…"
"Really now? And what has he shown you?"
"He s-showed me a fort, built out in a valley of a vast mountain range. We often talked next to a single gravestone on a cliff that was overlooking… I think he called it "Camp Dragonhead'', and beside the grave was a shield with a large hole in it, resting against it."
As Izuku described the scene, Toshinori could see the look on the elder nurse's face dim slightly at the mention of the gravestone.
"He's also been helping me understand a little more of who I… or Quinn was as a Warrior of Light, and… he's said that he will be the one that will deem it 'time' for me to unlock my Dark Knight kit."
The look on Nezu's face, though unchanged to those who were watching the exchange, seemed to sour immediately at the mention of the Fray holding back the release of said powers, "I'm curious as to why he thinks that he should be the one to decide when you should be allowed to wield one of the kits given to you by Hydaelyn herself."
Izuku stared at the dean for a few moments. Though his stature was small, he could feel the weight of a giant looking down at him as the boy slowly rubbed the back of his head, "W-Well… Fray explained that… I'm not ready to confront my own 'darkness', and that with his help as well as Hound Dog's… it won't be long before I'm ready?" He finished with a slight shrug, not really knowing how to answer the dean, as there really was nothing he could do but tell him what Fray had explained to him.
The dean, meanwhile, kept staring up at the student for a few more moments before sighing gently and rubbing the bridge of his nose and then looking back to the still anxious-looking teenager, "Well, there's not much for us to do about that at the moment, but do you trust Fray's judgment in this Mr. Midoriya?"
"I do… he hasn't done anything that would seem to do otherwise… and while he likes to poke fun at me for how I act sometimes, it's nothing with malice or ill intent." Izuku was now rubbing his arm, looking away from Nezu, who, in turn, had looked towards Toshinori and then Recovery Girl and nodded his head. The other adults soon rose to their feet and headed out the office door, Momo receiving the book back from the elder nurse as Nezu gently patted Izuku's knee.
"Well, just keep us up to date if anything should happen then. For now though…" The dean turns towards the four women before looking back at Izuku, "It looks like you have a few things to explain to our four guests here."
Izuku began to stutter and mince out the words to refute the small dean, but one look from Nezu shut him up pretty quickly and sighed in embarrassment. Once the adults had left, the four girls had turned their chairs around to better look at the still embarrassed boy, and Tsuyu decided to speak up first, "Kero, what was that about?"
"Nezu t-took me in as his personal student during the final year of high school due to some… unpleasantness… that happened after the sludge villain incident." Izuku said gently as he hunched over in his chair, looking at the frog girl, "Since university started, I still come once or twice a week, depending on our schedules, for follow-ups as well as extracurricular projects."
Izuku slowly looked up to see all the women stare at him after his little speech, looking shocked at just how he suddenly and clearly he spoke through that explanation, which only lasted for about as long as one would think as Izuku blushed and stuttered out, "S-some of t-those lessons were o-on p-public speaking and t-trying to get a little m-more confident doing them."
The room fell silent again after he finished stuttering, only to be broken by the gentle giggles of Momo, who was then followed up by Tsuyu and Mina, and finally Kyoka. Izuku was blushing more and had hidden his face behind his hands in embarrassment and remained in such a state until he heard the giggles slowly end.
Just as Izuku was about to remove his hands from his face, he suddenly felt arms gently slide along down the sides of his neck and pressure from atop his head. He unhid his eyes to see the very pink limbs that had now been gently hugging close to him, "M-mina?"
"What? I always see Set do this, and now was the perfect time to try it out! And I can see why she always 'nests' up here." Mina said with a purr as she nuzzled her cheek against the top of Izuku's scalp, "You need to tell me what conditioner you use, Izuku! Your hair is super soft!"
While his cheeks continued to be atomic red as usual when it came to Mina clinging to him, he had to admit that this particular embrace had felt quite nice to him. She wasn't strangling him with her arms around his neck, nor was she putting weight down on his shoulders. He could feel how affectionate she was as she kept nuzzling against his head and the scent of strawberries gently passed by his nostrils. Still, he happened to like that scent as it seemed to match Mina almost perfectly.
The less said about the two soft objects pressing against the back of his head at the moment was for the better however.
But as he continued to enjoy the embrace, Izuku had slowly looked to the other girls and could see their cheeks were a bit rosy at the scene before them. With Kyoka and Momo, he could tell there was a sense of wanting to the same as well, or in Momo's case, pouting at Mina, who had acted quicker than they had.
Tsuyu had sighed gently, with a gentle croak of longing as she gently fidgeted with her hands.
"So." Mina had suddenly spoken up, snapping Izuku's attention back to her, "Now that we basically got the gist of how your quirk- erm... 'powers' work, I've been curious about something."
"O-oh? What's that?"
"Well, back when we were heading towards the USJ, you mentioned that when you unlock another one of your kit thingy's, you feel certain tugs or pulls towards an object or person, right?"
Izuku simply gave her a hum in agreement to the question, his hands now tightening their grasp on his knees when he felt her shift and pulled his head closer to her body.
"Well, is there anyone else in the class that is giving you that sensation?"
The question hung in the air for a moment, while Izuku's cheeks were now a dull red compared to before as he gently took in a deep but slow breath, "Honestly… Yes, there are a couple… nothing overly strong, but the 'pull' is there. R-right now, and not because of the proximity we are all in… the two strongest at the moment are you and Kyoka. I don't k-know when or what kits will be unlocked, thanks to the two of you… b-but I know they will be special."
Izuku could hear the gentle, and very cute, giggle of Mina from above his head as well as a clearing of the throat from Kyoka, seeing her blush and look away while tapping her jacks cutely together once he drew his eyes towards her, he could see Momo giving the punk rocker a kind smile and was rubbing her back, along with Tsuyu who merely held onto her shoulder.
Izuku thought this was odd as he watched the scene before him; his mind slowly wondered why it was causing Kyoka to blush like that. That train of thought ended just as abruptly when he felt Mina shift once again. However, this time was vastly different as he felt the chest of the pink-haired woman slowly ascend up the back of his head, feeling her toned stomach occupying the space now while Izuku felt her breasts lazily placed on top.
Mina giggled so much as she watched Izuku sputter as his head was shaking slightly in embarrassment. However, this had caused the green-haired boy to suddenly stop shaking and freeze in place. Mina looked down, her cute smile spread wide into a mischievous grin as she now realized why Izuku had stopped and seemed to have 'flatlined'.
He figured out that she was going braless at the moment.
"Mina." Tsuyu's voice caught the pink-skinned girl's attention, "While seeing Izuku freeze up like that is cute, kero, we still have a few things to discuss with him, so please don't break him yet."
"Fiiiine…" was the reply she got back as Mina gently removed herself from Izuku and went to go sit back down in her seat, leaving the currently frazzled boy to reboot his mind. It had taken about two minutes and a light jab of his cheek from one of Kyoka's jacks to snap Izuku back into reality.
Momo, having grown tired of the antics of her pink-skinned friend, decided to take over the questions so they could get back to the other important matter at hand.
His response to their confessions of love.
"Izuku, I'm going to keep this brief, and please don't overthink this if you don't know the answer."
"O-Oh, alright… What is it, Momo?"
The heiress looked at the boy sitting in front of her, her onyx eyes staring hard into his emeralds as she leaned forward in her seat slightly. The blush on Izuku's face had all but faded now as he saw Momo do this, considering this was her 'tell' that she was going to ask him a serious question.
It had come up a few times when the two were alone and talking about quirks, or Izuku was helping Momo study up a new formula to help her create something new with her quirk. Every possible question ran through his mind as to what Momo could ask him; of course, the many worrying ones happened to be if she questioned his quirklessness, which could sour the entire mood.
Or worse yet, confirming the truth he was quirkless, which the girls could treat him differently, or worse yet, not want to have anything to do with him.
"Izuku." Momo said with a severe tone of her voice, clearly seeing that she could tell of the negative thoughts he was thinking as her eyes slowly squinted to silently force him to stop, "Now, the question I'm going to ask you is earnest and needs to be taken as such, do you understand?"
All the boy did was shake his head up and down in agreement, still looking terrified of what the question could be. Momo merely sighed and lost some of the edge of her staring as she finally spoke.
"Does anyone in your family history have a quirk that had feline extremities?"
"Feline extremities?"
Kyoka groaned gently, she was already running into her one on one session with Hound Dog. Wanting to speak with the counselor as soon as possible, Kyoka decided that she needed to make it painfully evident for the boy, "She's asking if anyone in your family that you know of had a quirk mutation that made them have cat ears and a tail."
Izuku blinked, looking at the punk rocker dumbfounded as he now took that information into his head.
Five seconds passed.
Fifteen seconds passed.
"Eh?"
"Are you sure this is the right course of action, sir?" Toshinori asked the dean once they had left the office to let Izuku handle any of the questions that the girls would have had for the young man. The currently skeletal pro hero had taken a seat in the waiting room outside to discuss some other private matters between the three adults while their students talked.
"In leaving Midoriya to handle the various questions that his classmates have for him? I think he can handle it." Nezu said as he was sitting in a chair beside him, a cup of tea being sipped upon as Toshinori blinked in wonderment as to where and when the dean had procured the drink, "Plus, this would be another excellent opportunity for the boy to polish up on his confidence and communication skills, as he will need them for the upcoming sports festival."
"Ah, yes. I had nearly forgotten that the festival was coming up next month." Toshinori said while crossing his arms over his chest, "It will be a good chance for him to show the public what he can do. I take it you already have young Midoriya preparing his speech for the opening ceremony?"
When the only response he got from the dean was a gentle sip from his tea, Toshinori balked at the smaller creature, "Y-You have told him he's doing the student's oath for the opening ceremony, yes?"
The indignant huff of Recovery Girl caught his attention as she was leaning back in a chair on the opposite side of the room, "He hasn't even revealed the final numbers of his entrance exam to the boy."
The heavy sigh and rubbing of the bridge of his nose were all Toshinori could really reply to that comment, all the while the dean beside him was chuckling low and sadistically.
"Regardless of that... future anxiety attack on the boy's psyche… I was referring to the business in regards to this 'Fray' character. Can he be trusted to help young Midoriya? I understand that you two know him from your past, but the way he dealt with those villains..."
Nezu had brought the teacup from his lips and was silent for a few moments, contemplating something before turning to look at Toshinori as he spoke, "While his methods seem barbaric, almost villain like in a way, to him it was merely the way things were done in Eorzea, often it was kill or be killed given the various beasts and monsters that roamed about. But when it came to people, one would try and subdue their foes else they would be killed outright due to the actions one was taking."
"And often it was best to kill your enemy, lest they come back more powerful than before." Recovery Girl had spoken up and looked at the skeletal man from across the room, "I can give you an example that was a bit of a pain in the backside during Quinn's adventures. There was a Garlean soldier named Grynewaht, a brutish officer who preferred to fight with his muscles more than his brain. Time after time, Quinn would beat Grynewaht and whatever forces he had been given at the time, and every time he would flee just to start the process over again."
"He was eventually captured, yes? And if not, what became of him?"
Recovery Girl held her staff close to herself, looking down at the ground as Nezu cleared his throat to gain the number one hero's attention, "During the final battle to reclaim a kingdom from the Garlean Empire. Having had enough of his constant failures, Grynewaht had been experimented upon and his body augmented with machines known as 'Magitek'. The process made him a blood-crazed monster that wanted nothing more than to destroy the Warrior of Light and his allies… He became the very first 'Hypertuned'."
"The thing to remember, Toshinori, is that while Fray isn't the 'paragon of heroism' that you and many of the heroes that graduate these halls set out to be, he is… was… a part of what made Quinn a hero as well, and while I don't fully understand how he wishes to aid Izuku, he seems to know something that either Hound Dog has not been aware of as of yet, or Izuku may have repressing something."
Toshinori sat silently as the dean finished speaking and began to drink his tea once more; the blonde man now began to contemplate what had been told and also thought back to many of his own battles that he had during his long career. He knew that as All Might, there were times that a villain couldn't be subdued or taken in by the local authorities and needed to be brought down hard.
Even he had blood on his hands, considering who he killed those six years prior.
His thoughts were interrupted when an incredibly loud 'EEEHHHHH?!' could be heard coming from the office as Nezu was cackling loudly now, with Recovery Girl sighing in defeat, "I told you they would show him that picture of Quinn, Alphinaud, and Tataru. You owe me a thousand yen, Krile."
Toshinori could hear the elder woman mutter out a 'damned furball' under her breath as she got up from her seat to pay the dean as Toshinori watched the exchange, "What's wrong with showing him a picture?"
"Oh, nothing really, aside from Midoriya's outburst, we should head back inside and explain to them what a 'Miqo'te' is and pray that one of the characteristics of the race didn't get passed onto the boy."
"Wait, what characteristic?"
The much shorter adults looked to one another briefly before looking back up to the skeletal man. In the most non-plussed tone of voice, both Recovery Girl and Nezu spoke at the same time.
"Mating Season"
A deep sigh escaped past Izuku's lips as he made his way down to the support development studio. Having just finished his lunch, Izuku began to think back to how the rest of the morning had gone.
After Nezu and Recovery Girl explained what the species known as the 'Miqo'te' was to Izuku and the girls, the green-haired boy had to admit he was fascinated with learning more about them, given how similar they had looked to mutations in their world.
From there, Izuku had given a brief overview of how he was able to piece together what exactly a 'Warrior of Light' was from the little information that Nezu, Recovery Girl, and Mog had told him in the past. However, the girls were more confused by his explanations as there were still many questions they had asked him while he was talking. Eventually, it had to be stopped by Nezu, who apologized not only to them but also to Izuku.
It was then Izuku learned the real reason why the dean and elderly nurse had been so quiet and refused to answer his questions about his blessing in the first place.
Nezu explained that due to how his blessing worked, giving too much away before he was ready could have dire consequences. One such scenario would have had Izuku try and force all of his kits to manifest, but given how little 'aether' was in his body since his blessing had awakened, it would have killed him just from unlocking a few specific and aether-heavy kits that would have drained him.
This point was proven from the two examples listed by the elder nurse, who was glaring at him as she spoke about the instances with him passing out for hours or even days after unlocking the red mage and white mage respectfully. When this was revealed, this had actually given Izuku an answer to one of his possible theories regarding his powers.
The more reliant on aether the kit required, the more dangerous it was to go past his limits.
The decision to let Izuku slowly accumulate his body to the strains of gaining each kit at a slow and steady pace was made by both the Nezu and Recovery Girl to keep Izuku safe and make sure he didn't unlock some of the more troublesome ones. Mina had then brought up the strange crystal that had appeared before Izuku during the events of the USJ, just before he changed into the white mage kit. Just from that single line of questioning alone came even more questions than answers, not only for the girls but for Izuku himself, as the dean went on to explain the existence of 'Soul Crystals'.
Palm-sized crystals of various sizes and colors, soul crystals were items used to allow people to wield the multiple powers of kits, or 'jobs' as they were called back in Eorzea, and having a wealth of knowledge related to the job contained within it, being an extreme concentration of aether, and being carved with the deeds and exploits of past people to hold the job's mantle. The one that appeared before Izuku was one such crystal, and ironically enough, it had been Quinn's at one point, left in the care of Krile a long time ago.
Izuku suddenly stopped in the empty hallway, his eyes going wide in the realization of one key detail that he had missed during that particular discussion.
Where had the white mage crystal gone since the events of the USJ, and if you needed these crystals to even access the 'jobs'... then where were the others, and how was he able to use the jobs he had unlocked already without them?
Izuku sighed again, pushing past that train of thoughts that would give him a panic attack for later. The boy continued down the hallway and began to think back to what happened after the meeting, his cheeks going rosy again at the events that occurred.
Once the students had left the office, Izuku had quickly pulled the girls aside to a nearby empty classroom. From there, with more stuttering than even he thought possible, Izuku had begun to ask the girls about their confessions to him in the first place. Not that he wasn't flattered or anything, far from it! He even admitted, though even more stuttered than before, that he realized for a while now he was crushing on them. But all four were beautiful and strong women with so many other great things about them, and he just couldn't wrap his head around why they liked him like that when they could all have someone much better.
That was apparently the wrong thing to say as Kyoka had suddenly jabbed him with her jack, and he could see their upset and angered looks as the punk rocker tore into him verbally while also repeatedly stabbing him. Once Kyoka had calmed down and Izuku had recovered from the 'vicious' jabs, he apologized and said that he wasn't trying to upset them or tell them their feelings were wrong… he was just utterly confused about the situation.
It was around that time that Tsuyu had spoken up and suggested that an excellent way to figure this out was for him to take each girl out on a date before coming to a decision. She explained that a normal relationship was hard enough work between two parties. Still, something like a polyamorous one was going to need everyone to put in their one hundred and ten percent into it. It was clear that Izuku wasn't totally comfortable with the idea yet, which was fine, according to the frog girl, but perhaps easing him into it where he could have time to think if it was even something he wanted.
The other girls liked the idea, not only for putting ease on Izuku's own fragile psyche but also that each girl would have their chance of a date with the green-haired boy and possibly help improve his confidence. Izuku, on the other hand, was intimidated by the idea of going on dates with the four beautiful women. Still, Tsuyu had made a good point, and he agreed to do it. Funnily enough, Tsuyu was to be first, and it would be the upcoming Saturday.
Truth be told, though, something deep within Izuku's mind rather liked the idea of the polyamorous relationship.
As Izuku came upon the large metallic door of the development studio, his thoughts now went to another lingering problem that had begun to plague his mind ever since he and Fray had that little one on one conversation while he was recovering from the USJ.
Just how much of 'Quinn' was he? Better yet, where did 'Quinn' end and 'Izuku' begin? And the worst question that popped into his head was if he ever was Izuku Midoriya at all.
However, such thoughts were interrupted when the door to the development studio violently swung open, an explosion had gone off within the studio, and something colliding hard into Izuku, knocking the air out of him and straight onto his back with a pained gasp.
Groaning in pain, Izuku began to slowly pull his body off of the ground, only to find that he was pinned underneath something. As he slowly opened his eyes and looked down his chest, all he could see was pink. Squinting now to refocus his eyes, he could see the top of a head with very long pink dreads laying on his chest, the faint smell of grease and oil wafted into his nostrils as before he could ask and see if the person was alright, he heard the soft, but muffled groan of a woman as the head rose up from his chest.
Izuku stared at now pure yellow eyes with crosshairs looking back at him, both teenagers doing so for a moment before a manic grin spread across her lips, and she rose up and straddled his waist, her gloved hands on his stomach as Izuku took in the features of the woman he just 'caught'.
Before him was a woman who obviously loved to get her hands dirty in machines, judging by the various oil splotches on her very toned arms that left no imagination to the boy that she was strong. They flexed as she readjusted herself on his waist, possibly to better sit upon him given she was wearing loose mechanic pants that had the top wrapped around her waist. The only other piece of clothing she seemed to be wearing, at least to the best of his knowledge, was the black tank top shirt that appeared to be barely containing her chest that, if Izuku were to guess, almost rivaled both Momo and Mina's.
"Hey!" The girl spoke up and caught his attention, "Thanks for the save, Muscles!"
"M-Muscles?!" Izuku squeaked out when he felt one of her hands grip onto his stomach, feeling him up for whatever reason.
"Yep! I can tell you work out a lot. Hey! Are you part of the Hero course? Did you come down here to see my babies?" The excitable girl was bouncing up and down now in pure glee, which not only gave Izuku a front-row seat to see how 'bouncy' she was but also praying to Hydaelyn to not get aroused from the very soft rubbing caused by the sudden movements.
"HATSUME! What did I say about using explosive materials in the studio?!" shouted Power Loader, who came barreling out of the still slightly smoking room, coughing and wheezing, while partially covered in soot. The girl had stopped her bouncing to twist her body slightly to look at the teacher.
"Well, what else was I going to use? Nothing else is working to repair those super old-looking babies! I tried the forge, the laser cutter, even duct tape, and glue!"
"So 'explosions' was the only option?!" The teacher roared as he stomped over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, and hoisted her off of Izuku, who sighed in relief but continued to watch the scene before him.
"I had to try all the possibilities! You told me that they were made using a quirk, so maybe it has something to do with that person's quirk? OH! Wait! Maybe that will work!"
Power Loader sighed heavily as he looked down to the still slightly blushed Izuku, shaking his head and offering his hand to the boy, ignoring the girl for now as she ran back inside the studio to try a new idea. Izuku groaned as he was lifted up by the Support Teacher, dusting himself off once he was firmly on his feet. He looked at the now shorter teacher, "Is something wrong, sir?"
The teacher sighed, his hand rubbing the top of his metallic helmet in exhaustion, "Yes and no… I hate to tell you this, but we have been having trouble repairing your weapons since the USJ." Izuku tilted his head in confusion and blinked at the teacher, a little shocked that they were having the difficulty considering for all he knew, the weapons were made with materials similar to the ones on Earth, "I even had Mei over there take a look at them, and as you heard her, she's basically tried anything and everything and not so much as a dent, which is odd considering the darn things are busted in the first place."
At this point, Power Loader had headed back inside with Izuku following behind him. The green-haired boy let his eyes wander the various machines at work, with a few of the older students shouting at one another about this and that, though Izuku could barely make out what they were saying.
Turns out that even when school is 'off', the support department was still open and as busy as ever.
"Your hero suit is almost done being repaired, by the way," Power Loader spoke up loudly over the various machine sounds, "Just adding in a few modifications, but we were able to keep the original design of the suit!"
"O-Oh! Thank you, Power Loader, sir!" Izuku shouted loudly, weaving under a low hanging metal bar, "My mom had originally made me the suit, so I at least wanted to keep the original design of it."
"Good call! Did the same thing with my suit as well!" The teacher responded with a fist lightly knocking against his metal helmet, which caused Izuku to chuckle lightly. Soon enough, though, the metal fingertip teacher opened the door to a more private studio room where Izuku stopped and looked at the large worktable. His stomach merely dropped at the sight before him.
While he could see the now identified Mei Hatsume holding up a piece of the broken shaft of his dragoon spear, Izuku's eyes soon looked over the rest of the broken weapons lying upon the table. He walked up close to its edge, not caring how close he was to Mei at this point, and clenched his fist at his side.
Resting on the table was his rapier, bent horrifically like someone had tried to fold it like an accordion. In contrast, his ax had been shattered into so many pieces that it was hard to see if all of them were there. The other half of the broken spear was beside the rapier as he placed a hand on the larger pointed end of the weapon.
A heavy and loud groan of frustration caught his attention. His hand retreated back to his side as Mei tossed the shaft back towards its partner, "Not even welding will work!" her golden cross-haired irises looked towards Izuku, "Seriously, what kind of metal did you make these out of?"
"Um... I-I thought they were s-steel or something similar." Izuku squeaked out when the girl got right up in his face as she asked him the question.
Her response was a sigh and pulled back from him, her hands moving up to grab the goggles on her head that Izuku had just noticed and pulled them over her eyes, "Well, I can at least continue to work on my baby while I think of some way to fix those broken ones." Mei had turned around and walked to the other side of the room. Izuku could see various other little gadgets and machines on the additional worktable before looking back at his weapons. He frowned gently as he was mentally going through why they were practically unfixable now, as he continued to stare at the hunks and pieces of debris. His attention now went back to Mei as she was humming a small tune while the sounds of a power drill echoed from the location.
Izuku blinked as he slowly began to walk towards her. A familiar pull guided him as he stood beside her, seeing her put down the drill and grab a basic screwdriver. Izuku watched as she carefully began to twist the tool slowly to the right of an odd-looking device, and at the pulse of the 'tug' he blurted out, "What are you making?"
"A small condenser for a large engine of a jetpack I'm building." Mei responded without missing a beat or looking towards him, "I'm basing it off of the design from Air Je's own jetpack, but improving upon the design and functionality!"
"R-Really?" Izuku asked, moving a little closer to take a look at the machine, the pull within his mind drawing him in, "Something like… smaller fuel consumption for more sustainable flight?"
"That's one of the improvements; the other is faster speeds with more compression in the jet engines… oh shoot. Hey, Muscles, take this screwdriver and tighten the screw while I hold these wires, would ya?"
"Huh? O-Oh sure." Izuku replied as he moved to see the screw she was referring to, taking the screwdriver and watching as she pulled back both sets of wires with her thumbs. As he did, though, he could feel the pulse of a headache start to throb, and he winced slightly, though Mei seemed to either not notice or ignored his soft grunt of pain.
Once he made sure it was tight enough, Izuku moved the screwdriver away, and Mei beamed a smile up at him, "There ya go! It's so hard to work on my babies without an extra set of hands sometimes. Thanks for the help, Muscles!"
"N-no problem…" Izuku said gently as he offered the handle of the screwdriver back, as he did though his mind was currently racing, similar to when his quirk had been focused upon Tsuyu, he never took his eyes off Mei as she took the tool back and went back to work.
As he watched Mei, who didn't seem to mind the staring, his senses were taking in everything around both him and her. His mind asking question after question, trying to find out what exactly his blessing was telling him. Was it her looks? Not really, he would admit under the grime and oil splotches on her skin, she was rather cute. He honestly didn't mind the scent of oil and grease that seemed to envelop him in the room, nor did he find the noises inside or out of the private studio all that troubling.
What really had him set on her was her drive to create, invent, and improve upon already great designs and make support gear for future generations. Maybe she wanted to run her own company someday? He didn't know, but what he had meshed together through his scrambled thoughts was one thing.
This Mei Hatsume, a girl fascinated with machines and gadgets like he was with heroes, just wanted to build things.
'And you know what?' Izuku asked himself deep within his mind, 'So do I.'
And like so many times before, his vision went completely white, all the while three words echoed in his mind.
Nezu sipped his dinnertime tea while he was looking over the morgue report regarding the dead Nomu creature. His brow was furrowed as he read the report about how odd the body was, considering that while it held the DNA of a thug that has been missing for quite some time, it had also trace amounts of other missing people mixed in… no… spliced in would be the correct term.
The report also stated that the hand of the one villain named 'Shigaraki' had mysteriously disappeared from the morgue. No trace of who took had been left behind. Nezu had a feeling it was the warp villain that had been mentioned in the witness statements provided by the students and Aizawa.
He hoped it was the warp villain. Otherwise, there was something far worse now entering the game.
His thoughts were shaken as a loud buzzer from the intercom on his desk snapped him out of his stupor, placing the report down and reaching for the small red button close to him, "Yes?"
"Nezu, sir… i-it's Power Loader."
Nezu quirked an eyebrow in slight confusion. For whatever reason, the support teacher sounded frightened, "Yes, Maijima, I hear you… is something wrong?"
"W-well, sir… you had mentioned to the teaching staff about that Midoriya kid's quirk, right? That it can take on different forms and give him different powers and what not?"
"I do recall that meeting, yes... why?"
"It involves a bright flash of l-light, right?"
Nezu froze after the teacher mentioned the flash of light. He pressed the button again relatively quickly and, in his more authoritative tone, spoke, "I'll be right there, do not let him leave."
"N-no issue with that, I think… oh god, there's two of them now…."
Well, that didn't sound good at all.
Nezu made a hurried rush towards the development studios, ignoring the Moogles hard at work fixing the metallic door as Power Loader had moved towards him when he saw the small dean enter, "Tell me what happened, Maijima."
"I-I didn't see it at first… but I brought Midoriya to the private work studio where we had his weapons and Hatsume were put. I left them alone, and within ten minutes, there was a bright flash of light." Power Loader began to explain as both adults headed towards the room as mentioned earlier, "I go to check on them, and the kid was wearing this weird-ass outfit, with a strange box hanging on the left side of his coat; he turns around, and I see this large gun on his back!"
"What did he do next?"
"H-He went up to his weapons, arranged them on the table, then he reached into his coat and pulled out this milky white stone or something, placed three of them on the weapons, and raised his hands over the top of the table. Nezu, this strange blue mist shot directly into those stones from his hands, and the weapons fixed themselves!"
Nezu frowned at this once both teaching staff reached the now closed door; the muffled talking between the two teenagers could be heard from outside as Nezu looked up to Power Loader, "I can see why that is concerning, but I don't see why you are so shaken by such a thing."
"It's not that… Well, I mean, we tossed everything at those weapons, and they couldn't be fixed by traditional means, but Midoriya did it in less than a few minutes." The teacher reached for the door handle, holding his hand there as he looked down, "What has me scared is that he and Hatsume have been building something since just after lunch when he first showed up, and he has that same manic smile that the girl does when she's making something that will more often than not explode!"
Now that was worrisome.
Nezu nodded his head, and the teacher pulled back the door, revealing the two teenagers working on a device. Nezu's eyes went from worried to pure shock.
Standing before him, with his back turned, was Izuku, wearing a long dark grey coat where he could see a similar colored covering of fur run from shoulder to shoulder along his backside. Perched on his back was a rather odd-looking gun that looked steampunk in style. However, the most noticeable change was his hair trailing down his back, long and straight for one, with the root ends being a light green then the darker green trailing up to his head. When the door clicked into the place, it caught the boy's attention, and he turned around, now revealing the equally more steampunk looking attire that matched the weapon on his back as well as the strange metallic box with various cylinder's and gauges as well as a glowing semi-circle coming off the side of one of the cylinder's.
Izuku smiled brightly, lifting the orange goggles from his eyes and placing them on his head, "Hello, sir!"
"Hello Midoriya, I can see you unlocked a new part of your quirk."
Izuku blinked for a moment and then looked down at himself, patting the new leathery clothes down. He blushed and chuckled meekly, which caused Nezu to raise an eyebrow, "Y-Yea… I didn't realize I did until now… OH! But you should see what me and Mei built!"
The girl moved from the table and allowed both the dean and teacher to see the device in full. Power Loader simply stared at it, not knowing what exactly the two had been up to for all that time they were alone.
Nezu, however, recognized the shape and various crystals lining the device as he looked squarely at the boy, who winced from the sudden hard look on the dean, "Midoriya… where did you get those crystals?"
"T-the crystals? Oh! It's thanks to this device!" he chirped and patted the box at his side, "Whatever I needed, like the 'Dark Matter' to fix my weapons, or the aether crystals to power the device here… I just kinda… pulled them out? H-here, let me show you!"
He moved his left hand towards the front of the metallic box on his left side, placing it over the glowing semi-circle. Within a few seconds, he pulled out a small bluish crystal and then lightly tossed it towards Power Loader, who caught it and began to examine it.
"C'mon, Muscles!" Mei exclaimed and tugged on Izuku's arm, causing the boy to blush and stutter out a response to calm the girl down, "We have to show off our baby!"
Well, that comment certainly made the room temperature dive down to the coldest negative as Izuku's face was now atomic red. At the same time, Nezu stood straight, and his eyebrow twitched. However, the only one not affected much by the comment was Power Loader as he spoke, though still examining the crystal, "She calls her invention's 'babies'."
Nezu snapped out of the shock with a simple and acknowledging 'ah', Izuku merely began to tap his index fingers together, still blushing up a storm while Mei was just smiling like what she said was normal.
Izuku finally calmed himself down enough, clearing his throat as he spoke, "W-Well, I got to thinking about some of the problems we had at the USJ… where our communications to the school were cut out… and well, I all of a sudden got this idea to build this device with the help of Mei here."
"It was so cool how we used those crystals as a power source!" Mei spoke up and waved her arms around, causing Izuku and Nezu to chuckle at her antics. The boy then stood a little straighter as he continued his speech.
"Power Loader, Dean Nezu… I g-give you the Hatsume-Midoriya artificial Linkshell." As he made the announcement, Izuku pressed a few buttons on the top of the device. Once he did so, it purred into life with the various crystals shimmering and shining brightly or dimming with no discernible pattern. A tiny 'clink' sound could be heard hitting the small metal tray at the bottom. Izuku reached into it and pulled out a single small blue pearl with tiny little hooks on each end of it.
As the machine powered down, Nezu walked up to the boy with his paw stretched out and silently asked to inspect what had come out. Izuku gently handed the small bead to the dean, who began to look over it with the keenest look in his eyes.
After a few minutes of silence, Nezu turned towards Power Loader, holding up the tiny pearl in his paw, "Maijima."
The teacher looked up as his name was spoken, "Yes, sir?"
"Prepare some patent forms for our two young inventors here, as well as copyright forms for three distinct words."
Power Loader tilted his head at that last request, "What words? If I may ask, sir."
The ever-present smile on Nezu grew sharper the moment that the teacher asked, "No harm in asking, Maijima… the three words are 'Linkshell', 'Linkpearl'..." The dean turned towards Izuku, who was smiling at the fact that the invention had worked, but the final word spoken had sent shivers down his spine for some reason.
"And Magitek."
Chapter 25: Foreshadowing the inevitable
Summary:
As things in the background begin to take a more sinister shape, Izuku has to deal with the aftermath of meeting one Mei Hatsume, as well as go on his first date!
Notes:
Hey all!
So, a bit of a smaller chapter this week, sadly I have been fighting off a fever and asthma, but the next chapter should make up for it though.
I am quite happy with how everyone liked the introduction of Mei, as I wasn't too sure I got her personality down right. As for her status within the story and if she will be part of the poly?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You'll just have to wait and find out.
Anyway, onto the reviews!
Firem78910: Dunno yet, granted that the crystals and that needed to make the darn things run maybe out of Izuku's range of things to make.
TeraelinII: Lol and yes, we must save the unicorn.
Geo995: Well, I have mentioned in the past that Bard is Kyoka's unlock... as for Shoto unlocking black mage... you'll just have to wait and see :D
PMC-Midnight Mariner: Huh, I hadn't even considered Mei to be the "Cid" of the story. But as you'll see later in this chapter, her access to Magitek will be limited sadly... doesn't mean she won't try an attempt to replicate it :D. As for her joining the poly, please read above.
fallendemon248: Thankfully, Nezu is smart enough to know what could/would happen if Mei ever got her hands on magitek.
AnimeFan13579: I have never played a Dissida game, so didn't realize that could happen, and it's not like the WoL hasn't faced off against 'evil' Moogles before. (Great King Moggle Mog). And don't worry... made sure to nip that little 'problem' in the bud quickly... still will be embarrassing whenever Mei talks about her and Izuku's babies though
A Queen Among Women: No explosions as of yet! Granted I think Izuku would make sure any of his inventions will explode (if they are powered by crystals)... because when they go boom.. THEY GO BOOM!
silverjack20: The MMO has been out for a while, but glad you picked it up. Also, Momo and Tsuyu have unlocked two of his kits, Gunbreaker and Dragoon respectfully. Mina's is probably the furthest one out, while Kyoka's will be the one or second before Mina's.
Guest: Seeing as how you didn't get past chapter 4, you probably didn't notice that the time jumps have been reduced to either a mere few days or hours, compared to at the beginning where it was months (done so we can get to the meat of the story)
Also, I have stated in the past that this is a poly relationship, while yes, Izuku is the only planned guy, it won't mean that the girls are only there for him, and I've given hints of that later in the story. Also, if you find these types of stories are inoperable and boring, then why did you begin to read this story when it says in the description it IS a poly story?
Anyway, onto the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"I take it that the operation was a success, doctor?" spoke the heavily raspy but deep-voiced masked man as he was looking upon a monitor with the visage of one of his long-time associates standing beside a medical gurney that had one Tomura Shigaraki laying on top of it. The young adult was strapped down to the 'bed' though a rather large cast covered his lower right arm and hand.
"It took a few more hours than expected, sir, but yes… within a few weeks, the boy's hand will gain all of its functionality and sense of feeling back, then after a few more days to make sure that everything is set in place, we can swap out that slow regeneration quirk you put in him back with his original one." Finally, the doctor spoke and bowed at the monitor that was barely showing the man on the screen, "I would like to thank you once again for taking my advice about using the slow regeneration quirk."
"Not at all, doctor… you are the medical professional after all, and while I am disappointed that it will set some of our plans back a few weeks, to know that my pupil will make a full recovery and regain use of his hand puts this old heart at ease." The man spoke as he held up a glass of wine with all but his pinky finger holding the glass, swirling its deep red fluids slowly within it before bringing the last finger down. Within an instant, the glass disintegrated with the wine inside pouring over his hand. From his side, Kurogiri had hastily made his way to him and began to wipe and dry the man's hand, "Truth be told, I was always fascinated with young Tomura's quirk… and this will give me the chance to run a few of my own experiments with it."
He could hear the doctor's chuckling at that little admittance, for which he too joined in the amusement, "Regardless, let me know when he is full cognizant as well as any further developments with your other 'patients'."
"Of course, sir, you will have the latest update on project "Highend" by the end of the week." the doctor bowed at the screen before it flickered off. The balding older man now turned his gaze towards Tomura, his eyes glinting at the currently unconscious man, with so many tubes and monitors around and connected to him that he almost rivaled his mentor's own current state. He sighed heavily before turning around and walking back into the warehouse full of gigantic tubes full of liquid and various bodies within them, passing a few of them before stopping at one, in particular, his eyes hidden by his glasses as he rubbed his chin in thought, while speaking to the body floating within the solution within, "Hmm.. perhaps let's see if we can improve upon that fire-breathing quirk of yours."
At that exact moment, the masked man sighed heavily as the chair he was seated in slowly turned around towards his guest, who had been waiting patiently for him since he had made the 'call' to the doctor, "My deepest apologies for keeping you waiting, but I needed to make sure the effort you took retrieving my young ward's hand was not wasted."
"Oh, that's perfectly fine." The dark-robed figure had replied and bowed towards the seated masked man, "I'm sure it's not every day someone just opens a portal of darkness and drops off the cut-off hand of one of my most prized subordinates." The robed figure rose his body off to reveal that their face was also benign covered by a black mask, mainly over their eyes and nose, while leaving their toothy but fanged smirk to be exposed to both Kurogiri and his master.
"Aside from Kurogiri here, that would be the case normally… and your name was?"
"Ah! Of course, how silly of me!" the robed man said in a playful tone of voice before bounding over and kneeling before the masked man, "I am called Nabriales, and I wish to make a deal with you!"
If the masked man with no eyes or eyebrows could look inquisitive, they would adequately show it as he leaned back in his chair with his hands in front of his face, silently allowing this "Nabriales" to continue.
"I was watching your pupil's little invasion of that UA place, and despite the overwhelming power he had with him, the Nomu creature, to be more specific. And I can easily say that it would have dealt fairly well against that All Might fellow your boy kept ranting and raving about." Nabriales moved back and spun himself around with his arms outspread, the robes he wore lifting slightly to reveal metal glad feet and lower legs. He stopped though and looked to the seated man, "But then, he had to run afoul of the one person so strong and powerful that I daresay, even a hundred All Might's couldn't take him down."
"Sorry for my interruption, but you are referring to that one student who kept changing armor and weapons at a speed I never would have deemed possible?" Kurogiri spoke up before bowing to the seated man, "My apologies, I did not mean to speak out of place, sir."
The masked man merely raised his hand up in acceptance, "It is fine, Kurogiri. Now, please continue, Nabriales."
"Of course, and your misty friend there is indeed correct! The power that boy has is something unrivaled when fully unleashed and sad to say that your Nomu got a mere 'taste' of that power." The robed figure then skipped forward, speaking in a low tone of voice, as if he was telling the two a secret, "But what if said that I can offer you the way to empower your creatures with abilities and powers that not only could rival the boy's… but even make All Might fear them?"
That had gotten the masked man's attention as he leaned forward, clearly interested in what this 'Nabriales' was offering. Still, there obviously had to be a catch, "And what is it that you are getting in this deal? I doubt you would relinquish such power for nothing."
"Oh, my wants are elementary." Nabriales stepped away and turned around from the pair, walking a few feet away before turning around to look at them, "I have been watching this world for some time now, and you know what I have noticed? How unafraid the populace is!"
Nabriales started to pace back and forth, "I've seen how people react to villains and heroes fighting, and it just sickens me! They don't scream, they don't run, they just stand around and gawk like they have their thumb up their own butts! " He whirled around to face to two, "What I want is to spread the poison that is fear and doubt through the masses, letting it sink in that the heroes will not always succeed and when that happens, they could easily die!"
He strode up to them, the smirk turned into a feral frown, "All because of that one MAN do these people live in doubt! And with what I can offer you to empower your Nomu's, we can BREAK him not only physically, but MENTALLY as well!"
Nabriales was panting now, a little winded from his little speech as silence filled the room with the masked man deep in thought. A few moments passed before the low chuckling of the man echoed in the room. Then, finally, he simply raised a hand out to shake it with Nabriales, "I am very eager to see this 'power' you wish to bestow upon my Nomu's. You can call me 'All for One', and I have a feeling this will be the start of a fruitful partnership."
For Izuku, the rest of that last week before the university would start up again after the events of the USJ just seemed to blend all together.
However, the one noteworthy moment was the introduction of the linkpearls to the rest of Class 1-A. While most, if not all of the students were fascinated with strange yet oddly beautiful 'devices' (for lack of a better term), and the two people that Izuku had been worried about their usage seemed to have suffered no ill effects because of their extraordinary hearing abilities.
For Mezo Shoji, Izuku was worried that when the multi-limbed student would wear the linkpearl, and when he turned one of his tentacles into another ear, it would affect either him hearing the device go off, or the ringing would echo and harm him. Thankfully, after a few tests, any doubt was quickly cast aside, as there were no ill effects.
Kyoka, however, was a very different story. While Izuku was worried that any sort of call would be too loud for her, given how keen her hearing was usually, it had actually gone just as well with Shoji's, and that it wasn't too loud for her at all, the issue was when she used her quirk.
During one of the tests, it was discovered that when Kyoka was channeling her heartbeat through her jacks that the vibrations had somehow disrupted the device from working correctly, only to then function as it should when the vibrations had ended. Izuku had begun to mutterstorm all the possible reasons and ideas about why this was happening, only for the sudden strike from an ear jack poked him in the side. Izuku, after recovering from said jack poke, had noticed that Kyoka seemed a little down that she was the only one to have caused issues with Izuku's invention.
Well, he wasn't going to have that at all.
Given the confession that he had received from Kyoka and the other three classmates of his, and despite the teenager not giving them a proper answer yet, Izuku still felt he needed to do something. After making sure they were decently being ignored by the rest of the class (thankfully, Bakugo was causing a bit of a hissyfit about wearing something 'stupid made by Deku' with Tenya reprimanding the boy, and the scene was causing a big enough distraction.) Izuku gently spoke Kyoka's name to get her attention, only to have her squeak cutely when she felt his broad arms gently pull her into a hug.
Izuku held the woman close to him, gently speaking low and easing any sort of doubt or the like from her mind as Kyoka had actually nuzzled into his chest, her cheeks bright red in embarrassment, but was smiling to herself.
When he ended the hug, the punk rocker looked up to see that Izuku was just as red as her, idly scratching his cheek. She realized that despite Izuku being the one to take the initiative, the boy was just as embarrassed as she was. So she would capitalize on that fact by doing something Izuku never thought Kyoka would ever do.
Izuku felt the end of a metallic jack poke his nose to get his attention back onto the punk rocker before him. But, when he turned his head, he would never forget the look that Kyoka was giving him. Never before had she ever smiled with a wicked yet flirtatious look on her face, with the dusting of red on her cheeks to sell the point home.
Just as she was about to start teasing him, however, the entrance doors opened up to reveal Nezu, Power Loader, and Mei walking in. The pink dread-headed girl instantly scanned the room to find her target and rushed right on over towards him. Izuku had barely time to act as the support student started to ask him question after question in regards to their 'baby' and how everyone liked the little 'babies' they had made, calling him by the nickname of 'Muscles' didn't help the completely shocked faces of most of the class.
Of course, Izuku had paid no attention to the questions as he could feel the VERY DEADLY cold gaze coming not only from Kyoka, who was behind him now but also from three other sets of eyes within the group of his classmates. Thank the goddess that Power Loader was there to explain that Mei referred to anything she created as a baby and that she did land unannounced on top of Izuku after failing to try and use explosions to repair Izuku's weapons.
While this seemed to placate the four girls to some degree, Kyoka was still glaring daggers at Izuku, considering he had spent a good part of the day and evening alone with some random woman. It also didn't help that as Mei kept pestering Izuku, who was trying his best to calm her down, the punk rocker couldn't help notice how 'bouncy' she was.
It was then that Mei had turned her cross-haired vision at her and went to Kyoka, grabbing her hands and talking excitedly about the special 'baby' that Izuku himself had made for her while in the support department. Both teenagers blinked at her until Izuku suddenly gasped out an 'Oh right!' before a bright light once again flashed before everyone's eyes.
Now in his 'Machinist' kit, he reached into one of the many deep pockets he had and pulled out two odd-looking devices that many of his fellow classmates had no idea what they were. However, Kyoka's eyes widened as she looked at them as they were presented to her, taking them into her hands and slowly turning them around and inspecting them.
The devices looked like the amplifiers that she and Izuku had designed back before UA. Still, she could tell that the technology used was something far different than any type or what they originally designed them to look like. Izuku had begun to explain the very basics of what he did, how he had seen Mei already working on the devices and, once his 'kit' activated, had helped her upgrade them to 'magitek' technology. Izuku then said that when both amps were used, they could send out vibrations that could level buildings and blow away enemies with a blast of sound.
Kyoka was shocked, to say the least, especially as Izuku had mentioned upgrading her 'stereo boots' later on with the assistance of both Mei and Power Loader, given that he was the only one to understand how Magitek worked. For whatever reason, Nezu had banned Izuku from teaching Mei how to do it herself, citing the fact she couldn't supply the crystals needed for such complicated machine work, but also something else he wouldn't elaborate on, much to both of their disappointments.
It was then that Izuku noticed that Kyoka was now staring directly at his face, looking a little confused for some reason. He asked her, of course, if something was wrong with the devices or that he shouldn't have done the upgrades with his typical stuttering and worried tone of voice. She had placed a finger on his lips, causing him to blush brightly at the sensation and quickly shut him up as she just kept staring at him, taking in his new features, like the actually straight green hair before her confused look shifted into a soft frown, though not in anger. What she said next would cause his mind to reel because he didn't notice something so painfully obvious.
"Izuku, your personality didn't shift…."
From there, utter chaos took the entire class, from Mina crying out in a jokingly tearful way that she now lost her 'fluffy hair buddy', to Kaminari and Mineta shouting in actual fear that Midoriya was now 'packing heat'. All Izuku could do was blush and feel embarrassed with all the attention on him, as some of the girls had complimented him on his new hairstyle and even had Toru and Mina ask if they could braid it at some point.
That was when the skipping sound of a chair against cement had caused Izuku to stop his reminiscing of the event that happened earlier in the week, looking across the small cafe table he was sitting at and smiling gently at the person; who just sat down, "E-everything alright?"
"It's fine, kero, just my mom calling me to be 'on call', just in case I need to go watch my little sister today." Tsuyu said as she sighed gently, putting her cell phone into a small yet adorable frog-shaped purse. Izuku's gaze from watching her putting the device away had turned to look over what she had worn for their date.
It was a simple yellow sundress, all things considered, and given the slightly warm spring day they were having, it really suited the frog girl. The boy did notice the adorable little frogs near the bottom of the skirt when they had walked to the small cafe not too far from campus, which at this point he figured would be a part of her standard wardrobe, and he honestly was okay with it. He had cleaned up pretty nicely, thanks to the aid of Yuga and Kirishima. Tenya had been enlisted to help at first. Still, when the outfit he had come up with looked more ready for a formal engagement than a simple casual date, Yuga had shooed him away with Izuku quietly thanking the class president for at least trying.
The ensemble that his two classmates had come up with looked rather good on him, Izuku had to admit. Though he wasn't a big fan of the very tight-fitting black t-shirt hugging his upper body, the more loose green plaid button-up shirt he wore did make up for it, followed by some semi-loose jeans and his trademark red shoes. (something he absolutely refused not to be parted from.)
"Your staring, Kero." Tsuyu spoke up suddenly as Izuku blinked and snapped out of his thoughts, blushing slightly as he chuckled nervously.
"S-Sorry Tsuyu, just… couldn't help but think how cute and lovely you look in your dress," Izuku said gently as he scratched his cheek, once again, letting his honesty shine through, which caused Tsuyu to look down at her fidgeting hands, a blush forming across her cheeks.
She quietly thanked Izuku, just as the waitress had come to their table to take their order. It wouldn't take too long for both hero students to receive their drinks, Tsuyu with an orange pekoe black tea and Izuku with an earl grey, though between the two from when they ordered to when they got their tea's there had been a silence between them.
After taking a slow sip of her drink, Tsuyu gently exhaled as she looked towards Izuku, "Izuku, just before you fought the… 'you-know-what'... you had wished to speak with me when all was said and done, I've been curious if that was your attempt to ask me out."
Being mid-sip, Izuku paused as he let the hot drink rest against his upper lip for a moment, looking at the frog girl before bringing the cup down to the table. He sighed gently, "I-it was… in a way… I-I did just wanna talk and try to figure out why you kept on kissing me." His eyes opened wide in alarm as he waved his hands a little in defense, "N-n-not that I didn't enjoy them, far from it!.. I-I was just confused as to why that was all…."
"I mean no offense when I say this, Izuku, but you can be pretty dense at times." Tsuyu bluntly stated, causing Izuku to flinch slightly and hang his head, "It was pretty obvious that Momo, Kyoka, and Mina were attracted to you, but you didn't seem to reciprocate or notice their attempts, at least not officially. I mean, how many times did I have to kiss you to only get you to ask me out for a 'talk'?" She asked as she gently ran a finger slowly along the teacup's rim, staring directly at Izuku as the boy blushed, thinking back to said moments with a gentle smirk.
"E-Even then, I still couldn't believe it… H-Heck, I still feel like that… In the back of my mind, it's hard to fathom one, let alone four women who find me attractive and want to be with me, despite me being quirk-MMPH!" Izuku had begun to explain before suddenly feeling a tongue pressed against lips; he blinked as she looked to Tsuyu, who had extended her long tongue to shush him with a 'frog kiss', before retracting it back into her mouth.
"I speak for all of the girls when I say that we don't care about your 'status', kero; we only care about you, dummy."
Izuku merely stared into Tsuyu's eyes, as emotionless as they appeared to many; the boy had already grown accustomed to her 'tells', and he could see no falsehood of any sort within her eyes. His confused-looking face slowly morphed into a genuine smile, his cheeks slightly rosy, which caused Tsuyu to blush in turn. Izuku gently spoke as his hand slowly reached out to rest on top of hers, which further caused the frog girl's cheek to redden, "T-thanks Tsuyu… it may seem like much, but hearing that… has really lifted a lot of weight on my heart."
Not one to miss this chance, Tsuyu had gently entwined his fingers between hers, a gentle smile forming across her cheeks, "That's good to hear, kero." She gently rubbed her thumb against his hand, watching the gesture light up his face more, and was now seeing the fun in teasing him that Mina would often do, "So, kero, what did you have planned for our date?"
"W-well… I was thinking we could go see a movie, after taking a small stroll through a park, it would give us enough time to-'' As Izuku had begun to explain the plans for the date, he was interrupted by the sound of a ringtone coming from within Tsuyu's purse.
Both teenagers stared at the tiny purse on the table before Tsuyu heavily sighed, removing her hand from the embrace shared between her and Izuku. She pulled out her cellphone and, with a half-lidded "done" look on her face, answered the phone, "Hello, kero."
"..."
"Yes, I understand… I'll be there as soon as I can."
"..."
"No, I'm not- actually… one moment." Tsuyu placed her hand over the receiver of the phone, looking at her date, "It's my mom, she needs to go to the hospital, and no, it's nothing serious, but she needs me to watch my little sister. I'm really sorry about this."
"It's fine Tsuyu, I'm not mad." Izuku smiled at her, "I know your family is important to you, and we can always just make plans for another time."
Tsuyu smiled, though he could tell she was sad by this as she uncovered the receiver, "Hello? Sorry about that, I was-
"..."
"Yes, I'm with a classmate right now-"
"..."
"...You sure? Well… alright then… we will take the train and be there shortly." Tsuyu said, looking Izuku square in the eyes as the boy blinked and tilted his head in confusion. After saying goodbye to her mother and hanging up the cellphone, she downed the rest of her tea. She stood up, startling Izuku from the sudden move as she placed the money for the drinks on the table, and grabbed Izuku's hand, and began to pull him with her, walking at a fast pace.
"T-Tsu?"
"My mom heard your voice over the phone and has 'invited' you over to come help watch my little sister, and should this be another false alarm with my aunt, she and my dad want to meet you."
As Tsuyu kept pulling him along, weaving through the light crowd of people towards the nearby train station, Izuku finally registered what she had just said to him and with his face going slightly pale. His only response was a tiny squeak escaping his lips.
"...Eh?"
The train ride had been quiet since both Tsuyu and Izuku had sat down, and surprisingly the train car they were in was very sparse of any other riders for the time of day. Izuku had just finished texting his mother to inform her of the change of plans and that he and Tsuyu may arrive back at the dorms later than intended.
That was going to be a conversation that Izuku was not looking forward to. Not that he would keep his relationship with the girls a secret from her, granted it wasn't like Izuku could have, given that not only was she the dorm manager, but Inko also knew when her son was bullshitting her. Izuku had a feeling she knew that today's little "outing between friends" was merely an alibi for the date and would be asking him many questions once they got back to the dorms.
A gentle croak that escaped Tsuyu's lips caught his attention as he now noticed the sullen and sad look on the frog girl's face; she was looking down at her lap where her hands clenched lightly at her knees, "I'm sorry about this, kero… I had a feeling that this would happen, but I was really looking forward to this date today, and I couldn't help but be a little selfish."
Izuku blinked, frowning slightly as she shifted his body so he was somewhat facing her from his seat, and one of his hands gently placed itself on top of hers. Tsuyu had looked up and was shocked to see the same determined look that Izuku got when he was in what she called 'hero mode'. Then, as both students were staring back at one another, Izuku spoke with a sort of seriousness to his voice, "Tsuyu, I said before I understand that your family is a big part of your life, and as I said before, I am not upset or mad about it."
With a heavy blush once again forming on his cheeks, and much to Tsuyu's utter surprise, Izuku leaned in and gave the frog-like girl a gentle kiss on the lips. It was brief, but between the two, it felt like an eternity before Izuku pulled away, cheeks ablaze as he continued to speak, though with his trademark stutter back, "S-So don't worry about feeling like y-you want to be a little selfish… a-admittedly I am feeling the same way. "
He smiled gently at her," I-I mean… I get to go on a date with one of the most b-beautiful women in our class, s-something I never dared dream of thinking would be possible before."
Tsuyu remained quiet for a few moments, her cheeks slightly rosy and just staring straight into his eyes as she gently let out a very cute croak before speaking, "Thank you, Izuku… but I do know you did 'dream' that before."
"Huh?" was all Izuku could say with a raised eyebrow, still holding her hand as Tsuyu looked away and fidgeted in her seat. However, the look of guilt on her face could quickly tell that she knew something about his supposed dreams, apparently.
With a heavy sigh, Tsuyu faced Izuku, figuring she might as well be truthful with him, "When Fray was in control over your body, I had him talk to buy some more time for the school's reinforcements… Kero, he told me what was running through your mind when we kissed in your dorm room."
Izuku raised an eyebrow at the admission, thinking back to that time as to figure out WHAT exactly Fray had told the woman, considering his mind was somewhat in a haze from the kiss. Tsuyu watched as Izuku's face went from deep thinking to one of shock and furious blushing while also going pale at the realization of what was said to her.
"Izuku, kero, it's fine… to be honest, I was very flattered about what he said." Tsuyu spoke gently as Izuku's face regained some color. She gripped his hand more, entwining her fingers with his once again, something she noticed that despite how much bigger her hands were compared to the average human, it somehow seemed to fit snuggly with his, "I do admit that all those things like spending time together with family during the holidays, enjoying each other's company after a hard day of work, kero, they sound lovely and something to look forward too."
Tsuyu then leaned close to Izuku's ear, a mischievous glint in her eyes as she spoke low enough for only him to hear, "Especially the part of how cute our future tadpoles will look, kero."
Giggling gently to herself, which sounded like a bunch of quick little ribbits, Tsuyu gently rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying the ride and to the hopeful pleasant evening. Her family would not dislike Izuku, far from it, but she knew her father was very protective of his children.
Izuku, meanwhile, was still as a board after that little whisper into his ear by his date, his entire face bright red, and if one looked closely enough, you would swear there was steam coming out of his ears as he remained in such a state until the train had stopped at the station where the young couple would have to disembark and walk to the Asui homestead.
For Izuku, this would be one date he would never forget and give him a taste of the future that he once dreamed about with the lovely woman by his side.
Chapter 26: Future Froppy Days
Summary:
Continuation of the Date with Tsuyu!
Notes:
Alo all!
So a follow-up to the IzuTsu date! and honestly, I really enjoyed writing this... so much sugary sweet fluff! and our boy is getting more confidence :D
But don't worry, things will pick back up in chapter 27, so be sure to look forward to that!
Also starting next chapter, I'm going to be doing some quick FFXIV facts to explain a few things, as one of the complaints I've had about this story is that most people reading this have NO clue what most of the FF references are and get turned off from reading it more! So to adjust to that, I figure a little appendium at the end would help.
Anyway! Onwards to the reviews (FFN):
PMC-Midnight Mariners: To be honest, I forgot he was the one to kill Moenbryda because of how short we had to deal with him... so I chose his name because I thought it was an Asican we hadn't seen before.. so.. whoops? ^^;, regardless given how the name structures work within the Ascian Society... this works out some fun things for me :D
Silvanium: As mentioned above, I had forgotten that FFXIV had a Nabriales and what he did, but thankfully I thought of a solution for that, and once again.. spoilers for the future :B
And no, he isn't going to give the echo to the Nomu, not even the artificial one made by a certain blonde psycho, because even HE knows that is a bad idea... no.. the power he's going to give the nomu's is a little more... 'primal' in nature :D
And Nomu's are just organic hypertuned anyway.
fallendemon248: Hardly affected at all, considering one of the rules is no jealously, plus Izuku's already met Momo's parents, so it's not like meeting Tsu's would cause any problems there.
AnimeFan13579: I'd assume Nezu would had threatened Mei harshly if she tried to replicate Magitek without Power Loader and Izuku's assistance, not just for her own safety, but also for the school's considering even small MAgitek devices cause massive devastation.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
A soft sigh escaped past Tsuyu's lips as she had finished making some tea with some light snacks at the side of her kitchen. Then, pulling out two regular teacups while also taking out a more childishly designed plastic cup from the cupboard overtop of the sink, the frog girl quietly and sneakily moved from the island within the small room towards the hallway door that would lead to where her date currently was.
Slowly, she peeked her head around the door frame to take in the current state of her 'date'. Now, usually, Tsuyu would never be a jealous woman, considering she was willing to share the man who not only drove her more animalistic instincts wild, but also she genuinely cared for past those more 'based' feelings of lust when he made her heart skip its beats outside of the 'dragoon' kit.
But the way that her little sister, Satsuki, seemed to have Izuku wrapped around her finger as soon as Tsuyu had left to make the drinks and snacks for the three of them was a little baffling. It wasn't like the little tadpole was asking much of Tsuyu's date, far from it. But it seemed that Izuku was utterly enthralled with whatever the six-year-old had to say, never placating her as most older people would do with children Satsuki's age.
"So, you can read this entire book yourself?"
"Mhmm!" The small child had said with an almost excited tone of voice, though, much like Tsuyu and most of the rest of her family, it was barely recognizable, "Big sis often reads it to me, but I started to do so on my own since she isn't around as much."
Izuku looked at the book, whistling gently in praise, considering that the book was a large picture book with about fifteen to twenty pages in thickness. Then, his attention went back to the little girl sitting at his side as he gave her a bright smile, "That's mighty impressive, Satsuki… though I never heard this story before."
The sudden gasp and shocked look on the smallest member of the Asui family was all that was said before Satsuki scooted herself closer to the hero in training and opened the book, "How can you not? It's like the bestest story ever!"
Tsuyu watched as her younger sister then began to read the storybook to Izuku, who was hanging off of every word. When Satsuki got to a word she couldn't correctly pronounce, Izuku would help her slowly sound it out until she got it right and congratulating the small child when she did it on her own.
With a press of a button on her phone, she took a fairly decent photo of the two as they were enthralled with the story and sent it to the private group chat made between her and the three other women. The various responses of 'OMG SO CUTE' and the like made Tsuyu smile gently before silently retreating to the kitchen, gathering up the tea and snacks placed on the tray, and headed back out towards the pair of 'bookworms'. However, unlike before, she made herself known as she entered the room and putting on an act of innocence, "And what have you two been up to? Plotting my downfall?"
Izuku had to try and stifle a chuckle at the rather silly accusation made by the older Asui sibling. At the same time, Satsuki merely tilted her head in confusion at the statement but decided just to say what she and Izuku were up to rather than ask questions, "I was reading big bro our favorite book, kero, he said he never heard of it before! Can you believe that?"
Placing the tray down on the coffee table, Tsuyu raised an eyebrow at the declaration of Izuku being her younger sister's 'big bro' as she sat down on the side side of the small child before looking accusingly at Izuku, who held up his hands in defense and shrugged. However, he was sporting a light blush on his cheeks evidently from being called that.
Tsuyu looked down at her little sister, "Satsuki, why are you referring to Izuku as a big brother?"
"Isn't he? You and him are together!" The little tadpole bounced in her seat, with the open book still in her lap, "It's like Unca Kotaro, Unca Kenshi, and Aunty Rina since they are together with Aunty Yuri! Mama and Papa refer to them as brothers and sisters!"
After the small explanation given by Satsuki, even Izuku had raised an eyebrow at the various name drops as his gaze turned to Tsuyu, who returned his gaze with a look in her eyes, basically telling him not to press the issue at the moment before shifting in her seat to properly face the small girl, with an arm hanging off the back of the small couch they were on.
"Kero, it's a little different than that, Satsuki… for one, Izuku and I are only dating, while Aunt Yuri is married to our Aunt and Uncles."
Izuku watched as the small girl gave off a saddened ribbit, looking down at the book, he also turned his gaze to see that Tsuyu, while correct to fix Satsuki's misunderstanding, also had a bit of a sad look to her as she honestly didn't like to correct her sister. However, seeing Tsuyu like this didn't sit well with him. The shifting of the couch could be felt as both girls looked to see Izuku turn his body similar to how Tsuyu was seated, with his arm hanging off the back as he looked down to the small shield with a soft smile.
"I'm fine if you want to call me 'big bro', Satsuki…you are right, I am 'with' Tsuyu, and I'll more than likely be around quite a bit, given how much Tsuyu loves you and takes care of you so often." As he was saying this, his hand behind the couch slowly moved to take hold of Tsuyu's, causing said frog girl to ribbit in surprise, though it was quiet enough for the smaller frog girl not to notice.
Satsuki gave a heartfelt 'kero' herself, suddenly hugging the teenager as Izuku chuckled gently, blushing a little before turning his gaze to Tsuyu, who was also blushing. Still, he swore she was staring directly into his eyes as if she was trying to find something. He blinked with a tilt of his head when Tsuyu's gaze turned to a softer look, and he gently rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. The gentle croak coming from Satsuki got both of their attention as she now was seated between them, holding the book up expectantly, "I need to finish telling you the story, big bro!"
"Of course, and you have been doing such a wonderful job as well, especially with the big words! So, where were we?"
"-and in other hero news, Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods were seen taking down a group of bank robbers earlier today-" The news anchor had begun to speak as Izuku watched the report still seated in his spot on the couch for the last few hours. He sighed gently as he felt the small nuzzle of Satsuki on his arm, which caused Izuku to look towards the small frog girl who was currently napping with her head resting upon his lap.
Izuku smirked as he could hear the very soft ribbits coming from the child and gently pat her head a couple of times; who knew that reading a story and then watching a movie would tucker a child out so quickly. It was when Satsuki had nestled herself against Izuku that Tsuyu decided that it would be the perfect time to start making dinner for when the rest of her family would return.
Izuku had offered to help, but both teenagers watched as the small child suddenly clung to him in her slumber, pretty much 'sealed his fate'. Moving off of the couch, Tsuyu had placed a small kiss on his cheek before taking the try of now emptied tea and snacks back into the kitchen and had been absent since then. Then, finding himself a little bored watching the hero news, and with such gentleness that the sleeping Satsuki didn't wake up from, Izuku had pried himself off of the couch, stretching slightly from having sat down for so long and made his way silently towards the kitchen as he was following the delicious scent of stir-fried food wafting in the air.
Coming around the corner, Izuku froze at the entrance to the room as he saw Tsuyu finish placing the dinner she had made for her family into a glass dish with a cover, then bending over to put the entire package into the oven to keep it warm. Izuku's eyes now shot open with a not so surprising blush on his cheeks as he had the perfect view of his classmate's ass.
Izuku couldn't help but admire the way the sundress she had been wearing seemed to accentuate the curves of her body, from her supple yet firm buttocks to the way her thighs appeared to not only look soft but knowing they had built up muscles due to her method of traveling while in her hero suit. He would be lying to himself if he did not wish to one day rest his head there.
Izuku took a slow but shaky breath in, exhaling it out slowly and silently through his nose as his eyes hardened, his hand clenched into a tight fist for a brief moment before taking a step forward. Izuku's mind was slightly in a haze as he slowly made his way towards Tsuyu, who was now raising up her body, not noticing the boy walking up behind with her with a clear purpose.
As Izuku was approaching Tsuyu unknowingly, she sighed gently as she raised her body back up from putting the stir-fried dinner in a ceramic dish and in the oven to keep warm until the rest of her family would arrive home. However, as she was cooking, her mind and thoughts kept going back to how her first-ever date had not panned out to what she was expected.
While the initial plan that Izuku had come up with sounded like a typical first date, she couldn't fault him as this had been his own first date, if the vibes he was giving off were anything to go by. Instead, of course, she was called upon by her mother. She had invited her date to spend it watching her little sister. In contrast, her mother and father made an unsurprising trip to the hospital because of her pregnant aunt Yuri, to whom she had gotten the idea of the polyamorous relationship idea in the first place.
Typically, this wouldn't bother the hero hopeful, as she loved her extended family as much as her regular one, but how many 'close calls' could one have before a baby was born? Admittedly, the one upside to this minor change in plans was finding out that Izuku was REALLY good with young kids, almost surprisingly so given his past. As she was thinking of checking up on Izuku and Satsuki, and possibly bringing up that particular subject, she was stopped when she felt the rather muscled and strong hands of her date slowly wrap around her midsection, causing a surprised 'kero' from the girl, before calming down and slowly resting her back against his chest, her larger hands gently resting on his arms, "Izuku?"
"S-Sorry," he spoke gently, muffled as his nose was resting on top of her head with his mouth covered by her hair, "I-I know this date wasn't ideal… and I spent a lot of time entertaining your little sister… I was c-coming to see if you needed some help with dinner, but then… I um…" he was now blushing heavily as Tsuyu slowly turned around in his arms to see his face, feeling his hands resting on the small of her back as she stared into his emerald eyes with her own hands resting on his chest.
"You came in while I was putting dinner in the oven, I'm guessing?" Tsuyu asked as Izuku simply nodded in more embarrassment, but yet she continued, "It's not like that is an issue, kero. I mean, you had checked me out before, especially when your powers were trying to unlock your dragoon kit, kero."
Izuku sighed gently, resting his forehead on hers as she giggled lightly, always willing to bring back that little fact now and then to cause him to be a blushing mess. After he calmed himself down a bit, Izuku was gazing back into her beady black irises, "B-be that as it may, what I saw, well… similar to how you wanted to be 'selfish' earlier today… I-I kinda wanted to as well, so I came up behind you, wanting to hug and cuddle with you for a bit. from behind."
"Oh? And does it change because now I'm facing you, kero?" Tsuyu had said in an almost teasing manner, resting her head now on his chest and hearing his speeding heartbeat as she kept ribbiting in amusement. They held together like this until Izuku gently cleared his throat, causing the frog-like girl to raise her head off of him and look up at him. Then, seeing his somewhat embarrassed and nervous face, she tilted her head in curiosity, "Something wrong, kero?"
"N-nothing is wrong… just wanted to be a tad bit more selfish if you'll let me," Izuku admitted, moving one of his hands to his cheek to idly scratch it in nervousness.
When Izuku's gaze looked back down to Tsuyu, he swore she had a smug smirk on her face, even if no one else could see it, "Well, kero… If your feeling 'selfish', you could also grope my-"
Whatever Tsuyu was about to say died on her lips as she felt the hand of Izuku gently caress her cheek, only for him to take a soft yet firm hold before leaning himself down and kissing her on her lips. While it had only lasted for about ten or so seconds, the kiss was warm and loving and, to Tsuyu, felt like an eternity. Even when he gently pulled away, she could still feel the sensation of his lips on hers as she kept staring up at him.
Izuku gently chuckled nervously, his thumb idly rubbing her cheek as he smiled down at her, cheeks ablaze with the color red, you could hardly see his freckles, "W-whenever you kissed me in the past, you always stole m-my breath away… So I w-wanted to see if I could do the same to you."
Silence filled the room as Tsuyu just kept staring up at him, with her cheeks slowly turning a deep red color. She remained as such as she gently pulled away from Izuku, causing him to immediately think he went too far and was about to apologize to her for doing something she may have not wanted in the first place. However, his words died in his throat as he felt the rather hard grip of the frog girl on his wrist as she was beginning to pull him out of the room, "T-Tsuyu?"
"You. Me. My Bedroom. Now, kero." as all Tsuyu said, and the green-haired boy began to stutter and blush furiously as he was being pulled towards the stairs. Thankfully, or sadly depending on who you ask, the front door of the Asui home opened up with a loud bang that caused a tiny little croak from the living room to echo out as three individuals now began to walk in.
As Mrs. Asui came up to the two teenagers, she was 'smiling' as her husband, Mr. Asui, who had a more apparent toad-like appearance thanks to his quirk, was staring hard at Izuku. But, for the green-haired teenager, he couldn't get a read on the look he was getting from the older frogman.
As Mrs. Asui began to speak to a somewhat annoyed Tsuyu about something, Izuku's mind restarted as he watched the family's father go over to pick up a still slightly sleepy Satsuki into his arms, followed by his young son. The latter looked aloof to everything around him. However, his gaze soon turned towards Tsuyu as the dawning of a question just kept repeating in his head.
'Why was she going to bring me up to her bedroom?'
To say that Izuku was feeling some tension at this very moment would be an understatement.
Sitting across the dinner table was one Ganma Asui, Tsuyu's father, and in between taking sensible bites of his daughter's delicious home cooking, would be staring hard at the teenage boy with a look of either annoyance or pure dislike. Not that Izuku could blame the man, as sitting across his dinner table, in his house… was some 'punk' trying to date his daughter.
Hydaelyn help him if the man ever found out that Izuku was dating the others as well.
Thankfully, Beru, Tsuyu's mother and Ganma's loving wife, was there to keep the peace, considering she too could feel the tension within the room. From Tsuyu's annoyance of her father acting the way he was, Izuku's nervousness and doing his best to make a good first impression (which she noted he already had, given what Tsuyu had told her about him at the USJ.), as well as making sure Ganma's little 'overprotective dad' shtick wouldn't possibly drive the boy away.
Yes, she knew how her husband was putting on an act, much to both her and their daughter's annoyance. He often did something similar when dealing with most clients, considering it was tough to read one's emotions with their mutations. While Ganma looked like a rather angry toad, Beru knew the man was actually a bit of a softy, especially given he wore his emotions on his sleeve most of the time.
Who knew a toad man could tear up at the slightest mood change in a movie so quickly?
"So, Midoriya, how is your mother doing?" Beru asked suddenly, causing the boy to slightly shake out of some sort of possible inner monologue, "From meeting her at the beginning of the school year, ribbit, I would be sure she is doing well with so many teenager's under one roof."
"O-Oh, yes well… the first few days were i-interesting, to say the least. But she's really come into her own… especially after dealing with Mineta on the second day." Izuku said with a slightly haunted look on his face and Tsuyu, for that matter.
Both parents tilted their heads in confusion at that little tidbit, considering when they met the woman during the moving into the dorms, she seemed a bit 'mousey' and one to avoid conflict. But given their daughter's reaction and her date, it appears like Inko Midoriya had some bite to her.
"Well, I'm sure that your father is being kept busy with trying to get in and out of UA for his job, no doubt, what with the new security system in place." Ganma had said while looking down to his plate and picking up another savory vegetable with chopsticks, only to hear a somewhat angered 'croak' coming from his daughter. He frowned for a moment before looking to see the somber look on Izuku's face, who was merely staring down at his own plate. Ganma croaked in slight embarrassment, "My... apologies, I did not know."
"I-it's alright, sir." Izuku spoke up suddenly, Tsuyu resting her hand on his shoulder in comfort, "M-My dad passed a long time ago, and it's not common knowledge aside from close family members or friends… so it's fine."
Everyone at the table was now silent, as Satusuki had gotten off of her chair and went to hug Izuku to try and cheer him up; he smiled at her before placing a hand on the top of her head and patting it in thanks, which earned a tiny little croak from the small child. Much to the amusement of Beru and Tsuyu.
Ganma, on the other hand, was now staring at the boy deep in thought, squinting slightly after hearing about the fate of the boy's father. He placed his chopsticks onto his plate and slowly slid his chair back, standing up and bending down to gently kiss the top of Beru's head as she looked at him, "Something wrong, ribbit?"
"Nothing is wrong; just need to go over a few case files before the morning since Yuri took up most of the day," Ganma said with a softness to his voice, making sure not to get the attention of the children. Beru sighed gently and nodded her head, knowing the actual reason why Ganma was going to go to their office.
The patriarch of the Asui family croaked suddenly, gaining the attention of the kids on the other side as he first looked to Tsuyu, "Thank you for the meal, Tsuyu… and once again, I'm sorry we had to call you on again to watch Satsuki, croak."
"Kero, it's fine, dad… given the circumstances with aunt Yuri, it's something we need to deal with until she's finally out of the hospital." Tsuyu replied, now moving her hand from Izuku's shoulder to under the table, taking in one of the boy's hands into her own. Of course, Ganma hadn't noticed his daughter doing such as he turned his gaze to Izuku, with a hardened look for a moment that threatened a new kind of hell awaiting the hero in training should Izuku hurt his daughter.
Surprisingly, the look that Izuku returned was not one of defiance nor defeat from the look Ganma gave him. Instead, Izuku's face hardened similarly to when he was in 'hero mode' as if stating to the father of the frog girl who was gripping his hand that he would sooner die than ever hurt Tsuyu in any sort of light.
Ganma sighed silently before nodding his head at Izuku, "It was good to meet you, Midoriya." and then turned to head up the stairs to the office without another word. As he ascended the steps with rather heavy footfalls, due to his large size, Ganma's mind began to go over a few lingering thoughts and questions before reaching the top of the stairs.
Once he walked towards his and Beru's private office, he shut and locked the door behind him, no need for the two youngest to somehow end up in here and find things not meant for little children. After all, looking upon evidence and coroner reports of crime scenes and dead bodies would scar his children. Even his eldest was a witness to the death of a villain during that incident at UA, someplace that was supposed to be safe for her.
As he sat down into his office chair and turned on his computer and waited for the machine to entirely turn on, Ganma's thoughts then went back to the meeting of the various upset parents of Class 1-A, so many of them demanding answers to why this had happened. The toad man remembered the way that while Nezu had explained how the villains got into the USJ, through the use of a Quirk which never had been encountered before in the quirk registered database, and how the students when faced with the real threat of criminals they would one day face upon graduating, had reacted and maintained the highest form of heroism in that situation and banded together to make sure all of their classmates would come out of it with very few injuries.
When one of the parents, he believed to be Mr. Ashido, given his very pink complexation similar to that of one of Tsuyu's new friends, had asked where the instructor's during all this. It was then that one of the other two occupants that were standing beside Nezu had spoken up.
The shaggy-looking man with a very odd-looking scarf had introduced himself as Shota Aizawa, the homeroom teacher of Class 1-A, as well as one of the teachers present during the attack. He had explained how while he was dealing with the vast majority of the small army of villains to give his students and the other teacher time to escape, he was nearly killed by one of the more deadly villains due to it being brought in to kill All Might, who had been running late due to an unforeseen occurrence that happened before the school day started.
One of the other parents, one whom Ganma hadn't been introduced to as of yet, had pointed out that Aizawa looked pretty good for someone to be taken down that quickly by a villain who could supposedly match All Might. He remembered the heavy sigh escaping from the aloof instructor, who stared at the parent for an ungodly amount of time before basically explaining that two of his more exceptional students and his 'problem child' had given him first-aid. When Recovery Girl had arrived on the scene, it was due to her quirk that healed him pretty much entirely. However, he was bed-ridden due to how much stamina was used, as per the downside of her quirk.
It was then All Might had spoken up, explaining that one student had taken it upon himself to keep the primary villains at bay until he had arrived and was finally able to deal with them, which of course caused a few more parents to yell about how All Might wasn't there in the first place. It was there that everyone was stunned when THE number one hero had kneeled down to the ground and prostrated himself in a dogeza, his forehead touching the ground as he apologized for his mistakes. Plans had been made to make sure something like this would never happen on his watch ever again and to put their trust back on him to change for the better.
The computer screen turning fully on with a bright glare knocked Ganma out of his thoughts with a deep croak that was more of a grumble than anything else. He reached for his custom reading glasses and began to look through the database connected back at the office, and typed in 'Midoriya' within the search bar. While the boy seemed alright in Ganma's eyes, there was something in the back of his mind that was giving him the oddest sense of deja vu as he was skimming through the public case files, scrolling past the rather infamous case of one Inko Midoriya versus Aldera High (something that He and Beru's offices were initially tagged in taking, until they learned the reason as to why the case was filed and immediately declined it.).
The toad man's eyes widened suddenly as he came across a rather old case that came up within the search results, something he had nearly forgotten due to how long ago it was, but also the fact he was still a young defense lawyer at the time, sitting in the gallery as he watched his mentor working a case before all hell broke loose. A court officer ended up getting killed due to the defendant attempting to assassinate the judge.
He squinted his bulbous eyes as he got a good look at the picture of the young officer who died that day and the recognizable freckles on his cheeks as well as the rather wild-looking black and green hair.
"Well, I'll be damned, croak."
"Y-you think I made a good impression?" Asked Izuku, holding Tsuyu's hand as they walked past the security gate of UA. It was getting close to curfew already, but the two teenagers had felt the need to not rush towards their dorms after leaving the train station. Tsuyu gently hummed softly before leaning her head on his shoulder, enjoying the somewhat more relaxed night since her fingers were entangled with his, and the warmth coming from his hand felt delightful to her.
"Satsuki loves you like a brother already, kero. While Samidare is his usual 'doesn't care' sort of attitude, which will change if he ever sees you use one of your kits, kero."Tsuyu said gently as she could feel Izuku chuckle lightly, "Don't worry about my dad. He was mostly putting on a strong toad front since you are dating one of his daughters. Kero, but he didn't try to run you out and even said it was good to meet you, so you're safe from his 'wrath'. Mom was already aware of you and already liked you, plus you got brownie points for how quickly you got Satsuki to warm up to you; kero, usually she's very slow to trust others."
Tsuyu could hear the sigh escape from Izuku's lips as she hugged his arm more, not only for the warmth he was giving off but also to tease him since she had placed the limb between her breasts, giggling at the stammer and embarrassed squeak he gave off when she did so, "So, kero, I know our first date wasn't what we wanted it to be, but I hoped it was still good."
"H-honestly, Tsuyu…" Izuku had begun, catching the girl's attention as he was scratching his cheek nervously, "It was a p-pleasant time… and it did give me an interesting experience out of it."
"Oh? And what was that?"
Izuku chuckled a little, blushing a little more as he tilted his head close to hers and whispered to her, "I got a taste of t-that little dream Fray mentioned to you tonight, b-before the rest of your family came back."
It was Tsuyu's time to look confused, thinking back to the myriad of things that the 'ghost' had told her in their last encounter, until the realization hit her and was shown on her face with her cheeks going nearly red, giving off a soft ribbit and nuzzling against his arm more. Such action caused Izuku to blush more as well, as the frog girl would agree that the night had played out like they were a small family, what with Izuku looking after one of their children while Tsuyu was cooking dinner.
Just as they could see the front lights to the dorm entrance before them, Tsuyu stopped in her tracks underneath one of the path lights, forcing Izuku to stop and turn around to look at her a little puzzled, especially since she was looking down at the ground, "Tsuyu?"
"Izuku, you know I often say my mind, no filter, correct?"
"Y-yes? But I don't have a problem with that… What's wrong?"
Slowly, Tsuyu raised her head up and stared directly into his eyes, still holding his hand, but now with both of hers, "Why do you like me? I mean, we have barely known each other for a month now. Already I'm trying to convince you to form a relationship with not only me but three other girls who've known you longer than I have!"
A single tear slowly fell out of Tsuyu's eye, rolling down her cheek and falling to the ground as she kept staring up at him, watching his confused face slowly morph into one that she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Tsuyu slowly felt his hand leave hers, and while she was waiting for the worst possible scenario, she ribbited loudly when she felt the warm embrace of Izuku envelope her in a hug, gently rubbing her back with one hand. At the same time, the other rested on her lower back.
Tsuyu gently nuzzled into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him as he held her close in silence for a few moments before he slowly began to speak, "W-while it's true that I have not known you as long as the others… and while I was initially confused and scared at the idea of the relationship… This past week before tonight's date made me realize that you did this not only for me but for everyone."
He leaned back slightly so he could gaze into her eyes, the hand that was rubbing her back moving to cup the cheek that the tear had fallen from, wiping away the with his thumb, "Tsuyu, you proposed this because not only were to thinking of my feelings but also yours and the others… because I'll be honest, before you four confessed to me, I was constantly trying to think what I was going to do b-because… like… holy smokes…"
Tsuyu sniffed gently and giggled slightly; Izuku had chuckled lightly as well before he cleared his throat, "W-while I'm still coming to terms with the fact that four gorgeous, powerful, and very caring women actually want to be with me… Tsuyu... " Izuku looked her dead in the eye with that determined look he always sported when facing off against a challenging foe, and Tsuyu could feel her heart hammering against her chest, "Since... The first very day I looked upon you, you have constantly taken my breath away… not only with your stunning beautiful looks and physique but from your intelligence as well as when you speak your mind."
Tsuyu kept staring up at him in pure wonder as Izuku began to blush more and more, "W-what I'm trying to say… Tsuyu Asui… w-will you go out with me?"
Silence fell between the pair, and Izuku was slowly starting to freak out. Tsuyu was still staring at him, and he swore her eyes were glazed over similar to how he would need to 'reboot', at least from what Tenya and Yuga had told him. As he was about to gently call her name, the frog girl had snapped back into reality and practically jumped onto the boy, smashing her lips against his in a frenzied kiss.
The kiss had turned out to be more of a make-out sort of deal as Tsuyu tightened her grip around his body, and he followed suit. Little by little, his inhibitions were slowly giving out, and he returned the kiss in the same sort of fervor she was giving him. Eventually, they had to break the kiss for air. As they slowly pulled away, Tsuyu let out a very happy croak from her throat, which caused both teenagers to chuckle and then continue on their way back to the dorms.
Izuku now was resting in his dorm room, having escorted Tsuyu back to hers and ended the date with a very chaste kiss on the lips. The green-haired boy was looking through his phone for the first time since he had texted his mother that he and Tsuyu were on their way back to the dorms, letting her know that both students were in their own rooms, and smiled as he sighed gently, looking up at the ceiling.
As he was about to go through his memories of the day, his phone buzzed loudly, and he brought it up to his face to see a text message from Nezu which read:
"Good Evening Midoriya,
I trust you had a wonderful night. There is something that must be discussed during the first period on Monday when classes start. You are not in trouble, but this is about your blessing and possibly something else. Your first-period teacher is aware of this meeting, so don't doddle after homeroom!
Kind Regards,
Dean Nezu"
Well, that is strange.
Regardless, Izuku sent a reply to let the dean know that he got his message and then closed his phone, placing it on his nightstand before turning off the light, curling up under the covers, and slowly closing his eyes.
Within a few minutes, he was already in a deep sleep, cuddling up under the covers as the dream he was having begun with him entering into his large home, where a score of various green-haired children ran up to greet him, and from around the corner came a slightly older Tsuyu, smiling as she held a baby with her arms. And along with her came out the three other women in various stages of pregnancies or holding babies as well, and all Izuku did was smiling happily.
Something his real face mimicked as he slept.
[Meanwhile]
"Alright, give us the deets! How was he?" Mina said with a giddy laugh as she was sitting on Tsuyu's bed in her knitwear, along with Momo on the other side of the frog girl.
Tsuyu was blushing hard as after she saw Izuku descended down the stairs to his floor, he had entered her room to find all the girls of Class 1-A waiting in her room, all with the most innocent smiles on their faces.
Now in her own sleepwear, Tsuyu sighed gently as she looked at Mina, who was smiling mischievously, before looking at the others, "Nothing leaves this room, alright? I already know why Kyoka, Mina, and Momo are here… but Ochako? Toru?"
"Both you and Izuku are my friends! Plus, that picture of him and your little sister was so darn cute!" Ochako said with gusto and a giggle, holding onto a crescent moon pillow.
Toru was bouncing up and down in her pj's, holding a bright yellow teddy bear, "And I love girl talk on boys! Plus, it's not like you're the only one going to share! I wanna tell you all how it was having Yuga with me at my house over the break!"
"Plus, it would help the rest of us when we go on dates with him to make sure he is comfortable as he was with you," Momo spoke up, wearing red silk pj's and a top with her family's crest on the left side of her chest. Tsuyu looked at Momo as she spoke, then to Kyoka and Mina, who looked in excitement.
With a heavy croak and sigh, Tsuyu wiggled into her bed as she sat cross-legged, "Fine, kero, but when it's your turns, you gotta tell the rest of us how it went."
"We promise! Now tell us how our cinnamon roll wooed you!"
Tsuyu looked at Mina with a deadpan look on her face before she sighed once again.
"Alright, kero, so it started out like this…."
Chapter 27: One's Worth
Summary:
Eri has some time with the Moogles, while Izuku is asked an important question, and what's the secret that Aizawa is hiding from his students?!
Notes:
Hi ho, everyone!
Welp, it's time for another chapter and you know what that means!
Shenanigans and some light plot stuff!
So, to give you all a fair warning, been doing some job hunting as I'm well enough to get said job now, so chapters may come out a few days longer, so giving you all a heads up on that.
And starting next chapter is training time to the sports festival and the dates of our green bean and his lovely ladies! :D plus even more potential romances popping up? :O
So sit back and relax and enjoy this week's chapter!
OH! and to remind you all, I will be doing some "FF" explanations at the end of the chapter as I know some people don't know the "lore" of FFXIV, and have been put off because of it, so hopefully this should help. If anyone needs something explained (as long as its not tied into the plot which I will address if asked) I'll do so at the end of every chapter. I'm simply calling it "The more you know: Final Fantasy XIV"
So now onto the FFN reviews!
PMC-Midnight Mariner: Thank you! I honestly had a blast writing this chapter as I find it oddly relaxing to write the fluff, as for Nezu's message, well, read on and find out!
AnimeFan13579: Trust me, I'm sure any babies made between Izuku and the girls are going to be adorable, as for the private chat? Dunno tbh... something goofy probably because of Mina.
As for the dream, I mean.. Fray has already told Tsuyu about it, and she did mention it to the girls in a previous chapter before they confessed, so even if Fray did spill the beans, that would just give them confirmation.
fallendemon248: Not much is known in canon about the Asui parents, though they were one of the few to be introduced in the manga. A common trope for the parents is that they are lawyers, so I decided to make them such in this fic.
As for Papa Asui looking into Izuku? It checks out as any father would try and figure out if the guy dating his daughter is any good for her... turns out he did find something that happens to be related to his own past :D
curlyboy01: Thanks and hope you continue reading the story! As for "Phantasia", It is on definite Hiatus as I want to primarily focus on this story, as well as I may want to go back and rewrite it and change a few things as I feel it can be very cringe.
Han-Daewi: While there was a special tattoo that was given to "legacy" players of FFXIV if they had played the original 1.0 version. This tattoo is more my own invention as a sort of "tracker" of what Izuku has unlocked, which each 'kit' symbol filling it up more and more.
So far, it's Paladin, Gunbreaker, Red Mage, White Mage, Dragoon, Warrior, and Machinist... Dark Knight is still being "held back" by Fray for reasons.
Anyway! onto the latest chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"I honestly don't know how you were able to hide this from us, Mogal…" spoke a slightly larger and possibly older Moogle, with its white fur a duller gray color and whispers that looked to be more akin to a mustache and beard, who was floating in front of the giant aetheryte crystal with several others beside it.
Mogal sighed gently as he was currently being held by Eri as if he was a teddy bear. From the shaking of her little arms, he could tell that the child was frightened, "I-I was going to let you know, kupo… but she was fairly weak and injured when she popped by the crystal! So I-I wanted to help her heal somewhat before doing so."
"And why didn't you use magic, hmm? Even you should be able to cast even the simplest of Moogle magicks! " spoke a slightly slender-looking Moogle, with a higher-pitched voice with a sense of superiority to it, "Or are you still that inept to even use magic?"
"I CAN USE MAGIC JUST FINE, KUPO!" Mogal roared loudly, flying out of Eri's grasp and right into the face of the Moogle that accused him of being poor at magic, "And I tried to use a less potent healing spell because she doesn't have a lot of aether in her body, but it barely did anything!"
"That's only because you are weak!" The snobbish Moogle said as it crashed its forehead against Mogal's, locking their eyes together as both of the creature's hair started to poof up, "All you do goof around and don't take your role as a Moogle seriously!"
"At least I have a role in the jobs I do, unlike SOME Moogles, kupo!"
"ENOUGH!" The voice of the older Moogle boomed out in the cavern, causing it to echo and making most of the other Moogles from within the caverns come to see what the commotion was. The wizened Moogle floated over towards the two young ones and swiftly bonked them on their heads with a mallet that popped up into the air, "If you two dunces hadn't realized it while you were bickering, AGAIN, you are scaring the child!"
Both turned their heads, and Mogal gasped and flew back to Eri's side, who was on the verge of tearing up and huddling within herself. Mogal gently rubbed her arm, trying to calm her down, which caused the small child to whimper and sniff gently. The more lean Moogle looked worried, as its intention was not to scare the poor thing as the elder sighed heavily, floating down towards Mogal and Eri, landing in front of Eri and looking up at her still teary eyes.
"I am sorry that we startled you, young one… I am Elder Noxel Mog, and from what young Mogal has said, your name is Eri, correct?"
Eri gently nodded her head, her fists tightening over a small object that the wizened Moogle had caught sight of. Noxel raised an eyebrow in curiosity as it saw the gleam of a green crystal but paid it no mind, for now, returning its gaze to her, "Well, it may be a little late, but Welcome to Moghome, Little Eri. We promise no harm will come to you, and while you are within our realm, you are protected by the Moogles."
Eri sniffled once again but then gently wiped her eyes of the tears, "Y-You'll protect me from Kai and the bad people?"
The look of fear that was present in her eyes shocked the Moogles that could see it, as well as the question. Even Noxel, the usually level-headed one amongst many of the Moogles, had puffed up in indignation at how someone could hurt such a little girl in such a way. But, it took a deep breath to calm himself down and gently smile reassuringly at her, "I swear on my pom that this Kai or the 'bad people' will never lay a finger on you while you are under our protection."
As if to drive the point home, Mogal had moved himself to be hugged by the small girl once again; Eri immediately pulled the small Moogle to her body, which caused a tiny squeak to escape from his mouth. Noxel chuckled amusingly at this while also noting that the girl had yet to release the crystal in her hand before speaking once again, "I'm sure that Mogal there has been feeding you, yes?"
Eri looked at Noxel and gently nodded, "He brings me apples…."
If Moogles could sweat, Mogal would be one soaked ball of fuzz as he could feel the rather dangerous look he was getting from his elder, only to have it disappear as quick as it appeared when the Moogle looked back at Eri, "Well, as I'm sure they were quite tasty, you can't just have apples to eat… let's get you some more food and apples, and if you'd like you can tell me how you came to be in our little community."
Eri hesitated for a moment, looking about the different Moogles that were all looking at her, before holding Mogal's closely and gently nodding. Then, with a soft chuckle, Noxel casted another 'float' spell upon the small girl and guided her towards the main cavern where they could eat in peace and for the elder creature could learn of Eri's tale.
After all, he had to report to the 'Good King' once Eri was given a full and healthy meal.
Because if Krile were to find out the child had only been eating apples… No Moogles would survive that massacre.
"Come in!" called out Nezu as he was finishing up a report on his computer, ignoring the apparent staring coming from Toshinori, who was baffled at how quickly the dean could type on a standard-sized keyboard with such tiny hands.
Izuku slowly opened the door and was surprised to see Toshinori as well once he closed it behind him, "Y-you wanted to see me, sir?"
"Good Morning, Mr. Midoriya!" Nezu exclaimed with a sort of happy tone of voice, "Thank you for seeing us so early in the morning, and I can assure you this won't take too long. I trust you had a pleasant time during this previous weekend?"
Izuku blinked, staring at the dean, who was now resting his chin on his paws with a glint within his scarred eye that gave the young hero hopeful pause.
Was the dean teasing him about his date with Tsuyu?!
Before Izuku could even respond to that, a short little cough and clearing of a throat got his attention when he saw Toshinori give the smaller being an exasperated look, as if begging the dean not to harass the boy about his personal life. Nezu caught the glimpse and returned with a silent one that basically read 'let me have my fun' before looking back at Izuku, who was fidgeting in the chair a little with a slight blush on his cheeks.
"Well, enough about that for now; the reason why this little meeting was called was that our good friend here wishes to ask you something," Nezu explained and leaned back in his chair. At the same time, Toshinori slowly got up from his seat, buffing up to his 'All Might' form, and strode himself forward until he was in front of the still sitting Izuku, who looked on in confusion.
"Young Midoriya…" The pro hero had begun to speak, seemingly trying to find the right words as the boy was looking up at the man with both curiosity and awe, "A year ago, we had met after that rather nasty business with that sludge villain, and I had told you something truly unforgivable as the number one pro hero."
Toshinori raised his hand to halt the incoming and inevitable apology that Izuku was about to shout out with a somber look on his face, the smile he was known for not present. Both knew and had reconciled over that year about that particular 'bump' within their personal history of knowing one another, "I understand that you have forgiven me for it, and seen where I was coming from, but what I said still weighs heavily on my mind to this day, and I fear that it will continue to do so for a long time…."
"But, that's not why you were called here today!" All Might suddenly perked up, his smile shining brightly, "for you see, it's also been a year since I declared you my successor, and the chance to inherit my quirk before we were interrupted by Mog and his hammer." All Might said with a slight chuckle at the memory;. However, he was initially confused by the tiny creatures; the older man had grown to not only respect them. Still, he was also happy that they could help him during those first couple of weeks of teaching.
"Regardless, I have been keeping a watchful eye on you, seeing you grow not only in power with your blessing but also seeing you become more confident with yourself and your peers. In that short year of knowing you, I can say with one hundred percent honesty that I am proud of how far you have come, my boy!"
If Izuku was trying to make sure he wasn't crying, he was failing miserably as while he was smiling brightly, the tears kept pouring down his cheeks. Nezu slowly nudged a box of tissues towards his student, who immediately grabbed it and began (and failed) to wipe away the waterworks. All Might smiled brightly while watching, patiently waiting for Izuku to get some control over himself before continuing, "Well, what do you say, my boy? Will you become my successor and inherit 'One for All'?"
Silence filled the room slowly once Izuku had gotten himself calmed down. To be honest with himself, the boy had thought that he would never get this opportunity again after the very admit 'no' from Mog and the dean last time. Izuku looked towards the diminutive being, waiting for any sort of interruption either by Nezu or a surprise Moogle attack, and when neither happened, with the dean just watching the two people in silence as Izuku slowly fidgeted again.
"W-well, barring any sudden ambushes by flying furred creatures." Both teacher and student began to look around to make sure that wasn't going to happen. Once the coast was clear, Izuku looked up to All Might, his idol, and teacher with a look of pure determination, "But for my answer, sir. Yes, I accept-GAHK!"
Of all the things that Izuku in his short life had never expected, well aside from having women crush on him… one having appropriately been asked out after his first date. But he never expected to be suddenly bear-hugged by the number one pro hero and swung around the room while the large blonde man was shouting happily.
"You might want to let your successor go, Toshinori… lest you suffocate him," Nezu spoke while sipping on his tea as the buffed-up man looked down to see Izuku furiously tapping on his arm with his face entirely blue. Quickly lowering the boy back onto his feet, All Might began to pat his back as Izuku coughed harshly while he was struggling to catch his breath.
It took a few minutes before Izuku's complexion returned, and All Might stood proudly once again and was just about to speak when the younger man spoke up, "Um… can I ask one thing… before we continue?"
"Of course, my boy! I know you probably have a million questions, so I can answer a few in the time we have before I give you my quirk."
"T-that's the thing… it's more of a favor than a question." Izuku said with a steeled look in his eyes that made All Might's smile falter for just a moment. At the same time, Nezu leaned forward with his paws together, interested in the favor his student wished to ask.
"I can't believe I'm the last one again!" Izuku cried out as he was dashing towards testing site C wearing his newly updated hero suit. True to what Power Loader had told him the week prior, the design of his suit was relatively the same as it was when he had gotten it. Still, the materials used for its construction were vastly improved upon, with more durability and also fire-resistance added to it. Izuku was happy that Mei hadn't done anything overly crazy with it, given her enthusiasm towards her inventions or anything technological now that he thought about it.
The way she stared and practically drooled over the newly dubbed 'magitek' was a bit terrifying.
Still, that was another thing he was also thinking about regarding his 'normal' hero costume. While his outfits would change between his different kits, ranging from differences in mobility and how durable the varying armors were, case in point, while his Gunbreaker kit was more mobile than his Paladin one, the added shield and stronger armor made up for it.
However, when it came to his actual hero suit, he was essentially fighting quirkless. Not like it was a terrible thing, given he had seen how skilled Aizawa was during the initial moments of the USJ and taking down most if not all of the 'off the street' thugs that were brought there. And while one could argue that Izuku could merely just switch between the different parts of his blessing, Izuku knew that some villains may not give him a chance to change up, or the environment would not allow some of his more devastating kits to be used, similar to why he couldn't use the Dragoon during the battle trials.
Not all villains were brainless and could quickly figure out patterns or how quirks worked, waiting for the opportune time to strike when he was at his weakest.
Tomura Shigaraki and the Nomu creature were proof of that. The latter was more the overall brute strength it had, all because Izuku was trying to initially subdue the beast, which meant he had to hold back.
He did admit that it was a little relaxing to face down a foe that could take a hit from his kits.
Regardless, he would need to discuss with Power Loader and Nezu about augmenting his hero suit with magitek and, barring getting told no, already was thinking about what sort of things he could do or possibly get away with. Izuku had begun to slow down and rubbed his chin deep in thought as he brainstormed, muttering very low as he did so.
"-couldpossiblygivemyselfajumpboosterwiththeproper -GHK!"
Izuku had stumbled backward slightly, having felt a sudden pressure around his neck not only pull him out of his thoughts but also choked him a little. Quickly raising his hand up to take hold of the object that did so, Izuku pulled it away and brought it up to see what had caused him to choke. He blinked as he looked upon a very familiar ear jack, and with a worried look, slowly turned his head to the very red-faced Kyoka who, while also looking mad at him, was doing her best to try and hide the blush on her cheeks.
Izuku was now the one to raise an eyebrow as his analytical mind went into overdrive as to why she was blushing until he realized the reason when one of his fingers idly slid across the surface of the 'cord' of the ear jack, and the girl flinched while turning redder.
Turns out the hypothesis Izuku had about Kyoka's quirk was that her ears were very sensitive and happened to be true.
Izuku let go of the ear jack, which Kyoka quickly retracted, and the boy in green quickly started to apologize only for the very clearly annoyed cough and throat clearing of Aizawa caught their attention, as well as everyone else's who were snickering at the interaction between the two.
"Alright, we wasted enough time waiting for the problem child, so let's get this exercise going." Aizawa said with a pointed look at Izuku, who merely responded with an embarrassed chuckling and rubbing the back of his head, "Now, first off, let me start with talking about the incident at the USJ."
Even stiffened at the mention of the event as Aizawa continued, "Normally, I would have expelled some of you for how you attacked during the crisis." The teacher spoke with a stern tone as his gaze landed upon the three particular individuals that were Bakugo, Kirishima, and Izuku. The latter of two winced and looked down guiltily. At the same time, Bakugo huffed and turned his head away, which in turn caused Aizawa to squint his eyes slightly at the blonde bomber for a moment before continuing.
"But, what transpired should not have happened, plus you all are still first-years at this University and now have been thrust into the reality of being a Pro hero, so your lack of inexperience of going half-cocked will be overlooked this time. But, let me make this very clear when one of the teaching staff or your potential mentor in the internships tells you to do something, glamorous or not, you do it, understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good, now with that being said, I will state that everyone one of you did a decent job during that crisis, and thanks to the quick thinking of several students, were able to access and provide the proper aid to those that needed it, and yes, that includes myself." Aizawa spoke as he now looked towards Tsuyu, Yuga, and Izuku, who were smiling with the praise they received from their teacher, similar to the others that were also beaming bright smiles.
"For today's lesson, we are going to be focusing on a topic that often was overlooked until at least your tail end of your second year, but because of the USJ and the events that transpired, the dean thought fit to, as he put it, 'nip this in the bud' before anyone of you gets any crazy ideas." Aizawa's gaze turned to Izuku, squinting hard at the green-haired boy who flinched at the hostility, "We are going to practice 'lethal' takedowns of opponents."
"Sir!" Tenya suddenly spoke up, chopping the air robotically, while everyone gasped in slight shock at the implications of said exercise, "We are training to be heroes, and it's a commonly known fact that heroes do not kill!"
"Correct, Iida." Aizawa said while putting his hands in his pockets and leaning back, "However, that is a common misconception made up by not only the media but also by the Hero Commission as well."
"Nine times out of ten, a hero will do their utmost to take down a villain with as little to no force necessary, either by talking them down or by merely knocking them out." Aizawa's cold gaze came back as he straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest, "But there is still that one out of ten where sometimes a villain will not go down, or there is no alternative to straight-up killing them, sometimes it can happen by accident, but in most scenarios, it is the decision of the hero to make that call."
"As an underground hero myself, there are times where it is the only option to avoid risking unnecessary civilian casualties. But, it is normally a very last resort, and don't think that regular heroes are exempt from making that sort of call; I can assure you that every hero in the top ten has at least one or two deaths on their hands."
That little tidbit made everyone pale; even the usually stoic Toderoki was shocked by the information as while he knew that Endeavor's 'Hell Flame' could practically melt cars, the number two hero often had many sidekicks that would contain the flames, limiting the collateral damage made, that and Endeavor rarely had to go that hot, due to the toll on his body using that extreme amount of heat.
"That is why we are doing this test today, not only to show each of you that even the most 'seemingly' harmless quirks are just as deadly as the more powerful ones and allow you to know your current limits. We will continue doing this periodically to get better control and develop super moves later on in the year. Now, follow me as we will be doing this one at a time to avoid accidents as well as watching everyone's progress in the monitor room."
[Meanwhile]
"I really wish I could be down there." Toshinori said as he was sitting in the office of the dean, watching Class 1-A begin to pile into the monitoring room before starting the exercise, his baby blue eyes looking over the various screens of the battle area with the few advanced training dummies around the ruined city, "It is my class and I did promise them I'd be putting my all into teaching."
"Very true, but this particular topic is more Aizawa's specialty, knowing when to use lethal force or not." Nezu spoke up while drinking some tea, staring at the screens as well as Aizawa began to explain how the dummies worked and registered 'clean kills', "Not to say you don't know how to hold back or deliver a killing blow, but while you have 'one' under your belt, Shouta has racked up quite the body count over the years. Not that it's something to glorify or dismiss, mind you, but he's had to make that call more times than he wants to admit."
Nezu took another sip of his tea before continuing, "Besides, we still need to set up for that special heroics class you proposed, and this would be a good chance for both you and Midoriya to spend some time apart."
Toshinori raised a skeletal eyebrow at the dean, confused by his statement, "Sir?"
"It's no secret that you have been spending time with the boy's mother, innocent as that is…." Nezu had started to say, causing the gaunt cheeks on the man to blush somewhat, "It wouldn't be surprising for more of his classmates to see some sort of connection between the both of you, considering how much he looks up to you as well as how often you two talk privately with one another, either in your current form or pro hero state. And if four of his classmates were able to realize that Izuku's 'quirk' was anything but… how hard would it be for them to put two and two together and realize he has ties to All Might and that the number one pro hero is you?"
Toshinori sighed heavily at that, leaning forward with his hands together and his chin resting on them. The silence in the room was heavy before Nezu tilted his head gently, "And are you upset he turned down taking One for All until after the sports festival?"
"N-no!" the skinny man rose up out of his stupor, "I admit I was a little surprised at first before he explained as to why he wanted to wait."
"I agree; while I am still a little hesitant of the idea myself, his reasoning is quite sound." Nezu said as he walked up to the screens on the far wall, with his hands behind his back, watching the various reactions of the first couple of students taking down the dummies, "It's clear Izuku is still coming to terms with some aspects of his powers, and it's clearly written on his face that the boy wants to make the blessing his own, moving past the shadow of his predecessor and prove to himself that he is more than his blessing." Nezu turned around to stare at Toshinori, the glow of the screens causing the dean's body to silhouette before the pro hero, "Imagine adding to that with the responsibilities of One for All and trying to surpass you, of all people… I dare say the poor child would have a mental breakdown."
Toshinori nodded silently, sighing heavily again, "And if your suspensions are correct, which no doubt they are… He has returned."
"Indeed, the autopsy of the Nomu creature basically proves that your archenemy is still alive, and further proof that we need to keep Midroya's connection to you a secret for as long as we can… Even with the blessing, I doubt the boy would be able to take on the full strength of All For One without the potential power boost of One For All." Nezu said while walking back to his desk, hopping up onto the chair and sporting that same smile as always, "Now! Let's get back to work on this special heroics class… we have a lot of people to pair up after all."
"Oooowie…" Mina whined gently as she held out her hands, wincing as they throbbed from how potent she had made her acid. Her turn had just finished, and before she went out, she was instructed by Aizawa to use her acid at the highest potency she could. Of course, this had the backlash of her quirk irritating her skin and some parts of her costume to be slightly burned by the attack when she released it.
Thank god it didn't rip on her way back or when she sat against the wall when the next student was called.
She pouted as she watched Bakugo effortlessly obliterate the targets on the monitor, frowning at the lack of any sort of backlash from how big those explosions were. Her dour thoughts disappeared when she heard the gentle throat-clearing of Izuku as he was kneeling down beside her, "Hey Mina… how are your hands?"
"Hey, they are really sore… I can't believe the explode-a-brain is causing more damage than I did with a blast of my acid, and he doesn't look to be feeling any of the negative effects of overuse! It's totally not fair."
"I-I don't know about that…." Izuku spoke gently as he began to take off his gloves, reaching to a pouch on his belt and pulled out a small tube of some kind, "Bakugo's trained his body to negate the kickback of his quirk since you know… literal explosions… but there will always still be some soreness once his adrenaline wears off, so might wanna just relax in your room tonight and avoid him, since he will be far more irritable until tomorrow at the very least."
Mina merely blinked as Izuku explained all this, completely forgetting just how much of a personality shift it was when he went into his 'analysis mode', and Mina was silent as the boy unscrewed the cap on the tube and squeezed a little of the cream onto her arm, just above her wrist. The pink alien looking girl shivered slightly from the sudden coolness of the product before she felt a slight warmth and a gentle purple blush slowly formed on her cheeks as she watched Izuku start to move his hands up and down her hands and lower part of her forearm, working in the cream but also giving her a massage of sorts.
"This is a type of lotion, made for skin irritation and burns." Izuku suddenly spoke up, his eyes focusing on his work. Still, he could feel the golden irises of the girl who he was treating look upon him.
"And.. you keep something like that on your hero suit?"
"Not just this, but also various other first-aid items, figured it would come in handy when I'm not in one of my kits."
"But…" Mina frowned in confusion, "Can't you just heal anything with that one power that has you all dressed up in white?"
"... I could…" Izuku spoke gently once again, slowly running his fingers very gently and cautiously between hers, "But using the white mage takes a lot of the aether within my body, and while my Paladin, Gunbreaker, and Red Mage kits can heal as well. I doubt anyone wants a sword waving around their face."
Mina giggled gently as Izuku removed his hands from hers, and with the bright smile he was known for, he looked at her and continued, "There, how does that feel?"
Mina gently flexed her fingers slowly, rotating her hands and wrists, and beamed the boy a smile to match the brightness of his own, "Like a hundred percent, Izuku! You were very gentle while working in the lotion. How did you get so good?"
"A-ah…" Izuku paused, slowly looking down, and his facial expression grew somber, "W-well... You know that they say… p-practice makes perfect?"
Mina frowned at that, thinking about it for a few moments before her eyes went wide in shock and looked sadly at the green-haired boy, "Oh Izuku... I'm so sorry! I didn't think-"
"Mina." The boy interrupted her, the somber look gone and replaced with a gentle smile this time when he was looking directly into her eyes, "It's fine, it's in the past, and we can't change that… and I know you didn't mean anything bad by it, but in hindsight, it is a good skill I picked up and one I can use to help soothe any pain you or the others get from overuse of your quirks."
Mina was staring back into his eyes, mouth agape in awe, not daring to look away as he gave her the explanation, her mind going to the obvious 'not so innocent' thoughts she would often think when it came to her crush. But slowly, her lips curled into a very sly looking smirk as she spoke lowly and huskily at Izuku, "You know, a girl could get used to that sort of treatment… especially being 'handled' the way I was when you were working in the lotion."
Izuku looked confused for a moment, a slight blush on his cheeks from Mina's tone of voice. Still, he eventually got her meaning, and the little blush went atomic, "O-oh, I-I didn't mean to... I-I'm sor-"
Mina's giggling while she pressed a finger to his lips instantly stopped any sort of muttered apology as the alien girl smiled brightly and fondly at the boy, "Hehe, I just love making you blush, Izuku… it's so gosh darn cute." She took her finger away, and her smile shifted to a more gentle one, "Before I forget, though, I would like some help after dinner tonight, if you got some time?"
"Huh? O-Oh sure, w-what's up?"
Mina slowly looked away, scratching her cheek, "Well… I have a feeling I may have bombed that surprise math quiz this morning. So I was wondering if you could possibly tutor me a little? Ectoplasm's classes are so dull, and he doesn't make the material interesting at all!"
Izuku smirked at her reasoning, and as he was about to agree, he heard the monotone call of 'problem child' from Aizawa. He turned his head towards his teacher with a simple nod before looking back at Mina, "S-Sure, we can talk about where we can study after class if you'd like."
Mina gave him a firm nod while smiling at him as he rose up to the ground and went quickly towards their teacher. As she was about to think of some of the other 'fun' things they could do during the study session, Mina gasped and jumped when she felt something jab her side. Quickly looking to her left, she saw the not amused look of Kyoka looking down at her, "Don't even think it."
"What? I legit need help with math!" Mina exclaimed, looking scandalized for a moment before pouting and huffing as Kyoka glared at her, "Well, I do! And it's not like I wouldn't do anything to make him feel uncomfortable!"
"Good, still doesn't mean I'm going to leave him alone with you before he takes you out on your date." Kyoka said as she sat beside Mina, who hung her head in defeat, "That and I wouldn't mind some help with math as well… seriously, what is it with Ectoplasm and his surprise quizzes all the time?"
"I know, right?!"
Aizawa sighed heavily as he trudged up the stairs to his apartment. Today had been an extremely long day due to taking over for All Might's afternoon heroics class, which had cut into his usual time to nap and rest up for his nightly patrols. He took out his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door, shuffling inside quickly and locking it once he was entirely in and looked down to see a pair of green cat eyes looking up at him, "Nice try, but don't think you'll sneak out as easily as last time."
"Shouta?" a voice gently called out, sounding tired and weary, "Is that you, boo?"
Aizawa took off his shoes, remaining silent until he walked into the living room of his apartment, seeing the tv playing the most recent news of the day while the coffee table had various empty food containers strewn about its surface, his tired gaze soon spotted the hand move up from behind the back cushion of the couch as he stepped into the room and gently held it with his own, "If I was an intruder, you'd be in a lot of trouble right now."
"If you WERE one, you'd be flat on your butt laughing until you peed your pants." spoke the woman who was looking up at him with a sly smirk on her lips, her seafoam green hair sprawled out on the pillow where her head rested. She smiled as the erasure hero walked around the couch and gently lifted up her legs to sit in 'his spot' before she placed them back down onto his lap, "I'm shocked you're even home this early; I normally wouldn't see you until after midnight… Long day?"
"You could say that as I had to cover for the oaf today, but not without a logical reason… Nezu decided that the first years are going to be starting 'lethal' training to help them better gauge their power output, as well to give the students strong decision-making skills so they will know what to do if anything like the USJ happened again."
The woman frowned, trying to sit up but was gently pushed back down by Aizawa, so she resorted to puffing up her cheeks, "You make it sound like what happened could happen again."
"I'll admit, we were caught with our pants down, but a quirk like that black mist that can teleport is not something one can really counter… though whatever Nezu did to improve the security gates around the school seems to have worked in theory at least. And we have already begun to rethink how we are doing summer training camp."
"I just hope you decide to bring me this time." The woman said with another huff and puffing out of her cheeks, her arms crossed over her chest as she spoke, "I understand why I couldn't go last year, given you didn't have a class and I was still teaching at Ketsubutsu, but I'm sure you can see the 'logic' for me coming this year…."
"Emi…"
"Don't 'Emi' me, buster!" she suddenly said with a squint in her eyes, poking his arm with her finger, "You knew this was going to happen when we figured out the approximate due date. Besides, your kids are going to find out not only about us eventually, but also this."
Gently taking the arm she was poking, Emi pulled it so that his hand rested upon her rather large and pregnant stomach. As his warm hand rested there, Aizawa idly began to rub her belly only to feel a kick that caused Emi to burp slightly, "Oof… see? Even he agrees."
Aizawa sighed gently, still idly rubbing his wife's pregnant stomach before gently nodding his head, "Fine… I can see your logic in it, but it's up to Nezu to make the final call."
"Obviously… now." Emi slowly swung her legs off of Shouta's lap, trying to lift herself up with the aid of her husband's help, "How about we take this golden opportunity to get some rest, and you can tell how the 'problem child' did today while I get to be snuggled from behind by my grumpy spoon." She beamed a bright smile at him, slowly and carefully lifting herself off of the couch, once again with aid from Shouta, and began to head towards their bedroom with her holding his hand and pulling him along, giggling at the guttural groans and 'complaints' coming from him.
Notes:
The More You know: Final Fantasy XIV
Warrior of Light: Warriors of Light, or "Hydaelyn's Chosen" are people of different walks of life that have been given a blessing done by the Crystalline Goddess known as Hydaelyn. Normally, when one is blessed, they receive a power known only as an 'Echo' which varies between each individual, i.e. while one could look upon scenes from the past at random moments, another could see future events before they transpire.
In regards to the story of FFXIV, while there are many of those blessed by Hydaelyn, there is only one person that is ever known as the "Warrior of Light", as they are usually the one to slay the strongest of beasts, defeat the god-like Primals, or put an end to the plans and machinations of the "Ascians", beings who worship and follow the god of darkness known as "Zodiark".
Crystals: In the world of Eorzea, the land is filled with a magical force known as aether, and when a good amount of it is built up, the aether will physically manifest itself into a crystal. Primarily, crystals are composed of the elemental forces of Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Ice, and Lightning. They can be drained of their elemental aspect when in use of synthesizing items or used as weapon ammunition.
Hydaelyn: Goddess of Light, she is often referred to be called "the Crystal" or "the Mothercrystal". She shares her name with the world where the events of FFXIV take place, which she created. Though a Sentient Crystal, they are deity-like figures that tend to govern not only the world's elemental forces but also the cycles of incarnation when deemed necessary.
Chapter 28: Along came a Unicorn - Part 1
Summary:
It's Wednesday my dudes, time to see what our boi is up to! and even more Unicorn sightings!
Notes:
Oh boy, we got a two-parter coming up!
I honestly wanted to get to the special heroics class that was teased during the last chapter, but felt that this certain little event should be dealt with before then.
Anyway, just to remind you all I have a server I hang out in with a bearer of the light discussion channel! So come by and say hi, and also enjoy the works of the others that call it home as well!
discord.gg/k64qJgy6
Here are this chapter's review replies (FFN):
fallendemon248: Well, wait no longer, here comes a new chapter!
Silvanium: Yep, honestly while I have issues with the other ships when it comes to Aizawa, I feel like since the always tired teacher loves to pull "logical ruses", he would have Emi's help to pull not only the ultimate prank (her constantly asking him out, and his response of no.), but also be married to the woman!
And yes, that IS a scary thought, isn't it?
PMC-Midnight Mariners: How Nezu became Great King Moogle Mog will be talked about later, so can't go into too much detail. And when it comes to OFA, I have stated before that it is not going to work as intended like it does with canon, but it will have an effect on Izuku.
Anime Fan13579: While a teleportation quirk would be very hard to handle, if one were to catch the user and slap "anti-quirk cuffs" on them, that would be the most ideal.
And Lalafells don't have tails... are you referring to the Miqo'te and/or Au Ra?
dragun85: Thank you! I honestly didn't know that and there are times where I have done it multiple times in a row, usually when Izuku gets stupid flustered.
Enjoy the chapter and A/N after the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Momo groaned gently as the alarm clock on her nightstand blared to life; the electronic screeching it was causing abruptly stopped when the creation user made a hammer to smash the device to pieces. Raising her head up from her fluffy pillow to see the damage she had caused, Momo huffed and mentally scolded herself for destroying yet another alarm clock that she would have to make before going to bed later tonight.
Suffice it to say, Momo was NOT a morning person.
Yawning gently, the heiress slowly rose up from her bed, stretching with an audible moan as she moved some of her hair out of her face afterward, sleepily looking towards the clock on the far side of the room (and away from her morning wrath) and saw that the current time was 5:15 am.
Momo's mind had to think for a few minutes to remind herself why she was waking up at this ungodly hour before her rebooted brain gave her the answer and reminded her it was Wednesday, which brought a bright smile upon her lips.
It was 'gardening' day.
Momo quickly tossed off the covers of her large bed and slipped off her thin red silk nightwear to hastily toss on a baggy green shirt and pajama pants without any more time to waste. Once her red slippers were on her feet, she made a hurried dash towards the elevators, not wanting to miss out on the half an hour of 'bliss' awaiting her.
"You were almost late, kero." Tsuyu spoke quietly as her head turned towards the elevators to see the class vice-president shuffled her way towards the frog girl sitting at the dinner table with two cups of tea poured and ready. Tsuyu's gaze looked back out towards the large glass door leading outside as Momo sat beside her classmate.
"Sorry, I'm still recovering from that heroics class we had on Monday. Did I miss anything?"
"No, kero. He just started using the gardening hoe to take out some weeds." The green-haired girl said as she took a quiet sip of her tea, as both she and Momo's gazes turned towards the sight of a currently shirtless Izuku, working the soil of the class garden and was focusing around a bunch of odd green plants that looked like lettuce. The boy's back was turned towards the girls as his muscles flexed and tensed with each strike.
Momo sighed happily as she took a sip of her tea and continued to enjoy the 'sight', "I'm shocked he hasn't found us yet; this has been… what, the third time we are doing this."
"You know how his mind works when he's focused on something; it's hard for him to notice anything else, kero." Tsuyu said as she sighed, almost dreamily, when she watched Izuku straighten his back and wipe his brow with his arm, his arms flexing as he did so.
Momo smiled at the reaction between her and the movements of Izuku, silently giggling at the charming and adorable nature of Tsuyu fawning over the boy when something caught her eye, "He's doing it again."
"You noticed it too, kero?" Tsuyu asked, both girls now watching as Izuku had suddenly stopped and looked out to a random place, frowning intently as if he was looking for something, "He's been doing that for a while now, kero, even more so over the last week or so after that time that he and Inko got held up while out for supplies."
"I have asked him what was causing him to suddenly stop everything and look out to some random direction, and all he has told me is that it's like something is 'tugging' his mind to something."
"Hmm… could it be another kit?" Tsuyu asked with a tilt of her head and her finger upon her chin in thought, while Momo was thinking about it as well. It sounded like something similar to when Izuku would focus upon someone or something to unlock one of the kits, from what he had told them and explained how they worked, but for whatever reason, the 'tug' he felt would let go. He would not be able to feel such a thing until another one surfaced later on.
"It's doubtful, but given the nature of this 'blessing' of his… it's hard to tell." Momo finally spoke up, and just as the two were about to continue their conversation, Tsuyu's phone started to vibrate at the time of 5:55 am flashing brightly on the screen.
"Well, kero, times up sadly…." Tsuyu said with a sigh before looking out at Izuku, starting to pack up the gardening tools outside, bent down and unknowingly giving the two girls a fantastic view of his ass in shorts.
Tsuyu croaked low and huskily at the view. At the same time, Momo smiled and had a slight blush on her cheeks as, after snapping out of their rather lewd thoughts, they quickly cleaned up their teacups and made a dash towards the elevator.
Once inside, Momo frowned slightly at a rather disturbing thought, "You know, is this... wrong? I mean, Izuku defended us when Mineta tried to peek at us in the locker room. Isn't this basically the reverse?"
With her finger on her chin, Tsuyu looked up to the ravenette with her ever stoic gaze, "Kero, admittedly it's something similar since we are basically spying on him without Izuku knowing we are there. But at the same time, he is outside in a public setting, and it's not like he wouldn't mind if it was us, kero, at least I'd hope so."
The door of the elevator opened with a gentle ding as Tsuyu walked off it, looking back at Momo, "Besides, it's not like he hasn't checked us out before as well. I've caught him looking down my shirt a few times given his height compared to mine, kero." The frog girl turned her head and began to walk off, though Momo heard her say one last thing before the door closed that caught the heiress's attention and made her giggle gently.
"Besides, kero, it helps that I have been wearing tops that are looser around the collar."
If there was one thing Nezu loved more than anything, aside from a fresh batch of tea in the morning, it was coming across interesting people.
And the single-horned little girl who was looking around his office with such curiosity and wonder definitely fit the criteria of an 'interesting' person. As he listened to Noxel, telling the story of how the human child had ended up in Moghome and her care up until she and the elder Moogle had arrived in his office. Nezu was sitting back, nursing a cup of tea as the Moogle finished his tale.
"-And that is all that we know, from what little she has told to Mogal and myself, or at least, from what we can understand of her tale." Noxel said before bowing his head to the dean, who at this point was just watching Eri look about the room more, that is, until the object in her hand shone brightly for a moment. The little girl suddenly turned her head towards the door that led out into the school, staring at it for a few moments before the light in her hand dimmed. She blinked and turned back towards the dean, albeit a little sheepishly.
Nezu looked to the elder Moogle, nodding his head in thanks before he spoke, "Noxel, could you get our young guest a drink? I'm sure she is probably a little parched." His gaze fell upon the little girl, who flinched at the sudden attention, but the dean merely kept smiling warmly at her, "Is there anything you would like to drink, Ms. Eri?"
Eri merely tilted her head in confusion; aside from the Moogles asking for her opinion, the strange furry creature before her now was asking for it once again. Kai and the bad bird men would never ask, but the Moogles seemed to trust the strange creature before her, and they were friendly with her, so she softly spoke one word, "A-apples."
Nezu was now the one to tilt his head before chuckling very gently, "Of course, I believe I have some fresh apple juice in my mini-fridge." Nezu had pointed towards it, looking to Noxel, "Noxel, would you mind getting Eri some apple juice?"
As the elder Moogle gave a bow to Nezu, the dean kept his gaze on Eri, still smiling as he spoke gently and as non-threatening as he had been, "I see you are carrying a rather unique object in your hands, Eri-Oh! Don't worry, I have no reason to take it from you." Nezu spoke up suddenly when the small child held the item tightly to her body in fear of her losing it, "I just wish to take a look at it, to confirm a suspicion of mine."
Eri didn't quite understand what Nezu was talking about. Still, after a few minutes, she gently held out the item towards the dean, who leaned forward to get a good look at it with his hands behind his back, "Ah, excellent! Just what I thought it was." His beady gaze slowly returned to Eri's, who pulled the object back to her, "Eri, do you know what you have been holding in your hand?"
"A.. cris-tall?"
"Excellent, Eri. Yes, it is called a crystal… and quite a special one at that, do you know why?"
Eri began to look around in worry, keeping her gaze away from him until she felt the gentle warmth coming from the crystal in her hand that enveloped her like the warm hug she had felt often since her daring escape from the alleyway. Her irises came upon Nezu's beady eyes as she wiggled in her seat gently and began to speak in a soft, almost whisper-like tone of voice, "I-it belongs to... the green boy… someone who will protect me from the bad men."
"And who told you this, Eri?"
Once again, Eri hesitated for a few moments, clutching the crystal close to her body, and then continued to speak, "T-the bright lady… she told me that the green boy would protect me… and give me lots of hugs and take care of me like a papa would."
By this time, Noxel had finally returned and handed Eri a small cup full of juice, which was perfect since she had grabbed it with a single hand due to still holding the crystal tightly with the other. Nezu was watching her as she took a small sip of the juice, almost cackling at how cute her eyes widened and just down the contents in a few quick gulps, but of course, he restrained himself before he spoke, "Well, Noxel and I need to speak about a couple things in private Eri, we will be but a moment." said Nezu as Noxel had poured another cup of juice for Eri, downing the drink once again as both the dean and the Moogle Elder stepped out of the office.
Finishing her juice, Eri slowly looked around the room after a few minutes of being left alone. The young child shivered gently as it was not a pleasant feeling to her, and she slowly climbed out of the chair she was sitting in and slowly walked over to the door that both creatures had left.
She slowly opened the door to find that the waiting room she and Noxel had appeared in was strangely vacant. Eri tilted her in confusion as she slowly took a few steps out from the office, "H-Hello?... Mr. Moogle?... Mr. Bear?" Eri called out gently but was only met with silence. She started to get worried and continued to walk out into the middle of the room. Was she alone again? Did the nice people abandon her after all, and now Kai would come and get her? Eri slowly began to shiver and tear up while clutching her hands close to her chest, holding the crystal tightly as she sniffed harshly.
Eri gasped as she felt the warmth of the crystal once again envelop her body, calming her down as she stared directly into the crystal that was brightening and dimming her in hand. She stayed like this for a few moments before blinking and looking up towards the door that led out in the halls of the University, walking towards the exit slowly and gently opening it, peeking out to make sure no one was walking within the halls before quietly slipping out.
After a few moments had passed, Both Noxel and Nezu suddenly appeared in the waiting room, with the dean returning to his office. At the same time, Noxel kept staring at the door that Eri had exited out of before turning and following the other being into the room they had previously left, "My King, is it wise to let a small child wander the halls unattended?"
"Indeed, " Nezu said as he flicked on a security monitor that revealed Eri ducking and weaving in the various halls, stopping only at any crossways and lifting the crystal up and moving it back and forth before continuing on, "Despite keeping an eye on her with my cameras, I doubt 'She' will allow anyone to stop the child from completing her task."
"To return the crystal to the Warrior of Light?"
"That, but I also believe Hydaelyn has some other plans in the works for Eri; you noticed it too, didn't you?" Nezu asked, looking at the Elder who sat down in the chair that had the child in it previously.
"I did, despite the aether that resides in the food and vegetation here on the campus grounds that she, as well as the students and staff here consume, I felt the small traces of aether within her body that were more… 'native' to this planet more than anything else we have encountered… Do you think-?"
"A mere hypothesis at this time." Nezu interrupted, watching Eri make her up some stairs, taking it one step at a time while using her free hand on the guardrail to help her up, "But, if what I think is true, then Eri is the first of many young people to be born naturally with aether in their bodies, which means everything is starting to fall in place."
"Most excellent news, your Majesty!" Noxel exclaimed, puffing up proudly at the fact that the plan from all those years ago may have worked, but his excitement soon grew cold as he spoke, "And what of this Kai and the 'birdmen' the child spoke of? Shall we rally the Mooglesguard and deal with them?"
"Not as of yet; while I would like nothing more to deal with these monsters that would experiment on a child, we still have no idea as to why they were doing such atrocious acts, nor do we have any solid leads as to where they are." Nezu continued to watch as Eri slowly approached the humongous doors that lead into the classroom of 1-A, his paws together and his chin resting on them, "I will send the information to any of the local agencies, and if nothing shows up, I'll send them to the larger ones, someone must have information to whomever this Kai is, and when we have the information we need…."
Nezu was quiet for a moment, the ever-present smile still upon his lips, but a rather sinister aura encompassing the dean as well as Noxel, who puffed up in pure rage as well, "Not only will they feel the might of the Warrior of Light descend upon them but also the wrath of the Moogles."
"To think that the heroes of old would resort to such things." Tokoyami said as he placed the textbook down on his desk, his sharpened eyes squinting at the text he was reading regarding how criminals were "dealt" with before the existence of the current laws set in place. It was an in-class group work given to the students by Midnight, who watched over them like a hawk considering that she was the one to make up the groups. One such group consisted of Izuku, Tokoyami, Kirishima, Shoji, and Toru.
"It's totally unmanly, but given how quirk inhibitors weren't even a thing back then, it kinda makes sense." Kirishima spoke up, thumbing through his own textbook, "Hey Midori-bro, you're the resident hero expert; what's your take on this?" The red-head hero in training looked up to see Izuku staring off towards the door of the classroom, his eyes sharpened and looked to be deep in his thoughts, "Midori-bro?"
Sitting beside Izuku was Toru, who had moved a hand up to wave in front of his face, which didn't seem to phase him one bit, "He must be really out of it, I have seen people snap out of it when someone waves their hand in front of the person's face."
The three other boys in the group gave Toru a deadpan look, as well as Dark Shadow, who had popped out from underTokoyami's shirt to hear the invisible girl's declaration and swift smacked its forehead with a groan. Toru, or her clothing on the other hand, shifted as if she was quickly looking around to her other group members in confusion.
Shoji, one of the "gentle giants" of the class, sighed heavily, bringing up two of his arms and snapped his fingers in front of Izuku's face, causing the boy to flinch and nearly jump out of his seat, "W-what? Is something wrong?"
"You were staring out into space, Midoriya." Shoji said as the others in the group nodded their heads (well, Toru's was made easier to see with a hairpin in her hair to show she was shaking her head.), "I hope this topic is not boring you in such a way."
"W-What?!" Izuku's cheeks reddened in embarrassment, the green-haired boy shaking his head, "N-no! It's not that… just… something caught my attention is all."
"Is it another part of your quirk activating?" Kirishima asked as the others leaned their heads in to keep quiet, not wanting their teacher to overhear them discussing something other than their project. It was well known amongst the student body that Midnight, while usually one of the calmer teachers, would often discipline any students who were not properly doing their work… rumors had stated that there were even some restraining orders put in place because of such actions, though no one could prove it.
Izuku gently shook his head, "I-I don't think so… there is the pull I normally get, sure… But this feels different like I'm supposed to… I don't know; it feels like it's trying to lead me somewhere?"
The others merely stared at him for a few moments, silent as they were processing this. It was no secret that Izuku's "quirk" was strange, but the way it sometimes acted just made no sense in the plainest of terms to most of his class. Tokoyami finally spoke up to break the silence by pretty much summing up everyone's feelings and thoughts about this.
"Revelry in the dark…."
"Alright, class!" Midnight suddenly spoke up, getting everyone's attention, "you have about five more minutes to discuss your topics amongst yourselves, then you will elect someone to present your findings, and we will continue our discussion on-"
The class grew suddenly quiet as the door leading to the hallway opened up, revealing the small white-haired child meekly stepping into the classroom. Her ruby eyes darted left and right to take in everyone that was staring at her in silence.
Eri brought her hands close to her chest, slowly stepping into the room with only the sounds of her bare feet echoing in the room as she looked at all the "big" people. A few of them looked scary to her, one of the blond ones was frowning at her like the bad men, and as she tentatively took a few more steps in, she did her best to sort of keep a fair distance away from him.
"Hello there." came a feminine voice that made Eri flinch and take a few steps back, looking upon the woman before her with very long dark purple hair who had knelt down to be sort of at an eye level with her, giving her a relatively warm smile as she spoke, "We normally don't have little ones wandering into the classrooms. What's your name, pumpkin?"
Eri didn't respond to her, looking more terrified as she clutched the crystal in her hand more tightly to her chest, whimpering gently. As the child was about to burst out into tears of fear, the crystal shone brightly, the feeling of warmth and safety blossoming around her body as she looked away from the lady who was speaking at her. Eri let out a small gasp, and her eyes widened in wonder as she gazed upon one of the people in the room that was looking at her; Eri instantly recognized him as the one the "bright lady" had described to her.
"Oh my god, she's so adorable!" Toru cooed gently in a whisper and was vibrating in her seat. However, she had not noticed that Izuku had slowly risen from his chair and slowly made his way towards the front of the class. Thankfully, the others had, and Kirishima was the first to call out to him, though quietly so as not to spook the obviously nervous girl.
"Midori-bro?"
Izuku had answered the call, and everyone watched as a rather expressionless faced Izuku stood before the child, both of their gazes not leaving the others as he very slowly knelt down to the ground before her. Once he was at least eye level with Eri, Izuku's lips slowly curled into a tiny smile, and he spoke to her in a very soft tone of voice, "Hi there, my name is Izuku… What's your name?"
Everyone watched on in silence as the little girl was fidgeting a little with her hands. It took her a few moments, but eventually, a very airy voice escaped past her lips, "E-Eri…."
"That's a beautiful name you have, Eri…." Izuku smiled at her fully, causing a little gasp to escape the child's lips as Izuku slowly held out his hand to her, "It looks like you had some problems, Eri.. and I want to help you if you let me."
Another few moments passed as the class and teachers watched as the mysterious girl named Eri slowly began to tear up, dashing forward towards the boy who had just offered his help to her and leaped up at him, her tiny, bandaged arms wrapping themselves around his midsection and nearly knocking Izuku onto his butt.
However, once Eri had contacted Izuku, the crystal in her hand suddenly shone brightly with light, blinding everyone in the room before dissipating just as suddenly as it happened. And once the class and their teacher's sight returned to them, all looked towards where the small child had basically tackled Izuku, only to find that neither of them was there.
Within a minute or so of realizing this, the classroom soon erupted into pure chaos.
Izuku groaned as he lifted a hand up to his head, rubbing the side of it to try and relieve some of the pain of the headache he was now dealing with while also trying to raise himself off of his back. However, he stopped as he felt a weight on his chest and looked down to see the snow-white hair of Eri resting upon him, her tiny horn poking out between the strands of her hair as his eyes shot open.
Carefully, he shifted her body a little to allow himself to lift his upper body up and hold her close, and moving some hair out of her face, he saw the child wince and frown with her eyes closed, before nuzzling more into his chest and breathing deeply with her tiny hands closed and pulled into her body. Izuku sighed in relief before smiling gently at the little girl in his arms.
Out of the corner of his eye, a small light whizzed by that caught his attention, and Izuku had finally realized that he was no longer in his classroom. He frowned as he slowly shifted his weight to stand up while also holding Eri close to him as she still slept in his arms. Izuku slowly began to take in the scene around him, looking left and right, up and down to see the vast emptiness of space with hundreds upon thousands of stars.
Wait, the vast emptiness of space?
Izuku's frown soon shifted to one of shock as he realized where exactly he and Eri were. It had nearly been a year, but he remembered this place quite often as this was the same field of stars that had first awakened his blessing and basically caused all the craziness of his life to occur up until this point.
A loud sound of what could be described as a piece of glass hitting metal caused Izuku to turn around entirely, and he gasped loudly in pure awe and wonder at the sight before him.
Before the hero student, with a child in his arms, was a ginormous crystal, looking to be about a mile a few kilometers wide. In contrast, the very tip of the crystalline looked to be taller than several of the skyscrapers within Tokyo's main downtown combined, which made the boy tilt his head all the way up and still couldn't even see the top. Izuku had also noticed the significantly smaller crystals floating around the larger one, with tiny balls of light zipping around like fireflies during the summer months.
Just as Izuku was beginning to look down and figure out however he even got here while also trying to find a way back to UA, a bright light shone in front of him that caused him to wince slightly. Once the light had vanished, Izuku came face to face with a woman standing in front of him.
Slowly opening her eyes with pure white irises, Izuku's mouth was agape as he took in the mysterious person's features. Her long, flowing, pure white gown billowed in a non-existent breeze, while her skin was as white as porcelain, and her hair just as white as Eri's.
Izuku remained silent as the expressionless face of the woman smiled brightly at him. However, it had the look of pure elegance and divinity that matched her voice as she spoke.
"Izuku Midoriya, warrior of light, I am Hydaelyn… and welcome to my realm."
Notes:
The More You Know: Final Fantasy XIV
Moogles: A endearing, yet enigmatic race of fluffy creatures. Moogles would normally avoid contact with the affairs of mankind and keep to themselves within their underground home of Moghome. Young Moogles often have a verbal tic until they are old enough to realize and stop it, the "tic" is basically having the word "Kupo" in their speech. The poms on their heads are very delicate and sensitive. Despite looking cute and very innocent, Moogles are powerful beings of magic and even one could cause mass destruction should someone gain their ire. How and when they arrived on Earth is still a mystery.
Mooglesguard: Fiercely loyal and powerful Moogles, the Mooglesguard are the personal retinue of Great King Moggle Mog. They normally are seen guarding the throne of the Great King but are very hard to spot as their magic is more potent than the typical Moogle. It is said that long ago, a group of Moogleguards went rogue and had summoned an avatar of the original Great King to defeat the Warrior of Light.
Great King Moggle Mog XVI: It is said that once every generation, a single Moogle within a colony will be chosen to raise up the ranks and become the next King, moving to a new territory and setting up a new settlement for the Moogles. Great Kings are the most powerful Moogles in existence, able to destroy whole planets if they wished. Despite his current appearance, Dean Nezu is the current Great King Moggle Mog the 16th, however, it is unclear as to how he ended up in his current form. Still, the citizens of Moghome will obey him without question.
Chapter 29: Along came a Unicorn - Part 2
Summary:
While everyone goes to search for Izuku, Inko talks with three of the girls and reveals something dire from Izuku's past.
Meanwhile, Izuku finally meets the goddess Hydaelyn, and she answers a very important question. As well as Izuku comes to a decision on what to do with Eri.
Notes:
Wow, hello all!
So, yea, had a bit of a rough week and a half there, it got to the point that either I was running into a writer's block, but also puppy-sitting as my families youngest got neutered and had to be constantly watched, so sorry for the very lat update!
Anyway, no "FFXIV Tibbits" this week, as I'm too brain dead from the weather.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"Whew, I'm beat!" shouted Kaminari as he strode into the 1-A dormitories, followed by Mineta and Sero, who looked just as tired as he was, "Man, I was expecting coming to a hero school to be different from regular universities, but nothing like this."
"What do you mean?" asked Sero, who was walking beside him with his hands behind his head.
"I mean, there was the USJ crap for one." The electric user said while raising his hand, with a single finger extended, before continuing on, "and don't get me started on whatever logic Midoriya's quirk runs on, rather not blow a fuse right now."
"Oof, that's a good point. And now some little kid shows up and just teleports him away! Seriously, the guy is a trouble magnet." Sero chuckled lightly, though admittedly, the other two boys knew there was some truth to what he said.
"More like a chick magnet!" Mineta whined, "How the heck is he so popular with the ladies?! He barely can talk to any of them most of the time!"
"Well, let's see… outside of not having a one-track mind." Sero spoke up, looking down at his diminutive classmate, "He's smart, strong, has a pretty flashy quirk, treats everyone with respect; even Bakugo to some degree, who I swear they both have some kind of "hate boner" for one another."
"Maybe they know one another before coming to UA?" asked Kaminari, "I mean, Ms. Midoriya seems to know Bakugo pretty well, and she's the only adult that he usually does his best not to piss off or even mouth off to as well."
"Maybe, regardless, Midoriya's a pretty great guy, dude. If you clean up your act and try to be a decent guy as well, I'm sure you'll find at least one girl to give you the light of day. Even take a few pages out of Midoriya's 'playbook' if that helps."
"His playbook? You mean one of those notebooks he has may contain ways to pick up women?!"
"What? No! This is Midoriya we are talking about; of course, he doesn't!" Sero sighed heavily, "Look, what I mean is, you saw how he acts around the girls, right?" Mineta nodded quickly, with such speeds that would even make Tenya jealous, "Try and emulate that but put your own twist on it... Don't pretend to be him because that would be creepy as all hell."
"You know if I didn't know better… I'd say this was from first-hand experience." Kaminari spoke with a mischievous look on his face that caused the tape user to chuckled nervously.
"M-Maybe? I mean… it did help me out get a coffee date with one of the general studies girls."
"TRAITOR!" Mineta shrieked loudly before Kaminari smacked him upside the head, sending the small manchild straight to the floor face first.
"Let me ring up the others and check in on their statuses, it's getting late, and maybe we can order a few pizzas or something. Don't think anyone wants to cook tonight, and I doubt Ms. Midoriya would be up for it either."
Raising his hand up to his ear, placing two fingers upon the small bluish pearl and began to speak softly into it. While he did agree that Midoriya's quirk was bonkers, he had to admit these 'linkpearls' were bloody fantastic!
It had taken him only a few moments, and with a big smile on his face, he turned back towards the other two boys, one of whom was groaning and complaining that his face hurt, "Alright, boyos! Everyone is on their way back, and we can decide on toppings once they get here! Now…" The blond-haired boy turned his gaze over to Sero, "You, good sir, are going into detail how you scored a date and help explain what you were talking about."
When Izuku had joked that both he and his mother had a second quirk that could literally flood buildings, Momo had thought that it was her crush being silly and poking fun at both of their expense.
How wrong she was when Inko found out about her son's disappearance from class.
Along with Tsu and Mina, she had opted to stay behind in searching for Izuku to console the grieving mother. Not that they couldn't be helpful, far from it, but someone had to stay behind and 'hold the fort' as it were, though the heiress was sure it wasn't about the tsunami of tears from one Inko Midoriya.
Momo was thankful that at this point, though late into the evening, Inko had reasonably calmed down and, while enjoying some tea with the three girls, had pulled out the one thing that she knew Izuku feared the most when it came to him and his female friends.
His mother had pulled out the photo albums.
"Oh my god! Bakugo looks so much like his mom!" Mina had cried out just as Momo returned, having stepped out of the "dorm manager's suite" to take the call on the linkpearl and not to upset Inko with another report of nothing. Gently, Momo moved to sit beside Mina, who was currently holding an older photo album with various pictures of a much younger Inko standing beside (while looking embarrassed) another girl who was the spitting image of a female Bakugo.
Momo covered her mouth to hold back a giggle at just the pure silliness of it, Tsuyu who was sitting on the other side of Mina, did her best not to giggle as well.
"Katsuki gets his attitude from her as well, though she isn't as bad. Often it was more of a deterrent from guys hitting on both of us while we were in high school. Granted, this also prevented us from actually talking with most boys our age at the time… she can be VERY overprotective." Inko said as she took a sip of her tea, watching as the girls slowly turned page after page of all those memories from long ago, "Admittedly, she was a bit of a delinquent, getting into fights though she never started them."
"Though there was this one boy who kept trying to speak with me, often getting tossed back by Mitsuki, and eventually he was able to sidestep around her and just before she tackled him to the ground and broke his nose, he asked me out on a date." Continued Inko with a bright, though saddened smile as the girls all gasped when coming across a picture of the younger version of the "dorm mother", arm in arm with a much taller young man with deep red skin, curly black and green hair that was strikingly similar to that of a certain missing student and chaotically placed freckles on his cheeks… as well as a decently sized bandage just under the bridge of his nose.
"I-Is that…?" Mina had begun to speak, totally flabbergasted that the man who she presumed to be Izuku's dad had a similar skin color change identical to hers.
"Yes, that's Izuku's father… my Hisashi," Inko spoke gently, looking into her teacup as if in deep thought or reminiscing about something in particular. The girls were quiet as they continued to look at the various photographs featuring the pair on multiple dates, eventually leading up to wedding photos. At this point, Inko had begun to tell some stories of the different things that she and her husband did before Izuku coming into their life, as well as the shenanigans of their wedding party and the infamous events that happened when some random party goer was trying to flirt with Mitsuki, and being really aggressive about it.
It got to the point where for the first time, the usually calm Masaru, who Inko revealed to be Bakugo's father and who had just started to date Mitsuki before the wedding, threw a punch and cold-clocked the party goer after the man had laid a hand on Mitsuki. Inko admitted that it was the first time she ever saw Mitsuki blush that hard, and after checking over his hand to make sure he wasn't injured, dragged Masaru somewhere and were not seen for the rest of the evening.
The three students giggled at the story, though sporting their own blushes at the implied scenario. And once they calmed down, Mina had turned the last page to show a somewhat pregnant Inko sitting on a park bench, "That was taken a couple of years after our wedding, both myself and Hisashi wanted to start our careers before we would have any children... " Inko got strangely quiet as she leaned back in her chair, "I was…three months pregnant with Izuku then."
"Wait…" Momo frowned and looked to both Mina and Tsuyu, who looked to the heiress in as Momo looked to Inko with a puzzled look, "The corner of the photo has the time date of March stamped on it… but Izuku's Birthday is July 15th."
All three girls now looked at Inko; the smile on her lips had a sad look to it as she gently placed her teacup on the coffee table. From the stack of photo albums, she took out a relatively small booklet and then handed it off to Tsuyu, who gave it to Mina to hold between the three; the title on the cover had read:
'Izuku: first 3 months'
The three girls all looked to one another, a little worried and frightened about the odd little white-covered book in their hands. After a few moments, though, Mina opened the book with the resolve that they were training to be heroes. They would be facing disastrous scenes in the future, and they would need to steel themselves for anything.
That resolve faulted upon looking at the first image.
"H-Hydaelyn?" Was all Izuku could say as he stared, flabbergasted, at the woman before him, who merely looked at him amused and stood as elegant as she did when she appeared before him.
"Is it really that much of a shock? You'd know we would eventually meet at some point."
"I… I mean, yes… but…." Izuku started to stammer, clearly trying to figure out what to say to the divine being before him. Yes, he had a lot of questions, as well as to give her a grand sort of gesture in thanks for allowing him to pursue his dream of becoming a hero. As the two beings stood in silence, while the small child in the boy's arms gently nestled close to him fast asleep, Izuku's gaze slowly returned to the goddess before him as he spoke gently, "Why me?"
Hydaelyn gently tilted her head in confusion, "Why you?"
"Y-yea…" the boy sighed gently before continuing to speak, "I-I'm not that special, and there could… should be someone else that would be better with this blessing! N-Not that I'm ungrateful to be chosen, but… why me? Why the quirkless deku?"
His question hung in the vast emptiness for a few moments; Izuku had his eyes shut while asking the goddess his rather (according to him) selfish question. The nerve of him to question the logic of a freaking goddess.
As the silence continued to keep his eyes closed, listening to his own rapid heartbeat as the sleeping child in his arms nuzzled up to him idly, Izuku's eyes shot open when he felt the arms of another slowly wrap around his neck, the gentle hug reminding him of the hugs he would get from his mother when he was still reasonably small, so full of love and caring. Of course, this wasn't his mother, but Hydaelyn herself, who was smiling down at him when the boy slowly looked up to see that she was a rather tall woman.
His analytical brain doing the math in his head would put her to be about nine to nine and a half feet tall.
The divine being slowly released him from the hug, still smiling down at both the children as she spoke softly, as not to wake Eri, "Izuku, you have on more than one occasion shown just how selfless you are, putting yourself in front of danger to protect those that need to be protected… For me not to see such a heroic spirit is a little embarrassing."
Izuku's eyes shot open in shock as he looked up to Hydaelyn, who seemed to be looking away… with a blush. His eyebrows knit into a frown as he kept staring hard at the goddess, "Wait... y-you didn't choose me?"
Hydaelyn slowly let go of the boy, stepping back and clearing her throat, before straightening herself to look more professional as she began to speak, "You are correct, Izuku Midoriya. It was not I that chose you to become a Warrior of Light… while I would go into the full details of what happened… time, sadly, grows shorter the longer you stay here."
Izuku stared at her for a few moments, still frowning at her, but gently sighed, looking like he was giving up on finding the answers to so many of his questions, "Well, could you at least tell me WHO did, and why?"
"I can do that at the very least." was Hydaelyn's answer, smiling gently once again, "It was Quinn, and as to why… Well, after the final battle against his greatest foe, Quinn had returned to this very place, his spirit, or what remained of it, sought me out to request I look over his loved ones as he knew he couldn't return to them."
"However, with his shattered spirit and body, he turned towards one of the stars upon hearing the sounds of a crying baby; the pull towards that flickering light was so intense that when he eventually reached it, he would see what was to come…." The goddess continued to speak, her smile fading towards a more somber one, "A baby struggling to live, but a strong sense of justice and heroism burning deep within the fragile body."
"Quinn decided then and there what he needed to do… using whatever aether was in his body, he began to pour it into the star, and realizing it wouldn't be enough, Quinn began to fuse the aether within the various soul stones he had to further empower the bond."
She looked straight into Izuku's eyes, whose frown slowly began to lessen as he began to understand what she was telling him, "When the transfer was, Quinn was no more, and in his place was one Izuku Midoriya… you."
Izuku remained silent for a few moments, processing what she was telling him. As he did, the pieces began to fall into place… the dreams and nightmares he had, how his personality would alter slightly between the different kits… It all made sense now; he was Quinn!
"You are NOT Quinn." Hydaelyn said sharply with a squint of her eyes that caused Izuku to flinch, "Yes, my child did infusion his aether into your body as a baby to help you survive, but by doing so erased everything that made Quinn who he was, you are and always have been Izuku Midoriya."
"B-But, what about Fray? Or the fact he and I look so much alike?"
"Admittedly, while you are still human and Quinn was a Miqo'te, it doesn't mean that in the vast universe we live in, there couldn't be more people who look like one another." The goddess said with a raised eyebrow, "Similar to you and Quinn sharing similar looks, there could be counterparts to your family and friends somewhere else, even on your Earth."
"As for the being known as Fray, he was tied to Quinn's aether originally, similar to others whose aether joined him in a sort of pact during his adventures. Another example would be your "eye" when you are taking the role of a dragoon, and over time, may rekindle those same pacts as your powers further unlock."
Izuku continued to look bewildered upon that news and hurriedly began to take mental notes about things to ask Krile and Nezu once he got back. However, the gentle cooing of Eri still in his arms as she nuzzled more into his chest caught his attention as he looked down and stared at her for a moment, "W-what about Eri? How does she tie into all this?"
Once again, silence fell amongst the pair as the goddess slowly moved close and gently shifted some of the strands of hair off of the small girl's face, "This child is very special; she is amongst the first of her generation to be naturally born with aether." the goddess looked to Izuku, her face somber as she spoke, "But, Eri is more than just that… her fate is ultimately tied towards yours, that is how she found the crystal and why it's been calling the both of you towards one another. She needs you, Izuku, just as much as you need her."
Izuku continued to stare at the goddess in shock before looking down and gazing upon the, admittedly, very adorable sleeping face of Eri, who murmured something in her sleep he couldn't quite pick up, his eyes traveling towards her arms which were covered in very well used gauze. Slowly looking back towards Hydaelyn, "These bandages… How did she get them? Is there a way we can look at her past without waking her or reliving it? I-I know it's not right to look into someone's past without her agreeing permission, but if whoever did this to her tries to take her back, I need to know how best I can protect her."
Hydaelyn simply smiled, knowing full well that he was not trying to be rude, and gently lifted a hand for a small crystal to softly levitate itself towards Izuku, who rose an eyebrow at the reasonably large crystal, "Simply touch the crystal, and it will give you an 'echo' of her memories. You will be the observant, watching it from an outsider's perspective and cannot interact with the memory... " Hydaelyn looked sad as she continued to speak, "Nothing can change the past, no matter how hard we fight against the river that is time."
Izuku nodded slowly, focusing now on the crystal and raising his free hand to rest on top of the shimmering blue object. As he did, in his mind, he began to watch just what the little girl in his arms was put through, and as time slowly passed, his grip on her tightened protectively, as a thought in the back of his mind made itself well known and hung there.
Izuku knew what he would need to do and be for this little girl.
As the three girls took in the sight before them, Momo gasped and was holding back tears as she saw the title of the photo written underneath the picture, with what looked like blotches of faded ink, possibly from tears, as it read in delicate handwriting:
'Izuku; 3 hours old'
Tubes of various sizes connected to the smallest of breathing apparatuses clung tightly to the small body, with multiple bandages holding what looked like IVs into the child who was encapsulated within a large circular device.
"There was… an accident." Inko spoke up after a few moments as the girls slowly turned the pages of the small booklet, watching as more and more of the same image appeared through the tiny baby was still slowly growing larger, "We were on our way home from visiting one of his father's work friends and their family, lovely people… but a van being chased by a hero had slammed into my side of our car… I was rushed to emergency as I was the only one with the most injuries, and they had to perform an emergency c-section to save him."
Inko began to tear up, remembering the sounds of the monitors as they had kept her baby boy alive; she continued, "A few weeks after that, there was a terrible storm… and it knocked out the hospital's power and the backup for a few minutes, but… oh my baby boy… those machines where the only things keeping him alive."
By now, all the girls were starting to cry, Momo having made handkerchiefs and passing them out for everyone. Inko gently blew her nose and smiled, "Thank you, dear… As I was saying, Izuku should have died then, but… oh, he was always such a fighter, never to give up… somehow he held on until the power came back on."
The girls flipped to the last page, where a smiling Inko and Hisashi held a bundled up baby Izuku, who was sleeping peacefully with a tuft of green hair. The reaction was a prominent cooing sound as they all gazed upon the sleeping baby in Inko's arms, "Oh my god, he's so precious!"
"Izuku had to stay in the hospital for an extra month, just to make sure everything was alright or there were no lingering effects… and the rest is history." Inko said with a gentle sigh, smiling a little sadly to herself now, "I'll admit, when he was first diagnosed as Quirkless, it broke my heart since he still wished to be a hero… I still wonder if it was my fault because of the accident-ooh!" Inko squeaked when she was suddenly hugged by the three girls, and slowly but gently, she returned it as Mina spoke first.
"It was never your fault, Mamadoriya. I know Izuku would never blame you for being quirkless…."
"Mhmm, besides, I know for a fact that Izuku looks up to you as a hero as well." Momo said with a bright smile that caused the older woman to blush a bit, "When he was at the party, he couldn't stop talking about you and how proud he was to have you as his mother."
Inko began to tear up, though smiling widely and hugging the girls close once again; she stopped when she heard the gentle croak of Tsuyu catch her attention, "Can I ask you something, Inko?"
"Of course, dear, what is it?"
"Well, when Izuku accompanied me to my house the other day, I hadn't realized that he was good with kids… I'm curious to know how that happened?"
Inko blinked for a moment and then gently clapped her hands together as she realized what the frog girl was referring to, "Oh, that! After Hisashi passed, I had to bring Izuku with me to work during the day, and he stayed in the children's wing and interacted with the kids there. He even kept doing so after I was switched over to nights when he was old enough to stay home by himself."
Izuku's mother smiled gently once again, "A lot of the younger ones looked up to him as sort of a big brother, and he would tell them hero stories or play with them… sadly, he had to stop that when high school demanded too much of his attention, though he did make the annual stops during the holidays."
"So that's where he was!" Mina exclaimed with her eyes wide, "When we tried to ask him to come to hang out at Momo's for the winter break last year, he said he was busy and wouldn't tell us!"
"Ah… yes, I remember that…." Inko said sadly, looking down at her hands, "There was a little boy named Tōkun there; he was terminally ill and wasn't expected to last past the holidays. Such a sweet child, but there was no one there for him for most of the year, his parents died in a villain attack, and he had no living relatives."
"Tōkun was a big fan of All Might, just as much as Izuku was, and they would go on for hours, and my sweet baby boy would show him countless videos. Oh! I don't know how Izuku did it for Christmas, but he somehow convinced Toshi to have All Might come and visit! Oh, the look on Tōkun's face was… we never saw the boy smile like that before, and he hugged both Izuku and All Might while crying, it was so adorable."
Inko smiled brightly as Mina giggled at the probably embarrassing state of Izuku during that time before the mood of the room grew somber again, and Inko spoke, "Tōkun passed away on New Year's Eve, and Izuku was there with him until the very end."
Inko gently dabbed her eyes from trying not to cry once again, as did the girls, "So, while I would love to further embarrass Izuku while he isn't here, we should get dinner started."
"We figured we would order some pizza, so none of us had to cook; it has been… an exhausting day." Momo sighed gently as Mina nodded gently. All four of the women stood up and began to head towards the door when Inko suddenly stopped.
"Oh, I forgot to ask, what are you three and Kyoka planning on doing to Izuku for scaring you with his latest little 'escapade'?"
All three girls looked back to the dorm mother with a single raised eyebrow each before looking to one another for Mina to ask with a confused tone of voice, 'W-What do you mean 'what are we going to do to Izuku?'"
"Well, you four are currently dating my son, are you not?" Inko replied with a tilt of her head, and her comment caused all three of the girls to suddenly stiffen.
"H-How did you know?"
Inko raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "Well, all of you dragging him off to the laundry room to speak in 'private' was a big clue, that and how he looks when his gaze comes across each of you with the same look Hisashi gave me when we were dating… Should I almost mention the little 'trip' you and he went on, Tsuyu?"
Said frog girl hunched slightly in embarrassment, before Inko sighed with a smile, "I'm not mad at any of you, nor do I disapprove… to be honest, I was worried that with everything that happened when he was younger, he would miss out on the chance to find love."
"To be completely honest, Inko…." Momo spoke up gently, fidgeting with her hands, "Izuku hasn't actually said yes to all of us dating yet."
"Not you three, but he did ask me if we could start dating, kero." Tsuyu spoke up with a finger on her chin and tilted her head thinking for a moment, "I think he just wants to ask us out properly, kero, given he didn't say no initially but did promise to take all of us on a date at least."
Momo and Mina's eyes grew wide at that, not having even thought that was his plan all along. Inko, meanwhile, gasped gently, bringing her hands up to her lips, and was teary-eyed once again, "Oh my baby boy… he's truly like Hisashi."
All three girls looked at the mother in confusion as Inko cleared her thought, "W-when me and Izuku's father's first date ended, he had basically done what I'm sure Izuku did with Tsuyu, he confessed his true feelings to her and then asked you to go out with him, is that correct dear?" The older woman smiled when Tsuyu gently nodded her head, still blushing, "Izuku wants the first date with each of you to be special, and then he'll ask you all out… Though… I hate to ask… Is this a harem or?"
"Polyamory, basically." Tsuyu said, "Similar to my aunt with her husband's and wife."
Inko gently nodded, "Yes, your mother mentioned her and the pregnancy and would need to call on you from time to time to watch your younger siblings when we met during the moving day." Inko sighed gently with a smirk, as she spoke next, she had a stern look on her face, though still with a smirk as if to give the notion it was both a warning and teasing as well, "If any of you hurt my baby, I will show you why even Mitsuki Bakugo is afraid of me."
The girls nodded quickly in both alarm and dread at the tone Inko had taken with them, "Also, as much as I would like to have grandbabies to spoil, try and wait till after you graduate and are married."
The reactions to that little request had caused Mina and Momo to blush even more, with the heiress having her hands on her cheeks and muttering low and fast to herself about the 'prospects' of children, while Mina was fidgeting in place and seemed to be daydreaming a bit. A loud croak caught everyone's attention as Tsuyu looked at Inko with her usual near-unbothered expression and monotone voice. However, the blush on her cheeks gave away how embarrassed she was.
"While I can promise you that I will never hurt Izuku like that, with my mating season coming up, I will try… though don't be surprised if something does happen, kero." and with having said her piece, she quickly left the manager's suite, leaving both Momo and Mina aghast in shock at the declaration of their classmate, but also snapped their heads to Inko who was blushing and giggling after the fact.
Oh, she liked her son's girlfriends.
Once they all had calmed down and stepped out of the elevator to the main floor, they were greeted with everyone else in Class 1-A, sans Bakugo, who looked very tired and were lazily strewn about the common area.
Within an hour, food was ordered and delivered, much to everyone's empty and growling stomachs.
An hour after that, a bright light shone outside of the main entrance of the dorms. Once it dissipated, everyone rushed towards it to come across a most curious sight.
Izuku landed on the grassy lawn just outside of the Class 1-A dorms, sighing in relief that he was back but also in annoyance as he realized just how late it had gotten since he and Eri had first been transported to Hydaelyn. A squirm against his shoulder made Izuku look down to see the still sleeping Eri, with one hand on his chest while the other was tucked in close to her body as the boy smiled down at her.
The glint of silver caught his gaze for a moment as around Eri's neck was a beautifully crafted necklace with a small ornament hanging down the front, holding a sliver of a green crystal that Izuku smirked at it. It was a relief that the goddess was able to make the necklace and casing for the crystal that Eri held and shrunk it down to not be so cumbersome for the young child.
As he slowly moved onto the pathway towards the entrance, a frown crossed his face as he gently began to think as to how best to explain the situation with Eri, as well as where has been for… however long he was away. Sure, it was nighttime, but that didn't mean it was still the same day.
Oh god, did he hope it was still the same day.
"Midoriya?"
The calling out of his name broke Izuku's concentration as he looked to see his classmates staring at him in shock from the entranceway of the dorms. He gave a nervous chuckle and, with one hand, gently waved at them, "H-Hey guys… how's it going-OOF!"
Just as quickly as he spoke, a blur of green struck his chest, and while he didn't get knocked onto his butt, it did shake him up a little and awoke his sleeping passenger. Izuku looked down to see his mother crying loudly into his chest, though muffled for a solid few minutes as Izuku brought his free hand down to give her a half a hug, before he felt his ear lobe twist and he hissed out in pain, "OW!"
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOUNG MAN?!" Inko shouted with her hand glowing slightly from using her quirk on him, releasing him a few seconds later as she kept balling, "Y-you nearly gave me a heart attack, Izuku! I thought I lost you!"
Recovering rather quickly, he gently hugged his mother again, "Ow… I'm fine, mom, it's very simple what happened, when Eri's quirk activated, it teleported us, but since she cannot fully control it, we were stuck in a "limbo" sort of place."
Inko looked up to her son, squinting her eyes at his own emerald irises, and huffed gently, seeing that knowing look and huffed, "Fine, but I want the full story later, young man." Inko said in a whisper so only he could hear it, and he gently nodded. The older woman's focus soon turned to Eri, who was wide-eyed and hugging herself to Izuku like he was a life preserver. Inko's angered glance morphed into one of shock but also curiosity, "Izuku, who is this?"
Izuku smirked, hoisting Eri up a little more in his hold on her as he looked to his mother, "Mom, This is Eri, the one with that quirk I just mentioned." His gaze soon turned to Eri, whose gaze was now focused on him as he smiled gently at her, "Eri, this is my mother… She runs the dorms here and is a nurse."
Eri looked towards Inko, tilting her head quietly and then frowning deep in thought, before looking back to Izuku with an expression that she just thought up the best thing in the world, "Papa's… Mama? So... that makes her 'Grandma'?"
Izuku chuckled gently, not noticing the sudden stiffness of his mother at that little proclamation as he spoke, "Yep, a papa's mama is a Grandma, so she's your Grand…ma… oh no." He quickly looked down to see the purely in shock face of his mother staring up at him, mouthing the word "grandma" over and over again. Izuku looked up to his equally shocked classmates and winced when they all shouted at once.
"PAPA?!"
Chapter 30: Eri, the Unicorn of Class 1-A
Summary:
some cute Eri fluff! and Izuku is ragdolled around by a certain class 1-B class rep!
Notes:
Holy smokes we made it to chapter 30!
So, going to say this right now, I want to THANK ALL OF YOU who have stuck with this story up to this point. The level of enjoyment people have been having from my silly writings, honestly feels great ^^
So now it's a countdown to the Sports Festival, and boy oh boy, do we have some things to get through before THAT mess.
So hope you enjoy this chapter and please leave a comment or review and I'll happily answer them!
Also, I will like to point out that at some point in the VERY NEAR future, the writing is going to get a little spicy... And with that being said, I know how FFN tends to not allow that sort of writing. So, what I plan to do is editing out that part for readers here on FFN, but leave everything unedited on ao3 for all to enjoy.
It sucks, I know, and I rather not have to edit out part of the story, but I don't want the story to be deleted because it has romantic smut in it.
As for Ao3 readers, enjoy the smut when it happens! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
also, We went past 350 kudos! Thank you guys so much for enjoying this story and I hope that your interest continues going forward <3
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
If someone had told Izuku the previous morning that he would be waking up to a small child sleeping beside him, clinging to him like some sort of giant green teddy bear, while also muttering out words such as "Papa" in a soft tone of voice. Well, Izuku would kindly refute that claim while also having a good chuckle about it with a blush on his cheeks. Him? A father? Hardly likely given his track record for romantic relationships.
Granted, this was before UA. But now? Despite only knowing the small girl for less than a day, he already felt a bond with her, not only due to their connection to the goddess but after having seen what Eri had been through… Izuku couldn't have been more enraged.
Sure, he was tormented as a kid himself, pretty brutally at times. But he still had days where things were moderately ok, while the little girl- no, his daughter, never had a single day of peace since discovering her quirk. If Izuku could turn back time, he would gladly take any of the pain she felt during those two years under the red masked man and his various "tormentors".
From the looks of those so-called doctors, it was no wonder why Eri had such an adverse reaction to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. However, he was thankfully able to calm her down and explain that the "birdman" staying in the same building with them was a good guy while also divulging the knowledge that Dark Shadow liked apples, which surprisingly made Eri much more calmer and slightly drool at the mention of the fruit, but also taking a liking towards the "beastly shadow and its master".
As he gently nudged Eri to wake her up and as she cutely yawned, Izuku's mind started to worry about other things. Sure, the support from his mother was a bit of a shock. After all, he was just starting University and already adopting a six-year-old? Most parents would call him crazy for doing so. It was apparent that she didn't buy the lie about Eri's quirk being a teleportation quirk… so he'd have to deal with that aftermath later today.
But what was also creeping in his mind was the girls and their reactions. Sure, they were just as shocked as everyone when Eri had called him "papa", but the only one who didn't seem to hesitate to speak and get to know the child was Tsuyu, which made sense given that Eri was probably her baby sister's age. But Momo, Mina, and Kyoka? He saw them watching Eri interact with the others with obvious adoration, and he swore he heard Kyoka say to the others that "Eri was super cute."
However, this didn't mean that they would be ok with dating a guy with a child; it was hard enough to try to become heroes with their relationship, but now to add in raising a child into the mix?
Izuku couldn't blame them if they had decided to bow out, nor would he think less of them for it. But it was now pretty much a given that if they wished to date him, they would have to handle the responsibility of being Eri's mama as well.
That one thought really made Izuku blush hard.
After a relatively quiet breakfast, Eri asked questions about the different things she was coming into contact with for the first time. Aizawa had shown up at the dorms and froze when he saw Eri eating a piece of toast while looking at him with a tilt of her head. The teacher said nothing, looking more tired than usual as his gaze shifted towards the green-haired student who the small girl was sitting in the lap of.
"Nezu informed me of our new… guest… and wants to speak with you and your mother after breakfast. You have been excused from your classes for the rest of the day, Problem Child."
"Papa, what's a 'problem child'?"
That first word made Aizawa stiffen up, and his usually tired expression shifted into one of shock. At the same time, the other students that had been around the student, now parent, and his supposed daughter backed away.
Izuku chuckled nervously as he looked at Eri, "It's a special nickname that Mr. Aizawa likes to call me… it doesn't mean anything bad."
"At least I hope so." Izuku thought as Eri frowned for a moment in thought, then looked back to Aizawa with a curious look.
"Can I have a… ni..n.. nickname too?"
The room went silent with that request, everyone watching as their teacher slowly sighed and went to kneel down in front of the child and stare at her for a few moments, which made Eri flinch a little bit but still kept her gaze on the tired-looking man.
After a few moments, while he was smirking under his scarf to hide it from his students and the small child, he uttered one word, "Unicorn."
Eri blinked, as did Izuku and a few of the others as the small child tilted her head once again and asked, while also having a little trouble saying the word, "U-Unicorn, what's that?"
"It's a magical creature, Eri." Izuku spoke up, grabbing her attention for the moment, "They can appear suddenly; usually, they have a pure white mane and a single horn on their head. They are often used as a sign of elegance, but also bring people happiness."
Eri blinked for a moment and then turned her attention back to Aizawa, who raised an eyebrow when he saw the look of pure awe as suddenly Eri leaped up and hugged him tightly, "T-thank you, Unca 'Zawa!"
Everyone froze from the response given by the now dubbed "Unicorn of Class 1-A", even Aizawa was frozen stiff for a moment upon hearing Eri call him an Uncle. Still, he softened a bit and gently placed a hand on her head. Once Eri let go and nestled back against Izuku, the green-haired boy's complexion grew pale as he saw the severe yet stern look he got from his teacher, where he mouthed out the words "Not one word".
Aizawa rose up and gave his other students a similar look before looking back down to Izuku and Eri, "Hurry up with your breakfast, Problem Child, I'll go and let your mother know to come to the office right away as well since Recovery Girl needed some assistance with preparing the infirmary." And with not another word or glance, he walked out of the dorms.
Everyone relaxed with a collective sigh as Izuku looked down to Eri and asked, "Why did you call him 'Uncle'?"
Eri squirmed in his arms and looked shyly before speaking softly so only he could hear her, "One of the bad men… he treated me nicely, made sure I had food, would tell me stories of fights he was in… when I asked him for his name, he simply said to call him 'Unca'."
"So anyone who is super nice to you gets called 'Uncle'?"
"Mhmm! Like Unca Yami and Unca Shadow! They are not like the bad bird men, and Unca Shadow likes apples and gave me one!" Eri said aloud, pointing towards the bird-headed pair. Tokoyami was blushing a deep red, while Dark Shadow came out from under the cloak and squealed in delight.
"And you are the best niece ever, Eri!" cried the sentient quirk before being sucked back into embarrassed hero student, earning not only a few snickers from his classmates but a giggle from Eri, who enjoyed watching the two.
To say that the meeting with Nezu later on that day would go smoothly would be dead wrong, as, of course, anything in Izuku's short life had proven, nothing ever goes smoothly for him.
When Izuku, Eri, and his mother had entered the office, only to be met with not only Toshinori, Aizawa, and Recovery Girl in the room, did the young hero student know things may get ugly. Taking his seat, with Eri on his lap, Izuku held her close as the dean looked him squarely in the eye. No words were said until the little furred being chuckled and leaned back in his chair, tiny paws together, and spoke four words that sent shivers down his spine.
"So, you met her?"
A few tense moments of silence passed before Izuku gently nodded, and both Nezu and Recovery Girl sighed heavily. At the same time, Inko looked confused at the reaction between her two bosses.
It was then Inko learned what her son's true power was.
After a fainting spell that had lasted for almost ten minutes, until Recovery Girl had used some waking salts to raise Inko, the poor mother learned everything that involved Izuku with being the Warrior of Light. From when he received his powers, to the various kits he had and why so many of them just broke so many of the rules when it came to quirks, to also how Eri came into their lives, and his disappearance from class was not caused by a teleportation quirk that Eri has, but because by the now smaller crystal hanging from the child's neck.
Izuku winced when she lightly flicked her son's forehead as "punishment" for lying to her in the first place since they had an understanding that they would not keep secrets from one another anymore. Izuku received double punishment when Eri, the sweet child that she was, had attempted to flick Izuku as well because he did a bad thing to "grandma Inko".
That had caused Aizawa to speak up and address the issues now involving the said child. While it was nothing of fault regarding Eri, nor would he blame her, he did point out that raising a child was highly illogical for a single eighteen-year-old. That was when Nezu had dropped the bomb.
Through his various networks of people, he informed everyone in the room as to Eri didn't exist to any records. Any forms or reports from when she was born to where she had lived or who her guardians were had been cleaned out or destroyed.
Izuku held Eri close, who looked confused due to all the big words used when she winced and gently rubbed her bandaged arm. Izuku gently looked down and asked if her arms were hurting, and she calmly nodded, saying she didn't want to bother anyone.
That nearly tore his heartstrings, as well as most of the others in the room as Izuku gently moved Eri to his mother, who quickly scooped the small child up in her arms. He gently whispered into his mother's ear to take Eri to the infirmary and see if she could ease some of the pain, wanting to fully explain Eri's circumstances without upsetting her.
Inko nodded, and after convincing Eri to come with her to stop the aching in her scars and have an apple lollipop afterward as a reward. Once they were sure Eri was no longer in earshot, Izuku described what he had learned about Eri from the vision he had been given by Hydaelyn.
From the small child's overly powerful quirk, to the two years in literal hell being experimented upon by Kai Chisaki, to also the news that Eri was the first human born with a substantial amount of aether within her body, which shocked Recovery Girl, while also made Nezu snicker, causing Izuku to frown and look questioningly at the dean, before being waved off by the small furry creature.
Suffice it to say, the meeting ended within thirty minutes with a few key factors. For one, Eri was not to leave the UA grounds for any reason until Nezu had deemed it safe for her. It was clear to everyone in the room that she would be hunted down by her captures, and not knowing where she originally came from within the city made it that much more difficult to figure out where they were operating from primarily. Secondly, while Izuku was ahead of the class for this first year, the boy still needed to focus mainly upon his studies; if Eri's presence had caused him to drop his current scores considerably, Eri would be taken care of primarily by his mother.
While Izuku could feel his heartache at that stipulation, the reasoning for such was not made because they didn't think he would be a positive role model for the girl, but Izuku knew he was here to train to become a hero. He had to have his priorities straight. One of the last decisions made was, after confirming it with Inko, to have the small spare room in the dorm manager's suite to be converted into Eri's own private bedroom. This was, of course, when she would be ready. For now, she would be staying in Izuku's room until she was comfortable.
And just as the meeting was about to end, Izuku had asked for the others to listen to a favor for him regarding Eri. And as Izuku began to explain himself and list the possible reasons why they should allow this, Nezu's eyes seemed to glint while smiling at his "personal student". At the same time, Aizawa sighed heavily and muttered the boy's nickname.
Izuku scribbled into his notebook as the battle on the field raged on; Ojiro had been sparring against one of their "sister" students in Class 1-B, a boy named Juzo Honenuki. Despite a mutation that gave him a somewhat "scary" look, Izuku could see Honenuki's intelligence shine with how he could often keep the distance between himself and his sizeable tailed opponent with his quirk, which allowed him to change the properties of the cement battlefield (provided by Cementoss who was watching the various fights himself as a special guest speaker), to soften into something akin to quicksand or harden back to its previous state in a flash.
A whistle going off knocked him out of his thoughts as he saw Ojiro had been finally caught in the quicksand and trapped within the floor; the cheers of Class 1-B roared loudly while the groans of Class 1-A echoed out while Juzo helped Ojiro out of the ground, being the good sportsman he was.
"HAHAHA! Excellent work, both of you! And congratulations, young Honenuki, for an outstanding performance!" All Might shouted loudly as he went to both of the boys who were currently panting from their rather intense spar, "And young Ojiro, a good attempt! But do not be dismayed that you lost; this is merely a single setback for you to improve upon, and perhaps in the future, this will provide you better expertise with villains who used range-based quirks!"
Ojiro nodded and turned to Juzo, bowing his head and thanking him for a good spar, the other boy doing the same before they both returned to their respective classes, the other thirty-eight students all sitting in bleachers and talking and offering both congratulations and words of encouragement. All Might's throat clearing caught everyone's attention as he stood upon the now repaired battle platform with Aizawa, Cementoss, and Class 1-B's homeroom teacher Vlad King standing just behind him as the number one pro smiled brightly, "Such a great spar between two more of UA's wondrous heroes in training! While my assistant from this morning has already given me recorded data of this morning's fights and watching the few I have been able to see with my own eyes this afternoon, I can already see the great potential being displayed between both classes!"
"Excuse me, Mr. All Might, sir." The blonde boy from 1-B named Neito Monoma spoke up with his hand raised. Once All Might had acknowledged him with a nod, the boy spoke up, "While your assistant this morning didn't provide us with any details when we asked… but what is the point of all this? Class 1-A already has the spotlight on them after the USJ. Is this simply to give them more of an edge for the upcoming sports festival by displaying our quirks in front of them?"
"It's not like we asked to be attacked!" Kirishima shouted and glared at the blonde, a few others from both classes starting to hell and argue between the two. Thankfully, both sides were silenced with a loud clap coming from the blonde pro before them.
"Before I answer your question, young Monoma, be aware that I was informed of the rivalry between the years before this one. Why I remember it when I attended this fine institution 'lo those many years ago!" All Might said with a trademark smile, "But from what I was told, it has gotten to the point where the two classes simply will not cooperate together, even after they graduated. This is why I planned this special heroics class. Usually, the classes wouldn't normally start doing group exercises until their second year. I did this to prevent that sort of issue happening."
"I am not saying that having a rivalry between the two classes is a bad thing, however." All Might spoke, with his hands on his hips, "A healthy one can actually motivate and empower the two parties to improve themselves, learning from previous mistakes and perhaps working together in some scenarios. As there will be times during your internships later on where you will be together with those from the other class."
"Let me be clear," All Might's smile faded slightly, "Yes, the USJ incident will have everyone's eyes on 1A, and it is something I truly wished no one here would ever have to experience as the villains that attacked were targeting me. But, this is not why I decided to make this special class, as some sort of 'favoritism' for Class 1-A."
"I am the number one hero, and I fully understand what would happen should I one day retire from heroics, or… the worst-case scenario, I am killed in action." All Might said in a somber tone, his icy blue eyes looking at the reactions from the reality of him being gone hitting them, "When I am gone, villains will think that they can take back the streets and cause chaos and destruction, or much worse if we are not prepared for it. That is why I am shifting my primary focus from heroics to teaching you, the next generation, so that when the inevitable happens, our beautiful country will not be without its protectors. The populace will need you to stand up to the waves of crime and villains with as much of a presence as I have!" The pro hero smiled proudly, "It will be your turn to take up the mantle as the protector of the people, and my goal is to make sure that when they call out for a hero, each and every one of you can all proudly call out, 'I AM HERE'!"
Both classes stood up from their seats cheering for All Might, most having been pumped up by his speech as Izuku smiled brightly, watching his favorite hero encouraging him and his classmates.
"Now! Onto our next match!" All Might shouted loudly as Aizawa called out the next two combatants down to the fighting area, as the rest of the students began to talk and make guesses as to the winner of the two fighters.
Izuku flipped open a new page of his notebook when the soft "clanks" against the metal bleacher caught his attention before suddenly getting tackled from the side by Eri, "Papa! Look at what Gramma got me!" The small child exclaimed while she stepped back to show off her new outfit for him.
Turning around for him, Eri was wearing a white button-up shirt with a rather red but adorable dress that had straps comfortably resting on her small shoulders with big yellow buttons sewn on to connect the two straps to the dress. She was wearing black tights with red rubber boots on her feet that looked suspiciously similar in design to Izuku's own red sneakers. Eri also happened to have a small green side bag decorated with tiny plastic flowers.
"Wow! Look at you, Eri!" Izuku said with a big smile that caused the girl to sit down beside him, "Grandma really picked out a nice outfit for you. Did you thank her?"
Eri nodded her head before the heavy panting of said "grandmother" caught both of their attentions. Inko stopped a few feet short of the duo as she gasped for air a little, "Eri, sweety... You can't go running off like that; Grandma can't keep up with you…."
Eri slowly looked down, a look of complete hurt on her face as she sniffed, her eyes starting to tear up, thinking that she hurt her grandmother and that because of such, they would get rid of her. Those fears were dashed when she felt not only the gentle hug from Izuku but Inko as well. She looked up to her papa and then her grandma as Inko smiled down at the child, "I'm not mad at you, Eri, it's just I'm not as young as you or your papa, so I don't have the energy to run after you when you bolt like that… I know you were excited to show Izuku your new outfit, but please don't run off like that unless you get permission from your father or me, alright?"
Although still looking a little upset, due to her inner turmoil, Eri very gently nodded before hugging her grandmother and muttering out a "sorry", for which both Inko and Izuku gently smiled and continued to hug her gently, causing the little girl to cheer up.
From afar, the rest of Class 1-A simply watched the very adorable and heartwarming scene, though there were one or two that looked away. Momo smiled gently as she watched Izuku talk with Eri and showed her his notebook, and watched the little girl's eyes open wide in awe at all the pages he no doubt filled up already. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head to be met face to face with the floating head of one Setsuna Tokage, whose face was wearing her usual shit-eating grin as she spoke, though low enough as not to let the small family overhear her, "So, who's the munchkin? And why is she calling greenie 'Papa'? And more importantly…" the disembodied head floated closer, her voice slightly more profound with a teasing undertone, "Who's the 'Mama'?"
The afternoon progressed rather quickly if Izuku had to be honest.
Once Eri and his mother had shown up, All Might had introduced them to both classes as the afternoon's "on-call nurses" and that made most if not all of the girls coo and gasp as Eri had a tiny little nurses hat on her head when the time came up.
Izuku knew he would make Eri a special dessert tonight for dinner as a reward for how she did today. He knew that his "daughter" was still very intimidated by most of his classmates, both within class 1-A and 1-B. Still, he watched as eventually, Eri would give off band-aids or small tubes of muscle relaxant to the various students, with Inko behind her just in case something went wrong.
What was more interesting was the interaction between Eri and Todoroki.
It was no shock that Eri would instantly take an immediate interest in the stoic loner of 1-A, not that they had interacted much. But from the way that Eri would often stare at him, or more stare at the rather large scar that surrounded Shoto's left eye, Izuku knew she would either ask about it, or Todoroki may tell her off for her constant staring. But he had to hand it to the little girl, as she had worked up enough courage to walk up to him after his spar between one of the other boy's of Class 1-B, whose name was Nirengeki Shoda (who was being currently thawed out by the teachers due to Todoroki just encasing him in ice instantly.)
Izuku, as did the rest of the students, watched as Eri offered a small tub of lotion. Todoroki had looked down and raised his single eyebrow at her while taking it. He asked why she was showing it to him when he was fine, but the answer Eri gave him nearly shook everyone to their core.
"It looked like that patch over your eye hurts… this helps when mine hurts."
And that's when most people who were close enough could see the ends of the scars that no doubt riddled her arms as the sleeve of her shirt slid slightly past her wrist. Eri hadn't noticed the sleeve slip as she lowered her arm back down; the scars were once again hidden. Todoroki was staring at the child before he gently knelt down and spoke softly to her. However, Izuku couldn't quite hear it, seeing Eri nod with affirmation and a hint of a smile ghosting her lips before running back to Inko. Izuku soon felt the gaze of the dual-haired boy on him with a look he couldn't quite place as Todoroki's eyes squinted at him.
Izuku was snapped out of the staring contest by the boisterous call of All Might, "Young Midoriya! It is your turn!"
Izuku nodded, placing his notebook and pencil inside the nurse's bag that his mother had left beside him while she and Eri saw the now thawed-out Shoda. Eri gave him a wave of encouragement as Izuku returned it before stepping up onto the battle platform where All Might was waiting with one of the Class 1-B girls.
Standing beside the giant blond was a woman of average height with bright orange hair tied off to the side of her head. Although she was wearing the standard UA gym outfit like the rest of the students had been, Izuku noticed how her pant legs were rolled up to just be below her knees. She had a bright smile on her face when she bowed slightly to Izuku, "Hi there! I'm Itsuka Kendo of Class 1-B!"
"Ah!" Izuku stammered suddenly, bowing as well to the girl, "I-I'm Izuku Midoriya, of Class 1-A."
All Might watched as his successor was fumbling, rather severely, trying to talk to the other classmate, who seemed to be giggling at his attempts to be friendly. In the old pro's mind, he mused and chuckled that while Izuku was getting better at interacting with people in general, despite having several female friends, the poor boy was still a mess when it came to girls he barely knew.
Shaking his head slightly to remain focused on the lesson, All Might first looked at Izuku, then to Kendo, his smile brightened, "ALL right! This will be today's final sparring match!" he bellowed out with a solid bit of laughter afterward, before speaking low enough for the two students to hear just him, "As much as I am sure both of you want to give it your all, I would recommend dialing it back a little, this is only sparring, not full-on combat like in the battle trials."
When All Might got the nod from both of his students, he gave them a thumbs up, "Good, now wait till you hear the bell, and we will begin!"
As the blonde hero walked back towards the awaiting group of students and teachers, Kendo looked to Izuku with a smirk, "I'm guessing you went a little overboard yourself during the first heroic class too, huh?"
The green-haired boy looked to his opponent, but he chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, "Y-yea… I may have sent one of my classmates through a few of the cement walls before they were stopped by a building outside of the training area…."
Kendo merely whistled, crossing her arms and under her chest as she giggled lightly, "Funnily enough, I did the same thing to Tsuburaba although it was sending him through a few of the floors until he hit ground level." which led to her nervously giggling as Izuku paled slightly.
"H-how many floors?" Izuku asked, more out of morbid curiosity for the sake of his notebooks which he would be updating later tonight.
Kendo blushed gently, her arms now uncrossed, and she rubbed her forearm a little in embarrassment, "T-the rooftop."
Izuku's eyes widened in shock from the answer given, which caused the girl to shift on her feet a little in embarrassment before Izuku's shocked morphed into amazement and started to ask a few dozen questions about her quirk and how strong it was, stunning the orange-haired woman.
From the bleachers, while most of 1-B were utterly confused from the rapid amount of questions Izuku was asking, as members of class 1-A sighed comically at the fact that this may take a while, the girls of class 1-A sitting separately from the boy's as not only speak amongst themselves but also to keep a particular pair of eyes off of them. Tsuyu croaked suddenly when she felt a slight tugging on her sleeve to her left and turned her head to Eri, who was looking a bit perplexed and little nervous around the frog-like woman, but after having talked with Todoroki, seemed to retain some of that courage to try and speak to the other students, "W-what's papa doing?"
"Well, your papa really likes to analyze people's quirks, Eri. It's a hobby of his, kero." Tsuyu said before looking back out to the two students on the field, with Izuku now embarrassed for asking all of his questions and Kendo trying her best to calm him down, just as Aizawa was calling out to them to stop wasting time. Eri's next question caught her attention as her wide eyes shifted back to the small child.
"What's a 'hobby'?"
"A hobby is an activity that someone likes to do in their spare time, it can be anything from reading to writing, to making music or… Kero, in Izuku's case, analyzing quirks." Tsuyu further explained, causing Eri to think deeply for a moment before her eyes went wide, and she nodded to herself before bowing slightly to Tsuyu and dashing off towards Inko, who was sitting a little further down from the students.
"With how many questions she asks, I'm shocked she isn't the green bean's actual kid." A voice from the immediate right of the women said as all six heads turned toward Setsuna, who was smiling with her trademark razor-sharp teeth on full display. Behind her were the rest of the girls from 1-B, who offered small well-meaning greetings before sitting down beside their "sister" class.
"Eri already seems to have bonded quite quickly to Izuku, just as fast as she did to Inko shockingly, all under twenty-four hours of meeting the pair," Momo said as the large group of women now turned towards the interaction of said grandparent and grandchild, the younger of which sipped some juice out of a small little packet with a tiny little tupperware container on her lap full of fruits, including some apples.
"They have that sort of vibe to them." Kyoka said as she looked at Momo, "Let's face it, Inko is very easy going and also very approachable, and despite Izuku's usual timidness, he is the same. You know you can trust them just by interacting with one or the other for a short period."
"Still, for a student of the university to adopt a child this soon after starting seems very … and I don't mean to be rude by saying this, but irresponsible?" The vine-haired Ibara Shiozaki spoke up, "Though from what we were told about him, it would make sense that it would happen?"
"Oh?" Kyoka said with a raised yet irate eyebrow, clearly not liking this woman who seemed to think ill of Izuku. Any anger she had disappeared when the blonde, horned girl suddenly spoke up in very broken japanese.
"Green boy, very kind! Setsuna tells us that already saved from bad guys!" The clearly foreign girl said with a bright smile, which slowly faded when all she got in return from the rest of the girls were confused looks.
Setsuna, thankfully, spoke up and caught the blonde's attention, "It's alright, Pony, you just got a little too excited again… just take a deep breath and try it once more, just slower, o.k.?"
The now identified Pony nodded, taking a deep breath before slowly speaking once again, "The green boy is very nice; Setsuna told us about how he saved people from bad guys before school started." A collective 'ah, ok' came over the other girls that made Pony smile brightly again, clearly happy they could understand her a second time, which earned her a head pat from Setsuna.
"Agreed; the stories that our lizard-like friend has regaled us with his heroics shows he would rush out to save anyone, no matter the consequences." Another girl spoke out, her hands in front of her like one would see on a stereotypical rendition of a ghost, "He seems to rush into things without thinking things over from what we have been told."
"Not... usually…" Mina said while rubbing the back of her head, knowing that while Izuku was very intelligent and quick to figure out problems, he did tend to just rush into danger and other situations without clear thought, "He's brilliant, but honestly, there are times I wonder if he's too darn 'heroic' for his own good."
"MINA!" Momo said, aghast, her hand covering her mouth from the shock.
"I mean! Remember the 'you-know-what'? From what you, Tsu, and Kyo told us, it sounded like he just blindly rushed in to face..." The pink girl started to mumble and fidget with her hands, "I love Izuku, I really do... But he just worries me sometimes, you know?"
"I know, Mina… There are times where he does seem to value others' well-being far from his own, which is fine for our line of work, but I do worry his own views of self-worth are horribly low." The heiress said somberly with a sigh.
"Whoa, hold on!" Setsuna raised an eyebrow looking at her two friends before settling on the pink-skinned one, "Mina, girlfriend, buddy, gal pal… since when do you love Izuku?"
It was then that Mina realized just who was AROUND them just then during her little admittance, not just the girls that already knew what was going on between her, Izuku, and the others, but now their 1-B counterparts. She was smiling brightly but still a little embarrassed and began to shift from side to side. However, before Mina could fully explain herself, or why three of the other girls of class 1-A were also blushing just as much as she was, a grunt of pain coming from the battle platform caught their attention as Setsuna winced and hissed low as did the others at seeing Izuku getting tossed and punched about by Kendo, "Oh, Greenie's in trouble now."
"How do you figure, kero?" asked Tsuyu with a tilt of her head; Setsuna took her eyes off the fight for a moment and smirked at the frog girl.
"Our class rep down there is freaking awesome when it comes to martial arts; she's been learning since she was a toddler as her family owns its own dojo, and since middle school, she has been winning tournaments left and right." Setsuna looked back to the fight, grinning and watching Kendo toss Izuku around a few more times, all the while the green-haired boy was getting back up and going after her again, "Heck, she's the region's top martial artist in quirkless combat for the last two years in our age category, and I know she could probably give some of our teachers a run for their money when she goes all out. And when she does, she uses her quirk, and that makes her techniques even more powerful."
"So, she's not taking him seriously, kero?"
"All Might did ask them to tone it down," Kyoka quickly commented, twirling her right ear jack around as the girls all looked to her surprised. However, the ones who knew the punk rocker quickly realized as to why, "Even when he whispers it's still pretty loud, but, yea, they are taking it seriously, at least doing so with how much they are holding back."
As everyone looked back to the fight, now having Izuku being tossed over Kendo's shoulder for the umpteenth time of this match, it was Uraraka who noticed the look that Izuku was giving Kendo and instantly recognized it, "Uh oh…."
"What's wrong, Ochako?" Toru asked from beside her, her clothes shifting to show she was looking at the brunette.
"Izuku is looking at Kendo like he did Tsu during our assessment tests." She replied, sounding quite cryptic to the 1-B girls, but the rest instantly knew what would happen. Without another word, Momo began to create sunglasses and quickly distribute them amongst the small group, causing further confusion to their sister class.
"Trust me, you'll thank us when it happens." Kyoka said as she placed her own pair on.
Chapter 31: Crouching Kendo, Hidden Izuku
Summary:
Let the fight commence and someone watches Izuku and Eri interact from afar!
Notes:
Hey ho, all!
Small chapter this week, but I have a special announcement to make!
I will be releasing some one-shots based on this story's universe that will further build upon the many relationships and out of main story events! So yes, they WILL be canon and would have taken place during the various times of the story, but also get some other perspectives aside from Izuku's.
What will the stories be about? Mostly fluff and silly things like the girls playing with Eri and dressing her up in cute little outfits, to training days between some of the students with Izuku, as well as dates between not only Izuku and the ladies, but also other background characters (after all, Toru and Yuga have cute dates as well!) There will be however, no smut in is the one-shots.
However, the release of said one-shots will be very spaced out, as "Bearer of the Light" is the primary story.
Be on the lookout for it soon!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Itsuka Kendo huffed as she sent the green-haired boy from class 1-A sprawling across the cement platform they had been sparring on. She was still in a readied but relaxed stance and watching as Izuku groaned before beginning to drag himself slowly back up, wincing a little.
It had already been five minutes into the spar. Yet, the cheers and shouts from the "audience" of their classmates had kept them driven to continue, despite Izuku not even being able to land a strike against her. Kendo took in the way Izuku held himself, seeing that he was sore from being constantly tossed around. Still, the gaze on him with how his eyes flit about told her he was thinking of something, the look saying he was analyzing her, and every attempt he made with his punches or kicks were getting closer.
Shame she was leagues above him in skill.
As for Izuku, he groaned mentally at how he wasn't making any fast progress in trying to catch the orange-haired woman that was tossing him around like a sack of potatoes. Sure, he had made some progress, but he knew that he was making mistakes. It cost him, that and all the cuts and soon to be showing bruises that would be littering his body after all of this were causing his body to ache already. Also, knowing that Kendo wasn't even going at full strength was a little aggravating for him.
What was also starting to get on his nerves was the "pull" of a new kit was giving him a headache, which honestly he hoped would be a thing of the past, considering he got the full story of how he got his blessing.
Sadly, that didn't seem to be the case.
"Two minutes remaining." Aizawa called out loudly and caught both of the combatants' attention. However, while Kendo looked back towards Izuku first, suddenly, she rushed forward with her fist reeling back. Izuku had turned his head just as the moment as he saw the woman's fist enlarge to a giant fist, barely able to bring both his arms up into a cross formation and to have the girl launch him down the platform, skipping him across the cement platform before he landed face down and groaning loudly.
Izuku began to pull himself up, though he was struggling a bit more due to the hit he had taken by the seasoned martial artist, "Sorry about that!" Kendo had called out as she watched Izuku slowly stand up, bouncing on one foot as she was limbering herself up for another strike, "But we better wrap this up! And I'm not going to hold back anymore!"
However, her words fell on deaf ears as Izuku shook his head, a ringing in his head similar to the white noise he had heard at the USJ. As his eyes slowly began to focus, the noise was soon replaced by what sounded like rushing water, nothing from a gentle river but a mighty waterfall behind him as Izuku slowly raised his head, his eyes widened to the sight before him.
Bouncing on one foot wasn't his orange-haired classmate, but an equally beautiful blonde woman with her hair tied into a ponytail who was wearing the most unique outfit he had ever seen.
Which was saying something given the costumes of Midnight and the Pro Hero Majestic.
The woman bouncing on the ball of her foot was wearing, from what he could tell, very loose-fitting clothing made out of silk or another similar material. A crop top dyed in a bright crimson red hung loosely on her upper body, with golden accents and adornments to further amplify her beauty. Coming down from her crop top with a significant open split in the middle that accentuated her breasts hidden under the thickened layers, the red silk had formed a belt of sorts with ever-flowing tails of the material with intricate golden designs weaved into it and sat delicately on her hips.
She wore puffy pure white pants held tightly at the bottoms by golden kneecaps with her bare calves open to the world, and the shoes she wore were pointed and red, with the tip curled up.
The smile she wore was one of excitement, a challenge to her impressive skill that told him that she saw him as an equal. When she launched herself suddenly and reeled her right fist back, Izuku's vision went white. While the three words of Hydaelyn echoed out in his mind, there was one word, no, a name that was louder than even the goddess' voice.
Lyse.
Kendo watched as the boy remained still before her, still kneeling with his eyes being covered by his impossibly curly hair as she sighed. Jumping off the last bounce on her foot, Itsuka rushed once again towards Izuku, moving her body and reeling her right fist back, not growing it to the large size it was before, but this time putting more force behind it to knock the boy out and secure the win of the sparring match.
What caught her, and everyone watching from the stands, off guard was Izuku suddenly raising his left hand to capture the fist, gripping it as the boy whose face was still partially obscured suddenly began to shine brightly, causing Kendo to clench her eyes and use her free hand to shade the bright light. She could hear all the guys grunting from the flash and one particularly worried shout of 'papa!' coming from the very adorable young girl that was also a nurse's assistant today.
But, just as quickly as the light appeared, it disappeared and allowed Kendo to open her eyes, and to say she was shocked was an understatement.
Kneeling before with much shorter green hair and shaved sides, wearing what looked like a short-sleeved vest with a plume of black feathers lining from the back of the collar down the front, although ending at the breakline of the garment. The rest of the jacket-like vest was decorated with ribbons of white silk traveling from the front to the back of his sleeves with two beautiful and intricately carved flower ornaments that looked like light violet orchids hung on his chest with long leather straps tied in a design to mimic the stem of the artificial flowers themselves, with bright blue beads hanging at the ends as weights.
Both hands, including the one that had her fist in its grip, now had both leather and cloth gloves that had similar decorations like that on his jacket, though the left wrist had a string of large spherical beads. The pants, while baggy, were a pale yellow, more white coloration that was closed at the golden bracers on his knees with what looked like a small cloth of leopard skin tied at the waist by a thick belt with a leather pouch hanging off his left hip. Finally, Izuku's outfit was capped off with leather shoes that seemed very well worn and held up by a tight string wrapped around his calf and ankles.
Kendo's teal eyes shifted to her left to see Izuku's right fist reeling up to strike with what she could only guess as some kind of blue aura. Her gaze turned towards Izuku's now lifted face with a smug little smirk at her with gritted teeth and a fierce look in his eyes, and he began to throw the punch. Quickly growing her hand to its max size, Kendo caught the incoming fist, and as it connected, a burst of air blew out between them.
Pushing themselves apart to get some distance away from one another, Kendo and everyone else now took in the rest of Izuku's outfit, and the poor girl immediately blushed brightly. As it was now revealed that the vest he was wearing was practically the only thing on his upper body, exposing the inner pectorals and defined stomach of the boy with a tattoo that traveled down from his left side of his chest, down past his abs and underneath the front of his leg. Admittedly, the poor woman (and a few others) wondered just how far down it went.
"On or off, Kendo?" called out the boy to snap her out of her thoughts.
"Excuse me?"
"On or off? My gloves? I figured since you are currently not wearing any yourself and this is simply a spar; I thought I'd ask as I do not wish to cause unnecessary harm." Izuku said, with a formal sounding tone that sounded nothing like the stuttering mess of a man she had heard prior in the day.
"O-Oh! You can keep them on because of my quirk and training; my skin is more durable." Kendo said with a slight giggle, seeing Izuku nod and stretch his limbs after asking the question, before standing straight again and bringing his hands together in front of himself and bowing to her.
This not only caught Kendo off guard but also a couple of the students who practiced martial arts as well. The orange-haired girl followed suit, bowing to her opponent with a stern look on her face to match the look on Izuku's. Both combatants then readied themselves into a stance, both staring each other down for a few solid moments before both rushed towards one another and began the fight anew.
However, unlike before, where Izuku was being tossed around the platform, both fighters showed off what looked like years of martial arts training. While Kendo would weave past Izuku's strikes, the boy would dodge hers as well. When the need to block arose, it was done either with a move similar to the strike or the rising of an arm and pushing away the failed move before retaliating back with a punch or kick. All the while and not known to the spectators of the fight, the stern looks of Izuku and Kendo had faded somewhat to grins plastered on their faces.
It was rare for Kendo to come across someone who could keep up with her seriously, and she was enjoying being offered such a challenge. As for Izuku, he was having a blast for just the same reasons, despite having to hold back some of his moves as he didn't want to give away all of his secrets just yet.
That, and why ruin the fun with chakra blasts?
Both classes were cheering them on in excitement as the fight continued, having never witnessed what one would consider an actual "kung-fu movie fight" before. The loudest were the boys like the silver-haired student named Tetsutetsu and Kirishima shouting how the fight was "manly".
Some of the girls were cheering loudly, albeit nothing compared to the guys as Pony and Mina were shouting for their respective classmates. Of course, little Eri was bouncing from her spot beside Inko and cheering on her Papa.
Kyoka sighed heavily and was thankful for the quick creation of the sound-canceling headphones, thanks to Momo noticing the punk rocker was clutching her ears with her hands. She hated her quirk sometimes. Momo gave her a gentle pat on the back, along with Tsuyu, as a light tapping could be felt on the heiress's shoulder, causing her to turn her attention towards Setsuna, who was sitting on the opposite side, "So, that's what happens when Green Bean gets a new "kit", huh?"
Momo nodded and looked back towards the fight, seeing Izuku getting pushed back several feet from a giant-sized punch that he had blocked with both his forearms, and he then dashed back to his opponent, "Yes, that would make it the seventh one… roughly."
"Roughly?" Setsuna asked with a raised eyebrow, as unknown to both of them, Komori was listening in on their conversation.
"During the USJ, he unlocked two kits… one was called a 'White Mage', while the one that seems to be giving him some trouble is something called 'Dark Knight'."
Setsuna whistled gently, looking back to the fight herself, "That second one sounds edgy as hell."
Momo nodded gently, "Yes, it was a truly terrifying experience. Not just with the villains that attacked, but also when Izuku… well…."
"Well, what?" Setsuna asked when her friend had gone silent, seeing Momo fidget her hands together and looking a little pale, the sharp-toothed girl brought her hands up to Momo's shoulder and her hands, "Hey girl, if it's still fresh, I don't want to force you."
Momo sighed and gently nodded, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but… I think it is something that should be discussed in a more private setting; perhaps after classes, I can come over to your dorm room, and we can speak?"
Setsuna grinned wide, "Of course! We haven't had a decent chance to unwind and have a girl chat since university started!" Her eyes shifted to look at the still bouncing Eri, now standing on the bleacher seat, holding her hands up in the air and now cheering for Izuku more loudly, "And maybe you can explain what the deal with the munchkin is? Because last I knew, Izuku wasn't a father a month ago."
"It's… a bit of an odd story, to be honest, despite what Izuku told us."
"Well, the boy is hardly a good liar," Setsuna said and looked back towards the fight, not noticing Momo chuckled gently to herself, for she knew how bad Izuku was at lying.
That doesn't mean he was a half-bad actor when it came to explaining his "quirk".
Izuku skidded to a halt a fair distance from Kendo, panting heavily with sweat rolling down his body as he brought himself into an opo-opo stance, the smile on his lips still present as he stared down his opponent who was sweating and smiling just as he was.
For Kendo, she couldn't believe just how much fun it was to spar against the boy from class 1-A. It was almost like fighting a mirror image of herself, even without having the same quirk as she did, the strength behind both combatants' strikes had nearly sent shivers down her spine, as well as his smirk that had no smugness to it, but also an evident enjoyment of the fight similar to hers.
They had both long since forgotten their audience, focusing on their opponent,reeled-up and once both Izuku and Kendo had moved into what would be the final stance before the end, both students launched at one another with reeled up fists ready to strike. Izuku's right fist had the glowing blue aura around it once again, radiating power as he drew closer to Kendo, who had enlarged her left fist as they both made the distance between them smaller.
Suddenly, a pillar of cement had sprung up in front of the two students, directly in their line of fire and unable to stop, both fists of the students collided with the pillar. They reduced the cement structure to practically nothing, causing a massive dust cloud to cover the entire platform and hide the two students who began to cough loudly from within the plume.
It took roughly thirty seconds for the cloud to dissipate and leave both Izuku and Kendo covered in cement dust and debris, trying to catch their breath. Izuku was the first to recover as he looked to Kendo, "Kendo? Are you alright?"
"Peachy... " she answered while hacking up some dust from a cough, "Where did that pillar come from?"
"You both ran out the clock, and I asked Cementoss to end your fight." Aizawa suddenly spoke up, which caused both young adults to jump in fright since they hadn't realized he was there. The deadpan look on his teacher when his gaze landed on Izuku made him shiver a little as the teacher spoke once more, "Midoriya, while I know you cannot control what outfit you wear when gaining a new kit, I would recommend getting an alteration as leaving your chest open like that unprotected is dangerous."
"Y-Yes, sir!" Izuku said, standing straight at attention, looking nervous and causing Aizawa to sigh heavily.
"That ends classes for today, remember what All Might said and start preparing for the Sports Festival in a month. Class dismissed." The teacher shouted before looking back at Izuku once again, "Midoriya, I want a full analysis of this new kit delivered to my mailbox in the staff room before the end of the weekend, am I understood?"
"Yes, Mr. Aizawa, I'll have that done before Sunday at the very least."
Aizawa huffed and began to walk towards the main building of UA, with Cementoss and Vlad King walking behind him, already having a headache from whatever crazy new powers his problem child of a student just unlocked.
The tired teacher felt like he would need some aspirin and some quality time with Emi before going out on tonight's patrol.
As the two teachers walked away, the rest of the student body scrambled to the platform and rushed towards both Kendo and Izuku, which many of them asking a hundred questions as well as Kirishima and Tetsutetsu asking, no demanding to spar with either Kendo and Izuku before the upcoming event to not only train together but also get some fighting tips.
Just as Ojiro was about to ask something, a gentle voice of "Papa?" caught Izuku's attention, slowly making his way through his classmates, asking them politely to move aside, he came upon the worried look of Eri, who was standing further away from the cacophony of much larger students.
"Hey Eri, is… something wrong?" Izuku asked with a soft smile, which faded when he saw Eri flinch and look a little more scared.
"A… are you my Papa?" she asked quietly, seemingly a little more frightened than usual as she took a step back.
"Of course, it's me, Eri… Oh!" Izuku said while bringing a fist down into his open hand, and his smile returned, "You never seen me switch into a kit before." He chuckled gently, which caused Eri to tilt her head in confusion.
"W-what's a 'kit'?"
"It's what I call the different forms I possess like this one is called 'Monk'." He continued to smile, kneeling down before her, "My kit sometimes alters my… attitude a bit, like the one I called 'Dragoon' makes me act a little more like Aizawa."
"Like Unca Zawa?"
"Mhmm, but I'm still me, and you know how you can tell?" Izuku smiled at her as Eri was slowly starting to grow less nervous.
"How?"
"Well, take a look at my eyes." He smiled at her gently, watching as slowly Eri began to creep towards him. Izuku remained still as the small girl started to do what he suggested.
Eri squinted slightly as she got a little closer to the man who claimed to be her papa, gazing into his eyes and searched them. She blinked as she felt the same warmth and happiness that Izuku typically had whenever he looked at her. The sense of safety and care was still present within his gaze.
Eri suddenly collided with Izuku, hugging him tightly as Izuku chuckled, But then Eri quickly pulled back and looked up at him, "Papa! You are stinky!"
That comment caused a few of his classmates to snicker and hold back their laughter behind Izuku, who was blushing in slight embarrassment and chuckled gently at the way Eri had pouted, "Yes, I probably do, what with the sparring… speaking of which, isn't there something you should do before we head back to the dorms, Nurse Eri?"
The way he had said the word 'nurse' gave Eri a little confusion before she gasped lightly and, with a determined expression, nodded her head and sped walk towards the large group of students, many of which began to move back to not hinder the little girl's mission as some of the girls cooed at how adorable she was when Eri passed them.
Kendo, seeing the determined look on Eri, who was looking straight at her, gently knelt down as Eri had her tiny fists by her side, doing her best not to be frightened by all the big people, "A-Are… are you hurt?"
"My right arm is a little sore; your papa has solid punches," Kendo said softly, smiling at her as well when Eri had reached into her green side bag and pulled out what looked like a disposable heat pad. The would-be nurse struggled to crack the packet to activate the ingredients inside before finally getting it after the third try, slowly handing it towards Kendo, who took it and placed it on the part of her arm that felt sore.
"I-If the pain is still there tomorrow, y-you can go see aunty Krile in the in… infirm… mmm…." Eri began to explain but was having difficulty pronouncing the final word, "In the infir-marry!"
Though many of the students were biting their tongue from not snickering at the way Eri pronounced "infirmary", Kendo smiled gently and nodded her head, "I'll do that if that happens, thank you very much."
Bowing her head swiftly, Eri made a beeline back to Izuku, who smiled as she took his hand into her own, and they two began to walk off. Izuku looked down to his "pseudo" daughter and asked, "By the way, how did you get up here? The platform is taller than you."
"Oh! Mr. Might helped me up!" Eri said while looking back up at her papa.
"Oh, he did? And did you thank him?"
"Mhmm!"
The rest of their conversation soon faded out for the rest of the students, minus the obvious few with super hearing as the rest of the classes began to disperse to their respective change rooms.
Only one student seemed to not move as she continued to watch the exchange between the green-haired boy and the snow white-haired child, her cheeks slightly red until one of her classmates called out to her.
"Komori! C'mon! It's our turn to cook tonight!" Pony called out to her friend while waving her arm. As Komori snapped out of her daze, her face went red again, and she rushed towards her blonde friend in embarrassment for having been caught staring at the Class 1-A student.
Izuku sighed as he placed his pencil down on his notebook and leaned back in his chair, stretching with a slight grunt escaping his lips. Closing the book once he had successfully felt a pop in his back, he smirked to himself at the amount of new data on Class 1-B's students he was able to obtain during the day's earlier heroics class.
A small 'papa' came out from the prominent bulge of covers from his bed as Izuku gently got up from his seat and walked over, "Hey Eri, you should be asleep…."
" 'M thirsty, Papa…." Eri said, half asleep, her voice sounding a little rough from all the cheer and talking she had done today. Izuku smiled at her, petting her head softly before reaching over for the plastic All Might cup on his nightstand.
"Alright, hun, it will be just a few moments." He said in a whisper before heading towards the bathroom to draw a tiny bit of water into the cup, before bringing it back to Eri, who was sat up now, wearing an adorable light pink nightgown and taking the cup when it was offered to her, drinking it slowly before giving it back to Izuku completely empty.
"Eri, I have to go talk with a few of my friends for a couple of minutes. Are you going to be ok?" Izuku asked gently, tucking Eri back into bed as she curled up under the covers and pulled a giant plushie of All Might close to her. The answer of 'mhm' escaped from the blankets as Izuku smirked and petted Eri's head, watching as she passed back out rather quickly.
Silently shutting the door to his room, Izuku sighed gently as he took out his cellphone and checked the time. Seeing as it was half-past nine, he figured that half an hour would be enough time to explain everything he needed to. As he made his way towards the stairs, since his destination was only two flights up, he figured it would give him some time to get his thoughts in order and prepare himself for the worst.
After all, it wouldn't be the first time a happy moment in Izuku's life came crashing down.
As his internal dread kept looming over him, Izuku had made it to the door for which everything could and would change. He gently knocked on it, and when he heard the muffled 'it's open' coming from inside of the room, Izuku gently turned the knob to be met with four pairs of eyes looking at him, each with their own emotions present within their gazes of confusion as they were not given a reason for the get-together, but also a couple of worried looks when seeing his downtrodden face.
Stepping inside of the relatively ludicrously bright room full of leopard pattern wall decorations, Izuku closed the door behind him and prayed to Hydaelyn that everything would turn out alright.
A gentle rapping at her door caught Setsuna's attention from watching the Godzillro she loved to get lost in and unwind after a hard day of studies. Granted, she loved all of his movies as well as owning several of the box sets. Still, this one was particularly special as it was the very first one to ever be made. Pausing the video, Setsuna stretched as the door was knocked on once again, and the sharp-toothed girl grunted out loudly, "Alright, alright… keep your pants on, I'm coming."
Opening the door, she was shocked to see a still awake Kinoko Komori standing at her door, looking as timid as she always did, "H-hey Tokage, c-can I speak to you about something?"
"Sure sure, come on in, shroomtop." The lizard girl stepped aside to let the shorter brunette in and shut her door silently to not wake her neighbor Ibara who had a habit of going to bed early. She watched her classmate sit on her desk chair, fidgeting with her hands and a rose blush on her cheeks, "So, what can I help ya with? Don't think we have time for a study session this late." Setsuna said as she plopped back onto her bed, leaning back and watching her friend continue to fidget, "Seriously, you alright? You have been more twitchy than Pony after having five cups of coffee."
Komori continued to fidget, her head looking left and right as she 'looked' at Setsuna, "Erm.. y-you are friends with some of the students in C-Class 1-A, right?"
"Yep! Yaomomo, Mina, Kyoka and Moptop. Maybe the frog girl as well, but it's hard to get a read on her." Setsuna admitted with a shrug at the mention of that last person. She did wish to become a friend of Tsuyu, who she learned during the heroics class that she was one savage frog when she wanted to be.
"H-How long… have you known them?" Kinoko asked again, pulling on one of her fingers and blushing more.
"Mhm, Izuku and Momo for about a year actually, the other two I met after Izuku saved them and Momo's butt from a shark villain halfway through the year. Why? What's up?"
Setsuna watched as her mushroom-obsessed classmate's face was now turning even redder, trying to think and speak what she wished to know. However, a thought occurred to her, one that caused the lizard-like woman's lips to slowly curl into a mischievous smirk, having an idea what Komori was about to say.
If Setsuna was right, it was a good thing that Momo had been able to keep her promise and spoke with her earlier today over tea to catch her up on everything, from how their first couple weeks had been to the exciting relationship between her five friends as well as to inform her of the actual events of the USJ. (which both excited Setsuna from how badass that new kit of Izuku's was, but also horrified of the experience her friends had gone through) and the social event that Izuku had attended with the heiress that sounded so freaking adorable to her. Pushing those thoughts aside, she saw Komori finally figure out what to say, and Setsuna waited with bated breath.
"I-is Midoriya… s-seeing anyone?"
Chapter 32: I'll Stand by You
Summary:
The girls learn the truth about Eri, while Fray speaks on matters of the heart, and one fo the girls leads Izuku to a wonderous sight.
Notes:
Hey all!
Sorry for the late update, been kinda hard to write with the smoke in the air caused by the forest fires around here with my asthma.
So starting next week, we have the beginning of the Sports Festival, and once again, we will having a small hiccup when it comes to FFN reviews due to not answering any of them until after we are finished. Granted no idea if people read them or not given how many times I've answered some questions, haha.
Initially, I was going to have one more date chapter (Mina), but figured I'd save that for after the sports festival and bump Momo's second date chapter after Hosu, where things will start to get very... spicy ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
And again, those scenes will be cut in the FFN version since it's generally frowned upon to have smut in stories. However, AO3 will get the uncensored version of those chapters. ;)
Enjoy the chapter and A/N after the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“So, you're all probably wondering why I called you here tonight."
That was the first thing Izuku had said within the few minutes after entering Mina's room, with not only the woman mentioned sitting at her desk while Tsuyu, Momo, and Kyoka sitting about on Mina's bed with a deep pink leopard cover on top of bright yellow sheets. The expressions all of them gave him ranged between the four of them, but all of them were some sort of amusement of his corny sentence.
Izuku cleared his throat, feeling the air in the room getting a little too thick for him as he scratched his cheek gently, "Right, dumb thing to say… so, I'm going to guess the first thing to address would be 'why?', right?"
"That would be a good starting point, Kero." Tsuyu spoke up while the others gently nodded their heads in agreement. Kyoka had left the comfort of the bed for Izuku to sit down for the explanation while the punk rocker sat down in a rather large bean bag chair that she nearly was swallowed up in.
After taking his seat on the bed, with Momo and Tsuyu on each side of him, Izuku sighed gently as he collected his thoughts, "Alright, so… first off, Eri's quirk isn't some kind of teleportation one that I told when she and I arrived back at the dorms."
"Yea, we kinda figured that when Mamadoriya basically said she wanted the full story." Mina said with a smirk, causing Izuku to chuckle lightly.
"Yea, can't think up a lie on the fly to save my life, it seems." Izuku smiled gently as the women around him giggled gently, knowing it as truth, "So, just as a heads up, Mom does know about my powers now… kinda had to let her know, given what happened with Eri and where we ended up."
"So, not to derail or anything, but who else knows about this whole "blessing" thing?" Kyoka asked from the bean bag chair, finally sitting in it without it eating her whole.
"Aside from you four? Nezu, Krile, Aizawa, All Might, Mom, and Toshinori… I don't think Eri fully understands it quite yet, but she is still young." Izuku lifted up a single finger with his hands while listing off the names, "I will have to tell the others at SOME point, but for now, I want the group to be small for now, plus I am still not one hundred percent caught up on everything that comes with my power."
"So, yea… Eri… I want you all to know that this will get very ugly, and I can stop if anyone gets sick from it; I honestly was when I witnessed it."
"Before we get into that…." Momo said suddenly, reaching out and taking Izuku's hand and getting his attention, "If Eri's quirk isn't teleportation, what happened in the classroom? And where DID you go?"
Izuku gazed into her eyes as she asked this, clearly seeing the pent-up fear of losing him hidden in those onyx irises of hers; he turned his gaze away to see similar looks with all the girls, even Tsuyu. Sighing gently again, he licked his upper lip as he began to fully explain himself, "What happened in the classroom… well… you all saw Eri holding something, right?" As the girls nodded, he continued, "That was a crystal of light, well… MY crystal of light precisely, it's basically 'proof' I am a Warrior of Light, sort of like a hero license is for the pro's."
"Shouldn't that have, like, been with you since your powers awakened after that sludge villain?" Kyoka asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, however, it didn't actually manifest until Eri stumbled across it. From what I gathered, it was Hydaelyn herself that kept it from me so it would find Eri and bring us together."
"Eri sounds pretty important to Hydaelyn, kero." Tsuyu said with a finger on her chin and tilting her head in thought, "Were you able to figure out why?"
Izuku fidgeted a little, shifting his body on the bed as he looked down to his hands and took a small but deep breath, "Y-yea, apparently, Eri is one of the first humans on Earth to be naturally born with aether... unlike me, who was infused with aether."
"Infused with aether, kero?"
Izuku nodded gently, "Quinn, after a rather brutal fight, chose me to be his successor, I guess… basically, he combined not only his aether but also the aether of the various soul crystals tied to his person at the time to... well…."
"To what, Izuku?" Mina asked, seeing his face go a little pale and fidget more; her own worries were shared amongst the group as they too saw his reaction.
"To… save me… as a baby."
As he spoke those words, all the women's eyes opened wide, realizing what he was referring to. Even Kyoka knew what he was implying, given that the girls had caught her up to speed with the discussion they had with Inko about Izuku's birth.
"You survived the hospital blackout because of Quinn?" Momo asked, her hand close to her chest as she felt her heartache at the thought of Izuku not being with them.
"Y-yea…" Izuku gently nodded before raising his head up quickly, looking to the heiress with dread on his face, "W-wait! H-How did you know about that?"
"Ah… well…" Momo looked away, chuckling gently with a blush on her face, as did Mina and Tsuyu, though the latter was subtler in her blush and amusement.
Kyoka huffed and crossed her arms, not wanting to waste time, "While you were gone, those three kept Inko company and up to date on anything in regards to finding you, just so happened that your mom decided to bring out the photo albums, and from what they said, one particular one that was of you when you were born." Kyoka kept staring at Izuku, though she had a smirk on her lips, "And yes, I plan to have her show me them as well."
Izuku groaned and placed his face into his hands, clearly embarrassed due to his current girlfriend and three other hopefuls seeing some rather embarrassing photos of himself as a toddler in an All Might onesie.
God, he hoped she didn't show Toshinori those.
"Hold on," Kyoka said with a confused look on her face, "Those soul crystals you mentioned, is that why your personality changes depending on the kit?" as she spoke, everyone else, aside from Izuku, had their gazes widen, "If what Nezu told us before was right, then by using the aether within those stones sort of… added the personalities of those who used them before in you?"
All Izuku did was half-heartedly nod his head, "I-I guess? It's still a little weird to explain, honestly… I was going to talk to the dean later about it and see what he thinks."
"And I think we have gone too far off course from the original question." Momo said gently, her hand now in Izuku's and smiling gently as she could see him visibly relax a little, "So, if Eri's quirk isn't the one you said initially, then what is it?"
Looking down at the floor again, Izuku let the silence fill the room as well as his own head in how to adequately explain that very unique quirk of his 'daughter', "... it doesn't have an official name yet, but I'd say 'Rewind' would be a good moniker for now."
"Kero, Rewind?"
"From what I saw, Eri's quirk allows her to rewind a person or anything organic to a previous state… like if she used her quirk on a butterfly, she could turn it back into a caterpillar."
That revelation caused all the girls to gasp, Momo especially since she was immediately thinking of all the good that a quirk like that could do. She was about to blurt out her thoughts when she caught the rather somber look on Izuku's face and was confused as to why he too wasn't as excited as he usually would be when it came to quirks, "Izuku?"
"Hmm? O-Oh sorry… Just... thinking about what happened when Eri's quirk manifested."
"Um… not to be nosey about it, but… what happened?" Mina asked; she too looked worried to see the customarily enthused quirk fanatic barely even moving. Her gaze caught his, and Mina could see the hurt in his eyes, but then he looked to the others and sighed heavily.
What he told them next was far worse than any of the women could comprehend initially, but to be fair...
He did warn them.
Izuku sighed as he gently closed the door to his room quietly, while the topic of how Eri came to UA and what her life was like prior had been a severe and weighty subject matter; Izuku smiled gently to himself before looking over towards the sleeping child in his bed.
It seems his overthinking had gotten the better of him once again when it came to the women in his life, having explained his reasoning for taking on the duties of Eri's surrogate father, due to not only wishing to help Eri recover what was left of her life, but also because he genuinely cared for her and swore that he would do anything to make her happy.
Even if he had to drop out of the hero course to do so.
Izuku also explained that while he jumped into the role relatively quickly, he understood that if it was too much for any of them and they decided to back out of the relationship.
The response? Aside from him having to apologize over and over again when Tsuyu, in her typically blunt way, said that Izuku was an idiot to think that they would just leave him because, while yes, he did take upon the enormous responsibilities needed to be a father figure for a child, they all had been discussed this amongst themselves and came to the decision to help him raise her.
It was clear to them that Eri needed some positive role models in her life. While it would limit how much time they could be together privately, the women all agreed that they cared so much about Izuku that they too would help him raise Eri.
"Besides," Mina had said with a big grin, "Instead of one 'Mama', Eri is going to have four awesome ones!"
Turning his attention to said child, asleep in his bed and curled up close to the giant plushie, Izuku smiled gently to himself before silently moving towards his bathroom to change into his sleepwear and brush his teeth.
As he began to spread the cinnamon-flavored toothpaste onto his All Might colored toothbrush, Izuku's mind began to race with some issues that had risen since leaving Mina's room. While he was overjoyed that they would help him with Eri, he still felt a little guilty in deciding this independently. After all, from what he was taught, big decisions when you're in a relationship are made by both parties to avoid big bombshells like the one he placed on the women just a couple of days prior.
And in truth, he loved Eri, but he also had some doubts that he made the best choice for her sake.
"At least there was a choice this time."
A deep voice within his mind caught Izuku's attention as he looked to the bathroom mirror and gazed upon the visage of Fray staring back at him. The "specter" looked unamused as ever as he had his arms crossed over his chest, "I see things have become more… 'interesting' for the lack of a better term since we last spoke."
"W-what do you mean? Don't you like… know everything I know?"
"Most things, but as time goes on, the aether that sustains my 'consciousness' grows dimmer, and the less I see." Fray spoke lowly, a smirk creeping upon his lips, "I know what you're thinking, boy… and it is nothing you can stop or prevent."
Izuku flinched as the being in the mirror chuckled lowly before gently sighing and turning his head towards the door leading to his room, "Your child is a truly amazing individual for surviving what she did, and even I can feel the presence of her aether."
Izuku took a few steps from the sink to gaze into the room, watching Eri turn over and pulling the plushie over her body with a surprising amount of strength while she slept, "It's why I can't leave her alone, Fray… I could never compare her pain to what I dealt with at her age, but I grew up mostly alone, the only one I had to fall back on was mom, and even then, it wasn't enough."
Izuku turned back towards the mirror, his gaze hardened as he stared at his 'reflection', "I know it would mean I could have to give up my dream to become not only the number one hero but being a pro in general. But I refuse to let that little girl suffer alone anymore."
"And that is why I said at least you have the choice; you could have tried to see if UA would take care of her, or by the twelve, have your mother adopt her. But no, you decided for yourself to take on the responsibility of raising the child. You, the boy who could barely speak to another person and flinched at the slightest movement a year ago, now has four beautiful mates that wish to help you raise a child not your own!" Fray's smirk morphed into a snicker, "It's amazing what some confidence does to a person, huh?"
Izuku looked away in embarrassment, grumbling something to himself about "stupid ghosts" before Fray's snickering ceased, "Regardless, as a Warrior of Light, more often than not, we get very few choices to make. And sometimes, the ones we make hurt those we are closest to."
Izuku raised an eyebrow at that, more curious than worried, "Like what, exactly?"
Fray stayed silent for a few moments as if contemplating something. Izuku had finished cleaning himself up for bed when the apparition finally spoke up, "Earlier today, you had unlocked the spirit of the 'Monk', correct?"
Izuku nodded and crossed his arms as he listened to Fray continue, "I heard the name you thought of before your shift."
"You mean 'Lyse'?"
"Indeed," Fray smirked somberly, "She was one of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, a member of a group of those that took on threats that the city-states and grand companies of said cities couldn't handle, Primals and their followers to name a few."
"She and Quinn got along very well, and because of her martial prowess, ended up sparring with him often. He needed the training to master the abilities of a Monk, and she needed an outlet for her energy. Time went on, Quinn got stronger as she did as well, the two basically enjoying not only sparring but conversing with one another about things aside from scion work and the constant threat of Primals."
"I am going to guess things got… more than just 'friendly' with one another?" Izuku said with a gentle blush on his cheeks.
"Oh, they fucked." Fray said bluntly, making Izuku choke on his salvia at the comment, "Like, Lyse had stamina, but to keep up with a Miqo'te during his mating season and demand more was-"
"Alright!" Izuku said with a deeper blush on his cheeks, his hands in front of him as the ghost smiled slyly at him. A few moments passed before Izuku could feel his heartbeat slow down, "S-so, what happened between them? I-if you don't mind me asking."
The smile on Fray slowly faded, his eyebrows became a frown as after a few moments of silence, he answered, "... Lyse and Quinn got more close as time passed, both suffering happy and sad times together in the comfort of each other's embrace. It got to the point where Quinn was actually thinking about proposing to Lyse, learning the goldsmithing trade just to fashion her a ring… but the war with Garlemald began to escalate again, the Warrior of Light and the scions were needed to aid the Ala Mhigo resistance in pushing the empire's forces back. During a raid made upon one of the Garlean strongholds, Lyse had been given command of the resistance forces, and she had to make a choice."
"She could either choose another to lead the resistance and continue working with the scions or stay with them and help rebuild the former city-state, but she would also have to leave the scions and Quinn to do so…."
Fray watched as Izuku's eyes began to shift slightly, first left and right, taking in the information and the rather dour mood of his 'reflection', before looking up to the mirror and speaking softly, "... She chose to leave."
"What you witnessed earlier today was the last spar between Quinn and Lyse, on top of the hand of Rhalgar. After that, they went their separate ways… Lyse stayed in Ala Mhigo, while Quinn…." Fray grimaced as Izuku watched him grit his teeth for a moment, "...Let's just say the Garleans lost a lot of soldiers that day."
The silence was thick as Izuku was digesting that information, his hands on his chin as Fray sighed heavily, "Needless to say, Quinn's life was often having choices being made for him or having no control over a situation in general… Thankfully, there are no world-ending evils that need to be stopped here, so you can make those choices for yourself."
A gentle cry of "papa" could be heard from the bathroom door, getting Izuku's attention for a moment before looking back to the mirror and seeing his own once again staring back at him. Izuku sighed gently, pushing down his dark thoughts once again; he opened the bathroom door to see Eri sitting up in bed, tears running down her cheeks and clutching the plushie tightly.
"Eri…" he said softly as Izuku walked briskly towards her, grunting from the white-haired missile that clutched to him once he sat on the bed and whimpering into his t-shirt, "Did you have another bad dream?"
A nodding of her head against him with a sob was her only response as he held Eri close to him, gently rubbing her back and holding her close, "Don't worry Eri, I'm here… I'll always be here for you."
Izuku was a little shocked about how the date was planned by the woman walking beside him. On his arm was a small picnic basket filled with sandwiches made between the two of them earlier before they left the dorms mid-morning, as well as a large green plaid cloth nestled into the wicker container. His emerald eyes turned towards his date with a raised eyebrow, "Y-you sure you are alright? We have been walking for about an hour now."
"I said I'm fine, Izuku." Kyoka stated as she huffed gently, lifting the large guitar case with ease before bringing it back down, "You think I'm weak or something?"
"No! N-no! Not at all, Kyoka…" Izuku stuttered as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, blushing brightly, "I-I just don't want you to strain yourself since I know guitar cases can be quite heavy most of the time, and you haven't even switched hands yet."
The punk rocker sighed gently, seeing his point and also feeling a little guilty for making him jump like that. Despite knowing the boy for almost three-quarters of a year now and watching him gain some of that confidence that she was fond of, he was still a nervous wreck most of the time if someone snapped at him, "It's fine, Izuku… really." Kyoka sighed gently as she now moved off the path of the somewhat wooded park they were walking through, "and I didn't mean to snap at you like that, just... "
"Nervous?" he asked gently, following behind her due to the narrow off-beaten trail they were now following, thick with trees and bushes that kept snagging him at parts.
"Something like that, don't wanna get into it." was all Izuku could get out of her before Kyoka pushed past some thick bushes and looked back at him with a smirk, "And here we are."
Izuku's eyes squinted once he broke the forest line and into the small clearing before gasping out loudly to where his date had led him. He slowly began to smile as before him was a perfect view of the city from atop a cliff face that Izuku barely realized he had climbed up with Kyoka. His green eyes scanned over the horizon and realized they could scarcely hear the usual sounds of cars and people. Turning his gaze to Kyoka, who was smiling gently at him, she took a few steps forward before looking out herself, "This is a special place for me; it's where I used to come and think up songs back in middle and high school."
"It's beautiful; I can just imagine the songs you must have composed up here," Izuku said as he stepped forward and stood beside her, gazing out once again to the city and letting the cool breeze from how high up they were blew against his face. Kyoka's eyes shifted to watch the taller boy smile gently and see his hair waft against the wind before bringing a jack of hers up and poking his cheek to get his attention.
"Let's get the picnic set up, that walk really made me hungry, and I've never tasted your cooking before."
If there was one thing Kyoka would have to take away from this date at the moment, it would be why she nor the others had asked for Izuku to cook for them before. Of course, there were times that he had offered, but this was when they were over at Momo's, and she had a five-star chef on the payroll.
Kyoka would need to let Momo know that guy was either fired or be forced to take culinary lessons from Izuku.
And these were just sandwiches! By god, what sort of masterpiece could he make for an actual meal? And how heavenly would it taste?
Izuku gently burped after he finished his drink, pardoning himself while sitting cross-legged as he turned his head to Kyoka, who was staring at him, her eyes wide and Izuku swore he saw sparkles within her deep purple irises, "Erm… Kyoka? You alright? Were the sandwiches good enough?"
"G-Good enough? Izuku! These are some of the tastiest things I have ever eaten! Like, this would put most of the meals at Momo's place to shame!" Kyoka said as she finished her sandwich, shivering in delight. A thought had accorded to her as she was now staring at him, causing the boy to stiffen from the way she was looked, "Do you know how to make pastries and desserts?"
"K-Kinda? I mean, most of the time, I made this food for myself and mom, and we tried to eat more healthily than load up on sugary foods."
"What can you make then, in terms of desserts?" Kyoka asked as she leaned over the blanket to get right in his face with a severe look in her eyes, her jacks lifted in the air and swaying as Izuku gulped.
"I-I can make pies and cakes; red velvet cake with dark chocolate frosting is one I know my mom liked and I would make for her birthday. S-some sundaes and also cookies, Aunty Mitsuki loved my triple chocolate and peanut butter brownies." Izuku sputtered out, fearing he would be attacked by the woman's still swaying jacks.
An uncomfortable time passed before Kyoka suddenly stood up, staring down at Izuku and not moving a muscle. Izuku kept his eyes looking right back at hers as he could see them shift slightly as if she was thinking deeply about something. As he was about to ask if she was alright, his face went a bright nuclear red as Kyoka suddenly sat herself down on his legs, her own straddling his waist while her arms wrapped around his sides, and her jacks lengthened to wrap around his neck gently, "K-Kyoka?!"
"I'm claiming you for my own," she said matter of factly, still looking into his eyes with a tiny dusting of red on her cheeks, "Screw the others and the 'pact', I am going to hog you all for myself and get all the tasty food you will make Eri and me."
Izuku just looked at her gobsmacked, while Kyoka kept staring at him with her usual look of half-lidded eyes that screamed "whatever". They remained like this before she finally couldn't hold it in anymore and started to giggle, with Izuku following after.
"Y-You actually believed that?" Kyoka wheezed gently from her laughter, still clinging to him, and pulled a little closer into him as he had yet to move his hands from hanging in the air.
"H-Hey, it's hard to tell when you are serious or not sometimes." Izuku replied back with his laughter dying a little, but a smile remained on his lips still, "Rather not get stabbed by a jack, thank you." As he spoke, he could feel one of the said ear jacks lightly drag up and down the back of his neck, causing him to shiver in delight and making Kyoka smirk slyly while also biting the bottom of her lip a little.
"Oh? Is the big, strong Warrior of Light afraid of my itty bitty jacks?" the punk girl spoke with a teasing tone to her voice, her sly smile still on her lips as internally Kyoka realized Mina was actually right about something.
"Teasing" Izuku was very fun.
"W-Well… I have seen you stab them through concrete before…." Izuku spoke up with a blush, twitching again in delight when he felt the second jack working in tandem with its partner. Although more subdued than what was typical for the green-haired boy, Kyoka watched as the blush was growing redder; he was clearly enjoying himself and how Kyoka was acting.
As the purple-haired girl was about to continue her fun, she suddenly yelped in surprise as her eyes shot open when she felt two strong hands placed onto her ass, gripping it firmly but tenderly as well. Kyoka looked to Izuku, still in shock and a deep blush on her cheeks as he gave her a sly smirk back, "It's not just your jacks that are deadly…."
"I-Izuku…?"
"You don't know how many times you have made my heart skip a beat…." Izuku said in a low, husky tone, one that was very uncharacteristic for him, "Your laughter, for one, always lights up my world. The way you tap your jack ends together when you're flustered is adorable. Your confidence in not only your musical abilities but also in yourself has inspired me every single day since we met." Izuku said gently, the sly smirk fading and becoming the more well-known gentle smile, his voice still low and husky, but not with the same edge as it did when he first spoke.
Kyoka kept staring into his eyes as he continued on, remembering how they had turned to the orange hues when he was admitting things like this thanks to the intervention of Fray. However, as she continued to listen, all she saw in his eyes was the soft green of Izuku, her Izuku, with a growing feeling of caring and, dare she hope, love burning within his emerald irises, "And I know you still feel inadequate when it comes to your appearance… but Kyoka, truthfully? You are drop-dead gorgeous."
"W-What?!" Kyoka flinched, and her face went bright red, "H-How can you even say that? I don't h-have any-" "Any curves?" Izuku interrupted her with a raised eyebrow, causing Kyoka to pause.
She idly nodded her head as he spoke, "Kyoka, you do have curves; I've SEEN your curves!"
"W-what?!" She screeched loudly and continued to look like a bright cherry.
"Your regular clothes and your hero costume hide them, but you definitely have curves… I've admittedly caught you swaying your fantastic b-backside swaying when you look through the fridge trying to find a drink." Izuku began to stutter, losing some of his own confidence when he plainly admitted to having been checking her out, which caused Kyoka's brain to fry slightly in embarrassment.
"B-But I don't have a chest!"
"You totally do!" Izuku shouted, his embarrassment starting to take over with his admittance, "I-In your workout gear, they are framed so b-beautifully when you stretch after w-working out, as well as when y-your doing your exercises."
Kyoka was at a loss for words. Her brain was nearly frazzled and cooked from embarrassment. Listening to how Izuku thought she was sexy and attractive, despite her 'flaws'.
"N-No… no no… you can't be serious."
"Eh?"
"Y-you're just saying that to make me f-feel better!" Kyoka began to shake in his arms; her hands had moved from around his back to clench at his shirt sleeves, "Y-You cannot possibly think I'm attractive!"
"I do, Kyoka!"
"It's impossible! Not with how the others are so goddamn beautiful!"
"With all of my heart, you are just as beautiful as all of them!"
"THEN PROVE IT!" She shouted loudly, her face now hidden against his chest as Izuku froze while looking down at her, still cowering against him, "P-Prove that you think I'm sexy!"
Izuku froze stiff at her rather outlandish demand, his mind racing with "how's" and "what's" as he tried to think up a possible solution for this rather unique issue. As his gaze shifted left and right, he struck upon an... admittedly far-fetched idea that he hoped to Hydaelyn that Kyoka would forgive him for if he rushed this with her.
Kyoka, meanwhile, was quaking against his body, tears building up at the edges of her eyes because Izuku was quiet. Of course, he didn't think she was attractive as he claimed to say; he was just doing this to make her feel-
Wait…
WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE FEELING RIGHT NOW?!
Kyoka hadn't noticed Izuku pulled her hips right against his since his hands were still on her ass during her self-deprecating inner monologue. Her eyes shot open as she felt the rather hard cock concealed within his jeans; her mouth went dry as her face went pure red in not only shock that Izuku had done such a thing… but given the size she was feeling…
Good lord, he would split her in two.
"T-There," Izuku spoke up suddenly, knocking her out of her stupor, and she looked up to him, both heroes in training with very red cheeks, "T-there's your proof… Y-you did that, Kyoka; you got me hard because of your gorgeous and sexy body."
Her jacks twitched slightly against his neck, which also caused his cock to do the same as well and caused Kyoka to gasp gently.
"Y-You are so beautiful, Kyoka, but not only that, you are so cool and confident, and there are days I wish I could be like that. I've admired you for such a long time, and to be honest…." Izuku paused, clearing his throat gently, "I've had a crush on you for such a good while now, but I always thought I would never have a chance with you or the others because you are just so awesome! E-Even if we didn't have this relationship dynamic, I really... REALLY… cared about you."
Kyoka looked at him gobsmacked, her mouth opened slightly as she listened to his heartbeat beat rapidly as he continued to speak, "I want to be with you, Kyoka… I want to keep gazing into those lovely violet eyes of yours… I-I want to learn how to play an instrument so we can jam together, and h-help teach Eri so we can all play… Kyoka Jiro, will you please go out with me."
A gentle breeze passed over them while silence filled the air, Kyoka staring intensely into Izuku's eyes in shock.
She didn't say another word, letting her actions be her answer, as she suddenly pulled Izuku close with her jacks and began to kiss him deeply in passion. Izuku was initially caught off guard before he slowly melted into the kiss, his hands on her ass squeezed slightly, much to her delight as the two young adults held themselves together as if their lives depended on it.
The kiss became more intimate as both of their lips began to slowly open, allowing their tongues to meet and rub against one another, exploring each other's mouth as Kyoka's legs wrapped around Izuku's waist a little harder and clinging to him.
Time passed as the two new lovers kept up the passionate yet slow pace. The sun slowly began to set while the special musical note shaped cookies that Izuku had made for dessert prior to Kyoka meeting up with him earlier in the day were long forgotten, and the violin hidden within the guitar case for Kyoka to not only reveal one of her biggest secrets, which was that she was talented with instruments other than an electric guitar but also to serenade him with a particular love song she had written for this date remained as such.
However, this did not bother the punk rocker.
After all, she would have all the time in the world now to play it for him.
Notes:
The more you know - Final Fantasy FFXIV:
Rhalgar: Guardian Deity of the previously fallen nation of Ala Mhigo, known as the breaker of worlds, he is the "god of destruction". His Symbol is that of a falling Meteor.
Ala Mhigo: Previously conquered by the Garlean Empire 15 years prior to the beginning of WoL's story, it was reclaimed and rebuilt after the events of "Stormblood".
Chapter 33: Sports Festival - Part 1: Damn that Rat
Summary:
Looking back at what happened since the date with Kyoka and the start of the Sports Festival, Izuku woos Mina, while Momo not only confirms her acceptance of his confession but also revealing to Eri that she has four awesome mama's.
Izuku then wants to skin a rat and begins to make a mockery of the UA Sports Festival events.
Notes:
Hello everyone!
So, it begins, the Sports Festival, the bane of all MHA fanfic writers.
While my initial plan for this arc was going to be having a chapter for each event, I decided to basically skim past the first two, due to the fact they are the most boring.
Plus most of the one on one fights for the third event is probably going to be a few chapters themselves, and I really don't think any of us want to wait for those to happen (big stuff going to go down during them ;) )
So, other news... good and bad! The good news is, I have a job! Hurray!
Bad news: the job may cause me to not be able to post as frequently as I do, so just as a heads up for that.
I do hope everyone has been enjoying the story so far, I know it can be quite confusing at times, but I thank everyone that's been with me from the start and enjoy this silly little fic. :D
Also, I'm shocked no one got the song reference from last chapter's title.
anyway, enjoy the chapter, and happy Friday the 13th!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
In all honesty, the time between the rather romantic and purely delightful date with Kyoka and the beginning of the sports festival was a bit of a blur for Izuku.
Once that particular weekend had ended, the university began to push their students to the extreme in their course load and training for the upcoming tournament. Most, if not all of the students were struggling with this increased workload, especially the ones whose academic scores were on the low end, meaning Mina, Denki, Kyoka, Toru, Ojiro, and Tokoyami were having trouble wrapping their heads around the more advanced mathematic's being tossed their way.
Thankfully, Izuku, Momo, and Tenya were able to help set up some study sessions with everyone to help sharpen their skills or at least aid those that were struggling. What surprised Izuku the most was how determined and focused Mina was on taking her studies.
Not like Mina was dumb or anything, nor would he ever think that of her. But, when it came to academics, his pink-haired pseudo girlfriend often was fine, just squeaking by with her studies as she can do much better with the practical side of the hero training, meaning training and anything to do with the heroics classes.
After a particular one-on-one study session between the two, where Mina was getting more and more frustrated with the assignment given to them by Ectoplasm, Izuku decided that they should take a break.
After making sure that he had permission to access the rooftop of the dorms from his mother, Izuku led Mina up to not only feel the gentle early summer breeze cool down his pink companion's heated mood but also to gaze up at the clear sky and look up at the moon as it shone brightly in the inky blackish-blue night.
While it wasn't the "official" date that the both of them had planned, Izuku decided that asking Mina out now would help some of her frustrations, considering he believed that was the reason. However, Mina explained that it felt like she was going to hold back the group from doing fun things if she couldn't keep up with school work like the rest of them, and lamented that she also felt like she would bring their marks down just by being around her or helping her.
Izuku quickly stopped that train of thought by moving himself in front of her and uncharacteristically kissing her both deeply and passionately. Mina was, for the lack of a better term, shocked by how aggressive Izuku was then. Still, she basically melted into the kiss within a few moments, returning it with just as much fervor as he did, wrapping her arms around his neck while his wrapped around and rested his hands at the small of her back.
As the kiss broke and in heated pants, Izuku began to speak about everything he liked about Mina. From her bubbly personality to her confidence in herself and how she brightened the room with her energy. That same energy that had made him smile and feel good about himself on the more difficult days before UA.
He admitted that she needed to take her studies a little more seriously. Still, He told her she was far from dumb, considering how well she could control the acidity and virtuosity of her acid, as well as being able to get into UA in the first place. Izuku promised he would help her as much as possible, giving her pointers on better study habits. He knew that the others would also help her.
Of course, while Mina was feeling absolutely giddy with all this, her smile had shifted to a more sly one, asking (demanding) Izuku to tell her what he finds the most attractive about her body, wanting to tease him a little and get him all flustered.
It worked partially, causing him to stutter and blush his usual shade of red. But once he had calmed down enough, he started to list off everything from Mina's physique that he enjoyed quite a bit. From her soft pink skin to her fluffy equally as pink hair and her adorable horns that he always wondered what they felt like since Mina often made sure no one touched them. As he kept on his ramblings, Mina's cheeks got more purple, and she could feel her heartbeat faster and faster; it piqued when Izuku finally got to her eyes, which was what he considered the most beautiful part of her.
He spoke about how he could always see the joy and energy from within her golden irises, the way they seemed to glow when she was in a darkened space with what little light reflecting off of her eyes. Izuku talked about how he would often get lost gazing into the void of her sclera like he was traveling through space towards the golden moons that were her irises, the ultimate goal that could never be achieved.
Similar to Kyoka, Mina's response to his question of asking her to go out with him officially was to jump the boy, causing him to grunt against the door Mina had pushed him against as he held her up with a firm grip on her rather bubbly ass. The woman's legs wrapped around his waist while slowly grinding against him as her tongue invaded his mouth in what would attest to one of the messier kisses Izuku has ever had.
Not like he was complaining or was going to.
Izuku didn't know how long he was up on the roof with Mina, but when the sudden blast of cool air blew across their bodies, causing them both to shiver and knock them out of their heated passion. Mina giggled as she pressed her forehead against Izuku's, who also shared in her amusement as they both slowly separated from one another, before walking Mina back down to her room, her arm holding his in pure delight as if she wished to show him off like he was a prize at a local lottery game.
In his mind, however, he felt he was the one that won said lottery. After all, who could claim they were dating a beautiful Alien Queen such as she?
A week before the festival and going against what they had initially planned, Momo had cornered Izuku in his room while he was helping Eri read a book called "The Hungry Caterpillar" and wished to speak with him, asking the little girl for permission, of course.
Eri first looked up to Izuku, who smiled gently and told her she had the choice to say yes or no, and the little girl looked back to the Vice President of the class and gently nodded. Momo smiled at Eri as she stepped up to the two sitting on Izuku's bed and handed him a rather exquisite-looking envelope.
Raising his eyebrow, Izuku took it and flipped it over and around, noticing the melted wax seal marking it with the insignia of the Yaoyorozu Company. Making sure not to tear the letter as he opened it, he found another invitation to a party held a week after the sport's festival.
Momo explained that her parents wished to hold another party before internships to celebrate the closing of the sports festival and for her parents to meet Inko formally. She could bring a guest for an escort if she wished.
Izuku smiled up at her, just about to agree and attend the party when he realized that they would have to leave Eri at the dorms since she was still being hunted down by her tormentors, and that wasn't entirely fair for her. As clever as she was beautiful, Momo smiled as she had already brought this to the attention of Dean Nezu. He would send some added and trusted security to ensure Eri's safety so she could attend and
That also brought up whether her parents would approve of Eri, not that they would dislike her, but for Momo wishing to help raise her alongside Izuku. Momo, smiling still, informed him that while her father was not told of Eri, her mother was briefly given the summary and was already wishing to meet her "granddaughter".
Eri perked up at this, asking why Momo's mama had said that, as she only knew of one grandma, and that was Inko. Izuku blushed, stammering out a response while Momo gently knelt down in front of Eri, still smiling and explaining that she and Izuku were together as boyfriend and girlfriend, meaning they really liked one another.
It took the small girl a few moments to process this, looking away to do so and mimicking how Izuku looked when he was in "mutter mode". But when it clicked, she started to tear up and pushed the book off of her lap, launching herself at the heiress with a cry of "Mama!"
Momo gently held Eri close to her, rubbing her back as the small girl continued to cry, though not of sadness, but of pure joy. Izuku was desperately trying not to cry himself and failing to do so. Once Eri had calmed down, Momo told her that she wasn't the only one who liked her papa, and Eri was going to have four mothers instead of one.
Surprisingly, Eri didn't question its logic but was eager to find out who else was her mother's, so Momo smiled gently at her and would take her to them. However, before the new mother and daughter left the room, Momo leaned into Izuku and gave him a soft peck on the lips, telling him that she will go out with him, then led an anxious Eri out of the room.
Izuku, still stunned by Momo's actions and just the joy he witnessed with Eri, slowly began to smile to himself. He slowly relaxed on his bed, looking up at the ceiling with a big smile on his face and for once felt like nothing could go wrong.
What did Izuku do to deserve this?
Was it bad enough that he spent most of his life tormented by someone who he thought of as a friend, hell, a brother at one point? Being told constantly that he could never be a hero because he lacked a superpower that was so commonplace nowadays that not having one would be deemed strange and freakish?
Or how about the fact that, if not for the divine intervention of a fabled hero of a goddess from some other plane of existence who had to make sure he survived the first three months of his life, or when he almost died trying to defend his fallen teacher and classmate and one of the beautiful women in his life that… SOMEHOW likes him, as well as three other equally stunning women falling for him?
For the longest time, Izuku felt like the universe itself was the one toying with his life. But standing up on the main stage of the U.A. Sports Festival opening ceremony, told to deliver a rousing speech to start the games to an in-stadium crowd of approximately over ten thousand people, with who KNOWS how many were watching from their T.V. 's at home. To make matters worse, he was also told that he had placed the highest rank during the entrance exams, as well as beating All Might's old record when he applied 'lo those many years ago. He wasn't even going to get started on Todoroki's issues with him all of a sudden before they had walked out, let alone that one purple-haired student that also declared "war" on them after Bakugo's usual rage-fueled rants a few days before the festival.
A cool bead of sweat ran down the side of his head, and Izuku slowly took a deep but calming breath. His eyes focused as he mentally went over what he was going to say. He couldn't just blame the whole universe for what caused this outcome. No, he knew who had orchestrated all of this.
If that is how the rat wanted to play, well… Izuku can play as well.
As Izuku began his speech, which was more or less having him try and not only shower praise upon his fellow classmates of 1-A, but also the other heroic students and hopefuls taking part in the first year tournament just as much. Aizawa and Present Mic were sitting up in the commentator's booth, listening to the speech and getting ready for their own roles for the festival.
"You know, I never knew the little listener had it in him to give such an impassioned speech before." Mic said as he took a sip of his water, preparing his voice for the "boisterous" persona he was known for. While it was confirmed that Present Mic, aka Hizashi Yamada, could be rather loud and eccentric most of the time, much of that energy was saved for his radio show or public appearances such as the one he was about to do right now. Behind closed doors, however, Mic was often a lot calmer and quieter around those he was close with, namely Nemuri Kayama (also known as the R18+ Pro Hero "Midnight"), Aizawa, and Emi.
Aizawa sighed gently as he flipped through some of his notes, clearly unhappy being in the given the job of commentating, "Midoriya can surprise you when he wants to, but I can tell he's clearly unhappy with being put on the spot like this, and more than likely figuring out it was Nezu that withheld his test scores and placement during the entrance exam."
"Yeesh, I know the boss likes to toy with people, but that seems a little much for a student."
"I'd normally agree, but the problem child is his own ball of chaos, which I'm sure Nezu is molding into something truly terrifying." Aizawa said with a huff, squinting down at his green-haired student, who started to mention the "illogical" entrance exams designed for flashier quirks and not allowing those who honestly had unique talents in out of combat scenarios to shine just as bright.
"I mean, being Nezu's personal student, it's no wonder. But you sound more off than usual, buddy. What's up?"
Aizawa was silent for a few moments as if he was contemplating something. As Mic was taking another drink of his water, staring at his best friend for years, the often tired-looking homeroom teacher finally spoke up, "... Midoriya knows about Emi."
Trying his best not to spit-take and choke on his water, it took Mic a few moments to catch his breath, his glasses falling a little further down his nose, "H-HE KNOWS?! H-HOW?! You are so secretive about it that Nem and I only found out about Emi being pregnant before the beginning of the semester!"
Aizawa leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the console, "...By doing what he does best, analyzing the hell out of heroes. Even with my minimal media coverage, he was able to figure out the timings of when Emi and I married, as well as piece together her pregnancy from her lack of hero work over the past few months, even my limited hours during my patrols to make sure Emi is resting before I go out."
To say Mic's face was a little pale at that admission, he pushed his glasses back up his nose as he recomposed himself, "Remind me never to get on his bad side… so, what did you do to make sure he didn't mention anything to his classmates? not like he would tell them… I think?"
"That was surprisingly easy, to be honest." Aizawa said with another huff, shifting his head side to side to crack his neck and mentally prepare himself for the "onslaught" of Mic's persona, "He only wanted an autograph from Emi, which she was ecstatic for and was laughing so hard she snorted when I told her how Midoriya found out, but he also wanted access to the student files, under supervision, of course."
"That's… a bit of an odd request; why would the little listener want access to those?"
"Last week, some of the general studies students came to the classroom's door to "size up" the competition, especially given the press that my class had gotten from the USJ incident, one of them caught his attention."
"Oh, yea? Who's the poor soul?"
"Hitoshi Shinso, his quirk is called 'brainwashing,' and it allows him to take control over someone's mind and actions when they respond to anything he says verbally."
Mic whistled, realizing just how powerful a quirk like that could be, "Guessing it doesn't work against robots, huh?"
"A good example as to why we should fix that illogical exam, at least give those without the abilities to cause mass destruction a chance." Aizawa mused, seeing Izuku finally starting to wind down, "Looks like the problem child is finishing up; you ready, Hizashi?"
"Ten-four, good buddy! Let's WOW this audience!" Mic shouted with a big smile on his face, causing Aizawa to sigh heavily and pull out a jelly pack from the mini-fridge close by to him.
"What an amazing speech given today by our first-year representative, Izuku Midoriya! Such youthful passion, it leaves me all quivering!" Midnight exclaimed while she shifted her hips left and right, accentuating her assets more as she brought her arms together to push up her rather impressive bust with a cute giggle following after.
Beside her, Izuku was doing his best to keep his eyes forward, with a heavy blush on his cheeks as he did not want to fall prey to the slightly older woman's prominent flirtatious movements which many of his fellow students seemed to be failing at, he even noticed Bakugo and Shoto, when not glaring at him, were doing their best not to stare at their teacher with their own blushes running across their cheeks.
As Midnight continued to speak and keep the energy levels of the audience up, Izuku quickly made his way back to where he was standing, eyes forward, until he was standing beside Momo, who was also blushing deeply, promptly turned her head once her boyfriend had come back to her side and whispered, "I-it's safe to look you know, It's not like we could fault you for how she acts or for looking."
"I… I know… but not only am I trying to be respectful to you and the others, but I want to set a good example for Eri," he whispered back, turning his head and looking down while doing so, until completing the turn so he wouldn't even get a chance to gaze at Midnight, and was looking directly into Momo's eyes.
The heiress smiled gently and leaned in, still whispering, "You are more worried how much trouble you'd be in with us if you even dared take a peep."
Izuku was silent for a few moments, his eyes still trained on her as he exhaled softly, "... that may have been a part of the reason, yes."
His answer caused Momo to giggle softly, lightly smacking his chest with the back of her hand with a smile. A crack of a whip caught their attention, and all eyes were on Midnight now, who decided that it was time to actually get the show started.
The raven-haired teacher smiled brightly, "Now let's get this show started with our first event… THE OBSTACLE COURSE!"
As the last word was spoken, large mechanical doors opened up not far from where the students were standing, revealing a tunnel that had led out to seemingly open space. Midnight got everyone's attention as the whirring and noises of the door's locking themselves into place filled the air, "The rules of the obstacle course are simple, head into the tunnel and race to the end, the first forty to cross the finish line will proceed to the next event! While you can hinder your fellow racers, if you go too far, you will be disqualified. You will also be disqualified if you leave the course track at any time!"
"Now! We will begin in five minutes, so all you lovely cuties get to the starting area and prepare yourselves! It starts when the buzzer rings!"
Midnight began to walk off the stage, with the stadium cheering loudly in excitement for the coming event. Izuku, along with all the other students, headed towards the area in front of the tunnel, with many of the students either preparing themselves or in small groups making plans on how to tackle the oncoming challenges.
The green-haired warrior of light took a slow but deep inhale of breath, exhaling it softly as he stood back a little from the larger group of students. While he wished to have his girlfriends by his side right now, it was a group decision to try and see how far they could go on their own, and if there was to be an event that was a team battle, to not just go together.
"Not to say that the girls aren't capable on their own." Izuku thought as he did a few mild arm and leg stretches, looking over the other students while lingering on a few select individuals.
First off was Todoroki, the resident "silent" type within the class. While he answered questions in class or spoke up once or twice, Todoroki was one of the lone wolves. It fitted how he had a very icy demeanor towards the others and how often he would keep himself away from them outside of class. From what Izuku had picked up since they first started at UA, Todoroki's quirk was called "Half Hot, Half Cold", where he could use fire on his left side and ice on his right, and quite frankly a wondrous quirk. Yet, no matter what, either from Aizawa threatening expulsion or how cold he had gotten during heroics classes from overusing his ice, Todoroki absolutely refused to use his fire; even his hero costume completely covered the left side.
As much as Izuku would say that was utter bullshit to not use half of your quirk, he couldn't really fault Todoroki for it. After all, Izuku himself was also holding himself back most of the time so he wouldn't hurt his classmates. The only time he had fully let loose was when Fray had taken over his body to fight the Nomu, and from what his friends had told him, it was a truly frightening spectacle.
A couple of them even thought it was villainous how Fray had acted.
Shifting his eyes towards another student who had caught his interest was one Hitoshi Shinso, a student who looked either really bored or just about as tired as Aizawa did. What he gathered from the student records, Shinso's quirk could take over the minds of anyone who could respond to him, forcing them to do anything but also to be knocked out of it when someone hit them or any other form of a jolt. It was honestly a shame that it couldn't work on robots, or he could have been one of his classmates.
What truly puzzled Izuku was how he could have failed the practical? Did Shinso focus on using his quirk too much? If that was the case, he still could have passed, given that some of his classmate's quirks wouldn't be able to work on them as well, one such case would definitely be Toru, whose invisibility may have tricked the robots from not seeing her (which Izuku did NOT want to think about that fact), but it did not allow her to punch through steel.
And lastly, Izuku's emerald eyes landed on Bakugo, who he had caught staring at him, snarled, and then faced forward, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet and getting all sweaty. Izuku sighed gently as while he did notice that Bakugo had kept himself far away from Izuku, as well as censor himself when Eri was near or close by, the usually angered blonde had somewhat kept to himself. Not surprisingly, Kirishima had kept on trying to befriend Bakugo, and either from Kirishima's friendly stubbornness or impressing Bakugo during the USJ, the explosive blonde hadn't treated him like his "goons" back at Aldera. Whatever Hound Dog was doing with him during the mandatory counseling seemed to be working.
Deep down, though, and despite what his girlfriends have kept telling him, Izuku hoped one day to try and fix the bridge between them. Izuku wished they could go back before they were four, where Bakugo had actually treated him fairly decently, despite his bombastic attitude, which wasn't surprising he picked that up from Aunty Mitsuki. They were good times, and often they were as thick as thieves. Wherever Katsuki was, there was Izuku, and when Izuku wanted to go one way, Katuski would drag him the other.
But now, he needed to focus; the timing of this was going to have to be perfect to avoid a considerable congestion going through that tunnel. Not only that, but he had a feeling Todoroki would pull something with ice as soon as the buzzer blared, and he didn't want to waste time on it.
While he wanted to hold some of his power back for now, not trying to overshadow his classmates and just how awesome everyone one of them were, Nezu had really pushed his buttons with the opening ceremony.
"Let's just see how this obstacle course can withstand the full strength of a Warrior of Light."
Watching from a special box seat high above the crowds, Nezu gazed upon the various screens showcasing the different cameras rolling on the students. The "Moogle king" slowly sipped his tea as he heard the door open from behind him, "It looks like Midoriya is actually going to take this seriously, wouldn't you agree, Yagi?"
The blonde man sighed as he walked up towards the rather large seat of the dean, looking at one screen that was watching Midoriya in particular, "I wish I knew how you do that, sir."
"Pushing Izuku's buttons or knowing who enters my domain?"
"The second one, though I don't think you should call it that, sir."
"Well, it's quite easy," Nezu said with another sip of his tea, "The food and soil within the grounds of UA are rich in Aether. Most of the vegetables and fruits we use in our lunchroom are grown here on campus by the Moogles and the student gardens each dormitory has. As time goes on, anything organic will begin to absorb the aether into their bodies and leave "distinctions" that beings such as I can tell who or what is coming."
Toshinori had looked at the dean as he explained this, blinking in slight awe and a little confusion until the buzzer that started the race caught his attention. He watched, stunned as he saw Izuku shift into what he called his "Dragoon" kit and jumped up to avoid the sudden ice-covered field, quickly overtaking the lead and seemed to be jumping on air with small circles of an intricate design fading in and out with every leap, and once out of the tunnel, a blue haze of what looked like serpent's coiled around his body with his left eye blazing with a fierce red.
"Excellent, he is taking this seriously…." Nezu spoke up; the smile on the small creature seemed to grow wider as he watched his pupil get closer to the first obstacle, the "Robot-apocalypse".
"What do you mean, Nezu?"
Nezu turned his head towards the shrunken number one hero, the smile still present, "While I can understand Midoriya's hesitance to use his full strength during practices, he needs to learn that there will be times he cannot "hold back". The incident with the Nomu, is a prime example of this."
"He defeated it though."
"Remember, it was Fray that took out the beast; Izuku, from the reports of the students, was able to knock it away a few times but not truly subdue the creature. He seems to already be holding himself back, creating mental blockades, and we cannot allow that to happen."
Toshinori looked down at the dean, seeing the smile faded, and it made the pro hero's blood run cold, "... are you saying what I think you are saying, sir?"
"Indeed I am; while he will have to hold back during his hero career, he needs to keep his senses sharp and 'let loose' once in a while. While this planet doesn't have its share of overtly powerful monsters for him to take out, there are those in the shadows that will create problems for him, and if they were to team up…."
"You… are referring to All for One? And that 'Ascian' character you told me about?"
"Yes, your former nemesis has already shown himself with the Nomu creature, and while I do not know the Ascian's plan or true goals, their kind is sly and cunning and often will use others for their own selfish gains," Nezu spoke gravely, turning his attention back to the screens as Toshinori continued to stare at the small dean.
If what he was saying was true, and from the stories both Nezu and Recovery Girl had told him of the various beasts Izuku's "former life" had to take on, then to have All for One be given that sort of incredible support would throw the world into pure chaos, even destroy it.
"Also," Nezu said softly, staring at the screen of the dragoon jumping towards the several story tall zero-pointer robots that were heading towards them, "We don't know what sort of effect One for All will have on the boy once he's been given it, it could either work with his blessing or be a hindrance. You and, in fact, the world should watch our Warrior of Light give it his all, for no one has truly witnessed his full might as of yet, and everyone, including himself, needs to be prepared for it."
A roar of what sounded like a great beast echoed loudly within the stadium, even over the crowds of cheering people as Izuku had jumped quite high into the air, hovering for but a moment as a purplish aura surrounded him, with a large circle with symbols appeared underneath one of the "zero pointers". A sudden shout of "STARDIVER" rocked the stadium as three large rings magically appeared at the incline, watching Izuku propel himself through each of the rings, gaining speed until he struck, diving right into the chest of the mech and coming out the other end of it, landing on the ground before jumping again and continued to slash, stab and slice the others until nothing was left but a large pile of broken and shredded metal.
As the rest of the students had finally reached the, now taken out, first obstacle. A camera drone had been surveying around the top of the mangled mess of metal, looking for something. A clank was heard as the drone looked up and focused on the lone figure standing on top of a very pointed part of the mangled zero pointers on one foot, his other leg bent while he stood stoically while looking over the rest of the course. The blue serpent haze had faded at this point. Still, as Izuku leaped off his perch, it activated again and took off "dashing" towards the second obstacle.
Nezu clapped his paws in pure joy, enjoying the carnage his pupil had caused while also allowing the other students to safely pass the first "wall" they were supposed to have faced.
Toshinori stared dumbfounded at the screen; even the stadium had grown quiet, with both Aizawa and Mic not being able to describe what they had just witnessed. As the seasoned hero's brain slowly started to reboot from this spectacle, his shocked expression slowly began to curl into a smile as he spoke.
"Oh my…"
"Oh my…"
"GOODNESS!"
Chapter 34: Sports Festival - Part 2: Swept off my Feet
Summary:
Izuku is pulled away by a classmate to discuss something of great importance, while the girls of 1-A are tricked into wearing rather embarrassing-looking outfits.
It's the start of the one on one battles, and already Izuku feels like the universe is working for Nezu.
Notes:
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Izuku's stomach grumbled as he walked through one of the empty corridors of the UA stadium that was hosting the sports festival this year. He was shocked he hadn't collapsed out of sheer hunger yet after what had happened during the first and second events of the festival. Even if he didn't have to utilize his kit during the second event, Izuku felt he may have gone a little overboard with the "massacre" of zero-pointers.
The "Robo-apocalypse" turned more into a Robo graveyard when he was finished with it.
Izuku came in first place for the obstacle course; while he couldn't really do much about the second hazard, which was a giant pitfall, he was able to create a path through the minefield that was set up by switching into his Machinist kit and just scatter shotted the hidden mines while keeping a fair distance from the explosions themselves. Doing so did cost him a little time, but Izuku was not doing this out of boredom. He was doing so to make a point.
If Nezu wanted to showcase Izuku and his "quirk", then by all means, he was going to do so, on his terms, however. Which meant he was taking away the obstacles for the other students, not that they would have needed help. Still, Izuku would rather take on these problems himself than risk his peer's health.
The second event was the "Cavalry Battle", a team-based event where the students would try and grab headbands off of their opponents, consisting of one rider and the other's as the "horse". Sure enough, Izuku was given a headband worth ten million points, and he could already feel the eyes of the forty-two students glare at him as if he was prey in a den full of predators.
A quick shift into the Dragoon kit quickly changed that, however.
As the other students began to group up into their own teams, Izuku was looking to try and get his own. Sadly, that was incredibly hard as either people didn't want a target on their back because of his highly scored headband or wished to test themselves against him.
Both reasons Izuku could live with, even if that meant that Mina, Tsuyu, and Momo would be with other teams. Kyoka sadly hadn't placed, and Izuku made a mental note for later that he and Eri should spend some time with her after the festival, considering how devastated she looked when she was placed in 44th.
Momo had apparently been recruited by Todoroki with Tenya and Kaminari. At the same time, Mina looked like she was having a miserable time after Kirishima had asked her to join up with his team, which had Bakugo as their rider. Again, Izuku felt he needed to help cheer up his "alien queen" afterward… maybe a movie night with just the two of them with those sci-fi horror movies she kept bugging the group to watch.
Tsuyu had joined up with Shoji and, of all people, Mineta. A quick glare from Izuku nearly fainted the purple ball-haired boy until Tsuyu gave Izuku a look of her own; while hard for the others to recognize, Izuku had gotten the impression of "I can handle it, but thanks, kero."
… he may have added that little croak at the end, but Izuku thought they fit Tsuyu so well and made her just that much cuter.
Thankfully, Ochako had run up to him at this point and offered to partner up with him. It was followed by Tokoyami, standing by the wall out of sight of the various groups until both Izuku and Ochako convinced him to join them. That left only one person needed to make their team, and what happened next still shakes Izuku to his core as he thought about it again.
"Muscles!" shouted the excitable Mei Hatsume as she jumped onto the back of Izuku, almost sending him to the ground had it not been for the pre-emptive calling of his name. Although he was swamped during the weeks leading up to the festival, Izuku still would come by the support studio to work on his hero outfit's magitek additions with Mei to assist him.
He had kept his word to Nezu about not teaching Mei how to make her own magitek, despite him really wishing he could, considering having her bounce off ideas and improvements to his designs would have been leagues better than having her watch him or pass him tools between the pair while they worked on their own projects.
"M-Mei?! W-what are you doing? Can you please get off?" Izuku stuttered out; his face was red from the invasion of his space by the support student maniac. Izuku was definitely doing his best to ignore her very soft and rather pronounced chest pressing into his back.
Mei snickered giddily as she let go and looked up at him with a big smile when Izuku had turned around, "I wanna join your team! You, Gravity Girl, and Birdman can help me show off my new magi-babies!"
Mei had pulled out what looked like a small rectangular box with two crystals embedded into it from her belt. Pressing the ornate objects, the box shifted into a pair of boots with intricate designs running across them. Each boot had a single crystal on them. While Ochako and Tokoyami were in awe at the sight, Izuku's face had gone pale, "M-Mei… where did you get these?"
"Get them? Muscles, I MADE them! Mei Hatsume's patented magitek hover boots!"
"W-What?! B-but I never taught you how to create your own magitek!"
"Oh, that was easy." Mei continued to smile, "I learned by reverse-engineering the "jump" boots you had been working on in the studio, then putting them back with a few touches made by me!"
Izuku kept staring at her, dumbfounded. Sure, he hadn't taught her like Nezu said, but the crazy student was apparently able to figure it all out on her own. His gaze looked down to her belt to see even more of the boxes lined with differently colored crystals just waiting to be deployed.
Hold on…
"Wait, even if you had the means to make more magitek, I never gave you any crystals to power them; where did you get them all?" Izuku asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing that any spare crystals he hadn't used were immediately put back into the "storage" aka the aetherotransformer that hung from his belt while in his Machinist kit.
"That's the funny thing! Every couple of mornings, there's a bunch of crystals laying right on my worktable!" Mei said with a smile and laugh, clearly not questioning the source of the crystals or where they were getting them from.
Izuku knew, and his eye twitched in irritation as he could hear the dean's villain-like laughter in his head.
That goddamn rat…
Suffice it to say, Izuku and his team had made it to the final event, which was a staple for the sports festival for every previous year, the one versus one battles.
They had been given an hour-long lunch to get the battle platform ready while allowing those participating to rest and recoup from the previous two events. And just as Izuku was about to have lunch, while also eating with the girls as well as Eri and his mom, Todoroki had called out to speak with him privately.
Finally stopping after five minutes of walking, Izuku sighed gently, staring at Todoroki, who turned around, "So, is there something wrong, Todoroki? Or are you going to make another declaration of war like you did before the opening ceremonies?"
The split-colored-haired boy looked upon Izuku, his face even more expressionless than Tsuyu's as he spoke, "Are you related to All Might?"
The two boys were silent as the question hung in the empty corridor they were occupying. Izuku blinked once, then twice, before tilting his head, "Am I… huh?!"
"I asked, 'Are you related to All Might'... It's why I brought you down this corridor so we could speak not only in private but also to avoid interruptions by our classmate's antics. Bakugo, especially, doesn't seem to know the word 'quiet'."
Izuku had to stop himself from chuckling at that, who knew that Todoroki could be so savage.
Always the quiet ones.
"N-No, I'm not related to All Might, Todoroki… why are you asking?" Izuku stuttered slightly, trying to hold back his laughter. At the same time, the nonplussed boy just stared at him, not knowing why Izuku was acting like this.
"Even if that is the case, you do have ties to All Might." Todoroki said with an assertive tone to his voice, making Izuku calm himself down after that accusation, "Either through him when he is around or your interactions with Mr. Yagi, as well as how often he comes to the dorms to visit your mother."
Storing that last bit into his 'confront Toshinori about later' folder within his mind, Izuku's eyes slowly frowned and squinted, the half and half student before him already figuring out that he did have ties to All Might, and with a steady voice, he spoke, "And what does this have to do with you calling me out here?"
Todoroki, still with his monotone voice, looked at Izuku, "You probably already figured this out, but you know that my father is the number two hero, Endeavour, correct?"
Izuku gently nodded, though not liking how Todoroki seemed to say the word 'father' with such venom.
"Tell me, Midoriya, have you ever heard of 'Quirk Marriages'?"
Izuku groaned as he rubbed his stomach, burping gently as he rolled his neck around. The talk with Todoroki had gone on longer than he had expected, the reveal of how the number two "bought" his wife and had basically forced her to give birth to his children in hopes that one of them would be gifted with both Endeavor's fire and his mother's ice.
Turns out that Todoroki was the fourth and successful attempt.
That aside, as well as a new distaste for Endeavor and the reason why Todoroki refused to use his fire, Izuku had to basically wolf down his lunch before the beginning of the third event. Surprisingly, none of the girls were around. When he asked Kirishima, he said that Kaminari and Mineta had spoken to them last before they disappeared.
Had he any extra time, Izuku would have hunted down the two before the announcement for the students to come back and allow the unveiling of the battle pairs.
As the students participating in the third event had made it back into the field, Izuku's eyes widened. His cheeks flushed a crimson red at the sights before him as he, as well as the rest of his classmates, found the women of class 1-A.
Turns out that Mineta and Kaminari had somehow convinced the women that, of all people, Aizawa had passed along a message to the two class perverts to let the girls know about the pre-event cheerleading competition. Suffice it to say, most of the women were embarrassed considering they were tricked into wearing cheerleading outfits, albeit they had looked very stylish.
Izuku did his best not to stare at them, but it was very hard, especially when it came to four particular women. Mina had already written off her embarrassment and began to do actual cheers with Toru, waving the pom-Pom's about while chanting an "inspiring" cheer. Momo looked just about done with everything, considering she felt awful for having fallen for such an easy-to-spot trick; Tsuyu was beside her with Ochako trying to cheer her up. Lastly, Kyoka was staring daggers at both Kaminari and Mineta, the latter of whom looked rather terrified of the punk rocker.
Truth be told, while every one of his girlfriends looked absolutely fantastic in the outfits, Izuku had to admit that for whatever reason, be it that it was such a vast one-eighty from how she usually dressed or the way it actually showed off her curves, Kyoka looked the most stunning out of all of them.
"I-I know it's not manly to be staring at them," Kirishima said as he stood beside Izuku, noting that the red-headed boy's cheeks matched his hair color while his gaze seemed to be upon Ochako, "But, she- I m-mean they look perfect in those outfits, huh?"
"Oui, t-they all look fantastique." Yuga had stammered slightly as he was looking upon the bouncing Toru, which allowed the cloth to really show off the invisible girl's body.
A crack of a whip caught everyone's attention as Midnight stood up in the battle platform with a giant billboard behind her, her smile devilish as she gazed down at all the students before her, "Now that we have everyone here and I have all of your attention, let me explain the final event for this most glorious of sports festivals!"
As she spoke, the board behind her lit up with a bright hum sound, the screen revealing a flowchart as sixteen names were flickering on and off, changing positions as Midnight continued to smile, "With a simple push of a button, our final one on one battles will be organized by pure random chance! Will you be put against someone who is a friend? Or will you face off against your most bitter rival? WHO knows! And the wonderful thing about this is it has no outside influence to affect it! So once the names stop, the first match will begin in roughly ten minutes!"
Izuku couldn't help but feel that the part about the no outside influence was put in place regarding Nezu. While the dean would never rig the sports festival to satisfy his need to test Izuku, it was better safe than sorry. However, the pure randomness of the pairings was also something Nezu would also enjoy.
He thanked Hydaelyn that none of the other Moogles loved chaos as much as Nezu.
A cheer from the crowds brought Izuku out of his thoughts as Midnight had swayed her hips while pulling out the single button switch from between her breasts, "And now, let's see who our first two lovely combatants are going to be!"
Midnight pressed the button with a loud roar of the audience, and the chaotic mess of names stopped on screen. The first bracket showed that Izuku would be up first, and his heart sank horribly into his gut as he looked at the name of whom he was going to be facing. Turning his gaze towards his "opponent", Izuku could see their eyes give off a sense of the same sinking feeling.
"Oh! Such an interesting-looking pairing for our first match!" Midnight called out; a crack of her whip echoed in the stadium as the large jumbotron screen that hung above the field displayed the two students' pictures and their names.
Izuku Midoriya VS. Mina Ashido.
"Poor Mina… to face Izuku right off the bat," Ochako spoke sadly, a worried look on her face as she and the rest of Class 1-A had made their way to the special box seats designated for the individual classes. Sitting close by her were the other girls (back in their gym outfits), as well as Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Yuga, with Toru resting against his arm, her gloved fingers interlaced with his.
"Indeed, a poor matchup for the both of them," Momo said softly, her hand held by her chest looking on at the field.
"Why do you say that? I'm not going to lie, but with Midoribro's knowledge and all that power he has with his quirk… as much as it is crap to say about one of my best friends, Mina is kinda screwed." While he would enjoy the final event and even participate in it, Kirishima felt it was "unmanly" to talk negative things about one of his closest friends and felt horrible talking about Mina like that.
"While I wouldn't use that particular term, it is true Mina is at a certain disadvantage." Tokoyami spoke up suddenly, his bird eyes looking over to his "manly" classmate, "However, from how Yaoyorozu spoke, she is also indeed correct."
"How so, Toko-bro?"
"While Midoriya is indeed powerful, most of the abilities of his quirk or… kits… have not been fully tested out upon those of flesh and bone. So he is limited to the ones that focus more on melee combat, which Ashido will capitalize on since she mostly focuses upon ranged combat with her acid, as well as skating around him."
"That," Momo spoke up gently, as the two boys looked to her, "And despite how much power Izuku has, given what we saw at the USJ as well as what he did to those zero-pointers during the race, Izuku will be holding himself back to not hurt Mina… As much as it pains me to even say, Izuku could literally kill any of us if he was going at his full strength."
A cold shiver slid down the spines of those who heard Momo say that, remembering the scene of Izuku utterly destroying the zero-pointers, as well as all the "lethality" classes they had been doing where they watched Izuku just obliterate the robots during those.
"... Good thing he wants to be a hero, huh?" Kirishima said with an audible gulp and a pale look on his face. While the red-headed boy would still see how well his hardened-up body could go up against Izuku's spells, after all, breaking a promise wasn't "manly", even though he was a little intimidated by his classmates' overall strength.
"OH YEAAAAA!" screamed Present Mic over the microphone with a musical fanfare occupying his voice, causing many of the students to cover their ears due to how loud it was, as well as being startled by their teacher's exuberant voice, "Let's get this show on the road! First up, we have the out-of-this-world beauty that not only could melt your heart with her looks and personality but also her quirk, Mina AASHIIIIIIDO!"
The crowd cheered and roared as Mina rushed onto the battle platform with a hop and a skip, jumping up onto its surface and waving her arms around with the biggest smile. In the fluffy pink-haired woman's mind, she was thinking of how excited her family would be to see her on TV, performing at one of the country's most significant events. As she brought her arms down, and as the fanfare quieted for a moment before picking up back in volume once again, her happy expression slowly faded as she listened to Present Mic announce her opponent.
"And from the other side, we have the guy with such a crazy quirk; he even scares me at times; it's the one and only Izuku MIIIIDORIYA!" Izuku flinched slightly before jogging up towards the platform, listening to the cheers and shouts from the audience as he leaped up onto the surface and turned his gaze towards Mina. She was staring him down with a look of determination that he had never seen on her, at least not towards his direction anyway.
"Alright, you two lovelies," Midnight said as both students looked towards her, listening to her as she held up a microphone to her lips, "Rules are simple! The first one to knock out the other or push them out of bounds is the winner and moves on to the next round; anyone can surrender if they have pushed past their limits or are unable to move! Suppose you or anyone else is getting too crazy. In that case, Cementoss or I will step in and put a stop to the fight, and you will listen to us if we tell you to stop, or I will have to... punish you later, am I clear?"
The somewhat predatory look she was giving both of her students made them quickly nod their heads as Midnight cackled in delight, "You may start when you hear the crack of the whip." and the provocative teacher turned on her heel began to saunter off towards where she would be refereeing the match.
Izuku made sure to look away before Midnight had turned and looked across the way towards Mina, who was staring hard at him with a frown, "M-Mina, is something-" "Don't you dare hold back on me, Izuku!" Mina shouted as she readied herself into a stance.
"I know you aren't going to go full throttle, considering how powerful you are with 'Manifest', but don't you dare go easy on me. I'm here to show off how awesome of a hero I can be and while I…" She paused for a moment, a dusting of purple on her pink cheeks while Izuku also blushed at the implication she was referring to; Mina shook her head and continued, "While I know how much you have analyzed me and the others, I won't make this easy for you, nor should you make it easy for any of us!"
A crack of a whip was heard, and before Izuku could even give a rebuttal, Mina shot forth and began to slide across the battle platform, tossing huge globs of acid flew towards him, making Izuku roll out of the way, only to be sideswiped by an acid-drenched punch to his side from Mina as she skated along with her acid before moving past him before he could make a returning strike, before throwing more glops of acidic goo towards him and repeating the pattern.
From up above the cheers of the audience, Present Mic was looking ecstatic, and his commentary held the same vibe, "We have 'first blood' with Ashido bum-rushing Midoriya with a bait and switch!"
"While Midoriya is one of the more intelligent students in my class, Ashido is very quick to come up with half thought up plans of attack, making her very unpredictable. She knows that if given time to strategize, Midoriya will think of a plan and end the fight, so she's making it hard for him to even do that with hit and run tactics."
"Is that why he hasn't used his quirk yet?"
"That and he hasn't fully tested out how to hold back on some of his more ranged options, and going into melee with her will just dissolve any of his equipment, and before you ask, the kit he used to destroy the zero-pointers in the first event would be an inferior choice as well, considering Ashido is quick enough to avoid his 'jumps'."
"So, stuck between acid and a hard place, huh?"
Aizawa turned towards his co-host, sighing in annoyance as Mic snickered to himself. As his tired eyes looked back down to the fight, he could see that Midoriya was beginning to dodge both the flung acid towards him and weave around Ashido's incoming punches, "There is also the problem with Ashido's plan, she doesn't think ahead if the tactic she uses begin's to fail or her opponent starts to out-think her… hmm?"
Mic looked over to Aizawa when his co-host hummed suddenly; placing his hand over his microphone, he leaned over, "Something wrong, bud?"
"... better pull out those sunglasses that I got for us when I went to discipline Kaminari and Mineta…." Aizawa said with a cryptic tone of voice, fishing out his glasses from under his cloak as Present Mic did the same, once he noticed that not only Class 1-A had their own pairs of sunglasses, but also members of Class 1-B did as well.
Back on the field, Izuku was panting slightly as Mina was coming towards him once again. While he felt happy that she was using a tactic he made in his notebooks, he lamented that she seemed to have forgotten the follow-up to those plans if it started to fail. This allowed Izuku to focus on her now, as the tugging sensation of his blessing caused him to begin to hyper analyze his girlfriend but also his surroundings.
The crowd was deafening once the fight had begun, cheering for both Mina and himself; from the corner of his eyes, he could see children in the stands shouting loudly in joy, watching the fight between the two hero students. His emerald eyes soon shifted towards Mina, whose expression had morphed into one of pure joy and excitement despite having a serious look and tone of voice when the battle had begun. The way she skated around the platform was almost like a ballerina, as well as a few other forms of dances that she weaved into some kind of chaotic mixture of her movements.
Admittedly, Izuku had always been entranced by Mina's dancing abilities. Watching her breakdance when they hung out before UA always seemed to perk up his mood. The energy she put into every movement while she danced and the utter joy anyone who watched her would feel from her performance.
The crowds seemed to enjoy it too, albeit it wasn't Mina's usual breakdancing moves. Still, from the entertainment she was providing as she danced around Izuku and forcing him to re-evaluate his strategy.
As he took a quick glance around him and saw only the crowd's delighted smiles with their cheers, Mina continued her "dance" with gusto. And that's when It finally clicked.
They were not only "performing" for the different hero agencies that were watching them as potential recruits, but the public masses so they would become recognizable when the students were out in public doing their internships. Helping make the students more approachable to the common man should they need a hero to help them.
Izuku slowly rose from his spot, standing tall and proud as Mina came barreling towards him with a big smile before sliding to a halt as she saw the utter joyful look on his face. With the warmth of his blessing flowing through his body, and the three words of Hydaelyn echoing in his head, Izuku raised his hand out to Mina, "Let's give them a great performance, Mina! Come, dance with me!"
And a bright light soon filled the stadium, causing not only the crowds to gasp out from the sudden offending and surprisingly light, but also caused the viewers in their homes to cover their eyes.
As quickly as the light appeared, it soon disappeared, revealing to everyone across Japan and the stadium the fantastical outfit that one of the students was now wearing. Mina slowly gasped as she realized what had happened, remembering that Izuku had told her and Kyoka once that he was very close to unlocking the kits that were tied to them specifically but were missing one or two critical things.
Mina then realized what it must have been for Izuku to "unlock" the kit; they were in a stadium, and the crowd watched their fight. As her gaze returned to her boyfriend/opponent, the pink-skinned girl now got a perfect look at what she helped cause.
And god damn, was she happy about it.
Standing before her was Izuku, his hair the same fluffiness as it always was, but around his head was a metallic-looking headband, with ornate silver decorations placed on the front and over his nose. Along the sides were beaded strings with what looked like bird feathers hanging off at the ends with a similar strand at the back, but with what looked like a fluffy tail off of something Mina couldn't put her finger on. The rest of Izuku's outfit was something else entirely.
A small black vest was all Izuku wore on his upper body, the many chains, beads, and other ornate decorations littered across his body in such beautiful weaves and silver designs along with the cloth. Perfectly capturing his rather muscular and lithe body. Along his arms and legs were what looked like thick or pseudo-leather-looking shoes and gloves. Though the "gloves" would reach his upper arm, it had "ended" at silver rings placed on Izuku's middle fingers. Both were covered in the imagery of music and dancing with silver decorations and beads. At the same time, the boy's pants were clingy tightly to his legs, colored pure white to offset all of the dark colors on his person.
What was most interesting was the belt and sash adorned with it. Long and silk-like, they were also littered with various silver decorations near the bottom to give the broad strands of cloth some weight. Upon his belt, however, were two ornately designed chakrams, looking both beautiful and deadly at the same time, and that's when a loud whistle from the side of the battle platform broke Mina's literal drooling over Izuku's new look, "Midoriya! Those weapons at your side, are they needed for your quirk? And are they blunt?" Midnight had called out as she strode over to the boy, who looked at her with a bright smile.
"Ah, my apologies, Miss Midnight!" Izuku said as he quickly made his way over to her, plucking off one of the chakrams and handing it to her, "Yes, they are essential for my kit! It's called 'Dancer' and they are needed to perform my various steps and moves. Currently, they are blunted, however..." He plucked the other one from his belt, and the new chakram suddenly split, causing it to break apart at the blunt edge, showing off the relatively sharp edge to its new form, unlike the closed one currently in Midnight's hand. The oddest was the symbolic rose-like flower that projected itself in the middle when it broke apart, with what looked like tiny little sparkles of light falling from the center of the projection.
"Can you use them while it's closed?"
"Yep! And no worries about them sliding apart to their sharpened edge either! The crystals on the chakrams need only be filled with aether to separate, but I can still throw them around without the need of aether!" Izuku had answered with a bright, almost bubbly smile on his lips.
Midnight looked over the weapon in her hand, testing it to make sure Izuku's claims were correct about them not being able to slip open to their sharpened edges. Once she had tried a few times to cause the split and failed, she handed the weapon back to Izuku and ran back towards the side of the platform, reaching for her mic and raising her hand, "The weapons are blunt and a part of Izuku's quirk, they are deemed safe for combat if you allow it, Miss Ashido!"
Mina blinked, turning her head to Izuku, who had returned to his spot, holding the two metallic discs in his hands as he began to bounce slightly on the balls of his feet. She knew she could trust Izuku's judgment and control with his magic stuff, so she looked to Midnight and gave her a big thumbs up, "Even if he has the moves now, I'm still going to trounce him."
Midnight cackled loudly and cracked her whip, signaling the start of the match again. Mina had blasted forward again, lobbing more of her acid towards Izuku, who quickly dodged to the side with what Mina could only think of as a "blast of color" before Izuku flung the chakrams at her. Barely escaping the things, Mina was shocked to see them return to Izuku's hands before relaunching them at her, this time finding their mark as one hit her stomach.
Grunting in pain and gasping for air from the strike, Mina huffed before skating back towards her target, dodging and weaving through the flying metal discs before trying to kick Izuku when she was close enough,
Once again, and with a muttered phrase of "En Avant" that Mina could hear, Izuku had zoomed himself out of her proximity and followed up with more tosses of the chakrams towards her.
If the crowds were loud before, they were getting even more rambunctious with the fight before them. From the seats of Class 1-A, everyone was stunned as they watched their two classmates "duke" it out.
"Um…" Koda spoke up softly, thankful to get someone's attention finally when he tapped Momo's shoulder from behind. As the heiress slowly took her attention away from the fight to look at the often mute boy, Koda began to use sign language to her, for which Momo nodded with a smile, "That's exactly right, Koda. It does look like a dance."
"What do you mean, Kero?" Tsuyu spoke up from beside Momo, who turned her head towards the frog-like girl, staring at Momo with her usual emotionless eyes.
"Watch their movement's carefully," Momo pointed towards the fight, "while it looks like random moves and dodges, in reality, one could say that they are both "combat dancing", their moves are telegraphed easily, but it allows the other to follow up and add to their movements."
"So, they are basically playing right now instead of actually fighting? Kero."
"Not in a sense you're thinking; judging from their smiles, they are clearly both enjoying this, but Mina isn't giving Izuku one inch, while he too is doing that exact same thing. They are fighting one another but also dancing together."
Tsuyu looked down to the fight as Momo had finished her explanation, letting out another croak from her throat; she spoke plainly once again, "... she's totally going to bug him for dancing lessons, and how to use those weapons he is tossing at her, isn't she?"
"Oh, with that, I have no doubt, and probably pester me to make her an outfit similar to his garb." Momo giggled gently while Tsuyu nodded before she blinked.
"Uh oh, looks like Mina isn't doing so hot, kero."
Dodging another flurry of throw chakrams, Mina was panting heavily as she somehow ended up in the corner of the battle platform with Izuku not too far in front of her and looking a little winded. But that smile he had been wearing since shifting into his new kit was still plastered on his face, "Looks like our dance has to come to an end sadly; I take it you enjoyed our fun?"
"Y-Yea, best dance ever…." Mina panted out gently, her legs wobbling, and she could feel her bare feet on the concrete pulse in pain from not only quirk overuse but also from what tiny remnants of her shoes remained. Her arms were shaking, and she kept panting, but a clearing of a throat caught both Mina's and Izuku's attention from the corner.
Cementoss looked up at the pink woman, whose outfit had looked like it had seen better days considering how her sleeves and pant legs were burned away due to her acid, "Miss Ashido, are you able to continue?"
Mina looked back to Izuku, whose smile had faded, and the look of worry and concern adorned his face, still clutching the chakrams but clearly looking like he didn't wish to fight. Mina looked back to the cement-like teacher, smiling gently, "I-I think that's all I got for now, Mr. Cementoss, I concede."
The teacher nodded and raised his hand up to Midnight, who called out that Mina had surrendered and the winner was Izuku. Sighing in relief, Mina was about to fall onto her butt to get off of her feet. As she fell, she could feel the pressure of wind kick up and a small flash of light out of the corner of her vision before she felt the somewhat tight grip of Izuku's strong hands at her back and under her knees.
She looked towards the green-haired boy to see him having returned to his "regular" look, lifting her up into a princess carry as Izuku gave Mina a gentle smile before looking to Cementoss, "I'll carry her to the medical area, sir."
The stone-like teacher nodded, and Izuku began to lightly jog towards the tunnel that would allow him to take Mina to Krile. Izuku was blushing somewhat, as was Mina from all the catcalls and whistles of the crowd before they disappeared into the darkness of the tunnels, away from the limelight for now and able to speak to one another in private. Mina looked to Izuku with a big smile, "You didn't have to carry me, you know? The recovery robots would have come and gotten me?"
"And deny me the chance of sweeping my Alien Queen off of her feet? I think not." Izuku said with a big grin, causing Mina to really blush.
Said "alien queen" gave off a playful huff, putting on a fake pout while wrapping her arms around his neck, "I liked it better when I would fluster you into a blushy mess; you getting confidence is giving you too much power!"
"You still do most days, but I have been learning from you how to tease and flirt… and I can see the appeal." Izuku chuckled gently while Mina lightly slapped his chest before giggling as well.
Just as they were getting to the corner where Izuku would find the medical room, he had stopped dead in his tracks, causing Mina to stop her giggling and turn her head up to Izuku, "Hey Izu, why did we-mmph!"
Mina's words died in the throat as she felt the warm and soft lips of Izuku against her own, the echoes of the roaring audience and the bombastic announcement of Present Mic the only sounds that she could hear as just as she was about to close her eyes and enjoy the kiss, they shot open when she felt the prodding of a tongue press against her lips, asking for entrance.
Parting her lips, Mina could feel Izuku's tongue slowly push into her mouth, lightly coaxing her own to meet his between their lips. Gradually, she accepted the request, and both young adults could feel their tongues slowly massage and rub against one another, moving about like they were dancing a slow waltz as Mina held onto Izuku tighter, closing her eyes as she began to enjoy the kiss even more so than before.
A few moments had passed, and their lips had separated, leaving their tongues out and both lightly gasping for air. Izuku's emerald eyes looked deeply into Mina's golden orbs as he panted gently, "You... did amazing, Mina, you even helped lift a weight off of my body that's been there for so long, and I promise that once the internships are done, I'm going to set some time for us where I can start to teach you the movements I did today, as well as build you some custom chakrams."
Mina looked flabbergasted at Izuku, her cheeks still in a heavy purple coloration from the kiss, but also this new promise. Her reply was to kiss him deeply once again, this time with more fervor. She gently bit his bottom lip after breaking apart the kiss a few moments later, "I'll hold you to that, lover boy… Now let's get to the medical room so I can rest up, and you can go and win this entire thing."
Izuku blushed once again and smiled gently, leaning his head down to give her one last peck on her lips before he continued his journey towards the medical room.
Mina snuggled herself more into Izuku's body, holding him a little tighter around his neck but smiling brightly. After all, it wasn't every day that an Alien Queen got carried in such a matter by her King.
Chapter 35: Sports Festival - Part 3: The Monster's Loose
Summary:
We progress through the sports festival, and Momo is cheered up by a certain someone after her bad showing!
Izuku faces off against his second opponent in round 2, but things go very wrong, very fast.
Notes:
Hey all, sorry for the delay, I'm currently puppy sitting atm, so updates will be slightly later than normal! D:
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The first rounds of the final event for the UA sports festival raged on after Mina and Izuku had disappeared into the darkened space of the inner stadium.
While only missing Mineta's and Shinsou's match, which Izuku knew that the general ed student would win rather quickly (although Izuku did feel a little bad for Mineta, but not a whole lot given how the purple pervert tricked his girlfriends). Izuku had made it back for the rest of them, sitting with his classmates, scribbling away into his notebook.
He watched how the two stand-ins for Kirishima and Tetsutetsu had duked it out, both hardening students having to bow out as both of them could really continue from quirk overuse in the cavalry battle, fighting one another. If one could call it as such.
The student to replace Tetsutetsu was Neito Monoma, who was someone that Izuku wished he could get a proper conversation about the copy quirk he had, but Monoma wasn't exactly the most approachable, especially if you were from 1-A.
For Kirishima, Shoji had been chosen, and while Monoma had the quirks from a few of his classmates, even the steel hardening of Tetsutetsu, no one could deny the raw strength of the multi-limbed hero in training. Though the fight wasn't as short as the previous ones, it was a rather impressive display of strategy and quirk use between the two. However, Shoji had bested Monoma, but as a good show of sportsmanship, he led the class 1-B student off the field as the blonde copier was concussed.
The next few fights, if one could be called that, were of some notable import. The least interesting one was the fight between Tenya and Mel. The support student had somehow "convinced" the speedster to wear some of the Magitek she had created and shown it off like some sort of showcase on television.
Eventually, Tenya caught on to what Mei was doing, but before he could do something about it, she had already walked off the platform, which declared him the winner by default. Izuku felt terrible for his friend, considering not only not being able to properly show off his skills but also being used as a marketing tool for Mei.
Setsuna's match was next, and quite honestly, it was a rather one-sided match against her opponent, Ibara Shiozaki. While Izuku had a good grasp of who the religious plant-haired woman's quirk worked, thanks to the joint training sessions between the two hero classes, Izuku had felt that Ibara was always "not going a hundred percent" during those sessions.
It probably didn't help that one of her "partners" was Kaminari. He was still unable to fully utilize his quirk without being one big AOE that would harm himself and the spectators.
Despite how fast Setsuna could move when she split up, nor how many pieces she could control now (his best count was thirty-five), his fellow green-haired friend wasn't able to surpass the many vines of Ibara and was fully constricted together before having her match called due to her being immobilized. Admittedly, it was rather sweet that Ibara did go up to make sure Setsuna was alright, an apparent worry on her face as the lizard hero in training waved her with a big sharp-toothed smile.
It was hard to watch the second to last match… considering it had Bakugo as one of the combatants. Not only that, but Ochako was his opponent. While both he and Kirishima had spoken with her before her match, both offering her tips or strategies to deal with the blonde bomber, she told them she "had it handled" but thanked them for offering to help at least.
Izuku had raised an eyebrow at how long both Kirishima and Ochako were staring at one another, their cheeks a faint rose color before the final announcement for the fighters to head to the battle platform, and Ochako had to get to the entrance.
"Huh," Izuku had thought, having turned around and leaving the two before the announcement, "So that's what it looked like from the outside."
When Ochako said she had it handled, Izuku had no idea that launching massive boulders as meteor's at Bakugo was what she meant by it, but by Hydaelyn, did it even make Bakugo look scared for a moment. However, while Izuku was amazed at Ochako's perseverance in fighting Bakugo, she still lost in the end, and how Bakugo was just as brutal as he always was really left a sour taste in his mouth.
However, while it looked like Bakugo was toying with Ochako for the most part, as called out by the audience members and several of the "heroes'' in the stands, Izuku knew in his mind that the bubbly and blushing cheeked woman had actually been keeping up with Bakugo, forcing him into a corner a few times and pushing him to fight at his fullest against her. Her final move even caught him off guard before leveling the debris into nothing but dust, leaving the blonde's arms shaking from having used too many explosions.
The crunching of metal caught Izuku's ear during the fight when he noticed Kirishima was gripping the railing in front of him so hard that his quirk activated for the briefest of moments and crushed the steel under his grip. Despite how angry and worried he looked, Izuku could see the admiration for both of his classmates in the redhead's eyes. However, he had a feeling Ochako was far higher on the list than Bakugo. When the match ended, Izuku tapped Kirishima's shoulder and suggested he visit Ochako in the infirmary to let her know how much of a great job she did.
Kirishima's eyes widened before he gave Izuku a stern nod, smiling and dashing up the stairs towards the exit.
Izuku chuckled lightly as he watched his classmate dash off before feeling someone's arms wrap around his neck from behind and noticing the pink coloration to his "ambusher's" skin made him blush.
"And since when are you, Mr. Matchmaker?" Mina had asked gently into his ear, teasing him and causing him to shiver slightly from her breath moving past his earlobe.
"J-just thought it was a good idea…." Izuku said after a few moments, calming himself before turning his head slightly back to her; his cheeks were still ablaze in red. Still, he had a very coy little smile on his lips, "P-plus I learned from the best."
Mina froze for a moment before her cheeks went purple, quickly removing her arms from around his neck and sitting back in her seat, "Y-YOU pay attention to the next match, mister!" she squeaked out and pointed towards the center of the stadium once again, causing everyone around her to snicker at her flustered look, with Izuku smirking and turning around to face forward, eager to see how well Momo's match would go.
Momo slowly slid against the wall of the hallway as she gently began to sob while curling into herself, ignoring most of the sounds around her. How could she perform so poorly in front of everyone?
To say her match went poorly was a vast understatement, as Tokoyami struck quick and hard, forcing Momo to a more defensive position, creating a shield, and trying to think up a formula that could help her fend off the occult-loving bird-headed man. Alas, the constant strikes from Dark Shadow, as well as how hard it clanked into her shield, pushed Momo off of the battle platform rather quickly.
Was she really cut out to be a hero? Sure, her quirk allowed her to "conjure up" cannons and relatively advanced technology. Still, she needed time to think about the proper formula and piece them together to make sure they worked once she had created them. As Tokoyami had just demonstrated, any sort of overwhelming force would interrupt her thoughts and make her as defenseless as a kitten.
What would her parents think of her now? Would they see her dreams as being nothing but a small child's foolish desires and have her leave UA? Or worse yet, what about those close to her? Would they even want to associate with her after such a poor performance? It's not like Momo has proven that she could even be a hero most times, given how many times she had been saved by Izuku or something with ties to the green-haired boy.
Oh god, what would Izuku think after such a lackluster performance? After all her hard work with him during their first year together, she frequently had him all by her lonesome, studying and helping her strengthen her knowledge and quirk. Was all that for naught? Would Izuku even look at her the same after such a display that he would deem- OUCH!
Momo winced as she felt something jab her side, turning her head towards where she was struck to see a frowning Kyoka looking down at her, "Of all the things to have picked up from Izuku, it had to be the mumbling?"
The heiress turned her gaze from the punk rocker, looking slightly hurt. Kyoka sighed gently before moving to sit beside Momo, shoulder bumping into one another as Kyoka's violet eyes gazed upon her friend and… she guessed "girlfriend" at this point considering the unique relationship they all had, "So, just going to start right off and say that you did a damn good job-"
"I did no such thing, Kyoka… my thought process crumbled under such skillful mastery that Tokoyami has with Dark Shadow; I couldn't even come up with a simple flashbang to weaken it."
"Her, actually." Kyoka said with a smirk when Momo looked back at her with a confused look on her face, "Apparently, Dark Shadow is a girl... Or identifies as female, it's hard to figure out with sentient quirks sometimes."
"H-How do-?" "How do I know? It's because Dark Shadow had asked for tips on how to dress all punkish like yours truly, much to Tokoyami's embarrassment."
Momo giggled at the rather humorous thought of how that went down, which caused Kyoka to smirk some more, "There's our princess's smile."
Said "princess" blushed and looked away again, "I-I am not a princess."
"Babe, you totally are… not like me, or the others are going to hold it against you, but you gotta admit that you were so clueless about some things and flashed your wealth at us, albeit innocently like it was a normal everyday thing for everyone." Kyoka giggled gently as Momo pouted at the memory of their first few interactions.
"I have gotten better at that." Momo said, still with a pout as she looked back to Kyoka, "Thanks to you and the others, of course."
"Yeah, well... " Kyoka began to blush as she felt the gaze of girlfriend on her, making the punk rocker shift back and forth, "... We gotta look out for one another, not just Izuku. When one of us is feeling down, we all should try and pick them back up, you know?"
"True, but still… I feel like I should have been able to do so much better, Kyoka. I am a recommendation student, after all, I spent years perfecting not only my quirk but my combat skills as well, and lately, it just feels like…."
"You're a damsel in distress that needs to be saved by a hero?" Kyoka spoke up suddenly to catch Momo's attention again, "Yea, I know exactly how that feels, since the USJ, in fact…."
"Oh, Kyoka…"
"But that's the thing, isn't it? There will be times where we are outmatched, and someone will have to save us, especially now since we are still in training." Kyoka very slowly moved her hand towards Momo's, taking a gentle hold of it as she continued to speak, "That's why we are here in the first place, to train and be heroes, to BE the ones to save those that need saving."
"Trust me, I am not a fan of having my butt being saved by you or Izuku all the time. Not that I don't appreciate it, but during my sessions with Hound Dog, I admitted my feelings of inadequacy to him, and he told me the same thing I just told you… well, minus all the growls and that."
Momo began to giggle as did Kyoka, the taller woman gently leaning into the shorter punk and pulling her into a soft hug, as she did Kyoka, although blushing heavily, continued on, "And I know it doesn't feel like it, but Izuku has been saved on more than one occasion by us."
"I very much doubt that… usually he's the one throwing himself into danger for our sake."
"Oh? Did we forget about the cuddle pile? Helping him be more confident with himself? You have to admit that he's changed quite a lot from the boy he was, mostly because of us."
Momo had to think about it for a moment, but as she did, she remembered how timid and shy Izuku was when they first met, and while he was still like that at times, it was nothing like he was before.
"Besides," Kyoka said as she slowly pulled herself up from the floor, offering a hand to Momo, who took it gently to also get up, "We now have a little girl to take care of with him, and lord knows he's going to need the help with raising our unicorn."
Momo gently smiled once again, nodding her head, "Eri has been a very positive influence on him, just as much as Izuku has been for her."
"God's help when she's old enough to date, I can totally see Izuku go all "dad" mode on her boyfriends."
"Or girlfriends," Momo said with a smirk, which Kyoka giggled at. The punk rocker froze when she felt Momo's hand squeeze hers, looking up to the onyx eyes staring down at her, "S-speaking of… Kyoka… before we go to our internships and after the evening party at my parents, c-could we… I mean to say… oh goodness…."
Momo was blushing fiercely as Kyoka waited with bated breath, her own cheeks a bright red as she stood still, staring at the shifting taller woman.
"C-Could we go out on a date? I-I found a lovely new music store with a w-wide variety of rock and punk music selections that you could introduc-" "HELL YES!"
Momo leaned her head back in shock at the rather loud approval of Kyoka, who looked up at her with the brightest smile she had ever seen the violet-haired woman give to anyone. Kyoka had cleared her throat and was blushing madly, "Y-Yea, we can totally do that… g-go on a date, I mean."
Momo gave off her own bright smile, leaning down and lightly pecking Kyoka's lips before tugging her down the corridor, "Come! We must root for Izuku during his next match!"
Kyoka said nothing as she was being dragged back to the seating area by Momo, all the while with the biggest smile on her face.
Izuku sighed as he watched Shinsou climb up onto the battle platform. At the same time, he was excited to be facing the general education student; he mentally was still worried about Momo.
Initially, after her match had ended, Izuku, along with Mina (who had recovered enough to make it back to their seats), Kyoka and Tsuyu had rushed down to try and comfort her. But Izuku had been called to his next fight. Of course, Izuku was more adamant on making sure not only Momo was alright and to cheer her up over what he needed to do, which to the slight annoyance of his girlfriends.
Who knew that Tsuyu and Mina were strong enough to push and pull him away while Kyoka was shooing him off with a wave of her earphone jacks with the biggest smile as if to say she had handled.
A crack from Midnight's whip broke him out of his thoughts as she looked towards both students, "Now you both know the rules, commence the fight when you next hear the sound of my whip, boys!"
As Midnight made her way to her position, the tired-looking Shinsou placed his hands into his pockets, tilting his head back and to the side as he spoke, "So… you're the "golden boy" of Class 1-A? Don't seem like you're all that special if the rumors that you were able to hold back the villains at the USJ are true." The wildly purple-haired student spoke with a monotone voice, only to get nothing but silence back from Izuku, who frowned and readied himself into a basic fighting stance.
'Shit…' thought Shinsou, 'He must've figured out how my quirk works somehow, well… as much as I hate to do this, I REALLY need him to say something.'
The crack of the whip rang out as Izuku dashed forward, Shinsou however, began to speak again, "It's no wonder you had to, given the lackluster performances the rest of your class has shown today."
That had stopped Izuku, causing Shinsou to smirk a little bit, "I mean, first you clear the way for all the participants during the first event, and then during the second you didn't use your quirk at all and relied mostly on that weird support girl's machines to keep your lead."
"And don't get me started on your first match; you were holding back so much that you and that pink-skinned mutant girl were playing until she was exhausted and surrendered to you? What kind of potential hero does that?" Shinsou's smile grew a little more as he saw a visible twitch of Izuku's eye.
The general ed student kept pushing on, "And then there was that engine guy who got duped into basically being an ad for that support student, and lord knows the world needs another Endeavor with how that psychopath of an explosion user was to your fellow classmate."
"Oh! And then there was a match before this one? A rather poor performance for a recommendation student if I ever-" ''SHUT UP!" Izuku roared loudly and angrily as he once again began to rush towards his foe, only for him to stop suddenly and let his arms and head hang down.
Shinsou smiled wide now, his arms crossed over his chest in a smug sort of satisfaction, "Got ya."
"I have to admit, you had me worried since you were initially quiet, and I had to say some rather awful things. But when people get angry, it makes them do stupid things, like forget important factors like how one's quirk activates…." Shinsou kept smiling while not noticing a twitch of Izuku's right finger as he continued, "Well, now I can progress forward and show just how brute strength and flashy quirks like yours aren't the best for potential heroes. You can walk off the platform now."
A few silent moments had passed, and Izuku was still rooted where he stood, causing confusion not only to the brainwashing quirk user but also to everyone watching from the stands. A few moments of nothing passed before Shinsou growled, "Hey! I command you to walk off the plat-" *BANG*
Everyone froze as the echoing reverb of a gunshot bounced in the deathly silent stadium as Shinsou, with a frightened look on his face and the few strands of his hair falling past his ears from the missed shot, was staring into the barrel of a pure black colored pistol pointed directly at him.
And standing before him instead of his fellow student was a person that was pulsing with a dark looking aura, covered in what could be seen as a light grey outfit that had obviously seen better days. While it had looked regal, what with the ornate looking features on the clothes and the faded white scarf hanging from his neck, many of the edges were tattered looking, with what could be seen as dried blood marred the leather boots and fringe edges on the tail end of his coat.
What further perplexed Shinsou was the rather dark mask now fully covering Izuku's face that was partially hidden under a large hood. As dark looking wisps of shadows wafted off the boy, the darkness soon engulfed him, shifting and pulsing with a cold aura that froze everyone close to it in fear as the gun faded away as if it dissolved out of existence, only to be replaced with a large and brutal ax.
With a sudden wind burst, the darkness faded from Izuku's body to reveal the boy now clad in dulled and equally as worn-out plate armor, a matted green scarf hung off of his shoulders as the helmet he wore now had covered everything in that metal sheen, with darkness only showing through the slots on the front meant for his eyes and breathing.
Everyone watched in bated breath as Izuku gripped the giant ax in both of his hands and lunged at Shinsou with burning red eyes shining through the darkness. Then the most feral and bestial voice echoed throughout everyone's body, chilling them to the core.
"O̷͚̦̓̀͘͜Ń̸̛̤͙̲̱̰̹͓͖̂̈́̐̊Ś̶̨̧̌́̈̉͗̈́L̸̘͚̦̩̫̂̾̌̀̚͝A̴̹͆̀͐͛͑̑̏̔Ù̴̦̗̀̈̓́͂G̵͚͉̈̑͗̓͘H̴̺́̌͗̈́̚̕͠͝Ţ̷͙̙̘̮͚̅͛͗̽̆̀"
Nezu had risen from his chair, catching the standing Toshinori off guard as the dean turned towards him, "Yagi, get down to the stadium immediately! We have to stop Midoriya!"
"S-Sir?" was all the skeletal number one hero said as he followed Nezu out of his private viewing office towards the door of the elevator, waiting for it to arrive after being called.
"The boy's 'inner beast' has been unleashed, and young Shinsou hasn't released his quirk to allow Izuku to reign it back in." Nezu spoke while looking up at the now buffed-up All Might, "That's the flaw with the "Warrior" kit. Its power is based on rage, but that rage comes from a chaotic primal essence known as an 'inner beast'. Someone training as a Warrior would spend years to hone it, so it didn't get loose and go on a destructive killing spree; Izuku didn't need that training as the knowledge of how to contain it was passed off onto him by Quinn."
All Might paled at the image that conjured up, "B-but, young Midoriya has excellent control over his kits."
"Normally yes, but since his mind has been "locked" from his body by the brainwashing quirk, and when he somehow shifted into his Warrior kit, it unleashed the beast."
"... Could it have been Fray?"
Nezu stepped into the now opened elevator, his expression stone cold as he looked at All Might, "No… Fray wouldn't have access to Izuku's Kits outside of the Dark Knight, and that thought alone is what worries me, if we do not put a stop to this soon, this could kill Midoriya."
"Go now and subdue your successor, All Might, for his own good."
People screamed in worry as Shinsou could barely dodge the attack, leaping out of the way as he heard the crunch of cement break behind him. Turning his head, he gasped loudly as Shinsou saw the utter devastation of the strike, seeing nothing but a crumbling crater where once he stood as he watched his opponent lift up his ax and ready another strike.
"Screw this!" He shouted out as he made a beeline to the edge of the platform, falling off of it and onto the grass.
Shinsou quickly scrambled up and ran towards Cementoss, who was waiting close by, the pro hero shielding himself from the other student as the stomps of Izuku could be heard coming towards the pair with another bestial roar echoing out and drowning all the screams and shouts of the audience.
"NEVER FEAR! FOR I AM HERE!" All Might proclaimed as he landed upon the battle platform himself, causing a bit of the surface to crack upon his weight. With a bright smile and the cheers of the crowds echoing out now, the number one hero turned towards a snarling Izuku, weapon readied within both of his hands, "Young Midoriya! If you can hear me, please try and calm down! The fight is over, and I do not wish to harm you!"
The only response he got was another bestial roar as his student charged towards him, ax raised and slamming down onto to be caught by both of All Might's hands; when the two forces met, a burst of air buffed around them from the amount of power they both wielded.
The audience watched stunned as All Might seemed to have been struggling against the student's strength, or more they were on equal footing. The number one hero's smile faulted for a moment as he began to push back, using more of his strength, "Izuku, try and calm down; you do not want to worry your family!" All Might said low enough for only the crazed student to hear, only to get a rather disturbing response back.
"Ņ̸̛͓̹͚̰̭̹̜̈́͒̉̈́̐̿̄Ǫ̴̱̪̐̏̑̂͐͗!̸̨̤̝̮̓͊̋́̅̏͌̕ ̶̥̪̩͉͉̘͗̈́͝M̶͈̄̉U̸̦͈̗͚̼͙͑̇̋S̶̰͙̮̼̋T̷͉͈̖͒̈́ ̷̻̫͙̎͐̐̒D̶̞͑̍̀̿̏Ȩ̴̛̩̭̩̀͂̃̿̈͌S̵̻͇̳̺̖̬̺̣̀̈́̌̈́͛̏̓̾T̵͎͍͖̮̆̍͗̀͆R̴̠͕̭̪̈́̓̈̑̓̊̈́͜͠Ơ̶̹̾̿̆̆Y̸͎̫̯͔͔͐̋̀̈̾̓̀ ̷̧̜̱̭̲̪͔̈́̉̇̽̚Ę̸̭͇͍̤̀N̸͚͑̀̅̃̿̐̂͠Ę̶̘̫͓̓̔́̚M̷̪̫͓̩̩͉̯̉͌̓̀̈́̚ͅI̵̮̬̼̍̑͐̓̿̔̈͜͜͝Ȩ̷̲͓̻̉ͅS̶̡̤̭͍͇̝̊͐͌̊ͅ!̸̧̨͖̖̮͙͙̳͒͛̄͛̿̽͐̚ ̷̨̬̹͆̓̉̿ͅM̷̬͙͍̥͖̺̍̑̆͆́͂̚͜Ṵ̸̒͘S̴̮̺͕̺̭̠̿̽̃͗̇̿͘͝ͅT̴̞̮̙̠͔̫̳̞̀̿͗̕ ̶̞͉̟̟̳̪̯̜̓Ḳ̶̳̀̽͠͝Į̵̛̘̝̝̜̤̀̊̊͊̐Ḽ̶̛͔̰͔̉L̵̢̯̦͔̪͂͌̀̈́͘͝!̵̧̰̟̹͖̾͜͠"
To say that All Might was almost taken back from the usually calm and timid boy was an understatement; what was even more shocking was the burst of red that surrounded the boy's body as his glowing red eyes got even brighter, almost forcing All Might onto his knee from the added strength and pressure.
Off to the side of the platform, Shinsou and Cementoss had retreated back towards Midnight, who was shaking slightly from the pressure of the aura coming from Midoriya. Shinsou took a shallow gulp as he watched in fear from what looked like All Might himself was STRUGGLING against his former opponent.
"Mr. Shinsou," came a voice from behind the student that nearly made him jump, turning not only himself and his teachers around to see the dean standing behind them, "If you could release your quirk, that will end this rather disturbing display."
Shinsou blinked for a moment; the gears in his head ground in his head before realizing that his quirk was still activated on Midoriya. Turning back to the fight, his gaze hit the metal glad warrior and cut off his quirk's control over the boy's mind.
As soon as that had happened, Izuku's strength disappeared almost instantly, and the armor reverted back to his gym outfit with a small flash of light, causing the ax to disappear as well. The green-haired boy was panting heavily, sweat rolling down his body and face as a gentle and somber voice caught his attention, "Young Midoriya?"
Izuku looked up to see his idol looking down at him in complete worry; the stadium was silent as the number hero gently took a step forward, a little cautiously, "Are you alright?"
"A-all Might…" Izuku heaved slowly, unable to catch his breath and before he could do anything else, fell straight onto his hands and knees, vomiting out the blackest of sludge from his mouth before falling onto his side, passing out to the shouts of his name from various sources within the stadium.
While the entire stadium and even the viewers at home watched the events unfold of the student's quirk going berserk and taking on All Might of people. From the shadows of the inner corridor where the bullet shot had left a small hole, a tiny black wisp of darkness slowly slithered down the wall before moving further into the dark recesses of the inner stadium. A swirling mass of the dark energy gradually formed into a vaguely human-shaped shadow standing and looking back out into the bright open entrance to the center field.
A pair of cat-like magenta eyes watched the events fold out as it squinted when it saw the warrior give out and fall to his knees, puking out the disgusting sludge from within his body. And as the sounds of machines could be heard coming towards it, the shadow faded into the darkness, turning its gaze away from its weaker self.
Notes:
A/N: the outfits mentioned are the Cryptlurker's Garb of Aiming, and the Cryptlurker's Garb of Fending!
Chapter 36: Sports Festival - Part 4: A Tale of Fire and Ice
Summary:
Izuku wakes up after his little episode, and if the title didn't give it away, It's Todoroki Vs. Izuku!
Chapter Text
"Ugh... did anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?" were the first words to come out of Izuku's mouth as he brought one of his hands up to his forehead, rubbing it tenderly with another audible groan escaping his lips.
"Well, look who decided to wake up…" the soft, elderly voice of Krile said as she walked into the private room where they were keeping him. The small lalafell clambered up onto a stool that was placed beside his bed as she put her hand on his forehead, then moving it to his neck to feel his pulse.
"H-Hey Krile…" the boy spoke sheepishly, his cheeks red in embarrassment from not only being shirtless but as well as from how icy her little hands felt on his skin as she checked him over. It took a few moments, but Izuku finally spoke up once again as he winced from the sheer coldness of the stethoscope placed on his left pectoral, "I-is everyone alright? I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"
"Hmm? Oh no, aside from the dean having to placate the audience about how your quirk was negatively affected by that Shinsou boy's brainwashing quirk, it seemed to dispel some of the weariness of the audience. But, as to your question, everyone, aside from you, of course, came out fine."
"Oh, good…" Izuku gently laid back onto the medical bed with a heavy sigh escaping past his lips, staring up at the ceiling for another few moments before he spoke once again, as if he was clearly deep in thought, "How long was I out for?"
"About forty or so minutes, which wasn't long as it took to repair the platform and restart the fights." spoke the elderly nurse as she pulled up a clipboard that was hanging off of the end of his bed, "So far, that Todoroki boy has already moved onto the next round, while the youngest Iida has just finished his battle with Shiozaki, currently Bakugo and Tokoyami are brawling and as I'm sure you had decided, that fight will not last long, given the nature of Dark Shadow."
Izuku gently nodded as the expression on his face dimmed slightly; while he had no qualms with how strong his bird-headed classmate was, being pitted against a quirk that literally causes massive explosions of light would quickly end the battle within a few strikes. That, and Bakugo was no idiot, and when it came to combat tactics, Bakugo was one of the best in class. Coupled with the blonde bomber's own observational skills, he would have figured out Dark shadow's weakness already.
But now, Izuku felt a pit in the middle of his stomach as he looked towards Krile, who was busy scribbling away on the clipboard, "U-Um… so who won in my match?"
"Hmm? Oh, you were the one to progress to the next round due to two factors. Despite the danger he was in, Shinsou did fall out of bounds, so technically, it was his loss despite the danger he was in. And second, he also forfeited for that very reason as well, even citing that he was the cause for the prolonged state you were in due to not releasing his quirk's hold over you."
Izuku had already risen out of his bed as she spoke, wincing slightly from how sore his arms and legs felt, but he had that determined look in his eyes as Krile sighed heavily, already knowing what he was going to go do, "Aside from the soreness in your arms and legs, you are fit to continue in the tournament, Midoriya… if you are going to do what I think you are going to do, then make it quick as your next fight will be starting shortly. Also, Nezu wishes to talk about what happened after the festival."
Izuku nodded, slowly making his way to the door as the shorter woman grumbled something under her breath and sighed once again, calling out to him as he made his way down the hallway, "AND TEXT YOUR MOTHER AND ERI! YOU SCARED THE LIVING HELLS OUT OF THEM, YOU DUNDERHEAD!"
Shinsou sighed gently as he watched the latest match of the sports festival with the rest of his classmates in the general studies stands. While he wasn't particularly proud of his performance against the "golden boy" of Class 1-A, his classmates had actually been supportive of him when he had returned back from visiting Recovery Girl to have a quick check-up.
Shinsou's eyes squinted down as he watched the rather arrogant blonde taking down his classmate with relative ease. He wished he could have knocked that asshole down a few pegs, as Shinsou knew it would have been far easier to get Bakugo to reply to him; at least, he had hoped that would be the case.
"Um... Shinsou?" an airy feminine voice from behind him on the stairs called out to him. Turning his head, he came upon the visage of one of his classmates, one of the girls with wild gray hair styled like an upwind swirl and waving slightly in the air. She looked a little frightened and tilted his head past her, and looking up to the entrance, he could see why.
At the top of the stairs was one Izuku Midoriya, who gave him a timid little wave.
"He wanted to talk with you privately, should… would you like someone to go with you?" asked the girl, still looking a little afraid, though it seemed different now. Shinsou took a small inhale of air and slowly rose from his seat, thanking his classmate, shaking his head no to her question, and headed past her up the stairs to the Class 1-A student waiting patiently for him.
It hadn't taken that long to find a private area to speak with the green-haired boy; Shinsou had leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, "If your upset about my forfeiting, then you can save it-"
"I actually wanted to apologize to you for a few things, actually." Izuku interrupted the gen ed student, "So, um… to start off, you're probably wondering how I figured out how your quirk works."
"I'm going to assume it was one of your classmates I brainwashed earlier in the festival telling you, and you figured it out?"
"A-actually…" Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, looking away in embarrassment, "I knew before the festival and kept it to myself…."
Shinsou's eyes slowly opened wide, shocked that somehow Izuku had found out what his quirk was beforehand, despite never using it out in public. His shocked expression slowly morphed into a squint, "... How?"
"W-Well, and I can explain myself! But… I asked for access to the student files to read over your quirk profile."
"YOU DID WHAT?!"
"I know! I'm sorry! But you piqued my interest! I wanted to know why you were so spiteful towards us after that declaration of war outside of our classroom. When you mentioned how unfair the entrance exams were as they favored flashy quirks, it made me want to know why you felt that way!"
"And you couldn't just, I don't know, come and ask me?!"
"... would that have worked?" was Izuku's response to the question, which caught Shinsou off guard for a moment, letting that question float around his head before the purple-haired boy grumbled out a sigh.
"Yea, no… probably not. But still, what the hell, man!"
"I-I know! I'm so sorry about that, but as I said, I didn't tell anyone! I would never share information about someone's quirk without their permission! H-Here!" Izuku reached into his pocket and produced two folded-up pieces of paper.
Hesitantly, Shinsou slowly took them and began to unfold one. At the same time, Izuku continued to speak, "That one is the notes I took down while I analyzed your quirk from your profile as well as my observations from today. Y-you have an amazing quirk, Shinsou! It would be perfect for hero work! Either by talking down civilians in dire situations or stopping villains before they can do anything!"
As Izuku began to mutter and continue to praise his quirk, Shinsou's tired eyes widened again at the information that was written down, his eyes looking over them slowly at first before just scanning them quickly. It was then he noticed it wasn't just a single piece of paper, but actually three! Full of possibilities, weaknesses, and ways to improve himself. It was at this point that Izuku had finally finished his muttering, looking at Shinsou with a smirk, "If you're wondering why I gave it to you, it's because I always make sure to ask people if I can analyze their quirk in detail. While I did rip them out of my notebook, if you'd allow it, I can keep it with the rest of the notes of my classmates in the heroic course."
Shinsou raised an eyebrow at this, "... And why keep them with your friends in the hero course?"
"Well, it just feels right?" Izuku shrugged, causing Shinsou to give him a deadpan look before looking at the second folded-up piece of paper he had been given. After moving his own quirk's notes under his arm, he began to open it.
"And what's this?"
"... Those are the notes on my quirk, 'Manifest'." Izuku said soberly that caught the general education student off guard, his eyes staring at Izuku who was smiling at him gently now, "I was always planning on giving that to you since I went to look at your quirk profile, and to also apologize for doing what I did."
Remaining silent, Shinsou slowly unfolded the papers and slowly began to read them. The sounds of the audience cheering echoing out in the corridor both boy's stood in. Izuku remained silent as Shinsou kept reading. Page after page was slowly turned over with more reading, and a frown gradually formed on Shinsou's face. As he finished the final page, he looked up at Izuku and kept his grimace as he spoke in a rather monotone voice.
"Magic?… really?"
"I know!" Izuku sighed in exasperation, hanging his head, "I know it sounds dumb, but it's the best reference I could give to some of my kit's abilities!"
"... and this 'inner beast' you mentioned in the information about the 'Warrior' Kit… that's what happened during our match?"
"Yea…" Izuku now frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, "What still confuses me is how I was able to even switch into my kits while under your control…."
"Well, given how much your quirk breaks any sort of logic to what we know about quirks in general, maybe my brainwashing had some sort of unknown effect that neither of us could have anticipated."
"I think that's what happened as well… say, Shinsou…." Izuku uncurled his arms and looked at the purple-haired student, who raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "After the internships, would you mind if we did some tests with your quirk and mine? Supervised by Mr. Aizawa, of course, since if something happens like it did during our match, Aizawa could cancel out your quirk, so I regain control."
"Why not just cancel out your quirk?"
"... he can't… for whatever reason, my quirk cannot be erased."
Shinsou sighed heavily, his hand moving up to the bridge of his nose and rubbing it slowly, "Of course it can't."
"O-one of the reasons my teacher gave me the nickname 'problem child'... amongst other things." Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling gently with a slight blush on his cheeks. At this point, Shinsou was just staring deadpan at Izuku, though a little confused why he seemed to enjoy having such an odd nickname. The tired-looking student sighed heavily once more, his hands in his pockets now as he waited for Izuku to look back at him.
"I guess I should apologize too; I figured I'd try and say some nasty things to get you to finally say something did… but I just want to let you know that I didn't mean anything by them."
"Yea, I had a feeling… and admittedly, you did hit a little too close to someone I care about personally."
Now that caught his interest, "Oh? Was it that Ashido girl? Or the one with the black ponytail?"
Silence, with Izuku blushing and looking away and scratching his cheek was all Shinsou got in response, which caused him to whistle low, "Damn… you hear rumors of hero harems being formed, but I never would-"
"I-It's not a harem!" Izuku shouted, looking absolutely flustered, "I-Its a polyamorous relationship, where everyone in it dates everyone."
"So, like, they date not only you but also each other?" Shinsou asked with an eyebrow raised, which got Izuku to nod his head rapidly. As the gen ed student was about to continue his questions, the audio speakers blared to life and called Izuku down to the central battle platform for his next fight. Both boys looked at one another, and Izuku was staring at Shinsou with a determined look.
"I'm sorry that I looked at your quirk profile, Shinsou, and I do wish the entrance exam didn't cater to flashy quirks, but… and I don't mean any offense as I say this, but relying on your quirk and only your quirk is not the best way to make it in the hero course here… While your brainwashing is fantastic, did you ever think what would happen if you went against a villain that was, say, deaf? Or unable to respond to anything you said"
Shinsou remained quiet at that, his hand rubbing his arm a little sheepishly now, "...I wanted to prove my quirk wasn't a 'villains' quirk to everyone who kept telling me that throughout my life. Even if your 'kit' went berserk just now, I doubt you'd know what it's like to have a label like that."
Izuku smiled gently at that, "I actually do… my quirk didn't come in until about a year before the start of this semester. So all my life, I was labeled as a 'quirkless loser that had an impossible dream of being a hero'..."
Shinsou only stared at Izuku in pure shock, while admittedly being called a "villain in the making" while growing up wasn't the best of experiences… o.k. It fucking sucked. But, being labeled quirkless and even believing he was for so long, the horror stories you would hear about how poorly quirkless people were treated, and the suicide rate at that…
"Geezus, Wow… I feel like an absolute douchebag now."
Izuku placed a hand on his shoulder, smirking at Shinsou, "Your not, trust me… and I can say that if it wasn't for my… geez… it's still weird to say this, 'girlfriends' and my friends that I made here at UA… well, I wouldn't have made it as far as I had. So that's why I want to help you get into the hero course!"
Shinsou looked shocked at Izuku, who was now smiling brightly, and continued to speak, "After the internships, I can set us up with some weight training as well as basic combat practice! Plus, I have a few ideas where I can make you some really great gear with magitek!"
Still remaining silent, the speakers blared with life again, making the last call for the combatants, watching as Izuku began to run towards the entrance where he needed to go. His face was still in shock before a slow smirk crept on his face.
From a corner not too far from the two students, Aizawa smirked to himself before pushing off the wall he was leaning against and began to walk towards the general education student who still remained standing in his current position.
All the while thinking of the potential this future hero would have.
As the crowd cheered somewhat more soberly when Izuku had finally made it down the field, Shoto Todoroki was glaring at him with an intense look in his eyes. He had been approached by the man he "called" father before this match and tried to force/convince him to use his fire. Of course, Shoto had told him off, proclaiming to his "sperm donor" he would win this entire tournament with just his ice, storming off before he could hear the rebuttal of the number two hero.
The encounter had left a sour taste in Shoto's mouth. Admittedly he was more angered than he usually would allow as he kept staring daggers at Izuku, who met his gaze with a fierce look of his own. Clearly, the well-known "hero fanboy" was already analyzing him, probably thinking of ways to either take him out quickly or make him use his fire.
That was the one reason why Shoto had sought him out after the second event, despite not using any of his so-called "kits" and relying upon that maniac of a support student's inventions, the way Midoriya had fought him with such vigor and strength had caused Shoto to use his fire side a little, nearly breaking his vows of never using the accursed powers of his father.
The words of Midnight were lost to him, but at the cracking sound of her whip, Shoto brought his right foot down, sending a massive glacier of ice instantly towards his opponent. Admittedly, he may have used too much ice compared to his previous matches, probably due to how upset he was still with his father, Endeavor.
"You might as well call it, Ms. Midnight… I doubt even Midoriya could break free from-"
"HEY, TODOROKI!"
Shoto's eyes widened and looked straight up the glacier before him; a few gasps and cries from the audience added to the sheer audacity of the spectacle. From on top of a very tiny point of ice stood Izuku, wearing the iconic armor of the dragoon while wielding his bizarre yet beautiful lance with the glowing violet edges. Shoto tsked and clenched his hands as for the first time ever, he could see a smug smirk on the other boy's lips in his usually more aloof and stoic persona, as Izuku slowly bent his knees to prepare for a jump, but not before shouting something that made Todoroki's blood begin to boil.
"You Missed."
With a mighty leap up, the blue serpentine mist appeared around his body before shifting into the deep crimson red, flipping himself in the air and diving down as his voice echoed out with a draconic sounding roar tinge to it, the red rings forming as he descended down into the ice.
"STAR DRIVER!"
The giant glacier of ice began to crack and split down the middle, falling into itself as Todoroki frowned, raising his foot up once again to send another wave of ice.
However, this time it did not connect as Izuku shot out of the falling debris like a bullet, shifting into his Monk kit, and began to wail upon the dual-colored haired boy with ferocious and quick strikes. Thankfully, Todoroki had some basic combat skills since it had been literally beaten into him at a young age, and he was able to parry or dodge some of the strikes Izuku had tossed his way.
With his own swipe at Izuku, trying to grab hold of him and freeze his arm, the monk leaped back only to jump back and begin backflipping as Todoroki now had room to send a much smaller wave of ice towards his classmate in hopes to freeze his lower half and just remain still to allow for an easy win.
As he put more power into the creeping path of ice rushing towards Izuku, Shoto had begun to feel his body temperature drop, parts of his right arm began to frost over along with the right side of his face. It was hurting like hell, but he needed to end this right here and now.
The ice coming towards Izuku grew more spikes, quickly gaining speed as Izuku did one final backflip to shoot himself higher into the air and right himself to face the oncoming attack. He slowly brought his hands together to his side, his eyes narrowed before pushing them forward and shouting loudly, "ELIXIR FIELD!"
A beam of light shot forth from his hands joined at the wrists, hitting the oncoming ice and shattered the top of the attack that almost had reached him as well as the bottom that clung onto the surface of the battle platform. Izuku landed on his feet, panting heavily as he looked on to see Shoto panting heavily as well, the right side of his body frosting over with clear signs of the beginning of frostbite and probably hypothermia. Izuku's eyes narrowed as he slowly stood up from his battle stance and wiped his brow, "You know if you used the fire side, you would have a better chance against me, as well as defrost yourself."
"I…" Shoto took a deep breath in, squinting his eyes, "I… refuse… to use… his fire!"
"Yes, I get that, Todoroki. But, is this really worth it to show up Endeavor?" Izuku frowned, "Is it worth it to not use your full potential?!"
"Y-you don't… use your full power… I've seen it…." Todoroki breathed out slowly, readying himself once again, "I saw it at... The USJ…during the training lessons against the training dummies… hell, the first event you went all out and took down all those giant robots. So DON'T lecture me about holding back, Midoriya!"
Izuku's expression slowly soured, the frown deepening as he shifted once again, this time taken on the Warrior Kit with the same outfit many of his classmates had seen before. The furred cape billowed slowly as he unlatched it and let the cape fly off somewhere off of the platform, "You're correct... I do hold back, for if I didn't, I'd have accidentally killed our classmates or teachers with my strength long ago."
"But there is a difference between restraint and outright refusal to go one hundred percent! Like All Might, I do it so I don't kill anyone by just sneezing or giving them a 'light' tap to the shoulder. YOU-" Izuku shouted and pointed his blunted ax at the dual-quirked student, "Choose to not wield the powers of your fire because of a grudge! While everyone else has been giving their absolute best, you're barely giving it your all!"
"So, why should I take you seriously and give you my all when you don't have the courtesy of doing the same?" Izuku said with a bluntness to his words that really made Todoroki snarl, quickly bringing down his right foot and creating one last glacier, rushing towards the warrior at blinding speeds, engulfing him and three-quarters of the central area in a towering block of ice.
"GEEZUS!" Kaminari exclaimed as before the stands where class 1-A were seated, their view now obstructed by the ginormous glacier in their vision. While most of their classmates were worried about the fate of Izuku as they had looked up to see no sign of the barbarian outfitted classmate.
Further up in the bleachers, four out of the six girls of class 1-A not only dealing with the possible fact that their boyfriend was now buried under who knows how much ice now, but one girl was having her own issues.
Tsuyu shivered and curled up on herself, metaphorically frozen to her seat as she looked absolutely exhausted, beginning to hibernate due to the massive cold front caused by the glacier's presence. Both Mina and Kyoka, who were sitting beside her on either side, had tried to rub her arms and legs to keep the heat flowing in the frog girl's body, while Momo was beginning to unbutton the bottom of her gym top to create a blanket.
"Hold on, Tsu!" Toru said she had sent Yuga to go fetch something hot to drink with all due haste, "You gotta keep awake!"
"I-It's really hard too… k-kero…." The frog girl shivered out a croak, "B-But we s-s-should be worried… a-about… I-Izuku…"
"Our muscular cinnamon roll can handle himself, Tsu." Mina had said and was rubbing the frog girl's arms feverishly, "And knowing him, he'd be more worried about you than himself!"
"K-Kero… t-true…" Tsuyu had sighed gently, looking down slightly before noticing a large shadow had moved far above her, slowly looking up the other girls doing did so as well, they all looked on in shock as floating down to them was Izuku's discarded cloak, having been launched into the air when the glacier had formed.
It sailed in the air clumsily before landing on top of Toru, Mina, and Tsu. Which the first two had quickly pushed off of them and wrapped the freezing frog into like a cocoon with it.
Tsuyu's breathing became more steady as she nuzzled against the soft and warm fur, causing all the girls to gently coo at how adorable she looked. Kyoka snapped back to her senses when she heard something coming from the giant block of ice; her eyes widened when she saw the faint red glow from deep within the glacier faded, "Um.. girls... We might wanna move back from the giant block of ice."
All of them now looked to see the faint red glowing from the middle of the glacier appear once more, and piecing together what was going to happen, Kyoka and Mina had gently helped Tsuyu to her feet. At the same time, Toru and Momo directed the rest of their classmates back towards the entrance. Momo sighed inwardly at the fact that Iida had stepped away to answer a phone call before the match had begun and yet hadn't returned to his seat, which would have been a boon for taking charge as the class president.
Everyone, not only Class 1-A, had quickly moved back towards the entrances of the stadium as the glacier began to shake and tremor, causing some of the thicker icicles to come crashing down the sides and landing onto the ground, smashing into hundreds of smaller pieces.
A giant crack within the tower appeared at the base. With each shake of the ice, it grew more and more, reaching the very peak of the glacier before everything came crashing down. The screams and shouts from the audience due to the buffet of cold wind that escaped when the icy structure fell filled the air for a few moments before everything went silent again. Once it was deemed safe to look back down, everyone was hit with a… rather pleasing sight to most.
Standing in the direct middle of the glacier debris was Izuku, panting heavily, with what looked like a sphere of melted ice cracked in two laid to his left and right side. Droplets of water caused by his intense body heat melting the frost on his skin slowly traveled down his form, outlining every crevice of his muscular body for all to see as his long green hair stuck to his head and upper back.
As everyone looked on to the scene, a clearing of a throat from above them caught the attention of Class 1-A. They all looked up to see the floating head of Setsuna looking down at them, but what was odd was what looked like small mushrooms had sprouted in her hair.
"So, a little embarrassing…But, Kinoko kinda… exploded… After 'big green' down there broke free, and now our seats are covered in mushrooms, so could we sit with you guys?."
Todoroki looked on in awe and shock at the feat that his classmate had performed, panting heavily with the right side of his body practically frozen in place now and his breath now visible from how cold his body was.
He watched as Izuku slowly took a few steps forward, rolling his shoulders as a slight green mist enveloped his body before disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. The warrior, glaring at Todoroki and a mere twenty feet away, held his hax in a single hand; the droplets of water that were traveling down his body had evaporated at this point, possibly due to the body heat he was generated when he used his "infuriate" ability within the icy enclosure.
"Are you done?" Izuku asked with a stone-cold tone of voice, "Do you see that your ice alone and half-assing this won't stop me?"
"S-shut up…" Todoroki stuttered, his body shaking from the cold and the numbness throughout his body wasn't helping in the slightest, "I -I don't have to a-answer to y-"
"Then who will answer for it? Will it be the civilians you fail to save? Will they answer for your refusal?"
Todoroki was taken aback by this latest accusation. His eyes went wide for a moment as he slowly began to think. Of course, if it was to save civilians, he may have to use "his" fire… actually, no... he wouldn't; why would he need to use that man's power when his mother's ice worked practically all the time?
Gritting his chattering teeth, Todoroki took slow breaths, "I will not use "his" fire-"
A stomp of his classmate's foot, with the platform cracking, interrupted the dual quirked boy, Izuku's face was now enraged, and his emerald eyes glowing a fierce deep red color as he snarled at Todoroki, "YOU IDIOT! IT'S NOT HIS FIRE, HIS POWER; IT'S YOURS!"
Todoroki watched on as Izuku took a few calming breaths, his hand clenching tightly on the shaft of the ax as he spoke evenly but sternly, "It's your power, your fire, AND ice! Not your mother's, not your father's!"
"Just because you're the son of Endeavor doesn't mean that your fire is tied to anything to him! It's yours to control and wield for you and you alone! Tell me, Shoto." Izuku said, calling out his classmate's first name, "Tell me, why are you at UA? What do you want to be?"
Todoroki's eyes slowly widened as he began to remember a memory long since forgotten, a time where he was barely four years old, sitting in the family's living room with his mother, watching the latest news coverage of his father and All Might on T.V.
He remembered how sweet her voice was, as the young Shoto said he was scared of using his fire and that he would be just as scary as the pro hero. His mother had held him close and told him that his fire was different from his father's, and he could do so many great things with it. She then asked him what he wanted to do, and the answer he gave back then was the same as the one he gave to the bare-chested classmate standing before him.
"I want to be a hero!"
Izuku smiled, watching as the left side of his classmate ignited into a glorious blaze of reds and yellows; the heat he generated had begun to melt the ice all around them, as well as defrost the boy's right side. The fire continued to burn, expelled out of his body like that of a phoenix of myth.
A flash of light and Izuku was back in his gym outfit, still panting gently as Todoroki was smiling at him, "You are an utter fool, Midoriya. What kind of person is willing to try to help out their opponent and hinder their chances of victory?"
"I helped you out because it was the right thing to do, Todoroki, as All Might would say, 'Sticking your nose in other people's business is what it means to be a hero'!" Izuku chuckled as Todoroki smirked for a moment.
"So… are you going to take me seriously now? Given you aren't wearing that loincloth anymore?" The dual-quirked student said with a little bit of mirth to his voice as some of his fire slowly died down. Izuku, on the other hand, blushed, and his cheeks puffed up in indignation.
"Says the guy whose original costume covered his entire left side, even his eye."
Todoroki chuckled at that before his smile faded. He looked on to Izuku as if waiting for the honest answer. The green-haired boy sighed gently, his own smile fading to a slight smirk, "In truth, you know how my quirk works… I get 'pulls' from people or objects that unlock more of my kits."
With his opponent waiting, Izuku continued, "Ever since I saw you use your ice at the beginning of the year, I felt a small tug, nothing major to look into until our talk at lunch today."
"It seemed your objections to using your fire had actually made the tug feel weaker, or something was blocking it; I can't explain it well... But it didn't feel right. So, while my priority was to make sure I could help you overcome whatever was stopping you from using your fire…." Izuku had rubbed the back of his neck, looking away in embarrassment, "There was… a teensy part of me that also did it to help me unlock my new kit that is connected to you."
Todoroki squinted his eyes at this, looking into Izuku's when the boy brought his gaze back up to see if the green-haired boy was lying to him just now. But all he saw was the innocent look his classmate always had. With a gentle sigh, Todoroki nodded to himself as he slowly readied himself, "So, now that my fire has been released, why haven't you become this new kit you mentioned?"
"That's the thing, I thought it was because of just having your fire come out that it would appear, but now I see it as something much more." Izuku said as his head began to hurt; the fading voice of Hydaelyn's words started to echo in his head as he smirked, "It was the combination of both your ice and fire, two chaotic forces of nature that are the direct opposite with one another but so in tune with your mastery of them… even if you haven't wielded your fire much, I can see you lowering your flames right now, such delicate control for a quirk you haven't used in a very long time."
"You are going all out… so I will do so in kind, on equal footing."
Izuku's body lit up the entire stadium once again; the gasps and shouts from the audience echoed as the light seemed to be brighter than before, with a higher pillar of light shooting forth from the center of the stadium. Todoroki had to cover his eyes from the sight. However, as it faded, he moved his arm away from his vision, and his heterochromatic eyes slowly opened wider at the sight before him.
Izuku stood there in bulky but intricately decorated black robes where silver threads decorated the edges and hems of the blackened cloth with intricate designs running up the sleeves and robes in various parts. The shoulders were covered by a single piece of fabric. In the middle of the "pauldrons," a bright purple crystal was stitched into the dead center of the outfit.
What looked like a giant hood hung behind his neck and rested against his upper back, though not needed apparently as sitting on top of Izuku's head was a large pointed hat, the edges of the brim were uneven with a green silk ribbon wrapped around the base of the "cone" of the obviously witch-like hate. However, it had the oddest addition of a black cover over his right eye (either as some sort of mockery or perhaps a nod to Todoroki, he wasn't too sure.)
Slowly, Izuku raised his hand up, revealing the sharpened metallic clawed gauntlets that enveloped his fingers, the angle showing Todoroki that the "gloves" traveled to his elbow underneath the baggy-looking robe sleeve. Another small flash of light and his empty hand now wielded an admittedly dark-looking staff.
Bringing it down to his side where the bottom end of it was placed on the ground, it was barely taller than Izuku, though the odd skull of a ram (at least he hoped it was) sitting at the top looked on ominously with a bright blue crystalline orb sat underneath.
The black-robed boy suddenly shifted into an odd battle stance, raising the staff up and slanted to the side in a forty-five-degree angle, where his free hand hovered behind it. Todoroki's fire and ice began to form over his body as the blue orb on the staff began to glow, and Izuku was smiling at his opponent. Though the smile felt off, not his typical bright smile that he was known for, but a manic-looking one, with his one visible pupil shrunk down to add to the look.
"Come Todoroki, let us give the audience a beautiful display of fire and ice, let us unleash our full potential and show the people their future heroes and leave the villains quaking in their boots at our awesome power!"
Chapter 37: Sports Festival - Part 5: Blast from the Past
Summary:
More sports festival shenanigans, as well as the beginning of the finals match!
However, it seems someone has other plans hidden up their sleeve.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ten minutes.
For ten solid minutes, everyone watching from the stadium seats and the safety of their TV screens across Japan would witness a most spectacular sight and battle.
From the stands made for special seating for VIP guests as well as teaching staff, Inko and Eri watched on as Izuku would dodge and weave past the fiery blasts and icy obstacles with how own abilities that just seemed to manifest from the orb upon the garbled and, admittedly dark looking staff.
While Inko looked on in worry at the rather destructive force her baby boy had become, her surrogate granddaughter looked on in amazement. Her excitement was not only due to how "cool" her papa looked while he flung fire and ice spells at the dual-colored-haired boy but also to how similar the boy looked to one of her favorite cartoon characters. To help Eri catch up in her studies and learning everyday things, the parental guardians in her life had taken to showing her educational shows with cute little characters to help teach the fundamentals of early education. At the same time, they watched the show with her and participated in the show's call-outs with the little girl.
One such show featured a little girl dressed similarly to Izuku's outfit, though the character had a giant broomstick and a much standard pointed hat. It was a show suggested by Tsuyu and Kyoka called "Witch Hazel's Spooky Time Learning".
Eri had fallen in love with the show, with the main character having white hair and big red eyes similar to herself. Honestly, Eri watched it just as much as Izuku loved to watch the Hero News Network, which they both did together as well, the small unicorn mimicking her papa and taking down notes while she watched the educational adventures of the witch and her companions.
"Grandma!" Eri called out, turning her gaze away from one particular fiery explosion caused by Izuku casting a spell at an incoming ice attack from Shoto. Inko looked down to the small girl, bouncing in her seat with one big smile on her lips. (the only other time Eri had smiled larger was when she discovered candy apples.) "Papa looks like Witchy Hazel!"
Inko softly smiled, gently patting Eri's head as the child giggled gently, "Yes, yes, he certainly does look like that little witch you like, dear."
"Do you think Papa can teach me how to cast spells and dress up like Witchy Hazel?" Eri asked with an excited tone of voice, her wide eyes sparkling at the thought of her and her papa flying around on broomsticks and using magic to save everyone dancing through her head.
Another explosion briefly put Inko's response at a pause as both the small child and older woman looked down to see Izuku suddenly levitate towards a prominent symbol hovering above the platform's surface, dodging a massive spout of fire coming from Todoroki, before he retaliated with his own.
Inko kept looking at the carnage her son and his classmate were causing before slowly turning towards Eri with a weak little smile, "E-Erm… I'm sure he would love to dress up with you as Witchy Hazel, dear, but I think the casting spells will have to wait until you're a little older."
Izuku was panting hard; parts of his cloth robes were charred and covered in frost as he weakly held up his staff towards Todoroki, who was similarly in just as rough shape.
The son of the number two hero slowly smirked, spouts of fire bursting from his left side of his body as part of his costume was burnt off from not only the use of the newly reacquired half of his quirk but also from the rather explosive fiery attacks from his green-haired counterpart, "You look winded, Midoriya…" he panted out, reading himself into another stance, "I… I think it's time we ended this fight."
"Agreed… though I have to admit, I get the appeal of weaving both ice and fire now…." Izuku panted out as he gripped the shaft of the staff a little tighter, "You have… an amazing quirk, Todoroki… and I look forward to being a hero with you."
"Same… would be nice… to have more practice, though."
Izuku chuckled gently with a huff, "Don't… glacier our classmates then…."
Shoto huffed and shook his head with a smirk, afterward he looked to see a rather dark and severe look fall upon Izuku's face, his pupil's shrunken into tiny pinpricks as the black mage was staring coldly at him, "If you so much as even think of using that move or something similar against Tsuyu, you will face my full wrath."
The fire and ice user slowly nodded, which caused Izuku to brighten up again as the darkly clothed boy readied into a stance, "Good, I know accidents can happen in practice and there will be times you two will have to fight one another, I just worry that the sudden temperature shift would harm her is all."
"You… care about her," Todoroki said, his breathing calming down as ice slowly began to form on his right side while the spouts of fire started to burn more brightly.
"Of course I do; she is my frog queen after all." Izuku smiled as his free hand close to the orb on the staff began to glow, causing the object to shift between a bright orange hue or a cool blue, "I have to look out for her like she looks out for me."
The cheers of the crowds caught their attention as they began to chant out a countdown, obviously hitting a sort of time limit unknown to the two fighters. The people were shouting out the word "thirty" when Izuku looked back at Todoroki with his manic smile once again, "One last big attack?"
"Sounds good… and I'll be the one to win this fight." Todoroki smiled back at him, the fire on his arm growing larger. Izuku's smile grew at the declaration from his classmate before cackling once again as the staff began to shake with the power building from within the orb.
"HA! We shall see, Todoroki! Now face the full might of a BLACK MAGE!"
As Izuku shouted this out, a large blast of fire shot out from Todoroki, hurtling towards the staff-wielding student whose eyes shone with a bright green for just a moment, as he thrust out his hand and staff out towards the incoming inferno of fire.
Appearing in front of the encroaching attack was an enormous blackened crystal, hanging in the air and radiating a vast amount of aether within it, pulsing with the raw magic building inside of it. Just as Izuku was about to finish casting the spell, giant cement walls surrounded the two attacks before they reached one another.
With a maddening look of glee, Izuku shouted at the top of his lungs, "XENOGLOSSY!"
"If you're here to see the dummy, I'll warn you it's not a pretty sight," Krile spoke in a monotone voice as she looked up from her clipboard to Momo, who looked quite upset. They were standing outside of one of the private medical rooms afforded to students needing to be quarantined for whatever reason, or their injuries were that extensive, and they needed the privacy to recuperate.
Momo turned her gaze to the door; her left hand brought up as she looked down to her smaller elder, "I-Is Izuku alright? He didn't look that injured after his match with Todoroki."
"Aside from a few patches of his skin where he got burned or partially frozen, he's… fine… for the lack of a better term, I've already healed those wounds, but now we have a new issue," Krile said cryptically, her brows furrowing as Momo looked even more in worry.
"What's wrong with Izuku? Is he sick?"
"It's… hmm…." The more petite woman quickly looked around to make sure they were alone with no eavesdroppers, the ponytailed student doing the same thing as Krile spoke in a low whisper, "To be honest, this is one of those kits we feared if it was unlocked too soon, it would either have horrific consequences on his body or possibly kill him. Black mages are powerful spellcasters back in Eorzea, but the problem being is that their spells require an enormous amount of aether to cast. Some novice mages would often die due to them depleting their entire aether within their bodies."
The look of horror on the student's face made Krile sigh, "The black mages were able to figure out ways to prevent this sort of thing, hence why you saw the boy weave between the fire and ice spells he cast."
"S-so he's not going to die?"
"Thankfully no, but this has brought its own set of problems. You see, Quinn's first job was a thaumaturgist, or "lesser" black mage if you will. This was a way for a person's body to acclimate to the sudden loss and regaining of aether in their body, as thaumaturgist's spells didn't command such high costs to cast."
"There were still side effects, though, and one way Quinn was able to keep himself … 'normal' was to partake in inhaling the smoke of fauna known as 'Gaelicatnip'. While it had its effects on the feline beastkin of the land, Quinn had used it since it was filled with an abundance of aether, leveling out his own reserves."
As Krile was explaining all of this, Momo had brought her hand up to her chin and began to think; after mulling over it for a few moments, she looked back to Krile, "Would these plants have the same effect on Izuku?"
"Doubtful, for one thing, the plant doesn't exist here, and the closest equivalent would be basic catnip, but that is poisonous to humans after a certain amount. Plus, Midoriya is a human, and we still don't know if Quinn's aether within his body is going to affect him physically yet."
This had got Momo's attention, having never heard about this before, as she slowly furrowed her brows gently, "Wait… what will the aether do to Izuku?"
Krile sighed, though internally she was cackling like a banshee, "He's not going to suddenly sprout cat ears or a tail if that is what you are worried about. It's more the subtle changes I'm concerned about."
"Subtle changes?"
"Yes, Miqo'te were very well known for their increased levels of stamina and endurance, especially in the males."
Momo blinked at that, tilting her head slightly, "Why the males specifically?"
"Possibly due to their culture, you remember when the five of you learned what Miqo'te were, correct?" Krile asked as Momo gently nodded, but looking quite obviously interested in learning more, "Miqo'te culture was… unique in a sense. They had been split into two different tribes. The patriarchal Seekers of the Sun and the matriarchal Keepers of the Moon. You can tell which was which as the Seekers had irises like a cat, while the Keepers had fangs."
"So was the culture between the two that much different? Aside from the obvious 'who was in charge of the tribe'."
"Funnily enough, not really… the only difference was when it came to 'mates'." Krile said with a shit-eating grin, watching as Momo suddenly blushed up like a tomato, similar to a certain green-haired boy resting in the room not far from them, "For the Seekers, it was ten females to one male, and for the Keepers, it was one male to every ten females."
Momo slowly frowned once again, thinking for a moment before she looked like she was about to speak, but then went back to thinking. All the while, Krile was smugly smiling at the student, "Odd, I know, but that's how things were done."
"Then... What was Quinn? Was he a Seeker or a Keeper?"
"He was neither; he was a 'hybrid', for his parents were a Seeker AND a Keeper, a union that was considered taboo by both tribes."
Momo looked stunned and more confused than she was before, "Why was that taboo? I thought they were the same race of people."
"Well, there was a reason for the tribes to split up, though they forgot why centuries before. It has always been like that since then." Krile then cleared her throat, "To get back on the topic, because of how they procreated, the males had built up an incredible amount of stamina and endurance, especially during their 'mating season'."
Now that gave Momo a deep blush, blinking as her mind came to that grinding halt at the implications if Izuku had such a thing, "Now, we are not sure if Midoriya will have these same urges but don't fret, it's not like he'd just sudden pounce the closest woman he comes across." Krile had said as she walked past Momo, heading back to the main infirmary and leaving her up to her own devices.
The heiress, with a deep blush on her cheeks, watched the "backbone" of UA head off before turning her gaze over to the door that led to Izuku's private room. While she knew time was short, Momo needed to see Izuku, check up on him at the very least, and stay by his side until it was time for him to go back out for the final match.
Slowly opening the door, the room was practically dark, aside from the relatively large glowing crystals floating in the air and spinning slowly in the four corners of the room. Oddly, she could see streams of sparkles slowly flowing towards the center of the room, where Izuku was currently placed on top of a medical gurney.
Gently closing the door so as not to wake him, Momo carefully walked towards the still sleeping boy, her hands resting upon his arm gently as her onyx eyes looked upon his still-sleeping face. While she believed the diagnosis that he was alright, seeing him here like he was hadn't given her much hope in that belief. As Momo's eyes slowly traveled down his torso, her eyes gazed upon the descending sparkles that seemed to be flowing into the middle of his chest. Curiosity took the better of the heiress as she tenderly moved the blanket down slowly to reveal two things to her.
One was that nothing was connecting the aether beam to collect into his body; the mysterious force was just slowly disappearing into his body. And second of all, what really made Momo blush up more was the fact that Izuku was shirtless underneath the blanket.
Trying to focus on the beam of light and not her boyfriend's very chiseled and muscular body, Momo slowly moved her delicate hands across his broad chest, inching closer towards where the aetherial trial ended.
As her fingers eventually reached their destination, she could feel a soft tingling sensation as well as a gentle warmth flowing down her arm. She watched on in fascination as she gently moved her hand off of Izuku's body and held her hand up inside of the beam. She could feel more of the warming sensation travel into her body, making her feel more heated up than before.
A deep groan escaping from Izuku's lips scared Momo to quickly pull back her hand from the beam, just in time to see the emerald irises she was so accustomed to gaze upon her, "M...Momo?"
"Shhh… it's ok, you're in a private medical room, and Krile set up some sort of "system" to regulate your aether flow… I think." replied Momo as she gently moved her hand to cup his cheek, "How are you feeling otherwise? You made all of us worried when you collapsed after knocking Todoroki off the platform with that last explosion the two of you caused."
"... Is he ok?" Izuku asked, looking a little worried, which caused Momo to smile and gently nod her head. Internally, the heiress was giggling in her mind at the fact that, of course, Izuku would think of others before himself.
"I think he's still out cold, but I know Krile is looking after him, and he didn't seem that injured, similar to yourself." Momo continued to smile before leaning in and gently kissing his lips softly, causing the boy to blush at the sudden romantic gesture before returning it a little weakly since he was still recovering.
Once the kiss had ended, Izuku was smiling as he lifted a hand to gently cup her cheek as well, "... also how are you doing? I wish I could've talked to you after your match-" Izuku had begun to say before a single finger rested on his lips.
Momo smiled down as she removed her finger, "I'm fine; Kyoka talked some sense into me and also mentioned how Mina and Tsuyu had to literally drag you to your second match."
That little tidbit made the boy in bed chuckle weakly, his other hand moving to scratch his cheek, "Y...yea… I just wanted to cheer you up and tell you that I thought you did quite well against Tokoyami. I-I know his attacks were quick and all that, but Mina even did the same to me… so I know how you feel, at least."
"As our lovely musician told me, 'We are still learning, so mistakes can happen, and we can only learn and improve upon them.'. Besides, Mina was happy you were taking her seriously, even after the little performance you two did." Momo giggled gently, as did Izuku, his thumb gently rubbing her cheek.
"So, did Krile say how long I need to stay here?"
"No, but I'm sure she'll come to get you for the last match; they were still thawing out parts of the battle area, then the potholes you and Todoroki put into it still need to be fixed by Mr. Cementoss."
"... Nezu really needs to give him a raise." Izuku said somberly with a smirk, which caused Momo to nod and giggle as well, "Momo… could you stay here with me?"
"Of course, Izuku… Oh! I should tell you about the message Kyoka got from your mother!" Momo said with some excitement, pulling a chair up to sit beside him.
"Is it anything bad?" Izuku said with a bit of worry, raising up a little before being gently pushed back down onto the bed.
"No, silly…" Momo smiled gently, "Apparently, our daughter has really taken to your latest kit and wishes to wear a costume similar to yours the next time we watch her show together."
"...Ah, you know… I had a feeling that may happen." Izuku chuckled gently, "anything else? Has she and Eri been enjoying the sports festival?"
"Well, aside from the new outfit idea, the fight with Shinsou really frightened her… that is something we will talk about with her, so she doesn't get scared like that again," Momo said with a somber look, and then crestfallen when she noticed Izuku's expression turned to one of sadness at the fact he had scared Eri.
Softly rubbing his cheek, getting his attention once again, Momo gently smiled and leaned down to kiss him once more, their lips lingering. The heiress pressed a little harder into the embrace before slowly pulling her lips off of his. Izuku blinked in a daze with a somewhat goofy looking smile on his face as Momo giggled gently, continuing in her response, "Aside from that one instance, Eri has been cheering her heart out for all of us and seemed to really like the performance you had with Mina."
Izuku sighed and rested once again in the bed, watching the aether travel across the ceiling with a tired-looking smile, "That's good then… I was worried that the crowds and all the fights would be frightening for her."
Momo sat beside the gurney, her hand resting on his as Izuku looked towards her, still beaming a gentle smile, "I had my worries too, but thankfully your mother has been keeping our little unicorn up in the special VIP seats with all the teachers, people she is used to at the very least."
"Good thing too, you know my mom wanted to invite Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru up with them into the VIP suites with them?" Izuku said with an incredulous smirk and shaking of his head, which Momo found a little shocking to see that Izuku was against such an idea.
"I thought you were alright with them?"
"Oh! I am!" Izuku rose up, only to wince and fall back down; obviously, his ribs were still a little sore, "Ow… just I don't think I should bring Auntie Mitsuki around Eri just yet… Not like she would do anything to frighten her on purpose, but if Bakugo was walking around…."
"Ah… that makes sense, plus I can gather she would be yelling quite a lot while he was performing." Momo stated as Izuku nodded, watching his expression shift from the pained wince to a more determined look in his eyes while looking up at the ceiling. Momo's hand gently squeezed his in worry as he was silent, causing Izuku to look at her.
"S-sorry… was just thinking about the final match."
"You think you will have to face Bakugo again? I know All Might and the other teachers have been making sure not to pair the two of you up in training."
Izuku gently nodded, which saddened Momo a little, "Not that I don't think Tenya is weak or anything, but Bakugo... " he sighed, looking back up, "For the longest time, I actually admired him… almost as much as I did All Might truthfully. I'll admit his attitude and personality is garbage, but lately, he seems to have mellowed out a little… I don't know if it's Kirishima constantly around him and reeling Bakugo in or the counseling classes he's been taking. But he's changing, slowly."
The stadium's roar of excitement could be heard from above the roof, catching both students' attention. Momo pouted gently, looking down at Izuku and coming to a decision, "Izuku, move over."
The green-haired boy's gaze whipped around to her, a bright red blush on his cheeks, "M-Momo?"
"I want to comfort you before your final match, so I wish to cuddle with you to do so." Momo stated as she stood up, looking down at him with half-lidded eyes, "And I also wish to discuss with you the ideas for Eri's room decorations I and the others had, so move over Izuku." she said with all seriousness in her voice.
Izuku stared at her for a few moments in silence before stiffly sliding himself over to allow Momo to climb onto the bed and lay herself down next to him, cuddling close to him with one hand resting on his right pectoral and her head placed onto his bare chest. She looked up to him with the brightest smile he had ever seen on Momo's lips as she began to discuss the ideas with him.
"ALLL RIGHT, LISTENERS! THE MOMENT YOU ALL BEEN WAITING FOR, IT'S TODAY'S FINAL MATCH!" Present Mic blasted through the speakers of the stadium as the crowd roared in excitement.
"We have seen many great and rather odd matches today, but don't think for a second that today's final match isn't going to keep that energy flowing! Now, coming in from the right side of the arena… He's ferocious; his personality is explosive as all get out and with a quirk to match! It's KATSUKI BAKUGOOOO!"
Bakugo had already begun his journey towards the battle platform, looking even more ticked off than usual as the crowd gave off some cheers towards the blond bomber. However, their excitement seemed more muted than before.
While many had taken an interest in Bakugo, to say that his rather vicious and overall dismissal of his other classmates did leave a bad taste in their mouth. However, despite his rather crude attitude, they could not doubt the boy's skill and determination to show that he would be a mighty hero in the future.
Many of them thought he would be the next Endeavor if his attitude wouldn't change by the time he graduated.
"-AND on the left side of the Arena! It's the boy with a quirk that literally breaks everything we know about them and the main reason Cementoss has been overworked for most of these matches! It's IZUKU MIDORIYA!" Present Mic shouted through the speakers, and once again, the crowd had given off a muted round of cheers for the green-haired student, who was looking off towards his opponent and locking his gaze with his.
Admittedly, while Izuku had been a fan favorite with his performances during the first two main events and his first fight with Mina, the incidents where his quirk went berserk during his second match, as well as the somewhat crazed sort of chaos he caused during his match up with Todoroki were still fresh in their minds. Though, out of the final two combatants for the first years, Izuku was clearly the fan-favorite.
As Izuku reached his spot on the battle platform, he watched as from the other side that Bakugo was staring at him with a snarl, which he frowned at in return when the crack of a whip caught their attention.
"Now, we are going to keep this fight nice and clean! If either of you goes overboard, you will be disqualified, am I clear?" Midnight said with a rather ominous tone of voice, her usual perky personality nowhere to be seen. The R-rated hero knew of the animosity between the two, and she was well aware of how bloody and brutal this would get if they got out of hand. Giving both of the boys a rather stern look as they nodded towards her before focusing once again on either, Midnight huffed gently and walked back towards her spot to referee the match.
The two students remained silent, both staring hard at one another as the crowds slowly got quiet. The tension between the two could be felt in the air as Bakugo grunted, causing Izuku to lift his head slightly and raise an eyebrow, "What is it, Bakugo?"
The blond remained silent, his eyes squinting down as he slowly readied himself for battle. Izuku frowned as he, too slowly moved into a fighting stance and prepared himself for whatever the blonde was going to do. As the cracking of Midnight's whip rang out in the air, as well as the voice calling for them to start, Bakugo was already on him, using his explosions to propel himself at breakneck speeds with a heavy right-handed swing heading for Izuku's face. As if by pure instinct, Izuku had raised his arm up to block the incoming strike, only to get kicked at his side caused by Bakuo's heavy foot connecting with his rib cage and sent the green-haired body to the side. At the same time, Bakugo used his explosions to keep himself on the attack, propelling him to go after his foe.
A small flash of light temporarily blocked Bakugo's version when he made another swing of his leg to kick the boy, only to find that his ankle was grabbed. He was sent around and overhead, smashing into the platform by Izuku, who was wearing the familiar monk outfit he had on during those joint heroics classes. Raising his foot up, Izuku brought it down hard and close to Bakugo's body, only for him to roll and dodge out of the way as Izuku shouted, "ARM OF THE DESTROYER!"
As his foot connected with the ground, a massive cascade of broken and cracked cement formed, causing Bakugo to be sent tumbling, grunting in pain. The explosive quirk user was further sent across the platform when Izuku charged towards him, flipping onto his hands and helicopter kicking around as he spun on his palms and shouted once more, "FOUR-POINT FURY!"
Bakugo shouted in pain as he tumbled head over heel until he was on his feet, a trickle of blood running down from the side of his mouth. Bakugo's hand slowly moved his arm across his lips, seeing the smear of blood on his arm now before his red eyes gazed upon Izuku, who was panting gently but still in a fighting stance. The sparks of small explosions coming from Bakugo's hands began to pop from his fingers as he shouted with a loud roar of anger, lunging towards his opponent, "DIE, YOU FUCKIN' NERD!"
Far above the open stadium, where the largest of explosions could be seen from its center. Floating in the middle of the bright blue sky stood Nabriales, his dark cloak and hood billowing from the winds that passed by him as he crossed his arms and looked down to the carnage happening from the fight between Bakugo and Midoriya. His lips slowly curled into a fiendish smirk, revealing a fanged canine tooth as his deep red mask hid his eyes.
"Well, well… to think that blood sports were a common thing in this society as well. You'd think they would have better things to do than watch two brats beat the life out of one another." mused the being with a gentle shrug, speaking to himself as he slowly reached into the depths of his wide-open sleeves with the clawed gauntlets covering his hands.
He held a somewhat decently sized crystal in one hand, though its color had a rather dark purple shine to it. The other hand was holding what looked like a sizeable ornate dagger, covered in gold and silver on its grip, as well as the rather fine and sharp edge it had.
Taking the hand holding the crystal, he shook it to cast the gauntlet off and reveal the rather pale hand that had rather sharp or sharpened fingernails and held it over the dagger as its tip was pointed up. Quickly slicing the end of his finger and not wincing from the cut, Nabriales continued to smirk as he tossed the dagger away over his shoulder, causing it to disappear into a small black portal behind him.
He dropped the crystal into his now open hand and let the few drops of blackish-looking blood land on the relatively pristine surface of the object. He spoke in a low tone of voice, the language native to his kind, as the crystal began to pulse with life, the blood beginning to bubble and boil on the surface like oil on a frying pan.
The ascian let go of the crystal, allowing it to plummet down towards the stadium below as the crystal began to glow more brightly before being consumed with the black fluid and growing in size as it fell from the sky. Nabriales chuckled darkly, a dark portal enveloping his body as he spoke his departing words to those down below him.
"I do hope they enjoy the additional entertainment and hope it isn't TOO frightening for you, Warrior of Light."
"STUN GRENADE!" Bakugo shouted loudly, causing a massive and bright explosion to erupt from his hands. Upon hearing the sudden cry of pain from Izuku, Bakugo smiled and rushed in, sweat running down his forehead and hair as he brought another kick towards Izuku's midsection, which caused the boy to grunt in pain and sent flying backward.
As Izuku blinked quickly to get his sight back, the audience around them could see the toll of the fight evident on his clothes and skin, what with the burn and scorch marks littering his body and on some of his face. Bakugo wasn't doing so well either, however, as several bruises could be seen on his arms and face. At the same time, parts of his gym outfit were torn and ripped to see the cuts and tiny bits of blood on his body.
The two boys panted heavily, getting their second win before continuing their fight, only for a rather large shadow slowly began to form from the center of the platform. The audience screamed loudly as a mass of what looked like black sludge collided into the very middle of the platform, kicking up a large dust cloud as it landed and blinding all to what it was, also knocking back Bakugo and Izuku onto their butts while knocking Midnight off of the platform entirely.
Bakugo and Izuku began to cough loudly, being the closest to the epicenter of the crash. However, both boys started to have their nostrils invaded by a somewhat foul stench. It smelled like pure rot, like that of decaying leaves or other plant matter.
As the enormous dust cloud slowly began to dissipate, though not fully being able to be seen by everyone yet, a large shadow slowly began to stir, raising itself up and towering over the two students who had not yet gotten off the platform. A loud bestial roar with a shockwave of rotting air burst forth from the shadow, and what it revealed made Izuku freeze on the spot.
Standing before him was a large creature with very odd proportions. A rather large, bulbous body covered in what could be best described as thick and sharpened jagged tree bark covered its stomach, while its stubby legs and elongated arms looked like withered tree trunks. Its head was just as large as the body, with a wide maw that almost looked like it was smiling, had it not been lined with razor-sharp teeth and its lips either curled up from the decay or simply falling off.
Where once its eyes would have been, nothing but deep void-filled sockets as the lumbering creature slowly turned its head towards Izuku, with the creaking of an old tree in a storm, and looked down at him. And with its next roar directly at Izuku, showing off even more teeth within its rotting mouth, the green-haired boy knew what that meant.
It had found its first meal in a VERY long time.
Notes:
https://tinyurl.com/rotcreature <-- Picture of the creature!
Chapter 38: Sports Festival - Finale: Howitzer Onslaught
Summary:
Little introspective into Bakugo's mind after everything that has happened leading up to this moment, while both he and Izuku fight for their lives against the rotting creature before them.
Surprise appearances by everyone's favorite bunny and vampire!
Notes:
Omg, it's finally over
Chapter Text
Katsuki Bakugo was many things.
Intelligence and strength were traits that he had not only worked upon, honing those skills practicing his quirk, and working out since he was able to lift a dumbbell when he was ten years old.
While growing up, he knew that many of his so-called "classmates" were just sucking up to him, trying to live in his shadow and bask in his glory.
Extras. That's why Bakugo called them that, because who could be better than him? Even the teachers knew he was going to be the very best. Yet, despite all this attention or how many times one certain "quirkless loser" kept hounding after him, thinking they were friends, Bakugo still had the notion that Deku was looking down at him, pitying him.
All because the nerd had tried to help him when he fell off that log and had the gall to ask if he was alright.
Every day for fourteen years, Bakugo made sure the loser knew where his place was, despite the idiot trying to be a hero without a quirk. For a while, everything was going great for him! He was getting the highest grades in high school. Deku was leaving him alone finally, after how many years he 'stalked' Bakugo. He was well on his way to joining the alumni of UA, the country's best university for Heroes.
Then that damn sludge villain incident happened.
Admittedly, Bakugo would now know better that he did cause more issues during that whole situation. But, in his defense, if he hadn't kept exploding the sludge away, he would have been taken over sooner. He still remembers that entire scene of that dumbass Deku rushing in, trying to "help" him when it clearly wasn't needed. And what did the green-haired dumbass get in return? Almost getting himself killed.
But he didn't, and in fact, what happened next caused Bakugo to feel more hatred towards the green-haired boy that saved him.
The fucker had a quirk all this time and a mighty one at that.
Since then, everything in Bakugo's life flipped upside down, starting when Deku was called to the principal's office and never came back. He had to be retested on most of the year's exams and tests without question or complaint and was never given a reason for why it needed to be done.
Bakugo passed them all with flying colors, obviously. So, for the rest of the year, he had spent honing his combat training and practicing his quirk at the local gyms that allowed such a thing to happen, his mind always focusing on his goal of becoming the number one hero.
The next setback was the fact that he had scored second in the entrance exam. SECOND?! And when the person's name was revealed to be the damn nerd, you can guess how the explosive teenager took that bit of news. Bakugo wanted answers, but he was told by the "old hag" that the Midoriya's had moved a year ago, and they were someplace they could not be reached, at least for him. Which not only infuriated but also confused him more.
Where the hell did they go?
And then came the first day of classes, that damn assessment test where he flung himself towards the damn nerd, only to be stopped in his tracks by the weird as fuck glowing eye of his. Bakugo was then dragged off by Aizawa and immediately brought to the Dean's office.
It was here that he learned the truth behind his retests when it was revealed by the dean that Aldera had fudged his test results. Hence, the dean wanted to have him retested. Those tests were given to him specifically to mark and make sure the fake results weren't overblowing his intelligence. To say that the results had pleased the dean, but he was given a warning about any further confrontations outside of designated training areas.
Bakugo thought that would be the final insult of the day until he had decided to check out the dorms to see where he was going to be placed to make his move in that much easier over the weekend. However, he had not factored in meeting up with Auntie- No. Ms. Midoriya at the dorms, nor the surprise that not only she was going to be the dorm manager for the class, but also that she knew about what he had done to Deku over these many years.
To say she was pissed was an understatement, as she would no longer think of him as family, despite still being good friends with his parents, after they were able to talk and figure out how to move past this whole mess.
Bakugo didn't even realize that had happened while he was training before UA.
Ever since then, setback after setback had further made Bakugo close in on himself. Barely participating in class and interacting with most of his classmates, granted, the one he dubbed "Shitty Hair" would always try to talk to him and be friendly towards him.
It was during this time he had to take those mandatory counseling sessions with Hound Dog while also participating in anger management classes, which was shockingly being supervised by 1-B's homeroom teacher, Vlad King. From the combination of those sessions during the next couple of weeks and some thinking on his own, Bakugo realized just how… "unheroic" he was growing up, which left an awful taste in his mouth.
What really made him think was that one interaction he had with Deku during the stupid study session the extra's had while looking over the loser's notebooks. The way Deku had stood up to him, telling him that even despite EVERYTHING he had done, the nerd still thought he was capable of being a hero, so long as he improved himself and "grew up".
What also struck a chord with the explosive blonde was how Deku had spelled out how "middling" his quirk was compared to some of the other quirks in the class. Now, Bakugo wasn't dumb, not by a long shot, but having watched the battle trial footage as well as the various other training exercises over the last couple of weeks, he knew that Deku wasn't wrong.
Which further infuriated him.
Bakugo had been observing the other students while he kept to himself. Some of the more noteworthy students were, of course, the number 2 hero's son, as well as the rich girl's absurd creation quirk. However, it wasn't until this very sports festival he was in where he saw just how powerful some of the other "extra's" quirks were.
Round face's gravity quirk nearly cost him the match had he not essentially vaporized her meteor's that she had tricked him into creating with all the debris from his explosions, while Shitty Hair himself was powering through his explosions with that "hardening" quirk of his while looking absolutely livid at him for whatever reason.
But he still prevailed and fought his way to the final step to the top to show that HE was the best student at UA. His destiny of being the future number one hero, to surpass All Might himself, and to show that Deku was a mere stepping stone to his greatness!
But now, there was this rotting, ugly-looking thing before him. What was worse was that it had engaged in fighting his opponent, completely ignoring him and trying to either grab or stab (he wasn't sure which) the nerd for whatever reason. This had really made Bakugo grit his teeth, his hands beginning to pop as he began to run towards the beast, suddenly jumping and setting off explosions that started to cause him to spin around and around.
If this thing wanted to fight the strongest, Bakugo would show who the real target should be.
A bellowing and foul-smelling roar came out of the monster as its withered-looking arms had stretched and reached out towards Izuku, who was dodging and weaving past the encroaching grasps and swipes of the thing.
He back stepped out of an incoming strike only to feel something hit his back. Quickly turning his head to the side, he noticed his heel had hit the edge of the battle platform, and the light of what looked like partially see-through hexagons shimmered up into the sky before connecting to a point far above them.
The bellowing of the monster caught his attention, and the swing of its left arm and hand barreling towards him caused Izuku to raise his arms up in a feeble attempt to block the attack. An explosion rang out loudly and suddenly from behind the monster, it screeching in pain as the strike recoiled back at the nick of time to not strike Izuku, as he heard the shout of one Katsuki Bakugo over the massive explosion, "TAKE THAT FUCKER, HOWITZER IMPACT!"
Quickly making his way past the momentarily stunned beast, Izuku dashed past it before standing beside his classmate, who was panting heavily and gritting his teeth. Izuku, who was also panting just as much, looked at the blond, "Thanks... for that."
"Didn't... do it to save you, nerd…" Bakugo huffed, with Izuku looking at him confused, "This... thing is probably looking… for the strongest… and it was ignoring me!"
Izuku gave a deadpan look to Bakugo, clearly with the expression of 'of course he would think that' before looking back towards the monster, his eyes opening more wide in shock as he looked upon the rather large hole that Bakugo had made slowly began to reform, fixing itself with the sounds of dead rustling leaves and cracking aged wood filling the gap and hiding the rather thin-looking body of the beast as it completely healed.
Bakugo tsked while Izuku got into his fighting stance as the beast slowly lumbered its way to turn around. While it had no eyes for which to truly see, both Bakugo and Izuku could feel the thing staring down at them, hungrily.
"We need to get them out of there!" shouted Nezu as several moogles had nodded and flown out of his private sitting area, using the many "Moogle tunnels" to do so; All Might had stood beside him as he watched in shock and horror as this creature had begun to strike out towards both boys now. The blond hero looked down to Nezu, whose smile had all but faded as he scanned over the various cameras where many of the stadium's audience were pounding at a similar barrier that was blocking the entrance out from both sides, as people were now stuck on the inside of the building as well.
"Sir! What is that creature?" All Might asked, his fist clenching as he saw Bakugo barely dodged a swipe from the beast since Midoriya had kicked the appendage away. Nezu didn't even look back to the hero as he spoke in a rather dark and cold tone of voice.
"That thing is something that should not be here or even on Earth."
All Might stumbled slightly in shock as his beady blue eyes looked on to see the beast knock both boys against each other before tossing them into the strange dome that was surrounding the fight. The number one hero's fist clenched tightly as his smile slowly morphed into a deep scowl, and without another word spoken, All Might, the number one hero in Japan, leaped out of the office through the large windows behind the viewing monitor's heading directly towards were his students who were obviously fighting for their lives.
Nezu sighed gently, shaking his head as he reached for his microphone and holding it close to him, but not turned on for the moment as he spoke to himself, "... Well, that will be coming out of his paycheck… ahem."
"Attention audience member's-"
"This is Dean Nezu speaking," the speakers came to life as some of the frightened people who weren't watching the fight looked up to it, "While I understand what is happening is truly frightening, we here at UA can assure you all your utmost safety. That being said, Attention all Pro heroes, please follow All Might down to the center area and do your utmost to take down that barrier! If you are unable to reach the stadium floor due to inability to reach the central area, please do your duty to keep the civilians calm and safe in your sections."
"Any heroes out in the atrium, please direct all civilians to the food court and remain vigilant. Attention all students in the seating areas; you are to remain seated and not to engage. Any students, be it hero, general, or business courses within the atrium, please assist any heroes and keep the civilians safe."
"One final announcement for the heroes in the central area, when the barrier has gone down. Lethal force is authorized; the beast is a mindless creature and will not stop attacking and cannot be subdued."
The stadium grew quiet as the realization that the two students trapped within the barrier were now fighting for their lives as the silence was soon broken by the dean once again, "...If the heroes cannot get past the barrier, Midoriya. Bakugo… you have authorization for lethal force as well."
As the dean was making this announcement, All Might had landed hard onto the grass of the central area, quickly rising to his feet with a fist cocked back and with the power of 'One for All' coursing through his body as he shouted, "DETROIT SMASH!"
The winds gusted around him as his fist connected with the barrier; it rippled like a stone dropped into a still pond as All Might gasped when he noticed that not even one of his mightiest punches had even done anything to the barrier. His attention went back towards the two students fighting to see that Bakugo had once again been knocked back by one of the arms. In contrast, Izuku had started to fire upon the beast at range using the different gadgets and his firearm from his Machinist kit, getting the beast's attention. At the same time, Bakugo recovered quickly to launch himself once again at the ugly thing.
All Might began to punch rapidly against the barrier, snarling low in his throat as the impacts shook the area around him slightly, his feet digging into the turf on the field before a deep voice called out to him to knock him out of his rage, "All Might!"
The number one hero turned to see the frowned expression of Endeavor, the number two hero, with a bunch of other heroes standing behind him or more jumping down from the stadium seats. The fire hero moved quickly to his 'rival' snarling up at the barrier that had faded back into nothing once again, "What the blast is this thing?"
"I do not know, but it can take my punches like it was nothing." All Might said low, which caught the attention of Endeavor, who looked utterly flabbergasted before shifting back to his scowl before his attention was caught again by what All Might said next, "What should we do, Todoroki?"
"What? You are the number one hero here-" "But we both know I can't think up a plan worth beans." All Might interrupted Endeavor with a severe look in his eyes as he continued, "You have the superior intellect here as well as a knack for strategies; I just punch things. So, what should we do?"
Blinking a few moments before shaking his head, Endeavor did a quick scan of the area, looking back towards the gathering of heroes before looking back to All Might, "A pincer attack, I'll take heroes with ranged quirks to the other side and start to blast it from there, while you and the other close combat heroes keep on this side and lay into it."
All Might smiled at that, giving him a thumbs-up as Endeavor looked behind him once again to the gathering of heroes and quickly shouting out the plan as the other heroes responded with a loud affirmation.
As Endeavor and his group quickly made their way around the platform, doing their best to keep the sounds of the two students fighting out of their minds, for now, All Might had begun to punch again, causing shockwaves with every strike that caused some of the other heroes to give him his space and focus on their own strikes against the barrier.
All except one.
"I know you can punch harder than that, All Might!" A feminine voice beside him caught his attention as the strong, toned legs of Miruko, the number five hero, began to jab and kick with all her strength against the barrier beside him. Her red eyes were a fierce ruby color with a rather devilish smirk.
"As much as I would like to go all out, Miss Miruko," All Might had said, pumping a little more of his power into his punches, "then no one would be able to stand on this side of the barrier, or I could harm those in the stands."
Miruko huffed as she dropped her foot down in an ax kick before pushing off of it and laying into the damn thing with her punches and kicks, "Fair enough! But don't think of slacking off, old-timer!"
"I wouldn't dream of it! Not with my student's lives on the line!"
"DRILL!" Izuku shouted out as he was running past an incoming barrage of the creatures extended arms; his hand wielding his gun had moved down towards his aetherotransformer, and with a small blue light surrounding the firearm had morphed a rather complicated looking device that had needed to be wielded with both of his hands once it had summoned in. Izuku skidded to a halt as he fired the giant drill "bullet" towards the center mass of the monster. With a similar motion as before, the larger device had disappeared for only the smaller gun to appear back in his hand.
He watched as the beast recoiled back from the burrowing projectile, screeching in pain as it pierced through the stomach clear to the other side. Revealing how hollow the beast was from the front side and where Izuku could see a rather odd sight from the deep darkness before the creature regenerated the damage.
A small shining light on its stomach.
Ignoring the pro heroes who were working to take down the barrier, turning his head towards Bakugo, he lifted his goggles up as he shouted out, "BAKUGO! I THINK I FOUND ITS WEAK POINT!"
"FUCK OFF NERD!" was the reply he got, which Izuku sighed heavily as he watched the blond bomber zip around the beast, peppering it with explosions as he did so.
"We need to work together, you idiot!"
"I can defeat this thing all on my own, Deku! I don't need your weak ass quirk to finish this loser!" Bakugo shouted out, turning his head in anger back to Izuku, only for him to get swatted away by the monster's right arm and colliding hard against the barrier, right in front of All Might and Miruko with a hard grunt of pain.
Both heroes watched as the beast had reeled its left arm back, launching it towards the downed and clearly exhausted student with its three-pointed and jagged fingers jutted out in such a way that its intent of skewering the student like a pig was very evident and coming upon him with incredible speed.
"Look out!"
"Young Bakugo!"
*SQUELCH*
The world sat and stared on in silence as Bakugo slowly shook his head, attempting to look up and see the creature, only to see the strong bare back of Izuku kneeling down right in front of him, now having shifted into the Warrior kit.
The blond boy stared at him in confusion as between Izuku's legs, blood dripped down and hadn't stopped. Those who could see from the front side had witnessed Izuku attempting to grab the beast's arm to prevent it from its deadly course. Still, from how quick the strike was, it had partially worked, though the three fingers had dug two inches deep into Izuku's gut, with blood continuing to slowly pool out.
The monster reeled its hand back with a sudden jerk, causing Izuku to fall onto his hands and knees, coughing up a little more blood. Bakugo laid there, still in complete shock at what had happened as both the pro heroes behind him were now viciously attacking the barrier, desperate to break it and get to the two students, now more than ever.
"Kaachan…" Izuku's voice, low and harsh in tone, possibly due to his wound, caught Bakugo's attention and knocked him out of his shock, "A… are you alright?"
"Why the hell are you asking about me, you damn nerd!" Bakugo raged and moved to his side, his eyes gazing upon the very wound that Izuku had taken for him. The green-haired boy coughed slightly as he slowly began to get up, stumbling back onto his knee as he gasped in pain, with some more blood spilling out onto the floor. Bakugo stood there, completely in shock, before his head slowly turned towards the creature, idly looking at its bloody claws with curiosity.
He watched in horror as a rather sizeable rotten tongue moved out of its maw and licked one of its fingers before it suddenly shoved the entire hand into its mouth and "happily" sucked on the thing, feasting upon the blood.
Bakugo's hands began to pop some more, and he took a step forward, only to be stopped by the outreached hand of Izuku holding his wrist. The blond turned back to yell at the bloody student, only for his eyes to meet the burning emeralds staring back at him, panting heavily, "Just… shut up… and listen for… a minute."
Izuku took a deep breath, muttering out the word "Equilibrium" under his breath, a misty green aura enveloping his body for a moment as he slowly began to raise up again onto his feet, the wound on his stomach not bleeding as much until it completely stopped, yet the injury still looked very fresh, and was clearly a "patch job" at best, "I... know… you don't want any… help… I get that now."
"But, even… the strongest heroes have people to help them… Endeavor has his sidekicks, Aizawa has… his fellow underground heroes…." The green-haired boy looked back to look upon All Might, a smile on his lips before turning back to look at Bakugo, who had also looked to the number one hero in Japan, "E… Even All Might has… people help him… He can even admit that he needs help from… time to time…."
Izuku's gaze looked towards the monster, who had begun to slowly remove its hand out of its mouth, the claw now devoid of any blood, staring at the both of them. The warrior let go of Bakugo's wrist and stood next to him, his gaze never leaving the beast as he held his other hand out. With a flash of light, his hand now wielded the giant ax that Bakugo knew oh so well, "If we don't work together… we are going to get… killed… and then who knows what will happen if that thing escapes into the crowd."
Izuku lifted the ax, so now that he was holding it with both hands, a determined look on his face as he slowly began to growl, "This is not about me helping you, or you helping me. This is about helping each other to take down this son of a bitch and showing how god damn heroic we are for doing so." He turned his head to Bakugo, giving him a rather manic-looking smile, similar to the blond's own when he knew he could go all out with his explosions, "So let's take down this fucker, Kaachan!"
"Never call me that again, you fucking nerd!" Bakugo shouted as he readied into a fighting stance himself, "And never fucking swear again, it sounds stupid coming out of your dumbass mouth. And when this is all over, you and I are continuing our fight! To show everyone I'm better than you!"
"Ha! In your dreams, blondie! Now, aim for its midsection!" Izuku shouted as he dashed forwards towards the beast. At the same time, Bakugo roared in rage after him, considering Deku was bossing him around, explosions trailing behind him as the beast bellowed hungrily and began to attack the two boys once again.
Izuku had tossed his ax at the beast's head, nailing it and forcing the beast to turn from the impact as Bakugo began to blast explosion after explosion at the stomach of the creature, blowing away bits and pieces of the sharp dead plant matter. However, unlike earlier, whatever had been blasted off quickly regrew much faster than it had before.
"The damn thing is regrowing too fast, nerd! You better have a good plan!" Bakugo shouted out, using his explosions to fly back from the large incoming arms swung down at him.
Izuku gritted his teeth as he quickly looked about; thinking as fast as he could, he called out to his 'partner', "That move you did earlier! The Impact one! How many more do you have left in you?"
"Shit!" Bakugo called out, nearly getting smacked by the right arm of the beast, "One more! Why?"
"Do you need to build it up?"
"Dammit! Fifteen seconds! Hurry the fuck up, Deku!" Bakugo shouted as Izuku nodded, dashing around the beast as it was focused on Bakugo now. Once arriving at its back, a bright orange and almost spectral chain partially wrapped around the shaft of his ax appeared while the other end with a rather large spike was in his right hand, before chucking it like a javelin, Izuku shouted loudly.
"HOLMGANG!"
The beast roared in agony as the spike drove itself into its head, wailing as its hands went to try and pluck the thing without having any real way of doing so. Izuku was struggling to force its head back, snarling as he shouted out, "GET READY! ONCE IT IS ON ITS BACK, FIRE!"
Bakugo snarled as he flew up into the air, twisting and turning as he prepared his move. Watching the blond gather all of his sweat for his next big attack, Izuku roared like a wild beast, his bare muscles tensed and straining as he yanked the beast to fall backward, creating a small crater from the impact that its stomach was open to the spinning blond. Quickly shifting into his dragoon kit, Izuku jumped into the air, angling himself downwards to the gut as he shouted, "KAACHAN NOW!"
Bakugo shouted with all his might, propelling down somewhat before firing the shot with a manic grin, "TAKE THIS FUCKER!" HOWITZER-"
"-ONSLAUGHT!"
Bakugo turned his head to the side to see Izuku, back in his warrior kit, shoot down past him as the explosion rocked the body of the creature, opening it up to reveal its thin body hidden underneath all the spikes and thorns. As Izuku landed inside of the opening, his ax swung towards the sparkling center of the creature, only for the thorns and spikes to regrow just as quickly before, blocking the obvious weak point while also cutting and slashing at the boy now beginning to be enveloped.
Bakugo had landed with a hard thud onto the ground, exhausted from the attack as he lifted his head to hear a new sound echo out from the fallen beast. A roar of pure rage came from within the beast's body as a fiery orb surrounded Izuku, blowing back more of the thorns and, with glowing red eyes, began to swing the now revealed crystal embedded into its stomach.
"FEL CLEAVE! FEL CLEAVE! FEL CLEAVE!" The words echoed past what sounded like buzz saws revving in the air. Everyone watched as parts of the beast began to fly away from the carnage caused by the hero student as he snarled with his eyes glowing a blazing red color.
The beast flailed in anguish and pain as each time its arms went to try and remove the source of pain. Still, as it did, parts of its arms were sliced off by serrated-looking beams of light whirling around like the aforementioned mechanical sounds. With a cry of triumph, Izuku swung his ax over his head, jumping up and bringing the hefty slab of metal down hard onto the crystal while shouting a single word.
"DECIMATE!"
At that exact moment, far from the stadium, playing on a wide selection of TVs on sale in a local shop, people were watching the broadcasted fight of the finals of the UA sports festival. Many of its viewers were screaming in horror from what they had seen as the beast had struck one of the students in the gut and caused what looked like significant damage.
Everyone watched as the beast was finally taken down, disappearing into what could be described as a blue mist made of sand, eventually revealing the one student that had taken down the beast with a flurry of blows from the weapon he carried. They all gasped to see the state of the boy once the cameras were on him entirely.
Dozens upon dozens of cuts and wounds littered his muscular frame, with trails of blood running down his form while his eyes were glowing a fierce glowing red. Parts of his furred costume were stained red with his blood, as well as some of his sweat running down his arms and face that had been taken on a lighter reddish hue.
As the camera panned up to his face, watching him breathe slowly and the red glowing effect of his eyes fading into bright emerald green. They watched as the boy rolled his eyes backward, collapsing onto the ground in a heap as his body flashed brightly, and he was now wearing the standard gym outfit of UA that everyone else had worn, though torn and cut up just as much as the boy's body as they could see people rushing towards him and the other student.
Everyone that was standing outside of the shop looked on in horror and fright, wondering what on earth happened at the sports festival to cause such a thing to occur and just how badly the green-haired boy had gotten, and a little disgusted and squeamish at the amount of blood covering his body.
That was, of course, not true for the one young woman watching from the front, having stayed to watch when the green boy had been stabbed and glad she stayed to watch as she was able to gaze upon his bloody body.
While everyone seemed to be disgusted with the amount of blood covering his muscular frame, the woman's golden cat-like irises had thinned into slits as her lips slowly began to widen in pure glee, with her cheeks growing a little rosy.
For she thought the boy covered in his own blood looked absolutely gorgeous.
Chapter 39: "First comes Love, then comes..."
Summary:
Izuku awakens to a small unicorn by his side, as well as why is Momo acting a little odd?
Notes:
Hello all! Welcome back to "What is Izuku's life?"!
So yea, I promised that this chapter would be a little spicier than normal... which I changed my mind on since the next chapter is going to be the big 40! and decided to push it back to then.
So, going forward, there will be some sexual content within this story. Initially, I was going to censor it and have the uncensored version on Ao3. I decided to veto that, and will now line place warnings for when the "spice" starts and ends on FFN.
Ao3 will just have the warning at the beginning of the chapter, and the rating changed to explicit with new tags to boot, let the good times roll.
The review answers during the sports festival are still being worked on since I have to copy and paste ALL of the questions and then answer them in an organized way, so the reviews will be placed there, while reviews for this chapter onward will be answered normally. While mostly answering questions from FFN, doesn't hurt to go check it out and maybe find some hidden clues as to what is coming up storywise! :O
Also, I will not be answering any more comments/reviews made in the earlier chapters, due to many of them being grammar-related (I'll fix them at some point), OR asking questions that are later explained in the story.
Anyway, enjoy this new chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
A soft groan escaped past Izuku's lips as he furrowed his brows, clenching his eyes for a moment before slowly opening them to gaze upon the white ceiling he was so used to seeing.
Granted, he knew the panels so well because he would often visit the infirmary to check up on Eri and his mother throughout the school day and to have lunch with them. He mused to himself the only other way the ceiling of the infirmary would be so recognizable to him would be he was often sent here, either due to accidents in the training exercises or, god forbid, Izuku had pulled some rather stupid stunts and kept getting himself hurt on purpose.
How silly would that be?
A gentle cooing sound caught his attention and off of his inner mumblings to turn his head down to gaze upon a sleeping Eri, holding onto him like she usually did with that large plush she liked to sleep with. Izuku smiled, moving his hand to gently shift some of her fallen hair to the side and out of her face as she nuzzled closer to his chest.
As Izuku gazed upon his daughter, he raised an eyebrow as he could see her cheeks were slightly puffy and red, possibly due to crying, but also Izuku noticed how much smaller her horn was compared to when he saw her off to the special seating made available for her and his mother.
"She only stopped crying about half an hour ago, so don't jostle her too much." came the whispered but harsh tone of Krile as she stood at the doorway of the room, the expression on her face matching her voice as Izuku gulped in worry, "and you should be resting, considering how much blood you lost during your fight with that Goobbue."
"G-Goobbue?" Izuku asked as he watched the elderly woman slowly walk into the room and silently pulled up a stool beside his bed, climbing onto it and sitting herself down with a sigh of exhaustion.
Exhausted from what, Izuku had no clue.
"Yes, a 'Goobbue', or more of a decaying one at the very least. Very powerful, very dangerous." Krile continued to speak while looking at the bed-ridden boy with a stern look on her face, "And HOW it got here is something Nezu and the Moogles are currently looking into."
"W-was it from that place you and the Dean are from? Eorzea?"
"Yes, however, there was something… familiar about it… and that is worrisome. Regardless, it's a good thing that you were able to take it out; if it had escaped the barrier, who knows how many it could have killed. Regardless, we have more…" Krile then looked to Eri, a sad look upon her face as Izuku followed her gaze to also look upon the sleeping child as the elderly woman continued, "pressing matters to attend to."
"Is there something wrong with Eri?"
"Well, it's more we have a better understanding of her quirk now, given what you already told us and what we experienced not but an hour ago can attest to... " The older woman focused her gaze back onto Izuku, who in turn looked up to match her, "I'll be blunt, you were in a bad state when we got you here, not only from the blood loss but also from the wounds you sustained when you took that blow for Bakugo. It was a miracle, as well as some quick thinking on your part of using 'Equilibrium'. Still, it didn't fully close the wounds, and when you dived into the belly of that beast, it reopened them."
"Normally, you'd still be in surgery at this point and under a few weeks of rehab before I would even let you do any heroic classes." Krile said, her tone of voice matching her stern look as Izuku's eyes slowly widened as the reality of what she said set in, "Even then, you'd still be on light duties, But…." Krile looked down to Eri again, "your daughter had other ideas."
Izuku blinked for a few moments, the gears grinding in his head for a few moments before he shot his head down to Eri, who at this point was nuzzling closer to his chest, "Sh.. she used her quirk?"
"Yes, she did. And thank the twelve that Aizawa had escorted your mother and her here. Otherwise… well, you can imagine what would happen."
Izuku kept looking at his daughter, raising a hand slowly to move one of the strands of hair from her face. However, doing so had caused Eri to stir, gently opening her eyes to meet the warm emeralds of her father while Izuku smiled gently at her, "Hey Eri…."
"P-Papa?" Eri cooed gently, her expression in shock before her eyes started to well up in tears once again, and she suddenly clung tightly to him, crying heavily as she repeated the word 'papa' over and over again. Izuku gently wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as Krile watched on with a gentle smile on her face as Eri slowly pulled her face away to look up at him, "P-Papa, I used my curse! I used it when I knew it could only hurt people and… and… Papa! I'm so sorry!"
"Eri…" Izuku's voice was soft and calm, gently rubbing her back as the little girl began to sniffle gently, "Your power isn't a curse… far from it. In fact, had you not used your quirk to heal me, well... Your papa would be in a lot of pain right now."
"B... but, Kai said it was a curse… a-and he used it to hurt people, and… and said it was because of me." Eri sniffled again, her bottom lip trembling as the tears began to free fall. Her breath hitched when she felt the warm, loving hand of Izuku rest on her cheek, his thumb wiping away some of the tears.
"Kai is a bad man, Eri… anything he says is a lie, and you nor your quirk are responsible for the things he has done." Izuku said softly, smiling gently again, "Honestly, your quirk is a blessing."
"A… a blessing? L-like your powers, papa?"
"In a sense, but your quirk is very rare and powerful Eri, if you truly wanted to use it when you're older, it would be a great boon to the medical field, similar to my 'quirk'." Krile spoke up then, smiling gently at the young child, who had turned her way and gently sniffled once again.
"That's if you wish to do that; it's entirely up to you what you wish to do when you're older, Eri." Izuku said to catch the little girl's attention once more, "You can literally be anything you want, and I, as well as your mothers, will support whatever you wish to be when you grow up, even if you don't want to use your quirk at all."
"And I know for the fact that the school will support your decision as well, young Eri." Dean Nezu suddenly spoke up, causing the three people to look towards the door. The diminutive creature headed towards them with a small clipboard under his arm. Krile stepped off the stool to allow Nezu to climb up it, "Good afternoon, Midoriya, I take it you are feeling well-rested?"
"Y-Yes, sir. T-thanks to Eri, of course." Izuku said with a smile, gently rubbing the child's head as she gently giggled and blushed, her tears soon fading away.
"Most excellent, I must say, you really put on a stupendous performance for this year's sports festival; it will really be hard to top it for next year." Nezu said, a serious tone to his voice that looked off from his rather happy look on his face, something Izuku took notice of, and a few beads of sweat rolled down his face.
"I-I take it that this is in regards to the first event?"
"Oh! No, what you did during that first event was quite wonderful. To be honest, I have no qualms with that… I am referring more to the two interferences during the third event." Nezu said as he brought the clipboard from under his arm to hold close to his chest, "While we cannot fault Shinsou for what transpired, nor put any blame on you due to never encountering such a phenomenon before… I must ask, has 'Fray' spoken to you at all during all of this?"
Izuku gently frowned and brought his free hand up to his chin, looking deep in thought for a moment before looking back up, "... Actually, no, he hasn't, the only time I heard him speak was something of a 'pep talk' before the opening ceremony, and during the speech… aside from that, he's been quiet."
"B-But!" Izuku suddenly spoke up, "I-I don't think he caused what happened either… a few weeks ago, he told me that his "conscience" is growing weaker, fading back into my aether, so it's harder for him to communicate with me unless he absolutely needs to."
"I see, but is he still aware of what happens during his downtime?"
"N-no… he said that when he's 'asleep', he has no idea what I've been up to, not until he wakes up and I guess knows what I know."
"Interesting, but not surprising… regardless, should you speak with him, perhaps let him know what has happened? Otherwise, it and the creature you faced during your match against Bakugo will have to be discussed at a later time, away from sensitive ears."
Izuku looked down to Eri, who looked up to him with a look of confusion on her face, and the green-haired boy realized what the dean was speaking about; looking back to him, Izuku nodded, "Of course, sir."
"Splendid, now, we have a few things to discuss and bring you up to speed on while you rested." The dean's demeanor changed to a more cheery tone as the smile seemed more genuine, "Suffice it to say, we were able to pass off the Goobbue as a 'rogue' new form of training robot. It took some convincing, but I do have my way of… making them believe in what I say."
Izuku and Krile both had deadpanned looks that hadn't fazed the dean in the slightest. A few moments had passed before the small furry creature continued to speak, "Regardless, despite the lack of a clear winner during the final match, it's been decided that both you and Bakugo are to be awarded the gold medals; for this year."
Izuku looked flabbergasted at that particular reveal, blinking a few moments before sputtering out a rebuttal, "B-but I passed out after taking out the Goobbue, so shouldn't Bakugo have won by default?"
"The argument was made, yes. However, with your various feats throughout the festival, as well as being the one to risk your own life and plunge into the literal 'belly of the beast' to defeat it… well, if we regulated you to second place because you passed out after such a fight, the chaos caused by the media outlets would be even too much for me to correct."
Nezu straightened himself up a little, still smiling, "That is not to also downplay Mr. Bakugo's involvement or accomplishments during the last match as well, as he was willing to work with you and listen to the ideas that led you to victory as well as survive the encounter. His growth and maturity since your first heroics lesson have been remarkable, to say the least, despite some more time and areas needing to be improved."
"I-if you are referring to Bakugo's swearing, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon, sir." Izuku chuckled gently, holding Eri a little closer as she was simply listening, although not completely understanding what the dean was talking about.
Nezu gently nodded, "Unfortunate as that is, I'm sure he can control it as he continues to grow here at UA. So, let me be the first to congratulate you, Izuku Midoriya, for coming in first place at this year's sports festival." The white-furred being spoke as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a rather large golden medallion with the emboldened letters 'U' and 'A' stamped right into the middle of it, and handed it off to Izuku.
The student's eyes widened as he held the rather hefty award in his hand, his thumb idly running over the letters; a small smile began to spread across his lips as well as his heart began to speed up slightly. Now, Izuku knew he wasn't in heroics to win awards or fame like many of the other heroes he would write about in his notebooks. Still, Izuku knew that he only got this award for not only his hard work but for pushing past what he endured while growing up and showing the world that he wasn't just some worthless 'deku' anymore.
"Papa, why are you crying?" Eri asked softly as her voice caught his attention, wiping away the tears that had been falling down his cheeks unbeknownst to him.
As Izuku was collecting himself to answer Eri, Nezu took it upon himself to respond for him, "Midoriya is crying because he is happy, Eri. He has worked very hard to get where he is, and I'm sure will continue to do so." The dean said to the child in a soft tone of voice as she looked back at her crying papa and gently hugged him, hoping that would help stop the tears quicker.
A few moments passed as Izuku calmed himself down, silently thanking Eri as Nezu continued to speak, "That's not the only reason I came down to visit you, of course, despite your accomplishments. I am also here to give you this." And with that, the dean handed off the clipboard to Izuku, gently placing Eri at his side, who now had taken the first place medal, and stared at it in wonder from how shiny it was.
"What's this?"
"Adoption papers, my boy." Nezu said bluntly that caused Izuku to shoot his head up in surprise, "It took some time and for UA's lawyers to get everything set up, but we were able to find a local physician that has a quirk that allows them to figure out the age of people or objects simply by looking at them, even know what their date of birth is. And thanks to them, we were able to get Eri's birthday, which allowed us to get the adoption papers prepared."
Izuku blinked as he looked down to see the birthdate the diminutive dean had mentioned, smiling at the date of "December 21st". His attention went back to the dean as Nezu stood proudly before him, hands behind his back, "I know you have your heart set out on this, Midoriya, but I will warn you that raising her will take up a lot of your time, and all the legal responsibilities will fall upon you should anything happen to her."
"Granted, you will not only have your mother, Toshinori, or your partner's to help you in this but also my full support in this endeavor, not only as of the dean of UA but also as King Noggle Mog the XIV." Nezu gently bowed to Izuku, who looked slightly flabbergasted at the reveal, but somewhere in the back of his mind, Izuku couldn't help but feel that he knew all along that Nezu was some kind of leader for the Moogles, given how they followed his directions and orders.
What caused his brain to go into overdrive was the question of why did Nezu look so much different than the other Moogles? Could it be because of his status as King? Or something else entirely?
Nezu lifted his head up, continuing in his explanation, "We will help Eri master her quirk here while you remain at UA, and further beyond that as well, considering it is by Her will that the residents of Moghome are to aid you in protecting Eri. Granted, even if She didn't, the child already won the hearts of my people rather quickly."
"That being said, this is the only time you can decline signing the papers, where Eri will become a resident of UA and be raised here, should you wish to remain focused on your dream and studies, of course."
Izuku kept staring at the dean, still, in slight shock, he was given such a choice, before looking down to Eri, who was now staring up at him, with a frightened look on her face. While Izuku knew that the small girl would be well cared for under the supervision of UA and the dean, he just couldn't stop thinking about all the horrible things that he witnessed happen to Eri.
Not only that, but he knew that he had the support of his girlfriends and his mother, and Toshinori. And even if he couldn't become the hero he dreamed about as a young boy all those years ago, Izuku knew he needed to be more than a hero for Eri.
He needed to be a father.
Izuku looked towards Krile, who had remained quiet and watching the entire conversation from the sidelines with an emotionless expression on her face, before looking back to Nezu, who remained as nonplussed as ever as his eyes slowly trailed down to the papers and forms before him, eyeing the written words of Eri with his family name behind it for but a moment, as Izuku took a pen that was attached to the clipboard.
"I'll have to work harder to become the hero I dreamed about as a kid, to be a hero that lets people know everything is going to be alright with just my smile. If I can't even do that for the little girl right beside me, then what kind of hero am I?" Izuku turned his head towards Eri, who was tearing up, and gasped when she saw his bright smile as Izuku turned back to the adoption papers and signed them where they were marked to be signed.
Once he was done, he handed the clipboard back to Nezu, smiling a little more than before as Izuku turned himself towards Eri, who still seemed a little shocked by all this, and looked up to the student beside her.
Izuku smiled brightly again, opening his arms slightly as he spoke gently, "Welcome to the family, Eri Midoriya."
It took another twenty minutes for the happy and joyous crying coming from both the small child and her new father to end.
Izuku sighed softly as he looked out the window from his seat within the limousine he was currently riding in, the thoughts of what transpired since he had signed the papers to legally have Eri as his daughter.
To say the response of his entire class, aside from Bakugo and Todoroki, at his return from the infirmary back to the dorms was a shock, to say the least. Considering how they all basically tackled him to the ground in one big dogpile while shouting out how worried they all were, which was incredibly odd for Izuku, given past experiences.
But then, this was UA, after all, and his classmates, even if they didn't know he was quirkless, still treated him like an actual human being.
Tenya had been chopping the air as he usually did to get his classmates to act "civilized". However, it rarely worked at times, such as when Denki and Sato pulled the Class President into the group dogpile. Eventually, everyone had removed themselves from Izuku as Eri had clung to her father, being able to escape the dogpile before Izuku fell down, only to crawl into it with the help of Tsuyu and Kyoka.
Izuku gave the news that Eri had been officially adopted, which caused more cheers to ring out from the other students to congratulate the blushing but smiling Eri. From there, the rest of the evening devolved into comradery and taking a well-deserved rest, given that they had the next week off of classes before resuming them on Monday, followed by internships the following week.
It was on Tuesday that the first of the significant changes for Eri would begin.
First off, Eri's room had been completed, with new furnishings provided by the university and decorations picked out by the girls of class 1-A. The pastel green room had been decorated with decals of tiny frogs and other animals, most of which were mythical in a sense, like unicorns and dragons. While there were also characters from the "Witchy Hazel" show strewn about, with bedsheets of a similar theme placed on her bed.
To say Eri was ecstatic was an understatement; giving Izuku a tour of her room, despite not knowing where everything was currently, was adorable, to say the least, from the onlookers watching in. However, it soon dawned on the small child that with her room now completed, she would be sleeping here instead of with Izuku, which made her begin to cry a little.
Thankfully, with the help of Inko and Izuku, she was calmed down and told that if she ever got scared, she could always go see her grandma or call for Izuku on a unique device that Mei had whipped up for her that acted like a linkpearl to call her father. Its range only went as far as the dorm building, so it wouldn't accidentally call him while he was out doing classes or anything. Still, Izuku had a feeling that Mei had put a few more interesting gadgets into the device, for which purpose he had no clue.
The first night had gone well, though Eri did have to call Izuku before her bedtime so that he could give her a good night kiss and read her another short story. The chosen story was a book suggested by Momo, and it was called "The Last Unicorn". They had gotten through the first couple of chapters before Eri had fallen asleep, and Izuku had returned to his own bedroom, crawling into his bed and passing out from all the excitement the day had brought.
It felt strangely emptier than usual.
The next day had a bit of an odd start, given that Momo had left significantly earlier in the morning to help her parents set up for the party the following evening, but something peculiar had happened.
Momo had sent a text to Izuku just after breakfast and requested that he come down to an address that she would provide to help prepare himself and Eri for the following evening and formally introduce the child to Momo's parents.
She had requested he come a day earlier for a fitting, and she had already sent a limousine to pick him up. When Izuku told the others about this, he noticed that they had strangely been more quiet than usual; even Tsuyu was acting a little odd before she returned to watching T.V. with Eri.
Once informing his mother, Inko had said she would contact the Yaoyorozu's later on to see when she and Eri needed to come the following day. It wasn't long until the honking of a horn could be heard from outside of the dorms. Half an hour later, Izuku was still unsure why Momo had asked for him to come alone a day earlier. Sure, a fitting was needed apparently, but why arrive not only a day before the event but also to an address that he hadn't the foggiest idea where it was going to lead him.
He watched the passing of buildings and people as they drove down the somewhat busy streets of Musutafu, his mind reeling from what laid ahead of him at this supposed place Momo was waiting for him, but also reminiscing of the events of sports festival and the odd sort of feeling he was missing something.
It was his fight with Shinsou that was currently perplexing him, given that while he wasn't able to control his body thanks to the brainwashing quirk, it had acted on its own and even shifted into a couple of his kits. He knew Fray had nothing to do with it, and even then, the aspect of Quinn had been quiet since. With no natural way of Izuku to call upon him, this was possibly something he would have to figure out on his own.
A sudden jolt of the vehicle stopping knocked Izuku out of his inner thoughts as he looked out of the window to gasp gently. As the door opened for him to climb out, Izuku took in the scenery of where he was brought.
Before the student was an actually relatively small building of sorts, with all the makings of a traditional Japanese onsen that he would have seen in travel brochures and the like. It was then Izuku noticed how isolated this all seemed to feel as he looked around him and saw that he was in the middle of a forested area!
… he really needed to stop zoning out when thinking deeply about things.
Looking back to the very traditional-looking building, Izuku's eyes widened as someone he hadn't expected to see stepped out of the entrance to the building in their usual calm and collected self, "R-Roland?"
"Good morning, Master Midoriya." The butler bowed to the young man, who in turn also bowed in greeting, "I trust your trip to 'Oasis' was no issue?"
Izuku blinked and tilted his head, confused by what Roland had called the building before looking off towards it, "O-Oasis?"
"Yes, the master and mistress use this as a 'home away from home' as it were, for when they wish to not be disturbed by the demands of the business world, as well as keeping the young mistress away from prying eyes when she was a child." Roland spoke as he shifted to his side and brought a hand out that directed Izuku to the main door, "Speaking of the young mistress, she is currently on her way from the main household as we speak and should arrive in the next hour or so. In the meantime, we shall use this moment to get your measurements for your outfit tomorrow evening."
"O-oh, there isn't need for that, Roland… I-I mean, it's great that it's been set up and all, but I still have my suit from before." Izuku said as the pair neared the entrance to Oasis; the butler stopped mid-step, almost causing Izuku to bump into him.
Roland turned around to face the student, his gaze stern but not threatening as he eyed Izuku for a moment. His gaze softened a little, and he smirked, "Permission to speak freely, Master Midoriya?"
"You know you can do so with me, Roland."
"Admittedly, I would agree with you; however, while this ball was originally planned as a celebration for the conclusion of the sports festival, this also is more of an 'engagement' party."
Something within Izuku's mind shattered like glass at the mere mention of the word that began with the letter 'e'. His face went pale as a ghost as he slowly moved his head towards the butler, whose gaze was mirthful with a smirk. In a shaking yet squeaking voice, Izuku slowly spoke, "E-e-e-e-engagement?!"
"Of course, young master. The engagement between you and young mistress Momo, considering you two are now lovers. With your more recent display of heroics at the sports festival, as well as what happened at the previous ball, you will have many eyes on you. Many young socialites will try to whisk you away with false promises to crawl up the social ladder, or besmirched former suitors of the young mistress will see this as a challenge of sorts."
Izuku, still frozen in his spot, kept staring up at the older man, still in complete shock and unable to speak as Roland gently patted his shoulder. Not in pity or anything, but to comfort the boy, as the elderly man knew that Izuku was still new to the world of "high society". He was already facing some of the more dubious tactics used within the social circles.
However, within Izuku's mind, the UA student was in a speedy thought process of who's, how's, what's and why's. But then the worried thoughts soon dissipated as the image of Momo popped up into his mind, standing at the far end of an aisle wearing the most beautiful wedding gown and ensemble he had ever seen. To only be followed up by Tsuyu, Mina, and Kyoka, who were all wearing just as gorgeous dresses themselves, though colored differently to match each woman's own tastes.
Though he was able to snap back into reality somewhat to enter the building, one thing crept into Izuku's thoughts:
Just what the hell else was the universe going to throw at him?
Momo gently sneezed, creating a small tissue to blow her nose before disposing it into a small waste compartment beside her seat within her private limousine. She sighed softly and leaned back to look out at the passing buildings while she had a small bag sitting on her lap.
The bag had a pinstripe pattern running vertically with pinks and whites as the name of "The Delicate Rose" logo pasted dead center of the bag. The heiress turned her gaze to the opening of the bag, smiling warmly as she held it a little firmer in her grasp, eager and anxious to make it towards her childhood home of Oasis, but also thankful for the help of the girls in coming with her to choose the very special garment hidden within the bag.
After all, what better way to reward her "knight in shining armor".
Chapter 40: * Love in the Oasis *
Summary:
Izuku meets another employee of the Yaoyorozu's, as well as finally relaxes for the first time in quite some time.
Also, Momo shows Izuku the "surprise"
Notes:
Hello all, it's here!
Chapter 40 is finally here and with it, comes the introduction of the ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) line.
What is the purpose of this line? Well, it's to allow those not wishing to see the really lewd stuff to simply pass over it, as the first line will show the beginning of the lewd, and the second line to be the end of it.
but yea, here on out, there will be lewd scenes in the story and if they wish to skip it, they can. Otherwise, enjoy :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"So, how do you think it's going?" Mina had asked as she was sitting at the dining table with Kyoka and Toru. All three either reading articles on their phones or looking up some funny videos to show off to one another.
"What are you talking about, Mina?" Asked Toru, putting down her cellphone to look at her pink-skinned friend. Granted, it was hard to tell with the invisible woman as the only indication was the hairpin in her hair (that was shaped like a miniature Eiffel tower) changing positions and towards Mina.
"I'm talking about how Momo is gonna rock Izuku's world, of course! You should have seen what we helped her pick out at 'The Delicate Rose'!" Mina said in a tiny squeal of joy, while Toru had also joined her in the excitement before both of them giggled.
It was at this time that Kyoka looked up from her phone with a frown, "Why don't you say that a little louder, Mina… I don't think 1-B heard you." the punk rocker hissed out in a whisper, causing both girls to look towards the upset woman.
"Oh, come on, Kyoka… it's just us three here right now; the guys went to work out or left campus for the day while Ochako and Tsuyu are watching Eri upstairs with Mamadoriya; relax a little, would ya?." Mina pouted with Kyoka, her black sclera eyes shining a bit and giving the poor rocker the 'puppy dog' treatment.
Kyoka sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Look, we all promised not to tell anyone about the relationship, alright? Yes, I know we have already told Aoyama and Kirishima, but they were special cases. Still, we don't want the wrong people to find out. God, imagine if the purple twerp found out about it?"
The mere mention of Mineta caused the other two girls to shudder, Mina with a face of disgust while Toru also had a similar look, though again, hard to tell with her, "Fine, that I can agree with, but come on! While I'm a little sad I couldn't be Izuku's first time, we have watched those two tip-toe around one another for almost a year now! This is so exciting!"
Kyoka groaned and lightly brought her head down onto the table, a small thud echoing out in the relatively vacant room as Toru decided to pop into the conversation now, "Exactly, I barely know you guys, and even I can tell that Momo was just ready to pounce him the first time she got. Honestly, I'm shocked it took her this long."
Both Mina and Kyoka groaned at this comment, both clearly understanding the invisible woman's statement, with the pink-haired girl to answer her, "Truthfully, we all decided to hold off on sex until Eri had fully adjusted, given how she tightly clung to Izuku in the beginning. However, after what happened at the sports festival… Well, we decided that we should take the opportunity now before either we get too busy with school, or heck, the internships coming up, or Izuku starts to focus on Eri's training."
Mina smiled gently, giggling a little as well, "I dunno when me and my hunky green bean will have some fun like that, but who knows! Plus, I'd rather wait until after our first date this Friday!"
"Oh! Oh! You didn't mention where you were going!" Toru asked in glee, putting her phone down and turning her body towards her fellow classmate. Kyoka sighed heavily, looking back to her phone now, but continued to listen in on the conversation.
"Me and him are going to Dagobah beach while the weather is still decent; I even picked out a cute new bikini to wear that I'm sure will catch Izuzku's attention…." Mina said with a sultry look on her face before blushing and squealing gently at the mere thought of Izuku rubbing sun lotion on her back.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kyoka asked as she looked up from her phone, "Not saying where you should go for the first date and all that, but the weather networks are reporting strong cloud formations heading our way over the next couple of days."
"It should be fine." Mina said with a wave of her hand, "and I'll make sure that the weather is fine before we go; if we can't go to the beach, then we just cuddle in my room and binge-watch our favorite movies together."
"Oh god, you're going to force him to watch those movies with the freaky alien things, aren't you?" Kyoka said with a pale look on her face, remembering when the pink-skinned woman had made her watch the movies as mentioned earlier and having nightmares even to this day.
How the fuck did they make those costumes look so real?!
Mina looked aghast, though it was a mere playful expression on her face, "I'll have you know the first two movies in the franchise were very well-liked, thank you very much! Plus, if Izuku gets frightened a little, well… he can always just snuggle close to me."
The cheshire-like smile on Mina's lips made Kyoka frown a little, though not in anger. It was more that Mina knew how most people reacted to those movies, and sure enough, the same had happened to the punk rocker.
Admittedly, Kyoka would admit that Mina was very warm and snuggly.
"Can you show me your new bikini, Mina? It might give me ideas for what to wear on a beach date with my Yuga!" Toru suddenly asked and lifted herself out of her seat, both girls looking at the floating clothing that was their friend.
"Oh, totally! Kyoka, why don't you join us? Maybe we can look up some designs for you and the others. Mina had replied first to Toru, before turning her gaze towards Kyoka, who was blushing a little and now was twirling a jack around her finger, contemplating it for a few moments before sighing and pocketing her phone.
"Fine, but nothing too revealing, please? I'd doubt I'd look good in a bikini anyway."
"Pish Posh! None of that!" Mina said suddenly, grabbing Kyoka's and Toru's wrist's before pulling them towards the stairway to head up to her room, "We all know you'd look fantastic in anything, Kyoka, so let's find you the best looking one we can afford! Plus, we can look for a kid's swimsuit for our little unicorn!"
As the voices of the three girls disappeared up the stairs and past the faintest sound of a door slamming shut. Unbeknownst to the three, from behind the kitchen countertop, stood Mineta, who had snuck down to get one of his grape juice boxes since his private stash was gone up in his room.
The sticky juice was flowing out of the straw and down his hand, dripping onto the floor as the tiny teenager was shaking slightly in rage, jealousy, and a whole mixture of emotions that were also present on his face, as bloody tears ran down his cheeks.
Under his heavy breathing, he only spoke three words with his teeth clenched hard.
"Damn you, Midoriya..."
Izuku sneezed suddenly, spooking the two other people in the room as both Roland and the hired tailor looked towards the boy as he blushed, "S-sorry… that one kinda snuck up on me."
"It is fine, young man. I was just finishing getting your measurements." spoke the tailor, who was an older man, similar to Roland. However, he clearly wasn't Japanese but seemed to speak the language quite well. He was a balding man, relatively short and rotund, but obviously a very snappy dresser.
Which honestly wasn't surprising given his occupation.
"Now, I take it this suit is for a special occasion, yes?" asked the tailor, looking toward Roland, who offered Izuku back his shirt to put on, given that he had to basically go down to his brief's to be measured appropriately.
"Indeed, and while I know you will keep your lips sealed, Herr Schneider, I must remind you that this is not to be spoken outside of this room, not even to your sister." Roland stated with a firm tone to his voice that made Izuku look towards the butler in small shock before dressing in the casual clothes he had brought. The tailor huffed and made a gesture over his lips like he was zipping them up.
"Yes, yes… I won't tell Helga about it, though I'm sure she will be nosy about it tomorrow when she gets the young mistress' new measurements as well as those few other dresses you mentioned on the phone."
Roland raised his hand up, with a single finger as he turned his attention towards Izuku, who was just moving to sit down and put on his socks, "Master Midoriya, I noticed earlier that you were rolling your shoulders, no doubt due to the sports festival, I'd recommend the open-air hot spring that's a few doors down the hall, the heat from it should relax your muscles."
"O-Oh, really?" Izuku asked, perking up at the mention of the facility, never having gone to a hot spring before, "A-are you sure? I don't want to be a bother or anything."
Roland smiled gently at the younger man, shaking his head softly, "it is perfectly fine; I'm sure Herr Schneider has everything needed for your suit, so go and relax, and I'll inform you when the young mistress has arrived."
Izuku looked at the shorter man beside Roland, beaming a jolly smile and bowing his head to Izuku. The green-haired student thought about it for a moment before standing up, his socks in his hand still, "A-alright, where are the change rooms?"
"It's just down the hall, three doors down. Everything is already there and prepared for you." Roland bowed his head to Izuku, who was heading towards the door, but not before bowing to each man first and then exiting.
Silence filled the room for a few moments, both older men staring at the door before looking to one another, "Alright, enough with the secrecy, what's going on, Roland?" the shorter man asked with a raised eyebrow.
The butler looked down, a smile on his face as he relaxed a little in the presence of his old friend, "That young man is the young mistress' betrothed, Hans."
Hans' eyes shot open, looking back to the door and then up to Roland, "T-that young man is… She actually CHOSE someone?!"
Roland laughed loudly at his colleague's outburst, a somewhat out of character trait from his usual calm demeanor, "To be honest, I had the same reaction myself. But come, I shall tell you everything that has been happening while you and Helga were out of the country."
"Erm.." Hans hesitated for a moment after leaving the room with the butler, "Shouldn't we stay around to make sure the boy or the mistress don't need anything?"
"The young mistress arrived about half an hour ago and should be waiting for the young master in the bathing area, as per her instructions. She wished to be left alone with the boy for the rest of the evening, and no staff are to be on the premises until tomorrow when it is time to bring them to the main house."
As the two older men continued down the hall, Hans took in all this information before shrugging and moving his hands behind his head as he walked beside the old butler, "So, basically tell Helga after the fittings tomorrow to start designing baby clothes, huh?"
Roland had to stifle another chuckle, as not to alert anyone of their presence, "I doubt it would come to 'that' this early on, old friend…." Roland then stopped, frowning gently, and began to think to himself as Hans stopped beside him.
The old butler turned towards the tailor, a dawning realization on his face as he looked back down the empty hallway leading to the bathing area before looking down to Hans, "... You know what? It probably wouldn't hurt."
Izuku sighed gently as he firmly wrapped the towel around his waist, placing the small basket full of his belongings on the spacious rack after sending a text to his girlfriends and then one to Eri, after seeing she had used Tsuyu's phone to send him a charming little message as well as a picture of her and his mother on the couch.
He rolled his shoulders as he began to make his way slowly to the sliding door that would lead out to the bathing area, deep in thought about everything that had happened, as well as some new developments he had not expected.
Like the fact Momo was now his fiancee.
Izuku stopped in his tracks as his hand rested on the door handle, his eyes staring at the door, thinking about the new predicament he was in due to the engagement party the following evening.
While it was true that Izuku did see himself marry Momo and the others in time, from the way Roland had described it to him while he was being measured for the suit, this was a normal thing to consider when it came to relationships among the "upper class". And while Mr. and Mrs. Yaoyorzoru had let Momo choose whom she wished to be with, it seemed that regardless of her choice, the young heiress needed to still follow "tradition".
Izuku was starting to realize why Fray seemed jealous that he could make choices in his life, unlike Quinn when he was still alive.
Regardless, he would discuss this with Momo when she would arrive and honestly get her side of the story, given that she usually tried to go against "the norm" when it came to her aristocratic duties. But for now, he would relax and hopefully put his mind off things for at least a little while.
Sliding the door back, Izuku gasped as he took in the sight before him, slowly walking out on bare feet to the gorgeous and lavish looking hot spring, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery of a thick forest surrounding it. From his vantage point, Izuku noticed that while a small portion of the carved stone spring was under a roof, most of it was out in the open with a clear view of the sky, perhaps used to stargaze while bathing in the steaming water.
He took another few steps toward it, seemingly hypnotized by the sight before him, when the sound of a sliding door closing caught his attention; turning his head to the left side of the open room revealed that there was another door that led into the bath area.
Raising an eyebrow, Izuku began to head towards the newly spotted door, "H-Hello? Is anyone there? I'm sorry if I am disturbing you; Roland said that the open-air bath was free."
No answer was given, further confusing Izuku as he stopped right in front of the newly discovered door. Frowning gently and tightening his hold on the towel wrapped around his waist, Izuku slowly opened the sliding door and stepped in, looking around and seeing…
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing but darkness and what little light was poking in from the hot spring. Izuku, now had a scowl on his face, stepped further into the room and called out a little louder, "Hello? I know someone is in here."
"Izuku…" came the familiar feminine voice of Momo from somewhere in the darkness, causing Izuku to drop his guard, looking about to find the source.
"Momo?" was all Izuku had said before the door leading out into the open-air bath was quickly shut, leaving him in pure darkness for but a moment before being nearly blinded by a light turning on. Izuku gasped from the shock, clenching his eyes and covering them with his hands to lessen the blinding effect it had on his eyes.
Once the sting from the sudden flash subsided from his vision, Izuku brought his hands down and opened his eyes as he turned back towards the now closed door, only to gasp and feel his entire body heat up, along with his heart beating wildly from the truly wondrous sight before him.
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Standing in front of the closed door stood Momo, leaning against it with her hair freed from her usual ponytail and flowing down her backside, while Izuku's eyes slowly took in more of her form and current … well, "outfit", for lack of a better term.
Currently, the young heiress was dressed in very fancy lingerie. Red in color, the camisole she wore had beautiful flowery lacey designs weaved into the practically see-through fabric. The top barely contained the young woman's breasts, with her areolas just peeking over the edge of the garment. Momo's nipples were just hiding underneath the cloth, while around the bottom edge was a long, very thin piece of red silk that split partially open in the front, revealing the practically seen toned stomach of the young heiress, but also exposing her belly button to Izuku.
Clinging to her hips was an equally lacey and intricately designed panty that was just tight enough to show Izuku that while Momo had done her best to keep herself in shape, due to how much she would eat plus how high in "healthy" fats the food she consumed had because of how her quirk worked, had still given the young woman a curvy figure that revealed how she was a little "plump" in certain areas.
The boy's mouth and throat were dry as he heard a clearing of a throat escape from the young woman, bringing his eyes back to meet hers, only for Izuku to notice that she was blushing heavily, her onyx eyes looking away for a moment, before Momo looked back to him, a smile slowly forming on her lips, "So, I'm pretty sure this wasn't something you were expecting when coming here today, was it?"
For once in his life, Izuku was at a loss for words, opening and closing his mouth, starting and ending words that barely formed within his throat as Momo slowly began to walk towards him, her hips swaying from side to side, catching the young man's attention and hypnotizing him as he started to slowly back up.
Izuku was temporarily knocked out of stupor when the back of his leg hit something, causing him to fall backward and land upon the relatively soft bed that he had stumbled onto. Raising his head up slightly, Izuku noticed that the room he had stumbled into was some sort of bedroom that was connected to the open-air bath. It was furnished with somewhat expensive pieces of furniture; they were nowhere near as extravagant as what was typically seen in the home of the Yaoyorozu family.
Taken his attention off of his surroundings, his gaze returned to Momo, who was now standing before him, sporting the blush from before as she had brought an arm underneath her chest, her hand gripping her other arm as she shifted on the spot a little, making sure to lift her breasts up slightly, "So… what do you think?"
As Momo had finished asking this, she could feel the emerald eyes of Izuku slowly take in her form once again, her heartbeat racing as she was eager to learn what he thought of the outfit she had purchased. As Izuku looked up to meet her gaze again, biting his lower lip a little, he spoke softly, "Y-You look beautiful, Momo… I-I mean! You always have been beautiful… but um… wow…." It was at this point that Izuku had risen up from the bed, sitting now and still gazing into her onyx eyes, his own heart rapidly beating against his chest as his cheeks blushed a deep red once more, "Momo… I have to ask… this isn't because of the… e-e-engagement… is it?"
Momo blinked at the question, her mind halting for a few moments to think about the question that Izuku just asked, turning around away from him and taking a few steps away to reorganize her thoughts.
As she was doing this, however, Izuku spoke up once again, standing up and, while awkwardly doing so, slowly wrapped his arms around her midsection, pulling her close and speaking gently into her ear, "I-It's not that I'm not flattered you want to… you know… with me of all people… I just don't want this decision to be made because of the engagement, but because we both want to."
"Do… Do you want to?" Momo asked softly, her hands resting on his arms as she leaned her head back and turned slightly to look up at him, her onyx eyes gazing into his once again, only for her to see the love-filled eyes of Izuku looking into her own.
"I... I didn't want to push anyone into something like this, but when you are in a relationship with four gorgeous women whose beauty surpasses that of a literal goddess, I can say that with good confidence since I've literally met one." Izuku smiled, causing Momo to giggle lightly but also blush at what Izuku was telling her, slowly turning herself in his arms to look at him face to face, sliding her arms up around his neck as he continued to speak, "Momo, if this is something you wish to do… Let me just say this first."
Momo tilted her head as Izuku gently cleared his throat, looking at her with a serious expression on his face as he began to speak again, "Momo, you have been one of the lights in my life to pull me up from the pit I was stuck in for most of my life… I can freely admit that I fell for you that first day we met, reaching out my hand towards you and gazing into those beautiful onyx eyes… but I always thought that I would never be enough for you… but as time passed, and how you and the others helped me believe in myself, as well as all the time, we spent together studying."
He held the young heiress closer, his strong arms and hands on her lower back and hips as she focused on what he was saying, a shocked look on her face as she continued to listen, "I fell for you hard, Momo… in fact, I love you…and have been in love with you since just before university started... and I promise that, in time… I want to properly propose to you, not as some sort of obligation to this arrangement made by the social rules made by the aristocrats … but because I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you…."
Momo still looked stunned now as Izuku finished speaking, the silence in the room heavy as the green-haired boy shifted on his feet a little, "So… yea… I just wanted to tell you that before we moved-MMPH!?"
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted suddenly when Momo had yanked his head down while pushing her head up to kiss him passionately, groaning into the gesture as the shocked expression on Izuku's face slowly melted into one of pure bliss, returning the kiss with as much fervor as she was giving him. His hands took grasp of her hips, holding her close to his body before one of Momo's hands moved down from around his neck to grab his wrist, bringing it closer to her ass cheek where his grip tightened once he was able to get a hold of her shapely posterior. The young heiress groaned happily as she began to force them back towards the bed, causing both of them to fall onto the soft mattress with gentle grunts from the impact.
Momo slowly shifted her legs to straddle Izuku's hips, gently breaking the kiss and sitting herself up on top of the young man, looking down at him with lust and love-filled eyes that matched his own. She shivered when his strong hands moved to rest upon her hips, slowly massaging them with his grip as the young heiress licked her lips, "Izuku… My decision to do this, here and now, wasn't because of some sort of obligation to what was forced upon us… but because I love you too, and have been in love with you for such a long time… I could not even dare imagine anyone else sharing my first experience with this. I chose you, Izuku Midoriya… and…" Momo then leaned down to gently lift her hips up a bit, kissing him deeply on the lips once more before nibbling on his lower lip.
"I will hold you to that promise…."
Izuku shivered when he felt the warm touch of Momo's hand upon his hardened cock, the young woman having unwrapped the towel that had remained covering his lower body up until this point when she leaned down to kiss him. Izuku groaned as he felt Momo tighten her grip on his cock, gasping herself with a light blush on her cheeks as she smiled softly, "Izuku… it's so thick…."
Izuku blushed at the comment; he hadn't even realized if that was going to be a problem or not, as before he could ask, Izuku groaned a little louder when he felt her grip tighten on his shaft. Momo simply smiled and slowly began to sit up again, making sure that she had used her free hand to open up the bottom of her panties to reveal that they were a rather special kind of undergarment, made to go "crotchless" when needed.
Izuku had raised his head up slightly to watch what Momo was doing, how she was sitting up on her knees with his cock throbbing and pushed against the warmth of Momo's lower lips. He was panting gently as his eyes moved up to look into Momo's when he felt the hand that was used to spread her open slightly and let her press it on top of his tip, "Mo… mo…." Izuku panted out, licking his lips as the young heiress looked to him, "What... What about a condom?"
"It's fine, Izuku..." Momo answered in a breathless sigh, feeling the thick head further press past her pussy lips with her aid of aiming him, both of them groaning at the pressure but also how warm one another felt as Momo moved her other hand to rest on top of his chest for stability, "I'm on… birth control… and it's one of my… 'safe' days… I just want our first time together to feel one another as we make... love…."
Momo gasped as she felt the throb of Izuku's cock against her folds, the young man's heart rate increasing at the words of his beloved. He slowly nodded, not arguing with Momo's wishes as well as being excited about it himself.
Izuku moved his hands up her thighs to gently grasp her hips, doing so to aid her descent down onto his dick as Momo's hands on his chest tightened. Both lovers looked to one another with a silent acknowledgment as Momo began to push herself down onto Izuku's cock, gasping and moaning at the slow process as she felt him slowly spread her open to the shaft throbbing against her inner walls.
Izuku groaned loudly himself, feeling the pressure of Momo's tightness surround and seemingly pull his cock deeper into her, one of his hands moving off of her hip and bringing it close to his chest, offering it to the young heiress as she moved one of the hands to grasp it and intertwined their fingers together for better support.
Slowly, but eventually, amidst the groans and moans of both young adults, Momo had finally settled down on top of Izuku, his thick cock filling her thoroughly as every throb and twitch of his shaft caused her to shiver and gasp in delight. Izuku was panting hard, feeling the sheer tightness of the young woman as if her insides were already trying to milk him for all his worth.
A rustling sound had caught his half lust-addled brain to watch as Momo slowly removed her top, covering her breasts with her arm as she tossed the garment over the bed. She felt the gaze of the young man and slowly brought one of his hands up to press into her ample breast, watching his amazement of how soft it felt against his rough hands as well as his fingers seemed to sink into the flesh.
Cautiously, Izuku brought up his other hand to take ahold of her other breast, doing so of his own volition as he began to slowly knead and massage the large breasts in his hands with the utmost care. A single finger from each of his hands toying with the young woman's nipples, either by swirling them around the areola or lightly flicking the little stubs. The actions that Izuku took on Momo's breasts gasped her to gasp and moan gently, beginning to lightly gyrate her hips against his from the sheer pleasure of what Izuku was doing to her chest.
Biting her lower lip, Momo brought her hands back down onto Izuku's chest, looking him in the eyes when his focus from kneading and squeezing her breasts was taken by her actions, "I… I think I'm ready, Izuku…."
With a gentle nod, Izuku slowly brought his hands away from her breasts, causing Momo to gasp once again and already missing the warmth of his hold as she felt his fingers trail down her body until they rested once again on her hips. Slowly, Momo began to lift herself off of Izuku, feeling his shaft drag out of her a little bit before pushing herself back down onto the throbbing shaft once again, causing both young lovers to moan out into the air, repeating the process slowly. Eventually, the pace at which Momo was pushing and pulling herself onto Izuku's cock changed to that of bouncing, her breasts doing the same as she moaned out loudly into the room, with Izuku grasping her hips tightly and clenching his teeth from the feeling of uttermost pleasure of Momo's pussy clinging to him.
"M-Momo… god… it feels so good!" Izuku cried out, one of his hands moving up to grasp one of her bouncing breasts and holding it roughly, massaging it and kneading it with a bit more force than before as the young heiress groaned in sheer delight from how rough he handled her. Momo dragged her fingernails across his chest, which caused Izuku to hiss in ecstasy from the feeling as well, thrusting his hips up to now meet with her bouncing, causing the bed to loudly creak and shake from the movement of the two on top of it.
"I-Izuku… I'm so close…. Please… please tell me you are…. Oh FUCK!" Momo cursed loudly, feeling the lips of her lover now take hold of the trapped breast and roughly sucking on her nipple as Izuku had lifted his upper body up to do so, trying to roll his hips against the grinding of Momo's own as his other hand ad wrapped around her lower back to hold the young woman close to his body.
Tired of Izuku using his tongue and lips to tease her nipple, Momo moved her arms around his neck and, with a single hand, gripped his curly green locks, lightly pulling his head away from her breast to mash her own lips against his, pushing her tongue past the lip lock and toying with his own, which eagerly joined and "wrestled" with the invading pink appendage.
In his lustful state of mind, Izuku had purposely rolled both of them over, so Momo was now on her back while they were kissing, her legs in the air as Izuku was now ramming his cock deep into his lover. Momo moaned loudly as she broke the kiss; her legs moved to wrap around his thrusting hips and interlocked her legs so he would not escape or pull out when the time came, "T-That's it, Izuku!" She cried out, gasping loudly with every moan caused by a sudden deep thrust into her tight pussy, clinging harder to his throbbing cock, "Fuck! T-Take me! Make me yours!"
Izuku had heard the pleas of his lover, grinding himself harder into her as the bed shook violently from his ramming thrusts into her body, his chiseled chest rubbing against her bouncing breasts. The pace of which he was thrusting increased as well, his hands moving to move Momo's from around his neck and pin them to the mattress, once again intertwining their fingers together in some last sort of romantic gesture despite the rather hard fucking Izuku was giving to Momo.
"M-Momo… I'm so close!" Izuku panted out, his voice low and deep, which caused Momo's heart to skip a beat, even in their activity. She tightened her legs in response to his proclamation, his eyes meeting hers as she smiled lustfully and licked her lips, gasping louder and panting just as much as well.
"D-do it, Izuku! C-cum… cum in me!"
Izuku groaned loudly, almost a roar of exertion as he rammed his cock a final few times, causing Momo to moan out loudly, repeatedly calling out his name until he bottomed out inside of her, causing the young heiress to feel a warmth burst deep inside of her. She suddenly went silent, mouth agape as she felt Izuku's cock pump thick shots of his seed deep into her womb, holding himself hard against her hips to make sure not one drop would escape. The feeling of being bred causes her to feel lightheaded but also quite full in a sense. Momo's onyx eyes looked towards Izuku's emeralds, as he too was panting hard and deeply, locking their sight before suddenly mashing their lips together in a loving and deep embrace, both bodies holding onto one another as they both shared the same feeling of bliss between them.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
A soft clinking of glass echoed out into the night sky as Izuku smiled gently down to Momo, who was currently resting against him while they were both now resting in the open-air hot spring with two wine glasses full of non-alcoholic champagne. (which were located in a small hidden cabinet not too far from the edge of the water.)
"So, I think it was worth not telling you about this place before you came?" Momo asked with a soft smile, gently taking a sip of her drink while Izuku looked away from the view of the starry night to look at her.
"If what we have been doing for the last few hours was any indication, then yea… definitely worth the surprise." Izuku said with a gentle smile before taking a sip from his own glass, "Plus, I haven't felt this relaxed in such a long time… Thank you, Momo."
Said young woman blushed and smiled, leaning up and kissing his cheek softly before snuggling close to him again, "Honestly, after what happened at the sports festival, you needed a chance to relax for a little bit before the internships, as well as the rest of us."
Izuku nodded gently, thinking about how well each of his partners did in the tournament. But then, his gaze went to Momo, who was looking at him with a frown, "What?"
"Izuku… we had thought we lost you after the battle with that strange creature during your fight with Bakugo, we were all so frightened and scared that you would die…" the heiress began to tear up a little bit, losing her frown in the process from remembering the pain and sorrow she felt, along with the others as they watched helplessly from the stands, "Had it not been for Eri… Izuku, you could have been seriously injured or worse yet died!"
Momo suddenly stood up from her seat, naked as the day she was born, and moved herself to straddle Izuku, placing the wine glass behind him and resting her forehead against his, weeping softly as Izuku had also put his drink at the edge and then held her close, watching and listening to her, "You almost died at the USJ, and now at the Sports Festival… I know as heroes in training, we will always be risking our lives in the future, but not now… not while we are in training."
Momo continued to weep softly as she spoke once again, "Please… make me one more promise… that no matter what, from here on out and in the future… please always come back to me, to us… to Eri…."
As he watched his lover weep in his arms, closing her eyes to try and control herself, Izuku was silent for a few moments before he gently lifted her chin up with his hand and softly kissed her, as if to reassure her of her desires as he spoke gently.
"I promise, come hell or high water, I will always come back to you."
As Momo suddenly kissed him again, this time crying joyful tears of the promise mixed with Izuku's own due to feeling the heartache of his lover's plea and knowing he had four other women that surely felt the same, as well as his daughter too. But in the back of his mind, he remembered the question that Fray had asked Krile back after the events of the USJ, where he inquired about someone and if she was happy in the end.
In his mind, Izuku made a vow that night, that no matter what, even if it went against the will of Hydaelyn…
He would always come back to them.
Chapter 41: I'm a what-now?!
Summary:
Eri meets the Yaoyorozu's and we take a quick peek at everyone's favorite man-child.
Notes:
Welp, new chapter and we start to move the plot from here on out, so you know what that means?
Stain Arc... oh boy.
So, the response I've gotten regarding the smut in the last chapter has been pretty positive, in fact, one of my favorite comments was how wholesome it was, but as you will see shortly, not all were pleased about it and I will address it going forward.
This is from a review on FFN -
"The question is whether there are going to be more sex scenes and smut and if they will be marked as such. I personally love a good fade to black after getting into bed as it keeps story focused on the plot. Yes as someone that reads lots of romance novels I find they go overboard too.IF this will be case, I will likely unfollow the story as much as I was loving the concept and plot as a change in timing, new elements and incredible new quirk concept."
And this is my response -
"I have stated many times in the past within the author's notes that there will be smut, initially I was going to censor it on FFN, but decided not to as not to alienate the readers here, hence the introduction of the ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Line to allow people to bypass it. However, I have also decided that I will leave an asterisk (*) in the title name to mark which of these chapters are basically just the smut chapters so people can just outright skip them if need be. Also to note, there won't be many of them, as that was my initial goal when I first started writing this story a year ago.Will the smut chapters continue? Yes.
Will they be their own single chapters for those who wish to skip them? Yes.
Are they important to the overarching plot? Yes, because of consequences.
So, if you still unfollow the story because of my decisions for this story, I wish you luck and happy reading some of the other fine stories on FFN. If not, then I hope you do keep enjoying the story from here on out."
So yea, going forward, the smut will continue, but I will be making them single chapter's to allow those that don't wish to view them to just skip them. and all titles for said chapters will be marked with a '*'
Also, the inspiration for Momo's Dress is thanks to a very talented artist by the name of Leanna-Synth! Here's a link to her Twitter to see the image for yourself and give her a follow for all the awesome art she's been posting as of late!:
https://twitter.com/SynthLeanna/status/1450376319540371456?s=20
So pretty!
With that all said! Hold onto your butts - it's time for the latest chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Eri watched as the buildings and people sped by her window, ducking back down from her viewing spot every once in a while; eventually, she settled back down in her seat, still wearing an expression of worry as she felt the gentle hand of Inko placed softly on hers. Turning towards her grandmother, Eri's gaze met her grandmother's gaze, who was smiling down at the child, her thumb rubbing the back of the smaller hand as she spoke gently, "Still a little nervous, huh?"
"I-I'm worried about papa… a-and mama Momo… I thought they would be back this morning, but I haven't even gotten a m-message yet." spoke the small child, gently starting to tear up as Inko's smile shifted into a more somber one, gently pulling Eri close towards her.
"I know it can be scary when you don't hear from loved ones; your… papa was like that as well when he was your age." Inko said softly, hoping Eri didn't pick up on the pause. Despite how much Inko loved having Eri as a granddaughter, she was still coming to terms with referring to her baby boy as a father. Which, to be honest, was a typical response when your eighteen-year-old baby boy suddenly adopts a frightened and traumatized little girl due to some cosmic entity bringing them together.
If she ever met Hydaelyn, goddess or not, Inko Midoriya would have words with her.
Returning back to the issue at hand, Inko's attention returned to Eri, who had a look of surprise on her face, "P-papa was like that too?"
Inko smiled, memories of bygone days where a younger Izuku would often worry and fret over his mother when she was late from a shift or had to pull double duty without informing him. However, that was more of the case of it being an emergency, and she couldn't contact him, "Oh yes, your papa was such a worrier, even to this day, he's still the as he was back then, so rest assured that Izuku is going to be giving you lots of hugs as soon as he sees you, my dear."
"And it is an excellent trait to have in our line of work, young Eri." spoke up Nezu, who had been seated on a nearby seat not too far from the pair, sipping some tea which had been made and pulled out from a compartment beside him, "As I am sure your mother will have worried just as much as you have…" continued the dean, who watched as Eri slowly began to blush and fidget gently, due to the warmth she had felt from the love of not only one mother, but four in total.
"Now, I need to speak to your grandmother for a few moments, in private, sadly."
Eri's demeanor changed instantly; a worry crept along her face until she saw the nonplussed smile on the small creature's face, which eased her down a little, until eventually she yawned and nestled herself against Inko, resting her head on the woman's lap, and passed out into a gentle slumber.
Inko gently sighed, petting the head of her grandchild as she gave an emotionless expression look towards Nezu, "You didn't need to do that; now she'll be cranky later in the day."
"My apologies, but this is a rather serious topic and not meant for little ears to listen to, plus I'm sure she will be perfectly fine for the ball this evening, considering how tired she was from her little sleepover with the other girls last night." the dean said in an amused sort of tone, which made Inko gently rub the bridge of her nose, before looking back at the creature.
"Anyway, what did you wish to discuss?"
"Well, as it is not a total shock, it is about your son." Nezu said, taking a sip of his tea, placing the cup back on the saucer, and continuing, "Do you remember the outfit he was wearing during the match against Mr. Shinso? The one with the black armor and covering over his face?"
Inko shivered at the memory, seeing her baby boy not only point a gun towards one of his fellow schoolmates and fire a warning shot that barely missed the student's head, but also how the air seemed to grow colder while in that foreboding garb.
That and the recognizable dried bloodstains that covered the leather boots and fringe ends of the coat also did not help matters.
"I'll take your silence as a 'yes' then." Nezu said with another sip of his tea, "The reason I bring it up is because of how he acted during that match, before him shifting into his warrior kit and going toe to toe with All Might."
Now Inko looked worried, still gently rubbing the head of the sleeping child on her lap, "Is there something wrong with my Izuku?"
"Mmn… 'wrong' wouldn't be the correct term, but more a suspicion, really." Nezu said as he placed the saucer and cup back into the small cubby he had taken it from and brought his hands together and rested them on his stomach, "It seems our initial estimate of how much of Quinn's mental or physical being affects your son was a little more off than we had initially anticipated." Seeing the continued worry and now confusion on her face, Nezu cleared his throat, and his smile faded to a blank line, "Let me make it a little clearer, as I'm sure you noticed, that whenever Izuku has shifted into one of his various kits, a personality trait of his becomes more… prominent than the others, this is due to the nature of how Quinn gave his aether to your son."
Seeing the mother nodding her head in understanding, Nezu brought both of his hands up as if he was pondering, "However, this is where the problem stems from as well. The soul crystals used in giving the aether stored within had the life experiences of many previous wielders, but a couple of them were only wielded by Quinn himself. They, therefore, would have used more of his aether."
"W-what are you saying, sir?"
Nezu leaned back into his chair, hands still in front of his face as he looked her dead in the eye, "It's possible that Quinn's natural Miqo'te instincts were passed along to Izuku as well, how strong they are is still being looking into by Krile, but if our suspicions are correct… well.." the small creature shrugged, a mirthful smirk came across his lips as Inko felt a cold sweat run down the side of her face while the dean looked at her.
"Let's just hope you were expecting a lot of grandchildren, Ms. Midoriya."
"... I'm sorry, but I am not quite sure I heard you right." Inko spoke, her face vacant of expression as she was sitting on a rather lavish-looking couch, with Nezu beside her, while across from them, sitting on an equally lavish couch, was Mr. and Mrs. Yaoyorozu. All four adults drank tea and ate various pastries on a silver platter top of a mahogany wood table. Roland was standing off to the side, ready to serve his employer's and guests should the need arise.
Inko looked like she was still comprehending the scale of the new development, looking between the two parents across from her as she spoke up once again, "My son and your daughter… are engaged?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes." answered the patriarch of the Yaoyorozu family, "It is merely a formality we had to take to not only protect Momo but Izuku as well."
"Protect him?" Inko's vacant confused look now morphed into one of worry, "W-was something going to happen to my baby boy?"
The green-haired mother felt the warm hand of Mrs. Yaoyorozu placed upon hers, a small but sad smile on her lips as she spoke gently, "Sadly, it's tied more to the politics our family has been part of within the business world and… ugh, 'upper crust' if you will. While Momo has an excellent understanding of the in's and out's of all this…." The slightly older woman sighed gently, "Izuku is a little, and I mean no offense by this… but he is still naive when it comes to things of this nature, and there would be those that could exploit him and his helpful attitude, even doing so that could hurt both himself and Momo."
Inko listened intently to the mother of one of her son's lover's, processing what was being said, and after a few moments, "So, and I apologize if I'm overstepping, but by announcing the Izuku and Momo are to be married, at some point, would protect both of them from underhanded dealings within the business world?"
"Not only that, but it also means that Izuku would be directly backed by the Yaoyorozu corporation, not just in terms of support as a hero, but also other endeavor's later in life, should he choose." spoke up Momo's father, taking a sip of tea, "While views from the outside world will see the engagement as legitimate, those who actually know, would have our children decide when to actually have an engagement."
"You say that as a possibility there wouldn't be one in the future." came the voice of Momo, with Izuku standing beside her at the doorway with a small child neither of her parents nor Roland had ever seen before, clinging close to the boy as Izuku was gently rubbing her back and holding her up by one arm. As both hero students waltzed into the room, Inko and Nezu shifted on the couch to allow the two to sit comfortably in the middle, Izuku still holding Eri close to him as she had her head buried into his chest, clearly afraid of the newcomers.
Mr. Yaoyorozu cleared his throat, taking another sip of tea in the process, "My apologies, sweetheart, I didn't mean to infer such a possibility, but merely stating that with both of you training to be heroes, planning such an event would be a monumental undertaking."
'You don't know the half of it.' thought the other people sitting on the couch, as well as Mrs. Yaoyorozu. She already knew of the type of relationship that her daughter and future son-in-law were in.
However, her focus wasn't on the conversation but on little Eri. While she wore the mask of subtly quite well in most social interactions, within herself, she was jumping in joy at how cute and adorable her new granddaughter was.
Oh, she was going to spoil her!
Her husband would move his attention towards the young girl now, clearly intrigued at her presence, "And who is the little one you carry so fondly, Midoriya? The way she clings to you is almost similar to how Momo was when she was about her age."
"Father!" Momo said with a bright blush on her cheek, causing the adults and Izuku to chuckle lightly at seeing the usually calm heiress fluster like that. The only one who wasn't laughing was Eri, as she had turned slightly to stare at the older couple on the other couch, her ruby eyes looking between the both of them and then towards Momo, who was pouting slightly with her cheeks puffed up.
What happened next had filled the room with pure silence.
"Mama?" Eri asked gently, her eyes looking back to the now stunned Yaoyorozu's and the butler waiting off to the side of the room, "...A-are these my new grandma and grandpa?"
A cold sweat slowly ran down the side of Izuku's face as Eri asked the question. His eyes were wide in shock as he slowly, almost robotically looked towards Mr. and Mrs. Yaoyorozu. He found that Momo's mother was slightly blushing, her hands up to her lips and gasping at his daughter, possibly from how adorable Eri was being from just asking a simple question.
Which wasn't a surprising thing; Eriis cute and adorable.
His eyes soon shifted slowly to Mr. Yaoyorozu, and honestly, he kinda wished he hadn't. The older man was barely holding it together, his face pale, and Izuku swore he had gotten a few extra grey hairs just now. The chattering of his resting teacup on the saucer echoed in the silence of the room as he remained in such a state. At the same time, the hero-in-training slowly looked over to Roland.
Izuku was about to call out Roland's name in worry because it seemed the old butler was having a mild stroke. His lower right eye was twitching, and he swore he could hear the attendant mutter something about owing Hans money.
"Eri," Momo said, seeing the reactions of her parents as well, and was smiling gently at the small child, "These are my parents, so yes, they are your grandparents, would you like to introduce yourself to them, sweety?"
Eri looked frightened for a moment; her hand on Izuku's shirt tightened, which wasn't unnoticed upon all in the room, almost knocking the two older men out of their stupor to see such a reaction. However, with a gentle and motherly smile on her lips, Momo offered her hand, and Izuku whispered something gently into Eri's ear, which calmed down the child slightly.
Taking her mother's hand and being assisted by Izuku to be lowered down to the ground. Eri walked towards the space in front of her new grandparents, tightly holding onto Momo's hand before gently letting go, bringing her hands in front of her petite body and gently bowing to the both of them, "H-Hello… um... M-my name is Eri M-M-Midoriya… My papa is I-I-Izuku Midoriya, and um… my c-" She stopped, taking a small breath of air and her hands fidgeting as she looked to Momo, and then Izuku, both giving her warm smiles of encouragement as Eri turned around to face the older couple, "M-my quirk is t-touched based and v-very dangerous… I-If you could, p-please ask before coming closer to me as... I d-d-don't have control over it yet, and I don't want to hurt anyone."
The small child shook and looked up towards Momo, smiling proudly at Eri when she felt the warm hand rest upon her back. However, it did not spook her as bad as it usually would have since Eri knew her mother was beside her. Eri's attention was soon stolen away from the heiress as she heard the shifting of a soft cloth in front of her, and the small child would gaze upon the older version of her mother, smiling happily at her.
"Hello dear, my name is Ichika Yaoyorozu, and I am Momo's mother… would it be alright if I gave you a hug?"
Looking back to Momo, who softly told her it was her choice, and she shouldn't feel pressured to accept, and then staring into the wizened eyes of her new grandmother. For a few silent moments, nothing was said until Eri slowly nodded.
Ichika smiled brightly, gently moving a little closer and offering her hand to the small child, who took it slowly and was very slow and gently brought into a loving embrace. Eri gasped gently before hugging back, wrapping her arms tightly around her new grandma as the hug felt just as warm as grandma Inko's hugs. So she knew that this was a person to trust.
A gentle clearing of a throat soon broke Eri out of her spell as she turned to see the now kneeling older man beside both her and her grandma, "Hello little one, my name is Kanshiro Yaoyorozu, I am Momo's father, and would it be alright if I hugged you as well?"
Now, this was entirely new for Eri, as she hadn't had a 'grandpa' and was still a new concept to the child. But feeling the hold of both her mother and new grandmother in their warming embrace, Eri blinked a couple of times before slowly nodding, causing Kanshiro to smile just as warmly and embrace both the women and the little girl in a warm embrace.
Inko was doing her best not to cry a river (and sadly failing) while Nezu kept sipping his tea to the onlookers. Meanwhile, Izuku was smiling brightly at the scene, watching the small family for Eri grow larger and larger. However, unbeknownst to the child who was nuzzling against her mother in the hug and had her eyes closed, Izuku had caught the stern look coming from the Kanshiro towards him. This look screamed he had a lot of explaining to do.
Mentally, Izuku sighed to himself, 'Well, looks like I'm not out of the woods yet.'
Izuku grunted in frustration as he was once again fiddling with the tie that Momo had made for him not so long ago before the previous party head attended. After a few more quick twists and turns, the green-haired boy huffed as he looked over his new outfit, which he had to admit was much more simplistic compared to his suit before.
Staring back at his reflection, Izuku took in the rather pitch-black dress pants and shoes he was wearing, the fine leather polished to the point of reflecting back the bright lights from above with a brilliant sheen to them. His upper body was covered with a tailored dark green dress shirt, where it wasn't tight on his body; it was made of a fabric that felt like it was showing off the muscles he had built up over the months of training he had done, and still did to this day.
After all, Mog did say that he would have needed to do that to keep in shape.
While his arms felt bare, despite being covered by the silk-like material that his dress shirt was made from, Izuku was sporting a pitch-black vest that covered his torso, which clung to his chest and back and honestly felt like wearing body armor, despite how light it felt on him. A gentle knocking was heard from the door of the guest room he had been using to get changed in. Izuku's eyes were focused on the task at hand; he called out for them to enter, only to hear the softly of gasp coming from the very recognizable voice of his visitor.
"Izuku, it's almost time to head downstairs." Momo spoke with a soft tone to her voice, the clacking of heels echoing as she walked closer to her 'fiance', "Still having trouble with the tie?"
"I swear, whoever made ties is one of history's greatest villains." replied Izuku as he huffed and grumbled, finally giving up on the tie to turn around and let his frustrated look suddenly vanish into one of pure awe.
Standing before him was Momo, smiling gently at him wearing a deep red evening gown that not only clung to her curvaceous body but did open up the lower you looked down the skirt. The neckline formed a deep cut 'V' design that, while being modest in design, still showed off the young woman's plump breasts that seemed to be held up by the straps. She wore equally red evening gloves that not only defined the musculature and strength in her arms but showed the tiny bit of fat she had as the top hemline of the gloves sunk slightly into her skin just below her shoulders. Lastly, a silken collar was wrapped around her neck, with the emblem of the Yaoyorozu company logo stitched into the center.
Izuku's eyes slowly looked up to Momo's face as she was smiling gently at him, her cheeks slightly rosy from the way Izuku had been checking out what she was warming. He then noticed that she was wearing a little bit of makeup, specifically, eyeliner that really showed off Momo's unique eyes, with her lashes thickened and elongated that nearly sent his heart into a tizzy from the way she was looking at him. However, he had yet to notice the dark green jeweled earrings that hung off of her lobes.
Momo took a few more steps closer to Izuku, her hands resting on his chest as she looked over him with her onyx eyes before looking up to meet his gaze, "And here I thought you couldn't get any more handsome."
"A-and I didn't think you could improve upon perfection…." Izuku said with a deep blush, looking worried when Momo had leaned her head back in shock at what he said, blushing madly before her expression melted into a soft smile. She leaned up, gently kissing his lips softly.
It took everything for Izuku not to deepen the kiss and start something neither of them could stop.
Separating slightly, Momo's hands moved up his chest to grab the folds of the tie, slowly and silently beginning to tie it for him. The silence hung in the air for a few moments, while Momo suddenly spoke up, her eyes not leaving from her task, "I hope father wasn't too upset in regards to not telling him about Eri, I can tell he loves the fact he has an adorable granddaughter, but he often doesn't like big surprises like that."
Izuku shifted on his feet, chuckling in embarrassment, looking down and smiling softly at Momo, "Yeah… he wasn't too thrilled about that, but I did tell him the cover story Nezu gave us, and he did believe it, as well as he seemed to be really steamed when I mentioned of some of what Eri went through."
"You should have seen mother and Helga when we were taking Eri's measurements; I swore I have never seen either of them that upset before." Momo said, tightening the tie before smoothing it out, her gaze looking up into Izuku's, who at this point wrapped his strong arms around her.
"Were there any issues? I know Eri is still very uncomfortable with her scars unless it's with us or the others."
"Well…" Momo shifted slightly in his arms, smirking softly and looking away for a moment, "Helga is rather loud, and she did frighten Eri a little at first, but the measurements went well, though I did have to do them while Helga instructed me since Eri didn't feel all that comfortable around her."
Izuku sighed gently, nodding his head. Despite all the positive experiences that Eri was having since she came to UA, there were times she would go back to old habits, even around himself and the girls. Thinking that any slight she had made would leave her all alone again, and he could still see it even after the small child was held tightly in a group hug with her papa and mothers.
"Though, she did have a giggle when it was me and your mother's turn to be measured," Momo said amusingly, gently pulling away from Izuku and taking his arm into hers, both walking out of the guest room and beginning their trek towards the main ballroom.
"Oh?"
"Just some comments that Helga said is all, something along the lines of making baby clothes."
Izuku froze in his tracks, stunned at what Momo had just revealed to him. The sudden jolt caused Momo to stop as quickly as well, looking worried that she may have said something upsetting to Izuku, considering everything that has been revealed as well as their previous evening's "activities".
As Momo watched his facial expressions, Izuku's eyes darted slightly left and right while staring at the ground, his lips trembling as if not from worry, but as if he was saying something that she couldn't quite pick up. Slowly, he turned his head back towards her, the shocked expression now a gentle smile as he leaned in and gently pecked her lips, "S-sorry about that, just… the gravity of that kinda hit me for a second."
"S… So you're not opposed to the idea?" Momo asked, her arm tightening his own slightly while her other hand was brought up to her chest.
Izuku blushed, his fingers entwined with hers where their arms were connected, but he was smiling, "Not opposed to it at all, just… something to look forward to in the future, but um… not anytime soon, i-if that makes sense?"
Momo took in his words silently, blushing for a moment before smiling and resting her head on her shoulder, giggling gently at the thought of "what the future held".
As they began to continue their walk towards the entrance into the ballroom for which they would be introduced together, both students were shocked to see someone leaning against the wall beside the large doors. However, his presence wasn't a shock to see here, given that he was the only one to handle disabling Eri's quirk should it sprout up suddenly during the event, but also be stealthful as not to be noticed by, if not all of the guests.
No, what was a shock was seeing Aizawa, though it was partially covered by his scarf and goggles, was wearing a tailored tux, all black, of course. And as their teacher pushed himself off of the wall and looked towards them with the same stern look on his face, it was also rather odd seeing his hair look combed for once, as well as tied into a ponytail. Both Izuku and Momo both gave their teacher a respectable bow as the warrior of light spoke up as he was raising up, "Good evening, Mr. Aizawa. I can't tell you how wonderful it is that you could make it tonight."
Aizawa crossed his arms, looking at the green-haired boy, sighing gently, "You know how much I despise these events, Problem Child."
Izuku nodded gently, nervously chuckling as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, "Y-Yes sir…."
"Still, it is wonderful you did make it, Mr. Aizawa." Momo said as she placed her free hand on Izuku's arm that she was holding, rubbing it gently to help the young man calm down.
"Well, when Nezu asked me to attend this event to be one of the bodyguards for Eri, it only seemed logical." Aizawa sighed as he turned his body to the side to let the two of them pass, "All Might has already met up with your mother and Eri, and they are currently in a more private room where the number of people won't upset her. Also, the dean has seen fit to have… ugh… his 'Mooglesguard' flying around and making sure things are safe as well, being invisible, of course."
"Regardless, Eri not only has me, All Might, and Nezu with her, but I think Mr. Yaoyorozu also posted a few of the estate's personal security forces around as well. If anyone tries anything with Eri… well, I'd hate to be them." Aizawa smirked under his scarf, heading off to go back to the secondary ballroom where his 'VIP currently was located. As both students watched their teacher leave, they turned towards one another and shared a warm chuckle at how hard Aizawa often tried to hide the fact he cared deeply about not only his students but also Eri.
They soon stepped up to the double doors that would lead them towards the main ballroom, hearing the music beginning to die down, possibly from Aizawa reporting in that they were there when he left, Momo turned her head towards Izuku, a look of worry on her face, more than likely feeling nervous, "You ready, Izuku?"
"For this? More so than I was about twenty minutes ago since I have you here with me." Izuku said quietly and smiled at Momo, who in turn was blushing brightly once again and leaned up to place a chaste kiss on his lips.
Izuku smiled as he faced forward again, exhaling out a deep breath as the doors slowly opened before the pair and a whole new experience waiting for them.
"I take it your recovery is proceeding well, my student…." All for One spoke from the snowy TV screen above the bar counter, speaking towards Shigaraki as the young adult was nursing a drink. The villain had finally recovered from his rather "pitiful" invasion attempt at the USJ, and to say he was livid for being out cold for so long while the quirk he was "traded" with reattached his hand was an understatement.
He thought the removal of his "Decay" was a punishment by his sensei, considering how much of a shit show everything had turned out to be, but his master had informed him that he would have it returned once he was fully healed and told to make it a "learning experience". What also wasn't improving his mood was the fact that he had watched the same "cheater" win the UA Sports Festival; even if he looked like he died, the brat had still survived, according to a news statement released by the university.
His red eyes looked up to the screen, his face still covered by the hand of his father, "I can feel everything in my hand now, sensei… and eager to get started again."
"Started again?" the much older voice said with a mirth of curiosity in his tone.
"You told me to learn from my experiences, Sensei." The pale-haired boy shifted his head up, "And I have been doing some thinking after watching that stupid festival. I went into that large area thinking that I would win because I had a powerful party member and all those useless NPC's, thinking numbers would secure the win. But, I was wrong."
Despite the hand covering his face, the sneer of his lips could be felt in his voice, "I need quality over quantity. Yes, having numbers is important, but what's the point when they can't pull their weight on the DPS? No… no…" Shigaraki brought his free hand up to his neck and scratched at it slowly, "I-I need to… hold back… find some good party members, and grind. Make sure that we over-level and can withstand anything those pathetic heroes can toss at me."
There was a heavy silence in the room for a few moments; Kurogiriover-level, who had been dutifully cleaning a glass, also stopped and waited for his master's reply to what the young villain had said.
A few moments had passed once again before the gentle clapping, and low chuckle of his master echoed out in the bar, "Excellent, my boy. A fine plan indeed; you have learned well from your past mistakes."
The clapping soon stopped, silencing filling the room before All for One spoke once again, this time his voice stronger and much more commanding, "Kurogiri, bring my student to me twenty minutes from now so that I can return his quirk to him, then I have a potential ally for you to go and recruit to Tomura's plan, a reward for his ingenuity."
"Of course, sir," Kurogiri replied and bowed on the screen before it flickered off and another one turned on, revealing the doctor standing in front of one of the High-End Nomu's tanks.
"Doctor, how is the 'experiment'?"
"Ah, good evening, sir." The rotund older man said as he turned to the monitor and bowed to it, "The process has begun, and from what I can tell, everything is in the green. I do not have an estimated time for the full conversion, but that hooded man did say it would take a few weeks at most, given the nature of what is happening."
"That is fine, so long as nothing happens to it during the conversion, then continue your work and prepare some more high ends with the specifications Nabriales has given you." The voice from the monitor said sternly, the doctor bowing to it once again with a dark smile on his lips.
"Of course, my master, and I am eager to see the fruits of our labor. The "demonstration" at the sports festival was quite outstanding."
"Agreed, continue on, good doctor." The screen blipped off as the squat man slowly turned back towards the tube, the smile ever-present upon his lips as he looked over the changing form of the Nomu within the tank.
Before, it had been a hulking brute of a high-end, with some innate fire breathing quirk that had been improved upon by All for One with the addition of new quirks. However, whatever that crystal that had been infused into the chest of his creation was doing, was truly remarkable as the beast had grown a few sizes larger, though its bulk seemed to be lost as the Nomu was now more spindly looking, with its fingers fused into three rather large and deadly looking claws, with thumbs to match. A tail had begun to form at its backend. At the same time, its upper body seemed slightly more hunched over, and forming just underneath where its face and exposed brain met were two small horns that were growing slowly with each day that passed.
"You are truly a beautiful creature, aren't you?" spoke the doctor to himself as his eyes looked down to the new nameplate that had been added after the conversion had begun.
And on that nameplate, it read "Project: Primal; Code name - Ifrit."
Chapter 42: Pushing Beyond
Summary:
All Might is greeted with someone from his past he never expected, and Izuku finally becomes his mentor's successor! But is there opposition to him taking on the quirk?
Notes:
Hello all and Happy Halloween!
So a could of announcements going forward! First off, November 22 is the one-year anniversary of this story! :O
Holy smokes!
I just want to say beforehand that it's because of everyone reading his that has pushed me forward to be nearly writing a chapter per week. So thank you for the continued support!
However, with the upcoming Endwalker expansion, as well as my day job, after the 19th (I preordered muahahaha) Chapters may be coming out slower than usual, I apologize about this, but I do wish to see how the story goes and possibly incorporate it into mine. AS WELL, as bringing in the Reaper and Sage classes.
Yea... the media coverage that came out recently gave me some ideas, and going through their job stories will help flesh out how both classes will affect our green bean of light. As well as how they will appear or are unlocked. I can tell you right now, Shigaraki will unlock Reaper... that is a given, and Sage has already been decided, and yes, it is someone to join the poly.
Alright, time for the latest chapter! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Toshinori released a heavy sigh as he fumbled to fish his keys out of his dress pants. The evening had been quite long, and though he had to maintain his form for a little longer than his usual three-hour time limit, it hadn't taken that much of a toll upon his body with him excusing himself to use the bathroom and 'deflating' for a bit before 'buffing' back up and continue his mission.
And honestly, it was probably one of the best missions he had ever been on.
To say that he enjoyed his time watching over Inko and Eri was an understatement. The number one hero had an absolute ball with holding the small child up in his arms or dancing with her or her grandmother. While Toshi knew that Eri was still put off by many of the people within the private ballroom they were put into, he had to give it to the little girl to muster up her courage and go through with it.
When Izuku and Momo had finally finished what needed to be done in the main ballroom, he and Inko had a good chuckle at the way that Eri had dashed toward her 'parents' and the surprised look on the young man's face upon seeing how she was dressed up. Eri had been dolled up into a beautiful long-sleeved red dress that quite honestly looked fit for a princess, and even more surprising to Izuku was how they had done up Eri's hair to mimic that of Momo's.
During the happily little reuniting of the 'family', Toshinori looked to his left to see a slightly teared-up Inko. After offering her his handkerchief, the blonde hero quietly asked her if she was alright.
"It's just… I wish Hisashi was here right now to see our baby boy growing up."
It pained him to admit, but hearing Inko speak about her past husband did hurt at times. Though, he could not fault her, given how heroic the man was despite not becoming a pro hero himself. From the pictures and stories she had shared during their meetups for tea, Toshinori could see where Izuku got his heroic spirit from, and the boy's ever curly hair and the difficulty it took to cut it, something the boy also shared with deceased father.
Still, Toshinori would admit he may have been a tad jealous of Hisashi, considering the woman that he was currently infatuated with was still grieving over him. But, the pro hero could not fault her, especially given how long it took for himself to move past the death of Nana.
Gods, how he wished he could speak with her again and ask for advice.
Finally pulling out his house keys, Toshinori turned the knob and flicked on the light, tossing his dress jacket onto a nearby chair, and began to head towards the kitchen to fix himself a small meal before bed, as the food at the event would have been difficult to digest with his lack of a stomach.
As he passed by his living room, a voice from within the darkness situated on a chair called out to him that sent the number one hero reeling and buffed up at the stern tone of voice, "Good evening, Toshinori."
All Might blinked for a moment, deflating back down and coughing slightly, surprised to see this person before him after so many years apart.
Granted, it didn't help that the last time they talked face to face was after his fateful battle against All for One and the argument that happened afterward, something he regretted ever since then. But to see the man sitting down in one of his recliners after so many years caused the skeletal man to slowly smile.
"Mirai, it's been so long since we last saw one another… what are you doing here?"
The now identified man leaned forward, revealing the stern look upon his face as he looked up towards his former mentor as well as his favorite pro hero. His glasses were shining from the angle of the light from the lit hallway, but his eyes bore deep into Toshinori's bright baby blue.
What said next was far from what Toshinori would expect to hear from his former sidekick's lips.
"I realize you have been busy with teaching and searching for a successor for One for All at UA, but I have found you the perfect candidate."
Izuku fidgeted in his seat within Nezu's office, feeling the rather cold stare coming from the pro hero, Sir Nighteye. Honestly, after everything that happened over the weekend, this felt like a total one-eighty compared to the previously mentioned events.
The "engagement" party was a truly unique experience. The announcement and being given a suit jacket as a "welcome to the family" gift with the Yaoyorozu's crest made the "lie" more real in Izuku's opinion. While he was able to not stutter or be his awkward self for most of the night, it was clear that he had reached his limit within an hour or so. Thankfully, they were to be excused so they could spend the rest of the night with his mother and Eri, and to see the look on his face of seeing how much of a princess his daughter had looked, as well as poke some fun at Momo for having Eri's hair styled similar to hers.
All in all, it was a fantastic night.
The only setback was when they returned to the dorms. As Izuku went to put Eri to bed, Momo had opened her room to find Mina, Kyoka, and Tsuyu, all with stern-looking expressions on most of their faces (Tsuyu was croaking deep and threateningly) as Momo turned a deathly pale at the cold air in the room.
As if sensing danger and, like the person he is, Izuku had rushed towards Momo's room and soon stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the frowns of his other girlfriends. Their expressions soon changed when they saw the still "cleaned up" Izuku standing before them, all with blushes and doing their best to stay angry, but that didn't last long as both Izuku and Momo explained the situation.
Seeing the reasoning behind the engagement announcement, as well as an assurance by Izuku that he would properly propose to them when the time came. Granted, that had everyone get flustered at the mere thought of that scenario, and as well as everyone promising to do the same to one another, considering this was a polyamorous relationship and all.
Momo had broken out of her flustered state of mind to ask how the girls knew about the engagement in the first place when there was no media coverage. Kyoka pulled out her phone and brought up an image that was sent to her earlier that evening, one that showed off a smiling 'Princess Eri' and Inko standing under a banner where the lettering clearly had their names on it, plus it was taken at such a height that the words "engagement" could be made out, despite being partially cutting off the top part of the word.
Both Momo and Izuku slapped their foreheads to realize who took the said picture and didn't even realize what was in the shot. After some laughter at the expense of All Might's blunder, as well as talking about how cute Eri was, Izuku had left the room to head back to his own but also gave each girl soft kisses before doing so.
He couldn't help but catch from the corner of his eye the sight of Momo and Kyoka doing the same, while Mina gave a big hug to Tsuyu before she gave the others a soft kiss goodnight.
The next day, his plans with Mina had been altered sadly, as she was initially going to go to the beach with him and spend the day there relaxing. However, she suggested watching movies up in her room and seemed to be really excited about it, saying she wanted to show Izuku her favorite movie franchise.
Mina had explained it was a pre-quirk era movie series with some significant visual effects, some of which could compete with the present-day movies, believe it or not. What puzzled Izuku is that Mina hadn't told him what the series was about, but he trusted her to not pick something too over the top, as well as inform him if it would freak him out, right?
After the second movie, Izuku made sure never to have Mina suggest any more films for the class movie nights (at least with Eri around).
If there was one saving grace throughout the movie-a-thon that Mina had suggested to be their date, it was the fact that Mina had taken her seat in between his legs, her back resting on his chest while his strong arms were wrapped around her midsection. Anytime a scene was a little too much for him, Izuku would bury his face into the mess of pink curls that was his "Alien Queen's" hair, covering his eyes but also letting the scent of her strawberry shampoo waft into his nostrils before pecking her scalp with his lips, causing the pink-skinned woman to giggle and sigh happily, her arms resting on top of his.
For the rest of the weekend, it was spent looking after Eri or helping out his mother around the dorms while also studying with his fellow classmates or doing some light working out, which Eri would sometimes help with by sitting on his back as he did push-ups.
However, two significant issues came up during the weekend. For one, Mineta had constantly been glaring at Izuku, his eyes bloodshot and crying blood with an acquisitional look on his face thatIzuku had no idea why the ball-headed boy was so upset about.
The other issue was when a news report came on during Friday's dinner, some breaking news in the Hosu area where the Pro Hero Ingenium had been attacked by the "Hero Killer", Stain. Everyone had grown quiet at the announcement, most notably Tenya, whose expression looked like his entire world was crashing down, only to snap out of it when his phone rang, and the cries of his mother echoed out of his phone.
Tenya wasn't seen for the rest of the weekend, not until Monday morning where Izuku, Ochako, Tsuyu, and Todoroki had come up to him before the beginning of classes to see how he was doing. The blue-haired class rep waved them off with a smile on his face, telling them he was fine and that while his brother was severely injured, he was happy that it wasn't fatal.
Izuku kept staring at his friend, seeing the fake smile that Tenya had set off some red flags in his mind, knowing the smile was fake due to having donned such a look many times in the past. As to what the boy was planning, the young warrior of light had no idea.
It was then that Izuku snapped out of his reminiscing; the first half of the day had finished, and Aizawa called for Izuku to follow him to the dean's office, which was where he currently was with himself, Sir Nighteye, All Might (who was looking like he having a minor panic attack), and Nezu. All staring at him or glaring in the case of the former sidekick to the number one hero.
"Him? You chose him to be your successor, Yagi?" Nighteye had said with a stern look in his eyes as he pointed at Izuku, causing Izuku to flinch, "He is still just a child! He has no business taking on your mantle as he is still a first-year, while the one I suggested to you is already fit and ready to take One for All." As the lanky-looking pro hero kept shouting at All Might, he had failed to notice the blazing red eyes of Aizawa behind him with the underground hero leaning against a wall.
"Now, now… don't be writing off Mr. Midoriya like that." Nezu suddenly spoke up, pouring out some red tea and offering it to Izuku, who thanked the small white creature and began to drink it to calm his nerves, failing to notice the hardened look on All Might's face as he did so, "While I had my own skepticism at first, and it was nothing against you, young man."
"N-No sir, I believe you…." Izuku stuttered out, causing the bifocal man to scoff at the nervousness of the student.
"It was more the fact that his quirk just recently came in, and we had not known what the addition of One for All would have not only on his body but also his very newly awakened quirk." Nezu continued, smiling as always, but was focused as Izuku had finished his cup.
"And I have nothing against the boy himself, and I apologize if it does sound like I am, but you just made my point. He is still playing catch up to the rest of his peers in terms of mastering his quirk, let alone taking on another one-"
"Enough."
The room grew silent as All Might suddenly stood up, the smile usually worn on his face long gone as the buff man stood before Sir Nighteye, the shadows cast upon the buff body hiding his face minus the electric blue eyes of the number one hero. Everyone was shocked at how All Might was acting now; even Aizawa's usual deadpan look was gone.
"I appreciate the fact you were only trying to look for not only my best interests but that of this country. But, while I believe that young Togata is an outstanding young man and on his way to becoming a great hero in his own right. I chose young Midoriya here because he reminded me of myself when I was his age, and I had been given One for All. He is one of the most selfless, heroic young man I have ever met… for god's sake, Mirai… he rushed in to help someone in need while a bunch of other pro heroes and I stood around doing nothing, even after thinking for years that he was quirkless and tormented by the same person he was trying to save, as well being told by me that he couldn't be a hero without a quirk."
Nighteye blinked, looking past the buffed-up Toshinori Yagi to look at the sheepish student who was blushing like mad, being praised by his mentor and favorite hero.
"Not only that, but thanks to young Midoriya here, he helped me realize that the world cannot have a second 'All Might'."
"W-What?!"
"It was after the USJ that I was given the knowledge that while I did many great heroic things, I made the public complacent with the fact that there will always be an All Might when we all know for a fact that there can't be. This country cannot have a single pillar holding it up, not again."
All Might shrunk back down to his skeletal form suddenly, still staring at his former sidekick, "It's my goal now as a teacher here at UA, to train the next generation of heroes, the next generation of All Might's. Making a foundation to support the peace created over the last thirty-odd years, and improving upon what it truly means to be a hero."
Sir Nighteye could only stare at the skeletal form of the symbol of peace, taking in everything the man had just told him before his eyes slowly shifted towards Izuku, staring at the young man who fidgeted in his seat. The former sidekick looked back up to his former mentor, the shocked expression slowly morphing back to his stern one as he sighed gently.
"There is nothing I can do to change your mind about your choice of successor, is there?"
"No, and it's already too late." Nezu had spoken up suddenly before Toshinori could, "The tea that Mr. Midoriya drank had some of Yagi's blood in it, and the process of passing on One for All to the boy had already taken place."
Everyone now looked shocked towards the dean, most notably Izuku and Sir Nighteye. Aizawa sighed heavily as he rubbed the bridge of his nose as he pushed off the wall he was leaning on, "Was that really necessary?"
"Yes," Toshinori spoke up now, his gaze now landing on Izuku, "The only way to pass on One for All is if the previous wielder willingly wishes it, and to do so is to have the new wielder consume some sort of DNA. When my master passed it onto me, she had me eat a piece of her hair."
The three other humans grimaced at that revelation, their faces going a little green as Izuku nodded his head, "Y-Yea, I can see why putting your blood into the tea would have been a better idea… N-n-no offense, All Might."
The skeletal man chuckled lightly, "None taken, my boy, and from what Nezu had explained to me is that it will take about half an hour or so for my quirk to be absorbed into your body. Thankfully, today's hero class is going to be self-training and workouts, just so that everyone can ease back into the routine."
Izuku nodded, thinking for a moment and rubbing his chin for a moment before his eyes went wide, looking back up to Toshinori and smiling the brightest smile that anyone in the room had ever seen on the boy, "C-can we do a little quirk training as well?"
While Sir Nighteye was a little puzzled at the question, the others looked on in awe, realizing why the boy had asked for such a thing. It was no secret that, despite being blessed with the power of a goddess, that all Izuku had ever wanted was a quirk, even if it was "worthless" for hero work. After fourteen long years, the quirkless boy was no longer quirkless.
Knowing how it felt to finally have a quirk of his own, Toshinori placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder, his own smile warm in nature as he spoke gently, "Of course, you can do some quirk training as well. Now, it's almost the end of lunch; you should go have a good meal before the start of class, young Midoriya."
Izuku nodded with the brightest smile on his lips, tears threatening to pour out of his eyes like waterfalls. He leaped to his feet, bowing to everyone present before dashing off towards the cafeteria, his smile still ever-present as he made his way through the hallways.
However, back in the office, Sir Nighteye had risen to his feet, a furious expression on his face as he looked towards Toshinori, "You tricked me!"
"I-"
"No, it was not Toshinori that tricked you; if you are to blame someone, then point your hatred towards me." Nezu spoke up once again, causing the Pro Hero to whirl his gaze towards the diminutive being sitting at his large desk, "We would have been here for hours arguing back and forth about if Midoriya should inherit One for All, due to the sheer stubbornness of yourself wanting to see another singular person becoming the symbol of peace, as well as Toshinori's views that there needs to be multiple to take up the mantle."
"And why the bloody hell would we need multiple All Might's? All for One is dead!" Nighteye shouted loudly, slamming his hands onto the desk and staring down the 'rodent'.
"He isn't, Mirai…." Toshinori spoke then, his gaze cold and severe as Nighteye looked back to his former mentor, "Worse yet, it seems he found new 'tools' to use against us… as well as another threat that the dean has been talking to me about, and the cause for the creature that interrupted the sports festival."
"The long and short of it is, we will need Midoriya to face that new threat, and with the power of One for All flowing through his body, there is a good chance we can prevent the inevitable from happening." Nezu said with a grim tone to his voice, causing all three men to stare at him. Aizawa raised his eyebrow in curiosity as he walked towards the dean.
"And what is this threat then, Nezu?"
The white-furred creature leaned back in his chair, his no-descript black eyes staring at all three as he brought his hands up to his lips.
"The threat of the Ascians."
"Did anyone notice Midoriya seems to have a bit of spring to his step today?" asked Kirishima as he was stretching beside some of the other guys as well as a couple of the girls, crossing one arm over his chest and pulling it closer to his body with his other one, "It's like he won a lottery or something."
"Oui, his brightness is almost blinding today," spoke Yuga, who was sitting on the ground and stretching out his arms to try and grab his toes, even with the added difficulty of his belt to suppress the adverse effects of his stomach laser. The french boy leaned back up with a heavy huff of breath and looked towards Kyoka, who was doing some stretches with the aid of Toru, "Mademoiselle Jiro, did anything happen this morning or during lunch?"
The punk rocker turned her attention away from Toru and their little discussion about music to look at the blonde boy, then turn her gaze back towards a currently running Izuku, sprinting around the track of Field Sigma while a bunch of their classmates were doing some personal exercises within the middle, "I honestly have no idea, I didn't see him until lunch was about over and since then he's been smiling like a dork since."
"Perhaps it was because of Dean Nezu?" Spoke up Momo, who had created an arm strengthening device to pull back and work her muscles, "All Might had asked to speak with him in the dean's office just before lunch, so maybe something good happened?"
"Usually, when one enters that dark place, they normally do not come out of it with such a shining light." Tokoyami had said in between his reps of sit-ups, with Dark Shadow holding down his feet.
"Perhaps it has to do with the tall guy over with All Might and Aizawa?" said Kaminari, who was also doing the same exercise as his bird-headed classmate, though it was Sero who was holding down his feet.
"That's Sir Nighteye; he used to All Might's sidekick, Kero." Tsuyu spoke up, stopping her jump rope exercises along with Mina and Shoji. The frog-like girl brought a finger up to her chin as she watched Izuku make his possibly fifth lap around, the sweat glistening off of his body, "Perhaps it had something to do with the internships we will be discussing tomorrow, and maybe he's being scouted?"
"It makes sense," spoke Shoji, standing tall beside Tsuyu and Mina, "His performance was outstanding, especially that last fight against the 'monster'."
"Wow, Izuku is so lucky! I bet he's going to ask him after today's hero class!" Mina said with glee, inwardly cheering for her boyfriend.
"It's possible, but Izuku is still a first year, and not that I doubt Izuku's abilities, but-"
"Hold on! Somethings wrong!" Kyoka interrupted Sero as her ear jacks rose up, frowning as she watched Izuku begin to slow down, breathing heavily and his hands on his knees, the sweat dripping off of his face as a few of the other students that were jogging with him stopped and looked on in worry, "Izuku's heart rate just skyrocketed!"
Before anyone could say or do anything, a blinding light shone forth from Izuku, as well as the loudest and painful shout to ever come out of him.
Izuku had been excited to try out his new quirk ever since he left the dean's office, to think that he, Izuku Midoriya, would finally have a quirk! Not only that but also the quirk of All Might to boot!
He knew he had some time to kill during the rather lax heroics class today, so Izuku figured that a few laps around Field Sigma would loosen him up before he could finally test out the power of One for all. He was joined by a couple of his classmates, Ochako and Ojiro, while Tenya had been focused on racing around the field at top speed, clearly doing some of his own training.
So time progressed, and as he was rounding out his fifth lap, both Ochako and Ojiro fell back halfway through the third lap. He was panting and sweating slightly, but as he was coming around the bend, Izuku suddenly stopped, gasping for air, and a painful agony enveloped his body.
He could barely hear the shouts from his classmates until the pain was just too much, and he began to shout bloody murder to the heavens, not yet noticing the blinding light his body was giving off as he collapsed to his knees, hacking and coughing. He opened his eyes; for some reason, the outer ridges of his vision were blurry and whited out as he suddenly coughed again.
What he saw next truly scared him.
Specks of light had been coughed up when it should have been either blood or saliva, and they were glowing brightly even as they laid on the ground. Izuku's body continued to ache in extreme pain as both his vision and hearing started to blur out more, the muffled screams and shouts growing dimmer and silent as he dug his fingers into the dirt below him, coughing up more of the specks of light.
"Midoriya."
A voice, stern and cold, echoed in his ears as he lifted his head up, wincing in pain, "F-fray?"
"We do not have much time; you have taken on too much light aether; it is corrupting you."
"C-Corrupting me?" Izuku said softly as he coughed harshly once again; more specks of light splattered against the ground as his body wrenched in pain.
"I'll explain it later; you must expel the excess amount of aether quickly."
"H-How can I do that?"
"You must break past the limits of your abilities and body. I think the red mage is the safest to do so."
Izuku blinked for a moment before gritting his teeth and pushing past the pain to focus and 'bring out' the red mage kit. The brief flash of light and Izuku could see his fingers were covered in what looked like golden clawed gloves with wrappings traveling up his forearm before disappearing into a sleeve of a dark brown with golden markings and trim etched out.
He also noticed the rapier now in his hand was more bizarre than anything he had seen before. What should have been a beautiful sword of fine craftsmanship looked to be something resembling a walking cane with a pointed tip at one end that looked almost on fire, while the hilt of the 'blade' had a rather bulbous pummel that held a rather large red jewel. What was most strange was the bright red "teardrops" that appeared above the handle, floating close to the weapon and the points angled towards it, acting as some kind of guard for his hand, though part of one of the drops had phased through his wrist and ground due to the angle for which he was holding it.
In his left hand, it seemed that the crystal focus was made of the same material, though it looked like an odd sort of flower with a ribbon of runes swirling around it.
With a mighty grunt, he had brought his hand holding the rapier up and dug the pointed tip into the ground, lifting himself up onto his feet as he called out for everyone to stay back. Izuku couldn't see behind himself, but everyone looked worried or in pure awe at what was happening to him.
"F-fray… how do I…. push past my limits…?" Izuku muttered low to himself, the pain in his body growing more in agony by the second as he panted hard.
"The ending to a difficult battle, the reality of losing those you admire or love, the disgust of not going all out to save everyone. The rush of turning a defeat into victory. Use those feelings to empower your body and go beyond your limits." Fray said with a determined voice within Izuku's mind. However, even the struggling student could imagine the smirk on the shade's lips as he said one final thing.
"Or, as I'm sure you heard your mentor tell you numerous times, go Plus Ultra."
Izuku smirked, pushing his arms and hands up and brought the rapier and crystal together with that audible click sound; however, it was floating in place while his arms were crisscrossed on either side of the weapon, the clawed hands poised around. There was a silence in the air until two prominent symbols appeared on each side of his hands, and about a solid ten meters away, identical symbols appeared on a vacant part of the ground.
Izuku began to twist his arms around the crystal focus, each time his hands went past a certain point of the crystal, a ball of pure light shot out of the symbol and flew directly towards the enlarged one on the ground, his own body dimming and more runes within circles appeared on the ground until a giant runic circle encompassed the runes that had begun to hum with power.
"Limit Break…"
Izuku's voice boomed out, a tinge of an ethereal-like tone weaved into his words as his classmates and teachers looked on in shock as the red mage grabbed the staff and broke them into the focus and rapier once more, his arms swung wide as he bellowed out.
"VERMILLION SCOURGE!"
As the words left his lips, the two points of light suddenly burst. Two large red pillars of pure magic shot up into the sky with a massive concussive explosion, nearly knocking down everyone onto their butts as the air around fizzled with stray sparks of red magic, causing some of the students' hair to frizz up.
The dust from the attack soon settled, leaving two giant scorch marks where the pillars of light had shot out from as well as leaving the runes that surrounded them scorched to the earth as well in such fine detail. The thud of a body collapsing onto the ground grabbed everyone's attention as everyone looked on to see Izuku passed out, sweating profusely and panting hard.
A sudden cry of Midoriya's name rang out as teacher and student alike rushed to his side while Sir Nighteye stood frozen and aghast at the destruction caused by the boy.
Just what the hell was Izuku Midoriya.
Elsewhere, as the green-haired boy was dealing with the agony of overcoming his limits, within a darkened alleyway, a dark armored being grunted and collapsed against some trash cans, his body wracking with pain, and he cried out in anguish to no avail as people ignored the cries for help.
The darkness swirled around him as purple hues with small red static charges pulsed around him as the odd person in pain cried out once again before collapsing onto his hands and knees, panting and sweating hard.
As quickly as it came, the pain suddenly subsided; his breathing was hoarse and hollow as his clawed gauntlets dug into the cement. He spat onto the ground; his curly and bright magenta hair clung to his forehead as he panted.
"Ooooo, what do we have here?" a feminine voice could be heard, followed by a giggle from in front of him, as the armored individual slowly looked up, still recovering from his ordeal, his cat-like magenta eyes soon found a similar pair of golden ones looking straight at him. The girl with messy buns on the sides of her head was wearing a beige cardigan that was obviously larger on her body, as well as a blue skirt that showed off her legs while she was crouched down in front of him with pure black stockings that clung tightly to her calves, revealing a little plumpness to them while she wore dirty brown dress shoes the were covered in muck and… blood?
The stranger in the armor watched as the girl's lips slowly widened with a cat-like grin, showing off her elongated canines as she giggled once more, "My name is Himiko Toga! And your eyes are like mine, and also really pretty!"
Chapter 43: A History Revealed
Summary:
Izuku wakes up in the infirmary after an odd dream about two brothers.
Notes:
And here we are with Chapter 43!
Sorry for the lateness, been dealing with IRL stuff, plus had some net issues that kinda bogged down this chapter.
Be sure to look forward to the 22nd as that is the one year anniversary of "Bearer of the Light"! :O!
So, let's keep this short and get right to the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"Brother! You dare try and defy me? Even after I gave you your quirk to become stronger?" A rather built, white-haired man stood before a fallen, bloody man who shared his hair color. The man on the ground was breathing harshly and coughing up blood as he stared hard at the man looming over him.
"You are nothing but a villain, brother! Taking their powers with little to no regard for the lives you've destroyed!"
"HA! I have brought ORDER to this chaotic world!" Boomed the bulky man as he raised his hands up; though his eyes were currently covered in darkness, the smile he was giving the fallen man was dripping with smugness and confidence.
"The only order you brought was YOUR OWN!" screamed the bloody and thinner young man, struggling to get up.
"And why not? Why let the quirkless try to dominate us? We are the superior beings! We are the next step in evolution!" bellowed the man in triumph, cackling loudly for a few moments before calming himself down, staring at his bloodied brother while raising a single hand up towards him, "Well, if you wish to oppose me, perhaps I should just take back my gift and let you die as the pathetic worm that you are."
As the last words of what the larger man said passed his lips, black tendrils suddenly shot out of his hand, impaling the barely living brother with a sickening squelch, lifting him off the ground as the blood began to pool underneath him. The more giant man's smile was broad and foreboding until it slowly morphed into one of shock, then of anger, "W-what foolishness is this? I cannot take your quirk!"
The sad yet struggling chuckle that came from the man dangling in the air could be heard as he was wheezing heavily, "T-Turns out… I had a quirk as well, brother… to pass on my quirk if someone ingests my… DNA… and it cannot be forcibly taken."
"... No…" The burly man brought back the dark tendrils, letting his brother fall to the ground with a heavy thud, still chuckling with a harsh cough of blood sputtering out.
"W-When you forced that 'stockpile' quirk upon my body… they combined… and became something glorious, brother." The bloodied man kept coughing harshly now, the last breaths of life slowly escaping his body as the taller man slowly began to walk towards his brother, his arm that summoned the tendril's now morphed into a giant blade.
"It's… long gone now… given to someone I know that will defeat you… or will continue to let it grow... " The dying man looked up to his unamused brother, the sword arm slowly rising up above him, "Would you like… me to tell you what I named it, brother?"
"...Fine, I'll humor you; what did you call your quirk?"
The nearly dead brother chuckled softly, smiling slightly as more blood slowly drooled out the corner of his mouth, "It's called… One... for… All." The younger-looking man's chuckle slowly faded onto the wind as the sword suddenly came down, as the world suddenly went black.
And that was when Izuku woke up.
The young student gasped for breath, panting heavily as his upper body shot up, beads of sweat ran down his face and chest as his eyes were wide and his pupils were constricted tightly, the muffled voices of those in the room trying to calm him down and lower him back onto the bed.
It took him a few moments to calm down, and after blinking his eyes, he could see the worried looks of Toshinori, Aizawa, and Krile looking at him. Izuku's emerald eyes slowly looked around the room and realized he was back in the infirmary, "W… what… what happened?"
"It seems there was an unforeseen issue when One for All was absorbed into your body." the sudden voice of Nezu spoke up as the small rodent had pulled a chair close to the medical bed and climbed up to stand beside Krile, "Tell me, what do you remember?"
Izuku looked down to his feet, frowning as he was deep in thought, "I remember pain… such excruciating pain… like my entire body was on fire. T-Then I heard Fray from within my mind. He said I had taken on too much 'light' aether… and it was corrupting me?"
Though Nezu remained unfazed by what Izuku had just revealed, both teachers of UA looked on in shock and confusion, while the little elderly nurse's face went pale in dread. Aizawa had seen her reaction and was staring hard at her for a few moments before speaking up, "You know what he's talking about, don't you?"
As all eyes shifted towards the petite elder, she frowned hard at Aizawa's own before relenting with a heavy sigh.
She was getting too old for this crap.
"Fine… Yes, I have heard of the light 'corrupting' people before. Long story short, during one of his final adventures, Quinn had traveled to a place that was besieged by monsters that were made entirely of the light. They were practically mindless killing machines, hunting down anything with aether in their bodies to consume or, worse, corrupt and create more of their kin. They were called Sin Eaters."
Krile crossed her arms over her chest, "Suffice it to say, they were tough to kill, so the fact that Fray was able to prevent Midoriya here from becoming an unstoppable killing machine that would doom this world is a godsend."
The room fell silent at that new tidbit of information, especially to the young man currently in bed whose face also went deathly pale at the realization had he not acted as quickly as he did, then many people, including his classmates, would have been slaughtered.
"Well, thankfully, you acted quickly as you did to prevent that outcome. But was there anything else you remember, Midorya?" asked Nezu, all eyes returning to the boy who snapped out of his stupor when asked the question.
"Um… not so much during the 'limit break'... but I had an odd dream before I woke up."
Aizawa rolled his eyes at the naming conventions of his problem child of a student, while Toshinori chuckled lightly for the same reason as they both calmed themselves and listened to the boy describe his "dream".
"There were… two men, one was burly and imposing, while the other was frailer looking and severely beaten. Um, they had white hair and were brothers, apparently. They were talking about how the bulkier one had 'imposed his will' by… as strange as it sounds, by taking their quirks."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Toshinori's expression soon widened in shock and awe, his mouth agape as he was finding it hard to breathe as Izuku continued on with his tale, "He tried to take back a… 'gift'... which was a quirk given to the frailer man. But there was an issue… He couldn't, and dying brother began to chuckle; I think he was younger than the much larger guy, so he told his older brother that while everyone thought he was quirkless, apparently he had a quirk that could pass itself onto another person by consuming DNA, and the second quirk 'given' to him was a stockpiling one, both fusing into one new quirk… which…."
Izuku looked to his mentor, as did Aizawa and Krile, "Before he died, he gave it a name and told his brother what it was called... One for All."
Toshinori sighed heavily, moving to sit in a chair against the wall and bringing his hands up to his chin, his bright blue eyes betraying his feelings as he was deep in thought for a moment, before speaking up somberly, "I had no wish to bring this up after such a traumatic experience for you, young Midoriya, but it seems that time will not allow this."
"Or Her will, I might add." Nezu suddenly spoke up, catching everyone's attention, "Those blessed by Hydaelyn have in the past been known to not only see the past in clear detail but also foresee future events before they play out. This 'gift' is called the "Echo", and Quinn's was of the past, so it would make sense that Midoriya's is similar, yet different."
Aizawa suddenly spoke up, though his expression was unchanged. The apparent concern for his student was evident in his voice, "Different how?"
Nezu looked over to the tired teacher, his everlasting smile the same as always, "When Quinn got these 'visions', they would happen out of his control, at the most random of times and would cause the most horrendous of headaches if I can recall correctly,"
"Happened too damn much in his earlier adventures if you asked me," Spoke up Krile with her arms across her chest, "By the time I met him, they were a rare occurrence, popping up once every few months."
"Midoriya's is different in the fact it happens when he dreams apparently, from what I gathered in our little one on one's, you experienced moments of Quinn's life and hardships before in this way, correct?" Nezu asked, looking towards the boy who nodded in response, "The Echo cannot harm him, but depending upon the experience, it can be a little jarring."
"So, how does this tie into One for All and the… 'Echo' you mentioned?" asked Aizawa, leaning against a wall now.
"And why did One for All give so much aether that could potentially corrupt Young Midoriya?" asked Toshinori, snapping up in his seat as Izuku had that question suddenly running through his mind as well.
"Ah, yes… that is another thing we should discuss." Nezu said as he clambered up onto the medical be Izuku was lying in and stood up straight, "What I say stays in this room, as it is rather… baffling, to say the least. Am I understood?"
Everyone nodded quickly, given the rather severe tone of voice Nezu had taken. Once he got their acknowledgment, the diminutive dean smiled brightly once again.
"Our story begins when Quinn was traveling towards Earth, moving towards the cries of an infant Midoriya. " Nezu said, smiling at the slightly blushing young adult, "This journey was not a short one, and what may have felt like twenty or so minutes to him, centuries had passed for both this planet and Eorzea, six hundred to be exact."
"Near the end of his journey, I was contacted by Hydaelyn herself and tasked to seek out the world that the Warrior of Light was heading towards. Thankfully, we Moogles have traversed the expanse of time and dimensions quite regularly, so the journey to earth allowed me to arrive on Earth nearly two centuries before Quinn's arrival."
Everyone, save Krile, listened in shock as Nezu continued to smile, "While I found this world beautiful, it was lacking one major thing if Quinn or whatever the cat man was planning on doing to succeed. Aether. This planet lacked the aether to properly support the abundance that Quinn carried not only within himself, but the soul stones he had taken with him."
"S-so what did you do?" asked Izuku, his fingers twitching as if he was ready to write down everything Nezu was saying.
"Why, I gave this entire planet aether, my boy!" Nezu raised his arms up as if he was giving a happy announcement, "To do such a thing, and allow this planet and its flora and fauna to begin making their own aether, one would need a significant amount of aether to cause such an effect, like say… the near-complete aether pool of a Moogle King?" Nezu said as he leaned into Izuku with an almost gleeful look in his eye.
Izuku gasped softly, realizing what the dean was inferring to, "I-Is that why you-?"
"Why am I currently as huggable and adorable as I am now? Absolutely!" Nezu interrupted, ignoring the scoff of both Krile and Aizawa, "It also created the giant Aetheryte crystal that is housed deep underground far beneath our lovely university, where the home of the Moogles resides."
"One moment," Aizawa suddenly spoke up, rubbing his chin, "This was two hundred years ago from this current date, correct?"
"Give or take a few months, but yes… did you figure it out, Shouta?" Nezu said with amusement as the underground hero's eyes slowly began to widen.
"... No, that's illogical."
"What? What's illogical?" Asked Toshinori, who looked a little frightened and confused until Aizawa looked at him and spoke.
"This happened during the dawn of quirks."
The room grew silent as the words from the tired teacher sunk into both Toshinori and Izuku; their eyes widened as Nezu chuckled lightly and gently nodded, "Yes, what I failed to know about was how… "effective" my aether would have on the populace of this planet. Admittedly, I had deduced that every man, woman, and child would gain a little bit of aether that would continue to grow over the generations, so much so that by the time Quinn had made it to Earth, both the planet and its people would have enough aether to support not only himself but perhaps at the time develop magitek possibly."
"What I failed to realize was that it would cause some of the people to develop quirks, based upon both the umbral and astral forms of aether that flowed from my body. And over time, as the aether within their descendants grew, so did the amount of 'quirked' people as well as the more powerful the quirk every generation. The problem is that the aether within their bodies wasn't growing over time like I hoped, but a little bit was added with each descendant." Nezu said, pacing up and down the bed, making sure not to step on Izuku, who was still listening in shock. He snapped out of the stupor and frowned at Nezu.
"Is that why Eri is so important to Hydaelyn?"
Nezu turned his attention to Izuku, meeting the fierce look of a protective father, which he waved off gently, "No no, Hydaelyn's interest in Eri is that she is one of her blessed children, similar to you and Krile here. And before you ask it of me, yes, Eri being the first human I've encountered to naturally be making aether within her body is somewhat important to me in the long run, but she is also a person and a daughter of one of my beloved students as well as an honorary Moogle."
Izuku continued to stare into the ever-pitched black eyes of the dean for a few more moments before relaxing; Nezu bowed his head toward the young man as a clearing of a throat caught the dean's attention.
"Sir, how does this all tie in with One for All?" Toshinori asked, his arms crossed over his chest, not in frustration, but to relax his aching bones.
"Ah yes, the million yen question. Well, it's quite simple. When the elder brother had given his sibling the stockpiling quirk, it fused not only with his original quirk but also with the aether contained within his body, and over time… while its power grew, so did the amount of aether. Normally, a body will have limits to how much aether they can hold within themselves; what you experienced was when that limit went far past its extremes."
"S-so, this could happen again?"
"It's possible," Nezu said, his tiny paw rubbing his chin, "However, this was more of an 'overflowing cup' scenario, hence why you had to immediately use the excess and passed out once it was gone. It will be something to keep an eye on from now on, but for now, you should be safe."
"That's good," Izuku sighed in relief, leaning back for a moment before his eyes widened and he shot back up again, "But Eri-"
"Eri won't have to suffer what you experienced," It was Krile that spoke up next, a small smile on her lips, "Her body would have the 'limit' set already, so there is no worry in that regard."
"Indeed, now…" Nezu turned towards Toshinori, who sat up straight at the sudden attention, "Perhaps it is time to tell Midoriya here about the older brother he saw and the legacy he has inherited, wouldn't you agree, Yagi?"
The confused look on Izuku's face was all the skeletal number one hero to sigh heavily and begin his tale of the two brothers and their two century-long conflict.
"I hope Izuku is alright… I never saw him that exhausted after using a spell before." spoke up Momo as she was sitting on the couch down in the commons room, gently petting the head of a sleeping Eri, who was resting her head on her lap.
"Same, but we have to let the teachers do what they need to do." Kyoka said as she sat on the opposite side of the heiress, gently twirling one of her jacks around her finger with her other arm resting behind Momo's neck and shoulder.
"Whatever it was, it looked really painful," Ochako said from one of the other couches, leaning back and munching on a single mochi she had saved from lunch earlier in the day, "Plus, the power he was giving off was super bright and overwhelming, it was hard to breathe even near him."
"Maybe he got one of those um…." Kirishima was snapping his fingers, his usually spiked-up hair now hanging down with a towel around his neck since he just got out of the shower from his evening workout with several of the other guys and Bakugo.
"Quirk Evolutions?" Mina spoke up as she, along with Toru and Yuga, had exited from the kitchen after cooking popcorn to munch on as a pre-bedtime snack. Kirishima looked to his pink-skinned best bud and nodded his head rapidly.
"Yea! Thanks, Mina! He could have gotten a Quirk Evolution! I mean, I heard it happens when someone gets either messed up or under extreme stress, but considering when he faced off against that thing at the sports festival, even taking that hit for Baku-bro! That was super manly!" The shark-toothed young man beamed loudly, completely missing most, if not all, of the girl's unmistakable look of disgust at the mere mention of Bakugo's name.
"It's possible, but I'm sure that UA has the equipment to check that out or call in a quirk specialist." the voice of Todoroki came down the stairs and nearly caught everyone by surprise as he casually walked up towards the gathering group, holding a bowl of soba, "I remember when I first made a glacier that it nearly kept me in bed for a half a day to recover."
"Wait? Did you have one too, Todo-bro?"
"No, but it was the first time where I came close to one, according to the specialist. Since then, with some time and practicing, the toll it took on my body drastically lessened." Todoroki continued on, ignoring or letting the nickname given to him by Kirishima pass, before slurping up some of his cold noodles silently and with his expressionless face still present.
Yuga rubbed his chin in thought as he sat down on another couch with Toru, the bundle of clothes nuzzling up to him as his other hand went to rest around the invisible girl's side, "Je me demande… what would happen if Monsieur Midoriya were able to just to.… hmm…." The Frenchman grumbled, even with his decent skills in speaking and reading Japanese, he would still have issues in trying to pronounce words or think of proper terminology.
Thank the heavens for his too beautiful to see girlfriend.
"Spam it over and over again and just take the fun out of being a hero?"
Yuga turned towards Toru, though he couldn't actually see her eyes, he still somehow was able to gaze into them as he gave her a bright smile, "Oui! Thank you, my dazzling lumière."
The giggle and more rustling of clothes as well as seeing Yuga's cheek sunken in slightly revealed that Toru was nuzzling her cheek with his, her arm sleeves draped around her neck.
Before anyone could say anything, a loud heavy metal tune could be heard coming from underneath Kyoka; the music had nearly startled everyone from how loud it was, even muffled, as well as it stirring Eri awake from her short nap on Momo's thighs. Quickly tilting her body to fish it out of her back pocket, the punk rocker's eyes gazed at the name of who was calling her, and the smirk she had on her face faded as she answered it, "Oi, where the hell are you?"
Everyone watched on in silence as Kyoka's stern expression soon morphed into one of worry and then relief, "So, everything is alright now? What the heck happened, Green?"
A few more moments passed before Kyoka sighed softly and nodded, "Alright, we figured it was something like that... Hmm?... Eri? Yea, she just woke up, one sec." Kyoka said and slowly brought her phone towards the still half-asleep child, gently rubbing her eyes, "Hey sweety… papa is on the phone, and he wants to talk with ya." the punk rocker spoke gently with a smile as the announcement that Izuku was on the phone and wished to talk to her. Quickly snatching up the phone, the small child brought it to her ear.
"H-Hello? Papa?"
"Hey, pumpkin…" Izuku's voice was soft and sounded just as tired as hers; Eri's eyes slowly opened as Izuku continued, "Sorry I couldn't be there this evening, Papa's quirk went a little overboard."
"A-Are you alright, Papa?!" Eri suddenly shouted, tears beginning to form at the corner of her eyes, and that nearly had everyone about to jump and calm her down. What the small unicorn had failed to realize was that her tiny finger slipped and hit the speakerphone option, making the private phone call now more public.
"I'm fine, sweety…." Izuku chuckled softly as Eri began to calm down, "It happens to people as they grow older, sometimes their quirks get really powerful, and it surprises them. Granny just wants me to stay in the infirmary tonight to make sure nothing else happens."
"B-but, what about storytime? O-or checking under the bed for monsters?"
"I'm sorry, sweety, you know how Granny is when we don't listen to her…." Izuku said with a bit of sadness in his voice, he hated when Eri would get upset like this, or the usual way things would happen didn't pan out, and it nearly broke Izuku's heart, "But, I know your mothers would love to read you a story! I bet they could come up with something far better than the ones I tell you."
The girls blushed softly, with each wearing a gentle smile on their lips as Izuku continued, "And they can make sure the monsters aren't under your bed as well. If the monsters thought I was scary, good lord, should they ever come across your mamas, right?"
"Mhmm! My mamas are super strong!" Eri said proudly, giggling gently as well as did everyone that could listen in. Izuku passed off the additional voices as his friends and lovers just reacted to Eri's giggles, "Now, I need some rest, and I'll see you in the morning, pumpkin. Mr. Aizawa said you can be with us the whole day to make up for me being stuck here. How does that sound?"
Eri's only response was to smile brightly and gasp, clutching the phone tightly in her tiny hands. It wasn't rare for Eri to join Class 1-A in their daily school lives, but she was only usually there for the first homeroom period before her Grandma came to pick her up, and she would go to her own studies. She looked towards her mothers and pseudo Aunts and Uncles with glee before she looked down at the phone, "I-I can?"
"Yep, and he'd even said he'd make sure there were some apple jellies in the room for snacks between classes for you as well."
And now, her "Unca Aizawa" was her favorite.
Izuku yawned gently, obviously tired, as Eri giggled at the funny noise he made while doing so, "You sound sleepy, Papa!"
"Yea, I think I'm going to turn in shortly; you have a good night, ok, Eri?"
"Mhmm, sleep well, Papa! I love you!"
Izuku chuckled softly, "I love you too, princess." and after a few moments of silence, the call ended. A sniffle coming from one of the couches caught everyone's attention as Kirishima was tearing up with the biggest grin on his face.
"T-That's so manly."
Everyone sighed heavily as Kyoka got her phone back from her daughter, pushing herself off of the couch and standing before Momo and Eri, "Alright munchkin, it's time to have a bath and get ready for bed."
"O.k., Mama." Eri said with no hesitation, first leaning up and kissing Momo's cheek and hugging her tightly, "Good Night, Mama Momo."
The heiress smiled, hugging and kissing the top of Eri's head, "Good night, sweetness. I'll see you upstairs to check under your bed and perhaps lay a few traps."
Eri beamed a happy smile at her before slowly climbing off the couch and going over to hug and kiss Mina's cheek, "G'night, Mama Mina!"
Mina giggled and gave her daughter the biggest of hugs before kissing her cheek, then gently maneuvering her head to lightly tap one of her thin yellow horns against Eri's small but more stubby one, "Good night, Eri! You need anything, you give me a buzz, ok?"
"If she can wake you up, of course." Kyoka ribbed, which caused everyone to chuckle, even Eri, while Mina looked at her 'girlfriend' and puffed her cheeks out at her.
Eri then waved to everyone else a gentle goodbye, and then she was picked up by Kyoka, heading upstairs to the baths to get her clean before bed. As the pair were in the elevator, Kyoka looked to the small child in her arms with a raised eyebrow, "Shall we go say goodnight to Tsuyu?"
"Mama Tsu already did earlier," Eri said with a smile, "she said that she was really tired and needed to get some rest after supper."
"Huh… I wondered where she went after dinner, but it makes sense." Kyoka sighed gently and hoisted Eri up in her arms, "You want a song tonight instead of a story, kiddo?"
The only response the punk rocker got was a blinding smile with giggles and a rapid nodding of the little girl's head.
Izuku sighed as he hung up his phone, leaning his head back onto the relatively firm pillows of his medical bed, his emerald eyes looking up at the ceiling as the events of his earlier discussions with the teachers kept buzzing in his head.
To think that Quinn's coming to Earth was one of the reasons why quirks were even a thing, and that had ties towards this generational war between two brothers that HE was now a part of, and that the older brother may come after him and those he loved and cared for to get back One for All, which was going to be that much harder to do when Nezu revealed to him that by taking the mighty quirk into his body, his 'blessing' had effectively absorbed it!
The student sighed heavily as he brought his hands up to his face and covered them for a few brief moments before sliding them down onto his bare chest while still staring up at the ceiling.
"Sounds like you had a pretty rough day, Kero."
"You don't know half of it, Tsu." Izuku sighed as he closed his eyes for a moment before they shot wide open, and the young man bolted upward to see his girlfriend standing by the closed door of the infirmary room with a duffle bag in her hands, "T-TSU! W-When…? H-How?"
"Recovery Girl texted me earlier to bring over a change of clothes, kero, and she was the one to let me in."
Izuku kept staring at the frog-like girl, who was just doing the same thing back to him. The silence in the room grew heavy until Izuku spoke softly with a cool bead of sweat running down the side of his face, "... I muttered all that out, didn't I?"
"About something called 'One for All'? Yes, kero." Tsuyu now walked over to an empty chair and placed the duffle bag on the seat. Izuku groaned and slammed his head back down on the pillow in defeat, "I take it from that groan; it was meant to be kept a secret."
"For now, at least… until my body accumulated to the new rise in power given to me by One for All. I did try and protest to let you and the others know, given how much I really hate lying to you all, but Nezu had to make a compromise between me and All Might."
"Kero, that's sweet, Izuku." Tsuyu said as she walked over to the side of his medical bed, a ghost of a smile on her lips, "But I'll keep it secret until you can tell the others, and I know they will understand the secrecy when you tell them it was due to Nezu and All Might asking you to do so."
Izuku turned his head towards Tsuyu, smiling gently and placing his hand on top of hers as she ribbited in delight from the contact, "Thanks, Tsu."
"No problem, kero." Tsuyu said as she moved her hand from his and suddenly jumped onto the bed, perching herself on top of him with her legs straddling his hips and both her hands on his bare chest. Izuku grunted slightly when the frog girl jumped on top of him and sat as well; his eyes slowly looked up to see that the woman was wearing a loose t-shirt, one of his own in fact, and some deceptively short shorts, feeling her bare thighs squeeze against his hips while he felt her hands where were oddly warm to the touch on his bare chest.
As his gaze met hers, Izuku felt goosebumps begin to form along his skin due to the rather hungry and predatory eyes of his girlfriend looking down at him, her chest slowly rising and falling with heavy breaths.
"T-Tsu?"
"I wanted to also discuss something with you as well, Izuku." Tsuyu began to speak in between those heavy breaths, her gaze never leaving his as her hands slowly began to rub up and down his torso, "Something I need help with, kero."
Izuku suddenly perked up at this, his heroic side kicking in at the list of possibilities of aid he could give her, "O-oh? What is it?"
There was dead silence in the room for a few brief moments, Tsuyu shifting left and right in her seat as she took a deep but labored breath.
"I need you to mate with me."
Chapter 44: I am...
Summary:
We start where we left off, with Tsuyu on top of Izuku and just asking him for a rather personal favor.
Then it's time to make some hero names! While also checking up on a certain vampire.
Notes:
Hello all!
Now I know it's not the 22nd, and I get that. But honestly, I wanted to get this out the door and let you all enjoy this chapter.
So yes, this is the anniversary chapter! ONE YEAR has passed since I started to write this weird little fanfiction and I gotta say, I'm shocked with how loved it is by everyone.
So, Thank you to all those who stuck by me with this story, providing feedback or just saying who much you enjoyed it. It honestly brought up my mood quite a bit during this rather crappy year!
Now, I have a special treat for you all.
I commissioned a very awesome artist by the name of Leanna-synth to draw a picture of Our Green Bean of Light, and holy shit did she ever deliver!
https://tinyurl.com/WOLIZUKU
You can find more of her stuff here - https://twitter.com/SynthLeanna
But I will let you all know it is VERY Risque, so if you're under the age of 18, please wait until you are older!
Once again, thank you all for one year of reading this zany story, and hope to further entertain you all with what's coming up next!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"Eh?"
That was the first thing to pass Izuku's lips after a lengthy bit of silence. Tsuyu was still straddling his hips while staring down at her boyfriend, being the ever-patient woman she was when it came to Izuku "rebooting" after she would speak her mind and be as blunt as ever.
Honestly, if she had not suggested the polyamory relationship in the first place, one would think the two would have been a wonderful, if not, perfect couple.
"I said, I want you to mate-" "No no, I-I heard you the first time, Tsu." Izuku blushed brightly as the frog girl kept staring down at him, a gentle ribbit escaping her lips as she shifted to get herself comfier from her current position on him.
That or she was teasing him but subtly grinding a little on him.
"I-it's just I don't think here is the best spot for that kind of activity, p-plus there may be security cameras o-or um…." Izuku was still heavily blushing, his eyes looking up and away from the still curious stare that Tsuyu was still giving him.
"Oh, I know, I didn't mean for us to mate right now, kero." The frog girl said as she slowly lifted her upper body up off of him, still straddling his hips. Izuku's eyes looked up towards the woman looming over him with her hands resting on his abs, and he couldn't help but stare at the way her arms had pushed up her chest as if to display her rather perky breasts up for him.
A soft ribbit brought his attention away from her chest back up to her eyes as Tsuyu could be seen with a ghost of a smile on her lips, something hard for anyone to see aside from Izuku, who was already used to the subtle facial expressions of his girlfriend, "It's nice to know that you find me attractive, Izuku."
The boy frowned at that statement, raising an eyebrow, and was about to speak before a slender finger was placed on his lips, "Let me finish kero… Admittedly, I wasn't the most popular girl growing up, given how my quirk mutated my looks as well as my blunt nature when I spoke. But ever since we met that first day of school, kero, even before you unlocked your 'Dragoon' kit, I knew you were someone special."
"Well," Izuku smiled up at her, his hands very slowly and timidly moving to rest on her legs and very gently began to run them up and down, "I told you before you stole my breath away when I first saw you, and even now, you still do."
Tsuyu croaked softly at that, her cheeks growing a little red as her fingers tensed on his abs, her legs squeezing his hips, and she ground herself against him a little, "You may not wish to compliment me so much at the moment, or else we will see how much these medical beds can withstand me riding you all night long, kero."
The frog girl watched her boyfriend's face explode into a giant red color that made him resemble a tomato at that remark. Tsuyu giggled gently, which of course sounded like tiny ribbits as she looked into his eyes, "Sorry about that, I can't exactly control myself from saying things similar to what I just said when I'm in the starting stages of my cycle."
Now, this brought Izuku out of his rather embarrassing state of mind, having imagined how Tsuyu would look bouncing up and down on top of him with a rather heated look on her face. Despite still sporting a deep blush across his cheeks, his analytical side began to overrule his 'lewd state', "S-stages?"
Tsuyu nodded, settling herself down and idly running her fingers up and down his abs as she began to speak, "Yes, every few months or so, I go into a 'heat', kero. Typically it's a month-long cycle, where the first two weeks are an 'easing' into the actual heat itself, where I get a little more irritable and clingy. By the third week, it's tough to control, and I would have to be kept away from the public for a week, and once that's finished, it's the 'cooldown' period."
"Honestly, that one week is often unbearable, especially back in High School when it hit full force during those three years. My parents had to renovate a room down in our basement so as not to disturb my siblings but also give myself privacy."
As Tsuyu continued her explanation, Izuku's mind was filled with various thoughts and questions about this phenomenon. While it's true he had never asked anyone with animal-like quirk's before, or their more "intimate" aspects due to it being none of his business, the way Tsuyu was describing her own experience correlated with some of his former schoolmates earlier in his life, especially during high school. He broke out of his train of thought, frowning while looking back up at Tsuyu.
"If you don't mind me asking, are you going to be living back at home during that third week?"
"No, Kero." Tsuyu said, and she shifted her body again, the tip of her tongue resting outside of her lips, "I spoke with Recovery Girl about this at the beginning of the year, and UA has accommodations for students and faculty with similar 'issues'."
Izuku blinked for a few moments before he realized that Hound Dog was one of the staff members that would fall under this category. Nodding his head gently, his hands traveled up to her hips and idly massaged them, not even realizing what he was doing as Tsuyu let out a heavy exhale of breath from his tender touches while she continued, "There is… another issue that is different from last time."
"Oh?"
"Before UA, I never dated anyone or felt like anything similar to how I feel about you with any of my peers. But now… kero." Tsuyu wiggled slightly on top of him, blushing slightly and looking down at his chest to try and hide the rising heat within her body.
Izuku's brow furrowed slowly before it finally dawned on him, his eyes going wide as he spoke softly, "It's because of me, isn't it?"
Tsuyu softly nodded, "During the previous cycles, I would just have an ache deep within me, kero, like a dull sort of pain. But now that I have you, my body will have that need for you, to be with you, and I don't know what will happen."
"Will you be in pain?" Izuku asked, his voice stern, but not that of anger, but concern. Tsuyu looked back up from her view of his chest, committing it to memory for now as her blank stare met with what was known by many within the classroom as Izuku's 'heroic' look. The expression he wore when he often was participating in hero classes, that same determined look that often made Tsuyu weak in the knees and caused her to very nearly jump him and give Eri a sibling.
"I-Izuku-" "Will you be in pain because of me?" He interrupted her, noting that this was the first time Tsuyu had stuttered like he would under normal circumstances. The look of sadness and gentle shrug of her shoulders was the only answer she could give him, however.
"I don't know, kero. Again, this is the first time I've been in a situation like this. I don't even know what my mental state will be like when it happens."
Now that knocked the serious look off of the green-haired boy's face, causing him to pale at the thoughts processing in his mind, "W-wait… doesn't that mean-"
"No." Tsuyu spoke with a severe tone of voice, "No, it will not mean 'that'. As I stated just now and since I climbed up onto you, I want you to mate with me, and it is my choice while my mind is still stable and sound. So, you have my permission to do whatever you wish to me should I be more… submissive."
"Likewise, if it's flipped and I become more dominant, I wish for your permission to have your body anyway I want." Tsuyu asked with a tilt of her head, watching Izuku's reaction as the teenager below her swallowed some air, a few beads of sweat following down the side of his head as the implications of what she was implying would happen.
Not that he was complaining, mind you, Momo was a little bit dominating during their time together, and the thought of the usually calm and collected Tsuyu to just… well, for the lack of a better term, 'go feral' on him caused a warmth to spread across his body. But, the thought of also trying to 'tame' her in such a state was equally as appealing.
'Huh, guess I'm a switch.'
"Tsuyu…" Izuku began to speak, causing the frog girl to jump at the soft voice he took saying her name. She looked down to see Izuku's ever bright and faint smile looking back at her, "You have my permission as well, with me being of sound and stable mind as well as I say this. But, I also want you to know that I trust you with my very being, and you won't intentionally harm me."
"Nor would you hurt me as well, kero." Tsuyu spoke gently as she leaned down to softly kiss Izuku, a tender one that was full of love as the frog girl gently rested on top of him, slowly breaking the kiss and placing her head comfortably on his chest, hearing his heartbeat that was beginning to lull her into a comforting sleep, "Kero… Izuku?"
"Hmm?"
"When the time comes, we really need to be careful, kero… My mom told me that during our heat cycles, it's easier for us to, kero, 'conceive'."
She could hear his heartbeat begin to pick up in speed, causing her to turn her head up and stare at his now wide-eyed expression, staring up at the ceiling. She could not get a read on what he was thinking, but she could hear his beating heart begin to slow down as he gently looked down towards her, their eyes catching one another as he softly smirked.
"W-Well, We will make sure that we take the precautions needed to make sure that doesn't happen… a-at least not yet." Izuku stammered that last bit, which caused Tsuyu's eyes to widen a little in shock to what he admitted, "A-And IF something does happen, b-because… hey… life like to throw curveballs at people at the most random of times, um… We will do what is best, not only for you but also o-our child."
"Kero, but what about what's best for you?"
"I know, and I would need to do the best for myself as well, but you will be the one to carry our baby… your needs and theirs are my priority." He smiled down at her, one of his hands gently rubbing her back, which caused her to shiver slightly from how gentle he was with her, "I'm already willing to give up being a pro hero for Eri, should the need to be a father to her take precedent." Izuku said with a clear, firm tone in his voice that caused Tsuyu's eyes to almost bulge out from what he just said, slowly raising her head off of his chest to see him better now.
"But, kero, that's your dream! You told us you wanted to be a hero since you were just a toddler."
"Yea, I know." Izuku said softly, his hand on her back, trying to calm her down, "But if I had to make a choice of either being a hero or being with Eri, our little unicorn always takes first place. Same with any of the children our group is going to have in the future… if I can't be a good father to them and protect them, then how could I possibly be a hero to anyone?"
All Tsuyu could do was stare into Izuku's eyes, gazing into them hard to try and see if any falsehoods or him going to try and downplay the fact he would so willingly give up his lifelong dream of becoming a pro hero, the one who would save everyone and make them feel safe with a smile.
But she saw none of it, only the pure emerald eyes of her boyfriend with that same determined look full of hope and, most of all, true to his words. Just before Izuku was about to ask if she was alright, Tsuyu's tongue suddenly shot out of her mouth and pushed itself past Izuku's lips before she slammed back down onto him, crashing her thin lips against his, wrapping her arms around his neck as the kiss got more passionate.
Izuku was, at first, taken aback by the rather sudden and out-of-character sort of maneuver by Tsuyu. But, it then reminded him of when he asked her out underneath the path lamp where she practically jumped him, and internally he was smiling as he began to kiss her back with just as much passion as she was giving him, his tongue trying to curl around her much larger one as the kiss deepened with both of his hands holding her body close to his as he slid his hands up and down her back.
They continued to kiss and hold one another like this for quite a while, so much so that eventually, when the pair broke the passion-filled kiss, they slowly let the embrace of slumber envelop them, with Izuku holding his froggy lover close to his body and as she was blissfully resting her head on his chest again, sound asleep as the last thing the green-haired boy said before passing out himself.
"I love you, Tsu."
"Alright, settle down." Aizawa spoke loudly as he walked towards the podium at the front of the classroom; everyone quickly settled down and stared up at him as the tired-looking teacher scanned the room, noting how tensed up some of the students were, considering the events of the previous day. However, his focus was mainly on Iida as the teenager had a sour yet stern look on his face.
It was no secret that the speedster was in a rather foul mood, given the current status of his older brother Tensei, known as the Pro Hero Ingenium... Well, former pro hero. To say that many of the alumni of UA were hit hard when the news of the attack went public, Mic and Nemuri, especially as the R18+ heroine had a bit of a fling with him back in their high school days but ended sadly due to the demand of the hero industry, though remained good friends since then.
Mic had been an inconsolable mess as Tensei was the first friend he had made at UA during their first year and introduced the engine user to Aizawa in their second year when the ever-tired Aizawa had made it to the hero course.
As for himself, Aizawa respected Tensei as both a man and a hero. They weren't exactly friends, not like he and Mic were, but they had both worked on several cases before where Ingenium would corral the villains into a dead end, only to be put down by Eraserhead. A number of his students that survived the first-day assessment test often got picked up by Tensei for internships or work placements, many of which had remained to this day as his sidekicks as they loved working for the man.
What truly set Tensei Iida apart from his other classmates was the fact that he helped both him and Mic during the times after they lost Oboro, another of their classmates that would often rope the other three into schemes that usually ended up with them in trouble with Nezu, though the dean often got a kick out of chaos the cloud user would bring. And right now, the look that Tenya was giving was all too familiar to Shouta.
After all, he had the same look when he contemplated going after Oboro's killer.
His eyes eventually moved past the blue-haired younger brother of his now crippled friend to land upon the problem child and his daughter, who had a smaller version of the desks for herself that apparently Nezu had prepared earlier in the day. He gently sighed softly as he walked away from the podium to stand before Eri, gently kneeling down in front of her as he spoke in a soft tone, "Now Eri, I'm sure your father has already explained all this beforehand, but to make sure… If you have any questions, what do you do?"
Eri first looked to Izuku, who smiled down at her as Eri turned her attention back towards the hobo-looking teacher and very gently raised her hand straight up. Aizawa nodded at her with his smirk hidden by his scarf as he could hear the coos of the other students from how adorable she was being, "Good job, Eri… now if you don't get called on, your father will explain it to you afterward, alright?"
The child softly nodded her head, putting down her arm and resting both her hands on her desk, which had a small open notebook and a bunch of crayons resting on the surface similar to how Momo seemed to have her pens, "Yes, Unca 'Zawa!"
'Well, I can't win them all, I guess.' Thought Aizawa, who nodded his head to Eri before giving a hard stare at Izuku, who merely flinched slightly before the stern gaze of his teacher left his vision as the dark clothed man walked back up to the podium once more.
"Now, a few things to announce before your first period begins. First off, Problem child, " the green-haired boy straightened his back as the moniker left his teacher's lips, "Explain what happened yesterday."
"Y-Yes sir," Izuku said as he stood up from his seat, all eyes gathered on him as Izuku cleared his throat, "W-Well, from what we were able to discover that because of the events that happened at the Sports Festival, my quirk… had an evolution of sorts."
"An evolution?" Kaminari asked with a raised eyebrow and puzzled look upon his face.
"Ah! I see!" Momo suddenly spoke up; despite knowing the true nature of Izuku's powers, she and the others that knew did have their part to play in trying to pass off his 'blessing' as a quirk, "It's uncommon, but sometimes under extreme circumstances, a person can push their quirk to their utmost limits or their quirk will mutate in such a way should the need arise."
"So, why didn't it happen when you were fighting that big monster robot thing?" Kirishima suddenly spoke up, looking at Izuku, who was chuckling nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
"W-well, one theory that Recovery Girl gave me was because of how it works. Basically, it's a slow build-up of my power during a fight, enough to the point that once I reach the limit, I can access it and use the stockpiled power as sort of a boost either to my own defenses or unleash a powerful attack."
"But wouldn't that leave you vulnerable? I remember that when you cast that powerful arcane spell yesterday, you passed out." Tokoyami spoke up now, his hand rubbing his lower beak like a person would with their chin.
"A-ah, y-yea that… We did some testing during the day with both Nezu and Recovery Girl close by, and I was only slightly winded after using it. And with only kits that wouldn't cause too much damage…."
"Hold on!" Kaminari suddenly spoke up, his eyes widened slightly, "Does it matter which one of those funky… um.. 'Kits'? Yeah! Kits! Does it matter which one you are in, and they change? Or do all of them do that … ugh… what was it called?"
"Vermillion Scourge was the name, Jammin' whey." Kyoka said with a smug smirk on her lips when Kaiminari turned his head towards her with a look of betrayal on his face. Whatever sort of revelry that was going to transpire next was suddenly halted when the red eyes of Aizawa flashed upon the rowdy classroom with his hair lifting into the air with the sort of menace that would typically freeze villains he was facing.
It was good that Eri was so focused on drawing in her notebook to not see such a sight or notice how silent it got.
Aizawa sighed heavily, deactivating his quirk, and looked towards Izuku with an expression for him to continue, which the green-haired boy swiftly nodded, "T-t answer the question, it depends on the kit… a-and the other theory was because of how late my quirk manifested… So, um, I haven't fully tested out every single one yet, but the dean did tell me they could be a "super move" of sorts for me."
"Have you figured out a name for it, kero?" asked Tsuyu, her finger on her chin and tilted her head in curiosity at Izuku, whose heart skipped a beat from how cute the frog girl was being, and doing it so obvious as well that Kyoka huffed gently while twirling her jacks to signify what Tsuyu was doing.
"Y-y-yes, The move is called 'Limit Break'... um… why it's called that is because I had to push past my own limits to just use the Vermillion Scourge."
"Plus, you did sorta call it out as well before those pillars of red happened," Kyoka remarked with a soft snicker that caused Izuku to sigh and chuckle, bowing his head as he slowly sat back down in his chair. Aizawa nodded as he hit a switch on the podium that caused the room to slightly darken and for a large screen to appear behind him on the whiteboard.
"Moving on, I will say that despite the first round being given to most of you." Aizawa spoke in his usual stern tone of voice as he leveled his gaze on Izuku once again, causing the green-haired boy to chuckle nervously and shrink down into his chair, "You all performed decently in the second and third rounds, so much so that no one in the class is going to lose their spot here in the heroics course."
Everyone sighed heavily in relief; many of those that hadn't made it to the third round were worried about being replaced; two of note were Tsuyu and Kyoka, considering the punk rocker hadn't even made it to the second round, while Tsuyu got eliminated afterward. Aizawa seeing his class relax caused his left eyebrow to visibly twitch as he cleared his throat to get their attention.
"It doesn't mean that you can slack off now, as I can easily replace any of you should you not take any of this seriously. And to make sure you understand that, I am letting you know that one of the students in Class 1-B has been replaced by one of the general education students."
As he finished speaking, Aizawa could feel the room's temperature drop several degrees, and underneath his scarf, the tired-looking teacher was smiling as his student's faces grew very pale and frightened. Even the more stoic Todoroki looked aghast and frightened at the very notion that they were told was true.
Even Tenya Iida, despite his mood, looked scared as hell.
"That being said, by showing not only the heroes that were able to make it to the actual event but those watching at home as well. Many of you also had made significant impressions on the general populace. So much so that we had an exorbitant amount of offers come in for the first year's alone this particular sports festival, though they aren't this normally skewed." Aizawa continued as he lifted a hand up with a small switch, pressing the button, and the screen behind him flickered to reveal a bar graph with most of the students' names listed vertically. Izuku blinked when he found his name near the very top with over 2721 at the end of his particular bar, second only to Todoroki's 3017 and just above Bakugo's 1783.
Aizawa then lifted a bunch of folders from behind his podium, grunting slightly due to how heavy a couple of them were, and began to walk around the classroom, handing them off to the corresponding student, "Just because your name isn't up on the board doesn't mean that you don't have any offers. UA has a list of local agencies that are always looking to take in interns."
"You'll have the rest of your homeroom to look through the offers, as well as your lunch break today; after that, it will be on your own time. You will have until Thursday to hand in your top three picks, each marked with the appropriate numbers. You will then be informed of the agency that you are going to by Saturday."
As some of the students had begun to open the folders and look at the offers given to them, Aizawa noticed the smallest of hands rising up beside the problem child, "Yes, Eri?"
"Um… Unca 'Zawa, don't I get one too?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing when Eri's voice was heard; slowly, twenty sets of eyes looked towards the teacher, who had stood still at the realization that he hadn't even thought of the small child when he initially put the folders together.
Just before he could say anything though, the class problem child came to his rescue, "Eri," Izuku's voice was calm as he was smiling down to the little girl looking up at her papa, "These are super important papers that we got from doing so well in the sports festival last week, remember how awesome I and my classmates were?"
The little girl nodded her head as she waited for her father to continue, "Well, we did all that because we wanted to show everyone how well we'd be as heroes and hopefully learn from them as well; they are called 'internships'."
"En-turn-ships?" Eri said cutely, a tilt of her head with her finger on her chin that seemed very familiar to another green-haired student. Izuku chuckled and gently pulled Eri onto his lap so she could correctly see the numerous papers he had on his desk already out.
"Pretty close there, sweety, but even though you don't have a folder yourself since you couldn't join in the festival, I am going to need your help!" Izuku said with a bright smile, causing his daughter to gasp.
"M-My help?"
"Mhmm, you see, I have SOOOO many of these offers that I cannot possibly choose, and I am going to need your help to do so!" Izuku said with a little bit of flair, something he had picked up from Yuga during the times they would hang out, and it would make Eri smile when the french boy acted as such. Admittedly, Izuku was a little embarrassed doing such a thing in front of his classmates and his girlfriend's, where he could hear the cute 'squees' coming from Mina.
Eri, however, looked shocked at what her papa had said before looking at the numerous papers before her. Now, she had only just begun to read, a lot of words still had given her trouble, but she was able to read most, if not all, of a picture book that her Mama Tsu had given to her, which was about a frog princess finding her prince.
Her ruby eyes looked back to Izuku, and with a determined look, she quickly nodded her head, making herself comfortable on his lap as both father and daughter began to go over the applications.
"NO! NO! LEAVE ME ALON-GHK!" a rather tubby man screamed before being knocked out by a dark gauntleted hand, collapsing onto the wet alleyway where he had been lured to by the armored teenager's companion.
"He's out cold Toga, you can come feast." The boy called out, grabbing the unconscious man by the collar and dragging him towards the wall where their prey was propped up. The pink-haired and eyed boy looked back to the trail to see that the overweight man's wallet and phone had fallen from his pockets.
As he walked over to the fallen items, Himiko Toga came skipping out of the shadows and made an exciting sound as she quickly used her knife to tear off the man's sleeve and made a cut along his arm to allow some blood to flow out, "YAAAY! Thank you so much, Deku-kins! I was getting super hungry!"
As the now identified man picked up the objects, the vampiric girl began to lick the wound she had caused, pulling back suddenly from the rather sour taste of his blood, "Ewwww, it tastes like onions and feet!"
"It doesn't surprise me," Deku said while walking back towards her, the old flip phone belonging to their victim, his expressionless eyes looking over the contents, "Seems this 'thing' likes to hunt young women and do horrible things to them. He's got pictures in here of his victims, and judging by some of the torn uniforms… they are pretty young."
Deku suddenly lunged towards Toga as he grabbed her wrist, holding back her knife from stabbing the man or slitting his throat. The young girl struggled against the knight's grip and began to smash her free fist against his chest plate, "No! Let me kill him, Deku! He's a bad man and should die for what he did."
"Himiko," the cold and stern voice of the taller teenager made Toga freeze on the spot. Over the last few days that they had been working together after she had found him in the alleyway far from where they were currently, they had formed a strange sort of friendship.
He rarely ate and apparently didn't need sleep, which led to Toga actually having a sort of guard watching over while she slept in one of the many abandoned buildings around the area without the fear of some random person either slitting her throat in the middle of the night or doing far worse things.
And the only thing she had to do was not kill anymore for her sustenance of blood, which was due to the quirk's need to consume it not only for activation but because of it being suppressed for so long by her old family and peers.
Because she had a "villain's" quirk.
At least, that was what she initially thought of it until Deku came into the picture. Basically hammering it into her brain that there were no such things as "villainous" quirks, only villainous people. So, since then, he had been helping her hunt, usually luring men and women alike who wished to have some 'fun' with the young woman, only to be taken down by her literal knight in dark armor.
The fact he looked so much like a negative copy of the beautiful boy who fought in the Sports Festival who was covered in blood was just an added bonus.
But Toga knew she had gone too far when she called her by her first name, as well as leveling a dark glare with his bright pink eyes that seemed to look deep into her soul.
"...Sorry, Deku-kins… I'm just really thirsty." Toga let go of the knife, letting it hit the pavement with a wet splash as the blond-haired girl looked away, pouting gently.
Deku merely took a deep sigh, releasing her hand as he reached back towards the hilt of the giant two-handed sword on his back, unsheathing it and placing the flat side of the blade against the man's wound. The spilled blood flowing from their victim's arm and the surrounding ground slowly began to be sucked into the sword, with odd runes beginning to glow along the flat side of the blade that both teenagers could see.
Toga's eyes widened in delight, knowing precisely what he was doing, and her smile began to widen with a heavy blush from across her cheeks. When she first saw him do this before, she was so mesmerized by it, it was so alien to her, yet ultimately the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. And letting her feed off of him once the ruby fluid was 'filtered' through his body and, what Deku called, 'aether'. Even the most foul-tasting of blood was so delicious to her that it was like drinking from the most expensive wine.
Within a matter of minutes, the floor and wound were cleaned of any of the blood, and the damage looked like an old sealed scar; Deku brought the sword onto his back to sheath it into its odd scabbard. Opening up the wallet, he pulled out about twenty-five thousand yen that their victim had on his person and tossed it onto the large man's belly, "Toga, could you see if there is something we can tie him up in? I'll call the police, and this asshole can rot in prison. Maybe he can be… what did you call it? 'Butt buddies' with one of the inmates."
"Or they'd kill him for what they did; even bad guys have standards." Toga chirped as she picked up her still bloody knife before skipping over towards the various trash cans for something to bind the monster they had caught while Deku had called the authorities.
After finding some discarded chains and locking the man to the closest dumpster with his phone open, and revealing a rather horrific scene, both teenagers made a quick dash away from the incoming sirens.
Once they were a reasonable distance away (Toga wondering how Deku could keep up with her in what looked like heavy-looking armor), The blonde-haired girl was panting gently, her hands on her knees while her messy buns looked even more messed up. She took a deep breath in and calmed down her heart before looking to her accomplice, "So, what's the plan, Deku-kins?"
The ebony-armored boy was silently counting the bills in his hand before doing some mental math and then looked to her, his still expressionless gaze meeting hers, "We should get you some food first, probably stop at a place that can serve you very rare steaks to get your thirst under control before you can feed later on. After that, we continue on towards Hosu, as you planned."
"To meet Stainy!" She squealed loudly, suddenly holding his arm against her body, with both of hers wrapped around it, and began to walk out of the alleyway they had fled to back out onto the street, many people giving them a wide berth due to the boy in strange armor and the giant 'fuck off' sword on his back.
Deku huffed gently, mostly ignoring the way the excitable girl was acting around him, "We shall see if the pattern you had worked out matches… after all.."
"Perhaps he will help me figure out what to do about my own 'issue'."
"Now, for today's heroics class, you are going to be choosing hero name's today for your upcoming internships." Aizawa droned out as he handed everyone in the class a small whiteboard with markers attached to the sides.
He made sure to grab an extra one for Eri.
"Now, take note that while these names aren't permanent, or something temporary for now. They can affect you later on in life, so much so that often the first name you choose will represent who you are, and if you choose a bad one-"
The door to the classroom suddenly swung open, revealing the smiling R18+ heroine, Midnight, "You'll be left with heck to pay!"
Several of the boys smiled widely when the often 'luscious' teacher began to strut in; however, they were a little perplexed as to why the teacher was wearing a relatively tame business outfit.
Sure, it was a short skirt with leggings and high heels to match, as well as a casual business jacket with a white blouse underneath it. Thankfully, Midnight's hairstyle was still as wild as ever.
As the heroine walked up to the podium, Aizawa had pulled his yellow sleeping bag from the bottom and began to walk towards the corner of the room, unzipping it and crawling into it, "Midnight has final approval on all hero names you come up with, she's actually decent at it and keeps up with current trends."
"Which is a good thing because you could have someone give you a name, and it sticks forever, isn't that right, Eraserhead?" Midnight said with a teasing wink, causing the man to grumble before rolling over on the ground to face away from the class.
The pro heroine clapped her hands together, getting everyone's attention once again, "Now class, I am sure that you all have such wonderful ideas for names, but keep in mind that it doesn't just have to sound nice for you, but also towards the public, especially little children." Midnight said with a smile, her gaze shifting to Eri, who smiled at the older woman and gave a tiny wave, which was returned with a bright smile and coo from Midnight.
As this interaction went down, the boys, confused about how Midnight was acting and dressed, realized it was because of Eri. And aside from one ball-headed student, the others felt like that was an excellent reason.
Time passed as many of the students had chosen their names, while some were outright bizarre, such as Yuga's hero name of "Can't stop Twinkling", or just outright rejected for numerous reasons like copyright or actually having the word 'murder' within their hero name. The last four students were still contemplating their own names.
"Now, we don't have all day, sadly, and if you cannot think up a hero name now, you can register your last name as a temporary holder." Midnight said as she crossed her arms underneath her impressive bust, forgoing the jacket an hour ago and was just wearing the long sleeve blouse now, though, from the way that her chest rested against her arms, it was easy to tell she was going braless.
Well, can't win them all.
"I got it!" Mina said, quickly scribbling on her whiteboard and making her way up to the podium. The pink-skinned girl smiled brightly as she lifted the board up and revealed the name of 'The Acidic Hero: Venus'.
"Oh! That is a lovely name, combining both the attributes of your quirk as well as your gorgeous looks and personality! Well done, Ashido! Approved!" Midnight cheered, as well as much of the class, causing the alien-looking girl to giggle with a blush of lilac across her cheeks. Mina would also note the reactions she got from her girlfriend's and boyfriend, looking at how pleased they were, especially Eri, who was smiling brightly at her.
Skipping back to her desk, Bakugo stomped his way up to the podium for what seemed like the seventeenth time that day and slammed the board against the surface, "Murder Explosion King!"
Midnight sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "For the last time Bakugo, No. If you can't figure one out now, then just put it off until you can think of one that doesn't include murder in the name."
Bakugo let out a rage-filled huff and stomped back towards his desk, grumbling along the way while a few of the others snickered at how many times he had tried and failed to get any of his hero names chosen. Midnight looked back to the class and cleared her throat, "Alright, well, we only have two more people to give us their hero names… Iida? Midoriya? Either of you ready?"
The class grew silent then, split between looking between the two that were last. Tenya was quiet for a moment, just staring down at his board, which had been written on and then wiped off just as quickly. With a heavy sigh, the blue-haired boy looked towards Midnight, "I'll… stick with Iida for now, Miss Midnight."
Seeing how distraught Tensei's younger brother was and knowing exactly why, Midnight gently nodded her head with a soft smile, "I understand, Iida." She then turned towards Izuku, who was still looking at a blank whiteboard, "Midoriya? How about you?"
The green-haired boy looked up for a moment, chuckling nervously, "Just... a couple of seconds still, sorry."
Now, it wasn't like Izuku wasn't thinking about his hero name at all during the class, and he had been enjoying the various ones that all of his classmates had come up with. His problem was that for the last fourteen years of planning to become a hero, there was one thing he had forgotten to do.
He forgot to figure out a name!
Alright, that wasn't entirely true. No, Izuku had thought of hero names while growing up, but they were all variations of All Might!
As Izuku was about to slam his head down onto the still clean board, a gentle tug on his sleeve caught his attention. Turning his head to the left, he looks at Eri holding up her own board towards him, "Whatcha got there, Eri?"
"It's a name I wrote down! I saw you were having trouble and wanted to help, Papa!" Eri replied while Izuku took the board, looking at the name and raising an eyebrow.
"Wow, Eri! This was written so well! But, what does it mean?"
The small child shrugged her shoulders, then gently tugged his sleeve again to whisper something into his ear. Izuku leaned down as he listened to what she had to say.
"The nice shining lady told me it was the best for you."
Izuku leaned back up, seeing the bright smile on Eri. He blinked for a few moments and gently nodded, getting out of his desk and walking up to the podium. Everyone in the class waited with bated breath as Izuku stood there, his emerald eyes gazing out to his classmates.
"Well, I'll be honest… It was tough for me to come up with my own hero name. Admittedly, it was the one thing I forgot to do while growing up." Izuku said with a mirth of a chuckle escaping his throat, which a few others in the class chuckled at.
"But, then I was saved once again by my little Unicorn, and she came up with a name that… resonated with me. I have no idea how she thought it up, but I just couldn't say no to it."
Izuku lifted the small whiteboard up, causing a few of the girls to gasp lightly, considering who came up with the name, while some of the others looked impressed by it.
Izuku smiled proudly, his fingers clenching the board as he spoke once again, "Thanks to my daughter, I now have a hero name."
"I am the 'Hero of Light: Azem'!"
Unbeknownst to Izuku, as he spoke that name aloud and proudly. An invisible wave, similar to that of a ripple on a still lake, rippled out from him. Only two people had picked up on the strange phenomena due to their ties to such a name.
One was Nezu, who was sipping his tea at the time when his little ears perked up once the ripple of power reached him.
The other was the dark-robed figure currently watching the progress of the still-forming Nomu within the giant tube of solution. He whirled around, and the usually smiling Ascian was enraged, snarling and baring his fangs out in the direction of where the ripple had happened initially.
The emerald cat-like eyes underneath the red mask were tiny slits with rage as he flexed his fingers, which cracked with how hard he was bending them.
For you see, Izuku was not aware of what he had done, nor would he learn of it for some time.
For the green-haired student hadn't realized that by speaking the ancient name given to him by his daughter, he had claimed something truly powerful that would rock the world of quirks forever.
The forgotten seat of the Convocation of Fourteen.
The seat of Azem.
Chapter 45: He dun goofed
Summary:
It's the start of the internships and already Izuku has a headache!
Notes:
Good evening all!
Sorry for the late update, been jumping back and forth between different jobs, so it kinda left me a little more exhausted then normal, plus with the colder weather coming in, it's made it very difficult to breathe.
Asthma fucking sucks btw.
So, 4 more days until Endwalker (at least if you pre-purchased, which I did :3) and it may be a little while until the next chapter to come out because well.. I'll be playing Endwalker and learning how Sage and Reaper work.
So apologies in advance about that.
Enjoy this latest chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Izuku wondered how he ended up here.
Well, he knew how he ended up here; he took a train across town away from his comfy bed at UA, where his adorably cute daughter and his mother were no doubt doing something fun, trying to occupy themselves so as not to worry about himself or the others.
After all, what was a week away from UA to work at an agency under the tutelage of a Pro Hero? The internships weren't going to be as intensive as the work placements that Aizawa had told them about during homeroom, but more of "sinking your teeth" into the industry.
The somewhat hidden smirk of the underground hero had sent a collective chill up everyone's spine after he said that.
As Izuku had walked up to where his internship was going to be, he wasn't expecting much, at least a decently sized building with a small attachment with a Gym or something to train his quirk in relative privacy.
Instead, he got a somewhat dilapidated apartment building with a tiny little lawn off to the side. Was he sure that he was given the correct address? Was this one of Nezu's 'tricks' again?
At the thought of the "rat", so lovingly called by Aizawa when he too had been a part of the Moogle King's schemes, Izuku began to climb up the rickety old stairs and began to replay the conversation that led him here.
"So… I hear you chose an interesting alias for your hero name, Mr. Midoriya," Nezu spoke suddenly before lifting his cup of tea to his lips while the aforementioned student looked up from today's analysis project.
Izuku chuckled gently, rubbing the back of his head as he smirked at the dean, "Y-Yea… I don't understand what it means, but it was thanks to Eri that it's now my hero name."
"Indeed? Fascinating." Nezu said as he placed his teacup onto the saucer and brought his small paws up and together as he was staring at the boy now, "And to think someone so young would even think of such a name."
Izuku looked down to the small laptop in front of him on the small desk put into the corner of the office for Izuku to work in peace when it came time for his lessons with the 'depowered' Moogle King. Eventually, he looked up from the statistics and figures across the screen to look back at the dean, who had still not moved after putting down the cup as if he was waiting for Izuku to speak up.
"Eri didn't come up with the name."
"Oh?"
"No… she was told by 'Her' to suggest the name… It came from Hydaelyn."
Izuku could feel the temperature drop within the room for a few moments as the very air around him seemed to still due to the reaction of what he just told the white-furred creature. A cold bead of sweat ran down the side of his head as Izuku kept staring at the dean, who was just not moving. Hell, it was hard to see if he was even breathing.
Just as quickly as it happened, the drop suddenly disappeared as Nezu perked his head up from his paws and was flashing him that ever-present smile of his, "Well, that is certainly a surprise from her. Not that she wouldn't take an interest in your daily affairs, my boy, being a Warrior of Light, but to suggest such a name."
"I-is there a problem with it?"
"Problem?" Nezu tilted his head, in an innocent and naive-like look that didn't fit the ordinarily serious creature, "No problem at all, it is merely just a name from the past I was sure would be forgotten to time… but it seems like our Lady has other plans."
Now, that had set Izuku off, given how Nezu liked to play mind games and not fully explain some of the more dangerous aspects of his 'blessing' in the past. Quickly getting up from his desk with a worried expression as well as sporting an uncharacteristic frown on his brow before storming over to the larger one that was being used by Nezu, "What do you mean 'forgotten to time'? Is having the name dangerous? Is it going to put people's lives in danger? Is it putting targets back on those I love and care fo-"
Nezu raised a paw quickly to silence the boy who had suddenly just begun to list off demanding questions to him for the very first time. The look that was adorned on Izuku's face had given the dean pause as he never would have expected such a thing to cross the boy's face.
"Relax, Mr. Midoriya… it is simply an 'old' name. Hence my surprise, but tell me, are you feeling alright? I noticed you seemed more distracted today than normal, as well as a little paler. Should I get Krile to come take a look at you?"
Taking a few deep breaths, a small exercise that was taught to him by Hound Dog during their sessions together, Izuku sat down in one of the chairs that were across from Nezu and visibly relaxed, "S-Sorry about that, sir. But, no, I am fine now... "
"You sure? It would be best to not have you get sick before the internships start." Nezu said as he pushed himself off of his much larger chair to walk around his desk and stare up at his pupil; though the smile was still present, there was a strange sort of "worried" look to it.
"Y-yes, just been a little bogged down with so many of the choices given to me." Izuku chuckled weakly, sitting himself up in his seat as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small packet full of folded up pieces of paper from his notes, handing them over to Nezu for him to open and look at, "And a few people in my class did ask for help in trying to figure out where they should go as well."
"Ah yes, it would make sense they would seek out your advice to further improve themselves. After all, your analytical mind has vastly improved upon their own quirks and thought processes when it comes to their gear. But I don't think you're telling me the entire truth, are you, Mr. Midoriya?" Nezu said with a gleam in his eye, staring hard at the boy who was nervously sweating for a few moments before sighing heavily and hanging his head down as the dean was able to realize that he wasn't telling him everything.
"It's… two things actually that have me kinda worried."
"Oh? Well, I'm here to listen and give advice as best I can; you are my pupil as well as the Warrior of Light."
Izuku slowly looked towards the dean, whose hands were behind his back and patiently waiting for the boy to speak, "Well, the first thing is that I'm worried about Ten- erm… Iida. He's been… well, acting off since the news of Ingenium hit the public eye."
"Ah yes, the incident with the Hero Killer," Nezu said and nodded solemnly; it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for pro heroes to get injured or even killed while on the clock. However, Nezu knew that students with strong feelings or connections to those heroes would often lash out, which was fundamental human nature to him, but they would need to be closely monitored so that they wouldn't get themselves killed in some half-fast revenge plot.
Nezu kept his eyes trained on Izuku, "And you are worried that young Iida would seek out the hero killer? Perhaps to avenge his brother?"
"I-I mean, I don't think so? But at the same time, from how Iida talked about his brother during lunch breaks, he talked about him like I tend to talk about All Might. So I don't know what is going through his mind right now." Izuku said with a gentle sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his fingers, as if feeling a headache coming on, "That and I found out that he's chosen an agency over in Hosu for his internship, where it's likely Stain will be."
Nezu raised a non-existent eyebrow at this, acting inquisitive, yet the dean already knew of the young speedster's choice for the internship, "Oh? And how did you find out about his choice? I have a feeling that Mr. Iida wouldn't divulge his true motivations that easily."
Izuku chuckled softly, scratching his cheek with a tiny blush, "Well, he did mention who he was going to be interning under to Eri when she was asking around the classroom earlier today. And being the hero buff-"
"Nerd."
"BUFF, that I am, he told her that he was going to have his internship with Manual, who's based in Hosu." Izuku said with a tinge of grumpiness towards the dean who was snickering at the exchange just now, "Plus, this data I've been working on here has been about all the known hero killer victims and where they happened, correct?"
Izuku could hear the low chuckling coming from the dean as he went back up to his rather large chair and clambered back up onto it, turning his body to face his student, Nezu placed his hands on the armrest, "I can't hide anything from you when it comes to hero analysis, can I? Yes, today's project was about using the logistics of previously collected data to predict the movements of villains or rogue vigilantes."
"Rogue vigilantes?"
"Indeed, while most of the media and general populace would believe that all vigilantes are just brutes that thumb their nose at the regulations set by the HPSC, there are those that work undercover to get into places that normal heroes wouldn't be able to or deal with threats in a way that would paint a negative light upon Hero Society in general. They work more similarly to underground heroes like your homeroom teacher, but the only real difference is that they are unlicensed and have more liberties in what they can do, but also don't have the protection that the HPSC offers should things go wrong."
Izuku gently nodded his head at this, understanding what the dean was telling him and the implications of having basically wild cards in play. Nezu smiled as he continued to speak, "Stain was one such vigilante, though his actions were never approved and he would always kill the villains he hunted down. At some point, though, he dropped his 'hero' moniker and took on his current name and started to take down heroes instead."
"Now, while we could only guess as to WHY he is doing this, tell me, my boy." Nezu said with a knowing tone of voice that he already knew the answer, "From the list of names that you have seen, are there any notable similarities to them?"
Izuku looked back at his data, his eyes scanning the various names of the heroes killed, and started to click on the different hero profiles and read quickly. After a few moments, he blinked, looking back towards the dean, "These are all heroes that had some sort of crime that came to light after their death…."
"Correct, and tell me, is there one noticeable 'glitch' in his modus operandi?"
"That would be…." Izuku began to ponder, going over the list of names until his eyes shot open and looked at Nezu, "Ingenium… he was trying to stop Stain from killing the Pro Hero Minotauros who had been attacked. But he was taken down, only to be left paralyzed while Minotauros was killed."
"Actually, he was already dead when Ingenium had made it to the scene, but Ingenium thought he would be fast enough to at least apprehend Stain. A noble goal and normally a good decision under the right circumstances." Nezu said in a somber tone that caused Izuku to keep gazing upon the dean in sadness, "But somehow Stain was able to catch him, and the rest is history."
"Do…" Izuku began to speak, looking down at his own desk as if to gather his thoughts for a few moments before continuing, "Do you think Tenya would go after Stain?"
Nezu's pitch-black eyes looked glossed over as he was staring back at Izuku's pure emeralds before giving his reply in the most expression tone of voice that anyone would have heard coming out of the small dean, "In all honesty, Mr. Midoriya, I have found that the humans, not just in Eorzea, but also here on Earth are very spiteful and vengeful creatures when push comes to shove."
"Will Mr. Iida seek out his own justice on the villain that destroyed his brother? Possibly."
"Will he kill Stain? That is also a possibility, though I would think he is smarter than that." Nezu said with his smile, slowly shifting into a blank line.
"T-Then there has to be something I can do! I can't let Tenya go and get himself hurt or worse because of some 'vengeance'." Izuku suddenly stood up, nearly sending his desk chair to the ground with a determined look.
Nezu's smile returned as he leaned back in his own chair, paws brought up close to his muzzle once again, "Then what I would suggest you do, Midoriya, is to talk to Iida. Let him know that you are worried about him, and if he needs to, he can talk to you about it."
"Do not confront him about this supposed plan of him chasing Stain; that would only further push himself away from you and your peers. Just tell him that you are willing to listen to any issues he is going through as his friend."
Nezu smirked as he slowly began to pull open the small packet of names that Izuku had decided on for his internship, "And before you go and do that, let's have a look and see who you would like to intern for…."
Izuku pulled his chair back to sit back down, watching with curiosity at the way that the dean was going through them and the small dean's body trembling to hold back some of the cackles of the few names he chose.
That suddenly stopped when Nezu got to one application, moving the papers down to stare hard at the green-haired student who began to fidget, "Uwabami? Really, Mr. Midoriya?"
"I-I have my reasons!" Izuku sputtered out as Nezu began to collect all the papers up, still staring hard at the boy to continue, "W-Well, first of all, She's a well-established rescue hero, and getting some insight and practice during said missions would be new for me to learn. Second, while she is also well known for her public image in commercials and social events, and while the lessons I have had with you and Toshinori improved some of my social skills, though when I go pro, I will have to be better accustomed to the spotlight, which she could help out with."
Nezu sat quietly and silently after Izuku began to list the two reasons he would consider going to Uwabami's agency. However, the gaze and stares of the dean seemed more intense now, causing Izuku to sweat a little and begin to look worried.
Eventually, Izuku hung his head down and spoke softly, "... also because Momo is applying for the agency as well, and I don't want Uwabami to exploit her."
The smile returned on Nezu as he cackled at revealing the actual reason why the snake woman's agency was even a blip on his radar. Before Izuku could even refute anything or even talk, he watched as the dean quickly opened what he assumed to be a large desk drawer and placed the stack of papers down into it. The green-haired boy didn't know what the small being was doing until he heard the sounds of a paper shredder echo out from behind the desk, causing him to freak out until the dean interrupted him.
"While those are excellent reasons, sadly, this is going to be one of those times that you won't have any choice as to whom you will be with during the internships." Nezu said as he opened up another draw on the opposite side to pull out a small envelope and slide it across the desk towards Izuku, "With you now possessing One for All, despite its lack of any real effect on your body due to your blessing, both myself and All Might think it would be best if you were trained by someone who not only has both excellent conditioning skills but also having trained with people carrying One for All."
Izuku raised an eyebrow as he took the envelope, opened it, and pulled out the, shockingly, two internship applications. He looked to the dean, who waved his hand to read over the names presented to him.
"So, I'll have two mentors during the week?"
"Indeed, both are excellent teachers, as well as one of them personally training All Might in his youth."
Izuku's eyes shot open at that revelation, gazing back down to the first paper and not being surprised by whose name was on it. Placing it behind the following application, Izuku's brow furrowed, and he looked up at the dean with confusion plastered all over his face, "Who is 'Gran Torino'?"
'Who was Gran Torino?' indeed.
Izuku sighed as he gently knocked on the door with the numbers that matched the single piece of paper that he held in his hand. A sigh gently escaped his lips as he was already not looking forward to whatever would come from this, but his thoughts had been shifted once again towards Tenya and how he had tried to get the class president to at least throughout the previous week talk with him.
It was clear to everyone that Tenya was acting odd, though he would often reassure them that he was fine and leave the conversation. It had taken Izuku a few times to just get Tenya to acknowledge that everyone in the class was willing to listen to him if he needed to vent or just to even talk. The blue-haired speedster simply smiled, an actual one this time, and thanked Izuku for offering the support, and if he needed it, he would seek him out.
Sadly, Tenya did not seek him out.
It was then that Izuku realized that the door still had not been opened yet, putting his thoughts off of Iida for the moment and knocked a little louder this time and called out, "Hello? Mr. Torino? I'm here for the internship you offered me?"
As he knocked on the door after another few moments of silence, it slowly creaked open to nothing but empty darkness inside of the small, rundown apartment. Izuku frowned gently as he set his hero costume briefcase and soft green duffle bag down by the door and slowly entered the home, taking his time to walk in and be on the lookout for anything.
As he crept into the room, he turned a corner to see a rather grotesque sight. There was an older-looking man that was wearing what could be called a silver-era costume, lying in, what appeared to be, his blood that was a deep red in color, and as Izuku's eyes scanned the body, he could see the prone man's chest was not moving.
Quickly dashing into the home, a brilliant flash of light filled the darkened abyss that was the apartment to reveal Izuku was now donning his White Mage garb, moving himself to be kneeling beside the fallen man while he held the bright end of his staff over the body and began to talk to himself in a rather loud and familiar way to how he used to back before UA, "Shit!Shit!Shit! Um… 'Esuna'? No, no, that only treats ailments! 'Raise'? It will take too long to cast, and I don't even know if it will work if the time limit has passed! Ok!Ok!'Regen'firsttoclosethewoundandthen-"
But as Izuku was mumbling out his course of action, the older man suddenly sprung up, shouting as loud as he could, while also catching Izuku off guard to scream out as well, dropping his staff with a loud clang to the ground.
"I'M ALIVE!/AAAAAH! HE'S ALIVE?!"
As both men took a second to gather their thoughts, the elder began to cackle loudly, pulling himself up, and began to speak, "I must have knocked myself out while I was carrying this plate of sausages covered in ketchup."
Izuku blinked for a moment as the older man continued to cackle and began to wipe the ketchup off of his yellow and white hero costume, the green-eyed teenager seeing the mentioned sausages laying by the man's foot where he could see part of the cape covered in the red condiment as well.
Izuku was knocked out of his stare when the older man suddenly poked his side, "Who are you?"
"O-oh! I-I'm Izuku Midoriya from UA. I'm here for m-my internship, sir."
Izuku watched as the much shorter man blinked once, twice, then three times before his old lips made a placating smile, "Eh? Toshinori?"
"U-Um, no, I'm not Mr. Yagi, sir."
"Who are you then?"
Izuku just stared at the man now, wholly baffled and perplexed that this was, or could be, All Might's former teacher. He knew that the man would be on in his years, but he didn't realize that Gran Torino could be that far gone.
Picking up his staff and reverting into his everyday casual attire, Izukuu reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone, contact Toshinori and ask about the man's declining health. However, two sudden gusts of wind caught his attention (and nearly made him drop his phone), and Izuku turned his head towards where the elder was.
The boy's eyes widened to see the rather severe look donned on the man's face as he had somehow retrieved his costume case and duffle bag,, the latter which was launched into a nearby couch with the older man squatting down over the currently open briefcase and seemed to be inspecting his costume and gear.
"Pfeh, So this is that fancy 'Magitek' the rat and Krilly mentioned over the phone," Torino said while lifting up what looked like a somewhat stylized looking gauntlet and carefully looking it over, "Mmn, not bad… But why do you need these gizmo's when you can just sparkle and wear all those different getups? I swear, kids these days care too much about looks than they do practicality."
"A-actually, that's not true, sir," Izuku spoke up, causing Torino to look away from the gauntlet and to the standing student, "While I do have many different garbs, they are for the various different kits I use… T-the one I was just in? It's more for healing wounds and channeling my powers and such. However, it wouldn't work as well if I was wearing the heavier plated armor for my 'Paladin' kit."
Gran Torino simply stared at him for a few moments before holding out the gauntlet in front of him, "and these? If you can switch between these... 'kits', you called them? Bah, what I'm asking is why do you need these fancy magitek gizmo's when you are a walking armory?"
Izuku's bewildered face slowly morphed into something expressionless, his head tilted down to try and hide his eyes, but the old hero could clearly see the hurt within them, "... How much did Nezu tell you about my 'quirk'?"
As if to sense the seriousness within the teenager's voice, Gran Torino laid the gauntlet back into the case before sighing heavily, slowly rising to his feet and waddled along towards the couch, slightly jumping up to sit down before looking up at the boy, "Sit down, boy… and to answer your question, I got the general poop explained to me." He sighed heavily as he shook his head and was looking down as well, "To think my dear friend's legacy is gone now... "
"I… I don't think it's gone, a-at least in the way you think it is." Izuku said, sitting himself down beside the man, who looked up at the teenager in confusion, "From what I've been able to come up with, One for All basically… 'merged' with my blessing, becoming something more while also not fully going away. I can still 'feel' it at times, but only when it's in the heat of battle, and I can feel the limitless power it's cultivated over the generations begin to rise up and boil over."
"And the gizmos?"
"Well, there are times where my kits are kinda… well… overkill or just a hindrance in certain scenarios." Izuku chuckled lightly while Torino huffed an acknowledgment at that, especially as he had been watching the sports festival this year and seen the chaos this child had done, "So, with the help of one of my friends… At least I think we are friends? It's always hard to tell with Mei at times…."
"The point, boy?" Gran looked at him with a frown and hard stare that screamed 'get to the point', causing Izuku to chuckle in embarrassment.
"R-right… sorry… With her help, we were able to craft some support gear for me when I'm not in a kit; that way, I can have something to fall back on should I be too tired to switch to a kit. They are powered by crystals that are filled with aether anyway, so it's not like I'd need to charge them to power up until it's needed."
"So, you'd be basically fighting them quirkless then?" asked the old man, who tilted his head in confusion when Izuku flinched, "What? Why did you flinch all of a sudden?"
"Well… I've been quirkless all my life, and even though Momo, Mina, Tsuyu and Kyoka as well as the teachers at UA try and help me… 'quirkless' still causes me to flinch at times, especially when directed at me or I'm the subject in general," Izuku said somberly once again, his hands brought together with a heavy sigh escaping his lips. Gran Torino looked over the boy with a raised eyebrow.
"Let me guess, a trained response?"
Izuku nodded his head gently, "Doesn't help I was the 'quirkless loser that still wanted to be a hero.'. Other kids would beat me, teachers would either ignore it or even encourage the bullying at times, no one believed I could be a hero either…" Izuku leaned back into the couch, his eyes staring at the ceiling, "Heck, even All Might said I couldn't be one at first."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Izuku's eyes shot open with a cold bead of sweat slid down his brow and cheek before turning his head towards the old mentor of the number one hero with a grating motion that would make Cementoss blush. Izuku could see the boiling rage that was lying beneath the wrinkled skin of the retired pro hero as Gran Torino stared at the boy with a glossy, yet vacant look in his eyes, "He said what?"
Izuku watched as Torino pushed himself off the couch and slowly walked over towards his telephone, a rather retro rotary one that Izuku would look at later as he scrambled up after the clearly enraged old-timer, "W-wait! He apologized and still does to this day and I've already forgiven him! Please don't be upset Gran Torino, sir!"
Before he could begin to dial the number of the now doomed All Might, Gran Torino slowly turned his head back to eye the boy who was clearly trying to defend the future dead man, "Tell me, with absolute truth boy… Why did he tell you that you couldn't be a hero?"
The raging iris of the wizened pro caught Izuku off guard, so much so that he blurted out the next thing that came to mind, "ItwasbecauseIcouldn'tbeaherowithoutaquirk!"
Silence fell in the room until the receiver of the phone clattered against the base, before falling to the floor. Izuku could see the pure shock of what Torino had made out of his rather quick response, the teenager watched the elder's body begin to vibrate in rage before suddenly screaming out, "YOU QUIRKLESS OAF!"
Gran Torino sighed heavily after releasing all his anger in that shout, grumbling slamming his fist against the table that had the phone base resting on it, "Telling a kid who couldn't be a hero without a quirk when you didn't have one in the first place!"
There was a sudden chill in the room now as Gran Torino froze suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he could feel the presence of danger lurking close to him. Slowly turning to the side, he could see his new intern give him a rather bright smile, but he could tell it was not one of happiness. No, there was a strange sort of darkness hidden under that boyish smile as Izuku kept smiling at his new mentor, "I'm sorry… but what do you mean All Might was quirkless?"
[Meanwhile back at UA]
For the first time in six years, All Might shuddered in absolute terror, moreso than when he last fought All for One. Which confused the skeletal number one hero.
What's more, why did he have a feeling that a week from now he would need to hide behind both Inko and Eri?
Chapter 46: Moments of a Day
Summary:
We take a look at some different perspectives during the course of a "normal" day!
Notes:
Wow... it's been almost 3 weeks since I updated.
I am extremely sorry about that everyone! Honestly, it was more because I needed a break as well as to fully digest the Endwalker story and see if I could adapt the ending to the start of Bearer of the Light.
Funnily enough, I can... so Endwalker is canon to the story! Woo! albeit with some slight narrative changes (like in the case with Hydaelyn w;) But this also means that we will be getting Reaper and Sage for Izuku in the future!
So after the holiday's I should be back up to a week a chapter once again, outside of personal things like work and that coming up, so if a week is missed, just assume it's because of work or something personal in my life until I mention something otherwise. :)
Anyway! I've also restarted my first fic, calling it "Phantasia: Errated", so if you like your D&D and Warhammers being tossed into the universe of MHA with shenanigans's involving an insectoid-like boy who's friends with Izuku, or just like Izuku/Tsuyu. Check it out :D
Regardless, Merry Christmas to all and happy holidays to others as we do the reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
A gentle moan slipped past Himiko Toga's lips as she stirred from underneath the old and tattered blankets she currently had over her body. Her golden eyes slowly began to open and focus as she took in the relatively familiar surroundings she and her… well… "roommate", for the lack of a better term, had holed up in since they had made it to Hosu a few days prior.
To think of the utter jackpot that it was to meet with the weirdly dressed young man down that alleyway more than a week ago, and to say that when she had tried to cut him and how he overpowered her like it was nothing made Himiko stop dead in her tracks from the glare Deku was giving her as he shoved her against a wall and held her at bay.
She remembers how he looked at her, his deep magenta or pink eyes (she never could tell the difference) looking deeply into her own as if he was analyzing her or something until he spoke softly, though with a bit of edge and for the first time since she could even remember, he had asked her two simple questions:
"Are you alright? And how can I help?"
Himiko smiled at the memory that had led the pair to where they were currently, though they had moved about the city in the shadows, luring those that would prey on the weak only for them to become the prey themselves had been very fulfilling in Himiko's mind.
And not just fulfilling in the way of her getting blood her quirk needed.
It was odd for the golden cat-eyed young woman, acting as a vigilante of sorts. Usually, she would just kill her targets and drain them dry. But with Deku? That had all changed.
Sure, the force he used could be excessive at times, but it was done to make sure they could get what they wanted or needed and then make a quick escape, leaving the bad people for the police to pick up afterward.
Besides, Deku was helping her regain some of her sanity by providing her with so much blood, there were times where he would just be staring out of the window, always on guard, and a fresh cup of coffee, a muffin, and a blood bag was waiting for her on whatever table was there in their little hideouts when she awoke. She never did ask where he got the blood bags, but they always had enough for her needs at the very least. However, they tasted often stale compared to when she would feed off of him.
Speaking of, Himiko slowly turned her head towards the semi-covered window, showing that it was just breaking dawn. The vampire groaned gently as she slowly pushed herself off of the old bed she had crashed on the night before, holding the blanket close to her bare body as she slowly walked towards the door leading out to what was once considered a living room in the dusty abandoned apartment they were squatting in.
Himiko shivered slightly as her delicate footsteps caused the floors underneath her to creak, moving a hand from the blanket she held against her to re-adjust a strap of her panties as she took notice of a convenience store bag placed just outside of her door. Raising an eyebrow, she bent down to pick up the bag, only for her to hear the gruff voice of Deku call out to her from his lookout spot in the living room.
"Morning, Toga, your breakfast and blood pack is on the island; I also picked you up something since you were making a fuss over it yesterday."
Himiko looked at him quizzically, wondering what he was referring to as she looked into the bag, only for her to suddenly blush a crimson red along her cheeks and close the plastic bag before scurrying back into her "bedroom".
Deku merely smirked softly to himself as he continued to look out the window of the rundown apartment, his smirk fading as he squinted his eyes watching some pickpocket dash past an elderly woman and snatch her purse, only to see a hero stop in front of the criminal a few mere moments afterward and stopped them. Deku continued to watch as the hero posed for many cameras, taking in the glory and what little fame they would get; all the while, the victim was left out, the hero failing to check up on them and instead choosing the masses.
Deku's arms tightened against his bare chest, having taken off the upper parts of his darkened armor due to Himiko finding it challenging to feed off of him with it on, and the dark manifestation knew the vampire woman's thirst for blood would need to be sated before going out on another hunt and to look for clues as to possibly where Stain could appear next in Hosu.
The touch of slender arms wrapping around his chiseled midsection and the warmth of a body pressing against his back snapped Deku out of thoughts when the, admittedly, adorable giggles of Himiko could be heard from behind him. Deku turned his head around and, in his ordinarily emotionless tone of voice, spoke to her, "I trust they fit well?"
"Yep! You picked out the right size!" Himiko chirped as she backed away from her "knight" and spun herself to show off the new pair of panties he had got for her. Although fairly basic, given it was a sort of "emergency" pair purchased at a convenience store, it fit rather snuggly and accented the curves of Himiko's backside perfectly. She smiled up at him, still only wearing the panties and her above average and perky breasts squished together by her arms as she hugged herself, "Even if they aren't a cute pair, I never expected you to get something like this for me."
She could see that the larger boy's eyes were transfixed on her, staring at her body for the briefest of moments with a slight blush to his cheeks before Deku snapped out of trance, which only made the vampire smile more with her own blush. He cleared his throat and moved past her towards the lone couch in the dilapidated apartment and began to remove the dusty blanket coverings, "...You should eat, and then have some blood before we go out and look for clues… it's going to be a long day."
Himiko nodded with gusto before rushing towards the island in the kitchen area to feast upon her morning muffin and coffee. A happy cry of "You got me pomegranate!" echoed out before the loud munching and slurping of food and drink replaced it, causing Deku to shake his head with a deep chuckle before sitting himself down and waiting for his blonde companion to feast upon the blood he had "filtered" within his own blood from the previous day's hunt.
Deku sighed gently, resting his head back and looking up at the decaying ceiling while thinking of his plans for now. The first step was to locate Stain and help Himiko drink his blood; while he didn't fully understand the reason for the girl to be so adamant about 'becoming' him, Deku felt like this could be a way of helping her in the long run. The second step was to get back to UA and deal with his weaker self, possibly ambushing him and showing the green-haired fool what happens when you literally push him down into the deepest parts of his mind and forget about him.
At this point, Himiko had finished her breakfast and was wiping away some of the jelly that was inside of the muffin from the corner of her lip, sauntering her way to the couch to see that Deku was in one of his "deep thoughts" sort of states. She paused for a few moments, wondering if she should wait for him before drinking the blood within his body, before immediately tossing that idea out the window since she could have some fun with this.
Slowly walking towards him, her hips swaying ever so slightly, calling out to him in a soft tone of voice that sounded more like purring as she began to climb up onto his lap, pressing her bare chest against his and smiling widely with his exposed neck before her, while her arms moved to rest on top of his broad shoulders.
"De~ku~..." Himiko sang softly as she further pressed her breasts against him, "I'm going to feast now~."
She didn't get an immediate reaction to this, but Himiko figured that would be the case as when Deku got into these sort of states of deep thoughts, it was often hard to get him to do anything. So with a shrug of her shoulders and a smile spread across her lips with her sharp canines glistening, she carefully moved towards his neck, kissing his cold flesh before sinking her teeth deep and began to drink the precious red nectar flowing out of the wound.
Himiko closed her eyes as her arms moved up to wrap around him tightly as if clinging to him for dear life as she feasted upon the rather tasty meal. Only for her to gasp when she felt one of the muscular arms of Deku move around her lower back, holding her closer to his body.
In her mind, Himiko was smiling, moaning gently in both pleasures of drinking blood and from the pressure and comfort given to her by the one person that truly understood her.
Her Knight in shining armor.
"...Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty! Good job, Ashido!" called out the pro heroine, "Jivin' Beats," who was standing off to the side of a rather impressive dance studio where one Mina Ashido had been doing some calf stretches to limber up before the early morning exercises that were planned out by the dancing pro hero.
Besides the pink-skinned student, also stretching out her calf muscles, was one Kinoko Komari, who had also chosen to come to this particular pro hero for some rather, at least to her friends back in Class 1-B, obvious reasons. Mina turned her gaze to see a somewhat struggling Kinoko barely able to reach her toes; although the mushroom-style haircut she sported was covering her eyes, Mina could see how red her cheeks were and the grit of the shorter girl's teeth.
"Now, now Komori, no need to overdo it." The older woman squatted down beside her intern with a kind smile, "Some people aren't as flexible as others, or they have trained themselves overtime to get to where they are today, which I'm sure you'll be able to do as well, you just need time."
"Y-Yes, ma'am." Kinoko blushed, gently folding in on herself, which got a soft chuckle from the pro before Jivin' Beats pulled herself up from the squat, looking at the both of them.
"Ashido, can you help Komori with one more stretch before we get started? I need to step out and take care of some paperwork before we get started anyway."
"Sure thing, boss," Mina said with a smile and saluted Beats, who groaned as she was using the lingo her sidekicks would call her. As the pro heroine walked away with a sway to her hips, Mina looked down to see a dejected Kinoko looking down to the mat, "She's right, you know, I wasn't flexible at all when I was younger and had to work hard to get where I am today."
Mina watched as her 1-B counterpart was shifting in her spot, allowing the pink-skinned to take in the curvy body of Kinoko Komori. Mina smiled as she could see her new "intern-buddy" seem to grow more embarrassed as her golden irises had kept their gaze on her, "But you don't have to be flexible to dance!"
"I-I know… T-the types of dance moves I want to learn are more i-idol based ones as I want to be an idol h-h-hero." Kinoko stuttered gently and was turning her head slightly at times as if to see if Mina was still looking at her, the blush on her cheeks brightening up as she continued, "W-while I do want to limber up a shroom more… it's not the main reason."
"Oh? Sounds like juicy girl talk! Which I am totally down for!" Mina said with a big grin and quickly grabbed the mushroom girl's wrist and yanked her up to head towards a more secluded part of the dance studio, "Alright, just place your feet against mine and grab my hands! This should limber the both of us up nicely for whatever Beats has in store for us while you tell me what the deal is!"
Kinoko gently nodded her head, seeing no other option or way to escape the alien girl's curiosity… Well, Setsuna had warned her about that particular detail when it came to Mina Ashido.
As the two of them began to do their stretches, it took a somewhat decent amount of time and stretches before Kinoko finally decided to talk, every stretch forward allowing to see the brown shiitake-like irises she sported, which caused Mina to smile more in anticipation, "S-so... um… oh mushrooms, this is h-hard to say."
"Oh? How come?" Mina asked with a raised eyebrow before they shifted into a frown and a scowl, "It's not because of the whole 1-A/1-B rivalry thing, is it?"
"N-n-n-no! Nothing like that! Only that shroom-head Monoma cares about that silliness!" Kinoko stuttered out, and some of her blush returned in full force, "I-Its because it involves a certain person in 1-A and… oooh this is so hard!" the mushroom girl sighed heavily.
Mina blinked and stopped the stretches, looking at her with a concerned look, "Hey, hey… if it's too hard to talk about, we can chat about something else."
"No." Kinoko said, her hands resting on her hips, "No, I should talk about it… get it off my chest and focus on the rest of this internship." She looked up to Mina, who waited with bated breath as she could see the determined look in the mushroom girl's eyes, "T-the reason why I want to be more limber is… is…."
"Yea?"
"I want to impress… a boy…." Kinoko said, wincing slightly from the tiny little squeal coming from the girl opposite of her.
"Oh my god! That's so cute! Who is he? Wait! Let me guess, it's Ojiro?"
"Wh-what?! N-n-n-no, it's not Ojiro!"
"Hmm… a guy who likes limber girls… Shoji?"
"I-i-i-it's not him either. Besides, Yui already claimed him-oop!" Kinoko quickly covered her mouth, blushing mad, considering she just let it spill of Yui's crush/claim on the multi-limbed to the very well-known gossip that was Mina Ashido.
"Please don't tell anyone…."
"No promises, now spill, cutie! Who is the lucky guy?"
Putting the fact that someone called her a cutie to the back of her mind for the moment, Kinoko shifted her body once again, tapping the tips of her index fingers together and drawing out the silence for a few moments more before one of her eyes peeked out from behind her bangs, "...P–p-promise not to be mad?"
Mina blinked when she was asked the question, "Mad? Why would I be ma-... Oh."
Kinoko bowed her head to the alien girl, clenching her eyes tight which caused her not to see the tiny little smile slowly creeping across Mina's face, "I-I-I-I'm sorry! I know you and the others are dating him right now! I-It's just he's so shrooming handsome and how he takes care of that little girl of his so well and all the nice things Setsuna said about him and the rest of you andthewayyoutwodancedduringthesportsfestivalmademyheartskipashroomand-"
"Kinoko! Kinoko, it's alright! Just breathe slowly!" Mina said with a gentle chuckle, placing her hand onto the muttering intern's shoulder, causing her to stop, "So… you don't need to say anything, just nod or shake your head, got it?"
Kinoko nodded, still taking deep breaths and slowly starting to calm herself down as Mina moved herself to sit crossed legged in front of the 1-B student, "Now, I'm am going to say first off that I am not going to be mad at you for admitting to this, but the boy you're trying to impress is Izuku, right?"
A slow nod came from Kinoko before looking back down to the floor in which Mina took to thinking that the mushroom girl was ashamed of crushing on someone's boyfriend, "Yeah, kinda figured that one out during that study session a while back."
Kinoko's head shot up with that blush returning once again to her cheeks, as well as several small mushrooms beginning to grow on her shoulders, causing Mina to giggle a little, "Sorry there, cutie… but it was pretty obvious to the girls and me back then. So, next question, if you want to date Izuku or at least have the chance to, then it's all or nothing… you gotta date all of us or nothin'. Are you okay with that?"
Kinoko's brought her knees close to her chest now, her arms wrapped around her legs and hiding her face, thinking to herself that this may be what prevents her from having her wishes come true, "I-I've never dated girls before or anyone for that matter…so I don't know if I like girls in that way."
"Oh! That's perfectly fine, hun!" Mina beamed a smile as Kinoko slowly looked up through her hair bangs, "Tsuyu is the only one in our group right now that doesn't "love" any of us, but she cares about us that she will go on… I think she said a "mutual outing" to build up a stronger connection. Truthfully, I wouldn't mind seeing what Tsuyu can do if she and I could possibly tag-team our green bean."
That comment caused Kinoko to sprout more mushrooms, making Mina quickly try to calm the girl down before she filled the entire studio with the fungi.
"Okay, moving from that…." Mina said with a clearing of her throat and staring hard at Kinoko, as if trying to pierce through her hair shield, "This is another big question, and I can honestly say without a doubt this could be a deal-breaker for some. But, being a part of this relationship is also taking on the responsibility of helping to raise Eri."
Kinoko moved her head up and allowed for a single eye to appear as Mina continued, "Do you think you are up for that, helping to raise a traumatized child?"
Mina would watch as Kinoko slowly lowered her head down, thinking deeply for a few moments and looking past her bangs to stare into the alien girl's golden orbs, "I-It's going to be an adjustment, but Eri is so precious, like a cute little Podoserpula Miranda!"
"A 'Podoserpula Mir-whazza'?"
"O-oh! Sorry… um… it's a mushroom that looks like a pink lily! But y-yes, I fully understand that I would need to step up and help raise Eri."
Kinoko slowly began to smile gently, looking at her knees as she continued to speak, "Truth be told, one of the reasons why I want to be an idol hero is to make people smile with my singing and personality while I per-shroom on stage!" The mushroom-focused girl's cheeks began to turn rosy once more as she shifted around while Mina smiled on, "A-and one day when I've retired from idol life… I want to become a mom, raising my own little sporelings with a man who would love me, shrooms and all."
Mina shifted herself to sit beside Kinoko, wrapping an arm around her while also avoiding the few mushrooms that sprouted on the shorter girl's shoulders from before, "Oh, I hear ya… One day, Me and Izuku are going to have a few kids of our own… could you imagine a bunch of little ones with my skin tone and his fluffy green hair! So cute!"
Kinoko giggled at the image of a few children with that same sort of coloration, either being a hyper mess like Mina or possibly as soft-spoken as Izuku… though those thoughts soon turned to green-haired mushroom styled little ones dancing and singing with these "possible" siblings of the future, which got Kinoko to blush madly once again.
Mina giggled as she soon stretched her arms up in the air, a gentle pop coming from her back, "Well, that was the important questions out of the way; I am going to have to let the girls know you want to join this little polycule of ours." The pink young adult smiled at Kinoko, "But something I wanna know is… why do you think you need to limber up to impress Izuku?"
Kinoko, though Mina couldn't see, blinked at the question before going red once again and curling up with a few more mushrooms sprouting from her knees this time, "W-Well… I could never find a chance to talk with him, at l-least introduce myself fully to him… and watching you and him dance during the sports festival as well as seeing Jiro and Tsuyu move during the first and second rounds… I-I thought Izuku preferred women who were more "flexible"."
Mina stared at the mushroom girl for a few moments before suddenly bursting out cackling, causing Kinoko to gasp and puff her cheeks up in indignation at the fact that Mina was laughing at her. Once the alien girl had calmed down a bit, she was somewhat giggling still as she spoke, "Hehehe… Oh no, no, no, no… Trust me, Izuku doesn't have a preference for something like that! I mean, sure, Tsuyu and I are more the most flexible of our group, but Kyoka is in about the same place as you are, and don't get me started on Momo… poor woman."
"Honestly, you don't need to impress Izuku at all, Kinoko. I can tell you are a truly awesome young woman who knows what she wants, and I'd suggest letting Izuku see you for your true self… because, damn, you are fun to be around, and I know you two would be cute together and get along discussing your quirks."
Kinoko tilted her head gently at Mina, her singular eye peeking through her hair with what looked like hope, "Y-you really think so?"
"Mhmm! And should you join our little group…" Mina began to speak, leaning in close to Kinoko's ear and, with a sultry tone to her voice, "I already know you'll be a hit with not only Izuku but myself as well…."
Kinoko was blushing, her mouth going dry as she spoke quietly, "O-Oh? Why is that?"
Mina, with a devious smirk across her lips as well as a mischievous glint in her eyes, moved a hand to gently grasp Kinoko's chin and turn her head slightly to stare face to face with the alien woman, "Because, I love women with a little 'meat' on her bones…" slowly moving close to Kinoko's nose and gently bit the air right in front of her with a playful teasing wink to follow right afterward.
It took Mina, Kinoko, Jivin' Beats, and her sidekicks until lunchtime to clear out all the mushrooms that covered everything in the dance studio after that lil "admission".
Izuku grunted as he tumbled to the grassy earth from the kick to the head he took from Gran Torino, who was zipping around the small field where Izuku was practicing his reactions while being "kit-less".
The green-haired boy groaned, rolling over onto his back and panting heavily as he had been training with the old-timer since lunchtime, where he was constantly getting beaten up by his current mentor. His topless body soaking in the mid-afternoon rays as Torino now stood on top of a large piece of fallen debris from the apartment building, "C'mon, ya Zygote! If I can't properly teach ya how to use the full extent of 'you-know-what,' at the very least, I will train up your reaction time! There are far more bad guys quicker than me that won't let ya shift!"
All the old man could get was a groan from the boy, causing him to sigh heavily and jump off the debris and walk towards his intern, "Alright, kid, you've been distracted since lunch, what's the problem?" asked Gran Torino with a stern look in his eyes.
Izuku was staring up at the clouds, breathing heavily as some bruises had begun to form along his bare chest and arms, "It's… it's Eri, sir."
"Eri? Oh right, the munchkin you decided to become a dad too." With the scratching of his beard, Gran Torino said when he was thinking of where he heard the name before, "Something happened?"
"She was starting her own quirk training with Aizawa today; they were using a lizard who lost its tail due to a predator attack, but a loud explosion from one of the gyms surprised her, and she used more of her quirk than she should have." Izuku said with a somber tone to his voice, "Aizawa couldn't react fast enough, and Eri was left holding an egg instead of the lizard… so she was very upset about it, and I couldn't do anything to help her but give her some words of encouragement over the phone."
"I know taking on the responsibility of raising her was going to be hard, but not being there when she needs me most?... It hurts, Gran Torino." Izuku said with a scowl to his face and slamming the earth beneath him with a fist and baring his teeth up to the sky as if to threaten it.
The older man listened and watched the tiny bit of earth dent in from the impact as he sighed heavily and sat himself down on the grass close to his pupil, sitting somewhat cross-legged as he spoke gently, "It's funny, you know… that two welders have a kid and they are doing the exact opposite of one another."
"Wait…" Izuku lifted his head up slightly, his scowl gone and now replaced by a look of curiosity, "There was a previous person that had a kid?"
"Yep, my friend and All Might's predecessor… she had a little brat of her own by the time she was given the powers that be, but after the bastard killed her hubby… Nana gave up the child for adoption, hoping that by keeping herself away from him, it would protect her son."
Gran Torino turned his head towards Izuku, seeing the fear in his eyes at the implications of what All for One could possible due to his little family, "Don't start wondering about that now, kid. That blonde dummy should have told you about "you know who" BEFORE offering you the damned thing."
"B-but what if he goes after Eri? Or Momo, or Kyoka or-"
"That bastard won't go after them so long as they are at UA and under Nezu's eye I feel. Plus, he probably hasn't figured out who the oaf passed the powers onto as of yet, let alone know it is you." Gran said with a sigh as Izuku slowly lowered himself back down onto the grass, staring up once again to the clouds, "While I can't say I know what to do when it comes to child-rearing, what I can tell ya is that, unlike Nana, you have the people there to help support and raise the munchkin when you're making sure that this peace that Toshi has given us remains as such, not just for the common folk, but for her as well."
Izuku's eyes turned towards the old pro, who was staring out towards the street from where he was sitting, "... it doesn't get easier, does it?"
"What? Parenting or hero work?"
Izuku chuckled softly, looking back up, "Both, I guess?"
Gran looked towards the youngster, a soft smirk on his lips, and lightly tapped the green-haired boy's forehead with the top of his walking cane, "Like I said, don't know shit when it comes to raising kids, but for hero work? Like any profession, it comes and goes; you, you will have your good days and bad… it's more who else it will affect when it's the bad days."
As both mentor and pupil looked up at the sky in quiet contemplation, Izuku's brow furrowed as he slowly pushed himself off of the ground with a grunt, stretching gently and looking towards Gran Torino, "Mr. Torino… can I ask you a question?"
"Can it be asked while we are sparring, Zygote?" replied the older man with a devious smirk at first before it morphed into a more severe scowl, noticing the similar look on Izuku's face, "Alright, I guess not, what's up, brat?"
"You've been a pro hero for a long time, and you may have more experience judging how someone is going to act…." Izuku said, his eyes moving to his open palm and flexing it by opening and closing his fists, "If a villain hurt someone you deeply cared about, would you go after them in revenge?"
"Kid…"
"Oh!" Izuku looked up from his hand, seeing the hurt on his mentor's face from being asked such a question, but before Izuku could apologize, Torino raised a hand up and shook his head.
"It's fine; I have a feeling you are asking this because something happened recently, and you need advice, right?"
Izuku nodded his head, still looking down for asking the rather rude question, given Gran Torino's past with the previous two One for All wielders. And after a few moments, he gathered all his thoughts and nodded gently in response to the old pro's question.
"It's about my friend, Tenya Iida…."
Nabriales perched himself on top of a water tower as the red and orange lightning of dusk fell over the relatively small area known to the humans as "Hosu". He had been in the area for quite some time now, following the carnage of a being that had caught his attention.
Stain.
Now, while the "hero-killer" wasn't really someone worthy to typically gain the attention of the Ascian, similarly to most of the populace on this miserable dustball, he did have to tip his hood to the villain for all the fear and chaos Stain had caused.
Aside from All for One, Nabriales had never seen someone utilize the raw emotion of terror like the hero-killer did, leaving ordinarily and supposed "fearless" heroes to nothing but the squirming worms that they were before gutting them like the useless sacks of meat that they were.
What struck odd for the Ascian was the motivation for the man, as any whelp worth their salt could put the fear of the gods into people and kill them. Stain, however, was not like the common rabble.
The man had a goal and a methodology to his craft, and the heroes he took down were just as rotten to the core as the villains they had captured. Was this Stain merely weeding out those he deemed unworthy? And if so, who was the ideal "hero" to the psychopath?
Still, as he mused this in his mind, he watched as the shadowy being known to him as Kurogiri had approached the killer, speaking for but a few moments before both of them walked into the shadow's portals and disappeared.
The Ascian sighed heavily, standing up from his perch, already knowing the outcome of this apparent recruitment to the humorously named "League of Villains". If Stain doesn't kill the fledgling of All for One, then he supposed he could move his own plans forward.
He smirked as he reached into a small void-like portal, pulling out a greyish sphere-like object and smirked down at it, "Soon, all the pieces will fall together, and I will get what I deserve and crave for… just like you did all those years ago."
"Isn't that right, Zenos?"
Chapter 47: Decisions Made...
Summary:
It's the start of the Battle in Hosu! Who will come out on top?
and what is the Ascian planning?
Notes:
So, little late, I know, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!... or I would say that if 2021 didn't take one last person from the world that made it that little more tolerable.
RIP Betty White
So yea, a new year means a new chapter! and we can finally get started on the Hero Killer arc... OH BOY! :D and I do mean that with enthusiasm as I have some plans.
Just as a heads up, I've decided to re-upload and edit my original story, and its new title is "Phantasia: Errated", currently only one chapter is up now and the second chapter is waiting to be edited upon, so don't expect constant updates, as I do with Bearer.
Regardless, if you like D&D, Warhammer, and Heavy Metal, give it a read, or find the original (though very cringy at times and very unedited) called "Phantasia", because I will tell you from chapter 3 on, things are changing :D
Chapter Text
'Well, that went about as well as I was expecting.'
Nabriales had thought to himself as he was once again looking over the area known as Hosu, far above its many streetlights and buildings to remain hidden within the darkness of the night sky.
He crossed his arms over his chest as he could see the hero killer, Stain, jump from rooftop to rooftop, expertly keeping to the shadows and on the lookout for prey. His usual smile had long since faded as the Ascian sighed heavily.
"What a fool… to weed out the so-called 'fake' heroes because of a little thing like greed and fame? To bring back some sort of age-old notion of 'true heroism'? Pathetic." He spoke aloud to himself as he vanished into a dark portal, only to appear back inside of the Nomu manufacturing plant, staring up the near-completed "Ifrit" that was floating within the liquid substance that was keeping the thing 'alive' for the most part until it would awaken.
"Perhaps…" Nabriales had spoken softly after a time his clawed gauntlets placed themselves upon the glass tube housing his Primal, "Perhaps a test to see how far along the 'reawakening' is…."
The Ascian soon turned his head towards the other three large containers housing other Nomu, though they were basic in their design and not augmented with the 'gifts' Nabriales had bestowed upon his currently prized creature. He kept staring at the three of them, realizing these were going to be the Nomu that would be unleashed upon the city at the behest of the foolish Shigarki's whims and wants of revenge against the hero killer for turning him down and nearly ending him then and there.
As the smug smile he was known for crept back along his chapped lips, the otherworldly being began to cackle madly within the silent and large warehouse.
A low groan escaped past Izuku's lips as he pushed himself off of the floor of Gran Torino's living room, sweating profusely as this had been the… well… he lost count of how many single-handed push-ups he was doing while wearing all of his magitek gadgets on his arms and legs.
The TV was on with the aforementioned pro hero sitting back in a slightly beaten-up old recliner while eating some takoyaki. Currently, the old man was watching the hero news network, and after swallowing his latest mouthful of food, he spoke up, "Brat! Name me three of the current top ten heroes and their quirks, excluding the oaf, GO!"
"Endeavor! Quirk: Hellflame!" Izuku grunted out as he switched to his other hand, lowing himself down and was panting hard, "Miruko! Quirk: Rabbit!"
Izuku panted, gasping for breath as he was about to name the third one, when he collapsed onto the ground with a shout of pain. He groaned as the familiar sounds of the special footwear Gran Torino worn could be heard making their way to his aching body, "Well, not bad… over six hours of pushups and still being able to think reliably, still need to work on your reaction time, especially for tomorrow."
"T-tomorrow, sir?" Izuku gasped, slowly lifting himself up and sitting on the ground, his arms and legs screaming in pain as he looked at the diminutive older man.
"Yep, your other mentor will be here with his own sidekick to help train you up; you'll also be able to use the full extent of your powers against the punk because from what I hear, you'll need it."
"W-who is the sidekick?"
"Not telling ya, as that would give you time to plan and strategize." Gran Torino smirked smugly at his pupil, who groaned and hung his head, "Now hit the showers and then suit up! We are going to Hosu tonight."
Izuku froze at the mention of the name, staring at the old pro for a few solid moments before the old-timer sighed heavily, "No, We are not going to be joining in the hunt for Stain; they got enough boots on the ground for that. Our job will be to support them in handling smaller disturbances that come up so the others can focus on hunting down the hero killer."
The green-haired boy blinked for a moment, his brow furrowing, "T-This is about Iida, isn't it…? Why we are going out there in the first place?" Izuku asked, watching as Gran Torino moved off of his recliner towards the kitchen with a smirk as he hobbled past him.
"Maybe, never know who could show up to ruin someone's suicidal revenge plan, eh?"
Izuku simply kept staring at the old man before a smirk slowly crept along his lips with a determined look came across his face before nodding and heading towards his room to shower and change.
As the young man did this, Gran Torino's smile slowly began to fade as he pulled out a cellphone hidden underneath his scarf, pressing a button to speed dial a particular person regarding his pupil.
"Yes?" the high-pitched voice of Nezu spoke across the receiver, as if he was expecting the phone call and almost sounded eager from the old man's point of view.
"Me and the boy are about to head out on that patrol, and I just want to make it one hundred percent clear… He can use his "powers" out in the field, right?"
"Only if you allow it, Mr. Torino, after all, you are the pro here." Nezu spoke while the sounds of tea being poured into his cup could be heard through the phone, "I am sure Mr. Midoriya has given you the full rundown of his kits, correct?"
"Yea, he did his little 'fashion show'." grunted the man as he went to the fridge to get himself a bottle of water, "I'll be honest with ya, some of those weapons of his seem a tad overkill."
"The gun?"
"Nah," Gran Torino said with a wave of his hand, "The gun I'm fine with, especially after stating he made rubber bullets for the thing, it's the really odd ones that take the cake, like that other gun… sword… thing he has."
"Well, you could always ask him to not use that particular kit or the others you deem to be unsafe for the public currently."
"Rather not do that, considering he may come across Stain tonight."
"Oh? What makes you think that, Gran Torino?" Nezu asked with a mirthful tone to his voice.
"Eh, call it a hunch, after all, you told me before all this and what I got out of the kid with all the bullshit that's happened to him since he got his powers." the old pro spoke before he heard a clatter coming from his pupil's room and as well muffled shouts of swearing. "... Oh right, there was another thing I wanted to bring up since you told me to look for it."
"I heard that crash even from here; Mr. Midoriya hasn't been disruptive, has he?"
"Nah, a little irritable at times, but never at me. But, the boy has been losing his cool at times when he's really flummoxed on something." Gran Torino said that caused the dean to sigh heavily.
"I feared this would happen, well, the bad news is that it's not something we can handle currently until he returns to UA, but the good news is that it just proves a theory of mine, and we can adjust things to better accommodate the boy for the future."
"I'm afraid to even ask."
"That would be for the best, yes."
Izuku sighed heavily as he rolled his head around and walked out of his current lodgings wearing his full hero suit, the nearly identical green uniform to his mother's original design, although the material used was made with better quality materials.
However, the latest additions onto his person were what really stood out. They were silver in color but tight-fitted to his arms and legs that naturally felt like they were a part of his body. Izuku's hands were covered in an almost futuristic-like gauntlet that had bright blue light shimmering at his knuckles, which also dotted the joints of his fingers and arm. The tips of the fingers were pointed, almost claw-like in a way, though blunted to be more for show than anything else.
His feet and calves were similarly decorated, though the casing around his iconic red shoes was black in color and seemed thicker in the material around the toes and heel. And after a few flicks of his foot to make sure everything was working correctly, or at least assumed they were.
These were built with Mei's help, so some sort of explosive failure was always a worrying point.
Sighing gently to himself, placing some of his first-aid items into his belt pouches, Izuku had stopped when he had picked up his cellphone, eyeing it for a moment before flipping it open and dialing a number.
Back at UA, Kyoka was smiling down at her pseudo-daughter Eri, who was sitting behind a small little drumset and very carefully tapping out a small beat, when all of a sudden, her cellphone blared loudly to the lyrics of the latest "Deep Purple" hit made both of the girls jump in fright.
Grumbling at the interruption, the punk rocker was about to tear into whoever had called her, but her attitude shifted once she saw the name of who was calling. Bringing the device to her ear, she spoke softly, "Hello?"
"Hey, Kyoka!" Izuku's voice rang out softly from the earpiece, "How are you? How is your internship?"
Eri's head perked up when she could vaguely hear her papa coming from the device as Kyoka smiled down at her, moving close and patting her head before sitting down beside her daughter who immediately sat on her lap that caused Kyoka to grunt slightly. Hearing the noise on the other side, Izuku quickly asked, "Are you alright?"
"Nothing to it, Green, just had a unicorn sit on my lap." Kyoka smirked as she brought the device closer to Eri and placed it on speakerphone, "Say hi to your dad, Eri."
"Hi, Papa!"
"Hey, sweetie! How are you?"
Eri shifted within Kyoka's lap, her cheeks a soft pink as if in embarrassment, "I-I'm ok, papa… just… we did another thing today with Mr. Lizard's brother."
Kyoka wrapped her free arm around Eri's midsection, holding her close and softly whispering nice and loving things to help cheer up and encourage the small child. Izuku, on the other end, kept silent as if asking Eri to continue on at her own pace.
Eventually, thanks to the warmth of one of her mothers, Eri continued, "H-his tail was on him, my cr-quirk put his tail back on."
"Eri…" Izuku said softly as both she and Kyoka could hear the brilliant smile on their end, "That's fantastic! I knew you could do it!"
Eri was now beaming a bright smile herself, giggling gently at the praise coming from her papa. It was at that point that Kyoka had seen the time on her phone and looked down to the single-horned girl, "Eri, it's almost time for dinner; you should go and get yourself cleaned up while I talk with your father, alright?"
Eri looked up at her mother, a little sadness in her eyes as she was excited to hear from her papa after the few days she had been apart from him, but any of the protests she was about to say was instantly defeated when Izuku spoke up.
"She's right, Eri, and I do not have a lot of time as I'll be heading out on patrol shortly. I called to check up on you and let you know where I'll be tonight, so you don't have to worry."
Eri tilted her head gently in confusion at this, "Pa….Patrol?"
"It's when heroes walk the streets to keep everyone safe, princess." Kyoka said softly and hugged her a little more, "This way, the bad people behave themselves, you know why?"
"Because Papa is out there!" Eri said with so much confidence in her voice that she missed the choked cough of Izuku on the other line, but Kyoka had noticed and was smiling with a smug look on her face.
"Not just your papa, but pretty much all of us will be out on the streets to do patrols… that means that they will have to be extra careful because if Papa is out there, that means your mamas are as well, and we are a force to be reckoned with, wanna know why?"
"Why is that, Mama?"
"Because us four are the only ones that keep your papa in check." Kyoka looked at the phone as she heard nothing but silence coming from Izuku, which caused her to chuckle softly before moving Eri back onto her feet, "Now go get washed up, maybe you can see what sort of dessert Grandma has prepared for you today."
The mere mention of dessert caused Eri to quickly rush out of the room, causing the punk rocker to chuckle more before she put the phone off of the speaker and brought it up to her ear, "So, a patrol, huh? This isn't the same patrol that is going to go hunt down the hero killer, is it?"
"N-No… No, it's not." Izuku said with a slight stutter, and when the lack of any confirmation from Kyoka made him get defensive, "It's seriously not, Kyoka. But, yes, me and Gran Torino are going to Hosu as support, allowing the others to focus on tracking down Stain while we are doing patrols to keep the public safe."
"And to stop Iida, right?"
The silence was all she heard for a few moments before Izuku sighed gently, "If it comes down to it, yes… though I don't expect to see him there or part of the main search party. It would be reckless for his mentor to put a person with a tight connection to their target on the search team."
"Well, looks like you have your work cut out for you then. Did you watch the news when they announced who was on the teams?" Kyoka asked as she picked herself up off of the floor and sat on her bed; when the confirmation that he hadn't because of his intense workout earlier, Kyoka relaxed on her soft mattress, "Apparently, they have Endeavor leading the search, probably because he is the number two hero, and despite his rep, he does bring in more villains than All Might. But also a bunch of low-ranking heroes are to help him out, including Manual."
The sudden crunch of metal, as well as an outburst of 'shit' coming from Izuku, raised Kyoka from bed, "What the hell was that?!"
"... I may have just punched a hole into my hero suitcase…." Izuku said with a grumble and muttering of more curse words, which caused Kyoka to raise an eyebrow at his reaction. Fair that anyone would be upset about the situation, but Izuku wasn't one to just destroy shit in anger, followed by cursing like a drunken sailor.
"Izuku, are you alright?" asked the purple-haired woman with a worried tone to her voice; admittedly, Kyoka had noticed a very slight change of her boyfriend's demeanor a couple of days before everyone left for their internships. In fact, this wasn't entirely unnoticed by the others when the girls had a small meeting with one another while Izuku was outside playing with Eri during those final days.
Izuku's exhale coming from the receiver caught her attention as he spoke, "I honestly don't know; most times, I just feel irritated at things quicker than I should be. It's like… an itch? If that makes any sense."
"You know, Tsuyu was acting a little different as well."
"She was?" spoke Izuku after a few moments of silence, and Kyoka realized what he was possibly thinking and frowned to herself as she spoke loudly into her phone.
"Don't you even start, Izuku Midoriya. You know how often Tsuyu tries to keep her emotions and that to herself to not worry us. Yes, it's annoying, but that's something we will have to get used to. I just hope it's something she'll share with us at some point."
"I-I'm sure she will… as you said, you know how she is." Izuku chuckled weakly, already knowing full well what was up with Tsuyu, and thankfully Kyoka couldn't decipher what he knew through the phone, "But, enough about that… How has your internship been going? I thought you'd be helping Present Mic get ready for his show tonight?"
"That WAS the plan," Kyoka said with a slight huff, "But Mic was another hero that was joining the search party, and he felt that it would be too dangerous to bring me in."
"You sound disappointed," Izuku said softly as he flexed one of his fingers to make sure the fit was still right.
"I mean, yeah, I get it… this is a professional villain that has been killing pro heroes left and right… but I can be useful too ya know!"
"Oh, I know that for a fact." Izuku said with a gentle smile on his lips, "Your hearing detection and investigation skills have really improved since we started at UA, Kyoka! Honestly, suppose we had maybe another year under our belt. In that case, you'd be right out there with Mic and could probably pinpoint Stain's location instantly!"
Kyoka blushed as her boyfriend continued to praise her for the hard work she had been doing; it was not often that someone would notice that she had been practicing her hearing skills, given how hard it was to actually show it unless she was announcing it to the rest of her classmates.
Thank god she would never reveal what she heard when she passed by Toru's room on the last night before the internships started.
Eventually, the conversation turned into other little things, such as if either of them heard about the others and how they were doing. Kyoka had mentioned that Momo and Mina had kept her up to date on their internships, with Momo complaining about her experience with Uwabambi, although apparently Class 1-B's Itsuka Kendo was there with her and had made the experience slightly tolerable. And with Mina, she had expressed all the fun dance movies that Jivin' Beats had taught her, as well as getting to know the other Class 1-B student there, Kinoko Komori. However, Kyoka did fail to mention the mushroom girl's crush on their boyfriend.
Sadly, aside from the single text sent to the class group chat that she was leaving port, no one had heard from Tsuyu while she was mentoring off with the Pro Hero Selkie.
Eventually, the sudden loud noise of a door opening on Izuku's end had to make them end their call in a hurry, but before the green-haired boy had ended the call, he could hear Kyoka give a half-serious, half-joking tone of voice that made Izuku smile gently.
"Don't do anything stupid!"
The street lights flickered on as sunlight began to fall behind the many buildings of the Hosu area, with many of the residents seeking shelter for the oncoming night as well as not to get in the way of the patrols of various heroes going about in their search for the "Hero-Killer".
One such duo was the currently placed No. 222 Pro hero named Manual, talking about some of the duller aspects of the hero world, given how often the schools failed to teach any students that there was a lot of paperwork a hero needed to fill out after every mission.
However, and doing so as not to be rude to his mentor, Tenya Iida, wearing his costume that looked like a cross between a knight and sports car, dutifully reaffirmed that he was listening to points, as well nodding his head to further sell the act.
Now, Tenya knew that Manual meant well, having found the hero to be a kind and supportive mentor, but the things the man would discuss were already things he already knew about, given that Tenya was born into a respected hero family.
But as Tenya "listened" on, his eyes darted too and fro between the darkened alleys that barely were touched by the warm lights from up above. Tenya had done some research on the various heroes that Stain had killed, finding a connection between the incidents that the villain tended to stalk and hunt down his prey within dark alleys, something that was quickly not recognized by those who hadn't bothered to actually investigate the man and his "methods". Something Tenya noticed that Manual was not privy to or preferred to be out in the open for the public to see him?
"You see," the voice of Manual broke Tenya's inner thoughts as the hero student looked towards the 'Normal Hero', "Even if we gotta do small tasks, like rescue kittens from trees or take down bad guys, we still need to show the public that we are still out here to help them no matter what, right Iida?"
"Erm, Yes, sir," Tenya said tentatively, clearing his throat a little as he hadn't fully listened to that particular part of the conversation, but as Manual was going to repeat what he said, the headset squawked to life as well as an explosive fireball could be seen a few blocks away from where the two stood.
"MANUAL!" an unknown hero's voice came from the device, "WE NEED HELP! SOME CRAZED VILLAINS ARE DESTROYING PARTS OF HOSU! ONE OF THEM IS LITERALLY TORCHING THE PLACE!"
"Copy that! Me and my sidekick are on our way!" The hero said as he looked to Tenya, who gave the pro a hard stare, "There are a bunch of villains causing a ruckus and burning down the buildings! We need to get there ASAP!"
"But what about Stain?" asked Tenya, one of his hands curling into a fist that was not seen by the water-controlling hero.
"There are others that can find him! We need to go help the ones facing the villains! Come on!" Ordered Manual as he began to make his way towards the giant plume of dark smoke set against the oranges of the setting sun. Tenya stood there for a few moments, both fists clenched now before taking a slow and deep breath and then sprinting off after his mentor, the cold fire in his eyes burning as he caught up to Manual.
It wasn't long for the two to reach the scene, and whatever mood Tenya was in shifted as soon as he saw what was causing the chaos before him, "N… Nomu…"
"What? Nomu?" Manual said, looking back at the student before turning his eyes towards the scene of two huge and abnormal-looking people… things? One of which was flying about with a vacant look on its face as it was dive-bombing several heroes, while the other was standing upon a semi-crushed car, muscles bulging and spewing out a giant blaze of fire from its mouth, before bringing down its huge fists onto the top of the vehicle to further smash it and rip off the roof to toss into another bunch of heroes.
"Manual!" a hero came running up, looking completely exhausted and parts of his costume being covered in burn markings, more than likely caused by the Nomu, "We got big problems! There was a third villain but went scampering off! And these two have been giving nothing but trouble! That fire-breathing one especially!"
"I can see that! Ok!" Manual turned towards Iida, who pulled himself together from the shock of seeing not one but two of the creatures he had seen at the USJ, "Iida! Keep an eye out and watch for civilians! I'm going to go try and get the fires under control! Do NOT engage those villains!"
Before Iida could respond, both pros had moved back into the fight. Iida stiffened as he watched the struggle continue, his mind going into dark places, considering he was on the sidelines again, similar to the USJ where he ran.
He knew he had to, Tenya needed to get back to the university and warn the staff of the villain's invasion, but ever since then, the blue-haired boy felt utterly useless. Not only that but also his rather lackluster performance during the final event of the sports festival, where that support student made a mockery of him.
A shadowing crossing the buildings above him had caught his attention as well as what looked like a tattered red scarf just slipping past the edge of the building. For a few moments, Tenya stared up at where he thought he had seen the hero killer pass him before looking back towards the chaotic scene before him.
Dashing off and following the surprisingly quick villain across the many rooftops, Tenya Iida knew he would face the consequences of his actions later, but right now, there was only one thing on his mind.
Ending Stain's rampage of killing as the hero 'Ingenium', one way or another.
Chapter 48: One's Justice
Summary:
Things begin to heat up as we make our way through the many events taking place within Hosu.
Notes:
So here we go, what a lot of people have been waiting for, the start of the fight against the hero killer himself.
How will things be different? Well, you'll just have to look and find out!
and we are coming up onto the 50th chapter of Bearer of the Light! HOLY smokes!
So enjoy this latest chapter, and be sure to leave comments and reviews! I always like hearing from the readers :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Tomura Shigaraki was feeling pleased with himself.
Well, more pleased considering the shitshow his day had been going. His recovery when it came to his reattached hand was still ongoing; even if it had fully healed back and his quirk returned to him, there were still moments of residual aches and pains that either caused him to barely get any sleep or worse yet, drop a controller and nearly breaking the damn thing because of the fall and those were expensive to replace!
And they called him a 'villain'.
Regardless, the pain had returned in full force that morning and just so happened to linger throughout the day. Typically, Shigarki would just ignore it as best as he could, but that pain had almost caused him a premature death at the hands of the foolish hero-killer, Stain.
The gray-haired man huffed to himself, thinking over Stain's asinine little speech back at the bar. Telling him that there was no point to his methods, that they were childish and naive.
Though, as he thought about it, perhaps speaking about how All Might was going to die at his hands and with no actual plans afterward was a bit foolish on his part, granted the 'leader' of the League of Villains had no idea how much Stain looked up to the number one hero.
Fucking fanboys.
The screams and cries of both the heroes fighting his Nomu's as well as those caused by the fleeing public brought Tomura out of his deep thoughts, his eyes squinting behind the hand of his father that was held over his face while he watched one of the Nomu breath fire out onto a few of the idiot heroes, "Kurogiri."
"Yes, Shigaraki?" the sentient shadow spoke from his spot behind the pale man before him.
"Sensei didn't tell you what quirks these Nomu possessed, did he?"
The yellow slits for eyes squinted slightly as if in thought, before opening them back up to their original size, "Two of them had strength quirks and some very minor regenerative ones added in, while there was the flier that had been given a strength booster quirk as well, why do you ask?"
"One of them can breathe fire, apparently."
Upon hearing Shigaraki saying this, Kurogiri had slinked his usually gentlemanly way beside the young man before peering down to look upon the fiery carnage below, "Interesting, the master did not mention he had a spare that could do that as well."
Shigaraki turned his head to his guardian/subordinate, his eyes giving off a hint of curiosity, "Spare?"
"Yes, there was one Nomu that had a minor fire breathing quirk, but that was appropriated by the master's new ally for some kind of experiment." The shadow said, looking towards Shigaraki, "It looked similar to the other overly muscular lesser Nomu's in the beginning, but its features drastically changed because of what the Ascian had done. But whatever that is now, it doesn't look like that Nomu down there."
The screams from down below caught both their attention again, as from under the pale hand gripping his face, Shigaraki was slowly beginning to smile, "Well then… I'd say things may have gotten much more interesting…."
"A-Are you sure, sir?" Izuku asked, looking flabbergasted while seated next to the old pro hero, both riding the local train towards Hosu all suited up. Sure, the whispers and looks from the passengers had caused Izuku a little bit of embarrassment, but it was to be expected since they couldn't just run all the way to Hosu from where Gran Torino lived.
Izuku felt a little guilty if he had given the heroes in the past the same feelings when he used to go out and write down information in his notebooks when he was younger.
The grizzled smaller man huffed as he looked up at his pupil, "You losing yer hearing as well? I said, you have permission for full use of your quirk. This isn't some dinky little training spot or gym we are going to; this is the real world. Holding yourself back is just asking for trouble."
Gran Torino shifted in his seat, idly stretching out his back muscles, "Besides, it makes it less of a hassle for me to just shout that in the middle of a fight."
Izuku hung his head down as the older man cackled to himself, possibly at some sort of joke not privy to the young hero student. The train shifted and jostled as the lights out of the outside world revealed themselves out of the windows since the train had been traveling the last twenty or so minutes in a tunnel, and just as Izuku was about to ask Gran Torino another question in regards to their patrol, that is when all hell broke loose.
A crash and massive tilt in the car that housed not only the two heroes but also some passengers as well nearly brought everyone down to the floor as within the wreckage laid a pro hero, unconscious and bloody, with a giant beast of a person looming down at him with a large foot pressing against the hero's chest.
Izuku was the first to recover, his eyes going wide in horror as when he looked upon the giant villain before him, he could see an exposed brain with a crooked, twisted smile, "N… Nomu!"
The beast was about to roar upon hearing its name before Gran Torino launched himself and kicked the Nomu in the side of the head, throwing it back out of the train car as the old-timer landed on his feet, looking back to Izuku, "Check on the passengers and then head towards the fires! Rescue ANYONE you can, but don't go start picking no fights!"
And before Izuku could even ask what his mentor was going to do, the old-timer leaped out of the hole where Izuku dashed up to the exit and could see Gran Torino lead the Nomu away from the stopped train, before his emerald eyes could look up and he gasped out gently.
The sky was ablaze like the setting sun on a warm summer evening. However, the odd thing was that it was nighttime now, and that massive ball of glowing orange was not the setting sun. Though he remained motionless for a few moments, a groan coming from inside of the train car he was in caught his attention. Remembering his mentor's words, the young hero Azem looked on with a determined and serious look on his face as he began to assess the task before him before immediately starting his work.
It had taken a reasonable amount of time to finish with the passengers; thankfully, he had help from a few of the non-injured people as well as the conductor who had made it back towards the car they were in as Izuku had taken to the skies, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the guise of his dragoon kit.
The red glowing eyes of his lowered mask scanned the streets and alleyways for any stragglers fleeing from the carnage of the fires and Nomu attacks. While he had yet to see any other ones aside from the one Gran Torino kicked off the train, the fires and screams of monsters from the crowds gave him the impression that there were multiple.
A mixture of shouts that sounded like commands and directions caught the dragoon's gaze as he landed on a rooftop to take a peek at the scene before him. Moving quickly to the edge, he looked down to see a peculiar sight.
There was Manual, directing other minor heroes to open fire hydrants and then using his quirk to begin dousing the areas far from the inferno before them; the dragoon squinted his eyes as he could hear the pro hero down below, "I need more hydrants open! We need to contain that advance of that inferno! Dammit! And has anyone seen Iida?!"
That last sentence caught the young hero off guard and instantly knew where Tenya had run off too.
He went hunting down Stain.
Cursing under his breath, Izuku had turned from the edge and was about to leap off and begin his search for his wayward classmate only to gasp in pain, falling to one knee as his head began to throb and ache before hearing the ever lovely, at most times, of Hydaelyn's voice echo in his head.
"Dammit, not now!" Izuku hissed out as he slowly began to pull himself back up, heading towards another edge only to be met with another sharp jolt of pain to his head that caused him to revert back to his normal costumed self.
He gasped as he shook his head, the dull throbbing in his head ever-present as he panted gently before looking about to the city line from his vantage point upon the rooftops. Izuku squinted his eyes as he slowly took deep breaths to calm himself, for when he looked a particular way, the dull throbbing increased.
"... oh, you gotta be kidding me," Izuku said with a small amount of irritation to his voice as he made his way towards the opposite side of the building he was on, stopping a few yards away from the edge as he reached into one of his belt pockets and took out his cellphone, quickly opening up an application and typing something out. He huffed when he closed the device and gripped it in his hand, bouncing on his feet to prepare himself as Izuku spoke softly, "Hope Mei didn't overclock the functions of my boots too much."
Tenya struggled upon the ground, locked in place by some unknown force as his deep blue eyes looked upon the figure standing before him. He growled low in his throat, trying to will himself to stand up and deal with the villain before him.
"My, what a vengeful look upon the face of someone so young…." Stain said bemused as he slowly began to take a few steps forward, the blade he was holding reflecting any light that had crept into the alleyway they were currently in, "I am shocked you were able to hunt me down, boy… but given the current situation and what with the false heroes were planning tonight, it doesn't surprise me someone would spot me."
The older man squatted down to Tenya's level, his red eyes looking deeply into the students before sighing heavily, "Have I slighted you in some way, boy? To make you rush in and prevent me from completing my work?"
"Y-you… monster…" Tenya sputtered out, still struggling to move as his arms, one blood from a cut by the villain began to shake in frustration, "Y-you don't… even remember what you did, do you! Y… you destroyed my brother's life!"
Though it was hard to see, what with the killer's mask hiding his eyebrows, there was a general look of confusion as well as a tilt of his head. It was at this point Stain got a good look at Tenya's outfit before it dawned on the hero killer who huffed, "Oh… is that all this is? Petty revenge because I crippled him?" asked Stain as he watched the ever-growing rage build within the boy.
Slowly standing up, Stain brought the tip of his sword down to Tenya's eyes level, seeing the now hateful gaze begin to show fear, "Seems the message he was supposed to convey had fallen on deaf ears and sent me another false hero to meet their doom."
When Tenya said nothing in response, Stain chuckled darkly, the tip of the blade just poking the student's nose, "Those that call themselves heroes nowadays are nothing but glory and fame-seeking fakes. They do not care about helping or saving the weak, only to further their own gains or goals."
The sneer of the man's lips caused Tenya to feel a chill run up his spine, "Even now it seems that those who are to be our future are on that same path, not to save people and protect the "peace" of our society, but to simply do it for personal reasons."
"I will… take you down, Stain!" Tenya spoke through ragged breaths as he tried to free himself of whatever hold had on him. The villain before him huffed in indignation.
"Clearly, it seems even the hero schools are producing more fake heroes as well, especially those that don't prioritize helping people that need it, isn't that right, Native?" Stain said aloud, a smug smirk creeping onto his lips as the downed Pro Hero was also squirming, though, unlike Tenya, had clearly lost a fair amount of blood, "But it doesn't matter, you have already been corrupted by the ideals of this unjust society… you are nothing but a fake."
Tenya's eyes looked up to see Stain had moved forward some more, fear in the young man's eyes as he watched the hero killer raise his blade up to bring down upon him. The young brother of Ingenium clenched his eyes tightly, waiting for the end to his short life while also thinking about all of those whom he had failed.
His classmates, his teachers, his family, and worst of all, how Tenya failed to avenge his brother.
A sudden 'bing' sound came from the teenager's belt that caught all three people in the alleyway by surprise. Tenya knew that the sound had come from his phone with a notification within the class's group chat.
Stain looked to downed teen, his smile long since faded as he looked at his victim, "What was that so-"
*BANG*
A bullet ricocheted off of the ground near Stain's feet which caused the villain to look up and cry out in shock from the brilliant light that shone for the briefest of moments before an all too familiar voice rang out in the alleyway.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM! CORPS-A-CORPS!"
Tenya strained to look up to see Izuku plunge himself down at the villain, striking out with the rapier and expertly swinging and stabbing the blade tip at Stain, forcing him to backpedal from his two fallen victims until they were a good couple of yards away when the gaudily dressed newcomer suddenly flew back, moving his arms in a way to hear a click sound coming from the boy's weapon, holding the rapier-like a staff of all things.
"ACCELERATE! VERAERO!"
The crystal at the pommel of the upside-down rapier shine brightly for a moment as a sphere of concentrated winds burst out of it, hurtling itself towards Stain before he could react and sent the hero killer far down the alleyway and into the street, colliding into a parked car before bouncing off and over it.
Izuku took a deep breath, staring out into the street for a moment before turning his attention to Tenya and Native, "I'm sorry I couldn't get to him quicker, but I had to send out our location."
"What are you… doing here… Midoriya?" Tenya asked, watching as his classmate looked him over and the injuries he had taken, feeling the wash of magic envelop his body as Izuku muttered out a 'vercure'.
"What do you think?! I was worried about you! EVERYONE is Tenya!" Izuku uncharacteristically snarled at his class president, "I know what happened to your brother is devastating, but seeking revenge is not something you should have done!"
Tenya's own face twisted into righteous anger as well as he pushed past his immobility to look at his green-haired classmate, "But because of that monster, my brother can no longer be a hero!"
"And would getting revenge fix that?!"
Both boys were staring hard at one another, although that sudden revelation said by Izuku had caused Tenya to lose the angered look across his face. As Izuku turned away from his fellow classmate to cast another 'vercure' upon the fallen pro hero, he cried out when a sword flew past his arm from behind him and struck his arm.
As Izuku clenched his arm and cried out from the pain, Tenya struggled to turn his head towards his classmate as Native clenched his teeth, seeing the student hurt from the surprise attack.
"Midoriya!"
Movement of red from above the three caught their attention as Stain had flipped over and landed further down the alleyway, picking up the blade that had some of Izuku's blood, "Interesting, to think I would meet the infamous Izuku Midoriya."
He quickly shifted himself into his paladin kit, covered head to toe in thick body armor as Izuku brought out his shield and sword, standing between the villain and the two bodies on the ground. With his protection raised up, ready to strike should the hero killer even so much as move forward, Izuku kept his eyes trained on him as he spoke from within his helmet, "Infamous?"
Before giving the boy a rebuttal, Stina had licked the blade clean of the blood with his grotesque elongated tongue, with Izuku found himself unable to move and was now struggling to do so similar to Tenya and Native, "Yes, infamous…." Stain spoke as he slowly began to make his way towards the three people before him, "It's not every sports festival that outside interference causes such a ruckus, and to have one of the competitors demonstrate a forgotten act of true heroism… self-sacrifice."
"But that wasn't the only time, was it Midoriya?" asked Stain as he stood before the still defensively posed teenager, looming down at him with a look of cold logic, almost similar to the homeroom teacher the students all looked up to in some sort of way or another, "The slime incident from nearly a year ago, where a young boy rushed out past idling heroes, including All Might when he was about to enter the fray. That is what is missing from today's heroes."
The hero killer began to walk past him, drawing out a rather large blade from behind him as he made his way towards Tenya, "Unlike your friend here, who's already been corrupted by the failures of our society that he must be made an example of. No more glory-hogging, fame-seeking fake heroes will be tolerated."
Stain stood in front of Tenya now, his silhouette hiding the front part of his body except for the beady red eyes of the villain as he slowly began to bring the blade up into the air, letting what little light shine against its surface and reflect down onto the frightened look of the hero student, "This is to end the cycle, this is for true heroism and justice!"
A flash of light caught the corner of Stain's eye as he whirled around, sword raised to block an incoming attack but instead was left with a more peculiar sight.
Still set in that same defensive position, where once was a paladin, now stood the hero student Izuku, still frozen as Stain squinted his eyes, untrusting of what the boy was planning.
"Justice?" was the one word spoken from Izuku that seemed to echo off the walls of the tight alleyway the small gathering of people were in.
"Yes! Justice! Justice for those victims of the fake and false heroes that profit off of their misery, or those who commit their own crimes while having the entirety of it being swept under the rug because of "popularity"."
"So, killing them, never to be made to face actual justice, to repent for their sins and crimes." Izuku spoke with a hard edge to his voice unheard of before between the three people, especially Tenya, "That is the only way?"
"There is none for the fakes!" Stain shouted out, watching as the boy began to slowly stand up, still with his back turned away from the small group, "They will never learn from their crimes, nor will they ever repent! To change the current system, there need to be extreme measures taken!"
"So that's it?" Izuku asked, causing the hero killer to shift back slightly with the drawn blade still raised in a defensive way, "The ends justify the means?"
With no response back from the hero killer, Izuku sighed gently, his fists clenching up as he spoke once again, "Stain, I am not going to try and say that all heroes aren't like how you say they are, I'm not naive to believe that. You see some of the most outrageous examples every day on the Hero News."
Izuku tilted his head back, turning his head ever so slightly to see the villain from the corner of his emerald eye, "So, while I agree with your ideals to a point, that those that have broken the law need to face justice for what they have done, your methods are equally as wrong as those so-called 'fakes' you have murdered."
Stain began to sneer at the boy before him, clearly taking offense to the judgment passed on him by a child nonetheless. However, before he could retort or possibly toss a weapon at him, the entire alleyway was filled with a blinding light, catching the hero killer, pro hero, and fallen hero student off guard.
The light shot out to the open night sky, a pillar similar to that of a beacon for all to see.
Shoto slid across the ice he was creating, speeding along between the various empty streets and alleyways as he looked down to his phone for a brief moment to check the GPS app he had open.
It was a strange occurrence to be sure for Izuku to just post a set of coordinates in the class group chat; many of his fellow classmates were confused at the cryptic message until the half-hot, half-cold teenager had a hunch what it could possibly be. When said hunch proved correct that the numbers the green-haired boy had posted to be the longitude and latitude of an alleyway within the Hosu area, well, it didn't take long for the son of the Number two hero in Japan to connect the dots.
Warning his father, as well as that strange older man who zipped around the battlefield while fighting what seemed to be a far weaker Nomu creature from the one at the USJ of the message, he immediately took off to locate his classmate.
A shining light caught his attention as he slid down to the sidewalk to gaze up at the bright pillar of light shining from a location not too far from him. Shoto squinted his eyes and began his journey once again at an expedited pace, trusting in that gut feeling that light was clearly being made by Izuku.
Being blinded by the damn thing a couple of times before the events unfolding before him further convinced the stoic boy to 'trust his gut' once more.
"No, please! STOP!" Manual shouted out as he laid upon the ground, heavily bleeding from his broken arm and injured head as the fire-breathing Nomu stood above the fallen hero.
It hissed out a sickening sound from between its lips as bouts of fire sputtered from its orifice, its bulky arms slowly brought up, and its fists clenched together to smash the 'normal' hero into a fine paste against the heated pavement of the road they were on.
Just as the beast was winding up to deliver the deadly and final blow, it suddenly stopped as still as a statue, quickly looking up and searching for something that it had picked up and when it spotted that blazing and bright pillar of light amongst the rooftops, the beast let out a horrific sounding roar that sounded like no animal or person could ever make before jumping over the top of its former prey, clearly seeking out its new target, as well as being followed from the rooftops by its 'master' and his shadowy companion.
And as Manual struggled to right himself up to see the villain running and leaping away, while also seeming to begin to morph its body most peculiarly, becoming more larger than before, but its mass decreasing and becoming lither in its appearance. What happened next would forever haunt his nightmares as the creature shouted a word with its monstrous voice.
"W̷̳̍͝Á̶̞R̵̡̨͎̫̯̳̱̃̓R̸͇͐̅́́͗̚͝I̶͉͔͔̣͈̬̓̌̎͒̃͝O̸̫̟̠͎̤̰͕̽͂̈́̓͆̚͘R̵̡̉̔̌̿͝!̵̧͕͚̓̋"
"Deku-kins? Are you sure he's this way?" Himiko asked as she and her armor-clad protector began running down one of the many alleyways they had been searching for most of the day.
Deku himself slid to a stop at the open alleyway entrance they were running through, careful to check for any patrolling heroes. When news broke out earlier that day that there was to be a hunt for the hero killer tonight and being led by the number two hero himself, Deku knew they had precious little time to complete their task.
Despite the man's relatively poor reputation amongst even hero fans, Deku knew that Endeavor was a mighty hero, as well as a person who always got their target. With so many villains captured under his belt, it would be hard-pressed to say that the walking fireball of a man needed to be avoided, for both Stain's sake as well as their own.
Just as he was about to turn his head to answer Himiko's question, a giant pillar of light shot forth from one of the alleyways not too far away from him. As Himiko rounded the corner, gazing and cooing at the admitted beautiful light shining in the night sky, a crash behind her broke her concentration as she whipped her head around and gasped in shock and worry, "DEKU-KINS!"
Deku had fallen back into some trash cans, panting heavily and harshly as the vampire standing in front of him watched the very shadows seethe and grow more ominous around him, attacking his body and driving deep into his body.
The dark knight looked up to Himiko, who was watching in abject horror as her friend was seemingly consumed by the shadows; he watched as she immediately ran back towards him, tackling against him and trying to bat away the shadows that seemed to engulf and infuse into his armor.
And admittedly, while in the shadow of that pillar of light, for the first time in weeks, whatever was happening to himself, Deku never felt more powerful or alive.
As abruptly as it appeared, the pillar of light suddenly disappeared, allowing Stain to finally open his eyes. What stood there wholly shocked not only the hero killer but also Tenya, whose eyes had widened in complete awe.
Standing before the three people stood Izuku, fully turned around and staring directly at Stain, his usual mess of hair cut short along the sides to give him a rather impressive undercut type hairstyle.
His clothing had changed once again, instead of his all green hero suit now replaced by what looked like ornate but thickened leather armor. The metallic gauntlets and leg protectors he had worn were also missing, replaced by just as beautiful dark cloth and leather, and where his red boots once were now were replaced by toeless zori and a metallic shin guard on his legs.
But those were some of the more mundane differences as on the left side of his body was seemed to be half of a forest green Hori, beautifully stylized and held tightly to his body and armor by various cloth belts and straps. His left hand rested on top of what could be seen sword hilt hanging off of his left hip with majesty sheath hiding the blade within.
And lastly, resting upon the lower half of Izuku's face was a hanbo styled mask to look like that of a laughing demon. But past the devious appearance, Izuku's own lips were far from smiling.
"Stain," the boy called out, his eyes squinting at the man who still looked flabbergasted at what he was seeing before him, "You have murdered many people, innocent or not of their crimes due to your self appointed notion of 'justice'."
Izuku suddenly drew the sword at his side from its sheath, masterfully wielding it in a sudden flourish of swipes before he gripped the handle of the weapon with both hands, its single edge facing the hero killer.
"I must defeat you to not only save those before me but also for any of your future targets! Prepare yourself, Stain!"
This night would forever be etched into Stain's mind, as it was for the first time he would not only face a true hero, similar if not as great as All Might.
But for the first time in centuries, an ancient warrior of Japan's past had appeared before him, one that would often seek out the injustices of the world at the time and cut them down with but a single strike of their swords.
And as Stain began to grin wildly, moving into a stance himself, he was pretty eager to test the resolve of the warrior before him.
For who's justice would ring true in the end, that of the hero killer?
Or the Samurai.
Chapter 49: Truth's Told
Summary:
Part 2 of the Hosu fights!
Notes:
Wow, so yea, kinda late with this one.
And I am really sorry about that, RL issues with my current job as well as still dealing with medical issues due to the extreme cold that we have been getting make it difficult to think and write. Especially when it comes to important parts of the story like this one.
But the next chapter is the big 5-0! can you believe there are going to be 50 chapters of this! I certainly didn't think so! :O
So yea, be prepared for that!
Also, as a break to try and plan out this chapter, I wrote a small story for another MHA X Random series... and the series it's cros\sing over with? ASTERIX!
The premise is "what if Izuku Midiorya fell into the Magic potion from Asterix and gave him powers Similar to Obelix?"
Initially, it was going to be a one-shot, but so many people loved the idea, I may continue it down the road.
The story is called "Izuku Midioriya: The Green Gaul" if you wanna check it out!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"We go live to our HNN action helicopter for this breaking news happening in Hosu!" announced the newscaster, the scene flickering to a woman holding a microphone and describing the location with the freakish looking creatures attacking the search party full of heroes while also setting a good portion of the city on fire.
Kyoka sighed heavily as she was watching the Hero News Network, with one hand twirling an ear jack around her finger while the other one was gently petting a sleeping Eri who was resting her head on the punk rocker's thigh and gently sleeping off her rather delicious dessert of homemade apple and cinnamon pie, courtesy of her grandmother.
While she had turned the volume down quite a bit to not wake her pseudo daughter, Kyoka's exceptional hearing could listen in on what was being said. By the music gods, did she hope that Izuku was nowhere near that.
A shuffling of slippers across the floor caught Kyoka's attention as she whipped her head around to see a tired-looking Inko gently smiling at her, pressing a finger to her lips to get the message across to calm down and not stir so much so as not to wake Eri. The middle-aged woman's eyes shifted towards the television as well for a moment, before she too had a worried look on her face, "To think that you and the others would consider that a "normal day of work"..."
"To be honest, Inko…." Kyoka said softly, her gaze looking down at the sleeping child who murmured something and nuzzled closer to her mother, "I don't think that would even count as a normal day for even the pros right now…."
The UA student looked up to the dorm manager as Inko placed a reassuring hand on Kyoka's shoulder, "We can just pray that Izuku is on the other side of that fiery blaze… The last thing we need is for him to try and see if any of his kits are fire-proof."
Kyoka giggled gently as the hand on her shoulder lifted off before Inko slowly and carefully picked Eri up and held her close, partially using her telekinesis quirk to help do so, "I'll go put Eri to bed, it is getting rather late, and I'm sure Present Mic will expect you up bright and early."
"Yea… I'm going to watch a little more before putting the recording device on for Izuku; I know he'll want to review the footage when he gets back." Kyoka said with a smile, which Inko returned.
"I swear, you girls spoil him sometimes. Make sure he earns it though."
"Pfft, of course!" Kyoka said with a smug look, causing Inko to giggle silently as well before she and Eri made their way towards the elevator. Kyoka sighed softly as she turned her attention back to the television, seeing a close-up of the fire-breathing Nomu that sent chills down her spine when all of a sudden, her cellphone within her shorts pocket began to vibrate.
Thinking it was possibly Mina or one of the other girls asking if she was watching the news, Kyoka was surprised to see Izuku leave a class group chat message. What was odd was that it was a bunch of numbers.
A scream coming from the television brought Kyoka's up to the screen, seeing the pillar of light shoot out from somewhere not far from the blazing fires. The punk rocker's eyes shrunk as she quickly bolted from the couch, hoping to catch up with her boyfriend's mother as she shouted out, "INKO! CALL NEZU! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"
The sounds of metal echoing off of one another filled the alleyway as Tenya watched both in shock and in awe at the battle before him. Deep blue eyes watching as both hero killer and, well, samurai trading blows like something out of a movie.
While Stain was quicker than his classmate, Tenya watched as each thrown dagger, or short sword had been expertly knocked or blocked to the side by the rather gorgeous blade Izuku wielded. Each block chimed out with a brilliant trilling sound as Izuku would constantly close the gap between himself and the hero killer to strike back, landing a few blows himself.
What was odd, though, was while Stain had blocked a few of those hits, there were a few that did connect against his bare arm, but no blood had been drawn. Tenya continued to watch for a few moments, more puzzled before realizing something.
Izuku was attempting to subdue Stain with the blunt side of his sword, and while not lethal, it would still hurt to high heavens, which could be seen as Stain's face winced in pain before falling back from the teenager, who had not pursued the man and stayed his ground.
As the hero killer slowly began to pull out more blades, Izuku readied himself for the eventual strike, his gaze never leaving his foe, "You have been awfully quiet, boy… most heroes would boast how they are keeping up with me, which itself is a feat given how that fake and his brother quirks make them incredibly fast."
Izuku merely squinted his eyes as Stain readied himself and continued to talk, "So tell me, Samurai… if you agree with how rotten the system is, why do you defend it now? Why do you defend the fakes that plague the system!"
As he shouted this, the hero killer threw two daggers towards the green-haired warrior, who expertly parried the two away, only for a third he had failed to notice sliced at his knee, where his armor was the thinnest.
A blur of red moved past Izuku as he had taken a knee from the third knife, and desperately did the warrior of light try to give chase as Stain had raced off towards the still prone Iida. With a maddening grin on his thin lips, Stain had raised another blade up as he was closing in on Tenya, who had begun to raise his arms up weakly to try and block the attack as best as he could.
A rush of icy spikes suddenly moved past Tenya, heading directly towards the hero killer, who quickly sidestepped around the suddenly frozen obstacle only to be met with a torrent of fire and unable to do much of anything but put up his guard and be sent flying back from the sudden burst of heat and flames.
Izuku smiled brightly, with Tenya turning his head slightly to see another of his classmates rush past him, "T-Todoroki?!"
The stoic boy didn't reply to his class president's call but kept pressing his attack with alternating his fire and ice while making his way to the still kneeling Midoriya. Once he was close enough to the samurai, he remained beside him while keeping up his attack to the now dodging Stain, "Azem, you should have done more than leaving a bunch of coordinates."
Izuku chuckled with little breath, whispering out something when a green shimmer enveloped his body, "Right, Todoroki… thank you, can you keep him busy while I check on Iida and Native?"
A simple nod was all he got as the dual-quirked boy continued his assault; as Izuku was quickly making his way towards Tenya, he shouted out to his classmate, "His quirk requires blood, so don't let him cut you or burn the weapon if it does!" And not waiting for an acknowledgment from Todoroki, the currently outfitted samurai made his way to his fallen classmate who was watching the fight now between one of the other powerhouses of Class 1-A and the hero killer.
"No… no… I was supposed to fight him; he shouldn't be here…" Tenya said to himself, his eyes slowly shifting towards a now kneeling Izuku who was looking over him once more, "Neither of you should be here! Why are you-"
The sound of a hand slapping the speedster's cheek echoed in the alleyway, so much so that it had caught the combatant's attention somewhat. Tenya's gaze was wide-eyed as he slowly turned to look at the somewhat irritated and angry-looking Izuku, a relatively rare sight to behold.
"Tenya Iida, if the next words out of your mouth aren't 'Thank you for assisting me Midoriya and Todoroki, I am sorry for acting like a fool.' I am going to volunteer you to help Mei Hatsume test some of her inventions!"
Izuku huffed loudly before turning his gaze away from his class president and beginning to look over Native, squinting at the wounds on the pot hero before shifting back into his "hero" outfit and reaching into belt quickly to pull out some gauze and immediately began his work.
"I get it." Izuku said after a few moments of silence, "I get that you want to make Stain pay for what he did to your brother. To take up the mantle of Ingenium when you feel you are not ready for it… boy do I especially know that feeling." The green-haired boy said with a frustrated huff before quickly tying off the bandage and looking at Iida square in the eyes, "I told you before that you have all of us behind you, to support you during all this… just like I know, you'd have my back if I was in need."
Tenya watched the angered look of Izuku fade into a bright smile, "plus, did you forget I unlocked a healing kit back at the USJ?"
The blue-haired boy's eyes suddenly shot open, the dawning realization that a possible answer for his brother's injury was right in front of him this entire time. Looking down at his hands (not yet realizing that Stain's quirk had finally worn off), Tenya was staring at them with numerous thoughts running through his head.
What possessed him to think that going after the hero killer was the only option? To abandon his mentor when the real threats of those Nomu from before were the real dangers! What would his family say? His friends?
What would Tensei say?
A shift of movement brought him out of his inner thoughts to see Izuku standing before him, his hand down and offering to the fallen teenager, "We all make mistakes, so much as we learn from them and improve ourselves can we not only be better people… but heroes as well."
"So," Izuku said with a determined look and tone of voice, shifting back into his samurai kit, "Let's show Stain that people, including heroes, can be redeemed for their misdeeds, and the truth of our 'Justice'."
"So I ask… Are you ready, Ingenium?"
Stain huffed and growled as he leaped towards the fire and ice-wielding young hero that had been keeping him at bay, bringing down his sword upon Todoroki only to have it strike against a large thick sheet of ice that separated the boy from the deadly weapon.
"You are skilled," Stain huffed out as he quickly kicked himself off of the ice sheet towards one of the alleyway walls before doing the same thing in rapid succession that caught Todoroki off guard, enabling Stain to get a cut on his arm and send the boy in retreat from further strikes.
But Stain didn't continue his assault, quickly bringing the blade with some of Todoroki's blood up to his lips to partake, but the sudden blast of fire aimed at the sword caused the blood to evaporate and Stain to cry out in pain from the extreme heat.
"Damn, brat!" As all the hero killer could say before, the revving of an engine caught his attention, causing him to turn his head quickly, only for it to jerk the other way when the boot of one Tenya Iida launched Stain out of the alleyway.
The speedster slid across the cement floor before coming to a stop with smoke billowing out of the exhausts on his calves, panting for breath after having to quickly charge himself up for a 'Recipro Burst'. The taller hero student watched as Izuku dashed off to give chase out of the alleyway as Todoroki quickly moved himself up beside Iida, "You alright, Iida?"
"A-aside from using the last of my energy for that kick, I'm exhausted… and regretful." Tenya said as he weakly began to stand up, having the aid of Todoroki to help him despite the wound on his arm, nodding his head in gratitude, Tenya continued, "Midoriya suggested I stay back, hoping that without my or Native's presence, perhaps he could convince Stain to stand down."
"That plan doesn't seem like it will work." Todoroki said as he and Tenya headed back towards the still prone Native, "Given how hard the man fought and all the past crimes he's committed, he seems rather adamant to keep doing what he has been doing and not give up, outside of someone killing him."
"I trust that Midoriya will know what to do and make the correct decision." Tenya said with a serious tone to his voice as both teenagers kneeled down to pick up the pro hero, who at this point was passed out due to the blood loss but was still breathing at the very least. As they both began to pick up the unconscious man.
Stain groaned as he shook his head, slightly disoriented and feeling a rather sharp pain against the side of his chest where the fake hero had suckered kicked him, and sent him flying out into the middle of the vacant street. Using a sword to hoist himself up, the hero killer was beginning to think that this entire night had gone to hell and needed to retreat to only recuperate and continue his mission again.
"Stain," the familiar voice of the samurai interrupted his thoughts, looking up to see the lone hero student standing there, the cold breeze of the night causing the loose parts of his garments to waft gently as the look on the boy's face was stern, "I need to ask this since I doubt I'll ever get a chance like this again, but why didn't you become a pro hero? I know about your vigilantism as Stendhal, and while your methods were brutal, you saved many people."
Stain grit his teeth at the mention of his former alias; while some memories were pleasant, many of them were not. And despite knowing he needed to get away, there was something deep within Stain that was curious to see how Midoriya would react, so with a curl of his lips, he spoke, "I'll indulge your curiosity, if only because I deem you a proper hero in this corrupted society."
"Originally, I believed that those who wielded power without conviction were those that needed to be put to death, putting down the sinners like the rabid beasts that they were. However, after a confrontation with another vigilante, it dawned on me that the reason for society's problems was because of those who were not 'true heroes'. "
Stain stood fully now, his hand tightening over the handle of his weapon, "But, I doubt you would even understand that with a quirk like mine, as are ones similar in nature, we are often looked down upon for having 'villainous' quirks they call them."
"What about Vlad King?"
Stain blinked for a moment, "...Excuse me?"
"Vlad King, the hero that uses his blood for capture purposes as well as being able to harden it and use it as a weapon… granted, I don't know if he needs to consume blood to keep up with the needs of his quirk…." Izuku said to himself, rubbing his chin as Stain merely stared at the boy in disbelief.
"Regardless, I do understand where you're coming from-"
"HOW?! Your quirk is the epitome of what is desired! The only thing that matters to people!" Stain bellowed out in rage; how could this boy understand what it was like? How could this mere child even know the hardships that came with an undesired quirk-
"I was quirkless," Izuku said plainly; unknown to him was not only his fellow classmates with the pro hero on their shoulders having come to the opening of the alleyway to witness the fight but also the two lone figures that were watching and waiting to get to Stain, one with a complete look of shock on her face while the other merely grit his teeth.
"I was thought to be quirkless, being told that I'd never amount to anything nor would I ever obtain my dream of becoming a hero. For fourteen long years, it was nothing but being beaten and bullied for most of my life, even being told to jump off a building to see if I get a quirk in the next life."
Izuku huffed gently, "Funnily enough, it manifested when I rushed in during the sludge villain incident, so yes, I do understand from a certain view of what it's like. And I can tell you that there are no villainous quirks, any can be used for good or evil, but it's up to who wields it to do the right or wrong thing."
Another cool breeze whipped past the two lone figures in the middle of the road, both staring at one another in complete silence until after a few moments where stain lowered himself down into a stance, "What is your hero name, boy?"
Izuku slowly moved into a stance himself, seeing where this was going as his right hand hovered just above the handle of his sword, "I am Azem, Hero of Light."
"I shall remember that name…" was all Stain had said before he lunged towards Izuku, who in turn did the same thing at an incredible speed.
It was a real 'blink, and you missed it' moment from the speed the two had gone at, colliding into the middle of each other's path as when both Azem's and Stain's weapon connected, the shockwave of air that exploded forth from the two kicked up the dust on the ground as well as nearly overturning several of the parked cars from the wind pressure alone, with several windows in the nearby buildings suddenly breaking in a cacophony of shattered glass echoing out.
As everyone regained their bearings from the sudden explosion of dirt and wind, Tenya and Iida looked on in shock and awe as they could see both Stain and Izuku standing close to one another.
The blade that the hero killer had wielded had been blocked by the sheath of the samurai's weapon, while Izuku's pommel had dug deep into the ribcage of Stain. Both men stood their ground, silent as the two other hero students slowly began to make their way towards the pair and could hear Izuku speak softly to the villain.
"Society will change, even if it's being dragged across the floor, it will change, Stain… you just need to have more faith in the people and know that 'true heroes' will stand up to the injustices of their society and those who would abuse their power."
Whatever response he was hoping for died when the gurgling of blood was the only sound that escaped past Stain's lips before he crumpled to the ground and was unmoving.
At this point, Izuku sighed heavily, reverting back to his basic hero outfit, and nearly fell back onto his butt as his friends rushed over towards him. As both Tenya and Shoto laid the slightly recovering Native on the ground, Tenya was the first to rush over to his friend's side, "Midoriya! Are you alright?"
"Bit winded… to be honest." Izuku chuckled slightly as he looked down to the frozen Stain. Slowly beginning to pull himself up to his feet, with the aid of Tenya and Shoto to grab an arm each to do so, "We should try and get rid of any weapons he may have on his person, then use these handcuffs I have in my belt pouch to at least restrain him until the pro's show up." The green-haired boy said as he reached into one of his belt pouches and pulled out said pair of handcuffs.
As Izuku knelt down to begin looking for more weapons hidden on the hero killer's person, Tenya and Shoto looked to one another before the dual-quirked boy spoke up, "Midoriya, about what you told Stain-"
"Todoroki! Now is not the time to be asking for such personal and sensitive information!" Tenya said while waving his arm up and down robotically before the chuckle coming from Izuku caught both of their attention.
"It's fine, Tenya, but thanks anyway… and Shoto, if you don't mind, I can explain better once tonight is done and over with, o.k.?"
Izuku had looked up to the boy, unsaid words said between the two before the son of Endeavor nodded his head and knelt down to help his friend. Tenya raised an eyebrow at the interaction but decided not to comment on it, going and checking on Native instead.
Unbeknown to the three hero students, Toga was roughly pulling on Deku's arm down one of the alleyways as he led her away from the scene.
"Deku-kins!" Toga whined, "We need to help Stainy! We can take on those three easily!"
"No, Himiko… if Stain couldn't beat Azem, what chance would we have against them? Besides… we have another issue."
"What's that? What can be more important than freeing Stainy and feeding on his-" Toga began to complain once more before stopping when the pink-haired man brought her delicate fingers up to the side of his neck, one of the few spots where she could touch his skin and was shocked to feel not only warmth coming off of his skin but also something she had never felt once since the two had met.
A heartbeat.
As Deku stared at Toga for a brief few moments, their eyes caught one another before he turned on his heel and began heading back to their hideout. Toga immediately followed after him, curious and worried for her companion.
It took a solid ten minutes to not only restrain Stain in the handcuffs but also search his body for all the weapons the villain carried on him. Even then, Izuku felt that there were still probably some concealed weapons on the man they wouldn't be able to find no matter how thorough they could have gone.
By this time, Native had relatively regained consciousness and had taken over a supervisory role, as the pro hero was discussing how odd it was that three hero students could take down the man responsible for so many hero deaths.
When Izuku was about to refute Native and discuss how it was possible, a gleam coming off the back of Tenya's metallic costume caught his eye. Turning his head around and looking up, Izuku suddenly shifted into his Paladin kit and brought out his 'Passage of Arms', all the while shouting, "GET DOWN!"
A giant fireball landed not too far from the group, with a fiery explosion engulfing not only the various cars and buildings upon impact but also the heroes who were protected by the holy wings of light coming from Izuku's shield.
The impact had tossed and burnt whatever vehicles that were on the streets into the sides of buildings, the asphalt of the road was sizzling from the heat as the in the center of the impact, a plume of smoke was billowing out from the crater that wherever had landed there had caused.
The protection spell faded after that, the heroes and Stain none the worse for wear as a sickening squelch coming from within the smoke of the crater caught everyone's attention.
While whatever was inside of the smoke was practically hidden, glowing red eyes opened up to stare directly and burn hard at Izuku, with a crooked maw filled with teeth being illuminated from the darkness as the most guttural sound escaped and sent shivers down all of their spines.
"F̸i̷n̵a̶l̷l̸y̶ ̴f̷o̴u̴n̴d̷ ̸y̵o̵u̷,̶ ̴W̸a̷r̴r̸i̴o̸r̴ ̵o̴f̷ ̵L̶i̷g̶h̴t̷.̵"
Chapter 50: Pride of a Father
Summary:
It's Primal fight time! How will our heroes deal with the sudden threat?
Notes:
Well... this took some time to write.
Hello all! Thank you for being extremely patient with me on thi9s chapter!
I'll be honest, while it had mostly been parts of exhaustion from working 7 day work weeks (Seriously, I did 56 hours last week, the hell?!) and the ever-changing temperatures that cause my severe asthma to act up have not been the same been fun. It was also to do with the lack of motivation caused by the season.
That aside, I once again thank you all for the patience while writing this and I do hope you enjoy it! The next chapter is going to be spicy so just as for warning if you want to skip over it, you can, but there will be some plot mixed in (I will mark the smut if you want to skip it :) )
But in other news... HOLY SHIT WE MADE IT TO CHAPTER 50! thank you all for making it here with me and hope you continue to support and enjoy the story. I have no idea where I'll end it, but it won't be for a while I can assure you of that.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"W-what is that thing?" the pro hero Native asked as he stood aghast and full of fright, along with the three hero students standing with him as whatever spoke from within the plume of smoke slowly moved from the crater it had made when it first appeared and can now see what the monster looked like.
Standing before them was a massive and hellish looking creature, approximately fifteen to eighteen feet tall had it fully extended its body covered in what could be described as chitinous plates that ranged in various shades of red, lithe in its build but possibly to hide its true strength, with two massive spikes jutting out from it's hunched back, and drool dripping out of its jagged maw of a mouth that when it landed on the street below it, the asphalt sizzled loudly.
If anything with a point to its body, be its claws, talons, the end of its tail, the two back spikes, or its front-pointed horns, looked to be molten hot in color, let alone the fact that everyone could feel the heat coming from the beast.
Its fiery eyes kept its sight on Izuku, who merely clenched his sword and shield tightly in his hand as Tenya had said something that made all of those around him look upon his, "I-Is that a brain in between its horns?"
Gazing upon the apparent sight of a brain in between the two massive horns, both Todoroki and Izuku knew precisely what was standing in front of them. Or at least what it was.
"A Nomu… but nothing like the one at the USJ." Shouto said while squinting his eyes, moving into a stance to freeze the creature should it move, followed by Izuku and Tenya as Native looked on in horror at the three.
"The hell do you three think you are doing?! We need to get out of here!" spoke the aboriginal-themed pro hero, as he held the still unconscious Stain beside him.
"I think not." A voice called out that echoed around them, even with the burning and sizzling of the environment, as a dark portal suddenly opened up beside the towering beast, which further caused the three students to prepare themselves for the worst.
However, who they were expecting wasn't the one to meet them.
From out of the portal, a black-robed individual stepped out of the darkness, their arms covered in various ornate braces with clawed gauntlets covering their hands, with the hood covering most of the stranger's head aside from the smug-looking smirk across their lips with a tiny fang peeking out. The red mask they wore seemed to be delicately decorated with a bright red hue that nearly matched the shade of the creature beside them, "Well, it's finally time for the two of us to meet. I had hoped to do so earlier, but the furball's wards are nigh impenetrable."
"Sir, I w-would recommend stepping away from the creature for your own safety!" Native called out, clearly lost and having no idea what to do, but still trying to act like the pro hero he is. The robed man slowly turned his gaze towards Native, the smirk disappearing for a moment and replaced by a distasteful-looking sneer.
"Ugh, to think that an insect-like you would address me, as well as having these two other pests here, will ruin things." was all he said before with a gesture of movement from his hand caused a large dark portal to appear underneath both Native the still unconscious Stain, as well as Todoroki and Iida instantly falling through each of their own portals. Native had reappeared above one of the few remaining cars half a block away, landing on the roof of the said car with a sickening crunch of bone and metal. When Tenya and Shoto had phased through their own and were falling to the hard cement. However, the son of the rank two hero was quick enough to create an icy slope that while the metal-encased class president would tumble down for a bit, he was relatively unharmed.
Izuku watched as Shoto helped Tenya up from the ground before quickly saying a few words that caused the speedster to rush over to the car Native and Stain had landed on, while Shoto made a mad dash with his ice back towards him. However, a wall of fire soon barred the dual-quirked young man's path as Izuku could see the beginning of the hexagonal barrier he had seen once more.
Turning his attention back to the now smirking robed man, he put his shield up and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, "That was you!" Izuku called out with an angered look on him, "That was you who sabotaged the sports festival, causing that giant creature to fall from the sky!"
The robed being cackled loudly, clapping his hands mockingly, "And the 'obvious' award goes to the pathetic Warrior of Light before me!" The smirking man licked his lips, revealing a pair of pointed canine teeth to the student, "Admittedly, I was hoping for the Rotten Goobbue to kill that explosion-happy upstart so I could probably assess how far along in your 'reawakening' you are." spoke the man under the mask with Izuku's angered look getting more serious, which was merely shrugged off as he continued, "But sadly, that experiment was tainted, so I had to look for an alternative."
The robed being raised his hands up towards the alien-looking Nomu beside him, "Enter the Nomu, a wonderful quirk-infused corpse filled with the various powers given to these pathetic humans nearly two hundred years ago by that pain in the ass furball, Noggle Mog the XIV."
"Tell me, boy." The robed figure lowered his hands down, moving them behind his back, "Did the furball tell you how 'special' aether is to someone?" When he was met with silence, the Ascian smiled and chuckled, "Aether is what makes up a person's soul… including their personalities and their memories… it flows through the spiritual and physical aspects of each of us."
"This Nomu… or shall I say 'Primal' Nomu now, feeds off of that same aether from the various quirks within the body of this beast, not needing the use of aether crystals to sustain itself."
The being slowly began to rise above the ground, floating up as Izuku watched them ascend up, still talking aloud, "This Nomu's original form was quite interesting, to say the least, holding a quirk that befitted the lord of the inferno himself. Do you wish to know what that quirk was?"
The Ascian smiled widely as Izuku gritted his teeth, but soon the facial expression of the teenage warrior of light shifted from anger to one of pure horror as what the robed person said next nearly shattered his entire being.
"It was fire-breathing."
The beast suddenly roared, the various windows that had not yet been shattered did so as Izuku took a defensive stance from the roar as the floating person above him cackled loudly, "That expression! So beautiful and priceless! A reunion with one's long-dead father, who is now a monster ready to bring a quick end to his own son!"
"What the hell do you want?!" Izuku shouted, staring up at the man who was still chuckling, albeit slightly now, as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"What I want is what was taken from me so long ago… and use it to bring fear and despair to this new world." The robed figure rose even further up, now at the height where he was at the top of some buildings, "I will have what should be rightfully mine, boy, for I am Nabriales, the last Ascian." The now identified man turned his head to the primal Nomu, who turned its head up once called by name.
"Ifrit, I think it's time to see just how strong this 'warrior' has become… Kill him."
Tenya slammed his fists against the barrier, feverishly more so now as he heard the beast roar loudly and watched in abject horror as Izuku was now doing his best to dodge and slam the monstrous strikes away, "Midoriya!"
"Don't distract him!" Shoto shouted to him, watching both his fire and ice bounce off of the barrier with a tsk coming from his mouth, before looking towards his class president, "That is the last thing he needs while we try and figure out how to get this barrier down!"
"But Todoroki-" "I know!" Shoto interrupted with a shout to interrupt his class president, which was somewhat uncharacteristic for the usually calm and stoic boy, and after taking a deep breath to calm himself, he spoke once again, "I know that we cannot sit back and do nothing, but this barrier is like the one back at the Sports Festival… if All Might nor Endeavor could break through, what chance do we have?"
Both the young adults turned to watch as Izuku had dodged some rather nasty looking spikes that landed all around him, each one attempting to skewer him, only the currently paladin-clad boy to strike back at the giant Primal, only to have his blade ricochet off and allow the beast to send Izuku flying back with a backhanded attack.
The two UA student's attention was caught when they heard a bellowing voice call out to them; it was the number two rated hero Endeavor, followed by a small group of sidekicks and small-time heroes and a… very short old man, "SHOOOOTOOOOO!"
As the small group quickly made their way towards the pair, the two older and professional heroes could see an unconscious and heavily bleeding Native on the ground with … a bound up and bleeding Stain. Endeavor looked to his son, though while wearing the always present 'scowl' he was known for, one could actually see the worry within his gaze as he addressed the dual-quirked student, "Shoto, are you alright? We followed the coordinates you mentioned, and when we got here, it's literally a hellscape!"
"Endeavor," Shoto stood up to his father, not in a way that was rude or condescending to the number two, but more of a professional sort of stance, "I encountered both my classmates engaged with the hero killer, Stain and I intercepted, where Midorya, aka Azem, as able to knock him out with a hard blow to his rib cage." As everyone looked towards the still-out cold hero killer on the ground, a few of the sidekicks further restraining him but also checking him over for injuries, Shoto continued.
"As we were about to regroup with the search party, a massive Nomu-like creature called a 'Primal Nomu' landed on the street, causing an explosive discharge that leveled most of the environment. Azem was able to block it from us with one of his quirk's kits, and from a shadowy portal, that man came out." Shoto spoke while turning and pointed towards the floating Ascian. His back turned and watching the fight, ignoring the hero group.
"His name is Nabriales, an Ascian… No idea what that means, but he claimed to be the last of them; he teleported Iida, Native, Stain, and myself far from Azem and the creature. When I attempted to rejoin Azem to provide assistance, a wall of fire appeared with a barrier similar to the one at the sports festival barred my path."
Endeavor looked up to see the barrier glimmering at times before turning back to see the fight and the student struggling to block and dodge the attacks. From his side, a rather rough huff came from the retired Pro Hero that had helped him deal with the two previous 'lesser' Nomu's.
"Is there no way to get in there?" asked Gran Torino, who was still listening to the surroundings, but his gaze was focused on his intern, clearly fighting for his life.
"Not even I or All Might could break through the barrier before, and while we have stronger quirks with us than we did at the festival, even All Might could not put a dent in it." Endeavor said with a furious scowl on his face, his attention turning from the fight to the older man beside him, "It is easy to assume that either the creature is the cause of the barrier or is tied to it, let alone if it's this Nabriales character that's causing it with his own quirk. But now we have other problems."
"Huh, like wha-" Gran Torino suddenly spoke up but was cut off when the sound of a helicopter interrupted him; looking up with everyone else, he grunted when he realized whose helicopter it was, "Ugh, damned press!"
"Given that beam of light earlier and the explosion caused by that creature, it makes sense the vultures would be circling." Endeavor spoke before looking down to assess the situation, before looking to those gathered around him, "We cannot get past the barrier, but it seems we have no choice but to ready ourselves when it goes down. I have that Mid-Azem can accomplish this as he did back at the festival." His fiery gaze turned towards the two UA students, "Shoto, are you and your classmate still able to fight?"
"I am still able too, however-" "Endeavor, sir!" Tenya suddenly spoke up, interrupting Shoto, who merely raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his class president, "I am injured, but I cannot leave my classmate to die out there! I am still able to run, but I cannot fight! Please! Allow me to assist you in any way possible!"
The fierce look in his eyes was not ignored by the flame-spewing pro hero, who merely stared back at the blue-haired student with his own stony gaze, silent words being exchanged between the two before Endeavor finally spoke up, "What is your hero name, boy?"
"Ingenium, sir, given to me by my brother and reminded of what the mantle entails by Azem." Tenya spoke up proudly, causing Endeavor to nod his head.
"Fine, Ingenium, your task when the barrier goes down is to recover Azem and evacuate the battlefield, understood?"
Seeing the nod and hearing the 'Yes, sir!' from the blue-haired boy, Endeavor looked towards Shoto and Gran Torino, "Gran Torino, sir, would you be able to strike from above should we get you to a higher elevation?"
"Ha! I see what you're thinking youngin, count me in… I really want to kick that bastard's teeth in." Gran Torino smiled with a dark look to his smirk that Endeavor ignored for now when he focused on his son.
"Shoto, assist with aiding Gran Torino up onto the rooftops, then return here and aid me in providing cover with our combined fire attacks while your classmate evacuates Azem."
All he got was a silent nod by the dual-colored haired boy before he and Gran Torino took off into an alley close by to get the old-timer up on the rooftops. Endeavor looked back towards his sidekick's, "Burnin'! Take charge of the evacuation of Native and Stain, then head back towards the rendezvous point!"
After getting the flame-haired woman's salute, the second-ranked pro hero looked back towards the battlefield, watching the fight continue and gritting his teeth, preparing himself to instantly set in motion his plan when that insufferable barrier would come down.
As he and the others were preparing themselves, the sounds of the rotating blades of the helicopter echoed out into the night as the reporter within described the scene while the cameras rolled and recorded and displayed the fight between the boy and the monster.
All of Japan watched the skirmish, and from the hero agencies across the city where members of Class 1-A watched on in abject horror as Izuku was fighting for his life. Many of them growling and angered by what was happening and demanding aloud for something to be done or lamenting that they couldn't join him and help out. While certain members of the class were reacting to the situation differently.
Mina held onto Kinoko tightly, watching from the break room of Jivin' Beats agency, her eyes clenched tightly as tears stream down her cheeks while the mushroom-loving girl also was crying, though it was hard to tell if hers were open or not as the pro hero was standing behind them on the couch, her warm hands on each other their shoulders hoping to comfort her interns while also gritting her teeth at the lack of support the boy was getting, even if the barrier was preventing anyone from getting in.
Across town at the Uwabami Agency, Momo was silently praying with all her might that Izuku would survive this horror, as the Class 1-B president, Itsuka Kendo, had her hands on her shoulders to try and comfort her, all the while taking glimpses of the television screen, almost not believing what she was seeing.
Out on the ocean, within the small breakroom of the Oki Mariner, Tsuyu was sitting alone as the rest of the crew had long since gone to bed after taking down a serious drug smuggling convoy, and the frog girl had her hands clasped over mouth while tears streamed from her eyes. She didn't blink, afraid that missing a single moment would make her lose the boy she loved in an instant. So she kept staring, watching the screen with her heart beating hard against her chest and the hollow feeling in her gut that she would never see her mate ever again.
Kyoka was snarling at the screen, her jacks poised to strike as she was sitting in the teacher's lounge with Midnight beside her, currently out of her hero suit and in more casual clothing and gently rubbing the punk rocker's back trying to get the girl to calm down, even just a little. All the while, Aizawa was leaning back against the wall, his eyes squinting at the screen while he was doing his best to calm down Emi on the other line, who was freaking out so much from what was happening out in Hosu.
And within the 1-A dorms, holding and cradling a crying Eri, Inko was gently humming a song to try and calm down her granddaughter, who was babbling out for the "bright lady" to protect her papa, all the while clutching the small crystal in her hands as if it could possibly help the person she was calling out to hear her.
Izuku cried out in pain as he was tossed far into a lone street lamp post, caused when the Primal Nomu Ifrit had sent the student flying into one of the many boney pillars it had summoned and launched at him, where it exploded upon breaking the thing and hurtling him far from the creature.
He gasped for breath as he landed hard on the ground, his metal armor seemingly doing more harm than good as he coughed, trying to slowly get back up while the Ascain above him was cackling loudly.
"Is this all the successor to Quinn has to offer? PATHETIC!" howled the robed figure in a sarcastic tone of voice. While he continued to laugh maniacally, Ifrit had jumped and landed close to the fallen student's body, its large and sharp claws suddenly gripping the upper body of the boy, lifting him up and then slamming him not once or twice, but three times into the nearly molten asphalt before tossing the student once again into an almost burn out car, denting the side of the thing and causing Izuku to spit out blood, landing on the ground with his back now resting against the dent he had caused and his head hung down, blood dripping down his chest.
Nabriales sighed as he floated towards and beside the Nomu Primal, causing it to stop in its advance, "Utterly useless… to think that such a gift and blessing was wasted on such a one as you, and to take from me what I desired and dreamed of… not only once, but twice!" snarled out the Ascian, "You are no Warrior of Light! You are even less of a bearer of the seat of Azem!"
However, the words being spoken to the battered and bruised hero in training were lost as within his mind, Izuku could hear someone calling out to him.
"Midoriya, you must get up."
Slowly raising his head up, and with a blurry look in his eyes, Izuku spoke softly to answer back, "F.. Fray?"
"Get up, boy! I know you have some fight left in you." The disembodied voice of the darkness spoke out to him.
"But I… I can't harm it… any one of my strikes or spells just bounce off of it."
"The pillars, Midoriya!" Fray spoke with haste in his voice, "They are a part of that creature's body; they protect it, take them out and then strike down your foe!"
"But they… explode… when destroyed," Izuku said as he coughed loudly, more blood sputtering down his chest.
"Then destroy them from afar! YOU HAVE THE MEANS TO DO SO! Or do you not remember the dance you shared with your pink lover?"
"M-mina?" Izuku said aloud this time, causing Nabriales to tilt his head in confusion as to what the fallen student had muttered out as he couldn't quite hear him.
"Yes, Mina! Do you think she will be safe if you fall here? Do you think ANY of them will be safe?"
Izuku groaned as the burning pain in his back rippled through his body as he slowly began to pull himself up, the burnt and charred armor of his paladin kit disappearing and putting him back into his now torn and tattered hero suit with Fray continuing on.
"The Ascian will hunt down those you love, he will torture them, kill them… perhaps turn them into whatever that creature that imitates the lord of the inferno that I know and fought. "
"No…" Izuku breathed out, lifting his head slowly to show the fierce determination in his eyes despite the trail of blood flowing from atop his head.
"It is time, Midoriya." Fray said cryptically, "It is time for you to stop holding back. Your foe stands before you. It is no longer the father you remembered, merely using his corpse as a puppet and feeding upon his aether, his SOUL, Midoriya."
Izuku grit his teeth, standing up slowly while using the shell of the car as a way to help himself stand as Nabriales was now sneering at the struggling hero, "You are finished, boy! I will kill you and take what is mine after all these centuries!"
"Shut up!" Izuku called out, standing now on his own two feet with his fists raised up as the sparks of golden light started to flash intermittently, the Ascian gasping in shock at what he was witnessing, "I don't care about what you lost! I am going to put a stop to this! Your plans, your monster, EVERYTHING!"
A flash of light surrounded the boy, causing the Ascian and Primal to shield their eyes and weird the wheezing of blades past them before small explosions went off to their sides, causing the robed figure to whirl around in the air and snarl as Ifrit shrieked in pain.
The chakrams whizzed out once again to strike at another couple of pillars, slicing them in two and exploding before the weapons returned to their wielder. Nabriales whirled around to see the furious-looking dancer staring up at him, sending his two razor-sharp chakrams towards the Ascian, who barely dodged the whirling blades of death and turned back to Ifrit, "KILL HIM, YOU STUPID PRIMAL!"
Said primal roared once again and launched itself towards Izuku, who nimbly dodged and slipped past the creature who collided with the car it had tossed the boy into prior and shrieked loudly as Izuku shifted into his Gunbreaker kit, sliding along the ground while flicking the "barrel" of his sword to reveal the cartridges and slamming his hand down to charge them with his aether.
Ifrit at this point had shredded the remains of the car and stumbled towards Izuku, who had at this point launched himself back towards the beast and swung his gunblade down, slicing towards the Nomu and taking off one of its horns to be followed up by an explosion that sent Ifrit to the side, howling in pain with what looked to be molten lava pouring out of the wound.
This, however, did not stop Izuku's assault as he shifted into his dragoon form, kicking off in the air with the blazing blue mist of serpentine scales and flew once again into the Primal, slicing its side and repeating the process over and over again as the creature was overwhelmed by the quickness and speed of the assault.
Nabriales could only watch on in startled horror as Izuku slid across the ground, his body sparking once again with brilliant golden light as Izuku readied his spear and the serpentine swirls of mist around him began to glow and grow out, "Dad!" the dragoon called out, his left eye blazing red and humming in power as Ifrit weakly began to lift its head by the call out.
"If any part of you still exists in there, know that I never forgot about you! And I always looked up to you as my hero! Please! Watch over me as you see me become the hero you told me I could be!" Izuku shouted out as the coiling mists grew much more prominent, brimming with golden light as a dragon's massive head soon appeared slightly behind and above the dragoon. The spectral head was looming over the weakened Primal's body, snarling at it as Izuku raised the tip of the spear up into the air, the blade sparking and flickering with the same golden light as Izuku shouted to the high heavens.
"LIMIT BREAK: DRAGONSONG DIVE!"
Izuku then leaped high into the air, traveling with such force that it shattered the barrier like that of glass while hurtling back down to the ground and striking the fallen Primal, where Izuku leapt back to where he originally was as a pillar of bright blue energy with golden lightning surrounded and engulfed the Ifrit, who screeched loudly in extreme pain as from the pillar came out a spiraling visage of a great dragon, barely missing the Ascian in the air and flying in front of the cameras of the helicopter before fizzling out.
Izuku stood there, his spear still at the ready but was panting heavily as the pillar soon dissipated just as quickly as it appeared, the charred remains of Ifrit twitching. Suddenly the Primal began to crumble, piece by piece falling away from it and disappearing into brilliant blue sparkles of aether flowing out into the winds,
"I̸͔͆ż̷̧̞u̸̟̣͐k̵̙̈͌u̸̧̗̇̕.̵͔̭̋.̴̻̄.̷̨̛̺͒" The beast spoke in its otherworldly tone of voice, causing the named student to blink in surprise for a moment as the head of the beast suddenly fell off of its disappearing body and laid on the ground, its eyes no longer fiery but pure white as it's mouth twitched one final thing before it too faded into the wind.
"P̴̼͆r̵͔̯͛̒o̴̲̙̐ű̷̩̺̌d̸͖̕ ̶̼̼̑ö̴̦͉f̸̰̼̎ ̴̡̜́ŷ̸̲̜͠ő̶̲͇̑û̵̠̺͝.̷̗̈́.̸̗͗.̸̞̋͛"
There was silence all around him, the words striking him as he suddenly choked out, tears falling from his eyes as his dragoon armor and weapon disappeared in a flash, and the green-haired boy collapsed to the ground, his energy all but drained from the fights that night, only to be caught by Tenya who quickly took hold of his passed out classmate before picking him up in a fireman carry and dashing off.
A few meters in the air, Nabriales was fuming at what he had just witnessed, his plans wasted and losing the essence of a primal because of it. But before he could do anything else, the Ascian was suddenly dodging two flaming bursts of fire that were headed towards him. Looking down, the robed figure snarled, looking upon both the fire wielders, and was about to counter with his own attack when he got blindsided by a kick to the head by Gran Torino, who had launched himself to the other side of the rooftops, looking to strike again.
The mask that Nabriales had been wearing was knocked off, and the two heroes and one student engaged with him looked on in horror as they saw the now maskless Ascian's face.
Looking down at them was a face that looked withered with white curled bangs above the one visible cat-like eye that looked glassed over, while the other was merely nothing but an eye socket and part of the bone exposed.
Nabriales hissed down at them like a cat, disappearing into a shadowy portal before they could launch another attack, leaving behind nothing but a partially cracked red mask on the ground.
Nana Shimura groaned as she could feel the touch of grass tickle against her nose; her head was throbbing hard as she slowly began to pull herself up and grunted from the ever-increasing headache, "What the hell hap-" she had started to say before immediately stopping and gasped loudly, staring down at her hands before hearing another groan coming from someone close to her. The black-haired woman quickly turned her head only to gasp out loudly, "EN?!"
"Mmn… what is it… Nana?!" The sixth wielder of One for All said while rubbing his head before suddenly looking up in shock towards the woman he had passed the quirk onto. Quickly standing up, the two previous holders could see the other wielders began to rise up, first in pain but then in shock as every one of them looked about.
"What is all this?" asked Yoichi Shigarakai, moving some of his white hair from his eyes to look over the vast grasslands they were all currently standing in; off in the distance, they could see extensive mountain ranges with what looked to be giant crystals flowing beside them.
"I'm only going to ask you this once." a voice dripping in darkness spoke out to the seven people, who all immediately turned to see an angry looking man with cat-like ears firmly pressed against his head with a tail that seemed to be puffing up behind him and flicking rapidly.
The man was staring at the intruders to his realm, his cat-like eyes shrinking down as he hissed while wearing rather dark-looking armor and a giant two-handed greatsword across his shoulder.
"Who are you? And what are you doing inside of the boy's mind?"
Chapter 51: Consequences - (Revised!)
Summary:
Nezu has to deal with the fallout that is the Hosu incident, while Izuku is currently dealing with his own problems!
***Reader Beware: Nudity and Explict things ahead!***
Notes:
Well, Hello there all!
Hope everyone is good and staying safe out there, what with the crazy winter storms and well... Today has not been a good day for a LOT of people, so don't stop thinking about them and support them as much as you can!
So I came to a decision, I will not be writing smut into the story anymore. Though there will still be scenes with nudity and that further along with the story, but any sort of actual sex won't be happening after this chapter. Want a story with a REALLY great story and smut? check out "A Hero Rises" by Zabeck! The dude is awesome and one of my inspirations for writing, go check him out!
I admit I kind of lost the drive because of how this was supposed to be, as well as my current work placement kicking my ass and draining me mentally. Plus with my medical conditions and this cold weather... not a good mix.
Enjoy the Chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"I'd like to thank all of you for coming here today to discuss the recent incident in Hosu a few days ago," Nezu spoke from his seat at the large table he and a bunch of other people were sitting at. With his tiny paws together and on the table, and scanning over the room full of not only several members of his staff as well as some of the heroes that were present during the aforementioned event, but also sitting across from the dean on the far side were some of the representatives of the HSPC.
The fact they were so far away from the smaller being was, at best, to make sure that neither overwhelming powers were close enough to cause damage.
"Now, as you can see from the reports presented in front of you, while the initial sting operation to track down and apprehend the "Hero Killer" Stain was a success-"
"Oh please," one of the HSPC members said from his chair, a relatively young-looking man with a sour look on his face, "You may say success, but it was an outright disaster! Not only was Stain taken down by a bunch of your unlicensed students, but there were millions of yen in damages caused by those "Nomu" things!"
"Satachi… enough." An older-looking woman said to her younger subordinate, who huffed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. The older and more experienced member looked towards Nezu, "You have my apologies for Satachi's outburst, Dean Nezu… but I am sure you can understand his frustration."
"That's perfectly fine and completely understandable, Ms. Chairman, and this is why we are having this meeting." Nezu said with his usual chipper tone of voice while he poured himself a cup of tea, "Let's discuss the more pressing issues at hand first… the incident with Stain."
"Agreed," Detective Tsukauchi had said as he was sitting on the left side of the Dean, across from the heroes, "From the testimonies given to me by the three hero students and several of the Pro Heroes on sight, Stain had ambushed Native, and before landing the finishing blow, Tenya Iida, hero name: "Ingenium" had come across them and immediately began to fight the hero killer before he too was subdued by he clearly more experienced opponent."
"From what we were able to get from Ingenium's mentor at the time, the pro hero Manual, the boy was tasked to escort civilians out of the battle area where the fire-breathing Nomu was currently engaged. However, Ingenium decided to take the opportunity to track down the hero killer to avenge the currently hospitalized Tensei Iida after spotting the villain leap from rooftop to rooftop."
The detective sighed heavily, looking to the HSPC members, "And before you ask, Iida was the only one not authorized to use his quirk."
"And we at UA will be setting up disciplinary actions against Mr. Iida when the current internships have concluded." Nezu spoke from his cup, placing it back down onto its saucer, "While we do not condone his actions or motives, considering the circumstances that lead him to act as such… we cannot truly fault him. Because I don't think any of us wouldn't have done the same thing if we were in his shoes." The dean said with a severe tone to his voice, his beady black eyes looking to everyone in the room, many of whom hadn't looked his way or looked sullen.
The white-furred being turned towards the detective and nodded his head to continue the report.
"From there, Izuku Midoriya, codename: "Azem", had entered the fray and was able to send Stain back before checking over Iida and Native, applying first aid to his classmate before being attacked by Stain. Azem retaliated back in defense before Shoto Todoroki appeared at the scene and took over dealing with Stain while Azem dealt with both Ingenium and Native." Tsukauchi went on to say, as Endeavor, for the first time since the meeting had begun, had smirked proudly at the mention of his son's actions.
"And how did he find the battle?" asked another one of the HSPC members, a younger woman with what could be a possible fish quirk as she had bright yellow fins on her cheek and splitting down the middle of her head and parting her equally yellow hair, "From what I understand, he was in Endeavor's group, and they were several blocks away."
"Apparently," Endeavor was the first to speak before the detective, "Azem had sent his coordinates to a chatroom that all of his classmates were a part of, including my Shoto." The large hero crossed his arms together, "He was able to discern what the string of numbers was and told Gran Torino and me where he needed to go and aid his classmate. I gave him the go-ahead, knowing full well my son had it covered, and gave him permission for full quirk usage. He left after that before the pillar of light shone brightly in the sky and allowed us to head in that direction as well."
"Yes, from your son's testimony, he had arrived at the scene just after that, stating that it gave him a point of contact from where he was." Detective Tsukauchi said, flipping through his papers, "Furthermore, after making sure Native was stable, both Azem and Ingenium rejoined the fight and were able to take down Stain. Then after securing him and regrouping with Native… well…."
He hesitated, as did many others within the room, still trying to understand what had happened and what was shown to the public. While the HSPC had attempted to limit the news coverage of the events and carnage in Hosu, they still had the freedom of the press to report it, and boy did they do so. The chairwoman of the HSPC was now staring directly at Nezu, who seemed to be looking her way as well as if already anticipating the question.
"That barrier… it was similar to the one that appeared at your sports festival, and just so happens to be tied in some way to that Midoriya boy." Spoke the chairwoman, squinting her eyes at the white-furred dean, "Tell me, Nezu… just why is this lunatic, this 'Ascian', targeting Izuku Midoriya? And while we are on the topic, where is the boy currently?"
"Currently? He is resting." Nezu said with another sip of his tea that made the chairwoman slam the table that spooked a couple of people sitting there.
"Don't play games with me; you have a student, one I might add who was registered as Quirkless barely a year ago, and now displaying such power that is causing harm not only to your own property and students but also to those of the public!" She pointed the finger at the Dean, who was still drinking, "And don't think that the giant pillar of red light from a few weeks ago wasn't unnoticed as well! Considering how much of a light show the brat likes to put on, I guess it was because of him too! And he was barely at the hospital before being signed out by his mother, who works at UA, and was brought back here. Now. Where is he?"
Everyone at this point was taken back for several reasons, most of which were the heroes who were not aware of Izuku's former 'quirkless' status but also the other accusations as well. Endeavor was especially flabbergasted, considering he had witnessed the power the boy displayed against his Shoto during the festival.
Nezu at this point had slowly brought his cup back down into his saucer, still remaining quiet while bringing his hands together and resting on the table, staring down the clearly angered chairwoman of the HSPC as the hidden Moogle King spoke calmly, "I was hoping to avoid saying this, as to not embarrass those who normally go through a similar "circumstance" every year as well as Mr. Midoriya."
"... The hell are you going on about?" asked the chairwoman, who seated herself once more, still squinting her eyes at the dean.
"Midoriya has a distant relative who had a particularly strong animal-like quirk, feline if you were curious, and being the growing young adult that he is and the recent manifestation of his quirk, he now has to contend with those 'certain times of the year'." Nezu had said, his gaze slowly moving towards the young woman with fins, who looked perplexed for a moment before the gears stopped and her cheeks went bright red in embarrassment.
All the while, the chairwoman and the other HSPC member looked confused before she felt a tug on her sleeve, turning her head towards the other woman who whispered what the dean had meant. The chairwoman then cleared her throat after the very brief explanation and tried to readjust herself and prevent her own slight blush on her cheeks as Nezu spoke up once more, "If you wish to meet Midoriya, I'm sure we could set up a meeting before the midterm examinations."
"Fine, that would be satisfactory." the older woman sighed and looked back to the Dean, "Now, currently we have clean up teams made up of both HSPC and Hero Agencies in Hosu as we speak, and while some of them have some of your students there as interns and they have been critical in helping out their mentors, I would strongly advise you recall them all."
"Oh? I have an idea as to why, but I would like to listen to the reason for this suggestion." Nezu said as he leaned back in his chair.
"They are still children, is why I am suggesting this. We have yet to come across any people who are still MIA, and we would rather have them not come across any corpses so early in their training," she said with a dead-panned look on her face as if that reason alone was apparent. However, Nezu knew better, as it was clear that her primary concern was to recover ANY of the Primal Nomu's remains and study it.
Thankfully, Nezu already knew that she would find nothing.
"If it's all the same to you, Nezu…." Gran Torino spoke up from the hero's side of the table, "I rather keep Iida for the rest of the week and whip him into shape. I know what he's been going through and can help him move past it at least while also drilling him with exercises better suited for speedsters like him."
"Oh, that is an excellent idea, Gran Torino! I approve of this notion, and should the other heroes not part of the clean-up wish to finish their internships, I shall allow it as long as they keep the students away from Hosu. Even so," The dean looked to the HSPC chairwoman, "I will still give the order for the students to return to UA under the point brought up by the HSPC."
"I agree to this as well," the chairwoman said as she looked at the detective, "but we have delayed long enough; Detective, could you please continue your report."
And so the meeting continued on, a sweating Izuku was holed up in a room underneath the school grounds, tossing and turning while panting lightly as he licked his lips and groaned. His eyes were glazed over as he slowly pushed himself off of the large king-sized bed and made way towards the bathroom to clean himself as well as take a cold shower, hoping to but ultimately fail in trying to calm himself and his raging hormones down.
What he didn't notice, just as he had shut the door to the bathroom, was the unlocking of the entrance to his room, and as it slowly opened, what could be heard as a croak of a frog coming from the person who was sneaking in.
Toga huffed and pouted as she stood in front of the door leading into one of the bedrooms of the abandoned apartments she and Deku had been squatting in. Admittedly, she had to admit the events leading up to this point were damn near ludicrous since the fights in Hosu.
While she wasn't too happy that they had missed their chance to meet and drain the blood of Stain for her, she witnessed two great things that night.
First off, she was able to see the boy from the sports festival after he had sent Stain out into the street and confronted him. The blood that was running down his face and looking ever so beautiful upon his visage, and if she had her way, she would have tried to make him even more pretty as well!
The second and, now that she thought about it, strange occurrence was that her usually brooding companion had a heartbeat. One would think that any person that was walking and talking, let alone letting their tasty and pretty blood pump through their body, would obviously have a heartbeat, but up until that point, Deku had none.
The boy had told her it was due to his quirk, and while she initially believed him (quirks were kinda funky at times, look at hers, for example), the things he could do with his just didn't make sense.
So, when they finally returned him after withdrawing from the ensuing chaos that was Hosu, she did what she felt was best.
She jumped him and bit into his neck.
Now, this wasn't the first time she had done this, and most of the time Deku would just let it happen. However, when she did it this particular time, he had been actively trying to stop her, swinging himself with her latched on back and forth to dislodge her grip on his neck. But Himiko was quite the strong little vampire when it came to feeding, as he found out in that instance.
And when Himiko Toga was finally able to taste the blood of her 'dark knight', his own natural blood for that matter, the only way she could describe it was simply divine.
The rich taste had sent shivers down her spine when she felt the red liquid slide down her tongue and throat, and she remembered moaning into his neck from how delicious his blood had tasted. What was odd though, was that the more she drank from him, the more she could feel something particular happen to herself.
For the first time in… ever… if she was being honest with herself, Himiko had felt what could be viewed as a haze lift from her mind, albeit only slightly as she continued to drink from Deku's neck, but with not so much of a firm grip and sucking him like he was a can of pop with a straw, but more coaxing it out by massaging her lips against the wound, using her tongue to caress his skin. The grunt of pleasure that escaped Deku's lips further egged her on to keep up what she was doing.
Eventually, she pulled back from the wound she had inflicted upon him, doing so with a soft kiss that Himiko could feel him shiver from before she moved off of his back. As she slowly looked up to his face, awaiting the usual scolding she'd get after jumping him, she was met with the oddest sight.
Deku was panting, a light dusting of pink across his cheeks, and though he had an open wound on his neck with a little of his blood trickling out, he didn't seem to care about it. Both of them kept staring at one another, the armor-clad lad one still in slight shock as well the sudden ache of his heart thumping in his chest, while the cute little vampire was smiling up at him with a bright blush of her own, showing off her fangs still covered in his crimson essence, before slowly licking them off with her somewhat dexterous tongue, further causing Deku to gasp out softly.
However, before anything else could happen, Deku had a sudden realization and then stormed over to one of the vacant bedrooms and locked himself in.
That had been several days ago.
Since then, Himiko had tried her best to coax her companion out of the room, knocking on it every few hours to get no response or the occasional grunt of "no" or "leave me alone, Himiko". And as current Himiko was staring at the door with a giant pout on her lips, hearing his various grunts of… whatever he was doing in there, the cute vampire decided to take matters into her own hands.
Crouching down, Himiko tugged out two hair clips from her messy buns, letting them fall away until her blonde hair hung by her shoulders and immediately began to work. Having to live off the streets for any amount of time, one would quickly pick up a few tricks like breaking into old buildings with hairpins. It was something Himiko had picked up on rather quickly, and while no master locksmith, she would admit she was pretty handy when it came to breaking and entering.
Plus, it always amazed her how old those locks at the blood bank were.
While the grunting of Deku had hidden her movements and clicks of the door unlocking, eventually the door slowly creaked open, at least before Himiko grabbed the handle and very silently and slowly opened it enough to allow her to sneak in and shut the door behind her quietly. Slowly rising to her feet and turning from the entrance to look for her wayward roommate, Himiko Toga stood shocked and in awe at what she had just come to look upon
Scars.
SO MANY SCARS.
Before her, raising himself up and down upon what looked like a pull-up bar that had been installed in the room long before their arrival, was Deku. He was shirtless with a healthy sheen of sweat upon his bare pale skin. With that moisture on his body, it had perfectly highlighted the various old scars running across his body.
Long thin ones to indicate cuts from a sort of impact or implement, while there were star-burst shaped ones with matted skin that looked like old burn marks… and was one of them in the shape of a hand?
At this point, Deku had sighed to himself and lowered back down onto the ground, stretching his muscles causing him to hear a gasp from behind him. With a quickness to his step, Deku turned and looked on in shock to see Himiko standing behind him, her hair down (which was really freaking gorgeous in his honest opinion) with what looked like tears slowly streaming down her eyes.
However, before she could even so much as speak to him, the dark knight shut the door to the room he was working out in and pushed his weight against it. Himiko had snapped out of her stupor and immediately began to bang on the door, trying to force it open, "Deku-Kins!"
"Keep back, Himiko!" The pink-haired man had said within the tiny bathroom he had barricaded himself in, "It's not safe!"
"Why? Are you going to turn on me too?" The vampire spoke aloud, causing Deku to freeze, hearing the sniffle coming from behind the door, "Ever since we got back from trying to find Stainy, you've been hiding from me!"
"I-I'm not hiding from you!" Deku stuttered out, his face close to the door so she could properly hear him, "There is something wrong with me!"
Toga had stopped her sniffling slightly, her own face close to the door as she spoke, "Something's wrong with you? Deku-kins! I can help!"
"N-No Himiko!" Deku stuttered once again, now noticed by the blonde woman as she was listening to him, "I can't ask you to do that-"
"You've been doing nothing but helping me!" She suddenly shouted, "why the heck can't I help you when you're in pain, Deku-kins?"
After her sudden outburst, there was a silence; Himiko was panting gently while she waited for him to answer back.
"If I explain what is happening to me… promise you won't get mad?"
"Oh, Deku-kin's…" Himiko said softly to the door, "I could never get truly mad at you."
After a few more moments of silence and a heavy sigh escaping past his lips, Deku spoke up once more.
"Alright… it's like this, Himiko..."
Izuku sighed heavily as he walked out of the bathroom that had been attached to the lavish-looking room he was currently staying in, tossing the smaller towel into the hamper by the bathroom door while firmly clutching the larger one around his waist.
Apparently, these were secluded rooms deep under UA for people with animal-like quirks when they go into heat to avoid incidents where they would 'attack' other students or faculty members during such times. You would think that being highly evolved, civilized people would prevent such things from happening, but like always, quirks often mucked things up.
Turning his gaze from the hamper towards the open bedroom, he suddenly stood in shock to see Tsuyu sitting on his bed in nothing but a forest green bathrobe, her hands held together on her lap as she was looking at him with a red tinge on her cheeks, "T-Tsu?! W-what are you doing here?!"
"Waiting for you, kero." she answered back, blunt as ever, "You were taking a long time in there, and I was worried you heard me come in and were hiding."
"Tsu…" Izuku spoke softly; the embarrassment from seeing one of his girlfriends in his "isolation" room faded as he took a step closer to her; his expression looked almost hurt, "Why would you think I would be hiding from you?"
"Well, I wouldn't blame you, considering I'm here for the same reasons as you are, because we are both in our 'heat' cycles, and I want you to breed me."
Izuku sputtered slightly, staring at the frog-like girl with a bright blush on his cheeks, "T-Tsu!"
"I watched the Nomu fight." Tsuyu said, clearly ignoring his protest, "They broadcasted it across Japan, kero, I watched as you were nearly killed by another one of those monsters, yet you pulled through, displaying so much power and looking so good while doing it." She slowly raised herself off his bed, her large hands moving towards the fabric belt holding the robe closed.
"How could any woman not be turned on by that? Such masculinity and raw power, kero." Tsu said in a low tone, croaks escaping from her throat as her gaze began to look glazed over. Izuku watched as the petite woman began to pull the belt off and let the robe fall to her feet, revealing her beautiful naked body to the young man.
While Izuku had always admired the tightness of Tsuyu's hero costume, looking upon her naked visage revealed to him that the hero costume did NOTHING for her. Izuku's breaths became pants as his green eyes slowly looked over her curvy and smooth body. From her relatively bountiful breasts with puffy inverted nipples to make his mind race how many ways he could coax them out to her smooth legs that, while gazing upwards, revealed that her entire body was hairless, including her pussy, which he then noticed that parts of her thighs were moist.
Tsuyu, at this point, had fought back her blush a little, shivering in delight as she could feel Izuku's eyes wander over her body and the rather prominent appendage rising up from underneath the towel. Seeing that his own eyes glazed over like hers, Tsuyu watched as Izuku dropped the garment revealing his own fully naked body to her.
Admittedly, Tsuyu had seen most of it before, considering how his Warrior kit was often bare-chested, but her eyes remained transfixed on his relatively thick cock, pulsing in the air and thinking to herself that Momo's description did not give it any justice. To make it more noticeable that Tsuyu liked what she saw, she let out a low and deep croak, licking her lips while eyeing his cock.
Their eyes met; Tsuyu slowly lifted her arms up as she began to pant heavily, and after a few moments, let out deep breaths as she spoke, "Iz...Izuku... I need you… "
Her boyfriend and lover took a couple of steps forward, moving at a quickened pace before Tsuyu just jumped up into his arms, feeling his strong hands on her ass and groping her hard when he caught her and the two mashed their lips together, holding and grinding into one another while Izuku stumbled his way towards the bed.
Deku gasped softly as he felt the pricks of Himiko's pointed teeth press into his skin lightly in a teasing sort of way while she was sitting naked on his lap, her arms resting on his shoulders loosely while her bountiful breasts pressed into his bare chest. Deku's hands were slowly sliding up and down Himiko's back, gripping her at points to caress her soft and smooth body, causing the vampire to giggle into his neck with her heated pants licking over his skin.
"Himiko… we shouldn't…." "Shhhh…." the blonde girl interrupted him with a softness to her voice, moving her lips from his neck towards his own, kissing him slowly and softly before breaking the connection with both of their heated breaths washing over them.
"You explained what's going on, and I'm more than happy to help, just like you did for me with all that tasty blood!" She smiled at him, grinding herself against his throbbing cock that was sliding its length back and forth against Himiko's moist folds.
"I just don't want to force you to do this… this is a big step…." The pink-haired teenager said before her finger gently pressed against his lips. His cat-like eyes stared back into hers as she spoke gently.
"Deku… do you like me?" She asked, still staring into his eyes as she gently nodded his head in response, "How much so…?"
"I'd burn this entire city down if it would put a smile on your lips." The dark aspect said, which caused Himiko to grin widely with a bright blush on her cheeks.
"You say the sweetest things. Well, I love you, Deku-kins… you're the first person in my entire life to look at me like someone who isn't a monster." Himiko said softly, her finger moving down his lips until her nail dug into the middle of his clavicle, "You're the only person to help me to see past my need for drinking blood and seeing me... Himiko.
"So, I want to do this with you; I want to be needed and desired without any bad things attached to it! Just our emotions and love."
Deku was panting heavily as she was speaking, his throat dry, and he very softly leaned in to kiss Himiko on the lips once more and more profound this time while slowly adjusting their two bodies so that he could lay her down softly onto the mattress of the bed they were going to share not only tonight but onwards as well.
Slowly moving his lips off of hers, he was staring down into Himiko's golden irises as they shone with delight and love as he spoke gently, "Himiko… What about… well, "protection"?"
"Don't worry, Deku-kins… it should be alright this time… I want to feel your 'love' deep inside me… so please!" Himiko slowly held her arms up, her legs moving to wrap around his waist, "Fill your Himiko with all your love!"
A soft smirk slowly crept along the dark aspect, lending down and moving to position himself to fulfill both of their desires.
After all, who was he to deny Himiko what she wanted?
Tsuyu panted heavily, croaking loudly as Izuku had hoisted her left leg up by holding it underneath her knee with his strong hand, thrusting into her from behind while the bed shook excessively from the power he gave, pushing his thick cock deep into her pussy. His other hand was currently groping and fondling her breast and holding her upper body up to position himself to lean over and bite at her shoulder, with her right arm draped around his neck for support.
'How many hours has it been?' She thought with a lustful croak escaping her throat, glancing at the number of tied used condoms tossed into the garbage bin not far from the pair of lovers. The throbbing of his cock against her inner walls as he sped up his thrusts and grunted hard was an indication that he was close once again.
Tsuyu quickly moved her hand around his neck to turn his head towards her, kissing him deeply to drown out the moans of both of their orgasms and allow her to 'tongue fuck' his mouth while he came inside of her.
Well, 'inside' being the relative term, as she could feel the heavy load fill up within the condom before Izuku very slowly pulled himself out of her. Tsuyu gasped against his lips as she could feel the condom-covered dick leave her body; Izuku pulled himself up onto his knees and began to slide off the used contraceptive and tied it.
After tossing the thing into the bin, Izuku was already looking for another condom as his cock throbbed still in anticipation of re-entering the lovely frog girl before him when he suddenly gasped, feeling the warm, yet slimy tongue of said woman wrapping around his cock, "T-Tsu?" he gasped out when he felt her tug on his shaft as he looked down to see Tsuyu bent over in front of him.
Her ass held into the air, shaking softly from side to side while Tsuyu was looking back at him with want and need in her eyes, her upper body still resting on the bed, which allowed her to arch her butt upwards more for him. He could feel her tongue tug him closer as he gasped out, "T-Tsu! I… mmph… need to put on…."
"Don't worry about it, Kero." Tsu said in a heavy pant, now pulling him closer where she could feel the bare tip of Izuku's cock press against her moist folds, her gaze now looking towards the somewhat confused look coming from her lover, "Recovery Girl gave me something I can use later… Kero… every time you pull out with one of those condoms full, it leaves me empty and aching for that warmth trapped within."
"Besides," she tugged him closer as she began to pant once again, feeling his throbbing cock tip slowly spread her open once more, both teenagers were panting now as Tsuyu gave him the cutest and most wanting croak from her throat, "You did say you thought about having some tadpoles before, kero… what's wrong with practicing?"
Whatever thought process or rebuttal he had going through his brain quickly ended when he suddenly felt Tsu's bubbly and perfect ass slam down full onto his cock. Both lovers gasped and moaned loudly as they both could now feel one another raw for the first time; the sensitive touch of both his raw dick spreading her bare pussy walls and the delicious friction it caused made the two young adults throw caution to the wind, Izuku rapidly thrusting and rutting into Tsuyu, whose large hands gripped the sheets of the bed, while the frog woman's mouth was agape, croaking loudly in ecstasy as her lover's hips slammed into her ass with fierce abandon at the sensations they both felt.
Eventually, Izuku grunted, pushing his upper body down onto her back, trapping her body against the mattress as he nipped and licked the side of her neck, his voice deep in her ear, "T-Tsu… so good... I can barely… hold on anymore."
"D-Do -kero- it!" Tsu demanded in between croaks and moans, shakingly sending out her tongue to meet his and curl around it, "B-Breed me!"
Izuku's groans were breathy, considering his mouth was agape due to Tsu's need to curl her tongue around his as he slammed his hips hard into her ass, his balls smacking into against her skin as his thrusts sped up until eventually, he pushed himself fully onto her, his throbbing cock tip pressing against her cervix before thick shots of his cum burst forth into her womb, hitting the walls with hard spurts of his thick seed while Tsuyu's vision went white, gasping loudly and with a mixture of croaks, moaned loudly at the feeling of being impregnated by her boyfriend… no, lover.
As Izuku held Tsu close to his body, making sure not a drop escaped (not like the tightness of her pussy squeezing and massaging his shaft would allow him to pull out regardless) as His gaze soon looked upon the rather lewd looking face of his froggy lover, his heart pounding at the pleading look coming from her usually emotionless eyes.
Izuku knew he was far from finished pleasuring this lovely woman beneath him.
The lights coming from street lamps peeked in through the boarded-up windows that were blocking out Deku and Toga's current 'bedroom', indicating to the pair that night had fallen once again despite neither caring too much for that fact nor for the fact it was possibly the second or third day straight they had been making love (baring water and food breaks).
Himiko was smiling and moaning, bouncing happily while squatting upon Deku's cock with one hand on his stomach to support herself with each push up, while her other hand was resting on top of his that currently was gripping her hip, aiding her to pull her back down fully to take his entire length and girth deep within her tight pussy, while his legs were raised up and bent to act as sort of 'guides' for her descending thick bottom.
Deku was panting heavily from where he was laying, his free hand moving to grope and massage Himiko's plush breasts as they bounced with each downward movement the vampire was making, his gaze transfixed upon her golden irises that were roaming his body, glowing slightly from the lack of any real light in the room as her bouncing silhouette hide her usually bright and wide smile from him.
He could hear her giggling in between her moans as the hand on his abs slowly dragged themselves down almost painfully, not enough to cause him to bleed, but leaving red marks that seemed to be her way to 'overwrite' the myriad of scars from Izuku's previous and painful life experiences. That wasn't to say his neck and shoulders weren't littered with various wounds from her sinking her fangs into him during their earlier 'sessions' over the last day or so.
Not to mention the few blushes upon her perfect pale skin that were caused by him, as he was to mark Himiko as 'his' for all to see, should they even leave their little nest.
"Dekuuu-kinsssh…" Himiko's slurred voice caught his attention, her hips slamming down onto his own with the increased volume of their skin slapping against one another, his cock throbbing deep within her warm massage with the familiar and very sensational feeling of the vampire' milking' him, "Yoush feel shoo good! Shoo warm!"
"As.. as do you!" Deku grunted out from the increased pace, feeling like this would be the very last time they would make love tonight, both due to his surprising tiredness, but also the fact that while Himiko looked at him with absolute delight, she was fading fast, "T-This will be the last one, Himiko!"
"Yesh! Yesh! Fill your Himiko!" The blonde screamed as she began to bounce and slam down on his cock, almost as if using him for her own pleasure now while he could see the ripple of her body each time her ass struck down onto him while she continued to blabber on.
Himiko's tongue extended out past her agape as she was reaching her peak, just as much as Deku was about to as well. Quickly looking back down and pushing his hands off of her breast and hip, Himiko had a crazed look in her eye as she moved her hands to his chest and abs, suddenly pulling herself fully off of Deku's throbbing cock, only to fully slam herself back down onto it, engulfing the entire thing once again. Deku grunted loudly from the sudden shift in as he was buried deep within Himiko's tight confines; his cum pulsed out deep inside of her, causing the blonde vampire to squeal in delight and arch her back out while securing herself on top of him, despite the excess of his seed oozing out along with her own love fluids.
Panting heavily after a few moments, letting the last few bursts of his cum flood her womb once more, Himiko slowly moved a hand towards her stomach, rubbing the spot where she could feel the warmth deep inside of her. Her gaze moved from her sweaty body to the one currently laying under her, just as sweaty and heated as hers was, "Deku-kins…" she spoke breathlessly, cooing softly from the way his hands slowly moved up to rest upon her hips, "... you going to make me a mommy if this keeps up!"
The man underneath her was staring up into her eyes, watching his reaction as her words seeped into his addled and lustful brain. Whatever concern she would have had at his silence vanished as he slowly pulled her down to rest upon his stomach, and the words he spoke sent shivers down her spine at the implications.
"One of these days, you will be."
"Are you sure about this, Tsu?" Izuku huffed gently as the last piece of dragoon armor fell to the floor, the man fully naked once again as the amphibious woman was laying back, his fingers idly stroking her pussy lips.
"Kero, it was because of me unlocking your kit that started all this…." Tsuyu said with a heavy and needy sigh, watching Izuku stroll over to her and the bed slowly as if to tease her.
Bad enough, his attitude was now more of a 'smug prick' than the 'cold logic' one she and the others were used to when he was in this particular kit of his. Even when he was taking the surprisingly tight fit armor off of his body, she could tell he was doing so as slowly as possible, perhaps to give her a show or to tease her.
Regardless, he was still being too smug for his own good.
As Izuku slowly crawled onto the bed, leaning down to kiss her right calf before moving himself up against her leg to her stomach, taking surprising care to leave a trail of kisses as he slid himself further along her body, moving her hand from her pussy lips to rest upon his shoulder until eventually kissing her fully on the lips.
Tsu groaned against the pleasurable feeling of his warm lips upon hers, panting slightly when the gesture was broken as she looked up at Izuku, who was staring down at her and licking his lips.
"If it gets too much Tsu, you remember the safe word?" Izuku asked, one of his hands moving to caress her cheek softly.
"Pineapple, kero…" Tsu said with a light peck to his lips as he smiled and returned the gesture before shifting his weight slowly, lining up his hard cock against her moist nether lips once again and slowly pushing himself until he was 'secured' within her tightening walls.
Tsuyu had groaned in pleasure, feeling the warm and thick cock pushed back into her, her arms lazily wrapped around his neck while her long legs slowly moved to secure his hips against hers when the time was right.
The frog girl watched as Izuku slowly closed his eyes, breathing slowly and moving his arms so that they rested just beside her head, with his legs spread for a better angle to fully push himself deep into her eager and pulsing pussy.
A low and guttural growling sound soon escaped past Izuku's lips, hot breath washing over Tsu's neck, which caused her to shudder as the green-haired boy slowly opened his eyes to reveal that his left eye was glowing a bright red, but what she hadn't noticed before, nay anyone would have in the past was the way that his irises seemed to have changed slightly.
Not the more rounded human-like ones he sported, but almost lizard-like in a way where they thinned into tiny slits as Izuku suddenly thrust himself fully into Tsu's womanhood, causing her to gasp from the sudden and hard push into her body.
'Blood of the Dragon', indeed.
She could feel the warmth of his body rise as his rather slow but deep thrusts into her ever squeezing pussy walls and aching womb as she felt his hot breath against her lips, causing her to tighten her hold onto his body and forced Tsu to look into his eyes.
She looked upon the green slits of her lover mate that were gazing upon her own, the look of a predator looking upon its meal, mixed with the love and lust fullness of strong male looking to procreate and increase their numbers caused Tsuyu to moan and croak in pure lustful need as the thrusts deep into her pussy began to quicken.
"I can feel your heart beating against my chest…." Izuku spoke with a low growl to his voice, his legs shifting to cause Tsu's lower body to arch up to bring into a 'mating press'. His downward thrusts pinning her to the mattress, along with his body grinding into hers and his arms on either side of her head, leaving the 'poor' frog woman to Izuku's whims.
"Your beautiful eyes shrinking into tiny pinpricks… your cute and sexy croaks mixing with your moans… Tsuyu… you are the perfect mate." Izuku said breathlessly against her ear, causing the frog girl to shiver in delight, though it would be hard to tell given how pinned to the bed she was by Izuku's larger body.
"Kerrrroooo…" was all the frog woman could say, her tongue hanging loosely from the corner of her mouth as Izuku growled, suddenly leaning into her neck and biting it, not enough to draw blood, but just hard enough to leave a mark, causing Tsuyu to moan loudly.
"You are mine, Tsuyu… to love, to hold…" the green-haired boy growled low and hissed as he felt the walls of her pussy cling to his cock hungrily, "... and if we didn't have our heroic responsibilities… to breed." Tsuyu croaked loudly at the way her mate was now pummelling her into the bed, its creaks echoing out loudly, almost matching how loud she was being.
"Ish… Ishuku…" Tsuyu began to slur out, only to moan loudly out again as the pace of Izuku's thrusts quickened again, his balls slapping against her ass as his cock tip kept pushing hard against her cervix.
"We… will have many…." Izuku began to speak through gritted teeth, his forehead resting on hears as they could feel their breaths envelope and mix together between the two of them, "We will have… many tadpoles…" the man continued to speak, but to Tsuyu, it was felt more than just empty words to her.
It was a promise.
Time seemed to mean nothing for the two as Izuku kept rutting into Tsuyu, her croaks now full-on moans of ecstasy as eventually, as with a mighty roar escaping Izuku's throat, causing both the blue mist-like swirls of serpentine scales to swirl around the two like a protective barrier as well as Tsuyu to cling to him hard and bite his own shoulder (leaving her mark to tell other potential partners to back off from her mate), the frog woman felt the explosion of cum burst forth into her womb, pumping it full in mere seconds to the point of it rapidly ooze out of her pussy and onto Izuku's scrotum.
As Tsuyu slowly released the death grip she held around Izuku, the green-haired boy was panting heavily, his eyes blinking back to their original state before he very carefully pulled himself out of Tsu's thoroughly 'abused' pussy. Collapsing beside her and very carefully pulling her close to him, all the while leaving soft kisses along her shoulder where he had 'marked' her.
For Tsu though, enjoying the returned warmth of Izuku's body to her side, she let one of her hands slowly trail down to her stomach, not only feeling the warmth still within her, but to her surprise, she felt the very slight bulge that was currently there.
As she gently stroked her stomach, Tsuyu let out a gentle croak escape her lips, while within her mind, the very quickly appearing and then disappearing of thought passed.
That thought of saying 'fuck it' to the morning after medication that was stocked in the bathroom and letting the promise Izuku had just given her become a reality.
Nezu sighed as he climbed from his chair within his office, the meeting with both the police force and the HSPC having gone on longer than he had hoped as well as having to constantly play mental tennis with the Chairwoman.
He respected the woman, no doubt about that, but how often she would try to put the interests of the HSPC and its powerbase over the populace was a little staggering and exhausting at times.
Why did humans have to be like that?
"Regardless," Nezu said aloud, as if talking to someone, "I think it's time to see how my other little side projects are coming along." The small dean swiftly left his office, although taking this time walking down the currently empty and silent halls of his university, until the sounds of heavy machinery and other industrious noises echoed off of the walls and made his ear twitch.
Finding the door made for him, Nezu walked into the development studio and, with his ever-present smile and approached Power Loader, "Well Maijima, how are things progressing with Miss Hatsume's extra credits?"
Power Loader turned his head down to the diminutive dean before crossing his arms over his chest to look back up at one of the many projects that Hatsume was working on, "Well, she got everything replaced and fixed up for that weird walker you allowed her to refurbish. Granted, it still doesn't run without a power source."
"That will be taken care of shortly, I believe," Nezu said with a smile as he watched the sparks fly on the current she was working on. Both teacher and Dean slowly began to move towards her current workspace as Nezu continued, "and the Queen? How is she progressing?"
"Well-" "This thing is so amazing!" Mei interrupted her mentor as she smiled brightly at Nezu, "I mean! I understand that sometimes babies can't be properly cleaned in a timely manner, but whoever left this poor sweet thing to rust should be skinned alive!" Mei said with a huff and crossed her arms under her heavy breasts.
"I'll make a note of that, but you should also understand that laying dormant for over six hundred years, degradation is bound to occur, and sadly the original machinist that built this had passed since then." Nezu said as he looked up to the current one-armed machine.
"Someone should have taken care of it is all…." Mei pouted, "And I wish I had Midoriya here, wouldn't mind having the second hands and eyes for the little details."
"I understand, Miss Hatsume, but Midoriya is currently "indisposed" at the moment. So we will have to wait for him to recover, and I'll make sure he comes down to see what you have been working on when he's able to." Nezu spoke with a finality to his words that caused the young inventor woman to nod, placing down her welding mask to begin her work again, while the dean and teacher walked off to discuss some other important things.
However, unknown to all three of them, when Hatsume had spoken of Midoriya, for the briefest of moments, the lights within the metallic casing of its head flickered with a brilliant green light.
Chapter 52: Plans Concocted
Summary:
Class 1-A returns back to the dorms, although a few key people are missing.
Deku begins to plan something big and makes his move.
Notes:
Greetings all! Hope everyone is doing ok this fine evening!
So before we get to the reviews, I have decided to re-upload Chapter 51 with the Smut scenes back in for a few reasons.
1. Many people disliked the idea, of course, but were showing their support for it and for me as well, which was actually shocking ngl.
2. While some would argue, I've basically made the smut scenes almost integral to the story.
So, yes I will reupload the smut into Chapter 51 at some point, for now, I will leave your dirty little minds to wonder how it will all turn out.
Anyway, the story moves on and I will make an announcement when Chapter 51 is reuploaded, so be on the lookout!
Also, big announcement!:
What happens when the Grimdarkness of the Far Future and the Brilliance of the Crystalline Light comes to the canon MHA universe? Chaos, caused by three crazy people who thought it was a good idea!
Right now, in our spare time, I have been collabing with two authors on some discord servers I'm on, known as Derpo and Pizza Plate. They have a great story set in the MHA universe with the Warhammer 40k universe called "The Devil is in the Details" here on A03.
We came up with an idea of "What would happen if The Izuku's from their story, and 'Bearer of the Light' got transported to the canon MHA universe?" Well, we currently are on chapter 2 and the story is on both here and FF and it is called:
Three sides of the Same Coin
Go check it out and go give their story a read on A03 as well! and enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"I never thought I'd be so glad to be back at school." Kaminari spoke, looking exhausted and disheveled a bit as he was dragging his feet with a bunch of others from class 1-A, "My mentor kept having me do paperwork the entire time I was there!"
"That's nothing!" Mineta grumbled, looking quite angered as he walked in step with the blonde, "At least you weren't forced to clean the apartment while they did nothing but eat chips and watch T.V.! I swear women are she-devils!"
What else did you expect when you were going to intern with MT. Lady? She doesn't have her own agency." Sero said from the other side of Kaminari, "Plus, it's our first year here at UA; it's doubtful they were going to do much with us outside of maybe the odd patrol or paperwork."
"I mean, fair…." Kaminari sighed gently, moving his arms back behind his head, "But then what were Iida, Todoroki, and Midoriya doing in Hosu?"
"Well, Todoroki would have gone because his dad was leading the search, right?" Sero shrugged softly while the other boys nodded in agreement, "For Midoriya and Iida? I have no idea. But we can ask at least one of them, HEY IIDA!" Sero called out suddenly as the other two looked up to see a rather beaten up and more exhausted-looking class president, standing beside most of their other classmates aside from a notable three that were missing.
Tenya had turned his head and waved over to the three boys who eventually made it to the rest of their group, some looking absolutely exhausted just as they did, while others seemed pretty decent, all things considering. As they approached, Tenya had swiftly bowed down to the three of them, "I must apologize for my behavior the week before internships; I was clearly not in the right mindset, which not only caused distress to you but everyone as well."
The three boys remained quiet as from behind the still bowing class president, Kirishima mouthed out a 'just go along with it' to them, which all three of them shrugged at.
"Uh, Sure, it's no issue, Class Prez." Kaminari said, with Sero and Mineta nodding along as the taller boy rose up from his bow.
"It would hardly call it a 'no issue' Kaminari," Tenya spoke as he rose up from his bow, his gaze stern, yet looked regretful, something the others hadn't been able to pick up on, save for Shoto who had been idly chatting with Momo and Kyoka, "My attitude and demeanor made me push away those who were looking out for me, causing me to make some… rather poor choices now that I am looking back on it."
"Well, it's not like you did something really crazy like go after Stain during that whole, and I know you're going to hate me calling it this, Iida… but literal 'shitstorm' that happened," Sero said, not noticing how the speedster tensed up suddenly, before clearing his throat, acting as if he was going to reprimand his classmate for the vulgar word.
"As much as I hate to say it, that entire ordeal could be best summed up by that… 'word'."
"Well, it's a good thing Endeavor was around to take down Stain before that weird-ass robed guy showed up," Kaminari said with a big smile. Iida seemed more at ease when that little tidbit was mentioned, given that the fight with Stain had not been broadcasted, so the truth of that particular fight was at least hidden from public knowledge.
The police commissioner who visited both him and Todoroki in the hospital made it very clear why.
"Speaking of, " Sero looked at everyone, noticing the lack of green hair amongst their group, "Where is Midoriya? And also Asui and Bakugo?"
"Midoriya was released from the hospital shortly after Hosu," Todoroki spoke up, not noticing the somewhat worried looks from the two women he was talking with previously, nor the concern of the pink 'alien' listening in, "Something regarding those sparkles that creature dissipated into that the Dean was familiar with and wished to have Midoriya back at the University for observation."
"But like, wouldn't it have been better to have Midori stay at the hospital with all those gadgets?" asked Toru, who was clinging to Yuga's arm.
"To be honest, Midoriya was acting a little strange just before the internships and in the hospital," Shoto said with a hand brought up to his chin in deep thought.
"Indeed, he seemed more irritable than he would normally be as if something was gnawing away at him; it only seemed to worsen when we all three of us were at the hospital." Tenya said afterward, also looking deep in thought for a moment before shaking his head, "Regardless, if the Dean knew what was wrong and possibly handled the situation, Midoriya should be fine by now."
"As for Tsuyu," Momo said gently, "She probably came back earlier since her internship was with the pro hero, Selkie, and from what I gathered when I overheard Umabami speaking to a representative from the HSPC, that he and the crew of the 'OK Mariner' were about to go out for a few weeks because of a surprise mission and she was needed to help patrol his area while they were out, something to do with tracking down the ringleaders of a drug cartel they had busted a small operation on."
"Baku-bro hasn't come back yet, but he may have stayed back a little longer because he was interning with one of the top ten!" Kirishima spoke up next, though not taking notice of the way that all the girls present just didn't seem to care about where the explosive blonde was at the moment.
"While it is admirable to seek to improve himself for the better, one cannot shirk their responsibilities when it comes to arriving on time." Tenya said with a robotic wave of his hand, garnering a few chuckles for the return of their robot president as the class finally began to climb the staircase up to the 1-A Dorms.
Opening the entrance loudly, Kaminari sighed heavily and stretched, "Finally, HOME SWEET- *THWACK* Owww!"
The blonde was rudely interrupted by a long pink appendage shot out from the couch and smacking his head, causing everyone to gaze towards the perpetrator. There they found Tsuyu, sitting with her tongue retracting back into her mouth while in her arms was a sleeping Eri, who was nestled up to the frog girl for not only warmth, quite content with the way Tsu's larger hands seemed to rub her back and head with the utmost comfort.
The look the Tsuyu was giving everyone, however, while her typically usually blank stare, seemed to radiate a protective or 'motherly' sort of aura around her with a deep sounding croak as a warning to all of her classmates of what would happen if they awoke the sleeping unicorn.
The frog girl slowly and carefully rose up from the couch, carrying Eri in her arms as she quietly spoke to them, "Sorry, but I just got Eri to sleep; I'm going to go put her down for a nap, so please remain silent until we are in the elevator."
"Y-yea, sure Asui… sorry about that," Kaminari whispered gently, still rubbing his cheek from where she had lashed out at him.
"You didn't know; sorry about smacking you though; she's been having a rough time sleeping since we all went on the internships, so having her finally asleep is a good thing, kero." And with a gentle nod to excuse herself, Tsuyu, along with Eri, made their way towards the opened door of the elevator, went inside only to disappear once the doors were closed.
A few people released a held breath they had not noticed they were holding, further continuing on towards the kitchen, starting to idly chatter, while three of the girls had stayed behind, looking at one another before moving on towards the elevator and waiting for its descent back down.
They knew that Tsuyu could easily hide her reactions with her facial features due to her quirk, but they quickly noticed something while she was walking towards the elevator.
The frog girl was slightly and subtly limping.
Tsuyu gently laid Eri down into her bed, moving some of her silverish white hair from her face as the young girl reached out to grab for the closest source of heat, which happened to be a rather giant plushie of Izuku in his hero outfit with cute little bunny ears.
A gentle clearing of someone's throat caused her to look towards her 'daughter's' door to see not only the concerned look of Momo but also of Mina and Kyoka from behind her. Tsuyu gently put her finger up to her lips and, after giving Eri one final kiss on the forehead and wishing her a good night, slowly made her way to the large living room of the dorm manager's suite after closing Eri's bedroom door.
"I hope you all had a good time with your internships, kero." Tsuyu said once everyone settled down onto the couch and chairs, "Mine was alright, up until I had to come back due to the OK Mariner needing to head out to sea, well…" Tsuyu fidgeted with her hands, "That and my mating cycle hit me full force, and I had to come back due to it, kero."
"I'm sorry you had to come back earlier, Tsu, and while I wish I could say my experience with Uwabami was just as educational, sadly, that isn't the real reason why we are talking right now." Momo said gently, blushing slightly as she was thinking of a way to ask how Tsuyu was feeling regarding her 'time' with Izuku.
Thankfully, or depending on who you ask, Mina was there to just blurt it out.
"We saw you limping on your way up! Like damn girl, what the heck happened?!"
"Smooth." Kyoka sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Real smooth, Mina."
"What? So far, we only have what Momo told us about their time together at her private villa! And while it was very romantic and sexy," Mina had ignored the flustered and indignant stink eye being shot at her by the heiress, "Momo wasn't limping afterward! Like, when you first told us about what you were going through, I'd half expected Izuku to be recovering in bed, and you'd be perfectly fine!"
"To be honest, I would have agreed with you, kero." Tsuyu replied with a finger on her chin, much to the blushing looks of the others, though Mina was the only one smiling widely, "but I think there's going to be a problem in the future."
"P-Problem? What sort of problem?" Kyoka sputtered out; her cheeks were still red as the others closed in to listen to Tsuyu.
"Well, It seems Izuku did inherit that heat cycle of that Miqo'te race, and I'll have to apologize to Selkie for using the terminology I learned for such an event, but whenever he gets like that, it's going to be an 'all hands on all deck' situation', kero." The frog girl air quoted the phrase, which further caused the others to blush redder.
"W-was he really that forceful?" Momo had silently asked, the images and memories of her first time with Izuku; while slow and with her taking control of the situation at first, she couldn't imagine Izuku being dominant like that.
Not like she hadn't thought of it before, mind you.
"At first, it was me that was in control, then as we continued throughout the day, he took command, and we basically just... flip-flopped." Tsuyu said softly, rubbing her two index fingers together. Her own cheeks were a deep crimson, which was odd for the stoic woman. Still, the rest found it absolutely adorable, "It got to the point where we didn't even bother with condoms anymore, kero…."
"W-Wait… Tsu…" Kyoka blinked at this little revelation, and considering the consequences of such actions as well as how 'fertile' Tsu would be during that time, "D-does that mean-"
"That Izuku tried to impregnate me, numerous times, kero." Tsuyu said bluntly and matter-of-factly, "Even asked him to go into his Dragoon 'kit' to trigger my prey/predator instincts."
Everyone at this point simply stared at the frog girl, their mouths agape in shock and trying to comprehend what Tsuyu was trying to tell them. Their eyes all slowly moved down to her body, where at this point, they could see she was holding her stomach with her hands. Mina was the first to speak up, still blushing madly and trying to speak, "T-Tsu, honey… are you... Does this mean-"
"No, I am not pregnant." Once again, speaking as bluntly as ever, "Kero, Recovery Girl gave me medicine every morning or at least had some delivered by robots to our door every morning. Something that was used to prevent pregnancies for those with animal-like quirks and is much stronger than birth control pills."
"W-well…" Momo was squirming slightly in her seat, the very idea that they had to use much stronger contraceptives to prevent their classmate from becoming pregnant, "Back to what you were talking about earlier…."
"Oh right, kero." Tsuyu said and shifted softly in her seat as well, "Basically, Izuku was too much for me, We mated for as long as we could, and while we did pass out a couple of times together… often it was just me that did so."
"W-Wait, you're saying that if-"
"When, kero"
"Whatever! When Izuku goes into this mating cycle again, ALL of us are going to be needed to satisfy him?!" Kyoka began to raise her voice, though she quickly started to 'whisper shriek' when she got the pointed look at Tsuyu regarding their sleeping daughter in the other room.
"It's not just about satisfying him; at least we know Izuku wouldn't like us to think of it like that." Momo said softly, her fingers holding her chin, "It's more from when Recovery Girl explained the Miqo'te society to us and how the men would have higher stamina, endurance, and libido. To satisfy their various partners at the same time."
"So, like… does that mean it's going to be one big freakin orgy every time Izu gets super horny?" Mina asked, her bisexuality clearly showing as she smiled brightly with absolute hope in her eyes.
"Oh, lord…" Kyoka shook her head, her face in her hands, clearly embarrassed at the question; however, she wasn't against it either, as Tsuyu gently croaked and nodded her head at the pink-skinned woman.
"I would say yes, and that would include me as well, kero."
"Wait, Tsu, you don't need to-" Mina was about to tell the frog-like girl that she didn't have to force herself, given what she had told the group before. But, she was silenced with a single hand of Tsuyu to pause her talking.
"Kero, it's fine, and I'm not 'forcing' myself too, it was going to happen eventually, and with Izuku's own needs… well, kero, it just sped up is all."
"We still don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to, Tsu." Kyoka said softly, with Momo nodding her head in concern.
A much happier-looking smile crossed the frog girl's lips, croaking gently, "I know, and I wouldn't expect you to."
"Alright, so I'm curious about a couple of things." Mina said offhandedly, trying to steer the conversation to more pleasant things, "I'm going to assume you and Izu got out of your 'cycle' things early, given we saw you with Eri downstairs."
"About two days ago, kero… since then, when Eri has been awake, we have been spending most of our time with her and helping her train her quirk or provide encouragement."
"Awww!" Mina gushed a little, "so that begs two questions; first off… How come you're still limping after two days and holding onto your stomach? Not going to lie, sweety, but within two days, you should be walking fine, and where is Izu anyway?"
"Izuku got called to the dean's office about ten minutes before you all came back, no idea what it was about, but it's possibly about Hosu." Tsuyu said while her hands returned to her stomach, "As for my limping, well, who said I needed to be in heat to have my lover continue to breed his 'froggy queen' to practice making some future tadpoles?"
The silence from both the heiress and punk rocker at her declaration and the giddy smile on the alien girl's lips were all Tsu needed to giggle with her cute little ribbits.
"I-Island, sir?" Izuku said with a shocked tone of voice, looking at the letter sent to UA and then up to the Dean, his paws on his desk and with his trademark smile.
"Indeed, it seems your Magitek inventions and what they could accomplish in the grander scheme of things caught not only the minds of I-Island's interest but also of David Shield."
"D-David Shield?!" Izuku shouted, jumping to his feet, "The David Shield that built All Might's support gear? H-he's interested in Magitek?"
"Of course, given how advanced most magitek devices are compared to this world's own, it didn't surprise me when he personally sent that letter you are currently holding." Nezu said, leaning back in his chair as Izuku crashed down into his chair, his mind going a million miles with his thoughts before the gentle *chink* sound of a teacup and saucer was placed in front of him.
"W-Wait, what about Mei?"
"Oh, she has also been invited as well, given she has part ownership of the license and also reverse-engineered the tech to make her own." Nezu said while sipping his own cup, "She is currently working on a few projects to show the investors over at I-Island as we speak, as well as some personal projects of mine that you will see eventually."
"O-Oh… I should help her with that at least-"
"I would not recommend that." Nezu said with finality to his voice as he placed his teacup on his desk, "While under normal circumstances, I would happily send you to help our own 'Cid Garlond' with her projects-"
"'Cid' who, sir?"
"Ah yes, an old friend of Quinn's, a master with magitek in his own right, honestly if he were here right now, Mei could possibly be his daughter with how similar the two are." Nezu said with a gentle chuckle, making Izuku tilt his head in confusion at the missed joke, "I digress, since the incident at the sports festival, I have been watching your every move, Midoriya, keeping an eye on you."
The way that Nezu had spoken gave Izuku chills down his spine, something dark in his tone of voice that just felt wrong coming from him, "S-sir?"
"During your fight with Mr. Shinso, do you remember what happened after his quirk affected you?"
Izuku blinked for a second, slowly shaking his head, "N-No… I watched the videos of the fight, but I don't remember doing any of that."
Nezu was silent as he kept staring at Midoriya, as if seeking out any sort of lie before the dean sat back in his seat, "Well, that is some good news at least, but to the point."
"The reason I'm not allowing you to help Miss Hatsume with the magitek devices is that I am worried about your current state of mental health, Midoriya. Ever since the attack during the final round, someone has been trying to kill you, and I'm worried how that is affecting your state of mind."
Izuku's eyes shifted slightly left and right, trying to comprehend what the Dean was talking about until it finally dawned on him, "... you mean that Ascian… Nabriales?"
"Indeed…" Nezu brought his paws in front of his face, staring at the boy, "I don't know what his true motives are, but the fact that he has possibly teamed up with All for One is most worrisome. That and the revelation of the Primal Nomu's identity…."
Nezu didn't continue as he saw Izuku curl up slightly, clearly fighting back some tears at the memory of what happened to his father and what the green-haired hero-in-training had to do in the end.
Nezu waited for a few more moments before gently speaking once again, "Midoriya, I know you have still been seeing Hound Dog at times since those initial few weeks, and while I am happy you have continued to speak to him, I would ask you to visit him a few more times during the week to help you overcome this crisis."
Midoriya silently nodded his head, not hearing the chair from the opposite side of the large desk being moved away and felt the tiny paw of the dean on his leg, "Let it be known you have my sincere condolences in regards to what happened to your father, but just know you put an end to his suffering."
Izuku nodded softly, sniffling gently, and reached over to the box of tissues that Nezu had brought over to him with some magic. Patting his knee a couple more times, Nezu returned to his chair, sipping his tea when he got comfortable again, "For the next two weeks, I'm putting the University on a mandatory break, and not just because of what you experienced, but that many students and some teachers have been requesting leave due to the events of Hosu. You will also need to tell your mother about what happened and your father."
"I-I know…" Izuku sniffed, "I've been trying to think of the ways to tell her."
"If you wish, I could have myself and Toshinori in the same room to help explain."
"I-I think that would be best, yes…." Izuku said, slowly drinking some more tea, finishing the cup in but a few gulps, "I-If you'll excuse me, sir, everyone should be coming back to dorms by now, and I don't want to keep the others waiting."
"Of course, Mr. Midoriya, and remember to take it easy, you can still train, but nothing too over strenuous, is that clear?" Nezu called out, receiving a half convincing and silent thumbs up from his student before he shut the door behind him.
Nezu let out a gentle sigh, thinking how else he could try and help the Warrior of Light, not entirely telling him as to the reason why the boy should rest, "My apologies for not coming clean, Midoriya," the dean said as he opened up a folder that was closed on his desk, pulling out the sketch made out by the police of the unmasked Ascian, "And I am sorry to you too old friend… Had I known what would happen to your body and what it would be used for, I would have made sure we properly disposed of it."
Nezu kept staring at the picture before him, his smile fading for a few moments as a tear slowly fell down the Moogle King's cheek, "I am so sorry, Quinn…."
Deku kept his gaze out upon the roads full of sunshine from his window sill, granted the people walking them were less idealistic and happier than usual, though what happened in Hosu almost a week ago was still fresh in everyone's minds, including the manifestation of darkness himself.
Admittedly, that was furthest from his mind, still coming to terms with the events that happened during and after the Hosu crisis. While he and Himiko had failed in their goal to reach Stain, the fact that he somehow gained a more physical body while near the presence of his 'good' self had perplexed him at the time, the more he had time to think about it, the more he had come to two conclusions.
One, perhaps it was due to the sudden rush of aether that expelled out of Midoriya when he unlocked that new kit had caused his body to change and gain a more physical form, which would also lead to the reason why he went into a 'heat', given that perhaps the green-haired boy was also too under the same effects during the battle.
The second and possibly more worrisome of his theories was that Midoriya had grown MUCH stronger since the sports festival, too strong for his liking, and that meant he needed to take action now before it was too late.
Turning away from his post at the window, Deku found some old scrap piece of paper and, using a discarded pen that, surprisingly, still worked, began to write out his plan of action, all the while not noticing the half-naked blonde vampire sneaking up behind him.
"Dekuuu-kins… whatcha doing?" Himiko said softly, stifling a yawn as she wrapped her bare arms around the armored man's torso.
"Writing down a plan." Deku said with a cold tone of voice, something the young woman was used to at this point as she lightly dragged her nails across his armor, "It seems my timetable has been moved up due to recent events…."
"You mean when we made crazy love these last few days?" Himiko said with a gleeful smile across her lips, her cheeks blushing a deep crimson.
"...Partially that, yes…." Deku said with a low tone of voice, and though he could not blush now himself, he could still feel the heat coming off his cheeks. Apparently, the effects on his body were only a temporary thing, having reverted back to his much colder and 'unliving' vessel with no beating heart a day after both he and Himiko had 'collapsed' from their vigorous lovemaking, "But also for me to gain the physical body needed to perform such acts."
"Do you know a way you can keep it? I don't mind if you don't have one, Deku-kins… you'll always be the same to me!" Toga chirped out, moving herself to face the man and forcing Deku to look away from his scribblings.
His pink irises met with her golden ones; the look Toga was giving him was something he couldn't quite figure out what they meant, but soon he rose a gauntleted hand up to rest upon her head, idly stroking and petting her where she gave off a cute 'cooing' sound similar to a cat.
"But it's also to allow you to feed upon my blood, where we can live our lives without prejudice and hate we have felt in our lives… I want us to be free from that hardship, Himiko. And to do that, I need to prepare myself and then storm the gates of UA."
The vampire looked up at her knight; her expression turned to worry before she immediately began to sob and cry against his armor, her hands clawing at his armor as the Dark Knight looked perplexed from her sudden emotional change.
Granted, Himiko would often flip her mood on a dime at times, but this was far from the norm with her. Slowly and tentatively, he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her bare back as he tried to calm her down.
"... Don't go… I need you, Deku-kins…." Himiko sniffed gently after calming down a bit, tears streaming down her eyes.
"I know, Himiko… but this needs to be done so I can protect and care for you… I promise that I will come back for you. Within two days, you will hear me knock on that door three times…." Deku looked up towards the door, which was followed by the still sniffling Himiko, "and then we can leave this place, go out on our own and live together."
"Y-You promise?"
For the first time since before those magical nights of sex and after when he had reverted back to his more ' ghost-like' body, Deku slowly smirked down at her, placing his cold lips against her own of his own volition.
While they felt incredibly cold against her lips, Himiko smiled softly as she reached her arms around his neck, holding them close and together as if trying to pass on the heat from her body into his own.
They broke the kiss, and after a few moments of silence, Toga finally broke it by whispering softly, "Okay Deku-kins… I'll hold you to that promise… but can you do something for me before you go and do your preparation-thingy?"
"Of course, is it more blood?"
"Hehe, no silly… I have tons of blood packs still…." Himiko smiled sweetly up at him, "I've been feeling rather peckish for some food lately… and I was wondering if you could pick me up some?"
Deku blinked for a moment, a little surprised considering Himiko usually craved blood more than anything, "Of course, what is it?"
"Could you pick up some… pickles? And peanut butter? OH! Maybe some mint ice cream too?"
Deku looked to the smiling woman before him, her eyes pleading as she licked her lips. However, he thought nothing of it, and if this is what she wanted, well, who was he to deny his Himiko?
"Of course, I'll run down to the convenience store and be back as quick as I can." Deku said with a smirk, kissing her forehead once more before heading to the door.
"Thanks, Deku-kins! I love you!" Himiko called out before scampering back towards 'their' room. Deku remained still with his hand hovering over the doorknob, taking in the words he heard for but a few moments.
Without looking back, and in a quiet tone of voice, he spoke out, "I love you too, Himiko…."
Once he had exited out of the building, Deku had donned the dark helmet as to hide his appearance from the populace; the last thing he wanted to do was for his face to be linked back to Midoriya and alert the 'do-gooder' of his presence, or worse yet, the Moogles and their king.
As he stalked the darkened alleyways to his destination, Deku began to strategize within his mind.
Unlike before, where his main goal was to weed out the 'fakes' similar to Stain's ideals while also replacing Izuku Midoriya, his views had changed, as did his primary goal.
After all, now he was fighting for someone who cared about him, even loved him, the useless Deku…
And he would sacrifice everything for her.
Back in the dingy apartment, waiting for her odd food choices, Himiko was humming a tune to herself as she got herself dressed. After slipping on her panties and navy blue skirt, Himiko gently placed her hand upon her stomach, smiling while rubbing it slowly, and could still feel the warmth that her Deku had given her 'lo those few days ago.
Chapter 53: Of Tomes and Saplings
Summary:
All for One and the doctor confront Nabriales about what happened in Hosu, while Izuku stumbles upon a strange book, with the appearance of a long-forgotten companion from the past.
Notes:
Hey all! Hope you have been enjoying the latest few chapters!
Just an update for the chapter 51 'smut' scenes, they are being worked on and should be finished by either the next chapter or just before its release. Sorry for the wait, but with the changing of the seasons, my energy is just at an all-time low because of medical issues.
Anyway, Just a reminder to be checking out the two other stories I'm working on "Izuku Midoriya: The Green Gaul" and "Three Sides of the Same Coin", which the latter is being collabed with two amazing authors: Pizzaplate and Derpo!
Anyway, onto the latest chapter! enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
“Nabriales, I assume you have a good reason for the events during Hosu.” All for One spoke in a low tone of voice, his fingers in front of the eyeless face of the ‘super villain’ as if he was staring hard at the Ascian before him. It had been a few days since the nemesis of All Might had seen or heard any word from the robed being, and even still the loss of the first of the promised “many” Primal Nomu’s was a severe loss for his powerbase, that and All for One had to listen to the doctor complaining about losing such a fine specimen.
The Ascian merely shrugged nonchalantly before crossing his arms over his chest, “Some of it was from boredom, though I did wish to see how well your ‘pupil’ could if at all control a Primal. And sadly, he is still far from ready to do even that.”
“It doesn’t mean that you can just steal or swap out valuable specimens from my laboratory!” The doctor shouted out, coming from behind some of the larger glass tubs housing other Nomu, “The Primal Nomu was FAR come complete!”
“It was complete.” Nabriales responded with a tense tone to his voice, “While that Nomu we used as a base was perfect for the Lord of the Inferno to manifest to this world, the aether within it was far less than I had expected.”
“And from what you had told us before, regarding how this ‘aether’ is related to Quirks, would simply not adding more quirks to a Nomu’s body allow the Primal’s to fully manifest?” The doctor asked, stroking his thin beard as All for One continued to listen to the two men before him, clearly enjoying the conversation with interest.
“No, the issue is not the number of Quirks within the body, but more the quality.” The Ascian spoke and had moved himself over towards one encased Nomu’s letting the claws on his gauntlet run down the glass as Nahbriales looked up to the floating creature, “While all these creatures are awe-inspiring, the problem stems from the fact that they are decaying bodies, meaning their aether is also decaying. While the magic within the crystals I infuse into their bodies will use that aether to create the proper vessels needed, they will be far weaker than what we hope for because of how ‘weakened’ their aether is from the natural decay of time within a dead body.”
“Now, I believe I have a solution to this, but this will require a hefty price on your part.” The black-robed individual had turned toward All for One, who merely tilted his head in a curious gesture.
“And what, pray tell, would that be?”
“A perfect vessel would require a ‘living’ Nomu, similar to that brute you call “Gigantomachia”, who I think would perfectly fit the bill to house the powers of the Lord of Crags, Titan.” Nabriales smiled devilishly as he spoke, his hands behind his back as if he was expecting full compliance with such a suggestion.
However, All for One was not so quickly compelled even to humor the request. While the two-hundred-year-old villain was pleased with how well the Primal Nomu had decimated the heroes in Hosu, as well as causing just general chaos and destruction, even for how supposedly “weak” it was, he was not ready to have his most loyal follower become one as of yet.
“I will think upon it, but I would rather we test it upon-” The sightless head of All for One turned towards the doctor, ”A Nomu that has a ‘fresher’ body perhaps?”
“You would have to make a new one, as all of these….” The Ascian spoke as he looked about the vast amount of Nomu still within the glass tubes all around them, “Are too far gone for this purpose.”
The smile that slowly spread across Nabriales lips as he continued to speak had caused the doctor to shiver from such a look, “But do not worry, I have someone in mind for the task already within my sights… I just need some time to prepare them.”
“I trust that it won’t take too long, Nabriales.” All for One spoke with a tone of command but also at ease as if not to raise the temper or ire of the black-robed individual. While he wasn’t pleased with the loss of the first Nomu, similar to how the doctor had been, the nearly immortal being known better than to threaten a person who could destroy him and everything he worked for with a wave of a hand.
“It shant, though the process of the conversion should be quicker than Ifrit due to how ‘fresh’ the body and aether will be, and should it prove successful, then I can prepare not only for Titan but also for the one that shall be the downfall of your nemesis as well.”
“Excellent, now, there is one more matter I wish to discuss with you… given our partnership and moving forward.” All for One spoke as various screens full of images of a particular green-haired young man from different angles taken from the news broadcast of the fight in Hosu.
Nabriales gritted his teeth as All for One leaned over, his hands under his chin with a big smile stretched across his lips, “So tell me, Nabriales… What is so special about this boy?”
Izuku sighed gently as he strolled along the path back towards the 1-A dorms, still thinking about his discussion with Nezu.
While he was initially put off by not being able to help Mei build some more magitek to present to the head scientists of I-Island, he could understand the reasoning to be barred from it.
The process of designing and building the magitek, while relaxing at times, was often a stressful mess for most of it. Granted, it was more from dealing with all of Mei’s tendencies to push the limits of what the tech could do. It didn’t help that the machines STILL exploded somehow, even without crystals to power them.
Goddess, help them should that happen when the damn things were turned on.
Speaking of explosions, there was that other bombshell that was also dropped on him. The fact he was going to I-Island was such an exciting thing! And yet, despite the awe of even going to the remote artificial land, Izuku was hesitant.
For one thing, trying to fully explain the magitek and how it worked off of crystals that were only procured from either his personal storage within the machinist kit or from whatever source Nezu got the ones he gives to Mei would be a huge turn off for any of those investors—not forgetting the fact that if I-Island could manufacture new and incredible magitek devices, then how long would it take for those with ‘evil’ intentions to get their hands on them? While the security on the island was on par with the prison “Tartarus”, (which Izuku began to think it was possibly constructed with the aid of I-Island engineers), there were still ways for villains to end up with some gear of inventions once it left the island.
But then, the other reason for his hesitation was Eri. Under normal circumstances, Izuku would have told Nezu that he wanted his daughter with him, considering how little time Eri had been practicing with her quirk and controlling it, and Aizawa wouldn’t be able to come along to stop the small girl’s powers from going out of control due to his own life needs.
That and he doubted that I-Island had the proper defenses needed to handle someone like Nabriales, who could easily attack while Izuku was far from UA.
Running his hand through his hair and sighing heavily, Izuku came to a stop in the middle of the path beside one of the large forested areas on the university grounds. He squinted his eyes as the throbbing within his mind occurred, forcing him to look down a natural path leading deeper into the woods.
“Oh come on, not again…” Izuku muttered to himself, turning into the forested area and letting the typical migraine lead him to whatever was ‘pulling’ him.
If this was going to lead him towards another fight against a villain, Izuku swore he would talk to Krile and get all of the pain medication to block out these ‘pulls’.
The trek into the forest was not an unpleasant experience, aside from the mild headache. Following the ‘pull’ had led Izuku to an ever more off-beaten path. Within a few minutes of walking and pushing aside some branches and bushes, Izuku finally came into a small clearing. The sight before him caused him to blink in surprise.
While most of the woods were indeed thicker in this part of the forest and formed almost an impassable barrier around the clearing, aside from the small entrance Izuku had found, the canopy was only partially covered, with beams of sunlight streaming in from above and landed upon the lone fallen log laying on the grassy floor.
Slowly moving closer to the log, Izuku could see various toadstools and other fungi growing along the trunk of the dead tree, and though he had some knowledge of the local mushrooms, some of these even escaped his knowledge. But what caught his attention was the upside-down book laying not too far from the mushrooms, as if it had fallen out of a pack.
Curiosity (and the pull) brought him closer, allowing him to kneel down and slowly pick it up, turning the book around and blinking at the book's title. While he wasn’t as strong as a linguist like Momo, Izuku did know a good bunch of English, given having to learn the language to watch and read all those All Might interviews from his time in the USA and the title of this book, along with the images of fairies flitting about or sitting on toadstools caused Izuku to mutter out the title.
“ Fairy Tales from around the world? ”
A gasp coming from the entranceway to the forest caused Izuku to whip around and stare at the brown eyes of the latest ‘intruder’ in the grove. Izuku blinked for a moment as he took in the sight of the shorter student from 1-B. Her hair resembled a mushroom top that hid her eyes, aside from this one instance, and noticed that they were shaped similarly like shiitake mushroom tops. She was wearing an outfit similar to the time they had first met during the study session near the beginning of the semester, although the pure white lolita outfit from last time was now replaced by one with a deep red to the fabric, with almost lavender like laces at the edges.
It also seemed to show off Kinoko’s rather curvy body with how tight the corset was wrapped around her midsection that he had heard some of the other guys, mainly Mineta and Kaminari, coin the term “short stack”, and while Izuku knew better, he couldn’t help but think the word fit this woman perfectly.
As for Kinoko, she was frozen in place upon seeing the rather tall green-haired teenager that was alone here in her ‘sanctuary’ with her but the fact he was wearing some very fitting clothes that showed off his body and muscles.
She could feel the heat coming off of her cheeks as she was about to speak, only for her surprise awe to turn to a pale dread upon seeing the book in Izuku’s hand. So, the petite mushroom-loving girl did the one thing that she knew would cause her further embarrassment if it ever did happen upon meeting her crush.
She fainted.
“Are you sure you're alright?” Izuku asked, kneeling beside Kinoko as she fidgeted with her fingers and looked down, trying to hide her reddened face from the boy beside her.
“I-I am fine… s-sorry for fainting there, it’s just I….” Kinoko softly trailed off, looking away, and causing Izuku to raise an eyebrow at her, looking at the book between the two and letting his mind think on that for a few moments before realizing her embarrassment.
“If… I had to guess….” Izuku began to say, gently placing his hand on the cover and tapping it with his fingers, “You had some trouble in the past with people making fun of your interests and hobbies?”
The silent nod of her head was the only answer she gave him as Izuku lifted the book's cover a little, “I’ve never been into fairy tales myself, what with my obsession with pro heroes, but honestly, everyone has something like that, heck I….” Izuku stopped for a moment, frowning as Kinoko looked towards him, curious as to why he stopped talking.
It took a few moments, but Izuku sighed gently before smirking at her, “Truth is, I was bullied a LOT when it came to my analysis hobby.”
“R-Really? W-Why?” Kinoko asked with a curious tilt to her head, shifting her hair to allow her eyes full of concern and interest at this particular point, “Y-Your analysis books helped Setsuna improve her quirk usage from the way she talked about them.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Izuku chuckled softly before looking down at the grass, “Well… truth be told, when you have a supposedly ‘quirkless’ kid telling you how to improve your quirk, or finding its weaknesses….'' The boy went silent as the swaying of the leaves danced up above them with the rustling of leaves to fill the void in the air. Kinoko’s eyes widened at the implications he was giving her, her hands quaking both in sadness and rage that they would brush off this nice boy because he didn’t have a quirk, how cruel they must have been to him.
The shifting within the grass caught Izuku’s attention as he saw that Kinoko was kneeling beside him. The right side of her cheek puffed out as she had presented him the book, “Those shroomtops don’t know what they are missing out then! To think that they would bully such a ‘fungi’ like you!”
Izuku kept staring at her as he slowly took the book, blushing slightly as Kinoko plopped herself back down beside him, “T-Thanks Komori… I-I um…” Izuku cleared his throat, slowly opening the book, “Y-yea, they certainly missed out, y-you could even say it was ‘crimino’ even….”
As Izuku was leafing through the pages with the utmost care (it wasn’t his book after all), Kinoko was simply staring at him, the furious look on her face melted to a blushing mess with her gaze under her hair just staring at him as her heart skipped a beat due to the mushroom pun he had made.
Eventually snapping out of it, Kinoko sat beside him, watching him turn the pages slowly to look upon the pictures illustrated in them with keen interest, “W-when I was small, and when my Quirk first manifested, I t-thought I could grow mushrooms to the size where I could sit on them… l-like the fairies do in those stories.”
“Plus, the application of such gigantic mushrooms could provide excellent cover and as a makeshift stretcher for the injured to rest on, or make them big enough to create medicines and antidotes!” Izuku had said with excitement in his voice, looking towards Kinoko with a look matching the tone of his voice, “That’s a superb use of your already amazing quirk, Komori!”
“O…oh… oh thank you, Midoriya… b-but I can’t make them super big.”
“Not yet, but we are here at UA to learn, and I’m sure there is a way you can figure it out and achieve your dream.”
Kinoko was blushing madly now, fidgeting slightly at the praise being given to her by Izuku as the boy turned his attention back to the book, flipping another page over, only to stop and furrow his brows, “....What the?”
“Hmmm? W-What’s wrong, Midoriya?” Kinoko asked, shifting over slightly to better look at what he was staring at. She blinked from under her haircut before turning her gaze to the still perplexed-looking boy.
“Doesn’t this picture look odd to you?” Izuku asked, still looking at the image and showing it to her, “Like, it looks like this clearing, doesn’t it?”
Kinoko frowned and looked at the picture again, taking in the scene of two figures in silhouette, one standing upon a stump of some kind with a fallen log beside them and the other figure kneeling by the log. Taking a few extra minutes to look over the scene, Kinoko softly gasped, “Y-You know? It kinda does look like this clearing….”
Izuku winced slightly as his gaze looked upon the text underneath the picture. The throbbing in his head increased as he slowly began to push himself up onto his feet, moving towards the stump. Kinoko rose up slightly, her hand close to her chest in worry at seeing the obvious pain in his face, “M-Midoriya?”
“I-It’s nothing… when my quirk decides to unlock… ow… a new kit… I get a massive headache. It’s what brought me here and made me pick up the book.” He said while gritting his teeth, stepping onto the log stump, and opening the rather hefty tome in a single hand, “And... it’s too much of a coincidence that my head is pounding while looking at this page.”
The air grew silent; not even the chirping of birds could be heard as Izuku began to mimic the pose from within the book, stretching a hand out as he suddenly spoke aloud;
“O loveliest of branches,
In this hour of need,
Though time hast greatly passed,
Your sapling calls out to you,
Please grant me your succor!”
As Izuku spoke the final words on the page, the air was silent, and still, not even the rustling of leaves could be heard as the pressure from his headache faded instantly. Izuku blinked, lowered the book, and simply stood on the log.
The baffled look on his face matched Kinoko’s, who slowly turned her head left and right before looking back up at the boy in confusion, “Um... Midoriya, was something supposed to happen?”
Midoriya looked down at the mushroom girl, with just an equally confused look on his face, “I honestly have no-” “ YOU HAVE SOME NERVE! ”
The shrill voice echoed out in the clearing, making both of the students jump in fright before a buzzing light suddenly burst out of the foliage from the barrier of trees, striking Izuku in the chest and causing him to fall from his perch and land hard on his back with a pained grunt.
Kinoko scrambled up to her feet, moving to make sure Izuku hadn’t smacked his head or a rock or a part of the log, but just as she looked upon the scene, she gasped softly, and her eyes went wide with what she seen currently ‘standing’ on his chest.
Standing on Izuku’s chest was a tiny androgynous being, though slightly more feminine in certain aspects, as well as the tone of her voice, would denote a female, but what Kinoko would take notice was how much smaller she was to the both of them, standing no more than a foot in height with four beautiful butterfly-like wings motionless on their back.
The being was wearing a bright red leotard with matching boots that traveled up to their midthighs, with matching red gloves that traveled up to the underarm of the creature. Its hair was just as red as its getup, with two pigtails on each side looking like flames flickering in candlelight.
Izuku, at this point, had tilted his head up to take in the features of the creature that attacked him and was met with the cold fury of grayish blue eyes looking into his emeralds.
With its hands on its hips, the creature stamped its foot hard against Izuku’s stomach, causing him to groan and gasp out for air, “ HEARTLESS ! Such a CRUEL little sapling you are! All these years waiting for you to call upon me! SIX HUNDRED years, and not once did you call out for the aid of your branch!”
“I’m sorry?- OOF !” Izuku gasped out from another stomp to his stomach, the creature suddenly sniffed the air, and both students could see it was starting to cry.
“I waited and waited and WAITED for you to call upon me! Even if it was to deliver dreams to your retainers like I did before!” The obvious fairy was stamping their feet on Izuku’s chest and stomach, pacing back and forth, and kept rambling on, “But no! Not so much as a peep from my sapling! Even after everything we did together to save Il Mheg!”
At this point, the fairy had stopped, her sniffles long since stopped as she squinted down at Izuku, suddenly lifting off his chest and zipping around his head, turning it from side to side, “And what of your fluffy ears! I don’t even see your equally fluffy tail!”
Zipping back into Izuku’s face and pushing his mouth open, the creature gasped in fright, “and no sharp fangs or your kitten-like eyes! Did that mean Thancred trick you into drinking another ‘Fantasia’ potion again?!”
“ Aancred ?” Izuku asked while his mouth was still propped open before it was slammed shut by the fairy-like being as they zipped up high above the pair, muttering to itself loudly.
“This is wrong, all wrong! The only one who could call upon me is my dear sweet sapling! And I can feel him right now coming from that stranger! It’s not like the ‘potion incident ’ where I could tell it was him even though he turned into a Drahn …. ” The fairy looked towards Izuku now, their eyes squinting at him as Kinoko watched, “His aether is like my saplings, but different… changed… just like….” The creature’s eyes shifted left and right, deep in thought before widening in horror and shrieking out, “NO! MY PRECIOUS SAPLING!”
“Please don’t shout, and I can exp-ACK!” Izuku cried out as from the ground underneath his feet came a large tree root, smacking him hard and sending him flying into a large trunk of trees at the barrier of the clearing. Kinoko shrieked and rushed towards him.
“MIDORIYA!”
“What did you do ?” The creature hissed out from under their breath, the canopy above the two students growing darker as the trees seemed to grow and block out the sun, making the only source of light to be coming from the tiny creature.
Kinoko knelt beside Izuku, checking his chest for the large gash running across his chest and stomach through his cut shirt as with a brilliant flash of light, what was looming over the two students was not a tiny creature anymore.
Both looked up to see a giant of a woman, looking more than twelve feet tall and wearing a tight-fitting gown that reached past her toes. While pink in coloration, the dress's fabric looked more like petals off of a beautiful flower. Her wings had multiplied significantly and looked more fiery red to make her still present pigtails, but as long as she was tall.
Adorned upon her head, between her pigtails, sat a crown, while in her right hand, she held a staff that resembled a flower pointing directly at the two.
“Tell me!” she demanded, her face full of rage with tears streaming down the corners of her eyes, “What have you done to him?! what have you done to MY Quinn?!”
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE PRECIOUS SAPLING OF FEO UL AND KING TITANIA?”
Chapter 54: Two for the Price of One
Summary:
Izuku and Komori are trapped within the forest clearing by a rather angry Fae King, how will they escape? and what is that sense of dread looming over the green-haired boy's head now?
Meanwhile, Deku goes back to the place where all this had begun, looking for the one thing needed for his plan.
Notes:
Hey everyone,
So March has come and gone, which means it passed my birthday :O and while it was better than it had been better in the most recent years, it's always a weird time for me where I get a tad depressed.
And writing doesn't tend to get much easier during that time as well, so if this chapter is a "little" off, I apologize and hope you enjoy what is coming next.
Also, I do hope everyone enjoyed the update to chapter 51 with the smut scenes that were originally taken out and had to be re-written back in X_X never doing that again I can tell you.
But yea, sit back and enjoy this chapter as we get closer and closer to a long-fated battle.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
If Izuku knew how this day would have turned out today, he would have opted to stay in bed.
Granted, that in itself would have been a great idea, given that he had awoken to Tsuyu cuddling up to him in his bed, only to then wake up and 'work out' with him while the dorm rooms were still vacant of their classmates and before Eri would wake up and their focus turned towards her.
But no, Izuku was never one to waste a day doing nothing, much to the girls and his mother pleading to take a day of rest from time to time. But after today and what he had just been a part of, Izuku felt like he would need to take a vacation soon.
"Well, you certainly had an interesting afternoon, wouldn't you say, Mr. Midoriya? Miss Komori?" Nezu spoke calmly as he rested his paws on the desk, looking across towards the three individuals before him. Two of which were his students, their clothes disheveled and torn in a few places with some grass stains here and there, along with a few stray mushrooms that would eventually fall off and join the small number that had already landed on the ground.
"Y-you can say that….'' Izuku sighed, scratching his cheek as the now much smaller Feo Ul sat on top of his green curls cross-legged while looking about the room with curiosity.
"W-We aren't in trouble, are we, Dean Nezu?" Kinoko spoke up, her eyes hidden, but from her body language was clearly embarrassed and also frightened of what would happen with her and Izuku.
"Considering that no one was hurt, and you were able to keep the fight secluded in the forest, There shouldn't be any issues, Miss Komori… but if you could be so kind as to further continue telling me of your confrontation with King Titania."
"Oi! Don't be talking like I am not here, you fuzzball!" said 'King' had spoken up, knocked out of her sightseeing and flew right into his face, "Just because you are in charge here doesn't mean you can ignore me!"
"Feo Ul!" Izuku said aloud, shocked at how the pixie was behaving towards Nezu, and Komori had a frightened look on her face. Even if the mushroom girl didn't know about the dean's 'true' nature, she knew, like all the students and teachers here, that one should never anger Nezu.
But the diminutive Dean merely smiled, bowing his head gently to the much smaller fae king, "You have my apologies; that was not my intention, your Majesty. But we do need to finish the rest of the tale."
Feo Ul merely huffed, floating over towards Kinoko and lightly landing on her shoulder, beginning to braid the girl's hair. Kinoko froze, making sure not to shake or bother the literal fairy on her shoulder as, at the same time, Nezu turned towards Izuku, "You may continue, Mr. Midoriya."
Izuku turned his gaze away from the shorter woman and pixie and looked back to the dean, nodding his head, "Right, So…. "
Izuku grunted as he tackled both himself and Kinoko away from the roots that had shot up from the ground, looking to ensnare them. However, it was all for naught as the roots had continued to lengthen, quickly wrapping around his ankle and calf and yanking him back and into the air.
"Evil! WICKED Body snatcher! As if it was bad enough for one of your ilk to take the Warrior of Darkness' body as a puppet, but now you do it to MY sapling!" Titania shouted, with more roots beginning to push up from the ground and coil around the struggling teen.
"W-Wait, I can expl-MMF!" Izuku had tried to call out but was cut off when a thick root wrapped around his mouth and pulled tight, neatly choking the boy as the gigantic fairy's shadow loomed over his struggling body.
"No! I will not listen to ANY of your filthy, naughty LIES!" Titania spoke in a deep and foreboding tone, her eyes cold and uncaring as more roots and branches began to entrap the teenager, "I will take back his aether and cleanse it of your evil!"
Slowly raising up her staff, the end where it was decorated with large flower petals began to glow as from within the roots came the pained and muffled shout of Izuku, continuing to struggle from within his prison, unable to shift into his kits for whatever reason as he could feel something deep within him begin to drain from his body.
"Hush your screams, for they won't do anything to save you, Ascian!" Titania spoke over the pained shouts, only to notice a small mushroom suddenly sprout on top of her nose. Halting her spell for the moment, the Fae King gently plucked it off before another soon appeared on her cheek, then another and another until most of her face and neck were covered with the bulbous fungi.
"L-Leave Midoriya alone!" came the cry of Komori, not only holding the book close to her body, but her hand stretched out as more and more mushrooms began to form along the King's gown and body.
"Foolish mortal! You do not know the powers you pit yourself against- Ack! *patooey* One got in my mouth!" cried the King, having tried to keep the demeanor of the King of the Fae, only to fail as a few of the mushrooms had ended up in her mouth.
Kinoko, for the most part, was panting heavily, focusing on her barrage of ever-growing mushrooms and using those spores to create more of her fungal children upon the giant fairy's body. The shorter woman's knees were wobbly, however, despite her courage in trying to aid her crush, she knew that this was only a temporary measure, given the fact that, according to her many books on the subject, Titania wasn't just any fairy.
She was one of the most powerful ones.
This proved to be the case, as a sudden shout of 'Enough!' coming from the red-headed king had caused all of the mushrooms that had grown on her body to wither into nothing, falling to the ground harmlessly as more roots suddenly sprouted up and took hold of Kinoko's ankles and wrists, causing the book she was holding tightly fall to the ground and open on a random page in front of her. Izuku watched as his class 1-B counterpart struggled while Titania dusted off a few errant mushrooms before leveling her icy glare down at the student.
"Think you are, oh so clever, don't you?" Spoke the king while Kinoko looked up in fear, with the vines curling up her arms and legs to secure her to the ground.
"N-no! B-But you were hurting Midoriya! A-and I couldn't allow that!" Kinoko shouted up to Titania, who tilted their head with a raised eyebrow before her gaze hardened her gaze as if peering into her soul.
After a few silent moments, with Izuku still struggling and beginning to feel the roots loosen around one of his arms, Titania sighed and shook her head after a bit, speaking in a low tone of voice, "Poor child, to have such feelings for a nasty trickster like the Ascian, but don't worry… I have plans for you."
Kinoko's eyes widened in fright at how this giant person had spoken and also outing her to Izuku, who kept on struggling to free at least one of his arms. One of her eyes could be seen as she looked up to the King but knew she had to buy some time somehow, "W-what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to turn you into a Leafman." Titania said bluntly while resting the top of her staff upon her free hand, "I can feel your connection to nature itself from within you, little one, as if your little magic trick with those mushrooms were a given, and to be honest, I would turn you into a pixie, but you don't have enough aether to fully accomplish that. So! Leafman you shall become!"
Izuku was furiously trying to free one arm now, his bewildered look from before turned almost feral as he was also trying to bite through the root that was placed over his mouth, watching on as Titania slowly moved the top end of her staff towards Kinoko, who was struggling to free herself, but stopped when the orb was directly above her and beginning to glow.
Titania could see the tears starting to stream out of Kinoko's visible eye, "Do not worry, little one, you won't feel a thing."
Time seemed to stop, with Izuku reaching out his now free hand towards Kinoko, in some vain attempt to stop Titania. Kinoko closed her eyes, screaming out for the green-haired boy to rescue her, and as Titania was smugly smirking down at the mushroom topped girl, eager to see a new Leafman, only to suddenly recoil as from the book laying in between them suddenly burst to life with a semi-dim light pillaring out from its pages, only for a whirling ball of green light to spring forth and block the spell with a barrier that surrounded Kinoko.
All who were watching the event gasped slightly when the ball landed on the ground, this time not as a ball but as a brightly colored green fox creature appeared before them; its big eyes looked about as it flitted its head from side to side, long ears shifting about as the ruby on its forehead shone gently.
The creature's three tails whiffed about as it was clearly looking for something, only to have its head stop when it gazed upon the entrapped boy with his arm still reaching out towards the two.
Titania snapped out of her surprise, moving her staff towards the creature, "No! It's not him! Don't you dare-" but it was already too late; the small beast had dashed quickly towards the outreached hand of Izuku, dodging and weaving past more roots trying to catch it, before leaping high into the air towards the constricting heap that was trying to pull Izuku away.
As the small green fox traveled towards Izuku, the young warrior of light mustered all of his strength to reach his hand out towards the creature now, all the while the heavy migraine within his head pulsed back to life, similar to when he found this forest clearing, and as he felt the somewhat fuzzy head of the creature, three similar words echoed in his head, and his vision turned pure white, he could hear a mighty roar ring out in his ears.
Both Titania and Kinoko screamed loudly from the pillar of light that had engulfed the pile of roots and the strong wind that had kicked up when it had appeared. Kinoko grew more frightened when she heard the furious roar coming from within the pillar before it had disappeared just as quickly as it came and allowed not only her but also Titania to look to the source of the chaos, only to gasp at the sight.
Standing upon the outspread roots was Izuku, his arms crossed over his chest and looking down upon both women, but his eyes were focused on Titania, who merely gulped when she could feel the coldness from within his usually bright green eyes.
The clothes he was wearing were very regal, almost scholarly in a way, although they looked straight out of the European Victorian age from what Kinoko could guess, with the golden trimmings along with the cuffs and edges of the ebony jacket, with a frilled white shirt that could be seen underneath, with green silken cloth hung loosely at his side and held up by more golden ornaments, with matching (and tight) dark pants and leather boots that traveled up to his knees where they were capped off with golden protectors. Hanging off of his waist was a hefty tome, and from the angle where she was, Kinoko could see the spine and what was odd was how there seemed to be a latch or something similar attached to the thing, with what looked like a small ornament shaped like the strange fox creature that had protected her before. And even with an unimpressed look on his face, the mushroom-loving woman would admit he looked like a prince from one of her fairy tales.
But while Kinoko was admiring the 'dashing' new outfit of her savior, Titania was growing far more worried as it wasn't just him that was causing the Fae King to do so, but the giant dragon, glowing slightly blue with its enormous wings spread out the exuded not only elegance, but power that was currently hovering behind the boy like some great protector.
Staring at him for a few moments more before snapping herself out of shock, Titania began to speak, "Y… You can't… how? How are you able to use my sapling's abilities?! W-what trickery is-"
"Feo Ul."
The fae king's voice dropped to silence at the mention of her actual name, gripping her staff tightly as she began to curl inward to herself. She knew that tone of voice and the look he was giving her.
When one of her little 'pranks' went too far, like when she had replaced one of Urianger's tarot cards with a bunch of leaves with crudely drawn and vulgar images on them or changed the color of the twin's clothes to the opposite ones and causing confusion amongst the Scion's, that was when that tone of voice and look would emerge, which would mean she was either going to be lectured upon or in a world of hurt.
And judging by the dragon behind him, it looked like the latter.
"N-Now, let's be civil about this-" "Akh Morn!"
The shrill screech echoed out of the forest as a fiery pillar of white blasted out of the canopy had caused many birds from within the trees to scatter.
"... and once we were able to clean ourselves up a bit and convince Feo Ul to come with us, we came directly here." Izuku had finished the story, sipping some tea given to him during his retelling by Nezu, as the dean looked towards the still slightly miffed but equally distracted fairy still braiding one of his student's hair.
Turning his attention to his green-haired charge, Nezu smiled while leaning back in his chair, "I take it you had to reveal much to Feo Ul for her to come, somewhat quietly?"
"Oh, aye, my green sapling told me many things, and while I'm still not totally convinced of his stories, I could see in his heart he was telling some of the truth." Feo Ul spoke with mirth in her voice before going back to humming and continuing her work on Kinoko's hair, before gasping with a big smile, "And there we are, my dear little one, a cute braid for a cute girl such as yourself."
While both Nezu and Izuku tried to hide their amused chuckles from the slightly embarrassed Kinoko, who eventually stammered out a thank you as the dean turned back to Izuku, his tone of voice non-threatening but having an air of authority to it, "And how much did you reveal, Mr. Midoriya?"
Izuku bit his lower lip, thinking of the best and least damaging way to answer the Moogle King, "W-Well… I told Feo Ul what Quinn did for me, as a baby… and how because of that, I have access to his former powers, amongst other things."
"And I assume Miss Komori was in earshot of all this?"
While Izuku hesitated to answer, Kinoko spoke up, "Y-Yes, I heard what he told Feo Ul, b-but I promise not to say anything! I-I know that it's something personal to Midoriya if he has been keeping it quiet for so long."
"Well, that's good!" Nezu clapped his hands, a smile beaming on his face, "That means we won't need to wipe your memory!"
"W-What?!"
"Nezu!"
"Now, now, none of that, you two! I was merely joking." The dean cackled lightly, ignoring the deadpan look on Izuku and the frightened one on Kinoko as both knew that Nezu wasn't joking. Once he had calmed down, he had raised a paw out to Midoriya, "Now, I am curious about this new tome of yours; if you could present it to me, my boy?"
Izuku blinked before nodding and quickly shifted into the new kit he had obtained earlier that day, presenting the book to the dean before shifting back to his more casual look, "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"No, no, I am just curious about it, given that you obviously unlocked the powers of the 'Summoner'... yet your attire just now was more akin to the 'Scholar'." Nezu said as he looked over the hefty book with surprising ease, and while the three others in the room watched the small creature flip about the item, Nezu's beady little eyes soon fell upon the strange latched ornament on the spine, "Well, this is fascinating."
"What is it, sir?"
"Hmm? Oh! It's quite simple. Thanks to today's earlier events, you have awakened two kits!" Nezu raised his hands in celebration, causing Izuku to go wide-eyed and stammering for a few moments.
"Two?! H-How is this possible?!"
"Well, to put it simply, the two kits are very similar regarding how Quinn was able to use them before and branching from the same school of magic." Nezu held up the book to show the spine to the three people across his desk, "The first one, referred to as the 'Summoner' I mentioned previously, is akin to a puppeteer of sorts. They can summon great aspects of 'Primals' to use in battle and strike down their foes."
"Um.. what… is a 'Primal'?" Kinoko asked, clearly confused at the naming concepts.
Nezu smiled at the mushroom girl, "A 'Primal', my dear, is an intelligent being summoned forth using special magical rituals. Our guest Feo Ul would be considered such a being since she holds the mantle of 'King Titania'."
Kinoko quickly turned her head towards the tiny pixie, who was floating in place and looking at her nails, and with a bit of pride in her voice, "Not that I would call myself a 'Primal', but what he said is technically true, by his definition."
"Indeed," Nezu continued on, gaining everyone's attention once more, "The one exception, however, would be the small green creature Midoriya had summoned initially, that is called a 'Carbunkle', and it acts as a sort of a blank slate until the essence of those beings are introduced, where they take on their 'forms' and gain elemental powers based upon the aether of the Primal."
Izuku was deep in thought as he listened to Nezu's explanation before realization dawned on him, "W-Wait, is that why the Carbunkle turned into that dragon?"
"Excellent deduction, Midoriya! During Quinn's adventures and as he learned the summoning arts, he had exposed his body to the primal aethers of these 'divine' beings to harness and use for his own needs." Nezu took a sip of his tea, sighing happily while he explained, "The dragon you summoned is one based on the elder primal, Bahamut."
And while it wasn't asked upon, both Kinoko and Izuku knew that this 'Bahamut' must have been a more powerful being than the standard primal.
"The others I can go into detail with you later, but this would be an excellent time to explain the other aspect, the 'Scholar'."
It was then that Nezu had reached out towards the small and clearly, dragon wing-like ornament on the spine of the closed book, pulling it down with an audible clicking sound to reveal the other side to be that of a more angelic wing.
"Scholars would prioritize healing and boosting magic with the aid of their faerie companions. Unlike the Carbunkle, they can think for themselves and act independently, and the more powerful 'Seraph' they could summon if the scholar was powerful enough."
"Now, as to why these two different aspects merged together, it may have to do with the fact that when Quinn had combined all the aether of his powers into you, Midoriya, and since the summoner and scholar have similar principles… well… I'm sure you can figure out the rest."
Izuku nodded his head, his hand on his chin while muttering to himself as the dean had finished his explanation, while Kinoko looked a little lost, as well as Feo Ul, who at this point was resting on top of the Class 1-B student's head. But, a buzzer from the intercom on Nezu's desk broke the green-haired boy's thought process as Nezu clapped his hands together, "Excellent, they arrived on time."
"Um... who are you talking about, Dean?" Izuku asked before suddenly getting a chill running up his spine and feeling the temperature in the room drop when a mass of shadows appeared at the door leading into the office they were currently in. Kinoko gasped as she tried to shrink down as much as possible into her seat as Feo Ul moved off of her head and flew underneath the desk, clearly distressed as if someone had said the most evil and dreaded word of fairies over a loudspeaker.
Nezu just smiled, resting in his much comfier chair and sipping his tea, "Why, your partners, of course. They grew rather worried when you failed to return to the dorms in a timely manner and the sudden explosion out in the middle of the forest."
The door slowly opened, revealing the four women in his life, and while there was a quick flash of relief of seeing their boyfriend relatively safe on their faces, before fading back instantly to cold fury, considering that he had JUST survived an encounter with not only Stain but had witnessed his battle against the Primal Nomu on television and then had been silent since then to all of them but Tsuyu.
As they slowly filed in, forming a semi-circle around the green-haired boy, who was slowly looking around the angered, yet still beautiful faces of the most precious people in his life. Izuku spoke softly and with his trademark stutter in full effect, clearly frightened of the 'aura' they seemed to have currently, as he too began to shrink himself inward.
"I-I can explain?"
The darkened halls of Aldera High School lit up briefly when the passing of a car drove past the building before returning back to the cold darkness once again. The sound of metal boots on the polished floors echoed through the silence as Deku rounded the corner. His pink irises looked about as he casually and slowly walked down the hallway.
He raised one of his hands as he strolled through the corridor, dragging the clawed fingers of the gauntlet against the wall as he sighed heavily. Even if the school was clearly empty, given that this was the middle of the night, he could still hear the faint echoes of the everyday life present at the school.
The faint echoes of students rushing to classes, teachers shouting out names or lost lessons to the ignorant masses of young people, or the various buzzers that would ring that told the future generation to move to their following lecture of falsehoods and empty promises.
Eventually, Deku had reached the door he had been searching for, the one where he spent his final days at this hell hole before the event that changed his life, and he escaped. Knowing that the door would be locked, Deku grunted as he had ripped the door off its track, causing the old wooden thing to splinter and crack before colliding against the floor with a resounding thud that echoed off the walls.
The dark aspect didn't care for the noise, knowing that even the teachers that would roam as security had been long gone at this point. The pink-haired being soon entered the room he had just opened up, taking in the various scents and sights, slowly making his way to his target.
His old desk.
Deku squinted his eyes in the dark; flashes of memories appeared within his mind, of all the times his classmates would bully him or the way the teacher would offhandedly encourage the treatment or give a blind eye to the constant harassment he suffered daily. As his fingers slowly moved along the clearly refurbished surface, the echoes of the past seemed to fade back into silence.
Clearly, this place wasn't what he was looking for.
Stepping out into the hallway, Deku moved past the destroyed door towards the staircase. Clearly, the new administration had begun to clean and wipe away the stain of the previous staff's sins, which meant that any signs of his pain and horrific events within these walls would be similarly erased.
But, there was one place Deku knew that was still 'safe'; it was so evident that he would have needed to look there first rather than waste time in his old classroom.
As the classroom wasn't the worst of his experiences within Aldera.
Heading down the stairs until he reached the first floor, Deku continued his pace towards the one place he knew would give him what he desired.
As he made his way down the still empty hallways, more echoes of his past could be heard ringing in his ears, growing louder with every step towards his destination, so much so he could begin to listen to key words and sounds within his mind.
"Failure."
"Evolution Reject."
"Disruptive Nuisance."
"Quirkless Loser."
These phrases, the phantom pains caused by the beatings he would take, and the echoing cries of himself calling out at every hit began to plague his mind, and were the shadows of the classrooms and hall suddenly growing more prominent and moving closer to him?
And then there was silence.
Deku shook his head at the weird tingling from the sudden departure of noise and visions as he gazed upon the one place he never would have thought to come back to.
Before the armor-clad aspect was a very old door, not a sliding one similar to classrooms, but a regular door that looked old and marred by time, with semi-faded dark stains sprinkled against its surface that looked to be the splatter of dried blood.
A place hidden away from the rest of the school, blind to any of the security cameras, where any of his tormentors could easily drag him off or corner him. How many times was he beaten here? Ridiculed? Told to kill himself for being a waste of space?
While Bakugo's had been the most impactful, given their previous history, it was far from the only time he had been told to kill himself. And it wasn't just the boys either that 'suggested' him to do so. The girls would do the same, albeit more psychologically, as they tormented him with their constant 'pranks' and twisted his emotions.
Deku was taking deep breaths; his finger twitched with hesitation as he slowly reached out to the handle. The echoes of insults and harassment grew louder with every inch his hand got closer to the old metal doorknob, as well as a beating of a heart that seemed to be coming from behind the door pounded in his head, with the shadows once again creeping eagerly and almost hungrily towards the boy.
As soon as his hand grabbed the knob, everything grew silent except for the deep pants of his breath echoing out into the void. The world seemed to stop as if waiting for the boy's final decision, that one last step needed to either complete what he wished to do from the start or shove it back down deep within him to try and forget everything once again.
And while the latter seemed to be the more sane and safer option, Deku's grip on the metal tightened in regards to that option as that is what happened to him for so many years.
Shoved down into the darkest pits of one's soul and hoping to be forgotten.
Never again.
The door slammed open, the inky blackness suddenly consuming the person before it, like a creature opening its maw and swallowing them whole. The shadows from within the classrooms and hallways rushed towards the mass and joined the cocoon as deep within, Deku was shouting in pain and agony, twisting and turning from the feeling of the pure darkness pushing itself into every orifice and crevices on his body.
It wasn't just his own pain now, but he could feel the countless others who had suffered just as much or more so than he ever did, their 'ghosts' crying out for help only to turn into anger from the lack of assistance.
While it felt like an eternity for the young man, the experience was only for a few moments as the school grew quiet once more, the door to the abandoned broom closet wide open with its various expired and outdated cleaning supplies seeing the outside world once again after so many years.
The silence was broken by a sudden inhale of air coming from the silhouette of a person standing in the middle of the hall, only to turn around and begin heading back towards the school entrance, finished with whatever it was seeking.
As it did so, however, with every step, the pressure radiating out from them was causing the floor to crack under their footsteps and pushing the doors and windows of the classrooms to creak and crack under the person's presence.
But from the pure red gaze of the being, they slowly smirked, eager for what would come next.
It was time to show the world and those hypocrites at UA just how "weak and useless" a quirkless person truly was.
Chapter 55: One Brings Shadow...
Summary:
Izuku wakes up from his ordeal of the previous day, where future plans are made with a certain alien queen/
All the while, a shadow looms over Ua, just who could it be?
Notes:
Well, hello all!
Sorry for the lateness of this chapter, but it was going to be a big one, so it makes more sense as to why it would take that much longer.
With that being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter, as honestly, it was hard to write, given I had a lot I wanted to do, that I needed to cut out or change in the end to better fit the story.
Anyway, there was a suggestion to create a TV Tropes page, which I have started to look into, and hopefully can be a nice little summary of characters and events should people forget them :D
With that being said, be sure to check out "Three sides of the same coin" the special collab fic being written by me, Derpo, and Pizzaplate, where Izuku from "Bearer of the Light", and their Izuku from "The Devil is in the Details" (MHA x WH40k) end up in the canon universe of MHA! Plenty of hilarious moments, and possibly some thirst :O
It's being updated here by all three of us over on A03, or by me on FF.net (no difference, I am the only one with an account there.)
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hot.
That's precisely what Izuku was feeling right now.
But, while he usually wasn't a fan of either waking up super cold or overly hot, he couldn't complain this time.
Blurrily, the green-haired boy slowly opened one of his eyes, the other being closed due to feeling something resting upon it as he could hear the gentle breaths and coos of his slumbering partners coming all around him.
Looking back up at the ceiling of Momo's bedroom, which was easy to tell it was hers due to the canopy above the bed as well as how large the thing was compared to his own, Izuku began to reminisce about the events that followed after the girls had come to Nezu's office with such a dark aura, he nearly shifted into a kit to defend himself.
They literally said nothing, just kept staring at him until Kirishima and Shoji came into the room, holding what looked like a very thin futon between them. Without another word, his two classmates suddenly grabbed him and rolled him up into the thing, Izuku unable to maneuver out of their reach before the darn thing was wrapped up in some kind of twine created by Momo.
He remembers hearing Nezu's cackles at the sheer silliness of the moment and some muffled voices being spoken that he couldn't quite make out as he felt his cocooned body suddenly lifted up.
Despite his pleas now to be carried back to the dorm, that is exactly what had happened; he was ultimately embarrassed after he was placed back on the ground and the bindings released so he was free once more, laying on the spread-out futon and gasping for air because of all of his shouting (and how hot it was in the damn thing) before being suddenly tackled by a distraught Eri.
After calming down his daughter, it was the classes' turn to voice their own worries, not just because of the explosion of light from the middle of the forest that apparently shook the earth a few hours ago, but also the fact that he was dead silent after the events of Hosu with not so much as a beep since practically all of them seen Izuku take down the Primal Nomu.
Thankfully, it was Iida and Todoroki to the rescue on that front, as they had explained to the rest of the class, with the story given to them by the Dean, that due to the way the creature had disappeared that he should be returned for observation in case of any lingering effects caused by the 'sparkling' dust of the beast.
When it was pointed out why the hospital couldn't take care of it, Iida had replied that Nezu had somehow convinced the hospital staff to release Izuku, though said former patient knew exactly what had happened, as Nezu was well known for using his magic, or whatever left of it was, to sway people to his side.
Goddess help them all if this was only a fraction of the Moogle King's power.
Regardless, the rest of the day and evening went well for the most part. However, the sudden disappearance of Feo Ul was concerning, to say the least, considering what she was capable of. But, before he could think about it further, a soft giggle could be heard to his left, knocking him out of his thoughts.
Turning his head slightly, he was met with the warm gaze of Mina's golden eyes and her smile that matched the look, "Mornin', Izu…."
"Morning, how did you sleep? My muttering didn't wake you up, did it?" Izuku whispered gently, taking care to return a smile back to her while also keeping still to not wake the others.
Despite his strength, it was amazing to think that four women could keep him down on the bed. Probably didn't help the fact that both of his arms were pinned to the mattress, with his right hand sandwiched between both Momo and Kyoka, who were nestled together with the taller woman holding Kyoka from behind while the punk rocker was resting her head on his pectoral with her ear jacks loosely wrapped around his head and keeping one of his eyes closed. Meanwhile, Tsuyu was gently sleeping away with little croaks escaping past her lips with her head resting on his stomach, her hands holding herself tightly to the body heat emanating from the young man.
Mina kept smiling, shifting ever so slightly so she could adequately look upon his face, still having her body pin his left arm down as she giggled and slowly leaned up to delicately kiss him on the lips, "Wasn't the muttering, but yes you did wake me up though…." She playfully 'tsked' as she purred softly in her throat, "You're going to give a girl the wrong idea there, big guy…."
"What are you talking— Oh." Izuku blinked, feeling the relatively 'handful' of Mina's perfect ass. He blushed softly, slowly beginning to take it away, only for the pink-skinned woman to reach back and keep his hand there, "M-Mina?"
"It feels nice when you grip it, plus you're the only one I want to grab my butt, Izu… well, minus the others, of course." Mina giggled softly, moving her hand back up to very gently let it rest on his chest, "At least this allows me to talk with you for a moment in private."
"Oh? What's up?"
"Well, not going to go into full details right now, but you, me, and Kinoko are going to have a nice little chat sooner than later…." Mina smiled slyly, seeing the confused yet slightly worried look on her lover's face, which caused her to giggle softly, "It's nothing bad, trust me."
"I trust you, just wondering why is all." Izuku said with a raised eyebrow, only for Mina to stop smiling and blink a few times at him before sighing and puffing her cheeks up.
"From what she and that crazy fairy thing were telling me, you'd already know what we will be talking about, considering what the pipsqueak revealed."
Izuku chuckled softly, his hand on her ass sliding up and down it and her lower back, causing Mina to coo softly and let a smile return upon her lips, "To be honest, I was trying not to be crushed by vines and struggling to breathe during all that, so I may have not been paying my full attention to what was being said."
Mina sighed, resting her head down, "Fair, I guess… I hope the fairy isn't doing anything bad to Kinoko; she said she would make the cutie into another 'sapling' of hers? Whatever that means."
Izuku's attention was entirely on that little tidbit, gently muttering to himself for a few moments before feeling the touch of Mina's finger make circles on his chest brought him out of it, "Not done yet, buster."
"O-Oh, sorry, and I don't think we need to worry about Feo Ul and Komori, given that Quinn was her 'sapling' before and she was… is very protective of him."
"Huh, that's neat." Mina said with a smirk before her finger kept drawing little things that Izuku couldn't quite figure out, but the light touch of his pink girlfriend's finger on his chest did cause him to have a shiver crawl up his back and begin to get goosebumps.
Mina smiled at his reaction before leaning up and gently kissing his lips softly again, holding it for a few more moments before gently breaking the gesture, "You know what next month is, yea?"
"July?..." Izuku frowned before it dawned on him instantly, "Oh! It's your birthday at the end of the month."
"Mhmm…" Mina spoke with a soft smile, "What else is in July?"
Izuku again frowned, thinking for longer than he should have been before finally piping up, "T… the mid-term exams?"
The smile faded instantly on Mina, who was giving him a deadpan look before reaching up and lightly flicking his forehead, "Not that, silly— It's also your birthday!"
"I-I knew that…." Izuku chuckled weakly, blushing softly.
"And I know we are going to be super busy with studying, as well as helping Eri with her training and her own schoolwork, so…" The pink woman's smile returned full force, causing Izuku to blush more at seeing how intense of a look she was giving him, "I thought that we could have a little celebration, just the two of us… a 'birthday date' if you will, later on, this weekend."
Slowly, Izuku began to smile, leaning down to gently kiss Mina on the forehead with a smile, "That sounds like a great idea, Mina… but won't the others be upset?"
"Maybe, but once I tell them what I have planned, they will surely see why." Mina giggled gently, though, for whatever reason, Izuku could've sworn that the laugh wasn't as innocent as she was making it out to be.
"I-I'm looking forward to it, Mina… but we should get the others up since we have classes today."
The cute slight groan coming from Mina and laying her head back on his shoulder gave Izuku a small chuckle before he leaned in and gently began to kiss his 'Alien Queen' again, and for once, enjoying the peaceful morning that he hoped would carry on throughout the day.
The sun slowly began to peek over the tall buildings that seemed to block its light, the streets surrounding the university slowly beginning to bustle with life as everyday citizens started to head to either their jobs or schools, ignoring the darkened alleyways that had yet to touched by the rays of brightness creeping their way towards them.
Deku huffed as he stared up at the giant walls of UA, red eyes shifting left and right as he stood in the shadows of a nearby alley, hidden from the passers-by who were minding their own business as they usually would.
He slowly brought one of his gauntleted hands up to his chin, murmuring away at all the possible ways he could get back into the "prestigious" university, as while it was easy enough to leave the grounds before due to it being the Sports Festival and he had provided a 'distraction' with his 'lesser' self, he knew getting back in would be the more challenging part.
One issue was already solved: the new 'ward' placed by the Moogle King and his menagerie of furballs blocked out anyone whose aether wasn't 'friendly' towards the school. That meant that students, teachers, and Alumni that made regular visits to the school could still get in. And being a part of Him already took care of that issue.
The actual problem was how that ward knew who was friend or foe, as it was also tied into the school's original security system with that loathsome barrier, meaning that without proper identification, he could trigger its defenses, thus making his 'infiltration' a complete failure and would have to fight his way towards his target.
It would be nearly impossible if that happened as they could easily hide away the students somewhere Deku may never have been able to reach.
The other issue was the Moogles themselves; while invisible to most of the staff and students, the damn things were everywhere, and their nature towards aether would make it difficult for him to traverse around, even if he jumped from shadow to shadow to do so.
So he would have to wait for the most opportune time to sneak in, and as his eyes continued to gaze out towards the street, a mischievous smile soon curled along his lips as the rather large and fairly recognizable food truck could be seen down the road, on its way to the loading bay for the kitchens of one Lunch Rush.
And providing the perfect means to continue his hunt.
"Good afternoon, students!" The buffed-up form of All Might called out to the assembled class members of 1-A, "I am happy to see everyone is here today and looking as ready as ever for today's Heroics class!"
The ever-smiling blonde scanned his eyes over the young people, hands rested on his hips as he spoke out again, "While I understand some of your classmates had a rather– 'interesting' time with their internships," He paused as he could see some of the more sullen looks come across both Iida and Midoriya, while Todoroki just seemed as stoic as ever, "It makes this old hero proud to see the next generation get their first taste of being a pro hero!"
"But all I did was do the cleaning for Mt. Lady and wash her dishes while she ate chips and loafed in front of the TV!" Mineta shouted out, along with a few others who also had a rather unfulfilling time.
"Well, from what I was informed about by my fellow teachers, sometimes there will be a few 'bad eggs' in the bunch when we reach out to agencies that either newly debuted heroes have started up or those that seem to exploit their interns, which I can assure you that is one hundred percent inexcusable, and my apologies if you felt that way, young Mineta." With a finger raised into the air, the number one hero said, "Should you wish to make an official complaint, I would seek out Hound Dog or the dean, as Nezu usually likes to make sure his students are well cared for."
"Now, with that settled, today's class will be rather different from what I had initially planned, but thanks to the actions of a few key members of your class…." Izuku, Iida, and even Todoroki winced when they could feel the icy blue stare of their teacher's eyes on them before turning back to the others, "We will be doing an obstacle race!"
"A race, sir?" Kaminari raised a hand up, looking slightly concerned, considering some of his classmates were relatively speedy due to their quirk.
"Indeed! When it comes to patrols or search parties, speed is key when escorting civilians or chasing down a bolting villain. So, while I know that some of you don't have the appropriate quirks or gear to keep up with your quicker classmates, while it is a race, I would like each and every one of you to think outside of the box and try and reach the target as quickly as you can."
"That being said, there will be a few stipulations for this race. First off, there is to be no attacking the other racers. You will get to the end without sabotaging your classmates, understand?" All Might said, with a casual glance over to Bakugo, who merely huffed and looked away, ignoring it and the other stares coming from everyone else., "Secondly, I want little to no damage done to the environment. I understand some of your quirks are quite destructive, and causing collateral damage to the area is unavoidable, so keep it to a minimum."
"And lastly, Young Midoriya," All Might looked towards the green-haired young man, who blinked and pointed at himself, "While this last rule is meant for you strictly, your 'Dragoon' Kit is off-limits for this exercise, considering the distance you traveled during the first event at the sports festival clearly shows you could literally just 'jump' to end."
A few snickers came from those around him while Izuku blushed and chuckled, nodding his head, "Y-Yes, sir."
"Good lad! Alright, Aizawa should be here momentarily to keep watch and provide commentary while I wait for the racers at the end, as I will be 'playing' the victim for this scenario. The first group will come with me to the starting line, and you will start the race when you hear the buzzer!" All Might, beaming a smile to everyone, bringing up the computer screen to show who would be starting first.
As Izuku watched the many names of himself and his classmates flicker quickly, his mind was racing with the possibilities of which kit should he use, or the combination of them as well as running the race in just his support gear, considering Mei had asked for a proper testing of them at some point, given their magitek enhancements.
As the green-eyed boy kept smiling, enjoying his already great day, unbeknownst to himself and everyone else, lurking within the shadows of the giant pipe maze that was 'Ground Gamma', a pair of red eyes shone brightly before disappearing back into the darkness.
"Whew! I never knew making those hard turns was such a pain!" Mina spoke with heavy pants, returning to the control room after her group had just completed the race track. While it was easy to skate around some of the straightaways or glide along the rows of pipes, the sharp turns had proven to be more tricky to pivot while sliding along her slimy acidic track.
Well, she'll just have to have Izuku or Kyoka kiss her bruises later so they can heal faster.
She made her way back to the small gathering of most of the girls and a few boys, all watching the monitors, with each having a camera trained on the last group. The pink-skinned woman was smiling and a few others when spotting the one focused upon her boyfriend.
Her golden eyes sparkled as she could see the rather determined-looking smile on his lips, tapping the tips of his armored legs against the ground before doing some quick stretching exercises, "Man, Midori is certainly getting revved up for this!"
"Doesn't surprise me, kero." Tsu spoke, moving to Mina's left side, her finger on her chin, "While it's unfortunate that he couldn't be a Dragoon for the race, it will be interesting to see how well he does without it."
"You're just upset that he can't use it because it's 'your' kit, huh Tsu?" Mina said with an arm wrapping around her almost girlfriend, who began to blush softly, but kept her focus on the monitor.
"No comment, Kero."
As others began to voice their opinions on who would win amongst the group currently out at the starting line, which now consisted of Izuku, Sero, Momo, Bakugo, and Yuga, a sudden and shuddering sound of a caw came from one corner of the room where Tokoyami had placed himself after his race.
A few heads turned in his direction, with Kyoka walking up to the bird-headed man with his 'pet' shadow and seeing how distressed it was, "Hey, what's up with Dark Shadow? Is she ok?"
"I wish I truly knew." Tokoyami said while he held the quivering shadow in his arms, wincing when the buzzer to the start of the race blared loudly out of the horns on top of the monitor room, "She has been like this since we first entered that foreboding complex during our race."
A few whispers came out of Dark Shadow's mouth, catching both students by surprise as Kyoka leaned in, hoping for her to speak a little louder, "What was that? I couldn't make it out."
The whispers of the sentient filled her hearing, causing Kyoka to look puzzled and turn her gaze towards Tokoyami, "What is it, Jiro? What dark secrets has the beast whispered upon your ear?"
"She said that there was a creature lurking in Grounds Gamma, watching with red piercing eyes, and how it flitted between the shadowed parts of the place on the prowl like it was hunting."
Dark Shadow nodded quickly, nuzzling more into Tokoyami's arms, "Such revelry; we should inform Aizawa about this."
Kyoka nodded, turning towards the large group of people, only to witness a sudden purple eruption in the sky with a body suddenly plummeting fast into the pipeworks.
[Meanwhile, a few moments before]
The buzzer for the race to start had blared to life, the racers already leaping out, not only from the shock of the sudden noise but also from anticipation.
Sero shot out two long strands of his tape, both catching onto some pipes which slingshotted the boy up. Momo had chosen to run, creating a staff from her wrist before pole-vaulting over the rows and disappearing into the maze.
Bakugo, in either a vain attempt to either show up Izuku or perhaps let the nature of the competition get to him, took a running leap, blasting up into the sky like an angry plane over the rooftops and using his explosions to propel himself at a much faster rate than he did during the sports festival. Yuga had simply turned his body one hundred and eighty degrees and fired his navel laser, hurtling into the air over a low rooftop, disappearing from sight soon after.
A bright light enveloped Izuku, as he too had taken to a running start for the race, shifting into his red mage kit and holding up the crystal focus in front of himself, shouting 'Corps-a-corps!' and being pulled towards some pipes, touching down on one foot before leaping off and following through with the second beam of light to pull him to the rooftops, where he immediately changed into the 'monk'.
Using the flexes within years of training flowing in the aether within his body and more light armor (or lack thereof), Izuku began to dash and leap across the rooftops, front-flipping a few times, all the while a rather happy looking smile was spreading across his face.
In his mind, Izuku was just going through the motions; while he was determined to try and win the race, in reality, he mainly enjoyed the freedom this was giving him.
The worries and fears that often plagued his mind while he was alone doing something: About raising Eri right and keeping her safe, making sure his partners were happy, to keep training to be the best hero he could be while also living up to the expectations of a goddess who had her blessing passed onto him by her previous 'champion'.
All of that had gone from his mind, simply enjoying the nature of the exercise; it was like this day was made to give him some sort of respite from all the craziness in his life and that nothing would ever take this feeling away from him.
"UNMEND!"
The sudden shout to his left caused Izuku to snap out of inner thoughts, shifting his head in midjump to see what had caused it, only to get hit by a purplish projectile that exploded upon hitting his side and launched Izuku down into the maze, hitting several and causing them to break upon his impact until he eventually landed on the ground, with several pipes still falling down near him.
Izuku could only hear ringing in his ear, grunting in pain as he slowly began to pull himself up off the ground; the muffled sound of a blaring horn echoed in his head as his vision began to grow more precise, as was his hearing, "W... what was that?"
"I have to know…" a voice suddenly called out from the darkness, making Izuku's eyes shoot open in alarm as he quickly, but roughly, got up to his feet, reading into a stance as the eerily familiar voice continued to speak, "Can I be a hero, even though I am quirkless?"
Like the clinking of armor, the sound of metal hitting more metal could now be heard, growing ever louder as Izuku realized someone was walking towards him, "Who's there?! Why did you attack me?"
"Do you remember what All Might said to you? To us?" The voice called out again, ignoring the question asked by the hero student as a broken and the nearly flat pipe was kicked out of the darkness in front of him, making Izuku ready himself for anything.
Nothing could prepare Izuku for what or who stepped out of the shadows.
Standing before the monk was a heavily armored individual, with the blackest yet regal looking suit of plate armor Izuku had ever seen, with a crimson red tabard hanging from the front of the belt and their legs surrounded by an almost charcoal skirt hanging from the sides.
With one hand raised up, holding a large and very foreboding great sword, where part of its handle was resting on his shoulder, the rune-etched thick blade extended out behind them and to the side as the being walked closer towards him.
Emerald eyes met crimson, with matching green and curly hair to match between the two and identical diamond-shaped freckles on each cheek, though both had been shaped differently due to the opposing facial expressions of each boy.
One with pure shock and awe, as well as fright.
The other with a dark, sly smirk across his lips.
The boy with the crimson eyes chuckled lowly, keeping his gaze upon Izuku as he continued to speak, "He told us 'No', that we can't be a hero because we are quirkless, just like everyone else, because we are 'powerless'." Lifting the sword off his shoulder, the armored doppelganger readied himself, wielding the large weapon in front of himself.
"I'll show them how truly powerless we really are!" he shouted suddenly, leaping towards Izuku with a foreboding and sinister laugh.
"Excellent timing, young Bakugo!" All Might had said, smiling beaming to the blonde student who landed on the ground before him, panting heavily while shaking his arms around with the much smaller grenade gauntlets jostling their contents inside. "You were the first to make it thus far, and I see young Yaoyorzuru and Sero just coming around the bend."
Bakugo huffed as he could see the two ext– classmates from the corner of his eye and the somewhat withered-looking French boy slowly coming up behind them and clutching his stomach.
As All Might was about to welcome the latest arrivals to the end of the track, the ground shook for a moment with what sounded like heavy industrial buildings collapsing as well the pangs of hollow metallic tubes echoing out, the sound of an emergency horn could be heard coming from the direction of the monitor room. The noise rang as the number one hero quickly dashed to catch a stumbling Sero and Aoyama, the two thanking him before the communicator in his ear squealed to life.
"Aizawa, what's going on?"
"No time to fully explain, but someone is attacking Midoriya, are the rest of the racers with you?"
All Might quickly looked at the four students briefly, all of them seeing the grave look on his face as he turned around, "They are accounted for, yes–"
"Good, Nezu has authorized the students and us to engage; their priority is to rescue and escort Midoriya out of the zone while you and I deal with the enemy."
All Might's face went grim, no longer smiling as he confirmed the plan to his co-worker and fellow teacher. The constant sounds of battle echoed around him, making Momo, Sero, and Aoyama a little frightened. Bakugo was snarling, looking eager to find out what was going on, though there was no smile on his face either.
All Might sighed, bringing his hand down from his ear and turning towards the four young people before him, hands on his hips as he spoke to them, "Students, this exercise is over. Someone is attacking young Midoriya, and we have been tasked with a mission!"
He could see the shocked look on all of their faces then, the young heiress being the most worried and nearly in tears, but before any questions could be asked, All Might cleared his throat, causing all of them to jump to attention.
"Enough! I understand your concern, but we cannot doddle. The mission is this, we are to engage the enemy, and while myself and Aizawa keep the adversary at bay, you and the rest of your classmates are to escort young Midoriya from the battlefield and to the monitoring station where Nezu and a bunch of other teachers are going to be present."
The pro hero turned his gaze to Bakugo, who stiffened up more when he felt the icy blue eyes fall upon him, "You are NOT to fight the enemy, only defend yourself should the foe somehow get past Aizawa and me, am I clear?"
Bakugo frowned, staring into the steely look of All Might before growling out a muttering of 'Crystal, sir.'
"Good lad, now come! The mission starts now!" All Might smacked a fist into his open hand, smiling again and causing the other students to get determined looks, nodding to their teacher before the small group headed back into the maze and towards the carnage being wrought.
The sounds of swords clanging against one another echoed out amongst the pips and landscape as small explosions could be heard with a pained groan echoing out, only to be returned with another sudden shout, "SOULEATER!"
"AAGH!" Izuku cried out in pain, sent flying back a few yards from his opponent before flipping himself around and skidding along the now barren dirt in what would be called a 'hero landing' pose to slow himself down, gunblade in hand and gleaming in the light that now covered the circular 'arena' that had formed from their clashing.
Izuku was panting hard, suddenly kneeling as he gripped his side and gasped out, sweat and some blood falling from his face as he winced in pain; all the while, his enemy seemed to be doing fine, standing on the opposite end and swinging his sword to 'flick' off the blood, "Who the hell are you?! Why are you attacking me?!"
"Has the time we spent apart really been that memorable for you to forget me?" The doppelganger's smirk slowly faded, sneering at Izuku, "Easier to forget everything, right? To push it deep down and never remember those horrible, nasty thoughts, huh?"
That caused Izuku to pause, clearly looking confused as he slowly pulled himself back onto two feet, clearly in pain, "W-what are you talking about? I'd remember someone looking like me."
The unamused look on the dark figure sent shivers down Izuku's spine, who then sighed and shook his head, "Are we really that dense? Because I know we have some intelligence to put two and two together."
"You are the 'infallible' light!" the strange boy pointed to the hero student, "The constantly beaten down and ever so forgiving Izuku Midoriya, the boy who could do no wrong, yet has been wronged his entire life! Only because of some cruel twist of fate that we should be quirkless."
The smirk slowly returned to his lips, jutting a thumb to himself, "I am the 'eternal' darkness, the negative and most brutal thoughts you ever had during all those moments where you were belittled, bullied, abused, beaten – both physically and mentally. Bottled up and shoved so deep into your soul to be forgotten and buried for all time."
Izuku's eyes slowly widened, panting heavily as his foe cackled loudly, his crimson eyes glowing slightly, "There it is! Using that ever so smart brain of ours… That's right, Izuku." The armored boy began to stroll towards the still shocked Izuku, starting to hyperventilate a little, "I am what Fray warned you about, the inner darkness of your soul, the part of you that wants to show to everyone just how 'weak' and 'pathetic' a quirkless person is! I am Deku."
"H-How did-"
"How did I escape? Think about it for a moment… when was the last time you truly felt closed off and alone?"
Izuku winced, clutching his side underneath his gunbreaker jacket where that last attack had connected, as Deku still made his way slowly towards him as if he was toying with him. But as he pushed past the pain, Izuku gritted his teeth, focusing on the words of his 'darker' half, muttering to himself for a moment before it dawned on him, "T-the sports festival?"
"Ding ding ding! Give the hero wannabe a medal!" Deku cackled, suddenly swinging his greatsword broadside and striking Izuku where he was injured, laughing at the pained shout coming from the 'Gunbreaker' as he bounced along the ground with heavy imprints being left behind until he skidded to a halt close to one wall of twisted metal and debris that surrounded them.
Izuku coughed up some blood as he tried to right himself up. One eye closed as the other kept staring at the approaching Deku, whose smirk faded as he headed towards his downed 'other half', "How did it feel? To be put into a place where whatever you wished to say was blocked out, cut off from the rest of the world, and pushed down into the furthest and darkest parts of your being?" Deku asked, now standing over Izuku before suddenly kicking him in the stomach, causing another pained shout to echo out, and flipped Izuku onto his back, breathing heavily as the dark manifestation began to walk towards him.
"When that general student kept barking out orders after taking over our body, I saw that as the perfect chance to escape, leaving just a little of myself deep within to fool that damnable 'ghost' from thinking I had left, shifting and unleashing the 'inner beast' of our Warrior kit to cause chaos and allow myself to leave UA."
"W-why? Why now?" Izuku rasped out, a pained look on his dirt-covered face, his gunblade knocked clear and far from his hand, "W-why didn't you try and reach out?"
"Oh, but that's the thing, dear Izuku…." Deku spoke softly, stopping beside the fallen boy, planting his sword into the ground as he squatted down, "I did… numerous times, through the analysis journals, all your thoughts, criticisms, desires… all written for you to see."
Deku's gaze grew cold, the shine in his red eyes gone with his shadow over the top of the fallen boy, slowly reaching his hand out toward Izuku's head as he spoke softly, "But you ignored them, or were too dense to realize it. Regardless, that won't be a problem anymore. Do you want to know why?"
A pant of heavy breath was all Izuku could respond with as Deku's lips curled into a devilish grin, "Because from now on, I'll be in the driver's seat."
"DETROIT SMASH!" All Might bellowed out, socking the squatting person clean against the jaw to send him ragdoll to the other side of the barren battlescape, colliding into the metal barrier.
Izuku slowly opened up one eye, a small slowly creeping his lips, and began to chuckle softly, "A… All Might?"
"Take it easy, son… you have had a rough time of it." The number one hero knelt down beside his successor, moving some hair away from Izuku's face as he could hear the footsteps of his classmates run up to him.
Momo was the first to reach the pair, gasping in shock, and immediately started to create bandages, "Izuku! Oh my god!"
"H-Hey… Momo…" Izuku wheezed gently, smiling at her as if trying to ease her worry, "G-glad you could make it…."
"Shhhh, quiet now, and just focus on breathing." The heiress spoke, creating a bottle of alcohol and some rags as Sero and Yuga came up from behind her, quickly turning her head towards them, "Quickly, we need to get him out of here and be looked after."
But whatever movements they made suddenly stopped when they could hear the rather dark and, honestly, familiar laughter coming from the mess of broken pipes that All Might had sent their current enemy. Several of the pieces flew off with a raised fist hanging in the air before the person slowly began to stand up, dusting themselves off while everyone else looked on in shock, "Good sucker punch, All Might… you even used a fully powered 'Detroit Smash' on me."
They continued to gawk as the doppelganger of the injured boy beside them cracked his jaw, who then began to smile brightly at them, "And oh look! You even brought Kaachan here!" The crimson eyes of Deku met Bakugo's, who regained his composure and snarled at him, though a shiver did run down his back at the long-forgotten nickname being used with malicious intent, "This is my lucky day!"
"I'd say that quickly changed to the worst day of your life." Aizawa suddenly spoke up, as the rest of Class 1-A could be seen behind him and was staring in awe and shock at the other Midoriya before them, "You have five seconds to surrender, or you will be taken down; with extreme force."
"Now, isn't that a shame…" Deku spoke with a carefree tone of voice, crossing his arms while looking at all who were gathered around him before staring Izuku straight in the eyes, smiling devilishly as the injured boy gasped heavily in shock while still being raised to sit up slightly.
"D-Don't-"
"Don't what?" Deku asked while shrugging his shoulders, uncrossing his arms before looking over the crowd, "Don't mention how nineteen heroes in training and two pro heroes using their quirks with extreme measures to take down a single quirkless person would be excessive?"
The air grew silent after Deku spoke those words, mostly everyone holding their breath until Kaminari, with a confused look on his face, broke it, "Q-Quirkless?"
"Indeed I am, Denki." Deku smiled as he saw the blonde boy flinch at the rather blatant use of his first name, "Extra toe joint and everything that comes with it, never manifested a quirk once in my entire life."
"BULLSHIT!" Bakugo barked out, his hands causing flashes of small explosions within his palms, "A quirkless person doesn't have any power or strength! Not like this!"
Deku continued to smile, moving a finger back and forth as he shook his head at Bakugo, "Tsk Tsk, now why would I ever lie to you, Kaachan? After all, you know me better than anyone here!"
"Like hell I do! There is only one loser Deku, and he's right there!" The angered blonde pointed at Izuku, gasping for air now, with Momo rubbing his back and trying to calm him down.
"Oh, Kaachan-"
"And don't call me by that fucking name!" Bakugo interrupted, launching himself towards the still smiling 'imposter' as everyone from the teachers and his classmates yelled at him to stop, only to see the explosive boy be sent back into a wall on the other side of the arena from a single punch by the 'quirkless' man before them.
"YOU UNMANLY BASTARD!" Kirishima shouted, ready to jump in before suddenly getting wrapped up by Aizawa; just as the boy was about to protest, his eyes met with a warning glare from his teacher.
Deku was merely laughing loudly, "Oh, he never changes. So easy to rile up, like a pathetic puppy, all bark, no bite." Wiping away a tear before his chuckling slowly faded, "And watch who you call a 'bastard', Kirishima… it is rather rude to your dorm manager."
Another pregnant pause filled the air, and many confused faces, including Kirishima's. A sudden croak escaped from Tsuyu and a gasp from Momo, still holding Izuku, turning to look at the saddened boy in her arms.
"Ah, it seems two of you caught on… do I hear a third? Iida? Shoji? Perhaps the sentient shadow hiding within Tokoyami's cloak?"
When silence was all the answer he got, he sighed heavily, "And you wonder why so many of you have issues with Ectoplasm's math classes."
Deku slowly raised his hand, the sword that had been planted in the ground suddenly flying back and gripped tightly by the dark warrior, its blade tip on the surface while he held it straight up, "You see, it's rather simple, I am Izuku Midoriya, or rather, I am simply a darker side of his soul, Deku, if you will. And just like me, he too is quirkless."
"All his negative thoughts and feelings, buried deep within his soul and mind until one day I had enough, and now it's my turn to 'take the wheel', to live our life as it should, to show all of you how wrong you are about the quirkless!"
As the silence continued, with many of the students turning their heads to Izuku, who just kept looking at the ground, motionless, as if waiting for something, Deku continued to speak, "He's been lying to you this entire time. His power comes not from some biological manifestation of power; it came from another! Given to him when he was but a baby! A transference of a blessing, given to him from a fallen warrior of a Goddess!"
"But look at some of you, clearly not as shocked as I had hoped!" Deku shouted, seeing the rest of the class turn towards a few of the girls, who looked a little guilty as well as All Might; Aizawa merely squinted his eyes at the dark version of the problem child.
"S-so what if he's quirkless!" Kaminari spoke up, "He's still Midoriya!"
"Is he?" Deku turned his gaze towards the other blonde in the class, "If he was lying to you about his power, how much else has he kept secret from you? How many more lies or acts has he spun to keep you all in the dark?"
Silence fell once again, Deku slowly smiling as he saw the doubt beginning to grow in his classmates until a more feminine voice spoke up.
"He hasn't lied or acted the other times!" Mina shouted, acid dripping from her hands as she glared at Deku, "Izuku's always been there for us! Even if he's quirkless, he's still my Izuku!"
Deku scoffed, raising an eyebrow at her, "Come now, you honestly think I will believe that, Ashido? After all the times I have had to deal with the many lies of other girls who toyed with my emotions over the years?"
That gave the pink-skinned girl to stop, looking confused, while Deku looked to Izuku with a mocking look of surprise, "You didn't tell them? And why am I not surprised?"
"Izuku…?" Momo asked, looking at him worried before Deku sighed heavily, shaking his head.
"The doubts of having a relationship, being alone and tormented because we- I am quirkless. Tell them Izuku!" Deku called out, "Tell them all the Valentine's days where you were tricked into thinking someone actually liked you! To meet someplace in private to hear a confession that never came! Only to be beaten by their actual boyfriends and ridiculed by the girls! Tell them, Izuku! Tell them what you know to be true!"
Everyone watched as Izuku took a deep breath, followed by a few shorter ones, clearly trying to keep awake from all his injuries, but was able to speak in a gruff and pained tone of voice, "... Who would fall in love with a quirkless Deku like me anyway."
The gasps coming from Mina and Kyoka were loud, with the pink-skinned girl's eyes welling up in sadness, while the punk rocker began to fidget with her jacks, clearly looking upset and growing more so as the thoughts that Izuku still felt this way despite all the time they had spent together.
On the other hand, Tsu let out a dangerous croak from her throat, the anger she had at this 'dark side' version of her lover clearly unaware of everything that had been going on, considering the week they spent in isolation.
However, Momo's voice broke the dead silence of the area as she looked at the downtrodden Izuku, "Izuku, tell me this truthfully… What you just said right now, do you still feel like that? Do you think I or the others would abandon you?"
"I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Mineta suddenly shouted before his head was wrapped up in Aizawa's scarf to silence the boy.
Momo kept her eyes still on Izuku, ignoring the muffled wails of the diaper-wearing grape as she waited for his answer with bated breath. Izuku was breathing slowly, one eye still closed as the other shone softly, moist with the threat of incoming tears as he spoke gently, "T… There are still times… but very few… minuscule…."
"Thank you." the heiress said softly, smiling gently before leaning in close and kissing him on his lips before whispering something to him, which was hard for anyone to hear. The interaction caused Deku to raise an eyebrow, curious as to what was said but also failing to notice his shadow slowly beginning to grow in size behind him; in fact, everyone had been ignorant of this as they watched Momo gently hand Izuku off to Sero, before leveling her gaze to Deku.
As the young heiress strode over to him, a woman clearly on a mission, Deku scoffed as she approached, "If you think honeyed words of a false promise of love and caring is going to stop me from my goals, you are sorely mistaken-"
*SLAP*
The echo of the open-palmed slap across Deku's face not only caught him off guard, but everyone else, as well as Momo, sternly looked at him, "Now you listen here, Izuku Midoriya-"
"Deku-"
"Izuku Midoriya!" She shouted, "How dare you think we would use and abandon you after all we have been through!"
"And why shouldn't I believe that?!" Deku roared, his red eyes glowing brightly, "Anyone that said they cared about me all lied back then! How else am I supposed to feel?!"
"You idiot!" Momo screamed back, "You honestly think I would be engaged to a man I was only toying with to hurt in the end?!"
Deku froze as that statement hit his ears, blinking a few times, "E-engaged?"
"Yes, engaged!" Mina suddenly shouted from the sidelines, "You even promised to propose properly to all of us!"
"And don't think I would teach anyone how to play instruments, buster!" Kyoka shouted as well, "Especially when it's so we can both teach our daughter how to play music as well!"
"D-Daughter?" Deku looked on in shock; when had he gotten a daughter? What the hell was his other half doing while he was getting more power?
"Don't tell me you forgot Eri is your daughter, kero." Tsuyu said, crossing her arms over her chest, "I'd hate to see how upset she would be."
Deku was about to protest when Iida suddenly spoke, "And what's wrong with you being quirkless? Many heroes often fight as such while performing their heroic duties! Our own teacher does so nightly before coming to teach us to be proper heroes like him."
"That may be true, but-"
"Even if you had a quirk and not this 'blessing' you mentioned, you would still have faced off against that Primal Nomu back in Hosu to protect everyone and keep the creature from destroying more homes or possibly killing people; that is what a true hero would do." Todoroki suddenly spoke up, with Kirishima, Kaminari, and Ochako using the verbal beat down on Deku to help a now woken up and slowly recovering Bakugo from the pile of cement he was buried under.
Deku kept looking around, the many voices of encouragement and compliments from his classmates, clearly overwhelmed until he looked upon the still on the ground Izuku, who was smiling at him while looking a little weak.
"Ṇ̶̄O̸̡͚͖͔̅̓O̸̥͂͆O̶̢̼͌̾̂Ṓ̷͉̤Ǫ̴͖̾͠O̷̹̓̔!̴̼̰͑̈͂"
A shrill and warped voice echoed loudly in the area, causing everyone to clasp their ears from how loud it was, almost knocking out Kyoka and Shoji from the pain it had caused them.
Izuku was the first to recover, eyes going wide when he saw a giant darkened claw erupt out, still forming from the shadow behind Deku. Using his remaining strength, Izuku rolled onto his feet and dashed quickly towards the pair in the closest proximity, pushing Momo away as the clawed hand suddenly took both he and Deku together.
Momo fell to the side as she turned to see the still-forming beast holding her lover and his dark half in the air, screaming loudly as a recovered All Might quickly took her back to where he, Sero, and Aoyama were, watching on in horror as the beast fully formed.
It was standing upon two legs, though Lycan in its shadowy form, with its head large and covered with various white outlines for eyes and smaller mouths full of razor-sharp teeth that were placed haphazardly on the sides of its maw, where its central mouth revealed even more teeth along its muzzle, which opened slowly and wide.
The two boys within its clutches struggled continuously, for some reason being unable to free themselves before being suddenly shoved down its throat, much to the horror of everyone around them. The screams and shouts of shock filled the air as the beast now collapsed onto all fours, taking on the visage of a sinister-looking wolf, roaring with waves of darkened power expelling out of it.
It snarled as it lowered its head, its many eyes looking amongst the entire class of students before roaring in an ungodly sounding voice.
R̴̭̪̖͆͒̓́̍̆Ḙ̷̱̹̿̏͊̄V̵̖̋̓̅̔E̵̡̯̲̾̉̊̎͜͠N̷̖̤͇͆͂̈͝G̸̡̧̠͇̣̚͠Ẻ̴͎̥͚̒̑̈́!
Notes:
A/N: The creature mentioned is the "Shadow Keeper", for a visual reference, simply look up the boss from the Eden Raids of Shadowbringers :D
Chapter 56: I am the Light!
Summary:
Class 1-A faces off against a monster of Shadow's that has eaten both Midoriya and the mysterious Deku, while inside the beast, the two fight for their lives as a figure in the shadows watches them from afar.
Notes:
Hoo boy, another super late at night chapter!
I basically spent the last couple of days just working on the beginning, and then today just got inspired and finished it all! Even with my asthma kicking my ass due to the changing weather!
I'm a madman some days, I swear.
So the next chapter won't be for a bit, as I would like to get a new chapter of "Three sides of the Same Coin" pushed out, as well as continue with "Izuku Midoriya: The Green Gaul" with a new chapter for it. and while I know some would have liked to have seen Izuku talk to Toga in real time, I honestly didn't feel like writing another 10 pages of it, or splitting it off and leaving you all hanging, so we will be getting a follow up to it. (I know a certain fellow author who would beat me silly with a blow-up hammer if I did that to his vampire.)
The planned storyline for Bearer however will be this, as to give you all a sneak peek at what I have in store.
1. Aftermath of the truth revealed, as well as Kinoko being brought into the Poly.
2. Himiko's first few days in UA, meeting the other members of class 1-A and a certain Unicorn.
3. Kyoka unlocking the Bard kit (special date chapter - no smut)
4. Birthday Date with Mina (ALL THE SMUT)
and Lastly,
5. I-Island Arc, with the introduction of Melissa as well as the unlocking of a new Kit.
So yea, haven't run outta ideas, just need to do some final preparations as well as work on my other stories for those who enjoy them as well :D
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"Qui…ess…. Los…."
An echoing voice in his head caused the still body of Izuku to stir, laying against a floor of some kind as his eyes slowly began to open, before clenching them shut with a pounding headache suddenly as he brought a hand up to his head, clenching his teeth front he pain.
"You … give up…."
Another voice echoed out from somewhere unseen as Izuku was able to open his eyes and take in the sights before him.
Well, he could, if it wasn't some vague landscape of utter darkness.
Unlike the last time he was in a similar place, this felt more cold and hostile like there was no escape and one was to be forever trapped. Slowly rising to his feet, Izuku dusted himself off, shouting loudly in surprise with a higher-pitched voice, "W-WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
The green-haired boy began to pat himself down, tiny hands roaming his body as he tugged on the familiar 'Plus Ultra' shirt of his younger years and his clearly child-sized shorts.
Gone were his muscles, stature, and bringing his hands up to his head, he could feel the absolute fluffiness of his hair. Something that he had tamed (somewhat) when he started middle school. He felt his chubbier cheeks, squishing them before it finally dawned on him.
He had somehow gotten younger, and judging by how long his legs and arms were, Izuku figured he was back in his four-year-old body.
However, before Izuku could even think of how this had happened, a distant cry of 'No! You're Wrong!' could be heard coming from far into that dark abyss surrounding him.
It was then that Izuku remembered how he got into this place; at least, he thought it was the same place. And the defiant cry of a familiar voice could only mean that it was coming from his counterpart, that had also been consumed by the weird Shadow Beast.
Izuku kept looking about, hoping to hear more of Deku's cries or perhaps the weird voices that had awoken him previously, but after a time, the silence around him grew more before the much younger hero in training clenched his fist and dashed from where he stood, hoping he was going the right way.
As Izuku made his way into the darkness, he failed to notice from behind him, a pair of red eyes watching him, keeping their gaze upon his back until he was out of sight, at which point they too would head into the darkness once more.
They would keep watch and wait to see if the young Warrior of Light would conquer his inner darkness…
Or be consumed by it.
"CAROLINA SMASH!"
All Might shouted, bringing down his cross chop on top of the giant creature's head, the impact sending a shockwave of dust and debris to fly from around the two combatants. The number one hero gritted his teeth as while the beast clearly looked like it felt that blow, the impact of the move barely did anything then caused it to flinch slightly.
The many eyes of the canine-looking foe suddenly shifted to look at the larger man, its many smaller mouths constantly spewing out rants and wails of anguish and pain as it jerked its head back to remove the 'pest' from its head, snapping at the retreating pro with it's much more prominent and obviously sharper teeth within its gigantic maw of a mouth.
Loud explosions could be heard from the side of the beast's side before being hit by large chunks of ice. The beast roared as it turned its head towards the small group of Todoroki, Uraraka, and Kirishima. They tossed more and more of the weightless chunks of ice at the creature's head. The gravity-nullifying girl kept releasing to have the full-weight impact against the beast.
"Everyone, hold your ground! Yaoyorozu!" Aizawa shouted from the side where he was standing with the recovering All Might, with several other students behind him that also had been hurt in the near twenty minutes of combating the strange shadow creature, "Use the flashbangs! Everyone cover your eyes in three!"
Being alerted by the loud voice of the adult caused the creature to turn its gaze towards him, only to be stopped by several bright flashes of light. It howled in agony as it began to step backward. Its hind legs suddenly stepped onto the combined layers of tape and purple balls behind it, trying to reel from the rather upsetting feeling but unable to move its hindquarters from the floor.
The creature suddenly reared up, bellowing a roar that nearly sent everyone flying away from how loud and powerful it was. Aizawa grit his teeth before his tired eyes slowly began to widen in horror, as did everyone else's, as the strange creature slowly stood upright, with a giant shroud of darkness appearing before it.
Now upon its hind legs, like some sort of nightmarish werewolf, the creature swiped at the cloud of darkness that hung in the air, retrieving a giant sword with a blazing red core located at the crossguard of the ridiculous thing.
Its many eyes turned towards Aizawa again, snarling at the man as it brought its sword up, making the homeroom teacher turn away and shout, "EVERYONE GET BACK!"
"T̶̢͇̓̽̿̇H̵͚̻̽R̸̘̤̟̩̈O̵͔̦̺͋̃͘N̸͇͇͑̈́E̵͇͎͒͘͠ ̴̻̩́̊̋͛O̷̢̞̲̭͌̎F̷͈͎̣͖͛͐͌ ̷̨̻͉̈͝S̸̨̭͉̟͊̔̇̃H̴̳̤̓̾̐Á̴̢̯͓͎D̵̢̻̘́O̶̡̠͈̱͑͝W̸̟͔͈̌̓͒͠!"
As the beast spoke the words that sent a chill down everyone's back before a massive dome of darkness and shadow burst forth from its sword, catching everyone around it and sending them flying off and hard into the cement walls or pipes. The screams and pained shouts coming from the members of class 1-A filled the air as the creature licked its maw, bringing down the weapon in its hand down to its side, looking around the chaos it had caused.
Looking for its next meal.
Izuku had been running for who knows how long, considering time seemed to be non-existent wherever he was, with the only sound of his bare feet hitting the invisible floor that echoed in his ears, until he eventually stopped, leaning over and panting hard, trying to catch his breath.
"No! You're wrong! I can be a hero without a quirk!"
The familiar voice of Deku rang out again, much closer and louder than before, causing Izuku to keep breathing deeply while looking around before suddenly spotting the most peculiar sight to his right.
There, standing it seemed, to be a group of shadowy figures, was myself, or rather a boy who looked like himself though all of the colors of his being were flipped to the negative. Magenta-colored fluffy hair, with matching eyes and a much paler complexion. His shirt was a bright yellow where the words 'Plus Ultra' were a brilliant blue. Even his brown shorts were a creamier variation of the shirt's hue.
Slowly, Izuku began to approach the group as Deku seemed to be slowly pushed back towards him by the ever-growing figures of darkness popping up, their visages covered in obscured shadows, but their voices were loud and clear.
"Quirkless Loser!"
"You should give up."
"Defenseless Deku!"
"Such a poor choice of a successor."
"Who would ever love a Deku like you!"
A whimper came out of the negative boy, tears slowly forming from the corner of his eyes, "S... Stop... please stop! I d-don't believe you!
Izuku had pushed himself further, or at least how much faster he could with his shorter legs. He was about to yell something out but was stopped when he collided with something hard.
Falling onto his butt, Izuku winced as he looked up, seeing the ever-growing amount of shadows begin to grow around the other boy, who was now huddled in the fetal position, trying to block out the constant words of discouragement, hate, and loathing being spewed forth from the dark entities.
Izuku slowly picked himself up, reaching his hand out to perhaps comfort his alternate self, but was stopped when his hand pressed against an invisible wall. A cry of pain soon took Izuku's attention when he witnessed several more minor shadows beginning to beat Deku.
"Loser!"
"Weak!"
"STOP!" Izuku cried out, slamming his fists against the wall before him, watching as the shadows ignored him, and seeing the prone Deku clenching his eyes tightly and huddled more into himself, "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"They cannot hear you." A voice from behind Izuku spoke loud, making the green-haired boy spin around only to come face to face with Fray, looking down upon him with his armor-covered arms crossed over his chest.
"Fray! Thank god! I need your help! We gotta get him out of there!" Izuku said as he tugged on the apparition's tattered skirt, ignoring the cold stare being given by Fray with a look of pleading from Izuku.
"I am afraid that is impossible, Midoriya."
"W-What?!" Izuku shouted in disbelief, turning back towards the heavily crying young version of Deku, whose body began to look like welts were forming from the constant beatings, "B-But there is a wall I can't breakthrough, and they ignored my shouts!"
"They cannot ignore what they cannot hear." Fray spoke somberly, watching the chaos, "While we can clearly see and hear from our side, those on the opposite cannot."
"B-But… How do we save him?" Izuku asked, starting to tear up himself as he looked up to the older man, his tiny hands gripping his shirt into a bunch, "I-I can't just stand here and do nothing!"
"Can't you?" Fray raised an eyebrow gently, looking down at the boy, "After all, this was your own making."
The slow shift of a worried and scared look to one of shock and realization was all Fray needed to turn his gaze from the literal child before him to the mass of Shadows surrounding the other one, "It was you who created this barrier, to block out all the negative emotions you often held towards yourself or others, pushing deeper and deeper into the abyss of your own soul, to be forgotten."
"But," Fray sighed, kneeling down beside Izuku, who just kept watching, "It can never be forgotten, nor can it be ignored as it will forever haunt and consume you." A cold metal hand soon clasped Izuku's shoulder, a literal cold comfort as Fray continued to speak in what would be considered a whisper.
"So tell me, Izuku Midoriya… how are you going to save yourself?"
"HOWITZER IMPACT!" Bakugo shouted as he drove into the back of the creature, a mighty explosion of power going off from the impact, only to see a scuff mark barely visible. The blonde bomber snarled loudly before letting loose with his blasts, "FUCKING DIE!"
"Watch the explosions, Baku-bro!" Kirishima called out with a strained voice as he, along with Shoji, held the arm back that was wielding the giant sword, while on the other side, Sato was tightly gripping the tape wrapped around the other wrist of the creature with Sero and Mineta trying to aid the sugar-eating teenager. The beast's two large feet were covered in thick ice and slowly reached its waist with Todoroki on the side panting heavily, his breath visible from how cold he was feeling.
"Bakugo! Stand down and assist the left arm!" All Might called out, also struggling as he had his giant and muscular arms currently wrapped around the giant maw of the creature, similar to what one would use to tape a crocodile's mouth shut as it continued to shake and whip its head around to free itself from the significant 'pest', "Young Uraraka and Iida! Continue to assault with the pipes and debris!"
Bakugo grunted and reluctantly did what All Might had ordered him to do, while Aizawa had been a few yards away with some of the other students who were still wounded from the last attack and had yet to fully recover.
A shifting and clanging of metal from off to his right forced Aizawa to turn and ready himself to attack whatever was coming, only to see the bright blonde hair of his co-worker poke out from around a bend of pipes. Aizawa sighed heavily, lowering his guard, "Mic, you took your time."
"Hey, it's not easy navigating this maze, and you know iii-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" The loudmouth of a teacher bellowed as he and a few other teachers stood agape at the large wolf-like creature before them.
"Indeed, What has happened, Aizawa?" Nezu spoke, walking past Thirteen and Power Loader, who had also been summoned to aid them; from behind him came Recovery Girl, who looked in horror (and some recognition, Aizawa would later note) before turning her attention to the wounded students.
"As weird as it's going to sound, another Midoriya appeared and attacked him, wearing thick black armor and wielding a giant two-handed sword." the ever tired teacher jutted a thumb to the weapon still laying on the ground in between their position and the creature, "Some words were exchanged, and when it looked like he or it was about to stand down, That thing popped out of the other Midoriya's shadow, grabbed the two and then…." Aizawa looked downcast, trying to gather himself up as Nezu looked at the scene, still listening to the homeroom teacher, "The creature ate them."
"A-Ate them?" Thirteen suddenly squeaked, helping up a still woozy Tsuyu to sit and allow Recovery Girl to work her 'magic', "D-does that mean he's… they…."
"No," Nezu said, eyeing the creature with a sharp glint, "They or he is still very much alive, but how long is the question."
"T-then how do we get him out of there?" Mic asked, clenching his fist, looking towards the Dean, who had his arms behind his back.
"Nothing we have done to the creature has so much as caused it to flinch, aside from All Might's blows, but even then, it's shrugging them off like minor annoyances," Aizawa spoke grimly, his eyes now focusing on the scene as well while Nezu rubbed his chin.
"Well, that is quite the pickle, isn't it…"
Not far from the group of teachers trying to figure out what to do, Momo was panting heavily, chewing on an emergency ration from one of her pouches to try and get not only some of her energy back but also her lipids so she could try and assist her classmates and teachers with more cannonballs.
'You think that will help him?'
A voice in her own mind began to speak, Momo chewing her bottom lips as she watched the group of teachers arguing and contemplating what to do while the others were barely keeping the beast in check.
'While our classmates are fighting, holding back the beast that took Izuku and gobbled him up, are you really going to just sit there and do nothing?'
The voice continued to speak, now clearer like its lips to her ear; Momo vigorously shook her head, either to answer the voice or just clear it from her head, she wasn't too sure.
'Bad enough you couldn't save him then, and what about before? All the signs that he was suffering and what? You did nothing.'
"No… no, I…"
'At the USJ, you did nothing but watch as Izuku nearly killed himself against the Nomu, or before then, in that alleyway against the shark villain.'
Momo gasped gently, her hand brought to her lips; the memories of those two events and the other times when Izuku had just blindly tossed himself into danger and barely escaped with his life flashed in her mind.
The voice giggled gently, 'Little Miss Momo Yaoyorozu, heiress and princess, forever the damsel in distress, waiting for her knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet. What sort of hero is that?'
"B-but I…"
'But nothing!' It hissed at her, 'If you really want to be a hero, then grow up! This isn't one of your sickly romance novels where everything will come out all happy and rainbows!'
Momo was panting heavily, tears beginning to well up at the corner of her eyes, getting some attention from some of her classmates sitting around her. Mina was the first to speak up, considering she was closer to her, "Momo? You alright?"
The heiress was about to answer her pink-skinned classmate before the voice spoke low in her mind, 'Do you not love Izuku?'
"H-huh?"
'Do you not love the green-haired boy?' It asked again, 'Or is it merely lust that drives you? I wouldn't blame you for such a delicious piece of candy that he is. But that's just it, isn't it? He was your scapegoat from your life, to shield you from the constant gazes and lustful wishes of those who would use and abuse you or your station.'
Momo looked shell-shocked as the voice continued to speak, 'He was never your knight, just another shield to protect you, to be abandoned once you were done with him.'
"N-no… No, that's not true."
"What's not true, Momo? You're starting to scare me…." Mina said, gently placing a hand on the pony-tailed girl's shoulder without even getting a reaction.
'But it is!' The voice, now sounding like her own, echoed in her mind, 'If you thought of Izuku as more than just something to be used and tossed aside like so many of your creations, then why are you just sitting here?'
Momo's eyes widened in shock, a cold sweat slowly sliding down the side of her beautiful face as her gaze slowly began to stare into the void, ignoring everything around her, 'Do you not love Izuku?'
"...I do."
'Would you sacrifice everything to see him smile? Because we know that he would easily do the same for you. For everyone around him.'
With no hesitation, Momo's eyes grew sharp, focusing more on the outside world as she grit her teeth, "In a heartbeat."
'Then stop being the damsel.' The voice said into her ear as Momo's gaze slowly turned towards the abandoned sword of darkness dropped by the one known as Deku, her lover's apparent dark half, as it were. The voice in her head sounded smug for a moment as Momo began to climb up onto her feet, ignoring the questions coming from Mina beside her.
'And become the knight to save what you desire most.'
A sudden shout of 'Momo!' caught everyone off guard to see the pony-tailed heiress dash towards the currently pinned monster, Aizawa had reacted the quickest, but his student had already been a reasonable distance away from him, so his scarf fell short of catching her.
Everyone's eyes went wide as the young woman had effortlessly picked up the giant two-handed sword dropped earlier; some would say it just flew right to her hands as she slid to a halt in front of the still struggling creature.
Everyone gripping the beast could see the angered-looking face that was quite the rarity to show up on the woman's face, for not once in the entire time they had known Momo Yaoyorozu they had never seen her beautiful features twist into something so hateful.
Raising the sword up, panting heavily, Momo gripped the handle tightly with her hands, and as the tip of the sword seemed to be pouring a dark mist down the blade and over her hands.
Momo Yaoyorozu, the class vice-president, heiress to the Yaoyorozu Company, let out the most blood-curdling scream from the top of her lungs as she brought the sword across the creature's body.
"GIVE ME BACK MY IZUKU! EDGE OF DARKNESS!"
'GIVE ME BACK MY IZUKU!'
Izuku's sullen face suddenly perked up, hearing the thunderous yet muffled shout of Momo from somewhere far into the darkness behind him when the sound of slicing came from the invisible wall.
Turning his gaze forward, Izuku was met with a large gash that seemed to have formed across, leaving a deep cut breach into the normally see-through wall. The green-haired body gasped as he saw several of the shadows, now halting their beating of Deku, step back from where the cut was now visible.
Deku slowly began to raise his head up, panting heavily and spitting up blood, having never seen anything like that before, and slowly began to pull himself up off the floor before being descended upon the shadows once more.
"STOP!" Izuku cried out, rushing forward and slamming hard on the barrier again, slamming his fists into it hard enough to visibly shake it now, thanks to the 'open wound'.
"Face it, Midoriya, you, alone, are far too weak to break down the wall." Fray spoke with a dark tone to his voice, still kneeling down to the ground.
"But I'm not alone!" Izuku shouted loudly, now ramming his shoulder into it as Deku could barely hear his counterpart from the other side, still hugging his arms around his head and body to protect himself, "I have Momo and everyone else on my side! And SO DOES HE!"
"B-But they will abandon us!" Deku shouted out, the mass of shadows growing in strength and number, "They know we are quirkless, and they will leave us!"
"BULLSHIT!" Izuku shouted again, panting heavily as some cracks started to form from where he was slamming his body into, "IS THAT US THAT IS SAYING THAT? OR IS THAT THE SHADOWS OF OUR PAST?"
More cracks began to form, and Deku was panting heavily, "B-but they hate us… me… I don't-"
"THEY CARE ABOUT US, YOU DOLT! AND IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT ONE PERSON THAT DOESN'T, WE GOT FIVE OR MORE THAT DO!" Izuku barked again, not noticing the light beginning to surround himself, "I know there is one person you can count on, one you trust fully and would know that they would never abandon you! Just think about it!"
Through the punches and hits across his body, Deku grit his teeth, not seeing the actual point to this, as he knows no one could possibly like a 'Deku' like-.
The magenta-haired boy stopped panting, taking in a deep inhale of air as his eyes shot open; a flash of messy blonde buns and a wide-fanged mouth went through his brain as he remembered the cute and ever-so love-filled chirp of her voice echoing to himself.
'DEKU-KINS~!'
The shadows surrounding the fallen boy were suddenly pushed back by a wave of purplish darkness, while an irate looking Deku stood there, bleeding and panting loudly as more cracks with some light started to shine through as the 'negative' body growled low, taking a step forward and causing the shadows to step back once more, "... You… you made me forget about her."
"YOU MADE ME FORGET ABOUT MY HIMIKO?!"
As another pulse of darkness rippled out from the young boy's body, the invisible barrier suddenly shattered as Izuku had pushed himself through, landing beside his 'darker' half and standing with him.
"I admit, we have gone through a lot of pain and suffering as we grew up, and to just ignore it as if it never happened was wrong of me." Izuku frowned at the mass of beings, which were beginning to slowly form into one much larger shadow, taking the form of the beast that had originally eaten the pair, "As well as pushing down and letting it bottle up wasn't healthy at all. But I see now that this is not a journey I've made alone, nor will it ever be alone, as I have people who actually love and care about me; there is nothing wrong with asking for help, nor should I value our life as nothing!"
"You made me forget her," Deku slowly began to snarl in rage, the energy surrounding both of the boys slowly growing in power as he continued to speak, "You made me toss away the one person who actually understood hardship just as bad or dare I say worse than what we ever could, and for what? Some petty revenge plot that even that handsy asshole at the USJ would laugh at how stupid it was?"
Both boys slowly raised their hands together, Deku on his left while Izuku raised his right. The swirling mists of light and darkness coming off of each of them gradually combined and twisted together in such a way until a beautiful sword manifested before them. To those present, it was like a perfect marriage of both aspects of dark and light, with the blade as pitch black as the night with golden ornaments placed methodically along its broadside and edge, while the hilt was adorned in pearlescent white with matching golden adornments, where both would meet at the crossguard where a gigantic pearl sat in the middle of the golden brace. The blade pulsed with a bright glow as if bathing its ebony blade deep in the heavenly light it produced.
As each boy grasped the hilt, their bodies suddenly burst with the aether tied to them, revealing a fully revived and aged Deku, magenta hair and all, and Izuku.
Both boys were wearing similar armor, both with dark plates that gave off an uneasy feeling to those it would strike fear into, but whereas Deku's was as pure black in all aspects, Izuku's was far different.
Where the black plate was on his counterpart, the color on Izuku's armor matched the pearl white of the sword, though the edges and sharper points of the suit looked scratched and worn down to an end, as if a shell had been opened up with the deep pitch black of the fabric underneath made a statement that everyone had darkness just waiting to break out.
The Dark Knights slowly raised the sword together, causing more light to shine and brighten the area around them, forcing the creature to huddle up more, whimpering from the brightness.
"I AM THE SHADOW OF THE SOUL!" Deku shouted, his dark powers surging around him as Izuku's light began to do the same to him.
"I AM THE LIGHT OF THE SOUL!"
Both boys looked at one another, a smirk across their lips before they shouted together, "WE ARE IZUKU MIDORIYA, NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!"
The sword came down with a sickening slice, a mixture of both aethers combining and blasting forth into the wolf-like being as it howled in pure agony before suddenly splitting apart and bursting into a bright sea of sparkles.
Izuku was panting heavily, gripping the sword still as he noticed his more elaborate armor, gazing in amazement at it until a pained choke from his side caught his attention to see Deku suddenly fall to one knee, "Deku!"
"I'm fine…." The negative boy lied, panting hard as his body slowly began to fade away, the darkness seeping off of him like smoke falling to the nether, "Completely fine…."
"Even now, you still try to hide your pain," Fray spoke, appearing from a mass of darkness behind the pair.
"F-Fray! Something is wrong with him! You got to do something!" Izuku said, dropping the sword to the ground with a loud clang as he caught a falling Deku. His legs had evaporated into the nether they were in.
The elder Dark Knight made his way slowly to the pair, one with a face of worry, while the other struggled to breathe as more and more of his body slowly began to fade away, "The last of his aether is giving out, what made Deku exist is slowly fading away, having been siphoned off by the creature." Fray explained, standing over the pair.
"But we have to save him! He's still a person; he's still me!" Izuku shouted loudly, frowning at the older vestige, "I don't care if he's some 'dark' half of my soul; I can't just abandon him! Not again!"
"Forget it…" Deku said with a pained sigh, "I can feel my essence slowly fading from me, face it… I lost."
"You didn't lose anything!" Izuku shouted to his counterpart, "You wanted my body, right? Tell me why and I'll make it happen!"
Deku stared at Izuku with an incredulous look, "...We really do have a bad martyr complex, don't we?"
Izuku choked, stammering trying to rebuke that, while Deku gave off a laugh that sounded both amused and painful, "Let's face it, goody-goody… You have more aether than me; mine is slowly dwindling, so you'll be the one driving this train-wreck of a life we have."
"It's not all bad. We have family and friends waiting for both of us, plus I'm sure Kyoka would enjoy a more 'darker' side of myself," Izuku spoke gently, giving himself a little chuckle as did Deku, who then began to cough harshly.
"You asked about my plan?" He asked, seeing Izuku nod, while Fray remained silent and continued to watch, "When I won our fight, I would go back to this woman I met while I was out of your… our body."
"That was… Himiko, right?" Izuku asked, getting a solemn nod from his counterpart.
"That's her; she taught me a lot while I was with her, as I also taught her many things. My plan after acquiring your body was to take her away somewhere safe, where she can be freed from the prejudice of others."
"Is she sick?" Izuku asked innocently, freezing from Deku's glare, only for the magenta-haired boy to sigh.
"She's not well, mentally at least… It would take too long to explain, but years of quirk suppression have given her a need to ingest blood… aside from one time… I had helped her track down some low-end thugs and criminals, letting her feed while leaving them for the police."
Izuku blinked, his eyes widening as he looked at Deku with shock, "T-That was you? All those arrests caused by a mysterious vigilante before Hosu… that was you two?"
Deku chuckled, nodding solemnly before crying out in pain, Fray now at his side, "I need to fuse you back into Izuku's body now; otherwise, you'll be too far gone and fade."
"B-But won't I ever be able to talk to him?" Izuku asked, looking to Fray, who propped up Deku against him and held his hands out, aether slowly flowing out to circle around the pair.
"Whatever memories, be they pain or pleasure, you will inherit them, Midoriya, as will he yours… but no, it will be quite some time until he is strong enough to manifest into a form you can speak with." Fray explained, looking at the pair with a slight smirk, "I'm proud of you."
"H-huh?"
"I'll be honest, the darkness we all have within us is tough to embrace, considering it reveals many dark truths and feelings that often people wish to keep buried deep down. Either we embrace that aspect of ourselves, making sure to never cross over that thin line between good and evil. Or fall to it, letting it corrupt us."
As the world around the pair slowly began to fade away, to Izuku, a bright light overtaking his vision, he could see the slight smile on Fray's lips as he spoke one final saying to him.
"Listen well, Midoriya, for these are the words told to me by Hydaelyn before the very end…."
The world was silent; time seemed to stop as Momo panted heavily, her arms sore from the blade's swing against the creature's body, the channeling of energy she had somehow used overpowering her and the sword.
The beast was still, not moving for a few moments before a blazing light suddenly shot out of the wound caused by the heiress, knocking her down onto her butt while also causing everyone on the beast to suddenly fly a few yards away or land close to her, even All Might was shaken off, landing beside Momo, but moved in a way to protect her and those close by from whatever was happening to the monster.
The creature was shrieking and howling out as glops of darkness began to bubble and boil away from its body; the light from the wound seemed to grow more and more bright and now started to poke through the many mouths and giant melting maw of the creature before it grew silent, falling backward in a mess of sludge, evaporating into the sky with a rising amount of blue sparkles.
As the mass began to disappear, the others who had been on the sidelines suddenly rushed forth, checking upon those tossed off, as well as Momo, where Mina and Kyoka had suddenly hugged her, crying their eyes out from fright and worry.
A shout from Present Mic caught everyone's attention as the mass had slowly faded into nothing, leaving a kneeling figure of pearl-like armor crouched down, face obscured due to his back towards them. As the newcomer slowly began to rise up, the sword that had been left on the ground suddenly flew towards him, and upon reaching his hand, the dark blade transformed into one of pure beauty before being sheathed upon the stranger's back.
Those that were still able to fight got into a fighting stance, ready to take on whomever or whatever was left of the creature or if it had possessed Midoriya somehow. As the 'knight' slowly turned around to face the others, mostly everyone gasped as they could see the ever bright and wide smile of Izuku, who began to blush gently from all the eyes on him; scratching his cheek, he waved to them.
At first, there was silence before Izuku suddenly found himself on his back when the group of his classmates had suddenly bum-rushed him and tackled him to the ground. Many voices were shouting for joy at his return or worried anger for what had happened and how he could believe all those things that 'Deku' had said before.
As Izuku slowly sat himself up, hugging the four women close to him as they cried, laughed, or jabbed their jacks into his cheek. A clearing of a throat coming from Nezu caught everyone's attention, where Izuku's emerald eyes met with the dean's beady black ones, both staring hard at one another before Izuku spoke, causing everyone to look shocked, while Nezu rose an eyebrow in intrigue.
'In darkness, seek joy. Surrender not to sadness, and see beyond despair. Walk free, and bear the light for others to follow. Together, raise it aloft and let it shine. Till the end, blinding and radiant.'
Deku sighed as he huddled back up in the darkness of Izuku's, no… his mind, thinking over the words spoken to him by Fray before Izuku had left for the outside world. His eyes closed as he bore witness to seeing his Himiko once again, watching as Izuku, now in casual clothes and at night, knocked on the familiar apartment door three times with both Aizawa and the Moogle standing off to the side, unseen.
Three times, just like he had promised her.
The joy of seeing his beloved vampire filled his heart, only to see the scared reaction of Toga, seeing that it was not 'him' at the door, but Izuku, a complete stranger. He watched as she learned jumped back to search for her knife, which was odd that she had not been already carrying it, but watching as Izuku had knelt to the floor, bowing to her, and while he couldn't quite hear everything the green-haired boy was saying, he could feel the pain of his heart at the confession and forgiveness the boy was asking from the blonde woman.
It took a few minutes for the girl to calm down and Izuku to sit with her and explain everything that happened. Deku watched as Himiko's world came crashing down before she clung tightly to the boy and held him close, crying her eyes out.
Seeing the vision move from his crying love to the two UA staff members silently entering the rundown apartment, Deku took a deep breath and opened his eyes lazily, hugging his knees to his chest as he continued to float within the darkness of his mind.
He would see her one day, even if it was for the briefest of moments, and he knew that Izuku would care for her in his place, and in time, Himiko would grow to love Izuku just as she did him.
After all, she had only met and fallen in love with one half of the boy (clearly, the better half, if Deku was being honest.) But they were still the same person, and while his feelings may have been forced upon Izuku, Deku knew the boy would fall for her as well.
"... Five lovers… by everything that is holy, this is getting silly."
"Six, if you count the mushroom girl from a couple of days ago." A feminine voice from behind Deku stirred him out of his slump and caused him to whirl around in the air. Deku's eyes went wide as he gazed upon the visage of a rather beautiful woman, looking to be around Midnight's age, with a tight-fitting black spandex suit, large boots, and gloves covering her hands and feet as well as a yellow cape draped around her neck.
Deku blinked as he took in her facial features, and honestly, she had the face of a mother, both caring and loving though easily stern when the need arises. Funny enough, her hairstyle was similar to Mom's.
"I'll take all that as a compliment." She spoke with a giggle to her voice that caused Deku to blush, slapping his hand onto his face before pulling it down. Dammit, he was mumbling again.
"Though, and don't take this the wrong way, I expected you to be a little… taller?" She quipped as Deku huffed, for the older woman was referring to his current 'form' as he had to conserve his aether while it slowly began to rebuild itself, meaning he had to revert back to his four-year-old body.
"It's not like I had a choice in the matter, but who are you? I thought it was only Fray in here?"
The older woman rubbed the back of her head, chuckling softly, "Yea… so I'm guessing you got the memories of all that happened while you were split off from the green bean, right?"
"Yes…" Deku said with a slight blush, scratching his cheek and looking away, "I hadn't realized he was so… 'busy'… during our time apart, nor that he and Tsuyu had consummated the relationship… so many times."
"So did you with your cute little vampire." she chirped up, smiling smugly at the young boy who nearly choked at that little tidbit, "And without protection, you really are a 'bad boy', ain'tcha?"
"Sh-shut up!" Deku shouted, pointing at her, "Y-you sh-shut up and stop dodging the question! Who are you?"
"Heh… alright, alright… no need to get pissy with me, Nine." she smiled and raised her hands up in surrender.
"My name is Nana Shimura, the seventh wielder of One for All, and we have a lot to discuss with you, Izuku Midoriya."
Chapter 57: Eri's New Word
Summary:
The aftermath of Deku's 'invasion'.
What strange place has Himiko woken up too?
And also, what word has the precious unicorn learned today?
Notes:
Well, that was a long wait!
Hello all, Grim here. I'm sorry for the very late chapter this time around, while I was able to get a new chapter of the Green Gaul right after chapter 56, a new temp job and general health pretty much made me unable to write.
Hopefully, you all will enjoy this chapter and look for the latest "Three Sides of the same coin" coming out soonish as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
'I promise that I will come back for you.'
"No…"
'I love you too, Himiko…'
"NO!" Himiko shrieked loudly, her golden irises wide and slivered while darting around her room. Heavily sweating, Himiko pushed the luscious red bed covers off her body to cool off and her mind racing with so many questions.
'Where am I?'
'What happened?'
'Where's my Deku-kins?'
Her memories returned like a great ocean of information to attack her brain at that last thought. The three knocks on the door, seeing Deku– no, the stranger before her, the person wearing his face like she would when she activated her quirk. The retelling of what happened, how Deku wasn't around anymore yet continued to live within the stranger.
Everything else from that point onwards was just a blur to her, the two others that had come into her 'home', an offer of rest and recuperation back at someplace that had two letters for a name, time to think over what her plans were going to be from now on.
Himiko panted gently, catching her breath as she slowly looked around the room she was currently in; it honestly looked like something out of a really lavish and cheesy film set, where the extravagance of a grand hotel suite filled with so many beautiful things and ornaments that it honestly made Himiko feel a little queasy in her stomach.
That or it was the weird-ass food combination she had been having for the last few days.
Shifting her body slightly, turning and climbing out of the very soft bed, the young vampiress looked towards the opened door leading to the bathroom; seeing a small unused glass cup beside the sink, she delicately but slowly headed towards it.
Exhaling after downing her third class of cool water, Himiko now looked towards herself; the simple bra and panty combo she had worn since the previous day was all she was wearing as Himiko stared at herself, just wondering what she was going to do now.
A sudden knock from another door caught her off guard, and a feminine voice called out to her. As if on instinct alone, Himiko quickly moved behind the bathroom door. Her golden slitted eyes watched from the dark crevice between it and the door frame.
After a few more moments of knocking and calling out, the lock on the outside door went off with a 'click', and she could see two shadows appear on the floor.
Himiko continued to watch, her fingers cracking if she needed to strike and escape from wherever she was.
"She doesn't seem to be in here, Krile…" a soft voice from the newly opened door said aloud; it sounded so sweet and motherly to Himiko, but she knew that people could or would act innocently to get what they wanted.
She should know, given that's how she lured all her previous victims before she met Deku-kins.
"The poor girl wouldn't have been able to leave the room, so she's probably hiding." Another voice said it was also feminine but much older, "Granted, I told Nezu she should have been under watch for any complications in my infirmary."
Himiko's eyes tightened at that, 'No. No more hospitals. No more doctors trying to fix me!'
"Krile, please…" The other woman said gently, "While I agree she should have been under a medical watch, the dean had a point that she needed to be relaxed, especially with the explanation he and Izuku told us last night after she went to sleep."
'...Izuku?' Himiko thought to herself, her mind going over some more of her blurred memories of the previous night. She could remember feeling herself resting against something warm, with a heartbeat beating rapidly with their precious blood pumping through, sounding similar to how Deku-kin's was when they made–
The young blonde suddenly blushed heavily at the memory as she watched from her hiding place.
"Well, we don't have time for this." The woman named Krile spoke, walking into the room and revealing herself to Toga as she watched from the bathroom; the much smaller and frailer-looking woman merely huffed to herself as she looked around before the other woman came in behind her. This one, Himiko would notice, seemed to be holding a cooler of some sort; her vibrant green eyes and hair made her think back to the boy she had first seen at the sports festival, as well as the one to appear at her former abode the previous night, "I have students to look after what happened yesterday."
"I know you do, Krile… and I agree we should get back soon, but we cannot force her to do something she may not like." The more plump woman spoke, looking around the room as if trying to find Himiko, for which the young blond was surprised someone was actually thinking about what she may want.
Well, aside from Deku, that is.
Both women would turn their heads towards the creaking of the bathroom door, seeing golden irises from the crack between it and the door frame, slit-like that of an ordinary house cat curious about them. While Krile slowly frowned, the other woman smiled at the creeping Himiko, "Hello there, my name is Inko… you must be Himiko, yes?"
"Yea… that's me…." Himiko spoke with a hint of hesitation in her voice, slowly poking her head around the door and letting the messy bun of hair she often kept unravel from the angle from which she was watching the women.
'Inko' then slowly opened up the cooler she had held the entire time. Himiko watched her every move before her eyes went wide to see the blood pack currently in the woman's hands. Her golden irises went back to meet the emeralds of the slightly older woman, who was beaming another smile at her, "Izuku thought you'd need some blood this morning, considering he nor… um… I guess you called him 'Deku'? Anyway, he wasn't sure how long you went without some blood."
Himiko's eyes slowly drifted down to the blood bag once again, unconsciously licking her lips at the prospect of a beautiful and tasty meal, but her time with Deku also made her wary of 'free blood', so she looked towards the shorter of the pair, who had been silent this entire time, "... What's the catch?"
"No catch, honestly, I am only here this morning to check on your physical health, while this one–" The elder woman jutted her thumb towards Inko, who was now starting to blush, "Wanted to meet the girl that her son wished to help so vehemently, even after the ordeal he just went too."
"Krile!" Inko cried out, being outed by her senior, who merely huffed while Himiko stared at the more plump woman with her eyes wide and full of wonder.
"Regardless, he even donated that pint of blood while you slept in here last night; now let's move on; I have students in my infirmary that need healing," Krile said as she went beside the bed, looking expectantly at Himiko, who merely squinted her eyes at the older woman.
However, her golden cat-like eyes slowly traveled towards Inko, who looked exhausted already with Krile's own antics, before holding out the blood bag with a smile. Within Himiko's mind, she remembered how Deku would often talk highly of his mother, the one person (outside of her, of course, she was his Himiko, after all) Deku could trust the most.
So, slowly moving from out behind the bathroom door, Himiko Toga took her first step towards the mother of her Deku-kins, something she would later remember as one of the best decisions.
"So, let me get this straight…." Kaminari spoke, his hands in front of him as he looked upon Izuku sitting across from him at the dinner table, where the majority of the class stood behind or around him, "You're quirkless, have been this entire time."
"Y-yea…" Izuku said, feeling the eyes of everyone on the opposite side staring at him; at least in his own mind, they were judging him. Thankfully, he could feel the reassuring hands of Mina, Kyoka, and Tsu resting on his shoulders or leg as Eri was snuggling close to him on his lap and gently snoozing against him.
"And your powers were given to you by some goddess?"
"Um… no, well, I mean… kinda?" Izuku chuckled softly, not being too loud to stir Eri awake, "One of her champions or 'children' gave me the abilities I have; they just didn't awaken until about a year ago."
"Right, the sludge villain incident where you used your Paladin kit thing, yea?" Sero spoke up, his arms crossed over his arms where some bandages were wrapped around his elbows. In fact, outside of Eri, everyone seemed to be sporting bandages either wrapped around their limbs or their heads.
"Pretty much…"
"And your strength outside of being in a kit?" asked Shoji, his masked face hiding his emotions well, but there was curiosity in his gaze even then.
"T-that was because of my training before UA, after the sludge villain… I um…" Izuku began to speak, only to feel a hand on top of his head and petting him, looking over to see Tsu giving him a smile (or at least, a smile he would see considering), "I built up my endurance and strength when I cleaned up Dagobah beach."
"Hold up, you cleaned that dump up?! By yourself?!" Kirishima spoke up, his mouth agape as many others did before the red-headed man was about to shout his catchphrase, being given the stink eye from Mina to keep it quiet, "That's so manly, Midori-bro!"
"Indeed, I also heard the stories of the illegal dumping ground of the beach before coming to UA and the mysterious youth that had cleaned it up as if overnight." Iida spoke up, a determined look on his face, "While the timeframe was exaggerated, I must commend you for taking the initiative, Midoriya."
Izuku chuckled gently, nodding his head, "Thanks, Iida, Kirishima… and everyone. I still feel bad about not being able to fully tell all of you everything, but I had to keep it a secret for obvious reasons."
"I mean, it does explain how bonkers your powers are." Kaminari chuckled, leaning on the table now, "Especially with everything since school started."
"True, and speaking of such revelry." Tokoyami spoke, with Dark Shadow leaning on his shoulder, watching the 'bright' boy warily now, "The person we came into contact with during the exercise yesterday, 'Deku', he is the darkness within your heart?"
Everyone would have sighed and shaken their head at the wording provided by the bird-headed boy, but they knew that it was a relatively accurate assessment of the doppelganger.
Izuku merely nodded, rubbing the top of Eri's head, "Yes, and what you described basically sums it up. Deku is basically all the negative feelings or memories I had pushed down deep within me made manifest due to the powers of the 'Dark Knight' kit."
"H-He's not evil!" The green-haired boy suddenly spoke up, accidentally nudging Eri awake, "It's just that he's me, but just doesn't suppress anything, emotions or actions."
"And of the creature that spawned from him?" Tokoyami continued to press on, a few of the others wincing at the memory of the wolf-like creature gobbling up both Deku and Izuku still fresh in their memory.
"T-that… I don't know what it was truly… but Deku had gone to a place where a lot of horrible things happened and drew all the negative thoughts and memories from around the area into himself; when Momo started to berate Deku, it felt like he wouldn't go through with its plan of revenge, so it made its move."
"So, that begs the question." Toru spoke up now, a bandage floating in the air above her shirt where she could be 'seen' cuddling against Yuga, "Is Deku going to come back? And if he does, is he just going to attack us?"
The question hung in the air for a few moments, everyone getting nervous at the prospect of a version of Izuku that could easily wipe them off the face of the earth. A ribbit from Tsu caught everyone's attention as she looked at everyone and then to her lover, "I don't think we have to worry about him, kero."
"Really? What makes you so sure, Tsu?" Ochako asked with parts of her face covered in small bandages from cuts she had gotten during the fight.
"While he may be a bit 'darker' than Izuku, it's still him, and whatever that creature was had obviously influenced him, Kero. Even if it was driving his rage, Deku didn't attack anyone during any of the training exercises before Izuku took his turn, and while he did belittle us, there was some truth in his allegations, given the information provided to us."
Everyone grew quiet at the mention of what the darker aspect of the green-haired boy had said, until Kaminari, as usual, let his mouth do the talking before thinking it over, "You mean the stuff about Valentine's day and that?"
Everyone winced when a tongue and pair of jacks attacked the boy, who cried out in pain from the barrage. Mina hugged Izuku's head tightly in her arms and chest, causing the boy to blush and muffle out a yelp in surprise. Eri, watching the carnage giggled at the silliness of one of her mama's and her papa, ignoring the beatdown of her 'Uncle 'Mari'.
"Kaminari's lack of tact aside." Sato spoke up while the blonde electric quirk user was trying to fend off the jacks, still zapping him with every poke, "I'm going to assume it wasn't just that particular day or that specific example. And if you don't want to talk about it, we understand."
The other's all nodded their head, knowing full well it would be a difficult subject to approach, many of Izuku's peers knowing full well how cruel school could be for those that were different, given mutations and the like, and that the general feelings of those who were quirkless were not well looked upon even moreso.
Izuku merely kept looking down to Eri, after having freed himself from Mina's grasp, gently petting the 'unicorn's' head as she snuggled back into him, hoping her hugs would comfort him, "T-thanks, Sato, and y-yea… it's still hard to talk about, but I am getting help thanks to UA… heck; I'd probably still be a nervous wreck had it not been thanks to Momo and the others, plus Hound Dog once school started."
"Speaking of, and not going to pry too much…" Sero spoke before Mineta finally rose his head above the table surface to be noticed.
"I WILL! WHAT THE HECK, MIDOR-urk!" Only to be shut down with a chop to the back of the head by both Shoji and Sato.
"Thank you, but in all seriousness, what's the deal with you and the girls? Like, I never expected you to get a harem." Sero said with his usual grin, arms crossed still while Izuku choked when the word 'harem' was said.
"It's not a harem, kero; it's a polyamorous relationship." Tsu spoke up, taking Eri into her arms as Kyoka and Mina tried to help Izuku catch his breath with back rubs, and the pink woman rushed to get some water, "Basically, Izuku, myself, Kyoka, Mina, and Momo are together, and date one another, not just Izuku dating each of us."
"Oooh, like, if you and Midoriya go out on a date, then Ashido and Jiro can go out, and Yaoyorozu can watch Eri!" Kaminari said with a bright smile like he had solved the greatest mystery in the world.
"Holy crap, he got it on the first try. Way to go, Jamming Whey." Kyoka said with a smug smirk, causing the blonde boy to slam his head against the table, causing everyone to laugh and giggle. Everyone except for Eri, who looked in deep thought, which Tsu immediately noticed.
"Kero, what's on your mind, Eri?"
"What's a 'harem', Mama Tsu?" asked the child innocently, tilting her head as everyone now took a big breath in, Izuku growing pale and choking again, while Tsu, goddess bless her, just looked Eri straight in the eye.
"It's a word you'll learn when you're a little older, kero."
"Oh, ok!" The small child beamed a bright smile, making everyone exhale the held breath, Mina having come back with the glass of water and Izuku thanking her before gulping it down. Eri, however, went deep in thought again before looking up to the froggy girl, "Is it like one of the bad words I was told not to say?"
Everyone froze at that; Izuku held the cup up to his lips but had stopped drinking as Mina slowly came beside Tsu and their 'daughter', "Eri… sweetie… what do you mean 'like one of the bad words you were told not to say'?"
"Oh! Like when Uncle Kacchan said 'fuck'!"
Water went everywhere as Izuku blasted it from between his lips, mainly catching everyone across the table in the 'splash zone' while the green-haired boy again began to choke.
Not only from the fact that Eri, his sweet angelic unicorn, had uttered a very vulgar curse word, but also the fact she referred to Bakugo as 'Uncle Kacchan'.
Now, Izuku knew that Bakugo's personality had much to be desired; in fact, he knew that ALL too well, but somehow, Eri had seemingly learned that the explosive blonde was someone she could trust.
A sizzling sound and putrid stench caught Izuku's attention, and everyone else with the green-haired boy quickly got up from his chair, "Mina! Your acid!"
His voice seemed to knock Mina back to her own senses, quickly holding her hands together and cupping the acid that had formed from her hands as she raced outside to dispose of the liquid, with everyone else getting the supplies and cleaning tools needed to take care of the mess on the floor.
From the sidelines (as well as having moved out of the way when the sizzling could be heard), Tsu turned her attention to Eri, gently sniffling, "Kero, what's wrong, Eri?"
"I made Mama Mina make a mess…."
Eri continued to sniffle as Tsu gently rocked her back and forth in her arms, offering the small child tiny ribbits to help calm her down, "It wasn't your fault, Eri, kero… You surprised her and us with that 'word', so don't repeat it, ok?"
Eri gently nodded, hugging Tsu more and holding herself tightly to her froggy mother, all the while, Tsu watched as the rest of the class and a returning Mina began to take care of the "spill", the frog girl very glad that the class was now focused on something other than the word Eri picked up, but also happy that Momo was talking with the dean currently, or else Bakugo would be a very dead man.
Momo fidgeted in the seat she was sitting on, rubbing her fingers together nervously as she could feel the dean's gaze and two of her teachers staring hard at her. She wasn't shocked to see Aizawa there, given he was there during the confrontation, but when she came into the office and saw Hound Dog standing beside the pair, she knew something was up.
"Now, I don't think we need to explain how illogical it was for you to rush towards the creature swinging an unfamiliar weapon." Aizawa was the first to speak up, his arms crossed over his chest as he kept staring at his student, "Yaoyorozu, you are one of the smartest people in my class. I'd expect this behavior from a few others, including the problem child, but never you."
Momo silently hung her head, solemnly nodding in agreement to her teacher's words, not noticing that he had stopped speaking with a raised hand from Nezu.
"Be that as it may, " Nezu spoke now, causing Momo to raise her head, "I believe something else was at work here, considering the other accounts from your peers and partners who were with you before your sudden attack and declaration." Nezu was smirking as the young heiress blushed deeply, remembering her shout of wanting her Izuku back, "Tell me, Ms. Yaoyorozu, up until you picked up the greatsword, what happened? In your own words."
Silence soon fell upon the room, with Momo looking between all three men before looking down at her hands. For a little more time, she remained deep in thought with some worry painted on her face before she finally began to speak once more, "T-to be honest, it sounds a little crazy…."
"Well, it's a good thing we are all crazy here." Nezu quipped with a big smile when everyone looked at him, "If you think about it, many in heroics are crazy to a certain degree considering our occupations, but do please continue."
Momo nodded, letting that fact sink in as she continued, "I was watching everything unfold, how you and the other teachers were trying to devise a plan to subdue the creature that had… taken… Midoriya."
"It was then I heard a voice."
"A voice?" interrupted Hound Dog with a soft growl to his tone; Momo nodded her head to the question as she sat more straight.
"Y-Yes, a voice… at first it was indistinguishable, but it started to sound like me as it spoke."
That had caused both teachers to look at one another; while Aizawa's facial expression was more subtle, there was a clear sense of worry for his student within his gaze when he met his more emotionally charged Dog-quirked co-worker of his. Nezu, on the other hand, continued to listen with as little movement as possible, "And what did that voice tell you?"
"It's… a little embarrassing…." the young woman said, blushing heavily and shifting her weight in the chair slightly, "But what it boiled down to was that, as a heroine in training, often I'm getting saved… either by Midoriya or one of the teachers."
"Problem Child aside, you are still a first-year heroics student; it makes sense that you shouldn't be engaging with villains yet with everything that's happened," Aizawa said, clearly not liking where this conversation was heading.
"I know that, sir. But I am supposed to be training to be a hero!" Momo started to speak a little louder, causing the two teachers present to flinch a little from the sudden outburst as she continued, "My dream was to help people! To use my quirk for the good of everyone and protect them! I get that I will need help in the future; I'm perfectly fine with that; what I am finding as of late, though is how utterly useless I have been!"
With her hand raised up, Momo began to lift a finger up for every point she made, "I was saved by Izuku twice before even starting my tenure here at UA, then there was the USJ where I was saved by a Moogle, and then watched as Izuku nearly fought and died to the Nomu, the sports festival merely showed off that I am a pretty face which got the attention of Uwabami, who used my internship along with Kendo's as free labor for her commercial's, not even going out once for a patrol and seemingly uncaring for the Hosu incident as she was the only one if I recall that refused to aid the search and rescue due to a damn photoshoot that had been scheduled."
Momo's raised hand curled into a fist, slamming it down on the arm of the chair she was in, shocking both teachers from the sudden rage as her face contorted to match her mood, "I am here to be a hero! Not another 'damsel in distress' nor another 'pretty face' to use in either someone's plans or disregarding my very self-worth. I will sacrifice everything I am and have to see the smiles upon my lover's faces."
The young woman painted heavily for a few moments, her fist tight on the arm of the chair before suddenly snapping out of her rage, quickly looking around at the shocked faces of both Hound Dog and Aizawa, making Momo embarrassed and mutter out an 'excuse me' as she sat straight once again.
"It's perfectly alright, Ms. Yaoyorozu." Nezu spoke up, leaning in his chair, "Your feelings and comments have been noted, and while I cannot outright punish you for your actions, as they were indeed heroic, you will be reprimanded regardless."
Nezu brought his paws together, his smile barely there as he spoke, "It is clear that you have some mental insecurities and problems that should be addressed as soon as possible to better help you become an even better heroine than you already are." The shocked eyes of Momo made the tiny Moogle King smile more, "So, I would suggest seeking sessions with our good friend Hound Dog here."
Momo looked towards the counselor, nodding his head as he gave a low growl, though in a non-threatening way, "It's clear you have some frustrations and self-image issues that I would like to help you overcome if you wish to, I'm sure the dean is only offering this option upon your own discretion."
"Y-yes, and honestly, with the way you have helped Izu-Midoriya with his sessions, it would be foolish of me to turn down such an offer." Momo gently bowed her head to the dog-like man, who merely chuckled.
"I'll be honest with you; I think people other than myself have helped that boy more than me."
Momo giggled gently, clearly understanding what the more prominent male was talking about. Only to be interrupted by a clearing of a throat by Nezu, "Furthermore, after consulting with Aizawa before you came here today, while it is true that your internship was not the most ideal, we have come to a decision regarding that."
Aizawa grunted as he pushed himself off the wall he had been relaxing against, his tired eyes staring straight at his student's onyx colored ones, "In three weeks, some UA students and a few select VIPs will be attending a special conference at I-Island. You will be assisting me with protecting the students and VIPs with a few other classmates I will discuss this with."
While he was clearly hiding his true intentions, Momo's eyes widened in shock and utter enjoyment of such a thing, as she already knew Izuku was one of those students mentioned, but the fact that she was chosen for this mission gave her the feeling that she was actually doing something meaningful and very heroic.
"I accept! I won't let you down, sir!" the heiress stood up from her chair, clearly excited for the role she would take.
"Excellent, now I suggest you and Hound Dog set up a schedule for your sessions with him back in his office. And do not worry about the incident yesterday anymore; all water under the bridge." Nezu said with a chirper tone of voice, getting another bright smile and nod from Momo before she and Hound Dog left the office.
Once the door was closed, and after a few moments to make sure that both student and counselor were not in earshot, the dean of UA let out a loud cackle, the echoing reverbing off the walls as Aizawa looked more tired, turning towards his laughing employer, "What's so funny now?"
Nezu took a few moments to calm himself down, wiping away the tear from his eyes as he leaned back in his chair, turning it to face Aizawa, "Not so much funny, but more overjoyed with the way things are progressing!"
"Progressing? Your making this sound like you planned what happened yesterday all along."
"Oh no, trust me, I was just as shocked and horrified at the reappearance of the 'Shadowkeeper'; that wasn't in my plans at all." Nezu said as he reached below his desk for a teapot and cup, "But the outcome helped out more than even I anticipated!"
Aizawa stared at the small dean, now pouring himself a cup of his favorite liquid, squinting his eyes at him, "... What are you up to? And what do you mean 'reappearance'?"
"The start of phase two of my end goals, something I have been working and waiting for nearly two hundred years, my dear Shouta." Nezu took a sip of his tea, ignoring the second question as a knock on the door caught their attention, "Come in!"
Opening the door was Krile, holding a clipboard and looking more miffed than anything as she slammed the door behind her, almost making Aizawa flinch, but Nezu just remained still, sipping his tea, "Ah, good… How are things, Krile?"
"Don't you start! I already had to put up with Inko's antics today, and I don't need yours!" The elderly woman spat venomously at Nezu before turning her gaze and ire towards Aizawa, "And you! I thought you were teaching those kids not to engage monsters or those far stronger than themselves at their current skill level!"
"It's the real world; they should face-" "the unknown challenges that will be tossed at them, I know your entire spiel, you dolt! I don't need students in critical care with nearly every heroics class of yours!" Krile interrupted and waved her cane threateningly at the ever-tired teacher.
While true the students getting hurt during training was going to happen, the frequency of how many of them were in critical care as of late was something he was not happy with.
Usually, it was Midoriya, but that was beside the point.
"And how is their recovery? I know they looked and were treated during the skirmish, but I hadn't realized many were in that dire of need." Nezu asked after placing the teacup back on the saucer.
"Aside from broken arms and scrapes, most have already recovered; Bakugo is currently still in the infirmary due to some lingering pain in his back that I want to keep an eye on for another night."
"His injury aside, what about our latest 'arrival'? I hope she wasn't as much of a handful as when we brought her back." Nezu said with his paws resting against one another in front of him.
Krile merely huffed, pulling out the clipboard and tossing it onto his desk, "It seems like the girl's quirk has had some dire health and mental effects on her, given what the boy told us last night as well as overhearing her conversation with Inko, her aether count is very low, so low in fact I'm shocked she hasn't succumbed to it yet."
"I see… her willpower must be that strong to survive this long." Nezu said, flipping over the medical report before suddenly stopping on a particular page, raising an eyebrow as he looked to the older Lalafell, "This last bit? Are you sure?"
Krile sighed heavily, looking like she needed a drink of something strong, "I'll need another week or so before I confirm it, but if it comes back positive, that boy is going to be in a world of hurt with my cane up the backside of his head."
"What are you talking about?" Aizawa asked, frowning gently as Nezu offered the clipboard to him. The underground hero took the item and began to quickly scan it.
He blinked and then looked again.
Slowly bringing the clipboard down, Aizawa could feel the headache already starting to form; looking to the head nurse of UA, "Are you sure of this assumption?"
"Trust me, it wasn't that hard to notice given how little aether I could sense within her, and before you ask, the only person she has been with in the last few weeks was your problem child's dark half. And the way she was gushing about him to my assistant, his very own mother, it's clear what happened if she comes back positive in a few weeks."
Aizawa dropped the clipboard back onto the desk; looking at Nezu with the most deadpanned and serious look he gave the small furball, "I quit."
Nezu simply smiled at him, cackling once again, "Denied!"
Chapter 58: Bloody Mushrooms
Summary:
Izuku reveals all to a certain 1-B student and then goes to meet the vampire of his dreams.
Notes:
Hey all! Time for another update of "Bearer of the Light"!
Sorry for the late update, but real life has been kicking my ass lately, what with trying to find a full-time job as well as working assignments through a staffing agency. It's been so hectic, that I started a ko-fi page. Also just as a heads up, these next few chapters are going to be more character-focused, aka... we got some time before I-Island, so expect some dates between our green bean and a couple of the girls... and one smut chapter with a certain Alien Queen.
So, last time, I accidentally missed out on an important review regarding the whole 'Deku/Izuku" scenario, as well as the issue with the sudden appearance of the Shadowkeeper boss from the Eden raids.
So I'll just state it here, despite Deku acting on his own and making his own decisions, he is still Izuku, both in mind and well... 'body'. If you were to take blood from both of them, it would still come up to be the same person. When Deku got his temporary body during the Hosu shenanigans, it was effectively TWO Izuku's in one place. For a better understanding of what I'm getting on about, the level 50-60 Dark Knight Storyline in FFXIV would best display what I'm talking about.
As for the Shadowkeeper, It's been confirmed lore-wise, that the aether in people stores all the memories and experiences of the person. Since Izuku has Quinn's Aether, all the memories and experiences the Miqo'te had dealt with, that includes all the raid bosses. The reason I went with Shadowkeeper was that:
a) The boss looks like it's made up of a bunch of people together, plus the whole "getting up on two feet and swinging a giant fuck-off sword" is very Dark Knight-esqe.
b) It's one of my favorites from the Eden fights. :DAs for how Krile knows about it, considering she wasn't present on The First, well, the Warrior of Light already had one book written about his exploits from Heavensward, what's to stop another Scion from writing the tales of Quinn on The First? I know one certain red-headed cat man who would do that, and then have it edited by Alisae afterward because it was too "fluffy". So yea, lore-wise for Bearer, every "expansion" has its own book.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
"Y-you're Quirkless?" Kinoko asked, mainly staring in disbelief at what Izuku had just told her, holding onto a cup of tea provided to her by Momo, who was currently sitting beside Izuku on her bed with Tsuyu on the opposite side. Mina and Kyoka were also present in the heiress' room but were presently preoccupied with Eri, who was being entertained by the Feo Ul.
The mushroom-obsessed girl gently took a sip of the tea, enjoying the rich flavoring before bringing the cup down onto the desk she was sitting close to, "I'll be honest, while a part of me is still baffled by this… but, considering what we experienced with Feo Ul, and the spar you had with Kendo… it makes shroom sense."
"Sorry I couldn't tell you everything before." Izuku said with a gentle sigh, bowing his head to the woman, "I-I hope you can forgive me for deceiving you about my-"
"Izuku, really…?" Kyoka spoke up from the small group, "She already suspected something was up, and you already told her why you had to keep it a secret." Her frown moved from the green-haired boy to the 1-B student sitting in front of him, flinching from the look before Kyoka's facial features softened, "And judging by your heartbeat, I can assume it doesn't matter, does it?"
Kinoko suddenly blushed, covering her hands to hide it, which made a couple of the girls coo before Kinoko worked up some courage and began to speak, "I-It doesn't matter if you had a quirk or not; it was still you who captured my interest while you being such a good father to a child who wasn't your own."
"A-And the way you looked and reached out towards me to protect me from Titania…." She continued, shrinking a little into herself and fidgeting, "W-What girl wouldn't fall for someone like that?"
"Tell me about it, kero." Tsu spoke up, closing her eyes and nodding sagely, "I may have had feelings for Izuku before the USJ, but when he goes 'hero' and tries to protect you. It was hard not to kiss him right after he punched the villains away."
Everyone chuckled again, with Izuku rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment before Mina had moved from Kyoka and Eri to behind Izuku and slowly slinked her arms around her man's shoulders, looking at Kinoko, "So… like I told ya before, while you gotta have a group agreement, it's your decision at the end of it all."
"And if you don't think it's for you, we understand, nor would we judge you for it, even I was taken a little aback by the idea of polyamory…." Momo said gently, reaching for Izuku's hand and taking hold of it, smiling at him before shifting her gaze over to Kyoka, who was holding Eri and blushing from the look given to her, "But I would never go back on my decision to join."
As the others nodded in agreement, Kinoko was looking at all of them, seeing the happiness and joy that each was having between them all, until her hidden eyes slowly rested upon the one person she knew she still had to convince.
"I-I would like to join, though I'm not the most experienced when it comes to relationships."
"To be fair, nor am I…." Izuku chuckled softly, "I had to be cornered in the laundry room and confessed to."
"'Cornered', he says!" Mina hugged his head tightly to her chest as he blushed from the soft orbs pressed against him, "You went willingly, if I recall, and enjoyed the confessions, buster!" She cackled as she held him tighter.
With everyone laughing and cheering Mina on (shockingly, even Feo ul was rooting for the pink-skinned girl to give her sapling a good thrashing.) Kinoko slowly rose up, getting everyone's attention as she slowly and gently made her way towards Eri and Kyoka, "But there is one person that would need to have the final say, considering I would be a part of her life as well."
The mushroom girl slowly knelt down to Eri, who had taken notice of the new person before her, tightly clinging to Kyoka as the punk rocker gently rubbed the small child's back in comfort.
"H-hello, Eri, my name is Kinoko Komori…"
"H-Hi…" Eri replied, still clinging to her 'Mama Kyo' as everyone around the room watched the interaction.
"I-I know it's a little sudden, but… well…" Kinoko started to speak, blushing gently as she fidgeted with her fingers, "And I'm not the best when it comes to… expressing my feelings."
"B-but... I really like your papa... so I'd like to be with him. The hair bangs in front of her face shifted slightly, allowing the small child to see the shiitake-colored and shaped eyes gazing upon her.
"D... do you really like papa?" Eri asked, turning her head towards the girl kneeling before her, admittedly a little intrigued by the very unique eyes she had, almost just as special as her Mama Mina.
"Y-Yes, I really do." Kinoko said with no hesitation, unknowingly causing Izuku to blush and have Mina and Tsu poke his cheeks with their fingers, "A-And I know that I will need to help raise you, care for you and give you shroom much love." Kinoko slowly began to smile brightly, her nervousness breaking under the red-eyed gaze of the small girl, "And honestly, aside from being the best shrooming idol heroine I can be, one day I'd love to be a mama too, a-and I'd like to start that journey with being your mama… i-if you let me."
Eri kept staring at Kinoko, slowly and gently climbing off of Kyoka, and moved herself to stand before the mushroom girl. Eri slowly and gently brought a hand up towards the young woman's face, pushing aside the hair bang to look at her eyes once again.
Red irises met brown, and Eri was gazing into Kinoko's like she was searching deep within her soul. The room was quiet during the exchange, just watching and waiting for whatever Eri's answer would be.
They didn't expect to have their small unicorn suddenly launch herself and tackle Kinoko, who yelped in surprise before the cry of 'new mama!' came tumbling out of Eri's mouth, sobbing gently into the young woman's shoulder as she held on tightly to Kinoko.
The other women and single man watched as Kinoko wrapped her arms around the small child, blushing up a storm but smiling gently. As the scene continued, Feo Ul had a devious-looking smirk on her face as she fluttered down towards the two on the ground, "Oh, I told ya you'd be fine, my dear!"
Kinoko giggled, still blushing, and pulled herself and Eri up from the floor, sitting on the ground with her new "daughter" sitting on her lap, "Y-Yes, you did, Feo Ul…."
"And you got a lovely sprout ta boot! Such happy days!" The pixie fluttered around the pair, circling them before the tiny creature stopped right in front of Kinoko with the most mischievous smile on her lips, "And even more happy days when you and my sapling make some more 'sprouts', eh?"
Watching as the bright redness of Kinoko's cheeks started to grow past it, Feo Ul cackled loudly, disappearing into a cloud of sparkles, which caught Eri's attention as she tried to reach out to them; all the while, her parents weren't fairing just as well at the implication the petite Fae King had just said aloud. However, it was Mina who recognized just how red her new partner was getting and threw out her hand towards the mushroom girl and shouted.
"Kinoko, Don't–!"
*PAMPH*
"I am so… SO sorry!" Kinoko once again apologized to the group of women as they were in the women's group showers, using a unique anti-fungal hair and body shampoo, as all the women from within the room when spore's exploded were currently using them, aside from Eri, who was the first one to be cleaned, and Mina who had the luck of having been shielded by Izuku due to her snuggling him from the back.
"Relax, shroomy, it's not like it won't happen again." Setsuna called from the changing room, leaning against the wall and smirking as she closed her eyes, "Besides, at least now I don't have to watch you keep pining for broccoli-head anymore."
"SET!" Kinoko cried out in embarrassment, earning a cackling laugh from the dinosaur lover, who was currently wearing some casual clothes, having been called to deliver the shampoo.
"Really Setsuna… there's no need to tease Kinoko." Momo spoke after rinsing her hair, letting it loose down her curvy body while she worked the soap into her arms and skin, "I'm a little surprised you haven't tried to join, though I couldn't tell if you liked Izuku or any of us in that way."
"That ship sailed long ago, sadly." Setsuna sighed and rested her head against the wall, "And not like what I am about to say should make you feel guilty, Mo… but I did have a little crush on him when we first met, but good lord, your jealousy was terrifying."
"O-oh…"
"I hate to admit it, Momo, but that was one of the reasons me or Mina never pursued Green until after Tsu brought up the poly idea." Kyoka said softly, sighing gently.
"But it worked out in the end, kero." Tsuyu was the next one to speak, rinsing the end of her hair, now loose from her usual braid, "Everyone gets to be with Izuku and help support him as well, and he isn't forced to make a choice over any of us. Plus, the other benefits of helping raise Eri."
Momo sighed gently, nodding her head as while Tsu had brought up some good points, the heiress was still feeling somewhat guilty, "Be that as it may, I'm sorry, Setsuna… and hopefully, you know I had no ill will."
"Yer fine, besides, your little group gave me an idea for my own… or at least, one that isn't so large." Setsuna snickered gently as she licked her lips, "But, we ain't here to talk about that, or at least I'm not."
"Right, we need to talk about this 'Himiko', given how she's tied into everything involving Deku." Momo sighed softly, reaching for her towel and stepping out of the shower, wrapping it around her body after drying her hair and ignoring the loud whistle of approval from Setsuna, "I'll be honest, I'm a little worried about what her reaction will be to all of us."
"I think it's a little suspicious how she came into the picture, and heya, Set!" Mina bounced into the changing room, hugging the limb-splitter, before resting against the wall herself, "It just so happens that she finds Deku in that alleyway, and given the guy's dark armor and crappy attitude, it would be hard for anyone not to miss the freaking 'Dark Knight', also Eri is fast asleep… she also wanted to be covered in mushrooms again, Kinoko."
As Kinoko was silently smiling to herself, rubbing her cheeks in wonderment at the fact that the small child hadn't hated her for suddenly exploding while holding her, Tsu spoke as she turned off the water to her shower, "Kero, I'm more curious as to what he may have told her about us. Given that he didn't really have high hopes for us."
"I know, right! That pink-headed idiot thought we were playing with Izuku's emotions?" Kyoka barked out loud, grumbling from the mushrooms still stuck on her jacks, "Hey Komori, can you come here and help me get the mushrooms off?"
"H-Huh? O-Oh sure…" Kinoko blushed heavily, slowly sliding from her shower stall into Kyoka's, and both stood still as they gazed at each other's naked bodies.
Kyoka was a little jealous of the size of the mushroom girl's body, how curvy it was despite how shorter she was than the punk rocker, but Kyoka couldn't lie from how soft she looked, and her hands twitched at the thought of her fingers sinking into those very same curves.
Kinoko was obviously blushing like mad from the lithe and petite body of the woman before her. Still, while her bangs covered most of her face, her brown eyes drank in how firm Kyoka's ass was. Even if the woman's bust wasn't that large, Kinoko had a few thoughts on what she would like to do with those pert nipples along with Izuku.
Kinoko blushed more before a mushroom-covered Jack floated close towards her, and Kyoka was looking away, blushing as well, "Y… you can work on this one."
"O-O.k…" The brunette answered as she walked entirely into the shower stall to help her new girlfriend.
"Getting back to what Kyoka just said, kero, I'll be blunt, as I normally am." Tsuyu said as everyone stopped what they were doing to listen to her, "When Deku said that, and Izuku even confessed to it, I was very hurt, but at the same time, I was also angry at myself."
"Even if Izuku has been getting better at sharing things with us, deep down he still felt or, kero, still feels like at some point we will just abandon him… and I realize that it's not going to be something that will just stop happening, kero."
"I'm curious just how much Deku shared with Toga, given he seemed more opened to calling Izuku out on things in front of everyone." Mina huffed, her arms crossed over her chest and puffing her cheeks, "Well, I just hope she doesn't think of us as those same bitches from Izuku's past."
"Mina!" Momo called out, wrapping a towel around her body, and began to head towards the changeroom.
"Well, they are!" Mina whined, "Who the heck does that WILLINGLY, and to Izuku of all people!"
"Showing some bias there, Pinky." Setsuna snickered as Mina looked at her.
"Oh, you better believe I'm showing bias! Even if it wasn't Izuku, like, what the hell?!"
"It's in the past, and sadly Izuku wouldn't give us the names of those who did that to him…." Momo said with an even tone of voice that caused both Setsuna and Mina to shiver from how cold the air got around the heiress as she walked by, "And it will be for another time, as I believe we need to discuss something with you, Setsuna."
"Yea, Kinoko wasn't really informative, just said 'we need to talk about Izuku's quirk', and then hung up." The dinosaur-loving girl leaned against the wall, her loose scale-looking pants and t-rex sandals showing her admiration for the extinct animals.
"Yes… his 'quirk'… well… At least you're sitting down; we won't go into too much detail, considering we need to meet Toga soon, and honestly… it's a very unique story." Momo said with a sigh, drying off her body and ignoring the gaze of her pink-skinned girlfriend as she put on some loose clothes before sitting down next to Setsuna and explaining Izuku's 'quirk'.
Izuku sighed heavily as he stared at the oak door before him, dreading how things would go with the woman on the other side.
While Deku's memories of how he and Himiko got along, despite their rocky start, gave him some idea of what to expect going in. When they united once again, the rejoined thoughts and experiences his 'darker' half had given him revealed exactly what both versions of himself did at that time.
Deku had told Himiko everything.
The bullying, the suicide baiting, his quirkless… hells, the part about the polyamory relationship between him and the girls, and his doubts about the 'eventual' abandonment should they learn about him still being quirkless.
Granted, there were things he didn't tell her, only because either it happened when they were separated, like taking in One for All and having it being absorbed into his blessing. Or the fact Deku hadn't told Himiko of the one person he would willingly sacrifice everything for.
Eri.
That had given the green-haired boy pause after their little skirmish. Izuku knew that Deku had no issues with Eri or even deciding to adopt her after the sports festival. So, why did he fail to mention the single-horned little girl?
To protect her? To not drive Himiko away? Or perhaps, given what little of the vampiric girl's past Deku got, she would see some sort of familiarity towards the previously abused and mutilated child.
Well, he wasn't going to answers standing there like a big doofus, and with a big and heavy sigh, Izuku knocked on the door three times.
"Mmmn… who is it?" A tired-sounding feminine voice could be heard past the door before gentle footsteps made their way towards it. With an unclicking of a few bolts, the door slowly cracked open, and a golden cat-like eye gazed up at him, "Deku-kins?"
"Erm… It's Izuku, sorry Himi-Toga…." Izuku sputtered out, rubbing the back of his head as the door suddenly shut on his face, and after a few more clicks, it swung open once again with a barely dressed Himiko Toga, wearing a simple nightgown that did nothing to hide the fact she was pretty much naked under the thin cloth.
"What are you doing here so late?"
"It's only seven-thirty at night?" Izuku said with a confused look on his face as Toga simply blinked at him, shrugging to herself before walking back into her room, swaying her hips as she made her way to the bed, for which Izuku turned his head to try and ignore.
'Try' being an understatement.
"Well, can't blame a girl for passing out after a delicious meal… you going to come in or not?"
"O-Oh, right! Sorry!" Izuku squeaked, coming into the room and shutting the door behind him, only to turn around and see the blonde woman sitting with one leg crossed over the other and leaning back; one of the straps of her nightgown had fallen down her arm.
She smiled at how his face went totally red, biting her lip at the sight of all that blood rushing to his face as she gently giggled, "You even have his reactions too!"
"H-huh?"
"Oh! He made the same face and was blushing up a storm before rocking my world for several days!" Himiko giggled again before seeing Izuku slowly looking, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, "Oh, come on! It's like you didn't know that!"
"I-I know, it's just… the memories–"
"What? They were bad?"
"N-NO! No! Far from bad at all! If I could accurately describe it, 'heavenly' would be the best way… I… could…" Izuku slowed down his explanation, turning bright red once again as he watched Himiko's shocked face slowly creep into a maniac and bright smile while her own cheeks were turning slightly red.
The vampire burst out laughing as Izuku slowly rolled himself into the fetal position on the floor, mumbling up a storm at how he was royally screwing this up.
Himiko eventually calmed down, moving off the floor before squatting beside the still muttering boy, who was now just a flurry of a verbal mess. The blonde woman gently rubbed his head, running her fingers through his hair which got Izuku to stop.
They were silent for a few moments, Himiko petting Izuku as she slowly began to smile, "His hair was just as soft and what you told me before… that he isn't truly gone, right? You didn't lie to me about that?"
"No…it's hard to explain, but he's still there–erm here; it's just he can't manifest outside of my body anymore, a-at least I think so?" Izuku said, looking up to Himiko, staring hard into his eyes.
They remained silent once more as their eyes looked deep into one another's; her hand in his messy green curls slowly moved down to cup his cheek as she spoke again, "So tell me, Mr. Midoriya… how much do you know about me?"
"O-Only what you told Deku truthfully, his experiences with you was like watching a movie from his point of view, yet I could hear everything, see everything…."
"Felt everything too?" Himiko whispered gently, her smile slowly returning when she could see the redness on his cheeks once more and feel the heat coming off them. Yet, the boy did not answer, just kept staring into her eyes as she giggled gently, "Well, I hope you enjoyed it because while I can sorta understand that you and my Deku-kin's are the same person, it doesn't mean I'm just going to fall into your lap… you are going to have to earn my trust, just like Deku-kin's did."
"I-I wasn't expecting–" Izuku started to stammer out, causing Himiko to giggle and pat his cheeks, pulling herself up and making her way back to her bed and sitting down again, her golden cat-like eyes never breaking contact with his own afterward.
"So, what are you doing down here?" Himiko asked, leaning back slightly once more, "I'd figure you'd be cuddling up with one of the other girls and leaving me down here all by my lonesome."
"I wouldn't–" Izuku replied a little defensively before seeing the broad smile on her lips, causing him to sigh gently, "I came down here to check on you, to make sure you were comfortable and resting well… as well as speak with you, concerning the others."
"Oh? Do I get to meet them tonight?" Himiko said with a tilt of her head before her smile soon faded into a sour look, "Am I going to have to 'prove' myself to them?"
"No! It's nothing like that!" Izuku shouted with a frown on his face, catching the blonde off-guard for a moment, "I already told them about what transpired between us– I mean, you and Deku, and they just want to meet you… i-it's one of the rules we have, i-if someone wants to join the relationship, everyone has to agree on it, and the person to make the final call."
"So an 'all or nothing' scenario?" Himiko raised an eyebrow at him, looking clearly unimpressed, before falling backward onto the bed with a heavy sigh, "Well, that's perfect…."
"I'm sorry…." Izuku said gently, watching as Himiko slowly raised her head to look at him, "I know it's not ideal, and honestly, I'm still reeling from the fact that it's happened and continuing to grow– But it can turn out to be a good thing, having people in your corner when the chips are down, knowing that someone loves you so much they'd risk life and limb to save you."
Izuku kept looking at her, "You know, you saved Deku… at the end."
"Huh?"
"It was your voice and the memories he had with you that allowed him to power on through everything that had happened to him after he left the apartment that day…." Izuku spoke gently now, walking towards her before kneeling down at her feet, his eyes never breaking contact from her own as he continued, "He… I… we made a promise to take you away from all the pain and sadness you had felt before and start a life where you wouldn't be judged or things you couldn't control."
Himiko's eyes slowly went wide, remembering the promise Deku had given her before he left that day, the one hope he had given her, and as she sat up and looked at the green-haired man kneeling before her, seeing the fire within his eyes that was oh so familiar to her…
Both out of and under the bedsheets.
"Y-you mean that? You're not upset with what I did before? What me and Deku-kins did?"
"I'll be honest with you, Toga… I wasn't happy with the vigilantism you two did, but you did it not only to protect those that could have been hurt but also as a need for survival; I can't judge you for that." Izuku said with a soft smile on his lips, causing Himiko to fidget slightly.
"A-and my quirk? You don't think it's… gross?"
"You mean you're completely amazing and unique quirk? I know of the drawbacks, considering Deku knew them, but there are so many awesome ways you could apply them to heroics if you wanted to!" Izuku said with a bright smile as he got up and sat beside her on the bed, "All quirks have drawbacks, heck even my kit's do as well, but that doesn't mean they are 'evil' or 'villainous'."
Izuku slowly took her hand into his; the warmth flowing into her body had sent shivers up Himiko's spine, "If someone can't see the person past the quirk, then they aren't worth the time… I think you are amazing, and your quirk is just as amazing."
Himiko's cheeks slowly turned rosy at the boy's admission, seeing the same look within his eyes that reminded her, oh so much of her Deku-kins as he talked, and her hand twitched within his grasp as she bit her bottom lip, shifting slightly as she spoke next.
"W-Would you like to see it? My quirk?"
Himiko watched the emerald eyes of the boy light up brightly, his smile widening in pure delight, "I'd love to see it!"
Giggling softly at his antics, Himiko smiled brightly, figuring she could use the blood she had been given to her already, thanks to the boy sitting beside her and gently activating her quirk.
"Wow, who knew this place was under the University." Mina said in wonder as she and the other girls walked along the elegant and beautifully constructed halls of the 'private dorms'. Tsuyu was leading them to where they needed to go, considering she was the most familiar with this place outside of Izuku.
"Well… it makes shroom sense, given why it exists." Kinoko said as she walked between Mina and Kyoka, "I–I know that I'd like to be someplace quiet and in private if I had to deal with something like that."
"Are we going to ignore the fact I saw Midnight drag Hound Dog into one of the rooms on the way here?" Mina huffed gently, crossing her arms over her chest, considering such a juicy bit of gossip could be had there.
"It's none of our business, and besides, you said you 'thought' you saw them. It could have been anyone." Kyoka huffed, her hands in her jean pockets as she seemed frustrated for some reason, but a few of the group could tell it was possibly due to all the noises coming from some of the rooms.
"Take my fun, why don'tcha?"
"Here we are, kero." Tsuyu said as she stopped at the door where beyond it held both Izuku and the mysterious Himiko Toga. While Izuku had told them what he knew of the woman, they would still need to at least introduce themselves and learn about her.
And for all the girls to ensure the woman wasn't a threat to their daughter.
Three knocks from the frog girl, and they could hear a very energetic sounding Izuku call for them to enter. With no hesitation, Tsuyu opened the door, and what each girl saw before them would forever be etched into their minds.
There was Izuku, standing in the middle of the room wearing a nightgown too small for him and clinging to every inch of his body and leaving nothing to the imagination, and he was giving them the brightest of smiles.
However, there was a second Izuku on the bed, looking up from a notepad looking like he got caught with his hand stuck in a cookie jar with the pen still pressed against the pad, and all saw the number of pages that had been torn off and full of notes beside him.
As everyone continued to stare at the scene before them in silence, trying to wrap their heads around it, Mina moved into the room with the brightest of smiles and darkest of blushes on her cheeks as she at first beamed a smile towards the Izuku in the middle of the room and then towards the other girls.
"She is SO in!"
Chapter 59: Queen and King
Summary:
Something horrible is happening to a bystander, and a sudden storm ruins Mina and Izuku's Beach date... or does it?
Notes:
Hello all,
Well, I finally found the time and creative juices to get this long overdo chapter made. Once again, I am sorry for the wait, as my job normally keeps me super busy as well as making me unable to write certain scenes while on lunch break, unlike 'Monster Hunting Hero' and 'Izuku Midoriya: the Green Gaul'.
I'll try and keep a semi-regular release schedule for this fic, as I do want to finish it one day. But any chapter that contains smut (like this one, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED :O) will take more time because of when I can actually write it.
Once again, thank you all for your patience and hope you enjoy this chapter and the new ones coming up.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Things were not looking good for Hiroto Chiba.
This had been her fifth attempt at getting her dream job, where she could sing and perform for large audiences while getting the praise and attention she rightly deserved! Hiroto didn't put in hours upon hours of vocal classes for most of her life, only to be turned down by one fact.
She graduated from Aldera High School.
It was apparent that was the issue, given how pleased the producers had looked when she sang, only for their faces to sour up when they looked at her application of where she had been educated. And while they didn't say that was the cause, Hiroto could quickly put two and two together.
Admittedly, she was aware that this could be universal karma, given her treatment of others, but especially towards that quirkless loser, Midoriya. Sure, she had initially claimed that she did the things she did just to 'fit in' or 'because it was cool', but ever since that day when that trial between the boy's mother and the school ended, things just went from bad to worse for nearly everyone.
While it was never clearly stated who had tormented Midoriya, which Hiroto and everyone else knew that it was Bakugo leading the charge on that, the fact that the ruling came in favor of the Inko Midoriya had a rippling effect on those who graduated from that same year.
First, it was her parents, who were absolutely appalled when the truth came out and nearly disowned her when they found out (by one of her friend's parents telling them), she was a part of the yearly "Valentine's Fiasco". No college or university would accept her application, so she had to fall back on a chance for a singing career, but even that was looking to be a non-existent dream now.
Having now walked who knows how many blocks from where her audition had taken place, Hiroto leaned against the railing of the empty bridge overlooking one of the many small rivers running through the city, sighing to herself, and stared out at the water, not noticing the portal of darkness silently opening up behind her a foot or two away.
Suddenly her vision went dark as a monstrously large hand grabbed her face. Its skin was cold and clammy as she screamed loudly in absolute terror as she could feel more arms take hold of her other limbs, desperately trying to break free from whatever grabbed her. Hiroto watched from between the fingers of the hand on her face as a strange-robed man appeared before her from a dark portal, with the most wicked of smiles plastered on his lips; the one eye she could barely see under his mask was cold and empty.
The robed person before her chuckled ominously as he reached into the front part of his clothes, pulling out what looked like a crystal of some kind, glowing an almost neon greenish color as Hiroto continued to struggle and scream against whatever was holding her.
"Hmmm… as I thought… you are perfect."
Before Hiroto could muffle out a protest or even question what this strange guy was on about, she screamed loudly once more into the hand, holding her face as the lunatic drove the crystal into her chest.
Whatever struggle or fight within her left her body from that point, a solitary tear flowed down her cheek as the growing pain in her chest continued, causing her body to go rigid as the young woman's pupils began to dilate.
The hands holding her body began to drag her into the darkness as the robed figure followed closely after, smiling wickedly and cackling slightly before he, too, was enveloped by the portal.
With the wispy sound of the wind, the dark portal faded from existence, and that was the last time anyone ever saw Hiroto Chiba again.
"Izuku! Hurry up!" Mina cried out as she also gasped when some of the cold rainwater accumulating from the floor above suddenly fell onto the back of her neck. Honestly, Mina was unhappy, considering how it started out practically perfect for the plans she and Izuku had made.
It was finally Saturday, which meant they would have a fun-filled all-day date to celebrate their upcoming birthdays all by themselves, which was a rare treat. Mina had everything all planned out, having the aid of both Momo and Mamadoriya to help set up what would be missing in what was supposed to be their final stop for the day.
Initially, the plan was to spend most of the day at the beach Izuku had cleaned up almost a year ago, where she could show off her brand new bikini and tease her boyfriend with it throughout the day before the two would head towards his old apartment, where both Mina and Izuku could make their favorite meals and desserts together before snuggling up on the couch and watch one of Izuku's favorite old movies, considering it was his turn to pick this time.
What happened afterward, considering they would be spending the night at the apartment alone, well… the pink-skinned woman didn't want to overthink it right now; else she'd just skip straight to the 'good part'.
But sadly, as soon as the pair had reached the beach, Izuku had pointed out some rather ominous clouds rolling in, and within ten minutes, the couple had been making a mad dash towards the apartment in their vain attempts to outrun the sudden rainstorm.
A heavy sigh came from Izuku as he finally made it up the stairs and to the door of his old apartment, completely soaked to the bone as he had been the one to carry not only their beach umbrella but also the picnic lunch he had made with the help of his mom and Eri. Gently placing the objects down, Izuku reached into his pocket to pull out his keys just as the wind from the storm hit both of them, causing the young adults to shiver.
A few seconds passed before the door opened, and both heroes in training rushed in, bringing in their belongings before swiftly locking the door behind them, both shivering still as Izuku looked towards Mina, moving a hand to rub her arm gently, "You alright, Mina?"
"Just cold… as much as I like storms, being caught in one is the worst." The young woman replied as she let down the bags with their change of clothes that she had been carrying, using Izuku's (at his insistence) to shield herself from most of the wind and rain. Mina's golden irises looked towards Izuku, and she gasped lightly, seeing how utterly drenched he was, considering he couldn't protect himself with what he had been carrying, "Izuku! You're totally soaked!"
"I'll be f-"
"Nu huh, strip mister!" Mina commanded as she moved her hands to take the hem of his shirt and began to pull it up, biting her lower lip as she could gaze upon the hardened abs of her green bean. Though his protests brought her back out of her more 'impure' thoughts, and while he removed the sopping wet garment, "Your soaking wet, and I know for a fact that Aizawa will kill the both of us if we got sick, go and have a shower and then I'll have one after."
"B-but the water-"
"I'll take care of it! Now scoot, buster!" Mina said with a hard poke to his chest, causing Izuku to wince and chuckle lightly before making a quick dash toward the bathroom.
"Mop is in the closet at the end of this hall! And thanks, Mina!" Izuku said as he disappeared into the bathroom, lightly shutting the door behind him and leaving Mina alone. The pink-skinned woman sighed fondly and shook her head, reaching into her bag to pull out the beach towel she was going to use to sunbathe and have Izuku rub lotion on her back, but now, it was being used to at least dry herself for the most part before she would make her way down the hall for the mop and clean up the water spots left by her boyfriend.
As she did, however, Mina took in the sights around her, smiling gently to herself and what little remained in the apartment. Sure, there were still the necessities like pots and pans in the tiny yet adorable kitchen, as well as a lone couch with a mid-sized tv in front of it. But, the specific parts of the old white wall where someone could see the discoloration of where pictures once hung up or a sizeable bookcase was nestled against a wall were quite clear. However, some mementos of the past remained that the 'dorm mother' couldn't take with her.
But that would be looked at later, for the young heroine was on a mission, and that was to clean up the watery mess left by her boyfriend. Mina made her way down the hall and to the closet, taking out the mop and bucket, and began to do her appointed task, passing by the door to Izuku's old room and smirking to herself for the 'surprise' she would be giving him later.
A sudden crack of thunder filled the air as Eri yelped in surprise, hiding underneath her covers as the flash of lightning from outside her windows lit up the area around her; she quivered underneath until she could hear the soft sounds of someone slowly walking across the floor from her door, while usually, that would have spooked the poor unicorn, the gentle humming of Kyoka easing her tension before the softness of a hand resting on her head had coaxed the young girl to move the blanket to see the soft smirk of one of her mothers looking down at her, "Hey Kiddo, you hangin' in there?"
Kyoka grunted softly when Eri sprung from her bed, wearing her nightgown that apparently was one of Momo's that she had worn when she was Eri's age, the soft mixture of cotton and silk not having lost their coloration in the years since. The small white-haired child was sniffling gently, nuzzling against the cheek of the punkette, who gently took hold of the young girl and sat down on the bed, "I'll take that as a no."
"The b-big booms…." Eri quietly said, her arms hugging Kyoka's neck while her mother figure gently ran a hand up and down her small back to comfort her.
"I understand, I'm not a big fan of them myself, and they can still spook me when I'm not expecting it." Kyoka said softly, her hand running comfortably up and down her daughter's back as another loud crash could be heard from outside, followed by the bright explosion of light filling the air. Eri pushed herself further into the punk rocker, who was gently cooing to help ease the small child's fright.
"Will Mama Mina and Papa be ok?" Eri asked, leaning back a little to stare into Kyoka's eyes full of worry, only to be met with a smug look from the slightly older woman.
"Izuku did call Inko a few moments ago and said they are fine, soaked to the bone as they got caught out in the storm, but they made it to his old apartment," Kyoka said gently, holding her daughter close and rubbing the back of the young child's head gently with the side of her ear jacks.
"Mama…" Eri had spoken gently, her gaze looking nowhere as she nestled against Kyoka's chest softly, with her little hand bunching up the young woman's shirt, "Will Papa make the bad men go away?"
The punkette blinked for a moment, frowning slightly in confusion as to which 'bad men' Eri was referring to, but seeing the often hidden bandages on the little girl's arms peek out from the sleeve of her pj's, making Kyoka realize who Eri was referring to then, "We all will… and I know for a fact that Izuku and all of us would drop everything to put them away for good, so you never have to be frightened of them anymore."
Eri had moved back to stare up into Kyoka's deep violets; seeing the truth within them as well as the words that had left her lips, had caused Eri to sniffle slightly, only to full-on glomp into the punkette and knock some air out of her lungs as Eri nuzzled against her, sobbing lightly, but not from sadness.
But from the utter joy of hearing those words once again promised to her.
Kyoka sighed gently with a smirk on her lips, recovering quickly from the sudden 'unicorn charge' as she held her daughter close, slowly beginning to hum a song.
As the hum of her mother filled the air around her, Eri started to settle down. So much so that she eventually fell asleep in the arms of one of her mothers, whose gentle singing had made her forget the memories of the 'bad men' for now and the terrible storm happening outside.
Izuku sighed as he laid down on top of the relatively large and heavily covered futon he had dug out of his closet, which was odd because the cover and sheets were something he had never seen before, his emerald eyes staring up at the ceiling while his hand rested upon his currently filled stomach.
"Going to need to put in some extra work this week, I think…." Izuku muttered, stroking his stomach slightly as a small smile formed on his lips. While Izuku would admit that he was a little upset the day had not been planned out the way Mina, and he wanted, the alternative wasn't so bad.
After both showered and changed into the spare clothes they would have used after their time at the beach, the two young lovers cuddled together to watch one of Izuku's old hero movies. Granted, about a quarter of the way in, both young adults had forgotten the picture and had begun to make out on the couch. Funnily enough, Izuku had initiated it this time, having simply given Mina a few soft kisses on her cheek before being glomped by the pink-skinned woman. A faint blush began to form on his cheeks at the feeling of her body on top of his; the delicate scent of her strawberry shampoo invaded his nostrils as he enjoyed the softness of her lips pressed against his own. Not to mention the skill of her tongue as she playfully teased and coaxed his own to be a little more aggressive in their menstruations.
Sure, neither of them had the skills of one Tsuyu Asui, but to be fair, that was hardly a fair comparison.
Their little 'session' ended when both of their stomachs growled loud enough to catch their attention, which was also when they realized the movie had ended. It was then Mina had decided to take the initiative there, moving to the kitchen and putting on an apron that she seemed to have pulled out of nowhere, or at some point, he or his mother had bought a leopard-skin apron.
Izuku had asked if she needed any help, given her history with cooking meals back at the dorms and knowing her name was on the job board that barred her from any sort of kitchen duty.
Raising a wooden utensil at him, the pink-skinned woman gave him a playful yet, threatening look and simply told him to watch the news while she prepared their dinner.
Truthfully, he did as she asked, given Izuku could see she had many ingredients already laid across the counter and what looked like a recipe book open, one that Izuku had recognized instantly.
So, he watched the hero news, or at least tried to, had his attention only partially been on watching Mina cook. Even if she grew frustrated, Izuku could tell she was putting in her all, constantly looking at the book and reading it word for word.
In his mind, however, Izuku was reeling at the situation he and Mina were in. While his partners had done wonders for his psyche and confidence, there were still doubts in his mind, as proven by his encounter with his 'darker' aspect, airing out some of those thoughts to his entire class. But, at this moment, Izuku felt the general warmth in the air, and his mind seemed to drift off into his thoughts.
One of a loving family, where either he or Mina would be making food, while the other occupied the children's attention, playing with them or possibly helping them in their school studies, only to be interrupted when the meal was ready.
Funnily enough, Mina calling out his name had brought him back to reality. That was when the smell of their dinner hit his nostrils, making Izuku rush from his seat on the couch.
Mina had made Katsudon.
Admittedly, for a first time, though the egg and pork chop were a little crispier than what he was used to, Izuku's heart soared as he happily wolfed down the meal. Mina had watched and was giggling, though Izuku could tell she was pretty proud of herself. Once their meal was finished, Mina had said she prepared a special dessert for the both of them but requested Izuku to wait in his old room for it.
So, here he was, laying back on the futon with some thick covers placed on top, looking up at the ceiling and curious as to what dessert she had prepared for them.
A gentle knock on his door caused Izuku to sit up, smiling gently, "Come in."
"Hey there," Mina said softly, quietly opening and shutting the door behind her, resting against it as she was now only wearing a bathrobe that Izuku could quickly tell was her personal one, given the bright teal and purple splotches all over it. The green-haired young man tilted his head curiously. Ignoring the confusion on his face, Mina slowly strode forward, her hands resting on the fabric belt that seemed to barely be holding together.
"What, uh… what's up, Mina?"
"Well… You said you had room for dessert, right?" The pink-skinned woman was giving him a smug and sly smirk on her lips, gently swaying her hips from side to side, as that smirk evolved into a gentle lower lip bite, and the look in her golden irises was one of complete hunger.
Izuku's mouth went dry, his lips parted for a moment as his brain was still trying to figure out what Mina was planning, though his body seemed to quickly catch onto what she was planning, "Y-Yea, and you told me to set up the futon."
"Mmhmm…" Her fingers delicately and slowly wrapped around one of the ends of the fabric belt, slowly pulling it until the knot went loose and the entire bathrobe fell to the floor as if masterly planned by the young woman. Izuku, in the meantime, let his eyes go wide at the sight before him.
There was Mina, his 'Alien Queen', standing there with what looked to be a very tight black bikini, its fabric stretched slightly as the young heroine-in-training lifted her arms up to fully show off not only the semi-tight black material, which seemed to be held up by two skinny strands of cloth, with tassels at their ends just hanging behind her. The other reason for the pose was to show off just how curvy she was, the bottom part of the bikini (which was only being held together by the thin strands with tassels at their ends also) especially showing how, in Mina's own words, 'thicc' she was from all of her dancing practice.
Izuku's gaze took in the full figure of Mina, his eyes taking in everything he was seeing, which made the young pink woman smile brightly and giggle, bringing her arms back down and slowly taking a few steps closer to the still mesmerized young man, slowly bending over and really giving him an eyeful of her breasts that seemed to push the golden 'V' that was holding the bra of the bikini together to its limit, "Soooo… whatcha think, lover boy?"
What did he think?
Izuku's mind suddenly 'rebooted' then, growing into a panic (much to Mina's pleasure) as he tried to comprehend and tell her how exactly she looked to him.
Stunning.
Beautiful.
A literal Goddess.
Mina giggled gently, with her cheeks growing purple, making Izuku realize he was muttering again, and she had heard all of the descriptions for her. Said 'goddess' slowly rose back up, turning around to show her bare back to Izuku and how tight the bottoms had clung to Mina's ass cheeks. A hand slowly moved to one of the tassels tied at the back of her neck, gently grasping it and giving it a little tug, "Truthfully, this wasn't the actual bathing suit I was planning on being in today…." Mina said gently, turning her head to watch Izuku snap a little more at attention.
"It's a tight version I asked Momo to whip up for me so I could surprise you… the real one is still in the bag and has far more coverage than this." She smiled as Izuku gently nodded to what she was saying, not noticing the hand fully unraveling the knot and letting the top flutter down to the floor.
Izuku's emerald gaze kept on her as Mina slowly turned around, her arm holding her breasts as she walked back over to him slowly, moving and straddling his lap while keeping one arm covering her breasts. Mina bit her lower lip again, panting softly because of her beating heart, but also she could feel Izuku's warmth against her skin, "Izuku… um… this is kind of embarrassing…."
"W-what is it, Mina?" Izuku asked, able to find his voice once again as he could see some sort of discomfort on her face.
"So… I've never done anything like this… with anyone." Mina spoke softly, her gaze looking away as she sighed, "I know I'm often the more 'handsy and flirty' type of person, but honestly… the most I ever did was a few make-out sessions with Kyoka before, and even then we were both clothed."
"Do you-"
"No! I want to do this!" Mina interrupted Izuku, who blinked at her outburst, only for her to pout and sigh, turning her head away with a pout, "Sorry… just my nerves, you know?"
"No, No… I get it…." Izuku spoke softly, moving a hand slowly to slowly bring Mina's gaze back to his, with a slight smile, "And I wasn't going to ask if you wanted to stop… I know how determined you get when you set your mind to something, like when you made that delicious katsudon tonight."
"Oh…" was all Mina could say as her cheeks went purple some more.
"I was going to ask if you wanted to take things slowly… ease ourselves into it." Izuku continued to speak softly, letting his other hand move to Mina's side, gently stroking it and her hip, which caused the pink-skinned woman to shiver in delight from the touch of his very warm hands.
"Y-Yea, that's fine with me." Mina said, her eyes moving from her boyfriend's very relaxed-looking gaze to his lips, subtlety licking her own and exhaling out a breath she didn't realize she had held.
"Good…" was all Izuku said before he slowly moved closer, both young adults turning their heads before gently kissing one another. Their lips pressed against one another with such softness while Izuku's hand on her chin had moved down to her neck, holding it gently while rubbing his thumb against her cheek.
Slowly, Mina moved her arm away from her breasts, letting her nipples rub against Izuku's clothed chest while they were kissing. She was about to wrap her arms around his shoulders when Izuku gently pulled himself slightly away, breaking the kiss. Mina was about to ask what was up until she watched as Izuku lifted off his shirt, and he could feel the way those golden irises of his current lover drank in everything before her.
Once his shirt was tossed to the side, ironically landing beside the faux-bikini top, Mina slowly let the arm that was covering her breasts move away, gently wrapping both of them around Izuku's arm and continued to kiss him, she could feel his strong hands slowly move to her lower back, holding her close to his body and she slowly began to grind her chest against his, moaning and gasping from the feeling.
A few moments into the kissing, Mina snaked one of her hands down his arm until her fingers delicately wrapped around his wrist and slowly pushed the appendage further down, slipping his fingers underneath the bikini bottom until she could feel his hand grip the soft flesh of her ass, as if he instantly knew what she had wanted, and his reward was hearing the young woman moan in pure bliss and pleasure when his second hand traveled lower to join its counterpart.
Izuku, at this point, had moved his lips away from hers, kissing down to her neck, and stayed there, gently nipping at her skin. He groaned into her shoulder when she had begun to slowly grind her hips against his own, the bottom of her 'bathing suit' barely protecting his pants from how aroused the young woman was, and that wasn't helping his constrained erection as it strained against the fabric, clearly eager to escape.
Mina gasped slightly when Izuku pulled her closer, flipping them over so now she was resting against the soft covers of the futon, looking up at a panting and red-cheeked Izuku, whose half-lipped eyes looked very hungry and lustful, making Mina's heart beat faster when he pushed himself up onto his knees, hooked the top of his pants, and slowly pushed down. The alien woman's eyes went wide as she took in the size of her partner's cock, and she was brought back to her earlier thoughts when both Tsu and Momo had described the appendage, and she was right.
The way they described it did it no justice.
Izuku was sitting back and watched as Mina tried to remove her bottoms in a hurry, clearly eager for what was to come, but she was stopped when the gentle hand of Izuku softly grasped her wrist. Her golden irises looked up to see the warm smile on his lips and the general look of love in his eyes, making her feel a little embarrassed and warm.
Izuku leaned down gently, just letting the warmth of his naked body barely touch Mina's own, her breasts slightly rubbed against his chest as he placed a warm and loving kiss on her lips for a few moments before breaking it gently and smiled, "Your eager, I know what it feels like… but how about I… do something for you that I've been working on…."
The pink-skinned woman blinked for a few moments, a look of curiosity and confusion on her face before she gently nodded. Izuku grinned at her response and rewarded her with a kiss on the lips, and then another, and then one on her cheek… and then her neck.
Every kiss led him further down Mina's body, who gasped and groaned lightly when she could feel his lips and tongue work against her left nipple before shifting to the right one. Her toes curled when his descent made it to her stomach with Izuku gently kissing every inch of skin there, causing her to giggle not only from how ticklish his lips felt against her skin but at the way he seemed to be worshiping her body and quite honestly it was flattering of him to do so. When she looked down to watch him, however, she could see one of his eyes looking up at her, and her heart merely skipped a beat at the rather sharp look it had while he was gently kissing just under her navel. Mina could feel his hands, which had been roaming her entire body and similarly worshiping her, slowly sliding down her sides before resting at her hips, with both hands taking hold of one of the strings, and that's when it hit her as to what Izuku had been hinting at earlier as she felt the ties loosen.
Izuku looked up at her fully now, his eyes gazing into hers as he kept kissing gently just under her navel, a silent request to her for him to keep going and do what he was planning to do.
Mina's head had never nodded so fast in her life. With a gentle smirk, Izuku slowly began peeling away the small fabric hiding her womanhood from the outside world, kissing her bare skin with every millimeter revealed to him.
Moving off the futon, Izuku softly moved Mina's legs to rest on his shoulders, spreading her gently as he lightly tossed the untied bikini bottom to the side. Mina watched as Izuku delicately began to kiss her inner thighs, getting dangerously close to her most private of areas, something she had never shown a boy before. Izuku's eyes met with hers, and Mina shivered at feeling his breath against her petals as he smiled softly at her, sliding his hands up the futon's surface until his fingers found Mina's, slowly entangling them, "You'll be the first person I ever do this with Mina…." Izuku began to speak, watching the purple blush grow more predominant than before while her eyes went wide as he continued, "If something feels weird or you don't like it… just tap my head three times, alright?"
Mina could only nod slowly, watching Izuku smile up at her and move almost agonizingly slow towards her womanhood, his breath getting warmer the closer he got, and as soon as she could feel the soft lips of her lover on her folds, Mina let out a nearly breathless gasp. Her toes curled as she could feel Izuku begin to kiss her folds gently, slowly moving his tongue around as if he was french kissing her.
Another gasp escaped past her lips as she felt the tip of Izuku's nose gently brush against her clit while his tongue moved deeper inside of her as if licking every part inside of her to taste her, swirling clockwise for a few moments before reversing it and going the other way. At this point, their hands had separated, and Izuku's arms had wrapped around Mina's thighs, crushing his head slightly between her toned muscles as her hands had gripped the covers of the futon hard, biting her lower lip to try and keep the moans that she knew she would make as her lover kept himself busy eating her out.
"Izuku… so good… please…" Mina began to speak before letting one of her moans escape, which caused the green-haired boy to increase his efforts. By doing so, however, Izuku had broken the 'dam' for Mina's control, and he could hear her panting and moaning more, one of her hands moving to the back of his head and running her fingers through his green curls, massaging his scalp as he continued to enjoy her taste.
But he wanted more than just a taste.
Pulling himself close, with the aid of his hands on her thighs, Izuku held Mina's lower half in place as his tongue slowly removed itself from inside of her body, very slowly rolling and flicking his tip gently against the pink woman's clitoris, groaning softly at the way he felt the pressure of Mina's thighs against his head as well as the slightly pulling his hair to mush his fast closer to her body, moaning loudly into the air.
"IZUKU! Holy–! YES! MORE!" cried out Mina, panting heavily as her body rocked against his teasing tongue and hot mouth before groaning loudly, crossing her legs as if to 'trap' him while her feet pressed against his back to hold him in place as she let out a hard and lustful moan into the air, arching her back off of the futon, "IZUKU! I-I'M-MMPH!"
A few moments passed after that, and Mina's panting was the only sound in the room as she carefully lowered herself back down onto the futon and released her death grip on her lover. Izuku slowly removed his lips from her womanhood, panting himself gently, and Mina looked down to see the utter mess she had made on his face, watching in arousal as Izuku returned her gaze with one of his own, smiling while licking his lips and making an exaggerated swallowing gesture to emphasize he enjoyed her 'flavor'.
Watching him do this, Mina slowly raised her arms to him, spreading her legs a little wider as she looked at him with love and lust mixed together in her golden orbs, "Izuku… please… I want you so badly."
Now, how was Izuku going to turn down that kind of invitation?
The green-haired young man slowly began to crawl back onto the futon, kissing his way up Mina's body while moving between her legs; his lips finally pressed against hers, giving Mina a taste of herself. At the same time, their tongues passionately 'wrestled' with one another as they kissed, only for it to break. Mina moaned against his lips as she could feel something brush past her still-sensitive womanhood.
Slowly moving a hand back down, leaning into one side of the futon so as not to crush Mina, Izuku had adjusted himself until he could feel his tip just barely part her folds, causing Mina to moan softly once more as his gaze looked deeply into hers, almost getting lost in them once again as Izuku spoke softly, "It may hurt… at first… I'll go slowly, Mina… just tell me if it's too much, alright?"
A simple quivering nod was the only answer Izuku had gotten as he very slowly began to push his thick cock into her, taking it slow and feeling her spread open around his tip and soon the full head as Mina desperately clung to him, her warm breath could be felt on his neck as the pink woman started to moan gently close to his ear, her arms and legs wrapped around him tightly, as if urging him to move faster, but Izuku knew better.
Mina felt so tight and snug around his cock's shaft as Izuku gently kissed her neck and cheek, adding to the pleasure of how her inner walls constricted against his flesh every time he did so. Eventually, with his entire cock pushed deep inside of his lover, Izuku went to look into Mina's eyes again, to only be met with the lustful and blushing face of the young, who was panting hard as her arms tightened around his neck and shoulders to press his body more into hers.
There were no words between the two, as Mina had captured Izuku's lips again with hers, using her arms and legs to press and rub against Izuku's muscular body, urging him to just take her there and now. But, Izuku wanted to make sure this lasted, to make this memorable not just for her but also for himself.
After all, it wasn't any day someone could bed a queen like Mina Ashido.
Izuku began to grind his body into Mina's slowly, rocking his hips where every push down into her warm insides sunk her butt more into the futon, all the while feeling how tight she got with every push, the sudden yelp of surprise and arousal escaping her lips every time his tip pressed into her cervix, making Mina tighten her grip on Izuku as the pair just kept looking into one another eyes, their breath mixing as now Mina was rocking her own hips to the rhythm Izuku had started, causing her to moan more and even to have Izuku grunt from the sheer pleasure of it all.
"Izu… Izuku…" Mina breathlessly spoke, one of her hands moving to grip the back of his head and run her fingers through the green curls, "S-So good… So close!"
"M-Me too…" Izuku panted back; his hands and forearms had been resting on either side of her head as a way to not fully push his entire weight onto her, but now his fingers were lost in her own pink curls, mimicking the movements she was doing, "Gods… it's so tight…."
"Inside! Please!" She moaned loudly, a gentle smile on her lips as she saw Izuku's gaze falter for a moment, "O-On pill… so inside! F-fill your cute a-alien up!"
A guttural growl of arousal that sent shivers down Mina's spine was all the answer she needed, as she could feel Izuku increase the pace of his thrusts, doing her best to match her own to them. The two kissed and playfully bit at one another's lips, teasing one another until it finally happened.
Izuku let out one last grunt of pleasure, hilting himself deep and hard inside of Mina as thick shots of his cum flooded her insides, painting her womb white with his seed as Mina desperately clung to him, holding her lover tight to her body while her world went fuzzy, her tongue just resting past her lower lip as she let one more glorious moan out into the world.
The two lovers, thoroughly spent, began to pant heavily, kissing one another in between, taking in big gulps of air to slow down their heart rates; all the while, Izuku remained as he did, buried deep inside of Mina, while the pink-skinned woman began to lightly kiss his face and neck, reminding the young man of the cuddle pile back at the beginning of the school year.
Eventually, finally catching their breath, Mina smiled brightly at Izuku, who returned the gesture with one of his own, "I love you, Mina…."
"I love you too, Izuku… almost instantly when you and Momo saved me from the shark villain last year."
"... I'll admit, the first time I laid eyes on you, I can't say I wasn't smitten myself…." Izuku chuckled softly, only to be interrupted by the sudden movements of his partner, who had surprisingly flipped them over, so now Izuku was on his back and looking up at the sitting Mina. His heart nearly skipped a beat when he got a sultry and lustful look in Mina's gaze, and whatever light source outside the window was causing her golden orbs to glow in the bedroom's darkness.
"I dunno about you…." Mina began to speak, her hand idly running along his chest while the other gripped her breast, giving it a squeeze, "But I'm up for 'round two'... except this time, I'm on top."
Izuku said nothing, only nodding with a bright smile that matched Mina's eagerness. And as the two lovers continued their romantic evening into the early morning, the storm that had forced them to change their plans had finally run its course, and the sun would soon welcome the start of a new day.
Chapter 60: Face within a Facade
Summary:
Izuku receives a request from someone and meets others who are "along for the ride".
Notes:
Well, it's certainly been a long time.
First off, I'd like to apologize about the lack of updates to this fic. Outside of the challenges of my full-time job, I was more focused on other story ideas as well as taking some rest where I could.
Blame Baldur's Gate 3 for the last month or so. Seriously, go play that game. It's Game of the Year imo.
Regardless, when it came to this story, I was struggling how to progress from certain points that need to happen. (Unlocking ALL the Jobs before Kamino, resolving the Overhaul issue, and the finale of the story). Thankfully, I was able to think of the direction to take this story, which you will read shortly, as well as reveal something I was hoping to wait for the end for... But then people could think of it as a cop out... So better to get it out of the way for the readers at the very least.
That being said, this chapter was going to be HUGE, like twice the length of what it was, but I decided to cut it into two as the second part would lead very well into the I-Island arc. But I felt this was a good stopping point and start the next chapter with a very lovely scene of a Unicorn meeting her new Vampire Momma.
That being said, I will try and make progress through this story, but it's hard when the only time I'm inspired to write is during my lunch breaks and I can't exactly write smut scenes during those times XD
With that, please enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
One would think Izuku would be used to having odd dreams, given his blessing and the nature of it. But, the green-haired boy was used to the universe toying with his psyche as Izuku once again stood alone in the dark abyss of his mind.
"Frey? Anyone?" the teenager called out, taking a few steps forward to let out the sounds of his bare feet hitting the non-existent floor echo in his ear as he sighed, "... Deku?"
"Wow, could you say my name with any sort of enthusiasm?" a grumbled, and younger voice of his dark aspect spoke from behind Izuku in the darkness, making the boy turn on his heel to look upon the doppelganger, staring at him with a deadpan look, while beside him was the ever-present Dark Knight, emotionless as usual with his arms across his armor-clad chest. Izuku blinked as he took in the appearance of Deku, who, while still sporting the 'negative' coloration of his hair and eyes, seemed to look older from the last time they spoke.
"What?"
"N-Nothing! It's just…" Izuku squinted slightly, causing Deku to frown more, "D-Did you get bigger?"
"At least our analytical skills are as sharp as ever." Deku rolled his eyes, sighing heavily, while Izuku's squint also morphed into a frown. Before the two could continue; however, a clearing of his throat from Frey caught both of their attention.
"Enough, you'll have time to bicker like children later. But for now, I called both of you here as we need to discuss." Frey spoke and walked past the 'younger' teenager, standing between the pair with his arms still crossed, "While I will give credit to the both of you for how far along you have become in regaining the full power of the blessing… especially with the return of the Summoner and Scholar, sadly the progress being made to reawaken the others is… lacking."
"It's not easy to figure out how to unlock the damn things!" Izuku suddenly shouted, causing both Frey and Deku to look towards him with a raised eyebrow each, making the green-haired boy flinch and retreat back, "S-sorry, but it's something I've been thinking about as well… what with that black-robed Ascian and All for One now teaming up."
"Understandable, and that is why I called you here to talk about…" Frey continued while Deku sighed softly, knowing that Izuku was telling the truth, given how many times he often had to block out the inner monologues of his 'light' side, "I wish to speak with his majesty and come up with a plan to expedite the process, I have a few ideas that could help us, as well as see if the King could possibly be any assistance."
"... and to do that, you'll need to control our body again," Deku spoke up, already putting together what the specter from the past was alluding to, to which Frey merely nodded his head.
"Yes, and while I am discussing with Nezu, Izuku will be here with you." Frey said while staring hard at the smaller version of the boy, "It's time he meets them."
Silence fell across the void as Izuku looked towards Deku, who looked frozen for a moment before huffing and nodding his head, "Fine… it was going to happen eventually anyway, what with-"
"Keep it a surprise, at least." Frey interrupted with a rarely seen sly smirk as Deku covered his mouth quickly, further causing Izuku to blink more in confusion. Frey merely waved his hand a little to tell Izuku to drop it for now, "So, do I have both of your permission to use your body during that time?"
"Why are you asking me? The goodie goodie is the one driving the ship." Deku said with a huff, causing Izuku to look at him confused.
"But, it's both our body… I told you that after we dealt with the shadow monster from before, it only makes sense he asks for both of our permission." Izuku said with a gentle smile, stopping Deku in his thoughts before looking away, his pale cheeks rosy a little.
"F-Fine… I'm okay with it, then."
Izuku smiled brightly, turning to Frey, "Same here-" but his smile faded, and one of panic came across his face with a heavy blush across his cheeks, "B-but, can it wait until I get into Nezu's office?"
Frey and Deku looked confused before the more petite boy froze and quickly coughed, blushing just as severely as Izuku, "G-Good call…"
Not fully understanding what the two were going on about, Frey gently nodded, "Very well, just simply call my name when it is time." with a raised gauntlet, the dark knight snapped his fingers.
Izuku slowly opened his eyes, groaning very softly as he took in the sights of his bedroom, with the familiar posters hanging up on the wall, and felt a slight tug on his arm, the emerald eyes of the Warrior of Light slowly looking down at his purple-haired sleeping partner and smiled gently.
While it had been a week since he had spent the magical night with Mina at his old apartment, it was decided with the others that everyone would have some 'alone' time between their little group. For Kyoka, she wished to spend the evening with Izuku while listening to music, perhaps to figure out what genres he likes the most, but also to let him experience different kinds she enjoys.
While the punk rocker was far from taking their relationship further than kissing and heavy petting, Kyoka had asked if she could spend the night with him, much to Izuku's initial shock and with her blushing more than him for once.
Of course, Izuku couldn't say no to one of his partners.
So here they were, Izuku holding Kyoka close to his body with her nestled against him, with her ear jacks coiled around his arms that rested on her midsection, while her pert ass was pressed against his hips and their legs entangled with one another as she softly slept, murmuring something in her sleep that Izuku couldn't quite hear.
He smiled softly as he slightly tightened his grip around her, gently peppering the back of her head with kisses to arouse her awake. Kyoka groaned softly from the 'attack', idly moving one of her jacks from his arms to reach back and poke his cheek, causing her boyfriend to chuckle, "Hey now, I had to wake you up somehow, despite how cute you look while you sleep."
"Yea… yea…" Kyoka grumbled, very gently sliding herself away from his embrace, untangling her jacks from around his arm as she sat up and stretched, giving her boyfriend a perfect view of her backside, the way the spaghetti shirt she had worn to bed slowly slid up to reveal her pale, delicate looking back, along with the way it curved downwards to her rather pert bottom and the rather short pj shorts she had worn. Izuku's mouth went dry as he bit his lip, ogling her as his cheeks turned a gentle cherry color, his eyes roaming her backside before her heavenly voice caught his attention.
"Enjoying the view?"
The punk rocker giggled gently, having turned her head slightly to see Izuku fidget and go completely red from having been caught. While she could hear his heart pounding, the way hers was beating was just as loud. Smiling to herself and enjoying the feeling of being desired by her green-haired boyfriend. Kyoka had moved to slip on her track pants and one of Izuku's shirts, covering her from eyes she didn't wish to show. It sucked having Mineta be his neighbor, "So, aside from helping Mina study for the exams and getting ready for the I-Island trip… what's on your plate today?"
Finally calming himself down, Izuku slowly moved and sat up on the bed, his gaze never leaving hers as she sighed gently, "I need to speak to Nezu this morning. Had a small chat with Frey and Deku before I woke up…" He watched as the mirthful smile on Kyoka's expression slowly morphed into one of seriousness, knowing that being contacted by either of those two wasn't good.
"Lovely, I hope it's nothing awful… last time we had to deal with your quote, unquote 'darker half', we nearly lost you…" Kyoka sighed heavily, crossing her arms as before she went to slip on her slippers.
"I don't think it is; Frey mentioned finding a way for me to unlock more of my kits in a quicker time frame… given the circumstances." Izuku's sigh matched hers as she slowly watched him rise and move to embrace her one more, her purple eyes staring up into his emeralds, "And If they do find a way, I'm asking yours to be one of the first."
"Oh? How come? Or you just wanna get it over with?" Kyoka said with a grumble. It was no secret amongst the group that the punk rocker felt left out when it came to unlocking Izuku's powers, given how everyone had already done so with theirs. Even Kimori had unlocked two of them before becoming part of the group; why was she taking so long? Sensing the foul mood his rock star was getting into, Izuku gently lifted her chin up, catching her gaze with his again before he slowly leaned in and kissed her soft lips.
Kyoka was a little taken aback by this at first but then slowly melted into the embrace more with her arms and jacks wrapping around his neck to keep the small make-out session going before they had to break off for air, "It's because I want to see how awesome of a kit you unlock for me, who knows, it could be the most powerful one… and it would make you smile, which I love seeing…" Izuku said, smirking as he gently turned his head to kiss one of the jack cords closest to him, sending shivers down Kyoka's body.
Kyoka huffed, gently letting him go with a smile, "Fine, you get off this time… damn you and your cuteness."
"What can I say? I-It's because I have such an adorable rockstar girlfriend." Izuku stuttered a little, still trying to get used to any form of flirting he could muster, but seeing how red Kyoka's cheeks went before she quickly turned around to hide her embarrassment, as well as calm her heart down, it took her a few moments to calm down before she moved to the bedroom door.
"A-Anyway, what are your plans for this afternoon? Training?"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head gently, looking away, "A-actually, I'm taking Eri to meet Toga this afternoon and then inform her of the trip to the Island next week."
Kyoka turned to lean against the door, arms crossed as she rested her head back against his door, "Have you told Eri she isn't coming? We all know that was going to be the original plan…"
"I will when we see Toga…" Izuku sighed, moving to his dresser to pick out a decent shirt for his meeting with Nezu, "As much as I would have loved to get her away from Japan and UA for a week and have her experience something other than constant fear of *Kai*..." Izuku growled low in his throat, and Kyoka could hear the venom dripping from the name, raising an eyebrow at the rather venomous tone he took.
Granted, she would also, given how the monster had treated their unicorn.
"But, with that Ascian tossing monsters at me left and right outside of UA's barrier… let alone if she gets overwhelmed with the new environment and Aizawa not being around to cancel out her quirk, it would be too dangerous."
Kyoka gently sighed with Izuku, nodding her head in understanding. While Eri had been making great strides with her quirk training and control, there had been a few times where it got away from her still, and being in an open area like I-Island without anything short of a quirk inhibitor on her would be disastrous.
Plus, the idea of having Eri cuffed left bile in the back of their throats.
"Anyway, I think Toga will greatly help Eri in the long run, given how she views her quirk… Honestly, Toga would be the most understanding if what I've already learned from Deku's memories are anything to go by, with all the lies that Kai had told her… I think it would be good for both of them."
Kyoka gently nodded, pushing herself off the door and opening it, "That's fine, I guess… but maybe just make a few blood packs for Toga before we head off… I know that a couple of the girls and I have already donated a pint or two, but she seems to 'do better' when it's yours for whatever reason."
Izuku gently nodded, smiling at Kyoka as he was rather happy the others in the group had taken to donating some of their blood to Toga, an olive branch in a way, given the things the blonde vampire had been told to her by his 'darker self' when it came to any sort of previous instances of romance where it was nothing but a cruel joke. As Kyoka closed the door after blowing him a kiss, which nearly toppled him over from how cute she was being with him, Izuku's mind soon returned to the task at hand and just what sort of chaos the 'ghost' and King of the Moogles would bring into his life.
"I must admit, I was slightly surprised by your request this morning, Midoriya." Nezu said as he looked at the slightly nervous student before him, "Especially with the urgency of it."
"W-Well… I hope I didn't take you away from anything important-"
"Nonsense!" Nezu interrupted Izuku with a bright smile on his muzzle, "Nothing could be more important than that of my students. So tell me, why did you wish to speak to me? You were rather vague on the details."
Silence fell in the room as Izuku took a deep breath, looking towards the Dean with a rather severe look in his eye, "It's not me that wishes to speak to you… i-it's Frey."
A few more moments of silence passed as Nezu leaned back into his chair, his tiny hands resting on his stomach, "Ah… I see; that would explain a few things. Well, we shouldn't keep him waiting."
Izuku gently nodded, leaning back into the chair he was sitting in and taking another deep breath, closing his eyes as his body went completely still. Nezu watched with utter fascination as the boy before him began to open his eyes, and instead of the bright emerald coloration he was used to, now was the very vibrant orange, along with the rather non-emotional look on the boy's face, "Your majesty, it has been some time."
Nezu gently nodded, bringing his paws up and pressed against one another as he spoke, "A few months, yes… but before we get into the nitty gritty of this meeting, I have to ask you something first."
The diminutive being's smile faded into one of seriousness, locking his pure black and beady eyes with the person before him, "Tell me, when were you finally going to reveal your true identity to the boy…" The smile slowly began to form on the Moogle lips as the 'ghost' merely raised an eyebrow in confusion, though he did look a little worried, "You may be able to fool most people but from someone so in tune with aether? Come now, you have to give me some credit."
By this point, the being known as Frey to most had sighed heavily, relaxing in the chair now and looking straight at the Moogle King, the orange slowly fading away to the purest of blue, with a smile on his lips, "When did you figure it out?"
"I had my suspicion at the USJ; while I will freely admit that your 'Frey' was quite powerful and convincing, it was never anything beyond what you could normally do as a Dark Knight." Nezu began to pour himself a cup of tea, offering a cup to the person sitting across from him, who politely refused, "But, when my young student had unleashed one of the most devastating red mage spells, with your guidance, as well as those nightmares about the fall of Dalamud that Midoriya had told myself, as well as two of his teachers with such vivid detail that Frey couldn't have known about because *he* wasn't around then, and even if the original Frey shares your memories, there is a fine line between remembering them first-hand and knowing it from some outside influence."
Nezu sipped his tea, raising an eyebrow, "It would also explain your little speech to All Might back at the USJ, as well as how all the various monsters from *your* past battles seem to keep popping up."
The dark knight gently nodded, sighing softly, "When I saw that Ascian without his mask and hood, I realized it myself, truth be told… I know that aether within blood can carry memories of the individual it's tied to, but even after such time and to be used in such a way…"
"So, you are aware of the outside world despite what you told Midoriya previously?"
"To a point, I can block out the surroundings during his more… personal times…" The man groaned gently, "I honestly hoped he wouldn't inherit any of my old Miqo'te 'urges'..."
"At the very least, he has several wonderful partners he can rely on during those more turbulent times." Nezu continued to sip his tea before exhaling his breath to cool his mouth, "Aside from that, it would also seem that your old pacts are still in place, what with Feo Ul appearing when Midoriya called out to the King of Faeries. Makes me wonder who else could he call upon should he need assistance…"
The other being blinked in confusion before his eyes slowly went wide, "Y-You don't mean-"
"I do; it wouldn't surprise me if that old dragon wasn't already listening in on us, but either wishes to reveal himself when the time is right, or Midoriya gains more power." Nezu placed his empty cup onto the desk, staring hard at the person now, "However, you wished to discuss something with me?"
"Oh, right… my apologies, your majesty-"
"Just 'Nezu' is fine; after all, we are old friends, are we not?"
The blue-eyed person gently chuckled, the flash of an old memory of himself and a much younger Nezu playing in the Sea of Clouds back in Eorzea, resting more comfortably in his chair as he continued to speak, "That's fine by me… Alright, as I'm sure you noticed, but with the threat of the Ascian and this person known as All for One, Midoriya needs to not only unlock the remaining skills he will need to combat their combined forces and whatever nightmares the two will come up with…" The man leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees while his hands held up his chin as he spoke more gravely, "But Izuku also needs to obtain the crystal of Azem."
"I was curious if you were going to bring it up, truth be told… one would think that it would be on your person and thus meaning that the Ascian has it." Nezu said as he rested back into his chair, "But, given what was said in Hosu from the reports, but also how the boy was able to take the 'name' of the fourteenth seat without the crystal… you know where it is then?"
"I do… in fact, you could say he already has it in a sense, but it won't appear until he is ready." A chuckle escaped the ghost's lips, "One last safety measure I put in place, just in case."
"I see; it's good that your current predicament hasn't stopped your cleverness." Nezu also snickered, "Be that as it may, I strongly caution trying to force Midoriya from unlocking too many of the 'kits' in a row. While I agree that the progress needs to be quickened thanks to the circumstances we all face now, even with his heightened aether count, if we force too many of them all at once, it could have dire ramifications on his body and his very self. I'd rather not have a Sin Eater running around, Quinn."
"Agreed… I don't even want to think about it truthfully." The now-named man sighed gently, leaning back once more as he stared at the ceiling, "My idea would be, at the maximum, two kits a week, at least in the beginning… I know of one or two that Izuku may wish to tackle first once we finalize the plan and he is told."
"I can tell you are worried about a couple of them, though…"
Quinn tilted his head forward, stood up from his seat, and began to pace around the office, "One more so than the other, to be quite frank with you. The least of our worries, for the most part, is the Blue Mage, while Izuku hasn't come across anything or anyone to trigger the 'pull' to unlock it yet, with how powerful I made it back home and how often I ran into issues using it, it will be something I don't think he'd be able to maintain control over, at the very least use it for a good portion of time."
Nezu watched as the former Warrior of Light moved towards the windows, staring out of the window completely silent, "And the more dangerous kit?"
"It's not as dangerous to use, but who will it involve to wield the power of… after all, I had to bind the beast to me to make sure he couldn't attempt anything once he reformed…"
"Ah, the Reaper…" Nezu nodded, understanding Quinn's hesitation for Izuku to unlock that particular power of his, "I trust he hasn't made any attempt to escape his bindings?"
"No… The voidsent has been surprisingly quiet this entire time, and while it was a remnant of the being, it was still quite powerful and was hard to even subdue." Quinn looked towards the Moogle King, his gaze hardened, and he looked back outside of the window to a small scene where a small group of people were enjoying the day, sitting on some benches and talking amongst themselves with a smaller person currently with them, "What worries me is who unlocks it for him and the implications it will bring."
"After all, for what reason would unlocking one of the most dangerous and destructive jobs in all of Eorzea be tied to one innocent little girl?"
The crashing of waves began to fill Izuku's ears as he slowly groaned, raising himself up from what felt like a wood surface and feeling a little woozy. Still, given the last time Frey had taken over his body, Izuku had been 'asleep' during it. Hence, the experience was still new to him. He opened his eyes briefly before gasping out in shock from how bright it was around him.
"And here I thought I'd have to kick you awake." The familiar voice of Deku caught his attention as Izuku turned his head, looking at his smaller counterpart before his eyes grew wide as to where he was.
All around him was what looked like a large fishing port, with various ships that looked like something out of a European history book. His emerald eyes began to look before he spotted the towering buildings overlooking the docks he and Deku were on. Giant spires that matched the aesthetic of the boats, with clearly medieval European designs with bright white walls and gold trimmings decorated along the roofs as the gentle sounds of water hitting the wooden platforms continued while Izuku began to stand up, "W-where are we?"
"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how best to describe it." Deku said, turning around to make his way into the larger city itself, "From what I've learned, this place is called 'Limsa Lominsa', and it was one of the places our benefactor would often come to visit."
As the pair began to ascend up the various stairs and ramps towards the city's inner parts, Izuku looked around with the biggest smile on his lips. While it was a little unsettling with how quiet it was due to the lack of people, the city itself was gorgeous, and in his own thoughts, the green-haired boy would imagine the various people wandering about, doing their daily routines with the majority going through the stalls of the local bazaar. A clearing of Deku's throat caught his attention as the pink-haired boy kept looking ahead, "So… how is Himiko doing?"
"She's… fine." Izuku nervously said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Himiko will be meeting Eri later today. I wanted the two to meet sooner, but Krile suggested we give Himiko more time to recover."
"Was she sick?!" Deku stopped in his tracks, spinning around and staring hard at his taller aspect, "If you so much as-"
"She's fine!" Izuku shouted out, taking a step forward and glaring back at Deku. Emerald eyes locked onto the pink ones of his younger-looking double before Izuku sighed, "Sorry for shouting, but look, I know how much you love her, and trust me, I can tell how much she loves and misses you, despite us both being the same person…"
"But we aren't the same in many ways… I'm a stuttering mess often, while you like to brood from what I got of your memories when we were apart, and you know I'd be more than happy to reunite the two of you, but we can't yet. Not until you recover yourself." Izuku was panting a little after that little rant, keeping his gaze on the now downtrodden-looking Deku, "Honestly, I do understand how you feel, of all the things you love about her, and over the last few weeks I've visited her, she's a wonderful young woman that really got the raw end of life, just like us."
Walking closer to Deku, Izuku's frown slowly vanished, "I'm not going to make her forget about you, and as hard as it will be, you'll have the other's love as well. Like it or not, we are a package deal now, and there will be times that we will have to snap each other out of bad habits that we often fall into."
Deku was silent, staring at the ground now while Izuku was talking. They remained that way for a few more moments before the huffing and turned around to begin their trek once more, "Fine, but you so much as lay a single finger on her-"
"We technically are past that point, remember?" Izuku blushed, chuckling slightly, as Deku's cheek also turned a soft rose color when the images and memories of that time that Himiko had helped sated his 'urges'. And while yes, it was Deku who did the deed with Himiko, it was still their body in a sense.
"Y-You know what I mean!" The smaller aspect shouted out with his cheeks a brighter red, grumbling as he stomped away from Izuku, who couldn't help but chuckle at Deku's reaction.
Eventually, the pair had made it to the central plaza, coming in from the vacant stalls and marketplace boards, and Izuku's eyes shone brightly as he took in the sight before him, running up the gigantic object just idly floating in the center of the area, "That crystal is huge!"
"It's an Aether crystal, from what I was told. Apparently, people could transport themselves across great distances between two of them in only seconds…" Deku said as he came up beside the green-haired boy, his arms crossed over his chest, "Sadly, it can't be used for transporting goods and that."
"That's a shame, but the possibilities of personal travel for everyone! No one would need planes, trains, or cars to get to far-off places. This would cripple air travel alone as people wouldn't need to fly anymore."
"Aww! But flying around is so much fun!"
A very feminine voice caught the teenager's attention, and while Deku merely sighed at the person's antics, Izuku stood shocked and wide-eyed as floating above him was a woman, standing proudly in the air in what would easily be considered a hero outfit. Her smile was big and bright as she slowly descended to the ground, walking towards the pair, "It's about time you got here. Don't you know you shouldn't keep a woman waiting?"
"Time has no measurement here, you know that." Deku groaned as Nan snickered, with Izuku moving his eyes between the pair and remaining quiet, if not from curiosity but the shock of seeing another person inhabiting his body, especially a woman who eerily looked a little like his mother in some ways.
"And you are just as grumpy as ever, kiddo." The woman said, suddenly ruffling Deku's pink mop of hair, who was trying to bap away the older woman's playful teasing as her sights now looked towards Izuku, "Well, hello there, Ninth! It's wonderful to finally be able to speak with you."
"O-Oh, hello- Wait, why did you call me 'Ninth'?"
"Oh! Because you are the ninth wielder of One for All." The woman cackled lightly, crossing her arms over her chest before smiling at him, "And given the look on your face, you must be confused."
"A-A little bit, yea…" Izuku scratched his cheek while Deku sighed softly and cleared his throat to get his 'older' doppelganger to look at him.
"Apparently, because Quirks are tied to everyone's own aether within their bodies, when One for All passed between the users, it took their quirks into itself."
"W-Which means that it took their aether, and by extension, a part of their souls." Izuku had finished, while Deku had nodded gently in confirmation. Izuku brought his hand up to his chin and mumbled something, making Deku roll his eyes as the woman giggled gently before she knelt beside the shorter boy and nudged his side with her elbow.
"It's cute how you both did the same thing when I told ya!"
Deku's cheeks turned a soft rose again, looking away and grumbling as the woman's attention was brought back towards the taller of the two boys, looking like he just came upon an epiphany, "S-So does that mean all of the previous wielders here?"
Grunting as she stood up to her full height again, she placed her hands on her hips and gently shook her head, "They are all looking around this place, seeing how far it can go… The first three wielders went to something called the "Crystal Tower" to read about the history or knowledge they could find there. En and Hikage, the sixth and fourth users, are roaming to survey the lands and see what's out there. Only me and Banjo were here waiting for you."
"... What about All Might?" Deku asked, now calmed down from his grumpiness and looking at the woman. Izuku gently nodded his head in agreement with the question. The former wielder sighed gently and relaxed her stance, only one hand on her hip.
"He's here, in a sense… but I can't explain it. Maybe when One for All finally leaves him or… well…" She was silent momentarily; the words didn't need to be said as both boys looked on in horror, "Regardless, he's like a ghost or something; I don't know how best to word it… Not fully formed yet would be my best guess."
"Buuuut, enough about my dumbass student!" She barked with a loud cackle, shocking the two that someone would speak that ill of All Might of all people.
Then again, there was Gran Torino…
The woman was still smiling proudly while placing her hands on each of the boy's shoulders and looking at the two, "While I can understand Toshi's reasons for saying it originally, We have watched you two get put around the ringer, and yet still have the hearts to do good and help others, whether or not they want it. You both should be proud of how far you come, and I'll be honest, being chosen to wield the power of One for All was one of Toshi's best decisions."
"I'm going to be real with you two; even if you didn't have these bonkers powers or One for All, you'd both be outstanding heroes!" She suddenly pulled the two into a hug, which felt motherly in a way that caught the two halves of the same boy off guard by the sudden hug, "You two are heroes already… never forget that."
The woman could hear sniffling in both sides of her ears, knowing precisely what was happening as she gently pulled away before they soaked her shoulders and cape, still smiling brightly at them, "Now let's go meet Banjo, and I can tell you a few embarrassing stories of Toshi when he was younger!"
As the woman began to head towards a large building across the way where the two had entered from, Izuku had rubbed the tears from his eyes away as he called out to her, "U-Um!"
"Hmm? What is it, Ninth?"
"Y-You didn't tell us your name."
The woman blinked for a few moments before suddenly slapping her forehead gently, beginning to take to the sky as she recovered from the hit, "Oh my god, I'm such an idiot…"
Looking down upon both boys, mainly at the green-haired one who wasn't aware of who she was, the woman smiled brightly once more, "I am Nana Shimura! Seventh wielder of One for All and All Might's predecessor, and thanks to you, given a second chance to make this right."
"So, that's your plan? To awaken his powers while he is asleep using the powers of Feo Ul?" Nezu asked as he watched Quinn pace back and forth, "I'll admit it's an interesting idea. Should we get the cooperation of the Faerie King, of course."
"It shouldn't be a problem, honestly, she may already know I'm here right now… she did mistake the boy for me when appearing in this world, and honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how that is possible… it took G'raha the power of the Crystal Tower to bring me to Noverandt after many attempts and false summonings, and she originally couldn't fully travel to the Source when I eventually did get there."
"Perhaps your little journey to this planet paved the way for her to come here." Nezu chuckled softly as he leaned back in his chair, "And I honestly don't think Feo Ul would mind helping her newest 'sapling', from what I have been observing, she has really taken a liking to him, as well as Miss Komori and young Eri."
Quinn had slowly sipped some tea from his cup, finally being able to relax and not be on guard as he usually would be, looking to the small Dean, "It doesn't shock me; my 'branch' always did a fondness for kids. But that's not all I wish to do regarding the boy."
"Oh?" Nezu asked with a little more interest as he watched Quinn finish the last of his drink before placing it down on the saucer.
"With the Ascian able to summon monsters from my past, I need to train Izuku to deal with them properly. I understand this world's laws forbid lethal force, but…" Quinn had leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees and holding his chin by his hands, "He will need to learn how to fight and kill them and make the decision to do so on his own."
"Yes, I had a feeling that may come up…" Nezu sighed and climbed off of his chair, walking around his desk and standing in front of the former Warrior of Light, "I will try to do the best I can, but it will be hard to convince the HSPC should Izuku need to put down any creatures that are humanoid in appearance."
Quinn gently nodded, staring at the 'Moogle', "Regardless, thanks to that… 'quirk' was it? The one that Izuku obtained from that man, All Might?"
"One for All? Yes, what about it?"
"Well, with that boost in aether from that One for All power, I was able to create a 'dreamscape' of Eorzea using my own memories." Quinn said as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back once more, with the beady eyes of Nezu staring at him hard, "And that includes its dungeons."
"Are you suggesting to take Izuku, and I'd assume Deku as well, and run them through the various trials you did as an adventurer?"
The gentle nod of confirmation from Quinn was all he needed before Nezu startled to cackle like a maniac, "Oh, I love that! And if it works, perhaps we could also adjust it to include the other hero students!"
"P-Pardon?"
"I mean, we can't just rely on Midoriya to take down the monsters by himself! Goodness, no, the others will need to keep up as well! After all, what kind of university would we be if we catered to only one future hero?" Nezu continued to cackle some more as Quinn, with a look of shock on his face, realized he may have made a critical error on his part.
After calming down a bit, wiping away a tear from his eye, Nezu looked again to Quinn and stood straight, with his paws behind his back, "Well, I think it's about time we brought her Majesty into the conversation, after all… Feo Ul will have her say in it as well. You know what you must do, Quinn."
The two continued to stare at one another, one expectantly, while the more human-looking person looked on in confusion before his eyes widened, "Y-You don't mean-?"
"She is still in a contract with you; you're the only one who can call upon her outside Midoriya."
The pair remained silent for a moment, staring at one another until the head of the green-haired man hung down and sighed heavily, raising his chair and moving to stand in the middle of the room. Quinn began to straighten out his clothes before clearing his throat and taking a big breath. He only hoped Midoriya would forgive him for whatever 'punishment' would come his way.
"O loveliest of branches!"
Chapter 61: Mama Himi
Summary:
It's time for a certain little unicorn to meet a certain vampire!
But all is not good news as something evil lurks in the background.
Notes:
Well, this took longer than expected.
To be fair, I did have a second round with COVID and also it's the peak season for my job and I had took on another department which wasn't the best timing for.
But here we go! Chapter 61 and the set up for two big things coming!
Dunno which story to work on next, maybe MHH or Magic Swords; it will depend on after this week, I'm taking off to recover some mental and creative juices.
With that, please enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders.
Chapter Text
Himiko had never been more scared in her life up to this point.
Sure, the fear of not being ‘normal’ as her so-called parents had drilled into her mind over the many years she lived in their house was pretty terrifying at times. The challenges when she was finally able to escape that environment to only end up homeless wasn’t a walk in the park either, though that did get better when her Deku-kins came into the picture.
She can say that the problem of having to go without blood again had been solved for the most part, thanks to Izuku and the others, who, while a couple of them seemed a little put off by the blood itself and not her drinking it, and were shockingly tolerant with her needs and offered up their own blood. Though Jiro did seem to be the most squeamish of the bunch.
Then there was the whole housing issue, as she couldn’t stay in the plush room she was occupying forever. But that was taken care of already as it seems that the green-haired man’s mother had taken it upon herself to invite Himiko to live at the dorms, acting as an assistant to the woman, considering she had her responsibilities with helping the wizened Recovery Girl.
And now, within a few moments, she would be meeting the most important person within their little group. A child who had suffered far worse than anything she had ever been put through, mutilated over and over again because of her quirk. Himiko felt absolute rage when Deku had first told her of the little girl, wanting to hunt down the monsters that tortured the poor thing! She didn’t even want to drink their blood, which was saying something.
And while she was anxious to meet the little ‘unicorn’ as Izuku had mentioned the nickname to her when he had come by earlier that week to bring her up to speed on how they should approach Eri. That wasn’t what she was terrified about.
No, it was the folder currently sitting inside the nightstand by her bed, something that she had been given by Recovery Girl the previous night and sat with her for a good portion of it.
The folder contained sheets of test results that had revealed to the young vampire possibly the best but worst news of her life.
She was pregnant, and the only person who could be the father was Deku.
The tears she had cried the previous night were a mixture of happiness and terror. She was overjoyed with the news at first, considering that this was what she had wanted when Deku had made his promise to her. The two of them, with children, living far from anyone that could hurt any of them and being happy.
But then the fear slowly crept in, considering where she was now.
How was she supposed to tell Izuku and the others? Would they understand? Would they accept her and her child? Would they be forced out of UA and have to fend for themselves? Would she be a good mother?
And worst of all, would her child inherit her urges?
She had blurted all of that out while crying to Recovery Girl the previous night, being nearly inconsolable for a good hour or so before the older woman could get a word in.
It didn’t help that she and Izuku were still technically getting used to one another, while it was a little awkward at first, given that the boy had explained that when he and Deku ‘became one’ again and had inherited all the memories and experiences that Deku had accumulated over the weeks they were separated. Which, of course, meant that Izuku knew she and Deku made passionate love.
Even thinking about it now had made Himiko feel a little hot under the collar.
Regardless, the pair had been getting along quite well, and of the times they did hang out, the blonde woman would swear she could see Deku for the briefest of moments. The way he would look and tear into quirks while analyzing them gave her the feeling of deja vu, looking like Deku did when he was scanning the streets outside of that old dingy window in their previous abode.
A gentle knock at the door caught Himiko’s attention as it slowly opened to reveal the curly green mop of hair of the man she had been thinking about, “Toga..? We are here if you're ready?”
“Oh! Yes! One second!” She exclaimed, quickly moving to the mirror hanging on the wall and giving herself a quick look over, hoping that she hadn’t begun to cry again, as well as making sure her hair buns were ‘just’ right before quickly moving to sit on her bed, facing the door once again, “Alright! I’m ready!”
The mop of hair disappeared behind the door again, where Himiko could hear some mumblings from the outside before Himiko’s eyes slowly went wide when Izuku had fully opened the door to reveal the small child beside him and holding his hand.
Standing before Himiko was an adorable little girl with long snow-white hair that flowed down her back, a cute little horn poking out the right side of her forehead, with the most beautiful ruby eyes she had ever seen. She was also wearing a vibrant red dress with yellow buttons that hung down past her knees and adorable red eyes that eerily looked similar to her father’s.
Across the room, while Eri had initially been nervous, considering this was a new person she was meeting, Her expression turned into awe at the young woman sitting on the bed before her, with piercing yellow eyes that looked similar to one of the cats Unca Zawa had shown her, messy hair buns that looked both like they would come apart with the slightest breeze but also strong enough to survive one of Mama Kyo’s sound blasts. The cardigan the woman was wearing was quite oversized, though it looked incredibly warm, and a very neatly ironed out blue skirt.
Eri and Izuku slowly entered the room, with her papa closing the door gently behind her as the young woman slowly hopped off the bed; barely a sound was made while she slowly walked over to them. The young girl could see the pure fascination within those golden eyes as it felt like a large creature was slowly stalking towards her. Eri nearly jumped when she felt the warm hands of her papa resting on her shoulders as she knelt down behind her. Eri turned her head to see his warm smile as he began to speak, “Eri, this is Himiko Toga.”
“Hiiii there,” the airy sound of Himiko’s voice caught Eri’s attention as she looked back to see the woman squatting down before her, their eyes locking into place, “You are so adorable!”
“T-Thank you…” Eri said, blushing slightly and holding her hands in front of her body, swaying gently in embarrassment. Seeing this reaction caused Himiko to smile wide in pure delight, which caught the young girl’s attention, and gasped gently.
Himiko had realized her mistake, considering when she smiled like that, it was often called creepy or disturbing since it showed off her fangs, and as she was just about to stop smiling, the little girl gently moved forward and said something the blonde never thought she would ever hear.
“Can you teach me to smile like that?”
“You… Do you want to smile like me?”
“Mhmm, all my momma’s have been teaching me to smile like they do. A-and.. You are going to be a new momma, right?” Eri asked with a tilt of her head, surprising both Izuku and Himiko with the question as they both stared at one another before looking back down at the little girl and gently moved closer to her.
“Eri, how did you know Himiko and I were… ‘together’?”
“O-oh! Um… I overheard Mama Momo and Mina talking about Mama Himi with you a few times when I went to get some juice.” Eri said with an honest look on her face, causing Izuku to blink a few times in confusion.
“Wait, how did you learn to be so sneaky? I swore we made sure that we were talking alone those times.”
“Unca Roki taught me! He liked being as quiet as possible so no one could stop him from having, um… So-ba?” Eri said with an upbeat tone, causing Toga to giggle gently while Izuku sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He should have seen this coming since after both the Sports Festival and the Hosu incident, Todoroki had been more friendly to the rest of 1-A, aside from Bakugo, who he kept agitating as some sort of joke. With Eri being more at ease with the rest of the class, it was inevitable she would befriend more of them, and Todoroki seemed to get along well with her.
Seriously, “Unca Roki”?
“Eri, if you see, um… Unca Roki, try to sneak more Soba; you tell one of us, okay?”
“Oh! Ok Papa!” Eri beamed a small smile, currently not knowing why she was told to do so.
Himiko was looking lost at all this, not knowing the whole story but perhaps asking Izuku later on. But now was not the time for that as Himiko gently moved a little closer towards Eri, moving onto her knees as the little girl's ruby irises locked onto her golden ones. The pair stared at one another as Himiko began to speak softly, “Well, you were correct; I would like to be another mama for you… though I want to ask you something, if I may, Eri?”
The child slowly nodded, curious as to what the question was.
“Your papa told me about your quirk…” Himiko began to speak, the curious look on Eri slowly morphing into fear before she felt the warm and comforting touch of her father’s hands on her shoulders, causing her gaze to look to Izuku, who was smiling gently at her to reassure the young girl as Himiko’s voice caught Eri’s attention and gaze once more, “He told me that you don’t like it, right?”
Eri’s head slowly nodded as Himiko gently opened her arms out to the small girl, and after acknowledgment from Izuku, Eri slowly moved closer, only to be very lightly wrapped up in the cardigan-covered arms of her new mother. Eri continued to watch and listen to Himiko, who was smiling a little more somber now, “I understand not liking your quirk; until recently, I was the same…”
“You didn’t like your quirk?” Eri asked with a tilt of her head, confused because everyone around nowadays seemed to really like their powers.
“Mhmm, a lot of people had told me that my quirk was ‘evil’ and I should act ‘normal’... so I suppressed it for a good part of my life.” Himiko gently tightened the grip on the small child in her arms, not to hurt her, but because of the flood of memories from those years ago flashing into her thoughts as she spoke, “... it started to affect my mind as the years went by, so much so… I did a bad thing and had to run away from home.”
“Thankfully, I eventually ran into someone very special, with very fluffy hair… and he helped me realize that my quirk wasn’t ‘evil’ at all, nor I shouldn’t blame myself for what happened. Eventually, I was brought here to UA, and I’m getting the help I need from those who have accepted me.”
Eri was silent for a few moments, gazing into the blonde woman’s eyes, and she could see the hurt within the golden irises. Slowly, Eri began to hug Himiko close, hoping that she could be one of the people to help her. Eventually, though, curiosity got the better of the little munchkin as she asked, “Um… w-what is your quirk?”
“Oh! I can make myself look like other people! Think of it like covering my body with a giant costume.”
Eri tilted her head once more; that didn’t sound like something terrible, and just as she was about to ask, Himiko chirped up again, “Ah, I see that little question in your cute little noggin, “But that’s not evil.” right?” After getting the nod from Eri, Himiko held her close, suddenly picking up her and Eri and moving to sit on the bed, her knees having started to hurt from kneeling on the hard floor, “Well… to transform, I need to drink someone’s blood, and because of my trying to ‘act normal’ for all those years… my body demands to drink it every now and again. Since coming here, your papa and other mamas have been donating blood to help me.”
Eri gasped then, bringing her little hands up into little fists as her eyes began to sparkly, “Just like Johnny Fangs!”
Himiko blinked for a moment, wholly stupefied and confused as to who or what the little girl was referring to, and while Izuku was like that at first, he suddenly had a look of realization before chuckling to himself, adding to the blonde woman’s further confusion.
Izuku gently reached his hand out to pet Eri’s head while also moving some stray hair from her face as he smiled at her, “Why don’t you tell Mama Himiko all about Johnny Fangs and Witch Hazel?”
The little girl in Himiko’s lap began to vibrate with excitement; all the while, the young woman’s thoughts were filled between how excitable her new daughter was about this particular topic and how much being called “Mama Himiko” had not only made her heart flutter, but the pit down in stomach grow a little more.
“Well, I can say with full confidence that Eri really likes you.” Izuku said with a chuckle, moving to sit down beside Himiko on her bed. It had been only a few minutes after Inko had come to grab Eri to get ready for dinner, having to carry the small child as she had tuckered herself out slightly from all the fun she had been having with both of her parents.
“She’s more adorable than I had thought.” Himiko gently giggled, leaning back and letting her feet swing slightly against the edge of the bed, “Deku-kins talked about her a couple times; it was one of the few things he would often think and worry about when it was just me and him.”
Izuku gently nodded, confirming what Himiko was saying as he gently shifted himself to face Himiko, a small smile on his lips, “And how have you been? I know we are going to have to introduce you to everyone in the dorms eventually… I mean, I can see if Nezu could-” he was interrupted when the soft touch of Himiko’s finger pressed against his lips. The blonde woman was smiling brightly at him as she giggled.
“You don’t need to worry about me; I’m a big girl! Plus, I know if there are any issues, I can count on the other girls to back me up.”
“H-huh? What about me?” Izuku said with shock as Himiko bounced off of the bed and walked a few steps, continuing to giggle some more.
“I’m mean, sure, you can be scary too, Izuku, but do you really think anyone would try and pick a fight with all the girls?”
“Bakugo-”
“He’ll be lucky if I don’t stab him the first chance I get.” Himiko’s silly disposition suddenly morphed to one of cold seriousness, the smile faded, and her eyes lost the happy look to them as Izuku had seen she was now toying with a knife she had somehow procured from somewhere on her person, shocking him as far as he had known, Himiko’s knives were being safely kept in the Dean’s office under lock and key. Gently moving off of the bed, Izuku slowly came closer to the blonde woman and gently wrapped his hands around the one holding the knife but not taking it away.
“I’ll handle Bakugo and anything he says towards you…” Izuku said with a determined look on his face, catching Himiko’s shocked look, “I would happily put him through several more buildings and cement walls if he so much as says anything horrible to or about anyone I care for.”
Himiko gently began to blush, slowly moving his hands so she could put down the knife onto a nearby dresser, her lips slowly forming into a small smile as she looked back to him, “And where did this come from? Since when does Izuku Midoriya make threats?”
The green-haired boy chuckles slightly, rubbing the back of his head, “I’ve been doing some thinking… and talking… with Deku,” As soon as he even mentioned the name, Himiko was already upon him, her eyes wide and frantic with interest. Thankfully, Izuku had already anticipated this and continued before she could start listing off a multitude of questions, “He’s fine; he’s still recovering, but getting stronger every day…though I don’t think there is a way for us to separate again since his aether is now tied to mine…”
Himiko began to look crestfallen, gently leaning her forehead against Izuku’s chest as the Warrior of Light slowly wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. Izuku began to rub her back with his right hand as he continued to speak, “Deku-kins is very proud of you, by the way… He knows this is a lot to take in, and the fact you have also been trying to heal yourself as well with our blood and talking with Hound Dog… as much as he would love to be here physically with you, he knows that with me, Eri and everyone else here… he doesn’t have to worry.”
“Can he… does he know that I am here right now?” Himiko asked, slightly shaking in Izuku’s embrace.
Izuku was silent for a few moments, as if to contemplate something, before speaking once again, “He knows… in fact, he can see you right now.”
Whipping her up quickly, golden irises meeting the feline-like pink of her dark knight. Himiko could tell they were Deku’s from the intense gaze as Izuku continued to speak, “This is about as much as we can muster; we have been practicing since he was a little more stable. But, I think that after some more time recovering, we could try having him speak.”
As he was saying this, a single tear had unknowingly flowed out the side of his right eye, where Himiko had moved her hand up to gently wipe away the tear, beaming her brightest smile as if to convey that she was happy. Izuku had blinked a few times suddenly, the usual green returning to his eyes as he gently smiled at her, “Anyway, Deku and I have been talking and trying to… understand one another more. He suggested that I don’t bottle up things as much… hence that very mild threat earlier.”
“I didn’t know slamming someone against a cement wall would be considered ‘mild’ by most people.” Himiko chirped as Izuku chuckled a little nervously at her remark.
“Deku’s ideas were… a lot worse… and bloody.”
Now, that had gotten a good giggle from the young blonde woman, making Izuku chuckle a little more before he slowly moved his arms from around her sides and pulled himself away slightly, “Well, it is getting late, and I should be heading back for dinner… You are more than welcome to come join us, Himiko-”
Izuku was interrupted when Himiko placed a finger on his lips, still smiling at him, “I’m more than happy to come, considering I’ll be moving into the dorms to help Mamadoriya with the manager’s position… hehe, I bet a bunch of boys are SUUUPER jealous of you. Having so many cute and sexy girlfriends…”
Himiko began to giggle more when she saw how bashful the boy before her had gotten, scratching the side of his cheek as he chuckled gently to himself before having his attention brought again to the young vampiress, “Izuku, can… can I ask a favor?”
“Um, sure? What is it, Himiko?”
Now it was Himiko’s turn to be “Could… Could you show me your back? I want to… check something.”
Izuku had looked initially confused about her request, given the abruptness of it, but without saying a word, Izuku slowly turned himself around, lifting the back of his shirt up, and stood there silently and waiting for any sort of response before he felt the warm and soft touch of Himiko’s fingers against his skin, before hearing the airy voice of the blonde behind him, “T-they were real, a-and there are new ones?”
He turned his head to look over his shoulder, somewhat seeing her look around the various scars along his back with a sort of fascination; Izuku wasn’t honestly expecting her reaction regarding the old scars of what he endured while growing up, but he had a feeling that seeing his ‘new’ ones could lead to some nasty implications and should address those now, “The new ones were an accident… Please don’t tell Momo I said anything, but those are from her gripping a little too hard after she got her nails done a couple of weeks ago… she was really embarrassed.”
“...Did you like it?” asked Himiko, which made Izuku suddenly stiffen, and her golden eyes looked up to see the blush returning to his cheeks before turning his head forward to hide, causing her to smile bright and wide, thinking that this was good information for later. However, there was a difference that caught the young vampire’s attention.
In the middle of Izuku’s back was an odd sort of tattoo, something that wasn’t on Deku’s back. It was a beautiful blue crystal-like design with what looked like various symbols littered along the different faces of the object in question. No two symbols looked alike, and yet there were a few of them that were still blank. Himiko remained quiet as she delicately let one of her fingers touch one of the blank faces, which caused Izuku to jolt and gasp out loud, “Izuku-kins? You ok?”
“Y-yea, just felt a shiver run up my spine just now- Wait… did you just call me ‘Izuku-kins’?” The boy turned around and let his shirt drop down, staring into her eyes once more in slight bewilderment from the new nickname, making Himiko fidget slightly and look away, embarrassed.
“Y-You don’t like it?”
“No, no, I never said that… I was just a little surprised because that’s what you called Deku.”
Himiko giggled then, smiling once again, and the way she just radiated how bright it was had made Izuku’s heart flutter a little bit, “Well… what can I say? You are Deku-kins, and he is you… so maybe it was about time I tried to stop keeping the two of you separate.”
“Now come on! It’s almost dinner time, and I don’t want to make my little Eri upset if we are late!” Himiko suddenly ran up to him, took his hand, and surprisingly pulled him towards her door, clearly wanting to go see the small child once more, which caused Izuku to smile brightly and follow after her.
Unbeknownst to the pair, as they were heading back to the dorms, the ‘tattoo’ on Izuku’s back had undergone a change, a new symbol appearing on the blank face that Himiko had touched.
A golden circle with three points swirled around the rim of the ring.
One would think time wouldn’t pass by as quickly as it did. But Izuku had found that it just seemed to slip by more often than not these days, as it had already been a week since Himiko and Eri had first met. It was hard to keep the two of them separated. The blonde had instantly latched herself to the little girl, almost to the point that it was hard to split the pair most days.
Which was a good thing considering where they were as the Tokyo International Airport was busy as it usually was, with Izuku holding up his ticket to see where he and his small entourage were going.
“Papa!” Eri spoke up, causing Izuku to turn his gaze towards her. The small girl was currently sitting in his other arm, her tiny arms wrapped around his neck, before one of her small hands pointed to a sign, “Is that where we are going?”
Izuku looked and smiled gently, nodding his head and gently kissed Eri’s cheek, which caused the girl to giggle and the onlookers of their little group to smile gently. Eri went back to clinging to her father, nuzzling against him as the group continued to walk to their destination.
“It’s still shocking that we are actually going to I-Island… I mean, it’s rare enough to be just invited…” Kyoka said as she walked beside Izuku to his right, causing some of them to look in her direction, “Heck, I was shocked that Momo and I are going for work experience.”
“Considering the problems with some of the internships, I’m just glad I can make up for mine.” Momo sighed gently, doing her best to forget the lackluster experience she and Kendo had shared despite everyone commenting on how beautiful they looked in the commercial. Eri’s praise had especially made the sadness go away as she wished to look as pretty as her Mama Momo.
“Well, you get to be the bodyguard of Izuku-kins as a VIP! I’d say that makes up for it.” Himiko said sweetly as she rushed up to scoop Eri out of Izuku’s arms once they had neared the door to their plane. While Eri hadn’t wished to let go of her Papa just yet, the vampire’s affection made her cling to Himiko, with the messily made-up hair buns donning the small child’s head to match Himiko’s bouncing slightly, “And I’ll keep our cute Unicorn all safe and sound!”
“Mama!” Eri giggled as Himiko gave cute little pecks on her chubby cheeks, making everyone smile as a clearing of a throat caught everyone’s attention.
“I don’t need to remind you to behave yourselves, not only as students of UA but also as future Pro heroes!” Toshinori Yagi said with his usual grin, with Inko and Krile standing on each side of him, “But do try and have some fun! All Might’s flight should be leaving in the next hour or so, thankfully, we have our ever-youthful Recovery Girl to escor-OUCH!” he bellowed as a cane swiftly smacked against his shin. Toshinori was hopping on one foot, crying out a ‘WHY?!’ as the older woman walked away from him.
“You’re being too loud, and we have to get on our flight, you oaf.” The wizened Lalafell woman said as she walked past the small group of students, turning her gaze towards them with a stiff look, “Well?”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!” the three students squeaked out, causing Inko to giggle while Toshinori finally calmed himself down. Kyoka, Momo, and Izuku then walked towards Himiko and Eri, enveloping the pair in a large group hug with gentle kisses from each member on Eri’s cheeks and head, causing the small girl to giggle and smile brightly.
When all of the group had sat down with Eri to tell her she was not going to be able to attend I-Island like they had initially planned, to see her little heart broken and thinking it was because she did something wrong had nearly sent the young parents in a frenzy to calm her down.
Thankfully, Inko had been watching them and soon diffused the situation, clearly showing off her parenting skills to the small group and helping prove all the claims Izuku had told them about Inko being a fantastic mother to him.
Just as the three students were pulling away to catch up, Himiko suddenly pulled all three of them back, kissing each of her partners on the lips with a soft grin and blush; it was Kyoka first and then Momo, “You watch out for our Izuku-kins… you know how he likes to cause trouble.”
The three women shared a small laugh, leaving Izuku to sigh and mutter out an ‘I don’t cause trouble.’, which was suddenly halted when Himiko turned his head back towards her and kissed him gently on the lips, stunning the boy as she pulled back with one of her bright smiles further shocking the boy with how beautiful she looked, “Knock’em dead, Izuku-kins, and then come back to us safely, ok?”
Izuku just remained still, his mind trying to reset as Kyoka and Momo both sighed gently with small smirks, pulling their boyfriend along to their gate as Eri and Himiko were giggling to themselves as they went back to Inko and a now recovered Toshinori, who were both smiling at the little scene.
However, unbeknownst to the small group, a man had pulled out his cell phone as he walked around a corner, quickly speeding up as he brought the device to his ear and began to speak.
“Get me the boss. I found the brat, and he ain’t going to like where she may have been hiding.”
Chapter 62: Unwritten Future
Summary:
On our way to I-island and already the problem child is doing his best to bring worry and concern with him!
Also Himiko has a chat with Tsu and Mina after a lovely visit from the Asui family.
Notes:
Wow, it's been a hot minute since I updated this story.
Sorry for the wait, as I have been having a blast writing the reaction fic "Witnesses of the Light", as well as trying to get the other stories up to date as well. I can say that the overwhelming response to the reaction fic really brightened my day whenever I posted it.
So yeah, this is where things get weirder in the story as we do a kind of veering off of the canon story arcs. and while I'll be posting a few chapters all taking place on I-Island (considering the fun things I have in store :D) there will be a few or at least some chapters focusing on developments back in Japan.
Also, going to say it here, the Dawntrail jobs are NOT going to be in the story, considering to get them takes place AFTER Endsinger, which is when Quinn died. So yea, no Viper or Pictomancer, sorry folks!
Special thanks to Zabeck for beta reading this for me!
Without further ado, here is the long awaited Chapter 62!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV, they belong to their copyright holders. If anyone reposts this or any of my stories on Youtube or any other media streaming platform) without my consent, I will be taking the appropriate actions as is my right.
Chapter Text
"Come to me…"
A soft whisper echoed out from the vast cityscape before Izuku, with half-destroyed buildings surrounding him. His emerald eyes looked at the odd structures that had the feeling of being ripped out of a centuries-old European city. With every step he took moving deeper down the winding corridors and alleyways, he could hear the cracking of glass and stone underneath his feet.
Izuku was in his hero costume, or at least he thought it was, given the small and briefest glimpses he could get. However, Izuku could tell something was off, as he could feel the softness of a scarf wrapped around his neck. At the same time, Izuku continued down the unknown path he was following, and oddly enough, he did not care where he was going, but Izuku knew he had to continue on.
"Come to me…"
Again, the whisper echoed off the walls, though Izuku could swear it was coming from within his head, but he still marched on, though now he could feel the weight of something in his hand where a rather odd scythe-like weapon was now being firmly grasped within his hold. Still, Izuku continued to make his way further into the broken metropolis and was rounding a corner.
"Come to me…"
The voice, now slightly louder than before, as Izuku's sight came across a horrific scene before him. Dead bodies were strewn about, with strange garbs being worn amongst the dead that Izuku had mentally recognized as Garlean soldiers, one of the many enemies of Quinn that he had faced time and time again with almost little to no reprieve. The blood was wet, and the hard splash of it coated his shoes and lower legs with every step, but Izuku never paid it any heed, marching on and continuing down the unknown path toward the voice.
"Come… to me."
The blood was now on the broken walls, which at this point had morphed into something like that of a large corridor or hallway, more modern in its design as the bodies that were once long-dead soldiers were now in the shape of unknown people wearing lab coats, coated with their splattered blood as well as the bird-like masks they wore to cover their faces, one such body was sitting against the wall, their red beaked mask halfway falling off the lifeless corpse.
But even then, Izuku didn't stop his advancement, ignoring the bodies on the floor and against the walls, even while their blood dripped off of the blade of his scythe.
Eventually, Izuku found himself before a door at the end of the corridor, stopping for the briefest of moments as if to contemplate on his course of actions before it opened slowly, revealing an expansive room that held something rather macabre sitting upon a dais in the center.
A coffin.
Stepping into the room now, Izuku made his way to the rather eldritch-looking thing, covered in obsidian-like plates and demonic markings and horns that would even give the most stalwart of people a fright.
"Come to me…"
But Izuku still kept going until he was now standing only a few feet from the foreboding casket as it slowly began to open, and an elongated shadow hand, with a fading of bright crimson red to just as bright teal color, shot out towards the boy.
"... my little reaper."
Izuku shot up from his seat slightly, panting heavily as sweat formed along his brow, which startled both Kyoka and Momo. The punk rocker had been resting against Izuku's right shoulder, so she was surprised the most due to the sudden movement, while Momo had simply been reading a novel to his left.
"You alright, Green?" Kyoka asked, rubbing her right eye as she yawned softly. Any sort of tiredness that would have remained from her little power nap when she could not only see the terror that was occupying her boyfriend's face but also hear the speed at which his heart was beating. Taking his hand into hers, Kyoka gently rubbed it as she spoke softly, "Izuku! Take slow breaths, ok? Nice and easy."
Seeing the distress on both her partners' faces, Momo also reached over to grab Izuku's other hand, her thumb idly rubbing against his. Momo followed along with the 'breathing exercise' to calm down her boyfriend.
Eventually, Izuku sighed once his breathing was in control, holding his partner's hands as he leaned back into the chair, "I'm ok… I'm ok… thank you, Kyo... Momo…"
"Izuku, dude, what happened?" Kyoka asked gently, holding his larger hand tighter, with her ear jacks coiled around his arm and wrist, with the 'metallic' ends gently sliding along his skin.
"A bad… I don't know if I can call it a dream, but it was more like a horrible nightmare…" Izuku spoke quietly, with both women now looking at one another as he continued, "T-there was so much blood…"
Momo rose from her seat after hearing that, having been on the flight to I-Island for at least the last few hours. Thankfully, the young heiress was able to procure one of her family's private planes to take them to and from the island just to avoid the crowds should something happen during the trip. Sadly, while she had offered Mei and her escorts to join them on the plane prior to departure, but Vlad King had already arranged everything for the other inventor's trip. Which meant a certain mushroom adorer couldn't join them on the flight there. Going back home? Oh, Kiniko was definitely coming back with them.
However, Momo was just glad she had made the decision to take the private jet, considering Izuku's current state and the 'oddities' his powers possessed, let alone whatever that robed person that was after Izuku may have had in store.
"I'll go see if Krile is free…" The heiress spoke softly, leaning over to kiss Izuku's cheek and then looking towards the punk rocker on the opposite side of Izuku, "Kyoka dear, there is a small mini bar just behind you that should have some water."
With an affirmative nod, Kyoka had lifted out of her seat, though leaving her jacks still coiled around the boy's arm and wrist so he could still feel the warmth and comfort of the more petite woman. Momo soon left her seat as well, but not before gently cupping Izuku's cheek with her warm hand, smiling as he seemed to push against the warmth radiating from it.
Izuku leaned his head back against the chair once more, sighing heavily as his mind wandered and thought about everything he had experienced within the 'dream'. Even if the visual aspects were horrifying and disgusting, to say the least, they all had to mean something. Izuku furrowed his brow, knowing that most of his dreams should have some kind of connection to Quinn's previous life, like the Garlean soldiers that were dead on the ground… which was in the distant past, so then why show him a similar scene with all those people with the bird masks.
While he recognized the last person he had seen, the one with the red-beaked mask, as Kai Chisaki, the man currently hunting for his daughter, just why had he been shown a scene like that? Also, the strange coffin at the end of the hallway with the womanly voice constantly beckoning for him, just how did all of this tie together?
And not only that, but why was she calling out to him? And worse yet, what was the mysterious voice implying with her words at the end, which gave the Warrior of Light chills down his body.
"It's a shame we couldn't catch Midoriya before he left, croak." Ganma Asui said as he was sitting on the couch in the common room of the Heights Alliance dorms, his youngest daughter sitting in his lap with her wide eyes looking around the spacious room and furnishings with curiosity. To his left was his wife, Beru, who had her slightly large hand holding his own and their fingers intertwined. His only son, Samidere, was sitting to his right and playing on one of his small video game systems; he was clearly bored, "I would have liked to talk to him about a few things in private." croaked the older man.
"Ribbit, now Ganma… I thought we discussed that you wouldn't give the boy any of the 'protective father' routine." Beru spoke up, sounding a little miffed at her husband through her voice, as well as the disapproving glare coming from his oldest daughter, Tsuyu, who had been sitting on one of the chairs close to the couch her family was sitting on.
The toad-looking man croaked out a deep chuckle and shook his head, "I know, dear, and I wasn't going to be too harsh on the boy, though I will admit I am a little shocked that he had adopted a young girl at his age, croak, let alone the relationship in general."
"There were circumstances when it came to Eri, kero," Tsu spoke, her hands on her lap, "While I'm sure Izuku would have wished to give you a proper explanation, Eri is very much his daughter at this point, as well as mine, kero."
"And we'd like nothing more than to meet her, sweetie." Beru spoke up, reaching a hand out to grasp Tsu's own for comfort, "But you have to admit this is a big responsibility… raising a child."
"I know, kero." Tsu stared into the eyes of her mother, "And I will admit it's not the smartest decision I or any of us have made, but I do want this…" The frog-like girl gently looked down to her lap, thinking of something before looking up towards her parents with a somewhat determined look in her eyes, "As far as I am concerned, Eri is my child, and I am her mother… and it would be an icy winter day before anyone… ANYONE thinks of taking her away from me, kero."
The ribbit from the frog girl was deep and low, which frightened Satsuki, who had held onto her father a little tighter, while Samidere merely blinked, and his eyes widened in surprise to see his usually calmer older sister like this. Ganma, seeing the look his wife was giving him, croaked once to get the attention of his two youngest, "Let's go and check out the garden, croak."
While Satsuki didn't really have an option, given that her father was still holding her in his arms, Samidere was about to protest when his father winked at him. While the boy was younger than Tsuyu, he was relatively mature for his age and knew that there was going to be a serious talk between his older sister and mother. After Samidere nodded with a heavy sigh, more out of exhaustion than anything, the three had left the common room towards the kitchen doors leading to the outside garden.
Once the glass doors had been shut, Beru looked towards Tsu, who was idly fidgeting with her fingers and looking down upon her slightly larger hands, "Kero, sorry about that."
"It's fine, sweetie." Beru said softly and moved to hug her eldest, "You're very protective of Eri, much like I was with you and your siblings."
"Kero, I never seen or heard you sound and act like what I just did." Tsu spoke with her finger on her chin and tilted her head. Beru giggled softly, patting the spot beside her where Ganma was previously.
"Well, that's just what comes with experience, ribbit…" Beru smiled and held her daughter's hand once Tsu had moved over to the spot beside her mother, "By the time I had Satsuki, I was able to control my emotions far better than when I had you or Samidere, though even with your brother it wasn't as bad as when you were first born."
"Kero?"
Beru gently nodded, the tiniest of smiles appearing on her usually emotionless face, reminiscing as she spoke, "Oh when you were born, I was so protective of you… I even kept your father from holding you for the first couple of days, ribbit."
Tsu thought about that for a moment, her finger still on her chin, before looking back to Beru, "So… when Izuku and I have children, I should be able to have a better handle on this?"
"There will be times where you slip slightly, ribbit, but you are my daughter and always have been so mature for your age that I know you'll do fine." Beru giggled again before her smile soon faded. She took a severe tone when she spoke, "But no children before graduation and marriage."
"Of course, kero." Tsu simply answered, as a matter of fact, "Despite the urge to not follow through with that on my last cycle."
Beru nodded her head sagely with a gentle sigh, "Ribbit, given me and your father wanted to wait a few years after we got married to have children and the stress of being lawyers, I know exactly how you felt."
It was a good thing Tsuyu knew that her mother was someone she could easily talk to about certain aspects of their family quirk, given the many 'issues' that could come up with it. Hopefully, once Satsuki was a little older, she could count on her eldest sister to offer advice on these sorts of matters. But like most young adults her age, it doesn't mean she wasn't a little embarrassed talking about these subjects with her mother. Thankfully, many of her classmates were out for the day or not in the dorms as well, which was a godsend as this would allow Tsu and her mother to have this sort of conversation alone. Even the 'purple pervert' was nowhere in sight, which Tsu thanked the gods for, as she really didn't want Mineta around to accidentally overhear this particular conversation.
Even if he was more well-behaved than he had been since Eri came to live in the dorms, there were still times his less-than-ideal 'nature' cropped up, so long as it was never around the small child, which Tsu couldn't help but think that perhaps the private talk that he had with both Izuku and Inko may have had something to do with it.
Well, the frog-like woman knew it had worked, given she never expected to see a pale-faced or white-haired Mineta in all her life.
The doors from the front entrance of the dorms opened, catching both Tsu and Beru's attention as Inko pushed it open while still holding onto a currently napping Eri, who clung to her grandmother like a koala to a tree. Seeing the pair on the couch, Inko smiled brightly as she hastened her walk towards them, which the younger woman had moved to meet halfway, "Hello Tsu, would you mind taking care of Eri for a bit?"
"Is there something wrong, kero?" Tsu said softly so as not to wake her daughter while she was gently placed into her awaiting arms.
"Some third years got injured while doing some exercises, and with Recovery Girl gone with Izuku and the others to I-Island, I have to cover for her as best as I can." Inko spoke softly before looking towards Beru, bowing her head gently, "I am sorry I cannot stick around."
"It's perfectly fine, ribbit." Beru said with a ghost of a smile on her face, "Perhaps next time we can have some tea and speak, perhaps maybe invite the other parents of the little group."
Inko smiled softly, her cheeks a soft red hue, and she nodded her head again, "O-of course!"
"Kero, where is Himiko?" Tsu asked, holding Eri close to her body as the small child was holding tightly to her for her warmth. Inko turned her gaze back towards the student.
"Our drive ran a little longer than expected, so when we finally got parked, she was late with her meeting with Hound Dog. I told her it was fine to go ahead to her appointment as Eri had already long since passed out on the drive back."
Tsuyu nodded and looked towards Beru, who had tilted her head slightly in confusion, "Kero, she is a recent member of our relationship."
"Quite the sizable group you have, dear."
"Everyone is happy at the very least, and it's not like any of us are doing anything but being ourselves, kero." Tsu said nonchalantly, looking back toward Inko, "Sorry if we are taking up your time."
"It's perfectly alright, I'm going now- Oh!" Inko began to say while turning around before suddenly stopping, looking back towards Tsuyu, "Himiko wanted to speak to you and Mina later tonight, and she said it's something important."
"Oh? Did she say what it was about?"
"She didn't, but given how she was fidgeting in the car at times after Eri took a nap, I have a feeling it's something big…" Inko said a little cryptically, which Tsuyu took as a little strange as the older Midoriya wasn't usually one to hide anything. This, of course, made her think that Inko knew more than she was letting on, but before the young heroine in training could try and pry some answers from UA's temporary only nurse, Inko quickly apologized and ran out the door when her phone beeped with another medical notification.
"I can see where the boy gets his stutter from." Beru gently giggled with her hand by her lips as she looked towards the sleeping Eri, "And the pictures you sent me earlier don't do Eri any justice… She's absolutely adorable."
"Kero, that she is." Tsuyu said gently as both she and her mother moved back to the chair and couch to continue talking until Eri eventually woke up. And when she did, Eri's little world would suddenly get bigger as she was going to gain two more grandparents as well as two 'older siblings'.
"So, you wanted to speak with us?" Mina had asked, sitting cross-legged on the rather fluffy and comfy green blankets of Tsu's bed as she, Himiko, and Tsuyu had retreated to the frog woman's dorm room after dinner and after putting Eri to sleep for the night, though there was a small device sitting on Tsuyu's nightstand that would alert the three women if their unicorn needed anything.
Most of the night had been looking over the short videos taken by Tsuyu's parents of Eri playing with Satsuki and Samidere, with the young girl being quite frightened at first of the two younger members of the Asui family until the topic of Witch Hazel had come up when Eri spotted the small keychain hanging off of Satsuki's backpack.
From there, the two youngest children had become nigh inseparable, even commandeering the common room's TV to watch a few episodes before dinner time, singing along to all the songs together or tried to, given Eri hadn't much practicing singing and was still a little off with keeping up with the songs, which didn't matter since Satsuki was also having some trouble with her little ribbits here or there.
Samidere wasn't much of a participant in many of the sing-a-longs or play with the two young girls for obvious reasons, though he did his best to behave around Eri and helped them color in a few pictures here or there. Even going so far as to not point out that technically, both he and Satsuki were Eri's aunt and uncle, which Tsu found a little interesting since he would often do such for Satsuki.
Perhaps the slight blush on his cheeks when Eri called him 'big brother' had something to do with it.
The tiny unicorn's reaction to Tsu's father was also a bit surprising to all of those watching, given that while Ganma looked intimidating to most people, even to some adults, Eri had no issues with the way he looked, approaching him casually like she would with anyone else in the class. When questioned on it after the Asui family had left the dorms, Eri simply tilted her head in confusion before saying that the name wasn't scary at all and reminded her of 'Uncle Toshi', which was understandable given the personal secretary's skeletal appearance.
But that had long since passed, and now both Mina and Tsu were staring at Himiko, who was gently fidgeting with her glass of water that she had been nursing for the last ten or so minutes, the silence still thick in the air as the two women patiently waited for the blonde to speak up.
"Right… so… um…" Himiko began to speak, looking around the room a bit before gulping down the last of the water in her cup, given that her throat felt quite dry, "First, let me just say that while we didn't meet the best of ways… I am very happy that you all accepted me."
Mina crossed her arms over her chest, curling her lips into a smirk as she snickered lightly, "It was a memorable first meeting, considering I never realized how good Izuku looked in a nightgown…"
Himiko giggled in response, her cheeks a little rosy as it was the pink-skinned woman who had been the one to welcome her so quickly, "Yeah… Do you think we can get him to wear one?"
"If we convince Eri and she asks him, more than likely." Mina snickered, with Himiko doing so as well shortly after her. A gentle ribbit from Tsu caught both of the women's attention, with Himiko clearing her throat, reaching to a nightstand to grab a cup of water that she had brought with her and taking a slow sip, practically drinking it all down in one take, which made Tsuyu tilt her head.
"Are you alright, Himiko?"
"Just.. a dry throat all of a sudden." The blonde woman sighed softly, placing the empty glass on the nightstand and kneeling back on the bed, fidgeting slightly, "Okay… so… Did Izuku-kins mention how me and Deku-kins first met?"
"Kero, he mentioned that you found each other in an alleyway, but aside from that, nothing else." Tsuyu answered with Mina gently nodding her head in agreement, "He said that if we wanted to know, we should wait for when you were more comfortable with us."
"I'll admit, it was hard to be patient, considering I wanna hear all the romantic details about how you both went from strangers to lovers!" Mina gushed, her cheeks turning light purple as she giggled, but she hadn't noticed the way Himiko was looking away and biting her lower lip.
The ever-observant Tsu, however, did.
"I'm going to guess it wasn't the best introduction, kero."
"Huh?" Mina shook her head to bring her out of the fantasy she had thought about how Himiko and the mysterious 'darker half' of their boyfriend looked towards Himiko, who had curled up slightly while gently tapping her index fingers together. Feeling the golden irises staring at her now, Himiko gently sighed.
"Look, I wasn't… he didn't…" The blonde was starting to stutter, and her gaze began to look between the pair. Fear slowly crawled across her face, and her irises began to shrink and thin as she started to breathe heavily in fear. However, the sudden warmth of two pairs of arms wrapping around her snapped Himiko out of the downward spiral she was beginning to go down as the blonde vampiress looked to see both Tsu and Mina gently hugging her.
"If you're not ready to give the full details, we understand, kero." Tsu spoke softly, with Mina gently nodding her head and then smooshing her cheek against Himiko's to nuzzle against it, "Perhaps a smaller condensed version if you're more comfortable with that…"
Himiko gently nodded before her arms wrapped around both Tsu and Mina, pulling them close for more comfort. And while the responses to such an act were different between the pair, given that Mina was smiling and giggling while Tsu was just a little more rosy on her cheeks, the young blonde began to tell her tale.
"Alright… so, me and Deku-kin's had been together for a few weeks now, not romantically yet, but I had already developed feelings for him, and I dunno when he started to crush on me either… Either way, we were surviving mostly and moving from place to place to avoid being found, either by the authorities or by Izuku-kins and UA." Himiko started to say, looking down at the bed covers and smiling softly, reminiscing about all the things she and Deku had been doing those first couple of weeks, not noticing the curious looks on her partners, "We had been trying to track down Stainy because I wanted to meet him and drink his blood, I'll admit… I wasn't in the best head space then."
"Given what you have told us about yourself and what you were going through, there is nothing for us to really judge you on. But why did you want to meet the hero killer of all people?" Mina asked as both she and Tsuyu moved away from the blonde to sit back on the bed to give her some breathing room as she continued her story.
"Stainy's message…" Himiko replied softly and looked towards Mina, "About how the hero society is corrupt and so many people are villainized for their quirks, which they have no control over, and also how many 'fake' heroes there are that only care about fame and fortune, not actually helping out people that need it… like me…"
Mina and Tsu watched as a small tear slid down the vampiress' cheek due to the bad memories of her earlier life resurfacing within her thoughts, "Kero, and I can assume that Deku was alright with this?"
"Mhmm…" Himiko said with a gentle sniffle before moving a hand to wipe away the tear, "He wanted to speak to Stainy too, for advice on what he should do as well… at least that's what he told me when I asked him. But then Hosu happened."
Both women looked at one another in shock and then returned their gazes toward Himiko, who was blushing gently from their shocked stares. "Y-you were at Hosu?" Mina asked as Tsu shivered slightly from the memories of what was broadcasted out to all of Japan at that time.
"Yep," Himiko replied with a pop to the 'p' of the word, smiling gently, "We found Izuku-kins and Stainy fighting on the street, though something weird happened before that…" Himiko said cryptically, "There was a big beam of light that shot up to the sky. It was gorgeous, and when I was about to tell Deku-kin's about it… he was being attacked by the shadows."
Both Mina and Tsu looked at one another in worry, finding it highly odd and worrisome from what Himiko was telling them, which made the vampire puff her cheeks up, "I'm telling the truth, you know!"
"No, no… we believe you, sweetie." Mina said defensively with her hands up in front of her, "It's just that when we first met Deku, he was being controlled by a shadow monster… you have to admit it's a little suspicious."
"He was fine after whatever those shadows did to him back in Hosu, more than fine even…" Himiko blushed and shifted in her spot, her cheeks a little rosy with her hands pressed against them, "We had left after Izuku-kins and the other heroes caught Stainy after something wonderful had happened."
"What was that, kero?"
"Deku-kins felt warm and had a heartbeat!" Himiko gushed with a big smile before it faded when she saw the confusion on her faces, tilting her own head in wonder as to why they were so confused before gasping gently, "Oh right! So, prior to all this, Deku-kins was kinda like… a 'shadow-person'? At least that's what he was able to explain who he was at least. He was physically there, but he didn't have a heartbeat and was generally very cold to the touch…"
"So, he had a body? Or was it something similar to Dark Shadow where it can shapeshift?" Mina asked, tilting a little forward with her eyes full of curiosity.
"He had… something like a body in a sense... But no warmth, or heartbeat or blood for that matter…" Himiko said, wrapping her arms around her midsection, "But after what happened in Hosu, he somehow was able to become, I guess, 'real' would best describe it. His blood was soooo yummy." The blonde giggled with a bright smile and licked her lips, "In fact, Izuku-kin's blood tastes the same."
"Okay, so… Deku got a real body? I'm just not seeing why you needed to be so secretive about this." Mina further asked as she sat back with her arms crossed. Himiko swift, the light dusting of pink on her cheeks growing more prominent.
"I'm getting to that… so after I had drunk some of his blood, Deku-kins had basically locked himself in a room away from me for a couple of days until I lockpicked myself in and demanded answers… I wanted to help him just like he had done so for me…" Himiko pressed her index fingers to her pouting before the pout slowly morphed into a gentle smile, "But he told me why he had secluded himself… and then I helped him."
"Wait, why did he lock himself away from you? Now I'm confused." Mina said with a frump in her voice, tapping her fingers against her arm since they were still crossed over her chest. Himiko was silent after that, trying to describe how best to go about saying that the darker half of their boyfriend had been in a sexual heat, but seeing no natural way to, she began to speak in almost a whisper.
"He… he didn't want me to think he was using me… to get rid of his 'urges'... but I loved him, and told him that, and that I would do anything to help him… So I did."
The silence following that comment was heavy in the air before a very low croak escaped past Tsu's lips; who was now staring intently at one part of the blonde vampire's body with her dark and beady eyes where one of Himiko's hands was now rested.
Her stomach.
"Kero, Himiko, are you pregnant?" Tsu asked, leaning a little closer towards the young woman, with a wide–eyed Mina looking between the pair as Himiko very gently nodded, a few tears slowly sliding down her cheeks.
"Izuku-kins doesn't know yet…" Himiko confessed, looking down to the bed, still tearing up, "I-I wanted to tell him before he and the others went to I-island… but we all just got so busy, with you guys training to be heroes and me moving in and helping Mama Midoriya with Eri." Himiko hiccuped then, sniffling gently, "A-And I was so scared! I-I didn't want to frighten any of you away or have you all hate me! I-I don't want to be alone again! I don't want my baby to be alone!"
Himiko was now openly crying, her hands covering her eyes, which didn't allow her to see Mina scoot herself closer and wrap her arms around the weeping young woman, holding her close as Himiko's face was leaning against Mina's shoulder as the pink-skinned woman was gently rubbing her arms and back while whispering words of comfort.
Tsuyu, however, remained where she was, just staring at the two before slowly moving off the bed and moving towards the bathroom that every dorm room had and shutting the door behind her; the other two girls were watching the frog woman disappear into the other room before being startled from hearing the splash of water and a squeak of a ribbit from within the closed off room, only to have Tsuyu leave it while toweling off her face, "Sorry about that, kero, needed a shock to my system to properly process this."
"You good, Tsu?" Mina asked, still holding Himiko tightly as the blonde gently sniffed and nuzzled against the pink woman.
"Somewhat, but honestly, I had figured something like this would happen, given my and Izuku's 'cycles' and the demands it has over us, but I was banking on it being during our final year, not first."
Mina gently nodded her head in understanding; while she knew that both of her partners would be very careful when it came to using contraceptives during those times, she had a feeling that, at some point, they would either forget in the throws of passion or decide that the time was right. Admittedly, even Mina was already starting to plan out when she and Izuku would have their own kids, which would be after graduation and marriage, of course.
However, how soon afterward was only for Mina to know.
Tsuyu was now staring at Himiko, who curled herself more against Mina as the frog woman sighed gently, "What's done is done; now we just need to move forward with this however you want to, Himiko, but I'd like to ask some questions, kero."
With a gentle nod coming from the still tearing up blood-drinker, Tsu moved her body to sit crosslegged before the other two, "Well, an obvious first question, but nonetheless important… Do you want to keep the child?"
A swift but silent head nod was all Tsuyu got in response, though not surprising as it would be hard to talk with the current state she is in, "Okay, because Izuku would ask you once he does learn of this; now, this will require you to speak, kero… but who else knows about this?"
"R-recovery Girl… since sh-she did my physical tests and is how I found out… I-I think Nezu knows too… maybe Aizawa?" Himiko softly spoke, though it felt strained considering her crying over the last little while as Mina raised an eyebrow.
"Why would Aizawa need to know?"
"Probably because it involves one of his students, and considering this is a University, it would make sense that the homeroom teacher would know, kero."
"B-But Deku-kins is the father! Not Izuku," Himiko suddenly spoke out, tears starting to fall once again, "I-Izuku and I haven't… I didn't…"
"Shhh… it's ok Himiko… just breathe nice and slow…" Mina spoke gently and held the weeping woman close, gently placing her lips on the blonde's forehead in a comforting manner.
Tsuyu slowly moved off the bed and towards her desk, where she pulled out a rather plain-looking binder, though covered in cute little frog stickers. Tsuyu then proceeded to sit closer to the pair on her bed, "Actually, the baby is technically Izuku's… considering what he wrote down."
"What do you mean, Tsu? And whatcha got there?" Mina asked, her hand idly stroking Himiko's head as the blonde woman began to calm down slightly once again.
"It's a photocopy of Izuku's book when it comes to his powers; I asked him for it when I couldn't practice trying to improve my prey/predator instinct with him because of everything that kept happening with my aunt, kero." The green-haired woman slowly opened the book and started to move her larger-than-average fingers across the different tabs she had placed for himself, "It's fascinating to read his thoughts and some of the ins and outs of his blessing… though not everything is in here, as he didn't have a chance to photocopy any new entries before he left- Ah, here it is, and my apologies for the ribbits in between."
Both Mina and Himiko slowly leaned over, though they were barely able to see what was written on the page; Himiko's heartbeat rapidly increased when she gazed upon the skillfully drawn sketch of her beloved Deku-kins. Tsuyu gently cleared her throat, which sounded like a trill of croaks, before speaking once again.
"... when it comes to Deku, the experiences of his little journey with Himiko were eye-opening, to say the least, especially with what happened during the events of Hosu, kero. Apparently, the pair had been in the vicinity of where we encountered Stain, hoping to find him and not only ask him an important question, kero but to allow Himiko to have some of his blood… how they were going to do that isn't as important as to what happened to my darker half before everything went to hell with the Primal Nomu.
Just as I had unlocked the Samurai kit, Deku had experienced something similar, though it was much different, with the various shadows and darkness of where he and Himiko were waiting to get to Stain. They retreated, however, as something odd had come about, kero…
He had somehow gained a body, one made out of flesh and blood."
Tsuyu looked up to see the gazes of both Mina and Himiko, who were listening in on every word she was saying; the frog woman continued as she closed the book, "Izuku further went on and talked about that he and Deku were tied to one another, so when Izuku unlocked a new kit and grew in power, the same thing happened to Deku since they are one and the same, kero."
"That also means that when Deku got his body, he was under the influence of his heat cycle like Izuku was at the time." Tsuyu further went on to explain as she turned her beady eyes toward Himiko, "And given why we are having this conversation, you and Deku didn't use protection, did you? Kero."
Himiko slowly looked down to the bed again, sniffing gently, "Deku-kins was trying to warn me that we should have gotten condoms at least… but I could tell he was in agony… and I told him that it would be safe, and I honestly thought that too…"
"But why did you say that Izuku is the father, Tsu? Deku had his own body." Mina asked with confusion in her voice and on her face.
"True, he did have his own body, but remember that he and Izuku are technically the same person, kero." The froggy woman said with a gentle croak, "As weird as it sounds and from what Izuku had hypothesized in his writings, the body Deku had received would be exactly like Izuku's, right down to the genetic makeup, meaning that for a brief moment, Izuku literally was 'in two places at the same time'."
The room grew silent again with that little tidbit now out in the open. However, it did not last as Tsuyu let out another heavy croak, "Well, we cannot change the past… What we can do now is plan ahead." She spoke with determination in her voice while looking towards Himiko and Mina, "First things first, we should let Momo, Kyoka, and Kinoko know once they get back, let them process it and then we all talk to Izuku… I'd rather all of us girls be prepared for when he freaks out or faints… probably both, kero."
"I'd rather let them know now…" Mina said with a gentle sigh, "But you're right, we should wait for them to get back, since if Izuku did find out, he'd race back as quick as possible and this is too big of an opportunity for all of us if the eggheads at I-Island do buy into the development of Magitek."
"Kero, and we should also let Inko know…" Tsuyu said gently while Himiko looked scared again, "She's a mother and a nurse, and I don't think she will judge you, Himiko."
"Considering I already know, that would be the correct answer, Tsuyu." The motherly voice of Inko could be heard, startling the three occupants to see that the dorm mother of 1-A was resting against the doorframe to the now opened door to Tsu's room, "I was doing my last rounds to let those still up it's 'light out' and see your light on and overheard some of the conversation… I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I figured this was too important to wait."
Inko slowly walked towards the three women, who were now calming down from the fright of the older woman Inko sat down beside Himiko and gently took her hands into her own, "I'll be honest, I wasn't entirely happy… given that you are both so young, but with how my son's 'blessing' is causing him to be more… 'friskier' for a boy his age, I knew something like this was bound to happen." Inko's eyes then went towards Tsuyu and, with a gentle smile, spoke once more, "No offense, dear, but I honestly thought it would have been you first, considering your quirk's needs."
"No offense at all, kero; I thought it was going to be me too as well," Tsuyu said with a gentle smile on her lips, which did get tiny giggles out of the other three women before Inko looked back at Himiko still smiling.
"Just promise me one thing, Himiko… Will you love and support your child? Even if they turned out quirkless and wished to achieve a near-impossible dream?"
Himiko blinked after Inko made that comment, looking back to Tsu and Mina, who were just as speechless as well. The blonde slowly brought a hand to her stomach, her mind racing with all the possibilities of what her child could have… but in the end, even if her baby grew up to have her quirk or was quirkless, Himiko didn't care… It was her baby.
Himiko looked straight into Inko's eyes, her hands now protectively holding her stomach, "Even if they had or didn't have the craziest quirk imaginable, that would never stop me from loving my baby."
Inko beamed a bright smile, tearing up a little herself, and suddenly hugged Himiko tightly, and before Mina and Tsuyu joined the hug, the future grandmother of her child spoke into Himiko's ear gently.
"Then you're already a better mother than me…"
Chapter 63: Dreaming of Forests
Summary:
Kyoka and Izuku prepare for their escapes into the dreaming world thanks to a certain 'Branch', while Momo runs into someone she did not expect to see on I-Island.
Meanwhile, The Ascian plots with Shigaraki as the decay user is looking over the latest Primal Nomu.
Notes:
Hello all,
It's been some time for this story, huh?
I'm not going to sugarcoat it, I honestly let Bearer of the Light slip through the cracks, and I am sorry for that. Admittedly, a lot of it was just no creative drive to post this chapter for the most part, as well as all the medical issues I had near the end of the year.
I'll be frank, I do love this story and I am in the works to get it completed. HOWEVER! Much of my drive isn't focused on it now. One such reason is my enjoyment with FFXIV itself.
I haven't played the game in nearly two years, I watched a streamer play all the way through Dawntrail and... yeah... glad I'm skipping it. FFXIV ended for me with Endwalker.
So, many things I had planned for this story are going to be changed from the original vision. One such thing is the I-Island arc. Originally, I was going to have Gilgamesh show up, and it would lead to the unlocking of Sage. But, going to nix that aspect and have Sage unlock a different way.
Honestly, the I-Island arc is going to be a nice bunch of fluffy chapters, with one (or two) being smut. Kyoka will unlock Bard, and Melissa will unlock Sage. We will also get some shots back at UA of Eri being adorable with her Mama's, as well as setting up for a major event that will... honestly... it's going to be a doozy.
So yes, while this chapter will have to be it for now, I do promise to update Bearer of the Light more this year.
This chapter was beta-read by Jade!
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to My Hero Academia and Final Fantasy XIV; they belong to their copyright holders. If anyone reposts this or any of my stories on Youtube or any other media streaming platform) without my consent, I will be taking the appropriate actions as is my right.
Chapter Text
Within the hundreds of tubes stored in the massive warehouse within the Kamino Ward, a solitary figure stood looking over one of the newer additions, slowly developing within one of the larger tubes. His tired-looking eyes stared hard at the young woman who had been brought in a few weeks ago and was currently undergoing not only the procedure of becoming a Nomu but another of those 'Primals' that made even the high-ends look as weak as a fly against a bug zapper.
"Quite a beauty, is she not?" The sly voice of Nabriales could be heard coming from a dark portal that manifested behind Tomura Shigaraki, who lazily turned his way from the tube to look at the Ascian.
"If you're into birds, I guess?" The pale man turned towards Nabriales now, his hands in his pockets as the tired look under the 'hand mask' was clearly evident, "But what I don't understand is why we haven't converted all, or just turn the high-end Nomu's into these primal things and just wipe out All Might and those damn heroes."
"Aside from the simple fact that the aether needed to make even one of these Primals is limited in quantity and is lost forever should it be defeated …" The Ascian slid around Shigaraki as he spoke to look up at the floating woman, covered in patches of feathers that were slowly growing out of her body. "Be that as it may, as powerful as the Primals are, or even these Primal Nomu's, so long as the Warrior of Light is around, it would all be for naught."
"The what- Oh, you mean that green-haired brat?" Shigaraki huffed, leaning against a railing as he stared down the walkway that led to the 'wing' where the Primal Nomu's were being stored, remembering the fight he and Kurogiri had been watching from the shadows of the rooftops during the whole Hosu shitstorm. "The noob was getting tossed around for a while; is he really that much of a threat?"
"Oh, he is, my friend," Nabriales spoke in a low tone with a bit of playfulness. "For every new job he unlocks, the more powerful he gains."
"Fucking OP god-modding asshole…" Shigaraki grumbled, scratching the back of his neck now, "Then what's the point of these Primal Nomu's then if that asshole can just one-shot them!"
"The boy is slowly gaining more power, much slower than I had anticipated, truthfully." The Ascian sighed, with Shigaraki raising an eyebrow at the way Nabriales had spoken; it sounded like this asshole was hoping their foe would get stronger! "However, this has been a boon when it comes to our plans…" he continued, his lips curling upward as he looked at the decay-user.
"The hell are you going on about?"
"The longer the Warrior of Light takes to awaken his powers, the longer we have to cultivate what will be his undoing," the robed figure chuckled low and with some glee mixed in before clearing his throat to compose himself. "Tell me, boy, do you know what will topple any empire or ruler, no matter how strong?"
Shigaraki squinted at the Ascian before looking away to think upon the question, scratching his neck some more before grunting and shrugging his shoulders. "I would have said overwhelming power before that whole shitfest at the USJ or Hosu, but I have a feeling that's not it."
"Ah, you are learning, good… good…" Nabriales chuckled softly, with Shigaraki glaring at the condescending tone the Ascian had responded to him.
"Watch it, you fu-"
"It is FEAR!" Nabriales interrupted the young adult, clearly unfazed by the threat. "Fear is what will win us the day and slay our foes; even as such 'beacons of hope' like your master's nemesis or the Warrior of Light will fall!" Nabriales was cackling now like a madman, making Shigaraki raise his eyebrow in confusion.
"You could have that power…." Nabriales suddenly appeared beside Shigaraki, nearly making the decay-user jump out of his skin. "I could give you the power that would not only allow you to have revenge upon All Might and the 'brat', as you called him… but also the power to surpass your own master."
As the two were talking, with Shigaraki taking a more active interest in what the robed figure was talking about gaining more power, one of the hidden cameras stationed around the warehouse—not even the doctor knew about it— zoomed onto the pair from the shadows.
On one of the monitor's back at the base of where All for One, the near-immortal supervillain was listening and watching the exchange between his 'pupil' and otherworldly ally.
As the two plotted and planned in what they believed to be pure secrecy, there was only one thing All for One could do in this situation.
He smiled.
"Holy…" Kyoka softly gasped as she and Momo entered the lavish suite of the hotel on I-Island, placing her suitcase by the door and walking into the room that was nearly the size of their commons room back at the dorm.
Kyoka's gaze turned towards Momo, who hadn't seemed fazed by the sheer size of their accommodations. "Doesn't this seem a little much just for the three of us? I mean, I get that Izuku being a special guest would give us some privileges, but this is a lot."
"It's not all that bad," Momo giggled gently, moving her suitcase toward a set of doors and opening them. "They even have private residences for some of the bigger companies when their CEOs and families come to visit the island."
Kyoka was silent for a moment as she took in that new information, watching her girlfriend enter the new room, "I'm going to take a wild guess, but your family has one of those places?" following after her to see it was the main bedroom with what looked like a king-sized bed, but her focus was on the heiress and raised her eyebrow
"Of course, and this isn't my first time on the island either, though it has been a few years." Momo smiled at the punk rocker as she lifted her suitcase onto the soft-looking bed and opened it. Then, she began to put her clothes and such into the various dresser drawers and the closet.
Leaning against the doorframe, Kyoka crossed her arms over her chest. "You sure are making yourself quite at home already, even though we are here for a week."
Momo stopped, holding what looked to be a red evening gown, blushing as she slowly hung the dress up and shut the door. She turned to look back at Kyoka and then moved to sit on the bed with her hands resting in her lap. "I'm sorry… I know that you, me, and Kinoko are supposed to be here to be bodyguards for Izuku and Mei."
Kyoka watched as her girlfriend's onyx eyes brimming with light, and she smiled up at her. "But Kyoka! Think about it: we have one week alone to ourselves! With all the facilities here on I-Island, we could even set up dates between the four of us!"
Kyoka's cheeks flushed a bright rose color at that before idly tapping her jacks together and looking away, having realized what her girlfriend had said. Her entire face then went even more red, considering her plans for not only herself but also the heiress, who she hadn't noticed was walking up to her with a somewhat predatory smile across her lips.
Kyoka nearly jumped when she felt the arms of the heiress wrap around her neck and held close to her body, with a soft giggle coming from Momo to make Kyoka look up. "My, my… already thinking ahead to what we planned for Izuku?"
"N-No…" Kyoka sputtered and turned her head away, still blushing and pouting.
"You don't need to lie to me, sweetie," Momo cooed and brought the shorter woman's head to gaze into her eyes once again, but also 'trap' it in between her impressive cleavage. "I think it's a wonderful idea, and I know Izuku is going to love it."
"Mmph…" Kyoka muffled against Momo's skin, causing the heiress to giggle. While the pair had only gone on a couple of dates themselves, the first of which was the music store that Momo had mentioned during their talk after her match at the sports festival, it still threw Momo for a loop at just how different Kyoka's attitude could be depending on the circumstances.
There were times when Kyoka was standoffish, with an unamused look on her face, which was often when it came to certain members of their class. Other times, the punk rocker was a mess of emotions, especially when it came to romantic gestures towards her, she acted like she hated it when, in reality, she wanted more of the love and care being provided.
Just like now, where Momo slowly brought a hand up to stroke and pet Kyoka's beautiful deep violet locks of hair. Even though the shorter woman looked agitated and her gaze moved to the side as if to hide her emotions, Momo smiled as she felt her girlfriend's ear jacks slowly coil around her wrist and hand as if to keep it there and continue to pet her, while she gently leaned in and kissed the top of Kyoka's forehead.
"While it's nice to see young love, we don't have the time for it right now," Krile's voice suddenly spoke up from the entrance of their room. Her aged brow raised inquisitively as Momo and Kyoka gasped in surprise and separated immediately, their cheeks flaring up in embarrassment. Behind the elder Lalafell stood Izuku, mesmerized by what he just saw, before the top end of Krile's cane hit his shin and interrupted those thoughts as the elderly woman was glaring up at him. "That means you as well. Focus on the task at hand, Midoriya."
"Y-Yes ma'am!" Izuku exclaimed as he pushed his baggage to the side of the front entrance and immediately shifted into his Machinist kit, beginning to pull out various-sized crystals and went to the bedroom.
Both younger women watched as Izuku began to place the crystals in various spots around the room. Krile slowly walked towards them, and Momo caught her movement. "What is Izuku doing, Ms. Baldesion?"
"Considering we are going to need the powers of Feo Ul to even attempt the ritual this far from the aether-rich soil of UA, I had Nezu prepare some crystals so we can bring her here safely, albeit temporarily," Krile somberly explained, with Kyoka raising an eyebrow at the diminutive woman.
"Weren't we going to do this in your room?"
"We were, and I would have rather done that, but the Oaf's flight is nearly here, and the last thing we need is a media circus at my door during all this," Krile replied. She gently pulled the strange device around her neck and looked over it for a moment before she caught Midoriya walking towards her and shifting out of his kit.
"It's done, ma'am… and um… What is that around your neck?" Izuku asked, his emerald eyes brightening up in curiosity as Krile sighed gently.
"I wish Quinn's memories gave you some insight into the tools that we used back on Eorzea. These are aetherometers used to measure and track aether essentially. Not just in the land or air, but creatures as well." The Lalafell sighed softly and offered the mask-like device to the young man, who delicately took it into his hands, with both Momo and Kyoka moving closer to look at it as well.
"So, like thermal goggles in a sense?" Momo asked with an inquisitive look, her mind already racing with the various formulas in her collective knowledge to replicate such a device.
"In a sense, that would be the best way to describe them." Krile took back the device once Izuku had offered it back to her, "Sadly, they don't work that well outside of heavy areas of aether like we are making in this room currently, or as heavily rich in the aether as it is back at UA."
"I wonder if Mei could use a pair?" Izuku asked and rubbed his chin. "If she is going to be making Magitek most of the time now, it sounds like something that would benefit her when she's making it."
"Given the girl's aptitude for reverse engineering highly sophisticated devices, I don't think she would have any issues replicating it. Of course, when it's not exploding in her face," Krile sighed heavily, knowing full well just how many students in the support class had fallen victim to any number of Hatsume's 'experiments.' "Enough of that for now. Go and summon the pixie, Midoriya. The quicker we do this, the less chance of an interruption."
"R-right… sorry, ma'am," Izuku apologized before turning around and walking towards the bed, turning back to his partners, "Please don't laugh…"
Turning back toward the bed, Izuku raised his hands and, in a clear and loud voice, spoke out into the room.
"O' loveliest of Branches, keeper and protector of dreams, this grateful sapling is in the most dire of need and requests your aid!"
There was a heavy silence in the room after that, and both women barely held back their laughter from how Izuku had just performed the 'invitation' for the tiny creature. Kyoka was the one who did not feel like she was going to last until the ethereal voice of Feo Ul could be heard.
"Late! Late! Late! Such a cruel and cold sapling I have!" A sudden flash of light and sparkles appeared before Izuku, revealing the tiny pixie to the group with their small hands on their hips and a pout on their face. "So cruel, so cold, and HEARTLESS!" they shrieked loudly, causing Izuku to flinch slightly. "It was so hard waiting for you to call to me since our darling apple was slumbering away in pleasant dreams, and my other sapling had also left me back at the rat's homestead."
"I-I'm sorry about that, Feo Ul, and can you please not call the dean a 'rat'?" Izuku asked in exasperation, watching as the tiny red pixie flitted about the room and clearly ignoring him while looking over the various objects. "But speaking about Nezu, did he go over why we are doing this?"
"Oh yes, and honestly, it is a fine idea," Feo Ul chirped as she moved to float in front of Izuku's face. "Plus, it allows me to see my sapling back in their other world for once. Such a bore his retainer's dreams were."
Slowly moving towards both Kyoka and Momo, Feo Ul began to look over the pair before focusing more on the more petite woman. Buzzing about and around Kyoka before stopping just at one of her ear jacks. "Oh my, it still amazes me how truly odd the Humes are here."
"What do you mean by 'odd', pipsqueak?" Kyoka huffed, aiming the jack at the pixie, who gasped and flew back a few feet away.
"My, my… bit of a fire in this one. It reminds me of Alisae." Feo Ul giggled and spun around the small group before floating above the bed. "But we need to get this little nap time started. Already, I am starting to feel the aether draining from my body."
"Oh! O-of course! I'm sorry, Feo Ul, and thank you again for your help." Izuku stood a little straighter, bowing his head to his 'branch.' "So, how do we start this?"
"Oh, you and the fiery one only need to rest upon the bed and let your lovely branch do the rest." Feo Ul flitted away to adjust some of the crystals slightly, looking around to make sure it was in the perfect position before looking towards the other two people in the room. "I wouldn't suggest hanging around, to be honest, as it will be quite boring with these two slumbering."
"I'm going to stay just to monitor the aether levels. I don't want you disappearing while these two are in the dream," Krile said, looking up at Momo. "But she does have a point. It would be rather dull to stick around and watch."
"Oh… alright," Momo said, looking a little disheartened now as she was hoping to watch the entire thing. She felt the warm hand of her boyfriend rest on her shoulder, and she turned her gaze to see the equally warm emerald eyes staring back at her.
"It's ok; Momo, Krile and Feo Ul will be here with us." Izuku smiled, and his cheeks grew rosy when the heiress returned his smile and leaned her forehead against his.
"I know. I'll see if the others have arrived yet and perhaps consider what venues would be ideal for us to visit." Moving her head back after sneaking a gentle kiss, Momo smiled up at Izuku and then toward Kyoka. "Try and keep him out of trouble."
"I'll do my best," Kyoka replied with a smug look, while Izuku put on a hurt expression, clearly faking the response. The punk rocker then moved to her two partners, leaning up to peck Momo's lips with her own and then began to drag Izuku towards the bed. "Try and see if they have any good music stores around here, maybe I can pick up some exclusive Deep Dope merch."
Momo giggled, nodding her head before making her way out of the room. "I'll keep an eye out. Have a good rest, you two." Once she reached the door of the hotel room, the heiress turned around and gently bowed at Feo Ul and Krile. "And thank you both once again for all your help."
"It's no problem, dearie. If All Might shows up before we are finished, I would advise not being spotted, as I'm sure the media will be all over him." Krile sighed, lifting the aetherometer to cover her eyes before turning back towards the two other students climbing onto the bed. "Alright, you two, just lay down and follow Feo Ul's instructions. And Feo Ul?"
"Yes? What is it?"
"No tricks! We don't have enough aether here to attempt this again," Krile warned, lifting her cane at the Pixie, who huffed and zipped over to the elderly woman.
"Why I never-!"
Momo had left the room then, hearing the muffled shouts between the two and giggling gently. She walked away and pulled out her phone to see if any messages from the other group had arrived on the island yet, as well as to check their group chat for any updates back home. The heiress had turned a corner without looking up from her phone and collided with someone.
Momo nearly fell backwards had it not been for the firm grip of the person she had bumped into, who took hold of her arm. The heiress blushed as she regained her balance, stuttering slightly and still a little shaken. "M-my apologies. I wasn't looking where I was—Todoroki?"
The heterochromatic young man helped Momo steady herself before kneeling, picking up the phone she had dropped when they collided and offering it to her once she stood back up. "Nothing to worry about, Yaoyorozu. I was in a bit of a rush myself and should have taken my time when coming around the corner."
Taking back her phone, Momo glanced over it quickly before putting it into her purse. "It's alright, Todoroki. I should have been paying more attention as well." She raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she looked at him. "But what are you doing on I-Island?"
"The presentation on Magitek mostly," the dual-quirked boy answered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Endeavor had been one of the few pro heroes invited to witness it, but a mission came in that demanded his expertise. He asked if I could go in his stead, and given we have been given time off from UA until after the presentation, I figured it would be an opportunity to learn more about the inner workings and dealings when it comes to support companies."
Leaning against the wall now, Todoroki continued, "If I am to one day be a pro hero, I might as well get a head start on these sorts of situations. Even Endeavor will sit in on those meetings when he can, as most often than not, it is gear to be used within his agency, and he'd rather be there to make sure they are adequate."
Momo smiled upon hearing Todoroki's explanation. "That is a wonderful idea, Todoroki. I will have to do something like that the next time my parents' company hosts such an event back home. If all goes well here on I-Island, I know it will eventually return to Japan, where more opportunities like this will happen."
Todoroki nodded in agreement "If Endeavor's agency gets invited to those, I shall do my best to see if I can come along as well."
"Even if you couldn't attend because of that, I know that Izuku or I would invite any of our classmates to attend, not only to practice for these sorts of social events but also to get their names out there."
A hint of a smile crossed the young man's lips, before just as quickly faded. He stood up from the wall and bowed his head slightly to her. "Sounds like a good idea as well, but speaking of Midoriya, have you seen him?"
"He is with Krile and Kyoka at the moment but is currently indisposed." The heiress replied, "I don't know when they will be done, but I'd assume sometime this evening."
"I see," responded Todoroki, now rubbing his chin for a moment or two before looking back up to Momo, "While it's not urgent, I would have preferred to talk with him about this subject, but given your expertise as well, perhaps you can help me?"
Momo looked at the heterochromatic man with a confused expression, which slowly morphed into a gentle smile. "Well, I would love to help you as best as I can, though when it comes to analyzing quirks, Izuku is more knowledgeable than myself."
The silence in the corridor was deafening. Todoroki titled his head, looking equally confused as Momo had previously. "It wasn't about quirks, actually."
"Oh?" Momo could only blink back owlishly as Todoroki gently nodded. The young man's following words further shocked the heiress.
"I was going to ask him for relationship advice."
"Alright, now that you both are all settled, I can send you into your dreams!" Feo Ul spoke with excitement as she fluttered about Kyoka and Izuku, laying beside one another and holding their hands together as the pixie landed gently on Izuku's chest and placed her hands on her hips, "You know you two don't need to be shy and just cuddle, right?"
"It's embarrassing enough as it is," Kyoka grumbled, her cheeks a rosy hue.
Izuku chuckled weakly and used his free hand to scratch at his red cheek, "It's fine, Feo Ul… so what needs to happen?"
"Oh, there's nothing for you two to do. Just lay back and relax while your branch works her magic!" she chirped before taking off into the air once more. "Once you're dreaming, that's where you take over."
"There isn't any danger, is there?" Kyoka asked suddenly, with one of her ear jacks slowly moving down to wrap around her hand holding onto Izuku's. "I-I mean… considering we could end up in a nightmare or something."
"What? And cause harm to my lovely sapling?" Feo Ul suddenly flew close to Kyoka's face before stopping before Kyoka's other jack pointed directly at the petite creature, not in a threatening manner but more that Kyoka preferred her personal space for those she was unfamiliar with. The petite pixie huffed, her hands on her hips again, "I would never send anyone, especially my saplings, into a horrible nightmare! The nerve!"
"I'm sure you have everything under control, Feo Ul, but Kyoka is just worried we may end up in one of Quinn's more… turbulent… memories," Izuku spoke as he squeezed Kyoka's hand in comfort and assurance while Feo Ul huffed and flew back up.
"So long as I am here, there won't be a problem; now, we are during daylight! Time to sleep!" The pixie exclaimed and began to cast her spell, her hands glowing bright orange, nearly blinding the two students on the bed, until suddenly darkness overtook them.
Izuku groaned gently, his head slightly throbbing as another gentle and more feminine groan could be heard coming from on top of him. Izuku tilted his head up to see the top of his punk rocker girlfriend's violet hair, and he gently smiled. "Good morning, sleepy head."
"Shush you…" Kyoka muttered into his chest with her jacks moving up to poke at his face, with Izuku chuckling softly. "How did I end up on top of you? Not that I'm complaining."
"Probably Feo Ul's doing… not like I'm complaining either," Izuku smirked as his arms slowly moved to wrap around her lower back, clearly enjoying himself and the way that Kyoka seemed to cuddle closer to him made his heartbeat that much faster, which obviously the punk rocker clearly heard and was enjoying as well.
"I would say you two should get a room, but we have a job to do here." Another voice spoke up out of the blue, which caught both Kyoka and Izuku off guard and made the hero students jump up and stare out at their new environment.
It was a vast forest, with some trees towering over the pair and beautifully built wooden buildings around them. One such building was on the other side of a small stream, with an elegantly designed bridge to cross if one wished to explore it. However, the atmosphere was odd, made particularly evident by the silence around them.
No rustling of leaves from the wind, no rushing of water of the nearby stream, not even the chirping of birds could be heard, which sent shivers up the spines of both Kyoka and Izuku.
It was then the two students noticed they had been laying on a bench, which had been placed upon a raised platform where a gigantic azure crystal was floating mid-air, with golden rings and ornaments surrounding the crystalline object as some sort of brace, but also decoration. But, much like the environment around them, it was not moving and as silent as everything else around them.
There, standing at the foot of the crystal, was Deku, fully recovered and at the same height as Izuku, and once more, wearing the same ebony armor as before. The dark manifestation of Izuku's psyche sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "As much as I would like to test to see if your jacks can pierce my armour, Kyoka, you can put the jacks down."
The two stared hard at one another before Izuku gently took Kyoka's hand, once again squeezing it to reassure her. Once the punk rocker had calmed down, Izuku looked at his doppelganger with curiosity. "Where are we, Deku?"
"It's one of Quinn's memories apparently, something that will awaken the kit tied to Kyoka… but I am getting ahead of myself."
"Apparently, Quinn was born here, and from what Fray has told me, it holds both good and bad memories, so we should be careful where we investigate." Deku slowly raised a hand toward them. Though his facial expression remained neutral, the gesture was still welcoming to a point.
"Welcome to Gridania."
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