The Teachings of Miruko and the Inspiration of a Future Symbol

by DizzyTiger

Summary:

This story follows Izuku Midoriya in an alternate timeline where he mentors with Miruko instead of Endeavor! Many life-lessons, angst, and shenanigans are ahead!

(ToM Arc 1!!!)

Chapter 1: Fire Safety Tips

Miruko sits up on the rooftops of Tao City with her new apprentice, “Alright, uh… I guess let’s begin with introductions.”

“Right! My name is Izuku Midoriya, I’m-”

“Stop.”

“Huh?”

“You gonna tell every thug on the streets your full name and address?”

“Right! My name is Deku!”

“Needs work, but good enough.” Miruko acknowledges Deku’s rabbit eared hood, “I like your style kid. You a fanboy?”

It takes Deku a moment to pick up what she’s talking about, “Oh! I uhm, actually.” Deku panics trying to decide if it would be better to lie and save her feelings, or tell her the truth and risk it. He goes the more heroic route, “I based my outfit off of All-Might. He’s my hero.” Without meaning to Deku gets that starry distant look. He remembers Miruko is with him, “But uhm! You’re great too! The number one female hero in Japan that’s a pretty impressive-”

“Stop.”

“Is it-”

“I hate that shit.”

Deku’s never had a mentor be So vulgar! “I’m sorry?”

“I’m the number five hero. There’s nothing special about my gender. I could beat the top 4 heroes in a race, or in an arm-wrestling competition easily! They’re only up there cause they picked the problem cities to set up their agencies! So there isn’t any fundamental weakness because of the way I was born, you got me?”

“Yeah… sorry.” The way I was born… Deku for a brief moment considers telling her about his quirkless origin-

Miruko roughs up his hair, “Loosen up a bit, you’re so serious!”

Deku stiffens up his back, “Right! Sorry!”

“Would ya quit apologizing!”

“Right! I- What are we going to-”

“Stop.”

Deku feels like he’s about to cry, What’d I get wrong this time?

“Smell that?”

Deku tries his best to sniff the air, but remembers he of course doesn’t have any super smell. “What is it?”

“Fire.” Without another word Miruko leaps a full street’s width to the building across from them. Deku struggles to follow, as she goes on to leap from building, to building, until they find it, an apartment building just beginning to bellow with smoke. “Wait at the bottom.”

“But I can-”

Miruko leaps through an open window on the 5^th floor, where the fire is the most wild. As Deku lowers himself down to ground level with the other civilians, he almost charges into the building, then Miruko flies out of the same window she entered, with a young boy, an old woman, and a cat in her arms. She lands with no impact right in front of the crowd, just as the fire patrol shows up. She salutes the fire chief as she confirms, “I got everyone out.”

The crowd applauds Miruko as the flames are quickly extinguished.

Deku admires her speed and grace, but he can’t help but wonder why she wouldn’t let him help. He’s supposed to be apprenticing with her.

The first day goes by rather quickly, several cases get resolved in a flash by Miruko. She stops a car thief before he can even leave the parking lot. She rounds up a gang of vandals. She catches a quirk boosting drug dealer. Throughout almost every case though, she tells Deku, “Wait here.”

Now, she sits across from him at her favorite ramen shop. She stares rather intently as she watches Deku’s mind stir. She slurps her noodles and then flicks him on the nose to get him out of his head, “Whatcha thinkin about kid?”

“Ow!” Deku rubs his bruised nose, “Why wouldn’t you let me help?”

Miruko rubs her head. “You did help.”

“I literally stood by and did nothing.”

“You stood exactly where I needed you to stand.”

“Huh?”

“Being a hero isn’t always about just leaping into the fire. Sometimes you gotta look around, make sure no one else is lighting more fires. For example, at that apartment building, if a chunk of the building fell off, who would’ve got that crowd of people to safety while I was inside?”

“I-”

“In that parking lot. If there was more than one car thief, who woulda caught the second or third one while I was knocking out the first guy?”

“I mean-”

“If that druggy boosted his quirk, or had some friends who did. Who would’ve been all, ‘Miruko! Behind you!’?”

“But that didn’t happen-”

“But it could’ve, and people could’ve been hurt. If you weren’t there.”

Deku takes a quiet slurp of his noodles.

Miruko roughs up his hair again, “Don’t let anyone convince you you’re useless Deku.”  She giggles. “Is that how you got that name?”

“Yeah actually...”

She almost chokes on her drink when she bursts into a cackle. “Seriously?”

“I-i’m reclaiming it! It was originally a mean thing, but I want it to inspire people like me.” He thinks of Ochako, and blushes.

Miruko sees right through him, “A girl called it cute didn’t she?”

“h-h-h-How could you know that?”

Miruko snorts, and waves it off, “What did you mean people like you exactly?”

“Weak and quirkl-”

Miruko raises a brow at Deku’s fumble.

“Quirks that… aren’t inherently heroic.”

Miruko sits up a bit, “You know something kid...?”

“Yeah?”

“You are so obvious.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

She puts on a cutesy voice, and touches her finger tips together, “All-Might is my hero! UwU!”

A waiter trips and breaks a glass at the sight of this.

Miruko snickers, but then returns a serious look to Deku. “You’re like his son or something right?”

Deku hides his face with his hands, Why does everyone think that??? For a brief moment, Deku imagines life with All-Might as his father. He sparkles with fanboy delight.

“Am I right?”

“N-no!”

“But you got his quirk right?”

Deku fumbles through making even a single coherent word to debate that.

“I’m not going to go run and tell the presses. Chillax. Just, nod if I’m right.”

Deku hesitates, wondering if he can really trust Miruko. He considers lying to her, but once again he settles for the heroic route. He nods.

Miruko’s eyes widen. “Aw, that’s sick. You gotta tell me how he did that sometime. Wonder if I could convince Ryukyu to give me some of hers.”

“I don’t think that would work…”

“Half-Dragon, Half-Rabbit. That would be rad as hell are you serious??”

“No I mean like…” he whispers, “it’s sort of an All-Might exclusive.”

Miruko pouts, “Tch. Figures. Symbol of Privilege.” She cocks a brow at Deku, “Maybe you could share it with me?” She teases.   

Deku’s mind short circuits.

“Yeaaah, I’m already pretty awesome. I’d probably just like die or something if I got that much cooler.”

Notes:

Mild Ramble Ahead: When Miruko was first revealed, I thought "Oh she's absolutely going to be Deku's mentor! She's rabbit themed like Deku with his hood up, and she kicks! She's going to be so cool!" and then Endeavor became Deku's mentor out of nowhere. . . and I had a terrible time. Writing this made it all feel better though! So if you were also disappointed by Endeavor's teaching style and attempted redemption, this is the fic for you! Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 2: Reckless

Summary:

Now with more Ochako (kind of.)

              Miruko throws Deku across the field, landing him in a tree. Deku breaks every branch on the way down before landing on his back. “Ow…”

              Miruko leaps over to him and stomps next to his head, “You’re dead.”

              Deku groans, and takes Miruko’s hand and gets back to his feet. “You know this is, kind of embarrassing. . .”

              “What is?” She flexes for the onlookers just walking through the park as she notices some of them taking pictures.

              “Don’t you have like a gym or something?”

              “We shouldn’t spar with a bunch of big heavy weights around that could crush your little skull! ‘sides, plenty of room out here to go all out.”

              “But everyone’s staring…”

              “Everyone’s always staring at the heroes kid!” She elbows him, “Give em a smile!”

              Deku feels his phone buzz in his belt pocket, Is she going to get mad at me if I answer it. . . If I don’t answer it, what if it was something important? Would she then get mad at me for not answering an important call??

              Miruko stares at Deku as she watches him plummet further, and further into his own mind. I bet if I could hear thoughts, this kid would make me go deaf. She hears the phone continuing to buzz in his pocket, and starting to get annoyed by him not answering it, she takes it for herself. “Woop!”

              “H-hey give that back!” He tries to snatch it back from his mentor, but she expertly dodges him, leaping backward.

              “Password locked huh. Lemme guess… All-Might’s birthday-” The phone chimes as it unlocks. “Aha! Kid you are too much!” She goes through his notifications as she flips to avoid him, “Better catch me before I text back this ‘Ochako’- Oh she’s cute.” She reads off her message in a cutesy voice as she weaves past Deku’s attempts, “Oh em gee! Deku! You didn’t tell me you were training with Miruko! She’s the coolest!” She starts to text back, and she does her best impression of Deku, “My dearest Ocho, I’ve longed to tell you for many moons I-!”

              Deku snaps his phone back with a Blackwhip, narrowly avoiding smashing it on the ground. He sighs with relief after diving to catch it. Then he panics as he takes a look at the screen, Miruko’s half written declaration- Message Sent. Deku fully faints.

              Miruko tilts her head, and leans over to look at his phone. She snorts when she sees what happened. “So dramatic-”

              A buzz from his phone snaps Deku back to life. Another message from Ochako, that simply reads, “???” Deku wheezes, “I’m gonna die…” he buries his face in the grass.

              Miruko snickers, “Such a baby.” She pulls the phone from his falsum mortis hands, and takes a selfie, with Deku’s ‘corpse.’ She sends the picture to Ochako, captioning it out loud for Deku “Just messing with my new side kick. Sorry you got caught in the crossfire. Send.” She drops the phone back into Deku’s reviving hands, and it buzzes immediately,

              “Oh okay lol”

              “Hi Miruko! (｡ŏ﹏ŏ)/”

              “I think you’re cool!”

              Miruko sits in front of Deku and rains blades of grass down upon him. “See, fixed it.”

              Deku sighs again with relief, and stares at his phone for a few moments while Miruko keeps mindlessly pouring grass on him.

              “You should text her back before she thinks I killed you.”

              Deku pulls the phone closer to his face and gives his new mentor the side eye.

              She giggles and scoots back, “I’m not that nosy. Relax.”

              “Hey Uraraka, sorry about that.”

              “It’s okay! I figured it wasn’t you since you don’t really text like that lol”

              “I mean sorry for not telling you I decided to mentor under Miruko, it completely slipped my mind, and things have been so hectic these past few days.”

              “Hey same here that’s okay! ( ｡ •̀ᴗ-) ✧ You’ll never guess who I ended up mentoring with~”

              “Is it Gunhead again?”

              “Pfft, no! It’s Ryukyu! She’s gonna teach me how to breathe fire °˖✧ヽ(`Д´ )ﾉ✧˖°”

              Deku notices Miruko staring at him, “I gotta go! Talk to you later!”  He stows his phone away.

              “Did you tell her how madly in love with her you are?”

              “Wh- n-no!”

              “Did she tell you?”

              “wh-wh-wh-wh-” Deku fully short circuits.

              Miruko snorts, “You guys text back and forth so fast. Clearly she likes you.”

              “-We’re just friends-”

              Miruko’s ear twitches, “Hey speaking of friends- Heads up!” She kicks Deku away from her, and springs backwards as a massive kaiju of a man with swords growing all over him towers over the rabbit woman.

              “Mirrkoooo” He growls.

              “Whats up Buster Blader? Eager to get back to jail so soon?”

              “You broke my brother’s leg!!!” He crashes a massive claymore down upon her, though she dodges it with apparent ease, the ground is not so lucky. Much of the public scatter, but just as many stay and pull out their phones from a potentially safe distance.

              Miruko runs up his sword, and kicks him in the face, “He should count himself lucky I didn’t aim any higher!”

              A sword shoots out from the monster’s shoulder attempting to impale her, but she twists to evade it, taking a deep gash across her side, before springing off his face. She doesn’t even take time to clench the wound. She’s about to spring right back in as several swords converge towards her. Deku dives through to tackle her out of the way, narrowly avoiding impalement himself. “You have to be more careful than that!”

              “Pretty sure that’s my line- Move!” She pushes Deku out of the way of a falling blade, losing a glove in the process.

              Buster Blader creates a cyclone of blades, and throws it forward aiming to consume her entirely with it.

              Miruko smirks, and dives right in shouting with all of her might, “Luna Spear!!!” She rockets straight through the storm, and both of her feet smash into the villain’s face, sending him reeling back.

              “Manchester Smash!!!” Before he can recover, Deku crashes down on his head with his heel, knocking the villain fully unconscious.

              “Hey! Good work kid!” Miruko, covered in cuts runs up to him with a hug, and she pulls his bunny eared hood over his head.

              Deku wants so badly to scream at her for getting hurt, but the crowd surrounds them, cheering and taking pictures. He puts on a smile, but watches as Miruko covers up the bleeding wound on her side for a picture. He wonders if this is how his friends felt every time he would break himself.

              After getting stitched up by medics at the scene, and seeing Buster Blader get carted away by the police. Deku and Miruko walk back to her ‘headquarters’ Deku can’t wait the entire journey to snap at her, “Why’d you do that???”

              “Do what?”

              Deku is tempted to jab her on the stitches, but of course restrains himself, “You got yourself hurt!”

              “That’s what heroes do kid. You get used to it-”

              “Not like that! You were being reckless!”

              Miruko digs in her ear, “Would you quit your shouting? Sheesh. I’ve fought Buster like three times. Guy goes for that cyclone thing every time. First time, I ran away from it for like ten minutes before I realized there’s a hole in it, and I took him down just like that. Same thing the second time, but I tried to jump over it first. This time-”

              “He could’ve been baiting you with it, knowing you would jump right in like that!”

              “That’s what I was counting on. That’s how I ended up with all these.” She rubs the bandages on her arms. “He tried to close it on me, but I knew if I went fast enough he wouldn’t be able to react.”

              “What if he seriously-”

              “Listen, kid. I live every day like it’s my last. I fight with everything I got till I’m dead. Life or limb, it doesn’t matter. People are going to remember the name Miruko the Hero.” She says it with such a confident smile on her face, but Deku can feel the sadness in her, because it’s a sadness he’s felt.

              “But what about those people?”

              “I’m doing this to save-”

              “The people who care about you don’t want to see you lose your life! They want to see you live to see a bright future!” He remembers Nighteye, “I don’t want to see you lose your life!” tears welling in his eyes already.

              Rumi’s eyes widen, she pets her sidekick. Well aware of the incident that left Deku without a mentor. “Don’t start cryin’ on me alright?” She can see he’s about to start shouting again as the rain finally starts to fall, “I’ll try to be more careful.” She squeezes him against her side even though it hurts, “I promise on these scars!”

              Deku sees a drop of water roll down her wincing cheek. He wonders if it was the rain, or a tear. After walking on for a bit, he speaks up, “Miruko I’ve been wanting to ask…”

              She smiles at him, “How’d I get so damn cool?”

              “Nnoo- Well… maybe sort of. How do you… do that thing where you know when a crime is about to happen? Is it like some sort of hero sense that takes years to sharpen?”

              Miruko snorts, “That would be stupid. No kid.” She flicks a rain drop at him with her ear, “I got super hearing remember. -Hero sense.” She giggles at the idea, “Did All-Might tell you that was a thing?”

              “Noo I just… I don’t know, I thought it would explain like, how pro heroes always get to scenes so quick.”

              “Most pro heroes have agencies filled with scouts all over the place. That’s how Endeavor gets all his cases. First he picked the most problematic city, and then he hires all these goons to have a 24/7 watch to tell him, where everything’s going down all the time so he always gets to swoop in and save the day. You can really buff up your numbers like that when you’re filthy stinking rich. As I’m sure you know, just like your buddy, I like to work alone.”

              “I get the feeling you just didn’t like the hassle of running an agency.” I can’t believe I just said that out loud to Miruko! When did I get so disrespectful???

              “Nah. I’m just too frugal.” She tugs his hood over his face.

              She’s contagious! Be polite! “H-Thank you for agreeing to mentor me.”

              She bumps him with her hip and then winces as she’s reminded of her wound. “Course kid. Hard to turn down a sidekick with a rep like yours, not to mention.” She pulls on his hood’s rabbit ears, “You’re already matching my brand!” 

Notes:

Gotta go for Endeavor's neck. Tomorrow I'm going to post much earlier! Struggled for too long trying to think of a chapter name on this one lol

(Thank you guys so much for the comments on the last one btw! I really wasn't sure if this would catch much traction, but to see some people enjoy it makes me really happy!)

Chapter 3: Relax

Summary:

A typical day living at Miruko's agency, and a much needed talk!

              “Deku! You wouldn’t believe the day I had yesterday! I flew a plane! Didn’t learn to breathe fire yet though =3=”

              “Was that to like train you for high altitude situations?”

              “No I stole it from some villains midair it was totally awesome! I ran up to the pilot flipped him over my shoulder and shouted Gunhead Martial Arts: Gravity PLUS!”

              “Lol why don’t you just call it Gravity Plus?”

              “Cause it sounds cooler! Like if I just said Comet Homerun, not nearly as cool as, ‘Improvised Special Move: Comet Homerun!’”

              “I guess lol. I’ve been wanting to ask, what is Ryukyu’s agency like anyways?”

              “Amazing ^w^ She’s got so many sweets! Tsu and I do have to share a room though cause she’s got a bunch of other sidekicks already, but everyone’s really nice! And our room is huge!” “What about Miruko’s?”

              “Well. . .” Deku’s room at Miruko’s agency isn’t too bad, but Miruko’s agency is just an apartment. Not a bad one or anything. It’s about what one would expect from the number 5 hero. Miruko’s not what Deku would call messy, but she does leave in a hurry often enough that garbage tends to pile up. While Miruko’s out today, Deku agreed to help clean up the place for her a little bit, as thanks for mentoring him. Also, because it was bothering him. “I kinda wish I wasn’t the only one training with her.” Deku stows his phone away as he gets to work on cleaning. Trash is simple enough to distinguish. Left overs, take out boxes, receipts. Toss ‘em in a bag, and then take ‘em down to the dumpster.

              Then there’s the dishes. I get she’s busy, but if she just cleaned the dish after using it, they wouldn’t pile up. Deku gets through a whole sink full of dishes in no time at all, he decides to go ahead and vacuum, and dust since he has time to kill before Miruko gets back. As he’s dusting in her office, he notices a cord hanging out of a drawer on her desk. He opens it just to put the cord back, but stops when he sees an old phone sat inside.

              He remembers a conversation he had with Miruko when he first got here,

              “Don’t you have like a Hero Hotline?”

              “Those are for heroes who pay for secretaries. I’d be stuck answering it all day long and I’d never save anyone. Besides half the calls I’d get were just weird.”

              “Weird how?”

              “Trust me kid, you don’t want to know.”

              Deku has the optimistic thought, Maybe I can be her secretary for the day. She has a cellphone. I could tell her where a distress call is at! He sets up the phone on her desk, and plugs it in. The instant he sits down in her chair, the phone rings. Wow, that was fast. He answers, clearing his throat and trying his hardest to sound professional. “Uh, hello this is Miruko’s-”

              A breathy man’s voice gulps on the other end, “Please have my babies!”

              Deku slams the phone down and it rings again. He immediately unplugs it. Weird. Got it. He stuffs the phone back into the drawer.

               Miruko kicks her front door open, “Yo kid! Hope you’re not doing anything weird in here!”

              Deku dashes out of the office to greet her in the living room, he salutes her, “Right here!” I don’t think I could do anything THAT weird.

              She raises a brow, Totally not suspicious. She looks around and almost drops the several bags of groceries she has. “Woah. You really cleaned this place up.” She wanders into the kitchen and marvels at the marble, “I haven’t seen this countertop in years!!!” She opens up the cabinets to find all of her dishes organized, she squeals. “You’re AMAZING!!!”

              Deku blushes and has to look away, he’s never received so much praise for his work.

              “Man I didn’t even realize how bad it got before. Maybe I should start hiring a maid. . .”

              Or you could just not let it get that bad.

              “Something happen while I was gone? You seem quiet…”

              “Oh uh… Well.” The heroic route is selected once again, “I maybe hooked up your hero hotline, and answered a call.”

              “Oh, you like went out on a mission or something?”

              “Noooo.”

              Miruko scrunches her brows together trying to figure out- “Oh, that one guy called about my feet again?”

              “It’s happened before?!”

              “Why do you think I unplugged the stupid thing?” She laughs. “What’d he- I don’t want to know actually, but, how scarred are you?”

              “I mean I’m fine.” Deku rubs his elbow, “I can’t believe someone would say such obscene things to someone they don’t even know.” He clearly thought I was Miruko, and- I don’t sound anything like her, wait- “Do I sound like a woman?”

              Miruko shrugs. “Trust me kid. I’ve heard way worse over the years.” She plops down on the couch with a sigh, and cracks open a can of carrot juice.

              “Why?” Deku is genuinely perplexed. Also she didn’t answer his question!

              She snorts, “You really are innocent huh.” She tousles his hair, “Let’s see, where to start.”

              Deku feels like he should pull out a notepad.

              “Even though I was born here, I look like a foreigner, as outrageous and outdated as that concept is there’s still those who will judge me for that alone, as few as they may be. I’m an attractive woman.” She smirks, “Can’t be too mad about that, but all the attention it gets me has forced me to grow used to eyes being on me. On top of that, I have a powerful quirk and well… You’ve met guys like Endeavor before.” She chuckles to herself, “And like you said I’m the top-rated woman hero in Japan. So the target on my backside grows ever brighter!” She seems to be smiling with pride.

              Deku looks like he’s going to cry, “That’s horrible- I had no idea…”

              Miruko slaps him on the back, “Relax kid! Trust me you get used to it. I bet all the girls in your class could tell you a similar story.”

              “What can I even do to help?"

              “Pretty simple, don’t be a creep.”

              “Well that doesn’t feel like doing anything. . .”

              “I could’ve sworn we went over this already. Sometimes, just being there is enough. Think of it this way, lead by example. . .” She wants to give him more wisdom than that still, “Or hey, if you see a guy being creepy, maybe knock him out.”

              “That’s so aggressive!”

              Miruko laughs, “That’s what we need, a war on perverts!”

              Deku’s mind immediately zips to Mineta. He starts to feel bad for never saying anything after all the stuff he’s seen Mineta do.

              “What’s that thing the trains say… See something, say something?”

              Deku looks like he’s going to cry.

              “Wh-whoa! Hey it’s not that serious!”

              “Am I a bad person?”

              “What?? No! Hey, no.” She pulls him close for a hug, but then pulls back, “Wait you’re not like a pervert yourself are you?”

              “Noo. There’s just this kid in my class who is really awful, but I’ve never said anything to him…”

              “He’s the awful one. Not you. You’re just a precious little cinnamon roll!” She puts him in a choke hold. “Say it!”

              Deku feels death approaching, “I’m a precious little cinnamon roll!”

              Miruko snorts and lets him go, she didn't think he'd give in that quickly. “Feel better?”

              Deku coughs, “Why would that make me feel better?!”

              Miruko shrugs, “Made me feel better.”

              Deku rubs his neck, “Sheesh… I think I’m gonna make dinner.” He gets up from the couch.

              “Yaaay!” Miruko stretches and sprawls out on the freshly opened space.

              As Deku sorts the groceries into the pantry and fridge, he notices some spices Miruko has, he recognizes the latin alphabet, but it’s not any English he knows. He remembers the thing she said about looking like a foreigner. So he asks from the kitchen as he starts up some rice. “Hey Miruko.”

              “What’s up?”

              “What did you mean about looking like a foreigner?”

              “Do you know many brown girls?”

              Deku scratches his head not understanding, “Uhh… Not that I can think of. I know a pink girl, a blue girl, and an invisible one.” He mutters, “I guess it’s possible that Hagakure is brown, but I couldn’t tell unless she found a way to turn visible.”

              “Do you know what an Afro-Latina is?”

              She might as well have asked him in Spanish. Deku just tilts his head.

              Miruko snickers, “That’s okay. Uhm, so, my mother is from Puerto Rico. It’s an island state off the coast of Florida.” She considers the possibility he may not know where that even is, so she just continues along her lineage, because he seems to be following along. “She had ancestors from Africa. Thus, Afro-Latina. Get it?”

              “How’d she end up coming all the way here?”

              Miruko laughs, “Same as anyone else. She flew.” She can tell Deku wasn’t a huge fan of that joke. So she gives him the full story. “My mom tells me she was obsessed with all things pink, and cute. At one point or another, she ends up learning about cherry blossoms. You can probably imagine her excitement.”

              Miruko’s smile is so bright, Deku imagines her mom’s excitement looks a lot like that.

              “So, she saved up all her money one year, and planned a big trip to Japan, just to see the cherry blossoms. Then she saw my dad.” She thinks about the best way to describe him. “Picture like, a Japanese business man, but, with rabbit ears, and a rabbit nose- Oh and big goofy rabbit feet.”

              Deku chuckles at the mental image, “Yeah okay.”

              “She thought that was the most adorable thing she ever saw. Then, well… The rest is history.” She smiles, proud to have been able to share that with someone like Deku.

              Deku takes a good while to finish what he’s cooking, “Since you shared, some of your history with me. I figure, I’ll share some of mine with you.” He presents a massive bowl of katsudon for them to split. Setting it on the dining room table between them. “It’s not as good as the way Lunch Rush, or my mom makes it, but I present! Gigant-o-Katsudon!”

              Miruko’s eyes sparkle at the sight. She claps her hands together, “Let’s eat!”

               

 

Notes:

All kinds of notes for this one. I hope the talk about misogyny didn't come across too preachy. It felt fun to have Deku kind of have a realization like this, because he's a teenager. He's only like 15 at this point. He lives in a pretty inclusive world too, hundreds of years in the future so he can be forgiven for not realizing "Wait, sexism is real?" Maybe not my best hot take, but agh.

I decided Miruko should be Afro-Latina, and specifically Puerto Rican because that's what her English voice actress is and I just think that's neat.

Originally this chapter was going to be one of the way shorter ones, but then I felt bad for it only being like a 2 and a half pages. So I wrote more, a lot of it felt like necessary set up for what's coming in the next couple chapters, one of which is releasing... TOMORROW!?

Chapter 4: Love Defies Gravity

Summary:

It begins...

              “Having a joint exercise today, but Miruko wouldn’t tell me who with.”

              “Weird, same here. . . You don’t think?  (* o □ o)…!”

              “Guess we’ll find out. . .”

              “Kid you almost ready?” Miruko knocks on his door.

              “Yeah, yeah.”

              Miruko knocks a little tune on his door while she waits. Deku hurriedly puts on his boots, and finds himself walking to the rhythm for a moment, he opens the door, and Miruko continues her tapping on his forehead. She snickers and pulls up his hood, “Ready?”

              “You didn’t really tell me where we’re going?”

              “You’re smart. Guessing you texted your girlfriend already?”

              Deku’s face turns bright red, “Wh-g- h- … We’re going to Ryukyu’s???”

              “See.” Or perhaps she meant ‘Sí'

              Deku mutters, “It’s not that, I don’t want her to be my girlfriend -but I mean, she’s not currently, just a friend who’s a girl, that’s totally normal you know, and it’s kind of messed up that everyone always like forces men and women to have romantic relationships instead of platonic-”

               “Agreed. I have plenty of guy friends, but none of ‘em like you and Ocho.”

              “Ochako.”

              “Right.”

              “I’ve been meaning to ask you Miruko…”

              “Oh god, what?”

              “Huh?”

              “That’s a pretty alarming premise to a question kid. Especially considering what we were just talking about.”

              “…Huh?”

              “Just- what is the question?”

              “Why do you always call me ‘kid’?”

              Miruko shrugs. “What do you want to be called? Midoriya, Izuku, or Deku?”

              Deku couldn’t deny, after hearing just ‘Kid’ for the past two months, hearing his actual names in her voice felt very strange. “Maybe kid is fine…”

              Miruko snorts, “What about, Kid Rabbit, since you’re my sidekick.”

              Deku winces.

              Miruko giggles, “Okay, okay, uh, Rumi Junior!- No! Usagito!”

              Deku tilts his head trying to decipher that. “Rabbit…door?” He thinks perhaps she got it from knocking on his door.

              Miruko snorts, “No. Little Rabbit.” She seems so happy saying that, but…

              Deku scratches his head trying to figure out how the kanji for Usagito could ever be arranged to mean Little Rabbit.

              “Lets get going already!” Fortunately enough for Deku and Miruko, the train ride over to Ryukyu’s agency is less than an hour. Deku reaches for his phone to text Ochako, but Miruko stops him. “You should stay vigilant.”

              Deku looks around, very conspicuously, and then he whispers, “Is there a villain?”

              “I’m just messin with ya.” She says it loud enough so the other passengers who might’ve heard him, definitely hear her. “Talk to me though. This, Ochako… What’s she like?”

              Deku can’t stop himself from gushing, “She’s great, she’s always got my back no matter what. But-…”

              “But?”

              “It’s just… that. I- I don’t feel like I’ve ever really helped her you know? Not in a way that matters. She’s literally saved my life, multiple times. I just worry, that… I’m holding her back.”

              Miruko crosses her arms. She takes a deep breath after a moment of thought, and speaks plainly, “No.”

              “No?”

              “Nope. I haven’t known you that long, I’ll admit. There’s something about you though.” She remembers Deku’s plea for her to see a bright future. “You’re inspiring. Even without meeting her, I’m positive, whether you realize it or not, you’ve inspired her. It couldn’t be clearer how she’s inspired you, Deku.” She scratches the back of her head, “Honestly it kind of bums me out you think you’re holding her back. Like that’s how you see yourself, like a burden?”

              “I…” Deku can’t find the words to argue with her, because “yeah-”

              “Well you’re not! Like you told me, there’s people who care about you. None of them will ever think of you as a burden okay?”

              Deku fully bursts into tears, and he tries his best to keep them at bay, “Yeah okay!”

              “Ay- Kid, I didn’t mean to make you cry.” She grabs a napkin from the table, and presses it to his face, “Our stop is coming up, don’t look like a mess in front of your girlfriend.”

              Deku simpers out, "She's not my girlfriend!" and sniffles after wiping his face.

              “Yet!” The train comes to a full stop.

              Deku rubs his eyes and face harder in his sleeve.

              Miruko gets up to get off the train, but stops to grab another napkin and wipe Deku’s face some more before she gets off. “Ryukyu!”

              The Dragoon Hero stands on the platform with her sidekick Uravity beside her. “Where’s your sidekick?”

              “Give him a second, where’s yours?” Ryukyu just nods to Uravity. Miruko clarifies, “I mean the other ones. The Vwoosh! Girl, and the cute frog one.”

              “They’re on patrol together right now, just-”

              “Ocho-ko!” She seems to just now recognize Uravity as the girl from Deku’s phone.

              Ochako stiffens up and stands at attention, “Yes!”

              Miruko giggles, “At ease. Do you know what we’re doing today?”

              “Not a clue m-” I almost called her ma’am! Ahhhh!!!!

              Did she almost call me mom? “Heh.”

              The train PA chirps, “The train will be departing shortly for Fukuoka.-”

              “Usagito!” Miruko shouts back onto the train holding the door open, “Hurry up!”

              “Sorry!”

              Usagito? Ochako tilts her head to see past Miruko, when none other than Deku emerges, his eyes are a little red. “Are you okay?”

              Deku is immediately flustered, “Y-yeah! Just didn’t sleep well on the train, haha.”

              Miruko claps to get their attention, “Usagito! Uravity! Listen up.”

              Ochako can no longer contain her question, “What is Usagito?”

              Miruko pulls Deku’s hood back on his head, “My sidekick, Little Rabbit.”

              How does Usagito mean little rabbit? Ochako gets one look at Deku with his hood up and cracks, “That’s pretty cute.” She puts a hand over her mouth but can’t look away. Fortunately for her, Deku can’t bare to look at her with his bright red face.

              Miruko smiles at Ryukyu who still hasn’t fully put together what’s going on. “So first up on today’s schedule, we’re going on patrol.”

              How was this necessary for a joint exercise???

              Miruko shoves an earpiece under Deku’s hood, “We’ll be in contact if anything happens. Okay bye!” The Rabbit Hero leaps from the train platform to a nearby roof, and then on to the next.

              Ryukyu sighs, gets to a clear open area, and then shifts to her dragon form to follow after her.

              “So. . .”

              Miruko blares in Deku’s ear, “Usagito! If you need to speak to us, just hit the button on the earpiece otherwise we can’t hear you!”

              “O-” He presses the button for a moment, “Okay.” He turns to Ochako, just now noticing, “You made some upgrades?”

              Uravity heads out of the train station with Deku, “Yeah! I guess I forgot to tell you, this is how I caught that airplane!” She extends her grappling hook to show Deku. “I maybe got the idea from your new power. . .”

              “That’s amazing.” Deku is fascinated by the craftsmanship of her new gauntlet.

              Meanwhile, Ryukyu sits on a far off rooftop with Miruko, “I’ll bite, what’s going on?”

              Miruko puts her phone on speaker, she grins ear to rabbity ear at Ryukyu as they hear Deku and Uravity’s conversation, “They’re on a date.”

              Ryukyu squints, “Rumi, you’re an adult-”

              “Has she not also been compulsively texting with him?”

              “I don’t look at who she texts… But, yes.”

              Miruko snorts, “Hypocrite. This isn’t any different from that.”

              “My snooping was for the sake of ensuring she wasn’t leaking information, or a part of the Liberation Front. You know, our job.”

              Miruko groans and lays back shutting off the audio, “Fine.” She sits there quietly for several moments, her ear flicking slightly.

              “You’re still listening to them aren’t you?”

              “They’re so cute.”

              Ryukyu sighs, “One time. We’re not doing this again or I’m locking you up.”

              Miruko argues, “Stop making it sound weird, they’re just cute okay?” She says and then giddily turns the audio back up on her phone.

              Back on street level, Ochako wanders around rather aimlessly with Izuku, “They didn’t really tell us where to patrol?”

              Deku reaches for his earpiece, “I could ask-”

              “No don’t! This must be a part of the test, they want to see if we can just make it on our own.”

              “Oh, I think you’re right. That would explain why this is a joint exercise. They want to see if we can work well with others.”

              “Yeah. . .”

              “Yeah.”

              “But that doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. ‘cause they know we’re friends already, so of course we work well together.” Ochako reasons.

              “Well, why else would they…-”

              Uravity cracks the case, “They’re probably using this as an excuse to goof off!”

              “Maybe!”

              “Ryukyu’s always so serious, she probably needs time like this to cool off.”

              “That makes sense!” It can’t be what I was thinking, that’d be totally crazy. Miruko wouldn’t organize a whole joint-training exercise to try and get Uraraka and I on a date… Right?

              “So, Usagito?”

              “It’s not like the worst nickname ever, right?”

              Ochako giggles, “I think all the nicknames you get are cute.” Why did I say that out loud!?

              Izuku fights through his fluster, “I’ll probably still stick with Deku for my hero name.” He tugs at his gloves, “because it’s the one you picked…”

              “Well it’s not like I came up with it.”

              “Well yeah, but, you made me see what it could mean. That it could be inspiring…”

              “Yeah…” Ochako realizes I inspired Deku. . .

              “Uraraka I uh…” Words, brain, words!

              “Why do you still call me that?”

              “…Huh?”

              “Well I call you Deku. I thought you might start calling me by a nickname…”

              Deku stammers, “I-I could call you Ochako if you want.”

              “Not good enough.” She teases. “I want a cute nickname like Deku.”

              Deku short circuits a little bit. “Like uhm… Cha…ko.”

              Ochako giggles at how hard Deku is trying. “Ochako is fine.”

              “okay so… Ochako.”

              She nods. After hearing Uraraka for so long, it’s kind of weird to hear him say Ochako.

              “I think… you’re amazing.”

              Now it is Ochako’s turn to short-circuit, “. . . Huh???”

              An eruption from the earth cuts the scene short, a villain covered in rocks laughs maniacally as stone rises from the streets around him. “Tao City is now mine!!! None of your pathetic heroes can possibly stand up to the might of Terra Maximus!”

              With only a shared glance between them, Uravity and Deku charge in.

              Miruko’s about to leap down from above when Ryukyu stops her, “Wait.”

              “What?! Why???”

              “Let’s see if love can bloom on the battlefield.” Though her expression barely shifts, Miruko sees the glimmer in her eyes, but it quickly fades back to seriousness, “Uravity needs the practice and potential confidence boost anyways.”

              Down below, Deku shatters every boulder launched their way with shoot-style. I will keep her safe. He sees Terra touch his hand to the earth before sending more rocks flying their way. “His quirk is like yours Uravity! Get him away from the grou-” Deku is swatted into a nearby car.

              Uravity runs to stand in front of him, I’ll keep you safe!  

              “Uravity! You’re the little side-kick who defeated my brother!” He cascades boulders upon them, as they close in she hears him shout, “Your quirk is just a weaker version of mine!!!”

              Ochako can feel her life flash before her eyes, she reaches her hand out wanting to make it stop, and at least in her racing mind, it slows down. She remembers saving Deku the day they met, when she slapped him to stop him from falling, she remembers the meteor shower she used in her fight against Bakugou, and then the plane she stopped from falling out of the sky. Ryukyu’s voice echoes in her mind, Are you giving up? She locks eyes with Deku, and remembers, she decided to put her feelings away, but that would be…

              “Uraraka!” In that same moment, Deku remembers when he broke his legs, leaping to save her. His airborne fight against Gentle, he remembers all the times Ochako has made him weightless.

              “I’m not giving up!!!” Uravity roars, the pads of her finger tips ignite, and like a pulse, everything around her stops, as everything touching the air within fifty feet of her becomes weightless. All except for her.

              Deku rockets past her, but Ochako deploys her grappling hooks, she pulls Terra Maximus from his crumbling armor, into Deku’s fist for the finishing strike! She leaps into Deku’s arms as she lets go of her quirk. The villain falls with his rocks back onto the ruined street. Though, Deku, and Uravity stay floating. Before Deku can question it, Ochako kisses him. Deku’s face turns bright red, and the two float higher as the bystanders cheer.

              Ochako pulls back to laugh with relief, she touches her finger tips together behind Deku’s head, briefly shocked and confused as to why her quirk was seeming to not turn off, and then, Deku kisses her. Bringing them back to earth. Ochako’s mind swirls as her face now matches Deku’s. “How did- whatdid,doyouhavesomesortofcopyquirkthatactivateswhenyoukisspeople,isthatwherethetendrilsthingcamefrom,didyoukissthatgirl-ohmygod-didyoukissAllMight?!”

              Deku’s never seen someone mutter like him, he chuckes when he finds it oddly comprehensible, “I have a lot to tell you about.”

              The crowd of bystanders is still cheering.

              Deku scratches his head, “Maybe not here.”

              Before reporters can come question the new couple, Ryukyu, and Miruko land to aid them, “All right people, clear out so emergency response can get through!”

              Miruko slaps Deku on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over if Uravity wasn’t still holding on to him. “Way to go Usagito!”

              With their mentors here, a wave of exhaustion washes over the young heroes, and they collapse on Ryukyu’s wing.

 

 

Notes:

When I finished writing this one, I was like "YEAAS!" Because my entire goal with this fic, and the reason for the lengthy title, is I wanted this mentorship to have a significant impact on the trajectories of their lives and their hero careers. I really wanted Miruko to have a significant impact on Deku's ideology in a way that I felt Endeavor could not. Of course, there's still much more development to go, but this is the first big leap, and I hope you all enjoyed it!

Time for some fun facts!
Usagito! For those of you who speak neither Spanish nor Japanese. Usagi means Rabbit, and -ito is a suffix often used by spanish speakers to denote something as small. Thus Miruko's Japanish creates "Usagito." I wanted to introduce this name a liiittle earlier, but I just found it funny that she just calls him "Kid" for half the story. Similar backstory behind "Ocho" just means 8, but 8 is a right-side-up infinity symbol, which Miruko at one point decided was a very fitting title for the gravity hero.

Terra Maximus is inciting Maximum Terror. That's it. That's the whole joke, and the reason I named him, and gave him a power set to match the pun. Also of course to give Ochako a dark reflection of sorts, at least in power set. My little plot device as I lovingly referred to him during writing doesn't need to tell us his whole backstory because he's not who we're here for. There was originally going to be more banter with him, about how he's actually not in Tao City at the moment, but I never came up with a better city name for Ryukyu's agency to be in, so uh...

New canon: Tao City is two different cities very close by to each other. They both really liked the Star Wars Visions Episode Lop and Ocho and wanted to be the one to honor it. People who actually live in these cities might refer to the other city as "South Tao City" or "North Tao City" or just "The Other Tao City"

Chapter 5: Clarification

Summary:

In the aftermath of their battle with Terra Maximus, it's time for a talk.

              Deku finds himself back in that mist, he finds much of his body still lost in that strange smoke like before, but Nana Shimura appears before him. Clear as day. “What’s up Izuku?”

              Deku realizes his mouth is actually there now, “I uh… I flew?” He can only vaguely remember what happened.

              “That’s right buddy, and hey, you remembered what’s important too.”

              “What’s that?”

              “Only the most powerful force in the universe. Stronger than One For All, or All For One.”

              “Gravity?”

              She laughs, “Love, Izuku. Love defies Gravity.” She holds her fist to Deku’s chest “We’ll talk again.”

              When Deku wakes up, he’s back at Ryukyu’s Agency, he’s never been here before but he recognizes the Chinese style interior from Ochako’s pictures, captioned ‘This place is bigger than my house!’

              He finds Ochako unconscious on the bed next to him, he panics for a moment until he sees Miruko looking over them, and remembers what happened. Ochako looks so peaceful, Both of our quirks evolved when… His face glows bright red. The redness intensifies as he remembers even more details. We actually kissed!

              Miruko snickers, “So proud of you Usagito.”

              Ochako’s bed floats and she snaps awake. Quickly releasing her quirk and tiredly muttering, “forgot my mittens…” She looks over to see Deku and Miruko, she seems to go through the exact same thoughts as Deku as it all comes back to her.

              “H-hey Uraraka.”

              “I meant it okay?!”

              “huh?”

              “You have to call me Ochako now Deku!”

              Deku just blerts out, “Wait, why?” obviously not taking even a moment to consider-

              “Because we’re a couple now!” Ochako presses her hands to her cheeks, “R-right?”

              “Y-yeah! We’re a couple!” Deku declares it for the world, though thankfully it’s just them in this recovery room.

              Ryukyu calls from the other side of the door, “Happy for you.”

              Miruko snickers as she watches the new couple blush like idiots. “That fight was badass by the way, what do you call that new move of yours Uravity?”

              Ochako thinks about it for barely a second, “Secret Technique: Zero Uravity Zone!”

              Miruko’s ear flicks, “You already had a name for it?”

              Ochako touches her finger tips together, “doesn’t everyone come up with a bunch of cool move names in case you improvise something?” She- “Ah! Dangit! I forgot to shout it out when I did it for the first time!”

              Miruko nods, “There was a lot of cameras on you when you did it too.”

              “There was- a… lot…of… cameras.” She imagines the tabloids swirling with pictures of her kiss(es) with Deku. Thankfully though, that thought also snaps her to a more pressing matter, “What is your quirk!?” She fires off a grappling hook past Deku’s head by accident.

              Even while Ochako apologizes and retracts it, Deku feels he was mere inches from death. “I-it’s not kissing related!”

              “huh?”

              “That was your theory before, that I steal people’s powers when I kiss them.”

              “Oh yeah.” She suddenly looks fiercer.

              “My quirk is… Uhm…” He looks at the door, and then Miruko.

              Miruko takes a moment to realize what his look means, “Ryukyu you should probably just come in here.”

              Ryukyu enters quietly.

              Ochako wonders, Why was she just standing out there?

              Deku asks, “Is there anyone else here that could be eavesdropping?”

              Miruko focuses her ears for a moment, but Ryukyu explains, “Nejire and Froppy are still out on patrol, but they could be here any minute. So, unless you want them to know your secret to, you should probably start talking.”

              Deku supposes he doesn’t have much reason to mistrust Ryukyu, Ochako trusts her after all. He takes a breath, “Okay… My quirk is not something I was born with. It’s called One For All, it’s a quirk that All-Might passed down to me. I didn’t realize this until recently, but within this power, are the quirks of everyone who held One For All before me. Without meaning to, I unlocked the power Blackwhip during our practice match a couple months ago. Then today… when I realized I couldn’t hold back my feelings for Ochako anymore, I unlocked the power of Float, from All-Might’s master, Nana Shimura. She told me in my dream, ‘Love defies gravity’.” He scratches his head thinking strictly logically, “So I guess that’s how flight works???” He mutters complete nonsense trying to work out the science of his new ability.

              Ochako watches him with pink cheeks and a big smile for a few moments before the weight of all that information actually hits her, “So wait, is that why that creepy guy attacked you in the mall???”

              “Y-yeah… I think, in the same way I’m One For All’s successor, Shigaraki is All For One’s- he’s that guy that fought All-Might at Kamino Ward.”

              “That’s what you’re up against- why didn’t you tell me this sooner Deku???”

              Deku feels even closer to death now then he was that day at the mall, “I had to keep it a secret! I didn’t know if I could trust anyone-” He can see that wounds Ochako, “You’re the firs- thir… fourth person I’m telling though…”

              “Who is one through three!?”

              Miruko smiles and waves.

              Ochako nods, I guess that’s fair at least.

              “Well there’s actually five, maybe six people that know-”

              “Deku!”

              “Right I guess it’s 8 now.”

              “Who else did you tell???”

              “I only told Nighteye, and… kacchan…”

               Ochako has to take a deep breath from hearing that, “And who else knows..?”

              Deku counts around the room, “Gran Torino, maybe Tsukauchi the police officer, I think Aizawa knows, and Kacchan makes 7, since, well… you know. Actually if we count All-Might that does make 8 again.”

              Ochako rubs her temples trying to process this. “So just to be clear, you told the guy who bullied you since you were little kids, and not your mom or dad?”

              “Well when you put it like that it sounds bad, but he mostly figured it out on his own. All-Might and I only told him when he started to spiral after the whole Kamino Incident.”

              “Okay so-”

              “Oh! I almost forgot, Recovery Girl makes 9.” He mutters, “Todoroki like half knows. . .”

              “Deku, focus.”

              “Sorry…”

              Ochako sighs, “Why didn’t I figure this out sooner?”

              He reaches out to take her hand, he reassures her, “I’m really good at keeping secrets.”

              This gets a reaction out of everyone in the room, even Ryukyu.

              Ochako sighs again but more with relief now, “Well, at least you told me before Iida.”

              Miruko chimes in, “Oh hey, speaking of classmates.”

              They hear Nejire shouting in the lobby, “Uraraka!!! You coulda told me you and Deku were an item! You guys looked so cute on the news!”

              Deku and Ochako snap to look at each other, We were on the news??? Kissing!? They both become aware of their phones, which had been going off the entire time they were resting, but were kindly silenced by Miruko.

              When Ochako looks at her phone it’s flooded with messages from all the girls in 1-A, and even some from 1-B congratulating her. A phone number she doesn’t recognize but immediately terrifies her sent a message saying “You better share.”

              When Deku looks at his phone he sees first and foremost, a message from his mom, “Way to go Izuku!” But that is quickly overtaken by messages from, mostly Mineta saying things like “YOU BASTARD! I KNEW IT!” And a message from Todoroki, that’s just a thumbs up emoji.

              Right as Deku feels death cannot take him any quicker, Nejire crashes through the door with Tsuyu close behind her, “You’re sharing a room!? Scandalous!!!”

              Miruko pinches Nejire by the scruff, “You’re late for our joint-exercise”

              “M-m-miruko! It’s been so long since you helped out with Ryukyu I just totally forgot how punctual you are.”

              Miruko snickers, “I’m just messing with you Vwoosh. They just woke up, so let’s give them a minute.” With that, Miruko ushers everyone out of the room.

              Tsu who leaves last doesn’t say anything, but gives Ochako a wink.

              Now alone together at last, the couple face their first real challenge, awkward silence. Ochako is quick to conquer it. “Welp!” She stands up, brushes herself off, and holds her hand out to Deku. “Cat’s already out of the bag so…”

              Deku takes her hand and stands up. “It’s going to be nice to not have to keep this secret.”

              “You’re not keeping any other secrets, right?”

              “Uhh… no?”

              Ochako is filled with truly awe-inspiring confidence with that response. “I’m not going to be mad or anything, just thought now would be a good time to ask.”

              “I really don’t think there’s anything, but it’s kind of hard to think straight right now.”

              Ochako giggles at his fluster, she can’t believe she never realized that she was the cause of his many panicked looks.

              “Oh, I didn’t get to tell you before Ochako. It’s something Miruko told me, and, sort of the whole reason I said so much of that stuff before.”

              Ochako just now remembers the blush filled conversation they were having before Terra Maximus’ attack. “Yeah?”

              “A-actually I don’t know if this is something you want to hear.” He tries to pull away, but Ochako’s hold tightens and she makes him float by accident.

              “What is it Deku?”

              Deku can’t stop himself from floating upside down, but still at eye-level, so he blushes, but maintains eye contact as he feels it’s important. “To the people who love you, you will never be a burden.”

              That hits her like a wave, she wonders how Izuku could’ve known that was exactly what she’s needed to hear for so long. Ochako pulls him close to share a kiss with him. She laughs like before, but can’t find the words to thank him.

              “I guess you did want to hear that.” Deku tries to joke since she laughed, and he isn’t entirely sure what that means.

              Ochako rolls her eyes, “Release.” She lets Deku fall, she’s a little shocked when he actually hits the floor head first.

              “Ow…”

              “I thought you could fly now dummy!” She feels immediately terrible for letting him fall.

              “It’s not like I mastered it.” Deku slowly gets back to his feet rubbing his head.

              “Well good news then! Training starts now!” She makes him float and runs out of the room.

              “Ur-Ochako!”

              Ochako runs into Miruko in the hallway, the rabbit hero looks so seriously at her, “While he’s figuring that out, can we talk?”

              Ochako is still a bit starstruck by Miruko, “Y-yeah, what about?” She tries her best to play it cool.

              “Training.”

              Ochako meets Miruko on the rooftop. She wouldn’t say anything all the way up there, Ochako’s mind swirls in panic as she tries to think of what else ‘Training’ could possibly mean.

              “Are you well rested?”

              Ochako just nods.

              “Think you could whip out that special move again?”

              Ochako tries to remember the feeling, “Yeah.”

              “Good-” Miruko leaps toward her, aiming to kick her right in the head.

              Ochako raises her hand, and her fingertips ignite with that glow again.

              Miruko is stopped in midair, “Interesting, it does stop my forward momentum, buuut.” She twists her whole body, “What do you do when your opponent can still move?” She kicks at Ochako.

              Ochako remembers her training, and blocks it, regretting it a good deal, as even while Miruko holds back, her hits still sting. She grabs Miruko and swings her to the ground.

              Miruko slaps her hands down on the concrete, and digs into it to keep from floating away. She twists around to face Ochako again. “Pretty good. Basic, but effective.”

              “What do you mean?”

              “You’ve still got some evolving you could do.” She lunges, and puts Ochako in a floating chokehold, of course not seriously tightening her hold, as she’s just trying to prove a point, “In my case, most people go for this hold with their arms, but my legs are much stronger, so!” She shifts up and in an instant has her legs around Ochako’s neck, only for a moment though as she’s quick to let go. Though she floats away a little bit helpless, she still speaks with such confidence, “Do you get what I’m teaching you?”

              “Yes and no.” She assumes Deku’s thinking stance, “You’re saying Gunhead Martial Arts is basic, and works for everyone equally, so I need to customize it to fit my strengths, but… At the same time, I don’t know how I could do much more than float my opponent before slamming them.”

              “Well you’ve got that nifty hookshot. Speaking of, could you send that my way before I float into orbit?”

              “Sorry!” Ochako pulls her back down before releasing her quirk, pressing all of her fingers together. “Release.”

              Miruko puts her hand over Ochako’s “Is that the only way you know to release your quirk?”

              “Well yeah… I have to touch my finger pads together.”

              “Have you ever considered releasing one object at a time?”

              “Uhh…”

              “Because you can float multiple things, including yourself. If you could learn to release yourself separately from the other objects you float, especially if you can do it without that hand motion. I believe you’d find it immensely valuable.”

              “I guess I’ll try to figure that out…”

              “There’s no rush. You’re still young. You have years before you even graduate from UA, so take your time. I just want you to try and remember, your limit is only where you decide to stop pushing yourself further.”

              “Thank you Miruko!” Ochako bows, and turns to leave, but Miruko grabs her gauntlet.

              “There was one more thing.”

              Meanwhile, Deku is having a very similar conversation with Ryukyu, though rather than on a sweaty sparring ground, he has this talk over a cup of tea. “I can’t just leave my mentorship with Miruko.”

              “I’m not asking you to become my permanent sidekick or anything. You’ve unlocked the power of flight. I’ve helped many in my years as a mentor learn to fly with their disparate quirks. I’m confident, however your power works, I can help you push it to the limit.”

              “I don’t know…”

              “You’d also be able to spend more time with Uravity.”

              Deku chokes on his tea. Somehow he hadn’t considered that a part of this deal. “I just… It would feel like I was betraying Miruko. She doesn’t even have an agency, I’m her only student.”

              Meanwhile, Ochako comes to a conclusion, a little bit before Deku does. “Why don’t you just join Ryukyu’s agency?”

              “Listen, I love Ryukyu, but we’re in competition for those rankings, if I join her, then she gets credit for my spot.”

              Ochako isn’t so sure that’s how it works, but she also doesn’t know how it actually works, so she can’t really argue with that. “Okay, don’t join… Combine agencies with her. Equal partners.”

              Miruko crosses her arms with such force it makes a sound. “What would we call ourselves?”

              Deku suggests to Ryukyu, “Bunny Dragon! – Dragon Bunny!”

              “Rabbit.” She sees Deku’s puzzled expression and explains, “Miruko prefers to be called Rabbit. She finds bunny to be… too cutesy, a tad demeaning. Rabbit is like rapid, or rabid, it fits her better. I’m honestly shocked that hasn’t come up in all the time you’ve spent training with her.”

              Deku scratches his head, he’s not sure when that would’ve come up in casual conversation. Miruko barges in, “Ryukyu! You trying to poach my student?!”

              “As I was just explaining to him, it’s not like that-”

              “Well I’ve got a better idea anyway! Lets get married!”

              Deku fully falls out of his chair.

              Ochako squeals, “That was not what I meant!”

              Ryukyu shows only the smallest sign of a blush. “Don’t be so ridiculous.”

              “Baha!” Miruko pokes at Ryukyu’s very slightly reddened cheeks, “I knew that’d get you!!!” She backs off when the dragon glares at her. “Serious time. Ocho suggested that we merge agencies temporarily.”

              Ryukyu furrows her brow, “Why did she suggest that. . .”

              “I was maybe trying to poach her from you.”

              “For what reason?”

              Miruko shrugs so innocently, though Ryukyu could guess at a myriad of reasons behind that expression.

              “Fine. Rather than playing student-swap, we’ll merge. Our temporary company, shall henceforward be called-”

              Everyone throws out suggestions,

              Miruko shouts, “Dragon Riders!

              Deku says, “Rabbit & Dragon.”

              Ochako shouts, “Over The Moon!”

              Then, Ryukyu declares, “The MirRyu Agency.” She extends her hand to Miruko, “Deal?”

              Miruko smiles, “Yeah, deal.” The rabbit shakes the dragon’s hand.

Notes:

This was such a fun chapter to write. I realized by one of your comments, I didn't properly establish that Deku and Miruko had like a bigger conversation about his quirk after that first chapter. I wanted that conversation to just be implied so that Deku wouldn't be just repeating himself in this chapter because he has to just explain it straight to Ochako. I thought about letting Nejire and Tsuyu in on it too, but while I really like both of them as characters, establishing their dynamics with the rest of the cast was too much bloat for what I wanted this story's main focus to be, which is just Miruko being a mentor, and Deku being inspiring.

Ramble aside! Next chapter will focus much more on quirk training, and then it's on to the finale! See y'all tomorrow!

Oh also, with the finale fast approaching, I wanted to let you know what's coming next since I've nearly finished writing it, it's a Ms Joke x Eraser fic. Lots of angst, very excited to share the hurt.

Chapter 6: Our Progress

Summary:

The newly formed MirRyu Agency has been hard at work training together nonstop for the past week.

              “Just try harder!” Miruko shouts from the sidelines while Deku tries his absolute hardest to simply float.

              Ochako teases as she wanders through the air of the training hall. “Yeah Deku, just try harder.”

              “I don’t know what the trigger is!” Deku finally confesses after being harassed by these two for the better part of an hour.

              Miruko has to take a seat, “And what does that mean?”

              “Full Cowling is easy. I just clench my muscles and picture a microwave.” He flashes with green lightning as he says this.

              Ochako tilts fully upside down, “Why a microwave?”

              “Well, specifically an egg in a microwave, not exploding.”

              Ochako giggles, “That’s so specific.”

              “Well, All-Might told me when I started that if I used too much power too soon, my limbs would explode off my body. So I’m constantly just trying to avoid that.”

              Miruko comments, “That’s pretty metal.”

              Ochako takes Deku’s hand, careful not to make him float herself. “Okay, so, instead of a microwave then, picture a balloon.” Ochako takes a deep breath, and floats upward herself with puffed up cheeks.

              This gets a chuckle out of Deku, “If I could just talk to Nana Shimura again, maybe she’d have some insight.”

              Miruko chimes in, “I could try knocking you unconscious if you think it’ll help.”

              “No- Come on Deku.” She releases her quirk to stand on the ground with him, “Just, close your eyes.” She puts her forehead to his, “Remember what it felt like the first time.”

              Deku blushes as he remembers the kiss. Nana Shimura’s words echo in his mind, Love defies gravity. He feels Ochako’s warmth in his hand, he opens his eyes to look at her, and finds himself floating with her again. “Woah- Did you?-” Ochako shakes her head. He blushes, “I think I figured it out.”

              “Finally!!!” Miruko shouts so loud it startles both of them. “Now the real training begins!”

              “Wait shouldn’t Ryukyu be here for this part?”

              “She’s busy filing for the new agency name.”

              Ochako suggests, “Shouldn’t you also be there for that..?”

              Miruko scratches her head, “I don’t think so. . . Besides, I’m not leaving you two unsupervised, no real training would get done!”

              Deku and Ochako both turn bright red at this accusation, but neither of them can form a proper argument.

              “Alright Usagito, so what can this new power do?”

              Deku scratches his head, “I think just this. All-Might told me it was called Float, so… yeah…”

              Miruko looks at how high the ceiling is, fortunately Ryukyu’s gym was designed to accommodate her dragon from, allowing her to fly laps. So, plenty of room. “First goal of the day then.” Miruko leaps with explosive force, to touch the ceiling. She lands almost silently, “Do that, without touching the ground.” Ochako raises her hand, but Miruko interrupts her, “Hey, no hints!”

              “Sorry!” She floats back from Deku, giving him time to figure it out.

              Deku takes only a moment to figure out what Miruko was stopping Ochako from doing. He raises his own hand to the ceiling, and focuses on a spot, before pulling himself there with Blackwhip. He smirks, “That wasn’t so hard.”  He keeps his hand pressed against the ceiling.

              “For your next challenge!” She leaps towards him, “Don’t get hit Usagito!” She swings for his head.

              Deku is quick to just push off the ceiling, but when Miruko bounces off it, he panics, and sends an Air Force Bullet at her with a quick flick, propelling himself backwards while keeping her- not at all at bay. Miruko barely flinches before swinging at him again, Deku twists his whole body to try and avoid her, but- a cord wraps around his waist, and pulls him quickly to safety. “Phew, thank you O-”

              Ochako bonks him gently on the head, “I win.”

              Miruko erupts in a giggle fit, almost fumbling her landing, “Good work Ocho!”

              Deku looks like he might cry, “Ochako, I thought you were on my team…”

              She teases, “When was that established?”

              Miruko pats him on the back, “Don’t worry Usagito, now it’s her turn.”

              They both pause for a short moment, before Ochako leaps into the air, and deploys her grapple hook to the farthest corner, and pulls herself as quickly as her gauntlets allow. As she reaches the wall, Miruko and Deku jump towards her. Ochako releases herself,- “Zero Uravity Zone!” Their momentum is stopped, and they’re left floating in the air weightless. Ochako quickly dashes across the floor heading for the other side, when a black tendril shoots past her. She dashes to the side but Deku grazes her wrist when he dives after her. “Dangit!”

              Deku slides to a stop, and smirks. He wonders if Miruko noticed his landing-

              Miruko seems to just appear behind Ochako, she pats her head, “Don’t feel too bad. You lasted longer than Usagito did.”

              Deku almost falls over himself, “H-hey-”

Miruko claps, “You both still need work though, so, again!”

              Miruko supervises the two playing basically tag for the next couple hours. When Nejire walks in, they both collapse exhausted. “What’s up Neji?”

              “Uhm, Ryukyu said she called you like eight times.”

              Miruko’s eyes widen a little, “Is she okay?”

              “Just a bit angry.”

              Most of Miruko’s concern melts away, “Oh, what about?”

              “Something about you need to be there, raghhh!” Nejire fires a little spiraling beam from her mouth to mimic breathing fire.

              Miruko scratches her head, “Ocho, turns out you were right. So, break time!”

              Deku and Ochako both raise a tired fist to the sky, “Yay…”    

              “Not for you Usagito, you’re comin with me.”

              Deku groans, “Why…?”

              “Firstly, that attitude, but secondly, she’ll be less mad if I bring one of our kids with me.”

              Deku scratches his head wondering when he got adopted. Miruko yanks him to his feet, and drags him out the door, Ochako waves tiredly, “Bye Deku, have fun!”

              As they’re going through the city leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Miruko talks down Ryukyu over text message. At least that’s what Deku assumes as he watches her. Even with eyes locked on her phone, she traverses the city so gracefully. Eventually she puts her phone away, “So! Dekuravity. You gone on a proper date yet?”

              Deku scrunches his brow, “When would we have had time?”

              She laughs, though a little in disbelief, “You are so sassy today.”

              “You know I get that from you right?”

              “Yeah, right.” She jabs his shoulder with a big goofy smile, before she takes a much bigger leap, skipping a whole building just to show off. Miruko smiles as she watches Deku attempt the same. She notices the way he moves has changed since he started working with her. He’s learned to leap with his whole body, and his landings-

              Deku falls just short of the rooftop- He uses Float to catch himself before he plummets to the street below. He wheezes as he hovers there, realizing how bad that almost was.  

              Miruko pulls him back up to the rooftop and pats his shoulder, “You’re a good kid.” She continues on her way.

             

Notes:

The Finale Fast Approaches!!!

I have some plans for a few mini-arcs set in this same timeline, and many set not at all in this timeline. Before we get there though I wanted to ramble. As of writing this, Deku hasn't started to use Float in the anime, and I'm positive it will work differently than how I've decided to use it. While it certainly has potential to evolve into something more versatile, I like the idea of it just being a personal version of Ochako's quirk that can raise you higher into the air depending loosely on your emotional state. This way it doesn't fully invalidate the use of his other traversal options, like Blackwhip and Full Cowling.

I have some further plans for how I'd like to evolve Ochako's quirk even further based on my own rampant speculating of tiny details, but as Miruko states in this chapter, there's no need to rush, and if she does take another huge power leap in my fic, it'll be set much farther in the future than like "The next month."

Chapter 7: Her Start

Summary:

Miruko takes on the villains beneath Jaku Hospital!

              Six months have passed since Deku began training with Miruko. Five months since the formation of MirRyu Agency. Today, the raid on the Paranormal Liberation Front begins. Deku and Uravity are helping many heroes and their classmates with the evacuation of Jaku City. Many civilians recognize the couple from their debut in Tao City, and are quick to go along with them.

              Meanwhile, another battle is already being fought within the laboratory beneath Jaku Hospital on the opposite edge of town. Miruko sprints through countless dark corridors before she finds her door. She kicks straight through several feet of metal. She spots the mad scientist responsible for so much of their troubles, “What’s up Doc!?” He immediately bursts into tears and starts to run which lets Miruko know, He must be the real one. Shigaraki must be here too- but first! She smashes apart at least a dozen Nomu tanks before they can be awakened. Judging by the Doc’s cry, must be the way to stop these pricks after all. Without knowing it, she smashes several High-End Nomu tanks as she rampages towards the doctor. She locks eyes with him, and she hears Deku’s voice in her mind, Don’t be so reckless! Miruko smirks, Damn Kid. In that same moment she hears footsteps behind her on crunching glass. She twists out of the way of a gremlin-sized Nomu, and kicks it right into the doctor’s chest.

              “Johnny no!!!” The mad scientist clutches his horrific creation as if it was his only child.

              Miruko clenches her fist as she knows exactly what these monstrosities are. “You insult their legacy with those stupid names! I’ll lay these zombies to rest!!!”

              “Go ahead and try Hero!” He taps on his device, and releases three High-Ends from their tubes. He takes off down a corridor.

              Miruko feels the impulse to chase after him, she tenses the muscles in her thighs as she’s about to spring past these High-Ends- but again she feels Deku echoing in the back of her mind, I don’t want to see you lose your life!

              A female Nomu taunts her, “Are you scared Hero?”

              “Not of you!” She dashes out of sight, as they all unleash their attacks. She observes each of them carefully through the glass tubes. Projectiles shot from her thighs, a sharp boney tendril from the stupid one’s head, and just a strong elephant- okay…

              The Woman, and the Elephant quickly corner her, and then the bone tendrils shatter the glass tube to her side- nearly skewering Miruko alive.

              Miruko takes a breath, and shouts, “Luna Ring!!!” With a somersault, she smashes the heads of Elephant, and Woman, sending them reeling backwards. They can regenerate that- Another tendril shoots her way, but she jumps over it, and springs off the bone for Woman. She squeezes her legs around the Nomu’s head with all the strength she can muster- “Luna Tijeras!!!” She swings her whole body backwards, ripping the Nomu’s head from its shoulders, and smashing it into the ground under her knees.

              Before she can evade it, Elephant slams her with his oversized fist, and sends her flying through several glass tubes, where she lands against Ryukyu’s wing. “What’s the situation?”

              Miruko smirks, “About time you got down here.” She tries to get up, and realizes Elephant definitely cracked a few ribs, and her arm. She winces, “The Doctor’s down that hall, clacking on his computer, but these are high-ends like the kind Endeavor fought in Kyushu.” She growls, “I can’t turn my back on them.”

              Present Mic, Eraserhead, Crust and Endeavor flood into the lab with several sidekicks, and heroes Miruko doesn’t know that well. Endeavor declares, “Eraserhead, Ryukyu and I can hold off these Nomu. Miruko, you and Mic go after-”

              “Fuck that.”

              “Excuse me?”

              “Ryukyu’s too big of a target for these Nomu. We’ll go after Doc, you all take care of these zombies.”

              “Fine, but get moving!” Endeavor provides the Dragon and Rabbit covering fire as they fly down the hallway. Narrowly avoiding the attacks of the remaining Nomu thanks to their support.

              When Miruko sees Shigaraki’s glass tube, her whole body moves without her thinking. She leaps from Ryukyu’s head, “Luna Arc!!!” She slams her heel upon the glass, shattering the tube. Shigaraki’s lifeless body tumbles out onto the floor.

              The Doctor rushes to Shigaraki’s side in a crying attempt to resuscitate him- Ryukyu grabs the mad scientist, forcing herself to not crush the mad man in her claws. “Stop the Nomu or you die!”

              A sound, much quieter than the shouting, much weaker than the Nomu, pounds against Miruko’s ear drum as she stands in the remnants of Shigaraki’s recovery chamber. She hears, his heart beating in his chest. Her instincts scream as she does, “RUN!!!” She kicks Ryukyu in the head to get the big dragon to turn around.

              “So cold…”

              Without having ever heard it before, she feels the voice behind her is death incarnate. Escaping by only a hair, she sprints down the hall after Ryukyu. She shouts with all the power left in her lungs, as she can feel her ribs fracture further from the stress, “GET OUT NOW!!!” She’s realizing just now, how many other bones she’s broken, and how deep the gash on her side is. She leaps onto Ryukyu’s back, but reaches out to grab one of her fellow heroes, she doesn’t even see who it is as she starts to lose consciousness from her blood loss, but she could swear, it’s… “Usagito…” She feels herself falling backwards, “it’s up to you now…”

              As she escapes the lab, with many heroes on her back, Ryukyu feels the Rabbit Hero slip off- “MIRUKOOO!” She roars back, as her friend falls into the dust of the collapsing hospital. She can’t just spin around, she would risk flinging every hero she’s got to their death.

              Meanwhile, the evacuation effort in Jaku City is well under way, though Deku and Uravity are too far away to hear the dragon’s cry, in that moment, Deku feels it. “Miruko’s in danger-” He makes a dash for the hospital, but- Ochako grabs his arm stopping him as she spots the wave of destruction heading towards them, everything in its path is reduced to atoms, it’s almost incomprehensible to look at.

              Deku does the only thing he can think of “Smash!!!” He kicks back a powerful wave of air at the destruction, if it slowed it down at all its not in any way Deku can see. Todoroki throws up a massive wall of ice and then Uravity pulls them all back to the busses with her grappling hooks.

              “Secret Move: Zero Uravity Zone!” She lifts all the busses into the air, along with her friends away from the encroaching decay. As the wave passes, she hugs the roof of the bus, and then sighs with relief, I really didn’t know if that would work.

              As Ryukyu circles around the sky above the hospital, she scans down below, for any sign of the Number 5 Hero. Her breathing deepens, as she feels herself about to lose it. “I don’t… I can’t find-” A pebble, or some debris, bounces off her head, she looks up, to see, “Miruko!?” She floats above them on a crumbling plate of what looks like scales, Crust’s Shields? Ryukyu looks at her back, she realizes Crust didn’t make it out. The plate crumbles, and Ryukyu catches the bleeding rabbit in her claws. Tears welling up in her massive eyes. “I’ll get you help…”

              Miruko mutters, “You need me to kick someone…?”

              “No!” Ryukyu rubs her eyes the best she can with her massive claws, “Idiot.”

              What lay below them is beyond what they can handle in this state. A god of destruction, has awakened, and the dragon must retreat for now. Some of the heroes upon her back are not so accepting, but this isn’t their story.

        

Notes:

An Edit From the Future!?: Corrected a stated timeline error. Also! If you want more of this storyline, check out the rest of this series in The Miruko Timeline! Arc 2 is coming soon!

Gratuitous Ramble Ahead:

While I've now written many other Hero Academia fics (not yet posted), this one is closest to my heart because Miruko in this scene is what inspired me to give this whole thing a shot. I loved the idea of Miruko being this self-destructive hero. As you're probably already aware I thought she was the perfect counter balance to Deku. I had a lot of different ways for this to end as a result, and I may end up posting some of those in the future, but I like this ending the most since it feels the most in line with the show.

This is not the end for my Miruko tales! I plan on releasing a holiday special at some point in December (maybe sooner if I finish writing it quickly) that takes place between chapter 6 and 7, then after that, and after I've posted all these other fics I've been writing, I will continue this storyline, both of those will most likely be called "The Teachings of Miruko and *appropriate subtitle*" as I haven't yet written either of those, I can't quite say what they'll be about, but the rest of season 6 will probably have an effect on how the latter piece turns out.

However! I can tell you all about what I'm posting tomorrow, a Ms. Joke and Eraser fic! I think that one will be five parts, but I haven't written the 5th part yet, so it may go longer. There's a lot of really heartwrenching spice, and some of my favorite cute moments I've written.

After that, I have a super special AU, with EVEN MORE ANGST. I don't really want to spoil exactly what that'll be about, but I can tell you it will focus heavily on Mina Ashido.

Then after that, something about Momo.

And then after that, potentially, something about The Big Three (I haven't gotten far into writing that yet, so, might end up scrapping it in favor of something else.)

Let me know which things you're excited about, and I may release the most popular concept earlier than planned ;3

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of The Miruko Timeline