Chapter Text
So, Izuku reflected, as the opposite team groaned from their positions on the floor. Maybe they were not ready for 15%.
“We used so much teamwork in that fight just now.” Ojiro commented happily.
“Yup, yup!” A relaxed Uraraka returned.
Kaminari and Kirishima high-fived in the background.
Or, upon further reflection, maybe it was more to do with his experience level. That, and the fact that they were hesitating because they had already accepted they would lose. That simply wouldn’t do.
He approached the other team who pouted at him, before he whipped out his notebook and started… teaching them? “I’m very sorry for overwhelming you, and not really allowing for the point of the exercise to get through, but I do have a few suggestions, especially when it comes to fighting opponents more experienced than you!”
“You would have absolutely been able to beat my team first if you didn’t let yourselves feel overwhelmed by your prior knowledge, which is something that will happen a lot on the field, especially with organised crime, especially the ones that have a sort of bureaucracy because you can expect them to have contingency after contingency which will allow them to outsmart you.”
“It all comes down to your personal confidence and self reflection. You need to be able to know your abilities inside out to…”
The class simply stared as Midoriya continued on about his thoughts to a very dazed group who were still on the floor.
All Might stared dumbfoundedly for a bit, before remembering that he was the teacher, and turned the face the half of the class that was actually meant to be analysing the battle.
“Well, while that happens over there, any comments from your end?”
They blinked and looked at each other.
“Midoriya has too much confidence in us.”
“Agreed.”
~~~~~~
Izuku blinked at All Might. The Pro Hero held his gaze with a classic grin.
Izuku pointed between himself and his class stutteringly. “You want me to fight the whole class with only 5%?”
All might let out a joyous laugh. “Quite right, my boy! It will still allow for teamwork, simply requiring even more coordination than before. And we can still analyse the fight after. I will record it here!” He declared, holding up a bulky camera.
With a glint in his eye, he added. “It will be an excellent test of adaptability for the class as well.”
Ah, Izuku realised. All Might was devious. Izuku made sure nothing showed on his face, but nodded to indicate he’d understood what All Might was really asking. Of course, to the class, it sounded like they just had to adapt to the shake-up in the exercise. Izuku knew that he had other tricks up his sleeve that would throw them for a loop.
He didn’t notice All Might shiver at the look in his eye that formed after hearing the relieved exclamations about his limits. It was strangely reminiscent of a certain tired teacher when his coffee was stolen. He also didn’t know that All Might was incredibly glad he blamed Yamada after realising the coffee wasn’t meant for him. He wasn’t sure if he’d still be alive today, otherwise.
The class chattered excitedly as Izuku took his position opposite them. He could hear the poor class presidents attempting to seed a strategy, but mostly seemed content to go follow Bakugo’s plan of “constantly attack until that fucking nerd has no choice but to keel over in defeat.”
Izuku would have words about strategizing where your enemy could hear. In normal person speak, Kacchan wanted them to use their numbers to beat Izuku in a battle of endurance. In their defence, they didn’t know about his extensive crowd control capabilities, but they had also just been talking about how he was much more experienced than them. They should really treat him like a third-year at the very least. Izuku pointedly did not think about how he was probably more experienced than even third years. It was hard not to be when nearly every day had some kind of new battle.
Izuku was pulled from his thoughts as All Might yelled “Start!”
He quickly spread 5% throughout his body and evaded the barrage of attacks from the full on frontal assault, Bakugo at the head, goading him on.
“You think you’re top shit now, huh Deku? Think you can beat us with your fancy quirk and your top notch experience?” He sneered.
Izuku was impressed with Kacchan’s attempt at teamwork, but gracefully dodged an attack from behind instead of letting himself get distracted. He felt Kacchan’s temper rise, but paid it little mind as he dodged a laser blast from Aoyama. The class moved to encircle him.
A pattern began to emerge, and Izuku quickly identified the waves his classmates were using to keep up the continuous assault. Aoyama would shoot from a distance before quickly being covered by Sato and Kirishima. They would try to keep Izuku’s attention until Aoyama was unable to continue where Yaoyorozu would team up with Koda to send in birds who dropped flash grenades around Izuku. He had actually never seen them team up before and was delighted at the vicious combination, dodging around the birds with glee.
More and more groups would rotate to try and cover each other, but only a small portion of them had noticed something important. Yaoyorozu gaped at the realisation while Todoroki frowned and Bakugo seethed.
Izuku hadn’t taken a single hit. Nor had he done anything other than slowly push the class back into a corner. He grinned, and noticed All Might lean forward in anticipation. The classes’ only warning was a quick hissing sound before their vision was obscured by a thick, light purple smoke.
“Kero?” Asui croaked confusedly, jumping backwards to assess the change. Her croak changed from confusion to surprise as a black rope tugged on her ankle, causing her to fall. She wasn’t able to recover from her disorientation fast enough to realise that she was now quite literally bundled up with the rest of the class. The strange black rope had been tied up with a bow, only visible thanks to the receding smoke.
Bakugo let out a shriek of frustration from the middle of the bundle. Izuku may have been feeling petty and made sure he was packed in the tightest.
The class blinked at the figure in the haze which the rope was connected to. Was there someone else in the room? As they clocked the figure, they tried to tense up, ready to attack a new unknown villain before All Might let out his boisterous laugh. “Well, it seems young Midoriya has won.”
The smoke cleared to reveal that the silhouette was their slightly sheepish green-haired classmate, who was holding on to the unnatural rope.
Bakugo was angered beyond coherent words, but the class largely ignored him, in favour of telling Midoriya exactly what they thought.
…
“Huh?”
The thoughts were also not very coherent.
All Might called for their attention. “Let us revise the footage shall we? Analyse your team work and your fighting, and figure out exactly why you were unable to win, even as a large team.”
While they were distracted by their teacher, Izuku subtly retracted the black whip and let it sink away, and grabbed his notebook with a childish joy. Analysis opportunities were always a highlight of practical heroics class.
As All Might projected the footage, murmurs slowly arose from the class. It was Mineta who ended up pointing out what they were all thinking.
“Are we already five minutes into the fight?! I don’t think we hit Midoriya once!” He asked frantically.
Yaoyorozu had a hand placed worriedly on her chin. “I noticed that right before the fight ended.” She pointed to a part on the screen. “You can see that he’s not even moving that fast, but rather seems to be controlling the groups that formed the waves we were attacking with. Around halfway through our second rotation, he noticed the pattern, and was not only able to predict the attacks that were next, but when they would happen based on how tired the main attackers of each wave were getting.”
Ashido’s eyes widened. “An overreliance of teamwork?”
Iida nodded and pushed up his glasses in agreement. “It seems so. Because there were so many of us, our plan became simple and predictable. It was easy to follow, but easy to identify and counter.”
All Might grinned. “Astute observations, well done.” He raised a finger. “There is another important point that young Yaoyorozu mentioned that you should focus on as well.”
Kirishima frowned. “About the fact that he was controlling the groups?”
All Might laughed. “Indeed. I’ll rewind the footage from the very beginning up until now where we’ve just stopped. Watch your positions carefully.”
He sped the footage back and forth in reverse. The class stared dumbfoundedly at the incredibly clear change. Most of them hadn’t noticed, but when it was put like this, the shift from being evenly spread around Midoriya, to slowly being backed in a corner was all too obvious.
Ashido gaped. “Woah, Midoriya, how did you do that?”
Izuku smiled and pointed at himself in the footage, which showed him jumping backwards. “Watch my evasion patterns.”
The class intently watched the playback, which was slowed down again. Todoroki raised his eyebrows. “We’re literally following him into the corner. The people behind him couldn’t stay behind because there was too little room to manoeuvre.”
“I thought we were the ones backing him into a corner!” Sero exclaimed.
Todoroki shook his head. At the same time, All Might said. “It is good that you were aware of the change in positioning on the field, but the fact remains that the attacking group had no intention of cornering the defensive group. In heroics, there are often times where something seems too good to be true because it is.”
The class took a moment to digest his words before having their attention taken by tiny popping explosions. With a dangerous glare, Bakugo challenged, “Yeah yeah, the nerd can dodge well. Good for him. What I want to know is where that smoke and rope came from.” He glared at Izuku for good measure.
Izuku rocked backwards and forwards on his heels. “So, about that-”
He was interrupted by the warning bell for practical classes, alerting them that they had to start changing now or risk being late to their next class.
Bakugo slouched and stomped past. "Tch. Saved by the bell.” He looked back and ground out a “Don’t think this conversation is over! We're talking after school.”
Izuku blinked. “Kacchan I have somewhere I need to be-” But he was already out the door. He felt All Might place a hand on his head.
“Don’t worry young man, I’ll let the staff know you’ll be held up.” Izuku grinned sheepishly at the man before moving towards his class so they could go to the changing rooms together.
He caught up with Uraraka, Iida and Todoroki, and was met with a bright grin from the former. “You were amazing today Deku! You completely had us, even with 5% of your full power!”
Iida nodded. “You put us to shame. Power is clearly not everything. Your astuteness even in the middle of a large battle where you are incredibly outnumbered is astounding.”
Izuku dipped his head in embarrassment. “Ha, those are very kind words. Thank you. I did have some tricks up my sleeve though.”
The group paused outside the changing rooms. Todoroki tilted his head. “Is your quirk like mine now or something? It was your quirk right? Or…” he hesitated, “Did something happen to you with that All for One guy?”
Uraraka and Iida suddenly looked gutted, but Izuku was quick to reassure them with denying gestures. “No, no! Don’t worry, he didn’t get to me.” They quickly relaxed. He gave them a cheeky smile. “It’s the ‘or something’.” Then he bolted into the changing rooms, leaving his three friends with whiplash.
Uraraka sighed and smiled. “Deku’s always been a bit of an odd one.”
Iida chopped his hand and Todoroki nodded in agreement.
“Well, if it’s nothing hurting him, then the weird quirk stuff is fine. He’ll tell us when he can. We should get changed now.” Todoroki walked into the boy’s room, Iida following after waving to Uraraka. Their friend was full of surprises.