Chapter 8: Minus 8
"Right, good match, you five!" the deep voice of Vlad King carries through the room. Midoriya feels himself start to smile at the praise. "But now we must pick the MVP. Anyone have any suggestions?" He turns his attention to the whole of the class.
The majority of 1-A look around at each other, stuck in the all too familiar limbo of wanting to answer but being too nervous to share what they think. Considering the behavior of their homeroom teacher, Midoriya can't blame them.
"Well… it's gotta be Midoriya, right?" one girl finally pipes up. She immediately goes red and tries to shrink into herself. Midoriya feels a pang of empathy. He knows that feeling all too well.
Vlad nods. "That's a good pick, and I won't disagree, but could you explain?"
"He knocked out all of Team F and won a two on one fight," the girl quickly replies.
"That's a very bare-bones answer," Mr. Aizawa speaks up, still scribbling notes on a clipboard in a way that makes Midoriya's heart palpitate in apprehension. "Would anyone care to expand on it?"
No one does, Midoriya can tell at a glance. Mr. Aizawa seems to have expected this, though, so he sets his clipboard down and surveys the class with a critical eye. "Out of the five participants, Midoriya acted the most like a Pro. He came up with an effective plan in the allotted time, listened to his partner, stayed with said partner the whole exercise, and adapted when things went off the rails. Some mistakes were made, yes, but for a first lesson he performed near perfectly. The rest of you should think about what he did and learn from it."
Midoriya feels a wave of heat creep up his neck and onto his face. A bead of sweat forms on his forehead and trails all the way down to his collarbone. He. Acted like a pro. The words play on loop in his mind for a bit. Oto, who's still standing beside him, looks at him a bit worriedly. Midoriya waves him off and tries to listen to Vlad.
"Thank you, Eraser." The taller of the two teachers gives Aizawa a grateful look.
Midoriya's head suddenly loses its embarrassed flush. Eraser. Is that a weird workplace nickname or an actual title? Maybe it's an inside joke? Maybe it's Aizawa's hero name. Teachers in U.A went by hero names sometimes, though mostly insisted the students use their actual names.
"Now," the blood hero continues, cutting off Midoriya's train of thought, "we must critique the losers. Would anyone like to start?" There's another long and painful bout of silence, and Midoriya tries not to fidget too much. "Well, alright then. I guess I'll do it for you," Vlad says, slightly miffed. He flips a piece of paper over his clipboard before continuing, "The most glaring issue is that Zashi broke off," he states bluntly. "Whether it was out of overeagerness or plain stupidity, the mistake was still what cost Team F the match."
Midoriya sees Zashi shoot his teammates a dirty look from the corner of his eye. "It's not my fault they couldn't keep up," the boy in yellow mumbles rudely.
"Yes it is," Aizawa sternly corrects. "You used your Quirk to get in position without talking to your team, not to mention that you ignored the plan you agreed to, which, I will add, had a shot at succeeding. You're the biggest reason why your team lost. Get over and learn from it."
Zashi mutters something that sounds a bit like a curse under his breath, but Moku elbows him and gives him a warning look.
"That's all we'll talk about for now. Aizawa will go over more in homeroom tomorrow," Vlad says, locking eyes with the other teacher. "Alright, next match! Teams A and D, you're up!"
[x]
"The rest of the teams took way longer than us after that. Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Vlad gave lots of tips throughout the whole thing, though, so it was still really informative." Midoriya rhythmically continues his hanging curl ups, enjoying the satisfying burn of his abdominal muscles as his forehead nearly meets his knees.
"Sounds like you came up with a new thing for us to work on," Gran Torino casually flicks through channel after channel on the TV he mounted in the back of the weight room. The whole setup is rather impressive, considering he jerry-rigged it with a roll of duct tape and an old coffee table.
"What do you mean?" Midoriya pauses his curl ups, an upside down view of a gray wall completely covered in inspirational posters All Might got from the surplus of his merch. Midoriya had to vehemently insist to him that no, hanging up posters of himself in his own building isn't egotistic and would even be welcome, but that didn't stop Gran Torino from cracking jokes about it on the daily.
"You used Float in a new way, allowing you to maneuver midair without extra light. That can be very useful," Gran explains, mouth half full of taiyaki.
Midoriya thinks for a moment and realizes his point. "But when I use a power output that low, I can't move as fast. Sure, I can bounce off of walls and stuff at one percent, but that makes noise, which defeats the purpose of using One for All at one percent."
"All the blood's gonna rush to your head like that," Gran Torino warns, getting up from his seat. He gives Midoriya a half-hearted whack with his cane, and the boy continues doing his hanging curl ups, the vest full of weight plates straining his muscles. "And we'll work on your reflexes and attack line reading so you won't have to worry about moving too slow." He makes his way over to the basement door, presumably to change into his hero gear. "Once you're done with your workout, I'll have you chase me around with Float at one percent in the light. Once you get that down, I'll call it a night. I still have regular hero duties, you know."
Midoriya hurries through his workout after that. As fulfilling as weight training may be, combat training is infinitely more fun. That's not to say that he skimps on his exercise, though. He'd be a fool to since One for All requires as much muscle mass as possible to be effective.
Finally, after he finishes his cool-down jog and stretches, Midoriya heads up the flight of stairs with Gran to work on Float.
"Alright, show me this stealth mode thing, or whatever you're calling it," his teacher orders, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck.
Midoriya blinks. "I'm not really calling it anything, but..." He closes his eyes and lets One for All cover his body in a comfortable one percent. All of the energy is staying in his body, strengthening him. Then, he reaches out for Float. That's slightly harder, as the free feeling needed to use the Quirk doesn't exactly go with intense concentration. Eventually, he gets it and hovers a couple inches off the ground.
Gran Torino looks him over and nods. "I can see how this came into use in that sewer. If it's dark enough, you'd be nearly invisible. Nice work thinking on the fly like that, kid." He crouches down, knees bent and hands making contact with the floor. "But if you really wanna be clever with it, you'll need to be able to move."
Midoriya barely has time to regret ever suggesting more training on top of going to U.A before Gran shoots forward with a woosh and slams feet first into his gut. Midoriya hits the floor, rolls over, and dry-heaves.
"I can see why you think it's not good for much, you definitely can't go half as fast with it as you can with those moves you stole from me. But after today, I'll make sure you can use it somewhat reliably in combat training." Gran shakes his legs out, as though slamming into Midoriya's stomach had somehow managed to hurt his knees.
Midoriya takes a couple deep breaths and gets back up. He calls upon the Quirk again and rises into the air. Gran Torino rushes him without warning again. He's slower than normal, thank god, but still fast enough to graze Midoriya as he dodges to the side.
Gran's doing his usual tactic of bouncing around the room but at a relative snail's pace. He's also making sure not to use a pattern. "See if you can keep away from me for five minutes! After that, we'll shut the lights off till Toshinori gets here. Then he'll have a go!"
It takes thirty gut punches, twenty faceplants, ten wall collisions, five near broken windows, two actually broken windows, and a kick to head for Midoriya to get a barely decent hang of using Float at one percent. It doesn't help that Gran Torino keeps varying his speed of attack and using too many feints and fakeouts for Midoriya to keep track of.
And Gran is only half satisfied with his skill level. That means more and more training in the coming weeks, and since Midoriya wants to excel, he'd come in for practice on weekends, too. But he's fine with that. Stealth training is probably reserved for upper years at U.A, or for students whose Quirks are stealth-oriented, and Midoriya doesn't want to wait.
All the difficulty of Gran's training is instantly tripled the second the man flicks off the lights. Yes, there are the two broken windows to let in some afternoon sun, but the whole training room is still neatly pitch black.
At first, Midoriya thought it would be a level field. If he couldn't see, then surely Gran Torino, a man in his late seventies/early eighties, couldn't, right? Wrong. Gran could see way better than Midoriya, though if the boy is honest, his mentor doesn't have to. The man's other senses easily covered for his loss of sight.
His mentor takes pity on him about two minutes into lights out training. After receiving a couple basic tips on fighting in the dark (don't rely on your eyes too much, sound travels slower than you think it does, fast-moving targets always displace noticeable amounts of air), Midoriya fares a little better, though Gran stops prematurely and says that they'll work more on stealth after he can move better.
Midoriya relaxes for a while after that. All Might's on patrol from 11-5 and won't be able to visit the gym until later, so Midoriya works on his homework and occasionally scribbles or edits something in his journals. Most of his classmates have rather interesting Quirks. One girl could make portals fifty centimeters in diameter anywhere she could see, one boy could magnetize parts of his body, and there's even a boy who could shrink whatever he touches with all five fingers.
Of the fourteen others in his class, however, only a handful put a decent amount of thought into using their Quirks. It frustrates Midoriya to no end. They all have amazing abilities along with a decade to think on uses for them, but they simply refuse to get creative.
His notebooks offer some solace. Studying, classifying, and applying Quirks has always been a comfort, and after a day like today, it's greatly soothing.
Midoriya is halfway through sketching a picture of a rather interesting support item he'd seen on the news that morning when the door to the gym creaks open. He stands and looks up to greet All Might like he always does, but his predecessor isn't alone.
A rather tall man in a beige trench coat and matching hat gives Midoriya a stiff nod as he holds the door open for All Might's skeletal form. "Really, Toshinori, you could have picked a better building. This ones barely up to code!" The man carefully undoes his cost and folds it over his arm.
"It's hard to find a cheap building on such short notice, you know. The boy needed more training before UA, and this was really the only option." All Might leads the man over to where Midoriya's sitting.
"Hi, Al—er, I mean, hi, Yagi," Midoriya greets awkwardly. He closes his open notebook and dusts off his t-shirt. He'd gone home and gotten changed like usual, but the shirt he has is a little wrinkled.
"Young Midoriya!" All Might says, "Where's Gran?"
"Taking a nap," Midoriya answers, "said I had too much energy and wanted to get some rest before he went out tonight."
The other man smirks. "That sounds like Gran Torino, alright." Midoriya looks at him oddly, and the man notices. "Ah, sorry, where are my manners?" He reaches out a hand. "I'm detective Tsukauchi of the Musutafu Police Department. I've known All Might for years."
Midoriya takes his hand and shakes it, looking to All Might for confirmation. His mentor nods. "Tsukauchi is safe; he knows all there is to know about One for All. We've been working on a case in the area, so I figured I'd bring him by and introduce you to him."
"Nice to meet you, detective," Midoriya says, letting go of the man's hand. "I'm Midoriya, All Might's successor."
The detective chuckles. "I already know who you are. All Might thinks quite highly of you."
Midoriya feels his face turn scarlet. He tries to say something, anything, but everything comes out as a garbled mess.
All Might pats him on the shoulder. "Yes, he's quite amazing. I'm sure you'd find his progress to be impressive." He thinks for a moment. "Actually, would you like to watch a bit of the boy's training? He has to be home soonish, so it won't be much, but it'll still be interesting."
"I guess I've got some time," Tsukauchi replies, taking off his hat and setting it on the counter. "Where do you two train?"
"Just upstairs," All Might explained, already moving to the staircase. "Midoriya, get the balloons from the closest, will you? And do seventy obstacles this time."
"On it!" Midoriya answers eagerly.
By the time Midoriya gets the bundle of balloons upstairs, All Might is in an animated discussion with the detective. Instead of interrupting them, Midoriya sets up the usual course for Float training. It consists of 70-odd black balloons and 10 white ones scattered randomly throughout the room at varying heights. The goal of the balloon exercise is to get all 10 white balloons without popping or touching the black ones or the walls. All Might's initial rules involved not touching the strings either, but that proved to be way too difficult.
Once he's done, Midoriya looks over to the corner where All Might stands. His mentor gives him a thumbs up, and Midoriya pushes off the ground.
Immediately he has to swirl to the left, narrowly dodging a low-hanging balloon. The closest white one is maybe ten feet straight up, so Midoriya rises into the air, spinning around a couple black ones. Already his movements are causing the black balloons to float around, and one very nearly grazes his arm.
Grabbing the first balloon, Midoriya lets himself free fall for a couple feet, twisting out of the way of a black one before shooting off to his left. The next target is surrounded by a bunch of black balloons, so Midoriya stops dead and lets the breeze that always seems to follow him when he moves with One for All to scatter the group of rubber orbs.
As he grabs the second balloon, Midoriya realizes that he's at most a foot from the wall. Barely having enough time to react, he harshly stops, very nearly losing control of Float, which would have sent him falling to the floor.
Taking a couple deep breaths, Midoriya moves again, flying towards the closest white balloon. It's pretty isolated from most of the other ones, so Midoriya allows a bit more power to creep into his body, going a bit faster than strictly necessary. He doesn't see the tiny, underfilled black balloon sink into his trajectory until it's too late.
Midoriya collides face first with the latex, popping the balloon with a mortifying crack. He sinks to the floor, disappointed.
"You did better that time!" All Might congratulates as he walks over with Tsukauchi. "This is a hard exercise, but you made it look easy until you got overeager."
Midoriya winces. "Yeah, I know."
"I think you did quite well, actually. Was that your first time doing that exercise?" the detective asks, standing at All Might's side.
"No, but it was my first time with that many balloons," Midoriya answers. "I started with just the white ones, then added more. I can manage fifty pretty well, but seventy… well, you saw."
Tsukauchi nods. "That's the right way to go about it. Start simple then build from there." Then, "All Might tells me that you used a new move in class today. Care to explain?"
Midoriya cocks his head, "How did…"
"We're both on good terms with Nedzu," All Might explains, "He allowed me to watch your performance so I could better understand how you needed to improve."
"Oh," Midoriya says, "well, it wasn't really a move. I needed a way to surprise the other team, and I have the habit of releasing a lot of light when I use One for All, so I barely used any power and made sure to keep it all in, then floated up to surprise them."
"I'd say that's a move," Tsukauchi argues, "Sure, it's not complicated or flashy, but it's good that you're not focused on imitating your teachers."
All Might nods. "Yes, I've never felt the need for sneaking around, and Gran Torino really only ever bothers with stealth out of necessity."
"Um, what?" Midoriya asks. Not imitating All Might or Gran? They're what he bases nearly everything combat-related on. Gran taught him his moves, and All Might literally gave him his power. How could he not do what they do?
"It's something to think about," Tsukauchi settles on after he notices Midoriya's confusion. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Midoriya. You'll be a fine hero one day, and if you need a friend on the police force, I might be your guy."
All Might bids his friend goodbye then leads Midoriya downstairs. They take a seat by the counter. Midoriya's predecessor seems to consider something for a long moment, looking at his hands. Midoriya waits patiently for him to speak.
"Do you understand what Tsukauchi and I were getting at back there?" he asks after a while.
Midoriya thinks. "Not… really. I mean, I'm not you or Gran, but you two teach me. Shouldn't I take what you give me and go with it?"
All Might nods. "You should, but also shouldn't." Midoriya shoots him a confused look. All Might quickly explains. "It's good to draw inspiration from people who are better, at the same level, or even worse than you. But you shouldn't mimic everything to a T."
Midoriya blinks. "I still don't get it."
All Might sighs and twiddles his thumbs for a bit. "It's like writing a paper," he settles on. "When you write something for school, do you take what information you find online or in a book and put exactly what it says on your assignment?"
"No, that'd be illegal," Midoriya answers.
"But you still use what your sources say in your project?" All Might asks.
"Of course," Midoriya agrees. "I don't know everything, so I use what I can find, take the best parts, and mold them to my needs."
"You said it," All Might smiles, "you said exactly what I was going for."
"'Take the best parts and mold them to my needs?'" Midoriya repeats.
"Yes. Not everything I do will work for you, but you can still learn from me." All Might gets up from his seat, "Think about my style—Gran's too—and how you can take what we do and make it better suited to your needs."
"But you're both pros with decades of experience! How can I improve on that?"
"My boy, you don't have to surpass me just yet," All Might explains gently. "There's no rush. I have a couple of years left as a hero if I'm careful, which is plenty of time for you to grow. Take your time and think things out, alright? You're good at that. Now come on, I'll walk you to the train station."
[x]
The next day at lunch, Midoriya sits in the same spot next to the support students. Like the day previous, he barely gets to settle in before a tray slams down across from him.
Flinching, he looks up to see the smiling face of Oto. "Uh, hey," his former partner says. "Can I sit here?"
Midoriya blinks. "Sure!"
Oto grins even wider and slides into his seat across the table. "Sweet." He quickly takes a bite of his lunch (some strong-smelling chicken over rice) before asking, "Hey, did you get the last bullet point in English? I couldn't quite make it out, and everyone else I asked doesn't have it either."
"Oh, yeah, sure!" Midoriya quickly flicks through his backpack and pulls out a red spiral notebook. He slides it across the table and opens it to the most recent page. "It's nothing too important, just a couple more examples of Homonyms."
Oto chews as he looks over Midoriya's nest notes. He swallows and offers a grateful smile. "Thanks, man, appreciate it."
Midoriya nods and pulls the notebook away. "No problem. Sorry if it was a bit messy, I write too quickly sometimes."
"Oh, I could read it just fine," Oto reassures. "I write in chicken scratch—"
For the second time that day, a tray slams down onto the table. Midoriya jumps in his seat and looks at the tray to see a steaming dish of soba. Then, he looks up to see Noburo, whose face is schooled in a confidently curious expression.
"Talking shit about me behind my back?" she asks, calmly sitting down next to Midoriya.
Oto snorts. "Hardly. If anyone should be talking shit about anyone, it should be you about your team."
Noburo rolls her eyes. "Whatever. At least I passed."
Midoriya winces, because, well, some people didn't pass. Mr. Aizawa has apparently never heard of taking it easy for the first day because he graded all fifteen students of 1-A like some kind of demon.
"Yeah, well, you still lost," Oto counters, a piece of chicken hanging out of his mouth. "How does it feel to lose on the first day?"
Noburo raises an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but how quickly were you taken out? It happened so fast I couldn't keep track."
Oto's left eye twitches a bit. "Alright, I'll give you that one. But I will still stand by the fact that my team won and yours lost, so there."
Noburo let out a puff of air, amused. She doesn't answer, instead choosing to focus on eating lunch. Midoriya does the same, eating his pork as he fills in his hero notebook.
"Hey, Midoriya?" Oto asks, "What're you writing in there?"
Midoriya stares at him for a moment. "Hero notes," he says carefully. His notebooks weren't exactly popular back in middle school—a lot of other kids called them stalker journals or mocked him for being a Quirk nerd who didn't have a Quirk of his own.
"Like regular notes but for hero stuff?" Oto leans forward a bit, trying to read Midoriya's writing upside down. "That's cool. Aizawa has us write notes in class, but I've never thought of writing more in my free time."
"Uh, yeah," Midoriya slowly moves his notebook closer to him. "It really helps me out sometimes. Like yesterday I got Noburo and Moku to hinder each other instead of help, like Midnight does sometimes."
"Huh, cool. My parents do advertising work for a couple hero agencies. They have to look at a hero's behavior and move set to better showcase them. Is it kinda like that?" Oto sits back, the chicken on his chopsticks forgotten.
"A little," Midoriya says. "I'm not using other people's moves to be more flashy or to show off. Instead I use what I've seen in situations where I need it. Like yesterday."
"So you beat me because you're a nerd?" Noburo asks. Her tone isn't mean or hurtful. It seems… friendly, almost, but has a little bit of edge.
"Yes?" Midoriya tries to look her in the eye, but can't quite do it.
"Relax, I'm messing with you." Noburo swirls her soba around with her chopsticks. "I'm not mad or anything, just a little miffed that I couldn't think of a counter fast enough."
"O-oh, uh, alright," Midoriya stutters, looking back down at his lunch. It feels like they've been talking for a while, but he's barely half done with his food. Usually, he has a ton of time to do homework or look at his phone during lunch.
Then, the bell rings. The three of them glance at each other, then their barely touched lunches. "Shit," Noburo mutters, hurriedly scarfing down her still steaming noodles. Midoriya ignores her mutters of how hot the broth is to quickly eat his lunch. He can already tell he'll have hiccups in class, but that's better than missing half a meal.
Oto is already gone. Somehow, he managed to pour the whole of his lunch down his throat and swallow it whole like a snake. It was actually quite impressive, and Midoriya would have taken notes or maybe drawn a sketch if he wasn't busy chugging his glass of water in between bites of pork.
Once he finishes his food, Midoriya packs up his backpack with practiced ease and makes for class, Noburo just a few steps behind him. They make it to the hero course hall with thirty seconds to spare, passing a tired-looking Aizawa, who doesn't even bat an eye as they sprint into class 1-A. The two sit down, not noticing the odd looks of their classmates.
Like homeroom that morning, Aizawa walks in with the bell and casts a sweeping gaze over the entire room. "Good, you're all ready." He reaches into a pocket and pulls out his phone, types something out, then slips it back into his pocket. "We'll be doing another practical class today, though it won't be combat." A couple students mutter at that, exchanging curious looks. "It'll be rescue," Aizawa says before the chatter can get too out of hand. "Vlad and I, plus our resident rescue specialist, will be taking you to the USJ, our search and rescue training facility."
"Sir." One girl in the back row raises her hand. "Where is the USJ?"
"On campus, but far enough away that we need to take a bus," Aizawa replies. "Any other questions?" No one else raises their hand. "Alright. You can wear your gym clothes instead of your costumes if you like. It's best if you wear something comfortable for this." He gives them one last once-over before turning around and walking out of the door. "Go get changed and meet me outside, we don't have all day."
Midoriya is the first one to get changed, forgoing his hero costume for the heavy blue fabric of his U.A gym uniform. It's not that his hero costume is uncomfortable, but it's more complex than most of the others' costumes, with its pads and multiple layers.
Oto and Noburo join him quickly, both wearing their costumes, which are almost street clothes in comparison to his. Aizawa, who's standing watch by the door of a short bus, makes a couple marks on his clipboard before waving them on.
The bus has exactly sixteen spots plus the driver's seat, arranged so there's an aisle going right down the middle. Midoriya picks the left side, and Oto and Noburo follow. It's a little weird having people his age who want to be around him, but it's a pleasant change of pace, so he doesn't complain.
Eventually, everyone else gets on and sits. A couple of the boys look at Oto a bit oddly, probably because he chose to sit next to Midoriya, but they all brush it off and talk. Vlad King also steps on with Aizawa, and they take the seats up front, talking in hushed tones as the bus starts and pulls away.
The ride to the USJ is a quick one. Midoriya has a casual conversation with his two… friends? Acquaintances? Rival and former ally? Noburo and Oto. He'll stick with calling them by name for now.
After fifteen minutes, the bus stops and everyone gets out. Aizawa and Vlad lead them up to the doors and halt right in front of them. USJ is written in gold lettering above the doors, and the whole facility is domed in, presumably for climate control.
"I expect you all to be on your best behavior," Aizawa warns. "Pay attention and respect the other teacher. They know their stuff." He and Vlad then open the doors and hold them open for the class.
Fifteen students and two teachers walk into the main courtyard, and Midoriya has to bite his lip to keep from muttering because The Space Hero Thirteen is right there holy shit.
"Hello, students!" Thirteen says, approaching with a friendly wave. "Like some of you may know, I am Thirteen, UA's rescue specialist, and the designer of this facility." They hold up a gloved hand. "Before we get started, I have a couple things to say. In the two days previous, you've found ways to use your Quirks in different ways. In your Quirk test, you used them in a practical manner. In combat training, you used them to harm. Today, I'll be teaching you how to use your powers to rescue!"
Midoriya can't help but brighten at that. He's always felt that rescue operations are just as important, if not more so than apprehending villains. One for All has very obvious combat capabilities, but All Might has used it in countless situations to save people's lives. Now he could learn to do the same.
"Now, does anyone have any questions?" Midoriya is half tempted to raise his hand but refrains when no one else does. Most of his class seem to only half pay attention, which, judging by the look on Aizawa's face, is a very bad thing. "Seeing none," Thirteen continues, their voice just a touch less eager. "Let's get started with something simple."
Apparently, 'Something simple' doesn't mean the same thing in U.A as it does in the rest of Japan because Thirteen leads them to a larger domed building that's pouring rain inside. Midoriya's glad that he wore his gym uniform. He's got three sets, and only one Hero Costume, which would be a pain to dry.
In the Downpour Zone, Thirteen gives them a rundown of what a building affected by heavy rain needs, along with ideas of how to help people caught in it. Heat is most important, they explain. Water is really good at cooling down bodies, so warming citizens is a top priority. Building integrity is also touched on, as extreme amounts of water can weaken foundations.
Next up is Conflagration, which comprises a whole city block that's perpetually on fire. It's a nice way to dry off, and Midoriya learns that most fire rescue is performed by actual firefighters, as most heroes aren't equipped to deal with flames and intense heat.
After Conflagration is the Landslide Zone, then the Flood Zone. Then the Collapses Zone and Ruins. Above all, Thirteen stresses speed and structural integrity when dealing with urban disasters, and by the time they make it to the Mountain Zone, Midoriya's head is spinning.
He should've brought his notebook because any and all notes he had on famous rescues aren't up to snuff. Thirteen had mentioned that most rescues seen on TV were the worst kind, where drastic and potentially dangerous measures were needed to save lives. Therefore, Midoriya had been misinformed on rescue for years.
It takes a couple dirty looks from classmates and a soft elbow from Noburo for Midoriya to realize that he's muttering again. He apologizes, but she just shrugs it off, insisting that it was just slightly distracting having to listen to both him and Thirteen.
"And that's the Mountain Zone! It's different from the rest, with no buildings and all, but I thought it was important for students to practice in non-urban areas," Thirteen says, wrapping up their segment. "Are there any questions?"
Midoriya watches as one boy mutters something in another's ear. They both nod, and one raises his hand. "Yes, you!" Thirteen points them out, happy to have the first question of the day.
Midoriya tries to listen in to what the boy asks, but another classmate, this time a tall girl, grabs his shoulder from behind and pulls him closer to the edge. Predictably, Midoriya flushes, stuttering the whole way over to a huddle of students, which is basically every boy except him and Oto.
The girl lets go of him eventually, joining the rest of the group who's looking over the edge of the fake mountain.
"That's a long way down," one boy comments.
"How long?" another asks.
"I dunno, at least fifty meters," the girl replies.
"Hey, Midoriya," another boy asks. Midoriya recognizes him as Moku. "Have you ever been bungee jumping before?"
"Huh? Um, no," Midoriya says truthfully. He has nearly fallen off a three story building, though, which must be pretty close.
"Do you wanna?" Moku asks with a slightly devious look on his face. Over by the front of the group, Thirteen finishes answering the question they were asked earlier.
"Not re—" Midoriya doesn't get to finish his answer before one of Moku's arms is wrapped around his ankle and he's pushed off the edge of the fake mountain by another boy.
Time seems to slow down. He calls for Float, but he's too panicked for it to work. But then, long, thin strands of heavy, warm cloth are wrapped around his body, and the arm around his ankle goes slack. Midoriya is pulled up, heart racing as he drinks in the feeling of solid ground.
"You seven are going to tell me exactly what your thought process was, or all of your academic careers are over." Mr. Aizawa's voice is deathly calm and dripping with disgust. His eyes glow a bright crimson, and his scarf lets go of Midoriya and wraps back around his neck.
The entire group of students, along with the two other teachers, are completely silent. No one dares to answer. "Very well, then." Aizawa crosses his arms. "I'll be having a phone call with the principal on the way back. We'll make sure everyone in this class, bar Midoriya, is blacklisted from every hero school this side of the Pacific."
"No, wait!" the girl who led Midoriya to the edge cries. "It was us seven and Lin! We just wanted a laugh! Just push him off and then pull him up, you know?"
"I'm afraid I don't," Aizawa says coolly. He blinks, and the glow in his eyes disperses. "Vlad, take those eight and walk them back to school. Show 'em to Nedzu. Tell the rat I recommend expulsion. The rest of you, on the bus. Now."
Everyone quickly obeys. Eight crying children are led away by Vlad, and six slack-jawed and wide-eyed students are rushed away by Thirteen. Midoriya, however, can't move. He stands there, staring at Mr. Aizawa. His teacher stares back.
"You okay, kid?" the man asks. His expression has softened, but there's still trace amounts of anger in his eyes.
"You're Eraserhead," Midoriya breathes.
Aizawa raises an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a yes." He turns and gestures for Midoriya to follow. "Hurry up. I don't want to be late getting back. There's business to attend to."
Chapter 9: Then There Were Two
The worst part about getting shoved off a fifty meter cliff, Midoriya thinks, is how worried it makes his mom. Midoriya Inko is a strong woman—she has to be, to raise a Quirkless kid alone. But she's got a very sensitive heart and the ability to cry a literal puddle of tears.
His mother's tears are why Midoriya tries to get Nedzu and Eraserhead (he still can't believe that theEraserhead has been teaching him this whole time) to downplay the events when they file an official report. It would have worked back in middle school—god knows that everything and anything to do with Aldera hated him—but at U.A, everything has to go by the books. And the look Mr. Aizawa gives him when he asks is a slightly horrifying mix of worry and anger that makes Midoriya's stomach churn.
Not every student involved in the prank gets expelled. Oh, Eraserhead wants them to be. He makes sure to voice his opinion loudly at every opportunity. But Nedzu can't. Being complicit in assault (because being pushed off a cliff is assault) isn't quite as bad of a crime as actually assisting said assault. Therefore, only four are expelled: The girl that led Midoriya closer to the edge, Moku, who tied his ankle, the boy who pushed him, and the boy who asked Thirteen a question to distract them. The rest are booted to General Education and told that they're being watched closely.
Their punishment is only so light because Midoriya can't bring himself to press charges. People always deserve a second chance, even if they nearly killed him.
Classes resume in earnest that Friday, which Midoriya is grateful for. Gran and All Might heard about what happened through Detective Tsukauchi because a police report was filed. His two teachers try to take it easy on him, which, while Midoriya's grateful for it, he'd much rather brush it off and return to normal. He'll fall a lot as a Pro Hero, so it's best to get used to it early, right? That doesn't stop All Might from insisting that he takes some days off and writing a strongly opinionated email to Nedzu about how he runs his school.
While normal school starts back up, Hero Class is put on hold for a week—or rather, the practical lessons are. It's a little awkward, having to learn how to save lives from lectures and worksheets, but they manage. Midoriya eats lunch with Oto and Noburo every day, which is surprisingly fun. They even take interest in his hero ramblings.
When practical lessons start up again, it's a little awkward. With a class of seven, Vlad King has to rework most of his lesson plans, and whenever he asks a question, it's like pulling teeth to get an answer from anyone other than Midoriya, who's still getting used to the feeling of being noticed by a teacher and has started raising his hand at every opportunity.
But then, on the third Monday of March, Mr. Aizawa walks into class three minutes early. It's a novelty; the man usually prefers to wait until the bell rings to enter. Midoriya, Noburo, and Oto, who are in the midst of a heated discussion about the best age of All Might, freeze upon seeing him. The three students and the one teacher have a stare-off, neither party saying a word for one hundred and eighty seconds.
Then, the bell rings. 1-A is missing four members, which is weird. No one wants to not show up to U.A, even if they're sick.
Aizawa coughs, shaking everyone out of their trance. Somehow, he looks more tired than usual. "Last night, your classmates decided to throw a party." His voice is monotone, like always, though he sounds vaguely disappointed. "That, in itself, is not a bad thing. However," his expression intensifies, "consuming alcohol underage is not."
"Wait, you're saying…" Noburo trails off, her voice thick with disbelief.
Aizawa nods. "Yes, the four students not present today were caught drinking alcoholic substances and were picked up for public intoxication and underage drinking. They are no longer students at UA."
They all sit in silence for a moment, mulling everything over. Midoriya himself feels slightly pitiful for his former classmates, but really, even he has to admit that they brought it on themselves. There was enough controversy with allowing adult Pros to drink alcohol when they're not on an extended break, and with heroes in training… well, no one wanted to be saved by a Pro who couldn't remember his training because he was hungover one class.
"So it's just us three now," Oto says. By the tone of his voice, it's definitely not a question. "What's gonna happen?"
Aizawa sighs. "That's partly for you guys to decide. Since this is such a… unique situation, the principal wants to meet with you three to figure stuff out. Follow me."
Eraserhead leads them through the long, wide halls of U.A to an elevator. He opens it, gesturing for his students to get on first before he steps in himself. Then he pushes a button that says 'Level R,' which is the topmost one. With a beep, it starts to rise at a slightly quicker pace than the average elevator. After roughly thirty seconds, the compartment stops, and the doors open with another beep.
Eraserhead wordlessly steps off, leading them into a brightly-lit and clean hallway. At the end of the hallway is a tall door with a square flap at the bottom, like a doggy door Midoriya's seen in some movies, and a simple plaque that reads Principal. The teacher wordlessly knocks on the steel of the door.
"Come in!" a familiar, cheery voice calls. It's slightly muffled, but Midoriya immediately knows that Nedzu is on the other side.
Aizawa holds the door open for them again, and the three students step into the office. The first thing Midoriya notes is the large, floor-to-ceiling window that takes up most of the far wall. It offers an amazing view of the whole campus, and if he strains, Midoriya can just barely see the dome of the USJ. The second thing he notices is the wide, tall-backed office chair that's conveniently turned around.
"Please, have a seat, you three!" Nedzu says. "Would you like some tea?"
Noburo is the first to sit down, though she does so reluctantly. "No thank you, sir. I'm more a coffee person." Oto and Midoriya sit down next, both denying the offer for tea.
"Ah, that's a shame," Nedzu says, spinning the chair around. Midoriya has to bite back a chuckle at his friends' surprised gasps. "Tea is often fuel for good discussion."
"... You're a mouse," Oto says, shock clear on his face.
"Perhaps, though science really hasn't been able to get a clear answer yet," Nedzu replies good-naturedly, gesturing to Oto with his steaming cup of tea. "Am I a mouse, a bear, or a dog? One must decide for themself!"
"Sir, could we please move things along? I'd like to actually teach them something today," Aizawa says, leaning comfortably against the wall.
"Yes, yes, of course. I'm just giving them some time to get used to my rather odd appearance is all!" Nedzu takes a sip of tea. "Now, down to business." Midoriya instinctively straightens his back. "I will be blunt with you three. This year, UA has had the worst batch of students in its history. Everything from poor scores on the written exam to students attacking others in the practical, we just haven't been able to get a full class of children who are up to our standards."
"Does that include us?" Midoriya can't help but blurt out. He immediately goes red at the knowing look Nedzu gives him, and the way Oto and Noburo both say 'Really?' at the same time in the exact same tone of voice.
"Fortunately, no!" Nedzu cheerfully answers. "You three have remarkable potential as heroes, and UA will be happy to continue teaching you. The only issue is your class size."
"There's never been a hero class this small, ever." Aizawa picks up where Nedzu left off. "UA has had small classes in the past, but they all had at least ten kids. With three… well, we just don't have a precedent for it."
"So you three will have to forge a path for future situations like this—not that we ever plan on getting rid of so many students!" Nedzu chuckles to himself. "Now, Mr. Aizawa will ask you three a couple of questions, and I will take notes. By third period, I should have an idea of how your schedules will be!"
Aizawa casually sits down on a nearby couch, and the three students rearrange their seats so they can see him better. With the click of Nedzu's pen, he gets started with the questions.
"First things first, what training do you three do outside of class?"
"Uh, I jog a lot. Sometimes I do yoga, but only if I'm really sore," Oto speaks up first, tapping his chin.
"I run every morning and lift weights three times a week," Noburo goes next. "I also used to do freerunning."
"Uh, I um, well, you see," Midoriya babbles, tugging on his collar as he starts to sweat through his button-down.
"Midoriya does weight training six days a week and participates in cardio endurance training every day. He's also on a meal plan and receives Quirk training from an acquaintance of mine." Nedzu's words stun the room into silence.
Everyone seems to have a slightly different reaction. Noburo looks like she just figured out the secrets of the universe, Oto has to close his jaw with his hand, Nedzu looks way too pleased with the situation, and Eraserhead looks half impressed and half unsure. He even looks back to Nedzu for confirmation.
"Next question, please!" Nedzu asks, not answering Aizawa's silent question. He looks all too pleased for a man (was it man or rat? Eraserhead called him a rat, so Midoriya would go with that) who just created more confusion by replying to a single question. Though based on how All Might and Gran talked about him, Midoriya could see how Nedzu would be pleased with that.
"... Do any of you have any out-of-school obligations barring workout routines and religious activities?" Aizawa continues reluctantly.
Time goes by quickly after that. Most of the questions are simple yes or no's, though there is one about interest in making support items that makes Midoriya's head run a hundred miles an hour, because why else would they ask that if they weren't considering allowing them to work on their own gear, which would be so cool.
By the time the second period bell rings, Aizawa is done asking questions and Nedzu is done taking notes. The principal promises to have their schedule figured out in three to five business hours, which no one even pretends to understand, and Aizawa leads them back to class 1-A, which is missing its usual second period occupant of Ectoplasm.
There are only three desks now, arranged in a semicircle around the front podium. Aizawa steps behind said podium and leans on the ledge. Oto, Noburo, and Midoriya all sit in their seats. Well, Oto and Midoriya do; Noburo just perches on her desk, and no one bothers with stopping her.
"You won't be having normal classes today," Aizawa starts, glancing down between his arms, "but we still need to be productive. I'll be teaching all of you some basic Quirkless hand-to-hand combat. However, I simply have to ask. Midoriya." The student in question fidgets in his seat. "How and why do you have a full on training regimen outside of school? It's not a bad thing; it's just odd."
Midoriya taps his foot as he tries to figure out how to put everything. He can't tell the truth, but he also doesn't want to lie. "Uh, well, my Quirk is kinda weird, and—"
"How?" Noburo interrupts. "Sorry, it's just… you've got a basic strength enhancer with a flight ability, right?"
"Uh, not exactly," Midoriya corrects, "it's called Superpower, and uh, it basically gives me a massive amount of energy to enhance my body with. I can also radiate it outwards to suspend myself and fly."
"How massive?" Aizawa asks.
"Massive enough that I can't use one hundred percent of the power without breaking my body," Midoriya answers.
Aizawa sighs. "Forgive me, but that's a little far-fetched."
"You can ask Recovery Girl!" Midoriya defends. "A hero found me on a beach after I got it, and I had three broken limbs. She healed me right here in UA!"
Aizawa wordlessly pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials a number. The receiver picks up on the second ring, and Aizawa speaks, "Hi, this is Eraser." Midoriya can hear the unintelligible yet still particular tone of Recovery Girl on the other end of the line. "Yes, I work here, no, my diet is fine. I'm calling to ask you about a student… no, not a single one's dead… his name's Midoriya… what do you mean by 'oh, him'?" Aizawa's voice takes on an incredulous tone. "So you did heal him when he got his Quirk. How bad was it… you're going to need to repeat that… in ten places? You've gotta be shitting me… no, I don't need to see an X-ray, thanks… I make no promises."
After he hangs up the phone, Aizawa looks tired. More tired than usual, anyway. "Okay, next question. Who's the hero that's training you, and are they the same one that found you on the beach?"
"Gran Torino isn't the one that found me on the beach," Midoriya says nervously. Aizawa's expression is hard to read, but at the very least it seems annoyed.
"Then who did?"
Midoriya suddenly gains a slight blush. "All Might," he mumbles. He barely hears Aizawa mutter something about problem children before Noburo gets up from her desk, marches over to Midoriya's, and looks him dead in the eye.
"The Symbol of Peace saw you with three broken limbs then carried you to UA?" she asks calmly.
"Yes?" Midoriya squeaks.
Noburo nods, her expression turning more eager. "That's pretty cool. Did you get an autograph?"
"I'm sorry, but did we just hear the same conversation?" Oto interjects. "Because I don't think we did. Midoriya, top of the class, can break his arms at any moment, and has already been hurt badly because of his own Quirk."
"I know, but you've seen him fight, he totally kicks ass," Noburo counters, "I think we can leave the part about arm breaking on the back burner for now, because he probably has an All Might autograph, and I wanna see it. Can I?" Her gaze is intense and fierce, the kind that shows she won't take no for an answer.
"I, uh, well—"
"Noburo, lay off. Interrogate on your own time, not mine," Aizawa reprimands, not unkindly. Noburo mutters a reluctant whatever before going back to her spot on her desk.
"Now that we're all settled in," Aizawa continues, "we'll be going to Gym Eta. Go get changed into your gym uniforms and meet me there."
[x]
Hand-to-hand training is really fun. For Midoriya it is, anyway. Oto can't quite get the hang of it fast enough, and Noburo can't keep herself from instinctively using or trying to use her Quirk. Aizawa has to use his Quirk to make sure no one's impaled when they spar, which is nice of him, even if he complains about dry eye a lot.
It's nice to fight someone who isn't Gran or All Might. Midoriya's private teachers both have distinct, unique styles that, while hard to fight against, get repetitive with frequent sparring.
Midoriya wins the most bouts. Aizawa says that it's not surprising, since he has way more combat experience than Oto and Noburo combined, even if he's used his Quirk during all of it.
That's not to say that he's perfect, or even good, at what Aizawa teaches them. Without One for All, Midoriya's strikes aren't nearly as fast, and he can't rely on the maneuverability that Full Cowl gives him. Mr. Aizawa puts him on his back every time they spar.
But Midoriya's learning, so it's just fine with him.
Later, when they eat lunch, Noburo demands to see Midoriya's All Might autograph. She and Oto are absolutely delighted to see that he has it laminated and in his wallet at all times.
[x]
1-A daily schedule.
Period One (7:30-8:00): Homeroom.
Period Two (8:00-12:00): 'Civilian' Classes (Math, English, History, Modern Literature, etc.).
Lunch (12:00-12:30)
Period Three (12:35-3:45): Heroics 101.
Midoriya looks up from his copy of the new schedule. "Four hours for regular classes and three for heroics? How will that work?"
Aizawa looks up from his notes. "Essentially, you'll be given all of your regular classwork at the start of the week. You'll be allowed to do it at whatever pace as long as you turn it in before lunch on Friday." Midoriya nods in understanding. "Also, Heroics 101 is a completely new class. According to the principal, it's a blend of Support, Business and Marketing, your old Foundational Heroics class, Quirk Studies, and Hero Law."
"That's… a lot," Oto says, looking a little nervous.
"Yes, it is. But the principal and I wouldn't have agreed on a schedule we didn't think you were ready for," Aizawa says. "You'll be fine. Work hard and demonstrate your Plus Ultra spirit."
"Sir," Noburo asks, "what about the Sports Festival?"
Aizawa blinks, "Oh. That. You'll be participants, obviously. Since it's in two weeks, I should probably tell you three to put in some work outside of school. But since you now have three hours of dedicated hero practice every day instead of the usual hour and a half, well, I can't blame you for not feeling the need."
"But I thought you said we'd be doing business and support stuff too, not just hero course stuff?" Oto asks.
"You'll spend at least an hour and a half doing combat training for the next two weeks, mostly so you can put a better show on at the Festival." Aizawa answers, "If I'm being honest, the support and business stuff will come into play after the Sports Festival."
Oto nods, and Aizawa looks his three students over for a moment. "Any other questions?" Everyone shakes their head no. "Alright then." He reaches under the table of his podium and tosses each of them a packet of paper. "Mic will be here in a half hour to answer any questions you have about the English stuff. I'd suggest working on that first. Also, don't disturb my nap." Aizawa curls up in his yellow sleeping bag and collapses on the floor.
Midoriya immediately opens his packet of school work and skims the entire thing, noting that the math is mostly review, history is still focused on heroics, and English is mostly new adjectives.
"Boys," Noburo says, thumbing through her own packet, "Aizawa said we could do whatever just as long as we turn it in on time, right?"
"... Yeah?" Oto replies. "Where are you going with this?"
"I'm not going anywhere, but the three of us definitely are." The cocky smirk she usually reserves for combat training slips into her face.
"Yeah, I still don't follow." Oto pulls out a pencil and opens to page one. "Let's just get to work until Present Mic gets here."
"You're an idiot," Noburo deadpans.
"Takes one to know one, thank you very much," Oto bites back.
"I'm just gonna spell it out for you. This is UA. They like it when we think outside the box. Therefore, we should all work together on this stuff," Noburo explains.
"Even UA has rules against sharing answers," Oto argues, "and they also value individuality."
"But we don't have to share answers to work together," Midoriya speaks up. "We could do every problem one by one, working together. It'd be easier for us, even if it's more consuming. And we won't be copying answers either!"
Oto considers for a moment. "Alright, push the desk together. If we get in trouble, I'm shoving all the blame on you two."
"Of course you would," Noburo chuckles, "but I'm definitely not gonna let you weasel out of detention."
The three students get to work after that, quickly getting through the English portion before Present Mic arrives. And if they occasionally joke more than they work, no one cares to stop them. Even if a single bloodshot eye cracks open to watch occasionally.
[x]
"Oto… Oto! OTO!"
Kenji flinches out of his stupor and activates his Quirk in time to burn up an incoming projectile. To his left, Midoriya skids to a halt, kicking up dust.
"Are you okay? You almost got hit!" Midoriya asks. He looks a little worried but not at all pitying, which is nice.
Kenji tries for a smile, but he can tell right away that it's shaky and weak. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just… can't get Mr Yamada's English lesson out of my head is all!" Kenji hates lying to his friends. He hates it even more when they believe his lies.
Midoriya laughs,."Yeah, I don't think he understands that we don't need songs to remember different idioms. Not that Noburo will let us explain that to him…"
Kenji chuckles, and first the first time in two days, it's genuine. "Yeah, Noburo's… something."
"I heard that!" Noburo yells from behind them, focusing on the exercise while her two friends chat. "You might wanna get back to work before Aizawa forces you to!"
She makes a good argument, Kenji thinks. While Aizawa has somewhat softened, he's still a slave driver when it comes to training, so Kenji returns to the task at hand: Dodgeball.
It's not actually Dodgeball. Dodgeball implies that they're dodging balls, when, in reality, they're trying not to die.
Kenji barely ducks under a ball, shivering at the feeling of it grazing his hair. He's already been nailed by fifteen of them. Each one hurt like hell because they were hard rubber shot out of compressed air cannons. Apparently the motto 'Plus Ultra' applies to pain as well as schoolwork.
While Kenji and Noburo crawl along the ground to dodge Aizawa's balls of doom (which is just an awfulname now that he thinks about it), Midoriya gets to fly overhead, which just feels unfair. Kenji seriously thinks that he hasn't been hit once while even Noburo has gotten hit at least five times.
By the time dodgeball is over, Kenji is exhausted. He's bruised all over, breathing heavy, and has sweat completely through his tank top. Noburo and Midoriya, however, look near peachy. They smile and pat Kenji on the back as they go to get changed, which makes him feel worse.
See, Kenji is not an idiot. He knows he's at the bottom of the class. Academically and physically, he just can't compare to his friends. While he barely scrapes by every lesson, they breeze through, Midoriya especially. Kenji's green-haired friend has enough motivation and drive to grow to do extra practice outside of school every day.
Kenji respects that. Really, he does. But he knows that he doesn't have that same drive. He looks at his two friends and sees great heroes of the future. Then he looks in the mirror and sees a mediocre public servant who'll never amount to much in the hero sector of society.
His friends always deny it when Kenji voices his opinion on their skill levels. They always claim that he'll catch up, or that maybe direct combat isn't his thing. Midoriya never seems to be lying when he says that stuff, which is worse than Noburo's hesitant agreement with the shorter boy's words.
Kenji wants to help people, but there's more than one way to do that. Right now, he's probably doing more harm than good by holding back future top-tier pros. That's why when school's over for the day, Kenji holds back in class 1-A. Midoriya bids him a happy goodbye while Noburo looks a little suspicious. Kenji can't blame her.
"You know you can leave now, right?" Aizawa says. Kenji can tell his teacher has an idea of what's about to happen.
"I'd like to talk to you about switching courses."
Aizawa sighs. "Kid, I know you know you're not the best. But you've got heart, and, if I'm being honest, the right personality for a pro. Why do you want to switch?"
"I'm holding them back. I can't… it's not right of me to impede their progress."
"I can't stop you," Aizawa says, "but I will strongly recommend that you don't do this."
"Please," Kenji asks, "just let me do this. It's what I want."
His teacher gives him a long look. It's the first time Kenji thinks that he can tell what his teacher is feeling. Disappointment.
"Alright. Let's go see Nedzu."
Graduating from U.A is a great stepping stone in a lot of career paths. If he's lucky, Kenji just might turn out to be a hero. Just one that doesn't wear spandex.
[x]
Wednesday. Five days until the Sports Festival. Midoriya's the first one to class like usual. He sits down in his seat and pulls out his notebook. There was a villain attack on the news that morning that he just barely caught the end of, and the hero that took down the villain was a new one.
He gets halfway through the page when Noburo walks in. She gives him a short greeting then sits down in her seat and props her feet up on Midoriya's desk in such a way that they don't impede his writing like usual. It used to make him flush down to his toes and sputter nonsense, but he's gotten used to it by now. Legs are just lower arms, after all.
A couple minutes later, the bell rings. Noburo and Midoriya lock eyes, the same question on their minds. Then Aizawa's sleeping bag flops down just outside the door. "Oto won't be joining us any more." Aizawa sounds very tired like usual, though the bags under his eyes are much larger and are a shade darker.
"You didn't expel him, right?" Noburo asks, her voice slightly confrontational.
"No. He has… had potential." Aizawa gets out of his bag and stands. He leans against the door frame. "I know you two want to ask, but it's not my place to tell. Ask him during lunch or after school."
Lunch can't come quickly enough, but when it does Midoriya and Noburo don't even bother getting food. They comb the entire cafeteria and find Oto sitting in the corner. Alone.
He whines when he sees them. Midoriya can tell he wants to talk first, but Noburo doesn't let him.
"What the hell, man?! Why did you dump us?"
"Hey, guys..." Oto says softly. "Fancy seeing you here, huh?"
"Don't sass me! We deserve an explanation!"
"Noburo, calm down." Midoriya rests a hand on her shoulder. "He needs some space."
Noburo huffs but stays silent. Eventually, Oto speaks.
"I'm not cut out for this," he starts, "and before you say I am, just let me explain. I've wanted to help people all my life. I didn't care if that meant working in a nursing home or being a hero. But when my Quirk came in, it was obvious." Oto takes a deep breath. "I was sure this was right for me until I got expelled. That day, I realized that I'd have to work harder than hard, which I told myself I could do. Then, the others got kicked out, and it was just us three.
"Midoriya, you workout and train for, like, ten hours every day. Noburo, you've got natural talent and enough drive to keep up with Midoriya through sheer grit. I don't have anything like that."
"But you do!" Midoriya cries.
"No, I don't," Oto says firmly. "I want to help people. Heroics just seemed like the best way to do it. But now… I just don't think I could ever measure up to you guys. Or any hero, for that matter."
"So you're quitting?" Noburo leans on the table. Her voice has an edge to it. "This is it? Goodbye? Sayonara? You're leaving just because you can't keep up? That's the weakest excuse I've ever heard."
"It's not just that, okay?!" Oto yells back. "You two are going to be amazing heroes, but if I stick with you, I'll just slow you down!"
"Oh, so this is a 'it's not you, it's me' thing?" Noburo accuses.
"Yes," Oto agrees. "I've been transferred to business. I plan on helping pros out, or maybe even doing advertising for charities and fundraisers. I'll still be helping people, just in my own way."
Noburo looks at him for a long while. Then she huffs and storms off, presumably to get lunch.
"Oto..." Midoriya says.
"Yeah, I messed that up."
"No, it's just… I think you would have been a great hero." Midoriya sits down across from him.
"Maybe I could've been. But I don't want to be at the cost of slowing you two down."
"Do you really want this?"
"Yes," Oto answers immediately. Midoriya can tell by the look in his eyes that he's serious.
"Okay," Midoriya gets up. "When I open my agency, I'll make sure you're my first business manager."
Oto smiles. "Yeah, I'd like that."
[x]
Bonus! Midoriya's Quirk Files.
Subject: Noburo Mai
Quirk: Stomach Spikes
Desc: She can generate spikes of metal from her stomach. The spikes literally grow out over her organ and have to push through the other parts of the body to extend outwards, impeding her bodily functions. The strength of the spikes depends on her diet, and their size cannot exceed the diameter of her stomach.
Notes: A good all-around Quirk for a combative hero, Stomach Spikes is mostly used for direct assault and maneuvering. The spikes can be blunted, allowing for safer attacks.
Rank without the user's skill: B
Rank with the user's skill: B+