It honestly felt… strange standing there.
He hadn't been here long enough to get completely settled into the whole 'living at UA' thing down.
And after that USJ… well… it felt like going through that whole process for a second time.
Yet Izuku still had a strange feeling as he looked into his own classroom for the first time in what felt like weeks.
"You're starting to make it look awkward." The voice came. Izuku flinched in the doorway in embarrassment that someone witnessed his little stupor. However, it wasn't even a second before he realized it was just Grimm in his mind. That was something else he was still getting used to.
Izuku said nothing as their means of telepathic communication was one-way and entered the room. Nearly everyone in his class was already here, so there was the noise of chatter in the background.
But it wasn't as high-spirited as he remembered it. It was more… dull. Someone people that used to partake in conversation occasionally were silent. The cheery talkers were a little less active.
This was almost an entirely different classroom.
"So, Tsu, who do you think is going to substitute us since Aizawa is still being treated by Recovery Girl?" It wasn't hard to pick up the voice of Mina. Izuku didn't bother to turn as he already knew who she was talking to.
Besides, he was asking himself the same question. Last he saw, the hero was covered from head-to-toe in bandages and half his limbs were hung up.
There's absolutely no way Aizawa would be able to-
"Well, she's about to get a big surprise." Came the voice of Grimm this time, and Izuku noticed a trace of amusement in his tone. He must have also listened in on her conversation, but what he said confused him.
"What do you mean by that?" Izuku asked in the quietest whisper he could manage.
But, before the quirk could respond…
"Good morning, class." Like it was nothing, the man himself opened the sliding door with one of his bandaged arms and walked through.
"Mr. Aizawa!?" The entire class was somehow able to sync themselves to speak at the same time. Although, it would have been strange to have any other reaction to the half-dead teacher who couldn't care less about his injures.
"Welcome back, Mr. Aizawa. Good to see you're doing okay." Iida said with a raised hand.
"I question your definition of 'okay', Iida." Uraraka mumbled behind, still distracted by their teacher's condition.
"In my position as your teacher, as long as I can walk, my health is irrelevant." While muffled because of the bandages, Aizawa told the class of his standards. "What is relevant is that the fight isn't over." The hero said ominously.
Perhaps a little too ominously.
"Nooo! I don't want to fight any more scary villains!" Mineta squirmed in seat like he was on the verge of a panic attack.
"Shut it, crybaby, before I shut it for ya!" Bakugo was… well, Bakugo as he shouted back 2 seats to the smaller teen.
But when Bakugo turned back to say it, just for a second, Izuku thought he saw a hint of fear in his crimson eyes.
What the…
"Enough." Aizawa commanded that caused everyone to quiet back down. That was when he got strangely silent. "I had hoped to ease you all into this a little smoother, but time isn't on our side." His words came at a gentle pace, caring even. But it couldn't last as Aizawa's professional mask returned. "In two weeks, the sports festival will be here." In the end, the hero was abrupt with the announcement.
But, it didn't matter much when everyone went wide-eyed with excitement.
Kirishima especially.
"Yyyyeeeaaaah-" His shout was quickly silenced when a hand was slapped on his mouth.
"Hold on." Kaminari was the one who cut off the red-haired teen as he looked back to Aizawa. "Is that really such a good idea for us?" Kaminari questioned before he hesitated to speak again. "For… anyone?" He said again to refer to the possible danger.
Aizawa obviously knew what he was talking about, and so did everyone else. With a sigh, Aizawa answered.
"I know that tensions must be high for you all after the USJ. But I can assure you that the school is putting in extra efforts to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Buffed up security, a high radius in the detection system, we're even paying some heroes to be on look out." The hero reassured his students of all the ways Nezu has decided to ensure the school's safety.
And thankfully, it seemed to work for the teens. Seeing as they were relieved in this news, Aizawa continued.
"Not to mention that the sports festival is something no aspiring hero can afford to miss. I'm sure you all know the severity of it." Aizawa said.
"Heck yeah!" Kirishima took the chance to speak up as he was noticeably all about the sports festival. "It's how students like us get spotted by pro heroes." Kirishima spun in his seat to look to the majority of the class. "If any of us are even thinking about going pro, then this is the best chance we got to catch a hero's eye." With a clench fist and fierce smile, the boy was basically beaming with energy as her spoke of the event.
"Wow, you seem to know a lot about this, Kirishima." Tsu commented what a lot of the students had on their minds.
"Yes. In fact, Kirishima, how about you make my job easier and explain it for me. Meanwhile, I'm going to take a much needed nap-"
"Mr. Aizawa, wait." The entire class stopped to turn to Sato who they all could tell in his voice that he had something else on his mind. "What about Tokoyami? I heard that he woke up yesterday. How come he isn't here yet?" Sato and a few of his other classmates had managed to hear this news later last night when they realized he still hadn't come back to the dorms. It was only until just now that they had a chance to ask.
And it would seem they would have to wait a few moments longer.
The class was a little taken off guard when Aizawa remined silent for a short period of time.
Whether he was trying to come up with an answer or… the answer deeply troubled, it was obvious that there was something going on.
"Yes, Tokoyami has woken up, but he's still undergoing treatment. It would seem that a villain's quirk had a large effect on him." Despite the strange pause from before, Aizawa spoke fluently. And it did manage to release the tension from the room. "That also means that none of you are allowed to go see him until he's fit for a full recovery. Understand?" Aizawa finished sternly to make sure everyone got the point.
"Yes, sir." The class said in unison.
"Good. Now, Kirishima, get to it." A drowsy slur left the teacher's lips as he slipped himself into his sleeping bag from behind the stand.
Nobody paid much attention to this as Kirishima was already deep in his hyper explanation of the sports festival. Call it lazy that the teacher gave one of his students the responsibly of teaching the class, but that boy didn't leave out a single detail.
At least the first class period of the day was easy.
..............................…
"Kirishima wasn't lying when he said he knew all about the sports festival." Uraraka let out a sigh from the information dumb the redhead laid down on them.
"Yes. It surprised me that he knew that much. Kirishima must really enjoys it." Iida remarked before he took a bite of his food.
It was some time later that the lunch period came around. A portion of the class had come together to sit at a table and relish in their first normal day back at school.
"I can understand it though." Ojiro spoke up from the other side of the table. "The UA sports festival can literally be the factor that makes our futures. We can't screw it up." A few of his surrounding classmates nodded their head in agreement.
"That's a very true statement, Ojiro." Iida commented. "We'll need to take Aizawa's words seriously. Everyone." Upon his last word, Iida stood up from his seat, causing everyone to look to him. "Let's make the must of this and do our best." Most of Iida's nearby classmates reciprocated his enthusiasm with nods and pumped-up fists.
It was a nice little moment for the class that let them forget the USJ for a time.
Hopefully, in time, they would be the same rowdy bunch as they were at the beginning of the year.
"What about you, Midoriya?" Izuku snapped back into reality when he Uraraka nudge him from the side. He was so out of it at first that he needed to figure out what she had asked. "Aren't you excited for the sports festival?" Oh, that's right.
"Yeah, of course." Izuku must not have looked excited because Uraraka had a doubtful look.
"You definitely don't strike me as excited." There was a teasing manner in her tone.
"Yeah, you, like, always have this super level look on your face." Mina piped up with a mouth half full of food before she swallowed. "You and Todoroki both. You two in the emo boys club or something?" Mina also teased the black-eyed teen.
Just as Izuku suspected, his usual flat expression must have betrayed his words. He looked down to his plate as he picked with his food.
"Can't help it much." Izuku mumbled. It was more about habit at this point. Izuku always tried to ignore his emotions as it acted a distraction most of the time from controlling Grimm. Maybe with time, Izuku could learn to re-integrate himself to not be socially inept. Anyway… "But I am looking forward to it. It'll be quite the experience for me." Izuku finished and saw that the both of them looked satisfied with that answer.
With that, the conversation ended and left the 3 alone with their thoughts.
"I must admit, I too am interested about this festival. A good opportunity to test ourselves." Grimm spoke in his mind. Izuku responded with only a hum, but he agreed.
He was, of course, naturally tense about it at first. Years of mental fights made it that way.
But that wasn't the case anymore. Grimm and he had settled their differences and had made peace.
So, yes.
This was a good chance to test what they were capable of when working together.
..............................…
*A few days later*
Another day, another session of hard work in the classes of UA. Izuku had to admit, the subjects were a lot tougher than the ones in Aldera. But he didn't have some of the highest grades for nothing.
Just as he always did, he worked hard. Both in and out of class.
And once schoolwork was done, it was time for training.
"So, Grimm?" Izuku grunted as his leg made impact against the punching bag.
"Mm?" Grimm hummed, which sounded strange due to his unhuman voice.
"How exactly do you work?" Izuku asked in between a duo of punches that caused the chain holding the punching bag to rattle.
"You need to be more specific." If Grimm had eyebrows, his tone made it sound like he had one raised.
"Right. How do our bodies function together?" Izuku deliver a quick round house kick to the bag before he continued. "I'm the blood and muscle. You're the bones. How is it that sometimes our movements are in sync while other times it feels like sometimes, we are fighting each other?" Izuku referenced to one of the many times in the past that Izuku had to fight against his quirk that was his skeleton.
"Because unlike most sentient quirks in the world, they attain separate bodies. While we are separate in a way, we also live as one at a much higher degree to others. Whenever you use my bones, you are forcing control upon me, therefore I lose function. The same goes for you if I reign control over a part of you." Just as Grimm said this, Izuku's fist stopped short of hitting the bag.
Izuku felt his muscle in his arm push his bones that refused to budge. Just as quickly as it happened, it stopped. He brought his arm back and held his wrist with his other hand.
"Yeah. I'm pretty familiar with how that feels." Izuku said lightly as he recalled some not-so-distant memories of fighting with his quirk. "So, if we want maximum efficiency, we need to learn to sync our movements."
"We've done it before." Grimm brought up.
"That's right." Izuku nodded in remembrance to the battles against the 0-pointer and the Nomu. "What was it you said? Something about being in the same mindset?" Izuku repeated the words Grimm had told him on their second conversation.
"Yes. We both wanted the same thing and acted accordingly. Therefore, so did our bodies." Grimm answered. It was an easy explanation, but doing it sounded difficult. Guess it was one of those 'easier said than done' things. "But, of course, that is not the only way to make you stronger." The words came after a short pause.
"What do you mean?" His question gave away that Izuku was intrigued.
"Furthering the transformation." Like it was obvious, Grimm's voice echoed in Izuku's mind. "So far, you've only shifted your limbs to a partial degree, a very limited amount of my full power."
"And for good reason." Izuku nagged about the cause of why he could only morph his body by small bits or risk Grimm freeing himself.
"W-well, that's not a problem now." Izuku had only known Grimm to speak in either a flat or aggressive tone, so it was easy to detect how sheepish he sounded for having been called out for his previous attempts of usurping Izuku's body.
Izuku said nothing to this as he wasn't sure what to say. He was still conflicted, but at the same time, hopeful.
He just needs more time to build trust. That was more essential than anything right now.
"For now, we should just learn to make use of the little things. I don't think transforming into you during the sports festival will exactly be a crowd pleaser anyway." Izuku stated to which Grimm acknowledged this with a hum. "Besides, I'm still getting used to how I feel now." Izuku once again had to let himself settle out of habit from tensing his body out of fear.
Since Grimm was no longer actively trying to take control, Izuku felt… lighter. He could think more clearly at times and could enjoy things without a certain someone interrupting it.
"There was something else I was wanting to ask you." Izuku started and waited for the usual response from Grimm.
"Yes." But… that wasn't Grimm.
Izuku jumped slightly in place, started at the voice that came from behind him. He calmly turned and saw that Mina stood behind him with a sly smirk on her face, like she was amused that she had managed to scare him.
"Mina? What are you doing here?" Izuku was confused about the presence of the pink-haired girl. Guess his question must have been weird as her expression matched his own.
"It's the exercise room. Half the class is here." At Mina's words, Izuku indiscreetly looked around the room to remind himself exactly where he was. It must have been a while since he's been in here, because when he arrived this morning, he was the only one. But now, just as Mina said, half the class was here.
"Oh, I didn't realize. Guess I really got into" Izuku said with a shrug and made sure to not make himself look as stupid as he felt.
"Yeah, I could tell since you've been standing there for the past minute talking to yourself." Mina confessed that she had noticed Izuku's seemingly one-sided conversation. She didn't notice, however, Izuku's inner panic upon her statement.
"You, uh, you saw that, huh?" Izuku hesitated as he was not at all prepared to deal with this kind of situation.
"Saw you doing it on my over to ask you something." Thankfully, Mina didn't seem to pay much attention to it. "Which reminds me, care to train with us?" Well, to say that Izuku got out of that smoothly was an understatement. All he could do was let himself ease up that he totally hadn't blown his secret.
But then there was her question.
"Train with you?" Izuku repeated.
"Yeah. Remember Aizawa saying something about helping each other learn our strengths and weaknesses?" Now that she mentions it, he does remember something like that. Although, he didn't give it much thought as he intended on training alone. "Plus, Kirishima really wants a sparring partner." Mina said that last part with her thumb pointed over her shoulder. Izuku leaned a little to the side to see the mentioned redhead on the other side of the room. Kirishima slapped his fist into his other open hand with a fierce look on his face the moment they made eye-contact.
"Huh." Izuku mumbled.
"So, what do ya say? Wanna get stronger with your classmates or keep talking to the punching bag?" There was that trace of tease in her face that Izuku found himself getting familiar with.
Well… change of plans.
"Sure, why not." Izuku gave in. As Izuku looked back to Mina, he thought he saw her expression change for a second, but it was too quick to tell.
"Sweet, then let's get to it."
As it turned out, the group that Izuku had been invited to train with consisted of Mina, Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, Ojiro, Shoji, Hagakure, and now himself for a total of 8.
"How come it's just us?" Izuku couldn't help but ask.
"Some of the others like to train by themselves." The invisible girl answered. Izuku completely understood that. Then again, he sort of had a reason to do so.
But oh well. Not like the sports festival is tomorrow. Besides, this could help him in a way.
"Alright, shall we start where we left off?" Mina questioned. The group confirmed and Izuku went along with it.
Izuku learned that it actually hadn't been long since they got here. They were only in the middle of a warmup before Mina had added Izuku to the group.
Naturally, Izuku got through this with ease. Some of the other less fit teens had it rough, however. Kaminari struggled slightly while Izuku breezed through the motion.
He had to admit though, they all had determination and they weren't in UA for nothing.
Only did things really pick up when the warmup was over. And that was when Izuku learned of what kind of training he would be having today.
"Sparring, huh?" Izuku said to himself as Kirishima explained it as the group headed outside to free themselves of the surrounding work-out equipment.
"Yeah, in the sports festival, we're going to have to either work with, or fight against others. So, it's best to be able to quickly adapt to either situation. Sparring while frequently changing partners is a good way to pick up that skill. And it'll be good when in the real world too." Kirishima gave his reasonings. It surprised Izuku slightly at just how thoroughly he thought this through.
Izuku had to suspect that there was secretly a combat genius in the redhead.
How this worked is that the entire group would be facing off against someone at all times to prevent them from spectating the other fights.
There would be a time limit before they would switch amongst themselves until they have all fought everyone at least once.
For Izuku, he started off with Ojiro.
"Heard that you're pretty tough, so I won't be pulling my punches." The tailed blond announced to Izuku from about 10 feet away.
"Good. I wouldn't want you to." What Izuku said it true. Ever since his fight was the Nomu, Izuku learned the potential of his apparently unbreakable bones. But in order to match his defense, Izuku also needed a better offence. He needed every opportunity to get stronger.
And holding back was not one of them.
On Hagakure's phone, the timer went off, a signal to start.
Ojiro was the first to move. He leapt forward with the aid of his tail to propel him up in the air and above Izuku. Ojiro front flipped and used the momentum to fling his tail towards the freckled teen. Izuku reacted accordingly with his arms brought up to block it.
The 2 collided with a loud smack. And yeah, it stung Izuku's arms as the flesh was still on them, but he didn't faulter. Izuku pushed back against Ojiro who backflipped onto the ground.
Both charged each other at the same time, locked in an exchange of blows. Izuku twisted with a roundhouse kick that Ojiro ducked under. Ojiro threw a combo of punches that Izuku was only able to block about half.
As he was now, Izuku was at a stalemate against the tailed teen. Throughout their fight, it was made obvious that Ojiro had training in some kind of martial arts. It made him a strong fighter all together, but matched with his powerful tail, he would for sure make him excel in combat.
Speaking of, his tail came at Izuku's left. The greenette blocked once again. Ojiro quickly bounced back and aimed for his right.
This time, Izuku ducked beneath the fifth limb. In his crouched position, he jumped forward and tackled Ojiro in the chest. The latter grunted, but quickly acted by pivoting himself and throwing Izuku off of him.
It was at that moment that the timer went off.
"You're pretty good." Ojiro remarked through a slight pant in his breath. "For not using your quirk." He then accused with no edge to his voice.
"Sorry. I wanted to test my skill without the use of it. You've made it obvious I still need to practice." Now that Izuku thought about it, this was the first time he fought someone using the techniques he learned on the beach on someone. It was apparent that his means were lesser compared to the real deal that Ojiro has trained with.
The next person that Izuku was up against was Kaminari.
He didn't want to be mean but… the fight so far was rather… unimpressive.
Unlike Ojiro, Kaminari had no experience in hand-to-hand combat, nor training that guided his effortful punches. Each one was easily blocked by Izuku who decided to just play defensive for the time being.
"You depend too much on your quirk." Izuku finally said. The face Kaminari gave told the greenette that wasn't much of a surprise to him.
"Yeah, I know that." Kaminari admitted, a little embarrassed that it was pointed out. Suddenly, there was determination in his eye. His hand came up to form a claw. "That's why I have to improvise." As he said this, a small arc of electricity sparked between his fingers.
Kaminari abruptly rushed towards him with his arm pulled back for another punch. Just as he did with the others, Izuku dodged. Knowing Kaminari's electric quirk, blocking it would be a bad idea.
When the first sailed past Izuku's face, a small burst of electricity shot outwards and connected with Izuku. He felt his muscles tense and seize up from the shock.
It didn't last long though as Izuku was able to jump back.
Where he had stood previously, Kaminari looked at him with a triumphant expression. Izuku had to praise him for his clever thinking.
Next up was Mina.
"Don't worry too much about using your quirk on me." Izuku went ahead and let Mina know that she shouldn't put that restrain on herself. Due to his ability to heal and quirk-immune bones, it wasn't a serious matter.
"How generous of you." She replied before she lowered herself into a stance. "A shame that I have to ask you to be gentle." There was a sly look on her face that concerned Izuku as much as her words did.
But it was quickly overshadowed by his surprise when Mina skated towards him with great speed. Izuku could only figure out that she had used her slime to slide across the ground before he already had to jump out of the way.
Mina kept her momentum and came back around in a tight curve from behind. Izuku decided to strike first with a backhand to knock the girl off her feet.
Only… he felt no contact. Like a dramatic scene in a movie, Izuku saw Mina limbo beneath his arm and give him a wink along the way.
Before Izuku knew it, Mina had already slipped away before he could do anything else.
Just as quickly, she swerved back around on Izuku's right side. The boy instinctively kicked out his right foot to stop her, but she dodged out of that too with ease.
Izuku was a little distraught about this. So far, he's done decent to hold his own against the others, but Mina was basically dancing around him.
Time to step it up a notch.
Mina was already behind him again, ready to kick the back of his knee and drop him to the ground.
Izuku bet on this.
At the right moment, Izuku twisted himself and revealed the black cracked formed around his eyes. Some of Grimm's power leaked into Izuku as he felt his bones move with his muscles. There was no usual spasm of control this time. So, Izuku's timing was spot on.
He jumped back to avoid the kick and panted his foot back down to prepare a charge forward and knock Mina of balance.
However, it was in fact Izuku who was knocked off balance.
"What!?" Izuku shouted in confusion as his body tried to right itself of its suddenly lost balance. He looked down to the ground and saw that he had stepped on a small trail of Mina's slime.
That was when it clicked in Izuku's mind that this was her plan all along.
He faced forward in time to see her coming at him full speed, a clear goal in her eyes.
She had tunnel vision.
It was Izuku's last chance to insure he just didn't get his ass whooped by his classmate.
Mina started with a right a jab. But to her surprise, her wrist was instead grabbed. Izuku leaned back hard to pull the girl off the ground. She yelped with surprise that her plan suddenly backfired.
And, well, Izuku couldn't say that he was proud of doing the same thing when he was still unable to get a strong footing.
So, he fell… along with Mina.
They both tumbled to the ground. Their position and momentum made the landing very awkward as Izuku took most of the weight on his left elbow, then his shoulder. If he didn't have strong bones, they he for sure would have broken something. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt his soft skin on the cement ground.
It also didn't protect him when the air was knocked out of him from the force against his back as well as his front.
He had Mina to thank for that.
…
Wait.
"Uuuh, hi." Izuku heard the voice very close and clear, despite the slight hesitance to Mina's voice. So close that Izuku could actually feel her warm breath.
Izuku looked down at a slight angle where Mina came into view. Oh yeah, she was close all right. Close enough to easily spot her purple blush as it made its second appearance.
But why was she blushing this time?
"Hmm… softer than I expected." Grimm's voice was the last thing Izuku wanted to hear in his situation.
A noise that is best described as a wheeze escaped Izuku's throat. Mainly because he still had the air knocked out of his lungs, but because his body reacted before he could think clearly.
Mina got the message, and while she found his reaction funny, it would be for the best she got off. The girl jumped back neatly into an awkward standing position and offered Izuku a hand.
"You would think people call them cliches because they only happen in movies." Mina joked past the flush on her face.
"You would think." Izuku managed to mumble out after he caught his breath with a cough. He took her hand and Mina helped him up to his feet.
"Sheesh, you could at least wait until you guys are alone." Not a moment after both were steady on their feet, Hagakure got their attention with a smug look on her face. At least, it sounded like she had a smug look.
Because it was the face that everyone else had.
"I give ya a ten for the fall, but a two for everything afterwards." Kaminari sounded like he was a judge determining a final score.
"You're giving them a score?" Shoji asked in confusion. He seemed to be one of the few that didn't tease them.
"You two alright? We all heard a loud crash and stopped." Kirishima was more interested in their safety, but nonetheless had a small smirk. Something that Izuku could work with.
"Yeah. I think I took most of the fall. Nothing I can't heal." Izuku held up his elbow that he had landed on. Nothing too bad. Just a scrap and a bruise that disappeared the moment after.
"Yeah, and Mina fell for something else." Sero leaned over and whispered to Kaminari. The 2 silently laughed amongst themselves while none of the others knew any better.
It was thankfully right then that the timer went off.
Izuku's next opponent was an interesting one.
Shoji had 6 hands. 6 different angles to attack from. And Shoji made sure to make use of it.
Izuku was basically forced to use some of Grimm's power, otherwise he would be bombarded with punches. Shoji was taller and had more overall mass. Without Izuku shifting his limbs, Izuku was at a disadvantage.
He was nearly knocked off his feet for a second time when Shoji delivered a triple right punch. Even if Izuku blocked it, it still hurt his arms. It got to the point where the greenette had to shed his arms of flesh, revealing his bones.
Like this, Grimm's power was unrestrained by Izuku, therefore at Izuku's disposal. The match between the 2 kept going in a tense duel of constant exchanges of attacks. Neither able to get the upper hand.
Of course, Izuku could have increased his power, but this wasn't supposed to be quirk training for him. Izuku wanted to get used to the way other people really fought, so Izuku knew how to fight back.
That's how Izuku wanted it… at first.
Then came Kirishima.
"Oh, I've been waiting for this." Kirishima cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"So I've heard." Izuku commented as he remembered what Mina had told him earlier when he was training alone. "I assume you want to go all out." Izuku had the sneaking suspicion of the redhead's intentions.
"You bet. You're the only other student in our class that had a defense like mine. So, I don't have to hold back. And I don't think you should either." Kirishima was serious in his words as his entire body morphed into hard rock.
Izuku responded by taking off his shoes and setting them aside. Against someone like Kirishima, Izuku would have no choice but to use his quirk.
Both his arms and legs stripped away of his muscle.
With both boys ready, they rushed at one another. Kirishima threw out the first punch that Izuku caught in his hand. The clash of hard rock against bone rang in their ears. The redhead's other hand shot out towards Izuku's face. He ducked beneath this one and punched Kirishima in the stomach.
Just as he suspected, there wasn't anything soft left for Izuku to hit. Meaning that this fight was a race against the timer to see who would tire first.
With Izuku at a lower position, Kirishima did a straight kick. It was blocked, but Izuku used the force to push him back and gain distance. The moment his feet touched the ground, Izuku leaped forward with a spun and aimed a back kick at the other's head.
Kirishima also ducked this before he dashed to the left to avoid Izuku who followed up with a downwards punch in his landing. Izuku followed after him. Kirishima retaliated by bringing his hardened arm down like a sword. The greenette blocked it by forming his arms into an X over his head.
In the heat of the moment, Izuku didn't realize how open he left himself.
A crashing pain shot into Izuku's side. He saw that Kirishima had used his other hand to punch him in the ribs. Izuku was lucky Kirishima hadn't decided to aim for his gut, although Kirishima probably intentionally hit his bones on purpose.
Then that meant Kirishima wasn't taking him seriously enough.
Izuku's arms transformed in the blink of an eye. Stumped finger bones elongated and sharpened while everything up to his elbows thickened with weight. He swung Kirishima's hand around with his left and tucked it in his armpit.
Izuku cocked back his right arm and balled his clawed hand into a fist. He swung it downwards and curved it into an uppercut that slammed right into Kirishima's stomach.
Despite that Izuku felt solid rock where his bones touched, Kirishima let out a small grunt of pain. It didn't hurt as much as it could have if he didn't have his quirk activated, but Kirishima's defense held strong.
That was when the redhead started his counterattack. The chance never came however as Izuku suddenly let go of his left arm and Izuku used his own left hand to palm strike Kirishima in the chest.
With nothing holding him and because of the sudden force, Kirishima was shot backwards. He fell on his back with a gasp. The redhead sat back up and worked through the dull pain of the fight as well as his tiredness of the previous sparing.
When his eyes landed on Izuku, he saw he was in a stance. His arms were spread at his side, claws outstretched and a piercing gaze. There was a faint hint of a grin in his expression.
"Now, that's what I'm talking about!" Kirishima exclaimed with glee and he immediately got back up.
Neither hesitated to continue the hard-fought battle. Izuku had to admit, he's never had a matchup like the before. In any of the other fights he's had that didn't involve fighting for his life, Izuku always have to hold himself back. But with Kirishima, they were in the same boat with it came to being able to go all out with risking serious injury.
It was exciting.
And perhaps a little too exciting.
"How long are you guys going to go for?" The intensity of their fight was abruptly interrupted by Sero. Izuku and Kirishima turned to see him and the rest of the group standing there with amused looks.
"Uum, what?" Kirishima asked.
"Dude, it's been about two minutes since the timer went off. Did you not hear it?" Mina stated with entertainment, but also a little impressed at the same time.
"No, sorry." Izuku was actually a little surprised he hadn't heard it. In the spot they were in, they were decently close to hearing it. "I think the sound of us hitting each other blocked out."
"Nothing like two hard men going at it, heh?" Kaminari said jokingly to Sero. The black-haired teen had been taking a drink from his water bottle at the time and ended up spitting it back out in a fit of coughs and laughs.
A few of the others reacted in their own to the joke, but Izuku and Kirishima only looked to one another with puzzled expressions as they obviously had no clue what they were talking about.
Next fight for Izuku was Sero. During which, the greenette found that Sero had a kind of quick grace to him. Made since as he was tall and thin, but Izuku suspected it also might have something to do with his quirk.
Sero's attacks didn't have a huge impact on the fight. Izuku pretty much either blocked or dodged them all. But the same went for Izuku. Sero was hard to hit. The taller teen's movements reminded Izuku of Mina who used their quirk to move and dash around.
Izuku also learned that Sero had good capturing capabilities.
2 strands of tape shot towards Izuku faster than he could dodge. All he could do was let them tangle his arms before they could reach his body.
Once Sero's attack was done, both of the greenette's arms were wrapped thick in strong tape.
"Hah!" Sero called victorious of the battle.
"I wouldn't celebrate so soon." Just Izuku's words were able to have Sero question his win.
From the front of the tape cocoon, one of Izuku's claws managed to pierce through.
"Oh." Sero mumbled fearfully. Right after, Izuku cut himself free in one quick move that ripped the tape in several pieces.
Thankfully for the taller boy, the fight had ended there.
At last, came the final sparing match of today's training session.
Hagakure.
"So… how is this supposed to work?" Izuku had to ask because, as far as he knew, he was talking to thin air.
"You really gotta use your senses." Hagakure's voice came from a few feet in front of Izuku, but that was all the boy could determine. "I may be invisible, but there are different ways to see without your eyes." Hagakure spoke in a mysterious way, like she had tried to make a movie quote.
"Uuh, right." Izuku said reluctantly. He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but he figured that was what he was supposed to figure out.
"Hey." Grimm's voice was warned by his usual echo. Izuku responded with a quiet hum to let him continue. "Use the vision." Was all Grimm said.
"Vision?" Izuku whispered while trying his best not to move his lips.
"Yes. You've done it before. The vision that everything goes black." Grimm said expectantly like he couldn't understand that Izuku didn't know what he meant.
Oh… that vision.
Would… that work?
Izuku haven't even thought of it. From what Izuku knew, Hagakure's quirk made it so her body refracted light, but that black vision didn't use light to work.
So… he didn't see why it wouldn't.
Izuku closed his eyes for a moment. In less than a second, one of his 5th senses changed drastically. When he opened them back up, the world had changed.
Like an X-ray, Izuku could see through objects, all of which were highlighted by white. Something he learned in early testing of this strange ability is that only people were completely white. Like a glow that made them stand out.
But not animals which was what struck Izuku as odd.
However, it definitely did the job in this situation.
Because now, instead of nothing in front of him, there was a girl.
A very… naked girl.
Despite the completely white colored full of people's bodies, Izuku could still determine details if he was close enough.
And… he saw a lot of detail in that moment.
"Alright, you ready?" Hagakure asked.
"No!"
..............................…
"So, uuuuh…" Izuku stopped and turned to see Mina leaning up against the wall with her elbow. "Your good?" She finally said with a small snicker.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Izuku responded like there wasn't anything wrong.
"Really? Because you seemed to like the sparring at first, then you suddenly absolutely refused to fight Hagakure." One of Mina's eyebrows were raised as she said this. Upon the mention of that fight that never occurred, Izuku inwardly sighed.
"Right. I just wanted to make sure I didn't get quirk exhaustion." Pfffft. That lie made Izuku cringe on in the inside.
"Thought you didn't care that stuff, or you were just somehow able to heal it off, or whatever?" Mina asked as she was at one point worried, but Izuku said there wasn't a reason to.
"Well, I want to make sure I don't completely tire myself out for the sports festival." Izuku tried again. This one at least sounded more believable.
"Mm, alright. Fair enough." And thankfully, she appeared to settle on that. "Anyway." Izuku noticed a change in Mina's tone. He refocused on her to see that she fidgeted slightly. "I never got to apologize for basically using you as a landing pad." Mina gave a shrug.
"Ah, it's fine. I was the one who pulled you down with me. I didn't account for your slime to hinder my movement. It was very clever thinking of you." Izuku brushed it off. He was instead more interceded the capabilities that he didn't know his classmates had until today.
"Pfft, if you say so. If only I was more clever in with a pencil in my hand." Mina remarked past Izuku's compliment.
"Are you having problems in school?" From the way Mina said it, it sounded like to Izuku that she has been having trouble. Seems that Izuku guessed right because Mina looked like she regretted her words for a moment.
"Not the best way to impress someone, but yeah." This is what Mina said, but what had not been heard by Izuku. To him, it was barely an inaudible mumble.
"Huh." Izuku made a noise to tell Mina that he had not understood.
"I guess you could say that." Mina suddenly returned to her chipper self like nothing had happened. "It's not a big deal though. I don't even know why I said anything. Sorry to bother you." She suddenly became hurried and began to turn the other direction.
Then something unexpected happened.
"I can help you if you want."
Mina stopped and whipped around to look at the greenette. Not only did he look as confuse as she felt, but he appeared as if he talked on accident.
And what the hell happened to his voice?
"R-Really?" Mina asked out of bewilderment that the normally secluded and level greenette gave her such an offer.
Izuku, in turn, stared at her for a moment with a strained face.
"Yes." He said without warning, and his voice was normal. Perhaps Mina imagined it.
"Wow, thanks, Midoriya. I-I appreciate it." Mina had a hard time to say this as she scratched her cheek with her pointer finger. "Today's been full of all sorts of surprises, huh?"
"Yeah, surprises." Izuku responded. He appeared fine now but did have a faint nervous smile.
"And if you want to, you can always join us for some more training anytime." Mina gave her own offer. She that that Izuku thought this over for a second.
"Sure. I think I'll do that" Izuku answered with a kind nod. Mina couldn't hold back the single chuckle before she turned.
"See ya then." The girl gave her far well with a back wave.
Yeah." Although she couldn't see it, Izuku returned the gesture with a small single wave.
It was odd to watch her go, but Izuku wasn't exactly looking at her. He was more in a fazed state of confusion and acceptance at the same time.
But also annoyance.
Then, in that same faint smile, Izuku spoke with an edge in his voice.
"Grimm, what the fuck did you just make me do?" Like the goblin he was, Grimm responded the best way he saw fit.
"Hehehehahahahah!"