Mina Ashido was not a happy camper. Assembled in her room were all of the girls of 1-A, her golden irises swimming in black sclera narrowed at the group. She scanned over them all, each one experiencing some degree of nervousness. She called this meeting for one reason: there was a rat amongst them, and she was intent on finding out who it was.
"So, fess up," she began, eyeing them all with suspicion. "Who snitched?"
"Wasn't me," Toru quickly piped up, raising her invisible arm. Unfortunately, that only drew Mina's suspicious gaze directly to her.
"A little quick to deny the allegations, Toru," Mina probed. "Got anything you want to share?"
"I haven't said anything to Midori that didn't involve brushing Eri's hair since we moved in!" Toru vehemently denied, then she turned and pointed a sleeve at Yaoyorozu's direction. "If anything, you should ask loose lips over here if she slipped anything to her boyfriend."
"Shoto is not my boyfriend!" Yaoyorozu shouted with a furious blush.
"Shoto, huh?" Mina couldn't resist piling on at the use of his given name from her friend, causing the fabulously wealthy girl to damn near collapse into herself like a turtle.
"Todoroki didn't seem to know anything about it when Midoriya brought it up, so it couldn't have been Yaomomo," Jiro came to her best friend's rescue. "Maybe his mom tipped him off?"
"No, it wouldn't be her," Mina shook her head. "Ms. Midoriya put 7000 yen into the pot. She has too much to lose. So does Ms. Midnight."
"Ribbit, have we considered that it might've been Eri?" Tsu threw out the possibility. "I mean, she would probably pass along that information to Izuku if she heard about it, and she might've heard one of us mention it in passing."
"Don't be ridiculous, Eri is an angel," Mina shot down. "Besides, she can keep a secret."
"What secret of yours is she keeping?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Let's not divert the subject," Mina evaded.
"Girls, hold on a minute," Toru got their attention. "Ochako hasn't said a word yet."
Just like that, the room's collective attention turned to the sweating gravity girl. Truth be told, she hadn't mentioned anything about the betting pool to Izuku, especially considering what she put her money down on and how confident she was in winning. What made her nervous was the fact that she was doing something tantamount to insider trading, and she was on the cusp of being made. She needed to distract them, and quickly.
"We haven't considered Hatsume!" she blurted out, catching them by surprise. "She's in the pool, too, and she's not even here! She's a bit of a motormouth, maybe she mentioned it accidentally without even realizing."
That wasn't even true; Hatsume wasn't a motormouth from what Ochako had seen, but the chaotic energy radiating from the girl 24/7 led her to excitedly chatter about babies and inventing whenever she was in the lab or Izuku was around, which gave her claim some credence.
"…That's a possibility," Mina considered, rubbing her chin in thought. "There are too many variables in this matter to consider to fully determine who the culprit is without having everyone involved present. We'll table this subject for now, but we'll revisit it down the road should any breaks be made in the case that anything comes to light. That sound good to everyone?"
All of the girls nodded, and Mina produced a gavel that everyone was absolutely certain she wasn't previously holding and rapped it against her desk. "Good. Meeting adjourned."
The next day was more of the same for 1-A. They returned to Gym Gamma (with the holes in the ceiling conveniently repaired) and continued working on their ultimate moves. Izuku, despite having chased All Might around the gym the day prior like it was a trivial exercise, still hadn't made much headway in figuring out what an ultimate move for him would even look like. The paradox of choice was rearing its ugly head, and the option of experimenting on the fly and seeing what worked wouldn't really apply in this situation.
"How about we revisit your 2nd Gear?" Ectoplasm suggested as Izuku floundered for direction.
"Oh, right," Izuku snapped back to reality and ignited his quirk, engulfing him in a colorful blaze. Then, he tensed, and that blaze intensified, the vents on his forearms opening back up and blowing smoke out of his system.
"How long can you maintain this form?" Ectoplasm asked.
"Not sure," Izuku responded, placing a hand on his chin. "I didn't have it active for very long the first two times I used it. Yesterday was the longest I've been in 2nd Gear, and it was the most physical activity I've engaged in while it was active. I'm not terribly sure where the upper limits of this form are anymore-"
"How about you try endurance training?" Ectoplasm interrupted before Izuku could devolve into a mumble-storm. "Keep 2nd Gear active as long as you can when training, even while doing low stress activities. It may seem like an unnecessary waste of energy, but it will both gauge the strain it levies on your body and get you better accustomed to that strain. That way, you'll be able to maintain the state for longer periods of time."
"Oh, yeah, that makes perfect sense," Izuku nodded, his excitement growing the more he thought over the suggestion.
"I also noted something in your… moment, with All Might that may solve your issues creating an ultimate move," Ectoplasm continued.
"Really? What was it?"
"Perhaps it's more accurate to say that Eraserhead took note of it, but when you launched yourself into the air and propelled towards All Might, you boosted your uppercut with even more of your flames blasting out of the vent of your arm. That would be a good place to start."
Humming in thought, he inspected the vent in his arm. He vaguely remembered doing something similar to Muscular back at the camp, but it was a haymaker to drive him into the side of the cliff rather than an uppercut. It certainly was a good place to start…
"Maybe…" Izuku mused out loud as he pumped his fist into the air, "Flashfire Fist: Prominence Smash!"
"…Perhaps something a touch more original would be preferable," Ectoplasm deadpanned.
Izuku's arm fell limply to his side as he deflated. "Oh, come on! They're both retired, so it's not like either will be using those names anytime soon. Besides, it's fitting since I'm basically a lovechild of All Might and Endeavor anyway."
Izuku's demeanor flipped into a panicked one in an instant. "Don't tell my mom I said that."
"No promises."
"Snitch."
Meanwhile, his classmates were a little more prepared for the vibrant display of 2nd Gear this time around, especially after the antics with All Might the day previous. The thought of their class rep widening the gap between himself and the rest of them even further invigorated them to work thrice as hard, so they largely put Izuku out of their minds to focus on sharpening and perfecting their own arsenals.
Well, with the exception of Bakugo, of course. He found himself staring at Izuku once again. He had thought he had begrudgingly accepted that he wasn't the best months prior, and he certainly knew that the green head was well ahead of him, but the sight of him chasing All Might around the room and actually making him work for it rooted itself to Bakugo's brain. He even landed a punch on the fucking No. 1 hero and launched him into the sky, just to slam him back down to Earth like a fucking meteorite!
Of course, All Might got back up like nothing happened because he was fucking All Might, but the fact that Izuku even managed to land a hit in the first place…
He clenched his fists as a low growl left his throat. Bakugo threw himself back into training with such an explosive vigor that even the clone of Ectoplasm watching over him took a few steps back. Bakugo swore to get even stronger. He swore to get better every single day. He refused to be left behind. He'd catch up, keep up, and fucking surpass Izuku.
Then, and only then, could they finally have their fight as equals.
"Thank you kindly, Ms. Aiba. It was a pleasure doing business once again. Your payment has been transferred."
Nezu ended the call and put his phone down, exceedingly satisfied with the boon the day had provided. Sipping his tea, he scanned the current hero rankings for Japan. They had not yet been updated to account for All Might and Endeavor's exits from the business, so the two freshly retired heroes continued to sit comfortably at the top, followed right behind by Hawks.
Hawks. What an interesting human he was shaping up to be. Ms. Aiba's snooping in the HPSC's (marginally) less protected networks unearthed quite a bit of fascinating information about the man.
Keigo Takami: his father was a criminal and his mother an addict that practically sold him to the HPSC shortly after his father was apprehended by Endeavor. He was trained personally by the Commission for the duration of his life into the ideal weapon that could maintain a likable, squeaky-clean public facade while doing the Commission's dirty work in the shadows. It was a familiar story, as he remembered the flashy stylings of Lady Nagant. Her connection to the Commission wasn't really a secret as she, like Hawks, was specifically trained by them, but beyond that, it didn't appear any more nefarious than any other hero's subjugation to them.
Then, completely out of the blue, she snapped and killed a fellow hero in a dispute. The identity of the hero was never disclosed, a body was never presented, there was no trial, and the case was closed within the span of a week.
Coincidentally, the head of the Commission at the time had mysteriously vanished, and Madame President took the reins in his absence.
Curious, that.
He made a note to commission Ms. Aiba's services again in the future to look into Kaina Tsutsumi a little deeper, but he had other matters to focus on. In the coming months, the updated pro hero rankings would be released, and with the absence of All Might and Endeavor, Hawks was primed to take the top spot, not only through process of elimination, but also based off of public speculation and current betting odds that had Hawks being the runaway candidate for the top spot. If that was to come to pass, the HPSC would effectively have direct dominion over the nation's most influential public face.
Well, that certainly wouldn't do. As the rankings currently stood, Hawks was on top, followed by Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Crust, Wash, Yoroi Musha, Ryukyu, and Gang Orca. Best Jeanist and Edgeshot were exceptionally competent and popular heroes, but Nezu wasn't sure how well either could be positioned over Hawks as the next No. 1 Hero of Japan; Hawks' quirk offered him a much flashier arsenal and presentation than both men, which would give him a notable edge in public perception barring a scandal. Nonetheless, he would keep the two UA alumni in mind if he ever needed assistance in the future.
Crust was a fine hero and a virtuous man, but he did not have the overwhelming power that was generally requisite of the No. 1 Hero, though perhaps having All Might maintain that designation for decades had skewed perspective. Similar sentiments were true for Ryukyu and Wash, and Gang Orca's appearance was, unfortunately, too off-putting for many, having earned him many top spots on "Most Villainous-Looking Heroes" lists, which were just excuses to cast thinly veiled quirkism towards mutants.
As for Yoroi Musha, Nezu wasn't sure how much longer the man would even be alive. If Inko didn't stage a reunion at some point, Izuku would almost certainly get tired of waiting and take matters into his own hands, and Nezu wouldn't be particularly inclined to dissuade him if that ever came to pass.
Curiously, current betting odds also had Mirko, Kamui Woods, and Mt. Lady leapfrogging up the rankings into the Top 10. Mirko was an interesting case, as she, Shishido, and Gang Orca had been riding the cusp of the Top 10 for the last few rankings. In particular, Gang Orca had been on the outs of the Top 10 for a considerable length of time; heteromorphs historically tended not to advance much further up the rankings than that, the very kid-friendly Wash being the notable exception. Mirko and Kamui appeared to be in line to buck that trend, and that made him think.
Mirko…
She was powerful, very outspoken, more human-presenting than most heteromorphs, and best of all, legions of fetishists could be exploited to launch her already healthy popularity into the stratosphere. Her stock was already on a space-bound trajectory, it just needed a little push to send it out of the solar system to comfortably unseat Hawks as the favorite for the spot as No. 1 Hero.
Nezu knew just the boy who could accomplish that.
"Alright, this will be simple. I'm going to pluck its leg, and I want you to try to rewind it back to normal, okay?"
"Okay!"
Izuku sat cross-legged on the floor in Eri's room in front of the bright-eyed girl whose face was filled with determination. In his hand rested a single cricket, and he carefully grabbed one of its hind legs and pulled it off of its body. Placing the down-a-leg insect into a tall, glass cup, he slid it over to Eri for her to try out her power.
Eri gingerly placed her hands on the glass and brought it closer to herself before slowly reaching inside to touch the traumatized cricket. Her face scrunched in concentration, and her horn emitted a soft glow as her finger made contact with the cricket, and slowly but surely, the severed hind leg appeared to regrow. Startled that it was working, she grew excited when the cricket was fully restored to its state before Izuku pulled its leg off. In fact, she was so excited that her control slipped, and her quirk kept active, de-aging the cricket through several molt phases into a small nymph until it eventually vanished altogether.
The way her expression flipped from gleeful excitement to utterly crestfallen stabbed Izuku in the heart, and before she could fall into self-deprecation, Izuku reached over and placed a warm hand on her head.
"Hey, it's okay," Izuku assured the disappointed girl, ruffling her hair. "You're new to this. We don't always get it on the first few tries. You'll become a natural at this with more practice, bet on it."
Hearing that marginally made her feel better, but she still couldn't help her frown. "I made another innocent thing disappear with my curse."
"Trust me, that cricket wasn't innocent," Izuku corrected. "He kidnapped a boy and caused his dad to go out to sea in search for him, only to be eaten by a whale."
"…You took that from Pinocchio," Eri said with a curious tilt of her head.
"You know about Pinocchio?" Izuku asked in surprise.
Eri shrugged. "It was on TV one time, before you found me."
Izuku blinked, opting to file away the fact that she remembered a bastardized plot point of a movie she saw once while in captivity and recognized it enough to point it out when referenced for a later date. "Anyway, don't dwell on this; your power isn't a curse, Eri. Powers are never a curse, no matter how dark they may be. It's all about how you use them. Your powers don't define you; only you define you. In fact…"
Izuku stood up, having come to a decision. "Put your shoes on. We're going on an adventure, and I'll show you exactly how I know that powers aren't curses, even dark ones."
"Okay," Eri complied, grabbing the brown boots Inko had bought for her on their most recent shopping venture with budding excitement in her system overtaking the earlier dismay.
When she was ready to go, Izuku crouched down for her to climb up onto his back and sit on his shoulders, gleefully taking firm fistfuls of his green mess of hair before they set off down the stairs to the common area. Once there, they were met with the lobby being abuzz with activity, as most of 1-A was present and socializing in various groups after the day of training. The group that they happened to encounter first was Yaoyorozu standing in front of a table seating Shoto, Tokoyami, and Shoji with a Monopoly board between them.
"Midoriya, Eri!" Yaoyorozu excitedly greeted the two after noticing their arrival. "I'm teaching some of our classmates the wonderful game of Monopoly! Would you like to join us?"
The girl was practically vibrating, so Izuku felt a little bad about having to decline. "I can't right now; I was actually on my way out to take care of something important, and Eri's along for the ride. I'll catch the next game, though. They usually take a while anyway."
"Of course, I don't want to hold you," Yaoyorozu accepted with a smile. "I'll save you a spot for when you return."
"Thanks!" he called out as they departed, exiting through the large, ornate double doors and bounding down the long flight of stairs to the ground. Izuku hadn't really noticed just how much Principal Nezu went overboard with the decor until now.
Reaching the bottom, he activated his quirk in his palm and allowed the sapphire flames to bloom once again. He connected with the fires of the reaper and spread his senses across the campus, feeling around for that familiar bite from the prior morning. Since he had found it once already, it was much easier to pinpoint again, and he got a solid location. Setting off in the direction of the soul calling out to him, he almost missed his pink classmate standing behind a few trees on the side of their dorm building hunched over her phone and muttering strangely into it. Almost.
Curious, he wandered over to the girl and noticed that what he thought was her phone wasn't actually a phone, at least not any kind that he recognized. Just as well, the closer he approached, the better he heard what she was muttering.
"ɥı ɯoɯ, ƪnsʇ 1ǝʇʇınƃ ʎon ʞnoʍ ʇɥɐʇ ı'ɯ poınƃ oʞɐʎ. I ɹǝɐ11ʎ ɯıss ɐ11 oɟ ʎon-"
"Ashido?" Izuku questioned, violently snapping her out of her muttering and spinning around in a panic.
"MIDORI!" she shouted, quickly hiding whatever she was speaking into behind her back and nervously staring at him. "W-what's up?"
"Uh, whatcha doin'?" Izuku inquired in the gentlest manner he could in light of her frazzled state.
"O-oh, um…" she floundered in her search for a sufficient response. "…Crack?"
A long, blaring silence followed that response with Izuku trying (and failing spectacularly) to process what she had just said to him, while Mina died a slow, horrible death of mortification. Eri, not knowing what crack was but knowing that she had to keep Mina's secret, tugged at Izuku's hair like joysticks on an arcade machine to get his attention. Jolting him back to what he was on his way to do, he decided to give the girl a break and make his exit.
"Um, well, I'll leave you to it, then," Izuku stammered, turning around to head back off. "See ya."
"Yeah…" Mina trailed off, catching the adorable attempt at a sly wink that the little girl riding Izuku's shoulders sent her, and she instantly felt an ocean of relief wash over her. She owed that girl a whole basket of apples for helping her out of that hole she dug herself.
The duo strolled down the path leading away from 1-A's dorm and deeper into the Heights Alliance complex. As they passed the 1-B dorm, Izuku and Eri noticed a trash bag being carried to a dumpster by a floating hand. Instantly recognizing it, a violet flame ignited out of Izuku's index finger, and a vine shot out, snagging the hand on its journey back to its owner and bringing it to hover beside them. Soon, a confused, floating head flew from around the corner as expected, and her green eyes lit up when she saw the person that yoinked her hand.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite, filthy heathen," Tokage's floating head said with a sharp grin, and her grin grew at the sight of Eri on his shoulders. "So, this is the hatchling I've heard so much about."
"Eri, this is Setsuna Tokage," Izuku introduced the fascinated girl to the floating head. "She can split her body into pieces at will, as you can see. She also thinks that Godzilla could beat All Might."
"Because he could, and don't let this doofus poison your mind into thinking otherwise," Tokage countered, motioning to the teen underneath her with a quick nod and earning a conspiratorial nod from Eri outside of Izuku's notice.
Just then, another person approached carrying two more trash bags, and Izuku smiled at the reveal of Yui joining them. "Eri, this is Yui Kodai. She's the quiet one I told you about."
"Oh, the kuudere!" Eri gasped in recognition. "He said you can make small things into big things and big things into small things!"
Yui nodded with a small smile, and she reached into her pocket and pulled out a toy 18-wheeler that fit snugly in her hand, then she handed it to Eri. Gazing at the offered gift curiously, Eri's eyes brightened when it dawned on her what she was now holding. Izuku, though, was a little confused at why she was so excited at a toy truck. When he opened his hand to inspect it, she placed the truck into his palm, and Izuku wasn't prepared for the absurd density he felt plunging his hand toward the ground.
"Oh, wow, this feels unnaturally real- oh, this is real, isn't it?" Izuku's surprised disposition grew into a deadpan stare.
"Mm," she confirmed. "It's from the rescue mission. I kept it as a trophy."
"Why do I get the feeling that you took several of the Zero-Pointers from the sports festival just to have an army of giant robots at your disposal?" Izuku deadpanned again, and Eri giggled at the exhaustion in his voice. "See, at least she thinks I'm funny."
"Statistically, at least one person on the planet has to," Yui replied.
Just like that, the wind was violently taken out of his sails, and he deflated. "You are cold-blooded, Yui."
"Mm," she smiled amidst Eri's increased giggles.
"So, why are you guys on trash duty?" Izuku asked, recovering from his brief bout of depression.
"Vlad King put us under house arrest for our stunt at Kamino," Tokage answered with an easy smile. "We're on cleaning duty in our dorm till summer break is over. Plus, Kendo strangled us with her big ass hands like I said she would."
"Worth it," Yui supplied.
"Damn right," she agreed, then her floating head turned back to Izuku and Eri. "Where are you two headed?"
"We're on an adventure!" Eri cheered, and Izuku chuckled, seconding her declaration with a point.
"Well, we won't keep you," Tokage said with a nod. "Vlad King's probably wondering what's taking us so long anyway, and I'm almost certain that my limp, headless body is freaking our class out by now."
Izuku nodded and bid the two goodbye, Eri doing the same as they went on their way. Izuku could feel the pull of the incomplete soul incrementally getting stronger as he traveled deeper into the Heights Alliance complex. He could feel the butterflies fluttering about in his stomach with every step; how the hell was he going to explain to a random person that he could restore them their quirk that they may not have even realized that they had lost? With the death of All For One, a bit of information was released about him, usually trudging up the stories of the Quirk Thief that had generally been passed off as urban legends on old forums, so perhaps the concept of bestowing a quirk wasn't explicitly foreign to them?
It was a long-shot, and he knew it, but damnit, he was going to return to them what was rightfully theirs.
The closer he got to his target and the further he traversed, the more he saw students wandering about with luggage in hand. He supposed that the other departments were moving in during the last of summer break, whereas the hero courses had training to complete, so they needed to be moved in posthaste. He idly noted the curious glances he received from the students, most of them likely resulting from the 6-year-old piloting him like a mech and then from the fact that he was a mildly famous hero course student. He didn't pay them any mind, instead focusing on the growing tug guiding him towards the 1-C dorm. If he remembered correctly, 1-C was part of the General Studies Department.
Huh. Well, this was bound to go over well.
Giving Eri's legs a quick squeeze, he made his way up the stairs and to the front door of the dorm. With a deep breath and an encouraging pat on the head from Eri, he tentatively knocked on the door. A long, awkward moment passed that was thankfully interrupted when the door opened, revealing an exhausted boy with a head of purple hair just as messy as his own. Izuku recognized the boy after a brief moment.
"Shinso?" Izuku asked, surprised to be encountering the boy for the first time since the sports festival.
"Midoriya?" Shinso asked, confusion bleeding into irritation. "Why are you here?"
"Erm, well-" was all Izuku got out before everything went blank.
"Don't care. Turn around and go back to your dorm," Shinso commanded, and Izuku robotically did an about-face before heading down the stairs.
Eri was confused. Izuku was nervous on the way there, as she could feel him lightly trembling. Now, though, he was completely calm and almost mindlessly following that guy's orders. Something wasn't right, so she smacked Izuku on the cranium to snap him out of his trance. Fortunately, it worked, and Izuku stopped in his tracks and blinked.
Izuku momentarily wondered what had happened until it dawned on him, and he sighed. This was going to be more troublesome than he anticipated. He turned around and locked eyes with the surprised and even more irritated Shinso.
"Look, I know we might not have started on the best of terms from before the sports festival, but I'm here for a reason," Izuku calmly explained.
Shinso's gaze narrowed at him. "Which is?"
"Well-"
Again, Izuku froze and went silent, his mind dead to the world.
"Leave," Shinso commanded again, insistent in getting the green head out of his hair.
Eri was quicker this time, and she kicked Izuku in the sternum to snap him out of Shinso's control. Then, she shot the other boy a scowl.
"Stop that, you asshole!" Eri reprimanded, stunning both teens and causing a surprise bout of uncontrollable laughter to rip from around the corner.
Togeike had been curious as to who was at the door and what had Shinso's attention for so long. Deciding to check it out, as well, she got there just in time to hear the voice of a child call Shinso an asshole, which was both hilarious and accurate. After recovering from her laughing fit, she got up and took a peek around her friend to see exactly who he was talking to, but what she saw confused her.
"…Midoriya?" she questioned, confused and a touch annoyed at the presence of a hero course student at their dorm, especially the fabled golden boy of UA.
Izuku, however, leveled the girl with an intense gaze. She didn't have time to be sufficiently taken aback before his eyes transformed into those of a cat, one green and one yellow. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished, and his emerald eyes had returned with notable excitement.
"It's you!" Izuku exclaimed before quickly realizing that he was freaking her out, and he put a lid on his excitement. "I was looking for you in particular."
Izuku could tell that he was doing a bad job at not freaking the girl out, but, honestly, it couldn't be helped at this point. It was all downhill from here, so he might as well rip the bandaid off.
"You're not going to believe me, but I have to talk to you about your quirk."
He knew that wasn't the best thing to say to a quirkless girl, and he expected the venomous looks he received from her and Shinso both.
"If this is some kind of sick fu-" she spat, but she cut herself off when reminded that a little girl was in their presence. "If this is your idea of a joke, you're as funny as you are attractive."
Alright, fucking ouch. He couldn't say that he blamed her reaction, though. Ignoring the barb, he pressed on. "You weren't always quirkless, were you?"
Togeike froze, and her mind was moving a mile a minute.
"It's seriously time for you to go, Midoriya," Shinso growled, but Togeike's next words stopped him cold.
"How do you know?" she asked in a tone so small that Shinso almost didn't believe it came from her.
"It's a rather long story," Izuku sighed. "Is there anywhere we can talk? You can bring whoever you like if that makes you feel more at ease."
"…Yeah," Togeike finally acquiesced. "We can go up to my room. Shinso, go grab Agoyamato and meet us there."
Shinso wasn't sure if he was more surprised at her demurely going along with it or indignant that Midoriya would have anything to do with them, but he did as he was asked while Togeike led Izuku and Eri up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Once at the door with her name tag on it, she opened it and ushered them inside, remaining outside until Shinso and Agoyamato arrived.
When the larger of the two boys stepped inside and saw Izuku sitting in a chair with Eri in his lap, he raised an eyebrow and looked back at Togeike, thumbing in their direction. "The heck is he doing here?"
Togeike sighed, closing the door behind all of them and motioning for the two to sit. "I… haven't been entirely truthful with you guys."
"Oh dear, I knew you were a pot dealer," Agoyamato sighed in exaggerated despair.
"Damnit, Ago, I don't grow pot!" Togeike rebuked before taking a breath, internally thanking her friend for lightening the mood. "You guys know that I'm quirkless, right?"
"Yeah," Shinso warily drawled, not knowing where she was going with this. Their larger friend was just as flummoxed, but he kept quiet to allow her to explain.
Togeike took a shaky breath, and she looked her two friends in the eye. "I wasn't born quirkless."
"…What do you mean?" Shinso probed. Quirks don't just vanish, right?
"When I was 4, I manifested my quirk," she began, doing her level best to keep her eyes dry as she spoke. "I remember drawing one afternoon, and all of a sudden, my fingers became vines, and a root sprouted from my elbow. I freaked out and showed my dad, so my parents took me to a quirk specialist to get me diagnosed and my quirk officially registered."
She took another shaky breath, smoothing out her voice before continuing. "The doctor I saw was a bald guy with goggles. He gave me a really weird vibe, but I was 4, so I wrote it off as him being old and didn't think much more of it. I remember him saying that there was something up about my quirk factor and that he had to take some samples. My parents didn't really question it since he was the expert, so he took a blood sample and left for around 20 minutes or so. He comes back, says some technical mumbo jumbo to my parents, and then schedules me for a few more follow-up visits to monitor whatever was going on."
"What was going on?" Izuku asked.
Togeike shrugged. "My parents didn't explain it to me at the time because I was so young. They figured I wouldn't understand, but they seemed worried. I went to the follow-ups, and I remember they put me under for the last one. When I woke up, I felt sorta empty, almost like I was missing a limb or a few internal organs. I couldn't place it, but I knew something was wrong. It wasn't until a week later that it dawned on me that I couldn't use my quirk anymore."
Togeike was trying really hard to hold it together. "It had just vanished into the wind."
Shinso's heart plunged into the pits of his stomach when those words left her mouth. Agoyamato wasn't any better, his pompadour wilting with the mood of the room. Izuku and Eri stayed quiet, both feeling like they were intruding in a moment between friends.
"Everything started to go to shit after that," Togeike sighed, then she winced upon remembering that Eri was in the room. "Sorry."
"You're fine, I think I have to figure out what words she doesn't know at this point," Izuku waived it off. "Continue, please."
Togeike nodded. "I was quirkless from that point on, and we all know what comes along with that. My uncle is also a villain, apparently? So, not only was I quirkless, but I was related to the mass murderer and bioterrorist, Kunieda, who had only recently been caught and locked up in Tartarus. So, yeah, even more ammo for people."
A bitter, sardonic chuckle escaped her, and it was as wobbly as one could imagine. "I had my parents for a time, at least until they stopped trying to pretend that they were okay with the stigma of having a quirkless child, worse still one whose quirk all but vanished one day."
Agoyamato reached over and placed his large hand on her shoulder, and the cool facade that she was working overtime to maintain shattered on contact. She fell into her friend's embrace and sobbed out the mountain of grief, pain, and resentment she had been bottling for over a decade. Shinso came around the other side and rubbed her back to comfort her as she wept, and he sent a side-eyed glare to Izuku who was doing his best to make himself invisible. In that moment, the two had a silent argument.
"Do you mind?"
"Still here for a reason, dude."
Shinso silently scoffed and returned to his friend who had managed to get a hold of herself. She smiled weakly at the two, but it didn't reach her eyes. Still, they were all there for a reason, so after she had sufficiently gathered herself, she turned back to Izuku and Eri.
"So, how exactly did you know about that?" Togeike questioned. Her eyes didn't hold any suspicion, only weariness. The same couldn't be said for Shinso or Agoyamato, however.
Now came the difficult part: trying to convince her about the intricacies of his bullshit quirk and the centuries-old supervillain at the center of her quirk's disappearance.
"Well, you know how I was kidnapped?"
"Okay, let me get this straight," Shinso began while rubbing his temples. "The guy who kidnapped you was the Quirk Thief, who everyone was certain was just an urban legend, but was actually a really powerful supervillain and All Might's arch-nemesis?"
Izuku nodded.
"The same guy that All Might and Verdant took down?" Agoyamato asked.
Izuku nodded.
"And he tried to steal your quirk, but part of your absurdly bullshit quirk connects you to the Shinigami, who is a cat?" Shinso asked.
Izuku nodded.
"The Shinigami stopped him and took back the quirks that he stole, leaving a few inside of you?"
Izuku nodded.
"And one of those is mine…" Togeike finished.
"Yeah," Izuku sighed. "I know it's hard to believe-"
"Understatement of the century," Shinso cut in.
"But" Izuku continued, glaring at Shinso, "I've done this before. All For One took the quirk of the pro hero, Ragdoll, and I ended up restoring hers."
He turned back to the girl. "If you want, I can do the same for you."
Shinso's gaze was still narrowed at him, meanwhile Agoyamato turned to Togeike.
"Do you trust this?" he asked her, seeing she was beyond shellshocked.
"I…" she trailed off, trying to clear her tumultuous mind.
"Prove it," Shinso finally spoke up, earning the attention of the other two.
Izuku tilted his head. "What, in particular?"
"Prove that you really have a connection with the Shinigami," Shinso insisted with his arms folded.
Izuku blinked and stared at Shinso for a long moment. He looked down at Eri, who was looking back up at him with curiosity. Izuku could take the petty route and introduce him to Matatabi personally. However, that might have been a touch overboard, so he decided to use another example.
"Remember back at the sports festival when everyone targeted me after I was given the 10 million points for winning the obstacle race?" Izuku asked, and he internally smirked when Shinso involuntarily shivered.
"…That doesn't prove anything," Shinso muttered. "Give us something tangible."
Izuku sighed, and his right hand lit up in a sapphire blaze before he held it out for Shinso to grasp. "Your funeral."
Shinso did not like that choice of words one bit, but he was already committed to making the hero student prove his outlandish claims. Another shiver ran up his spine; he remembered the stunt from the sports festival very well, and it almost dissuaded him from targeting the green head to make his point. Almost.
He took a deep breath and set his face into a determined scowl, then he took the offered hand. To Togeike and Agoyamato, he froze for a scant few seconds before yanking his hand away in a cold sweat.
"A-alright, alright, I believe you," Shinso shakily exhaled.
"…What did you see?" Agoyamato tentatively asked, casting a wary gaze onto Izuku.
Shinso took a few deep breaths before turning to his stocky friend. "I don't think I like cats anymore."
"Sheesh," Agoyamato muttered, flabbergasted that anything could make the biggest cat lover he knew flip so quickly. "That bad?"
"Worse," Shinso responded.
Togeike, meanwhile, was at war with herself. She was being given a once in a lifetime offer, a literally life-altering change that would right the wrong done to her so many years ago. She'd have a quirk again. She'd be whole again. She'd be valid again-
No, she was already valid. She wasn't an invalid, that's just what those quirkist dickheads from her middle school with the stupid salute said to put her down. She was a person with worth, agency, and dreams irrespective of her quirk or lack thereof. She had lived over a decade without a quirk, and there was nothing wrong with that. She was fucking Chikuchi Togeike with or without her quirk.
But…
It was her quirk.
Fuck, man.
"You don't have to decide right now," Izuku gently assured her, trying to ease the turmoil she was clearly experiencing. "This is a lot to take in, and no one would expect you to come to a decision on the spo-"
"I'll do it," she tentatively interrupted him.
"Huh?"
"Do whatever you gotta do," she reiterated, her voice growing more solid alongside her resolve. "I… I want to be whole again."
Izuku nodded, and he removed Eri from his lap and placed her to his side. The blue flames of the Shinigami ignited once more, now engulfing his form and emanating a still, chilly aura that made the three general studies students wildly uncomfortable.
"This is what I meant, Eri," Izuku said to the little girl, flashing her a soft smile. "No matter how dark your power is, they don't define you. You define them."
He turned back to Togeike, and he gingerly spread the flames to her, wrapping her form in a sapphire blaze and allowing the soul and soul fragment to reunite. Having done this once before, he anticipated the tug and was expecting the ethereal presence's ejection from his body into hers.
Togeike, on the other hand, wasn't prepared for the sudden sensation and fell backwards out of her chair, sending her sprawling to the ground with her two friends scrambling to assist. Once Izuku killed the flames, Togeike was back on her feet with either boy at her side.
"How do you feel?" Izuku asked.
Rather than respond verbally, Togeike looked down at her hand, and on a mental command, her index finger curled into a tree root. The three friends gasped, and tears welled up in Togeike's eyes once again.
"Holy fuck," Shinso muttered in shock.
"Dude, you have a freaking quirk!" Agoyamato cheered, remaining cognizant of Eri's presence.
There wasn't a single word in any language's lexicon that could adequately describe the amalgamation of shock, elation, vindication, relief, and unbridled joy she was experiencing. The overwhelming emotion got to her, and the tears that were already welling spilled down her cheeks as she lunged at Izuku. Only because Izuku had seen it coming did he keep himself from glowing crimson and heating up, burning the entire dorm down in the process.
"Thank you, thank you so much," she choked out, wrapping Izuku in the tightest embrace she could manage.
Izuku wasn't entirely sure what to do with his hands; instinct told him to return the hug, but he was aware that Shinso wasn't his biggest fan, and he wasn't sure how he or Agoyamato would take it, logical or not. He settled on the safe route by patting her on the back as she unleashed everything she was feeling. Luckily, Eri came to his rescue by patting her on the leg and sending her a warm smile, as well, taking much of the focus off of him. This little girl was fantastic.
When Togeike finally broke away, she lunged at her two best friends and drew them into the same bone-crushing hug, despite the absurd size differences. Having completed what he came to do and sensing that he was intruding again, he knelt down for Eri to climb back onto his shoulders and head out, but he was stopped before he could exit the room.
"Thank you again," Togeike said before growing bashful. "And sorry…"
Izuku quirked an eyebrow at the apology. "For what?"
"…I've had some pretty nasty things to say about people in the hero course in the past," she sheepishly admitted. "I kinda thought you were all self-absorbed jerks who let fame get to your head."
"Same," Agoyamato added on. "I thought you all just bought into your hype. I guess you're not all so bad."
Shinso remained silent, folding his arms and looking away with a scowl until he was bonked in the head by Agoyamato's meaty hand.
"Fine," Shinso relented, rubbing his head and shooting Agoyamato a glare. "You're not all so bad or whatever."
His glare landed on Izuku, and it narrowed. "I'm still going to beat you. I built the rocket, and I'm flying it farther than you could ever hope to travel."
That brought a genuine smile to Izuku's face, and he nodded. "Glad to hear it. I'll be waiting. I'll see you all around."
With that, he left, missing Shinso's annoyance growing even more at the frustratingly positive response to his continued declaration of war. He was beaming as he walked down the hall with Eri safely piloting the helm. This was exactly the kind of hero he wanted to be.
The sounds of frantic skittering echoed around the dark lab in disarray. The dirty, disheveled doctor dropped the tool that was in his hand and grabbed a rag, wiping away some of the remaining fluid that covered the small, pale Nomu maniacally grinning at him. The doctor returned the grin, and a sickening giggle seeped out of his throat like sludge.
"I shall name you Johnny," Garaki declared, and the Nomu that was missing the lower half of its body, instead wearing yellow boots on its hands to travel.
It wasn't like it needed to travel anyway. That wasn't its function.
Turning to his right, another, slimmer Nomu sat in a crouch near the wall. This Nomu only had legs and no arms, but it shared the same exposed brain and vacant stare as all the rest of the Lower-Tier Nomu. Scuttling to the creature, he retrieved a single photo and held it out in front of the Nomu. Immediately, the Nomu's head snapped down and gazed at the photo, its eyes scanning it over and taking in every detail.
"Find him," was all Garaki uttered before the Nomu jumped to its feet and ran through the door, forgoing a traditional exit and simply creating a hole in the metal door to complete its task.
Garaki turned to the row of tubes containing the High-End and Near High-End Nomus, and his grin widened.
"Soon…" he cooed with a sickening intonation reminiscent of dragging puppies across gravel, his eyes landing on the tube in the center of it all that contained his Lord's next vessel.
"Thank you for coming, Izuku," Nezu chirped from behind his desk before procuring two mugs from the ether. "Tea?"
"You sounded excited when you texted me, and that can only mean someone's imminent destruction one way or another," Izuku deadpanned, accepting the offered beverage. "Overseeing it myself was the safest option."
"That it was," Nezu nodded. "I have a conundrum that I wish for your assistance with."
"I'm all ears," Izuku remarked, his curiosity piqued.
"With the new absences of All Might and Endeavor, a significant vacuum has been left at the top of the rankings, one that is surely to be filled by Hawks come the next announcement of the updated rankings," Nezu explained with a sip of his tea.
"Makes sense, he's the 3rd ranked hero in the nation," Izuku remarked, curious as to where the principal was going with this.
"Well, he's also a direct Hero Commission agent, so having him occupy the top spot is totally out of the question," Nezu answered the unasked question with a smile.
Izuku blinked. Well, that was new information. Hawks worked directly for the HPSC? If that was the case, was he aware of the surveillance they were doing on him and his mother? Did he have a hand in it? So many questions, and only two kneecaps in Hawks' possession to break. He'd get around to that later.
"Okay, I see your point," Izuku mused. "So, what do we do about that?"
"That is where you come in," Nezu smiled. "It just so happens that Mirko has been on a meteoric rise as of late, and projections have her leapfrogging into the Top 10 come the release of the new rankings."
"And we're going to manipulate that to boost her popularity even more," Izuku surmised, catching on to Nezu's machinations.
"And this is why you're my apprentice," the chimera nodded. "As much as you don't care for it, you have a significant online following, one that has seen several bouts of exponential growth in recent months."
Izuku groaned. He truly did not like the attention, but he made a few social media profiles beyond just his mostly anonymous accounts on hero forums at the behest of Ochako and Toru. He didn't really intend to use them very often and was only really followed by his classmates, but that changed after the interview outside of UA that went viral and put him on the map. Then, the UA Sports Festival happened, and his popularity grew even more. Blowing up the ring with Endeavor's youngest son only cemented his presence in the cultural zeitgeist.
Then, Stain happened, and Izuku's popularity soared amongst civilians, heroes, and villains alike. The business in Kamino and the explosion of popularity his mother received was the nail in the coffin for any sort of anonymity he'd enjoy online. Now, he had tens of millions of followers across multiple platforms, which was more than a great deal of licensed pro heroes had. He had entirely too much influence, and he had absolutely no idea what to do with it or if he even should do anything with it at all-
Oh.
Well, he knows exactly what he could do with it now.
Judging by the sharp-toothed grin Nezu was sporting, they were definitely on the same page.
"Any specific parameters for how I should go about this?" Izuku inquired.
"Nope," Nezu replied. "Go wild."
"Awesome."
Rumi nearly slammed the door on her way back into her apartment, but the memory of the repair bills she received from the last few times she accidentally tore the door off its hinges and sending it down the hall by slamming it stayed her hand. Instead, she gently shut and locked it before slamming her fist into the reinforced punching bag she had set up beside her door for these specific moments. She was still mightily pissed off following her meeting with Madame President, so much that she had taken her anger out on any villain dumb enough to think they could challenge her. At least 7 meatheads with strength enhancer quirks of various kinds were currently in the ICU.
When that hadn't dulled her anger, she took out the rest of her energy on absurd heroic feats involving rescuing dozens of children from a burning orphanage in a matter of seconds (before promptly flattening the arsonist responsible), stopping a runaway semi-truck from turning a little girl on the crosswalk into paste with just her foot (strangely, the truck was empty), and even hauling a sinking cruise ship back to port on pure spite alone.
All of it happening within a single afternoon sent the media into a tailspin, not that she was paying attention. Her anger still hadn't really gone away, so she was left to stew in it for the night and unleash even more hell tomorrow. Not even bothering to take off her costume, she plopped onto her couch and turned on the TV, ignoring the news report of another violent killing involving blue flames "as hot as the sun" as she grabbed her phone. Skimming over the sea of notifications she got from every which way, her attention landed on one particular post.
It was a post from Midoriya, which somewhat brightened her mood, as it meant that the little shit was still alive. She knew it was an irrational thought, but it generally wasn't something that could be said for those that remained in the Commission's crosshairs for too long, so excuse the fuck out of her for finding some comfort in-
Wait, what the fuck was he wearing?
The post in question had two pictures, one showing Midoriya decked out in her hero costume and flexing his muscles for the world to see, and the other was also one of him in her costume doing her signature pose with his hand pointed up beside a replica bunny ear. The post already had 200K likes despite only going live 25 minutes prior, and the caption read, "Felt cute. Might delete later."
Rumi blinked and sat in silence for a long moment, then a feral grin took shape.
"Little Green, you better be ready for a fight."