6:26 PM, Saturday
What was the most powerful quirk in existence?
When 80% of the population had superpowers, it was natural to wonder which one was the strongest.
The most common answer you'd get in Japan would be 'All Might's quirk', despite the fact that no one actually knew what his awe-inspiring power was. The rest of the world was full of amazing abilities as well, like America's New Order and Flight.
Nearly all of them belonged to popular, incredible heroes or renowned, terrible villains.
But now, well, the most powerful quirk Izuku knew of belonged to the girl on the floor next to him, cluelessly peering up at the textbook in her hands.
Reset allowed the user to infinitely loop back in time as long as they had a savepoint. Even short-term time travel was incredible- capable of reversing any negative effects and creating endless loops to test solutions.
Everyone- heroes, villains, and maybe even vigilantes- would kill to get their hands on Ochako if they found out about her secret quirk. Maybe the Hero Commission would be more subtle about it, but Izuku had zero illusions about their morality. If they found out about the literal time machine in Musutafu, there was no way they'd just leave her alone.
Izuku worried.
Ochako lived alone and set a Save every morning. If she got attacked by a villain he'd have only hours to do anything about it. He'd have infinite tries within that timeframe, yes, and Ochako definitely wasn't defenseless herself, but there was only so much two teenagers could do. And anything before the Save was set in stone.
Prophet was a red herring; an informant identity with the attention-grabbing gift of seeing the future. It also served as a cover for moves made with future knowledge. But right now, Prophet's identity was protected by nothing more than the limited cybersecurity Izuku had set up to break into the nearby police station.
He needed to fix that.
He thought of the way he'd asked her if they could do more a few days ago, imagining taking down small criminal organizations with the power of time travel, hacking, and a direct line to the police. All the people Prophet could help before Izuku and Ochako earned their hero licenses.
They could still do that. But Ochako's safety needed to be his first priority.
Izuku could set up contingencies, and find ways to make their Resets more effective. Izuku certainly knew how to work around different types of quirks from years of analysis. They especially couldn't afford to be blindsided by information-based quirks like Tsukauchi's. At the very least, Ochako's Zero Gravity would convince almost anyone that she didn't also have a second, far more useful quirk-
A soft thump broke him out of his thoughts.
Izuku glanced over to see the textbook fall onto Ochako's face, her muffled sigh carrying through the hardcover.
"Izuku-kun, this is so boring." Ochako whined. "Why're we studying this much? We're not even taking U.A's exam for another year, anyway..."
Izuku pushed a smile onto his face, even though she currently couldn't see him. "It'll be easier if we start preparing now. You don't want to cram everything into the last week now, do you?"
A huff. "Easy for you to say. You could probably take and ace the written exam right now, even without your perfect memory."
"I don't think so. U.A's principal made that test and he's like, one of the smartest beings on the planet."
He reached over to lift the textbook off her face, revealing warm brown eyes and pouting round cheeks.
"That's fair," Ochako acknowledged. "I kinda wonder how they even prepare these tests, too. I mean, this one guy in my class can send telepathic messages to whoever he wants. How'd you catch him if he tried to cheat?"
Izuku flipped through the pages aimlessly. "Well, is the communication one-way? Or can he read minds, too?"
"I'm pretty sure he can only give messages, not receive any."
"Does his quirk have any visible effects?"
"Nope."
"Then you'd probably have to isolate him from the rest of the testers." Izuku hummed, the familiar topic of quirks easing his mind. "I bet U.A has to make accommodations like that for a lot of students."
From what he'd heard, that school definitely had the budget to do so.
"Cheating on that exam is a terrible idea, anyway." Ochako mused. "Actual Pro Heroes will be watching you at all times, and if you get kicked out...boom, it's over."
"Yeah. Anyone who thinks they can sneak something past Eraserhead is an idiot."
"Who?" Ochako asked.
"Eraserhead."
"...Who?"
Izuku gasped, horrified. "Are-are you telling me that I haven't shown you Eraserhead ?"
This mistake must be rectified immediately.
"...Wait, how is his scarf floating? I thought you said his quirk was-"
"Exactly!"
On-screen, a figure clad in black skillfully took down a gang of villains by himself. He didn't seem to have any recognizable quirk until you focused on his glowing red eyes. Fists at him from every direction, none of them even coming close, but when the man attacked enemies fell with every calculated blow. The less brave villains tried to run only to be ensnared by a flash of grey that yanked them back.
"Whoa."
"Cool, right?"
"Yeah, he really is!" Ochako agreed. "I deem him like, fourth coolest hero."
What.
"Fourth?" Izuku repeated, incredulous. "No way. Who's after All Might and Thirteen?"
"It's Thirteen and All Might," Ochako corrected. "And third goes to Edgeshot, obviously. I mean, have you seen that man?"
"But-" Izuku waved his hands at the screen. "Eraserhead!"
"Can Eraserhead twist himself into a massive web to knock out enemies and rescue civillians at the same time? No? That's what I thought."
"Eraserhead can erase overpowered quirks with just a glance!"
"Edgeshot can fly!"
"Eraserhead has more skill!"
"No-argh, true. But Edgeshot has a hat! And a ninja mask!"
"But does he have a cool scarf, Ochako? Hmm?"
"Edgeshot's an actual ninja, Izuku-kun! A ninja!"
"Well, Eraserhead feeds stray cats!"
A pause.
"...Does he really?"
"Yeah, I got this video off a street camera-"
"Give."
5:12 PM, Monday
As Izuku expected, Tanaka-sensei pulled them aside the second they stepped into the dojo.
They got a few curious looks from the other students as the tall woman all but dragged the two of them over to a private corner, an unbreakable grip on their shoulders.
"Uraraka. What is your quirk, exactly ?" Tanaka asked, straight to the point.
"It's called Zero Gravity." Ochako let her fingertips hover an inch apart. "I can float things that I touch with all five fingers."
Tanaka nodded. "A useful quirk. But there's more to it, correct?"
Ochako glanced at Izuku, and he nodded subtly. Tanaka caught the movement, black eyes narrowing further. Izuku trusted his old teacher.
"Yeah. I can see hints of the future, sometimes." Ochako lied. "It's like...a vision, almost. I have no control over it."
"It's really weird that the foresight aspect has no relation to gravity manipulation." Izuku shrugged. "We're still trying to figure out everything about it."
Izuku trusted his old teacher, but this was still something they could only afford to tell half of the truth on.
"Well," Tanaka said. "That explains the precognition."
Ochako winced. "Was I uh, that obvious?"
"Not especially. Your reflexes are good, and Izuku has clearly trained you decently enough. But knowing exactly how little combat experience you have, it was suspicious that you could perfectly read some of my movements...yet completely miss the others."
"Oh."
"I doubt anyone else will catch on as long as you're careful. It's good that you two are keeping this a secret. That said, you didn't see this conversation in a vision, right?"
"No, why?"
Tanaka smiled, sending shivers down both of their spines. "Then fight me again, Uraraka. Without your foresight."
Ochako turned to him, her eyes wide in terror, but there was nothing Izuku could do but place a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
"Good luck, Och-"
"You're up afterward, Izuku."
"Fuck."
3:41 PM, Sunday
A plane of white, flat sand stretched out in front of them until it met the endless, deep blue ocean. The sun rose over the horizon, tangible sunlight dancing over the water.
Not a single piece of trash was left.
Izuku laid back on the beach, head resting on folded hands as he burned the image into his memory. Ochako was beside him, her eyes wide in wonder.
"This was totally worth it."
Izuku grinned, smug. "I told you it'd be, didn't I?"
"You did," Ochako agreed. "I guess you can be right sometimes."
"Only sometimes, huh?"
"Mhm."
He took in the Ochako next to him, comparing her to the girl he'd seen that day in the cafe with his perfect memory- seeing the small increase in height, the higher held shoulders, the brighter light present in her eyes.
Izuku smiled up at the sky.
"I think I'm right a little more often than that."
7:20 PM, Thursday
Now that the beach was clean, other people actually came to hang out there, relaxing and swimming together among the calm waves. He was glad to see his community happy, though he also couldn't help but feel the loss of their secret spot.
(If any of them dared litter, well, Izuku was going to have words.)
Izuku and Ochako's super long project was finally complete. This freed up lots of time from the schedule they'd been committed to for the past few months.
Ochako seemed to love training at the dojo despite the more varied and tougher workout Tanaka put her through. It was also a great thing that she now had more sparring partners than just Izuku, giving her a better training experience.
The rest of the dojo students took well to her in turn, impressed with the newbie's skills. She could already give a lot of them a run for their money with and without her quirks.
The other thing the two of them used their newfound time for, though, was a little less legal.
Nono yawned outside of her shrine, stretching her arms up above her head. The bed of stray cats below her shifted with the movement, readjusting to pull her back into the deep realm of sleep.
Izuku's voice brought her back just in time. "Did you get anything on that woman I showed you, Nono-san?"
"Hmm-ah, that. A few cats have seen hints of that 'weird silver human' within the past few days, all around the city."
"Did you find out where she lives-oh, that sounds really bad..." Ochako grimaced.
The villain in question was a young woman of average build with long, gray hair. She wasn't a huge deal but had a couple of cases of quirk-assisted robbery already and was doing a pretty good job evading the police. Because of how the villain's hair manipulation quirk was stated to work, Izuku was simply calling her 'Needle Hair' for now.
Izuku thought she'd be a good first villain to tackle as Prophet- not that they were going to do any actual tackling, of course, that'd be vigilantism! Instead, they were just going to gain information on the villain and hand it to the police.
By showing Nono what she looked like and then spying on her with cats.
Izuku shrugged. "I mean, we don't have anything to go on except what she looks like. If we want to help catch her this is really the best way."
"I don't mind," Nono said. "I trust that this is an actual criminal, and I'm not really doing anything here but remembering things my wonderful cats have seen. She was at the park near U.A for a while this morning, writing something. Melon sunbathes there most of the day."
"Why don't we Reset and then have Melon follow her around today?" Ochako suggested. "I mean, being tailed by a cat won't be too suspicious."
"...But what if she attacks him?" Nono asked, a distinct hint of worry in her usually bland voice.
"She won't attack some random cat, especially not in public," Izuku assured.
"Well, alright. Tell me to tell him to be careful though, just in case."
"I mean, you'll probably do that anyway," Ochako said, pressing her fingertips together.
"One more thing," Nono added quickly. "Midoriya-kun, I thought of this hilarious joke today that you need to tell my past self."
"Hmm?"
"Why don't cats-"
6:46 AM, Thursday(First Reset)
"-play poker in the jungle?" Izuku asked.
Nono tilted her head. "Why?"
"Because there're too many cheetahs!"
The two girls just stared at him blankly.
"Midoriya-san, that's the worst joke I've ever heard."
"I've never wanted to erase my own memory more."
"Wha-Nono-san, you're the one who thought of that joke!" Izuku sputtered indignantly.
Nono looked doubtful. "Are you sure? I'd like to think I have far better humor than that."
"C-Clearly, you don't!"
"It's okay, Izuku-kun," Ochako said. "There's no need to pass off your own joke like that. I mean, it wasn't completely terrible...."
"Really, that wasn't my joke-"
5:01 PM, Thursday(First Reset)
The call arrived as scheduled, and Naomasa picked it up on the first ring.
"Hello?"
A cheerful female voice sounded throughout the meeting room. "Hey, Tsukauchi! I got some extra info for you today."
"It's been a while since your last call, Prophet." Naomasa mused. "Some of us believed you quit the whole informant thing."
"Nope! That's not happening anytime soon."
Just why did those words have to register as truth?
"I foresaw an attack by some kind of ice villain at like...6:20 PM. He didn't really seem to have a goal, and personally, I think he just wanted attention. Kamui Woods stopped him pretty quick but I figured I'd warn you anyway."
"I see. Thanks for that, but you should still be careful-"
Prophet rolled right over him. "I also found where Needle Hair lives, and what she's up to."
"...Needle Hair?"
Prophet chuckled. "It's a nickname. Y'know; young woman, average build, long gray hair that has a really cool texture 'cause of her hair manipulation quirk. Her."
Naomasa exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Sansa- that description exactly matched one of the criminals they were currently searching for.
"So you go searching for villains now, too?" Naomasa asked.
"Yep," Prophet replied. "I'm branching out a little, you see. Kicking it up a notch."
Prophet happily told him the details of both incidents and then hung up on Naomasa with a light farewell.
Naomasa set his phone down. "So?"
"The signal is still completely untraceable, sir," Sansa reported. "I can't get a hint of anything- much less a location."
Naomasa sighed. "Yeah, figures. They clearly don't want to be found. At least they called when you foresaw, Nighteye."
Sir Nighteye nodded. "Yes. That use of my quirk certainly paid off, though I'm unable to hear what's actually occurring in your future calls with this informant. From my analysis of Prophet's past tips, most of their information seems to be from collected news reports. Big, easily found details of events that usually come to fruition a mere day after the prediction."
"But interestingly enough, they've broken this established pattern today. The info we were given on Needle Hair is precise and overall extraordinarily useful. Prophet understands that capturing a villain is different from actively catching them in the middle of an incident- it requires more than just what they could see on the news."
Naomasa's eyes widened. "Prophet's quirk must be able to see other people's futures, just like Foresight. That explains how they have such in-depth knowledge on Needle Hair and her movements."
"Correct." Nighteye pushed up his glasses. "How utterly fascinating. I've never met anyone with a quirk similar to mine before. I can't wait to meet this Prophet."
"You and me both, man."
Notes:
At this point, the weight of the secret Izuku is keeping should be really setting in. It'd be weird if it didn't to someone who loves quirks that much.
Needle Hair is one of the villains at the USJ, by the way. She's one of the thugs Eraserhead wrecks in the first few seconds.
Uraraka faring far better than she would've normally against Tanaka with her use of Reset presents an inaccurate assumption of her skill. I got a few smart comments about this and this is most certainly true. That's why Tanaka is presented with a half explanation, as she's the one who'll actually train Uraraka up till U.A. I'd also think that a skilled person would notice Uraraka's precognition- if not the first fight, then the first encounter where she doesn't know what's happening.
Our fanfiction discord, if you wanna join: