"Saito, I came because I wanted to have a little match with you. I heard from Midoriya that your quirk is called Force Control, so I would like to train a bit with you."
"Well, it's something like that, but what does my quirk have to do with it?" Kai asked, somewhat confused as he looked at the tailed young man in front of him, who quickly replied with a serious expression.
"Because that's the name of my favorite hero's quirk and my inspiration: Iron Palm."
"Oh? A fan? What's your name?" A small smile appeared on Kai's face as he asked, which brought similar smiles to the faces of Nejire and Momo. The tailed young man quickly responded.
"Ojiro Mashirao."
"Well, Ojiro, wait with the group over there; we'll have a match later as you wish." Kai replied casually, pointing to Mina's group. This greatly surprised all the students, as Kai seemed somehow kinder. Ojiro quickly nodded and walked over to the group.
"Alright, thanks in advance."
"It's fine, it's no big deal." Kai responded casually to Ojiro's thanks, then turned to look at the two remaining people. He eyed the girl and asked, though no longer as kindly.
"And you, the girl who's close to the biggest nuisance at UA, what do you want?"
"Deku-kun is a great person, you know?" Uraraka replied with an incredibly uncomfortable expression on her face. Kai responded casually.
"Could be, but that doesn't change the fact that he's a nuisance. But never mind, what do you want?"
"Well, I heard from the girls that the advice you gave them was very useful, so I wanted to know if you could help me a bit too. This is a very important moment for me, and I need to stand out in the sports festival..." Doubting whether it had been a good decision to come, Uraraka spoke in a subdued tone. Kai commented casually, not paying attention to the girl's feelings.
"Alright, then later we'll see where you're lacking. And that leaves you—what are you after?" Kai looked at the young man, who seemed to have tape rolls on his elbows. He responded in a serious tone, not wanting to be knocked out suddenly.
"Well, I'd also like to practice a bit against you and have you tell me what flaws you see in me."
"I see. Then we'll do it this way." Kai nodded, then turned to look at Mirio and commented in a strict tone.
"Mirio, since you're so keen on helping, you'll face the group that wants to assess progress."
"Alright, I'll take care of that." Mirio quickly responded, raising an arm confidently. Kai swiftly turned to look at Nejire and commented casually.
"And you, Nejire, since you took part in this, you'll face those seeking advice."
"Got it! Leave it to me!" Nejire responded cheerfully, raising her arms enthusiastically. Kai nodded in satisfaction before looking at Ojiro and saying,
"Ojiro, we'll have a match, so we'll move aside a bit."
"Sorry for the trouble." Ojiro bowed his head in gratitude, then approached Kai under the somewhat surprised gazes of the others, as it was evident that he was being treated with a certain preference.
"Don't worry." Kai nodded casually toward Ojiro, but at that moment, Momo raised her hand and asked in a timid voice.
"Kai, what about me?"
"Oh, Momo, I have special training for you. Salem!" Kai spoke with an evil grin on his face, then called his lazy pet. This made Momo break into a cold sweat, and she hurriedly replied with evident panic in her voice.
"Kai, I don't want to train with Salem! He's too rough!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Kai commented casually as he looked toward the entrance of the main house, where Salem was running to find his master, evidently happy. Kai spoke to him in a 'malicious' tone.
"Salem, train a bit with Momo. Show her what happens when you bother a calm guy too much."
After meowing cheerfully, Salem quickly grew in size to match that of a normal panther. At the same time, Momo exclaimed with an almost panicked expression.
"Kai, forgive me! Salem doesn't know how to hold back!"
"Don't worry, I'll leave you as good as new afterward."
Kai responded casually while walking briskly and gesturing for Ojiro to follow him. Momo wanted to protest, but at that moment, an excited Salem leaped toward her with extended claws, forcing her to create her armor to defend herself as they gradually moved deeper into the forest.
"Kai!!"
As Momo's lamenting screams echoed from deep within the forest, Kai reached a secluded spot to have his match with Ojiro. Meanwhile, Mina approached Nejire and asked in a low voice, covering her mouth with one hand as if trying to prevent someone from reading her lips.
"Nejire-chan, why did Saito suddenly start treating Ojiro nicely?"
"Because Kai is happy to meet a fan of his dad, fufufu." Nejire responded with a cheerful smile and without lowering her voice in the slightest, greatly surprising those who could hear her. At that moment, Kai's voice echoed, sounding quite annoyed.
"Nejire, speak out of turn again, and you'll be next!"
"Fufufu, Kai-chan got angry; I can't tell you more." Nejire responded with an amused smile on her face, covering her mouth with one hand due to Mina's utterly stupefied expression. She then walked toward Uraraka and Sato, speaking cheerfully.
"Alright, guys, we're going to have a little training match. Attack me with your best!"
"Uh... you're going to advise us?" Uraraka asked a bit uncomfortably. Nejire responded with a small smile.
"Oh no, I'm not very good at that, so Kai will do it. He's able to know anything that happens around him, even if he doesn't see it directly with his eyes. By the way, my name is Hado Nejire, third year at UA."
"You're our senpai?!" Uraraka and Sato exclaimed in surprise. Nejire nodded cheerfully, then commented with a small giggle while pointing at Mirio, who was joining the other group.
"Fufufu, yes, Togata is also a third-year. So don't hold back—come at me with everything! Kai will tell you later what you need to improve."
...
...
...
As all the students lay on the ground, exhausted and covered in bruises, Kai began to speak casually without a single drop of sweat on him, looking incredibly fresh and calm. This only brought bitter smiles to the faces of the battered students.
"Well, I saw significant improvements in Mina, Tsuyu, and Kirishima, but I can't say the same for Kaminari and Jiro. Although there were improvements, you still have a way to go, especially in the physical aspect—you need to train a lot."
While the praised ones smiled happily, Kaminari and Jiro could only smile bitterly. At that moment, Kai turned to look at Uraraka and Sato, whom Nejire was healing using the ability of her Accomplice. It allowed her to accelerate healing in herself and others by utilizing the large amount of bioenergy her body produced—so much that it even served as a reference for the [Vital Reactor].
"As for Uraraka, you're lacking in spatial awareness and martial arts training; you don't even know how to throw a proper punch. Also, consider using support equipment to improve your mobility. Your quirk has a lot of potential to exploit; later, I'll give you a specific list on that." Kai spoke casually as he looked at Uraraka, who nodded now that she was healed. He then turned to look at Sato and continued.
"As for Sato, you're quite good: good technique, decent agility, and creativity in using your quirk. However, as you may have noticed, you're lacking in offensive capabilities. Using a weapon could help you. Also, working on your spatial awareness and training in a martial art more focused on speed would do you good. By the way, you and Uraraka could work together on that; with your quirks, you could use some very effective three-dimensional movement tactics."
As his last wounds were being healed, Sato nodded with a serious expression. After all, he had been given a tremendous beating and hadn't even been able to touch the cheerful blue-haired girl, making him painfully aware of how far he was from being a professional hero. At that moment, Kai looked at all the students and commented casually.
"Although you're still quite weak, I must say that, overall, you're not that bad. If you train properly, you'll likely stand out in the Sports Festival and attract the attention of a couple of agencies.
"Keep in mind that the flashiest ones will attract more attention. Even so, that doesn't mean being flashy is necessarily good—unless you want to live off merchandising. In that case, be as flashy as you can.
"Anyway, that's all from me. Later, you'll receive an email summarizing this information, detailing viable tactics for you, and a small training routine, along with the names and some basic moves of martial arts suitable for you. So I hope you'll leave me in peace because next time I'll charge you a fortune for this consultancy. Goodbye."
After speaking, Kai began to walk toward where Salem was 'playing' with Momo, leaving behind all the students along with Nejire and Mirio. They could only shake their heads at Kai's behavior before continuing to help the students.
"Togata-senpai, your quirk is really amazing; it seems invincible." Kirishima commented as he looked at Mirio, who smiled cheerfully and replied.
"Hahaha, it might seem that way, but it's not easy to control. It took me years to be able to do something useful with my quirk. Also, it's not invincible; to this day, I haven't been able to beat Kai even once."
Upon hearing Mirio, all the students turned to look at him in surprise. Tsuyu commented while Nejire finished healing her.
"Saito-chan is really powerful; he'll be a great hero in the future..."
"That's hard to say. Kai only entered UA because they gave him a bunch of benefits. The truth is, being a hero bothers him quite a bit; that's why he's so harsh with you." Nejire commented with a slightly disappointed tone, which led Mina to ask in surprise.
"Even though his father was one?"
"I'd say it's precisely because his father was one that he doesn't want to be one. But anyway, don't pay attention to that. I can only tell you that Kai is really a great man, but I suppose you already know that." Nejire commented with a small smile. Jiro nodded with a serious expression.
"Although I wouldn't go so far as to say he's a 'great man', the way he treats Momo and that he even decided to help us shows he's not as bad as he seems, though he's quite terrifying."
"Yes, but once you get used to him, he's really a good friend. He even helped me create this training suit, so my clothes wouldn't fall off when I use my quirk, and he's also helped me a lot to improve my skills."
As he showed the students his seemingly normal sportswear, Mirio commented cheerfully. This caused the other students to look at each other, all aware that there was more to the story, which led them to look at Ojiro, who seemed to understand what was going on.
...
...
...
A little later, Kai arrived where Salem was 'playing' with Momo, not giving much importance to the conversation the others had about him. After all, sooner or later, they would find out that his father had been Iron Palm and that he was 'crazy', which would hopefully prevent him from having to keep wasting time with them. Although he liked a couple of them, it wasn't enough to have them at his house all the time.
"Kai... I curse you..."
In a voice that almost seemed to come from a specter, Momo muttered while lying on the ground completely exhausted, disheveled, dirty, and bruised. Her armor was in pieces, and piles of destroyed equipment surrounded her. Salem had her trapped as if she were prey and was cheerfully gnawing on what was left of her leg armor; revenge tasted very sweet for a lazy cat.
"Hahaha, I hope you learned your lesson. Now let her go, Salem."
"Hmph."
Seeing the scene, Kai commented amusedly, to which Momo could only huff in annoyance. The black cat with blue eyes reluctantly released his sweet prey and shrank back down to jump onto his master's shoulder, looking quite reluctant and discouraged—they definitely didn't let him have enough fun.
"Hahaha, don't look at me like that; you brought this on yourself."
As he laughed shamelessly at Momo's pout, Kai approached the bruised girl and began to heal her with his Mystical Palm. She closed her eyes, as if refusing to look at him. After a while, when she was fully healed from scratches and bruises, Momo asked in a contemplative and solemn tone, still without opening her eyes.
"Kai... will you really never try to help someone? Are you truly capable of seeing a tragedy happen before you and doing nothing to prevent it?"
Noticing that the question was serious, Kai sat on the ground next to Momo, remaining silent for a moment as if pondering his words. After a while, he began to speak in a contemplative tone, very similar to Momo's.
"Well, I suppose you already know, but I can only tell you that it depends. If it's a real tragedy and the only way to prevent it is for me to act, the first thing I'd consider is the consequences of doing so. If they're not too serious, I'd act; if they are, I'd try to help as much as possible without harming myself.
"Although, as you well know, that only applies to strangers. If it involves any of you, I'll do whatever is necessary to ensure your well-being, regardless of the consequences that brings. But I imagine that's not the answer you want to hear, and I can only tell you that I'm sorry. I'm not a 'hero', and I never will be."
Upon hearing Kai's answer, Momo remained silent for a long time. Although she knew that would be his response, it hurt a bit to hear it. She respected and valued true heroes greatly, like Uncle Jiro, but at the same time, she could understand him in a way. After all, Kai had lost too much due to his father's heroism.
"Well, I'll be at the house; I hope you come back soon." After a while, Kai stood up from the ground while speaking. At that moment, Momo extended her hand to grab his, then commented in a soft voice.
"I ended up like this because of you—carry me."
"Hahaha, alright, allow me to be your steed, sweet princess."
Somewhat amused by Momo's spoiled behavior, Kai imitated a character from a drama that Momo liked. She responded with a small smile as Kai picked her up in a princess carry.
"Hehehe, it's good that you know your place, commoner."