Chapter Forty-Two
After lunch, faced with spending another couple hours trying to slam our heads against the lists of prospective heroes in our classroom, I'd had enough. "Okay, I'm out," I announced, getting looks from my classmates.
"Out?" Kirishima echoed, confused.
"Why, the heck, are we doing this here?" I asked waving around. "We've been dismissed. We could just go home. Or go to a café. Or a karaoke place. Or something else that isn't our desks. The chairs here, good and sturdy, sure, but not exactly comfortable. And for this kinda thing? It's best to have space to spread your notes out, so you can visualize the information you're sorting through."
Several of my classmates exchanged looks. "Um, why are we here, ribbit?" Asui inquired.
"'Cause this is where we do school stuff?" Ochaco offered, obviously aware of how bad a reason that was.
Momo clapped her hands together. "Perhaps it would be better to retire to more suitable accommodations, then? I will have to check with my parents, but I'm sure we could have an informal study session, of a sort, at my residence?"
"Sounds like a plan," I nodded, looking over to Mina who smiled and nodded.
"Can I come?" Jiro asked, a little awkwardly, already sitting at her desk.
For a moment, Yaoyorozu hesitated, before she smiled broadly. "Of course! We are classmates, and my invitation is meant for all who wish to attend. I can have mother prepare the great hall!"
As the others echoed "The great hall?" the rocker glanced over to the other side of the room. "In that case, Bakugo, want to tag along?"
"I don't need your help, earlobes. I can figure this shit out myself!" the teen growled, causing the girl to frown in return.
Ochaco spoke up, before Jiro could respond. "In that case, I'd like to come too. Izuku?" she asked, turning towards the small, green-haired boy.
"Oh, um, I don't want to impose," Deku said, trying to be polite.
"Wait, dude, can you come?" I asked him, turning towards the teen, mentally facepalming at missing the resource right beside me. "Because I have no idea who half these people are, and from what I've heard you practically live and breathe heroes."
Midoriya blushed, "I, I guess I know a little bit about-"
Bakugo growled and stood. "Stop being dumb, Deku. Get outta my way raccoon eyes, I'm going where I don't have ta listen to stupid."
The boy stalked out, and I turned to Izuku with a smile, "Well, with that ringing endorsement, you've gotta come!"
Momo received permission in only a few minutes, and soon enough we were at UA's gates as a limousine rolled up, our little study group agog at the luxury vehicle. Thankfully, there was enough room for the eight of us, as Toru and Asui had decided to tag along as well. Yaoyorozu looked a bit confused as the others got giddy, clambering in and looking around, so I sat down next to her, leaned over, shoulder to shoulder, and whispered, "They've never been in a limo before."
"Really?" the sheltered girl asked, still confused. "Oh, I just thought it was convenient."
"It is," I agreed, "Especially for a group like this. They'll get used to it."
The girl turned to regard me, as the limo started to move. "And you already are?"
Whups, I thought, Denki having never been in one in his life. Instead, I shrugged, going with the first thing that came to mind, "I'm more enjoying the company than the luxury."
Momo froze, blushing slightly. "Tea!" she suddenly announced. I raised a questioning eyebrow. "Is there any kind of tea you would prefer?"
"Actually, if you've got any Lapsang Souchong I'd not say no," I smiled, expression broadening at her incredulous look.
"You actually drink that?" she demanded, before her etiquette training almost visibly kicked in. "No offense, Denki, only that is just a very... pungent brew."
I laughed, nodding in agreement, "It tastes like someone turned hardwood flooring into a drink. But with a bit of sugar it's not that bad. That said, maybe just Sencha for the others?"
She smiled, nodding, and I caught Mina glancing over at us with a grin, before my girlfriend went back to gushing over how the limo was so cool with Uraraka, who was... pinching herself? "Harrods' or Wedgwood?" was Yaoyorozu's next question.
Shrugging, I replied, "Honestly, either is fine. It's your home, and I'm sure you have good taste."
"That makes one of us," Momo jibed good naturedly, before continuing on, intrigued, "I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable about teas."
"I like trying new things," I offered. "Though I could never get into the entire 'tea ceremony' thing. Like, I get it intellectually, but not my thing. Once was enough."
"Pity," she smiled, and I resisted the urge to give it another shot. It really wasn't my thing, the sheer arbitrary-ness of the rules that governed them just not my style.
I sat back, along with Yaoyorozu, as the others started to get over the novelty of the situation and went back to discussing their internship offers. "But I thought you wanted to be a support hero, like Thirteen? More into rescuing than fighting," Midoriya asked, getting my attention.
"Ultimately, that's the plan," the anti-gravity girl replied, nodding. "But after the USJ, and especially after our fight, Mina, I realized that the stronger I am, the more possibilities I'll have. And it'll give me a different perspective, or that's what I'm thinking. But even looking at the fighting heroes, the ones that are hand to hand, I got offers from five different ones, and I'm not sure who to pick!"
Izuku frowned, nodding as he absently noted, "Your quick thinking on how to counter Ashido's gauntlets must've impressed them, along with your tenacity. It definitely impressed me."
Reddening, Ochaco, pulled back a little, waving a hand in the boy's direction. "I, I was just trying something and hoping it worked. Nothing much."
"Pfshaw," my girlfriend disagreed. "If I hadn't been working with Sparky to figure out how to control my acid, you woulda totes gotten me! It was, just, like super bad luck that you makin' me weightless made it easier to control!"
"It was really cool," Jiro noted. "I'm not sure I coulda kept getting back up like you did."
Uraraka reddened further, but a smile spread across her face. "Thanks, guys."
The discussion lulled until we seemed to leave the city entirely, entering an area of woods, though one bracketed by fencing on either side, eventually turning into a gate, the house hidden by the trees. "Wait, is this where you live?" Hagakure asked, incredulous.
"It's our main property, yes," Momo answered, frowning. "Is there something wrong?"
"I, uh, no, it's just," the invisible girl stammered, trying to figure out how to say what she was thinking without being rude.
"Different life experiences," I shrugged. "Nothing wrong, only new."
"Oh, alright then," Yaoyorozu sighed in relief. "We should be in sight of the manor in a few minutes."
"A few minutes," the others echoed in unison, and I just smiled at the rich girl's look of confusion, which comforted her, helping her realize she'd said something amusing and not offensive.
Soon enough, we emerged from the forest onto a large, well-cared for estate, an enormous mansion at the center of it all. Momo practically bounced out of the car when it stopped, an older man in a butler's uniform opening the door.
"The great hall has been prepared, young miss," he announced.
"Thank you, Wadsworth," the heiress smiled graciously.
Ochaco blinked, "Wait, you're name's really Wadsworth?"
The older Asian man inclined his head graciously, a smirk tugging at his otherwise polite expression. "It is not, but when I was first hired the young miss informed me that all butlers were named Wadsworth, and I didn't have the heart to correct her."
Yaoyorozu reddened as Mina laughed. "Do you have to tell that story to all of classmates?"
"Only the ones that ask," the butler dubbed Wadsworth replied, "Now if the young miss's party could follow me?"
Soon enough we were situated, papers spread out, sorting through the, quite frankly, insane amount of offers. Asui had pretty much made her choice, her second and third go-to's also being heroes that dealt with coastal areas, only four of which existed on her list of forty. I started to wonder why she was even here, until I noticed she was more helping Midoriya, and to a lesser extent Uraraka, than anything else.
Jiro and Hagakure were dealing with the 'what do I do with my life' problem all teenagers were faced with, given the wildly divergent options they had, though to a bit of a lesser extent than normal. They both knew they wanted to be heroes, but what kind of heroes was something they hadn't paid much mind to.
Midoriya himself, however, was a freaking godsend, able to help me, along with the others, make heads or tails of everything else. He started unsure, uncomfortable with our attention focused solely on him, but build up confidence as he continued, though he would occasionally wander off into introspective tangents.
"Heroes come in two main types, Combat and Support," he explained "though most people just refer to Combat Heroes as Heroes, only adding the modifier to Support Heroes, which really isn't fair as it suggests that they aren't as much Heroes as the others when that's not mutter mutter mutter."
"Deku," I called, getting his attention. "Focus. Types of heroes?"
"Right,' he nodded, embarrassed. "So you have Combat Heroes and Support Heroes. You can have others that specify in other things, but it always comes back to those two categories. From our Quirks alone, Kaminari, that would be you, Ashido, Hagakure, Asui-"
"Call me Tsu," the frog girl interrupted.
"Right, sorry, Tsu, and I would all be considered Combat Heroes," he corrected, continuing his explanation.
From the way Toru's sleeve moved, she was holding up a hand, "Wait, me? But my Quirk's not combat-y at all!"
"Yes it is," Deku frowned, just as confused as she sounded. "Stealth is an amazing advantage in a fight, if used right. You're more likely to better function with proper gear, but that's fairly common. In a support role, it's less useful, though there is some discussion on whether information gathering would classify one as a Support Hero or not, but in combat scenarios, especially ones without clear lines of fire like the tournament had, you'd be a real asset on any team!"
"I... really?" the invisible girl asked, as visibly taken aback as she could be. "But, to use my Quirk I need to, ya know, strip."
The Quirk nerd frowned, as I'd started to notice he did whenever he started pulling apart a problem, before tilting his head back in forth in a 'maybe' gesture. "I... everyone thought I was Quirkless for a while, so I wasn't allowed in the classes that dealt with them, but what is your Quirk, Hagakure?"
"It's Invisibility, can't you see?" she joked, arms going down as she waved to herself.
Deku shook his head. "Yes, but how? Is it a special effect? Are you absorbing light and emitting it simultaneously? Are you warping it? Kacchan's Quirk is Explosion, but if we hadn't figured out that it's the sweat from his palms that does it, he never could've come up with the mechanism in his costume that lets him store it up. If we could figure out the method, it could be worked with, to allow you greater options in combat."
"Wait, wait really?" the transparent teen asked, shocked. "Everyone just said..." she trailed off.
Momo nodded in sympathy, "I understand what you mean. I was working under a misapprehension of my own Quirk's capabilities until I had an enlightening conversation with Denki. It had turned out my parents understood its true mechanism, but had not informed me, thinking I already knew." She shot a glance my way, "And it was by working with him and Mina that I discovered new capabilities."
"Quirk Class in school was just practicing with your Quirk, ribbit," Asui offered. "They weren't having us try new things; they just had us do what our Quirk classifications said we could do. But, how can they teach us if they didn't know?"
Something about that galled the teacher in me. "Because the outcome is unique, but the process of finding them is pretty standard," I shot back, scowling despite myself. Tsuyu blinked her large eyes, pulling back a little. "Sorry, I dealt with the same thing until I realized I was being an idiot a few months ago." The anger wasn't really for myself, but for the process I'd seen in Denki's memories, something I'd overlooked until now. It treated the definitions of Quirks as proscriptive instead of prescriptive. The determinations made by a doctor spending half an hour, tops, when the users were in elementary school were then treated as the end all be all of their powers, not as a starting point to truly understand what each person could do.
Holding up a hand, I sparked a little, the locus in my palm as I swirled the electricity, calling solely upon Denki's real Quirk. The tiny bolts formed a rough vortex of lightning that ran out of energy before they could arc out and hit anything, leaving the faintest scent of ozone in the air. "I was told I had no control over this, that it was indiscriminately discharged from every part of me, so I should just be careful and never use it around others, and I believed them. Honestly, it wasn't until I got into UA that I started figuring out what I could do. I can't control it after I let go, that part they seem to be right about, but where I let it go I can choose, and I can give it a kind of rough directionality." I turned my entire hand to lightning, continuing, "And let's not even get started on this." Mostly because it wasn't because the Quirk assessors were wrong, and more because I'm a cheating cheater that cheats, but my point still stands.
"Hmm," Toru said, lifting her own hand. For a moment nothing happened, and then, very slightly, the air where her palm was seemed to warp for a second, the design on the window-curtain behind her distorting slightly. "Wait, did you see that!" she gasped, the warping spiking for a second, casting odd shadows, before it silently popped, going back to normal.
"So it is a Warping," Midoriya nodded, pulling out a scorched notebook from his backpack and scribbling a few notes down.
On my end, I sat back, considering it, and what I'd been learning from Mei. True invisibility was hard, and very hard to manage, projection methods requiring a lot of computing power to do so without noticeable lag, and warping methods being both power intensive and usually more fragile than was required to work well in combat. "I'll run it by my friend, she might have some ideas, but after the work study," I offered. I didn't particularly like Hagakure that much, but I didn't dislike her either. She just tended to fade to the background, socially, which was ironic as all hell.
"The girl who you teamed up with?" Jiro asked, and I nodded. "Think she might have something for me?"
I shrugged, "Maybe? I'd have to get a better idea of what you can do, maybe Midoriya could help?"
"What? Me?" the boy in question asked. "I, I'm not that special."
"Yeah you are!" Toru objected. "You won the sports festival! And helped me figure out something about my Quirk! I'd never even thought about it being me moving light around, it was, just, well, I was invisible!"
"I'm sure you'd figure it out eventually," the green haired boy still deferred, and he wasn't wrong either. "But, um, you're welcome? What was I talking about? Oh, right heroes, and the types. Um, right, Combat Heroes and Support Heroes. However, most of the high-ranking Heroes are both, except for those Endeavor, Mirko, and Razor, who could probably help with Support activities, they just don't. Combat Heroes are, well, good at combat, their Quirks suited to fighting more than anything else, like Kacchan's. Support heroes are-"
"Good at support?" Jiro asked, an eyebrow raised.
Midoriya chuckled, "Well, yeah. But they're normally focused on battlefield control, or have a wide variety of abilities they can use to find people and get them to safety. Ochaco, you'd be great at that, able lift and move things out of the way without having to worry about hurting people, and so could Todoroki, by using his ice. The rule of thumb is if you're better at fighting villains than saving people, you're Combat, but if it's the other way, you're Support."
I looked at the giant stacks of names in front of me. "Okay, but, how does that help us here?"
"Well, if you want to be a Support Hero, it might be better to do your work study with a Support Hero, and the same for Combat Heroes. Not that what you're doing is wrong, Uraraka, but if everyone else is going the more normal way it could be useful. Like..." he reached over, grabbing my stack. "Like Phantom-Hand. He can make glowing hands he can use to grab and move things, and yeah, he can use them to catch people, and fight a little, but he mostly helps in crises situations, since he's a perfectly coordinated rescue team on his own. You've already crossed him off, which is what I'd suggest, since, well, you seem more like a Combat Hero, no offense."
"None taken," I replied easily, though that wasn't the reason I'd done so. I'd crossed him off, as, while mage-hand on command without the dumb restrictions would be hella useful, it would also be very obvious I'd gotten it from him. Essentially, it's usability was on the same level as Mina's power: If I used it it'd become instantly apparent I was a power copier. "Honestly, I'm looking less for hero types as I am with what kind of Quirk they have." Mina looked up at me at that, eyes narrowing just a little, likely guessing what I really wanted. "I've got super strength, even if it's way less than yours, Deku, so Power Types would work. Really, I'm looking for someone who's skilled with powers that are kind of like mine, so I can pick up some tips." And fold them into mine without anyone noticing.
"Oh, that makes sense," the boy nodded, as his eyes started to dance down the list, grabbing his pen and almost putting it to paper before he froze, glancing up. "Um, you don't mind if I..."
"Go for it, dude," I smiled. "But, don't you have, like, three times as many to look through as I do?"
He shook his head, "I can do that later. I didn't think of looking at them by comparable Quirks, but was thinking about specialties for what I wanted to eventually go into."
I let him work, moving over to help Momo, who had started writing down names into three different columns, one labelled 'Quirk', one 'Combat', and the last 'Prestige'. "Prestige?" I asked her.
She looked up at me, "Anyone in the top one-hundred. When I start my own agency, a pedigree of working under successful heroes will be an asset as well."
I found myself frowning, "Just because they're popular doesn't mean they'll be able to help you be a better hero."
Yaoyorozu laughed, "Yes, Denki. That's why I'm making three lists."
Blushing in embarrassment, I nodded, "Fair enough. Mina do you need any help?" I asked, turning towards her, and, when she shook her head, I turned back to Momo. "Want me to take half the list and search out for 'prestigious' heroes?"
"If you don't mind," the heiress smiled, creating a blade and slicing the bindings open, taking out the back half, before pinching the cut fasteners and, pulling her fingers away, revealing them to be reattached. "Fast acting glue," she explained, making a few threads with which to bind the second half, and handing it to me.
We worked in silence, well, not talking to each other, as Midoriya had started to mutter again, but we all tuned him out. That was broken, however, as the green-haired boy yelped, "Hawks!"
"Wait, really?" Jiro asked, surprised, casting a speculative glance my way, Momo, by my side, smiling as if this was an accomplishment.
"Who?" I had to ask, my memory a blank and Denki's only telling me he was a guy with red wings he'd seen once on tv.
Midoriya looked at me as if he couldn't believe I wouldn't know, before shaking his head. "He's the number three hero in the country!"
I waited for more, but it wasn't coming. "Um, okay. What's his power, exactly? Because I'm not sure I'll have that much to learn from a guy whose power is 'has wings'."
Now it was Deku's turn to be confused, mouthing the words 'has wings', before he understood. "Oh, no, that's not his Quirk! He doesn't actually have wings exactly, instead each feather he has is arranged so it looks like he has wings. They're not connected to each other, or to anything else, he controls them independently. Each one is capable of carrying a person, and he can transform them to use them as weapons, and he doesn't even grow them like a bird does, his Quirk creates them, so if he loses them he can start getting them back in a few hours. That's also why he seems to shed them in his appearances, he's just moving them around!"
"That's..." I trailed off, trying to think of what that kind of power could do. My first thought was broken, my second was that I wanted that power, but my third... "That's cool, but, how would he be able help me?" Thinking about it more, I vaguely remembered him being the one that taught Tokoyami how to fly, which meant, if he didn't also offer an internship to Emo Birdman, I'd need to make sure I taught the recluse to do it myself.
"Well, you did fly during the Sports Festival," Mina offered. "And flying's, like, his thing. Maybe that's how he could help?"
Tokoyami hadn't been able to fly originally, his internship with Hawks showing him how, but... did I really need to know why the Pro'd made the offer? That power, though. If the feathers weren't grown organically, but created, then it was possibly my power would be able to copy it. And if it did, I wouldn't need to have full wing's worth, just a feather or three, under my armor. Having them there to push against a harness would give me movement options I didn't currently have, the gloves I'd made power hogs that guzzled my one main resource, and movement was just as important as strength, once you had a minimum threshold of both.
If my Psychic Talent worked as it had before, I'd get a bit of this guy's power, though at a much, much lower level, but even at that lower level it'd be useful. More than that, most of the Power types that I'd been looking up earlier had been... limited. They'd either been oddly specific, like how Death Arms' Quirk only empowered his arms, or had limitations built into the powers, like Boulder's Quirk which made him strong, but slow, his power something along the lines of condensing momentum, according to the internet. It'd be useful, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather not have something that diminished my capabilities in a respect like that.
"Sparky, I think you should go for it," Mina said, breaking me out of my thoughts. I looked up at her, questioning, as she almost certainly knew my real reason for selecting pros, and she nodded.
"Indeed," Momo agreed, tapping a pen on the third column of the list we'd been making.
Midoriya put in his two cents as well, "Definitely! Getting scouted by anyone on the top ten is amazing, but to have one of the top three do so? Even if he doesn't have the same Quirk as you, he's almost certainly fought people with similar powers!"
"... fine," I agreed. "Though if you don't mind, could you glance through the others? I'm looking for people either with electric Quirks, which I know are rare, or Power Quirks that are full-body without drawbacks that limit their use, like yours, or All-Might's, or mine," I asked, and the inheritor of One-for-All hesitated, until I included myself in the list of 'power-types'.
"Sure," he agreed, after giving me an odd glance, going back to flipping through page after page with ease, and I turned back to helping Momo with her own list.
Time rolled on, 'Wadsworth' bringing in a cart laden down with gourmet pizza for dinner as we worked our way through the lists, Midoriya easily chewing through the several thousand entries I had, looking for my requirements, leaving me only with a couple dozen left, before going back to his own tome. My number two choice ended up being a female hero who made whips of lightning that she controlled psychically, and my number three was a man with touch-telekinesis, Superman style, though much weaker, and he couldn't use it on himself, but it would still be very useful in a number of scenarios.
For all his talk of being scouted by the top ten being impressive, Midoriya was scouted by four of them. Mirko, a literal bunny girl, was the first, the others being Gang Orca, Justice Lantern, and Endeavor. The fact that the number two wanted Midoriya confused everyone, until Mina pointed out, "Wait, he wants Todoroki to use his fire, right? And his dad has been wanting him to do that, instead of just his ice?" I nodded and looked to Midoriya, who nodded as well. "Then he probs wants you to figure out how you did it, so he can make it happen," my girlfriend explained. "I... I don't think you should go with him, Midoriya."
"Yeah," Asui, agreed. "It seems like as soon as you're not useful, he'll drop you, ribbit."
Midoriya frowned, obviously considering the possible ways he could help others by taking it anyways, and I agreed with the frog. "You did your best to help Shoto, Deku," I told him. "Going with Endeavor, assuming Todoroki even ends up there, won't help him. And Endeavor's an adult. He doesn't need your help. Choose someone that'll help you."
Midoriya frowned, nodding, crossing off the number 2's name from his shortlist, but still considered the others. There were oddities to those that'd scouted the powerhouse, like the rabbit-girl not working with anyone, yet she'd offered him an invite, something that a quick search had shown hadn't happened before, or at least if it had it wasn't publicly known. From the way the green-haired boy was fretting, it was clear he wouldn't come to a decision anytime soon.
Mina settled on her own picks, three I'd never even heard of, but her first choice was a woman who could control clay, using it as sword, shield, and vehicle all in one, just like Mina did with her own acid. Momo, however, also got an invite from someone in the top ten. An veteran hero, and the current number eight. The Equipped Hero: Armor Warrior seemed to be someone who's power was exactly the kind of Quirk my friend could emulate, with his use of ancillary equipment to fight, which she could create on demand.
That hero was one that Momo had heard of as a child, and looked up to, so my friend was quite happy with the offer. The man was a strong believer in the older types of heroism, as opposed to the 'celebrity that sometimes fights' that was becoming common in this society, the very corruption of the base concept that'd spawned Stain.
At that thought I winced, knowing what Ida would try to do, but, without Midoriya interning with Gran Torino, would he be there in time? Did I tell somebody? Ojiro hadn't died, but he was out of the program, and this time things would be cut much closer.
Pushing the thought out of my head, I excused myself to use the bathroom, finding the butler waiting for me as I exited. Before I could say anything, the older man spoke, "The Master of the house wishes to speak with you."
Not waiting for my response, he turned and started to walk away, in the opposite direction of the hall where my friends sat. Hesitating, I followed Wadsworth, down several hallways, up two sets of stairs, and was finally shown to a large door. Knocking politely, the butler heard something I couldn't, and opened it, motioning me for me to enter. I did, looking around the study, a large desk at the other end of the room, windows behind it.
Seated at the desk was a middle aged man who looked very much like an older male Yaoyorozu, greying a little at the temples, and the image of a stern patriarch. A single chair was set opposite the desk, very obviously meant for me, and I approached it, feeling something pass over my Defenses, and I didn't break stride as I looked around the room, paying more careful attention.
There, I thought, standing right next to one of the windows, in a dark suit that seemed to blend into the background, was a thin man, maybe in in his thirties, staring at me intently. I nodded to him, only for his eyes to widen in surprise. Really hoping I hadn't just messed up, I nodded to the older man behind the desk as well.
Taking the seat, a silence stretched, before, more out of wanting to find out what this was about than any kind of nerves, I asked, "Mr. Yaoyorozu, I presume."
"You presume much, but in this you are correct," the man replied, piercing gray eyes studying me, the setting sun behind his expression making him a little hard to see. "Denki Kaminari, middling student, but ranked first in your class, and who nearly won the UA Sports festival," he addressed in turn.
I shook my head. "My grades are getting better, now that I have a goal to work towards, but I was never going to win that tournament," I replied, wondering where this was going.
"Goals can motivate any man," the Yaoyorozu patriarch agreed, studying me. "Which is why I have one question for you, and do not attempt to lie," he stated, stopping there.
I waited, and waited, and waited, getting a little annoyed, but I had nowhere I needed to be.
Finally Momo's father gave a short snort and presented his question.
"Denki Kaminari, what are your intentions towards my daughter?"
Chapter Forty-Three
I frowned at the question, Momo's father staring frostily at me. "Um, my intention is to be a good friend?" I answered, unsure. "She has mentioned me, right?"
"She has, briefly," the elder Yaoyorozu admitted, as if her daughter's not saying more was somehow my fault. "Though she spoke a great deal more about Ms. Ashido."
I waited, but nothing more was said. I shrugged, "Makes sense, Momo's more Mina's friend than mine. So... is that all you wanted to know?"
The look of stern paternal disapproval might've cowed me if I was actually Denki, but I knew enough about people, and about myself, that all it did was point out the sheer ham-fistedness of the intimidation tactic. My first instinct was to yawn, or get up and leave since he was refusing to answer my question, throwing his lack of respect and politeness back in his face, but this man was Momo's dad, so I curbed my first instinct, and just stared back, unimpressed by the attempt. The staff at UA had earned my respect, and this world of heroes did seem much lighter than where I'd come from before, but this entire 'I'm gonna be mad at you because I'm assuming bad things about you' BS was something I was well acquainted with back home, and was thus something that I had very little patience for.
Time ticked on, and I glanced again to the thin, middle-aged man standing behind and to the side of the industrialist, who met my gaze blankly, not giving anything away. The second I opened my mouth to speak Mr. Yaoyorozu tried to cut me off, but I talked over his, "And your actions at the medal ceremony?" with my own, "So... is that a yes?"
And my patience is gone. Looking at the man, who was now glaring at me, we'd just hit strike three and he'd burned through any good will being related to my friend gave him. "Sir, were you really waiting for me to speak before interrupting me? I suppose Momo must've learned her manners from her mother," I remarked, in a tone that expressed how disappointed I was with the man, and how little his own implied disapproval meant to me.
Cost-benefit analysis of this entire situation made the choice to not put up with this easy. Momo was really that nice and polite, not pretending, but also not an idiot, so her father telling her not to involve herself with me would have the opposite effect, especially as the first thing she'd do would be to find out what actually happened.
The other man glared at me, while I just sat back in the chair and waited. Would he demand I get out of his house? Would he tell me to stay away from his daughter? We never even saw her parents in the show, so were they actually secretly evil and corrupt, and here's where he'd threaten me and my family? I waited, expecting one of about a half dozen things, most of them not good, the best merely neutral.
What I wasn't expecting was for the man to smile.
His demeanor changed in an instant, as he leaned back in his own chair, commenting, "Good."
My eye twitched as, wondering what the hell was going on, I asked, "Sir?"
"My daughter is exceptional," he stated, not boasting as much stating a known fact, like ice was cold or water was wet. "She doesn't need someone weak, even as a friend." At my look of incredulity, he added, "Too often, one can see one's own strength reflected in others, when none exists."
"I, um, so this was a... test?" I asked, still unsure, but getting a general picture. "To see if I'd meekly fold because you didn't like me?"
"Or if you would lose your temper," he noted. "Your insult was not terribly subtle, but enough for one your age."
I gave the other man a measuring look. "Mina didn't mention anything like this," I remarked, not exactly calling out the hole in his statement, merely highlighting it.
However, the other man laughed, "My wife's Quirk allows her to be a great deal more subtle, and Ms. Ashido is less reserved. My daughter also provided more information, while she has been suspiciously tight-lipped about you, Mr. Kaminari. Do you suppose you know why?"
"As I said, she's more Mina's friend than mine," I reiterated. "And Momo and I are friends, nothing more."
The other man was quiet for a moment, but without the oppressive air he'd been displaying before, now seeming more as if he was selecting his words for maximum precision. "You may be now, but those things can change. Your gender presents certain possibilities that were not present with Ms. Ashido," he finally remarked.
Jokes on you, I thought, but kept my expression incredulous. "So, what next? A shovel speech?"
"Shovel..." the other man echoed, not understanding what I meant.
"If I do anything to hurt her, you'll 'insert violence here'," I explained, getting another laugh from the other man.
"Nothing so crude," he said, waving me off. "No, my wife and I knew there would be some who sought her for her wealth, even in a school such as UA. You disagree?" he asked, reading my facial expression as I tried to think who that statement would apply to and failed.
"Honestly, there isn't, at least in class 1-A." Thinking of the normal hangers-on that tended to show up in high-school settings, especially around rich girls, I was coming up blank. "Maybe because we're freshman? No, that shouldn't matter that much." I shrugged. "As far as I'm aware, when it comes to your wealth, no one cares."
The skeptical look was expected. "And the thought of never having to work a day in your life? A great deal would desire that," the industrialist noted, and I couldn't help but snort. "Something funny?" he asked, unamused.
"No, only that I think I just figured out why," I replied. "Sir, if someone got into the Hero Course, a life of luxury on someone else's dollar isn't what they want. Hell, the one girl in our class who's express goal is to make money as a Pro Hero wouldn't want to get it that way, she'd want to make it herself, to help support her family. If our class had one collective sin, it would certainly be pride, but I think that's probably true of most Pro Heroes."
"Self-selecting then?" he considered, nodding. "But there are more students at UA than those training to be heroes."
"And we almost never talk," I replied. "I've got a friend in the Support Course, Mei, you saw us working together during the festival, but you only need to see the reactions of the other students, both in my class and hers, to see how unusual that was."
The industrialist didn't respond to that, asking me instead, "And your sin is Pride?"
I wanted to say yes, but I had to consider it. Telling him it was Lust probably wasn't the best idea, though given the situation I was in with the Company, and my relationship with Mina, I could make an argument for it. Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, and Wrath weren't really my thing, but Greed... no, it wasn't having things for the sake of having things I wanted, it was having things to protect and support myself and those I cared about. "If it wasn't Pride, I would've given up when Midoriya uppercut me out of the stadium," I finally remarked, getting a reserved smile from the other man. "And as for money, sir, I'm never going to need for that."
"Really?" he asked incredulously.
"Really," I reiterated. "Sir, I have the same power as my father, and then some. I could get the same kind of high-paying job he has in the government sector if I wanted, but, well, I'm a power-type as well as transformational, not ugly, and smart enough to create Support Items."
"I'm not familiar with the construction of those, only that there's no profit in mass production," the man noted with curiosity. "My wife handles R&D, while I handle logistics."
I nodded. Once I understood what Support Items really were myself I'd had to look up why, when industrial-scale 3D printing was easy, and miniaturized power sources and energy weapons weren't that hard to make, everything looked so normal.
The answer was as simple as it was unexpected: that's what people wanted.
After the emergence of superpowers, and the century and change of chaos and destruction that followed, things worldwide took a hard right turn, politically speaking. Not in the religious sense, though there was a good deal of that as well, no, the laws of practically every nation became very, very conservative, restricting things that'd further destabilize and change society from what it once was, after even the first bits of stability started to emerge from power-induced anarchy. That was why, despite a flying car not being that much more difficult to build than a normal one, they were rare in the extreme.
Heroes and the like could get special dispensation from the government, their applications fast-tracked, but most people couldn't, and there was enough social pressure that the rich had to at least pretend to play along. This in turn served to prevent obvious technological distinctions that would further exacerbate the class divides between the haves and have-nots.
With the high-end of wealth effectively capped, the excess production created a rising tide that did indeed lift all boats. Everyone was kind of normal, and about the same economically speaking, no dirty ghettos on one side and crystals spires and togas on the other. There was extreme wealth, like the Yaoyorozus, but their wealth wouldn't be too far out of the realm of possibility of industrialists from my original Earth, not this super-powered future.
However, all that being true, incremental changes were allowed, and had already improved things greatly. The ratio of what would be 'middle class' to 'poor' had thus shifted quite a bit from what it used to be pre-destabilization. The poor still existed, they always would while people had the freedom to make bad decisions, but with every country having a stockpile of hyper-tech weapons, their attack methodology varied in the extreme, things had gotten to the point that no one could create a total defense against all of them, and that meant international war was something that just didn't happen anymore.
Well, except for one place, but the Middle-East was something that no one talked about, and for good reason. Early on some of the other countries had tried to get involved, but when one person with a hyper-specific but deadly quirk could attack and kill an entire division in an instant, most nations had backed off, many almost becoming isolationist, at least culturally. Then there was the can of worms that was the extra-national, and oddly named, I-Island.
There was, however, a niche that was, while not unfilled, still somewhat open. Those that could create Support Items wanted to make big and flashy devices, like Mei did, and Support Companies catered to them, but by offering small, non-paradigm-shifting increases in technology, a good amount of profit could be made without having to butt heads with conservative politicians.
"The high-powered prototypes, or even Hero-spec items my partner makes aren't, but, if you know what you're doing, you can scale them down, and then the restrictions aren't nearly as stringent," I explained. "Interested?"
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't. If I said no?" he questioned in turn.
"Then I'll find someone else," I replied easily. "I've got time, and if it takes until I go Pro, well, when I break into the top hundred, I'll probably have people coming to me."
Momo's father looked doubtful, "You think you will rank that high?"
I snorted, "Give me a decade, and I'll be in the top ten." Assuming I'm still in this dimension, I added internally, and we're not invaded by aliens, or society just doesn't disintegrate. This is a Shonen world. "Likely along with Midoriya, Momo, and Mina." Momo's Quirk, with some Support Items creatable on demand, would be insane, Mina would have all the defenses that I possessed, and Midoriya was Midoriya.
"Pride is certainly your sin," the other man remarked with a smile. "My daughter mentioned you helped her develop her Quirk?"
I nodded, "Midoriya's better at it than I am, but I'm half-descent at figuring out new power uses. And, well, after the USJ, I didn't feel comfortable sitting around and waiting to be taught. I'd rather my friends be safe, even if I'm not there to help, and that means training."
Mr. Yaoyorozu's expression soured, and I wondered if I'd said something wrong. "Yes. That. I must thank you for protecting my litt-, my daughter during that... event."
"Um, you're welcome?" I replied, unsure, getting a questioning look in return. "She's my friend, sir, and even if she wasn't, protecting people is what heroes do."
He nodded in understanding, shifting topics once more. "You mentioned seeking to place in the top ten. What if my daughter places higher than you?"
"Um," I repeated, "Good for her? I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand what you're really asking."
He was quiet for a moment, before stating, "I thought you said your sin was pride. Wouldn't having someone, especially someone less powerful than you, above you, be unfair? Be wrong?"
"Oh, uh, okay, no," I shook my head, "For two reasons. First of all, Momo isn't weaker than me." At the man's skeptical gaze I quickly explained, "In the 'can I lift a car in a second', sense, yeah, I objectively am more powerful, but in general capabilities," with the powers that I'm publicly displaying, "we're either matched, or she beats me. I'm limited to superstrength and electrocuting things, and whatever tech I have on hand. She can do far more."
"And the second?" the man asked, smiling for some reason.
"Well, I'm helping her get stronger by training with her, just as she's helping me get better by training with me. If she ranks higher than I do, it'll be, at least in some small part, because of me," I explained, vaguely remembering there being a Yiddish term for that exact concept, though I couldn't remember what it was. "So her victories are, in part, mine, just as mine are, in part, hers," I said, opening my arms in a 'obviously' gesture. "Either way, something to be proud of."
The other man regarded me, before shaking his head. "You certainly are an unusual young man. Miotosu, please show him out."
The man behind Momo's father, who I had to assume was a bodyguard, stepped forward, and the slight pressure on Defenses faded. "Sir," the man said, his voice soft but firm. "Mr. Kaminari saw me as soon as he entered."
As the elder Yaoyorozu looked at me in surprise, I asked, "Is that unusual? He was standing right there."
The bodyguard explained, "My quirk, Blend, makes me difficult to notice. More if I push it, and if I do not look out of place. You should not have been able to notice me."
"Oh, that," I said, with a bit of a smile, both men's attention now firmly on me. "I'm immune to mind-affecting Quirks. If I had to guess, my neurons are hardened to handle my electricity, like hardened electronics, but that makes them harder to mess with." That wasn't what was going on, but if I had to guess, that would've been it. "Like I said, top ten."
"I see," was Mr. Yaoyorozu's only response.
Returning, no one made comment on my absence, and it was after nightfall when we finished up. Toru, Jiro, and Asui had made their decisions fairly quickly, and they helped us sort through our lists, everyone's decisions finally made and all of us piling into the limo to take us to the nearest train station at nine. The normal worry some might have about teenagers coming home after dark was counterbalanced by the fact that we had all, a week ago, shown the world just how dangerous we were.
The next day, meeting up with Mina right before class started, but after helping Mei rework the new designs for my armor, I told my girlfriend about my conversation with Mr. Yaoyorozu. The pinkette laughed herself silly when I shared that the reason she didn't get interrogated was that obviously there could be nothing other than friendship going on there, so why worry?
"Given that you were the one that asked me about it, I think he might be off base there," I remarked, nodding to Jiro as she walked into class. The girl hesitated, nodding back to me before trying to talk to Bakugo, with limited success.
Classes rolled on, the weekend coming all too soon. Saturday was spent with Mina, our normal Karaoke very enjoyable. During a break between songs, I finally asked, "You think I could pick up Hawks' Quirk?"
The girl shrugged, "You picked mine up. How's that workin' anyways? You only use it when we're, you know."
"Dancing horizontally?" I asked with a salacious smile, getting an eye roll and a laugh from my lover. "Not much. I think it's gotten a bit better, but I haven't trained it at all, like I have with my father's."
"Your father's... oooooh," she said, eyes going wide. "Like, duh. You only started getting' all this right before school, so you were gettin'... how did I miss that!?"
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Because getting an offshoot of a parent's power happens, and this," I gestured between us with the Stamp, called to my hand in an instant, "doesn't. So, Hawks?"
"It's like Midoriya said," she commented with a wave of a pink hand. "His power isn't havin' a different body like Tsu or Jiro, it's makin' stuff, which you already do with mine. But, what're ya gonna do if they're just like his. Like, the same color and everythin'?"
"Keep them under my armor," I replied easily, tossing the Stamp into the trash. "Let them move my body without being obvious. No feather-swords for me, but do I really need them?"
Mina laughed and pulled my head down, kissing me deeply, and I return the motion, losing what I was saying as I enjoy us just being together.
"Nope!" she smiles, and then turns to the screen. "Now it's my turn to pick!"
And then it was Monday, and time for the first day of our internships. After Homeroom, we'd been issued our costumes, my double-sized suitcase getting a few looks from the others. "Dude, why is your's so big?" Kirishima demanded.
Jiro tried not to laugh, while my girlfriend shot me a big grin and nodded, mouthing 'That's what I said.' I just sighed. "Phrasing, man. And I've been adding to it. Some after USJ, and a bit more last week." What Mei had done to my gloves was both amazing, but also showed me just how much farther I had to go before I was anywhere close to her level. "Only reason Mina's isn't bigger than mine is that Power Loader is still going over the design with a fine-tooth comb." Apparently, the design that we, and by we I mean Mei, had come up with was close enough to qualify as low-level power armor, which required a host of checks before it'd be okay'd for use.
The Pro had made us watch a video when Mei had complained. Without healing Quirks, that man's spine would've never been re-attached, and it was only possible because of how clean a break it'd been.
In the now, a quick bus-ride took us to the train station, where we gathered together, Eraserhead looking us all over with tired annoyance, as civilians cast interested glances our way. "Everyone has their costumes, right?" he asked, despite seeing us all carry our suitcases on and off the bus. "Remember, you don't have permission to wear them out in public yet without your mentor. And don't lose them or anything," he added as a worried afterthought. Considering some of the Support Items integrated into them, that could be bad.
"Gotchya!" My girlfriend cheered, hefting her suitcase.
"Speak properly!" the teacher chided. "It's 'yes sir', Ashido."
"Yes sir," she sighed, and I patted her on the back comfortingly.
"Make sure you mind your manners with the other heroes during your internships," he commanded. "Now get to it."
"Yes sir," the class chanted in response, as they turned to head for their various platforms.
However, I held back, motioning for Mina to keep going. Our agencies were both in the same direction from UA, so we'd get to be together for a bit longer. "Don't you have a train to catch, Kaminari?" Eraserhead asked.
"Sir, about what we talked about before. About Ida," I said in return.
Struggling with the 'do I say something or do I not' dilemma, I'd finally asked Mina about it, in hypotheticals. About the pros of helping, versus the cons of possibly being believed to have connections or information that I didn't have in the future, or being put on the radar of people I wanted to avoid. She hadn't asked me about it directly, and I would've told her the truth, but she'd let me keep it in 'what if's'.
As was becoming the pattern, she'd taken the gordian knot of issues and worries I'd been struggling with, and melted them down to their component parts. The way she'd put it I could approach the 'authority figure', not because I knew the 'troubled youth' would absolutely go after the 'six-fingered man' who hurt his 'mentor' if I didn't change things, but I would be doing so because I was worried about what the 'troubled youth' might do, and how he, unlikely as it could be, might actually find the person he was looking for. The way she'd explained it, between eyerolls and kisses, was just because I wanted to help didn't mean that I had to be completely honest, just point the right people in the right direction.
And so I'd emailed Aizawa, and met him at school on Sunday, and talked about my fears with Ida, asking if he'd applied to internships at the site of Stain attacks, especially Hosu, where the last one, the one that had crippled his brother, happened. My teacher had told me he couldn't discuss the specifics of other student's decisions, but thanked me for coming to him. Now I looked at that man expectantly.
"What I've said hasn't changed. Discussing the personal choices of other students is not my job. If you want to know, you could ask him," the Pro told me.
"I did," I replied, having asked everyone on the bus ride over where they were going. Ida was still 'interning' with Manual, spouting some tripe about learning from a hero who had 'cultivated a most exceptional connection with his community'. "He's going to Hosu. That's not what I'm asking about," I challenged, staring at the Pro Hero. With Midoriya no longer with Gran Torino, this was shaping up to be another Ojiro situation, only much, much worse.
Aizawa sighed, looking off to the side. "I don't remember kids being this pushy," he muttered, before looking back at me. "If I say nothing, what will you do, Kaminari?"
I'd talked about this with Mina too. I wanted to trust the UA staff, they'd done right by me, but experience had taught me why putting faith in authority didn't work, even if she told me I was worrying over nothing. Rather than bluff him, I sighed, and repeated what my girlfriend said to me: "Nothing." At the man's raised eyebrows, I stated, "Because I talked to you, so it's not my responsibility anymore, it's yours."
The Pro met my gaze for a long moment, before he nodded slightly. "Glad you've learned. Principal Nezu agreed with your points," he revealed, the hint of amusement peaking up from behind his scarf, but also telling me that he'd passed my concerns up the chain instead of dismissing me as either a kid or as someone who couldn't know what he was talking about it. "It'll be covered. Your day is Friday. Now go, Ashido's waiting."
Smiling, and wondering what that enigmatic statement meant, I nodded back to the Hero, turning to run down the concourse to join my girlfriend. Relaying the conversation as we boarded our train, she just grinned when I finished, replying with a smug, "Tooold yaa!"
"You did," I acknowledged easily. "Where would I be without you?"
"Don't know. Let's never find out," she instructed, leaning against me as the train started to move.
"Agreed."
Chapter Forty-Four
While I'd been tempted to ride the power lines to get to Hawks' agency faster, I hoofed it, trying to start off on the right foot, so to speak. My suitcase was heavy, but, slinging it over my back, it wasn't that bad, and soon enough I was there. I'd expected a themed building, but instead it was just an eight-story structure, the top three levels with inset verandas, and the top two floors smaller than the ones previous in a pseudo-pyramid.
So you can land from flying I realized, the building only a few stories higher than the others around it, with taller ones nearby, but the verandas made for small, if viable, landing strips. Walking inside the lobby, there were a few small shops, a café, and a small restaurant, the entire building not dedicated to heroing like I'd first thought.
Ambling over to the front desk, where a security guard sat, I pulled out the form Aizawa had given me, identifying me and what I was doing here. "Hello, which way to the Hawks Hero Agency?" I asked, holding out the paper.
The guard took it, looking it over, and nodded, handing it back. "Take that elevator up to the sixth floor. Didn't expect you to get an offer," he commented, jerking his head in the direction of the lifts behind him. I raised an eyebrow. "Not that ya aren't good enough, but, well, you'll see. Actually, nevermind, ya fit. Go ahead, kid."
Unsure, I did so, seeing that the elevator only went up to sixth floor. The doors opened, and I walked out into a bustling office, and understood exactly what the guard meant.
That's a lot of bird-people.
Looking around, everyone seemed to have some kind of bird-like feature, from full wings, to hair made of feathers, to bird-claw fingers, to one person that just looked like an anthropomorphic bird, even more than Tokoyami, tapping at a keyboard with its feathers, seemingly lacking any actual hands.
"You lost, cutie?" A woman, probably in her mid-20's with feathered arms asked, pausing to smile at me, holding a packet of papers.
"No, I'm here to see Hawks?" I asked, more than said, holding up my form.
The woman blinked, before nodding. "Oh, right, you! This way!"
Following her, she lead me into a large room in the center of the building, almost hollowed out, with landings and doors on the floors above, but lacking any stairs. Holding the papers, she leapt into the air without breaking stride, flapping her arms to go up onto the top floor, before turning around, eyes widening as she realized what she'd just done. "Sorr-"
Looking around, I turned my legs to lightning and leapt, using just a trickle of OfA, throwing an arm upwards to grab onto the edge of the ledge and letting all of my limbs switch back, pulling me high. My landing was a little awkward, the weight of the suitcase throwing off my center of balance, and unable to keep going to bleed off my momentum. "So, in here?" I asked, gesturing towards the door.
The woman giggled, nodding and walking inside, leading me down a couple hallways. "So, you're Kaminari Denki, right?" she asked, oddly stressing the words.
"Last time I checked," I shrugged, the door at the end of the hall opening, seemingly on its own, and she gestured for me to go inside.
"See ya around," she smiled, back to whatever she'd been doing as I walked inside of a decently sized office. It wasn't ostentatiously large, just roomy, the entire back wall a series of windows that looked out onto Fukuoka. It also wasn't filled with trophies, or anything like that, almost spartan but without the cold feeling that design often elicited.
Seated at a large desk, crimson wings prominent, was Hawks, almost looking bored, though he perked up when he spotted me. "Ah, you're here," he smiled lazily, motioning towards the two chairs in front of his desk. "Take a load off."
"Thank you, Sir," I replied formally, sitting, bowing slightly in my chair, trying to make a good impression. "And thank you for taking me on as a student."
"Hey, hey, no need for that," he waved. "Re-lax."
"Oh, okay. Um, thanks for having me on, man," I said instead, leaning back in my chair and smiling. "Wasn't expecting it, but, hey, this is pretty awesome."
The Pro hero blinked, "That was fast. I like it. So, Denki, you mind if I call you Denki?" I shook my head no. "Denki, you know why I made you an offer?"
"Because you recruit bird-people, and I flew during the sports festival?" I shrugged.
The Pro froze, and I wondered if I'd said something offensive by accident. He did say I didn't need to be formal, I thought, starting to panic a little, before the Hero chuckled, devolving into full laughter. "I mean, kinda," he agreed, wiping a tear away from his eye. "You know why else?"
"Because I did well, getting into the semi-finals," I offered, Tokoyami having done the same thing originally, and was then scouted by the man in front of me.
"That too," Hawks agreed. "What else?"
"... I... I have no idea," I replied, coming up blank.
The bird-man regarded me for a long moment. "The team you made for round two. Walk me through why you did that."
"They were all my friends, and I knew their capabilities," I answered easily. "Mina, the acid user, is naturally quick, and leaves a trail that'd trip people up, so she needed to go in the back. Momo, the creation Quirk user, had electric skates she could create for speed, and can create things from anywhere, so she didn't need both her hands free to do it, so she went in the other back corner. I can move fast, but my Quirk comes from my body in every direction from where I use it, so I needed my hands free to reach out to avoid shocking my teammates, so I went in first, and could handle things in front of us since I didn't have to reach backwards with the harnesses we were wearing keeping us together."
"And the pink haired girl?" Hawks asked. "The other pink-haired girl?"
"Mei could've used skates, like Momo, but she's the one that knows how to use all the things the two of us have made, so it made sense for her to be up top," I explained.
"And so you put her above you," Hawks mused, and I finally understood what he was getting at.
I shrugged, "It's where she could do the most good. Making them carry me, yeah, I could've still reached out and shocked people, but it would've slowed us down, and we were there to win, nor for me to look good."
The Pro Hero gave me a significant look, and I nodded to show I understood his point. "And that's reason three," the winged man said. "Now go ahead and suit up. We're going flying."
Bakugo checked the address, to make sure he'd gotten the right place. Yep. Building at the edge of Sapporo, in the Chuo Ward, Mt. Moiwa in the distance behind it. It was away from the action, not where he'd expect the number 47th hero to be, but, looking over area, it looked defensible. Nothing right next to it, which would mean a clear line of fire, but those things went both ways, and if that was actual glass in the windows he was fucking Deku.
Stalking forward up to the gates, he glanced at it, seeing the hidden bars that could shoot forward, blocking it off, and nodded to himself, feeling better about his decision. He'd had an offer from the number 32nd, but that bitch looked like a complete pansy, and he was here to get stronger, not to learn how to make extras like him, which was that guy's entire thing.
Walking down the path towards the front door, he looked over the lawn, seeing bits here and there were the grass didn't quite match. It all looked the same kind, but some parts were shorter than the rest. Torn up? he thought, wondering if this place had villain attacks like they'd had at the USJ.
That thing... that thing still pissed him off. A bunch of F-list wannabe villains had jumped them, but not before splitting them up. Yeah, he'd dropped the trash that tried to kill him, but they'd dropped him off on the other side of the place from the action. He wanted to believe that it was because they were scared of him, wanted him as far away as possible, but they'd been trying to kill All-Might, and had a way to do it, too, if it weren't for Deku, Pikachu, and the others. He knew he was strong, but he wasn't All-Might strong.
Yet.
No, there'd been a fight, and he'd not been a part of it. He was sure, in the Sports Festival, he'd be able to show how strong he was. And he did. At first. He'd lost the race, but only 'cause Deku and Sparkplug got their girlfriends to help 'em. The fact that it meant that Deku had come in second had almost made up for it, and had been damn funny, in retrospect.
The second round had been good too, but, again, he hadn't won. Deku had.
And the third? Where he was gonna show everyone just how strong he really was?
Taken out like a bitch.
And Deku?
Deku had fucking won.
The boy had always been useless. Only, now he wasn't.
There was more to the shitty nerd's story about being a 'late bloomer', but Bakugo had looked it up, and that did happen. He'd almost believe it, but the damn nerd was one of the worst liars he'd ever met, and there was something else going on. Something with All Might.
"Ya need something, or ya gonna stand around lookin' like your 'bout to shit yourself?" someone asked, and Bakugo looked up, having walked inside without meaning to. Glancing around, the inside of the building looked comfortable, with rugs on the ground, and a seating area, but nothing looked fragile, and if you sent the rugs to get steamed, you could clean this place of pretty much anything pretty quickly. "So, cat got your tongue?" the girl behind the front desk was tall, and muscular, wearing a short sleeved shirt, her arms covered in a thin layer of striped fur, nails that extended over the ends of her fingers like claws, and a pair of cat-ears sticking up out of her orange hair.
"Here to see Shishido. Tell him Bombing King's here," Bakugo replied, meeting her slit-eyed gaze with a glare of his own.
"Bombing King?" the girl laughed scornfully, ears twitching. "Big name for a little boy."
It was obvious bait, the type that Einstein had grabbed him with, so rather than explode Bakugo just sneered back. "Could kick your ass, shitty-kitty."
The girl leaned forward, growling, "What'd you just say, kid?"
Grinning, Bakugo leaned in right back. "I said I could take ya. What's wrong? Got hairballs in yer ears?"
She stood, hands curling, "Oh you're so fuckin' dea-"
On the desk an intercom chimed. "Tigra, send Bakugo up."
The cat-girl clenched her fists and glared at the explosion specialist, before pointing off to the side. "Elevator. Top floor. Second Right. End of the hall," she ground out.
Bakugo grinned in victory, walking past her, calling over shoulder. "Thanks, Tigger."
"Kill. You," she growled back, before sitting down and pretending he didn't exist, her ears still twitching in agitation.
Finding his way there, Bakugo found a heavy door. Unlike the others it was made of a dark red wood and carved in designs that almost looked tribal, definitely looking pretty fuckin' awesome. Opening it, the room inside was large, but comfortable looking, and crossing the threshold, he couldn't help but feel like he'd just entered the lair of something dangerous.
Grinning to hide the feeling of fear that prickled down his spine, he focused on the man sitting behind the desk at the far wall, seat offset so he wouldn't have his back to the window or the door. The room itself was warm, a fireplace burning opposite of the desk, and the entire place was filled with decorations. Striding in, Bakugo glanced at them, trying to figure them out, and while they had the same kind of tribal feel as the door, the things they were made of seemed weird.
Shishido, the Lion Hero, and the Pro he was interning under, sat, with the relaxed 'you aren't enough of a threat to care' posture he'd seen from cats, but with their same quiet readiness they had in case something did happen. The muscled man's blond hair stuck up in all directions, a bit like the mind-controllers, but while that dick looked tired, Shishido just looked wild. Something that was emphasized by the black mask that covered the bottom of his face, showing an animal's jaw full of clenched white teeth. He was wearing a black, form-fitting t-shirt, the top covered with an enormous mane of yellow-brown fur from the bottom of his neck outwards and covering most of his chest. On top of that were another set of enormous teeth, the bottom set sitting on his pecs, on top of the fur, while the top half was on his back, as if his entire head was just a giant pair of jaws.
The man's eyes indicated the chairs on the other side of his desk, and Bakugo took one. Rather than let the other man set the pace, Bakugo asked, "Why'd'ya pick me?"
The Pro gave him an unamused look, as if to say 'I know what you're doing, you aren't that smart', but before Bakugo could speak again, the lion man replied, his voice a low, calm growl, "You're strong."
Bakugo nodded. He was, so it was good this guy recognized that.
"You're driven," the hero added.
Again, Bakugo nodded. Any idiot could coast on a strong Quirk. Just look at Icyhot. Or Deku. Though the Shitty Nerd had obviously been training. Finally.
"You're an arrogant asshole with anger issues."
The explosion teen started to nod, before the words registered, and he surged to his feet. "The fuck you just say to me!?"
The Pro hero's look was almost patronizing. "Did I stutter?"
"Fuck you, I'm not arrogant! I can back my shit up!" Bakugo yelled.
A single eyebrow was raised. "First. Round. Knockout."
"How the fuck was I supposed to know he could fuck with my head?" the teen defended.
The Pro watched him, waiting, and looked back at the seat. Bakugo stood, standing, because fuck this asshole, that wasn't an answer! But the man said nothing, until the teen eventually sat, glaring. "You have a beef with the green-haired kid. That happens. Then Endeavor's kid. And the kid who copied powers insulted you. Fine. But you didn't watch the others."
"There were a dozen teams! And Forty different assholes!" Bakugo groused, understanding the man meant he should've scouted out their powers in the second event, but his defense sounded weak, even to his ears. No, it sounded like fucking whining, and he scowled, looking down, glancing back up when the other man spoke.
"Fair," he admitted. "Then you charged a foe with no idea what their power was. Arrogant."
"So what?" the teen blustered. "You blow up most things, they go down."
Shishido regarded his intern. "What rank you want when you go Pro? Three hundred? Two hundred?"
Bakugo frowned at the topic change. "Fuck that shit, I'm gonna be the best!" The Hero chuckled. "Somethin' fucking funny, Furry?"
"Something so stupid I had to laugh. First psychic Quirk you ran into, you folded like a cheap table, and you're gonna be the best? Don't make me laugh," the man sneered, but still with the same calm indifference, which was really starting to piss Bakugo the fuck off.
"You think I'm so shit, then why'd you offer me a spot?" the explosion teen demanded. "Just to tell me how much I suck? 'Cause I hear enough about that from my fuckin' mother."
The lion-man smirked, mostly hidden behind his mask, but the way his face moved made it clear. "No, I'm here to make you better. 'Cause, kid, you remind me of me."
"Like hell," Bakugo scoffed. "You tellin' me you were an 'arrogant asshole with anger issues'?"
Shishido nodded. "You know what my Quirk is?" he asked, Bakugo caught off guard at the sudden topic change again, and shaking his head no. "It's Primal. I get stronger, but it gets harder to control myself the more I push it. If I max it, I might be able to throw down with All Might, but I'd be nothing but a beast. I thought I had control of it, but I didn't. Your Quirk doesn't mess with your head, but you have the same shitty attitude I had."
"So, what, you try not to use it? You scared of your power or some shit?" the teen challenged the calm looking man. "Cause you don't seem that-"
The Pro launched himself out of his chair, leaping for Bakugo, hands outstretched, and it was all the teen could do to try and get his own hand forward, to try and form an explosion, but the man was too fast, knocking his hand aside, the blast doing nothing as Katsuki was tackled to the floor. It was over in an instant, the man's hand around Bakugo's throat, with one of his arms pinned underneath him, the other man's hand holding his wrist out and away, a knee on the boy's stomach in a way that was almost painful, but controlled.
"Tell me. Do I seem powerless?" the Pro growled, and this time it carried an undercurrent of rage that caused Bakugo to freeze. Carefully thinking about his options, Bakugo couldn't see a way out. He could set off a blast underneath him, but he'd fuck himself up, and this asshole'd probably just ride it out. He'd barely seen the man fucking move, and it was over.
Slowly, the Bombing King shook his head.
And then he was let go, Shishido picking the teen up by the back of his shirt like he weighed nothing and dropping him down on his feet, even though he was barely taller than Bakugo was.
With slow, languid steps, the pro moved back around his desk, picked up his fallen chair, and boneless collapsed back down into it, once more relaxed, but ready.
"F-Fuck man, what the fuck!?" Bakugo, shaking a little, sputtered. If this was an actual fight? If someone like that'd been at USJ? He'd be fuckin' dead. Everyone in their class would've been. 'Cept for maybe Icyhot, and Deku, and even then, their chances sucked.
Shishido indicated Bakugo's fallen chair with his eyes, and the teen, hands a little unsteady, picked it back up, put it back where it was supposed to be, and sat in it. "Clearing something up," the Pro finally replied. "You think you're as strong as me. Right now, you're not. You think we're equals. Right now, you're not. You think I should be happy you're here, putting up with your shit. Right now, I'm doing you a favor. I don't expect you to be grateful. I wouldn't've been, back then. But you will listen when I talk, 'Bombing King', or I'll show you that being the king of the concrete jungle beats your explosive little tantrums until you learn."
The Pro shook his head. "You think you're hot shit. For your age, you are. But real life doesn't compare you to your weight class. It doesn't compare you in your specialization. It says, win, die, or get lucky enough to survive. You lost to something you didn't expect. It happens. Now, you gonna let your fear rule you? Yell and scream? Or you gonna get better, and win next time?" he asked, throwing down the gauntlet.
"Last day, I want a rematch," Bakugo finally demanded. "Me in costume vs. you. Like we fought when I was out patrolling, or called in, or some shit. I don't give a rat's ass if I win or lose; I gotta see how I match up when I'm ready."
"Life doesn't care about when you're ready," Shishido growled, but nodded. "Was gonna do that anyways. Anything else you want to say?"
Bakugo thought about the man in front of him, about how he could've ended up with some 'talk through your problems' dipshit, and couldn't help but grin. "When the fuck do we start?"