Chapter 14 - 14-17

Chapter 14: Scapegoat

Izuku awoke to a white tiled ceiling, the steady beat of heart rate monitor blaring into his ears. He shifted slightly, attempting to adjust his position into one that was more comfortable.

That was when he spotted the gray blur at the edge of his vision. Turning his head, Izuku saw that the blur was the retreating back of Cementoss as he was leaving the room. Before he could even think upon the strange occurrence, two police officers strode in.

"Hello, Midoriya," greeted the one in the overcoat. "I hope you're feeling alright?"

"I… well, yeah, I suppose. As much as I can be after being thrown into a wall with the force that rivals All Might, anyways."

The man smiled. "That's good to hear. Anyway, I'm Investigator Naomasa Tsukauchi. The woman next to me is Officer Asano Saya," he gestured to the orange haired woman beside him.

"If you wouldn't mind, she and I would like to ask you a couple questions regarding what occurred this morning at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint."

Izuku nodded, quite curious to what was happening. "Of course. But, uh, can I ask where I am at the moment?"

"Ah, of course. Don't worry. Your in the infirmary at U.A. You're under Recovery Girl's care right now."

"Oh. Thank you."

"No problem. Alright then, let's begin."

The questions began simple, with Izuku recounting the events that had led up to the incident. Izuku then went into detail on his exploits with Tokoyami in the Downpour Zone, as well as his subsequent escape and incapacitation.

One thing Izuku found odd was the eerie silence that surrounded Officer Saya. Despite Tsukauchi's assurance that both were present to ask questions, Saya had been silent so far. However, his thoughts were paid little heed, his questioning by the police continuing on.

"Your quirk… It says here that it's [Bug Control]?" Tsukauchi asked.

"Yeah. Still working on a more permanent name for it, though," Izuku admitted.

Tsukauchi nodded. "How does that work exactly? You relay commands and the bugs just do what their told?"

"Something like that, yeah." Izuku replied.

"Mhm," Tsukauchi hummed, writing down some notes. "What was the last command you gave your bugs, if I may ask?"

Izuku rose an eyebrow in question, but he replied anyhow. "Just, umm… to bite. And sting. You know, whatever my bugs could do to help All Might at that moment. That Nomu guy wasn't something to scoff at."

"You're absolutely right there, if the reports we've been getting are anything to go by. Anyways, another thing - what was the most damage you know of that you caused to any of the villains present?"

Now that's a weird question, Izuku thought.

"Umm, I guess there was this one snake lady in the Downpour Zone? She was coming at me fast, and I think I heard a couple bones breaking when my eskrima sticks hit her. Probably her ribcage, when I think about it. Why? Is she alright?"

"Snake lady?" Tsukauchi took a moment to think. "Hmm… Ah, yes. I believe that I remember one of the villains matching that description. Don't worry, last I heard was that she was in stable condition."

"That's good, I suppose," Izuku muttered.

Both the officers quirked an eyebrow at that, but shook it off. "Alright then!" Taukauchi exclaimed, closing his notebook. "That seems like that's all we needed for today. If we require a follow-up, we'll contact your mother on your home phone."

Tsukauchi turned toward the door, yelling out into the halls. "He's clear!"

With that, the door to the room slammed open with a bang. "About time! You officers are already draining enough of his energy as is! Out, out!"

"Of course, Recovery Girl." Tsukauchi smiled. "I hope you get well soon, Midoriya!" Tsukauchi yelled as the door was slammed in his face.

"Sheesh," Recovery Girl voiced. "Those police officers don't respect the notion of a patient's rest."

"Umm…"

"But seriously, young man. Minor head trauma, a few broken ribs, a large gash on your arm, and a couple or so bruises? You did a nasty amount of damage upon yourself out there. You're lucky that your armor took the brunt of the force. I'm not sure that you'd be conscious otherwise."

"Oh, sorry," Izuku laughed sheepishly. "Oh! My costume! What happened to it?"

"Ah, yes. I had to get a specialist to cut parts of it off, took some time, too. But some of it is salvageable, I suppose. You made it yourself, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Truly admirable work. The quality of a professional's, even. But enough on that. You still need to rest."

"Sorry."

"No need. But I don't recommend you using your quirk at least until tomorrow. Too much stress on your brain is a bad thing. Now, come along," Recovery Girl said, pushing on Izuku's bed. "I need to transfer you to another room, have you join the rest of your classmates. I have another patient to attend to."

As Izuku's bed jostled from its position, it was only then that Izuku noticed the resting form of All Might in the adjacent space. Well, an unpowered All Might, anyhow.

Man, I should really connect to my bugs. I need to keep track of— Izuku shook his head. I should listen to Recovery Girl, she knows what she's talking about. I am kinda tired. Besides, what possible danger could come near the heart of U.A. High?

"But how about—" Izuku stopped himself in reflex. He didn't trust his own voice at the moment, with him about to refer to the skinny man as All Might.

Does Recovery Girl know about— Duh, of course she does. In fact, she's probably All Might's doctor concerning his injury. I shouldn't need to—

"Oh, Toshinori?" Recovery Girl supplied, having noticed where Izuku was looking. "He'll be fine. Just a couple flesh wounds and such. He got them from a bad shuffle with the villains. He was the one in charge of the security systems at U.S.J. That's why he's here. He got beat up over it."

"Oh, alright." A believable cover story, I suppose. Guess that means she doesn't know that I know, though. Oh well, I'll just leave it as be.

"And stop that muttering, boy. You're already using enough energy as is."

"Yes, Recovery Girl."

The gurney was wheeled into an adjacent room, where he noticed another bed with their curtains pulled over, obviously concealing someone.

Wait, other classmates? That would mean—

The curtain opened. "Midoriya! You're alright!" yelled the voice.

"Oh. Hey, Mineta."

"I told you that you weren't required, Asano," Tsukauchi said in a chipper mood.

The two officers were just leaving the Infirmary, making their trek back to their car through the school halls.

"Better safe than sorry," Officer Saya replied curtly. "My flames were a precautionary measure. You know that. Neither you nor your quirk would have been able to fend off a swarm of insects."

"Come on, Asano. Did you see him? That boy wouldn't harm a fly."

Officer Saya gave Tsukauchi a blank stare.

"Eh, you know what I mean," he said, waving her off. "Point is, everything the boy said was one hundred percent true, no lies whatsoever. You know that my quirk doesn't lie to me."

Saya let out a grunt of indignation. "Then how do you explain the mess he left behind at the crime scene?"

Tsukauchi took on a sheepish expression. "Yeah… I'm not entirely sure on that part. Genbu's thinking that the insects clutched onto the boy's last commands before he went unconscious. The biting and stinging stuff do line up pretty well with that, you've got to admit."

"But twenty-one injured villains? And four deceased?" Saya admonished.

"Hey, it's the best theory we have so far. Who knows? Maybe some of the villains might have just been allergic. We won't know until the coroner's finished with them."

"Allergies? Really?" Saya relayed sarcastically.

"What?"

"You and I both know what we saw. Some of their faces were puffed up and swelling. Others had necrosis settling in! In fact, I'm almost certain that muscle failure got some of them."

"But—"

"Heck one of the bodies still had a whole swarm of hornets stinging at it. Japanese. Giant. Hornets. Need I remind you what they look like? What they can do to a person?"

"Look, Saya—"

At that moment, Taukauchi motioned for Saya to stop, raising his hand to listen to his earpiece. His eyes rose in surprise.

"What is it?" Saya questioned, reverting back to a calm demeanor.

"Make that five," Tsukauchi spoke as he lowered his hand. He slowly began walking forward, Saya not far behind.

Saya's grew in pace with Tsukauchi, face scrunched up in confusion. "Five? Five what?" she questioned.

"Five individuals deceased," Tsukauchi said. "You know the one with the exposed brain and the avian features?"

"The one who was completely unresponsive during interrogations?"

"Mhm. Seems that he died in his cell a little over half an hour ago. The medics weren't able to do anything by the time they noticed anything. It didn't help that this 'Nomu' neglected to act against any external stimuli. He was still sitting upright and motionless in his cell, with his beady eyes still open, when they found him dead."

"But doesn't he have a regeneration quirk?"

"He does - well, did. But it looks like his nervous system was already overflowing with venom and neurotoxins. Seems like all those bugs that were surrounding its head weren't just lounging around as we thought," Tsukauchi supplied.

"But all Regeneration quirks on record have been known to normally be able to fend off such a thing…" Saya mused.

"Unless the body was subjected to tranquilizers," Tsukauchi continued, "which would in turn slow down his bodily functions - including his quirk."

"And we pumped him full of tranqs when we arrested him," Saya said in revelation.

"Yup."

"Dang," Asano muttered, her hair flaring a bit with her flames. "We should've been more lax with the precautions we took."

"Hey, it's not our fault. Like you said, better safe than sorry, right?"

"A prisoner still died on our watch. He died a preventable death."

"And that same prisoner went head to head with The Symbol of Peace and escaped virtually unscathed, need I remind you. Besides, if what All Might said was true, he was having trouble fighting this 'Nomu,' even with the majority of the kid's bugs focusing on it, slowing down the villain's reactions. Who knows, All Might might have been in worse condition if the bugs hadn't affected the villain."

"All Might? Being worse for wear?" Saya said jokingly. "You do know who you're talking about, right?"

A slight grimace appeared on Tsukauchi's face, but it quickly disappeared. "Oh, I sure do."

"Hey, Midoriya. You said that you can see and hear through your bugs, right?" came the eager voice of Mineta.

"Yeah…" Izuku replied cautiously.

"Well, have you ever thought of peeking in on— OWW! Alright! Alright, okay!"

Izuku knew he was betraying Recovery Girl's trust in him to not to use his quirk, but still. Mineta's thought processes deserved at least one ant bite. Or two.

"You know, Midoriya, I—"

"If you're going to say something about wanting me to spy on—"

"No! It's nothing like that! I don't wanna get bit again!"

"Good," Iizuku chuckled. "Go on, then."

"I just… I wanna say thanks. You know, for saving my behind back there with the villains. I really thought that we were going to die, you know? But then you and Tokoyami fought off all those villains, and I— I had to do something, yo know? And when I saw that samurai guy with the sword, I just…"

Huh. Izuku never could have imagined Minoru Mineta acting like this. With his perverted ways and his quick-to-breakdown reaction at U.S.J. - even his last place position the quirk assessment - it seemed that Izuku had underestimated him. He ultimately pulled through, though, his quick reactions having saved Izuku despite his quick defeat at the hands of the ram villain.

"It's no problem, Mineta. Just doing the duty as a fellow classmate. I couldn't just leave you to die, right?"

"But still, thanks."

Izuku nodded his head.

"Midoriya, you have some visitors. They've been outside for half an hour and haven't left, so I'm just letting them in," Recovery Girl announced.

Mei, Manga, and Pony made their way to Izuku's bed, faces laced with worry.

"Izuku!" yelled the eccentric inventor, tackling the laying Izuku with a hug.

"Ah— Mei— hurts…"

Mei jumped off him. "Sorry, Izuku. You okay?"

"Yeah, we heard what happened," said Manga. "That stuff over at U.S.J. sounds pretty scary. Giant tentacle monsters, sharks with laser beams, poison gas, flying golden robots…"

Izuku gave Manga an incredulous look. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean?" asked Manga.

"I thought that the attack was just a bunch of minor villains and three main ones?" supplied Pony.

"That's right," Izuku affirmed. "I don't know where you heard about all that other stuff."

"Oh."

(ન_੦)

"But you're alright?" Pony asked. "Recovery Girl wouldn't… um… elaborate is the word, I think."

"Ah, it's not too bad. Recovery Girl said I'd be out by Friday morning."

(´･_･`)

"But it's still Wednesday."

"I know."

"What the heck happened to you!" exclaimed Mei, shaking him. "You can still help with my experiments, right?!"

"Don't worry. It's— it wasn't that bad. I just took a really bad hit from one of the villains. Got knocked out right after."

"What?" Sprung up the voice of Mineta behind his closed curtain. "Tha— OWW! Alright! Alright!" Mineta quieted himself then, resigning to simply watch the newcomers.

"Who's that?" asked Pony.

"Ah, just a classmate," responded Izuku. "One who doesn't know how to control his mouth."

"Heh," whimpered Mineta.

"Anyway," continued Izuku, "the villain tried to— tried to, uh, well— attack me, I guess. He was beat by All Might in the end, I'm told. So, no worries."

The three friends looked at Izuku with unconvinced faces. But ultimately, they decided to rest their case.

Mei, Manga, and Pony stayed for a while longer, but under Izuku's insistence left after the lunch bell rang.

After they left, Mineta's voice reached Izuku's ears yet again.

"When did you get so lucky?"

Some bugs found their stingers in use yet again.

"So Kaminari just jumped into the water. He didn't wait for the signal or anything, said he had to get into the water for our sakes. He only got around half of them because of that. We had to knock out the others by ourselves. Then Tsu and I had to carry him back to shore," Uraraka shared.

"Indeed," Tsu ribbeted. "If he waited, the boat probably wouldn't have been sunk. Then we wouldn't have had to go to shore where the other villains were. But, I am glad that your bugs were able to stall for All Might's arrival, at least."

"I'm glad too," Izuku said. "When I saw what that guy could do, I knew that he couldn't take a hold of you or you'd be— well…"

"Yeah…" Uraraka trailed off.

"Indeed," Iida interrupted. "Your actions were… They were pretty impressive. I applaud you for your resourcefulness."

"Oh! That's right! exclaimed Izuku. "You three were up and about during the fight All Might had, right? What happened?"

"Oh! Oh! I'd like to know too! exclaimed the eavesdropping Mineta. "How was All Might?"

All three grew silent.

"Guys?"

"Oh come on! Was it something I said?" questioned Mineta.

"Hmm? Oh! No! It's just… Uh, well, uh—" Uraraka sputtered.

All Might beat up that brain guy into submission," Tsu said. "Your bugs really helped in the fight."

"All Might said himself that your bugs helped slow the Nomu's response time down," Iida added.

"Really?! That's a relief. I thought that my bugs would just get in the way or something. I'm glad they were able to help."

"Yeah…"

Tsu, Uraraka, and Iida left not long after. It was after school, after all. Some had parents expecting them, and homework was needed to be done.

"That was kinda weird, don't you think? asked Izuku.

"Kind of," responded Mineta. "Perhaps it was just the fight? We all did just get out of a life or death situation not too long ago. Maybe the reality of the situation is just getting to them?"

Izuku blinked, looking over at the only other person in the room.

"What?" asked Mineta.

"Nothing." Full of surprises.

Eventually night came, the sun's setting declaring the end of class 1-A's hectic day.

As the patients of U.A.'s infirmary got ready for the night, Izuku shifted his position in his bed, preparing for sleep.

"All this fighting…"

Izuku closed his eyes, eventually dozing off into sleep.

"Perhaps there's room for improvement…"

Within the building of the Musutafu branch of the Police Force, Deputy Hachiro and Captain Omori arrived at their Police Chief's office.

"Chief?" asked Hachiro.

"Yes, Deputy?"

"It's about the kid…"

"What about him?"

"Well… What are we going to do with him?"

The chief sat silent for a moment, considering his answer. "Nothing, as far as we are concerned. We got orders from the Commissioner General. He said to let the matter go unless another incident occurs."

"Seriously?" wheezed Captain Omori.

"Mhm. The Commissioner also said to divert the attention away from the deaths. Or, at least, say it was the villains at fault."

"Wha— Why?" asked the captain.

"As far as we're aware, the kid doesn't know anything about this. Tsukauchi's report made sure of that."

"So?"

"So, that means that this kid has had his quirk all his life. There weren't any prior reports of him causing any problems, and not once has the kid had any irking of doing so."

The chief grabbed a folder, handing it to his deputy. "It was an accident, plain and simple. A part of the kid's quirk he wasn't aware of, activated when he was knocked out. Besides," the chief said, turning to the window, "I'd rather not have to fill the kid's head with guilt where it's not needed."

"Are you kidding?!" exclaimed Captain Omori. "How do we know that? How do we know that he didn't know exactly what he was doing, that he specifically ordered those people killed?"

"Omori," warned the chief of police.

"Sorry, chief," apologized the captain, calming his demeanor.

"As I was saying," continued the chief, "Tsukauchi's report made sure that the kid didn't purposely kill those villains. Besides, if there was a homicidal villain out there murdering people with bugs, don't you think that anyone would have heard of it? The last we heard of such a thing was with that whole Queen Bee fiasco."

"Fine. But what's to stop the villains from broadcasting this kid's hand in the death of all those villains?" asked Omori.

"And risk tarnishing their name? I don't believe that a group calling themselves 'The League of Villains' would want to drive away potential recruits," voiced Hachiro. "Besides, we should be glad that the only ones who were harmed were villains," Deputy Hachiro added.

"Yes. As much as it is wrong, you are right, Hachiro," voiced the chief.

"How about the Commission?" asked Captain Omori.

The chief turned back to the two. "The Hero Public Safety Commission has assessed the damage done. There currently aren't any pleas to take the boy into custody".

"That's strange," admitted Deputy Hachiro. "If anything, they should be brewing up a storm trying to get the boy contained."

"Indeed," the Chief said. "It seems as if the Commissioner and the Commission have come to some sort of agreement in keeping the boy out of the loop. It doesn't help that Nezu over at U.A. is trying to keep us out of the boy's life as much as possible. Wants to see to the boy's growth himself, apparently. Promises to do something about it."

"That is, undoubtedly, very unusual," said Hachiro.

"Very. But the point is, these were extenuating circumstances for the boy. Unless something of this caliber happens again, we don't act. Orders are orders, after all. You two are dismissed."

Chapter 15: Damsel of Distress

Friday morning was met with little incident. Recovery Girl discharged Izuku from the infirmary just before classes, ensuring he would get at least one day of education before the weekend.

Izuku had gotten through his two day absence with a rather quick recovery, albeit with an arm that was still a little stiff from U.S.J. - but otherwise fine.

Classes were the same as usual, the teachers droning on about the subject material. But Izuku could sense that something was just a bit off kilter.

The atmosphere throughout the day felt rather off, creepily unlike what he had been getting used to in his short time at U.A. He wasn't sure if it was just the tension from surviving an all out villain attack, but he was willing to bet otherwise.

Even stranger was what Izuku eventually noticed to be the cause of the changes - he himself.

For one, Cementoss seemed to be keeping an eye on him whenever he could for some unknown reason.

And while some of his teachers - like Midnight - seemed to be going about business as usual with her playful and flirtatious nature, the usually loud and upbeat Present Mic seemed to twitch whenever his eyes landed on Izuku.

Even his own classmates seemed to be a bit more jumpy than usual. Ojiro, Hagakure, and Kaminari seemed to be actively avoiding him, while Sato, Sero, and Ashido kept taking glances at him from across the room.

But Koda was the worst of the bunch. While Izuku had noticed Koda's apprehensive approach towards Izuku's presence before, it was nothing like it was now. Koda seemed to shiver whenever he glanced at Izuku, and even yelped when Izuku had passed him in the halls.

His other classmates appeared to not be fazed with whatever the problem was, however, treating Izuku the same as they had been. Even Shoji, whom Izuku would have thought to have leaned toward the 'there's something wrong with Izuku' club, was acting amicable.

But of all things, Izuku had found out that Mineta was out of the loop. Whatever was affecting the others was absent within Mineta - while that was due to the time spent in the infirmary or something else was up in the air.

And as if the day wasn't already taxing enough on Izuku's thought processers, Aizawa - as sleep deprived as he was - had neglected to organize a whole myriad of papers that were needed for the next day.

Izuku wasn't surprised when Aizawa delegated the Class Representatives to stay behind and do the work in his stead.

And so, here he was, sitting in an almost empty classroom with Yaoyorozu beside him and stacks of paper towering before them.

"I'm glad to see that you are up and about, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu said as she and Izuku began their duties.

"Thank you, Yaoyorozu. Honestly, I'm just glad that I am moving at all, really. That punch that I got really hurt," Izuku said.

She nodded, smiling while doing so. But then she fell into a more somber mood, recalling the attack.

"Some of us were worried when you got hit by that Nomu villain, you know. And when we saw what that thing could do to All Might? We— We weren't sure if you were going to make it."

"But I did."

"Yes, you did. And I'm glad for that. It's just… I'm not sure what I would've done if you died on us," she sniffled. "I was so relieved when Iida and Todoroki brought you back to us so quickly despite… the…"

There it was again, whatever mysterious conflict that arose from U.S.J. was still in effect.

"Yaoyorozu," Izuku bluntly interrupted.

The simple utterance of her name broke Yaoyorozu out of her reverie. "Yes, Midoriya?"

"If I may put it bluntly, what is up with everyone? I've noticed that there's been some unease with my presence."

Her face lit up in realization. "Oh. Yes… That."

"Yes, that. Whatever 'that' is."

Yaoyorozu answered after a brief moment of silence. "It's… well… Are you aware that your bugs started swarming the villains after you fell unconscious?"

"Well, yeah, I suppose. I told them to bite and sting the villains. Especially that Nomu one. I didn't want All Might to fight that guy without any help since he was alrea— Well, Nomu hits pretty hard, from my experience," Izuku laughed off.

"You shouldn't joke about it, you know. You could've died."

"But I'm alive. That's the important thing, right?"

Yaoyorozu opened her mouth to answer, but whatever retort she had in mind sputtered out. "Yeah… Anyways, your bugs were rather… determined, I could say. They hurt some of the villains pretty badly from what I saw."

"And the swarm was... Well, it was everywhere," Yaoyorozu continued. "I'm sure that some of our classmates just felt a bit frightened by the experience, is all."

"Oh," muttered Izuku.

"Does it really matter? The villains were targeting children. They had to be stopped at all costs."

"As for the teachers, I'm certain that they're just wary over your control. You haven't been here for too long, afterall. They aren't familiar with your may just want to make sure another incident with your bugs doesn't spring up again."

"So everyone's scared of me, is what your saying?" Izuku muttered.

Yaoyorozu looked over, sensing and seeing the dejected tone in Izuku's voice. "Midoriya…"

She straightened up. "Look. I'll be straight with you. When you got knocked unconscious, whatever your bugs were doing weren't because of you, right?"

"I suppose."

"Good. Then that means whatever happened wasn't your fault."

"But—"

"But what?" Yaoyorozu asked, as if already disproving of whatever Izuku was to say."

"The bugs… they were still influenced by my whims and—"

"But they weren't, Midoriya. What your bugs did were in the best interest of the class. We were already so fatigued and injured as is. Your bugs got rid of the villains. They forced their leader and the teleporter to leave while leaving behind Nomu. They helped All Might, of all things. In fact, I'm not sure what would have if you hadn't acted as you did."

"I—" Izuku sighed. "Thank you, Yaoyorozu."

"Of course. Now, let's get to work, shall we?"

"Izuku! Where are you going?" asked Inko Midoriya.

Izuku, halfway out the door, shuffled back inside to answer. "It's Saturday, mom. Mei asked me to come over to help work on something, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. I almost forgot. You two are having one of those over-the-weekend giant projects again?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry in advance if I don't check in at all again. You know how Mei gets when she really gets invested into one of her projects."

"Oh, yes," Inko laughed. "She was all over the place when we went to visit that one time. That robot of her's looked like it had a lot of effort put into it."

"It did. It was all— Well, alright! I'll try to be back by Sunday night, then."

"Of course! Have a good time, sweetie!"

As the door to their apartment closed, Izuku let out a sigh of relief. After a moment's respite, he began his way to the train station.

He thought back to the excuse he made to his mom. Going over to Mei's was the best cover for his weekend activities. He'd been over at Mei's for days at a time before, and he didn't always pay attention to when his mom called when he was over there. Him supposedly being over there would provide a way for his absence to be noticed by nobody. He hoped.

Mei was in on it, of course, but only for the part of his absence. He hadn't told her what he'd be doing, no matter how much she insisted for him to say. As a result, he owed her a lot of guinea pig time in place of Manga.

Still, he felt bad for lying to his mom. But this was the only way for him to reach his goals. The only way he'd be able to go out as a vigilante without any obstacles.

Or, at least, find a way to get the urge out of his system.

Izuku couldn't really describe the feeling he was having that led him to such drastic measures, if he was going to be honest with himself. A way to describe it was always just on the tip of his tongue, but the words always escaped him. It was like…

"A thirst for conflict?"

Izuku shook his head. He didn't now. But he'd been getting this urge to fight for a long while now. Ever since he'd gone out to have his bugs demolish the yakuza presence in Musutafu, he'd been suppressing the urge. But it was manageable then, barely present in his subconscious.

But he'd felt a surge - a sudden boost in its urgency - with the Battle Trial. That had ended in an easy victory. A hollow victory, the urge unsatisfied.

U.S.J. made it worse. The villains within the Downpour Zone were cannon fodder, mere crooks for the League. On the other hand, Nomu was too powerful; too strong to provide any satisfaction of a fight, and too quick in ending the fight. It was urging for a real fight, telling him to start one.

Izuku sighed, reorganizing his thoughts.

He knew how dangerous vigilantism was. He knew how stupid he was for going out like this. But the feeling in the back of his head was tired of fighting, only for him to ultimately lose when it mattered most.

That one petty criminal he'd fought, defeated by the victim Izuku was saving. The sludge villain, ultimately captured by All Might. And even Nomu, the monster that he was, taking Izuku as a hostage.

Yes, a small part of him was against this. That same part of him wanted the night to go as uneventful as possible.

But to deny his urges even longer…

He couldn't. He just wanted it gone, no matter what he needed to do.

Izuku had traveled to a whole other prefecture during his time on the train.

He did so in order to dissociate his first physical outing as a vigilante apart from the cloak-wearing bug clone named Snitch.

As such, the vibrant sunset of the Kanagawa skyline as it met the waves of the ocean was both a blessing and a spell of doom for Izuku. Nevertheless, Izuku found his way to an abandoned building to begin his nighttime outing.

His costume for this specific task was different from the others. Prototype #4 was one of his earlier attempts at a costume, made to be much more flexible to the sacrifice of using a much thinner armor layer than later projects. It was created without any usage of more colorful dyes, and with functionality in mind over presentability. The result was a costume that many would have considered much too edgy and darkly-colored for a hero.

However, it's appearance was perfect for a stealth-oriented vigilante stalking the streets at night.

The silk-woven costume donned a black and grey color scheme, consisting of armor panels made of arthropod exoskeletons around his more vital parts.

This version lacked any pouches, as did it any way to hold his trusty eskrima sticks. But that was fine, as he delegated to not use them in this costume. Instead, Izuku would rely and his lesser used knowledge of Muay Thai and general cqc.

His mask slid on and ended before his ears. It was evenly black aside from its lenses, which shone with an amber gleam. A last minute addition to the costume was the simple hood which was held firmly on his head.

Unlike most hoods, it was tightly bound with spider silk, unable to be pulled down until Izuku had the spiders break down the strands holding it in place. But even still it was a normal hood that provided little protection.

Instead, the hood ensured his rather identifiable green hair was tucked away from prying eyes. The fact that it hindered his peripheral vision played no importance, considering his quirk.

On another note, his fingertips ended in claws, sharp enough to cut, but not deep enough to kill. Still, too much force and the potential to cause lasting damage was there. It was one of the main reasons this piece had been hidden away in his closet until this night.

And so, as the moon rose high into the nighttime sky, Izuku took reign of the rooftops.

Izuku was hoping that the night was going to turn out mostly quiet. Maybe a few muggings there, an assault there, maybe even just a drunken disturbance. Something, anything, to satisfy the urge.

He'd planned to go through the motions throughout the night, pack it up as the sun took its place in the dawn sky, and head back on a train to be due back at home in the evening.

His bugs played a part, even if he wanted to keep them separated from this new persona. He used them to scout out the city, flying in sparse numbers while searching for possible crimes to stop.

But as the hours tricked by, it seemed that the chance to fill his urge had arisen. Because, of course, there would be an actual villain on the prowl on this night. Curse his luck.

The unmoving body laid upon the ground was oddly lacking any visible traces of blood despite the multiple gashes and stab wounds littered among it.

However, Izuku supposed that such a phenomenon would be possible if the girl lapping up the body's blood had anything to do with it.

And, of course, Izuku stood there just taking the scene all in until the girl turned around and noticed him.

She seemed to be around his age, a factor enforced by the easily distinguishable school uniform she wore under her oversized cardigan.

As here clothes were, her ashy blonde hair was sprinkled with blood from her victim. She seemed to be blushing as well, the redness of her face not completely to be blamed by the blood.

"Oh! Who are you?" she cheerily asked. "Have you come to play, too?"

Izuku immediately backed away, taking a defensive stance. He refrained from answering as well, choosing to adopt a silent character for this persona.

The girl rose a knife in the air, pointing it at Izuku.

"What's your name?" she asked.

Izuku didn't answer.

"Aw! You're no fun!" she whined. "Oh well." And she sprung forward with incredible speed, knife thrusting for Izuku's midsection.

Izuku stepped backwards, dodging the blade by mere centimeters. But by the time he got his footing, she was already swiping at him again.

The blade run across his stomach in motion of disembowelment, running from side to side of his torso. However, Izuku remained unharmed. Despite its thin layering, the costume was only slightly cut from the move.

Wow. She's pretty strong. And her speed! She actual cut a little into the costume!

"Oh! So you do talk!" She laughed. "And thanks, by the way. You're a real charmer." She blushed with joy.

Dang. There goes that silent persona.

The villain lunged for Izuku again. This time, Izuku raised his arm in defense, the blade digging into the forearm of his costume.

Izuku retaliated by pushing back his opponent. He pushed forward with a quick fury of swipes from his hands. And while they did take the girl by surprise, she didn't take the attacks without her own counter.

Her knives eventually found themselves parried against a few of the swipes, allowing her to make distinct cuts in specific positions.

And so, while some Izuku's attacks found their way through, so did the girl's - albeit with more precision.

After a long series of blows, they both stepped back from the onslaught, taking a breath to ready themselves next.

The clawed tips of Izuku's hands drew blood from the villain, his hands covered in a thin layer of the red fluid.

The girl's knife, miraculously, was in a similar state despite the nature of Izuku's costume. This caused Izuku to widen his eyes in surprise.

Reaching down, he felt at his torso. Izuku discovered that a small incision had found its place on his side, a result of the girl's constant attacks on the single spot.

Across from Izuku, the girl inserted the blood covered knife into her mouth. The knife slowly slid out from her mouth, as if she were savoring the taste.

"Mmm! You taste good!" cheered the villain. "But it's not enough! I need more!"

Again she lunged, her knife going for the exposed spot on a Izuku's costume. Izuku saw the attack coming, dodging away to the left away from the thrust. However, as Izuku went to block her next attack, the villain disappeared from his vision.

Izuku looked left to right, but he couldn't find her It was as if she had suddenly disappeared. But his confusion didn't last long. He felt a swipe aimed at his legs, originated from behind him. He fell backwards, feeling himself being pulled down to the ground.

His head met the pavement with a loud thump. The back of his head, with no armor protecting it, began to bleed. The injury left Izuku disoriented, dazed on the ground. He felt two hands rest upon his own, the weight of them limiting his movements. When he opened his eyes, he met the eyes of the girl.

"Hi! How are you— Oh! You're bleeding!" Her face inched closer to his mask. "You know, I—"

Izuku's head shot upwards, meeting the girl's.

"Oww!"

The sturdy material of the silk mask met the villain's fleshy face. As Izuku had hoped, the mask absorbed most of the force of the headbutt, thus preventing Izuku's growing head injury from worsening.

However, the girl wasn't so lucky. Her abrupt movement to grab her head left Izuku free from her weight. With his now two free hands, Izuku pushed her off his form and stood again.

Izuku ran towards the the dazed girl, grabbing her arm and twisting it to her back. His other hand grabbed for her other arm, but did so with little success. The villain twisted around Izuku's form, gaining the advantage over him and pushing him against the wall.

The girl's fingers then wrapped themselves around her knife, moving towards Izuku's hood.

I'm still safe. My armor's fine. I just—

Her hands meticulously cut away at the bloodied fabric. As the cloth gave way, Izuku's hair shot out, the long strands covered in his blood.

"Ooh! That's some nice hair you have there. All nice and long. A bit wavy too."

Her fingers curled around the the back of Izuku's exposed head, wiping over where the blood slowly seeped from his head. Her fingers became enriched with Izuku's blood, and she eyed the spectacle with a sadistic glee. She stuck out the still bloodied hand, observing it with joy.

"You know, I wouldn't mind if we became friends. You're pretty good," the girl stated.

Friends? With her? Yeah, right. Now, to get outta this, I just needed her to raise her knife again. I'll wait for the opportune moment, then go for the opening on her lower torso; trip her over with my own legs. Then I'll—

"Still not talking?" she asked. Her hand — the one still unoccupied with Izuku's blood — rose, knife in hand.

"Fine. Just stand still so I can cu—" She abruptly stopped her speech, her eyes shifting to the right.

Then her head turned, tilting upwards to the rooftops. Her eyes widened, and she jumped away from Izuku with the swiftness of a cat.

Her vacated spot, just in front of Izuku's body, immediately was filled with the sound of a bullet hitting the concrete ground, barely missing the girl by only a few centimeters.

"You didn't tell me you had backup!" The villain whined to Izuku. "You meanie!"

She dodged another bullet, this time hiding her body behind a dumpster. "Aww! That's no fun at all. Oh well. Guess we'll be seeing each other around, yeah?"

And with that, the villain left the alleyway, sprinting off and taking a left into the city streets.

Meanwhile, a bedraggled Izuku stood dumbfounded against the alley's wall.

Backup? he mused.

Izuku looked over at the rooftop where the shot had gone off. Indeed, there was a shadowy figure armed with a rifle, aiming down at where he was. Unfortunately, their position was heavily concealed with darkness that high up, removing the ability to identify any distinguishable features with either his bugs or his eyes. And then there was the distance; they were just outside of the capable range of his bugs.

In a split second decision, Izuku took off in the same way as the girl had, but instead taking a right. He scrambled up to the rooftops via a fire escape staircase, and went off in a hurry.

His bugs noted that, thankfully, whoever was on that rooftop was not following, contempt to stay where they were. But Izuku didn't take any chances. He ran. And traversed the rooftops until he reached the abandoned warehouses that made up some of the industrial district.

Finding his way to the warehouse where he hid his belongings, Izuku sat down to catch his breath. After a couple minutes of rest, Izuku slowly began to strip down, replacing is costume with his normal clothes.

As he packed away his things, Izuku connected to his bugs, surveying the surrounding area to make sure nobody would spot him leaving the warehouse. After he confirmed the lack of potential bystanders to see was nearing morning, and soon he'd be on a train back to Musutafu.

As he thought back to the night's events, he berated himself again for potentially getting himself killed. Between an actual fight with a villain and that mysterious figure on the rooftop, he knew that he had had enough excitement for one night.

…

Izuku's eyes widened in realization. Huh. That urge is gone. Guess the night was a success?

Izuku let out a heavy sigh. He almost died — again — and yet he felt at ease. I guess I'll be holding off on this type of vigilante stuff for awhile.

Chapter 16: Mover

Sunday evening came and passed with little incident. Inko suspected nothing, going on to talk about the time Izuku had spent at Mei's.

Izuku - still somewhat drained from last night's experience - had planned for such a scenario occurring beforehand, and begrudgingly lied his way through the whole thing. It still didn't feel right to Izuku — lying to his mother — but he powered through it anyhow. He didn't need to worry her any more than she already was after the whole U.S.J. fiasco.

After dinner, Izuku snuck back to his room and took out his newly initiated costume from his backpack. The black and grey piece was moderately damaged, and would need work done on it before it was ready for another outing with it — not that Izuku planned on having another one anytime soon.

For now, the piece would reside far back into his closet, buried behind his past prototypes. He'd patch it up in the future, whenever that urge sprung back up into his subconscious.

With his task of hiding any of his more… questionable belongings complete, Izuku collapsed on his bed, exhausted.

He sighed, falling into the cushy comfort of his sheets. After a moment, he reached into the terrarium by his bedside. His hand reached for the centipedes kept within, direct descendants of his dear Rikai. A few of them began to crawl up his arm, already used to Izuku's presence after all the years.

This "Centipede March," as Izuku come to calling it, was in its own way a soothing experience. The little creatures running up and down his arm, tickling his senses, were great to lose himself in, the worries of the day falling away.

He often times resorted to this, whenever there were days where Bakugo was a bit rough, or his bugs were getting a bit antsy. His weekend activities weren't all that different if he ignored the mortal peril he was in. Alas, after a few minutes respite, Izuku fell into sleep.

"So, what'd you do this weekend, eh?" asked Mei, bounding up beside Izuku. "What was so super secret that you wouldn't tell me anything about it, hmm?"

Manga butted in, voicing his intrigue. "Oh? A secret? What secret? What did our dear Izuku do over the weekend without telling us, hmm?"

"I… well… I'd rather not say," muttered Izuku, averting his gaze.

"Why not?" asked Pony, face fixed in scrutinization. "Hmm…" Pony stepped in front of Izuku, stopping him in his tracks. Her face came closer to Izuku, further unnerving the already anxious boy. "You didn't go out on a date or something, did you?"

"Wha— What!?" exclaimed Izuku, red rising to his cheeks. "No! Of course not! Why would you think that?!"

"Eh." Pony shrugged. "Because… why not? It was just a guess."

"Well, I for one don't believe that it was a date," admitted Mei. "He was gone for most of the weekend." Mei tilted her head. "Hmm… Unless…"

"No!" Izuku retorted. "What is wrong with you guys? I just… went out, is all."

"Went out?" asked Manga. "And here I was thinking you'd finally fallen for someone."

Izuku shook his head. "I promise, it's nothing like that. But… It is private."

"Private enough for your mom not to know, eh?" asked Mei. "I had to redirect her calls twice, you know. Not to mention when my dad got ahold of the phone of your mom's third call. Ha! It's a good thing I know how to disrupt the phone signals at my house."

"Yeah… Sorry about that, Mei. I'll try not to put you in a situation like that again."

"No, no. Please do. You'll just be giving me more favors along the line."

"I'll keep that in mind. But anywho, if you guys really want to know, maybe I'll tell you guys in the future. By then it probably won't even matt— Gah!" Izuku screamed.

A cooing grey bundle had just plunged itself onto Izuku's head, startling him and the others around him. The ruffling mass of feathers took roost in Izuku's green hair - stomping around until setting itself down - much to the dismay of the boy.

"What the heck?" mused Manga. "It's a pigeon."

"Huh, strange," muttered Mei, poking the pigeon. The bird simply cooed in response.

"A pigeon? Why would a pigeon— Never mind. Look, can you guys get it off?"

"Uh-uh. Nope. It might bite me," professed Manga.

"Bite you? You could just use you head!"

Pony began laughing softly.

"Pony? A little help, please?" begged Izuku.

"Manga can do it." She voiced her refusal.

Izuku sighed, shaking his head. The bird refused to get off. The other three around him laughed even more.

Higher up, above the friends' heads, two other birds were perched in their branches, surveying the scene below. One began to take off, its mission objective complete. Leaving the other behind, it began its way back towards U.A. High School.

Within the classroom of class 1-A, a meeting among students had just come into fruition. Aside from an incoming Midoriya and an absent Bakugo, all of class 1-A was present. All eighteen present students had come to class under the insistence of Yaoyorozu and Iida, both garnering their attention towards the rest.

"Alright everyone, I'm sure you're all questioning why we're all here so early…" started of Yaoyorozu, Iida at her side.

"I wished I'd gotten here earlier. Maybe then I could've—"

"Yeah, what exactly is this all ab—"

"Yo betcha! I could still be sleeping right now!" exclaimed a somewhat irate Ashido.

Yaoyorozu turned her gaze in Ashido's direction. "I wouldn't be so carefree about this. This meeting actually concerns some of us in this class, you included, Ashido."

"Oh…" Ashido breathed. "What about?"

"It's abo—"

"Uh, excuse me, Yaoyorozu-san?"

Said girl turned towards the boy who had interrupted her. "Yes, Sato-san?"

Sato rubbed his head earnestly, projecting his apologies. "Sorry, it's just that I, uh. I made some

food. When I heard yesterday that we were all having this early morning meeting, I thought that some of us wouldn't be able to eat breakfast on time. So…" Sato pulled out an array of food, portions ranging from crepes and tarts to donuts and French toast.

"Mmm! Magnificent!" expressed Aoyama.

"It's not really a traditional breakfast, but I'm really only good with sweets," admitted Sato.

"Ah! Breakfast!" exclaimed Ashido. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Yaoyorozu sighed. "Alright then. But hurry, we have a time limit he—"

At that moment, a pigeon flew in through the open window. Some of the class reeled in surprise, though most calmed down when the bird landed on Koda's desk. The boy quietly conversed with the bird, nodding his head while doing so. When he was done, he took out some bread crumbs for the bird, which the bird promptly ate and took off.

Koda looked at Yaoyorozu and Iida, silently voicing his thoughts.

"Thank you, Koda," said Yaoyorozu.

Koda nodded vigorously in response.

"Okay everyone! We only have a little over eight minutes before we meet our deadline! Get your food and take your seat!" exclaimed Iida.

Everyone scrambled for the food, and after a minute or so, everyone had retrieved their choice in food and sat back in their seats. The few exceptions to this were Todoroki and Shoji, both who didn't move from their seats in the rush for Sato's food.

Iida nodded in satisfaction. "Okay! Good. Now, everyone listen to Yaoyorozu-san. She has a few words for some of you."

"Thank you Iida," Yaoyorozu said. "Now, as I said, you're all probably wondering why we are here today. To put it plainly, we're all here because of Midoriya."

"Where is Midoriya-chan, anyways?" Tsu spoke, voicing her insight. "I mean, Bakugo not being here is something I understand. But of anyone, I'd expect Midoriya to be here."

"And usually you'd be right," admitted Yaoyorozu. "The truth is, Iida and I purposely left Midoriya out of this conversation due to his involvement in the matter."

"Is this about U.S.J.?" asked a sheepish Kaminari.

"No, it is not," Yaoyorozu tensely replied to the boy. "Rather, I'd like to talk to you all regarding the way some of you acted towards Midoriya last Friday. I'd like to cut this in the bud before it spirals out of control."

A few in the class visibly gulped at the accusation.

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Mineta.

Yaoyorozu ignored his question. "You all know who you are, and the extent of what I am talking about."

Kaminari's voice rang out. "Are you kidding?! You all saw what he did! That swarm was terrifying! And those villains! We could've ended up just like them!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" interrupted Kirishima. "Kaminari! That's not cool man. Midoriya wouldn't have done something like that! Besides, are you forgetting that he saved you from that guy with all the hands?"

"Yeah! Midoriya-kun isn't a bad person!" exclaimed Uraraka.

"But still…" Kaminari said apprehensively.

"I don't know, Kirishima, Uraraka. Kaminari kind of has a point…" trailed off Hagakure.

"But it is not a valid point, if I am to say so myself," Iida added.

"But how about you, Iida? You were just as freaked out as the rest of us!" exclaimed Sero.

Iida simply nodded. "Indeed I was. Who wouldn't be, standing in the middle of that swarm. And I will admit, I was a bit uneasy at first. But I'd like to think of Midoriya as a friend. He did what he did to protect us. You all saw how badly the villains got the jump on us. And you all saw how the swarm acted. It could have gone after any of us. But it didn't. It only went after villains."

Ashido swallowed her strawberry tart, following up on Iida's statement. "But he still.. His bugs…" She fell silent, thinking back to the incident at U.S.J., and exactly how dire it was.

"He did save us, I guess…" Ashido said in quiet revelation.

"Yeah. All Might himself said that the bugs helped beat that Nomu guy," muttered Ojiro.

The two current heads of the class allowed a moment of silence for the class to ponder about what was just said. Eventually, Yaoyorozu spoke up.

"Are you seeing our points?"

A few of the class nodded. Yaoyorozu continued on.

"After class on Friday, when Midoriya and I stayed behind by way of Aizawa-sensei's orders, we talked to each other regarding this. Midoriya was visibly distressed concerning what you all thought of him."

Again, some of the class uncomfortably shifted, reacting to the news.

"I'd imagine that the way people view him matters a lot to him, considering his quirk. So, I'd like you all to at least understand what Midoriya did in his perspective. He was trying to save all of us. He wasn't doing anything malicious."

Ojiro cut in. "I shall apologize to Midoriya when he arrives. How I acted to him last Friday was unjust and dishonorable, disrespecting someone who was essentially our savior. I see that now."

"I suppose that he wasn't at fault," said Sato. "I've decided. I'm going to make an apology cake for him tomorrow."

Yaoyorozu nooded. "The rest of you?" she asked.

The ones guilty for acting cold towards Midoriya nodded in response, though some did so more hesitantly than others.

"Good. I expect all of us to forgive past transgressions and treat Midoriya as we did before. We can't be going around forming grudges or enmity toward each other. We are all going to be seeing each other a lot for the next three years, after all."

Another bird flew in through the open window, flapping over to the class's resident animal whisperer. Yaoyorozu understood what that meant; Midoriya was almost within three blocks of U.A. She turned to Iida. "Iida-san."

Iida nodded. "Thank you for listening, everyone. I like to think that we as a class can learn to overcome such hurdles. If another one of us were to go through a similar situation, I hope we don't have to go through something like this again."

Iida cleared his throat. "But if there is one thing I'd like to impose, it's the importance of everyone here to refrain from mentioning this meeting to Midoriya. Let's keep it all on the downlow. It's best if Midoriya comes to class happy that we have turned around our digressions to him. I hope you all understand?"

A few nodding heads took up the classroom.

"Alright!" Iida said, taking the attention of the class. "Let's all act as normal, then! We have just over a minute until we fall into Midoriya's range."

Izuku made his way to his classroom, somewhat curious to how the day would go. If last Friday was any example to go by, his classmates would probably still be a bit uneasy around him. The teachers who were just as uneasy would probably still be watching him for any minute hint that he'd go off like he did at U.S.J.

Izuku thought that he'd probably be more worried about these things if he was back in elementary. The fact that the kids back then had constantly berated him for his quirklessness probably wouldn't have changed all too much even if he did demonstrat to them his acquisition of his quirk - however late it was. The point of the matter was that the seed of his inferiority had already been planted; he'd be hard pressed to believe that kids that age would change their interactions with him just on a whim

Izuku knew that now, but at the same time he knew that that early environment was what probably shaped the way his psyche was today, with him afraid of how his bugs would make others think of him.

Izuku had thought he'd grown out of it, with the early support of Manga and Mei. All Might's nonchalance to his quirk furthered that prospect, even.

But the fear of rejection and isolation crept back up on him when he realized what was happening on Friday. Sure, he'd still have people like Manga, Pony, and Mei. Maybe even Tsu, or Mineta if his cluelessness was to be counted on.

But Yaoyorozu 's talk to him last Friday eased his worries somewhat. The thought that the people he'd be spending the next three years around, hating or even fearing him? It scared him. Yaoyorozu's insurances that the scenario wouldn't come to pass was relief to Izuku's ears.

But after he thought it over, on his train rides to Kanagawa, he realized how unlikely it would be for his classmates to change over the course of the weekend. They probably would stay the same, acting uneasily around him, unless a who—

"Midoriya!"

The exclamation spooked Izuku, the startled boy backing away. He was so deep in his thoughts that he neglected to pay attention to his connection with his bugs. It barely even registered to him that he wasn't already at his classroom door. Such inattentiveness would not a good habit if he wanted to—

"Midoriya."

Izuku looked at the voice's origin. It was Ojiro.

"Look… I'm sorry for the way I acted last Friday."

Huh?

"I... wasn't really all too well, considering recent events. U.S.J. was still pretty fresh in my mind and.. So were the bugs. I was a bit freaked out, if I'm to be honest. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

Izuku stood in place, blinking, taking in the boy in front of him. "Uhm… It's— It's no problem, Ojiro-san. Thank you, though. I'm relieved, in a way."

Sato cutted in then, the boy holding out a tray of breakfast sweets to Izuku. "I'm sorry as well, Midoriya. I wasn't just to act so cold to you on Friday. Take this as a part of my apology, I made breakfast for everyone, and I still have plenty leftover. Oh! And be ready for tomorrow, too. I have some more food to make in mind to display how sorry I am."

"There's— there's really no need for such a thing Sato-san. I already have—"

"Nonsense, Midoriya. I'm truly apologetic for my actions. My baking is another extension of how sorry I am."

Ashido was next, appearing in front of Midoriya. "I really am sorry too! I don't have any food for you like Sato-san does, but I'm still sorry! I wasn't really thinking on Friday." Ashido pulled Izuku into a hug, further confounding the already startled boy. "Please forgive me?"

"I— Al… Alright, Ashido-san."

"Yeah!" exclaimed the pink girl. "Let's put this all behind us, yeah?" She nodded, walking back to her desk.

Once Izuku regained his senses, he found a gathered trio of Hagakure, Sero, and Kaminari

"We're sorry too," Hagakure admitted in quiet manner.

"Yeah… I acted rather… cold last Friday," muttered Sero.

Kaminari nodded, though stayed silent.

"It's, uh, really alright guys," Izuku said, rubbing the back of his head. The rapid-fire apology train was definetely getting to him. "Like you said, just lingering effects from U.S.J, right?"

"Yeah. So—"

"Stop blocking up the doorway!" came the sudden and abrupt voice of Bakugo. "You extras and Deku here should move out of the way!"

Izuku sighed. He began walking back to his desk, nodding to the gathered trio of Hagakure, Sero, and Kaminari as he passed them. He didn't care to acknowledge Bakugo, instead complying with his demands. He didn't need the morning ruined with an irate ex-childhood best friend getting in his business.

As he found his desk, Izuku quirked an eyebrow when he found Sato's sweets from before atop it. He looked up to Sato, who was nodding at him, giving him the go-ahead to splurge himself. Izuku nodded back in appreciation.

As he sat, grabbing and nibbling at one of the tarts - blueberry, with all its gooey goodness - he looked over a Koda. The boy seemed more relaxed, unlike last Friday when he'd been basically shivering by sharing the room with Izuku. While he may not have confronted Izuku himself, it was to be expected considering his shy nature. Izuku mentally checked off that he was acting back to normal as well. If anything, the only ones he was still unsure of was Hagakure, Sero, and Kaminari. But such things would be worried about later.

Izuku took another bite of his tart, savoring the taste. Sato really knew how to bake.

By the end of the day, Izuku came to appreciate his classmates' reversion to normalcy. The lack of cold stares and shuddering really did a lot to ease his mind, even if teachers like Present Mic and Cementoss were still acting like he had some sort of fuse like Bakugo did.

But of course, his newfound relief was met with another snag by the time the still-completely bandaged Aizawa mentioned the upcoming Sports Festival. The day really was filled with too much general confusion for one jumpy vigilante to handle.

Izuku's bugs had picked up a huge bundle of activity outside the classroom's door as he went to leave for the day. Analysis over the commotion revealed a whole crowd of students were hanging around out there, as if waiting to confront the first person to walk out of class 1-A.

"Midoriya-kun, is something wrong?" asked Uraraka. The rest of the class too noticed his abrupt stop before the exit.

"No, not exactly," Izuku responded. "It's just— Well, there's a whole crowd of people outside."

"A crowd?" asked Kirishima. "Any idea what for?"

He tilted his head. "Don't know… Why don't we find out?"

As he opened the door, Izuku was met with the faces of various students from all around campus. However, those most prominent seemed to be around his age group, notably from class 1-B next door. In fact, his bugs spotted Manga and Pony far off in a corner.

Izuku took his time to glance at all the gathered students, refraining from speaking a single word in an effort to gauze their reactions. However, before any progress could be done, Izuku sensed the incoming form of Bakugo approaching his rear, steadily advancing to the class's exit.

"Get out of the way, Deku," the boy ordered.

"No," Izuku spoke.

Bakugo's face twitched. "What the fuck did you—"

Izuku's bugs filtered out from his hair, the few flying ones present buzzing angrily at Bakugo.

Many of the gathered students visibly jumped at the sudden appearance of the insects. Some, who had recognized Izuku's quirk as the one which ceased the cafeteria stampede last week, merely recoiled in surprise. One purple haired student quirked an eyebrow, intrigue evident in his face.

"You can go around," Izuku spoke to Bakugo. "There's plenty of space."

Bakugo audibly growled, but made no move to argue. Instead, he met shoulders with Izuku, shoving him to the side before departing into the crowd.

Crisis averted, Izuku recalled his bugs back into his hair, laying his attention back to the gathered students. "So… To what do I owe the pleasure of all of you coming here?" hw spoke in a polite voice.

Nobody moved at first, somewhat intimidated by the boy before them. However, a certain purple-haired student took the initiative and walked in front of Izuku.

Before the boy could so much as open his mouth, Izuku held out a hand in greeting. "Izuku Midoriya, pleasure to meet you."

The boy took a pause, looking at the offered hand, then back to Izuku's face. After a few moments, he shook it. "Hitoshi Shinso, General Studies. I came here under the assumption that 1-A was filled with a bunch of self-entitled brats. So far, first impressions seem to be proving me right."

"Ah, that's just Bakugo being Bakugo," combatted Izuku. "He's always been like that. My apologies if he soured initial introductions. I hope that you'll come to think of us differently from now?"

"Hm. We'll have to wait and see." He took a glance at the rest of 1-A. "You know, some of us enrolled into U.A. hoping to get in Hero Studies, only to be forced to fall back onto other options. Depending on the results that some of us receive during the Sports Festival, it's possible for us to be transferred into the hero course."

"Meaning what?" asked Mineta, further back in the class."

Shinso eyed the boy. "Meaning, I wouldn't get too carried away if I were you, since the school can just as easily transfer students from the hero course out."

A few of those in 1-A shivered at the prospect.

"That's good to know," Izuku said.

Shinso glanced back to Izuku, tilting his head in observation. "Good day, Midoriya." Izuku nodded a farewell.

As Shinso left, another student took the crowd's attention, albeit with a more aggressive manner this time. "Hey! What's to say that the rest of you aren't like that Bakugo guy?! He seemed like a real jerk! And you don't seem any better!"

"You don't know Bakugo like I do, I assure you," Izuku retorted. "And most of my class is unlike him, despite recent events that may influence such an attitude."

Before the boy could retort back, another came in to view. This time, it was a boy Izuku recognized easily, given his blond hair.

"I'd like to believe that you 1-A idiots are just a bunch of lucky glory hounds, riding off of their sudden claim to relevance. If that Bakugo guy is any sort of example, I'm sure that the rest of you are not far off." Monoma then turned to Izuku, hastily coming to praise him. "Except you, Midoriya-kun. If anything, you are the exception. I can only hope that your greatness can rub off on the rest of your classmates. Perhaps then they'd be a little bit more— Gah!"

"Monoma," scolded an orange-haired girl. She'd hit Monoma, stopping him in the middle of his rant, and was currently holding him by the collar. "Sorry about him. I've come to think that there's a hole where his heart should be."

"Kendo…" Monoma whined.

"Come on." The girl — named Kendo, apparently — proceeded to drag off the dejected Monoma.

Unfortunately, Monoma didn't seem to be last wanting to have a go at 1-A. A few more students noted their declarations against the class, spouting out their own anger or jealousy.

Izuku decided to leave after the second additional student's rant of 1-A riding off of the coattails of the U.S.J. attack. Izuku said his farewell to his fellow 1-Aers, departing with little spectacle. Iida and Uraraka followed after Izuku shortly after, and the two joined up with the already retreating backs of Pony, Manga, and Izuku.

Chapter 17: Circus

The next two weeks were a mix of experiences to Izuku. The day after that whole crowd had gathered outside of 1-A, All Might had found Izuku out in the halls and apologised for not being able to confront him sooner. All Might then went on to praise Izuku for his actions at U.S.J., but did so while also scolding him for being so brash and reckless against the villains.

Izuku appreciated the thought, especially the fact that All Might was treating him as he usually did. All Might didn't shiver, didn't give any cold glares, and didn't avoid him as best as he could. Instead, he had purposely sought out Izuku with his own will. Though, whether that was due to All Might being used to Izuku's quirk via his previous encounters with the boy, or just his general forgiving attitude towards things was anyone's guess.

The curt meeting was left off with All Might telling Izuku not to over exert himself, and another apology for not being there for 1-A when the villains initially attacked. Izuku responded in kind by telling All Might that it wasn't his fault, reminding him that he had run out of time for [One for All] that day. All Might did a double take at that, a look of confusion appearing on his face, which slowly morphed into realization.

As per usual, All Might laughed it off with his signature smile, and bidded Izuku a good day. Izuku looked on, somewhat baffled at All Might's reaction.

Had be forgotten that day on the roof?

Izuku supposed that it didn't manner in the end. Not at all.

Both of them had left that discussion in good regard anyhow. And both had left in somewhat higher spirits than they were in before.

Classroom antics of 1-A were mostly back to normal, albeit with the still present - however unnoticeable it was - tension towards Izuku. While people like Ashido had reverted back to her bubbly self around Izuku, or someone like Sato had spent his own time baking Izuku a cake, there were still those who were still apprehensive with his presence.

Sero had somewhat come out of his shell, making curt comments to Izuku when needed, but that was where the progress ended. Izuku could somewhat tell that the swarm at U.S.J. was still a sore spot for Hagakure, given her still reserved nature around him.

Kaminari was the worst of the bunch, avoiding Izuku's gaze and doing all he could to avoid conversation with him. It was noticeable enough that even Aizawa had scolded Kaminari for it during one assignment that required the whole class to participate and interact with one another.

But Izuku didn't let such things bother him. Like Yaoyorozu had said, he just needed to give time for his disgruntled to get over the fact that he amassed swarms of bugs with his quirk. In the meantime, Izuku found himself having to work his usual schedule around to fit his newfound responsibilities as Class Representative. This, unfortunately, also came with the problem of finding time to train for the upcoming Sports Festival.

Thus, Izuku went to arrange his schedule differently for the time being. With most of the remnant Yakuza in Musutafu having gone underground, Izuku decided that he could cut down on his efforts to walk around the city to report crime.

He spent a little less time helping Mei with her inventions - such as her Hover Soles that she was fine tuning for the festival - much to her chagrin. However, the promise that it was only temporary until after the Sports Festival let Izuku get away with the idea (even if the end result required more guinea pig time with her).

And so, after two weeks of juggling around his time with schoolwork, training with Kawabata-sensei in his dojo, and inventing with Mei, Izuku found himself trained to his current best. And before he knew it, the sports festival was just around the corner.

A lot more people had come to the Sports Festival than Izuku had expected. Granted, he should have expected such a high headcount given the notoriety of the Sports Festival. The event was known throughout the country, being broadcasted to every television in Japan. He supposed that he had somewhat underestimated how much the populace had cared for the event.

Around him, his fellow classmates were in varying degrees of anxiety and/or determinedness.

Some, like Ashido — or Uraraka who was trailing along — were amping themselves up by doing stretches and spewing out encouraging chants to the others.

Others were a bit more reserved, like the despondent Todoroki or the off-to-the-side Shoji and Tokoyami.

Izuku himself wasn't exactly doing all too much in the waiting room at the moment, instead honing his connection to all the bugs in his three block sphere of influence.

Then again, people probably didn't want to disturb him due to the increase of bugs in his immediate vicinity, especially those who were still a bit jumpy in his presence.

Since everyone else was still engaging in their own little rituals before the event, whether calming their own nerves down or finding their concentration, Izuku decided start another activity of his own. Multitasking was still a thing, after all.

Izuku decided to entertain himself with his bugs, going out to survey the masses with his trusty army of millions. The Sports Festival really held up to its name, given the variety of people that had gathered to watch the event. Prominent business tycoons, famous celebrities, budding politicians, and the like.

One particular discovery had Izuku taking in a double take at what he saw. The eyes of his flies were met with the unfortunate presence of Renjiro Isoshi. Somehow, even in the light of such a spectacular event, the man had maintained his grumpy-looking face that Izuku had known him for. If Izuku were to take a guess, the principal was probably here to cheer on his prized pupil — Katsuki Bakugo, of course — so he could gloat to his colleagues about how he'd brought up such an exemplary student at his school.

After all, despite the fact that he had called both Izuku and Bakugo to his office to celebrate their U.A. acceptances, he had spent the entire time focused on Bakugo. The stern principal still had shown bias and shortsightedness when the facts were dangled in front of him.

The sight of the man should have really put a hamper in his mood, but another recent discovery took his attention instead. Just five rows down and fifteen seats across from Renjiro Isoshi sat a rather familiar mop of greying hair. Izuku really shouldn't have been surprised, all things considered. And so, Izuku sent some bugs in that direction, planning to form a bug clone so he could say hello.

Well, that is, until a certain purple-balled haired boy interrupted Izuku.

"Hey, Midoriya. You all ready for the Sports Festival?"

Izuku turned to look at the voice. "Hmm. I suppose that I am. How about you?"

"You betcha!" Mineta replied. "In fact, I have this little plan in mind for later. It involves cheerleaders and—"

"Mineta," came the stern voice of Izuku.

Mineta went to open his mouth again, but stopped himself at the last second. "Fine, fine. Oh alright. I'll just find somebody else to help me then."

As Mineta walked away, he prepared himself to form up his bugs again. However, yet another interruption came up before he could do just that.

"Bakugo. Iida. Midoriya. Tokoyami. Yaoyorozu," came the voice of Shoto Todoroki. The people he named looked over at his direction. This single moment was the most first he'd specifically sought anyone out, after all. Most he had ever talked, even.

"With the way things have been so far," Todoroki continued, "I see you five as the most powerful and resourceful in our class."

"Why, thank you To—" Iida went on, before being interrupted by Todoroki.

"But looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than any of you. And therefore, I am going to beat all of you."

"Ha! Yeah right, Half-n-Half. You better give a good fight! But don't count on Deku on doing so. He'll probably be beat in the first round!"

Todoroki didn't respond to that, walking away instead. Izulu, too, chose to ignore Bakugo's taunt. Izuku instead spoke out to the boy who had essentially declared war on his classmates.

"Todoroki." Said boy stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder.

"Good luck with that," Izuku spoke. "I'll be aiming to beat you too." Even if such a thing is unlikely to occur.

As before, Todoroki didn't respond. And Izuku was fine with that.

The announcement that signified the start of the Sports Festival rung not too long after that, and class 1-A joined the rest of the first years on their way to the field.

Present Mic's voice filled the stadium, setting up the mood for what was going to no doubt be a spectacular event. But Izuku didn't really care about that. He had other priorities than to listen to the entomophobic pro hero. Instead, he formed one of his bug clones up in the audience.

"Hello, sensei."

"Ah! Midoriya! I was wondering if you'd notice me," said Kage Kawabata.

A few people around Kawabata recoiled in surprise at the sudden appearance of a figure made entirely of bugs. A few even voiced their own comments upon seeing it.

"Wow! Is that quirk from one of the students down below?"

"What? Are you kidding? That's disgusting."

"Eww. That sends chills up my spine."

"He controls bugs? So cool!"

"Are we sure he ain't a villain?"

Izuku brushed off what he heard. "But of course, sensei. What kind of student would I be if I didn't recognise my teacher?"

"A shoddy one, that's for sure."

The bug clone laughed. But, it soon stopped, Izuku remembering something else."Again, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to go to the dojo as often as before."

Kawabata tsked. "Nonsense, Midoriya. You got a lot on your plate. Didn't you tell me that you became Class Rep for your class?"

"Well, yeah. But that doesn't excuse—"

"Midoriya, I don't mind if your school activities take up our time. You're still a teenager, after all. Besides, you've already grown far and wide beyond my expectations. You've been developing in your own ways for a long time now. And there isn't much an old man like me can teach you by this point."

"I—"

And don't bother coming to the dojo this week. You've earned yourself a break with how far you've come."

"... Thank you, sensei. I'll see you later."

"Mhm. Just try not to hurt yourself as much as you did at U.S.J."

Izuku found himself back within the crowd of students, Bakugo up at the podium digging 1-A into a hole he had dug all those weeks ago.

Izuku straightened himself out, eyes focused forward. The first round was about to start.

The entirety of U.A.'s first year class was waiting just before the starting gate of the obstacle race. Many of the people present were muttering amongst themselves. It was perfect for Izuku and some of his friends to talk before the first round started.

"Are all of you ready for this?" Manga asked.

Pony nodded, somewhat withdrawn due to the suffocating presence of everyone around her. She was sticking close to Mei.

Izuku and Mei, on the other hand, responded in-sync with words of 'yes' in confirmation.

"I don't know. I haven't done something like this before. It's kinda nerve-racking, you know?" admitted Uraraka.

"Ha! You think this is nerve-racking?" said Manga. "You should try being Mei's guinea pig some time."

"What's that like?" asked Uraraka.

"You don't want to know," said Izuku.

"Oh, I don't know. I could use another test subject if she's interested," said Mei.

"I, uh…" She looked at the rapidly shaking head of Izuku. "Heh. Probably not."

Mei harrumphed. "Suit yourself. You don't know what you're missing."

"You really, really don't want to know," said Manga."

As his friends talked among themselves, Izuku set to task of placing a single insect on anyone around him that could be considered a potential threat. This included people like Bakugo and Todoroki, or 1-B students like Honenuki or Shiozaki due to their insanely potent quirks. Others like Mei were also included since Izuku knew how dangerous she could be when she had a whole bunch of her gadgets on her person.

Izuku then looked forward, past the starting gate, studying the cramped, concrete corridor ahead of him. "It's going to be a free-for all when that gate lights up, just so you know. And by the looks of that corridor, the first test will be right after the gate."

"What do you mean?" asked Uraraka.

Izuku smirked, covering himself in a veil of his bugs that covered his entire body. "You'll see."

Manga shivered a bit. "Dang it, man! Give us a little warning before you do that!"

"Heh. Sorry."

"Somehow, I don't think you are," mused Manga.

Izuku merely shrugged his shoulders in indifference.

The lights on the gate began to fade, three lights falling to two, two lights fading into one, until—

"START!"

The stampede of students immediately filled up the hallway. The giant fumbling mass of people clumped together, pushing and shoving one another in a desperate act to get to the front. Izuku however, was getting through the crowd a little more easily than others. The giant swarm of insects surrounding his body seemed to be quite effective at warding off his contenders. Most of the students avoided him like a plague, sliding around his form and pushing others to stray further away from him.

Huh, avoiding me like the plague. Technically, they aren't too far off when you consider all the viruses that these bugs carry inside of th—

One of his bugs suddenly became victim to a sudden flash freezing, a little up ahead from where Izuku was. He noted that the bug was the one on Todoroki, which proba—

Izuku searched with his bugs, and surprisingly found Mei just behind him, using his swarm as a deterrent to other students. She was trailing right behind him, falling close behind with little care for the bugs. She advanced in his shadow in a way that most wouldn't be so comfortable with, a factor Izuku found possible since Mei had gotten used to his bugs long ago. Smart move.

Izuku abruptly turned, uncovering himself of his bugs — sending them out of the tunnel — and grabbed for a surprised Mei. He needed her here at the moment if he didn't want to get holed up in this suffocating hallway as a snowman. "Hover soles! Launch up!" he yelled.

"Wha—"

"Just do it!"

Izuku hugged Mei body, ensuring that he would launch up as she did.

The boots weren't designed for sustained flight, but rather acted as a form of levitation. That didn't mean that there wasn't any power behind the thrusters, however, since another feature allowed for an enhanced jump height if used correctly. It was that capability that Izuku was counting on.

A giant wave of ice and cold filled the hallway, trapping many of the students who weren't able to react fast enough. But the few seconds of upward movement spared Izuku and Mei from the freeze. As soon as the duo touched upon the ground, Izuku let go of Mei and sped forward. "Thanks Mei!"

Mei followed her friend after a second or so of confusion, shutting the engines on her Hover Soles off to conserve their power. Pony and Uraraka, on the other hand, were waiting on Manga's heating words to thaw them out of the ice.

Zooming ahead, Izuku took notice of the upcoming robots with a couple bugs he sent on ahead of his stead. Those too met the icy wrath of Todoroki as an entire Zero-Pointer became encased in Todoroki's quirk. The heterochromatic boy continued on with ease.

Izuku had to adapt to a different approach, lacking any efficient ways to take down the robots without his equipment. Bare fisted attacks would leave him with battered and broken, while chewing through the robots' wires would take too much time. As such, Izuku adapted an evasion-based tactic, using his superior speed and smaller form to dodge the bulky robotic obstacles.

It was immensely easy to predict their movements, the hulking masses shifting around so much air and weight that his insects had plenty of time to warn Izuku of any potential danger. It wasn't long before he strode past the robotic danger zone and was met with the next obstacle.

The giant earthen terrain consisted of an immense drop, so far down that you couldn't see the bottom. Giant pillars of rock strutted around the landscape, various wires spread out between them, connecting them together like some sort of spider's web.

A little upways ahead, he could spot Todoroki icing the wires and riding over them. Off the top of his head, Izuku held no immediate shortcuts to traverse such an obstacle like Todoroki had done so. So, he did the best thing that he could: he went along with it. And so, Izuku made his slow crawl along the underside of the wires.

Bakugo flew over not long after Izuku began his crawl across the first wire. The explosion-oriented boy had caught up with Todoroki, even, the two making an obvious bid for first place. If Izuku were to guess, the boy was probably only took until now to catch up because he got caught up destroying robots.

Suddenly, another shadow passed right over his head. "Bye Izuku!" exclaimed Mei as she passed over Izuku, utilizing a combined use of her Wire Arrow and her Hover Soles. Izuku himself was barely halfway past the third wire, having maybe two or so more to go. Others like Shoji was taking immense leaps to glide across the outcroppings of earth, and Iida using his engines to perform a rudimentary balancing act. Eventually, Izuku made his way across, and sped his way to meet up with the others ahead of him.

He stopped, however, when he stumbled upon the last obstacle. It seemed to be a minefield, complete with mines that emitted a pink, launching gust of force on those who stepped on them if the person that flew past him was any indication. Izuku scouted ahead with his bugs.

All the way up in the front, Todoroki and Bakugo were butting heads. Both had devolved to the simple exercise of running; Todoroki's quirk was too destructive and would set off the mines, and Bakugo couldn't keep up his explosion-propelled flight forever.

1-B's aces weren't too far behind; Shiozaki was utilizing her vines to upend the mines and find her way around them, while Honenuki liquified the ground as he advanced, rendering the mines useless.

I could try tiptoeing my way around the mines. The indentions in the ground aren't too difficult to see, but one wrong one or misdirected look could send me sprawling all the way bac— That's it!

Izuku took a single bug a slowly placed lowered it onto one of the indentions on the ground. As the bug landed, no change of force was indicated, and the mine hadn't gone off. Ha-ha! It works!

Izuku went surrounding setting bugs on all the indentions ahead of him in a straight line, utilizing an aerial view to ensure he didn't miss one single mine. Iida had passed him while he was doing this, as did Tokoyami, but he paid no heed to their advancements. By the time Izuku was done, all the mines immediately in his planned trajectory were accounted for and completely covered, his connections to his bugs strong as ever.

With that, Izuku sprung forward, deftly moving his feet in all the spots absent of his swarm. With his connection to his bugs, he didn't even need to physically look at gis bugs. Izuku could easily pinpoint his path ahead of him, avoiding any of the mines that would risk his placement just by sensing for his bugs' positions. Of course, he lifted off the bugs behind him as he went — didn't want to give anyone else the upper hand, after all.

The round culminated for Izuku as he passed the finish gate, panting anxiously. He looked at the scoreboard; he'd made i—

Wait a minute… Izuku skimmed the scoreboards. Todoroki... Shiozaki... Tokoyami… That other guy... a couple others... Izuku blinked in disbelief. That leaves me in… 11th place... Again!?

Alright! Who the heck is rigging my scores?!