Chapter 30: Brackets
Both Ojiro and Shoda told Midnight they didn't want to be in the finals, and were as such replaced by Shiozaki and Tetsuetsu. After that, Midnight explained the final round, and the matchups between everyone were released.
Kendo Itsuka vs. Uraraka Ochaco
Yaoyorozu Momo vs. Shiozaki Ibara
Jirou Kyoka vs. Iida Tenya
Bakugou Katsuki vs. Todoroki Shouto
Shinsou Hitoshi vs. Kirishima Eijiro
Sero Hanta vs. Ashido Mina
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu vs. Kaminari Denki
Aoyama Yuga vs. Midoriya Izuku
Izuku looked on with relief. Bakugou was in a completely different bracket from him, meaning they wouldn't need to fight unless it was in the finals. Same with Todoroki. In fact…
"Todoroki's starting out fighting Bakugou!?" Kaminari said. "Geez. That fight's really gonna be something."
"And you'll have to fight the winner!" Mineta cheerfully informed Iida.
"Oh," Iida said, suddenly sounding a little worried. "Well, I'll do my best."
"I'm sure you'll do great Iida," Uraraka said, pumping her fist. "Take 'em out!"
"Let's give it our all, mon ami!" Aoyama declared, with a little twirl, glancing at Izuku.
Ah, yes. Aoyama was his first fight.
If he won, after that he'd have to fight either Kirishima or Kaminari. Both Kirishima and Kaminari were pretty strong, so that was a bit worrying… and he didn't really have a direct plan against Aoyama's quirk, so he'd have to come up with one right now… lucky he was going last.
Ojiro, strangely, dragged Kirishima away whispering some kind of advice. Was it because Ojiro was on the purple guy's team and Kirishima's match is against purple guy? Is he giving some kind of advice against him?
Izuku shrugged to himself. He could worry about him later. For now, he needed to prepare himself for his Aoyama fight.
"Alright everyone! Fifteen minutes until our first match, Uraraka vs. Kendo!" Midnight yelled, cracking her whip.
"I need to go prepare for my match," Uraraka said.
"And I should do the same," Iida said.
"Good luck," Izuku said sincerely.
"Thank you!"
The three split up, his two friends going off towards each of their respective break rooms. Izuku idly walked towards the student stands, deciding to watch some of the other matches so he could strategize against their quirks.
And in the meantime, Izuku just had to prepare for beating Aoyama…
Aizawa was in the staff break room, putting his things together before he had to go back to narrate the regular Sports Festival matches. Kan was there, too, vigorously filling out some kind of paperwork.
"Not many 1-B students passed, huh," Aizawa said, absently. It was more a commiseration than a barb.
Still, Kan's eyes flashed with anger. "Yeah, you must think that's hilarious," he snapped.
Aizawa was a little taken aback.
"I didn't mean it like that," Aizawa said. "Your class this year just got unlucky."
Aizawa would probably attribute 1-B's loss to excellent 1-A strategies and their own poor choice to split into so many tiny groups rather than a few large ones. Regardless, he got the sense that saying that right now wouldn't help.
Kan's eyes got a little bit softer. "Ah, I see." He went back to papers.
Still, something didn't sit right about the whole situation.
"I don't want this rivalry to get too serious," Aizawa said. "I want your class to succeed too."
Kan's frown got deeper. "Hm."
Aizawa was about to say something else, when the bell rang, signifying that the next match would begin in ten minutes. He had to leave. Kan knew this too.
"You have somewhere to be," Kan said. And though he didn't look as mad as he had before, the hostility wasn't completely gone from his eyes.
Aizawa gave Kan a short bow, hoping that Kan would let go of whatever grudge he was holding, and went to walk back to the announcing booth. When he got there, Hizashi sprang out of his seat to greet him.
"It's so good you're here! You were almost late!"
Aizawa gestured to the clock. "I still have ten minutes."
"Still! I thought you'd be back sooner!"
Aizawa shrugged. "I stopped by the teachers' lounge to say hi to Kan."
Hizashi did another one of those strange twitches he had earlier.
Aizawa tilted his head slightly and frowned.
Hizashi's mouth widened in an odd grin. "Well, you're here now! Let's get ready for announcing the third round!"
"Okay," Aizawa said. It would probably be better to ask Hizashi what was bothering him after the Sports Festival was finished.
Kendo and Uraraka squared off, having a miniature martial arts showdown. Uraraka threw a punch at Kendo, but Kendo dodged easily and sent Uraraka flying with a kick. Kendo was the better martial artist, but if Uraraka could make contact with Kendo once by palm strike, she could use her quirk to immobilize Kendo and finish the match.
The matches would replay later. He needed to investigate Sparklebright.
Those are my students! They're doing so well!
Nedzu tapped his paw on the desk a few times. Focus! You just need to look at her quirk…
He tapped on his computer, hacking into Sparklebright's previous quirk records. It was easy enough, and soon enough he was looking at the history she had with her quirk. And it was certainly odd. Her quirk had originally been registered as Sparkle, a quirk that allowed her to form multi-colored sparks (as far as he could tell that's what it had been when she'd gone through hero school at Shiketsu) but a few days ago it had been quietly changed to Dark Reflection. She must have updated her quirk forms.
Did that imply she'd gotten her new quirk not long ago?
More evidence that All for One was alive, if he was handing out quirks left-and-right at this stage.
So now he just needed to-
Uraraka, despite having been a punching bag for the beginning of the match, managed to land a solid hit on Kendo. Kendo lifted off the ground due to Zero Gravity, and so now was unable to move. It counted as a win for Uraraka.
Yesyes perfect--
No! Focus!
He needed… to call Tsukauchi. Yes, that would do it. Tsukauchi could take Sparklebright into custody and ask her questions to figure out what was going on. He dialled Tsukauchi.
When he answered, Nedzu immediately said, "I need you to find the hero Sparklebright and ask her questions. I have reason to believe she's been in recent contact with All for One. Ask her about what her quirk is."
Tsukauchi had already been briefed on the fact that All for One might be alive, and Nedzu knew he was eager for more information. "Of course. What brought this on?"
"Midoriya Izuku. Said her quirk was transferred," Nedzu said. "Her quirk changed from what it used to be on records, too, so we can't be sure exactly what it is right now."
"Ah, I understand. I'll get her into the station right away," Tsukauchi said. "Anything else?"
"No, that's all," Nedzu said. "Just be wary."
Tsukauchi hummed in affirmation and hung up the call.
With that, the pressure on Nedzu's mind eased. The fog clouding his mind lessened, and everything rapidly sharpened back into focus.
He sighed with relief, and turned his attention back to the Sports Festival.
"Yaoyorozu Momo wins!" Present Mic announced.
Izuku felt a little bad for Shiozaki, who scrambled off the field with her vines toasted. He'd thought that Yaoyorozu would just get thrown out by the vines without a lot of time to react, but Yaoyorozu confidently pulling a flamethrower out of her belly had changed that. She must have had time to eat for energy while Uraraka was having her match.
Luckily, Shiozaki's vines would grow back. She just needed a bit of water and sun.
"Next up, Jirou Kyoka vs Iida Tenya!"
Ah, the next match would be interesting. And by interesting Izuku meant a massacre. Without support equipment, Jirou didn't have any offensive moves, so Iida just pushed her out of the ring. The match was over quickly.
"And now we have Bakugou Katsuki, up against Todoroki Shouto!"
Everyone waited with baited breath for the match to start, Izuku included. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted Bakugou to win or Todoroki to win. Todoroki seemed more powerful as far as brute force went, but Bakugou's quirk control was second to none. Izuku knew Bakugou's strategies well, but Bakugou was scary.
The two clashed in a bright display of colors, explosions reflecting off crystals of ice. Bakugou was fully capable of smashing ice sheets or dodging them, but Todoroki was fully capable of making more. At first, Izuku wasn't sure who would win. Bakugou was skilled, but Todoroki shot more ice at him, beat for beat. It seemed like Todoroki would never slow down.
… But he was slowing down. Peering closer, Izuku noticed Todoroki shivering as he shot off more ice in an attempt to capture Bakugou.
Hypothermia, Izuku thought. A negative side effect of his quirk. He's getting too cold.
Didn't he have fire powers? Why wasn't he using them?
Izuku had perhaps thought that maybe the cold from Todoroki's ice would slow down Bakugou's sweating, but Bakugou's physical exertion, plus the warmth of his explosions, seemed to be enough to counteract it. Bakugou was rushing forward at full speed.
"He's strong, but there's no way Bakugou can top Todoroki," Sero said offhandedly, not noticing how the fight had changed in tempo. "Look at all that ice!"
Izuku didn't bother to correct him, even as Todoroki slowed down even more.
A few minutes later, one of Bakugou's explosions tossed Todoroki out of the ring.
Bakugou seemed unhappy with how easy it was. It took Midnight sharply yelling at him for him to back away from the out-of-bounds Todoroki.
Izuku sighed, frowning.
He didn't want to fight Bakugou… but he supposed that that problem was a long way away. He still needed to get to the finals before that was an actual concern.
The next match was Shinsou vs. Kirishima, but Izuku didn't stick around too much longer in the student stands to watch. His match would be happening soon, so he decided to leave and go to his pre-match room.
He knew Aoyama's quirk control wasn't the best, and that his quirk came with some pretty heavy drawbacks. Was there a way to exploit that?
Shinsou stared down Kirishima in the ring, eyes unimpressed.
"You hero types really are violent, aren't you?" he said.
Alright… I just have to say nothing! Just like Ojiro said! Kirishima though. He hardened his arms, preparing for battle.
"I mean, that explosion kid for one. Look at how he went after Todoroki," Shinsou continued, cautiously circling around the arena.
Kirishima kept his mouth glued shut, even though he disliked the way Shinsou talked about Bakugou.
"He makes you all look bad," Shinsou goaded. "He'd be a better villain than a hero, if you ask me. He's basically a savage."
Kirishima felt a flare of anger. "He's not--"
Shinsou smirked, and a strange calm washed over Kirishima. A few moments later, he found himself out-of-bounds.
"And after a thrilling match, Tetsutetsu takes the victory! Now let's see what our next competitors can do--Midoriya Izuku, class 1-As responsible president, and the gloriously shining Aoyama Yuga!" Bright light shone down on Izuku as he walked into the field, feeling half-nervous and half-confident. Aoyama stood across from him, a thrilled grin on his face.
"I love sparkling in the spotlight!" Aoyama said. "I hope we both have a chance to shine!"
"Me too," Izuku said, nodding sharply.
Let's see what you can do.
Chapter 31: Upcoming
"Aaand… start!" Midnight said, cracking her whip.
Izuku raced forward, veering to the left. Aoyama lined up his laser and blasted it in Izuku's direction. Leaping ahead in a forward roll, Izuku narrowly dodged the laser.
If I can just get behind him, he won't have a way to attack me! I just need to get close.
So he ran closer, trying to circle around Aoyama so he could take him out from behind.
This only sort of worked. The laser caught up with him and hit Izuku's arm, but it honestly didn't hurt that much. And it didn't stop him from plowing ahead.
"Not many can stand up to my laser like that, my friend! Are you sure you don't have Kirishima's quirk?" Aoyama teased.
"Aha--maybe!" Izuku called back. And, yeah, now that he was thinking about it, that hit had hurt a lot less than it should.
Is my increased VIT helping me out? I do have like fifty of that stat now…
Izuku kept running forward-left, circling, knowing he'd get hit with Aoyama's quirk if he let up even for a moment.
I didn't want anyone except the teachers to notice my multiple 'quirks'… luckily, I think Aoyama was joking with that last comment.
Izuku stumbled, and Aoyama's belly-button laser raked across his legs. He fell to the ground, but his legs were only a little singed at worst. There was no real damage. (Looks like boosting his VIT had been a good choice.) In moments, he was able to get back up.
Aoyama's eyes widened in surprise. Izuku lunged forward and tackled Aoyama before he could activate the laser again, quickly flipping him over so that he wouldn't need to take a navel laser to the stomach.
"Midoriya has Aoyama pinned! Can Aoyama escape in time?" Present Mic narrated.
"You took me off-guard, mon ami!" Aoyama said, activating the laser again. The force of it impacted with the ground, pushing them both up in the air. Izuku scrambled to get off Aoyama's back. "Someone that can withstand my laser at full blast…"
Oh boy… he's not joking now.
As Aoyama deactivated his laser to get back on his feet, Izuku swept his legs, sending him sprawling back on the ground again. This time, though, instead of trying to pin him belly-down, Izuku left him on his back, but put all his weight on Aoyama's shoulders and hips. Then, he ducked his head so that none of his body parts were out of navel-laser's range. Once this was done, all Aoyama could do was fruitlessly fire off laser beams into the sky, now unable to hit anything or properly leverage the momentum.
"He'd had him pinned for ten seconds! That means Midoriya is the winner!" Present Mic declared. The crowd cheered.
Izuku picked himself off the ground slowly, wondering if the boy would question him again.
Aoyama gave him a long look. Then, he smiled. "You're very mysterious, Midoriya," he said. "But we all are, in our own ways. I look forward to working with you."
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. "Definitely, Aoyama. It was a great fight." He offered his hand to Aoyama, who took it, and helped him up.
"An excellent display of sportsmanship," Midnight said into the mic, though she sounded a bit irritated for whatever reason. "A short break, and then it's Uraraka vs. Yaoyorozu in the second round brackets!"
Izuku glanced up at the matches listed on the scoreboard.
Round Two
Uraraka Ochako vs. Yaoyorozu Momo
Iida Tenya vs. Bakugou Katsuki
Ashido Mina vs. Shinsou Hitoshi
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu vs. Midoriya Izuku
He'd made it to the top eight! If he could win one more fight (with Tetsutetsu) then he'd get the first Sports Festival prize! Two more fights after that… well, if he won those, he'd be the First Year Sports Festival champion.
Take it one at a time Izuku, he commanded himself. Just focus on your match with Tetsutetsu. Now… what was his quirk… I think it was like Kirishima's, but I should use Observe just to be sure.
Izuku decided to watch the outcome of Uraraka and Yaoyorozu's match while he was thinking of ways to counter Tetsutetsu's quirk. As he watched Yaoyorozu go after Uraraka with a baseball bat she'd made with her quirk, he wondered idly what her title was.
Luckily, he could find out! He mentally cast Observe, and Yaoyorozu's stats popped up.
Yaoyorozu Momo -- Lvl. 24 -- Heiress
Quirk: Creation
[See Stats & Skills]
Heiress… that made sense, she was due to inherit a lot. He'd already known the rest, though her level was almost eye-poppingly high for a student. Bakugou had been Lvl. 19 around a year ago, and he himself had been high compared to his old classmates. He wondered what Bakugou's level was sitting at now.
And… now that he was looking…
Izuku mentally willed the See Stats & Skills tab to open.
He didn't expect it to work, but to his surprise, another window popped up.
VIT: 21, STR: 18, DEX: 23, INT: 31, WIS: 28, CHA: 26
Notable Skills: Biochemistry, Diplomacy, Stock Market Trading
Izuku grinned, but still was shocked. He hadn't been able to get that to work, basically ever before! Why was it working now when before it was broken?
Uraraka had gotten her hands on Yaoyorozu's bat, floating it into the upper atmosphere. While Yaoyorozu probably could have pulled out another weapon and gone out on the offensive, she hesitated, which let Uraraka get a hand on her arm. With that, and another judicious use of Float, Yaoyorozu was out of the competition. She trekked off the field looking disappointed.
Izuku felt bad for her, but he was happy for Uraraka, and he had his own fight to worry about at the moment. Plus, he'd just unlocked another subset of one of his most favorite abilities. As Uraraka was walking out, Izuku managed to get a glance of her and navigated to see her abilities as well.
Uraraka Ochako -- Lvl. 21 -- Unstoppable Force
Quirk: Zero Gravity
[See Stats & Skills]
VIT: 19, STR: 23, DEX: 24, INT: 23, WIS: 20, CHA: 28
Notable Skills: Construction, Improvisation, Friendly Conversation
Unstoppable Force was a pretty strong title! Izuku was proud of her. And she won!
As Bakugou entered the stage with Iida, Izuku winced slightly to himself and navigated backstage to his break room.
Midnight tapped her foot, waiting for the next round to start. Iida and Bakugou squared up, both having looks of determination on their faces.
Normally this would make her excited. She loved the Sports Festival and got excited about tournaments easily, one of the reasons she was chosen to announce the final round. But right now? She just felt so irritated. Everything seemed to annoy her. That stupid grin on Shinsou's face. Midoriya and Aoyama taking too long to get off the field. Yaoyorozu stupidly going for a baseball bat instead of a more sophisticated weapon that would better show off her quirk to the pros. She knew a lot of these feelings weren't really warranted but she was certainly ready for this to be over with.
Maybe it was just the crowds and noise that was bothering her. Whatever.
"Iida versus Bakugou, begin!" Midnight announced.
Bakugou recklessly threw himself at Iida, explosions backing his rapid approach. Iida pivoted to the side, and suddenly his engines were blaring blue-white flames in a way she'd never seen before. Had he been saving this secret move for the whole competition?
"Recipro Burst!" Iida yelled. In the blink of an eye, Iida swung a recipro-boosted roundhouse kick straight at Bakugou.
Bakugou probably hadn't even know that the move existed. There was nothing he could do to react, except to widen his eyes slightly.
Iida's foot slammed into Bakugou's shoulder, and from such a close position Midnight could hear a semi-worrying cracking sound. Bakugou went tumbling to the ground. The crowd went wild at the sudden turn, cheering so loudly Midnight had to strain to listen to what the students were saying to each other.
Iida stepped back a few paces. "I can see that you are quite injured! Forfeit now!"
"Like hell," Bakugou spat, drawing himself to his feet.
"Are you certain?" Iida said, and Midnight could understand why. Bakugou seemed to be protecting his injured arm, and after hearing that cracking, she was a close to calling off the match herself.
Though…
Midnight peered closer, and noticed the hesitance behind Iida's movements. Noticed how Iida's engines were sparking slightly, but fruitlessly, nothing like the exhaust that had been coming off before that point. She'd guess that his move required a recharge.
"Surrender! There is no way for you to win this fight, Bakugou," Iida said.
He was bluffing… or at least stalling. He needed time to recharge after Recipro.
Midnight saw how Bakugou's gaze locked on to Iida's engines, and then how he looked up with a smirk. He knew.
And that's why he ran forward at Iida moments later, opening with an explosion-laden swing from his uninjured arm.
Iida ducked, but a few more explosions from Bakugou meant he was easily boxed into the corner. Then, Bakugou roughly shoved him out of bounds, baring his teeth all the while. Once he had, he gave Iida a dismissive scoff. "You can't win shit if you've only got one move," Bakugou said, rudely.
Midnight felt a sharp wave of exhaustion and anger. Normally, she'd probably be sympathetic to the injured student, and consider the fact that he was lashing out because something hurt, but right now she was just mad at his impoliteness. Iida was a skilled student and didn't deserve that kind of scathing critique, even if he had made a pretty risky gambit.
"Get off the field, you two," Midnight said, abruptly.
Iida bowed quickly and Bakugou scoffed, but they both listened.
Thank God.
"Next match… Ashido versus Shinsou!"
Thirteen tapped their pen against the desk. "Have you seen Power Loader?" they asked.
Vlad King barely paid them any attention. He was scribbling in a notebook of some kind, looking completely obsessed. He didn't even acknowledge that they'd asked a question.
"Never mind," Thirteen sighed.
Ashido leapt left and right, shedding acid everywhere. The battle was slowly becoming a mass of acid puddles, and Shinsou knew he needed to wrap this up quick before he was forced out of the ring. "You may seem cute, but you're secretly dangerous, right?" Shinsou said, sidestepping another acid splash.
"Acid is destructive, you know," Shinsou taunted. "You're going to hurt someone."
Ashido looked affronted, her fists clenching as she skidded across the acid-filled field.
"I bet you only got in because of that quirk," Shinsou said. "You don't look very skilled."
Another dodge. Shinsou was locked into a corner now. It was down to the wire.
"I wonder what the Hero Commission will think when you melt the face off some poor petty thief," Shinsou said. "You're being so careless with that quirk. Does that disappoint your parents? Do you feel bad about it?"
Finally, Ashido snapped. "Shut UP !"
Shinsou grabbed hold of her mind just in time. A few seconds later, and she might have forced him out of the ring. "Leave the ring," Shinsou said, sighing when she started to move away from him. Well, he was two-for-two when it came to insulting hero students on the basis that they were dangerous. Who knew it was such an effective insult? People told him that kind of thing on the daily.
"Shinsou wins!"
"Hello?" Iida said, picking up his phone.
"Oh, Tenya!" his mother said. "I have bad news… your brother, he was injured..."
Izuku fished for Tetsutetsu's stats as they both walked on the field.
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu -- Lvl. 17
Quirk: Steel
[See Stats & Skills]
VIT: 25, STR: 25, DEX: 17, INT: 18, WIS: 23, CHA: 19
Notable Skills: Cooking, Wrestling
Okay. So Izuku had to admit he didn't have any long-range weapons, plus he wasn't nearly as strong as Tetsutetsu when he had his quirk active. Since he needed to incapacitate Tetsutetsu or get a ring-out, it was probably best to take the fight as close to the edge as he could.
So, Izuku didn't approach Tetsutetsu. He stayed back near the edge of the field, only a few paces away from being out-of-bounds.
Tetsutetsu grinned sharply. He hardened his forearms. "Good luck, Midoriya!"
Izuku nodded in response.
Tetsutetsu ran towards him at top speed, throwing a wide punch. Izuku dodged right.
His stance is too wide… he's clearly not trained in any standing martial arts… Izuku thought, remembering his hand-to-hand training from Neijire. His skill is listed as 'Wrestling'... not Takwando or anything like that!
Izuku waited for Tetsutetsu to try to attack him again. When Tetsutetsu threw another too-wide punch, Izuku pivoted backwards, grabbed his shoulder, and pushed Tetsutetsu as hard as he could. With a wobble, he went stumbling over the line.
Heroics Quest Complete!
Rewards [Hidden]: +5 stat points, +1000XP
"And the durable Tetsutetsu is no match for Midoriya!" Present Mic announced as the crowd cheered at his victory.
"Damn! I lost my balance there!" Tetsutetsu complained, stretching as he got up from the ground.
"It was a good try," Izuku said, shyly.
"Thanks," Tetsutetsu said, sighing. "Well, good luck in the semifinals."
Izuku felt a jolt of excitement.
He got more stat points-- more VIT, more spell points… or maybe he could invest them into strength-- and he was in the final four of his first Sports Festival!
Only two matches left!
Izuku glanced up at the leaderboard, which shone large and bright above them.
Round Three
Uraraka Ochako vs. Bakugou Katsuki
Shinsou Hitoshi vs. Midoriya Izuku
He'd need to face down Shinsou.
Then… depending on the performance of his friend…
Bakugou, or Uraraka.
Chapter 32: Weekend
Watching the match between Uraraka and Bakugou was heartbreaking.
In the first part of the match, she'd been losing, even though Bakugou had to be cautious of her and her quirk. This annoyed the crowd, who thought he was toying with her, but Aizawa intervened over the intercom to reprimand them for judging him like that.
Then, Uraraka had executed her plan. A brilliant plan. And then she'd lost.
Izuku sighed, frowning as he approached his break room. Right now, there was a short intermission so that everyone in the audience could get a break.
And, of course, he came face-to-face with his opponent in the halls.
Wild purple hair and sharp purple eyes stared back at him.
"So I have to fight you next, huh?" Shinsou said.
Izuku activated his quirk. He was a bit speechless, still shocked he ran into his opponent like this.
Shinsou Hitoshi -- Lvl. 16
Quirk: Brainwashing
[See Stats & Skills]
VIT: 20, STR: 15, DEX: 16, INT: 26, WIS: 24, CHA: 16
Notable Skills: Studying, Voice Imitation, Insults
Shinsou scowled. "Quiet, huh? Did you find out from Ojiro?"
When Izuku only tilted his head, his scowl deepened. "You can't think I'd attack you in some random hallway, right?"
"Umm, I don't know what you're talking about," Izuku said. "I'm just surprised to see you…"
Shinsou's eyebrows rose. "Hm," he said. "I'm going to my break room."
Izuku tried to smile at him. "Good luck," he said.
Shinsou's eyes turned sharp. "Thanks. But I don't plan to lose."
With that, Shinsou turned away and walked out without a word.
Worried, Izuku bit into his lip as he ducked into his breakroom. It sure didn't seem like Shinsou liked him at all…
And that quirk! Brainwashing was bad. Izuku didn't have any counter to that that he knew of, but the fact that it was Shinsou's quirk made total sense. Ashido and Kirishima were both reported having walked out of the ring without a fight.
He glanced at the clock. He wished he could go to Ojiro to confirm the exact mechanisms behind his quirk… but there just wasn't time. He'd have to figure something out himself.
Luckily… Izuku had a couple of hints. One from Shinsou himself. He'd accused Izuku of being quiet because he'd thought Shinsou would attack him, and because he'd 'heard from Ojiro' about something. Was it his quirk? That implied that keeping quiet was some kind of defense.
Plus, that skill, Voice Imitation, might be involved. Maybe his quirk was voice-activated?
His mind flashed back to how that student with Hypnosis had trapped him in the closet, and he shuddered. Those deep purple eyes held so much spite, too. Damn… he wished his future opponents weren't so scary. Even if he beat this guy, he'd have to face Bakugou, who he was afraid would beat him within an inch of his life for even daring to get to the finals.
He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to do this.
How could he even beat Bakugou?
Nothing… nothing he had even came close to Bakugou's level of quirk control, his level of raw power, his tactical brilliance, his rage. All he had was healing and durability, which seemed nice but what did healing and durability matter if Bakugou could just hit him again? Panic clawed at his throat.
It'll be fine, Izuku reasoned. I have a chance. And the teachers wouldn't let the match go too far.
And yet, his anxiousness didn't go down in the slightest.
"It's your turn on the field, kid," Snipe said, poking his head in from the outside.
"U-understood, sir," Izuku said, walking out on unsteady legs.
The lights, though awe-inspiring, were just too bright. Too much. That enigmatic purple-haired opponent stood across from him, eyes half-lidded. Izuku stood stock-still, even as Midnight shouted start.
"You look kinda pale," Shinsou asked. "Are you nervous?"
Izuku opened his mouth reflexively, then closed it.
At that, Shinsou's face grew darker and angrier. "I knew you were lying about not knowing my quirk."
Izuku managed to shift back into the fighting stance that Nejire taught him.
"You act so high and mighty," Shinsou seethed. "But you have to know you got to the semifinals by coincidence. Tripping people out of bounds and shit. What makes you think you're worthy? What makes you deserve the Hero Course more than everyone else!"
Izuku didn't respond to his taunts. Shinsou wasn't approaching him, though, most likely because he was bad in a fistfight and mostly relying on his quirk for matches. All Izuku had to do was attack and overpower him with Nejire's moves. He'd probably win, and then he could enter the Finals.
"Too scared to move?" Shinsou tried, circling him like a shark. "Or do you just think I'm not worth fighting? Afraid you'll lose?"
Shinsou really wanted to win. Izuku could practically taste the desperation. He could see that Shinsou really just wanted a place in the Hero Course, wanted it more than anything.
What if he just…
No! Izuku shook the traitorous thoughts out of his head. He couldn't just… let Shinsou win, no matter how tempting it was. He had his own goals. He needed to get stronger, so he could save people with his healing and so protect himself. He couldn't do that if he let important goals pass him by!
Besides. He wanted to win. He deserved this.
Izuku sucked in a breath, and charged. Shinsou spat insults at him, swinging weak and ineffective blows, but Izuku bowled him over and pushed him down. He sat on top of Shinsou, who just didn't have enough brawn to push him off.
One ten second countdown later, Midnight called the match.
Izuku got off Shinsou, whose face was screwed up in a mixture of rage and hurt.
"I'm sorry," Izuku said. "The reason I froze in the hallway is because I was reading what your name and quirk was. That's my ability. I didn't think you would use it on me then, I was just surprised by it."
Shinsou's eyes widened in surprise. "Of course," he said, now looking a bit downtrodden. "So even if I hadn't made the mistake of blowing my cover in the early rounds..."
"I would have known," Izuku said.
He reached out a hand. Shinsou took it.
The two walked off the field, only pausing when Shinsou overheard Gen Ed students in the stands talking about how cool he'd been. With disappointment on his face but stars in his eyes, Shinsou suddenly didn't seem so scary anymore.
Bakugou was still scary. But Izuku would handle it.
The Final Round… I can't believe I've made it this far…
Izuku realized there was one more thing he could do before his match with Bakugou. Since his VIT was at 49… he could see if turning it to 50 gave him some kind of saving grace. "One stat point to vitality," Izuku said.
[Alert! Ability: Retaliate Unlocked; Prerequisite: 50 VIT]
[Open Retaliate: Explanation?]
"Yes!" Izuku said.
[Once per day, Retaliate allows the user to decrease the someone else's HP by the amount that the user is missing. Example: A 100-HP user at 94/100 could reduce a 75-HP user to 69/75 after using Retaliate. Retaliate will still get rid of the same amount no matter what.]
Izuku blinked at the explanation. It was kind of like Counter in that old pre-quirk game. Pocket monsters, or something like that? This meant if Izuku was really damaged, he could use his quirk to hurt someone really badly.
… Wait!
"Profile," Izuku said.
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 18 -- Age: 15
HP: 500/500
Exhaustion: 42/2500
Title: Self-Sufficient
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog][Spells][Commands]
He knew that HP and Exhaustion were both based on his VIT stat. From his records of how his HP had changed, he'd noted that his HP was his raw VIT stat multiplied by ten.
Considering it was so directly correlated like that, and considering his VIT was probably monster high…
It could be even more useful.
Me only getting even a little injured could really hit someone else hard, Izuku thought. If I lose 400 HP and my opponent doesn't even have that much, Retaliate would kill them.
It sucked that he had to get injured before he used it, but it could definitely be a Hail Mary in a bad situation.
And it would probably be useful now.
His match with Bakugou would be starting soon. He'd created the beginnings of a plan before, but with this new ability Retaliate, things were truly beginning to slot into place.
Izuku puffed out a careful breath.
"Let's do this."
Izuku used Observe on Bakugou the moment he stepped out on the field. Besides the fact it was good practice for information-gathering, it was also vital to his plan.
Bakugou Katsuki -- Lvl. 24
Quirk: Explosion
[See Stats & Skills]
VIT: 23, STR: 24, DEX: 27, INT: 28, WIS: 30, CHA: 20
Some decent stats. High WIS, DEX, and an Explosion quirk could end up a deadly combination.
Regardless. 23 VIT times ten meant that Bakugou had 230 HP, about half Izuku's. Oh wow.
So if he took 230 damage and used Retaliate it would kill Bakugou… definitely didn't want to get that close… maybe removing a little bit under half his HP would be good practice?
This was his first time trying, though, and he didn't want to be too risky. He'd try to take seventy-ish damage, then he'd use Retaliate to attack Bakugou back. Because Izuku's HP was so high, taking that amount of damage would be much worse for Bakugou.
He just had to stay within the ring. If Bakugou tried to knock him out of the ring, Izuku might be screwed. He just didn't have the DEX or enough relevant abilities to stop Bakugou from knocking him out of the ring.
Bakugou's grin was feral. "Get ready to lose, Deku."
"Match, start!" Midnight called.
Bakugou ran forward and hit Izuku with an explosion. Rather than try to dodge, Izuku stood there and took it, widening his stance to avoid being thrown back.
[Alert: Damage Taken! (Type: Fire) -10HP]
Then Izuku jumped left, staying more towards the center. Bakugou took it in stride, turning around and exploding him again, this time even larger on his stomach.
[Alert: Damage Taken! (Type: Fire) -23HP]
"For hitting me with that stupid baseball!" Bakugou roared, punching him again for another 12HP.
I'm losing a normal amount of HP to these small explosions… the real reason I'm 'hyper-durable' seems to be because the amount of HP lost versus the amount of total HP I have means that these normal injuries aren't turning up on my body!
But there wasn't time to think about that right now. To keep up appearances, Izuku threw a sloppy punch at Bakugou, one that his opponent was easily able to duck while throwing an uppercut into his chin.
[Alert: Damage Taken! (Type: Blunt) -9HP]
Izuku stumbled. He was getting closer, he was nearing fifty damage right now. Bakugou just seemed to be raging at him, not really questioning his lack of bruises at his attacks.
"And Midoriya's chances seem to be in rough shape! I wonder if, like Uraraka, he has any tricks up his sleeves!" Present Mic announced as Bakugou gut-punched Izuku again.
[Alert: Damage Taken! (Type: Blunt) -22HP]
Fifty-ish plus twenty-ish... perfect! He'd do it now. Was it touch-activated?
Izuku reached forward, hoping to tap Bakugou. Bakugou was moving quickly, and Izuku ended up accidentally jabbing him in the stomach. Whatever the case, when he willed for Retaliate to begin, it happened immediately. Bakugou's breath hitched suddenly, clutching his stomach and dropping to his knees. "What--did you do--" Bakugou rasped, as bruises and light burns started to appear on his skin.
Izuku was mildly horrified by what was happening, and the expression on his face.
"It looks like Midoriya has attacked Bakugou with a devastating hit!" Present Mic called, too far away to see exactly what was going on.
Izuku snapped back into action. He grabbed Bakugou's gym uniform and started dragging him toward the edge. Bakugou seemed to snap out of it too, and he shot explosions out of both hands and out of Izuku's grip. He landed a little bit away, burns and bruises now apparent on his chin and forearms.
"What did you DO TO ME!?" Bakugou screamed.
He raced forward, flying at Izuku as quick as the eye could see.
Izuku jumped out of the way, and Bakugou launched himself out-of-bounds.
"Bakugou is out of the ring! Izuku wins!"
Izuku was stunned, even as Bakugou started growling in absolute rage.
He's probably really shaken up by getting wounds randomly… otherwise he wouldn't have been so reckless! He was so focused that he didn't prepare for a sudden stop…
So Izuku had used Retaliate to win, just not in the way he'd anticipated. He'd surprised Bakugou into losing.
"Now we have Midoriya Izuku… our Sports Festival champion!" Present Mic called over the intercom, to the cheers of the crowd.
Heroics Quest Complete!
Rewards [Hidden]: +15 stat points, +10000XP, Title "Sports Festival Champion"
[ALERT! Level up! You are now Lvl. 19!]
Izuku looked at the rewards in shock. This had to have been the highest amount of stuff he'd gotten after any quest ever--
"You-" Bakugou's snarl interrupted his train of thought. When Izuku turned to look at him, he saw that Bakugou was breathing harshly, staring at him without saying a word. His hands were curled into fists, and he looked two seconds away from decking Izuku right then and there.
"Keep it together, Bakugou," Midnight snapped, sounding completely unlike her usual friendly self. Izuku appreciated it, though, because once she said that to him Bakugou clenched his teeth and shouted something about dirty tricks before stomping away.
Well, he wasn't wrong… like Shinsou had said, all of his strategies had been tripping people out of bounds or something stupid like that. Dirty tricks and tanking hits is how he'd climbed up the ranks in the Sports Festival, but it was all he had.
But as he was ushered up onto the podium, Izuku couldn't help feeling festive and proud of himself. A little bit later, someone managed to get Bakugou up on the second-place podium with him (though it took a good ten minutes and a lot of shouting) and Izuku got to give Uraraka and Shinsou (sharing the third-place podium) a little wave from the top.
Then All Might, All Might HIMSELF, handed him a medal. Izuku almost passed out on the podium. Even Bakugou's anger melted a little to reveal awe at the sight of him. Since the two had never had him for classes, the only time they'd seen him was after the Sludge Villain Incident and when All Might had fought the Nomu at the USJ. And Bakugou, while not as obvious, was almost as hero-worshipping as Izuku.
I won, Izuku thought, a bit hysterical. I won!
Izuku walked off the stage, staring at his new medal, very happy. Uraraka trailed after him, chatting up a storm, clutching her own third-place medal with excitement. It was a shame that Iida had lost in the second round, but his showing in the first had been super impressive! Neither of them were sure where he'd gone, though.
For now, Izuku got to head home to tell his mom all about it! Though he knew she'd been watching on TV. Oh! And he had to thank those third-years who helped him train, Neijire's moves had been vital to his victory, and he had to look at all his stats--
Though he could just do that in a corner on the train!
Once Urarka had left him, Izuku said "stats" and started looking at the situation.
VIT: 50, STR: 18, DEX: 21, INT: 50, WIS: 50, CHA: 22
Unallotted Stat Points: 24
Twenty-four points was a serious amount. If he put it all into VIT, he'd have enough spell points to get Heal Major Wounds, which would be incredible. It wouldn't be enough to help Mirio (he'd probably need Minor Regeneration at the very least to be able to ) but he couldn't deny that major wounds healing would come in handy in general. It was also something he could probably explain with his previous abilities. Call it 'regenerating himself turned outwards' or something of the like.
But that really was sinking all his stats in one area… this amount of stat points could give him a serious boost in DEX or STR, which would have been great for the Sports Festival. But he didn't have a way to explain boosts in those stats quite yet.
Izuku shook his head and sighed. He'd decide at a later date. Now…
"Title, Sports Festival Champion," Izuku said.
Sports Festival Champion: If more than fifty people are watching the user, they receive a temporary +50 STR boost.
Izuku's eyes widened. This… if he was in a crowded area (or he became a famous hero with a lot of people to watch his fights) this would be great . +50 was no paltry amount of STR, it was like double all he had. He'd have to be sure to equip the title if he knew lots of people were watching one of his fights. And, he'd think over where to put his stats over the weekend.
He was also excited to see Aizawa on Monday (it was Saturday today) since he'd actually have something that the man could be proud of! Speaking of…
"Relationships," Izuku said, as he got to his house. He looked down the list, happy to see that most of them had improved slightly (with the exception of Bakugou, who had of course gotten seriously worse) and that Aizawa's new relationship was +17, Impressed.
Izuku got the sense that Aizawa was tough to impress, so he was proud that he'd managed to do it, if only for a little while.
But there was something else that was super weird.
Nedzu. Rep +???. [An exception has occurred. Please wait. Status Loading…]
A little loading symbol stood beside Nedzu's rep, going in circles. Izuku stared at it for a couple of minutes, hand on the handle of his apartment door, but it did not change.
An unsettled feeling curled in Izuku's belly. What was this? Did it mean that Nedzu didn't like him any more or was there something else going on?
It was kind of reacting like it did when it encountered Kurogiri… like it wasn't sure what it was supposed to be doing. But since Nedzu had never fully explained what was going on with Kurogiri, Izuku had no idea how bad of a thing that was.
Suddenly, the relationship changed.
Nedzu. Rep +52. Fiercely Protective.
"Fifty-two?!" Izuku said, sudden shock rolling through him. That was… that was so high. That was higher than anyone else in his life with the exception of his mom. And Nedzu's last number had been like fifteen or something.
Jeez… well, I'm glad that's fixed now. If that hadn't been fixed, I would have probably had to have contacted Aizawa-sensei about it… though, just to be safe I'll ask Nedzu about it on Monday. Even though that's gonna be kinda awkward.
Though, the longer he thought about it, the more sense it made.
I bet that my quirk had to spend some time loading because it was adapting to the new high number. Maybe the Sports Festival raised his opinion of me a lot?
Relieved, if a little bit nervous with how much Nedzu suddenly liked him, Izuku walked into his house to greet his mom and talk about the Sports Festival. She, just like he'd expected, was also proud of how he won.
All in all, it felt pretty great.
He was sure that this would be an excellent weekend.
Chapter 33: The Teachers
"Planning on doing anything tonight?" Hizashi said, bouncing on his heels.
"I always patrol on Saturday, you know that," Aizawa said, a bit amused.
Strangely, though, Hizashi started looking legitimately upset. "Oh," he said.
It reminded Aizawa of how weirdly Hizashi had been acting in the Sports Festival. "Have you been feeling okay?" Aizawa asked. "You seem kinda down."
Hizashi shook his head. "I'm fine! Fine! I've just missed spending time with you."
Aizawa could see where Hizashi was coming from. They both had a lot of work, so sometimes it was tough for them to set aside alone time. "Well, why don't we go for breakfast in the morning?" Aizawa said. "We both have Sunday off."
Hizashi brightened. Aizawa didn't usually like to go out to eat, but Hizashi loved to. "That sounds great!" he said, excited.
Aizawa smiled, and they continued on their way.
Midnight laid face-down on her pillow, unable to sleep.
Normally she could fall asleep in moments, something she'd always joked was a side effect of her quirk, but now she was really having trouble with it. And she knew why. She just couldn't relax, she was too wound up. Her mind was going over all the little things that had upset her during the day, all the stupid things other people had said.
Ugh, Nemuri thought, rolling over. Why am I so angry all of a sudden? This isn't really like me…
She dragged herself to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.
Nedzu sat in his home, feeling strangely empty.
What were these weird feelings? Back when he'd been in UA, with his school and his teachers and his students, he'd felt fulfilled. Better than he'd ever felt before. Why had he let them all leave him? Where were they now? What were they doing?
Nedzu didn't like it.
I wish I could have them all back, he thought, resting his head on his desk. I want them now. Where are they?
He did have on idea on how to make him feel better. Normally Sundays were a day off for his teachers, and the school was closed. Nedzu could ask them to come in though, if there was some kind of emergent situation.
I'll just make one up, Nedzu thought, despite a weird guilt that let him know interrupting everyone's days off was a probably bad idea. It's not bad to do, it'll keep them on their toes! And I'll only grab my favorites… hm, Kayama, Kan, and Aizawa can all come.
Normally he'd snatch Present Mic too, but he'd noticed Yamada being a little bit possessive of Aizawa before. He knew it was semi-appropriate, considering he was his husband, but something about it made Nedzu feel annoyed and rubbed him the wrong way. He'd have to make sure Yamada wasn't invited.
Regardless. This is a good plan. I'm interested in seeing how they're all doing!
Feeling a little peppier, Nedzu did some typing on his computer and started planning his Sunday.
That night, Aizawa got an email right as he was preparing for bed. Hizashi had still been awake when he returned from patrol, despite the hour, seeming desperate to see him. It made Aizawa feel a little bad, he hadn't realized Hizashi was feeling so lonely.
"Nedzu needs me tomorrow morning," Aizawa sighed, reading the email. "Sorry, he says it's important."
Something in Hizashi's eyes seemed to shift and sharpen. "Really. What time?"
"Eight am," Aizawa answered.
"When will you get back?"
Aizawa shrugged. "Doesn't say."
Hizashi clenched his teeth. "I'm coming too."
"He said it was for me, Midnight, and Vlad King only," Aizawa explained. "It's probably some kind of classified data."
Hizashi twitched, and started pacing, now seeming agitated.
"I'm sorry it ruined our plans," Aizawa said, wrapping an arm around him. Hizashi seemed to calm down with the contact.
"It's fine," Hizashi grumbled, lying.
"We'll have to make more," Aizawa said, pulling him a little closer.
"Okay," Hizashi said, looking a little less upset. "... I'm tired."
"It's late for you," Aizawa said. "Let's get to bed."
Nedzu's plan was going great!
He felt immediately better upon walking into UA ( my school!! minemineminemine-) and even once he saw his staff members ( my people! mine- no, people aren't possessions-- right?) and even better when they started talking! Vlad King kept shooting weird glares at Aizawa across the table, and Midnight seemed upset just for being here.
Aizawa was acting the most normal, simply being taken aback by all the negative energy in the room, but Nedzu found himself watching him the most. He was just so interesting. The way his eyes widened but only barely, the way he tilted his head whenever he thought someone was being stupid. It was beautiful.
He'd called them on there to talk about some new gang violence in Musutafu, with the excuse that it could potentially endanger students who had to walk through those neighborhoods. Normally he would have just handled this on a weekday if he thought it'd be a problem, but it was still a good enough excuse for a Sunday gathering.
Every time Aizawa brought up a suggestion, Midnight would scoff and Vlad King would immediately send him a dark look and immediately take up a position opposing him. Sure, Midnight's was a bad attitude in general, but the unfriendliness really seemed to be surprising Aizawa. Nedzu thought it was hilarious.
"Kan," Aizawa said, glancing at Vlad King. "Do you have a problem with me?"
Ah, Aizawa. Honest and confrontational as always. Nedzu watched in anticipation.
Kan just shook his head. Aizawa let the matter drop after that.
After a few suggestions on how to handle the situation, the meeting seemed to be wrapping up to a close. They were making final remarks, but Nedzu didn't want them to leave!
"Ah, Aizawa, I have a few things for you to do once our meeting is over," Nedzu said, and while Aizawa gave an annoyed sigh, Nedzu was relieved. Even if everyone else left he got to keep his Aizawa close. His Kan and his Kayama would come back tomorrow. Even if he didn't like his things leaving his sight this would work fine.
Now, what were some things Nedzu could make Aizawa do for the rest of the day…
Aizawa arrived home exhausted, having run around and done errands for Nedzu all day. Frankly, he was annoyed. He'd better be getting lots of overtime for this.
And he could tell Hizashi was annoyed at him for taking so long, even though he'd warned him that this might take a long time. And when Aizawa had told Hizashi he was way too tired to do anything except sleep right then, he'd gotten mad again too. It was exhausting, but Aizawa just tried to ignore everything except getting sleep for now.
Tsukauchi scrambled to call Nedzu. Now that he'd interviewed Starbright with his Truth quirk, he had urgent information about Dark Reflection.
"Nedzu, I need to speak with you immediately. I've learned what Dark Reflection does," Tsukauchi said.
"Come to UA, then," Nedzu said. "We'll discuss."
Tsukauchi sighed in relief. "Good. I'll be there in ten."
Chapter 34: Monday
Izuku bounced into school, excited for the week. He'd had a good weekend to recharge, and he'd been thinking over his stats a lot! He was thinking maybe he'd put twenty into VIT, buy Major Healing, and save the remaining four for an emergency or for strength investment at a later date.
Homeroom was interesting. Aizawa, looking even more tired and irritated than usual, talked about internships! Pros would be putting in their agencies for them to intern at for the future.
Internships
Bakugou Katsuki -- 4502
Midoriya Izuku -- 1508
Uraraka Ochako -- 1403
Yaoyorozu Momo -- 1061
Todoroki Shouto -- 280
Iida Tenya -- 129
Kirishima Eijiro -- 81
Ashido Mina -- 76
Yuga Aoyama -- 16
Kaminari Denki -- 8
Izuku's jaw dropped when he saw how many draft offers he got. He hadn't realized how many people had chosen him…
"I'm surprised Tetsutetsu didn't get any," Kirishima said, sounding a bit disappointed.
"These are the results for Class 1-A," Aizawa said. "So this doesn't include Kendo, Tetsutetsu, or Shinsou in 1-B. Shinsou has moved into 1-B from the General Course, by the way."
Ashido gasped. "New transfer!" she squealed.
"Wait, but doesn't that mean someone in 1-B is gonna get dropped?" Kaminari asked.
"No," Aizawa said, looking a tad irritated. "Kan insisted that all of his students were doing well and that none of them deserved to be dropped down."
"And… us?" Kaminari questioned, pointing to himself.
"Well, I haven't expelled any of you yet," Aizawa said dryly.
"Why is Midoriya lower than Bakugou?" Hagakure asked.
"Well, I didn't get much chance to show off my quirk," Izuku said, though it was likely just that Bakugou's quirk was much flashier than his.
"Review all of the offers you're getting," Aizawa said. "And choose carefully. The experience you get here could be incredibly valuable."
Once the bell rang, Izuku left to go to his alternate class, but before that, he caught up with Aizawa in the hallway to ask a question.
"Wait, what do all the internship superheroes think my quirk is?" Izuku asked.
"We mentioned super-durability and healing," Aizawa said. "But our description of your quirk was very vague. Feel free to share as much or as little of your quirk as you wish with your supervisors, but try not to lie outright. One of your internships might be a place you may want to end up working."
"Yes, sensei!" Izuku said. "Could you ask Nedzu to meet with me soon? I have something to ask him, it's pretty important."
Izuku had been monitoring Nedzu's relationship status over the weekend, and it had gone from 52 up to 62, a ten point increase. At this point, he really needed to see what was going on. He'd never told Nedzu about his Relationship screen, but maybe a conversation would shed some light on what was happening?
Aizawa nodded, sighing. "I'll let him know. Now get to class."
"Thank you!" Izuku said.
It turned out he was due to be meeting with Nedzu at lunch! After meeting Mirio in class (in which Mirio had told him how proud he was, which warmed Izuku's heart) and going to the rest of him, Izuku made his way towards Nedzu's office.
With his new abilities in mind, Izuku used Observe on Nedzu.
Nedzu -- Lvl. 63 -- UA Principal
Quirk: High Specs
[See Stats & Skills]
ACTIVE DEBUFF: Corrupted (Qr.)
Observe failed. The target's level is too high.
So Nedzu's level was too high to get the extra stats and skills… but that wasn't really relevant right now. More importantly, Nedzu was under some kind of debuff? Corrupted? What the hell was that?
"Come in, come in!" Nedzu said. "What did you need to speak with me about?"
"Well, actually, I just noticed…" Izuku said. "I think you're under some kind of effect. Maybe some kind of quirk?" That would explain the Qr label after 'Corrupted.'
Nedzu tilted his head. "Oh dear! Let's discuss over tea," he said.
Relieved, Izuku got into his chair as Nedzu poured both of the two cups of tea from an ornate ceramic teapot. He sipped his tea as Izuku began to explain.
"It's listed as Corrupted," Izuku said. "I'm not really sure what that means, but you should probably look into it?" Izuku said. He took a drink of the tea. It was green tea, the kind that he liked, not that he was sure how Nedzu knew that.
"Indeed, I should," Nedzu said. "Though I'm not sure when it could have happened."
"Have you been feeling different? Anything new?" Izuku asked.
"Actually, I have," Nedzu said. "How should I put this… I think my eyes have been opened to new things. Perhaps that's what you're speaking of."
"Oh?" Izuku asked. "I mean, maybe that could be the quirk. What's it like?"
"Well," Nedzu said. "I think I've been using my power wrong. I've been extending it far too thin! Trying to upset balances and take down evil and whatnot when I should have been using it to keep the things I love safe."
Izuku wasn't sure that was the result of a quirk, but that philosophical debate was kind of interesting. Stretch out power to protect strangers, or keep it close to defend home base?
"Anything else?" Izuku asked.
Nedzu hummed. "It's also helped me realize what is due to me. I kept thinking I wasn't entitled to certain things… but no! I quite am. I've built this place, and now I understand what belongs to me. While some of what I own adds up to mere trifles, much of it is infinitely worth having."
Now Izuku was a little bit confused. "Like what? Your school?"
"No, not that," Nedzu said, shaking his head. "Many things! Including you!"
"Wait, me?" Izuku pointed to himself.
"Yes!" Nedzu said. "You're valuable!"
"Wh-" Izuku's voice faltered a little. "Uh, that's kinda weird."
"That's the mistake most people make!" Nedzu said, standing up from his chair. "You think that sounds strange because I'm implying I own you! But I can own people, too. Some of them just belong to me!" He paced across the other side of the room. "They just do what I want them to anyway! They might as well be mine!"
"Relationships," Izuku muttered. He glanced down at Nedzu's quick as he could.
Nedzu. Rep +99999. HE'S MINE.
Shit.
"I should get going now," Izuku said, heart racing.
"Oh, no no no," Nedzu said, shaking his head. "You're worth far too much! You wouldn't leave a golden watch out for anyone to steal, isn't that right? So you're staying right here."
"You can't-" A wave of dizziness hit Izuku. "What-"
"Ah, yes, the sedative is taking effect," Nedzu said, clapping his hands together. "Maybe you shouldn't have accepted that tea!"
"But tea--" Izuku said, stumbling. It was getting harder to think. "Same pot--"
"Assassin's teapot," Nedzu said, opening up the pot to reveal two different compartments. "One drugged, one not. Lever to switch. Clever, isn't it?"
Izuku ran for the door, but when he pulled on it, it was locked. He was getting dizzier. "No, no, no!" Izuku said, panic hitting him.
"Oh, don't be scared," Nedzu said. His voice got a touch softer. "You humans can be so silly sometimes. There's nowhere safer than with me."
That was the last thing Izuku heard before he passed out.
"Where's Midoriya?" Aizawa asked, giving Nedzu a glance.
"He went home early!" Nedzu said. "There was a family emergency. He might be out for a few days, I'll keep you posted."
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," Aizawa said. "Hey, do you know what happened with Midnight?"
Nedzu shrugged.
"She stormed out of class, yelled at me that she 'couldn't deal with this right now', and then just left the school," Aizawa said. "Any idea what that was?"
"Perhaps she's just having a bad day," Nedzu suggested.
"Maybe," Aizawa said, sounding unconvinced. "I think I should check on her."
"Perhaps!" Nedzu said. "But I have a few assignments for you first."
Aizawa sighed in annoyance. "Through my lunch period?"
"Well, you just eat those jelly packs anyway, so you might as well!" Nedzu said, pushing a stack of paperwork towards him. "Now, it's time for legal theory!"
"Do you think something's wrong?"
One of the other support students, Akihiko if Hatsume remembered correctly, was talking with her. She turned her head from her project, tilting it slightly. People rarely bothered her while she was in the middle of her work.
"Wrong? What do you mean?"
"Well, I just mean…" Akihiko hesitated, shrugged. "I don't know. With the teachers. They've all been acting super weird."
Hatsume tapped her chin. She couldn't remember anything like that! "Like what?"
"Well, Power Loader didn't even show up to class," Akihiko said. "I heard from one of the hero students that Midnight literally left mid-class period. And you saw how Present Mic was in English… he looked super antsy!"
"He always looks antsy," Hatsume pointed out.
"Yeah, but…" Akihiko huffed. "More than usual."
"I do agree Power Loader not being there was odd," Hatsume said. "But we haven't had him for long. Maybe he does that all the time."
"Maybe, but I don't think so," Akihiko said.
There wasn't much more to talk about after that. Hatsume went back to her project.
Aizawa sat in the teacher's lounge, working on idiotic legal forms.
He trusted that Nedzu would only give him necessary assignments, but there were so many of these. It certainly didn't help Aizawa's pounding headache. And, despite what Nedzu had said about his jelly packs, all of them had gone mysteriously missing, meaning that he'd accidentally skipped lunch. He was starving, and exhausted, but he had another thirty of these and Nedzu had asked for them finished by tomorrow. If he didn't finish them now, he'd have to work on them in the afternoon, his primary sleeping time. Not to mention he still needed to check on Nemuri.
"There you are!" Hizashi skipped into the teacher's lounge. "How are you?"
"Good," Aizawa grunted.
"Great! I have so much to tell you! During class I missed you a lot, I know that might sound weird because it wasn't a lot of time but since now I'm back I should probably tell you all the stories from when I was talking with the students since some interesting things happened while you were gone and I wish you'd been there and --"
Hizashi chattered on and on. Head pounding, Aizawa grimaced up at him. "I have a headache right now, and I need to focus, so…"
The pleasantness in Hizashi's gaze melted slightly, revealing something…
Well, if he'd seen it on someone else's face, he might have called it dangerous.
But this was Hizashi, so Aizawa knew it wasn't.
"Do you not want to talk with me?" Hizashi said. His voice was whiny, but his eyes flashed with anger.
"Of course not," Aizawa said. "I just have to finish these…"
An idea popped into his head. "We could do them together?" he suggested.
Hizashi's gaze brightened again. "Ooh! Bonding! Yes, give me half!"
Hizashi still chattered, but at least he was pulling his weight as far as these assignments went. Aizawa would just have to put up with the egregious headache in the meantime.
Hatume flicked the lights on in the storage room.
She needed another container of bolts for her newest baby, but the support lab had run out, which meant she needed to search around in the storage room.
She only walked a few steps in when she saw a form, splayed out on the floor.
"Power Loader?!" she gasped.
She stood there for a few moments, staring down at his unconscious body.
"...I need to get Recovery Girl."