Chapter 36: The Calm Before Part 2
For the next several seconds, Izuku stared down at his phone as the speaker blared out a dial tone. It took a few tries, but his brain finally got his hand to move, and he silenced the phone and slipped it away, "huh…"
The phone call had not gone how Izuku had imagined it. It had actually been something close to normal. At least, what Izuku imagined a phone call between a father and son should be. A few of his father's phrases still came off as self-centered, but overall, the call had been…
"Well, that was informative," Mei said happily.
That, Izuku thought to himself. It had been that.
It had been an actual good call. Informative, and if Izuku forgot that his father had made it clear he had wanted nothing to do with him, it could even be called pleasant.
It was really fucking weird.
"Soooo…" Ochako began slowly, "That was… um…"
Ochako, like Izuku, wasn't exactly sure what she had listened to. She had heard Izuku's father's last voice mail, and the difference between that and this has been a little jarring.
Tsuyu tapped her chin, "It seems like he had good advice, kero."
Izuku nodded. He couldn't argue with that. It seemed like breathing was the key to control of his Quirk. At face value, that might have been obvious, but the added details of how he breathes out can change the fire was still important to know. Also, learning he should avoid whistling was interesting.
"Perhaps your father is trying to make up for past mistakes by helping you now, Midoriya?" Tenya offered, "The way he responded was not how I imagine a neglectful parent to sound."
No, he definitely sounded different. Izuku agreed. His face scrunched up as he ran over the phone call in his head, "he almost sounded excited… and when I think about how he sounded when I won the sports festival…Maybe even proud?"
Izuku chewed on that revelation while Ochako sat up straight. Alarm bells going off in her head. Proud was notthe word she would use. Self-serving would be one of the less R-rated words she'd use. Ochako didn't want to be the one to throw cold water on anything, but she could see Izuku beginning to weigh some options he might not have thought were there.
Fortunately for Ochako. Someone else decided to be the one to drop some truth into the situation. And best of all, if they came off as the bad guy, all the better.
"Tell me you're not fucking stupid enough to think that anything your shitty old man said was actually genuine, Deku?"
Everyone at the table jumped as Katsuki exploded onto the scene. While Izuku was left trying to come up with a response, it was Hitoshi who recovered first, "Um, why are you here?"
"Mind your own business, Lavender."
"But you're at our table…"
Tenya cut in, "It is extremely rude to interrupt a private conversation, Bakugou!"
"Private? This shitty nerd is airing out his issues for everyone to hear. You don't want people to hear, don't turn your phone onto speaker to have a private convo."
Ochako frowned, "You were like three tables dow-"
Katsuki didn't wait for a reply before turning his attention back towards Izuku, "You want to tell me what the fuck you're thinking? Are you an idiot?"
Izuku blinked, "I um… Was just trying to get some advice about my Quirk?"
Katsuki clicked his tongue against his teeth in annoyance, "Tch, Not that you moron. Anyone with half a brain knows you should have done that as soon as you started puffing out that green shit. I'm talking about after."
"Um…"
"Are you so brain damaged at this point that you think your shitty father would ever be proud of you?"
Izuku's eyes went wide, while Ochako flinched at Katsuki's word choice, maybe not the way I'd put it, you jackass.
"Let me ask you something, Deku. Your sack of shit father said he knew about the attack, right?" Izuku nodded. "And he knew some U.A. students were involved. Right?" Izuku nodded again. "Did he fucking call to check to see if you were alright?"
Every eye at the table went from Katsuki to Izuku as they waited for an answer.
"No, he didn't." Ochako hated how defeated Izuku sounded. "But the way he-"
"I swear to god, Deku, if you make me have to go through this whole fucking song and dance a third fucking time, I'm going to destroy you."
Third time? Ochako blinked, "Third time of what?"
Katsuki pointed at Izuku and seethed, "He's gone through this fucking 'maybe my dad isn't a sack of shit' stage before, and I've had to be the one to fucking break it to him, that his father doesn't care about him! You know this shit cries at the drop of a hat. You want to see him cry when he lets his heart get broken? It's fucking pathetic."
Izuku pushed Katsuki's hand away, "I wasn't that bad."
"You crawled under my fucking bed and wouldn't leave."
"... Okay, maybe I wasn't at my best back then. But-"
"Your father was talking to you in front of his boss, right? Maybe the only person your father actually cares about because he's a brown nose, ladder climbing sack of crap. Of course he's going to act proud so he can play the part of the happy parent. Especially if his boss was impressed with you."
A body blow after body blow of some harsh facts on the matter, Izuku slumped in his chair and sighed, "I guess you do have a point, Kacchan."
Katsuki scoffed, "Of course I have a point. You got what you needed, now you can pass it to whoever is going to be working with you-"
"All Might," Mei added, "He's getting special lessons from All Might."
Izuku muttered to himself softly, "Yay, more special training. At least it's not ten months this time."
Katsuki frowned, watching Izuku. As loud as the cafeteria was, no one at the table could hear Izuku except for Katsuki, who was standing right next to him. He narrowed his eyes but continued with his other train of thought, "You can tell All Might what he needs so he can unfuck your new Quirk."
With his piece said, Katsuki started walking off before he paused, "Deku. You and I are going to have a talk later. Don't you go scurrying off with your friends and groupies after school."
Himiko huffed, "Who are you calling a groupie?"
"Who do you think, Bun Bitch?"
"What? Not Cyclops?"
Katsuki huffed and stomped back to his table. Leaving everyone in varying states of confusion. Hitoshi scratched his head, "Maybe he has standards on his nicknames?"
"You alright Midoriya," Tsuyu asked.
Izuku nodded, "yeah, I'm fine. Guess I just needed the reality check."
Ochako crossed her arms, "He could have been a little nicer when he was doing it."
Izuku shrugged, "That kinda is nice for Kacchan. Even when things were pretty… bad between us, if he heard something come up about my father, he always had some choice words to say about him."
Tenya looked over at Katsuki and back to Izuku, "He tried to cheer you up?"
That made Izuku laugh, "Maybe not that far, but I think my father just really pissed him off as a kid, so whenever he got brought up, it gave him an excuse to rip him apart."
Shouto, bringing the topic back to its origin, focused on the info they had learned about Izuku's Quirk, "It's good you made the call. Though, it's concerning that your father wasn't able to offer any advice on cooling yourself down."
Izuku, happy for the topic change, nodded, "Yeah. Breathing out the heat will help a little, I guess, but if my Quirk can't do it naturally like yours can Todoroki, I may be in a little trouble."
Shouto rubbed his chin, "Endeavor also shares that fundamental issue. His costume does have gear that helps mitigate it, but beyond that, it's something he had to learn to be aware of when in battle. He's gotten better at pacing himself, though, in his early days, he would have to step out of a fight or stop a pursuit and allow himself time to cool off."
At the mention of gear, Mei perked up and cheered, "Ooooh, mama and daddy are gonna make so many babies!"
Izuku flushed red, very much aware that some of the other students, unaware of Mei's strange terms and phrases, were looking at him, aghast. Those were almost as bad as the other students that looked at Mei and gave him some thumbs up.
I think I miss the hospital.
"Just let me die."
Izuku rolled his eyes and kept pulling at the mess Hitoshi was in as they walked down the halls. It was near the end of their heroics period, and Izuku, Ochako, Himiko, and Hitoshi had been granted permission to leave early to meet up with Power Loader in the support department to have some adjustments made to their hero costumes. For Himiko and Izuku, the damage theirs had sustained required them to get repaired. Unlike the rest of the class they had been forced to go through the period in only their gym clothes. Ochako had already requested permission the night before, which was approved. Himiko and Ochako had gone on ahead while Izuku hung back to try and help a tied-up Hitoshi. His reasons for joining them were a little trickier.
"I swear, he did this on purpose. He and Ms. Joke were in on this."
"I think you're just being paranoid."
"She literally told me she was going to talk to Aizawa Sensei about some support gear for me and wanted it to be a surprise." Hitoshi reached up and yanked at the tangled-up binding cloth around his neck, shoulders, and arms "He then shows up during our hero class and chucks this at me and tells me to use it during that race. And this happens."
"...Okay, maybe you do need to be a little paranoid."
"Then, as I'm tied up, he tells me that I need to go get my gear request filled, and then I'm supposed to meet up with him for extra training after school."
"Well, look on the bright side."
"..." Hitoshi waited for izuku to continue, "Well?"
Izuku finally got one of the ends of the capture cloth free from the mess, "...I was kinda hoping you'd be able to fill in that blank."
"... You are a bad friend and deserved everything Bakugou did to you."
Izuku broke out into a fit of laughter as he kept tugging and then gave a triumphant cry as he was able to loosen up a knot so that Hitoshi was able to pull an arm free, "So, what other gear are you going to ask for?"
"Something so I can change how my voice sounds. I might not be able to do it naturally as those ventriloquists can, but Ms. Joke might have been onto something with the premise at least."
Izuku made a soft humming sound as he thought about that, "Sounds like she gave you exactly what you needed."
Hitoshi grunted but couldn't say he disagreed, "Well mayb- ACK! Choking now!"
"AHH! Sorry, sorry!" Izuku quickly worked to loosen the cloth that had tightened around his friend's neck.
"I swear, Midoriya, can't you just rip this stuff apart?"
Izuku frowned, "This thing is really tough. No chance I'm tearing it with my own hands. Plus, I don't think Aizawa Sensei would like it if you showed up with it in pieces."
Hitoshi was kinda beyond caring at this point, "Just use your Quirk the-" he stopped as he recalled why that wasn't going to be an option. The annoyed grunt from Izuku was his only response as he went back to trying to feed the cloth backward through another knot, "Sorry. Guess that's still a sore subject."
Izuke stayed silent. When he and the rest of the class had learned that they were going to have a race through one of the training zones to 'rescue' All Might he was excited. His excitement was immediately dashed when All Might told him that he was not going to be taking part in the race and that until they began their training, he should avoid using his Quirk. Izuku knew why All Might was doing it. After everything that had happened with One for All boosting his power, dealing with the effects of overusing that power that had done so much damage to his body and brain, on top of having a new Quirk he had no experience with, it was probably safer to figure everything out after school and away from people that might get hurt. All Might had assured Izuku that this was more than likely just for today and that things would resume normal tomorrow.
All of this still didn't help make Izuku feel any better, neither then nor now. Especially after seeing his classmates demonstrate some spectacular improvements as they raced through the dummy industrial site. Watching Ochako leap and twist her way through the maze of pipes was awesome. He could tell she had adopted some of Miruko's moves to add to her mobility. But at the same time she was and had been his closest rival for over a year. To see her excel and not be able to respond was incredibly annoying.
Then Katsuki had gone, and had literally flown through everything to reach All Might in amazing fashion. When he had rejoined the class, he had looked at Izuku. He didn't say anything but Izuku didn't need to hear it. They were rivals too, and Katsuki expected Izuku to live up to that. Falling behind even by one class was unacceptable. So when the last group of students had begun to line up for the race, Izuku joined them, ignoring his friends and classmates reminding him that All Might had told him not to participate. What he couldn't ignore was All Might suddenly landing in front of the group after jumping off from his perch at the other end of the training ground and asking Izuku what he thought he was doing.
Don't make me repeat myself, Young Midoriya.
"Yeah," Izuku said, "Sore's one way to put it."
When the two finally made it to the support classes Development Studio neither were ready for what they saw. The first sight that greeted them was Ochako, knocked to the ground, arms around her waist and rolling around while laughing her head off. Both boys blinked and then looked up to try and see what was going on. They found a small contingent of support students gathered around someone with very fluffy and curly hair. Very red, fluffy and curly hair. Hair so red, and fluffy, and curly it didn't even look real.
Then one of the students moved, and Izuku promptly died.
"T-TOGA?!"
More students were suddenly shoved aside as Himiko, alarmed at her name being called, pushed to see who else was in the room she was going to have to kill, "IZUKU?! HITOSHI?! LEAVE NOW, OR I'M KILLING YOU TOO!"
Izuku had no words. He had nothing he could possibly say. The sight was too strange and unreal, "Y-you're- you're- you're a-"
"Don't. You. Fucking. Say. IT!"
Izuku didn't.
Hitoshi did, "So you're a clown now?"
"ARRRRRHHHH!"
"Bwahahahahaha!" Ochako began laughing with renewed vigor.
"THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID I WANTED A LESS SCARY COSTUME!"
Surprisingly, none of the support department students shrinked back from the raging Himiko. The bright yellow overalls and disgusting blue and purple striped top and collar made it impossible for her to look scary. If she wasn't in such a rage, she would have told herself that she should have been paying attention to what she had been handed and had put on. The head of the group working with her, a woman with blond hair that was styled with too many twisted hair drills, and so much eye makeup that her eyelashes were almost solid objects, put her hand up to her mouth and laughed, "If you wish to not be scary then obviously you must dress to bring joy and laughter to all."
The group of students all nodded their heads, "Of course, Kenranaki!"
Himiko glared at the group and then at Bibimi Kenranaki herself, "You gearheads are all nuts. Not being scary doesn't mean I want to look like a freaking cartoon charac-"
Click
Flash!
Himiko froze as a light flashed.
Ochako stopped laughing to roll over.
Izuku resurrected himself and looked to his side.
Hitoshi had his phone out as it flashed a second time, taking a second picture. No one moved as he pulled his phone back and tapped at the screen, "Aaaand sent."
…
…
A series of chirps from Himiko, Izuku, and Ochako's phones broke everyone out of their stupor. They each looked at the message there, meaning that Izuku died again, Ochako started laughing again, and Himiko looked ready to murder Hitoshi, "DID YOU JUST SEND THAT TO EVERYONE?!"
Hitoshi shrugged, "Just our little squad."
Himiko screamed and reached into one of the costumes overly large pockets and pulled out a knife, "I'M GOING TO KIL-"
Squeak
Everyone stopped as Himiko blinked a few times and held up her knife, squeezing the handle a few times.
Squeak
Squeak
"Why is my knife squeaking?"
"Because the handle is a squeaky toy now. Don't worry, the blade part is still fine. We just painted it to match your new color scheme."
True to Bibimi's words, the metal was painted yellow with blue and purple polka dots. Himiko dropped her head, defeated, "I'd like to try on some of the other options, please."
While Himiko was taken back to the changing room, everyone else went to get their adjustments made. A few students took Hitoshi to the side to help finish untangling him from the binding cloth and so that he could finally ask them about the new gear he wanted.
"I need something to change how my voice sounds."
A support student nodded his head, "That shouldn't be too difficult-"
"But it can't be electronic."
"Huh?"
"For my Quirk to work," Hitoshi explained, "it has to be my voice directly. It can't be changed by electronic filters. So no megaphones or broadcasting it over the radio. That kind of thing."
Hitoshi noticed a few eyes drop to the speakers on his belt. Pulling one off, he pointed to the metal wire that was attached to it, "These aren't electronic. They work on the same principle as the cup and string phones kids play with. The metal wire sends the vibrations of my voice to the speaker via an analog method. Not digital. It's why I have these in my collar," Hitoshi pulled the collar of his costume down to show the multiple speakers lining it, "each wire connects to a different receiver."
The students huddled together as they began to brainstorm. As they talked, Hitoshi could overhear them repeat something along the lines of artificial vocal cords.
One student looked back over at Hitoshi, "Are you opposed to making a slight adjustment to your costume to accommodate this new gear?"
"I'm fine with that. What do you all have in mind?"
Himiko stepped out of the changing area and held up a red and black bodysuit and matching jester cowl with pigtails, topped off with cute little white balls, "Okay, to be clear. No clowns, jesters, or harlequin costumes. Got it?"
Bibimi sighed and, with a wave of her hand, had some of her fellow students wheel away a large costume rack with multiple brightly colored costumes, "Oh very well. They let's move on to some of the costumes that might fit your other criteria then. Your hero name."
Izuku looked over at the costumes, getting taken away and then back over at Himiko, "What criteria did you ask for? Did you have a sketch?"
One of the students wheeling the rack listed them off, "'Not scary. Can work with my hero name.' That's all we had to work with for the past couple of days. Fortunately, this is just basic clothing mockups, so it was easy to put something together."
Izuku blinked at the large selection getting taken away and then the large selection of costumes getting brought in. It dawned on him that Himiko had pretty much given the support department free rein on her new custom, and she was about to deal with the consequences.
When he saw Himiko gulp at the new mountain of costumes, he was so glad he was here to watch this.
Himiko grabbed a random hanger and walked back into the changing room, "I swear I should have just said I'd wear my school uniform and my gear over that. That would have been just fine."
Ochako rolled her eyes while discreetly taking a photo with her phone. Making sure the flash was off so that Himiko was unaware and quickly sent the photo to a special chat room Mina had set up for the girls of 1-A, "Oh, quit being a baby."
A hand burst out of the changing room and flipped Ochako off.
Ignoring Himiko, Ochako turned back to talk with Power Loader, "So were you able to go over everything in my email?"
"I was," Power loader confirmed, "Unfortunately, most of the stuff you requested will need to be handled by the company that designed your costume originally. The reinforcements and design changes are just too big for the school to be allowed to make them. Plus, the tech you want to have installed," Power Loader whistled, "Yeah, something this complicated has to be done by the company."
Ochako shifted nervously, "Do you think they'll be able to make it? It was just an idea I had and-"
Power Loader waved Ochako's concerns off, "Oh, they'll be able to make it. It's honestly not the craziest thing I've seen. But it still is complicated, so it'll take a few months of R&D, I think." Power Loader looked over the sketches and notes Ochako had sent, "Some of these changes make it pretty obvious you trained under Miruko. This major change though… not so much."
Ochako shrugged, "I saw some pretty amazing things over my internship. Gave me a few ideas."
"I see. Well, while I said most of these changes will have to be sent out, not everything will need to be. We'll be able to have the work on your bracers done here no problem."
"Oh, great!" Ochako cheered happily.
"It'll still take a little bit. You aren't the only student making some changes to their costume before term finals happen. Senior privilege and all that."
"Will they be done before then?"
"Oh yes. That won't be an issue, but you may not have as much time to practice with them as you'd like. Though, we should have some odds and ends lying around that you can use as mock-ups to practice with instead. Though I want to be sure you understand, we will be removing four of your bracers' firing mechanisms to replace them with this gear. So your ammo will be cut in half."
Ochako nodded, "I understand. I guess you can't make the rubber bullets any smaller, can you? So I can have more?"
"Not if you don't want them to pack the same punch."
"Then it's fine."
Power Loader looked over the schematic drawings of Ochako's bracers, "And the bracers will have to be made bigger, of course, though you already said you were fine with a size change. And they will be heavier too."
Ochako looked over the drawings, "How much bigger and heavier?"
"Size wise, they'll be pretty much on par with Gunhead's arms or that other boy's bracers in your class, Bakugou."
Ochako was fine with that, "And weight?"
"That I'm not sure just yet. It'll depend on the material we use. The stronger stuff will be heavier. You may end up with a cinder block on each of your arms."
Power Loader wasn't sure why, but the smile that crossed Ochako's face when she said she was fine with that was maybe just a little scary.
Bing
Ashido: OMG!
Hagakure: Did sh try the red 1 on?
Jirou: Tsu jst showd us the 1st pic 2
Asui: is Hitoshi ded yet?
Yaoyorozu: Is Toga going to try on ALL of those clothes?
Ochako was about to type a reply when Himiko burst out of the changing room, wearing what could best be described as a ball gown after a group of goths got their hands on it, "Okay. Are you guys just having a laugh here? How am I supposed to fight in this?"
"But look at you. You're like a majestic vampire ballroom dancer." One of the support students said.
"... I'm wearing a freaking corset here."
"And now your figure is gorgeous."
"One, I don't need my stomach and sides crushed to look gorgeous; just ask Izuku." Izuku made a startled 'eep' while he stood with Mei as she began getting her equipment ready, "and Ochako," Ochako found the ceiling suddenly rather interesting, "and two, I can't fucking breathe in this thing!"
Pulling at the dress, she tossed the black costume onto the hanger, leaving herself in some very old fashion looking undergarments. Taking a gothic-looking knife that had come with the costume, she cut the cords around her corset and let the medieval thing fall to the ground, "Ahhh, much better." She grabbed another hanger and disappeared into the changing room.
Hagakure: Awwwwwwwww
Hagakure: Tht 1 was soooooooo cute!
Jirou: Tht 1 she jst grbbed looked lik a nurse unifrm
A few seconds later, the costume was sent sailing out of the changing room, "NO FREAKING SEXY SHIT! NOT DRESSING LIKE MIDNIGHT ON ROLEPLAY NIGHT!"
Reaching out her hand, Himiko blindly grabbed another hanger and yanked it inside.
Izuku laughed nervously as more and more clothes were tossed out of the changing room before his attention was brought back to the person he had come to see. Mei. She grabbed his attention by yanking up his sweatshirt and undershirt and snapping a metal band around his chest.
"H-Hatsume!"
"Oh, be quiet. You act like this is your first time here. Now take your shirt off, I need access to your chest." Mei then proceeded to attach small sensors onto the metal band, which blinked and chirped to life.
"B-but it's normally not so um, crowded when we work together."
Izuku felt more than a little exposed. Why did it feel like he was being looked at? The other support department students were busy with their work. Hitoshi was having his neck and jaw measured, which looked unbelievably uncomfortable. Himiko was still inside her changing room, though the curtains were oddly bunched up in the middle along where they were separated. Like someone was gripping them, though Izuku didn't notice this. And Ochako? She was on the ceiling. Which was odd.
Maybe she's to demonstrate her Quirk for Power Loader?Izuku thought. But at least she wasn't looking at him. Not that she would or have any reason to. And if Izuku was being honest with himself, he needed to stop this train of thought as quickly as possible and focus back on Mei. The idea that Ochako could be sneaking glances at his exposed body was making him heat up and blush.
Bad thoughts! Go away! Ochako would never want to see-
"Wow. Again, I've seen you in your boxers when I was taking measurements. I thought we were past this phase." Mei said with an eye roll as she connected the last device to Izuku, a collar that fit snugly around his throat, "And there."
Pulling out a computer and some cords, she started plugging everything in, "Um, Hatsume, what exactly is all this? Shouldn't we be going over new gear for my costume?"
Izuku saw on the computer a program was running, uploading something to the devices, "We can, but it would be a waste of time trying to design anything right now. Firstly, because I bet you don't want to make any major alterations to your design, right?" Izuku nodded, "So if I'm going to make you some babies that still fit with your look, I need data. Which is the second reason we're not talking about your new gear yet. I need data on exactly what your Quirks can do now. Data is key."
Izuku scratched his forehead absently, which just happened to be the same spot the crest to his costume went, "But doesn't the crest um… do that?"
"Well yeah, but it's only for your Psychokinesis. Which, you know, was the only Quirk I had to worry about keeping track of. Now though? I need to figure out what your Boric Pyre is capable of doing. Heat output and heat build-up. How quickly do you heat up, and how long does it take for that heat to dissipate? Where is that heat held in your body, and how long can you function while your body is a furnace? These are the things I need to know, and afterward, I can figure out what kind of gear I need to make for you."
Izuku poked one of the devices, "And that's what all these things are going to tell you? I don't think that even when I'm allowed to use my Quirk, I'll be allowed to use it inside."
Mei waved Izuku off, "Well duh. You're going to wear these while you train with All Might after school. You'll swing by here every day, so I can get them on you and programmed, and then you'll drop them off so I can go over everything."
While Izuku contemplated doing any kind of training with so many gizmos strapped to himself, another issue arose he felt he needed to bring up, "Wait, Hatsume? When are you going to go home?"
"Pfft! Why would I want to do that? I'll just grab a sleeping bag and live here for the next few weeks."
Izuku frowned, "Hatsume…"
Mei groaned loudly, "Oh, pleeeeease don't go all Power Loader Sensei on me and talk about healthy work versus personal time habits."
"I-"
"Oh wow," Mei cut Izuku off, her gaze briefly focused behind him before she turned back to her work, "I thought she said she didn't want anything sexy."
Izuku blinked, not sure what Mei had meant until he remembered that Himiko was changing behind him and had screamed that very line. Curiosity and maybe some hormones made Izuku turn around to see what had been able to actually grab Mei's attention away from her work, even if it was for just about a second.
Oh… Wow…
Izuku wasn't the only one taken aback by Himiko's new potential costume.
Yaoyorozu: Oh my. Are you sure someone didn't accidentally mix up someone's dress with the costumes?
Asui: Tht is vry
Asui: um
Asui: …
Asui: …
Jirou: mature?
Hagakure: ^
Ashido: ^ that ^
Uraraka: No kdding
Himiko glided out of the changing room, her pale legs slipping out from the high thigh slits in the dark wine-red ombre dress that clung to her body and flowed over her hips, reaching well past her feet and pooled on the floor. Each step was followed with a soft ringing as her gold stilettos clicked sharply on the concrete floor. The dress had a very deep and wide v cut in the front that almost reached down to her stomach with a matching deep cut down the back, with everything held in place with a pair of gold rounded shoulder pads that perfectly kept the dress from slipping off Himiko's frame. The sleeves fell loosely around Himiko's arms and ended just above her wrists which had several gold bracelets that circled and criss-crossed up her arms. As a final touch to her look, Himiko had untangled her hair out of the twin buns and let it hang naturally, giving her a mature and almost regal appearance.
Himiko glanced at Ochako and then at Izuku. Finding them both gawking at her, she smirked in triumph, "Yeah, I'm keeping this."
A support student clapped in response, "So you want this to be your new hero costume?"
"Oh hell no," Himiko answered immediately, "This thing would be a horrible choice. I mean, look at these heels. I can walk in them, yeah," Himiko didn't admit that a 'barely' needed to be slipped into that sentence, "but anything else and my ankle is going to snap. And then there's all the stuff dragging on the ground. Someone steps on that, or it gets caught on something, and I'm in trouble. Worst of all though is this," Himiko pulled at the edges of the deep v cut, that did nothing to hide her cleavage and one pull one way or another, and it wasn't going to be hiding anything at all, "I'm one wrong move away from just spilling out of this top."
"B-but you said you were keeping it?"
"Yeah. As a dress. I'm sure there's going to be some school dance I'm going to have to go to, and if so. I'm wearing this." With that settled, Himiko began to browse the hangers again, "This is taking forever. Trying on each one of these is just a pain in the… huh," Himiko paused as she pushed a costume aside and noticed a pair of thigh-high boots, "Those are neat."
She glanced at the rest of the costume, something that was close to being pirate-themed and wasn't much of a fan. But she did like the boots. On a whim, she grabbed them and tossed them into the changing room.
Hell, maybe instead of all or nothing, I can just pick out some random stuff and see if it all fits together…
"Okay, it's mix and match, discount department clothes shopping time." Ignoring the objection from a few of the support students, Himiko began pulling costumes apart, taking things she thought looked neat and tossing them into the changing room, and leaving the rest to pile up on the floor.
Oooh, that's a nice shirt, and I love the frilly collar. Hate the color, but…
Colors could be changed. Right now, Himiko was more worried about design.
Would I look good in a vest? Could line the inside with my knives…
Design and potential to hide her gear. She had been serious about wanting to be less scary. A key part of that would be making sure all her pointy weapons were not easily seen. Didn't mean she wanted less of them, of course.
So in a flurry of chaos and with clothes raining down around her, Himiko began to build.
Ochako shook her head, greatly amused at the sight. She was about to take another pic, maybe even a video of the chaos, when her phone chirped.
Toga: So u all knw I cood c everything rite?
Toga: Becaus Im a prt of th chat remember
Toga: Th 1-A girls chat
Ochako blinked and looked over at Himiko, who was giving her a hard side-eye, before holding up her hand, which was holding her phone.
Oh fuck.
Toga: All of u r getting stbbed
Hagakure has left the chat
Ashido has left the chat
Jirou has left the chat
Yaoyorozu has left the chat
Asui: U lookd really pretty
Asui has left the chat
"I'm so glad I don't have to clean that up," Mei said as she typed away on her computer.
Izuku nodded in agreement. Turning his attention back to Mei, Izuku looked down at all the sensors he was wearing. All to record the data that Mei would need to make new gear for him. If he was going to wear all of this, he wondered, "Do you want me to wear my costume crest while I'm training? I thought you had mentioned before you had made a spare."
Without looking at Izuku, Mei reached into a drawer in her desk and pulled out the very thing he had been talking about, "Thanks for reminding me. Yeah, that would be great. I've updated the software on this spare one but until I make some new ones, try to avoid going nuts with your power like before."
Izuku nodded, "Yeah, I'll do my best."
"Oh, and before I forget, I'll be attending your training lessons or at least some of them."
Izuku tried not to look too panicked at the idea, "O-oh? You are?"
Mei nodded, "I want to see first hand what your Quirks are doing. How you use them. Data's good, but I think some first-hand experience will do wonders for making sure the babies I make are able to support you."
That… makes a lot of sense. Hatsume had me demonstrate my Quirk a lot when she was making my crest…. I'll need to make sure I tell All Might. Don't want to be talking about One for All around her by mistake…
That last thought gave Izuku a moment's pause. He had gear for his Psychokinesis, and was covered with sensors to record his Boric Pyre. All of which would be collecting data to make sure he would have gear that would work with his Quirks. But he didn't have just two Quirks. He had three, and he didn't have anything that would be helping with One for All.
Hatsume won't be able to update my costume properly if she's not getting all the data she needs…
"Um, Hatume, you wouldn't happen to have anything that can read… energy buildup inside a person, like a person's arms and legs. Or something that could deal with impact forces and resistances?"
Mei stopped working and turned to look at Izuku, "Why do you ask? That's the kind of stuff someone needs if they want to know the limits of their super strength. You don't have super strength. Right?" Her eyes were sharp, and Izuku suddenly felt a little uneasy. Mei wasn't stupid, and she took her role as his support gear designer very seriously.
Izuku quickly explained to Mei his story about the super move he had been working on, his Tactile Psychokinesis. How he pumped his body full of his Quirk's power and used it to enhance his strength. While he left out the details about how he had tried to punch Stain, and as a result of his new strength had demolished a street, he mentioned that the power had messed his body up pretty bad during the Hosu City attack.
By the end of everything, Izuku was soon wearing sensors on his upper arms, forearms, and around his ankles. Though, it was a little unsettling how quiet Mei had been when she fished the gear out. Normally things like that would have her going on about what she could make to deal with the issue and super move.
Hopefully, Izuku thought, This will give Hatsume everything she needs. She was pretty scary during lunch. I'd hate to see her like that for a second time if she thought I was hiding things from her. She really does take this job seriously. Kinda like Mr. Shield All Might talked about… That he never told…
With the final ringing of the bell for the day, the students of class 1-A began to collect their things.
"Before you all leave," Aizawa said as he emerged from his yellow sleeping bag, "as I'm sure you all are aware, it's almost time for summer vacation. Of course, with you all training to become heroes, it wouldn't make any sense for you all to take a whole month off."
The class winced. While they knew something like this was probably going to happen, hearing it was still a bit of a let-down. What's worse, it sounded like they were about to be told that they would be taking mandatory summer classes.
Not fun.
"So during your summer vacation," Aizawa continued, not caring about the worried looks of his students, "You will be taking part in a special training camp in the woods."
Several students cheered while some let themselves relax into their seats. While it was still extra work, a class trip was still a class trip, even if it included a training camp. Camping out, fireworks, campfire song, and cookouts. Everyone started to talk about the fun things they would get to do.
"However!" Aizawa's eyes flashed red as he got his class' attention, "Before the camping trip, you have your end-of-term finals. Anyone who does not pass their written or practical tests," The smile that crossed Aizawa's face was terrifying for the whole class, "will be in summer school hell."
Immediately the atmosphere in the room changed to absolute terror at what Aizawa's idea of hell could be.
"You have two months to get ready. I suggest you all make the most of your time."
Of course, everyone agreed with that.
"Midoriya."
Izuku looked up, startled at being called on, "Yes, sir?"
"I want you to be aware that while All Might has taken the lead on helping you get a hold of your new Quirk in time for the test, he is not the only one that will be evaluating you and determining if you will even be allowed to take the practical portion of the test."
"I… huh?"
A few students looked at Izuku as he shifted around in his chair nervously.
"All Might will be reporting your progress to me. As I'm sure he's told you, he will not allow you to participate in the test if you have not demonstrated a certain degree of control over your Quirks. I'm sure that he will wait until the last possible second before making that final decision. As such, to prevent any delays, he will be reporting to me on your progress. If I am not satisfied with how things are going at any point, I will pull you out of the test immediately. Is that clear?"
Stiffly, Izuku nodded his head, "It is."
Aizawa didn't say anything else for a second as he let this news sink in. Then with a sigh, he picked up his sleeping bag, "However, given your work ethic and… single-mindedness to your goal, on top of the commitment All Might has shown to your development, I don't see a scenario where you'd fail before taking the test."
Izuku perked up at that, "Oh. Thank you, sir."
Aizawa's gaze then turned to Hitoshi, "As for you, Shinsou, do not keep me waiting."
Hitoshi sunk into his seat, grumbling about set-ups and conspiracies.
Aizawa then turned to address the class, "As for the rest of you, I expect you to follow your classmates' example and take this upcoming test seriously. Just because school is over does not mean our facilities are closed or that the teachers and staff aren't available to you for extra training."
"Yes, Sensei," Came the class's chorus answer.
With that said, Aizawa left, and the rest of the class began to collect their bags. As Izuku got his, he was a little startled to find Minoru staring up at him, "Um, Yes?"
"So how'd you manage to snag All Might as a private tutor? And when is it our turn?"
"Ummm..."
Before Izuku could answer, Hanta walked over to Minoru and gave him a little shove, "Come on, dude. Don't be a jerk."
"Bah! It's a legitimate question! There's some favoritism going on here," Minoru replied with an exaggerated huff.
"Midoriya's new Quirk almost killed him, and it happened under All Might's watch. It's no wonder he would want to make sure Midoriya was okay after that." Momo said with a convincing degree of certainty.
Denki laughed, "Man, the price of admission to get taught by All Might is maybe just a bit too high. Step one, get a new Quirk. Step two, almost die using it."
"You're forgetting step three," Mina added, "Pick a fight with no less than two Nomus."
Izuku chuckled, "I would not recommend that."
"Still," Fumikage thought aloud, "To get a chance to be personally trained by any hero is a stroke of good fortune and an opportunity one should take full advantage of."
Hitoshi rolled his eyes, "If anyone would like an opportunity to take advantage of that, you're more than welcome to take my place." The deafening silence from his classmates made their views on that crystal clear, "You all suck."
"Still," Momo said as she collected her things, "I think I will look into exactly what options are available. Both for the practical and written portion of the test. While finals are still only a couple of months away, it never hurts to get an early start."
"Do you mind if I tag along?" Kyouka asked, "You're probably right, so I'd like to see what U.A. has to offer."
Momo smiled brightly, "The more, the merrier."
Soon more and more of the class left the room. Some agreed that it was worth looking into what was there for them, and some were not overly concerned. Izuku turned towards his friends and bowed, "I should probably hurry and get ready to meet with All Might. Hatsume has a bunch of stuff she wants me to wear while I train, and I don't want to keep her nor All Might waiting."
"Same for me, I guess," Hitoshi said with a sigh, "Catch you all later."
The group said their farewells though Tsuyu held back for a few seconds before looking over at Himiko, "You'll be fine then, kero?"
Himiko raised an eyebrow before pointing up at her eyepatch, "What? Because of this?"
Tsuyu nodded, "I don't mind staying after school if you need help with anything."
"It's fine, Tsu. I'm fine. Besides not like there's much you'd be able to help me with. Gonna be spending some time making sure my aim isn't crap now. It's not, by the way, but I have to prove to the teachers that it isn't. They'll probably want me to start with stationary targets too, which is boring…" Himiko trailed off when she saw that Tsuyu still looked worried, "... but once I've graduated back up to moving targets, if you want to come and throw some around for me, that would be fine. I'm sure that tongue of yours could launch some stuff pretty hard and make it a challenge for me."
That seemed to perk Tsuyu back up, "I'd like that."
With that agreed upon, soon only Izuku Ochako and Himiko remained, with Himiko scratching her head, "Still not used to that."
Izuku frowned, "Used to what?"
"Having people care enough about me to be worried."
With all of Mei's equipment in hand, Izuku hurried down the halls to the boys changing room. He had split up from Ochako and Himiko, who had been very amused to see him run off. Bursting into the room, Izuku put the stuff down and began fishing for his sweats in his locker.
"Oi Deku!"
"AHHH-! FWOOSH!"
Izuku, not expecting anyone else in the locker, nearly had a heart attack when someone screamed out his name. His shock at being surprised turned to instant embarrassment as a jet of green fire burst from his mouth and left his locker room door scorched.
Ooooooh, that's gonna come back to haunt me… Wonder if I can get Todoroki to take the blame…
"...The fuck is wrong with you, Deku?"
Suddenly remembering that he wasn't alone in the locker room, Izuku whirled around to find a very annoyed-looking Katsuki, "Kacchan? Why'd you sneak up on me like that?"
"I didn't. You're just a spaz. And a fucking fire hazard."
Sheepishly, Izuku poked his fingers together, "That's not fair. You were hiding in here and ambushed me."
"I was waiting here for you and said one word."
"More like yelled…"
"Deku," Katsuki growled.
"Why are you waiting for me anyway, Kacchan? And why here?"
"Because this is the one place Round Face and Bun Bitch won't follow you."
"... So this is an ambush."
"Deku, I swear to god I'm going to destroy you."
Izuku threw up his hands, "Okay, okay. Moving on. What do you want?"
"What's going on between you and All Might?"
If there was a list of things Izuku did not expect to hear come out of Katsuki's mouth, that would have been pretty high up there, "Between… I'm not sure I follow."
"Don't try and play dumb. I know there's something going on."
"Kacchan, All Might is helping me with my Boric Pyre because he feels responsible about what happened and how it got triggered."
Katsuki crossed his arms, "Then why isn't he getting a pro with a fire Quirk to help you?"
Izuku shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "He spoke with Endeavor, and I spoke with my father. Endeavor gave him some things to look out for in a fire-based Quirk, and I spoke with my father to get more details about mine in particular. I think we have everything covered."
"Hmph," Katsuki narrowed his eyes, "that's a good enough excuse, I suppose."
"A good enough-?"
"For someone that doesn't know there's something up between you and All Might."
Izuku's eyes bulged, "Wait, what are you-"
"Did you forget I overheard you and Half-and-Half talking?"
Izuku paused. He did remember that. It was how Katsuki knew that he and Shouto had talked about his father. It was, Izuku recalled, as Shouto nailed him on his connection with All Might.
Ooooooh, this… this might be trouble. Izuku thought. Then as he looked at Katsuki, he could tell he was waiting for Izuku to respond. Okay. Fine then. At this point, trying to hide it will only cause more issues. Also not like I don't have practice with this because of Todoroki. I'll just tell Kacchan enough so that he'll think he figured everything out.
"Do you remember that sludge villain?" Izuku asked. Katsuki's growl and the small crackles and pops from his hands were all Izuku needed to hear to know that was a 'yes', "Well, that was the second time I ran into him that day. And the second time that I ran into All Might."
Katsuki raised an eyebrow at that, "The second? The hell happened the first time?"
"I almost died."
Izuku recalled the sludge villains' attack in the tunnel. Him trying to use his body to hide from All Might, who had been chasing him through the sewers. Recalling the feeling of being suffocated as the villain tried to fit his entire mass inside his body made both booths shudder. Izuku then told Katsuki how All Might had appeared and had defeated the villain with just the shockwave of a punch, though he also got caught up in it, which made Izuku laugh.
"So you just randomly run into the number one hero, and he decides he's going to train you?"
Izuku laughed, though it was an uncomfortable one, "Not exactly."
Izuku then explained the next series of events, with Katsuki groaning loudly when Izuku said he had latched onto All Might's leg when the hero jumped into the sky, "Because of course you'd do something that stupid."
While Izuku didn't mention everything that he and All Might talked about, making sure to avoid anything about his injury and the fact he was losing his ability to hold his bulked-up form, he did talk about his question to All Might. Asking if someone like him could become a hero.
"And he told you yes because your life is a fucking comic book and-"
"He told me no, Kacchan. He told me that I couldn't become a hero and that I should give up on my dream. That I should shoot for something I could actually achieve, and then he left saying I should be able to find my way off the roof."
Katsuki was scowling, but Izuku couldn't get a read on what he was thinking. But it was clear to Izuku that Katsuki was thinking. His fingers were tapping against his arm, and his eyes were twitchy. Looking around as he went over his thoughts.
"He left you on top of a building?"
"Yeah?"
Katsuki's face soured, which was a strange sight. Like he was tasting something really nasty. Izuku blinked a few times, before he took a guess at what might be bothering him, "Oh."
Katsuki's scowl deepened, "No. No 'oh.'"
"Are you worried because I was left on a tall building the same day you said-"
"Move. The fuck. On."
"... I didn't think about jumping."
Katsuki hissed, "God fucking damn you, I don't care."
Izuku swore Katsuki didn't sound nearly as angry as he had been a few seconds ago. Apparently, the whole 'go kill yourself thing' was still a touchy subject for him, which was really strange since Izuku had moved on from it. Mostly.
Almost completely.
Even if the last few times they had talked, the subject had been brought up.
Which was weird.
Deciding to move on and not risk triggering something that the two of them were maybe not ready to talk about yet, Izuku continued his explanation. How after All Might had left him alone, he had then seen an explosion a block or so away. He ended up going to it, even though he hadn't meant to since All Might's words had put him in a really sad mood. It ended up that the explosion he had seen and walked over to had been Katsuki fighting for his life against the sludge villain.
Katsuki frowned as he listened to Izuku's story, "Hold on a second"
"Yeah?"
"Something about that doesn't add up."
Izuku gulped, wondering if he had said something to tip Katsuki off about All Might.
"You were still on the roof when you heard my explosions?"
"Yes?"
"Which was me getting attacked by that sludge bastard All Might had captured."
Uh oh.
"How in the fuck did he get away? The fucker was huge, so it should have been obvious. Your timeline is fucked."
Oh, I'm dead. Quick, think of a lie!
"All Might was able to cram him into a soda bottle and put him in his pants pocket."
… THAT WASN'T A LIE!
"... His pants pocket?"
"Yeah…" Izuku gulped out.
Shoot, shoot, shoot!
"And what did you say you grabbed onto again?"
"His leg.."
The calmness of Katsuki's voice when he asked his next question was deeply unsettling for Izuku, "Did he get free because you decided to act like an insane moron and hitch a ride of All Might?"
Izuku really wished he could think of an excuse, he really really did, "There's a good chance that me grabbing onto All Might made the bottle fall out of his pocket."
…
…
…
POW!
Katsuki's fist shot up and popped Izuku right square in the nose. Izuku clutched his nose with his hands and stumbled back, his back hitting his locker's door, "Ow, ow, ow. That stings." Izuku hissed through his teeth.
Katsuki rolled his eyes, "Oh, don't be such a pussy. I can hit way harder than that. And you would have deserved it too."
Izuku couldn't argue with either point. While his nose hurt, it wasn't bleeding. And Izuku knew from experience just how hard Katsuki could hit from their fight in the sports festival. And secondly, if he was being honest, he kinda did deserve that hit.
"So All Might leaves your ass at the top of a building, and then you hear an explosion which is me fighting for my life."
Izuku would go on to explain he hadn't meant to end up there, but he had been so lost in thought that he walked to the commotion without realizing it. He described the feeling of horror and guilt when he saw the sludge villain holding him. Then when it became obvious no other hero was able to do anything, it only got worse. Then he got a look at Katsuki's face, and the next thing he knew, he was running straight into danger. His body just acted on it's own.
"Fucking hell. That's your defense?"
Izuku shrugged, a sheepish grin on his face, "Well, it worked out."
"Only because All Might ended up showing up. But before that. You were using your Quirk to attack that sludge fucker. How?"
"I didn't even know I was using my Quirk. I wasn't even aware I was until All Might told me about it later. Until then, I thought you had blown us free of that saw what happened in the alley, and after he learned that I hadn't been using it for the majority of my life, he figured that I was suppressing it subconsciously. That's why it had become so weak; I just never used it because all of my life people kept…" Izuku trailed off, and Katsuki swore.
"Fucking course." Though, that did line up with everything else Katsuki thought. He supposed the idea that Izuku had been hiding his power really had been a stupid idea. No, the truth was much simpler but just as hard to swallow. He had been a large reason for keeping Izuku's Quirk buried. Well, him, the school and teachers, the other kids, and Izuku's father. Though the very idea that he was comparing himself to that fuck turned Katsuki's stomach, so he motioned for Izuku to continue with his story.
Not like that fucking deadbeat. He's supposed to be Deku's father. I was trying to become strong while he just ditched his fucking family.
Izuku went on to say All Might had tracked him down after everything that same day. To apologize for what he had said earlier and to offer to train him. All Might had found Izuku's actions inspiring and felt that spark deserved to be nurtured and given a chance to grow.
So after he was ungrounded, which Katsuki laughed at, All Might took Izuku to Dagobah Beach to train.
"You mean that shit hole that suddenly became a love fest for those horny idiots?"
"... Yes, and it's called a dating spot. I'm kinda proud that after cleaning it, it's become so popular. Feels pretty good, actually."
"He made you clean it yourself? That's how you trained?"
"Um, not exactly," Izuku said before talking about the different things All Might did to train him. Besides just picking up trash. "I also wasn't alone."
Izuku told Katsuki that the beach training wasn't the first time he had heard the idea. Before running into All Might, it was Ochako that had come up with the idea to use the beach as a spot to train. When Izuku said that, a look dawned on Katsuki as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. When Izuku explained how Ochako ended up joining him to train with All Might, Katsuki rubbed his temple, "That explains a fucking lot."
When Izuku was finally done, Katsuki was back to his neutral scowl, "So that's the big secret to how you got so strong. Picking up fucking garbage."
Izuku shrugged, "To be fair, it was a lot of garbage."
"And what about that Yagi guy that you three mentioned. He even came to see you, right? What's his deal?"
"As we said, he's a scout, and he does work at All Might's agency, but All Might brought him in after he met us first. He helped train us using All Might's plan and took over whenever All Might wasn't able to be around. He pretty much became the public face of our training since we didn't want to draw attention to it. When my mom got worried about our training, it was Mr. Yagi that spoke with her and got her to relax."
Katsuki's eyes widened, and he looked genuinely shocked, "Wait? Your mom doesn't know you were trained by All Might?"
"Um, no?"
"...For fucks sake, Deku, are you a fucking idiot?"