Chapter 49: Festival Fever
"So, how do you like him?" Garaki cheekily asked, looking down at the enormous handprint in front of him with a smirk.
Laying facedown within that print was the target of Garaki's ribbing, a sprawled Dabi caked in a man-sized indentation in the dirt. "Fuck. You."
Garaki's snickering at the muffled reply was as miserable as a punted newborn, and it grated on Dabi's ears something fierce. Just then, the earthshaking vibrations of Gigantomachia's approach somehow shook Dabi out of his hole and back onto solid ground.
"The Lord's successor is disappointing," Gigantomachia huffed in disapproval.
"He's not the successor, Machia," Garaki corrected. "He's simply a tool to bring our Lord's empire back to prominence once he is fully restored."
Dabi let the crack about him being a tool slide for the moment. After all, the feeling was mutual.
"The Lord is coming back?" Gigantomachia gasped, and then he clasped his meaty hands in giddy anticipation. "But he died! The Lord is coming back from the dead?!"
"He never died, Machia, and he never will," Garaki assured, the lens of his goggles reflecting a malicious gleam. "He will come back. He always comes back. All Might couldn't put him down forever, and neither can Tomura Shigaraki, the traitorous brat. So long as I'm still here, our master will rise again and again and again!"
As Garaki devolved into unhinged, maniacal laughter (and Gigantomachia goofily attempted to mimic it), Dabi fully drank in the titan before him. He didn't put a ton of stock into the old fart saying Gigantomachia was the bodyguard of All For One; someone who could go toe-to-toe with All Might didn't need a fucking bodyguard of all things, so anyone claiming to be or given the designation as such must have been nothing more than bluster, smoke, and mirrors. At best, Dabi figured it was probably some lifelong putz who couldn't hold a candle to All For One physically and just gave phenomenal head to justify their continued existence.
Now, looking up at the behemoth of a man before him, Dabi could say that he got it. He couldn't speak to the validity of the latter, but he could certainly see how Gigantomachia stayed in the conversation from a physicality perspective. It was like he was standing at the foot of a mountain… despite them currently being in the mountain wilderness that Gigantomachia called home. Were there mountains on top of mountains? Was that a thing?
He shook his head, expelling that train of thought from his mind. He wouldn't allow himself to get wrapped up in pointless inquiries, lest he end up just like his mother.
No, he'd focus on the absolute boon this development was. The Vanguard now had a city-leveling berserker added to their guild, meaning they had someone to throw at All Might when they began moving in earnest, assuming All Might decided they were worthy enough to come out of retirement for. The special Nomu were also well on their way, so they had a reliable force of heavies in development to bolster their expendable grunts. The only thing they were really missing was a few elites to stand above the rest. The Volcano Thieves were decent candidates, but they were still green.
Life would be a lot easier if they could just swipe a strong villain or two from prison and be done with it-
"Hey, Doc," Dabi called, breaking Garaki and Gigantomachia out of their mustache-twirling villainy.
Garaki irritably grunted and turned to Dabi. "What is it, kid?"
"How hard would it be to break into Tartarus?"
A startled silence followed, and Dabi could practically feel the doctor slowly blinking at him behind his goggles.
"…That depends on what you're looking to gain," he finally answered. "You trying to break someone out, steal something in particular, or just destroy the facility?"
"There are a few people that would make for great additions to The Vanguard if only they weren't incarcerated," Dabi answered with a shrug.
Another silence followed, though this one was brief and ended with a thoughtful hum.
"It would take most of the High-Ends we have in production as well as Gigantomachia to overwhelm and bulldoze through all of their security measures," Garaki began. "However, I'd caution against making a move like that until after our gracious benefactor's vessel is complete and he has been restored to consciousness. Only then would success be guaranteed."
Dabi could only shrug in concession of the point, but Garaki wasn't finished.
"With that said…" he continued, a dark grin burgeoning as twisted machinations came together in his mind. "There are other, less guarded prisons out there, many of them incarcerating All For One's previous associates for way back when. Anyone in particular you had in mind?"
"The UA School Festival is coming," Aizawa announced to his class from within his sleeping bag, and that was all that needed to be said for them to fly into excited chatter. He didn't even bother quieting them down this time around, as the excitement over something simple and innocuous was warranted after the school year they'd had.
"Hold on, Mr. Aizawa!" Kirishima spoke up. "Are you sure this is okay? There are villains everywhere right now."
"There are," Aizawa agreed. "However, keep in mind that there are students here besides those in the hero course, those whose lives have also been affected by the events surrounding your class in particular."
"What do you mean?" Toru asked.
"The dorms, for one," Aizawa answered. "Housing for those who needed it was already available in a limited capacity, but a compulsory, sweeping dorm system for all UA students wouldn't have been implemented without Midoriya's kidnapping."
That wasn't necessarily the whole truth since it was already in the works before then because of HPSC surveillance, but his class didn't need to know that (and it was still the Midoriya family's fault anyway). In any event, that answer seemed to reach them, as a thoughtful silence cast over many of his students.
"You all get the spotlight every year at the sports festival," Aizawa continued. "This is for everyone else. The school festival doesn't get nearly as much attention, but it's still the event the other courses all look forward to. It's their opportunity to destress from the rigor of the school year on top of the comical shenanigans orbiting the hero course that they sometimes get caught up in. The press hounding UA and its students for scoops and hit pieces affects everyone, not just you all or the faculty."
Thankfully, the entire class seemed to be in understanding, and any questions or comments that were spurring during the explanation were done away with.
"To your point earlier, though, Kirishima," Aizawa spoke again, "this year's festival will only be open to UA students and staff, with limited exceptions. The pros that work here should be sufficient enough to act as security for the event since we won't have an excess of civilians on the campus like with the sports festival."
Then, Aizawa slid down the wall into a sitting position in his sleeping bag. "You all shouldn't worry about that, though. You're still students, so you should be allowed to enjoy a festival put on by and for you all. That means you'll have to participate with some kind of original programming, service, event, or whatever you choose to do, so long as it's appropriate. Decide what that is today."
And just like that, he was asleep, leaving his flabbergasted class to figure out what they wanted to do for the remainder of their homeroom. Luckily (or not, depending on your perspective), Iida was quick to vacate his seat and appear before Izuku's desk like a phantom.
"Midoriya!" he sternly addressed, startling Izuku, Bakugo, and Mineta all at once. "As class representative, it is your duty to facilitate the process from here!"
"Oh, um," Izuku stammered, ignoring the sparky profanity coming from the seat in front of him before he acquiesced. "Okay-"
"Splendid!" Iida remarked, and before either he or Yaoyorozu could blink, they were swiped out of their desks and deposited at the podium at the front of the room.
Both took a moment to shake the squiggles out of their vision, and once they had, Iida was already sitting in his seat and patiently waiting for them to begin, completely unaffected by the amused gawking he was receiving from all directions. If anyone craved normalcy as much as everyone else, it was Iida, and this was the only way he knew how.
"…Alright," Izuku drawled. "Let's brainstorm some ideas. Anyone have any suggestions-"
The brewing storm of excitement finally exploded, nearly toppling the class reps over in its wake. Ideas of a maid cafe, mochi shop, arm wrestling, disco, and a death match were all suggested among a slew of other possibilities of varying degrees of practicality. The brainstorming session quickly devolved into a mess of eliminating certain ideas and trying to combine others that were too similar. Not much ground was being made, but everyone liked their own idea, and everyone had contributed one except…
"What do you think we should do, Midoriya?" Jiro suddenly asked, drawing everyone's attention to Izuku while he was pondering what was on the board. "We haven't heard from you yet."
"Honestly, it probably would've been something hero-related," Izuku shrugged. "Barring that, I'd have to actually think of something that would captivate an audience."
"That shouldn't be hard for the guy that's literally captivated the entire nation's attention," Mina joked, and Izuku ducked his chin into his hand, both to hide his encroaching blush and to continue thinking over the topic.
"What would Eri like…" Izuku hummed, internally weighing the feasibility of a gourmet candy apple stall.
Surprisingly, it was Sero who spoke up. "I saw her watching Akiba Maid War in the common room one time, and she was really into it. Maybe she likes musicals?"
Izuku's gaze shot toward Sero and planted him in his seat with unnerving intensity. "Why the hell was she watching Akiba Maid War, and who put that on for her?"
Buckets of sweat began pouring down Sero's face as the rest of the class wisely vacated the immediate area, leaving Sero to his fate at the hands of Izuku's brotherly wrath. Any words that attempted to tumble out of Sero's mouth were simply fearful stammers, and it wasn't helped by Izuku's gaze narrowing dangerously at him.
Fortunately, he was quite literally saved by the bell, and the class unleashed a collective sigh.
"No maiming your classmates, Midoriya," Aizawa yawned as he walked by the podium, miraculously out of his sleeping bag. "Decide what you all will do by tomorrow morning. If not, we'll go with the principal's idea of a televised, shock collar-guided maze."
"…Principal Nezu isn't actually suggesting that, right?" Yaoyorozu hesitantly asked their teacher as he exited the room and offered her no response. "Right?"
Once the school day was over, those who didn't have any missed classes from work-studies to make up were leaving the building proper and on their way back to the dorms. Nestled within the roving mass of students was an odd duo from General Studies. A tall boy with a pompadour large enough to compensate for the rest of the student body and a chin to match walked alongside a girl who could barely even be called conscious and was practically dragging herself along the path.
"Hey, did you hear?" Tsutsutaka Agoyamato prompted his exhausted friend. "Class 1-A is putting on a concert, and it's apparently for us."
When he didn't get a response, he nudged her. "Togeike?"
When even that didn't elicit a response, he nudged just a little bit harder and leaned closer to her ear. "Earth to Togeike! You all good down there?"
"Huh?!" she yelped, swiping her hand out and subconsciously forming a vine that smacked her friend in the face. "Shit, sorry, Ago!"
"It's all good," he quickly assured her. "You look dead on your feet, dude."
"I am," she sighed. "Quirk counseling has been brutal."
"What are they having you do?" Agoyamato asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Principal Nezu sent me to join Shinso's training with Mr. Aizawa," she muttered, and Agoyamato's eyes widened in surprise. "Right? Luckily, he's not running me into the ground like Shinso, but I didn't realize how taxing it would be to actually train my quirk. Because of how my quirk functions, the energy that binds me to plants is always active throughout my body, so it's like doing a full-body workout anytime I want to practice with it and not accidentally slice my limbs off whenever I sneeze. Did you know I can fashion grass into a fucking sword?"
"Wait, what?" Agoyamato sputtered, cautiously glancing down at the path to avoid stumbling on a stray blade of grass.
"I know, right?!" Togeike said, excitement bleeding into her tone despite her tiredness. "We knew that I exercised blanket control over plants, but we found out that my range is and that exactly what I can do with them is pretty much up to my imagination! With all the trees around here, I could literally turn this whole area into a rave if I tried hard enough!"
Agoyamato looked out into the forested expanse that surrounded the main UA building with a paling expression as the frightening extent of his friend's newfound powers began to sink in. Togeike noticed, however, and she quickly got herself in check.
"Sorry, I'm freaking you out, aren't I?" Togeike sheepishly chuckled.
"No, no, it's fine," Agoyamato assured once again. "Just hadn't considered how OP you are until we were in the middle of a forest. You're literally the queen of this domain."
"Damn right, I am," she playfully snickered, and then she shook her head. "Nah, I'm pretty sure Midoriya or anyone from Heroics would wipe the floor with me in seconds."
"Speaking of, you hear that 1-A is putting on a concert for us because they think we deserve one?"
Togeike shrugged. "That's nice of them, I guess. Promised myself I'd go a little easier on them ever since Midoriya restored my quirk, so I'll give them a chance."
"Ah, your knight and shining armor changed your opinion of them, I see," Agoyamato joked.
Togeike responded with a thoughtful hum, and then she shook her head. "Believe it or not, the whole "leafy hair" thing doesn't really do it for me."
"Not as much as the crown of thorns in 1-B?" he replied with a smirk.
"Shut the hell up," she grumbled, and then she sighed. "I'm just glad I have a few days of rest, unlike Shinso. That poor sucker wants to switch to Heroics, so he gets it almost daily."
Agoyamato breathed a sigh of relief. "Sometimes, I'm really glad my quirk is just Urokinesis. Heroics was always out of the cards for me unless I strapped on a few tanks and called myself Pissmaster or something."
Togeike sent him a sidelong glance. "You know, you always say that, and I don't believe you, but I also don't want a demonstration."
When Izuku reached the Development Studio, he was greeted by an explosion blasting the triple-reinforced door off its hinges, a sight he had become very familiar with. Snatching the door out of the air with one arm and catching a coughing, soot-covered Mei with the other, he gently placed the door on the ground while resting Mei on her feet.
Mei took a moment to clear the stench of failure from her lungs before she removed her goggles to get a good look at what had caught her, and the moment she did, she beamed. "Sunfire! Glad you're here! I've been tinkering with some modifications to your costume, and I want you to be the first to see them!"
"…Does that mean Power Loader hasn't?" Izuku worriedly hazarded before he was yanked by his arm and pulled into the lab.
"Yep!" she excitedly confirmed. "C'mon, c'mon! I have so much to show you!"
As expected, the lab had Mei's works-in-progress strewn about with a table holding her pièce de résistance in the form of his hero costume. To the table beside her was Melissa slaving over a few different things, one of them he recognized to be Mirio Togata's costume. She sent him a lazy wave without looking up from the table, clearly locked in on her work.
Meanwhile, there was Power Loader, who had long since given up on wrangling Mei when she had figured out how to contain her explosions to affect only herself and the path toward the door. At the sight of Izuku entering the lab, he was already on his way to the liquor cabinet underneath his desk, and Izuku couldn't say he blamed him.
"Alright, Firestorm, check these out," Mei started by motioning to Izuku's gauntlets. "We got rid of the bracers when you developed those vents in your forearms, but I found a workaround to keep them and not hamper your output when those vents are in use. These new bracers have their own vents that should function in tandem with your natural ones so that you don't risk overheating, but that's not the best part."
With a single push, the bracers folded into the base of the gauntlet in a flash, revealing it to be the same I-Island technology as Melissa's, well, everything.
"They can retract if ever you need to go Super Plus Ultra," Mei added with pride. "I even added grill handguards to your gauntlets with holes that will let you flush a torrent of flames out of the back of your hand if necessary. 'Flaming Backfist' or something for a new signature move, or even shooting your purple flames directly out of them to subdue someone without even thinking about it."
Izuku was struck silent, blinking dumbly at the work of art for a long moment before he turned to his giddy friend. "Mei, if this wasn't strictly a business partnership, I'd propose to you right now."
"Well, I do need to put you on child support for how many babies I've been making you, y'know," Mei smoothly replied, ignoring Izuku's floundering expression and turning back to the suit without missing a beat. "Next up!"
She refocused Izuku's attention on his boots. "I've taken notice of how you enjoy flying these days, so I made it a little easier on you by adding a few vents to the soles of your boots. That way, you're automatically getting thrust from below your feet rather than having to consciously angle it downward from the rest of your body."
"…I didn't even ask for this," Izuku marveled.
"Didn't need to!" Mei declared. "We're partners, and partners always have to know what the other needs at any given point in time like a telepathic link!"
"Is this your way of telling me that you want chocolate?" Izuku deadpanned.
"You know me so well, buddy!"
Stifled snorting from the other table brought their attention to Melissa finally wiping the sweat from her brow and leaning back in her chair.
"How goes it, Melissa?" Izuku asked, sidling over to the other table and allowing Mei to take a seat and catch her breath for once.
"Oh, y'know," she sighed. "Same shit, different day. Not that it's a bad thing at all."
"Must be nice," Izuku chuckled. "I would've killed for a prolonged stretch of time free of main character shenanigans. Well, until I actually got one…"
"What?"
"Nothing," Izuku waved it off before switching gears. "Are you looking forward to the culture festival? I wasn't sure if they had those in America, or I-Island, I guess, so I didn't know if you had ever experienced one."
"We don't really," Melissa shrugged. "At least we didn't, and I-Island had probably the closest analog to an American private school network that you'd be familiar with."
She sighed again, though this one carried more exhaustion than Izuku was expecting. "In any event, no, I'll have to miss it, unfortunately. I, uh…"
"What's up?" Izuku asked with burgeoning concern.
Her gaze fell back onto the worktable. "Uncle Might and I are visiting my dad this month…"
"Oh…" Izuku muttered. "I'm sorry for asking."
"It's fine," she tried to assure, but it wasn't terribly convincing. "Had to happen eventually. Keeping myself busy until then with routine and training."
Izuku nodded in understanding, but internally, he was floundering once more. He knew that he wouldn't be able to offer up much in the way of words that could put her at ease given the situation, not that there really was much of anything to say at this point. He also didn't want to risk agitating her; he already tread that ground when the wound was fresh at I-Island. So, if talking it through was off the table, perhaps offering up another distraction would work.
"Well, whenever you want that rematch, just let me know," Izuku challenged with a smile.
To his glee, a small smile took shape on Melissa's face, one that developed into an excited smirk despite herself. "You're on."
Ochako sighed the long day away as she lumbered into her dorm room and let her backpack slide down her arm into the limp clutches of her tired hands. She kicked the door closed and dropped her back onto her desk before making eye contact with her bed, ready to vanish into her mattress after the load of make-up classes for the days she missed while on work-study.
"Took you long enough," an all-too-familiar voice came from a head emerging from her shadow, one that Ochako was not the least bit prepared for.
"HOLY FUCKING FUCK!" Ochako shouted, leaping onto her bed in fright and getting into a fighting stance until she set her sights on the fully emerged intruder. "Vanta?"
"Sup," Vanta sent her a lazy wave accompanied by a playful smirk.
"Give me a fuckin' warning before ya pop in like that!" Ochako scolded, launching one of her pillows at Vanta like a fastball. Vanta didn't even move, just letting it smack her in the face with the sincerest attempt at a laugh.
It didn't quite hold up to scrutiny, and Ochako's expression softened into concern. "How are you doing?"
Vanta's jovial facade melted away, leaving her face blank with her dull, yellow eyes the only window into the tumultuous storm of despair raging within her.
"How do you think?" she answered in a dull tone after a brief silence.
"Since you're here again, it can't be great," Ochako replied, and she sat crosslegged on her bed and rubbed a spot beside her, wordlessly beckoning Vanta to take a seat. She did so without further prompting, sighing into the comfort of the mattress before leaning on Ochako's shoulder.
"Any leads on who dug up her grave?" Ochako asked, gently rubbing Vanta's shoulder as she finally relaxed.
"…Kind of, I think?" Vanta murmured. "I'm not sure if I'm on to something or if I'm just desperately grasping at straws, so I haven't mentioned anything to Ms. Joke yet."
"What are you thinking, then?" Ochako replied.
Vanta hesitantly hummed. "You know that video that went around? The one about a mutant renaissance?"
"The one that mentioned Minori," Ochako confirmed.
"Well, I recognize the guy that was speaking," Vanta said, and she noticed Ochako's eyes widening in her periphery. She idly clasped her clawed hands, the pitch-black paint on her claws contrasting against her skin like the void she practically called home.
"That gotta be good, right?" Ochako questioned, figuring that it was a lead on a potential villain if nothing else.
Vanta shrugged. "I guess. He's from my hometown. I'm pretty sure he was arrested at some point, but I guess he either escaped or was released. I went to the same school as his sister."
"That explains how he knew about her then," Ochako mused, somewhat deflating at the realization.
"Yeah, but it's not really him that I'm thinking about," Vanta muttered, idly cuddling just a bit more into Ochako. "It's the sister that's giving me pause."
"How so?" Ochako asked, resting her arm around Vanta's shoulder.
"I think I saw her a while back," she said. "It was while I was tailing this trigger dealer that Ms. Joke and I were hunting to uncover the source of a mutant-focused trigger racket. I'm pretty sure I caught a glimpse of her in the same room as the guy's supplier."
"So she's involved with them," Ochako surmised.
"If my gut's right," Vanta nodded. "But, even if it is, it's circumstantial at best, and the connection to Minori is even more flimsy."
"But maybe their connection to each other isn't," Ochako floated the idea, which got Vanta's attention. "If the sister is possibly involved with a group producing trigger for people with mutation quirks, and the brother is preaching for a mutant renaissance…"
"Then they're probably working together," Vanta finished Ochako's thought before facepalming.
"The simplest answer is usually the one that makes the most sense," Ochako giggled.
"Yeah, yeah," Vanta sighed. "Even if they have no connection to whoever dug up Minori, the fact that he mentioned her specifically shortly afterward even after all this time is an odd coincidence. It wouldn't hurt to track them down, especially since I'd be tracking down the suppliers we were looking for in the first place."
"Kill two birds with one stone," Ochako added with a smile. "Tell Ms. Joke and get this hunt started in earnest now that you know exactly who you're looking for."
Vanta popped up from the bed, mildly startling Ochako, but what startled Ochako even more was being wrapped into a tight, emotional embrace out of nowhere. Her smile quickly reemerged, though, and she returned the hug with equal fervor.
"Thank you," Vanta whispered.
"All I did was let you bounce your ideas off of me until you came to the best conclusion," she laughed. "It was your brain at work the whole time."
"Yeah, but…" Vanta trailed off, melting further into the hug. "For everything."
And she truly meant that. For the first time in nearly two weeks, Vanta was genuinely smiling. Soon, though, Vanta pulled away and composed herself, much to Ochako's amusement.
"Hey, Vanta?" she said, a twinge of unsureness edging into her tone. "Um, what exactly is… this?"
"This?" Vanta asked with a quirked brow.
"Y'know…" she muttered, vaguely motioning between the two of them.
"Oh…" Vanta mouthed, and then she ran a claw through the fur on her face as she took a moment to mull it over. "Having fun until one of us dies, I guess."
Ochako blinked at her, and dread began creeping up her spine. "…We're not gonna get stuffed into a fridge like that, right?"
The blank stare she received from Vanta in response did not assuage her worries whatsoever.
With the student body all living on campus, preparations for the school festival were in action even on the weekend. Students were all over the main building setting things up as well as preparing for whatever they had in store for the festival on other parts of the campus. Eri, curious about all of the activity, wanted to explore and see all the stuff everyone was doing, so that's what she and Izuku were doing. Given he had the rhythm of a decapitated chicken with Parkinson's, he had spared Mina the trouble of declaring him a lost cause for their concert/dance routine and chose to take Eri on the adventure she wanted.
It was safe to say that she was awestruck by the buzzing hive of students hard at work to put this festival together. She had never seen anything like this; she was already excited about the idea of a whole festival of activities and potential candy apple stalls, but seeing it all come together beforehand was a fascinating sight for someone whose only experience with teamwork was a bunch of frazzled Yakuza scrambling to appease the man that literally splattered one of their friends only moments prior to prove a point.
That excitement skyrocketed when she spotted a familiar black bob haircut among a group carrying a prop of a dragon's skull.
"Zuku! The kuudere!" She called out from atop his shoulders, patting his chest and pointing to the group carrying the props.
"Hm?" he responded, eyeing where she was pointing until he noticed Yui Kodai with a few of her classmates. "Oh, good eye, Eri!"
Shambling over to her, he nearly bumped into the snout of the dragon skull carried by Tetsutetsu leading the pack.
"Sorry!" Tetsutetsu called, and then he recognized who he was in front of. "Hey, it's Midoriya from Class A!"
"Why am I not surprised, huh?" Monoma addressed with his typical, haughty smile. "You're walking around like you've got nothing to do while we're all hustling-"
Whatever he had left to say was promptly discarded when he was shoved out of the way by a positively glowing Yui, his startled curses going ignored all the while.
"Hey," she casually greeted with a small smile, idly sliding a few strands of hair out of her face.
"Hey," Izuku greeted back with a smile of his own, covertly ruffling Eri's hair in thanks.
"More treachery!" Monoma accused from the ground, but Tetsutetsu and Awase were quick to apprehend and silence him.
"Let's go, Monoma," Awase grumbled, wishing this was him and Yaoyorozu right about now. "You don't want to wake up to your pajamas being inexplicably shrunk."
"We can't just let her affiliate with the enemy!" Monoma protested as he was dragged away, leaving Yui with Izuku and Eri. "What if he forces her to give up the secrets of our performance?!"
"I don't think that'll be an issue, dude," Tetsutetsu sighed, sending a wave to Yui as the group continued on their way.
"So…" Izuku spoke, moving past the ridiculous scene amidst Eri's light giggling. "What's your class doing for the school festival?"
"Stage play," Yui answered simply. "Romeo and Juliet, and the Prisoner of Azkaban: the Return of the King."
Izuku's brain stalled at the name, and even Eri could figure that something wasn't quite right about it.
"Uhh…" Izuku floundered in his search for an appropriate response.
"I know," Yui sighed in understanding. "Monoma. Don't think about it too hard."
Then, her gaze landed on Eri atop his shoulders, and her smile grew ever so slightly. "Eri will enjoy it."
Her smile was matched by the excited child, which was more than enough for Izuku to be 100% onboard. However, the soft rumble of Eri's stomach quickly shifted the three's attention.
"I'm a little hungry," Eri muttered, and Izuku perked up.
"Lunch Rush will take care of that," Izuku said, and he sent a smile Yui's way. "Coming with?"
"Mm," she replied with a smile, and they set off into the main building with the cafeteria as their destination.
With Izuku and Yui being (more or less) dismissed by their respective classes, they were free to accompany Eri on her journey to experience the cocaine-fueled stylings of Lunch Rush's fabulous cuisine. Passing more students setting up the coming festival on the way was just icing on the cake for Eri while Yui snagged Izuku into an interesting conversation below her.
"You're intimately familiar with quirk awakenings, right?" Yui suddenly asked him, surprising Izuku almost enough to halt his steps.
"I suppose…" he replied, thinking over every jump in power his quirk had suddenly taken over the past few months. "Why do you ask?"
"Something your mom mentioned during training," she said, and Izuku was reminded that his mom had free access to Yui during the duration of her faux work-study. He'd reckon with the horrors his mother would no doubt put him through another time.
"What did she say?" Izuku hazarded.
"That an awakening might solve my limitation of only growing and shrinking nonliving things, but also that achieving one isn't worth the emotional toll," she answered with a shrug. "Seemed like wishful thinking, but I figured I'd ask anyway."
"I mean, it very well might, but it just as likely might not," Izuku mused with his hand on his chin. "There's no telling what an awakening for Size would even entail. Maybe you can affect living things, or maybe your reach just extends to things you're not even touching, like a compound effect. And even then, awakenings only happen during times of extreme emotional or physical duress, oftentimes both."
His face slightly fell, much to Yui's concern. "The last awakening I had was during the stuff with Muscular and Kota during the training camp, and before then was on I-Island when I was feeling more rage than I had ever felt before, and before even that was…"
"USJ?" she finished, tenderly running a hand down his back.
"Yeah," he sighed, quietly thankful for her ministration as well as Eri softly rubbing his scalp when she sensed his slight shift in demeanor. "I don't even know if half of those count as awakenings or just me unlocking parts of my ridiculous quirk like I did when I was 10, but I felt them worth noting."
Yui's hand fell from his back and latched onto one of his, giving it a light squeeze while she sent him a warm smile that he truly never got tired of seeing. "It's okay. Thank you for thinking about it at all."
The three continued on their way, eventually making it to the vaunted UA cafeteria hailed as the personal domain of the greatest chef this side of the Sea of Japan. Once they were seated, Izuku continued the process of indoctrinating Eri into the Cult of Katsudon with the giant bowls both he and she had in front of them. Yui was still resistant to the gospel, but that was fine. Izuku would sway her over to the dark side in time.
"Oh, how cute. I hope we're not interrupting a date."
The blood instantly drained from Izuku's face at the sound of the absolute last voice he needed to hear at the moment. His head slowly craned to his left to spot Midnight looking back at him with a playful simper the next table over. As if his mother needed any more ammo to tease him with, now he'd get it even worse from the undisputed queen of it during Modern Art History. To make matters even worse, Nezu was right beside her happily indulging in a wheel of Furano Wine Cheddar.
"Please stop, Ms. Midnight," he whined, already feeling the inklings of heat reach his face.
Meanwhile, Yui did absolutely nothing to dissuade her or dispel her notions. The sudden vibrations of her phone snagged her attention, though, and when she retrieved it to read the newest frantic string of texts, her eyes minutely widened in panic. "Gotta go. Shiozaki nearly strangled Kuroiro again."
The mention of the name "Kuroiro" struck him once more, and he made a mental note to investigate that thread as soon as he had a free moment later that day. Until then, he waved goodbye to Yui as she stood up to leave, but she paused and turned to him, focusing directly on his blazer. Before he could question her, she reached for his poor excuse for a tie and began adjusting it for him, fixing it into something much more akin to the standard human being's.
"Been bothering me," Yui softly remarked as she made the knot snug around his neck and the shell presentable to the rest of the world.
"I could've fixed it on my own, y'know," Izuku petulantly mumbled, turning away to hide a furious blush.
Yui simply quirked an eyebrow at him, adjusting the lapels of his blazer for good measure. "Never learned?"
Izuku didn't immediately reply, choosing to keep his gaze planted on anything but her or the unquantifiable amusement of Nezu and Midnight until he finally relented. "…No one taught me."
Yui kept her blank stare firmly rooted on him. "Did you ever ask?"
"…No," he lamely answered, and then he pouted at Yui's victorious smile. "Shut up."
"Didn't say anything," she remarked with a loving pat on his chest before she finally turned to leave. "I'm off."
With that, she hurried out of the cafeteria and back toward the 1-B dorm to assuage any tensions that had arisen between her devout friend and wholesomely dastardly classmate. Izuku watched her leave, unable (and unwilling) to pry his gaze away from her retreating figure.
"If she wants a quirk awakening, then I swear I'm gonna make her into a giant woman just like Mt. Lady one of these days," he murmured to himself.
Eri turned her curious gaze up at her brother. "Is she gonna be my new sister-in-law?"
That jolted Izuku out of any trains of thought that were scheduled to leave the station, and he quirked an eyebrow up at her. "You know what an in-law is?"
"Overhaul really liked this one daytime TV show, and they mentioned in-laws a few times," she shrugged.
Izuku really shouldn't have been surprised at this point.
"See, he's already getting her acquainted with her future sister-in-law," Midnight victoriously singsonged, and Izuku's face fell into his food while she dramatically leaned back with her hands clasped over her bosom. "Ah, to be young and in love again. Such a wonderful time…"
"Please have mercy," Izuku groaned through the bowl.
"Kayama is just happy that she's winning the betting pool," Nezu offhandedly remarked as he tore through the last of his cheese.
"You're not supposed to say that out loud!" Midnight rebuked.
"Oh, Principal Nezu," Izuku spoke up after pulling his face from his food. "Are any of the training grounds available tomorrow?"
"On a Sunday?" Nezu mused. "I suppose I can push back the robot fleet's murder drills. Which one do you need?"
"Any that would work for an all-out spar between myself and Melissa," Izuku answered.
Nezu hummed. "All Might and Melissa usually use Ground Beta so that she gets proper practice wielding her power in crowded, urban spaces, but Gym Gamma would incur the least amount of damage to repair."
He raised a paw to his chin in consideration. "Of course, should you choose Ground Beta, I do have a new security feature that I would like to test. It shouldn't interfere with your spar, but I'd like to have it running."
"What feature?" Izuku asked in mild concern.
"An electric cage surrounding the perimeter of the training grounds!" Nezu excitedly revealed, drawing incredulous stares from both Midnight and Izuku.
"Nezu," Izuku drawled with an unmistakable degree of exhaustion. "Why the hell would you need that?"
"You sound so much like your mother."
Anyone who just happened to be strolling by Gym Gamma the next day would be forgiven for thinking there was an earthquake on campus since shockwaves emanating from within could be felt even outside of the building. Fortunately, all of the staff were warned ahead of time by Nezu that Izuku Midoriya and Melissa Shield would be sparring with All Might's supervision, so no one was too worried when a particularly loud boom rocked the building.
The same couldn't be said for Toshinori in the midst of it all, though. Watching Melissa pour every ounce of her energy into her attacks with almost reckless abandon filled him with a heap of worry. He could gather that she had been understandably stressed out recently, but the full weight of it hadn't hit him until she attempted to hit Young Midoriya with a full-power Detroit Smash from point-blank range.
Young Midoriya, the psychopath that he was, just up and tanked it by forming a sort of cocoon around him to absorb the blow. In fact, calling it a cocoon may not have been totally accurate, as it appeared more like a violet, flaming ribcage with orange plating had formed around him. It was shattered by the attack, but Toshinori couldn't say that he had ever seen anything like that before, at least as far as barriers went. Still, it wasn't nearly enough to put him down, as Melissa received a very, very snug receipt to the sternum moments later that blasted her off like a rogue rocket.
Then, in a surprising move that he will probably never get used to, she fired Blackwhip from both arms and anchored herself to the ground beside her before bungeeing herself back into the fray to resume their monumental clash. She had no amount of quit in her, and Young Midoriya was ready to throw everything she had right back at her.
Toshinori was never fortunate enough to have an equal; the closest to him in strength was All For One, and he couldn't exactly call him up for a spar every now and then. Gran Torino was there to train him into the ground when he was still learning how to use his newfound power, but once he got a handle on it and was able to safely tap into the greater reaches of the stockpile, it was no contest. All of that was to say that there wasn't a single allied soul in Japan that could stand up to him on even footing, so watching these two teens maul each other admittedly made him slightly jealous.
Though, whether or not Melissa and Young Midoriya could even be called equals was… well, it wasn't really even up for debate. Melissa still had a long way to go, and he was confident that she'd be a match for Young Midoriya and even himself one day, but he had no idea if her counterpart had even begun approaching his ceiling. Honestly, he was mildly afraid of what that ceiling would even look like…
His gaze landed on Melissa throwing a Texas Smash that would have been devastating had it not been redirected by Midoriya's elbow of all things, leaving her side exposed for an equally devastating kick that blasted her toward the wall. Her trip was then cut short by violet flames accosting her in the blink of an eye and yoinking her back to her opponent, only to be met with a brightly burning green uppercut slamming into her chin. Toshinori winced, his mind flashing back to being on the receiving end of a similar uppercut. Thankfully, Melissa wasn't blasted through the ceiling like he was, but she was slammed to the ground face-first with one arm pinned behind her and the other pinned to the cratered concrete.
"Do you want to take a break, or are you still ready to go?" he asked.
One brief moment of struggling later, Melissa sighed and begrudgingly nodded. "Yeah, let's take five."
Young Midoriya nodded and released her, helping her back to her feet. All the while, pink fire ignited in his hands, and he placed them on her suit over her ribs. Toshinori's gaze found itself locked onto the flames, the mountain of intrigue he still had about them blooming once more. Those very flames restored significant portions of his digestive system, a feat not even Recovery Girl could manage after exhausting every possible procedure.
As he watched him work, Toshinori's hand subconsciously ghosted over the notably shrunken scar on his abdomen. He knew that Young Midoriya would gladly do his best to finish the job should he ever ask him to, but it took so much out of the boy just to get him to this point that Toshinori didn't want to trouble him with it any further. Meanwhile, a few broken ribs on Melissa wasn't anything that he couldn't easily mend, and he still looked no worse for wear after their awesome battle.
Midoriya was such an immensely fascinating boy.
"Thanks," Melissa sighed in relief once the pain completely vanished, and Toshinori took that moment to join them.
"I know I've told you this before, but you've taken to One For All like a fish to water," he complimented. "Not even I was this much of a natural when I first got the quirk, and it was far less powerful than it is now."
"I'm not that good with it," she tried to downplay it with a sigh. "I need this suit to safely use any significant percentage…"
"I disagree," Toshinori insisted, having none of that. "You've only had the quirk for a few months, and you're so much farther ahead than I was at the same timeframe. Master and Gran Torino were still gleefully kicking the crap out of me at that point."
A faint, "It's true," from Nana ghosted through both of their minds, but Toshinori shook it off. "You're practically the definition of prodigious, and you already work yourself into the ground-"
"Uncle Might," Melissa interrupted him, silencing him with the seriousness of her expression. "Was I only offered One For All because I was quirkless?"
"…Do you want an honest answer to that?"
The reply left his lips faster than his brain could determine if that was the right moment for a joke to alleviate some of the tension. Judging by the nonplussed face of Melissa and facepalming Midoriya, it clearly wasn't. Let it never be said that Toshinori Yagi ever beat the allegations of being an awkward dork.
"I'm sorry, Melissa," he apologized. "That was a really stupid joke."
"So, I wasn't the ideal recipient," she lamented. "I was just the only one available…"
"There's a lot more to it than that," Toshinori interjected, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We've long since been over the specifics of that, though. I suspect that isn't what's bothering you right now, is it?"
Melissa pursed her lips but remained silent, glowering at the ground while Young Midoriya sent him a wave and silently made his exit to give them privacy.
"Every time I use this quirk, I'm reminded of my dad," Melissa finally murmured.
"Had a feeling it was about that," Toshinori solemnly remarked.
"I'm constantly reminded of him everywhere I go," she bitterly said. "Every time I put on this suit, I'm reminded of why I'm in Japan to begin with. Hell, every time I'm working on something in the Development Studio, I subconsciously reach for a tool drawer that isn't there or move to activate my old personal lab's special interface."
"You're still adjusting," Toshinori said, but Melissa shook her head.
"That isn't the problem!" she asserted. "I love it here! Everyone has been so welcoming and accommodating! For the first time in who knows how long, I'm not just some nepo baby with a brain! Lunch Rush's food is the best I've ever had! I actually have a QUIRK, Uncle Might!"
Her voice grew progressively hoarser until the tears were finally welling up, fighting relentlessly against her valiant efforts to choke them back. "So, why is it so hard to not think about it when I should logically be able to keep it all out of my mind?!"
"You can't just ignore what you're going through and hope it goes away, Melissa," Toshinori said. "You have to allow yourself to feel."
"I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to feel about him!" she barked, finally getting to the heart of the matter. "He put everyone's lives in danger! He put me in danger! Mr. Abraham is dead, Uncle Might! He's fucking dead, and for what?! Technology that ended up stolen anyway? A device meant to preserve a quirk that you don't even have anymore!"
The tears were pouring now, and Toshinori pulled her into a hug before she could start shaking. She clutched onto his shirt to keep herself together, taking a lengthy moment to do her best to compose herself.
"But… he's my Papa," she sniffled into Toshinori's shirt. "He was everything I had. He still is…"
"You still have me, Melissa," Toshinori assured, and he could feel her break even more. "You have Young Midoriya, too."
With that, she was actively holding onto him for dear life as all of the emotional turmoil she had been bottling up finally spilled out. Her wailing was muffled through the fabric of his shirt, but it was no less heart-wrenching. On the other hand, it was good that she was finally letting these feelings out without the need for violence, so Toshinori did what was best and gently patted her on the back, allowing her to get everything she needed out at that moment.
"This is accurate information?" Madame President asked, her steely gaze boring straight through Hawks with a measure of intensity that he had never even encountered from the most hardened criminals he had faced.
Hawks gulped, but he held it together. "It's my best guess based on everything I saw."
The following silence was tense; Madame President kept her unnerving gaze on Hawks who did his level best to remain statuesque. It was somewhat helped by the fact that her gaze wasn't focused on him specifically, but rather he just happened to be in the space that she was staring into as she mulled over the information he relayed from his report.
"Time reversal, huh…" Madame President muttered in an uncommon show of solicitude. "This is… unprecedented."
Hawks kept silent. He had already grappled with this decision and knew he was never going to make peace with it. That was okay. It was above him, now. The greater good of Japan was bigger than even him, and good didn't always mean clean or fair.
"The UA School Festival," Madam President suddenly spoke, dragging Hawks out of his thoughts.
"I'm sorry?" he responded.
"I want Eri in the Commission's facilities by month's end," she began, her usual unflappability returning in full. "Falsifying your quirk registry is a felony, and a child didn't do that by herself. All evidence would point to Nezu having a hand in it, so getting a warrant that would grant us grounds to enter the UA campus wouldn't be difficult at all. On top of that, a child possessing a quirk that powerful is too dangerous to not be under official observation. I'll have the necessary paperwork ready for you by the UA School Festival."
Hawks blinked, taking in her words. "…Why that day in particular?"
"That would be the optimal day to accomplish what we need to without Nezu causing a fuss," she answered patiently. "Enter during a normal day, and you're far more likely to encounter resistance."
"And Midoriya?"
"Bring him in, as well, if possible. There are a few inconsistencies with his quirk registry that need to be addressed. However, Eri is the priority."
It was far past the point for Hawks's stomach to drop into the void, but he still felt like he had swallowed a whole cauldron of lead. "Right…"
"Will that be a problem, Hawks?" Madame President inquired, and she didn't even need an upward inflection or a quirk of her brow to convey the gravity of her order.
"No, ma'am," he denied, shaking his head and internally kicking off the process of numbing himself.
"Good."
OMAKE: The Hippo and the Cat
"When I was a tyke, my family and I lived in this really big house, and I used to play hide-and-seek with my siblings. I, uh, I had this great spot where I used to climb into the vents, and no one could ever find me until the game was over. Sometimes, though, they'd be looking for everyone for so long that they'd forget I was playing, and no one ever knew I was up there, so I'd just nap amongst the dust until I sneezed myself awake."
Mr. Hippo chuckled as he reminisced, taking a sip of tea at the small table he sat at surrounded by the chilly, blue flames towering over him. "Y'know, I went back recently and tried to see if I could still fit. It's… it's not easy for a hippopotamus to fit up there. And... not easy to get down, either. Not as young as I used to be, as you can see. I used to get to do all sorts of things. Y-you're young, you're vibrant, you have that sort of pep in your step."
He sighed, momentarily lamenting on times long gone as the giant death god sitting opposite him at the table motioned for him to continue with a wave of a tail. "It reminds me of a conversation I was having with one of my good friends, Orville. We were having a nice picnic one day. I believe it was summer..."
Mr. Hippo furrowed his brow and cupped his chin in thought. "Or perhaps it was... was it the fall?"
He snapped his fingers. "Yes yes yes, it was the fall because the leaves had turned already. But I said to Orville, I-I said, 'Orville, I have a story to tell you.' And Orville looked at me, y'know, kinda odd and, and-and said, 'What's it about?' So I said to him, 'Not every story has to be about something, Orville. Sometimes a person just wants to talk. Why does everything have to be a story?' I said to him."
Mr. Hippo shifted once again, lightly jostling his cup of tea. "He just looked at me and he said, 'Well, you-you-you said you had a story.' And y'know, he was quite right. I did in fact. I told him I had a story. I suppose if a person just wants to talk, then it's best to not announce that you're telling a story. Telling a story does come with its own pressures and expectations, I-I suppose. After all, if you're just talking to a friend, then there's no more expectations than if you're talking into the wind!"
"Mhm," rumbled the ethereal cat, lifting a comically large cup of tea with one of its tails and taking a sip.
"Words by themselves aren't expected to carry, and aren't expected to stick," Mr. Hippo continued after a brief pause. "But if, y'know, if you announce that you're telling a story, well then... there better be a point to it all, y'know? No one wants to sit and listen to someone ramble on and on and on with absolutely no end in sight. So, you know, it's-it's good to be mindful when you tell someone you're about to tell a story that you have something to say. Telling someone that you're gonna tell them a story is tantamount to asking them to stop what they're doing and-and pay attention."
He took another momentary pause to swallow and gather his next words. "You're basically saying, 'Hey, hey, hey buddy, stop everything, stop what you're thinking, I have a solution to everything.' And, well, I didn't really have any story to tell. In-in hindsight, I-I probably just misspoke when I said that I had a story. I think it would have been better to tell Orville that I wanted to tell him something, rather than tell him I had a story. But y'know, even then, that might have put too much importance on the whole thing. Either way, it was quite a nice day. I remember... I remember that we were drinking tea."
"Riveting," Matatabi remarked with a serene smile. "Was it Gold Tips Imperial?"
"As a matter of fact, it was," Mr. Hippo marveled. "I never pegged the Shinigami for a tea connoisseur."
"I do have hobbies outside of my job," Matatabi proudly remarked.
"No kidding," Mr. Hippo chuckled. "So, how does a giant nekomata find themselves presiding over the realm of life and death?"
Matatabi smiled fondly at the thought. "Now that certainly is an interesting tale…"
DELETED SCENE
Yui kept her blank stare firmly rooted on him. "Did you ever ask?"
"…No," he lamely answered, and then he pouted at Yui's victorious smile. "Shut up."
"Didn't say anything," she remarked with a loving pat on his chest before she finally turned to leave. "I'm off."
With that, she hurried out of the cafeteria and back toward the 1-B dorm to assuage any tensions that had arisen between her devout friend and wholesomely dastardly classmate. Izuku watched her leave, unable (and unwilling) to pry his gaze away from her retreating figure while his brain shamelessly locked in on any means of extending their time together.
"I'm gonna make her into a giant woman just like Mt. Lady before the school festival," he murmured to himself.
Eri turned her curious gaze up at her brother. "Is she gonna be my new sister-in-law?"
That jolted Izuku out of any trains of thought that were scheduled to leave the station, and he quirked an eyebrow up at her. "You know what an in-law is?"
"Overhaul really liked this one daytime TV show, and they mentioned in-laws a few times," she shrugged.
Izuku really shouldn't have been surprised at this point.
"See, he's already getting her acquainted with her future sister-in-law," Midnight victoriously singsonged, and Izuku's face fell into his food while she dramatically leaned back with her hands clasped over her bosom. "Ah, to be young and in love again. Such a wonderful time…"
"Please have mercy," Izuku groaned through the bowl.
"Kayama is just happy that she's winning the betting pool," Nezu offhandedly remarked as he tore through the last of his cheese.
"You're not supposed to say that out loud!" Midnight rebuked.
"Oh, Principal Nezu," Izuku spoke up after pulling his face from his food. "Are any of the training grounds available tomorrow?"
"On a Sunday?" Nezu mused. "I suppose I can push back the robot fleet's murder drills. Which one do you need?"
"Preferably Ground Beta," Izuku answered.
"Splendid!" Nezu chirped. "I actually have something I want to test, as well, and I was going to start with Ground Beta. Perhaps we can kill two birds with one stone. It shouldn't interfere with anything you seek to work on."
"Awesome," Izuku smiled, and he immediately pulled out his phone to send a text to Yui.
Just got the ok from Nezu. Be at Ground Beta tomorrow afternoon so we can bang this out.
After a brief moment, he got a response:
Oh?
...
OH!
You meant training!
For my quirk...
Right, I'll be there