Chapter 27: "Now hurry up and hit me with your galaxy brained Quirk knowledge!"
"Midoriya. Could you elaborate?" Izuku turned his attention to Iida. He, like the other eighteen of their classmates, had his curiosity grabbed by Izuku when he made his proposal to them.
"In case you guys forgot, the other seven classes have declared war on us." Replied Izuku, before suddenly feeling slightly self conscious, "Even after I… uh… told them to leave-"
"After you told those obnoxious extras to eat shit and fuck off." Supplied Kacchan with a smirk, earning a couple chuckles from the others, and Izuku could even hear Fifth snickering in the back of his mind.
Izuku slowly turned his head to give the guy he'd grown up alongside a flat look. "Right." He said drily, "After doing… that, there's a good chance they still intend to go after us during the Sports Festival. That's why I want us to work together. I had some ideas for how you could try to train and improve your Quirks, going off some… analysis that I've done while watching you use your Quirks."
"But aren't we going to be competing against each other, ribbit?" Asked Tsu.
"Asui has a good point," Said Jirou, pointing at the frog girl with one of her Jacks, "We might learn a thing or two from you, but we'd also be opening ourselves up to having our weaknesses exploited by one another."
"That's a fair concern to have." Izuku conceded. "If you decide to turn the offer down, I won't hold it against you. As your class president, I'm simply putting this offer out for anyone that wishes for the chance to improve. The Sports Festival is fast approaching after all, it'll be an entire year before we have the chance to show the Pros what we can do. I say we put our best foot forward while we're still first years."
His words seemed to be reaching the others, as they murmured amongst themselves, considering the idea. It was Yaomomo who spoke up next, "Midoriya, would it be safe to assume that this would be similar to the first day of school when you provided advice during the Quirk Assessment Test?"
Izuku did his best to not make a face at that question, the less he was reminded of that test the happier he'd be.
"Amen to that."
"That's right, though it'll be a lot more productive, given that we won't have to deal with the immediate time crunch of Aizawa-Sensei breathing down our necks." Izuku explained.
Yaomomo nodded her head at this information. "Very well, then I have no choice but to accept this offer. In order to rectify my actions back during the day we first met."
That managed to get a bit of a reaction out of Izuku, "Y-Yaomo- er, Yaoyorozu, you shouldn't feel pressured into feeling guilty about that, I respected your decision back then and I'll respect whatever decision you make now."
"Truly?" Asked Yaomomo, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes, "Then respect the decision I've made, and the reasoning I have for it."
Izuku held eye contact with the taller girl for all of three seconds before folding. "Yes ma'am…" He said quietly.
"Damn, our vice prez is powerful…" Kaminari whispered to Kirishima.
"So manly…" Whispered Kirishima.
"Don't call someone like Yaoyorozu 'manly' you boulder brain." Said Sero, leaning forward to flick Kirishima in the back of the head. The redhead didn't even flinch, but Sero did have to retract his hand and shake it, his finger now hurting.
"Besides, as the vice president it'd be best if I accompany you in order to help monitor our other classmates." Added Yaomomo, giving a reason that Izuku felt far more comfortable accepting.
"By that logic, then as class secretary I must join as well!" Declared Iida, chopping his arms for emphasis. "I look forward to your insight, Midoriya!"
"You'd better count me in too, Deku! No way I'm missing out on this!" Declared Ochako.
"Yeah! I need to see what kinda magic you can work with my Quirk, especially after what happened with the Q.A.T!" Agreed Hagakure.
One by one, students started declaring their desire to join in. It was a bit overwhelming to Izuku, seeing how much they were all willing to work with him.
"Don't get why you're so surprised, they voted for you to be their representative for a reason."
"Come now, after what he's been through I can't exactly fault him. A week and a half of having more friends than you can count on one hand doesn't exactly undo a lifetime of bullying and social ostracisation."
"Yeah, though it is impressive seeing how much everyone's taken a shine to him. I guess it helps that he's such a good kid… huh, that sounds familiar, wouldn't you agree Chief?"
The silence within One for All was deafening. Izuku also noticed that there were a couple students who'd yet to voice their opinions on his idea, one being Kacchan and the other was Todoroki. Izuku decided to approach the latter first, walking up to his desk and extending a hand to him. "Well, Todoroki, we'd love to have you join us."
Todoroki looked at his hand, then his eyes slowly traveled upwards to meet Izuku's. He then stood up. "Midoriya, I'll be frank with you." He said, his voice as cool as it ever was during the rare instances he chose to speak up. "Amongst all of our classmates, you are without a doubt the strongest. I might not have witnessed it personally, but your bout with the Nomu is a testament that you're powerful."
Izuku blinked, clearly confused as to where this was going. "Oh! Uh, thank y-?"
"However, I still know that I am stronger still. Therefore I see little need to join in on this training." Continued Todoroki, cutting him off as he stood up and started walking towards the door. "Moreover, I came to UA in order to become a hero and achieve my own goal. I have no interest in making friends, so I'd advise you to cease wasting your time offering to become mine." He then exited the classroom, leaving nineteen pairs of eyes to stare at the door he walked through.
There was a silence in the class, broken when Kacchan eventually spoke up. "That motherfucking icyhot shitheel thinks that not only Deku is, but also that he's stronger than me!? Oooh I'm gonna murder his ass on live television!"
"Wow, only thing icier than his Quirk is his personality…" Commented Satou.
"It's a shame, honestly." Said Ashido, her voice reflecting a dramatic sadness. "He has such a pretty face, but I don't think there's anyone who would be able to stay close to him without his cold words freezing their heart and shattering it!"
"Have you ever thought about trying your hand at theater?" Asked Ojiro drily.
"I dunno Ashido." Interjected Mineta, a hand on his chin and a thoughtful expression on his face. "I think there are some girls who'd be into it."
The Tail and Acid students both gave their shorter classmate a look, their eyes squinted as he continued contemplating. Then Ashido sighed before saying, "I can't believe that I'm saying this, but you're probably right."
"I guess there was some truth to his behavior after all…" Muttered Ojiro.
Ignoring the exchange between their classmates, Yaomomo decided to put a comforting hand on Izuku's shoulder, who just barely managed to resist his instinct to jump in surprise at the contact. "Don't fret over his reaction Midoriya, even if Todoroki chooses to abstain from the group training, nineteen out of twenty is hardly a bad result."
"Eighteen." Replied Izuku.
"Eh?"
Izuku pointed towards Kacchan, who smirked and stood up. "Yeah, sorry extras, but the next number one's gonna be flying solo." He admitted as he slung his backpack over his shoulders.
"Are you sure about that Bakuchan, ribbit?" Asked Tsu. "Do you want to put yourself into the same boat as Todoroki?"
Kacchan turned to look at her, "Bi-" He started to say before pausing and catching himself. "Tsu, Icyhot are not in the same boat. He's floating along in a shitty little dinghy while I'm captain of a goddamn yacht."
"Compensating for something?" Snickered Kaminari, before shutting up when he felt Kacchan glaring at him. His glare didn't stop those sitting around him from laughing though.
"The point," Said Kacchan, now annoyed, "is that I don't need Deku's help and he knows it. The rest of you clowns can flock to him for advice, god knows some of you could use it, but I already know what I'm doing. And what I'm doing right now is getting out of here so I can train."
"Bye Bakuchan, ribbit." Said Tsu, waving at him as he left.
"Yeah yeah, see you around Tsu." He muttered in response as he walked out the door, giving a weak wave to those behind him as he departed.
Once he was gone, Yaomomo turned towards Izuku. "Very well then, eighteen. Of course there's still the question of where we will be able to train without causing an inconvenience…"
"Oh, I figured I'd ask Principal Nedzu if we could borrow a vacant gymnasium to use for training." Explained Izuku.
"Do you really think he would allow that?" Wondered Yaomomo.
Just then, the speakers of the P.A. System crackled to life."Absolutely! There's a vacant gym that's not in use right now, I'll send Ectoplasm your way to take you there and serve as a chaperone for you all, have fun with your training session students!"
The students stared at the speaker. "That… was creepy." Said Sero drily.
"Was the principal listening in on us the entire time? Not sure how manly that is…" Said Kirishima, looking at the speaker with a concerned expression.
"Well, Principal Nedzu is… a unique person." Admitted Izuku. "I don't think he means any genuine harm though, I bet he's more just making sure things are going ok for us at any given time."
"That's an optimistic way to describe being spied on." Retorted Satou.
"I mean… this is his school, I don't think that's something we can really fight him on either way." Izuku pointed out.
If someone had an argument to that, they didn't get the chance to voice it as the doorway to 1A opened, revealing Ectoplasm-Sensei standing there. "Nedzu explained the situation to me. I'll lead you to the vacant gym." He said.
"Thank you Sensei." Replied the class President as he and sixteen of his classmates followed after the teacher. They were so busy talking amongst themselves that they failed to notice the one they'd left behind…
"Best of luck with your training, students I will be here should you need assistance with anything, be it questions or simply a Quirk going awry."
"Thank you Ectoplasm-Sensei." Said Izuku, giving the teacher a small bow.
"Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that this guy insists on being referred to by his Hero name? No one else in UA does that."
"Lunch Rush. All Might."
"Ok, ALMOST no one, smartass."
"Perhaps he's just a secretive individual. Or perhaps his name carries some sort of burden, and revealing who he holds relations to could cause trouble?"
"What do you think we are? Comic book characters?"
Izuku left them to their theory crafting, walling off the voices of the vestiges so he could turn his attention towards his classmates. "Alright everyone, who wants to go first?" He asked. "We've got a lot of Quirks to go through, so this might take a couple days to be honest. I don't want to rush through the training and fail to get results."
"Ooh! Me me me me!" Exclaimed Ashido excitedly as she pushed herself to the front of the group, a broad grin on her pink face. "From one fluffy head to another, I've gotta see what you've got on me Midori!"
Izuku nodded his head and pulled out a notebook, a pink one with a design that made the thing look moist and slimy, despite being bone dry. "This here has all the data I've accumulated on your Quirk, gathered from the various times I've seen you use it during our Heroics lessons." He said proudly. "From basic knowledge to even speculatory applications and potential support gear you could apply to your costume to increase your proficiency."
Ashido stared at the notebook in his hand before reaching out and snatching it from his hand. "Geez Midori, this is a lot…" She mumbled as she looked through the pages before pausing and looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "A whole lotta chicken scratch that is, can you even read this?"
Izuku blushed and scratched the back of his head. "I mean… yeah? I've gotten used to reading my own handwriting… I just have a tendency to rely on shorthand so that way my hand can keep up with my thoughts. When I try writing normally when taking notes it leads to broken sentences that would give you an aneurysm just trying to read…" He admitted.
"And you have information on our Quirks in this thing?" Asked Sero as he looked over Ashido's shoulder to read the notebook.
"Oh no," Replied Izuku as he shook his head, "that's just Ashido's."
"What?" Asked Sero as he turned his head to stare at him.
Izuku then pulled another half a dozen notebooks from the pocket dimension that he seemed to be hiding those things. "I've got one for everyone." He explained.
"Oh hey, that one's got tape on it, lemme see!" Said Sero as he reached for one of the notebooks, only to lower his arm and sulk when Izuku simply hid his notebooks away. "One at a time, please."
"Not much point trying to read it yourself Sero." Said Ashido with a sigh. "I don't think you could understand a word Midori's wrote without him there to tell you what it says." She paused when something caught her eye. "Huh, though these notebooks do seem to come with pictures…" She then held up the notebook, showing a detailed drawing of herself. "Didn't know you were such a detailed artist." She then brought the book up to her lips and giggled, "Or maybe I just made for such a good muse that you couldn't keep your eyes off me until you had me sketched down on paper~?"
"Uh oh, looks like pepto bismol might be stepping up to compete with the other two."
"I'm starting to notice that he has a tendency to draw pink people towards him…"
"Seriously? And you call MY theories weird?"
"I'm serious. The inventor has pink hair, Ochako's Quirk glows pink when it activates and her costume has pink highlights, and now we've got a girl with pink skin and hair! And hey, maybe the invisible one is a pinkette under there."
"I don't think 'pinkette' is a word."
"That is what you choose to focus on…?"
There was a beat of silence before Seventh suddenly spoke up.
"The hell are you idiots staring at!?"
"Well, I mean, if Fourth's theory holds water then…"
"The FUCK is wrong with you two!?"
Izuku wasn't sure why, but it suddenly felt like there were two pairs of eyes boring into him, but with so many faces in the crowd of classmates, he couldn't tell who it was. "I-It's not like that!" He tried to argue. "I just… pride myself on my attention to detail…" He admitted, now taking his own turn to pout a bit. "Everyone's notebooks have those same kinds of doodles, even Aizawa-Sensei's."
"Wait, you made one for Hobo-Sensei?" Asked Kaminari. To answer the question, Izuku pulled out a notebook that had Eraserhead's golden goggles printed on the cover. "Well I'll be dipped…"
"Well, if you insist."
"Wait, Yaomomo what're you- kya!" Kaminari barely had time to understand what was going on before Yaomomo put one hand around the electric boy's waist before using the other to push his shoulder, causing him to fall backwards into a dipping position you'd see performed in dancing. Kaminari stared at her, his eyes wide while her face remained completely serious. They stayed like this for a few seconds before she pulled him back upright and returned her attention to Izuku, seemingly blissfully aware of everyone staring at her and Kaminari as the latter's face did its best impression of a tomato.
"Lucky bastard…" Muttered Jirou under her breath, which Izuku chose to just breeze right by.
"I think we're getting distracted." He admitted as he subtly reached over and took his notebook back from Ashido. "The point is that I've got a lot of analysis on your Quirks to share, as well as the means to conduct a couple experiments with some of your Quirks when it comes to certain unconfirmed speculations I've made." To exemplify his point, he lifted his backpack and shook it. The sound of items rattling around certainly inside made his classmate's curious. "Now then, Ashido, regardless of your sidetracking, you're still first in line. You ready to get started?"
Ashido couldn't help but grin at him. "Ready as I'll ever be." She replied, "Now hurry up and hit me with your galaxy brained Quirk knowledge!"
Izuku couldn't help but smile, in spite of his earlier anxieties when he proposed this, he had the feeling that this was going to be fun.
Chapter 28: "After everything you've done for me, you could at least use my name from now on."
"I know it may sound redundant," Said Izuku calmly as he skimmed through his notebook on Ashido, "but let's go over what we know about your Quirk real quick, ok?"
"Alright?" Replied Ashido, tilting her head to the side and staring at him quizzically.
"So, you can produce acid from your skin, and have some sort of control over solubility and viscosity. Of course, you've also got acid-proof skin, but only up to a certain point. Anything wrong with all that?"
Ashido shook her head. "Nope, got it in one go, Midori."
"Wonderful," Replied Izuku, dramatically shutting the notebook with one hand before pointing at her, "now riddle me this Ashido, why've you been relying on just your arms when it comes to using your acid?"
"Eh?"
"You've been relying on your arms to aim and fire your acid, neglecting your legs in almost their entirety." Explained Izuku.
Ashido looked down at her legs, giving one of them a shake. "I mean, what am I supposed to do with my legs, make an acid ball and play soccer with it?"
Izuku tapped the notebook against his chin. "Y'know, that's not a terrible idea. If you make some sort of ball made from acid that can temporarily hold its shape and then kick it at the enemy before exploding, you could certainly get a decent amount of range…" He responded thoughtfully, "But I've got a better idea."
Izuku crouched down and pointed at her shoes. "You've used your acid to slide before, but I want you to try imagining something. Picture a low viscosity, high solubility liquid on your soles or feet, to minimize friction. Give yourself the right kind of push, and you could go spinning faster than most people ever could even begin to imagine. Throw something in that state, and you could eclipse the pitching score you got at the Q.A.T. many times over."
Ashido was dubious, but absolutely curious too. "What, like some kind of human top?"
"That's… not a bad comparison to make, I guess." Said Izuku, scratching his cheek. "Sorry, not a fan of the idea?"
"No way, I've gotta test this out now!" Exclaimed Ashido, "Anyone got a ball I could borrow."
"Think fast," Replied Izuku as he suddenly pulled the same type of softball that had been used during Aizawa-Sensei's test before giving it an underhanded pitch towards Ashido, who caught it before kicking off her shoes and jogging a little bit to put some distance between her and the others.
"Alright, we should probably start slow just to avoid-" Izuku started to say, but trailed off when Ashido abruptly turned into a pink tornado.
"Ninjaaagooo!"
Izuku made a face. 'What?' He asked in confusion.
"Boooo, so uncultured!"
"I don't think many kids his age know about an American cartoon about LEGO ninjas with elemental powers from the early twenty first century. The show's older than Quirks are."
"Doesn't make him any less uncultured!"
"You should probably stop distracting him before someone gets hurt."
"Killjoy."
"Irresponsible bumbling idiot."
Izuku sighed, both at the vestiges' bickering and at Ashido's high speed spinning. "Or, alternatively she could go top gear right out of the gate." He commented, squinting his eyes as he watched, praying that she just wouldn't-
Hagakure blinked in confusion as she suddenly saw the back of a hand in front of her face, as well as a few sparks of green electricity. She slowly turned her head to see that that hand was connected to Izuku's arm, and was holding a softball. Izuku quietly tossed the ball into his other hand before shaking the first one a little. Hagakure then heard the sound of a body hitting the floor.
"Ashido!" Exclaimed Kirishima as he broke through the crowd and started running towards Ashido, who was now on the floor. Izuku sighed as he began walking towards the pair, with Yaomomo and Ochako not far behind him.
The trio approached the pair, and saw that Ashido's eyes were practically spinning in her head as Kirishima tried to help her up. "This is why I wanted to start slow." Said Izuku. "It'll take time getting used to going in that many circles without feeling sick."
"Here, let me help." Ochako moved to assist, she of all people could understand how awful nausea felt, given that she was a common acquaintance of the feeling.
After a few seconds, Ashido was back on her feet, though she was still swaying a little. "So, how far'd I get?"
"Well unfortunately I had to catch the ball in order to prevent it from rearranging Hagakure's face." Replied Izuku, which caused Ashido to lower her head in shame a little. "However, given that I had to use my Quirk to catch it in time, even while guessing that it was coming, that's a testament to the potential of this move."
The praise seemed to perk the pink girl up a bit at least. "Anything else you've got tucked away in that notebook of yours?"
"Off the top of my head, two more applications for your Quirk could be using a very thick layer of the stuff to create a projectile blocking shield, and potentially using your hands to recreate a firehose should you get the output right." Explained Izuku.
Ashido grinned at him. "Wicked sick, I have to try that!" She exclaimed before shuddering and bringing a hand up to her mouth. "Once I'm done feeling plain ol' sick…"
"I'll watch her until she's feelin' better." Said Kirishima as he guided Ashido to the sidelines to rest.
"Manly." Replied Izuku with a thumbs up, electing to ignore the looks all three girls were giving him because the grin on Kirishima's face was absolutely worth making himself sound like a dork. "Ok, who wanted to go next?"
"U-uh!" Said Hgakure, quickly stepping forward. "If you don't mind, I'd really… like to…"
Izuku tilted his head a little, confused by why she seemed to be acting so bashful, before smiling at her. "Alright Hagakure, by all means."
Hagakure's uniform moved in a way that Izuku was fairly certain was meant to convey a nod before she approached him. The other two girls split off in order to return to the group, though for some reason Ochako stuck to Izuku's side for an extra couple of seconds, staring at Hagakure, before following Yaomomo.
Izuku turned back to Hagakure, his eyes immediately narrowing. This caused Hagakure to actually flinch back a little in surprise. "Er, is something wrong, Midoriya?" She asked, sounding nervous.
Izuku stared a couple seconds longer, tilting his head to the side before his eyes widened and he smiled. "Ok, I think I found them."
There was a beat of silence that passed as Hagakure stared up at him. "F-found what?" She asked, still sounding a bit nervous.
Izuku responded by raising one of his hands, sticking out his index and pinky finger and using them to point at her face. No, not at her face, he was pointing at, "Your eyes." He explained. "I was looking for where your eyes were."
The following silence lasted even longer than the first period of quiet. "Wait wait wait, WHAT!?" Exclaimed Hagakure, this time it was Izuku's turn to flinch back, surprised by the abrupt upscale in the volume of her voice. "Is this supposed to be some sort of joke, Midoriya!? There's no way you should be able to see my… my…" She then trailed off as she realized that he was right, he was somehow maintaining eye contact with her. "H… how…?"
"A couple of factors, honestly." Replied Izuku calmly. "First, while you may be invisible, your uniform isn't. I can use your clothes and voice to figure out where your head is, and then from there it isn't too hard to guess the general location of your eyes."
"This isn't you looking in the 'general direction' of my eyes, Midoriya!" Exclaimed Hagakure, reaching over to grab Izuku before (attempting) to shake him. "I know what that's like! No, you're actually making eye contact with me, now tell me how dammit!"
"Talk about a drastic tonal shift, bashful one minute to flipping her shit the next."
"I can't really say I really fault her, given who she's dealing with."
"True, first he saves her from being injured thanks to the carelessness of another, ironically both incidents occurring exactly one week apart, but then he drops a revelation on her that most likely is shattering her reality."
Izuku now actually felt a little bad. He didn't know what they were going on about with all this talk about her being 'bashful,' they were likely just imagining things, or perhaps there's some sort of distortion that affects their perception when they try to view the world through his eyes.
"Good lord I'm starting to think this kid is being intentionally obtuse."
'But I probably should give her an actual explanation now so she can stop freaking out, so I'd appreciate the lack of distractions.' Shockingly enough, that seemed to actually get them to stop yapping for the moment so he could turn his attention to the girl in front of him who was, at this point, shaking herself more than she was shaking him. "Alright, Hagakure, could you please calm down for a minute?" He asked calmly, gently gripping her wrists as she continued grabbing him.
Hagakure thankfully complied, breathing heavily. "Geez, what're you made of? You didn't even flinch…" She muttered to herself.
Izuku decided to just… move on from that. "Alright, Hagakure, do you understand how eyesight works?" He asked.
"Huh?" Asked Hagakure, gesturing in a way that made Izuku fairly certain she was tilting her head in confusion.
"Ahem," Izuku cleared his throat as he started shifting into full on nerd mode. "Hagakure, your Quirk is Invisibility, you refract light from your body, making you invisible to others. A very straightforward Quirk, no?"
"Er, yes?" She replied uncertainly.
"Incorrect." Replied Izuku, forming an X with his arms. "See, eyesight works by having light hit our eyes to be able to see. So, if your whole body, including your eyes, simply refracted light, what do you think would happen?"
Hagakure's body slumped slightly, as she took a moment to put two and two together. Once she got to four, she straightened up again and exclaimed, "I'd be blind!"
"Correct!" Replied Izuku, sticking his thumb up, before pointing at her. "Then, can you tell me why you think you aren't?"
"M-my Quirk must have found a way to avoid that, of course! Maybe my eyes can partially absorb light, or makes it so my eyes don't need light to see!" She hastily replied, unsure where he was going with this.
"Mmm, yes but actually no. Quirks don't just completely disregard physics, after all. They work around it, bend it, if necessary, play with it... but in your case it's much simpler," He smiled at her, his smile holding a feeling of comfort and certainty that assured her nothing he said would be wrong.
"You can't, or rather don't, make your whole self invisible. Even if it's smaller than a pin prick, you need just enough of your eyes to stay visible so that light can hit them, and you can still see." He moved those two fingers up again, repeating the gesture he had before when he identified her eyes. "Honestly most would find it impossible to spot your eyes, the openings are essentially a pair of black dots the size of grains of sand floating in midair. If I hadn't guessed the potential mechanism, I likely never would've noticed." He admitted. "Even with knowing it, it still took me over a week to find your eyes." Izuku couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head, "Truly an incredible Quirk."
Tooru stared at him, so did everyone else for that matter. Within just over a week, Midroiya had been able to figure out something about her Quirk that she and every specialist she'd ever visited had failed to notice. She couldn't decide if it was more amazing or frightening.
What certainly did frighten her was when Izuku suddenly clapped his hands together, making her flinch back in surprise. "Alrighty! Moving on! Because the revelations don't end here!" He declared."
"You're gonna give someone an existential crisis at this rate kid."
"I'm almost afraid to find out what will happen once he sets his sights on Dark Shadow…"
'That'll be for later.' Replied Izuku as he started rummaging through his bag. "Tell me, Hagakure, you've grown up believing your Quirk is a passive one, correct? Hence why you've developed habits of moving in ways that will allow your emotions to be conveyed, since nobody can see your face?"
Tooru actually flinched back at that. The girl knew she was invisible, but this was the first time she'd ever felt someone had seen through her like this. "Yeah…?" She replied, "Wait, don't tell me you're going where I think you're going with this!?"
"Uh, you wanna fill in the peons who don't secretly have a degree in Quirkology?" Asked Mineta drily.
"He believes that her Quirk might potentially be able to be deactivated." Elaborated Yaoyorozu. "But I figured Invisibility was a mutation type Quirk?"
"Being one thing doesn't mean it can't possess traits of others." Replied Izuku before pointing at Sero, "Tape might be a Mutant type Quirk but it sure looks like he's 'Emitting' that tape to me." His comment actually made Sero self conscious enough to cover his elbows with his hands.
"The point- aha!" Exclaimed Izuku as he found what he was searching for, pulling out a laser pointer and presenting it to his classmates, "The point is that sometimes Quirks have secret abilities that people don't learn about until they fall into juuust the right circumstances. Like so." To prove his point, he activated the laser pointer and aimed it at Hagakure. The laser went into one of her arms and then was refracted and sent in a slightly different direction, as if it had collided with some kind of glass.
"There are some different types of invisibility Quirks." Explained Izuku as Hagakure stared down at her arm and the laser. "Some make the user disappear from people's eyes, and they simply get ignored. Others make the user 'unreachable' by light. Yours, Hagakure, can both let visible light pass through you and refract around you. Take this laser pointer, it's not just passing through you or stopping, it's being redirected. Imagine the possibilities."
"I mean, that sounds like a neat trick for parties, but I don't see that being very useful in a fight…" Admitted Kaminari, before ducking and dodging to try and avoid Jirou's Jacks as she attempted to punish him for being 'rude.'
"'Light' is a pretty broad spectrum, Kaminari." Replied Izuku, "But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Hagakure, I want you to try and see if you can manipulate this laser. See if you can change the direction it's refracting. Here, we'll use your hand so it's a little less complicated." After a few shifts in position, the light began shining through her hand. "Keep your hand perfectly still, focus only on the light, and your Quirk, and force the laser to move for you."
A few seconds passed in silence, as they remained motionless, staring at the red line bouncing on nothing. The invisible girl then dropped her hand. "It's not working..."
"Try again, please. I think, no I know you can do it." He pleaded his voice carrying a sincerity that she couldn't resist. With a barely perceptible nod, she went back to trying. A minute passed… then two…
Finally, the red line wobbled a bit from side to side before going back to its original state. Izuku was fast enough to notice her starting to wobble and darted forward to catch her before she fell. Behind them, there was a chorus of cheers and sounds of shock as their classmates expressed their awe at the feat.
"How was it?" He asked as he helped Hagakure regain her stability.
"It's... really hard..." The invisible girl muttered, out of breath.
"Like using a muscle you have never used, I imagine," He offered, putting a bottle of water in her hand. Tooru stared at it for a moment, unsure when he'd even grabbed the thing.
"How? How were you so sure?" She asked, looking up at him for affirmation.
Izuku smiled at her, "I had faith in my friend, that's all." Then as the cherry to top off this emotional sundae, he said, "Put in the work, and you'll have mastery over the light spectrum, you could even become visible whenever you wished."
Tooru said nothing, what was there left that she could even say at this point? With a smile Midoriya then took her hand and placed the laser pointer in it. "Hold onto this, you can use it for training. Might make for a useful trick in a jam too, you never know." He then gave her another one of those smiles of his. With a silent nod she pocketed the laser pointer and stood up.
"I'm going to go practice, you can move to the next person if you'd like." She said quietly.
"Do your best, Hagakure." Said Izuku.
"Tooru." Replied the invisible girl.
"Hm?" Asked Izuku, tilting his head.
"After everything you've done for me, you could at least use my name from now on." She explained, staring at him with an expression that he quite literally couldn't read
Izuku blinked in surprise. "O-oh, sure thing Tooru, if you insist…" With a nod, Tooru moved on to sit with Kirishima and Ashido so she could continue to train. Izuku looked back to the crowd of classmates, with fourteen left to go he decided to choose a friend from the crowd to make it easier. "C'mon Tsu, I'll do you next." He raised an eyebrow in confusion as he looked towards Kaminari, Sero, and Mineta, who all had their fists raised to their mouths as they did their best to stifle their laughter.
"Picking three girls in a row Midoriya, ribbit." Commented Tsu as she stepped forward. "If you're not careful there might be rumors."
"E-eh? Rumors!?" Asked Izuku, confused by what she was saying. "I-I mean if you'd rather go later then-"
"Too late, ribbit." Replied Tsu, "I want to hear what you think about my Quirk now."
"Ok, Tsu," Said Izuku, doing his best to focus back onto the original topic after the emotional rollercoaster the frog girl sent him on, "Your Quirk is Frog. Do you know what kind of Frog you are?"
"Ribbit?" Said Tsu in confusion as she tilted her head in confusion.
Izuku took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, before linking his hands together and putting his index fingers up to his lips. "Tsuyu Asui, there are over seventy eight hundred species of frogs in the world. That is a very broad spectrum, sure they all have a lot of abilities that are shared amongst them, the kinds that you've demonstrated time and time again, but many have their own unique abilities too. So the first step would be narrowing down the type of frog you are. Or if perhaps you've got the powers of every species of frog in existence. Or some middle ground. Or perhaps-"
"Or perhaps you're starting to let yourself get derailed."
Izuku flinched at that before chuckling sheepishly, "Sorry about that."
"It's fine, ribbit." Replied Tsu, her face remaining in its usually flat expression.
Izuku then pulled out his notebook on Tsu, blue and covered in lily pads. "Here, I took a note of some of the more… noteworthy abilities that different species of frogs have to see if we can figure out what you can do. Ready?"
"Go ahead, ribbit." Replied Tsu with a nod.
"Can you puff up like frogs do?"
Tsu shook her head, "I've tried, I don't have the right body type."
Izuku nodded his head as he put a line through that spot on the list. "Can your screams do anything special?"
"I can be loud when I want to, ribbit, but I've never seen it break glass or anything."
Another nod and another part of the list crossed off. "Are there any bright color spots on your skin?"
"None that I or anybody else in my family noticed, ribbit."
A third thing crossed off. "Can you create poisonous mucus?"
"A little, not enough to be efficient in a fight, ribbit." Replied Tsu.
Izuku tapped his pencil against his chin. "Let's talk to the people making your support equipment," He suggested, while pointing the pencil at her, "We might be able to create something that you can store it in for later use, like how Kacchan's gauntlets work."
"Not a bad idea, ribbit." Replied Tsu with a nod.
"Wait, what's that about Bakugou's gauntlets?" Asked Kaminari.
Izuku turned to look at him. "Oh, Kacchan's gauntlets aren't just there for aesthetic reasons, they're designed to store the explosive sweat his Quirk produces. When he pulls the pin it lets him use a Big Bang Attack on the enemy. It'd be like being hit with multiple explosions all at once, good for taking down more durable villains."
Kaminari paled at the idea of being on the wrong end of one of those.
Izuku returned his attention to the notebook. "Back on track, how about your ur-" He said before pausing. He silently took his pencil and scratched the fifth point from the list. He could not, in good faith, ask his friend about that, especially not when almost everyone else in class was watching. He may love Quirks but even he knew that there were boundaries when it came to this sorta thing.
"You'd gotta admit though, pissing on the enemy would be a hell of a flex."
'Shut the fuck up Fifth.'
"Then again, that might end up awakening something in the villains she fights. Or give her a weird reputation and even weirder fans."
"Dammit Fifth there's minors in the room with us!"
"Oh they can't hear us!"
"One of them can! And in case you forgot, you're talking ABOUT a minor! So shut the hell up you disgusting degenerate dickweed!"
"Alright alright, sheesh…"
Izuku did his best to keep the discomfort and disgust he was feeling at this moment from being visible on his face. "Are your teeth particularly powerful? Or maybe you have venom?"
"Are venomous frogs a thing?" Asked Satou with his arms crossed and his head tilted to the side.
"Yes, actually." Replied Izuku. "Like I said, there are a lot of different kinds of frogs out there."
"My teeth aren't particularly strong, ribbit, I can't bite through anything that a normal person couldn't." Replied Tsu with a shake of her head. "I've never tried biting someone though, so I'm not sure if I have venom or not."
"Welp, only one way to find out." Replied Izuku as he started rolling up his sleeve, only to flinch when met with a chorus of "No"s and "absolutely not"s from both his friends and the vestiges. "Ok ok, message received…" He said quietly as he moved his sleeve back into place.
"That last one wasn't ok but this one was?"
'It's different!' Argued Izuku.
"Is it? Is it really?"
Izuku didn't like the implications there. '…Let's move on.' He focused back on Tsu as he brought up his seventh and final point. "Can you use camouflage?"
Tsu opened her mouth before closing. "I… don't know, ribbit." She replied. "Isn't that more of a chameleon thing though?"
"Sometimes different species can do the same thing. Convergent evolution and all that." Explained Izuku with a shrug. "See if you can get your skin to change color, as Hag- Tooru's shown, it's not easy to do at first, but you might be able to pull it off with practice. Might need to make adjustments to your suit if you can do it though and-" A weak slap from Tsu's tongue snapped Izuku back to reality. "Apologies. That's the end of the list though. For now we'll focus on you learning color change and then we can talk to the support department later down the line."
"Gotcha, ribbit." Replied Tsu with a nod as she made her way to join Ashido and Tooru near the edge of the gym.
"Now then," Said Izuku as he turned his attention towards the remaining students, "Who's next?"
Chapter 29: "Alright, Hero. You win."
"Uhhh… I mean, if nobody else has a problem with it…"
Of all people, Izuku had to admit that he hadn't expected Satou to be the one to step up next. "By all means, Satou, step on up and let's show everyone what you can do." He said, pointing towards the class's second largest student, after Shouji.
With a nod, Satou stepped forward. Izuku had to admire his classmate's build, even without a Quirk he was built like a house, and when Sugar Rush stacked onto it that just made him an even greater force to reckon with.
"It also runs the risk of turning him into a brainless brute, and we can't have him taking Fifth's gimmick."
"Yea- hey!"
Izuku felt the corners of his mouth twitch at the exchange, before shaking his head to focus. He quickly pulled out his notebook on Satou, which was bright yellow and covered in different kinds of pastries. "Sugar Rush." He said calmly as he thumbed through the book's pages. "A simplistic looking Quirk on the surface, with an albeit concerning drawback if used carelessly, that has a lot of room for exploration."
"Really?" Asked Satou, tilting his head and crossing his arms. "I mean, I'm not sure how much there is to explore. I eat sugar, I get stronger. The more, the mightier, though if I go too far it makes me go kinda stupid, the same way Kaminari does."
"But have you really explored that?" Asked Izuku. "Or have you just failed to think outside the box?"
"What do you mean?"
"Here, let me ask you this. Would it be safe to assume that you have some sort of hobby that involves sugar?"
Satou raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Uh, yeah, I like to bake. How'd you guess that though?"
"Quirks have a tendency to influence the user's personality and behavior," Explained Izuku, "there are almost as many powers as there are people, and each Quirk grants the user a unique way of viewing the world, coming with its own pros and cons. Take Ochako for example."
Being singled out made his friend actually jump, looking to the sides for a moment before pointing at herself questioningly.
"Because of her Quirk, she's had to remain constantly conscious at all times to never let all five of her fingers touch something, lest she unintentionally remove its gravity. I don't think that's something any of us have any experience with." Explained Izuku. "Tsu is part amphibian, so I'd be willing to hazard a guess that she doesn't handle cold environments particularly well and can doze off easily as a result, H- Tooru developed overly expressive body language to compensate for people not being able to see her face, and-"
"Ok we get it! Spare us the psychoanalysis for crying out loud!" Exclaimed Sero. The ones that Izuku had unintentionally called out seemed to be shifting a little in discomfort at having stuff like that put out in the open without warning.
The outburst made Izuku flinch, leading to him scratching the back of his head and giving the group a weak smile. "Sorry about that." He apologized, giving them a quick bow before turning his attention back to Satou, "But you see my point, right? Your power is all about sugar, so it makes sense that you'd find yourself being drawn to sweets as a means of exploring your Quirk."
"I mean… ok, but so what? What's this have to do with anything?" Asked Satou, clearly not having reached the point that Izuku was attempting to make.
"So, would you say that all sugar is the same?" Asked Izuku with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course not!" Exclaimed Satou, whose sudden outburst actually made a couple of the others jump. "There's over a dozen different kinds! I mean the difference between brown and white sugar alone is clear as day, different sweets need different sugars, if you just tried using whatever you had on hand you wouldn't get food, you'd just get slop, and-!" Satou suddenly stopped talking as his eyes widened in realization. "And you think I've been shooting myself in the foot by relying on solely white sugar for my Quirk."
Izuku snapped his fingers before giving Satou finger guns. "Exactly." He said, "'Sugar' is way too broad of a term. You're in the same boat as Tsu, relying too much on just the common basics and have yet to try branching out. That's why I brought these." From his bag he then pulled fourteen jars, each one containing a variety of, usually white, powders.
"Well that doesn't look suspicious in the slightest." Commented Mineta drily, only for Izuku to ignore him.
"Yaomomo, could you make a table real quick?" Asked Izuku. "This'll be much easier if we can bring these up to our level."
"Midoriya, could you please share with the class what's in those jars?" Asked Yaomomo calmly as she lifted her shirt, exposing her stomach as she began producing materials for the class. Jirou made sure no one was looking where they shouldn't.
"Sugar, of course." Replied Izuku as he looked around real quick before stepping away. He soon returned, carrying a chair in each hand. "We're going to do some experimenting to see what different types of sugars will do for Satou's Quirk."
"And how is that exactly?" Asked Yaomomo as she and Ochako finished putting together the table she created with her Quirk, before presenting it to Izuku.
Izuku placed a chair on each side before taking a seat and propping his elbow onto the table. "Some good old fashioned arm wrestling of course. If you're up for it, Satou."
"At this point I'm more curious when and where you got all these sugars from." Replied Satou as he examined the jars. "You don't exactly get some of these at the local corner store. Especially not on short notice."
"I did a lot of preparation for each of you." Explained Izuku. "I wasn't sure who would accept the offer so I made sure that I would be able to help anyone and everyone who asked."
"Did you even sleep last night?" Asked Kaminari.
"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to." Was the only response Izuku gave.
"What a mad banquet of darkness…" Said Tokoyami under his breath.
Satou looked at the sugar, then Izuku, before sighing and shaking his head. "Alright, y'know what? Fine. I signed up for this so I might as well see it through." He said before taking a seat. "Where do we start?"
Izuku gave him a grin. "I figured fruit sugar would be a good starting point." He said before turning his attention to the others. "Yaomomo, would you be willing to serve as a timekeeper for us? We'll need to make sure Satou's current dose of sugar's run its course before moving to the next, lest we fudge the results."
"Understood." Replied the heiress heroine in training with a nod. Izuku was glad the two of them were able to get past their initial rough patch and start working together now, all the better for helping their friends improve…
Fifteen minutes, some tired muscles, thirty wins to zero, and even more tired muscles later, Izuku had gathered enough data to prove that his theories when it came to Satou's Quirk held water. The fluctuations between so many sugars in such a short window of time had been an… experience for Satou to say the least. Not necessarily negative per say, but the boy definitely was feeling a little zoned out. It didn't help that Izuku had been slinging math problems his way while they arm wrestled just to see how the different sugars had affected his brain.
He also said that he was glad that they had done the muscovado early on, the texture of that stuff was weird and took at least half a dozen other sugars before the aftertaste finally went away.
"So," Started Izuku as he continued to look over the data, "these results are very interesting. The differences between the sugar types is hardly a subtle one. The brown sugars, with more molasses, make you at least twenty percent stronger on average, at the expense of even more of your intelligence. More coarse white sugars work similarly to the regular white, but the effect lasts a decent bit longer. And no, it wasn't an error in the weight. On the other hand, smaller grains seem to decrease the strain on your mind by a lot. Fruit sugar gives you the biggest power spike, which makes me think that your strength is directly related to the sweetness of the product, as it's got the highest numbers in that category. Invert sugar, being liquid, may also be a good balanced choice, since the presence of both fructose and glucose keep your mind and body more balanced."
"That mean it worked?" Satou asked, rubbing some of the tiredness from his eyes.
"More than well." Replied Izuku, tapping the paper the results were recorded on, "With enough research, we may be able to get you different sources to let you adapt to more situations. For example, where you need a lot of power, you would go for more fructose and brown sugar, since molasses seem to enhance your brute strength. Instead, in a calmer situation where you would still need to reason clearly, superfine or inverted would serve you way better." Izuku explained with a smile, subtly biting his lip to restrain himself from going on another mumble tangent. He did spend time thinking to himself though, about what combination of sugars would make for the ultimate effect, bringing out Satou's maximum potential as a Hero. Though they'd have to put a pin in that for now, those kinds of tests would take far longer and require far more resources than what they have handy now. "For now, here's what you need to work on: First, keep your physical strength high, since I'm willing to bet that your personal muscle mass also is a factor into how strong you are?"
"It is." Replied Satou with a nod.
Izuku nodded back, "Second, try to keep your mind as sharp as possible too, since I'm willing to bet that the stronger your brain is, the weaker the drawbacks of your Quirk will be."
Satou seemed far less enthused about that idea, "I'll… try my best."
"That's all anyone can ask of you." Replied Izuku quietly, before coughing into his fist. "And third, I'd suggest stocking up on sugars of various types, the more you've got handy going into the festival, the more options you'll have to work with."
"Gotcha… and thanks, Midoriya." Replied Satou, giving the shorter boy a soft smile.
"Just doing my best to be a good Class President to everyone."
"Yeah, I don't think most Class Presidents go this far outside of anime…" Replied Denki drily.
Izuku raised an eyebrow at him. "Well then, Kaminari, I guess I'll just have to go Plus Ultra. And so will you, because you just volunteered yourself for going fifth."
"Nice going, Jamming-Whey." Snickered Jirou as she slapped the boy on the back and pushed him to the front of the crowd.
"Sheesh, singling out a student just for speaking up? You should consider a career in teaching." Said Kaminari with a mischievous grin. The gymnasium suddenly went silent at that. Uncomfortably silent, as Izuku stared at the blond, eyes wide like he'd seen a ghost. Kaminari's brows furrowed in concern at the face he was making. "Y'good man?"
"Kaminari!" Shouted Iida, chopping his arms aggressively, "That was hardly an appropriate comment to make! Do remember Midoriya's experience with teachers in the past!"
Kaminari finally put the dots together, this time his eyes were the ones to widen as he quickly turned around to face Izuku. "No no no man! I was just kidding! I swear it wasn't actually anything like that!"
"Smooth as gravel." Groaned Jirou as she face palmed while Yaomomo shook her head disapprovingly. The girls' words made the poor boy practically wilt.
Izuku took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. "Let's… just move on."
"Yes please." Replied Kaminari quietly.
Izuku clapped his hands together loudly. "Thankfully, Kaminari, the key to helping you is one so straightforward that it's physically painful no one's managed to figure it out yet." He said.
"Huh?" Replied the blond, tilting his head in confusion.
Izuku pointed downwards at Kaminari's feet. "Would you kindly take your shoes off?"
Kaminari slowly looked down to where Izuku was pointing, before looking back up at the green haired boy in confusion. "My shoes? Really?" He asked uncertainly.
"Really." Replied Izuku with a nod before looking over at his vice president. "Yaomomo, if it's not too much to ask, could you use your Quirk to make a replacement pair of shoes for Kaminari? Something non-conductive more specifically." Yaomomo's eyes narrowed for a moment as she looked at him before widening in realization. Without even questioning her president, she quickly produced the requested item, which Izuku thanked her for.
"Dude, what does this have to do with my shoes?" Izuku turned his head towards Kaminari, who'd still yet to connect the dots.
"Everything." Said Izuku with confidence before raising a leg to show the underside of his own shoe to his classmate. "Do you know what our soles are mostly made of?"
"Rubber." Came Yaomomo's helpful comment.
Izuku nodded at her, "Precisely. And rubber is an awful conductor. Which means that a lot of the energy you should be releasing into the ground is just kept in your body. From there it doesn't take much to imagine why you're frying your own brain when you overcharge."
The blond stood there for a few seconds, blinking at the green haired boy before his jaw practically dropped to the floor.
"Kaminari, are you alright?" Asked Iida worriedly as he chopped his arms.
Kaminari slowly brought his hands up before dragging them down his face. Once they pulled away Izuku could see a look of pure exhaustion on the blond's face. "You're saying that my Quirk was stopped by my own shoes?" His voice matched his expression, absolutely exhausted.
Izuku shrugged. "One way to make sure, would you?"
Kaminari stared at him for a moment before clenching his teeth. He quickly kicked his shoes off with enough force to send them halfway across the gymnasium before he started walking away from the group. Izuku, with assistance from Yaomomo and Iida, decided to quickly escort the others further away from the blond for good measure.
Kaminari exhaled, inhaled, and then released both a scream of frustration and an energy discharge that made the entire gymnasium practically glow.
"Woah!" Jirou exclaimed, using an arm to cover her eyes.
"That must be more than a million volts," Izuku surmised, squinting as he witnessed the lightshow Kaminari was creating.
Tsuyu took another step back. "That seems like a lot, ribbit." She noted.
"We should be fine at this distance." Reassured Izuku before pointing. "It looks like he's starting to calm down anyways."
True to his word, the arcs of electricity began to shrink, and soon the show was over, leaving Kaminari simply standing there, breathing heavily. Slowly, Izuku approached him. "Kaminari?" He asked once he was standing right in front of him. "How do you feel?"
He resisted the urge to jump when Kaminari's hands suddenly clamped down on his shoulders, the blond's bright yellow eyes meeting his green ones. "Izuku Midoriya, I could fucking kiss you right now!" He declared proudly. "It worked! I put out way more than I could normally handle and I feel fine! This is awesome man!"
As Kaminari continued to talk excitedly, Mineta couldn't help but bring a hand up to his chin. "Damn Kaminari, and here I thought I was the fruity one."
Shouji slowly turned his head to look at him. "Is this how you're choosing to come out to us, Mineta?" He asked.
Mineta stood there quietly for a moment as Shouji's words sank in. His head then quickly turned to look up at the taller teen. "Wait, no, that's not what I meant!" He exclaimed.
"It's alright, I support you, and I'm sure the others do too."
"Stuff it you jumbo serving of calamari!" Mineta was shouting loud enough for everyone else to stare at them. "I like girls dammit!"
"That's very nice Mineta," Said Iida, "But it'd probably be best if you kept those outbursts to yourself while we're practising."
Mineta groaned as he hid his face in his hands while crouching down. "You guys are the worst…" Shouji let out a chuckle as he gave Mineta a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Kaminari, who'd been distracted by Mineta's outburst, slowly turned his attention back to Izuku. "So anyways, I'm just gonna go rip the soles out of all my shoes when I get home-"
"Please don't," Izuku said as he shook his head tiredly. "Just get the support course to make some specialized shoes for your costume and you're golden."
"Oooh!" Kaminari looked absolutely delighted. "What're you thinking?"
Izuku brought a hand up to his chin, "Well, you could go with some kind of leather, or one of the many synthetic fibers out there. You could even just add some kind of metal addition to let the energy flow freely without destroying all of your shoes."
"Awesome! What else? What else!?" Kaminari looked like Christmas and his Birthday had come to him early this year, and Izuku was matching his energy as he kept listing off suggestions.
"Well, you could add metal whips and grappling hooks to direct your energy to a certain distance, though you'd have to learn to handle them as weapons. You'd need to be very careful about what metal mixture you'll be using, since it'll have to handle very high voltages. Perhaps you may be able to find alloys better suited with enough research. The Support Department should help you with that. Also, using some coins as lightning rods would change the trajectory of your blasts, concentrating them instead of letting them go freely around you. That would let you direct your power without a need to touch a solid or liquid surface. Then-"
"Midori, you're rambling again!" Ashido, who'd finally gotten her head back on straight, managed to put the brakes on his train of thought.
Izuku looked sheepish again. "Ah, sorry. Well, I hope that's enough for now."
"Enough? Man, I'll have to train for months just to get to all of that! Thanks a lot!" Kaminari laughed, patting the back of his Class Prez. He then turned towards the purple haired girl amongst them. "Hey Jirou, now you won't have to worry about dragging my dumbass to safety when I go stupid anymore! Awesome right!?"
Jirou shook her head and rolled her eyes, though a smile was still present on her face. "Yeah, absolutely thrilled, Jamming-Whey!"
"Hey!" Exclaimed Kaminari with a distraught expression, "You won't be able to use that nickname now that I won't have to worry about scrambling my brains anymore."
"That remains to be seen, Jamming-Whey, right Yaomomo?" Jirou looked to her taller friend for confirmation.
Yaomomo giggled, "Indeed, we'll have to see you test your mettle in training before you can be rid of that nickname, 'Jamming-Whey.'"
"Not you too!?" Cried out Kaminari as he fell to his knees. "Why've both my beautiful besties betrayed me!?"
"Not half bad with the alliteration." Noted Izuku.
"Why thank you, Class Prez." Said Kaminari, springing to his feet with a grin that would make one think that he hadn't just been crying out in despair mere moments ago. He then turned back to the crowd of students. "Alright, I think we're good here, whoever wants next can c'mon up!"
Mineta, who seemed to have escaped his own depressive funk after watching someone else get teased, decided that it was his turn to see why Izuku had for him and so stepped forward.
"Ah, Mineta, how nice of you to volunteer!" Said Izuku happily, producing a purple notebook covered in grape designs from nowhere. "I've been putting a lot of thought into your Quirk and how you could use it."
"Really?" Asked Mineta, "I mean, Pop Off can't be that good, can it?" Izuku silently reached forward and flicked Mineta in the forehead. "Ow! WHY!?" He demanded, holding his forehead.
"Until you end the self deprecation schtick, I'm going to have to rely on this method for snapping you out of the funk you tend to put yourself in." Replied Izuku.
Still rubbing his forehead, Mineta gave him a flat look, "Y'know, some people respond better to positive reinforcement."
"You want positive?" Asked Izuku with a raised eyebrow, "Alright, here's your positive. You have an exceptional Quirk, perfect for capturing both villains and just about anything else it could touch. Imagine creating a net with your Quirk to catch falling debris for example."
"Wait, how could my balls make a net?"
Mineta was confused, so Izuku decided to enlighten him, "Your balls might not stick to you, but they can stick to each other, right?"
"Do you have to keep referring to them as 'his balls?'" Asked Jirou tiredly.
"Do you have a better suggestion?" Asked Izuku, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
Jirou stared at him for a moment before sighing, "Fine, whatever."
"Holy Shit." Izuku turned to Mineta, who was holding two balls in his hands which were now stuck together, no matter how hard he tugged on them in an attempt to pry them apart. "How've I never figured this out before?" He asked, staring at Izuku in awe.
"Join the club man!" Laughed Kaminari as he gestured to himself and the other classmates that Izuku had analyzed thus far, making the green haired boy scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Still, this definitely opens the door for you, Mineta." Explained Izuku as he pointed at the pair of balls that Mineta had produced with his Quirk. "You could create all kinds of things by combining balls together like this, like whips for greater range or shields for defense. As well as…" Izuku trailed off, as he suddenly felt like he was about to approach a very uncomfortable type of territory for Mineta going off some speculations he had regarding the boy's Quirk.
"As well as what?" Asked Mineta, looking up at him with an expectant, but otherwise unreadable expression. "Be honest with me, Midoriya."
"Don't hold back on him now, he trusts you to be honest with him."
"After the faux pas he narrowly avoided with the Frog Girl, can you blame him for being a bit uneasy? Getting encouragement from YOU of all people certainly doesn't help."
"Man shut UP, I'm sorry for being ass alright, I don't need to be judged by YOU of all people given how you weren't exactly being the nicest guy until recently."
'Guys, no fighting…' Thought Izuku tiredly before sighing. "Alright Mineta, if you're willing to trust me, I have another theory about your Quirk's mechanics that I think's flown under the radar in the same way that Tooru's has."
The mention of her name made the Invisible girl perk up as she watched the pair expectantly. "Elaborate." Replied Mineta.
"Your Quirk is made of your hair, right? At least mostly anyways?" Asked Izuku.
Mineta nodded. "My parents had them analyzed a while back, though it wasn't easy as they kept getting stuck everywhere. They are similar to hair in a way, as they're a biomaterial made mostly out of protein. The composition changes slightly as the stickiness wears off, which the doctors though was a result of a component drying out slowly. We couldn't identify it though because, again, the stickiness made it super hard and nobody wanted their instruments ruined."
Izuku let out a thoughtful hum, "Yeah, I can see the logic behind their concerns, even if it feels like they still should've taken the time to be more thorough, since I think their hesitation led to something being missed."
"Then stop dancing around it and get to the point." Mineta had to do his best to refrain from snapping at the taller boy.
Izuku took a deep breath before saying, "It's your blood. That's the key to your Quirk's stickiness." Mineta, and everyone else for that matter, stared at Izuku, so he chose to continue, gesturing to the balls Mineta was holding, "Think about it guys, if the stickiness of his Quirk was based solely on just, 'how fresh they were,' why wouldn't they start deteriorating as soon as they're regenerated, instead of when he takes them off? There must be a tiny trickle of blood flowing to your Quirk as long as they're connected to your head, which may also be the reason you bleed when you remove too many of the balls too quickly; the veins can't connect to the new balls before you remove them, so some blood spills out. Heck, that could mean that the balls on your head are just a means provided by your Quirk to use your blood without cutting yourself open. It's possible that your Quirk's true key component is in your blood flow. We should ask Recovery Girl later if there's a way to confirm something like this."
"You're serious about this, aren't you Midoriya?" Asked Mineta quietly as he stared at the balls he continued to hold. "Heh, of course a weenie like me would end up with a blood based Quirk, that sounds like the perfect karma for the type of person I've- OW!" Mineta grabbed his forehead as history repeated itself, the spot Izuku flicked throbbing. "Right in the same spot, really!?"
"Let's visit Recovery Girl after this." Suggested Izuku. "We can ask her for help to test my theory, if that's alright with you." Mineta remained silent, looking down at the floor, so Izuku reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Minoru, I'm doing this because I know you can become a great Hero, and I want to help you become the best Hero you can possibly be. Will you trust me?"
Mineta quietly reached up and put his own hand over Izuku's. "Using my name… that's playing dirty Midoriya." He said softly before giving his class president a weak grin. "Alright, Hero. You win."