Chapter 29: Back At It
Bakugo was in a foul mood on the day classes at UA resumed again. More than usual, even.
Which wasn't exactly a big surprise, considering he'd been extremely pissed off ever since waking up in Recovery Girl's office in the stadium.
It had been days, and he was still seething about the whole thing. Didn't everyone realize that he was supposed to win the damn Sports Festival? That hewas the future number one hero? And the number one didn't lose the festival like a goddamn chump!
He didn't know what enraged him more: that Ponytail had pulled that weaselly little trick by using a replica of one of his gauntlets to fire Midnight's gas, or that Deku had won the whole damn thing by using some piece of wonder support gear to make it seem like he wasn't a worthless waste of space.
Actually, scratch that, he knew exactly which one pissed him off more. While he considered the kind of trickery Ponytail had pulled to be the sort of thing weaklings did, part of him had to begrudgingly respect someone who could actually beat him, even if they did have to resort to dirty tricks.
But for the Quirkless nerd to have the gall to make it seem like he was better than Bakugo himself? He wanted to blow someone up just thinking about it.
Of course, the old hag had picked up on his irritable mood, and she'd missed no opportunity to either tell him he'd gotten what he'd deserved after wasting time during the match boasting or to order him to congratulate Deku on his win (as if!).
In other words, they'd spent the last two days at each other's throats, even more so than usual.
Which was one of the reasons why he'd arrived at school much earlier than usual; he'd left earlier than he'd had to just to get away from the old hag.
The other reason was that he was a man on a mission.
Bakugo had intended to end Deku's infuriating little deception by finding and exposing whatever piece of support gear he was using during the final round of the tournament, making sure the whole world saw him for the useless fraud he was and probably destroying whatever tech he'd been using and kicking his sorry ass in the process. However, getting eliminated by Ponytail in the damn quarterfinals had obviously killed that idea.
He wasn't about to wait a whole damn year for another chance at that plan, especially since the format of the festivals changed every year, meaning he might not actually have a decent opportunity at it even if he did.
Bakugo needed an alternate approach to expose Deku as the Quirkless loser he really was, in a way that the worthless nerd couldn't cover up or hide.
He needed to know more about advanced support gear, so he'd come to the support lab well before classes began. Hopefully Power Loader would already be there, and he could ask the man some questions without him realizing he was trying to figure out how to bring down UA's golden boy, who—
BOOM!
The door to the support labs slammed open with the force of the abrupt blast that had come from behind it, and a girl wearing a black tank top went flying out, colliding with the blonde and knocking him to the ground.
Bakugo probably would've respected the explosion if the circumstances had been different.
"What the fuck?!" he snarled, roughly shoving the pink haired girl off of himself.
"Huh, okay, that was clearly too much propellant," she remarked to herself, as she pushed up her elaborate goggles up, revealing yellow eyes with crosshairs.
Bakugo thought he recognized this girl from the festival, not that he cared.
"Yeah, whatever," he growled, getting to his feet and very deliberately not offering her a hand up. "I'm looking for Power Loader. You seen him?" he asked, dusting himself off.
Apparently unperturbed by his rudeness or lack of concern about the explosion, the girl popped to her feet. "Teacher's not here, said something about needing a quiet cup of coffee in the lounge before putting up with me all day, for some reason," she explained cheerfully. "Oh, are you a hero student?"
He scowled. Everyone should know who he was by this point, because he should have won the festival, not gotten eliminated like some damn extra. "Yeah, what of it?"
"I can help you!" she said. "You need some tweaks to your gear? Oh, or do you need me to make you a new baby?" she asked, eyes sparkling.
"What the fuck are you talking about, you damn perv?!" he shouted.
She blinked, taken aback for the first time. "Perv? I just wanted to know if you need a new baby? Maybe you realized those grenade gauntlets are too bulky?"
A vein throbbed in his forehead. "My gauntlets are not too bulky! They need to be that size to hold enough of my sweat!" he snapped. "And why do you call support gear 'babies', Goggles?"
"Because they're my babies," she answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, looking confused by the question.
He huffed, feeling a headache coming on. "Whatever," he growled. "I'm not here for any of that. I had a question about support gear."
"Then I'm your girl, Explody! What do you need to know?" she chirped.
"Call me that again, Goggles, and I'll show you an explosion that makes the one that threw you through that door look like nothing," he snapped. "Anyway, do you know Deku? I mean, Midoriya?"
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Midoriya…Midoriya…sorry, sounds familiar, but I'm no good with names."
"The guy with the green light?" he asked.
She frowned thoughtfully, but Bakugo could see on her face that she hadn't made the connection.
He heaved a loud, angry sigh. "The guy who won the first years' sports festival."
"Oh! Yeah!" she snapped her fingers. "I tried to join his team for the cavalry battle, but his girlfriend wouldn't let me."
"Ponytail's not his girlfriend! Why the fuck would you think that?!" he shouted.
God, just thinking about someone else thinking about Deku like that, maybe even wanting to do the nerd, was enough to make him want to hurl.
Goggles shrugged. "Well, she sure seemed possessive of him, anyway," she replied. "But whatever, I know who he is. What about him?"
"He's Quirkless," Bakugo said.
She frowned. "What?"
"The nerd is Quirkless," he said. "I should know, I grew up with the asshole, and he never had a Quirk until right before the entrance exam. I think he's using a piece of support gear to fake it. I swear I caught him recharging it during the festival."
She gave him a deeply skeptical look.
"Don't act like it's nuts!" he growled. "There are plenty of pieces of gear that can do the same thing as basic Quirks, and even some heroes known more for what they can do with their support items than their Quirks! Look at goddamn Airjet! Guy has some weakass Quirk that lets him shoot puffs of air, but so far as most people are concerned, he's the hero who can fly."
"Okay, but being capable of limited flight is very different from what that green guy can do," Goggles pointed out. "I mean, you're saying he has a baby that's capable of generating hard light holograms, energy blasts, defensive shields, and allowing flight," she counted off on her fingers. "And it's so tiny that no one even notices it?"
"So, you're saying it's impossible?" he asked.
"Nothing's impossible with science, tenacity, and a willingness to experiment enough!" she retorted, sounded offended at the idea. She seemed to deflate. "But a baby like that would be a really tall order with current technology."
"So, pretend I'm right, where would he get something like that?" Bakugo asked.
"The people at I-Island could maybe put together a baby that can do everything the green kid can. Maybe," she said. "Dunno how he'd get his hands on it, though."
Bakugo was just wondering the same thing. He was pretty damn sure Deku didn't have any family on I-Island who might be able to slip him some piece of super tech, and the idea of the nerd having a friend there at all, let alone one who'd smuggle out something so important for him, was too stupid to consider.
A question for another time, then.
"And what would the weaknesses of it be?" he asked.
She hummed thoughtfully, tapping a finger to her chin. "Well, it would pretty much have to be a big power hog, which is why he would've had to recharge it halfway through the festival, assuming you're right, and there would need to be a separate charger device of some kind. And for it to be able to have so many functions without any apparent control mechanism or the user having a Quirk that helps them to control it would mean it operates off of some kind of mind-machine interface, or something close enough to one that it would be a distinction without a significant difference," she said. "So disrupting the user's focus, especially at an unexpected moment, could cause issues. Also, if it's really so small that he can carry it around without anyone seeing it, it's probably pretty fragile, when the device's own abilities aren't being used to protect it."
Bakugo nodded, feeling like he'd gotten everything useful out of this nutjob that he was likely to. "That's what I needed," he said, turning to depart.
"Any time!" Goggles chirped. "And feel free to come back if you ever need me to make you a baby, Bomberman!"
He growled wordlessly but didn't bother to go back and blow the girl up.
For all that the UA Sport Festival was an event that had essentially taken the place of the now defunct Olympic Games, and thus dominated the new cycle when they were happening, they had largely been usurped as the current object of the media's fixation by the time classes resumed.
Izuku, still somewhat reeling after being mobbed the other day while he and Yaoyorozu had been looking for lunch, wasn't about to complain, yet he couldn't help but be disturbed by what had replaced all the festival news.
The gruesome, unsolved murder of the hero killer Stain.
"Ah, good morning, Midoriya."
Izuku looked up to see Iida, the taller boy clad in a raincoat against the morning's dreary weather.
"Hello, Iida," he said. "How are you?"
"Just fine, thank you. And yourself?" the bespectacled youth asked briskly.
"Good, thanks."
"I see you've seen the news as well," Iida said, gesturing toward Izuku's smart phone, which was currently displaying one of the multitude of stories on Stain.
"Yeah," Izuku said quietly. "I guess you knew earlier than the rest of did, didn't you? Since it was someone working for your family's agency who found him."
Iida nodded. "Indeed. I knew the day of the festival, in fact," he confirmed. "My brother didn't seem overly worried about keeping it quiet, since he knew it would be all over the news sooner rather than later, but I still didn't wish to be the source of the initial leak. I hope you don't mind me keeping it from all of you."
"Not at all!" Izuku was quick to reassure him, to which Iida nodded gratefully. "Everyone is speculating about whether it was a pro hero or a vigilante of some kind who did it." He remarked softly.
"Yes, I'd seen that as well," Iida said.
"The idea that there might be a vigilante out there who could've done that to Stain seems crazy," Izuku said. "But the idea that a pro hero could've killed him seems kind of impossible, too."
Iida was silent for a moment. "It's not thatimpossible."
Izuku blinked, looking up at him in surprise. He would've expected his most by-the-book classmate to view a hero doing such a thing as unthinkable.
"My brother and both my parents are pro heroes, and they know many more. I've been around pros all my life," Iida said, voice unusually soft. "They can be great people and true champions of justice—certainly, I admire the work my family has done tremendously—but they're still people. They feel the same pains that anyone would if they lose a friend and trusted comrade."
"So you believe a hero may have done it?" Izuku asked.
"No," Iida replied at once, at a more characteristic volume. "I can't believe any pro hero would mutilate the corpse—or worse, have done such to Stain while he was still alive. Additionally, there would be little reason for a hero to hide the fact that they'd killed Stain. Even if such a hypothetical pro hero could've ultimately subdued him and chose to kill instead, he could've simply later claimed he had no choice. It's highly unlikely any of the authorities would've scrutinized the confrontation too closely, given Stain's murderous reputation. No, I believe he merely ran afoul of someone who was very clever, very lucky, or had the perfect Quirk to counteract Stain's, whatever it may have been."
"I see," Izuku replied. "I guess I didn't think of it that way."
Too used to thinking of pro heroes as demigods instead of people, I suppose, he added silently.
Iida just nodded amicably as the two of them entered the UA campus.
After a quick stop for Izuku to put away his umbrella (along with the flu mask and baseball cap he'd worn to avoid getting mobbed again, though these were different from the ones Yaoyorozu had made for him, Izuku having thrown away those as she'd instructed) and Iida his raincoat, the two made their way to the classroom, where several of their classmates were already present and discussing their newfound fame.
"I had all these people talking to me on the way here!" Ashido exclaimed.
"I had some grade schoolers asking me how I was able to copy the second-place winner's Quirk," Sero groaned.
"My apologies, Sero," Yaoyorozu said.
He waved it off. "No big deal. Guess I just gotta do better next year."
"I had so many people staring at me!" Tooru exclaimed, waving her arms. "It was embarrassing!"
"What about you, Midoriya?" Kirishima asked. "Get recognized by people this morning?"
"Not this morning, no. I was wearing a mask so I wouldn't be," Izuku answered. "Yaomomo and I got mobbed over the weekend, though."
He realized he'd made a mistake before he even finished the sentence.
Ashido's gold eyes immediately lit up. "Oh, were you two on a date over the break?" she asked.
"N-no, it wasn't anything like that," Izuku stammered. "A group of us planned to celebrate how we did in the festival, but everyone except the two of us had to cancel."
Yaoyorozu sighed. "Honestly, Ashido, why are you so fixated on the possibility of Midoriya and me dating?"
"Hey, somebody has to ship Class A's power couple!" the horned girl exclaimed.
"P-power couple?" Izuku asked, face burning.
"You two were first and second in the Sports Festival! You're officially the two strongest students in our year!" Ashido exclaimed. "That sounds like a power couple to me!"
Izuku shot a nervous glance Kacchan's way, but to his surprise, it didn't seem like the bubblegum pink girl's proclamation had put him on the verge of an eruption. Instead, the explosive blonde was glowering thoughtfully at nothing in particular, apparently not even paying attention to the conversation.
"I don't think that's how it works," Izuku said, turning his attention back to Ashido. "Our placement in the festival doesn't mean we're the strongest in the year."
"Also, we're friends, not a couple," Yaoyorozu added.
"Yet," Ashido smirked. "All the tabloids think you're dating already because of the way you hugged him after you won the obstacle race. I'm sure being seen out and about together won't change anyone's mind." She added in a singsong voice.
Izuku wondered if it was a good sign that the raven-haired girl looked merely exasperated, rather than disgusted, or a bad one that she didn't seem to be a fraction as flustered as he felt.
Thankfully, the arrival of Mr. Aizawa immediately ended the conversation. "Morning," the underground hero grunted as strode to the podium.
"It's good to see you're healed enough to remove the bandages, sir," Asui said after the class had greeted the teacher.
"The old lady's treatment was excessive," the grumpy pro grumbled, running a finger along the new scar tissue by his eye. "But never mind that. Today we're having a hero informatics class, a special one."
Izuku could feel the tension in the room increase, several of the students present no doubt fearing a test on the laws regarding professional heroics.
"You're going to be coming up with your hero aliases," Aizawa said.
The class immediately exploded with excitement, at least until the teacher activated his Quirk. No one had even been using their own Quirks, but the red eyes were rather intimidating, and no one wanted to risk having him tie them up in his capture weapon.
"But first, the results of the pro draft picks," Aizawa said. "It's based on who the pros are interested in taking under their wings following the festival. But there's ample time for them to lose interest before you graduate."
Izuku resisted the urge to sigh, wondering if the underground hero would always be this much about doom and gloom. He understood the need to give them a realistic view of the challenges they faced, but Aizawa constantly seemed to be presenting them with some new fate to fear. Arisa hadn't been anywhere near as relentlessly negative when he was training under her, and the Green Lantern Corps was involved in a free-for-all war with other power ring corps in the universe.
"Anyway, here are the complete draft pick numbers," the teacher said, picking up a small remote and clicking a button on it, causing them to be projected onto the board behind him.
Midoriya: 4,143
Yaoyorozu: 3,874
Uraraka: 371
Bakugo: 226
Todoroki: 108
Ashido: 97
Kirishima: 45
Sero: 12
Iida: 1
Tokoyami: 1
"There's typically more of a spread, and fewer offers overall, for first years. But our top two stole most of the spotlight," Aizawa said, utterly deadpan.
Izuku was pretty sure he could hear Kacchan's teeth grinding. He didn't dare to look at him to confirm that, however.
"Dang, Yaomomo, you go girl!" Ashido cheered.
Kaminari groaned. "Those two are in a totally different league from us mere mortals!"
"It appears that you were able to attract attention from the pros despite not making it to the final round, Todoroki," Yaoyorozu said. "Congratulations."
"Just my father's influence, I'm sure," Todoroki said, voice flat.
"I got offers! A lot of them! I'm only behind Yaomomo and Midori!" Uraraka exclaimed joyfully.
"Well, yeah, you did place third," Jirou said with a little smirk.
"Only one offer, and from my brother, no doubt," Iida sighed.
"Dude!" Mineta exclaimed, grabbing Izuku's shoulder and giving it a shake. "You're totally spoiled for choice! I'm so jealous."
Izuku turned to look at the smaller boy, who seemed to suddenly realize what he'd just done and cringed, pulling back. The green-haired young man blinked.
Was Mineta scared of him?
That seemed…unlikely to Izuku, though possibly because his time at Aldera had made it difficult for him to conceive of anyone being intimidated by him under any circumstances.
"Regardless of whether you received any offers or not, you will have a chance to work alongside active heroes. UA partners with 40 hero agencies to ensure students will have such opportunities," Aizawa said, looking vaguely annoyed at all the excitement in the room. "Which means you'll need hero names. The ones you choose will technically be tentative, but you should still make sure to pick something appropriate—"
"Or else you might be in for hell!" Midnight suddenly burst through the door in her full hero outfit, posing proactively.
Izuku heard a soft sigh from behind him, and knew it was Yaoyorozu, no doubt exasperated at the way the R-Rated hero never seemed to break character. He'd noticed that Yaoyorozu often seemed exasperated with Midnight, which he privately thought was a little odd. Sure, the heroine's persona could be a bit much sometimes, but the two were actually quite similar in how their Quirks required exposed skin in order to function.
Oh god, don't imagine Yaoyorozu in Midnight's costume, don't imagine Yaoyorozu in Midnight's costume! He told himself as that mental picture abruptly tried to make its way into his head.
"The name you pick today may be what the world ends up calling you," the heroine said as she strode into the room. "Believe me, that's something that's happened to plenty of pros, past and present."
"Indeed," Aizawa agreed, addressing the class. "Midnight here will be assessing your choices. I'm no good with hero names. Frankly, while names can represent one's true character, most of the time hero aliases are just exercises in branding. But government regulations require registering one, even if it's just your name, and even most underground heroes prefer to have hero aliases, if only to keep their professional and private lives somewhat separate. So I'll let you get to it while I take a nap."
Midnight passed out a small whiteboard and a marker to every student, then gave them 15 minutes to write down their first choices for hero names.
For his own part, Izuku had little trouble knowing what to write—he felt there was really only one choice for him, given his circumstances, and he was fine with that—but the whole thing still felt surreal to him. He was actually at UA, working on a hero name.
It felt like a lifetime ago that he'd been a little boy asking his mother to write down hero names such as All Might Junior, Mighty Boy, and Small Might.
When the 15 minutes were up, students began to present their proposed hero names.
Aoyoma's chosen hero name being an entire sentence flummoxed and confused the class, though less than the fact that Midnight only suggested minor tweaks. Ashido's reference to the Alien franchise, on the other hand, was immediately shot down by the R-Rated heroine, while Asui's was approved at once. Kirishima's selection of a name that was obviously a tribute to retired pro Crimson Riot set off a lot of discussion about referencing another pro with one's hero name.
One by one, the students went, mostly getting their proposed names approved by Midnight with little fuss. It was clear that everyone had put a lot of thought into their hero names.
Hardly a surprise, Izuku mused. It was something most kids thought about, even if they never seriously pursued a career in heroics when they got old enough to truly consider what fields to pursue.
"I hope to do justice to this name," Yaoyorozu said as she held up her whiteboard, which identified her as the Everything Hero: Creati.
"How creative!" Midnight said.
Izuku felt the teacher's pun was a bit on the nose, but he liked the moniker. There really wasn't much else that could capture the full scope of Yaoyorozu's abilities.
Todoroki stepped up next, holding up his whiteboard. "The Sub-Zero Hero: Ice Prince," he said.
Midnight frowned. "Are you sure about that?" she asked. "It's not exactly capturing your…whole self."
"Yeah, I'm sure," the young man with the two-toned hair said, heading back to his desk without waiting for final approval from the teacher.
"King Explosion Murder!" Bakugo proclaimed, glaring at the room as though daring anyone to dispute the name.
Midnight dared. "Absolutely not," she said flatly. "Try again."
Scowling murderously, the blonde stomped back to his seat.
In contrast, Uraraka's choice of "Uravity" was immediately accepted, leaving just two students who hadn't gone yet.
"The Recipro Hero: Stellantis," Iida proclaimed proudly, displaying his whiteboard.
Uraraka tilted her head to the side. "Stellantis?"
"Indeed!" Iida nodded. "Like my brother, I decided to take inspiration from a type of engine! In this case, the manufacturer of a line of twin-turbocharged engines that began with one known as the Hurricane!"
"'Hurricane' would be a cooler name," Kaminari remarked.
"One might argue that!" Iida allowed, making his customary chopping motions. "However, the vast majority of people would think of the storm rather than the engine!"
"I suspect only automotive enthusiasts and mechanics will get the reference, still," Midnight said. "However, if you're okay with that, then it's a fine hero name."
"Thank you!" Iida said, giving the teacher a quick bow before returning to his desk.
Which just left Izuku, who took a deep breath, walked up to the podium, and revealed his whiteboard. "The Emerald Hero: Green Lantern."
Maybe it wasn't exactly the most original thing, all things considered, but it would probably save him a lot of confusion in the future.
It was also, in his mind at least, a clean break from the childish fantasy of being basically a duplicate of All Might, even as he held onto his dream of being a hero who made people feel safe just by being there.
"Interesting selection," Midnight remarked, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps a bit on the nose, but certainly not bad."
"I thought it had a nice ring to it," Izuku replied with a smile.
"So that's everyone, except for Bakugo's revision," Midnight said.
"Lord Explosion Murder!" the explosive teen exclaimed, holding up his slightly altered whiteboard.
Midnight's face immediately settled into a scowl. "No."
"Oh, wow," Momo said, looking at the massive stack of papers that Mr. Aizawa had unceremoniously dumped onto her desk.
After Midnight had departed, the underground pro had made some vague but ominous remarks about the consequences of choosing the wrong agency to do a work study with, handed out the offers, then told the class they had the rest of the period to look them over. That done, he'd told them all not to disturb him and climbed into his sleeping bag.
How do I even begin? She wondered as she picked up the top sheet of paper, trying not to show how overwhelmed she felt.
For much of her life, her parents had warned her against flaunting her wealth at her less affluent peers, saying it both made others feel bad and made her seem arrogant and disconnected from them for no reason. Back in middle school and elementary school before that, it hadn't been an issue, if only because all her classmates at the private schools she'd gone to had also come from wealthy families. Since starting at UA, however, it was something she'd had more trouble with than she'd care to admit. Often she found she just didn't know if something she took for granted as perfectly ordinary was normal for those from somewhat less affluent backgrounds.
While not about money, the gap between herself and most of the rest of the class in this case was abundantly clear, and she wouldn't dream of complaining about her surplus of offers when fully half of 1-A had none.
That didn't make her current embarrassment of riches any easier to deal with, however.
Do I even have time to read all of these before the deadline for my decision? She wondered.
"You're thinking of going with Gunhead?"
Momo looked up to see Midoriya talking with Uraraka, who was performing punching motions into the air.
"I thought for sure you'd go with a rescue hero like Thirteen," the green-haired young man added.
"I was considering it," Uraraka said, "but the way the tournament played out for me, well, I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants the whole time, and that I was a real one trick pony. As soon as I was up against someone who wasn't helpless as soon as I removed her gravity, I lost. So I want to get stronger! I feel like it'll open up all sorts of new possibilities for me!"
Momo hummed softly in thought. The brunette's unexpected declaration brought up a good point. Should she choose a hero agency where she could better refine skills she already had, or one who could teach her ones she was lacking?
Before she could ponder the matter further, the bell rang, signaling the end of the last period and the school day. Mr. Aizawa roused himself long enough to remind everyone that they were expected to choose an agency by Monday, and the students quickly made their exit.
She approached her vice rep as soon as they were outside the school building. "Midoriya, would you care to join me for a tea before returning home?" she asked.
The raven-haired girl spotted a flash of pink in her peripheral vision, accompanied by a gasp of delight.
"I'd like to discuss some class rep business, if you don't mind," she added, evicting a groan of frustration from Ashido.
"Oh, um, sure!" Midoriya responded at once.
She gave him a nod of thanks, and the two departed the campus, both lugging their gigantic stacks of work study offers.
"So," Midoriya said, once they were a good distance away the school, with no horned gossip queens in sight, "is this really about class rep stuff, or did you just say that to stop Ashido?"
"Mostly to stop Ashido," Momo admitted.
His face reddened, but he continued the conversation anyway. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You seem…uh, pensive today?"
She gave him a wry smile. "Well, a dear friend of mine did drop numerous bombshells on me the other day," she remarked. "I was rather preoccupied with the more personal ones at the time, but since then it's started to sink in that he revealed the existence of hyper advanced, extraterrestrial life to me."
He chuckled. "I guess that is really something to wrap your head around."
She shook her head. "I'm amazed you managed to keep your wits about you when you were whisked away to that Oa place."
"I kind of didn't," he confessed sheepishly. "There…may have been a lot of screaming while the ring was taking me there."
"I suppose it's fortunate you were in space, where no one could hear you," Momo remarked.
Midoriya blinked, then laughed. "I almost wish Uraraka had been here to hear that one."
"It does seem like she would've appreciated it," Momo agreed with a smile, thinking of the brunette's fascination with outer space.
They lapsed into comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, arriving at a tea shop near the UA campus, where the two each ordered a cup and sat down at one of the booths near the back.
"So…did you have more questions? About the aliens and everything?" Midoriya asked. "N-Not that I don't want to have tea with you!"
He always seemed so afraid of offending her, Momo had noticed. It was amusing, or at least it had been, until she'd gotten enough information to suspect how much abuse he'd taken over being Quirkless in his younger years. She hoped his tendency to act like he was walking on eggshells wasn't something his previous school had taught him, but she wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it was.
"I must have a thousand questions about all that," she said, gently blowing on her steaming tea. "However, right now I wanted to pick your brain about the work study offers. I have so many it's rather difficult to choose."
Midoriya blinked. "You want my help with that?" he asked, surprised.
She nodded. "Yes. And don't say that I'm smarter than you and so your input wouldn't be helpful," Momo preemptively chided. "My grades may be a bit better, and I'm sure there's some subjects I know more about, but you're definitely the expert when it comes to pro heroes and Quirks."
"Okay, okay," Midoriya put his hands up in surrender. "Are they any heroes in particular that you're thinking about?"
"Not really," she confessed. "There's so many. Though I suppose you have the problem worse than I do."
She almost apologized to him for seeking his help when he was probably more overwhelmed by his choices than she was but stopped herself.
It was still a bit of a new thing to her, having real friends who truly wanted to help her purely because they were her friends, not because they were looking to make connections with her family and viewed the act of assisting her as an annoying chore needed to achieve that end.
"I guess I can't organize and break down all my offers the way I'd like in the amount of time we have," Midoriya admitted ruefully. "But I'm sure we can come up with a way to figure it out for the both of us. Would it be okay if skimmed your list real quick?"
Momo nodded, handing him the list. Even devoid of all the info packets that came with each offer, it was still many pages long.
"Any idea exactly what you're hoping to learn from your work study?" he asked as his gaze darted across the list.
"Not as much as I probably should," Momo admitted. "With everything that's happened, it feels like we've been hero students for a lifetime already, but the truth is we've barely crossed the starting line. It's still hard to know what we most need to learn."
Privately, she felt that the school should've given them more guidance on this sort of thing. However, All Might always seemed in to be in such a rush to leave as soon as their heroics class period ended, and she didn't exactly have high hopes that Mr. Aizawa would be attentive to such things, considering the man slept during school hours and his general attitude.
Midoriya nodded. "That's a good point," he said. "And it's probably even harder for you. With your Quirk, the number of skills you could pick up is practically limitless."
He made no attempt to conceal the admiration in his voice, and Momo felt her face heat. She could hardly believe that someone who had persevered through a Quirkless childhood, gained the attention of interstellar peacekeepers, and now stood at the apex of the first year UA students had such a glowing view of her.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
"Fat Gum might be a good pick for you," Midoriya said. "He's a very competent, well-rounded hero—uh, no pun intended—and his Quirk is also powered by his fat stores, though obviously in a very different way than yours is. Also, one of UA's 'Big Three' third-year students, Suneater, is interning with him. He's also got a crazy versatile Quirk, so he might be able to teach you some stuff, too." He hesitated for a moment. "Though I hear he has some social anxiety issues, so I'm not sure he'd really be up for mentoring a younger student."
Momo nodded. She definitely saw the logic there, and doing a work study with a hero who did a bit of everything made sense, especially considering she had just been bemoaning how they didn't even know what they needed to learn. Still, she wanted to learn something she couldn't at UA.
"Oh, it looks like Kamui Woods sent you an offer!" Midoriya noted. "I actually saw him in action once, and he can be a little…overdramatic sometimes. He's also a younger and relatively inexperienced hero, but if you're looking to improve with using tape like Sero's to swing around with, there would be no one better to teach that."
"Now that's an interesting idea," Momo said, eyes lighting up.
Aside from the obstacle race at the festival, she so far hadn't dared to do that outside of a situation where she was absolutely certain Midoriya would catch her if she went plummeting, and she'd only done it at the festival because she hadn't been very high up. Obviously, she would need to start doing it without a safety net if she wanted to use that technique at all while performing hero work.
"I can see a lot of other heroes who might be able to help you in some way," Midoriya said, marking multiple names on the list. "You'll probably want to do some quick research on your own before choosing one of them, though."
"I'll do that," she said. "Thank you for this. You've been a tremendous help, as usual." She added, smiling fondly at him.
Momo's head still started spinning whenever she gave much thought to the multiple, world-shaking revelations Midoriya had told her about that day at the beach. Maybe when she'd fully processed all that, however…
"Y-You're welcome," he stammered, blushing heavily. "Though I almost feel like I should be thanking you. It's good that all those years as a hero fanboy finally paid off somehow." He added with an awkward chuckle.
"I'd say it's paid off several times already," she remarked. "Now then, why don't we take a look at your list? I'm sure you must be having some difficulty as well. After all, there's no hero with a Quirk quite like your powers."
Chapter 30: Off to Work (Studies)
The mood at the train station as students of Class 1-A prepared to leave was one of vaguely nervous excitement, and it wasn't difficult to understand why. After all, they were all about to scatter for a week, off to their work studies and to get their first taste of real world professional heroics.
Well, if they didn't count being attacked by villains at USJ, anyway.
"You've got your costumes, right?" Mr. Aizawa addressed them all, going totally unnoticed by most people even as several passersby took note of the famed UA students. "Wearing them in public is strictly prohibited unless you're being directly supervised by a pro who's accepted responsibility for you, but still, don't lose them."
"Yeah!" Ashido exclaimed, lifting the case with her costume above her head.
"Don't shout, Ashido," Mr. Aizawa snapped.
Momo resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She feared she had grown prejudiced against their homeroom teacher after he'd lied to them on their first day and had given Bakugo a farcically light verbal reprimand for nearly killing her in the battle trial—at least All Might had tried to have a talk with him afterwards, according to Midoriya—and had begun to default to viewing all his actions in the most negative way possible.
Yet even taking her potential bias into account, there was something undeniably irksome and exasperating about how the underground pro always seemed determined to quickly stamp out every bit of excitement and enthusiasm his students displayed.
"All of you, be on your best behavior! Now go," Mr. Aizawa commanded them, before turning and walking off at a brisk clip without another word.
Momo took the opportunity presented by the vaguely surprised moment their teacher left in his wake to step forward and address her fellow students.
"Class, for the first time, we'll be doing real hero work, even if it's only as students," she said. "I want everyone to be safe and remember that you're representing both the school and hero society in general while you're out there. If you run into any serious issues out there that the agency you're working with can't properly address, feel free to reach out to myself or Midoriya. We'll do what we can to get things sorted and will contact the school if need be. Now, let's all learn a lot and come back as better future heroes than we are today! Plus ultra!"
"Plus ultra!" the rest of the class chorused.
Most of the rest of the class, anyway. Bakugo had stalked off as soon as Mr. Aizawa had departed. Todoroki and Koda hadn't said anything, but they'd each raised a fist skyward with the rest of the class.
"Cool speech, Yaomomo," Uraraka remarked.
"Certainly more inspiring than the one from Mr. Aizawa," Jirou agreed dryly.
Momo privately felt that was hardly a high bar to clear but didn't say so. "Thank you," she smiled. "Well, I suppose this is it. I look forward to sharing what we learned we get back to UA."
"Um, Yaomomo…" Midoriya began.
"Don't worry, I'll get Kamui Woods' autograph for you," Momo smiled.
Judging by the chagrined, embarrassed look on his face at that, she'd correctly guessed what he was about to ask, she noted with a giggle.
"Th-thanks," he said, blushing.
"We should board our trains as soon as possible!" Iida broke into the conversation, gesticulating wildly as usual. "It would be most unbecoming of UA students to be miss a train and be late!"
"Very true," Momo agreed. "See you in a week, everyone."
Search For The Hero Killer's Killer Continues: Heroes and Police Still Have No Leads In Murder of Stain
Shigaraki growled as he looked at the first story on his phone's news feed, the digital artist's glove he wore the only thing preventing him turning the device to dust. The plastic of the phone's outer casing creaked dangerously as he squeezed.
"Be careful, Shigaraki Tomura," Kurogiri chided him from behind the bar, where he was cleaning glasses. "I doubt that Sensei would be pleased to discover that you destroyed another phone."
Shigaraki knew that Sensei didn't care about such minor, petty things, having destroyed items much more expensive than smart phones in his time, but he relaxed his grip anyway. Being without a phone until he could get a replacement would be just annoying.
"I'm so damned sick of hearing about Stain," he growled.
The abrupt, grisly death of the serial killer might've been just a flash in the pan, except that someone had found all of Stain's social media accounts and assorted online rantings and let everyone know they belonged to the Hero Killer.
Judging by the fact that Stain's phone had never been found, it was entirely possible that it had been done by whoever had killed him, for whatever stupid reason.
Regardless of who had done it and why, everybody could now easily see the many online rants of the Hero Killer, which had previously been ignored by just about everyone, but now garnered massive attention because it was now public knowledge that the man had backed up his beliefs with murderous action.
Oh, the authorities and mods kept taking his stuff down, but the genie was already out of the bottle. People had copies of everything, and every time Stain's writings and video journals were removed from one site, they immediately popped up on three more.
And it resonated with people. Tomura thought it was all so much self-righteous nonsense and boring as all hell, but a lot of people clearly thought that Stain was onto something, with all his talk about true heroes and how most pros today were just fakes who needed to be culled so true heroism could return.
"We attacked UA itself, but for some reason the guy who murdered a few no-name heroes and then got himself killed gets all the attention," Shigaraki added. "He's just some internet rando who spilled a little blood, but suddenly he's all anyone wants to talk about. I'm sick of it."
The television at the corner of the bar came to life, the screen displaying only the words "AUDIO ONLY" in red text.
"And what are you going to do about that, Tomura?" the distorted voice of All for One crackled from the speakers.
"Sensei?" the young villain spoke.
"As my future successor, you'll need to be able to turn bad situations to your advantage," All for One explained. "So, with Stain dead, how do you make the best of this situation?"
Shigaraki was quiet for a long moment, and Kurogiri tensed, expecting the volatile young man to explode with frustration and fury.
That didn't happen. Instead, a grin wide enough to be seen despite the severed hand on Shigaraki's face stretched his face.
"We'll steal his rep."
"What?" Kurogiri blurted out before he could stop himself.
"His rep." Shigaraki repeated. "Stain has a bunch of fans, even though all he ever did was post some vague bullcrap about heroes needing to be better on the internet and murder some D-listers. But he's dead now, so there's nothing to stop us from claiming we're continuing his work and taking advantage of his followers."
"Excellent, Tomura," All for One said, the villain's grin audible.
"A devious plan," Kurogiri said. "But will people truly believe us to be the heirs to Stain's mission just because we claim to be?"
"Hmm, that's a fair point. We'll need to make a big splash so we're not just viewed as some pretenders ranting on the internet," Shigaraki said thoughtfully. Then his red eyes widened. "An attack on the heroes, claiming we're avenging Stain! The stupid NPCs who loved that idiot will absolutely eat it up!"
"An intriguing plan, Tomura," All for One said. "What exactly do you have in mind?"
The young man's already manic grin widened further.
Izuku rolled his shoulders as he got off the crowded train, relieved at having the freedom to move about properly again. He hoped both the Corps and the HPSC wouldn't mind him flying everywhere once he got his hero license.
Thankfully the agency he was doing his work study at was only a few blocks from the station, which wasn't so surprising really. Most hero agencies, especially the bigger ones, were located close to transportation hubs, to better enable them to respond to major emergencies. After all, while a lot of pro heroes could quickly cover large distances with just their Quirks, that didn't mean all their sidekicks and support staff could.
Just one of the things a person learned if they were a huge hero fan like he was.
So, humming cheerfully to himself and bouncing the case containing his unnecessary costume against his leg as he went, Izuku walked the few blocks until he reached a large building that was painted in bright red and midnight blue.
The first real hero agency he would work at on his path to becoming a pro himself.
Taking a deep breath, he walked inside the doors and approached the front desk, where an attractive young woman with a cloud-like cottony white substance for hair was seated.
"Hello," Izuku greeted them. "I'm—"
"Ah, welcome, Mr. Midoriya!" the woman greeted him. "You're right on time."
Having been completely mobbed while trying to get lunch with Yaoyorozu, Izuku really shouldn't have been rendered so shocked and giddy at being recognized like this, but he was. Because this was a hero agency.
"Are you all right?" the front desk lady asked him.
Izuku realized abruptly that he was releasing a wordless, high pitched squeal of glee and clamped it down.
He cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm just fine. Sorry about that," he said sheepishly.
"No worries," she assured him, pleasant smile returning. "Anyway, the boss is eager to meet you, so I'll call him right down. Please feel free to take a seat." She added, gesturing to a group of chairs in the lobby.
Izuku nodded and went over to them but was too excited to actually sit. He wondered if he looked like a total weirdo by loitering around the seats but staying on his feet.
Before he could get too anxious about it, a door opened to the lobby area, admitting the pro hero of the agency and someone who Izuku knew to be a sidekick.
"Izuku Midoriya!" the pro hero Majestic greeted him, dressed in full costume, with his customary red, pointed hat, orange robe, and blindfold. "Welcome to my agency. We're very happy to have you here. That was one impressive performance you put in during the Sports Festival."
"Ah, thank you, sir!" Izuku said, bowing.
"No need to be that formal," the pro said with a sloppy grin. "You can call me by my hero name while we're out and about in our costumes, and just 'Kannagi' is fine the rest of the time."
"Sure thing, sir…er, Kannagi," Izuku stammered, feeling his face heat up.
Majestic grinned. "Now you're getting it," he said. "Anyway, I have a lot planned for your week here. I'm hoping to do some sparring to see where you're at for myself, some Quirk training, and of course I want to give you a firsthand look at what it's like to work at a pro hero agency."
"Sounds great!" Izuku said.
"Glad to hear it. Now, I'd intended to jump right into all of this as soon as you got here, but the HPSC abruptly called up and insisted I head over to their local office for a debrief on a recent villain incident. And a surprise interview with a reporter, if I know them," Majestic said, mouth twisting with obvious displeasure. "So for now I'll be leaving you in the capable hands of one my sidekicks. Midoriya, this is Mistress Zee."
The pretty woman next to him, a green-eyed brunette wearing a tuxedo and top hat, gave Izuku a smile. "Nice to meet you, Midoriya. I look forward to working with you. You can call me Ms. Zee in the field, pretty much everyone does."
"Thank you. Nice to meet you, too," Izuku said, trying to mask his disappointment at having to wait to work with Majestic. "What will we be starting with?"
"Patrols," she answered.
He gasped with delight, then covered his mouth with a hand, mortified.
Thankfully, neither hero commented on his reaction. Ms. Zee hooked a thumb toward the door she and Majestic had come through. "Go through there. Locker rooms are the third door on the left. We can go as soon as you get changed into your hero costume."
"Right away!" Izuku said.
Majestic put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him before he could rush off. The hero student looked up at the pro curiously.
"I'm authorizing you to use your Quirk if need be."
"Eh?!" Izuku did a double take at that, knowing that giving a student without a provisional hero license such permission was pretty extraordinary.
"After you accepted my offer, Nezu and All Might reached out to me and told me some things about the USJ that aren't public knowledge," Majestic said. "So I know that you were instrumental in stopping the League's Nomu, and that Shigaraki knows that, too. I won't leave you defenseless in the event that something happens. That said, don't use your Quirk unless it's absolutely necessary."
"I understand," Izuku nodded seriously.
"Good man," Majestic smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be off. I'll see you later, Midoriya."
The pro hero left, and Izuku rushed into the locker room. He was sorely tempted to simply use the ring to change his outfit into his Green Lantern uniform instantly, but he supposed that Ms. Zee would probably be a little suspicious if he appeared to manage an outfit swap in less than ten seconds.
After changing the normal way, he jogged back out to the lobby.
"Ready?" Ms. Zee asked.
"Yeah!" he nodded eagerly.
"Then let's go," she smiled.
The two stepped outside the agency, and Ms. Zee took a right, making a brisk pace down the sidewalk. Izuku quickly fell in step next to her, eyes bright.
He noticed immediately that Ms. Zee moved with obvious purpose and cheerfully greeted numerous civilians as she went.
Many of those civilians recognized him, much to Izuku's embarrassment, but he did his best to give them a smile and a cheerful greeting, emulating All Might for all he was worth.
Aside from this, though, the patrol didn't seem very different from a simple walk around part of the city.
"Um, excuse me, Ms. Zee," Izuku eventually spoke up. "Is there, uh, anything else I should be doing?"
She gave him an amused look. "Expecting to run into three villains before we get back?" she asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Not exactly, but, uh…"
"This still seems too easy?" Ms. Zee offered.
"Well, yeah," he admitted.
She chuckled. "Yeah, a lot of people imagine heroes going on patrol and confronting villains and the like all the time," she said. "But the reality of it is that most villain fights happen as a result of heroes being dispatched to an incident in progress, or something like a sting operation, where heroes go out looking to confront a specific villain. We certainly want to stay to vigilant while we're out here, just in case something does happen, but the main purpose of patrols is to be seen patrolling."
"To assure people that heroes are here to protect them?" Izuku asked.
Ms. Zee nodded. "Yes, but also to remind villains and potential villains that we're here, too. To act as a deterrent to crime, basically," she said. "So what do you think? Underwhelmed now that you know the truth about patrolling?"
"Not at all!" he said at once. "It's obviously very important work!"
He meant it, too. Patrolling might not be as action-packed in reality as it had been in his imagination, but in a way, it was exactly the sort of thing he'd always wanted to do. Maybe it wasn't flashy, but it was a way to let people know that they were protected, that he was here.
"Glad you think so," Ms. Zee said. "A lot of people who find out how rarely patrols result in confrontations with villains don't. Believe me, you'd be hard pressed to find an underground hero who doesn't think it's the silliest, most pointless exercise in the world, but it has a real, measurable effect that improves the places where patrols happen."
"Do underground heroes really not patrol?" Izuku asked.
"Most of them do, but they do their best not to be seen or noticed when they patrol," Ms. Zee answered.
He nodded. "Have you ever run into a villain or some kind of disaster in progress while on patrol?"
"I've certainly run into some random muggings and the like, every spotlight hero who's been at this for any amount of time has," Ms. Zee said. "And I've had some fires and other things like that happen very close to my usual patrol routes. But I've never just randomly run into an A- or B-class villain while on patrol or anything. That's just the sort of thing that almost never happens in real life."
"Huh," he grunted. "I guess I—"
Something collided with his leg before he could get any further, and he looked down in surprise, finding a little girl with snow white hair, red eyes, and a single horn on the sidewalk, having fallen onto her rear after running into him.
"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Izuku asked, offering the girl a hand to help her up.
She looked at his hand with trepidation, then scurried back to her feet without taking it. "I…I'm sorry," she muttered, voice so soft he could barely hear her.
She looked and sounded so terrified that Izuku immediately suspected something was wrong, and he belatedly noticed how old and tattered her white dress was, as well as the fact that she was barefoot. Extensive bandages on her limbs went from her wrists and ankles and disappeared beneath her clothes.
"Eri," a man's voice called out. "There you are. I was worried about you."
Izuku looked up to see a dark-haired man in his thirties approaching them, an ornate plague mask that looked like a bird's beak on his face.