He turned his head to look at Iida, who was looking at him with a concerned expression.
"Are you feeling well? Something is very clearly bothering you." He motioned towards Izuku with one of his arms in a needlessly dramatic way.
...
Uraraka, currently in the process of speedily devouring her rather large meal, also turned to look at him with concerned eyes, while chewing a fish in her mouth.
Izuku, caught on the spot, panicked and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
"Uraraka, how do you know Toshinori Yagi?"
Izuku winced. THAT was how he brought this topic up? IDIOT!
Uraraka for her part was completely caught off guard by the question, and caught something in her throat, leading to her beginning to cough. Iida slammed his hand on her back, helping her cough up her food.
Finally, once she was done, she just stared at Izuku in what was something between horror and shock. "What?"
-Smooth, man. Real smooth.-
"I… I…" what the hell was he going to say? Hey Uraraka, is All Might your dad?
"Your probably, don't remember, but… The entrance exam wasn't actually the first time we saw each other… Nearly a year ago, we encountered each other near a beach filled with trash and metal."
Uraraka went pale.
"I was there to pick up a replacement door for our bathroom when on the back trip I… Well I passed you as you were out training… With Toshinori Yagi."
He winced again.
"Sorry I haven't brought it up before, I… I just remembered it, and it's been bugging me ever since then."
If Izuku hadn't been too busy trying to read Uraraka's expression, he probably would have realized, and been shocked by just how easily he had just lied to someone to their face.
As it was, he was instead reading Uraraka as she desperately seemed to try and spin a story.
Before she could answer though, Iida butted in.
"Truly? All Might's own manager? You really are well connected Uraraka!"
Uraraka blushed.
"Well… To answer the question… I first meet Yagi-San back… When I enrolled in All Might's charity program for poor students."
It took a couple of seconds rummaging through his wast knowledge of All Might lore before the details about said charity program popped back into his skull.
Iida however, wasn't as knowledgeable.
"I'm sorry but… I must admit I don't know about the charity program which you speak off."
Uraraka gave a weak, forced smile.
"It's alright, most probably don't. Anyway, it's a program to help young students who can't really pay the bills to study in the big cities like Mustafa and Tokyo."
Yes… Izuku was starting to see it now.
"So you need the program to be able to study in Mustafa then?"
She scratched the back of her head in an awkward manner.
"Yeah, my family isn't exactly… That well off."
It felt off, no Alien to sit there and pick apart Uraraka's story, piece by piece.
"In my final year of middle school, I applied for financial help to come to live here in Mustafa, since… Well, I was planning on entering Yuei, and that meant I kinda had to live in the city you know?"
Made sense.
"Anyway, I kind off met Yagi-San the day I moved here, and… Well, after some stuff, we struck up a friendship, and he helped me train for Yuei."
It was a good, solid story that didn't have any giant obvious holes. It would also mean that Uraraka got all her current money through an All Might charity, rather than say… Directly from All Might's own bank account.
That way, if someone looked through the girl's finances, you couldn't directly trace them to All Might personally, just his charity.
"I must admit, I am not familiar with Toshinori Yagi beyond the name, but if he was your trainer, he must be quite an effective one! And to do so while stewarding ALL of All Might's paperwork and office! He must be a spectacular worker!"
Uraraka blushed, while Izuku realized he hadn't even thought about that.
All Might was still doing all his heroics while training up someone who could potentially become as strong as he was!
That he did that, on top of his injury truly was a testament to the grandness that was All Might.
"Yeah… He's the main reason I'm as strong as I am." She smiled.
A silence arose, as the three went back to eating for a bit, Izuku dwelling on what Uraraka told him.
He felt… Well, he felt like a shitty friend for assuming that most of what Uraraka said was lies or half-truths. But really, was he any different? He also had his secrets with Venom. Secrets that he would take with him to his grave if he could. Secrets he would lie to his friends about.
He was brought out of his musings by Venom, who manifested on Izuku's shoulder.
"Speaking of secret connections, what about you Tenya? Izuku's study of your name suggested a rather interesting history behind your family!"
Iida stared at him, seemingly weighing his answer.
"So, you two have delved deeply into my family history have you?" He sounded serious, but not particularly angry."
Izuku swallowed. "Well, not really delved, but I did look up the Iida family."
Uraraka looked with a bit of confusion, then, still with a bit of food stuck on her cheek, she beamed.
"Wait, Iida, are you… Are you a rich kid?"
She seemed to find that fascinating, judging by the way she looked at him like she had just stumbled into a beast of legend.
Izuku was interested too, to be honest, but he had looked into the Iida family. What he was interested to hear about was his exact connection to them.
Iida kinda got an awkward nervous expression under the gazes of curiosity, but finally, he sighed.
"... I don't really like people knowing about it, so I try and hide it, but…"
He paused, presumably for dramatic effect.
"Yes, mine is a renowned hero family. And I am the second son."
Iida turned to Izuku.
"Tell me Midoriya, am I correct in assuming you are familiar with the hero Ingenium?"
"Of course! Ingenium, real name Iida Tensei is 183 cm tall, has dark blue hair, and born on the 22 of July! His quirk is Engine, which let's him put out powerful bursts of speed from his elbows that allows him to move at enormous speeds, he has exactly 65 sidekicks employed at his office in Tokyo!"
Izuku was about to continue, but Iida cut him off. "How very informed you are."
...
He then put his head backwards while pushing up his glasses against his nose bridge, while wearing a smile that beamed pride.
"But yes, that is Ingenium. The pride of my family, and my older brother!"
"WOW!" Uraraka beamed.
"He is a hero who leads people with an unwavering adherence to rules and regulations, truly and exemplary and beloved hero. It was my admiration for my brother that inspired my own goal of becoming a hero!"
He smiled that prideful smile for a second. He turned to Izuku and was about to say something when out of the blue, an alarm went off.
-Danger!-
What? Suddenly a loud robotic voice called out.
-Security level 3 has been broken. All students please evacuate in an orderly fashion.-
Security level 3? Izuku remembered reading the school rules, and what it said about security levels. Security level 3 meant someone had not only infiltrated the campus, but this very building.
He could feel it. No, he could feel HIM . As everyone around them began to push and shove on the way to the door, Izuku was frozen to his chair, as he just sat there in shock and just observed the Thing with morbid fascination, as he felt him move through the building.
It was potent. Powerful . It was the hatred he felt towards Katsuki, if that torch had been a small sun. It was hatred, unlike anything Izuku had ever experienced or felt in his life.
It was Loathing of everyone and everything, it was Condemnation of him and all his peers, it was as pure and clean Hatred, as the human race had ever had.
-Wow. Now THAT is some REAL hate. We've not seen these levels since the rebellion against Knull!-
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone. He was gone. Izuku's began breathing again. He hadn't even realized he'd stopped.
Around him, the mass of humans kept pushing all around, but he didn't rise. The threat was gone.
There was more that followed in the cafeteria. Iida calming the masses down, the proclamation that it had only been the mass media who had infiltrated the school.
He knew better.
-Clever. Using those foolish, annoying, useless media people as a distraction. Mayhaps even as a cover. Unfortunately for him, WE were here.-
"Yeah… He didn't know if Yuei staff knew that a real intruder had been inside the building or not, but if not… Well, he'd have to tell them.
...
The rest of the day was a blur for Izuku. Iida got elected president over Momo after him calming the school. Aizawa had listened to him and actually given a real thanks for the info. Iida and Uraraka had invited him to hang out at Macdonald's after school, but Izuku had lied and said he had something he had to do that day.
Truth was, he just wanted some time alone. Well, as alone as he could be.
-Exciting isn't it?-
"What, a Villain sneaking inside the school?"
Izuku distinctly got the feeling he had when Venom, "Rolled his eyes" at him.
-Obviously, the man was a scout, a vanguard preparing the foundation for a future conflict. This is how you open a war Izuku.-
War. It was kinda a melodramatic way of putting it… Wasn't it?
"It's just a Villain, Venom. Heroes will deal with him. This isn't a War."
"All conflicts are wars Izuku. It's merely a matter of scale. You will learn that lesson in due time."
...
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