The next day...
(I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave Inko-san alone, but Izuku and I are gonna leave our home and start a new life at U.A.)
Satoru arrived in front of the 1-B dormitory.
"Hid, finally!" Tetsutetsu welcomed him. "I feel like it's been forever! Where have you been?"
"Sorry, Tets," said Satoru. "I... am being sick these days."
"Yo, Shirakawa-kun!" Setsuna greeted him. "We missed you at the training camp!"
"Speaking of the training camp," said Satoru. "I've heard you were attacked by villains, and that Tetsutetsu and Itsuka defeated one of them."
"Yeah, we did!" said Tetsutetsu. "It was my moment of glory!"
"I'm happy for you, Tets," said Satoru. "And... speaking of Itsuka, where is she?"
Someone slapped Satoru's nape.
"This is for getting a girlfriend without telling me!" Itsuka said.
"Ouch..." Satoru massaged his nape. "Sorry if I didn't tell ya, I didn't find time."
(That's not the point, Hideki-kun... I should be your girlfriend!)
"Attention!" Vlad King shouted. "From now on, you'll live here, in this dormitory. Before you enter, though, I want to congratulate Tetsutetsu and Kendo for having taken down a villain in the training camp."
"Thank you, Kan-sensei!" Tetsutetsu and Itsuka said in unison.
"Shirakawa," said Vlad King. "Welcome back. We missed you at the training camp."
"Now I'm here," said Satoru.
"For today, you'll just adjust your stuff in your room. That's all."
"I'm taking the room next to yours," said Tetsutetsu.
"Don't complain if you can't sleep at night, though," said Satoru. "I might be training hard."
__________
1-B Dormitory
Satoru entered his room. It was empty.
"I must furnish it," he said, scratching his head. "I'll just put some red on the walls and a picture of myself in front of the bed."
"And... maybe some black all over the room, since the color that described my mood better is black."
__________
Night
Satoru was sitting on his bed. His legs were crossed, and he was hugging the pillow while looking at the phone, reading articles.
"Is Oro gonna be the next number one hero?"
"Oro surpasses Endeavor in the rankings?"
"Oro and All Might: Student and Mentor."
(Everyone's talking about All Might and Oro's fight... that punch still hurts, I must say. I... I have to find him. I have to find Hikaru. I must tell him I'm his brother, whom he believed dead. I must.)
Tetsutetsu opened the door. "Hey, Hid! We're- whoa, your room is cool! I like this red-black contrast!"
"What is it, Tets?" Satoru asked.
"We're having a competition to see who has the nicest room. Do you want to participate?"
"Nah, I'm tired. I'll show you my room tomorrow."
"So you're just going to sleep?"
"Yeah..."
"G'night, Hid."
"G'night, Tets."
Tetsutetsu closed the door and turned off the light.
Satoru tucked himself in and took a last look at his phone.
(I want to tell someone I'm a villain, but I can't, or I'm done for... sometimes I wish I were just a regular boy. Well, let's just sleep for now.)
__________
The next day
Satoru walked into his class. He sat in the back row seat near the window, alone.
(I'm kind of bored... I think I'll reach Mei-chan after school...)
Vlad King entered the class. "Greetings. Today, we're going to start a new heroic task."
"Really?" said Tetsutetsu. "What?"
"You need to take the provisional hero license," said Vlad King. "Even though it's provisional, it is important."
"And what must we do?" asked Pony.
"You'll train to learn to use your quirk better and create at least two unique techniques," Midnight entered the room. "You'll use these ten days of holidays to do so."
(It sounds cool... even though I already have two unique techniques...)
"Follow us in the Gym Gamma," said Vlad King.
__________
Gym Gamma
"Here we are," said Midnight. Ectoplasm approached.
"You'll train with my clones," he said. "You can start now."
Satoru reached one of Ectoplasm's clones.
"Ectoplasm-sensei," he said. "The requisite is to create at least two unique techniques, correct?"
"Correct," said Ectoplasm. "But you can both improve them if you already have them or create more techniques."
"Can I do both?"
"Of course. Attack me, I'm just a clone."
Satoru cracked his knuckles. "Dark Punch: 90%!"
Ectoplasm's clone vanished.
"Ectoplasm-sensei," said Satoru. "Give me another clone."
Ectoplasm generated another clone. "I'll give you all the clones you want."
"Dark Smash!" Satoru delivered another punch.
"Shirakawa has already developed two unique techniques," said Vlad King.
"He drives me crazy..." Midnight said. "Oops, I mean... as a student! He's a great student, of course!"
(I'm doing great,) thought Satoru. (But I'm imitating Hikaru too much...)
(During our fight in Yokohama, he said 'Light Spreading,' right? Maybe, I could use 'Dark Spreading'... but that's stealing...)
(I can't use the quirks AFO gave me now. I must use my primary quirk, dammit. Also, because I still don't know how to use them. AFO could have at least told me...)
"Dark Cannon!"
"Dark Mirror!"
"Dark Punch: 100%!"
"Dark Smash!"
This is how Satoru's day kept going.
__________
After lessons
Satoru quickly gathered his things and made his way to the laboratory.
(Mei-chan must miss me... I miss her too...)
Suddenly, Yosetsu Awase approached. "Yo, Shirakawa!"
"Yo, Awase," Satoru said. "What brings you to me?"
"I just wanted to compliment you for the development you're making in this school."
"Thanks, Awase. Y'know, a friend of mine from class A said that if they detected the villains is thanks to you, who merged a radar with one of the villains' bodies."
"That's true!"
"Congrats. Now I gotta go, my girlfriend is waiting for me."
"See ya, Shirakawa."
"See ya, Awase."
Satoru knocked at the door. (As usual, she's not responding...)
Power Loader opened the door. "And you are?"
"Sat- Hideki Shirakawa, Mei Hatsume's bodyfriend."
"Wait, what?" Power Loader grunted. "Hatsume, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!"
"Boyfriend? Hideki-kun's here?" Mei dropped her gadgets and rushed to the door. "Hideki-kun! I missed you a lot!"
Mei jumped onto Satoru's arms. "You've come only to see me, haven't you?"
"Well, kinda," said Satoru. "The primary reason was that I wanted to see you, but since I'm here, I wanted to ask you if you or Power Loader-sensei could modify my costume a bit..."
"Sure, darling!" Mei exclaimed. "What do you want to change?"
"I would like to change the pants," said Satoru. "I want them to be more flexible. It's hard for me to move in such tight pants."
"Consider it done!" said Mei. "Power Loader-sensei, let's change Hideki-kun's hero pants!"
"But we have another project to complete before..."
"It doesn't matter! My boyfriend is more important!"
Satoru blushed, but hid it with his grey scarf. (Tch, now I'm even blushing...)
__________
A few minutes later
Satoru was leaning on the wall, drinking sparkling water.
"Why do you never drink normal water?" Power Loader.
"It's not that I don't drink water," said Satoru. "It's just that I suffer from drowsiness as a consequence of my quirk. I only eat sugary things or carbonated drinks, so I stay awake."
"And... done!" Mei said. "Your new hero pants are ready, Hideki-kun!"
Satoru grabbed his pants. "I'll wear them."
Satoru quickly put on his pants and tried to move quickly around the room.
(Wait... why am I so fast? Is that due to one of the quirks AFO gave me?)
"So, how are they, Hideki-kun?" Mei asked.
"They're... fine," said Satoru. "Wait... oh, right, I have legs!"
"What do you mean, darling?" asked Mei.
"Up until now, I've always used my punches to fight, but I've never used the legs!"
"I don't know if to tell you if you're smart for finding out," said Mei. "Or stupid for not noticing until now."
"Probably both."
"Yeah, probably both."
Satoru looked at his feet. "Mei-chan, can you create a pair of iron soles for me?"
"Iron soles?"
"Yeah, so I don't destroy my feet when I kick someone."
"Consider it done, Hideki-kun. For my boyfriend, this and more!"
__________
The next day
"Ectoplasm-sensei," said Satoru. "I've got another technique to use."
"Use it, then," Ectoplasm said.
"Dark Smash, Leg Type: 20%!"
Satoru jumped in the air and kicked Ectoplasm's clone.
(He finally understood what he was missing,) thought Vlad King.
(Next step,) thought Satoru. (Managing to use the 100% of the Leg Type.)
Chapter 34 - End