Chapter 13: To Impart
Izuku entered the classroom early and noticed that as he'd hoped, he was the only one there. He'd been a bit worried that Iida would be there too, because he had arrived early the previous two days, but he suspected that Iida had gotten caught up with the storm of media people that had been blocking the gates…
"Midoriya," Aizawa said. "Speak to me for a moment?"
Izuku tried not to wince. He already has something he wants to talk to me about?
Izuku reluctantly shuffled over to where Aizawa was standing and looked up to him expectantly.
"Iida told me yesterday that Bakugou has been giving you a hard time about your quirk," Aizawa said, giving Izuku a calculated gaze.
"I-It's fine," Izuku said. "Nothing important." Minimize. Don't make yourself a problem.
"I did hear what he said on the first day," Aizawa said. "If this is a recurring issue, I need to know. I don't tolerate quirk discrimination in my classroom."
Shoot, how do I respond to this…
"U-um, I don't think it counts as that," Izuku said, swallowing a nervous laugh. "He just doesn't like me very much. He makes fun of my quirk, yeah, but, more because he hates me, than anything else?" Izuku said.
Aizawa's flat expression didn't change. "Still, I expect much better from my students. I'll speak with him. Let me know if he does this again. If he doesn't shape up, he's not fit for the hero course."
Izuku gave a quick nod. Oh wow… he seems really serious about this… he really is strict…
Izuku felt a brief flash of worry about how strict this teacher might be, if he'd threatened to punish Bakugou twice, before he came up with a different answer to why he might have done those things.
Both times he threatened to punish Bakugou were times he was trying to make fun of my new quirk. And… Eraserhead went to UA, right? I heard he had to transfer over from Gen Ed since he didn't do well in the Entrance Exam… I wouldn't be surprised if people tried to bully him for his quirk after he joined their class as a transfer under those conditions. Could it be that he's just looking out for me?
Izuku thought that was possible, and the idea immediately eased his worries. He still had to be careful (he could still mess this up) but this meant that for once, a teacher was explicitly on his side. Weird.
Seeing Izuku's silent reaction, Aizawa seemed to think their conversation was over. But unfortunately, Izuku still had to ask him about Yagi.
"Oh, could I ask…" Izuku tried to muster up the courage. I really need to do this so that if Yagi's an evil imposter we don't all die… come on Izuku, you can do it… "Um, just wanted to check… Yagi, he's All Might, right?"
Aizawa paused. "...Why do you say that?"
Izuku ducked his head. "He just has the same name and quirk…"
"You met All Might at one point?" Aizawa questioned, frowning.
"Yeah…" Izuku shrugged. "Like a year ago…"
Aizawa gave a long sigh and put his head in his hands. "I'm… gonna have to make a call. Stay put, give me a moment."
Izuku awkwardly stood in place, fidgeting, as Aizawa dialed someone on his phone.
Aizawa opened the call with another sigh. "Nedzu. Midoriya's already met All Might. Now he's asking me about it. What should I say?" There was a long pause. "Tell him everything? You sure? … Yeah, okay. See you in a minute."
Aizawa tucked his phone back into his pocket."Yes, you're right. Yagi is All Might."
"Oh!" Izuku said. "Good. I was a bit worried he might be an imposter or something. Secretly evil, taking All Might's place or something… "
"Thankfully that's not true," Aizawa said. "Regardless, I suspect you understand that you can't tell anyoneabout this."
Izuku nodded quickly. "I promise! I'm really sorry, I was just worried and wanted to make sure, it was a stupid idea," Izuku said, giving him a nervous glance.
Aizawa shook his head. "If you thought he might be an imposter, telling me was the right thing to do. We should have considered the possibility that you saw All Might in the past, considering he's been operating in Musutafu for a while now."
Izuku gave a reluctant nod.
"I'll smooth things over with Nedzu and All Might," Aizawa said. "They won't be angry, though. There wasn't anything you could have done."
"Thank you, Aizawa-sensei," Izuku said, still feeling unconfident. Maybe this was a bad idea after all…
"Don't worry about it," Aizawa said.
Aizawa swept out of the classroom just as the rest of his classmates began to enter.
Izuku sat in the classroom, a bit awkwardly, and started to work on homework. Uraraka said hi to him cheerfully, and Iida gave him a compliment for being early (and for his 'diligence' in working on his homework) but besides that, he was mostly left alone. And he was worried.
I'm glad All Might's not an imposter at least… or that at least UA knew what was going on… but I've drawn unnecessary attention to myself… did I just put myself in danger?
Izuku bit his lip in worry. He had just discovered a major state secret. What if they got angry with him, or… reported him to the government or something?!
"Add Aizawa Shouta to relationships," Izuku said "Relationships."
RELATIONSHIPS
Midoriya Inko: Rep +97. Unconditional Love.
Aizawa Shouta: Rep+3. Neutral.
Bakugou Katsuki: Rep -51. Enemy. (Type=Abusive)
Iida Tenya: Rep +31. Admiration.
Nedzu: Rep +7. Concern.
Uraraka Ochako: +14. Friendly.
Well, sort of interesting. Aizawa's rep was minimally positive, which was fine enough for a teacher. Meanwhile, it looked like Uraraka's rep had gotten high enough for her to be added to the list automatically, with a Friendly tag attached. Iida's rep had gone up a little. So had Nedzu's rep, actually… but Concern? Izuku was a bit worried about that. Was it concern for him, or concern about him?
Well… at least his rep with Nedzu was still in the positive direction. No one had the enemy status, which meant no one actively was looking to hurt him. He supposed that's what counted. Even so, he'd have to apologize to Nedzu about this whole situation. Hopefully that would quell any anger Nedzu felt at him for his mistake.
Aizawa came back a few minutes later, just as the bell rang, but unlike the two previous days, he looked frazzled rather than tired.
"Class, you'll be having a special Hero Informatics class today," Aizawa said, clearly not in the mood for mincing words. "You need to elect a class representative."
The class went wild, clearly excited. "Ooh! Pick me!" Ashido shouted, raising her hand.
"Kero, it might be best…" Asui started.
"To pick me!" Ashido interrupted.
"Hm, if we're talking about it, I think I'd be a good class rep," Uraraka added.
Aizawa grumbled and sat down at his desk. "Just pick someone by the end of the hour." He turned his attention to his computer, leaving the class to their own devices.
"I think it would only be fair to decide by vote!" Iida announced, catching everyone's attention. "This ought to be a democratic process!"
"Wouldn't we all vote for ourselves?" Kaminari pointed out.
"Yeah, and we've only known each other for a few days, kero," Asui said.
"That just means whoever actually receives votes truly deserves them!" Iida insisted.
"I mean, I guess it could work," Kaminari remarked.
"I sort of like it. It is fair," Yaoyorozu said.
"Okay then, let's do it!" Kirishima said. The class seemed to be in general agreement with him.
Izuku ended up voting for himself. Even though he was pretty sure he wouldn't win, it wouldn't hurt to try. Being class representative would be a good networking opportunity, after all.
After everyone had cast their votes and they were tallied, Izuku was a little stunned by the result. Midoriya: III, Yaoyorozu: II, Bakugou: I, Asui: I…
Bakugou scoffed. "Deku? Who the hell voted for him?!"
Izuku couldn't help but agree. He was surprised as well.
Izuku didn't miss the way Uraraka leaned back in her seat and gave an awkward grin, as if trying to play innocent. He also didn't miss the fact that both she and Iida had zero votes, meaning that neither of them voted for themselves. I bet it was those two, Izuku thought.
"That means that Midoriya is now the class rep, while Yaoyorozu is the vice representative," Iida said. "Congratulations!"
Wow, I guess I'm just being thrown bodily into this leadership role, Izuku thought to himself as his classmates turned to look at him and congratulate him. I don't think I'll do very well, but… too late now…
"You've finished just in time," Aizawa said, a bit dryly. "English class is about to start. Midoriya, it's room 240 for you."
"Where's he going?!" Kaminari called, boldly.
"Yeah, why does he get to leave?" Ashido asked.
Aizawa flashed his eyes red. The class shut up quickly. "Midoriya is in some different classes than you," Aizawa said. "He can tell you why if he wants, but don't bother him about it. Midoriya."
Izuku scrambled out of his seat and grabbed his backpack on the way over to the door. He followed Aizawa out of the room just as Present Mic popped into the classroom, shouting excitedly about how it was time for English! in English.
Izuku started walking away from Aizawa, towards the staircase.
"And Midoriya," Aizawa said.
Izuku froze.
"See Nedzu at lunch," Aizawa said.
Izuku grimaced.
His new computer programming class was interesting. He got a few curious glances (for not being a second-year) as he went into the classroom, but the teacher hadn't really paid him any attention as he took an empty seat in the back. During their class period, they basically had just gone over the syllabus, and Izuku hadn't had much of an opportunity to talk with anyone. It seemed like the class would have lots of its grade based on projects, though, which Izuku was a little excited for. Hopefully not group projects, though.
Third-year math was different. They jumped straight into the subject matter, no time spent on the syllabus, and Izuku spent the whole class taking notes. It was oddly satisfying. With his high INT, Izuku had no problem learning the material. He just sat and absorbed everything the teacher said, which was kind of fun. By the end, he actually found himself wanting more time in math class, a foreign feeling to him considering school was normally supposed to be boring. It was interesting. And the kid who sat next to him, a tall blond boy named Toogata, had introduced himself cheerfully, saying that he hoped they could be friends. Izuku knew to be wary of the upperclassmen, but the guy seemed earnest like Iida and friendly like Uraraka, which made him hopeful. Maybe they could at least have a cordial school-friends type relationship?
His looming meeting with the principal distracted him from most of his other subjects, though. The half-day seemed to pass by in a rush, and soon enough Izuku was seated in the same chair he'd been in yesterday, giving an awkward, nervous smile.
"Ah, welcome, Midoriya," Nedzu said pleasantly.
"I am so sorry," Izuku rushed to say. "I didn't know…"
"No harm done," Nedzu said, taking the situation calmly. "And it's true there's nothing you could have done to prevent the situation. Yagi?"
The door of the office creaked open, revealing Yagi (All Might!) behind it.
"Have a seat," Nedzu said. "Feel free to introduce yourself!"
"Yagi Toshinori, and it's nice to meet you," Yagi said. "So you're the one who figured out my identity?"
"Not on purpose!" Izuku emphasized.
"At least there's that," Yagi said, sighing. "Nedzu said you were responsible, just… be careful, young man. If it gets out you know who I am, you could be targeted by villains."
"I mean, I didn't tell anyone for the last ten months when I knew your identity… that's when I first saw you, you know…" Izuku trailed off.
There was a momentary silence.
"Young man, I apologize for not remembering, but how did we meet?" Yagi asked.
"I almost got murdered," Izuku said, a bit too brightly. Both Nedzu and Yagi looked a little thrown by his upbeat tone, but well, he'd gotten to meet All Might! It had been a pretty bad day at the time, sure… and okay yeah, it was still kind of bad in retrospect, but… whatever. Nobody cared, he could be happy about meeting All Might if he wanted. "Some guy tried to choke me to death," Izuku added, tacking on the additional detail. "You saved me, though. And arrested the bad guy. All pretty standard, for you. I'm not surprised you don't remember, the whole thing took less than five minutes. You even signed my notebook!"
"Well, I'm glad I got there in time," Yagi said, still looking a bit disturbed. "And you're fine?"
"Yep, just fine," Izuku said. "So that's when I figured it out! And I didn't tell anyone your name or quirk after! I figured it was classified. Thanks for saving my life, by the way."
"Of course, that's my job," Yagi said. "I'm glad you're fine. And I do appreciate that you kept my identity a secret. Most teenagers wouldn't have been able to."
"Ah, not to interrupt," Nedzu said. "But did you notice any change in Yagi's quirk between then and now?"
"Sort of," Izuku said. "Back then, I saw it as One for All, transferred, now I see it as One for All, remnants. I kind of wanted to ask you about that. I don't usually see tags like 'remnants' accompanying other people's quirks. You're not the first to have one like it, but I'm curious as to what it might mean."
Nedzu frowned. "He isn't the only one?"
"Well, only one other person. I saw a person who had the tag copy, but besides him, no one else," Izuku said.
Nedzu and Yagi shared a glance. "Midoriya, who had that tag?" Nedzu asked.
"Just some guy. Kyudai Garaki," Izuku said.
Before Izuku could elaborate on that, Yagi broke into sudden, surprised coughing. "Just some guy?! We haven't seen Kyudai, not since…" Yagi began, trailing off.
"Not since five years ago, but we knew he'd gone into hiding," Nedzu said, his gaze sharpening. He glanced at Izuku. "Where did you meet him? If you let us know, we can find him."
"Um, he's my quirk doctor," Izuku said.
Nedzu frowned at that, but said nothing.
"Is he undercover as a regular quirk physician now?" Yagi wondered aloud.
"Well, he said he didn't usually do quirk evaluations nowadays actually," Izuku said. "But he said he was doing this one specifically because he thought my quirk was interesting." He thought my quirk was interesting because of the late manifestation, but I don't want to raise suspicion saying that, so I'll just leave that part out.
Nedzu's expression froze.
"He said your quirk was interesting?" Yagi asked. He looked vaguely ill.
"You won't be going to any further appointments with him, Midoriya," Nedzu said, voice tight. "Do you have any more information?"
"His quirk is called Life Force," Izuku said, getting nervous with Nedzu's weird behavior. "And he's undercover using the fake name Dr. Tsubasa. Besides that, I don't really know… you could ask my mom, though, she met him too."
"Good. We'll do that, then," Nedzu said. "You're free to go each lunch, Midoriya."
"Um… if you don't mind me asking…" Izuku said, glancing up at him. "Is this guy some kind of criminal or something?" Izuku knew he shouldn't be pushing, but he really had to know.
"He won't be bothering you," Nedzu said. It wasn't a real answer, nor a denial.
Izuku nodded in acceptance despite this, and ducked out of the office.
That was so weird… they definitely knew who I was talking about… and I never got an answer on what those tags meant… Izuku thought to himself. Whatever that was, I better check my relationship screen to make sure we're still in the clear… hm, let's see if I can just summon Nedzu's rep without opening the entire screen.
"Nedzu, relationship," Izuku said.
Nedzu: Rep +12. Protective.
Looks like he could do that, but that wasn't what Izuku was focused on right now. His rep had increased.... and Nedzu had gotten a new protective tag?!
In the back of his mind, it made Izuku wonder who Kyudai Garaki really had to be to get that kind of reaction out of Nedzu… and to move his descriptor from concerned to protective. How bad was Kyudai to make Nedzu think he needed protection?
… As Izuku was pondering this, the intruder alarms started blaring.
"Level three security breach," the announcements said.
"What?" Izuku said. He glanced out the window. Part of the gate seemed to have crumpled, probably the result of someone's quirk. And, more noticably, the press was trying to push their way through the flaw in the gate.
"So the media broke down the gate," Izuku muttered to himself.
He shook his head, sighing. He was pretty sure Nedzu wouldn't be in the mood to deal with this.
Chapter 14: Shift
Nedzu was not happy.
Things had started going wrong when Aizawa had revealed to him Midoriya had accidentally discovered Yagi's true identity. Now that didn't ruin his day, not really. Even though it was an additional risk, the whole situation was very exciting. Besides, Midoriya's story about meeting All Might ten months ago was very believable, and Midoriya seemed very apologetic about the whole thing. If Midoriya hadn't told anyone in the past ten months about the secret, he was unlikely to in the future.
Admittedly, hearing that Midoriya had almost been murdered curbed his good mood a little. He felt a little bad being all cheerful after hearing that a student almost died (some villain had tried to strangle him or something?) but on the bright side, Midoriya didn't seem too broken up about it. For some reason. Either he was coping remarkably well, or he was trying to play it off so no one would worry about him. Maybe both.
And then Midoriya had mentioned he met Kyudai Garaki.
Kyudai Garaki, the faithful associate of All for One, and missing in action ever since the battle five years ago. Nedzu had expected to find him again eventually, but not like this.
And then Midoriya's admission: he's my quirk doctor because he's interested in my quirk.
Midoriya didn't seem to understand the implications of that, but Nedzu did. Kyudai's express role under All for One had been quirk experimentation. That, and finding interesting quirks for All for One to take. Nedzu wasn't in the habit of worrying for other people, but he felt a wave of mild dread at the knowledge of how close this student had come to death. Kyudai's subjects were certainly not known for surviving.
Nearly getting involved in quirk experimentation… it was likely the intelligence increase that Kyudai was interested in, which was more unique in a human than being able to tell someone's name and quirk on-sight. Unless, of course, he'd grown interested in Midoriya when he was young, before the battle, in which case the first part of Midoriya's quirk might have been meant as a gift for All for One.
Hopefully it was the second. In that case, Kyudai didn't have any reason to be interested in Midoriya any longer, because All for One was dead. But Nedzu worried that he wouldn't be that lucky.
It didn't happen yet, Nedzu thought to himself. I caught it in time.
Nedzu would do a thorough review of Midoriya's medical information to make sure that nothing had already been done to Midoriya. If the man had been Midoriya's only quirk doctor, Midoriya would have no idea what counted as a standard medical procedure in the area of quirk medicine. Midoriya would be liable to think whatever Kyudai did to him was normal, if Kyudai could think up a decent excuse for doing it.
On that front, an additional medical check-up and a proper quirk evaluation (one by a qualified professional with ethics) would not be out-of-place.
Nedzu was a little furious. Oh, he would find Kyudai Garaki. Considering the man was still operating on people, he needed to be found as quickly as time and resources allowed.
It was definitely not a good day today.
And then the intruder alarms went off.
Izuku was still staring out the window at the broken gate when Nedzu came out from his office and pulled Izuku from the window. "Don't just stand there, the alarms are going off," Nedzu said sternly. "You're supposed to evacuate."
"It's just the media," Izuku said, glancing back to the window.
Nedzu turned his head to the window, eyes flickering in understanding. "Ah, the press. I'll handle them. Just stay here then, thank you," Nedzu said, gently pushing Izuku into his office. "Yagi, come with me."
Izuku sat down in the office chair again, while Nedzu and Yagi left to investigate the cause of the alarms.
"Hey Izuku, we didn't see you during lunch!" Uraraka said.
Izuku shrugged. "I was about to go to lunch when the alarms started, but I was in a different part of the building," Izuku said. "I just ended up eating my lunch somewhere else…"
Izuku had ended up stuck inside Nedzu's office for essentially the whole lunch period. He supposed it made sense for Nedzu to want him to stay there while the alarms were going off… even with untrained eyes, Izuku was able to quickly notice the steel doors and top-notch security around the office. It seemed like an exceptionally fortified area.
"Oh, that means you didn't see what happened!" Uraraka said. "It was really cool! Everyone was panicking because of the alarms and there was a big mob, but Iida jumped on top of the emergency exit sign and yelled that it was just the media and that they should calm down! He got everyone to exit the lunchroom in an orderly fashion," she said.
"Oh wow! That's really impressive, Iida," Izuku said.
Iida gave a proud smile. "It was nothing!" he said. "It was only the proper thing to do!"
"Honestly, I wouldn't have known what to do," Izuku said. "Maybe you should be the class rep... I'm too quiet. I don't think I could stand ordering people around."
"Nonsense!" Iida said. He took Izuku by the shoulders. "Assertiveness is not an inherent trait of personality, rather, it is a skill that can be learned! Besides, I am sure our classmates will respect you regardless of how loud you are. I know I do."
Izuku teared up a little. "Really?"
Iida nodded. "You'll do great."
Izuku smiled, trying really hard not to cry. "Thanks Iida."
Even though it appeared at first glance that the media had broken the gate, Nedzu still strongly suspected that someone else was responsible. Even after resolving the immediate crisis and starting the gate repairs, Nedzu was a little concerned about this apparent new threat.
But there wasn't much time for it now. Not immediately now, at least. He had something else to focus on. Because the school day was over, there was a much lower-hanging fruit to handle.
Nedzu turned and gave Hound Dog a grin. "Today we plan, and tomorrow, we will attack a doctor! You'll be helping!"
Hound Dog, who had been stacking papers and minding his own business, nearly dropped his paperwork in surprise. "...Uh, okay. Not an innocent doctor, I hope?"
Nedzu shook his head with a slight grimace. "No, far from it."
Nothing about Kyudai could be called innocent.
And he was going down.
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 17 -- Age: 15
HP: 160/160
Exhaustion: 0/800
Title: Broken Chemist [half damage from toxins, acids, poisons]
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
VIT: 16, STR: 18, DEX: 20, INT: 43, WIS: 45, CHA: 22
Unallotted Stat Points: 12
Notable Skills-
Quirk Analysis [Lvl. 46]: make deductions about what a person can do with their powers, and what their weaknesses might be
Observe [Lvl. 18]: gathers information about something when the player states 'observe' while looking at the thing in question
Detect Enemies [Lvl. 16] Say 'detect enemies' aloud to detect anyone with the 'enemy' relationship or the 'bloodlust' status effect within a twenty-foot-radius.
Chapter 15: Road to Ruin
It had become a bit of a habit for Izuku to experiment with healing items in the mornings.
This morning, he'd decided to try a little bit of making his own healing items rather than just testing the ones he found around his house. To start, he'd tried mixing coffee and green tea to see what happened, and what he got…
Coff-Tea. -30 Ex, +2 HP. What strange drink have you created?
It was interesting, at least. And it tasted… okay. Not really. It didn't taste very good. He tried putting sugar in, but then the stat lineup changed.
Sweetened Coff-Tea. -30 Ex. Less bitter now.
That seemed to completely eliminate the health benefit.
Coff-Tea seemed like just a mix of the stats of coffee and green tea. And if you added sugar, that completely eliminated the HP increase.
Izuku noticed that most of the things that healed were supposed to be healthy or had healing properties in real life, and that most of the things that erased exhaustion had some kind of caffeine, stimulant, or anti-exhaustion real-life property. That's probably why adding sugar ruined the Coff-Tea benefits, because sugar wasn't good for you.
So, Izuku needed something healthy and concentrated. So, he came up with another idea: one of those green smoothies! He quickly made it from a recipe he found online and the fruits and vegetables he found in his house, to much better results.
Green Smoothie. -10 Ex, +15 HP. Antioxidants and stuff.
That seemed pretty good. A small cup having a fifteen HP increase was pretty decent, it would at the very least be a good recovery item even if he couldn't have it during battle.
And then, in another stroke of brilliance, he mixed that with green tea.
Green Tea Smoothie. -30 Ex, +25 HP. A fun morning treat.
Now this stuff was concentrated enough that Izuku could probably use it for some kind of healing potion. Maybe he could try adding other healthy stuff to his smoothie, like kale or raspberries… maybe some lemon… logic dictated that if he could increase the healthiness of his green smoothie, that would get him more HP.
Izuku was getting somewhere.
Izuku poured his green tea smoothie into a thermos and put it in his backpack. He could drink it with lunch! If Izuku got any bruises or cuts, he could get rid of them instantly at lunchtime with his green tea smoothie creation. It was kind of a weird feeling, knowing that.
His mother got up for breakfast, just in time to see him making his green tea smoothie (she beamed at him, happy he was doing… well not cooking exactly, but something that he seemed to enjoy) and had time to make him some breakfast quickly before he went to school.
He beamed at his mother, and left for school in a good mood.
"Psst, hey," Toogata whispered, during a brief lull in math class. "You said you were Midoriya, right? Are you a second-year?"
"I'm a first-year," Izuku said honestly, but a little nervously.
"Sweet!" Toogata said, grinning. "I'm glad you're in my class! This is a great way to meet my new kouhais."
"Oh… thanks," Izuku said.
"No problem!" Toogata said. "If you ever need any help with anything, feel free to ask me! I know it can be kinda hard to transition to a knew school."
"Oh, thank you," Izuku said, trying to sound friendly. He paused, unsure of what he could add to the conversation.
"So, how are you liking UA?" Toogata asked, after a few seconds of silence.
Izuku briefly considered the past few days. He'd had some close calls with the teachers, but nothing bad had happened. He'd even met a few people, like Iida and Uraraka, who seemed to like him! And Bakugou had been weirdly chill the whole time.
Sure, he could probably have said the same thing (except the Bakugou being chill part) about the start of middle school, before things had gone south for him, but… considering the first few days objectively, on their own merits… "It's been pretty great," Izuku said. "It's kind of amazing here. I actually really like it."
"I know, right!" Toogata said, grinning with excitement and puffing out his chest with pride. "I was so wowed by all the technology and stuff during my first year! So impressive!"
"Alright you two, get back to your worksheets," Ectoplasm said.
"Okay!" Izuku yelped, a bit surprised, while Toogata sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and nodded.
Speaking of impressive new technology, Izuku knew he'd get to see some this afternoon with his class' scheduled trip to the USJ, a state-of-the-art rescue heroics facility. They'd be riding the bus there. To meet Thirteen, he'd heard. Uraraka was thrilled at the idea, apparently she really admired the rescue hero.
And on the bus, once they'd all boarded, Izuku got to hear Kacchan of all people get teased during everyone's conversation about quirks, which was incredibly bizarre to Izuku.
"Bakugou's got a flashy quirk, but he's only been here a week and we all know his personality is absolute garbage," Kaminari teased.
"Take that back loser! I'll kill you!" Bakugou shouted in his direction.
"See!" Kaminari said, absolutely fearless.
The social hierarchy is way different here, Izuku noted. Kacchan's violent approach isn't working very well… maybe because our teacher won't let him beat people up? But if Kacchan's not top dog… then who is? Maybe Kaminari, because he's funny and popular? Or Iida, because of his force of will?
It was all very complicated and confusing to Izuku. Sometimes, Izuku felt like his charisma boosts from The Gamer only revealed to him that people were even more complicated and troublesome than he'd thought.
"Sorry to ask, kero," Asui said. "But Midoriya, didn't Bakugou say something about your quirk on the first day? What does he have against your quirk?"
"I don't think anything in particular, he just doesn't like me," Izuku said, with a nervous smile. "My quirk's just Analysis, it lets me know someone's name and quirk by looking at them. And gives me a little bit of a boost when it comes to math and science, that's why I'm in different classes. It's nothing flashy, really."
"Oh, so you got moved up classes!" Kirishima said. "But that's super cool even if it's not flashy! You get to be all smart and stuff, you're probably super good at school!"
"I wish I could be good at school," Ashido sighed.
Kaminari gave Ashido a consoling pat on the shoulder. "We all do."
"Hey, we're here," Aizawa said, glancing back at everyone.
Everyone clambered out of the bus in a less-than-graceful manner, despite Iida's protests, excited to see the USJ. It was a big building, purple-and-blue in color scheme, with a giant dome for a top. Izuku couldn't help but grin at the sight of it, though he himself had no particular plans to become a rescue hero.
Although… All Might helped in rescues and disaster situations a lot…
And while the fake quirk Izuku came up with wouldn't help him in rescue scenarios directly, the secondary intelligence-boost part of it would be helpful! He could study up on rescue techniques, and maybe someday he could be the one coordinating the rescue!
Izuku smiled a bit. He liked that. The idea of rescuing people from disasters appealed to him, whether on the ground or by organizing the rescue. He'd have to pay special attention to this lesson, then.
When the group entered the USJ (which was even bigger on the inside than it looked!) they saw Thirteen, standing right inside the entrance. They gave a little wave to Aizawa.
"Where's A-ahem, Yagi?" Aizawa asked.
Thirteen put up three fingers, shrugging.
Aizawa scowled. "No surprise for the first years, then. Let's just get started."
Huh… what does he mean by surprise for the first-years? And he sounded like he was about to say All Might, too… was All Might supposed to show up in his original form for this lesson? That would make sense, actually, that's probably why Aizawa switched to saying Yagi. If everyone else here heard that All Might was supposed to be here but bailed, they'd probably be super disappointed that he didn't stay for the surprise.
Admittedly Izuku was a little disappointed too. It was mitigated by the fact that he knew All Might was teaching them every single day in secret during Heroics, but it would have been super cool to see him in his proper All Might form up close again.
Those three fingers… three hours? Was Thirteen trying to tell Aizawa that All Might ran out of time in his buff hero form?
Izuku was aware that All Might could only work for three hours a day, considering the time limit he'd seen and the fact that All Might never seemed to work beyond that time, but he'd never actually gotten confirmation that it was true. No one had volunteered that information to him when he'd discovered All Might's identity. Maybe he should have asked.
"Welcome to the USJ, everyone!" Thirteen said. "Now, listen carefully. I'm sure you're aware I have a powerful quirk. It's called Black Hole. I can use it to suck up everything and turn it into dust. Like me, some of you also have powers that could be dangerous. Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, that your powers can be deadly," Thirteen said.
Well, that was true of most of his classmates. It wasn't really true of Izuku. He didn't have the type of power that could easily kill by accident. Not at this stage, at least. But maybe if he unlocked more powers with The Gamer, he could eventually get a quirk that was more dangerous…
"Carry the lessons of the past few days over to this class. Today, you're going to learn how to use your quirks to save people's lives. After all, that's what being a hero is about! Ensuring the safety of others," Thirteen said. "That's all I have to say. Thank you so much for listening."
Izuku grinned at that, while the rest of the class broke into cheers. I'm really excited to learn how to rescue properly… I don't actually have any experience on this topic, meaning I need this training just as much as anyone else here.
"Right, now that that's…" Aizawa started.
The lights flickered.
"Huh? What was that?" Kirishima asked.
The lights continued to flicker, and the water in the fountain seemed to start glitching. Izuku peered closer at the fountain to get a better look, only to see a purple-black portal forming in the middle of the fountain.
"Stay together and don't move!" Aizawa ordered.
The portal opened up, and people started walking through, dozens of them.
Izuku got the sense that this wasn't another test.
"Thirteen, protect the students," Aizawa said, unwrapping his capture scarf. Izuku took a step forward to get a better look at the fountain, but Aizawa bit out a sharp, "Stay back! This is real. Those are villains."
A villain attack?! A real one? This is unbelievable! Izuku thought. Seconds later, his quirk confirmed what Aizawa had said.
[ALERT: EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATION!]
Emergency Quest: Attack on the USJ
Goal: Survive the villain attackBonus 1: Survive with 0 deaths among your alliesBonus 2: Defeat USJ Bosses (Count: 3)Bonus 3: Level up a skill seven times during the battleREWARDS: +10 stat points, +1000XP
BONUS 1 REWARDS: Lvl. 1 Skill: "???"
BONUS 2 REWARDS: Title "???"
BONUS 3 REWARDS: Title "???"
Izuku couldn't help but quickly look through the quest, despite the dangerous situation. Level up a skill seven times? What, as I'm being murdered? And defeat all the bosses myself? Who the hell does my quirk think I am? I am completely unqualified--
The doors of the USJ were thrown open.
"Hello, students! I am…" All Might paused, glancing out over the sea of enemies. "Uh…"
The students cheered at his entrance, excited to see All Might. "Yes! He'll beat up the bad guys!" Ashido squealed.
Aizawa, on the other hand, was all business. "What's your time?" Aizawa asked, glancing at All Might sharply.
"Two minutes," All Might said.
Aizawa's face twisted with muted fury, while Thirteen looked worried.
And All Might wasn't smiling anymore.
I'm getting the sense this might still be a bad situation, Izuku thought to himself.
Chapter 16: Trial by Fire
"Do your thing," Aizawa ordered All Might.
All Might nodded in agreement and lunged forward, taking down enemies with ease. Izuku looked at him with awe. He moved so fast he was hardly visible to the human eye, taking down a few dozen enemies within the first few seconds.
Until something stopped him.
A giant blue-colored blur ran forth to meet him: a hulking, blue-black creature with a beak and exposed brain. All Might seemed briefly caught off-guard as the creature punched him in the side, sending him flying back into the staircase. Shrapnel flew up from where All Might landed, a plume of dust rising into the air.
"Class, get back!" Aizawa shouted, recognizing the danger of the situation. Izuku rushed to follow his classmates as they ran for the exit. The only one behind Izuku was Aizawa, who took up the rear.
"Not quite," a voice said, and a purple cloud with bright yellow eyes manifested itself in front of the entrance. "I am Kurogiri, and we are the League of Villains! Unfortunately, I cannot let you leave here alive."
Izuku quickly glanced behind him to see what Aizawa would do. He immediately activated his quirk, erasing Kurogiri's teleporting capabilities. Meanwhile, Thirteen pointed their arm at Kurogiri, clearly preparing to use Black Hole.
But then Bakugou and Kirishima both jumped forward to fight the villain, blocking Thirteen's shot and ruining their plan.
"No!" Thirteen cried, frustrated. "Get out of the way!"
Bakugou ignored their warning. He leapt forward and shot explosions toward Kurogiri. The villain backed away, dodging most of Kacchan's explosions, but even the ones that hit seemed to have minimal effect on his mist body.
"Thirteen, you need to get them out of the way!" Aizawa said, voice strained. Izuku felt a sudden surge of panic, remembering in short order that Aizawa could only keep his eyes open for so long.
But before Bakugou or Kirishima could try to get away (or before Thirteen could drag them away from the villain) Kurogiri unexpectedly changed directions, charging straight for Izuku at full speed. Izuku shrieked and jumped backwards, fearful of the villain even though he knew Kurogiri's quirk was being erased.
In his scramble to get away from Kurogiri, Izuku tripped backwards and fell into Aizawa, who was standing directly behind him, accidentally elbowing him in the gut as he fell. He felt the erasure hero stumble back too, losing his footing.
Izuku realized he'd fallen right into Kurogiri's trap when he felt Aizawa's hair fall.
Knocking into Aizawa had made him blink. It was over.
The world was engulfed in darkness.
Izuku fell on top of Aizawa with an oomph, sending them both sprawling to the ground.
Izuku quickly looked up, but they weren't by the entrance any longer. In fact, the purple-black portal that had taken them there was already vanishing, but there was a more immediate problem: everything was on fire.
Aizawa sprang to his feet, grimacing as he looked about. "Conflagration Zone. We're still in the USJ. Stay close. We'll find an exit."
A figure leapt through the fire, lunging at Aizawa, but Aizawa easily kicked him in the face. He landed roughly on the ground.
"So they have villains stationed throughout the USJ, not just by the center," Aizawa growled. "The teleporting villain must have dropped them off."
"Observe," Izuku whispered.
Yamasaki Haru -- Lvl. 19 -- Hot Stuff
Quirk: Fire Resistant Skin
[See Stats & Skills]
"Fire resistant skin is his quirk!" Izuku said. "They probably put all the people with fire quirks over here."
Aizawa nodded, even as other figures started to creep out from behind buildings toward them. He stood in front of Izuku in a fighting stance, ready to face down the other villains in the conflagration zone.
But before Aizawa could do anything else, a loud bang echoed through the Conflagration Zone. A body at rapid speeds tore through the thick concrete and fiberglass that separated the conflagration zone from the rest of the USJ. The blue creature slammed into the ground not far away.
The air pressure from the hit fed and redirected the flames, sending them spiralling out in all directions. But while Izuku froze upon seeing the wall of fire speeding toward them, Aizawa-sensei acted quickly. He grabbed Izuku and curled around him, shielding him with his body. The flames slammed past them with a whoosh, almost sweeping Aizawa-sensei off his feet.
The other villains in the conflagration zone panicked and fled at the sudden burst of fire, scattering back behind buildings again.
Meanwhile, Aizawa hissed in pain and ripped his capture weapon from his neck, hastily throwing it to the ground. Before Izuku could ask what he was doing, he heard the loud slam of boots hitting the ground.
"Aizawa, young Midoriya, how are you over here?" All Might asked.
"We got teleported by a quirk," Aizawa hissed. "Why'd you bring it over here? You risk setting the rest of the USJ on fire by throwing around those stupid air punches!"
"I was hoping the fire might stop its regeneration!" All Might defended.
"That thing does not have a Regeneration quirk!" Aizawa barked. "Do you have eyes? It's clearly hyper-durable!"
"It grew an arm back!" All Might argued.
Izuku poked his head out from under Aizawa's grip. Through the thick smoke, he could see the creature beginning to slowly stand again. "Observe," he said.
N̵̟̄͒͆̾̈́̂̂o̸̱̾̅̑͑́͛m̴̨̛̗̟̱̩͈̐̈͗̋͂̃͝ũ̶̙͕̮͙̦͌̈́̾͛̂̋̍͆̌̍̉̂̂͘̚͜ -- Lvl. 90 -- hElp mE pleASe
Quirk: Shock Absorption, Super Strength, Regeneration (+3 more)
[See Stats & Skills]
"I-it has multiple quirks!" Izuku yelled.
All Might reared back in shock for a moment before looking back to Aizawa, grim determination set on his face. "Aizawa… I don't know if I can defeat this beast on my own. It's very strong… and the regeneration… but if you can erase it's quirks… "
Aizawa gave a serious nod. He put down Izuku, and pointed him to the exit. "It's too dangerous for you. Get out of here. Stay hidden, if you can. Wait for rescue."
Izuku glanced up at Aizawa and, for the first time, saw how hurt he was. His hair was badly singed, and his capture weapon was unspooled and laying on the ground. Burns in the shape of the weapon were seared into his neck.
Hot metal, Izuku thought, a bit nauseous. Aizawa's hands looked badly burned as well.
"Go," Aizawa ordered again, and Izuku quickly nodded and ran for the exit. He reached it just in time. He heard the blue creature roar in anger and slam against All Might again just as he reached the door. Izuku escaped the conflagration zone on trembling legs.
Heart pounding, Izuku kept running forward, certain he had to put distance between himself and whatever that thing was but unsure of which direction he should head in.
Where do I go where do I go… I need to find my classmates… but where are they? The entrance? The other zones? Where are they?
Izuku skidded to a halt, ducking beneath a large bush that dotted the landscape.
Think, Izuku, think… where should you go in this situation…
The entrance, probably. He needed to go to the USJ entrance, so he could escape alive. That's what mattered right now. He was lucky he hadn't been immediately toasted in the conflagration zone.
The shipwreck zone has an open beach, not enough cover, Izuku thought to himself. So I'll have to take the long way by sneaking through the mountains, landslide, and ruins zones…
But what if there were enemies there? Izuku knew that fighting enemies in those dangerous conditions was a great way to get himself accidentally killed… maybe he should just try to sneak by the edges of those terrains, and hopefully stealth by unnoticed?
That would be the best plan. Besides…
He'd seen the leaders of the attack in the middle, right? If he could get close enough… just close enough for them to be in his line of sight… then he could use Observe on them, and if they escaped using Kurogiri, then he could bust them with their real identities! They'd regret attacking UA then.
Izuku couldn't help but feel a little bit of hysterical excitement rise up in him at that idea.
Okay, let's do it.
Chapter 17: Downward Spiral
Izuku snuck through the rocky areas of the mountain zone, slowly approaching the center. "Detect enemies," he whispered.
[No enemies detected nearby.]
Good. My range isn't very far, but using detect enemies should give me a little warning about anyone who gets too close.
Izuku made it to the very edge of the mountain zone without running into any conflict. Still, the leaders of the attack weren't close enough for him to use Observe, which meant he needed to either continue his approach or give it up.
It's just a little closer, Izuku justified, creeping through the greenery past the edge of the mountain zone. There's still cover up ahead, I can do this. "Detect enemies-"
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 4)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 18!]
Izuku froze. He peered through the thick bushes, noticing a small group of villains up ahead. They must have been what set off his detect enemies skill.
Izuku strayed a little farther to the left, taking a longer path to avoid the group. He slowly passed out of their range, giving a quick sigh of relief once he realized he'd managed to sneak by unnoticed. He moved forward, and the villains in the center started to slowly come into view. In fact, he was probably close enough to use Observe on them now.
… Now the only issue was that Izuku wasn't sure who he should use Observe on. Who was leading the attack? The mist villain from earlier? Or maybe the young adult he was talking to, who had a… disembodied hand on his face ? (Izuku hoped that was fake.) And those two were surrounded by a handful of other villains. He would have a hard time remembering all of their quirks, so he wished he knew who was in command.
At least he could get the teleporting villain's information now.
"Observe," Izuku whispered, looking at him head on.
s̴̢͗͜ͅh̴̳͂̂͌̚ì̴̧̮̄͑̚ŗ̶̛͙̊a̷͕͓͌̿k̷̨̤͐͊̋u̵͕͙̿ͅm̵̩͈̘̬̉o̴̧̹͚̓ͅ ̵̳̋o̵̢͙͔̳͗̄̈́b̷̢̡͝ͅo̵̡̩̬͐̃͝r̵̺̠̱͊̊ǒ̴͚̘͗͠ -- Lvl. 43 -- ć̵͔͉͊̄̈́l̴̠̺̦̺̎̆͘͝o̴͙͍̻̜̬͘ͅu̸̥͓͊̄̈́̕͠͝d̵̯̩̜͗̈͠ ̵̯͆̿̃͆̊h̶̤͔͂̿͑̐e̶̝̝̞͖̩̩̾r̷͍̭̿̿́̉̓̿̕ǫ̸̨̳̣̝̥̉͑
Quirk: Warp Cloud Gate
[See Stats & Skills]
Static warped the screen in front of Izuku. He blinked, wincing at the strange and concerning crackling that his interface was doing. But then the interface changed, righting itself after a few moments.
Kurogiri -- Lvl. 43 -- Shadow Portals
Past Aliases: Shirakumo Oboro
Quirk: Warp Gate [combined]
[See Stats & Skills]
ACTIVE DEBUFFS: Brainwashing (Qr.), Control (Qr.), Conditioning (Qr.), Mind-Weakening (Qr.)
Okay, so that was certainly some interesting information. So his real name was Kurogiri, but… he didn't seem to have a first name? That was strange. And, unlike anyone he'd ever seen before, he had a 'past aliases' section. Why for him and no one else?
(Another tag on his quirk again. This time it was combined, though. What did those mean?)
But perhaps most intriguingly, there was the debuffs section. According to it, Kurogiri was under… brainwashing, mind-weakening, control, and conditioning. Literally layers upon layers of mind-control quirks. Did that mean this villain was an unwilling participant after all? Had the villains had forced this man to participate in their schemes because he had a rare teleportation quirk? If that was true, Izuku needed to let the heroes know so they could help Kurogiri get free.
Izuku mentally took note of all this information, especially the name Shirakumo Oboro. If Kurogiri had gone by that name in the past, it would make it a little easier for Nedzu to find him.
Izuku crept a little bit closer to the villains, hoping to get a better look.
He was still out of earshot, but from here it was easy enough to see from here that Kurogiri and the hand-man were standing above all the other villains. It sort of gave Izuku the impression that those two had some kind of authority. Best to get the hand-man's stats, too. "Observe," he said.
Shigaraki Tomura -- Lvl. 46 -- Demon's Apprentice
Past Aliases: Shimura Tenko
Quirk: Decay [transferred]
[See Stats & Skills]
Another past aliases section. And, in addition, Izuku noticed that Shigaraki's title was a little odd as well. Demon's Apprentice? It sounded a little bit too close to Shadow of the Demon (Kyudai's title) for comfort. The title Shadow Portals seemed similar to it too. Could these two be related to Kyudai somehow? Not to mention that both Shigaraki and Kurogiri (like Kyudai) had strange tags on their quirks.
Izuku wanted to sneak a little closer to hear their conversation, but worried he was a bit too close already. "Detect enemies," Izuku whispered.
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 7)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 19!]
Izuku nodded to himself. The fact that the group of villains up ahead was in his range meant he was around twenty feet away from them, and maybe forty feet away from Kurogiri and Shigaraki. If that was the case, it was probably a bad idea to get too much closer.
Although… maybe they were a little farther away than twenty feet, since Detect Enemies had leveled a bit since Izuku got here. Why is that? Izuku wondered for a moment. Wait, it's probably because Detect Enemies levels up faster when there are lots of enemies in the area.
"Detect enemies," he whispered.
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 7)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 20!]
Izuku hadn't forgotten that one of his bonus quests was to level a skill seven times. He felt a little stupid focusing on bonus quests now of all times, but if he got a new title, it might be really useful in getting him out of here.
Besides, a better range on Detect Enemies would be really helpful when he was trying to sneak back out of this area… he only needed to whisper a little bit more for it.
"Detect enemies, detect enemies," Izuku whispered. "Detect enemies."
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 8)]
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 8)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 21!]
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 11)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 22!]
What level had he started at? Level eighteen, or something? Just a few more levels…
"Detect enemies, detect enemies," Izuku whispered.
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 11)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 23!]
[Alert: Enemies detected! (Quantity: 11)]
[Detect Enemies Skill leveled up to Level 24!]
[ALERT! Emergency Bonus 3 Quest has been completed! Collect rewards?]
"Collect rewards," Izuku muttered. "This had better be useful…"
Emergency Bonus Quest 3 Complete!
Rewards [Hidden]: Title "Quick Study"
Okay, a title. How did he check his titles? "Titles," Izuku said.
Titles Available
Broken Chemist: While this title is equipped, the player takes half damage from poisons,
toxins, and other corrosive substances.
Quick Study: When in dangerous situations, the player receives a temporary +10 INT boost.
Izuku quickly read the description. Then, he sighed in disappointment. Not the most useful, it only boosted how fast he learned in dangerous situations. Nothing that would help get him out of here. But oh well.Since things are dangerous right now, I might as well use it.
"Equip Quick Study," Izuku muttered.
Izuku was expecting nothing to happen, as did with most stat boosts.
But he was wrong.
[ALERT! Your INT has reached 50! You have unlocked Spellcasting ]
CHOOSE THE SOURCE OF YOUR MAGIC
The Voice (Charm)The Mind (Cognitive)The Soul (Flow/Utility)The Muscle (Power)The Heart (Life/Flame)The Lungs (Air/Wind)TIME REMAINING FOR SELECTION: 10min
If you do not select, your MAGIC will be LOCKED!
Izuku froze, glancing at the screen in front of him.
Oh shoot what did I just do?! The source of my magic?! What does that even mean? I didn't think this system had any magic! What do I pick? Why do I only have ten minutes to decide!?
Izuku got up from the ground shakily, his plan to find out the names and quirks of the leaders suddenly falling to the wayside. Suddenly, his quirk was flipping out and he didn't have any time to resolve it because he was in a dangerous situation. "I'd better leave… figure this out… what was I thinking, getting this close… "
"Too late, kid." A voice behind him.
Izuku whirled around and saw the group of four, the same group he'd snuck by earlier, standing behind him. Shit! They must have noticed me after I passed them!
Izuku sprinted in the opposite direction, abandoning his stealthy pretense.
"YO! Boss, there's a kid over here!" someone yelled.
Izuku cursed and sharply turned left, hoping he could somehow make it to the exit.
He couldn't. The group of about ten or fifteen that he'd been practicing Detect Enemies on noticed him and quickly spread out to block his path. Izuku glanced behind him, hoping to double back towards the conflagration zone, only to see Shigaraki and Kurogiri approaching him from behind.
"A UA student," Shigaraki said. "Looks like he got separated from the group. You there--" he gestured to an alligator-quirked man.
"Taniguchi," the man grumbled.
"Pin him down," Shigaraki said.
Izuku tried to run again, but the man was too close and too fast. He slammed Izuku to the ground with a massive amount of strength. Izuku winced, losing a few points of HP.
"Should I kill him, boss?" Taniguchi asked, claws digging into Izuku's back. Uh oh-
"No. Not yet." Oh, good. "Wait until All Might gets here. But do what you have to to make sure he can't run again," Shigaraki said.
Izuku didn't have time to register what Shigaraki meant until the alligator-quirked man opened his jaws and clamped down on his leg.
[ALERT! Damage Taken! -95 HP]
Izuku screamed in pain as he felt teeth dig into the limb . "Stop-stop stop--" Something in his leg snapped under the pressure. He thrashed instinctively, too caught up in pain-it-hurts to understand that moving was making things worse. He clawed feverishly at the face of the alligator man who'd just bit him, desperate to get loose or at least to scratch out his eyes in revenge.
"Ow, shit," he said, releasing Izuku's leg as Izuku managed to dig his nails into his nose. "Mind if I take down an arm?"
Izuku didn't hear Shigaraki say anything. Regardless, he must have given some kind of affirmative, because the next thing he knew the man's teeth were sinking into his shoulder.
[ALERT! Damage Taken! -49 HP]
Blackness dotted against his vision. Izuku felt another rush of frantic panic, because he couldn't remember how much HP he had but this was too close, he'd lost too much, he knew it, and he was in danger. Izuku's screams turned into sobs as the alligator yanked his teeth out of Izuku's arm.
Izuku only barely had the presence of mind to go limp, hoping it would stop the man from ruining his other leg and arm. He wanted to be fighting back, but...
"So now we just wait for All Might to appear?" Taniguchi said.
"If he's not already dead when my Nomu's done with him," Shigaraki said. "We kill his student in front of him. That'll ruin the pride of the Symbol of Peace."
Shit... don't panic… I need to look at my profile and see how I'm doing.
Izuku glanced up at the white text that still obscured his vision.
CHOOSE THE SOURCE OF YOUR MAGIC
The Voice (Charm)The Mind (Cognitive)The Soul (Flow/Utility)The Muscle (Power)The Heart (Life/Flame)The Lungs (Air/Wind)TIME REMAINING FOR SELECTION: 5min, 32s
If you do not select, your MAGIC will be LOCKED!
He didn't have time for figuring whatever the fuck this was out right now. He would just have to choose something random and hope it was the best one. After a brief scan of all the options, Izuku mumbled. "The Heart." Something else popped up in front of his vision (some kind of instructions on how to use magic) but there was no time. Not now. "Close. Profile."
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 17 -- Age: 15
HP: 14/160
Exhaustion: 81/800
Title: Quick Study
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
Izuku's stomach dropped at seeing how low his HP was.
He couldn't help but feel like his quirk was working against him.
If I get another limb bitten… I'll die…
A normal person could survive multiple broken limbs because they haven't lost anything vital. That's not exactly true for me. I lose HP no matter where I'm hit so the fact they've avoided hitting any vital organs is irrelevant, they might still kill me. This is all because of my low vitality and HP... I can barely survive anything... And, even though it hurts… I can't pass out, because my exhaustion isn't high enough…
He needed to get his HP back up. He was at imminent risk of dying right now.
But his healing items… he'd left his smoothie in his thermos, which was in his backpack all the way at school…
Only one other way to do it… but would it be too noticeable? What if they see me heal, and when they see that I healed they get mad and break my leg again?
Izuku shuddered and placed his head on the ground, almost deciding not to go through with the plan. His leg and shoulder still throbbed with so much white-hot pain that he could hardly think. I can't do that again. Maybe I should just stay where I am...
But then, a giant bang echoed throughout the USJ. A pillar of flames lit up the air from the conflagration zone. Everyone, even Taniguchi (who still held him loosely) stopped what they were doing and looked over to the distracting scene.
Izuku knew he needed to take the opportunity. He steadied his resolve.
Heal the only way you can right now…! "Twelve stat points to vitality!" Izuku said.
Immediately, Izuku felt significantly better. His twisted and bleeding limbs became much less twisted. Glancing down, Izuku noticed some of the skin on his arm knitting itself together. His injuries didn't look perfectly healed, but-! "Profile," Izuku said.
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 17 -- Age: 15
HP: 134/280
Exhaustion: 81/1400
Title: Quick Study
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog]
Just as he'd hoped, when he'd added those stat points to vitality, the new HP had arrived right away rather than just increasing the maximum! (Izuku wasn't sure what he would have done if he'd been wrong. Lie on the ground and bled out, maybe.)
Izuku quickly scrambled to his feet, tossing the still-distracted Taniguchi off of him. He needed to get out of here, now.
Shigaraki turned back to look at him, and his eyes widened in shock. "A regeneration quirk, just like my Nomu. And stat points…" His eyes took on a calculating gaze. "Do you-"
A wind swept through the center before he could finish the sentence.
Izuku felt himself being picked up and then set down again in seconds. Izuku blinked, and he was far away from the center, at the base of the stairs. Next to him was Aizawa, and in front of them both was All Might. "You managed to beat the monster!" Izuku said, breathing a sigh of relief. Both of them looked considerably more singed and soot-covered than when he'd first seen them, but neither seemed to be too badly injured.
"Midoriya!" Aizawa said, voice alarmed. He pulled something from his utility belt (a small first aid kit) and flipped it open, quickly wrapping bandages around Midoriya's shoulder. "Keep pressure on it," he said, seemingly to himself.
"OW!" Izuku yelped as the bandages were squeezed around his shoulder. "Stop it," Izuku said, a whine to his voice.
"I'm sorry," Aizawa said. "You can't lose any more blood."
Izuku glanced down. And… yeah. He was covered in blood.
I may have managed to heal myself by increasing my vitality… but that didn't erase the blood I lost from my previous wounds, Izuku thought. Yeah, he looked pretty bad. No wonder Aizawa was panicking. And Izuku couldn't exactly tell Aizawa 'don't be worried, I won't die, I'm at half health and I don't think this bleeding is decreasing my HP anyways' so he just had to let the teacher do what he wanted with his wounds.
After his shoulder had been bandaged (which was bleeding the most, and didn't look straight-up broken like his leg), Aizawa scooped Izuku up and ran up the stairs, managing to quickly arrive at the top. He set down Izuku gently, laying him flat on the ground.
"Sensei! What happened to him?!" Uraraka shouted, rushing to his side.
"He's hurt, don't touch," Aizawa said. "Thirteen, what happened?"
"Iida escaped," Thirteen said. Thirteen was standing, but looked much worse for wear as well. Their suit looked like it had been destroyed then patchily fixed up by what appeared to be Sero's tape. "He's running to get help, but the other students were scattered throughout the facility."
"Okay," Aizawa said. "ETA?"
"Three minutes or so," Thirteen said.
"So he'll be here soon," Satou said, puffing out a relieved breath. "The teachers are on their way!"
"That means Recovery Girl, so you'll be fine," Ashido said reassuringly to Izuku, her voice surprisingly gentle.
"And look! All Might's back in the game!" Uraraka said, pointing to him.
Izuku glanced down to see All Might whooshing from zone to zone in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, with another burst of wind, All Might skidded to a halt on the stairs, dropping off another set of students. Mineta, Asui, Yaoyorozu, Kaminari, and Jirou were all quickly put down on the stairs. "So fast… kero…" Asui said.
"Yeah, I'm dizzy," Jirou agreed.
Izuku grinned at the amazing display of All Might's power. But still… something was off. Steam was pouring off of All Might in droves, showering everyone around in a strange mist. "Conflagration, mountain, and shipwreck zones cleared!" All Might said quickly. "Got to go, sorry!"
Once he said that, All Might leapt up over to the conflagration zone. He landed right beneath a body-shaped hole in the roof (had he shot the Nomu through the roof?? Izuku hadn't been paying attention) that Izuku hadn't noticed before.
Then, All Might quickly jumped up through the hole in the roof. With that, he had vanished.
"Did… did All Might just leave?" Sero asked. The students murmured in worry and confusion.
"He's… getting the teachers here faster," Aizawa grumbled, lying.
"Well, that makes sense, I guess," Shoji said.
He ran out of time… Izuku thought, resisting the urge to facepalm. He must have literally been falling apart at the seams…
"Oh but look, the villains are leaving too!" Uraraka said.
Shigaraki and Kurogiri, along with a few other villains that had been located near the center, vanished into Kurogiri's portals. Unfortunately, most of the villains were still left behind, and the ones that were conscious (aka hadn't been knocked out by All Might's rampage) looked infuriated at the fact they'd been abandoned.
"Er. Well, some of them left at least!" Uraraka said, trying to be cheerful. "And look over there! It's Bakugou and Kirishima and Todoroki! They're all coming our way!"
[ALERT! Emergency Quest has been completed! Collect rewards?]
[ALERT! Emergency Bonus Quest 1 has been completed! Collect rewards?]
[ALERT! Emergency Bonus Quest 2 Failed]
Izuku sighed and closed his eyes.
Well, at least that's over, he thought.
Chapter 18: Recovery
Aizawa went to check on the last zone that hadn't been cleared, while Thirteen (still pretty beat up) stayed back to protect the rest of the students. Minutes later, Aizawa arrived back at the staircase with the last students who had been missing just as the teachers (accompanied by a harried Yagi, who must have met with them outside) broke through the door.
Even though the teachers were technically too late to rescue anyone, Izuku was still relieved to see them. And they still probably had a lot of work to do, with all those villains to arrest.
The teachers looked horrified at Izuku's blood-soaked condition and were quick to start applying first aid to his leg. The ambulance arrived moments later, and Izuku was loaded into it immediately. Izuku hissed angrily as he was placed into the ambulance. The paramedics quickly hooked him up to monitors and poked an IV into the crook of his elbow as Midnight stood just outside.
After receiving a nod from a paramedic, Midnight leaned over and released a small amount of purple gas right in front of Izuku's face. Once he breathed it in, Izuku started feeling incredibly sleepy. Oh, Somnambulist… they're putting me to sleep…
After one last yawn, Izuku fell unconscious.
"I can't believe our plan failed!" Shigaraki grumbled. "It's so frustrating. I thought we'd beat All Might for sure this time. What a waste."
"Unfortunate, but not a waste," All for One said. "We gathered plenty of information about UA, about both their defense systems and their students. You saw a few up close, did you not? Did you find any of them interesting?"
Shigaraki considered the question for a moment. "Well, there was one," Shigaraki said. "He had a regeneration quirk, just like Nomu."
"Was it powerful?" All for One asked.
Shigaraki shook his head. "No… I don't think so. At least, not as powerful as Nomu's. It took a while to kick in and only healed him partway."
"Not very useful, then," All for One said. He sounded disappointed, which made Shigaraki feel a bit defensive. "Maybe not, but…"
He thought back to what the kid had said. 'Twelve stat points to vitality!'
Does his quirk have to do with games, or was he just copying the way I was talking about video games with Kurogiri? Shigaraki was unsure, and dare he say it, curious.
"... I think he liked games, too," Shigaraki said.
All for One gave a soft huff, but one edged with enough annoyance to be a warning. "Don't let your common interest make you forget that he's a hero brat," All for One said.
Shigaraki tried not to roll his eyes. "Of course not, he's annoying! I just want to kill him even more now. Nobody likes a copycat," he insisted.
"Good," All for One said. "All in due time. If you want him dead, he will die soon enough."
Nedzu cackled with joy as he flipped through his profile of Dr. Tsubasa, completely ready to tear him to pieces. The person they'd found was definitely Kyudai Garaki, all right. They'd finally found him.
Tonight's the night, he thought, placing his profile down. All the pieces were in place for the raid on his office, where Nedzu was sure he would be working come 6PM.
His work phone rang. Nedzu picked it up. "Hello?"
"It's Yagi," the voice rasped.
Nedzu furrowed his brow at the rasp in his voice. Had Yagi gotten caught up at the scene of a fire? That couldn't be good for his lungs--
"The USJ was attacked," Yagi said. "By villains. Backup and ambulances have already arrived. I haven't been able to call--I was trying to help--"
"What?!" Nedzu sat straight up in his seat. "The defense systems--?"
"Deactivated, we don't know how," Yagi said. "We think it was a quirk."
"Any casualties?" Nedzu said, gripping the phone.
"Thirteen and Aizawa are both injured, but stable. They're expected to survive. Only one student was injured, but it was bad. Midoriya," Yagi said.
Nedzu dropped his reports about Tsubasa back on his desk. "I'd better get back to UA," he said, the words tasting like ash.
Izuku woke up slowly to a beeping monitor. "Huh?" he asked, rubbing bleary eyes.
"Ah, you're awake," someone said, and Izuku opened his eyes to see Recovery Girl, the famous healer of UA.
"Recovery Girl," he said, propping himself up with the arm that wasn't covered in bandages. He wondered if it would be awkward to ask her for an autograph right now. He hadn't had time to get one from her after the battle trials.
"How are you feeling? How are your pain levels?" she said.
Izuku took a moment to think. "Um, my arm and leg hurt, but not nearly as badly as before," he said. Now, the throbbing pain was distant, barely a consideration. "I actually think I'm sort of okay."
She smiled. "That's good. Your newest dose of pain medication should be kicking in right about now, so that's good to hear."
"How long was I asleep?" Izuku couldn't help but ask. He resisted a yawn. He knew he'd just woken up, but he already felt exhausted, like he'd just run a marathon. Had his injuries caught up to him? Maybe Recovery Girl had used her quirk on him.
"Around a day," Recovery Girl said. "Once they managed to patch up your injuries and get you stabilized, you were transferred here, so I could heal you with my quirk. I'm waiting for you to recover your stamina so I can heal you more."
"Oh," Izuku said. "That's not so bad. A day's not that long…"
"Would you feel up to eating?" Recovery Girl asked. "Gaining your strength back will help me heal you sooner. Feel free to tell me if you don't feel up to it, though."
Izuku thought about it. He wasn't hungry, exactly, but he wasn't opposed to the idea of eating. "Yeah, sure," he agreed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Let's do that. Then I'm gonna sleep again."
"Sounds like a good plan, dear," she said. "I'll be right back. Press the call button if you need me while I'm gone."
Recovery Girl left the room, probably going to get him some food. Once the door shut, Izuku muttered to himself, "Profile."
Midoriya Izuku -- Lvl. 17 -- Age: 15
HP: 162/280
Exhaustion: 518/1400
Title: Quick Study
Quirk: The Gamer
[Stats][Skills][Inventory][Relationships][Questlog][Spells]
Izuku's attention was immediately drawn to the new Spells category that had been added to his profile. "Spells," he said.
Spellcasting, Heart Magic
LOCKED until INT is above 50.
Izuku grimaced. Quick Study must have boosted his INT just enough to put him above fifty and unlock spellcasting. Unfortunately, since he wasn't in danger any longer, Quick Study was no longer active. He was going to have to do something about that later.
"Collect rewards," Izuku said. "Collect bonus quest rewards."
Emergency Quest Complete!
Rewards: +10 stat points, +1000 XP
Emergency Bonus Quest 1 Complete!
Rewards [Hidden]: Stealth Skill (Lvl. 1)
Izuku mumbled "skill list" and looked to the bottom to look at the stealth skill's description. Stealth [Lvl. 1]: Actively using stealth makes you very difficult to find, even in well-lit places. The higher the level, the greater the effect.
Well, he supposed that wasn't too bad. It would be cool to be super stealthy in well-lit places of course, but he couldn't help but wish he'd gotten the skill sooner. Like when he was sneaking around the USJ.
I wonder if my quirk gives me skills that would have been useful for doing the quest, Izuku thought. I mean, I got 'detect enemies' from the quest where I almost died to that villain… and knowing he was coming probably would have let me escape.
That was… really annoying, but that theory might be correct. Izuku decided he'd keep it in mind and see what other skills he got in the future.
Izuku was tempted to add more stat points to intelligence so he could see if he could re-unlock his magic right away, but… well, he was exhausted right now. He needed a break, and some time to think before he did anything else with his quirk.
"I'm back," Recovery Girl said, and this time, she had a bowl full of soup. Izuku took the soup from her hands and started eating.
And once he did, Izuku realized just how hungry he was. Soon enough, he was slurping down the noodles quickly, with little regard to how he looked as he was eating.
"Fascinating," Recovery Girl said, a curious quality to her voice.
Izuku paused, looking up from his soup.
"Your cut… it healed. What was your quirk again?" Recovery Girl asked.
Izuku froze, quickly swallowing the rest of the noodles he had left in his mouth. This soup must be a healing item… one that's apparently really good! Most aren't good enough to actually visibly heal me…
"Um," Izuku said, unsure of what he could say in this situation. "It doesn't matter."
"In this situation, I may have to disagree," a voice from the door said. Izuku glanced over at the door only to see Nedzu, standing in the doorway. He was accompanied by a tall man in an overcoat.
"Ah… I was about to say I brought Nedzu and the police detective here, since you were awake," Recovery Girl said, shrugging apologetically.
"Even though your quirk is Analysis, you can regenerate as well?" Nedzu said. He gave the man in the overcoat an odd glance. "After all, we know it isn't possible for a person to have more than one quirk."
"Well," Izuku said. "There was that weird monster. That had multiple quirks, so, uh… it is possible, technically…"
"Yes," Nedzu said. His expression was difficult to read. "There is that, isn't there?"
There was a long moment of silence.
"Well," Izuku grasped at straws, "It's not like you aren't keeping secrets too! I bet you know what the tags on those quirks mean and just won't tell me. I saw two more people with them at the USJ." Izuku crossed his arms defensively.
Nedzu frowned at that. "Midoriya…"
"We're just worried about you," the police detective intervened. "Considering that the only other creature we know has multiple quirks is that creature, we're worried about your safety."
Izuku puffed out an upset sigh. "Well, I'm not involved in any of that, so there's no need to worry."
"True," the man said. Wait, how does he know?
Izuku blinked in confusion. He squinted a little closer at the man. "Observe," he said.
Tsukauchi Naomasa -- Lvl. 28 -- True Man
Quirk: Lie Detector
[See Stats & Skills]
"You can detect lies," Izuku realized. "So you know I'm telling the truth."
"So, if you're not involved with… that, then how?" Nedzu asked, now looking confused.
"Well it's not really multiple quirks," Izuku said, feeling like he had to explain a little bit. "It's just one quirk. A really complicated quirk, but only one all the same."
"That's also true," Tsukauchi said. "But if that's true, then what quirk involves both regeneration and telling people's quirks at the same time?"
Now, rather than looking all serious, Tsukauchi frankly looked a bit baffled.
But Izuku was still panicking. Because he didn't know how to explain this.
Do I really want to tell them? I mean… this guy will know I'm being truthful, but my quirk is incredibly unbelievable. Sure, I can explain the basics of the Gamer, but then how do I explain the spells that I'm going to learn? The game-screen? The healing items? The titles, the quests? All of those feel so… random, so out-of-bounds of a regular quirk it feels ridiculous even thinking about it. If I was truthful, would they think I'm delusional?
And…
I don't know if I can trust these people yet. It's only been a few days. What if Nedzu turns out to like my previous high school principal? If that's the case, telling him what my ace is could put me at a serious disadvantage. Plus, I don't know if I can trust this Tsukauchi guy…
Izuku really wanted to lie. But Tsukauchi would know it immediately, and he couldn't think fast enough to come up with one of those technically true but misleading statements that would let him work around Tsukauchi's quirk. "It's none of your business," Izuku mumbled, averting his eyes.
Nedzu sighed. "We need to know."
"No," Izuku said stubbornly.
"Please?" Tsukauchi tried.
"...No," Izuku answered again. His skin was burning red hot, half embarrassment and half fear, but he wasn't going to back down now that he'd decided not to tell them.
"You two," Recovery Girl said. "You promised me this wouldn't turn into an interrogation. And yet here we are."
"But he can regenerate!" Tsukauchi said, gesturing to Izuku broadly. "That... should not be possible."
"That's true, but he's said he only has one quirk, and you can confirm it, so it's not going to end up being what you're worried about," Recovery Girl said, placing a strange emphasis on that phrase, as if alluding to something special. "It's clearly just an unusual quirk and he's not ready to tell you right now. My patient needs rest. Come back later."
"I understand," Nedzu said. "But one last question. Midoriya, does Garaki know the full extent of your quirk?"
"No, he doesn't. I lied to him about it," Izuku said.
Tsukauchi gave a nod to Nedzu. "That's also true."
"Good," Nedzu said.
"Now shoo," Recovery Girl said. "We can handle this later."
As the two shuffled out of the door on her orders, Recovery Girl kissed Izuku lightly on the forehead, quirk going into effect. Already being slightly tired, Izuku fell asleep instantly, despite his incredible anxiousness over the situation.
Recovery Girl was tired. Between having to heal Aizawa, Thirteen, and Midoriya, wrangling Yagi into an appointment, and dealing with Nedzu, she was honestly having something of a long few days.
Midoriya had been her easiest patient, because despite his severe injuries, he was in no danger of dying, and only woke up to drink soup and drop bombshells about his quirk. He seemed like a sweet kid, and Recovery Girl felt a little bad he'd been injured so badly.
Yagi, on the other hand, was a terrible patient. He'd spent a significant amount of time in the conflagration zone when he only had one lung! And then he hadn't come in! What an imbecile. He was lucky that the USJ's conflagration zone was made out of a material that produced non-toxic smoke, otherwise he might have suffered permanent injury from smoke inhalation.
So, he was fine. But that was 50% only because he got medical right after on Recovery Girl's insistence, and Recovery Girl was still a little mad at him. She had one job. And yet nobody would ever let her do it!
And then of course she was having this conversation with Nedzu, who seemed much more high-strung than usual, which was kind of concerning.
"So… why do you need Midoriya's medical records again?" Recovery Girl asked, resisting the urge to sigh.
"All for One's right hand man in quirk experimentation was his quirk doctor!" Nedzu said. "And now we learn he can regenerate, just like the Nomu, who, by the way, were probably created by Kyudai. Sure, he said that he only had one quirk, but what if it only came up as a truth because that's what he believes? What if he thinks he only has one quirk, but in reality he's received an additional quirk just like the Nomu?"
"If Kyudai did do something to Midoriya, do you think he'd just put it down on his medical records?" Recovery Girl asked, unimpressed.
"I want to look for red flags, signs that something went wrong," Nedzu said. "The medical record will help me understand the situation better."
"It's not just you being nosy, or because you're upset Midoriya wouldn't tell you the truth?" Recovery Girl asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Nedzu snapped, looking mildly offended. "I am worried about student safety."
"Alright, if you're sure," Recovery Girl said. "Then I'll fetch them for you later."
Nedzu sighed. "Thank you." He sat down in one of the plastic chairs in the waiting room, sighing.
"You don't seem to be doing very well," Recovery Girl noted. "You look stressed."
"There's just a lot going on right now," Nedzu said. "All for One might be back. Who knows what's going on with Midoriya. I don't think he trusts me. He accused me of keeping secrets because I wouldn't tell him what those 'tags' meant, but I can't tell him. If he knows, he'll discover the truth behind One for All," Nedzu sighed. "That's too big of a secret for him."
Recovery Girl nodded. "I'd tell you to take a break, but.."
"I've got to smooth over the aftermath of the USJ, and figure out what's going on with Midoriya," Nedzu answered. He stood up and stretched. "When do you estimate Midoriya will wake up again?"
"He'll probably wake up again tomorrow. He'll likely be ready to debrief about his experience soon," Recovery Girl said. "I'll have his medical files on your desk by tonight."
"Thank you," Nedzu said, nodding.
"On the bright side," Recovery Girl said. "Midoriya was quite close to the leaders, from what I hear. It's possible he'll remember their names and quirks--their real names. He might be quite the asset when it comes to catching the criminals."
Nedzu smiled, eyes gleaming. "I quite hope so! That would make things much easier."
With a quick wave, Nedzu left her office.