Chapter 25: First Date
Kyoka wasn't entirely sure how Izuku had managed to talk her into this. Oh sure, he had come up with any number of reasons and arguments that were "logical" and "rational" and "made sense," but none of that really mattered; she had given up all hope of resisting when he looked at her with his big wide eyes and something that he swore was not a pout. It really wasn't fair how adorable he could be at times.
"Let me make sure I have this straight." Aizawa's tired glare spoke volumes about how he felt about the suggestion as well. "The two of you, despite being two of the better hand-to-hand combatants in class, want additional training in quirkless sparring. Am I hearing that correctly?"
"Y-Yessir." Izuku replied.
"Why?" The sheer amount of exhaustion that Aizawa conveyed with just a single word was honestly impressive.
"Well, for a couple of reasons. First, there's always a segment of the sports festival that involves combat and we want to make sure that we are as prepared as we can be for that."
"Okay, but you have the entire class training together." Aizawa looked to continue speaking but Izuku cut him off.
"Except for Todoroki." He didn't sound particularly happy about the exception.
"Another thing to work on." The comment was an aside that even Kyoka barely caught, before Aizawa continued with what he had been trying to say earlier. "Why can't you train with them? Kendo has a lot of experience with martial arts, for example"
"Kendo is working primarily with those who have a lot less hand-to-hand experience than us. Kaibara and Awase have some experience, but none with teaching. I thought perhaps Ojiro from 1-B would be a helpful partner, but he doesn't seem to want to teach anyone from 1-A, and won't push us in sparring." Izuku had already more or less figured out what was going on before Honenuki told them about his conversation with Asui, but it had still been disappointing for it to be confirmed.
Ultimately 1-B was only hurting themselves by holding back in training. A surprise aspect of a quirk or unexpected skill would help in the sports festival, true, but would not help them in the long-term, whereas extra training would help them both now and later. It only made sense to Kyoka to prepare for her career, not just the festival. It also had nothing to do with the fact that she didn't particularly expect to do well at the festival, and didn't really want the spotlight on her either way. Her finishing in first place in the entrance exam had been a fluke, nothing more than that.
Kyoka blinked, realizing that Izuku and Aizawa had continued their discussion while she hadn't been paying attention. "That still doesn't tell me why Ishould help you. Nor why you specified quirkless sparring." Aizawa sounded like he was getting worn down. Unsurprising for a debate with Izuku like this.
"Well, for me, quirkless sparring will only help me as I get more control of my quirk. For Kyoka it'll help her develop her own style that incorporates her earjacks. And for both of us, there are always going to be times when we can't use our quirks. It's only logical, sir."
"Hmph." As Aizawa harrumphed at Izuku's logic, Kyoka had to swallow a laugh to make sure that Izuku could finish convincing him. Laughing at him turning Aizawa's preferred phrasing around on him would certainly be counter-productive.
"And as for you, well, you're by far the most skilled teacher here at hand-to-hand. You've made a career out of fighting essentially quirkless, and doing it better than your targets."
"Flattery will get you nowhere." Izuku had the good graces to look somewhat embarrassed at being called out on his obvious tactic, but didn't back down overall. After a brief staring match between the two, Aizawa sighed and rolled his eyes, looking as if he felt even more tired than he had beforehand. "But you do have good points. I will meet the two of you in Gym Upsilon this afternoon. Right now, I'm in no condition to train you directly, but I can at least watch the two of you sparring and give you pointers on how to improve. I have a general idea of your skills from the battle training two weeks ago, but it's only logical to observe the two of you in a more controlled environment."
"So you'll help?" Izuku sounded excited, far more excited than Kyoka thought he should be. But she'd agreed to this. Aizawa might not be a perfect teacher (he might not be even a half-decent teacher), but she had seen the results of his combat skills in the USJ just as much as Izuku had. If he had anything that he'd be willing to share with them, it could only be a positive.
"One day only. Now get out of here, problem child." Aizawa pointedly stopped paying attention to the two students, pulling out some papers to grade, effectively ending the conversation, even though Kyoka still had a question of her own that she wanted to ask the man. It wasn't like Izuku had much more time that he could dedicate to this conversation: All Might had asked for him specifically over lunch and it wouldn't do to keep the number one hero waiting.
And so Kyoka settled in to wait as Izuku hurried from the room towards the teacher's lounge. All she had to do was eat lunch, after all, and she could eat in the classroom if necessary to save time. Thankfully, it wasn't too long, only a minute or two, before Aizawa let out a large sigh and turned away the papers he had been grading. Or pretending to grade, if the lack of any marks upon them was any indication.
"I thought I told you to get going." He didn't seem surprised that she was still there, merely disappointed. Something about his nonchalance, the way he always tried to push off his responsibilities onto Izuku, Momo, and Kendo, and the obvious disdain he held for anyone that didn't live up to his excruciatingly high standards had been bothering Kyoka for some time. She felt the need to push back, even if just a little, and not back down in front of him.
"I wasn't aware that I was a problem child, sir."
"Every student in this class is a problem child." Neither Aizawa's face nor his heartbeat showed any sign of him lying or saying this to get a rise out of her. Apparently he truly believed it.
Kyoka raised an eyebrow. "Even Koda?"
"Especially Koda!" She was temporarily stunned speechless, and was somewhat taken aback by his intense tone of voice. "But especially Midoriya and anyone who willingly associates with him."
"With all due respect, sir, you've known us all for about two weeks."
Aizawa snorted. "That's more than long enough to know what I'm dealing with."
"And if you call anyone who associates with Midoriya a problem child, that's basically the entire class at this point." The only person who wasn't willingly associating with him was Todoroki. All the rest certainly looked to him and Momo for training advice, and he was at least friendly with all of them.
"I know. That's what I said. Every student in this class is a problem child." The two of them locked eyes in a contest of wills before Aizawa once again sighed and spoke again. "Why are you still here, Jiro?"
Now that she had actually gotten him to back down, even if only slightly, Kyoka couldn't help but feel her question was somewhat silly. The complete extent of what she knew about the athlete's pledge before the sports festival was that she had to give it. Apparently it was one of those things she was expected to just know. And honestly, given what the HPSC advisor had told her, she wasn't even sure that she was still giving it.
Despite her feeling a slight blush in her cheeks and her earjacks slightly twitching, Kyoka carried on. "I had questions about the athlete's pledge that I'm supposed to give at the festival. First, uh, I was wondering if I was still giving it?"
That got Aizawa's attention. He looked at her with narrowed eyes before speaking. "And why wouldn't you be?"
"The HPSC advisor last week strongly implied you'd be pulling me for someone else."
"Did he say why?" The tone in her teacher's voice radiated danger, but Kyoka was too far in to back out now.
"No, not really. Just something about different standards." Aizawa closed his eyes and pinched at his nose, exhaling loudly as he did so.
"They try this shit every year." Again, Kyoka was pretty sure that she wasn't supposed to hear Aizawa mutter under his breath like that and did her best to ignore it. He opened his eyes and continued on at a more normal volume. "U.A decides who gives the athlete's pledge, Jiro. Unless you want to drop out," She shook her head vigorously at that, "You are going to give it. Is there anything else?"
"Well, do you have any instructions about the pledge? All you've told me is that I have to give it. Nothing about length, or topic, or anything like that."
Thankfully, if Aizawa thought that it was odd that she was asking for details, he gave no sign. "Keep it under a minute. No one is going to pay attention to anything longer. Aside from that, don't embarrass us. Just make sure it's something more involved than 'I'm going to win.' That never goes over well." He spoke as if this was something that had happened. More than once.
"Who would even … never mind. Thanks Aizawa." All she got in return was a grunt. She wasn't any closer to figuring out what she should say for the athlete's pledge, but at least she had some guidelines. It was always easier to work with restrictions than without, after all. Maybe if she told herself that enough, it would even come true.
---
" Ah, young Midoriya, it is good to see you, my boy. I apologize for my scarcity this past week. It turns out the changes I've made to my agency required quite some oversight on my part. Ha ha ha. " Toshinori kept up his muscle form as he led his successor into his office. The existence of his injury and true form was something that they had not yet told the students, and something that Midoriya should not have known. They were in talks with Nezu to tell the students sooner rather than later. Eventually they were going to find out, and it would be better to have that be planned rather than spontaneous.
Once they were safely within his office, however, he eagerly released his quirk, in order to save as much time as possible for the afternoon. Midoriya was the only one who had visited his office so far, which meant he hadn't had to explain why the name plate said Toshinori Yagi. Another reason, perhaps, to tell the students sooner rather than later. "I have kept apprised of your training for the sports festival, and I have to say I am very glad to see you working so closely with your classmates."
"Thank you, Toshinori. I had been wanting to talk with you, too, especially with the festival coming up."
"Ah, I understand my boy. Let me tell you something that may settle your worries. Regardless of how you do in the festival, I promise that you will have an internship request, be it from myself, Sir Nighteye, or Gran Torino." Midoriya's eyes went wide at the statement. He had been hoping to meet the two of them ever since he had received One For All.
Mirai and Gran Torino had also been following Midoriya's progress. Both had apparently accepted the boy as his successor (provisionally for Mirai) and had been planning his internship for over a week at this point. "Don't take that as permission to slack off during the festival, of course. That would be insulting to every other student there. I just want to make sure that you don't feel like you have to announce yourself to the world just yet. You're only in your first year here and U.A, after all."
"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, but it is good to know. I'm not even sure how many people will be watching us, anyway. The second and third years always get more attention." Midoriya was correct that there was generally not any significant media focus on the first years anyway. They were all mostly untrained. The winners were often more due to luck of pairings and quirk matchups than any true skill.
"True, but your class has the distinction of having gone through a villain attack on U.A. Plenty of people will tune in just to see the hero students that fought off villains in their first week. You should be prepared for that sort of attention."
"I guess I should get used to that kind of thing. Especially if I'm to take your place as a symbol of peace." That was a train of thought that Toshinori needed to stop immediately. He didn't want Midoriya to fall into the same trap that Mirai had.
"Hold it right there, my boy. I did not choose you as my successor just to force you to emulate me. You should be your own hero, build your own legend. I made a number of choices that led me to become the symbol of peace, and while I am proud of what I accomplished and what I've been able to do for society, I am not so vain as to think there is no other way to achieve that." Midoriya looked up at him with eyes wide, tears threatening to overflow. "The reasons I chose you are your brain and your heart." There came the tears. "I have every faith that you will find the right balance."
"Thank you All Might!" How Midoriya was able to say that so clearly despite sobbing was a mystery for the ages.
"Yeah, yeah, cut the waterworks." Thankfully, Midoriya took the comment in good humor, as it was intended. After a few moments, he was able to contain himself, and prevent any serious water damage to the flooring. "Now, my boy, what did you want to talk about?"
"A few things around One For All. I, uh, don't know where to start." Something about the topic was bothering Midoriya greatly, as he seemed far more nervous than normal, unwilling to meet Toshinori's eyes.
"How about at the beginning, young Midoriya." He tried to speak gently and to show with his body language that no matter what his young successor said, he would be there for him.
"The beginning, right." It took two or three aborted attempts at speaking before Midoriya managed to find his words. "First, uh, well, last time we spoke you said that I could tell someone about One For All. I'm, um, not asking for permission, but would like your advice?" Although it was a statement of fact, he managed to make it sound more like a question than anything else.
If this was how Midoriya responded to the thought of telling someone, perhaps Toshinori had been too emphatic on the need for secrecy. It certainly wouldn't hurt for one person who knew him well to know the secret as well. "Who are you thinking of telling, my boy? Your mother? Aizawa?"
Midoriya made a face like he had tasted something unpleasant, although it wasn't clear which of the two the reaction applied to more. "No, no, neither of them. It's just…" He heaved a deep sigh before continuing. "I want to tell Kyoka."
"Why?" Midoriya quickly paled and his mouth began moving although no words came out. Toshinori hastened to reassure the boy. "I'm not saying it's a bad choice, but rather that your reasons are what will make it a good or a bad choice."
Another deep sigh came from Midoriya before he launched into his reasons. "First, you're not always around." An unfortunate truth, but entirely accurate. "I've been training with Kyoka for nearly a year now and she's been, honestly, irreplaceable. It'd be useful to have a confidant my own age who I can rely on. She's also been helping me train already, and this would just make everything smoother."
"And the other reason? You said that was first." By itself that was enough of a reason as it was.
Midroiya shrank down in his chair and looked away from Toshinori. "We're going out on a date this weekend and I don't want to start a relationship off on a lie." Congratulations were in order, but it was obvious that Midoriya was not looking for them. Instead, he allowed his student to continue with his thoughts. "I want to tell her everything. The quirk, you, all of it. Although I'm pretty sure she'll be able to figure everything out just from a little bit of information."
"You're likely right on that point, at least, my boy. I've already shared with you my feelings on you and young Jiro, and I want to congratulate you and wish you the best of luck." Midoriya continued to look away, but his cheeks bloomed a brilliant red. "Your reasons are well-thought out, and you're not wrong. I am not always around, and you should have someone your own age to speak with about this. You have my complete blessing to tell her anything and everything. I have only been impressed with her over the time I've known her, but beyond that your trust in her is all I need."
"Thank you, Toshinori." Despite getting the permission that he had been seeking, Midoriya only seemed to draw more inward.
"Why do you look so down? I would have thought you'd be happy at this point."
His student glanced back up at him with a watery smile and huffed a laugh. "Now I need to figure out how to tell her so she doesn't hate me for hiding this from her." Ah. The issue of how to break such a large secret.
"Young Midoriya, I have watched the two of you for months at this point. She trusts you. You should trust that she will give you the chance to explain yourself." Izuku shook his head ruefully.
"Yeah, you're right Toshinori."
"Of course I am, young Midoriya!" Toshinori attempted to emulate his heroic voice despite remaining in his normal form. The weak chuckle from Midoriya in response showed that he had only achieved mixed success. It did manage to draw the boy out from his thoughts for the moment, though, so he counted it as a success. "Now, was that all you wanted to talk to me about, or was there something else."
"Oh, right. I, uh, had another One For All dream, over a week ago now. I just haven't had a chance to talk with you about it before now."
"Did you see Nana again?" It was perhaps not the most important question in the grand scheme of things, but it was the first one that came to his mind. Toshinori would jump at any chance to communicate with Nana once again.
"No, I only saw the third user." Huh, not what Toshinori had expected at all. "He, um, isn't what I expected. He didn't give me his name, and talked at me, not with me, a lot. I still can't talk back. Most importantly he said that I was using his quirk in addition to One For All. He called his quirk Fa Jin."
Another quirk? Some remnant of One For All's origin with All For One? A dangerous possibility. "How exactly are you using his quirk, young Midoriya?"
"He didn't say. Supposedly at some point the first user will show up to explain it to me, but until then, I'm dead in the water." Being able to speak with the first user would have been incredibly helpful while he was hunting down All For One. If the villain had somehow survived, this might prove to be the key that had been missing in their previous clashes. Or perhaps the additional quirks from One For All would tip the balance.
The question then became obvious. "Well then, what exactly is Fa Jin?"
"Third didn't say much, just that I had figured most of it out on my own. It seems to be a kinetic energy stockpiling quirk. When I've been performing my katas, I've been storing energy that I can then use when I replicate the kata motion. Thankfully it doesn't hurt my body the same way that using One For All on its own does. I run through the extra stockpile very quickly, though."
"Ah, so that's where your super punches that your classmates spoke of from the USJ came from. I was wondering where you had learned that control." He had hoped that Midoriya had figured out some trick to let him access even more of One For All's power, but apparently they'd still have to do that the old-fashioned way: additional physical fitness.
"Yeah. I've been playing around with it a bit this week during training. Katas are useful because I make exactly the same motion many times, so I can stock up a lot of kinetic energy. I can even do the katas with One For All active and it builds up even faster. I feel like the energy would normally leech away over time, but I can sense it drawing on the stockpile in One For All to stay around longer."
"Sounds useful indeed. Did the third user say anything else?" Midoriya took a deep breath and seemed as if he was arguing with himself. Quickly, though, he nodded to himself as if he had come to a conclusion.
"Yes. He made some comments about other holders considering him and the second user to be villains and about the HPSC not being a great organization. But what I wanted to ask you about was a name he used. Have you ever heard of the name All For One?" Toshinori stiffened for a moment before sighing. He should have expected this to come up if the previous holders were speaking with Midoriya. And now that Nezu had informed the rest of the U.A faculty about All For One, there really was no excuse for young Midoriya not to know.
In all honesty, Midoriya should have been told weeks ago, even before the attack on the USJ. Failing that, Toshinori should have made sure that he knew as soon as there was a possibility that the villain was alive. He'd thrown himself into moving his agency partly to not have to have this very discussion.
"I've been avoiding this conversation, but it's something that we need to talk about now, I suppose. Especially after the USJ." Midoriya quickly shifted into a far more serious demeanor, ready to listen "Let me tell you the history of One For All, as I know it. It starts with a pair of brothers, born at the dawn of quirks."
---
One of Kyoka's fists flickered by Izuku's head as he dodged to the side in a last second lunge, artlessly rolling away from her in an attempt to get some space. Thankfully, she let him disengage for a moment, studying him carefully. Normally when they sparred quirkless, he had the upper hand from his size, strength, and reach. She was a hair faster than him, but not enough to make up for his other natural advantages.
Right now, though, Kyoka was running roughshod over him. In retrospect, he shouldn't have spoken with Toshinori just before this sparring session. The history of his quirk and the villain All For One kept swirling through his mind, distracting him from his spar. Even if the villain was not alive, as All Might had insisted was possible, the fact that someone was out there and performing human experimentation to create these nomu made his skin crawl.
And if All For One was still out there, knowing the size of the target that had been painted not only on his back, but also on his mother's, Kyoka's, and every one of his friend's backs left a lead pit sitting in his stomach. Ultimately, he was willing to accept knowing that the worst, vilest, most evil villain to ever exist (in All Might's own words) would be gunning for him. He was not willing to accept that same fate for his family and friends. Options for how exactly to deal with the situation he found himself in flitted through his head, almost too fast to consider.
"Problem child!" His teacher's harsh call both interrupted the spar between Izuku and Kyoka and provided a short break to his internal tumult. "I came here under the impression that you would actually apply yourself."
"I'm sorry, sir. I'm just a little distracted because…" Aizawa did not give him a chance to finish his reasoning.
"I don't want to hear excuses!" Despite himself, Izuku found himself shrinking back from his teacher. The man's tone of voice was dangerously close to what he was used to hearing from his middle school teachers. All of a sudden Kyoka was at his side, hand rubbing small circles on his back, glaring at Aizawa. Apparently, the man realized that he had gone too far, pinching at the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, kid. That came out harsher than I meant."
"No shit." Kyoka's voice was hard enough to cut glass.
All it earned her was a snort and a roll of the eyes from Aizawa. "You get one free pass, Jiro. Next time it's detention. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Her voice was just as hard as before, but their teacher was apparently willing to let it slide, focusing instead on Izuku.
"Now, what I mean to say is, everyone gets distracted. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what is distracting you, so long as you recognize that you are distracted and refocus yourself in the moment. During your brief spar with Jiro, she could have taken you down at least a half dozen times already. More, if she weren't holding back due to your distraction. If she were a villain, you would be injured, unconscious, or dead, depending on how she was feeling." The man's litany was sobering, moreso because Izuku knew exactly how close he had come to dying at the USJ. It was no longer purely hypothetical.
"I-I get it. Do you…" Izuku swallowed a deep breath, attempting to calm himself, to divert his attention away from the possibility of death. "Do you have any suggestions for how to focus when necessary?"
Aizawa hummed in thought before responding. "It varies by person, so I can't give you a cure-all. It takes practice, though. The first step is to be actively aware of when you are losing focus. If you find that you are getting distracted too much, I would talk about it with Hound Dog. He's much better at this sort of stuff than I am."
"What, dealing with students' emotions withouttraumatizing them?" Kyoka mumbled the words quietly, but Aizawa's eyes flashed red as he flared his quirk and glared at her. Apparently she hadn't been quiet enough.
"Detention tomorrow." She stiffened briefly in surprise at the words, before huffing a laugh.
"Worth it." Izuku didn't disagree with Kyoka's assessment of why Aizawa was recommending Hound Dog, but they didn't both need to be in detention. After a moment of glaring at Kyoka and finding her uncowed, Aizawa returned his attention to Izuku.
"Anyway, take a moment, work out whatever is bothering you, and then try again. If you're still off, we'll try again after the sports festival. Sparring while you're this distracted can be dangerous, and may leave you injured." Thankfully, Aizawa stepped away, leaving the two of them alone for the moment. Izuku closed his eyes and breathed deeply as Kyoka stepped from his side to stand in front of him. When he opened his eyes, she was staring at him, concern written plainly on her face.
"What's wrong, Green? You were fine before lunch. I know All Might kinda appeared out of nowhere and asked to have lunch with you. What did he want?" Crap. It wasn't a secret that All Might had asked to have lunch with him, but neither of them had particularly wanted it broadcast across the school. At least Kyoka was someone who already knew that Izuku and All Might had interacted before.
"Oh, uh, you know how he had dropped by once in a while during the year before U.A? He just wanted to check in and see how things were going. I guess it just got me thinking about the future a bit too much." Kyoka didn't say anything for a long time. She simply stared at him, trying to read something in his face or body language. No matter how much Izuku wanted to convince himself that he wasn't technically lying to Kyoka, it really felt to him like he was. He hated it. And now he had to worry about supervillains potentially trying to get to him through her as well.
Eventually, though, Kyoka broke the silence, cheeks tinting red as she spoke. "Well, if you're going to think about the future, maybe you should focus on Saturday night, instead. The concert, and maybe after, too." And just like that Izuku was blushing fiercely, as well. He'd managed to put that particular distraction on hold, and now he had just one more thing to worry about.
A thought occurred to him, though. The two of them had agreed the date would be just a trial run. Izuku didn't really expect it to dissuade him from wanting to pursue a relationship with Kyoka, but it would give him a good reason to tell her everything after the date. Immediately after the date. If he allowed himself to wait, he'd just keep finding excuses.
It didn't help him at all with worries about ancient supervillains, but surprisingly, having come to this decision helped calm some of the tumult in his brain. If All For One wanted to paint a target on his back, there wasn't anything that Izuku could do to prepare for that that he wasn't already doing. But he could tell Kyoka everything, and have someone to prepare with.
Kyoka hadn't intended to, but she had helped him more than he could say right now. Izuku felt his blush recede as he smiled broadly. "Thank you, Kyoka." She was obviously confused, but before she could say anything, Aizawa broke in instead.
"That's enough. Midoriya, are you more focused?"
"Yes sir, I'll do my best." Kyoka's gaze swung back and forth between Aizawa and Izuku before she eventually decided that she wasn't going to figure out what just happened and slipped into a fighting stance.
"Very well. When you two are ready." Izuku fell into his stance as well, and felt truly focused for the first time that afternoon. As he and Kyoka sparred, it was far closer to their normal efforts than it had been earlier, and the two of them couldn't help the grins that slowly spread on both of their faces as they sparred. For the time being, Izuku was happy to be here, at U.A, training with Kyoka. His worries about All For One, or whoever was behind the nomu at the USJ, could wait.
---
One of the things that Kyudai enjoyed the most about his scientific work was the actual hands-on nature of his job. Too many scientists and doctors at the tops of their fields would get so isolated from the actual work, focused on writing grants and advertising their findings, that they never got to actually do what had attracted them to the field in the first place. Kyudai knew that the proof of his discoveries was in the nomu and chimera, and so never felt the need to disseminate his findings. Further, as long as All For One was around, he had no shortage of resources for his experiments. Not that any legitimate granting organization would fund him regardless. Something about "ethics" and "morality."
Fools.
As he used a crowbar to pry apart the rib cage of the one remaining nomu from the assault on U.A, Kyudai considered himself quite lucky indeed. Very few scientists got to actually do the work they loved without regard for funding or publishing. With a snap, the ribs gave way and he put down the crowbar and picked up a pair of industrial clamps, inserting them into the chest cavity to hold it open. While he had dampened the beast's regeneration quirk, it would still work to close the wound over time.
Kurogiri stood next to him, ready to provide the higher precision tools he would need for the truly interesting work. This nomu had been given a relatively weak regeneration quirk, yet the descriptions given to him of how quickly it functioned at the USJ seemed to belie that. Now he had to find out why. The custom scalpel, with a blade as long as his middle finger, that Kurogiri handed him was just the first tool he'd need in finding out what made this nomu tick.
Two hours later, arms covered up to his biceps in blood and viscera, Kyudai was finally satisfied, a small smile on his face. Apparently, the nomu had undergone some sort of quirk evolution during the USJ, causing its regeneration quirk to rapidly improve in efficiency and speed. While still not as fast as what he had dubbed "Super Regeneration," it was still quick enough to repair injuries rapidly enough to be relevant in combat.
Further, it was the most energy efficient regeneration quirk Kyudai had ever had the pleasure of analyzing. While most regeneration quirks could be overwhelmed with continuous injuries, draining the energy of the bearer, this one had almost no drain on the nomu's metabolism at all. Realistically, to kill this nomu would require either a single, overwhelming strike, or immediate cauterization of any wounds inflicted.
To make things even better, due to the quirk evolution, Kyudai was fairly sure the nomu could now handle at least one additional quirk. Possibly two. He was excited to see how this new regeneration quirk would interact with the metabolic load of multiple additional quirks.
He disengaged the clamps holding open the nomus chest cavity and removed the dampening electrodes from its arm, watching with grim fascination as the ribcage knit itself back together, before being immersed in layers of muscle and skin.
Beautiful.
A portal opened up beneath the nomu, transporting it back to the storage facility. Kyudai would need to think carefully about which quirks to transfer to the beast. It would depend heavily upon their next target, he supposed.
"Is there anything more that you need, doctor?" Kyudai may not have had an actual quirk allowing him to order Kurogiri around, but the years of mental conditioning had still had an effect. Even better, the control phrases that he had implanted still were functional. There was certainly something to be said for old fashioned methods of control.
"I believe I can transplant at least one more quirk into this nomu, possibly two, but I'll want to know our next steps before doing so. Has All For One come to his senses, or is he still letting his pet project run the show?"
"Assuming that you are referring to Tomura, Master is willing to guide him and let him learn from his failures. The loss of three nomu and failure to kill All Might at U.A has not changed this. The current thoughts as to next steps are recruiting additional high-quality allies from the criminal underworld. Not the same chaff as before. Tomura has also been speaking about potentially kidnapping a U.A student or two, but there are no concrete plans of that nature at this time."
Kyudai hummed. "Some of the quirks we heard about from the USJ would be fascinating to experiment with. Perhaps the sports festival will give us some additional ideas." In fact, he already had three or four students marked down as top priorities to experiment on if and when they were kidnapped, be it soon or years from now when they were pro heroes. At the very least, the boy with the apparently sentient quirk was rare indeed. "Thank you Kurogiri, you can go now." The chimera bowed, before silently warping himself away.
Instead of turning to continue work on one of the other half-dozen other new nomu made from some of the thugs they had hired for the USJ, Kyudai instead turned to his computer. He had his own sources in the criminal underworld, and during the previous two hours, one of them had sent him a message that was marked as highest priority.
As soon as he read it, he understood why. Someone, possibly affiliated with the Yakuza in some capacity, was selling Trigger. On its own, this wouldn't be concerning, if it weren't for the fact that the Trigger they were selling was at least as potent as his own special blend from several years ago, but without the mental side effects. There was even a rumor that this same group had a mixture that was the opposite of Trigger: something that would temporarily weaken or remove a quirk.
Apparently there was another villain biochemical quirk scientist out there, and they were playing in the same area as Kyudai himself. The possibility of removing a quirk through pharmaceutical rather than electrical means was fascinating. Perhaps there could be some collaboration in the future. After all, All For One wouldn't be around forever. But Kyudai would be, as long as he had something to say about it.
---
By the end of the week, Izuku had just one question for himself. Why did he ever think this was a good idea? Oh, sure, it had seemed like a great idea when he was standing in Kyoka's kitchen two weeks ago, but as he stood just outside the gates of U.A, waiting for her to arrive, he couldn't help but think that he would rather deal with a lifetime of pining than have the experience the anxiety that was currently racing through him.
Getting the tickets for the show had been no problem at all. Convincing Aizawa to sign off on them leaving campus had only involved the standard amount of difficulty from interacting with his homeroom teacher. Telling their friend group where they'd be tonight had not been as bad as he had expected. Although Uraraka and Honenuki made a point of briefly teasing him and Kyoka about it, it had all been in good fun.
Hell, even choosing what to wear for the date hadn't been that hard. This was a punk show after all, not something where he had to show up in a suit and tie. He was wearing simple, dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a warm, dark green hoodie to ward off the evening chill. It wasn't even one of his 't-shirt' t-shirts; Kyoka had given him too much grief about those for him to even consider wearing one of those tonight. Izuku shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. He hadn't worn either the shirt or the jeans in several months, and they were tighter than he remembered, tighter than the loose clothing that he typically preferred. Maybe they had shrunk in the wash. Hopefully the darkness would keep Kyoka from noticing.
Before Izuku could lose himself down yet another rabbit hole of anxiety, he caught a glimpse of Kyoka coming down the pathway towards the gate, and all other thoughts left his mind. She was wearing a purple Deep Dope shirt that nicely matched her hair, covered by a short, black leather jacket that had rows of studs running from each shoulder down to the elbow, and a fine leather choker sat on her neck. However, what caught Izuku's eye were her legs. She was wearing light acid washed denim shorts that went only to mid-thigh, with black fishnet stockings and black combat boots.
Damn.
That was an image that was going to stay with him for a while. Her legs clearly showed the results of her training to get into U.A, toned in all the right places. The fishnet stockings just amplified the effect. There wasn't anything that she could have worn that would make him less attracted to her, but this certainly made him more attracted to her. A small part of his brain tried to tell him that he shouldn't be having these sorts of thoughts about his best friend. After all, she might decide after tonight that she didn't want to date him if it meant all sorts of danger related to One For All.
A much larger part of his brain told the rest of it to shut the hell up and enjoy the moment. So that's what he tried to do. On the plus side, he no longer wondered why he had thought the date was a good idea; he had the proof of why it was a good idea right in front of him.
"Earth to Green, you there dude?" Ah, Kyoka had walked up to him and started talking with him all while he had been staring at her legs. That was … non-ideal. She was looking at him with concern, a light blush across her cheeks. "Everything alright there?"
"Y-Yeah. You just look really, really good tonight." The squeak Kyoka made as her blush bloomed across her entire face on its own made the entire night worth it. "I mean, you always look good, but tonight even more so, and…" Izuku cut off as she simultaneously buried her head in his shoulder and used her earjacks to jab him lightly in the side.
"I get it, Green." She mumbled around his arm. "You like the way I look for some reason." Izuku opened his mouth to give her a detailed list of exactly why, but she continued before he could say anything. "For what it's worth, you look really good, too. Especially when you're wearing clothes that actually fit and don't have stupid jokes written on them."
As his cheeks began to heat up, Izuku considered defending his normal choice in fashion, but ultimately decided that he would take the compliment as intended. He still didn't know what she saw in him, and the fact that she felt the exact same way was not lost on him. Therefore, he tried to convince himself that she was just as sincere in her appreciation for him as he was in his appreciation of her. In the end, he was only partially successful.
"Thanks, Kyoka. We should get going, otherwise we're going to miss our train." The two of them took off, hand in hand, cheeks still burning, towards the train station. Thankfully, they did not, in fact, miss their train, and the trip to the venue was full of the banter he had come to associate with his interactions with Kyoka. Both of them were full of smiles as they stepped off the train in Tokyo and began to make their way to the concert hall.
The venue itself was smaller than Izuku had expected, but then, given that this was the first concert he had ever been to, there was no reason to expect anything, really. From the outside, it looked like a fairly standard, if relatively out of date, office building. It could have been nearly anything from the outside. Even Kyoka nearly missed it on their first pass, and she had at least been to a concert before, even if it was just one.
The inside, however, was a different matter. The walls of the first floor were covered in posters and photos from previous concerts going back at least twenty years, surprisingly just as bright and vibrant as they had been the day they were produced. Someone must be using a quirk to keep them so pristine. Directly across from the entrance was a wide staircase leading to the actual concert hall. After handing their tickets to an imposingly large, bull-quirked bouncer at the foot of the stairs, the two of them ascended to where the concert was actually held. As they were climbing, Kyoka produced a pair of foam earplugs and stuck them over the tips of her earjacks. That made sense; with her hearing a rock concert like this could be physically painful if she didn't protect her hearing.
At the top of the stairs the second and third floors were essentially one large room, with a stage on one end and a bar at the other. A small balcony circled what would have been the third floor, looking down on the dance floor and stage below. One of the opening acts, Oskaka Born (hailing from Osaka, naturally), was just getting started as they crested the stairs, playing some upbeat ska-punk that had gone out of style decades ago. Maybe they were playing it ironically, but Izuku genuinely enjoyed it; they had talent. Kyoka seemed to recognize it too, and the two of them moved closer to the stage, on the edge of the small crowd at the front. Most of the audience that had shown up so far was hovering around the bar in the back of the room. Hopefully they served something other than just alcohol.
Izuku found himself getting more and more into the music as it played, bobbing along with the beat, and eventually let himself get drawn deeper into the press of the crowd in front of the stage. It was an intoxicating experience, the press of people against him, Kyoka at his side, the sheer pressure of the volume from the amplified music, all of it combined to make for a vaguely delirious experience. Every time he glanced over at Kyoka she had an expression of pure joy on her face, whether she was looking up at the band in front of them or towards Izuku himself at her side. Based on how his cheeks started to hurt, he was pretty sure that he had a similar look on his own face. Izuku couldn't even tell exactly how much time had gone by before the first band had finished their set and Kyoka started pulling him away from the stage.
"Let's go hit up the merch tables. I need to see if that group has an album or something that I can get." The second act was some local band that neither of them had heard of before, but didn't seem to be anything special. If Kyoka hadn't heard of them, that meant they were really obscure. It was a good thing they went to the merch table when they did, because they had almost sold out of the Oskaka Born's vinyl, with Kyoka managing to snag the last copy. Izuku considered buying a t-shirt from them, but even though he could bring himself to wear his 't-shirt' t-shirts, he couldn't quite bring himself to wear one with a pun of that caliber on it. He did pick up a Lightning Nine shirt for both himself and Kyoka though, as he had seen her eyeing them as well. The smile he got from her when she realized what was happening was totally worth it.
By the time Lightning Nine came on, they were both more than ready for the show. The crowd had swelled so that nearly the entire floor was covered with a press of people, with only the balconies remaining relatively sparse. From the first chord the crowd swelled, and Izuku lost himself once again in the sheer primal waves of sensation from the music. Once again time flowed oddly, and he couldn't even remember much detail of the concert, aside from the one time he and Kyoka had gotten separated trying to get closer to the front, and he ended up in an impromptu mosh pit. It was an interesting experience, similar to the thrill he got when sparring, but not necessarily something he'd seek out again. Thankfully, he was able to find Kyoka again relatively easily. It took her a while to stop laughing, though.
Unfortunately, though, all good things must eventually come to an end, and so too did the concert. Beyond that, Izuku knew that the moment of truth was fast approaching. He didn't want the evening to end, and judging by how she was clinging to his right arm as they left the concert hall, neither did Kyoka.
Perhaps that was why she was willing to get off the train two stops early and walk the rest of the way back to U.A, and why she agreed to stop and sit on the swings at an empty playground along the way. Izuku didn't know why he chose this particular playground, but this date had just convinced him further that he needed to tell her everything, and this was where he was going to do it.
---
That concert had been amazing! Not only did Lightning Nine kill it, but that first act had been surprisingly enjoyable as well. And then there was the fact that she had spent nearly the entire concert with Izuku that just made it better. Well, except for the part when he had stumbled into the middle of a mosh pit that an asshole with arms at least two sizes too big for his body had essentially taken over. The jerk was just bowling over anyone who tried to get into a groove and made the whole experience suck.
And then Izuku just trucked him on his ass without even realizing what he was doing, and revitalized the whole pit. It was hilarious. And kinda hot, if she was being honest.
So yeah, the whole date had just been amazing, and somewhere along the line she decided that they should try to stretch it as long as possible, and aim to get back just a minute before curfew, if possible. When Izuku suggested walking the rest of the way back, she jumped at it. Now, sitting on a pair of swings, holding hands between them, everything felt right with the world.
Izuku took a deep breath; he'd been doing a lot of that on the ride back, obviously psyching himself up to say something. Kyoka squeezed his hand lightly, letting him know she was there for him. Ater a moment, he started to speak. "I've had a really good time tonight, Kyoka, and I want to keep this relationship going."
"Me too, Green. Tonight was awesome!" The fact that she agreed didn't mean she wasn't going to blush about it though. She was surprised to see that he wasn't blushing at all, even after what he had just said.
"But there's something I need to tell you first. And I need you to promise me that you won't tell a single soul anything that I tell you." That wasn't ominous at all.
"You're scaring me a bit, Green."
"Do you promise?" Not only was Izuku not blushing, he wasn't even smiling any more, looking at her with a penetrating gaze.
Kyoka swallowed heavily before responding. "Yes, Izuku. I promise." No matter what, she'd make sure she kept that promise.
"Thanks, Kyoka." Izuku sighed once again, staring off into the distance, and some of the tension that had been in his shoulders drained away. Tension that Kyoka had not noticed until it was gone. "There's a lot that's all kind of connected, but I think the most important point is that I am, in fact, genetically quirkless."
That didn't quite fit. Kyoka shook her head, eyebrows furrowed. "But you have a quirk. You said you were a late bloomer." There was half of a laugh from Izuku, but he didn't turn to look at her.
"Let me tell you a story." Izuku's eyes were unfocused as he poured all of his concentration into what he was saying. Kyoka squeezed his hand to show him that she was still there with him, and was pleased that he at least squeezed back.
The story he told her was almost beyond belief. If it wasn't for the fact that it was Izuku telling this to her, she would have assumed that it was some sort of exercise in creative writing, or the plot to a television show. Eventually, he came to the present day. "I am the ninth holder of this power, One For All. You already know the eighth holder."
For just a moment, Kyoka shuffled through all of the heroes that she knew. The eighth holder was obvious. "All Might."
Izuku turned towards Kyoka, eyes finally focused once again, a small smile on his face. "He knew you'd put the pieces together." Not like it was particularly hard when it was all laid out like this.
"You told him about this?"
"Of course. I made sure he was ok with me telling you about all of this."
A thought occurred to Kyoka. Izuku had first manifested his quirk (or rather, received One For All) months ago, but Izuku had just spoken with All Might earlier today, and All Might had continued to be active in stopping crime across the area non-stop. "Wait, but if he gave you his quirk, how is he still, y'know, All Might? How can be All-Mighting across the country? Does he have another quirk?" The usage of All Might's name as a verb drew a chuckle from Izuku.
"Apparently there are embers of One For All remaining in his system that let him continue being a hero. He was injured five years ago, and is down to only three hours or so of 'All-Mighting' time per day. The rest of the time he spends in his secret identity, someone else you already know."
Suddenly the pieces to a puzzle Kyoka didn't even realize she had been working on clicked into place. "...oh my god. Toshinori Yagi is All Might, isn't he! How?! Why?!"
If anything, Izuku's smile grew larger at that. "You are literally the second student at U.A who knows this, and the first one to figure it out on your own. This is just another reason you need to keep this secret."
"Oh, yeah, of course. This explains so much though! Why All Might was interested in you during your training for U.A. Why he lied about how he met you. The fact that he and Yagi were working on the scouting together. Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't put it all together before now. They are the same height, have the same hair, have the same vocal tics. Everything!" Izuku may have thought that she was smart to figure this all out, but if anything she just felt like she really should have seen it sooner. Although, none of her other classmates had figured it out either, so maybe she didn't have to blame herself too much.
"Wait… how did you know that he lied about how he and I met?" Oh. Right. She had never told Izuku that she could hear people's heartbeats.
"I … I guess you're not the only one sharing secrets tonight, Green. As long as I'm within about five feet of someone, I can hear their heartbeat. From farther away if I focus. Most people's heartbeat stutters or speeds up when they lie. I try not to, for privacy purposes, but depending on the person, it can be kind of obvious." With All Might, his heartbeat was like a bass drum that she couldn't not listen to, which was what made his lie so noticeable. Odd that his heartbeat would be so different when he was Yagi Toshinori.
"Have you been doing that to me?" To Kyoka's pleasant surprise, he didn't sound sad or mistrustful, just curious. Most of her previous friends had pulled away when they knew Kyoka could tell if they were lying or not, and while she had never expected Izuku to do that, she had certainly worried about it.
"Honestly, you're so anxious that any little thing sets your heartbeat off. Most of the time I can't really tell when it's a lie and when it's anxiety."
Izuku blushed and turned away, rubbing at the back of his head. Suddenly, though, his hand stopped and he slowly faced Kyoka again. "...Most of the time?"
"I have to keep you on your toes a little bit, don't I? I can't have you thinking you have free rein to lie to me, after all." She smirked, and he rolled his eyes.
"I would never lie to you, Kyoka." Izuku said it with such conviction that Kyoka felt her own heart flutter for a minute, her blush completely revived and her earjacks flailing wildly. She couldn't take her eyes off of Izuku's, though. After a moment, Kyoka decided she needed to get the conversation back to the topic at hand.
"Anyway, I have two questions about this whole situation."
"Just two?"
"For now. First, are you going to get all muscled-up like All Might? Because that could be a problem."\
"I … don't know?" Izuku looked genuinely surprised at the question. "I honestly hadn't considered it. I'm going to go with 'no,' because I've seen pictures of Toshinori before he got the quirk, and he was pretty jacked even then."
"Oh thank god." While Kyoka was sure she would get used to it, she did not particularly want to date someone the size and shape of All Might. Not her thing. Izuku was attractive just the way he was, thank you very much. "Second, whatever happened to the other brother. The one who had the quirk to take and give other quirks." Whatever levity there had been on Izuku's face from the earlier question immediately vanished, and Kyoka knew that they were going to get back into something heavy.
"He's the reason why I wanted to tell you this before we started dating. He's the one who gave All Might the injury that limits his time, the villain known as All For One. He apparently was personally offended that his brother took One For All and resisted him, and has made it one of his goals to take the quirk back, no matter what."
"Wait, you said this all started one hundred-ish years ago, right" Izuku nodded. "How on earth is this All For One still around?"
"Well, he stole any number of longevity quirks." Honestly, Kyoka wasn't sure why she was surprised at that. "All Might believed that he had killed All For One in a clash six years ago. But the nomu at the USJ are almost certainly related to him in one way or another."
"Oh yeah, the villains claimed they all had multiple quirks, right?" Izuku grimaced as he nodded again.
"Yeah. So there might be an ancient supervillain out there plotting to steal my quirk and presumably kill me, one that All Might himself failed to kill at the peak of his power."
"Shit." There didn't seem to be much else to say.
"Yeah. And All Might says that All For One typically likes to attack heroes through their family and friends. That was one of the reasons that he never started a family and stayed married to his work. So if we start a relationship…"
"I could be targeted by All For One as well." Kyoka finished the thought for Izuku.
"Yeah." Silence descended on the two of them for a moment, Izuku letting her grapple with this new information. It wasn't unusual for heroes to be explicitly targeted by villains, or even for their families and friends to be targeted. Kyoka had assumed that was part of becoming a hero. The idea of said villain being over one hundred years old and bearing a grudge specifically against Izuku was new, though.
As Kyoka was putting her thoughts in order, she was vaguely aware of Izuku fidgeting in place, before speaking up. "I understand if you don't want to be with me now that you know this, but I wanted to make sure you knew everything before we make anything official. You were the first person my age to really believe in me, you know? And you've been helping me for the past year. I just don't want to do anything that would…"
Kyoka didn't think, she just moved. Her lips landed on Izuku's to cut him off mid-sentence. There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to be with him, regardless of hypothetical dangers from ancient supervillains.
The kiss just sealed the matter, honestly. She hadn't been planning on kissing him tonight, but now that she was, it just felt right. Electricity shot through her body at the contact. Izuku, on the other hand, froze in place, kissing back essentially on instinct.
Eventually, reluctantly, she pulled away. Izuku's eyes were wide, face red as a tomato. "...What?" It came out as more of a squeak from the boy than anything else.
"Of course I want to be with you, idiot." Kyoka kissed him again. It was a shorter kiss, but on purpose this time. Izuku still hadn't moved a muscle since the first kiss and she could hear his heart hammering away in his chest. He was still conscious, though, which was actually better than Kyoka had expected. "If All For One is alive, and you said it was just conjecture at this point, then he's going to go after me either way. We are literally best friends, nothing would change that. You've been helping me just as much as I've been helping you, and I'm not sure if you noticed, but I didn't exactly have a ton of friends before I met you either." It was obvious that he was listening, as Kyoka could see tears forming in his eyes. She leaned in to kiss him once again, and realized that she could really get used to this. "Therefore, why not actually date the cutest, kindest, strongest…"
Her words died in her throat as Izuku lunged forward to kiss her back. Where before he had been kissing back more out of instinct than anything else, this kiss was searing with passion. His hands snaked behind her as he pulled her off of her swing and towards him, and Kyoka felt her body melt into his.
Those kisses from before were nothing compared to this. The electric thrill that she had from her first contact with him was back and amplified every time he deepened the kiss, while a pleasant bubbling warmth formed in her belly. Kyoka couldn't say exactly how long they stayed like that before Izuku pulled back. There were still tears in his eyes, but he wore a soft smile that threatened to split his face in two. "Thank you, Kyoka."
While Izuku seemed content to just stare into her eyes for the rest of the night, she had other ideas. "Shut up and kiss me again." He laughed, soft but clear, before pulling her head towards his.
The two lost track of time, kissing under the moon and stars. Eventually, though, the love birds remembered that they had a curfew that they had to meet. Izuku even went so far as to carry Kyoka on his back while running with his quirk active; certainly illegal, but the only way they had any hope of getting back in time.
Ultimately, they got back five minutes after curfew and were immediately punished with extra cleaning duties for the next two weeks. Thinking back on the evening, and especially how it ended, Kyoka couldn't find it within herself to care.