—[Third person POV]—
—[Izuku Midoriya]—
XXX
Izuku was bored again, something which was sadly all too frequent these days. He knew the clock was ticking, but he couldn't really bring himself to care much about the rest of this year. It had been months and Bang's training had shown obvious results.
Izuku had grown stronger in the most obvious way. Where there was once an above-average 13-year-old boy barely controlling his hormones there was now so much more.
Sure, he was still 13, but he was also so much more than that. He'd grown taller or in the words of his sensei, he'd sprouted up like a "Heroic bamboo sprout." which was a particularly rough day for Izuku.
He'd gained muscle and definition which, if he hadn't been mistaken for the growing bond level, and snuck glances from Kendo - were doing him favors with the opposite gender.
He'd also been thinking of getting a haircut different from the original Izuku but that idea had fallen flat so far. So instead here he sat in his class, at the back, farthest from the door, and closest to the window, staring out into the blue sky and endless clouds of Musudafu.
Luckily for him, this was the last class of the year. He didn't even need to do anything today really just wait for the bell and~
Ring*Ring*Ring*
Ah, there it was. Izuku pushed up from his desk and started making his way to the exit of the classroom. Then he started counting in his head.
'3' He made his way past a kid with rocks for hair.
"Thank god I'm finally going home!"
'2' The crowd was filled with kids eager to leave and start their summer break plans.
"Hey did you read that new chapter of~"
'1' A loud bang followed by a smoking book sailed at Izuku's head.
Without looking he tilted his head out of the way allowing the textbook to strike the kid in front of him. His observation haki had been growing exponentially over the past few months to the point where he didn't even need to manually activate the skill. He hadn't gotten to the level of future sight but he had gotten his own form of danger sense though it wasn't perfect.
"OI NERD!" A shout filled the air and the whole room froze and looked back at the one who caused it.
Izuku sighed but his bored expression slowly faded into a small smile.
"And here I thought today was going to be just another boring day." He whispered pulling out a headphone and pausing his music.
The crowd split as the stomps of a particularly angry teenage girl grew closer.
"You! Me! Outside! Now!" She shouted but as Izuku turned around to look at her.
"Ah well if it isn't the local neighborhood terrorist," Izuku said smirking as he looked up at her.
Katsumi Bakugo stood proudly one leg stepping on a desk the other in the chair behind it. Somehow keeping her balance Katsumi leaned forward growling.
"What do you want Katsumi?" He said half-bemused by her.
"Fight me you damn nerd!" She yelled sparks already erupting from he open clawed hands.
"Are you sure? You do remember how that went last time right?" He pointed out which turned her sparking into popping and smoking fists.
"No fighting in~" The teacher tried to say only for Katsumi to throw a pencil with a small explosion behind it sticking it into the wall right by his face.
"Shut the fuck up and get the hell out old man! Before I blast off what's left of your tiny balls!" She shouted at him. The man or rather Teacher Homishida nodded quickly and ran out of the classroom. Heads turned to watch him as he went. He would later go on to retire from teaching that very same day.
"How many times do I have to beat you before you give up its starting to get a little annoying you know," Izuku said chuckling as he put his right hand in his pocket.
"You didn't win you damn nerd you just got lucky!" She shouted and Izuku simply hummed sarcastically before tilting his head to look out the window.
"Hey, what is that?" He said pointing behind her. Katsumi looked over her shoulder and the moment she lost sight of Izuku he grinned. Then with one leg he swept the desk out from under her causing her to fall down into a pile. Turning quickly Izuku ran out of the room past the stunned crowd.
"Oldest trick in the book." Izuku chuckled and hurried down to the school gates. There he met up with Izumi and Toga and they began walking home together. Soon after they made it home Izuku got changed and said goodbye to the girls.
Then it was a warm-up run to the dojo followed by an hour-long training session with his fellow students. Followed by an extra session with Bang afterwards.
XXX
Izuku blindfolded, flowed from stance to stance constantly moving in smooth patterns never letting an ounce of hesitation into his movements. Each stance melted into the next like a river flowing and changing never letting any obstacle stop the flow just bending around it instead.
Bang had stepped out for a phone call from his older brother and told Izuku to practice his water stream without stopping until he got back.
He had been at it for hours now not stopping or slowing just training. Normally he wouldn't have had the stamina to keep it up this long without taking time to recover even with his stamina skill. To solve this problem Bang had taught him a strange breathing pattern that he'd learned from one of his old comrades-in-arms.
He hadn't fully mastered it yet but when he first tried it two weeks ago his lungs nearly seized up entirely leaving him rolling on the ground, gasping for air, and almost praying for mercy.
It had taken time but Izuku didn't give up and now two weeks later he had almost gotten it down. Apparently, his breathing pattern was still a little off but it was enough to keep him going longer than anything had before. Sure it wasn't perfect but it was helpful.
But now Izuku had a strange feeling in his chest and he didn't know what to do about it. It wasn't the flawed breathing that he was doing, no it was somethingmore than that. It felt heavy and awkward as if he was worried about passing a test or solving a puzzle he had yet to encounter.
An odd emotion akin to wearing training weights on his heart in a way. It didn't matter for a while but not that he was in the flow of things his thoughts began to fill in what it actually was.
He tried to pick up speed to distract himself pushing his body to its current limit but it wasn't enough. Izuku's brain moved even faster than his sweaty body and aching muscles could push him.
He had one year left until he could meet All-Might. One year until he would have his only chance at gaining one for all but he honestly wasn't sure about it.
He knew that he wanted the power, but that wasn't the question that plagued him. The question was whether or not he truly deserved it. He knew it was silly and yet he couldn't help but feel like how he planned to gain the power was unfair.
He didn't know if he had the heart of a real hero and he didn't know if he was truly worthy of being the successor of a true hero like all might. He had tried to ignore it at first but no matter what he did the doubt continued to grow. Now thirteen years from the time that little bit of doubt entered his heart it had become far harder to ignore.
Izuku increased his speed shifting to attacks that came out with a speed and strength he could never manage even a few months ago.
It only grew worse and worse as he kept getting older. His own self-doubt was irritating him like an itch he just couldn't scratch. Then when he looked in the mirror was the worst part of it. Whenever he looked at his own face he didn't see himself. He didn't see the reincarnated individual who had been working so hard now.
Instead, he saw Mydoriya Izuku. The boy who changed the world. The child who proved it wasn't the powers that made the hero. A person who managed to fundamentally change how society thought in only one year of high school. A boy who would go on to become one of the greatest heroes of all time.
He didn't know if he could live up to all that. But if he couldn't do even that then he knew for a fact he was fucked. Bang's existence alone implied the existence of far greater threats than anything in my Hero Academia. The only problem was that it seemed like the majority of One-Punch Man characters weren't present but that could just be because he hadn't found any evidence of them yet.
For example, nothing would ever rival the moment that he saw the new number three hero. That man had started his career and had the fastest ranking climb of all time. His popularity was simply off the charts and many people around the world thought he might just surpass All Might in popularity one day.
Luckily for the number one hero popularity wasn't the only factor when rankings were being calculated. Fame wasn't the only deciding factor, but also the number of incidents successfully resolved by a hero was also a major factor. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective number three simply didn't work that hard or frequently but rather had been hard carried by his looks, power, and personality.
This was part of the reason why despite his lack of popularity Endevor remained the number two hero as he simply had the most cases solved by far. Even though the world rankings and Japanese rankings were separated Endevor still ranked high because of this same reason.
It irked Izuku because he honestly had no love for Endevor as a human being. Redemption arc or not what the number 2 hero did to his family was unforgivable in Izuku's eyes.
After picturing Endeavor's face Izuku gritted his teeth and doubled his attack speed. In his mind, an imaginary Endeavor stood in front of him in a basic combat stance. Izuku attacked with full speed and strength while splitting his focus to keep his breathing rhythm.
The imaginary Endevir dodged his attack easily and countered with a swift strike. Izuku was under no illusion that he could stand even a dream of a chance against the number 2 hero as he was now. Plus with his estimation of Endevor's strength judging from his physique alone, needless to say, Izuku went flying across the dojo.
However, not giving up, instead of crashing to the floor like an idiot Izuku landed on his hands before backfliping onto his feet. He stood there for a moment, eyes still locked on Endevor's white outline in the darkness. The faint thought that he had never done a backflip before faintly manifested in his mind.
He went to charge again when suddenly his observation haki activated first and he dodged on instinct. Imaginary Enji didn't wait for Izuku to charge back at him instead he took the advantage and pressed forward.
Izuku ducked the quick blow Enji threw at him but he didn't realise until it was too late that it was faint and a left uppercut caught him in the stomach. The blow forced all the air out of Izuku's stomach and slammed him against the dojo wall.
He fell to the floor in a heap and coughed. He got up onto his knees only to look up and see Endevors fist about to collide into his face. Izuku rolled managing to dodge the blow and managed to regain his feet but Endevor didn't let up.
Instead of letting him counterattack Enji forced Izuku onto the defensive not even giving him the chance to catch his breath. As Izuku continued to attempt to dodge the endless rain of blows was eventually caught by a push kick knocking him across the dojo again.
He needed to use a water stream to deflect the blows but Enji wasn't giving him the chance to even start using the technique. He couldn't find an opening and Endeavor kept chasing him down and almost cornering him. Each time Izuku attempted an attack he would be caught by another blow and sent flying again.
Minutes went by and there was seemingly no change in the battle. At this point, Izuku had almost completely lost focus on his breathing but had barely managed to maintain it as he was continuously forced on the defensive by his imaginary opponent. In fact, he was fairly certain that the breathing was the only thing still giving him the energy to keep going and getting back up after each one of Endevor's blows at this point in the fight.
Endeavor wasn't slowing down, and Izuku couldn't tell if it was because of his own imagination, or because Enji truly did just have that much stamina. Before he could determine a proper answer however another blow landed. This time a left straight caught Izuku in the face and it actually triggered a new line of thinking. He realized something that at the time seemed so obvious he had no idea why he had thought of that before.
If Izuku couldn't find an opportunity to attack, he would just have to make one. So, as Endevor's blow began to lift Izuku off his feet again, Izuku suddenly changed his footing and redirected the energy of the strike into his fist and fired back a right straight into Endevor's face.
The blow caught Endevor in the cheek but it wasn't enough. Izuku stillwent flying and spun into the air before crashing back down onto the ground. The imaginary Endevor tilted his head back to glare down at the beaten Izuku on the ground still trying to get back up. Annoyed now he wanted to finish the brat off and so with a growl, he ran forward attempting to stomp in Izuku's head.
The emerald-haired boy didn't give up instead he wanted to keep fighting. He wanted to overcome the opponent standing right in front of him. But right now he just couldn't get up fast enough to dodge Endvor's next attack. As he lifted his foot Enji went to crush Izuku's skull with his boot only to be interrupted by another strike.
This time however it didn't come from Izuku; instead, Bang threw out a barrage of lethal attacks at the number 2 hero so fast he couldn't react and simply disintegrated into a pale mist before fading away completely.
"Hey *cough* sensei how *huff* was your phone call?" Izuku asked deciding that now that Bamg was here to flop down on the floor.
Bang looked down at the emerald-haired child sweating all over his dojo floor and sighed. "You damn brat I tell you to do katas and leave you alone for five minutes and look what a mess that you made."
Izuku looked around the dojo and saw the mess he had made. Matte overturned, dummies sent flying, wooden floor panels smashed in, and at least one rather Izuku-shaped dent in Bang's drywall. Izuku blinked hard and chuckled still out of breath.
"Well it could use some remodeling anyway the place is kind of bland. No real personality to it." He and Bang sighed.
"Can you get up?" Bang asked and Izuku rolled over and tried to get up puzh up style only to fail and keep trying. Izuku tried three more times before Bang suddenly picked him up and lifted him onto his back.
"Heavy brat this is hell on my back you know." He said settling his arms under Izuku's legs. Izuku smiled, a faint memory of his childhood in his previous life entering his mind. He shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"Oh please let's not act like you don't basically have super strength stupid old man," Izuku said Bang's brow twitched and he went to drop the brat before Izuku started coughing. Bang realized it was probably a side effect of Izuku's flawed breathing and sighed again.
"Stupid? I'm not the one who just got his ass handed to him by his own imagination." Bang said and Izuku remained silent for a moment before chuckling.
"Whatever just help me get to the locker room stupid old man," Izuku said trying to fight back another cough. His lungs stung and burned and that coupled with his current exhausted state was enough for him to start falling asleep on Bang's back. Noticing this Bang tried to keep him talking because Izuku still needed to change and go home.
These days instead of catching a ride to the dojo Izuku had started running these in order to build stamina for more training. And if he was going to go back home he needed to do it soon before it got too dark.
"Hey brat…" Bang asked hesitating to ask the next line of questions.
"Yeah?" Izuku said in a quieter voice this time. His breathing had evened out now but his lungs still hurt and his throat was sore.
"Where did you learn to do that anyway?" Bang asked, he had never taught Izuku imige training, and from what he knew of Izuku's history he hadn't been taught to do that by anyone else.
"Learn to do what?" Izuku asked lifting a brow in confusion.
"Picture your opponent like that I mean," Bang said clearing his throat as he readjusted Izuku on his back to open the locker room door.
"Oh, I don't know I just… kind of… did." He said picturing the translucent figure of Endevor in his head again. The only thing it reminded him of was Baki's image training but Izuku had simply done it instinctively as he didn't know all the details of Endevor that well. They had never met in person after all and he wasn't sure if he had gotten all the details of his costume clearly. Plus the fact that this version of Endevor couldn't shoot fire or burn him unlike the real one.
"Why were you even fighting Endevor anyway? You got a grudge against him or something kid?" Bang didn't know if Izuku had any particular reason for picking the number to hero in particular as a training partner but he had a guess. Still, he waited for Izuku to answer before confirming his guess.
"Well he's a strong hero but he's also a really shitty dad so I guess he made for a perfect punching bag." He said chuckling slightly before wincing at the pain in his lungs.
"It looks like you're the one he made into a punching bag." Bang chuckled before nodding at Izuku's statement. He didn't know too much about Izuku's home life but over the past few months, he believed he had put together a solid picture of it. Bang knew that Izuku lived with his mom and twin sister Izumi along with his adopted sister Toga.
He had once asked Izuku about his father when he had noticed that he had always been picked up by his mom and siblings. Izuku had answered that he honestly didn't know all that much about the man. He said that his name was Hisashi Midoriya and that his quirk was fire breath. He also said that he had worked overseas in America until one day he had abandoned them and simply gone missing.
Bang guessed that Izuku was subconsciously projecting his own resentment of his father onto Endevor and ended up manifesting him as an opponent on instinct. He could already tell something was troubling Izuku and so he thought a good bit of exhaustive training followed by a small talk after would do the trick. He didnt realise that he would manifest the ability to picture his opponents so perfectly while he was gone. Bang hummed in affirmation of his theory before setting Izuku down on a bench near his locker.
"All right kid take off that blindfold and get change I'll take you home in a bit. Need to change out of this shirt you just sweated all over," he said lifting a hand to caress his mustache before turning around to leave.
"Right." Izuku jumped slightly when he realized his blindfold was still on this whole time but he could still see perfectly fine. Taking the blindfold off Izuku reached over to his locker and started to open it when Bang called back to him one last time.
"Oh and brat don't do that again for a while okay. You still need to work on your breathing and you're not ready to do that under pressure just yet alright." Bang said looks over his shoulder at Izuku hands clasped behind his back.
"Yeah sure of course," Izuku said one hand behind his back with his fingers crossed. He was totally going to abuse this new skill to accelerate his training. Izuku tried to smile with his most innocent expression but Bang just sighed again and started to walk away again.
'Why do I have the feeling you're not going to listen to me brat?' Bang's thought as he caressed his mustache again.
[Chapter Image Here]
XXX
Hey guys I'm thinking of picking up the pacing a little to get to the entrance exam sooner but I also have plans for what I want to happen before then in an arc. I was thinking that I might try to make it brief or show only parts of it and the rest in flashbacks and statements but I'm not sure if that would be as cool so let me know what you guys think.