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2022-06-04
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2022-11-07
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181/181
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Give It Your All With a Burning Passion!

Summary:

This is not the story of how I became the greatest heroine in the world. This is not the story of how not all men are created equal.

This is a story about a girl who fights hard, plays hard, and loves her mother very much.

This is a story about a girl who used to be royalty, who lived in exile, who died alone and friendless after an endless pursuit of power and self discovery.

This is the story of a girl who holds the memories of a reincarnated Fire Princess.

This is my story.

I am Midoriya Izumi, formerly known as Princess Azula of the Fire Nation.

Chapter Text

Breathe .

 

Fire comes from the breath, and the sun. It is the technique of the dragons, of spirits, of those with unflinching willpower and determination. It is the gift of Agni, and it runs through her veins as surely as her own blood.

 

Izumi Midoriya breathed slow and deep as she meditated to the sun’s light as it just barely crested the horizon- the golden rays of dawn streaking across a red sky as the candles before her flared and fell in time with every inhale and exhale.

 

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

 

Just as she had practiced for years and years upon end- just as she had done for years and years before that. Decades of firebending, feeling heat and anger and the pure intensity of power coursing through her limbs.

 

But that was in the past. Long, long in the past, in a place that did not exist, in a world that was not real. Izumi didn’t know how or why she still had memories of the past- it seemed all too fantastical to be true- all too fake, all too manufactured. After all, she hadn’t been born with the same memories or personality that she had now… no, those had come later, almost the day that she’d awakened her… Quirk.

 

Something the doctors had said would never happen when she’d reached the ripe old age of four, still a bright eyed, bushy tailed little sprout of a girl who had a heart the size of the sun and tears like a river. 

 

She’d been crushed, at the time. Crushed because of that callous dismissal of her status as a late bloomer, of dismissing her due to an extra joint in her toe that most others didn’t have. That bastard quack had shattered her entire world, made her feel hopeless- worthless.

 

Izumi had almost fallen into a deep depression at the time, crying and sobbing into the arms of her mother as she tried- dared- to dream of a world where she could be a hero. Could be someone , like the man whose face had once decorated her walls (and… somewhat embarrassingly… still decorated the inside of her closet) and filled her dreams with promises of a better future.

 

Her mother had only apologized tearfully, breaking down alongside Izumi’s younger self. And eventually, when the despair had driven a spike into the young girl’s heart…

 

A blazing rage had erupted instead.

 

And she’d awoken to a whole new world. 

 

Literally, in fact.

 

Izumi breathed out slowly and took in the candles before her, arranged exactly in perfect rows the way they always had been in her previous life. A miniature shrine in the hard packed dusty “courtyard” area in the back of the apartment complex where she lived, where most people only went to lock up their bikes and throw out their trash, and where children sometimes played soccer or ran around collecting bugs.

 

But she’d made a small section of it her own, setting up a simple low wooden table with candles upon its surface that she could meditate in front of for hours on end.

 

But she had to cut her meditation short today.

 

The candles flickered to her will as Izumi slowly traced her eyes across the collection- brilliant blue flames that danced and flared as she moved the well of her chi around and suffused the world around her with its warmth.

 

“Oi! Princess!

 

A rough voice cut across Izumi’s musings and immediately brought a sigh of annoyance to her lips, though she refrained from saying anything just yet. From behind, a loud presence came tromping up with the smell of brimstone and ash, heavy shoes stomping away on the concrete sidewalk that led up to Izumi’s little place in the courtyard. Izumi, still, said nothing as she slowly and deliberately breathed out, the subtle flex of her will snuffing out the candles all at once and sending a thin wave of smoke curling around her body.

 

A shadow landed across her back, and Izumi suppressed an even louder sigh as a heavy hand came down upon her shoulder.

 

“C’mon you prissy bitch, we gotta catch the train, remember!?” the voice of Bakugou Katsumi cut through the air like a blender through a banana, rough and raspy with constant shouting, but no less vibrant for all that the blonde girl sounded like she was trying to imitate the yankii girls of yesteryear- the difference being that Katsumi could back up her tough talk and bluster with about as much violence as any other hero candidate in training… if not moreso considering the blonde’s forceful attitude and explosive Quirk. Literally explosive. “C’mooon! Up and at ‘em! You can save all this meditating shit for later, the exam’s soon and we gotta get there early!”

 

“Katsumi,” Izumi murmured, her voice low and dangerous as her golden eyes flashed dangerously in the light of dawn. “It is six thirty in the morning. People are sleeping. The exam is not for another two hours . Now, quiet down and remove your hand from my person before I am forced to remind you why it is a bad idea .”

 

“Sheesh, what crawled up your panties and died, Zuzu?” Katsumi huffed, but acquiesced all the same- Izumi had, for almost as long as the forceful, spiky haired blonde had known her, always had a strange thing about people touching her. Probably some of it was how much of a little shit Katsumi was before Izumi got strong and kicked the shit out of her to show her how wrong she was, but the other part of it- well. Katsumi may have dressed like a gyaru and talked like a sukeban, but she wasn’t stupid - her grades were proof enough of that- and if Izumi had stuff she didn’t wanna talk about then she’d more than acquiesce… while also still trying to get her childhood friend used to a little skinship. “Didn’t sleep well? Oh, I got something for that!”

 

“As a matter of fact, no, I did not sleep well,” Izumi muttered, halting Katsumi’s progress as her… friend dug through her school bag for some ointment or lotion or another that her fashion designer of a mother swore by. “How you manage to always sleep so well is a mystery I fear I will never understand. Especially with how… forceful you always are.”

 

“What can I say, Zuzu? I’m the best!” Katsumi grinned proudly, almost ear to ear as she extolled the virtues of her greatness with a thumb pointed at herself and a puffed up chest so full of pride that it almost popped one of her buttons.

 

Izumi’s eyebrow twitched. “And stop calling me Zuzu!”

 

“Aww, but it’s cute! You gotta loosen up more- even I’m less tense than you are all the time and I’m a ball of fury and rage!” Katsumi protested, pouting a bit and giving Izumi the full force of her puppy eyes- which, honestly, didn’t really work when everyone said that Izumi was the cute one between the two of them with her natural doe-eyes and roundish cheeks- a far cry from the carefully prim and elegant nobility that she used to be, Izumi thought privately to herself, then simply stood up and dusted herself off- like Katsumi, Izumi was already in her school uniform despite the early hour, with her hair tied up in something that was halfway between an old topknot that she could no longer replicate and her mother’s own hairstyle… though much, much fluffier to the point of being almost untameable. Curse whatever genes her father had that gave her such unruly hair to the pits of every hell in existence- the irony was too intense to be anything but divine punishment. 

 

Years and years of trying and failing to be a perfect princess with not a hair out of place… and now here she was, a singular nobody with so much unruly hair that it was truly a miracle that they even sold brushes capable of not getting lost in the fluff.

 

“I refuse,” Izumi responded flatly to Katsumi’s flipflopping between kogal cuteness and sukeban posturing, then simply placed her hand upon the taller girl’s face, pushed her to the side, and tried to hide the ghost of a smile that popped up at Katsumi’s startled yelp as she almost lost her balance. Try as she might, even after crushing the blonde nearly fourteen years ago with such decisive skill and strength that the darker side of Izumi’s psyche was sure that she’d never rise from the ashes of her shame and humiliation, she really couldn’t shake Katsumi off- especially after she’d literally had a pain induced attitude adjustment and declared Izumi her eternal rival. 

 

And try as she might…

 

Izumi sighed, then rolled her eyes and turned back to Katsumi, posturing about how she’d kick Izumi’s ass for that later during their sparring practice. She smiled, and held out her hand, delicately painted nails glittering in the sun as she gave a fond look to her oldest (and… kind of only ) friend.

 

She couldn’t be mad that Katsumi was there for her.

 

“Come on, ash pile, we’ve got a train to catch.”

 

“Hmph… sure sure… Zuzu.”

 

“Dammit, stop calling me that!”

 

“Never!”

Chapter Text

UA University. The single most prestigious college for heroics in Japan. A place that usually only accepted entrants from the prestigious, specific highschools that were tailor made to prepare their students for the world of heroics.

 

Not that Katsumi and Izumi had gone to one of those schools- they’d checked the numbers themselves. By and large the only thing those schools taught was the same education they could get anywhere else for a fraction of the tuition and uniform costs, and the only heroics they actually taught was combat training for the UA Entrance Exam.

 

No, while UA generally accepted students from prep schools, they also allowed in anyone who could complete their entrance exams and provide the requisite tuition- something that was more than plausible for most, given that hero universities tended to have tuition costs more associated with prestigious highschools , with the idea that the students within would pay back the costs of running the school tenfold over the course of their hero careers with their service to society.

 

That and also they were subsidized by the government so most of the tuition cost wasn’t necessary anyway.

 

“Tch, you’d better do good on the fuckin written test, Zuzu. Otherwise I’m gonna have to kick your shit in,” Katsumi stated roughly, losing all trace of her previous good cheer and genki attitude in favor of pure focus- a switch in personality so drastic and dramatic that anyone who hadn’t known Katsumi for the majority of her life would have found odd at best and downright bipolar at worst. “And you better not say some pithy bullshit like-”

 

“Oh please, the last time you kicked my ass was when I was four years old,” the two of them spoke at the same time, Katsumi pulling off a very terrible impression of Izumi, and Izumi simply chuckling lightly into the back of her hand like the noblewoman she’d reincarnated from, smirking viciously as her golden eyes locked onto Katsumi’s crimson orbs for a single deadly moment.

 

A beat passed.

 

Then, they both snickered as one, fist bumped, and walked inside- or, at least, Katsumi did. Izumi, meanwhile, simply took a deep breath and savored the nearly half hour she had left before the written exam started- students from all over filing in wearing either their school uniforms or casual exercise wear with a school blazer thrown over. She didn’t blame them- it was better to be prepared for anything, and the practical exam was right after the written one anyway.

 

Hell, even Izumi herself was wearing her exercise clothes beneath her uniform- a light tank top, sports bra, and compression shorts with some comfortable running shoes in her bag so she could quickly change during the interim between the two exams.

 

She took it all in again, humming to herself as she simply dawdled about purposefully to make Katsumi mad, then turned to the side as a mop of brown hair caught her eye. Even now, eighteen years into being Midoriya Izumi, her breath still caught in her throat whenever she saw… well.

 

It wasn’t the same hairstyle. It wasn’t even close. It was barely even the same color- almost auburn instead of that lovely dark brown that Ty Lee had… but it was a reminder all the same.

 

It was a mop of brown sitting atop the head of a bright young girl in the prime of her life- but rather than a gray eyed, possibly Air Nomad descended circus girl who’d betrayed her in her most desperate of hours in a move that, decades and an entirely new life and world later, she could understand was entirely reasonable (but still hurt), said fluffy bob cut that bounced and shone in the sun belonged to a determined young woman no older than Izumi herself. She wore a look of utmost focus on her face, bearing a uniform that Izumi only barely recognized as having been from one of the lower class hero prep schools focused on martial arts, and had the sort of look about her that said “mess with me and I’ll break your face”.

 

It would have been oddly terrifying if Izumi hadn’t had the memories and experiences of Princess Azula, short term Fire Lord and firebending prodigy who subdued an entire nation beneath her picture perfect heel. As it was, she saw through it in an instant for what it really was.

 

A nervous girl channeling her apprehension into focus, doing her best to fight past her fears and uncertainties in the hopes that she’d gain everything she’d ever wanted. It was a familiar look, one she’d seen on dozens of classmates a hundred times over around exam season.

 

Usually, though, the owners of said looks weren’t marching so resolutely that they-

 

“Ah, careful,” Izumi all but purred, catching the unknown girl by the back of her uniform jacket almost as easily as one would pick up a kitten by the scruff of its neck- strangely light, this one. Must be a function of her quirk, because there was no way Izumi was actually strong enough to do that to someone slightly taller and possibly just as toned as she was. She lifted the girl back to her feet, making sure to set her straight so she wouldn’t trip on the first step of the entrance stairs again, then continued speaking. “I’d think it’s bad luck to fall on your face right before your college entrance exam, wouldn’t you say?”

 

“I-I! Um! T-thanks!” the girl stuttered out in response, looking rather panicked all of a sudden. Izumi didn’t exactly know why but she shrugged and let go of the girl all the same, though said girl started rubbing the back of her neck unconsciously and looked rather strangely uncomfortable- she was blushing pretty red, as if she was embarrassed about something. Well, Izumi didn’t see what was so embarrassing about accidentally tripping when stressed and focused on something else- she did it quite a bit herself when in unfamiliar places whilst stressed. “I-I-um, we should get inside, right? Haha, thanks again for the save!”

 

“It was no problem,” Izumi bowed ever so slightly, smirking a bit as she began walking up the (honestly, kind of imposing considering what was going to happen soon) with the other girl (who still hadn’t offered her name yet, but Izumi wasn’t too put off by it) following shortly after, as though she’d forgotten that the two of them were heading in the same direction. “Like I said, bad luck to injure yourself right before an important test. And, well, I was in the right position to make a difference. Say, what’s your name?”

 

“U-uraraka! Uraraka Ochako!” the girl responded, flustered and waving her hands in a way that Izumi thought was almost like the flappy hands of that one guy who’d asked her out once (what was his name? Sojiro? Whatever, she’d rejected him anyway on the grounds that she was gay as hell). Not like an actual Quirk based… quirk… but more of a neurodivergence thing, if she remembered her research right. Talking with one’s hands, or something. “I-it’s nice to meet you! What’s your name?”

 

“A- hm.” Izumi cleared her throat awkwardly, clamping down on the constant and ever-present urge to introduce herself as Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation , and instead covered her slip up with a quiet huff and a slightly too long pause. “Midoriya. Midoriya Izumi. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Uraraka-san. Shall we head inside? It’s getting close to the exam time, and it’d be a shame if we failed out because we were late .”

 

“A-ah yeah! Let’s go! Don’t wanna be late for something so important- hey, what seat are you assigned to anyway?” Ochako asked, pulling out the little slip of paper that designated her seating area, practical testing center, and allowed her entry into the building in the first place for the test and holding it up. “I’m in seat 2434!”

 

“Ah, shame,” Izumi sighed, taking out her own entrance slip and displaying the number on it with an almost apologetic smile. “3456. So close, yet so far… Well, I suppose fate isn’t with us today, Uraraka-san.”

 

“Ah… yeah…” Ochako murmured, looking suddenly quite down at the thought of not being sat near Izumi- to the point that Izumi actually pulled out her phone and held it out to the other girl.

 

“Here, drop me a line, would you? Be a shame to lose contact with a girl like you so soon after we first met,” Izumi smirked, a slight rush of air coming from her nose in an aborted laugh as she waited patiently for Ochako to input her contact details and write down Izumi’s number in her own phone. 

 

“R-right! Yeah, I’ll do that!”

 

“Good. Now- let’s do our best, shall we?”

 

“Plus Ultra!”

 

“Plus Ultra indeed.”

Chapter Text

Izumi stretched idly as she took in the massive gate before her. Just beyond the walls that surrounded the testing grounds she could see the tips of simulated skyscrapers and buildings- concrete boxes with only the barest suggestion of an interior, rows upon rows of false cityscape meant to be used as cover, easily destroyed and just as easily repaired.

 

She didn’t see Katsumi anywhere near her, and that was just as well- Agni knew they were competitive at the best of times, and in a high stress environment like this? Well, they’d be doing their damndest to outcompete the other even with the two of them separated into entirely different testing centers. She did, however, see a few interesting people around her- the tense blue haired guy in the glasses who’d spoken up without an ounce of self awareness or embarrassment during the introductory speech for the written exam- something about how the zero-pointer robot had been listed on the pamphlet but not immediately brought up by Present Mic, despite him obviously leading up to it. 

 

Clearly, someone hadn’t done their pre-exam research. After all, UA’s entrance exam hadn’t changed in nearly a decade- or rather, its seasonal entrance exams operated on a fixed schedule and she’d had more than enough time to prep for all of the available situations, and despite not knowing the exact layout of the testing grounds nor what testing ground she’d be located in up until the day that she’d gotten her seating assignment, there was absolutely no need to fret about what was going to happen.

 

Still, though, there was an undercurrent of tension running through the entire group, and as Azula got into position near the front of the pack- not too close to make it seem like she was trying to chomp at the bit, but not too far in the middle to make getting trampled a possibility- she could see a few people doing their best to psych themselves up. Most of them, she already knew, wouldn’t make the cut. Their stances were too nervous, their builds a little too inexperienced. Some of them looked like they were gonna throw up. And then there were people like her- approaching the entire situation with a cool head and utmost confidence.

 

No guarantee that they’d get in, but feeling assured enough that it would happen all the same.

 

Izumi paid no attention to it, though, ignoring all around her- even Ochako, who was currently psyching herself up to the best of her ability in her adorable black and pink tracksuit. Izumi, meanwhile, simply stretched, psyched herself up, and made sure that her sports bra wasn’t pinching or chafing anywhere.

 

“Alright Izumi… just like you practiced a dozen times before. Years of training have gone into this…” she whispered, bouncing lightly on her toes- already going through those same circular motions she practiced every day, gathering energy in a way that she had not released in years- after all, her mother would have disapproved, but this was… a special occasion. One that required a stronger touch than the usual training sessions or after school fights.

 

“ALRIGHT LISTENERS! ARE YOU READY!? YOU GOT TEN MINUTES! START!”

 

And like that, they were off.

 

No countdown, no warning, just a loud buzzer and an immediate crush of people rushing to be first into the testing field and the sound of shouting and warcries. There was no order, no sense of unity or camaraderie, just the sheer sound of feet pounding against the ground in total chaos, followed shortly after by the screeches and wails of robots being torn apart one by one.

 

Izumi, of course, found herself at the head of the pack- she naturally headed for the far side of the arena as fast as she could in order to outpace everyone else. With a grunt of effort, she boosted herself high into the air and took in the bright february sun- so much stronger and heavier than back home, it felt- a shining star that pierced her with warm rays and made her energized as though she were at the equator at the peak of Sozin’s Comet, even with the cool winter air holding her back. But her flames were bright and blue and concentrated to the point that she could cut through steel if she wanted, breathing deep as she flew high up upon jets of flame and used her momentum to springboard off of the narrow walls of the alleys and streets around her- high above the commotion of prospective UA students grappling to be on top.

 

She let them have their fun, though, and instead climbed higher. Higher. Higher

 

A brilliant corona of flame surrounded her feet and carried her aloft as though she were a rocket- highschool physics had been a boon to the sheer breadth of abilities she could bring to bear as a firebender, she could now hold herself aloft for nearly five whole minutes and achieve flight that only the oldest gurus of the Air Nomads and the strongest of firebenders empowered by Sozin’s Comet could accomplish.

 

Higher and higher, until she had a view over the entire battlefield at the top of one of the skyscrapers in the testing arena.

 

And then- she focused.

 

Her arms moved in a pattern that she’d known all her previous life ever since she was a young girl, still under the thumb of her father, a slave to her neuroses and the pressures of the Fire Lord’s court. A slow, measured circle with her arms, energy gathering, building, crackling, splitting, forming, charging .

 

It wasn’t necessary, of course, the theatrics. The spectacle. The slowly building brilliant, actinic glow of sparking electricity grounding itself onto whatever particles in the air there were. She didn’t have to move so slowly, to make everyone see the brilliant blue star that she was as her influence on the world almost caused storm clouds to gather just from the sheer energy she was pouring into this singular, decisive, all consuming strike.

 

An attack that she’d practiced for years but never quite let go, something that she’d trained and trained for the moment she learned what the UA exams generally consisted of. Hours upon hours spent in sand lots and desolate parking lots with Katsumi, focusing on cheap garbage electronics and feeling for their imprint on the chi of the world around them- all things with electricity had a signal, she knew. All things that could output power on the world in some way had similar signals coming off of them- a crackling feeling she could neither put into words nor explain in a way that wouldn’t make her sound horribly dated and backwards in today’s modern society. It was a siren call to her own chi, separated as it was into positive and negative and blazing with her internal fire- trained up over fourteen years of life, reaching heights that her old self before her life went to pieces would have found utterly unimaginable. But then again, she was always a quick study. Blue fire, lightning bending, more power than even her father up until the point that Sozin’s Comet had come. Practically perfect in every single way, up until the point that she’d lost her drive for that similar perfection and settled for a life in the shadows.

 

She focused her energies, sending out invisible streamers of positively charged chi out to the strongest electric signals in the area (and, thankfully, keeping enough of her focus on the world around her to ignore the false alarm that was the one other person in the arena with some kind of electric Quirk) while building up more and more negatively charged chi within her core. Absolute focus reigned supreme as the sparking corona of lightning around her flared brighter and brighter- many of her targets were quick to be snuffed out, of course, with distracted examinees leaving their respective robots open to be snatched away by those with their heads still in the game.

 

A moment of breath and a tiniest of pauses, and Izumi unleashed lightning upon the world.

 

Testing Ground B lit up in a corona of electric death , and yet despite the sheer force of her blast, the sheer spread and reach of her lightning as it followed the trails and paths she’d laid out with her chi streamers, nothing else was harmed, save for the robots that she demolished by the dozens , spread out over multiple city blocks- every single one of them electrocuted to the point of being reduced to a smoking, charred wreck on the ground. Nothing else exploded, nothing was shocked or burned, no one was put in harm’s way, all thanks to her singular focus and the fact that the lightning had been severely weakened by being turned into essentially scattered homing missiles.

 

Izumi panted quietly, coughing from the sudden strain upon her chi reserves, and landed down upon the rooftop she’d been hovering over- spent, drained, but not out of it yet.

 

She just… needed a breather. Yeah. Give her a minute, she’d be up in just a moment.

Chapter Text

When Izumi had gathered her breath, six of the ten minutes of the practical exam had passed already, and yet she was relaxed. By her count, she’d scored well over thirty six robot kills of varying types, meaning that her villain points were almost assuredly through the roof. And, although she really wanted to go further and cause carnage- she had a different mission in store. After all, with her massive lead in points, she could afford to change tactics entirely and gain a few rescue points- she’d probably technically scored a few just with her ridiculously flashy and time consuming opening shot, but she needed more. After all, she couldn’t let Katsumi win their little competition without fighting back, now could she?

 

And thus, she ran through the false city with as much energy as she could spare- half of her reserves had gone into that one attack, and yet as she breathed and focused her energy, as she let the sun shine down on her and bring heat and life to her skin… she could feel her will of chi burning brighter and brighter. Four minutes, though. How many rescue points could she possibly score in that time?

 

Well, no time like the present to start.

 

With jet boosted jumps and loud grunts of effort, Izumi threw herself into the air once again- it wasn’t exactly the most efficient of methods, but she knew damn well that Katsumi used her own explosions to propel herself and she wanted to do the same. Besides- was it so wrong for her to want to feel the wind on her face and through her hair? No. Of course not.

 

“Careful!” Izumi called out as she all but flew into an alleyway, slamming feet first down upon the head of a one-pointer to keep a boy from being trapped in a pincer maneuver- bad form with the sword arms, using such large blades would only be a hindrance in such a narrow area. Without another word she leapt off of the now damaged robot and left the boy to his own devices, the heat of her ascent destroying its head and leaving it sparking on the ground while she jumped back up and continued on.

 

This went on and on for the next two minutes- Izumi wasn’t exactly as adept at high speed flight as Katsumi was, with her flames more being about steady output than explosive bursts of high speed and acceleration, but she more than made up for it by just flame boosting herself off of the walls like a burning pinball, zooming about all over the place as she smashed through robots, tackled wayward contestants out of the way of certain attacks, used her lightning sparingly to target specific joints and limbs to help others disable their targets if they were having trouble- it wasn’t anything strenuous, of course, and although she didn’t have any real altruistic motive for it… it was kind of nice to hear a few quiet calls of gratitude as she ran off to go do her thing elsewhere. 

 

It was the kind of thing that’d make her mother happy, she was sure. The idea of being a hero, helping others, that is. 

 

Naturally, after those all too short two minutes had passed- Present Mic calling out the time every now and then- things went to shit. Not for her of course, but she’d seen more than a few hopefuls drop to their knees and wail about not scoring enough points or whatever. That, and a massive zero-pointer robot had been released into the city- already seemingly damaged from the lightning alpha strike she’d performed mere minutes prior, but still functional… albeit a bit scorched.

 

Izumi shuddered as the massive green, tank-like robot smashed through the artificial skyscrapers and tried not to let her stomach drop- wasn’t that a little too much!? A giant robot was one thing- she’d heard about them in her old life back when she was an old hag living in some no-name fire nation border village in the mud and sticks- but to see one so huge, so bulky, so powerful and armored that she didn’t even know if she could damage the thing with her regular attacks?

 

It kind of scared her.

 

But more than anything, it made her want to run.

 

But she couldn’t.

 

Her senses dimmed- everything seemed to fade to black around her as she tuned out all of the other contestants running away from the zero-point robot that towered over everything as it smashed through concrete and its treads tore up the road around them. She focused down at the pile of rubble that had been knocked down near the robot’s treads- it was rolling forward as surely as an oncoming earthquake, so certain and earth-shakingly powerful that she couldn’t even imagine what someone weaker than her would do in the face of its wrath. There were the scattered remnants of a few broken robots around- one, two, and three-point villains crushed by falling debris and the actions of her fellow would-be UA examinees.

 

But, it wasn’t the robots she was focused on.

 

No, it was the two people down by the pile of rubble- a boy with purple hair, a sleeveless black tracksuit (no, the sleeves were ripped off, but why?), and a look of abject sleep deprivation on his face. He was sweating, desperately trying to pull someone out of the way but to no avail. He wasn’t strong enough- and it showed. He was exhausted , and the way his limbs shook and his body looked like he was about to keel over and throw up? 

 

Well, the person he was trying to rescue was much the same, but Izumi… Izumi felt a little worse about that one. 

 

Uraraka Ochako, completely on her last legs, forehead drenched in sweat, her tracksuit dirtied and ruined by a bad fall and the crush of rubble nearly flattening her were it not for her quick reflexes, soaked in vomit down her front for some unknown reason (Quirk backlash?), barely clinging to consciousness as the purple haired boy tried to tug her trapped leg out of the shattered pile of concrete and mechanical parts keeping it trapped.

 

It was clear that neither of them were going to get out of the way in time- the purple haired boy kept saying something about not enough points, deliriously trying to get Ochako out of a pile of rubble he was nowhere near strong enough to budge, shaking and trembling with effort, while Ochako just wheezed and begged for him to save himself instead.

 

She couldn’t do nothing . This was… Ochako was… a friend. Someone she’d shared a moment with. Just a smile- a happy little conversation. 

 

Heroes didn’t leave friends behind, no matter how much she wanted to run away out of her instinctive, primal fear of something so large, so dangerous headed her way.

 

Izumi gritted her teeth, ran forward, and shook her head. What was she doing? She didn’t even know if her strongest blast could dent such a massive robot let alone break it- but she had to try.

 

She’d practiced it for so long- her past life’s skills not quite transferring over to her new body completely, as she’d only begun practicing in her old age when her health had begun to fail and her joints were no longer spry nor fit to act as she used to. Her chi control had been muddied by age and the onset of senility, but she’d retained enough of those memories to give herself a head start in her current life. But she’d never used it for real- too much collateral damage even in the weakest of blasts, too much risk of self injury and too much risk of shrapnel or hitting something she hadn’t intended.

 

But she had to use it now.

 

Izumi grunted with effort as she slid to a halt by the purple haired boy, gritting her teeth and focusing up at the massive robot while the boy himself seemed to try and draw up some inner strength left inside of his rather scrawny, but still surprisingly muscled body.

 

And with an upwards glare, an invisible, telekinetic beam of pure, condensed, fiery chi all but exploded from her forehead, the only sign of its presence being the whisper quiet shockwave of its formation, and the sparking pop pop pop as it traveled through the air- the tiniest bits of its containment flaking off from inefficiencies and giving her a good judge of where it was and where it was traveling.

 

But with such a large target and a straight line path… She didn’t need to try and guide it.

 

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

 

The zero pointer exploded in a ball of fire and steel, Izumi collapsing moments later from having forced nearly all of her remaining chi (well, as much as she could safely use) into her blast. It groaned and shrieked as the massive fireball tore through its mechanical body, but the force of the explosion thankfully knocked it back and left it reeling to the point that it entirely fell over- most of its front armor obliterated, rivulets of red hot steel melting down what was left, twitching and juddering before it finally shut down with a sound like a roaring jet engine finally winding to a halt.

 

And as the hulking wreck of a robot settled, Ochako came free, the purple haired boy collapsed, and the timer ended.


What a fucking intense ten minutes of her life that Izumi was never going to get back.

Chapter Text

“I think… my everything is broken,” the purple haired kid moaned out quietly, panting heavily on the ground while Ochako stumbled to her feet, lurched with a sudden look of distress on her face, and then rushed off to the side and threw up her breakfast. Again. Somehow. Despite having already thrown up twice before.

 

Izumi, of course, was much better off than the two of them- years of intense training using the memories of her past life had resulted in her being tired, but still able to stand on her own. Unlike the purple haired guy, who definitely had some broken fingers, bloodied knuckles, and also what looked like a sprained ankle, possibly from having been punching the shit out of robots for the last ten minutes without proper hand protection.

 

Rookie mistake.

 

Thankfully, UA’s onstaff medical professional, Recovery Girl, was quickly on site to kiss better any lingering injuries- Izumi kind of wanted to ask about the details of her Quirk to see what kind of drawbacks there were, if her lips ever got sore from stretching out the way they did, if she could heal without stretching her lips, etc etc, but also held her tongue because she was still quite drained from having wasted so much chi on that initial massive lightning scatter bullet.

 

It was so cool to do, but also, ow. Guiding lightning in such a manner was… hard to say the least, and even after taking the time to meditate on her feet for a few moments and bask in the sunlight, she was still running low- especially after pouring most of her remaining chi into that massive burst of combustion-bending.

 

Her forehead kind of ached now, come to think about it. Probably because her third eye chakra wasn’t exactly used to the kind of abuse that combustion-bending put on it.

 

“H-hey! You- um, excuse me, green haired lady?” Oh, the purple haired kid was talking to her. 

 

Should she call him a kid? Izumi wasn’t sure if that was rude, but she literally had some eighty years of memories on the guy even though their physical ages were the same.

 

Of course, the only thing Izumi did was raise an eyebrow at purple-hair, a tired grimace on her face as she straightened up and tried to make herself presentable despite being covered in sweat and dirt, wearing only a sports bra, yoga pants, and a light track jacket tied around her waist. 

 

Not that purple-hair was much better… or… most of them, really, given that everyone in the arena was wearing exercise clothes with the exception of the good doctor, who was currently kissing the injuries of some doofus who’d tripped over his own tiny little baby feet and broken his own ankle on a piece of rubble halfway down the street.

 

“Yes?” she asked, after a very slight pause to cock her head to the side. “I’m sorry- that was rude. What’s your name?”

 

“Shinsou- Shinsou Hitoshi,” purple-hair answered, clearing his throat awkwardly and pausing as he motioned back towards Izumi.

 

“Midoriya Izumi. So- what was that question you wanted to ask?” she spoke calmly, then waited as Hitoshi chewed his lip for a moment before asking his oh-so pressing question.

 

“... How… did you blow up the zero-pointer?” he asked, the two of them only halfway paying attention to the buzzer that told them to vacate the arena so they could reset the entire thing for the next group of examinees later that day- Ochako of course hopped up and joined them, still looking quite woozy even as she leaned on Izumi’s shoulder for support as they walked out of the arena and back to the buses that would drive them back to the testing building. “I thought your Quirk was… lightning? Wait… but… I swear I saw you-”

 

“Use fire? It’s… complicated,” Izumi rolled her eyes a bit and gently righted Ochako again after the very, very nauseous looking girl almost tripped over the step onto the bus, then set her down in one of the seats. Fortunately, the brown haired girl had her own water bottles stashed away in the little fanny pack strapped to her waist, which was probably something Izumi should have brought along as well but didn’t because the practical exam was literally only ten minutes. “My Quirk is…. Something that I can unlock more uses of over time, by theory and practice. Lightning and explosions are both basically subsets of the original fire, just expressed differently.”

 

“... I see… that’s pretty amazing- all I have right now is… some weak super strength and… ah… well, you might think it’s an odd combination, but I have some mind control abilities- er, it’s not super strong, but-” 

 

“I understand,” Izumi cut off Hitoshi’s half rambled explanation with a single sentence, holding up her hand to make sure he got the message, while Ochako just paused in the middle of chugging down water like her stomach depended on it. “It’s a Quirk that’s been deemed villainous- all mind abilities are like that. I don’t particularly care for that classification- though I do think that is an odd classification- Mind abilities and physical abilities don’t generally mix together well, much like opposing elemental powers… one usually doesn’t see a mix of fire and ice except once in a rarity… or through selective, highly illegal Quirk breeding experiments. But that’s beside the point- weak strength or not, your fortitude is certainly impressive, Shinsou-san. You stopped everything in the middle of the exam all to help get Uraraka-san out of a pile of rubble, despite your broken fingers and- I assume, since you were muttering something about it- lack of villain points. That’s commendable- the spirit of a true hero… and between the three of us…”

 

Izumi leaned forward a bit, encouraging Ochako and Hitoshi to lean in as well. The other two did so, of course, making for something of a sweaty huddle as they sort of crowded around in the bus seats. 

 

“The instructors give out rescue points- they don’t tell anyone about this because they don’t want anyone gaming the system, but anyone with half a brain who’s interviewed a few UA hopefuls knows that they’re there. It’s why I started helping others out after I did my first lightning strike, and it’s why you, Shinsou Hitoshi-san, are quite likely to pass.” 

 

Izumi paused for a moment, then pursed her lips and pulled back with a sigh, running her fingers through her messy hair bun and trying to fix it before it got even more unruly and fluffy in all the worst ways. “Honestly, you deserve it more than I do. I’m only being a hero to make my mother proud, after all.”

 

Both Hitoshi and Uraraka blinked, staring at Izumi from opposite sides with something akin to confusion, not really quite sure how to take that non sequitur. 

 

“... Is… that a bad reason? I mean, it doesn’t sound bad- it actually sounds pretty nice!” Ochako spoke up first, tilting her head in confusion and frowning as she tried to puzzle out why wanting to make her mother proud would result in Izumi not deserving a spot at UA. 

 

“It’s certainly not worse than my reason,” Hitoshi muttered, frowning as well as he held his chin in one hand, the bags under his eyes looking far more pronounced after that harrowing ten minutes.

 

Spirits above, ten minutes- Izumi shook her head ever so slightly to clear the thoughts of the exam from her head. Yes, ten minutes was a short time and being exhausted after only ten minutes was kind of pathetic but considering that she’d cast thirty six nearly full powered guided lightning bolts when trying to guide one lightning bolt resulted in it being far weaker, as well as blown up a skyscraper sized robot , she felt like she had an excuse to be tired.

 

“I’m only doing this because I’m tired of people constantly calling any kind of mind control quirk villainous and I want to prove them wrong,” Hitoshi finished, oblivious to Izumi’s internal monologue, while Ochako nodded along to the purple haired boy’s words.

 

“Uh huh! That’s totally still cool- I mean, I’m only going in so I can send money home to my parents!” Ochako shook her fists slightly, pumping them up and down as she tried to get herself fired up, only to immediately fall back in her seat and chug another mini-bottle of water along with an anti-nausea pill. “Bleehhh… stupid inner ear… everything won’t stop spinning…”

 

“... It’s complicated.” Izumi spoke up after a long moment, deciding not to go into her reasons for now- especially not to two people she didn’t really know all that well.


“I’m starting to think everything with you is complicated,” Hitoshi deadpanned, rolling his eyes before letting out a soft chuckle- soon after mirrored by Ochako’s quiet, bubbly laughter, and then, moments later, the slightly more reserved notes of Izumi joining in.

Chapter Text

“I…. HAVE ARRIVED! IN THE FORM OF A PROJECTION!”

 

Izumi winced ever so slightly at the sheer volume of her once favorite hero (sorry All Might, but just because you’re number one in Japan doesn’t mean your smile is better than Miruko’s lovely thighs) even in the form of a projection on a ridiculously high budget, expensive acceptance letter.

 

Or at least, she assumed it was an acceptance letter.

 

Be a lot of effort for a rejection, especially since the interviews she’d had over the various hero forums had stated that rejected applicants usually only got an email, or a letter at best depending on whether they failed entirely, or just failed to get into the hero course and had to go into Gen Ed instead.

 

Not that General Education was bad, of course- even with its heroics focus, UA was definitely in the top 20 schools in all of Japan.

 

“YOUNG MIDORIYA IZUMI, ALLOW ME TO OFFER YOU MY SINCEREST CONGRATULATIONS!”

 

Izumi blinked, watching as the larger than life projection of All Might stepped to the side and showed off a screen- one bearing the top ten highest scoring participants in the exam. 

 

“WITH AN ASTOUNDING SEVENTY NINE VILLAIN POINTS, YOU WOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN THE TOP SCORER THIS YEAR IN THE PRACTICAL EXAM. HOWEVER, DESPITE YOUR IMMENSE LEAD AT THE BEGINNING YOU CHOSE NOT TO CONTINUE FORWARD WITH TAKING DOWN VILLAINS AND INSTEAD SOUGHT TO HELP YOUR FELLOW EXAMINEES! THUS, WITH EIGHT RESCUES AND ASSISTS IN LESS THAN THREE MINUTES, YOU HAVE ALSO BEEN AWARDED FORTY SEVEN RESCUE POINTS!”

 

Izumi smirked behind her folded hands- just as planned. Her actions had paid off, and with a score of well over a hundred points she was now the highest scoring examinee in UA University history- or at least, since the inception of that particular iteration of the practical exam. Along with her near perfect score on the written exam (something that irked her quite a bit, with old memories twinging in the back of her mind saying that almost perfect wasn’t good enough) , it was enough to warrant her getting a special ribbon in her acceptance letter, along with a paper copy of said letter, and several forms to fill out either by hand or online. The projector itself, however, was supposed to be returned within a month’s time, either by mail or whenever she came in to UA’s costume department to get her beginning of year costume sorted out.

 

As the projection finally died down with a pithy (but, to anyone else that wasn’t Izumi, possibly quite inspiring) one liner about how this was her “hero academia”, Izumi took a deep breath and sighed quietly, leaning back in her desk chair and folding her hands behind her head- naturally, she’d prepared much of her necessary materials beforehand. School records, extra curriculars, any classes that could award general education points- the works. 

 

She pursed her lips and crossed her legs, then sat up straight so she could start typing away on her computer- first to pull up the relevant student info site, then to start working on making her student email account, all while reminiscing about the research she’d done on UA while in her last year of highschool.

 

UA was… different from most colleges, as one might expect. Although its non-hero course followed the same structure as any regular college- wherein most classes were digital attendance at best and some only required a good enough final report, and most of its gen ed students would fuck off and do as they pleased up until the point that they could move on to either a different department or graduated, its heroics related courses actually followed some of the same structure as highschool did.

 

Ergo, Izumi had to be prepared to spend possibly the next four years or more with a bunch of people she didn’t really know, possibly might hate, and work with them in order to achieve her goal in life.

 

But that was beside the point.

 

First, she had to prepare for the next month or so- after all, there was a lot of work to be done, a dorm to get used to, a costume to make, a student ID to get printed, so on and so forth, on and on in a list of tedium that made Izumi glad that her mother didn’t have to pay much in the way of tuition for such a prestigious and well regarded university.

 

And- speaking of her mother…

 

Izumi stood and made her way over to the door of her room, smiling softly as she opened the door and peered out into the hallway.

 

There she was, standing at the edge of the living room, nervously wringing her hands despite Izumi’s repeated and numerous assurances earlier. 

 

Midoriya Inko.

 

Soft, round, short. Izumi shared almost nothing in common with her mother save for some of their facial structure and her hair color, but even with all of the experience and vitriol and hatred her past self could muster at even the idea of mothers in general…

 

Midoriya Izumi loved her mother very, very much. How could she not? Even spoiled princess Azula, disgraced vagabond Azula, lonely old lady Azula couldn’t bring herself to speak so much as an ill word against the woman who’d brought Izumi into this world.

 

Midoriya Inko was calm, kind, patient. She cared and worried and cried a little too much, and always was there to lend a helping hand. She was soft, and round, and short, and unlike Ursa in so many ways- but she had love. 

 

So much love that Izumi could barely handle it sometimes.

 

As her mother stood there, nervously wringing her hands, Izumi took a quiet breath and collected herself, giving a small, reassuring smile as she held up the folded up slip of paper that held her acceptance letter.

 

Inko gasped, and Izumi’s smile became ever so slightly more fragile as her mother darted forward, tears streaming from her eyes.

 

“I-is it? Did you-!? A-are-?”

 

“Yes, mother,” Izumi murmured, leaning forward at the same time and catching her mother in a soft, gentle hug, not at all caring about her mother’s tears staining her shirt. “I’m… I got in. I’m going to be a hero.”

 

Inko wailed, clutching Izumi all the tighter as she blubbered on with tears of happiness, Izumi tearing up as well as she relaxed in her mother’s soft, warm grip.

 

“I-I’m so proud of you, Izumi!”

 

“I- Thank you, mother.”

Chapter Text

“Fucking Zuzu, do you even know how to use a goddamn rope dart!?” Katsumi all but exploded upon Izumi as they paced around the empty lot that they used for their training ground- a once thriving and wonderful little konbini that had sadly gone out of business after being demolished in a villain attack. Clearing out the rubble had been excellent calisthenics and muscle building, and as an expression of gratitude, the man who’d formerly owned the building allowed them to use said area as a training ground as long as they agreed to keep it maintained and helped stock the vending machines he’d installed. 

 

But that was beside the point. What was currently happening was that Izumi was stretching and twisting about in the cotton and canvas outfit her mother had so thoughtfully made for her- she’d never use it, of course, but the thought was nice and it’d provide a wonderful base for the UA Costume Department to work off of- especially with all of the addons and attachments and support equipment that Izumi would need to truly maximize her potential going forward.

 

One thing of which was the need for a sidearm, should her bending be restricted or weakened or should the risk of collateral damage be too high. Hence, taking somewhat of a page out of the underground hero Eraserhead’s book and modeling a rope dart off of his capture weapon. It, amongst other things (Emergency medical supplies, rations, a set of small throwing knives modeled after Mai’s in her previous life, and some hidden weapons here and there) formed a set of supplies that she had no way of properly obtaining at the moment outside of the basics of a first aid kit, but seriously wanted.

 

Hence why she was currently fashioning a jury rigged rope dart out of a length of climbing rope she’d foraged out of the Dagobah Beach dumping grounds (well, before some nutcase had somehow cleaned the entire beach over the course of a year and some change ago) and a vaguely properly shaped hunk of metal that she’d sliced off of a junked car fender from the same beach. How and why she’d clung onto these materials over an entire year was beyond her, but they were sure coming in handy now.

 

“I don’t, but it’s a piece of metal on a string. It can’t possibly be that hard to learn when you have my level of hand-eye coordination,” Izumi mentioned idly, confidence and smugness filling her voice as she twirled the weight in one hand, already beginning to spin it on the end of its rope and going through the motions of a routine she’d memorized and practiced in her room for a few hours before coming out here. “But enough about me, Katsumi. What about you? What sort of ill advised grenade themed items are you adding to your costume? Please tell me you’re still going for those oversized bracers you thought were a good idea back in high school- Those were so cute on you.”

 

“I can hear the sarcasm in your voice and I hate you for it,” Katsumi hissed, her voice sparking with suppressed vitriol almost like a burning fuse- though she didn’t explode yet. After all, a bit of banter was only expected from the green haired girl. She liked to talk as much as a fish loved water, and Katsumi was more than content enough to see her trip over her own words whenever she invariably came up against something she wasn’t a prodigy at. Like social interaction with anyone who wasn’t immediately awed by her presence. Or swimming.

 

Well, watching her best (and, honestly, considering how she acted in school, kinda only) friend suck at swimming was funny up until the point that she’d nearly drowned when she was six. That kind of took the fun out of it.

 

“Yes, and what are you going to do about it, Katsumi?” Izumi asked, ducking down low as she continued spinning the dart lazily around her body, holding it with remarkable finesse despite having only just started using it for real- then again, it wasn’t like she was trying to use it at its full potential yet, just that she was going through the same motions that the girl in the dance video had gone through, more or less. Her natural hand-eye coordination and athletic physique did wonders for getting the dart to behave, though Izumi knew damn well that she’d actually have to practice in order for the dart to be anything more than a glorified grappling hook. That happened to be on fire.

 

“I… am going to kick your ass ,” the sparking blonde girl responded, a nasty grin coming on her face as she threw her winter jacket aside and started heating up- her body’s sweat coming alive in pops and crackles as she dropped into a ready position. “Today’s the day that I finally fucking beat you, you cocky bi-!”

 

“Ah- that’s going to have to wait, actually,” Izumi cleared her throat, doing a complicated little twist and letting the dart fall back into her hand whilst she coiled up the rope and dropped it into her bag. “I don’t want to get this costume dirty- my mother made it, you know. And I’d so hate to damage it.”

 

“Yeah, you’re a little momma’s girl, I get it already,” Katsumi grumbled, thoroughly disappointed by Izumi’s lack of fighting spirit and plopping back down onto the railing she’d been sitting on with a grimace. “Can’t believe everyone at school thought you were some tough shit hard bitch when you can’t even think about making your mom sad without crying about it. Tch, it’d be pathetic if I hadn’t seen what you did to Kumomori sophomore year.”

 

“He was asking for it, and he learned a valuable lesson from the experience,” Izumi spoke idly, though Katsumi could feel the sudden fragile chill that suffused into the air as though Izumi had projected an aura of danger out into the world just with her tone of voice and the way she held herself, like lightning about to strike or an inferno about to roar. “Nobody gets away with insulting my mother. Nobody .”

 

“... Anyone ever tell you that you’re insane?” Katsumi asked, raising an eyebrow as Izumi’s fist suddenly dramatically flared with flame, highlighting her face and predatory golden eyes with a pale blue light that seemed almost otherworldly with how clean and bright it was- a pure blue, almost cold but radiating even more intense heat than the strongest of Katsumi’s explosions. “Because you’re fucking nuts, Zuzu. Just an absolute sack of issues- not that I get how considering you’ve got like the nicest fucking mom on the face of the planet.”

 

“It’s complicated, but let’s just chalk it up to my father,” Izumi mentioned idly, then sighed as she packed up her things while checking her phone. “Anyway, I’ve got to go. We’ll continue this little spat later, once I’ve changed and gotten my costume designs submitted. Have you done yours yet? You never quite answered me before you challenged me to an ill-advised fight.”

 

“Of course I did, what do you think I am, stupid!?”

 

“Just asking~”

Chapter Text

“And you’re sure about the design?” the man in charge of managing incoming students’ costume requests for UA’s costuming department asked, raising an eyebrow at the clearly handmade look of Izumi’s costume as she spun around in place so they could get clear and accurate reference photos of the entire thing. After a moment, she began stripping out of said costume and packing it back into the duffel bag she’d brought it in so she could change back into her regular clothes.

 

“Yes, I’m quite sure,” Izumi answered coolly, raising an eyebrow at the man (whose name was clearly written on a nametag, but whom she did not care at all to learn the name of since she likely wouldn’t see him again once the school year started). “I’ve been working on the base design for years, you know. And I couldn’t bear to part with such a clear and iconic design, especially when my dear mother put so much effort into making this for me.”

 

“Right, well, it’s just that there’s certain expectations of female heroes…” the man prodded lightly, motioning at the mannequins set up around the office bearing a number of spandex-like outfits meant to mold to the body shapes of both men and women alike. “The fashion these days is to have at least a little skin showing, you know.”

 

Izumi snorted, narrowing her eyes at the man (who, she honestly thought she might have to not call “the man” in her head- what was his name… Hiroshi? Sure, that’d work) and almost curled her lip into a sneer at the thought of frivolously prancing around like some of those so-called Pro Heroines who spent more time whoring themselves out for fashion magazines and skincare ads than they did actually putting in the work to make the world a better place. 

 

She blinked ever so slightly and pulled back her train of thought- no, her mother wouldn’t approve of that. They had to make money like everyone else, didn’t they? It was only rational that they’d leverage their good looks and assets for that purpose. And even then, she couldn’t call every heroine in spandex a floozy who spent more time on their makeup than on their combat skills- after all, she kept a life sized poster of Mirko on the inside of her door (and… embarrassingly, practiced kissing on it at least once…. And also she had that dakimakura of Midnight’s third year outfit before the Hero Commission forced her to cover more than just her crotch and nipples that she… er…) and had a number of other heroines that she looked up to- most of whom also had thin or revealing outfits that showed off their skin.

 

But then again, Izumi was a woman of practicality first, fashion second. 

 

Some skin could show, but where exactly that was… well, Izumi didn’t particularly care. She needed armor to keep her organs protected and freedom of movement- anything else was largely just fluff and circumstance.

 

“I would prefer to have a long and fruitful career as an active heroine, Hiroshi-san. If I want to show some skin, I will have a thorough review session with the people in charge of creating and updating my costume as I learn and advance through my years of schooling,” Izumi spoke, keeping her sharp, biting words to a minimum as she tossed her hair lightly and gave the man across from her a look of superior boredom that she’d long since perfected a literal lifetime ago. “But for now, I’ll forego sex appeal in favor of practicality. Now- you have my measurements, my list of requirements, my notes, and a scan of my costume. Is there anything else you need or shall I return to my dorm so I can start unpacking?”

 

Hiroshi gulped, and although he looked like he wanted to say more, he wisely didn’t.

 

Smart man.

 

“A-ah, no, that’ll be all- everything here looks in order… your costume will be ready for you by the beginning of the semester, Midoriya-san!”

 

“Good. I’ll leave you be, then,” Izumi nodded, strolling out of the rather chilly office and out onto the UA grounds once more- the costume design department was an honestly quite small building compared to the rest of the school, what with how it was barely a two story warehouse connected to the larger support department warehouses. The grounds themselves were much more impressive- massive swathes of greenery and open pathways, beautiful landscaping and fountains built to impress anyone who stopped by. It was a monument to excess and modern architecture in many ways, but it was well constructed and given the size of its student body and what they did there… it was worth the excess. 

 

Izumi sighed and enjoyed the slowly warming weather of spring as she strolled down one of the many pathways twisting and winding through the school grounds. It was like a breath of fresh air, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city just outside the protective walls that kept nosy journalists off the main campus, despite just being barely more than a few hundred meters away from said city.

 

There were quite a few students milling about- lanyards on prominent display, as hers was- their outfits as varied and colorful as she could imagine. UA didn’t enforce a uniform policy, just like any other university, though by and large hero course students tended to wear pretty similar things- the UA gym uniforms, of course, were quite a common sight, as were the hero course varsity jackets (one of which Izumi had purchased and was currently wearing at the moment. The nice white one with the blue and red accents), alongside some other hallmarks of the hero course, such as having personalized hero equipment or costume pieces on.

 

“Mmm… I could get used to living here,” Izumi murmured quietly, her shoulders untensing as she walked along, bag slung over her shoulder and a light smile upon her face. The sun was warm, the school grounds had a quiet susurrus of activity in the background, and although it wasn’t quite orientation week yet, she could already see the numerous stands and awnings being set up in preparation for what was sure to be a hell of pep rallies and club activities- all of which were primarily focused on the gen ed students, of course. Heroics had a much more… hands on and focused curriculum that required an orientation separate from the gen ed classes.

 

Izumi almost wished she’d be able to attend some of the extracurriculars that the general education students could, but then again… she was more of an enjoyer of the arts, not a performer. If she were Ty Lee, though… well. Then she’d have probably gotten a girlfriend by now, instead of having probably scared off literally everyone that was even remotely interested back in highschool. But also if she were Ty Lee then she probably would have had an interest in the acrobatics club that seemed to be setting up on one of the grassy patches.

 

After a moment’s distraction, though, Izumi finally cleared her head, looked around one last time, and headed off for the dorms on the other side of the grounds- just barely visible past the gleaming glass towers that made up the bulk of UA’s heroics facilities. After all- her mother was still there, and she still needed to unpack the things she’d brought with her.

Chapter Text

“Oh, Izumi! I’m so proud of you! I’m going to miss you so much! Oh you’re all grown up now!” Inko blurted out, almost blubbering as she held Izumi in something almost resembling a death grip, her tears flowing freely as the two of them stood in the middle of Izumi’s new dorm room- unlike the vast majority of other colleges, it was thankfully a single room with plenty of space for a variety of amenities. Bathrooms, living spaces, and entertainment systems were still shared, though, but that was fine. What was currently more important was the fact that Izumi was desperately trying not to cry like a little bitch in a dorm full of other people despite the fact that there was no one currently around- even then, the girls’ dorm wasn’t exactly all that full. 

 

“M-mother… I- come on… I’ll- I’ll still see you on weekends,” Izumi sniffled back, firmly wrapping her arms around her mother’s waist and grimacing as she pressed her face into Inko’s hair, tears starting to flow as her mother’s emotions completely broke down her usual iron grip on her own feelings. “A-and I’ll call you too! As much as I can, every day after classes, even! I-I promise!”

 

Naturally, despite her promises to stay in touch, Inko only blubbered harder, with Izumi hanging on and very quietly crying as well as she did her absolute best to reign in her impulses to just cry as loudly as her mother- she had a reputation to forge and uphold, and no matter how much she wanted to just hang onto the woman who’d raised her in this life, taught her right and wrong, lifted her spirits and kept her sane when her entire past life was on the verge of snapping her fragile sense of self in half in a wave of fire and blood. She wanted to hang onto this soft, short woman who’d bore her current self, to cry into her mother’s hair forever until all her worries and stresses and all the little insecurities biting at her faded away.

 

But it couldn’t last forever. 

 

Even with the two of them babbling out assurances to each other- Inko promising to always make Izumi’s favorite foods when she came home, to send care packages and clothes and to help her bring over some of the other stuff in her room later on, and Izumi promising to stay in contact and to study hard and get good grades and stay healthy- eventually Inko had to let go, as much as she didn’t want to, and Izumi had to tearfully say her goodbyes to her mother. For now, at least.

 

Even though her home wasn’t actually that far from UA.

 

And she could have just commuted to class in the mornings like she had all during highschool, just on a different train line.

 

Dammit.

 

Damn UA to the depths of whatever hell there was for having a policy of hero course students staying in dorms for the entire course of their education. Oh well, it was too late now. She was here, fully unpacked, and now…

 

Izumi sighed as she took her mother’s hand and helped lead her down the hallways of the dorm building (the layout of which she’d already memorized once she’d had the time to get a good look at the fire escape routes), through the tangle of students crying out and shouting as boxes moved through the halls and nearly missed colliding with the walls- there were parents and people, a choked hazardous sprawl of people and items that Izumi deftly stepped around and made sure to guide her mother through with the utmost care.

 

She knew it wasn’t as bad as it could be, though- even with all of these girls whom she’d likely never really get to know or see after orientation week with how their schedules would work around each other, at least it wasn’t the male side of the dorm. She could hear the shouting through the walls, and it sounded absolutely deafening.

 

After several minutes of awkward maneuvering, a few gentle shoves here and there, and more than a few pauses to let people with large amounts of luggage pass by… Izumi stood at the entrance to the dorms, a small frown on her face as she held onto Inko’s hands.

 

“Mothe- Mom. I… I guess this is goodbye for now,” Izumi spoke quietly, eyes downcast and voice full and thick with emotion. She wanted to keep crying, to hug her mother close again but… well. If they did that, she’d never let go. And her mother did still have to go back to her workplace soon.

 

She swallowed and looked up after a moment, meeting the eyes of her mother… and she smiled. The look on her mother’s face was sad, but also proud. Gentle, loving. Kind. A million things that all blended together and said I love you

 

Izumi sniffled and smiled a little wider in response to Inko’s warmth. Her hands squeezed Inko’s just a bit, then pulled away. 

 

“I’m gonna miss you. But… I’ll keep in touch. And- well. I suppose I already said everything earlier, didn’t I?” Izumi chuckled dryly, twitching ever so slightly as Inko reached up and placed a gentle hand on Izumi’s cheek.

 

“Be careful, Izumi. Be safe, and please- remember to eat regularly. No more starving yourself because you think I want to see perfect grades across the board, okay?” Inko smiled softly, patting Izumi’s cheek with the utmost care and brushing away a stray tear with the pad of her thumb. She held that position for several moments, simply savoring her last moments with her daughter for the time being, and then…

 

All too soon, Izumi watched her mother, Midoriya Inko turn away and disappear into the confines of the shuttle bus that would take her back to the train station. She sighed quietly, feeling a sudden loneliness in her heart. Idly, Izumi clenched a fist over her chest, as though it would alleviate the pain- but it didn’t. Not really. But she knew it would fade in time. After all- she wasn’t too far from home, not really. She could go back whenever she wanted, spend the day with her mother.

 

Yes- it hurt for now, but she’d be back home again soon, within a week. 

 

With another quiet sigh, Izumi turned back into the dorm and shut the door behind her, ready to go back to her room and relax for a bit with one of her manga and-

 

“Aww, you and your mom are so cute! You must love each other a lot, huh?” an invisible voice called out suddenly from right beside her what the fuck!?

 

“GAH! WHAT THE-!?”

 

Fwoosh

 

“EEP!”

Chapter Text

Barring the… unfortunate incident in which she’d almost set a far too nosy invisible girl on fire (how on earth Hagakure Tooru had managed to get into the heroics class was beyond Izumi’s comprehension, but she at least had the reflexes to cartwheel out of the way of Izumi’s reflexive burst of flame), the whole week up until the point that classes began was… slow. Measured. There were a few campus tours that Izumi took part in, a few extracurricular activities that she could fit into her schedule if she truly desired, and she’d even taken the time to meet some of her dorm-mates. Well- those on the same floor, at least.

 

Apparently she was sharing a floor with the Yaoyorozu Momo, heiress of the Yaoyorozu fortune. What such a rich girl was doing in the heroics course wasn’t something Izumi had known, but apparently she was doing it because she was genuinely just a helpful person.

 

Izumi kind of wished she had as much overt goodwill towards humanity as Momo did, but hadn’t admitted that to the rich girl’s face.

 

Most of the other people on the floor were… well. Normal. They were perfectly average people, most of whom weren’t in the same heroics class that she was in. She probably wouldn’t see most of them much, given that their schedules would be busy and full of the stresses and rigors of training to become a pro hero. 

 

After her introductions and the campus tours, though, Izumi had simply spent the week… not quite relaxing- no, even in this new life of hers, her old habits still leaked through. It was hard for her to relax when there were still things to do. She’d met up with Katsumi- also on the same floor, though the fiery blonde’s room was down the hall next to the bathrooms, rather than nearer to the trash chute like Izumi’s was- and had a few spars with her sans Quirks in the nearest hero course gym.

 

Katsumi, of course, was a long way off from being able to match up to Izumi’s sheer mastery of firebending forms, but her sheer ferocity and natural talent for hand to hand combat almost made up the difference.

 

Almost.

 

Izumi actually rather looked forward to the day that Katsumi started to take martial arts seriously instead of just swinging wildly and hoping that she blew something up as a result. Maybe then she’d be an actual challenge to fight. Like Ojiro Mashirao. 

 

She’d met the rather plain looking boy in the gym after Katsumi had gone and stormed off after her fifth consecutive loss that day and the two of them had spoken about martial arts- Mashirao practiced a variant of karate that involved the use of one’s tail, part of which he’d modified on his own to deal with the unique shape and musculature of his tail, most of which he’d learned from a dojo near his home. 

 

When he’d asked, Izumi had explained her way of movements as being a mix of styles from all over- Northern Shaolin for most of it, with a few of Izumi’s special touches here and there, along with Southern Dragon Claw and Xingyiquan. 

 

It was actually quite uncanny as to how closely those martial arts mirrored the firebending forms, but Izumi didn’t particularly dwell on the implications, she just needed them as an excuse for why she moved the way she did when she couldn’t just say that she had the mind and memories of an old woman who’d died in another world and inherited her prodigious skill with wielding flames.

 

That said, Mashirao had been nice, in Izumi’s opinion. He was honest, plain, he worked hard and didn’t complain too much- hell, he even gave her a proper challenge for the first time since ever really. It was nice to just… be able to fight someone on equal footing- in fact, it was even nicer to fight someone when she was on the back foot. It made her victories feel earned , instead of just having spent over a decade learning and adapting to Katsumi’s ever changing fighting style. 

 

He still stared at her chest a little bit much, but then again, she’d only been wearing a sports bra whilst fighting with Katsumi, so… well. At least he tried to be a gentleman about it.

 

Soon enough, though, the week before classes came to an end after quite a lot of preparation, buying of school merchandise, and getting all of her affairs in order for when classes truly began. Izumi had uploaded her schedule to her phone, had it printed out and taped over her desk, and made sure everything was spick and span, all perfect and ready for the very first day.

 

Izumi sighed quietly as she sat down at her desk, idly paging through one of the manga she’d brought with her and whiling away the hours- soon enough, it’d be time to sleep, and in the morning would be time for class. The same rigid system she’d known for all her years of highschool, repeated almost verbatim now for college- but that was alright. As long as the education was as quality as she’d heard it was… well, she’d cope. She’d survived it for four years already, what was another four? 

 

Honestly, as she thought about the curriculum she’d gotten from the registrar, she’d have a lot to do anyway- new moves, training her bending to have it reach new heights of power, precision, and speed… maybe she’d come up with new forms of firebending that no one else had before- like that Bei Fong girl had done when she created metalbending. Actually… 

 

Izumi looked down at the manga in her hands, looking at the brightly colored lasers dancing across the page (well, they were monochrome, but the anime had much nicer visual effects). Slowly, an idea came unbidden to her mind- it’d likely take an unholy amount of effort to figure out how to do it… but… ooh, if she could…

 

Slowly, Izumi began to chuckle as she pulled out a notebook from her desk drawer- the latest in a long line of volumes similar to those before it. Her quirk analysis notebook volume 30 gained a new entry that day, and Izumi smiled as she went to bed later that night.

 

She had a goal to work towards, and a bright future waiting for her in the morning.

Chapter Text

“You’ve already had freshman orientation last week, so we’ll be skipping that ceremony today,” came the tired voice of one Aizawa Shouta- a tired, haggard looking man wrapped up in a yellow sleeping bag, sipping on pouches of nutrient juice and who’d barely written his name on the chalkboard before he dropped that bomb. “The hero course is on an accelerated curriculum, so we have no time to waste. All of your general education will be taking place within your freshman year, as opposed to spread out based on whatever free slots a general education major would have. Hence, why the class structure is so reminiscent of highschool. Regardless- we’ll be doing a Quirk Assessment test in lieu of a useless orientation ceremony. Everyone, change into whatever gym clothes you have and meet me on field Beta in the next fifteen minutes. If any of you are late, I’m expelling you from my class.”

 

Amidst the sudden outcry of the other 1-A students protesting their teacher’s sudden threat of expulsion, Izumi just nodded without saying anything. After all, heroics was an intensely high stress occupation- even for those who spent more time doing modeling shoots than they did actually patrolling, when they did go out and fight crime they often had to do so knowing that some villains would respond with lethal force, or that their abilities wouldn’t work in those situations, or that they’d have to rush into a burning building or any number of situations. Anyone who couldn’t even manage to be on time on the first day had no business trying to make it in such a dangerous and often deadly field. 

 

Still, there was no argument to be had- the class immediately broke off into two groups once Aizawa had left the room, leaving them to scramble out of the door and to their respective locker rooms. Or, for the unfortunate few who hadn’t thought to stock their assigned locker with gym clothes beforehand, on a mad dash back to the dorms.

 

Izumi, of course, had been prepared- once she’d heard about the assigned lockers, and thus was joined by the other girls of Class 1-A, almost all of whom had thought ahead- or at least, brought a gym bag with them. All except for that one froggy looking girl- she’d seemed rather tense, strangely enough, and had run off back to the dorms with quite a distressed look on her face.

 

Odd.

 

It was just workout clothes.

 

Still, Izumi didn’t pay much attention to the whims and emotions of a girl she hardly knew and didn’t even recall the name of. Instead, she focused on quickly stripping out of her daily wear- a deep burgundy red button up t-shirt paired with white capris, a thin leather belt with a custom belt buckle in the shape of the Fire Nation emblem, and a pair of bright red wedge heeled converse sneakers- and into her gym clothes… which at the moment was just a Mirko branded sports bra, a thin black tank top, and UA branded workout pants, along with a more sensible pair of running shoes. Also a sweat band around her wrist, and an extra durable hair tie to take her hair out of her normal style (modeled after her mother’s, just… more curly) and into a tight ponytail.

 

That is, until partway through swapping from her regular bra to her sports bra, a quiet whistle tickled at Izumi’s ear from across the row of lockers.

 

“Whoa, damn girl, how many crunches do you do?” came the voice of some… black haired, punkish looking girl, who was also partway through pulling on her shirt, though she’d stopped for now in order to stare at Izumi’s abs… and also possibly chest, considering how her eyes kept flicking upwards every now and then. “You could grind cheese on those abs!”

 

“Oh my gosh I was about to say the same thing! How are you soooo ripped!?” a pink haired, pink all over girl exclaimed, bouncing over and wearing a truly eyesearing dayglo workout outfit that looked pulled straight out of a 1980s aerobics video. Strangely enough, it actually looked quite good on her. “What’s your workout routine? Oh man, it must be intense!”

 

“I- er- thank you for your admiration?” Izumi stumbled over her words, not quite sure what to say in the face of such positive female attention. Sure, she’d gotten some looks back in highschool, but nothing as overt as… this . “My Quirk requires lots of intense focus and martial arts practice in order for me to refine it, so I’ve had to do quite a bit of body conditioning as a result.”

 

“Whoa- that’s really cool! Hey what is your Quirk anyway? I know it’s got something to do with fire- oh man, is it like Endeavor’s Quirk!?” came the interjection of one Hagakure Tooru- one of the few people in the locker room that she actually knew, aside from Yaoyorozu Momo on the other side of the row, Katsumi who was fuming silently at the amount of noise, Uraraka Ochako who looked like she was about to faint for some reason, and… One other. 

 

Izumi winced ever so slightly at the amount of attention, then cleared her throat and waved her hand awkwardly to try and push the two far too cheery girls away from her without actually pushing them- fortunately for her nerves at being surrounded by two very bouncy and pretty girls (or… she assumed Hagakure-san was pretty? She had a rather fetching body shape if the way her sports bra and booty shorts filled out was any indication), the two of them backed off so Izumi could speak. “Ah- it’s complicated. Suffice to say, you’ll likely learn more about it once we get to do formal introductions. But yes… at its very basic, most dumbed down level… it is passingly similar enough to Endeavor’s Quirk. But my flames are much hotter. Now come on- we don’t want to be late.”

 

She smirked, and stood up, finally pulling on her sports bra and covering her chest fully, while the others now rushed to get themselves changed and ready- Katsumi stomping out first, followed moments later by Izumi and Ochako, and then the rest followed along shortly after, all heading towards the location that their mysterious homeroom teacher had designated.


It was time to see just what this Quirk Assessment Test he’d mentioned held in store for them all.

Chapter Text

By the time everyone had arrived at Field Beta, Izumi was of the mind that their teacher was either insane, far too competent for anyone to comprehend, an asshole, or some unholy combination of the three.

 

“These are all of your scores during the entrance exam,” Aizawa spoke calmly, his expression never changing from his dead-eyed stare off into the middle distance. “As you can see, some of you focused more on villain points. Some focused on rescue points in lieu of gaining any points on their own.”

 

At this, Aizawa leveled a poignant stare at Hagakure Tooru, who simply waved silently at the sudden attention- the only reason why anyone could see her waving being the way her tanktop moved, as well as the sweat bands on her wrists.

 

“In today’s society, heroics is a difficult and dangerous job. The vast majority of applicants do not make it into these- or any other Hero school’s- halls. The vast majority of those who do pass the exam don’t last past the first year. Those who manage to make it through all four years of heroics training are few in number, high in skill and drive, and even so- the majority of them either retire only a few years into their service, take a back seat and return to academia for a teaching degree, or…” Aizawa seemed genuinely pained as he paused, his expression screwing up into something that spoke of old wounds being picked at by his memories. “They die. Therefore: The quirk assessment test you all will be going through today.”

 

He looked at each of the assembled students in turn- though Izumi felt quite peeved at how many of them were staring at her instead of on their teacher. Just because she’d gotten the highest score in UA history didn’t mean that they needed to gawk at her like a bunch of witless fools.

 

Just fawn over her like normal people, sheesh.

 

“I have no interest in testing those without potential,” Aizawa continued on, slowly walking over to the side and pressing a button on a remote he’d fished out from his pocket. Moments later, a a scoreboard rose out of the ground bearing everyone’s names, along with a set of rankings- all of which were blank at the moment, but would likely change soon. “At the very core of what I define as potential- physical fitness. Creativity. Problem solving. Willpower. This test will see if you all have what it takes to be my students going forward. The rules here are simple: Like any physical fitness test, you all will be going through a series of challenges. Eight tests in total: Ball Throw. 50-meter dash. Distance running. Grip strength. Standing long jump. Repeated Side Steps. Seated Toe Touch. And finally, situps. Not exactly in that order, but you get the idea.”

 

As Aizawa spoke, he held up a phone containing the names of the tests for emphasis, with the scoreboard behind him flashing to show a list of the eight tests as well. After a moment to allow everyone to take in what they were supposed to do. Then, Aizawa grinned- a terrifying smile, one that was all teeth and full of what some might think was pure sadism.

 

“The difference here is that you’re allowed to use your Quirks.”

 

Izumi blinked, and rubbed her ears as a general outcry of excitement followed- individual words being swallowed up by a group of nineteen other young adults cheering and whooping at the thought of being able to use their powers to “cheat” for once.

 

“Midoriya Izumi. You had the highest score on the entrance exam,” Aizawa spoke up again a few moments later, once the cheering had died down.

 

Izumi gulped a bit at the sudden draw of attention back to her- not that she was intimidated, but perhaps she’d gone a little too hard on the entrance exam, and now the entire thing was coming back to bite her in the ass with far more attention and scrutiny from authority figures than she needed in this lifetime. 

 

“You’ll be the first to show off how it works,” the scruffy looking teacher continued, motioning for her to stand at the center of the chalked in circle on the ground- a standard ball throw diagram, with the meter lines and everything. “How far could you throw a ball, last you checked?”

 

Izumi sighed, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear and cocking her hip- doing her best to affect the devil-may-care, sassy attitude of her previous life so as to bring forward confidence she didn’t really feel. “Just shy of seventy meters, sir.”

 

“Mm. Now try it again. Do as you like, just don’t leave the circle,” Aizawa murmured, then took a step back and lightly tossed an odd looking softball towards her- slightly larger than usual, with an equatorial band of sensors set flush along the surface.

 

Izumi blinked, and looked back at the teacher, then at the ball. She almost felt a little uncomfortable, being put in the spotlight so quickly… but she held it in. Her fears and worries could wait.

 

Aizawa motioned for her to go, and a plan formed in Izumi’s mind- nothing too complicated, just enough of an idea to get her internal fire roaring as she prepared to let it all rip .

 

The green haired girl took a deep breath, muscles flexing as she took on a pitching stance- one hand gripping the ball and winding back, one arm raised slightly to keep out of the way, and her forward leg raised high up in a near vertical split.

 

Her chi surged into action, building and building up behind the ball where it made contact with her palm- a pressurized pinprick of flame forming with a sound almost like that of a sputtering jet engine. A high whine filled the area as the charge built and built and built, bathing Izumi in a brilliant blue glow.

 

Her muscles flexed, her entire body pivoting around and launching the ball into the air with a sharp cry that was almost a scream of effort- and she released .

 

A searing jet of flame almost like an explosion poured forth from Izumi’s hand, blasting the ball away on an arc of blue so bright it almost outshone the morning sun- writhing fire reaching high into the air and setting the ball alight until it too shone like a star in the blue sky. 

 

It flew far, and fast, and was almost a speck in the sky… but Izumi wasn’t done yet.

 

Her mind raced as she calculated the trajectory of the rising- and then shortly after falling - ball as fast as she could, then let off a silent glare . The air around her almost rippled with a haze of heat, and the force of her chi erupting once more sent a gust of wind and dust swirling around her feet- the invisible beam of combustion-bending sounding off its loud Pop-Pop-Pop- as it traced its way through the air like a bullet.

 

It curved and bent slightly with Izumi’s whims… and then exploded in the sky in a burst of heat and light and pure flame that sent the ball flying even further away, up until the point that it disappeared into the horizon with a quiet twinkle.

 

A hushed chorus of amazement followed suit as Izumi wound down, rolling her neck and rubbing her forehead as she tried to rid herself of the inevitable headache that followed along with her un-practiced combustion-bending. There was a quiet clamor of activity as the sensors reading the ball’s distance slowly wound down, slowing to a halt before displaying the final number.

 

And in the end- there it was on the scoreboard.

 

2.25 Kilometers.

 

Izumi smirked- maybe this assessment test wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Chapter Text

Contrary to Izumi’s immediate performance of the single most visually impressive softball distance throw the entire class had seen, the first test was actually the 50-meter dash. 

 

Izumi, of course, wasn’t worried in the slightest about how she would perform on any of the tests- even if she would lose out to someone with a strength quirk in a few tests, even if she wouldn’t be the best at any one single test, her firebending was excessively versatile, and her physical condition was about as good as one could get without an ultra specialized training regime. 

 

Though- she was aware of the fact that some of her classmates were nervous. She hadn’t exactly paid attention to most of them when she’d walked in- except for the ones she already knew, of course. Ochako was too bubbly to not pay attention to, Momo stood out no matter where she was because of her honestly quite ostentatiously spiky ponytail and… assets (that, Izumi, unfortunately, had to stop herself from staring at a few times), Hagakure-san had caught her attention with her outlandishly neon pink off-the shoulder shirt, and… well. Who could forget Bakugou Katsumi, her best friend since the two of them were in kindergarten?

 

Then there was… him.

 

It was like staring into a goddamn twisted funhouse mirror.

 

Not of her of course… but…

 

Her brother. Zuko. The man who’d bested her in the end time and time again- driven her out of the Fire Nation, her home, her palace, her royal lineage and wealth and privilege and status and taken it for himself.

 

The man who’d saved her life, her sanity, her mother, the world .

 

Of course, the boy standing across the murmuring crowd of students wasn’t exactly what she saw near the end- or, that is, the last time she’d ever laid eyes on Zuko. No, he reminded her of Zuko’s past. His anger. His cold, seething hatred. His lack of purpose and identity that drove him away and into places he never should have been.

 

His scar .

 

She didn’t have to be a genius to know who Todoroki Shouto was- he appeared on the news every now and then whenever Endeavor brought his beloved heir out to some big important gala, and that scar was so distinctive that it even beat out his perfectly divided red and white hair and heterochromia for recognizable traits.

 

She almost wanted to go up to him- ask him what drove that icy cold exterior, that blank, dead expression. She almost wanted to go up to him, burn his toys, call him ZuZu, and give him a hug and promise him that, with all of her years of experience, it would eventually be okay. His bastard of a father would get his one day.

 

But she didn’t.

 

She couldn’t . She didn’t know him. She only knew what she saw on the live broadcasts- the subtle flinches and glares, the tight and pained smiles he gave, the silence and brooding that filled his every hour. She knew damn well that people didn’t snap for no reason, that the reasoning Endeavor gave to the news about his wife’s institutionalization was bullshit- she could see through that larger than life grin and self important tone. She knew what men with that kind of cold, evil stare could do.

 

She’d lived under and idolized one of those same men for the first decade and a half of her life, worshiped the ground her father stood on with her callousness, her cruelty, her relentless use of fear and manipulation to get what she wanted. Endeavor was just like her father, and both Izumi and Azula’s memory all but chomped at the bit to go out and end the man so he’d never hurt anyone the way he hurt his children again.

 

But she refrained. She was at school. She was fresh off of highschool, on the first day of college, and she was thinking about going to war over a kid she only had guesses and her own personal bias about because of how his father’s television presence raised too many red flags in her mind- felt too similar to how her own father was in her last life.

 

So she turned away from him and shook her head, getting herself to focus- get her head back in the game. She sighed quietly, patted Katsumi on the back as the explosive blonde settled in next to her at the queue for the starting line, and watched the numbers roll. 

 

She focused on the people around her- their quirks, their general physical condition, their general personalities. 

 

Ashido Mina, the pink girl, was one of the first up, along with the froggy looking girl who’d looked all nervous earlier- she hadn’t gotten the girl’s name at first, but Izumi knew her family name was Asui from the scoreboard, and once called up learned that her given name was Tsuyu. Both girls were in pretty good condition- not super amazing, but definitely moreso than the average person. Asui was just plain fast with her quirk specializing her (really quite nice and long) legs for jumping- she’d shot off like a bullet the timer started, and was already at the finish line by the time Ashido had gotten halfway there whilst skating on a trail of acid (Izumi privately wondered what her shoes had been treated with to hold up against a pressurized flow of viscous acid so well, but held her tongue since she didn’t want to make a scene). 

 

Ida Tenya had done extremely well- as expected for someone who literally had engine legs. His… partner… in the endeavor had been Ochako, and though the bubbly girl had tried her best by lightening her own clothing and shoes, she hadn’t really been able to pull off quite as amazing a result as the all too serious boy had done. 

 

Ojiro Mashirao had used his tail like a springboard, using it to almost pogo himself across at a very respectable pace. Kaminari Denki, Kirishima Eijiro, Koda Koji, Sato Rikido, Shoji Mezo, and Jiro Kyoka had all done their best to run as normal- none of them had speed quirks, and in the case of Kirishima, his hardening actually slowed him down .

 

Sero Hanta had used a creative loophole to literally Spider-Man himself across the finish line, and Fumikage Tokoyami had done something similar. However, his partner, one Toga Himiko, had used her quirk by asking Aizawa for a needle, very politely asking Ida for a single drop of blood, and then transformed into Ida .

 

Her speed hadn’t been quite as high as the original, but she’d been damn close- and her transformation had worn off barely a second later. After that amazingly flashy show, Todoroki Shouto had done as Ashido did and skated along a line of ice, while Hagakure Toru had done her best but joined the club of “had to run normally” with a still entirely respectable time of about 7 seconds.

 

And then… It was time.

 

Her and Katsumi, lining up at the starting line, giving each other challenging stares. Both of them had the exact same game plan- after all, they’d developed their quirks together. Learned their ins and outs, their use cases and how versatile each one was. Katsumi could all but fly at rocket speeds with her quirk, and Izumi was much the same.

 

The difference was…

 

Katsumi only had so much sweat she could detonate at once, and in a timed test such as this? She had to go with multiple small explosions to fling herself forward otherwise she’d run out of steam halfway through.

 

Izumi had no such weakness.

 

Her hands began to fill with fire, her concentration peaked.

 

“Start!”

 

The track filled with an enormous roar of flames and resounding explosions, a massive jet engine streak of blue light flashing behind Izumi as she ran like the goddamn wind, hands aimed directly behind her as she all but ninja-ran to victory.

 

She slid to a halt, well ahead of Katsumi once again.


3.56 seconds .

Chapter Text

By the time the rest of the tests had run their course, Izumi was… not exhausted, per se, but she was definitely feeling the strain of having to do quite so much all at once. Her muscles were ever so slightly sore, her chi was drained from doing multiple large bursts of firebending to improve her scores. Her grip strength had been relatively middle of the pack- not too extreme, not too light, but a decent enough score of around 75 kg (Katsumi was actually ahead of her in that regard, with a full 85 kg. Neither of them had gotten anywhere near Yaoyorozu’s ridiculous clamp force or Shoji’s 540 kg). Her standing long jump had of course cleared the sandbox in a burst of blue flames jetting from her hands and feet- and, for good measure, she’d gone past where Katsumi had deigned to land because she was petty like that.

 

Her repeated side steps had been sped up with some quick bursts of fire, though interestingly enough the one who’d excelled at that particular test was actually Mineta Minoru- who, despite being a kinda creepy dwarf who kept making comments about Yaoyorozu’s boobs (and, sure, the rich girl had a nice rack but saying it out loud like that was just plain rude), had bounced between his weird sticky ball things fast enough that the machine had nearly lost count.

 

She’d beaten Katsumi’s ball throw score, of course- no one else could compare with a score of over 2 km. Well.

 

Up until Ochako had scored an infinity by throwing the softball into orbit.

 

Zero gravity was quite terrifying. Izumi was privately very glad that Ochako had a good heart, and wasn’t prone to throwing people into orbit.

 

Ida had won the distance run handily, though by utilizing more consistent, smaller flames (and Katsumi utilizing much the same strategy as she had with the 50-meter dash), she and her eternal rival had been able to snag a handy second and third place- just over 5 km each, with Ida going all the way up to 6 km in the short ten minute time period. Most had only gotten to maybe 2.5 to 3 km, with Minoru lagging behind due to being unable to hop from bouncy ball to bouncy ball with enough consistency to actually aid in his run. 

 

The seated toe touch and sit ups were about normal- Izumi had placed near the top of the pack in both tests, though had been beaten out in flexibility by both Ashido and Asui (and Toga, once she’d copied Asui’s frog quirk), and lost the situp competition to Sato, Shoji, and Kirishima.

 

At the end of the day, she’d placed at a very handy third place in the rankings. Katsumi was fourth, and of course the two recommendation students (Yaoyorozu and Todoroki) had gotten first and second, respectively.

 

And then… well. It was time to face the music.

 

“Now that the tests are done…” Aizawa spoke in that same, tired deadpan that he’d held for the entire morning, a slight grimace on his face as he looked around at the assembled group of students. He stayed silent for a moment, taking in everyone’s somewhat relieved expressions before focusing on the person who’d landed themselves squarely in last place.

 

“Mineta Minoru, you scored the lowest overall on the tests,” he continued after a brief moment, looking down at the quivering hero would-be and frowning heavily. “Your physical performance overall was sub par. Your creativity and usage of your quirk, although shining through in some areas, was not especially useful and in some cases actively hindered you. And as for your willpower… you gave up after twenty sit ups and whined about how unfair these tests are for someone of your size and stature. There were at least twelve things you could have done to make up for your lackluster physical prowess during all eight tests, and you did almost none of them.”

 

He paused once again, as though allowing the purple haired boy to try and make some kind of argument for himself- but none was forthcoming. Mineta just stood there, tears forming as he quivered and shook, as though terrified to interrupt.

 

“Mineta Minoru, you are hereby expelled from the UA heroics course. When we return to class, I expect you to pack your things and report to the registrar about your course change.” 

 

Izumi almost felt bad for the grape haired guy- even as she watched Aizawa show a little mercy by having a note pre-written waiving whatever tuition fees Mineta might rack up by changing his course on the literal first day, it still felt a little cruel to just dash a guy’s hopes and dreams right then and there.

 

Even if the little guy had given up through half of the tests and claimed they were rigged, saying those things even in the face of someone like Kaminari Denki, Jiro Kyoka, or Hagakure Tooru- all of whom had nothing at all to help them in the exams except sheer grit and willpower. 

 

Then again- sure, none of the tests were designed for someone half the size of his surrounding classmates, but if he’d just tried … if he’d actually given it his all, actually practiced… His way of moving had been unpracticed, weak. He didn’t show any signs of training- almost no muscle definition, barely any reflexes. If he’d actually practiced and trained like the rest of them had- then maybe he wouldn’t be crying on the ground right now, sobbing about how it wasn’t fair, how he’d waited his whole life to get into UA, how he’d never get to touch a pair of boobs now because of his childlike appearance and permanently stunted growth.

 

“... What a fuckin loser,” Katsumi growled quietly under her breath, her eye twitching as she beheld the form of Mineta, currently pounding his fist on the ground and making a scene of himself. Nobody in the area looked comfortable with it- especially not the girls what with the comments about touching boobs. “Can’t believe he got into UA- must have some book smarts, but damn if he isn’t a waste of a perfectly good capture quirk…”

 

“Mhmm… honestly, he’d probably be better served working in disaster rescue,” Izumi sighed, shaking her head with her arms crossed, speaking just loud enough for Katsumi to hear as Aizawa motioned for them to head back to class and grab a syllabus- he was leaving to go teach a different class, now that their homeroom period was almost over. “Could keep unstable buildings stuck together or something. Oh well… maybe he’ll learn from this and come back to the hero course in a few years as a better person.”

 

“Tch, I wouldn’t bother hoping if I were you,” a rather tired voice called out from only a few feet away, Jiro Kyoka walking over and shaking her head with a tired grimace. She pointed at Mineta, rolling her eyes and speaking with a disgusted sneer in her voice. “Heard the little bastard muttering about how much he wanted to sneak into the girl’s dorms and fondle us while we slept. Also, he kept talking about how he wanted to fuck your thighs and shove his face in your crotch.”

 

“... That’s fucking disgusting,” Izumi immediately took back her opinion of Mineta Minoru with the slightest flash of genuine rage pulsing through her mind as though someone had struck a chime in the back of her mind before it faded out moments later. If the little bastard was that much of a budding sex offender then she wanted nothing to do with him in the slightest. “Nevermind, I take back everything good I said about him. He’s a waste of space and the moment he tries anything I hope he gets thrown in jail.”

 

“Or murdered,” Katsumi hissed out, nodding alongside Izumi as they both began walking away from Mineta, leaving him still sitting there on the ground as though anyone would help him if he made a big enough scene. 

 

Izumi snorted, waving her hand idly in a vague agreement with Katsumi. “Yeah, that. Or murdered. Little fucker’d deserve it if he actually followed through.”

 

There was a round of nods at that, and after a moment, they switched to more pleasant topics as they made their way back into the main building.

 

“So- have you all seen Mirko’s latest fight? I heard she took down a villainess just by wrapping her head up in her thighs!”

Chapter Text

Ah, the thrill of academia. What could Izumi say about it?

 

She supposed that, after the initial rush of homeroom and the fact that Yamada-sensei had given them a good half of their English class period to get at least a quick rinse-off in the locker room showers after the trials and tribulations of the Quirk Assessment Test, the classes were… quite good, honestly. Oh sure, it was kind of weird taking college level general education courses taught by professional heroes in a setting that felt almost exactly like highschool, but the lessons themselves were well taught, approximately what she’d expect from a college level education, and interesting enough that she could keep herself from wanting to fall asleep at her desk.

 

Not that she ever would do that, she had far too much self respect and self control to actually fall asleep in a classroom- holdovers from life in the royal palace, where falling asleep in the midst of a tutor’s lessons would result in a paddling, if not the risk of drawing her father’s ire.

 

The main difference, Izumi thought, was that while the rooms were much like that of a classroom, there was no set seating assignment, and the majority of the tables in the room were large and meant for collaboration- in fact, with the slightly longer classes, the more difficult subject matter, and the fact that UA literally allowed them to purchase cheap, reliable, branded laptops for schoolwork (already pre-connected to the school servers, how thoughtful) from the student stores, collaboration was encouraged in most cases except for exams- and even those, as Aizawa’s syllabus and Yamada-sensei’s corroboration had stated, were open note and open book so as to reduce the stress they’d face as they worked their minds and bodies to the limits in their chosen major of heroics.

 

There wasn’t even that much homework, though that was fairly in line with the rest of the school experience- if they learned it, they learned it. And if they spent their entire class period drawing some strangely high quality pornography of some anime character in their notebook… well, as long as they read the book after. 

 

As it was, though, Izumi did her best to listen to the morning lectures and write down notes as necessary- learning English was quite difficult, after all, and while general college level math wasn’t exactly something she was hoping to need in her career as a pro hero, it was still good to know at least the basics of calculus and trigonometry and such. 

 

Though, it was the first day of school still, so, it wasn’t like Izumi did much except write down their teachers’ names, titles, pronouns, contact information, and office hours and download the syllabus for reading later that night.

 

And then- lunch. An hour long period just after their history class where students were allowed to either eat lunch in class, or go to one of the many top quality buffet style dining halls that were dotted all over campus near each of the dorm buildings. 

 

Each of them had their own specialties, of course, since every single dining hall was staffed by a different set of professional chefs, but most people tended to stick with Dining Hall A, also known as Alpha Hall, because that was where the pro hero Lunch Rush worked and the food there was considered to just be better

 

And, in Izumi’s opinion, it really was worth the wait. Even with the astoundingly high capacity the hall boasted- four levels, each with their own buffet areas, teams of chefs, and Lunch Rush himself working through every station- they’d still had to wander around for nearly ten minutes before they found a table they could claim- they being Izumi, Katsumi, Uraraka, Ida, and Asui.

 

Izumi had been quite surprised at how fast Uraraka seemed to make friends with the froggy girl, but the bubbly brown haired girl had explained it away as them having just chosen to sit together and that they’d really hit it off- not that Izumi really cared how Uraraka made friends with Asui (“Call me Tsu!”), since she was far more concerned with piling a plate high with gourmet quality food and stuffing it down her gullet like she was a woman starved.

 

“Wh- where do you put it all!?” Uraraka almost shrieked in surprise at Izumi’s ridiculous pace, clapping her cheeks as she watched the green haired firebender work her way through an entire feast’s worth of food as though it were no big deal- rice, grilled fish, pork, steamed buns, cucumber, pickled radish, a whole salad, melon bread, curry- she’d even had an entire bowl of ramen which was supposed to be an entire meal in and of itself. “Wh- that’s insane!”

 

“I don’t think the human stomach is physically supposed to fit that much mass inside of it,” Ida mentioned, looking a bit disturbed- despite Izumi’s picture perfect table manners and utterly benign way of eating, he was still quite shocked at just how much his classmate could put away at once, and his rather uncomfortable expression sold it quite well. “That is- you seem so fit and trim… and it is rather… unusual to see someone eat so much without either an eating quirk or, er… an eating disorder.”

 

“It’s. A lot to take in, kero ,” Asui (“Tsu!”) chimed in with her own two cents, nodding in unison with Uraraka as she tapped her chin with one of her fingers. “Do you have some kind of component to your quirk that helps with that, kero?”

 

“Tch- don’t bother asking, dumb bitch won’t come up for air until she’s entirely done,” Katsumi huffed, rolling her eyes in irritation as Izumi very carefully, deliberately, and visibly raised her middle finger at the explosive blonde. She also very slowly took in a deep breath, as if to add onto the layer of sass, before diving back into her meal (which, actually, was far smaller than what Yaoyorozu was packing into her stomach currently, not that any of them actually knew where the spiky haired rich girl was at the moment). “It’s her fuckin quirk, y’know? Some bullshit about needing a store of energy and sunlight. ‘S why she always gets up at sunrise. Her stomach is like a goddamn furnace- hell, I’m pretty sure it literally is .”

 

Izumi nodded quickly at Katsumi’s unasked for explanation, though she simply finished off the last of her ramen broth, wiped her lips with a napkin, took a swig of her tea, and cleared her throat before continuing on from where Katsumi left off.

 

“Indeed- my quirk is a complicated, extremely spiritual quirk. I rise with the sun, can perform better the hotter it is, and lose my abilities during a total solar eclipse. Meteors and other celestial bodies in the sky grant me extra power, and, as you have just seen, my stomach functions similarly to an actual furnace,” Izumi stated simply, stacking her plates calmly as she spoke before finishing off by actually patting her stomach for emphasis- specifically the area directly over where her Fire Chakra was. “By consuming excessive amounts of food, I can store up energy for later- it’s not permanent, of course, but if I need to do any large scale firebending or big, flashy moves… it helps. Meditating in the sun does the same, but isn’t exactly viable whilst we’re in class.”

 

“Wooow… that’s amazing! And so complex!” Uraraka gushed, her voice almost at an awed whisper as she leaned in across the table. “How did you even figure any of this out? Your quirk sounds so in depth that I don’t think I’d ever be able to learn even half of what you just said!”

 

“I’m quite the prodigy,” Izumi smirked in response, chuckling dryly as she affected an air of nobility, much like her past self would- though here, it was an act, and not some standard she had to hold herself to. “It took a lot of hard work, detailed records, martial arts training, and many, many years of intense calisthenics to get to where I am today. Katsumi helped, actually. Her simple, versatile explosive quirk was quite a good motivator to train.”

 

“She means she kicked my ass once when I was a little shithead of a kid and never let me have a win ever since,” Katsumi growled, glaring daggers at Izumi- though, without any heat despite her aggressive posturing and sneer. “I’ve won a couple fights when she was tryna figure out somethin’ new, but she’s damn fuckin’ good. Even I’ll recognize that.”

 

“Katsumi here has the dream of being the number one hero in Japan,” Izumi explained, noting how their expanded friend group seemed a bit confused as to why Katsumi showed so much of what appeared to be open hostility to Izumi, even though the two of them sat so close together that Uraraka suspected that there was something more to their relationship than just being close friends . “I strongly suspect that the only reason why she’s still my friend and not my eternal hostile rival is because she knows that I won’t even try to take that away from her.”

 

Katsumi snorted and nudged Izumi with her elbow rather harshly, half a smirk on her face. 

 

Izumi merely rolled her eyes again, flicking Katsumi’s ear with one hand in response and grinning at the sudden yelp of surprise. “That, and I’m the only one capable of giving her a good fight- everyone else trying to get into a heroics course at our school was too afraid of how intense we were. Most of the boys thought we were too mannish for daring to exercise, and most of the girls couldn’t handle the fact that we were flinging explosions and fire at each other to the point that we almost burned a park down once.”

 

“That was your fault by the way,” Katsumi hissed, glaring at Izumi for getting the both of them banned from their favorite playground when they were ten years old. “My explosions put out fires with their blast waves and smoke. You were the one flinging around enough goddamn blue hot fire to melt steel.”

 

“Yes, and I apologized for that,” Izumi huffed, side eyeing her friend before the both of them broke down into quiet giggles at their memories of the event.

 

After that, the rest of the lunch period was a quick affair, followed shortly after by their liberal arts class (which would rotate off on a class by class basis between Ishiyama-sensei and Kayama-sensei teaching modern literature and art history, respectively).

 

And then, it was time for their last period of the day, taught by none other than the legendary All Might himself.


Heroics .

Chapter Text

Izumi’s initial opinion of All Might’s teaching style was… the man was clearly enthusiastic about teaching, but he clearly had absolutely no idea what he was doing. And, in the end, he also seemed as though he was slightly disappointed? Maybe he thought that there’d be a full class instead of that pervy Mineta guy getting tossed out on his ass. Metaphorically.

 

Izumi hadn’t seen the guy since homeroom, honestly.

 

“LISTEN UP YOU ZYGOTES! FOR TODAY’S HERO STUDIES WE’LL BE GETTING A BASELINE OF YOUR SKILLS, YOUR STRENGTHS, YOUR WEAKNESSES, AND YOUR GENERAL HEROICS CAPABILITIES! AND, NO, HAVE NO FEAR!” he paused and cleared his throat, clearly not wanting to badmouth a fellow teacher but deciding to throw Aizawa just a little bit under the bus this once. “I AM NOT AIZAWA-KUN. NO ONE ELSE IS GETTING EXPELLED TODAY!”

 

There was a collective sigh of relief that ran through the assembled students at that- even Izumi admitted to feeling rather relieved that no one was going to be expelled this time. She didn’t really know any of her other classmates, true, but they all seemed like quite good people (albeit, perhaps not the brightest in the case of Kaminari Denki, who seemed extremely distracted by what Yaoyorozu was wearing.

 

As was a good chunk of the class.

 

It was…

 

Pretty hard to look away from the rich girl considering she was just wearing what amounted to a skimpy one-piece swimsuit and a thick belt for a skirt.

 

“... You know, I can’t decide what the worst part about rich girl’s outfit is. The fact that she’s letting it all hang out like that, or the fact that the only thing keeping that book on her ass is a magnet and half a dream,” Katsumi grumbled beside her, dressed in what could only be described as something out of a middle schooler’s violent explosion based fantasies- a black tank top stretched tight over her toned body (thankfully, with lots of built in support, Izumi could see) with large, blocky armored bits around her neck and shoulders with red straps forming an X over her torso, baggy black pants, a large utility belt, and knee high armored boots. On her face, she wore a black, ragged looking domino mask with large spiky fins jutting from the back of her head, and she had both a streamlined armored shell-type backpack of some sort on her back, as well as massive grenade shaped gauntlets over her forearms. She made it look good, of course, but… Izumi couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips as she took in the massive things covering her friend’s forearms.

 

“Of course you went with the grenades,” Izumi sighed, leveling an amused grin at Katsumi, who simply gave her a subtle middle finger and a promise of pain via her smoldering glare. “Really, Katsumi, you couldn’t find an easier way to contain and deploy that much nitroglycerin?”

 

“Tch, tough talk coming from the girl wearing a fucking floor length cape ,” Katsumi hissed back, taking in Izumi’s outfit with a critical stare. “What, couldn’t come up with something better than your mom’s outfit so you just covered it all in black? Can you even move in that?”

 

“I’ll have you know my mother’s take on my designs is a treasure I hold close to my heart,” Izumi huffed quietly, narrowing her eyes at Katsumi, but letting the implied insult slide. For now. “And of course I can move. Please, just because it looks impractical doesn’t mean it is at all. You’ll see.”

 

Indeed, Izumi was wearing a full floor length black cape, much like that of Tokoyami Fumikage- though hers was a bit different. After all, she’d modeled her actual heroics outfit after a number of the more iconic outfits she’d worn in her previous life. Most of them had been rather baggy, of course, but she’d adapted them slightly so they’d be a bit more like a proper pro hero uniform.

 

She of course, had taken the cape from her short tenure disguised as the Kemurikage in her youth- a double layered thing with thick bands of gold around the edges, a subtle swirl pattern on the outer layer, with an inner layer of deep violet and lighter lavender swirls (although, this time around she’d also added the wide shoulders of her old armor because damn if they didn’t look nice). She had the mask as well, of course, but hadn’t put it on yet just because she wanted to keep her face unobstructed until it was time to actually do something.

 

She liked the feeling of the sun on her face, sue her.

 

Of course, her cape had a thin layer of armor woven into the fireproof fabric, rendering it both wonderfully heavy about her shoulders, yet still somehow light enough to billow around her legs should she wish. Beneath said cape was an adapted version of the costume her mother had made- which, in and of itself, was adapted from her old fire nation armor (Ah, what a wonderful set of clothing that had been. Well armored and yet light enough to practice firebending in, flexible and comfortable- it was even breathable). It didn’t quite have the shoulders, and didn’t look much like it, in the end, but her arm bracers and knee high boots were largely the same, albeit given a bit more gold edging for flair. She even still had the tabard-like tunic beneath her breastplate, though the colors had changed and the shape was slightly different. Said breastplate now was more like that of a Kyoshi Warrior’s- it still only really covered her ribs the way her old armor did, but was a bit more flexible around the shoulders when she took off her cloak. Overall, she had to admit that she looked cool- stylish. Perhaps even intimidating. 

 

But whether or not she’d keep her costume design the way it was would remain to be seen.

 

Especially since, after nudging and whispering to Katsumi a little more, All Might finally got around to explaining what they’d be doing that day. It didn’t exactly come as a surprise, really, but Izumi hadn’t exactly been expecting them to immediately start doing live combat exercises on the first day of school.

 

UA really was something else.

 

“ALRIGHT, STUDENTS! LET’S START BY DRAWING LOTS! REMEMBER, AS A PRO HERO OFTENTIMES YOU WON’T GET A SAY IN WHO YOU WORK WITH, SO TODAY’S EXERCISE TAKES INTO ACCOUNT NOT ONLY YOUR PERSONAL ABILITIES, STRATEGIES, AND FIGHTING SKILLS, BUT ALSO YOUR ABILITY TO WORK WITH SOMEONE YOU BARELY KNOW, AND MAY NOT HAVE GOOD SYNERGY WITH! NOW! LET’S BEGIN!”

 

And with that, the class drew their lots and wound up in pairs- ten teams total, five teams to a side. Heroes vs Villains.

 

Except-

 

“All Might- er, sir?” Izumi raised her hand, having looked around for a few moments and realized that no one else had drawn a ball marked with a capital G. “... I don’t have a partner.”

 

All Might blinked (or, at least, Izumi assumed he blinked given the way his expression changed) as he leaned forward, doing a quick headcount and muttering under his breath before straightening up and clearing his throat. “AH, THAT IS MY MISTAKE- I HAD FORGOTTEN THAT YOUR CLASS IS NOW A MEMBER SHORT. WORRY NOT- YOU WILL HAVE A NEW CLASSMATE BY TOMORROW. BUT, THIS IS INDEED A PROBLEM FOR TODAY.”

 

He hummed under his voice, rubbing his chin and tilting his head back and forth while the exaggerated shadows that danced across his ridiculously muscled body shifted in time with every move. After a moment, he made a tiny noise in the back of his throat, then continued speaking. “I BELIEVE I HAVE A SOLUTION! MIDORIYA-SAN, GIVEN THAT YOU WERE THE HIGHEST SCORING STUDENT IN THE ENTRANCE EXAM, WHAT SAY YOU TO THIS: YOU WILL GO TWICE: THE FIRST TIME, YOU WILL GO IN ALONE AND SHOW OFF THE FULL BREADTH OF YOUR SKILLS AGAINST A STANDARD TEAM OF TWO. THE SECOND TIME, YOU MAY JOIN A TEAM OF YOUR CHOOSING AND AID THEM TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITY. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE?”

 

Izumi took a deep breath, considering her options- sure, she didn’t exactly want to have to do more work than everyone else for probably the same points, but then again… it was good practice. What would her mother want her to do? What would a hero do?

 

She paused.

 

“Will I get extra credit for going twice?”

 

All Might blinked, then cleared his throat and looked to the side awkwardly. “ER, YES! OF COURSE, I’LL MAKE SURE TO APPEND THAT TO YOUR GRADE AFTER WE’RE DONE!”

 

After a moment’s silence, she looked up at the massive form of her blond haired teacher, still grinning and posing heroically with his hands on his hips. She nodded resolutely, a grim expression of resolve on her face.

 

“Then yes. I’ll go twice.”

Chapter Text

Team G: Villain. Team A: Heroes

 

Izumi tried not to be disappointed that she’d have to play the villain this time around, but she shook it off. It wasn’t a moral judgement or anything on All Might’s part- he’d simply drawn a ball from his box without even looking. She hadn’t even been the first to go up- that honor had gone to Teams B and J who’d been the hero and villain team, respectively.

 

Toga Himiko and Uraraka Ochaco vs Ida Tenya and Shoji Mezo. That had been a thoroughly entertaining match to watch- she hadn’t really known whose team she wanted to support given that both Ida and Uraraka were nice and she wanted to be friends with both of them, but at the end of the day, Toga’s quirk wasn’t something well suited to direct combat and she didn’t have the blood of any heavy hitters to offset that, and Uraraka, despite her prodigious martial arts training, wasn’t exactly amazing when she didn’t have anything to help her battlefield control.

 

She had done an amazing job handling Shoji, but Toga hadn’t been as sneaky as she thought and had been quickly bumrushed by Ida. After she’d been suddenly wrapped up in capture tape, Uraraka had gotten distracted and been quickly folded into a bear hug by the much, much larger student.

 

And now it was Izumi’s turn, against Ashido Mina and Kaminari Denki. 

 

She didn’t know either of them too well. She didn’t know the exact specifics of their quirks and what they could do- hell, other than the fact that Kaminari was constantly making tiny sparks in his hands in preparation for their fight, had lightning bolt in his hair, and his entire name could be read as electricity based puns, she wouldn't have had any idea that he had an electricity quirk given that he hadn’t really been able to use his quirk at all during Aizawa’s test earlier that day. 

 

But.

 

She still had almost a hundred years of firebending experience under her belt. She was still, in her soul, Azula, princess of the Fire Nation. Azula, conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Azula, the Kemurikage. Azula… the woman who’d spent most of the last half of her life wandering about like her Uncle Iroh once did in pursuit of power and personal meaning. She had battle tactics drilled into her since the moment she could understand a tutor’s words, martial arts since the moment she could walk.

 

She could do this. She would win.

 

Izumi took a deep breath as she made her way to the battlegrounds- they were using one of the buildings closer to the entrance of Ground Beta, for ease of entering and exiting. Her shoulders were drawn ever so slightly as she began to focus her chi, currents of warm air swirling around her body and making her cloak billow ever so slightly.

 

“Good luck out there!” Uraraka cheered from the side, giving her a peppy thumbs up- as did Ida, Tsu, and Katsumi. Toga did as well, though Izumi wasn’t quite sure why , since the two of them didn’t even know each other (well… Izumi had recognized her, but that was a story for another time). The sentiment was appreciated all the same, and Izumi gave a halfhearted wave over her shoulder as she slipped her mask on and headed out. 

 

Five minutes to prepare. Five minutes to plan and think and come up with an idea of how she was going to win her solo fight.

 

Well, she’d had to fight far more formidable opponents with far less preparation before- from what she’d seen of her classmates, even the Kyoshi Warriors had been more formidable, and they were a bunch of unpowered girls with fans.

 

And also swords that one time.

 

Izumi considered the building she was in, idly running her hands along the bare concrete walls and pursing her lips as she began to get an idea of the layout from the handout she’d been given. Five floors, mostly empty rooms- she’d almost certainly have to move the fake bomb to the highest room furthest away from the stairs, then set up some blockades…

 

Yes, that was a good start. Izumi nodded to herself and began setting up- All Might hadn’t said that she couldn’t damage the building, and limiting an enemy’s mobility was paramount in any battle situation. Then, she could start laying traps.

 

With that, Izumi slipped on her mask and got to work- the first thing was the bomb (made out of paper mache with a few sensors in it), which she moved up two flights of stairs and onto the fifth floor. Once that was done, still had well over half of her planning time left, so she began moving blockades into the way and arranging boxes such that they would provide easy obstacles that she could set alight without actually hitting her classmates- setting potential friends on fire with lethal intent was generally considered bad form, after all.

 

And then…

 

One last preparation.

 

Jets of blue flame severed the stairs going from the third to the fourth floor entirely, as well as the fourth to fifth floor. On the other side of the third floor, the stairwells leading up from the first and second floors were demolished and filled with flames as well. Izumi rolled her neck and breathed calmly through her mask as her time began to tick down.

 

Her mind focused. Her chi began to boil.

 

Smoke filled the air and blue flames licked at her fingers as she set herself on the third floor, positioned in such a way such that that the only way through the third floor to the stairs on the other side was directly through her position- and she’d already filled the other hallways with enough smoke that just walking into them was a suffocation hazard.

 

And then, as the buzzer rang and both Ashido and Kaminari entered the building, Izumi waited calmly, flames ringing her body and casting an eerie glow over the darkened halls of the third floor.

 

Time to be a villain.

Chapter Text

“You know, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’ve known Izumi all of my life, I’m pretty sure I would have mistaken her for an actual villain by now,” Katsumi stated blandly, watching as Izumi stood in a smoke filled room, silhouetted by ghostly blue flames, standing between Ashido and Kaminari like unto a terrifying specter of death. The two members of the hero team looked utterly floored by Izumi’s transformation from “a little weird standing around in a black cloak” to a horrifying, inhuman manifestation of darkness and death- hell, Katsumi was pretty sure that Kaminari had peed himself a little when something in the distance had gone pop and the resultant clang of metal on metal resulted in a discordant chime that suffused the air with so much menace that it actually sent both Ashido and Kaminari stumbling half a step back- and all from Izumi simply standing there, her cloak billowing lightly in the updraft caused by the flames. 

 

But they couldn’t try and find another way around- the air was choked with so much smoke that it stung the eyes and tore at their lungs, darkened to the point that the interior of the building was utterly pitch black outside of the firelight provided by Izumi’s ghostly blue flames that wreathed her in a semi impenetrable barrier.

 

(Art by: Me)

 

Uraraka nodded slowly, shuddering ever so slightly with the faintest of blushes on her cheeks as Izumi swayed ever so slightly, an inhuman motion amplified by the sinewy movements of the cloak, her hair fluttering lightly as more smoke poured from beneath the pitch black garment and out from her mask. “She’s, um… kind of scary. Gosh- that’s… wow .”

 

“It’s kinda hot, though,” Toga pointed out, blushing slightly as she watched Izumi posture before the two frozen hero team members, her voice coming through loud and clear over the speakers as she let out a truly breathtakingly villainous cackle. “I’ve always been a sucker for the scary girls…”

 

“... Me too, kero,” Tsuyu murmured, clearing her throat and looking to the side as though she hadn’t just admitted it. Uraraka nodded along, letting out a quiet, “... yeah, me three.” of her own.

 

“Bottoms, the lot of you,” Katsumi snorted, rolling her eyes as she turned back to watch the screens showing the multiple angles of the fight.

 

“Ahahahahaha~! Heroes…. You’ve done well to come this far…” Izumi hissed out, her voice low and quiet and only just barely audible over the sound of crackling flames. Blue light flickered and danced around as she moved, almost looming over Ashido and Kaminari as her cloak flared out behind her and made her look all the larger. “But this is where you fall. Come, if you can muster the will to act!”

 

And like that- it was on. Ashido and Kaminari shrieked and wailed as they leapt to the side to avoid Izumi’s opening strikes- twin lashes of searing hot flame jetting out of Izumi’s pointed fingers, carving thick furrows into the concrete walls as though they were blades rather than ephemeral whips of blue fire.

 

“Is that all!? I thought you would have more spirit than this! Come on, where’s your bravery, heroes!?”

 

The two heroes quickly rolled and split up, trying to circle around Izumi to get around the black clad villainess, but it was all in vain. Even as they split to opposite sides of the room, Izumi continued flinging blasts of fire unerringly in their direction- even with two separate targets to attack, her whips of flame lashed from each hand as though homing in on both Kaminari and Ashido, stopping them from moving too far away and making them circle back again and again.

 

“I’m plenty brave!” Ashido responded, flinging blobs of acid towards Izumi before dodging and rolling again, shrieking in fear as the heat singed at her eyelashes and curled the fur collar of her costume. “I’m just not stupid enough to fight a living inferno!”

 

“Heads up!” Kaminari called out from behind, thoroughly ruining any element of surprise as he lashed out with his indiscriminate electrical burst, only for Izumi to fucking catch it out of midair what the fuck and redirect it into the ground with a small grunt of effort. “....”

 

Kaminari stared, incredulous.

 

The fight stopped for a moment, both him and Ashido unable to process just what the flying fuck they’d seen.

 

After a moment to process, Kaminari groaned and threw up his hands, while Ashido let out a loud battlecry and began flinging acid in Izumi’s direction, spraying it like a sprinkler as though she were trying to put out the roaring blue flames turning the entirety of the third floor into a maze of heat and death. 

 

“Oh come on! Okay, I can’t fight someone who can just do- do that! Ashido, you hold her off, I’m gonna find the bomb!” Kaminari shouted over the roar of the flames, watching Ashido do her best to at least tag Izumi with a blob of acid, only for her to spin and roll with utmost ease, evaporating the globs in midair with bursts of high intensity flame and bubble-like shields that only sent more fire everywhere. 

 

“Go!” Ashido cried out, still doing her best to break through Izumi’s defenses to no avail, while Izumi continued to put on a truly breathtaking show of flipping and blasting fire, to the point that it looked less like a fight and more like an intricate dance of bursting steam and glimmering flame.

 

Not that Kaminari was actually paying attention to the martial arts on display, as he immediately turned and ran for the still barely visible exit on the other side of the room, taking advantage of Izumi’s distracted state.

 

Except…

 

A massive burst of flame erupted from the ground before Kaminari, halting his advance in an instant as he threw himself back and away and tried not to cringe at the smell of polyester singing. Ashido, who had immediately surged forward to aid her teammate, was met with the same- a brilliant wall of blue surging into existence to block her path- but managed to break through by blasting out a thick stream of acid and using the liquid content to all but dive through the burning hot wall without being injured.

 

For a moment, she seemed rather surprised that she broke through- even with the acid literally bubbling and steaming off of her skin, she hadn’t really expected to be able to dive through fire with near impunity.

 

And of course, that was when Izumi appeared before her in a swirl of black fabric and placed her palm on Ashido’s face, the thick black material of her glove flaring with heat and implied threat.

 

“Sit down. You’re dead.”

 

It wasn’t a request.

 

Ashido gulped, shuddering and leaning back slowly as her legs trembled- and as she fell backwards onto her rear with a muffled thump, Izumi’s hand flared with blue flames, roaring like a jet engine as she sent a searing lance of flame out that punched through the wall from well across the room.

 

A nearly six inch thick mass of almost solid concrete. Twenty feet away.

 

Holy shit .

 

Ashido was very, very happy that she’d gone to the bathroom before this, otherwise she’d be shaking on the floor for a very different reason.

 

“Ashido! Are you okay!?” Kaminari called out, squinting as he tried to find a way around the flames blocking his path forward, only just barely seeing Ashido through the haze of smoke building up and not even knowing what happened- the rush of flames filling the room was too much. He could barely hear himself think beyond the ever present lizard brain instinct screaming at him to run you idiot the building is on fire! “Where are you!?”

 

“I’m over here! M-midoriya got me! I-I gotta sit the rest of this out…I-I don’t think that I can move… m-my legs are shaking too hard!” Ashido called back, whimpering slightly as the flames around them grew higher and higher- although, just when she flinched and shrieked back as the flames grew too close and too hot for her liking… they faded around her in a circle, leaving Izumi standing there above Ashido, looking down with an unreadable expression behind that terrifying, faceless mask with but a single darkened eyehole.

 

“... Sorry about that. I got a little too into the heat of things,” Izumi awkwardly apologized, then whipped back towards Kaminari’s position with a speed that was almost too fast for Ashido to process, her cloak flaring out like the wings of a demon around her and billowing as a massive bolt of yellow lightning seared through the air…

 

And landed right into Izumi’s outstretched fingertips.

 

There was a brilliant flash of light that left Ashido blinded for a few moments, followed by a ludicrous peal of thunder that boomed through the enclosed space of the third floor. Blue lightning raced out a moment later,striking against a wall with such force that it blew clear through and out into the open air.

 

“You idiot!” Izumi snarled, her entire body puffing up with rage as the flames around them abruptly guttered out and fell, the smoke in the air dissipating and returning the light of the overhead fluorescent bulbs to the area- dispelling the hellish field of darkness and blinding blue flames and oppressive heat that Izumi had brought to bear. “You could have hit your own teammate with that blast, you absolute moron! You buffoon, you thankless wretch! Had I not been standing there to monitor her condition and keep her from suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning, you could have done irreparable damage!”

 

Kaminari stepped back, gulping thickly as Izumi rounded upon him in a swirl of black, the gold accents of her costume gleaming bright and harsh under the artificial lighting- her presence not at all diminished by her ability to loom over Kaminari and stare into his terrified gaze with her blank and faceless mask, a single blue flame alighting in that empty, dead eyehole and casting eerie shadows across her masked face. 

 

“Sit. Down. And accept. Your loss. With some dignity .”

 

Kaminari sat down, his entire body quaking as Izumi’s entire body roared with steaming hot heat, wisps of smoke twining out from the folds of her cloak and the edges of her mask as though she were a demon straight from hell. A flare of blue flame engulfed the space where his head had been moments later, as though she’d fired it straight from her eyehole as a warning shot just to show him how fucked he would have been if she had been actually trying.

 

The buzzer rang. It was over.

 

Ashido and Kaminari slumped down, utterly defeated. They trembled slightly still, flushed and burnt and out of breath from the fact that they’d had to climb through two floors of smoke filled rooms before they’d even found Izumi, and then been defeated in mere moments just because she’d raised a few walls of fire and caught them off guard.

 

“Good effort, you two. Next time try climbing up the side of the building instead,” Izumi chirped moments later, taking off her mask and giving the two of them a small smile. “I only flooded up to this floor with smoke and fire, you know- if you’d have gone and climbed to the fourth floor I wouldn’t have even seen you coming.”

 

Ashido and Kaminari just groaned, flopping to the floor in unison and wallowing in their defeat.

Chapter 19

Notes:

Quick heads up: I updated the previous chapter with some of my own art, so give it a look if you like

Chapter Text

“Well, I think we can safely conclude that Midoriya-san was the MVP in that battle,” Jiro mentioned as soon as the three of them had returned to the observation deck- Ashido and Kaminari still a bit sore from their loss, but otherwise entirely understanding that they’d just had… no real chance against Izumi, honestly. Even Ashido’s acid, potent as it was against solid structures and obstacles, couldn’t douse enough of the flames around them to really make any headway- and even if she’d drained herself dry pouring weak acid out of her pores, she couldn’t even make a dent in the amount of smoke around her and Kaminari when there was just more and more constantly pouring from Izumi’s position. “She had them beat and she didn’t even lay a finger on ‘em. The warning shots were kinda overkill though, I think.”

 

“Way to bruise the ego some more,” Ashido grumbled under her breath, rubbing her rear slightly from where it had impacted against the concrete floor and wincing as her skin, now no longer immersed in a sea of eye searing blue flames, reminded her that it just wasn’t a good idea to stand so close to fire- Kaminari was starting to turn an interesting shade of pink, actually, and both of them were a little sooty from the amount of smoke they’d had to blindly crawl under and through. “Geez, how were we supposed to know that we’d be going through a literal house fire to get to her in the first place?”

 

“Yeah! That was way too much!” Kaminari whined out, coughing a bit and groaning into his hand. He leveled a glare at Izumi- not too insulted, but still sore about not even having gotten to fight Izumi for more than half a second before she’d tore into him so hard he almost thought she was a judge of the underworld reciting his sins. “Like come on! You already have wicked OP fire, how come you can just- just- deflect my electricity like that!?”

 

“QUITE RIGHT, YOUNG JIRO!” All Might cut in before Izumi could respond that she could do a lot more than just deflect lightning. He cleared his throat before continuing on in a slightly more indoor voice, though it was still booming and loud- after all, he was the kind of guy whose every move was loud and bombastic. Izumi couldn’t begrudge him that. “Ahem- Young Midoriya! Your grasp of tactics was admirable! Moving the weapon to the top floor and limiting Young Ashido and Young Kaminari’s abilities to move up to the fifth floor was a good idea- but I will sadly have to dock points for destruction of the building and reckless behavior!”

 

“... Sir? I understand the destruction of the building isn’t necessarily a good idea from a heroics perspective, but it was a tactical choice as I was playing the villain role,” Izumi pointed out calmly, raising her eyebrow at the man who’d once been her hero (before she discovered women in spandex, at least. Sorry All Might) with the slightest of frowns on her face. “And- I assume my reckless behavior in this case refers to how I set the third floor on fire to act as a hazard against Kaminari-san and Ashido-san. Which, yes, I can understand how that would be reckless were I an ordinary pyrokinetic, but I assure you, sensei, I had complete control over all of the fire and smoke in the entire area.”

 

She paused for a moment, eyes flicking to the screens set on the side of the room and pointing out how the cameras there could pick up that almost nothing in the third floor was actually damaged beyond repair- holes where Izumi had punched some holes in the walls as a result of her intimidating Ashido, and a few blackened areas, but the flames had not even gone so much as an inch into the stairwell leading up to the higher floors. “As you can see on the cameras- I was in complete control. Hence why the flames disappeared the moment I turned on Kaminari-san.”

 

“Thanks for nearly making me piss myself, by the way. Really appreciate feeling like someone’s about to send me to hell before I die,” Kaminari muttered quietly, grumbling sorely still.

 

“Hmm.. you do have a point! Very well, I retract my statement. Very well done, Young Midoriya! Your acting was superb as well- if I wasn’t me I would have been quaking in my boots! Haha!” All Might laughed brightly and clapped a hand on Izumi’s shoulder, giving her a congratulatory pat before letting her move to the side and relax for the moment before launching into a discussion of Ashido and Kaminari’s strengths and weaknesses.

 

Obviously, they hadn’t exactly seen a whole lot of either, but the brightly colored hero did praise Ashido for her quick thinking in trying to clear out the smoke with nets of acid, and Kaminari for trying to use his discharges to cause the smoke to clear out even a little bit by making the particles cling to each other via static electricity, but also mentioned that they should have tried to attack Izumi the moment they’d seen her- as by letting their fear get the best of them, they’d lost the moment that Izumi had seen them take a step back and separated them.

 

Overall, it was a nearly flawless victory for Izumi, who hadn’t even really had to try against her teammates- oh sure, she felt bad about crushing them so easily, but how could they have possibly compared against someone who had all the memories and experiences of a woman who’d spent her formative years fighting and winning a war where almost all combat was handled by benders of all kinds? Hell, her grasp of military tactics alone probably could have won her the fight if she’d actually tried using her capture tape and martial arts skills.

 

Well, that was in the past now. She’d won, she’d played the villain, and she’d gotten full points back as a result. Now… what was she going to do for her second round? And who was she going to partner up with?

 

Across the room, Izumi saw Katsumi pointedly staring at her, and she smirked.


Yes- that would do nicely.

Chapter Text

Izumi hummed quietly as she tried to pick her next group to work with- on the one hand, she really really wanted to fight against Katsumi. On the other hand, she also wanted to try the exercise from the hero side, and of course that meant she’d be working with Katsumi instead.

 

Now, Izumi didn’t exactly just beat down on Katsumi all the time- the two of them were best friends and eternal rivals, after all. She helped Katsumi up as much as she’d beat her down, used her decades of military and martial experience to tell Katsumi exactly where she’d gone wrong and how to improve in the future- hence why she never went after Katsumi in an aerial spars anymore, because her blonde friend was much better at high speed maneuvers than she was (well, currently. Izumi was working on it) due to her explosive quirk allowing her to coast and reorient at intense speed rather than having to decelerate and alter her flight path like Izumi’s firebending jets did. That, and the fact that Izumi just wasn’t going to bring her full breadth of lethal abilities to bear on her first, best, and oldest friend.

 

It just… would have been nice to see how much they’d improved without having to worry about structural damage for once.

 

But, again, she wanted to see how she’d do when she didn’t have time to set up an arena to her advantage. 

 

Hmm…

 

Decisions, decisions.

 

“Argh, why is it so difficult? ” Izumi groaned to herself, hissing as she looked between teams C and F- that was, the pair of Kirishima and Katsumi, and the pair of Jiro and Todoroki, respectively. “Why couldn’t you have been on the villain team, Katsumi? Honestly, this is such a disappointment!”

 

“You could just join the villain team again if you wanna fight me so bad,” Katsumi deadpanned, pointing at the pair opposite to their team, with Kirishima gulping and shaking his head behind Katsumi. “Either way, just hurry up and choose already, you’re holding up the class, Zuzu!

 

“Hrnmm… on the one hand, I do want to fight you… but there’ll be other opportunities for that later. I’ll work alongside you this once,” Izumi sighed, rolling her eyes as she unclipped her mask from her face and set it onto its place at her waist, her cloak billowing gently in the wind as she took up a spot beside Katsumi. “After all, what I really want to see is just how good a recommendation student could really be.”

 

“Fucking finally, let’s go then,” Katsumi huffed, rolling her eyes at Izumi’s theatrics while the green haired girl just gave Jiro a courteous nod and Todoroki a… somewhat unreadable look. 

 

After a few moments of walking, the three of them were stood outside of a fresh building- one whose layout they had before them. It wasn’t too dissimilar from the building Izumi had just gone through- in fact, she’d reckon that outside of a few small details, it was nearly identical. 

 

Jiro and Todoroki, as the villain team, had already gone in and were no doubt planning a strategy already- or, it felt like they were. She could feel the temperature dropping inside of the building, and said as much to her best friend and… Kirishima, who she wasn’t entirely sure about his choice of attire- seriously, it just looked like someone had taken a perfectly functional costume and cut away ninety percent of everything above the waist.

 

Sure, he was built as hell and could wear such a thing with pride, but… come on.

 

Oh well, she was sure it was a decision of practicality anyway- his hardening quirk likely caused most fabrics to tear from the sudden expansion and sharpening of his skin and muscle.

 

“So, before we go in, I suppose I should tell you that I already know which floor the bomb is on,” Izumi spoke idly, cocking her hip as she took off her cloak and let it flop unceremoniously to the ground- it was stain resistant and treated to be easily cleaned, so she didn’t really care if it got a little dirty. And she’d need as much mobility to fight alongside Katsumi anyway. “I can sense two heat signatures moving about on the third floor- one of them is normal, so that’s Jiro-san. I think she’ll be sensing for us if what I’ve surmised about her quirk is at all correct. Todoroki-san is closer to the center of the floor. I don’t know what he’ll do, but given his appearance and how cold half of him feels, I can only assume he’ll attack with fire, ice, or both. Try not to get trapped by any ice if it comes to that, and Kirishima-san…”

 

She paused and looked at her redheaded teammate curiously, frowning thoughtfully as she looked him up and down. “... How fireproof are you, and how fireproof is your costume?”

 

“Oh man, that’s a good question- I guess we’ll figure it out soon, eh?” Kirishima laughed, rubbing the back of his head and grinning with all of his sharklike teeth. He seemed surprisingly at ease despite the situation, likely just viewing it as a school exercise without any real stakes other than grades. 

 

Which, sure, he wasn’t wrong, but she still would have liked him to be a bit more serious about it. After all- they had to put on a good showing, didn’t they?

 

Kirishima paused slightly after he finished his sentence, then looked between both Katsumi and Izumi. “... Wait, how fireproof are you two? And- oh god, Midoriya-san you’re not gonna set the entire floor on fire again are you?”

 

“Tch, are you fucking stupid, you shitty haired dumbass?” Katsumi huffed, rolling her eyes at Kirishima and setting off a few explosions in her hands for emphasis. “Of course I’m fucking fireproof! The only goddamn person on the planet hot enough to burn me is this bitch here, and she cheats!”

 

“Just because you thought you could handle a flame that can cut through steel like butter doesn’t mean I cheated , Katsumi, we’ve been over this many times ,” Izumi groaned, waving her hand at Kirishima almost dismissively as she rounded on her friend. “Honestly, you keep whining about it so much! I thought you got over it ages ago, but clearly not! Ugh- don’t mind her Kirishima-san, she’s just still mad about the time when she thought her quirk’s fireproofing made her immune to an arbitrary amount of heat, not just the maximum heat produced by her own explosions.”

 

“... You two are kinda crazy,” Kirishima muttered partially to himself, partially to both Izumi and Katsumi, chuckling a little bit and grinning wide a moment later. “That’s fuckin’ manly as hell! Er- y’know, in a good way!”

 

“Right, well, thank you. But that still doesn’t give us a good plan of attack,” Izumi sighed, rubbing her forehead a bit and looking over at Katsumi. She knew damn well her friend would go up along the outside using her quirk, and she was thinking much the same. But where to fit Kirishima? He didn’t have any movement capabilities, he was slow and strong and extremely durable- so what would he do? “Both Katsumi and I can fly, Kirishima-san. We’re going in from the outside, so how are we…”

 

Izumi blinked, then grinned at Katsumi.

 

Katsumi grinned back, the both of them rounding on Kirishima with a twin pair of deadly grins at the hard headed boy.

 

Kirishima gulped.

 

“... I’m not gonna like this plan, am I?”

Chapter Text

“Jiro-san, can you tell which direction they’re coming from?” Todoroki asked quietly as the two of them stood outside of the third floor room they’d barricaded the bomb in- Todoroki had thoroughly sealed the entire thing away into a truly ridiculous amount of ice, and while he was already starting to feel the chill of using his quirk, it wasn’t enough to really slow him down- he had more than enough left in him to make something really big if he wanted. 

 

He could use his left side to warm himself… but no. Not now. Not in combat. Never in combat.

 

“Yeah- I’m surprised you can’t,” Jiro answered back, her ear jacks plugged into the walls of the building and letting her hear just about everything in the nearby area- there was no movement from ground level, but she didn’t even need to feel the vibrations in the building to hear the series of explosions and the roaring jet engine sounds coming from outside. “They’re flying up- way high up! I- what are they doing!?”

 

The two of them looked around idly, but couldn’t discern much from where they were- the building’s layout didn’t exactly give them a whole lot of windows where they were, and without any direct contact with the enemy, they were all but blind- even Jiro couldn’t tell anything beyond the sound of two- no, three people going high up into the sky. She could hear Kirishima screaming in fear as- wait.

 

“What’s going on…?” Jiro muttered, kneeling down by the wall closest to the frozen block of ice that the bomb was in, frowning heavily and hoping that whatever that strange sound was wouldn’t come back and bite them in the ass. “Wait… no- hold on! Todoroki-san! I think they’re gonna throw Kirishima-san through the ceiling! I need you up on the fourth floor! Reinforce it as much as you can!”

 

“Right,” Todoroki nodded and immediately took off for the stairs- along the way, he passed by a window and took but a single moment to look up and out , just to see if he could spot what the three of his opponents were doing and-

 

Oh.

 

That didn’t look good.

 

Todoroki blinked ever so slowly before immediately ducking back into the stairwell and booking it up to the fourth floor, completely flooding the entire floor with as much ice as he could manage in an instant- he didn’t even care that the sheer mass of ice made the building shake in its foundations, didn’t care if it wasn’t rated to stand up to that much weight added all at once- he could not allow what he just saw to pass.

 

He took a deep breath and shivered, gulping thickly as the sound of something exploding echoed through the air- what he’d seen… A twin burst of spiraling flame rotating at impossible speeds- blue on one side, a rapid cacophony of explosions on the other, rotating in a way that seemed almost too wild to work or stay airborne at speeds so fast he couldn’t make out any details beyond the blinding flare of light and heat and the screams of Kirishima in the center…

 

He knew damn well what a subsonic projectile the size of a person could do- if not first hand, then through the physics classes he’d taken under the tutelage of his father and his tutors.

 

“DOUBLE!” came the first explosion that marked out what would almost certainly be an utter shitshow of a match- Bakugou Katsumi’s voice ringing through the air at a volume even he could hear despite the distance involved, the english word screeching out like a death knell.

 

A moment later, Todoroki grit his teeth and decided to power through his shivers, pulling up the heat of his left side so he could have even a chance at standing up to his two ridiculously strong public schooled classmates. Not a moment too soon, as another explosion rang out moments later- this time carried aloft by the much more sedate sounding, and yet no less commanding voice of Midoriya Izumi.

 

“XX!”

 

And then- right before he climbed up to the almost entirely empty fifth floor, he felt more than saw or heard the screams of Kirishima Eijiro as he finished the name of the move that the three of them had managed to pull off together.

 

“CATAPUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULT!”

 

Impact.

 

Dust. Shrapnel. The sound of foundations cracking and rubble being thrown everywhere. 

 

Outside of the building, far away in the observation deck, the remainder of the class watched what had happened in the last minute or so in somewhat horrified awe- not at how Kirishima was thrown like a bullet or anything, but by the sheer ridiculous penetrative force that the red headed boy had held.

 

It had started impressively enough- Midoriya and Bakugou had each grabbed one of Kirishima’s hands while the redheaded boy had selectively hardened himself such that his fingers were firmly locked and hooked around theirs- so that no matter what, he wouldn’t slip out and fall to the ground.

 

After that, the two fiery girls had begun to lift off into the air with an angled, uneven thrust vector.

 

It left them moving in rough circles and was more than a little awkward looking at first, but as Midoriya and Bakugou had increased their output to their maximum, their strange, uneven flight pattern transitioned from a drunken looking wobble to a ridiculously fast spin whereupon the sheer centripetal force acting upon their bodies forced them to twist, contort, and bend themselves into a nearly UFO-like configuration.

 

Somehow, despite all of that, Bakugou and Midoriya somehow managed to retain enough coordination and sense of direction such that once they reached a good enough height, Bakugou had whipped around with even more force while Midoriya cut her own thrust such that Bakugou became the center of rotation.

 

Moments later, Midoriya and Kirishima had been flung like a bullet at the rooftop of the building with Bakugou screaming out a word that seemed rather incongruous for the first few moments, up until Midoriya started doing the same move as Bakugou had done- spinning Kirishima around her like a top despite also heading towards the roof of a building at well over terminal velocity, up until the point that she’d screamed out her word, exploding Kirishima once again to propel him at just barely subsonic velocities down into and through the roof of the building whilst screaming out the last word of the hastily created and named super move.

 

Double XX Catapult.

 

What a truly ridiculous name for a truly ridiculous move- such was its sheer impact that the force of Kirishima crashing through the roof of the building, barely being deflected by the thick sheet of ice Todoroki had thrown into the fifth floor in the bare half second he’d had before Kirishima came exploding through, and then pummeling through the fully filled out fourth floor of the building before tunneling through all the way back down to the second floor had literally started to make the entire building collapse .

 

The entire first floor of the building had sunken almost a full foot just from the weight of the ice and the impact of Kirishima- and yet, the battle had only just begun, as was evidenced a moment later by Kirishima coming into view on one of the cameras still working inside of the building, stepping triumphantly out onto the third floor via a ramp of rubble and smashing his fists together with a cocky grin as he faced the now very much alone Jiro.

 

“That friggin hurt, but I’m still rarin’ to go! Let’s do this mano a mano!”

Chapter Text

Jiro Kyoka was, as a rule, not someone who tried to show her fear too much. It just didn’t work so well when one was a heroics student and prided themselves in being a tough, badass punk rock bitch.

 

This, she thought, was a good exception to her usual rule.

 

“Holy SHIT!” she screamed, ducking and holding on for dear goddamn life as the entire building felt as though it was falling apart around her- and, from what she could hear from the foundations, it very nearly was

 

She screamed and held on and clung to the floor for stability, hoping to dear god that nothing would-

 

CRASH

 

-smash through the fucking ceiling and nearly take her fucking head off what the fuck!?

 

“What the fuck- what the fuck, what the actual fuck!?” Kyoka muttered to herself, gasping for air as she backed away from the hole that Kirishima had very clearly made with his own fucking body as he’d smashed through the ceiling like a kinetic impact weapon, leaving massive shards of broken concrete, rebar, and slowly melting ice everywhere in his wake as he punched through the third floor and down into the second.

 

For a moment, Kyoka almost thought that the impact would have killed the red haired boy, but shuddered and let out a quiet sigh of relief as her earphone jacks picked up the quiet, nearly inaudible mutter of, “I’m okaaaay….” emanating from the hole in which the burly, manly hero in training had fallen.

 

And then, almost unbelievably, Kirishima had gotten back up from where he’d been laid out on the floor, tromping up the broken patch of floor that hung down into the level below, every single heavy step sending minute vibrations through the foundation of the building- Kyoka could already tell the thing was going to collapse in the next few minutes, the only question remaining would be whether or not the three hero team members would manage to beat out Todoroki’s ridiculous strength, or if simply burying the entire room the bomb was in with ice would somehow do the trick and secure their victory.

 

Well, that, and how she would deal with Kirishima.

 

Because, well.

 

“Whew! That friggin hurt, but I’m still rarin’ to go! Let’s do this mano a mano!”

 

There he was, not twenty feet away, grinning like a loon, smashing his fists together as he hardened himself and prepared for combat.

 

“A-ah, uh, Kirishima-san, are you sure you wanna do this?” Kyoka asked, slowly taking a few steps back as Kirishima walked forward, gulping a bit and watching as the red haired monolith of muscle and hardened flesh swayed ever so slightly and blinked repeatedly- one eye slightly unfocused and his grin ever so lopsided. “You- you look kinda concussed. And All Might-sensei said that he’d stop it if it went too far… You can chill if you want…?”

 

“Me? Concussed? Nah, I’ve had a concussion before and this ain’t anything like it!” Kirishima laughed, shaking his head and wincing slightly before regaining his bearings. “Anyway, stop stalling! I got a challenge to win and I ain’t backin’ down now!”

 

“... I was afraid you’d say that,” Kyoka groaned under her breath, then took a deep breath and rolled her neck as her earlobes extended and plugged into the reinforced spine of her costume, sending the sounds echoing through the amplifier circuits and into the speakers embedded in her boots and forearms, her headphones protecting her actual ears from the shockwave about to form. “Fine then- you asked for it. HEARTBEAT BOOMBURST!”

 

In an instant, Kyoka lifted her arms up to shield her face, letting out a scream of effort as the speakers in the forearms of her jacket and boots activated to their maximum output, letting out a horrifying shriek of amplifier distortion like unto a charging beam. Kirishima didn’t lay idle though, rushing forward with a loud battle cry and raising his arms to try and tackle Kyoka before whatever move she had charging released.

 

But it was too late.

 

A massive shockwave of pure sound tore from the speakers like a shrieking, wailing blast of pure bass noise, the sound of Kyoka’s heartbeat amplified to a volume so loud it was less of a sound and more of a pressurized wave of air tearing through the already damaged hallway with a deafening, terrifying-

 

TH-THOOM!

 

Kirishima was flung back the way he came, screaming as his ears bled from the sheer volume of noise, flailing in midair until he ended up embedded halfway through one of the outer walls of the building, all the way down on the other side of the hallway with a crash so loud it almost wasn’t drowned out by the pure sonic death that was Kyoka’s Heartbeat Boomburst.

 

The attack stopped after only a few seconds- Kyoka couldn’t dare amplify her heartbeat for too long else she’d risk tearing apart her own costume and damaging her earphone jacks, and the entire hallway was starting to suffer even more to the point that she’d nearly blown out the walls around her- just the one on her left, actually. The walls on the right were still shored up by the massive ice cube Todoroki had made, but the wall where Kirishima had been thrown into was- oh. There it went.

 

“AAAAaaaaaaaaa aaaaa- oof!”

 

And there Kirishima went. Kyoka winced, awkwardly sidling around the hole in the floor before her before rushing out to the other hole in the wall and peering out, frantically looking about before spotting the red haired boy embedded in a perfectly him shaped hole in the asphalt far below.

 

“S-sorry! I uh- are you okay?” Kyoka called out, wincing a little harder at Kirishima’s battered state before letting out a quiet breath of relief as he raised his thumb high and gave her a toothy grin.

 

“I’m fine! You just wait up there, cuz I’m comin’ back up! Soon as I get outta this hole! Er… gimme a couple minutes!”

 

“... Yeah, okay you do that,” Kyoka muttered to herself, then sighed, shook her head, and turned back to the hallway- she could hear the sounds of explosions and jet engine intense flames and someone screaming and roaring in the floor above her, and as much as she really didn’t want to try and try her luck against someone who’d won against two of her classmates solo … well, she’d be a piss poor hero in training if she’d just let Todoroki cover his own ass, wouldn’t she?

 

Kyoka sighed, shaking her head and groaning to herself as she began jogging for the stairs, wincing every time a particularly strong explosion shook the building and hoping for dear life that the foundations didn’t actually collapse.

 

As she ran, she only had one thought going through her head:


“My classmates are fucking insane!”

Chapter Text

Shouto panted heavily as he tried to fend off the twin attacks of both Midoriya Izumi and Bakugou Katsumi, swallowing thickly and trembling as his overused right side continued to pour out more and more ice in the hopes of stopping either of the two pyromaniacs currently bearing down on him. Even with the frost forming against his body, he could still fight- would still fight no matter what. He couldn’t afford to lose. Not here, on the first day of college.

 

But- he could barely break even, and at this point was resorting to smaller and smaller attacks just so he wouldn’t freeze himself over entirely.

 

“You know, it’d probably be easier on you if you just gave up now,” Midoriya called out, both her and Katsumi working flawlessly in sync as they dodged and weaved around Shouto’s attacks, sending their own back that either halted, slowed, or outright shattered the waves of ice spikes he was sending their way. “Otherwise Katsumi here might just break your pretty boy face!”

 

“Tch, don’t put any fucking words in my mouth Zuzu, I’ll break everything but his face!” Bakugou shouted back, expertly using her explosions to flip over an oncoming icewave and shatter it in one motion, landing back on her feet and bum rushing Shouto- only to be driven back at the last second by protective ice wall, massive spikes extending out of its vertical surface and forcing Bakugou to flip backwards out of the way lest she be impaled- or, well, scratched and battered at most. Shouto didn’t want to hurt his classmate, of course, and so had made the spikes about as blunt and nonlethal as he could.

 

“Hm. You two… are s-strong…” Shouto spoke, shivering with every attack he made and trying to keep his focus on both girls before him- Midoriya was doing something, he was sure, and the amount of haze in the air was making it difficult to see. Even with the hole in the ceiling drawing in fresh air and the blown out holes in the wall creating a crosswind, Shouto was starting to lose his sense of sight- hadn’t Midoriya’s flames been cleaner the last time? He recalled them burning without smoke, but now they were filled with it to the point that half of her attacks barely even scratched his ice- melting the surface, but otherwise not doing much of anything.

 

“You’re GODDAMN RIGHT WE ARE!” Bakugou screamed out, laughing almost maniacally as she continued smashing through Shouto’s ice. “COME ON! I KNOW YOU’RE FEELING COLD, HALF N’ HALF! WHY DON’T YOU LIGHT UP AND GIVE US A REAL FUCKING CHALLENGE!?”

 

“Now now, Katsumi, let’s not give ourselves more work,” Midoriya chided her teammate, slowly starting to hang back and simply dodge, her side of the room filled with more puddles than the broken ice shards littering the ground around Bakugou and Shouto- was the room getting warmer? “After all, we still need to get to-”

 

“Yeah yeah, the bomb! One thing at a time, dammit!” Bakugou responded, resuming her assault as the two of them circled around and began doing some kind of complicated maneuver- up until the point that someone shouted “HEARTBEAT SHOCKWAVE!” and sent a massive blast wave of icy shrapnel through the room, hitting Bakugou from behind and launching her towards Midoriya.

 

Fortunately for their health, the two of them recovered quickly and managed to summon up a shield of both blue-hot flames and explosions to protect themselves from the worst of Jiro’s attack.

 

Unfortunately for Shouto’s exhaustion, the two of them recovered quickly enough that they managed to split their efforts and start fighting one on one- Midoriya rushing after Jiro and Bakugou once more trying to rush in after him .

 

Unfortunately for Shouto, by this point he was already starting to ice over enough that his mobility was severely hampered, forcing him to stay on the defensive as he did his best to use small moves- skating around by pushing himself on a wave of ice, teeth chattering and entire body feeling like he was one wrong move from shutting down, blocking and defending against Bakugou’s blasts with smaller buckler shaped hunks of ice that were quickly formed and thrown away while trying to maneuver the almost feral girl into making some kind of mistake.

 

There- an opening!

 

With an almighty roar of effort that choked off halfway through as Shouto realized just how stiff his muscles were, he ducked under Bakugou’s next blast with her outstretched right arm- the same one she’d used to initiate every single engagement so far- and immediately used everything his father ever taught him about judo to flip and throw the screaming girl halfway across the room with every last bit of strength he had.

 

With that second’s worth of space, he spared a glance over to Jiro, who was only barely holding her own against Midoriya- in fact, she was doing even better than he’d expected. All of the blue flame the green haired girl could produce couldn’t even put a dent in Jiro’s sonic defenses- the speakers in her costume pulsating with a constant, forceful wave of sheer noise that it actually disrupted any fire that got close and sent it scattering around like puffs of smoke and heat.

 

But something was wrong.

 

Something niggled at the back of Shouto’s mind- where was Kirishima?

 

His eyes widened.

 

“Jiro-san! Where’s Kirishima!?” he cried out, immediately turning towards his teammate as a sudden thud rang out a floor below- the third floor. The one where the bomb was still sitting buried in a block of ice the size of a room.

 

Thud. Thud. Thud.

 

A block of ice that even he could hear was being slowly chipped away by a very enthusiastic sounding redhead.

 

“Yosh! Come on! Break dammit!”

 

“Shit, he’s back up already!? Dammit the floor isn’t gonna take much more of this abuse any longer! The foundations were already cracked enough from that first throw, and the ice everywhere isn’t helping!” Jiro gritted her teeth and tried not to hiss out her frustrations, only barely able to dance around Midoriya’s ridiculously fast strikes and turn them aside with concentrated blasts of noise from her forearm and shin speakers- and that wasn’t even enough to keep an omnidirectional defense up, especially with Midoriya starting to send whips of fire soaring obliquely through the air. 

 

Bakugou, meanwhile, resumed her offense on Shouto, who relished slightly in the heat of the explosions washing over him- every single burst of searing heat biting into his skin made him that much more stable, gave him just that little bit more extension on how long he could go on for before suffering frostbite. And in return, he continued to drive off the explosive girl as best as he could, starting to do as Midoriya did and curve waves of ice in unexpected ways to try and trap the girl while he slowly maneuvered back towards the stairwell, with Jiro making her way over as well.

 

“Oh no you don’t!” Bakugou roared, clenching her fists and thrusting both of them forward with a determined glare on her face. “You’re not going anywhere you goddamn extras! GRENADIER BRACE! TWENTY PERCENT SHOT!”

 

“Katsumi no-!”

 

Whatever Midoriya was about to say was drowned out for Shouto, as an almighty KABOOM rang out seconds later- twin lances of pure explosive force slamming out of Bakugou’s bracers and blasting through the goddamn wall just barely to Shouto’s left, completely flooding the hallway with concrete shrapnel, rebar, broken plaster, and pulverized ice shards that quickly sublimated into steam from the sheer heat of the attack.

 

Shouto winced, his ears ringing and his breath stolen away from him as he watched with blank eyes the hole in the outside wall that had formed as a result of the pure power of the blast stored within the explosive blonde’s gauntlets.

 

And that had been only twenty percent. 

 

Distantly, he could hear Jiro screaming as the sheer volume of the blastwave completely overwhelmed her sensitive hearing, sending her to the floor in agony. The two of them were cornered- the stairs were blocked, he was starting to freeze over, Jiro was on her knees, and both Bakugou and Midoriya still looked like they had an ungodly amount of energy left inside of them- he’d have to fight smart if he wanted to keep going, stall long enough for the timer to run out.

 

And then the building started to shake.

 

For a moment, Shouto couldn’t figure out what was happening, up until Midoriya began to look around worriedly as well before rounding on her teammate.

 

“Katsumi you idiot! Jiro already said the foundations were weak, now look what you’ve done!”

 

In an instant, Shouto realized. The building wasn’t just shaking because of Kirishima’s overwhelming enthusiasm as he pounded through Shouto’s ice blockade- it was shaking because the GODDAMN BUILDING WAS FALLING .

 

“There’s only a minute left, dammit! We gotta end this quick- Katsumi, grab ‘em and get out! I’ll get Kirishima!” Midoriya called out not a single moment later- but Shouto didn’t listen. He simply stood his ground and readied into a combat stance- if she thought she’d take him without a fight, he had another ice wave ready for her. He’d trap the two fire users, shore up the building, and claim victory.

 

And then, Midoriya began doing something he hadn’t even thought about, despite knowing all too well what she’d done with Kaminari the match before.

 

Crackling blue lightning formed at her fingertips, and in an instant Shouto realized that both he and Jiro were soaked in the remains of his own ice- most of it having melted from the sheer amount of heat being thrown around the room, with him having taken the brunt of it given he was the source.

 

But- they’d be fine. His ice was about as distilled as it could get- there shouldn’t be any way for electricity to conduct without some kind of pollutant or electrolyte to… mix… in…

 

The smoke.

 

The smoke that Midoriya had been pouring everywhere, turning his ice a sooty gray as he supplemented his own energy reserves with what moisture there was in the air.

 

The smoke that stained the puddles in the area a dirty, muddy black.

 

Shouto blinked, untensing his muscles as he realized just what kind of position he was in.

 

“... Clever girl,” he breathed out slowly, his breaths coming in puffs of ice as he did his best to shield Jiro from the inevitable even if there was no way to actually prevent it.

 

Everything turned into the crackling pain of electrocution moments later- and then came blessed unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Todoroki Shouto woke up the same way he seemed to do just about everything- deliberately, and without a great deal of fuss. He didn’t scream or thrash, he didn’t rocket up and out of bed suddenly- he just opened his eyes rather blearily, as though he hadn’t just been electrocuted unconscious after being almost frostbitten by his own powers. Izumi, in the deepest corners of her mind, was honestly quite thankful for that. Even if she’d lost some points for reckless building smashing in her last battle and had made a show of flinging as much fire as she could at both Todoroki and Jiro, she hadn’t really wanted to hurt either Todoroki or Jiro- after all, they seemed like nice people… or at least, Jiro did. Maybe she was projecting a little on Todoroki.

 

He did, after all, look so much like her dear older brother (once upon a time, a lifetime ago, that dear would have been sarcastic and full of loathing, but now with a fresh lease on life and a new moral compass to center herself around, she really did think that Zuko had been doing his best to be a good older brother to her, even if she couldn’t see it) and maybe that was clouding her judgement of him- but… no. Izumi was smarter than that, and she could see the way his shoulders tensed and the lines of his body held so much repressed emotion that there was no way the resemblance to Zuko stopped at the scar.

 

So, as Todoroki opened his eyes and took in the sights and pale walls of the UA hospital wing, Izumi leaned forward ever so slightly from where she’d been sat next to him- waiting patiently for him to wake up.

 

Jiro was still unconscious, but Izumi didn’t much mind that- different people woke up at different rates after being knocked unconscious by a low power taser shot like that. She wrinkled her brow slightly, frowning a bit at her own hands for just a moment before extending one to Todoroki.

 

“Hey, you’ve been out for about a half hour now- how are you feeling?” Izumi asked, looking down at the bleary eyed boy and giving him the faintest of reassuring smiles- one that widened slightly as he took her hand and used it to help prop himself up. “Sorry about the electrocution thing- I try not to use it because it’s way too easy to accidentally throw in a little too much power… you’re not jittering anywhere, are you? I wouldn’t assume you got nerve damage from what I did, but it’s best to be sure.”

 

“I am… fine,” Todoroki answered slowly, frowning slightly as he flexed his right hand- the hand that had been nearly entirely covered in frost last he remembered. The side that had been on the verge of frostbite to the point that he could almost feel himself starting to lose cells in that area. “... How did I… I was on the verge of frostbite before you knocked me out. Did Recovery Girl fix it?”

 

“Hm? Oh, that. No, I fixed you up right after we all got out safe from the building- Kirishima-san actually came through there, by the way. He actually managed to grab ahold of the fake bomb right before the time was called and the building came down,” Izumi cleared her throat, reminiscing a bit about how Kirishima had literally been using his hardened hair and limbs to dig a tunnel through the slowly melting ice that had completely filled the third floor main room to the brim- she’d helped a little of course, using her heat manipulation to actually melt the ice much faster than it would have otherwise, but it’d mostly been him. “Anyway, once everyone was out, I just moved some heat around, fixed up the frostbite before it became a problem.”

 

Todoroki blinked, not quite understanding what Izumi meant by moving heat around . Did she mean that she warmed him up with her flames? No, that couldn’t be it- if she’d meant that she used her flames to regulate his temperature, she would have said as much, wouldn’t she? Some of his confusion must have shown on his face, because Izumi immediately tilted her head to the side, her mouth opening with a minute gasp of realization.

 

“Ah- right. My quirk is annoyingly comprehensive and broad,” Izumi shrugged and waved her hand a bit, generating a bit of heat haze around her hand as she spoke and holding it near Todoroki’s right side for emphasis. “Firebending lets me not just produce and control fire, but also generate and redirect lightning, create directed explosions, generate smoke, move heat around, sense energy paths and health problems- and who knows what else. It’s really quite versatile.”

 

For further emphasis, Izumi drew back slightly and picked up the cup of water sitting at Todoroki’s bedside, focusing just a bit on drawing heat from the air and pushing it into the cup. Moments later, Todoroki’s eyes widened slightly as the water began to boil- only to just as quickly freeze solid with only the slightest flex of effort, and a heat haze forming around Izumi’s hand.

 

“So I used it to draw some of the heat from your left side into your right, then pumped in a little extra from the environment so you’d be back to a healthy balance,” Izumi finished, setting the cup back down- now liquid once more. “Anyway- that’s not really what I wanted to talk to you about.”

 

She paused, and Todoroki seemed to have an unreadable expression on his face- was he shocked by Izumi’s casual creation of ice in a way that almost made it seem like she shared some of the same quirk as he did? Was he weirded out by how freely Izumi was sharing information with him?

 

Izumi didn’t know, but she powered on all the same- after all, she could worry about that later. She had her own curiosity to satisfy first, and wouldn’t let it go until she had a better understanding of the boy before her. 

 

All so she could decide on whether or not she put Endeavor on her shit list, of course.

 

After a moment, Todoroki seemed to catch the hint that Izumi was leading him on, finally speaking up with a simple, “What is it you wanted to ask?”

 

Izumi nodded slowly, rolling her words around in her mouth for a moment before sitting back in her chair and folding her legs primly, ever the picture of a perfect princess. She waited a few seconds for dramatic effect, then finally spoke up with a tone as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

 

“Todoroki-san… I have to wonder- and it may not be my place to ask this, being the first time we’ve met and all… but why is it that you didn’t use your left side to fight?”

Chapter Text

Todoroki stilled, staring at Izumi with clear distrust in his eyes- of course he wouldn’t respond well to that, he barely knew her. Izumi certainly wouldn’t have liked it if she’d just all of a sudden had someone ask her why she didn’t use one of her abilities, but she had to know for sure. Because- well.

 

Her mother had made her a total softie. Her old personality before she’d awoken her previous life’s memories had made her even softer .

 

She’d once been the very picture of altruism- a happy go lucky little baby whose only thought about heroes was that they were amazing, larger than life people who helped people in need and made sure the bad people went to jail.

 

And then Azula had woken up and nearly smothered little baby Izumi until her mother had given her an anchor point to rally around. 

 

But even now, the reason why she even bothered asking Todoroki what she did because, well. She’d seen him in his few appearances on TV. She knew what people like Endeavor were like.

 

She asked because Todoroki looked like he needed help. And well- she was in a position to help at least a little now.

 

“Did my father put you up to this?” Todoroki asked, almost hissing at her with narrowed eyes in the time it’d taken her to simply sit back in her chair, still musing in her mind about her reasonings for trying to reach out. “Tch, should have known he’d send people to try and get me to use my fire-”

 

“That’s… entirely wrong,” Izumi interrupted Todoroki before he could work himself into a rage over a perceived slight that didn’t even remotely line up with Izumi’s reasons. She leaned forward once more, shaking her head and holding her hands up as if in surrender. “But, I’m glad that you’ve confirmed my suspicions already. Look- I know this is hard to believe, but I know what your father’s probably like. It’s written all over him if you know where to look- his attitude, the way he carries himself, the way he treats people he thinks of as acceptable targets… I know what men like that are like- people like that. I almost was the same way, actually. My father was even worse….”

 

Izumi shrugged and let out a tiny laugh that she didn’t really feel. “Well- one of them was. The man I call father now is just… absent. Working overseas. Good man, if a bit distant… but the man who I hate was… well. I won’t go into details, but I know what it’s like, Todoroki-san. And the way you reacted to the idea of using flames…”

 

She paused, then shook her head. Todoroki said nothing, simply waiting for her to finish up her thoughts- or, so Izumi assumed, given that she couldn’t really tell what was going on behind those eyes of his. After a moment, though, she continued on, taking a deep breath and chewing her lip while she tried to explain herself.  

 

“I apologize, I’m not actually very good at comforting people, or getting them to open up,” Izumi sighed, shaking her head again before frowning at Todoroki with something of an almost tired expression on her face. “But believe me, I may not know the specifics of what your home life is like, but I can imagine. Harsh training that might as well be beatings, isolation from peers, overwhelming expectations, the constant need to submit to his authority… forcing a divide between you and any siblings you may have. A mother that’s long go-”

 

“Stop.”

 

Izumi blinked and shut her mouth, noticing the way Todoroki flinched away at the mention of his mother, his already slightly slitted left eye closing further almost as if remembering past injury. She pursed her lips.

 

Ah. Hm.

 

Right, Todoroki’s mother hadn’t been seen in some time, hadn’t she?

 

“Apologies. That’s a sore wound, I imagine.”

 

“You… why are you saying all of this? I don’t- how do you know? How could you possibly even imagine what my life is like?” Todoroki asked, looking over at Izumi, his hands clenching into fists as his breath started misting out slightly from one side of his mouth. “Have- have you been spying on me?”

 

“No, I just made some guesses based on my own previous experience… and maybe committed a bit of data breaching to sate my own curiosity,” Izumi admitted, as if hacking into a hero’s private records to figure out details of their civilian life was a casual crime like shoplifting a bottle of tea or jaywalking instead of something one could very much be arrested and spend several years in jail. “As I said, your father seemed like a piece of shit, so I did my own independent research after I saw the few times he took you to press accessible events- even if you tried to hide it, I picked out the flinches whenever he touched you.”

 

“... That man…” Todoroki whispered, not really responding to Izumi so much as he was just trembling in quiet rage at the thought of his father and all of the things he’d suffered under the man’s roof. “I hate him. I hate him so much … I- You said you researched my family. What do you know?”

 

“Mmm… more than I thought I’d find, less than I’d like,” Izumi spoke carefully, choosing her words to try and downplay the hours she’d spent pulling up file after file and making her own connections… all for a person she wasn’t ever sure she’d meet, just because she had that terrible burning urge that had been present in her younger self no matter how much the mannerisms of the Fire Princess tried to stomp them out- to help, to heal, to rush into problems headlong and reach out for anyone who looked like they needed help.

 

She almost wished she wasn’t like that, that she was a bit more callous and cruel, if only so she could stop feeling like shit every time she came across a problem she couldn’t just run out and electrocute to death. But then again… her mother would have been really, really disappointed if she’d actually gone and done any of that. So, maybe it was a good thing Izumi was so soft and gooey inside, as Katsumi had put it once a long time ago.

 

After a moment’s hesitation, Izumi continued speaking, clearing her throat a bit as she did so.

 

“I… dug up some records. Old social media posts. Hospital records. Marriage certificates. I know that Todoroki Enji married Himura Rei suddenly and without any previous signs of courtship or familiarity. I know Todoroki Touya hospitalized himself multiple times until he suddenly disappeared one day. I know your mother was institutionalized shortly after you were checked into a hospital for severe burns to the left side of your face. I don’t know any more details about your family situation, other than the fact that your older sister and second oldest brother are a kindergarten teacher and a pediatric social worker, respectively, and their social media posts suggest that they are well adjusted, if reticent to talk about their home lives. I know that your hospitalization records are sparse, and outside of vaccinations and yearly physicals, every update to your medical history has been handled by an in-house doctor. And I know that Todoroki Enji is an abusive, hateful man who will throw aside everything including his family in favor of either surpassing All Might as Japan’s Number One, or having you reach that spot for him to secure his legacy.”

 

“...”

 

Todoroki was silent for a moment, bristling with some mix of rage and unidentifiable emotions, twitching and gritting his teeth as he clenched his fists tight and hung his head. Finally, after letting out a few muttered curses, he looked up at Izumi with a very slightly confused expression, though it was mostly drowned out by a sea of warring emotions- most of them angry. At what, Izumi didn’t know, but she didn’t feel like poking the bear even more to try and find out.

 

“... You’ve basically got the gist of it,” he finally spoke, as if the words were something he couldn’t even bear to get out. “... My mother was…” 

 

He shook his head and sighed, tension bleeding from his shoulders as he held one hand up to cover his scar.

 

“You know most of it… and… since I get the feeling, I suppose I’ll let you know the rest, in exchange for answering one question of my own.”

Chapter Text

By the time Todoroki had finished the emotional and personal side of a story that Izumi already had the broader details around, she was ready to storm out and murder a fool in the street. The target of her anger may or may not have been Japan’s current Number Two Hero, but that was neither here nor there.

 

What was overwhelmingly obvious, though, was that Izumi was both thoroughly sympathetic towards Todoroki’s plight… and also entirely unamused with his stated goal of becoming the Number One Hero without using half of his entire quirk.

 

Even Todoroki could see it written all over her face, the lack of amusement the moment he’d said something along the lines of, “I will become the Number One Hero without using my father’s quirk.”

 

She’d held herself back, though, for a few good long seconds in order to make sure that Todoroki was finished speaking- that he had gotten everything out of his system and said his piece- before taking a deep breath whilst crossing her arms and looking him dead in the eyes.

 

“... Todoroki-san… I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news… but isn’t that just what your father planned for you but with extra steps?” Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow as though she couldn’t actually comprehend the logic behind Todoroki’s thoughts. 

 

Without even waiting for him to speak, though, she continued on, stating her observations without a hint of judgement or condescension- a rarity for her, but then again, she usually wasn’t trying to pull someone out of a self destructive spiral. Usually she was knocking cocky bitches down a peg and driving them into the dirt so they knew their place beneath her boot.

 

“I don’t mean to offend, but I’ll say what’s on my mind without beating around the bush, as Tsu-san would do,” Izumi spoke clearly, maintaining eye contact with Todoroki and trying her best to not let her chi suffuse into the air and make her presence seem larger than it really was. “Your father, the man you hate most in this world, wants you to surpass him and take the number one spot from All Might and secure his legacy that way. As such, he trains you harshly and with great brutality, and you understandably wish to deny him all of that pleasure. However, you also wish to become a hero… to spite your father by doing it your own way.”

 

She paused for a moment, then continued on, sighing a bit.

 

“Todoroki-san… aren’t you playing directly into what Endeavor wants?”

 

Todoroki blinked, then sat up straighter, glaring at Izumi with as much vitriol as he could- though even he had to admit, there was something of a point to her words despite her basically saying that everything he did was worth nothing… not in as many words, but it felt like the implication was there.

 

“Excuse me?” he hissed out, fists clenched into his bedsheets as he almost forced himself out of bed right then and there, teeth gritted in a harsh scowl and the lines of his face drawn into an expression of some kind of mix of loathing, denial, and confusion. “Just because you have a fire quirk and cyber-stalked my family records out of some misplaced sense of justice doesn’t mean you have the fucking right to lecture me on what my methods are! Who even are you to say that- how exactly would I be playing into my father’s wants by forging my own way to being Number One?”

 

Izumi, though, wasn’t phased.

 

She’d fought stronger ice users (debatably) and come out on top. She’d fought stronger fire users ( probably) and come out on top. She’d once been Azula, princess of the Fire Nation and possibly one of the strongest goddamn firebenders on the planet outside of her Uncle and the goddamn Avatar .

 

“By trying to reach for Number One in the first place ,” Izumi responded, just a touch of anger sparking in her golden eyes as she flooded the air with her presence- a roiling heat haze that sparked like lightning and made the fabric of Todoroki’s bedsheets crackle with building static electricity, the air around her almost popping around her third eye chakra as she stood up and leaned in close. “You have all of heroics around you, Todoroki-kun . You could be any kind of hero in the world. I have seen how wide and varied this field is, and do you know what kind of hero you want to be? Because if your only goal is to surpass All Might and your father by only using your Ice half, then that just sounds like you’ll be the exact same type of angry , bitter hero that Endeavor is- constantly running around, beating up criminals like your ass is on fire, running from emergency to emergency and wasting all of your life on arrests and patrols, never once building any kind of public presence outside of just your sheer effectiveness as a crime fighter.”

 

She took a step closer to the bed, looming over Todoroki as her eyes widened ever so slightly, pupils narrowing as she stared him right in the eyes and watched as he shrank back ever so slightly. 

 

“If that is the hero you wish to be, if you wish to try and half ass your entire hero career on the off chance that you could possibly beat All Might in a popularity contest decided not just by crime fighting but public perception , then I’m sorry to say that you aren’t going to surpass your father. You are only going to be worse than him . Because even if your father is a piece of shit bastard who I’d gladly electrocute to death so he’d never hurt you or your siblings again, I can give him this: At least. He. Gives it. His. All.

 

Izumi sighed, then shook her head and straightened up, her presence sinking back into her skin as the heat she had pulled from the rest of the room suddenly returned, as though a summer breeze had rolled through and brought the room back up to normal temperature. 

 

“You have so many paths open- disaster rescue, analytics, triage, fire suppression, you could even spend your entire life riding high on your mysterious pretty boy looks and become a hero for the sake of fashion modeling. But if all you’re going to do is bitch and whine about how much you hate your dad while doing the exact thing he trained you to become , all while half-assing your entire quirk and letting half of it go to waste… then you might as well just quit now and become a house husband. It’d piss him off more than anything else, seeing you flunk out of heroics.”

 

With that, Izumi turned and headed for the door, tossing a slim piece of white cardstock onto Todoroki’s bed with a flick of her fingers.

 

“Or, if you decide that you do want to be a hero, if you do get over your own ego and use your quirk to forge your path to snub your father by becoming the kind of hero he’d never even give the time of day to… hit me up. I’ll show you how to control your flames better than he ever could.”

 

And then- she was gone. Her cape ruffling and swirling as it disappeared out of the door, leaving Todoroki alone, save for Jiro, who cleared her throat awkwardly and stared at the now limp form of Todoroki, sitting there with his head down and staring at his hands as though he had no idea what was going on anymore.

 

“... Yikes, that was harsh … Hey uh… Todoroki-san, do you… need a hug?”

 

 

 

“... Yes please.”

Chapter Text

Izumi sighed quietly as she relaxed in the dorm’s common room, sitting back in one of the sinfully plush armchairs and huffing quietly as she watched cat videos on her phone. It was well after dinnertime by now- she’d eaten, of course, but with the lack of actual homework on the first day all she’d done for the rest of the afternoon had been sparring with Katsumi in one of the gyms- shortly after joined by Uraraka and Tsu, who’d come by to get a head start on their adjusted fitness plans.

 

The two of them seemed to already have a close bond, and while Izumi was a little jealous that Uraraka and Tsu wanted to hang out with each other more than they did with her , it wasn’t like she was unhappy about it- they were very cute together, and seemed like they’d be able to bring out the best in each other. That said- Izumi had learned quite quickly that while Tsu’s physical skills were extremely powerful thanks to her enhanced strength, speed, and various adaptations based on frog biology, her martial arts knowledge was just shy of nonexistent.

 

Of course, she wasn’t hopeless , seeing as she’d gone to a hero prep highschool, but her forms were basic and focused more on raw usability and straightforward, easy to repeat attacks rather than the long and storied variety that proper martial arts techniques could give. 

 

Uraraka was entirely the opposite, though- no actual physical enhancements, no great advantages in combat, the only thing she really had currently was being just barely over an inch taller than Izumi… though somehow she always seemed to look at Izumi as though she was the tallest person in the room. But despite her lack of any enhanced strength or speed, her martial skill was actually only second to Ojiro’s, if she was being honest. Good enough to give a challenge, but not so skilled as to be enough to actually beat her regularly.

 

Katsumi, of course, was the closest thing Izumi had to a real challenge when quirks were flying and tempers ran hot, but she was still unlearning the habits brought on by her wild brawling style. Granted, Katsumi’s wild brawling was still better than half of the people she’d ever fought at the one northern shaolin dojo she’d ever been to, but still.

 

It had been a wonderful workout, all told. Her muscles were pleasantly sore, she was freshly showered and wrapped up in a comfortable set of elegant pajamas, and now she didn’t have anything to do- she didn’t even have to go back up to her room for a few hours if she didn’t want to.

 

“Hey, whatcha doin?”

 

“Fuck!”

 

Izumi immediately scrambled out of her seat and onto the floor as soon as Hagakure’s voice chirruped all too suddenly in her ear, causing her to perform her most ungainly sprawl in years as she fell down and onto the soft carpet with a loud thump and a muffled groan of embarrassment.

 

“Dammit Hagakure!” Izumi hissed out moments after collecting herself, grimacing as she slowly pushed herself up and rubbed her shoulder where she’d fallen- she wouldn’t bruise, but it’d still be sore for a few unfortunate hours later on. Dammit. “What on earth were you thinking!?”

 

“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t think you’d be so focused that you didn’t hear me coming!” Hagakure apologized, though she still held notes of laughter in her tone- Izumi wasn’t… too mad about it, because Hagakure was generally pleasant and sweet, the very picture of a genki girl, but she was still annoyed at the sudden interruption to her night. “I just wanted to hang out with you, honest!”

 

“... Me?” Izumi asked, blinking slowly as she focused on Hagakure’s pajama clad form, the only indication of where her eyes were being the sleeping mask positioned roughly where one’s face ought to be- with eyeholes cut out that rendered it useless for its intended purpose, but made it much easier to see where the invisible girl was looking. “Why me? I don’t think we even really know each other…?”

 

“Well duh , of course we don’t know each other that well, we’ve only known each other like a week and we didn’t at all hang out during that entire time!” Hagakure chirped, taking a seat next to Izumi on an adjacent armchair, draping herself over the arm rests and doing something that made it clear that she was grinning at Izumi. “So I figured- why not hang out and get to know the Victory Girl a little better?”

 

“.... Victory… Girl…?” Izumi muttered, slumping back into her own armchair and raising her eyebrow at Hagakure- she could almost guess where that nickname came from, but she wanted to hear it for herself without presuming. “What kind of a nickname is that?”

 

“Well it’s cuz you were the highest scorer on the entrance exam, and you went and placed third on Aizawa-sensei’s quirk assessment test even though it was totally rigged in favor of Todoroki-san and Yaoyorozu-san, and then you won two matches in All Might-sensei’s battle training- you won pretty much all of that, so you’re V for Victory! Victory Girl!” Hagakure cheered, doing her best to give Izumi a double V despite her hands being entirely invisible at the moment, her body language bursting with exuberance. “And yeah, I think you’re cool. So… y’know, do you wanna hang out?”

 

Izumi thought about it for a moment, thinking about Hagakure overall- how much she actually liked the invisible girl, whether or not she wanted to start networking with her peers so soon, whether or not she had enough energy to actually hold a conversation instead of falling asleep in her own chair…

 

Well, at least a half hour wouldn’t hurt, would it?

 

With a noncommittal shrug, Izumi made a somewhat dry grin and settled comfortably into her seat, scooching ever so slightly closer to Hagakure so she could see exactly what Izumi had been watching on her phone before she’d been interrupted.

 

“Sure, I suppose it’d be nice. Say, how much do you like cat videos?”


“Oh my gosh, who doesn’t love ‘em? Show me! Show me!”

Chapter Text

 

“Hm… Hey, Hagakure-san?” Izumi asked idly after a good half hour of gushing over cute cat videos (and also a few videos of some of the more popular heroines doing their thing), her brain thoroughly addled in a fuzzy haze of sleepiness and good cheer. “Can I ask you a question?”

 

“Yeah, Midoriya-chan~?” Hagakure responded, giggling a little and shifting around in her seat, giving Izumi her undivided attention.

 

“... How did you… actually pass the entrance exam?” Izumi cleared her throat as soon as she spoke, backpedaling slightly and clarifying before Hagakure could take any offense. “Er- that is, your quirk doesn’t seem at all suited to direct combat, and even many of those who did have combat quirks couldn’t make the cut at all. So… you know… it’s just kind of surprising that you managed it without any kind of physical enhancement. No offense, of course. I’m just a little curious.”

 

“Oh, none taken!” Hagakure laughed, sitting up straight before making a show of flexing almost like a bodybuilder. “Oh man, my clothes don’t show it at all, but you know I’m like, ripped right? Gosh, I mean, I don’t like to brag, but… I'm really strong. And sneaky too! I snuck up on a lot of the robots that other people were trying to get through, and I just kinda… y’know… Bam! Pow! Ripped the wires right outta their heads!”

 

She paused, then rubbed the back of her head self consciously. “Er, that is, strong for someone without a strength quirk. I mean, not as strong as you are- gosh, I saw your grip strength score, that was kinda nuts! I mean, Shoji’s was better but he’s… very big. And has a lot of arms.”

 

“Mm, yeah. I specifically trained my rock climbing skills just in case I needed them,” Izumi nodded, humming quietly as she thought back to her previous life’s youth, when she’d fallen out of an airship and had to dig her own hairpin into the side of a rock pillar to keep from falling to her death. “It’s a useful trait, I think. Keeps me mobile- same with why I trained parkour too.”

 

“Jeez, the way you talk and fight, it feels like you trained everything, ” Hagakure laughed, putting a hand to her mouth and tittering as she leaned back in her own chair, sighing quietly as she pulled her legs in and tilted her head to the side. “I feel like I didn’t train enough honestly… I mean, sure, I’m stronger than a normal girl, and I can bench like a hundred twenty kilos, but jeez… my martial arts is terrible, and I’m pretty much only good for sneaking around… And I can’t even really do that much either, y’know? I’m not exactly silent like this.”

 

“Well, that’s what the next four years are for, Hagakure-san,” Izumi pointed out, then shook her head. “And to be honest, I don’t think I’m exactly that good at being a hero either- I trained in a wide variety of detective, combat, and mobility skills, but in terms of personality or rescue training… I mean, all of my knowledge in the latter is purely theoretical, and the former…”

 

She winced, knowing full well how much more easily acting like a villain came to her than acting like a kind and caring hero- hell, she’d basically given Todoroki a speech meant to emotionally break him earlier! She’d wanted to try and break him out of his shell and put him on a healthier path, sure, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d basically told him to get the fuck out of her school if he was going to be a pansy ass.

 

“... Yeah you were uh… pretty scary,” Hagakure nodded, then tilted her head back and huffed again. “But like! You seem so good at everything, how could you not be a great hero? I mean, sure, you say your rescue training isn’t any good, but you fixed up Todoroki-san’s frostbite, didn’t you?”

 

Izumi shrugged and shook her head again, “There’s more to rescue training than just fixing frostbite or being capable of putting out every fire in a nearly kilometer radius under the right conditions. And there’s more to being a hero than just martial skill than what I’ve shown off… Honestly, Katsumi is more suited to it than I am- I’m only here because of my mother, after all… Katsumi actually has the drive and energy to be great .”

 

“... are you… sure about that? She seems kinda… angry. Like, all the time. I wouldn’t exactly associate someone whose battlecry is ‘DIE’ with… well, good heroism,” Hagakure deadpanned.

 

“As surely as the sun rises in the east,” Izumi nodded, smiling gently as she thought about Katsumi over the years. “She’s abrasive and rude, yes, but she’s wonderful with children, an amazingly strong fighter despite her lack of actual martial arts training, might even be smarter than I am in some cases- she’s always had a better grasp on chemistry than I have… then again, she’s terrible at investigative procedures. Too impatient. But most importantly, she has drive . The constant urge to improve, better herself. Me, I’m just doing this because I want my mother to really be proud of me… I’m a bit of a momma’s girl like that… I push myself because of my own standards for quirk control, not because I really want to improve as a hero like Katsumi does.”

 

“... Huh. That’s… uh… something,” Hagakure muttered, mouthing something to herself- not that Izumi could tell what the invisible girl was mouthing, but from the way her body moved and how her heat signature shifted it sure seemed like she was doing it. “... Mido-chan- er, can I call you that?”

 

“... Sure? It’s a lot better than what Katsumi nicknamed me, that’s for sure…”

 

“Right… Mido-chan, you know you don’t have to be good at everything to be a good hero right? I mean, I’m gonna be a stealth heroine! I don’t really need to be that good at combat or rescue or investigative work if my primary role is invisible scouting, right?”

 

“... I’m aware of that, yes. I have no delusions that I won’t be at least capable in a broad range of roles already, but as it stands, the truly great heroes- not just the ones at the top of the leaderboards- are the ones who have the spark that… how do I put it without sounding like I’m ripping off All Might…” Izumi paused, then huffed under her breath and shook her head yet again. “True heroism is when you see someone in need and your body moves automatically to help. I… don’t have that. Not anymore. Not since I was four.”

 

“... Mido-chan, has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of depressing?”

 

“Yes, Katsumi says that’s why she’s the only one who actually sticks around me these days,” Izumi nodded dryly, rolling her eyes a bit before sitting up and yawning slightly. “I’m aware of how depressing I can be. It’s… complicated, before you ask. Anyway- speaking of being a stealth heroine… Hagakure-san, there’s something that’s been bothering me about your quirk, and how it interfaces with your costume…”

 

“Hm?”


“... Hagakure-san… are you… naked when you’re in your hero garb?”

Chapter Text

There was silence.

 

And then-

 

“Wh- no! Oh my gosh, that would be so embarrassing!” Hagakure immediately erupted, shaking her head frantically and grimacing in response. “Oh gosh no no no! Ew, oh my god, that sounds like the kind of thing I would have come up with when I was fourteen and stupid! No- oh my gosh… okay… no no, I um- I have a special suit that interfaces with my quirk, Invisibility.”

 

The invisible girl paused, then hummed as she tapped her chin, though Izumi didn’t really actually pay attention to that so much as she was blinking slowly as she began to consider the vague feelings she could get from Hagakure- her ability to sense the flow of chi and energy meant that she could sort of get a feel of what Hagakure was doing based on the way her heat pattern shifted and held a shape that more or less outlined what she expected from the girl.

 

“I see… well, I guess I shouldn’t have assumed,” Izumi murmured, slightly distracted as she raised an eyebrow and took a deep breath, folding her legs into a lotus position and calming herself as she focused on Hagakure’s heat signature in her mind. “Ah- could you tell me how it works?”

 

“The suit, or my quirk?”

 

“Both, if you like. Either or. It doesn’t matter, really. I’m just curious.” Izumi shrugged, using Hagakure’s voice as background noise as she began to focus her energies- she was on the cusp of something, she could tell. She just had to focus on Hagakure and stretch out her senses as far as she could.

 

Not that she wasn’t paying attention, of course, but she was very clearly doing her own thing as well, even as she motioned for the invisible girl to continue.

 

Hagakure, of course, began to babble on- already sort of aware that Izumi was only half listening, but wanting to explain it all the same. “Well, so, my quirk is actually a lot more complicated than regular invisibility? I mean, invisibility is kind of weird already, but like the way I do it is just that I like, innately warp and refract light around me- and like, normally warping light like that would produce some kind of distortion, but also my quirk just kinda… handles it? I mean, I can sorta control how it works right? I’ve never managed to really turn it off, but um. Sorry- that’s a tangent. My quirk normally refracts light in this really weird way that makes it almost like it passes right through me like I’m not even there, and I can refract it like my entire body is a lens if I really want to- I learned how to make flares a while ago, and I think now I can even redirect light based attacks… Oh, right! I can also refract ambient light so well that I’m basically like a magnifying glass on a sunny day!”

 

She grinned, and Izumi was only sure of Hagakure’s expression now because she was starting to get used to the girl’s heat signature- in fact, with how much attention she was pouring into her ability to read the flow of heat energy and her ability to sense heat sources in general, she was actually starting to generate some kind of a map in her mind of everything radiating heat in the area.

 

“Anyway, my suit kind of plugs into the basic innate qualities of my quirk- I can see it fine of course, cuz otherwise I’d lose it, but basically how it works is that it’s made of a special material based on my own DNA, and also it has cool pockets! You can’t see ‘em, but they’re there,” Hagakure paused and tapped her chin, crossing her legs as Izumi focused her energy around her body, humming in acknowledgement as she meditated on her own abilities and thought about how strange it was just how hard of a time she had actually reading people’s presences in this life- the lack of consistent chi levels was one thing, but she supposed her previous old age had made her soft, and her current life even softer. That would have to be rectified. “Oh! My boots and gloves are made of the same stuff too! They just have a toggle in them that lets me turn the invisibility on and off. It’s… kinda weird how I still can’t turn it off for long periods of time, but it works fine on my gear…”

 

“Mm… quite strange,” Izumi nodded, taking a deep breath and letting her chi suffuse her surroundings, almost like a radar ping that highlighted everything warm in the area, returning to her after a moment, and yet leaving those traces of warmth in her mind- fully detailed, sharp and with exacting resolution, the exact pattern of heat spreading throughout every single object and person within several hundred meters. “But I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re smart enough to get into UA, I can’t imagine figuring out how to turn off your own quirk will pose much of a challenge once you find the time to put in a concerted effort.”

 

“Right, right. Yeah, I’m still working on it…” Hagakure nodded, then tilted her head as Izumi slowly sat up and unfolded her legs. “Ne, Mido-chan, what were you doing just now anyway? I feel like I felt like… a weird kinda… warm sensation just now? Did you have anything to do with that?”

 

“Hm? Ah, yes. Sorry about halfway ignoring you there- I had an idea and I simply had to bring it to fruition,” Izumi cleared her throat, slowly opening her eyes before wincing a bit- not out of sudden pain, but from the strangeness of the faint overlay now in her vision like thin film of haze leftover after a long sleep. “Mn- ah… I’ll need some practice with it, but it’s… nothing that’s really too important. Just an upgrade to my sensory abilities that I’ve been slowly working towards without really realizing it… it just clicked now and, well. I couldn’t stop myself from trying.”

 

“Ah… huh, what kinda sensory thing, Mido-chan?” Hagakure asked, blinking slowly as she watched Izumi stand up and take a few slow steps, her head turning around as though seeing everything in a new light. “Also, are you uh… okay? Your eyes look kinda… almost glowy? Hazy?”

 

“I’m fine,” Izumi immediately responded, shaking her head and blinking rapidly before settling down and clearing her throat. “Anyway- sorry to cut this short, Hagakure-san, but it’s a bit late and I’m a bit tired… see you tomorrow.”

 

“Huh- oh jeez it is kinda late! Whoops, time flies, doesn’t it!” Hagakure chirped, jumping to her feet and bustling over to the elevators… to which Izumi awkwardly joined her a moment later.

 

“... Oh right, I kinda forgot that we gotta go the same direction, huh?”

 

“... Mm.”

 

“What floor?”

 

“Fifth. You?”

 

“Ah- third.”

 

“Mm…”

 

“Mhmm…”

 

After a short, but rather awkward elevator ride, Hagakure stepped out and waved at Izumi, giggling a bit as she said her goodbyes.

 

“Alright, here’s my floor. Thanks for the talk, Mido-chan! It was fun hanging out!”

 

“Mm, it was indeed. Goodnight Hagakure-san. Oh- and one last thing… I love your hairstyle. It’s very cute on you.”

 

“Huh- oh thanks!”

 

The elevator doors began to close, and only then did Hagakure realize the implications of Izumi pointing out a physical feature on an invisible girl .

 

“W-wait! Mido-chan what do you mean by that!? How did you see my hair!? Expla-”

 

The doors closed, and Izumi smirked to herself as she ascended to her floor. 


Ah, the look on Hagakure’s face was sweet , even if it was only rendered in the fuzzy black and white view of infrared vision.

Chapter Text

Izumi settled into a comfortable routine as classes began to pick up in full. It was kind of strange, the way Class 1-A’s teachers taught without any real expectations of students actually doing any homework, but that was college life- they either learned the material in time for the tests, or they didn’t. Either way, the only thing that they had consistent homework for was heroics, and given that All Might was a first time teacher… they mostly just had to write reviews of what they did during his lessons that day. What they did correctly, what they could have improved, what they wished to work on the next day. 

 

They were short, analytical assignments that could be written out and submitted within half an hour, of course, as All Might had to read quite a few of said submissions and tried his best to tailor lessons to strike as many of his students’ needs as possible, but they were the only real consistent source of nightly homework that Izumi had to do.

 

Hero training was… interesting.

 

It was almost like a mix between combat training and a regular physical education course. On the second day, after the thorough destruction that the battle trials had caused, All Might had led them through a practical exercise to determine advantageous locations that their quirks could be used in. Izumi had basically no limits other than the fact that she wasn’t exactly well suited to nonlethal aquatic combat, while Todoroki (who, honestly, had looked like he hadn’t slept a wink that day) mentioned that he’d be best suited to open air combat or shoring up unstable buildings, as his ice was far more restricted indoors than it was if he had a wide open area with which to launch his most powerful attacks.

 

He didn’t say anything about his fire, but Izumi hadn’t really expected him to.

 

That same day, other than the hero training that took up most of the afternoon, a surprise had come in the morning- Shinsou Hitoshi, the boy she’d met during the entrance exam, transferred into the hero course and filled in the vacancy that Mineta had left with his expulsion.

 

She hadn’t really made a fuss about it during the regular class sessions, but when hero training had started she’d asked him privately about what happened- how did someone with so much promise not end up passing?

 

“It’s… a complicated story,” he’d ended up murmuring, smirking at her and probably thinking he was real funny getting back at her for brushing him off with that same phrase the other week. 

 

When he’d continued, it was with a simple shrug and a declaration that his quirk was really weird and he hadn’t had full control of the strength enhancement side of it, and didn’t break quite enough robots to pass. Even with the rescue points that he’d gotten for trying to help Uraraka, it hadn’t really been enough. It’d been high enough to clear some arbitrary threshold, and his written exam score had been good enough to get into Gen Ed, but he’d been barely short of enough points to make it to the hero course.

 

Fortunately, UA’s acceptance board had a special in-between course open for those who hadn’t quite made the cut, and openings in the heroics course would be filled by them depending on their own performances, and if any would-be heroes dropped out.

 

And now he was here.

 

Nothing much had happened on day two- not that Izumi expected every day to be as frenetically insane as the first day, but it was actually kind of shocking how normal it was. Granted, she’d gone and sparred with Katsumi immediately after All Might’s lesson (well, more of a discussion circle really) had finished that day, and that had been.

 

Well.

 

Exhilarating as always, especially with Izumi purposefully handicapping herself to only use her flame daggers (and with her eyes closed) while Katsumi did her utter best to take advantage of Izumi and knock her flat on her ass with concussive force.

 

“STAND STILL AND TAKE YOUR BEATING LIKE A WOMAN!”

 

“No!”

 

“RAAAGH! DIE!”

 

It had been a thoroughly enlightening hour or two, which she’d fully enjoyed the burn of as she pushed her newly found radial heat sense and thermal vision to the limits of her reaction time.

 

Uraraka and Tsu had joined her that night as well, the three of them talking about much of nothing as they went on a walk around campus grounds and just enjoyed the evening breeze. Katsumi had declined to join them, as she had to touch up her nail art- apparently her so-called “blast proof” clear coat had been a little too thin and she’d charred some of the decorations to the point that she needed to entirely redo the polish on several fingers.

 

It had been a fun walk, and the three of them had discussed what they wanted to get out of their training within the next few weeks- Uraraka wanted to get better at using her quirk so she wouldn’t get so sick when she was floating herself and trying to do insane 3d maneuvers like some kind of Dragon Ball character (apparently her hero costume included weak jump jets that could puff out air with just enough strength that with careful application and release of her quirk could allow her to bound around in midair for about as long as she could hold her lunch), Tsu mostly just wanted to do general improvements to her strength, speed, and stamina, as well as wanting to work on her active camouflage and the strength of her secreted toxins.

 

(Izumi had noticed that Tsu had popped some pills before they’d left on their walk, but hadn’t thought to ask what they were- her froggy friend’s medication regimen was none of her business, as long as it didn’t hurt her while she was in training).

 

Izumi, meanwhile, had idly mentioned that she wanted to try her hand at making larger, flashier attacks. Sure, she had her usual fare which was plenty flashy, but even at the height of Sozin’s Comet her flame blasts hadn’t anywhere near matched Endeavor’s max output.

 

She was stronger now of course, and Agni’s presence in the sky seemed even brighter somehow than in her previous world and life, so she could actually put out flames like she had back then on a regular basis… but it still wasn’t quite… well.

 

If she could create fire tornadoes and truly recreate- no, surpass- Endeavor’s shitty Hell Spider attack… ooh, now that would be sweet. And, it would make for a wonderful demonstration of force should Todoroki actually end up contacting her for help with his flame control at some point.

 

She’d also idly mentioned that, much like Uraraka wanted to fly around like a Dragon Ball character, she wished to learn how to fire beam attacks. It was kind of a long shot, considering her closest approximation currently was a supercharged, compressed flame blast, but come on .

 

What kid didn’t dream of firing lasers out of their hands like a shonen anime protagonist?

 

Hagakure had made an appearance near the end of the night, when all three of them were about to turn in, but Izumi had postponed their discussion for the next day’s hero training- sating her curiosity with a simple utterance that she’d seen Hagakure through a new technique she was working on perfecting. But aside from that, the second day of school ended rather uneventfully- no building destroying fights, no intense emotional revelations- not even a single new technique to learn and perfect (although, several were in the pipeline now).

 

Time would tell what day three would bring- and the rest of the school year for that matter. But Izumi wasn’t concerned- after all, it was just school. As long as she did her work and practiced hard, she’d be just fine.

Chapter Text

“You know, I can’t help but think that this is a bad idea,” Izumi spoke plainly as she teamed up with Tsu, tapping her chin and tilting her head to the side as she stared at the large tank of water that the froggy girl had apparently been able to requisition without any issue whatsoever. “I mean, I know you want to train your resistance to hot and cold temperatures, but surely there’s a better way to do this than me literally trying to boil you alive?”

 

Tsu just gave Izumi a deadpan stare, almost rolling her eyes at Izumi’s observations. They had merit, of course, but she’d gotten the entirely wrong idea. 

 

“The tank is in case I get too dehydrated, kero,” Tsu sighed, patting the side of the large metal vessel and croaking a bit. “If I dry out too much, I can just absorb enough water through my skin to recover. Come to think of it, I should probably add spare water bottles to my suit in case I get caught out near a fire.”

 

“That… would be a good idea, yes,” Izumi nodded, blushing ever so slightly at her own assumption that she’d be boiling the other girl alive. “Actually, now that we’re paired up today, I do have a bit of a question for you, Tsu. Um, you don’t have to answer if it’s too personal, though?”

 

Tsu tilted her head, one finger on her chin and tongue sticking out slightly in a way that was almost cute enough to be distracting to Izumi, croaking quietly until she spoke up. “I suppose a question couldn’t hurt. If you answer one of my own too, kero.”

 

“Of course,” Izumi nodded, then cleared her throat and looked side to side for a moment, just to make sure that no one else was listening… well, hopefully at least.

 

With a halfway awkward shrug and a vague motion towards Tsu, Izumi asked her question. “On the first day… why did you look so uncomfortable with everyone when we were heading to the locker rooms? Or… well, I guess the real question is why did you run off?”

 

Tsu stilled, then cleared her throat and looked away. “... That… is a personal question, kero. It’s a medical thing, mostly. And… I am… a bit uncomfortable with the idea of changing so close to other people, kero.”

 

Izumi blinked, then nodded and decided to shelve the issue for now, before tilting her head to the side once more, wondering about something that she’d forgotten to look into before actually coming into UA, but had thought about passingly once she remembered what she was going to do. “Hm… I wonder if UA has an LGBT club…”

 

“It does,” Tsu immediately nodded, then dug around in her pockets for her phone before showing a slightly blurry, but still readable photo of a printout hanging on the large billboard outside of the student service offices. It was, of course, the contact information for the UA campus LGBT Association, with a phone number, email, address, even a fax line. “They have a lot of good resources. Are you interested in joining, kero?”

 

“Yes, actually,” Izumi nodded, but shook her head a moment later. “Ah- email that to me after class, though, would you? I think we should actually get a start on our training before All Might gets tired of us just standing around. Now- what was it you wanted me to do again? And what was that question?”

 

“I need you to increase the temperature around me without setting me on fire, kero,” Tsu explained calmly, moving back a few paces and standing there with a determined look on her face. “I know you can move heat around, so I’d like some practice at trying to do work in higher temperatures. Can you make things cooler too? Also… you already answered the question I was going to ask.”

 

“Ah, alright then- And yes, I can remove heat. To the point of freezing water at least,” Izumi nodded, taking up a variation on her usual combat stance- not quite the same agile stance she usually went for, but something more grounded and smooth, almost like waterbending motions. “Heat is ultimately just the flow of energy from one area to another, and reversing the gradient is actually quite easy.”

 

“Good, then once I can’t handle the heat anymore, I need you to lower the temperature so I can try to stay awake even in the cold, kero,” Tsu nodded, then began hopping idly in place while Izumi began moving her hands about in slow, circular motions. Immediately, the froggy girl began noticing the effects- the already pleasantly warm spring day began to heat up with a drastic spike in temperature, going from a quite normal and enjoyable 20 degrees Celsius to nearly 30 in an instant.

 

Tsu, of course, began sweating the moment that the temperature spiked , while Izumi just watched like a hawk as her friend began working on a fairly intense calisthenics routine despite the thickness of her green outfit and the sweat visibly starting to collect along her skin. 

 

It could not possibly be healthy to try and push one’s boundaries like that, but Izumi didn’t have a frog quirk, and it was supposed to be training for intense heat situations, so she pressed on despite her private misgivings and raised the heat higher until Tsu held out a hand and told her to keep the temperature constant.

 

“I don’t… think I can handle… any hotter… kero…” Tsu groaned, panting heavily and wheezing as she doubled over and held herself up on shaking legs, sweat pouring down her outfit as she tried to fan herself to very, very little effect- the only saving grace she had was that it was a dry heat, which meant that the sensation of her own sweat evaporating in the nearly 40 degree heat actually cooled her off ever so slightly. “Y-you know… if…  you learned how to do this faster… you could use this as a… capture move… kero… kero…”

 

“Are… you okay?” Izumi asked, not at all bothered by the sweltering heat that she’d produced. After all, she was a firebender- part of the royal family in another world, from a nation where half of the land was covered in volcanoes and the other half never dipped below 20 degrees except at night. Heat made her thrive . It made her stronger . “I can stop if you want. As much as it’s good to push your limits, I think you might actually be at risk of heat stroke if you keep going.”

 

“N-no, keep it up. I’m just going to try and get used to moving around like this, kero,” Tsu groaned, wheezing now as she did her best to walk around and try to shield herself from the heat, wincing at every move up until the point that she tried to start doing her exercises… and then soon after fell to her knees and weakly waved off Izumi.

 

In an instant, the temperature in the area fell back down- though around Tsu it was much more gradual to prevent some kind of thermal shock wreaking havoc on her already dehydrated and weakened body. Even five minutes at 40 C had been too much for the girl, though in all fairness she’d been trying to do pushups and situps and lunges while Izumi maintained temperatures that were just shy of being actually lethal to human life.

 

“Well… I have good news and bad news,” Izumi mentioned lightly as she helped a shaking, shivering Tsu up off of the ground- her current state was almost certainly her body overcompensating for the lack of heat now, causing her to feel as though she were freezing. A tiny, miniscule application of her heat shifting ability made the worst of the shivers dissipate, and heaving the froggy girl into the tank of water they’d set up alleviated the worst of the rest of the symptoms. 

 

“What’s the bad news, kero?” Tsu asked, shuddering and groaning as she slowly reabsorbed water back into her system, idly watching the rest of the class moving around in the false city in the background and nodding appreciatively as Izumi heated up the water slightly so she wasn’t shivering anymore. 

 

“Well, the bad news is I don’t think you’ll ever be able to work fire rescue without having a costume made specifically for that,” Izumi joked, cracking a light grin at Tsu before continuing on. “The good news is that, outside of a few major exceptions, you’ll never actually have to work in 40 degree weather unless you’re going to, I don’t know, the Sahara desert? Or that place in the USA, Death Valley.”

 

“Mm…. I was planning on doing water rescues, so I suppose that’s fine, kero,” Tsu grumbled, sinking into the tub and blowing a few bubbles as she thought about her performance. “But we’re going to have to do this again, I think. I’ll need more than just a day or two to get used to heat like that. Or cold for that matter…”

 

“Mhmm. But on the plus side, you did remarkably well for your first try,” Izumi shrugged, then idly peeked down at Tsu over the edge of the metal tank before blushing faintly and looking away. “Ah… um. Hm. You might need to talk to the support department as well. Your um. Costume. Shrinks a little in the crotch when it’s wet.”

 

Tsu blinked, then looked down.

 

Both of them refused to make eye contact with each other for the next five minutes.

Chapter Text

“Midoriya, a word?” Todoroki asked after All Might had dismissed them for the day, slowly walking up to Izumi and making it subtly clear that he was in fact quite a bit taller than her- almost an entire head, actually. 

 

It would have been slightly intimidating if Izumi wasn’t, well, herself and thus immune to being scared of people looming over her because the one person who’d ever managed to scare her like that was long dead and probably rotting in whatever horrible body he’d reincarnated into.

 

It was slightly intimidating from the standpoint that Todoroki looked dead serious, and that meant that he was probably trying to continue their now extremely awkward conversation from where she’d left him in the medical wing.

 

Tsu blinked hesitantly as she slowly recovered from her temperature induced exhaustion in the tank of water that Izumi had been slowly bringing up to bathtub temperature, then croaked quietly and reached out to pat Izumi on the shoulder. “You two go ahead. I’m going to soak in here a little longer before I return the tank to the requisition office. Thanks for helping me, Midoriya-san. And… for your discretion.”

 

Well. Shit.

 

“... Well, I suppose I’m free now. So, what did you want to talk about?” Izumi asked in a voice that was just barely louder than a murmur, sighing quietly as she turned back to Todoroki, who was standing there kind of awkwardly- his entire costume was an exercise in honestly kind of godawful design, what with it just being a beige jumpsuit with his entire left side covered over in decorative (but, honestly, probably pretty easily breakable) ice crystals.

 

He almost looked like a wannabe Batman villain from those old comics. 

 

But that wasn’t really important. What was important was the fact that, as Izumi gave an appraising look to the taller boy, he almost looked… embarrassed?

 

“It… relates to our conversation the other day,” Todoroki answered, swallowing audibly as he took a deep breath and looking around- Ground Beta would remain open for several hours yet, thankfully, and while the others had mostly gone back onto campus so they could take advantage of the gyms and showers, a few people had stuck around to keep perfecting what they wanted to practice that day. “I… come with me. Please.”

 

“You know, it’s perfectly understandable if you’re angry at me for telling you what I did,” Izumi replied drolly, keeping half an eye on Todoroki as she motioned for him to lead on, her general sense of the energy and heat around her noting that Uraraka was apparently getting quite good at timing her zero gravity jumps and direction changes given both the distribution of her body heat and the sound of Katsumi screaming expletives as she tried to catch up to her fellow flying girl. “It was… out of line. Not untrue from my perspective, perhaps, but I suppose I could have waited until we knew each other a little better to break your worldview like that.”

 

Todoroki shook his head, huffing quietly as he rubbed the patch of fake ice over his left eye, removing the entire ridiculous half helmet as he led Izumi down into a secluded alley so no one would hear them talk- she didn’t think he would try to attack her, but she did raise an eyebrow at the choice of location all the same.

 

“No- no… I… I was mad, yes,” Todoroki shook his head again, leaning against the alley wall and chewing his lip as he looked down at his feet, arms crossed and his back slightly hunched as though he were embarrassed . “I… Jiro helped me through what you said- she… heard the last half of it. I told her as well. She said that you were largely correct. And I admit that you were right. I have been going about things the wrong way for the last few years. I’ve been… confused, I think.”

 

Izumi blinked as Todoroki looked up, quite shocked at how much introspection the half and half boy had managed to do in literally the span of about a day and a half. 

 

“I’ve always wanted to be a hero,” Todoroki continued, licking his lips to wet them and not really waiting for Izumi to speak as he tried to get all of his thoughts out at once. “My mother, All Might… I’ve always wanted to be a person who can save everyone. And I thought, at one point, that I could be like All Might. So overwhelmingly powerful that no villain could stand up to me. And… maybe I could be similar, but I think that… somewhere along the way, I just… couldn’t stop hating my father long enough to really see what his actions were turning me into. I know it seems quick, but Jiro was… very helpful. And my sister helped too, once I talked to her.”

 

He paused again, clearing his throat and blinking the mist out of his eyes. “So… thank you, I suppose. For helping me remember what my real motivation for being a hero was. It had… never occurred to me that there was any other path besides heroism… my dream was too strong, even in the face of that man’s abuse. I couldn’t just… give it up so easily.”

 

“Mm, well, that answers one thing, I suppose,” Izumi nodded slowly, her own arms crossed as she stared Todoroki dead in the eyes, her expression sharp and deadly serious as though she were holding the weight of Todoroki’s sins in her hands. “But that doesn’t really answer that one important question I gave you at the end of our conversation last time.”

 

Todoroki blinked, but didn’t speak as Izumi took the time to draw her cloak around herself and let it billow almost dramatically in an invisible wind formed by her circulating warm air around her body. She didn’t speak for a few seconds, just drawing herself up and letting her presence loom over Todoroki in a way that her height could not, almost filling the air with her swelteringly oppressive heat just to impress just how much more fine control she had than Endeavor- to highlight all she could teach him if he just wished to try .

 

“Will you use your fire and give it your all? Or are you going to keep half-assing your way through the hero course in a blatant insult towards everyone else doing their best to even remotely keep up with your level of raw power?”

Chapter Text

“... When you phrase it like that, you come off as a bit mean, Midoriya,” Todoroki deadpanned lowly, sighing as he rubbed his forehead and shook his head, but nodded all the same. “But yes. I would… like you to teach me how to use my fire. Your performance in the past few days has made it clear to me that you are, if not quite as powerful in raw output as my father-”

 

“Oh don’t worry, I’m working on that.”

 

“-that you far outstrip him in pure control. I… do not think I will be able to replicate all of the things you do with your quirk… but I am willing to try,” Todoroki finished, raising an eyebrow at Izumi’s interruption but otherwise saying nothing. If a tiny bit of cold sweat dripped down his spine at the idea of Izumi being able to pull off the sheer output of Endeavor, that was for him to know.

 

 

And for Izumi to sense with her (Katsumi named) “Thermal Radar”, obviously, even if she couldn’t read his thoughts.

 

“Well then, I accept. From now you can call me Izumi-sensei, Sensei, or just whatever expletives you feel like after I knock you on your ass,” Izumi teased, smirking as she held out her hand and made a come hither motion, as if asking Todoroki to hand something over. He momentarily looked confused, but Izumi continued speaking a moment later. “Phone. Now. I don’t trust that you actually put my number into your phone since you never so much as sent me an email after I gave you my card, so I’m going to make sure you can contact me whenever you’re having trouble with your fire.”

 

“I- right. Of course,” Todoroki slowly pulled out his phone, looking almost nervous at Izumi’s forceful demanding of his phone. Not that she actually cared what he felt at the moment. If she was a little scary in his eyes, more’s the better- after all, it would mean that he’d listen to her more as a teacher. Within moments, Izumi had saved her name and contact information into Todoroki’s phone- she could have done as Katsumi or Hagakure probably would have demanded and changed it to something either cutesy, memey, or outright embarrassing for her new student to have in his phone, but erred on the side of her own good sense this time.

 

She could change his name to something funny in her phone anyway.

 

After doing that slight distraction, Izumi handed Todoroki’s phone back to him and swirled away, walking out of the secluded alleyway and taking a deep breath with her cloak swirling dramatically around her as she stood there in the middle of the empty simulated street. The sun beat down on her and she basked in its presence, humming quietly as she stretched out her senses to see if anyone else was practicing in the general area.

 

Hmm…

 

Todoroki behind her- she’d never mistake that half hot, half cold heat pattern for anyone else. Uraraka high in the sky, zooming around with her little boot jets like the second coming of Gran Torino. Katsumi blasting around after her while screeching like some kind of hell demon as she tried to catch up to a far more maneuverable target using nothing but the sheer force of her explosions. Ojiro and Sato practicing martial arts over in one of the wider intersections… and Kirishima testing his hardness by ramming through walls under the supervision of Jiro, who was mostly just there to make sure that if he collapsed a building, he’d know before it came down on him.

 

And then…

 

“Hagakure-san, I know that you’re trying to practice stealth, but it really doesn’t work against someone who can sense body heat ,” Izumi deadpanned, staring right at Hagakure and- huh. Based on her heat pattern and what her thermal vision could tell, she really was wearing a full equipment load despite looking, for all intents and purposes (to anyone without a cobbled together thermal vision overlay), completely naked save for her now visible boots and gloves. 

 

“Dammit! So that’s how you did it!” Hagakure immediately flounced over (and Izumi tried not to be aware of the fact that Hagakure’s costume could have used some more support in the chest area, but it was difficult) with an exaggerated huff, stomping her foot almost cutely as she stopped before Izumi and Todoroki. “You can sense body heat now? That’s so unfair! How am I ever supposed to sneak up on you again?”

 

“Do it while I’m asleep,” Izumi responded dryly, then shook her head. “Anyway. I’m about to start training Todoroki here with his fire. It might get a little toasty, so I suggest you stand behind cover in case something goes out of control.”

 

Todoroki made a negative sound in his throat, as if trying to protest that he wouldn’t hurt someone just because they were practicing with fire, and with a smooth motion Izumi simply turned around and glared at him through her faceless mask, the eyehole burning bright with blue flames as she did her level best to impress on him just how stupid of an idea that was.

 

“I wouldn-”

 

Izumi huffed, holding up a hand to stall Todoroki’s protests. “You haven’t used your fire side seriously in years, Todoroki. If you think you’ll be able to control it perfectly already, then be my guest. Just don’t come sobbing to me when you inevitably either burn yourself, burn the area , or burn someone far more flammable than me.”

 

She raised an eyebrow challengingly, then remembered that she was wearing a mask, so settled for tilting her head to the side in a manner that Katsumi had described the other day as “fucking creepy, like a haunted doll about to snap and murder your ass with a kitchen knife”.

 

Todoroki wisely shut up after that.

 

“Now, Hagakure-san, I suggest you take refuge in one of the buildings around here- and do be prepared to duck if Todoroki-san’s flames get a little out of control. I won’t stop you from watching, but as you aren’t anywhere near as fireproof as I am… it might be in your best interests to stay safe,” Izumi pointed at one of the many buildings in the area, then didn’t wait for a response as she whirled around, her cloak fluttering ominously as an unseasonably hot breeze rolled through the area. “Todoroki, light up. Now. I want to see what I’m working with. Come at me with everything you have- hold nothing back.”

 

She slowly removed her mask, taking a deep breath and blinking slowly at Todoroki, who suddenly seemed far less sure of himself than before while she clipped the piece of reinforced polymer armor to her waist and waited patiently for him to actually attack .

 

Maybe she was a bit biased about her training methods, but she did learn so quickly when she was under direct and substantial threat of bodily harm.

 

Izumi waited calmly, simply standing there as her cloak swirled menacingly about her body, fluttering in a wind of her own making, while Todoroki just seemed torn about the idea of actually fighting with his fire.

 

“Come on, I thought you said you weren’t going to half ass it anymore?” Izumi taunted, slowly walking backwards to generate just a little bit of space between them, bowing mockingly as though they were about to duel and dropping into a loose combat stance that anyone with half a brain and even a remote amount of combat training could tell was meant to be a mockery- as if she didn’t even need to try to fight him. “Come on Half n’ Half, show me what you got!”

 

With a muted roar of effort and the slightest of awkward winces at the sudden insulting nickname, he did, indeed show her what he got.

Chapter Text

Fighting Midoriya with his flames, Shouto idly thought, was a lot different from fighting her with his ice. For one, even though he used his ice to keep his body cool and thermoregulated so he wouldn’t instantly die of heat stroke, it was still excessively difficult to control his left side’s output. It wasn’t quite the same as trying to use his right side- there was still the sensation of push and energy crackling through his limbs, but instead of the comforting chill of an instant glacier spearing out to entrap his foes or shore up a falling structure, it was the hot, searing feeling of- of, he didn’t even know how to describe the sheer rush that was his flames.

 

For two, despite all of Shouto’s best efforts, Midoriya was kicking his ass and making him look like an utter chump despite the fact that he was honestly pretty sure that if he sent a big and fast enough ice wave at her right at the moment he could take her out of the fight without so much as a singed eyebrow.

 

Perhaps it was the fact that he wasn’t used to regulating his output, and thus had to just go with massive, searing walls of white hot flame that honestly resembled walls of pure light more than they did flames.

 

Perhaps it was the fact that Midoriya seemed to know flames better than she knew her own body, and danced around and through them as though she had eyes in the back of her head (And perhaps, she maybe did- she did mention having sensory abilities, maybe she had some kind of thermal camera in her mask? But she wasn’t wearing her mask, was the problem. So how was she avoiding all of his attacks as though it was the easiest thing in the world?). 

 

Perhaps it was the fact that, whenever he did seem to catch her by surprise- she just went and dispelled the flames with even less effort. Just like one would flick away a particularly annoying fly, his largest fire blasts were met, matched, and superceded by massive gouts of blue flame that cut through them and dissipated the heat in an instant, bringing with it a cool breeze that helped to keep his body from burning up from the inside out due to his own hubris.

 

How and why had he thought he could, on his very first day using his flames for anything other than alleviating frostbite, defeat someone who’d been training their whole life with flames that burned so hot and bright that it was like looking at…

 

No.

 

Shouto shook his head and cursed his own hubris, sweat flying down his brow and flicking off into tiny vapor puffs of steam, gritting his teeth as he focused through the heat haze burning through the air and making feel as though there was no goddamn air in the street despite being perfectly capable of breathing- this was why he preferred his ice, dammit. And still, Midoriya was annoyingly fresh and vibrant- performing what almost felt like an elaborate dance but he only just barely recognized as some kind of kung fu forms as she neatly evaded and blocked and dispelled everything he could throw at her with enough ease that… that…

 

“Aaand that’s enough,” Midoriya clapped twice, and all of the flames and heat in the area suddenly vanished , the sound of her exhale filling the street like a wave of wind as it brought with it a sudden wave of cool air and peace- there were no bright spots of white hot orange, no blazing imprints of brilliant blue, not even the barest suggestion of an extra hot day.

 

Just the same, slightly cool April weather that they had had before Shouto had started flinging fire around like his life depended on it.

 

Even the flames on his body were gone- and, try as he might, he couldn’t seem to summon more. Only the barest suggestion of sparks danced across his skin- cool and dull red as they were, they barely even seemed to register to his quirk as something he could aim and direct. But all else was… gone.

 

“Wh… how did you-?” Shouto muttered, trying in vain to push the energy out of himself, to feel the air ignite and blaze with heat that was rapidly becoming familiar… but no- the heat that built up was sucked away, and the fire that tried to bloom was… suppressed? But how? “What did you do to my fire? I… it won’t ignite? Midoriya… what is this?”

 

“Like I told you,” Midoriya deadpanned, running her fingers through her unruly hair before turning a gaze like liquid gold over him, sighing as she flicked her fingers and let out a few sparks of purest blue flame for emphasis. “My control over fire in my area is just about absolute. My range is immense, my skill undeniable. I’ve never felt a pure fire quirk like yours before, but a lot of Emitter types cannot exercise any great deal of control over any kind of energy that leaves their body- if you blast in a straight line, it remains in a straight line. There’s some exceptions of course- my father’s fire breath had a wonderful application at being able to light several candles at once if he moved his tongue right, but by and large, if I snuff out the source… I snuff out everything else. So I’m keeping a tight leash on your flames for now.”

 

“I-... but…” Shouto shook his head, resolving to put it away for now- Midoriya’s quirk was easily the single most versatile and, quite frankly, powerful fire quirk he’d ever heard of- and he’d heard of a lot being the son of Endeavor. Maybe it wasn’t the strongest by raw output or sheer scale of flames- he had her beat for sure, and his father was even stronger… but the ability to snuff out active flames being used by another Emitter? Being able to prevent things from catching fire? Being able to shape and control fire in ways that he’d never even considered? 

 

It made him a little jealous, honestly. 

 

“Well, now that I know what I’m working with, I’ll give you my honest assessment,” Midoriya continued, humming as she stepped closer to Shouto and he felt a strange warmth leave his left side- the barest lessening of a metaphorical weight. He knew, instinctively, that he could light up again… but he didn’t. He wasn’t fighting right now, and he wasn’t trying to impress Midoriya with his abilities. “Todoroki-san… your control is shit. Your flames are extremely large and quite strong, but they have a distinct lack of direction and focus.

 

She paused, tilting her head to the side. “Then again, you don’t have control like I do, so I suppose the most we’re ever getting out of you is slightly directed blasts. That’s fine enough… if a bit disappointing. Maybe you’ll be able to surpass a Hell Spider eventually, but we’ll work on that later. For now… Make the smallest flame you can. And hold it steady in your hand.”

 

To demonstrate, Midoriya held up a hand- a fist, really, her index finger pointed up at the sky and holding a single lit flame no larger than the tiniest flicker of light- still a blindingly bright blue, of course. 

 

Shouto obliged, holding up his left hand and concentrating on that rush of energy for just a bit- pushing out the tiniest amount he could but it was like trying to course correct a raging river that had been bottled up for a decade now.

 

A flame nearly the height of a 2 Liter bottle erupted from his hand, as hot and roiling and wild as an uncontrolled inferno- but it was there, and it was about the smallest he could make at the moment.

 

“Hm. We’ll work on that a bit. Shrink it down as much as you can,” Midoriya commanded, one hand on her hip as she looked on. “Then, once you can’t shrink it anymore… maintain it at that size until you go to bed.”

 

Shouto blinked.

 

“You can’t be serious.”

 

She was.

 

Shouto was starting to regret Midoriya’s offer of lessons.

Chapter Text

“You know, I think you might be going about this the entirely wrong way,” Katsumi spoke dryly as she forked a meatball out of her lunch box- apparently, Lunch Rush was going western foods today and Katsumi had a surprising soft spot for spaghetti. Who knew. Izumi, meanwhile, paid her friend barely any mind, simply focusing her efforts and flames into as tight and compressed of a ball as she could in order to try and turn it into a beam attack worthy of her favorite shounen anime series. “I mean, you’ve already got something that works like a beam, don’t you?”

 

“Combustion bending is different , Katsumi. It’s a directed beam of chi that explodes on impact, not an actually contained blast of fire like I wish it was,” Izumi sighed, continuing to compress her flames more and more until the only thing visible in her hands was a bright spark burning so hot and bright it was like a marble outshining the sun itself. It was certainly visually impressive, but in all honesty- it was way too difficult to keep contained for long periods of time. Already her hands were shaking, and with a grunt of effort, she flung her hands forward and breached the shell of compressing chi around the roiling ball of pure hellfire that blazed bright in her mind and-

 

WHOOSH

 

An expanding, conical stream of flames so blue and hot and bright that nothing could be seen but pure white light roared across the massive confines of Gym Gamma, burning concrete to cinders beneath and setting off warning lights as the sheer radiating heat began to cause structural damage to the rafters ahead. An earth shattering explosion rang out moments afterwards as well- courtesy of the fireblast smashing into and through the massive concrete pillar that Ishiyama-sensei had created as a sturdy target. It easily smashed through the entire four meter thick wall, blowing it apart and incinerating the shrapnel before Izumi managed to shut down the blastwave before it could go even further , dissipating it harmlessly as she pulled her hands apart and ripped her chi out of the burning blaze until all that was left was the sudden chill of temperatures dropping back to normal.

 

Katsumi paused, clearing her throat idly as she raised her eyebrow at Izumi, then looked back at the thoroughly destroyed, incinerated, and impossibly melted concrete rubble that marked where a block that had almost been the size of a small building once stood.

 

“Zuzu?”

 

“... yes Katsumi?”

 

“That was. A hundred and sixty. Cubic meters . Of specialty mixed. Reinforced concrete,” Katsumi deadpanned out, glaring at her best friend and rival with something akin to jealousy. “When the fuck did you get so strong and how long have you been holding back on me!?”

 

“Well, apparently, it turns out that if you compress an ordinary one of my full sized fire blasts down to the size of a marble and pressurize it into a beam, bad things happen to everything in the way,” Izumi deadpanned, sauntering over to her blonde best friend and tweaking her nose slightly before stealing a meatball and popping it into her mouth, looking down for a moment as a flash of color under Katsumi’s loose tanktop caught her eye. “As for how long I’ve been holding back… who knows? Oh, and by the way… maybe next time pick a hero outfit that doesn’t show off your terrible taste in bras. Or maybe enhance the view, let everyone know that under that big, tough, spiky sukeban heroine there’s a cutesy gyaru lesbian. Who’s also a huge nerd.

 

“Wh- Excuse me!?” Katsumi roared, shrieking to her feet as she tried and failed to slap the meatball away from Izumi before she could eat it- alas to no avail. “HOW DARE YOU CALL MY TASTE IN BRAS TERRIBLE! YOU’RE THE ONE WEARING BLAND BORING BEIGE ALL THE TIME! AT LEAST MY LEOPARD PRINT IS CUTE!

 

She paused, looking down at her defiled late-afternoon meal.

 

“AND GIVE ME BACK MY FUCKING MEATBALL YOU GODDAMN THIEF!”

 

“It’s already in my mouth, Katsumi, I’m not giving it back now even if I wanted to- that’d be disgusting ,” Izumi rolled her eyes, making a show of chewing said meatball and swallowing it just to insult Katsumi more.

 

“I swear on my fucking HONOR I’m going to make you pay for that!” Katsumi hissed, glaring daggers at Izumi for several more moments before sitting back down and aggressively finishing the rest of her spaghetti like it owed her money.

 

Izumi just rolled her eyes and sighed, waving dismissively and wincing ever so slightly at the mention of honor , “Fine fine, I’ll buy you lunch tomorrow you absolute drama queen. Same cafe as always?”

 

“You’re damn right,” Katsumi nodded, crossing her arms and pouting a bit just to be dramatic before sighing and rolling her shoulders as she got off of the lump of concrete she’d been sitting on and prepared to actually do some work. “So, I’m still guessing that fucking beam somehow wasn’t up to your standards still, you perfectionist bitch.”

 

“Pot calling the kettle black, Mi-chan,” Izumi answered, rolling her eyes as she took a combat stance across from Katsumi and lit up her hands with flame. “But no, it was still too wild and uncontained… and cone shaped. I need to be able to throw out a beam with a consistent power output all the way along its length.”

 

“... Like Goku?”

 

Exactly like Goku, yes,” Izumi nodded, humming as she watched Katsumi don her sparring gloves and adjust her tank top. “... Hey, where did you even get a hot pink leopard print sports bra anyway?”

 

“Uniqlo,” Katsumi deadpanned, settling into her own combat stance with a snort of derision. “Same place I get all my day to day shit.”

 

“... That explains why you have so many of the same outfit,” Izumi muttered, then shook her head again and smirked at Katsumi. “Well, I’ll do my best to not burn this one.”

 

“You’ll fucking try!” Katsumi roared, charging forward with all the finesse of a raging bull with TNT strapped to its horns, shrieking at the top of her lungs as she did her level best to either claw Izumi’s eyes out or explode her right in her stupid face. “NOW COME HERE AND TAKE YOUR BEATING LIKE A WOMAN!”

 

“You say that every single time and you’ve racked up, what, five wins in the last three and a half months?” Izumi laughed, easily dodging Katsumi’s swipes and backing up slightly, teasing her friend as she began turning the explosive strikes to the side, humming lightly as she all but guided Katsumi through something vaguely resembling martial arts practice, even if Katsumi wanted to try and turn it into a death match. “Oh, nice nails- did you get new stickers?”

 

“YES I DID!” came the explosive reply, and the two of them continued their violent dance of explosions and fire.

 

Ochako slowly took a single long, loud slurp of her smoothie as she stood off to the side, watching Izumi and Katsumi banter as they sparred.

 

“... It’s been four days, and I still can’t tell if they’re fighting or flirting,” Ochako deadpanned, sighing as she leaned back and just watched the show.

 

“Seems like both, kero,” Tsu answered quietly, also settling in to watch her two friends fight like their lives depended on it.

 

“...  Yeah, probably.”

Chapter Text

Boom.

 

“Again!”

 

Boom.

 

“Again!”

 

Boom.

 

“Again!” Izumi announced for the nth time in the last half hour, watching Todoroki shake out his left hand and wince from the blisters starting to form as he tried his best and honestly kept failing at making a fireball- she didn’t know why he was failing so hard, but she privately thought that it was probably just one of the myriad differences between his quirk and her firebending.

 

Granted, it might just be that he had a visualization issue, but that wasn’t exactly something she could fix in a day. What she could teach him, though, were basic firebending katas. Or at least, she could try to teach him. It was up to him to actually practice and learn.

 

Granted, she hadn’t done that yet, since she wanted to see if Todoroki’s skills could actually be applied to firebending first… and mostly no.

 

“Alright, you can stop now- I’ve seen enough,” Izumi sighed, brushing her hair back and grumbling a bit as she had to tug a few strands into place. “Well, I don’t know why but as far as I can tell you can’t make a discrete fireball. I’m sure you’ll be able to get it in time, but for now I think trying and failing is just making you feel like shit.”

 

“I don’t understand why I can’t… Endeavor can and…” Todoroki grimaced, glaring at his left hand as though it had personally betrayed him- which, honestly, could very well have been his thought process. Spirits only knew that if Izumi had failed so much at such a basic firebending task that even some precociously talented four year olds could manage then she’d feel betrayed too. “It’s his quirk dammit, so why can’t I do it too!?”

 

“Well, it’s not his quirk, is the thing,” Izumi rolled her eyes, striding around in front of Todoroki and crossing her arms, taking in his new interim outfit- that is, just the beige jumpsuit without the ice on it (Apparently it was actually removable armor, who knew?)- before humming and looking past the bland outfit and down at Todoroki’s steaming, slightly heat-blistered hand. “It’s your quirk. Half cold, half hot. You’ve had, what, fourteen years to practice and learn with it? And you’ve locked away your fire until now, so really you’ve had at most maybe a few years as a child and then about two days now. So, at most a year and some change with an entire half of your quirk, compared to Endeavor training his whole life, plus his entire hero career. Plus- he doesn’t have to deal with trying to balance hot and cold. He just overheats like an idiot.”

 

“... I don’t know if that was supposed to be a pep talk or an insult, but… I suppose you’re right. All my life I’d been considering the combined strengths of fire and ice… but it would only make sense that I’d have additional difficulties I’d never even thought of,” Todoroki murmured, sighing as he straightened up and lightly iced his hand, grimacing slightly through the slight sting and looking up at Izumi again. “What should I do?”

 

“Well, I’m going to teach you kung fu,” Izumi answered easily, examining her nails for a moment before humming and giving Todoroki a light shrug. “Now, I’m all too aware that you’ve practiced some martial arts already- I’m guessing some kind of… cobbled together, MMA-like style where your father only taught you moves that were effective in an actual fight. It’s… good enough for actual combat, I suppose, but what I’m going to teach you is both practical and a meditative exercise.”

 

Todoroki almost looked like he wanted to ask why the meditation, but wisely shut up as Izumi leveled a cold stare at him and began poking at his limbs to force him into an unfamiliar combat stance- one similar to Izumi’s but… slightly different. 

 

“Now, this is a basic kata that just about any beginner can learn- obviously we’ll have to adapt the forms slightly to match your quirk… or the other way around… but I have a feeling that soon enough you’ll be in good enough shape to actually use your fire outside of training,” Izumi continued, humming as she settled into a mirroring stance before Todoroki and began leading him through the slow, carefully measured steps of a beginner firebender kata. 

 

She didn’t speak much after that, just humming lowly as she led Todoroki step by step, kick by kick, punch by punch. In a way, it was almost meditative for her, to go back to her root and remember the beginnings of her training- of course, Todoroki wasn’t a four year old just taking his first forays into wielding an element that burned all it touched, but he still moved like a beginner thanks to his lack of familiarity. Slowly, gently, the temperature around them began to rise, with Todoroki perfectly following her steps only a beat behind, with every movement perfectly mirrored, if a bit stiffly and awkwardly .

 

“Good- this is enough for you to learn today. Now, run through it with me a few more times to make sure you’ve got the movements down,” Izumi spoke after she’d run through the kata- it was short and simple, of course, but with how she was slowing down every movement so Todoroki could accurately copy and memorize them it had taken almost two minutes to complete. She was, of course, using it as a meditative exercise and for muscle control rather than open combat, but she was sure Todoroki would be able to get it pretty quick. “How’s your progress on controlling your flame size going?”

 

Todoroki grunted as they ran through the kata again, feeling his muscles clench and loosen, slowly relaxing and getting into the flow of the movements as he thought back to the last two days- how he’d tried his best to keep his fire as small as possible, managing to shrink it down a substantial amount just within the first few hours with some effort. It was hard, but he’d managed to shrink it down to the size of an apple. And then he’d held it for a few hours until the strain had been too much and he’d been forced to drop it.

 

As he told her as much, Izumi hummed again, continuing to go through the kata until she was sure that Todoroki had memorized it fully before pulling herself up and motioning for him to keep practicing for now.


“Well, that’s actually a remarkably good start. Sure explains how you were able to start making a fireball so fast…” Izumi nodded, rubbing her chin before shrugging and letting Todoroki do as he pleased. “Anyway, keep going through the kata until you’re comfortable with it, then try to mix in weak attacks from your left side with the punches and kicks. Get used to rapidly turning it on and off so you aren’t leaking flames everywhere and doing more harm than good- remember, in the real world not everything is made of easily replaceable concrete and cheap wiring. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some practice to do.”

Chapter Text

“So… it’s been a while, hasn’t it?” Toga Himiko mentioned idly as she took a seat next to Izumi in the shared common room- when Toga had figured out which common room it was that Izumi usually hung out in was something that Izumi really didn’t feel was important enough to find out, but it was … interesting to see the blonde girl again after nearly four and a half years. “I don’t think I ever thanked you for… that time in middle school.”

 

Izumi simply looked up from her manga, humming as she thumbed through the pages and rubbed her chin consideringly as she plotted what she’d train when next she went out to one of the practice cities. “I’m going to be honest, Toga-san, I actually don’t remember much of our interactions in middle school. Unless you’re referring to the incident that got you transferred out?”

 

Toga pulled a face, grimacing slightly and sighing as she rubbed her face and curled up in a ball on her armchair. “Yeah… that incident. I don’t think I ever said sorry for attacking you like that… and I don’t think I ever thanked you for getting me out of that house. You… didn’t have to stand up for me like that back then- you… I mean, you didn’t even know me at the time…”

 

“Well, that’s categorically not true,” Izumi pointed out, raising an eyebrow as she remembered the incident in question- Toga’s quirk was cruel in how it gave her an innate craving for blood, and certain personality traits and physical appearances created a psychosomatic effect where she desperately wanted to taste their blood in the hopes of becoming said person. From what Izumi had researched after the incident, she’d learned that Toga’s life had already been hard, but it all culminated in her stalking one of Izumi’s other classmates in middle school and trying to attack him in the halls.

 

If it wasn’t for Izumi’s long experience in spotting tails and deducing malicious intent in others, the boy would have probably bled out and Toga would have been arrested. As it was, he had been entirely unharmed, Toga had been taken in by protective services, and Izumi had taken one of her first and so far very few serious wounds since she’d been born into this world- a deep knife cut across her palm, plus a pair of long since healed puncture wounds in that same hand after she’d shoved it into Toga’s mouth.

 

Izumi tilted her head after an awkward half second of actually remembering the way that Toga had made an entirely age inappropriate moan upon drinking Izumi’s blood. “- I kept track of everyone in our year back in Orudera. Just because we were in entirely different classes doesn’t mean I didn’t at least know a little bit about who you were. That said… that incident happened years ago, back when we were both children. I’m just glad that you seem to be happier now- tell me, how’s your new family?”

 

“Oh it’s so much better,” Toga grinned, exposing her altogether far too sharp canines that looked more like vampire fangs than regular teeth, pulling a bright red candy from her pocket and popping it in her mouth after tearing open the wrapper. “My new moms are a hematologist and a pathologist, and Chiyashi-okaa-san makes me a lot of salty iron-pops to help deal with the cravings! But… yeah. Thanks for putting in a good word for me. And not thinking that I was just a crazy vampire serial killer.”

 

Izumi nodded, quite glad to have been able to make a difference in Toga’s life, even if she had only been in her life properly for maybe a few hours before the girl had transferred out and slipped out of Izumi’s attention until now. “Well, I’m glad that you’re doing better. Your quirk may be a little scary to most others on the surface, but I’m sure you’ll be able to use it to great effect.”

 

“Oh, I hope so- it’s been my dream for a while now after all, to make people see that just because I have a scary quirk, doesn’t mean I’m automatically a villain ,” Toga sidled a bit closer, peeking idly at Izumi’s manga for a moment before finding herself swiftly uninterested in the buff men firing lasers at each other. She pursed her lips for a moment, tapping her chin and looking up and to the side slightly before changing the topic. “Oh right! I forgot to mention Momiji-onee-chan! She’s super cool and strong and she’s teaching self defense at the local gym! Oh man, I wish she was my birth sister! She’s trans too, just like Ts- mmph!?”

 

“... You know, maybe you shouldn’t say that out loud,” Izumi muttered, quickly removing her hand from Toga’s mouth and giving her a quick warning glare. “It’s her secret to tell, not ours. And- as much as I am glad that you support other trans students, maybe don’t out someone in a common room where we don’t know anyone’s general attitudes, yeah?”

 

“... Right, yeah. Forgot about that,” Toga cleared her throat and tittered a bit, nervously looking around for a moment before shaking her head. “Er- anyway! What’re you looking forward to doing in hero class? I hear we’re gonna start doing some serious rescue training on Monday, that’ll be fun, I think! I mean, I’m pretty decent in any kind of support role, y’know? It took me a while but I can do some real good with how my quirk works!”

 

“Mm, it would be nice to put some practical lessons into my theoretical knowledge,” Izumi nodded, tilting her head slightly before sitting up straight and tucking her manga away for the moment. “As for me, I’m trying to figure out how to make lasers out of fire. I’m getting there, I think, but it’s going to be a while yet. Something about the compression isn’t working out… I’ve got some theories, but it’ll be a while until I can get it to work, I think.”

 

“... That sounds like a lot of work, but that also sounds super cool! Oh man, now I wanna work on my quirk too….” Toga’s words descended into mumbling, chewing lightly on her finger as she pondered just what she’d try to work on that she hadn’t been already. “Oh, I wonder if I can do partial transformations? Oh, that’d be so cool if I could save blood like that- just transform an arm or whatever to whatever the situation needs instead of constantly needing to switch forms entirely! And it’d save so much blood too, I think!”

 

The two of them continued to chatter on a bit, up until the point that Uraraka and Tsu joined them a moment later, with Toga breaking off from Izumi’s lecture on the finer points of firebending to press something subtly into Tsu’s hands with a wink and a grin before the four of them settled into an easy rhythm of conversation, at which point Katsumi also joined in… as well as Hagakure.

 

At which point Izumi put her foot down, stood up, bought everyone drinks from the nearby vending machine, and the six of them decided to make it an actual party instead of just lounging around on a saturday afternoon.

Chapter Text

“Kaaaaa…. Meeee….. Haaaaaa…… Meeeeeeee …..” Izumi intoned quietly, breathing deeply as she compressed her flames in her hand, a deep focus held as she used her chi much the same way she did combustion bending- but this time focused through her hands in a way that was… similar, but entirely different. 

 

It was harder, for one. The chi that welled up in her stomach would usually be brought up through her inner pathways to her Light Chakra, in a direct, straight line with very few deviations, then be focused and projected out as a tiny packet carried along by a thin “beam” of chi.

 

What she was doing now was pulling that same chi into an already unstable, highly compressed fireball, to a location without the easy access of her Chakras, in an attempt to widen the “carrier” beam and guide the fire itself along that same path.

 

Kind of like how she used her lightning in the entrance exam, actually, but without the whole… lightning business.

 

That she was giving it the same attack name as Son Goku in Dragon Ball Z did was just because it was funny.

 

Izumi gritted her teeth, all of her muscles focused on keeping the roiling, burning ball of blue fire in her hands stable as she gripped down tight and focused her will- sweat rolling down her forehead as the ball of flames and raw chi bucked and boiled in her hands to the point that she almost lost control. But she held steady, and after charging even more chi into the blast, she thrust her hands forward and-

 

“HAAAAAA!”

 

Heat and light flew forth in a perfectly straight beam, the walls of chi that she’d formed around the released blast only just barely keeping the flames at bay- it wasn’t perfect, not really, but it was a damn sight better than her last attempt the other day. Especially because, given the containment, it actually had even more power than the last beam she’d tried- to the point that Ishiyama-sensei had actually called for her to stop because she’d blown up nearly the entire goddamn training mountain he’d made, and now he was going to have to remake the entire thing.

 

Thankfully, no one had gotten hurt, seeing as everyone in the gym that day had long since left for dinner and Ishiyama-sensei was only there to supervise her while she worked.

 

And also Katsumi was there, but Katsumi was still working on her own concentrated blast attack.

 

“PRESSURE X CANNON!”

 

Correction, she had already come up with a concentrated blast attack and was currently working on perfecting it for maximum killtacular-ness, or whatever made up word she’d use to describe it beyond “being able to kill motherfuckers dead”.

 

“Well, I think that was productive,” Izumi panted out, quietly goggling a bit at the sheer scale of destruction she’d managed with just that blast- even if charging it to be that strong had taken her well over two minutes and left her honestly pretty exhausted , she was very impressed at the strength she’d called to bear. “If a bit… excessive, for most use cases. But I’m glad that I’ve already got a start… mm… just need to figure out how to straighten out the flow of chi so it’s less… chaotic. I think I’m wasting a lot of energy just trying to keep it all contained…”

 

She panted a little longer, slowly pulling herself up again after a moment and rolling her shoulders- it was strange being so tired after a single large attack like that, but it had cost way more chi than she usually put into an attack, and far more focus too. Add on trying to bend in an unfamiliar way… well. It was a wonder that she’d even managed to do that much trying to combine two entirely different firebending disciplines together. Then again, she always did have a knack for doing things that other people said was nearly impossible.

 

Like conquering Ba Sing Se with only herself, Mai, and Ty Lee. Or taking over the Dai Li. Or becoming Fire Lord at fourteen (for about five minutes until she… well).

 

“You know, it’s kind of scary the kind of things you’ve done in a literal week,” Uraraka mentioned idly as she tapped her heels against the floor- Izumi was a little bit surprised about the fact that Uraraka had consciously chosen to wear heeled boots, but accepted that the boots had extra reinforced support and the heel was necessary to keep her pressure points stimulated so she didn’t throw up quite so fast. “I mean, I’m barely getting the hang of zero-g maneuvering! It’s been really hard on my stomach… I mean gee, if I wasn’t on a diet before, I’d sure look it now with how much I’ve been throwing up… bleh. At least I don’t have to pay for food during regular hours…”

 

“Yes, well, I’m quite the prodigy- I learned how to generate lightning in only a few days, too, so it’s not exactly surprising that I managed to make this work so soon- after all, I did basically master the two techniques that went into it already,” Izumi spoke breezily, humming as she took a swig from her water bottle and cooled off slightly while the field was being repaired. “And don’t sell yourself short- your flight capabilities already far surpass mine in both maneuverability and speed.”

 

She paused, tilting her head consideringly to the side. “... I should practice flight next, I think. Ishiyama-sensei will no doubt be quite cross if I destroy the entire field again .”

 

“Yeah, he didn’t look happy about that at all,” Uraraka nodded, then hummed as she considered Izumi for a moment. “Hey, you’re really good at martial arts right? I know you can beat Ojiro, and he’s really good.”

 

“Mm. My quirk relies entirely on martial arts to focus my energies, yes,” Izumi hummed in response, slowly standing up and stretching lightly. “Why do you ask?”

 

“Well… I mean, I took a couple years of martial arts recently… do you wanna spar? Show me a couple moves?” Uraraka asked, starting to walk over to one of the still intact, padded parts of the gym as she motioned for Izumi to follow along.

 

Izumi blinked consideringly, looking between Uraraka and Katsumi- the latter of whom was still blowing up piles of rubble with her new Pressure X Cannon attack to get a grip on the range and piercing power of the explosive jet. She also considered Tsu and Toga, who were off in one corner of the gym talking about something or another (Izumi saw an array of pride themed pins, buttons, and stickers, so she figured it had something to do with the campus LGBT Alliance… which she still hadn’t made the time to go join, goddammit) before looking back to Uraraka, who was wearing a hopeful grin as she extended her hand out towards Izumi.

 

“Yeah, I’ll show you some moves. Just be warned that you might want to go for a more joint lock based, grappling style than aggressive kicks and punches,” Izumi nodded, stepping onto the mats after Uraraka and settling into her bending stance- no chi needed for a simple martial arts duel, so she could treat it almost like a form of meditation, maybe.

 

Uraraka simply grinned wider in response, settling into something resembling an aikido stance.

 

A moment passed.

 

“Let’s begin.”

Chapter Text

The morning of her second week of UA’s hero course, Izumi woke up exactly as the sun rose above the horizon- not even as it peeked through her window on the fifth floor, but the moment it crested over the horizon at approximately fifteen minutes past six am. She slowly sat up and opened her eyes, stretching lightly and rolling out any kinks that might have formed overnight before standing, sliding out of bed, and settling into a meditative trance before the low table she’d set up in one corner of her room. A small electric fan was positioned in such a way as to point towards the window, such that it would blow the smoke away from the smoke alarm embedded in the ceiling of her room once she fully lit up her meditation candles- these ones were scented with lavender, and gave everything a lovely floral smell as they slowly burned down.

 

With a quiet sigh, Izumi settled onto the cushion before the table, humming lightly as she crossed her legs into the lotus position and began to meditate on the fire in front of her- taking in its gentle dance in the circling breeze, seeing how the smoke wafted, feeling how it responded to the ever so slight in and out of her breath as she took each tiny point of candle flame and ensconced it in the iron grip of her chi.

 

What was fire, when it came to bending?

 

Before her incarceration, she’d always thought that fire was anger , destruction , the heat of battle and the blazing glory of a singularly perfect element suited to incinerate all in its path. Later on, she’d wandered along the world enough to learn that her idiot uncle and brother considered it to be light and life and willpower, the energy of the sun itself that gets cast down upon the world to hurt and heal in equal measure.

 

She’d scoffed at the time, thinking that it had to be wrong. But her travels had always been enlightening, and the solo trip she took upon being banished from the Fire Nation had been no different. She’d learned bending forms by watching skilled practitioners in every nation she could (save for airbending, except nearer the end of her life, when she’d eked out a tired existence as an old woman in the poorer sections of Republic City and occasionally saw the airbenders on the island), taking in their skills as she could- she’d conned and cajoled her way into a few lessons, stating that even if she couldn’t bend the element as an itinerant worker, she still thought it was a great way to get in touch with the spiritual side of the world and it’d be great for fitness and meditation. 

 

Azula, at the time, had mostly just been thinking about how her uncle had created lightning redirection by watching waterbenders, and thought that maybe if she did the same she’d come up with something new as well.

 

She had , of course- just nothing so interesting or as stunningly useful as lightning redirection. Had Azula learned to ape a few of the other elements by learning how to shift heat around and use fire to propel rocks? Sure. Was it useful as anything other than a parlor trick? Not a chance.

 

Of course, that journey of self discovery had also led to her realizing a few other things- namely that her uncle was right and the Sun Warriors were a bunch of weirdos and that her firebending somehow managed to get stronger after she’d failed the warriors’ trials for nearly three years straight before eventually finally meeting Masters Ran and Shaw at the age of almost thirty.

 

Azula wasn’t afraid to admit that she’d cried at the time, seeing the pair of dragons accept her (the first time anyone had unconditionally done so in almost her entire life).

 

And now, at the ripe old age of some ninety odd years plus eighteen, Izumi contemplated the nature of fire once again, as she always did. In some ways it was an affirmation to herself, to keep herself on the path that she’d promised to stay on the moment her mother- not Ursa, never Ursa, not after that whole search debacle back in her mid teens- had embraced her and cried even after she’d learned about Izumi’s past memories.

 

Fire was passion, drive, willpower. It was creation and destruction in equal form. It was light, and life in all its myriad complexities. It was the sun, shining its golden rays upon her skin and giving energy to her movements.

 

Fire, to Izumi, was a shining path that she followed with her whole heart. She often summed it up as the simple need to make her mother proud, but that wasn’t exactly the whole of it. Yes, she wanted to make her mother proud, but Midoriya Inko would have been proud of her no matter what she did. What she wanted was… self improvement. Her mother’s love. The secureness of a legacy that would go untainted. The need to be loved by those she saw fit to surround herself. A thousand and one little reasons that added up into a raging, complicated inferno that shone with clarity of purpose in a singular way- to be a hero, and save those in need.

 

The fire before Izumi flickered and rose higher as she continued to meditate, letting the chi of the world and of the flames flow through her, become her, to be expressed out as her .

 

And then- she opened her eyes.

 

The flames doused instantly as she stood, not even the barest wisps of smoke remaining as she shooed it all out of the window with a quiet huff. Half an hour had passed since she’d begun contemplating herself, her fire, and her goals.

 

Izumi nodded to herself, refreshed and filled with energy as the sun’s rays danced across her skin, preparing her clothes and toiletries into a basket as she slipped on her sandals and headed for the shower room. Idly, she picked up her phone and slid it neatly into its waterproof case before tucking it into the pocket of her pajama pants- Katsumi was already awake and wondering where the fuck she was, as evidenced by the texts lining her home screen.

 

Humming a quiet tune, Izumi walked down the hall and began to prepare herself for the day- showering efficiently and using her firebending to heat up the water to a near scalding temperature without wasting any of the actual hot water in the tank, brushing her teeth, applying a thin modicum of her usual light makeup (And waiting for Katsumi to finish her own daily makeup routine which was much more intensive), and returning to her room to get dressed. After which, she headed downstairs while keeping track of her friends’ schedules (and avoiding Hagakure’s morning butt slap that she and Ashido seemed to think was an appropriate greeting), before waiting in the lobby of the girls’ dorm for the rest of her classmates to come down one by one so they could all head out for breakfast together.

 

And then, after a hearty (but not too heavy) breakfast, Izumi followed the others to class, all while wondering- just what sort of practical rescue experience would they be learning today?

Chapter 40

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Mmm… All Might had to deal with something else today and probably won’t show up til the end of class, so I’ll be filling in since I’m your homeroom teacher,” Aizawa-sensei spoke quietly as he stood before the class that afternoon, rubbing one eye and looking markedly more irritated than normal- probably because he was sleep deprived or something. “Everyone put on your costumes and get ready- we’re leaving in fifteen. If you’re late, I’m driving without you.”

 

Much like Aizawa’s proclamation on the first day of class, there was a sudden mad scramble to get to the front of the room- everyone rushing to grab the suitcases containing their hero costumes and get to the locker rooms as fast as possible. Thankfully, the ones who got there first started by throwing other people’s cases at them- Kirishima hucking a suitcase marked 6 and 8 at Kaminari and Koda respectively while grabbing case number 7, Shoji using his arms to fling cases 9, 11, 12, 13, and 14 off at Sato, Jiro, Sero, Tokoyami, and Toga, etc etc.

 

Izumi pulled her own suitcase out of the air after Katsumi flung it at her, and watched as the explosive blonde managed to almost bean Shinsou in the face with his a moment later- she would have laughed, but that would have been rude. And besides, she had to actually get out of the room and to the changing room first.

 

With that, Izumi swiftly began jogging towards the nearest one- following the other girls who’d left first, of course, and making note of Tsu actually joining the pack this time.

 

“I’m glad you’re getting comfortable with us,” Izumi mentioned lightly as the two of them made it to the changing room, with Katsumi pushing past roughly and not even waiting to get to her locker before stripping out of her pastel pink blouse, booty shorts, thigh high boots, and leopard print coat. “... Katsumi please- a little decorum wouldn’t hurt .”

 

“Fuck off and get changed!”

 

“Endlessly crass, that one,” Izumi muttered, sharing an amused eyeroll with Tsu as she made her way over to her locker and began changing- honestly, she could have kept her outfit on entirely underneath her hero clothes, but changed anyway because it would have been a little chafing to try and do rescue work in skin-tight yoga pants and a cropped tanktop underneath her actual hero costume. “Honestly, if I hadn’t beaten her damn near sociopathic attitude out of her when we were children she’d be even more insufferable by now…”

 

“I’m starting to wonder how you’re friends with her at all, kero,” Tsu deadpanned, idly tugging herself out of her much more modest outfit of a long t-shirt, short shorts, knee length socks, and chunky sneakers, wrapping a long towel around herself as she shimmied into the wetsuit that served as the basis of most of her costume. “I mean, she’s all… crass and… y’know. And you’re… much more sophisticated and upper class sounding, kero.”

 

“Hmm, yes, I do have a certain… princess-like bearing,” Izumi nodded, then chuckled at something she thought was quite funny. “But upper class? Oh no, Katsumi’s parents are actually quite a bit more rich than mine- Her mother’s a fashion designer, you know, and her dad’s a photographer. My own father’s… mm… out of the picture. Working overseas as a liaison for some company or another, and mother keeps our apartment a home .”

 

She paused and shook her head. “As it were, we’ve known each other all our lives- the Bakugous moved into a house directly adjacent to mother and I’s apartment building, and all the neighborhood kids just hung out together at the time. Katsumi lead the pack by sheer force of will… I used to be just a bright eyed hanger-on, actually. Then I got diagnosed as quirkless on accident, Katsumi became a bully, and then I awoke my latent quirk through sheer rage and beat Katsumi at her own game.”

 

“... That does not sound like a healthy friendship, kero,” Tsu pointed out, grimacing as she adjusted the now slightly more armored portions of her suit and getting comfortable with the new feeling, sliding on her boots and goggles as she turned her attention back to Izumi. 

 

“Oh it wasn’t. Fortunately, I am magnanimous in my mercy and Katsumi really did just need a good knocking down for her to lose her arrogance,” Izumi shrugged and grinned lightly back at Katsumi, who raised one gauntleted hand and flipped the both of them a crackling, explosive bird before sliding on her boots and stomping off.

 

Izumi just laughed, and subtly eyed the way Katsumi’s harness framed her ass for a moment before clearing her throat. “She’s now much less volatile… well, unless she’s trying to beat me in a fight. You wouldn’t even recognize her outside of class, I think. She’s very… vain now, which I think is a step up from her previous budding attitude.”

 

“... If you say so,” Tsu deadpanned, then shrugged and stood up as she and Izumi began walking out towards where Aizawa-sensei was waiting with a blue and white bus with the UA logo printed on the side. “You’d know better than me, I guess. Mm… by the way- Um… thanks for being… supportive of. You know. Kero.”

 

“I’d be a poor hero if I wasn’t, Tsu,” Izumi murmured back, patting Tsu’s shoulder gently and smiling, before clearing her throat and awkwardly looking to the side as the two of them sat down and waited for the rest of the class to trickle in. “... By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask- how do you get your legs so smooth and shiny? I’ve been trying different methods for years and so far the only thing I’ve tried that gets anywhere near that smooth and pretty is just directly burning out the hairs using my quirk and putting a bunch of lotion on after. I don’t recommend it. The smell is awful.”

 

Tsu blinked, and had the decency to blush.

 

“... I’m a frog, kero. I don’t exactly have a lot of body hair, and my skin is naturally soft and moisturized,” Tsu shrugged, kicking her legs idly and holding her hands in that raptor-like pose she usually did. “It helps with passing, which I’m glad about, but even… before … I didn’t really have any body hair to begin with.”

 

Izumi cursed under her breath, pouting and crossing her arms as she settled back in her seat. “Dammit, lucky . Ugh, I’d kill to lose all my body hair…”

 

Tsu chuckled, and soon the two of them were giggling about almost nothing at all- at which point they were joined by Uraraka, Ida, Shinsou, Katsumi (who’d already been sitting on the bus but had moved over just to get away from Kaminari’s terrible taste in puns), and Toga, who skipped onto the bus slightly late with a breezy apology and an explanation of, “Sorry I’m late, the hypo package was super stubborn!”

 

“Hypo package?” Uraraka mouthed to herself almost silently, to which Izumi responded by miming the motion of drawing blood from her arm.

 

Uraraka nodded, and grinned as Toga joined their little group in the middle of the bus, all of them chattering away about this and that as they headed toward the gleaming dome of the USJ building in the far distance.

Notes:

Side note: Y'all ever wonder how fucking nasty Toga's needles would be in canon? There's no way she's getting fresh needles and keeping them sterilized and swapped out between blood draws. She literally just swings that shit around like a fucking knife, it probably hurts like hell AND could give you a serious infection.

Chapter Text

Izumi, as a rule, tried not to get mad at things, people, events, or general misfortunes. She kept that rule because in her past life it had resulted in her doing a great many things that she later regretted quite terribly- not so in that they had consequences for her for a good long while, but in that usually people ended up dead that she really shouldn’t have killed off so quickly.

 

Like that asshole who was supposed to be her guide through the mountains of the northwestern Earth Kingdom up until he’d tried to get grabby, at which point she’d spent the next three weeks wandering all but aimlessly until a caravan picked her up some sixty kilometers off course.

 

They never did find his body.

 

Oh sure, she got plenty annoyed or irritated or vexed or other flavors of vague ill-content with all sorts of things- Tsu not needing a skincare routine (why couldn’t it be her!?), Aizawa’s lax attitude towards being presentable, homework that wasn’t a breeze to get through, asshats who cut in line, etc etc- but never mad . Never that all consuming rush of bright red anger that smelled of copper and ozone, felt like flames dancing across her fingertips and sounded like the quiet, dreadful thump of a fresh corpse falling to the ground.

 

Izumi was very, very mad now.

 

And why wouldn’t she be?

 

There were villains in her fucking school , terrorizing her goddamn classmates , and trying to kill all of them!

 

Izumi snarled and allowed herself to sink into the beautiful, white hot luxury of her boiling, furious anger, the well of power within her very soul singing as she pulled herself away ever so slightly from the philosophy of willpower and passion and instead started to fuel her flames with pure. Righteous. Fury.

 

(Strangely enough, it didn’t seem to be that much of a shift, if Izumi was being honest)

 

There she stood in the landslide zone, surrounded by a bunch of thugs of varying builds, sizes, and with quirks she neither knew nor cared to know. There were men, women, and people with metamorphic quirks so extreme she literally could not tell what their gender presentation was (except for the one villain who stuck a nonbinary flag on their chest. At least the criminal organization was inclusive?). Behind her were Toga and Yaoyorozu, doing their best to not get boxed in as they slowly backed away from the overwhelming press of nearly thirty villains.

 

Izumi was unimpressed. 

 

She’d taken out fiercer warriors with less backup, with far greater ease than these idiots could possibly imagine. And so, as the villains began to slowly close in, tromping up to her with evil smirks and grins and idiotic laughter that tried to sound malicious, she sighed, letting her vision go red behind her mask whilst slouching forward slightly- just enough to give the impression of a puppet with its strings cut.

 

And she breathed .

 

Smoke flew from beneath her cloak, an endless black miasma that jetted out in a horrifying mockery of that which she had seen mere moments prior- the villain known as Kurogiri doing much the same to send her classmates all scattered around the USJ, only her smoke rushed out in waves of pulsing, scalding hot heat and dropped the visibility in the area to nearly nothingness- pitch black and hazy, barely even able to see half a meter in front of one’s own face.

 

The villains screamed and seemed to panic as the endless smoke filled the landslide zone, throwing out useless attacks that only hit each other as they stumbled around blindly and rubbed at their stinging, blinded eyes. 

 

Izumi could see them all, though- her thermal vision, enhanced in scope over the past week, combined with her unerring sense of all of the heat signatures in the area, allowed her to see and know exactly what the villains before her were all doing- which ones were competent enough to try and escape the edges of the smog, which ones were simply stumbling around uselessly, which ones were firing blindly and throwing out random attacks in the hopes of hitting her.

 

Shield , she’d written upon her back in bright little flames, sparing only that much attention to Yaoyorozu and Toga before their area suddenly vanished from her thermal radar- cloaked under a thick wall of material that was only barely warmer than Yaoyorozu’s normal body temperature.

 

Good.

 

“You seem to think that you outmatch me,” Izumi spoke, her voice carrying far and wide over the area as she exercised her control and began to raise the temperature, her hands lashing out to her sides and jetting twin bursts of blue flame that raced out and around in a deadly wall. The villains before her huddled closer as she slowly pulled away the smoke, corralled in by the circle of flames that rose higher and higher in time with her words. “Let me show you why you do not.”

 

She walked forward, every step ringing through the area- and then stopped. She tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, and a projectile of some kind whizzed through the air just beside her head- a spike of material that fluttered her hair as it passed before striking the metallic wall of Yaoyorozu’s miniature bunker with a loud ringing sound- almost like a discordant chime, emanating pure malice through the air.

 

The eyehole of Izumi’s mask ignited, and she snarled.

 

Her cloak billowed in the sweltering updraft created by the wall of flames, her hands moving in slow, measured circles by her side as she caused the racing lines to continue spiraling outwards until the entire area, save for a small reprieve centered around her two classmates, was an inescapable inferno of blue flames so hot that they scorched the bare rock and vaporized dirt and sand in mere moments.

 

She focused in on the one who’d tried to shoot her- a scraggly looking man in a terrible costume that was little more than a ratty wifebeater and jeans with a cheap skull mask thrown overtop. She clenched her fists and strode forward faster, not even caring as the circle of villains began to close ranks around her- they were all fools to think that they could even so much as touch her if she didn’t let them.

 

“You seem to think you have me trapped, that you’re serious villains . That you can kill me, bring down the symbol of peace with such a disgraceful display? Do you think that you have power, ganging up on me with your weakness and your lack of skill?” Izumi scoffed, hackles rising as lightning began to crackle around her fingers and she stretched out her chi- she’d used this same technique barely a few months ago at a lower power to bring down a bunch of robots during the entrance exam, but now? With the power brought to her by her rage, with fewer targets, with so much hate and anger coursing through her veins?

 

She would only hold back just enough that they wouldn’t die.

 

Immediately .

 

She ignored the jeers and cries of the villains as they began to move in closer, simply focusing more as her hands sparked and crackled with such violent fervor that she heard more whispers of fear and doubt than she did overconfident declarations of her death.

 

Izumi grinned, the point of flame floating above her right eye exploding with heat and light as she began cackling maniacally, her lightning surging forth with lethal intent and blasting outwards as she shouted out the last words the lowlife criminals around her would hear.


“Let me show you what real power is!”

Chapter Text

“I’m gonna be honest with you guys, I have no clue how we’re getting out of this one,” Hitoshi deadpanned, peeking over the edge of the slowly sinking yacht as he, Uraraka, and Tsu all stood on the deck. “I mean- I can’t brainwash that many people at once- I can’t even do more than a few, and the other half of my quirk isn’t strong enough to take ‘em out with probably exploding my arms.”

 

He paused, then cleared his throat. “... Don’t ask, it’s complicated and we have bigger things to worry about right now.”

 

“Right… can’t we just float over them?” Uraraka asked, already reaching out gently but not quite touching either Hitoshi or Tsu, nervously looking down at the water as the ship continued to sink. “We can get past and run after right?”

 

“Right, but then there’s no guarantee that they won’t come after us- I recognize some of those guys from the news- there’s no way that they’ll just let us go… but I think I’ve got an idea… Fuck it, Plus Ultra, right?” Hitoshi muttered, gritting his teeth before deciding to use his artificial vocal cords to amplify his voice, shouting down at the villains below even as the water continued to rise up the side of the ship- some of the villains already preparing to attack, but others still just waiting there with nasty grins on their faces. 

 

“HEY! COWARDS! ARE YOU JUST GONNA SIT THERE AND WAIT FOR US TO DROWN OR ARE YOU GONNA TRY AND KILL US LIKE A REAL BUNCH OF VILLAINS!?”

 

Instantly, there was a wave of jeers and cackling retorts- a few villains shouting out what were honestly some pretty cheap insults- threatening death and violence and all kinds of banal and quite frankly disgusting acts that Hitoshi had heard a thousand times before in all sorts of contexts. 

 

Hell, one of the villains was directly quoting from a videogame and didn’t even seem to realize it.

 

Still, Hitoshi paid no real mind to that- after all, the ones who had responded shone bright in his mind’s eye like a gentle connection he could grasp and hold under his iron will at any moment should he so choose. He wouldn’t be able to control most of the people who’d responded- there were well over twenty guys in the water (and probably some girls too? He thought one of the shark-looking people who’d tried to bite his arm off earlier had boobs, but he hadn’t really been looking considering that they were trying to bite his arm off ) and not all of them had directly useful quirks but…

 

There. 

 

One connection he could use- and another. And another.

 

Five was his limit, and so in the span of mere seconds, he chose carefully, reached out, and his eyes flashed as he took five minds under his control before belting out his orders.

 

“ATTACK THE OTHER VILLAINS AROUND YOU!”

 

Hitoshi winced as his order blasted down the connection he held, a throbbing headache starting to form in conjunction with a sudden nose bleed, sinking down to his knees and groaning while Uraraka and Tsu supported him and kept him from losing his lunch, while the mob of villains immediately began tearing each other apart- the guy who’d used a giant water hand to break the ship smashing several of his comrades away and sending others flying with the sheer force of water pushing them around.

 

Good, that’d keep them busy for a while- or so he hoped. Still, Hitoshi waved off the concern of his friends, hissing as he held his head and stood up again- his vision swam a little with the strain of controlling multiple minds at once, but it wasn’t like he had a whole lot of practice with it, so maybe he’d be forgiven for only being able to do five.

 

“Ngh… okay… they’re distracted… Uraraka- can you make us all weightless? I think we can make a run for it now,” Hitoshi murmured out, taking deep breaths and holding out his hand while Uraraka nodded and tapped both him and Tsu.

 

“Right! Tsu- you cling to the deck and throw us, okay?” Uraraka spoke, already starting to float up into the air along with Hitoshi, looking down at Tsu with a small grin. “Then jump after us- I’ll catch you and then we can all land in the plaza.”

 

“Are you going to be okay, kero?” Tsu asked, clinging to the deck of the ship still as she took some kind of a ready stance, her tongue lashing out around Uraraka’s waist, while Uraraka grabbed Hitoshi’s arm tighter. “You’re bleeding.”

 

“Just throw us- I’ll pop an ibuprofen after we get outta here,” Hitoshi groaned, enhancing his grip slightly with One for All and feeling the familiar burn as he kept it to a low threshold- it wasn’t going to help in combat, but he could crank the dial if it came to it. 

 

And with that, Hitoshi and Uraraka were both flying through the air propelled by Tsu’s throw and Uraraka’s boot jets, while Tsu did some kind of horrifically complicated looking slingshot maneuver on the topmost antennae of the sinking ship- which had only just started to sink properly into the water with the water flowing over the deck- and launched herself straight at Uraraka.

 

Seconds later, the three of them were holding onto each other for dear life while Hitoshi supplemented the weak but surprisingly quick propulsion of Uraraka’s boots with his own finger flicks with One for All, grimacing as the intensified strength ground against his bones and made his scrawny limbs shake with the recoil- but they were safe.

 

The villains behind them were too stuck in their own brawl to actually get out and were likely going to knock each other out before anyone noticed they were gone, none of them were at all injured, and Uraraka set them down in an out of the way section of the central plaza just barely tucked behind one of the trees bordering the flood zone.

 

They could breathe a sigh of relief- they were safe… for now. They still had to get out of the USJ and find help- maybe Ida had managed to get back to campus already, but if they could at least get out and find a place to recover, they could help afterward?

 

Hitoshi nodded, quietly murmuring his plans to Uraraka and Tsu, leading them slowly around the plaza that was now only full of groaning bodies on the ground, Aizawa-sensei, and the two villains who’d gotten them into this mess in the first place- that goddamn hand guy (“Shigaraki” the warp villain had called him) and the warp villain (Kurogiri, apparently), both of whom were standing across from Aizawa in a tense standoff.

 

Hitoshi hissed quietly at the sight of his childhood hero (and homeroom teacher) standing there, battered and bruised, panting heavily from having to fight off so many villains in short order, and gritted his teeth- no, Aizawa wouldn’t want him to jump in like that, to risk his life for probably not even much contribution to the fight, to throw himself at a villain despite his lack of serious training and the weaknesses of his pair of quirks.

 

But- but…

 

Aizawa was injured. His elbow was bleeding and raw, his clothes were torn and battered, and there were two villains standing there with the capability of doing something absolutely horrific to him if he slipped up once.

 

And then a giant, nearly eight foot tall monster of a villain appeared, roaring as it tore out of Kurogiri’s portal and made its presence known with enough killing intent that Hitoshi froze and couldn’t even move under the sheer weight of its aggression.

 

And then Shigaraki told the so-called Nomu to kill Aizawa.

 

And Hitoshi moved .

 

“HEY! YOU HANDSY BASTARD! PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!”

Chapter Text

“Okay so, this isn’t gonna fix everything, but I’ve got enough blood to heal everyone again after we’re all safe . So- try and recover and get the heck outta here as soon as you can walk, alright?” Himiko spoke in a slightly rushed, quiet tone, looking around nervously at the various villains strewn around the mountain zone- she’d made her way there after Midoriya had flash fried all of the villains in the landslide area, stating that if anyone else was around they should go help. Yaoyorozu had agreed, and gone towards the ruins zone while Midoriya made her way further past to the conflagration zone. 

 

And now she was kneeling over a half unconscious Ojiro, who’d been battered, bruised, and otherwise scraped to hell and back by having to fight off so many villains at once- even Sato was worse for wear, though she’d patched him up as best as she could without using up her supply of Recovery Girl’s blood. 

 

“N-ngh…. T-thanks…” Ojiro groaned out, blinking slowly and wobbling around slightly despite being propped up against a rock, his tail limply twitching behind him as Himiko shoved a granola bar into his mouth. 

 

Sato, thankfully, was already on the move after recovering enough energy to limp, and had pointed her over to where Kaminari was still wandering around with his brain totally fried- apparently, after Ojiro had gotten too beat up to keep going and Sato had fallen back and punched a hole into the rock face, the blond boy had blasted everything in front of him to the point that the entire area was, well.

 

It was almost like what Midoriya did, but less directed and much weaker. Himiko didn’t say as much, of course- Kaminari wouldn’t have been able to listen anyway, so she just forced him to sit down and gave him some water and hoped that his weird quirk backlash would sort itself out in its own time. 

 

Himiko privately though it was really weird how Kaminari just accepted that his brain literally shorted out if he went over his voltage, but she didn’t dwell on it- after all, even if the current area was clear, they still had to get out of the USJ, and there was no telling if anyone had been actually hurt by any of the villains roaming around until she actually found them. So, after tying Kaminari’s insensate form to Ojiro and helping the three of them find the safest exit she could, she bade them farewell and moved on to the next zone.

 

In the conflagration zone was… well, a surprising lack of conflagration. Or fire in general, actually. Midoriya had clearly been through, and with the amount of villains piled up on the ground, it looked like she hadn’t really been needed at all- wait no. There was Tokoyami and Koda, looking worse for wear. Shit .

 

“Hey! Are you guys alright?” Himiko cried out, rushing over as Midoriya stood up and began moving on, looking around almost aimlessly before shaking her head and using her lightning to blast a hole through one of the walls of the zone and reveal the main area again- thankfully entirely free of villains. “Oh gosh, Tokoyami-san, what happened!?”

 

“Ngh… Dark Shadow was weakened by the light,” Tokoyami grunted out, holding his midsection where a nasty gash had been scored across his ribs- Koda was faring slightly better, but only due to his more rock-like skin, and even he was bruised and battered. “I could not hold them off… Koda-san had no animals to work with… What a pitiable circumstance…”

 

“Hey, hey! Don’t talk too much, you’re still bleeding!” Himiko whined out, gritting her teeth at the iron smell of hot, sticky lifeblood and kneeling down by her teammate- the siphon tucked in the side of her mouth sending a tiny splash of Recovery Girl’s blood down her throat as she activated the button on her collar, transforming in an instant and kissing Tokoyami on the forehead while she examined the bandages that Izumi had put around him. “Oh jeez, this is bad- Mi-chan, we’re gonna need to get them both out of here right now , I don’t think I can heal all of this right away…”

 

“I… can still stand…” Tokoyami gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up, helping a barely conscious Koda up as well and wincing as he summoned Dark Shadow from the folds of his cloak to steady the both of them. “Nh… it already feels better… I am fatigued, but able to move easier now. Thank you, Toga-san.”

 

“Just be careful- look, I’ll help you guys get outta here and we can meet up with the others- hopefully Ida-kun will get back with help soon,” Himiko murmured, starting to usher her two classmates away through the exit that Midoriya had made. “Mi-chan, are you gonna be alright? There’s still those really strong villains out in the plaza, right? What are you gonna do?”

 

Midoriya, for her part, didn’t say anything, simply breathing quietly as she kept pace with Himiko and moving in a way that would honestly have been really fucking creepy if she hadn’t seen the taller girl gushing over cat videos and expressing an endless desire to be a real life anime character with laser beams and shit. After they began to pick their way through the once burning rubble and made their way out of the fire covered dome, Midoriya sighed quietly and let the tension bleed out of her shoulders… and the entire conflagration zone lit up again, little by little.

 

Wait

 

“... Uh, Mi-chan, the villains are still in there!” Himiko spoke with a very slight hysterical lilt to her voice, looking nervously up at the girl she sometimes privately referred to as “flame princess” in her mind before turning back to the open hole in the conflagration zone, both Tokoyami and Koda looking at each other as well, but saying nothing as they stumbled around in their exhaustion. “A-are they gonna be alright? I mean, they’re villains and all but we can’t just let them burn!”

 

“They’ll be fine. I specifically made sure the area they’re in can’t burn,” Midoriya responded seemingly without a care in the world, then slowly turned her head to the side and watched the battle happening in the central plaza as they got a clearer view- Aizawa-sensei really cut a striking figure when he wasn’t wrapped up in his sleeping bag, Himiko thought, slowly turning the dial on her collar and selecting a different slot on her wheel of cartridges, chewing on her lip as she watched the fight between her teacher and the decay villain unfold.

 

And then a giant purple skinned villain appeared, roaring like some kind of wild animal.

 

And then Shinsou ran in out of nowhere screaming his head off, followed by Uraraka and Tsu.

 

And then Bakugou and Todoroki came blasting in from the ruins zone and downpour zone respectively.

 

And then everything all but went to shit.

Chapter Text

The only thing that was keeping Shinsou from getting crushed at the moment, Tsuyu thought, was the fact that the giant Nomu villain that was trying to kill the three of them was, well, fighting the three of them .

 

Still, it was dangerous and extremely terrifying- if Tsuyu hadn’t been in a life or death situation, she probably would have thrown up by now instead of continuing to leap around and over the excessively strong villain’s punches and swipes.

 

And it truly was terrifying, she felt, as she ducked under a wipe and the resultant air pressure ripped a tree out of the ground almost twenty meters away. One wrong move would result in certain injury and near certain death- even with her stronger than average body, getting caught across the chest by a single giant fist would result in broken ribs at least and instant death at worst.

 

Tsuyu had absolutely no intention of getting hit, and thanked her lucky stars that she was able to skirt around the monster with the aid of Uraraka and Shinsou- even if her purple haired friend was trying to match the villain in strength (how had he gotten so strong all of a sudden? He’d only mentioned that his quirk had some weird activation conditions, and that he couldn’t really use both sides of it at once- there was nothing about being able to punch so hard that the wind pressure from every hit nearly ripped bricks from the ground. 

 

He seemed surprised too- he whispered something about how his arm didn’t break, what the fuck? even as he traded blows with the Nomu, even if he spent most of his time dashing around surrounded by purple sparks of energy that flowed about in a glittery trail around him. 

 

With a complicated twist, Tsuyu put those thoughts out of her mind and kicked the Nomu square across the face after vaulting under a punch, swinging over the arm and doing her best to lock the monster down as best as she could, while Uraraka got in close and- dammit!

 

“Argh!” Uraraka shouted as just a simple backhanded swipe launched her away- thankfully she hadn’t been hit, but the wind itself had picked her up and she’d only just managed to right herself in midair with her boot jets and a pulse of air from her bracers. “Dammit, hold still for a second!”

 

Predictably, the Nomu did not respond, and instead continued doing its best to try and swat Tsuyu and Shinsou like flies- and at one crucial, terrifying, gut-wrenching point after several more missed swipes, it did.

 

“AAAAAAAGH!”

 

With a horrible, spine chilling crack, Shinsou’s arm finally gave out mid punch. The villain, having met Shinsou mid punch, barreled forward with its strike, and Tsuyu watched helplessly as her friend was flung back like a bullet- whizzing so fast that she couldn’t even see the movement up until the point that he slammed into the base of the stairs and the area exploded into a dust cloud and the impact of Shinsou’s spine against the concrete created a rubble strewn crater around his now limp, insensate body.

 

Tsuyu croaked quietly, and could only hope in her heart of hearts that he was still alive , because she couldn’t tell if he was still breathing from so far away.

 

“Shinsou-kun!” Uraraka screamed, immediately looking back and extending her arm out as if to try and help Shinsou, but that moment of inattention was- no!

 

“Ochako-chan move!”

 

Tsuyu leapt into action as fast as she damn well could, not even caring if she could feel her own bones creaking from the sheer rush of adrenaline fueled strength and speed as she all but kicked her rosy cheeked friend out of the way of the Nomu’s oncoming fist and just barely- barely- avoided being crushed at the same time by a hair’s breadth .

 

“TSUYU-CHAN!” Uraraka screamed out as Tsuyu flung her away, both of them landing on opposite sides of the beast- Tsuyu trembling as she remembered just how fucking close the Nomu’s fist had come to snapping her leg like a goddamn twig, and Uraraka shaking as she stood up again and made herself weightless, floating into the air with a determined scowl on her face.

 

Tsuyu just groaned, throwing herself back and trying to catch her breath- the Nomu seemed to be rather befuddled at Uraraka’s floating- and then she began jetting forward like a goddamn pinball, bouncing off of the terrain and and avoiding the Nomu’s strikes by a split hair, rolling along and over every punch and swipe as they harmlessly flung her around- and Tsuyu could see the sheer genius behind that move. Zero Gravity all but nullified any impact that Uraraka would take either when a weightless object hit her, or she was weightless and hit an object due to not having any effective inertia.

 

And so, she could buzz around the creature as long as her inner ears could hold out, her jet boots working in tandem with the bracers on her arm as she flung herself about and around and around and-

 

“Kai!”

 

In an instant, Uraraka dropped down below a punch and slid along the ground, rolling as her momentum carried her faster than the Nomu could correct. With a swift motion, she had already rolled between the thing’s legs in a mere moment and popped up behind it while lashing out with one hand and- 

 

Yes! 

 

Five fingers made contact with with the Nomu’s massive calf and the quiet ripple of noise (almost like a bell, Tsuyu thought) that marked out Uraraka’s quirk working echoed out just loud enough to be heard.

 

In an instant, the horrible thing was flung almost thirty meters into the air and left hanging there- completely helpless and unable to leverage its intense strength.

 

Tsuyu breathed a sigh of relief, then spared her attention to look around the area, wincing a bit as she stood up and rubbed her sore leg. Aizawa-sensei was still putting up a good fight against that Shigaraki villain and the warp gate villain, managing to lock both of them down alternatively while moving around, but she could tell that her teacher was starting to run out of steam- he was already wounded and bleeding in multiple places, and the warp villain was getting steadily closer and closer to actually snaring him in those horrible black and purple clouds. 

 

“Tsu-chan, we gotta go!” Uraraka spoke up quietly as soon as she landed by Tsuyu, her face green and her knees wobbling as she leaned against her shoulder, Tsuyu wincing a little bit as she helped Uraraka stand and looking around slightly to try and make sure that they weren’t too exposed. “We gotta get Shinsou-kun outta here!”

 

“R-right, kero,” Tsuyu nodded, then blinked slowly and turned her head to the side as a noise caught her attention- a rumbling rush of noise that sounded almost like… explosions coming closer.

 

“DIE!”

Chapter Text

“DIE!”

 

Katsumi, unlike her usual peppy self outside of school and home, was FUCKING LIVID beyond words- in fact, the only thing she could even bring herself  to fucking scream at the moment was variations of “DIE” over and over again, accompanied by various swear words and the names of her techniques.

 

And she had perfectly good reason to be mad- after all, that ugly purple fucker with his brain exposed had punched the shit out of that scraggly rat bastard with the shitty purple hair, and now Frogger and Round Face were directly in the sights of that shitty wannabe big bad and his ugly fucking warp gate partner.

 

“RAAAAAGH!” 

 

In an instant, she’d flipped around and kicked dumbass one out of the way before he could tag Aizawa-sensei while her teacher’s back was turned- clearly, he needed the help considering all of the little bits and pieces of his uniform that were crumbled to dust, and the scrapes and bruises from where a few of the villains he’d knocked out before had tagged him here and there.

 

Thankfully, from what she could see just from that split second, he hadn’t received any major wounds, and would likely be fine… as long as they got the villains out of the way fast.

 

“SENSEI! PURPLE FUCKER’S HURT! GET HIM OUTTA HERE!” she shouted back, gritting her teeth and resuming combat while trying to get her already battered and bruised teacher to get out of the fucking way already!  

 

Katsumi bobbed and weaved, landing on the ground and using smaller, more controlled explosions to keep the white haired bastard in front of her from touching anything important, gritting her teeth and grunting from the recoil as she tried to focus speed and power into her hands at once, spinning with every motion and trying to take down the fucker in front of her- why was it so fucking hard!?

 

“NOMU! KILL THIS STUPID BRAT! DAMMIT NOMU WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?” the villain screamed, calling for backup while the area around Katsumi changed in an instant- good, that meant that the half n’ half bastard was there too, locking down the smoke fucker with his giant walls of ice. Not that it was great for her because it limited her mobility, but she wouldn’t need a whole lot of space to- Fuck!

 

“Argh!”

 

Dammit dammit dammit! Fuck, her gauntlet!

 

Wait.

 

Her gauntlet.

 

That cocky bastard had disintegrated part of her gauntlet, rendering the entire firing mechanism within into so much decayed, dusty scrap- plus the new lack of protection it offered, what with there being a giant hole in the outer shell that was leaking the thick, sticky substance within slowly out of the cracked, gaping hole in the surface.

 

He must have thought he hit her arm proper, if the look on his face was any indication- and Katsumi let him think as much, holding her arm and putting on a fake wince as she clenched her fist tight. She even made some distance, pretending to stumble slightly over her own feet as she left a trail of thick, red goo leading down the front of the bastard’s clothes and over to her position in a series of drops that almost, just barely formed a trail.

 

She leaned against the comforting chill of one of Todoroki’s ice walls, listening to the sounds of combat going on- and the screeches of that ugly-ass exposed brain thing as it repeatedly tried and failed to actually break anything as it propelled itself around by blasting wind around from sheer strength and ricocheting off of the walls.

 

“Heh, not so loud now are you, brat?” the villain leered at her, licking his disgustingly chapped lips as he pulled himself up and clenched his fist, seemingly not actually noticing that the liquid clinging to his hand was a little too red- more wine dark than blood red, and was thicker, stickier than blood had any right to be.

 

Maybe he was stupid, maybe he was cocky.

 

Either way, Katsumi didn’t care. She just hid her grin and allowed more of the collected fuel in her bracer to spill out onto the ground, letting the gauntlet fall and leave a giant, red stain on her left arm. As he began to slowly approach her, she faked a fall and gasped in feigned agony, letting her other gauntlet fall off as she pretended to scrabble back- he hadn’t actually scored a hit on that gauntlet, but it had gotten hit earlier and loosened the connectors just enough that she could make it look like a natural motion.

 

Katsumi took a deep breath, assessing the sheer amount of enriched, dye soaked nitroglycerin splattered against the floor as that white haired bastard continued to slowly, painfully walk up to her, preparing to blow herself up in quite possibly the single most irresponsible way possible.

 

She’d be fine. 

 

He wouldn’t.

 

“Hmm… you know, I almost think I like you better like this. Slumped against a wall, covered in blood… quiet ,” he continued on, slowly walking menacingly up to her until his foot contacted the red puddle at her feet and he reached out, still talking out of his fucking ass as he neared her and only just barely brushed her cheek with the tip of a single finger.

 

“I think I’ll make you like this permanently- see how All Might likes it when his students are turned into corpses on the-”

 

“Breaker. Detonation.”

 

“Wha-”

 

If Katsumi’s twenty percent blast from her gauntlets was enough to blow down a (technically already unstable) building, the massive, undirected burst of heat and light that came as a result of Katsumi detonating almost twenty liters of dyed, enriched nitroglycerin sweat was akin to a new sun being born in miniature.

 

Katsumi actually couldn’t hear the blast, because the only thing she could hear was a deafening ringing as she was blown through the ice wall she’d braced herself against, screaming and wailing as she was flung back far, far faster than she could possibly want to go, bruised and battered and charred from the sheer force of explosion overwhelming her own natural defenses.

 

She saw the white haired bastard, though, and in her last moments of conscious thought as she began to fall head first towards the concrete flooring of the USJ, she could only think two things.

 

The first was that that white haired villain was lucky beyond fucking belief that his shitty squadmates managed to save him before he got incinerated.

 

The second was that the impact was going to fucking hurt like hell .

 

Katsumi’s vision began to go dark, and the last thing she felt was a pair of arms encircling her like an avenging angel, a familiar warm, fluttering cloak filling her vision as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

As Izumi set an unconscious, battered, slightly burned, but somehow mostly uninjured Katsumi down on the ground, she took stock of the situation that had unfolded before her in the last few minutes.

 

First: Tsu had gone off to go help Shinsou up and out of the USJ, with a small crowd of their other classmates standing at the top of the stairs, looking down as if trying to decide whether or not to join the fray. Izumi kind of hoped that they would , because if they all ganged up on the three remaining villains at once, surely they’d be able to win .

 

Second: Uraraka was currently running for her fucking life as she did her best to not fall over and throw up from the strangely high amount of strain being put on her body as she kept the Nomu floating in the air- apparently that white haired bastard Shigaraki had been shielded from the worst of Katsumi’s explosion by the villain known as Kurogiri, and while he had been blown into the air by the shockwave, the Nomu had managed to catch him out of the air and somehow had enough precision to set him back down while still retaining enough force to clip Aizawa-sensei across the face and send him flying back while it continued to ricochet around continuously without being able to actually get down and cause problems for everyone. And now Shigaraki was chasing Uraraka, with Kurogiri doing his best to encircle her friend while Todoroki did his best to cut him off with alternating blasts of fire and ice, but it was fucking useless because apparently the enhanced spacial awareness of a warp quirk meant that he could absorb and redirect attacks, leaving Uraraka trying to run from three fucking villains at once by leaping into the air and jetting around despite her steadily worsening condition.

 

Third: Despite Todoroki doing his damn best to keep Kurogiri trapped and off guard, things were slowly getting worse- especially with Aizawa-sensei no longer around to actually keep either of the villains’ quirks suppressed while the Nomu continued bouncing around and launching itself back at Uraraka.

 

This would not stand.

 

With a roar of effort, Izumi shed her cloak and mask and flung them off to the side as she rushed forward, fists blazing with heat as she immediately rejoined the fray. As she neared, she flung out a one-two punch of flames, following it up with a sweeping arc of flame so hot and compressed that it sheared through the trees that got caught up along its length and nearly bisected Shigaraki if not for the mist villain being far too quick and conscious about his surroundings. 

 

She didn’t care, though, simply continuing to run forward and putting herself between the villains and Todoroki as she tried to formulate a plan- all while keeping fire flung everywhere and making sure that neither villain was in a position to capitalize on Uraraka’s distraction and the Nomu trying and failing to catch her with anything more than ineffectual gusts of wind.

 

Izumi cursed quietly under her breath, utilizing her heat senses to keep the entire area under her observation, pushing Shouto back and away as the villains went from direct assaults to simply opening portals and having Shigaraki stick his hands through- something far harder to avoid, but something she and Todoroki could both deal with, thankfully. A corona of flames flared around Izumi, followed shortly after by a similar corona appearing around Todoroki.

 

“Midoriya, go help Uraraka! I can’t fly!” Todoroki almost shouted out as he pressed the offensive- despite the sheer lethality of Shigaraki’s quirk, Todoroki was still uniquely poised to counter the villain being that it seemed that ice just… did not decay properly- it left melted finger holes, true, but it was just that. Melted finger holes.

 

Melted, not decayed.

 

Ice and flame continued to spew out in prodigious amounts, each blast more intense than the last- it seemed that Todoroki had caught a second wind and was starting to really push back, the combination of both flames and ice keeping his temperature regulated enough that he remained cognizant and agile enough to keep dodging and moving while Izumi cloaked her movements in a massive spiral of blue flames, keeping herself out of sight long enough to fling herself up into the air upon a jet of flames and towards the Nomu, which had somehow managed to stall itself in the air and was currently looking fruitlessly around for Uraraka, who Izumi could sense had hidden herself away under some of the denser bushes in the area in lieu of sticking around out in the open where everything could see her.

 

Good.

 

With a roar of effort, Izumi flung lightning at the Nomu and blasted herself about in a wide circle, doing her best to keep ahead of its wild flailing as it began moving around again through the force of the wind coming off of its thrashing limbs.

 

“Stay still and die already!” Izumi screamed out in frustration, the strength of her rage beginning to flag slightly as the battle wore on- she wasn’t tired per se, but anger could only hold itself in her mind for so long before it burned out, and the Nomu itself was less of something that she actively found it in herself to hate and more of just a thing that she needed to take out before it could hurt anyone else.

 

Lightning flashed out again and again, massive branching bolts that grounded themselves into and through the horrid creature’s flesh, shocking it to the point that it screamed . It screamed and wailed and roared in agony as it writhed before her- but it was not harmed for long. She could see the lightning burns healing before her eyes- slowly, but surely, and even though some patches didn’t heal, enough did that the burned patches smoothed over soon after anyway.

 

Not even her strongest lightning was enough to keep it down.

 

But maybe she didn’t need her strongest lightning .

 

It still burned. It still hurt .

 

And that meant that if she could burn enough , then it wouldn’t be able to heal.

 

Izumi screamed out as she pushed her fire hotter and hotter, whirling around in the air and dashing about, keeping up with the wild flailing of the Nomu as it pushed itself around in an attempt to either get away or kill her , she didn’t know which. Still, she was slower than it, and couldn’t quite keep up as it flew away… but she didn’t have to wait for long. The Nomu came at her moments later on a return path…

 

And crashed straight into a pair of flame lances burning blue hot like twin fire daggers pushed to the absolute limits- in fact, that’s what they were : Just a simple pair of flame daggers, lengthened out from the tips of her fingers until they formed cutting blades so powerful and long that they were almost like lightsabers.

 

“BURNING STRIKE!” Izumi shouted out as she crashed into the Nomu’s chest, her sheer momentum carrying her feet first into its massive chest, both of her arms outstretched just enough to drive her twin lances into and through the thing’s shoulders, before she kicked off again mere seconds later with an almighty roar and tore the blades out with such force and vigor that it nearly ripped both arms off- separating them clean from the torso with only the barest strap of skin remaining, and charred stumps left behind in the wake of her hellishly hot flames.

 

The Nomu roared in abject agony, flailing around even harder as it bounced off of the ground- and Izumi caught its uncontrolled ascent on the up stroke, landing upon the beast’s back and slamming yet another fire dagger into the thing’s spine with a solid, lethal punch that severed the thick, nearly impossibly tough bone by incinerating it away and leaving a charred, irreparable hole in the back of the creature just low enough that it wouldn’t die immediately , but it had still lost all motile capability for hopefully the foreseeable future.

 

And with that, Izumi landed on the ground, panting quietly and grimacing as she shook out her arms and legs. 

 

“One down,” she murmured quietly to herself, her statement punctuated by the now insensate carcass of the Nomu crashing down behind her as Uraraka finally canceled out her ability on the Nomu- though she continued to stay hidden, thankfully. 

 

Now. To take care of the ringleaders of this abominable circus.

Chapter Text

“NOMU!” Shigaraki screamed out as the massive beast crashed to the ground and dented the floor with its sheer bulk, the thing still screaming its fucking lungs out despite being completely immobilized to the point that just about the only thing it could do at the moment was crawl around like a slug.

 

Shouto just kept gritting his teeth and sending alternating blasts of fire and ice- he was starting to lose steam to the point that both villains were starting to actually make headway on him- but not much, thankfully.

 

He was still whole, if a bit sore and tired, and although his outfit had been decayed in multiple parts, it hadn’t gone through to the skin yet thanks to his ice providing a physical barrier that Kurogiri couldn’t warp through and his fire making it entirely too hazardous for Shigaraki to actually touch him without burning his fingers off. 

 

Shouto thanked his lucky stars for having such an all protecting quirk, then cursed his father for making sure he had that all protecting quirk, then resumed focus on trying to stay alive while the handsy motherfucker (Bakugou’s words, not his) in front of him couldn’t touch him while Kurogiri swept away in a haze of black and dragged the still screaming hulk of charred meat and flesh away- only to be met with a sudden lightning strike that made the villain scream in such a horrid, tortured manner that Shouto almost thought that he was dying .

 

Given that the mist villain was currently shot through with lightning and the only solid part of his body- the metal brace around his neck- was blazing with so many sparks it looked like a particularly cantankerous tesla coil, Shouto really could see how and why the lightning might have more effect than it would on anyone else.

 

Then again, he didn’t know how strong Midoriya’s lightning was- but he assumed it was stronger than Kaminari’s given that it had a propensity for punching through concrete walls . But Shouto didn’t have time to really think about that, dodging a shrieking mad Shigaraki as he did his utmost best to kill Todoroki with his wild flailings- dammit how durable was this guy?

 

“Damn you!” the man screamed as he continued swiping left and right, the ice he touched dissolving into puddles as he wove around Shouto’s blasts of fire and ice with strange ease- how was he moving so effortlessly despite his wiry frame? He must have been stronger than he looked. 

 

Still, Shouto continued driving Shigaraki back with straightforward blasts, herding him into as much of an unfavorable position as he could by walling off any areas leading directly to escape routes, only to grimace as the jagged, spiky nature of his hastily erected glaciers allowed the white haired villain to leap off of them and gain a measure of aerial maneuverability as he jumped over the smaller walls like a goddamn ninja.

 

Fortunately, Shouto was still mobile, and a few quick fire blasts from his left side had Shigaraki back on the ropes- if not quite where he wanted the villain, then close enough.

 

All the same, he had to keep the man away from where he’d just barely seen Uraraka slip into a bush- he didn’t want to hurt his friend with collateral damage, after all, and he definitely didn’t want to have Shigaraki find her.

 

And then, while Shouto was reorienting himself in the midst of a smaller, less overwhelming flame attack that took the shape of something almost resembling a flamethrower that whipped around and almost struck Shigaraki, the man managed to flip over it and, in his moment of distraction, almost tagged Shouto right in the shoulder.

 

Fortunately, a reflexive blast of ice and cold from his right arm stopped the villain’s hand from progressing onto his skin, and he spun around, catching the villain by his striking hand and spinning around as he prepared to throw .

 

With a grunt of effort, Shouto flipped the screaming villain over his shoulder, flaring up his left side so his wild flailing with his free arm wouldn’t result in his sudden injury, then hopped back and swung out with his right side. 

 

A glacier popped into existence immediately after, rushing from his foot and exploding outwards like a wave of spikes and filling the air with the sound of an avalanche as the very tip of it caught Shigaraki just as he was in the midst of rolling and springing to his feet, blasting him in the side and sent him sprawling away with a scream that was equal parts pain and rage- both his left arm and left leg were left halfway covered in ice, and the villain himself was flung back, spinning like a top until he crashed into the bushes.

 

The bushes where-

 

Oh no.

 

“YOU DAMN BRATS!” the villain screamed, roaring out in rage as he tumbled out of the foliage with one hand clasped around the neck of Uraraka, the girl trembling and trying not to scream as she hung there almost limply- the villain hadn’t had his quirk activated yet, wasn’t killing her , but with his pinkie finger raised just above the thin material of Uraraka’s jumpsuit, Shouto froze .

 

“You’ve ruined everything!” Shigaraki continued ranting and raving, gesturing wildly with one hand as he all but shook Uraraka around like a rag doll with his other, gnashing and spitting with rage as he shook off the burned remains of the hands that had been stuck along his body, but were now thoroughly destroyed by Shouto’s attacks. “My men, my ride, my FUCKING NOMU! Well… even if I’m going down without killing the final boss, I can still kill one of you brats and make that bastard All Might finally learn what it’s like to LOSE!”

 

What happened next came in slow motion.

 

Shouto wasn’t afraid to admit he screamed, throwing himself forward in a futile attempt to do something- anything- before Uraraka disintegrated into nothingness, but he couldn’t . She was in the way , and if he’d thrown out his ice or fire she’d get caught and- and-

 

Pop

 

He caught Uraraka looking to the side, towards where Midoriya was… was standing there with an enraged expression on her face, a crackling burst of heat blazing around her hotter than he’d ever felt before.

 

Pop

 

Both girls were crying, he could tell, and Uraraka seemed to be mouthing something quietly as that finger descended slowly, inevitably towards her unprotected throat.

 

Pop

 

But before it hit-

 

Boom

 

A bloom of heat and light tore Shigaraki away from Uraraka , leaving the man’s arm behind and flinging it in the opposite direction as he screamed .

 

Shouto breathed a sigh of relief, only to suck it back in as pure, actinic blue light filled the air and Midoriya let out a feral scream that almost drowned out the sound of the doors of the USJ exploding inwards.

 

Lightning filled the air.

 

Uraraka screamed.

 

Shouto screamed.

 

Midoriya screamed.

 

Shigaraki screamed… and fell silent.

 

It was over.

Chapter Text

“I’m… not afraid to admit what I’ve done,” Izumi murmured quietly as she sat in the infirmary bed she’d all but been dragged to after she’d collapsed in the USJ. She stared down at her hands, chewing her lip and cursing her own weakness, her foolishness, her arrogance , her hubris. “I… Even before he fell to the ground, I knew I killed him. I… I used my full strength on that lightning. Everything I had left. I- My lightning is powerful , and at its normal strength it’s already as strong as a bolt from the sky in terms of raw damage output, and I- What I’m trying to say is. I meant for that to be a killing blow. And I’m not sorry I did it to save Uraraka. I’m just… sorry I was too fucking weak to handle the situation without killing that villain.”

 

Aizawa was silent as he sat next to her, arms crossed and expression unreadable behind his bandages and the capture weapon coiled around his shoulders, still giving Izumi a deadpan stare as she poured her heart out, recapping what she knew about the situation as she wiped angry tears away from her eyes and berated herself that she hadn’t done this or that or just bent the heat or used something nonlethal stupid stupid stupid!

 

“I… Dammit! I could have saved everyone so much effort if I hadn’t just- just fallen back on old training! I was still so confident in what I’d already mastered that I didn’t even think of using what I came up with!” Izumi finally sighed and threw her arms in the air, slumping back against the pillow of her bed as she stared up into Aizawa’s cold, dead-fish eyes without a single ounce of spark left in her. “So. I know I fucked up. Badly . I… won’t say anything if I’m being expelled. Or arrested. I think I deserve it at this point.”

 

Aizawa remained silent for a long time, then shifted slightly as he spoke in a tired, dry voice that sounded like he hadn’t slept in ages.

 

“You aren’t in any legal trouble. Not this time. It’s illogical to assume that someone who’s only just started serious hero training would remain in perfect control of a life or death situation, especially on the verge of exhaustion like you were,” Aizawa tilted his head, then raised an eyebrow as he pursed his lips- or at least, Izumi assumed he was. “With the very clear and present threat to Uraraka’s life-”

 

“Shit, I didn’t even ask- is she okay!?”

 

“... She’s fine. Physically. Only a few minor abrasions, nausea. Mentally… That’s not for me to say. As it is, with the very clear and present threat to Uraraka’s life, dismembering Shigaraki Tomura would have been considered excessive force in the protection of another at most. That said, electrocuting him with three hundred million volts of lightning immediately after has put you in a difficult situation,” Aizawa finished, leaning forward and almost looming over Izumi’s bed, although the effect was lessened by the fact that he was still wrapped in bandages. He didn’t seem like he was about to expel her, especially since he’d directly stated that she wasn’t in any legal trouble.

 

Then again, being expelled was different from having legal trouble now wasn’t it?

 

“So that’s it then,” Izumi sighed, clenching her fist and hanging her head, frowning ever so slightly as she stared down at her hands- Azula’s hands, a killer’s hands. “I guess that’s the end of my hero career, huh? Somehow I always thought I’d last longer than a week , but- guess that’s only to be expected with a power as deadly as mine.”

 

“Not quite,” Aizawa responded coolly, simply raising an eyebrow at Izumi with a rather unimpressed stare. “Accidents aren’t uncommon in heroics. Neither is, as much as I am loathe to admit, what you did. It’s unacceptable and excessive, but you’re a teenager who hasn’t even gone to a proper hero preparation school, and who has never had to face the stress of an open combat situation before. You’ll be dealing with extra classes on not using excessive force, mandated counseling sessions, and a short suspension from your regular heroics classes, but you aren’t being expelled. Yet.”

 

He was wrong.

 

He was so wrong about that last point.

 

He didn’t know about her past life. He didn’t know about Azula, the Fire Princess. Azula, Conqueror of Ba Sing Se. Azula, who almost killed the Avatar.

 

He was so wrong about her lack of combat experience that it was almost funny- but in this case, it was to her advantage.

 

But Izumi couldn’t bring herself to feel good about being able to stay at UA- this wasn’t her old world anymore, where she was her bastard of a father’s perfect soldier and killing people in the midst of a war was only expected. This was Japan, in a modern society. She- she-

 

If Aizawa had said anything more, Izumi hadn’t heard much of the rest- simply sitting there in a bit of a daze, only nodding and making affirmative noises on instinct whenever Aizawa sounded like he was asking her a question. Her thoughts, though, were turned inward to the point that she almost lost track of everything else.

 

At some point, she’d found herself back in the dorms, staring down at her phone with the sudden realization that she’d invited Katsumi to her room instead of getting ready for their usual mid afternoon spar or their usual dinner party with the rest of their friends.

 

She was-

 

“Oi, Princess!”

 

A sharp rap against her cheek jolted Izumi out of her fog of musings, suddenly yelping and staring up at her best friend as the blonde girl shook her lightly.

 

“The fuck’s gotten into you, girl? Look, I know damn fucking well that something like that wouldn’t have been enough to shellshock you- you’re a fucking princess! You’re better than a bunch of villains- what the fuck has you staring off into nothing like you’re one of our idiot classmates!?” Katsumi almost yelled, but kept her voice down just enough to not be heard through the walls- though, with Izumi’s door still open, it wasn’t like anyone in the hallway wouldn’t hear anyway. “What the fuck happened after I got knocked out to fuck you up so bad!?”

 

Izumi blinked, a stark, sudden realization coming over her as she thought back to the last portions of the fight- the very last few moments when she had successfully separated Uraraka and the hand villain, flinging them far apart from each other before- before.

 

Well.

 

She knew that cold indifference towards life. She knew that seething hatred for anything that hurt what she considered hers

 

She knew that subtle, boiling rage and callous nature that she’d spent so long in two lifetimes suppressing in the name of being good , being a better person


“Katsumi… I- I used my lightning to… to kill someone . I’m- I think I’m backsliding into- into being her again.”

Chapter Text

There was a long moment of silence.

 

And then, a heavy sigh as Katsumi sat down next to Izumi, rolling her eyes and cuffing her idiot of a best friend over the back of her stupid curly hair bun thing she copied off of her mom.

 

“Izumi. Zuzu. Princess. You are a fucking idiot,” she snarked, not even bothering to so much as try to put any levity into her voice like she usually did out in public. Katsumi just grumbled, turning slightly awkwardly and lifting one leg onto Izumi’s bed as she forced her friend to do the same, giving her a deadpan stare that spoke volumes of just what she thought of Izumi’s intelligence at that very moment. “I don’t know what’s fucking gotten into you right now, but I need you to look at me .”

 

Izumi blinked, torn from her pity party as Katsumi shook her like a rag doll, all but forcing her to meet eye to eye with her best, oldest, and yet no longer only friend. Glittering gold met burning crimson, and Katsumi sighed, putting a pin on her abrasive words and speaking with about as much softness as she could. “Izumi. Listen to me. You aren’t the fourteen year old Azula who still hadn’t gotten out of that bastard’s thumb. You aren’t the twenty three year old, the forty year old- you aren’t any kind of Azula. Yes, you killed that handsy fucker, but do you know what the difference between then and now is?”

 

Izumi blinked, shaking her head ever so slightly as she winced at the reminders of just how many people she’d killed in her past life- all of her countrymen she’d killed for failing her, all of the men and women she’d felled in the Earth Kingdom during the war, all of the men and women she’d killed afterward during the time of peace just because bandits kept accosting her or random people would try to get revenge for their loved ones, all of the people she’d ended up killing even into her old age, when the Equalists had come for her expecting a frail old woman they could beat to death with their shock sticks and found Azula the Blue Dragon of Ba Sing Se instead.

 

She always hated that moniker.

 

Still, she continued to shake her head at Katsumi’s grunt of annoyance, before speaking up quietly and thinking to herself that maybe, just maybe, if she just kept her head down from now on and did her best to never use her lightning again, why had she even started using it again in the first place, she knew damn well how easy it was to take a life with the unbridled power of nature’s fury in the palm of her hand.

 

“No, I… I don’t know what the difference is, Kacchan,” Izumi murmured, using her childhood nickname for Katsumi that she’d given up on after age five , feeling small and worthless and knowing damn well that murdering a human being was one of the things that would make her mother finally reach the end of her rope and kick her out- call her a monster just like Ursa had. “Killing is killing. And- I ended a human life when I swore I’d never do it again! I’m still a fucking monster, just like I a-”

 

The slap that came was not, perhaps, unexpected, but it came quickly and suddenly and the crack of Katsumi’s palm against her cheek (and the quiet pop pop of barely restrained firecracker burns kissing across her skin) knocked her out of her own thoughts as her longtime friend growled and brought her up again, shaking her like a ragdoll as she almost, almost shouted her next words.

 

The difference is you were trying to save someone else’s life!” Katsumi snarled, grabbing onto Izumi’s limp head and yanking her back upright with a furious glare across her face. “Yeah you fucked up and went all in on the excessive force on that Nomu freak and put that warp gate bastard into a fucking coma and killed that hand fetishist motherfucker, but you were doing it to save everyone else. I know you , Midoriya Izumi. You are not a fucking monster! You are a human fucking person , and even when you could have fucking run away and felt fine just getting to safety like our hobo of a teacher told you to, you ran in against a monster you couldn’t beat with strength, and two villains who were trying to assassinate All Might! And I know you did it to save everyone else, because you told everyone else to get to safety first!”

 

“I- but…” 

 

The worst part about Katsumi’s words was (other than being shaken around like a ragdoll and probably getting whiplash from the way her angry friend was wobbling her head around) that she wasn’t even wrong .

 

Every single other person that Azula had killed in her life had been to either save her own hide, to express her anger, or because she just did not consider them worth sparing. But her first kill here, in her new life, along her new spiritual path… she wasn’t even thinking about what harm the Nomu could do to her, wasn’t even thinking about saving herself from anything- all she could see was her friend being held hostage in front of her, and her rage had spiked - how dare a villain hurt someone she cared about? How dare this two bit wannabe kingslayer of a man put her hands on someone she put so near and dear to her heart?

 

But then why did it still feel like she’d regressed back into the monster that she used to be? To the- the villain? The woman who, while feeling completely justified at the time, would have been called one of the world’s most prolific repeat killers now?

 

Izumi didn’t know, but she knew one thing: In the matters of the heart, she trusted Bakugou Katsumi to know what was right and what was wrong. She trusted her friend. And so, with a shaky smile, she looked up, wiped the thin droplets of tears streaking her mascara with the back of her sleeve (when had she changed back into her normal outfit? The last thing she remembered was wearing hospital scrubs), and nodded at Katsumi.

 

“... If… if you say so. So… I’m not a monster, then…”

 

“Yeah no shit you overachieving dumbfuck . You’re a fucking weirdo and your taste in fashion is only just better than those prissy social media gals humping the equipment at the gym and sure you fucked up three villains beyond recovery, but you’re not a monster. You’re Midoriya fucking Izumi, and you’re gonna be a big damn hero , you got that!?”

 

“Yes…”

 

“I can’t fucking hear you!”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Who are you!?”

 

“Midoriya Izumi!”

 

“WHAT ARE YOU GONNA BE!?”

 

“A BIG DAMN HERO!”

 

“You’re damn right you are. Now get the fuck outta your nasty-ass clothes and go to sleep. And- by the way?”

 

Izumi blinked as Katsumi stood, heading out of the door but pausing in the door frame, leaning back into the room as a slow smirk stretched across her face. 

 

You get to tell your mom what happened today. And I am not helping!”

 

And with that, Katsumi ran off with a loud cackle, followed shortly after by Izumi’s pillow and a cry of “You absolute bitch!”

Chapter Text

Because of the security breaches that had lead to the incident at the USJ, Izumi found herself at home on what should have been a school day, clutching her duffel bag in one hand as she made her way up the stairs to the level that her apartment was, chewing her lip and mulling over just what she’d say to her mother when she arrived.

 

It seemed that no one had actually gone out of their way to report the incident to the news, what with it being a quickly resolved, on-campus attack that hadn’t resulted in any life threatening injuries. Hitoshi had said that his parents had been notified of the attack given his severe injuries, as had all of the other parents and students in the school, but the general media situation was that it would be at least another day before a press release happened such that the school actually had time to shore up its defenses and close off its campus properly.

 

So. Her mother definitely knew at least the broad strokes of what happened, but probably not any of the details.

 

Izumi didn’t exactly want to tell her mother the details, but…

 

“Izu? How long have you been standing there- why didn’t you call? I could have come to the station!” Inko’s voice cut through Izumi’s musings as she became thoroughly aware of her mother’s heat signature standing before her, shining bright and familiar in a way that everyone else was not. “Oh come in, come in! You must be tired- I heard from the school that you were attacked! Are you hurt anywhere? You don’t look injured- what happened? They didn’t tell me nearly anything except that villains attacked and were driven off!”

 

“I- Mom… Mother,” Izumi murmured, trying to put on a smile as she walked forward and into her mother’s arms, sniffling ever so slightly as she dropped her bag to the side and buried her face into Inko’s hair- a familiar action that she’d repeated a million times over for all manner of reasons. “I messed up. I messed up real bad…”

 

“What? Oh… Izumi… Here, let’s get out of the doorway, I’ll get you some tea and we can tell me all about it, okay?” Inko murmured, gently patting her daughter’s back and responding with but a soft smile as she pulled away from the blazing, radiant heat that Izumi always radiated and picked up Izumi’s bag of clothes off of the floor with her quirk, bustling along into the kitchen as she listened to the sounds of Izumi closing the door and taking off her shoes.

 

Inko just continued smiling- not that she felt happy about hearing her daughter admit that she’d messed up somehow, but she still felt relieved and grateful that Izumi had powered her way through without much injury at all- and in fact, had taken the time to save as many of her classmates as she personally could, if that Aizawa man had spoken correctly. After a few moments, she poured some tea into a pair of cups and walked back into the dining area, where Izumi sat calmly, her thumbs twiddling away and her brow furrowed in a way that revealed just the slightest inkling of the storm of emotions no doubt raging away within.

 

“Here you go, dear,” Inko murmured, sitting down next to Izumi and handing her a nice, hot cup of oolong and using her now free hand to run comfortingly down Izumi’s back. “Now, start at the beginning- what happened to you? And why do you think you messed up?”

 

Izumi sighed, running her hand through her unruly tangles of hair for a moment before shaking her head. “I- I suppose the beginning was just… it was a normal day of class, and we were all getting ready to do rescue training… but then a bunch of villains showed up. Aizawa-sensei went in to fight the ones in the plaza, while Thirteen-sensei and the rest of us were all trying to get out of the building but… one of the villains warped us all over the USJ in groups so that the villains there could take us out.”

 

She paused, then shook her head. “They were small fry, though, and I took out everyone where I was before I left to go help the others- I only made it through two more zones, and then… I saw Hitoshi running in like an idiot . He and Ochako and Tsu were all fighting one of the big villains- Nomu, they called it… and I was just. So mad the whole time- I was scared and angry that someone was going to get seriously hurt, that those villains were going to kill my friends… and- after a little while, I just… threw myself in. I couldn’t stop myself. And- I… I remembered how I was. Back then. In my past life. I just- I saw an opportunity to let that part of me loose. And… now the Nomu is a quadriplegic, the warp gate villain is in a coma, and their leader is dead , all because of me. I-”

 

Izumi sniffled, rubbing her eyes. “Katsumi told me that I’m not a monster, that I’m not that same broken girl who spent her whole life trying and failing to improve herself, but… I still feel like I am. That I’m just… backsliding into being her . I didn’t even think twice about using my lightning, and I swore- I… I swore I would never use it to harm anyone! And… and then I just… used it. I should never have used it during the entrance exam- I’m so stupid!”

 

“Midoriya Izumi!”

 

Izumi blinked, suddenly shocked by the change in her mother’s tone of voice- she’d almost never heard her sound so outraged before, and the only other time she could remember was when she was six and she’d almost burnt her whole room to ashes whilst trying to duel Katsumi to the death over who deserved the last slice of pizza.

 

“I cannot believe the things you’re saying!” Inko continued, standing up harshly and staring her daughter dead in the eyes- emerald green met molten gold, and Inko grasped Izumi’s shoulders in a gesture that was both soft and yet unyielding, glaring down at her poor, misguided daughter with both love and distress written across her features. “You are not a monster! You have never been a monster, not in this life, nor your past life! You are a girl who has had the weight of the world put on her shoulders, and that you are still standing here, trying to be better, trying to do right for the world, is a testament to the fact that you are not the monster you think you are! You are selfless, kind, empathetic, and driven! You are the same wonderful girl who spent all of your breaks and almost all of your weekends working in a soup kitchen in high school, who decided to train as many people as you could in self defense in middle school, who looked at a girl with a quirk that made her drink blood and saved her from herself!”

 

Inko paused for breath, inhaling sharply and hugging Izumi to her chest before continuing on, not at all minding the sudden burst of heat and wetness blooming along the front of her sweater as she held her daughter tight.


“And yes, you messed up, but that doesn’t make you a monster! It makes you human! Granted, um, usually mistakes don’t lead to people dying , but he was trying to kill you and all of your classmates, so I suppose it’s… well… um, something you shouldn’t repeat, but you did it to save your friend from that horrible man, so I can’t… entirely fault you for it…” she finished almost lamely, clearing her throat awkwardly before slowly pulling back from the hug and wiping away Izumi’s tears. “So… let me make it clear to you again: You are not a monster. You are a beautiful, wonderful girl with a beautiful heart, and even with your rough spots and the habits you can’t shake- I love you just the way you are. And I always will, for as long as I live.”

Chapter Text

“Hey, how’re you doin’?” Ochako asked, smiling at Izumi as she walked up to the other girl- classes still weren’t back in session, what with the ongoing renovations and security upgrades that UA was going through, so they instead chose to hang out at the closest mall that was somewhere between both of their homes. 

 

She looked a little worse for wear, honestly, having wrapped a scarf tightly around her neck despite the warmth of the day, twitching a little bit as she took a seat next to Izumi and sighed, not really listening to Izumi as she began twiddling her fingers and picking at the hems of her jacket sleeves.

 

“You seem like you have something to get off of your chest,” Izumi murmured quietly, ignoring the question of how she was doing in favor of gently rubbing circles along Ochako’s back, her brows knit together in an expression of concern as she leaned in close. “I’m guessing you’re not doing so hot yourself- you’ve… got some eyebags going on there.”

 

“Yeah… I haven’t been sleeping properly lately,” Ochako sighed, grumbling quietly and pressing her fingers together as she fought to get her words in order. “It just… my neck keeps itching and hurting, and every time I close my eyes or go under my covers, all I can see is just- that… that guy . Holding me by the neck. And then I can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if you were just a second too late- if he hadn’t stopped to monologue first…. And- and…”

 

Ochako shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the weather, whimpering quietly as she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself, while Izumi did her best to comfort her friend, her hands pulsing gently as she focused her chi to providing warmth as she continued rubbing the brunette’s back.

 

“I understand perfectly,” Izumi murmured, keeping her voice low so as to not draw undue attention, even as she pulled heat into and out of Ochako’s body to promote blood flow and help calm her down. “You’ve been through a traumatic situation. It’s… I wish I could say that you’ll work through it, but recovery is… complicated and difficult. But you’re strong. Even if everything feels terrible right now, if you talk to the right people, I’m sure you’ll get through this just fine- has anyone talked to you about counseling yet? I know Aizawa-sensei forwarded an offer to me, though I’m… honestly not sure I’m going to take it.”

 

“Eh? Why not?” Ochako blinked, completely nonplussed by Izumi’s casual dismissal of the offer of free counseling. “I mean- I’m going as soon as classes are back in session, shouldn’t you go too? You were right in the thick of it! You were like, the last one standing!”

 

“That was Todoroki-san, actually,” Izumi blushed a bit, clearing her throat and looking away. “I um… passed out at the end, and then, well. Either way- it’s not important. And no, I’m not going to counseling- I certainly haven’t lost any sleep over the incident, and all of the emotions I had during the event have been processed and dealt with already- besides, the worst thing I had to deal with was the thought of getting expelled for killing that bastard who tried to kill you.”

 

She paused, murmuring something into her fist that Ochako didn’t quite catch, but didn’t feel like pressing her on. 

 

“Ah… well… um… you do you, I guess?” Ochako shrugged, then yawned into her fist- jaw cracking wide open as the sound escaped her. “Ah- oops… sorry. I um… Well, I did say I wasn’t sleeping well…”

 

“Mmm… Tell you what- while we wait for the others, how about you take a nap?” Izumi suggested, already starting to adjust the air around them- intensifying the heat so that it was a sleepy, almost muggy sort of atmosphere, drawing a bit of heat from Ochako to keep her from overheating and swirling the heat and cold around to produce a thin breeze- all subtle adjustments that hopefully nobody would call her out on. 

 

Immediately, Ochako began to yawn a bit more heavily, grumbling as she fought to keep her eyes open. “Nnh… that actually does sound like a good idea right now… ah… but there’s not really anywhere to sleep… And I don’t mean to impose… But um…”

 

“Just lean on my shoulder,” Izumi sighed, rolling her eyes as she patted Ochako’s shoulder and all but pulled her in, leaning back so the two of them could get comfortable as she tilted her head to the side and allowed Ochako to gracelessly flop into place with a sound that was halfway between a groan and some kind of thank you. “There, that’s not so bad, is it?”

 

“Nnhh… you’re so warm…. Must be unbearable in the summer,” Ochako murmured quietly, shifting around on the bench as she got comfortable and closed her eyes, Izumi relaxing ever so slightly as she continued to focus her chi on providing a cooling heat flow for her friend, humming under her breath as she felt Ochako’s breathing start to settle. “Thanks… you’re a good friend, Izu-chan…”

 

“Just sleep, Ochako,” Izumi sighed, pulling out her phone as she also got comfortable. After a few moments, she heard Ochako’s breathing settle into a pattern that sounded like she was dead asleep, and Izumi relaxed just that bit more. Her expression softened as she browsed through her phone, a thin smile working its way onto her face at the sound of Ochako peacefully sleeping instead of being awoken by nightmares.

 

After a few minutes, Izumi returned to actually using her phone instead of constantly keeping watch over Ochako’s heat signature, typing a few lines in the groupchat she and her friends were in- Hitoshi, Katsumi, Himiko, Tsu, and even Todoroki and Iida, though she still wasn’t super comfortable referring to them by first name yet. Izumi inquired where everyone was, idly chatting away as they all confirmed that they would be arriving sooner or later depending on how their train schedules worked out. Apparently Todoroki would be late, seeing as his shithead of a father wanted him to train even with classes on hold, and Himiko would be bringing her sister with her.

 

Katsumi, meanwhile, was already at the mall, but apparently she was going to take some extra time since the stores she usually went to were all the way on the other side of the building, and one of them was running a sale that she just could not miss.

 

Izumi just kept waiting patiently, though, humming an old lullaby to herself as she sent a selfie of Ochako resting on her shoulder to the groupchat, then turned as a familiar heat signature came towards the pair of them at a sedate pace.

 

Which, of course, was when the universe decided that it wanted her to suffer the indignity of a thousand lifetimes, seeing as the moment Tsu walked around the corner and laid eyes on Izumi, Ochako fidgeted in her sleep and rolled off of Izumi’s shoulder… directly faceplanting into her lap.

Chapter 52

Notes:

This chapter contains 3 embedded images

Chapter Text

[Izumi's Usual Outfit]

[Izumi's Mall Outfit]

 

“I see you’ve gotten busy already, kero,” Tsu deadpanned, raising an eyebrow as Izumi went beet red and Ochako spluttered awake with a sound not unlike that of a whistling tea kettle. “Should I leave you two alone for a while?”

 

“This is so not what it looks like!” Izumi immediately shook her head, spluttering and groaning as Ochako shoved herself out of her lap and began spluttering out the same denials in almost the exact same way. Izumi could feel how much heat was pooling in her cheeks, and Ochako was even worse off than her, so she imagined the two of them must have made a right awful sight indeed. “I- Ochako had trouble sleeping so I just thought I’d let her rest for a bit is all!”

 

“Y-yeah! W-we weren’t doing anything! I just fell over! I’m so sorry about that!” Ochako whined pathetically into her hands, groaning and apologizing to Izumi, while Tsu just stood there with a deadpan expression on her face, rolling her eyes as her tongue lashed out and whapped the two of them over the head- enough was enough, and they weren’t making any headway like this.

 

“Are you two done yet, kero? Because I’m hungry, and I was hoping we could get lunch before we go shopping or whatever,” Tsu asked, watching impassively as Ochako and Izumi slowly collected themselves and got back into some semblance of calmness. After a moment, she rolled her eyes again, flipped her hand through her hair, and sat down on Ochako’s other side (which, strangely enough, made Ochako tense up again for some reason) before pulling out her phone, the ornaments on the case jangling slightly as she sent an update to the groupchat.

 

“Well, I suppose if we all want to eat then that’s more than reasonable,” Izumi nodded, tapping her chin and returning to her usual air of superiority and grace once she’d recovered from the embarrassment of feeling Ochako’s face slam directly into her lap, still blushing lightly but otherwise focusing more on where everyone would be going. “By the way, where were you thinking of going today?”

 

“Probably one of the department stores- I need a new humidifier for my dorm room, since it’s larger than my room at home was and it can’t quite handle the new load, kero. Also I need more shampoo. Washing all this hair isn’t easy, kero,” Tsu shrugged, taking a selfie of the three of them and deliberately making it so that her face took up most of the frame. She hummed, sending it to the groupchat and Izumi couldn’t quite help but notice how much green Tsu wore- she supposed it was only fair given her propensity for the color in her hero outfit, but still. She wore shades of green all over her body- even her nails and that light touch of eyeshadow on her lids was a matching shade of emerald green. She made it look very nice and put together, though, with her overshirt and camisole combo over her knee length skirt and oversized platform shoes, as well as the bucket hat and over the shoulder messenger bag with its assortment of pride pins.

 

[Sketch of Tsu]

 

Ochako, meanwhile, hadn’t dressed up anywhere near as fancy as either Izumi or Tsu- she still looked good, of course, but it was pretty easy to tell that she cared more about practicality than fashion. Izumi didn’t blame her, but she thought privately that Ochako could have dressed up real nice in something more than a simple t-shirt and comfortable track pants. Oh well, she was cute as it was, and Izumi still thought Ochako’s few accessories went well with the clothes she’d picked out.

 

Speaking of-

 

“How about you, Ochako? What were you planning on doing today?” Izumi asked in turn, tilting her head slightly as Ochako patted her cheeks and yawned again, having not gotten more than maybe fifteen minutes of sleep before Tsu had arrived.

 

“Mnn, probably get some sleep aids… was kinda planning on going to the arcade but-” Ochako yawned again, rubbing her eye and frowning. “I don’t think I could play very well today… ne, Tsu, have you been having trouble sleeping too? I just…”

 

“I have, but I’ve found that sleeping with a large stuffed animal is usually enough to keep my mind off of things, kero,” Tsu tapped her chin, her other hand coming up and patting Ochako’s back consolingly before thoroughly ruining the moment with her next sentence. “That, and jerking off until I can’t see straight anymore.”

 

Izumi and Ochako both blinked and turned as one, staring at Tsu with twin expressions of confusion.

 

“... Tsu, I think that was a little too much information,” Izumi coughed idly into her hand, not at all having expected her froggy friend to have stated something like that so bluntly and without regard. “I um… sorry to hear that you’ve been having trouble sleeping too, though. But um.”

 

“Yeah uh… I mean, actually I think I see the logic there,” Ochako sighed, rubbing her forehead and pursing her lips as she realized that she actually could see Tsu’s logic. “The endorphin rush after masturbating is pretty intense, and might… actually help . Just… why did you just have to say it like that?”

 

“Sorry, it just slipped out, kero,” Tsu shrugged apologetically, taking the moment to prod at her lower eyelid and frown. “I still didn’t sleep too well, kero. Kept… thinking about what would have happened if I was slower… or… if I didn’t manage to save you.”

 

“Yeah… that’s… I feel that too,” Ochako murmured, shuddering a bit as she recalled her nightmares of getting crushed by that giant Nomu- or worse, seeing Tsu getting hurt because she was just so useless that she couldn’t even dodge a single punch. “I just- I can’t stop thinking- what if you got hurt because of me? Sorry, I know it’s stupid… we’re all fine now … but…”

 

“It’s entirely reasonable to feel the way you both do,” Izumi pointed out, also patting Ochako’s back again as she and Tsu both scooted closer in, the three of them sort of awkwardly forming into a group hug. “Our class just got through a horribly traumatic experience where several of us almost died- it’s likely that almost everyone’s going to be going through counseling sooner or later.”

 

“Except you apparently,” Ochako deadpanned in response. “Because apparently you were too pissed the whole time to be traumatized.”

 

Tsu blinked, raising an eyebrow at Izumi. “... Avoiding therapy just because you don’t think you’re traumatized sounds like a great way to wind up being traumatized even worse, kero.”

 

“... Look, let’s just leave it at ‘it’s complicated’ just like every weird thing about me, alright?” Izumi sighed, palming her face and wondering why she even bothered coming if she was just going to get dragged like this.

 

Oh right, because they were her friends and probably needed something to take their minds off of the villain attack that had nearly killed some of them.

 

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late, it took forever to- whoa, what’s going on here? Are you guys alright? You all look… really tired,” Himiko’s voice cut through the air as she sauntered up, wearing what looked sort of like a customized, fitted suit with pink accents and a trendy backpack, walking alongside a towering, muscular woman with pouty lips and dark red hair that Izumi didn’t recognize, but whose outfit matched Himiko’s- save for her clothes having red and blue accents and a transgender flag pin on the lapel, and also the pair of white framed, dark sunglasses perched on her head. “Uh- right, Momiji-onee-chan, these are my friends! Izumi, Ochako, Tsu- this is my big sis!”

 

With a half awkward wave, the older woman gave them all a bit of a crooked grin, one hand planted firmly atop Himiko’s mess of curls as she spoke. “Hey there, I’m Hikiishi Momiji, I work at a women’s self defense gym downtown. Don’t worry bout introductions- this lil squirt’s already told me all about you. So, we waiting for anyone else or is this everyone?”

 

“Just a few more, then we’ll get going,” Tsu held up her phone, tapping on the icon of the groupchat and checking it for updates. “Iida-kun and Hitoshi will be here in five. Todoroki will meet up with us in the food court later when he can, and Katsumi is…”

 

“Right here~!” Katsumi chirped as she popped up from behind Tsu, dressed in full cutesy gyaru style with her makeup done up fancy and with a strangely out of place grin on her face as she leaned over the bench with hands already full of small shopping bags and a cup of boba tea. “Hey, the hell are we all doing just sitting around, I thought we were going shopping already, so let’s fuckin’ go!”

 

Izumi just sighed, palming her face quietly. Maybe she shouldn’t have invited Katsumi after all. As the group eventually all began to come together, Katsumi sent Izumi an absolutely nasty grin, and Izumi privately sent a silent prayer that her friend would be merciful on her wallet and sanity.

 

Alas, it was not to be.

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that Izumi was glad about when it came to her week-long suspension from class, it was that she didn’t miss all of her classes- she couldn’t attend in person, of course, but all of her general education courses had recorded lectures, and she could still keep up with whatever workload that the teachers assigned. She just, well.

 

Couldn’t go to class.

 

Couldn’t really go out and socialize, or attend All Might’s lectures on heroics, or even go to the practical lessons.

 

Still, though, the theory lectures were recorded, and All Might never actually assigned homework per se, so it’s not like she was missing out on much other than just the team building exercises. 

 

What really sucked was the late afternoon extra classes. Of course, she was one of the only ones there at the moment, since it was the beginning of the semester and while Katsumi was already handling an extra course due to the sheer amount of collateral damage she could cause, her oldest friend wasn’t anywhere near Izumi’s classroom right now. Because that was for collateral damage. Not lethal force reduction and mediation.

 

Which just left her sitting in a classroom being lectured by the pro hero Snipe on avoiding excessive injury in the course of stopping villains and common criminals.

 

It wasn’t really all that bad if Izumi was being honest- Snipe was a great teacher despite looking like a knockoff cowboy in a gasmask, and his country accent had a rhythm to it that made listening to his lecture easy and digestible without being boring.

 

But still, it was… Well, she (and a couple other students who also looked like they’d rather be somewhere else, including a guy about her age with a praying mantis head and blades coming out of his mouth) was being lectured on the finer points of conflict resolution, de-escalating situations, and using as little force as possible on criminals and villains so as to not injure, cripple, or kill them. A hero’s purpose, as Snipe said, was to save people- not just to put criminals and villains in jail or to beat the bad guy, but to make sure that everyone going into and out of a situation was as safe, healthy, and whole as possible- no matter what side of the law they were on. 

 

All that to say- it wasn’t exactly the singularly most riveting subject that she’d ever had a lecture on. Military tactics had been better in her old life, and that had been taught by a stuffy old codger of a man with more medals than brain cells and not a single drop of actual front line combat experience in his life. 

 

Granted, that might have just been because she had been a terrible person who craved violence and action and destruction all in the name of her father’s approval, but still. She wasn’t exactly super interested in learning things she could have easily picked up from a textbook straight out of the campus bookstore. 

 

All the same, though, Izumi thought to herself as she continued to work through the quizzes and little bits of homework that Snipe assigned her to make sure she actually learned that day’s lesson instead of just sitting there doodling in a notebook, it was better than being expelled or arrested for murdering a villain in cold blood.

 

Which, of course. She did do. She had very much killed a guy. They’d even told her where he was being buried.

 

She had been pissed at the time, well and truly livid beyond belief and thoroughly planning to kill Shigaraki when she got her hands on him. That she didn’t kill all the other villains in her path was a matter of her not wanting to well and truly take that step into being the monster Ursa had said she was once upon a time.

 

One death was an accident.

 

Seventy was a massacre.

 

And Izumi- well.

 

Death wasn’t really anything special to her- not really. Not with Azula’s lifetime of almost casual murder in the name of punishment for either failing her when she was a temperamental brat, or for directly insulting her beyond forgiveness once she was in her twenties.

 

Thankfully, after that visit to masters Ran and Shaw that took the better part of half a decade to complete in her thirties, she’d actually stopped being a monster and turned into just kind of a bitch overall.

 

And of course, righteous-fury-fueled rampage mindset aside, she never wanted to be that kind of a monster ever again.

 

But that wasn’t the point. What was the point was that her week of suspension from hero classes was almost over already and Izumi was desperate for a good challenge again.

 

That, and to see what her friends had been up to while she was gone, seeing as she hadn’t even been allowed to go to the open quirk use areas of the on campus gyms- she could still work out, of course, but practicing her super moves or just plain exercising her quirk had been forbidden and she was all but dying to see everyone’s progress in the last week.

 

Oh sure she could get a daily summary from her friends, but it just wasn’t the same- even with Himiko showing off her new partial transformation skill in the common room, or Ochako talking about how good she was getting with directing her flight now- to the point that she’d figured out that she could even sort of fly by rapidly applying and deactivating her quirk on herself and kicking in certain directions in between.

 

Apparently it was slow going, but she had said it was a last resort option for if her boosters failed during a tough mission or whatever.

 

Izumi was restless . To the point that, when she sprawled out in the common rooms at night, it was all she could do to not just start spewing fire out of her mouth in sheer boredom - hell, she wouldn’t have even minded Katsumi dragging her into a back alley for a fight at this point, and Katsumi hadn’t done that since they were both ten!

 

“It’s almost over,” she told herself, sighing as she ran her hand through her hair and checked her phone, grumbling as she turned in the last of her assignments and settled in for the weekend, with Aizawa-sensei confirming that she was back on track for heroics come monday a few minutes later- not that he seemed happy about it, but then again, Aizawa-sensei never seemed happy about anything .

 

But it was still a pretty sobering thought, that her enrollment at UA hung on by mere threads , and if she fucked up again, she’d be… well. Arrested, likely. Expelled, certainly.

 

A horrible disappointment to the name of her beloved mother, definitely.

 

So, Izumi took it. The restlessness, the boredom, the pain of having to listen to Snipe-sensei’s godawful puns (which were funny, but did he have to make so many of them while lecturing about a serious topic?) , the shame of knowing just how close she’d come to reverting back into being a horrible person- all so she could prove to herself that she could rise above the unending sociopathy and lack of regard for human lives in her past life and do her mother proud.

 

At least the counseling was fine, though, even if Hound Dog kept making odd faces every now and then whenever she told him that she was completely fine , and that the events of the USJ hadn’t adversely impacted her in the slightest. 


Honestly, Izumi was fine, really. And if she kept muttering to herself every now and then about what she could have done better and what firebending techniques she definitely needed to brush up on instead of trying to make stupid supermoves like a rabid otaku, then that was her problem.

Chapter Text

“You know, you don’t have to dumb down your own training just to keep me up to par with my flames,” Shouto muttered quietly as he ran through drills with Izumi, feeling the familiar burn as he went through kicks and punches that were utterly foreign to him- both in terms of movement, and in terms of nationality.

 

Northern Shaolin was Chinese, after all, and Shouto still wasn’t quite sure when and where Izumi managed to learn that style, but he had to admit- something about its raw aggression and sharp, deliberate movements made controlling his fire so much easier.

 

Izumi, though, kept going through the same forms with him, an intense look of concentration as they drilled step by step through the katas- kick and turn and punch and leap and twist and kick and fire - almost as though she were a woman possessed.

 

Considering that she had been the one to permanently take down well over a third of the villains that had attacked the USJ, and had taken down the ringleaders (And their giant monster of an attack dog), he… well.

 

He was kind of surprised that she was pushing herself so hard.

 

She’d won basically the whole thing, when a lot of pro heroes would have failed to even make a dent in that many villains- and she’d done it all with laughable ease with the exception of her passing out at the end from exertion after an epic aerial battle, throwing lightning around like it was nothing, and- ah.

 

Murdering the leader of the League of Villains.

 

With lightning.

 

Shouto didn’t pretend that he got all of what Izumi was going through, but he could at least tell that whatever she was going through at the moment, she was working through it by going back to basics.

 

Maybe she didn’t think she was strong enough. Maybe she wanted to try and correct some flaws that resulted in her lapsing into unconsciousness after the fight. He didn’t know for sure, but he was sure it was for good reason- Midoriya Izumi didn’t seem like the kind of person to just randomly go back to practicing basics that she’d already mastered for no reason.

 

In fact-

 

“I’m not dumbing down anything, Shouto,” Izumi sighed, stretching out lightly as she finished her kata and let out a blast of brilliant blue fire. “I simply needed to remind myself of the fact that, just because I have long since mastered the basic katas of my abilities, I shouldn’t neglect them in favor of the flashier, stronger attacks. As my- er, as one of my mentors once said: To forget one’s basics is sure to result in defeat. It seems I haven’t taken it to heart yet.”

 

“I see… well. I’m thankful that you’re helping me through these exercises all the same. I can… I can feel my fire coming under my control- even moreso than my ice side… I shouldn’t neglect that, now that I think about it, but my whole life I’ve been training for power and speed in order to end all battles in a single, overwhelming strike. Small attacks… are a bit out of my purview at the moment, with my ice,” Shouto sighed, rubbing his right arm awkwardly as he iced himself over to cool down after using his left side so extensively. “Perhaps I should try to adapt my fire training to my ice…”

 

“Mm, that’d be ideal- I can’t manipulate ice so I couldn’t tell you what to do there, but- actually… now that I think about it,” Izumi blinked slowly, then shook her head. “Ah, something to work on later. Sorry- as I was saying. I can’t tell you how to train your ice, but I do agree that trying for precision attacks would be a good idea- you’re already decent enough at small-ish attacks in enclosed spaces, perhaps… maybe if you created a thin line of clear ice on the floor at high speed and used that as the seed ice to bind enemies without them noticing?”

 

“I- yes, that could work,” Shouto nodded, blinking slowly as he puzzled over the mechanics necessary to actually do such a thing- it was true that he could make ice sprout of other areas while the initial burst was forming, but to actually create a trap technique rather than just using overwhelming force to bind targets without them being able to react? Devious . And probably very useful. “It would probably be difficult, but if I apply the lessons I learned previously I should be able to do it easily. Thank you for your help today, Mido- er… Izumi.”

 

He paused and took in Izumi’s slightly surprised expression, immediately backpedaling slightly as he brought up his hands and awkwardly tried to explain himself. “I- that is. If you are comfortable with me calling you that. I had assumed that, since everyone felt comfortable enough to use my given name at the mall-”

 

“Oh no, no, it’s fine, Shouto- really. I was just… a little surprised that you considered us close enough to actually call me by my given name. You know, since most of our interaction is me drilling you in combat forms and basically being your drill sergeant,” Izumi shrugged, not really quite sure how to take Shouto treating her with so much familiarity- it was fine , really, but she honestly thought it’d take at least another month.

 

Then again.

 

They were in a life or death situation together. That tended to accelerate friendships quite a bit.

 

Izumi shook her head, then sighed and rolled her shoulders. “All the same- we’re pretty much done here for today. If you wanna join our group over at the gym to spar in a bit, feel free to join us. I’m going to go bother Yaoyorozu for a moment, though- if you don’t mind?”

 

“No, go ahead. I’ll meet you there,” Shouto nodded, waving Izumi off, idly taking notice of the way everyone else in the gym was practicing and humming under his breath- for all that he’d thought that the majority of them were slackers on day one, they took to hero training like ducks to water after the USJ incident- maybe the shock of being thrown into a life or death situation together had lit a fire under their asses. 

 

It was kind of nice, actually, to be surrounded by people he could interact with as peers instead of his father’s subordinates.

 

He smiled, then walked off to go get toweled off and changed out of his hero costume- after all, the gym where they usually sparred didn’t allow hero costumes in (Mostly because some hero outfits had a lot of pointy surfaces, or were volatile… or just weren’t exactly gym safe) and he really wanted to change into something slightly less sweaty.

 

Also, he’d have to go talk to the support department about changing his (fake) ice covered jumpsuit to something a little less… stupid.

 

Dammit.

 

Maybe later.

Chapter Text

“So… how are you holding up?” Izumi asked casually, cloak swirling around her ankles as she leaned against a wall and watched Yaoyorozu as she practiced with her quirk- All Might’s lecture that day had been about using their quirks for rescue efforts, and while Izumi had thoroughly wowed the entire class by instantly dousing both the simulated house fire and the simulated wildfire (and just about every other source of flame in several hundred meters), she’d kept an eye and provided a few tips here and there- Katsumi maintained that her explosions weren’t at all useful for rescue work, so she provided overwatch and signal flares with her flight capability, Ochako’s quirk was perfect for clearing rubble and moving large objects to the point that it was kind of ridiculous. Iida’s engines made him great for transporting injured personnel quickly, albeit perhaps not very smoothly unless he was willing to invest in robust, all terrain skates. So on and so forth.

 

Yaoyorozu, meanwhile, simply shrugged her shoulders as she adjusted the fit of her new costume- it was much less revealing now, with magnetic clasps that could automatically burst apart and close up again on the front, with a wide open back that was mostly covered by her armored, insulating cape. Her thighs were still bare, although Yaoyorozu had picked up an armored skirt, as well as longer boots with the same kind of magnetic clasps along her shins as the front of her outfit. 

 

“I’ve been… holding up, I suppose,” she finally spoke after a moment of fiddling with her leotard clasps, frowning and grumbling a little as she slotted her encyclopedia of materials back in place and adjusted her new utility belt while idly prodding the pile of first aid kits she’d made with her boot. “I… I haven’t been losing sleep, per se, but… every now and then, I look at the others and just how injured they were- and I… I couldn’t do anything during the attack. Everyone else was so well suited to combat encounters, and by the time I got to the Ruins zone the only one there was Kirishima-san and he just… ran off after I checked his wounds and went to go help someone else. All I could do was be a walking first aid kit, and I didn’t even manage that when the only two people I came across before leaving you and Toga-san behind were entirely uninjured!”

 

“To be fair, you didn’t exactly have the time or reserves to build something that could take out that many villains at once… and… well. You did what you could at the time. There’s no shame in that. I mean- your feelings are valid, but no harm no foul,” Izumi shook her head, crossing her arms before frowning a bit and looking to the side. “You splinted Hitoshi’s arm and helped keep him from being stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As far as I’m concerned, everyone getting out while I handled things was the best option.”

 

“But you shouldn’t have had to handle anything! I just- we left you three all alone! If we’d all rushed in, we would have been able to-”

 

“Probably die because none of us are used to working with each other, I’ll be honest,” Izumi cut through Yaoyorozu’s words, idly pulling out her phone and checking the time as she grabbed ahold of the heat in the area and forced a breeze to roll through, ruffling her cloak and swishing through her hair for dramatic effect just because she could. “Look- we’re all here to learn how to be heroes. Just because you couldn’t help with a villain takedown doesn’t mean you all were useless. You did what you could, and you did it well enough that everyone you did talk to outside of the USJ… with the help of Himiko, too…. Made a full recovery, and we all got out safe.”

 

“I just wish I could have done more,” Yaoyorozu muttered, frowning and sinking to her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs and sat there in the middle of the training field, a dismal expression on her face as she tried to put her thoughts into words. “I’m- I’m supposed to be the Everything Hero: Creati! There shouldn’t be any situation that I can’t handle with my creations!”

 

“Yaoyorozu-san, we’ve been in hero training for less than a month. And while I don’t exactly know what kind of training you did as a recommended student, your lack of muscle tone and the way you move suggests that you haven’t had a lot of training, combat or otherwise,” Izumi sat down by her nextdoor neighbor, sighing quietly as she removed her mask and fiddled with it. “I’m the same way, you know? I try not to show it but every time I go back to my dorm, I keep thinking about how weak I was that I couldn’t end it all in just a single strike. My abilities are strong , yes, but I used up half of my entire energy reserve taking out two groups of villains, and then used the rest on fighting three more. I should have just fried everyone with lightning instead of getting into a drawn out fight, but with how much water there was on the ground I would have electrocuted Todoroki again , and the Nomu wouldn’t have even been affected. So. I suppose what I’m trying to say is- even if you feel like you should have done more, you still did what you could and did your best to help. And that’s all anyone can ask for. Just… be willing to help. Or, so my mom says. I wouldn’t know, I’m not often struck with the urge to help random people on the street with their life problems.”

 

“.... Your mother’s very wise,” Yaoyorozu murmured after a long few seconds, some of which was spent staring at Izumi as if she was stupid. “And… I think you’re selling yourself short there. You’re helping me now, aren’t you?”

 

“Yes, well, that’s because you’re my next door neighbor. I don’t want to hear you sobbing in the middle of the night anymore- it’s grating as hell and it makes my chest do weird things that I thought I stamped out of myself when I was fourteen and exclusively wore terrible goth band shirts,” Izumi grumbled, crossing her arms and looking to the side a bit before coughing delicately into her hand to clear her throat. “That was a joke, by the way.”

 

“... What part?”

 

“.... Everything after I said fourteen,” Izumi rolled her eyes. “I’m not heartless, I just don’t really care about people’s emotional problems unless I’m in a direct position to either help them or destroy the problem.”

 

“... Quite a specific word choice, isn’t it? Just referring to emotional problems?”

 

Izumi scoffed and rolled her eyes, giving Yaoyorozu a stink eye for seeing through her haughty, ‘too good for you’ attitude that she really tried her best to maintain despite several people in the dorm knowing that she called her mother every single night and was a total softie for cute cats. “I wouldn’t be in the hero course if I didn’t care about solving physical problems, Yaoyorozu-san. It’s only right that I do my best to put more good into the world than bad…”

 

She sighed and looked away, muttering under her breath so Yaoyorozu wouldn’t hear her next words. “Goodness knows I already did the opposite once before.”

 

“That’s very noble of you,” Yaoyorozu nodded, then stood up and shook herself off, sighing quietly as she did. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be as powerful as you are, Midoriya-san. But… after the USJ… after learning just where I match up against villains in a live combat situation… I’m more determined than ever to be the best hero I can be, and truly live up to my chosen moniker.”

 

Izumi stood, nodding slowly as she watched Yaoyorozu begin practicing again with renewed fervor. “Atta girl. Well, I wish you the best of luck with that. And remember- as long as you do your best to help, fuck everything else. No one gets to tell you that you didn’t do enough. Some things are just… out of our hands. All we can do is try to make sure what impact it does have is minimized.”

 

And with that, Izumi shrugged, turned, and walked away to where she could see Katsumi and Ochako doing their level best to choke each other out right there on the pads, her cloak swirling around her feet as she left Yaoyorozu behind.

Chapter Text

The UA Sports Festival.

 

Normally, a college would have a specific sports team playing games against other colleges, but hero schools tended to be a little different in that regard- after all, UA’s hero course took its first year lesson plan more or less directly from a highschool setting, so why wouldn’t it take a little more inspiration in that regard? 

 

That wasn’t to say that UA didn’t have sports teams, they were just… less focused on. Which would probably explain why, for all that UA’s hero program churned out vast amounts of Top 50 spotlight heroes and vast amounts of highly skilled Underground heroes, its actual general education sports teams were… lackluster, to say the least.

 

Hadn’t placed Top 10 in any field in the last five years, hadn’t broken Top 5 in… well, almost two decades.

 

All this to say, Izumi was just a little bit stressed about the sports festival, and was letting her mind run tangents as she pretended to write notes while listening to Present Mic, who was yelling something about participles and whatnot, all so she could deal with the stress of having to deliver the sports festival opening speech.

 

“I’m going to die,” she muttered to herself, palming her face and wishing desperately that she could go blow something up to calm her aching nerves. “I’m going to die of embarrassment and make a fool of myself on national television and it’s all because I went way too hard on the entrance exam. Why did I have to go and purposefully make myself the top scorer? Argh, damn my perfectionist streak!”

 

“Sounds like you’re having trouble,” Hitoshi deadpanned from right next to Izumi, raising an eyebrow as he chewed on a strip of jerky. He tilted his head ever so slightly, looking down at the partially blank page in front of Izumi, then back up at the board where Present Mic was still screaming in english to a room of a bunch of students who honestly did not care that much. “Something about the sports festival, I gather.”

 

“Yeah, it’s in two weeks and I have to give the opening speech,” Izumi sighed again, rubbing her forehead and grimacing. “I have to admit. I have no clue what to do. As much as it pains me to admit any faults… I am terrible at speeches like this. I can give commands, confront assholes, recite poetry, and do class projects, but when it comes to inspiring speeches I’m absolutely hopeless.

 

Hitoshi was silent for a moment, staring at Izumi with an unreadable expression on his face. “... You’re joking, right? You’re- you have to be joking.”

 

“I’m… not? Hitoshi, I know we’ve only known each other for about three and a half weeks now, but you should be able to tell when I’m joking,” Izumi shook her head, grimacing as she stared down at her hands and frowned. “I mean, I can give a pep talk- I know that much, and I can… sort of be inspiring, but there’s a difference between me telling someone how to use their quirk better or that they can be a hero, and me going on stage and giving a whole crowd a speech about sportsmanship or some bullshit like that.”

 

“.... Yeah you’ve got a point there,” Hitoshi nodded, holding his chin as he considered Izumi’s problem. “... you know, if you really want, I might be able to Brainwash you so you don’t fuck up your speech.”

 

“... That… hm,” Izumi considered Hitoshi’s quirk, Brainwash. What did she really know about it anyway? It was a call and response, emitter type, mental quirk that allowed the user to suppress  a target’s conscious mind and give them orders once under the user’s sway. He hadn’t had a lot of training with it, what with the lack of willing partners in his youth, but Hitoshi had learned that apparently his quirk could do a great deal of things he never thought it could- implanting ideas, delayed activation, delayed commands , multiple targeting with different orders- and that was just scratching the surface. Could it affect one’s mental state? Probably. He had already used it to calm some of their classmates down after panic attacks (apparently Kaminari couldn’t look in Himiko’s direction when she was in full costume anymore without panicking thanks to all of the blades the villains had tried to stab him with in the USJ), and the actual activation requirements had loosened drastically in the last few months, which was a little weird but she really didn’t know if Hitoshi was telling the truth if it was a sudden mutation or if it was just his own gradual eff-

 

“Oi.”

 

A smack on Izumi’s head shocked her out of her tangent, drawing forth a quiet yelp- it was rare that she’d slip into one of her quirk analysis fugues these days, since she usually managed to keep a handle on herself. Then again, she was trying to distract herself from the one thing she’d never managed to learn properly, so.

 

“Thank you Hitoshi, it’s kind of you to want to help me with my issues, but… well. It’s just a speech. I’ll go over the footage from previous years and base whatever comes next off of that, along with some improvisation,” Izumi sighed, kneading her forehead a bit and giving Hitoshi a slightly strained smile- not at all happy with the idea of trying to make a good speech, but resigning herself to it all the same. 

 

“Well, if you say so,” Hitoshi muttered, shrugging and turning back to the front of his class as he dragged his laptop over and resumed browsing the net aimlessly, not at all concerned with listening to Present Mic’s lecture as long as the presentation slides were uploaded to the school network. “Hey, speaking of the sports festival- I guess it’s a little early to say this to you, but…”

 

He paused, drawing in a short breath as he put his words in order and leveled a steely glare at Izumi. “Top scorer in the entrance exam or no, I’m gonna do my best and fucking win . So at the risk of sounding like an edgy teenager… consider this a declaration of war .”

 

“... You’re right, it is edgy,” Izumi snickered, nudging Hitoshi with her elbow before shaking her head again and grinning. “But right back at you, Hitoshi. I pledge to fucking win . And there’s not a damn thing anyone can do to stop me.”

 

Hitoshi grinned back, both of them bumping fists as a spark of challenge filled the air between them.

 

“Game on.”

 

A pause as Hitoshi cleared his throat.

 

“We’re uh, still on for sparring though, right?”

 

“Oh yeah no definitely, we’re still training together today, all of us.”

 

“Okay cool- good, yeah.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Mhmm.”

 

“So uh… Game on?”


Game on.”

Chapter Text

Toga Himiko was… at a bit of a loss as to what to do for the sports festival. Or, so she thought she was. 

 

It only really made sense to her that she wouldn’t do too well, honestly- even as much as she wanted to do well, it wasn’t like her quirk was well suited to anything but infiltration, support, or teamups. Being able to turn into someone else after she drank their blood wasn’t exactly going to work when the sports festival mostly relied on hero students not using any support items that might boost their performance.

 

So.

 

What was she going to do?

 

Obviously, she’d been doing knife training and such with Aizawa-sensei and learning how to more accurately guide her quickdraw needles, but using her own costume and gear during the sports festival was… frowned upon. Slightly. Sure, she already had it registered as support gear and it was approved since it was just about one of the only ways she could use her quirk without maiming someone with her sharpass teeth , but all it would do was put her on a theoretically level playing field with everyone else.

 

Well.

 

Except the knife (well… knives. Plural. Possibly in the several dozens), but she wasn’t bringing that because like hell she was going to shank her classmates! Maybe she woulda done that when she was fourteen and blood starved and possibly dying of anemia because of her shitty bio-parents, but now? Four years later and running a constant full tank thanks to the iron and blood supplements that her moms made for her? No way in hell was she that crazy anymore.

 

….

 

Well.

 

Maybe if she could get a nibble of Izu-chan’s delicious fucking abs.

 

Fuck that girl had nice abs. And legs. And biceps. And- everything really. Just about the only thing Midoriya “Fire Princess” Izumi didn’t have was an overwhelming, towering height, though her looming presence more than made up for it. Well, that, or the ability to not think of herself as a ticking timebomb waiting to explode in a blaze of madness and murder.

 

That was reductive, but Himiko didn’t particularly care- her friend who saved her goddamn life back in middle school (even… if they weren’t exactly friends at the time) had some kind of complex bouquet of mental issues that Himiko didn’t even want to touch on most of the time, and that was coming from a girl who’d been emotionally and physically abused for a little over half of her life so far for having a quirk that was deemed scary. Like Hito-kun.

 

Except Hitoshi was, back on the original point, much better suited to actually winning the UA sports festival than she was. Why?

 

Because Class 1-A of the hero course was pretty categorically unable to shut the fuck up , and Hitoshi had known all of them for about a month now and was well immersed in the class culture. With the exception of Shouto, of course, who kind of decided that, if he was going to play any role in the class, it was going to be the cool brooding one that didn’t talk. 

 

Meanwhile, Himiko?

 

She was still brooding about the fact that she needed all of her support gear to even match up to her classmates, and had really only gotten in on recommendation because Momiji-onee-chan had connections with a few pro heroes and one of them had recommended her. Shame that he wasn’t her teacher, though- Vlad King would have been super cool to have as a mentor. They coulda been vampire buddies!

 

Except for the fact that he had a terrible hero outfit that wasn’t cute at all.

 

“I don’t know what to dooooooo, Tsu!” Himiko cried out as she flopped around on her next door neighbor’s bed, wiggling about on the bright green blanket and flailing like she was a child as she tried and failed to come up with a plan for the sports festival. “Everyone else already has so much training with their quirks and stuff and I’m not gonna be able to do anything! I mean have you seen my quirk!? It’s pretty much impossible for me to actually use it right during an event like this!”

 

“You know, technically speaking, filling your support gear with blood before the sports festival starts isn’t illegal , kero,” Tsu deadpanned, rolling her eyes as she leaned back in her chair and twiddled her thumbs, very brazenly not giving a shit that she had several tabs of hentai manga open on her personal laptop, or that her pants were currently down and exposing everything without shame. Himiko thought that was kind of cool, the whole “I don’t really care what other people think of me or my porn habits” attitude that Tsu had going on, but also that Tsu had shit taste in yuri hentai- but that was beside the point. “It’s not illegal for support class students to go in with items that are pre-loaded with all sorts of weaponry and ammunition. You going in with a full tank of blood samples should be fine, since it’s a quirk showcase more than anything else- hell I’m pretty sure at some point a few years ago one of the support students managed to get a laser rifle approved as support gear.”

 

She paused.

 

“He didn’t win, but it was still funny, kero.”

 

Himiko just groaned, sighing as she rolled over slightly and propped herself up on her elbows, resting her chin in her hands as her legs kicked up in the air while she stared at Tsu. “I knooooow, but I don’t even know what any of the events are gonna be! I mean, Izu-chan gave us all a list of stuff that was likely to happen this year, but it’s so much stuff I can’t even think about preparing for it all! And a lot of the potential events are things that my gear wasn’t made to handle! Like water rescues!”

 

“... So upgrade it, kero.”

 

“... Oh right, I forgot about that. I’ll see if the support department still has time to go over a few things, then,” Himiko blushed, clearing her throat a bit and tilting her head. “Well. I guess I can try- hey, are you bringing anything to the sports festival?”

 

“Nope. Well. Hydration pills, mostly, but those aren’t really considered support gear so I’m just gonna leave ‘em in my locker,” Tsu shrugged, then turned back to her laptop and continued scrolling, as if Himiko wasn’t there staring at her screen and judging her for her choice of porn. “Now could you please leave, kero? You kind of interrupted me while I was doing something very important , and I can tell that you’ve been ogling my dick and balls for the entire time you’ve been sitting on my bed.”

 

“It’s a very nice dick! Why wouldn’t I ogle it a little!?” Himiko responded, huffing and sitting up as she pouted, still staring pointedly at Tsu’s crotch before shrugging and standing up. “But yeah, thanks for the talk Tsu! I really needed it! Oh- and one more thing?”

 

Himiko paused, standing in the doorway as she licked her lips and gave Tsu one last salacious wink over her shoulder. “Your taste in yuri hentai is shit.”

 

“Wh- hey! You take that back you- you perverted vampire!”

 

“Sorry not sorry~!”

Chapter Text

“You know, I kinda wish our quirks were a little more synergistic with each other,” Ochako mentioned idly as she sat with Tenya, humming as she picked at her late afternoon meal and grumbling slightly at just how many calories she needed nowadays to keep up with her training- thank goodness for UA’s free cafeteria food, otherwise she’d have probably starved to death by now. “It’d be a lot easier to train together that way.”

 

“Mmm… it is quite unfortunate! However, I do think that learning to stand on our own will no doubt help us in the long run- although, I did have some ideas for a combination attack that we could try out!” Tenya answered, maintaining the serious look on his face as he lightly chopped the air with his arm, not wanting to spill his food all over the table despite his enthusiasm. “I have not come up with a name for it yet, but I came up with the idea when we were going over today’s physics lesson!”

 

“Oh, what kind of idea?” Ochako asked, tilting her head slightly and pressing a finger to her chin, wondering just how her anti-gravity and Tenya’s speed would mix- it wasn’t like she could float him since, even with the jet propulsion of his Engines, it just… was not a good mix.

 

Honestly, she’d probably do better making Katsumi weightless since a lot of the force and speed she could generate just from her explosions was rather lost due to having to carry her own weight. But if she didn’t have any weight… well. Regardless. 

 

“You see, when we were covering the specifics of momentum, I had a thought- when you make something weightless, it loses all momentum due to no longer having any effective mass, correct? Well, what about the opposite? I noticed that when you throw something, it also retains whatever velocity it carried before it regained its mass, and since kinetic energy is a function of mass and velocity…” Tenya held up a crude stick figure drawing, depicting some kind of sequence of events where a blue stick figure carried a pink stick figure, who was in turn holding  a comically large rectangle with the words “assorted heavy debris” written inside the lines. Along with the speed lines and the ending steps where the pink stick figure flung said rectangle at high speed, it was clear that Tenya’s idea was for him to carry Ochako whilst running at high speed, while Ochako flung large items at enemies whilst moving at possibly over 200 kilometers per hour, canceling out her quirk right as the items hit such that they delivered a truly obscene amount of kinetic energy all at once. “I came up with a super move for the two of us!”

 

“... Tenya I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but I don’t think I could hang onto you at your maximum speed,” Ochako pointed out, clearing her throat awkwardly before tilting her head and considering the rest of the picture. “But. You do have a point there. If you threw something that I made weightless and we timed it right, it would really mess up a villain… well. If they could take it without dying, at least.”

 

She paused.

 

“But… it does sound like a really cool idea, though! We just gotta work on timing and stuff!” Ochako grinned and clapped her hands together, already thinking about all the applications her and Tenya’s combo move could have- even beyond throwing stuff at villains, if they could learn how to use it accurately they could have absurdly long range projectiles, or deliver lifesaving supplies, or- some other third thing. Ochako didn’t really know, but figured Izumi could help with that. “So, we just gotta have a name for it now right? And work out the kinks.”

 

“Right, of course! Now, seeing as my super moves tend to be related to speed or car terms, and yours tend towards space terms, my first proposal was ‘Turbo Meteor’, but I did not feel entirely comfortable with the name, so I thought I would ask you first,” Tenya nodded, chopping his arms more enthusiastically as he turned to Ochako for approval. “Also, I thought I should let you know that I took into account your feedback on my hero costume the other day, and I do agree that yes, being in full armor is disadvantageous from a speed standpoint, but alas- I do not have the physique that lends itself well to matching my brother’s more svelte and aerodynamic armor. I have , however, been working with the support department to slim down my costume and work in lighter, more aerodynamic armor plates with greater crash resistance, as well as more advanced cooling systems for my engines.”

 

“Ooh, that’s great! I’m sure it’ll help you a lot! I’m honestly really stuck with how to upgrade my costume, honestly- I mean, I’m still getting in some padding and armored fabric, but I wanna come off as approachable, y’know? Look cute and bubbly for the kids instead of all serious and tacticool like Hitoshi… or terrifying in the most attractive way possible, like Izumi,” Ochako cleared her throat awkwardly, blushing and looking to the side as her grin faded with her last few words, then clapped twice and changed the subject so as to distract herself from the realization that, yes, she was still sort of simping over one of her best friends (then again, all of the girls around her were really pretty so how could she not simp?) looking like a literal hellfire goddess. “A-anyway! Turbo Meteor sounds like a really cool name, but um… yeah it doesn’t really feel right to me… oh- uh… how about Shooting Star?”

 

“Ah, that sounds quite good, actually! A perfect blend of speed and space connotations!” Tenya nodded, smiling back brightly as he held out his hand, to which Ochako took it, both of them shaking hands for a moment before Tenya pulled back with a thoughtful frown. “Actually, come to think of it now- I have been thinking of the sports festival for some time now, as I’m sure you have too-”

 

“Mhmm, what about it?”

 

“.... Have we actually hung out with Izumi in the past few days? The sports festival is a week away, and although we see her in class, she seems… quite distracted these days,” Tenya finished, frowning a bit as he looked around the cafeteria to try and see where Izumi was, only to come up blank. “I wonder just what it is she’s doing that she doesn’t even have time to be sociable anymore…”

 

“Probably doing some kind of ridiculous training that’s gonna put her even more ahead of all of us,” Ochako grumbled, pouting mostly for effect and huffing as she imagined the sort of ridiculous bullshit that her friend could pull off. “Just watch, she’s gonna pull out a fucking Chidori or something out during the sports festival, I guarantee it.”

 

“... She is a bit of a closet otaku,” Tenya admitted, trying to imagine just what kind of intense training Izumi was putting herself through, and not really knowing. “She’s been… very focused lately, it seems.”

 

“Mhmm… I just hope that the rest of us stand a chance,” Ochako sighed quietly, dropping her chin into her hand and grumbling under her breath as she tried to think of what she personally was going to do during the sports festival.

 

“I hope so too.”

Chapter Text

Bakugou Katsumi was not what a lot of people would call a people person . Oh sure, she liked to dress and even sometimes act the part of a bubbly gyaru girl out in public because she really did enjoy the feeling of getting dolled up all pretty and pretending to be a nicer person than she really was, but by and large her personality had not diverged all that much from her youth.

 

She was just… less mean about her lack of care for others now. 

 

She was still terrible about matching names to faces, but thank fuck that everyone in her class had such a distinctive appearance- seriously, back in highschool she kept complaining about extras and background characters to Izumi because everyone around her looked almost the exact same with exception of hair styles, minor variations in hair color, or some other accesorization.

 

Except for Himiko, who really stood out (and, recently, had become Katsumi’s Gyaru Girl BFF because of their shared propensity for pink, stabbing things, cute clothes, and makeup), as well as a few others who had coloration altering quirks. Like Tsunoda back in elementary school, that weirdo with the color changing glowing hair who wanted to be a hero but like…

 

Come on.

 

Guy didn’t even work out. Or try. Or even try to do cool stuff with his quirk that wasn’t just cycling through RGB colors like a shitty gaming pc.

 

But back on the original point- thank fucking goodness that everyone in her class was so much more colorful and unique. There was Rockhead and Tapeface and Pinkie and Numbskull, Earlobes and Ponytail and Birdbrain and Arms and Tail, See-Through and Muscles and Koda.

 

She may not have tried to really remember the others’ names, but she did put effort into memorizing Koda’s name because she really couldn’t think of a nickname for the guy that wasn’t really, really mean and she wasn’t about to be a huge bitch to the sweetest guy in class like that.

 

Even if Muscles was the one who pigged out on sugar all the time. How was that for irony.

 

And of course, she fully remembered Ochako, Tsu, Tenya, Hitoshi, Shouto and Himiko, thanks to the fact that they’d all ran face first into the USJ incident and some of them nearly died for it (Well, except Tenya, who’d done the right thing and gone to get help even though it arrived too late). And how could she forget Izumi? Her first, best, and once upon a time only friend.

 

And also the subject of Katsumi’s Gay Awakening but that was beside the point.

 

But the point was… well, most of the point of Katsumi introspecting while she lifted weights in the gym, completely tuning out her friend group in favor of having Rockhead spot her while she benched was just that she was thinking about how much her social circle had changed in only a few short weeks.

 

Before, she contented herself with just working alone with Izumi- the two of them, she’d always thought, were going to be an unstoppable duo of explosive combat and violence, even when Izumi professed that she’d be much better as a rescue hero since she was trying to stray away from murdering people with blue-hot hellfire.

 

Which. Fair. Izumi was absurdly good at fire rescue seeing as she could just make fire stop existing if she so chose. But still.

 

Her social circle had expanded by a whole hell of a lot in the first month of being at UA. She had friends now, and it was just… weird how none of them seemed to think she was too intense, or that she was weird for not sticking to a single character archetype as though she was a manga character or something, or that she would be prettier if she either smiled more without all that makeup on, or just stopped being a bitch to people who deserved her exploding fist up their asses. There was no one saying she was never going to find a husband if she didn’t cool off and stop threatening to explode people that did rude shit to her, no one saying that she should just call the police if someone was trying to do bad things to her, no one saying that she had a powerful quirk but really dear wouldn’t you be so much happier if you stuck to something a little less violent, you’re so pretty as it is and you’re only going to ruin your figure by lifting weights all the time like some kind of gorilla!

 

Fucking oldass grandmas and their goddamn gossip.

 

It was nice, having people around her that thought of her as cool and not weirdly butch or some other insulting shit that horny highschool boys would call her whenever she told them that she wasn’t interested just because they thought she was single and desperate.

 

Rockhead called her manly a lot, but she knew by now it was in terms of fighting spirit and stuff, not gender- as if he’d be so callous when he’d been openly transmasc and proud of it since his second year of middle school. Him, Pinkie, Numbskull, and Tapeface had formed something of a class dumbass squad, and it was honestly kinda funny watching them all get up to stupid shit together- not so much when they tried to involve her in it, but like… eh.

 

It was alright.

 

Coulda been worse.

 

At least Katsumi could actually trade fashion tips with Pinkie and Himiko- it was so fucking hard trying to get Izumi to wear anything cute , and her best friend was so serious and practical all the time you’d think she’d just wear athletic gear 24/7 with how much she exercised.

 

A short grunt from Rockhead drew Katsumi out of her introspection as she finished her set, a pleasant burn settling in her arms as she re-racked her bar and slowly sat up, her headphones popping out of her ears as she pulled the cord before looking over at Rockhead.

 

“Hey so uh, I’ve been meaning to ask- where do you get your nails done? They’re super cool and I’ve been meaning to try and do it myself with Ashido and Kaminari, but I can never find a polish that’ll hold up to my Hardening,” Rockhead asked, wiping some sweat from his forehead and sitting down on one of the nearby benches while Katsumi idly shook out her trembling arms to get some feeling back into them. “And well, I noticed that Midoriya calls your nail polish blastproof and- well. Y’know?”

 

“Huh? Oh yeah, my nail polish is hella blastproof,” Katsumi nodded, grinning a bit as she crackled explosions in her hands for a few seconds and showed off how the topcoat wasn’t even so much as scratched . “Fuck dude, I bet I could claw through steel with this stuff if I tried hard enough. Anyway- I do my nails on my own, it takes fucking forever and I gotta redo it like twice a month but it’s totes worth it- none of the salons near my house ever wanna let me have the cool fuckin skull stickers I want. It’s always cutesy flowery shit and hearts like I’m some fuckin’ brainless bimbo. Tch- fuck nah. But yeah, I’ll text you the place where I get my polish once we’re done here.”

 

“... Huh. Shit dude- thanks! And that’s so fuckin cool! You make it look professional too, never seen nail art like that before!” Rockhead grinned, giving Katsumi a thumbs up before leaning back and reaching for the bar. “Oh hey uh- can you spot me? And add another hundred to each side? I wanna try and bulk up some more before the sports festival, make myself a little stronger.”

 

“Yeah sure, Rockhead. Just don’t overdo it and break your arms,” Katsumi snorted out, rolling her eyes as she got into position and readied herself to catch the bar if the dumbass managed to drop it on his chest or head.

 

Again.

 

“Aww, I won’t break my arms! That’s Shinsou’s job!”

 

“... Hah, lmao I guess it is. Now focus and gimme thirty!”

 

“Yes ma’am!”

Chapter Text

The UA Sports Festival. Traditionally, it started partway through May- about a month and a half into the school year. It was a multi-year event involving primarily the hero course students, plus anyone who wanted to join in and try and move in to the hero course. Of course, the general education side of the school had plenty of people who wanted to try, but by and large, the only ones who really bothered were the ones who couldn’t get in through the hero course entrance exam. The business majors and support students also had standing invitations to join in, of course, but only the support students ever gave it any real thought, and a vast majority of the people who went in were just there to enjoy the free food and side-events that they were entitled to as a result of participating in an event that would no doubt be filled with sheer, utter chaos as a result of possibly hundreds of quirks going off at once.

 

It was a cultural celebration of all things heroic and excessive and the amount of people who bought tickets to it from all over Japan was… honestly kind of insane. Oh sure, UA had thousands of general education students, thousands of business students, and several hundred heroics and support students (because, who knew, the most prestigious heroics university in Japan had excessively stringent requirements for its hero students), but an audience of tens of thousands formed every year- pro heroes, support companies, business executive, proud families all alike as they sat in the stands and watched what was essentially a several hour long hero-in-training showcase stretched over four days in four different arenas.

 

And Izumi was going to be the first person everyone in Japan saw as she walked onto the first year podium and gave her speech. The first impression of Class 1-A to the whole world. The first impression of herself to the worldwide stage.

 

Thank fuck that she’d remembered to clear out her social media presence to hide any of her more overt declarations of sheer gay thirst on celebrity instagram photos.

 

Katsumi had called her a coward for that, but Izumi just called it a smart business decision- after all, being a thirsty lesbian on main was a little bit too much for a hero student. Being horny on alt, though, that was fine.

 

Hence why her more private alt accounts were still full of Mirko fancams and thirsting about Midnight stepping on her and-

 

Izumi slapped her cheeks lightly as she tried to focus on the here and now instead of spacing out and alternating between her overwhelming existential dread for her upcoming speech and lesbian thirst for… well, honestly, every single female pro hero plus all of her female yearmates that she’d had any kind of interactions with.

 

Like Tsunotori Pony, who had ridiculously toned legs. Or Tokage Setsuna, who kept winking at her in the gym and hipchecking her whenever she walked past (was she flirting? Izumi didn’t know, but damn if that ass wasn’t nice).

 

Hm. Maybe the gay thirst was better than the looming feeling of doom. Or humiliation. Same difference really.

 

Still, though, she really ought to actually get ready for the festival- everyone had been excused from classes for the week, after all, since the events started at nine in the morning and the festivities ran until eight in the evening for four days straight. And it was already eight.

 

And she needed to be in homeroom by eight thirty.

 

And she was still sitting in her room, notecards in her lap, fruitlessly trying to remember a speech that she’d written down but hadn’t fucking bothered to memorize. Because she was paralyzed by the idea of presenting a side of her that was less than perfect, less than perfectly put together, less than anything but the one hundred percent perfect best .

 

Also because she just really did not want to move.

 

Or, well, she told herself that she had to memorize her speech,

 

But it was pointless.

 

And so, with a heavy heart full of dread, Izumi shook her head and moved on. She stood up, dressed in her UA branded workout clothes, slipped on the few bits of her costume she wanted to keep on for additional protection- just her boots and gloves, really- and headed out the door.

 

She breathed slow and deep, focusing not on the sports festival that was about to begin, but the sound of her heart. The chi pooling in her stomach. The strength of her conviction, the power in her limbs. She felt the heat of the sun and basked in its warmth.

 

She could do this.

 

She would do this.

 

“So, finally came out and decided to join us, huh?” Katsumi huffed, rolling her eyes at Izumi as she finally took her seat in Class 1-A’s homeroom, everyone else already ready and waiting for the signal to head to the stadium. “Took you fuckin’ long enough, Princess. Was starting to think you’d bailed. Then I’d have had to do that shitty goddamn speech and you know how fucking much I hate public speaking.”

 

“Oh I know, that’s why I decided not to bail after all,” Izumi shot back with a smirk that she really didn’t feel, elbowing Katsumi gently and resting back in her seat, the notecards in her pocket feeling like they were burning with how much she just did not want to do this. But she had to, so she was here. “I couldn’t let your socially awkward ass just put out a riddled mess of swears and threats just because you couldn’t tell everyone to do their best and try their hardest.”

 

“I am not that bad!” Katsumi almost exploded, slamming her hand down onto the desk and glaring daggers at Izumi, who just snickered at her explosive friend and patted her on the shoulder.

 

“Sure you’re not. I mean, it’s not like our highschool final in literature was so filled with swear words that the teacher almost fainted,” Izumi grinned, then shrugged and leaned back in her chair with her hands behind her head. “Oh wait. It was.”

 

“That’s rich coming from a girl who froze up so bad in middle school I literally had to explode your ass to get you to read your cards,” Katsumi hissed back, to which Izumi would have responded, but Aizawa-sensei had entered the room and stared everyone else into silence.

 

“Good. You’re learning to shut up and listen,” he muttered, looking utterly exhausted- not that Izumi could blame him, seeing as he was still recovering from that concussion he got when the Nomu clipped his face at the USJ- as he leaned against the podium and glowered at everyone in turn. “Now. Don’t make a fool out of yourselves. Don’t go overboard, and have some good, clean fun. This is a show of UA’s strength as much as it is the first cultural festival of the year. Don’t be afraid to show off, but…”

 

He stared at the entire class in turn, focusing mostly on Hitoshi and Katsumi.

 

“Don’t break your arms. Don’t blow yourselves up. Try to at least work with your fellow students for some events.”

 

A chorus of “Yes Sensei!”s followed Aizawa’s short, punchy speech, and after he had left to go join Yamada-sensei in the announcer booth, it was only a matter of time before they’d all assembled in a massive group out on the field of the first year stadium, their utterly tiny class of twenty surrounded by nearly two hundred others- almost entirely sourced from the other, larger classes- and feeling the weight of tens of thousands of stairs as the crowd around them murmured and cheered.

 

Izumi tuned it all out though- Yamada-sensei’s opening speech introducing every class in turn, all of the murmuring of the other students around her, all the barely audible rush of noise and screams from the crowd above.

 

All she could focus on were Kayama-sensei’s words, sealing her fate as she shouted into the microphone before her.

 

“AND NOW! REPRESENTING THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS! THE HIGHEST SCORER ON THE ENTRANCE EXAM IN HISTORY: MIDORIYA IZUMI OF CLASS 1-A!”

 

Izumi took a deep breath.

 

Okay.

 

Time to do this.

Chapter Text

“I pledge…” Izumi started, almost murmuring into the microphone as she stood before a sea of people, all looking straight at her with indecipherable expressions on their faces. She tried to focus on the people before her, taking in the ones closest to her. The looks of hope, of determination. Challenge, fear, competition- all of her fellow students had their eyes on her, and she had to deliver a speech that would get everyone fired up.

 

She almost wanted to give up and just piss everyone off by finishing with “to win” and leaving it at that, but that would have stolen Katsumi’s thunder- after all, Katsumi had said that exact thing in highschool. Twice.

 

So, instead, Izumi closed her eyes, took a deep breath, reached for the burning fire inside her heart and soul, and roared out her challenge.

 

“I PLEDGE! THAT I WILL RISE TO THE OCCASION! THAT I WILL GIVE IT MY ALL! THAT I WILL PUT IN ONE HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT AND WIN! AND SO I PLEDGE TO YOU: GO BEYOND!”

Screaming into the microphone, heedless of the sudden rush of feedback that punctuated her first words, Izumi roared her challenge to the world, to the classes before her, watching as their expressions hardened and their hearts burned with the challenge, grinning to herself as she ripped the microphone from the stand and held it out to the crowd, as if prompting them to speak in her stead those final, burning words that made up the UA motto.

 

“PLUS ULTRA!!!!!”

 

The cheers coming from the crowd were deafening , the shouts and screams of both her fellow students and the attendees drowning out all other noise as Izumi let her normally tight control over her flames slip just a little bit, the sound of her enthusiastic scream punctuated by a blast of brilliant blue flames from her fist, screaming up into the sky like a blaze of pyrotechnics.

 

“YEAH! NOW THAT’S SOME SCHOOL SPIRIT! GIVE IT UP FOR CLASS 1-A’S RISING STAR EVERYONE!”

 

Izumi grinned, almost carelessly tossing the microphone back at Kayama-sensei once her speech was done and walking down the stairs of the podium with her head held high, her internal fire stoked and burning with the strength of her conviction. 

 

Privately, she breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that her part was done- all she had to do now was just do her best to win in all three events, then take the rest of the day off, chill out, and enjoy the rest of the festivities scattered around the stadium lot- maybe go hang out with her actual friend group since she’d been basically doing secret training all on her own for the past two weeks.

 

At the same time, Izumi had to think about what she’d been told multiple times in the last few weeks- before, during, and after their normal classes, during the quiet moments between lectures and exercises in their hero studies, even during mealtimes and in the common room. It wasn’t exactly constant , and it certainly hadn’t been absolutely everyone on the field currently, but there had been a lot of people challenging her during those two weeks.

 

It had started with Hitoshi- a friendly challenge that was more a casual rivalry than anything else. It was actually kind of funny, really- Hitoshi had the potential to really kick Izumi’s ass if he put his mind to it and overwhelmed her with sheer firepower, but she knew damn well that his unstable strength quirk currently wasn’t compatible with using his brainwashing at the same time- it was one or the other, and he definitely needed to practice with it more. 

 

Then it was Shouto. That… that had been a serious challenge. 

 

“Although you’re my friend and mentor for my flames,” he’d stated coldly, eyes frozen and glacier-like as he chilled and heated the air around him in turn, steam hissing out from his body as he stared her down awkwardly while they were waiting in the lunch line, “I will defeat you. And I will do so with the very same lessons that you taught me, so that I might surpass you and become the Number One Hero.”

 

And then he’d had the gall to immediately switch tracks and go back to talking about his favorite cat cafe that Hitoshi had taken him to one weekend like nothing had happened.

 

After that had been Ochako, who was strangely fired up despite still having her bubbly, cheerful persona otherwise. And then Tenya, who just wanted to surpass her to prove that he could stand alongside his brother as the hero Ingenium. Then Himiko, who really had something to prove- that she could stand alongside them even with her so-called villainous quirk that relied on other people’s blood to work properly. And then Yaoyorozu, who’d literally knocked on her door in the middle of the fucking night to deliver her challenge (and, while the impact and annoyance of being woken up in the middle of the fucking night had been lessened by the fact that the taller girl had been dressed in a sheer teddy and was kind of just letting it hang out at the time, that hadn’t really excused the fact that she’d done it at two in the morning) with a literal formal letter outlining a declaration of war with the intent of proving that she wasn’t just a useless, redundant medic and that she would live up to her chosen moniker of The Everything Hero .

 

And then Katsumi had all but exploded her room after she’d learned that she wasn’t the first to challenge Izumi, and had screamed out her challenge of “I’M FINALLY GONNA BEAT YOUR PRISSY TITS IN AND PROVE THAT I’M GONNA BE THE NUMBER ONE, GOT IT PRINCESS!?” also in the middle of the night, though Izumi had minded that slightly less given the fact that Katsumi had barely any sense of dignity and pretty much just slept in loose boxer shorts and… nothing else, really.

 

And then after that the rest of her class had kind of just taken it as a running joke, and thus pretty much everyone else joined in and delivered a challenge to her- mostly as jokes, some were kind of serious. Kirishima was serious about standing out and giving it his all. Kaminari made some kind of bad joke about this town not being big enough for two lightning heroes. Tokoyami had probably been joking, but Dark Shadow had not .

 

On and on- even some of the class B students had taken to ambushing her with it since some of them lived on the same floor as her and Katsumi and well. The entire dorm had basically heard Katsumi screaming at two in the fucking morning and wanted in on the joke.

 

So.

 

Even Tsu had challenged her earlier, giving her ultimatum right before they’d all entered the field just because she thought it was funny that everyone else was doing it.

 

And now- well.

 

Now she was here. And everyone was fired up. And… well.

 

“THE FIRST EVENT OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL IIIIISS…. THE OBSTACLE COURSE…. OF DOOOOOM!!!!”

 

“It’s just an obstacle course, Present Mic.”

 

“OF DOOM!”

 

“.... Sure.”

 

Here they were.

 

The door was open, the starting bell went off.

 

The crowd surged forward, and Izumi raced in with her heart blazing .

 

Time to show the world what she was fucking made of.

 

Time to make her mama proud.

Chapter Text

As soon as the starting bell rang off, Izumi rushed into the crowd without any hesitation- a wide grin on her face as she vaulted over the shoulders of one of the other students before her and launching herself at the wall of the very first obstacle. The starting tunnel, she’d surmised over the past two weeks of studying old sports festivals and subtly checking out the construction that Ishiyama sensei had been doing around the area, was built to be a tight, claustrophobic choke point that everyone would be trampling all over each other to get through.

 

So Izumi decided to just avoid it entirely.

 

With a slight grunt of effort and a complicated twist and jump, Izumi leapt off the ground as soon as she noticed Shouto’s temperature drop , huffing quietly as she flipped up and over using the person in front of her as a springboard so she could land on another person’s shoulders and then throw herself at the wall of the tunnel- obviously she could fly through, but it would have been far too dangerous to everyone below her. So instead, she landed on the wall, braced her legs, and immediately sprinted down the length of the tunnel with one hand pointed down and the other pointed back. Twin flames burst to life as she ran along the wall- one keeping her stuck to the wall so she wouldn’t fall off once her momentum ran out, and the other pointed back to boost her along at well over 50 kilometers per hour with a sound much like that of a roaring jet engine.

 

Instantly, she could hear Katsumi screaming and exploding off of the ground behind her as she figured out the same tactics- though she was going for actual flight, while Tenya broke through the frozen trap that Shouto had laid and copied Izumi’s idea directly- though slightly more awkwardly given that he didn’t have the same method of propulsion. And then- the tunnel broke out into clear open air and Izumi soared .

 

She almost let out a loud cackle of pure delight as she blazed out from the narrow tunnel and felt the sun on her skin again, but just barely managed to reign herself in as she adjusted her position and burned her chi supply. In an instant, both her hands and her feet blazed with a corona of blue flames even stronger than her previous best and rocketed her forward like a brilliant comet soaring through the sky- directly over the massive line of robots that had sprung out of seemingly nowhere to block the advance of the students running on the ground.

 

“AND MIDORIYA TAKES THE LEAD BY FLYING DIRECTLY OVER THE ROBO-INFERNO! IS THAT EVEN LEGAL!?”

 

“We allowed all quirk use and didn’t specify an upper limit on vertical height. Within the spirit of the obstacle course or not, it’s still a smart use of resources. Let’s see if she can keep it up.”

 

Izumi chuckled to herself, grinning wide as she rocket boosted herself as fast as she could, cutting off her power and letting herself glide and fall so as to retain some of her energy while coasting along high above the obstacle course trail- obviously she followed the actual path instead of just coasting along, but she definitely didn’t give one whit about actually getting in there and joining the skirmish of robots- especially not with Shouto freezing the vast majority of them and letting them collapse all over the track in a pile of metal and wires while he ran through.

 

And then, just as she was secure in her lead-

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- HI IZUMI SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE-!”

 

A blur of blue and green and pink screamed past her as Tsu and Ochako tumbled wildly through the air on a vaguely forwards and slightly upwards trajectory- barely even kept in control by way of Ochako’s boosters.

 

Izumi was almost impressed, but also slightly pissed that somehow Tsu’s and Ochako’s Star Sling move was still faster than her maximum speed, even if the tumbling and slightly out of control straight line motion wasn’t quite as good in maneuverability as Ochako’s flight usually was, it still put the two girls in the lead, well ahead of her and even Tenya, who had far surpassed Shouto’s ice sliding speed once he’d gotten free of the slippery, iced over road and managed his full speed once more.

 

This could not stand.

 

Izumi gritted her teeth and growled low in her throat, boosting power to the jets in her feet and hands as she readied one of the many techniques she’d been practicing in the past two weeks. Chi swirled and focused first in her sound chakra, then swelled with power as she moved it to her mouth proper. A compressive force crunched the ball of invisible chi down into a tiny pellet and forced it to sit on the end of her tongue as she opened her mouth wide and focused on the right moment to release.

 

Wait for it… wait for it… wait for it…

 

Now! There, right at the bend in the track!

 

An invisible beam rushed from Izumi’s mouth along a puff of air delivered as a psychosomatic trigger, the thin, tight almost laser-like burst of energy that was a combustion bending fireball racing out ahead of Izumi faster than she could ever hope to move, closing the distance between her and her friends in a mere instant. She timed it just right, waiting as it let off a set of warning pops- one. Two. Three. And then, right as Ochako and Tsu flipped around so the gravity girl could aim her boots and push off in the right direction- it detonated in a concussive burst that Izumi called her Shockwave Grenade - no fire, no heat, just pure force as it erupted and the rush of wind blasting out in front of Ochako and Tsu and completely threw them off and diverted their course- straight off the track and up further into the sky in the complete wrong direction.

 

“DAMN YOU MIDORIYAAAAA!”

 

“Team Rocket’s blasting off again, kero!”

 

“NOT THE TIME TSU!”

 

Izumi grinned as the two of them went spinning off- they’d be fine, of course. Ochako would recover their pathing sooner or later, though they’d be definitely slowed down from the fact that Tsu probably wouldn’t be able to repeat their Star Sling move unless they landed and took the time to set it all up again- which would cost them a lot of valuable time. But, that move had put Izumi solidly back in the lead once again, allowing her to blaze across the giant pit in the ground that was the third obstacle- of course, it had a bunch of pillars in the middle with ropes strewn about to give everyone a chance of crossing, but a pit in the ground wasn’t exactly a challenge , especially when she could fucking fly .

 

Honestly, if it wasn’t for Katsumi screaming off behind her- barely a hundred meters behind and closing, she would have thought she was home free- especially since the fourth obstacle was just a minefield . Which. Again, she could fly , so who cared? There was nothing that could stop her now, she thought, grinning and flying up into the sky to scope out the rest of the track to see just how much she could avoid.

 

It’d be easy, she thought, continuing to boost herself down the track at high speed like there was no tomorrow.


Well, up until the point that she came across a giant maze sticking out of the ground and nearly got shot out of the sky by a fucking net launcher what the fuck!?

Chapter Text

“IT LOOKS LIKE THE ONES IN THE LEAD HAVE FINALLY COME ACROSS THE FIFTH OBSTACLE: THE MAZE OF CONFUSION!”

 

“.... It’s just a regular maze.”

 

“OF CONFUSION!”

 

“.... Regardless. To avoid flight capable students from simply bypassing the entire maze and the rest of the obstacle course, the exit is located somewhere near the center, leading to an underground tunnel system where the remainder of the race will be held.”

 

“AND DON’T WORRY! IT’S NOT YOUR AVERAGE DANK TUNNEL DOWN THERE, IT’S ALL UP TO SPEC AND FULL OF CAMERAS SO WE CAN GET YOU THE BEST VIEWING EXPERIENCE!”

 

Well.

 

That was a kick in the pants.

 

Izumi snarled to herself as she was all but forced to land- there were simply too many net launchers in the air, and outside of the entrance the entire maze was covered up such that there was no way to approach the exit of the maze from the air- and any attempts to skip over the maze and just head back to the stadium on a straight line course would result in disqualification.

 

Or result in severe injury as a result of, you know, getting shot out of the air by net launchers!

 

And so, there she was, sprinting into the maze with Tenya, Shouto, and Katsumi hot on her tail- with Ochako and Tsu making up the rear guard, and at least three of the Class 1-B members hot on their tails- Tokage Setsuna, whose body was split into a bunch of pieces and floating along at high speed, a blond guy doing the same, and Tsunotori Pony riding on a pair of… rocket horns?

 

Izumi shook her head, turning back to face the front as she threw herself into the depths of the maze without any plan of how to actually get in - she’d gotten a glimpse of the structure from above through the tinted glass roof, but if she really wanted to get stuck into the maze and make it out faster than everyone else, she’d probably have to do something that would, on paper, cost her quite a lot of time.

 

Then again, she had probably at least thirty seconds before Katsumi caught up to her, and she knew damn well that her land speed was much faster than Katsumi’s- even with the intensive training she knew Katsumi would have put herself through, using explosions to propel oneself through the air was much different from trying to use it like a rocket boost.

 

Tenya was a different matter, but he didn’t have anywhere near the same maneuverability as she did with her ability to run on walls (like his brother, come to think of it), and so would be forced to slow down on his turns while she could just use the walls to guide her around.

 

Shouto…. Shouto might be a problem if he decided to ice over the entire maze, but then again- the walls were nearly ten meters high. She could fly through the, honestly quite wide, corridors of the maze if worse came to worst.

 

And so, barely a few twists and turns into the maze, Izumi skidded to a stop as she heard the rest of her chasers slow down ever so slightly at the entrance of the massive complex. Izumi, however, didn’t run recklessly into the depths. No, she simply… breathed . And if, in the darkened interior of the maze, that caused several of her competitors to run right past her without noticing her presence as she tucked herself away into one of the dead ends… well, that was their problem. Not hers.

 

Izumi just breathed , and in doing so, she flooded the air with heat . Heat that bounced off of the walls, raising the temperature of the maze and filling the spaces between the cold concrete walls- filling the air down low near the ground- with warmth and swirls of current that she could track. A map formed in her mind as the heat spread further and further, the pinprick signatures of her friends and fellow students lighting up points along the maze until she found… found…

 

There!

 

A steep drop into the ground- a dark spot of cool and dark amidst the warm buzz of heat pressing against her senses. Nobody was even remotely close to it, though she could tell that Tsu was starting to get close to the right path just on pure luck- that, or Tsu could echolocate using the sound of her ribbits. Which… wasn’t really a thing she was sure Tsu could do, but she had brought it up once.

 

“Too easy- not even any obstacles in the way…” Izumi muttered under her breath, frowning to herself as she started down the maze- the second group of runners was fast approaching, and Izumi didn’t want to get left behind. “Well. See you all at the finish line, everyone.”

 

And Izumi ran . Immediately, flames burst out from her palms as she raced forward at a near parallel angle to the ground, her hands held behind and flaring with the power of her jets, pushing her to speeds that could have matched Tenya on a straight run (maybe. She hadn’t checked. He’d probably be faster than her within a few weeks if he tried). And as flames burst out behind her, so too did smoke . A thick, black haze that flooded the entire maze behind her and left the slightly darkened halls even darker than before- to the point that there was almost no visibility for anyone caught in her trail.

 

Izumi tried not to cackle as she all but bounced off the walls, using them to aid her turns and ping-ponging between them whenever she had to make a quick succession of rapid direction changes. Unfortunately, she failed to hold back her laughter as she passed by Tenya, vaulting onto and over her taller friend’s shoulders and leaving him eating her dust. 

 

“SEE YOU AT THE FINISH LINE, TENYA! AHAHAHAHAHA!”

 

“THAT IS MOST UNSPORTSMAN-LIKE BEHAVIOR! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW AND APOLOGIZE, MIDORIYA IZUMI!”

 

“NEVER!”

 

And on and on she went, the blazing blue of her flames lighting up the walls before her while the trail of smoke blinded everyone else behind her, the expanding wave of particles even going so far as to partially hide her trail from anyone else- though, probably not as well as she could have done had she just flooded the entire area with smoke first… but Izumi wanted to hit the next stage fast before someone entering the maze passed out from smoke inhalation. Obviously she could have just suppressed the smoke entirely, but she wanted a decent buffer in both time and distance before she actually made it easier for everyone else.

 

Plus Ultra, right?

 

Ah- there it was. That nice, cool hole in the ground, right where she’d sensed its presence against the heat she’d released into the maze.

 

Well, more of a giant pit, really, with a nearly 45 degree slide that went… really far down. Far enough down that she couldn’t even see the bottom of the slide as it curved out of sight.

 

“Well. Into the breach, I guess,” Izumi muttered, breathing deeply and sliding to a halt before the hole in the ground as she did a complicated spin with her arms, twisting around and around twice before slamming her fist into her palm in a move almost reminiscent of airbending, such that the smoke flooding the entire maze instantly fell to the ground and vanished- suffused with her chi as it was, it was all too easy to get rid of it.

 

And then, ignoring the muffled thump and screech of surprise from someone else seemingly falling to the floor a few corridors over… Izumi jumped down the slick, metal slide and rode it down, far into the depths below…

 

And splashed down into a long, brightly lit, massive tunnel, with a row of what looked like wave breakers and sluice gates at one end and some kind of complex machinery (along with a ramp that led to presumably the rest of the obstacle course) far off down the other nearly two hundred meters away. In chest high water.

 

Izumi blinked, frowning as she looked back over at the wall of machinery on the far end. “... Is that… oh. Oh fuck all kinds of duck that’s a goddamn wave generator!”

 

Three beeps sounded out in quick succession, along with the sound of whirring machinery.

 

The wall at the far end pulsed , and a wave nearly three meters high blasted forward with all the urgency of an out of control freight train and probably nearly as much kinetic energy (or, at least, it’d feel like it). Straight towards Izumi’s face.

 

What she wouldn’t give to be a fucking waterbender right about now…

Chapter Text

With seconds to spare before the wave hit her in the face and likely threw her back into the depths of the tunnel, Izumi made a decision. She couldn’t swim past the wave- the motion of the water even below the surface would make it impossible and while diving below a wave would keep her from being knocked back too far, she could hear the beeping and whirring of motors and hydraulic rams that meant that not only was one wave coming straight for her- no, it was going to be multiple. And, while she had improved her swimming quite a lot since she was a six year old girl nearly drowning because the sudden shock of water suppressing the fire in her chi pathways was nearly too much for her, she still wasn’t exactly… comfortable being underwater for too long.

 

Not that it would stop her of course, it was just that she wasn’t Zuzu , whose talents she’d learned laid more in being a fucking ninja assassin more than they did a terrifyingly powerful firebender. So, swimming was right out. Bending fire was equally stupid, since no amount of fire that she could generate completely submerged up to her chest would actually prevent her from getting thrown by the wave- it’d likely as not just tire her out more than she already was.

 

Lightning was…

 

Absolutely fucking stupid, moronic beyond belief. Who fucking tried to use lightning on water when they were submerged in it?

 

Not her, thank you very much. Izumi enjoyed life too much to kill herself doing something that stupid.

 

So, that left one option.

 

The option that she had kind of wanted to keep mostly secret (well, not that she’d been doing a good job of it, but still. It was supposed to be an ace up her sleeve), but was forced to use now.

 

Combustionbending.

 

With a deep breath, Izumi faced the oncoming wave with as much grit as she could muster, glaring at it with full force and focusing her chi. She’d be cutting it close, but it had nearly a hundred meters to cover before she had to worry about it. So, about ten seconds at best.

 

It was a bit of a stretch on her reserves, but she’d purposefully been pigging out a hell of a lot more these past two weeks, building up a massive reserve of chi to keep herself going- and it paid off now.

 

A surge of heat raced through her pathways, like liquid fire in her muscles and veins as it converged on her light chakra right in the middle of her forehead, swirling around as it compressed down and down and down into a tiny pinprick of pure force . It wasn’t easy, making her firebending come out as a concussive blast more than a blast of heat, but she wasn’t going for total evaporation. No, all she had to do was blow a path out of the water and get the fuck out before it collapsed back in on her. 

 

And so, once she’d built up the vast majority of her remaining reserve power into a singular blast, she let it loose .

 

It wasn’t a tight beam of controlled power. It wasn’t a thin, laserlike distortion in the air erupting in a fiery conflagration on impact with enough strength to vaporize a small lake.

 

It wasn’t anything like her usual combustionbending.

 

It was raw, violent, uncontained. It was less a thin beam and more of an expanding cone of heat and force , a raw roar of air pressure blasting down the tunnel like the aftermath of one of All Might’s Detroit Smashes. It was a surging wind, blindingly hot and dry that forced all of the water in the area out and to the sides before smashing into the wave generator at the end with enough force to dent it into no longer moving, the ending rush of force slamming into the ramp at the far end of the tunnel in a blaze of flame and heat, while the water around Izumi was immediately vaporized.

 

And as this happened, Izumi reeled back, gasping from the sudden spike of agony that the recoil shoved down her neck in a sharp crick , like a neck adjustment gone horribly wrong. She wasn’t afraid to admit to herself that she screamed a little bit, but despite the pain she kept her focus- she’d gone through worse pain in her life and come out on top. She’d been fucking stabbed before and still managed to focus even through the haze of blood and agony running down her gut.

 

Granted, she’d been much older and much more hardened, but still.

 

So, without missing a beat, Izumi simply ran forward as the water slowly gushed back into place in the aftermath of her Thermal Wave, her chi bursting out behind like a rocket once more as she raced down the dry tunnel floor as fast as she could- even managing to sprint on top of the water for the last few feet as it splashed up to her knees and almost tripped her up- but still.

 

It had only taken a few seconds of effort- just a few seconds, an entire metric assload of stored chi to push all of the water away long enough for her to actually move through instead of getting smacked in the face by a wall of water, and a ridiculous spike of pain in her neck- and she was clear. Home free.

 

Well, except for the next few obstacles, all of which were possibly underground, in a place where she wouldn’t be able to regenerate her reserves by basking in the sun.

 

Izumi didn’t care though, and continued running down the tunnel with the sound of her feet slapping against the hard concrete echoing all around her. She was still in the lead by a wide margin now- almost to the point that it wasn’t even fair. But who cared? Izumi didn’t. All she cared about was putting forth her best effort and winning , to show everyone who was boss.

 

And so, she continued down the tunnel, and hoped that the last few obstacles in her way wouldn’t be anything she couldn’t get past using her firebending.

 

She was almost there. She just had to keep running. It was almost over- six obstacles down. What was next?

 

She paused as the ground rose up before her suddenly, sliding to a halt as she read the signage parked just off the side of the concrete track.

 

Ah, so that’s how she was getting back out of this godforsaken pit in the ground.

 

A variable pitch climbing wall.

 

Well then.

 

Izumi rolled her neck, using a slight burst of heat and energy to ease the pain there and keep her from getting too stiff as she stared up at the nearly vertical steel face before her, handholds, platforms, and even ropes jutting out randomly all over its surface as it ascended up all the way to the surface, with random sections jutting in and out at odd angles to make it even harder to climb.


She grinned, and leapt into the air with a burst of flame- This part would be easy .

Chapter 65

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

By the time that Izumi had all but entirely bypassed the entire rock climb (she’d climbed up part of it of course because she didn’t spend all those hours on the rock wall in the gym for nothing ) by flying over it, a number of people had already also bypassed the wave pool and were currently hot on Izumi’s tail.

 

This was, honestly, entirely her fault for breaking the wave making machine with her Thermal Wave blast. After all, without the primary obstacle that would have made the wave pool so much harder to get past, everyone could just swim to shore and keep going. Katsumi had actually fallen behind, interestingly enough, due to the fact that the water completely diluted her sweat to the point of being entirely neutralized, and left her needing to rely on her own physical skills to climb up the wall until the dry air and her own exertion resulted in her sweating again.

 

Tenya was similarly behind- the water had entirely clogged his engines, and trying to use them resulted in what Present Mic called a “horrible backfire” if the sound of her teacher’s screaming echoing through the halls was any indication.

 

(Seriously though, she got why they had loudspeakers in the stadium, but why did they need speakers in the obstacle course?)

 

As Izumi continued running along, wondering where and what the next obstacle was, she continued to stretch out her thermal radar to its furthest limits, checking on who was closest by and who was running behind. She could feel Shouto’s signature almost in the lead of the pack- apparently he could just bypass the rock wall entirely by rising up on a vertical glacier, if that massive cold spike was any indication, and several of the runners up behind him were also clinging onto the glacier to try and use his ascent to shortcut their way to victory.

 

Up until the point that Katsumi blasted off of the wall and shattered the glacier as she started flying again.

 

There was also some kind of fast moving blur jumping up the wall, but she couldn’t quite make out who it was- though, she could guess from how familiar the heat signature felt.

 

And then there was Ochako and Tsu… and Ochako again? Ah, right. Himiko. The three of them were apparently sticking together at the moment, with Himiko’s blood vials allowing them to actually make full use of the myriad quirks Himiko had access to… like Tenya’s Engines allowing them to rocket boost up and over the rock wall and directly towards her- shit!

 

“WE’RE FUCKIN’ COMING FOR YOU MIDORIYAAAAA!” Ochako roared almost viciously out from behind, the sound of roaring engines and two feminine screams (well, one feminine from Tsu, the other was just Tenya’s voice twisted into a girly scream by Himiko) almost overtaking the sound of her own flames as the three of them clung onto each other and careened towards Izumi like a jet propelled cannonball. “YOU CAN’T ESCAPE MEEEE! I’LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EAAAARTH!”

 

Unfortunately for them, Izumi was still well aware of her situation and chi levels, and, well.

 

Another concussive blast of combustionbending threw the three of them wildly off course… straight into a wall.

 

“DAMN YOU MIDORI- WEH!”

 

“KERO! Which one of you kneed me in the dick!?”

 

“Sorry Tsu!”

 

“Owwww…”

 

Izumi chuckled lightly, waving at the pile of three girls currently groaning off the side of the track, all of them tangled up in each others’ limbs as they tried to work out just how they were going to get back into the race. “Sorry Ocha, Tsu, Himi! But I made a promise, and I’m gonna keep it!”

 

“Not if you keep getting distracted like that.”

 

What?

 

“Huh-?”

 

Was that… Hitoshi?

 

Uh oh.

 

It was Hitoshi, purple sparkles emanating around him like a cloud of tiny stars, giving him an almost glittery appearance as he jogged towards them at a speed fast enough to nearly match Tenya’s Engines.

 

Izumi could only watch , really, considering that she’d lost control of her motor faculties the moment that she’d responded to Hitoshi’s taunt.

 

She was almost proud of him for taking advantage of her ego, but also she was really pissed about the fact that she’d gotten so distracted as to allow Hitoshi, who she knew could and would brainwash her freely with almost zero hesitation given the training they’d done together during hero class, to brainwash her without her even noticing.

 

Oh well.

 

It wasn’t like she could break free right now. Right?

 

Then again…

 

“Go sit next to your girlfriends and wait until I’m out of sight,” Hitoshi called out somewhat breathlessly, slowing to a walk as he passed Izumi and gave her a wicked, teasing smirk. “And remember, Midoriya: You agreed to this challenge. Game on, right?”

 

Izumi would have been so proud of Hitoshi’s sass if he wasn’t aiming it at her right now- let it be known. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly funny to her at the moment, since she was currently being forced to walk to the side of the track where Ochako, Himiko, and Tsu were still stuck trying to get untangled from each other (and Tsu was still all but crippled from Himiko kneeing her right in the crotch a few seconds ago)... up until the point that Himiko flung a FUCKING KNIFE at her and-

 

Ow.

 

Her cheek.

 

“... Ah shit. Dammit, why couldn’t you three have just let her lose!?” Hitoshi complained, groaning as Izumi shook her head and came back to herself, while Hitoshi just looked thoroughly done with life.

 

“Because it’s funnier that way!” Ochako called out, her eyes going dim for all of half a second before Tsu smacked her in the cheek and woke her up.

 

“Because I’m super gay and Izumi’s hot,” Himiko deadpanned, somehow not falling under Hitoshi’s last ditch attempt at brainwashing her. Probably because Tsu was still trying to push her off by jabbing her in the ribs.

 

“Because Izumi didn’t steal my chicken nuggets a week ago, kero!” Tsu glared at Hitoshi, giving him a double middle finger with about as much vitriol as she could.

 

“That was a FUCKING WEEK AGO! And I only took ONE! Are you still mad about that!?” Hitoshi growled, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation, completely incredulous as to the reasonings each girl had given him. “And- wait, why are we even having this conversation?”

 

“To distract you til Izumi left,” Himiko giggled, then licked a dab of blood from the straw sticking out of her mouth via the collar wrapped around her neck and upper back, transforming into Tenya once more so she could pick up Ochako and Tsu (who were both weightless again, when the hell had Ochako done that , Hitoshi wondered) and- “Anywayseeyouatthefinishlinebye~!”

 

“Wait- wh- HEY FUCK YOU!”

 

Hitoshi took off after Himiko, glaring and swearing under his breath as he did his absolute best to keep up with the ridiculous sprint speed that Himiko had going on only to fall just barely, barely short- completely unable to keep up using his strength without cracking his bones.

 

Meanwhile, Katsumi was coming up from behind, as was Shouto and the real Tenya, and Izumi was a fucking speck of blue fire running up the ramp to the surface in the distance, and Hitoshi was starting to lose steam even as he pushed his newfound quirk as hard as he safely could, blazing through the last obstacle in the track in the vain hopes of catching up to the girl he’d called his rival (and passing Tsu hopping across the obstacles halfway through. Apparently the three girls had swapped places, although carrying two weightless bodies still slowed the froggy girl down due to how awkward the positioning was) even as Izumi made it back to the stadium while Hitoshi was halfway across the massive metal jungle gym ripped straight out of a season of that gameshow Sasuke and Katsumi was just flying through on his tail because of course the insane explosion gyaru was also an accomplished parkour expert fuck his life and- and-

 

“WOW! WHAT AN AMAZING SERIES OF EVENTS, FOLKS! THE STYLE! THE SKILL! THE SPEED! THE SHEER DOMINATION OVER WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN HOUR LONG OBSTACLE COURSE! ERASERHEAD JUST WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING YOUR STUDENTS!?”

 

“Unfortunately, they’ve been like that since day one... And what do you mean an hour long? That was barely five kilometers of horizontal distance.”

 

“REGARDLESS! RIGHT NOW, SETTING A WHOLE NEW RECORD FOR THE FIRST YEAR OBSTACLE RACE IN JUST UNDER FIFTEEN MINUTES- EVEN WITH THE NO FLY ZONE PARKOUR NINJA RUN AT THE END- IT’S THAT WOMAN! THE ONE AND ONLY…. MIDORIYA IZUMIIIIII!”

 

Notes:

I can't believe no one's brought up the fucking spiderman TAS reference I put in the chapter.

Also, if you'd like to read it, here's the entire story so far in its unchanged google doc form.

Did you know this fic has fucking ARCS? Well now you do.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nwe-Ga9QcT6nZ9m1pb_RoRqOAZSR4X3AByyECJcnKnU/edit?usp=sharing

Chapter Text

If Izumi had to describe the sheer rush of euphoria that came from winning the first challenge of the sports festival… she would have said that it totally wasn’t worth it . Oh sure , some years it was , given that the previous year’s obstacle course winner had gotten a ten million point bounty on their head during the cavalry battle that had occurred right after, but this time around it was more likely as not to be something that didn’t put a massive target on the winner of the obstacle course. Just because it had been done the previous year already. Twice, even, what with the second year event having been a weird item collecting challenge where people competed to collect prop swords with point values on them.

 

Hm.

 

Izumi sighed quietly, rolling her neck and chugging down a bottle of water as she waited for the next event to start- it’d already been almost five minutes since she’d finished the race, and while Katsumi, Hitoshi, Shouto, Ochako, Tsu, and Himiko had already arrived, there were a whole bunch of stragglers who seemed to be taking their sweet time. Not that Izumi was surprised - this year, even with the abundance of movement assisting quirks, there had been so many choke points that restricted movement in one way or another along the race.

 

They just… hadn’t accounted for someone who could fly as fast as her. Or Ochako. Or Katsumi. 

 

Still- the initial choke point of the narrow gate, then the robots to force anyone without combat quirks to slow down and find another way around, then the giant pit in the ground that fucked over anyone who couldn’t balance super well or find a good way across the ropes… and then the fucking minefield .

 

Izumi was not at all surprised to see how many of the gen ed and business course students were still lightly jogging their way through the minefield, nor was she surprised to see how many support students were slogging through the maze (Principal Nedzu was probably laughing his ass off at that one…), nor was she really surprised to see how many people were still stuck on the alcoves and rest points that dotted the massive rock climb right near the end.

 

To say nothing of how many people were barely able to get through the ninja jungle gym thing that Izumi swore she could see Sasuke branding on if she squinted at some of the rougher patches of paint. There were a lot of people just swimming to the end after falling off at some point or another- not that it was against the rules, but it was kind of against the spirit of the challenge.

 

Izumi couldn’t really find it in her to fault them for that, though. Even with her skills, sprinting through the entire run at the speed she had was tiring as hell. Honestly, if she were being true to her past memories, Zuko probably could have done it even faster. Her past life’s older brother was always so much better at being a terrifying ninja assassin than she was. She was no slouch, but well. She was barely trained with Mai’s daggers. Zuko mastered dual wielding swords.

 

Anyway.

 

Regardless of her musings on her past life, the one thing she was surprised by was the fact that whole bunch of people were stuck in the wave pool- which wasn’t even really a wave pool anymore considering that she’d broken the damn thing with her Thermal Wave attack. But then again.

 

Shouto had happened and, well. It was less of a pool now and more of a frigid slush with a slowly breaking apart line of ice on the surface.

 

She kind of felt bad for them, but well… not that much. Even if they gave up, they could just exit through the side doors instead of continuing down the track and get back to the stadium like that. It was still a little sad seeing so many people screaming and flailing about in the ice cold water like they were drowning.

 

It was hilarious, though, seeing Mineta’s ugly mug splashing around in that same icy slush. It was just kind of weird how he hadn’t been entirely expelled for sexual harassment yet, but, then again, if he had been expelled she wouldn’t get to see him flail around like an idiot loser.

 

“So, you just had to show off, didn’t you?” Katsumi asked idly as she strolled up, interrupting Izumi’s introspection and viewing of the people who were still stumbling past the finish line- interestingly enough, there was an entire group of Class 1-B students coming in together… as well as a few stragglers from Class 1-C… and one or two of the 1-D remedial hero studies students (or, as the nickname went, the “hero hopefuls” classes). “Couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? Couldn’t let aaanyone else have a chance, huh?”

 

“Oh please, you and I both know you’d have been actually mad if I hadn’t gone all out and won,” Izumi snorted, rolling her eyes as Katsumi sat down next to her and stretched out her sore legs. Katsumi honestly looked weird to her wearing an actual UA branded set of exercise clothes- that shade of blue was… not the best color on her. Also just that Izumi was so used to Katsumi working out in a thin crop top and booty shorts that it was honestly jarring to see her wearing actual exercise pants and one of the UA breathable jersey shirts, even if she had left it unzipped and just tied it together to make it look even slightly cuter. “And besides, you must have gotten a wonderful view of my ass… well, if you could make it out through all the dust in your face.”

 

Katsumi scowled, though honestly with the way she flounced and crossed her arms at the same time, it really came off as more of a pout. Kind of a cute one too. “Hey, just because I woulda been mad if you didn’t smoke all the losers we had to deal with, doesn’t mean I’m not still mad that you somehow got even stronger in the last two weeks! What the hell were you even doing!?”

 

“Honestly? Mostly meditating, getting back in touch with my spiritual center… doing a lot of chi expansion practice in one of the forest grounds… I called my mom a lot, watched a lot of lesbian porn to take my mind off the stress of writing a speech, nearly pulled a finger jilling off while watching said porn late at night… Honestly it wasn’t really that much harder than I usually go, I just kinda… did it,” Izumi shrugged, honestly not having much of an answer herself- she had trained harder of course, but her strangely high rate of growth was… well. Maybe it was just her old memories becoming clearer and clearer as she got more in touch with her spiritual self. Maybe it was just that she just needed some time to herself so she could really cut loose. “Either way, I did it, made some breakthroughs, and I finally cracked the code that lets me do a whole new form of firebending that’s gonna make everyone shit their fucking pants .”

 

“... Suddenly, I feel like my chances of winning this tournament have gone down even more than they had before,” Katsumi deadpanned, sighing and rubbing her forehead as she looked down at her other hand, clenching it into a fist for a moment before letting out a loud groan of discontent. “Uggh! Dammit! That means you finally finished that fucking stupid anime laser bullshit, didn’t you!?”

 

“Yup. And I’m gonna use it during the one on one battles.”

 

“Fuck!”

Chapter 67

Notes:

If any of you missed it, Chapter 65 contains a link to the original google doc of this fic if anyone wants to read that. Additionally, I'd just like to say that I read every single comment on this fic and I cherish all of them so please feel free to drop more.

This chapter contains an embedded image

Chapter Text

“.... The second event is beach volleyball,” Izumi deadpanned, staring incredulously up at the screen that now showed a very short tournament bracket for the elimination rounds- even with everyone back at the stadium after the hour had passed (well, most. Some just checked out of the race entirely and went to go get an early lunch), there had only been forty students who’d made it to the next round. 

 

Surprisingly enough, not all of that group was just 1-A and 1-B- Aoyama, Shoda, Bondo, and Fukidashi from 1-B hadn’t made the cut, neither had Koda, Hagakure, Sato, or Jirou from 1-A. There were a few 1-C and 1-D students in the mix, but Izumi wasn’t at all familiar with them so she couldn’t really put names to faces beyond the fact that one of them had crawled out of the ground and taken 29th and that said girl’s quirk apparently involved a transformation component where she gained shark features. Which was.

 

Well, it sure was something. 

 

There were even a few support course students who’d only just barely not made the cut, though Hatsume Mei from 1-H had apparently used her support gear and stolen 15th right out from under Ashido.

 

But back to Izumi’s main point- the second event of the first year sports festival was indeed beach volleyball. Ten teams of four would be formed (with the first 10 finishers of the obstacle course being the team captains, of course) and clash head to head until only twenty contestants remained. Which was a fancy way of saying they’d all play a single match of volleyball and whoever won would end up fighting in the actual tournament round. Quirks were allowed, of course, and the winner of each round was decided by either the first to reach 15, or the first to gain a 5 point lead. Furthermore, due to the wonderfully warm weather it was decided that all students competing could wear whatever swimwear they so chose. There was even a fake beach for the non-competing students to lounge on while they all waited, how thoughtful. 

 

Also, apparently they were waiving most of the rules of volleyball when it came to what methods of hitting the ball were allowed. So, kicking, punching, kneeing, tail swiping, etc etc, was all well within the bounds of the rules now. The only caveat was that one could still only hit the ball once consecutively, and that quirk use had to stay localized to either the nearly indestructible volleyballs, or stay on one’s own side of the net. Also apparently that just making a wall to prevent the opposite team from scoring wasn’t allowed… with the caveat that they could be made, they just couldn’t stay up past the first impact. And that the opposite team was allowed to break said wall.

 

“Someone up there hates me ,” Izumi sighed, rubbing her forehead as she slipped out of her sweaty exercise uniform and into the tastefully concealing beach outfit that she’d brought along with her- it wasn’t technically a swimsuit, but it was virtually indistinguishable from one. It just… was made more for fashion than it was for swimming. But still, it almost reminded her of that one outfit she’d worn all those years (and a lifetime ago, when she’d been young and pretty and also way more mentally ill than she was now) ago to Ember Island’s beaches- the top was red and white, with a clasp at her collarbones with the Fire Nation insignia etched into the brass. The bottom was simple black with a pair of doubled white straps on the sides, mostly concealed by a slightly off kilter, loosely tied crimson sarong. It was supportive and durable, well made and very stylish.

 

Izumi's Beach Outfit

 

It, also, apparently, made everyone else in the locker room stare at her like she’d grown a second head.

 

Well, that, or they were thirsting over her. Hopefully the latter, but Izumi had never claimed to be good at reading that kind of intent.

 

“Mido-chan, how is it that every time I think you can’t get prettier, you somehow do? ” Hagakure asked, still in the middle of changing out of her exercise clothes and into her normal outfit as she spoke. “Because seriously, it’s so unfair how you just… look good in everything! All I can ever hope to do is just make my outline look nice…

 

“I’m fairly tall and work out, I think that’s about all I can say,” Izumi blushed ever so slightly, now knowing for sure that at least Hagakure was openly admiring her body. “And um- you look pretty too, you know. Maybe brush your hair some, though… it looks a little wild right now.”

 

“Wait wh- hair!? You can see her, Midoriya!? Explain!” Ashido shouted, butting into the conversation before Hagakure could respond, though the invisible girl had still given off a radiant blush that left her heat signature adorably flushed.

 

Izumi tried not to pay attention to the way she could literally sense heat pooling in certain places around the room as she crossed her arms under her breasts and leaned casually back against her locker. 

 

“Yes, I can sort of see Hagakure,” Izumi nodded after a moment, her eyes pulsing with chi as she pushed more effort into her thermal vision- she knew that it made her normally golden eyes look strangely hazy, so put some more energy into it to make the effect clearer. “During our first week or so, I developed a technique using my quirk that more or less gave me a radar of every single heat signature in an area. I then refined it further until I could see those same heat signatures instead of feeling them out with a sense that I honestly could not properly describe. Yes, this does mean I know what Hagakure’s physical features look like. No, I can’t see in color, it’s pretty much just black and white.”

 

“... Every time I think you’ve reached the end of how despicably and ridiculously versatile your quirk is, you always have to whip out something new like that,” Momo sighed from across the room, staring dead ahead at her locker without reacting to much of anything. Izumi politely pretended not to notice the nuclear blush on her cheeks. “It’s both inspiring, and disheartening to know just how far ahead of us you are in… almost every measure.”

 

Actually, seriously, why the fuck was it only her that drew these reactions? Both the stares from every other girl around her and the self deprecating amazement. Was she actually that different from the people around her? Was that a good thing?

 

Questions for later. 

 

Izumi shook her head, grimacing a bit. “That’s not true. I mean, my growth rate is pretty fast, I’ll admit, but none of you are behind . If anything, all of you are ahead of me in a lot of areas outside of direct combat. Tsu is a better water rescue heroine, Yaoyorozu is so much more versatile, Ashido is way better with being personable and approachable, Himiko and Hagakure are stealthier than I am, Ochako is a perfect rescue heroine, and Jirou is just plain cool.”

 

There was a collective set of “aww”s as Izumi listed off the girls’ positive attributes… up until the point that Katsumi slammed her locker shut, dressed in a stylish bikini top and tight shorts combo that she’d definitely bummed off of one of her mother’s sets.

 

“And me?” Katsumi asked, raising an eyebrow at Izumi, who thought real hard about being a dick to her best friend before just rolling her eyes and letting a puff of air out of her nose as she spoke the truth.

 

“You try harder than anyone else, including me, and you’d be far, far better at villain apprehension than I would just through sheer effort,” Izumi shrugged, then shook her head. “Anyway- come on girls, the next event is starting soon, we gotta get going!”

Chapter 68

Notes:

This chapter contains two embedded images at the end

Chapter Text

Beach volleyball was not necessarily a sport that Izumi claimed herself to be actually good at, but she’d picked her team about as well as she could given that it was more or less random selection. She’d wanted to choose some of her classmates, but her fellow team captains had gotten to them first- after all, the pick went 10th place to 1st, which meant that Izumi was kind of left to work with whatever plan she could scrape together with Yaoyorozu (who was honestly kind of mad that everyone had passed her over for being a rich girl and thus “probably shit at volleyball”- which, while true, still stung), Shiozaki-san from 1-B, and Tokoyami.

 

Apparently, Tokoyami hadn’t really ever played volleyball before outside of gym class, but that was fine. Once Izumi had figured out what Shiozaki’s quirk was (well, once she learned its limitations and abilities, she already knew it had something to do with her head of vines), she’d put the three of them on defense, and as the only member of the team with a really good working knowledge of volleyball (or, at least, had watched enough women’s volleyball in highschool and played it a few times in her previous life… and a few times during highschool as well) as well as an excessively aggressive quirk, she was their server and primary striker.

 

“So, I’ve got a plan,” Izumi murmured quietly into her group huddle as she observed their opponents- Tenya’s team, involving him, Kaminari, some guy from 1-C with a ponytail who looked possibly of Chinese descent, and some guy from 1-D with some kind of mutant quirk that mostly just made him look like an upright tortoise with more humanoid proportions.

 

Like one of those… what were they- those american comic characters…. Ah yes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He looked kind of like that, but less lumpy and more like an actual person.

 

So, really, more of a kappa than a Ninja Turtle. In swim trunks.

 

“Turtle guy over there moves slow- I didn’t catch his name, Tokoyami don’t give me that look-”

 

“His name is Uragame,” Tokoyami deadpanned.

 

“Okay, Uragame moves slowly and although he can ricochet off the ground by retracting and extending from his shell rapidly, it’s not very fast, he doesn’t gain much vertical height, and it will almost certainly be weaker on sand. Tenya is fast, but other than his land speed- which he’ll have to limit himself otherwise he’ll just trip over himself and pelt his team with sand- he’ll be playing almost normally. I’m not sure what’s up with the ponytail guy-”

 

“Rin Hiryu,” Shiozaki cut in, her hands clasped a bit nervously in front of her chest as she listened to Izumi speak. “He’s friends with some of my classmates.”

 

“... Right. Rin over there looks like he doesn’t know anything about volleyball- he’s nervous and he’s limping slightly, likely from some muscle strain during the obstacle course- see that bandage wrapped all over his left foot? He probably has a blister. With Tenya, he’ll almost certainly be serving. Kaminari knows how to play volleyball, so he’ll likely play center field just to block the majority of our safe shots, while Rin and Tenya play further back and Uragame plays the wall. The plan is this: You three play defense and pass the ball to me when you can. Tokoyami, Shiozaki, you play at the edges- Dark Shadow and vines can stretch farther and faster than I can jet myself over or Yaoyorozu can run. Yaoyorozu, you play close to the net and raise a barrier when you can to block any spikes. I’ll run main attack- they won’t be able to block my hits.”

 

And with that, the first match of the second event of the UA sports festival began with the sound of a loud sports whistle.

 

As all eight of them took their places, Tokoyami and Izumi nodded towards Tenya and Kaminari- both of whom nodded back. They were in agreement- although they wished to take the challenge as far as they could go, to push each other as far and as hard as they could as classmates and friends and heroes in training… this was a game. This was just a fun, not quite relaxing , but with very low stakes game for all of them to show off their quirks in.

 

Whoever won this game, they’d still all be friends afterwards.

 

Well, maybe not with the class 1-C and 1-D guys on Tenya’s team since they didn’t tend to cross paths much, but still.

 

Izumi breathed deeply as she looked up at the sun, feeling its warmth across her face as she watched Team 8 across from her take exactly the positions she expected of them- Uragame up front already prepared to block the ball as it came over the net, Rin in one back corner with scales covering his arms and favoring his left side- though, given he was on the left side of his field, Izumi wouldn’t really be able to angle towards his obvious weak point too easily- Tenya in the other back corner, and Kaminari in the center of the field. Meanwhile, Tokoyami took the left side of their field, Shiozaki took the right, and Yaoyorozu took the front while Izumi took the entire center back.

 

“I’ll try to make this painless for you four- I’m sure you’ll do your best, but none of you has a quirk particularly suited to defending against what I’m about to do to you all,” Izumi called out, trash talking just a little as she gave Team 8 an evil smirk, the ball feeling slightly heavy as she hefted it in one hand and tossed it up and down to get a feel of its weight. 

 

“A bold claim!” Tenya shouted back, chopping his arms as he readied himself for Izumi’s serve- not at all knowing what she was about to do, but prepared to give it his all even if it burned him. “However, you should also consider this: We will be kicking your butt and advancing to the next round!”

 

“... Dude, that was awful trash talk,” Kaminari sighed, rubbing his nose before getting his head back in the game with a small shake.

 

“Hmm… we’ll see about that,” Izumi muttered, and promptly set the ball on fire.

 

Tenya gulped. Ah, now he saw what Izumi was doing.

 

Izumi grinned wide, all sharp and full of teeth as she stared down the suddenly nervous boys before her, the flaming ball in her hands completely smothered in brilliant blue fire. Another flex of her will sent the flaming ball high up into the air on a jet of azure inferno, rising like a comet in reverse while Izumi jumped after it.

 

The first serve of the game was struck.

 

Team 8 didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.


Izumi may or may not have finished the game echoing a sentence she’d said in her past self’s youth that she even now still cringed at.


 

Izumi's UA Uniform

 

Katsumi's Style

Chapter 69

Notes:

Haha 69 nice

Chapter Text

After a thoroughly embarrassingly quick match during which Izumi’s grasp of tactics, her superb aim, and the ridiculously high velocities with which she could launch a volleyball using chained explosions and firebending (plus, you know, lighting the ball on fire) had all combined such that Tenya’s team lost 0-5 in less than five minutes, Izumi had… honestly not bothered to change back into her regular clothes, nor her UA branded gym outfit. Her bikini worked fine, after all, and it let her get more sun than usual so she was definitely happy about her chi reserves regenerating faster as she meditated silently on the fake beach that UA had built up instead of having other teams wait elsewhere.

 

Overall, it hadn’t even been that much of a warmup for her- oh sure, she’d still burned through a decent amount of her chi reserve, but with the access to free food she’d have during the lunch break before the third event of the sports festival, she’d be able to make it all back and more, especially considering how much energy she was getting back just from sitting in the sunlight.

 

“Ah, if it isn’t the cockiest member of the illustrious Class 1-A herself!” a thoroughly annoying voice called out, some idiotic figure stepping directly into her light and casting a shadow over Izumi’s form. “To think you can just sit there and nap while all of us prepare for the tournament rounds- just how far above us do you think you are that you can look down on everyone else like this?”

 

Izumi grumbled quietly, letting out a quiet breath through her nose as she looked up at the idiot who’d blocked her sun and started spewing shit from his mouth. Before her was… well. Honestly, the blond guy could have been Himiko’s brother for all that she knew- same color hair, same manic grin, but the eye color was different and honestly he looked and acted too smarmy to be even related to Himiko’s… eh… sort of cute, sort of terrifying vampire yandere tendencies.

 

(It was cute when Himiko wanted to nibble on her wrist without breaking the skin. It was terrifying when she was hungry and hadn’t eaten anything or drank any blood all day and was about two seconds away from lunging at the nearest person and treating them like an oversized juice box. Izumi feared for the sanctity of her neck if Himiko ever got as blood starved as she was in middle school ever again.)

 

As it was, she was… vaguely aware of who the guy was, given that one of the people who shared the same floor as her in the girls’ dorm was always tired of his shenanigans… also that he had challenged her almost a week ago with that same smarmy grin on his face. Monoma Neito, that was his name. Apparently his quirk was that he could copy other quirks, which was… hm. That actually had the potential to be interesting. Maybe she’d finally be able to have a proper Agni Kai in this lifetime, in preparation for her inevitable assassination of Endeavor on Shouto’s (and his siblings’… and his mother’s) behalf.

 

Then again…

 

“Are you done?” Izumi asked dryly, staring up at Monoma without changing her position in the slightest- she absolutely was not about to get up and move when the smarmy fuck looked like he was waiting for her to do so in order to claim that she was running away or some shit.

 

“Huh? So you admit that you’re looking down on u- erk!”

 

Monoma’s words choked off an instant later as Izumi rose smoothly to her feet, not quite towering over the blond shitbag who was insulting her- no, he had almost three inches on her, and she was definitely looking up at him, but the hand around his neck certainly made him think twice about shit talking some more.

 

“Let me tell you something, Monoma Neito,” Izumi muttered quietly, deliberately making skin contact with the blond fuck so he had plenty of time to copy her quirk and see what it felt like on him. “I know you. And I don’t mean that I’ve heard of you, or whatever pathetic accomplishments you think are noteworthy. I’ve heard of you because Kendo-san always complains about you whenever we’re in the common room together. I’ve heard of you because I know every single girl in Class 1-B thinks you’re a smug idiot with more of an inferiority complex than common sense. I know people like you. You think that you have to cover up for all of your perceived failings as a hero in training by constantly putting down others around you, by faking a superiority complex so that you can hide your crippling imposter syndrome.”

 

She paused, glaring at Monoma as she deliberately pooled heat out of the air around them and converged it into the hand around Monoma’s neck, giving him both an icy chill and a burning touch to really drive her menace home. “You’re arrogant, loud-mouthed, rude, idiotic, and you think you are utterly pathetic for having a quirk that relies on other people’s abilities to succeed. But do you know what makes me hate people like you?”

 

She raised an eyebrow, daring him to speak even though he looked paler than usual and almost like he was about to pass out even though she wasn’t even trying to choke him.

 

“W-what…?” he managed to stutter out, gulping thickly as the intensity of her icy cold glare only increased.

 

“People like you take all of your shortcomings and put it all on other people. You don’t put any extra effort into pulling ahead , you don’t try your best to better yourself instead of belittling those that you think are easy targets. You just barely maintain par, and let your over-inflated sense of self worth get to your head and then you think that earning a place in the hero course entitles you to be a little shit to the people who lived through a near death experience ,” Izumi hissed, actually squeezing down on Monoma’s neck for a few moments before letting go, her lips turned into a fierce snarl as she let Monoma stumble back a few steps and breathe like his life depended on it. 

 

Izumi just rolled her eyes, leaning down slightly to capture Monoma’s gaze again, still glaring like she thought he was a turd in her path. “Be the bigger person, Monoma. Stop being a little shit, and maybe people will like you for who you are rather than the person you think you need to be. Otherwise…”

 

A single burst of blue flame puffed from her hand, casting her face into a ghastly glow for a mere instant. 

 

“You’re only going to get burned .”

 

And with that, Izumi stood back up and rolled her neck (still slightly sore from the recoil of her Thermal Wave attack nearly a half hour ago) before motioning for Monoma to go away. “Now shoo, you’re sitting on my towel.”

 

An acrid scent hit her nose, then, and Monoma looked away awkwardly.

 

No . He didn’t .

 

“You didn’t,” Izumi hissed, staring down at the blond dipshit incredulously.

 

“I-in my defense, I was fearing for my life!” Monoma stuttered out, shuffling slightly as Izumi’s thermal radar sense tracked a godawful line of heat pooling beneath Monoma’s ass from between his legs.

 

Oh god he did .

 

“So your immediate fear response was to PISS ON MY TOWEL!?”

 

“I’M SORRY!”

 

“GET OFF! GET OFF NOW! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe you nearly beat the shit out of Monoma,” Tokage Setsuna snickered as the sports festival broke for lunch- the Class 1-B girl leading Team 9 hadn’t made it past Team 4’s ridiculously good defensive strategy and actual volleyball skill (apparently both Tsuburaba and Kirishima had gone to the same highschool and played volleyball together one year? Who knew) and Ochako as team leader had come up with a strategy that made it nigh impossible for Tokage to actually get a point off- especially since she herself wasn’t great at playing volleyball when all her parts were separated off like they had been.

 

But, the lizard-like girl had taken it in stride, stating that if she had to lose to anyone, it had better have been a team with two of her classmates on it. And didn’t involve Monoma.

 

“He pissed on my beach towel ,” Izumi grumbled back with her mouth half full, having already picked up a bucket of karaage from one of the food stands, now wearing her UA gym outfit once more after the artificial beach had been cleared away. “And he thought he was hot shit trying to insult me without prompting. Because apparently he thinks I look down on Class 1-B or something? I don’t get why he thinks that, I live next to you and your classmates”

 

“... I’ll never understand what goes on in that guy’s head,” Tokage sighed, shaking her head quietly as she munched on a stickful of dango, not really sure what to get with how many food carts and stands were in the area. “I mean- he’s usually decent in class, but I think he’s… projecting, a little. Or something. I don’t know, I didn’t choose a psych major.”

 

“Well, I can tell you one thing- I’m going to make him piss his pants again if I fight him,” Izumi promised, glowering at nothing as she popped a few chunks of fried chicken in her mouth whilst prowling around for more food- what she would have given to have some form of telekinesis right about now, that way she could actually carry as much food as she wanted instead of having to finish her bucket of chicken first. “I’ve got some moves up my sleeves that I haven’t shown off yet, and trust me- it’s going to be fucking sweet .”

 

“... You’ve got more going on in there? Girl how many facets does your quirk have? You make that Todoroki guy look like a two-trick pony!” Tokage asked almost incredulously as they slipped into the line for takoyaki, Izumi chuckling quietly at Tokage’s remark and responding with a shrug.

 

“It’s versatile, what can I say? And it’s only going to get moreso as I learn and figure out every new facet,” Izumi stated proudly after a moment, grinning confidently at Tokage, who simply sighed and rolled her eyes in something resembling theatrical exasperation. 

 

“Of course you will- honestly, who did you have to suck off in a past life to be so- so perfect? I mean- jeez! Save some talent for us 1-B girls, huh?” Tokage ribbed lightly at Izumi, elbowing her gently with a somewhat self deprecating grin. “At this rate you’re gonna leave everyone in the dust!”

 

“You know, I think that’s the second time today that someone’s called me perfect in some way,” Izumi sighed, rolling her eyes a little at Tokage’s words and shaking her head. She really didn’t know what to feel about the remarks honestly- they all seemed well intentioned enough, but Izumi already had enough people telling her she was almost perfect , or a prodigy , or some variant of such in one lifetime- to see people doing it again in this life? It just felt… weird. Especially since she was just doing as she always had- hell, she wasn’t even trying to be perfect anymore, and yet… and yet…

 

“I’m honestly kind of tired of being called perfect,” Izumi admitted after a few moments, looking down and letting her shoulders sag slightly. “It’s kind of just… this huge weight of expectation, you know? Like I’m never going to get to rest if people keep expecting me to be this… I don’t know- amazing wonder woman of a person. I’m… bleh. It’s really hard to articulate into words, but I think I’d rather just be called cool or something, like a normal person. Calling me perfect just feels like I’m on a pedestal again…”

 

“Oh- shit,” Tokage replied almost dumbly, pausing as she blinked rapidly in Izumi’s direction, her spine having gone straight with the sudden realization that maybe constantly calling a person perfect wasn’t the best of ideas. “I- sorry, Midoriya-san. I didn’t even think of it like that- I just… you’re awesome , y’know? Your quirk is strong, you’re skilled at everything, and you’re one of the most beautiful women in the school- and that’s saying something with Midnight -sensei teaching here!”

 

“Well… skilled at combat and fire suppression, certainly,” Izumi sighed again as she ran her hand through her hair, idly fingering the golden hair ornament that was the sole bit of her hero costume that she wore at all times, only because one never knew when they might need a sharp metal object in a pinch. “But… I kind of fear that maybe I’ve given everyone the wrong impression of me. I’m not… I’m not perfect . And while I don’t think anyone expects me to be perfect, it’s just… a little grating on the nerves to be held up so high. I mean- despite how reserved I am in public, I’m just… well, I hope you don’t spread it around too much, or think less of me for it… but…”

 

Izumi shrugged almost helplessly, not really looking at the lizard-like girl she decided to bare her secrets to (well, she could have gone to Katsumi, but Katsumi already knew all of her emotional tells and vulnerabilities so it was sort of redundant) in the middle of the sports festival fairgrounds. “I’m just an antisocial, lesbian disaster of an otaku. I binge read manga, I collect posters of female heroes, I read smutty fanfiction on various forums and websites, I play a bunch of dumb videogames in my off time. It’s just… weird to think that people look at me and see someone who’s… perfect.

 

“... So, like, I know this totally breaks the seriousness of the situation here, but… um,” Tokage cleared her throat awkwardly and poked her fingers together with a very soft blush on her face. “Hearing that you’re also an otaku kinda makes you even hotter in my eyes. Because um... Y’know… I am too? Kinda? So I sorta get how you feel. Er, I hope I do, at least.”

 

 

“... You’re right, that does break the somber mood,” Izumi chuckled lightly, giving the other girl a slightly lopsided smile that only seemed to make the greenette blush more for some reason. “But I’m sorry for bringing the mood down- tell you what, I’ll treat you to some actual lunch after we get our takoyaki, what do you say?”

 

“Sure- but uh, I don’t think you’re really treating me if we’re both getting free lunch for participating in the events.”

 

“... Hm. Damn, you’re right. Oh well, maybe later, then.”

 

For some reason, saying that made Tokage blush to the point that she almost resembled a tomato in coloration.

 

How strange.

Chapter Text

After lunch, Izumi took the time to meditate while standing up as she reflected upon the winners and losers of the second event- given that she’d spent more than a few minutes glaring death at Monoma, she hadn’t really managed to catch all of the tactics that had gone into the five games, but she’d known this much: Hitoshi’s team (with Shouji, Yanagi from 1-B, and Hatsume from 1-H) had handily beaten Tsu’s team (with Shishida and Kuroiro from 1-B, along with a quirkless but really determined guy from 1-D named Akatani) by way of just plain being better at volleyball. Shishida and Kuroiro worked together well, but the lack of synergy from Tsu’s team, as well as Akatani being stubborn about playing close to the net despite his short size meant that Hitoshi’s physical enhancements, Shouji’s massive size and arms, Yanagi’s telekinesis, and Hatsume’s mad genius won the day 10-5.

 

After that, Katsumi’s team (with Ashido, Sero, and Ojiro) had beaten Shouto’s team (with Awase and Honenuki from 1-B plus a girl from 1-C who shot firecrackers out of her body named Kaien) via copying almost the same tactics as Izumi had used- coating the ball with low pH acid and using Katsumi’s natural resistance to volatile substances to explode the ball at the other team faster than they could react. While Shouto did his best to actually make his walls work, the limitations imposed by the rules meant that Katsumi’s explosive serves punched right through the temporary walls, and the rest of his team’s quirks weren’t suited to actually returning the ball, though Kaien had given it her all. Unfortunately, the girl’s delayed explosives just couldn’t stand up to Katsumi’s immediate overwhelming power and Katsumi won 5-0.

 

She’d already gone over how Tokage lost to Ochako when she had lunch with the lizard-like girl, but it was still a close game- but in the end, Ochako had clutched it out, 15-13.

 

And then there was Monoma’s turn- Izumi had to admit, she was kind of pissed that Monoma moved on, but recognized that the power copier had won his game legitimately by simply swiping a few quirks on the way over- Katsumi’s explosions, Ashido’s acid, and Yanagi’s telekinesis, and using them all extremely effectively to ensure that nobody on Himiko’s team (with Komori and Kodai from 1-B and a 1-C girl named Umino who apparently had a vibration based quirk) actually had a chance to serve back- oh sure, Himiko tried by way of turning into Katsumi, but in the end the blonde shitbag won 15-12. 

 

Izumi made damn sure to congratulate Himiko for what she’d managed to do anyway- it wasn’t easy to hit a ball back when it was being telekinetically controlled to fall at weird angles, all while Kendo and Tsunotori provided ridiculously good defense and Tetsutetsu had… uh. Mostly just stood there looking constipated, hands ready in perfect setting form on the off chance that the ball came his way.

 

It had been kind of funny, watching Tetsutetsu complain about how he hadn’t done anything, but again.

 

Monoma.

 

The little shitbag who thought he could be a shitter to everyone in her class by way of insulting her first. The asshat who’d beaten one of her friends at volleyball and then didn’t even have the grace to not be an insulting little asswipe about it even after she’d put the fear of her into him.

 

She was going to enjoy beating the pulp out of him whenever they came up against each other in the tournament.

 

Izumi paused, simply taking a deep breath to calm herself- for a moment there, the braziers surrounding the new arena in the stadium had started to flare up with her temper, and if she hadn’t stopped herself, likely would have turned into massive pillars jetting up into the sky.

 

Which, while it would have been dramatic, would have been a bit excessive- and a drain on her newly topped up chi reserves (plus the extra energy she’d stored up by out-eating Yaoyorozu during their lunch period).

 

Still, she tried to keep herself calm and collected- strength in her breath, not her muscles. Life and energy, not rage and heat. Calm, cool, collected.

 

Izumi breathed deeply and centered herself, grounding herself in the sensations of the heat signatures around her, taking in their shape and intensity- the roaring, flickering flames, Midnight’s… decidedly interesting bodyshape, the bodies of the many, many girls surrounding her-

 

Shit shit shit-

 

Izumi clapped her cheeks twice and very deliberately used her firebending to guide the heat out of her face and redistribute it into the air- there was no need to give away her sheer thirst on camera for the whole world to see. No- maybe scoping out the bodies of her fellow heroics students could wait. Possibly forever, because seriously, now she was never going to get it out of her head and now it was going to bother her every time she used her thermal radar again. Instead, Izumi opened her eyes, ignored how a few people were giving her unreadable looks because she’d randomly blushed and slapped her cheeks like a simpering highschool girl for no apparent reason, and turned her gaze to the board as Midnight announced the next event- the one on one matches, though with how everything was arranged and with how there were twenty people, it had been decided that the last three contestants would duke it out all at once to determine who got what spot on the podium, and that whoever was the odd one out during the semi-finals would get a bye.

 

Izumi nodded to herself then, humming quietly under her breath as she watched the board transition to a blurring wheel of names, rapidly scrolling past on both sides of a large VS symbol in the middle of the screen before stopping on- oh.

 

Oh .

 

“AND THE FIRST MATCH OF THE THIRD EVENT HAS BEEN DECIDED! EVERYONE ELSE ON THE FIELD, FEEL FREE TO SIT WITH YOUR CLASSMATES IN THE STANDS!”

 

“I’d say it’s optional, but the alternative is getting caught up in whatever backlash might hit you while those two fight. So, I’m firmly suggesting you get to the safe zone.”

 

There was a quiet exodus as the remaining eighteen contestants left, and Izumi strolled confidently onto her side of the arena to the sound of raucous cheers and screams, allowing her control to slip ever so slightly as she took ahold of the massive flames in the four braziers set at each corner of the arena and-

 

FWOOSH .

 

Towering pillars of blue flame cast an eerie glow over the field as Izumi stepped forth, reveling in the terror on her opponent’s face as they took their places.

 

“WOOOW! WHAT A STUNNING ENTRANCE FROM OUR FIRST CONTESTANT! THE WINNER OF ROUND ONE AND A KNOCKOUT WINNER IN ROUND TWO, CLASS 1-A’S RISING STAR: MIDORIYA IZUMIIIIII!”

 

“No quirk use before the round starts.”

 

Izumi coughed, looking to the side awkwardly as she let the flames roil back to their normal state, though it did nothing to alleviate the fear she saw trembling before her. 

 

AND IN THE OTHER CORNER, WE HAVE THE POWER COPYING PHANTOM THIEF HIMSELF, THE BLOND SHOWMAN OF CLASS 1-B: MONOMA NEITOOOOO!”

 

Izumi grinned, sharklike and full of teeth.

 

Monoma gulped, and looked like he was praying to whatever gods there were that his copied quirks were going to help him.

 

They wouldn’t.

Chapter 72

Notes:

Just FYI but I'm planning on any important fight chapters being much longer than the norm.

Chapter Text

Midnight sounded the starting bell, and the immediate response was… nothing much, really.

 

Izumi was almost disappointed that Monoma hadn’t immediately tried to knock her out of the ring, but she couldn’t help but wonder why he’d suddenly crossed his arm with a cocky smirk on his face.

 

And then he began speaking, and all became clear.

 

He was trying to bait her. Not because he wanted an argument, but because he had more than likely copied Hitoshi’s quirk .

 

“What’s the matter, Midoriya?” he called out, smarm and mockery entering his voice as he seemed to regain some of his old bravado. “Too afraid to come at me? What, were your big, tough words an hour ago actually a bluff? Hah! Typical 1-A, cowards the lot of you! Even the bright, rising star of your bunch is just a-”

 

“Shut. Up.” 

 

It had slipped out before Izumi could even stop herself, the sheer annoyingness of Monoma’s voice grating in her ears and only made worse by his volume. Her bodily control began to slip away from her- all of her muscles, locked away. Her senses, dulled. Her mind, unable to think.

 

Was she going to lose so quickly? No.

 

Because she’d done it on purpose .

 

Because she’d answered him with the express intention of shattering his confidence.

 

As the blond shitbag had talked, Izumi had built up a tiny, tiny burst of chi right where her light chakra was- almost like the start of a combustionbending beam, but without any of the power, heat, or force behind it. It was a simple bubble of containment, with just enough concussive energy behind it that when she lost focus…

 

“Ha, you fool! You fell right into my trap! Now turn around and-

 

Pop .

 

“Do. Nothing,” Izumi smirked, grinning as that tiny, tiny little shock of force knocked her out of Monoma’s brainwashing- her neck was just a little bit sore from the impact, seeing as how it had enough force behind it to knock her head back slightly, but overall… nothing much had happened. “Come now Monoma- don’t you want to show off? You’re ruining everyone’s day here by just trying to go for the win! Put the brainwashing aside and show me what you’ve got! GIVE IT YOUR ALL AND WIN, YOU SMARMY PUKE!”

 

“I- you- how!? How is this fair!? You- you arrogant- you arrogant BITCH!” Monoma shrieked in response, rushing forward and roaring in sheer rage as his skin hardened into a sheen of silver- clearly having copied Tetsutetsu’s quirk before coming up to the arena- and he reared back to throw a punch that might as well have come by wire it was so telegraphed. “Sitting up on your high horse like you’re the queen of the world! I’ll show you that you’re not special! You’re just- just a huge bitch!”

 

“Of course I’m a huge bitch! But I’m a huge bitch that put in more work than your sorry ass did, pissboy! ” Izumi crowed, a deathly grin stretching across her face as she avoided the initial punch by simply stepping to the side, both of her hands held behind her back as though it was the easiest thing in the world and- oop.

 

“PISSBOY!?”

 

A whistling, spinning backfist just barely brushed through her bangs as she leaned back, her grin only growing wider and toothier- apparently Monoma wasn’t just a collection of whatever quirks he copied and his own inferiority issues. No, this was a guy who actually had a spark of talent- he just needed to harness it. That spinning backfist would have taken her out had it connected, she knew that much for sure. Well, it would have been a good start on it at least.

 

All the same, though, Izumi simply continued to dodge Monoma’s attacks by a hairsbreadth with her hands held calmly behind her back- what was his third quirk, she wondered, and what could be the fourth? It could have been anything he grabbed within the last few minutes- and let them whistle past as his frustration mounted higher and higher every time he failed to drive her into a corner or actually hit her. 

 

Izumi was simply too fast, too skilled, too aware of the way his heat signature shifted and moved- every feint was preceded by bursts of heat as he anticipated a dodge in one direction only for Izumi to move in another. She backstepped lightly to evade hooks, ducked under his straights, circled around his forward kicks and simply leaped over his roundhouses and spin kicks- all circling the arena and toying with him. 

 

Because, well.

 

She wasn’t afraid of Monoma. Even with four quirks, and what Tokage had told her was about fifteen minutes of time, he could only use one at a time, and there were precious few quirks that Monoma could use that would actually slow her down long enough to either knock her out or get her out of the ring. 

 

After a few more moments of flailing around using Tetsutetsu’s steel quirk, Monoma was left panting and wheezing- he was good , Izumi supposed, but his stamina was weak while in such a heavy state, and he hadn’t so much as landed a single scratch on her yet. 

 

“You… you’re just toying with me…” Monoma hissed out, glaring at Izumi with all of the vitriol he could muster as his command of his steel skin vanished and a sudden sheen of sweat broke out along his arms while the smell of burning caramel filled the air. Ah, so that’s what quirk number three was. “Why? What is the point of all of this!? Just to humiliate me on national TV!?”

 

“No, because I want you to see that you’re kind of a dick . I told you before, but you seem to have forgotten already,” Izumi responded simply, standing casually only a meter and a half away from Monoma and examining her nails as though she wasn’t in a fight at the moment- not even caring about the sudden crackling of explosions in Monoma’s palms. “Look, you’ve got talent, you’ve got skill, and you’ve got drive. So why are you such a bitch? It can’t just be about the inferiority complex at this point. And I know you’re a fucking loser who thinks surviving a nearly fatal villain attack means that we get more media presence and look down on you, but can you please come up with some valid reason to hate my classmates? What did they ever do to you to deserve this kind of treatment anyway?”

 

“Sh-shut up! You prattle on and on but you’re not saying anything that makes sense! Just- just shut up and fight me dammit!” Monoma screamed, as though Izumi hadn’t started to tear down his worldview right to his face. “You don’t know anything about me! You’re stuck up, selfish, arrogant! You think you’re so great and high and mighty, that you’ll win this fucking sports festival without any effort! I hate people like you that coast through life on the back of an overpowered quirk!”

 

“Effort? The only reason why I’m not putting in any fucking effort is because you couldn’t handle me if I put in any effort!” Izumi snarled back, easily sweeping aside the flames and heat of Monoma’s explosions as he swiped at her wildly, barely able to integrate a quirk with so much recoil into his own fighting style- he tried, managing to pull off a few of Katsumi’s basic moves like an explosion propelled flying knee, but with Izumi simply using her thermal radar to dodge without even looking and with her regular heat manipulation allowing her to just push the explosions away from her and prevent Monoma from even so much as ruffling her hair… it just wasn’t good for him. 

 

“I am holding back right now, just so you can have some way of showing off for the crowd, because your quirk is legitimately useful and your skills are legitimately good ,” Izumi continued, spinning around Monoma’s enraged flying roundhouse and simply grabbing his ankle and throwing the blonde back towards the center of the arena with a jet boosted spin- Monoma barely managing to use a weak explosion to flip himself back to his feet in time and spin to face Izumi before she dashed forward and-

 

“ARGH!”

 

Sank her fist right into Monoma’s gut faster than he could react, the blond power copier stumbling back from the sudden gut punch and trembling slightly from the sheer force that Izumi’s jet boosted launch had imparted into his abdomen.

 

“If I decided to beat you right now, there’s not a damn thing you could do to stop me,” Izumi boasted, holding up a fist coated in blue flames as she strode forward once more, grabbing onto Monoma’s collar with her other hand for a moment and-

 

“Gotcha.”

 

What?

 

Monoma grabbed Izumi’s wrist, making a deliberate show of the skin to skin contact before whirling around such that Izumi’s arm was tucked over his shoulder and her legs were swept out from under her and she went flying across the arena- or rather, she went flying a few meters and boosted herself such that she landed firmly on her feet, raising an eyebrow at Monoma- what did he mean with that Gotcha ? He couldn’t possibly have thought that a single throw towards the middle of the arena was enough to- Wait.

 

Oh.

 

Ohhh.

 

Well well well, so he wanted a proper Agni Kai, did he?

 

Very well.

 

“So you’ve copied my quirk,” Izumi clapped slowly, a small smirk full of condescension and malice sliding onto her face as she slowly walked back until the two of them were nearly at their original starting positions again. “I wonder, how much of it will you be able to use on instinct, and how much will you fail to grasp? Your quirk must have an instinctive component to it, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to use any of your copied quirks with any finesse at all.”

 

She rolled her neck, chi surging to life in her limbs as she settled into a basic firebending stance- hands raised, one foot forward, body slightly lowered and with her weight on her back foot, ready to spring forward at a moment’s notice. “So come! SHOW ME YOUR FIRE, MONOMA NEITO!”

 

Across from her, Monoma sank into a similar stance- a poor copy, but similar all the same- before dashing forward with a battlecry that could have shook the heavens.

 

Izumi responded in kind.

 

Fire flew, blue and red, a massive cacophony of blasts that almost sounded like jet engines taking off, a wind tunnel spooling up, the sound of echoing air pressure as roiling flames blasted against each other and- and…

 

Blue overtook red in mere moments .

 

There was no contest.

 

It was like comparing a candle to a flamethrower.

 

Monoma flew backwards, landing harshly near the edge of the arena with his clothes singed and his body having been spared the risk of horrifying burns by him dropping Izumi’s firebending in favor of Tetsutetsu’s steel skin once more, weighing him down and preventing him from rolling all the way out of the ring.

 

No more offense then, it seemed. Especially not with all the flames everywhere that would have burned him if he decided to use any other quirk.

 

Fine, Izumi had him where she wanted him anyway- slowly standing up with his skin as steel hard as he could make it, wobbling slightly from the exertion of having used four quirks in rapid succession with little to no success at all. Monoma stumbled over his own feet as he stood, taking a few wobbly steps forward and gritting his teeth.

 

“I will not… give up! I will show you… that Class 1-B… is… the best! That we deserve to be on top, not you!” he called out, voice rough with the amount he’d been screaming this whole match, barely able to keep his arms crossed in an X-guard over his face.

 

“Still prattling on about that… okay. Fine, I guess you won’t see reason in an afternoon… very well.” Izumi shook her head, dropping into a stance that was neither northern shaolin, nor karate, nor any stance practiced by any serious martial artist in the world. It was a low, slightly crouched stance- feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, torso slightly hunched over. Both hands held in a tight claw facing each other barely a few centimeters apart, held solidly by the right side of her waist. “Let’s finish this.”

 

“No…” Monoma intoned lowly, staring at Izumi as a pinprick of blue light began forming between her hands, casting a ghastly pale glow over the entire arena as it seemed to outshine the very sun.

 

“Kaaaaa….” Izumi responded quietly, low in her throat as the pinprick of light grew larger between her hands, forming into a golfball sized orb of shimmering blue light and heat and force- overwhelming force, sucking out her chi like a drain in a bathtub as she shoved more and more energy into something that she honestly thought she’d never reveal to anyone ever.

 

“No- no no no, you cannot fucking- no! That’s fucking stupid!”

 

“Meeeeeeeeeee…..” The air around Izumi began to swirl with heat and light, excess flames flickering into existence and spiraling in towards the growing ball between Izumi’s hands, some kind of flaming blue aura forming around Izumi’s body not unlike that which was seen in the DragonBall series. 

 

“You’re bluffing! You’re fucking bluffing!”

 

The air temperature spiked. Monoma’s cries only grew more and more frantic, the steel covered power copier looking around frantically as Izumi charged up the potential beam attack more and more, to the point that it actually began heating the air so much it started to vibrate with sound.

 

“HAAAAAAAAA! MEEEEEEEEEEE!”

 

Izumi paused, the fully fledged Kamehameha sitting in her hands as she shouted out the syllables, glaring at Monoma as the entire arena filled with an oppressive heat that seemed to crush down on everyone- the arena was silent save for the rushing sound of the energy blast vibrating in Izumi’s hands, Monoma’s own spluttered denials, and the quiet drop of a pin. Everyone was glued to the edge of their seats the world over- even the commentator’s booth was entirely silent.

 

The world was cast into a deathly blue glow, almost like the sky had turned dark and red and the energy ball in Izumi’s hand was the only thing lighting it up.

 

“THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE MONOMA! CAN YOU FUCKING TAKE THIS OR WILL WE BE CLEANING YOU OFF THE WALLS!?” Izumi screamed, her hands trembling as she began to will them forward, the last syllable of the iconic attack on her lips as she raised her arms and prepared to throw the turtle destruction wave at her opponent. 

 

Monoma’s will broke, and he swiftly jumped out of bounds with a panicked cry of “I FORFEIT! I FUCKING FORFEIT!”

 

“Good answer. HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

 

The sky was split by a brilliant blue beam that shot straight into the heavens with the sound of roiling thunder and roaring flames, so blindingly hot and bright it was like unto a second sun.

 

There was silence for a long moment as the beam died down several seconds later, taking with it the overwhelming, oppressive heat that had silenced the entire stadium. And then, a single voice, shakily calling out as its owner stepped out from behind the concrete podium that overlooked the rectangular arena.

 

“T-the winner of this match i-is… M-Midoriya Izumi!”

Chapter Text

“What. The fuck. Was THAT!?” Ochako shrieked as soon as Izumi had made her way back to the stands, thoroughly drained of over half the chi she’d had earlier and starting to feel it in her joints- her newfound and still somewhat unrefined plasmabending was powerful , that was true, but it still hurt like a bitch to do given that it was a weird combination of fire, lightning, and combustionbending all combined into a hyper destructive package that she could only really use to bend the beams of cheap shitty keychain lasers as a party trick… or otherwise throw around almost certainly lethal energy attacks and giant beams ripped straight out of anime.

 

She could even change the color now, which was honestly really fun, but it wasn’t like changing the color of her fire was anything more than a cosmetic choice she picked up from learning from Ran and Shaw.

 

If only she had a bit more practice, maybe then she could do a Galick Gun, or a Big Bang Attack, or replicate some other attack like Nanoha’s Starlight Breaker.

 

Now that would do wonders for her cosplay career. Possibly get her arrested for public quirk use, but still. 

 

“The Kamehameha? Just a simple refinement of an idea I’ve been working on since day one,” Izumi shrugged, flopping down into a seat next to her brown haired friend whilst completely ignoring the expressions of dead-eyed shock writ large upon most of her classmates’ faces- except for Katsumi, of course, who was just rolling her eyes at the sheer amount of theatrics Izumi had put on during that entire farce of a first round. “Nothing special, really. Honestly, it’s still a little weak- one of Shouto’s larger glaciers could probably handle it easily.”

 

“Nothing special, she says,” Ochako spoke, dumbfounded and almost looking a little lightheaded as she fell back into her seat and watched as Present Mic queued up the video of Izumi firing her blast into the air, the cameras around the stadium playing it from different angles almost as if it were a dramatic moment in an anime.

 

Which, honestly, considering she had very visibly and audibly fired an actual, literal Kamehameha, it kind of was now. 

 

“Izu-chan. Shouji lifting a couple hundred kilos is nothing special . Having a fire quirk is nothing special. That- that is not fucking normal, kero!” Tsu spoke up next, standing over Izumi and glaring down at her fellow greenette as the latter stared up at the former with a slight bit of confusion. “That was literally a move ripped straight out of anime, sound effects and all! I’m surprised Midnight-sensei didn’t gas you the moment that Monoma forfeited because it looked like it had enough power to blow up half the stadium!”

 

“Well, not that much,” Izumi protested somewhat weakly, looking around a bit to see everyone nodding along with Tsu’s assessment that Izumi’s Kamehameha was something far more than the credit Izumi gave it. “I- well. Okay, I admit it, it’s… yes, I suppose it is kind of ridiculous in hindsight. I just- it’s not that big of a deal?”

 

“Hime-sama, you are literally a fucking Z-fighter!” Ashido chimed in, wielding a brand new nickname for Izumi and a thin layer of eyeshadow that Izumi recognized as being Katsumi’s, what with how it was vibrantly orange and was decorated in the same way Katsumi did her own makeup. “You can fly, your martial arts is ridiculous , you’re super strong compared to the rest of us, and now you can throw around the fucking Kamehameha like it’s nothing! You’re not even in the same genre as the rest of us!”

 

“... What is that supposed to mean?” Hagakure interjected, also wearing a smattering of makeup- though with her being invisible, it mostly just meant there were two bright pink blush spots floating in the air. “What genre are we supposed to be in?”

 

“College slice of life, duh!” Ashido answered immediately, nudging Hagakure with her elbow and throwing her hands up in frustration. “Hime-sama over here is trying to be the main character of a classic shonen battle anime, and the rest of us are stuck here trying to catch up to her! It’s unfaaaaair! Hime-sama, why do you have to be so fucking cool!?”

 

“... I’m… not cool, though?” Izumi muttered in response, looking at Ashido in abject confusion. “Look, I get that I’m tall and scary and strong and all but I’m not… cool . I literally ripped an attack straight out of a manga . I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s exactly considered cool . Usually it’s just called nerdy.”

 

“Because it is!” Katsumi called out from where she was very deliberately applying a thick layer of glare-reducing, high impact resistant eyeshadow over Yaoyorozu’s eyelids and giving her a thick pair of cheek stripes as war paint to boot- kind of like a rugby player, honestly. “She is a fucking nerd, but keep calling her cool, she’ll turn into a tomato! It’s super cute!”

 

“Katsumi, why!?” Izumi shrieked back in embarrassment, almost tempted to leap over the back of her seat and shut her laughing, traitorous friend up manually until Jirou stood over her and held her fist out, clearly wanting Izumi to bump it.

 

“Even if it was nerdy as hell, it was really cool- I’ve always wanted to see anime stuff like that come to life,” she grinned, all lopsided and casually punkish. Izumi sighed, blushing slightly as she held her fist up and bumped Jirou’s in return.

 

“I’m still fucking shocked that she actually got it working like that,” Ochako muttered vaguely in Tsu’s direction from where she was perched next to the railing, completely ignoring the next fight happening as Hitoshi danced around Yanagi from 1-B down in the arena for a few minutes before blasting her telekinetically controlled jersey out of the air and just bodily tossing the ghost girl out. “As if it wasn’t fucking terrifying enough before when it was just a giant fire beam.”

 

“Mm… It’s kind of hot, though, isn’t it, kero?” Tsu asked idly, tapping her chin with one finger and giving Izumi an appreciative look. “That she can blow up buildings with ease and soothe our pains after a long day of training… I like that in a girl.”

 

“Careful Tsu, your ladyboner is showing,” Ochako deadpanned, rolling her eyes at her froggy friend, though tellingly did not refute a single thing Tsu said. 

 

“Shit, you can see- hey!”

 

“Wh- oh ha, whoops, forgot about that part sorry!”

 

“I hate you, kero,” Tsu grumbled, glaring at Ochako with about as much heat as a cold oven and reaching over so she could flick the gravity defying girl in the forehead. “Honestly, I thought my dick was showing through my pants for a second, kero.”

 

“Well, I don’t think I’d mind either way,” Ochako shrugged, clearing her throat awkwardly as she realized just what she said. “Er- that is, well, I mean it’s just not a big deal right? We’re both girls and super into other girls- not to say that your dick isn’t great it’s just-”

 

“... when did you even see my dick?”

 

“We have communal showers and clear plastic shower curtains, Tsu. At this point everyone on our floor and our training group has seen your dick,” Ochako deadpanned.

 

“... Well, I guess I’m never showering again.”

 

“Wait no don’t! We all think it’s a very nice dick!”

 

“Please stop talking about my dick, kero. I’m going to blush. You don’t want to see me blush, it’s all patchy and weird.”

 

“Sorry!”

 

 

 

“....So do you want to go get dinner after all this, kero?”

 

“Oh, sure, I’d love to!”

Chapter Text

The next couple of preliminary matches had happened in a blur of motion and quirks that, honestly, most would agree hadn’t been anywhere near as impressive as Izumi’s Kamehameha into space- that was quite the display to remember. 

 

And to think, it was technically only the most basic of plasmabending techniques that Izumi had come up with during the last two weeks. Oh sure, most of them were only theoretical, but she’d already made upgraded versions of a few regular firebending techniques- one of which was her new plasma blasts in lieu of a giant beam, much like the standard fireballs but requiring slightly more focus and exertion in favor of being faster, stronger, easier to aim, and being much, much more intimidating. 

 

She’d also created plasma daggers , which she’d shown off to her eager friends once they’d begged her to show off a little while the matches were going on- while Hitoshi had beaten Yanagi in less than two minutes, and Katsumi had used her ridiculously strong and flashy (but still less flashy than the fucking Kamehameha people were still talking about ) Howitzer Impact to fling Tsuburaba out of the arena and almost into the stands (before his classmates had caught him) in less than a minute, and Ochako had beaten Kendo in thirty seconds by just high-fiving one of her giant hands and flinging the girl out of the ring with ease, the current match of Yaoyorozu vs Tokoyami was… quite a bit more evenly matched.

 

In this case, it was because Yaoyorozu made flash grenades en masse, but Tokoyami somehow had gotten approval to use a utility belt full of smoke grenades because apparently UA played fast and loose with rules if they thought it would lead to a flashier fight. And so, it became sort of a game of cat and mouse, where Yaoyorozu went in and generated flashbangs and held a buckler shield close to her body, flinging them into the cloud of smoke to drive off Dark Shadow, while Tokoyami occasionally threw down another smoke grenade and moved about under cover of darkness and attempted to strike at Yaoyorozu- no wait.

 

Izumi leaned forward in her seat, squinting at the match and murmuring to herself as she watched both of her classmates duke it out, only just barely visible inside the thick haze of darkness- though, to her eyes, they were moving around clear as day.

 

Tokoyami wasn’t just knocking Yaoyorozu around, he was conditioning her into thinking he was just going for high attacks only for him to dart around and strike from an unpredictable angle and-!

 

“WOW! WHAT A STUNNING MOVE BY TOKOYAMI! YAOYOROZU IS REALLY ON THE ROPES NOW FOLKS, CAN SHE GET OUT OF THE CORNER BEFORE THE AVIAN ASSASSIN KNOCKS HER OUT OF THE RING!?”

 

Tokoyami had tripped up Yaoyorozu by going in for a low sweep hidden behind a fortuitous cloud of smoke, Dark Shadow starting to recede now that he was visibly out of smoke bombs- even with how much smoke the instant explosions released, the suspension of particles was thin and easy to blow away, and all of the movement in the area made sure that the smoke had dissipated quickly.

 

Apparently, Tokoyami had miscalculated slightly- but that was fine for him, right? He had Yaoyorozu on the ropes, right?

 

Judging by the devious smirk on Yaoyorozu’s face, apparently not.

 

The moment that Dark Shadow sprung forth once more, Yaoyorozu projected some kind of horrifyingly complicated looking mirror array out of her bare stomach and, without even pulling it fully out of her skin, blasted Dark Shadow with a ray of reflected and refracted sunlight so strong it made the shadowy demon-like creature shriek in fear and reverse course straight back under Tokoyami’s shirt.

 

It was over swiftly after that- even with the unwieldy mirror array sticking out of her stomach, it was clear that Yaoyorozu was actually better at hand to hand than Tokoyami was- she was taller, had more reach, and also beaned the bird-like boy straight in the face by extending a staff out of her forearm to bonk him right in the forehead.

 

Needless to say, Tokoyami had to walk himself over to the infirmary after Yaoyorozu was declared the winner, though he hadn’t seemed too mad about it. Yaoyorozu had also seemingly offered to take him there, but judging by the fact that he walked off alone, he was probably more or less fine anyway.

 

“Hmm… Ponytail’s gotten better with that staff. Guess she actually watched that staff fighting tutorial I sent her,” Katsumi murmured idly as she dropped down into the seat next to Izumi, a strangely serious expression on the blonde’s face as she held her hand over her mouth to hide her own mumbling. “Shame that Birdbrain’s so shit at hand to hand… he’s gotta have a backup for when people inevitably aim for him instead of Dark Shadow.”

 

“... How do you remember Dark Shadow’s name but not Tokoyami’s?” Izumi glanced at her best friend, raising an eyebrow in confusion at Katsumi’s strange inability to really process names and faces unless she really put in the effort to remember someone.

 

(Sometimes she thought that the only reason that Katsumi actually remembered her name was the fact that the sight of her blue fire and evil cackling was forever seared into her best friend’s brain)

 

“Because it’s a Dark fucking Shadow , duh,” Katsumi snorted, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms. “Not the point, though. Birdbrain’s gotta pick up some more moves otherwise any two bit loser with a knife’s gonna gut him the moment they figure out how to focus on him instead of the mini kaiju wrecking their shit.”

 

“Mmm, yes, he really should put more focus into hand to hand… do you think his beak’s strong enough to actually be useful as a weapon or do you think it’d break?” Izumi wondered, tapping her chin and throwing a half wave towards Yaoyorozu as the girl returned to the stands and collapsed into her chair once again- now free of the giant mirror array that had been jutting out of her body.

 

“Congrats Yaomomo!” came the general cry, headed by Ashido and Hagakure as they high fived the girl they’d collectively dubbed their class mom, a small round of compliments going around much like they had with the previous three members of their class.

 

Izumi frowned suddenly, though, as something twinged against her senses.

 

Where the fuck was Shouto?

 

He wasn’t in his seat, and he wasn’t anywhere near the bathrooms that she could sense- there was no fucking way she’d lose a heat signature like his, so where was he…

 

No, not near the refreshment stands, not near the merch shop… not in that bathroom either.

 

Wait.

 

Oh no.

 

He was with another heat signature- one that was blazing hot to Izumi’s senses in all the worst ways.

 

Izumi jumped out of her seat, throwing her phone to Katsumi and looking around almost frantically for the exit- as if it were life or death.

 

“I gotta go- record the other matches for me, I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

 

“Wait wh-? Princess where the fuck are you-?”

 

“No time to explain, just do it!”


And with that, Izumi ran , hoping to every spirit above and below the earth that she wouldn’t arrive to something horrible .

Chapter Text

Hero society, Izumi thought to herself as she watched the scene unfolding before her, was extremely flawed. For one, there was the extreme focus on flashy, loud, powerful quirks that could beat up bad guys and win the day- but not too destructive, otherwise that’d be a villain’s quirk . For two, the whole thing about villainous quirks in general, and how society was conditioned to think that any ability that was potentially kind of scary was evil to the point that it had almost gotten a fourteen year old girl arrested because her bio-parents starved her of something she needed to live to the point of insanity.

 

Poor Himiko. At least she was happy and fine (and possibly attracted to Izumi? If the amount of compliments Himiko texted her was an indication?) now.

 

For three, the treatment of quirkless people- kids in specific, but quirkless people in general. Izumi had almost bore the consequences of it before Azula’s rage had woken inside of her soul, and even now was still dealing with medical professionals sometimes assuming they knew her quirk status when they saw her X-rays. It was abhorrent and awful and tragic and she knew damn well that the 20% of the population being quirkless was an old statistic, and the largest majority of quirkless people were old and dying out- because most of the younger generations ended up either faking some kind of weak mental quirk unsuccessfully or. Well.

 

But the main thing rankling Izumi’s mind at the moment was the fact that society relied so much on pro heroes to prop itself up, that it’d excuse any amount of abuse and horrific behaviors because some jackass in spandex had a number lower than fifty on their stupid popularity contest lists. Because the ur example of it was right in front of her, hurling abuse at his son- her friend - and pushing him around, calling him a disgrace and a waste of resources and a failure all because a more than likely rigged sports event at school didn’t play into his strengths as a budding hero.

 

It was Endeavor’s own fucking fault that Shouto sucked shit at volleyball, and here he was berating his son for failing to advance to the one on one matches, both hands balled up into fists as he glared down at his son as though he were only just barely restraining himself from striking the poor guy.

 

And Shouto… Shouto just took it . Because of course he would- of course he did. He likely had no way of handling the situation that wouldn’t just end in him getting the shit beat out of him sometime in the future. 

 

But- but what could Izumi do to actually intervene? What would the smartest decision be? What would actually help rather than harming the situation? And why the fuck did she throw her phone at Katsumi instead of bringing it to clandestinely spy on the situation!? Dammit!

 

“So this is what the Number Two hero is like in private. I’d be shocked, but you’re such a nasty piece of work out in public that I’m really not surprised in the slightest,” Izumi called out before she could stop herself, strolling into view with her hands tucked in her pockets, one eyebrow raised at the scene before her. “You know, anyone who’s not UA staff or enrolled students isn’t supposed to be back here , Endeavor-san. It’s a security measure, you see, because the school was attacked by villains some weeks ago and they don’t seem keen on us facing that again so soon. So, Shouto-kun, we really should be getting back to the stands, otherwise the principal might have to have words with us as well as the very obvious security breach.”

 

She was lying out of her ass, but hopefully she presented enough of a confident front that Endeavor believed her anyway- well, only part of it was a lie, the rest of it was true. Endeavor really wasn’t allowed in the back tunnels where the students went to get to their pre-match prep rooms, and it was a security measure, but there wasn’t anyone who actually knew where Endeavor was at the moment, otherwise he’d already have been escorted out.

 

“Hm? This is none of your business, woman! This is between me and my son, and whatever you may have heard is nothing you should concern yourself with! Now move along!” Endeavor all but barked at her in response, turning to face her fully and stomping forward with about as much authority as he could muster- with him being well over a head taller than her, it would have been intimidating if he wasn’t just another roided up, puffed up bully overcompensating for his own shortcomings and lack of maturity by taking out his pissbaby rage on everyone around him. 

 

“Not gonna happen. Shouto-kun, leave and get a teacher. The UA handbook states that you can completely bar select individuals from campus regardless of status if you think they pose a direct and substantial threat to your wellbeing and health. I think you may want to exercise that right soon,” Izumi all but ignored Endeavor, simply standing there with her hands folded neatly behind her back, projecting authority with as much confidence and grit as Azula once had as Princess of the Fire Nation. She flared her chi, glaring up at Endeavor as she subtly increased the heat around her- fully intending on using her skills to make sure Endeavor regretted it if he started any shit. “Endeavor-san, I suggest you leave before we have to call campus security and make you leave.”

 

“You and what army?” the flaming turd pile asked lowly, glaring down at Izumi as though he wasn’t a trespasser with a swelled head, trying to project his own ego at her despite her reading all too well the amount of heat starting to build up in his system as she increased the air temperature ever so slightly more and more. “I am the Number Two Hero in Japan, girl . You cannot push me around no matter how flashy your quirk is. Now leave before you get in over your head.”

 

“Are you… are you threatening me?” Izumi asked calmly, the fire in her eyes dying down into pure ice as she flared the heat in the air and raised it to a stifling level, feeling no small amount of satisfaction as Endeavor’s face gained a thin, nearly invisible sheen of sweat. “Do you know what my abilities are, you overconfident buffoon of a man?”

 

“I know enough that your little trick against that blond boy won’t work here,” Endeavor growled back, while Izumi stared him down. Silently, she twitched her fingers- angled just so that Shouto could see them but not Endeavor. 

 

He slipped away, not that Endeavor noticed with all of his attention taken up by Izumi dredging up as much sass as she could muster from the depths of her cold, dead heart.

 

“Is that what you think, Endeavor-san? Well, I’d tell you that you’re wrong, but I think you’re the type of man who wouldn’t accept that without trying to muscle a demonstration out of me all in the name of soothing your overinflated ego. So, why don’t you tell me exactly what your intentions are towards Shouto and then we can get you safely off campus in time for your pending child and spousal abuse case?”

 

“Impudent brat! How dare you speak of things you know nothing about! I should have you-” Endeavor almost roared, glaring at Izumi as his face turned a truly impressive shade of red out of sheer rage, his flames flaring up around him in what was clearly meant to be an intimidation display… up until the point that they stopped . “What!?”

 

Izumi sighed, not even showing the slightest bit of effort as she did to Endeavor what she did to Shouto so many times during their training exercises whenever his flames got a little out of control. “Please calm yourself, Endeavor-san. I know you’re a violent gorilla of a man but at least have some respect for the building you’re in- we wouldn’t want to disrupt the entire sports festival that you put so much weight on, all because you set off the fire alarms and made everyone think there was a villain attack, now would we? .”

 

She paused for just a moment, watching the man’s twitching face for a few moments before perking up as she felt a heat signature rushing down the hall- Aizawa-sensei, from what she could feel. What he was doing out of the commentator’s booth wasn’t really known to her, but she figured that there must have been some damage to the stage that they were taking a quick recess to fix up. 

 

Or, given the fact that she could now faintly hear the sound of someone loudly shouting what sounded to be some kind of corporate sales pitch, it was probably that insane pink-haired support student (who had, honestly, a really nice figure that Izumi kind of wanted to run her hands along- no shut up focus on the dickwad instead of the girls you’re thirsting over holy shit) giving her opponent the runaround.

 

“And there’s the teachers coming, Endeavor-san,” Izumi smirked, cutting him off before he could start talking again, the sound of footsteps rushing down the halls (two pairs, because Shouto was with Aizawa still) coming closer and closer with every moment. “Please, do be smart this time and leave before you’re forced to leave.”

 

As Aizawa rounded the corner, Izumi returned control of Endeavor’s flames to him, but before he could do much more than give her a nasty glare, her homeroom teacher had whispered something quiet into his ear and…

 

Endeavor had paled, snuffed his flames (except for his ridiculous beard), and left without another word, speed walking like the hounds of hell and Aizawa were on his ass.

 

Whew.

 

She honestly didn’t know what she’d have done if he’d actually tried to punch her or something- oh sure she could have won, but well…

 

She wasn’t sure if she could have used what little she knew of Ty Lee’s chi-blocking to safely knock the big lug out without accidentally killing him. It turns out that not killing someone by blocking their chi flow was harder than killing them. Who knew? And of course, flames were right out otherwise it would have just been excessive.

 

“Well, that’s that resolved,” Izumi stated idly, relaxing and crossing her arms as she bumped Shouto’s shoulder with her own. “C’mon Shouto-kun, let’s get back to the stands. I think that support girl’s sales pitch is still going on- we might actually catch the back half of it.”

Chapter 76

Notes:

Hey! If you just skipped to this chapter, you might be confused! I uploaded chapters 75-80 today to clear out some of my ridiculously large backlog! (Seriously it was like 12 chapters ahead of this story)

Go back and read from where you last remember leaving off before reading this chapter!

Chapter Text

By the time Izumi and Shouto had finally gotten back to the stands, her friend was no longer pale and shaking, no longer staring at the ground like he’d fall apart if he looked up. Granted, by that point they’d also missed the entire rest of the preliminaries because she’d had to help Shouto breathe through a panic attack and almost force him to calm down via careful manipulation of the heat in his body.

 

Fortunately, even though Izumi was up next, Midnight had called a short recess again while Cementoss cleared away the rubble from where Shiozaki had completely immobilized Sero- she hadn’t seen it happen, but she could feel the heat signatures moving about as she and Shouto walked vaguely back towards the stands and had known that Shiozaki had let Sero wrap her up in tape first, then not only anchored herself to the ground with a mass of vines, but also turned the trick right back on him with an overwhelming tangle that cocooned him until the only thing visible was his face.

 

The whole thing had taken about a minute, but the sheer amount of vines Shiozaki had shoved into and under the concrete had left the entire thing in danger of collapsing.

 

After she actually had sat down, Katsumi had dropped her phone back into her lap and then shoved her out of her seat again so she could go to her prep room and get ready for her match against Hitoshi.

 

Which… honestly, it could be close. Really close. Hitoshi was good - not as good at martial arts as she was, and maybe his quirk was nowhere near as versatile at the moment, but if she got cocky even once, he was going to take control of her and then either punch her out of the ring or tell her to walk out on her own.

 

Not something she wanted to think about.

 

So here she was now, sitting in the waiting room, tapping her foot on the ground, going over the last few fights- both the ones she’d seen, and the ones Katsumi recorded for her.

 

She’d won handily against Monoma, Hitoshi had won against Yanagi, Katsumi nearly sent Tsuburaba to the hospital, Ochako had given Kendo a ring out instead of flinging her into the stratosphere, Yaoyorozu had knocked Fumikage out of the ring- those she’d seen already.

 

What she hadn’t seen was the match between Ashido and Kaibara- it had gone rather slowly, with Ashido trying to limit his mobility by skating around on acid trails and trying to use her quirk to either make him slip up or gum him down. Unfortunately, Kaibara was kind of vicious, and a lot better versed in martial arts than Ashido was. The match had taken almost five minutes, but even with Ashido constantly dancing around Kaibara and coating the floor with acid, eventually the pinkette had gotten a little too cocky and, well.

 

Apparently Kaibara’s quirk could vibrate solid materials and that had knocked Ashido over before she got knocked out with a solid punch to the face.

 

Ouch.

 

Izumi silently promised herself that if she fought Kaibara, she’d return the favor, to avenge her friend’s black eye.

 

The match after that had been Kirishima vs Tetsutetsu, and… well, honestly that was a nearly ten minute slugfest, which Kirishima had only just barely won- apparently his hardening quirk had beaten out Tetsutetsu’s steel quirk by way of him having trained up his resistance against Katsumi’s explosions, and by way of Tetsutetsu having to deal with metal fatigue. 

 

And then- well, Shouji against Mei, which Shouji had won by way of… stumbling around like a drunk octopus for well over ten minutes before Mei had finished her spiel on the sheer amount of support devices she’d personally made and advertised and just… stepped out of the ring.

 

Ojiro vs Tsunotori had been a bit more traditional- about three minutes of dodging, weaving, and very nice martial arts skill on Ojiro’s part, but then one of Tsunotori’s horns had managed to sneak up from behind while he was distracted and just carried him up into the air and out of the ring. Not the most humiliating defeat, seeing as he’d managed to bulldoze through Tsunotori’s horn cannons a few times and land a few hits, but ultimately he’d taken his loss with grace (and possibly Tsunotori’s phone number if Katsumi was telling the truth).

 

And then, well, Sero vs Shiozaki.

 

Ouch.

 

But all of that was beside the point.

 

What was the point was that Izumi was going to fight one of her best friends. Not that she had any hesitation about it- she’d beaten the shit out of Hitoshi in spars and he’d returned the favor a few times when quirks were allowed- but it was just that they knew each other. They knew roughly what each others’ strengths and weaknesses were, and Izumi was almost sure that with how Hitoshi was now her chance of losing were a lot higher than she would have liked.

 

Well…

 

Unless she used some of the things she’d developed during the last two weeks.

 

Some of the stuff that she’d kept under wraps until now, not showing anything off in the previous events of the sports festival.

 

But were they safe enough to use in a tournament? Some of them, probably, others she’d really have to pull her punches with… and the plasma whips… probably not.

 

She wanted to knock Hitoshi out of the ring, not dismember him . Then again, he seemed far more durable whenever he was using the physical enhancement part of his quirk, and UA sports uniforms were surprisingly heat resistant…

 

No, best not to try until she had the time to do further testing- even at a weak level, if she put too much power Hitoshi would be walking away with severe burns even if his limb stayed attached.

 

Hmm.

 

Izumi sighed, shaking her head as she tried to finalize some kind of plan against Hitoshi and eventually resolved to just… kind of wing it. Show off a little, have some fun. 

 

And if she lost, so be it.

 

If she won… well, so be it.

 

Fate would decide who won that next match.

 

Izumi would just hope quietly that it chose her.

Chapter 77

Notes:

Hey! If you just skipped to this chapter, you might be confused! I uploaded chapters 75-80 today to clear out some of my ridiculously large backlog! (Seriously it was like 12 chapters ahead of this story)

Go back and read from where you last remember leaving off before reading this chapter!

Chapter Text

“IN THE BLUE CORNER-”

 

“The sides of the arena aren’t corners and they don’t have colors.”

 

“IN THE BLUE CORNER! STANDING IN AT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT CENTIMETERS, WEIGHING IN AT JUST UNDER SEVENTY KILOGRAMS, IT’S CLASS 1-A’S RISING STAR- THE WOMAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND! THE GIRL WHO BROUGHT A KAMEHAMEHA TO A QUIRK FIGHT: MIDORIYA IZUMIIIIIII!”

 

“... This isn’t an NJPW match. Be professional about the students, Mic.”

 

“AND IN THE RED CORNER-”

 

“Uuugh…”

 

“- STANDING IN AT A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY CENTIMETERS, WEIGHING IN AT A LITTLE OVER SEVENTY TWO KILOGRAMS, IT’S CLASS 1-A’S UNEXPECTED DARK HORSE! THE DAZZLING PURPLE BANDIT WITH A SILVER TONGUE AND A MEAN RIGHT HOOK: SHINSOU HITOSHIIIIII!”

 

“I honestly don’t know if I’m ready for this,” Izumi called across the arena as she gave Hitoshi a lopsided smirk, rolling her neck and preparing herself for what was certainly going to be an extremely difficult fight- Hitoshi was extremely strong, quite fast, surprisingly resistant to Emitter type effects, and if she spoke, would have no compunction against making her step out of the ring. Izumi, meanwhile, was fast, strong, and had probably the single most versatile quirk in the entirety of her year at the moment.

 

She also definitely had to hold back her power as much as she could, because the challenge here wasn’t actually fighting Hitoshi- she knew his fighting style pretty well already, and a good idea of where his openings were, plus what things he wasn’t quite resistant to- it was fighting him, winning, and making it look good without killing her friend .

 

Because, surprise surprise, throwing thunderstorm level lightning bolts tended to kill people dead unless they had some kind of ridiculous quirk resistance to it. 

 

Like how Tetsutetsu would have made for an excellent lightning rod, or how Kaminari would have absorbed the vast majority of her bolts before deflecting the rest with his own natural charge. Or how Shiozaki’s vines had enough plant matter in them that they would work as insulators against the shock once sufficiently layered.

 

“You know, I’m not sure if I’m ready for this,” Hitoshi grinned back at Izumi, cracking his knuckles one by one as he stood there, slightly slouched and with one hand in his pocket. “You’re the top scorer in our class, Midori. If I wasn’t one of your friends, I’d think you were the meanest bitch in the world. You’re damn terrifying, and I’m gonna do my absolute damndest to get you out of bounds before you blast me with your fucking energy beams.”

 

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Izumi almost giggled, genuinely a little touched that Hitoshi found her terrifying but still called her a friend. “I’m mostly just terrified I might accidentally severely injure you.”

 

“... Yeah please don’t use your lightning on me. I’m not Kaminari, that shit hurts .”

 

“No promises.”

 

“Damn.”

 

Midnight rolled her eyes as the conversation wound down, both competitors taking their fighting stances and visibly charging up- ready to start blasting as soon as she gave the word.

 

“Contestants, are you ready!? Let the first match of the quarter finals…. BEGIN!”

 

The moment that Midnight moved clear of the stage and Cementoss had raised a small shield wall, Hitoshi’s side of the arena exploded , and Izumi immediately had to duck under a flying roundhouse kick that would have taken her fucking skull off had she been even a second slower. As it was- it still thundered through her hair and the sheer force of the kick blew through the fragile hair tie she’d slid into place in lieu of her usual gold plated crown ornament, leaving her hair down and completely loose in the wind.

 

Even just that near miss was almost enough to bowl Izumi over, but she recovered the moment the kick swept over her, returning the favor by jet boosting her own body up with a flare of heat and launching herself straight into Hitoshi- who caught her spine directly into his shin in a trade that honestly favored him more than it did her.

 

But it was enough- the impact of her sudden jet boost and corrective flip flung him back across the stage to his side, leaving Izumi none the worse for the wear- save for her sudden lack of hair tie. And the slight new ache in her spine because ow , Hitoshi had one bony-ass shin.

 

At least he was wincing from the sudden impact too. But neither of them gave the other much time to react- immediately, they were back at each other once more, Hitoshi throwing punches and fighting at high speed, Izumi ducking and weaving as she did her best to land a hit- currently not even using her firebending for anything other than maintaining her thermal radar so she knew where Hitoshi was coming from and where his limbs were- shit!

 

Another kick from behind almost caught her, with Izumi only just barely managing to slide to the side as it scraped along the belly of her uniform and tore the fabric there with an almighty burst of wind- Hitoshi must have put a lot more power into that kick than before, but not enough to break the leg that threw it. Shit, he was getting serious if he was already starting to peak out his higher safe levels.

 

Izumi had to get serious too.

 

In a bare instant, it was as though a switch had flipped in her mind- all of her worries and insecurities about hurting Hitoshi faded away as though they’d never been. A surety of purpose flooded into her mind as that same kick scraped its way past her stomach in nearly slow motion, her mind racing as she reached for her spiritual center and pulled .

 

“SHIT!”

 

Hitoshi was sent flying by his own strength- not because his sudden flying kick had taken him too far in one direction, but because of the massive lightning shield that had suddenly sprung into existence around Izumi as though it had always been there- a storm of charged particles that flooded through Hitoshi’s body and seized up his muscles to the point that his augmented strength flung him away across the arena floor until he came to a sudden, twitching stop on the ground just barely short of the boundary line.

 

He twitched and sparked, the lightning crackling around Izumi having clearly caught him off guard- but the wave of purple sparks cascading from his body didn’t cease. If he had his quirk active, then he was fine- Brain and Brawn was a quirk that augmented the user’s body to the point that even a building falling on him wouldn’t affect Hitoshi if he used his utmost max power (well, that he could safely handle).

 

And Izumi was proven right- in those precious few seconds that gave both fighters reprieve as Hitoshi recovered from the sudden electrocution and Izumi powered down her lightning shield, he stood up, still trembling slightly from the sudden shock to his leg and clearly having received several surface burns if the state of his pant leg was any indication, and raised his fists.

 

Izumi nodded slowly, letting the flames engulf her and surround her- brilliant blue lighting up the field as she prepared for the second round of the fight.

 

Time to get really serious, then. All the stops. No regrets.

 

Midoriya Izumi let herself fade slightly into her own mind, and in return, ancient knowledge from her distant past welled up in her spirit, giving her clarity and surety of purpose.


It wasn’t full immersion, it might have only been a psychosomatic effect. Regardless of what it was- Midoriya Izumi took a step back… and Princess Azula of the Fire Nation took a step forward.

Chapter 78

Notes:

Hey! If you just skipped to this chapter, you might be confused! I uploaded chapters 75-80 today to clear out some of my ridiculously large backlog! (Seriously it was like 12 chapters ahead of this story)

Go back and read from where you last remember leaving off before reading this chapter!

Chapter Text

Oh, if only she could have monologued safely without Hitoshi taking control of her mind and making her walk out. She would have been cackling and posturing in a way that would have been so good for the cameras, but also probably really bad at making her look sane and well adjusted.

 

Granted, considering that the fighting arena had microphones pointed at it to let some of what the contestants were yelling… she probably hadn’t come off as too sane against Monoma anyway. Oh, she could just hear the scathing critiques now…

 

No matter.

 

Izumi- Azula… Izula? No, just Izumi, it was still her in there after all, just… using a bit of Azula’s behaviors as a crutch.

 

Izumi grinned in a manner best described as feral, hands lighting up with brilliant blue flames as she took a step forward. Hitoshi was still twitching slightly, but the rushing sound of wind emanating from his form as he charged up his quirk let her know that he would be up and running in mere moments. She couldn’t let that happen, but at the same time, she felt kind of bad just blasting him out of the ring with her combustionbending so…

 

Izumi shook her head and ran forward, a snarl on her lips and the fire in her hands switching to lightning as she configured her chi into a form that she had rarely, if ever used and leapt into the air- gaining a good amount of height from a jet boost as she flipped over in midair such that she was doing what might have been an upside down pirouette as she fell towards Hitoshi’s position.

 

He dodged, of course, throwing himself out of the way and grunting in pain as he almost fell over- apparently overcharging himself for a brief moment to clear out the lingering shakes caused by that initial shock. He steamed , and although he’d stumbled, he simply turned it into an acrobatic flip and landed firmly in the center of the ring, leaving Izumi barely a meter from the edge of the ring and holding a massive orb of ball lightning, crackling and spitting and discharging like a transformer dropped into a lake.

 

“Midori, you know how you said you were scared of accidentally severely injuring me?” Hitoshi asked suddenly in the lull between actions, steeling himself and dropping into a combat stance, his entire body shot through with nervous energy as he eyed the ball lightning. “Could you please not throw that at me?”

 

For a moment, Izumi almost thought about answering… and then shrugged, smirked at Hitoshi, and charged forward whilst flinging the lightning ball vaguely at her purple haired friend. He yelped, springing out of the way instantly and all but flinging himself into the air before turning around and flicking the air hard enough that he turned into a projectile aimed directly at her .

 

Izumi was actually kind of impressed- one of Hitoshi’s biggest weaknesses had always been his aerial maneuverability, and seeing him work to rectify that was quite nice.

 

That did not stop her from using a weaker, much less whiplash inducing blast of her thermal wave to knock him way off course with an overwhelming roar of expanding hot wind- almost like a bassy rumble that echoed through the arena and drowned out all other sounds while Hitoshi was flung away and landed… right near the ball lightning she’d laid down as a trap first.

 

Bingo.

 

Izumi sprung forth once again, while Hitoshi did a complicated looking maneuver that was halfway between a breakdance move and a kip up that twinged her brain for some reason (why did it look kind of familiar?) and readied himself for combat once more- already starting to skip to the side to avoid touching the ball lightning, only for another orb to come soaring out of seemingly nowhere and almost clip him in the side- as it was, he only screamed a little, flinging himself away to a safe position again while twin orbs of lightning orbited around Izumi once she got close enough.

 

Quite a neat party trick she’d relearned for the tournament- ball lightning was an odd, esoteric form of lightningbending that almost no lightningbender ever actually bothered to learn- even she didn’t have a lot of uses for it outside of attracting insects to their thunderous doom whenever it was mosquito season. But, after a long and fruitful life as Azula, she had refined her skills further and further- it was, after all, just a different application of her guided lightning streamers. Instead of allowing the charge to finish jumping from her body to the ground, she simply held the final point where it was until enough power built up that it created a semi-stable orb held in check by her chi and that she could direct at will.

 

Long practice had allowed her to create said orbs of lightning wherever she could guide a stream, instead of just holding them in front of her fingers and focusing all the energy there.

 

And Hitoshi… Hitoshi was panting- he’d not managed to land any serious hits on her, although the few grazes she’d accumulated were starting to sting just from the wind having hit her. But- she’d managed to keep him at bay long enough that he was starting to flag a little, especially with how hot the air around them was.

 

Actually, now that she thought of it, those two orbs of ball lightning circling around her gave her an idea…

 

A simple flex of her will dispelled the twin balls, letting the crackling lightning within fizzle out as Izumi stared down her opponent- she was getting tired, it was true, but simply standing in the sun and snacking between her matches allowed her to recharge almost to full capacity, and even now, she was sitting pretty with enough energy that she could… hm… yes…

 

“Hey Hitoshi!” Izumi called across the stage, grinning nastily as she flared her fists with flames once again and burned , throwing herself into the air on jets of flame and coating the entire arena in flames to the point that Hitoshi couldn’t go anywhere without getting severely burned. “Have you ever played Touhou!?”

 

Hitoshi suddenly looked very scared, and Izumi cackled wildly as she drew a massive burst of plasma to her hands- swirling in every which color of the rainbow as she poured her chi into it and let it run wild with emotion and life and breath and the core of her spirit, focusing and condensing it in such a way that it was mostly concussive force instead of burning heat.

 

“MIDORI, DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE FIRE THAT AT ME! I SWEAR I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET IT!”

 

Izumi ignored him, holding the blast high above her head in one outstretched hand as the sound of thunder pealed out around her, the unstable waves of rainbow colored plasma crashing against each other and roiling with both heat and light and energy .

 

And then- she released.

 

The sound of plasma ripping through the air with its unstable containment was like no sound she’d ever heard before- a loud, dissonant buzz of sound that shrieked through the entire stage and left nothing but white noise in its wake. A rainbow beam blasted across the intervening space between her and Hitoshi, and although she could almost feel the sensation of his brainwashing threatening to take hold of her due to some kind of implicit acknowledgement of his words, it wasn’t enough to save Hitoshi.

 

“LOVE SIGN! MASTER SPAAAAAAARK!”

 

Needless to say, the arena needed heavy repairs after that.

Chapter 79

Notes:

Hey! If you just skipped to this chapter, you might be confused! I uploaded chapters 75-80 today to clear out some of my ridiculously large backlog! (Seriously it was like 12 chapters ahead of this story)

Go back and read from where you last remember leaving off before reading this chapter!

Chapter Text

“Midori,” Hitoshi intoned lowly as he glared at his green haired friend, wincing and aching from the amount of first degree burns and bruises smattered all over his torso and arms while he rested in the infirmary bed. “I fucking told you not to fire that at me. And what did you do?”

 

“... Fired a giant rainbow laser directly at you?” Izumi winced a little bit, quite regretting how eager she’d been to actually hit him with that kind of fire power- oh sure, he hadn’t been seriously harmed and honestly Recovery Girl could heal his level of surface injuries just fine once Izumi left so it wasn’t that serious, but she did feel kind of bad about drawing out the match instead of just ending it right then and there.

 

“You fired a giant rainbow laser directly at me. And you fucked up my nice tanktop too,” Hitoshi deadpanned, still not letting up on his glare. It was honestly impressive how much menace he could pack into it.

 

“.... Hitoshi, I know you only buy tanktops in packs of thirty six at the menswear store for as cheap as you possibly can, that can not have been a special tanktop,” Izumi sighed, palming her forehead and rolling her eyes at Hitoshi’s theatrics.

 

“Touché,” Hitoshi muttered, crossing his arms and sighing as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “Dammit… I was so sure that I’d managed to catch up to you- even a little. And yet… this. All of this. You and your stupid bullshit quirk- I can’t believe you’ve gotten so much stronger in just two weeks!”

 

“I spent a lot of time meditating, and a lot of what I did was stuff I’d already known before, just… kinda didn’t use because a lot of it is mostly just good for party tricks,” Izumi shrugged, not really feeling the need to justify anything, though she did run a just barely flaming hand over Hitoshi’s body to make sure he actually was fine and wasn’t just pretending. Thankfully, he was fine- she’d toned down the power of her Master Spark beam enough that it didn’t actually hurt Hitoshi, which was very unlike what would have happened had she actually hit Monoma with that Kamehameha.

 

…. Technically speaking, both of them were sort of the same attack, just with different colors and differing levels of containment, but she did like to keep them separate in her mind.

 

“Meditating, she says,” Hitoshi scoffed, grumbling incoherently and crossing his arms. “How did meditating give you literal energy beams!?”

 

“I don’t know what to say, Hitoshi. I just… did it. Meditated really hard, got in touch with my spiritual center, focused on control and the nature of fire itself and, well… you know my quirk is deeply cerebral and esoteric in nature. It helped. And then I didn’t really change my workout schedule much,” Izumi shrugged again, then leaned forward and rested an elbow on the edge of Hitoshi’s bed. “I do wish that I’d gotten to actually spar hand to hand with more people though- it’s been a long time since I could just do that, no quirks or anything. Just go all out, fists and feet to see who comes out on top…”

 

“... I mean, the last time we sparred like that was last week.”

 

“Yeah, but it wasn’t really all out , you know? I was helping you correct some forms, and teaching you some new tricks mostly,” Izumi pointed out, raising an eyebrow at Hitoshi, who had the good grace to nod and shrug in some kind of agreement. “But yeah… no hard feelings, right? I am kinda sorry that I hit you with that beam, but I’m more glad that I didn’t actually hurt you with it.” 

 

“Yeah, no hard feelings- hell, I told you it was game on, I should have expected you’d go all out,” Hitoshi sighed, then shook his head and waved Izumi off. “Now go back to the stands. Now that I’m outta the running, I’m gonna take the nap I fucking deserve from hauling my insomniac ass all over the place today. Ugh… serves me right for trying to seriously fight the most busted strong student in the school.”

 

“Yeah yeah. And Hitoshi- don’t sell yourself short. You’re going to be amazing- even moreso than me, if you keep putting in the effort,” Izumi gave Hitoshi one last wave over her shoulder, grinning softly as she made her way back up to the stands. It was slow going, of course, since she didn’t really have anything pressing drawing her back, though she did keep an eye on the ongoing match- apparently Ochako was giving Katsumi a hell of a time by being too fast with her jump jets to actually catch , and Katsumi was barely keeping ahead of Ochako by using the pressure waves of her explosions to knock the other girl away before she could get tagged and yeeted into the fucking sun.

 

It wasn’t exactly as intense of a match as she’d had with Hitoshi- certainly nowhere near as flashy, though Katsumi was giving it her all trying to blow up Ochako’s face.

 

In fact, at one point they were literally dueling in the sky, with Katsumi doing her best to grapple with Ochako, and Ochako trying to render Katsumi weightless so that they wouldn’t fall out of the air.

 

Even with her thermal radar being the only sight she had of the match, it was… exhilarating to watch- Ochako’s casual mastery of the MMA she learned, Katsumi’s overwhelming power and skill at making up moves on the fly…

 

Izumi was proud of them.

 

She smiled, then paused as she felt something… change. Not just in the arena, where Ochako finally managed to tag Katsumi with her quirk and sent the explosive blonde flying out of the arena (though, the match hadn’t been called yet because Katsumi hadn’t actually hit the ground and was still racing back into the lines),  but…

 

Whose signature was that? 

 

Izumi squinted, focusing on the blurry blob of heat nearing the edge of her perception. What was Tenya doing so far from the stands, and why was his heat signature so strange? It was… the signature was all wrong- even with that steady heat pooling in Tenya’s legs just from his engines idling, the rest of his body felt… colder than usual. Not cold like death, but cold like…

 

Sadness?

 

Izumi frowned, her heart clenching tight as she turned away from the hallway leading back to her class’ box in the stands.

 

Something had happened to Tenya, and she had to know what it was before it was too late.

Chapter 80

Notes:

Hey! If you just skipped to this chapter, you might be confused! I uploaded chapters 75-80 today to clear out some of my ridiculously large backlog! (Seriously it was like 12 chapters ahead of this story)

Go back and read from where you last remember leaving off before reading this chapter!

Chapter Text

“So, what has you looking like you’re about to murder someone?” Izumi asked casually as she rounded the corner to where Tenya was visibly struggling against his tears and impotent rage- his engines flaring intermittently as he tried and failed to contain the sheer emotion within. “I’m assuming something bad happened- do you need someone to talk to?”

 

“I- Midoriya! There… I…” Tenya seemed almost at a loss, sitting against the wall with his glasses pulled up to his forehead and one hand rubbing away at his eyes. His phone was in his free hand, trembling inside a nearly crushing grip. “There- my brother… he… he was attacked. B-by the hero killer. Stain.”

 

Izumi’s eyes widened, and a yawning chasm opened beneath her feet. Immediately, her heart sank and she almost fell to her knees just from the sheer revelation that Tenya’s brother- the man he talked about like he hung the fucking stars in the sky, the man who visited every weekend as an alumnus of UA and played games with their friend group in the boys’ dorm common room- had been the subject of a fucking assassination .

 

The man who had been helping Tenya prepare for the sports festival, who tragically couldn’t make it today because his agency gave him an extra patrol shift that he couldn’t bow out early from.

 

And now he- he was…

 

“I-is he…?” Izumi murmured, shakily taking a step forward before dropping to her knees entirely beside Tenya, just barely close enough that she could cautiously reach for his shoulder. “Is-?”

 

“N-no! No… thankfully, he managed to hold his own… he was badly injured, but… he’s in the hospital now. I just- he’s in critical condition, and I don’t know what to do!” Tenya cried out, almost throwing his phone as he threw his hands into the air and limply fell backwards, slumping against the wall and letting a choked off sob. “I-I don’t even know if he’s going to recover! The- mother said that the doctors… they said that he might have permanent nerve damage in his legs! He… he might never walk again! And- and if that happens… then… then Ingenium is gone! Forever!”

 

“I… that’s… that’s horrible ,” Izumi murmured, shuffling slightly and sinking into place by Tenya, equally shaken- sure, she didn’t know Tenya’s brother very well, and had only really seen him maybe a few times in the last month, but… but he’d been a kind, gentle man, who helped out everyone in his path without judgement or ego. He was… he knew the names of the street vendors around where he patrolled, poured money into social programs… and now he might never be able to patrol ever again. Would have to retire early, barely into his mid 20s. “Tenya… I- I won’t pretend that I know exactly how you feel. I know it must… must feel horrible … and I know that deep down, underneath the shock and the horror that you feel, that you’re angry. I was too, when I lost people I was close to. You want to lash out at someone, anyone, asking why the world is so unfair and why bad things happened to the people you loved. But I need to tell you this…”

 

Izumi stopped, turning to give Tenya a long and searching look, which he returned ever so slowly with an unreadable expression on his face. After a moment, she sighed, then continued speaking while raising one arm and giving Tenya a gentle pat on the back.

 

“If you run off for revenge with a half-cocked plan and nothing but self righteous anger in your heart, you’re only going to die.”

 

“... Wh-what? Wh- Why would I go running off for revenge!? That’s- that’s not the heroic way!”

 

 

Izumi blinked, staring into Tenya’s eyes and raising an eyebrow in confusion. “... I- er. Sorry. Is that not what you were planning? I mean- I guess my thermal sense isn’t the best for reading emotions, but I thought I felt a heat pattern for anger in your body.”

 

She cleared her throat awkwardly as Tenya just… just stared at her, thoughts whirling and churning behind his eyes. He seemed stiff, almost nervous, and although the patch of anger in his chest faded, he still seemed… off.

 

“I- no. I… I am just grateful that my brother can come home at all. And… yes, I am angry, but I’m grown enough to realize that… were I to try and fight the hero killer as I am now, I would not survive. He has been active for over five years now, and I… I may have started training since my youth, but if he can take out heroes who are at the top of their game… I don’t think I would stand a chance,” Tenya finally answered, shaking his head and clenching his fist. It shook slightly, and that burst of rage in his chest flared up again.

 

Somehow, Izumi didn’t think he was being quite truthful with his words, but rolled with it anyway. “Well… that’s a relief. But- I’m still sorry for… for your brother’s injuries. It’s… it’s going to be hard to deal with it, but it’ll pass. Your brother’s still alive, and although his life and yours have changed, you can still cherish his presence and person for still many more years, hopefully.

 

“I- yes… that… that is true. And- I am not… I… I should say, I was planning on officially taking on my brother’s name when I graduated… it… I don’t feel ready to take on the mantle of Ingenium, yet, but… it is already listed as my primary choice for a hero name,” Tenya sighed, rubbing his forehead and pursing his lips. “And… it doesn’t change my plans for the future, if he can recover from this. I can still take my internship at Team Idaten… I just… wouldn’t be under the direct tutelage of my brother anymore.”

 

“Mm… well,” Izumi sighed and pursed her lips, twiddling her fingers together as she tried to think of her next words carefully. “Far be it from me to disparage you for your frankly logical and thought out choices… but I’ll say this: If you need someone to talk to… well, you have my number. Text me, call me… I can’t say I’ll be a good conversationalist or know what to say, but I promise you that I will not judge you, and that I will listen and provide a shoulder to cry on. All of us will, should you tell anyone else in our class.”

 

Tenya nodded, a slight smile forming slowly on his face. “I- I will do so, if I need your assista-”

 

Without realizing that she interrupted Tenya, Izumi continued on her train of thought, “Also if you need me to help you come beat the shit out of the hero killer, just… make sure that I’m not like super far away. And call me before you actually go out to find the hero killer.”

 

“... I’m not currently planning on doing that, as I just said… but um… that is… also appreciated? Even if it is, er, extremely illegal?”

 

“You’re welcome, Tenya. Now, let’s get some water in you and some snacks- you look like you could use something salty and deep fried to take your mind off the bad news.”

 

“... But, won’t we miss the fights?”

 

“We’ll see them on the screens, no big deal. Plus- I’m gonna be real with you, Ko-chan just flung Katsumi out of the stadium just now and I’m pretty sure none of the rest of the fights before the semi-final are going to be anywhere near as interesting.”

 

“... If you say so, Midoriya.”

 

“Now let’s go, you need cheering up, and I need to recharge my energy reserves so Ko-chan doesn’t body me.”

Chapter Text

As Izumi had stated- none of the next matches were at all quite so explosive as the ones between her and Hitoshi, and Katsumi and Ochako. Yaoyorozu had lost to Kaibara due to him being able to act faster than her, and with the way his spinning body parts worked, he could rattle any forming object hard enough that Yaoyorozu completely lost track of how it was forming and had to eject it half made lest it start tearing her skin apart or messing with her organs. After doing that several times, Kaibara’s martial arts training had knocked Yaoyorozu out cold with a stunningly well executed flying knee to the face.

 

Fortunately, Yaoyorozu hadn’t been seriously harmed other than a slightly broken nose.

 

After that, Kirishima had faced off against Shouji, and although the dupli-arms user was ridiculously tall and strong, Kirishima’s hardening allowed him to dig painful welts into Shouji’s arms when he tried to pick up the redhead- and then he’d gotten headbutted in the chin for his troubles and nearly broke his jaw.

 

It… hadn’t been the best strategy, Izumi thought, but restraining an opponent was theoretically a good move for most situations, especially if they couldn’t move.

 

She wished Shouji a speedy discharge from Recovery Girl’s tender graces, but knew damn well that bite mark that Kirishima had left in his hand would take at least a day to fully heal.

 

After that, the final match of the quarter-finals had been Shiozaki against Tsunotori, and although Tsunotori had the right idea trying to punch through Shiozaki’s vine shields and carry the girl out of the ring, Shiozaki had also baited Tsunotori to the point that she’d managed to wrap up the american-born girl and prevent her from firing off her horns again- all within less than a minute.

 

The short, fifteen minute break after that was more of a formality and a chance to let the crowd go to the bathroom and stock up on more snacks or merchandise than it was actually necessary for stage repairs (though, Shiozaki had basically punched a series of tunnels under the ring, but that was fixable within the span of five minutes).

 

And then after that… the semi-finals.

 

Izumi stood there, in her prep room, chewing her lip and huffing quietly to herself. Ochako would definitely change up her strategy to deal with her, but honestly she wasn’t so concerned about their actual fight, given that Izumi’s combat style was high damage area denial and Ochako’s combat style was flight assisted melee . Oh sure, it wasn’t like Ochako couldn’t eke out a win under certain circumstances- no, Izumi knew better than to think that she’d win against someone every single time just because Ochako didn’t stand a fucking chance against her in a flat, open arena with no nearby cover or debris to use.

 

But in this case, yes, Ochako was kind of screwed, and Izumi kind of felt bad about it. 

 

Honestly, she kind of wished that she could have had the chance to fight someone with a strong fire quirk- the allure of fighting an Agni Kai again was… well, not really a proper Agni Kai because that usually ended in death (and Zuzu outlawed them less than a year into his reign as Fire Lord) but the sporting version that had taken off after Pro Bending had become a popular sport was something she had always wanted to take part in, but… well.

 

Blue fire was incredibly distinctive, and she never had gotten her name pardoned in the Fire Nation after all of the shit she’d been through and done- she’d had a life , and wasn’t about to throw it all away so Zuzu could shove her in the Boiling Rock for a decade or two.

 

That said, it wasn’t like she wasn’t going into the fight preparing for some kind of antigravity nonsense- hell, after the last few fights, Izumi wouldn’t be surprised if Ochako came in wielding a Hatsume built fire extinguisher.

 

… Actually that might be kind of fun to try and fight against, to see if her flames could overcome something actively trying to douse them mid fight.

 

Izumi sighed and shook her head, humming to herself as she waited for the prep period to finish so she could fight the rest of her matches, then go home and take the rest of the week off and watch the second, third, and fourth year festivals with her mom. 

 

“You know, you don’t have to just keep standing out there,” Izumi called out dryly at the heat signature seemingly caught in indecision outside of her door- through walls (and when not focusing specifically on someone she recognized), her senses got a little fuzzy, but she could still tell that it was…

 

“Ochako? What are you doing here?” Izumi asked as the door opened, revealing the face of her chubby-cheeked friend, who seemed almost sick to her stomach with nerves, the tension lines in her shoulders only tensing further as she hurried into the prep room and sat down heavily.

 

“I can’t- I can’t do this,” Ochako whispered, whimpering quietly as she held her hand over her stomach and covered her mouth with her other. “I- Izu… I… I can’t fight you. I-I’m sorry but I’m not.. I’m not strong enough.

 

What.

 

What!?

 

“I- Ko-chan- Ochako- what are you talking about? I… What do you mean you’re not strong enough? You’re amazing- you’re just as good as me at hand to hand combat, and your strategic mind is brilliant! How- how could you say that you’re not strong enough?”

 

“Because I’m not! I- I’m just a gravity girl! I can’t do anything without stuff around me to use as weapons, and I only got lucky against Kacchan because she kept tearing up the stage and giving me rubble to use! I’m just- I’m here as a fucking fluke! I’m- you’re too strong for me to fight, Izu! I can’t beat the things you do no matter how hard I try!” Ochako cried out, tears in her eyes as she slammed both fists down onto the table and barely kept down the wave of nausea she felt from just the thought of fighting her friend.

 

“Ko-chan… is that… is that how you really feel?” Izumi asked, eyes shadowed behind her bangs, one hand clenched into a fist while her voice trembled ever so slightly, thick with emotion. “Are- are you really giving up just like that?”

 

“I-I have to. There’s no way I can win this- I’m…” Ochako sniffled and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her forearm, smearing tears across her face as she began openly sobbing. “I’m- When we fight… I’m… I’m just going to forf-”

 

SLAP!

 

“How dare you!?” Izumi suddenly shouted, hand still raised from where she’d smacked Ochako right across the cheek, glaring down at her friend, who simply clutched her reddened face in shock and more than a little pain. “How. Dare. You!? Who are you and what have you done with the real Uraraka Ochako!?”

 

“I- I am real!” Ochako cried out in protest, suddenly quite confused as to what kind of nonsense Izumi was spewing.

 

“The real Uraraka Ochako would never give up on a fight just because she thought she couldn’t win! You won against Bakugou fucking Katsumi, one of the strongest damned fighters in our year with nothing but your wits, some rocks off the ground, and the willingness to do whatever it takes to win! You got through the entire rest of this festival on your own merits, you beat Tokage Setsuna in a volleyball match, your strategies took you this far! And now you’re just going to give it up!? And for what!? What do you accomplish by not even trying!?” Izumi all but roared, grabbing Ochako by the shoulders and speaking directly into her crestfallen face at a volume that was only just shy of shouting. “You’re just going to throw away all your effort because of- what!? What are you afraid of!?”

 

“I- I’m…” Ochako shuddered, sniffling quietly and swallowing her snot as she looked down, gathering her strength and clenching her fists as despair and stress transitioned into a short lived burst of anger . “I’m afraid of you! You and your stupid perfect bullshit! You’re too fucking strong! Call me a coward all you want, but the only thing I could think for the last five minutes was that I’m terrified that you’ll start attacking me for real and I’ll die! I know it’s stupid, okay!? But I can’t- your power is overwhelming and I’m just- I’m just me! I can’t do anything against that, it’s like an ant against a magnifying glass!”

 

“I- oh Ko-chan ,” Izumi sighed, kneeling down slightly so she could envelop Ochako into a tight hug. “I’m- I’m so, so sorry. This is all my fault- I’m… I got carried away, trying to show off what I learned and trained for… this is… this is all on me. I’m… you’re not just you, though. I need you to know that.”

 

“... That doesn’t make any sense, Izu…”

 

“It’s… I’m reminded of an old proverb I heard,” Izumi murmured, slowly pulling away and drawing her chair closer so she could sit by Ochako and gently stroke her back with one hand, taking Ochako’s hand in her other and squeezing them gently. “One often learns their greatest lessons, from their harshest defeats. I… guess it’s a little depressing, applied here, but the man who taught me that proverb said that, even if you can’t always win a fight against an overwhelming opponent- sometimes it’s not beating them that’s the win condition. It’s what you learn and apply to yourself afterwards. And… I know fighting me is… going to be hard. I won’t pretend that I’m not… probably one of the strongest competitors here, but you’re here too . You’re amazing , and you shouldn’t sell yourself short just because we’re a bad matchup. Even the strongest zoners can be defeated by a skilled rushdown.”

 

“... Izu, was that…?”

 

“... Fighting game terminology, yes.”

 

“You’re such a nerd,” Ochako sighed, a tiny smile on her lips as she giggled just a bit at Izumi’s slowly becoming more apparent otaku-ness. “But… I get what you’re saying. Not that it was a good pep talk, but… I mean, I thought I could beat you before. It’s just- I don’t know if I can beat you now. In any regard.”

 

“Well, just try your best, okay? I know I didn’t treat my match with Monoma super seriously, but I did have to fight pretty hard to keep away from Hitoshi- he is stupid fast, and you are too . Listen- I’m going to tell you something, alright?” Izumi asked, giving Ochako a bit of a secretive smile as she helped the still somewhat trembling girl to her feet. 

 

“What is it?”

 

“If you beat me, I don’t have to give the winner’s speech .”

 

“Pfft! Just for that I’m throwing the match, you absolute scaredy cat!”

 

“Wait what- no! Don’t! I can’t do the speech, I barely managed to get a good speech ready for the start and that took me two weeks!”

 

“Too bad Izu! I’ll cheer you on from the stands~!”

 

“Ko-chan, you traitor!”

Chapter Text

Unlike her previous two matches, there was no hostility or stress going into Ochako’s fight. Ochako had calmed down considerably in the intervening minutes, and although Ochako had wanted this to be an all out demonstration of their abilities, Izumi had texted Aizawa-sensei asking for them to do something a little different- level the playing field as it were.

 

“WHAT A SHOW OF SOLIDARITY, FOLKS! OUR FIRST SEMI-FINAL CONTESTANTS ARE COMING FROM THE SAME SIDE OF THE STADIUM! AN AMAZING SHOW OF FRIENDSHIP!”

 

“Speaking of, I’ve been informed that this next match will be proceeding without the use of quirks. We’ve seen enough firepower from Midoriya for now, so she’ll be restricted to… small techniques and hand to hand combat from here on out.”

 

“WHAAAAT!? WELL NOW, WHAT A FAIR MINDED WAY OF THINKING! SAY, ERASER, IS OUR OTHER CONTESTANT UNDER SUCH A RESTRICTION?”

 

“Not as such, no, but if she feels like fighting without her quirk, that is her choice to make.”

 

“So that’s what you were doing while I was cleaning myself up,” Ochako huffed under her breath as the two of them took their positions across from each other, a small smile on her face as she readied herself in a combat stance that was ever so slightly different from her usual- less focus on her hands, and more weighted towards footwork. “Well, I won’t say no to a fair fight, but one of these days I will beat you in an all out fight. I don’t care how we have to do it, but I will .”

 

“I’m looking forward to it, genuinely,” Izumi smiled in response, a bit of a cocky grin on her face as she took her own stance- sure, while Ochako had a much more varied style based on MMA, Izumi was a master at both the normal and bending forms of fire nation style combat, and had memories of it reaching back through decades . “But I’m not going to hold back on this front. Just let me know if you’re planning to throw me into the sun, alright?”

 

“Ha! Maybe next time- I’m gonna beat your ass with just my fists!”

 

“You’ll try!”

 

“Contestants, are you ready!? Begin!”

 

A gong rang out unnecessarily instead of the normal starting bell, and the braziers of flame burned with heat as someone cranked up the gas. 

 

Ochako ran forward the moment that the gong rang out, ignoring the fact that Present Mic was now playing some kind of music over the stadium speakers to set the stage and just rushing for Izumi, who ran forward in return with her torso dipped low and her hands trailing behind her back.

 

They met in the center of the arena, and immediately a flurry of blows ensued- Ochako fired off a knee straight towards Izumi’s gut, but was turned aside by Izumi’s leg coming up and brushing her knee out of the way while the green haired girl responded to Ochako’s flying first move with a palm strike to the side of Ochako’s ribs that she only just barely blocked as she fell back to the ground and returned fire with a spinning back fist to the firebender’s face.

 

Izumi grinned as she slapped the blow aside, only to just barely turn aside the followup right straight such that it glanced off her deltoid instead of catching her right in the chest. Already, Izumi could see the sheer effort that Ochako had put into her craft- the long hours of punching a sandbag, the sparring practice, the sheer perfection she put into her forms. 

 

The lines of her body were artful, and even as Izumi traded blows with Ochako, she could only feel mounting pride welling in her chest.

 

Well, that and the sudden burst of pain from Ochako managing to catch both of her arms out of position for just a second and deliver a headbutt straight into her boob .

 

“Ow, fuck! My boob!” Izumi cried out as she fell back, holding her chest protectively and wincing at the sudden spikes of near agony running through her body. “Dammit, why’d you have to hit me there!?”

 

“It’s a big target!” Ochako protested, blushing beet red as she clapped her hands over her mouth- eyes wide with shock at what she’d just blurted out without any thought. “I-I mean- that is!”

 

“WOW, IS THAT MOVE EVEN LEGAL!?”

 

“Not in a formal martial arts setting, but this isn’t exactly about formal martial arts. Regardless, this is actually the first time anyone has managed to land a solid hit on Midoriya during this entire festival .”

 

“Wait really? You haven’t been hit at all?” Ochako muttered, squaring up her stance once more as she and Izumi circled around each other, sussing out each others’ weaknesses and the slight flaws introduced into their stances with every step- Izumi could see a number of areas she could strike at when Ochako moved if she went low, and in return Ochako could see where she had started to favor her left side after Ochako’s forehead had done its best to put a dent in her chest.

 

“Surprisingly no- I dodged all of Hitoshi’s hits because I didn’t feel like breaking a rib, and really nobody managed to land even a scratch on me during either the race or volleyball, and Monoma kind of just pissed his pants at me,” Izumi shrugged, settling into her stance again and rushing forward- this time it was a much more chaotic series of events, flips and kicks and punches all thrown about in a tangle of violence that could barely be kept track of.

 

Izumi bobbed and weaved, ducking under a flying roundhouse and rolling to the side while countering with an upward snap kick, Ochako diverting it with a palm strike before trying and only just barely failing to strike a pressure point in Izumi’s inner thigh. Izumi hissed, pushing off of the ground and using the sudden burst of momentum to wrap her thighs around Ochako’s head and spin. Her entire body weight coiled around Ochako multiple times, throwing the gravity girl off her balance as Izumi moved around slightly, shifting her position until her hands were firmly on the ground and she pulled , flinging the brown haired girl towards the edge of the ring with the strength of her core and legs.

 

Unfortunately, Ochako managed to recover with a handspring, popping to her feet and immediately rushing back in with a series of punches taken straight out of a boxing match- jabs and straights being only just barely diverted while Izumi returned fire by slamming her elbow into the delicate bones of Ochako’s hand with a loud CRACK!

 

Ochako hissed in pain, barely choking back her scream even as she pulled back- Izumi darted forward, only to fall into a feint as Ochako fell back and used the momentum of an overextended punch to dig her feet into Izumi’s gut and kick her right back the way she came- almost like a kangaroo.

 

“Heh, damn, I forgot how fast you pick up new combat techniques- that was chi blocking… I taught you that…” Izumi muttered, grimacing a little as she eyed Ochako warily. Sure, Ochako hadn’t had the combat experience Izumi had, but she took to hand to hand like a fish to water, and honestly Izumi wasn’t even sure if she could outright beat Ochako without drawing deeper from the pool of her experiences- taking off the kid friendly gloves, to say the least. “Well… I’ll say this- you’re good… but you’re still lacking in a few areas.”

 

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Ochako shot back challengingly, a wicked smirk on her face as she and Izumi began to circle each other once more- Ochako was clearly starting to get worn out, and both of them were sporting little scrapes and bruises where they’d had to deflect each other’s blows- Ochako more than Izumi, but Izumi had still taken more hard hits overall, so it kind of evened out. 

 

“You’re too easily distracted by a pretty girl!” Izumi snapped out, darting forward with a sudden burst of speed and sweeping Ochako’s legs out from under her- indeed, Ochako had been distracted, and hadn’t noticed Izumi inching slowly forward as they circled each other until Izumi was just in range to strike out like a snake. Ochako fell, and Izumi caught her in the chest with a flying knee on the way down- knocking the wind out of the gravity girl and sending her flying and rolling across the arena floor with a sputtering cough.

 

Izumi didn’t let up on her sudden advantage, running after Ochako and leaping high into the air whilst preparing an overhead axe kick. She slammed down a moment later, only just barely missing Ochako as she rolled away, though even as her friend turned rival hopped to her feet, Izumi was already spinning around and firing a backwards spin kick into Ochako’s hastily raised guard- all but plowing straight through and knocking Ochako down again. 

 

This time, Izumi caught her before she could recover and halfway kneeled down over Ochako’s body and slammed her fist down- only to stop short just shy of her friend’s slightly battered, scuffed up face, a tiny pinprick of heat forming before Izumi snuffed it out.

 

“Do you yield?” Izumi asked, watching Ochako catch her breath, the tension lines easing in her shoulders as Ochako accepted her defeat- although Izumi had taken more hits, that single strike to the gut and the blow to her forearms and head had felt like she’d gotten run over by a truck - and with how far that single hit had taken her, it honestly could have been comparable.

 

“Yeah…. Shit… augh, I thought I had you,” Ochako muttered, sighing and accepting Izumi’s hand up- though she was rather shaky even as she leaned on the greenette for support. “Dammit, this is what I get for getting distracted by your boobs in the middle of a fight…”

 

“Mm, to be fair, you scored your first hit on me because I was staring at your boobs,” Izumi muttered, helping Ochako stumble over to the cool grass outside of the concrete ring and setting her down gently so she could rest after her ordeal.. 

 

Moments after, Midnight signaled for the match to end with a loud cry of, “URARAKA OCHAKO HAS SURRENDERED! THE WINNER OF THIS MATCH IS MIDORIYA IZUMI!”

 

The crowd’s cheers were almost deafening, and Izumi just sighed as she sat down in the grass with Ochako for a few more seconds until the medical bots came by bearing a stretcher- not that Ochako needed it, but she didn’t protest as Izumi scooped her up and set her down.

 

As the stretcher wheeled away, Ochako gave Izumi one last thumbs up- grinning at the greenette tiredly and murmuring out her last words before the volume of the crowd swallowed them up.

 

“Give ‘em hell in the finals, Izu… give ‘em hell!”

Chapter Text

After that rousing bit of martial prowess that, honestly, Izumi had enjoyed way more than she had the almost curbstomps she’d had earlier, there were the next few matches. Or, rather, it was a single match between Kirishima and Kaibara- Shiozaki would get a bye, since she was the odd one out in the bracket.

 

Izumi… honestly didn’t pay much attention to the match. Mostly, she was busy with being dragged into Katsumi’s makeup circle, and thus was currently in the midst of having her nails painted a fetching shade of gold- oh sure, if she decided to go all out with her flames it would burn off in an instant since it wasn’t quite rated for her level of heat, but it’d stand up pretty well against any thing Katsumi could throw at it.

 

“And so what I said was like- y’know so I thought I was straight for most of highschool right? But then I realized that girls are super cute too, and then after I realized that girls could get together, I kinda stopped dating guys for the most part even if there were still dudes I thought were cute- but anyway the point is,” Hagakure prattled, expertly applying a thin coat of gold to Izumi’s nails with practiced ease while Katsumi touched up her mascara into a mirror off to one side. “So like this dude still thought he had a shot with me and like if he were cuter he woulda but like he was so not my type- I like twinks, y’know? Someone who looks cute in a miniskirt and stockings, and this dude was a huge kendo dude so he was tall and jacked and don’t get me wrong he was totally fine, but he was also kinda a dick and I didn’t really like him so I had to turn him down and he was so rude about it! Gosh, I don’t even know why he even wanted me in the first place- I mean hello, I’m invisible! Like sure you girls are all super nice to me, but back in middle and highschool it was ugh! People were so rude for no reason, and they kept spreading rumors that I was sneaking into the boy’s locker room to spy on them? As if!”

 

“... I’m sorry I think I lost the train of thought somewhere halfway through- could you repeat that a little slower?” Yaoyorozu asked, wincing a little bit while Ashido did her best to match Katsumi’s vibrantly bright makeup colors and Yaoyorozu’s refined, elegant, yamato nadeshiko type features, ultimately settling on just giving her a bit of red highlights around the corners of her eyes. “What was the problem with Kuwabara-san?”

 

“Oh man, he was just kind of a jerk? Also a womanizer. And like, I have never seen the guy with the same girl for more than a week in a row- if that! Honestly, the only reason he still got dates is because he was also a really good gifter. He was… still a decent guy, at least? He was just rude and punk-y and y’know, always a little mean about his words,” Hagakure shrugged, rolling her eyes- not that anyone but Izumi could see. “But yeah, I gave him a good, easy letdown and he took it kinda poorly- and that’s the first time I ever got suspended for beating someone up! Ahhh, good times.”

 

“... You know generally beating people up in school is frowned upon,” Jirou deadpanned, blowing on her nails slightly to help the black, glossy polish there dry out. “How were you not expelled if you supposedly beat people up almost once a month?”

 

“Because I did all my fighting off campus after that!” Hagakure answered smartly, preening a bit as she looked around as if that was worthy of praise.

 

Izumi chuckled, careful to not shake her hands and mess up the delicate nail art Hagakure was now applying on top of the golden polish- crimson flame decals, of course, with some black bordering around the nail itself so it didn’t look weird. “Well, hopefully you remembered to keep it in the back alleys so nobody could witness you beating up the bullies. Ahh… I remember when there were bullies at Senitto High… After my first two months there, they all suddenly stopped.”

 

“Because you terrified them all into submission,” Katsumi deadpanned, rolling her eyes at Izumi’s coyness while snapping her mirror closed and tucking it into her pocket. She huffed, eyeshadow sparkling in the sunlight from the body glitter gently brushed over her lids. “Honestly, they were all spineless cowards anyway- not a single damn one of ‘em worth the actual effort of beating the shit outta them.”

 

“I mean, I did very much traumatize Hige-san,” Izumi nodded, examining her nails once Hagakure finished and generating a swirling breeze to dry out the polish faster. “He couldn’t look at me for, what… three years?”

 

“Yeah, because you broke his leg in three places and he never could get any evidence that you were the one that dropped a fucking tree on him,” Katsumi answered with a shrug. “Didn’t help that he tried to pick on the scariest bitch in the entire school.”

 

Izumi snorted, continuing to hold her hands and wave them gently as she thought back to her freshman year. “It’s honestly just so surprising that I had a reputation for being the scariest person in Senitto- I mean, other than the bully traumatizing. I did my best to be nice! I helped out so much! I read manga in class and showed off my Animal Crossing Island, even!”

 

“Yeah, and you also had a habit of glaring at assholes like you were about to murder them while covering your hands in fire,” Katsumi sighed. “I mean really, what did you expect? That they’d just ignore the times when you actually got mad at people in favor of thinking you were a sweet dorky nerd with a helpful streak? You don’t act cute enough for that shit.”

 

“Ugh, don’t remind me… The one time I was all cheeriness and smiles all day, and someone nearly called the cops because they thought I was possessed ,” Izumi complained, blowing on her nails a bit until they were fully dried out- both from the breeze she generated and the quickdry resins hardening extra quick under the UV light of the sun. “Never doing that again.”

 

“Good. You shouldn’t, it was creepy as shit, like you were two seconds away from murder.”

 

“AND THE WINNER OF THE SECOND MATCH OF THE SEMI-FINALS IS KIRISHIMA EIJIRO! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED TODAY!”

 

“We’ll be having another fifteen minutes so our finalists can recover and prepare for the last match of the day- everyone, go get snacks, go to the bathroom, whatever. Finalists- head to your prep rooms.”

 

“Well, I guess that’s it then,” Izumi muttered, rolling her shoulders as she rolled to her feet and waved down at Kirishima, who looked visibly worse for wear at the moment, but still held his head up high. “Time to win this thing.”

 

“Just for that, I hope you get thrown like a ragdoll by Vines,” Katsumi called out, raising a middle finger at Izumi as she walked towards the stairs down to the prep rooms.

 

“Keep hoping, Katsumi, I don’t intend to lose that easily!”

Chapter Text

Fifteen minutes, in the grand scheme of things, wasn’t really a long time. But for Izumi… well, most of that time had been taken up with applying her “war paint” in the bathroom. Oh sure, her chi reserves were starting to bottom out even with how fast she could regenerate energy from the sun, but what she had left in the tank would be more than enough for the next match anyway. And then after that- well, she could just fill up on food and take a nap or whatever and her energy reserves would be back up to normal within a day or so, provided she didn’t do anything ridiculously over the top.

 

But still, most of that fifteen minutes had still just been a layer of makeup in the bathroom- Katsumi had helped, of course, because despite constantly straining her wrists with her explosions, Katsumi’s hand stability was second to none and it made her an absolute expert at applying the layers she wanted. It’d just been something quick, of course, because she just wanted something to go with her nails- which had gotten extra layer of heatproof clear-coat on top- and so she’d just gotten a bit of eyeshadow to darken her lids, with two toned eyeliner- gold over the top, red in the far corners- a bit of mascara to darken her already dark lashes, and some nice dark red lipstick with a gold stripe down the center of her lower lip, with an additional layer of combat-ready setting spray on top to really seal it in even when she exerted herself.

 

Izumi's Gym Uniform + Makeup

 

“WOW! LOOKS LIKE MIDORIYA HAS TAKEN THE TIME TO APPLY MAKEUP! WHAT A FRESH LOOK- BUT WILL IT HOLD UP, AND WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE THE REASON FOR THIS?”

 

“If it were any other student, I would consider it sheer cockiness, but considering her classmates, I’m inclined to believe she did it solely at the behest of her friends.”

 

“EITHER WAY! THE FINAL MATCH OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL IS ABOUT TO BEGIN- AND MAY I JUST SAY, WHAT A WILD RIDE IT’S BEEN! NOW, CONTESTANTS, TAKE YOUR CORNERS!”

 

Izumi smiled and waved for the cameras as she ascended the steps of the hexagonally shaped arena- it had been freshly remade by Cementoss during the last fifteen minutes, and she could still faintly see the outline of the slightly smaller original arena within. Across from her, Shiozaki was standing in the corner to her left, hands clasped and head lowered as she seemed to pray silently. Kirishima, meanwhile, was just stretching in his corner with a cheesy grin on his face- it was kinda cute, the way he showed all his sharp-ass teeth in such a way that it was utterly disarming instead of strangely terrifying.

 

“Contestants, are you ready!?” Midnight called out, all three of them tensing at her voice and dropping into combat stances- Kirishima favoring a brawler style stance seemingly based on boxing, Shiozaki simply raising her vines and raising her hands to protect her face and body, and Izumi simply grinning as she stood with one hand behind her back, knees slightly bent, and with one palm raised slightly in an almost beckoning way towards her opponents.

 

“See, that is raw overconfidence. That’s barely even a combat stance.”

 

“BUT IT DOES LOOK COOL AS HELL, NOW LET’S STAAAART!”

 

And with Midnight throwing down the proverbial flag, the bell rang and the final fight of the first year sports festival began.

 

Instantly, Kirishima and Shiozaki both targeted Izumi- the red haired boy sprinting forward with a loud battlecry while Shiozaki’s vines lashed out like an array of whips that darkened the sun as they surged forward and up and out at frankly terrifying speeds. Izumi smirked a bit, running forward to meet Kirishima halfway and deftly dodging around the first few vines that came to try and trip her up- cool and water filled as they were, her thermal radar could still differentiate them from everything else with ease, and that made dodging them a simple work of keeping herself moving and out of Kirishima’s reach.

 

Instead, Izumi simply avoided dealing with the redhead by performing a complicated twist and spin around his first strike, jabbing her fingers into some of the pressure points in his ribs and soft tissues before slamming her leg into the back of his knee to get him to fall over- directly into the path of the vines that were still now curving back around to try and capture her.

 

“H-Hey! Catch her, not me!” Kirishima cried out, suddenly entangled in a web of vines that lashed around him almost on instinct, while Shiozaki simply pursed her lips slightly and watched as Izumi continued running towards her end of the stage before walling herself off- the vines bursting from the ground before Izumi and almost clipping her in the chin as they exploded from the concrete and sent shards of rubble everywhere from the sudden growth.

 

Izumi cursed, skipping back a few steps and frowning while she took stock of the situation- Shiozaki was quiet, stuck behind her wall even as her vines continued to seek out Izumi almost blindly. Kirishima was ripping through Shiozaki’s vines all at once with the enhanced sharpness and strength his hardening allowed him (and also biting through the vine that wrapped across his face once he had his hands free, gross) while also cursing loudly about how Izumi was clearly the bigger threat.

 

Which. True. But she really would have liked to not have been targeted first.

 

Oh well. 

 

So- Shiozaki’s vines were mostly blindly seeking out anything they could wrap themselves around, Kirishima was slowly getting to his feet again and using his hardening intermittently to try and rip through all of the vines continuously dead set on tying him up. Izumi was standing there, deftly avoiding the vines that came towards her position, and was standing largely unmolested at the moment- though that could change in an instant, so it was time to get serious.

 

Or- well, as serious as she could get with the restriction on her quirk use, and with this being mostly a formality since everyone knew she could just blast the entire arena at once if she wanted. So.

 

With a small smirk, Izumi dropped down low into a fighting stance that was completely and utterly useless for actual fighting, but looked really, really cool. Feet apart, knees bent, torso lowered forward- one arm extended low and to the front, the other hand raised up and behind.

 

The stance of…

 

“WAIT, IS THAT-”

 

“Of course it is…”

 

“Hey, Kirishima!” Izumi called out as she began channeling lightning to her fingertips- not enough to hurt or kill, but enough to form into sharp little things capable of bringing intense pain with a minimum of damage.

 

“... Wait- is that the fucking-!?” Kirishima yelped, unable to really stop himself from gawking while being tied up as he was, hardening his entire body suddenly and shredding through Shiozaki’s vines- all of which had stopped moving as soon as the sound of sparking, buzzing seed lightning gathered at Izumi’s hands. “No- come on, can we please not do anymore anime references!?”

 

“Sorry, but you and I both know I can’t help myself,” Izumi laughed, and threw herself forward with a light brush of jet boosting- blue flames trailing from her feet as she sprinted towards Kirishima, who simply crossed his arms and braced for impact while pushing his quirk to the highest he possibly could. In the back of her mind, Izumi was idly aware of Shiozaki peeking through a hole in the middle of her wall of vines, transfixed by what Izumi was about to do.

 

“EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY FOUR PALMS!” Izumi roared as soon as she came into arms reach of Kirishima, throwing her hands forward and slamming into his hardened body with chi-blocking strikes to his body and arms. Electric pinpricks of pure pain sparked into Kirishima’s hardened skin, weakening the strength of his quirk little by little as he fought through the pain that breached his defenses and did his best to stay hardened- to no avail. A pair of strikes blasted through his guard as Izumi struck first the disabling point in his forearms, fists blazing and blurring with speed as she danced around his panicked reciprocal strikes and-

 

“Argh, my arms!” Kirishima yelled out as his arms went limp without his prompting, unable to even move them anymore after Izumi struck the nerves in his shoulders and armpits, rearing back and stumbling slightly as Izumi continued her assault- a strike to his thigh to leave him limping, three strikes to either side of his ribs and sternum to choke him up, a pair of strikes at each side of his neck to render his head feeling unnaturally heavy and make him dizzy- and then after several more strikes rendering Kirishima’s entire body all but immobile- one last, final burst of electricity to his hip to completely knock him over and leave him breathless on the ground.

 

OH MY GOD, IT WAS!”

 

“I can’t believe that actually worked .”

 

“I can’t fuckin move, dude!” Kirishima whined out, twitching weakly on the ground while Izumi skipped back a step, yelping quietly at the sudden rush of vines that almost slammed down right where she was- no time to rest, it seemed, even if Shiozaki seemed more preoccupied with gently shuttling Kirishima out of bounds once Midnight announced that he was out of the running for being completely immobilized.

 

“I suppose it is a one on one battle now,” Shiozaki called out calmly, bowing towards Izumi with a small smile. “Thank you for carrying me through the second trial, Midoriya-san, but with your restrictions, I do not think you will win the sports festival. My vines are at their strongest, and I can continue making them fast enough to snuff out any fire you may use.”

 

“True, true, your vines have enough water and mass to snuff out my weaker flames,” Izumi nodded, licking her lips slightly as she hopped back another few steps to gain just a slight bit more distance before raising her hands and focusing- the hand motions for her next attack were entirely unnecessary, but they were cool. “But I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve that isn’t just fire. Are you ready?”

 

“Perhaps,” Shiozaki murmured back, still halfway hiding behind a barrier of vines even as more vines dug up through the concrete around her and formed an even thicker barrier. Still more vines gathered around, primed to thrust forward and wrap around Izumi the moment Shiozaki willed it, but were currently held back- probably because the vine-haired girl wanted to give Izumi a fighting chance.

 

And so, Izumi made three hand seals, each interspersed with an odd hand motion- hands spread open, index fingers just barely touching in front of her chest- calling out as she did so: “Ox! Hare! Monkey!” 

 

And in her hand a brilliant, screaming ball of lightning formed. It was messy, it was loud , it was discharging left and right in a way that gave her almost an aura of power and death as she held her forearm up and clasped one hand gently around her wrist, her palm sparkling and crackling with a light so bright it would have blinded her if she looked straight at it.

 

“Raikiri!” Izumi announced, taking a running stance and grinning like a lunatic as flames began building up behind her- charging and charging as she prepared to jet boost herself straight at the nearly impenetrable bulwark that was Shiozaki’s vine fortress.

 

“Of course it’s another anime reference I don’t understand,” Shiozaki sighed, then shook her head. “Very well. Come, attack me if you dare!”

 

And like that, the tension broke. Thrashing vines lashed out at Izumi, only to be instantly flash-fried by the overpowered arcs of lightning blasting off of her Raikiri- she was pouring almost all of her remaining chi into this one attack, and the discharging arcs around her reflected that power. The building bursts of flame behind Izumi broke , and a jet of blue fire launched her forward in a blur that seemed more like a streak of actinic light than a person running forward.

 

The world seemed to go silent but for the sound of birds chirping, the sudden rush of impact almost seeming to delay itself dramatically as that massive burst of rushing air and lightning whipped through the stadium and the arcing, blazing, actinic light of death held in Izumi’s hand turned hundreds of vines to charred black dust in an instant- the vines exploding from the sheer energy expanding inside of them in puffs and bursts of steam explosions wherever the lightning touched them.

 

The crowd was silent.

 

The world was silent.

 

Shiozaki Ibara stared wide eyed at Izumi’s face, her entire torso reaching halfway through the nearly meter thick wall of vines she’d put up to protect herself, a nearly perfect cylinder of vines having formed around her to keep her rooted and to prevent her from being knocked out of the ring.

 

Her left ear seemed to be deafened, because she couldn’t hear the sound of birds chirping even though she knew damn well what was held barely a few centimeters away from her skull- it was weakened, and the discharges were smaller as Izumi focused the lightning ball into a more compact, less dangerous form so she wouldn’t accidentally kill Shiozaki- still blazing hot and bright and nearly blinding her left eye just from its proximity.

 

“Surrender,” Izumi intoned quietly, the sheer heat around her body making the air shimmer as her vines began to wither away slowly- widening the hole that Izumi’s body had punched through the barrier and surrounding the girl with a thin aura of wavering steam. “Or I taze you. Right in the face.”

 

Shiozaki nodded slowly, a tiny, whimpering gasp escaping her throat as she fell to her knees, shaking like a leaf in the wind and disconnecting her vines such that they all fell to the ground and began withering away.

 

“Good girl.”

 

Izumi blinked slowly as she stood up properly, the Raikiri in her hands dissipating over the course of a few seconds as she stared down at Shiozaki in slight confusion.


Even as Midnight called her the winner of the sports festival, Izumi couldn’t quite puzzle out just why Shiozaki’s face had suddenly turned a luminous red the moment she’d complimented the vine-haired girl.

Chapter 85

Notes:

This chapter contains 3 embedded images (and is also just kind of a filler chapter)

Chapter Text

Dinner with her mother that evening was… nice. Calming. A pleasant treat after a long day of using her firebending to the fullest. Izumi wasn’t afraid to admit that she had lost herself in the rush of showing off and letting her skills shine, and was honestly a little afraid of how her mother would react. 

 

Oh sure, intellectually Izumi knew that her mother would love her forever unless she really went off the moral deep end and started being a monster the likes of which even she could never imagine, but… there was still a tiny part of Izumi that was still poor little nine year old Azula, who had unconsciously thought that her own behavior had driven her mother away, and spent the next decade or so of her life doubling down in the hopes that her father would love her enough to make up for it.

 

Fortunately, Inko hadn’t rejected Izumi- far from it, in fact. Of course she hadn’t- her daughter was a hero! Sure, just a hero student, but a hero all the same- the difference was largely academic in Inko’s eyes, seeing as her daughter was kindhearted, always willing to lend her aid to those in need, and always stood up for others when they couldn’t stand up for themselves.

 

She’d told Izumi as much too- showering her with praise for how well she did in the sports festival, how she’d gone through the entire thing without even hurting most of her opponents, how she’d won the entire thing looking like a fierce goddess of war with her makeup glittering in the sun. 

 

Inko was so proud of her brilliant baby girl- the only damper on the entire event had been Hisashi’s lack of presence, but he’d given them a call just gushing about how cool it had been to see Izumi’s honestly stupidly versatile quirk in action, and how much he wished he could be there for them- and he honestly would have been, if it wasn’t for the damned HPSC keeping him on longterm assignment doing analysis and support work all the way off in Morocco of all places.

 

At least he promised to bring back some hero merch for Izumi when he came back for the few weeks a year he was allowed to.

 

Dinner that night had been a lovely affair- oh sure, it was just Izumi and her mother (both of whom had dressed up a little nicer than usual) going out to a small hole in the wall restaurant that they always went to for celebrations, but that had only really been the start of the night. After a half hour, Katsumi and her parents had shown up, with Katsumi dressed in a much more subdued and elegant manner as opposed to her usual loud and garish rokku gyaru clothes and pouting heavily at not being able to wear her usual outfit. 

 

Izumi's Dinner Outfit

Katsumi's Dinner Outfit

 

Apparently Auntie Mitsuki had forced her to actually dress sensibly instead of, well, looking like that .

 

Not that Izumi minded- Katsumi looked nice when she was dressed up all elegantly. Cute, almost. There was nothing to be done for her hair, unfortunately, but that was okay.

 

Dinner after the Bakugou family had arrived had become an almost rowdy affair- plenty of laughter and cheers, and even a special cake being brought out free of charge by the owner of the restaurant once they realized that Midoriya Izumi , the girl who could eat half her weight in katsudon whenever the restaurant ran an “all you can eat” sale, and Midoriya Izumi, the winner of the UA Sports Festival and literal living anime character were one and the same. 

 

And then, after Katsumi had looked up from her phone with a sly grin about an hour later, when all of the food had been eaten and Inko was deep into her cups laughing about something or another with Katsumi’s parents, Izumi had found herself dragged to the train station, all the way to yet another restaurant- this one a buffet that Izumi hadn’t ever been to, but Katsumi had talked about having really good reviews.

 

And then….

 

“CONGRATULATIONS!”

 

A roaring wall of noise slammed into Izumi with almost enough force to bowl her over- the sound of well over forty people (All of 1-A, most of 1-B, and the few 1-C, 1-D, and 1-H members that made it to the second round of the festival) shouting at once their congratulations at Izumi for winning the sports festival (some a bit more hesitantly than the others, but the enthusiasm of the people who meant it more than made up the difference). 

 

At that point, Izumi had realized why Katsumi hadn’t eaten much before dragging her out, and subsequently found out that Yaoyorozu was financing the entire party that they’d set up seemingly on the spot.

 

After that, the night passed in something of a blur- Izumi vaguely remembered someone dragging her by the arm to the tables where everyone had set up, the raucous noise honestly overwhelming her senses as she more or less dove into the bubbly, high energy atmosphere as best as she could.

 

She vaguely remembered getting into an eating contest with Yaoyorozu at one point, and although it had been a close thing, Yaoyorozu had subsequently won by way of fucking cheating and using up her own lipid stores so she’d have more room to shovel cake down her gullet.

 

Izumi could have done the same, but considering that she would have ended up burning down the entire block, chose to take the loss in stride, and promised to get revenge the next time they ate together- no quirks, no cheating, just raw stomach capacity. After that , there’d been an impromptu karaoke session and several of the other girls had started to paint each others’ faces unprompted (and some of the guys too- Hitoshi was unfairly pretty with dark eyeshadow on, in like a rat kind of way). Izumi had wound up in full gyaru makeup because Yaoyorozu had decided to make an entire makeup kit from scratch and the combined forces of Katsumi, Hagakure, Ashido, Himiko, and even Tokage had pretty much held her down to make sure she realized that she wasn’t getting out of it.

 

Thankfully, there was more effort put into making her look pretty instead of wild , and…

 

Izumi wasn’t really sure what happened after that because someone had mentioned that they could all get celebratory sake for their efforts in the sports festival, and after that everything was a blur, Izumi remembered getting sprayed in the face by something or another that smelled remarkably like Katsumi’s favorite perfume, someone had kissed her on the cheek and triggered an avalanche of Izumi getting hugged and kissed and she almost felt like she was on fire, and then the next thing she knew, she was groaning awake in Katsumi’s room the next day, dressed in an oversized Mirko themed t-shirt, matching slippers, the taste of death in her mouth and… also buried beneath her best friend, along with Ochako, Tsu, Himiko, and Tokage (wait why was Tokage there?). 

 

Izumi's Nightclothes

 

Fortunately for her sanity, all of them were wearing nightclothes and nothing smelled weird, and there were no makeup marks in weird places either that she could see.

 

Unfortunately for her sanity, the first thing she did upon waking up was check her social media feeds.

 

She was the number one trending topic in Japan across four different platforms. There were memes. 


Fuck .

Chapter 86

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Well, technically this is supposed to be saved until after your work internships, but someone here decided to be an over-enthusiastic showoff during the sports festival and hit #1 trending on twitter, so today we’re having a media literacy class,” Aizawa deadpanned, glaring straight at Izumi, who suddenly felt the weight of every single utterance of “problem child” that the man had ever leveled in her direction since she’d started at UA. 

 

“Uuuuuuuuuuugh,” Izumi responded, simply sinking into her seat and dropping her head down into her arms, as if she could actually bury herself away and hide away from the fact that she was now almost certainly the single most well known college student in Japan. And possibly in other countries too. “Fucking. Kill me.”

 

“The first step in being a pro hero that interacts with social media in this day and age is to accept that people can, are, and will continue to be super creepy towards you!” Kayama-sensei called out as she kicked open the classroom door, dressed to the nines in her updated hero outfit- which was pretty much like her normal hero outfit, but with some key differences that made it… well, not at all like her old outfit, even with the visual similarities it did have. The base was much the same, but in lieu of the white, violet, and almost-black that her outfit was before, it was now black (with red accents) leather boots, shorts, and a bustier (though, Izumi noted that Kayama-sensei’s heat profile wasn’t nearly as stifled as it would be with real leather- it must have had some kind of breathable component to it) over a sheer, see-through black bodysuit that was likely made of the same stuff as her old white suit. Her glasses hadn’t changed much, though she had added on a layer of lipstick, as well as fingerless gloves and a pair of red earrings.

 

Midnight's Hero Outfit (Source)

 

“That’s why proper hero training and becoming public icons doesn’t really start until you all are more or less legally adults- because the people who would be super creepy towards the students in hero prep schools aren’t superfans or harmless online weirdos, they’re just pedophiles. Anyway, the best way to deal with supercreeps is to just block and report, then otherwise completely ignore their existence so you never have to deal with their bullshit again! Or get a PR Team to handle it for you,” Kayama-sensei continued, strolling up to the podium and queueing up a presentation on the screen mounted to the wall, with Aizawa-sensei taking a step back and zipping himself back into his sleeping bag before disappearing from sight. Kind of like how Izumi kind of wanted to.

 

Thankfully, her private accounts hadn’t been found out yet, and it was only the social media accounts that were actually tied to her real name that were blowing up at the moment.

 

“So, I’m sure you’re all aware of why this class is happening today,” Kayama-sensei drawled, raising her eyebrow slowly as she flipped through the slides and began her presentation proper. “But if anyone’s confused, it’s because Midoriya here fired off a Kamehameha during the preliminaries, a Love Sign: Master Spark, in the quarter finals, and then after a surprisingly well fought semi final- good job, Uraraka, Midoriya, even Eraser over here was impressed by your martial arts- not only performed an Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms on Kirishima-”

 

“I’m still sore!” Kirishima interrupted, waving his fist with faux indignation towards Izumi, who just palmed her face and groaned into her hand. 

 

“- but also used a fucking Raikiri on Shiozaki’s wall of vines,” Kayama-sensei finished, continuing to give Izumi that inscrutable, raised eyebrow look. “And yes, as Midoriya here no doubt knows, it’s been memed to hell and back already , most notably in the form of variations of this-”

 

Upon the screen now was a pair of screenshots from the sports festival broadcast, the first one showing Monoma’s cocky face as he mocked Izumi during the beginning of the match, his expression schooled into the smuggest, most punchable face Izumi had ever had the displeasure of seeing, upon which was written the phrase “Me fucking around”. Directly next to said image was Monoma’s face cast into a rictus of horror, highlighted in pale deathly blue from the light of Izumi’s Kamehameha, upon which was the caption “Me finding out”.

 

“-and this-”

 

The next slide was a wide angle shot of Izumi blasting Hitoshi with her Master Spark lookalike attack- to which the actual Hitoshi winced slightly and rubbed his forearms- the entire thing was simply captioned with “Me” written over the barely visible silhouette of Hitoshi, and “The Gay Agenda” written along the length of the beam.

 

“-and finally this.”

 

The third slide was actually just a still picture of Izumi charging up her Master Spark, but in this case it was less being used as a meme template and more being used as parts of several collages- one which was blurred and shaky looking surrounded by hearts, one which featured a man standing in front of a car with several pictures of Izumi pasted overtop with the caption “Shout out to Midoriya Izumi, gotta be one of my favorite genders” poorly edited and composited on top, and one of which was just a screenshot of twitter with the user captioning a photo of Izumi’s face from the final round with “I don’t have the words to describe how gay I am right now”.

 

Izumi just whimpered quietly, knowing that her life was fucking over now, and that the best thing for her to do was to just hide away in the mountains for maybe a few months until she was inevitably forgotten about.

 

“Congratulations, Midoriya. You’re now the subject of half of Japan’s female population’s lesbian awakening crisis. I’m almost proud,” Kayama-sensei deadpanned, before skipping to the next topic- not that Izumi was really focusing on the actual lesson to be had. No, she was too busy burying her face in her hands and blushing violently in the vain hopes that if she just felt embarrassed enough, the entire social media frenzy would die down sooner or later.

 

As the lesson continued, Izumi felt a tiny poke to her shoulder- of which the culprit was of course Hagakure, who’d snuck under the desks and crossed the room for some reason. 

 

“Ne-ne, Midori… what’s a Master Spark?” Hagakure asked, tilting her head to the side as she sidled into the empty seat to Izumi’s right and propped her elbow up on the table. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that name before.”

 

“It’s… one of the attacks of one of the main characters from the Touhou franchise,” Izumi shrugged, keeping her voice down as she spoke. “Touhou’s an old game franchise from a long time ago- one of the classics that was almost lost during the warring periods, but managed to survive on to the modern day under its new director, 3UN.”

 

“... 3UN?” Hagakure asked, invisibly raising her eyebrow at Izumi.

 

“Well the first guy was named ZUN because it sounded like his name- Ota Jun’ya. His successor that managed to keep all of the works and data safe during the warring period titled himself ZUN II, or 2UN for short, and now the franchise is being kept alive by 3UN,” Izumi explained with a shrug. “Kind of like how Dragonball was made by Toriyama Akira so now it’s handled by the Toriyama Company, and how Naruto was made by Kishimoto Masashi and is now being… well, honestly it’s just being rerun a lot by Jump. And given a lot of terrible sequels.”

 

“.... Yeah, I didn’t really care for Saruto,” Hagakure muttered, shaking her head and sticking her tongue out. “Bleh, I mean, I don’t like to praise Boruto of all things, but… how is Saruto even worse?”

 

“Beats me,” Izumi sighed, then turned her attention back to Midnight with a slight grimace- even if she didn’t really want to confront the fact that she was now famous and a meme, it was still good to learn how to handle all aspects of public interaction- social media, news reporters, interviews, so on and so forth. 


She had just… hoped she wouldn’t have to actually do any of that for a good long while.

Notes:

This fic now officially has fanart! Thank you Angel_eyes_and_basketball for your lovely work!

(Link)

Chapter Text

A week after the sports festival, Izumi was… bored, honestly. She hadn’t really left campus since she went home to watch the rest of the sports festival events with her mother (and also had that wild party with the rest of her classmates), and at this point it was honestly… kind of grating. 

 

Also a little awkward, because there were several people now who had trouble looking her in the eye. Mostly the girls in her class for some reason, but also a few of the guys.

 

For example, Kaminari, who kept sneaking peeks at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

 

Though, to be fair- she wasn’t looking at him, but having her constant thermal radar up made it really hard to not be aware of what everyone in her general vicinity was doing. Sometimes this was a blessing.

 

In the case of Izumi trying to interact with some people, it was really, really awkward because she really could not bring herself to tell them that she was super duper aware of the way that their blood flow consistently kept rushing southwards to places that only really Tsu would talk about without any shame.

 

… Actually, even Tsu was one of the people having trouble meeting her eyes now. If only because the froggy girl had a bit of a habit of staring at Izumi’s tits every now and again before tearing herself away and actually trying to look her in the eyes.

 

Although, Tsu was very pretty, so Izumi couldn’t say she minded too much if she showed an interest. As was Ochako. And Ji- Kyouka. Izumi was pretty sure they were close enough now that they could use first names, especially when Kyouka had let Izumi borrow one of her favorite CDs to listen to over the weekend.

 

Actually, all of the girls around her were kinda pretty, come to think of it. 

 

But that wasn’t really the point- Izumi already knew she was gay as hell, and thinking about her classmates was just a distraction from the actual point, which was that her classmates were kind of awkward around her now and several of them probably saw her as attractive too.

 

Which. Hmmm. That was an interesting revelation that Izumi didn’t particularly know how to deal with. Best to shelve that until someone outright stated they wanted to go on a date or something.

 

Speaking of dates, though… 

 

Izumi thought back to the previous week and a half, pursing her lips as she ran through her memories and tapped her fingers against her desk.

 

She’d met up with Tokage over the weekend, having gone back to the dorms after the sports festival was fully declared over. First she’d gone and borrowed one of Kyouka’s CDs- one of her classic punk rock albums that was loud and screamy and full of distortion that Izumi honestly really liked, but also didn’t really want to go out and buy an actual CD for when she could just download the song to her phone… though some band merch wouldn’t be out of the question… and then after that , Izumi had treated Tokage to lunch that same day (though, for some reason they were sort of followed by Kendo-san and Shiozaki-san? They never came into contact, but she knew that the other pair of girls had been in the area the entire time. And that they frequently stopped to hide behind trees to make out). They’d gone to a nearby okonomiyaki place that Tokage swore by, and although Izumi didn’t particularly feel like it had been a date, Tokage seemed blushy enough by the end that… well, maybe it had been.

 

Then again, Tokage also said that she kind of had an on and off thing with Kuroiro- more friends with benefits than anything else, but… well, Izumi wasn’t about to pry, even if Tokage had said she was ragingly bisexual.

 

That lunch had been nice, Izumi thought to herself, relishing the memory of walking Tokage back to her dorm- though, the goodbye had been a bit awkward.

 

Izumi had almost gone in for a kiss on the cheek, but only just barely stopped herself and stuttered out some half coherent mess of words as she swiftly made her exit and almost ran back to her floor.

 

That… hm. Maybe she actually had a shot with Tokage, come to think of it.

 

Ah well, maybe later. Izumi wasn’t super interested in finding a date now anyway. She was still honestly just perplexed at, once again, the amount of people who wouldn’t make eye contact with her- and not just because they were staring at her tits.

 

Thankfully, at least Ojiro had told her that he was flat out kind of scared of her now, knowing that she had the capacity to blow up buildings faster than even one of Katsumi’s full blasts- not that he thought she was a bad person, of course, it’s just that he thought that… well, he had a few anxious nights wondering what would have happened if he’d had to fight her. He also admitted that he was a little ashamed at actually feeling scared of someone who’d been nothing but genial and polite and a wonderful sparring partner to him, but Izumi hadn’t minded.

 

It did, however, feel a little sour that people were actively afraid of her again that weren’t assholes she was trying to beat down. She was trying to work against that , dammit. Unsuccessfully, but still! Ugh, it only just figured that in Azula’s lifetime and hers, the continuing greatest challenge she’d ever faced was still her lack of interpersonal skills.

 

Still, the week had been productive, if nothing else- Izumi had spent most of the time after classes doing hand to hand sparring with Ojiro and Ochako, as well as teaching Shouto some more precise tricks with his fire in case going with overwhelming force didn’t work out. She’d also managed to get through All Might’s sort of rambling, half-improvised, but still surprisingly good lectures on the more theory oriented side of heroics- the last week’s lecture had been, interestingly enough, a full five part series on working with the police as a spotlight hero, with examples in the form of good behaviors (Ingenium, Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady), and… not so great habits (Endeavor, The Fly, some guy in the Hokkaido region named Bluefist), as well as ways to connect to the Hero Network once they had provisional licenses, and how to request files and information from a variety of sources- police, the underground hero network, semi-legal vigilante teams, informants, analysts, and the like.

 

It turned out that, while All Might was not the best teacher in the world, he was honestly really well versed in the heroics industry- as befitting of the number one hero in Japan. Moreso than… most, really. He did, however, mention that any questions about working directly with informants, criminals selling information, and the shadier, more secretive side of the law should be directed towards Aizawa-sensei, and that, while he was a good rescue hero in a pinch due to his overwhelming power and strength, he hadn’t actually kept up with all of the regulations there for some time now, and so would rather pass on those questions for whenever he managed to get Thirteen into a classroom as a guest lecturer.

 

So that had been nice.


The only question now was… what was so important about the next week that Aizawa-sensei had actually posted an email about it to the entire class?

Chapter Text

“I’m not fond of long winded speeches, so I’ll keep this as brief as possible,” Aizawa started dryly, taking a sip out of his thermos as he stood before the class, trademark glare in place while he shuffled the papers before him in his free hand. “Now that you’ve had a week to wind down from the sports festivals, there’s a number of things we’re working on for the next few weeks until mid-June. First: Hero names. Second: Costume upgrades and redesigns. Third: Internship offers.”

 

Internship offers- Wait, already!?

 

Izumi almost bolted upright in her seat as the class around her erupted into noise- some of her fellow students cheering, some of them screaming out that they weren’t ready, and Katsumi mostly just exploding because she wanted everyone to shut up and let their teacher actually talk through what they were doing.

 

After another solid glare from Aizawa-sensei (with his quirk active for extra intimidation), the class settled down a moment later, though Ashido was still going on about how internships would be so much fun, and that she was finally getting to strut her stuff.

 

“First things first: Internship offers,” Aizawa deadpanned, as though nothing had just happened. On the screen behind him, a list of names appeared- everyone in Class 1-A, along with a number alongside each name.

 

At the top was, of fucking course it was, her own name. A bright, bold, “Midoriya Izumi” splashed across the top of the list, with an equally large “5,421” written next to it. After that, came Katsumi with 4,312, Ochako at 3,271, Kirishima with 1,267 and so on and so forth until the bottom of the list- Hagakure, with a mere 25.

 

It wasn’t hard to figure out that those were the amount of internship offers everyone had received from the various hero agencies and teams scattered across the country. The disparity, though, was honestly shocking . Just placing in the final tournament was apparently a catalyst that made one eligible for well into the hundreds of offers.

 

“As you can see, the further one gets into the festival, the more offers one tends to receive. It’s illogical but it is what it is, and I haven’t been able to change that no matter how much I hate it,” Aizawa-sensei continued dryly, before standing up and plopping a stack of papers nearly half his height onto Ashido’s desk. “Take the packet with your name on it, pass the rest around. It’s ordered by seat number. Those are the agencies that gave you offers, in order of their rankings on the list. If it looks like there’s more agencies on the paper than there should be, it’s because independent heroes, underground heroes, analysis agencies and unranked agencies are now eligible to take on UA students as interns. I suggest reading through your lists very carefully and choosing the ones that appeal to you the best- all agencies are required to list a reason as to why they want to take you on, so if you see the word ‘Bullshit’ printed next to an offer, it’s because I installed a script on my computer that automatically blacks out any stupid buzzwords that just mean they want you on their team for a popularity boost, or because you’re strong and they can foist their duties off on you, or some other bullshit reason that won’t actually help you develop as a hero.”

 

He paused, looking quite peeved suddenly as he crossed his arms. “That said, I can’t stop you from choosing certain agencies, but be aware that most, if not all of the ones with bullshit reasons are going to be taking advantage of you in one way or another- and it’s exceedingly likely that some of them are only doing it to be creepy shitbags.”

 

And with that, he returned to his sleeping bag like some kind of strange gremlin, in a manner utterly unbefitting a man in his mid-thirties, but was somehow just normal to see now.

 

Izumi sighed, shaking her head as she looked down at the stack of papers that had landed on her desk- much like that of the others who’d gotten over a thousand offers, the stack was… large, to say the least. A waste of paper, honestly. That said- there were a few agencies at the top that definitely weren’t in the order that Aizawa-sensei had put them in, so he must have really wanted her to take a look at those first. The first was, strangely enough, Endeavor’s Agency, which promised top of the line tutelage in controlling, strengthening, and enhancing Izumi’s fire quirk.

 

Even though she was absolutely sure that Endeavor actually hated her .

 

Still, unless Shouto was actually planning on going to the flaming shitbag’s agency, she wouldn’t even think twice about crossing it off the list.

 

The second on the list was fucking Hawks’ Agency.

 

Hawks. The Number 3 Pro Hero. Wanted her . For…. apparently lessons in self control and how to compose oneself before the public eye?

 

What? What was that supposed to mean!?

 

“You have got to be shitting me,” Izumi muttered, glaring down at the paper before her and not even wanting to read the next few entries- oh sure, none of them were blacked out with Aizawa’s stated “bullshit” filter, but it still rankled at her something fierce that someone would dare to call her out for self control issues! She was the goddamn former princess of the Fire Nation! She knew damn well how to control herself! “This is fucking bullshit! I don’t need self control lessons!”

 

“.... You’re shitting me right?” Katsumi drawled from next to Izumi, raising an eyebrow at Izumi as she very pointedly crossed out a whole host of names from her stack of papers. “Princess- the entire time I’ve known you, fourteen years now, mind you , you have had almost as bad of an ability to control yourself as me . And I have a literal medical condition that turns my sweat into bombs . If the teachers at Senitto weren’t so fucking focused on being quirkist shits, you’d have gotten expelled with how many times you scorched your fucking desk.”

 

“I- that- that’s still bullshit! I stopped doing that after our first year!” Izumi protested weakly, not wanting to admit defeat but knowing damn well that she, maybe, probably, had a slight issue with maaaaybe using her quirk a little more than was… legally permissible. “And I’m perfectly well composed other than that!”

 

“.... You gave Monoma a fucking villain speech straight out of a shitty shounen anime,” Katsumi deadpanned. “Dramatic backing flames and everything.”

 

“He needed to learn a lesson about not being a dickhead!”

 

“True, but you didn’t have to traumatize him to do that.”

 

“I don’t traumatize people!”

 

“Hige. Aomaru. Ringo. Sendou. Kuwagatayama.”

 

“They were bullies, and they deserved it.”

 

“Izu-chan, just take the fucking L and go take a self control course,” Katsumi sighed, palming her face and shaking her head. “Seriously, it’ll help. That, or just stop using your quirk in public and acting like a scarier villain than actual real life villains .”

 

“I don’t act like a villain!”

 

“... Sure you don’t. Mhmm. Sure. Not morally, at least, but the way you posture? Oh definitely.”

 

“Hey fuck you!”

 

“Need I remind you of what you said to Tenya when you kicked his ass at volleyball? What was it again? Ah right, it was: ‘Yes! We defeated you for all time! You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!’

 

“Shut- shut the hell your mouth!”

Chapter 89

Notes:

This chapter contains 4 embedded images

Also more Fanart! Here!

Chapter Text

After that thoroughly embarrassing conversation with Katsumi (during which Izumi was forced to admit that, yes, she maybe did have a few issues with skirting the line of legality with her quirk use and mannerisms… and also the fact that she did technically nearly kill several wannabe bullies by very subtly making small trees fall on them), homeroom eventually ended and the rest of the day began- All of their pre-lunch classes were the same as always, but instead of Ishiyama-sensei coming in to go over some of the literature they’d read over the past week, it was instead Kayama-sensei coming in and starting up a powerpoint (with… some difficulty. Kayama-sensei was not great at using the rather old and somewhat dusty projector wired into the room’s ceiling) about… hero names.

 

“Alright class! Technically speaking you all should have come up with a preliminary hero name by the time you all submitted your costume designs at the start of the semester, and you might still want to use those , but after two months of being in UA we’re going to start working on making those names official! Now, if you’ll take a look at your IDs now, you’ll notice a conspicuous blank right below your names- this is intentional, and I’ll explain why in a moment,” Kayama-sensei started, her hero outfit shimmering slightly in the light of the room as she all but strutted around behind the podium while waiting for everyone to pull out their IDs and check.

 

Indeed, there was a conspicuous space right under the name field on Izumi’s ID card- something she’d always sort of wondered about, honestly, along with the large “TYPE: C” written in the top right section of the card. The existence of a Type C ID card implied the existence of Type B and Type A, though what those were for, she hadn’t really put much time or effort into trying to figure that out.

 

Izumi's ID Card, C Type

 

Fortunately, both of those answers were given a moment later as Kayama-sensei switched slides, showing very conspicuously a picture of a UA ID… listed as Type B. And where the conspicuous space was on Izumi’s Type C card was, there was now a new line depicting a hero name.

 

Interestingly enough, the card that Kayama-sensei used in her presentation was apparently her own ID-card from her UA years, if its battered state and faded picture of a much younger Kayama-sensei as any indication.

 

“As you can see here, a Type B ID card will be issued once you come up with an official, approved hero name and file the paperwork through the UA website. Now, you don’t have to come up with one right now , of course, but you do need to get one out by the end of the week,” Kayama-sensei continued on with her lecture, passing a stack of whiteboards to Ashido and indicating for her to pass them along. “But also keep in mind that you’ll need to find a name that not only is something you like, but is something you’ll be comfortable being called in the future- not just by friends and family, but by complete strangers. So anything that might be construed as an embarrassing or personal nickname is right out- trust me, you do not want to be the guy or girl forever known as some name that you got called in grade school.”

 

She paused, letting the lesson sink in for a moment. “Anyway! You’ll have the next twenty odd minutes or so to workshop a name. After that, you’ll be presenting them before the class-”

 

“What!? Nobody said we’d have to present these!”

 

“Oh man that’s so embarrassing!”

 

“I think it’s a good idea, kero.”

 

“Oh crap I need to come up with a better name right now!”

 

“Aaand that’s why we’re presenting your hero names,” Kayama-sensei deadpanned, slapping her riding crop against the podium to get everyone’s attention again. “That said, if you can’t come up with a name right away you can just put one into the forms I’ll be emailing you tonight once you figure something out, but you will be presenting your name by the end of the week. No, you’re not technically graded on this, but it is in the interest of fairness that you present if everyone else does. Got it? Now, markers up, people! I wanna see some fresh, trendy new names!”

 

And thus, it began. Izumi already had a hero name in mind, of course, so her work was done in less than a minute, and she spent a large amount of time simply filling in the blank spaces of her whiteboard with little flame doodles. Katsumi likewise seemed to come up with a name easily- of course she had, Katsumi had been deadset on the name Nuka-Gal since she was seven. 

 

Most of the others, though, seemed to be in a slight bit of panic- well, except for Tsu, who had written down her name almost instantly. Kirishima was one of the first to finish as well, seemingly having had a name in mind from the start, as did Yaoyorozu. Kyouka, Kaminari, Ashido, Hitoshi, and Shouto all seemed to be having a hell of a time mulling things over, since they seemed the most stressed. Those remaining seemingly had written down something before crossing it out and coming up with something else.

 

From what she could see of Himiko’s board, the blonde girl had come up with at least two or three different names, and was still scratching her head even as she wrote down the phrase “Sanguine Masked Heroine: Draculina” on her board in thick bubble letters.

 

But all too soon, it was time to present.

 

Even as Kayama-sensei called for someone to come up and present their name first, there was an undercurrent of tension in the air- who wanted to go up first, to face the scrutiny of their teacher, to hear the reactions of their classmates? Who among them would throw themselves under the crucible of peer judgement and possibly wind up having to change the name they chose with such difficulty?

 

With a sigh, Izumi stood up, shaking her head.

 

What a ridiculous notion, that anyone would judge the others for what they wanted to be called. And so, she made her way to the podium, confident as anything, and gently set her whiteboard down upon the wooden surface such that it faced her classmate.

 

Izumi cleared her throat idly, then spoke, “I chose a name that’s too long of a story to tell, but it’s an intensely personal tale close to my heart. The moniker I’ve picked for myself is…”

 

The Blue Flame Hero: 

Kemurikage

Izumi's Hero Costume 1

Izumi's ID Card, Type B

Izumi's ID Card, Type A

(Yes, the barcodes are valid. The text is google translated, but it's as close as I could get to real on short notice)

Chapter Text

By the end of the week, everyone had chosen both their internship locations as well as their hero names. Some of them were cute and friendly (Uravity, Froppy, Creati), some were utilitarian and… honestly a little bit plain given how they were just descriptors of or alluded to the user’s quirk (Tail Man, Sugar Rush, Earphone Jack, Cellophane, Anima, Tentacole, Invisible Girl, Chargebolt), some of them were just straight up kind of edgy (Draculina, Tsukuyomi, Mind Crush, Ripley, Nuka-Gal), and a few were legacy names (Ingenium II, Red Riot), and then there was Shouto… who… well.

 

He’d tried to just put down his own name at first, but after Kayama-sensei had shot that down, he’d given up for the duration of class and asked Izumi what he should do.

 

Izumi, of course, had always been of the mind that if his quirk was ice and fire he could just call himself Freezerburn to make people underestimate him, or Frostfire for something a little cooler- always the ice aspect first, since he still wanted to honor his mother with his ice more than he wanted to remind himself of his father even if his fire was now much, much better at small, quick attacks than his ice had ever been. After he rejected those first two ideas, along with “Entropy” (Too esoteric and not what he was going for), “Icyhot” (That was just Katsumi’s nickname for him), and “Double Threat” (A little too much like a D list villain name), they’d finally settled on the moniker of “The Frozen Flame Hero: Strive”.

 

Izumi had been… sort of confused as to just what that had meant given that it was a word in english, but eventually Shouto had admitted that, although he hated the man and wished to see him one day in ruins, he was a legacy hero and he figured that he wanted to untaint the legacy that had stained the Todoroki family- and so, instead of an endless endeavor towards the spot of number one hero, he would strive to be a better person than his father in every way possible- even if that meant no longer being the greatest hero he could be.

 

It was a noble goal, Izumi thought. Much better than just the weird nostalgia trip that she’d gone through in order to name herself Kemurikage again. Oh sure, it had been a horrible time in her life in regard to her mental health, but it had been… nice, sort of, to dress up like that, cling to the shadows, and try and be the shadow ruler of the Fire Nation.

 

It hadn’t worked , and later on she realized just how fucked up it was to kidnap children for that purpose, but the outfit had a spot in her heart that she couldn’t let go of… and besides, if she wore that mask and became a true hero in this world, maybe that’d work for some kind of atonement for the sins of her past.

 

Wash the stains of her legacy away, little by little.

 

That said, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to keep the name. Oh sure, she had the mask and the cloak, and some of the same mannerisms when wearing her cloak, but… was that really who she wanted to be forever? A dark specter in the night terrifying the criminals until they were forced to do as she said? No- that couldn’t… no. No.

 

But she didn’t know who she wanted to be yet. That’s what she was here in UA for- to find out. Hero names could change. She could rebrand eventually, if she didn’t like her initial hero name- not so easily once becoming a fully fledged pro, but while at school, she’d have plenty of opportunities to think on it and figure something out.

 

Izumi sighed, crossing her arms as she stared at the mannequin that held her backup hero uniform, the clouded polymer mask almost mocking her as she looked deep within the only visible eyehole in search of just what kind of hero she wanted to be. A long time ago, back when Izumi had been barely four years old, fresh from playing with her friends in the park, she would have said she wanted to be like All Might- a hero who could put a smile on everyone’s face, save hundreds of thousand of people with ease, and stand there atop the world as the symbol of peace.

 

She had watched, starry eyed, at the thousands of wonderful heroes parading across the screens of every TV and computer and phone in the nation- spandex clad men and women who fought to uphold justice and truth and lawfulness… she’d wanted to be like them.

 

When Azula had woken up in her soul, Izumi had nearly drowned in her memories- nearly become Azula. Not Azula in her old age, nor her middle age, nor adulthood- she’d almost become Azula as she had been in her youth- drowning in her own hatred and rage and negative emotions, drawing power from the strength of her anger and loathing until all that was left was the burning desire to burn the world down.

 

After her mother had given her peace of mind, after her own self had beaten back the mists that threatened to claim her and leave her as a hollow shell beholden to a ghost, unable to differentiate herself from the life that had come before, she had wanted to be someone who uplifted the downtrodden- someone who could take those left behind by society and bring them back to the light the way no one ever had when she was in the most need. She wanted to fight the system, turn villains into heroes, and bring down the heroes that acted more like villains than anything else.

 

As she grew older, her vision of what a hero was hadn’t changed, but she had. She’d become… something else. Someone that wasn’t quite four year old Izumi, nor fourteen year old Azula, nor Azula of any age. She didn’t know if she wanted to be a hero anymore, honestly.

 

But… but she still stayed the path. Why? Because she wanted to give her mother, her sweet, gentle mother the solace that she hadn’t completely lost the little girl who looked at heroes like they hung the stars in the sky. She wanted to be Midoriya Izumi , who was a hero to those who needed heroes the most. She didn’t just want to fight villains, to beat up criminals. She wanted to be a soothing presence to those who needed it, a balm upon the world that was so mired in the toxic sludge that was modern hero society and its prejudices.

 

But she wasn’t that person yet.

 

She was rough, callous. More Azula than Izumi sometimes. She was cold, calculating, she tore people apart better than she could put them back together.

 

But that was what she was here to learn, wasn’t it? How to be a hero? So she’d give it her all until that day. She’d keep the mantle of Kemurikage for now, to represent herself as she was in her youth- in need of guidance, still rough around the edges, and taking the first steps along a journey to become the best version of herself.

 

A journey that she hadn’t ever completed before, and didn’t know if she ever would complete. But… that wasn’t something she had to worry about.

 

Izumi sighed as she stood up and ran her hand along the smooth, almost slick fabric of her costume’s cloak, rubbing the material between her fingers as she smiled up at the mask that she would one day no longer need to hide behind.

 

Yes, perhaps she never would finish her journey to being her best self, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be a better person than she was the day before. 

 

One step at a time. Day by day, step by step.


She would become a hero who could not only make the masses smile, but could bring that same hope and warmth back to the woman who raised her.

Chapter Text

It came out of nowhere, one day, at lunch.

 

Hitoshi, looking more tired than usual, had sat down with their group as usual, only to deliver an utterance that was… honestly entirely unexpected.

 

“I. Utterly. Loathe you, Midori,” Hitoshi growled out, groaning as he dropped his face into his hands and let out a sigh that was so full of exhaustion it was a miracle beyond miracles that he managed to not pass out into his lunch. 

 

“... I can’t possibly imagine why, unless you’re referring to ah… yesterday,” Izumi tilted her head to the side, idly remembering the events of hero training the previous day, when All Might had encouraged them all to come up with some kind of ultimate move- if not get it working, then to at least try and get something on paper before testing it out in the mountainous training field that had been purposefully done up to look like a larger version of the mountain zone in the USJ.

 

There had been some… unfortunate… crossfire, when Izumi had tried to replicate yet another Naruto technique ( “Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!” ) and… well. Apparently aiming tiny bursts of directed fire from one’s mouth was harder than just directing a single flamethrower-like stream.

 

Long story short: She’d accidentally set Hitoshi’s ass on fire and had therefore exposed his cat-print boxers to the world.

 

“No, but fuck you for that anyway,” Hitoshi grumbled, lifting his head just enough to glare at Izumi out of the corner of his eye before groaning again and letting the tension out of his shoulders. “Your stupid otaku-ness has infected my fucking brain. I just binged read all of Naruto Part 1. I haven’t slept in almost forty eight hours. I am going to die.”

 

“... Hitoshi that’s over two hundred chapters ,” Izumi uttered in disbelief, staring at her possibly dying friend and letting her jaw go slack as she processed just how fast he would have had to read that many pages if he’d managed to do it in less than two days . “Wh- Why!?”

 

“Because I needed to understand the references!” Hitoshi snapped back, wincing a bit at his own volume before taking the oversized energy drink on his tray and chugging it back without a single thought, draining the entire thing in only a few gulps. “The same way I spent a week watching what few remaining american vine compilations still exist so I could understand Kaminari’s shitty references!”

 

“Those were references!?” Ochako chimed in from the side, looking somewhat incredulous. “I thought Kaminari-kun was just going off dumber than usual!”

 

“Well, part of it was that, but yes most of them were indeed references,” Tenya confirmed, pinching his brow. He still looked stressed, but the time after the sports festival had done him some good- he’d been able to see his brother and confirm that, although he was retiring from active duty now that his right leg and part of his right arm were paralyzed (it could have been worse, Crawler had said, it could have been so much worse ) he could still keep up a few low stakes appearances as the Turbo Hero once he recovered more and had some support braces built into his suit- he’d be slower, a little less effective, but the name Ingenium still lived.

 

Tenya had even gotten his older brother to officially pass on the name, so Tenya could officially be The Speedy Legacy Hero: Ingenium II.

 

He was still working on a better title.

 

“.... And you know that…. How?” Katsumi asked, squinting at Tenya in slight disbelief- not entirely unwarranted, considering that it was kind of weird that Tenya knew about any kind of meme before Ochako did, and Ochako spent most of her time in the dorms scrolling through twitter (which was, incidentally, the reason why Izumi hadn’t deleted the sudden random message in her inbox that started with “Hey lil mama lemme whisper in ya ear” and followed up with “Wait don’t block me it’s me Uraraka” )

 

(Why so many of her friends exclusively seemed to chat online in meme references was beyond her, but it was kind of cute)

 

“Because Tensei showed me his archive of saved memes on his phone when I was younger, claiming that I would need them one day to socialize with my peers,” Tenya explained dryly, pushing up his glasses. “I see now that he was… at least partially correct, even if I wish he had not been.”

 

“Riiiiight… so does that mean you’re gonna start quoting Naruto at us now?” Himiko asked, very copiously draining a half-liter pouch of something that definitely wasn’t fruit punch no matter what the label on it said. “Because I can only stand so much otaku-ness around me before it stops being hot and starts being just like anime club back at highschool. Bleh, so many perverts. But noooo, it was the only way to get box sets for cheap and my moms said socializing was a good thing!”

 

“... Didn’t you… meet your ex-girlfriend through that club?” Ochako asked dryly, which was… huh. Izumi hadn’t known that Himiko had an ex-girlfriend. 

 

“Well, yeah, but I was pretty much just dating Aoihono because she looked kinda like Izu-chan. Totally fucked in the head though- and I don’t mean ‘loose morals based on lack of support for her quirk’ fucked like me, I mean she genuinely wanted me to go full yandere mode on her and shank her with a box cutter,” Himiko made a slightly disgusted noise and stuck out her tongue. “Bleh. I mean, pre-middle school me might have done that, but… whew, I’m so glad I dodged that bullet. She uh… did transfer out after an incident I never got the full details of… rumors said she got caught sucking her girlfriend’s dick in the bathrooms? Which… good for her, I guess?”

 

“.... Wait, you dated a girl solely because she looked like me?” Izumi asked, leaning forward and staring at Himiko incredulously, as if she couldn’t believe what had just come from her friend’s mouth. “Why?”

 

“Uh, because you saved my life and my ability to survive in society, and were frustratingly hot back in middle school and have only gotten prettier with time?” Himiko shrugged, flapping the oversized sleeves of her sweater as she tried to explain. “I mean Aoihono was nice and stuff when she wasn’t explaining her extreme masochism knifeplay kink, but like, Izu-chan you were literally the subject of my gay awakening. And also it really didn’t help that you spent the entire time helping me back in middle school during my… incident … flirting with me!”

 

“.... I wasn’t flirting, though? I’m pretty sure I was just deliriously spouting whatever nonsense I could to distract you that whole time so I wouldn’t pass out from blood loss? I… don’t think I’ve ever flirted with anyone in my life, and I especially wouldn’t do it with someone in crisis?” Izumi blinked slowly, raising her eyebrow at Himiko, only to realize that every single person at the table was staring at her in disbelief. “... What? Was it something I said?”

Chapter 92

Notes:

Hey if you're confused about this chapter, it's because I did another backlog clearing session! So go back to chapter 91 and read that first!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

It turned out that apparently half of everything even remotely nice Izumi had ever said to another girl could be construed as flirting like she was trying to seduce said girl. That was kind of hyperbole, but Izumi still felt like dying all the same.

 

“Does it really count as seduction if I thought I was just being friendly?” Izumi asked, groaning as she buried her face into her forearms and tried not to spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment. 

 

“Yes, because up until the point that you called her a good girl on NATIONAL TV , Shiozaki Ibara-san thought she was STRAIGHT!” Ochako almost yelled, groaning just as hard into her hands as Izumi was- though hers was out of sheer frustration instead of Izumi’s lethal levels of embarrassment.

 

“That wasn’t even supposed to be flirty! I don’t know what happened!” Izumi despaired, her voice muffled into her forearms as the heat around her sizzled and crackled with her emotions. “I was just commending her for her good sense!”

 

“Midori, I’m pretty sure you literally turned half the women in Japan gay for your oblivious ass,” Hitoshi deadpanned, taking the opportunity to steal some of the tuna nigiri off of Izumi’s plate and swap it for his salmon nigiri. “Also, you called her a good girl . Like, that’s fucking catnip for bottoms. Especially transbian bottoms like Tsu.”

 

“I’d protest but… yes, kero.”

 

“She’s been doing this shit since puberty ,” Katsumi sighed, rubbing her forehead and rolling her eyes. “Like, it’d be one thing if she were flirting on purpose, but come on , Princess. I literally told you that you were the reason why I figured out I’m a lesbian and you haven’t done anything with that information for SIX FUCKING YEARS!”

 

“I didn’t think you were serious at the time!” Izumi countered, lifting up her head and almost glaring at Katsumi, who just palmed her face in sheer indignation. “Everyone else who ever even looked at me like that always ran off before they could ever confess! How was I supposed to know it was serious!?”

 

“I have given you Valentine’s Chocolates. Every fucking year. Since we were SEVEN!” Katsumi roared out her final word, slamming her fist down onto the table and not caring as her free hand crackled with explosions. “ELEVEN. FUCKING. YEARS!”

 

“YOU KEPT TELLING ME IT WAS GIRI CHOCO OR TOMO CHOCO!”

 

“YEAH, UNTIL WE WERE IN HIGHSCHOOL! DID YOU EVEN FUCKING SEE THE DIFFERENCE IN WRAPPING PAPER!? I PUT MY A-GAME INTO THOSE HEART SKULLS! I PUT GLITTER ON YOUR FUCKING CHOCOLATES!”

 

“YOU MEAN WE COULD HAVE BEEN DATING THIS WHOLE TIME IF YOU HADN’T BEEN A TSUNDERE ABOUT IT!?”

 

“YOU’RE THE FUCKING OBLIVIOUS DISASTER WHO SEDUCES EVERY GIRL WHO SEES YOUR STUPID FACE!”

 

“WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP AND KISS ALREADY, KERO!?” Tsu finally shrieked, slamming both hands down onto the table and glaring icy daggers at both Izumi and Katsumi with such sheer menace that neither girl knew how to respond to the normally passive girl’s quivering rage. “It’s bad enough that you two keep flaunting your fucking bodies in the locker room and flirting with every girl on campus, now you have to do this in front of us too!? Are you two living in your own stupid yuri hell manga, kero!?”

 

“If they were they would have fucked already! Fuck’s sake!” Himiko sighed, rubbing her forehead as she stood up out of her seat and motioned to Hitoshi, who stood up as well until both of them were standing directly behind the two previously yelling girls- Himiko behind Katsumi, Hitoshi behind Izumi. On some unspoken signal, the two lifted each girl by the shoulders until they were standing, and bodily shoved them together.

 

The blush between the two could have lit up the night like a second sun.

 

“Useless lesbians, the both of them,” Tsu sighed, snuggling back down into Ochako’s side and rubbing her eyes as both fiery girls blushed and stuttered and made their way out of the doors with some excuse of having to talk out their relationship revelations. “I can’t believe I spent the first week of the semester wanting to get spitroasted by both of them, kero.”

 

“... I mean, I kinda still do,” Ochako shrugged, sighing and leaning on one hand as she poked at the remains of her lunch. “They’re hot and nice, but shit are they so stupid about their relationship!”

 

“I’m surprised it took them this long to realize that they’re basically already dating,” Himiko muttered, looking sort of put out that she wasn’t the blonde that was about to get topped by one of the most famous girls in Japan. “You’d think they would have figured it out by the time they realized that they each have spare clothes in each others’ dorm rooms. And homes. And all the times they ended up cuddling together in the same bed, nearly naked.”

 

“... How do you even know about that?” Tenya muttered, having kept himself quiet for the duration of the conversation by being very openly attracted only to men and thus immune to Izumi’s apparent aura of attraction (and having the good sense to try not to get involved in relationship drama involving his friends). 

 

“Because I’ve seen them both fall into bed together after training sessions,” Himiko deadpanned. “Katsumi forgets to close her door. A lot . Probably because she needs to air it out or the nitroglycerin fumes will explode, but still.”

 

“... I wish I had your problems,” Ochako sighed.

 

“I mean, it’s not hard to come up to the fifth floor and see if they’re in the same bed together,” Himiko rolled her eyes, while subtly eyeing the dining hall doors for a moment as Katsumi and Izumi came in looking slightly disheveled and… was Katsumi’s lipstick smeared? All over Izumi’s- yup. Yes it was. “Oh hey, the lovebirds are back. And they were totally mackin’ it.”

 

“Damn, I’m almost jealous,” Tsu muttered, turning in her seat and watching the two girls finally make it back to the table, both of them still blushing and finding it hard to look each other in the eye. “Wish that was me, kero.”

 

“What, making out with Kacchan or making out with Izu-chan?” Ochako asked dryly. “Oh wait, both. Duh.”

 

“They are. Unfairly hot,” Tsu crossed her arms and glared without any heat. “Ochako-chan, I love you, but I need you to know that if either of them ever asked me to join their polycule I’d do it.”

 

“Tsu-chan, I know. You’ve said this like, three times. And I’d join you,” Ochako snorted quietly, elbowing her girlfriend in the side. “But y’know… you’ve got something they don’t~”

 

“... Is it my dick, kero?”

 

“Mhmm!”

 

Ochako beamed, and Himiko abruptly slapped her hand over the blushing girl’s mouth before she could scar Tenya further. “Okay, that’s enough of that! Tsu, how dare you infect our sunshine girl with your shameless gay depravity-”

 

“Hey! I resemble that remark, kero!”

 

“-Ko-chan, stop talking about Tsu’s dick before you give Tenya a heart attack. Yes, it’s nice, but we don’t need to hear the story about how deep you took it, okay? You’ve already told us. Six times-”

 

“Mph mph mph!” (Translation: It was only three!)

 

“-shut up, you. And you two!” Himiko turned, glaring at Izumi and Katsumi for a moment, both of whom flushed bright red and very carefully did not look at each other (though, tellingly, their hands remained intertwined). “.... Congratulations! Gosh, it only took you like, five years to get together!”

 

“.... Five?” Izumi asked slowly, staring at Himiko in disbelief. “Why five?”

 

“Well duh, that’s when you two started making ga-ga eyes about each other for realzies,” Himiko answered with a shrug. “Even I noticed, and I only paid attention to Izu-chan here because I was a blood starved crazy stalker at the time.”


“... Sometimes I fucking wonder how either of us managed to get anything done,” Katsumi sighed, palming her face one more time as she finally gave up the last dregs of dignity she still had going for her. “At least I finally got a fucking girlfriend out of this disaster.”

Notes:

Giri choco is "obligation chocolate"

Tomo choco is "friendship chocolate"

Chapter 93

Notes:

Hey if you're confused about this chapter, it's because I did another backlog clearing session! So go back to chapter 91 and read that first!

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izumi was, in Aizawa Shouta’s opinion, a fucking anomaly of a person. She had a powerful quirk that had so many applications it was legitimately stupid how outclassed everyone else seemed in comparison. She was smart enough to be at or near the top of the class in just about everything but Nemuri’s art class- and even then, it was only because the girl wasn’t used to anything other than pencil on notebook paper. She took to sculpture with surprising ease, apparently. She was compassionate, and yet had a cruelly vindictive streak that manifested itself in a way that Shouta could really only describe as predatory when it came to combat. She was friendly, but distant in a way that always seemed to speak of past trauma even though literally nothing in her records indicated anything amiss- oh sure, there had been incidents of unlicensed quirk usage and at least one schoolyard brawl in defense of someone else but that was almost normal for heroics students. None of them ever started out being able to ignore someone in need. Not the ones that became great , at least.

 

She… Midoriya seemed to know a lot more and a lot less than she rightfully should, and that didn’t make any sense at all. How could a girl with such a powerful quirk as hers have possibly only grown up with a single real friend? He’d seen the reports throughout Midoriya’s career in Orudera Middle School and Senitto High- even when she tried to connect, apparently the other students naturally shied away from her, despite having many of the same interests.

 

Not even Senitto’s Anime and Manga club kept her around, and if Shouta knew anything about those kinds of clubs, they were usually packed to the brim with desperate otaku lusting for any kind of positive female attention they could get.

 

That, or incels who were just… the worst.

 

In Hizashi’s retellings, apparently he’d joined his school anime club and it was just gearheads obsessed with trying to build a working 1:1 scale gundam. Which… dammit, Shouta wished he’d gotten into that club.

 

But then, the moment she got into UA, she apparently branched out into an entire friend group- one that had a decent amount of core members, but reached out frequently to encompass the entire class, and frequently included 1-B and 1-C members as well, though 1-C was a bit more infrequent given the more underground and secretive nature of that class.

 

Shouta sometimes wished he was 1-C’s homeroom teacher, but noooo, somehow him being the homeroom teacher of a bunch of future spotlight heroes produced cream of the crop rookies that utterly smashed the average mortality rates for new heroes and almost always went on to great success.

 

(He still got letters from Hayashibara and Hayabusa and Ikkimori thanking him for never letting up on being such a hardass, even now when they’d been graduated for well over five years now).

 

But back on the point at hand. Midoriya Izumi. She was… perfect.

 

A little… too perfect. Oh sure, it was probably entirely possible that she had just been a normal girl blessed by impossibly fortunate circumstance, but the information he’d received from her could have been falsified by any number of quirk combinations- some to scrub records, others to falsify testimony, a few bribes here and there to backdate this or that file in this or that system…

 

But it wasn’t fair to cast suspicion on her- not any real suspicion. Not enough to launch an investigation. By all visible accounts, she was… utterly normal, other than her strange power level, her mysterious past that she occasionally brought up but never clarified, none of which was corroborated in any of her files, and her frankly weirdly intense personality. She did her schoolwork, she hung out with her friends, she called her mother at night… Honestly, with as many surveillance cameras as there were on campus, if she had any inclinations towards something sinister, she sure as hell had never shown it- no moments of hesitating too long near sensitive areas, no times when she seemed to be walking somewhere out of place, hell, outside of her regular outings with friends, she barely left the dorms except to attend class, eat, workout, and occasionally dive into a bush with her apparently new- 

 

Shouta shook his head, gritting his teeth and forcing himself to suppress that memory. He may have been privy to everything that the cameras around campus captured, but there were some things he wouldn’t dare pry into no matter how easy it would be to plan something suspicious in the midst of… makeout sessions.

 

So. Where did he stand on the topic of Midoriya Izumi?

 

Well, the likelihood of her secretly being the League of Villains’ traitor was low. Extremely low, considering she had killed their boss and completely obliterated any of their forces that had crossed her path in the USJ during the attack at the beginning of the school year. Everyone else in Class 1-A was clear as well- absolutely no shady connections or villainous background anywhere, save for Hagakure’s penchant for shoplifting chashu pork sandwiches from her local konbini in middle school (Shouta would have to really draw up a lesson plan to impress into his students that admitting to petty theft in the middle of a camera filled area was a stupid thing to do)  and Uraraka’s past history of working somewhat shady jobs when she was trying to help support both her parents and gather enough funds for her high school tuition.

 

… And Kirishima’s somewhat dubiously legal source of testosterone and other masculinizing hormone drugs.

 

And Sero’s distant familial relation to a low level yakuza clan that had long since gone legit (and largely defunct as an actual clan) .

 

…. And Tokoyami’s singular arrest file regarding the one extremely unfortunate time when he’d been caught out during a new moon… right in the middle of a neighborhood blackout. Shouta… really couldn’t find it in himself to blame the poor kid for that one. He’d been eight

 

But other than that, everyone in his class was clean, barring a few disciplinary notes here or there for quirk use- Ashido’s penchant for melting pencils when stressed, Kaminari charging classmates’ phones in class, Jirou using her earphone jacks to listen to music in class, Bakugou’s penchant for detonating her palms in explosive displays of exuberance.

 

But Midoriya… Midoriya’s words and files didn’t line up. Who was this mysterious original father she talked about with so much loathing? By all accounts, Midoriya Hisashi was her birth father- distant and somewhat estranged due to his work as an analyst, detective, and general international investigator for the Japanese government (and occasionally the HPSC), but her birth father all the same. There was even a paternity test on record. Two of them, even.

 

Unless there was… some other incident? But no, there was no mention of kidnapping or forced adoption at any point, and she said the things she did so clearly that she wouldn’t have been a small child at that point- memories and experiences recounted that vividly tended to happen around age ten, or thereabouts. 

 

So, what did he have? 

 

A few vague references to a past that probably could not have happened without completely screwing up the timeline and date presented in all of her official files.

 

A set of official files that were almost too normal for a girl with such an overwhelmingly powerful quirk- how had the HPSC not snatched her yet and turned her into another Hawks?

 

(Or, considering Midoriya’s stated “normal” reaction to people trying to control her for their own ends, another Lady Nagant)

 

He knew damn well how much the HPSC liked to wheedle powerful children into contracts- Mirko had almost fallen prey to one as an elementary schooler. Hawks had definitely fallen prey to one, but Midoriya Izumi had no signs of it ever happening.

 

But…. that was just what the files said.

 

Maybe…

 

Hm.

 

There were only really a few explanations as to the discrepancies, barring the endless amount of conspiracy theories one could generate off of so little outstanding information or suspicion.

 

One: Midoriya Izumi had some kind of memory processing issue combined with some kind of possibly quirk induced hallucinations during her childhood and thought that she had lived with an abusive parent for some time before Midoriya Hisashi entered the picture (But that didn’t explain why Bakugou didn’t ever contradict her stories).

 

Two: Midoriya Izumi had some kind of connection to the Villain Factory and/or the League of Villains, which would be terrible , but it was extremely unlikely considering, well. Shigaraki’s corpse.

 

Three, and the one he honestly thought was most likely should Midoriya prove to be something other than she appeared (not that he thought it was likely , just that it was the most likely among the three options), was that she was some kind of HPSC experiment that had succeeded beyond measure, and was currently being used to infiltrate UA in order to bring the university more under the fold of the HPSC… somehow.

 

Shouta sighed, shaking his head while letting out a slow breath.


He really hoped none of those options were true.

Chapter 94

Notes:

Hey if you're confused about this chapter, it's because I did another backlog clearing session! So go back to chapter 91 and read that first!

Chapter Text

Everyone’s internships began on the Monday just about three weeks after the sports festival. While it would have been nice to see everyone off at once, the travel expenses (even if they were handled by the agencies or individuals that were taking on said interns) and schedules meant that Izumi had left on Saturday such that she could reach Hawks’ agency in Fukuoka on time and ready to start her duties without being sleep deprived or jet lagged.

For Tenya, apparently he was just taking a short train ride over to the Hosu ward from the dorms and the trip was short enough that he didn’t even need to stay at the agency or any of the nearby provided housing, and could just stay at his home nearby.

Katsumi would be leaving on Sunday to intern with Uwabami along with Yaomomo and Kendo-san- apparently Katsumi was… probably going to be the only one of them getting what she wanted, since Katsumi really just wanted to pick Uwabami’s brain for her list of recommended products as both a hero and a model. Yaomomo and Kendo-san… they were probably going to get some introduction into the world of detective work, but she knew damn well Uwabami’s primary purpose was deliberately making herself look like a fashion and beauty product obsessed floozy so nobody would expect her to actually be an alarmingly effective detective and close quarters combatant.

Ochako wasn’t even leaving school, since she was apprenticing herself directly under Kurose-sensei for rescue training. Himiko was the same- she was apprenticing herself to Sekijiro-sensei to learn how to present herself to the public as a blood using hero… also to get her hero outfit updated again because apparently she was going all in on the vampire theme.

Honestly- most of her classmates were staying within the bounds of a quick train ride from home, and were thus leaving either on Sunday or even early Monday morning depending on how close their internship locations were to the train station closest to the dorms and what time they were expected to be in.

Tokoyami was apparently going all the way to Asahikawa on Hokkaido, and the both of them had even met up at the airport to say some kind of awkward goodbye. Apparently her bird-headed classmate was going up north to learn from a distant (very distant, they were barely related considering their families split off nearly four generations back) relative who went by the hero name “Screaming Eagle”.

And Izumi, well.

Even if she would have liked to take up someone else’s offer… what would they even teach her? A lot of the theory she could have learned was something she’d find either in UA’s extensive libraries or accessible via their heroics classes. She already knew the specialties and activities of the vast majority of heroes that had sent her offers (hell, she even had a full series of notebooks dedicated to analyzing every single hero she could find in the rankings at one point) and most of them just… didn’t interest her.

But Hawks?

The current Number 3 Pro Hero, who had been trained by the HPSC and had one of the best capture to casualty to collateral ratios in all of Japan (and honestly, a good chunk of the world)? She was interested, because there was no way he wanted her there at his agency just because he wanted to teach her some tips about self control.

She knew how to control herself, dammit! She just… wasn’t great at always remembering that her current life’s world frowned upon things like vigilante justice, or harsh corporal punishment, or political assassinations. Or, apparently, open quirk use in public areas.

Which was stupid and led to way more problems than it solved in a majority of cases, and there really should have been some kind of cutoff or specifications in the law about cosmetic quirks or anything that had no active combat component- no, focus. The reason why she had even gone along with Hawks’ offer is that he’d actually sent an email to her school account and explained that he’d be doing a variety of methods to help her learn a bit more control over her emotions and reactions out in public- including, but not limited to, hanging out with one of his more annoying friends so she could practice not blowing up at people she didn’t know well.

Considering that, even when Izumi spent several hours digging up dirt on Hawks, the only friend he seemed to have at all was the eternally itinerant, famously asocial, and thoroughly independent Number 6 Pro Hero, Usagiyama Rumi, aka The Rabbit Hero, aka Mirko.

Aka the person Izumi had the most merch of in her entire collection. The hero who was the subject of so many of her idle fantasies because come on, those legs, that hair, the attitude.

Izumi would have been a fool to not take that offer. Even if she didn’t really think she needed any actual training in self control. She just… had to choose to exercise it.

Like she was on a stealth mission and couldn’t afford to be identified, even though back in her first life going anywhere outside of the Fire Nation was pretty much impossible without immediately being called out as a Fire Nation citizen- her skin too pale, her accent too foreign, not even the Fire Nation colonies had the same accent as someone from the main islands.

But she digressed- like she was on a stealth mission and couldn’t afford to be identified as Princess Azula, former heir apparent to the Throne of Fire, Bloodless Conqueror of Ba Sing Se, the Blue Dragon of the Imperial Family, the Storm Scourge of the Western Territories, and about a million other titles that she really didn’t care for (all of which were earned through either military prowess or murder. She really wished she’d gotten at least one title out of being a nice person, but by the time she’d actually become anything resembling a nice person she’d already been in her late forties and thoroughly forgotten by the world at large). Honestly, it wouldn’t be hard.

Well… except maybe the whole “talk like a villain” thing Katsumi mentioned to her. She… was frightfully bad at that.

Like, really, really bad.

Oh sure, she was getting better about being casual, but she was well aware that the moment she got heated, people tended to be terrified after only a few words. Izumi was oblivious to romance and the amount of flirty things she said to pretty girls, not the impact she had on others.

She’d had a lifetime to master the art of manipulating people into doing what she wanted them to.

Even if she was… rather rusty now, from lack of practice. And a new lease on life. And a lack of desire to be like that again.

What was her point again?

Oh right, Hawks.

Hm.

Izumi squinted up at the large white tower before her, its slanted roof gleaming in the sun as she shielded her eyes slightly from the glare coming off of the windows.

Well, this looked like the place, and matched the address.

Now, to see just what exactly Hawks had in mind with this whole… self control business.

Chapter 95

Notes:

Hey if you're confused about this chapter, it's because I did another backlog clearing session! So go back to chapter 91 and read that first!

Chapter Text

“Intern! Get me a coffee from the break room, if you will! Make it snappy!” Hawks snapped twice, and Izumi’s already fragile self control increased in tension like an already overstressed guitar string. In fact, it was so tense that she could almost hear the discordant ring of sound as it snapped

 

No. Not yet. She was better than this. She’d only been in this office, only been an official intern for six hours , and this was very clearly a fucking test. Hawks had even said as much . To her face . After already putting her through all kinds of customer service hell already.

 

Like she hadn’t faced the same bullshit before when she was volunteering at soup kitchens and charity stores back in highschool. So, sure, it sucked , but she could control herself. Mostly.

 

Sir , my name is Midor-”

 

“I don’t pay you to sit around, intern! Where’s that coffee?”

 

“.... yes sir.”

 

“And smile more! You’ll look prettier that way!”

 

“... Sir, I’m wearing a mask .”

 

“Smile!”

 

Izumi took a deep breath, forcibly calming herself as much as she could without resorting to her quirk to just firebend the heat out of her system and shock her brain back to stability with the resulting coolness. 

 

“... yes, sir .”

 

With a forced smile that Hawks couldn’t even see (how the fuck was he so good at getting under her skin? How the fuck did this easy going blonde douchebag manage to fit so much (thankfully fake (... hopefully)) smarm and repulsiveness into his voice that Izumi genuinely almost thought he was going to sexually harass her even when he made it exceedingly clear that she could punch him in the dick if he made any moves she felt seriously threatened by? She literally had almost done so earlier when he was walking her through some other office based situations!), Izumi made her way to the closest break room and retrieved a cup of Hawks’ private stash of coffee- brewed via the keurig just the way he’d instructed her to when he’d started the scenario. As she watched the cup fill, having already added the correct ratios of milk and sugar and creamer that Hawks had specified in the initial runthrough of the scenario (asshole boss: level 1, coffee edition), Izumi had to conclude- concede- a single point.

 

She was in hell.

 

She was in the deepest fucking pits of hell because despite all of her looming rage, despite having only been in this office for a single day and only run through a number of short, one on one scenarios, she could tell that Hawks actually knew what he was doing, and was definitely going to make her better at handling her sometimes out of control rage.

 

So she still used rage to fuel her firebending sometimes, so what? It was all she knew for like the first twenty odd years of her life, sue her. She was trying to go clean now anyway, and righteous fury was still better than the “angry at everything including one’s self” thing that Zuko had tried and failed at before he learned the dancing dragon forms.

 

A tinny beep singled the end of the brew, and Izumi carefully stirred the mix together in the cup before placing it on a saucer and bringing the cup back to Hawks… who didn’t even thank her as he took the cup and took a sip. Dick.

 

She knew it was part of the scenario, but still.

 

Dick .

 

“Too hot! Are you trying to burn my tongue!? Cool it down now!”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“And where’s that smile!? Argh, now it’s too cold! Come on, can’t you do anything right!?”

 

“Apologies, sir.”

 

“Too hot again!”

 

“Too cold!”

 

“Too hot!”

 

“Too cold!”

 

“Just right, but now the flavor’s gone off and completely ruined the brew! Can’t you do anything right, intern!? Go and make me another coffee, and make it drinkable this time, you idi-”

 

Snap .

 

“ARGH FUCK! OW SHIT FUCK HOT HOT HOT FUCK MY LIFE OH GOD IT’S IN MY UNDERWEAR! MY DICK IS BURNING!” Hawks screeched, literally leaping out of the (borrowed from one of the other sidekicks) office chair and screaming at the top of his lungs, wings flapping wildly and sending feathers everywhere as he stumbled and rolled around the room in agony from the fact that Izumi had, in a fit of sheer annoyance , dumped boiling, 150 degrees celsius, hot coffee directly into her boss’ lap.

 

… Shit.

 

“SCENARIO OVER! HOLY SHIT SCENARIO OVER! MIDORIYA PLEASE HOLY SHIT I CAN FEEL MY BALLS BOILING! HELP ME!”

 

“Shit shit shit, sorry! Sorry!” Izumi sputtered as she immediately bent the heat out of the boiling mess of brown staining the front of Hawks’ pants and replacing it with blessed coolness, though she definitely did not want to try to use her (very limited) healing abilities at the moment, because she really did not want to hold a flaming hand directly over her superior’s naked, possibly burnt crotch for an extended period of time. “Oh fucking hell, sorry!”

 

“Ow…. oh fuck that hurts. Holy shit .” Hawks wheezed once Izumi had more or less turned the coffee stain into an ice pack for his crotch, wincing a bit as he curled into a fetal ball and let out a low whine of pure suffering . “W-well… I think we can safely conclude… that you do still have some self control issues worth mentioning. Ow…. f-fuck…”

 

“I um… sorry.”

 

“Don’t- actually, yes be sorry, holy fuck that was way hotter than it had to be! Fucking shit , I thought you were just gonna dump hot coffee on my head, not try to recreate Liebeck v McDonald’s! ” Hawks continued wheezing, not even making an attempt to get off of the floor while Izumi pressed the button on the borrowed desk (apparently it belonged to Powerglide, as evidenced by the nameplate and pictures scattered around the office) that would call in the resident medic, a lovely lady who used the hero name Alms.

 

It sure was a good thing that Hawks had the foresight to keep a medic on standby for these. And that he wouldn’t hold the first day’s worth of testing against her as long as she didn’t cause any serious destruction, mess, or injury. Or traumatize anyone.

 

Maybe that list of clauses needed some revision, Izumi thought almost numbly as she watched Alms sweep into the room and immediately start attending to Hawks with an almost deadpan stare.

 

“Well, the good news is, I can fix this in just a few minutes,” Alms stated lightly, wincing a bit as she took a slightly hesitant peek down the front of Hawks’ pants, gloved hands wringing lightly as she cleared her throat and tried not to look supremely awkward about doing this with Izumi in the room. “The problem is… well, my Healing Hands ah… won’t be able to fully heal it…. Without um. You know.”

 

“.... Just… just do it and be done with it,” Hawks whined piteously, lying back on the floor while Alms’ quirk soothed the pain more than Izumi’s ad hoc icepack had, though it couldn’t fully repair the burns that had already begun to set in. “Alms, honey, light of my life and savior of my fucking agency, how is it that you can heal a broken femur just by touching someone’s shoulder, but healing my burned crotch needs direct contact?”

 

“Because it’s a burn , sir. The amount of traumatized tissue necessarily requires less energy be lost traveling to the injured site. Now please just lie back and try to think of firetrucks or something equally unsexy while I work,” Alms sighed, while Izumi awkwardly turned to the side and stared at the wall while she heard the life giving heroine work behind her.

 

Hm. Was there normally this much screaming when it came to healing injuries? Must be a function of how Healing Hands worked- possibly increasing sensitivity in afflicted areas for some time, resulting in a hypersensitivity to pain that lingered even after the initial injury was taken care of. It would explain why her punches seemed to be so much more effective even without leaving a single mark on her foes.

 

Hm. That bore further questioning.

 

Hm hm hm. 

 

Was Hawks still screaming? Alms had already packed up and gone back to her station!

 

Yup. That hypersensitivity in the nerves must have been something if it lasted long after she’d finished.

 

Sigh .

 

Boy, this internship was going to be… productive , she could already tell.

 

A thought struck her, related to the caveats Hawks had mentioned at the start of the day. 

 

“... Am I in trouble for this?”

 

“Aaaaaaaaaarrgggghhh…..”

 

“... I’ll take that as a maybe. Dammit.”

Chapter 96

Notes:

Hey if you're confused about this chapter, it's because I did another backlog clearing session! So go back to chapter 91 and read that first!

Chapter Text

“Okay so, after yesterday’s debacle we’re taking you off of anything that could bring you even remotely in contact with hot liquids,” Hawks deadpanned as Izumi walked into the office the next day, not wearing her mask this time at the older hero’s request (And, thankfully, not actually in trouble despite dumping boiling hot coffee into Hawks’ lap). “Also, we’re doing more… let’s say PR style self control training. Yesterday was a good benchmark of how well you can respond to emotional stress without violence, which… you are not super great at. I know that hurts to hear, but retail workers are expected to go their entire careers without a single blowup despite their jobs being literal hell, and you…. Well, you lasted barely under six and a half hours before giving me first degree burns all over my dick and balls. Which, by the way, no swearing out in public. We can do it in here as long as there’s no civvies, but keep the profanity on the backburner unless you wanna make it your entire reputation and get slapped with a PG12 label, or worse.”

 

“... Like Kayama-sensei’s R18+ label?” Izumi asked dryly, raising an eyebrow at Hawks.

 

“Yup! Like Midnight’s R18 label! I won’t pretend to know what she was thinking when she decided to do that, but it means that she’s legally not allowed to attend events primarily involving children. Not that it’s really a big deal since she mostly works in villain apprehension and teaches at UA, but still. It’s kind of why she’s not super high up in the rankings,” Hawks shrugged as he walked Izumi through the floors and lead them to his actual office- a spacious, almost luxuriously large penthouse office that primarily functioned as a landing pad, with the only real furniture in the room being a wardrobe, a sectioned off bathroom/locker room area, a desk with all of Hawks’ computer equipment and some assorted chairs, and a rather comfortable looking pull out sofa tucked into one corner.

 

The entire rest of the office was sectioned off by thick panes of what Izumi could tell were bulletproof glass (almost certainly Kobayashi-Satori Industries layered polymer glass, based on their location, the specific pattern she could feel between the layers as they absorbed and redistributed the ambient heat, the usage, and the general price point for 2 meter by 8 meter panes of bulletproof glass with appropriate armored mounting fixtures and reinforcement points. Easily breakable if she cycled it a few times with plasma and impacted it with a full power blast of combustionbending, but otherwise immune to most reasonable temperature shifts and blunt impacts) that functioned as essentially an armored airlock that let Hawks easily enter and exit his office and building without having to go through the front doors, as well as providing more protection than a simpler rooftop landing pad would- not that it would protect him from snipers once he left the airlock, but it’d keep him from getting sniped if he was just walking out of his changing area.

 

“So, welcome to my office. I’ll have a desk brought up or something- we’re going on a trip next week, by the by, but you will be spending most of your time during this internship up here. I hope. As long as nothing goes wrong,” Hawks shrugged, pointing loosely at an area that was marked off with a few strips of painter’s tape before stretching lightly (it only figured that he’d get sore shoulders and back muscles flying around by bootstrapping himself into the air with his feathers) and heading to the locker room area. “Anyway, I’m gonna go take a leak and get the rest of my costume on, then we’ll head out on patrol and see how you handle reporters. Now, normally I don’t deal with them so I’m not super well versed in it, but you at least do have to try and be friendly.”

 

Hawks paused, just barely across the threshold of the door to the locker room as he leaned out and looked back at Izumi, who mostly just stood there wondering if Alms’ healing actually did leave Hawks in good enough condition to fight crime if he was still limping after Izumi heard the blonde haired heroine heal her boss twice in one day.

 

Eh, probably enough for average amounts of crime.

 

“Unless you’re trying to be an underground hero?” Hawks sort of asked, cutting Izumi out of her reverie for a moment (and boy did she wish she was wearing her mask right now, if only so she could hide when her attention wavered). “I mean, you do still need to know how to handle PR, if only so you can say “no comment” to the paparazzi without looking like an asshole.”

 

“Like Endeavor?” Izumi asked without really thinking, then cleared her throat and looked to the side. “Er, that is.”

 

“No yeah, Endeavor’s basically the prime example of that. I mean really, did nobody teach him PR? Even I got taught PR stuff, and I was tutored by the HPSC- hey speaking of…” Hawks paused, then shook his head. “Actually that can wait. Gimme a sec.”

 

About a minute, one very audible toilet flush, and the sound of a sink running later, Hawks came back around with his previously missing jacket slung over his shoulder and one hand over his mouth as he cleared his throat. “Right, where were we?”

 

“Something about the HPSC, sir,” Izumi replied dryly, standing still while the gentle air currents swirling around the room via the AC made her cloak billow ever so slightly thanks to Izumi helping them along out of boredom. “I think you were about to say something about them?”

 

“Oh right- has the HPSC ever contacted you about anything? Training, living expenses, hero programs?” Hawks raised an eyebrow, sliding on his jacket as he headed towards the airlock doors, one hand tossing Izumi a communicator earpiece without even registering her confusion. “Sometimes they use the shell company QuirkGro+? Actually they have a lot of shell companies- any company sending out a ton of ads claiming to be quirk strengthening or hero training classes for aspiring hero kids. Sometimes they’ll send ‘em out to adults, but that’s rare.”

 

“... Well, not that I can recall. I’ve certainly never gone to any class like that- I only saw the school quirk counselor every now and then to make sure I had all of my needs met,” Izumi shook her head, pursing her lips and frowning at Hawks while she slotted the communicator into the special pocket fitted into her mask strap and slipped it on to hide her face. “Why do you ask?”

 

“Mmm, idle curiosity. The HPSC has a habit of trying to train new heroes young and early, says it’s to ensure that there’s always a new generation of strong heroes ready and waiting to take the stage and make Japan feel safe and protected,” Hawks shrugged, then threw open the door to the airlock, his wings fluttering as he prepared to take off. “Now come on already! We’re burning daylight! We can talk more about it later!”

 

“Right, right,” Izumi sighed, frowning at Hawks from behind her mask as she stepped into the airlock, waiting for the outside door to cycle open. Moments later, both of them took off into the morning sky with Hawks in the lead (though he was definitely flying slower than normal, possibly because he didn’t want to leave her behind? Well, it’s not like she was putting much effort into her flight, she could afford to crank the throttle some).

 

Even as Hawks seemingly shelved the subject for now, though, Izumi couldn’t help but wonder- just why would Hawks want to know if she’d ever gone through an HPSC training program?

 

Hm.

 

That bore looking into.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi’s life was a blur of old man boots and pain . He thought he was in hell, but he was desperately in need of someone to help him push One For All past his current limits of a bare five percent of its total power.

 

It kind of rankled at him that it wasn’t even the actual full power of the quirk, it was literally just that his body could not possibly handle the entirety of One For All due to how skinny and twiggy he still was even after having trained with All Might for nearly a year and a half now .

 

Hitoshi doesn’t know if he’ll ever get to unlock the whole of its physical power, but that’s okay. It’s making his Brainwashing stronger too, and it’s slowly getting far, far easier to control people- both in sheer amount, and in terms of people being unable to break free from his control.

 

Except for, apparently, Midoriya Izumi. Because of course the most ridiculously powerful bitch in their year is also fucking almost immune to his brainwashing if she can manage to use her quirk before the activation trigger takes hold.

 

Joke’s on her, though, Hitoshi’s been working with powering up Brainwashing with One For All’s energy stockpile, and if he focuses hard enough he can make it so that any acknowledgement whatsoever counts as enough of a response for him to take control. 

 

She’d probably be really impressed, honestly. If there’s one thing that Izumi loved more than anything, it’s quirk analysis. She never often stated it, but Hitoshi knew damn well that Izumi knew the ins and outs of every single one of their quirks the day after the battle trial, and she memorized every single bit of information. It’s how she knew Shouji’s weakness was his shoulders, since they were often slightly sore whenever Shouji duplicated his arms- the added weight slowed him down. It’s how she knew that Ochako’s quirk allowed her to extend her weight limit virtually limitlessly if she pressed the pressure points in specific parts of her body that shut down her nausea responses- at the cost of intense , almost flu-like symptoms later on.

 

Ochako had swatted Hitoshi like a fly with an entire building when Izumi had helped her out with that ridiculous chi-blocking martial art she employed.

 

That wasn’t really the point right now.

 

The point was that Hitoshi was tired, beat up, and was pretty sure he had Gran Torino’s bootprint permanently stuck to his ass cheek. And his cane mark permanently whacked into his shin.

 

Fucking ow

 

“I think. I’m going to die. And you’re going to have to choose a new successor,” Hitoshi wheezed, squinting up at All Might as he laid on the mats after Gran Torino had fucking laid him out yet again , the old man grumbling something about how his speed wasn’t up to par and that if he really wanted to catch up he should stop focusing on bulking and focus more on actually usable muscle . Some kind of hybrid build between an MMA fighter, a swimmer, a runner, and a powerlifter that would probably honestly just wind up with him looking like some kind of gangly, beefy rectangle.

 

“Well, Gran Torino is… a bit harsh, yes,” All Might cleared his throat awkwardly (or was it Yagi-san now that he was in his emaciated, sickly form?) and kneeled down by Hitoshi, patting his head gently and frowning. “Honestly, he’s been quite gentle with you- when I was training under him, it wasn’t enough for me to go long enough that I collapsed, he made me throw up regularly.”

 

He paused again, then stifled a bloody cough into his handkerchief. “I think he seems quite taken in with your idea to balance both the strength of One For All with the mental prowess of Brainwashing.”

 

“Nggh… still sucks that I can’t…. Can’t live up to…” Hitoshi sighed, rubbing his eyes and wondering when the gym had gotten so dusty that just laying on the floor made him tear up slightly. “Argh… fuck. I just- I want to make it as a hero so I can prove that quirks aren’t villainous, but… I feel like a fucking fraud sometimes, for taking your quirk. It feels like such an easy out… That I’m just… that I wasn’t committed enough to my idea, and now I’m… stuck in this weird halfway hell of constantly wondering if it would have been better or worse to just keep Brainwashing on its own and let you find someone better suited to handling One For All.”

 

“Nonsense!” Yagi-san yells out in English, bopping Hitoshi over the head with the flat of his hand. “My boy, you earned One For All. Your selfless act of heroism that day was the reason why that villain attack didn’t turn into an unmitigated disaster! In my eyes, you have proved that Brainwashing is a hero’s quirk, and by taking on One For All, you are molding it not into the next me , but the first you. Because, even if it was mine before you, One For All is not my quirk anymore. It is yours . And although I cannot tell you whether or not your choice was correct, whether or not it would have been better to take on the mantle or not, I can tell you this: You are a strong, dedicated, focused young man. Your strength of will is immense , and if you so choose to change the world, then I firmly believe that you will- no matter what hardships you imagine along the way, you will SMASH your way through! Plus Ultra!”

 

“Plus Ultra,” Hitoshi nodded, coughing a bit as he slowly sat back up and rubbed his strangely wet eyes with the sleeve of his hero costume (patterned after Eraserhead’s outfit, of course, but with some highlights of purple and white to be ever so slightly reminiscent of one of All Might’s old costumes). “Speaking of Smash… Um- I was just thinking. Even if I’m your successor, I should try and distance myself from you, right? So nobody suspects me too much.”

 

“Ah- yes, it would be best if you didn’t, er… literally yell out Smash every time you used One For All. I did forget to mention that the clenching your buttcheeks and yelling Smash in your heart thing was mostly metaphorical… though clenching is somewhat good policy in some cases- er regardless!” Yagi grinned at Hitoshi, crossing his legs and leaning forward slightly with interest dancing in his eyes. “What have you come up with as an alternative?”


“Well, since I’m going for more of a grappler hybrid style, I was thinking I could play off of the name Mind Crush, and for my supermoves I’d do some variation of Crush!- like say, I could call a move Blinder Crush if I was aiming to take out an opponent’s line of sight, or Foundation Crush if I went to unbalance them with a hard hit to the legs…”

Chapter Text

If there was one thing that Himiko loved above all else, it was blood. Not that she liked hurting people or anything (Well, unless she was super blood deprived and really feeling the effects), but blood was her favorite food, the source of most of her body’s nutrients, and the thing that let her get closer to so many of her friends. Blood was her life, and Himiko loved it.

 

The thing she loved only slightly less than blood was one Midoriya Izumi. Not… quite romantically yet- she was self aware enough to realize that the blind hero worship she had going on sometimes wasn’t really a good basis for a relationship, and she wasn’t even really sure if Katsumi would be open to an open relationship (she’d… overheard Izumi talking about how she’d had a lot of weird dreams as a teenager about harems and oversized beds, so she kind of assumed that her green haired friend was at least okay-ish with the idea of a polycule) and didn’t really want to test the explosive blonde’s patience by trying to sleep with her girl.

 

 

Then again… Katsumi was kind of flirty with everyone in their little fashion circle. And a little handsy. And she did always have this kind of wild, smoky sweet scent around her… and also stated at least once in the last few months that she wouldn’t say no to an orgy…

 

Hm.

 

But back to the matter at hand: Himiko, and the subject of Midoriya Izumi.

 

She didn’t really know when she started idolizing the (slightly) taller girl who saved her life, but it actually hadn’t been just the incident in which Izumi kept her from seeking out and stabbing Saito-kun with a box cutter and then stayed with her until the police arrived, but… probably before. 

 

It was hard to tell, honestly. Himiko’s head had always been stuffy and full and pained and she’d always felt tired and drained- both physically and emotionally- from her parents controlling every facet of her life to keep her from going off like the monster they thought she was, so it wasn’t like she knew a whole lot when she kept disassociating in class and only eating copious amounts of jerky at home had even started to clear her mind enough to do work, but… well. For as long as Himiko had been in middle school, there’d only really been two places where her mind began to clear and allowed her to think instead of only just barely keeping herself coherent: Whenever Saito-kun was close enough for his Mental Up aura to take hold, and whenever Izumi had been around.

 

Himiko had no fucking clue why Izumi’s presence calmed her so much, but the sheer amount of energy that the woman put off even back in middle school was probably helping her along. Somehow. 

 

It was what led to her following Izumi around on occasion, both as a result of her constant need for blood, and the curiosity that wanted her to go see just what it was about the girl that made her so special , so different . Of course, in her delirium, she’d just thought it was that she could smell the hot, sticky sweetness of Izumi’s blood, thought that it was because she was absolutely in love with Izumi and wanted to become her… but Himiko was pretty sure now, after three and a half years of therapy, quirk counseling, and actually following the diet her body needed instead of starving herself of half of her nutritional requirements, that she’d mostly just been taken in by Izumi’s radiant aura- literally, in fact, if what Izumi’s half idle ramblings about the spiritual nature of chi was anywhere close to the truth of how her quirk worked. Something about Izumi’s chi resonated with Himiko, apparently.

 

And then, well.

 

The incident had happened. She’d been starved of actual food that week because of her poor performance in school, her parents had kept talking about ripping her fangs out to pacify her monstrous nature, school itself had become so much harder and none of the teachers really noticed or cared how she was suffering, and then she’d just… snapped . Saito-kun had smelled extra sweet that day (because he’d gotten in a fight and had a bloody nose), and in her delirium she’d just gone for it, cornering him and trying to cut him open with a box cutter and then…

 

Izumi had been there. Apparently she’d escaped detention to save Saito after seeing the two of them running through the hallways.

 

It was like she was a warrior angel- first she’d saved Saito, letting him run off uninjured, and then… she’d saved her . Himiko had been no match, really. All Izumi had done was kick the box cutter out of her hand, knock her out for a bit, and then after diagnosing her condition… freely and openly offered her blood. And then started petting her head and complimenting her on how well she’d kept it together, how well she was doing, how nice her quirk was, how pretty her hair was, how beautifully golden her eyes were (and somehow Himiko was supposed to believe that Izumi thought she hadn’t been flirting!?).

 

It was a fucking wonder that Himiko hadn’t drained Izumi dry that day, but she was grateful for what Izumi did all the same. And now, she had two wonderful moms, an amazing big sis, and was in Class 1-A of the UA Heroics program.

 

She was going to be a hero , and it was… it was magical, honestly.

 

Sometimes, Himiko felt like it was all a dream, because it was too good to be true- oh sure, it was harsh and painful sometimes, and Sekijiro-sensei kind of ran out of PR tips to teach her after day two of her apprenticeship, but she wouldn’t trade her current life for anything .

 

Himiko nodded as she looked herself in the mirror, finally breaking out of her reminiscing of the last few years and turning away to take a good, long look around her dorm room- filled to the brim with an eclectic mix of pinks and gothic design, horror movie memorabilia and gyaru fashion magazines and hero merch- before straightening out the vampiric cloak resting on her shoulders and stretching lightly in the armored fabric of her costume that hid her knives and needles. A moment’s distraction had her appreciating the sleek lines of her trousers and suit jacket, with their elegant black fabric hiding a metallic mesh weave and basic thermo-regulation system, all done up with a mix of pink and gold accents that mad her look friendly and approachable even if she was still dressed up like a vampire . The utility belt and harness holding her blood reserves and support gear had almost detracted from the entire look, but integrated well enough that she was still happy with it.

 

It had taken a lot of work to get this far, and it would take even more work to get to where she wanted to be. But that was fine- she had more than enough motivation to keep going.

 

Now, time to get going.

 

Sekijiro-sensei was going to teach her the finer points of knife fighting today, and she wanted to see exactly how good she was in comparison.

Chapter 99

Summary:

This is the part where we REALLY jump off the rails of canon

Chapter Text

Iida Tenya was… conflicted… about his internship. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy spending time with his beloved older brother- no, he absolutely adored it! It was just… looking at Tensei in his wheelchair, still wrapped up in bandages, paralyzed and barely able to move without the half functional exoskeleton they’d gotten on rush order from a support company… it hurt.

 

It hurt a lot.

 

It was almost enough to make him want to go out in the streets, screaming out his pain as he raced around until he inevitably found Stain and tried to beat the reparations out of the out of control vigilante turned serial killer. Almost. He wasn’t that same headstrong teenager he was at fifteen years old. He’d grown a little, changed for the better. Stopped being… quite so stiff in his mannerisms.

 

Tensei convincing their parents that it’d be better for his social skills to be enrolled in a public highschool had been great for him, albeit it seemed like a betrayal at the time. From Somei Private Academy all the way down to Felashia Municipal High School- it rankled him a lot.

 

But he was better for it now. He’d learned to deal with his anger and his pride, become a better person for it. 

 

It just… didn’t stop him from purposefully asking to join the members of Idaten who specifically patrolled the back alleys of Hosu. Most of which were former vigilantes, actually- Tenya wasn’t surprised by that. Tensei always did have a habit of doing his damndest to rehabilitate vigilantes into proper heroes, and never shied away from hiring the ones who expressed more interest in helping the public rather than going out and being nuisances. Crawler was one of them, and was by far the most personable of the bunch- and also the one who actually had the most interactions with Stain… or rather, Stendhal , as the man was formerly known.

 

Crawler was also the one who told him that going after Stain for revenge was a stupid fucking idea (yes, those words. Tenya had been shocked to hear a fellow hero use profanity so casually) and that he should just focus on learning what he could from Tensei when it came to the administrative side of Team Idaten, his online lectures that kept him from falling behind in his education while at his internship, and working on his quirk instead of focusing on a serial killer who would definitely wipe the floor with him if they got into open combat.

 

Tenya… honestly agreed. He should do that. But… it didn’t stop him from patrolling around with Crawler in those same areas during his second week of the internship, asking questions related to both hero work and the Team itself, jotting things down onto the little notepad he carried around in one of his armor’s hidden compartments (said armor having been reinforced, lightened, and slimmed down slightly to be a little less stiff looking, as well as having had his glasses prescription integrated into the ultra-reinforced visor of his helmet) and generally doing his best to focus on the here and now rather than his most vigilante-like of wishes.

 

He was learning a lot, genuinely! The names and faces of some of the more familiar people out on the patrol routes (Orenchi-oji-san with his food cart who wasn’t technically licensed to use his quirk, but who wasn’t any kind of threat so was left alone because he was a good man. Nikita-san who had a large flower cart that she ran with her daughter. Schmidt-san, who moved from Germany to be with his wife and always walked a specific route every day near the park. So on and so forth), the general procedure for dealing with police after a criminal arrest (not a villain arrest, just someone who committed a crime without their quirk- purse snatches and the like), the general procedure for dealing with the police after a villain arrest- Tenya could confidently say that his acquisition of new knowledge was proceeding exceedingly smoothly.

 

His brother had even taught him the (extremely painful, but relatively useful) secret family technique to strengthen his engines… by ripping out his own exhaust pipes and chugging a mix of orange juice and iron supplements to help them grow back stronger and allow his engines to handle more heat without stalling. It was… um.

 

Hm.

 

Tenya was not sure that he wanted to know how his grandfather had come by the technique. Nor was he sure he wanted to actually do it with any regularity- strengthened engines be damned, ripping his exhaust pipes out of his legs hurt like nothing else and the first time he did it he was left nearly comatose for an hour, just from ripping out one pipe. Out of six. Per leg .

 

That said, his internship was mostly a net positive, Tenya thought to himself, strolling alongside Crawler as they took a slower route through one of the slightly more dangerous parts of town. He was definitely learning new things, his legs were getting stronger, and he could monitor his brother all he liked to ensure his recovery went smoothly.

 

And furthermore-

 

“Hey, brats!” came an aggravating, and yet familiar voice- the Rabbit Hero, Mirko, who was patrolling around Hosu at the moment so she could assist with capturing the Hero Killer. The sudden call broke him from his reverie, and both Tenya and Crawler turned to see the aforementioned heroine waving at them from a rooftop, joined by the Number 3 Hero, Hawks , and…

 

“Ah! Hello Mirko-san! Hawks-san! Midoriya-kun, how is your internship going?” Tenya called out, waving enthusiastically at his friend… who looked rather defeated of all things, the subtle slump of her shoulders and general movements giving off a sort of weariness that Tenya honestly could not figure out the reason for.

 

“It’s going,” Midoriya answered back, the trio of heroes descending from the roofs with remarkable grace and landing before Tenya and Crawler. “You?”

 

“Wonderful! It has been an extremely informative experience, and watching my brother recover- slow as it is- has been a boon on my mental state,” Tenya answered, smiling at Midoriya from behind the closed front of his helmet. “I notice that you are here with your mentor…s? I apologize- I thought Hawks was your mentor, why are you with Mirko again?”

 

“Because I’m just about the most annoying person birdbrain here knows, and the lil spinach-head here needs to learn how to deal with annoying shits like me n’ that blond dickbag from the sports festival without blowing up at ‘em in public,” Mirko answered with a cocky grin and a shrug, very deliberately mussing with Midoriya’s hair and only grinning wider as the firebender growled under her mask. Tenya almost felt sorry for his friend, but did note that the temperature around them hadn’t actually changed much- if at all- during Midoriya’s show of annoyance, and knew that she was already making wonderful strides towards… well. No longer accidentally using the more passive applications of her quirk to influence the surrounding area with her mood.

 

How long that would last was beyond Tenya’s comprehension, but hopefully it would result in a much longer, easier career for his friend. Hopefully. The idle conversation continued on for some time- the five of them deciding to turn their opportune crossing of paths into a joint patrol so they would have something to do that wasn’t just keeping an eye out for villains and criminals, and so that Tenya could ask questions from Hawks and Mirko about the finer points of spotlight hero culture and get advice that way.

 

And then… an alert came through. A massive villain fight, not far from their position.

 

Most of them were unknown, but there was one single name that stood out that made Tenya’s blood boil .

 

The Hero Killer: Stain .

Chapter 100

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Of all the things that could have possibly happened to Stain that day, getting into a fight with a bunch of two bit thugs who’d somehow managed to acquire the services of a fucking Warp Gate quirk was not something that the villain expected.

 

Sure, Stain thought as he dodged all manner of projectiles and weak attacks- none of the bastards attacking him seemed to be trying to kill him, corroborating their initial story of wanting to bring him into the fold of the League of Villains- it could have been worse, and he had sort of been expecting to get targeted by villains considering he often went after them as well.

 

Just because he killed fake heroes didn’t mean he couldn’t continue his previous work as Stendhal and get rid of the scum that truly made society terrible with their actions.

 

“COME, YOU WORTHLESS SCUM OF THE EARTH!” he shouted, spitting a fleck of blood from his lips and brandishing his blade with one hand, a feral grin forming on his face as he leapt around and over several more weak projectiles while whipping his other hand forward and letting loose with a brace of knives- pinning several of the thugs to the alleyway walls and dropping several others to the floor with a sudden case of death. “YOU LACK CONVICTION AND PURPOSE! YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW FOR WHAT CAUSE YOU FIGHT, JUST LACKEYS AND PAWNS FOR THE SLAUGHTER!”

 

“We have a purpose you noseless piece of shit!” one of the larger, dumber thugs shouted back, growling loudly as he slammed his massive, elephantine, rock-like fists together and began growing in size- a heteromorphic type quirk mixed with some kind of transformative, it seemed. It wouldn’t help him. He was already bleeding from his nose where Stain had already crushed his boot into the soft cartilage. “But right now I don’t give a FUCK WHAT THE BOSS SAID! YOU’RE COMING WITH US EVEN IF I HAVE TO RIP YOUR FUCKING ARMS OFF!”

 

“Tch, loud and annoying,” Stain scoffed, easily evading the rocky giant’s charge and flipping over the loud bastard, using him as a springboard to drive the spiked heel of his boot into the eyes of some woman with drill-like hair- he didn’t even care to see if she stayed down from that, just stomped her head into the ground and jumped off while she screamed. Instantly after, his knee found purchase in another woman’s face (oddly gender balanced, this group of dumb thugs) and knocked her right out with a sickening crack of steel plate meeting soft cartilage (or maybe he broke her neck, but given that she had a reinforcing metallic quirk it was unlikely).

 

“Dammit, he’s going through us like fucking flies!” one of the lesser goons screamed out, stating the obvious as some of the weaker willed members scattered into the alleyways around the area- dammit, now he’d have to hunt them down so they wouldn’t blab to their mysterious boss. Fuck. 

 

“Scatter, he can’t get all of us!” another woman cried, sinking into the shadows and all but vanishing… though the blood puddle she left on the ground from her injured shoulder made it a simple task to paralyze her and throw a knife into her carotid artery while she was down- he didn’t even spare the time to produce one of his manifesto speeches, just ripped the knife out moments later and let her bleed out on the floor.

 

No use in waxing poetic over a single corpse when there were so many more to be made.

 

“YOU WORTHLESS THUGS!” Stain roared out, easily dodging the still standing heteromorphic rock thug’s blows, weaving between them and using the stronger, more durable villains around him as human shields to dodge the myriad of lightning bolts and lasers and thrown rocks and bullets fired his way. “IF YOU HAVE SUCH PURPOSE, WHY NOT BRING YOUR BELOVED LEADER HERE TO DIE WITH YOU!? YOU ARE NO GREAT ARMY TO FREE THE WORLD FROM THE TYRANNY OF FALSE HEROES AND THIS CONSTRUCTED SOCIETY! YOU ARE CANNON FODDER, SENT TO DIE AT MY HANDS!”

 

Understandably, the more he shouted about how they were fodder, and the more of them dropped to the ground to meet their swift and ignoble deaths, the less they actually seemed to want to fight

 

Good for him, then, since he was definitely starting to tire from so much extended activity- this was why he preferred ambushes, dammit. Even the extra stamina he gained from draining and paralyzing his opponents via their blood wasn’t enough to keep this up forever.

 

But luckily, he didn’t have to wait forever. Just long enough that he could kill off the last of the ones too stupid to run, then flee into the night without ever coming across whatever boss these pathetic whelps were talking about- not that he feared whoever it was, but that he just didn’t want to work with someone who sent a bunch of goons to try and strongarm him into service, even if they said that their goals aligned. 

 

Likely as not, they didn’t, and the man behind the curtain was only saying sweet nothings to try and sway Stain even though he was probably just in it for something far simpler, like complete domination of Japan’s society or something stupid like that. 

 

Stain sighed, shaking his head as he stood around the blood strewn alleyway- he could hear footsteps incoming from the east, and some footsteps retreating to the west. Likely as not, the heroes were on their way- Mirko and Hawks, almost certainly, since he knew that those two fakes were in town, along with the agency full of fake heroes that he’d tried to kill the leader of only a few weeks ago. Plus, their fake hero interns, if the amount of people he could hear was any indicator.

 

Time to go then. He didn’t want to get caught up in an extended fight he knew he wouldn’t win- perhaps he could have taken the Number 6 by surprise, but even solo the Number 3 was no slouch, and with backup- no. Stain shook his head again and sheathed his blades, quickly and quietly making his way back to the rooftops to track down the idiots who had run off like rats into the maze of alleyways that dominated the worst parts of Hosu’s landscape.

 

He would hunt them down, kill them, murder a few more of the fake heroes in this town, and disappear into the night for his next target.

 

And of course, that was the moment that everything went to shit, because a giant fist slammed into Stain’s gut and sent him flying back the way he came, while a bunch of giant, ugly monsters with exposed brains exited a Warp Gate and began wreaking havoc. He skidded over the rooftops, groaning to a halt and simply watching in tired agony (dammit, that was a broken rib) as the Noumus (because what the fuck else would they be? He’d seen the pictures from the USJ just like everyone else with an internet connection) started smashing buildings, cars, infrastructure- even their own nominal allies while a fire somehow broke out from the sheer amount of instant destruction.

 

Fuck .

 

“Hero Killer Stain! You are under arrest for multiple counts of homicide, evading arrest, assault, battery, and about a thousand other things!”


Double fuck .

Notes:

WOOOO! We're finally through Doc 2 of Burning Passion! It's time to move on to Doc 3!

Also, here's doc 2, if you want to reread it as one long thing: here

Chapter Text

Chaos. Absolute, utter, total chaos.

 

That was what Hosu had turned into within mere moments . Hitoshi didn’t know what had happened, but like hell was he staying on the fucking train while his mentors went out and fought! He was strong too, maybe not as much as All Might, but he was damn good at controlling eight percent of One for All now!

 

Then again.

 

Those were Noumu out there. The last time he’d tried to fight one…

 

Snap .

 

AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHHHH!

 

Darkness.

 

Hitoshi shook his head and forced the sudden rush of memory out of his mind- the Noumus here weren’t the same as the singular Noumu back then- they didn’t regenerate as fast, they definitely weren’t as strong or fast, but they had… they were stronger in other ways. Some of them breathed fire. Some of them spewed lightning bolts. There were Noumus with bladed arms and Noumus with rocky bodies, the only thing seemingly keeping them thematically tied together being their uniform, blank stares and their exposed brains.

 

“I can still fight too!” Hitoshi roared, completely ignoring Gran Torino’s order to stay in the ruins of the train and continue heading further north to Koasukanto where he’d be safe. As if he could just stay on the train while people were in danger- no, he instead ran forward with his Full Body technique blazing purple, slamming his foot down into the exposed brain of a Noumu (one with a quirk that let it shoot bullets from its fingertips, he noted… kind of like one of the villains from the USJ) and watching as it crumpled to the floor- it was still alive, still regenerating, but it was weak enough that he had no trouble bringing it down and incapacitating it.

 

“I told you to stay on the train, boy!” Gran Torino shouted back, bouncing around like a madman as he ping-ponged between walls, kicking a Noumu out of the way as they fought past the massive beasts and tried to assist with the evacuations- something not at all helped by the amount of fire in the area. Even All Might was barely handling that- sure, the wind pressure from his blows blew out the smaller flames, but unless he could actually clear out an area of civilians then he couldn’t use his strongest punches to do anything without causing more damage than he wanted.

 

It was… hell.

 

Hell on earth.

 

And then- it stopped.

 

The fire was gone. Just… out.

 

No heat, no smoke. Just the sudden rushing silence of combat as All Might and Gran Torino bounced around like a well oiled machine and Hitoshi fell further behind as he struggled to keep up as his two mentors directed him to prioritize keeping the civilians safe while they fought off the tougher Noumu- they weren’t going for the kill yet, and since most of the weaker ones didn’t even have regeneration, it was easy enough to knock them down and for All Might to wrap them up in bits of infrastructure that they wouldn’t be able to escape from.

 

Hitoshi breathed a sigh of relief as the flames died down, knowing that Izumi was nearby- wait. Why the fuck was Izumi nearby? Shouldn’t she have been in fucking Fukuoka!?

 

“GET BACK HERE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” 

 

Nevermind, there she was now- rushing through the air on jets as she chased down the fucking Hero Killer , who was leading her between Noumu fights as if he knew she wouldn’t be able to resist stepping in to put more of them down… as evidenced by the charred corpses he could see in Izumi’s wake once he jumped up to follow her.

 

“Hitoshi! Hurry up and help me catch this fucker! I can’t use my stronger moves at the moment, there’s too many civilians!” Izumi called out, slowing her pursuit for just a moment as she dropped out of the sky, directing Hitoshi to keep on Stain’s trail while she ducked down and stabbed a flaming dagger through the brain of a Noumu that had crawled out of the fucking ground like a goddamn mole- how many of these things were there!?

 

“What the fuck is going on!?” Hitoshi screamed back, not even really waiting for an answer as he leapt over the road where Izumi was putting down the mole-Noumu as he gave chase to the Hero Killer, who responded by flinging a brace of knives at him. “Shit! Hey, watch where you’re throwing those things, dammit!”

 

Thankfully, the knives didn’t do much more than scratch him, but Stain didn’t even double back to see what they did- all he did was run further into the city along the rooftops before ducking down into the alleyways while Hitoshi winced at the new cut along his cheek before giving chase- not that he was anywhere near as good of a tracker as Izumi was, what with her utterly ridiculous ability to sense even the tiniest changes in the heat around them, but he was keeping pace… at least up until the point that Izumi screamed past him on jets of flame once again, only to double back and pick him up by the armpits a moment later. 

 

“Seriously, what the fuck is happening!?” Hitoshi screamed over the sound of rushing wind, barely able to keep his eyes open from the sheer speed Izumi was carrying him at- not that it really helped them, since she had to keep doubling back and forth as Stain took a seemingly impossible path around the city.

 

“Stain was fighting the remnants of the League of Villains- turns out the guy at the USJ wasn’t the boss, but their sub-boss, and the real boss sent a bunch of thugs to not only try and recruit that bastard, but he sent hundreds of these damn Noumu too!” Izumi responded, then shook her head and tapped Hitoshi’s armpit with her fingers. “Use your comms! I’m on channel thirty two!”

 

“Oh, right,” Hitoshi deadpanned, swapping to the aforementioned frequency and sighing as the sound of wind in his ears died down ever so slightly thanks to the active noise canceling in his artificial vocal cords. “Okay, that explains how the fuck this all started, but why are you here and how did that end up with you chasing Stain alone!?”

 

“Because Mirko and Hawks ran off with Crawler and Tenya to subdue the rest of the League thugs and take down the stronger Noumu near the epicenter! I decided to chase Stain since Hawks said I had permission to do whatever as long as I stayed safe!” Izumi answered back, drawing them closer and closer to the villain’s position- seemingly in the middle of yet another alleyway, joined by some other heat signature that Izumi couldn’t quite identify beyond being tall and wearing some kind of support collar around his neck. “There he is! Down in that alleyway with someone else- I’ll set us down, we need to be careful.”

 

Hitoshi nodded, and Izumi descended several alleys away before leading the two of them over to the place where Stain was standing some feet away from… some… terrifyingly tall man with a skull mask and a massive metallic collar-like device on his neck. Hitoshi’s neck prickled with fear as a chill raced down his spine.


Whatever was happening here, it wasn’t good .

Chapter Text

“It seems we have some guests,” the mystery man spoke calmly as he raised his hands toward the mouth of the alleyway. Stain simply growled, not daring to take his eyes off of the man before him- something about him exuded an aura of menace, not unlike that which Stain tried to cultivate, but instead of it being a mix of reputation and his zealotry for cleansing the false heroes of society, this man…

 

Stain knew that this man was pure evil

 

Not just a stain on society, but the pervasive darkness that infiltrated every single crack and crevice- all of the shadowy depths where all of the worst things lay in wait, patient and utterly confident that its time to rise would come again.

 

He knew damn well that he wouldn’t be able to beat the boogeyman, wouldn’t be able to cut and kill the monster that stood before him. Not without his own death. Not without this man, All For One , gutting him like a fish, or worse. 

 

“Please, skulking around like rats is so unheroic of you,” All For One continued, magnanimously stepping forward with ringing footsteps that echoed off of the alley walls, not even giving Stain a passing glance as the nearly petrified serial killer took several steps back to avoid so much as even touching the incarnation of darkness that was before him. “I had thought that heroics would have improved since my time, but clearly not. Come, Midoriya Izumi, Shinsou Hitoshi. Come out and greet me properly.”

 

And then, as though they were being pulled along on strings- two heroes appeared. No, hero students . Stain recognized them- the girl who had tried chasing him down, and the boy who he’d thrown some knives at to try and gain distance. Tch, they’d caught up already.

 

It didn’t matter, they’d all probably be dead soon anyway. That man was just… no. He couldn’t let himself fall into that line of thinking. Man or myth, he was still mortal. He still bled. He was no dark god- he was simply a man who needed to be put down, and Stain… perhaps Stain would not be the one to do it, but…

 

He heard a distant cry of effort. A familiar cry.

 

Yes, that would do.

 

“Ah, how… interesting you two are,” All For One continued speaking, not even caring as Stain slipped further into the alleyway and began clambering up the sides to get away. Izumi and Hitoshi, though- they were stuck. They couldn’t move, couldn’t call for help- their limbs were being tugged along by the behest of the man before them using some kind of puppeteering quirk. “Firebending and Brainwashing… no, Brainwashing and One for All… that quirk that has eluded me for so long… now back within my grasp once more- tell me, boy, did All Might tell you of the name All For One? What that name means ? Our rivalry that ended with your beloved mentor becoming nothing more than a violent beast as he drove his fist through my skull?”

 

“You… talk… too much,” Hitoshi ground out in response, glaring at the bastard looming over them with all the hate and vitriol that he could muster, while Izumi simply sneered and held her tongue, not even shifting her position behind her mask. Hitoshi only hoped that the bastard that All Might said was supposed to be dead would actually respond to him and fall under control of Brainwashing- but alas.

 

Something broke the connection before it even had time to start, even boosted by One for All as his original quirk was now.

 

What!?

 

“Hm… predictable, but did you really think that I would not have prepared for this eventuality? That I had not come across quirks similar to, or more powerful than your Brainwashing?” All For One spoke calmly, striding forward until he was standing just barely over a meter away, his expression unreadable behind his mask, but his tone falsely affable in a way that promised excessive amounts of pain in the very near future. “Come now, boy. I am All For One . I can offer you so much more than a simple rivalry that you seem hellbent on continuing. I am the symbol of evil itself, I have thousands of quirks- I know you have spent your life struggling against the unfair discrimination that pervades this society, trying and failing to see a brighter future until that blond oaf of a man bestowed upon you the quirk that belonged to my brother, belonged to me .”

 

He paused, and Hitoshi simply winced in response, a delayed headache suddenly rushing through his skull from the backlash of his quirk simply failing to take hold, bouncing off in a wall of static that left him reeling. 

 

“I can offer you so much more,” All For One continued, his voice sounding almost smug as he leaned in close. “A quirk that no one would dare call villainous, a quirk that could make up for all your woes- strong, flashy, heroic . Everything you could want. All you have to do is join me , and we can tear down this society that takes those of us with villainous quirks and tries to stomp us out- tear down this fragile peace that glorifies state sponsored violence in the form of its spandex clad heroes, that suppresses our gifts out of fear and loathing .”

 

For a moment, Hitoshi was almost tempted- he could see how others in worse situations wouldn’t hesitate. How some people who just wanted an out for their suffering wouldn’t think twice about trading in a horrifying, painful, evil quirk for something that would save them from their lives, their peers. How some people wouldn’t hesitate to join in out of fear, out of desperation, out of some promise for money or status or power that they never had before.

 

He almost felt tempted. Almost.

 

No, not really.

 

Hitoshi opened his mouth slowly, taking a deep breath and sparing only the slightest of glances over to Izumi, who simply shook her head slowly, projecting confidence and poise even though she, like him, was strung up spread eagle along invisible threads, barely even able to twitch a finger with how their movements were being controlled.

 

“Give me that quirk, Shinsou Hitoshi ,” All For One murmured, leaning in closer with his hand outstretched in a manner that would have been welcoming if Hitoshi had been blind and stupid. “Give it to me, and I promise I will let you free, that you will have a place in the new order of things. My new order.”

 

Hitoshi’s hand moved without his input, audible cracking noises sounding out as the invisible force stringing him up pulled it forward and into All For One’s hand as though they were shaking on it. Izumi twitched, growling under her breath, and Hitoshi realized he could feel the heat around her pulsing again, as though she were preparing something big.

 

Hitoshi sighed, then spoke.

 

“Go fuck yourself .”


All For One’s back exploded .

Chapter Text

The instant that Izumi fired off her combustion beam straight into All For One’s back, two things happened:

 

First: The puppeteering quirk or whatever it was that held her and Hitoshi up dropped , and sent them both to the floor as the masked madman let out a surprised grunt of pain that was only just barely not a scream and stumbled to the side. The stench of blood and burning flesh rang thick in the air, and Izumi wasted no time grabbing onto Hitoshi and blazing her flame jets as hard as she could to get them out of the fucking alleyway before anything else could happen.

 

Second: All Might of all people dropped out of the sky and landed before the masked villain, his normally proud, heroic smile twisted into an ugly, horrifying glare as he bore down on his rival.

 

Izumi saw none of the latter, too busy with trying to get away , get somewhere safe , because she quickly realized that some things in this world were worse than she could ever imagine. Worse than her past. Worse than the monsters she’d seen in her travels. Worse than everything she’d seen in the depths of Republic City- Yakone, Amon, Unalaq, Kuvira, the Red Lotus. Worse than her father , who haunted her dreams for decades as a looming, sinister figure who used her up and threw her away like yesterday’s trash the moment his victory was in sight.

 

This man- All For One, he’d exuded so much menace that for a second there, while he had been talking to Hitoshi, she’d almost felt as though she were a child again- not in this life, but tiny little Azula, whose mother had disappeared and who had first felt the brunt of her father’s disapproval the one time she did anything he didn’t like.

 

She couldn’t breathe , could only just barely claw her focus back to the present after the monstrous villain had gotten closer to the both of them and began monologuing about society and how heroes were evil- she hadn’t even paid attention, just kept her attention on the quietest, whisper thin, barely perceptible trail of chi that she could manage- a fast, fierce, undetectable rail for a packet of fiery chi to race down and slam home with the force of a grenade.

 

It had only just barely even been enough to so much as scorch the man’s suit. What kind of fucking monster was he, that he could survive that!?  

 

“Hitoshi, you have to tell me what the fuck is going on- who is that guy, why did he sound like he knows you, and what the fuck is he?” Izumi asked, setting them both down on a rooftop (crashing down, almost, if not for Izumi’s control and Hitoshi’s durability. “How did he survive that, and how did he manage to scare Stain so much that the fucker didn’t even try to attack!?”

 

“He-” Hitoshi swallowed thickly, listening to the sounds of pitched combat happening below- both from the remnants of the Noumu forces being pushed back and destroyed, and from All Might doing his level best to destroy his historic, unknown enemy. “His name is All For One- nobody knows his real name, just that he’s the mythological boogeyman of the underground. The rumored quirk thief that goes bump in the night. He- he’s been alive for over two hundred years, and he’s got thousands of quirks- I… I don’t know how he’s still alive, All Might told me he was dead! But fuck , he’s still alive and he’s real and-”

 

Hitoshi stopped, chewing on his lip as he scooted back slightly and brought his knees up to his chest with a quiet sigh. “I’m fucking terrified right now, Midori. I- I can’t fucking- shit - this is the worst possible situation. That- that monster. He’s real, he’s gunning for us , and even All Might isn’t sure that he can beat the guy!”

 

Izumi paused, a sudden wash of dread creeping over her as she took in Hitoshi’s trembling form and realized, vaguely, that she was shaking too- had her instincts known that she was in the presence of something she couldn’t beat? No, it- it couldn’t be. She’d fought worse, hadn’t she? Bigger, certainly, and definitely some of the spirits she’d come across in her past life had been terrifying, but this man… this single, old man… he was worse than anything she could have ever imagined.

 

“Not even All Might…?” she whispered vaguely, barely even aware of her own words as she peered back using her thermal radar to observe a fight that was literally going so fast she couldn’t even see it happening .

 

There were still people nearby in that alleyway, why weren’t they moving- why didn’t they leave, why didn’t they try and evacuate!? She- she couldn’t go back down into that fray, even at her current level of training, even with all of her skill- could she even make the slightest bit of difference?

 

Was All For One simply immune to the effects of her fire? No, there had to be something he was weak against, dammit! What if she could force heat into his body, knock him out? No, that might not even work- he hadn’t even been much more than inconvenienced by a blast of combustionbending, so he likely still had some kind of passive thermal resistance quirk. All Might was putting in work, but it was clear that- that-

 

There was an earth shattering BOOM .

 

An entire swathe of Hosu ceased to exist except for a wide streak of rubble and screaming and smoke and fire and dust.

 

All Might had been launched by some massive pressure wave that had demolished an entire radius in the blink of an eye- Izumi had felt his ascent into the atmosphere, barely even sensing it just from the sheer speed of the launch.

 

No- no! Fuck, what were they going to do now!?

 

The villainous kingpin was still down there- maybe she and Hitoshi could escape? No, fuck, if they lifted off now they’d be too bright, too easy of a target with how her flames and Hitoshi’s sparks would light up against the smoke and darkened sky.

 

Shit, shit- what were they going to do!?

 

“Hitoshi, we have to get out of here- we gotta sneak into the alleys and find a way back to our mentors- there’s gotta be something we can do,” Izumi spoke up, barely above a whisper as she turned back to Hitoshi.

 

“Yeah, we- we can’t fight this. Not as we are. It- we have to go. Now. We can find something else to help once we’re clear,” Hitoshi nodded, only to freeze up as a palpable wave of fear rolled over the rooftop that they were on.

 

A Warp Gate opened before them, disgorging the far, far too unwelcome sight of All For One.


“Ah, there you are. Now- tell me boy… what exactly was your answer to my oh so generous offer again?”

Chapter Text

“I believe he told you to go FUCK YOURSELF!” Izumi screamed, lashing out with another burst of combustionbending that set the roof ablaze and sent shockwaves through the air- the skull faced bastard seemed to go flying back just from the shock of it, thankfully, and without letting him recover, Izumi immediately began punching out massive bursts of plasma from her hands- even as hot as it was, regular blue fire wouldn’t be enough. She had to go all out, had to take this monster down before he could kill them both- had to make sure that whatever happened later on, at least Hitoshi would make it out alive. 

 

“Midori what the fuck are you doing!?” Hitoshi cried out from beside her, not taking his eyes off of the spot where All For One was being battered around by the exploding, intense bursts of plasma that ripped through the sky and left almost visible trails from the sheer heat they dumped into the air. “We have to get out of here!”

 

“You go, I’ll hold him off- find wherever the hell All Might went and lead him back here!” Izumi shouted back, the shrieking of plasma flying through the air almost drowning out her words even as she kept an eye out on her thermal senses- sure, blasting All For One with plasma wouldn’t make it easier to track the bastard, but if he somehow escaped her gaze and she wound up targeting nothing, she’d at least be able to sense the fucker. “Go! Now!”

 

That ended up saving her life.

 

“Fuck!” Izumi almost screamed as a wave of pressurized air rushed past her head, the sudden presence of All For One behind her making her flinch away just in time to dodge an attack that had managed to launch All Might of all people. Thinking quickly, she spun under the massive wave and lashed out instead with a pair of plasma whips, pushing enough power into them that they’d be able to slice through even reinforced tungsten with ease- only to find that they stopped short the moment they wrapped around the centuries old villain.

 

They didn’t even crease the man’s suit, such was the power he exuded.

 

“Thermal Immunity,” he spoke dryly, projecting an aura of menace as Izumi leapt away and into the air, whips dispelling into stray motes of bursting flame as she tried to come up with some kind of plan that would keep her alive for long enough to Hitoshi to get back with help. “Such a useful quirk when dealing with unruly fire quirk users, don’t you think?”

 

He paused for a moment, seemingly grinning up at Izumi with nothing but sheer menace on his ugly face. “Oh come now, I am over two hundred years old, girl . Do you really think that I would have become the symbol of evil that I am now by being unprepared for my enemies? Foolish girl- but I will give you this… you have clearly taken your quirk and made it something great , more than most could ever dare. For that, I commend you.”

 

Izumi didn’t bother responding, simply flying further back and trying to formulate some kind of plan- what the hell was she going to do if her strongest attacks didn’t even make this guy flinch!? He was strong enough to go up against All Might so concussive force was right out, he had an immunity to her flames and plasma so she couldn’t go with that- no. She had to use lightning, if it was even viable . Likely as not, the bastard probably had some kind of lightning immunity quirk stored up too, just to counter her- fuck, was she actually going to die here? No, no! She was not going to die here!

 

“Commend this!” Izumi responded in lieu of anything clever, too much adrenaline racing through her system to focus on actual wit and banter in favor of relying on her instincts to carry her through the fight. Instantly, a full power lightning blast roared into existence- not that piddly sparking, slowly lashing out burst that she usually used, no. This was the same strength as what she used against Shigaraki to turn him into a charred corpse.

 

This was true lightning , as bright and impossibly powerful as the naturally generated counterpart. This was the pure essence of the storm . Three hundred million volts. Thirty thousand amps.

 

Enough to kill anything and everything it touched should she so desire.

 

Thunder ripped through the sky of Hosu, and All For One screamed- the first true expression of pain he’d made this entire time , not even so much as crying out when he traded blows with All Might, but now roaring out in agony as the full, blinding might of nature’s wrath found itself grounded into the massive metal collar he wore around his neck and fried him from the inside out.

 

Izumi grinned, finally having found something to be proud of- but… but.

 

He wasn’t down.

 

He was still standing, albeit trembling and hissing as the collar around his neck shattered into a million glowing fragments- utterly warped and broken and mutilated into molten rivulets that ran down the villain’s suit and pooled on the ground, the scars of her lightning’s wake etched into what she now could see of the already heavily damaged man’s neck.

 

Already, because how else would she explain why the entire top of his face was nothing more than a mass of hideous, eyeless, warped scar tissue? Already, because how else would the man’s now partially ruined suit expose so much scar tissue that the raised red welts of her lightning striking true almost entirely blended in with the utter mess that was the man’s body.

 

It was ugly. It was horrible, and it was only made worse by the sheer amount of molten metal cascading down his body, steam and smoke rising into the air as the suit itself caught fire while the centuries old villain stumbled back slightly and coughed up blood.

 

Izumi didn’t let up- as much as she had her compunctions against killing, this was a life or death situation. It was him or her. And she chose the option that would save more lives than end them.

 

There was enough smoke in the air, enough latent energy from all of the sparks and the rising heat over the city from the flames she hadn’t put out yet and the ones that had restarted after she left. It was enough to start to pull in humid air from the surroundings, mix it into the sky above.

 

It was enough for Izumi to trace a path from the sky above, directly down onto All For One’s battered body.

 

“Kkhhh… interesting…” he spoke, slowly rising back up as Izumi landed on another rooftop, a gulf of an alleyway stretching between them and yet both of them knowing that such a distance wouldn’t stop either of them from attacking. “My Lightning Immunity has become much weakened in this wounded state of mine… even with how battered and scarred I am, it’s impressive that you managed to generate enough power to overwhelm my limits, even channeling the energy through my life support systems to injure me further- such an excellent example of this society’s faults and love of violence you are…”

 

Izumi did not reply, focusing instead on drawing the crackling light of seed lightning into her hands once more, letting it build and build and build… up until it vanished. The charge leapt invisibly from her hands and into the concrete around All For One’s feet.

 

The sky above rumbled, the massive streamer of chi she sent up into the air providing a guide rail for the thunderous amount of energy latent in the clouds of smoke and smog and heat and water above.

 

All For One paused, confused at Izumi’s sudden lack of motion.

 

The heavens opened.

 

A lightning bolt so large it would be whispered about for years to come slammed home directly onto All For One, annihilating the building he stood on in an instant and letting out a thunderous KRAKOOM so loud it sent shockwaves through the area with enough force to blow out the flames that Izumi hadn’t yet put out.

 

It was like the birth of a second sun.

Chapter 105

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As the light cleared away, All For One had sank to his knees, choking on his own blood and coughing heavily. An attack that would have killed almost literally anything or anyone else had barely managed to wound him more than he already was- his skin, scorched and flaking and cracked and burned, was nevertheless still sloughing off as new tissue grew in under the old.

 

Izumi panted quietly as she took a few tottering steps back, wincing at the amount of effort that had gone into creating a lightning strike so large, and only just barely managing to stay standing. She wasn’t out of energy, but the sheer discharge of electricity slamming down out of sky still made her muscles cramp and her limbs tremble from the backlash- it felt like she’d stuck her finger against a discharging Kaminari, and under any other circumstance she’d have laughed it off and taken a breather. 

 

She didn’t have that luxury now. No, she had to keep going- how long would All For One’s weakness to her lightning last? How long would she be able to keep throwing lightning at a man who was clearly starting to grow stronger again?

 

How long would she survive once he stopped playing games and tried to kill her directly?

 

Izumi didn’t know, and damn if she didn’t want to really find out. So she had to move.

 

She had to move.

 

She had to- 

 

Had to…

 

Move. 

 

Move move move move!

 

Wait- no. No no no no no! Move dammit! Move!

 

“Hmm… I must say, I am quite impressed, young Midoriya. Without the activation of Energy Absorption at the last millisecond, I would have died, ” All For One spoke calmly as he rose to his feet again and rolled his neck, seemingly no worse for wear as his body continued to regenerate slowly, his suit beginning to fall to ashes around him, though his trousers remained conspicuously undamaged even with the burning remnants of his suit jacket and shirt crumbling away along with the sloughed off hunks of charred, dead flesh. “No one has hurt me quite so much in a very long time. Granted, I cannot rightly compare you to that oaf, All Might, but I assure you that aside from that gorilla of a man wildly swinging his fists around, you are the single most persistent thorn in my side in more than a few decades .”

 

He paused, floating into the air as though he were walking along the street before coming to a halt- Izumi so wished she could fight back, but he’d strung her up with that same puppeteer quirk as before, and there was no way she could move unless she managed to distract him long enough to blast him with something- but how!? She was alone, all alone, and the only thing she could do was sit and listen as this crazed madman detailed his grievances to her.

 

“I suppose you may be wondering how you could be such a thorn in my side that I compare you to All Might,” All For One continued once he was on the same rooftop as Izumi, strolling forward with his hands behind his back as though he didn’t have a care in the world. He leaned in close, grinning wide with an expression that was more of a toothy gash in his scarred lump of flesh that only barely resembled a face than it was a smile .

 

“You killed my successor,” he almost whispered, the stench of his breath washing across Izumi’s masked face and making her flinch away from a mixture of terror at his closeness and pure disgust , the kind that crawled down her spine and left her feeling unclean down to her bones . “He wasn’t ready yet. He still had so much more training, so much more careful molding before he would have been perfect! And you, little hero . You killed him . Took him from me . You stole from the symbol of evil, and you flaunt it with your very existence. Every bit as violent and uncontrolled as every other hero in this pitiable society you live in.”

 

Izumi hissed, controlling her breathing and stilling herself so the bastard before her wouldn’t see her flinch, wouldn’t see her fear . She tried her best to glare defiantly, but even decades of Azula’s experience failed her in the wake of a man so monolithic that even some of her strongest attacks could barely even slow him down . All she could do was try and level some kind of defiance at him through her mask, but it wasn’t like he could see it .

 

“You killed my successor, crippled my greatest Noumu, and put my most useful creation into a coma- and to say nothing about the lack of quality that I was forced to hire to continue my plans as a direct result of your actions,” All For One hummed, straightening up once again as his horrid smirk twisted into a heavy frown. “What a pity, that you, who would be so perfect as a member of my organization, instead choose to oppose me.”

 

Izumi hissed , finally managing to draw her indignation up from where it sat cold and heavy in her gut, barely able to bring her fire up to life again as she focused and pushed her indomitable will to the forefront. This would not be how she died, dammit! This ancient bastard would not be the death of her, and she would find a way to take him down! 

 

“I am no villain, you long-winded hot air bag,” Izumi spat out, clenching her fists as she fought against the invisible strings wrapping around her body and preventing her from moving. “And  you’re delusional if you think that I would be anything other than a hero! Because unlike you and your merry band of mentally stunted misanthropes, I choose to help the people around me instead of hurting them!”

 

“And yet you so callously slew my successor, Shigaraki Tomura. You brutally crippled my Noumu, electrocuted Kurogiri, assaulted the men and women I hired- and hide it all behind a veneer of civility,” All For One murmured, speaking condescendingly as he held his hand out, the tiny hole in his palm seeming to draw Izumi’s focus in as red lightning began to crackle in his palm. “Alas, even if I personally cannot spare the time to master your quirk, I am sure I will find someone who will relish in using it to surpass you- all under my supervision, of course.”

 

Instinctively, Izumi knew what was coming- knew that it was futile to resist, knew that she couldn’t stop what was going to happen from happening.

 

She knew that All For One was done playing with her, and she braced for it anyway, as though it would help her- save her, spare her the pain.

 

It didn’t help.

 

Red lightning flashed through the air as All For One’s palm touched her skin, wrapping around her throat in a vice grip that she could not escape. It lashed out and dug into her body and soul, burning fire screaming through her nerves and setting her alight from the inside out.

 

Izumi screamed .

 

Something inside of her snapped.

 

The fire went out, like a candle in the wind.

Notes:

I promise you that this is actually important to the course of the story, just give it some time and you'll see.

Chapter Text

“She’s breathing…. She’s breathing! Gran, she’s still alive!” Hitoshi almost shouted into his comm unit, breathing heavily and grimacing as he carried Izumi’s insensate body away from where All Might was doing battle with All For One- his body burned with agony, unable to handle the strain of the 15% of One for All that he’d had to use to even hope to keep up with All Might- and even still, All Might had been more than halfway back before Hitoshi had even found his mentor.

 

“Then hurry up and get her to safety, brat! I’ve dropped a location ping, get over here now!”

 

He felt useless. He felt like a traitor- he left Izumi to fight the bastard on her own, for entire minutes at a time while he just- he just ran! Like a coward!

 

Hitoshi didn’t know how to feel, not really. He couldn’t let his emotions overpower him. Not now, not yet. Izumi was still unconscious, barely breathing and with a heartbeat so weak it was almost gone. He’d barely known what to do when he first saw Izumi, when she had been seizing on the ground at the scarred bastard’s feet, choking on her own spit and writhing in agony even while comatose as All For One played with a wreath of flames gathered around his fingers as though seeing them for the first time.

 

He’d almost punched the bastard right then and there, but All Might made him wait while he distracted the man before he could kill Izumi with her own fire, giving him just enough time to race in faster than he’d ever gone before, scoop up Izumi, and run for his damn life .

 

And now he was here, blocks away, still feeling the earth shaking and rumbling from the sheer force of his mentor clashing with the symbol of evil, buildings crumbling away and the street itself splitting under his feet as he ran and ran and ran. 

 

He didn’t even listen to what Gran Torino had to say on his comms, just kept speeding through the streets and following the GPS in his visor as he sped on towards his other mentor’s position- or at least, what he assumed it was. Distantly, he could see other heroes rushing in and joining the conflict- Best Jeanist and Hawks and Mirko and Crawler and Edgeshot and- and-

 

“ERASERHEAD!” Hitoshi shouted, catching the eye of his homeroom teacher as he leaped up and joined the man on a nearby rooftop, wincing as a particularly powerful blow swept through the area with a blast of wind that nearly made him slip up and drop Izumi- though he managed to keep steady enough that his friend was only jostled slightly as he caught his footing. “Eraserhead! Holy shit, you’re here! Do you know if there’s medics anywhere, Midor- Kemurikage’s unresponsive and I can’t wake her up- All For One took her quirk and I have to get her to safety before-”

 

A hand came up, clenching onto Hitoshi’s shoulder gently.

 

“Breathe, kid,” Eraserhead spoke quietly, sighing as he stood steady despite the winds buffeting what felt like the entire city, his clothes and capture weapon whipping about in the wind. “I’ll ping you with the medics- where the hell is your mentor? And- explain. Who is All For One and what did they do to Midoriya?”

 

“He’s- he’s the guy fighting All Might- I have to go help but I need to get Midori to safety and Gran Torino said he was close by but his marked location hasn’t moved in a while, and I know that the crotchety old bastard wouldn’t hesitate to jump into that fight,” Hitoshi blurted out, shuddering as the events of the evening began to catch up to him. “What the fuck do I do, sensei?”

 

“Here- breathe. Calm down. Get to safety. Prioritize the rescue over any fighting- I’m assuming that blonde oaf gave you permission to use your quirk?” Aizawa asked, lifting his goggles up and looking down on Hitoshi, who was still barely hanging onto 15% of One for All, hiding the pain of his creaking bones and shuddering slightly as sparks continued cascading from his form- but he couldn’t let up now. If he let up, then he’d collapse. If he collapsed, he couldn’t save Izumi.

 

He’d be a liability.

 

“He- he did, Gran Torino too,” Hitoshi confirmed, hiding a wince (but apparently not well enough, considering the way Aizawa’s eyes narrowed) while shifting Izumi in his arms so he could support her head slightly better. “I- I just need to know where I can evacuate her to.”

 

Aizawa nodded, pulling out his phone and sending Hitoshi a location marker. “Last I saw, evacuation efforts were still proceeding at that location. Head there as soon as you can and stay safe . I’m not your mentor right now, but as your homeroom teacher and a senior Pro I am ordering you to not get in over your head- there are still Noumu out there, even with the heroes all converging on that fight. Do not engage with them if at all possible- doing so will only risk Midoriya’s safety. Now go. I have a battle to get to.”

 

And with that, Eraserhead leapt away into the distance, running across the rooftops as he headed into a battle that seemed more like a natural disaster in progress then the aftermath of two people more or less fistfighting in the street.

 

Hitoshi shook his head, slightly calmer now but in no less pain. One for All creaked uncomfortably at his joints, but he simply kept a steady hold of it and moved once again until the streets and ruined buildings around him seemed to blur into an incoherent blob of color, rushing his way to- there! Safety! Or, at least, as much as he could manage. A line of ambulances, rows of large capacity trucks with seating installed on their beds instead of cargo trailers, dozens of people rushing into the vehicles as fast as they could just so they could get away , get to safety .

 

He breathed a sigh of relief, slowing to a halt and letting One For All slip away as he caught a paramedic’s attention.

 

He ignored the man’s questions, mumbling out a few answers as he all but shoved Izumi into his waiting arms, his brain fogging up with an intense cloud of agony as his bones and body reminded him of just how bad of an idea it had been to hold onto a constant 15% of his full power for so long- how long had it been anyway?

 

He digressed.

 

“Take her… get her to safety- just- just go!” Hitoshi choked out, spinning around and almost letting out a scream as something in his ankle popped and he fell to his knees, joints and ligaments crackling and fracturing with pain completely in the forefront of his mind now that the adrenaline was gone. Hitoshi fell, and darkness greeted him.


At least… he’d been able… to save… one… person…

Chapter 107

Notes:

Hey if you're confused by this, I uploaded a bunch of chapters again! Start on Chapter 106 and read from there!

Chapter Text

“Do you think I haven’t noticed the waning of your power, All Might!? A punch like that in your prime would have taken my head clean off, and yet here you are struggling to fight a crippled old man!” All For One laughed as he all but shrugged off All Might’s blows, the blond hero grimacing as his greatest rival matched him punch for punch, kick for kick. “YOU’RE WEAK!”

 

It was- it was almost hopeless, he thought. He’d given young Shinsou his quirk far too long ago, the embers of One for All almost completely burnt out within him. He was weak, he was slow. He was… he was going to die here. He was going to die here and leave young Shinsou alone.

 

No.

 

No!

 

He would not let that happen. He was Yagi motherfucking Toshinori! He was ALL MIGHT, the world’s Number One Pro Hero! His smile chased away the darkness, his fists defeated evil! He was the Symbol of Peace! He was Hitoshi’s mentor!

 

He would not die here! 

 

All Might hissed and grimaced as the sparks of One for All within him began to burn hotter and louder, searing in his chest with a rush of energy that felt at odds with how little of its embers were left inside of his body. Still though, it was enough to break even. Still though, it was enough to hold on.

 

His back swelled again as he forced himself to stand taller, muscles bulging and rippling underneath his stained, torn suit as he forced himself to block yet another one of All For One’s mad swings- the sheer amount of mass and spikes and force compressed into one arm of the vile fiend almost making his arms crack with how strong the villain had made himself. How was he so strong!? How did he survive without his life support collar!?

 

But All Might said nothing in response to All For One’s taunts- he’d long since learned that the best way to deal with his nemesis was to block it all out. Nothing he could say would stop him. Nothing he could say would deter him. All he could do was focus on the fight, focus on staying alive and throwing enough punches so that he would live to see tomorrow- that as many people as he could save would live to see tomorrow!

 

All Might would not die here. He could not die here!

 

“NOT YET!” he shouted in response to All For One’s taunting, projecting his voice as loud as he could- it was true that he was weakened, and his enemy was still so, so strong- so strong that it was almost impossible to imagine victory, but the opposite still held true: All Might was still strong, even reduced as he was, and All For One was weak . The man could only use maybe ten, fifteen quirks at once, and wasted most of that capacity now piling together and combining strengthening quirks. His only defense was in the form of two quirks, even- the shock absorption of the crippled and now long since vanished Noumu, and his Forced Quirk Activation ability, which was plugged deep into the misty body of the one known as Kurogiri. The last of his capacity was almost certainly taken up by whatever sensory quirks he was using in lieu of his eyes.

 

It kept the monster before him from being taken out so easily by All Might’s fists- even if ultimately his shock absorption was no match when All Might was going all out, giving it his all and going Plus Ultra beyond his perceived limits.

 

It was infuriating, to see the man’s smug grin even through the mass of scar tissue that had taken his eyes, to hear him speaking nonsense that just bounced off of All Might’s ears- he didn’t care what All For One had to say anymore.

 

Letting out a roar of effort, All Might ducked under another one of All For One’s wild swings, wincing as the sharpened surfaces of the monster’s arms scraped along his skin and tore his suit, drawing blood bit by bit as even the glancing blows against his body trembled deep within his aging, increasingly frail bones. With his lungs screaming and his muscles burning, even as he could feel his body shrinking, the embers of One for All leaving to settle within Hitoshi’s body, he continued to roar his defiance as he shoulder checked All For One with everything he had, sending the tyrant king of the underworld flying back with a cry of agony that sounded like sweet victory on All Might’s ears.

 

He winced, holding his ribs and sighing as his body started to more visibly deflate, panting and gritting his teeth as steam rose in wisps from his muscles and blood spurted from his wounds. A wet cough echoed in his throat, and he glared out across the artificial wasteland the two of them had made, staring All For One down as he internally lamented the sheer destruction that had befallen Hosu city.

 

He could hear the other heroes around him taking advantage of the lull in the fight- Endeavor shouting at him from behind, telling him to keep on going in his own way. Best Jeanist and Edgeshot evacuating civilians from the rubble, Gran Torino racing in from the side, Mount Lady holding up unstable buildings while Kamui Woods saved those trapped inside.

 

Distantly, he was aware of a speck of red and black high up in the sky, positioned directly over where All For One was- but he couldn’t pay attention to it. All he could focus on was the direction he’d blasted his mortal nemesis in, the way All For One slowly pulled himself up and out of the crater that All Might had put him in, never losing that terrifyingly evil grin that still woke him up at night.

 

It would be so easy to let his body relax. 

 

It would be so easy to give in, to collapse from his injuries, to let himself rest . To join Nana within the vestiges of One for All and allow the younger generation to step in and save the day.

 

All Might shook his head and took a faltering step forward, then another. Then another still. And another.

 

He continued walking forward, forcing One for All into his limbs with power that he did not have, energy he did not feel, strength that he no longer contained. He picked up speed, rushing forward like a freight train without giving All For One a chance to recover his footing. 

 

He had to be quick. He had to be decisive.

 

“ALL FOR ONE! YOUR TERROR ENDS HERE!” he screamed, slamming into the man once more and producing a cacophonous whirlwind from the sheer force of their fists clashing again, not paying attention even as the impact dragged both of them along with the tearing of concrete and rubble, sending them both flying along as they struggled to gain dominance over the other.

 

Distantly, All Might heard the voice of his mentor in his mind, the soothing tones of his voice bringing a calm surety to his steps.

 

“It’s your turn, Toshinori! Go beyond-!”

 

Yagi Toshinori, limbs trembling and halfway shrunken, blood dripping from his forehead, almost dead from the effort of maintaining the last embers of One for All, smiled and clenched his fists harder. He would not die here. He would not fall. He would win, and he would GO BEYOND!

 

“PLUS ULTRA!”

Chapter 108

Notes:

Hey if you're confused by this, I uploaded a bunch of chapters again! Start on Chapter 106 and read from there!

Chapter Text

They hadn’t had time to evacuate.

 

There’d been too many people, too many rushing to get out of the way- Hitoshi couldn’t blame them. He fought against the EMTs as they tried to push him into one of the ambulances, forcing his way out of the vehicle in favor of helping actually injured civilians in- someone had wrapped a splint around his ankle already, and that was enough. 

 

Maybe he was out of the fight, but he could still prioritize the rescue- Izumi was still laid out on a stretcher nearby, something that Hitoshi hated , but he knew damn well that there was nothing they could do in this hellish scene where they were still pulling people out of the rubble, still dealing with a crush of maimed and bloody civilians waiting for evacuation.

 

But how could he just- no, he had to keep moving. The people were being pulled away, and as the last of the trucks left, Hitoshi looked back to where his mentor and All For One were still dueling, hoping beyond hope that All Might was still alive.

 

He was vaguely aware of someone guiding him back towards the ambulances once the last of the civilians were gone, but before he could get in…

 

“DETROIT… SMASH!”

 

The fight came to them.

 

All Might and All For One came blazing down in a cacophonous rush of wind and sound, drawing screams from the EMTs as they were almost blown away from the sudden impact that shattered the street, shook buildings and rumbled the earth like a hurricane and an earthquake all at once.

 

Both men were screaming at each other, full of rage and spittle and hatred as they exchanged blows that crumbled their surroundings just from the sheer force of wind- not that All Might let anyone die. No, his hero, his mentor was still strong enough, still mindful enough to get between All For One and everyone else, allowing the last few fleeing people in the area (even the EMTs) to rush off to a safe distance.

 

He’d lost track of Izumi the moment they’d landed and destroyed the street, squinting against the vortex that had been kicked up and not noticing as everything around them was blown away.

 

Hitoshi winced, looking around frantically for his friend as he tried to ignore the duel going on so close by- it was impossible for the two titans to not have noticed him, but he had to move, had to get out of the way- he couldn’t fight this, not as he was. He had to find Izumi, get her to safety.

 

His brain raced, and as rubble flew past him, he could just make out the very edge of Izumi’s cape- tattered and torn as it had been by the events of the past few minutes- fuck , how had it only been barely ten minutes since he’d tried save Izumi from All For One only for the bastard to crash land right next to them again!?

 

Hitoshi’s bones creaked and groaned as he called up One for All again, the quirk surging with brilliant purple sparks as he felt vitality flow through him- less than before, barely the eight percent that was supposed to be his nominal maximum at the moment, but it was still enough to get him up and going, skirting around the rubble until he found Izumi perched haphazardly behind the overturned ambulance that had long since been abandoned by the EMTs- he didn’t blame them for running, but dammit, they couldn’t have taken Izumi with them, or even driven the damn ambulance!? Fuck, fuck!

 

“Fuck!” Hitoshi shouted, his words vanishing into the cacophonous roar of wind as he hunkered down behind the ambulance as well, shielding Izumi’s still insensate body with his own to protect her from the rubble. He tried to keep track of where his mentor was in relation to All For One, barely able to squint into the exchange of blows as the two men knocked each other around the area, into and through buildings like they were made of cardboard, the scarred man teleporting around almost as fast as All Might caught up to him, neither of them able to move with enough advantage to win- but… but!

 

Hitoshi hissed, wincing as a stray pebble caught his visor and knocked him back from the sudden sharp crack so close to his eye, his vision unconsciously moving up and focusing on something in the distance.

 

Eraserhead.

 

Eraserhead, high up in the sky, being carried by Hawks .

 

What the hell were they doing up there?

 

Wait- no.

 

That would give him an opening, wouldn’t it!?

 

Hitoshi almost leapt to his feet, his visor zooming in on his teacher’s form as the Number 3 Hero brought him closer to the fight, up until- yes!

 

One of All For One’s portals fizzled out before he could teleport, the man stumbling straight into a heavy punch by All Might that sent him roaring back the way he came, further away from Hitoshi and Izumi. Good. Hitoshi nodded slowly, then slowly began creeping around the area, mindful of the massive amounts of unstable rubble as he kept One for All at a stable level, using it to get around faster while he watched a pattern emerge- Eraserhead could seemingly only erase a few active quirks at a time in All For One, but it was enough to make the tyrant stumble and trip up as he suddenly lost access to his strength for a moment, each time allowing All Might to land yet another blow- but it wasn’t enough. Even with the quirks being erased, even with the man stumbling and flailing in surprise, angrily trying to swat Eraserhead out of the sky and failing due to All Might’s speed, even with his suddenly deteriorating condition as whatever quirks was keeping him alive failed to activate in between bouts of Erasure suppressing it and keeping the man’s quirks locked down, it wasn’t enough.

 

All Might’s strength was waning too fast.

 

He was already deflating faster than he could pump what was left of One for All into his ailing muscles.

 

Hitoshi made a choice.

 

He hated himself for it, but if it could stop the madman forever, then he’d do it without a hint of remorse.

 

Erasure snapped into place again, and this time All For One choked, stumbling back and shuddering as blood began spewing from his lips.

 

It was time to finish this.

 

As All Might reared back, his eyes glowing and body sparking with brilliant flashes of gold light as he harnessed every last drop of One for All that he still had left, Hitoshi jumped out and joined him, rushing at the sputtering villain and pushing all of his strength, his fury, his worry and hatred and desire to be a hero into his arm, not giving a damn about what it would do to him, knowing that it was all or nothing! 

 

One for All, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!

 

Two voices called out in unison, and All For One was struck with the force of an angry god.


“UNITED! STATES OF! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!”

Chapter 109

Notes:

Hey if you're confused by this, I uploaded a bunch of chapters again! Start on Chapter 106 and read from there!

Chapter Text

“UNITED! STATES OF! SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!”

 

“Farewell… One For All.”

 

“Good riddance, All For One.”

 

It is often said that quirks combine in unusual ways. Normally, this is meant to denote that two parents might be confused about why their child’s quirk only superficially resembles either of theirs, or perhaps has a resemblance closer to that of a distant ancestor. Genetics, even in the age of Quirk science, is unpredictable in how it will manifest.

 

In this instance, in the unforgiving meteorological hell that was the tornado caused by two excessively powerful punches, the quirks within the villain known as All For One began to rebel. The man himself was on the verge of death even before the punch, his life support quirks unable to keep himself alive even with the sheer amount of energy he had absorbed both from Midoriya Izumi’s stockpile within her quirk, and from the lightning bolts he had tanked directly to the face mere minutes apart. The vast majority of rebelling quirks didn’t do much- almost nothing, in fact.

 

Buried deep as they were- some neglected for decades at a time, others only ever brought out and used during All For One’s few and far between moments of pitched, lethal combat, and still yet more having only been recently acquired after Doctor Garaki had assisted him in harnessing Kurogiri’s comatose form to his will and the man himself had harvested the quirks of nearly every villain who had been arrested during the USJ attack- the majority of the quirks in All For One’s body couldn’t really do anything but scream incoherently as the man they were forever bound to was thrown high into the sky, twin uppercuts from front and behind ravaging his body so thoroughly that most of his entire torso was crushed and pulverized.

 

There were three quirks, however, that combined in interesting, unheard of ways. 

 

The first was All For One’s Energy Absorption quirk- something he’d only pulled out in the face of the Midoriya girl flinging lightning at him, and used in conjunction with his extremely weakened Lightning Immunity such that the energy was stockpiled up and used to treat his ailing body.

 

The second was Midoriya Izumi’s recently acquired Firebending (although, curiously enough, All For One felt that something was… strange with that quirk. Not that he was in any capacity able to think on it at the moment, dying as he was, but the moment he’d grabbed it, he’d been momentarily shocked to find that it less resembled the terrifyingly powerful combination of abilities Midoriya Izumi had trained it into, and more seemed to just be a horrifyingly weak thing he would have named Lesser Flame Attraction ). Firebending, unbeknownst to the quirk thief, was more than just a simple genetic quirk that resided within a quirk factor and expressed itself via the body. It was deeply spiritual, to a degree that very few other quirks were. 

 

Firebending was not just part of Midoriya Izumi’s genes, it was a piece of her soul . A piece of her soul that was awake, angry, full of chi and vitriol, and trying its damndest to actually rebel in its place against All For One.

 

The third quirk in this equation was actually technically many , but it primarily took the form of Kurogiri’s Warp Gate. 

 

All For One had all but slaved the comatose Intelligent Noumu to his body once it was clear that the lightning damage had rendered Kurogiri too braindead to wake up once more- though his quirk was still functional. By way of a jury-rigged number of quirks implanted into the Noumu and remotely linked to All For One, the symbol of evil could utilize the unique senses inherent to those with warping quirks, and accurately direct warp gates to open as he pleased. This also meant that there was a constant, subtle distortion in spacetime around All For One to maintain the connection and Kurogiri’s instant readiness should the man require a warp gate.

 

It went as such:

 

As the apocalyptic force of two full powered One for All enhanced punches collided with All For One’s body, the energy released by the event was such that it instantly generated a massive tornado. However, the tornado was swiftly and immediately dispelled by All For One’s quirks activating without his will in his last few moments of life, rebelling against the tyrant of the underworld for the few split seconds he clung to consciousness. As his body dissolved from the sheer force of the gale force winds, Energy Absorption all but pulled the entirety of the tornado into the man’s body, filling it with supercharged vitality that slammed into the quirks and enabled them to struggle even harder against the prison of a quirk that held them all in place.

 

Firebending, with its surplus of chi and the influx of energy, came out on top in a blaze of fury, all but erupting from All For One’s motionless, airborne body and tearing it asunder in an explosion that light up the night with a spiraling ball of flame that many could swear shone in all colors of the rainbow.

 

And then, Warp Gate broke .

 

A rift in spacetime was born.

 

Raw chi and life energy poured into the space between spaces, a siren call that reached through the gap between worlds and found the path of least resistance- a tiny little path, carved from one place to another eighteen years prior, as one singular soul was thrust into a world not its own.

 

A tiny fragment of that same soul followed that same passage back, lit aflame with fury and vengeance and the agony of being torn apart from its greater self. 

 

The rift in space time grew uncontrollably as the tunnel widened and energy began flowing in from the other side as well. Within mere milliseconds, the tunnel through the unreal space had widened and erupted .

 

A brilliant golden glow blazed out over Hosu City like lightning reaching out of the heavens, striking the earth and tearing it asunder while yet more light poured into the sky and ripped away the clouds to reveal the tapestry of night as it had never been seen before- the dull lights of the city replaced with the brilliant glittering light of what was truly space, what was truly the night- a glimmering tapestry of nebulae and galaxies, the bright swathe of the milky way ripping its way across the horizon with such clarity that it was almost unreal.

 

Chi flooded the world, blazing into the atmosphere as an artificial Harmonic Convergence precluded the birth of a Spirit Portal in a world that had previously no connection at all to that realm.

 

Time and space bent, spirits entered the world, flung free from all times and places.

 

An aurora covered not just Japan, but the entirety of the planet- ribbons of ethereal particles like spirits dancing in the sky.

 

The world had changed.

 

All For One was gone, his body dissolved into the aether from the sheer amount of energy that had blasted through his form.

 

Shinsou Hitoshi collapsed to the ground, panting and wincing as he held his shattered arm.

 

Midoriya Izumi was quietly located and carried off to a hospital by Hawks.

 

All Might- Yagi Toshinori- faced the few news reports still in the area, pointing his finger out at the world and delivering the final words of his heroic career, only a single person realizing that he was pointing at the half unconscious-purple haired child who had come to join him in his final fight.

 

“You’re next.”

Chapter 110

Notes:

Hey if you're confused by this, I uploaded a bunch of chapters again! Start on Chapter 106 and read from there!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there was a spirit that was quite unlike any other spirit that ever walked the lands. 

 

In those early days of existence, when the number of spirits was low and the Spirit Wilds not yet separated from the material plane, it was considered one of the core spirits that existed in pairs.

 

Light and dark. Moon and Ocean. Sun and Stars. Earth and Sky. Life and Death.

 

Order and Chaos.

 

The spirit that existed did not look like much of anything, back then. It simply stood in stark opposition to its counterpart, and neither of them much paid attention to the goings on of the other things around them- spirit or mortal, material or otherwise. 

 

They simply danced an endless dance of cosmic conflict, battling each other with a wrath only known to siblings and nemeses.

 

In those early days of existence, neither of them had names inherent to their being, as names did not properly exist yet. There were epithets, oblique references, whispered myths and stories, but names did not properly exist until the first humans created speech and stories and their minds and energies coalesced into the creation of spirits en masse- a thousand million stories and myths creating a million billion spirits to populate the spirit wilds in every shape, manner, and form. 

 

Spirits that took on the appearance of twisted animals- some harmless, some mischievous, some hostile, some dangerous. Spirits that took on the appearance of plants, minerals, piles of dirt, twisted human forms, or even patterning themselves off of the garb that humans fashioned for themselves. 

 

Some spirits were directly those of old humans, spiritually dense in their positions in the world, the myths and legends told of their influence creating new beings even after the original mortal had long since died.

 

As the world filled out and grew, spirits began to have names. The one who created new beings and gave them form, life, and faces, was dubbed the Mother of Faces; her eventual son, Koh the Face Stealer. The moon and ocean became Tui and La, the Sun became Agni, and the stars gained too many names to count.as constellations around the world were named and changed. Some spirits remained nameless, others were given names, still others were created as names first before their stories became imprinted upon the Spirit Wilds.

 

Eventually, our spirit of Chaos was given a name- Vaatu. Its counterpart, Raava. They still called each other “Wild Beast” and “Smug Cuntrag” respectively, though.

 

In those ancient days millennia long past, there had come something of a fundamental misunderstanding of the pair of dueling siblings- humans were naturally biased towards Raava’s cool, blue and white form, its feminine voice, its ability to provide a rigid structure and order to the world- tame the chaotic wilds around and make straight, even roads and flat ground. Those same humans feared Vaatu for its wild, chaotic nature, the terrifying growl of its masculine voice, the way it rent the air asunder and made spirits and living beings alike go wild with maddened rage.

 

They thought Raava a spirit of light, Vaatu a spirit of dark. Raava, a force of good and purity, and Vaatu an evil monster bent upon the destruction of all in its path.

 

In truth, nothing could be further from the reality of the situation.

 

Raava was order, yes, but Raava was rigid, structured. Regimented. Oppressive . Order was a lack of free will, following commands and living in a rigidly structured, ordered pattern of reality and life. That Raava had a tiny fragment of chaos within its body was the sole thing allowing it to work with humans- it took the role of a commanding goddess to them, ordering them around with no regard as to their whims.

 

Vaatu was chaos incarnate. Destruction, madness, storms and wild energy, a total lack of control and a total lack of the rigid structure that humans came to crave in lieu of the unfettered existence of the wilderness. Vaatu was of fire and air, movement and freedom. Vaatu was chaotic children’s games and poor manners, pranks and ruffled clothes, a wild night of drunken passion, a chaotic chase between predator and prey, the way that the earth split and moved, the way that sunlight scattered through the trees in dazzling, random patterns.

 

In truth, Raava and Vaatu fought because they could not stand each other- Raava too rigid for Vaatu, Vaatu too unrefined for Raava. But they were a duo- a system. Twins that worked together to form balance.

 

And so what if Vaatu had, perhaps, maybe gone off a little crazier than usual after some meddling human had interfered with one of his duels with Raava? He’d been angered and in a wild state of mind, so much more willing to cause chaos and disruption and destruction to vent his frustrations. It wasn’t like anyone would remember in a few millennia.

 

And then Raava had used that little bit of extra chaos in herself, amplified by her own anger at Vaatu’s actions, to merge with a human and become the Avatar, worshipped the world over as the strongest bender and bringer of peace and diplomatic solutions and safety and all of that good shit.

 

Vaatu, meanwhile, had gotten himself stuck in a fucking tree for the next ten thousand years. Stewing in his own resentment, building up a truly monumental amount of chaos and ill will, madness and fury and hatred and rage towards his sister spirit.

 

And ten thousand years later, he was all set to break down the society that Raava’s precious Avatars had built… only to get the shit beat out of him again and pulled into Raava as a more permanent sort of prison.

 

Except- except… something had happened.

 

Vaatu was chaos, he did not have to entirely follow linear time if he so chose.

 

Something had spurred on a new Harmonic Convergence a world away.

 

Time broke, and Vaatu… Vaatu screamed as he was seemingly sealed into the depths of Raava’s form, but in reality was pulled through time and space , his energy being pulled out of him and added to the apocalyptic chaos of this artificial Harmonic Convergence that was all the same so full of spiritual meaning that it was like a crushing weight upon the world.

 

The black and red spirit was wrung out like a towel, shrieking and screaming as he was launched far out of his homeworld and through the spirit world via the Tree of Time, out of a spirit portal that should not have existed in a land that was entirely unfamiliar and strangely low on chi, but rife with chaos and disorder in every facet of society.

 

Delirious and on the verge of death, Vaatu found the closest body to his landing position, ignoring the events around him and simply forcing a merger with the body he chose- one of the only ones in the entire area to have active, well used, and brimming chi pathways that he could feast on to regain some of his strength.


And then- after that… after that he’d see about exploring this chaotic new world, regain his full power and then… then he’d finally go back and beat the shit out of Raava that stupid blue bitch how dare she trap him in a fucking tree for ten thousand years that smug fucking CUNTRAG !?

Notes:

I really hope you can see how much effort I put into rewriting Raava and Vaatu into having the single most belligerent sibling relationship imaginable

Chapter 111

Notes:

The angst starts now and goes til chapter 115, so be warned.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Izu,” Katsumi spoke quietly, sitting by the bedside of her comatose girlfriend. She was more disheveled and out of sorts than she’d been in years, a complete lack of makeup and fancy clothes upon her visage- nothing except an old, slightly worn through Midnight hoodie and a pair of Ryukyu branded sweatpants that clashed horribly with the black and white hoodie (both of which had belonged to Izumi before one day mysteriously winding up in Katsumi’s closet). “It’s… I know I’ve come to see you every single day, and you might be thinking that I’m slacking on my training, but I just… I just can’t… I can’t do it without you. You- for as long as we’ve been friends, you’ve always been… you’ve always been my sunshine. My light. I- even as babies, I knew… you were… you were so bright and warm back then, and even after… after you woke up her memories, you were still so bright and warm- meaner and more worldwise, but… you were still you . And I can’t- I can’t just… I swear, I’ve said this all to you a million times already but every time I see you just lying here… I- I can’t stop myself.”

 

She paused, sniffling thickly and wiping at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. She winced ever so slightly, her eyes still puffy and raw and her hair limp- she hadn’t took care of herself at all for the last week, and after being put on grief leave by Uwabami and Aizawa-sensei, she couldn’t bring herself to even so much as look at her hero uniform- the uniform that she’d spent long hours and weeks in grade school designing with Izumi, refining it over the years into its current incarnation. It hurt to look at without Izumi’s presence there, like an uncomfortable reminder of what had been, and what might never be again.

 

No.

 

She couldn’t think like that.

 

“I… Remember when we were kids, and you were so, so scared that you were losing yourself to your memories? Kept… kept thinking you were the wrong person in the wrong body?” Katsumi asked rhetorically, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she reminisced about the past- back when they were barely five, the week after Izumi had woken up from her several day long coma. She remembered being a little shit back then, angry at the world and cocky and feeling like she could do no wrong- she’d tried to tease and belittle Izumi for being soft and weak and quirkless, and at the time the greenette hadn’t even responded to it . But… but the thing she did respond to…

 

“It was so stupid… I was such a little shitbag back then- I still kind of am, y’know? Sometimes I look at us and feel like we’ve never changed from the time that we were still little kids chewing on dinosaur toys… but back then, the week after you got back from waking up… You were so afraid of losing yourself- losing control. I… you told me, a few days after, that you felt like you were slipping away, were losing yourself to decades of memories that you couldn’t comprehend… but… but,” Katsumi smiled softly, squeezing Izumi’s hand and reaching over with her free hand to brush a strand of hair from her girlfriend’s face. “You beat the shit out of me. Not… not for bullying you. You never cared worth a damn about yourself, but you have always cared so, so much about everyone around you- your stupid big heart… you never did anything to the people who fucked with you until they did something to someone else… and when we were five it was still the same. I think that day was when I fell in love with you, honestly… you defended that other kid in our class, got between me n’ those losers we used to hang out with, crying and sick like you were still fighting for control, and… and you wiped the floor with us. Just… just threw out fire like a little demon, beat the crap outta us, and told us that real heroes don’t pick on people weaker than them, that real heroes stood up for the little people and did their best to not hurt anyone , even the villains they were fighting.”

 

Katsumi sighed, wetting her lips and leaning back in her chair as she shifted her focus to the monitors beside Izumi’s bed, the constant rush of brain activity and beeping of her heart monitor the only company she had in that sterile white room. “And that was… You didn’t tell me until almost a month later, sobbing that you didn’t know who you were sometimes, kept answering to the wrong name and almost lashing out at your mom, having nightmares about the past… I knew even then that you were you . Midoriya Izumi, not Azula. I’ve never had any doubts that you are who you are- and I’ll always miss the beautiful little ball of sunshine that you were before you woke up those memories, but I’ll never regret what happened afterwards.”

 

A momentary pause so Katsumi could swallow the lump in her throat, tears forming in her eyes again as she wiped her face and tracked her emotions all over her sleeve in a streak of wet heat and snot. “I-I…. I guess what I’m trying to say is that… I miss you. And I’m so, so fucking scared right now. Japan’s a fucking mess right now- quirkless people all over the world are waking up quirks just like yours . Not just fire, but what you told me- earthbending and waterbending and airbending… you- something happened and I’m fucking scared - I have no clue what’s going on, the news is a mess, Hosu is almost gone , All Might’s retired and quirkless now and he apparently told everyone that he gave Hitoshi his quirk , and- and… I just… I wish you were here. I wish… I wish you were here, so fucking much.”

 

Katsumi sobbed, scooting forward and burying her face against Izumi’s side, the unfamiliar coolness of her partner’s body feeling less comforting and more abnormal when Izumi always ran so, so hot and constantly put out an aura of warmth that was more than just heat- more than just the sheer power of her firebending. It was a soft, comforting warmth that spoke of just how much she cared even when she was in the middle of tearing someone else down. And now it was gone- possibly never to return. Both Izumi’s quirk, and her beautiful, gentle, warm presence.


“Please… Izumi… wake up… I- I need you. I… I love you.”

Chapter Text

“D’ya think she’ll wake up?” Hawks asked, sitting upon the roof of the hospital that his intern, his student , someone he was supposed to watch over but failed , was currently comatose, staring out over the horizon- distantly, he could see smoke still hanging over Hosu in a light haze, backlit by the ever present blinding glow of the interdimensional portal that had formed in the wake of All For One’s defeat. 

 

He didn’t even care about that, not really, not when his heart felt heavy and dead in his chest at how stupid and complacent he’d been- oh, she has a strong quirk and admirable combat skills, she’ll be fine Hawks! She’s better at hand to hand and all ranges of combat than almost anyone but top ten heroes, she can handle one serial killer! But no.

 

She’d found the goddamn boogeyman himself, that rat bastard who stole her quirk and left her comatose to the point of almost dying. If it weren’t for the sheer amount of brain activity going on in her head, Hawks… Hawks almost would have thought she was dead, and her body just didn’t know it yet.

 

Mirko sighed, crouching down next to Hawks- no, both of them were off duty now, not even really dressed in their costumes anymore, it was Keigo- and shaking her head lightly as she wound her long, white hair into a loose ponytail. “Fuck if I know, Kei. I… anyone else, I’d have said no, but…. I dunno, even just a week of her being your intern, and a day or two with me around, she feels like she could do just about anything. Lil’ Midori’s got that kinda spark, y’know? The kinda that makes you feel like she’s invincible.”

 

“... But she’s not, Rumi. She’s so, so not,” Keigo muttered, resting his face in his hands and letting out a long breath as he stared out into the golden glow ever present in the distance. “I should have kept an eye on her dammit! She was my responsibility! She’s my intern! I- how the fuck can I make my dream come true if I can’t even keep one kid safe!?”

 

“You could have. You probably should have. But the fact of the matter is- no one could have foreseen what happened,” Rumi answered, scowling and resting her chin atop her folded hands, elbows on her knees as she perched precariously on the lip of the roof, staring vaguely off in the same direction as Keigo. “Stain’s a two bit serial killer who isn’t a match for anyone in the top ten. We were dealing with those Noumu monsters while Manual and that Iida kid handled civilian evacuation. Stain should have been no match for her once she actually chased the prick down. That she found the fucking quirk stealing boogeyman is just… shit luck, really. Just the absolute shittiest fucking luck imaginable.”

 

“Yeah, and now I’m dealing with the consequences of my stupidity and this shit fucking situation we’re all in,” Keigo ran a hand through his hair, a troubled expression on his face- a little wobbly, a little pinched at the corners of his eyes. He almost looked like he wanted to cry, if only just a little. “Hosu’s not fully evacuated, we’re still pulling bodies out of the rubble… Noumu still wandering the streets, the fact that there’s rumors of monsters all over the world now, people gaining quirks out of nowhere- I can’t help but think that all of this is just a direct result of me telling Midori that she should just do whatever while you and I handled the situation.”

 

“You don’t know that, and we’ll probably never know that,” Rumi answered, rolling her eyes and smacking her friend in the shoulder. “Shit, I just hope the kid wakes up so I can tell her how fuckin cool I think she is. Hell, she probably thinks I’m an abrasive jackass all the time by this point… never did get to show her around and treat her to a drink…”

 

Keigo blinked, staring at Rumi with a deadpan expression. “She’s underage still, Rumi.”

“Fuck, really?”

 

“Yeah. Imagine being strong enough, fast enough, skilled enough to even partially match up to a seasoned top ten pro at eighteen . The lil chick’s just… built different,” Keigo’s mouth twisted into an awkward frown, torn between pride in his student’s progress, power, and skill and despair at her current condition. “Shit, fuck it, if she wakes up we’ll have drinks in my office. No one’s gonna give her shit if it’s in a private environment.”

 

“Yeah… yeah. Better hope she wakes up quick, then, or you’re gonna be shit outta luck,” Rumi smirked, cuffing Keigo in the shoulder again as she stood up and stretched. “Let’s go and stop moping, Kei. We can at least get some sleep before going back out again- my hotel’s nearby, so we can stop by there.”

 

Keigo shook his head, wings fluttering gently as he stood and pulled his coat back on from where he’d tossed it to the side. “Can’t go out tomorrow- HPSC’s suspended my license for a month for letting a first year UA student get caught up in a disaster zone. Probably gonna lose my teaching license too… dammit. I was looking forward to sending the lil chick a work studies offer in a couple months too. Fuck .”

 

“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Rumi snorted, sighing as she slung an arm around Keigo’s shoulder and led him to the roof access door, prodding it open and heading back inside into the warmth and sterility of the hospital proper. “Now c’mon, you look like shit, I feel like shit, and the both of us need to sleep.”

 

“Yeah… yeah. Dammit… just wish I could have done more… I’m no good against overwhelming power like that… why the fuck am I so- so…”

 

Rumi huffed, smacking Keigo before he could finish that sentence. “Do not fucking tell me the number three pro hero is gonna call himself useless . What are you, an edgy middle schooler after your first failing grade? Pick yourself up you stupid chicken nugget- change of plans actually, we’re going to a bar, getting drunk, and then going to sleep!”

 

Keigo sighed, rubbing his now sore shoulder but acquiescing all the same.

 

A good drink would help him take his mind off of things- maybe in the morning he wouldn’t feel so shitty about what he’d done to his intern.

 

Then again, he’d said that every night for the last week straight.

 

Maybe not, then.

Chapter Text

“Sensei? I- I don’t know if I can do this today,” Ochako spoke up quietly as she and Kurose-sensei- better known as the Space Hero: Thirteen- poked around the rubble of what used to be downtown Hosu, with Kurose-sensei keeping an ear out for incoming transmissions of trapped survivors, as she directed Ochako around. “I… I’m sorry, I know I’m supposed to be learning as much as I can from you but- but I can’t… I can’t do this today. I- I’m sorry… I just-... there’s so many bodies… I… I feel sick before we even start dealing with the rubble…”

 

Thirteen nodded, the giant white eyes on her helmet changing shape to project an air of understanding, while her voice crackled out over her speakers- somehow still comforting in tone, despite the harsh distortion. “That’s normal, Uravity-kun. This is your first time doing a big rescue operation, and you’re still learning to cope with the reality of the situation. That said- I can’t help but notice you’ve been looking back towards the hospital for some time now. Am I correct in assuming that you’re worried about Midoriya-san?”

 

Ochako blinked, then tapped her fingers together. “Y-yeah, I am. I just… I heard the news and I can’t… everyone in our class has gone to see her already except me- even Tokoyami-kun came back from Hokkaido early to visit. And… and I’m just here, so close by and yet… I feel like I’m being a terrible friend, and an even worse hero…”

 

“Oi oi, that’s not true!” Thirteen spoke gently, raising a hand and softly patting Ochako on the shoulder, her gloved fingers squeezing down comfortingly as she guided Ochako to the side and helped her sit down on a pile of already moved rubble. “Uravity-kun, you are an amazing hero! You’re strong, you’re smart, you have an amazing instinct to help others regardless of personal cost- Just this week, you’ve helped so many people! And yes, while it is true that we could not save everyone, that isn’t the point of heroics. It’s what we try to do, yes, but at the end of the day, we must save as many as we can, and do our best to save more tomorrow. You’ve done that and more, Uraraka-kun.”

 

She paused, patting her lap for a moment to get her thoughts together. “I will admit, Uraraka-kun. I’m not the best teacher. I’m long winded, scatterbrained, and I don’t particularly understand many social cues even after decades of practice. But as your teacher- your mentor… I could not be more proud of you. And to have done all that you have this week… There’s very few people I would trust to hold out this long- I honestly wish you had told me about your worries sooner, though. Take the rest of the day off, Uraraka-kun. Actually- the week. Take a week off, go home, talk to your friends. Grieve if you must, and put your efforts towards recovering, okay? Heroes have to save themselves too, you know.”

 

“Y-yeah… I… thank you, Kurose-sensei. Er- I mean, Thirteen-sensei,” Ochako sighed, rubbing her face as she pulled off her helmet visor and slowly breathed out. Tension rolled out of her shoulders as she relaxed, shaking her head after a moment before looking down to her dirty, sweat and blood and soot stained hero outfit. “I guess I really am a mess… I don’t even remember the last time I took a shower at this point…”

 

“Mm… you should head to one of the evacuation areas to the nearest train, then. Head back to the dorms,” Thirteen nodded, tapping her fingers together before standing up again. “I… wouldn’t suggest that you visit Midoriya-san right away. The hospital is pretty serious about cleanliness, especially now after a crisis- visit tomorrow, maybe, after you’ve cleaned up and had a good night’s sleep.”

 

“A-ah, right. Yeah… that’s… yeah,” Ochako nodded and stood up as well, keeping her helmet tucked under her arm as she fiddled with her costume bracer and shuffled around awkwardly, not wanting to just leave so soon. “Um… but, are you sure I should leave? We… we just got here. Wouldn’t it be wrong to go home already?”

 

“Uraraka-kun, you’ve been working nearly twelve hours a day pulling people out of the rubble for the last six days- go and rest. Hero’s orders,” Thirteen stated gently, but firmly, all but pushing Ochako out of the way and towards the buses where a lady in a paramedic uniform waved at her.

 

She got the hint.

 

Still, it hurt to just… leave the situation as it was, even if she had been flagging a little in the last two days from quirk overuse- but Thirteen was right. She wasn’t used to this kind of operation. She wasn’t used to natural disasters and massive city destroying fights- hell, almost no one was anymore because it wasn’t the dark ages anymore and no villain fights had ever destroyed more than a few city blocks in years! But it still hurt, knowing that she was going home to try and mend her own wounded pride and emotional state when there were people actively dying, stuck in the rubble of Hosu where miles upon miles of the city were completely obliterated- either by rampaging Noumu, villains taking advantage of the chaos, the massive showdown between All Might and All For One, or the raging wildfires that had been almost entirely uncontrolled after Izumi lost her quirk.

 

Izumi…

 

Ochako sighed to herself as she slipped onto the bus, standing near the back and chewing her lip as she tried to focus on the here and now instead of the things she couldn’t control. She so desperately wanted to go visit her friend, to tell her how much she missed her presence, how much she wished she’d been there to help- but… Thirteen was right. She was a mess. Ochako hadn’t slept soundly in over a week, was trembling and fighting to stay on her feet even with her suit using acupressure points to relieve her quirk strain, was sweaty, grimy, and even a little bloody from six days of near nonstop rescue work- only stopping because Thirteen physically forced her to stop after twelve hours of punishingly difficult labor.

 

It wasn’t even the act of lifting rubble that was hard- it was too easy, almost, to lift up the remnants of buildings and move cars and crumbled concrete (and file away the information for later, long experience helping her parents with their construction business making her hypercritical of every terrible cost cutting measure). It was what came after that was so… so draining. The amount of injured people. The amount of bodies. The people who’d clearly nearly escaped a burning building, only for the entire thing to collapse on them- Ochako had thrown up many, many times on the first day. And the second. And the third. She still threw up intermittently even now whenever a particularly gruesome scene showed itself.

 

Ochako sighed and tottered away, exiting the bus once it reached the train station and finding a secluded alcove to sulk for a few moments- sure, she’d miss the train carrying refugees out to safer parts of Tokyo, but she needed to take the line south back down to UA anyway. It was too much, honestly. Too much to bear, too much to think about.

 

A churning mix of self loathing, disgust, fear, worry, hatred, and anger swirled around in Ochako’s gut, growing worse and worse as she chewed her thumb and continued imagining Izumi in a hospital gown, wasting away day by day, never to wake up… 

 

No. No! No no no no-

 

“NO!”

 

And with a dramatic shake of her head and a swipe of her hand as if to dispel the horrible image in her mind, Ochako shouted her defiance to that outcome, willing it away as if her conviction alone would change reality.

 

The air in the room whipped into a violent, swirling frenzy.

 

Ochako suddenly became keenly aware of the air currents around her, the pressure pushing down, the way it swirled around her limbs in tiny vortices with every movement.


“Did… Did I do that!?”

Chapter Text

So.

 

It turned out that Ochako hadn’t been the only one to get new powers in the wake of what everyone was now calling the Hosu Portal Incident. 

 

Shouto had apparently developed an odd mix of water powers and fire powers, Tsu (her wonderful girlfriend) had apparently gained similar- nigh identical, really- water powers (as well as some traits that she told Ochako that she’d be demonstrating after their internships were over) after an incident where she’d stopped to stare at a frog and it had, apparently, not been a normal frog.

 

Apparently spirits were real now and one of them had bonded with her girlfriend.

 

Who knew.

 

Actually, that explained all of the weird monster sightings that had been happening as of late.

 

Katsumi had gained fire powers quite like Izumi’s and explained that it wasn’t just new quirk manifestations, and that Izumi’s quirk was exactly like what was happening now- and that apparently, just like how Izumi’s quirk was called Firebending, Ochako had Airbending, Tsu and Shouto had Waterbending, Kaminari had Firebending, both Kirishima and Tetsutetsu from 1-B had Earthbending, and many, many others in their school- hell all over the world- now had access to a set of deeply spiritual powers rooted in a mixture of their worldview, their genetics, their personalities, and their personal creeds. Apparently Katsumi had been taught all of what she knew now by Izumi, which was why she was at all qualified to talk about it at all in the first place.

 

Also, Principal Nedzu was now a firebender, and that simple fact had driven every single teacher in UA to swiftly start chugging alcohol like there was no tomorrow.

 

The fact that the little rat satan was now capable of slinging around fireballs was now why there were mandatory training lessons for those in UA who’d expressed new facets to their quirks.

 

(Also apparently Dark Shadow was no longer the only thing lurking inside of Tokoyami’s body, and while he seemed to be rather content with it, Ochako was still a little weirded out about how quickly he’d adapted to being able to send out and utilize those new spirits nestled within his… soul. Apparently souls were actually real, so that was cool.)

 

Ochako was honestly pretty grateful for their principal setting up the classes, though she was… a little leery of the fact that they were to be led by Katsumi and Shouto of all people.

 

No shade to either of her friends, but Katsumi was intense and Shouto was… terrible with large groups. Also both of them were shit at teaching. Shouto because he wasn’t used to explaining things that involved combat, and Katsumi because she was just way too good at doing things on instinct and never really figured out how to teach anyone anything that wasn’t regular academic material.

 

Not that they’d started yet- Hosu was still being cleaned up, hero internships were still going, and in general it just wasn’t feasible to hold the classes yet. Come the latter half of July and the start of summer vacation, they’d start, but it’d be hell trying to fit it all into place in the school schedule.

 

Then again, apparently both Katsumi and Shouto both knew that they were only a stopgap measure until Izumi woke up. And- and she would wake up. It was just… taking her a while. Almost two weeks now… barely over a week left until the end of internships, and then summer vacation…

 

Ochako sighed, twiddling her thumbs as she sat back in her dorm, having been all but forbidden from trying to go back out to Hosu to finish the rescue work there- apparently Thirteen had finished her part and now was going through all of the paperwork involved with the situation.

 

Eugh, paperwork.

 

Ochako sighed again, rubbing her face and trying to focus on pleasant subjects that weren’t tied directly to the fact that Izumi was still comatose, or at least tangentially related to the fact.

 

She would have been overjoyed about the new powers, but she’d quickly figured out how much of her new airbending was tied to her emotional state and she couldn’t even really get the wind to move to her commands with any regularity- not that she wanted to in her dorm room, she had way too many posters tacked up and loose sheets of paper on her desk to actually want to generate a localized tornado.

 

That, and well, she really couldn’t stop thinking of them as something she’d gained in the wake of Izumi losing her powers and well… it just didn’t feel right, that she’d just develop a quirk out of nowhere while Izumi…

 

Ochako shook her head, then almost flinched as an overwhelming restlessness came over her body- almost enough to throw her clear out of her bed despite feeling too tired to actually do much of anything. Everything just felt… raw, now. Fine if she didn’t think about it, but the moment she did, it was like an exposed nerve- fresh and painful and prone to constant stinging and poking and prodding until she forced herself to do something different. Even schoolwork was affected, what with her having spent so many hours studying with both Katsumi and Izumi- and for that matter, she hadn’t seen Katsumi in a while either despite her blonde friend having been put on grief leave by Uwabami… probably hadn’t even gone home after any of that, Ochako figured. If it were Tsu being hospitalized… well, she knew damn well she would have spent entire days in the area without prompting.

 

Dammit, there she went again, thinking about the shit that stung like a raw nerve.

 

Ochako sighed yet again , deciding to give in to her body’s demands to get up and move, the air swirling pleasantly on her skin as she left her dorm and stormed down the hall to get some fresh air, or meet up with her friends or something.

 

Anything was better than staying cooped up and curled up in her bed, barely even able to gather up the energy to move with how worn out she was from doing rescue work with Thirteen even after several days of rest… she hadn’t even gone to see Izumi yet, hadn’t been able to work up the will to go anywhere near Hosu…

 

Maybe Himiko would be free, she always knew how to cheer Ochako up when Tsu wasn’t around, and it wasn’t like most of their internships were still going on anymore with what had happened… maybe they could go out and get ice cream or something, watch a movie… just… anything was better than stewing in her own self doubts and watching the world go crazy in real time via twitter.

 

Yeah. That’d be nice.

Chapter 115

Notes:

ok the angst chapters are finally over, y'all can come back now

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izumi awoke in a world that was much different from the one she’d passed out in.

 

She also, confusingly, woke up at home rather than in a hospital.

 

Though, Izumi couldn’t find it in herself to be mad about waking up in the warm, familiar confines of her childhood room when she hadn’t really expected to wake up in the first place. Everything felt… strange, though. Something about the air was off, prickling against her skin in strange ways that she couldn’t really understand.

 

And… she hadn’t awoken with the sunrise- no, by the time she woke up, it was well past noon and she was starving.

 

What day was it anyway? How long had she been out? And… why couldn’t she feel her fire?

 

Wait.

 

Oh.

 

Izumi shuddered as the memories of Hosu slammed into her like a freight train, flashes of pain and fear and struggle searing themselves into her vision as she almost thrashed in her covers, gasping and wheezing at the sheer vividness of the events, the pain, the sheer agony of having her bending, her quirk , a piece of her very soul torn from her body and into- into…

 

“Izuchan! You’re awake!” the voice of her mother broke Izumi from her panic induced spiral, along with the sensation of warmth and softness as her mother all but slammed into Izumi’s side and wrapped her into a tight, desperate hug as if she would disappear if Inko didn’t hold onto her as hard as she could. “I was so worried! You’re safe now, dear! You’re safe! It’s okay, it’s okay!”

 

In the crushing confines of her mother’s grasp, Izumi simply shuddered and choked out something resembling a reassurance, letting out a noise best defined as a whimper as Inko’s presence chased away the sudden chill that had overtaken her- she was so, so much colder than usual for some reason, and she hated every moment of it. Her room was cold, her clothes were cold, her core was cold… she couldn’t sense anything deep within her soul, just… just the same crushing emptiness she’d felt the moment she woke up. 

 

There was no fire. There was no warmth. There was no ever-present connection to the sun.

 

Even her memories as Azula seemed fuzzier than normal, faded as they had become with age and lack of use. It used to be that there were times where she couldn’t remember entire years of Azula’s life just because nothing interesting had happened in them other than perhaps a visit to Ty Lee whenever the spunky woman had some kind of business in Republic City. Now she couldn’t… really remember much at all. Fuzz and vague impressions, firebending forms, her own innovations, the few bits of memories she’d learned about the other elements… all of the important things that she used to help her training in this life, but almost none of everything else.

 

Izumi shuddered again, trying to pull herself away from the chilling emptiness within and to the present once more, her mother’s babbling sounding almost too far away to her own ears, though the sensation of tears soaking into her nightclothes grounded her slightly. 

 

“I-I… mother… m-mom…. I’m… I’m sorry… I failed… I failed,” Izumi whispered, her own tears rising to the surface as she sniffled instinctively, unable to stop herself from burying her face into Inko’s shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist in return. “I… I couldn’t stop him. I… I barely did anything… I should have stayed away, stuck to firefighting, I- I was too scared, too…. Too stupid . I… I fucked up real bad, mom…. I… My quirk is… my quirk is gone . I’m… I’m scared… A-and…”

 

“Shh…. it’s okay, dear. It’s okay, Izuchan. You’re home, you’re safe, and you’re alive. Everything else doesn’t matter,” Inko murmured right back, squeezing gently and rubbing slow circles on Izumi’s back in a way that made her feel like she was five years old again, crying and sobbing from the pressure of Azula’s memories beating at her skull and threatening to overwhelm her child self. Her mother had done the same thing then, too, holding her close and grounding her with slow circles on her back, the tightness of her arms around her shoulders and the warmth of her body keeping her sane and whole even as her mind felt like it was coming apart- and now those same arms were holding her close, keeping her grounded and warm even though she felt so, so cold otherwise, keeping her whole and unbroken even though she felt like going to pieces, curling into a ball under her covers and crying herself to sleep.

 

“I-I…” Izumi shook her head, her hands grabbing weak fistfuls of her mother’s cardigan as she tried to put her feelings into words. “I’m just… I could have done more… I could have- I could have saved more people, but… but I- I was useless… I was… so stupid… I was trying to be a rescue hero, but all I could think about at the time was catching up to Stain…”

 

“S-stain? Honey, did- did you try to fight that madman!?” Inko immediately pulled back in surprise, holding Izumi by the shoulders and staring at her in open, naked shock. “Wh-why!? Wasn’t that dangerous!?”

 

“I- yeah… it was,” Izumi nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to smooth out her features, to focus on the story instead of how much she wanted to just crumple . “I… Hawks and Mirko had the Noumu in the area handled… a-and Tenya and Crawler were evacuating the civilians… s-so I thought I’d go apprehend Stain and… bring him in. I- I could have stopped him, but I couldn’t throw out most of my attacks because there were too many civilians around, and I didn’t want to miss . S-so I just thought I’d chase him down until we got somewhere secluded, then take him down… b-but then… then that… that monster showed up. A-all For One… h-he- wait. What happened to him!?”

 

Izumi’s spine went ramrod straight, plagued by sudden fear of what could have happened while she was out- clearly the monster in the shape of a man had been at least driven off if she was still alive, but what else had she missed? What had happened after her quirk was stolen? What- how long had she even been out!?

 

“M-mom… what… what happened after I was… taken out? How long have I been asleep? A-and… is… what happened?” Izumi asked, almost dreading the answer, though Inko simply pulled her into another hug, softer this time and a little less desperate, though no less warm.

 

Her mother sighed, and gently tugged on the blanket until it was riding up around Izumi’s trembling shoulders, helping to warm her chilled, flameless body. “It’s… it’s a long story, dear. But… I’ll try to explain as best as I can…”

Chapter 116

Notes:

WOOO! EAT SHIT IN HELL LIZZIE YOU COLONIST FUCKBAG! FUCK THEM MONARCHS!

Also:

HAPPY 9/9! IT'S CIRNO DAY BABEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I finally made fanart for Cirno day too

Chapter Text

“I must express my gratitude that you are willing to continue your enrollment here at UA, Midoriya-san,” Nedzu spoke calmly as he sat before Izumi, the brightly lit, friendly decor of his office doing nothing to disguise the fact that it was more or less designed as a bunker with a hallway full of spy cameras. “However, while I am more than supportive of your choice, I must ask… are you sure?”

 

“I- Nedzu-sensei… it’s been a week since I woke up. In that time, I’ve had all of my classmates and both Hawks and Mirko visit at least once- often with them staying multiple hours at a time or even overnight. I’ve learned that my failures resulted in the near complete destruction of Hosu, I’ve learned that All For One’s death resulted in an artificial Harmonic Convergence and the creation of a Spirit Portal, and I’ve had to tell my closest friends the truth of my quirk and my history,” Izumi started, staring down at her hands and not quite meeting her principal’s eyes. “I’ve seen the casualty lists online, seen the videos of All Might’s retirement speech and… I’m still here. I’m alive. I can still fight , I can still work . I’m not helpless or lesser just because I don’t have my bending anymore, and while I hate that I can’t be as strong as I was before, you need competent teachers for your bending class. I’m the only person on the planet even remotely qualified to teach anyone anything about their newfound powers. So yes. I’m sure. Because quirkless or not, I can still fight and I can still help , and that’s all that really matters.”

 

Nedzu was silent for a long minute, tapping away on the tablet that sat upon his desk for a moment before looking up again. “I see. Well, in that case I will ask no further questions about your decision. Let’s proceed to the next topic: At the request of Aizawa-san, you will be taking mandatory counseling sessions with Hound Dog. You’ve been through a highly traumatic event, and although the presence of friends may help your recovery, a professional counselor is likely better in the long run.”

 

“I- yeah, I understand,” Izumi nodded, not really saying anything further- she perfectly agreed with the idea of needing professional help, of course, but it still felt like a failing of hers that she needed it in the first place- that if she’d just been smarter, done better, hit harder… she wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. She shuddered, wrapping her jacket tighter around herself and grimacing- even in the summer sun, her body felt too cold all the time now, her mind and senses unused to not constantly putting out a blaze of heat. 

 

She… still felt like she had something inside of her, though. But every time she tried to reach for it… it slipped through her fingers like water. Like whatever that strange feeling inside of her was, it didn’t want to be seen or felt yet, content to remain mysterious.

 

“Good,” Nedzu’s words cut through her mental probing and brought her back to the present, a stack of papers seemingly appearing out of nowhere as the chimera tapped them against the table and slid the entire packet over. “Now, our next topic is of course, you taking over as the instructor for the school’s bending class. I don’t doubt that you are qualified in the sense that you know what these new and mysterious powers are, but if I am to make you an instructor for this class, you will need to be formally registered as a TA as well as prove that you are capable of teaching your peers. I’m willing to waive the need for a pre-made curriculum in this case, as we are doing this as an emergency measure, but should this continue through your second year, I do expect you to make a curriculum at some point.”

 

“... I understand. I suppose I’ll have to write one up in my off time. That means I’ll have to brush up on some things...” Izumi sighed, slumping ever so slightly in her seat before crossing her legs and shifting around slightly, a small frown forming on her face as she tried to think through how she’d teach a bunch of people at least the basics of bending. Sure, she knew firebending better than the back of her own hand, but the other styles? Even if she did purposefully take lessons in Tai Chi, Baguazhang, and Hun Gar because they were the closest analogues in this world to water, air, and earthbending respectively, it wasn’t like she had a deep, physical understanding of the elements and how to wield them in an effective manner.

 

Unless she did…

 

Izumi blinked, then shook her head before returning her attention to Nedzu, who was simply watching her calmly. “Sorry, I lost my train of thought- do you mind if I do some training beforehand to practice what I’m going to be teaching? I need to move right now after spending the better part of a month comatose.”

 

“By all means,” Nedzu shrugged, waving Izumi off to do exactly that, a small smile on his face. “Do get back to me about that curriculum when you have time. I’ll have a few of our faculty supervising the classes to make sure actual progress is being made- some of them will even be learning from you!”

 

“... I see.” Izumi winced slightly at Nedzu’s words, then sighed as the far too intelligent rat lifted up a paw and created a thin, wispy candle flame. “... Great. Just… great. Well, I suppose I’ll end up having to adapt some of my lessons even moreso … I’ll see what I can do, sir. If that’s all?”

 

“For now, yes. I’ll have everything finalized within a few hours- your first session will be in Gym Lambda tomorrow at noon. I trust you are familiar with it?”

 

“Yes- I’ll go scope it out now. Will I have any additional resources to work with?” Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow as she thought about just how much training equipment she needed just as a beginner firebender… most of which was replacements for things she burned along the way. “Because there’s going to be… probably a lot of collateral damage.”

 

“Of course. I’ll be forwarding you several contacts you can use later,” Nedzu nodded once more, the smile never leaving his face. “Now run along, Midoriya-san. And… for what it’s worth, I am truly, truly sorry about what you have gone through. UA has failed to protect you once, it will not happen again.”

 

“I… thank you, sir.”

 

“Of course, Midoriya-san.”

 

And with that, Izumi exited the almost claustrophobic office, shuddering and wincing at the cold that threatened to tear through her weakened body and gritting her teeth as she began making her way down to the aforementioned Gym Lambda.

 

Maybe some practice would do her some good, get her back into fighting form.

Chapter Text

“Hello? Helloooooo? Is anyone there?”

 

Izumi walked through what seemed like a lush, endless field- soft green grass swaying in the wind, the scent of flowers thick in the air, trees rustling in the distance though nowhere in sight. There was a light breeze, and although it was bright enough to be noon, the sky was tinted the pale yellows and oranges of late afternoon, the sun casting long shadows as she walked.

 

“Where am I? And… how did I get here?”

 

She looked around, unable to really grasp just what the hell had happened to lead her to this place. Was this one of the training fields? No, it was… it was… something else.

 

Izumi shuddered and continued down the path that cut through the ever present grass, one hand reaching out and running along the tall blades as she passed by, the rustling sound almost providing a balm to her soul. 

 

How long was this path, she wondered? How far would she walk?

 

The sun was warm upon her back, but it felt… distant. Muted. Like it was there, but somehow despite it shining down upon her she couldn’t feel it as well as she wanted to.

 

Did she want to? Wasn’t she meant to be a quirkless child, who would grow up to become a hero anyway? So what if she couldn’t feel the sun, all she needed was herself… right?

 

Izumi shook her head and cleared the cobwebs from her mind. Distantly, she was aware of the subtle, almost muffled clanking of her footsteps as she trod along the dusty road- the same sound as Fire Nation armor, treated leather over hardened steel plates rubbing against each other atop comfortable fire resistant fabric. Still, though, it was a familiar weight. Not the slightly bulky uniforms of the footsoldiers and enlisted corps- no, this was her armor. The armor that she’d worn for much of her early life. The armor she’d trained in, studied in, fought a war in. The same armor she’d incorporated pieces of into her hero costume.

 

She looked down. 

 

She was wearing a mess of cracked leather and rust.

 

How?

 

How could her armor have fallen into such a state? And for that matter- was it ever actually her armor? Or was she just borrowing it from a corpse?

 

Izumi had never worn this armor before in her life- it had been long since thrown away, buried in the depths of the Fire Nation palace, never to see the light of day again. Never to be worn again. It was the armor of her tortured childhood, the childhood she’d rejected- no, it hadn’t been her childhood at all, had it?

 

It had been Azula’s childhood.

 

Azula, who had lived her whole life before Izumi was ever born. Azula, who was a grown woman, fully developed and who’d known who she was, why she fought, and how she would get her way. Azula, who’d gone on that life changing journey throughout the world, learning from other cultures and taking on their bending styles. 

 

Azula, who had died sad and alone, outliving her friends and living to see the day when her niece took the throne. Azula, who had spent so much time eking out a humble existence in the outer territories and roughing it out in the middle of the wilderness that she’d never really figured out how to adapt to city life. 

 

Azula, who was now dead.

 

Izumi, though, was alive. A teenager, if only for another year and a half. A woman on the cusp of her adulthood, still finding her path, still searching her way forward. So who was she, really? 

 

Midoriya Izumi? Azula of the Royal Family? Something in between?

 

She followed the sounds of a distant river, hearing it babbling over stone in the midst of a forest, but never quite seeing where it was. Somehow, it felt important, but she didn’t know where to go.

 

Did she stay on the path that led seemingly nowhere? Or did she move off the beaten road, into the unknown depths of the grassy plains?

 

What would she find, she wondered? What would she learn?

 

Was this some kind of test? 

 

She sighed, and blinked slowly.

 

There was a small shrine by the road, little more than a stone pedestal with a carved representation of Agni, the sun, atop it. There was an offering bowl and some incense, though the incense was unlit and she had nothing to offer.

 

Still, she clapped her hands together and knelt before the roadside shrine, washing her hands and mouth in the water basin nestled at the foot of the pedestal before bowing her head.

 

“Lord Agni… I don't know if you can hear me from where I am- this world, this place… I don’t even know if this is real or if this is just my mind playing tricks on me…  I could use some guidance right now, lord Agni. I… I think I’m lost. On the cusp of some… some great change in my path. I don’t… I don’t think I really ever figured out who I am, not really. All my life, I feel like I’ve been shackled to a ghost- the woman I once was, before I was reborn here. Am I even still who I was, before I awoke those memories? Or am I just… just a hollow existence? A ghost of the past possessing the corpse of a grown up child? I think… I think I need to move on somehow, but I don’t know how- I don’t… I don’t know what to do, Lord Agni. Please… if you can hear me… send a sign. Something- anything. I could really use it right now.”

 

Something in the distance roared.

 

The same roar as a dragon- Agni’s will made manifest, or so the legends went. 

 

That was as much of a sign as any, now wasn’t it?

 

Izumi sighed, rising to her feet and looking down at the shrine- if Agni had truly sent her a sign, then it was only good form to leave an offering, right? But what?

 

She pursed her lips, and an idea came to her mind- her armor, worn and pitted and in as disheveled a state as it was. It was the only thing she had on her in the first place.

 

With but a moment’s hesitation, and a few moments of struggle as she tried to remember how everything came off, Izumi folded her armor as best as she could and placed it down upon the shrine, hoping that it was good enough.

 

Then, clad in nothing but the tunic and trousers she’d worn beneath the armor, Izumi made a choice.

 

Lord Agni had provided her a sign, and thus she would follow, wherever it may lead. The path, as safe as it was, had to be left behind.

 

She stepped off of the path, and behind her the incense upon the shrine lit itself in a haze of sweet, fragrant smoke.

 

Izumi found herself in a lush forest, nary a path in sight, just the distant sounds of water, and the vague memory of a roaring dragon.

 

She stepped forward again.

 

Midoriya Izumi awoke in her bed, panting, gasping, sweating, and- and…

 

“.... I… didn’t light those…” she murmured, staring at the meditation candles merrily burning away upon her long disused table. “.... What’s going on?”

Chapter Text

“Ne, Midoriya- are you… uh… okay?” Kaminari asked as he stretched lightly and took in the setup that had been provided in Gym Lambda- outside of Katsumi, who was openly staring at Izumi’s ass even through the thick, almost winter ready clothing that the greenette was wearing, and Shouto, who was currently busy practicing his firebending forms, the blond was surprisingly the first to arrive to the bending lessons that Izumi was now teaching. Early even, since it was only eleven and class started at noon

 

It was a far departure from his usual scheduling, which mostly consisted of him stumbling into homeroom right as the bell rang, disheveled and with some kind of breakfast food hanging out of his mouth. 

 

How much of that was him actually oversleeping and how much of it was theatrics was still the topic of furious debate in the class groupchat.

 

“Hm? Just a little cold- I’m not used to not subconsciously thermoregulating myself. Otherwise I’m fine. Why do you ask, Kaminari?” Izumi raised an eyebrow at Kaminari, who simply made an expression that was nominally a grin but was too awkward to express anything other than the blonde being vaguely uncomfortable but trying to put a brave face on it.

 

Somehow, Izumi had a feeling she already knew what her human taser of a classmate was going to say before he even said it.

 

“Well… it’s just… Man, I feel like a dick for saying this but… I mean- you just had your quirk stolen and it hadn’t even been a month since then- Are you… I mean shit, like I don’t doubt that you’re still one of the most badass people in our class but… I dunno, I’m just putting my foot in my mouth here, aren’t I?” Kaminari sighed, grimacing at the twin glares sent his way from Katsumi and Shouto, though Izumi just sighed- she couldn’t really be mad at him for assuming a few things, if she was reading his statement correctly, given that he didn’t… really know her as well as her closer friend group did.

 

Then again, it still kind of sucked to hear the implied statement of ‘can you still be here without your quirk?’

 

“The only thing I’ve truly lost is three weeks of conditioning, Kaminari. I’m not suddenly more fragile just because I can’t throw fireballs anymore,” Izumi sighed, rolling her eyes at the electric blond and continuing her warmup stretches. “Besides, I can still more than hand your ass to you, if you’d like a demonstration.”

 

“Ahaha- no I believe you! I um… please don’t kick my ass. I’m delicate!” Kaminari immediately backpedaled, a disarming grin on his face as he stepped away from Izumi and instead plopped his ass down onto the set of color coded chairs denoting the section for firebenders- of which every seat had its own attached mini table with a single candle upon it, none of which were lit yet but all of which had a little pack of matches next to them for later. “I’m just sayin’, y’know? Maybe you uh, shoulda taken some more time off?”

 

“I’m fine, Kaminari. I’m not the kind of person who’ll just sit idly around when there’s still things I can do,” Izumi rolled her eyes, then sighed as she shook her head and made her way back to Katsumi so she could cuddle, pressing all the way up against the blonde and sighing at the warmth of her girlfriend’s body. “Ahh…. I miss being this warm…”

 

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to keep you warm whenever you want, ne?” Katsumi giggled, her mood immediately brightening up as soon as she wrapped an arm around Izumi’s shoulder, both of them pressing a little closer together than was perhaps allowable, but Kaminari wasn’t about to say anything, and Shouto was too busy practicing his firebending (with both hands, even!) to really care.

 

The two of them continued to be disgustingly adorable for a long while, stealing kisses in between stretches and lightly touching each other all over the place in a way that would have had Kaminari drooling if he wasn’t thoroughly aware of the fact that they were his friends and also the two most terrifyingly intense girls he’d ever met.

 

Instead, the electric blond simply focused on his phone, scrolling through his twitter feed and grimacing at the amount of news being slammed into his face from a million different biased sources- worldwide chaos as quirkless people displayed feats of bending, spirits being spotted all over the world and alternatively either attacking or fusing with people depending on any number of arbitrary factors, the government of japan having to field inquiries and requests to send scientific expeditions through the giant golden portal that was still shooting up into the skies where Hosu once was- before swapping to watching meme compilations instead so he wouldn’t get all messed up from doomscrolling right before what was probably going to be an incredibly physically intensive class.

 

Kaminari had seen Izumi’s workout routine. He knew damn well what she had to do to make her firebending work as well as it did. Frankly it’d be a fucking miracle if he ever got even to the point of throwing a single fireball, let alone the lightning she was so fucking terrifying with- fuck if he knew how Izumi did that- but damn if he didn’t want to at least give it his all.

 

He was a hero dammit, and he- he-

 

Kaminari slammed his phone down, finally glaring up at the two lovebirds who were still making ga-ga eyes at each other as he almost shouted his indignation. “Okay seriously, I get that you’re gay and in love but can you two please stop getting so public with it!? I’m already single and lonely and you two are making it worse!”

 

Izumi paused, staring at Kaminari for a long second with very visible lipstick stains around her jawline and smeared over her lips, all in the same shade that Katsumi wore.

 

Katsumi, meanwhile, had a very prominent hickey in an entirely impossible to hide spot on her neck.

 

“... Er, sorry, Kaminari,” Izumi muttered awkwardly, looking to the side and blushing in a way he had literally never seen before wow she was cute when she was all flustered- er, that is. “Just trying to make up for lost time, I suppose.”

 

“Yeah just- yeah. Okay. It’s… fine. But like, you’re not gonna keep doing that for the whole class right?”

 

“... I think I would literally rather die than make out with Katsumi while the teachers are watching, so no,” Izumi answered promptly, shuddering a bit. 

 

“I dunno, I wouldn’t mind a little bit of scandal,” Katsumi murmured, tapping her chin consideringly as she eyed some of the bushes dotted around the area to simulate an outdoor environment. “Ne Zuzu, you wanna try and b-”

 

Fortunately for Kaminari’s sanity, the doors to the gym opened at that moment, and the rest of the class began trickling in- a mix of undergrads, graduate students, teachers, even Principal Nedzu of all people. Katsumi quickly swallowed the rest of her sentence and awkwardly wiped at her neck to try and hide the massive hickey there to no avail, while Izumi just sighed and pulled a pack of wet wipes from her pocket to try and get rid of the lipstick smudges. 

 

Well. 

 

There’d been worse starts to a class. Probably.


It still didn’t help when Aizawa gave both Izumi and Katsumi one of his trademark dead-eyed glares that all but screamed “I’m not mad, but I’m really disappointed”. Yikes.

Chapter Text

Izumi was… off. Something wasn’t quite hanging right inside of her, it felt like. A persistent tug somewhere deep inside that she was entirely unsure of the root cause for. It felt like… something was calling to her, deep inside. What it was, she had no clue, but attempting to meditate and find it the way she usually figured out her spiritual problems when she still had her firebending… well, it didn’t really help . In some ways, it just made it worse .

 

There was a pervasive feeling of loss and emptiness inside of her, a strange… not quite ache that felt like something was gnawing away at her, and she just… didn’t know what it was. At this point, the only thing she could figure was that it was something spiritual, and that the strange dreams she’d been having (that she could only just barely remember the vaguest flashes of when she woke up) had something to do with it.

 

Still, even though that strange feeling kept bothering her, something told her that it would work out fine on its own- some kind of bone deep certainty that she was on the right path.

 

So she ignored it for now- was she on some kind of spiritual journey, perhaps? A test from Lord Agni? Maybe. She didn’t know, and so she let it be for now.

 

Instead of focusing on the weirdness going on in that metaphorical space located somewhere in the vicinity of her stomach, Izumi got to know her classmates and friends better over the course of summer break whilst they all broke their bodies training their quirks during the times that they’d usually have their normal classes- sure, their training camp with the Wild Wild Pussycats had been canceled due to the need to implement their emergency bending classes, but said Pussycats had come by UA anyway to help out.

 

Apparently, Pixie-Bob had manifested firebending, of all things. Ragdoll and Mandalay had both manifested airbending, and Tiger had gained waterbending.

 

Izumi was not surprised in the least, considering their personalities and general outlooks on life.

 

She was, however, very weirded out about how she was regarded as the current foremost expert on bending in the world, and as a result had to teach well over a hundred people- most of whom were her upperclassmen and teachers - how to use their newfound powers.

 

Some people picked up easier than others- Kaminari had more or less entirely skipped over all of the basic and intermediate skills of firebending and had managed to generate lightning with only a single demonstration of the movements and general philosophy. 

 

It was… really weird seeing him use blue lightning when his discharges were normally yellow, but at least he was progressing with regular firebending on schedule.

 

Principal Nedzu was a genius, so of course he picked up firebending with immense ease- the only thing holding him back was his slight lack of physicality, but he more than made up for it with conviction and sheer understanding of his own abilities once he got a proper feel for it. He’d also dropped out of the class after only three days, claiming that he’d keep watch over the security cameras and develop his style on his own.

 

Aizawa-sensei hadn’t actually developed any new bending, but Izumi taught him chi-blocking anyway since his Erasure didn’t work on chi flows the same way it did quirks.

 

Or… it did sometimes but only when the bender in question had a quirk that was deeply tied in with their bending, like Kaminari, or Tsuyu, or Shouto… or Katsumi… or Tsuburaba… or Honenuki… the list went on, really, especially for those in the hero course.

 

But in between her bending classes, she trained her martial arts- she finally managed to take those rope dart lessons she’d been meaning to a long time ago, as well as refresh her knowledge on Baguazhang, Tai Chi, and Hun Gar by practicing against Aizawa-sensei and Tiger-sensei, while also picking up some more stealth tips from Aizawa-sensei.

 

Speaking of Aizawa sensei- Izumi had learned that apparently she was more than capable of matching up to her teacher in a straight hand to hand fight thanks to her knowledge and mastery of several styles of combat. His higher skill level had even allowed her to go in with some of the more lethal or vicious moves she couldn’t use against Katsumi or Ochako or Ojiro, since he was way more capable of dodging, blocking, and countering them.

 

The one time she’d sparred in front of her bending class, it had immediately shut up the few people there who were convinced that she couldn’t be a hero without her quirk.

 

Including Vlad-sensei, who she hadn’t known was kind of a quirkist. Dick.

 

Outside of training and teaching, she’d learned that Tsuyu and Ochako had been talking about adding Himiko to their relationship, and that the campus GSA had gained a new member recently in the form of Yanagi Reiko. She’d also learned that… almost her entire class had started intermittently joining GSA meetings in their free time. The only ones who hadn’t were Tenya, Mashirao, and Sero, though Tenya had confided in her that he would go to GSA as an ally, but only if everyone there was comfortable with it. Mashirao and Sero just didn’t see the need, though they were very supportive either way.

 

The same could not be said of Monoma, who was still an asshole. Not a bigoted one, but an asshole all the same. Granted, he’d stopped being so much of one, but… old habits died hard. Unfortunate, but it was what it was.

 

Aside from Monoma souring the impressions of 1-B, the two primary hero classes did still get together on occasion- not entirely, but there were always study groups forming and apparently Kirishima was doing a friends with benefits thing with Tetsutetsu, and Kuroiro had tripled up with Tokoyami and Shouji in their corner of chuuni/goth activity. She’d seen the pictures Ashido had sent to the groupchat, it was adorable how the three of them spent so much time trying to look brooding even when they were all cuddled up together and trying not to look like absolute dorks in love.

 

So cute.

 

Even cuter was Yaomomo and Jirou, who were so disgustingly sweet with each other that Sato occasionally made jokes that it powered him up just seeing the two holding hands. 

 

It was nice, Izumi thought, catching up with her friends and getting closer to her classmates. Still, though, even with all of the effort expended in training, all of the slow and torturous progress in teaching four entire different schools of bending, and the fun of keeping up with her peers and making out with Katsumi in private alcoves… 

 

She still couldn’t shake the feeling that she really, really should be trying to remember those weird dreams of hers.

Chapter Text

“So we all agree that Hime-sama is definitely going through something weird, right?” Mina asked, idly looking around at the scattered assemblage of girls that made up 1-A and 1-B. She would have invited 1-C’s girls as well, but the two primary hero courses weren’t exactly well integrated with their underground classmates even if they did occasionally have overlap in their class schedules. 

 

It turned out that trying to befriend a bunch of largely anti-social stealth focused heroes in training was harder than it looked- honestly, they probably wouldn’t all integrate until second year when their studies went back to the normal university structure instead of the modified highschool structure they had now.

 

“Yeah, Izu’s been… I dunno, I don’t think she’s been sleeping well,” Ochako mumbled, just loud enough to be heard. “I mean, I’m not on the same floor but we’ve been doing morning practice since there’s no class, and she’s got some serious bags under her eyes. I even managed to win a few of our matches and that’s normally nearly impossible for me with just hand to hand!”

 

“It is concerning,” Momo murmured, chewing her lip and idly squeezing a small stress ball between her fingers- she was one of the members of the hero course who hadn’t developed a bending skill, though she was still learning the finer points of weapons combat from Izumi and Aizawa-sensei. “Could it have something to do with her spiritual center? I admit, I’m not well versed in this kind of thing, but the way she talks about it… perhaps she needs some kind of reassurance or guidance, but I don’t know how to do that…”

 

“Well, she did tell us that a friendly face in a time of crisis can settle even the deepest of spiritual troubles, kero,” Tsu pointed out from beneath Ochako, perfectly comfortable with having her girlfriend sitting in her lap even as she grabbed Ochako’s wrists and waved her hands around in lieu of doing it herself. “Though, that’s usually for crises of faith or trying to find a new spiritual center after an intense personal journey or worldshattering revelation.”

 

“... Does anyone find it weird how she has so many weirdly specific situations to talk about?” Itsuka asked, half-raising her hand awkwardly and looking around, little sparks of flame crackling around her fingers as she wiggled them in the air. “Like, is it just me or does she seem to know way more things than is theoretically possible from someone our age?”

 

“Didn’t she say something about reincarnation being possible now that there’s a spirit portal?” Kinoko murmured, throwing her own two yen into the ring. “Maybe she just… knows more about it than anyone else because she reincarnated!”

 

“Kino-kun, you’re adorable and I love you but I don’t think that works at all- for one, Midori’s been around a lot longer than a few weeks, so how would she have reincarnated before the spirit portal opened in the first place?” Setsuna cut in, huffing as she threaded her fingers together and looked around the huddle of girls scattered around the Beta Girls Dorm common room, frowning ever so slightly. “Like, she’s still weirdly competent at… literally fucking everything , but I dunno if that means she reincarnated or something.”

 

“.... Well, wasn’t the actual phrasing she used that reincarnation is more possible now?” Kyouka pointed out, tapping her earphone jacks together and huffing as she wiggled around in a way that was evident to any airbender in the room that she was definitely hypersensitive to the pressure in said room. “I’m pretty sure that implies that she totally could have been reincarnated before. Which, honestly, makes a lot of sense.”

 

“I wonder if she’d be willing to tell us if we asked,” Momo wondered out loud, humming as she pulled up her phone and idly accessed the Class 1-A groupchat, thumbs hovering over her phone screen as she looked around the room, not yet noticing how Ochako and Tsuyu sent knowing looks at each other. “Should I?”

 

“... I mean, I don’t think Hime-sama would fault us for our curiosity, and she did kinda all but imply it with how many stories and stuff she tells us,” Mina sighed, holding her head in her hands as she pouted at nothing in particular. “Somehow I thought waterbending would involve more crazy cool kung fu moves, not tai chi in the park and listening to Hime-sama tell us stories that sound like they came straight outta some old book of proverbs.”

 

“... I think it’s nice,” Tooru huffed, crossing her arms and grumbling as brought her knees up to her chest so she could more fully sink into her armchair. “Midochan has a lovely storytelling voice, y’know? And it really sounds all wise and spiritual stuff the way she says it. Also I think if she’s telling stories they’re technically fables and not proverbs. Or a parable. Either or- I don’t remember the difference.”

 

“.... There’s a difference?” Ochako mumbled, incredulously looking over at Tooru. “... Where did you even learn this, and why?”

 

“Had to look up definitions in a fanfic I was reading, don’t sweat it,” Tooru answered shamelessly, then paused and cleared her throat. “Don’t ask what kinda fic it was. It was not good and I so regret reading it now.”

 

“... It was smut wasn’t it,” Himiko deadpanned, speaking up for the first time in several minutes after finally looking up from her phone- more specifically, her game of bejeweled that she was apparently going all in on. 

 

“No, if it was smut I wouldn’t have regretted it no matter how bad! It was um… I read three chapters in and then it uh… there was a lot of nationalist, racist, bigoted ranting,” Tooru shuddered, a motion mirrored by just about everyone else in the room except for Momo, who just looked confused… and Reiko, who didn’t much react to anything except for her usual deadpan stare.

 

“... I’m sorry, but what is fanfic? And… what is smut?” Momo asked, tilting her head with a slightly confused expression on her face. “.... I suppose I can sort of assume on the first one, but…”

 

“.... I’m not telling her,” Himiko muttered, and immediately beat a hasty retreat by flipping over the back of her chair and scuttling away to the other side of the room.

 

“Yeah me neither!” Mina almost shouted, followed by a chorus of similar responses, the entire group scattering to the sides of the room theatrically and leaving Tooru alone with Momo in the center of the room.

 

Tooru sighed, palming her face and groaning. “Okay fine, I’ll explain…” 

 

And with that, she launched into an in-depth explanation of fanfiction, its history, the various related terms, and what smut was.

 

Momo swiftly regretted asking.

Chapter Text

“... Uh… Midoriya-san… er, sensei… is this um… safe?” Tsuburaba Kosei asked awkwardly as the group of airbending students took in the spinning assortment of large, rectangular panels that they were supposed to bob and weave through to ‘become one with the wind’. “It looks a little er… intense… for our second week of training.”

 

The panels in question, of course, were the most basic form of airbending training equipment in existence: the weaving gates. A large platform approximately 4 meters in diameter with freely spinning poles embedded in a regular, geometric pattern across the platform, with a spiral pattern painted onto the platform itself. Upon the spinning poles were hollow metal frames with rubberized edges, and in the frames themselves were sheets of canvas painted with a pattern that Izumi roughly remembered being on the similar platform back on Air Temple Island. In all honesty, it really did look kinda like a death trap, as even with the rubberized edges and fabric sheets- those supporting frames looked like they’d hurt .

 

Izumi, to her credit, didn’t exactly sigh as she took in the apprehensive faces of her students, frowning a bit as she tried to puzzle out why they were so afraid.

 

“Look, I promise you this is how airbending training works- it’s like the most basic thing in the world other than learning the forms- trust me, you haven’t seen intense airbending training yet,” she huffed, pressing the button on her control remote to slow down the spinning contraption to a slightly less advanced speed- the panels themselves now no longer audibly whooshing as they spun through the air, though the breeze they generated was still tangible even to Izumi, still bundled up in thick winter clothes- why she was still so fucking cold even after having several weeks already to get used to her new condition, she had no clue, but nightmares or no nightmares, weird meditation sessions or no weird meditation sessions, she had a duty to her new comrades in bending ability and had to teach them regardless of how chilled her core was.

 

“Easy for you to say, you’ve been doing this for years!” one of the more idiotic general education students called out, probably one of the business majors honestly, given how he was still wearing fucking loafers to what was essentially martial arts practice

 

“How are we supposed to get through all that, huh!? Magic!?” another one of the idiot business majors shouted, the first one’s twin brother apparently, given their identical facial features and barely palette swapped hair. “Come on, that’s ridiculous! Not everyone’s a fucking kung fu genius like you are!”

 

“Magic, huh? Well, I suppose you could call it that- so… essentially, yes. I expect you to get through this exercise with magic,” Izumi deadpanned, rolling her eyes and sighing for real as she took up her place at the start of the course and dropped into an airbending stance- one that closely resembled, but was subtly off from the baguazhang she’d been practicing. It was looser, a little more flexible. More prone to being knocked over, as though the user was unrooted from the ground- fitting, then, that that was what it was for . “The weaving gates are the most basic of airbending training tools. There are other, more complex methods of training one’s connection to the wind, but this is what lets you feel it the most. This is, in essence, literal childsplay.”

 

Ignoring the quiet muttering from behind her from the gen ed students who weren’t exactly convinced by her words, Izumi instead nodded at the few pro heroes in the crowd- Ragdoll and Mandalay, Ectoplasm-sensei, and Bubble Girl (who was invited by Nedzu from the Nighteye Agency for… some reason)- all of whom seemed to understand the seriousness of Izumi’s words more than most of her fellow classmates (though, then again, Ochako seemed super fired up, as did Nejire-san from third year). Without saying anything, she shucked off her heavy jacket and stretched lightly, getting used to the movements of her own body again as she felt the light breeze on her shoulders and prepared herself for possible humiliation.

 

“Just a warning, by the way,” she spoke idly, keeping her joints loose and swaying lightly as she approached the spinning panels without a hint of nervousness (despite how much she was internally worried about making herself look stupid ), turning back one more time as she stared some of her more recalcitrant students dead in the eye. “If I can make it through with no quirk and no bending, then there’s absolutely no excuse for you all. Now- observe.”

 

And with that, Izumi dove headlong into the spinning forest of panels that was the weaving gates, the overhead camera projecting her image onto a large screen as she allowed the breeze itself to almost pull her into the freely rotating, almost random movements of each panel, humming under her breath as she used it almost as a meditative dance- not focusing on her steps, her movements, her stance, or even the panels themselves, but simply dancing along and moving her body with the flow of the wind.

 

Every slightest breeze brushed along her body, twinging some part of her skin or her clothes, pushing and pulling her along in a circuitous path through the series of spirals painted on the floor of the training field, her eyes almost closed as she all but ignored her own vision of what was happening and instead let the wind push and push and pull and swirl and dance and flow and-

 

A series of gasps and cheers met Izumi’s ears as she finally stepped free of the weaving gates, barely audible over her own panting as she relaxed and let herself drop her stance. For some reason, the breeze was almost too sensitive upon her skin, as if it were swirling and drifting around her body, clinging to her skin in a way that was… strange. Unfamiliar. But why?

 

Izumi shook her head, taking a deep breath and letting it fill her lungs. Okay. Okay. Focus on the weird shit her body was doing later, keep herself together now. 

 

“And that,” she spoke after a long moment, winding herself down from the surprisingly strenuous exercise of weaving her way through the gates, turning to face the class once more as they stared at her in what seemed to be total awe, “is how you perform the weaving gates exercise. Now, which one of you wants to go first?”

Chapter Text

“Huh…. this place again,” Izumi murmured under her breath as she walked around the empty forest, a slight chill in her soul as she stepped lightly around the gnarled, ancient trees. There was still the sound of water in the distance, a flow of water through a babbling brook… but now there was also the sound of a flowing waterfall crashing against the rocks- a muted roar of sound that was almost all consuming for how it echoed around the still air of the forest and completely drowned out Izumi’s thoughts in a tidal wave of white noise.

 

It was peaceful, calming even.

 

She couldn’t shake the implication that she was forgetting something, though, and that this dream was important somehow- this was definitely a dream of some kind, or maybe a weird spirit journey. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something she had a lot of experience in, and it was in all likelihood going to strain her mind with an excess of metaphor and loose allegories for character development or something.

 

All the same, she continued forward. Something about this felt so, so important, and she didn’t particularly know why. All she knew was the sounds of dead leaves crunching underfoot, the sounds of a waterfall in the distance, and the cool sensation of shade and dappled sunlight across her skin.

 

She was in her beach outfit, this time around- the one she wore back in her youth as Azula, on Ember Island. For some reason, despite that being an otherwise utterly inconsequential part of her life (well, beyond completely wrecking that asshole Chan’s house and ruining his reputation and also getting his father dishonorably discharged from his seat as an Admiral. Fuck that guy, honestly) the outfit itself felt… important, somehow.

 

Like it represented something beyond just what its fabric would imply.

 

What was it, then, that she had to do here? The last time that she remembered being in this forest, she’d been… she’d been following the sound of a dragon, hadn’t she? Hadn’t Agni sent her guidance in that sign, that she was to let go of the beaten path she was following?

 

Or… something?

 

Izumi didn’t really know what was going on, just that as she got closer and closer to the waterfall still roaring in the distance, all she could really think was “How much of my life have I spent trying to control everything?”

 

In her own way, it was… interesting, to think about it, since it was so broadly defined that she could have spent decades meditating on the answer and still not come to any kind of conclusion. What was control, really? What was a lack of control? Freedom wasn’t technically a lack of control since so many people’s definition of personal freedom involved being able to control the world around them such that everything lined up in a way they found freeing.

 

A lack of control… freedom… Izumi didn’t really know how much of her life and her time she’d spent trying to control the world around her, trying to control herself and her circumstances… there were things that she’d done in the pursuit of her goals in both lives, but in reality- did Azula’s life really even matter to her anymore? She wasn’t Azula, she was Midoriya Izumi . What did her experience as Azula even do for her now? It taught her self control, but it also taught her too much control.

 

For so long, she’d fought to be perfect. To be powerful. To be the best, the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, the cleverest, the most beautiful- what good did that really do her, in the long run?

 

It didn’t, that’s what.

 

Izumi shook her head as she continued to wander aimlessly through the forest- turning back every now and then to try and see if she could spot any familiar landmarks or dim lights through the dense trees, only to come up with… nothing at all, really.

 

The past few nights that she’d had this dream… she’d stopped at altars to Agni, every now and again. Every time, she’d given something up to those altars- would tonight be the same?

 

In the endless grassland, she’d only come across the one shrine during her many nights of wandering down that dusty path- a roadside thing with little fanfare, and had given it her armor, the thing that tied her most to her identity as Azula. It was rusted and pitted and cracked and in disrepair, and although it hurt to lock away something that had once meant so much to her, it felt necessary in a way that had let her move forward, to leave the weight of her past behind and to define herself as herself , not just Azula as seen through the lens of a different person.

 

In the forest, she’d come across two shrines, so far- one at the beginning, where she gave up the crown she’d worn as Azula- not the hairpiece that she carried over to this world and wore so often, but the crown she’d coveted and almost been coronated in. The Fire Lord’s crown.

 

Then, a few nights ago, she gave up the hairpiece that signified her rule over Ba Sing Se, however brief that had been.

 

And now… 

 

Izumi shuddered, and stepped out into a brilliant clearing in the woods. The sun shone down, strong and hot and buzzing against the fabric covering her skin- no longer was she wearing her beach clothes, but instead the garb of the Kemurikage. Not her hero uniform, but her old costume, from when she tried to become the shadow power behind Zuko’s throne.

 

It itched something fierce, and she wished immediately to take it off- time and age had taken those memories and darkened them into regrets for almost the entire rest of Azula’s adult life, and Izumi’s even now still faded recollection of those events bore nothing but disgust at her old actions.

 

There was another shrine there, by the riverside.

 

At the far end of the clearing, a massive waterfall stretched out almost as far as the eye could see, a structural impossibility that was right at home in the hazy mists of what was definitely a dream. It loomed high and the dull roar of its waters almost drowned out any kind of fire she would have had in her soul, had she still the ability to generate it. It thundered down into a massive lake, bubbling and throwing up mist in droves before the lake itself emptied out into a surprisingly calm and babbling brook.

 

There, by the edge, stood the aforementioned shrine. It was larger, gilded. Decorated. There was a torii set behind it, and it was framed with additional dragon statues, as though they were courtiers to the eternal flame of the sun.

 

The incense was already lit, and Izumi knew what to do.

 

The garb of the kemurikage was soon after neatly folded into the offering bowl, the mask set atop it. Izumi bowed, observed the proper rites, and prayed.

 

“Lord Agni. I’m back again. I ask your guidance again through this journey- I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve spent my life trying to control every facet I could reach, as if holding onto everything as tight as I could would keep me from becoming the one I feared the most. But I know now my thoughts were flawed, my reasoning weak. My past doesn’t matter, not as much as my will to continue on does. I need to forge my own way, apart from the fear of becoming my past once more, away from trying to control that which I cannot hold and do not need to hold. But… I don’t think I know how to forge my own path right now, so I ask of you again- what do I do? Please, Lord Agni, send me a sign, and I will follow.”

 

A dragon roared again, past the torii gate.

 

Izumi sighed, dressed once more in her beach clothes, and followed the sound through the gate… and into the water.

 

“... Okay look, Lord Agni, if you’re going to send me on a spirit journey every time I sleep can you please not let me make such a mess?” Izumi groaned as she woke up, wincing and grimacing at the feeling of cold, soggy sheets clinging to her skin- apparently she’d somehow managed to knock over an entire bottle of water into her bed while sleeping, and… eugh.

 

Not pleasant, especially not with her lowered body temperature as of late.

 

She sighed.

 

Oh well, whatever. There were some things in life one just couldn’t control, and all she could do was adapt to the circumstances. And maybe hang up her sheets to dry.

Chapter Text

“I’m gonna be completely honest with you, Midoriya,” Kirishima grunted as he blocked Izumi’s kicks with his crossed forearms, his skin hardened as far as he could go and wincing at just how strong each impact was. “I appreciate you for teaching bending classes and being a pretty cool person, but I am fucking terrified of you. Not just because you’re still here and doing better than most of the hero course students even without a quirk or bending anymore, but because you somehow got even fucking scarier! It’s been barely a month and a half, how are you so good at this!?”

 

“I spent a lot of my life doing my best to be the absolute best, strongest fighter I could,” Izumi answered, breathing out lightly as she continued to assault Kirishima’s hardened form both to strengthen her hits and to make sure that Kirishima could keep himself at maximum hardness for as long as possible. So far, even with her lack of appreciable quirk, she was giving him a damn good run for his money just by slamming her armored limbs into him again and again from all angles.

 

It made for great practice swapping what part of his body he was hardening too, and he was getting much faster at it. Just, not quite fast enough to keep up with Izumi if she suddenly decided to distract him with a handful of dust to his face before sliding through his spread legs and whipping around to knee him straight in the spine.

 

“Argh, dammit! And that! How do you keep doing that!?” Kirishima yowled as he stumbled forward, hardening his back into a mass of armored plates just a moment too late before whirling around to face Izumi… who had completely dropped her usual northern shaolin inspired style in favor of bouncing on her toes and holding her hands in a way that was reminiscent of the old (and yet, still respected) long dead film star, Bruce Lee. “Where are you getting the dust from!? We’re on smooth concrete floors!”

 

“You scrape up a lot of dust when you fall over due to your earthbending training,” Izumi answered dryly, holding her stance for a few moments before jumping into the air and spin-kicking Kirishima right in the jaw- fortunately holding back just enough that her armored boot crashed into his hardened armor, though it still let out a sickening CRACK that echoed through the entire gym and left everyone within earshot wincing from the sudden impact. “Other than that, I’ve been training in Aizawa-sensei’s personal fighting style. It’s quite informative. I even learned how to properly use a rope dart- I’ll have to show you later!”

 

“Oh, sure, let the literal ninja get her hands on a stabbing weapon, that’ll go well,” Kirishima sighed, rubbing his jaw and grumbling a bit as he straightened up again into his normal brawler stance, no worse for the wear but still having felt the kick even through his armor. “Glad that I’m pretty much stabproof, otherwise I’d be way more freaked out.”

 

“Oh no, the rope dart was supposed to be part of my old equipment loadout but the way it worked was way too finicky to actually use at first so I just scrapped it,” Izumi shrugged, motioning for Kirishima to go on the attack. A moment later, she began almost casually bobbing and weaving through her red-haired classmate’s strikes, gently turning them aside and outright blocking some of them by trapping his fists and kicks between her knee and elbow with a harsh clang of armor against armor. “It’s just a regular rope dart now, and honestly it is way less combat effective than I’d have liked. Still a good dexterity exercise, though, and honestly, it’s like step one of learning how to use Aizawa-sensei’s capture weapon.”

 

“Oh great, you’re learning that too? Midoriya, do you even have time to sleep?” Kirishima asked, furrowing his brow and looking at Izumi with concern even as he did his best to land a solid hit on the target strapped to her chest, grimacing both in worry and frustration. “Like, you're not overworking yourself are you? It feels like you’re just blazing ahead and like… just pushing yourself past your limits for some reason- you weren’t even this motivated before … er… ah…”

 

“No no, you’re right- I wasn’t motivated back then, but back then I was honestly just really confused about what I wanted out of life and the weirdness of… well, there’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Kirishima. I suppose the gist of it is just that I’ve got a new lease on life, and I’m much more motivated now,” Izumi grinned lightly, quickly and easily weaving through Kirishima’s strikes with as much ease as an airbender- in fact, she had even switched to an airbending stance and started spiraling around the redhead with smooth, efficient ease- a little heavier on her feet than the actual airbenders in the school (especially Ochako, who was so light on her feet these days that Izumi would have thought she actually unlocked true flight if not for the fact that gravity still worked on her… sometimes) but still more than quick and agile enough to leave Kirishima spinning in circles as he tried to focus both on the conversation and Izumi’s unpredictable path.

 

Kirishima, to his credit, was putting up an admirable fight, but his lack of prior combat training showed, and although his earthbending was strong and he was definitely a very hardy fighter… he really could not land a single hit on Izumi at the moment- not without resorting to earthbending to try and trap her leg, which definitely was not the point of this exercise.

 

“Dammit!” Kirishima grunted as Izumi used him as a springboard again, swiping ineffectually at her as she passed overhead and spun around, the swiftness of her movements generating a light breeze as she landed with a light crouch on the floor. Instantly, Kirishima took a step forward to try and hit her while she was still standing up… only to slip and fall on a patch of ice that shouldn’t have been there . “Gah, shit! Who left their ice on the ground!? This is quirk practice, not bending practice, dangit!”

 

“Are you okay, Kirishima?” Izumi asked dryly, raising her eyebrow as she hopped a few steps back and stuffed her hands in her pockets, a thin sheen of sweat covering her skin as she took a quick breather. 

 

“Yeah yeah- I’m good. Just gimme a sec to wipe this up,” Kirishima sighed, grumbling as he pushed himself to his feet and kicked lightly at the patch of ice on the floor to get it to break up and melt before wandering off to go get a paper towel.

 

Izumi frowned lightly, not so much at Kirishima but at the patch of ice he’d slipped in. That… hadn’t been there before.

 

So… where did it come from? And why did Izumi feel like her weird dreams had something to do with it?

Chapter Text

“Well, since you all asked, I feel like I should explain,” Izumi spoke calmly as she stood before the assembled group of girls- most of which were in her bending classes (and who had, in the last few weeks, gotten pretty close to her. Enough to share some… interesting news about someone in the firebending class named “Hachiya”), but some of whom she still only barely knew by way of them hanging out with the other girls a lot. She looked around the room, feeling a bit awkward being the only one standing in front of everyone else, as if she were intruding on a movie night considering she was standing in front of the TV. “... In summary, yes, I did reincarnate into this world when I was a baby. No, I don’t know how it happened, and no, I do not think my circumstances have ever been repeated elsewhere. As for the details of my past…”

 

Izumi paused, chewing her lip for a moment before subtly wringing her hands behind her back and deciding to delve forward anyway- her past wasn’t a true reflection of who she was now, and to fear her past self so much was… stupid, wasn’t it? Just because she remembered who she one was in the distant past a whole world away, didn’t mean that telling everyone would suddenly turn her back into Azula.

 

“I suppose I should start from the beginning,” Izumi finally continued after a long moment, swallowing thickly and meeting Katsumi’s eyes in the background- her girlfriend simply winked, and mimed cracking her knuckles.

 

Which… while reassuring, probably wasn’t a good idea to encourage. She didn’t need Katsumi getting in trouble for assault and battery just because someone said something mean about her. 

 

“My past life comes from another world, as you might have imagined. This world was also called earth, but it was… a little different. There were only four main ethnic groups in that world, split into four massive empires- the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, the northern and southern Water Tribes, and the itinerant Air Nomads. I’d like to call them the Elemental Nations, but I think that’s still trademarked by Shonen Jump,” Izumi cleared her throat, chuckling at her own little joke for a few seconds (and, thankfully, receiving a few giggles from the audience as well- all of whom went blessedly silent as she spoke) before continuing her speech. “The history of the world and all the cultures within isn’t really that important, but what is important is that long ago, the four nations lived in harmony… and then, my great grandfather Fire Lord Sozin started the Hundred Years War by committing a total genocide on the Air Nomads.”

 

Izumi sighed, taking in the sudden pall of silence - not the respectful quiet of before, but the sudden terrible realization that the story they were about to be told wasn’t going to be a happy one. 

 

“Almost a hundred years into the war, I was born. Princess Azula of the Fire Nation Royal Family. We didn’t really have family names as a cultural thing back then, because the Royal Family’s names were all mandated to never be used by anyone else, and most people around the world just didn’t live in big enough settlements for it to be relevant. Anyway- I was… when I was a child, I was what one might consider as having low empathy . I didn’t really understand people , but I understood fear, coercion, manipulation, and politics at an early age,” Izumi’s voice wavered ever so slightly as she began to pace around, taking deep breaths to calm herself at the reminder of her… honestly traumatic childhood. “My childhood as a princess was a mess, but I was hailed as a firebending prodigy- by the time I was fourteen I was one of maybe five people on the planet who could create and redirect lightning, the only person in the world with blue flames, and the only one who had ever displayed the ability to create ball lightning.”

 

Izumi cleared her throat, winking at the firebenders in the group. “Don’t sweat that little detail, I was just a very driven child. And… also super traumatized. Honestly- I don’t feel like going into detail, but the point is that about six years before the end of the war, my father Ozai took the throne as Fire Lord, my mother disappeared, and then three years later my older brother was scarred and exiled by my father for disrespecting him in front of his advisors. I spent three years alone with my bastard of a father, turned into his most skilled, loyal, and powerful soldier… and then the Fire Nation lost the war. I went mad from paranoia, isolation, the catastrophic collapse of my worldview, and the betrayal of the only two people I called my friends, and then spent a year or two locked up in an asylum to recover.”

 

There were a few horrified looks in the crowd- scratch that, everyone looked horrified, even her close friend group of Katsumi, Ochako, Tsu, and Himiko- and they already knew about her past. In greater detail, even! Was it really that horrifying?

 

Probably, now that she thought about her childhood happening to anyone else

 

“After that, I was let out, joined my brother- now the Fire Lord- and his friends in finding my long disappeared mother, and then… ran off into the woods for a while. Then I spent…. A few years  trying a couple schemes here and there to try and get my brother to become as bad of a dictator as my father only to fail time and time again- a good thing really… and then I got tired of it all and decided to go off and explore the world,” Izumi smiled, finally getting out of the awful mess that was her childhood- even in very brief, basic summary. “I mean, I’d conquered parts of it and blown up others during the war, but I’d never really seen it… so I spent the better part of oh… twenty years? Just… wandering around the world. I learned from the remaining scrolls in the air temples, observed waterbenders in the north and south poles, took a few earthbending classes just to read their scrolls and… maybe pilfer a few of them for later reading… etcetera etcetera. I even learned the true, original form of firebending from a pair of dragons!”

 

There were several gasps, followed by a “Dragons are real!?” from Kodai-san, to which Izumi just smiled softly and nodded.

 

“Dragons are real, and they’re so much more beautiful and amazing than you could possibly know,” she sighed quietly, remembering the overwhelming majesty exuded by masters Ran and Shaw when they’d finally accepted her past self- it was enough to bring a tear to her eye. “Ahem… I can talk more about the dragons later… but um, honestly after my world journeys my life was… simple and honestly kind of uneventful. I spent a long time being bitter, even more time being repentant, and then some of the later years of my life just eking out a simple living in Republic City- the first all-nation city in the world, a former Fire Nation colony that attracted immigrants from all over. I was… content, really.”

 

Izumi paused and smiled, thinking about how most of the last few years of her life were rather peaceful- austere and a bit tight on money sometimes, but peaceful and content all the same.

 

Well, up until Avatar Korra arrived in Republic City and pretty much everything turned into a five year long never ending cavalcade of shit.

 

And then…

 

“And then I got hit by a truck while crossing the road when I was just shy of a hundred years old,” she finished, ending off the recap of her life with the equivalent of a fucking hammer blow to the gut. “And that’s my past life’s story! Any questions?”

Chapter Text

“I cannot fucking believe you told everyone that you were isekai’d,” Katsumi snorted as she held Izumi, both of them laying in the latter’s bed with the blankets drawn up, barely dressed in matching Mt. Lady nightshirts and little else. Katsumi’s hands ran through the long, silky smooth tresses of Izumi’s hair, scratching gently at her scalp as she combed through the wild, yet amazingly soft mess of spikes and gentle waves. “That’s so fucking stupid- what happened to that thing you told me when we were kids- about you dying in your sleep just after hearing about the Avatar going on vacation?”

 

Izumi smirked, a dry chuckle on her lips as she rested her head against the valley of Katsumi’s breasts, looking up to catch a better look of her girlfriend’s face. “Well, when we were children, you were still a boisterous little asshole, so I decided to not tell you something abjectly humiliating to admit.”

 

“... Wait that was the truth!? Your past self literally got hit by a truck and died!?” Katsumi almost shrieked, startling a bit as she suddenly shifted positions, her legs wrapping around Izumi’s torso suddenly as she leaned over as best as she could to stare Izumi in the eyes. “What the actual fuck, Zuzu!?”

 

“I thought I told you not to call me that, Kacchan,” Izumi grumbled indignantly, crossing her arms to pout up at her entirely unrepentant girlfriend (and, honestly, Izumi really couldn’t believe how she’d missed out on the signals for so many years, even now), though she couldn’t help but break out into a series of light giggles at the dumbfounded look on Katsumi’s face- it really was just too cute to stay mad at. “Mmm, though, yes, it wasn’t how I expected to die either. Honestly, back when I was Azula, I always thought that I’d die in a fiery blaze of glory, slaying my enemies and burning up in my own flames in one last stand.”

 

She paused, then frowned and sighed. “And then I stopped being a teenager and started thinking about how much nicer it’d be to just die in my sleep, surrounded by friends and family. Didn’t get any of that, but at least I outlived my bastard of a father in the end there...”

 

“.... That’s kinda dark, Princess,” Katsumi muttered, giving Izumi an extra scritch behind the ears as she started shifting around again to bring the other girl up and closer so she could properly hug her girlfriend. “Anyone ever tell you that your past life is fucking depressing? Because it really is.”

 

“I’m aware,” Izumi sighed, wiggling along with Katsumi’s ministrations and getting comfortable as they both sidled around until they were lying side by side with their legs in a tangle, staring each other in the eyes with their hands gently entwined on the pillow between them. “I did have to live it, relive it, and then suppress it multiple times. It’s… Honestly, it’s a wonder I’m not more of a fucking mess. It’s… I dunno, I’m kind of melancholic these days, if you haven’t noticed. Sorry for not being around as much. I’ve been… trying to get a little more out of my shell.”

 

“Hey, it’s okay babe,” Katsumi smiled softly, squeezing Izumi’s hand and bringing her other up to ever so lightly brush along Izumi’s cheek, drawing a smile and a faint blush across her girlfriend’s face. “It’s fine. Just because we’re dating doesn’t mean we have to be attached at the hip, y’know? I think it’s good that you’re working on expanding your friend group. And… yeah, you’re a little melancholic right now, but you’re actually way less moody than you were in highschool. You’re happier, you seem.. More free. More… yourself. Even after… after Hosu… You seem to be bouncing back so well- so easily. I’m kind of jealous, honestly. I… I’m gonna be real with you, Izu- when… when I first heard the news, I just… I just entirely fell apart. I was a mess. I couldn’t sleep, I didn’t eat, I could barely do anything but focus on how much I needed to be with you, to wait by your side until you woke up. And… honestly, I still get nightmares about it- less now, with you here… but still. Sometimes… I just… I get scared, y’know?”

 

Izumi was silent for a long moment, then simply pursed her lips and squeezed Katsumi’s hand tight, shuffling closer until she could properly wrap her free arm around the blonde’s shoulders, hugging her close and pressing deep into the warmth of Katsumi’s body. She breathed deeply, sort of awkwardly holding her head up as she lightly bonked against Katsumi’s head, then spoke quietly- just loud enough for Katsumi to hear. “I… I’m sorry. That you went through all of that because of me. I wish I knew what to say to make you feel better, but… I’ve never been particularly good with encouraging words.”

 

“Just you being here is enough, Izu,” Katsumi murmured gently, slowly pushing both of them up until she was sitting there with Izumi straddling her lap, the greenette still tightly hugging her with her face buried in Katsumi’s shoulder. “You and I are both shit at sappy speeches, y’know… but… it helps, knowing that you’re here. That you’re safe. That you’re with me and awake.”

 

She sighed, then gently leaned down and pressed a kiss against Izumi’s shoulder, feeling one in return.

 

The two of them were silent for a long while, not saying a word but listening to the sound of each other breathing, taking gentle reassurance that the other was there, that they were both safe and comfortable.

 

They sat there for several minutes, just holding each other and rocking back and forth gently- Katsumi’s arms around Izumi’s waist and Izumi’s arms wrapped around Katsumi’s shoulders- not saying a word and simply allowing time to pass. Their hearts pulsed in time, a steady thump thump that almost seemed to echo between them. 

 

Unbidden, both of them almost fell into a meditative trance, their breathing and heartbeats and synchronized movements letting them drift out of focus and into the spiritual rhythms of their own souls- the flow of chi in the air around them, the flows of chi as they swirled within and interacted with the world itself…

 

Katsumi paused, blinking slowly as her own chi… tingled. A sensation that usually only happened when…

 

She opened her eyes, feeling a soft breeze in the air- warm, gentle. Something that shouldn’t have been there given her own lack of skill at bending the heat in the air, the lack of any active fans, and the closed windows and doors.

 

Where was the breeze coming from, and why was it so… warm? So… familiar…

 

Katsumi shuddered, and gently pulled away from Izumi, staring her dead in the eyes and bulldozing forward with sudden realization even as Izumi gave her an almost affronted sound of confusion.

 

“Izu… Izu I can feel your chi!” she blurted out, taking a deep breath as something clicked in her mind. “I don’t think your bending is completely gone!”

 

Izumi blinked, completely uncomprehending for a moment. And then-


“It’s WHAT!?”

Chapter Text

“... You know, Lord Agni, if this is you telling me to get on with my spiritual journey, I really would have liked to have some time to get comfortable instead of passing out in my girlfriend’s arms,” Izumi called out to more or less no one as she trudged through a hot, dry desert. She was… honestly pretty content with where she was, strangely enough. It was hot, but she was used to the heat and even reveled in it. It was dry, but she loved dry weather for the lack of uncomfortable stickiness that humid climates were inundated with. 

 

The desert part was a little unfortunate, but the rocky ridge that she was trudging along didn’t really have enough sand to get up in her shoes, and so she was…. Pretty much fine.

 

It didn’t really make sense how she’d gotten here, though.

 

The last time she’d been in this fucked up spirit plane or whatever it was, she had just fished herself out of a river and onto the sandy banks of a savannah, but here she was now on a desert ridge, the air shimmering from the heat as she plodded along without knowing what was really going on, or where she was going.

 

There wasn’t even really a sign or a path, just the rocky ridge and sand dunes far below, nothing but orangey red and yellow and brown as far as the eye could see.

 

Honestly, it was kind of annoying. 

 

The last two locations had at least given her something to work towards, but at this point, what, was her spiritual journey to find her own path now?

 

There wasn’t even a shrine.

 

Izumi sighed, slowing down and resting in the shade of an outcropping as she picked at her clothes. They were… they were funeral clothes. A set that she’d never worn, never had the courage to wear. Never had the courage to buy, or make, or scrounge up, but mourning clothes all the same.

 

She remembered vividly why Azula had imagined herself wearing these robes, even though she’d only seen pictures of them. 

 

The heartbreak, the fear, the pain.

 

Izumi shuddered, sitting down on a rock and chewing her lip as she thought through the distant past.

 

It had been… somewhere in Azula’s mid-70s. The previous Avatar, Aang, had died less than a decade prior, and she’d heard tell of the new Avatar being found some years prior. Azula at the time had been a tired old woman, who’d finally gone and completely isolated herself from all of the people she knew in her youth- a testament to bonds that never fully quite healed and wounds that remained scarred. Even after her own mental health had improved and she’d become a much better person… the wounds of childhood cut deep.

 

She’d never gone back to see Mai ever again, and hadn’t spoken to Zuko in decades. She was still out there on the Fire Nation’s wanted list, though after so long she was deemed such a low priority that the only reason why she was on the list in the first place was because she’d never shown up to be formally pardoned. She’d never gone back to see Uncle Iroh before his disappearance, nor spoken to any of Team Avatar to proclaim her reformation.

 

The last of her old friends that she’d ever seen was Ty Lee, and those visits had stopped after she’d become the new grandmaster of the Kyoshi Warriors- formerly the title of Suki, though she’d passed on the title once that buffoon Sokka died.

 

Ty Lee…

 

By the time Azula was in her mid-70s, it’d been almost ten years since Ty Lee last set foot in Republic City. She still sometimes got visits from the chief of police, Lin Beifong, but was otherwise a complete nonentity to everyone else- she was just crazy old Zhu-Lao, a bitter old woman who seemed full of regrets. Ty Lee, though, was one of the greatest regrets of Azula’s life. She’d treated the other girl poorly, threatened her, manipulated her, abandoned her, threw her in prison, tried to kill her

 

Even with Ty Lee’s forgiving nature, the trauma never did fully heal, and even when the two of them had tried to get closer in their late thirties…. It never went too far beyond polite conversation in a tea house, or sometimes a few drinks at a bar.

 

But the mourning clothes… it was the traditional mourning garb of Kyoshi Island. White, shimmering white, and completely plain. It was simple. Drab. Comfortable. 

 

She’d wanted to wear it so badly before, because… because Azula had always regretted never making it to Ty Lee’s funeral. She’d never even been a consideration, really. None of Team Avatar knew where she was, her brother had stopped looking for her entirely, Mai disliked her still and had a standing promise to slit her throat personally if they were ever on opposite sides of a fight ever again, Katara… probably would have killed her if she’d shown her face again. Sokka was dead. Her mother was long dead and buried, her father gone as well. Uncle Iroh had vanished, and… well.

 

Ty Lee had only ever agreed to see Azula when she’d all but ambushed the other woman on her ambassadorial visits to Republic City.

 

The mourning clothes she wore were a symbol of Azula’s fear, her self loathing, her loneliness, and her lifetime of running away from her problems instead of rebuilding her bridges.

 

Izumi hated them. They weren’t real

 

She stood, grimacing down at the mourning clothes and shaking her head. No- this wouldn’t do. She was Midoriya fucking Izumi dammit, she didn’t have a lifetime of trauma and self discovery to mull over, she wasn’t Azula, ex-princess of the Fire Nation, she wasn’t some bitter old woman who spent her life regretting every waking moment of her youth!

 

She would be better. She would stand her ground and be better . Izumi wouldn’t run away from her problems, she’d confront them directly and decisively, not letting up until the moment that she broke through!

 

Er, when appropriate of course.

 

Izumi nodded to herself, then began walking again, quickly spotting a new shrine as her surroundings changed from the sweltering heat of the desert to a new, still rocky, but very different locale.

 

The mourning clothes upon her body vanished into mist, and were replaced by… her clothes.

 

Her clothes. Izumi’s clothes. A bright assortment of reds, golds, and whites, a simple tanktop with a jacket on top paired with crimson capris and her usual shoes.

 

She… almost remembered wearing this combination of clothes. Yes- it was the same outfit she wore the day she received her acceptance letter to UA.

 

It was a symbol of… of…

 

There was a distant dragon’s roar.

 

The sun blazed overhead with blinding light.

 

Izumi looked up… and saw the crest of a bubbling, burning volcano. 

 

She stepped forward once more.

 

“-umi? Hey, Izumi? What the fuck was that!?” Katsumi almost roared in Izumi’s face, jolting her out of her reverie with a sharp gasp and a flare of chi that she could actually feel . “You passed out for like five fucking minutes!”

 

Not Katsumi’s chi- her chi.

 

The tiny bloom of flame inside of her soul- weak and guttering, but still there .

 

Izumi shuddered, staring at Katsumi with wide eyes as they both tried to comprehend what just happened.


“I think… I need to talk to my mom,” Izumi muttered, heart pounding in her chest and ringing in her ears. “This… this is big .”

Chapter Text

“Mom! My bending! It’s coming back!” Izumi all but shouted the moment she opened the door to her home, not even caring as she all but sprinted inside with a loud slam of the door itself opening and closing. “I can feel my chi again! It’s- it’s weak but it’s still there, circulating and building itself back up! I can feel the sun again!”

 

“Huh- Wait really!? Oh honey that’s amazing!” Inko cried out, rushing out of the living room and immediately scooping Izumi into a tight hug- one that almost lifted Izumi off of the ground entirely despite her mother’s soft curves and lack of muscle and Izumi weighing several kilograms more than the older woman. “Oh my, how did this happen? I- I don’t know what to say! This is just- I’m so happy for you!”

 

“I-... I don’t really know what to say either. I can breathe again, I can- I can feel the sun working with me again. It’s… It’s magical ,” Izumi murmured, coming down from the high of her emotion slightly as she hugged her mother back, squeezing her tightly and smiling as she let herself rest into the crook of Inko’s shoulder, the constant chill in her soul finally, finally abating as she breathed and let the feeling of the sun burrow deep into her body with a flare of heat so relieving she let out an audible gasp of pure comfort. “Ahhhhh~ It’s so warm…”

 

“I-Izumi! You’re- you’re warm again!” Inko sputtered almost redundantly, feeling the bloom of heat rising in her chest as she hugged her daughter and gently lead the way over to the living room, the pulsating warmth in her chest flowing like liquid heat through her body from Izumi’s touch- the same way it always had before Hosu, the same way it always did when her daughter got worked up or excited. It was a comforting glow of heat, radiating out like the sun itself from her beautiful baby girl, who clung onto Inko’s form in a way she hadn’t in years - the direct moments after she woke up from her coma not withstanding. It was… it was comforting, to know that Izumi was so overjoyed, so happy , that it literally radiated out of her like the summer sun beating down upon her in all the best of ways.

 

Although, considering the current summer heat, it was… a little bit warm.

 

And sweaty.

 

Inko hummed, mumbling reassuring nothings into her daughter’s ear as she held Izumi close, rocking back and forth as the two of them just sat there in relative silence for a while, simply holding onto each other as Izumi trembled and pulsed her chi in thick, resonating waves that even Inko could pick up on- not that she was a bender in any capacity, even after what her daughter called Harmonic Convergence, but she had spent fourteen years feeling Izumi’s presence, and the way her chi roiled and bubbled like a cauldron of boiling lava, shimmering with heat and filling the air with her presence was still comforting and familiar to her in a way that no one else could ever replicate.

 

It was, still, however, very sweaty on days like this, as it had been many years ago when Izumi hadn’t quite yet mastered the ability to change the climate around her on a whim by pulling and pushing heat into and out of the air.

 

Inko would have to drag out the portable fan again, most likely- even with her ridiculously high heat tolerance as a result of living with a walking bonfire in the shape of a precocious and eternally active teenage girl, this… this was still a bit much.

 

“Izuchan, dear… um, it’s getting a little sweaty,” she murmured, patting her daughter’s back gently and wincing a little at just how hot her daughter’s body was running again- this wasn’t just like her normal levels before Hosu, but it was… much, much more.

 

Like when she was just starting out with her firebending back as a child, when her control was sloppy and her internal body temperature fluctuated between worrying extremes, and sometimes Izumi got too hot to even hold as she flared her chi up high and fast in a meditative trance to force her reserves to grow faster… 

 

It only made sense, Inko thought, that her daughter’s slowly recovering bending would result in her going through the same growing pains as she had in the past. Inko dearly would have wished that Izumi could just carry on as though nothing had ever happened… but alas, the world didn’t seem to be so kind.

 

“Huh? Oh- sorry mom. I’m… it’s a bit hard to regulate my chi now… even if it’s only been a little over a month, I’m sorely out of practice…” Izumi muttered, continuing to pulse her chi and try to get it under control. It was wilder now- not the same as it was before. Thicker, warmer, more potent somehow. It wasn’t sluggish by any means, but it seemed to flow through her body with more resistance and chaos- slow in some areas, fast in others- all in a way that would have been viscerally uncomfortable if her chi pathways weren’t so robust and well trained already. “My chi is… weird now. It’s like… getting it all ripped out and having it come back made it more potent? Or… something. I’m not sure… I might need to try meditating again… but that didn’t work out so well the last few times I tried…”

 

Izumi shook her head, slowly clambering off of the couch and stumbling to the side of the living room where she kept one of her smaller meditation tables- only a few candles upon its surface, low to the ground to the point that it was perfectly sized for a child, and long since worn smooth and faded by hours upon hours of use in years gone by.

 

“I think I’m on the verge of a breakthrough here, actually…” Izumi muttered, almost as if in a daze as she focused on her chi flow, breathing deeply and concentrating on the refined point of light in her stomach that served as her spiritual core- now a wild, flickering mess, but still a familiar feeling all the same.

 

Ah. Something was happening.

 

Some kind of… burning, swirling, bubbling, rumbling sensation.

 

Izumi blinked slowly, watching as the candle before her lit up of its own volition, a connection snapping into place where once there was none before.

 

Her chi sang in its vessels, and Izumi…

 

Izumi fell backwards, breathing in sharply as her mind began to drop into her center- no, it was being pulled in by something. She almost wanted to resist, but… but…

 

No, this had to happen.

 

Something deep in her core was pulling her into her own journey, and she had to see it through to the end.

 

As Izumi fell back, slowly toppling onto the plush carpet of the living room, she looked up at her mother’s worried frown… and sighed.

 

“Don’t worry, mom,” she murmured out, barely able to get the words out as she fell into that deep abyss between dreams and reality, “I’ll be… fine…”

Chapter Text

“... So… what happened to the volcano?” Izumi asked dryly, fanning her face slowly as she took in the scenery around her. Gone was the oppressive heat of the volcano she’d stepped out onto the last time she’d been drawn into her core- this was something else. Something…

 

Familiar.

 

Not to her past life, but to her current life.

 

The walls covered in anatomical diagrams, the medical equipment scattered around in an organized yet chaotic manner. The tin of lollipops on the reception desk. The x-ray machine.

 

This was the office of Doctor Ujiko Daruma, the man that had shattered her dreams and awoken Azula’s raging dragon within.

 

This was the office where little Midoriya Izumi died, and an imposter took her place. A woman driven out of time, who had no business being who she was. She should have been a brilliant, beautiful spark of joy in the world- a selfless, precocious child who took everything the world had to give to her and never let up with that same blindingly pure, adorable smile.

 

She was such a cute kid… now look at her.

 

“I figured that the volcano wasn’t really necessary, cuz you mastered fire already,” a voice came, high pitched and yet soft, a voice that Izumi wasn’t familiar with, had never heard like this before, but knew intimately all the same.

 

It was her voice. Her own voice- or rather, the voice of her past self.

 

Izumi turned, and there she was.

 

A smaller version of herself, dressed in plain clothing and an oversized All Might hoodie, sitting in the same chair that the bastard of a doctor had sat in when he’d ruined their dreams.

 

Hm.

 

“Yup! This is a metaphor for personal growth! So, since we’re here as the fire part of your journey- I gotta ask…” little Izumi spoke, twiddling her thumbs idly and humming to herself as she stared up at Izumi, curiosity sparkling in those wide baby eyes. “... What drives you? What’s the source of your willpower? I think you already know what it is. I just think that you’re scared to admit it to yourself.”

 

Her words weren’t quite what Izumi would have expected- what the hell was she talking about? Of course she knew why she drove herself forward, she was working to be a hero, so she could prove to herself and her mother that she wasn’t… wasn’t…

 

But was it really?

 

Was her motivation so shallow, so glued to the ghosts of the past that she couldn’t imagine a life where she wasn’t chained to the shadow of a long dead woman? What kind of a motivation was that, anyway?

 

Prove herself to be a hero so that she wouldn’t feel like a monster- ha! It was… it was a meaningless drive full of fear and self loathing, anger and hatred at who she was and who she could be. It was… meaningless, really. Pointless.

 

Destined to fail.

 

It was the exact same kind of weak, barely there motivation that had driven her in her previous life- Azula had spent so long focusing on anger and fear, driven her firebending with the will to please her father, prove her mother a fool. It was sadism and anger and her own internalized self loathing that had turned her fire blue, but in the later years of her life, it was acceptance and her own iron will that made her flames shine .

 

And now, in this life? Her willpower still drove her flames, but the reasoning behind it was weak. The motivation shallow, the power… waning.

 

Fleeting.

 

And she knew it.

 

Izumi knew it, her past self knew it, her very soul knew it.

 

“When you lost your quirk factor before… what we ended up with was an opportunity,” little Izumi spoke quietly, kicking her shoes together lightly and giving her older self an almost gap toothed grin. “It was instinct, y’know? We always thought that our bending came from Azula’s spirit, but she was just a bridge. The quirk we used to have was just a bridge between us and our own bending ability. And in the last while… you’ve been rebuilding it. The last piece of the puzzle is…”

 

Little Izumi paused, suddenly seeming far older, far wiser than she should have been. As though she weren’t what she seemed to be, what she looked like.

 

This wasn’t some pale reflection of her own memories, Izumi thought to herself. This was her own soul. So why were there two instead of one?

 

Because…

 

“Because you’re still trying to reconcile what you already know,” little Izumi smiled, hopping down from the chair and pointing at herself with a light puff of her chest. “You know why we’re doing this. You know why you fight. It’s been locked away in your heart for so long, but we’ve always known. We’ve always been doing it, after all. You fight… we fight…”

 

I fight… because more than anything else… more than anything that I had ever thought about myself in the past… more than any worries I had ever gained from being Azula … I fight… because I just want to help people- so no one ever has to be like me. Because… I want to be a Hero!” Izumi stumbled forward, taking her smaller self’s hand and almost shouting her final words, the door before her opening up to the sights and sounds of a roaring blue bonfire.

 

Her bonfire. Her soul. Her life. Her chi.

 

Her bending.

 

But it was different now, wasn’t it?

 

She’d known all along that something was different about herself, but she hadn’t thought- hadn’t even tried to think about it until she came back to herself. It wasn’t just a roaring bonfire anymore. It was… chaos.

 

A swirling mass of blue flame, shattering stone, raging waves, howling wind. It was a brilliant pillar of light and sound, surging with energy and brimming with potential.

 

It was… it was…. Her.

 

It was Izumi’s soul…

 

And there was a spirit there. One she’d only ever seen in pictures and descriptions on the news.

 

Vaatu, the chaosbringer.

 

“Ah. You’ve finally arrived. I know you little human, and you know me. But to be formal about it, I will introduce myself,” the spirit crooned out, voice echoing and billowing with power as it wrapped around her core. “I am VAATU, spirit of chaos and disorder, balanced and yet ever warring with my bitch of a sister Raava. Tell me, little human… what do you fight for? What makes you tick? What chaos can you bring me? What chaos can I cause with your body?

 

Izumi shuddered. 

 

This was no longer a vague dream. This was real.

 

This was all real, and she knew what she had to do now.

 

“I am Midoriya Izumi!” she shouted out, stepping forth into the chaotic plane of her very soul, prepared to beat the absolute shit out of the spirit clinging to her essence like the parasite it now was. “I fight because I am a Hero! And you will not use my body for anything!”

 

Vaatu reared up, laughing with a horrible sound that shook the heavens themselves, as though the plane of her soul was just another battlefield for the ancient spirit to ruin.

 

“We shall see about that, little hero, now come! Fight for your life! Fight to prove your worth! Fight so you can stay alive!”

Chapter Text

Instantly, Izumi screamed forth upon a rocket of flame- here in the depths of her soul, with the only limits being her imagination, she could do as much bending as she liked, not caring one whit as to her lack of bending out in the real world- she knew now why she had been changing so quickly, why she kept feeling strange connections to the other elements.

 

She knew now what she had to do.

 

Because this wasn’t just about defeating the parasite feeding off of her chi. This wasn’t about driving off a hostile spirit. This wasn’t about getting her bending back or winning back her right to life.

 

This was proving herself . This was a fight to prove herself to her own long repressed dreams, to prove her worth, her willingness to do whatever it took to return home to her loved ones, to win . This was more than just the demons of her own fears and Azula’s memories.

 

This was the climax of the journey her own soul had been guiding her towards.

 

And she would not fail here.

 

Within moments, she was slamming a flame clad fist into Vaatu’s central eyespot, screaming out her defiance and roaring her challenge as the soulscape around them echoed with her own power. Her chi roiled inside and around her, the very walls of her soul shaking and trembling as she brought forth her energy and attacked.

 

Vaatu responded in kind, not backing down for an instant as he swung his massive tendrils out and began trying to strike Izumi down. Both of them bobbed and weaved, the sheer impact of Vaatu’s blows matched only by the ferocity by which Izumi slammed flames and water whips and rock spikes and wind blades into the massive, crimson spirit. 

 

The earth tore asunder, waves rose up from the cracks within, and Izumi dodged around blow after blow after blow as she flared her chi, brought forth every single last drop of willpower that she could manage, screaming as she threw attack after attack after attack at the spirit of chaos that had invaded her body, parasitizing her chi and living off of her for far too long now. 

 

“FOOLISH MORTAL,” the ancient spirit rumbled, energy whips flashing around in a web of death, crashing down with such force that the wind itself thrown from the impact shredded the ground and sent pieces into the air- the projected soulscape was falling apart as they clashed, going from a hazy arena to a swirling, psychedelic void. “I AM EONS OLD. I WAS ANCIENT BEFORE YOUR KIND FIRST BREATHED ITS FIRST BREATH. I AM ABOVE YOU. I AM STRONGER THAN YOU. I AM VAATU, THE EMBODIMENT OF CHAOS ITSELF. HOW CAN YOU HOPE TO DEFEAT ME!?”

 

“I don’t give a shit what you are!” Izumi screamed back, bracing herself on a floating rock as the world around them continued to crumble with the force of Vaatu’s whips and tendrils, Izumi using the rock as a shield as she used her flames to jet around the massive swirling void that was her soul- the center of which was a white hot core of swirling elements, a representation of herself that she couldn’t possibly stare at for too long, and which Vaatu himself was wrapped around as though trying to choke the life out of it.

 

But he couldn’t.

 

Because… because…

 

“He’s not…” she whispered, leaping from her rock and out into the void of her soul, colors blazing around her as her memories and sense of self seemed to surge around her like a second skin, bolstered by the fact that she was in her own soul . “He’s not stronger than me…”

 

She snarled, rising up to meet Vaatu face to face during a lull in the battle, flames curling around her body and burning with such intensity that they solidified and became brilliant- scintillating and blazing as she turned fire to plasma and whipped away at Vaatu’s own tendrils.

 

“You aren’t stronger than me, are you?” Izumi hissed out, glaring at the spirit as she dodged another one of its blows and sent a mighty pillar of plasma straight into where its chest equivalent was, drawing a deafening scream that echoed through the swirling space of infinite colors and had Vaatu rearing back in agony. “You’re not stronger than me. You’re not above me, you’re nothing but a parasite stuck inside of me! You can’t even leave can you!?”

 

Izumi bared her teeth, floating closer and roaring as she continuously pummeled Vaatu with a barrage of flames, massive spikes of stone appearing from nowhere and pinning his lashing tendrils to the side- impaled into impossibility as the terrain around her shifted and writhed, Izumi’s power echoing through the space around them- and now that she was aware of Vaatu’s presence, now that she was here and aware of the drain on her soul, she could feel her chi flowing into the parasite latched onto her core. She could feel it, manipulate it…

 

Cut it off.

 

Her chi was her chi. It did not belong in the slimy hands of a parasite that claimed to be above her like some kind of god!

 

“You’re a worm! A glutton that thrives on chaos! A parasite draining my chi! Your will is no more powerful than my own, Vaatu! I want you out of my body, you feckless worm! And you WILL! BE! GONE!” Izumi announced, shouting as loud as she could to be heard over the chaosbringer’s screams of agony, the crimson spirit below her writhing and whipping its body about as it tried to break free of its bonds- it almost did, and Izumi could feel it almost breaking through her hold despite being cut off from draining her core further- how much chi had Vaatu drunk before Izumi had gone through this whole journey? How much of her power did it consume!? 

 

And what would she do to get it back?

 

“Ha! Hahahahaha! Excellent! Excellent!” Vaatu’s voice cut through her musings, shocking her out of her previous rage as the chaos spirit abruptly stopped writhing and stared her dead in the face with its eyespot- one that had the faintest tinge of blue in it as though there was but the faintest echo of its sister spirit within. “Yes! Yes! I knew I liked you! Hahaha! Ooh you are perfect Midoriya Izumi! I had thought you just a fleshbag for me to drain dry when I first came across your pitiful body, but you were surrounded by the throes of such delicious chaos! Chaos of all kinds! Your past of destruction, death, atrocities! Your present of deliciously chaotic interpersonal relationships! Your future of wild mass chaos- screaming fans, horrifying internet drama, calamities, villain attacks! Yes, yes!”

 

What.

 

The fuck.

 

Izumi stared as the tone of the entire fight shifted, abruptly aware of how the bonds around Vaatu vanished as the spirit shrank and matched Izumi’s height instead- the area around them shifting back into the doctor’s office she had previously left, with her spiritual core taking the form of a shining, blinding white doorway that hadn’t been there before.

 

Vaatu laughed and laughed and laughed, extolling the virtues of the chaos that it claimed were inevitable in Izumi’s future, tendrils latching onto her shoulders before dragging her in close.

 

“Be mine,” Vaatu hissed out suddenly, its eyespot glaring into Izumi’s face with manic energy, the spirit itself trembling as it tried to do something with Izumi’s soul that she could feel . “For real. Be my Avatar . Be what that fool Wan and a thousand generations of other fools were to my smug bitch cuntrag of a sibling, Raava. Let me feed on you until the natural chaos of this world restores my power. Let me fuse with you such that we will be able to work together and experience all the chaos that this world has to offer! I’ve already done you a favor, helping you along by holding onto these new elemental affinities for you! Seal the deal, and we can be more than just parasite and host- we can be… partners.”

 

Izumi stared, blinking slowly as Vaatu projected such an aura of sincerity that it was unbelievable . Where was the horrible demonic figure that had once threatened to destroy Republic City? Where was that massive towering energy kaiju that gave the world nightmares? The thing that had tried to drain her into a husk before stating its intentions to destroy the world?

 

What the actual fuck was this spirit on about?

 

But she knew an offer that was almost too good to pass up when she saw it. There was no guarantee of getting her bending back without Vaatu’s presence in her soul- she could feel that much, the way the elements swirling in her core were also latched onto the crimson spirit.

 

“I…” Izumi sighed, taking a deep breath before looking back at Vaatu, stepping back a moment before holding out her hand for the spirit to shake. “Let’s work out the details, then. Go over exactly what you expect out of me and how this relationship is going to work.”

 

If Vaatu had a face, it would have grinned .


“Of course… partner .”

Chapter 130

Notes:

Quick show of hands here- I'm planning on finally adding smut to this story soon-ish. Would any of you be super opposed to that?

Chapter Text

When Izumi awoke…

 

When she awoke, she was nowhere familiar. 

 

Not her home, not her dorm- not even a hospital bed. She was… in a forest? 

 

A brilliant, lush green forest full of a thick haze of almost glowing fog, a strange light cast over the area from the impossible colors of the sky above.

 

“... This. Does not- where the fuck am I?” Izumi muttered, looking around idly and scratching her head as she tried to figure out where she was- the forest itself was calm and quiet, barely a sign of life in the distance, nor any sign of trouble. Honestly, it felt… it felt like that forest that she’d been through a few days ago, though there was no sound of rushing water nor a dragon roaring.

 

Why had she heard a dragon roaring anyway? Was it truly a sign of Lord Agni helping her? Her own spirit trying to bridge the gap that her stolen firebending had left? Whatever it was…

 

Hm…

 

Izumi shook her head, trying to figure out why everything felt subtly… off. Why did her limbs feel… different? The proportions had changed slightly- was she shorter now? No, it wasn’t just the height, it was her weight distribution, the muscle memory, the ruffling of hardy canvas clothing and leather armor-

 

Wait.

 

Leather armor.

 

A familiar feeling set of leather armor. 

 

Izumi looked down at herself, frowning and furrowing her brow as she- sigh. Yep, there it was. Full fire nation royal armor, gold trim and all.

 

“Dammit, I thought I just had an entire spiritual journey moving past this!” Izumi growled, gritting her teeth as she inwardly cursed the fucking chaos parasite now permanently bonded to her soul for doing ungodly things to her perception of herself, her skills, her past memories (which, now, were clearer than ever and allowed her once more to access the long since forgotten forms of firebending that she’d never quite ended up mastering in her advanced age. “Ugh! I shouldn’t look like this anymore! I already lived a full life as Azula! Why do I still have to look like her, dammit!? Argh! No, now I have to change my entire look when I wake up again too! Fuck! Fuck fuck fucking FU-”

 

“My my, I don’t think I have ever heard you swear that much before- your travels did your spirit wonders, but tarnished your vocabulary quite a lot haven’t they, my niece?”

 

What.

 

Izumi paused, running a hand through silky smooth brown locks as she whirled around to face the source of the oh so familiar voice- someone she’d never, ever forgotten no matter how many years she spent abroad. It was a voice so warm and full of comfort that… that Izumi found herself tearing up a bit.

 

She never had seen Uncle Iroh again after she’d escaped Zuko’s custody the second time, and now… and now he was…

 

“Uncle Iroh…?” she whispered, staring at the wizened face of her uncle as he stepped forth from the shade of a nearby tree, coming into view wearing a wonderfully elegant set of earth kingdom robes- fashionable, comfortable, and yet not overstated nor ostentatious. It made him look wise, content.

 

He had a happy smile on his face too- not overjoyed nor excited, but with the quiet contentment of age.

 

“It is good to see you again, Azula. I have missed you dearly- though, I suppose Azula is no longer the correct name to refer to you by,” Uncle Iroh greeted her with a simple bow of his head, motioning for her to follow as he began to walk down a path that hadn’t been there before. “Who are you now, my niece? I can’t imagine you would be so distressed to find yourself in this form if you had not found another somewhere along the way.”

 

“I… it’s a long story, Uncle,” Izumi sighed, then shook her head as she walked alongside the man that was Azula’s uncle, not hers. No matter how many memories of the man she had that were tinged with nostalgia, late fondness, and regrets. “My name now is… Midoriya Izumi. I’m… from another world now. Not the regular material plane, but another version of Earth where people have fantastic powers and technology that seems nearly impossible to comprehend- well…”

 

She cleared her throat, then chuckled a bit. “Some of it’s hard to comprehend. Some of it is still nearly the same as it is back in the material world that I remember- tell me… what year is it, anyway?”

 

“Izumi… what a lovely name- you know, that name means fountain…” Uncle Iroh started, then nudged her lightly with his elbow and gave her a mischievous grin. “And… our current Fire Lady is named Izumi as well…”

 

“... Spirits, they did name her after the fountain incident!” Izumi muttered, gasping as she suddenly realized why she’d been so confused at hearing the name of Zuko and Mai’s daughter during the little sprog’s birth and coronation, not that she’d ever met the girl. “That was decades ago! How did they even remember that?”

 

“Love is an amazing thing,” Uncle Iroh chuckled, continuing to lead the two of them along a path through the forest until they emerged in a brilliantly lit grassy plain, massive trees consisting of single stalks with bent over leaves scattered about with a large clearing at the end of the path. In that clearing was a medium sized house, well lived in and showing signs of Iroh’s touch all over- the flowers in the windowsill, the pervasive smell of tea, the many tables strewn about for guests… it was a homely looking scene. “But, as to your previous question, it is currently the year 177 AG. Almost exactly a year since your past self’s death.”

 

“... how did you even hear of that, Uncle? I… the last time I remember being Azula, I was… old. Decrepit. Mostly alone. Just… the crazy old lady in one of the working class areas of Republic City,” Izumi asked, frowning as she let Uncle Iroh lead her to one of the tables and sat down in an offered chair. “Who even told you?”

 

“It was Avatar Korra, of course,” Uncle Iroh answered without a moment’s hesitation, procuring a pot of tea from the kettle set next to his home’s outdoor stove, pouring a cupful of what smelled like laoshan and setting it before Izumi before doing the same for himself. “She and I make it a point to have tea every few months- Zuko comes too, occasionally, but it seems he is a bit too frail to make the journey often anymore. He’s even talked about him and Mai coming to join me here in the spirit world, if you can believe it!” 

 

He laughed, a jolly sound that started in his belly and shook his entire frame for a few moments- Izumi didn’t particularly see what was so funny, but she smiled all the same. Good old Uncle Iroh. Shame Azula had never taken the time to truly listen to him and learn from his wisdom- nor did she ever treat him well.

 

Izumi would just have to be better.

 

“Heh… ah… but… yes, when you… died,” Uncle Iroh winced slightly, sitting down heavily in his seat and taking a bracing sip of his tea. “Avatar Korra told me your body was identified by Republic City’s healers, and, well… Zuko buried you with full honors as a member of the Royal Family. I was shocked, to say the least, when I heard the news.”

 

“I can imagine,” Izumi huffed, crossing her legs and leaning against the table in a way she’d picked up later in Azula’s life, taking the teacup before her and examining her reflection in the pale, yellow depths- such a familiar face, and yet it was the face of a stranger staring back at her, a young woman whom she had never met and never would, and yet knew her life even better than she knew her own. “The conqueror of Ba Sing Se, about a thousand other epithets to my wit and skill in combat, and yet I die a nameless old woman getting hit by a truck on the way to buy my groceries. How ironic, that the woman feared across the world at one point would die in such an ignoble way.”

 

“I was more shocked that it was the first news I had heard of you since before I left the material plane,” Uncle Iroh hummed, giving Izumi a serious look. “I always regretted not helping you more, my niece. Even if you would not have listened in your youth, I always felt responsible for never turning you away from the path my brother set you upon.”

 

“It’s… not your fault, uncle,” Izumi sighed, shaking her head and letting her tea warm her hands, the distant flame of her soul so far out of reach in the spirit world- but not in the same way that it was before, when she’d thought her bending lost. It was… interesting, to say the least. “Father... Ozai… he would have sunk his hooks into me no matter what you tried- and you were busy with Zuko. As much as I hate to admit it, he did need you more. I was in dire need of a proper guiding figure and role model, sure, but… Zuko would have gotten himself killed if you hadn’t been there. I just went mad with paranoia.”

 

She chuckled mirthlessly, then shook her head again. There was a persistent tugging in her body, the faintest traces of red flashing in her vision as something seemed like it was trying to get her attention. “Ah… but that’s a bit heavy for this topic. It’s good to see you again, Uncle. I… really hope we can meet like this again- there’s a new spirit portal, leading to my world. Have you heard of it?”

 

“Mm, I have,” Uncle Iroh nodded, then stroked his beard as he looked off to the distance, where three pillars of golden light could be seen- along with a fourth pillar in nearly the opposite direction, still the same shining gold, but shot through with strange bands of crimson lightning. “I hope you will forgive me in saying that I do not think I will be able to visit you- the portal to your world seems like it needs time to stabilize, and although Avatar Korra is working on making it truly safe… it will likely be some time before anyone can go through it without harm.”

 

“Mmm… yeah that looks dangerous…” Izumi murmured, then huffed quietly as the tugging in her chest grew more insistent. “Ah… I think something’s pulling me out- Uncle… I…”

 

“Go in peace, my niece,” Uncle Iroh simply nodded, smiling gently at Izumi in a way that made her feel so small and young again, staring up at a man who was more fatherly to her than her actual father- regardless of the fact that she was taller than him now. “And please, come again soon.”

 

“I… I will. I’m glad I got to see you again,” Izumi sighed, then stood up and gave her uncle a quick goodbye hug, sniffling a bit even as she reveled in his warmth and familiarity, feeling herself fade away second by second even as she held on. “Sorry I wasn’t a better niece in my first life. I’ll… I’ll make it up to you in this life.”

 

“Don’t be sorry, Izumi, just make sure to come see this old man every once in a while,” Uncle Iroh laughed and… and…

 

Izumi woke up in her bed, blinking slowly as she came back to herself.

 

Inside of her soul, she could feel her flames again- roaring and burning as though they’d never left, cresting higher and higher with newfound certitude and willpower in a way they’d never burned before. Inside of her soul, she could feel rushing waves, howling wind, rumbling earth. She could feel the faint tinge of Vaatu in her soul.

 

She was… whole. Not in the sense that she had been lesser without her fire, but in the sense that what once was a life chained to a long dead woman was now free to make her own decisions for the first time in a long while.

 

She sat up slowly, smiling gently as she listened to the sounds of her mother cooking in the kitchen- poor mom, she thought to herself. Izumi sighed- she must have made her mother so worried with a stunt like that, considering that she must have been out for hours now.

 

But… but…

 

Izumi smiled, taking a deep, slow breath as she turned to face the unlit candles in her room.


“I’m fucking back,” she whispered, and in the darkness of the setting sun, her room was lit up by the ghostly light of shimmering blue flames.

Chapter Text

“Alright maggots! Something’s come up in my life that’ll make my training you all the more effective, interesting, and probably all the more hellish!” Izumi announced to the sum total of her class with bombastic energy that she wouldn’t have felt before the events of the weekend, a glimmering light shining in her eyes as she grinned and beheld the tired, somewhat apprehensive faces of her classmates. “And no, it’s not that I’m adding this class to the curriculum. Your finals are still the same- I know some of you have been worried about it, delayed as they have been.”

 

There was an audible sigh of relief- especially from her fellow hero course students, who were of course run absolutely fucking ragged by the quirk training classes they’d had in addition to Izumi’s bootcamp. Izumi understood their pain, truly, but also she was brimming with so much energy now that she really couldn’t find it in her to be tired anymore- not with her internal fire greedily absorbing chi from everything around her like a black hole. The touch of her bare feet on solid earth, the breeze tickling her ears, the push and pull of the moon and waves, and of course, the blazing light of the summer sun- Izumi felt like she was going to explode from the sheer influx of energy.

 

And so, she would.

 

And she did.

 

But first-

 

“Now, some of you have already heard the news over the weekend,” Izumi winked at Katsumi and Shouto, who were standing off near the firebending group since they were still her TAs, as well as Ochako and Tsuyu- her airbending and waterbending TAs. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu mostly looked confused, since they weren’t exactly close enough for her to let them know right away despite them being her earthbending TAs. “But I’m going to start off with this: Do you all remember what I told you of the Avatar, at the start of the class?”

 

“Oh- the only person who can bend all four elements?” Hadou Nejire bounced up in her seat, drawing attention in more ways than one and grinning as she waved her hand in the air. “Do you know who the Avatar is, Midoriya-sensei?”

 

“In a manner of speaking,” Izumi nodded, then centered herself and closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she spread her feet and bent her knees. There was a rush of bated breath, everyone waiting to see what Izumi would do- or say- next, though there were a few sideways glances between a few people as they caught onto the trailing implications of her words.

 

“You’re shitting me,” she heard Aizawa-sensei mutter from off to the side, but ignored it in favor of pulling on her inner fire and letting it burn- not just brilliant blue flames anymore, but the stalwart strength of earth, the adaptive pressure of water, the rushing freedom of air.

 

Not that she could bend all of the elements yet- not competently at least, but she could at least do enough for a demonstration.

 

She leaned back and ROARED , throwing her hands to the side as she did so as three massive gouts of sapphire flame blazed out into the air and ground. The heat and light was intense, roiling through the air blinding bright and putting out so much energy that there was a collective gasp and scream as people flinched away from her. Not a moment too soon, Izumi cut off her flames after only a few seconds, taking a deep breath and dropping into a basic waterbending stance- one that drew even more gasps as more people took in just what the fuck they were witnessing before them.

 

A whip of water rose from one of the demonstration buckets and raced through the air following Izumi’s movements, swirling around and around with a scintillating ribbon of glittering liquid before she flicked it away to Tsuyu- who caught it easily and returned it to its bucket with a quiet ribbit.

 

And then, while everyone was watching Izumi with their jaws agape and expressions slack, she stomped the floor with a slight grunt of effort- stubbornness and neutral jing weren’t her forte considering firebending’s aggressive attack policy and use of deflection rather than pure blocking, but she still knew enough to raise a few blocks from the concrete in the form of a throne. It erupted from the ground in a shower of dust and a rumble of earth, which she dispelled into a thin swirl with the minimal airbending she was capable of at the moment- then sat down upon her newly made throne and gave everyone there a cocky grin, soft currents of wind circling around her body as she used the dust around her to illustrate the movement of air before letting all dissipate with a final, swirling motion of her arm.

 

The room was silent for a long moment- so quiet that the only thing audible was the gentle crashing of waves on the false beach off to one side of the room.

 

“Now, before we start class today… Hachiya-san,” Izumi murmured quietly, still loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room as her eyes flashed brilliant gold, her chi pulsing through her body as she began to use skills that had long since gone disused for well over a month- her grin stretching wide across her face as she stared at the suddenly very, very pale third year finance/investment major who’d boasted about his Accelerant quirk so much the entire length of the class so far. “What was it you said last week about your flames? Ah, I remember now- you said that your Accelerant quirk, that lets you make nearby flames more powerful, made it so that you could be more powerful than I ever could.”

 

Her grin sharpened, deadly, full of teeth, and vampiric enough that it made several girls suddenly blush and turn away from the sight. 

 

“N-now s-sensei, th-that was just a joke! I was joking about that!” Hachiya gulped and whimpered, holding up his hands and ducking in his seat as Izumi stood and allowed her flames to spark in her hands- hot and powerful and dangerous and such a brilliant shade of blue that she barely recognized the color with how much brighter they were now than they were before. “I-I mean c-c’mon! You’re the strongest firebender in the world, right? Hehe….”

 

“Of course,” Izumi murmured, huffing quietly with a slight chortle before her grin turned into a frown. “But that doesn’t excuse you from the reports I’ve heard of your quirkist, ableist, sexist comments- even going so far as to objectify the kind Pro Heroes who came all this way to not only learn bending, but teach us in the hero course to enhance our quirks. For shame, Hachiya-san. Now- you’ve done remarkably well in my class, and I could kick you out of the firebending group now based on the amount of evidence gathered alone… but…”

 

She looked around at the other members of the firebending group- the teachers and Pros sitting in the other groups halfway standing as they prepared to get involved if necessary.

 

Silently, there was a chorus of nods from several of the firebending students- including Kayama-sensei, who subtly used JSL to tell Izumi to not take it too far.

 

Izumi let her sentence draw out for a moment, watching the people around them condemn the poor bastard to his fate- too bad, though, he shouldn’t have called Koda-san a “mute mutie freak”, or made objectifying comments about the Pussycats’ and Kayama-sensei’s bodies. Or made all of those comments about how he was the best firebender in the class because he had the biggest flames.

 

How he’d made it this far into the school year was beyond her.

 

But fuck him anyway, even if this was the first time she’d have an actual interaction with the idiot.


“I challenge you, Hachiya Hideaki… to an Agni Kai.”

Chapter Text

“Well, I suppose as the representative of the aggrieved party, I must list out the full list of grievances before we start,” Izumi called out across the arena as she stood there in the closest equivalent she had to proper Agni Kai sporting clothes- the under-layers of her hero costume, with its slightly baggy trousers and slimmer shin armor, plus a short, fireproof tanktop. She had to forgo the ceremonial bands, but seeing as she wasn’t part of the Royal Family anymore and this wasn’t a public execution… well. She could skip that bit of tradition. “Hachiya Hideaki, you stand before me accused of the following acts: “

 

Izumi pulled a scroll from her pocket and unfurled it as she spoke, reading off the contents printed within (how and when Katsumi had made this entire scroll was beyond her, but it was stunningly well made all the same) and growing more and more disturbed with every single line.

 

“Calling Koda Koji a number of slurs relating to his appearance and speech disability. Calling Mezo Shouji a number of slurs relating to his appearance. Calling Agoyamoto Tsutsutaka a number of stereotypical insults based on his appearance. Referring to the heroines Ragdoll, Mandalay, Midnight, Mirko, and Uwabami with degrading, objectifying, and sexist terminology. Calling Asui Tsuyu, Yanagi Reiko, Fuwa Mawata, Arawata Arakune, Kirishima Eijiro, Honenuki Juzo, Senko Mishizuma and Himiko Toga a number of extremely offensive, transphobic, homophobic, and sexist slurs. Referring to this class as a waste of time made up by Principal Nedzu, who you also referred to with a number of extremely distasteful epithets, general accusations of bullying, sexual harassment, verbal harassment, lack of decorum, and other such charges of being a stellar example of what UA strives not to be… and last and probably least… calling yourself, a barely trained halfwit three weeks into a beginner firebending course… better than me . The foremost expert in bending in the world.” Izumi frowned, glaring at Hachiya as she rolled up the scroll and lit it aflame, letting it burn to ash in a wave of blue fire while she tossed it to the side, the fluttering ash drifting in a dramatic breeze (that Ochako was purposefully making to carry the ash away from the cleared out tennis court they were fighting on). She crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side. “Hachiya Hideaki. How do you plead?”

 

“I- uh, c’mon teach, we don’t have to do this, right?” Hachiya plead awkwardly, stepping back in his gym clothes and trying to leave the ring- though it rose, unbidden, into the air as someone (Principal Nedzu, who was certainly watching given that he was the reason she was allowed to do this in the first place) used the hydraulic jacks under the ring to bring it up almost three meters into the air… with safety railings popping up on the sides, thankfully. “We can talk this out, right? I-I promise I won’t do it again! Honest! On my honor!”

 

Honor.

 

Honor.

 

Izumi’s eye twitched.

 

“You forfeited your right to receive any other punishment when Principal Nedzu approved this course of action. You have but two options now,” Izumi hissed, her temper flaring at the sheer insult this man levied towards the concept of honor . He had none . He had proven that he had none- just look at his treatment of his classmates and teachers! She’d almost thought about going easy on him, before.

 

No longer.

 

“Fight to prove that you at least have the merit of staying in this school ,” Izumi continued, clenching her fists as the burning braziers set around the arena began to burn , blue fire jetting up into the sky and casting ghostly lights upon the area. “Or accept your quick and immediate expulsion, followed shortly after by a strongly worded email to every other university you may try to attend, explaining just why the single most prestigious hero university in Japan expelled you with such a large black mark on your record.”

 

She paused, then tilted her head. “So what’ll it be, Hachiya-san? Fight and try to win your future back… or accept that your future is all but gone already?”

 

“I-I… fuck you! You can’t do this to me! Do you know who I am!?” Hachiya screamed out, throwing his hands to his sides like a child throwing a tantrum, flames lighting in his fists as he prepared for combat. “I’m a fucking Hachiya! You can’t fucking kick me out, my uncle’s on the goddamn school board!”

 

“Fight it is. Let us begin,” Izumi intoned, and the sound of a gong rang out on the massive speakers set around the tennis court- followed shortly after by music to set the intensity and ceremonial atmosphere of the Agni Kai. 

 

And so, the fight began.

 

It was slow at first, probing attacks from both parties- Izumi remaining light on her feet as she got used to the sheer power of her newfound firebending, reigning it in as much as she could while bobbing and weaving around Hachiya’s sloppy gouts of flame. The way her opponent’s blasts arced and splashed on the ground made it clear that he was using his quirk to flood his normally rather average flames with flammable liquid, turning what should have been ordinary fireballs into essentially napalm shots. 

 

Izumi pursed her lips, but didn’t consider it an issue. Instead, she simply stood her ground and smashed through Hachiya’s next few blasts with a mild grunt of effort coming with each basic deflection- the liquid in the flames parting around her with a burst of will, following the flames as she took control of the weak blast and diverted it around her body. And then- she struck forth. A low kick from her leg, barely more than an aggressive forward slide against the floor, and a sweeping lunge of blue flame knocked Hachiya off balance- sending him stumbling to the side as he tried to avoid getting his pants set on fire. Another low strike sent him flouncing the other way with an ungainly yelp, instinctively augmenting his startled jump with a minor rocket boost that sent him clear across the ring and landed him in a small heap.

 

Izumi took the moment to generate a flame whip- larger and hotter and stronger than it had ever been, though unstable and guttering and spitting in her grip. She’d need to meditate more, later, to truly smooth out the flows of her disused chi.

 

Hachiya honestly looked like he was about to cry. Not that Izumi cared- that list of grievances… if even half of it was true, it was enough to make him her enemy for life. That all of it was corroborated by Nedzu… well.

 

Izumi wouldn’t hold back. Much. 

 

As she stepped forward, though, Hachiya roared and tried to blast her with a twin gout of flames, a massive burst of fire so hot and bright that it was like staring into a wall of pure golden light- blinding and bright as it tried to sear her skin and burn her clothes… but Izumi slashed through it with her flame whip with utmost ease, sending flickers and flecks of broken flame away from her body as she slashed the whip around in a spiral motion, almost dancing as she lengthened it and let it dance around her fingers, changing the motion from that of a normal whip to something akin to her rope dart training… or even Aizawa-sensei’s capture scarf.

 

All the same, the flames around her dissipated in a flash of heat and energy, brilliant, electric blue overtaking that blinding gold, and the puddles of accelerant around them quickly burning off as Izumi took control of the area.

 

Hachiya blinked, then sunk to one knee, gasping slightly from the effort of outputting so much fire at once- he’d barely done anything, and was already exhausted after only the opening skirmish and a few large attacks?

 

Pathetic. No willpower at all. No drive for self improvement, no motivation to drive him, all he did was coast by on his uncle’s position and his father’s money, it seemed. 

 

“And here I thought that you’d been moderately average at firebending,” Izumi huffed, standing over Hachiya with a disappointed grimace, her whip still burning strong in her hand as she let it coil around the two of them with an implied threat of further violence should it become necessary. “It seems that I was wrong. Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. This fight is over. You’ve lost. You, Hachiya Hideaki, student number 295872348U, are hereby expelled from UA University.”

 

“Wh- no! I fought dammit! I fought you! That means I get to stay, doesn’t it!?” Hachiya pleaded, staring up at Izumi, sweat beading on his brow as he all but begged for leniency- for mercy. “I-I- you can’t do this to me!”

 

“I said if you fought, you would have to earn your right to continue this class and your enrollment here. You didn’t earn anything,” Izumi sighed, letting her fire whip dissipate as the final gong rang out- less than five minutes, and all it ended up being was barely a warm up. “You have twenty four hours to get your affairs settled, then campus security will escort you off campus. I suggest you make some arrangements now.”

 

“You… I… no… you can’t… you can’t do this to me- you can’t!”

 

A furious roar of impotent rage rang out, and Hachiya lunged to his feet with a full force punch lashing out at Izumi as he tried to blow her away with a fireblast… but Izumi didn’t flinch. She barely moved.

 

All she did was flick her wrist out… and send the blast flying harmlessly off into the air above.

 

She hadn’t even needed to touch Hachiya.

 

“You have twelve hours to get your affairs in order, Hachiya-san. After which, I will personally boot your ass off campus for daring to strike at me after the ending bell rang,” Izumi hissed, glaring down at Hachiya with enough venom in her gaze to kill a man a thousand times over. “Leave. Now. And you will be lucky if Principal Nedzu doesn’t add attempted murder to your criminal record.”


And with that, Izumi whirled around and stalked off, leaving Hachiya sitting there, pale and sweating and shivering, as though he’d only just avoided the wrath of an angry goddess.

Chapter Text

“Ne, Midori…” Tooru started, idly fidgeting in place as she looked up at Izumi, who was currently in the middle of doing one handed vertical pushups on top of a large pillar of stone- one that was currently in the middle of having chunks taken out of it every few seconds, and was visibly only maintaining its shape due to Izumi’s raw willpower keeping it from crumbling. “So… um… I’m like super grateful for everything you’ve done for us, y’know? But um… regarding the airbending class… I don’t… I mean… that is…”

 

Izumi raised an eyebrow slowly, taking slow, deep breaths as she kept her concentration up and continued to slowly, slowly lower herself down and raise herself back up using only her left arm, the other on held straight up against her side. She stared down at Tooru, giving nothing away, but trying to project a comforting air either way. “Do you want to stop? There’s no actual incentive for you to stay, you know. I mean, other than improving your bending, but personally speaking I think you’re doing quite well. You’re at a level where meditating and finding your own way is potentially better than keeping to a rigid set of training practices now- well, except for your airball skills. You could stand to improve a little there.”

 

“N-no! I mean… I just…” Tooru sighed, flopping to the ground and crossing her legs as she picked up one of the pieces of rubble left on the ground from Izumi deliberately crumbling her supporting pillar and levitating it around her fingers. “I feel like I’m so weak- even after getting an amazing new set of powers that I can actually use to fight and work with my quirk and be an even better hero… it’s still so I just don’t know, Midori. I see everyone else in class managing to do cool things with gusts of wind and air constructs, and Urara-chan is so good with air it’s insane , and I just… I feel useless. And weak. And…”

 

Izumi snorted, interrupting Tooru’s self-deprecation as she hopped down from her pillar with a slight grunt, panting quietly as she shook out her left arm and worked it around in slow circles to get the blood flowing again. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hagakure- you’re doing perfectly well. Your precision is off the charts with smaller constructs and attacks- I know damn well that you can float a spinner toy further, higher, and for longer than anyone else in the class, and whenever I test for speed and accuracy you come out on top. Throwing around tornado sized gusts of wind isn’t your purview- you’re a stealth heroine. Light as the wind and just as invisible, floating along on the breeze with featherlight steps. That’s who you are, isn’t it? Your goal as a heroine? I know you were considering underground heroics to mesh better with your stealth skillset. Your lack of pure power is not a weakness . You are perfect the way you are, and you should never feel like you should have to change just because some people can throw wind around harder than you.”

 

“I- Midori-! You… Do you even hear yourself sometimes? Honestly, I’m starting to understand why Himiko called you a heartbreaker in the groupchat a few weeks ago…” Tooru sighed, rubbing her forehead and looking to the side- blushing wildly bright to Izumi’s thermal vision and giggling a little bit once she finally recovered her wits. “But… thanks. I… honestly hadn’t considered that. I mean, I thought that precision air projectiles were better for me than doing the full sequences of moves, what with me training for stealth and silence in enclosed spaces, but… it feels nice to hear it coming from you.”

 

“... Himiko called me a what?” Izumi muttered, tilting her head to the side as she stood there watching Tooru, who just grinned without losing the blush on her face. She rested her hand on her hip, cocking it to the side and staring down the invisible girl for a moment. “No really- I… wait, shit, I did it again didn’t I?”

 

“Yup! You gave me a whole pep talk that sounded like a really gay love confession!” Tooru chirped, giggling again before bouncing forward and planting a sloppy kiss on Izumi’s cheek with an exaggeratedly loud smack of her lips. “But thanks again! It was just the thing I needed to cheer me up! And hey… if you ever feel like hooking up… I’m always open~!”

 

“... I- wh- huh?” Izumi muttered, her brain short circuiting slightly at the sheer forwardness of Tooru kissing her cheek and skipping off without any other explanation, a luminous blush rising to her cheeks as she raised her hand and felt the mildly wet spot on her cheek. “... Wait- what!?”

 

“I believe Hagakure-san was expressing a sexual interest in you, Midoriya-kun,” Tenya deadpanned dryly as he pushed up his glasses, walking up from behind Izumi and rolling his eyes. “You are, in fact, considered UA’s number one most eligible bachelorette. There have been a number of polls about it on the school’s general forums and social media spaces. I believe there have been… six? polls on LINE alone, to say nothing of twitter. I believe the school’s official RedditJP page may have a few more, as well as the actual forum websites, but I have not explored further.”

 

“... Tenya, why do you even know this,” Izumi groaned, pinching her brow and letting her head droop slightly as the weight of her apparent popularity sunk in. “And why the fuck am I one of the last people to know about it?”

 

“Possibly because your status was recent- you only just beat out Hado Nejire-san as of last week, I’m told, and then only because a video of Hado-san very vocally saying that she would, ahem, perform oral sex on you without hesitation went around a few circles,” Tenya shrugged, completely impervious to Izumi’s incredulous stare and dropped jaw. “If you must know, I keep tabs on all of UA’s social media for purposes of future socialization. Tensei insisted that keeping up with the latest memes was imperative for socialization with my peers.”

 

He paused, then sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. “I hate that he has so far been entirely correct.”

 

“... Right. Well. I’m going to go contemplate burying myself alive and screaming into the uncaring void for a bit,” Izumi nodded, then resolutely marched away out of the gym and back to the locker rooms. “Seeya later, Tenya.”

 

“Be well, Midoriya-kun.”

Chapter Text

“Hey.”

 

Izumi sighed as she looked over at Hitoshi, who was… well, he looked like shit, and kinda had for a while now- it couldn’t be just from their postponed finals, what with the written portions having been concluded the other day, and the physical portions all but waived entirely in favor of of just increased training intensity at the hands of a rotating staff of pro heroes- including Mirko and Hawks, who had told Izumi that they were mostly just there to see her and make sure she was okay. 

 

But that wasn’t important. What was important now was the fact that Hitoshi had been avoiding her ever since she woke up over a fucking month ago, and although he still occasionally came out to eat with their friend group, it was like he’d just… completely pulled away. He didn’t even send cat pictures to their groupchat anymore. She could sort of imagine why he was doing such a thing, but she was still worried… and also a little annoyed.

 

Especially since it meant that he was slipping up more often and exposing himself to higher risk of training injuries. Fuck, he’d already almost broke his own fingers the other day trying out a finger flick attack as a ranged option, and had sprained them so hard he was excused from arm training for two days even with Recovery Girl there to heal them.

 

“... hey,” Hitoshi replied lamely after a moment, looking around awkwardly and trying to see if there was any way he could escape, only to be greeted by the empty rows of the locker room, everyone else having already long since left considering how it was nearly eight in the evening.

 

The… men’s locker room.

 

Wait.

 

“... Midoriya, what the fuck are you doing in here? This is the men’s locker room!” Hitoshi grumbled, staring down at himself and blushing when he realized that he was still wearing his shirt unbuttoned and thus was just giving Izumi an entirely unintended view of his naked-ass torso. “Shit!”

 

“Hitoshi, it’s seven forty five in the afternoon. I’m not getting naked, you’re getting dressed, and I’m a fucking lesbian. The problem isn’t that I’m in the men’s locker room alone with you, the problem is that you’ve been avoiding me!” Izumi shot back, glaring down at Hitoshi as her aura erupted with heat, stifling and warm as it prickled along Hitoshi’s skin and made him shudder as she leaned forward to loom down over him, hands perched on her waist as she gave him a look that was one part indignation, one part anger, and one part confusion. “What the fuck Hitoshi?”

 

“I-... look, I’m just going through some stuff right now, Midori,” Hitoshi sighed, running his hand through his hair and grumbling as the motion twinged his sore muscles. “I’m trying to focus on raising my quirk’s power and I’ve got a killer headache all the time from my fucking brainwashing training- I just… I’m not trying to avoid you.”

 

“Uh huh. Then explain why you haven’t even told us that much- not me, not Kacchan, not Tsu, not Ko-chan, not Himi, not Tenya, not even Shouto - literally none of us know what the fuck is going on with you right now! And- I know training is stressful, but I know damn well that you’re not as incapacitated as you’re saying you are,” Izumi spat, almost growling as she crossed her arms and leaned back against the row of lockers, staring down at Hitoshi as he buttoned up his shirt. “Pull the other one, Toshi. Why don’t you tell me why you’re really avoiding me?”

 

“I’m not!”

 

“You are! You’ve been avoiding all of us! Even when all of us try to come together for a chill study session in one of the lounges you can’t even come for that when I know all you’ve done is physical training that day- and you know damn well that physical tiredness isn’t an excuse! You know how hard I work!”

 

“And how well did that work for you against All For One, huh!?”

 

Hitoshi blinked, eyes wide as his jaw hung open, as though he couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of his own mouth- like he couldn’t believe he’d just said that .

 

Izumi sighed, deflating slightly as she brought her hand up to brush a lock of hair from her face. “... So that’s what this is. Yeah. I get it now. You’re probably beating yourself up and pushing your limits to the breaking point right now because you got fucked up watching me fail, and want to make sure it never happens again, huh?”

 

She rolled her eyes then pushed off of the lockers and spun around so she could sit down next to Hitoshi on the bench, one elbow perched heavily on the taller boy’s shoulder. “Well, newsflash, Toshi- tearing yourself apart with guilt over not saving me doesn’t work when the only injuries I got from that fight were minor abrasions, and the loss of my quirk, which I’ve since gotten back four times over. Yes, it sucked and it was terrifying, but at this point it’s not worth getting stuck into.”

 

She patted his cheek gently, sighing as she leaned back slightly and took in his entire tired form- the slump of his shoulders, the bags under his eyes, the limpness of his hair that had nothing to do with how it was still wet from the gym showers… 

 

“You haven’t been to Hound Dog, have you- not past the first few sessions, I mean?”

 

“... No, I haven’t,” Hitoshi hung his head, frowning as he stared down at his hands and clenched his fists. “Just… it felt like training until my head went numb made it easier to deal with it. It… hasn’t, now, but at this point I feel like it’s too late to do anything else. And… I’m sorry about avoiding you. You… you are right. I am being stupid but… I just… I just don’t know what else to do.”

 

“Well, take it from someone who’s got about a hundred and twenty years of life experience give or take being a toddler twice- isolating yourself and trying to avoid your PTSD or whatever diagnosis they give you is only going to make it worse, and if you let it go untreated you’ll just give yourself way more problems down the line until you burn out or work yourself into an early grave at thirty from a stress induced heart attack while in the line of duty,” Izumi deadpanned, frowning as she leaned in close and nudged Hitoshi’s shoulder. “You’ve got friends and family. Lean on them. Let us help you. Let Hound Dog-sensei help you. He’s literally a licensed therapist who’s probably seen and helped more people deal with their grief and mental issues than you could count.”

 

“... Yeah. Yeah…” Hitoshi sighed again, then turned to give Izumi a half assed smile, crooked and tired and weak in a way that had nothing to do with his physical tiredness and muscle strain. “... You’re pretty good at pep talks when I’m halfway passed out, y’know.”

 

“Nevermind, if you’re fine enough now to crack fun at my shit pep talks then you’re already fine to ignore the rest of my advice,” Izumi grumbled, crossing her arms theatrically and turning away with a huff- holding it for barely a few seconds before breaking down into soft giggles. “Heh… no, but really. We’re here for you. I’m here for you- and… well, I don’t know if it at all helps- I do forgive you. You did your best to save my ass. You did save my ass.”

 

“Yeah… I’ll… I’ll do better,” Hitoshi sighed, then stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Now c’mon, I think the dining halls still have food in ‘em. Hopefully.”


“They’d better .”

Chapter Text

“So…. heard See-Through’s been flirting. You taken her up on that yet?” Katsumi grunted lightly as she struck out at Izumi, sending a massive flare of fire out of her fist- one that seemed to chain detonate itself as it traveled through the air and was only just barely blocked by a quick rock wall from Izumi.

 

Sure, it would have been easy to block Katsumi’s weirdly explosive firebending with her own fire and suppress it entirely, but she was trying to practice her other elements to get them up to usable combat levels. 

 

“Wh- no? Why would I go sleep with another woman when we’re already dating, Kacchan?” Izumi asked, huffing as she watched her girlfriend meander around the stage, her firebending stance impeccable despite her usual lack of finesse and precision with her fighting style. “I haven’t even had sex with you yet… not for lack of trying…”

 

Katsumi and Izumi both scowled in unison, grumbling under their breaths about how much it sucked that their quirk training and bending class schedules involved so much physical activity that it made gathering the energy for sex nigh impossible even with absorbing chi from the sun. 

 

“Because she’s presumably super hot considering how much you stare at her in the locker room, I’m fine with polyamory, and everyone around us is pining so hard for your ass that I’m honestly kinda jealous!” Katsumi shot back after a moment, leaping into the air and coming down with a spinning axe kick that blasted through Izumi’s first defensive dome in a massive burst of roiling flames and crackling sparks and only just barely missed actually hitting the greenette by the grace of her managing to sink herself into the concrete floor on reflex. “Hey! Don’t just tunnel underground! We can’t even talk if you’re stuck down there!”

 

“Maybe don’t send flaming axe kicks at my head then, hm?” Izumi drawled as she slowly pulled herself from the ground, blocking a reflexive kick from Katsumi with yet another quickly raised wall and wincing at the heat brushing across her skin. “Like that. Wouldn’t want to singe my hair, now would we?”

 

“Ugh- no , fuck that’d be awful. Burnt hair smells like shit,” Katsumi giggled easily, flipping back and bouncing on her toes as she watched Izumi practice her earthbending forms again- not the stalwart, solid style of Hun Gar like normal earthbending, but a more… loose, fluid style, vaguely reminiscent of Southern Praying Mantis. “Y’know, I never get tired of watching you practice…”

 

“Mm… it’s calming, really,” Izumi murmured quietly, breathing deeply and settling into a meditative trance as she stepped barefoot around on the concrete ring, humming a nameless tune to herself and moving to the beat in her mind. She stepped and struck out, eyes closed and yet remaining open to her other senses. The feel of the wind brushing across her skin and clothes, the water vapor in the air, the heat of the lights above, the solidness of the concrete below… 

 

Izumi continued to run slowly through the forms that she’d learned in record time- where Principal Nedzu had gotten so many training videos and manuscripts so fast was something Izumi would never know, but her prodigious talent at combat training and near eidetic memory (well… for things she actually cared to remember, at least) made short work of the actual reading, and the forms themselves were nothing more than practice for muscle memory- a base to build off of while she used her innate feel of her own chi flowing into and around the world to create a mental map of just how each bending style worked.

 

The rapid adaptability of water and its push and pull motions had been an interesting diversion from the hard, aggressive strikes of fire, and had flowed much more like the forms for lightning. The strength of earth was slower, more methodical than fire and water both, but its stalwart nature and overwhelming strength could be devastating at the right time. Air continued to evade her, though- something about her very nature seemed to reject its sheer association with freedom and enlightenment , and she was stuck with bending pathetic amounts of air in a largely uncontrolled manner- no more than a spiraling breeze centered on herself, most of the time.

 

Perhaps she just needed to meditate more, truly look within and unlock the chains weighing her down.

 

Whatever it was, it was annoying. But that wasn’t the point right now- the point was earth. The way it felt below her feet, the way it transmitted vibrations to and from her own body, the way it cracked and broke instead of bending to her will- that she had to shape each construct before it came from the ground was a new idea to her, considering how malleable and fickle the shapes of flame and water were.

 

But she could still do it. Of course she could.

 

She was Midoriya fucking Izumi .

 

She continued to run through the forms as she could, adapting some strikes and blows to be finger flicks or wrist movements- not focused on striking power, but in letting the feel of the earth manifest and act , listening and waiting for the precise time in every movement to release the built up chi and have it sink into the earth with an almighty rumble and crash . It wasn’t like the need to force fire into its proper shape as it manifested, it wasn’t like guiding water into what was basically a container of chi that she could then shape as she pleased- it was sculpture. A properly forceful strike delivered at precisely the right time, in the right place, with the right tool.

 

A chisel, a hammer. A drill, an axe.

 

Earth was versatile, and yet did not change once formed. It could erode and it could be molded afterwards, but it thrived in rigid angles and harsh lines. Even still, it could move and flow when necessary, when infiltrated by water or heated by fire. Even the sand could be molded freely, when lifted by air.

 

Izumi gritted her teeth, feeling her chi pouring out into the world as she practiced, forcing the earth to budge and break at her direction as she built up and up and up, a tower of shaped concrete and dirt and earth rising in her mind’s eye as she sculpted and shaped and chipped and tore away at the formation before her.

 

Finally, she opened her eyes to the low sound of Katsumi whistling in awe and clapping.

 

Before her, perfectly formed, was a statue of… herself. Wrought in stone, patchy from the composition of materials, but well sculpted all the same- posed heroically with a flowing banner in her hand, as though leading the charge on some great battlefield.

 

Izumi chuckled to herself, admiring her handiwork for a moment. 

 

Yes, her earthbending might not be quite fast enough to be of great use in combat yet, but she’d say she had the precision down already.

 

And the power.

 

With a clap of her hands, Izumi reached out with her chi and smashed the statue of herself downwards to return the floor back to normal, muscles straining against the feedback of her own energy stretching out over the distance as she let out a kiai… and turned the entire thing into a glowing, murderously hot mass of lava that splattered all over the training grounds.

 

“Shit Izu what the FUCK!?”

 

“Oh fuck fuck shit shit shit that wasn’t supposed to happen!”

 

“Argh, the fucking plants!”

 

“Oh Agni , the gardening staff is going to kill me!”

 

… Maybe she shouldn’t have been so cocky about her own skill.

Chapter Text

“Sooooooo… heard Hagakure finally worked up the nerve to ask you to bone,” Himiko drawled lightly as she and Tsu passed a ball of water between themselves, Himiko turned to face Izumi as she worked on changing the state of her water bucket from liquid to solid to gas as fast as possible. “You take her up on that?”

 

“Mmm, haven’t made up my mind on that- I mean, we’re plenty friendly, but I’m not sure if I can just… I don’t know, Himiko,” Izumi sighed, shaking her head as she worked a whip of water into a disk of ice, examining her reflection in the mirror for a moment before letting it sublimate into a burst of steam that she then gathered back into a raincloud to refill her bucket. “I mean, I’m still barely used to being a couple with Kacchan- I don’t know if I can handle going off and sleeping with other people already . And, honestly, I’m usually too tired at the end of the day to even try .”

 

“... Yeah, because you’re working yourself into the ground with, what, practicing twelve different kinds of martial arts, learning from Aizawa-sensei, teaching us bending, practicing your own bending, and then burning yourself out trying to hold onto that frankly really horny looking Avatar state of yours?” Himiko snorted, splitting the water ball between her hands into a pair of streamers that she shot back at Tsu, who simply redirected the entire thing into a single flow that wrapped around the two of them like a giant hula hoop. 

 

Well, up until the point that Tsu spontaneously grew a second pair of glowing blue arms and flicked a streamer of water straight into Himiko’s face. 

 

“Blech! Hey! No fair!” Himiko whined, dropping her control from the sudden splash and stumbling back with a glare. “C’mon! That’s so not cool Tsu!”

 

“Couldn’t resist, kero,” Tsu snickered, winking at Himiko and sticking her tongue out cutely before tapping her chin and turning back to Izumi. “You know, just because you’re the Avatar now doesn’t mean you have to push yourself so hard. But also, yes, your Avatar state is… very sexual.”

 

“... it’s what?” Izumi muttered, staring at Tsu as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Honestly, she had no idea if they were lying or not, considering that she had to all but fight Vaatu for every scrap of control whenever the still belligerent asshole deigned to try and further their immersion- granted, Vaatu said that it’d be more lenient when its power had fully returned and it could actually afford to meld more completely into the Avatar state- and thus Izumi currently had no idea what her actual Avatar state form looked like. 

 

From what she surmised… probably not the regular glowing white eyes that most Avatars had.

 

“Yeah, you like- you basically turn into a naked red version of yourself with cool tribal tattoos all over your front and your eyes glow orange and it’s kinda sorta really hot,” Himiko blushed a bit, fanning herself despite the fact that she was soaking wet and knee deep in a pool. “Also, the energy tentacles… rrowrr.”

 

“... I’m going to need to have a long talk with the spirit currently parasitizing my soul,” Izumi deadpanned, palming her face before sighing and shaking her head. “But… back to your other point, I suppose I am driving myself a little hard… it’s really hard not to, honestly. I get excited about learning new things, and well, I’ve never been afraid of a little hard work. I just… I suppose I could stand to slow down…”

 

“You should, kero,” Tsu cut in, stepping out of the pool so she could pat Izumi on the shoulder- completely oblivious to the fact that it put her chest directly in Izumi’s line of sight given that Izumi was sitting down on a stool and Tsu was… not. Then again, considering that Tsu had deliberately splashed herself with water and was wearing a now very much nearly transparent white tanktop without a bra … well, maybe it was intentional. “There’s no rush to be the strongest, or the best, kero- and you can’t say that you’re just trying to catch up or make up for lost time when even without your bending and fresh out of the hospital, you were still more than fast and strong enough to beat the shit out of Kirishima in a training fight, kero.”

 

She paused, then tilted her head to look Izumi in the eye.

 

“Also, I just want you to know that the three of us- Ochako, Himiko, and me- agreed that you and Katsumi have a standing invitation to join us if you’re ever in the mood for an orgy.” 

 

“I- wh- are you-” Izumi spluttered, her face heating up to a full on nuclear blush as Tsu winked at her and then licked her cheek what the fuck . “Tsu! Y- you can’t just say those things! I-I barely have experience with romance as it is! I can’t- I don’t know how to handle polyamory!”

 

“.... It’s pretty simple, kero,” Tsu shrugged, rolling her eyes at Izumi’s theatrics before blowing a small bubble from her mouth and watching it float into the air for a moment. “Good communication, mutual support, and being there for cuddles when necessary. Also a good understanding of how to not leave your shit everywhere, kero. That last one’s something you can work on over time, though. No pressure, kero.”

 

“... I- you make it sound so simple,” Izumi sighed, wiping her cheek awkwardly and trying very hard to not stare at how Tsu’s tanktop and swim trunks clung to her… everything . Boobs, waist, hips, thighs…. Dick…

 

“I uh… uhm. Hm.”

 

Tsu blinked, then ribbited out a quiet chuckle. “You sure know how to make a girl appreciate her cock, kero. Stare at it any longer and I might have to drag you back to the dorms for a break~”

 

“Tsu! I- sorry! I just-! I mean I wouldn’t- er!” Izumi flushed even more, groaning as she dropped her face into her hands, wheezing out something that wasn’t spoken in words but was more or less the universal signal of “please help me I am a useless lesbian”, the water around her boiling into steam as she tried fruitlessly to hide herself from view. “Argh! Don’t tease me like that!”

 

“Who’s teasing?” Tsu asked, her expression not changing much, though Izumi could still hear the smirk in her voice. “We’d love to have you, you know. We do, honestly, think you’d be a wonderful member of our polycule, kero.”

 

“Yeah! You’re kind, you’re warm, you put so much effort into doing the right thing- you’ve helped all of us so much, and we all love you a lot!” Himiko chimed in, glomping onto Izumi from behind and making her very aware of the fact that Himiko wasn’t wearing a bra either. “Platonically and romantically!”

 

“Mm. So… no pressure, of course, kero, but… what do you think?” Tsu finished, tapping her chin again as she tilted her head questioningly.

 

Izumi gulped, then flushed as Himiko started nibbling at the junction of her neck and shoulder, whimpering ever so quietly as she really, truly ran through her options… and felt that little chaos gremlin in her soul urging her on.

 

Well… fuck it. How bad could it be?

 

“... Let me call Katsumi first.”

 

“Of course, kero.”

 

“Yeah! Five way orgy time!”

Chapter 137

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Y’know, I’m starting to think one of us needs to get a bigger bed,” Himiko deadpanned quietly as she wiggled in her position in the cuddle pile the fivesome of girls had barely managed to get going- sure, a double size bed was pretty comfortable for two and maybe three if everyone was fine getting tangled up and partially suffocated in someone else’s breasts every morning, but five?

 

Absolutely miserable, honestly. 

 

Izumi was buried at the bottom of the pile, one arm and both of her legs buried under Ochako as the brunette traced circles on her abs and did funny things with her lips and Izumi’s ribs that was… very distracting. Her other arm was currently trapped by Tsu, who was more or less wrapped around the entire thing in such a way that both of Tsu’s breasts were pressed against Izumi’s bicep and her hand was firmly parked in prime groping position on top of Tsu’s… surprisingly sizeable penis.

 

Wow. It was. Big.

 

Also, Tsu was currently buried face first into Izumi’s shoulder and although it normally would have been quite comfortable like that, Tsu was also sucking hickies into her neck and it was about all Izumi could do to hold back from trying to use her Avatar state to do something that could have possibly been very stupid, and/or very hot.

 

Mostly depended on whether or not Vaatu felt like cooperating, really.

 

Which, the chaos spirit probably would, because for some reason it decided that one of the most chaotic things Izumi could do at any one moment was just have wild monkey sex with any number of girls. 

 

Frankly, Izumi just thought Vaatu was a shameless pervert for all that it purported to be “above such trivial mortal desires”.

 

Back to the mess that was the cuddle pile though- Katsumi was currently hogging what was left of Izumi’s torso, only just barely holding herself in a way that sort of left her curled around Ochako’s head with her shoulders sort of resting above Izumi’s head and one arm holding Tsu in place, while she pressed her tits straight into Izumi’s face. Which… not the worst place to have Katsumi’s nearly naked tits, but it would have been nice to actually have airflow. Because she still needed to breathe dammit.

 

Himiko, meanwhile, was sort of tangled up in everyone’s legs to the point that she had her face halfway buried up in Katsumi’s ass, and was doing her best to not rest her bony-ass hips on the sensitive parts of Izumi’s thighs… and failing.

 

Which.

 

Ow.

 

“Yeah, this is… I don’t think this is working too well. I mean, it’d be a great start to an orgy, but uh… I do not want to stick like this for more than a few minutes,” Katsumi grumbled, voice slightly tight from the strain of trying not to suffocate Izumi in her prodigious chest, while Tsu and Ochako mumbled something of an affirmative.

 

As the two members of the pile that weren’t being crushed and actually had the ability to relax on the bed, they didn’t really get to complain, but since they were doing wonderful things to Izumi’s general state of mind by way of kissing hickies and tingly spots into her torso and neck, she gave it a pass. 

 

“I think. I’m going to pass out,” came Izumi’s specific contribution a moment later, halfway choked out and mostly muffled into Katsumi’s breasts, which were marvelous and soft and warm but honestly, really, really should not be held to her face like this for too long. “I think I’m being crushed. Not that this isn’t a wonderful way to die, but honestly with how rabid my hormones have been lately I honestly thought I’d die of a broken neck trying to get Ashido to twerk on my face.”

 

“... Really, Izu?” Ochako mumbled, shifting positions slightly and nipping at Izumi’s ribs with a slight show of theatrical displeasure. “You’re getting buried by four beautiful girls in your own bed and the only thing you have to say is you’d rather die getting your neck broken by… um. Hm. Actually, y’know what- Ashido’s got an ass so nice I’m actually gonna let that slide.”

 

“It’s distractingly thicc, kero,” Tsu nodded in agreement, her cock twitching lightly beneath Izumi’s hand even through the material of her boxer shorts. “Mi-chan has a point, kero. Getting Ashido’s ass to crush you would be a nice way to go out.”

 

“Ehhh… I’m not into that kinda thing,” Himiko muttered in response, making a so-so motion… not that anyone saw it, considering where she was, but it was the thought of it that counted. “I mean, yes, Mina-chan is super pretty- I mean, all of the girls in the hero course are like distractingly hot, but if I was gonna die during sex I’d prefer just getting railed until my heart gave out.”

 

“... Mood, but also maybe let’s not talk about dying,” Katsumi coughed gently into her hand, then groaned and pushed herself off of Izumi and off to the side of the bed- what little room there still was at least- so she could stand up and shake out her tired arms. 

 

“Sorry Kacchan,” Himiko blushed, whining a bit at the sudden lack of heat left by Katsumi’s departure. “Weh- argh, now it’s cold!”

 

“No it’s not, it’s like 27 degrees in here,” Ochako groaned, fanning herself as she too finally managed to wiggle her way out of the cuddle pile, not at all happy with the heat and sweatiness starting to make her feel all gross. “Bleh, firebenders are way too hot…”

 

“Don’t look at me, Izu never taught me how to control my body temperature,” Katsumi huffed, rolling her eyes as she sat off to the side on one of Izumi’s spare stools, scrolling through her phone and waving dismissively at Ochako.

 

I am still working on returning my control to its previous levels. It takes time to smooth out the chi flows, okay?” Izumi defended herself from Ochako’s sudden peeved look, both of them huffing melodramatically before giggling in unison. Meanwhile, now that she was free of being entangled, Himiko finally managed to scoot up onto Izumi’s now freed arm, trapping it again and…

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“Aahn~”

 

“.... Himiko, why do you have a slimy wet spot in your panties?” Izumi asked slowly, a nuclear blush forming on the faces of everyone except for the already blushing (for a very different reason) Himiko as they realized just what was going on, and also possibly why Himiko had dove into the cuddle pile in only a lacy thong and a very loose, thin cropped tank top that didn’t even cover all of her chest. “... Actually, don’t answer that, I’m pretty sure it’s for the same reason as- Tsu! Ah! Not the ear!”

 

“Shouldn’t have left yourself open, Mi-chan,” Tsu murmured as she nipped and licked at the shell of Izumi’s ear, bucking her hips slightly as something hardened very noticeably beneath Izumi’s hand. “Remember, this is an intervention for your own good , kero.”

 

“W-wait, what do you mean intervention?” Izumi asked, looking around with… mostly feigned nervousness as she watched Ochako and Katsumi strip out of their clothes, and Himiko start to grin in a way that promised nothing good.

 

And by good, Izumi mostly meant any semblance of this get together actually getting back to being a study session.

 

Considering how Tsu was now topless and her boxers had mysteriously vanished, and Izumi’s clothes were similarly gone in a feat of sleight of hand that was definitely spirit assisted…

 

Well.

 

Izumi couldn’t say she disapproved , but she really would have liked to have finished her essay for Kayama-sensei’s class before this all started.

 

Sigh.

 

Oh well. She could afford to take a break.

 

How bad could it be?

Notes:

Next chapter is where the smut is. Don't expect it to become a regular thing, though.

Chapter 138

Notes:

It took me a hundred and thirty eight chapters to even start thinking about writing lesbian porn. Honestly, if not for my chapter length being what it is, this fic might have almost qualified as a slowburn

Chapter Text

It started with a kiss- sweet and simple, a chaste peck of lips against lips as Katsumi leaned in and kissed her with a saucy wink and a sassy smirk. She was fully nude now, and stretching lightly as she bounced on her toes and really gave Izumi a show to look at. Izumi blushed, completely unable to really comprehend what was going on around her- as Azula she’d never really dealt with this kind of situation. Sure, she had a quick fling with one of Ty Lee’s sisters once upon a time when she had been in the middle of a truly horrendous period of longing during her world travels, but…. A five person lesbian orgy?

 

Not a single bit of Azula’s formidable life experience nor Izumi’s current experience with yuri H doujins had anything to say about this.

 

So she froze up, stuttering out nothing much in particular as she watched Katsumi retrieve a bottle of massage oil from the dresser (Wait, when the fuck had Katsumi put that there? She’d looked in that drawer yesterday and this was her room) and upend it all over her chest in a cascading stream of slippery, shiny goo that slipped and spread over her breasts and perky nipples in a way that made Izumi’s heart flutter.

 

Or, maybe that was Ochako and Tsu teaming up to add to the collection of hickies around Izumi’s neck, because holy shit - the little pinpricks of pain as the two girls licked and sucked hard on the skin of her neck shocked her awake, but the fluttery, tingly sensation each kiss sent down her spine hit her straight in the cunt so hard she was amazed that she hadn’t just cum right away…

 

And then Himiko decided to interrupt both the foreplay that Ochako and Tsu were visiting upon her all too willing neck and collarbones by shoving her way in between the two girls on her knees and planting her face straight into Izumi’s crotch.

 

“Whooo-aaaaahn~ S-shit, Himiko! Nnh, not so suddenlyyYYY~!” Izumi almost screamed as Himiko dove in , slurping and lapping at the drenched lower lips between her legs, tracing eager circles around her outer labia and more or less making out with her pussy in a manner that was both extremely sloppy and making Izumi go cross eyed with just the sheer amount of- whoa fucking SHIT!

 

Izumi actually did go cross eyed as Himiko began rubbing the nub of her clit, her hips almost slamming forward as she almost fell to her knees- only the combined grip of Ochako and Tsuyu keeping her standing as they continued kissing along her neck and used their free hands to play with Izumi’s breasts- kneading and groping the soft, supple flesh and tweaking her nipples in a way that sent chills and shocks down her spine directly into her core in a wave of sticky, gooey, slippery fluids.

 

Someone’s having fun~” Katsumi teased, continuing to oil up her body without a care in the world, humming lightly as she poured the slippery massage oil all over herself, working it into every nook and cranny in a way that made Izumi blush even more than having Himiko literally bury her strangely long and dextrous tongue into her sna- ooohhhhh m-maybe not more but it was definitely close…

 

“I-I o-ohhhh s-shit, Himiko!” Izumi let out an almost incoherent cry as something swelled inside of her, making her buck her hips forward with a sudden jolt of pure energy racing up and down her spine like lightning burns but so, so much more pleasant to the point that her knees almost gave out again and she felt herself clench around Himiko’s tongue with enough force that something squirted out all over the blonde vampire’s face. “F-fuck! S-shit, h-holy shit!”

 

“D-did you cum already!?” Ochako squeaked, having had to tighten her grip on Izumi’s shoulders, pulling away with a thick, glistening strand of saliva still connecting her pouty, full lips to the throbbing heat of another hickey on Izumi’s neck. She looked almost incredulous, staring Izumi in the eye- not that she actually really felt anything other than a warm haze for a little while… up until Himiko giggled into her crotch and started licking again like her pussy was the inside of a fucking peanut butter jar and- fuck shit fuck- fuck!

 

“F-fuck! I-if it wa-wasn’t obvious b-by now, Ko-chan, I’m not ex-aaaaaactlyyyyyyyYYYY-!” Izumi squealed, barely able to speak under the onslaught of three girls doing their level best to keep Izumi trapped in a sensory hell of orgasms, dancing hands tracing along her body and groping and squeezing her in places that no one had dared touch before…

 

Well, except Katsumi, except her girlfriend was just standing there like a traitor, glazed up in massage oil in a way that set all of Izumi’s motors running and all she was doing was putting oil stains in the cheap carpet and jilling herself off as she watched Izumi get sandwiched between Ochako and Tsuyu’s gentle explorations of her body and Himiko’s enthusiastic efforts of eating her out like she was trying to tie a knot in a cherry stem except the- 

 

“Hnnngh!” Izumi’s line of thought cut off as both Ochako and Tsuyu bit down on her earlobes, making her brain short circuit in a way that Izumi could only describe as an overwhelming wave of pink and lightning , and Himiko’s tongue slammed into her G-spot and did not let up , and fuck fuck SHIT FUCK SHIT FUCK FUUUUUCK~!

 

“She’s a virgin, if you couldn’t tell,” Katsumi deadpanned, barely audible through the fuzz clogging Izumi’s brain. Traitor- when she got out of this pleasure hell, she was going to Avatar state so hard she’d have Katsumi looking like the wrong end of a fucking tentacle doujin!

 

As soon as she remembered how to stand.

 

Or walk.

 

Or what her fucking name was because fucking hell , what an orgasm!

 

“I think… I saw… my ancestor spirits….” she moaned out as Ochako and Tsuyu finally let her sit down and flop onto her bed again, Himiko pulling out with a long, wet sllluuuurp that was so obscene it almost made her cum again just from the realization that yes, Himiko’s tongue was nearly six inches long, and yes she’d had the entire thing shoved inside of her and wiggling around for the past several minutes even though it had simultaneously felt like both an eternity and only a few seconds.

 

Wow.

 

“... I can’t feel my fucking legs…”

 

“Great! That means we can get to the real fun part, kero~!”

 

“W-wait, Tsu- what are you doing? N-no wait, give me a min- if you s-shove that- I’m gonna die!”

 

“Only a little, Izu-chan! Don’t worry, Tsu knows what she’s doing, just shout sakura-mochi if you wanna stop!”

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“...”

 

“.... No, er- keep going, I-ah… I just caught my breath again.”

 

“Aye aye, kero~”

Chapter Text

Well.

 

Shit.

 

Izumi stared up at the ceiling of her room, thoroughly exhausted and sore and shuddering in ways that had nothing to do with her exercise habits nor her perpetual sleep deprivation that she was only just barely managing by consuming a truly concerning amount of calories and converting it all into raw chi.

 

Instead, it had everything to do with the fact that she was currently naked, stuffed full of cum, and had the taste of four girls’s fluids in her mouth- all of whom were sort of crammed awkwardly into her bed and sleeping away peacefully.

 

Time to review, Izumi thought to herself somewhat belatedly, grimacing at the feeling of cold, gooey semen and vaginal fluids coating her body- though, with her and Katsumi’s internal body temperatures, it wasn’t really cold … just… a little gooey. And sticky.

 

The night had started off with Tsu fucking Izumi silly in missionary position, before they’d switched to an awkward scissoring position which left Izumi feeling stars and also like maybe twelve inches of shapeshifted spirit-frog cock should not have fit inside of an opening that was theoretically supposed to hold about seven at most, but Tsu had managed to cram her cock into Izumi’s cunt with a fervor and vivid eagerness that left an imprint on her belly and made her feel like someone had punched her intestines from the inside in all the best ways. Because spirit magic was just like that, apparently.

 

Which Tsu had considering that she could feel her fucked raw, sore, and honestly way too pleasantly aching holes still trying to properly close up after the sheer abuse she’d been put through. Holes, plural, because Tsu had gaped out her pussy and asshole with that magic dick of hers, then Himiko and Ochako had spent the better part of fifteen minutes eating her out until her vision went white and she almost passed out… and then Katsumi had thrown her down and started massaging her in… all the most erotic ways, followed by a vigorous and spirited buttfucking because Katsumi had somehow managed to procure a strapon and ruined her ass even more .

 

Not that Izumi had been complaining at the time, or was even still complaining- that was quite possibly the best six hours of her life.

 

She’d eaten out Himiko, Ochako, and Katsumi with vigor, fingerbanged and gotten fingerbanged, made out with all four of her (was girlfriends the right word? She really did like thinking of them as her girlfriends…) partners to the point that her lips had gotten swollen and sore and the amount of hickeys dotted over all five of them would have been absolutely impossible to hide if not for Tsu taking so well to the healing arts, and… hoo, fuck was Izumi glad that her lack of gag reflex had transferred over from Azula to her, because taking Tsu’s cock down her throat until her nose was pressed to Tsu’s pelvis and the other girl was moaning and panting while bent over nearly double with her hands fisted in Izumi’s hair was quite possibly one of the hottest things she’d ever experienced- second only to the sound of Katsumi moaning beneath her as she took charge and ruined Katsumi’s holes with the strapon.

 

… maybe third. Or fourth. Or fifth, because she’d taken Ochako, Tsu, and Himiko with the strapon as well and… 

 

Izumi blushed, licking her lips and nuzzling deeper against Katsumi’s back, luxuriating in the warmth of being wrapped around and being wrapped up in what was essentially a nest of girls.

 

 

She really did need a bigger bed… Maybe Momo could help with that? Ah, but then she wouldn’t have any room for her other stuff… well, it wasn’t like she couldn’t rearrange some of it, or throw bits of it out.

 

Hmm…

 

Deep inside of her soul, Izumi could practically feel Vaatu brimming with… contentment? Something like that. As if the spirit had consumed a particularly large meal and had used the chaos that was a five girl orgy as a battery to refill its drained energy pool.

 

Which, well, Vaatu probably had

 

Something in Izumi’s mind (... probably Vaatu’s influence) told her that if she tried to use her Avatar state now , it’d probably be a lot more stable, and a lot more willing to follow her actions as she directed.

 

Which…

 

Izumi shuddered as a light breeze from the open window rolled over her- not quite because she felt cold, but because she could feel Ochako and Tsu tremble slightly- Ochako hadn’t mastered airbending thermoregulation yet, and Tsu just hated cold on principle despite being able to make and use ice with a frightening degree of vicious skill.

 

So… hm.

 

“Vaatu,” Izumi whispered, closing her eyes and reaching within for that secondary well of power that was sunk deeper into her soul than her regular chi, a thin thread of spiritual connection reaching out as though for a handshake- a connection to what should have been all of her past lives and their combined bending experience had she been an ordinary Avatar, but in this case… was a little… different. “Are you there?”

 

Always, brat , came the thin, quiet reply echoing in her mind, a tendril of power reaching back up out of her soul with a connection that snapped into place, filling her with burning, chaotic energy that crawled over her body like a second skin, coating every inch of her in a wave of subtly glowing, almost pitch black red. An orange hue overtook the near darkness of the room, her entire body surging with a wave of heat until- until…

 

Izumi breathed out slowly as she molded the energy in her mind, shuddering and gasping at the sheer power she felt- largely an illusion at the moment, but she knew it would grow stronger and stronger as time passed and Vaatu’s presence within her body grew stronger. The two of them would properly sync up eventually, but as of now… 

 

As of now, Izumi still had enough control and power to take the writhing tendrils of her new “Dark Avatar” form, stretching them out and letting them billow lightly as they wound around the sleeping forms of her partners, supporting them gently and formed into warm, ephemeral blankets of spiritual matter and chi that let her feel their spirits against her own- Ochako’s breezy freedom, Tsu’s pulsing tides, Himiko’s frigid flows, Katsumi’s explosive heat- in a way that was hypnotic, warm, and so full of love that it almost made Izumi want to cry.

 

Almost, because just doing that much in the Avatar state and maintaining it was going to make her pass out already, and the steady thrumming of four spirits against her own was lulling her down… down… down…

 

Into the depths of slumber, where Vaatu’s whispered voice told her that it would keep her efforts going while Izumi rested.

 

How nice…

 

Izumi nodded slowly, cuddled closer to Katsumi and let herself luxuriate in the near burning warmth of her girlfriend, then let herself fall into the deep blackness of sleep.

Chapter Text

“Who would have possibly guessed that when I first came up with my stupid rope dart idea, I’d actually manage to work it into my fighting style for real?” Izumi muttered mostly to herself, facing off against Hitoshi in a practice match in one of the open air training grounds- a sandy area meant to simulate an untamed beach, complete with rocky formations, coral, and even a few tide pools here and there to go with the stretch of water off to one side.

 

“Personally, I wouldn’t have expected it at all if I didn’t know you so well,” Hitoshi huffed, then nodded at Izumi and- winced back as his searching probe of Brainwashing all but bounced off of the crimson shield that was her Avatar form. It writhed and rippled around her body menacingly, tendrils forming and vanishing even as a nearly pitch black halo hung behind her head and cast a faint red light over the area. “Gah- dammit, I keep forgetting about your stupid mental shield thing!”

 

“Maybe try to just beat it out of me, then,” Izumi snickered letting the tendrils of her form gather around her in a way that was almost like Aizawa-sensei’s scarf before starting to fling them out at Hitoshi like a seeking barrage of missiles, forcing her purple haired partner to frantically dodge and weave out of the way in a shower of vibrant sparks.

 

Hitoshi cursed under his breath as he flipped out of the way of a barrage, only for the deep red tendrils to soar past him, wrap around a protruding rock face, and tighten in such a way that it launched Izumi straight at him. Trapped in the air as he was by his own momentum, it was all he could do to just barely flick himself out of the way in time… only for another wave of tendrils spewing from Izumi’s back to catch him in the torso and fling him across the false beach and send him crashing into a particularly grassy dune. 

 

“Argh, dammit! How do you throw those out so fast!?” Hitoshi grimaced as he stood, holding his chest and thanking his lucky stars that One for All reinforced his body slightly before shaking himself out and rolling his shoulders. “Fuck, shoulda seen it coming…”

 

“It’s mostly instinct right now- I’m trying to work on precision,” Izumi shrugged from where she stood atop the outcropping and began gathering her tendrils again, letting them settle between her fingers before leaping off of the rocks and soaring into the air… which let Hitoshi simply dash out of the way and start flicking bursts of air at Izumi, who dodged and twisted and very much did not respond with airbending since at the moment all she was trying to do was control her Avatar state’s powers- sure, she could let it run off of instinct and her own innate sense of how her body should move, but by practicing with everything she could think of, it’d be all the more combat ready in case of actual danger. “So far, I think it’s coming along decently.”

 

“Argh- damn, well you’re definitely getting good at the precision part!” Hitoshi yelped as another barrage of tendrils went his way again, this time burying themselves in the sand as he leaped into the air and used his momentum to springboard off of Izumi as she used the anchor point in the sand to change her direction- both of them sort of tumbling off without much control, though where Hitoshi barely managed to roll to his feet in the loose sand, Izumi simply stayed in the air, supported upon a single tendril coming from her spine as though it was a massive tail. “Shit, I swear, I’m having a harder and harder time dodging those damn things!”

 

“Well, that’s only one part of it- I’m also trying to work on grabbing things gently,” Izumi pointed out, sending a bunch of tendrils out again- slowly, this time, as if trying not to be threatening. “So if you could just stand there, I’m going to try and carry you around in a number of different ways without causing any harm or pain. Let’s start with… broken leg?”

 

“Yeah yeah,” Hitoshi sighed, spreading his arms out slightly and letting the tendrils wrap around him slowly- they were fairly gentle, all told, but definitely weren’t very precise given how awkward and stiff some of their movements were as Izumi tried to maneuver him into a position to carry him as though he had a broken leg. “Ah- wait, hang on, if I’d actually broken my leg, that would have definitely jostled it real bad.”

 

“Dammit- okay, try again,” Izumi huffed, biting her lip slightly as she settled back down on the ground and began to focus more- this went on for a while, with Hitoshi letting Izumi manhandle him around with her tendrils and occasionally pointing out whenever her tendrils would cause more pain. They’d already gone through enough medical classes both in the first semester and over the course of summer break and studying for finals to know the best ways of moving people with various injuries, and Hitoshi had gotten full marks several times in All Might’s classes for being really good at knowing when and how any wrong movement would unduly jostle an injury. Case in point, the fact that it took Izumi well over half an hour to get down the simple act of forming a working stretcher beneath Hitoshi to simulate someone with multiple broken limbs- to say nothing of the ongoing frustration of Izumi trying to make her tendrils work properly in order to provide adequate bracing for a spinal injury.

 

Finally, after several hours, Izumi was exhausted to the point that her Avatar state literally shattered off of her into a cascade of crimson sparkles and fading tattoos, and Hitoshi was… well, he’d mostly been just getting manhandled so he was more mentally tired than physically, but he was still ready to go home and sleep all the same.

 

“Y’know, I kinda wish I had like cool energy tentacles like yours,” Hitoshi muttered as he slung Izumi’s shoulder over his arm and squinted through the fading light of early sundown, leading the two of them back to the automated shuttle station back to the main campus and settling down heavily once the two of them were actually at the designated waiting area- carrying both his gym bag, Izumi, and Izumi’s gym bag was no easy feat even with a low trickle of One for All. “Must be nice to have so many extra hands all the time.”

 

“Ugh, it would be, but I don’t have enough control to manifest tendrils in my partial Avatar state yet,” Izumi sighed, rubbing her forehead and grumbling as she slowly began to recover from her energy depletion by soaking in the last few rays of sunlight. “I get all the enhanced bending power, but I still can’t use the tendrils, or summon plants.”

 

“... Wait you can summon plants?”

 

“Huh? Oh yeah, it’s a thing I can do now. Also, apparently I’ll get spirit lasers in a bit once Vaatu heals up some more.”

 

“... So not only do you get to bend the four elements, but you also have plant control , energy tendrils, and even more fucking laser beams?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Midori, what the fuck ?”

 

“I ask myself the same thing sometimes… I still haven’t figured out the answer to that.”

 

“... man, fuck your ridiculous powerset.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure one day you’ll have your own ridiculous competence with your quirk.”


“I’d fuckin better at this rate, shit.”

Chapter 141

Notes:

Mirko's back! Also, embedded images at the end!

Chapter Text

“Hey, squirt,” Mirko waved lightly at Izumi, the former wearing casual workout clothes along with knee and elbow pads, and the latter fresh out of the showers as she walked out of the UA campus weight lifting gym (one of five, actually). “How’s it hangin’? Beat up any villains lately?”

 

Izumi paused, blinking slowly as she turned to face the heroine, halfway through a swig of her water bottle. 

 

“Ah- Mirko-sensei, I er, wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Izumi answered almost lamely as she finished her drink and lowered her bottle. It was… well, it was surprising to see Mirko show up- she hadn’t manifested any signs of bending during the initial blast of spirit energy that had sent auroras rippling around the globe for nearly a month straight, and she wasn’t exactly fond of teaching groups of students. Or teaching in general. So… what was she doing on campus? Was she just checking in on Izumi again like she had nearly two weeks prior? “I haven’t gone out lately, no. Training as usual. Classes… teaching bending to other people. Oh- I don’t recall if I told you- I got my bending back, by the way.”

 

“Wait- you did!? How!? You-” Mirko startled suddenly in shock, taking a step forward and grabbing Izumi by the shoulders with an intense stare of both curiosity and bewilderment on her face. “You told me n’ Hawks that that rat bastard All For One stole it! How’d you get it back!? Wait- did him dying bring it back somehow?”

 

“Ah- no, it turns out that it was never really gone in the first place,” Izumi cleared her throat as she spoke, trying not to blush too hard at the fact that the woman who was still her idol was all up in her face and was holding her in a way that was almost intimate and shut up Vaatu you’re not helping!  

 

“I- er, that is… I regained it because of some… unusual circumstances,” Izumi finished lamely after doddering for a few moments, unable to find the words with how hard she was trying to not stare down and instead keep eye contact with Mirko. “It’s a long story… well, I guess it’s not that long, but it’s certainly more complicated than I would like it to be. Anyway, what are you doing here sensei?”

 

“Huh… that makes… some… sense,” Mirko muttered, then shook her head and yanked Izumi closer to her, wrapping her arm around the greenette’s shoulders and bringing her in until Izumi’s cheek was squished up under Mirko’s boob and there was another fist driving into Izumi’s skull in a friendly noogie. “Oi oi, and drop the sensei shit, huh? I’m not your teacher anymore, squirt! Honestly, at this point you have more to teach me than I have to teach you!”

 

“I… really doubt that, Mirko-san,” Izumi sighed, then wiggled her way out of the noogie with only a modicum of difficulty, while Mirko just shrugged and grinned casually.

 

“Eh, we’ll see. Anyway… I’m here because I’m looking into some… concerning rumors that Humarise has been active in the area, and I need the lil rat satan’s information network to keep up to date on any changes to the situation,” Mirko explained, starting to walk somewhat aimlessly and motioning for Izumi to follow. She set a casual pace, as though the two of them were just on a casual stroll instead of one of them talking about a fucking quirkless supremacy cult becoming active in Japan when they were previously mostly a European problem . “How much do you know about the worldwide quirkless situation, by the way?”

 

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Izumi admitted, shaking her head and looking to the side. “I’ve been busy with my training and classes now that summer vacation is over… it’s been brought up a few times by Yagi-sensei, but overall, I just know that the actual statistic of quirkless people worldwide is now less than two percent, and there’s been a lot of riots from formerly quirkless people using their newfound bending to enact revenge on the people that oppressed them.”

 

She paused, then sighed and swallowed thickly. “Technically speaking, I might actually fall into the category of “newly quirked”, what with how my bending came back in. It’s a weird thought…”

 

“Hmm… I guess it is, isn’t it? Well, you’re not wrong about the riots, but what you probably didn’t know is that Humarise has gone fucking insane ,” Mirko began explaining, hands in her pockets as she looked up at the sky with a heavy grimace marring her face. “There’s been recent mass graves in Otheon full of people who were listed as quirkless, and who had gone missing in recent years. All of them showed signs of heavy abuse, and more than a few of them also showed the same signs of… what did Nedzu call them… ‘chi pathways’? Whatever it was, almost all of the bodies in those graves showed signs of bending ability, and at least a few had burnt off limbs, possibly as a result of trying to defend themselves.” 

 

She shook her head then led Izumi over to a bench and sat down heavily, her fists clenched and muscles showing signs of just how much stress she was under. “The bastards have gone way off the deep end, and what leadership they still have has gone fucking global with their fucked up mission of kidnapping as many quirkless people as possible. The worst part is that the intel I’ve managed to find is implying that the leader- Flect Turn- is here in Japan and trying to establish a larger branch via what resources Humarise already has here.”

 

“.... That’s awful ,” Izumi murmured, feeling her heart clench in her chest as she listened to Mirko speak, a shiver racing down her spine at the thought of what Humarise could do , would bring themselves to do… 

 

Unbidden, memories from Azula’s life rose up within her- so ancient, and yet as she now knew, barely a few years old by the reckoning of the world she’d come from. The acrid, crackling light of an Equalist’s glove. The mask of Amon over Aang’s face in the bay. The sheer chaos of those several weeks of fear and paranoia… Azula had never been afraid , but when the Equalists had tried to take her once they found out her identity, she’d been… angered . Annoyed. Livid. 

 

Izumi was starting to feel some of that rage too. 

 

“Yeah, and for some reason, lil rat satan told me to come here and hang out for some time while I wait for him to finish compiling his analysis of the situation- I’d have sent it off to someone else, but he insisted , claiming that there was someone here that could help take down Humarise,” Mirko shrugged, idly pulling her phone from where it was holstered in her arm band and spinning it between her hands, fidgeting lightly as she leaned back in her seat and turned back to Izumi. “So yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m livin’ on campus for another couple days while I wait to figure out who he’s gonna recommend for this- I’m betting Eraserhead, since he’s always good in a pinch… fucker still hasn’t responded to my calls for a damn rematch…”

 

“... Actually,” Izumi cleared her throat awkwardly as her phone vibrated, a text notification appearing on her screen bearing all the familiar hallmarks of the principal’s meddling- the custom notification jingle, the decorated notification box, and the file attachment regarding Humarise’s movements within the last few weeks… and an exemption from all classes as long as she was working with Mirko. “.... I think I know who your contact is.”

 

“... Well shit, guess we’re getting that teamup earlier than I thought!” Mirko grinned, holding up her hand for a high five. “Hell yeah, and I don’t even have to file the paperwork for a work study application!”

 

“Hell yeah.” Izumi clapped Mirko’s hand dryly, snickering just a bit at the open enthusiasm on her one-time sensei’s face… only to watch it drop a moment later.

 

“Argh, shit! Now we have to come up with a name for our hero duo! Fuck!”

Izumi's Dark Avatar Form

Izumi's Hero Outfit 2

Chapter Text

Izumi crouched low upon the rooftop, the moonlight shining high above her and strengthening her waterbending by a not insignificant amount, filling her with the feeling of cool chi that filtered through her veins and chi pathways like a river through a delta. Down below her was a gathering of nondescript people in dark clothes- a group ranging from adults to teenagers, it seemed, given the height disparity between some members, plus the high pitched sounding voices that denoted an at least apparent lack of age that she could hear with her newfound sensitivity to vibrations that airbending conferred upon her.

 

What they were talking about… well. 

 

Izumi couldn’t say it had anything to do with the investigation into Humarise and Flect Turn, nor the ongoing investigation into enhanced “Ideo” Trigger that she and Mirko had gotten tangled up in as a result of looking into Humarise, but it was just as interesting, if not because of the actual subject matter of the group’s discussions, then because of the group’s composition .

 

Most of the group, she didn’t much care about- there was a pink haired male with a full body lizard mutation quirk, and next to him a black haired man with extremely scarred arms and a body temperature that was well above normal, even for a firebender. There was also a man in a top hat and trenchcoat combo that was somewhere between phantom thief and stage magician, as well as another man in a two tone face mask that was black on the bottom and gray on the top. The youngest was… a middle schooler with a gas mask, and the sole female member of the group was…

 

“What the fuck is Hikiishi-san doing down there?” Izumi muttered to herself, blinking slowly as she used the shadows of the building to extend a tendril of darkness down and towards the surprisingly wide alleyway, using it as a sensory limb instead of anything more substantial- she’d managed to get what she called her “Stage 2 Avatar State” working just before she’d gone on assignment with Mirko- where Stage 1 was simply a power boost and Stage 3 was the full transformation into the somewhat demonic appearance of her full power, Stage 2 was a comfortable halfway point where she could still use some of the tendrils and abilities of Stage 3 without the full transformation, albeit at lower power and with less overall finesse with the tendrils. “That’s… Himiko doesn’t know about this. I… shit, this isn’t good.”

 

Indeed, Hikiishi Momiji, Himiko’s older sister who Izumi had really only met once or twice now, was down with the group of somewhat costumed people roughly within her age group except for the middle schooler- which, honestly, wasn’t really a problem in and of itself, were it not for the final member of the group.

 

Stain .

 

Akaguro Chizome. The fucking serial killer she’d tried and failed to stop because she’d been fucked over by All For One.

 

That was a black mark on her record that she was all too eager to resolve. But no- technically at the moment she was supposed to only act with the blessing of Mirko seeing as her current assignment was, on paperwork, an internship and not a hero work study. She couldn’t get into combat, but there was nothing in there about talking to civilians. 

 

Unfortunately, this was Stain. He was still there , and he was talking to the group arrayed before him in a dingy alleyway atop a soapbox as though he was a fucking preacher .

 

Izumi didn’t even really want to listen to what Stain was preaching, but she kept her tendrils melded with the shadows to keep an ear out as the man ranted about false heroes , the corruption of hero society, how the fakers should be culled so that true heroes could rise up and make the world a better place.

 

In a way, Stain did kind of have a point in that there were way too many heroes that were just awful people- hell, he’d even mentioned one of them by name! Endeavor, the current Number One, was still a fucking thorn in her side even after she’d managed to teach Shouto into becoming a proper fire (and water) bender, slowly replacing the trauma and hatred associated with his fire with the warmth and care that a good firebending instructor could instill into their students- after all, fire wasn’t just the element of heat and destruction, it was the sun’s light made form, life and warmth and the shining beacon of civilization.

 

But that was beside the point. 

 

What was the point was that Stain was there and- and-

 

“Mirko-sensei, I’ve got eyes on Stain, along with six possible accomplices. Quirks unknown, but their motives are pretty clear- he’s preaching at them about murdering one of the local heroes. Megaphone, I think. What should I do?” she asked quietly, tapping her comm unit and activating it with but the quietest crackle of sound. Thankfully, she was well over fifty meters away from the group she was spying on, and none of them seemed capable of hearing her over that distance- even if the man in the tophat had chi patterns that exposed him as an airbender.

 

“... Kid, I’m starting to think you’re fucking cursed. You were supposed to be keeping an eye out for drug dealers, how the fuck did you find a serial killer!? Whatever- okay, look, is your mask cam on?”

 

“Yes, sensei,” Izumi nodded her assent as she flicked her mask’s camera function on, setting it to broadcast over the same line as her communicator so Mirko could see as she saw… or at least, get an idea of it. “Sending the broadcast now.”

 

There was a faint crackle on the line as her mentor began viewing the signal from her mask, a tiny beep in her ear being the only sign that she’d begun watching. Slowly, Izumi zoomed in and activated the night vision function of her mask camera- which she didn’t really need to use anymore since her Avatar state included passive night vision and she already had infrared vision just through her own firebending mastery- letting Mirko see the people down below.

 

“... Shhhhit, you are cursed. Three of those guys are known criminals- top hat guy is Mr. Compress, known for his smash and grabs. His Quirk shrinks things into tiny balls if he gets too close to you. Lizard dude is Iguchi Shuichi, aka Spinner. He’s been arrested for multiple counts of assault and battery. He broke out of jail less than a month ago, fucking shit… the black haired guy is Dabi. Not a lot of info on him, but he’s been connected to multiple counts of arson, as well as a few carbonized bodies found in Fujinomiya. The other three I have no clue about- wait is one of them a fucking kid !?”

 

“Of course I’m cursed, Mirko-sensei, I have the literal embodiment of chaos and darkness glued to my soul ,” Izumi sighed, using a tendril to rub at her temples as she continued to spy upon the group of villains down below. “What should I do?”

 

“...”

 

Mirko was silent for a long moment, then deactivated her link to Izumi’s camera feed. 

 

“... Can you take ‘em out without too much trouble?”

 

“Possibly, though I might have to use my Stage 3 Avatar State for it,” Izumi mentioned dryly, raising an eyebrow slowly- Mirko couldn’t seriously be considering just letting her handle it, could she?

 

“... Do what you gotta. I’m on my way now, ETA fifteen minutes. Try not to break any buildings, and do not use your DBZ-ass fuckoff lasers unless you absolutely have to .”

 

“... Yes sensei.”

 

“Good. Don’t die on me kid, I still haven’t had that drink with you yet.”

 

“.... Yes, sensei.”

 

Well then.

 

Orders were orders.

 

With a roll of her neck, Izumi stood up on the rooftop and reached down into the depths of her soul, initiating the metaphorical handshake with Vaatu that allowed their beings to mingle into a true hybrid form.


She stepped off of the roof and, as she fell, embraced chaos .

Chapter Text

It… would be a stretch to call what ensued a proper fight

 

Izumi descended upon the group like a meteor of shadows, the air screaming around her as she drew it into a swirling tornado around herself while her tendrils lashed about and began to flood the area with hellish blue flames. Those surging flames blew around into almost a cage-like shape casting an eerie light over the area and drawing cries of shock as Izumi smashed into the concrete of the alleyway and let the wind go in a blast like a tornado- most of the group around her was thrown about instantly and flung away, save for Mr. Compress, who barely managed to hang on by throwing his hands forward and forming a whirling shield of air to protect himself.

 

In that moment of disorientation, Izumi began to spin around and around as flames blazed to life around her and finished the cage surrounding the area. No- it was more of a dome that covered the area and closed off both ends of the alley as well as prevented anyone from leaving through the air.

 

Then again, at least two members of the group were earthbenders, and one of them was an airbender. There was also no guarantee that the other members wouldn’t be able to break through the flames either, so she’d have to make this quick.

 

The tattoos on Izumi’s chest flared hellishly red as she used them for an intimidation display, standing tall and letting the tendrils around her writhe as they danced with the shadows, the ghostly light of the flames and her own presence making everyone stop and stare as she took them all in one by one in return. 

 

“Akaguro Chizome aka Stain. You are hereby under arrest for multiple counts of homicide, conspiracy to murder, assault, battery, evading arrest, and about a million other things I cannot be bothered to list right now. You six accomplices have one chance to surrender before things get more violent than they already have. If you do not comply, I will use force. If you kneel down on the ground with your hands on your heads, I will let you go as long as you have not committed any other crimes,” Izumi announced, her voice harsh and distorted by the covering of shadows and spirit energy coating her body, making it echo unnaturally as she slowly turned in a circle.

 

For a moment, it almost seemed like they would surrender- Momiji-san seemed utterly terrified, and most of the fight had gone out of the burly woman despite the massive steel bat she was carrying with her.

 

… Well. Until Stain ripped a hunk of concrete from the ground and launched it at her head like a bullet, to which a single tendril simply took control of the earthen projectile as it came and halted its momentum by shearing it in half . The two pieces fell to Izumi’s feet a moment later, and she sighed as she ran a hand through the glowing, crimson strands of her hair.

 

“Very well. Stain, I will be brutalizing you until you can no longer move. The rest of you will be treated according to the level of resistance you put up.” Izumi almost hissed as she spoke, then stomped her right foot against the ground to pick up the two chunks of concrete that had been thrown at her moments earlier, letting them smash into each other and spin and spin and spin and spin .

 

Light and heat and the sensation of death filled the alleyway- even moreso than the dome of flames had managed- as a spinning glob of lava formed between Izumi’s hands, sharpening and flattening itself into a circle that spun so fast it filled the air with a harsh buzzing.

 

Instantly, the alley erupted into chaos, and Izumi let herself flow with it all as though she was a single leaf riding along in a hurricane- tossed and swirled around but otherwise unharmed. 

 

A massive slab of rock tried to impale her from below, and in response she simply responded by leaping into the air, spinning and whirling as her tendrils lashed out with clubs of ice forming along the tips, water flowing from the pouches stored in her costume and allowing her to smash Momiji-san upside the head, sweeping her feet out from under her at the same time before binding her in a frozen hogtie and leaving her deposited off to the side. 

 

Spinner tried to rush in with a massive sword that was made of hundreds of knives… and Izumi just… skirted around him before slicing the massive eyesore in half with her lava blade, letting the metal clang to the ground as she simply slapped the lizard man around with her tendrils before leaving him similarly tied up- this time wrapped in bonds of solid concrete, with extra restraints to make sure he couldn’t break out. 

 

A moment later, Izumi flung herself back into the air again, her sensitivity to air currents screaming at her as Mr. Compress tried to lunge at her with an outstretched hand. In response, Izumi’s eyes glowed , and she flipped in midair only to slam back down, feet smashing into the magician’s shoulders and sinking him into the ground like quicksand, while his free arm was dragged under by blocks of concrete shifting out of the ground like rocky tendrils and anchoring him in place.

 

And then- well. The guy in the two-toned mask, she simply waved her hand at, and the wall he was backed up against almost came alive as brick restraints snapped around his limbs.

 

Dabi… tried to throw blue flames back at her.

 

Tried.

 

Instead, the entire massive streamer fizzled out the moment it came near her, and he just looked like an idiot as he stood there, shaking his hand frantically while Izumi simply clenched her fist and kept a tight grip on his flames. After a moment, he simply gritted his teeth, let out a sort of pathetic sounding warcry, and tried to punch her in the face.

 

Good form, but…

 

No.

 

Izumi sighed as she slammed Dabi down with her tendrils and trapped his arms and legs in the concrete floor, not even bothering to keep an eye on him as she turned to the last two combatants- the kid in the gas mask, who seemed absolutely terrified , and Stain, who was simply watching her with his sword in hand.

 

“Kid, you have three seconds to run and throw away whatever shit you’re about to try and attack me with,” Izumi growled, ripping the knife and gun (wait what, where the fuck had a thirteen year old gotten a fucking gun!? This was Japan, not America!) away from behind the kid’s back with a flex of her tendrils, the metal crumpling in a way that was… well. She’d see about practicing that later. “One.”

 

The kid whimpered, trembling in his shoes as he slowly took a step back away from Izumi, looking between her and Stain frantically as if trying to get some instruction on what to do.

 

“Two.”

 

Izumi stepped forward threateningly, the mass of tendrils behind her forming into a pair of massive, demonic wings to add to her level of menace, eyes glowing hellishly orange to the point of lighting up the area even as she let her flames entirely dissipate on one side of the alley to let the kid escape.

 

“Go,” Stain muttered quietly, waving his sword slightly with a jerk of his head.

 

The kid ran.

 

Good.

 

“Well now, it’s just you and me,” Izumi murmured quietly, staring Stain down with deadly intent. “You couldn’t stop me even when all I had was fire. You ran from me back then, during Hosu, and yet here you are, standing tall and proud. Tell me, how strong is your earthbending, Stain? Can you topple buildings yet? Can you move mountains? Or can you just fling rocks?”

 

She rose into the air slightly, held aloft by her tendrils as she spread her arms wide, rings of water, flame, earth, and air swirling visibly around her as she let her tattoos glow bright and hot and vivid, casting crimson light down upon Stain as though he were trapped under the gaze of a judgmental goddess.

 

“Can you stand up to me now, at the height of my power?”

 

Stain just grit his teeth, glaring up at her as he held his sword at the ready and pulled two small boulders from the ground to hover beside him.

 

The battle was rejoined.

 

It was fierce, and violent, and brutal, just as Izumi promised it to be.


She reveled in the chaos.

Chapter Text

“.... You know, when I gave you the order to take ‘em all out, I kinda thought it’d take you a lot longer than five fucking minutes, considering you were up against the Hero Killer ,” Mirko deadpanned dryly, raising an eyebrow at the assembled gang of criminals and counting them up slowly. “... You said seven. Stain, and six accomplices. This is five . I notice that the kid and the lady are both gone.”

 

“Small fry, the both of them,” Izumi sighed, shaking her head and frowning, looking at the very much not happy but still defeated forms of the group she’d defeated, crossing her arms and shrugging a bit. Stain was locked in bands of thick ice, as well as wrapped up in the tendrils of her Avatar form. Mr. Compress was likewise hogtied, with his hands buried deep into a concrete block so he couldn’t just compress his restraints and escape that way. Everyone else had standard bands of concrete, save for Dabi whose arms were encased in it to prevent him from lighting up. “I wasn’t about to beat the shit of a terrified middle schooler, and the woman… we had a very important talk about the benefits of not falling for a fucking serial killer’s gigabrain rhetoric on how society should work. This isn’t the twenty-first century, dammit. Cannot believe she fell for that shit…”

 

“... Y’know, I’m not supposed to congratulate you on letting potential criminals go, but… eh. You caught Stain, you caught three other notorious criminals, and uh… this last guy. I… have no idea who this guy is,” Mirko pointed at the masked man, who mostly seemed like he was arguing with himself and not even really paying attention to either of the two women in front of him. “... Kemurikage, who the fuck is this?”

 

“I have no clue,” Izumi shrugged in response as she looked down at the man as well, then huffed and gave him a gentle nudge with one of her tendrils. “Hey, what’s your name?”

 

“My name is Bubaiga- Twice! My name is Twice!” the man responded, suddenly flinching halfway through his sentence and speaking with an entirely different tone of voice, before shrugging and looking rather sheepish, even though his mask covered his entire head and left nothing but a pair of weirdly expressive eye patches visible. “I haven’t done anything wrong! I’ve done everything wrong! I’m not a criminal, I promise! Then again I’ve done a lot of illegal stuff!”

 

“... Mirko-sensei, I think this guy needs a therapist more than he needs a prison cell,” Izumi deadpanned dryly, taking off her mask and sighing as she pinched the bridge of her nose, then tapped her foot impatiently and looked around. “Also, where are the cops? Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

 

“Kid, I called ‘em like a minute before I got here. Give it a few,” Mirko shrugged in response before idly kneeling down in front of the now named Twice, giving him a… somewhat soft look- more soft than any expression that she normally gave potential criminals, and one she’d… really only seen on Mirko when she was dealing with trauma victims and children.

 

Honestly, fuck Vaatu’s general presence for screwing so much with her hormones, because holy fuck the passive tendency towards chaos was making her feel like she was a goddamn highschooler again and only just barely managing to keep it in her pants whenever Katsumi wore croptops around her.

 

(Although, really, that… had not changed much. If at all. Honestly, growing up made it worse considering how big Katsumi’s tits were and the state of her abs… fuck, not the time, dammit! )

 

“Hey, Twice. Look, if you tell me what you’ve done so far, I can get you some help- and I don’t mean just trying to get you less prison time. I mean actual help. Therapy, a way out of whatever situation you’re in, quirk counseling- you name it, I can do it,” Mirko spoke quietly, full of compassion and understanding as she held out a hand to Twice, her other hand motioning behind her back to release the man’s hands. “I promise. I’ll pay outta pocket if I gotta. So, what do you say?”

 

“I- I haven’t done anything yet,” Twice answered slowly, his voice shaking as he seemingly tried to keep a handle on himself, reaching out with one hand once Izumi dissolved the cuffs around his wrists and slowly clutching onto Mirko’s hand like a lifeline. “I’ve stolen a whole bunch of drugs! I- I needed them! I wanted to know that I was the real one! I sold ‘em off to pay my rent!”

 

“I see… did you ever hurt anyone, Twice?” Mirko asked, gently squeezing the man’s hand in her own, her expression non-hostile and full of understanding. 

 

“No- I, I mean I thought about it sometimes, but I never hurt anyone- I only hurt myself! I don’t even know if I’m the original anymore!” Twice shuddered, then sighed and ducked his head as the sound of sirens approaching cut the conversation short. “I just- I wanted to find people who’d accept me for who I am… I wanted to get out there and beat the shit outta the bastards who fucked up everything for people like me! Mental health services in Japan are terrible, and… I just couldn’t handle it.

 

“Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do, Twice. Take this and hold onto it. Then, get out of here and stay safe. Don’t fall for this shit again- especially not if they call for general purges of any kind of populace. Call the number as soon as you can, and I promise I’ll try to be there for you,” Mirko sighed and stood, pressing a business card into Twice’s hands while Izumi let the rest of his bonds disappear.

 

Thankfully, the rest of the villains hadn’t said anything during the whole exchange, given that most of them were either gagged, too dignified to interrupt, or unconscious- Spinner, Mr. Compress, and both Stain and Dabi respectively.

 

Izumi kind of felt a little bad for accidentally cracking Dabi’s face into the ground hard enough that he lost consciousness.

 

Not that bad since he’d tried to immolate her, but still.

 

“Now, the rest of you are definitely going to jail. Some of you for much longer than the others,” Mirko announced once Twice had ran off around the corner, card clutched in his hands as though it were the holy grail. “In the case of Stain and Dabi here, they’re absolutely fucked. Spinner, you’re definitely fucked for breaking out of prison. Mr. Compress… well. This isn’t a good look for you, but at least your record before this was free of any actual injuries. That might get you some leniency.”

 

“I’m a humble performer, ma’am. Just because I put on a show stealing from all those stores doesn’t mean I want to hurt people! Well… until I found out about the amount of rapes Megaphone has gotten away with,” Mr. Compress huffed, then sank back against the block he was anchored to with a slight wince. “Ah well. I wished to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps, but alas, my career has been stymied before it could really get off the ground. No matter, a showman’s legacy will always live on!”

 

“Uh… huh… I’m gonna have to open an investigation on that,” Mirko muttered, raising an eyebrow for a moment before shrugging and turning away and facing Izumi once again as the police finally arrived to take the assembled criminals away. “Well, four outta seven. Not bad, especially since the other three were… eh. I mean, I guess Twice was a criminal, but fuck it, we got bigger shit to deal with than a guy who stole meds to keep himself sane… and pay rent.”

 

“I do, sincerely , hope we’ve made the right decisions,” Izumi sighed, rubbing her forehead and letting Mirko deal with the cops and call someone to write up the incident report later. After a few moments, the two of them were finally left alone, and Mirko grinned as she slung an arm around Izumi’s shoulder, pressing the girl’s face firmly into her chest as she laughed.

 

“Well, other than that, that’s a fuckin notch in your belt, eh? Your first ever villain capture is the Hero Killer! And you did it fuckin flawless too! No excessive property damage, no excessive injuries, and you didn’t even take a scratch! ” Mirko crowed, starting to lead Izumi down the street in sort of an aimless wandering pattern. “Fuck, I’m starting to get what Kei said about you seeming like you’re fucking invincible! C’mon, let’s go back to my place- I wanna have that celebration drink with you before any other shit interrupts us!”

 

“... Mirko-sensei, I can’t legally drink.”

 

“That’s only in public, squirt! C’mon, I got some good shit back at my place- you a fruity cocktail kinda gal or do you like hard liquor?”

 

“... I can already tell that tonight is going to end in fucking chaos ,” Izumi sighed, blushing heavily and hiding her reactions behind the crimson cloak of her Avatar state if only to keep Mirko from laughing at her.

 

It didn’t really work.

Chapter Text

“Katsumi,” Izumi stated seriously as she spoke into her phone, hiding in the bathroom and speaking as quietly as she could so as to not wake the other inhabitant of the apartment.

 

She was… honestly a disheveled mess. Half covered in various stains, sticky and sweaty and with weird imprints in her skin, her hair a complete and utter ruin in comparison to the normally neat half ponytail thing she usually kept it in, her hairpiece nowhere to be found… and she was naked. And blushing. And had a headache so strong it made Vaatu weep with frustration in the deepest depths of her soul- though, the headache was quickly fixed up once Izumi used a bit of tap water to heal herself and make a temporary ice pack attached to her forehead. 

 

“Katsumi, I think I fucked up. I fucked up real bad,” Izumi half whispered, half shouted into her phone. The only reason why she knew that Katsumi was up at this hour was because the two of them were both firebenders, they both rose exactly as soon as the sun crested the horizon, and Katsumi’s alarm clock was always set to six am anyway no matter what time sunrise actually was. “Katsumi, please.”

 

“Izu. It is seven in the morning,” Katsumi’s voice crackled out of her phone speaker, the sounds of makeup bottles and sprays and lotions clinking as she went through her morning routine. “I haven’t put my makeup on yet, my hair is a mess, and I haven’t even gone on my morning run. If this isn’t an actually life threatening emergency, I’m not going to help.”

 

“Katsumi, I got drunk with Mirko and turned her apartment into the aftermath of a tentacle hentai!” Izumi almost shouted for real, her voice raising slightly despite her efforts to control it, and the sound of her panic echoing off the walls of the bathroom to really bring home just what she’d done. “I don’t know how or why Vaatu managed to simulate cum, all I know is that Rumi-san is in the other room, fucked stupid, covered in fake semen, and the entire bedroom, and the living room, and the kitchen all look like someone did a thirty hour bukkake JAV shoot there and everyone missed!”

 

“.... So what you’re telling me is that you finally crossed item number one off of your ‘impossible dream bucket list’, and I wasn’t even there to commemorate the occasion,” Katsumi deadpanned, somehow sounding more indignant about Izumi having not invited her two cities over to take photos of Izumi cheating on her with a nearly eight years older Pro Hero. “I’m wounded, Izu. Truly. You got to sleep with Mirko and I wasn’t even there to clean up your sloppy seconds- how could you do this to me? Your girlfriend ? It’s like you don’t even care about me anymore! Humph! I’m going to go drown my sorrows by deepthroating Tsu’s dick until she can’t walk straight for a week and you’re not invited!”

 

Izumi sighed. “Katsumi, I know you’re not really sad about this, but I am genuinely a little freaked out right now- what if Rumi-san loses her teaching license because of this!? I’m a hero intern right now! I’m not supposed to even fight let alone get wasted in my sensei’s home or tentacle bang her to the point that she’s still gaping open after six hours!”

 

“That’s hot. Can you send pictures? Fuck, you really know how to get a girl hot and bothered, Izu-chan~” Katsumi breathed out, sounding audibly flustered as something on the other end of the line started rustling… and squelching. Was she seriously-?

 

Izumi groaned, pinching her brow before just dropping her face into her free hand, utterly defeated by Katsumi’s complete lack of tact. “I- okay, I’m… I’m gonna try and run damage control. However I can. Fuck, I hope nobody saw us . Or heard us… I mean, this is a soundproofed penthouse apartment but… shit, I really, really hope that this doesn’t get out…”

 

“You’re gonna be fiiiiine,” Katsumi panted out quietly, very much obviously trying to hide the sound of herself jilling off while still talking to Izumi, but also definitely not doing a good job of it considering Izumi could hear her fingering herself . “I mean, look, no one knows about it right now, right? So don’t tell anyone you don’t think can handle the news, and Mirko-sensei won’t do that either! As long as you’re both discrete, it shouldn’t come back to bite you. Well, in terms of public opinion. In terms of all the girls thirsting after you back here on campus…”

 

“Kacchan, don’t you dare gossip about me tentacle-fucking Rumi-san into a sex coma!” Izumi protested, standing up and pacing irritatedly around the bathroom for a few moments before settling down and staring at her reflection in the mirror. Which… honestly, even if she was a total mess covered in hickies and bite marks and her hair was all fucked up… damn, it did feel sexy if she ignored her mounting panic over the thought of what would happen if the news broke out. “I already have enough people propositioning me! You’re just going to make it worse!”

 

“I know, hon. But don’t worry, I’m only telling the people I trust to be respectful about asking you to re-enact their favorite scenes from tentacle doujins,” Katsumi snickered, then let out a long, sultry moan that echoed in Izumi’s ears and sent shivers down her spine… and then she hung up. 

 

And just… left Izumi standing there, naked in Mirko’s bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror, blushing bright red, and realizing that- honestly? She didn’t… actually mind the idea of sleeping around so much anymore. Especially not when Katsumi was not only fine with it, but actively supportive of it, plus the entire mess going on with her hormones.

 

Though… it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.

 

She still had to… awkwardly… deal with Mirko. Who… may or may not be irritated at what happened the night prior.

 

Hm.

 

“Oi! Are you done in there yet, squirt? Cuz I got about three gallons of whatever this white shit is stuffed in my cunt and I need to drain it out of my gooch before it makes me piss myself! Also, I got breakfast on the table. Nothin fancy, I just microwaved some taiyaki and green tea! Oh yeah, and some hard boiled eggs, if you like those!”

 

Or, she’d be aggressively casual about it to the point that it was almost embarrassing.

 

Fuck my life,” Izumi sighed, then opened the door to face the music, Vaatu snickering inside of her soul the whole damn time.

 

Prick.

Chapter Text

“Well, I think we need to talk,” Rumi spoke calmly as she sat across from Izumi, hands folded upon the table as she stared her intern dead in the eyes. Both of them were… about as dressed as they could be, considering that Izumi hadn’t actually brought any clothes other than her hero outfit to Rumi’s apartment and Rumi herself… well, there was a reason why Keigo sometimes called her a nudist.

 

So… towels, for both. Rumi was showered and clean, and her hair had been quickly and very professionally dried thanks to Izumi pulling the water off. Izumi… was still kinda sticky and gross, but was currently working her way through a taiyaki that was still sorta half frozen but wasn’t cold enough to really bother using her bending to heat it evenly.

 

“... Yeah,” Izumi nodded after a moment, sighing as she wiped her fingers off on a paper towel, grimacing slightly and staring her sensei in the eyes. “I um- What happened last night…”

 

“We definitely aren’t supposed to be doing that kinda shit as a hero and intern,” Rumi started, lowering her gaze slightly to the table and letting out a quiet sigh. “I mean, shit, I heard you freaking out in the bathroom and- yeah, you’re right, if it gets out that we did that kinda shit on duty, it’d be really bad . But…”

 

She paused, then grinned at Izumi with a light wink. “We weren’t on duty, and since it’s not illegal for a twenty six year old and an eighteen year old to bang… I mean, I guess it’s not ideal , but fuck it it’s not all that creepy… even if you did confess to grinding against a body pillow of me for the last five years.”

 

Rumi paused again, taking in Izumi’s sudden thermonuclear blush before shrugging. “Eh, fuck it. Not the first time I’ve slept with a fan. Just… first time I’ve slept with a fan that could tentacle fuck me like that. Anyway, point is… we can still technically still bone whenever we’re both in the mood for it, but we definitely shouldn’t do it drunk. And we really shouldn’t do it on duty. And… also probably best if we clarified whether or not this is strictly a coworkers with benefits kinda thing or something more, because I know you have a girlfriend and as much as I think you are very pretty for someone who’s halfway through freshman year of college… I’m not really looking to settle down yet. Maybe once I hit thirty and my spine gives out on me as I transition into being an old fart.”

 

“... Wait so-” Izumi paused, stopping in the middle of her sentence as her thoughts caught up to her mouth and she actually thought about what Rumi had just said. “... So… we weren’t breaking any regulations last night?”

 

“Well, other than the two of us being drunk off our asses and not using condoms… and also you being underage in terms of drinking… not really? I mean, shit, I broke more regulations letting you fight Stain than I did getting buttfucked by you for the better part of an hour. We were both consenting…ish…. Again- let’s not do that drunk… and off duty and even if I’m technically your boss, it was… eh. I mean, it’d be frowned upon if we were office workers or in something with a more concrete hierarchy, but we’re in a high risk, high mortality rate field with no real command structure and no real way for me to impress any kind of power dynamic on you if you move out of my tiny little sphere of influence. Heroes gotta find what they can, when they can,” Rumi shrugged, then kicked her feet up on the table and leaned back as she undid her towel with a light sigh. “So… eh. Who gives a shit, really?”

 

“... Well, that certainly… explains some things,” Izumi nodded as she leaned against the table and rested her chin on her elbow, very much enjoying the sight of an entirely nude Rumi simply sitting before her and oozing sexuality with every movement. “To be clear, I’m not looking for… anything more than an occasional fling if we’re both ready for it. I have a… well, I have a polycule now, so I’m more than happy where I am.”

 

“Cool, then that’s everything we gotta talk about regarding the sex crap. Now… I’m gonna go suit up and head out on a quick morning patrol. You remember where my agency building is from here? Just head over there whenever you’re ready and we’ll continue with our Humarise investigation before lunch. Oh- and if you can, maybe stop by the building’s cleaners first, I think your cape got stained last night.” Rumi spoke, delivering her series of orders as she slowly stood up and stretched, making Izumi very audibly gulp at the slow rippling of muscle beneath skin and the gentle twitch of her puffball tail that tantalizingly drew her attention down to that beautiful toned ass…

 

“... Maybe you should drink something too, I can feel the thirst coming from you,” Rumi snickered as she walked away, yawning quietly and leaving Izumi sitting there, still halfway through a plate of taiyaki and a couple hardboiled eggs, staring after Rumi with a blush on her face and the sudden realization that her towel was no longer dry and she was now sitting in a slightly slimy puddle of sheer arousal. 

 

“... I think. I am a bit in over my head,” Izumi muttered, drawing yet another laugh from Rumi even from the other room, and a quiet matching cackle from Vaatu on the depths of her soul.

 

Prick .

 

“Make sure you shower too!” Rumi called out, her voice muffled through the walls of the apartment, the sound of drawers audibly clattering accompanying her voice as she presumably changed into a clean copy of her hero outfit. “Trust me, you still smell like sex and booze!”

 

Izumi sighed, rubbing her face as she popped an egg into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully- now that Rumi wasn’t in front of her and naked and horribly distracting her, she could think more clearly about the events of last night.

 

Not- not the sex part, but the fact that she’d caught Himiko’s older sister in an alleyway with a weapon, listening to Stain preaching about how he was going to murder a hero… and then just let her go .

 

Also that kid. And also that Twice guy, though that was Rumi’s call, not hers.

 

The fact that Momiji-san had been there was… worrying, to say the least. Izumi didn’t think that the older woman was a proper out and out villain- she seemed far too nervous in that alley to actually be a hardened criminal… and she’d said she only wanted to do a little good in the neighborhood since the crime rates all over Japan had been rising and there weren’t a lot of heroes in the neighborhood and she just wanted to protect her moms, and she had no idea that the vigilante group she’d joined had ties to Stain of all people… so.

 

Izumi sighed, rubbing her forehead. Dammit. She was gonna have to tell Himiko about this, probably. Especially if Momiji-san was right and her neighborhood really wasn’t safe anymore… fuck, who knew what else was going on these days? Honestly, at this point, Izumi almost felt like she was going to get into a running battle with Humarise just walking down the stree-

 

Wait.

 

No.

 

No.

 

“Vaatu, don’t you fucking dare,” Izumi hissed down at her chest, only to receive a sudden pulse of crimson tattoos flashing across her bare torso for the briefest moment before they faded away. 

 

Dammit.

 

With how chaotic Vaatu made her life now, it was almost guaranteed to happen.

 

Shit.

Chapter Text

“So… Are we going to talk about what happened last night?” Izumi asked calmly as she sat across from Momiji-san at the cafe she’d mentioned, the older woman staring contritely down into her cup of matcha as she did her best to look smaller than she really was. “Because I think you and I both know that you’re supposed to be a good role model for Himiko. And since I’m currently in a polycule with her, I’d rather not arrest the woman I might one day make my sister in law.”

 

“Wait- you’re planning on-?”

 

“Not the point right now, Hikiishi-san,” Izumi hissed, glaring forward with almost a snarl on her lips, fingers clenching around the plastic cup of her smoothie and making it crumple slightly from the pressure of her grip. “Yes, I stay with the people I choose to as long as I can. Now answer me: What the fuck was going through your head when you joined a villain group!?”

 

“I-” Momiji-san sighed, rubbing her forehead and pursing her lips, her leather jacket creaking with every movement as she sat back and tried to come up with an explanation that wouldn’t make her sound stupid or just plain immoral. “It started simple, okay? You know I’ve been running that women’s self defense class and it has been fine, but ever since bending got introduced to the world the amount of villains has fucking skyrocketed! I mean, shit, sometimes it’s just some guy having a shit day and losing control of his new powers, but sometimes it’s… Shit, last week a kid burned down his bully’s house because he finally had the ability to do something about it. I just… I wanted to try and bring back some semblance of peace to the community. Neighborhood patrols, walking vulnerable people home at night, keeping an eye on the kids… but it wasn’t enough. So… I… I couldn’t help myself. I had to help somehow and-”

 

“So you made a custom magnetized baseball bat, put on a facemask and some goggles, and started beating up muggers in back alleys,” Izumi deadpanned. “Yeah, I know. I checked the files before I came here- you’ve been active nearly a month , haven’t you? And I’m going to assume that in that time, you found that no matter how far you patrolled, you always thought maybe just one more block would do it, until you found yourself entirely unable to keep up with the demands of patrolling an entire territory on your own, tried to find some kindred spirits, got sucked into some anti-hero rhetoric due to the lack of consistent hero presence in the area, and then by the time you found out you were joining a villain group lead by Stain instead of a vigilante group with a former vigilante being a mentor… you were already at the meeting place and couldn’t leave without potentially getting knifed in the back.”

 

“.... Yeah… how’d you know?” Momiji-san asked, blinking slowly as she stared at Izumi in shock, not at all having expected that entire speech from someone nearly a decade younger than her. “I- I never told anyone that.”

 

“Well, for starters, the fact that you told me that you just wanted to keep the neighborhood safe when you ran off, nothing about killing anyone or any greater purpose,” Izumi shrugged, taking a sip of her smoothie with a thoroughly relaxed air- as if finding out all this information had been the easiest thing in the world. “Plus, the fact that you hadn’t even known Stain would be there, and the fact that you told me last night you only attacked because you didn’t want the others to turn on you … well. I can’t fault you for not wanting to be seen as a traitor with a bunch of villains around.”

 

She paused, putting down her smoothie and folding her hands in her lap. “Other than that, I just looked up vigilante sightings in your neighborhood, found the earliest records, and extrapolated from there. Wasn’t hard, and your story is a dime a dozen… though usually most villains who have that backstory when they get caught are both younger than you and usually don’t get pulled out of that situation until they’ve committed more crimes than the legal system will let them get away with. Fortunate that I encountered you all before you did anything stupid, no?”

 

Momiji-san was silent for a long moment, then nodded slowly with a quiet sigh. “Yeah, I’m… yeah. Thanks… for saving me. I won’t go out again… I just… can you… maybe put in a good word? I just… the neighborhood’s not safe and the neighborhood watch can only do so much when people’re busy and most of ‘em don’t have training to deal with anything violent. We really could use a couple heroes patrolling around- the ones still here aren’t doing shit.”

 

“I’ll see what I can do,” Izumi nodded. She meant it, too. It really was an utter travesty that there weren’t enough heroes to go around, but… maybe she could ask Mirko-sensei to do something about it. Her sensei was the Number Five, and had a lot of pull with a lot of the agencies just through sheer popularity and reputation. If anyone could get some heroes pulled out of an area and others brought in, it was her. And if not… well, the former Number One was Hitoshi’s mentor. He could put in a word, hopefully. And… if all went well, she’d never have to tell Himiko about any of this ever.

 

Well, as long as Momiji-san didn’t explain it first.

 

Hm.

 

“By the way- one more thing before I move onto something a little less… drastic,” Izumi started, tapping her fingers together and giving Momiji-san a serious look (not that any of her other looks had been less than serious this entire time, but this was extra serious). “Tell Himiko. If I tell her, I have to tell her that I beat up her precious older sister and nearly put her in jail for making a stupid mistake. If you tell her… well. I’m sure she’ll be more forgiving if you explain it sooner rather than later.”

 

“I-... sure. Yeah, she deserves to know,” Momiji-san sighed, nodding again and dropping her face into her hands. “Fuck. I really did nearly ruin my fucking life, didn’t I?”

 

“Well, yes. But the good news is that you didn’t,” Izumi shrugged, taking a long drag of her smoothie and-

 

Vaatu’s symbols pulsed on her front.

 

Far off in the distance, Izumi heard the faint sound of an explosion, shortly before the shockwave rumbled through the ground.

 

She sighed, pinching her brow as she stood up and retrieved the duffel bag containing her hero uniform from beneath the table.

 

“... Excuse me. I have to go take this call.”

Chapter Text

“Mirko-sensei, are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Izumi asked as she approached the scene of the crime, watching as an incredibly pissed off looking giant koi spirit rampaged through the city block- she had no clue at all what on earth had set it off, but if she had to guess… probably the crashed car that had slammed into one of the patches of wooded area at the edge of the park the spirit had appeared from and thus knocked over several of said trees before ultimately landing squarely in the lake at the bottom of the sloping landscape below.

 

How and why someone had managed to crash a car like that in the middle of the day was something she’d have to investigate further later, but as it was, she needed to confirm with her sensei, who was already corralling the angry koi spirit back towards the park with well timed kicks and taunts with the help of a few of the lower level heroes attacking its legs. 

 

“Yeah, giant fucking fish spirit! It’s pretty hard to damage with physical attacks, and the guys on the ground aren’t doing much easier- you got any ideas, squirt!?” Mirko answered back, her voice strained and halfway inaudible from the sound of wind rushing past her comm unit’s microphone. “Cuz I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure treating this thing like a Noumu’s not the right way to go about it!”

 

“I’ve got… something that should work. I just need a large enough source of water,” Izumi answered back, chewing her lip thoughtfully as she leapt into the air upon jets of flame, letting the wind catch under the stiffened frame of her cape and boost her higher and faster into the air as though it was an airbender’s staff. She twisted and rolled as she flung herself into the air, spinning about and dropping the jet boost of her flames in favor of maintaining a far more stable and efficient whirlwind of air beneath her feet- it wouldn’t move quickly or let her stay in the air indefinitely, but it let her get a good idea of what was going on- that being Mirko landing the intense impact of her Luna Rush upon the spirit’s enlarged head and sending it flying backwards right back into the park it had apparently been squatting in.

 

Perfect.

 

Izumi took a deep breath, maneuvering her whirlwind down and unfolding her cape’s gliding surfaces again so she could swoop down closer and land on the grass- sliding to a halt as she drew upon her well of chi and reached inwards with a silent question- did she have the potential to bend spirit energy the same way Unalaq did during and before his time as Vaatu’s first host?

 

The answer, Vaatu supplied, was yes.

 

Crimson tattoos flared to life on Izumi’s chest as her eyes glowed orange, massive streamers of water erupting from the lake and all but draining it entirely as she lifted the chi infused liquid into the air. Her skin began to crawl with maroon, the fullness of her Avatar state forming around her as she began to urge the earth to grow spirit vines, and the water around her to fill with healing energy. 

 

“Okay… here goes,” Izumi murmured, swirling her arms around in that same pattern that Unalaq had used and taught to Korra, humming quietly as she felt her chi ebb and flow, push and pull, healing and pulsing and glowing with light as the water she controlled spiraled around the suddenly immobile koi spirit and interacted with the energy it held within.

 

It was terribly angry, Izumi felt- not evil, not dark, but angry beyond belief. And she could see why- the fragile bit of peace and nature the spirit had managed to find had been utterly ruined by some moron speeding in the middle of the day. Now its little grove in the middle of the city was uprooted, its lake was even more polluted than before, the animals in the park had scattered, and the wrecked car had seeped poison into the ground by leaking its various fluids into the torn up grass and dirt around it .

 

But Izumi held firm- she simply acknowledged the spirit’s anger and worked to release it- the spirit’s anger simply flowed into the water and dissipated into golden sparkles, shrinking it down from nearly twenty meters tall down to its original two meter size over the course of several seconds. She hummed and continued to work the energy around the entire time, ensuring proper disposal of the negative energy as the water in her grasp returned to the lake slowly, achingly, and with a rush of foam and white water as she allowed the vast majority of it to simply collapse in place. 

 

The spirit shuddered, slowly returning to the lake while Izumi continued onwards- no longer grasping at the water, but taking a firm control of the earth and using its movements to drive out the poisoned dirt and sullied waters, taking it deep, deep down into the soil layers until it was out of her grasp entirely. Then, Izumi focused on her Avatar state and allowed her tendrils to sink deep into the earth and allow vines to erupt - spirit vines cracking out of the ground, wrapping around trees and purifying the air, absorbing and redistributing the energies of the world around them until the entire area took on a hue not unlike that of the deeper spirit wilds- a little too luminescent to be normal nature, but not quite different enough as to be unrecognizable.

 

And then… Izumi stopped.

 

She let out her breath and relaxed her bending forms, then simply allowed the crimson light of her Avatar state to flake away piece by piece until she was standing there as normal- simply in her updated hero uniform, without the glow or the power of Vaatu coursing through her body. Izumi breathed slowly- in and out, lending a sense of finality to the moment. The koi spirit flopped around within its pond, burbling happily at the newfound influx of untouched nature and plantlife. The trees in the area seemed livelier, healthier, and several new species of plant and fungi seemed to have appeared on their own.

 

The car….

 

The car shook, rocking on its upturned roof as something from within kicked at the doors. Once, twice. Three times.

 

After a few more moments, the driver’s side door flew off as one last kick slammed into it and ripped it from its hinges, followed shortly after by a small girl wrapped in bandages and a ratty white dress and…

 

“.... Eh? Nejire-senpai? What are you doing here and- what… just…” Izumi frowned, staring at her blue haired senpai as the older girl tottered unsteadily out of the car, her uniform torn and streaked with ash and her entire body marred with streaks of blood dripping from various stab wounds and- was that a bullet hole in her thigh!?

 

There was a faint glow to her, as though she were possessed by a spirit- and indeed she was, if the sight of her eyes glowing and pulsing with spirit energy was any indication. Or the tiger stripes running along the few areas of exposed skin Izumi could see. Or the glowing tail lashing around behind her. That… could be bad.

 

But… 

 

Nejire collapsed to her knees, the glow around her fading as a tiger spirit sprung from her body and also collapsed to the ground, both of them panting heavily as Nejire motioned the little girl towards Izumi.

 

“There… she’s safe… Eri-chan…. Go with… Izumi-chan… she’ll keep you safe from Overhaul…. Bleh.”

 

And with that, Nejire fully flopped to the ground, dead unconscious to the world and leaving Izumi with far more questions than she had answers to.

 

Something told her that her day was only going to get worse from here.

Chapter Text

“Only you, squirt,” Mirko sighed once the situation had been explained and the park had been fully cleared out by judicious application of Izumi using her tendrils to pick up and move the car parts away. After focusing on the actual pieces of metal, she’d also found that she could sense them and move them via metalbending, but it was still too inconsistent to really work quickly, so she stuck with tendrils instead.“Only you could respond to a call about a rampaging spirit and end up embroiled in an investigation into the local Yakuza. And to make matters worse, you’ve also got a kid to deal with too! How!?”

 

“I have the very literal embodiment of chaos stuffed in my soul, sensei. We’ve been over this. Where my counterpart Avatar would bring peace and order everywhere they go, I’m basically eternally cursed to make everything more interesting as I go along,” Izumi sighed, rubbing at her forehead and shaking her head while she entertained the now named Eri with a trail of cool, glittering sparkles from her hands, letting the girl play among them as they shifted around on tiny puffs of air and danced in intricate patterns. Nejire, meanwhile, was still asleep on a cot off to the side- the four of them having relocated to Mirko’s office in the interim- as even with Izumi healing her to the best of her abilities (and Eri as well, though the tiny, stick thin girl was… well. Somehow less injured than Nejire) she’d still broken both of her arms, had several stab wounds, and also extreme chi fatigue from being possessed by a tiger spirit for the better part of what had to be almost two days.

 

Said tiger spirit, meanwhile, had simply shrugged when asked, given a simple explanation of “Cub was hurt. Airbender was the closest option. Figured it’d work out. Mauled the bastard good.” and then vanished into the aether… or rather, simply wandered into a dense pocket of spiritual energy in the vines that she’d flooded the Rotaaru park with, and then disappeared back into the spirit world… somehow.

 

An expert in spirit world mechanics, Izumi was not.

 

“That’s kinda effed up, kid,” Mirko muttered, then huffed and sat down across from Izumi at the table, watching Eri run around the room catching sparks and playing with the streamers of glowing spirit water Izumi sent flying around the sparsely furnished waiting area that made up the lobby of the one woman agency (well, one woman, and a few support staff members just because Mirko really was not inclined to do her own laundry and clean the building and write reports and such things when she usually spent most of her days traveling around wherever area had the highest crime rate and busting heads until her costume got too busted up to stay modest anymore. “You’re really stuck like that? Can’t turn it off or anything?”

 

“Mm, it’s part of the perks of having Vaatu in my soul,” Izumi answered dryly, turning her attention back to Eri for a bit and flicking a few more sparks her way before facing Mirko again. “Phenomenal cosmic power, utterly broken bending abilities, and way more tentacles than I know what to do with, all at the low cost of having my hormones go way out of control, and making everything around me noticeably more chaotic than they used to be.”

 

“... What was that about hormones?” 

 

“... Let’s just say that if I used to be a disaster lesbian before, and now I think I’m legally classified as cataclysmic lesbian now,” Izumi groaned, dropping her face down into her palm as she did her best to explain. “Which is to say, all of my female classmates have started wearing tighter clothes than usual and it’s killing me.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, watching Eri stumble around and continue chasing sparks for a solid few minutes- up until Mirko tilted her head and frowned, humming low in her throat as she observed Eri… who was less acting like a child at play, and more as though she was… hesitant? She was obviously enamored by the bright colors and flickering lights of Izumi’s sparks and bursts of cool flame, but she hadn’t so much as let out a single peep the entire time- all she did was follow them around, occasionally catch them in her hands, and gasp in surprise sometimes when Izumi made them form into a particularly complex pattern.

 

Not a giggle, nor a laugh, nor even a smile.

 

“You noticed it too, huh? That she doesn’t smile?” Izumi murmured quietly, speaking from the side of her mouth as she continued sending sparks out and pursing her lips as she sent a knowing look towards her teacher.

 

“I’m gonna find whoever did this to her and shove my foot so far up their ass they cough up their own shit for a month,” Mirko hissed out, clenching her fists so hard on the armrests of her chair that they almost snapped , the creak of metal echoing slightly before she relaxed. “Overhaul, Nejire said his name was, yeah?”

 

“Mhmm. Have you called Ryukyu yet, sensei?”

 

“Yeah. She’s bringing us in on the Shie Hassaikai investigation. Now that Nejire and that tiger spirit have done enough damage to the internal organization of the compound, they’re assaulting the base tonight- they’ve had more than enough evidence to do it for weeks, they just need to find the place first. Speaking of assaulting the place… you ready for it?”

 

Izumi blinked, turning to face Mirko fully and looking at her with a clearly confused expression. “... As an intern, aren’t I not supposed to take part in this kind of thing? It’s not like a work study program or anything- I don’t even have a provisional license yet!”

 

“Psh, you’re fine ,” Mirko rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. “Call it work experience! Long as you don’t get knocked out for almost a month like you did in Hosu, no one’s even gonna care. And besides- you’re my intern. Most what’ll happen in the aftermath as long as you follow my exact orders is that maybe I get a warning or something.”

 

She shrugged again, then grinned at Izumi with a conspiratorial wink.

 

Despite her own reservations- Izumi couldn’t help but to laugh a little. Sure, she wanted to rock the boat as little as possible despite her own reservations against the way the hero system worked currently, but… well. Maybe it was Vaatu’s influence, maybe it was just the fact that Mirko was too good at making her feel like everything was gonna be okay- all Izumi knew was that she was honestly quite excited to throw herself up against the Shie Hassaikai and see just how well she fared. She was only one for two in proper villain arrests so far, so…

 

Hopefully, if all ended well, she’d be able to add a few more arrests under her belt.

 

Well, ones that weren’t just low level crooks who got labeled villains just for using their quirks during a purse snatching or whatever.

 

“Oh and- kid, by the way?”

 

“Hm?”

 

Mirko turned as she stood, her expression deadly serious as she stared at Izumi.

 

“... If it comes to it… I’ll cover for you. Prioritize rescues and staying alive over keeping a villain in good condition. They won’t pull their punches. You shouldn’t either, if it comes down to it. You got that? You are not allowed to die, and honestly? I don’t give a shit if you have to kill some fuckers to do it. Stay. Alive.”

 

“... Yes, sensei.”

Chapter Text

“Midori, what the fuck are you doing here?” Hitoshi asked as Izumi walked into the meeting room with the rest of the assembled heroes nearby, flanked by Nejire and Mirko to either side of her. Nejire herself was carrying Eri in sort of a makeshift sling made out of one of Izumi’s spare capes, the white haired girl holding the purple material around herself like a lifeline as she rested in Nejire’s arms.

 

“I’m part of this raid too,” Izumi shrugged, waving awkwardly at Nejire with one hand. “Nejire-chan here crashed a car while escaping the Shie Hassaikai compound after getting possessed by a tiger spirit and I… happened to be in the area dealing with a koi spirit that had gotten out of hand as a result of said car crash. Ryukyu added Mirko-sensei, and Mirko-sensei said that I’d be better served as part of the raid than sitting around waiting for Mirko-sensei to get back. Supposedly I’m on frontline medic duty. What are you doing here, Hitoshi?”

 

“... Are you cursed, Midori?” Hitoshi muttered, then shook his head and sighed. “I’m here because All Might was called in to consult since he has so much experience with yakuza raids, and he thought it’d be a good experience for me to see how they go. Also, I’m on auxiliary search and rescue as well as backup villain apprehension, in case shit hits the fan.”

 

Mirko, meanwhile, walked past the two of them carrying nothing, but was somewhat reluctantly (with a muttered grumble of “Next time carry your own damn water, kid”) dragging along a cart with several twenty liter jugs of water on it- eight in total, though it wasn’t really so much the jugs that were important so much as it was the water inside, seeing as Izumi was ostensibly there to be frontline medical assistance. Also on standby were the Pussycats, who waved cheerily at Izumi as she entered, with Ragdoll letting out an enthusiastic cry of “Midori-sensei!” as she did so.

 

“Ragdoll-senpai, Pixie-Bob, Mandalay, Tiger,” Izumi nodded at the four in turn, taking a seat by Mirko as the remaining heroes filed in- Ryukyu taking a seat close to Izumi and Mirko since Nejire insisted on sitting on the opposite side of Izumi, not letting go of Eri the entire time. Also included were Sir Nighteye, Bubble Girl (who gave Izumi a quick salute and a murmured “Midoriya-sensei” as a greeting), Centipeder, Lemillion, Fat Gum, Suneater, Rock Lock, Kesagiriman, Mr. Brave, Aizawa-sensei and a bunch of lower ranking heroes who were supposedly there to deal with crowd control, evacuations, police aid, and taking on the lower ranking members of the Shie Hassaikai. Also there was All Might- or rather Yagi-sensei as he was now- with Hitoshi, who sat at one end of the table.

 

Izumi, meanwhile, simply kept her mask on and didn’t say anything during the entire time as Sir Nighteye, the primary analyst of the raid, spoke and laid out the plan- she watched the board carefully and memorized both the layout of the compound, the forces within, the police presence there, and who was going to what sector of the map. Apparently, roles weren’t being specifically assigned since they didn’t know the exact layout of the compound, but as it were, every squad would have some form of heavy hitter, some kind of lockdown squad, and a method to communicate that didn’t rely on radios in case something jammed. Theoretically, at least.

 

In reality… well, the communications methods between squads were the hardest to sort out, but Suneater could hear well enough to pick out faint sounds from fairly far away, Izumi could carry her own voice along on the wind, and everyone had flares and flashbangs and all manner of items to announce their distress and position in case the situation devolved enough to require it.

 

All told, though, the primary spearhead of the operation was to be Mirko, since she was by far the one most easily capable of busting through walls at high speed in order to quickly locate and take out Overhaul. The rest of the heroes would take it from there, with the Pussycats on area denial, mass communications, and combat, respectively to Pixie-Bob, Mandalay and Ragdoll, and Tiger. Aizawa-sensei would follow behind Mirko, as would Izumi- though Izumi was told to split off and handle the lesser goons to minimize the actual danger to herself while being guided to any injuries via Mandalay’s telepathy and Ragdoll’s search (with the additional caveat that Mirko had shot her a knowing look and pointed subtly at her chest with a wink)- along with Lemillion who would use his permeation abilities to scout rapidly around and lead them to the correct areas.

 

It was… honestly a simple plan. Shock and awe into the base, take down anything inside, retrieve research, illicit goods, money, any prisoners or test subjects, and try not to die or get severely injured. A spearhead of heroes (and possibly Izumi) would rapidly search for and beat the shit out of Overhaul and arrest him, while the other higher ranking heroes would take out Overhaul’s underlings. There were heroes on standby for search and rescue, heroes on standby for medical attention, heroes on standby for crowd control- it was all laid out simply, efficiently, and with plenty of wiggle room for unforeseen circumstances depending on who went where. As long as the spearhead team didn’t wind up somehow on the opposite side of the compound as Overhaul ambushed a weaker hero team, it’d all probably be fine. Simple. Easy.

 

Too easy.

 

Vaatu’s markings pulsed beneath Izumi’s skin, and a feeling of dread began to seep into the back of her mind.

 

It was too easy. And it had been nearly five hours since the police had set up watchers around the compound. No plan ever survived first contact with the enemy, as the saying went.

 

How sure were they that the Shie Hassaikai weren’t preparing for this kind of thing already? 

 

There were a million failure points and just as many redundancies, but… there were always unaccounted for options that nobody had foreseen.

 

Izumi just hoped that she wouldn’t end up in the middle of it.

 

Vaatu pulsed again, thrumming power through her veins almost to the point that she could feel the glow building in her eyes.

 

Izumi sighed.

 

Well, good thing she’d brought so much extra water.

Chapter Text

“SHIT!”

 

“WHAT KIND OF A DEMON IS SHE!?”

 

“SHE’S NOT GOING DOWN! WHY ISN’T SHE GOING DOWN!?”

 

“CALL FOR BACKUP! WHERE’S OUR BACKUP!?”

 

“GETTING DESTROYED BY THE OTHER HEROES!”

 

“MOMMYYYYYYY!”

 

In Izumi’s estimation, the Shie Hassaikai raid was going along extremely well by way of the amount of arrests. Mirko had smashed her way into the compound via the roof (by… kicking one of the cars parked outside into the air and sending it into and through the supposed “office complex” from above), to which Lemillion, Eraserhead, and Izumi herself had dashed into the top floors and begun fighting their way down. 

 

Unfortunately, as they soon found out- the upper floors had nothing at all worth their attention. Lemillion had zipped around for quite a while, looking through rooms and finding nothing but computers and file cabinets and all of the general office trappings- even stocked minifridges and appliances.

 

So, they headed down, instead, smashing through the secret entrances to the labyrinth of tunnels- at which point they had all gotten separated as the walls began moving on their own, one of the yakuza higher ups directing them in different directions once Mirko had started to lose steam on the whole “smash through everything” angle due to the thickness of the underground walls and the threat of collapsing everything if she broke a load bearing structure. Lemillion hadn’t been inconvenienced at all, though he’d reported via his comms that he’d gotten a little turned around but was otherwise fine as he took out the lower level goons around him.

 

Eraserhead and Mirko were both together and handling the guy in the walls, leaving Izumi to activate her Stage 3 Avatar state and take out the goons on her end. 

 

Which, well.

 

It turned out that her tendrils were nigh on bulletproof, which was good for her, considering that every single one of those bastards had guns laced with some kind of weird drug or another- well, they had before she’d started whipping her tendrils around, flipping and spinning through the air and knocking the thugs together while crushing their guns with the bare flex of her will- after all, she could still use metalbending by essentially using her own awareness and chi to brute force a grasp on said metal from afar, which thus translated into crushing the delicate mechanisms of their guns.

 

The thugs’ actual quirks were honestly no match for her either- the few benders among the crowd were barely trained and favored a style of bending that was like amateur hour Pro Bending, and went down easily by overcompensating their lack of strong quirks- or, in some cases, entirely failing to utilize their quirks and their bending together.

 

The others with strong quirks were… a mite harder to deal with.

 

Barely.

 

All she really had to do was slam her tendrils into the ground, shielding herself with yet more of the nearly pitch black limbs, and force the ground to sprout with hundreds of thousands of spirit vines to entangle and entrap her opposition before simply pushing the air out of those areas long enough to make the yakuza thugs pass out from a lack of oxygen.

 

In all honesty, she probably could have just made do by throwing ball lightning, but sue her- she wanted to get more practice with stuff that wasn’t firebending. She was the literal foremost firebending expert in two worlds (well… one was arguable, if masters Ran and Shaw were still alive, but still) and it would have just been too easy to strike everyone down with chain lightning.

 

And within a mere minute or two, everyone who’d swarmed the tunnels she’d been spat out into had been dropped to the ground, wrapped up spirit vines or stone bonds or even just glued to the tunnel walls with ice. 

 

“Sector clear,” Izumi announced into her comm unit, huffing under her breath as she continued down the tunnels. The soles of her shoes retracted as she walked, letting her bare feet touch the ground and feel out the area around her with her (still somewhat unrefined) seismic sense. It wasn’t enough to get a good map of the tunnels, but she could still sense a good amount of movement through the floor, through the walls, feeling familiar heartbeats, motions, and vibrations as she spread her chi around. Her thermal radar helped her get a better sense of what was going on as well, filling out the map as it bloomed in her mind and highlighted- 

 

Wait.

 

There were two people in the deepest parts of the compound, arguing with each other, along with another several people scattered around the tunnels in that area. One of them, to her thermal senses, wore a bird mask and was gesticulating wildly at a table full of something next to him, and the other seemed… slightly calmer, but was no less argumentative for it. He also, to her thermal sight, seemed to have some kind of metallic array attached to his back.

 

Izumi frowned, then chewed her lip and tapped into the comms again, listening to the general broad frequencies to see if anyone else needed help, to which the answer was, surprisingly- no.

 

The heroes were taking care of the low level goons, the higher ranking heroes were currently doing just fine against the lieutenants, and both Mirko and Eraserhead were making their way through the tunnels, led by Lemillion.

 

Izumi breathed quietly, simply focusing on the battles going on around her- Ryukyu and Nejire-chan were topside and dealing with someone named Katsukame Rikiya (part of Overhaul’s Eight Bullets, the briefing had said). Centipeder and Bubble Girl were handling some of the lower level goons. Sir Nighteye was out managing a group of three villains (Setsuno Toya, Hojo Yu, and Tabe Soramitsu) with the help of Fat Gum, Rock Lock, and Suneater, and the team of Mirko, Eraserhead, and Lemillion had taken out Irinaka Joi, Rappa Kendo, and Tengai Hijiki on their way through the tunnels- Irinaka being the one who’d separated them all before, and both Rappa and Tengai being speed blitzed with their quirks erased before they could even react.

 

That left… two members of Overhaul’s Eight Bullets, of which they were probably bodyguarding their boss as he met with the man down below.

 

So.

 

What was Izumi going to do?

 

She paused, then lightly tapped her foot on the floor, a tendril winding its way out of her leg and starting to drill a tunnel down towards the men (and a few scattered women) in the depths below, while several other tendrils began boring upwards back towards the teams above that had reported injuries, carrying with them sheathes of glowing healing water. 

 

Izumi hummed, simply holding her position in the tunnel steady, trusting in her instincts, her ability to multitask, and the strength of her Avatar form. She listened, and waited, and sensed the situation below. And then, as crimson tendrils wrapped around injured bodies, healing surface wounds and setting broken bones, stabilizing grievous injuries and easing the pain of those conscious, she opened her eyes.

 

The tendril breached into the ceiling of the room far below. Mirko, Eraserhead, and Lemillion were still minutes away.


Izumi breathed in, and the air followed .

Chapter Text

It wasn’t as easy as it could have been. It wasn’t really easy at all.

 

Even with as fast as Izumi sucked the air out of the entire room that Overhaul was holed up in, the man himself was no slouch when it came to reacting to the sudden lack of oxygen. The moment the wind began rushing and the air began to suck itself out of the lungs of everyone there, Overhaul slammed his hand onto the ground, making massive spikes erupt out of the earth and surround him and the man he was with until they were in a totally sealed dome with no way to vacuum out any additional air.

 

The others in the room, however, were not so lucky, and they fell one by one until Izumi felt their heart rates slow and their bodies thump to the ground via her seismic sense. She confirmed their unconsciousness moments later with her thermal radar, and confirmed that both Overhaul and the other man were starting to tunnel downwards, towards other parts of the compound.

 

“Kemurikage- everyone’s stabilized and moved off the field! You’re cleared for combat!”

 

Izumi blinked, looking around quickly and startling for a moment before realizing that the voice that had just spoken in her head was Mandalay. She breathed out quietly, letting her shoulders relax a bit as she withdrew her tendrils and recouped the water from where it had been used for healing. The primary assault team of Mirko, Eraserhead, and Lemillion had already busted into the chamber that Overhaul had been in just prior- to which Lemillion immediately dove through the rocky shell that Overhaul had left in his wake and begun following the tunnel down while Mirko and Eraserhead (mostly her sensei, because Eraserhead was not good at breaking through rocks despite all his skill) worked on cracking the shell open.

 

Izumi, meanwhile, kept an eye on the two fleeing criminals as they rushed through the tunnel as it was made, Overhaul clutching a briefcase in one hand, and the other man… mostly just swearing up a storm. 

 

Izumi didn’t particularly care what they were doing, but she began following from above- using her earthbending to punch a tunnel wide enough for her to sprint down and angling it slightly down on a collision course- of course, taking care to backfill said tunnel behind her so she wouldn’t destabilize anything on the surface as she ran through.

 

At the same time, Izumi continued to keep an ear on her comms as she tracked Mirko and Eraserhead’s progress, to which, honestly, it was going pretty well. The shell that Overhaul had thrown up wasn’t particularly strong, and so it only took barely two minutes for Mirko to clear a hole large enough for both her and Eraserhead to drop down and follow after Lemillion’s footsteps- to which all three heroes came up short once they came across the first obstacle that Overhaul had thrown back behind him to keep the heroes off his trail- a literal wall of ridiculous thickness, plugging up the entire tunnel diameter and preventing Lemillion from following for fear of running out of air whilst intangible.

 

Shit- and both Overhaul and the other guy were getting away too. Dammit, dammit- think Izumi, what to do, what to do?

 

Izumi blinked, then stared down at her crimson coated hands, the power of the Avatar flowing through her body as she felt the earth rumble around her, responding to her will.

 

Oh right. Duh.

 

With a mighty heave, Izumi stomped the ground, drawing her chi to the surface and pushing it into the world with an almighty roar of effort- her eyes flashing brilliant orange and lighting up the tunnel around her as she tore through the earth and created a tunnel straight down to Overhaul’s position- but it didn’t stop there. No, she felt the earth around her, grasping it to her will and removing the blockade that that stymied Mirko, Eraserhead, and Lemillion before her tendrils arched up and over her back, the tunnel bursting out and intersecting with the very end of Overhaul’s tunnel with a crashing rumble of rocks and dirt compressing and shifting to her whim- the end of her tunnel creating a gaping chasm deep into the earth that completely stopped Overhaul’s forward progress just long enough for the tendrils hovering around her to charge up and unleash a massive purple blast of spirit energy straight down the diagonal tunnel she’d created into the earth.

 

The world shook around Izumi from the sheer power of the beam, dyeing the entire area purple and casting blinding light down at Overhaul with unstoppable force.

 

It was a horrid cacophony of heat and light and sound, draining Izumi’s reserves something fierce- especially with the tunnel boring she’d done already, but she knew that a blast that powerful would instantly and utterly pound the yakuza boss turned villain into the dirt with such force that it would render him instantly unconscious- if it didn’t kill him first. 

 

She was only vaguely aware of the events unfolding over the next few milliseconds , the speed and brilliance of the beam completely blinding her as it roared down the tunnel at deafening volumes and melted the rock as it passed. She could only vaguely get a sense of the two men shifting positions, up until the man that Overhaul was with stuck out his hands and… 

 

No.

 

No.

 

It couldn’t be- 

 

Izumi was fucking cursed . She was so fucking cursed because of Vaatu’s presence in her soul and there was absolutely no denying it at this point, because the other man had jumped in front of Overhaul, stuck his hands out, and absorbed the entire beam into a scintillating wall of greenish, rippling light that seemed to take in the entire force of the attack and find it… wanting.

 

She knew exactly what kind of fucking quirk would do that, because the man below her was straining to hold onto the wall he’d amassed, trembling inside his fine crimson robes and livery as the act of holding the attack in place strained against his muscles and made veins stand out against his blue skin.

 

Fucking shit .

 

Flect Turn, the leader of Humarise and the man she’d spent the last week trying to get leads on, was working with Overhaul, and he was about to send her own attack right back at her with his reflection quirk.

 

Shit.

 

The world became heat and light and sound once again, and Izumi could only curse her own fucking hubris (and Vaatu) for her current predicament, staring death in the face as it barreled down the tunnel towards her in a swirling, wild stream of purple light and wind.


“Fuck my life .”

Chapter Text

“Attention villains known as Overhaul and Flect Turn! You are under arrest for about a million fucking things each, not least of which is kidnapping, murder, assault, battery, and distribution of illicit narcotics! Surrender now or I will use force!” Izumi shouted with bravado that she honestly didn’t really have, wincing and slightly charred but not letting it stop her, leaping down the tunnel that had been instantly widened by Flect Turn reflecting her beam back at her- fortunately she’d been able to deflect it and re-absorb most of the energy back into herself, but the sheer strength of it had forced her Avatar state to drop from a mix of keeping it up for so long and from having to use so much of its strength to keep herself from getting utterly knocked the fuck out by her own attack.

 

Still, she didn’t bother with trying to catch her breath as she all but flew down the tunnel itself, ice forming along her boots as she brought a veritable tidal wave of water with her and froze over the tunnel floor to help her skid down at high speed.

 

The tunnel was dark, pitch black even, but Izumi couldn’t bring herself to care. The wind whipped past her face and ruffled her hair as the familiar pressure of her armored mask reasserted itself, the last of her Avatar state’s false self flaking away in a cascade of red like burning sparks in the wind. She had her thermal vision to rely on, her seismic sense, her air pressure sensitivity- she could close her eyes and still see as clear as day, while Overhaul and Flect Turn both cursed loudly at the blinding light that had overtaken them and left them even blinder than usual- deafened slightly as well, due to the beam’s sheer bass roar echoing through the tunnels twice after Flect Turn bounced it back. 

 

The two were incapacitated- not entirely, but enough that Izumi could throw herself into the fray and begin attacking both at the same time. With a grunt of effort, Izumi immediately threw herself upon Overhaul as the more dangerous of the two, sliding into and under the man as she kicked his hands up and began landing blow after blow upon his body with vicious results- chi blocking was an intense strain on the victim’s body even for someone without bending, as the repeated attacks to joints, sensitive areas, nerve clusters, and pressure points even went so far as to temporarily disable some quirks.

 

Overhaul did his best to counterattack, of course, but Izumi dodged every one of his maddened swipes and used the back and forth motion of her attacks to launch rebounding whips of water out of the mass that had followed her down and yanked his hands away until he was completely immobilized.

 

Thirty seconds, and the man had barely been able to scream as Izumi dove in, slammed his chest, arms, throat, temples, neck, and other assorted body parts with a vicious assault of chi-blocking hits. He was still going after the first minute, snarling and spitting choked out insults from behind his mask as he went wild with rage and madness, up until the point that she knocked him over just a touch too far and he’d managed to-

 

Shit!

 

Izumi yelped as a spike almost impaled her through the gut- only barely missing and scoring a line across her belly as it shredded through the fabric- hissing and using her earthbending to smash it back down even as it rose up, dodging back and grimacing as an overwhelming wave of them flooded the tunnel with absolutely no regard for the inhabitants within- not even Flect Turn, though the man himself just stood there calmly as his back gear unfurled and began glowing like flashlights, even as the spikes slammed into him and shattered upon the wall of his quirk. She couldn’t afford to get distracted now, as Overhaul began to utterly seal himself off with wave after wave of spikes rippling from the ground in deadly waves- the sole untouched oasis being the area immediately in front of Flect Turn, which she had to avoid anyway because if something that technologically complicated was on his back and glowed, she knew damn well it wasn’t just for show. 

 

Izumi sighed, gritting her teeth as she held her ground and forced her chi into the earth around her as a lull in the spikes made the entire tunnel quiet down from the constant roar of shattering, erupting rocks. Her eyes flashed and- an instant burst of danger and pressure made her flinch, screaming as a force slammed into her body and sent her tumbling down the tunnel- she could hear Mirko, Eraserhead, and Lemillion getting closer, but she knew damn well that they were fumbling around in the dark- her comm was busted just from the backlash of her earlier laser sweeping over her, but she could still hear them speaking- up until the point that she rolled to a halt and had to catch her breath.

 

She winced- dammit, that gear on Flect Turn’s back must have interfaced with his quirk somehow, and the absorbed force from Overhaul’s spikes to redirect it at her somehow- that was the only explanation she could think of since there was no previous heat buildup like there would have been for a technologically powered force blast… fuck. 

 

Izumi stood, silently moving to one side of the tunnel as she used her thermal vision to keep an eye on the two villains- Flect Turn’s attack had deactivated the flashlights on his mirrors, and although his lower mirrors had turned back on to allow him to see his partner in crime, the two of them were conversing quietly instead of focusing on her .

 

Good. That meant she could end this quickly and decisively.

 

Izumi breathed in, then out. So far underground, her connection to the sun was limited, and she could feel her firebending growing weaker as the sun dipped fully below the horizon, but as it did, her waterbending became stronger as well. A thin tendril of liquid, impregnated by the dust of the tunnel to provide conductive impurities, silently puddled upon the floor and avoided the areas of Flect Turn’s light as it made a trail back to her and connected to Overhaul’s shoes.

 

She ducked behind a spike, relying on her thermal radar to sense where both men’s attention was at the moment, and waiting until she was fully ensconced in the shadows of the leftover rock spikes before masking herself further with an additional rock wall to hide her own light. 

 

Her hands moved in a familiar pattern, drawing power from her core and splitting it into positive and negative charges. Crackling blue lightning appeared at her fingertips within mere moments and Izumi spent just a brief moment to charge the power up such that even the thinnest conducting line would deliver an overwhelming shock to Overhaul’s body.

 

The line of water surged up in an instant, a hollow shackle of ice forming around the bare skin of his ankle and holding him fast for just a moment- the inside filled to the brim with liquid water that led to its own tendril.

 

Izumi dipped her hand into the puddle at her feet.

 

Overhaul screamed .

 

One down. One to go.

Chapter Text

All in all, once Overhaul went down, Flect Turn… went down incredibly easy.

 

Mostly, because once Izumi lit up her hands with her signature blue flames and Flect Turn had turned his mirrors on her, Eraserhead and Mirko had rounded the corner and, well.

 

Izumi looked down at the unconscious, spasming, vomit covered form of Flect Turn twitching on the ground, then turned back to Mirko and Lemillion, who had slammed into the blue villain from opposite sides while his quirk was deactivated and compressed his torso between one massive fist and one high speed bunny themed boot with such force that he’d immediately gone down without any more of a fight.

 

“... I cannot. Fucking believe . That within the span of five hours ,” Izumi started, sighing and groaning into her hands as she lightly toed Flect Turn’s body and flipped him over so she could metalbend his gear off of his back- or at least, rip off the connected arms, due to the spinal implant being, well, a spinal implant - and tie him up such that he wouldn’t be a problem as long as he didn’t wake up again. “Not only did I end up having to stop a rampaging spirit, but the resulting chain of events from it has culminated in the destruction of an entire yakuza family , as well as the capture of the cult leader that we were supposed to be looking for in the first place.”

 

“You did say you were literally cursed,” Mirko pointed out dryly, rolling her eyes as she hauled Overhaul and Flect Turn onto her shoulders, then looked around- the entire end of the tunnel had been lit up by the glowsticks the two older heroes had brought with them, but that didn’t particularly give them much to light to see with. “Anyway, let’s get these two out of here and into proper quirk suppressant cuffs- I don’t wanna risk them waking up anytime soon. Oi, Lemillion, where’d you get that briefcase from?”

 

Indeed, the blond hero was carrying in his hands a large, heavy, durable looking carrying case- black plastic, with all the hallmarks of being an extremely durable, important item- that he was turning over slowly and examining. After a moment, he shrugged and tucked it under his arm while Izumi began carving a set of stairs back up to her original tunnel- they weren’t too far off from where the raid teams had been stationed, barely half a kilometer out, and the beam that Flect Turn had launched back at her had gone a long way to carving out a usable tunnel back to the surface. 

 

“Found it near where Overhaul was standing before Kemurikage took him out- Not sure what’s inside, but it seems like it’d be important,” he shrugged, then began following Izumi up the stairs as she lit the way using a trail of will-o’-wisp flames like tiny lanterns. “It might be research notes or money- I haven’t opened it yet.”

 

“Mm, the cops can handle that part, let’s just focus on getting out of here,” Mirko nodded, following along with Overhaul and Flect Turn upon her shoulders like a pair of potato sacks. Eraserhead brought up the rear, keeping an eye on the two villains- making sure that, should they wake up, neither of them would have the chance to take down Mirko with their quirks. “Eraser, you good?”

 

“Mhmm. Keeping an eye on the villains,” Eraserhead nodded, capture scarf and cuffs at the ready as they walked up the stairs. Fortunately, none of their precautions turned out to be necessary, as both Overhaul and Flect Turn remained blessedly unconscious the entire way up to the surface, and were swiftly taken into custody minutes later, leaving Izumi standing there by Mirko, both of them slightly tuckered out by the proceedings of the last several hours- Izumi more than Mirko, as the rabbit heroine had physical stamina for days as befitting her quirk and physique and Izumi was… not lacking by any means, but with a non-physical powerset, she couldn’t match up to Mirko quite as well as she’d like. 

 

They stood there for a few long moments, watching ambulances and police trucks arrive and leave with various persons- some of the wounded heroes going to the ambulance alongside the more severely injured yakuza members, most of the prisoners leaving in trucks, and overall the entire operation just… began more or less dismantling now that everything was said and done.

 

The police taped off the area and began doing forensics, the heroes began leaving their own ways- flight or speed or just driving away or walking- and Izumi finally took a deep breath, looked up into the starry night sky, and spoke.

 

“... Our investigation still isn’t done, isn’t it?” Izumi asked, hands tucked against her belt since she’d once again forgotten to ask Hatsume-san to add pockets to her pants, and sort of tilting her head vaguely in Mirko’s direction without actually facing her mentor fully. “Just because we’ve gotten Flect Turn and a few of his underlings doesn’t mean we know where the rest of his lieutenants are… or if they’ve managed to kidnap anyone as of late.”

 

“Mhmm. The investigation’s still ongoing… but with the most dangerous parts of it finished, I think you’ve earned a break, squirt,” Mirko nodded, reaching down to lightly ruffle Izumi’s hair with a light grin. “You’ve done more in the last week and a half of us working together than most heroes do in six months, in terms of high profile villain captures- Stain, Overhaul, and now Flect Turn? Shit, yeah- you’re going on break for a while.”

“Wait- wh-? What do you mean a break? I’m fine to keep going?” Izumi blinked slowly, looking up at Mirko with a raised eyebrow- not that her mentor could see it behind her mask, but she kept it up all the same. “I mean, I understand the importance of taking breaks between cases, but this investigation is a joint effort between the two of us, isn’t it? I can’t just let you take on all the work-”

 

“Izumi,” Mirko deadpanned, bonking Izumi on the head with a light chop. “I’m putting you on break because you’ve been putting in more hours than you’re supposed to- yes, you might be able to handle it, but you shouldn’t have to while you’re a student- and an unlicensed one at that. You deserve to rest easy and not worry about it for at least a little while.”

 

She paused, then patted Izumi on the head again. “Go home, squirt. I’ll give you a call if I need your help wrapping up the rest of the investigation.”

 

“... Alright. Thank you, Mirko-sensei.”

 

“Yeah, take it easy, alright?”

 

“I’ll… try.”

Chapter Text

Izumi woke up on a Saturday with nothing to do. Most of the time, she justified her insane work schedule by stating that she had to prove herself as a hero, and then justified it by trying to prove that she was still worthy of being in the hero course even without a quirk. Now, though? Now she had broken away from such a self destructive schedule, and was now taking time to truly relax for the first time in years. Now, as the first light of the sun broke through her bedroom window, she opened her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling the comfortable, familiar weight of Himiko weighing her down.

 

She honestly would have expected Katsumi to be the one sleeping on top of her considering that her girlfriend did the same thing every single time they slept over since they were babies (Which was adorable when they were babies and small children but just got super fucking awkward once puberty kicked in and Izumi… well, wasted several years holding herself back from just going for it with Katsumi), but Katsumi had actually managed to wake up several minutes before Izumi and was already out of bed and sliding on a pair of panties that she pulled out of-

 

“Oi, stop stealing my underwear, dammit,” Izumi half-whispered, glaring at Katsumi with a tired sort of indignation, knowing it wouldn’t stop Katsumi worth a damn considering that her girlfriend had been stealing her clothes (and Izumi had been stealing hers ) for years now and likely would never stop- especially if they actually moved in together like they’d joked about since highschool. “I see you eyeing my Ryukyu set. You’re not sweating it up on a morning run!”

 

“Psssshhhhh, naaaahhhh, me? I’d never ,” Katsumi instantly denied, rolling her eyes and snorting out a quick laugh before giving Izumi a wink and a quick booty shake that left Izumi blushing slightly and drooling from the fact that Katsumi hadn’t actually pulled her (Izumi’s) underwear all the way up and the red and black fabric was still bunched up around Katsumi’s thighs and-

 

Well. Izumi already had a veritable library of Katsumi’s attractiveness in her mind from years gone by, but this? 

 

“Mghrfh…” she responded eloquently, to which Katsumi snickered all too happily at her rising inability to stay calm in the face of pretty girls doing sexual things with her. 

 

“Aaanyway, I’m going on my morning run- call me if anything important happens okay hon’?” Katsumi stated, finally pulling on her panties and slipping into a sports bra, finishing the ensemble off with more of Izumi’s clothes- her Pixie-Bob patterned workout gear that she kind of never actually wore because blue just wasn’t her color (unlike the Mandalay set, which she used quite often)- before waving cheerily at Izumi, picking up her phone from where it had been charging on Izumi’s desk, then stepped out of the room with whisper quiet movements.

 

Izumi sighed, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before taking stock of the rest of her situation. Himiko was still snoozing dead asleep on Izumi’s chest, curled up slightly beneath the covers- thankfully with most of her body not actually pinning Izumi down, but was more attached like a limpet half to Izumi’s side with some of her torso on top and with her head firmly planted in Izumi’s boobs and using them as a pillow. 

 

Tsuyu was… on the floor, partially, her face planted firmly into a pillow while her legs remained tangled up in Himiko’s and Izumi’s, thus leaving her naked rear just… out there, pointing into the air as she slept in a position that probably would have killed anyone else’s spine if they tried. It was an… interesting position.

 

Ochako, meanwhile, was floating near the ceiling, bundled up in a sleeping bag and hanging limply as though she’d been sleeping like that for years.

 

Hm. Wait, then… who was sleeping behind Himiko?

 

Izumi blinked, trying to think through the haze of sleepy cuddles, a few smuggled drinks that Himiko had brought in for last night’s festivities, and… the hell had she done last night that made her feel so disoriented?

 

Izumi wracked her mind for a few moments, humming to herself under her breath to not wake any of her girlfriends, then decided to sort of wiggle in place and turn her head, facing to her left as she tried to figure out just who it was that had snuck into her bed.

 

She was greeted by a familiar head of long, silky black hair that naturally formed into fluffy spikes, a set of curves that was utterly divine, and the very naked, completely uncovered form of Yaoyorozu Momo peacefully snoozing with the remains of some kind of chocolate stains around her mouth.

 

Ah.

 

Right.

 

The brownies that… Tooru had brought them….

 

Wait- where was Tooru?

 

The invisible girl had joined them halfway through a movie marathon in the common room, brought over a heaping, piled high tray of what, in hindsight, were definitely pot brownies if the fact that Izumi could clearly recall Vaatu’s markings pulsing on her chest like they did every time something chaotic was about to happen, and then…

 

Well, everything got hazy, giggly, the party had moved back to Izumi’s room, and now…

 

Now…

 

Well, Izumi’s bedsheets were once again criminally sticky, she felt tired in parts of her that really only happened during sex (... or rock climbing, in the case of her fingers), and she had the distinct flash of memory of shoving her face into a crotch that was not visibly there and yet still spasmed around her tongue all the same, and…

 

Izumi blinked slowly, her thermal radar activating with but a thought as she looked around for a moment, before finally spotting Tooru sitting perfectly still in Izumi’s chair, grinning wide and staring at Izumi’s position without saying a word, silent as the grave but for the ever so faint sound of her breathing.

 

“... How long have you been sitting there?” Izumi muttered, motioning for Tooru to come back to bed by shuffling the blankets around slightly, not even hesitating to activate her Stage 2 Avatar state just so she could more easily maneuver the fabric around to cover Momo again… and also Tsu’s butt… before lifting up a corner and patting the mattress. “Aren’t you cold?”

 

“Good morning to you too, Midori~” Tooru chirped, giggling as she stood and sashayed over to Izumi, winking and posing in a way that really only Izumi could ever see properly (well… until she taught her thermal vision ability to Katsumi) before sitting down at the edge of the mattress and sliding in until she was firmly pressed up against Izumi’s side, just opposite to Himiko. “Sleep well~?”

 

“Mmm, about as well as I could when this bed isn’t really supposed to take more than two people at a time,” Izumi murmured, twining her hand with Tooru’s and sighing quietly. “Do you… want to remind me what happened last night? I’m afraid most of it’s just a blur to me… did we…?”

 

“Actually have sex? Yup! It was… well, honestly it was my first time so I don’t think I was good or anything, but it was fun and I kinda passed out really early because I’m a real lightweight and… probably shouldn’t have combined fruity drinks with pot brownies,” Tooru nodded sagely, tilting her head to the side for a moment before shrugging. “Eh, whatever. I don’t have a hangover or feel like shit so I’m good.”

 

Izumi hummed in response, nodding at the confirmation of her memories before then turning to look between Tooru and Momo. “... Wait. What happened in between the movie marathon and us coming back here? I… there were a lot of girls there, and… I swear someone started getting handsy around… the second movie? I think a lot of us were drunk?”

 

“Well…” Tooru started, then tapped her chin and sat up slightly to recount the events of what had happened on Friday night. “... It all started with Shin Ultraman…”

Chapter Text

Tooru paused halfway through the first sentence, then tilted her head. “... Well, actually okay, I came in during the middle-ish of Shin Ultraman. You all were like, on your third or fourth movie? I’m pretty sure everyone was already a little tipsy by that point, considering how many cans were everywhere… um… oh right! So…”

 

Tooru tapped her fingers together, then began recounting the events of the night prior again, while Izumi stared at her in vague comprehension, memories of the night before starting to flash through her mind as Tooru spoke.

 

“I came in during Shin Ultraman, and honestly I was kinda surprised how much everyone went to town on the brownies- Oh yeah, I got ‘em from Sato-kun by the way! I don’t think you’ve talked to him much, actually, but he’s really nice!” Tooru started, and Izumi couldn’t help but remember…

 

Loud, raucous cheers at the movie projected onto the wall, the sounds of Ultraman saving the day ringing clearly through the common room despite the noise. Izumi was there at the center of it all, watching with rapt interest as she thought about just what she could do to try and imitate some of the things she saw on screen with her own abilities. 

 

Katsumi was there, sitting on the couch behind Izumi while the greenette sat on the floor, thighs firmly wrapped around Izumi’s head. Tsu and Ochako remained cuddled into her arms, twin blankets wrapped around their shoulders as they basked in Izumi’s natural warmth, and Himiko herself was plopped into Izumi’s lap and mewling contentedly as Izumi played with her hair. 

 

The atmosphere was bubbly and upbeat, everyone in the girls dorm having had at least a can or two of the honestly ridiculous amount of Strong Zero and Shochu Highball that Himiko had snuck into the dorms by way of Momiji-san (and thank goodness that Izumi hadn’t arrested her, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to enjoy this) and all of them starting to get a little giggly, a little less inhibited…

 

Izumi had abstained, at first, but after Katsumi had pressed it into her hands with a kiss on the cheek and told her to lighten up a little… Well, how could she resist?

 

At some point, Izumi had settled into a comfortable haze, humming softly under her breath as Kodai-san queue’d up the next movie, and blinked slowly as Katsumi pressed a brownie against her cheek.

 

“Oi,” Katsumi had said, insistently pressing the somewhat odd smelling brownie into Izumi’s cheek. “Take it. See-Through got Sugarface to make pot brownies. We’re gonna get fuckin wasted tonight!”

 

And… well apparently they had.

 

“So yeah, then we all settled in for a couple more movies… and um… then you grabbed Momo after she walked in wearing her nightgown… and also refused to let me go after I gave you an extra brownie. Not like, in a bad way, you were really giggly and clingy, but it was cute! Except that, y’know, I kinda had to pee and I was basically wrapped up in tentacles for the better part of an hour while watching Dragon Ball Ultimate.”

 

Izumi blinked, then frowned as yet another memory surfaced in her mind- a shorter flash, this time, but…

 

“You guys… are the best thing that ever happened to me!” Izumi cried out, completely distracting everyone from the movie as she cuddled tight against Himiko’s shoulder, not even realizing as she took on the crimson wrapping of her Avatar form and wrapped tendrils around Tooru and Momo- not even in the normal way, but wrapping them up in such a way that it was only just shy of turning into tentacular shibari harnesses on each girl.

 

Considering that Tooru was comfortable enough to go naked in the dorms save for her bunny slippers…

 

“... Ah. Shit,” Izumi muttered, rubbing her eyes slowly and groaning. “I molested you for an hour?”

 

“Well, technically yes, but like most of the girls in UA want to sleep with you anyway so it’s not like it was that bad,” Tooru shrugged, the echoes of a blush appearing on her face in Izumi’s thermal vision. “By the way, last night was magical- I didn’t know my back could bend like that!”

 

Izumi moaned lewdly as she held Tooru up, tendrils sprouting everywhere and almost corrupting the room around them as she buried her face into Tooru’s invisible, twitching snatch. Her thermal vision made the invisible girl fully visible, and so she struck with unerring precision and skill as she clamped her lips over Tooru’s folds and lapped away as though her life depended on it, all while the tendrils taking control of Tooru’s limbs forced her to bend over and back until she was perfectly positioned to take a phallus made of the same crimson spirit energy as the rest of Izumi’s form down her throat- a feeling that she’d never really felt before and absolutely adored . Around them, the walls held Momo in place, the rich girl screaming and wailing her heart out as tentacles filled her holes and rippled around her body, stroking all of her erogenous zones and bulging out her throat until she came again and again and again- Not saying a word of displeasure, except to belt out lines that had to have come from a hentai OVA.

 

“... I healed you after that, I hope,” Izumi muttered, blushing heavily into her hands as the memories came flooding back- how she’d folded Tsu into a mating press and drove her spirit cock into her newly shapeshifted pussy until the froggy girl spewed fake semen like a river, how she’d taken Ochako from behind and then got picked up and eaten out until she screamed so loud she felt like she was going to die, how Katsumi and her had ended up wrestling for who would be on top only for the two of them to get forced down onto the bed by Tsu and fucked until neither of them could see straight for the better part of five minutes, how Himiko had been furiously masturbating off to the side until Tooru had started pounding her in the butt with a strapon…

 

Also, the bottle of wine Momo had brought over and spilled mostly over her tits- the bright red color triggering Himiko’s already addled instincts and making the vampiric blond start lapping at the rich girl’s massive tits until she came just from having her tits sucked and played with. And the feeling of getting a double blowjob from Momo and Katsumi. And the feeling of getting her spirit cock turned back on her as Vaatu briefly connected her to Katsumi and…

 

Hm.

 

“Oh yeah- well, Tsu healed everyone else and you healed Tsu. And then I think we all passed out around midnight? Jeez, it felt so much longer than that! I mean, we did kinda leave at like… seven. And I did kinda pass out for a while around ten-ish… whoo man, what a rush, though!”

 

Tooru grinned down at Izumi then snuggled down under the covers again, completely ignoring Tsu rolling out of bed with a grumble and dragging Ochako down from the ceiling. “Mmm… I kinda wanna stay like this forever, you’re so warm …”

 

Izumi blinked slowly, staring at the rising sun through her window, then back down at Tooru with a keen, considering eye. 

 

“... I’m going to have to take a rain check on that, Tooru. I…. really gotta pee.”


“... Actually yeah me too holy shit my bladder feels like it’s going to explode.”

Chapter Text

“I must confess, Izumi-chan, I… er,” Momo started, pushing her fingers awkwardly together as she sat before Izumi in one of the dorm’s study rooms, Kyouka blushing next to her as they did their best to explain the situation. “I know you called this meeting to apologize for… stealing me away from Kyouka last night, but the truth of it is er- well. I do not remember how many of your faculties you retained at the time, but Kyouka and I- er… well…”

 

“We both agreed that we’d sleep with you in a heartbeat, and consented to it…eh, about as much as we could while buzzed,” Kyouka finished, clearing her throat and looking to the side. “… Well, I mean- that is. We wouldn’t mind, and you certainly haven’t given an inclination that you’re not willing…. Er- not that it’s a bad thing. A-anyway, it wasn’t like we wanted to add you to our relationship or anything we just both think you’re hot and- well. Y’know.”

 

“… Uh… huh…” Izumi nodded slowly, parsing Kyouka and Momo’s rambling explanations as she thought over the events of the night previous. “… Well, that explains a few things. And… I mean I’m really not surprised at this point… But… I guess… thanks? For finding me attractive enough to want to invite me to bed?”

 

She paused, then crossed her legs and leaned against the table, not really sure where to go from there. “... Um- that is- Momo, was it…?”

 

“Oh- yes you were wonderful, as I assumed you would be!” Momo nodded, smiling and blushing as she leaned her cheek into her hand, sighing happily as she very clearly reminisced about what Izumi had done to her. “Would you mind a repeat performance tonight? With Kyouka, of course- I’d like her to experience it for herself!”

 

“I- Momo! Tact! I said tact, not just ask her to- to go for it!” Kyouka blushed, lightly bapping Momo’s shoulder as she buried her face into her free arm, groaning as she did her best to disappear into the ground from sheer embarrassment. “I- I mean shit, yeah I wanna try it cuz Momo said it was- was amazing , but like, there’s no pressure okay? I mean, yeah neither of us are really interested romantically, but you are our friend, and comfort comes above sex. Especially since you’ve got like, five girlfriends now.”

 

“... Wait, five? What makes you say that?” Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion- what was Kyouka talking about? Sure, she had Katsumi and Ochako and Himiko and Tsu- all of whom were waiting nearby according to her thermal radar, but… five? Where was the fifth? 

 

“Hagakure-san has been charming the other members of your polycule while you were out with Mirko-san over the last week and a half,” Momo pointed out idly, examining her nails as if she was utterly disinterested in the current topic, even though Izumi knew damn well the rich girl was putting on an act to tease her. “Did you not know?”

 

“... That explains why Kacchan texted me about learning thermal vision as soon as possible… and why Ocha asked about pressure gradient sensing… and why Tsu and Himi asked about trying to do thermal vision with water instead,” Izumi muttered, thinking back to the text conversations she’d more or less forgotten about over the last week or so. “... Huh. Well, alright then. Tooru’s a wonderful girl- I should probably take her out somewhere special to seal the deal… actually, now that I think about it, I should probably be more serious about going on dates with everyone else… Oh- er, sorry, just thinking out loud.”

 

Izumi shrugged, looking over at Momo and Kyouka, who were now pressed against each other almost entirely unconsciously- as if they were naturally drawn to each other, with Kyouka leaning her head on Momo’s shoulder without any kind of prompting, and their hands twining together as if made like that. 

 

“That said- was there… anything else? Um- I think I can do it again tonight, if I don’t strain myself too hard catching up on training today,” Izumi asked, tilting her head slightly whilst leaning back in her chair, sinking into a casual pose against the comfortable cushions. “What time works? Oh, and where?”

 

She paused again, clearing her throat. “Also, bring plenty of fluids, because my performance is usually much better when I’m not drunk and wasted on pot brownies.”

 

“... B-better?” Momo and Kyouka squeaked at the same time, blushing deeply as they turned to face each other, then coughed at the same time. 

 

“Er- that is, my room works fine!” Momo spoke quickly, trying and failing to hide her sheer enthusiasm at the idea of getting railed even harder , her eyes shining as she stood up dramatically and confirmed tonight’s plans. “A-after dinner! Eight pm sharp! I’ll provide drinks and snacks for the three of us!”

 

“Oh- should we invite Midori’s girlfriends? I think Katsumi might actually beat us up if we didn’t get them involved,” Kyouka pointed out, dryly pointing out of the window set into the room’s door to where both Ochako and Tooru were sitting at a nearby table, waving at the three of them in unison. “Also, I think the others would get jealous.”

 

“I… think an eight person orgy is a bit much for one dorm room,” Momo pointed out, wincing a bit as she tried to puzzle out the logistics- especially in the case of her own room, which was woefully cramped due to the fact that she’d brought in an entire California King sized bed and somehow managed to set it all up. “Where would everyone even sit? Or… stand, as the matter may be.”

 

“True… well, we could always rent out a training room. I’m pretty sure Kayama-sensei wouldn’t mind supervising us for a good long while,” Kyouka pointed out with a nearly lecherous grin, licking her lips eagerly at the thought of… well, Izumi couldn’t really make an educated guess on what Kyouka’s fetishes were, but considering that she occasionally had to turn off her thermal radar due to picking up activity in Momo’s room that she shouldn’t… well. Kayama-sensei’s dominatrix theme probably tickled her pink. “Could host an orgy there.”

 

“... If we rent out a training room, we might as well just host an orgy with everyone that wants a piece of Izumi-chan,” Momo deadpanned, pointing out the obvious flaw in Kyouka’s idea… or just adding onto it. “Which, while I’m not actually opposed to it upon further thought, is… a bit much. Maybe if Izumi-chan works through her entire following here on campus, but inviting that many people just feels like a recipe for disaster. Or unwanted pregnancies.”

 

“... Wouldn’t most of the participants be girls?” Kyouka asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Yes, but several of those girls are either heterosexual with the exception of Izumi-chan, or openly bisexual, and many of them already have their own partners,” Momo shrugged. “Or transgender, with fertile testicles, like Tsu is.”

 

“... Right, forgot about that part… damn okay, the hundred girl orgy will have to wait, then,” Kyouka sighed, then turned back to Izumi. “So… thoughts?”

 

“... I’ll see you two tonight. Um. Maybe we can talk about an orgy later? I… don’t know if I can handle that many people,” Izumi blushed- sure, the idea was really nice and she would be able to get all hot and heavy with a whole bunch of very pretty girls but… whooo boy, that’d… she didn’t know if her heart could handle that many naked girls in one area at once. “... Yeah. Later. Um… I’m going to go now. See you two later.”

 

“Seeya, Midori!”

 

“Goodbye for now, Izumi-chan!”

Chapter Text

“Zuzu-nee! You came back!”

 

Izumi smiled gently, hiding just the briefest wince at the sound of her brother’s old nickname spilling from Eri’s lips being used to refer to her, before kneeling down to ruffle the girl’s white hair. After a few healing sessions both via quirks and bending, plus some healthy meals, Eri was much, much healthier looking now than she had been just a few days prior when she’d explosively entered into Izumi’s life.

 

“Of course I did- I couldn’t just leave my precious baby sister all alone, could I?” Izumi answered after just a brief moment, looking around the room and humming quietly- Ryukyu’s agency wasn’t perhaps the best place to try and take care of a kid, but it had its own medical facilities, temporary dorms and kitchens for its staff, and wasn’t a hospital, so it was at least acceptable.

 

That Eri adamantly refused to be parted from Nejire-senpai for any reason probably helped everyone choose where she went- though, it had been explained that Nejire-senpai would be moving back to the UA dorms once her work study was over, and Eri had nodded along to that once they all said she could come with.

 

“Mm! Zuzu-nee is really nice!” Eri giggled, nuzzling into Izumi’s hand with just the tiniest of smiles, seemingly so much more comfortable now after having Nejire-senpai doting over her and keeping her safe for the last few days- the blue haired girl having taken on at least some tiger traits with how fiercely she made sure that nothing would come close to hurting Eri.

 

Izumi had been told that Nejire-senpai had actually snarled the moment she’d seen a nurse hold up a needle, holding Eri close to her chest the moment the little white haired girl had expressed even the tiniest bit of discomfort at being in the medical wing of the agency and not letting go until Eri herself had told Nejire she was okay again. 

 

“Aww, thanks. How are you doing, though? Everything okay with you, Eri-chan?” Izumi asked, continuing to ruffle Eri’s hair for as long as she kept nuzzling into Izumi’s hand, content with sitting there for as long as she needed in order to make sure Eri felt as safe and cared for as she could while she was still there- sure, maybe Eri hadn’t latched onto her quite as much as she had with Nejire-senpai, but she still cared about the little sprout. “Where’s Neji-nee? Wasn’t she with you?”

 

“Mm! Neji-nee went out with Ryu-mama! Is Rumi-mama here too?” Eri asked, looking around and then tilting her head as she looked up at Izumi in confusion, keeping Izumi’s hand firmly planted on her head and scritching away as though she were a particularly cute kitten. “Oh- Zuzu-nee, you’re not wearing your costume!”

 

“Nope, sorry,” Izumi grinned casually, then stood and lifted Eri into her arms with her tendrils- still continuing to ruffle the girl’s hair even as she gasped and cheered from the sudden elevation. “I’m not here on hero duty today, Eri-chan- I’m taking you out!”

 

“Out? Out where?” Eri asked, nuzzling against Izumi’s shoulder with a quiet mumble of comfort, easily and instinctively settling into a relaxed position as though she’d been carried by Izumi a million times. 

 

“I’m gonna take you out to get ice cream!” Izumi answered, grinning brightly for Eri as she began walking out of the agency doors, waving at the heroes and staff there and humming as she walked out into the somewhat busy streets- only to immediately shift her hands into a slightly more protective position as soon as Eri let out a little grumble of discomfort. “Ah- are you okay, Eri-chan?”

 

“I-I… there’s a lot of people… Zuzu-nee…” Eri whimpered out, shielding her face and trembling slightly, up until the point that Izumi stepped back into the lobby of Ryukyu’s agency- the familiar hum of the sliding doors drawing her attention as Izumi carried her back inside. “A-ah? W-wait, I-”

 

“It’s okay, Eri-chan. You’re not in trouble, I just… should have remembered that you’re not used to crowds yet,” Izumi sighed, clutching Eri close and grumbling a bit as she sent out a pulse of her chi to get a read on the things in the area- the way they moved, the trail they left, the patterns in travel… she sighed again, continuing to hold Eri in her arms without issue as she headed towards the back entrance of the building- sure, it wasn’t as nice as showing Eri all the sights and sounds the city could offer, but if it would make Eri feel safe, then Izumi would take her down the road with the least amount of people. “Sorry about that- are you doing okay still? Do you still wanna go get ice cream?”

 

“Um… I think… I can still go. I was just… a little scared,” Eri admitted, fumbling with her shirt as she stared up at Izumi, ruby red eyes glittering slightly as she blinked back the very beginnings of tears. “C-can we still have ice cream?”

 

“Of course, Eri-chan! I just want to make sure you feel safe first,” Izumi nodded, smiling down at the adorable girl and petting her head again with a tendril. “Are you comfy?”

 

“Mm! You’re really warm, Zuzu-nee! And comfy! Like a pillow!” Eri giggled, snuggling tight against Izumi’s chest again, with Izumi subtly forming the crimson patches of her Avatar state beneath where Eri touched, pulsing with a gentle, comfortable warmth in time with her heartbeat. “Ah… You’re the best, Zuzu-nee!”

 

“Anything for you, Eri-chan,” Izumi’s smile softened, and as Eri simply closed her eyes to bask in the warmth emanating from Izumi’s body, she began walking out through the alleyways behind Ryukyu’s agency- she made a promise to get Eri ice cream, after all, and she was going to keep it.

 

Thankfully, the trip through the back was much quieter than the front- the traffic outside of any high ranking hero agency was always much higher due to the amount of tourism said agencies brought to the area, but the back sides were still nearly deserted- not a lot of people wanted to wander around in an alleyway, after all. Overall, it was fairly uneventful, and while technically not supposed to, Izumi did speed the journey along by bringing Eri up to the rooftops, taking in the girl’s cheers of delight and letting her enjoy the moment as long as she could before descending back to the streets a few blocks down.

 

Izumi sighed again as they entered the ice cream shop that Nejire said she and Ryukyu always went to go get Eri ice cream from, humming quietly and swirling air subtly around Eri’s ears so that the girl could close her eyes and pretend that the crowd wasn’t there, so she would feel safe in Izumi’s arms. 

 

Sometimes she wished she was still as vicious and raw and jagged in personality and morals as Azula once was. Seeing Eri- such a precious, adorable little child acting as though everyone she didn’t personally know was out to get her, cowering from everything unfamiliar with the certainty that encountering it might only bring pain… it made Izumi wish she was still Azula, if only so she could bring herself to let Overhaul feel the full, unfettered fury burning in her soul. She’d have to sacrifice her career as a hero, sure, but… in the end, she’d do anything to make Eri feel safe and loved.

 

Though, she mused to herself, happily holding Eri in her lap as the girl dug into a bowl of blueberry ice cream, making a mess of her cheeks and attacking the sweet treat with such ferver that Izumi had to tie back the girl’s long white tresses to keep her clean, helping Eri grow out of her shell, grow out of her fear, grow into the bright, brilliant light that she always should have been… that was better than any amount of revenge against Overhaul she could ask for.

 

… She still did, however, want to impale the man on a spike and fry him into nothing but carbonized ash, though.

Chapter Text

“... I’m…. bored,” Izumi muttered one day, frowning up at the sky as she exited the gym’s locker room, freshly showered and winding down from a long practice session trying to get her metalbending techniques up to an appreciable level, duffel bag in hand and a feeling of utter… ennui settling in her chest. “... I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m… actually bored .”

 

“In a good way or a bad way?” Momo asked, stepping out of the locker room a moment later with her hand running through her still damp hair, grumbling a bit under her breath as she tried to coax it into its usual ponytail shape again. “I can’t imagine that you have a lack of things to do, Izumi-chan.”

 

“... Well, I did sort of trim back my schedule,” Izumi shrugged, turning to face Momo with a considering look on her face. “I mean- it’s not like it’s a bad thing. And… honestly, I don’t actually know if I’m bored or not- it’s just… it’s weird, I think, having cut back my training so much. I mean, I don’t… really think I ever actually needed to utilize those martial arts forms I drilled so much- just the natural flow and instincts of bending are so much more useful than rigid forms and styles… though, they did make teaching easier.”

 

“Mmm, and with the completion of your class this year, you do have much more free time,” Momo nodded, holding her chin and tilting her head, looking up at the sky for a moment as well. “Though, with how many classes you’ve been skipping out on… are you sure you’ll be able to handle the exams at the end of the fall semester?”

 

“... Momo, I only missed two weeks of classes, all of which were recorded and all of which I passed the quizzes for,” Izumi raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Two weeks is still a long time, Izumi-chan,” Momo huffed, rolling her eyes. “And even if you did pass the quizzes, you still lose something by not learning it when it’s taught. And plus- with the way things go around you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you missed out on our online enabled classes because you decided to go play around with some girl instead.”

 

Izumi scoffed, making a sound full of righteous indignation at Momo’s insinuation as to her sexual activeness “... Okay, for your information, I’m not that much of a whore! Gay and poly and given express permission to bang anyone my polycule approves of I may be, but it’s not like I just agree to have sex with every pretty girl who asks!”

 

“Tokage-san.”

 

“Okay, she’s Himiko’s sharp teeth sparring buddy, it’s not like they don’t know her. Plus I already took her out on a date that one time.”

 

“Komori-san.”

 

“She’s friends with Tooru!”

 

“Hatsume-san.”

 

“.... Ochako thinks she’s nice. And I swear I was just there to get my hero suit upgraded, not for sex.”

 

“Fuwa-san.”

 

“.... Okay look I’ve got a weakness for cute girls with pink hair, okay?”

 

“... You have a weakness for girls , Izumi-chan.”

 

“... You’re… not wrong. But that doesn’t mean-”

 

“Haya-san.”

 

“Okay, look, I only slept with her because she and Nejire-senpai teamed up on me and flustered me too bad to say anything otherwise and I’m really not helping my case am I?”

 

“No.”

 

“... Agni, I really am kind of a slut now aren’t I?”

 

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Izumi-chan. But yes, in the last three weeks you have been making quite a mess of people’s rooms, if the rumors are to be believed.”

 

Izumi sighed, palming her face and dragging her hand down with a long suffering groan of defeat. “Okay fine , I admit that I’ve been sleeping with a lot of girls in the last two weeks- what do you expect me to do? Everyone in this school is so pretty and everyone with heroics related majors fucking wants to bone me at least once for some fucking reason!”

 

“You are the school’s most eligible bachelorette,” Momo deadpanned, shrugging a bit and humming as she pulled up her phone and tapped in her password, bobbing her head to the side for a moment as she pulled up the school’s subreddit… which seemed to be full of videos of Izumi working out. “Plus, you are known as… possibly the most powerful student in the school, with the exception of maybe Hitoshi-kun at his absolute full power.”

 

She paused, then cleared her throat. “Actually, speaking of which, I think Hitoshi had a question for you, but he said it was rather private. You should talk to him.”

 

“... Wait when did he say that to you?” Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

 

“Oh, just earlier- he didn’t want to bother you while you were busy tripping over your own steel cables,” Momo chuckled, while Izumi pulled a face at the memory of her workout… which mostly consisted of her trying and… somewhat failing… to competently use metalbending to guide and manipulate the steel cables in her back harness like the police force in Republic City did. “Since he had to leave early to prepare for a date, he told me to pass the message to you.”

 

“... Hitoshi’s dating someone?”

 

“I believe he and Kaminari-kun decided to try things out- I think it’s cute! They’re like a miniature Aizawa-sensei and Yamada-sensei! Er- in terms of attitude and somewhat their general appearances, at least.”

 

“... That comparison is… startlingly apt,” Izumi muttered, then shook her head. “Well, thanks for telling me. I’ll give him a call later, see what he wants.”

 

“He did say that he wanted to talk to Tokoyami-kun and Tsu-chan about it too,” Momo muttered, shrugging as she picked her duffel bag up and started walking away. “Anyway- have fun with the rest of your day, Izumi-chan! I need to go- Kyouka and I have a date at the planetarium~!”

 

“Aw… that’s cute,” Izumi murmured, smiling a bit as Momo beamed and waved, walking off a moment later back to her own dorm before pulling out her phone and sending a text to Hitoshi. “... Wonder what Hitoshi wanted to talk about.”

Chapter Text

“I hereby call this inaugural meeting of the ‘Haunted Quirks Club’ to order,” Hitoshi announced dryly as Izumi sat down at the round table in the boys’ common room, the purple haired man standing at the end of the table that had the comfy armchair pulled up instead of the regular chairs. “Midori, Tsu, Fumi…. Hado-san… Shouto… thanks for coming today.”

 

“.... Haunted Quirks?” Izumi muttered, frowning at Hitoshi in confusion, trying to figure out just what the hell he was talking about. “What do you mean haunted? Wait- you can’t mean-”

 

“Yup! It turns out I’ve got ghosts in my Quirk! Eight of them, in fact, and it’s fucking weird and the more of my own power I learn to use without breaking myself, the more prominent they get!” Hitoshi interrupted, slamming his hand down on the table with an almost manic look. “They’re in my fucking dreams .”

 

“... Suddenly, I understand why this club was made,” Shouto deadpanned, rolling his eyes slightly as his scar pulsed with spirit energy that formed into a heterochromatic pair of cat ears upon his head for a moment before fading away. “I had been quite curious as to how I managed to unlock both fire and waterbending, but I suppose spirit possession should have been higher on my list of suspects.”

 

“Kero, of course you were possessed by a cat spirit,” Tsu deadpanned, croaking and showing off her own spirit enhancements by way of a glowing pair of froggy limbs forming from her shoulders and waving. “You already attract them like nothing else.”

 

“Oh- that’s what happened! I thought Tora-san had left a long time ago, but it actually turns out that she’s way too fond of Eri to leave so I was wondering why my cool tiger stripes never left!” Nejire cut in, bright and bubbly as her own body pulsed with crimson energy and the wind pulsed around her like the beginnings of a personal tornado before settling down. “Also, I think fusing with Tora-san made my titties bigger too!”

 

“... Considering that you’re starting to bust out of a shirt that you fit into just fine the other day, I’m inclined to believe that,” Izumi sighed, rubbing her face dryly and activating her own Avatar state for emphasis. “Well. I understand how we might be helpful with understanding if you got any new bending abilities out of that, but from what I can sense in you, whatever you’ve got going on is entirely quirk based. No spirits involved in the slightest.”

 

“Indeed- there is no excess spirit activity within you,” Tokoyami intoned dryly, sitting curled up in his own seat with Dark Shadow projected out of his body… as well as five other bird spirits taking on forms similar to Dark Shadow, though with different theming- one glowing white, and the other four looking as though they were made of the four elements. All six of them were currently engrossed in a riveting game of janken that nobody wanted to interrupt. “Though, I think I speak for everyone that, should you require emotional or mental help, all of us will be here for you without hesitation.”

 

“Mm.”

 

Kero!”

 

“Yeppers!”

 

“Mhmm.”

 

Hitoshi blinked, then shook his head. “Okay- well, I mean that wasn’t really what I called this club for but sure, alright. Honestly, I just kinda wanted to see if there were any ways I could deal with some of the bullshit going on in my head- like, I dunno, do your spirits talk to your or whatever?”

 

“Only when I’m in a deep meditative trance, kero,” Tsu shook her head and shrugged, the spirit arms growing from her sides disappearing after a moment. “The vast majority of the time, Fibi-chan and I are too synchronized to really tell where I start and she ends.”

 

“Koneko constantly pesters me,” Shouto deadpanned, sighing as a cat that was half flames and half ice suddenly erupted from his scar and perched around his shoulders, curling up there and purring as its tail flicked his nose. “It is remarkably persistent about me changing my diet from cold soba to tuna sashimi.”

 

“Tora-chan only talks to me when she wants me to go hug Eri-chan!” Nejire offered, grinning brightly as her tiger stripes pulsed and her nails lengthened slightly. “Also when I’m fighting too, because Tora-chan really likes fighting!”

 

“.... Vaatu and I are too well connected to really talk that much. It’s stuck in my soul and handles the strain of all of my elements,” Izumi shrugged, her tattoos pulsing and letting out a palpable wave of chi… that immediately made everyone else at the table shudder and the spiritual manifestations to all vanish back into their hosts a moment after. “... Huh?”

 

“Gah! Dammit I was about to win!” Dark Shadow crowed, shaking a fist at Izumi and shrieking a little bit, mostly just pouting as Fumikage reeled his quirk manifestation back in and shook his head.

 

“The immeasurably gulf in power between your passenger and our own is… terrifying,” Fumikage intoned, his eyes glowing as he spoke. “It is like a raging wildfire compared to our flickering flames. The pressure is… palpable. Especially when you’ve not used your avatar form like that before.”

 

“K-kero… It’s… I knew you were powerful, Izu-chan, but… feeling it like that just makes it apparent,” Tsu muttered, the rest of the table nodding and murmuring agreements… except for Hitoshi, who just scratched the back of his head in confusion and looked around.

 

“... Well, if there was anything to tell me that whatever the hell is haunting my quirk isn’t related to spirits, that would be it- I didn’t feel anything from that,” Hitoshi huffed, then sat down in his plush armchair and crossed his arms. “Dammit, gonna have to talk to Yagi-sensei about this- he’s the one who knows the most about my quirk anyway… fuck, I might have to start doing more esoteric quirk training now too…”

 

“You might also want to try talking to Recovery Girl, just in case it might have some side effects,” Izumi pointed out, tilting her head slightly with a finger raised for emphasis. “Sentient quirks are rare, after all. Dark Shadow’s the only one I’ve personally ever seen, though- Tokoyami-kun, your… relative that took you on for the internships, he had a similar quirk, right?”

 

“Mm. The branches of mine family tree are long and varied. There are many different manifestations, but yes- his quirk was the closest to Dark Shadow’s own,” Tokoyami nodded.

 

“Huh, interesting… but yeah- we’ll help you out for everything else, Hitoshi,” Izumi nodded decisively, shooting him a thumbs up.

 

Hitoshi sighed, rubbing the back of his head before letting out a short yawn. “Ahh… thanks. Well, in that case- meeting adjourned, I’ll call someone if weird shit happens again… you can all go fuck off now, because I need a nap.”

 

“You always need a nap, kero.”

 

“Yes, I’m heavily sleep deprived.”

 

“RIP, kero.”

Chapter Text

“Ne, Ko-chan?” Himiko asked idly as the two of them sat to the side during one of All Might’s- er, Yagi-sensei now, she supposed- lessons, humming quietly to herself as she tried to think less about the provisional licensing exam that was coming up and more on the actual lesson at hand- in this case, it was purely theory, and it covered the statistics of going into different branches of heroism… and also why it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to go all in on one or another, but if anyone cared about their rankings in the hero system then trying to be the best in the field for Rescue heroics or Villain Apprehension or Disaster Mitigation was an uphill climb that most people balked at and settled for more generalist roles in order to prevent themselves from being pigeonholed.

 

“Yeah, Himi-chan?” Ochako responded instantly, looking over as she clasped Himiko’s hand beneath the table, not hesitating for a moment to bump shoulders with her girlfriend. “What’s up?”

 

“Do you… think I’ll do okay at the licensing exam? I… I mean, my quirk’s way more esoteric than most of the rest of the people in our class- even in 1-B and 1-C… I just… I dunno, I’m having a hard time feeling like I’ll be able to keep up without just relying too much on everyone else’s skills.” Himiko sighed, squeezing Ochako’s hand gently and frowning as she doodled notes with her free hand- sloppily, since she wasn’t a leftie, but legible enough at least. “I mean, I know I have waterbending now and that helps with healing, but I still have a hard time remembering that I have it at all… it still feels like it’s not quite a part of me the way air and water are for you and  Tsu, y’know?”

 

“Oh Himi… you’re going to do amazingly , okay?” Ochako sighed, shifting her chair and drawing Himiko closer so she could wrap her other arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders. “You’re amazing and so strong, and your quirk is so useful and versatile- and your bending skills are amazing too! You’ll do just fine , and when we all get our licenses, we’ll go out for ice cream together, okay?”

 

“Mm… I… I really wish I could believe that, Ko-chan,” Himiko muttered, her expression crumpling slightly as she huddled into Ochako’s embrace, chewing her lip as she tried not to let her worries overtake her- not when the exam was next week. Not when she was training so hard every single day, not when her quirk had evolved again after straining it to the absolute brink and beyond… 

 

She sighed, nibbling lightly at Ochako’s shoulder- not enough to break skin, but just as a comfort response. She always did feel better after nibbling on someone, and Ochako was always so nice about it… so soft and pretty and she smelled like lavender and vanilla and all the good things in the world, and that ever so faint sheen of sweat that came after a nice, light workout…

 

Himiko almost purred, and more or less forgot about her worries as she continued to nuzzle against Ochako- forgot about the stress and sleepless nights as she crammed for the written portion of the exam, forgot about the amount of times she went to bed too exhausted for even sex, forgot about all about everything except the softness of Ochako’s skin and the yielding rigidity of her toned muscles, the way her hair tickled at Himiko’s face… the soft sounds of Ochako breathing and murmuring out assurances that Himiko would do just fine, that she was beautiful and strong and powerful and that nothing would be able to stop them from getting their licenses, just you watch…

 

It was nice, and what made it even nicer was Katsumi scooting her chair over closer to Himiko, sandwiching her fellow blonde and smushing her between the heavenly softness of her and Ochako’s breasts. Even nicer still, was that tendril of warmth filling her body as Izumi wrapped one of her crimson tendrils around her wrist from the opposite side of their large table, and Tsu doing much the same with a stretched out, spirit arm that pulsed gently with the cooling, refreshing sensation of Tsu’s chi.

 

Himiko sighed, sniffling a bit as she wiped her face and pulled away from Ochako’s shoulder after a minute or two, her voice trembling even as she basked in the feeling of being so loved

 

“I… thanks guys… i-it… it really means a lot to me… I… I’m not really sure if I can pass the exam… but I’m still gonna do my best- just you watch!”

 

“Of course you’ll pass, Himiko,” Izumi smiled, the tendril wrapped around her wrist pulsating with gentle warmth and a soft burst of energy. “You’re so strong . You’ve put in so much effort- you’re already a hero as it is. They’d have to be blind to not see it.”

 

“Yeah! You’ve put in more effort than half the other classes anyway!” Tooru spoke up a moment later, having stealthily made her way over from her seat at a different table, plopping herself firmly down in Himiko’s lap and joining the now quite awkward hug. “Just watch, Himi! It’s gonna be a cakewalk, and by the end of next week we’re all gonna have our licenses! Promise!”

 

“T-thanks, Tooru… um… but I think we’re starting to uh… draw notice,” Himiko muttered, blushing heavily due to the fact that Tooru was just straddling her lap and she had her arms pressed into the cleavage of her other two girlfriends and they were all in class and fuck Yagi-sensei kept shooting looks over at them- fuck fuck fuck. “M-maybe we should save the PDA for later? I-I think we might get a detention or something for this!”

 

“Just a stern warning, if that, kero,” Tsu muttered, not at all keen on letting go of Himiko’s leg and starting to knead it gently with the stretched out arm of spirit energy that she had formed beneath the table. “Besides, we’re not doing anything weird. We’re just offering you emotional support, kero.”

 

“Yeah, and y’know what? Even if you don’t get your license? Fuck ‘em! I’ll blow up anyone who says you’re not good enough, okay?” Katsumi cut in, grinning almost viciously as she nuzzled against Himiko’s cheek, squeezing her free hand tightly to the point that Himiko could feel the surge in warmth as Katsumi’s chi began to get all fired up. “Like, you’re already so talented at every part of hero work, so there’s no way you won’t pass, but the six of us together are unstoppable!”

 

“... Actually I think that’s just with Zumi-chan,” Ochako muttered, raising an eyebrow at the currently single most overpowered member of the polycule, who just shrugged as if trying to humblebrag about her near demigod status. “Didn’t she tell us she had island scale bending power at this point?”

 

“... Dammit, why’d you have to bring that up?” Katsumi muttered, screwing up her face and grumbling with theatrical indignance. “Just when I thought I’d be able to catch up to her one day, she has to go and pull that shit on us!”

 

“... Would it help if I said that I’d only be able to do it rarely, if ever, because Vaatu’s still at fairly low power?” Izumi asked dryly.

 

“... Honestly, a little, yeah.”

 

“Well, there you go, Kacchan.”

 

“Yeah yeah… but anyway- point is, we’re gonna crush the provisional license exam! Just you watch!”

 

Himiko sniffled, grinning a bit as the combined encouragement of her five girlfriends buoyed her spirits. 

 

“Heh… yeah… yeah we will! Look out world, cuz here we come!”

Chapter Text

“So….. you ever gonna go for it?” Setsuna asked, raising an eyebrow at Reiko as the ghostly girl stared across the training field to where one Midoriya Izumi was making a complete show of herself by trying to combine different bending styles together instead of just using them one at a time. 

 

Judging from the fact that Setsuna could hear a muffled sonic boom echoing from that side of the training field along with the smell of ozone…. Well. Not that she didn’t already pity the people Midoriya had to fight, but she was pitying them even more now if the greenette had managed to replicate a fucking railgun .

 

Fuck, she really hoped that wasn’t what Midoriya was practicing… but she knew better than to pray for that kind of thing. That was more Ibara’s thing anyway.

 

Reiko, meanwhile, blushed heavily and hid her face behind her sleeves, stifling a whimper and crossing her legs as the taller, lizard-like girl just gave her a sharp toothed, almost lecherous grin.

 

“You were thinkin’ about it weren’t ya? Don’t feel bad Reikkun, pretty much everyone in 1-B’s the same way,” Setsuna chuckled, rubbing the back of her head as she watched Midoriya with some small amount of envy. “Argh… just my luck that she’s already found herself a polycule- I mean shit, we had one date together and I ate her out last week sure but… dammit, I wanna kiss her on the reg too!”

 

“Like the sun,” Reiko muttered, sighing as she made a show of shielding her eyes from Midoriya’s brightness. “A big, gay sun, drawing girls into her orbit with her stupidly toned muscles and husky voice and cute face and boobs and bending skill…. And tentacles.”

 

“Fuck me, I really wanna try the tentacles- Bakugou got snaps of ‘em in action and fuck it’s like everything I could have ever wanted come to life! Fucking…. Ooooh, the things they could do to me….” Setsuna purred, biting her lip and staring at Midoriya with no small amount of lust- to the point that she was even rubbing her thighs together and pondering the merits of subtly just removing a few fingers and her crotch so she could do something about how tingly Midoriya’s… everything made her feel. “Dammit, I really shoulda tried to push harder on the whole polycule thing a few months ago…”

 

“You know, we are still free to ask,” Reiko pointed out dryly, using her telekinesis to bop Setsuna over the head with a foam bat- she knew damn well what her sort-of-girlfriend-sort-of-friend-with-benefits was thinking about the green haired Avatar that was currently turning blocks of metalbent tungsten targets into scrap with nothing but tiny steel disks and the rolling thunder of sonic booms.

 

She really, really wanted to know just what the fuck kind of cosmic luck Midoriya was on, because seriously- a set of abilities that was that powerful and versatile was just unfair . Oh sure, she had airbending and telekinesis, but it’s not like she was the fucking Avatar , master of all four elements, jack of trades in a bunch of subclasses that gave her the ability to do anime moves on command! What was next? Shining Finger? Giga Drill Break? Specium Beam!? Rider Kick!??

 

Reiko sighed, then shook her head and ignored the things that Yui had put in her head in favor of focusing back on Setsuna. “I mean, it’s not like we’re totally exclusive. We do both want to sleep with her on a regular basis, albeit I’m pretty sure I’m a lot more pathetic about it than you are.”

 

“Oh come on Reikkun, just because you turn into a pathetic puppygirl when I do a Midoriya impression and tie you up doesn’t mean you’re pathetic about your attraction!” Setsuna huffed, rolling her eyes and clapping her white haired compatriot/sex friend on the shoulder with a floating hand. “.... I mean, okay, it’s a little pathetic how much you want her to step on you and call you a little whore, but um… er…. Where was I going with this?”

 

“.... Weren’t you the one who wanted Midoriya-san to spit on you?” Reiko deadpanned, giving Setsuna a deadpan stare through her one visible eye. “And I believe I heard you mumbling in your sleep once, about how you desperately wanted her to indulge in your watersports fe-”

 

“Oi oi oi oi oi! Sshhhh! We don’t talk about that one!” Setsuna hissed, clapping her hand over Reiko’s facemask and mouth, as though that would get her to permanently shut up. “N-not in public Reikkun! C-come on, have mercy!”

 

“It’s just a fetish,” Reiko sighed, rubbing her forehead once Setsuna had backed off and shrugging. “Not into it, but I’ve seen weirder.”

 

“.... thanks for being chill about it, at least,” Setsuna sighed, then sat down on a nearby bench and motioned for Reiko to follow, the two of them just sighing with their elbows on their knees, chins resting in their hands as they continued to watch Class 1-A train their hearts out. “.... Reikkun?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“If 1-A ever turns villain, we’re joining them so we don’t get our shit rocked, right?”

 

“.... Oh yeah, definitely. Just Midoriya alone tips the scales on a power, moral, sexual, and charismatic level. She’s like, the strongest person in the school just by sheer variety of powers,” Reiko nodded, shifting her hands slightly so she could lace her fingers into what was classically known as the Gendo Ikari Pose, looking out over to where their sister class was training and putting her laser focus on… mostly, Midoriya’s ass, which looked amazing in her Mirko branded leggings… the design of which shouldn’t have even been on the market yet . The date printed down the right leg was for next year’s spring Merch run even! “Also, I think she slept with Mirko and I wanna get in on that so I might have a chance.”

 

“Oh right, she did do that,” Setsuna confirmed, chewing her lip and looking thoughtfully over the field. “Who do you think is the second most powerful person in the school?”

 

“Shinsou-san probably. You’ve seen his quirk in action- it’s like a second All Might, y’know?”

 

“Mmm… yeah that tracks. Honestly, what is up with 1-A? You’d think they’d have left some of the super OP quirks for our class, but noooo, all we get B-list power scaling and C-list recognition! Ugh… I wish we had someone as cool as like, Midoriya, or Bakugou… fuck, Asui-san would be so cool for our class.”

 

“Who would she even replace?” Reiko asked, raising an eyebrow casually. 

 

“Monoma.”

 

“.... Fair enough. At least he’s not that big of a dick anymore,” Reiko sighed, then stood up and began stretching lightly to warm herself up for more training, shaking the stiffness out and starting to lift things again with her quirk. “Anyway, we’ve sat around long enough. Are you still going to help me with my super move or not?”

 

“Oh yeah- right. Sorry bout that. C’mon Emily, let’s get you a super move!”

Chapter Text

Aizawa Shouta was… a man of few words. Mostly. He had plenty of words for idiot teenagers doing stupid shit and also much nicer words for cats, but by and large he tended not to speak- just listen.

 

His husband, on the other hand, was a man of many, many words, and while once a time it had been grating, the sound of Hizashi’s constant stream of babble and jokes and memes comforted him. But that wasn’t really the point, nor was Hizashi the blonde that he was sat before now- instead, that honor went to Tachikawa Ryuuko of the Wild Wild Pussycats, who was currently in the middle of filling out the paperwork to become a full time teacher at UA… despite still being part of her previous team.

 

Indeed, the rest of her team had also signed on for it, and although their contracts stipulated that they were free to leave at any time so they could be available for mountain rescues, they were still expected to have at least one lecture either recorded or typed up weekly for their students.

 

Shouta… didn’t really see the point in hiring them, honestly, (the school already had a good enough unit on mountain rescues that updated yearly, and it wasn’t like the facilities at school didn’t train bodies and quirks alike) but he wasn’t in charge of that- in fact, none of the heroes on staff were. The only ones actually in charge of handling anything on the administrative side of the school were Nedzu and a small handful of people actually qualified to process that kind of thing… most of whom Shouta never met, though he’d run background checks on all of them. 

 

“Ne, Eraser?” Ryuuko asked, tilting her head idly to the side and tapping her pen against her lips, humming quietly as she held up her form for perusal. “Do you think I’ve got a chance with Midoriya?”

 

Shouta blinked.

 

“.... Midoriya. As in- Midoriya Izumi, Class 1-A, officially one of the most famous hero hopefuls in Japan at the moment, currently just shy of nineteen years old? That Midoriya Izumi?” Shouta raised an eyebrow, frowning as he crossed his arms and stared at the woman who constantly bemoaned her lack of ability to hold down a steady boyfriend. “I thought you were straight. And not a cradle robber.”

 

“Well I am! Or at least I think I am! It’s just… I dunno, I never had any chance with boys…. Figured I might try girls? And… y’know, see if I can’t hold down a girlfriend instead?” Ryuuko shrugged, sighing as she set down the form, sliding it over so Shouta could check it and send it on over to the administrative side of the school. “I mean, who better to try with than the girl who somehow managed to get like a billion fuckin’ girls to lust after her, right?”

 

“... Something in that logic fails to compute,” Shouta muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a long suffering sigh. “For starters, there’s a twelve year age gap if we’re being generous - even more than with Mirko . Secondly- if you are straight, then trying to date a woman won’t end well in the slightest. Dating against your sexuality doesn’t end well unless your partner turns out to be transgender along the same direction you’re attracted to. Third- why not just… try one of your own teammates?”

 

“Well it’s because Shino always says dating within the team never ends well, Yawara’s asexual, and Tomoko is um….” Ryuuko blinked, slowly frowning down at the table as her thoughts began to stutter. “... I honestly could have sworn Tomoko was straight, but…”

 

“But?”

 

“I dunno, she might be bi? She’s never really shown that much interest in men or women, though… Something starting with an A, maybe? I dunno, there’s words for that, right?” Ryuuko shrugged, leaning back in her chair and huffing as she crossed her arms. “Ergh, I mean, I love ‘em all like siblings and friends, I just can’t really see myself dating them! I’ve known ‘em all for over a decade at this point- hell, I know Tomoko better than I know my own brother!”

 

“... You have a brother?”

 

“Eh, estranged. Haven’t seen the bastard since he fucked off to Hong Kong and never came back,” Ryuuko muttered, sighing quietly. “Anyway… I dunno, I just… I’m lonely, I’m desperate, I’m in my thirties now and I can feel my dateability slipping away year by year! Why can’t I find someone who loves me!?”

 

“... Probably because, if I’m guessing right, either the people you meet can’t deal with the demands of dating a hero, or they’re hero chasers only after you in costume and don’t care about you as a person,” Shouta deadpanned, rubbing his eyes slightly and grumbling to himself- why the fuck was he stuck babysitting the boy-crazy one? Fuck, it was like dealing with his students again. “Or, they just hated the fact that you and your team spend most of your time out in the mountains instead of somewhere a little more convenient.”

 

“.... I… I mean I guess that makes sense…”

 

“Also, you come on way too strong and desperate. I know you are , but tone it down. A lot. You sound like a weirdo half the time when you talk about the men you see when you’re off duty,” Shouta finished, rolling his eyes as he finished checking Ryuuko’s paperwork after a few moments and set the stack aside for later delivery. “Also, maybe be less sexual about it. Buy a vibrator.”

 

“... I already have too many…”

 

“... Nevermind then. Still, it’s simple . Communicate with whoever you’re with, compromise and keep and promises, never promise to anything you’re not sure of but always make an effort to be there for important things, make sure you have the ability to talk to each other without screaming or one of you taking over the entire conversation, and just… be a decent person.” Shouta huffed again, then stood up and shook his head as he headed for the door, squinting out the windows at the harsh light of three in the afternoon. Ugh. It was too early for this shit.

 

“... Wow, that’s… actually really good advice. Thanks Eraser! You’re the best, kouhai!”

 

“....”

 

“... Sorry.”

 

“Mhmm.”

Chapter Text

The day before the Hero Provisional License Exam was a time of last minute preparations, panic, stress, and people trying to relax as much as possible under the assumption that if they hadn’t learned enough by now, then panicking about it wouldn’t help them tomorrow.

 

It would have been called chaos, but it was altogether far too organized to be called such a thing- there weren’t papers flying, people rushing around, or even any stray explosions as her fellow hero course students tried to get one last upgrade to their costumes done.

 

Izumi, meanwhile, simply meditated out by one of the on-campus ponds, letting her chi suffuse itself with the strength of the environment around her. The stable earth beneath her feet, the wind in her hair, the sun on her skin, the waves lapping before her… she soaked it all in, letting her spirit unmoor itself from her daily concerns as she focused instead on her inward self- her connection to the world itself, the flows of spirit energy, the pulsating forms of life and light and chaos that slowly suffused into her core and expressed themselves through Vaatu’s connection to her soul.

 

It was peaceful, quiet. 

 

It was…

 

Time for a conversation, perhaps.

 

Unbidden, Izumi found herself far away from the sights and sounds of the outside world- instead finding herself nestled in the soft grass of her own spirit. Her internal world was… much healthier than it had been in a long time, she thought. She could feel her integrity and resolve pulsing around her core, could feel the way the landscape reacted to her presence that she was fine, stable, growing and learning as the days went by.

 

She could feel Vaatu as the spirit wound its way towards her- though she didn’t move or open her eyes, simply content to feel the grass tickling her feet and let the breeze tickle through her hair.

 

“So, you finally deign to come back down to visit,” Vaatu spoke dryly, with a voice completely unlike that of how it sounded previously- gone was the masculine, echoing voice that swam with ancient power and burbled with hidden menace. In its place was a subtle, sibilant echo of Izumi’s own voice- raw and dripping with sensuality and menace, as though parodying the worst parts of Izumi’s public perception all at once.

 

Izumi blinked, opening her eyes and taking in… Vaatu, looking exactly the same as before- a vaguely kite shaped mass of spirit energy, long tendrils fluttering in the breeze as it tainted the world around it with pure chaos. Neither good nor evil, destructive nor creative, just… change. Randomness and change, all without order or reason. 

 

“And here I thought you’d end up looking like an evil version of me,” Izumi deadpanned at the spirit, rolling her eyes a bit as she strode forward and patted Vaatu on… some part of its surface. Honestly, she wasn’t even really sure what parts were analogous to what, considering that the closest thing Vaatu had to a face was a diamond shaped eyespot that probably wasn’t even an eye…. Even though it also had a distinct front and back and a limited field of vision.

 

“Oh please, as though I’d be so cliche- I am the spirit of chaos, not a poorly written movie visual!” Vaatu huffed, utterly unfazed and simply swirling about Izumi’s body as though trying to wrap around her shoulders like some kind of unruly shawl, tendrils brushing against her skin and wrapping around her limbs in a tight but not uncomfortable grip. “Also, I really didn’t want to be cliche about it. I did think about it, though.”

 

“Honestly, it would have been very strange to walk in on,” Izumi sighed, taking a seat at the foot of a large tree and crossing her legs again, letting Vaatu take its time unwinding from her body as she mulled over her thoughts. “Either way, I suppose you know the reason why I’m here already.”

 

“Because you’re nervous about the provisional licensing exam, aren’t you?” Vaatu guessed idly, settling into a neat coil in front of Izumi and letting its tendrils wave around idly, not at all sounding concerned. “I see no reason for it. You are so very good at breaking convention and establishing your dominance over those lesser to you- perhaps it would be good to cut loose for once, truly let your power shine?”

 

“My power? Ha- don’t kid me. We both know it’s your power, you’re just letting me use it,” Izumi huffed almost bitterly, looking to the side as the sky of her soul rumbled with discontent. “Even my own fire… it’s because you’re holding onto it for me.”

Vaatu curled up slightly, as though trying to imitate a head tilt- all before reaching out and lightly whipping Izumi across the cheek with one tendril. “Idiot child! Do you think me so crass as to say that my power is yours? Do you think me so humble or naive? No! It is your power- you have cultivated it, you have made it strong . Yes, I hold onto your earth, your water, your air, but your fire is anchored so deep inside your soul that I could not rip it out if I wanted to . The power you wield is your own. Yes, when we merge, I add my power to yours, allow you to be as I am… but I am no longer free on my own anymore. I am no longer my own spirit. I am bonded to you , child. My power is your power, but your power is not my power.”

 

“... I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say without sounding like a manic villain,” Izumi sighed, her frown slowly retracting even as she rested her chin in her hands, not really sure if she could internalize Vaatu’s revelation for her so quickly. “Granted, you still sounded like an anime villain, but less like you get off on burning houses down.”

 

“Thank you, I stole half of my wording out of your speech to Shouto back in your first month of college. With some embellishment, of course.”

 

“I thought you didn’t want to be a copy?” Izumi snickered, raising an eyebrow questioningly as she shot a smug look at the spirit of chaos. “And yet here you are cribbing my own speeches back at me. How the mighty have fallen.”

 

“Oh please, you and I both know I fell from grace the moment I wound up in your hormone addled meat sack of a body,” Vaatu shot back, then sighed. “But all the same- the reasoning for you being here is stupid. You seek reassurance and validation from a belligerent ancient spirit stuck in your soul instead of your own friends? How stupid can you be? Tch, idiot child- you never answered my question- why not cut loose and let your power sing?”

 

“Because I’m pretty sure people would literally die,” Izumi grumbled, crossing her arms and looking to the side awkwardly. “It’s why I still don’t do a lot of lavabending.”

 

“... ah. Yes. That.”

 

“Well, I’d say this made me feel better but it truly, honestly did nothing for me,” Izumi shook her head, but made no move to leave her mindscape, simply settling in and crossing her legs. “Oh well. Maybe if I meditate long enough I’ll unlock the secrets of true flight before the exam, like how Ko-chan did.”

 

“It’s death.” Vaatu’s interjection made Izumi blink, looking up suddenly in confusion.

 

“... come again?”

 

“The old gurus liked to dress up the secret as total freedom, being untethered by anything on the ground such that they could be as free as the wind. They made too big of a deal of it- flying bison unlocked true flight, and they had plenty of attachment to their riders, their favorite foods, their favorite feeding grounds,” Vaatu deadpanned, making a shrugging motion with its tendrils before continuing on. “The freedom spiel is mostly about allowing yourself to accept that death- the final tether for a living being- is inevitable. It comes for every mortal, and you must accept it as a natural part of life- just as the sun rises, so too do things die. Not that you can’t fight it, but that it will come for you one day.”

 

“... That’s it? Really?” Izumi muttered, staring at Vaatu incredulously. “That- that’s stupid! It can’t be that easy!”

 

“It has to be, otherwise the sky bison would have only learned how to glide,” Vaatu responded, still with that same deadpan tone. “Not overly concerned about the intricacies of society and attachment, the bison. Never have been.”

 

“.... Hm. That… makes a startling amount of sense,” Izumi muttered, then shook her head again. “Okay… any other revelatory statements about bending that you want to make while I’m still here?”

 

“Well… Perhaps a few…”

Chapter Text

The morning of the Hero Provisional License Exam dawned bright and early and chaotic, with dozens of students rushing around to get prepared and ready before it was time to leave. 

 

Izumi simply watched calmly as she settled in the cloak of her hero outfit, wrapping it around herself as she paged through a fashion magazine whilst settled on the common room couch, having woken at dawn and been washed, fed, and dressed an entire hour before- Katsumi as well, given that the two of them rose with the sun. Tsuyu was likewise settled against Katsumi, the froggy girl curled up in a surprisingly tight, almost squished up ball as she got her last few winks of sleep sandwiched in between Katsumi and the back of the armchair.

 

Ochako, meanwhile, was currently stuffing her face with one of the vending machine breakfasts, thankfully managing to not make a mess of herself while she sat next to Izumi- it’d be pretty bad form if her girlfriend managed to make an utter mess of her hero outfit when they were about to show off to the public soon.

 

Himiko and Tooru… were napping on the other end of the couch, fully dressed in their costumes, and leaning against each other’s shoulders. Strangely adorable, the two of them were, but Izumi really hoped it wouldn’t result in either of them waking up sore or stiff.

 

Oh well, they’d have opportunities to stretch out, and if worse came to worst, they had enough waterbenders to make up the difference.

 

 

Actually.

 

Wait- shit.

 

“Katsumi- I just realized something,” Izumi spoke up, frowning as she caught her girlfriend’s attention. “We’re going to be going up against not just other hero students- but hero students who might also be benders .”

 

“... Shit- that means we’re going to either wind up fighting a bunch of idiots who can barely use half of their powerset, or we’re going to be going up against what amounts to an army of hostile benders,” Katsumi frowned, holding her chin as she tried to think of how the events of the exam would play out- obviously there’d be some kind of arena combat going on, there always was, but what the challenge would be this year… she had no clue. Beyond the written portion was always a culling challenge, and then after that, the second stage was…. Something to do with learning the ropes as a hero- rescue type stuff, usually. Once it had been an entire ocean rescue simulation, another time had been a festival setting with booths and presentations, at some point there’d even been a ruined city simulation in the aftermath of some great disaster.  “Depending on the hero school, we’re gonna be facing a wide range of skill levels in bending, and I’m not sure if anyone there will have gotten past the instinctual usage- maybe a few of the Shiketsu guys, but… hm. I dunno, Izu, I think our odds are still good, but we’re all definitely gonna have to go Plus Ultra on ‘em.”

 

“Hmm… well, I suppose it’s a good thing that I’m so well equipped for such a thing, isn’t it?” Izumi deadpanned, keeping her tone casual as her eyes flashed with orange and Vaatu’s markings appeared upon her torso in a pulse of energy. “None of them will know anything about us past the sports festival, I think. So as long as we use our new techniques and skills, there shouldn’t be any problems at all.”

 

“Gonna use that combo shit you made up with Shou-kun, eh?” Katsumi grinned, a wicked light entering her eyes as her flames began crackling around her hands in preparation for the inevitable combat that would come later that day- a rippling, sparking, fire-cracker like trail of blooming orange flames that tinged blue at their ends fluttering about as she worked herself up. “The one where he makes that ice wall?”

 

“And I turn it into ice shards, yes. If there’s an opportunity, I might use it,” Izumi smiled, sharp and dangerous and wicked. The energy in the air was tense as the clock continued to tick down- their fellow students slowly filing out as the day began, some of them to normal classes, some of them to training, and the mix of students from Class 1-A through 1-D filed out towards the edge of campus, where the mix of homeroom teachers among their classes stood, waving them all on.

 

Izumi was silent as she moved through the crowd and joined her fellow members of 1-A by Aizawa-sensei’s bus. How skilled would the other schools be? Would any of them have had proper hero experience by now? How good would they be with their bending?

 

Those thoughts swirled in her mind, and she could feel the energy around her shifting and changing as she did her best to focus on the here and now. 

 

She would have offered a prayer to the spirits if she thought it would work, but in the end simply held her fist over her chest, chewing her lip behind her mask and staring straight ahead as she sent her thoughts down to Vaatu, asking the spirit to work with her and make sure she along with her classmates rose to the top.

 

And then…

 

Izumi sighed, opened her eyes, and let go. Let go of her fears, let go of her worries. Let go of everything but that fragile sense of determination and inner peace that allowed her to bend the elements as she did, drawing strength from her connection to everything around her and letting Vaatu’s markings pulse away on her chest without fear.

 

She knew what Vaatu was feeling, right now, because she didn’t know what she was going to do during the exam.

 

She freed herself of her expectations, of her plans, of everything but the sheer, raw knowledge and experience she brought to the table.

 

And, as the bus began to pull away from campus and scattered words became a steady stream of chatter as her friends and classmates conversed eagerly in order to distract themselves from the oncoming stress of the exam…

 

Izumi smiled once more, behind her mask, chi bubbling up like a fountain inside of her.

 

She’d spent a long, long time practicing her new skills and powers now, hadn’t she?

 

She could afford to cut loose a little, really show everyone just how strong the Avatar could be.

 

“I know that look on your face,” Himiko murmured, staring at the ceramic surface of Izumi’s mask with a sharp, vampiric grin on her face, one that grew from a thoughtful pout into an ear to ear expectation of pure violence . “It’s that look you get when you’re about to start trending on twitter again.”

 

“Well. Depends on if the video leaks,” Izumi responded, feeling the corners of her mouth quirk into something eager and chaotic, a smirk worthy of Azula as she looked out the window to the Takoba National Stadium in the distance. “But yes… I’m about to teach everyone else just why in my old world the Avatar was the closest thing we had to a living god .”

 

A chill ran through the air at her words, as though the world itself felt her conviction and shuddered. 

 

Himiko was silent for a moment, staring at Izumi for nearly a minute straight until she spoke again.


“.... I’m going to fuck you silly after this.”

Chapter Text

The first combat portion of the Provisional License Exam started with five minutes to scatter into the various locations around the massive simulated landscape- one that resembled a massive field of rocky spires, hemmed in by a massive river. There, the objective was more or less combat tag- every person started off with ten points, and if they were tagged by an opponent on the special sensors they wore, they’d lose points. If they lost five points, they were out- even if the perpetrator was someone on their own team. If any one person managed to tag five people- even if it was the same person multiple times, they passed automatically.

 

Class 1-A, naturally, stayed together as they all ducked and weaved into an advantageous position near the edge of the arena- with the amount of benders in their class, it was only sensible for them to try and get as close to the water source as possible. 

 

Once those five minutes were up, though…

 

“Everyone, huddle and brace yourselves!” Izumi immediately shouted, letting out an impressive kiai of effort as she slammed her hands into the ground, her body pulsing with the sheer oppressive weight of her fully activated Avatar state- not just the crawling red appearance of her Stage 3, but to go even further beyond , adding in the full presence of Vaatu and every last scrap of power and metaphysical weight the spirit of chaos had gathered in the last few weeks of hard training, practice and… more private activities. 

 

With the sheer amount of power she had now, her very presence blasted out across the massive arena and seemingly turned the sky darker, pulling in the very light itself as the air shone purple with her aura of power.

 

“COME AND FUCKING GET US!” she roared, her challenge screamed out to the heavens as she painted a target straight on Class 1-A by letting loose with the fullest extent of her lava mastery- this close to the edge all she had to do was slam her chi into the sparse collection of rock pillars surrounding the class and turn them all into blisteringly hot pools of lava, crumbling some others into enormous piles of sand while the outer pillars turned into a wide, deep, lethal moat that no one could cross normally without the ability of flight, driving anyone who approached into certain areas in order to lay ambushes and make taking them out easier. “SHOW US WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF!”

 

And in an instant (really, more like a minute at most) the other thousand and a half students all seemingly acquiesced- there was a massive tide of people headed their way, her thermal radar pinging dozens if not hundreds of targets at once- and also a massive windstorm on the entire opposite side of the arena that managed to throw well over a hundred people into the air.

 

“Class 1-A! Group Scatter! Pick ‘em off in groups!” Katsumi roared right after, and the entire class shouted their assent as they split off into small groups to start covering the area- Tooru went entirely invisible, most of the class bruisers (Sato, Eijiro, Ojiro, Hitoshi, Koda technically) formed up together and ducked underground in a huddle of pure muscle power and guts (and also Eijiro’s earthbending ability to pull large rocks out of the ground), Shouji and Tokoyami leaped into the river alongside Tsuyu and Himiko, Ochako lifted off into the air with total freedom, followed shortly after by Katsumi and Kaminari (who had, apparently, learned to fly on an electromagnetic metallic disk). Momo, Shouto, and Kyouka all split off- getting themselves high up into the air on a truly massive glacier that took them far away from any source of earthbending, while Sero, Mina, and Iida all ran off into the tangle through the one clear spot through the lava Izumi left for them before she covered it up- their agility and speed would make them too good at hit and run tactics to keep cooped up in a circle. Meanwhile Izumi simply stood there all alone as a single, glowing target with writhing tendrils flaring around her, the singular clear spot in the entire area she’d made once she’d flooded the area with fog in the wake of her class scattering to fight everyone else individually.

 

She took a deep breath, feeling her flames roiling inside of her soul as she focused on her pure expertise in firebending- her other elements were fine, her avatar state was working, but what truly made her dangerous… she called lightning to her fingers and kept a weather eye out on the signals produced by the sensors attached to everyone’s chests, arms, backs, legs… it didn’t matter.

 

At her bidding, she drew up her chi and began to electrify it, feeling the streamers of power surging to her fingertips as she focused and enacted her will. It was tight- an utterly invisible margin of error that kept the energy in her system balanced just so. It would have been impossible for most firebenders no matter how powerful or old they were.

 

She was not most firebenders.

 

Streams of chi began to lance out, guided unerringly along miscellaneous curving paths through the air and seeking out the pulsing electric fields she could sense along every single sensor in her thermal radar range, the streamers held steady by the tips of her tendrils before those streamers too began to coalesce into one beam- one that reached high up into the sky and branched out once more.

 

It was a complicated, extremely inefficient shape… but it was also guaranteed to look super cool. 

 

Izumi smirked and began charging a sphere of brilliant yellow plasma in her hands, taking on her now famous and extremely meme’d stance as the first applicants began to rush towards her position- just now starting to get into viewing range as some of the more cocky ones tried to rush her.

 

They would not get far.

 

“SCATTER BULLET! FIRE!”

 

She thrust out her hands, and the beam followed the massive “trunk” of the tree-like shape she’d created out of chi streamers, guided along its path unerringly before erupting into homing bolts of light that rained down upon the suddenly panicked and screaming forms of the competition like a hailstorm of death. Explosions rang out in a never ending chorus like rolling thunder, stunning those who were hit by the beams and ragdolling them around until they were too disoriented to move- some of them had escaped the initial hit, but had been struck by the explosions afterwards anyway, and those that hadn’t still became paralyzed as the latter part of the attack erupted into an electric field that shocked anyone still left standing.

 

Izumi smiled, rolling her neck and sauntering up as her opponents groaned on the ground. Five tags later, and…

 

Midoriya Izumi- Stage 1: Pass

Chapter Text

It turned out that Izumi had not been the first to pass the first stage of the exam, though she’d been a very close second.

 

The first to pass was, instead, a guy by the name of Yoarashi Inasa- a first year at Shiketsu who went by the hero name of Gale Force and wore a caped outfit with one giant glove on his left hand that sort of resembled an old school aviator outfit in a deep burgundy that had some tubing along certain parts, as well as some weird kneepads that kind of looked like they were nozzles for a jet engine or something.

 

She… had absolutely no clue what the weird kneepads were for at first, but he’d explained very politely (if a bit loudly) that he used the various parts of his costume to keep him stable in midair while he flew- although since his quirk had mysteriously been super powered up in the last few months, he’d had a lot less trouble flying nowadays.

 

“Man, it’s not everyday you meet someone with as much power as I do!” Yoarashi grinned, his sheer enthusiasm empowering his volume to something that was almost painful to listen to at close range, though Izumi managed to subtly form a thin shield of air around her ears to keep herself from getting blown away by the force of his voice. “I mean- I heard the stories about you and saw your sports festival performance- man those lasers were so hot-blooded! That purple guy didn’t stand a chance, did he?”

 

“Oh- no, actually, Hitoshi would have knocked me clean out if I’d been slower. His strength and speed far outclass my own muscular ability, but my bending let me trap him into an impossible position and at the time he couldn’t use his strength at a level where he could win against me without breaking his own body,” Izumi shook her head, a fond smile forming on her lips as she thought about the sports festival- had it really only been a few months prior? It felt like so long ago… She shook her head, then continued on. “At his utmost power levels, I suspect that he’ll be nigh unstoppable given how his quirk is a dual sided mental/physical manifestation.”

 

“... I didn’t catch most of that, but it sounded plus ultra, so I’m gonna say that’s super hot blooded in your own way! Super cool though!” Yoarashi answered back, giving her a thumbs up and puffing out his chest a bit. “Man, you’ve sure changed a lot- I thought you only had fire powers, but you turned a bunch of stuff into lava too, and you had that wicked red form that turned the sky purple! What was up with that?”

 

“Ah, yeah, I had a bit of an… awakening,” Izumi cleared her throat awkwardly, looking to the side a bit. “I can control the four classical western elements- air, water, earth, and fire…. Along with a myriad of other things. It’s complicated. And…. very strange sometimes.”

 

“... Air too, huh?” Yoarashi rubbed his chin with his ungloved hand, a thoughtful frown coming to his face as he watched the screens showing the footage of the arena, where it seemed that Izumi’s classmates (as well as 1-B, most of 1-C, and some of 1-D) were all dominating the competition with their combined skills and bending training that allowed them to use tactics that most of the rest of the bending candidates had no clue about, and the nonbender candidates couldn’t quite match up to. “... think your air control is as strong as mine?”

 

Izumi blinked slowly, chewing on her lip a bit as she looked at Yoarashi, who stared back at her with something of a challenge on his face. Slowly, unbidden, a smirk crossed her face as she took off her mask and a wicked thought entered her mind. 

 

“No… no I don’t think my air control is as strong as yours,” Izumi started, her smirk turning into a full on challenging grin as she let her eyes flash orange and a tiny whirlwind burst to life around her hand. “I think it’s stronger. By an order of magnitude, even.”

 

“Oh? Ohoho! There’s some hot blood, huh!?” Yoarashi grinned even wider, his eyes narrowing in an open acceptance of Izumi’s challenge. “You think you got what it takes to stand up to Gale Force, Kemurikage!?”

 

“Avatar, actually, I decided to change my name last week,” Izumi cleared her throat awkwardly, sort of interrupting Yoarashi’s return challenge.

 

“Oh, sorry! Ahem- you think you got what it takes to stand up to Gale Force, Avatar!?” Yoarashi continued without missing a beat, striking something that was halfway between a sentai pose and a combat stance, the wind whipping up around him slightly as he poured his energy, his chi, his essence into the wind around him- making it heavy and raw and oppressive with the sheer strength he wielded and showing Izumi just what a monster of a quirk the guy had- especially now that it was unconsciously augmented by the man’s own airbending. 

 

Izumi chuckled, taking her own stance as she unleashed the floodgates of her soul upon the world- heavy and oppressive just like Yoarashi’s but with more finesse, more control… and definitely more power.

 

It was like comparing a wave pool to a tsunami. A campfire to an inferno. A rockslide to an earthquake. It was like comparing a dust devil to a hurricane.

 

Izumi’s eyes glowed with sheer, raw power , and Yoarashi blinked, gulping and shuddering as he felt his control of the air around him get stripped away in an instant- pulled with little to no interference despite the tight command he normally kept over his ridiculously overpowered quirk.

 

“Yeah, I think I do,” Izumi smirked, letting up on the pressure after only a few seconds. “What do you think, Gale Force?

 

Yoarashi shuddered again, taking a deep breath as he felt his control over the air return, the oppressive atmosphere in the waiting room vanishing in an instant as they both relaxed.

 

“I think…. That I really should have accepted a spot at UA,” Yoarashi grumbled, sighing as he sat down and crossed his arms. “Dammit! We coulda done so much sparring! Oh man that would have been so cool! So hot blooded! Argh! If only it wasn’t for that bastard’s son… dammit! Ah well…”

 

Izumi blinked. “... what bastard’s son?”

 

“Oh- uh, it’s… nothing, just personal problems,” Yoarashi sighed, tapping his foot on the floor and looking over as Izumi sat down politely, not wanting to stand there awkwardly as the guy talked. “Just… well… when I took the recommendation exam… Endeavor’s kid was there too and…”

 

Izumi listened for a long moment as Yoarashi aired his grievances against Shouto and Endeavor, then huffed, deciding to just rip the bandaid off all at once as she spotted some of the other members of her class starting to walk in- along with the other hero school students she didn’t recognize.

 

“... Yoarashi-san, I hate to tell you this, but you’ve just spent the last half year thinking that a heavily abused teenager acts the same way as his shitty abusive father. Shouto isn’t an arrogant jackass like his dad- he’s an emotionally stunted abuse victim!”

 

She paused for a second.

 

“Although, yes, he was kind of a dick when school started but I knocked some sense into his head and now he’s much healthier.”

 

“...”

 

Yoarashi stared at her for a moment, as though he couldn’t decide what to say next. Then, after a moment of deliberation, he settled on a simple, “Ah. Well…. Shit. Now I really feel like a jackass.”

Chapter Text

“Alright, we all passed!” Himiko cheered as soon as the last members of 1-A and 1-B had trickled in right at the very end of the test, some of them looking worse for wear- though not quite so bad as some of the others in the sitting area…

 

Some of whom were glaring at Izumi. 

 

Hm. Maybe she went just a little overboard with that first attack, considering that it was… well. One part plasmabending, one part lightning, and one part combustionbending. It couldn’t possibly have been comfortable to experience, now that she thought about it. 

 

“Kero, I knew we all would. We trained with the best bender in the world,” Tsu deadpanned, yawning quietly as she settled into her seat and leaned against Ochako’s shoulder- they had a full hour to rest between the two exams, and while the hall they were in didn’t have any options for lunch, there were still snacks set out for people to recharge and relax. Ochako herself was chowing down on a pork bun.

 

Momo, who was slightly further away, had claimed an entire snack table with the help of Sato, and nobody was brave enough to tell either of them to share as they gorged themselves on the snacks present. 

 

“Tch, and we spent all that extra time training with the Pussycats,” Katsumi snorted, sitting down heavily by Izumi and folding her arms as best as she could with the grenade-like gauntlets on her arms- they were still rather bulky due to being storage tanks for her sweat, but now were a little less cumbersome, a bit more streamlined, and were constructed much more durably to handle the stresses of not just open combat but also the strain of using both Explosion and firebending at the same time. “Plus all that hell training Aizawa-sensei put us through- we wouldn’t have lost in a combat situation- we’re all too skilled for it.”

 

“.... Well, I mean, I think some of us almost lost,” Tooru pointed out, sighing as she also sat down on Katsumi’s other side, using the fiery blonde as a heat pack to soothe her aching muscles. “I swear, if I hadn’t gotten good at micro scale airbending, I would have been so out of luck- there were so many sensory quirks at play out there! I could barely keep myself hidden!”

 

“Mhmm… Well, either way, I’m certain that the next portion of the exam will be a rescue simulation based on the events of Hosu,” Izumi spoke up after a moment’s deliberation, thinking about all of the things she’d researched about past exams- most of which weren’t supposed to be known to the public, but, well. People talked. Oblique references, throwaway lines- it wasn’t hard to extrapolate some of the details, especially when the uptick of prospective heroes talking about their exams always occurred right after a major disaster or heroic event. “I imagine there’s going to be some kind of fire rescue happening, given how Hosu nearly burned down.”

 

“Ugh, how morbid,” Ochako muttered, nuzzling against Tsu and Himiko as she turned to face Izumi. “Are you sure it’s gonna be like that, Izuchan? What if it’s something else entirely?”

 

“It could be, yes- it’s different every year and the HPSC cracks down pretty hard on mentions of any of its exams on larger social media sites, but in the smaller forums… well. It’s always a written exam, followed by a combat simulation, and the last stage is always rescue based in some way- whatever the case, Ko-chan, you’re going to be absolutely vital to anything land based- Tsu will be amazing if there’s anything underwater, and if there’s fire…” Izumi shrugged and bumped fists with Katsumi. “It’ll be easy to handle. As long as they use actual fire instead of holograms or something, then that’d be…. Terrible.”

 

“Eugh, yeah, it’d be…. Well, I mean we’d still get to practice actually using proper rescue techniques. Even if it would be really easy to just… not need to do that with firebending,” Katsumi sighed, crossing her legs idly and tapping her chin while staring off into the middle distance while trying to think of how things would go. “Whatever the test may be, though, it should be a good test of our hero capabilities, and provide a good way of making sure that even if we aren’t good at rescue work, we can still make ourselves useful somehow.”

 

“Gee, I hope I’ll be useful,” Himiko muttered, frowning and crossing her arms as she fiddled with the subtle harness of her blood pack as she sat, drawing her cloak around herself a bit self consciously. “I mean, I don’t know if I should even use my quirk for the next bit… Maybe I’ll just stick to my bending, keep myself from looking too scary.”

 

“It depends on the situation, kero,” Tsu murmured, gently holding onto Himiko’s shoulder and croaking softly. “If you don’t end up needing your quirk, that’s entirely fine- it doesn’t make you any less of a hero, kero. After all, your quirk works best for combat- if it’s a rescue simulation, then I doubt any of us will need to do any fighting at all.”

 

“True… I guess I’m not as over my self doubts as I thought I was,” Himiko muttered, grumbling as she shook her head and lightly slapped her cheeks to get her head back in the game. “I’m gonna go get a snack. Do you guys want anything?”

 

“I think we’re good for now, Himi,” Ochako shook her head, smiling at her girlfriend and clasping her hand gently. “Just focus on preparing for the next round, okay? You’ll do great, I know it!”

 

“It all really just depends on what we’re going to be doing next,” Tooru murmured, humming as she scooted over and settled into Katsumi’s lap to more easily access the soothing heat of Katsumi’s body. “Mmm~ Heat pad…”

 

“O-oi! Get off, See-through! We’re in public!” Katsumi immediately spluttered, not quite flailing yet, but still blushing heavily as Tooru’s weight held her down and- well. Izumi chuckled, watching Katsumi struggle to hold down her embarrassment as Tooru cuddled up against her, before watching Himiko as the vampiric blonde crossed the room and began conversing with some of their other classmates- gathering blood vials, it seemed, though it seemed like she wasn’t gathering too many- just a few of the most useful quirks, like Momo’s or Setsuna’s, or Honenuki and Kuroiro. 

 

Izumi hummed, twiddling her thumbs and pulsing her chi gently, getting a good feel of the area around them as the outside parts of the stadium began to shift and change- though, what they were shifting into, she had no idea.

 

Once Himiko came back, though, the polycule settled into an easy, comfortable silence- resting their eyes and limbs for the trials ahead, and occasionally breaking out into mild conversation on other topics.

 

All too soon, though, the hour ended, Izumi’s chi felt topped up again, and the second part of the exam was announced, the walls of the waiting room collapsing down around them and revealing a ruined, burning cityscape that flared to life as hidden gas pumps began spewing flames everywhere in a hellish display all too reminiscent of the Hosu incident a few months prior.

 

Great.

 

Sometimes, Izumi hated it when she was right.

Chapter Text

“Somehow, I’m becoming more and more convinced that Zumi-chan is fucking psychic,” Ochako deadpanned dryly as everyone scrambled  out of the starting zone and out towards the massive cluster of burning, ruined buildings in the distance. There were a few attempts to put out the flames, but unlike how Izumi would simply suppress the flames, the quirks and weak bending attempts by the other contestants to restrict the blaze simply resulted in small short term gains followed by even worse flare-ups moments later once the contestants had moved away.

 

Izumi sighed, feeling the eyes of Class 1-A and 1-B’s firebenders on her as they started suppressing some of the larger fires with their own bending- even then, the moment their attention wavered too long, the gas pipes hidden all over the field would spray out an excess build up of fuel and the resultant flare-up would ignite even more of the area thanks to the spray of fuel splattering against more and more concrete.

 

“Believe me, if I had designed this stupid exam, it wouldn’t have basically let me do all of the work ,” Izumi groaned, rubbing her forehead and simply striding forward before letting the curling crimson shell of her Stage 3 Avatar State cover her body. After just a few moments of watching the nearly seven hundred people in their exam continue to be stymied by the flames- either because there was too much burning rubble to quickly make their way to the designated rescue zones, or because their attempts to fly over were being hampered by the smoke and thermals throwing off their balance- Izumi sighed again and shook her head. “Honestly- even with the specialized firefighting quirks helping out here, isn’t this just a little much?”

 

“Mmm, maybe they just didn’t think about just how much fire there was… or how most people don’t realize just how important it is to have a fireproof costume until they do their first fire rescues for real,” Katsumi deadpanned, watching a few students start blazing trails either by literally shaking the rubble apart like that one guy from Ketsubutsu, or utilizing their environment to more actively and easily carve a trail or seal off the gas pipes- but it wasn’t going to be enough, not by a long shot.

 

They only had forty five minutes for the exam, after all, and the vast majority of that time was going to be finding and clearing out the various actors that were no doubt “trapped” within the half destroyed cityscape on the other side of the compound.

 

“Still, it’s kind of pathetic,” Izumi mumbled, nodding as the earthbenders in 1-A and 1-B began basically bulldozing a trail forwards. “Not that everyone’s not trying… but that it’s so hard for them to get through the fire.”

“... Not everyone has the memories of a one hundred year old fire princess who literally grew up in a volcano,” Himiko spoke up rather dryly, nudging Izumi in the side with a halfhearted eyeroll. “Anyway, start doing your thing before Shouto gets tired and just ices over the entire field. C’mon, we got people to save!”

 

Izumi rolled her eyes, but affixed just the slightest hint of a wry grin to her face before focusing on the area around her. She could feel the heat rippling and roiling around her, creating massive thermal pockets that hid so much from her sight and blew out her thermal radar in a haze of flame and smoke. She stretched out her chi… and then began.

 

“EVERYONE!” Izumi projected her voice as she leaped high into the air, gathering her energy and beginning to draw on both her ability to shape her plasma constructs, as well as Vaatu’s ability to bend pure spirit energy. “THE FLAME WALL IS COMING DOWN MOMENTARILY! ON MY MARK, FOLLOW THE ARROWS TO THE RESCUEES! IN THREE! TWO! ONE!”

 

And, true to her word, as she hovered there in plain view of the entire stadium- riding still on twin trails of blue flame because she hadn’t gotten the hang of using airbending to hold herself in place for long periods of time- Izumi spun around and twisted her arms and torso into a complicated maneuver that drew on airbending and waterbending alike, her flaming chi pulsing out over the entire arena and going until it met the walls and going no further. 

 

Izumi slammed her right fist into her left palm, and the fire around them- the hellish blaze that had been stymieing everyone’s progress for the last two or three minutes- rippled outwards, extinguishing itself so thoroughly that not even a hint of the smoke or heat remained. No residual heat, no igniters sparking- even the pipes pumping out the gas that had fed the flames had been slammed shut by her metalbending, sealed tight until nothing more could ignite.

 

At the same time, her tendrils flared to life around her back, pushing her energy out in a wave of brilliant purple that lit up around her like a corona, massive bolts of purple flame leaping out as she used the long, flailing tendrils of her Avatar state to substitute the motion of her actual limbs and shaped the ghostly fires out into massive arrows hovering over every single human shaped heat signature still left in the blaze. Each one shot out unerringly, coming to a halt in the sky and pointing down, with the ones hovering over the actual structures proper showing how many people were within each building, and how many were on each level such that no one would be left behind.

 

For a long moment, the entire arena went utterly silent at the sheer, utter ridiculous power that Izumi had just displayed- and without any strain either, as she was simply hovering there in midair and holding a single pose, not even struggling to keep all of the flames in their shapes. 

 

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, GO!” she shouted a moment later, relaxing her stance slightly as she formed several paths of flickering will o’ wisp style flames to lead the examinees down the clearest lanes through the rubble. “SHOUTO! ICEBERG! KEEP THE WATERBENDERS SUPPLIED! EARTHBENDERS, KEEP THE RUBBLE STABLE!”

 

“On it!” Shouto responded instantly, forming a massive glacier that spiked up into the sky like a tower, then slammed his fists down with an earthshaking roar , collapsing the entire thing into easily accessible sources of water for the rest of the waterbenders. “Everyone who can heal, take as much water as you can manage!”

 

Instantly, 1-A and 1-B scrambled to respond, heeding Izumi’s orders without question while the rest of the contestants boggled for a moment, then rushed into the scene moments later.

 

Izumi sighed, rolling her neck and continuing to maintain her grip on her flames, relaxing her overwhelming aura of fire suppression after a few moments- it wasn’t necessary anymore, and she could use that energy for other things, like keeping track of every single person coming and going in the stadium, directing them around as best as she could with will o’ wisp trails and tiny bursts of flame and lightning to draw their attention.

 

And then, the far side of the stadium exploded, unleashing upon the hapless examinees the form of the Flame Haired Heroine, Burnin, along with an entire flood of masked goons wielding some kind of projectile weaponry.

 

Well. Shit.

Chapter Text

Izumi stared across the field from where Burnin was currently setting fire to random areas, cackling villainously and forcing the hero students in the area to deal with her presence before she hurt the injured people scattered across the field. On the one hand, this was a great opportunity for the others to actually go out and fight someone who was a powerful firebender (that… wasn’t her…). Burnin was one of the best examples to draw from anyway- even without training in proper firebending forms, Izumi could already tell that the flame haired woman naturally fell into the correct instinctive movements, lashing out with oh-so familiar punches and kicks and even breathing fire at some point as she did her best impression of a pyromaniac.

 

She was also flying using her flame hair and control jets from her feet, which was… new. The jets at least- Izumi knew damn well that Burnin could already fly by manipulating her flaming hair.

 

Before Izumi could consider the other hand of her mental argument, however, she spotted Burnin grinning wildly and- ah. Dammit, right.

 

She’d just made herself the biggest target in the exam by guiding everyone around. Shit.

 

No matter.

 

“SHOUTO! ICEBERG!” Izumi immediately shouted, letting herself drop down to the ground and immediately throwing herself to the side as the group of “mooks” in plain costumes began firing at her with what looked like cement filled guns- giant white globs of some kind of quick setting goo soaring through the air on ballistic trajectories before splattering down with an awful sort of squelch.

 

She didn’t check to see if her friend had actually gotten the message, simply dashing to the side and springboarding herself out of the way with her tendrils before snapping the crimson strands out and away from her body and shaping them into the form of a glider. Whilst still in the midst of her jump, a quick kick of her legs generated enough of a vortex to get her back up into the air at high speed, which she augmented further by blasting jets of flame from her feet and spare tendrils- it wasn’t enough to just attain aerial superiority, of course, and although the hero students who’d tried to fight Burnin’ had managed to slow her down some, the fact of the matter remained that most of them were ground-bound, a few of the more useful ones were on rescue service, and the one person capable of flight who’d gone to intercept had a notable weakness to hot air due to the turbulence it generated.

 

Which, against someone who flew by blasting hot flames everywhere …. Well. It kind of made Yoarashi pretty unreliable. 

 

What resulted next could have been called a dogfight, with Izumi blazing through the air at extremely high speeds and keeping Burnin’s attention on her, returning fire at the flame haired mock-villain every now and then and making sure that every single flame shot out of their narrow corridor of space was instantly snuffed out to avoid collateral damage- she almost wanted to just snuff out Burnin’s flames at this point, but they were well over fifty meters in the air, and simply cutting out the heroine’s source of flight at the speeds they were going was tantamount to a death sentence.

 

(Also, privately, Izumi really did not want to find out if snuffing Burnin’s fire would render her bald)

 

After what felt like an eternity but was really only about thirty seconds, Shouto finally came through- a massive glacier spewed out of seemingly nowhere and slammed into Burnin with all the force of a raging avalanche- the attack itself would have frozen any other person solid, trapping them within its icy confines, but Burnin was blazing too hot, and she cackled wildly as she obliterated a steaming hole in the glacier that freed her even as it sputtered out the green fire she’d been throwing around. 

 

That wasn’t the point of throwing the iceberg, though.

 

Izumi watched calmly as Burnin reignited her hair once she’d blasted a hole through the glacier, leaving the woman soaking wet even as she leaped out of the melting structure and down onto the ground, while Izumi stood across from her with her Stage 3 Avatar state in full swing. Power roiled off of her, and she stood firm with blazing eyes and without a hint of hesitation.

 

“Heh, so you’re the first year that’s got everyone so riled up, huh!?” Burnin shouted across the distance, igniting her hands with green flames and grinning wide, her sharp teeth on display as she leaned forward into a wild combat stance. “I gotta say, not bad, squirt! You’ve got some skill, I’ll give you that- not a lot of first years could escape me in flight as I am now! But you’re still a few years too early to beat me with fire!”

 

“Funny, I could say the same to you,” Izumi retorted dryly, simply raising her arm in a beckoning motion, not even bothering to give Burnin the full breadth of her attention. Her tendrils writhed around her, and the glacier behind Burnin began to crumble and melt from just the residual heat Burnin put out with the strength of her flames as the two of them stood off against each other.

 

The faux-villainess struck first, launching a truly impressive concentrated beam of fire at Izumi- one that, if nothing else, she had to praise the flame heroine for. It roared across in a streak of brilliant green, lighting up the area around her and flooding the air with the essence of Burnin’s wild, aggressive chi.

 

Izumi, meanwhile, simply struck forth with a basic burst of blue flames, smashing through the beam and diverting it away from anyone else as she smothered the resultant blaze with her own presence. She narrowed her eyes idly, tendrils flicking as she sent little bursts of chi out to do her bidding- she could sense, in the distance, that some of her flaming arrows had gone out as a result of her distraction, but she could also sense that everyone else was working fine without her. They would be fine- she’d keep Burnin busy, the other combat teams were keeping hired mooks busy, and Burnin…

 

Burnin was standing in a puddle of meltwater that had a single, thin trail leading back to Izumi’s position.

 

The flames from Burnin’s blast died out after a moment, harmlessly dissipating into green sparks as Izumi exercised the last two steps of her plan.

 

Instantly, a blast of Izumi’s chi roiled out of her, blanketing Burnin with such force that the woman actually stumbled back into the meltwater puddle and soaked herself even more thoroughly than she was before- the blast of flames having dried much of her upper torso in mere seconds from the pure heat- and although the heroine yelped in surprise and tried to attack, nothing came forth.

 

Her fire was snuffed out, as easily as Izumi would pinch out the flame of a candle. Thankfully, that had not rendered the green haired heroine bald as a result.

 

The second and final step of the plan was Izumi staring Burnin dead in the eyes as a crackling pinprick of lightning erupted to life at the tips of Izumi’s fingers, casting the area in a brilliant blue glow as actinic sparks sprayed across the air and discharged randomly.

 

“What was it you said a moment ago, Burnin-san? Ah- right. You’re a few years too early to beat me with fire,” Izumi deadpanned, and touched her fingers to the thin streamer of water pooling at her feet.

 

“You little SHIIIII-”

 

Burnin screamed . The buzzer went off.

 

Villain: Neutralized. Henchmen: Captured.

 

All civilians rescued with minimal issue.

 

The Provisional License Exam was over.

Chapter Text

“Izumiiiiiii! I’m so proud of you!” Inko blubbered into Izumi’s side, hugging her precious girl tight and refusing to let go for even a second as tears flooded from her eyes with enough force to start forming puddles on the ground, wailing and sobbing as she all but squeezed the life out of her daughter. “You’re a hero! A licensed hero! You’ve come so far, my precious little girl!”

 

“M-mother, please… i-it’s just a provisional license,” Izumi winced slightly, struggling to draw breath as her mother’s arms squeezed tight around her torso- it wasn’t an uncommon scene, honestly. There were plenty of parents there to receive and meet up with their children in the aftermath of the exam. Katsumi, even, was in the midst of getting crushed under her mother’s arm. Idly, Katsumi waved at Izumi with one shaking hand, as though begging to be freed from the half-headlock, half-hug that she was trapped in.

 

Izumi just wheezed slightly, barely even able to move even as she tried to move her arm enough to pat Inko’s back. “M-mom- a-air please…”

 

“S-sorry honey! Oh, I’m just so excited! I- you’ve been working towards this for so long… a-and you were one of the top scorers too!” Inko sniffled, dabbing lightly at her teary eyes with a handkerchief and smiling wide as she stepped back to give Izumi a little room- even in the midst of sobbing her eyes out, her smile was radiantly bright, so full of love and pride and joy that it was almost physical, and it made Izumi’s heart clench as she almost broke down crying as well. “I’m… I’m so proud of you, Izu. I know I’ve said it a lot, but every single time I say it you find some way of making the next time even more special…”

 

Inko sighed, her smile shifting slightly into something softer, a bit more gentle as she raised her hand and cupped her daughter’s cheek. “You’re so amazing, Izu…. I couldn’t be more proud of you- everything you do… you’re so… you’ll take the world by storm, honey.”

 

“.... Thanks, mom,” Izumi blushed, looking to the side and smiling a bit awkwardly- not because she didn’t feel her mother’s compliments, but because she didn’t want to look like an utter dork by smiling ear to ear at just how much joy her mother’s words brought her. Unbidden, she reached forward and wrapped her mother up in a tight hug, burying her face into Inko’s shoulder and kneeling down slightly to get a better position. “I- I couldn’t have done it without you. You…. I wish I could have done more for you, but I’m so, so happy that… that it was you this time around. You’re the best mother I could have ever asked for.”

 

“Oh… Izumi…” Inko whispered, trembling ever so slightly as she wrapped her arms around Izumi again, both of them standing there rocking back and forth and tearing up again- Izumi’s tears came as a slow drizzle, while Inko’s flooded out once more as she did her best to fully express the love she had for her daughter. “I-Izumiiiiii!”

 

“M-Mom!”

 

“Izumi!”

 

“Mom!”

 

“Izumiiiii!”

 

“.... Are…. are they always like this?” Momiji muttered quietly at Himiko’s side, one hand around her little sister’s shoulder as she watched said sister’s girlfriend sob dramatically with her mother, both Momiji and Himiko watching awkwardly and wondering if they should do something. “... I… I’m gonna be honest, Himi. I… have a real hard time seeing this and believing it’s the same terrifying beast of a heroine that she usually acts like.”

 

“... Honestly, if I wasn’t so aware of Izuchan’s quirks, I’d be… really freaked out about this too,” Himiko sighed, rubbing the plastic card of her provisional license between her fingers as she wrapped herself up in her cape and shook her head. “Ugh, it’s so saccharine my teeth hurt. Gotta say though… seeing this side of Izumi? Just makes me love her even more.”

 

“.... I really should try and give her the shovel talk at some point,” Momiji muttered, largely to herself but still loud enough for Himiko to hear. “Eugh, if only she wasn’t the most terrifying bitch I’ve ever seen…”

 

“Oi! Izuchan is not a bitch!” Himiko huffed, lightly smacking her sister’s side and grumbling a bit. “She’s terrifying, but she’s perfectly nice once you get to know her!”

 

“I do know her. I’ve met her multiple times. I’ve gotten my shit rocked at Smash by her. That’s why I’m calling her a terrifying bitch,” Momiji deadpanned right back, giving Himiko a light noogie with one arm before chuckling and shaking her head. “Remember what I told you about that alley? Scariest shit I’ve ever seen.”

 

Himiko pouted, smacking Momiji’s hand away and glaring up at her big sister with about as much vitriol as she could manage on a day so happy . “Yeah, and I still haven’t forgiven you for almost going villain, dummy. Why couldn’t you have just picked a normal illegal activity to do, like loitering, or public quirk use? Nooooo big bad Momiji, just had to start being a vigilante, didn’t you? Shoulda told me the neighborhood wasn’t safe anymore…. Coulda done something if you’d just said….”

 

“I- Himi, I couldn’t place that burden on you!” Momiji protested, running her hand through her hair and frowning. “And- you’re still just a student! It’s… You deserve to live life, be a normal college student, have fun with your girlfriends, not worry your ass off about what’s happening at home! And- and I had it handled, too!”

 

“Handled until you hit your limit,” Himiko deadpanned, but shook her head anyway. “Whatever- I’m not gonna ruin today by bringing up your bone headed stupidity for longer than I need to. Just know that you owe me, onee-chan. You owe me a lot .”

 

“.... I am not making you blood filled cake pops again,” Momiji flatly denied, huffing down at Himiko and placing her hand upon the shorter blonde’s head again. “One time was enough. It was a nightmare to clean up.”

 

“But they were so good! Pleeeeaaaaaase?”

 

“... Fine, but only because I haven’t made ‘em in years! And turn off the damn puppy eyes, Himi, that’s not fair!”

 

“Yes! Score!”

Chapter Text

“So, you actually beat me, huh?” Burnin asked dryly as she confronted Izumi outside of the car park, having jogged up to meet the fellow firebender whilst waving and shouting to get her attention. “Gotta say, kid- I’m impressed! I mean, last time I heard anything about you, you were just a hotshot fire user- up and coming and totally worth keeping an eye on, but nothing super special- say, how’d you end up using those other quirks anyway? I thought you only got one kinda elemental quirk outta that weird portal thing that opened in Hosu? And- honestly, that was like, way more quirks than just what you used against me- how the fuck did that happen, huh?”

 

Izumi blinked, watching Burnin curiously as the woman cocked her hip and rested one hand on her hip with her nearly ever present cocky sharp-toothed grin. She seemed to have no judgement in her eyes, simply waiting calmly for an explanation as Izumi tried to corral her thoughts together instead of staring at Burnin’s…. Assets… which wasn’t really helped by the fact that the woman’s coat was tailored in such a way that it enhanced her bust rather than detracting from it with its weight and thickness.

 

“I- er, thank you- um. I’m flattered that you thought I was worth keeping an eye on even as early as the sports festival,” Izumi started, clearing her throat a bit as she tried to focus on the present instead of what was below her eye line, staring Burnin in the face with only the slightest bit of effort and idly settling into something resembling a parade rest stance. “My quirk is… ah… it’s technically a bit of a long explanation, but the gist of it was that I… had a bit of an awakening. Fire was simply the first element I learned how to use. After that was Earth, Water, then Air… and then my…. Transformation states.”

 

“Huh… pretty cool stuff, kid- say what is your hero name anyway? I don’t think I stuck around long enough to catch it,” Burnin asked, idly settling into a slightly different pose as she shifted her weight and crossed her arms, thinking nothing of the movement while Izumi simply stood there and kept track of time by subtly reading the HUD integrated into her mask- while Aizawa-sensei expected them back at the bus at a certain time, there was still more than a half hour left in that regard. She also kept track of her mother, who was slowly pulling out of the car park and on her way home by now- Izumi had promised to come home tonight, and her mother in return had promised katsudon for dinner.

 

“Avatar,” Izumi answered after a moment’s thought, blinking behind her mask and smiling- not that Burnin’ could see it, but… just saying the name out loud made her feel a little better about herself. Like she was putting away the baggage of her past in favor of a brighter, more heroic future. The future that little Izumi wanted since she was a child. The future that Azula had wanted when she was old and grey. She smiled, and looked up at Burnin once more. “I- my chosen moniker is The People’s Hero: Avatar.”

 

“People’s hero, huh? Kind of a creepy look for someone who’s gonna be the people’s hero, but I think you could pull it off… maybe without the mask, though- it’s a little… unsettling,” Burnin nodded, sort of halfway approving of Izumi’s choice as she looked her junior up and down. “Maybe some brighter colors… little more pop- have you tried a more urban style? I hear costumes that look like fancier streetwear are all the rage right now!”

 

“I- I have been considering an outfit change,” Izumi nodded, slowly pulling her mask off and sighing as she turned it over in her hands to stare at its blank face. “.... I won’t bore you with the details, but… this mask was a pretty important turning point in my life. I can’t say whether it was bad or good, but… it’s a representation of my past. I think it’d do me some good to look towards the future instead of hiding in the past. Er- sorry, that got more philosophical than I was expecting it to. I’ll take your suggestions into consideration, Burnin-san.”

 

“Good! You should also maybe put some kinda pep in your step too, y’know? If you’re gonna go the route of a personable kinda heroine you gotta show the world that you are here and all that jazz that All Might used to say before he retired,” Burnin grinned a little wider, reaching out and gently patting Izumi’s shoulder. “Oh yeah- maybe get a leotard too! Showing off just a little bit of skin makes the fans go wild! Not that you need any help with that, Miss ‘Singlehandedly Turned Half of Japan’s Female Population into Lesbians’.”

 

“... Miss what-?”

 

“Eh, don’t worry about it. Just a joke around the office,” Burnin chuckled awkwardly, looking away with a soft blush. “Slipped out. Anyway- uh- congrats on the license, y’know? I look forward to working with you- do you know who you’re planning on doing work studies with?”

 

Izumi shook her head at that- she actually didn’t know for sure, but… “I’ve been thinking about maybe either with Ryukyu or with Mirko again. I’ve been to Ryukyu’s agency a lot lately, and I think I’d be a good fit there… and I already have an established track record with Mirko.”

 

“Mirko, huh? How’d you manage to score working with her anyway? I thought she didn’t take interns or sidekicks?” Burnin asked, tilting her head curiously, a thoughtful frown coming to her face while her hair whipped around lightly in the breeze. 

 

“She… was one of my mentors. As a favor to Hawks when I interned with him. They- I… We wound up in Hosu together. It was…. Bad,” Izumi winced a little, rubbing her chest where that bastard All For One had stolen her firebending from, gritting her teeth and shaking her head before continuing on. “I think she felt a bit guilty about that, so… well. I ended up doing a second internship with her after the first one was interrupted. We work well together- and she’s actually a very competent kickboxing instructor.”

 

“Huh… well, consider Endeavor’s Agency too, yeah? All of us there really wanna see what our fire can do against yours!” Burnin’s grin became impossibly even sharper and cockier as she finished off her statement with a light chuckle, then turned around and started walking off with a casual wave thrown over her shoulder. “Anyway, I gotta go- seeya around, Avatar! Remember, you got a lotta people looking forward to seeing what you’ll do!”

 

Izumi sighed quietly as Burnin’ left, shaking her head idly as she walked off in another direction back to where she could see the UA buses. 

 

“Yeah… I know.”

Chapter 173

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“So…. how is she?” Keigo asked dryly as he settled into Rumi’s apartment, shucking off the “disguise” he’d donned to try and be more inconspicuous on the way over and yawning as he collapsed onto the couch. “Figured you’d pick her up for a work study, right?”

 

“Mm… tried, but the little rat bastard said I’d taken up more of the squirt’s time than would be fair, and said I should go back to my normal pattern,” Rumi sighed, rolling her eyes as she flounced down onto her couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table, a heavy frown gracing her lips as she wordlessly tossed Keigo a can of beer. “Little rat bastard being literal, in this case. Fucker said he had something special lined up.”

 

“Uh huh… well, other than that , though?” Keigo hummed, cracking open the beer and taking a swig without a second thought, turning to look at Rumi as he also got comfortable and stretched out his wings a bit. “Y’know, how’s she doing emotionally and all that. I know she talks to you more than she talks to me, even if she does always do her best to answer my texts on time.”

 

Rumi paused, humming to herself as she tapped her chin and tilted her head. “Well, I guess she’s been doing pretty good honestly. Lil Zumi’s been collecting girls like it’s going out of style- and now that she’s got a provisional license she’s probably gonna be collecting a lot more. Honestly, I’m kinda surprised she hasn’t slept with every girl at UA by now.”

 

“She is a chick magnet,” Keigo nodded to himself, then shrugged and leaned back with a quiet yawn. “Man, wish I still had my teaching license. I’d have liked the chance to teach the squirt again. She was damn good when I had her for internships… even if she was kinda volatile at the time.”

 

“She’s calmed down a lot actually,” Rumi pointed out, idly flicking on the TV for some background noise and checking her phone while flicking to a movie station and just leaving whatever was playing on the screen. “Either because of the sex or because she’s just been meditating really hard, I have no clue, but it’s done wonders for her performance in the field- it’s like night and day, honestly. She was… really aggressive before, remember?”

 

“Yeah, lots of fire and lightning going everywhere, kinda scary honestly. Kept thinking she’d scorch my wings,” Keigo huffed, shaking his head and frowning as he idly stole the remote from Rumi and flicked over to a more appropriate channel than the one showing children’s movies. “At first it was like watching a younger, curvier, somehow scarier Endeavor… maybe even stronger, considering the blue flames.”

 

“And now she’s… well, she’s really efficient and kinda overpowered honestly,” Rumi chuckled lightly, nodding in approval at Keigo’s choice in background noise before sighing and stretching out a bit, grabbing a blanket from the end table by the couch and draping it over herself with a satisfied hum. “Ahhhhhh…. That’s the good shit… nothing beats a cold beer and a warm blanket after a twelve hour hell shift… Mnn… but yeah… uh. Shit, dude. Izumi’s a fuckin beast now. Have you seen the shit on the Hero Network? I swear, it’s a fucking storm of people wanting her to do work studies with them.”

 

“Yeah, honestly I stopped checking HN for news about Midori a while ago,” Hawks grumbled, wrapping himself in his wings and bitterly glaring at Rumi’s comfortable blanket pile- not that he wanted to try and crawl under there, considering that Rumi was literally only wearing a t-shirt at the moment and nothing else. “I mean, fuck, twitter was bad enough, now there’s subreddits and LINE groups dedicated to basically worshipping her… not that we’re any different, but like… she’s not even a pro yet- when’s the last time you heard of a first year being so popular?”

 

“Fuckin never ,” Rumi deadpanned, rolling her eyes as she curled up and got comfortable in her nest. “Not even that Togata kid got that popular, and he showed his naked ass all over live national TV during his sports festival.”

 

Hawks snorted, almost choking on his beer for a second before he managed to wipe his mouth on his sleeve, coughing lightly and setting his can down as he wheezed. “F-fhuuuck, y-yeah, shit… I mean- damn, she made fucking history with those moves of hers. Strongest attacks in the entire show, and they were based off of popular anime? Fuck, she might get hit with a lawsuit if she uses those as a licensed pro, but damn do they contribute to her meme potential.”

 

“Ha- yeah… oh man, that reminds me that she keeps sending me updated lists of her super moves and I have to tell you- most of it is anime references,” Rumi groaned rubbing her forehead as she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her messages, grimacing a little in secondhand embarrassment. “Look at this shit- Kamehameha, Master Spark, Galick Gun, Final Flash, Railgun , Scatter Bullet, Sparkling Wide Pressure, Shine Aqua Illusion- I mean fuck, if I’d have known she was so much of an otaku I-”

 

Rumi paused, then shrugged. “Well, okay, I still woulda taken her on- she’s like the fucking only person I know that can actually make doing that shit in real life look cool.”

 

“It helps that she can actually do the attacks,” Keigo pointed out dryly.

 

“Yeah, that’s a pretty important part of it,” Rumi nodded, then sighed and flopped back a bit. “Bleh, okay- enough about Izumi, let’s talk about something that doesn’t make me wanna throttle the little rat bastard for stealing my chance to work with her again!”

 

“Yeah sure- say, have you heard the news about the portal in Hosu?” Keigo asked, suddenly sounding far more serious than Rumi would have liked, considering that the two of them were supposed to be relaxing after a hard day of work and not talking about more work , but she let it slide anyway, because she genuinely hadn’t heard anything about Hosu in months other than the government continuing to perform tests on said portal to see if it was safe or not.

 

“I- no, what about it?” she asked, furrowing her brow and pursing her lips, a creeping feeling of unease rising as she waited for Keigo’s next words.


“It’s stable now, and someone came through .”

Notes:

Hey so I didn't really wanna say this outright but I've kinda lost motivation to continue the story past this point- I'm not really deep enough into MHA to care about continuing past what I've already written, and I've put out way more chapters than I ever intended. I'll still try and give it a decent enough ending, but overall it's probably gonna end somewhere around the 180-ish mark.

Chapter Text

“Ah, Midoriya-san, I must congratulate you on your acquisition of a provisional license,” Nedzu smiled at Izumi as she sat down across from the short, furry creature that served as UA’s Dean, not quite sure why she’d been called up to his office- though considering he was mentioning the license she’d gotten about a week and a half ago, it probably had something to do with her duty as a hero. “Please- do relax. You’re not in any trouble- in fact, you having acquired a provisional license makes things much easier for me! Now, before we begin- tea? Coffee? Anything?”

 

“Water is fine, sir,” Izumi answered politely, folding her hands in her lap as she idly examined the office. It was… friendly. Welcoming. It showed all the signs of being well used and lived in, and projected a surprisingly friendly atmosphere that Izumi could immediately tell was entirely and completely fabricated to the point of coming off as almost projecting an aura of pure authority over anyone that came in under less auspicious circumstances. “I have to wonder, sir, just what this is all about.”

 

“My my, let’s not skip the pleasantries- you have time, and this isn’t anything too urgent that we cannot discuss this over beverages and snacks,” Nedzu chided gently, sliding a tray of cookies over while taking one for himself. A pitcher of water as well as a fine crystal glass were placed down a moment later, and Izumi took it upon herself to pour her own water whilst the dean poured his tea. “Please- how have things been going for you recently? I imagine your schedule has been quite… chaotic… as of late. Training and classes, as well as your… other… activities.”

 

Izumi almost blushed, but hid her response behind her hand as she took a careful sip of water- not an ounce of her body’s responses giving her away as she looked Nedzu dead in the eyes and refused to give an inch. “Of course, sir. It’s tiring, but rewarding in its own way. I might stand at an apex of elemental power and versatility for my class, but for a budding hero it’s only fair that I continue to push myself as hard as I can in every way- after all, even now I have some difficulty in matching or surpassing such acts as Shouto-kun’s massive glaciers or Endeavor’s Prominence Burn. Even with Tachikawa-sensei helping, I’m having a hard time matching up to her Earth Flow quirk and well… even with my strength at airbending, it’s hard not to feel jealous when I see videos of the Hosu incident, the way All Might created an entire tornado with nothing but the last embers of his power.”

 

“Mmm, I understand fully the desire to push oneself as far as possible- after all, the school motto is Plus Ultra,” Nedzu nodded, his smile continuing to stay on his face as he sipped his tea. “Though, of course, I do find it interesting that you aren’t practicing quite as much as before your internship with Mirko- is there a reason for that?”

 

Izumi nodded, taking a sip of her water before setting her glass down and pursing her lips thoughtfully. “I… had a bit of a soul searching episode, you might say. And… I realized that as much as I needed to work hard, I needed to play hard too. It’d do me no good if I burned out along the way- and even though I confess to being a bit of an otaku as well before I came here, I… well. It was only ever something I did in the sparse few moments I had between training for UA. It’s nice, I think, to actually be able to catch up to the series that I’m reading.”

 

Nedzu nodded again, as though agreeing with everything Izumi said- though, whether or not the little rat satan (as described by Aizawa) was actually agreeing or was offering platitudes wasn’t something Izumi felt the need to analyze at the moment. What she really wanted to know was… why she was here, in Nedzu’s office, and why she could sense a presence from beyond the door on the other side of the room that felt… oddly familiar.

 

Wait… no.

 

No .

 

No fucking way .

 

Something on her expression must have given her away, because Nedzu chuckled and set down his cup, something in his expression becoming slightly mischievous as Izumi all but pulsed her chi, reigning it in just a bit as she used it almost like a radar to try and get a feel for just who the fuck she was feeling, hoping to whatever gods existed that she was wrong….

 

But no.

 

She wasn’t.

 

Vaatu’s markings pulsed on her chest, and she could all but feel the matching response on the other side of the door, her thermal vision allowing her to see just who it was- much to her chagrin.

 

“I see you’ve figured out the purpose of my inviting you here,” Nedzu grinned, still chuckling a bit as he took another sip of his tea a moment later, motioning at the door and remotely opening it to reveal… her.

 

A woman who, by all rights, was a stranger to Izumi. Someone she’d never seen in person, never spoken to, never even thought about befriending. Someone who she’d avoided for her entire life as Azula, and yet somehow was standing before her now, with as familiar a face as could be.

 

Raava’s markings pulsed on her chest, a direct mirror to Izumi’s own, and the dark skinned woman there gave her a look that was only just barely not a hostile glare by way of her restraining herself for Nedzu’s sake.

 

“Greetings, Avatar Korra,” Nedzu spoke, his grin widening slightly as the room itself began reconfiguring itself around them in a way that left the water tribe Avatar looking quite stunned and confused at the level of technology before she resumed staring at Izumi with open distrust. Eventually, the room settled, with Izumi’s seat having been moved to the side to place her on the opposite side of a table from Korra, who sat down without taking her eyes off of Izumi. Nedzu sat off slightly to the side, and suddenly it became very apparent why Izumi was here. “I’d like you to meet one of UA’s best and brightest students- Midoriya Izumi. I believe you two are… at least passingly familiar with each other. I’ve brought you both here at the behest of the Japanese government, in the name of fostering peace between our nations and our worlds.”

 

“It’s… nice to meet you,” Korra finally spoke with somewhat accented japanese (a hint of her water tribe nature, likely, given that modern japanese was stunningly similar to the native language of the fire nation), giving Izumi a smile that she definitely did not feel, no hint of friendliness reaching the other Avatar’s eyes as she slowly reached out her hand for a handshake.

 

“And you, likewise,” Izumi nodded, shaking Korra’s hand quickly, decisively, and more than a little awkwardly. “I hope that our newfound acquaintanceship will be fruitful, and we can work towards building a mutually beneficial partnership between our worlds.”

 

“... Yeah, me too.”

 

And like that, the first steps to a brand new status quo were taken.

Chapter 175

Notes:

I'm just gonna dump the rest of the chapters on y'all. Story's finished, I'm not waiting another five days to post the backlog.

Chapter Text

Five days, a cumulative fifty hours of legal discussions with all manner of government officials, and more after hours coaching lessons from even more legal assistants than Izumi ever wanted to go through again, the final terms were set, the papers stamped, and copies turned over both to the Japanese government and Korra herself, while UA was mutually agreed upon to house the original documents in a secure location.

 

Izumi… really did not want to think about what had happened. At all. A prodigy of politics and royal court she may have been as Azula, but even she found the act of ruling to be so much more boring than the act of conquering. It was rote and mind numbing and all in all mostly just resulted in partially free travel of citizens both human and spiritual between realms, as well as a free flow of ideas and technologies between worlds- though, in the name of preserving the natural balance, there wouldn’t be any corporations- Japanese or otherwise- attempting to set up a foothold in the other worlds.

 

But, other than that…

 

“So, I think we need to have a talk,” Korra stated seriously as she all but dragged Izumi out to a more secluded part of campus, straight to one of the more open training grounds. “One that’s been a long time coming.”

 

“... Has it, though?” Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow as she rolled her shoulders and stared Korra dead in the eyes. “Forgive me for presuming, but even if I am the reincarnation of Azula and the new Dark Avatar- what does any of that have to do with you? You only found out about my existence oh… probably what, a month ago?”

 

“Two and a half, actually. I showed up at Iroh’s place right after you left that one time,” Korra shrugged, running a hand through her hair and sighing. “Honestly, I don’t really know what to say. I’ve never had a connection to Raava like you clearly do- most of the time, she’s pretty passive and only shows up when I really need to get my head on straight again. Y’know, seeing as Vaatu ripped away all of my past lives from me.”

 

“That… was not my fault,” Izumi deadpanned. “But… I’m sorry for your loss, either way.”

 

“... thanks. Look- I’ll just cut to the chase here- I only came to this world to see if I needed to help maintain the balance between spirits and humans and to see if Vaatu was running amok,” Korra sighed again, leaning against a nearby tree and crossing her arms. “Seems like it’s going surprisingly well so far, but considering just how many people are willing to work with or even fuse with spirits… It’s bizarre. And chaotic. And I don’t think I can help with this world- not as it is. Not with how many more people there are in comparison to back home. You, on the other hand…”

 

Izumi nodded, standing in a comfortable parade rest as she spoke. “I’m more of a native to this world. I have an eye and ear on the politics, and I have the ability to traverse the world in a way that you do not- the ability to interact with this world in a way that you can’t. Plus… I thrive on chaos anyway.”

 

“Frankly, I’m just surprised you haven’t been completely driven insane by Vaatu,” Korra murmured as sort of a nonsequitur, then shook her head and looked up slightly, frowning thoughtfully. “Honestly… There’s a lot of complicated stuff going on right now. Your past self’s death nearly two years ago. Fire Lord Zuko’s death. Iroh telling me to come see you… the other members of Aang’s friend group telling me to stay away from you… Masters Ran and Shaw telling me to learn from you. Even Raava wanted to come see what was going on with Vaatu. Me? I just wanna get all this diplomacy stuff over and go home to my wife.”

 

“.... Masters Ran and Shaw are still alive?” Izumi muttered, then shook her head and sighed, thinking over Korra’s response and pursing her lips a bit. “What could you who have been the Avatar for longer than I’ve been alive have to learn from me? Well, other than better firebending, I suppose. Shouldn’t you have mastered all of your other bending arts? Your Avatar duties?”

 

“I have! But… not enough. Never enough… and…” Korra muttered, looking suddenly small and vulnerable as she slid to the ground, looking around for a moment before curling up and bringing her knees to her chest. “Asami’s been helping me with my shit- do you…?”

 

“I’m familiar with the name, yes,” Izumi nodded, motioning for Korra to continue. “I did keep an eye on all of your exploits. Made for interesting reading in the news, if nothing else.”

 

“Right- uh… Fuck, how do I even say this? It’s just… my entire life before I made it to Republic City was one big lie,” Korra groaned, massaging her temples and gritting her teeth as she explained what was going on in her head. “The White Lotus never wanted to guide me into a protector of the world- I was just… a tool for their political agenda. I was… trapped. Lonely. Forced to constantly train and study only to learn that everything I really needed to know about the world was outdated and full of holes. I couldn’t master air for a long time, y’know? Because I was trapped in every way, and only became free once I stopped listening to the White Lotus. Honestly? I think the Red Lotus was, in a way… right about me. That the world didn’t need me anymore. That people could solve their own disputes, that having a- a- a demigod arbitrating over everything wasn’t something they wanted anymore. And… what did I do anyway? I was a half-baked Avatar from the start. Cocky. Stupid. So sure that it was my grand destiny to make the world a better place that I never learned how to make the world a better place with anything other than my fists and my bending.”

 

“I can relate, oddly enough,” Izumi sighed, sitting down and crossing her legs as she entered a meditative stance, rising off of the ground with but a bare flex of her will- just enough to look Korra in the eye considering the other girl was a few inches taller than her. “I’m sure Zuko’s told you about all of our family’s sordid history. If not, then Iroh, maybe. But what matters is… well. My upbringing was certainly far more malevolent than yours. Fire Lord Ozai was a monster, and I spent nearly a hundred years unlearning everything that man taught me… except for my bending, of course, but even that was unraveled and put back together by my own two hands. I was only ever a tool for his glory. His empire. His throne… I was trapped in a cycle of being abused and abusing others. I wanted fame, glory, a throne, an empire …”

 

She sighed, looking down at her hands. “They like to call it ‘Gifted Kid Burnout Syndrome’ here. Kids like us, smart for our age. Powerful. On top of the world. We get pushed harder and harder and harder, forced into a mold of glory and riches and fame for our parents until we break … I burnt out at fourteen and didn’t recover until I was nearly twenty because I lost a war and went insane. You almost burnt out against Zaheer, didn’t you?”

 

“Yeah… took a long time before I could get back up on my own, feel like I could be anything but a failure- a waste of an Avatar… I almost thought he was right for a while. That it would have been better if I’d just… died,” Korra mumbled, wrapping her arms around her knees and staring down at her feet, trembling a little. “I’m still not over it, yet, I don’t think.”

 

“Hm,” Izumi murmured back noncommittally, continuing to float there untethered from the ground, thinking over Korra’s words. She sighed, shaking her head. “I think. You need a vacation. And not just the vacations you took with Asami to the Spirit World to talk to Iroh. You need a complete, total separation from any and all responsibilities that are tied to our old world.”

 

She paused, then simply stood up and offered Korra her hand. “But first… I think you need a good, hard fight to get your blood pumping first. What say you?”

 

Korra stared up at the offered hand, blinking in near incomprehension for a moment before she reached out in turn.

 

“.... Yeah. That sounds nice.”

Chapter 176

Notes:

Read ch 175 first!

Chapter Text

“The rules, I think, are simple. Go until you can no longer continue, give it your all, don’t aim for anything debilitating, try not to break the ring or anything outside of it, and if you have any unresolved issues… air them out,” Izumi called across the massive arena they found themselves in nearly a half hour later- Izumi having changed into her finally completed third and hopefully final iteration of her costume, and Korra having shucked off the ceremonial robes of office she’d been wearing in favor of her…. Well, Izumi didn’t know if it was her normal outfit by now but it certainly looked almost exactly like the same outfit she’d worn in… just about every picture she’d ever seen of the Avatar before Azula’s untimely death. Just… with a couple of different accent marks here and there. Some accessories that were removed and set aside with her robe. The arena itself was actually the Sports Festival arena, currently going unused, though it had definitely been shifted around recently to provide a bare dirt surface with a surrounding moat of water.

 

“Sounds good to me. Full contact or are we going with a light touch?” Korra asked, all but bouncing into place with nervous energy as she stared across the dirt and shook herself out, loosening her limbs before settling into what Izumi recognized as a variation of a Pro Bender’s stance- one that was adapted to every bending style, not just any one element. 

 

“Let’s go full contact. I’m sure you’ve done enough combat in your life to handle it,” Izumi answered whilst rolling her neck and settling easily into her ever familiar firebending stance- one that was ever so slightly different from anyone else’s, one that was fluid and fleeting and yet stern and stable all the same. “Shall we go one element at a time, or shall we go all out from the start?”

 

“All out- I wanna see how you do against a more experienced Avatar,” Korra grinned, the two of them staring at each other for a long moment before…

 

There was no starting bell. No gong. No sign that anything had changed- and yet, instantly the two of them began their attacks with ferocity and skill unmatched by any other bender in this world.

 

Izumi’s first attack lashed out with a high powered combustion beam, the sheer familiarity of that technique allowing her to flip high and back into the air even as the beam curved around on a circuitous path towards Korra’s left- only to slam into and detonate a hastily thrown up rock wall, Korra’s opening fireball dissipating harmlessly as it faded into the air. 

 

There was no time for words now, only the thrill of combat . The two of them settled into a rapid, frenetic dance of attacks that could have, should have been lethal a dozen times over, unable to keep up with each others’ pure skill even as they flung the elements at each other with utmost precision and strength.

 

Izumi almost flailed into the path of a fireball when Korra used her metalbending to tug at Izumi’s armor and harness, only for the water tribe avatar to scream and flail away as Izumi electrified her steel cables and sent them out in a crackling, snapping whipping motion that left Korra gasping in surprise. Korra froze a wave as it came out of the moat around them, only to fire it back at Izumi in the form of a barrage of ice shards. Izumi almost impaled Korra on a wave of earth spikes, only for the Avatar to fire back and almost slice her to pieces with a giant crescent shaped wind blade.

 

Lava flooded the arena one moment, only to get put out the next. Metal flew in all directions- shards and panels and whips and even entire armor pieces, only to be deflected at every turn. Ice spears crashed against ice blades, massive gusts were deflected by concentrated tornadoes.

 

The field itself was torn apart and reshaped a hundred thousand times in mere minutes, hills and tunnels and caves carved into the very earth as it was ripped up and thrown about like child’s play, only to be flattened and smoothed and then converted into crags and spikes and battering rams instead.

 

Every pebble became a weapon, every drop of water a momentary advantage. Lightning arced in unpredictable directions, and at some point, the two of them stared at each other across the field, grinning wildly at the sheer thrill of the challenge- where they could just fight and train and learn and work out all of their aggression and anger and worries without any kind of stakes-. And then, on some unspoken agreement, both of them began to glow.

 

The bending became fiercer, the atmosphere oppressive. The sky changed color, and the earth itself shook for reasons that had nothing to do with earthbending.

 

Korra rose up inside of a swirling column of air, fire and water and stones wrapping around her like rings around a planet as she began her assault with all of the unflappable, unstoppable intention of a woman who was effectively a living god .

 

Izumi, meanwhile, roared her challenge back as she rose into the air under the power of true flight, dodging and weaving as the crimson skin of her fully realized Avatar state covered her body, her sheer combat instinct allowing her to deflect hyper intense gouts of flame, blades of air, bullets of stone, even massive whips of water as she shifted around the arena and guided Korra around and around, even firing back with her own attacks here and there- at this point, protected by the overwhelming power of their own bending and the chi wrapping around their bodies like a second skin, they were all but untouchable to physical attacks.

 

Boulders broke across Korra’s outstretched hands and blades of ice shattered as they crashed into Izumi’s net of tendrils. Spirit vines grew en masse and tried to whip and lasso Korra down, but she simply incinerated them all with her pure force of spirit. Water rose up around Izumi, trying to cage her as Korra had with Unalaq, but she simply froze the glowing tendrils and shattered them out.

 

Twin beams of pure chi blasted across the land, and both Korra and Izumi screamed wordlessly as they clashed their energy together- neither of them were willing to give ground, neither of them willing to take a loss without a fight.

 

In the end, it was decided by a single extra moment of distraction.

 

Izumi poured her power into her beam, yes, screaming the whole while but hiding her own tendrils in the shadows of the overly intense mix of purple and blue flooding the area with the light of their chi. Korra continued screaming as well, but completely missed the tendrils coming to surround her until it was far too late.

 

Purple filled the sky, along with the sound of a single woman’s scream and a bassy rumble that shook the world itself with its radiant presence.

 

Korra fell to her knees and groaned, flopping back into the dirt as she waved her hand as though holding a white flag.

 

“D-dammit…. O-ow….” Korra wheezed out, coughing and wincing at the new bevy of bruises and burns and cuts dotted across her body. Izumi collapsed next to her, not looking much better- in fact, even coming off as slightly worse in some ways. “How…. how did you do that…? Not even Unalaq…”

 

“Practice. Lots and lots of practice,” Izumi groaned, wincing as the bruises on her body twinged with every movement. “I am… going to be so sore tomorrow.”

 

“Same… ow…. Can’t even get up to heal…. Too tired…”

 

“Me too….”

 

Korra chuckled weakly, then sighed and looked up at the sky with a tired smile. “.... We should do this again.”

 

“Mmm… it was fun. Very informative as well.”

 

“How’d you do some of that beam stuff you did earlier? It didn’t look like the kind of energy bending that your avatar state uses…”

 

“Plasmabending. Like firebending and lightning generation at the same time… but better . I’ll show you later.”

 

“I’ll hold you to that…”

 

And with a pair of quiet sighs, both girls fell asleep right then and there- too tired to move, amongst the rubble and scorched earth of their fight, smiling as though all their burdens had been lifted from their shoulders.

Chapter 177

Notes:

Read ch 175 first!

Chapter Text

“It’s kinda bizarre, on my end, y’know?” Korra mentioned idly once the two of them had recovered in UA’s infirmary, stretching out lightly and munching on an energy bar as she walked out into the sun. “I mean, just… you. Being alive. Like…. I just heard about your past life dying almost two years ago now and somehow you… well. You’re here, with all the memories of your past life… fully grown. And strong enough to beat me in a fight, despite being the Avatar for only- what, a few months now?”

 

“And with minimal outside help to learn the other bending styles,” Izumi nodded, idly examining her nails and frowning at the chips and scratches present in the gel. Dammit, had she forgotten to wear her heroics rated polish? Whatever. “I’m honestly surprised I managed to learn anything … then again, Li and Lo always did call me a genius.”

 

“Li and Lo?” Korra asked, tilting her head to the side and blinking slowly. “Who’re they?”

 

“Mm… my old firebending tutors, back when I was Azula. They were… weird old hags, honestly. I never liked them much, but they were smart and well connected, and they did teach me much of my skills at an early age…” Izumi shook her head and sighed, frowning as the memories bubbled up inside of her of her past life… there wasn’t any reason to dwell on it now, but sometimes she wished she’d had better role models at the time… maybe if she’d stowed away on Zuko’s ship instead of just laughing at him when he was exiled… Oh well. “It’s not really that important anyway- that was a literal lifetime ago. So- speaking of learning bending… I noticed that the way you earthbend seems like a mix of the traditional earthbending developed in wartime, Pro Bending, and Toph Beifong’s unique blind style, correct?”

 

Korra blinked, rubbing the back of her head and grinning slightly as she did so. “Wow- how’d you even notice? Yeah, I mean… all of my bending’s kinda a weird sloppy mix of White Lotus styles and what I picked up on the Pro Bending circuit… except Air, I guess. Never did master it like I should have… maybe I should go back, get Tenzin to finish teaching me.”

 

“It’s ultimately your choice, Korra,” Izumi pointed out idly. “Even if you are somewhat beholden to the rules and laws of others, you’re the Avatar. You can afford to find someone else to teach you airbending. That aside- your bending is remarkably effective. It’s quick, decisive, and has good responses for both close quarters and longer range combat- keeps collateral damage down too. Quite interesting.”

 

“Haha, yeah… I mean- I kinda picked it up on instinct, fighting so much in Republic City,” Korra explained, walking along slowly as they made their way back to where Korra was staying while she was at UA, keeping to a sedate pace so as to not aggravate their sore muscles any more than they had to. “First time I was there, I caused a lot of property damage trying to catch only a few triad members… Chief Beifong was not happy about that… so…. Yeah. Had to learn something less destructive, otherwise I’d have probably gotten kicked out after a month there. I’m just glad I found out about Pro Bending- it was…”

 

She sighed, shaking her head. “What am I saying, you probably already know some of the details. You’re… weirdly smart, y’know that?”

 

“I’ve been told in two lifetimes that I’m scarily perceptive, yes,” Izumi rolled her eyes a bit and smiled softly, one hand coming up to gently pat Korra’s back. “But yes, I’ve heard… some of the details. Or, at least, I pieced more of the details together with what you told me before our fight. You don’t really have to go on about your past with the White Lotus if you don’t want to.”

 

“... Thanks. I’d… rather put it behind myself for now and just… try and forget most of what they tried to teach me,” Korra huffed, crossing her arms almost petulantly as they continued walking along.

 

It was a comfortable silence between the two- sure, they didn’t fully trust each other yet considering how diametrically opposed their two bonded spirits were, but there was… some kind of friendship budding, Izumi thought. 

 

Izumi breathed out slowly, idly taking in the sights of the fall as it rolled in fully- leaves falling from trees in spectacular reds, oranges, and yellows, the slight chill in the air… the way that the forecasts predicted rain in the late afternoon and the way that she could feel the days starting to shorten… it was beautiful, if totally not her thing.

 

Her fire was weaker in the winter, after all, and although she largely compensated by using her other skills… she still wasn’t overly fond of the cooler half of the year still.

 

Korra continued to lead on in silence for another few minutes, a thoughtful frown growing rather deeper on her face as they neared the building that served as Korra’s place of residence, Izumi noticing the sudden frown but not saying anything yet.

 

And then…

 

“... I don’t think I’ve ever felt free in the White Lotus. Even when I was a dumb kid who thought being the Avatar was the greatest thing in the world,” Korra whispered quietly, leaning against a tree and sighing as she smoothed her hair from her face. “Even when I left, with Tenzin I just… I still felt shackled because I was in yet another compound that I couldn’t leave, talking to a strict tutor who wanted me to follow all of his little rules and do the chores and never have a life … I spent so, so long wondering what it’d be like if I’d just… run away to find my own place in the world. And then I did.”

 

“And then you did,” Izumi nodded slowly, humming under her breath quietly to provide some kind of noise while she thought. Really, Korra’s situation and her situation as Azula didn’t have a lot in common- just that there were a few parallels that could have been twisted into matching up, in some vague sense of the word. “I am quite glad for you. No one should have to suffer under a burden they can’t bear- It’s your life, you shouldn’t have other people dictating it for you.”

 

“Yeah…. Spirits , it’s just… so weird now. Unlearning the stuff I went through. Learning that even if the world doesn’t need me that doesn’t mean I’m useless,” Korra shook her head, the short bob of her hair bouncing around her face as she pulled a rather self deprecating expression. “Still hard to believe that, some days. Even if I’ve got Asami helping me.”

 

“Unlearning the worst parts of your past are always difficult,” Izumi sighed, rubbing her face gently and trying to give Korra what was hopefully a calming smile. “But… you do get there eventually. Or…. well. It takes a while, sometimes. I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a heroine sometimes, because the memories of Azula’s childhood are the most vivid in my mind… when I was still called a monster, crazy… a threat to be taken down. It’s hard but… eventually. Even if you need help along the way. It does get better, in the end.”

 

Korra smiled back after a few seconds, nodding along with Izumi’s words. “Yeah… it… it does. Eventually.”

Chapter 178

Notes:

Read ch 175 first!

Chapter Text

“It’s nice to see you again, Uncle,” Izumi hummed lightly as she finally broke through the final copse of trees that separated her from the clearing that Iroh had made his home in, this time with Katsumi by her side. “I’ve brought a guest this time- we came through the Spirit Portal, even. It’s… nice, now. Stable.”

 

“Ah- Izumi! It’s good to see you- how have you been? And who is this lovely young lady?” Iroh beamed as the two neared his cottage, looking over them with a gentle smile as he took in their appearances. They looked… health. Strong. In good hands.

 

Not that Izumi had ever looked otherwise, the last time they’d met. But, still. Familial bonds were familial bonds, even if he was no longer biologically related to the fine young woman he once knew as Azula, and now knew as Izumi.

 

“Bakugou Katsumi, sir,” Katsumi bowed respectfully, even going so far as to do the traditional fire nation salute as she bent at the waist. “You can call me Katsumi. Izumi has told me a lot about you.”

 

“All good things, I hope!” Iroh laughed, his belly shaking as his smile became a wide grin before settling into something more calm a few seconds later. He motioned towards the table that was already set up with all of the fixings of a tea party- for more than three people in fact.

 

Not that it surprised Katsumi or Izumi. 

 

“She was very complimentary of your tea,” Katsumi grinned, nudging Izumi with her elbow- apparently her “polite young lady” act only extended so far, and she was still going to tease her girlfriend about as much as she could without causing a stir. “And that you were a big influence on her past life. And this one.”

 

“Ah, not as much as I would have liked, admittedly… I was a bit more foolish then,” Iroh admitted, his smile not dropping, though it had gained a tinge of long since accepted sadness- as though he’d already mourned for lost chances along the way. “But I am honored that I could be of inspiration to you, Izumi. It does my old heart good to see you become the wonderful young woman you are now.”

 

“I know, Uncle, you told me this the last time we met,” Izumi laughed gently, taking a seat alongside Katsumi and sighing as she sat there primly, waiting for the rest of Iroh’s guests to arrive. One hand squeezed Katsumi’s below the table, and Iroh simply hummed as he poured the two girls before him their tea- a fruity, floral blend that seemed to bring a warm breeze of peace rolling through the area just from its scent.

 

“And I will continue to say it, Izumi, for as long as we meet,” Iroh smiled once the tea was poured, setting the pot down and sitting at the head of the table. “Because I truly am proud.”

 

“... You should meet my mom one of these days,” Izumi murmured, almost out of nowhere. Her smile turned soft, as if reminiscing about other things. “All of my girlfriends too… and… well. I suppose not all of my friends, but I’ll try and bring a few more people to see you, eventually. I think you’ll like them- all of them want to be heroes… to get out there and make a positive change in the world. I think it’s… kinda nice how my world is so full of people who took it into their hands to just… reach out and help.”

 

“It does sound like quite an exciting place, Izumi,” Iroh nodded, still holding the faintest traces of a jovial chuckle in his voice. He stood up again after a moment, perking up slightly as new guests entered the forest clearing as a group- Korra, followed shortly after by her wife Asami, along with several other people Izumi didn’t recognize at first, but had familiar presences… familiar to her past life, at least. She wasn’t quite sure why at first- the water tribe woman looked like any other old woman from the water tribe, though she had a hardened glint in her eyes that told Izumi that she had definitely seen the twilight years of the war. The second person to come through, though…

 

She knew this one

 

Toph. Motherfucking. Beifong.

 

The scariest, most dangerous, most powerful, self-proclaimed and by all counts vindicated in that opinion Greatest Earthbender in the World .

 

Also, the former chief of police in Republic City, but Azula hadn’t actually been in Republic City during that time.

 

Following her, then, were…. What were their names… She didn’t know one, but the other was definitely Lin Beifong, who…

 

Well, Azula had occasionally gotten clandestine visits from the chief of police in her advanced age, partially because she was an old, decrepit woman nearing a hundred years old living alone with no assistance, and partially because Lin Beifong had known who she was at the time. 

 

So that was nice. She liked to think that they had a cordial enough relationship, if nothing else.

 

And then…

 

And then…

 

Izumi shuddered, squeezing Katsumi’s hand beneath the table as the last several figures of the Avatar’s party came forward. A trio of people she knew all too well. Had once loved. Had once been loved by.

 

“I… I suddenly don’t know if I can do this,” Izumi whispered softly, trying not to be noticed as she more or less unsuccessfully tried to hide away from the sight of Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee approaching the table. They… they looked like they had in the primes of their lives… it was…

 

Something in Izumi’s heart clenched- would they even recognize her now? Her brother, the two girls she once loved? Would they still hate her, even in this new life?

 

Katsumi sighed, hugging her awkwardly with one arm and shaking her head. “I’ll distract the others, ‘kay? I’ll get your uncle to drag ‘em off somewhere so you four can talk. Just… calm down, okay? Everything’s gonna be alright, I know it. You’re amazing, Izu. You’ve got nothing to fear.”

 

Izumi sighed, swallowing her fear and trying to center herself again. “R-right… I can do this… I-I… I can do this…. I…-”

Chapter 179

Notes:

Read ch 175 first!

Chapter Text

“H-hey Zuko. Mai. Ty Lee,” Izumi waved awkwardly as she approached the three people who she’d known the best out of anyone in her life. “You look… good. How have you been?”

 

“Azula,” Mai deadpanned dryly, fingering the hem of her robes as though she were searching for knives to stab Izumi with, eyes roaming over Izumi’s form for a moment before her usual emotionless frown became something… a little more confused. “.... Or. I suppose not anymore.”

 

“Izumi, right?” Zuko asked with a joviality that was… honestly somewhat surprising to see on his face. Sure, he looked the same as he did in his forties, but… somehow Izumi still saw him as the same angsty sixteen year old that Azula had for a long time. Probably because the memories of Azula’s youth were the most vivid in her mind even after going through that entire mental journey to separate herself from her past life. “I’ve heard good things about you from Uncle and Korra. How have you been?”

 

“You’re so small again!” Ty Lee immediately bounced over- but stopped short of actually hugging Izumi, instead standing there awkwardly as though she were in the middle of a half remembered motion before catching herself. “And… your hair is green! I didn’t know people could have green hair! I mean, without hair dye, or something. Oh, and your aura! It’s so pink and pretty! Aww, it used to be so nasty and dreary- I’m so glad you found your happiness in this life!”

 

“Yeah… um… I…” Izumi stirred the words in her mind around for a while, trying to think of what to say- what Azula had always wanted to say. Was it even her place to say it anymore? What would they even think about her? Would they… would they even…

 

No, she couldn’t sink down into her own thoughts like that anymore. Izumi took a deep breath, clenching her fist slightly to dig her nails into her palm and bring herself back to the present, swallowing thickly before bending at the waist and bowing.

 

“I- it’s not really my place to say this anymore, but… the way Azula… I reincarnated… it was a lot more complete and had more continuity than it normally did. In a way, I am still Azula. So… I just… I wanted to say…”

 

Izumi took another deep breath, not daring to look up yet. “I’m… I’m sorry. For everything. For every shitty thing I did to you three, for nearly turning the Fire Nation into the same kind of regime that Ozai had. For being a terrible person for the first several decades of my life. For never trying to actually make amends. For…-”

 

“Stop.”

 

Mai’s voice held no trace of emotion as she stepped forward, holding her hand up and shaking her head. “You don’t need to apologize. For you- it really was a lifetime ago. For us, the same. There’s no point in all four of us continuing on the same grudges and terrible choices that plagued us in life when we can make a fresh start now. Besides- you’re not Azula. Not anymore. You have similarities in your driven attitude, your appearance, and your intelligence, but you aren’t her. You are your own person, and that means that none of us have any right to be mad at you, or to hold a grudge, or even just expect you to act like she did.”

 

“... I… yeah, I suppose you’re right. I just- Azula regretted a lot, near the end,” Izumi sighed, running her fingers through her hair and staring directly at Zuko. “She always did want to make it up to you, Zuko. Try and… make amends somehow. Show you that she’d grown as a person, and that she really, truly wanted to fix the mistakes of her past…”

 

Izumi paused, and then shook her head again, her frown twisting into a wry grin. “And, specific to me, I also wanted to point out how funny it is that I ended up having the same name as your daughter, Zuko.”

 

“It… is kind of funny, in a cosmic sense,” Zuko nodded, a small smile coming to his lips as he stepped forward and gently patted Izumi’s shoulder before stepping back a half step. “Regardless of your past life, though. It is good to meet you, Izumi. I don’t think I could be more impressed by your prowess- that you’ve managed to match Korra’s skill at bending after only a few months… It’s quite amazing. And more than a little intimidating, if I’m honest.”

 

“I’ve also heard from Iroh that you picked up knife skills,” Mai murmured, hiding her expression behind her sleeve, though her eyes betrayed her good humor. 

 

“Oh- and chi blocking! I remember showing you that back when we were kids! How did you even remember that?” Ty Lee butted in, jutting into Izumi’s space and grinning wide with her expression full of open curiosity. “I mean, I don’t even remember what I taught you at the time, but I’ve heard that you’ve gotten really good at it!”

 

“I- er, yes. I have,” Izumi nodded slowly, nodding to all three of her former friends in turn. “I… back before I became the Dark Avatar and fused with Vaatu, I… well. I thought that I had to make up for Azula’s past, to prove to… someone, anyone that I was worthy of being a hero and not just… being a monster. So… I wanted to honor you two, since I… well. Azula treated you poorly, then regretted it for the rest of her life once she got her head out of her ass. I felt like it was the least I could do.”

 

“Aww, that’s so sweet! You’re a good kid, Izumi!” Ty Lee giggled, patting her head and skipping back a few steps to take up a position beside Mai, who nodded subtly with an approving look.

 

“It’s pretty nice to have been remembered,” Mai hummed a moment later, then stepped forward with every bit of elegance that she had learned as the Fire Lady, pressing something into Izumi’s hand with a mysterious smile. “This might help you remember us as we are now, too.”

 

“I- Mai…” Izumi murmured, looking down and gasping quietly at the sight of one of Mai’s throwing knives in her palm- one of her best, a design that was largely unable to be found back in her world due to its odd shapes and lack of conformity to the normal standard of what a throwing knife was. “This… Thank you…”

 

“Keep it. And don’t forget to visit. We’re making a home near here too,” Mai huffed, rolling her eyes at the open display of emotions, but smiling ever so softly all the same.

 

“Oh, and don’t worry about trying to make it up to us, Izumi! You’re your own person now, y’know? Just take it easy, and keep being the hero you are!” Ty Lee giggled, wrapping Izumi into a tight hug and grinning wide as she stepped back a moment later.

 

“I forgave Azula a long time ago, when I heard all of the things she did to try and make up for her past,” Zuko sighed, folding his hands into his sleeve and staring Izumi dead in the eye with a serious expression that lightened into something… softer, a bit more hesitant, just a moment later. “And… as you are now… I’d be proud to call you my sister again.”

 

Izumi sniffled, wiping at her eyes with the back of her sleeve, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion as she found herself basking in the approval and acceptance from the three people her past self had wronged so long ago. “I-.... thank you. Zuko. Mai. Ty Lee. Just… thank you. I- it means a lot, to hear all of that from you.”


“Mhmm. Now can we please get back to the party? I’m tired of all this mushy feelings stuff.”

Chapter 180

Notes:

Read ch 175 first!

Chapter Text

“Y’know, Katsumi? It’s been… a long, wild ride,” Izumi murmured, brushing her thumb over the back of her first girlfriend’s hand and smiling softly as she leaned against the blonde’s shoulder, staring out over the hillside and watching the frenetic dance of spirits and students and all sorts of people down below. The UA cultural festival was in full swing, and as the sounds of music filtered up through the air from the repeat showings of 1-A’s performance earlier that day playing across the festival grounds, Izumi couldn’t help but think about just how much things had changed since the day that Avatar Korra had stepped through the spirit portal.

 

She hadn’t had… much of a say in a lot of it, of course, being just a student, but… it was nice, really, seeing how the different cultures and styles of the other world had begun to filter into their own and vice versa. Fashions from the different nations and kingdoms, retellings of popular stories in movie and anime form, technological exchange that led to the rapid modernization of Korra’s world… it was the start of something beautiful, Izumi thought to herself.

 

“It has been… and we’re not even through our first year of UA yet,” Katsumi huffed, running her hand through her hair with a wry grin on her face. “Can’t believe how much shit’s happened in such a short period of time… fuck, it feels like it’s been years but it’s only been a few months. The USJ attack, the sports festival, internships… Hosu … you becoming the Avatar… finals… our training camp… the license exam- and then… shit, how did you end up taking down a yakuza leader and an international cult leader at the same time?”

 

“Well, it wasn’t all me,” Izumi muttered, lightly elbowing Katsumi a bit and shaking her head. “I had help. Granted, I probably could have done it alone, but… It would have been hard.”

 

“Tch, always the same shit with you, isn’t it?” Katsumi shot back without a trace of heat, melodramatically glaring down at Izumi before giggling to herself. “Ah… y’know… is it weird to tell you now that, when we were kids… the first thing I thought when you said you were gonna be a hero duo with me was ‘Oh fuck, I’m never gonna be Number One if she keeps beating my ass’? Like… I dunno. It was pretty much the first time I realized that… even if I was still doing my damndest to get to the Number One spot, I… I’d have still been fine being second to you.”

 

Izumi blinked, looking up at Katsumi for a few moments before slowly sitting up, adjusting her position so she could stay as close to her girlfriend as possible. “Katsumi… I… I mean I guess that did sort of come out of nowhere, but…I don’t really know what to say to that. I… I never really wanted to hurt your dream of being the number one hero, all that time ago. I wasn’t even really thinking at the time. I just… wanted to knock you down a peg, really.”

 

“Yeah, I know. And I know that you never wanted to be the Number One either. So… in the long run, it didn’t really hurt me that much. And besides, my dream changed a little along the way too,” Katsumi shrugged, reaching around Izumi’s shoulder and pulling her close. “It… After we got into highschool… I mean, I guess I never told you this cuz it would have been embarrassing, but… my dream did change. I didn’t care as much about being the top pro hero anymore- I just… wanted to be the best hero I could be. With you.”

 

“Aww… that’s sweet! I… well. I guess my motivations for being a hero have always been a bit more selfish,” Izumi huffed, pouting a bit as she shifted her position again and flopped down into Katsumi’s lap, staring up at the sky as she relaxed in her new place laying down with her head pillowed betwixt Katsumi’s thighs. “Well. You already knew what they were, before I… had my epiphany. And regained my bending.”

 

“Yeah, and it was dumb because you were being such a dumbass about yourself. Honestly, you spent all that time trying to prove you weren’t a monster and the whole time you were making our entire neighborhood think you were some kind of saint .” Katsumi rolled her eyes, idly booping Izumi’s nose with her finger and shaking her head. “You proved you weren’t a monster like Azula thought she was the first time you stepped between a bully and their victim. Everything else… that was just you being dumb and unable to see how amazing you really are.”

 

“.... Yeah. I realize that now. More or less,” Izumi deadpanned, tweaking Katsumi’s nose with an annoyed huff. “My dream now is… well. Kind of like yours. I still want to be a hero… but I want to be a hero with you, and the rest of our polycule. Together.”

 

“Mmm… it’s a good dream,” Katsumi murmured softly, suddenly looking wistful as she stared off into the distance and smiled. “One that we’ll reach together, huh?”

 

“Yeah. We’ll have to work for it… but we’ll get there,” Izumi nodded, her hands finding Katsumi’s as they both watched the clouds for a bit, until a chorus of voices interrupted them- Himiko, Ochako, Tsu, and Tooru all making their way up the grassy hill and waving as they brought along snacks and drinks from the festival below. “Ah, looks like our private time is up. Want to go back down, enjoy the festival?”

 

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Katsumi nodded, the two of them slowly clambering to their feet and making their way back down the hill towards their girlfriends, the sun shining down upon them, hands entwined and smiles on their faces.

 

Whatever would come, whatever they might face next, the two of them knew- the six of them knew. Hand in hand, holding onto each other through whatever may change, whatever may happen.

 

They’d all become heroes together, and strive for a better tomorrow. 


It would be hard. It might be dangerous. But no matter what, they would give it their all… with a burning passion.

Chapter 181: Closing Notes

Chapter Text

Hey everyone! So this isn't a real chapter, as you might be able to surmise just from the title, but I thought I'd close off Give It Your All With a Burning Passion with some closing thoughts:

 

First and foremost: I never really expected to get this far? Honestly, it's been fun! But this started as an idle idea in a server full of people who I'm no longer on speaking terms with, and I never really had an idea for it beyond just... Azula in MHA. That I've managed to write 180 chapters of it, I think, is pretty amazing. Especially considering how this fic's only been up for five months now- I honestly thought it'd fizzle out a hundred chapters ago, or that I'd just write a few chapters, post them, and then just drop the idea.

 

That I've managed 180 chapters and brought it to a conclusion I'm personally pretty alright with is kinda neat.

 

And yes, while the ending is abrupt, it's still better than forcing myself to continue writing a fic that I'm no longer invested in.

 

So thanks for sticking around this long, and I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. I cherished every single comment I got (well... most of them), and I'm genuinely happy that I could bring a bit of happiness into your lives as well.

 

I'll see you around in whatever I decide to write next, I guess.

 

Bye!