Chapter 45: Endeavor
The entire ride to Training Ground Beta had been filled with Midoriya and Honenuki coming up with various plans to combat Endeavor, with Tokoyami occasionally offering a suggestion or two. Shoto had not bothered to take part in this conversation beyond agreeing to whatever ideas they had.
This wasn't due to the same sort of over-confident, self-enforced solitude that he had put himself through near the beginning of the semester. His sessions with Hound Dog had been very useful at helping him identify when he was pushing people away and developing strategies to avoid it. Aizawa had recently even gone so far as to praise him (as much as the man ever praised anyone) for his progress in working with his classmates over the semester.
Truth be told, Midoriya and Honenuki were two of his classmates that he enjoyed working with most. Both were intelligent, capable, focused on the task at hand, and both had tried to reach out to him to try and help him use his fire when he was still rejecting that part of himself. Shoto hadn't appreciated it at the time, but looking back at it with Hound Dog, he realized just how much it meant for those two to actually reach out to him.
No, the reason that Shoto wasn't bothering to take part in their planning to take on Endeavor was that it was pointless. As far as he saw it, there were two possibilities for this exam.
First, Endeavor had accepted the invitation as a method of evaluating Shoto himself and he wasn't particularly interested in the rules of the exercise. He would completely ignore the target and Shoto's three teammates in favor of hunting him down and forcing him into combat. In that case victory for the team was more or less guaranteed.
The other option was that Endeavor was taking this seriously. In that case, even with Endeavor restricted to three quarters of his full strength, the four of them had no chance at all. If that ended up happening, failure, instead, would be more or less guaranteed.
Neither scenario involved Shoto making it out of the exam unscathed.
Aside from those considerations, the plan that Midoriya and Honenuki came up with was fundamentally solid. This didn't surprise Todoroki at all, given that the two of them were among the better tacticians in the class.
They had immediately decided that capturing Endeavor would be their absolute last ditch attempt at winning the scenario, while having one of them escape would be the most likely way they would win. Honenuki argued for attempting to hide the target somewhere in the dense cityscape of Training Ground Beta, but Midoriya had pointed out that Endeavor was more than capable of large scale destruction if he put his mind to it, and beyond that all of the other pro heroes had immediately homed in on where the target was located. It was highly likely that they had ways of tracking the targets and any attempt at subterfuge would only end in failure.
Once they had decided that fighting Endeavor would be, at best, a delaying action, it was straightforward to assign Shoto and Midoriya to fight him a good distance away from the target while Honenuki and Tokoyami attempted escape. Tokoyami was at a distinct disadvantage being anywhere even close to Endeavor, and while Honenuki could in principle delay Endeavor, it would not last long. Shoto had seen the man fly by propelling himself with flames from his feet. Simply liquifying the ground would not keep him in place.
There was one problem with the escape that they had not considered on their way to the training grounds, however. Namely, the fact that there were several gates into and out of Training Ground Beta, but only one counted as the exit gate. This didn't become apparent until just after Nezu announced the start of the exam.
"So, wait, only one gate is the exit gate? Which one is it?" Honenuki asked, looking towards Midoriya. It was hard to tell through his helmet, but he sounded as if the pressure of the situation was starting to get to him a bit.
Midoriya, meanwhile, was muttering, apparently trying to figure out the answer to that very question. The wind blew, and on it, the faint scent of brimstone. The scent of Endeavor's quirk. A large part of the reason that the quirk had been named 'Hellflame' was the distinctive sulfur smell that accompanied his flames. If Shoto could smell it from here, it meant that Endeavor was using quite a bit of his quirk.
"I expect that we will know momentarily." Shoto supplied. All this earned him was a deadpan stare from Honenuki and a confused head tilt from Midoriya.
After a beat, though, a massive explosion sounded from across the training grounds, orange flames climbing high along the wall to the west. A gust of wind from the explosion rolled over the students, carrying the heat and smell of hellfire.
Endeavor was anything but subtle.
"Truly, the Phlegethon runs through his veins." Tokoyami muttered.
"That's where the exit is." Shoto stated, well aware that it was unnecessary.
"Right." Honenuki sounded a little more unnerved at Endeavor's display of power. "I guess we know which way we need to go, then."
"Good luck, you two." Midoriya chirped as Tokoyami and Honenuki began their indirect route to the exit.
"I think you two need it more." Honenuki replied. "Try not to die." For all of Endeavor's faults, of which there were many, he was incredibly talented at keeping his quirk under control. Despite its incredible power, he very rarely caused more injuries than he intended to. As such, Shoto was sure that he and Midoriya would be fine.
Probably.
While their teammates were taking an indirect route to the exit gate, Shoto and Midoriya made their way directly there. If Midoriya's hunch was correct, Endeavor would be moving in a straight line towards the target, and they wanted to keep their fight with him as far from the target as possible. It would be foolish if their team lost solely due to collateral damage.
Five blocks away from where they had left the target, just a few minutes after the explosion by the exit, Endeavor came into view. The pro hero was not hurrying, simply walking down the sidewalk as if it were his everyday patrol. As he rounded the corner onto the block that Shoto and Midoriya were in, his eyes narrowed, and he stepped off the sidewalk into the middle of the road.
"So," he spoke in what Shoto recognized as his heroism voice, the one he used for intimidating villains. It apparently worked well on hero students as well, judging by the sudden tension that Shoto noted in Midoriya. "You two think you can take me on all by yourselves?"
The flames across Endeavor's shoulders and eye mask flared for a moment, making him seem even larger than his already bulky frame. Shoto turned his body, angling his right side towards the man. Meanwhile, Midoriya activated his own quirk, green lightning flickering across his body.
"Hm. If you two both come at me with everything you have, you might have a chance." Endeavor crossed his arms, taking a solid stance but avoiding making the first move. "Take your best shot."
Shoto and Midoriya had worked out a few plans for how to begin this battle, and a few ideas of how to best work together during it. They knew that they were outmatched in essentially every way, and so focused on abusing the element of surprise and attempting to catch Endeavor off guard. Their first plan called for Shoto to make the first move.
After checking that Midoriya was ready, he launched a medium-sized glacier directly at Endeavor. Of course, Endeavor melted the ice with a wave of his left hand and a curtain of fire. However, Midoriya had thrown himself at the hero directly behind the glacier, hoping to catch him off guard. His teammate said that he could use up to eighteen percent of his quirk in bursts, and the two hoped that would be enough speed to help him land a blow or two on Endeavor.
It wasn't.
Midoriya burst through the veil of fire only to find Endeavor's fist waiting for him, wreathed in fire. Using his fire as additional propellant, Endeavor could move frightfully fast when he wanted to. Despite the attack's speed, Midoriya managed to block Endeavor's punch. Unfortunately, he was airborne and had no leverage, so even blocking the attack still sent him flying down the road, bouncing and rolling as he hit the ground. Midoriya was not one to give up so easily, though, finding his feet even as he rolled and coming to a sliding stop.
Even as Midoriya was flying away, Endeavor shot a wave of fire towards Shoto. Rather than attempt to compete with his father in a contest of strength, one he was sure to lose, Shoto dodged to the side, covering his escape by leaving behind a pillar of ice to be melted into steam and provide cover.
"Hm." Endeavor's voice rang out from where he stood in the middle of the road, still not having moved a step. "You two are slightly more skilled than I had feared you would be. Slightly." Midoriya was circling around behind the hero to flank him, but Endeavor did not seem to care.
"Now, normally I hold back. Killing villains and causing collateral damage are things that no hero should aim for. But I'm a villain now, and you two are strong. Strong enough to take a bit of punishment." The steam that Shoto had raised began to waft away, and Shoto could see a grim smile on Endeavor's face. "What I have here is a rare opportunity to cut loose. I hope you two won't disappoint."
---
While Juzo had been expecting it to be difficult to make it through the exit gate, Endeavor had really gone above and beyond in his efforts to prevent their escape. The other heroes had all blockaded the exit gate with one thing or another, usually materials from the area around the gate. Juzo had, perhaps foolishly, expected Endeavor to do something similar, perhaps knock over a building with his flames.
The number two hero, however, proved that he was a graduate of U.A, because he had gone Plus Ultra. He had knocked over an entire building in front of the gate and set it on fire, but the conflagration that awaited Juzo and Tokoyami was far greater than could be explained by a single building set ablaze.
A moment of inspection made it clear what had happened. Endeavor had used his quirk to melt enough of the pavement to reach the gas lines running under the road. As Juzo had discovered all year, U.A spared no expense in their pursuit of realism in education, and so these lines were full of natural gas. Natural gas that was now forming a geyser of flame directly in front of the exit gate.
Or rather, what remained of the exit gate.
Beyond demolishing a building and lighting a natural gas line ablaze, Endeavor had gone even further Plus Ultra and used his quirk on the exit gate itself. Past all of the other obstacles to their escape, Juzo could just make out the melted wreckage of the Nezu-decorated archway. He couldn't say for sure, but it looked as if it had melted in such a way that there was no longer any way to pass through the gate.
How were they supposed to escape through the gate if Endeavor had destroyed it? Didn't that somewhat go against the spirit of the exercise? Since the exam hadn't been called off yet, Juzo could only assume that Endeavor's actions were, at least, acceptable. He and Tokoyami would have to find a way out, one way or the other.
Given the sudden gout of flame from the city center, Juzo figured they'd have to do it sooner rather than later. Midoriya and Todoroki, despite their skills, wouldn't last long against Endeavor. A sudden spike of green lightning and a building slowly collapsing, however, showed that they were at least fighting back.
"We should get started. I'm pretty sure that if we aren't quick about this, our friends are going to die." Juzo decided to break the awe-filled silence that he and Tokoyami had settled into at the display of power from their teammates and the number two hero.
"We are all bound for the grave." Tokoyami sonorously replied.
"I meant that Endeavor would kill them today. Probably in the next few minutes." Juzo had long since gotten used to translating Tokoyami's particular way of speaking.
"As did I, my friend. As did I." Well, that was encouraging.
"We're doomed! Doomed, I tell you, doomed!" Dark Shadow apparently felt similarly, as it was cowering under Tokoyami's cloak and crying in a thin, tinny voice. Juzo was sure that its cowering was at least as much due to the towering flames blocking them from their escape as from fear of Endeavor.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about that other than try to escape." Juzo offered. "Any suggestions?"
"There is little that I or Dark Shadow can do in the hellacious light that Endeavor has left behind." Tokoyami replied.
"It would take me some time, but I could use my quirk to close up the gas line and get rid of most of the fire. I don't think I have enough time to deal with the collapsed building, though." All of that was still ignoring the absolutely destroyed exit gate, of course.
If all they had to do was travel under the gate, Juzo could, in principle, burrow underneath both the building and the gate at the same time, avoiding both obstacles at once. While this did seem like something that Nezu would approve of and give their team a technical pass, it also seemed likely that Aizawa would disapprove of this and give him and Tokoyami remedial hell class punishment at summer camp.
That was something that Juzo wanted to avoid if at all possible. He'd keep his burrowing plan as a backup for the case that Midoriya and Todoroki went down. They were fighting Endeavor far enough from the target that he'd have a minute or so to get out, more than enough time for him at this point.
If he was going to aim to get him or Tokoyami out through the gate, not under it, he'd have to get a little creative.
"Tokoyami, I have an idea for Dark Shadow to build up some strength. How quickly would the fire in the collapsed building drain it." Juzo knelt down and began working on dealing with the lit gas leak first. No matter how they were getting out of here, that would have to be dealt with.
Tokoyami hummed, apparently communing with his quirk for a moment. "If Dark Shadow were to be at full strength, we believe that they could break through the building before succumbing to the light. What is your plan?"
"How do you feel about tight spaces?" Juzo decided to answer Tokoyami's question with a question.
"I do not seek them out, but I am capable of surviving such an experience." Tokoyami replied. "Dark Shadow, however, prefers the dark and congested."
"Then they'll love this." Juzo said. As he spoke, he diverted just a small amount of his quirk to the ground beneath Tokoyami's feet. The bird-headed boy sank into the ground up to his neck before Juzo re-solidified the ground around him. "Let me know when they're ready, and I'll let you out."
Tokoyami let out a small anxious breath before nodding. "As you have said, so it shall be done." He closed his eyes to focus on controlling Dark Shadow, leaving Juzo to his task of eliminating the tower of flame that was still pouring from the gas line.
Juzo worked as quickly as he could, trying to shape the slopes around the puncture in the gas line to fill it with liquid concrete, and having to deal with the difficulties that such a large and hot fire produced. He knew that the sooner he had this shut off, the sooner Dark Shadow could deal with the collapsed building, and the sooner Todoroki and Midoriya would be safe.
Hopefully their battle against Endeavor was going well enough.
---
This was going fucking terribly.
Izuku mentally swore as he once again dodged a superheated ball of flame launched at him by Endeavor. While he was technically capable of using up to eighteen percent of his quirk, his stamina at such a level was still lacking.
So far, he'd been fluctuating between twelve and eighteen percent for the entire fight already, and his body was beginning to protest. Every step was accompanied by shooting pain, especially in his right leg, the one he'd shattered at the USJ.
Todoroki wasn't in any better shape, although he had the benefit of a significantly higher resistance to the elevated temperatures Endeavor was generating. He did not, however, have any particular resistance to buildings falling on him. He'd avoided major injury so far only with judicious use of his ice to prop up a three story building that Endeavor had brought down on his head.
Meanwhile, Endeavor himself seemed to be just as fresh and composed as he had been at the beginning of the battle. Neither Izuku nor Todoroki had managed to land so much as a single blow on the number two hero. The only visible change to his countenance was a steadily growing sneer.
"Shoto!" Endeavor bellowed. "I thought that you had abandoned this childish tantrum. Show me what you have learned!" So far, Todoroki had almost entirely used his ice, both for offense and defense. While he had come a long way in terms of control since the sports festival, his fire still responded most strongly to his emotions. A fight against Endeavor was sure to rile Todoroki's anger, no matter how stoic he seemed. Izuku and Todoroki had agreed that Todoroki would stick to his ice as long as possible.
It seemed like they had reached that limit. From across the battlefield, Izuku caught Todoroki's gaze and gave him a subtle nod. They were going to do this to win the match, not because Endeavor had asked Todoroki to.
Bright flames, nearly pure white, began to lick along Todoroki's left side. He wasn't starting with his hottest, least controllable temperatures, but still ramping his temperature higher than his father's. Nearly immediately, the small amount of frost on Todoroki's right side melted.
"Yes…" The animalistic hiss that at the end of the word sent shivers down Izuku's spine. "That's what I've been waiting for!"
Despite the pain currently wracking his body, Izuku forced himself forward once again. Todoroki would need a moment to fully acclimate to his fire under these conditions, and it was up to Izuku to buy him the time. And now, with Endeavor fully focused on his son, was the best chance Izuku had to seriously impede the man.
Grimacing as he pushed his quirk back up above fifteen percent, Izuku threw himself at the number two hero. Red lines were appearing on his limbs now, in addition to the green lightning that danced across his skin, a clear sign that he was pushing himself near his limit.
For a moment, as Endeavor remained enraptured by Todoroki's flames, Izuku thought that he might have a shot at sneaking a blow or two in on him and hopefully turning the fight a little bit more in their favor.
Just as Izuku got within the man's reach, however, a ring of fire erupted from where Endeavor stood, quickly expanding outwards. Izuku jumped over it, immediately cursing his decision to leave his feet again. Endeavor understood leverage far too well for Izuku to give it up entirely, but here he was, falling for the same trick yet again.
Endeavor shot around faster than Izuku had seen him move so far, fire shooting from his back and arm as he reared back for another punch at Izuku, his fist covered in fire. This time when Izuku blocked the attack, he felt the full heat of Endeavor's flames across his arms and torso burning through his costume almost immediately. Even with fifteen percent of One For All running through his body, the heat was more than enough to send burning pain deep into his arms.
The only thing Izuku was thankful for was that due to the strength of the punch, he flew away almost immediately and did not have to deal with the exceptional heat for more than just an instant.
That instant, though, was enough to loosen Izuku's hold on his quirk and his control over his arms. This time, as he flew away, he wasn't able to regain his balance or catch himself, and so instead went tumbling away head over heels, not stopping until he crashed through a fake storefront.
"Did you really think that the boy who ended All Might's career could do anything to me?" Endeavor snarled as he glared back after Izuku, sending an icicle of panic through Izuku. While he had worried about people hating him for that, no one had made any mention of it and he had begun to convince himself that he was working himself up over nothing. It wouldn't have been the first time, after all.
The sheer hatred that he glimpsed in Endeavor's eyes, though, shot that anxiety and worry back into Izuku's core. According to Todoroki, the man had spent his entire life chasing after the unattainable ideal that was All Might. Now, instead of managing to surpass the man on his own merits, All Might was ruined in one spectacular engagement, one that Endeavor could never hope to match.
For a moment, Izuku froze. All of the guilt and self-recrimination for ending All Might's career came crashing back onto him. No matter how much All Might had tried to convince him otherwise, Izuku just couldn't bring himself to believe the man. After all, if Izuku hadn't been so stupid as to let himself get kidnapped, All Might would still have all of his power and still be able to be a hero.
In that moment, Izuku watched, paralyzed, as Endeavor flung fire at the building he was standing under. It wasn't until it was too late that Izuku shook himself out of his stupor, the building over him already shaking and collapsing in on itself. It was all that Izuku could do to keep himself from being crushed outright by the debris falling on him, instead managing to shield himself and end up under a canopy of wreckage.
With time, he'd be able to work his way out of the situation he found himself in. After all, the buildings in Training Ground Beta were designed to be demolished in a relatively safe manner; it was likely how he had survived in the first place.
The problem was that he didn't have time. There was a small gap that Izuku could see out through, and Endeavor was already advancing on Todoroki, a towering inferno rising from his shoulders. Todoroki, for once, had fury painted on his face, his flames flickering blue and slowly growing, but nothing compared to the raging fire that Endeavor was bringing to bear.
Izuku cursed himself. Again, his stupidity and uselessness was going to get Todoroki injured. It was going to lose his team the match. Even worse, if what All Might had let slip at one point was true, it was going to prevent the entire class from attempting to get their provisional licenses soon. He just wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear.
At the same time, though, frustration and self-loathing and anger all boiled just beneath Izuku's skin, itching and prickling along his arms. He wanted to just reach through that gap in the wreckage, grab Endeavor, and force him to take back what he said. To show him that even if Izuku had ruined All Might's career (which he had, both by taking his quirk and getting himself kidnapped), that he wasn't useless. That he wasn't a failure.
So focused was Izuku on his internal conflict that he never noticed his quirk activate. He never noticed the tears that were in his eyes before his arms exploded in agony as inky black tendrils ripped themselves from his skin.
---
"What the fuck is that?!" Toshinori would normally have reprimanded young Tsunotori for her choice in language, even if it was expressed in English, but he was just as surprised as she was at the recent turn of events.
In contrast to the steam that had been generated by young Todoroki and Endeavor's clashes, the area of the training ground where the battle was taking place was being filled with a thick, dark gray smoke. At first, Toshinori had thought that something else had caught on fire, similar to the gas line that Endeavor had set ablaze to halt any thoughts of escape.
Then he saw the jet black tentacles emerging from the smoke and wreckage like some eldritch deity, and Toshinori began to have other thoughts. An odd feeling pooled in his stomach as he slowly realized where they were most likely coming from. The smoke was thick enough that despite the number of cameras in the area, there was no view of exactly what was happening. Quickly enough, the only things that could be seen through the smoke were the writhing black tendrils and the twin pillars of fire, orange and blue, from Endeavor and his son.
"Call off the exam!" Aizawa snapped, already heading out the door. "Cementoss, Snipe, with me. We have villains on site! Nezu…" Whatever he was going to ask Nezu to do for him was cut off as Nezu replied in a calm voice.
"Please relax, Eraserhead. I do not believe that there are any villains present anywhere on campus. All of our security measures are still in place and show no signs of tampering."
"None of our students have a quirk anything like that!" Aizawa replied, gesturing roughly at the bank of monitors showing the battle continuing. Endeavors flame jerked to and fro, likely because the tendrils were tossing him about. "It must be an intruder."
"The life sign monitors are only showing five individuals in the testing ground." Recovery Girl spoke up, eyes flickering to Nezu and attempting to copy his calmness. "As well as Dark Shadow."
"You see, Aizawa?" Nezu continued. "Nothing to worry about."
"The security was overridden at the USJ, too." Aizawa ground out. "They could be spoofing the life sign monitors."
"At the USJ the cameras went out as well." Nezu volleyed back. The students in the room had gone silent by this point, some of them seemingly prepared to rush out to Training Ground Beta with Eraserhead. All of them, however, watched the back and forth between their homeroom teacher and Nezu with rapt fascination. "It does not seem logical to go through all the effort of faking security and life sign data while leaving the cameras on for us to see through, after all."
"We. Are. Wasting. Time." Aizawa's eyes were wide, and if Nezu had been anyone else, Toshinori was sure that he would have activated his quirk on them by now. "Either way, the exam has gone off the rails and we need to make sure the students are safe. There is at least one unknown quirk running wild in the Training Ground."
"I would not call it unknown, Aizawa." Toshinori spoke up, although the heat of Aizawa's glare at him made him almost wish he had not. Almost. "Unless I am mistaken, I believe both the smoke and the tendrils are part and parcel of young Midoriya's quirk." Ripping his eyes away from Aizawa's intense stare, Toshinori saw Nezu nodding subtly, confirming his hypothesis. Most of the students looked at him as if he had grown two heads, but young Jiro, at least, looked as if the puzzle pieces had slid into place for her as well. Recovery Girl just sighed as she continued monitoring the vital signs of the students.
"What." Toshinori felt every ounce of Aizawa's exhaustion in that one word. "How on earth does an energy stockpiling quirk turn into… that?" It was a good question. Izuku had spoken to him once or twice about how to hide the other quirks once they came through, but while Float and Fa Jin were easy to explain and Danger Sense was relatively easy to hide, neither Smokescreen nor Black Whip fit into the fake explanation he had used for One For All. They had simply put it off until it became more urgent, but apparently that was right now.
So instead, he would do the one thing that he was sure would work for the time being. "I don't want to share anything without his permission." True, but incomplete. The two of them would have to work out together exactly how to explain this to everyone, and who (if anyone) would get a full description of One For All from them.
"We can make sure to discuss it later." Nezu interrupted, saving Toshinori from Aizawa's piercing glare. "But it looks like this fight is nearly done."
True to the principal's word, the smoke was beginning to dissipate across the training ground. Further, young Todoroki's blue flame had disappeared as had the black tendrils that presumably had come from young Midoriya.
As the smoke cleared, Endeavor came into view with Todoroki and Midoriya unconscious at his feet. Young Midoriya's arms were bruised and broken and there were some scattered burns across his body, but he honestly looked healthier than Toshinori had expected him to after this final exam. Young Todoroki had similar burns across his body, but far less than he had after the sports festival. His training on controlling his fire had really paid off.
Most surprising was the fact that Endeavor himself did not make it out of the battle unscathed. Blood ran down his face from a small cut along his hairline, and his costume had burnt away in several spots, leaving even his heat resistant body burned underneath, as well. It was perhaps the first time Toshinori had ever seen Endeavor take any damage at all from fire or heat. Despite all of that, he appeared ready and willing to hunt down the target and destroy it.
"Tokoyami has escaped! The hero team wins!" Nezu suddenly announced. Toshinori took a moment to search the monitors before he found one showing what young Honenuki and young Tokoyami had been doing. Young Honenuki had managed to shut off the gas main fire and somehow, in a demonstration of finesse with his quirk, melted a small hole in the wreckage of the gate that Endeavor had left. After Dark Shadow had been sufficiently strengthened underground, the sentient quirk had torn through the ruined building and bodily thrown Tokoyami through the small hole, earning a victory for their team. "That means all five class 1-A teams have passed! Congratulations to all of you!"
Toshinori let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't been aware he had been holding in. All of class 1-A had passed their final exams, despite the odds being desperately stacked against them. Now he had an hour or so before class 1-B began their exams and he would know if his students would get to apply for their provisional licenses early.
"Now, if you will excuse me, I have some phone calls to make before the next set of exams." Nezu hopped down off of his chair and began walking out of the room.
"Sir?" Toshinori was as surprised by this as anyone else in the room, but he was the only one bold enough to speak.
"It has been brought to my attention that we can do a much better job informing student families of injuries. As such, I am going to see to it personally. I have six phone calls to make, to the Kirishima, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, Awase, Kodai, and Midoriya families. I suppose that I do not have to inform Todoroki's father of his injuries because he caused them. But I must contact Mrs. Midoriya as soon as possible. I will see you after lunch!" With that, the principal scurried from the room.
Whatever Mrs. Midoriya had said to him the last time they spoke must have really sunk in, Toshinori thought. There weren't many people in the world that could make Nezu move so quickly.
Unfortunately, while Toshinori had been looking forward to a peaceful lunch to prepare for the 1-B finals, it did not appear likely at this point. Aizawa was glaring at him as if he could wear down Toshinori's resolve simply by force of will. Hopefully Izuku would recover soon and they could have a long talk about what to tell whom.
---
Part of Izuku was surprised to awaken without any significant pain anywhere on his body. Given how much Black Whip had hurt as it emerged from his arms and the searing sensation from Smokescreen across his entire body, let alone the burns and bruises he'd suffered fighting Endeavor, he had assumed that Recovery Girl would only be able to deal with the most serious injuries.
It was only after he had opened his eyes to see the now familiar multicolored striated sky of the One For All realm of the vestiges that he understood why there was no pain. Unfortunately, it meant that he would probably have quite a bit of pain upon awakening for real.
He wasn't entirely happy to have shown up here. After all, he hadn't left on the best of terms with the third user, and now he had manifested the fifth and sixth users' quirks as well. Hopefully they wouldn't try to hijack his body to kill people as well. If they did, maybe they at least would have the courage to admit that it was their idea and not try to blame it on some subconscious desire for murder and mayhem.
Besides, if there was anyone Izuku wanted to inflict pain on, it would be Endeavor, and he had managed to restrain himself during the final exam just now. He pointedly ignored that his failure to seriously injure the number two hero was more due to lack of ability, not lack of effort.
Sighing, Izuku forced himself to his feet. The longer he put off any confrontations with the vestiges, the worse they would be. Since he was here, he might as well make the most of it.
It was becoming obvious that the more of One For All that he was able to safely tap into, the more his body solidified out of the dark green fog that still surrounded him. As this was the first time he had been in the quirk space in quite some time, his body was far more solid than it had been the last time.
That also meant that for the first time, Izuku realized that he was completely naked in this quirk space. That didn't seem particularly fair, especially as all of the vestiges he had encountered so far had been wearing their hero costumes. Hopefully as he increased his connection with the quirk, his own hero costume would appear naturally.
Izuku forcefully avoided thinking about only being able to speak with the past users' vestiges while standing around completely nude. There might be certain situations where being naked would be nice, like with Kyoka for example (even if he knew that he had absolutely nowhere near the confidence to do so anytime soon), but this was certainly not one of them.
The vestiges were, as they had been last time, seated in a semicircle of seven chairs all pointed at Izuku. Neither the second nor the third user were present, and the fourth user was still faint and indistinct. Unlike last time, though, the fifth, sixth, and seventh users were all fully present in addition to Yoichi himself. While Nana sat in her chair, staring down at her lap, All Might's proto-vestige still stood behind her chair, radiating warmth and pride that Izuku simply couldn't understand. Even if the vestige was not yet fully formed, it must have noticed that Izuku had ruined All Might's career.
Lariat's deep, boisterous voice pulled Izuku out of his impending spiral of self-recrimination. "Ha! You finally figured out Black Whip. It's a lot stronger now than it used to be, but I'm sure you can wrangle it!"
"And Smokescreen as well." En spoke nearly in a whisper, his high collar hiding all of his face, save his eyes. "We gave you access some time ago, but you hadn't figured out how to activate them."
For a moment, all Izuku could do was blink in surprise. They were speaking as if he had had control over either of their quirks, rather than them running amok and causing more damage to Izuku than Endeavor had.
Some of his confusion must have shown on his face because Lariat laughed heartily. "It's your emotions, kid! Black Whip responds to your anger. I gotta say, for what you've been through, you've got the patience of a saint. I just wish that the anger that let you use it was directed at someone who deserved it, rather than yourself."
"Smokescreen is similar, but instead of anger, it responds to the desire to hide. To disappear. Had you been able to use it back when you first got your quirk, you probably would have worked it out right away." En added. Well, that made sense to Izuku at least. "You'll need to work on how to cultivate that feeling without losing yourself to it."
"I'm not sure what you mean…" Izuku could still talk in this realm, but it wasn't quite as easy as it had been when he was arguing with the third user.
"Kid, you've got to stop beating yourself up for what happened to All Might." Lariat interrupted him, causing his mouth to click shut. "He knew all of the possible outcomes when he went after you. Hell, he knew them all the way back when he first took the quirk from Seventh."
"You don't understand!" Izuku shouted. He was about to explain why Lariat couldn't possibly understand when the grizzled man yelled back at him.
"Oh I don't?! You mean I don't know what it's like to lose my mentor to All For One when I could have been there to help him? Or maybe you mean I don't know what it's like to give my life for my successor? Or maybe, just maybe, you don't know what you're talking about! I've been in your shoes! I've been in All Might's shoes! We all have! And we are telling you that you. Are. Not. At. Fault!"
While Lariat was the most obviously incensed at the moment, both En and Nana were nodding along as he ranted. Nana, at least, was still averting her eyes, staring at her lap. Even All Might's vestige seemed like he agreed with what Lariat had said, although perhaps Izuku should have expected that.
Inside Izuku, the desire to back down and apologize warred with his own natural stubbornness that pushed him to fight back, to let Lariat know just why Izuku was completely to blame. It didn't matter that all of his predecessors had gone through something similar in the past, there were any number of reasons why they were blameless and Izuku was at fault.
Unfortunately, he couldn't think of any off the top of his head.
Instead, he settled for glaring at the vestiges. Not pouting. Glaring.
Nana sighed, raising her head for the first time that Izuku had been present. Tears were in her eyes. "Ninth. We know you think you're being logical, that you're reaching the only possible conclusion. But you're not. This is something I've… struggled with, especially recently. So, please, at least consider that you don't have to blame yourself. I promise you that I don't blame you for anything."
Deep inside of Izuku, his certainty wavered, just slightly. Toshinori had told him about Kotaro Shimura, Tomura Shigaraki, and All For One's plan to use them against All Might. Izuku had expected Nana, at least, of all the vestiges, to understand just how much Izuku had screwed up. Her grandson had died by Izuku's hand (even if that was really Third's fault), her successor brought low and forced into retirement.
"And in case you think I'm withholding Float out of resentment," Nana continued. Izuku chewed on the inside of his cheek. He had considered that as a possibility, but he wasn't going to confirm for her. "Know that it became available when Black Whip and Smokescreen did, but you pulled at those first. And given how those hurt your body, I'm holding Float back for the time being. You should focus on just your new quirks for the time being. When you need Float, you'll have it. I promise you."
Despite her tears, Nana smiled widely at Izuku. His certitude shook once again at the sincerity of that smile, how warm and safe it made him feel. Izuku felt the vestige world dissolving around him once again as he slipped off into natural, dreamless sleep, but the memory of Nana's smile stuck with him the entire time.
---
Recovery Girl's office had been something of a madhouse all afternoon. Following the class 1-A exams in the morning, already half the beds had been filled with injured and unconscious students. Kirishima and Kodai woke up shortly after being healed by the medical heroine and, after a short check up to make sure there were no lingering effects from Wash's knockout gas or Yoroi Musha's pressure point techniques, were released quickly enough to rejoin the class in watching the earlier exams. Yaomomo was also released fairly rapidly, having only needed to heal a broken nose and a moderate concussion, although she missed being able to observe the final two exams.
On the other hand, Awase and Uraraka had far more serious injuries. They were so hurt that Recovery Girl hadn't been able to even heal all of their wounds in a single treatment. While Yoroi Musha's blow to Awase's head hadn't done any serious damage to his neck, it had been at least as serious as it had seemed at first. The boy lay unconscious with his head wrapped in bandages and his face worryingly pale.
Similarly, Uraraka was also still unconscious, her energy sapped from the accelerated healing of Recovery Girl's quirk. Bandages wrapped around her torso while her right arm had been set in a cast and was elevated above the rest of her body. Apparently, the punch that had ripped off Yoroi Musha's mask had been powerful enough to break Uraraka's own arm. In retrospect, the fact that Yoroi Musha had remained standing afterwards was all the more impressive, although it made Kyoka wish that the hero put that willpower towards something other than injuring high school students.
And then there were Todoroki and Izuku, the two students who had been seriously injured against Endeavor. Todoroki had woken up as he was being transported to Recovery Girl's office and had nearly ended up refusing treatment. Part of that seemed to be that he wasn't entirely aware of where he was immediately after waking up, and managed to spit out something garbled about not angering his father.
Kyoka was used to overhearing things that she shouldn't have and keeping them secret. Combined with what she had overheard from the two-toned boy during the sports festival, she was more glad than ever that Todoroki was attending therapy with Hound Dog. Kyoka was also, for the first time ever, glad that Todoroki had no sense of personal information and over-shared details of his therapy sessions seemingly at random.
It comforted her to know that he was getting at least some help with his family issues. It was also nice to know that Hound Dog, despite his fearsome appearance, seemed to be a top tier therapist for hero students.
While Todoroki had woken up surprisingly early given his injuries from Endeavor, Izuku had stayed unconscious far longer than Recovery Girl had anticipated. His injuries were roughly as bad as Todoroki's, but nowhere near as severe as Uraraka's or Awase's.
Izuku had suffered severe lacerations along his arms, although none of the completely shattered bones that Recovery Girl had been expecting based on his past behavior. The new quirk that he had demonstrated had appeared to violently rip its way out of his skin, and Kyoka was glad that she hadn't seen the results of that until after Recovery Girl had done her magic.
The burns and contusions from actually fighting Endeavor were not superficial, but also nowhere near life-threatening. All in all, Recovery Girl had easily healed Izuku's wounds and informed Kyoka that he would likely wake up in about two hours.
Reassured by the school nurse, Kyoka had gone and eaten a very appreciated lunch, albeit with a much diminished friend group. Of their normal group of friends, more had been laid up in Recovery Girl's office than made it to the lunch room. Only Honenuki and Shoji had been well enough to eat with Kyoka, although Tokoyami and Koda had ended up joining in a show of solidarity with their teammates following final exams.
When Kyoka had returned to Recovery Girl's office the appointed two hours later, she had expected Izuku to already be up and about, trying Recovery Girl's patience. Instead, she found him still asleep and Recovery Girl back in the monitoring room watching over class 1-B's final exams, being apparently in the middle of the second exam. Figuring that it wouldn't be a long wait, Kyoka pulled a chair up next to Izuku's bedside and decided to wait.
She was wrong. Another two hours passed by in a blur, and yet Izuku still hadn't awoken. The 1-B finals had finished, and while all of their teams had passed as well, there were a number of students from that class who had joined Izuku, Uraraka, and Awase in the nurse's office: Kaminari and Yanagi arrived completely unconscious from their run in with Best Jeanist, while Monoma, Shinso, and Ojiro arrived with massive injuries from their exam with Shishido. Monoma, however, was at least conscious enough to mutter something about being better than class 1-A's "golden boy" before passing out under Recovery Girl's care. Crust, Hawks, and Snatch had been gentle enough that the other students hadn't needed in-clinic care, although there still had been injuries.
Kyoka was surprised, however, when Izuku's mother walked into the nurse's office, mostly because she hadn't heard her coming. In Kyoka's (admittedly limited) experience with Mrs. Midoriya, the woman had not been particularly quiet, especially when Izuku had been injured. Now, though, Kyoka had only heard his mother's footsteps a few seconds before she pulled up another chair and sat down next to her.
"He hasn't woken up yet?" Mrs. Midoriya asked as she sat down, her voice soft but raw.
"No." Kyoka sighed. While she knew that Izuku didn't have the greatest relationship with his mother, Kyoka was happy to have someone to commiserate with in the moment. "He's been out ever since his exam."
Mrs. Midoriya made a noise of assent, acknowledging that Kyoka had spoken before she fell quiet again. She wasn't quite silent, though, as she continually wrung her hands, fidgeting to let out nervous energy. Beyond that, Kyoka could hear the woman's heartbeat and breathing patterns, and while she was putting up a formidable appearance of being calm and collected, she was on the edge.
"Thank you for being here for him, Jiro." Mrs. Midoriya's sudden speech sent a jolt of shock through Kyoka. Before she could even process what had been said, Izuku's mother was speaking again. "You probably think I'm a terrible mother."
"No, no, not at all!" Kyoka hurried to deny the accusation, which caused Mrs. Midoriya to give a wet chuckle. She had only heard things from Izuku's point of view, but even his somewhat biased complaints seemed to Kyoka like an overly concerned parent, not a terrible one.
"That's very kind of you to say, young lady. For a long time I thought I was being the mother that Izuku needed, even if I wasn't the one he wanted. Now, though, I just don't know." Kyoka had no idea what to say to that. It wasn't her place to comment on anyone's parenting style, let alone that of her boyfriend's mother.
Mrs. Midoriya seemed more than willing to carry the conversation by herself, though. "He's always been like this, you know. Self-sacrificial to a fault, always more worried about anyone other than himself. He would get in fights even starting in elementary school." Mrs. Midoriya laughed to herself, and Kyoka's mind boggled at the idea of the Izuku she met at the beginning of her training fighting anyone.
"I say fights, like Izuku was going out looking for trouble. No, he was standing up for other children who were getting bullied. So the bullies turned their attention to him. He would come home covered in dirt and dust and bruises. Eventually, the bullies focused on Izuku full-time. After all, he was just a quirkless boy who was going to get in the way no matter what happened. Why not just cut out the middle man?" That sounded more like the Izuku that Kyoka had been familiar with near the beginning of his training.
"And I… I knew it was going on. The first time that Izuku came home, bruised and limping, I went straight to the principal. He blamed Izuku, called him a troublemaker, said that he shouldn't have gotten involved in the incident. The same thing happened the second time, and the third." Izuku's mother sighed. "And eventually, I just kind of … gave up hope that the system would help him."
There was a silence as Mrs. Midoriya let her words sink in. Kyoka was nearly holding her breath, not wanting to break the spell by interrupting Izuku's mother.
Eventually, Mrs. Midoriya began speaking again. "I did try to keep him safe, though, the best I could. I'm not going to try to say I did the best possible job. I know I didn't. But I did what I thought was best at the time. Maybe I hovered too much, maybe not enough, I don't know. The one thing that I know for sure that I regret, though, was trying to quash his dream of being a hero." She sighed again, before continuing.
"I don't even think I realized I was doing it. I knew how Izuku would throw himself into any situation where he thought he could help, no regard for himself. I just couldn't see how a quirkless hero could survive with that sort of attitude." Kyoka had to admit that she could see where she was coming from. Izuku had a self-sacrificial streak a mile wide, and it was only by dint of having been given One For All that he had managed to survive some of the situations he had been put in.
"When Izuku and Mr. Yagi came to me, telling me that Izuku would develop a quirk, I didn't really believe it. It seemed too good to be true. And then when Izuku actually did develop a quirk, I guess… I guess I just fell back into old habits. And that was a disservice to Izuku. I saw him show just how much he's grown at the sports festival, and he's done so well here at U.A. He doesn't need his mother hovering over him at all times. I know that."
There was another pause before she added under her breath, inaudibly to anyone without a hearing quirk, "But he still ends up here so often. He's not going to stop, is he?" Kyoka chanced a peek to her right, where Mrs. Midoriya was sitting. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears that had not yet fallen, and her face was painted with her warring emotions as the corner of her mouth twitched downwards.
Cautiously, Kyoka reached out and took one of Mrs. Midoriya's hands in her own. The woman startled at the physical contact, as if she had forgotten that Kyoka was there. Kyoka wanted to reassure her that everything would be all right, that Izuku was getting better at keeping himself healthy, any number of things. But all of the words turned to ash on her tongue.
What Mrs. Midoriya really needed to do was to tell Izuku what she had just told Kyoka. Izuku might not have needed his mother hovering all the time, but he certainly did need to know that his mother supported him and his dream. That she would be there to support him if and when he needed it.
For the time being though, Kyoka just squeezed Mrs. Midoriya's hand as the two of them waited for Izuku to wake up. Hot tears fell on the back of her hand as they finally broke free from Mrs. Midoriya's eyes, but Kyoka didn't say a word. She just gave Izuku's mother what little support she could.
Eventually, Mrs. Midoriya squeezed back.
---
It was late at night, and all of the lights were on in the HPSC Division of Education and Training. Katashi was the director, and all of his underlings knew better than to try and leave while he was still in the office. Even if they didn't have anything immediate that needed doing, knowing that they were around to perform whatever tasks he had for them made everything a little easier for Katashi.
The man himself, though, was locked in his office, a petulant snarl on his face. Somehow, someway, all ten teams of U.A first years had managed to pass their final exams. One or two, or even five or six teams managing to best professional heroes in a simulated exercise like this was to be expected.
All ten managing to do so? That defied all common sense. Some of the heroes must have gone easy on the students, despite Katashi's direct orders to the contrary.
And so, under the harsh glow of fluorescent lighting, Katashi sat in front of the television in his room, watching and rewatching each of the exams from multiple angles.
He'd decided to watch them all in order, checking different camera angles or the thermal cameras when necessary to figure out exactly what had happened. While he was disappointed to see that Wash and Gang Orca had lost, he was not exactly surprised by either of them. While he was still a top ten hero, Wash didn't exactly have the strength to hang with the rest of the top heroes in combat situations. Meanwhile, Gang Orca had always had a soft spot for children. Neither had performed quite as he had hoped, but rather close to what he had expected.
Yoroi Musha, on the other hand, had shown the students exactly what they would be up against in combat situations, and his demolition of the students almost brought a smile to Katashi's face. It was only the fine details of the simulation, the fact that the students had cowardly hidden the target away, that led to his defeat. True, any hero worth their salt should know that if a villain gives you three options, what you're looking for is elsewhere entirely, but other than that, Katashi had no complaints with the elderly samurai hero.
On the other hand, Katashi had almost nothing butcomplaints with how Hawks had treated this exam. That foolish man had apparently forgotten everything that Katashi had taught him and let the carefree nature of the mask he showed to the public become his actual personality. He had been far too gentle, bodily removing students from his fight with his feathers rather than quickly and decisively knocking them out. It would not have been dangerous to do so, given the presence and quick response times of Recovery Girl at U.A, and it would have allowed Hawks the use of all of his feathers for the rest of the exam.
Katashi didn't even want to bother to watch the video of Hawks performing the role of villain against the class 1-B team. He had lost feathers, blunted his pinion swords, and shown that he wasn't taking things seriously. Already, Katashi was planning a thorough email to send to both Hawks and his handlers to make sure that he shaped up. The HPSC hadn't poured years worth of effort and money into training him just for him to go off and do whatever he felt like.
The last exam for class 1-A, though, was quite interesting indeed. Going into it, Katashi had been sure that Endeavor would be one of the heroes who stood no chance of losing. Seeing that he had gone up against his son, briefly the thought that perhaps he had gone easy on his own flesh and blood had gone through Katashi's mind. That thought was quickly dismissed, though, as Katashi was well aware of just how hard Endeavor pushed his youngest son in training.
It very quickly became apparent that Endeavor had not gone easy on anyone in this fight, turning a sizable chunk of the training grounds into a raging inferno in the first minutes. Following that, Katashi could see that the students had split up, with the two strongest students in the class taking on Endeavor while the other two attempted to escape. Even Midoriya and the youngest Todoroki were unable to do anything at all to Endeavor, though.
Until all of a sudden they were.
It wasn't Endeavor's son suddenly using his flames, increasing their temperature until they turned blue. That was something that Katashi would have expected.
Instead, it was Hisashi's son suddenly undergoing a quirk awakening that appeared to completely change the way his quirk worked. Or at least, added new features to his quirk that there had been no sign of before. Almost as if the smoke and inky black tendrils that he had created had been another quirk entirely.
Katashi's thoughts came to a crashing halt at that. Midoriya had been the student kidnapped by the League of Villains, the group led by, apparently, All For One. Despite his title as the infamous quirk thief, he was just as capable of giving quirks away if and when it suited him. Could Midoriya's captivity have been a smokescreen for something more diabolical?
Something tickled at the back of Katashi's memory, something important about Midoriya from when All Might was originally training him. Pausing the video on an image of demonic tendrils reaching out of a sea of smoke towards a pair of towering infernos in red and blue, Katashi returned to his computer to draw up his old files.
There, in black and white in the original documents the HPSC had received about All Might tutoring prospective hero students, was what Katashi had been trying to remember.
Izuku Midoriya: Quirkless.
A quick search in the national quirk database showed that his quirk had been updated roughly one week before the U.A entrance exam.
Had All For One been planning so far back? The attack on the USJ only happened after Midoriya had joined U.A, after all. And these new quirks emerged after Midoriya had just happened to be kidnapped by the group run by All For One. Even if All For One was dead now, it was unclear how many quirks he might have given to Midoriya.
That boy could currently be the most dangerous person in Japan. And with All Might's quirk drained and empty, there were precious few heroes that could stand against him. Endeavor had obviously proven to be one of them, although even that was in question if the Midoriya boy had held back at all during the exam.
This needed to be approached carefully. U.A was obviously out of their depth here, if Nezu for all his vaunted intelligence and All Might with his crusade against All For One had missed what was going on. There would be no way that either of them would believe anything critical about the Midoriya boy, especially if it came from Katashi.
So instead, Katashi decided he would fight this battle in the court of public opinion. A few well-placed leaks to anti-U.A (if not necessarily pro-HPSC) media outlets, followed quickly by a damning news conference would get the public in an uproar.
U.A would be finished.
But first, he needed to make sure that he had the boy's parents on his side. The mother was in his pocket, but Midoriya's father could be all too close to the president at times, and certainly had her preference for timidity in dealing with U.A. He would have to be the first one that Katashi convinced.
The harsh fluorescent lights remained on in the education wing of the HPSC headquarters late into the night.