Chapter 5: Lament
All Might ran like the legions of hell were on his heels. Class 1-A felt the air of the room shift, pulling them to the door as he raced out and to the battleground. The hero was operating on pure instinct, his body moving with forty years of accumulated experience. He arrived in seconds, his feet slamming down and canceling his momentum without even a slight skid. He knelt down over the far too still form of Eijiro Kirishima, the red haired boy's hardening no longer active.
The boy was covered in a light coating of dust, and all the rubble had landed around him, a small mercy in this situation. From the way his arms were bent, they had been broken for sure, and the bruising on his chest indicated some broken ribs. All Might touched him gently and a pained groan escaped the boy.
All Might released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, almost shifting back to his true form in his relief. A solid thump to his left drew his attention, and he saw Itadori there, cradling his shoulder. The boy must have jumped down from the fifth story, and All Might could see the worry in his eyes.
"Is he okay?" Itadori asked. The question was barely above a whisper, and All Might could hear the haunted tone. It was one he had heard before, several times. From civilians, heroes, and even the occasional villain. It was the haunted tone of someone realizing their direct actions may have taken a life from the world.
"He's hurt, but still alive young Itadori." He replied gently as he scooped up the unconscious boy, taking care with his arms and neck. He looked at Itadori and smiled broadly, his trademark smile and demeanor taking over.
"Fear not, I am here and I will get him to Recovery Girl. Our school nurse is the best at what she does. You should follow me to get that shoulder looked at. The robots that will arrive shortly will escort you."
The pro turned and rushed away, his departure kicking up a cloud of dust, forcing Itadori to cover his eyes. As All Might rushed away, he couldn't help but remember Aizawa's words from the previous day. 'If that robot had been a human, they'd either be a cloud of red mist, or a smear on the pavement.' He found himself agreeing with the pessimistic, but true words of the underground hero. 'It would seem 1-A as a whole will need to work on control. Both of themselves and of their quirks.' All Might thought as he ran, the body of Kirishima clutched close.
Yuji waited for a second, and began to walk after All Might. His shoulder ached, and he felt like some of his back and side muscles were strained, but those didn't matter, not when Kirishima had to be in a lot more pain. He was bound and determined to make it to the nurse's office and apologize for losing control of his power. He couldn't let something small like pain slow him down, he had a long way to go before he would be at All Might's level. Nevermind that he had been actively using One for All for just over a month, if he didnt learn control fast, he would do more harm than good.
Eventually, a small robot came rolling up to him on a single wheel, and helped to support him as he walked. He barely acknowledged the mechanical shoulder he leaned on. He stared at the floor as he walked, tears blurring the sight of his crimson shoes shuffling forward. 'How can I be a hero? All Might took to this power immediately, and I can barely control it. I could have killed him.' Yuji's thoughts were a mess as he was helped along, the doubt gnawing at him, wearing away at his resolve.
After fifteen minutes, Yuji walked into the nurse's office, still clutching his shoulder, while the robot spouted instructions. He was half escorted, half followed over to one of the patient beds. Once seated, he looked around the room, mutely noting it reminded him more of the hospital his grandfather had been at than a typical school nurse's office. The office was divided into a large room of several beds, with curtains able to be pulled around each bed for privacy as needed. There was imaging equipment, a cart with several rows of tools, and several glass cabinets filled with medicines.
He saw that Todoroki was in the bed next to him, the boy's appearance already greatly improved from when he had last been seen. His skin no longer looked sunburned, and his face was healed, though the scar remained. Several bandages covered his arms, and from what he could see, looked to be covering his ribs as well. As he examined his classmate, the sound of a curtain moving drew his attention, and he saw the old lady from the entrance exam step out of it.
Recovery Girl immediately began to walk to him, her cane tapping against the ground rhythmically. As she approached, he could see that while she wore a smile on her face, her eyes were hiding the annoyance she felt. She started to speak when she got closer, "All right Sonny, where does it hurt?"
"My shoulder hurts the most, though my back and sides feel strained as well." Yuji replied quietly, not seeing the point in lying about his injuries.
The nurse nodded, and pulled out a small step ladder near the bed. She used it and when she was on his level, she motioned for him to remove his jacket. He shrugged out of it, wincing a little as he maneuvered his injured shoulder free. Once he was down to the undersuit, she began to poke and prod him, moving his arm a bit and seeing how he reacted. She was thorough in her examination, even checking on his ribs at one point to see how Kirishima's initial blow had hurt him. To her amusement, the plates in his jacket were what he had heard cracking in the fight, and they saved him from most of the damage. He would have to get them replaced later, though he wasn't sure who he was supposed to ask about that.
"Well, it looks like you got off pretty easy overall, Sonny." The heroine told him after the examination. "Your shoulder nearly dislocated and your back muscles were strained a bit as well. If your body was less able to handle that level of force, there's a chance the backlash could have been more disastrous, the muscles basically exploding and ripping off the bone for example." Her cheerful tone was a direct contrast to the horrible image she described, merrily typing away at what he could only assume was now his medical file.
"That being said, you need to learn to keep that power in check until you can handle the full output. If you can't, I'm going to put my foot down on the intensity of your training, for the sake of everyone. I will not allow you to hurt yourself, nor anyone else due to lack of control and carelessness." She spun in her chair as she spoke, her tone shifted to carry the weight of her words, the threat hanging in the air punctuated by raising and pointing her cane at him. Yuji now had a very good idea of how the woman had dealt with generation after generation of hot headed young heroes during her time as the nurse of UA.
"Now, I'll go ahead and give you a dose of my quirk, you should be one hundred percent with that." She spun in her chair, and her lips elongated, stretching the half a meter between them to land on the skin of his cheek. After a second, he glowed blue and a wave of relief flooded through him, followed quickly by a wave of exhaustion. He caught himself, and nodded as he rolled his shoulder, feeling how easily the joint moved.
"Thank you ma'am," he said nervously, "How's Kirishima doing?"
The old woman stared at him for a second, then shook her head, folding her hands in her lap. "He's going to be just fine. His quirk prevented the worst from happening, and while I couldn't heal everything right now, another dose of my quirk in the morning will have him right as rain." The old woman noted how Yuji relaxed upon hearing her words, though clearly still wrestling with what he had done. 'He's worried he could do it again, that he won't be able to control the power All Might gave him. Well, I'll show him that he is far from the first problem student UA had to coach.' Plan decided, the old nurse began to speak again.
"I swear, it was bad enough when he was just the number one hero, inspiring from afar. Now All Might is personally giving modern students his bad habits, and letting them imitate him, forgetting that he was a prodigy even at UA. Reckless beyond all reason." Her casual comments about the number one hero caught Yuji off guard.
"Wait, did you know All Might when he was a student?" Yuji's question made the old woman smile, her eyes closing as she dove into fond memories of a rambunctious blonde teenager.
"I sure did," She confirmed with a smile, "The same year that All Might enrolled at UA was the year I took the job of school nurse. That reckless, altruistic imbecile nearly drove me to drink during those three years!" she finished, her hands tightening on her cane as she raged. "All Might was extremely powerful even as a student, and he had the same heart he does now. It took everything we had to make that boy think before he ran head first into danger. He could handle all that power, and acted like he was invincible! He did mellow out considerably at the end of his third year, or at least we thought he did. Then he rushed headlong into an emergency on his first day in America for his debut and saved over a thousand people at once!"
While she sounded exasperated, Yuji noticed the woman was smiling as she shook her head.
"So he was even great back then huh?" Yuji wondered aloud, a small smile growing on his face. He had seen the video she was referencing. Most people had at least seen one of the frames taken from it. All Might, backlit by an inferno, people slung over both shoulders, and carrying even more. He was covered in soot and ash, his blonde hair near black, but despite it all, his blue eyes shone, and he wore a grin, a smile that had persisted through forty years of hero work.
"He was something else entirely. He had control over his quirk in spades, but he couldn't fight at all. Gran Torino kicked his blonde butt up and down the halls, despite his strength. The opposite of you from what I can tell Sonny." Her eyes closed once again, and a frown wormed its way onto her face briefly, before shaking it slowly.
"The world was a mess back then, Pro Heroes had only been around for maybe thirty years and the progress we've made since then is in no small part to All Might. Who would have thought that bright-eyed, loudmouth blonde kid that was always smiling would end up becoming the number one hero in the world?"
She looked at Yuji, and could see he was listening intently, brown and gray eyes focused on her, a smile on his face as he hung on every word, his pain and problems forgotten as he learned about days long past. Beyond him, she could see that the Todoroki boy was awake, and also listening, pretending to still be unconscious, but shifting slightly so he could hear better.
She smiled, her plan already bearing more fruit than intended. It just wouldn't be proper not to tell the newest generation of heroes about the very first headache student she had dealt with at UA, and some of his most humbling experiences here. Especially the time he had been brought to her concussed, rambling about pink elephants and mice casting magic.
Behind both of the boys, All Might snuck out the back door to the room, knowing that interrupting this particular story time would not be in his favor. Besides, he had a hero class to finish and an explosive teen to talk to.
The next day, Yuji and Junpei were walking to UA from the train station, Junpei once again trying to suggest hero names for Yuji. While Yuji had been exhausted from the previous day's training, the sleep that came after had fixed his morale, and he had made a decision about how to fix this.
"Power man?" Junpei asked, his arms behind his head as he walked, looking at the sky.
Yuji simply quirked an eyebrow at him, before quickly shaking his head.
"Achilles!" Junpei said confidently.
"Another Greek myth?" Yuji asked curiously, wondering why his best friend kept resorting to those names.
"You haven't suggested a single name yet." Junpei accused.
"Haven't thought about it all that much. So far it's been more fun to hear your suggestions, and then reject them."
Junpei rolled his eyes, not noticing that Yuji had stopped walking, until he was grabbed by the shoulder. As he was broken from his thoughts, he noticed that there was a massive crowd out front of UA, consisting exclusively of reporters and UA students that were being forcibly interviewed. He stared at the crowd for several seconds, and then looked at Yuji. Yuji knew that the other teen had seen the dilemma and was aware of what he was thinking.
"I'm not doing it. Last time was bad enough, and we got in trouble for it."
"Why not? It'll be faster and easier."
"I refuse to be carried like that."
"You would rather struggle through that crowd?"
Junpei turned and stared at the crowd of reporters again, judging how much of a pain it would be to fight through. After a minute of silence, he decided fighting through was the way to go. As he turned back to Yuji, he felt someone touch his back, and he immediately began to float. Whipping his head around, he caught sight of a grinning Ochaco Uraraka, now also floating, and further back, Yuji. She latched onto Junpei with a hug, and yelled "Ready!" before pushing them higher into the air.
Yuji sprinted forward and leapt, grabbing the other two as he passed, their bundle easily clearing the group of reporters, and descending on the other side; Yuji taking the impact of their landing, and Uraraka released her quirk.
"Thanks Uraraka! Junpei was being difficult." Yuji offered his hand for a high five, which she promptly slapped her own palm against.
"No problem! I was wondering how I was gonna get around them anyway."
As they spoke, Mr. Aizawa walked up.
"Itadori, Uraraka, normally I'd be on your case for using your quirks recklessly, but I can understand wanting to avoid that mess." He nodded to the front gates, where they could see an angry Bakugo yelling at the reporters, and a few of their other classmates pretending not to know him. "Go ahead and make your way to class. Present Mic and I will deal with the crowd." The two young heroes-in-training thanked him and made plans to see Junpei at lunch, before heading to class, Yuji sneaking a photo of Junpei before leaving.
The entire time, Junpei Yoshino was desperately attempting to regain control of his mind and body, the sudden hug having overloaded him, leaving his face a bright shade of red.
As they arrived at their classroom, Yuji looked around. Most of the class was there, some chatting excitedly, others organizing their bags or playing on their phones before class started.
Yuji found the person he was looking for immediately and made his way over. He bowed low when he arrived by their desk, begging for their forgiveness.
"Kirishima, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you. I lost control yesterday and seriously injured you! I'll work hard to make sure it never happens again!"
Silence took over the classroom for one awkward heartbeat at his formal apology, before laughter filled the void. Yuji looked up as Kirishima laughed deeply, unsure of what to make of the redhead's response. After a few seconds, Kirishima took a deep settling breath, some rogue chuckles still fighting through.
"I appreciate the apology, Itadori, but don't forget I asked you to go all out on me. It wouldn't be manly to ask you for anything less than your best! Besides, it was an accident, and it's better that it was me than anyone else! I can take that level of punishment!"
Kirishima had a toothy grin on his face, sharp teeth bared in the friendliest way possible. He stuck out his hand, the offer plain as day. Yuji looked at it before grasping it, shaking hands with his new friend.
"So what the heck is your quirk anyway?" Kirishima asked as they relaxed, his curiosity finally getting the better of him. "It's like you have different levels of strength. I was doing okay until that scream, then I was flying Itadori airlines."
Yuji laughed while scratching the back of his head. He had been hoping that he could get further without talking about his quirk, but it seemed it would be inevitable. "Well I thought my quirk for a long time was just a passive strength enhancing quirk, and when I started training to enter UA, I found it actually has a lot more output than I ever thought it did. I can't handle the full output right now, so I have to focus on controlling it at a lower level until I can. It's hard to maintain my concentration and apparently I get surprised easily." He crossed his arms and looked down in embarrassment, feeling a wave of regret at his lack of control.
The others were a bit interested as he explained a bit about his quirk, and his lack of control on the maximum output. A few of the others, like Todoroki and Aoyama, were wondering how he could have such an incredible output without training his quirk intensely. A few others like Kaminari and Yaoyorozu were wondering just how hard he could hit. He had broken a five meter wide hole in solid concrete with the low setting, and had launched Kirishima through another wall with an off balance punch when he was powered up.
"So what's it called?" Kirishima asked
"Um, I haven't given it a name yet." Itadori muttered quietly, desperately looking anywhere but at his classmates. He had been thinking about what to call his original quirk, but the unexpected developments that had come about with One for All made it a bit awkward. He couldn't easily explain the markings and the change in eye color with just "strength enhancing quirk" after all. As he struggled internally, it was Asui who spoke up and asked the exact question he was dreading.
"So those markings only appear when you activate the higher outputs of your quirk? That sounds a bit odd, especially since you seem to be strong without those higher levels." the green haired girl croaked, her dark eyes staring at Yuji curiously.
Sensing an out, Yuji began to talk, building his story as he spoke. "Well, like I said, I only found out about the activated portion more recently. Heck, I didn't realize my eyes changed color until I saw myself in a mirror. I've been strong since I was little though. I wasn't allowed to open doors or flush a toilet for a year when I was little, I couldn't quite understand just how strong I was and it was a real problem." As he spoke, a few of his classmates nodded in sympathy, memories of small children gone wild with quirks flooding them.
Koda remembered being found inside a literal pile of dogs, giggling as they all wanted to play. Mina recalled accidentally melting a bowl, two glasses, and a table. Tokoyami smiled as memories of late nights talking with Dark Shadow, admiring the stars and the moon over the city.
As class 1-A reminisced and talked, Mr. Aizawa walked into the room and set some papers down on his podium, then called the class to order. "Alright, settle down and take your seats. I reviewed the footage from your heroics class yesterday. Most of you did well in the combat scenarios, and did a good job getting over being star struck by All Might quickly." His voice was tired, but seemed slightly proud of the class. The students sat a little straighter, until his voice changed with his next sentence, eyes hard as he shifted his gaze to three students in particular.
"Bakugo, Todoroki and Itadori. All three of you had issues out there, but you Bakugo, were by far the most egregious. You need to work on controlling your emotions. I agree with All Might on his punishment, though you're lucky he was in charge of the class, the rest of the faculty would not have tolerated that kind of behavior."
The teen snarled as he was called out, crossing his arms and looking away. Aizawa stared at him unimpressed, black eyes boring into the teens head, then looked to Todoroki. "Todoroki, you didn't go all out during that fight, and while I won't press you on that for now, you should be aware of what's at stake. You can't afford to hold back at UA." Todoroki's eyes narrowed, before nodding shallowly, clearly not happy about being called out in class. Aizawa nodded in return, then turned to Yuji. "Itadori, you managed to figure out how to tame some of that power, but you lost control when Asui screamed. Well done on making an improvement in only a day, but you need to be able to maintain that level of control at all times. " Yuji nodded, smiling at the compliment from his teacher.
"As for the rest of you, we'll review the tapes as a class during Heroics this afternoon, and we'll go over some of the prep for tomorrow's lesson. As for right now, you all have to make a choice that will affect the rest of your time here at UA." He sighed heavily, clearly dreading what he was about to say. "You need to select a Class Representative. I don't care how you get it done, just get it done quickly. You have until I wake up from my nap." He pulled out his phone and set an alarm, showing the class they had a mere thirty minutes, and pulled his sleeping bag out, falling asleep on the floor behind the podium.
The class exploded into shouts and demands. It seemed most wanted to be the representative of the class, even Bakugo joining in the shouting. Promises were thrown out, with everything from less homework, to uniform modifications, to rampant quirk usage. Yuji looked around quizzically as the class seemed ravenous to be the one selected. He noticed that out of the class, he was the only one not jumping out of his seat to be noticed. Finally, Ida was able to get the attention of the class.
"It's clear we all want the duty, so why not settle this democratically? We barely know each other, so it will be clear that whoever gets the most votes will have already made a strong impression on their classmates." At his words, the class seemed to hesitate, before agreeing. It was clear that most would vote for themselves, but the few who didn't would be the deciding factor.
Ten minutes later the results of the election were written on the board. While most members of the class had one vote apiece, five did not. Uraraka, Jirou, and Yuji each had zero votes, while Yaoyorozu had two and Ida had three. Ida smiled broadly, while Yaoyorozu had a smaller one, obviously disappointed, but satisfied. Ida took a deep breath, prepared to make a big speech, only to be interrupted as Mr. Aizawa stood up.
"Have you decided?" He yawned, stretching his arms.
"Indeed we have, I will be the Class Representative and Yaoyorozu will be my deputy." Ida's response was loud enough to make Mr. Aizawa stare at him, eye twitching slightly. He eventually shook his head, then moved on.
"Good, let's get on with the day."
He watched the crowd of scavengers staring at the massive steel wall. One of the ignorant fools had walked right up like it was her right and that wall had nearly taken her foot off when it came rocketing out of the ground. It was probably designed that way. From what Master had told him, the principal of UA was a sadistic little nut, an animal that called himself a hero.
He squinted and scratched at his neck. The infernal itching had been a problem ever since his quirk developed fifteen years ago. The Doctor assured him it was no big deal, but the Doctor wasn't the one scratching all the time. Dammit, he could feel his neck getting raw again, but the itch hadn't gone away. He scratched harder.
Master had told him he needed a distraction in around ten minutes, but hadn't told him what to do. Not like he couldn't figure it out. His master had arranged for the vultures to gather en masse like this anyway. UA was no doubt blaming the reporters that followed All Might for the current events. He only had two jobs, and it wouldn't be hard to pull either one off. He checked the time again, eight minutes to go.
He sighed, forcing his hand away from his neck. The damn itch was still there, but any more and he would probably start bleeding. That would be noticeable, and that would be problematic. Especially since he would have to be in the middle of that crowd of vultures.
He was taken from his thoughts as two young children ran past him, one shouting "I AM HERE!" while wearing an All Might hoodie, clearly chasing the "villain". As he watched, the leading child fell, and after a second inevitably started to cry as their scraped knees and hands became apparent. He looked around, seeing no other adults remotely close to the scene. Time to learn a lesson, kid. Heroes aren't always around.
He got up from the park bench, his baggy hoodie hiding his gray hair, and lanky build, his slouch concealing his true height. He started to amble his way to the gates of UA, taking a roundabout walk that would have him pass the front of the crowd, staying near the wall on the sidewalk. As he walked away he missed the other half of the child duo tugging the fallen one up, helping the crying one to the bench.
He pulled out his phone, careful to make sure the pad on his pinky finger never made contact with the device. It had taken him years to get his habits in control, and he still made slip ups. The phone wasn't important, but showing he could do simple tasks and didn't need to be watched every five seconds was of greater value. As he entered the crowd, he let himself be pushed and bumped, resisting the urge to grab the offending people. He bumped into the great steel wall, his left hand pressed flat against it, pads of his fingers lingering against it as he walked through the crowd.
His quirk activated the second all five pads had touched the cool steel. It started to crumble, the metal flaking and falling to the ground. By the time he had walked past, the wall was falling, collapsing and spreading in a cloud of orange and black dust. He smirked as he heard the sounds of wonder, and then shouting as the scavengers ran into UA.
'That should be a sufficient distraction. Keep those pesky heroes looking right where we want them. By the time they realize anything important, it'll be far too late. See you soon, All Might.'
During lunch, Yuji sat with a slightly larger group of his classmates. Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Jirou, Asui and Ashido had all decided to join their group for lunch that day. Junpei once again sat with them, earning a curious look from the new additions. Once a quick round of introductions had been made, conversation was flowing freely as the group ate.
"Hold up, you did what?!" Junpei's shout caught the attention of several other people in the cafeteria, earning them several dirty looks. He wasn't paying attention at all, staring at his best friend, as Yuji sheepishly tried to look apologetic. "All those months of helping you study, planning on getting into UA together, and this is how I find out your quirk has an activated state?!" he roared, grabbing Yuji by the collar and bringing them face to face.
His overzealous attempts to throttle Itadori brought mixed reactions from around the table. Most at the table were chuckling, or in the case of Kirishima full on laughing, at the duo. Yaoyorozu looked worried, as it was her question that had sparked the outburst. She looked over to the others, clearly confused as to why they were laughing, while a schoolmate tried to throttle her classmate Finally, Ida decided to reprimand the two.
"That's quite enough. This behavior is far from acceptable for two UA students. Especially when one of them is in the hero course!" His arm chopped rapidly as he spoke, his voice causing Junpei to stop and look at him, before sheepishly letting go of Yuji.
"My bad. Guess I got a little carried away. I guess I'm curious about it too now. What does it feel like when you activate your quirk?" Junpei's sheepish apology and smile quickly turned into a glare as Yuji straightened out his uniform.
Yuji glanced around, seeing that everyone was now looking at him, curious as it felt to have that much power. He took in a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.
"It feels like I'm holding back a wild animal. It's like my body and quirk want to go all out, all the time. I'm so used to it not being active I don't have an issue keeping it down, but when I'm using it and in the moment…" he paused, staring at his clenched fists, and forced them to relax. "It takes a lot of focus, and I'm someone who relies a lot on my instincts. It feels unnatural to hold back, even if I know it will wind up hurting me."
They all nodded in understanding before Asui, or Tsu as she insisted on being called, spoke up. "It is kind of odd that your quirk can hurt you like that isn't it? I've never heard of someone being born with a quirk that has such an intense backlash."
The others began to ponder her words, but before any could utter a sound, a loud alarm went off, accompanied by a loud, piercing voice.
"ATTENTION. ATTENTION. SECURITY BREACH, CODE YELLOW. REPEAT, SECURITY BREACH. CODE YELLOW."
The warning began to repeat. The entire cafeteria was still for a few precious seconds. Then, a student dropped a tray and all hell broke loose as over three hundred students began to panic. Trays of food were left abandoned as people began to rush for the exit, quickly transforming from students at a prestigious academy into a stampeding herd of beasts. The pandemonium was fierce and the exits quickly became choked with people trying to force their way through, disregarding the safety of others.
Yuji's table was swept into the wave, and he could hear Ida calling for the others. He managed to get a hold of Junpei and Jirou before they could be swept away, pushing them up onto the table and out of the crowd. Tsu and Ashido had both been saved by Kirishima, the other boy's quirk active as people tried to force him out of their way, only to slam into his rock like body. He was holding onto the table and keeping it stable, so the crowd didn't flip it, and his less sturdy classmates, to the floor.
"Yaoyorozu!" Jirou and Tsu's shout grabbed Yuji's attention, quickly following their fingers to the other side of the table. Yaoyorozu had been caught in the initial scramble, and swept away from the group. Yuji could see her struggling to push people away and stay standing. She was doing well, until a particularly large student with a head like a water buffalo shoved his way through the crowd a little behind her, forcing others back. The condensed crowd was too much for her and Yuji watched as she started to fall, panic clear on her face.
Yuji didn't think, he just let his body take over. He was on the table and then he was in the air, leaping over the small girls and towards Yaoyorozu's falling form. He twisted as he flew, his feet leading. He reached out and latched onto her arms as she flailed.
"Gotcha!" He called out as he pulled, flipping her up into the air. He let her go when she was clear of the crowd, and continued until he felt his feet land on the back of the buffalo student. He pushed off lightly, needing the change in momentum, but not wanting to topple the large student and add to the panic.
He caught Yaoyorozu as he soared back to the table, carrying her bridal style and landing on the table, crouching to lessen the impact. He stood and looked around and saw the crowd calming as Ida of all people shouted, stuck to the wall above the hall doorway, his engines exposed and some flames shooting out.
"Um, thank you for the assistance, but could you kindly set me down now?"
Yaoyorozu' quiet voice made Yuji glance down, realizing he was still holding the tall girl. She was blushing fiercely, her dark eyes pointedly looking anywhere but at him. Yuji quickly set her down on the table. She straightened herself, smoothing out her rumpled skirt and jacket, before turning and bowing her head slightly to Yuji.
"Thank you again for the help, I was panicking and didn't know what to do." She said quietly and seriously, her onyx eyes boring into his as she stood back up.
"There's no need for all that." Yuji replied, waving his hands. "We're classmates, and my body just kinda moved on its own. You're not hurt are you?"
"I'm fine, a couple bruises I think, but nothing to worry over." She smiled at him, and he grinned back. They both got off the table, and along with the rest of their group, rejoined Ida and Uraraka. As they moved to follow the now orderly crowd of students, Ida explained the situation he had seen through the large windows.
"So all that commotion, was it just because the press got in?" Junpei said, exasperated.
"Yep!" Uraraka said brightly, patting Junpei on the back.
"Well, good work on calming everyone down Class Rep, you managed to get everyone in line before anyone could get seriously hurt!" Kirishima congratulated Ida by pounding him on the back. Ida stumbled a bit, but smiled and nodded, straightening his glasses.
"Now then, let's follow the protocol and report to our assigned muster area." He commanded, and the group readily followed his lead.
After the excitement of lunch, the students of 1-A found themselves back in the classroom, this time with Mr. Aizawa teaching the heroics course for the day.
"All Might is running your sister class, 1-B, through the same training we did yesterday. So we are going to spend the class today reviewing yesterday's training and then covering some rescue operation situations. We'll finish covering all of that tomorrow, and on Friday, we will be doing rescue training."
He summarized his points quickly, expecting the wanna be heroes to take notes and plan accordingly. As he spoke, a projector descended from the ceiling, the white board behind him rotated into the wall and his podium slid to the left side of the classroom, so the projector could cover the entire wall unimpeded. To the students it probably looked like magic or extremely high level technology, but the simple truth of the matter was Mr. Aizawa's podium had a tablet embedded in it that allowed him to control these and several other classroom functions.
"Now, we'll cover the highlights of each round, both good and bad for each team and we will discuss as a class what could have been improved. First up, Uraraka, Tokoyami, Hagakure and Sado."
A video of both teams highlights played. Uraraka and Tokoyami were praised for their quiet entry to the building, and their use of dark shadow as a scout and an extra combatant. They were also scolded for not trying to sneak around Sado and secure the weapon or being more vigilant for Hagakure. Sado and Hagakure were praised for playing to their strengths, and suggestions about setting up traps and ambushes were made.
The overall class went much like this until it got to Bakugo and Todoroki's fight. This time he let the entirety of the fight play out, paying attention to how the students reacted to seeing the fight again, or in the case of two, how it looked seeing it from the outside. Some of them were squeamish, obviously uncomfortable with seeing the conclusion once again. Some shot nasty looks at Bakugo, while others were simply in awe of both of them. Bakugo paid attention only to the screen, glaring at it, but Aizawa could see his fists clenched below the desk, white knuckled. Todoroki was staring at the screen as well. He was glaring at it, his eyes narrowing when he started to steam at the end of the fight.
Aizawa knew a fair amount about both boys, having researched his class before the year began. Katsuki Bakugo was born with a powerful quirk, Explosion, and had been told since it manifested he was perfect for being a hero. Constant positive reinforcement had bred an ego and a mean streak in the boy, no doubt the result of people thinking if they constantly encouraged him, he would become a productive member of society, rather than a terrorist.
While it was logic he could understand, no one had ever put the boy back in his place, reminded him that he was still a child, and there was more to being a hero than fighting the bad guys. Aizawa didn't doubt the boy's ability to be a hero, but his motivations were currently only about proving his strength, and now it fell to Aizawa to fix that.
Shoto Todoroki was similar, but completely different at the same time. He was one of four hero course students that had been recommended this year, and on top of that he had been recommended to UA by the number two pro hero, Endeavor. A hero that coincidentally was the boy's father.
His quirk was registered as Half-Hot Half-Cold, the ability to generate ice and fire from his right and left sides respectively, and yet he seemed adamant to not utilize the fire half. Clearly there was some trauma there, and from his words during the training, more than likely related to his father. Aizawa was going to have his work cut out for him breaking through that wall.
"Let's start with the basics of this, can anyone tell me what each team did well?" His tired voice cut through the silence of the classroom. Yaoyorozu was the first to raise her hand, and he called on her.
"Todoroki tried to use an efficient plan to neutralize his opponents, using Jirou's hearing to locate them and his own quirk to freeze them in place. The problem with that is he left his teammate to navigate the environment he created alone, and then when he encountered Bakugo he mainly went on the defensive. Bakugo was able to evade the initial freeze and put pressure on Todoroki, but he left his teammate frozen to the floor, and he obviously went overboard during the fight." Her finishing statement was delivered with a disdainful look at the boy, one that judging by the rude gesture the boy tried to hide from Aizawa, was not received well.
Tucking that away for future reference, He nodded to Yaoyorozu; her analysis was spot on for a surface level insight of the fight. Interestingly both Todoroki and Bakugo looked irritated about the observations. Deciding to poke the bear cubs, Aizawa called out to one. "Todoroki, why didn't you try to freeze Bakugo with another wave of ice?"
"It wouldn't have worked. He was moving too fast and would have countered any amount that wouldn't destroy the building." The scarred teen grumbled, his voice low but carrying across the classroom.
Aizawa quirked an eyebrow, and acknowledged the validity of that statement with a question. "If that's true, then why didn't you try to coordinate with your teammate for a better chance at capturing or subduing him? You tried to take on the entire enemy team alone and wound up in the infirmary for it." He kept his voice dry and level as he tore into the boy, but it had to be done. There was nothing wrong with confidence, heroes needed to have it in spades, but arrogance was going to be ripped to shreds without any mercy.
The teen at least had the sense to look ashamed as Aizawa pointed out the flaws in his logic, his blue and gray eyes staring at the floor. 'Good, you screwed up on the second day of class. You got seriously injured in your first combat exercise. Think about why.' Aizawa thought as he turned to the other troublemaker, tired eyes leveling a glare at the explosive teen.
"Speaking of taking on the enemy team alone, what were your reasons for doing so Bakugo?" The boy grew a wolfish smile as he was addressed.
"I'm better on the offensive, so once the Ice Princess froze over the building, I went hunting for him and Ears. I left Tail to get himself out since he was too stupid to avoid being frosted." His voice was rough, and he clearly was all too happy to talk about how great he was.
Aizawa merely raised an eyebrow at the utter disrespect shown to the boy's classmates. He was going to have more than just his work cut out for him. He was going to have to break the boy down and rebuild him.
"If that's the case, why did you use the gauntlet?"
The explosive blonde's smile faded for a second and his face twisted into a snarl, crimson eyes glaring. "He wouldn't stay down, and it wasn't like the blast would kill him. He had enough ice and speed to make a shield." he grumbled, crossing his arms.
Aizawa wasn't impressed with the pouting. "If that's the case, you could have just captured him. You had the tape, Todoroki was barely standing, and you clearly had more than enough energy to successfully arrest the 'villain'. All Might got on your case, but you'll be serving detention today for that stunt Bakugo. It will not be allowed to happen again."
Aizawa's growled threat came with him activating his quirk, his own eyes glowing an ominous crimson as the hair moved from his face. The threat was clear to the entire class. Pull a stunt like that again, and I will personally eradicate your hero career before it begins.
Bakugo nodded, crossing his arms on his desk before resting his chin on them, somehow managing to sulk while being furious. Aizawa continued to glare for a few moments more, then relaxed, his quirk deactivating and started the next video.
Aizawa saw Yuji shrink in his chair, but moved forward, once again letting the whole video play. 'He's gonna have to learn to face his failures. I hate to say I told you so, but we need to understand what is at stake when he activates that quirk.'
The reaction from the class was different this time, Aizawa noted. Unlike most of the fights during the rest of the day, this one resembled the first fight. There was more back and forth, distinct styles and preferences being shown.
Yuji liked to remain on the offensive, using his athleticism to utilize a blend of kicks, punches and acrobatics to change his angles of attack. Kirishima, on the other hand, was clearly a defensive fighter, relying on his quirk to tank hits and punish his opponents during the openings they left. He landed maybe a quarter of the blows Yuji did, but his blows clearly had more effect.
The video ended with the rapid sequence of Asui's scream and Yuji launching Kirishima. Aizawa ended the video and turned to the class.
"Kirishima and Kaminari, what would you say you did well and poorly?"
Aizawa's question surprised the class. He hadn't called on any of the teams directly this entire time, letting the class as a whole review the footage and make comments.
"Well, I guess I would say I was too arrogant. I thought I could tank Itadori's hits and capture him with no sweat, but when he landed that last punch, it felt like everything went into a blur." Kirishima's words were quiet, but the entire class was listening carefully. Several of them looked over to Yuji, and he distinctly felt their gazes, unnerving him.
"I think I did okay, but I went over my wattage limit pretty fast. Asui kinda scared me and it made me unload on her. Sorry about that."
Kaminari apologized while glancing over to the frog girl, who gave him a quick nod of forgiveness.
"A good start, what about Asui and Itadori? What did you do well and poorly?"
"I think we did pretty well on the infiltration, and our strategy was okay, but I messed up grabbing Kaminari like that and startled Itadori." The green haired girl said after thinking for a few seconds, her finger held to her mouth as she looked at the ceiling.
Yuji nodded his agreement before adding, "I was doing okay until I heard her scream, and then I just slipped."
Aizawa nodded to them, and then addressed the class as a whole. "Can anyone tell me what common factor that almost every team had addressed in one form or another today?" He waited several seconds with no response before continuing in an even voice. "Control. All of you are still unrefined, fresh, figuring out what does and does not work. You have some of the basic knowledge on how to control your abilities, and some of you even have good battle instincts, but all of you are lacking in one form or another.
"That's not meant to discourage any of you. If you had zero potential you would have already been cut loose. I refuse to see any student of mine hurt because I enabled them, and further, I refuse to see anyone hurt because I let someone incapable pretend to be a hero."
Aizawa's words cut through the air, sharp as a blade. He saw some like Ashido and Kaminari shrunk as he spoke, while others like Yaoyorozu and Ida accepted his words calmly. Those weren't the ones he was looking for. There, six pairs of eyes, locking onto his own, a fire starting to burn in them. Bakugo, Todoroki, Tokoyami, Kirishima, Itadori and Uraraka.
He fought to hold back a smirk. The determined ones always revealed themselves early. The class was clearly talented, even for UA's standards, but there was always a set that would separate themselves, show that they could not only shine in UA, but could truly go beyond.
He nodded to his class of hero hopefuls, eyes softening slightly. "Now that we're through the review of yesterday's training, we're going to start on some basic rescue operation procedures and first aid training."
"Did we get what we needed, Master?" His voice was ragged, almost strained, but he showed no signs of discomfort. His blue-gray hair messily fell around his face, ruby eyes unblinking as he scratched at his cheek. The damn itch was back.
"We did Tomura. It would seem that All Might plans to teach a class of first years at a remote location the day after tomorrow. While more sudden than expected, this opportunity should not be wasted." The voice came from a TV mounted behind the bar. There was no video feed, just a bright purple line that split the screen in half. If not for the movement of the line indicating sound waves, one could have assumed the line was a simple break in the screen.
The voice itself was smooth, aged, and refined. As expected of the man who had reached out to a young boy standing in the pile of dust that had once been his home and family. The man who had picked him up, dusted him off and was there for him when the nightmares came. Taught him how to control his quirk and focus himself. Who had shown him just how the world truly operated, and how it worshipped a pantheon of false gods, and one in particular was set above all the rest.
"Go ahead and begin your personal preparations, but do not overexert yourself. You should be well rested, it's not every day that someone kills the Symbol of Peace."
Tomura Shigaraki nodded, picking up the graying mummified hand on the counter of the bar before placing it over his own face. The itching ceased almost instantly, when it was secured. He picked up an All Might figurine that had been set on the counter, wrapping his fingers around it until his quirk activated. The figurine quickly eroded away, turning into gray particles in his palm.
"Of course Master, I'll show the world just how frail the pillar holding them up actually is."