Two days.
Two days have passed since my talk with Izuku Midoriya.
Where I accepted his final wish and promised myself to be the best of the best.
That same day, I took the trouble to show both All Might and Gran Torino my new Quirk and everything related to Daigoro.
Their reactions were different but somewhat expected.
Toshinori just looked at me in amazement until he realized I was asking him for information about the Quirks of the other wielders.
After that, he left to get said information.
Gran Torino, on the other hand, just looked at me for a few seconds and said he was too old for this shit.
I don't blame him. If he knew I was a transmigrant, he would probably die of a heart attack... I'll consider doing it to Toshinori when this is all over.
Right now, I'm heading to the hospital. I understand that some of my classmates have already been discharged.
For example, Todoroki. The Nomu pierced one of his lungs by breaking three of his ribs.
A rather negative effect of my existence in this world: UA has been heavily criticized for the fact that the son of the number 2 hero was injured like that.
But Endeavor, curiously, has not given any testimony, and I think I know why.
Todoroki doesn't use his fire side. Endeavor surely thinks Shoto ended up that way for being stubborn.
A rather idiotic man, but one I hope to have the pleasure of meeting at the Sports Festival.
Anyway, I'm at the hospital reception now.
There's someone I wish to visit to corroborate a few things, even if that someone is not to my liking.
"Excuse me, miss." The woman at the reception is quite pretty, straight brown hair with eyes of the same color. "Could you tell me which room Katsuki Bakugo is in?"
"Oh, are you a friend of his?" Friend? Please, I'd rather transmigrate to Naruto as a pathetic civilian before being friends with Bakugo... but I have to pretend for the sake of my ideas.
I give the most honest smile I can and reply.
"Yes, he and I have been friends since childhood." Until, you know, he got his Quirk and the world automatically decided that Bakugo was the fucking future Superman.
"Oh, how wonderful. No one has visited him since he got here." I wonder why? Could it be his attitude? Or his way of treating people? Complicated questions... Fucking Bakugo.
"His room is 215. He's being discharged today, by the way."
"I understand, thank you, miss."
...
This hospital is huge. I've been looking for room 215 for 5 minutes, and I still can't find anything.
Why does it have to have so many floors?
It's a hospital, not a hotel for... oh, I found it.
The door is open, and I don't hear any demonic screams. I'll take that as an entry pass.
"Hey, anyone home?" I entered the room, and sure enough, lying down with a bandage wrapped around a large part of his head was Bakugo.
"What the fuck are you doing here, nerd?!" I come to the hospital, look for his room, say hello, and he asks that... what an idiot.
"I wanted to know how you were. You were hit by that super-developed homunculus, after all."
"I'm fine! You've seen it, now get out!" Fourth-rate idiot. Be glad you're important for future shit.
"Good for you, Bakugo, but tell me, how are your insecurities?" Ah, look at him. I caught him off guard; he's in shock and everything.
"Who?... What the fuck are you saying?!" He hides it with his false arrogance, but you can tell from a distance that he's struggling to regain his composure.
"Bakugo, you can't hide things from someone who's had years to observe you and everything around you." Which isn't true, because Izuku never bothered to notice Bakugo's problems. "The world sees you as someone destined to be the best, and you accept it, but inside, it's killing you. Or am I wrong?"
I'm hitting the nail on the head, and the fact that his hands are trembling and sparks are coming from them confirms it.
"I'm going to kill you, Deku! Who the hell do you think you are to come and throw all this stupid shit at me?! You, a disgusting Quirkless fake!" Just one more step and that's it. Dealing with Bakugo is exhausting.
"Say what you want, but you know I'm right, even if you don't admit it. This doesn't free you from guilt, Bakugo... but it gives you room to know how to improve. Therapy at UA is free."
After those words, I left the hospital. I had nothing more to do there, and today I had to train One For All.
Gran Torino and I came to the conclusion that training both Blackwhip and my control of One For All every day would not be productive in the long run.
So we alternate one day each. Today, I have to keep sharpening my control over One For All.
I want to reach 10% by the end of the week. At the U.S.J., it was quite uncomfortable and painful to force more power than I could handle.
If I make the most of my time, I might be able to reach 15% for the Sports Festival, which, if I remember correctly, is in three weeks from now.
...
After a train ride and a short walk, I arrived at the gym.
I went inside and, like every day, found Gran Torino watching television and Toshinori... he's not here today. Probably on patrol or something similar, using up his little hero time.
"About time you deigned to arrive, brat. What kept you? Your girlfriend, perhaps?" Gran Torino asked me mockingly.
"I wish, sir, I wish, but no. I have to be the mature one in the class and all that. I have such a difficult life," I replied with feigned drama.
"Yes, of course. You're the brat with the most misery on the planet," Gran Torino continued the game with sarcasm.
"It's good to see that someone understands me. Anyway, should I start the meditation exercises? Or should I start with physical conditioning?" I hope he says meditation. I've been trying to contact Daigoro for days, and I want to keep trying.
"No, start with physical conditioning. You're at your prime to get a healthy and strong body." Well, there goes my meditation. Although he's right, the human body doesn't stop developing until age 25. It's essential to maintain a healthy state until 25 to avoid harsh repercussions later on.
The physical exercises haven't changed much.
Gran Torino reviewed All Might's training regimen and only made small changes, removing repetitions and adding an exercise or two.
Exercising is great, but the pain it leaves you with is a bitch.
Although All For One is a bigger bitch, so I'm not complaining.
...
"Alright, brat, that's enough of your meditation." Oh, combat training, perhaps?
"We're going to have a practice match." I was right.
"Very well." I get into a combat stance. "(One For All, Full Cowling 8%!)."
The amazing feeling of having perfect control of the power I'm using comes back to me as if it were the first time.
And I find myself smiling at the challenge of being able to fight without being on the verge of death.
"Use 10%. It's no use to me if you use something you already have under your control." That makes sense. What a shame, I wanted to keep using this comfortable percentage.
Raising One For All to 10%, I can feel the tension forming in my body just from standing.
(It's incredible, the way this power reacts is unique.) One For All is a tide that floods the entire body when activated, or at least that's how I feel it. While at mastered percentages it feels calm, when using 10%, that calm is interrupted by waves that shake the body.
One For All is a separate consciousness, not of the different wielders and not of me, but of itself. I don't know whether to be terrified by that or extremely amazed at how deep this is.
My ramblings were stopped by the kick Gran Torino was sending towards me.
I simply jumped to the ceiling and started propelling myself off the walls in the same way Gran Torino does.
Something I learned from facing him continuously is that if you want to beat him at his own game, you need something fundamental: speed.
And with 10%, I'm fast, but not fast enough.
Therefore, I'll have to beat him before he can even surpass me.
With strategy... or something similar to it.
Gran Torino bounces off the back wall of the gym and propels himself towards me. I copy his action on the opposite wall and launch myself at him.
At the last second, I do a full body spin in the air and try to kick his head. His experience quickly shows as he uses his left foot to propel himself, causing my kick to hit the air.
I land on the ground and perform another jump, propelling myself upwards.
Gran Torino, who was already expecting such a move from me, simply uses another wall to head towards me. Seeing this, I send a punch with my right hand in his direction.
He prepares to change his position, which is what I wanted him to do. With my left hand, I make a black whip appear. It's small, but sufficient. I see that for a moment, he's surprised. His movement falters, and I take advantage of that.
I catch his right leg with the whip I conjured and pull him down. He falls, but quickly recovers and propels himself directly at me.
Between staying focused so that the black whip doesn't go out of control and paying attention to the fight, I become slow to react and take his punch head-on.
I end up crashing into the combat sand in the gym, and the whip disappears.
Gran Torino descends beside me and helps me up. Thank God for that; I still feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.
"You didn't do badly, brat. Your control over One For All is decent, and you'll probably be able to use 10% without much trouble by the end of the week. On the other hand, your control over the whips is simple, but that's better than losing control." Yes, we had a small incident with the whips the day after I showed them to him. It all ended with me knocked out and a Gran Torino annoyed with Toshinori... the usual.
"Thanks, but I'd still like to be able to do both at the same time, use the whips and fight uniformly." In the canon, Izuku was able to do it thanks to Endeavor's internships. It's all a matter of doing two things at once, but that's easier said than done.
"You'll get there, eventually you'll get there. For now, stay focused on learning to use both correctly separately. After that, you can try to combine them." That's a good point too. But didn't canon Izuku skip that step? I know he didn't have the time to do everything calmly and correctly, but he still managed it.
"Now go and shower. After that, you can go home."
...
After leaving the gym, I decided to go to Dagobah Beach.
This place is becoming the one I frequent the most.
I've been trying to awaken the rest of the Quirks on my own, but I haven't had any success.
If Daigoro's Quirk was awakened by my anger, why couldn't I awaken some other Quirk with a different emotion?
I've been trying everything, from remembering happy moments to the most terrifying ones.
But I haven't achieved anything.
Although I later remembered that Uraraka unconsciously starts to float whenever she gets embarrassed.
And that's what I did. I remembered embarrassing stupid things I did or went through in my old life.
And I can say with 87% certainty that for a moment, I floated in the air.
As quickly as it came, it was gone, but it was there!
I just have to keep trying.
Because that's what it's all about, right? Trying and succeeding.
I tried to succeed at the U.S.J. and only ended up screwing up big time.
Only now I have more reasons to try and succeed.
The Sports Festival is less than a month away, and unlike in the canon, I want to win it.
If I'm going to be in the villains' spotlight, at least I'll make it clear who's in charge.
I'll give All For One more reasons not to show up ahead of time.
...
Author's Note:
Hey.
Both this chapter and the next will be interludes, small training montages, and the protagonist's life when he's not planning how to face AFO.
Because there's a life outside of training and crazy powers.
I had the MC talk with Bakugo again because I want to develop their now-new "I hate you–You hate me" relationship so that it doesn't feel empty and meaningless later on.
The MC already has the basics of Blackwhip because he remembers what canon Izuku did, with everything Endeavor explained about doing two things at once, using the example of the man driving and all that.
And he's already close to controlling 10%.
He'll be quite strong for the Sports Festival; after all, he has 3 weeks of practice left.
So for now, they will be simple chapters before moving on to the good stuff.
See you.