Tomura stared at the crowd of reporters swarming the front gates at UA slightly bewildered. Okay, yeah Himiko had sent him a text saying as much when she texted him asking him to swing by with her blood draw kit she had accidently forgot to put in her bag that morning but hearing about it and seeing it were two different things.
He considered the crowd for a few moments before scratching lightly at his neck. "Oh wow that is a lot of them." After a moment of considering them he just began pushing his way through, mindful of his Quirk.
Unfortunately, when he was nearly at the closed gate, a body slammed into him from behind making him throw a hand out to catch himself against it. As it crumpled to dust in front of him and the reporters shoved him the rest of the way down to the ground, he had to quickly roll to the side inside the gate to keep from being trampled.
"Whoops."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Izuku jolted awake with a start as alarms rang out through the school. Shouta shot up to his feet, only for Izuku to grab his wrist before running out the door. "There is no actual danger."
Shouta gave him a conflicted look before his phone pinged with a text. He fished it out and shifted from stressed to annoyed. "Tomura just Decayed the front gate to let the press in."
Hitoshi groaned. "For fucks sake. Why?"
Shouta sighed. "Since there was only a few minutes left before we would have had to get up anyways, why don't you hunt him down to go ask."
Izuku gave a salute with a yawn and pulled himself back up his feet. "Will do."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Tomura gave a yelp of surprise as a bullet impacted the floor at his feet. "Freeze if you know what is good for you."
He turned his head to look down the hallway that he had been walking past heading vaguely in the direction of where he thought the staff room was to ask either Shouta or Hizashi to pass along Himiko's blood kit. His hands shot up in surrender with Himiko's kit in one hand. "Don't shoot! I'm just dropping something off for my sister! Nedzu gave me a pass and everything!"
Snipe gave him a questioning look. "Uh huh, sure you did. And you just so happen to turn up when the intruder alarms are going off?"
Tomura winced. "Sorry, I accidentally broke the gate when the hoard of reporters out there knocked me over. I am pretty sure the alarm is going off just because of them."
Snipe lowered his gun slightly. "How do you accidently break the UA front gate?"
Tomura shrugged. "Five point highly destructive Quirk? Look, you could ask like half of your colleagues in Heroics who I am and they would be able to recognize me."
Before he could respond to that, Tomura was tackled from the side by Izuku and knocked to the floor. "Tomura, how dare you! You woke us up! The betrayal!"
"I'm sorry! Blame the reporters for knocking me off balance or Himiko for forgetting her blood shit! Hell, blame Dabi for refusing to run up here to deliver it in favor of meeting up with Yumi for lunch!"
Hitoshi, who had clearly followed Izuku, then appeared into view of Snipe. "You can stand down. It's just Izuku's brother."
Izuku huffed and stole Himiko's kit from his hand before climbing off of Tomura in favor of walking over to Snipe. "Here you can give this to Power Loader to pass along so there is no repeat stabbing today."
Snipe seemed to look between the kit now in his hand and Tomura on the floor. "So it is really just reporters?"
Hitoshi nodded. "Yeah, Nedzu gave him and Dabi visitor passes since sometimes they run stuff up here from Uncle Hisashi for Nedzu when he can't make it up here himself. This is just the first time you've run into him while he was here, right?"
"Ah, that is Nedzu's chess buddy right? Is the whole running errands thing common?"
Tomura shrugged. "Not really no. At least not for me or Dabi. I am pretty sure that he has had Shouta run things back and forth between them a lot though. Like tea and snacks, that sort of shit."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
The cafeteria was in complete chaos as Eijiro helped Tenya get up above the heads of the crowd, fishing out the whistle that Izuku had gifted him that morning as their newly elected Class Representative after the class came to the general consensus that as the only student with some sort of seeming control over Izuku, he be the one in charge. The position of Vice rep had then gone to Yoarashi with the thought that his high energy and class spirit would pair well with Tenya's perceived more serious and rule loving ways.
Everyone froze and seemed to snap to attention to him. "Everyone, there is no need to panic. If you take a look just out the window you can see that the press are the ones responsible for the alarm. If everyone can just keep calm to head to your class meeting points so that our teachers can get an accurate headcount and check to make sure there are no injuries from all of this as per procedure. There is no need to rush and risk forming a crush! Everything is fine!"
After a few close to the window confirmed what he had said, the crowd seemed to relax and evacuated more slowly and carefully with a few compliments being thrown Tenya's way but other sheepish class reps. Finally enough room opened up for Eijiro to lower him from his shoulders. "Great job Class Rep! I knew you were the right one for the job!"
Tenya felt his face heat up, mindful of the crowd around him. "It was nothing really. I couldn't have done it without your help or the whistle that Midoriya gave me at the end of Homeroom as a joke."
Shoji, who had also been nearby, shook his head. "No, that was still rather quick thinking. I stand by what I said earlier about you being good at keeping a cool head under pressure in a crisis."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Sorahiko froze as he spotted the young man walking out of the main building of the school in the direction of the now destroyed front gate. A young man with Nana's face down to the mole on his chin. As he neared the gate, Sorahiko forced himself to move. "Hey kid, hold up a second."
The boy groaned but stopped. "I have a visitor ID and I am leaving anyway."
Sorahiko came to a stop in front of him. "Sorry this isn't about that. This might sound like an odd question but your family name wouldn't happen to be Shimura is it?"
The kid gave him an odd look. "No it's Midoriya? Why do you ask?"
Sorahiko narrowed his eyes. "You sure about that?"
"Uh yeah? It was sort of a big thing back when Father took custody over me after my birth Mom and her husband died. Plus I not only look like my blood siblings, I inherited some of my late uncle's health issues from that side."
Sorahiko sighed. "Sorry, it is just you are the spitting image of my late hero partner. She had a son odd enough that he might have a kid around your age that I don't have contact with per her wishes. You said you are a Midoriya?"
Midoriya nodded. "Yeah. Before you ask, Izuku's whole face came from Mom's side of the family as did his colors. Neito is more on model for looking like Father since both he and his mom look pretty similar to him. Me and Eri are a mix and Dabi is the spitting image of his mother under his scars. I am sorry for your loss for what it's worth."
"So what is with the formal address for your father? I don't think anyone else in your family does it."
Midoriya winced. "Habit? My step-father ruined the word Dad for me for a long time so keeping things formal between us when I was younger made me feel safer." He rubbed the scar over his lips. "I think all my scars are his fault actually."
Sorahiko grimaced. "Shit, sorry for making you think about that, Kid."
He shrugged. "It was a long time ago and doesn't really matter anymore. After all, it's kinda hard for a dead guy to hurt me again."
"How'd he die?"
The kid reached down to pick up a rock by the side of the path. "He forced my Quirk to manifest in self defense." He closed all five fingers around the stone only for it to disintegrate into dust like he had found round the gate. "As you can probably guess, that didn't end well for him."
Sorahiko's mouth went dry. He knew that it happened sometime, violent Quirk manifestations that end up accidentally killing someone but it was always rough on the kid afterwards knowing that it was their fault that someone was dead. The level of apathy the kid was giving for the incident was either a sign of the kid being apathetic towards killing in general or far more likely given he had just stated it was forced just how bad of a situation he had been forced to save himself from. He looked back at the gate for a change of topic. "So the gate was you then?"
He sighed. "It wasn't intentional. Those reporters are lucky that the thing they shoved me up against wasn't another person. My Quirk just does not turn off and I accidentally dusted my last left glove when I was getting dressed to leave so until my new box of gloves turn up I am just back to four point touching things with that hand." He flourished his specially gloved right hand to prove his point.
"You accidentally destroy stuff often?"
He made a so-so gesture. "I am generally better about it when I am fully awake but when I am tired I or lose my temper sometimes I can dust things with only one point. My Quirk is literally broken which is why I never should have manifested it in the first place. I figure it is why both Izuku and Sachi were both born Quirkless too. I mean look at Dabi. He literally cooks himself when he uses his Quirk correctly . Add to that uncle Yoichi and it is kinda obvious that Quirk instability is an issue with Father's side of the family. It is also probably how Eri ended up with a healing Quirk despite there being no history of Quirks like that on either side of the family."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Sorahiko couldn't help but think of the boy more as he watched his younger brother and two nephews file out with the rest of their class in costume. Or well, mostly. Obviously the corrections that three of them had made to be fixed with their costumes would obviously not be corrected over night so the girl with issues was instead wearing just her UA gym shorts and a sports bra which frankly was less revealing on her even with less skin covered. Honestly, if the shorts were a bit longer she would have passed the minimum skin coverage law.
There however was a small issue with the plans for the day, the odd number. Thankfully, there was an easy solution for that. "As you all must realize, with the odd number that means that one of you is going two against one. Loki, you have been preemptively been voluntold to be the solo student given your own field experience as a vigilante. Everyone else, you are going to draw lots. This is to simulate how somethings who you end up in the field with is luck of the draw."
Toshi pulled out a box full of balls labeled with two of each letter. "So who wants to go first?"
The Pink girl, Ashido if he was remembering correctly shot her hand up. "Me first!" She was quick to pull out a ball with the letter A on it and was followed by the electric boy Kaminari pulling out an H. Down the line they went. Unfortunately when both Todoroki and Yoarashi pulled Gs from the box he had to quickly mentally shuffle plans around, putting the two up against each other no longer being viable and with Jiro as Toshi's successor's partner, it wouldn't be really fair on her to be tossed into the deep end with them. Plan B it was. He just hoped that the poor Aoyama kid was tougher than he looked.
"All right, since the pairings were decided in advance of which team fights which, first up we have Team C as Heroes vs Team F as Villains. Tokoyami and Tsuburaba, the two of you can head inside and get your bomb squared away. Jiro and Kirishima, you have five minutes from them entering the building until you can start to strategize. Everyone else, follow me to the monitor room."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
As they all got settled in the viewing room, Hitoshi slung and arm over Izuku's shoulder. "So who is going to win?"
"The Villains most likely. Tsuburaba can just inclose the bomb in several layers of his air walls and stall out the clock by rebuilding any that break from the inside while Tokoyami and Dark Shadow pick Jiro and Kirishima off from the outside. While Kirishima does glow, weakening Dark Shadow, he most likely won't think of utilizing it fast enough since he is used to brute forcing things in a fight thanks to his Quirk. They only have a chance if he plays defense for Jiro while she uses her Quirk to vibrate the shields apart but that only works if she is faster at breaking then Tsuburaba is a building."
That got him an impressed whistle from Kaminari. "Damn, I knew you were a super genius already thanks to the whole Nedzu's student thing but that is sort of intense."
Sero shook his head. "I dunno. I mean, it is only impressive if he ends up being right, right?"
Ten minutes later as F Team returned victorious, there was significantly less doubt about his ability to read a fight.
Once both E (Neito and Tsu as she insisted everyone call her) and A (Ashido and Sero) teams had left, the eyes in the room turned on him. Izuku sighed. "Easy win for the Heroes. Ashido and Sero can't use their Quirks together since Acid is a hard counter for Tape. Add to that Nieto's Copy, all he needs to do is tag her and they win."
Tsu never even entered the building, instead crawling along the outside relaying information about what she saw to Neito. It took only two minutes from Neito going inside.
The next match was actually far more balanced with Kendo and Tenya as Heroes against Yaoyorozu and Kacchan. "It could go either way. Yaoyorozu will likely build an serious defence around the bomb while Bakugou patrols however if one of the other two slip past him, they should have the strength to destroy anything Yoayorozu can build. Add to that the fact that all of them have had some actual combat training and it should be an interesting match.
In the end the Villains won after Kacchan had managed to isolate and take down Kendo while Yoayorozu stalled Tenya long enough for him to come back and take him down from behind.
The fourth to last round was an interesting one, even if he felt bad for Aoyama getting roped into it. "Ultimately it comes down to if Hitoshi can get Shoto to respond to him. If he can, this will be a cakewalk for the Heroes but if not, Shoto and Yoarashi will completely destroy them just from their combined power level. It doesn't help that the two of them have sparred together a couple times since we met back at the recommendations exam..."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Yuga was internally a nervous wreck. "How are we supposed to beat those two complete monsters?"
Shinso shrugged. "I mean, if I can get them to both fall for my Quirk, it should be pretty easy. Unfortunately for Shoto, Yoarashi is a complete chatter box so is an easy capture for us if I can find him first. While he knows how to knock him out from under my control, he can't stand guard over him or you will be able to slip by to capture the weapon." He paused as he seemed to think of something before tapping his com. "Hey Teach. Can we all take a time out on the countdown to start? I forgot to give the other team ear protection so I don't destroy their ears with my gun since we are going to be inside… Okay, thanks."
Yuga frowned. "Won't that make it harder to use your Quirk on them?"
He shook his head as he pulled a pair of folded up earmuff looking things to hand them over. "They only activate when there is a spike in sound above a certain decibel range. It is the same tech in Mic-sensei's headphones so he doesn't run the risk of hurting himself further. I'll have to be a tiny bit louder with my voice to counteract the slight muffle but my Quirk will work just fine."
Todoroki melted out of the shadows inside with a hand out. "Ear protection?"
Shinso fished out and hand over two more. "Sorry about that."
He shook his head as he pulled one on. "No it's my fault for forgetting to ask. I knew you would probably be using the gun. See you inside."
As he vanished again, Yuga gave Shinso a questioning look. "So you're friends with him, correct? How did you meet?"
Shinso shrugged. "He accused Izuku of being our uncle Sir Nighteye's secret love child and was the first member of the public to figure out Izuku was a Quirkless vigilante. Izuku though he was a funny guy so invited him to meet up with us at HeroCon since we had plans to crash our uncle's panel and he was invited up for the "Put Your Hand's Up" live broadcast. Since I was cosplaying Eraserhead, Mic-sensei thought it would be funny to have me up on the panel sitting next to him."
Yuga was suddenly struck by a realization. "That is why your voice sounded so familiar!"
Shinso chuckled. "Uh yeah. I kind of thought it was obvious."
Suddenly their conversation was cut off by All Might in their ears. "And begin!"