Chapter 48: Mall Trip
Despite much of the class and seemingly all of the media acting as if everything had changed when Midoriya's quirk was revealed, the sun still rose the next day, much as it had for all of history. With it rose Ochako, despite her body screaming at her for more sleep. She had had an additional session with Recovery Girl the earlier afternoon, and while her arm was now fully healed, it had taken an additional bite out of her energy.
However, today she had a meeting with Principal Nezu, and while she wouldn't have chosen a 9 am meeting time, she was determined to make sure she was both present and awake enough to function. For her, that meant that she needed enough time to get at least one cup of very strong coffee running through her system.
It was a habit that she had picked up from her parents. A construction worker's job didn't have standard business hours, and a foreman was often expected to be on site or on call at all hours of the day and night. As such, both of her parents couldn't make it very far out of bed without a cup of black coffee giving them that extra jolt of energy. Once Ochako had started working out on All Might's original plan before U.A, she found herself resorting to caffeine for that extra burst of energy that she needed for his before-school requirements.
And just like her parents, Ochako had taken a liking to black coffee; no sugar, no cream, as strong as possible. She assumed that they took their coffee like that originally as a way of saving money, but Ochako genuinely liked the taste of strong, black coffee. The fact that it ensured that no one ever stole her mug was just a bonus.
Unlike her, Honenuki appeared to be almost as much a morning person as Midoriya, Jiro, or Yaomomo, as he was already sitting in the common area eating breakfast when Ochako stumbled down to fix herself her coffee. How did she ever manage to become friends with such maniacs? No one sane could ever be a morning person, at least not as a teenager.
"Enjoying your morning heart attack?" Honenuki greeted her as she approached where he was sitting with her cup of coffee. Just because it was a little bit (or a lot, she admitted to herself) stronger than most of her classmates liked just meant they couldn't handle the same intensity that she could.
"Better than whatever mush you're eating." Honenuki looked down at the bowl in front of him, filled with an odd mix of grains, eggs, and leafy green vegetables.
"Eh, I like it." He shrugged. "And I need extra minerals for my quirk." He took another bite as if to prove a point.
"And I need extra caffeine for my brain." Ochako retorted, wincing internally at the lame comeback. It was too early for the sort of word play that Honenuki favored at times. Her friend's entire response was a too-knowing smile and nod before he returned to his breakfast.
Few words were exchanged between the two as Honenuki finished his food and Ochako let the caffeine from her coffee suffuse her system. It wasn't long, however, before it was time to head out to meet with the principal.
Neither of them felt ready for the encounter. The stories surrounding Nezu ran the gamut from depicting him as a friendly person with a taste for pranks, to a merciless taskmaster who lacked any form of empathy at all. While Ochako knew on some level that he wouldn't be the principal of one of the world's greatest hero schools if the latter were true, she still found herself tensing up as her and Honenuki approached Nezu's office.
Outside of his imposing doors, Ochako hesitated for just a moment. Honenuki, hand raised to knock on the door, paused to look back at Ochako, concern on his face. Ochako closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She could do this.
This was about Yoroi Musha. She wanted to make sure that Nezu knew everything important about the man.
Ochako opened her eyes, determination flaring within her, and marched forward to let the principal know she was there. As she went to knock, the doors opened smoothly in front of her, her knuckles meeting only air. Standing just inside the office was Nezu himself. While Ochako had seen him just a few days ago in the observation room for their final exams, it somehow felt different to have him standing right in front of her. If anything, it just emphasized just how much smaller he was than either herself or Honenuki.
"Ah, Ms. Uraraka, Mr. Honenuki, I'm so glad that you decided to join me this morning. Come in, come in." Nezu waved the two of them towards a pair of chairs in front of his desk as if he hadn't decided on the time and place for the meeting. While Ochako and Honenuki got themselves settled, Nezu walked over to a serving cart sized for him and busied himself with a steaming teapot. "Would either of you like some tea? I have quite a variety on hand. I have a new lavender mint blend that I'm told helps settle nerves."
Ochako hazarded a glance at Honenuki who looked slightly confused, more or less as she felt. "I'm fine, but thank you." While she didn't want to be rude, she wanted to be able to focus on the meeting and not be distracted by tea.
"Me too, but thank you for the offer." Honenuki added.
Nezu lightly sighed while he finished fixing his own cup of tea. "No one ever seems to take me up on my offer of tea." Dropping a small sugar cube into his own cup, he walked over to his desk, smile bright on his face. "Ah well, I suppose that means there's just more for me, then." Ochako was impressed at the principal's ability to leap into his own chair, high enough to see the two of them from across his desk, without spilling a drop of his beverage.
"Now then, I want to thank you two again for agreeing to meet with me so early." Nezu began. "First I must apologize to you, Ms. Uraraka, for putting off this meeting for so long." Ochako tilted her head to the side, confused.
"What do you mean, sir? I thought that this meeting was about Yoroi Musha's behavior in the final exam just two days ago." That was the obvious reasoning for the meeting, at least to her. Although, now that she thought about it, that did not explain why Honenuki was here and Yaomomo, Kodai, and Awase were not.
"While that was a precipitating event, and reflects exceptionally poorly on his character, that was not to be the main topic for our meeting today." Nezu replied. "After the final exams, I did a deeper dive into the backgrounds of Yoroi Musha and Shishido, given the exceptional violence that they were comfortable using against teenage students. I have found a number of incidents in Yoroi Musha's history of heroism that are worthy of a second look. However, the one that I wish to discuss with you, occurred during your very internship with the man, and involved both of you to some extent."
"You're talking about Himiko!" Ochako hadn't expected the principal to ever take up this issue, despite Hound Dog assuring them that he would.
"Indeed! Inui brought this issue to my attention weeks ago, and it is to my shame that I allowed it to slip down my priority list." Nezu surprisingly did look ashamed, an expression that was odd on his inhuman face. "U.A has high standards for heroes that we choose to send students to intern with. In general, heroes in this country more than live up to those standards. However, that means that we have a responsibility to investigate any concerns that our students may bring up following their experiences outside of our walls. I allowed other concerns to take precedence over that responsibility, and so once again, I apologize."
This time, Nezu bowed in his chair towards Ochako. This was getting out of hand. "No, no, you don't need to apologize! I learned a lot from my time with Yoroi Musha!" Ochako protested, waving her hands frantically. Although now that she thought about it, the vast majority of what she had learned had been from the man's sidekicks, Wildstar and Surge. All Yoroi Musha had done had been to beat Ochako black and blue on the first day and betray her trust with Himiko.
"I'm just… worried about Himiko." Nezu raised himself from his bow to look at Ochako with concern on his face. "She was obviously in a bad situation, doing what she had to do to survive. I don't know all of the details of what she did, but I promised her that everything was going to be alright, that she'd be able to talk with me. And now… now it's been almost two months and I haven't heard a word from her. It's like she's disappeared. I just want to know what happened to her, one way or the other."
It wasn't until she felt Honenuki's hand rubbing circles into her back that Ochako realized that she had started crying. She had known that she had been worried about Himiko, but she'd pushed it all down so she could focus on heroics and her finals. Now, all of that emotion was threatening to pour out.
"I understand what you're feeling, Ms. Uraraka. It would help us in tracking down Ms. Himiko if you could share what happened on your internship." Ochako sniffled, but nodded. "And you too, Mr. Honenuki. I understand that you were involved that night as well." Honenuki also nodded, never taking his hand from Ochako's back. It was a comforting presence, keeping Ochako grounded.
Nezu gave a predatory smile. "Very well then. Let's begin."
---
The morning sun was harsh as it filtered in through Izuku's window, but he kept his eyelids pressed shut. He'd been up far too late last night, still wired from the anxiety that had been running through his system all throughout the day. Despite the fact that he had been awakened so early the day before, his body just had not wanted to sleep. The adrenaline from the press conference, from meeting with his classmates, from dinner with his mother, just would not go away.
In retrospect, the way that Izuku had dealt with his sleeplessness had not been the best way to deal with it. After all, losing himself in the articles and interviews that various hero news stations had released just wound him up further and further. While Kyoka had fallen asleep in his bed relatively early on in the night, Izuku had stayed up in the glow of his laptop for hours longer.
What had annoyed him most were not the articles questioning whether or not he was the best choice for One For All, although there were dozens of those. It wasn't the interviews with quirk scientists that waffled and wavered about whether or not a quirk such as One For All could exist, although there were at least four of those.
No, what annoyed him most were the articles that were based off of (occasionally anonymous, occasionally not) discussions and interviews with his former classmates and faculty from Aldera Middle School. Perhaps unsurprisingly, each and every one of the faculty that were willing to go on the record were universally positive about Izuku and his time at Aldera. He apparently had been a model student, beloved by his classmates, and a genuine pleasure to have in class.
That was all news to Izuku, of course.
He recognized a handful of names, but only a handful of them were teachers that Izuku had ever had. It was notable that none of his homeroom teachers were willing to go on record about him. Presumably because they were the ones that had actually interacted most with Izuku.
It was something of an open secret that they had often blamed Izuku for the misdeeds of other students, making sure that the students with stronger quirks had clean records for when they applied to high school. Even a surface level investigation would show that Izuku's homeroom teachers would be lying if they said anything too positive about him. That did raise the question, though, of why the former principal of Aldera was willing to go on the record with such effusive praise, but Izuku shoved that aside for another day.
Then there were the anonymous quotes that came from former Aldera students. Gone were the years of ostracization. Gone were the little comments and snide remarks that had been the constant background noise to his middle school career. While Izuku obviously didn't know which of his former classmates had commented, none of the quotes sounded anything like any of the students he remembered from Aldera.
Each and every one of the students that had commented claimed that everyone else had kept Izuku at arms length, while they and they alone had felt bad for him and stuck up for him in private. Izuku supposed it was theoretically possible that one or maybe two of his classmates actually had done that and then given an interview to half a dozen media outlets, but that seemed unlikely.
Even before he began reading what his former classmates and teachers were saying about him, Izuku knew that it was a bad idea. It dredged up all sorts of memories and feelings that were best left buried and forgotten along with the middle school itself. It was bad enough that he had even briefly decided to look into the comments section to see what other readers were saying about him.
That had been his worst idea of the night. The less said about the comments the better.
When Izuku had finally dragged himself to bed, careful not to disturb Kyoka from her slumber, his sleep still was not as restful as he might have liked. He didn't remember much of his dreams from the night, but Kacchan and other figures from Aldera had figured prominently in them. He wasn't surprised in the least.
At some point in the early morning, however, he'd been asleep enough for Kyoka to manage to wake up and leave his room entirely without disturbing him. She'd left a note saying that she was going to head back to the girls' side of the dorms before too many people woke up, but that he should get as much sleep as he needed.
Izuku didn't sleep in that much later than normal, in the end. It was just enough to throw him out of his normal early morning routine, however. That and the bone weariness he felt from several very busy days separated by nights of not enough rest was keeping him in bed at the moment. Unfortunately, he knew that there was no falling back asleep at this point.
Eventually, reluctantly, Izuku pried himself out of bed and busied himself getting dressed in his workout clothes. If his body didn't want to sleep, to rest, to recover, then obviously the best thing to do was to go for a run.
Running had been a part of his daily workout routine ever since All Might had first started training him over a year ago. While he hadn't taken to it quite as much as Kyoka had, he still appreciated the way it could put his anxieties at ease for a while and still contributed to his overall conditioning. Checking the time, and knowing Kyoka, she was probably still out running now, in fact.
As he walked through the common room on his way out the door, he saw Uraraka and Honenuki grabbing breakfast together. At least, Honenuki was eating breakfast. Uraraka was simply drinking coffee, although it was strong enough for Izuku to smell from across the room. A handful of his other classmates were up and about, but thankfully they appeared to have gotten all their questions out yesterday. None paid him more mind than a friendly wave as he headed out for his run.
It was warmer outside than Izuku had anticipated, but perhaps that was to be expected with his late start and the summer weather. After a brief set of warm up exercises, he was on his way around campus.
Not long into his run, Izuku realized that this would be the first time that most of his schoolmates would have seen him after the press conference yesterday. While those in his class and dorm had gotten most of their questions and curiosity out of their systems yesterday, Izuku felt incredibly conspicuous as he made his way around the paths on campus.
Eyes followed him no matter where he went. Conversations died as soon as people noticed him. Fortunately, most people that he saw restrained themselves to simply watching, but every now and then he could hear whispers as he ran by.
Whispers about him.
Nobody looked especially aggressive or disapproving, but just the feeling of eyes on him, the murmurs from his schoolmates, all taken together, put him on edge. He tried brushing it off, telling himself that they were just interested in the latest piece of hero news. If Izuku was honest with himself, he would even admit that it was one of the biggest pieces of hero news of the year. People had speculated about All Might's quirk for so long that it finally being revealed would naturally lead to curiosity.
It never occurred to him that those same people might be just as interested in the newest holder of One For All as they were about All Might.
All in all, Izuku had managed to deal with the attention as best he could on his circuit around campus. If he had ended up running at a much faster clip than he had expected when heading out, well, that must just mean he was in better shape than he thought he was.
Unfortunately, the end of his looping route brought him in front of the Heights Alliance dorms, and in particular class 1-B's dorm. Once it came into sight, Izuku realized that he hadn't actually seen any of the students from his sister class on his run. When he saw three of them on the lawn, one of them apparently cooling down from a morning run of their own, he was happy to give a wave.
As he drew closer, Izuku could make out that the students were Monoma, Ojiro, and Iida, with the class president cooling down from his morning workout. The icy glare that Izuku received from Monoma was disappointing, but not altogether surprising. The fact that Iida shot him a nearly identical glare, mouth twitching in an emotion that Izuku couldn't read, shook him deeply. Even Ojiro looked displeased to see Izuku, although not to the extent of Iida and Monoma.
All of his interactions with Iida had been pleasant, or at least Izuku had thought they had been. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the two of them had not actually interacted much, if at all since the sports festival. Between internships and All Might's increased intensity classes, there had been too much going on for Izuku to reach out.
Izuku picked up his pace to get back to the 1-A dorm as soon as he could and away from their cold stares. By the time he arrived back in front of 1-A's dorm, he had been sprinting, and was gasping for air, sweat slicking his shirt to his body.
The looks that he had gotten from 1-B had reminded him of the looks he used to get at Aldera.
No. U.A was different. He was only thinking that because he had been reading so much about Aldera last night.
Izuku shook his head, still panting. Either way, he didn't like those looks. He didn't know for sure that they were glaring at him because of One For All, but the timing made sense.
After taking a moment to compose himself and cooldown, Izuku went back into the dorm. By now, many more of his classmates were up and about, making breakfast or just hanging out in the common room. A few seemed like they were getting ready to head home to visit their parents before summer camp started, but most had decided to stay on campus for the two weeks and keep up with their training.
For once, conversation didn't stop as Izuku entered the room, but instead it grew to include him. "Prez!" Tokage's head leapt from her shoulders and flew across the room to him. "Everyone's got a few things they still need to buy for summer camp. How about a group shopping trip!" Ashido, Pony, and Kirishima let out a cheer at the suggestion, hoping to help convince Izuku.
In truth, they didn't need his sign off at all, just Aizawa's, but it would probably be easier to get that if Izuku agreed. Yaoyorozu and Kendo stood off to the side, apparently having not been sufficient to ease Tokage's mind. In fact, most of the class was in the common room, with Kyoka quickly crossing the room to meet him, still in workout clothes of her own. The only people that Izuku couldn't see off the bat were Uraraka and Honenuki.
Tokage's idea wasn't a bad one. In fact, it was a very good one. It was even something that they could try to invite 1-B to in order to cool off whatever tension was there. Izuku had experienced it off and on throughout the semester, but today showed him that whatever was there was worse than he had thought.
"That's a great idea!" He forced some cheer into his voice, pushing down the lingering feelings of dread from his run. Ashido and Pony cheered in celebration. "And we can invite 1-B, too!" That didn't get as positive of a response, but Tokage still seemed happy.
Hopefully this was all just a misunderstanding that could be pushed aside easily.
---
Despite all of Izuku's (and Yaomomo's and Kendo's) best efforts over the past week, they hadn't been able to convince much of class 1-B to come with them on their trip to the mall. Only Asui and Yanagi had ultimately been willing to come out with them, with the rest of the class making one excuse or another as to why they couldn't make it. Hagakure had indicated some interest, but ultimately had to pull out. For some reason that she hadn't been willing to elaborate on, Hagakure hadn't been allowed to leave campus.
Of class 1-A, only Todoroki and Rin were not accompanying them, Todoroki because he was visiting his mother and her hospital had limited visiting hours, and Rin because he had gone back to China for the two weeks before their summer camp. As such, they had a full complement of twenty as they left U.A's campus.
Thankfully, Izuku's quirk revelations had more or less dropped out of the headlines over the past week or so. Despite how interested the hero media had been in All Might's quirk and successor on the day of the press conference, eventually they were drawn off to newer and newer stories. Endeavor letting his quirk flare out of control while apprehending a shoplifter and leaving him in intensive care, Kamui Woods holding a highly publicized fundraising event for a major charity focusing on quirkless support, and a handful of anonymous reports on Yoroi Musha's dangerous rate of injuries amongst the villains he apprehended were all topics that captured the media's attention in the past week.
As such, there were no longer reporters simply hanging around outside of the U.A walls simply waiting to ambush Izuku. What this meant in practice was that instead of needing a chaperone and escort to and from the mall, their class was able to simply take the train to Kiyashi Ward instead.
Izuku, for some reason, seemed to think that the fact that the media had abandoned his story for the time being meant that he could go back to the same sort of anonymity that he had enjoyed beforehand. He thought that a week was enough time for the public to simply forget about him and move on.
Kyoka, however, was not so confident. After all, Izuku had been publicly announced as the heir apparent to the most beloved hero in their country's history. While the news might not be talking about him right now, there was no doubt that people would still be watching out for him. In her mind, it was similar to a major rock band in between albums: they might not be in the forefront of people's minds at the moment, but they would still be recognized when they went out and about.
Convincing Izuku of this, however, was an exercise in futility. He didn't want it to be true, so it wasn't true. To his mind, he was still the same, plain, forgettable teenager that he had always seemed to himself, no matter how much Kyoka had tried to convince him otherwise. Thankfully, Kyoka had at least managed to convince him to bring along a facemask and a beanie to help him go incognito if and when he was recognized.
Whispers followed their class as they got on the train to Kyashi Ward, but they remained soft enough that only Kyoka and Shoji could hear them. Kyoka herself had forgotten that of the twenty people taking part in this outing, fully half of them had made it to the final round of the sports festival. As such, not all of the comments were about Izuku, but rather about their class taking an outing as a whole.
Still, though, Izuku didn't seem to notice the extra whispers or the eyes on him. Maybe he'd gotten used to it on the U.A campus over the week. Maybe Mina and Set's antics were keeping him distracted. Maybe he had gotten too drawn up in a conversation with Tokoyami and Dark Shadow about how exactly their quirk worked to really listen to anything else. Either way, if it had stayed at the level of whispers and lingering glances, everything would have been fine.
At a stop roughly halfway between U.A and Kiyashi Ward, however, things started going awry. At first glance, Kyoka wouldn't have picked the passenger that started the fuss out of a lineup as being worrisome. He was an otherwise unassuming high school student, maybe a year or two older than them, completely engrossed in his phone as he got on the train. There was no obvious mutation or anything to pull the eye, just a head of short-cropped orange hair and an outfit that would have been completely at home at any punk show Kyoka had ever been to. Eventually, though, whatever was on his phone stopped distracting him and he looked up.
Directly at Izuku.
For a moment, the teenager simply stared blankly at Izuku, blinking in confusion. Then, in a cracking voice, shouted, "Bastion?!"
All of class 1-A fell silent at that, glaring. Even if none of them were quite as invested in Izuku as Kyoka was, they all wanted a nice peaceful day out at the mall. Having random bystanders accosting them to talk with Izuku stood in the way of that.
While the orange-haired teen quickly realized the mistake he had made and shuffled, red-faced, to the other end of the train car, all of the other passengers were now all too aware that Izuku was on the train with them.
While none of them were willing to approach the obviously protective class in front of them, the whispers were now loud enough for everyone to hear. The lingering glances were now unabashed stares.
Izuku pulled back deeper into his seat, trying to hide from the scrutiny of the entire train. Kyoka could tell him that they weren't saying anything disparaging, that they were just curious about who he was, what he was doing, where he was going.
That probably wouldn't help with his anxiety, however. If anything, it might make it worse. Izuku cared a great deal about what people thought about him, and knowing that so many people were watching his every move would likely paralyze him with inaction.
Thankfully, Shoji, Yaomomo, Honenuki, and Ochako were there to help, standing in a tight semicircle around Izuku, blocking him from the view of the other passengers on the train. Entertainingly, they went back to their conversation from earlier, speculation on what exactly the summer camp would involve, without missing a beat. If they were speaking significantly louder than before, Kyoka wasn't going to ask them to tone it down.
She, on the other hand, wrapped her arm around Izuku's shoulder, pulling him into a quick side hug. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to this from now on." Izuku sounded contemplative. "I wonder how All Might dealt with being so recognizable."
"Wait, wasn't he always just a stick figure underneath his quirk?" Kyoka had gotten so used to Toshinori being a skeleton of a man that it was hard to imagine him as being anything but.
"I… don't know?" That was a first for Izuku. "It would make sense if he were because no one ever really saw him out of costume. But then he would have needed a certain amount of muscle to use One For All when he got it, and he certainly doesn't have that now."
"Maybe using One For All still bulked him up, but not as dramatically?" Kyoka offered.
"That could be it." Izuku admitted. "I don't know why it doesn't do that for me."
"I'm not complaining." Kyoka joked, hoping to get a smile on Izuku's face. "I'm not a huge fan of the massive, muscle-bound type. You're perfect right now just the way you are." Saying things like that in private was one thing, but this was in public. Thankfully their friends didn't seem to be paying attention to what she was saying, but still her cheeks burned red. Izuku's did too, and he grappled for a response.
Before he could find one, Kyoka reached into his bag to pull out the beanie and facemask that she'd convinced Izuku to bring. "I think you're gonna need these today, Green."
Izuku grumbled a bit as he pulled the beanie over his hair and slipped the facemask onto his face. "Maybe I should cut my hair. It's the most recognizable thing about me. I'm kinda plain without it, so if I trimmed it short it'd probably…"
"Green." Kyoka didn't let him finish. "Everything you just said is wrong. First of all, you are not plain at all. Anyone who thinks that just doesn't know what they're talking about. Second, I really like your hair the way it is. You can cut it if you want, but people will realize what happened the second they see you in costume in public."
All that Kyoka could see of Izuku's face at the moment were his eyes, but that was enough as they filled with tears. Happy tears, she hoped. The hug that he gave her moments later was proof enough of that for her.
When their train arrived at Kiyashi Ward a few moments later, the two of them exited the train red-faced, but very happily holding hands on their way to the mall.
This time, thanks to Kyoka's preparations, no one accosted Izuku for any reason.
---
Izuku let himself collapse onto a bench outside the food court, only taking care that the bags of hero merch and vinyls that he and Kyoka had bought didn't get damaged in the process. Neither he nor Kyoka had needed much for the summer camp: he'd decided that he wanted some binoculars for stargazing in the absence of city lights, while Kyoka had needed bug spray and outdoor appropriate clothing. While workout clothes would work for any training they'd be doing, she wanted something better for the outdoors than ripped jeans or fishnet tights (although Izuku would always be fine with either of those).
Getting those few items hadn't taken them very long, with most of the time being spent finding clothes for Kyoka. After that, the two of them had simply enjoyed the mall, stopping off in a specialty music store that Kyoka had been wanting to visit for a while as well as a decent-sized hero merchandise store. The music store specialized in vinyls, and had perhaps the widest selection that Izuku had ever seen. Kyoka very nearly squealed in delight when she saw all of what was available.
Forty five minutes and more money than Izuku was entirely comfortable with later, Kyoka walked out with five new vinyls and one of the widest smiles that Izuku had ever seen on her face. He figured if it was something that made her this happy, the money wasn't important at all. Smiling suited her, and made her look all the cuter.
He'd been looking forward to hearing the classic Steel Notes album that Kyoka had purchased, though. It was apparently a rare recording of a live show. After his date with Kyoka at the Lightning Nine concert, he'd realized just how much extra energy a live show could have.
From there they went to the one hero merch store that the mall had. Since it was the only one in the mall, it was a decent size, easily larger than anything Izuku could find in Musutafu. They didn't have anything particularly rare, but there was plenty beyond the standard merch of All Might and the top ten. Izuku had been trying to expand his collection recently and add heroes that might not be as high in the rankings, but still did good work. He wouldn't necessarily share this with anyone other than Kyoka, but between his encounter with Stain and the recent finals, his opinion on a number of heroes, especially some of those in the top twenty, had taken a distinct hit.
Thankfully, this store had a number of pieces that he had been looking for. Ever since Kamui Woods had teamed up with Edgeshot to form The Lurkers, Izuku had been keeping an eye out for his merchandise. His recent appearance and donation at a quirkless support group fundraiser just made Izuku more inclined to like the man. Their first interaction may not have been the greatest, but he'd been part of the team to rescue Izuku and had really been putting in work recently.
This store had plenty of full team compositions for The Lurkers, since Edgeshot himself was in the top ten, but unlike many places, they also had a variety of Kamui Woods individual figures. Deciding to splurge a bit, Izuku bought one of the fully posable ones with the plastic supports for action poses. It was a little expensive, but if Kamui Woods made the top ten in the next rankings like Izuku thought he would, it would only get more expensive in the future.
Beyond that, Izuku bought a few posters and mini figurines of a handful of other heroes, including Gang Orca and Majestic, as well as the mandatory new All Might poster. Now that the man had retired, the production of his merchandise had slowed, certainly, but hadn't stopped.
There was even a figurine of his true form, lovingly nicknamed 'Skele-might' online, in his hero costume and with his right fist raised in victory in the pose he held in the aftermath of Kamino. Izuku's emotions roiled when he looked at it and couldn't bring himself to buy it. While he was feeling a bit better about what had happened at Kamino recently, he still wasn't over it by any means. The vestiges might have made some progress in convincing him that he wasn't to blame, but a voice in the back of his head kept whispering that it was all his fault for being useless.
Now Kyoka wanted to do a little more clothes shopping, although apparently this time for underwear more than anything else. The store she had slipped into, however, had been dedicated to lingerie. Izuku's face burned slightly as images of Kyoka in some of the suggestive underwear he'd seen in the window once again flooded his mind. While he was getting more used to seeing her in her underwear as they would change in front of each other, it was generally all sports bras and compression shorts. Hero training didn't lend itself well to fancy undergarments.
"All shopped out?" A voice from beside Izuku jolted him back to reality before his daydream could go much further. A man swathed in a long, black trench coat had sat down on the bench next to Izuku. He wore black army boots and black leather gloves to go with a facemask pulled tight over his mouth and nose and a light blue hood from under the trench coat that covered his hair. The only thing that Izuku could think immediately was that the man must be sweltering in the summer heat.
Another moment, however, showed that the skin around the man's eyes was covered in bright green scales and a shock of purplish-pink hair stuck out from underneath the hood. The man's face mask also bulged oddly around his mouth and nose, indicating that any mutation probably went further than just the scaled skin. In short, while Izuku was still wearing his facemask and beanie to not be recognized, this man was almost certainly wearing them to avoid too many issues for his mutations. It even sounded like he was throwing his voice lower, possibly so it wouldn't be recognized.
"Yeah, I guess. I've been here a while, and it's been a long day." Izuku ended up replying after a slightly too long pause. After all day with a mask on, Izuku had a new appreciation for what Shoji went through every day. He kind of wanted to bring it up, but didn't know how to do so without seeming rude or insensitive.
"Fair. I haven't even been here that long and it feels like it's been all day." Izuku wasn't entirely comfortable with this conversation. He wasn't normally the type to go out and have conversations with random strangers. It was part of being a hero, he supposed, but then he could hide behind the mask, as it were. "For a mall that claims to offer goods for all body types and quirks, it's nearly as exhausting being here as it is out in the country."
That made Izuku sit up a little straighter. He had assumed that the heavy clothing and face mask were to hide some mutation, but hadn't wanted to pry into the reasoning. Now, though, the man had brought it up unprompted. "Did, uh, anything in particular happen? Discrimination like that is against the law, after all."
The man huffed a bitter laugh. "Nothing that would get even a slap on the wrist. I know how this song and dance goes. 'You're overreacting,' 'they didn't mean to be offensive,' 'be the bigger man.' I've heard it all. It just gets really tiring having to deal with all of that all the time, even in a place that is supposedly welcoming."
Izuku couldn't even bring himself to argue against what the man was saying. After a stretch of silence, Izuku spoke up again, from a different perspective. "I know it's not the same thing, but I grew up quirkless." The man didn't move, but Izuku could feel his attention focused on what he was saying. "Everyone in school knew. I couldn't escape it, so I've heard all of those excuses time and again. Even from people who were supposed to be protecting me… Especially from those people."
"So what do you do? How do you deal with it?" There was an undercurrent of some emotion in that question that Izuku couldn't quite place. Regardless, though, he wanted to give as good of an answer as he could. It felt important for this man, even if they had never met before and likely never would again.
The man gave him time and eventually, Izuku felt he had figured out how he had been acting all along, and put some words to it. "I know that as one person, still just a teenager, I can't do a lot. There are some people out there whose hatred can seem beyond reason. So I do the best I can, which is act and behave the way I wish everyone else would. I don't let other people walk all over me, but I try to treat everyone with dignity and respect. It doesn't always work right away, and to be honest I don't know if it ever does, but if I can convince just one person to put aside their hatred and treat people with respect, then I'll be happy."
The silence following that stretched far longer than Izuku was comfortable with. He waited until it had grown stale and stagnant before he looked over at the man he was sitting with. The man was staring at Izuku as if he were a puzzle, one that wouldn't quite fit no matter how he rearranged the pieces. After a moment, the man realized that Izuku was looking back at him and shook himself, glancing away.
"I wish more people thought like you, kid. More heroes, in particular. Maybe things wouldn't be so shitty everywhere if they did. You should hold onto that optimism for as long as you can." The man groaned as he stood up, proving to be several inches taller than Izuku himself. "Take it from someone who's just a bit older than you. That can be harder than you think." The man started to walk away, waving to Izuku over his shoulder as he did. Izuku waved back, unsure of what to make of the conversation.
Not too much later, though, Kyoka came and found him, carrying a small bag in one hand with a slight blush on her face. All other thoughts fled Izuku's brain once he saw that.
---
Shuichi Iguchi had to restrain himself from squealing in delight. He had just spoken with Bastion!
Bastion!
The only other hero besides All Might that Stain had proclaimed as a true hero! The inheritor of All Might's quirk! The rising hope of the next generation of heroes himself!
It hadn't been exactly what Spinner had expected, but then, he had never expected to just randomly run into Bastion at the mall. While he had daydreamed about meeting Bastion some time in the future, it was always after Shuichi had made a name for himself as Spinner. Their encounter would be a battle of fists as much as words, one that Spinner would inevitably lose.
This meeting before Bastion had become an official hero, before Shuichi had even started to build a name as Spinner, had completely taken him by surprise. With the mask and hat, Shuichi hadn't been sure that the teenager that he sat down next to was actually Bastion or not. Once he saw his eyes, though, he was certain. There couldn't be another teen in the country, possibly the world, with green eyes that carried that much determination and weight in them. Once the two of them had begun talking of real, weighty material, all of that had shown through.
The entire conversation, Shuichi had had to make sure that he wasn't drawing attention to Bastion; he was obviously trying to protect his identity. Shuichi didn't know how Stain would feel about that, but he could very well understand that a student, at least, couldn't be a hero full time. So he had tried to play it cool, to keep it casual, and not scream to the world that he had just spoken with Bastion!
Even then, he hadn't said much, just prompted Bastion to speak on his own. Of what he did say, it wasn't entirely false. The Kiyashi Ward mall was perhaps the least bad place to do any shopping. It was certainly better than any of the shops near the small town of Mimbana he had grown up in. And it had had the clothes he needed to finish his costume in homage to Stain. It was surprisingly hard to find a long, plain, red scarf of the appropriate length.
But just because it was better than Mimbana certainly didn't make Kiyashi Ward 'good' by any stretch of the imagination. He could feel the eyes of everyone on him every step he took away from the mall. Even in the mall itself, even in a store specializing in clothing for mutations, there was a look that people had. No one saw him for him. All they saw was the scales, the hair, the clawed hands, the lizard face.
Shuichi was tired of it.
And so, apparently, was Bastion. Shuichi had known, intellectually, that the quirkless were treated just as badly as mutants, perhaps worse in some ways. But he had always reconciled that with the fact that they could just pretend to have quirks and no one would know the difference.
He'd forgotten that every single person in his classrooms growing up introduced themselves with their quirk as a matter of habit. Shuichi had never given any thought to that practice, as his quirk was obvious. He could see that, at least during middle school, however, Bastion wouldn't have been able to hide his quirklessness.
Now, of course, All Might had gifted him a quirk and he was well on his way to being Bastion, a true hero! He had somehow managed to keep an optimism and a heroic spirit that made him worthy of being All Might's successor.
Shuichi didn't know how he had managed it. His own spirit had been crushed by the beginning of high school, and everything had just gotten worse since then. That was why he had retreated to the internet. That was why he had locked himself away.
That was why he looked up to Stain. That man saw what was wrong with society and was doing something about it. He had shown the country that heroes were not perfect. While All Might led by example, showing the ideal of heroism, Stain had shown where it was lacking.
After today, after his conversation with Bastion, Shuichi was more convinced than ever of two things. First, that Bastion was more than capable of filling All Might's shoes as a true hero. Second, that Shuichi had a responsibility to follow Stain's example, to complete his idol's work.
Bastion himself gave the final push to Shuichi. While Bastion explicitly was aiming to convince people to change through setting an example, treating everyone the way they deserved, he had said something very important.
Some people weren't able or willing to change. Some people would never come to see the light. Some people could never find the strength of character to admit that they were wrong and follow the example of a true hero. They would forever drown in the morass of quirkism, of mutantism, of villainy.
These were not people that a paragon such as Bastion needed to concern themselves with. No, it would be up to someone like Shuichi, someone who had lost his optimism and hope, to deal with these sorts of terrible people.
Permanently.
Shuichi took a burner phone from his pocket and called the only number programmed into it. Giran's number. He'd spoken briefly with the information broker earlier, when he was just starting to reach out to anyone who followed Stain's ideals. Since then, he'd managed to get in touch with several of the people that Giran had mentioned. Several of them had been amenable to his ideas, but wanted to wait to see what sort of final plan Shuichi had before committing.
Dabi, for example, pushed heavily for any plan that involved killing, it didn't seem to matter who. Bearhead wanted to hunt heroes, especially those that had broken up his previous villain team. Ending was somewhere between the two, wanting to kill anyone that supported heroes, and had managed to bond with Dabi over a shared hatred of Endeavor, in particular.
There was only one other contact that Giran had given Shuichi that hadn't turned him down completely. Chimera wasn't particularly interested in Stain or his ideology, but admitted that plenty of heroes were quirkist against mutants. He'd said that if Shuichi ever planned anything against them to let him know.
Now, with confirmation from Bastion that some people just couldn't be reasoned with, the wheels were turning in Shuichi's mind. He had the perfect target in mind, he just needed to get the timing right.
Out in the countryside, far from the cities, the Creature Rejection Clan still existed. While many urban dwellers thought of it as a relic from decades ago, its members were still very real and working hard to spread their poisonous ideology.
Even Mimbana had a branch of the Clan operating out of it. If the rumors that Shuichi had heard were correct, then even Doc Lightning, the primary hero operating nearby, attended their meetings and rituals. A quick glance at the crime and villainy statistics about Doc Lightning's agency showed that they were heavily skewed against mutants. His distaste for people like Shuichi was an open secret in Mimbana, but he was the only hero willing to set up shop in the area, and so they had simply dealt with him the best they could.
But now, Shuichi had a target. And once he paid Giran for information on the next meeting of the Clan in Mimbana, he would have a date. Him and Dabi, Bearhead, Ending, and Chimera could kill a corrupt hero and a whole congregation of quirkists.
It would be the perfect introduction for the Knights of Stain.
---
The U.A faculty conference room felt eerily still as Toshinori made his way inside. This was to be the first full faculty meeting since he had announced what his and Izuku's quirks were on national television, and he keenly felt nearly every eye on him as he entered the room.
While Aizawa and Shuzenji glanced at him upon entering the room, they both let their attention wander a few moments later. It was no big surprise, as he had had multiple meetings with both of them to plan how to train Izuku's newest quirks without risking further injuries. They had made sure to let him know just how foolish the secrecy had been then.
Toshinori hadn't spent much time with the remaining faculty since the press conference. He wasn't avoiding them per se, but if there was any opportunity for him to do his work off campus, or any need for him to be back in Tokyo for administrative purposes at Might Tower, Toshinori had jumped on them.
Now, though, he was regretting that. All of the heroes at U.A took their jobs as both teachers and heroes seriously. The details of Izuku's quirk were important for them to do their jobs properly as heroism teachers, but also would have been important on their attack on All For One's Kamino Ward hideout.
Thankfully, Nezu slipped into the room just after Toshinori, and quickly grabbed everyone's attention for himself. "All right, everyone, we should get started sooner rather than later." As Nezu made his way to the head of the table, Toshinori claimed one of the few empty seats left in the room near the back. He slipped into a seat between Cementoss and Snipe, mostly so he didn't have to sit in the only other empty seat next to Present Mic. He valued his ear drums too much for that.
"First, before we fully begin," Nezu proclaimed as he took his seat. "I want to remind all of you to take your digital safety seriously. Aizawa recently interacted with an intruder in our internal systems." There was no small amount of shock at that, particularly from Power Loader. "This intruder apparently saw it as an avenue to provide important information directly to us, information that we are still in the process of verifying. If any of you experience anything out of the ordinary with your machines, or are contacted by someone going by the name 'Dark Cloud,' let me know as soon as possible. I would dearly like to know how they slipped through our firewalls."
Given the topic of the information, Toshinori had been brought in immediately. His own theory was that this was some villain who thought that following All For One's demise the heroes would be focused on rolling up his empire. If Toshinori hadn't been forced into retirement following Kamino Ward, he likely would have been. As it was, though, he didn't know of any one leading up that line of inquiry. Hopefully this information would help some of the U.A heroes begin working on that lead. Everything that they had looked into so far, at least, had been accurate. DarkCloud had given two more drops over the past week, so they had plenty to investigate.
"Now then, as to the agenda for the day. As announced earlier, our main topic will be the hero course summer camps. However, due to recent events, we will need to focus primarily on the summer camp for the first years." Most of the heroes in the room stole at least a quick glance at Toshinori at that, although most were kind enough to look away shortly.
"As you have all deduced, the main point of discussion for the first years is Class 1-A in general and Izuku Midoriya in particular. The first year camp is generally spent on heavy-duty quirk training, something that Midoriya will need triple the amount of normal. However, I am led to understand that you introduced quirk training earlier this semester than normal, Yagi. Is that correct?"
Not having expected to be called on at all during this meeting, Toshinori broke out into a coughing fit, catching the bloody spittle with a handkerchief. Thankfully, Nezu gave him the time he needed to compose himself before answering. "Yes. I worked closely with Eraserhead and Snipe, as well as our most common guest instructor, Gran Torino, to introduce quirk training this semester. Knowing what their final exams would be, I knew that they would need every possible advantage."
"Eraserhead, Snipe, how would you say your students' quirk control and finesse are for this point in the school year." Nezu thankfully brought the attention away from Toshinori, at least for the moment.
The two heroes in question hummed for a moment, looking at each other, sizing up what the other's response would be. It was Eraserhead that ultimately spoke first. "They're all working to tap into their potential. In terms of quirk control, I'd say they're closer to second years than first years. That's come at the cost of more practical concerns."
"I second that." Snipe drawled. "I ain't taught first years in a spell, but these feel like some real firecrackers to me. Still missin' a few of the basics, though."
"Thank you. That is roughly what I was led to understand from their final exams." Nezu's tail swished back and forth. "There is a second concern with the first year's summer camp: the media. While they have thankfully gone quiet on the topic of Midoriya for the time being, we can be sure that they are chomping at the bit for any information on him. Even the brief sighting of Midoriya on the train the other day leaked out beyond just the tabloids, even if it wasn't front page news anywhere. We will need to change the location to something more remote and keep it secret if we don't want to be swamped by reporters."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. While they had had their share of notable students in the past, none of them really rose to the level of public interest as young Midoriya did. While U.A had some level of information security prowess thanks to the sports festival alone, this seemed outside of most of the teachers' comfort zone.
"Just tell them your plan already." Eraserhead got a little more leeway than normal as vice principal, but Nezu still looked a little put out at his drama being derailed.
"You're no fun, Aizawa." Nezu almost pouted.
"You don't pay me enough to be fun." Aizawa retorted. That got a chuckle from most of the assembled faculty.
"Be that as it may. We can kill two birds with one stone by having the Wild Wild Pussycats host the camp at their compound to the north. They have helped up in the past for quirk training first years, but they also have valuable experience that they can share on the topic of rescues. The remoteness of their compound will also help keep the media away. Finally, Ragdoll's quirk can help reassure our students and their families that none of them will be kidnapped without us knowing immediately." Nezu finished with a smile that, if Toshinori didn't know better, he would have called smug.
"I've already contacted them and they are willing to help out. Snipe, Eraserhead, your presence is required. I know that the rest of you have homeroom classes of your own to accompany to their own camps. So, All Might, that leaves you. Are you willing to attend with the first years?"
That was barely a question to Toshinori. Young Midoriya was going to be there, as well as all of the other students that he'd scouted. Beyond that, he was truly invested in all of his students' development. "Of course I'll be there."
"Fantastic!" Nezu clapped. "Now, we need to have a brief talk about Yoroi Musha."