Chapter 15: A new flame
Izuku found himself unable to sleep, and woke up early. Today is it!
Tomorrow is the UA entrance exam. Which meant today, All Might was going to be giving him One For All! Their final training schedule limited the amount of time he would have to learn how to use his quirk, but it was designed to maximize his potential for using it, rather than barely being able to hold its power. It didn't give him a lot of time to figure things out, but All Might had assured him that it was plenty of time to learn the basics for the exam.
Impatient and unable to wait any longer as the clock crawled towards 6 AM, Izuku decided to get ready for the day and have a light morning jog. If he was fast he could catch the sunrise on Takoba Beach.
Twenty minutes later Izuku found himself sitting on a sand dune looking out over the ocean. With Nezu's revisions to the schedule not only was he able to clear the proposed kilometer of beach, but he had managed to clear another 150 meters beyond that. Plus, his work had started to inspire others - recently people had begun to search for the mysterious person clearing the beach, and once they saw it was just a kid they began asking how they could help. As a result, volunteer groups had begun to pop up, people cleaning other portions of the beach in teams, and another group solely dedicated to keeping the beach clean, to prevent it from falling back to its previous state.
Izuku found himself lost in his head reflecting on the state of the beach until he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. "Admiring your handiwork?"
Looking up at his mentor, Izuku could only smile and nod. "Yeah. I am. I actually pulled it off!"
"You did! Even though there was a rough start, you followed the revisions perfectly, and look at you now!" He pulled out his phone and showed him a picture that he took at the beginning of the training. He still was small - he didn't think he would ever have the sheer height or volume of muscle that All Might had, but with the toned body and well-defined muscles he now had, the difference was night and day.
Izuku found himself vibrating in excitement. "So now what?"
"Now, Young Midoriya, it is time for you to receive One For All!" He plucked a strand of hair from his head and handed it to Izuku.
Izuku examined the hair in confusion. "Um, what am I supposed to do with this?"
"Isn't it obvious? You should eat it!"
"Huh?" Izuku was surprised by the answer.
"Look, the process for me passing on One For All to someone involves ingesting and processing some of my DNA, and this is the easiest way to do that!" All Might seemed to be growing more uncomfortable with the explanation as he went on.
"Um, ok then." Izuku put the hair in his mouth and swallowed it, before grabbing his water bottle and chasing the hair with its contents. "So now what?"
"Now, unfortunately, we wait." All Might admitted, before plopping himself down on the beach. "It will be several hours for you to digest it, and then we can begin the next step.
In the silence that began to settle in, Izuku realized something very important. "So, about the part where it is passed through ingesting DNA?"
"What is the matter, young Midoriya?"
"Is it any DNA being ingested? Like if say, I let someone drink my blood?"
All Might laughed at that. "That is an awfully specific concern, young Midoriya."
Izuku nervously laughed. "I um, happen to have a sister who chose to use the name of a famous vampire as her hero name? She may also happen to have several vials of my blood on hand to use with her quirk."
All Might's laughter was broken by a coughing fit, blood spurting out of his mouth. "Oh! I didn't even think of that! Thankfully there actually is more to it! The transfer process is actually two parts. Not only does the person need to ingest your DNA, but you also have to willfully desire to give them One For All. I was hoping I wouldn't have to explain that to you for years!"
Izuku let out a sigh of relief. "That's good! That would have been an awkward conversation."
Izuku had his head buried in his notebook, his phone displaying an article about a raid several underground heroes successfully performed the previous evening alongside the police. And then suddenly, he felt something warm blossoming in his chest.
"All Might, I feel it!" Izuku stood up and looked down at his stomach. For the casual observer it appeared there was no change, but he felt something fundamentally new creeping into his very being.
"Oh! It seems you have processed my DNA then?"
"I think so!" Izuku was excited. "It's warm, right here." He slapped his chest to show All Might.
"That is good! That means you now possess One For All! Now then, let's begin training!"
Izuku set his things down and ran out to the middle of the beach, All Might following behind him.
"So, what do I do?"
"Why it is easy! Just clench your butt cheeks and yell smash!"
Izuku looked disappointed. "R-really?"
All Might laughed awkwardly. "Basically! When I tense my muscles, One For All just wraps itself around them and powers them up."
Izuku made a fist and tried tensing it up. As he did so he felt the warmth in his chest building, the barest tendril of warmth beginning to snake its way into his arm.
And then it suddenly disappeared.
"W-what just happened?" Izuku looked at his fist in disbelief. "It's like I started to feel it, and then it just… stopped?"
"Well, this is awkward." All Might sad, as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Did- did it not work?" Izuku asked in confusion.
"The fact that you feel that core of warmth means that you possess One For All on a fundamental level. It seems like something else is holding you back?"
"Holding me back?"
"I don't know how else to describe it. While you now possess One For All, there is something missing. This never happened for me."
"C-could something be wrong with me?" Izuku asked, looking at his shaking hands.
"Nonsense!" All Might slapped Izuku on the back. "I'm sure we can figure this out! Maybe we rushed into this, and you need more time to let your body finish digesting?"
Izuku stared at the ceiling of his room. With the exam tomorrow, he should have gone to bed a while ago, but the incident, or more appropriately lack of incident, today filled his mind. Is something wrong with me? Am I my own worst enemy? He thought back to all of the bullying. He felt like he was getting better, but did Bakugo do something to damage him more deeply than he thought? Was his own lack of confidence the problem?
He looked at his hand, trying to tense it up. Once again he felt like something should be happening, but it just… wasn't.
Sighing he threw his arm over his face, the same thoughts bouncing through his head until he eventually slipped into a fitful slumber.
Izuku found himself standing in an ocean of stars. Looking down, he couldn't see any ground underneath him, just more of the endless galaxy. The only landmark he saw was a small door in the distance, standing in stark contrast to the swirling colors of the sky. It was then he heard it - whispers coming from the direction of the door. But he couldn't make out what they were saying. He tried using his legs to take a shaky step forward.
A 4-year old Izuku was standing on a playground, behind him was another kid who had just been knocked over, and in front of him was Bakugo, flanked by two of his 'extras.' Izuku spread his arms out to protect the kid behind him.
Izuku shook his head and looked down as the 'ground' rippled from his contact with it. It felt like he was standing on something, some transparent field. The door was slightly closer now. With newfound confidence in how this dreamscape worked, he took another step forward.
Izuku felt the uncontrolled tears running down his face as he stared at the computer monitor, the clip of All Might's debut paused. He felt a crushing weight of sadness from the doctor's visit.
Hearing his mom come in, he turned the chair and pointed at the screen. "Mom, can I still be a hero?"
He felt his heart shatter as his mom hugged him, unable to do anything but cry and repeat the words "I'm sorry." over and over again.
Izuku could feel tears threatening to pour out as he stood there, his resolve wavering at the memory. But the door was waiting for him, so he continued on.
A 7-year old Izuku was crossing a log, following Bakugo as he proudly marched across. He saw Bakugo slip and fall off the edge into the river below. Everyone else was staring in disbelief, but Izuku found himself moving, scrambling down the bank without worrying about his own safety, to check on Bakugo and offer him a hand up.
What is going on? Why is he remembering these specific memories?
An 11-year old Izuku was on the playground, defending another kid from Bakugo and his latest crew of 'extras.' But this time, when the target of Bakugo's bullying got up, he looked at Izuku with disgust rather than any sense of gratitude.
He was always like this, sacrificing himself for others. For the longest time he had no sense of self-worth, between his quirkless status and Bakugo's constant bullying.
A 13-year old Izuku was watching a villain attack, until he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Turning into an alleyway, he saw a distressingly thin and pale girl stumbling towards him - her clothes were torn and covered in blood, and she was rambling incoherently to herself. He didn't know how to help her, but he still found himself reaching out to her as she fell, asking if she was ok.
And then this happened - the event that changed the course of history for him. He was just doing what he always did, but this time it was different. He never expected his life to change so drastically from helping one person.
A 14-year old Izuku saw Bakugo being consumed by the sludge villain. He saw the heroes standing around, saying that nobody had the right quirk to help. After everything Bakugo and All Might had said to him that day, nobody would blame him for staying on the sidelines. After all, he was just a quirkless Deku, and if the heroes couldn't do anything, what could he possibly do.
None of that mattered the moment Izuku saw how scared Bakugo looked in that instant, and suddenly he found himself running towards Bakugo.
This was the first time things really felt different for Izuku. What little confidence and sense of self-worth that he had been carefully cultivating was sorely tested that day. He was still too reckless, but this time he was able to come up with a plan. And once again, without intending to, he found his life completely changed due to his selfless actions.
The door was almost within reach. One more step…
Izuku felt himself on his knees crying. All Might's presence hovering over him as he gently rested a hand on his shoulder. "You deserve to be a hero as much as they do."
Izuku found himself standing in front of the door. It was so close now! He reached out and grabbed the handle. But when he tried to turn it he found the door locked. Suddenly, an impossible wind began blowing out of the still-closed door, and while he tried his hardest to fight against it, it was too strong - he was flung backwards, being tossed freely into the sea of stars.
"Show us who you want to be."
Izuku woke up panting, those two words echoing in his head. He looked at the clock - 7 AM. He had overslept by more than an hour. What was that dream? It felt so real!
He went out for his morning run, but couldn't shake the feeling of the dream. Sure, all of the memories he saw were his own, so that could be explained. But the starscape, and the door? Those felt just as real as the memories of his past.
Halfway through his run he paused in a clearing. Safely away from prying eyes, he closed his fist and stared, once again trying to tense himself up and draw that energy out. It felt no different from yesterday. He felt something there, like static crawling under his skin, but there was still some essential piece missing, that was keeping him from drawing out the power of One For All.
As he was walking to UA for the first time, Izuku was lost inside his head. That dream felt so real last night, but it was just a dream, right? Is it related to the fact that I can't use One For All? All Might assures me that it's there, but I can't figure out what is holding me back.
He was so lost in his own head that he missed a loose stone in the path, until it was too late and he felt himself falling forward. He prepared himself to fall into a roll, but suddenly felt a lurch in his stomach as he stopped falling and found himself floating instead.
"I'm so sorry about that!" He turned and saw a cute brown-haired girl with pink cheeks staring at him. "I should have asked before I used my quirk on you, but when you trip I just acted. After all, it's bad luck to fall before a test, right?"
"Y-yeah!" Izuku felt his face heat up in embarrassment. With the girl's help, he swung himself upright, then the girl pressed the tips of her fingers together to release him from her quirk. He gave her a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his head. "U-um, thanks for the help. I'm Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you."
"I'm Ochako Uraraka, nice to meet you!" She smiled at him. "You really must be worried about the test, huh?"
"Y-yeah." Izuku says, not able to voice his real concerns.
"I understand, it's pretty stressful for me too. Let's do our best, ok?" She smiled at him and gave him a thumb's up.
Izuku smiled at the girl's enthusiasm and gave her a thumbs up in return. "Yes, good luck to you!"
Ochako then turned away and ran ahead inside, while Izuku took a moment to compose himself from the incident. She seems nice, I hope she gets in.
"What are you waiting for? Real life doesn't give you any warnings?" Izuku could hear Present Mic over the loudspeaker as he saw everyone racing off ahead.
Izuku ran in, and the pit in his stomach was still growing. I still don't feel any different, One For All still hasn't properly manifested yet - something is wrong.
He ran forward until he encountered his first robot, and his mind blanked. The robot moved to attack him before a hole was suddenly blasted through it, the source of the laser being a flashy Frenchman. "Thanks monsieur! We should team up, you'd provide a great distraction for me!" The Frenchman didn't wait for his reply however, as he left with a smile and a flourish.
Is that all I am good for, just a distraction? Izuku felt Bakugo's taunts at the edge of his mind.
Panic filled his mind, and his training forgotten, Izuku found himself scrambling down the main thoroughfare in a desperate attempt to find a still standing robot. Unfortunately because he ended up taking the obvious route and following everyone else, all he saw was the other students in his group quickly and efficiently destroying all of the robots in front of him, rattling off their scores as they did so. Before he was able to come up with a plan, the 5 minute warning went out, and his head fell.
You are just a Deku. You aren't even like these other extras, you aren't even noteworthy as a stepping stone on my path to greatness. Bakugo's taunts filled his mind. Without a quirk, what can you hope to accomplish?
"Is - is this all I am? Just a useless nobody?" Izuku asked himself. "Is there really no hope for me? Is that why One For All won't manifest for me?" He stared at his closed fist.
Izuku lost himself in his head until the next buzzer rang out, sounding the 2 minute warning. That was when he felt the ground beginning to tremble as the giant zero-pointer robot appeared. He gasped at the size of it, and saw it tearing through the training ground, destroying everything in its path. I knew they were big and powerful, but this is ridiculous!
All of the other students were fleeing the robot, but Izuku saw the brown-haired girl - Uraraka, trapped under a pile of debris, and she looked worn out. Has she reached her limit? Is that why she can't get out? She was in serious danger - the robot didn't look like it had any intention of stopping, and she was right in its path. Shoving aside his own insecurities, he broke out in a run towards her.
As he took that first step, the core of energy he felt sitting inside of him suddenly exploded. He felt a new warmth coursing through his body, new strength spreading through him he felt himself speeding up, quickly closing the gap between himself and the giant robot. Where training failed, unknown instincts kicked in and he felt new power coursing through his legs, right before he leaped up towards the head of the robot. His legs were burning from the strain, but with the adrenaline and newfound warmth pumping through him he didn't notice.
As he was gaining altitude he made a fist and felt the same electricity coursing through his arm as he pulled back, ready to deliver a decisive blow. Just like All Might, I will end this with one punch!
"Smaaaaaash!"
Time seemed to slow down for him as he punched the robot right in the middle of its face. He watched the metal plating collapse inward as the robot reeled backwards from the force of the impact, beginning to fall backwards from his crippling blow.
He didn't have time to celebrate, however. The burning in his arm dragged him back to the reality of the situation. Having reached the peak of his jump, gravity began to assert itself, pulling him back down to the earth, and when he started to flail he felt sharp pain in his right arm. A quick glance was all he needed to tell him that his arm was definitely broken, hanging at an odd angle. Oh no, I'm going to die!
Izuku saw the ground racing towards him, his mind in overdrive. Ok, there's definitely something wrong with my legs, so I'm not sure what would happen even if I use One For All on them. My left arm is still intact though, if I can perform a smash right before I hit the ground, hopefully the recoil will let me survive the fall. Mentally preparing himself, he pulled his left arm back and felt the energy coursing through his arm.
Only to suddenly feel a sting as Ochako reached out and slapped him across the face, all downward momentum vanishing as she removed his gravity. He looked at her in shock - this was the second time today she had saved him, and she looked like she was fighting with her body to do so. He saw her force her hands together and shout "Release!" dropping him to the ground.
Izuku managed to spin himself so that he would be upright as he dropped the short distance, however when he touched ground he felt his left leg buckling as bones snapped when they touched the ground. From his position on the ground he turned to look at his savior, only to see her back to him, vomiting from the strain of saving him.
At that moment the 30 second warning sounded, and he was reminded that he was about to fail. Using his good hand, he tried to push himself up onto his unbroken leg, but felt his right kneecap shatter as he tried to put weight on it and he fell back down. He felt the sting of tears coming as he tried to push himself back up. "Just one point, I just need to get one point!"
But he found himself unable to stand before the buzzer sounded, letting everyone know the exam was over. He just sat on broken knees crying, waiting for Recovery Girl to come and use her quirk on him. And though to the outside observer it may seem otherwise, the tears weren't from the pain - he felt like he had failed All Might, and Principle Nezu. He didn't know what happened, why he couldn't control One For All properly until that very moment, and now he is paying the price for that. Eventually he saw Recovery Girl come over and give him a kiss to activate her quirk on him, at which point he promptly passed out.
Izuku once again found himself in the field of stars, staring out into space. This dream again. There was one significant difference now, however - the door that was in front of him, previously closed, was now open. He slowly walked towards it. Unlike the night before, instead of being transported into his past memories, he saw a glowing pair of eyes appear from inside the doorway, and then another and another… until he saw eight pairs of eyes staring at him by the time he reached the door. Standing there, the whispering had become loud enough that he could actually make out what was being said.
"You are worthy of our power, ninth holder."
Izuku steeled himself at the door's threshold and stepped through it. As he stepped through the door, everything faded to black.
"We can't wait to see how you use it."
Izuku woke up in what appeared to be a cross between a nurse's office and an infirmary, and he saw Recovery Girl typing away on the computer.
"Glad to see you are awake. I was able to heal your wounds but considering how badly your limbs were messed up it took quite the toll on you. You've been asleep for almost two hours recovering."
"T-thanks." Izuku touched his arm and legs and felt some residual stiffness and soreness, but nothing felt broken anymore. He stood up on wobbly legs. "So is the test over?"
Recovery Girl gave him a look that he swore was pity. "The exam has been over for a while, the practical portion was the final part of the exam. You are free to go."
"O-oh, ok." Izuku walked out, feeling defeated.
"Izu! What took you so long?"
Izuku was dragged out of his funk as he approached the school gates and saw Himiko standing there waiting for him. "Himi? How long have you been waiting here?"
"Over an hour, everyone else left already! What happened to you?"
"I failed the practical portion of the exam."
Himiko winced at that. "We knew it was going to be hard, but you were training even harder than I did! How did you fail it? Couldn't you figure out ways to take out the robots"
"I didn't earn a single point. I also, um, broke a bunch of bones in my legs and one of my arms and Recovery Girl had to heal me." Izuku said quickly. "But the process took so much out of me I was passed out in the nurse's office until I was feeling better. I know you told me about her quirk before but didn't realize the extent of its side effects."
"Wait, you broke your bones? Your arm I could see but how did your legs get broken and how were they broken that badly? Did you get caught by the zero-point robot?" Izuku could see the look of concern on Himiko's face. Oh right, she took this test last year, even if she wasn't allowed to give me any hints she would know what I was up against.
Izuku gulped and gave his sister a shaky smile. "I um… spontaneously manifested a quirk during the combat portion of the exam?"
Izuku saw the look of betrayal on Himiko's and felt his chest tighten. She looked as if he had just taken one of her knives and stabbed her in the back with it. She grabbed his hand and started walking away. "Come on Izu, mom is waiting for us."
"Yeah…" Izuku didn't know what else to say.
He let her guide him home in awkward silence.
Chapter 16: A necessary conversation
Himiko was laying on her bed when she felt a familiar weight sit down on the end of her bed. "Go away Izu."
"Himi… I need to tell you something. Something I can't even tell mom. But you need to know."
"I don't care. Keep it to yourself."
"It's about my quirk."
"I don't care about your stupid quirk!" She flipped over to face him, happy to see him wince. "You lied to me! You said you were quirkless! We spent two years supporting each other! And suddenly now you just what? Have a quirk? How do you think that makes me feel?"
Izuku's face fell. "You're right. You probably feel terrible. And it's my fault."
Himiko pushed herself into a sitting position. "You're right it's your fault! Why? Why would you lead me on like this?" The hurt on her face was evident.
Izuku held his hands up in defense. "I didn't lead you on! And that's why I need to tell you this. The truth about my quirk. You see, I really am quirkless. Well, I was - I never lied to you about that."
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"That's what I am trying to tell you. I- my quirk isn't my own. It was given to me."
"Don't lie to me! I… I trusted you, and now you're lying to me." Himiko found herself crying again as she began punching her brother's chest.
She felt Izuku gently grab her wrists. "I am not lying Himi. I swear. When I was so happy 10 months ago? When All Might told me I could be a hero? I never told you or mom or anyone the rest of that conversation. He knows someone who could transfer an enhancement quirk to me." Izuku's head fell. "My training was actually to prepare myself to hold the quirk. I was so concerned with trying to hide the fact that I would be getting a quirk that I never really considered how you would feel when I suddenly came home with a quirk."
"What, are you just telling me there is someone out there who can, what? Transfer quirks to other people?"
Izuku gives her a wobbly smile. "Something like that, yes. And that's why I'm not supposed to tell anyone. Besides All Might and myself, there are only six other people that will know. You're the seventh." He sighed in defeat. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. But you are right Himi - you've trusted me from the moment you woke up in the hospital. And I was lying to you. If anyone deserves to know the truth, it's you."
Himiko still refused to look at him, but he could see fresh tears running down her cheeks. "Why Izu? Why do you have to be so you?"
"What do you mean Himi?"
She briefly looked up at him. "Y-you're trusting me with some big important secret, just because I'm mad at you!" She looked back down. "It's unfair."
Izuku gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "You're allowed to be upset. I kind of had to get really good at being evasive the last ten months?"
Himiko shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. I mean you're the most selfless, caring person on the planet. If anyone deserves to benefit from being given a quirk, it's you. I'm just - I'm scared."
"Scared of what?"
Himiko bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood as she finally raised her head and made eye contact. "Scared of losing you. Now that you have some quirk that is apparently so strong you literally broke yourself when you used it."
Izuku gave her a sad smile and shook his head. "No, you're not going to lose me. I don't want to be that kind of hero. I actually didn't figure it out until after I knew I was going to be getting a quirk - the kind of hero I want to be. I thought being a hero was just about saving people from villains. But that's not all, I just never realized it. I want to be the hero who can tell a quirkless 4 year old boy that he can be a hero. I want to be the kind of hero who will save a little girl whose parents abused her because they didn't like her quirk. They need a hero too."
"Izu…" Himiko found herself crying again. "Way to make me feel terrible about myself." She grabbed his shirt sleeve. "You are just too much sometimes." She gave a wet laugh. "I guess that's why you were able to impress All Might of all people, to get him to do this - this massive thing for you."
Izuku smiled and took his sister's hand. "Like I said, quirk or no quirk I'm the same person. I guess the best way I can explain it is that All Might saw potential in me. And because of that, he offered me the power to chase my dreams in ways I never thought possible, if that makes sense?"
Himiko began to give her brother a fond smile. "More like, he saw you would kill yourself running into danger and wanted to make sure you don't die."
Izuku gave a nervous laugh. "Maybe, but it doesn't matter at this point." His face fell again. "I failed the practical portion of the exam. And I haven't applied to any other schools, so I don't know what I'm going to do."
A knock on the door to Himiko's room interrupted them, Inko opening the door to peer in. "I don't know why both of you are upset, but I made your favorite katsudon, and it's ready. If you two feel up for it we can talk over dinner? Or maybe talk about it afterwards?"
"Y-yeah, we will be out in a minute!" Izuku managed to stammer out. When their mom left he closed the door and turned around to face his sister, new panic etched into his face. "Crap, I haven't told mom yet that I have a quirk now, either."
Himiko sighed. "And you said mom can't know the truth?"
Izuku shook his head. "No. As much as I love her, she's still a civilian - for her own safety I don't think she's ready to handle that big of a secret. One day though - I promised myself I would tell you both the truth one day. You just found out a little faster than I was expecting you to?" He gave a nervous laugh.
"Guess we'll see if mom takes the "official" story better than I did?"
Izuku nodded. "Y-yeah. The story I came up with is trying to make everything sound plausible."
Himiko sighed and pulled back. She hated the idea of lying to Inko after everything she has done for her, but she couldn't argue with Izuku's logic on this one. As a hero she is expected to be able to keep important secrets, even under duress. Meanwhile they could be putting their mom in danger if she found out something like this. "Ok, tell me what you've come up with."
"So there are some quirks that are unable to properly manifest if the person's body isn't ready to handle the strain of their quirk. Normally these quirks are discovered by the age of 11 or 12 at the latest, but it's still theoretically possible that at the age of 15 I could have such a quirk. The story, which we ar- were going to send to the quirk registration office was that over the course of my training to build my strength up for the UA entrance exam, my body's muscle mass became sufficient enough that a previously dormant storage and enhancement quirk we did not know I had was able to finally manifest properly."
"Ok, that sounds both simple enough and also nerdy enough to be coming from you." Himeko smirked. She stood up, and then pulled Izuku off of her bed. "Come on, let's go get cleaned up and talk to mom."
A few minutes later they all sat down to dinner, Inko dishing out plates, letting her children sit there quietly. Only once she sat down did she break the silence.
"Are either of you ready to talk about it?"
Izuku finally worked up the courage to speak. "I hurt myself really badly during the entrance exam. Himiko was really upset at me because of how bad it was - if UA didn't have Recovery Girl on hand, it would have taken me months to recover."
Inko's head shot up and she gave her son a concerned look. "W-what happened? Himi has had injuries from her training, but nothing that bad!"
Izuku looked down at his food. "I um. I manifested a quirk during the practical exam, and didn't know how to control it properly so I may have broken both of my legs and an arm in the process."
He heard her chopsticks clatter on her plate and looked up, seeing his mom's hands covering her mouth as tears were building up. "You- you have a quirk now?"
Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat. "Y-yeah. Apparently I've always had a quirk, but because I was so scrawny it never manifested itself because it would hurt me, like a built-in failsafe?" He put down his own chopsticks and looked at his hands. "It turns out that after ten months of intensive training, my body had enough muscle mass that my quirk was able to manifest."
Inko slowly stood up and slowly made her way around the table, looking at Izuku like he was made of glass. "And your quirk broke bones in 3 of your limbs?"
Izuku rubbed the back of his head and gave a nervous grin. "Yeah… I have a theory why that happened. Based on the way enhancement quirks work, if I'm right, that means I have been storing energy since I was four without ever using any of it? So I have a lot more energy to channel through my quirk than my body knows how to deal with."
"Are you going to be ok?"
Izuku nodded vigorously. "Y-yeah. I need to learn how to control it, but as long as I'm not using it, there is no risk of hurting myself." He held up his hands. "See? Perfectly fine."
Inko gasped, tears running down her face as she wrapped her arms around Izuku. "It's a miracle! You have a quirk!"
Izuku wrapped his arms around his mom and nodded into her shoulder. "Y-yeah, I do."
When she finally let him go, Inko turned to her daughter. "I think I get why you are upset. How are you feeling?"
It was Himiko's turn to look down at her food. "I… need time. I should be happy for Izu, but part of me feels like I'm losing something special between us."
Inko walked over to her daughter and hugged her. "You can take all the time you need. I know change can be scary, especially for you."
Himiko pulled herself deeper into her mother's hug. "It's hard." She admitted.
"Just know that no matter what, we're your family and we'll always be here for you."
Himiko could only nod, more tears flowing as she looked at her brother and saw him nodding in agreement as well.
Eventually Himiko loosened herself from her mom enough to drag her over to Izuku and pull him into a group hug. The three remained this way for several minutes later until everyone calmed down. After everyone began to feel better they returned to their meal. Eventually Himiko finally broached the other elephant in the room.
"Izu, we were interrupted earlier - you never explained exactly how you failed the practical portion?"
"I um, got so caught up in my own head that I forgot well, everything? All of the training that should have helped me deal with those robots. Something about seeing all of these people who were confident with their quirks destroying robots all around me really got to me. Until the giant zero point robot came out. There was a girl who was trapped under some rubble from when the robot crashed through a building. So I started running in to save her."
"And as I was running towards her, I suddenly felt different - my quirk was manifesting! I just didn't actually realize what was happening until I was a hundred feet in the air. So instead of rushing in to save the girl I um, punched the zero point robot in the face to destroy it?"
Despite the serious atmosphere, Himiko started laughing. "N-nobody in my class is going to believe it. They break out those giant robots when they really want us to sweat, since none of us can deal with them easily, or at all. And here Izu just breaks one by punching it in the face."
"Hey!" Izuku found himself crossing his arms in defiance. "Even though I did wreck the robot, I still broke my arm in the process!"
Calming down, she looked at her brother again. "Don't you remember there's a second scoring component to the exam? You probably got a ton of points by helping this girl out."
Izuku momentarily brightened at that, but then his face immediately fell. "In the end, after I punched out the robot, I was falling from the sky because I had no way to control my descent, and my limbs were a mess because of my quirk activation. And the girl I was trying to save? She ultimately had to save me from crashing into the pavement with her zero gravity quirk. So if anyone would have gotten points for that, it would have been her, not me."
Himiko hummed at that. "I think you're selling yourself short, but we will have to just wait and see when the results come in."
For the next week Izuku was in a slump. He couldn't get over the feeling of failing everyone, and that wasn't helped by the fact that All Might wasn't responding to his messages. He was also scared of trying to use One For All again. It was so strong, he didn't want to use it and shatter bones without a better idea of what he was doing. His days were spent in a haze as he went to school, then returned home and holed up in his room until dinner.
Even though Himiko was still having some difficulty adjusting to the fact that Izuku now had a quirk, she hated seeing him like this, and tried her best to cheer him up. Meanwhile Inko spent hours each day looking into other hero schools that were accepting late applications to take their entrance exams.
Finally, a week after his entrance exam, Izuku was studying in his room when he heard his mom come rushing in. "Izu, your letter from UA is here!"
With a sense of dread he took the letter and opened it, seeing the familiar message disc falling onto his desk. He looked at his mom, and saw Himiko also peeking into the room.
"If you want to watch it in private that's ok." His mom reassured him.
Izuku shook his head. "No, it's ok. We can watch it together."
He flipped it over and felt the weight of it, before he sat it on the desk and pressed the button to start the message.
"I am here!" All Might's face appeared on the screen. "I must apologize for not contacting you recently, but I was caught up in paperwork! You see, next year I will be joining the UA staff as a heroics teacher!"
He heard a gasp from Himiko behind him, and was reminded that his new position wasn't common knowledge yet.
Meanwhile the projection of All Might continued "But that is not why I am here! Let's review your results. For the written portion of the exam, you have scored a 93%! You scored the second highest written score among the candidates. This is a testament to your bright mind. However that alone is not enough to get into the hero course. There is also the matter of the practical exam! Unfortunately, the only robot that you were able to destroy was worth zero points."
Izuku braced himself. Here it comes.
"And if that was the only metric for scoring the practical exam, you would have failed. However, it is not! Allow me to demonstrate with a video."
The video switched to a camera in Present Mic's office. The three saw a brown-haired girl - Uraraka is her name, Izuku remembers - enter the office. "Um, Excuse me, Mic-Sensei?"
"What is it, little listener?"
"There was someone in my group - Izuku Midoriya. He hurt himself really badly trying to save me, and I saw him afterwards saying he needed just one point. It doesn't feel right for him to fail the exam because of me. Could I give him some of my points? He at least deserves the points he could have earned if he didn't save me!"
"Sorry! No-can-do!" Mic came over and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Even though your heart's in the right place, rules are rules! You don't worry about him though! He may not have any villain points, but he's going to have a good score anyways!"
"What?" Izuku was shaking at the revelation, as the scene cut back to All Might.
"Your actions are already inspiring others! As Nezu is fond of saying, it would be irresponsible of us to let that go to waste. And it would be irresponsible of UA to test on only one metric. You see, there is another score - when there is serious danger and someone is in trouble, what do you do? These are the types of questions that go into our second score - Hero Points, given out by a panel of the staff and teachers. And this year, you have set a new school record of 60 points! This alone propels you into the top 10 scores among students this year."
On screen, All Might paused for dramatic effect. "Congratulations young Midoriya. This is your Hero Academia!"
Izuku heard Himiko cheer behind him right before she and their mom latched onto him, all three crying and embracing in a deep hug.
"I-I did it! I'm going to UA!"
Chapter 17: Learning new strengths
Four days before Izuku received his acceptance letter…
Himiko was sitting at her desk, worrying about the situation with Izuku - it has been three days since the entrance exam and he hasn't shown any signs of pulling himself out of his slump. And then there was the whole fact that he had a quirk now. Even though he is still fundamentally the same Izu, years of abuse have her waiting for something bad to happen.
A hand slamming on her desk startled her as she yelped and had to keep herself from falling backwards. She quickly recovered and began to glare at Emily, who was staring at her with her arms crossed.
"What was that for?"
"Himiko, something's up! I should never be able to walk right up to your desk and startle you like that." Her face softened, and she indicated the three others joining them. "We're worried about you."
Himiko found a smile creeping onto her face as she looked at her friends. "Thanks. Things with Izu have just been… rough recently." She admitted.
"What did your brother do?" Hideo asked. "Something to do with the entrance exam?"
"Yeah… that. He thinks he failed, and until the disk with his exam results shows up he's not going to believe otherwise."
"Your brother certainly can get in his head." Atsuko said. "I'm sorry it is dragging you down as well."
"I know you care about your brother, but you need to watch yourself as well." Sakura added.
"Ok, it's decided!" Emily slammed her hand back on the desk. "Since tomorrow starts the weekend, after school we're going out! You need some time for yourself, and it's clear other Midoriya isn't going to be getting any better until next week."
"That actually sounds really good." Himiko said, her smile growing. "I'm in!"
"Good, anyone else?" Emily looked around and saw Sakura and Atsuko nodding in agreement.
"Sorry, I'm going to be spending the weekend with my family." Hideo said.
"That's fine, we'll just make it a girls' night then!"
"That sounds great!" Feeling comforted by her friends, Himiko decided to drop the other bomb over as well. "There's also one other thing about Izu that's been bothering me, actually." She admitted to them.
"Oh no, what else did he do?"
"Turns out he's not actually quirkless like we all thought, but an extremely late bloomer? Part of why he thinks he failed the exam is because his quirk decided to manifest itself in the middle of the exam?"
She just waited while her friends all stared at her in stunned silence.
"WHAT?" Himiko swore she heard something crack with how hard Emily slammed a fist into the desk. "Details. Now."
Himiko groaned, immediately regretting her decision.
The next day passed uneventfully and the group of girls all found themselves following Atsuko to her family's apartment to drop off their school bags and change their clothes for the evening.
While the others took over the living room and made themselves comfortable Himiko went into the bathroom and changed into a cute black dress, with black leggings, the only color accents being a pair of red bracelets and the red scarf she wrapped around her neck. She stepped out of the bathroom to laughter.
"H-Himiko, you're really going for the full goth look tonight huh?" Emily asked.
Himiko crossed her arms and pouted. "Shut up! After this week it is appropriate."
Emily just shrugged. "I guess that's fair." She went into the bathroom next, quickly emerging after she simply replaced her uniform top with a thick off-white sweater.
"Oh yeah, you haven't seen Himiko go full vampire yet." Atsuko emerged from her own room, having changed into a simple pair of jeans and a baggy t-shirt. "It's not just her hero costume."
"Traitor." Himiko grumbles. "You're just jealous I look so good in black and red."
"True, and you look horrible in blue so it evens out." Atsuko laughs before turning to Sakura. "Your turn, then we can get going."
Sakura left and changed into a long green skirt with a white top and a brown leather jacket. "I hope this is appropriate?"
"You look good!" Emily declared. "Ok girls, let's go get some dinner and then we're going to embarrass ourselves until Himiko feels better!"
After grabbing dinner at a local ramen shop, Atsuko led the group to a small karaoke box for the second part of their evening's plans. They rented a room for a few hours and settled in.
While they were scrolling through the selection of songs, Atsuko finally broached the subject. "Himi, how are you holding up so far?"
Himiko sighed. "It's hard." She looked at Sakura and Emily. "You both remember how I was adopted, right?"
She waited until the two girls nodded before she continued. "Well, the part I didn't tell you guys was that my parents were abusive to me, physically and mentally. So I - well I want to say I ran away, but the truth is that my parents forced me to suppress my quirk. Including the part where I needed to drink blood regularly."
She heard gasps, and saw a look of rage on Emily's face and sadness on Sakura's face. Giving a sad smile to her friends, she continued. "So eventually I suffered a quirk backlash. I just don't remember what happened for several weeks - the first thing I actually do remember is stumbling through an alleyway in Mustafu and some little kid with messy green hair asking me if I was ok."
She found herself interrupted as Emily slammed into her, wrapping her in a hug. She was joined shortly afterwards by Sakura and Atsuko. "That's so terrible!"
"What kind of parent would do that to their own child?" Everyone was surprised by Sakura's composure cracking as anger seeped into her voice.
Himiko wrapped her arms around her friends. "Next thing I know the kid and his mom are visiting me in the hospital, and they gave me the best family I could have ever asked for."
"I don't get it. What does this have to do with your brother developing a quirk?"
Himiko sighed and pulled back from her friends. "Quirk Discrimination sucks when you're on the receiving end of it. Part of why the Midoriyas were the best thing that happened to me? Izuku understood me. He was quirkless, which meant he somehow had it worse than me, and yet despite that he is a perpetual ray of sunshine." She felt herself blushing as she buried herself in her scarf. "It's inspiring, and helped me become a better person."
Sakura was the first to put the pieces together. "And then it turns out he has a quirk?"
Himiko nodded into her scarf. "Yeah. And not just any quirk, but a super cool one!"
"I see."
"I don't see how this is a problem?" Emily asked.
Himiko just glared at her. "Are you serious right now?"
Emily fired back with a serious look of her own. "I am. You said everyone thought he was quirkless up until last week, right?"
"Yes."
"So, how does his extremely late quirk manifestation invalidate everything that happened before that? He still suffered from all those years of quirk discrimination against him. You know him best. Do you really think that getting a quirk now is going to cause a total personality shift?"
Himiko thought back to the conversation they had the evening of the exam, and broke eye contact first. "No. He literally came to check up on me because I was upset at him after the exam."
Atsuko giggled. "That does sound like something he would do."
"Yeah…" Himiko smiled fondly into her scarf. It is hard work trying to get Izuku to put his own feelings first, but there was still a small, selfish part of her that liked when he acted that way towards her.
"So I am going to ask it again, how is this a problem?"
Himiko glared at Emily again, but it lacked the bite it previously did. Finally she sighed. "It shouldn't be. That's my problem!" Her voice dropped as she quietly added. "I just don't want to be alone again."
Emily was not expecting the last part. "You-Do you really think we'd abandon you?"
Atsuko stepped in. "You're not alone now. You have us - and Habiki would agree if he was here."
"I agree. Izuku is very important to you, but if anything happens with him you will still have us."
"Exactly! After this last year, you think you're going to get rid of us that easily?"
A silence filled the air as Himiko processed her friend's words. Without warning, she suddenly jumps out of her seat and somehow manages to grab all three of her friends. "You guys are the best!" Himiko says as she pulls them all into a hug. "I think I needed to hear that."
"And if you forget it we'll just have to keep reminding you!" Emily declared.
"I'll hold you to that." Despite her previous thoughts, Himiko found herself smiling. "I know it'll all be ok, I just need time to adjust."
"Finally!" Emily pulled herself out of Himiko's grip. "There's that smiling Himiko that we both love and are terrified of."
Himiko stuck her tongue out at Emily, who just fired back a smirk of her own before she walked over to the touchscreen looking for a song. Finding an appropriately cheesy song, she turned around and handed the microphone to Himiko. "Now then, serious time is over, time to embarrass ourselves!"
As they were leaving the karaoke booth, Himiko wrapped her arms around Atsuko and Emily's shoulders and pulled them into a side hug. "Thanks, I needed this!"
Atsuko smiled at her. "Anytime Himi."
"We should totally have more girls' nights! We don't need to wait until one of us is feeling down!"
"That sounds like fun!" Himiko responded. "We can even rotate who picks the activity!"
The four girls happily chatted as they returned to the Hotoko residence, where everyone retrieved their bags and began to part ways for the weekend.
As she was about to leave, Himiko felt Emily grabbing her arm. She turned towards her friend in confusion.
Emily let go of Himiko's arm and then bowed. "I'm so sorry about yesterday!"
"Huh?"
"When I jumped on you about your brother's quirk. I let my enthusiasm get the best of me. I didn't realize how much of a sore topic it was until tonight."
Himiko found herself momentarily speechless. "Who are you and what have you done with Emily?"
She made a strangled sound and bolted upright. "Hey! I was trying to be nice!"
Himiko smiled at her. "I know, I really appreciate it."
Emily made another strangled cry as Himiko pulled her into a hug.
"Just let us know if Izuku starts acting weird and we'll have a chat with him, ok?"
Himiko laughed at that. "I think we'll be ok. I just needed my own reminder that things are different now - I'm not alone anymore. Even if you can be annoying."
"Not fair!"
"You know it's true!" Himiko let her friend go and grabbed her bag from where she dropped it. "I'll see you all on Monday!"
After receiving his acceptance letter to UA, it was like a switch was flipped in Izuku and he was back to his old self. He did it, he was going to be a hero! And on top of that, he will be doing it with All Might's quirk!
Which led to his next hurdle - getting control of One For All.
As good of a mentor All Might was to Izuku, over the past ten months he has realized that he's a bad teacher. That was made even more obvious when he finally met up with him again several days after getting his acceptance letter. The pair returned to the beach where All Might was going to repeat the training he originally intended to give Izuku the day before the entrance exam. However, the day's training was cut short as All Might had to rush Izuku to Recovery Girl after he broke his hand trying to punch a broken fridge.
After that, Izuku accepted that All Might wasn't going to be helpful in learning how to control his quirk. Which meant that if he wanted to figure out how to control his quirk, he'd have to get outside help.
In an ideal world, he would have asked Principal Nezu, but he's not sure it would be worth troubling him over it. If he could even arrange a meeting that is. The next option would be to have Himiko talk to Kan-sensei for him, since he's an actual teacher. However Izuku quickly discarded that idea - he doesn't want to intrude on Himiko's private training with him. He felt bad enough that he didn't want to impose on her like that.
That left the third option, which is how he ended up sitting in his sister's bedroom with Emily and Himiko. The fact that Emily also had a hobby of quirk analysis, and the fact that she actually has the benefit of having a quirk for the past 12 years, meant that hopefully she would be able to give him some insight into using his quirk safely.
"Mr. Yagi was a pretty good instructor for the workout, but near the end of my training, when we began to suspect that I had a quirk, he didn't exactly have good advice." While he had accepted it, Izuku still felt bad actually voicing his concerns about All Might's teaching.
"How bad could it be?" Emily asked.
"He ummm… to try and get my quirk to manifest he told me to 'clench my butt cheeks and yell SMASH!' while having me punch random objects."
The room was filled with a stunned silence, before both Emily and Himiko burst out laughing. Himiko flopped over on the bed in laughter, but Emily wasn't so lucky - when she doubled over in laughter she fell out of her chair, where she continued giggling on the floor.
"E-even my original quirk counselor wasn't that bad!" Himiko exclaimed.
"That's the worst advice I've ever heard! No wonder you broke a bunch of bones when your quirk manifested!" Emily was able to choke out.
Izuku just laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Y-yeah. So that was his first advice. When I talked to him a couple days ago his next advice wasn't much better. Although part of that is my own fault." He admitted sheepishly.
"Hold on a minute!" Emily jumped up and shoved Izuku off of the bed, plopping down next to Himiko. "I don't want to end up on the floor again, so you're taking the chair before you tell us!"
Izuku frowned at Emily, but she just smirked back at him. Finally relenting, he sighed. "So we were talking about how I can avoid breaking the bones in my body again. He described the energy flow like a microwave - and the best metaphor I could come up with was trying to cook an egg in the microwave - if you hit it with too much energy, it explodes."
That led to another round of laughter from the girls, thankfully neither ended up on the floor that time as they leaned into each other for support. Izuku's frown only deepened.
"S-sorry Izu, that may be the dumbest metaphor ever!" Himiko finally calmed down enough to apologize.
"Just for that I'm taking the title of better quirk analyst! I'm also going to be taking all of those books you got on loan from UA, as well!" Emily yelled, before calming herself down. "But I actually see the problem."
"W-what's that?" Izuku felt hurt by their reaction to his metaphor, but he relented for now.
"Since you have a strength enhancement quirk, it's obvious you're going to try and emulate All Might. This may actually be bad for you compared to say, if you got your mom's object attraction."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"So All Might's thing is his signature smashes, correct? Where he tries to throw everything into one massive punch." Emily waited for Izuku to nod before continuing. "The fact that your quirk works similarly is bad for you, because now you're going to try and emulate his style. Instead of if you had, say, your mom's object attraction, where you wouldn't even think about fighting like All Might does."
Izuku put his thumb to his lip as he thought about it. "It is true, once I felt my quirk kick in my first thought was to end the fight in a single punch, like All Might would."
"Well, All Might can literally change the weather when he punches, right?" Izuku nodded and then Emily continued. "What do you think would happen if he actually punched someone - well, someone without a shock absorption quirk, I kind of want to see if Habiki can no-sell one of All Might's punches personally - with that much power?"
Izuku's eyes went wide as he started putting it together. "He doesn't! He only hits them with a fraction of his power."
"Exactly! This is where your microwave example breaks down - if you pump full power into your arm, it is still dealing with the stress of all that energy, it doesn't matter if it's for 5 seconds or a minute. It's still full power. Assuming your quirk works on the principles of an Emitter quirk like we think it does, it shouldn't be limited to all or nothing like that. It sounds like this Mr. Yagi tried to explain that to you, but he failed to get the point across."
Izuku put his thumb on his mouth. "So it's not like an on/off switch. More like a faucet then?"
"Now you're getting there! Come with me." Emily hopped up and grabbed both Izuku and Himiko's arms and dragged them to the bathroom. With her right hand she opened the faucet so a small stream of water began to trickle out, and with her left hand she created a dull sphere of light. "Assuming your quirk works like a normal storage and emitter quirk, you have all of this energy stored in you, and you're pumping energy into your limbs, right?"
She then opened the faucet more and made the sphere of light grow brighter. "Most of us have had years to find our limits, so we subconsciously know exactly when to stop without hurting ourselves. But you literally have had your quirk for about two weeks."
"Yeah. Plus the fact that I may have been storing energy ever since I was little, even if I never was able to access that until now."
"Right, so we need to find out what your limits are before you go breaking any bones again. And you need an actual quirk counselor." Emily closed her hand around the orb of light, snuffing it out, and turned off the faucet. "Otherwise you're going to break more bones, and I'm not sure Recovery Girl will be too happy having to patch you up after every Heroics class."
"Not to mention mom and I would kill him for hurting himself."
Izuku nodded and stared at the faucet. Reaching out, he opened the faucet slightly, so that water was just dripping out. He clenched his fist and stared at it. Don't try a short burst of power, instead try a small tendril of energy. He tried picturing the connection in this new way, just barely cracking it open and feeding energy into his arm. The three saw a greenish-yellow light begin to travel up his arm and surround his fist. Encouraged, Izuku tried to push a little more out, and they saw the light brighten, and thin red veins appeared on his arm.
Feeling brave, Izuku tried to push a little more, and they saw the veins begin to grow in size - and suddenly a burning sensation engulfed his arm.
"Ow!" Izuku yelped as he unclenched his fist, the three seeing light disappear immediately once he stopped trying to concentrate on it.
"Are you ok?" Himiko asked, concern evident in her voice.
"I think so?" Izuku stared at his arm and began to feel it with his other hand. "It is a little sore, but I don't think I broke anything?"
Relief washed over Himiko's face. "Good! I didn't want to have to explain to mom why we are rushing you to the hospital."
"That was super cool! You get cool special effects with your quirk too!"
"You noticed that huh?" Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I think I had pushed maybe 10% of my total potential into my arm before it hurt enough to stop? If that much strength hurts me without actually using my quirk, I probably need to lower that to five or even three percent if I want to actually punch something though."
"That little?"
"Emily, be nice! Izu, is there a way to increase that so you won't hurt yourself?"
Izuku locked eyes with Himiko and nodded. "Yeah. Since I was originally engaging in strength training to compensate for my lack of a quirk, it seems like my problem has always been a lack of body mass. So if I continue to build up my muscle mass, then I will be able to use more power. One way to think about it is the energy almost takes up physical space when I push it into my limbs? So the more mass, the more energy I can push out."
Thankfully Himiko seemed to understand. "Well, you're going to get a workout at UA next year!"
"I should probably check with my trainer to see if I can practice my quirk somewhere." Izuku thought about how long it took to power up his quirk. "It wouldn't do for me to start my career at UA by breaking more bones because I can't control my quirk."
"Oh yeah, they have quirk assessment exams day one. It would be really embarrassing if you can't even do those."
Izuku found himself standing at the entrance of UA after school, waiting for All Might. After his brainstorming session with Emily, he wanted to try things out as soon as he could. Fortunately, now that All Might was finished with paperwork the two have begun talking regularly again, and All Might got back to him quickly. For this training session he arranged the use of one of UA's training facilities. That way, if there was another accident, he wouldn't have to rush him halfway across town to see Recovery Girl again.
"Izu, there you are!" He looked and saw Himiko running towards him before pulling him into a hug. Behind her he saw her other friends looking on curiously.
"Hey there Himi. I'm just waiting for Mr. Yagi to get here - he's supposed to have a visitor's pass for me so I can get in."
"Can we watch?" Emily asked, excited.
"Umm, not this time?" Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "I don't really want you guys to see if I break my arms again."
"Aww, you're no fun!" Emily pouts. "I still want you to do the thing with Habiki though!"
"Wait, what?" Hideo asked, confused.
"She didn't tell you?" Izuku was also confused.
"Of course she didn't!" Himiko interjected. "Emily here wants to try and convince All Might to hit you with one of his smash attacks, to see if your shock absorption can handle it. Because Izu has an enhancement quirk that also lets him throw crazy punches, she has settled for trying to get him to hit you with a full powered punch, ignoring the fact that Izu would break his arm in the process."
"It's for science! I want to see how strong Habiki's shock absorption is!"
Hideo laughed at that. "While that does sound cool, I don't like the idea of little Midoriya breaking his arm like that."
"Oh come on!"
Izuku laughed nervously. "I may be willing to try it at some point? Preferably when I won't shatter every bone in my arm to do it."
Himiko began to glare at her brother. "Do and die."
Himiko's friends stayed for a few more minutes chatting away, before they had to leave to catch their trains home. Eventually the group said their goodbyes and broke apart as her friends left the two of them alone in front of UA.
Once her friends were safely out of earshot, Himiko turned to Izuku. "Are you sure I can be here?"
Izuku merely nodded. "Yeah. Three of the people who know about my quirk are Mr. Yagi, Recovery Girl, and Nezu. I think I need to at least let Mr. Yagi know what I told you?"
Himiko nodded. "Okay."
A few minutes later, All Might showed up in his true form, surprise on his face as he approached. "Young Midoriya! I didn't expect company today."
Izuku laughed nervously. "Yeah, about that. Can we talk in private before we start training?"
A look of concern passed across All Might's face. "Did something happen?"
"I'll tell you in someplace less public?"
All Might gave him a serious look. "Alright, follow me."
All Might handed Izuku his guest pass and then led the two back into UA and into the teacher's lounge. Once there All Might sat on one side of the couch while Izuku and Himiko sat on the other side. "So young Midoriya, what happened?"
"I um, told Himi that I was given a quirk?"
"What?" All Might practically shouted, before descending into a coughing fit, blood coming out of his mouth.
Himiko looked concerned while Izuku laughed nervously. "She was bound to find out eventually! I just decided it was better for her to know now, rather than later. Plus, she can help me with my cover story!"
Once he recovered, Himiko felt All Might's piercing eyes examine her. "And you realize the weight of what you have been told?"
Himiko nodded. "Yeah. The fact that Izuku has been given a quirk is big, isn't it?"
"Indeed." All Might sighed. "Well, at least you have told me. You will eventually find people who you are comfortable entrusting with the truth. I just was not expecting it to happen so quickly! As long as you both understand the significance of it. Discretion is an important part of being a hero, after all!"
Himiko looked at her brother, a small smile appearing on her face. Sitting here, she began to realize just how big of a secret she was in on, and it felt oddly comforting. "Yeah, I do."
All Might clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Was that all?"
Izuku looked at Himiko and then All Might, nodding affirmatively. "Yeah."
Their conversation finished, All Might stood up and led them back out of the school and towards one of the training grounds, where numerous reinforced bags were set up.
"These punching bags are designed to handle super strength users, so they are a little nicer than what we were using on Takoba beach." All Might explained as Izuku was wrapping his fists in tape. "You said you figured out what your problem was last time?"
"I think so! I was thinking more in terms of time - how long I focus energy into my arms. But that wasn't what I should be doing. I think I've figured out how to control how much energy is going into my arms. But I haven't figured out how much my arms can handle when I'm actually punching something? So I want to start with feeding my arms the barest amount of energy I can and slowly work my way up?"
"That sounds like an excellent idea!" All Might couldn't help but smile. It wasn't a glamorous idea, but if it helped him learn how to use One For All without breaking his body, it would be an improvement over the current state.
Izuku stood in front of the punching bag and began to imagine the barest trickle of energy again, his arm beginning to glow softly with light. Reeling back, Izuku let go with the punch, rocking the bag back and forth.
Izuku stared at his hand in surprise. "I-I didn't feel a thing!"
"That's great, young Midoriya!"
"No, I mean I was expecting to feel some sort of pain from hitting the bag with my fist, but it didn't hurt at all!"
All Might laughed at that. "Yes, your quirk doesn't just increase your strength, but also your durability! By channeling its power through you, you can soften blows to the affected area."
"I'm jealous!" Himiko called out. "Even when transformed I end up feeling everything."
Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "T-thats good to know!" He looked back at the bag with newfound determination and closed his fist. "Ok, now let's try again!"
Izuku slowly kept increasing the amount of energy he was feeding into his hand. He worked his way up to hitting with about five percent of his maximum power without feeling any side effects. When he tried six percent was the first time he really felt any feedback. After throwing a punch at that Izuku looked at his arm.
"Is something wrong, young Midoriya?"
Izuku found himself rubbing his wrist. "I feel sore after that. Like I am getting backlash. Right now it's just some soreness, but if I keep going for too long it could end up hurting."
"So five percent is your current maximum then?" Himiko asked.
"I-I think so. I want to keep going though." Izuku winced at the glare Himiko was giving him. "I need to know what my actual limits are!"
Himiko sighed. "I wish I could argue with you."
"I know." He admitted. "But it's better to find out in a controlled environment then during actual training - or worse, during a fight with a villain!"
At seven percent Izuku felt the same soreness, but much more amplified. At eight percent, Izuku felt pain.
"Ow!" He recoiled and began rubbing his wrist.
"Izu! Are you ok?" Himiko rushed over to him.
Izuku tested his hand. "Nothing is obviously broken, but something is definitely wrong."
"I think we should check with Recovery Girl." Himiko said in a way that didn't leave any room for argument.
"That's probably a good idea." All Might agreed.
Izuku let himself be led back to the main UA building and down to the nurse's office, since he didn't remember exactly how to get there from his previous visit. When they got there, they saw her sitting at a computer typing up a report.
When she heard them come in, she turned and looked at them and sighed. "What happened this time?"
Izuku laughed nervously. "I think I'm getting better at hurting myself." He held up his arm. "It's sore and something happened, but I didn't actually break it this time?"
"Let's take an X-ray and find out." Recovery girl led Izuku over to a machine where she made him hold his arm on a table while she took the x-rays.
A few minutes later, she returned and pulled the X-ray up on her machine. "It looks like young Midoriya has microfractures running throughout his arm. It's not fully broken, but if you put too much pressure on your arm once you reach this state, your bones will break." She glared at him, making sure he understood the warning.
Izuku just laughed nervously. "T-that's good to know, actually! I was trying to find my limits. I um, guess I found them?"
Recovery Girl just sighed. "I guess I will let it slide this time. Now that you know what your limits are, I'd better be seeing a lot less of you."
Izuku winced. "Y-Yes ma'am!"
"Now hold out your arm." Izuku obeyed and held out his arm for Recovery Girl, who used her quirk on it. He immediately felt a wave of exhaustion as the pain disappeared from his arm.
Izuku looked at the three and gave them a shaky smile. "I-I think I should probably call it for today huh?"
"Yes, you don't want to end up back here again." Recovery Girl stated.
"At least I now know that I can practice safely." Izuku stared at his arm. "It's still too long for me to actually throw a punch. I need to get faster."
"As long as you don't push yourself too hard, young Midoriya."
"He won't." Himiko stated matter of factly. "I'll make sure mom knows the situation, and we'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid in the next month."
Knowing he wasn't going to win the argument, Izuku merely smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head.