A few days had passed since Miyamoto's dinner at the Bakugo household, and now, everyone was gearing up for their hero internships. There were several students going to work with different pro heroes, and Miyamoto couldn't help but feel sad at being left behind.
Bakugo was headed to Best Jeanist; Miyamoto hadn't heard of many pro heroes, but he was apparently one of the best ones out there.
She found herself distracted throughout the first half of the day and even through lunch. Miyamoto didn't talk much with the others, even when Mina joined their table to talk with them.
Because of her past and all of the fear she had, it was holding her back. All of her other classmates were so far ahead of her in so many different ways, and now this was just another building block she would have to catch up on.
Her focus didn't come back until the school day had ended and everyone was going to the station with Aizawa to be sent off to their respective internships. Aizawa was giving his students orders about how he expected them to act while they were with the heroes, and Miyamoto's shoulders fell. One week they'd have an internship experience that she wouldn't.
Part of her was glad; she didn't think she could possibly feel comforted by being in the presence of heroes she didn't know. It would just remind her of her parents: despite them being called 'heroes' by society, they disowned and sold their daughter as a lab rat.
"See you later, Katsu-chan!" Mina said, breaking Miyamoto from her thoughts as the pink girl's arms flung around her neck. Miyamoto timidly gave her a hug back.
"Have fun."
Miyamoto looked at Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, and Bakugo. "I hope all of your internships go really well."
"We'll tell you all about it when we get back!" Kirishima gave her a thumbs up. "You'll feel like you were there with us the whole time."
She tried to smile but struggled to do so, instead giving them all a small bow. "Be safe."
"Oi," Bakugo caught her attention and she looked up. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't just mope. Get stronger while we're gone."
"Geh, you're terrible with words," Sero complained. "You sound so mean when you put it that way."
Bakugo grunted at his friend, but Miyamoto found his words comforting in a way. Sero wasn't wrong; Bakugo said things a certain type of way, and only a few amount of people understood what he really meant.
She was one of them.
"I'll be stronger by the time you all return from your internships." Miyamoto affirmed, but sure how she was going to do this, but wanted to try all the same.
Bakugo grinned at her response, and the rest of the group sent smiles her way. After that, she bid them all farewell, watching them get on the train as she went to stand beside Aizawa. There were a few others who didn't have internships, but none of the rest came to the station. Miyamoto had just wanted to see her friends off.
"You seem pretty upset," Aizawa commented, looking down at her. He no longer had any bandages on, and it was good for Miyamoto to be able to see his face again. "Is it because the people you talk to are leaving?"
"That, and because I'm being left behind. Again."
"You can't blame yourself for that," Aizawa put a hand on her shoulder. "You've had significantly less time to adapt and grow, unlike them. Don't try to reach 100 automatically. You have to build yourself up to it, one step at a time."
"Yes, sir," Miyamoto nodded. "I'll do my best."
"Speaking of which," Miyamoto looked up to Aizawa, who had a small grin on his face. "You have an internship of your own to attend."
Her eyes got wide.
"What? Really? But...but I didn't have any offers."
"The teachers at U.A. have all decided to teach you different aspects of being a hero and techniques of fighting and using your quirk. Since there's a week of internships for everyone else, there is for you too. Most of them know you haven't had a chance to grow or develop your quirk, and they know the secrecy behind your quirk. So, for five days, you'll be training with a different teacher from dawn till dusk. And I'll help you over the weekend."
Miyamoto gratefully bowed her head to Aizawa. Tears brimmed her eyelids. "Thank you so much!"
"Keep your head up," Aizawa softly encouraged. "Everyone here is rooting for you."
***
And so, Miyamoto's individual training began. The first day, Miyamoto had the pleasure of working with Present Mic. He was a very boisterous and loud individual, but his skills were not to be trifled with. Miyamoto learned that very quick.
For three hours, her and Present Mic studied different hero laws and tactics, introducing her to a lot of regulations that hadn't been covered in class. For someone who seemed so carefree, his knowledge of the laws and bylaws heroes had to follow made him quite the serious instructor.
After they studied, Present Mic tested her ability to use her quirk. His quirk allowed him to use a lot of long-ranged attacks, so together they worked on a special attack Miyamoto could use with her quirk at a long range.
Present Mic was a happy soul, and Miyamoto felt really safe around him and trusted his judgement. He was kind and good at instructing, telling her how to use her quirk more to her advantage.
By the time Miyamoto went to her room that night, she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
On the second day, Miyamoto was surprised to see All Might and Principal Nezu there. As always, All Might was incredibly enthusiastic about everything he did, presenting his movements dramatically.
For the first three hours, All Might walked through different fighting strategies with Miyamoto, helping her study both her and her opponent's movements to help plan her counterattack. They would slowly go through the motions, switching from offensive to defensive positions, blocking and attacking.
All Might took great care not to use any of his raw strength against Miyamoto. In his eyes, she still seemed like a fragile girl, despite being stronger than when they first met. He was terrified on the inside of accidentally hurting her because he took their sparring too seriously.
After three hours had passed, All Might had to excuse himself for a little while, and Principal Nezu took over.
Principal Nezu and Miyamoto talked analytical strategy, using your surroundings, and about how every situation had multiple answers. From studying different clips he had her watch to analyze what heroes/villains could have done differently to drawing diagrams on a board, Miyamoto's mind was flooded with tactical information.
And after lunch, Principal Nezu put it to the test. He told Miyamoto there was always a way out of a situation, but evading wasn't always running away. Just as there was always a way to get out, there was always an opening to her opponent.
She studied her surroundings, analyzed where her enemies were coming from, how her opponents were attacking, and the spatial awareness required to keep away from anything that came her way.
Every time a demo would end, Principal Nezu would come up to Miyamoto to make sure he hadn't overwhelmed her or done too much. Then they would talk about the results from the demo, how she had done with the variables presented, before they would start a new one.
All Might came back towards the end of the day, and took Miyamoto to a training ring with several big tires and various heavy objects. His instructions were to carry those items from one side of the ring to the other without using her quirk.
Miyamoto was sweating profusely by the time she had finished. She nearly collapsed in front of All Might, who had reached down and picked her up in his arms with a smile on his face, not caring one bit that she was covered in sweat.
By the time day three came around, Miyamoto could barely move her body she was so sore. But, she dragged herself to the training area, where she met Midnight, her teacher for day three.
But day three didn't go the way she thought it would.
Midnight was quick to invite Miyamoto to a table to sit down, empty papers sitting there with a pot of tea. Miyamoto was more than confused.
At her confused expression, Midnight let out a laugh, encouraging Miyamoto to sit down. So she did.
"You're so cute, Miyamoto," Midnight sat across from her. "Don't look so worried! We're doing something special today."
"Special?"
Midnight nodded her head. "We'll be studying the properties of your quirk."
Miyamoto's body tensed. But as Midnight laid out a couple of books on the table, the fear in her body slowly subsided.
They were all books on the natural elements. Miyamoto knew Midnight was one of the teachers who knew the truth of her quirk, but she hadn't expected to have any of the teachers, besides Aizawa or All Might, acknowledge it during training because of the secrecy.
"You're scared of your quirk and have little control of it, correct?" Midnight asked. "That's why you just stick to one element: darkness."
Miyamoto nodded her head. Midnight pushed a book towards her. "This book shows different particles of types of darkness quirks that have previously been recorded. Quirks dealing with elements naturally prove to be a little more difficult to handle, especially more than one. So it's not a surprise that control over ten would prove extremely hard. Especially since you were never taught how to properly handle it."
Midnight didn't know about Miyamoto's upbringing. She didn't know her past. She only knew about her quirk. But for Midnight, that was enough. She had been able to pinpoint a problem with Miyamoto's fundamental quirk and decided to focus on that.
"In order to get over this fear you have, you have to know what your quirk is. And not just what others tell you; what you know it is." Midnight explained. Miyamoto nodded, looking at the first book, flipping to a page Midnight had bookmarked for her.
"So I need to figure out what type of darkness my quirk is? Along with the others?" Miyamoto asked and Midnight nodded.
"Yes. If you're only guessing as to what it is, it could severely hurt the way you use it; and you could end up hurting yourself. Just like with anything! If you don't know what power you're using, the likelihood of hurting yourself and others significantly increases."
"I need to know exactly what properties my quirk has so I an better control it."
"Yes," Midnight smiled. "You can help your control if your body is covered, right? That's why you wear long-sleeves."
Miyamoto shyly nodded. Her choice of clothing had more than one purpose.
"You're like me," Midnight exclaimed. "My quirk naturally seeps from my skin, and when I was younger, I would accidentally put people to sleep without realizing it because of my quirk. So I learned the properties of it, why it emitted the way it did, and studied to know my clothing could help control my quirk."
"You adapted the way you dressed and lived to match your quirk." Miyamoto summed up. Midnight nodded her head.
"And now, because I've trained and practiced, I have complete control over my quirk. My skin still secretes the quirk, but I can control how much comes out, where it goes, and everything like that. But it all came down to understanding my quirk and how it worked with my body."
Miyamoto looked at Midnight with a newfound respect. She didn't often consider the amount of time and effort the pro heroes had put in to be where they were now. But this made her rethink how she viewed heroes and her teachers.
And it made her really appreciate Midnight.
The entire day, Miyamoto and Midnight studied, breaking down Miyamoto's quirk and analyzing which type of element best fit the ones that resided in her body. There was no fighting or physical training, only technical guidance and the help of trying to understand the foundations of Miyamoto's quirk.
By the time Miyamoto left Midnight to go back to her room, she actually felt like she had a sense of understanding. For the first time, she didn't see her quirk as some experimented mutation, but as an actual part of her body.
Now it made sense why the darkness had attacked her so viciously when she didn't have a designated spot to reappear in. Her darkness quirk wasn't designed for that.
She was using her quirk wrong.
But now, with twelve different books on her desk for her to continue studying and reading, and with the papers of information the two of them had written together today, Miyamoto actually felt a semblance of confidence when it came to her quirk.
The foundation of her elemental quirk was based on the different particles within her body. Just as some people with different elements as their quirks, such as water, fire, or electricity, it had to do with different particles and balances within their body.
Miyamoto had ten different anatomical particles linking up within her body to produce her quirk. Thanks to Midnight's book on quirks and how it affects a person's anatomy, Miyamoto was better able to understand how her body had been able to produce ten.
Even if she still had no idea where her quirk came from, she at least knew what it was now. What her quirk truly was. And now that she understood how her quirk technically functioned within her body, she could now start working to have her quirk work with her instead of against her.
This was Miyamoto Katsumi's origin. Her true origin as a hero.
On the fourth day, Miyamoto trained with Ectoplasm. While her body was still sore, she embraced it as she worked together with Ectoplasm on how to scout for missions and patrol an area.
She walked with Ectoplasm around the campus grounds, where he had strategically placed 'problems' or 'villains' along the way that they would have to stop or help out with. He even had Miyamoto practice giving a report to the police by talking to one of his clones.
He also taught Miyamoto how to take advantage of the high ground when observing or scouting. She climbed trees, hid in different spots in the building, and practiced using her quirk to keep her hidden from enemy sight.
He was nice but quiet, and Miyamoto could tell he was serious about even the pretend missions, which inspired her to remain just as serious.
And from days five to seven, she had Aizawa.
Aizawa had Miyamoto do a lot of physical training to increase her stamina, speed, and overall strength, even if it wasn't as heavy as what All Might had made her do. It reminded her of the training he put her through before the Sports Festival.
The first day he worked with her, he focused mostly on the physical training, mixed with hand-to-hand combat to fine tune some of her fighting skills. Aizawa was a lot stronger than most people gave him credit for; he was a great fighter.
He didn't take it easy on her, either. Aizawa had called it "tough love" before continuously defeating Miyamoto in their sparring matches. Even with neither of them using their quirks, he had the upper hand with his fighting abilities.
By the time nightfall came, Miyamoto felt black and blue from her losses. But Aizawa had made her some soothing tea, and the two of them talked about what they had done that day and about what Miyamoto was learning.
On the sixth day, Aizawa had Miyamoto do different rescue drills and survival drills. He told her to use her quirk as comfortably as she could. Even though Miyamoto understood her quirk, it didn't take away the uneasiness and hesitation about using it.
But she had to start somewhere.
She ran into a burning building to save civilians, and since she was completely by herself with no possible way she could hurt anyone, she removed her gloves. All of her concentration focused on producing water: so she did.
Miyamoto doused the fire around the civilians before she put her gloves back on, grabbed them, and slipped into the darkness, reappearing outside the building safely.
There were five different rescue drills like that one that Aizawa made her go through. He ended up having to come save her from one of them, as she trapped herself and began to panic.
After Miyamoto had been able to calm down, Aizawa then showed her the tapes of all her 'rescues' while analyzing what she did right and what she did wrong, as well as tips to get better or what she could've done better.
By the end of day, Miyamoto was exhausted and felt defeated. But again, just as he had done the night before, Aizawa sat with her that night with some tea, talking about the day and talking about what she learned.
And on day seven, Aizawa decided to pull everything she had learned altogether into one day.
"Present Mic taught you several laws and worked on long-range attacks. All Might and Principal Nezu worked on strategy, spatial awareness, attacks, and physical strength. Midnight broke down your quirk and you two studied about the foundation of your quirk so you could better understand it. Ectoplasm taught you the basics of scouting, patrolling, and reporting. And I've helped with fighting and rescue mission training," Aizawa summed up, his arms crossed as they stood on a training field.
"Today, we're going to put all the pieces of what you've learned together. You've come a long way, and after this week, I can proudly say you've caught up with your classmates and may even be ahead of a few of them, knowledge-wise. But you can't have fragmented pieces of information without being able to apply them in a functioning manner."
Miyamoto stood up straight, facing Aizawa, her shoulders back. She felt stronger. Smarter. More aware of herself, her quirk, and of the things around her.
She'd never had this confidence before.
"We'll start with our normal warmup and from there, you'll be fighting with your quirk against false enemies I've set up around this area. You'll have to apply everything you've learned. We'll work on that all morning. After lunch you'll be doing missions where your decisions will have to be based off the laws you've studied, hunt down villains with the things you've learned about patrolling and scouting, and things of that nature."
Miyamoto could tell this was about to be the hardest day of the week.
"And of course," Aizawa looked at her. "I encourage you to try to use more of your quirk. It doesn't have to be all of it, just some. Grow into it."
Miyamoto nodded, mentally preparing herself for what was about to be an intensely grueling day.
And it was.
She fought for hours on end, using up to three subsets of her elemental quirk: darkness, water, and lightning. Miyamoto's mind hurt from how much she was constantly thinking and concentrating on her surroundings; but it was important for her to do so.
It was unlike any training they'd ever done at U.A. and Miyamoto knew why. This was a replacement for an internship with pro heroes, where they would've been treating her as an equal. So in the training she endured over the week, they treated her as an equal: a hero.
That's why everything was so much more intense and harder than normal. But she wouldn't dare complain.
By the time the day was over, Miyamoto was struggling to stay on her own two feet. She was dirty, covered in sweat, and was heaving with every breath she took.
But she made it.
After she had cleaned up and settled down for the evening, Aizawa had Miyamoto sit down at the table in his room, and the two ate dinner together.
"You've done really well this week," Aizawa complimented. "You're becoming a very strong hero, Miyamoto."
Miyamoto softly smiled at him. "Thank you. But I couldn't have done it without everyone's help. I'm not here just because of what I've done."
"If I can speak honestly," Aizawa murmured. "You're nothing like the girl we rescued. You look so much healthier, confident, and happy."
Tears blurred her vision and she struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. But she did, taking in a deep breath.
"I would've never been able to do any of it without you, Aizawa. But you're right. I am."
"It's not just me," Aizawa smiled. "You've actually made friends. And they're good friends. Especially Bakugo."
"I haven't asked if the others are my friends," Miyamoto frowned. "But I know for sure Bakugo is."
Aizawa let out a small chuckle. "There's still a lot you have to learn, it seems. You are friends with them. You don't always have to ask about being someone's friend. Sometimes, it just happens naturally."
Miyamoto felt warm at the idea that she had more friends by her side. "Bakugo is probably the closest to me."
"I figured," Aizawa muttered. "He knows everything about you and no one else does. But he cares about you too and that's why he's prepared to safeguard your secret."
"Speaking of, Midnight was really keen on my quirk and knowing my fear for it," Miyamoto frowned. "She was really perceptive, even though she doesn't know everything."
"There's a lot more to Midnight than meets the eye. She didn't use to be so confident in her quirk, which I'm sure she explained to you. She probably saw some of herself in you, which is why she volunteered to train you."
"I appreciate her," Miyamoto smiled as she looked up at Aizawa. "I appreciate all of you."
Aizawa saw the happy expression on her face and returned her smile. "You have no idea how happy it makes us to see you grow and succeed. It's our greatest success as teachers, but even more so for the ones who know where you came from."
Aizawa reached across the table and patted Miyamoto's head in a fatherly way.
"Honestly, you're doing so well," he smiled at her. "I can't wait to see what type of amazing hero you'll become: Elemental Hero, Katsumi."
Miyamoto's smile grew, a tear slipping down her face as she proudly looked at the man she considered to be her father.
"I promise I'll make you proud."
Character development chapter for Miyamoto! It was definitely needed and the internship was the perfect moment for it. Please let me know what you think about this chapter! Also, how sweet is Dadzawa. He's so good to his adopted daughter.