"I'm not sure if 'King Explosion Murder' is inspiring enough to comfort anyone," Midnight said apologetically. "Try again."
Michi stifled a laugh as Bakugo stalked back to his desk and immediately started scribbling something else, but now it was his turn soon and he had no ideas. In the spirit of creativity and inspiration, Shoto had chosen 'Shoto' as his hero name. Mina was Pinky, Denki was Chargebolt, Jiro was Earphone, Ochako was Uravity... Michi really had no idea what he should choose.
There was an admittedly large part of him that wanted to choose 'The Savior'. Everyone had heard about his vigilante identity by now, although they didn't know it was him, and the choice would confuse literally everyone, which was why it was so damn tempting. The only downside was that he hated that name.
Well, unless you considered that he might be found out, arrested, killed before he could tell the heroes anything, and leave Eri in the hands of All For One. He grimaced. Not so tempting anymore, actually.
Everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to get up, and he sighed. He made his way to the front of the classroom, showed them his blank board, and said, "I got nothing. Does anyone have any ideas?"
"You could be Super Soaker," Jiro volunteered, smirking. "I mean, it implies that you have water powers, but really it would just be because you soak up damage and information like a sponge."
"Give it some thought," Midnight said, sending Michi back to his seat. "Bakugo has another idea."
Michi sat down, and Bakugo got up. Midnight sighed.
"Bakugo, dear, I think we're going to run into some of the same problems with 'Lord Explosion Murder' as we did with 'King Explosion Murder'. Try something less sinister, maybe."
Michi thought hard. He only had one idea that was really sticking in his head, but he'd been trying to ignore it. Before he could lose his nerve, he wrote it down and stood up. It was risky, he knew, but it was what he needed to do.
"Are you sure about that?" Midnight questioned, sounding skeptical of his choice. He took a deep breath.
"I'm sure," he said confidently. "It's for... personal reasons."
"Okay, I guess... hero name 'Deku' is approved!"
Michi grinned and quickly returned to his seat, risking a glance at Bakugo. The blonde was staring forward at the front of the classroom like he wasn't seeing anything. His eyes were wide, and there was conflict in his expression that Michi had never seen on the confident, powerful Katsuki Bakugo. Finally his expression hardened, and he deliberately wrote something on his board and got up.
Michi hoped his expression didn't give anything away when he saw what was written, but he suddenly had to fight down Izuku's stupid tears; he'd chosen 'Kacchan'.
* * *
Shoto was breathing hard, although he was amazingly not shivering. Ice formed in patches on his body as he faced an equally worn-out Michi, but still he refused to use his fire. If only he could use the other side of his body, his only quirk limitation would be his stamina. As of now, though, his internal temperature was a weakness that Michi could take advantage of.
It honestly didn't make any sense that Michi was able to keep up with him, so it was possible that Shoto was going easy on him. It would be slightly out of character, but Michi could imagine him holding back just to make absolutely certain not to injure his partner and further identify himself as different from his father.
He frowned at Shoto. Bluntness could get you anywhere with that kid. "Are you going easy on me?" he said.
Shoto blinked, the only indication of his surprise, but somehow Michi could tell he was feeling a tiny bit confused and offended as well. Michi wasn't sure what gave it away, but he was getting close enough to Shoto to feel his emotions in some way.
"What do you mean?" Shoto asked.
"Well..." Michi hesitated. "Maybe I was underestimating myself, but I was expecting to feel more outclassed."
Shoto grinned in amusement, which was a recent enough development for Michi to still cheer internally. Shoto and Eri both smiled much more often, now, but he didn't know what it meant if most of their smiles were at his expense. "If you want to really feel outclassed, we should go somewhere outside. You think I can fully use my quirk indoors like this?"
"That's fair," Michi conceded. "But, you've been training your martial arts basically since birth. I started my training much more recently, so even without our quirks I was expecting to be overwhelmed."
"Physically, I can assure you that I am not going easy on you. I don't know what's up with you, but I'm the one feeling overwhelmed here," Shoto said, folding his arms. "It's like you know every move I'm about to use before I use it, and I keep having to change my movements at the last minute. My instinctive use of my ice is the only thing keeping me away from you."
Oh, right. I have an analysis quirk. Michi grinned and accepted the complement, hoping Shoto didn't get suspicious. He'd somehow forgotten about his Analysis; and it wasn't because he wasn't using it. Against the Nomu, it had kept him alive as he acted preemptively against any strike it could make. Against Shoto, it did basically nothing because Shoto's actions and attacks were all based on his split-second decisions.
Analysis was invaluable against a predictable opponent, but Shoto's instinct and reaction time, combined with his control over his quirk, put them on basically even ground when it came to hand-to-hand combat. Shoto's natural ability made up for a literal analysis quirk. Michi could hear Izuku ranting in his mind about how amazing Shoto was, and Michi was inclined to agree.
"We should get Bakugo in on this," Michi decided. Shoto raised his eyebrows, obviously skeptical. A large majority of their class had actually agreed to train together, especially with Michi's continuous advice on their quirks. So far, he'd helped Denki increase his passive electricity production, which had he side effect of turning him into the official guinea pig of the support department. No one was sure if that was a positive or a negative development quite yet.
As for Shoto, he'd had several terrifying revelations, only some of which he'd shared. His quirk was called Half-Cold Half-Hot, not Half-Ice Half-Fire, which had gotten him thinking. The actual ice was technically just the moisture in the air freezing due to the power of his quirk.
The implications were terrifying.
Creating ice from pure moisture in the air was incredibly difficult, which meant that the overwhelming power Shoto had demonstrated was one of the least efficient ways he could be use it. Shoto's true power, if Michi was there to help him the whole way, would be nothing short of godlike. The world thought All Might's power was unbeatable? Shoto Todoroki was going to rock the world, maybe literally.
That's what he said out loud.
What he didn't talk about were the specific uses he'd already thought of to capitalize on those technicalities. Maybe it was because he'd been trained to think like a villain, but he had a morbid fascination with how it could be used against someone's body. If he didn't freeze it all the way, for example, and just froze the water into tiny, deadly particles for someone to breathe in. Or, if he could target things to freeze that he wasn't touching—which seemed very likely—he could just cause someone's body temperature to plummet until they simply died from the shock. Even All For One wouldn't have enough quirks to combat that.
And when Shoto finally started using his right side? He could theoretically expand his abilities to include wind, if he could manipulate hot and cold to change the air pressure. It wasn't a stretch to say he would be able to fly with a little bit of practice.
Moving on from how utterly unstoppable Shoto would be without morals, though, his other classmates had been steadily improving as well. Kirishima, for one, was working with the support department to make him a weapon imbued with his DNA. The idea was a mix between Midnight's whip and Eraser's capture weapon, which he would be able to harden, sharpen, or release at will.
Sero was practicing with changing the qualities of his tape. The stickiness, strength, elasticity, and width were apparently aspects he'd never thought to exercise control over. He could also control his tape like a muscle to an extent, which he was almost excessively practicing once he'd realized it.
Mina was working on the strength and and volume of her acid, Momo was making some much-needed costume changes, Aoyama was practicing his laser's aim and how to charm the press, and Ochako was practicing mental exercises to help with nausea.
Shoto snapped his fingers in front of Michi's face, bringing him abruptly back to the conversation. "Sorry," Michi said, scratching the back of his neck and laughing awkwardly. "It's hard to concentrate when I want to analyze everyone's progress."
"You can do that later," Shoto said, rolling his eyes. "Now, why on earth do you think bringing Katsuki Bakugo—who bullied you relentlessly for your quirk analysis—to watch you analyze quirks could possibly be a good idea?"
Michi frowned. "Bakugo is a genius in terms of combat prowess. His reaction time, precision, and quirk mastery are on another level that you really just need to see in order to understand. If I could get him to help train with us, a lot of the other students would benefit from it. Bakugo's fighting style could be easily integrated with any quirk, and people like Mina, Denki, and Ochako don't really have a fighting style at all just yet."
"Those are very good points, but you're very talented at making good points to hide your true purpose. Is there an alternative goal to this? Be honest."
Michi pursed his lips. "I want to build my relationship with him. He's a strong fighter with a strong will and a lot of talent, which means having him as a friend might be my only option if I want to survive what I may or may not be planning." That was at least partially honest.
Really, with how Bakugo was acting now, he was the best bet at getting Shoto to use his fire. Considering he'd never met Endeavor and wouldn't be suspected of being set to the task, combined with his natural brash honesty and passion, Shoto was likely to take anything he said to heart. And, if Bakugo found out about why he wouldn't use the fire—which was the plan—he would almost certainly say something along the lines of, "It's your quirk, not his! Fuck his attention-whoring ass!"
Shoto glared at him balefully. "Fascinating. Well, if you want Bakugo to teach everyone how to fight, maybe you shouldn't be doing such a great job yourself."
* * *
Mina smiled brightly as she practiced what Michi had taught her about her quirk, but she was in a daze. She'd practiced all her life how to dilute her acid so it wasn't dangerous when it accidentally slipped out, but now he wanted her to practice making it stronger. It was logical, but it felt wrong after all those years being afraid of it.
The thing that was responsible for her being so out of it, though, was the hand to hand combat training. She saw the need for it, and she willingly let Michi show her how to move in order to get the most force out of a hit, as well as how and where to hit in order to avoid hurting herself. The way that he taught her brought everything he did and how he moved into sharp relief, and she couldn't deny anymore that it was familiar.
At first, she had thought it reminded her of Izuku Midoriya. And, while that was still somewhat true, there were plenty of glaring differences. Even against the man that killed his mother, Izuku hadn't used any dirty moves, like what Michi was teaching her now. She knew that sometimes you had to fight dirty—especially if you knew that your opponent, an actual villain, was going to fight even dirtier. She didn't have to like it.
Anyway, back to the issue at hand. She'd finally recognized his distinct fighting style, a strange mix between surgical precision and reckless abandonment. She'd seen it on the news. That style was being used by the vigilante, when he lost an arm while running away from a yakuza boss, while carrying a small child with white hair.
She came from a shitty situation.
She swore if it wouldn't have hurt Eri, she would have already arrested him for such a criminal understatement.
And, of course everyone was confused when the vigilante pulled out a gun to lay down cover fire and dropped several smoke bombs, with an arm that had supposedly been blown off. Everyone had assumed it was the girl's quirk, since the Savior obviously couldn't have done everything he had without a strength and speed enhancement quirk, but watching Michi made her realize just how wrong she was. Healed in an instant, moving faster and hitting harder than he should be able to? Guess who: the Savior vigilante, or Michi Hamasaki?
Of course, she could understand why no one else suspected him. The vigilante literally showed his face, not bothering with any kind of disguise, and he was obviously not Michi. They were even different heights, somehow. After all that talk about quirks and their technicalities, though, she didn't think it was too much of a stretch for him to somehow manipulate his healing to "heal" into a new face. If he artificially activated his healing and convinced it that he was supposed to be shorter, than maybe he would be shorter.
That was all useless conjecture, of course, at least until she confronted him about it. Which, judging by how distracted she was by all of this, should be sooner rather than later. After they finished their training—which Michi had somehow convinced everyone but Katsuki to come to at least once a week—she hurried to find him walking off with Shoto and laughing.
Shoto was smiling, too, and his smiles were getting wider the more he got used to doing it. Mina took a moment to admire the view—the two most attractive boys in their class, one with a breathtaking, shy smile, and the other with a gorgeously contagious laugh. She snapped out of it and ran up to him.
"Hey, Michi!" she said brightly, her smile still plastered onto her face. She always smiled when she got stressed; it was a coping mechanism she'd developed so others couldn't tell when she was upset. Apparently that didn't count for Michi, though, who immediately turned to her with worried eyes.
"What do you need?" he asked, his voice concerned. Her smile faltered. Hopefully Michi was just special, because she really didn't want to think she was that easy to see through.
"I just had some private questions," she said, fixing her smile and talking brightly. "Do you have time? It's fine if you wanted to keep talking to Shoto..."
"Don't worry, it's fine," Shoto assured, giving them both a small smile and walking away with his hands in his pockets. "I'll see you guys around."
"That was fast," Mina commented when Shoto got out of earshot. Michi shrugged, laughing a bit.
"He was probably looking for an excuse to escape," he joked lightheartedly. "So, what did you want to ask me?"
She smiled, thinking carefully. The lighthearted atmosphere wasn't going to last long, that was for sure. "What kind of 'shitty situation' was Eri in before you found her?" she finally asked, trying to ease into it subtly. Judging by the way Michi froze, she wasn't sure it had worked.
"I appreciate that you care for my feelings, but I got tired of pretty words a long time ago. If you're not trying to hide anything from me, don't bother with subtlety." He cracked a smile. "I mean, there's a reason that Shoto is one of my best friends."
Mina nodded and gulped. Well, what was she supposed to say now? She hated making other people sad or uncomfortable, that's why she was always so careful with what she said. "Well..." she tried, trailing off.
"What did you find out?" he asked, sounding tired. "Apparently, I'm really bad at hiding important secrets. What got out this time?"
"Was Eri... did she have anything to do with that gang with the plague masks?" she finally managed. Even though Michi was telling her to be more straightforward, this was about the best she could do. She was too used to people leaving her; she'd had to be able to make people laugh and enjoy themselves to make up for her strange appearance her whole life. If she failed in that role, she was used to suddenly not being worth the time anymore.
Michi stared at her. "Well, shit," he finally said. "Did she get caught on camera? I could have sworn it was a clean getawa—" he clamped his hand over his mouth, eyes going wide. "I mean, what? I don't know what you're talking about."
Mina actually giggled, and it wasn't fake this time. "Just the hair. I actually figured it out from your fighting style, and the way you talk about quirk technicalities. You use your healing quirk to 'heal' into looking different, don't you?" she said, using finger quotes around the word 'heal'. "If you convinced your quirk somehow that being healthy meant looking like the Savior, it would do it for you, wouldn't it?"
Michi didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, but Mina was patient. She wasn't just going to walk away until she got an answer, not after she'd already gone this far into the conversation. Eventually, he sighed. "You got me," he admitted, scowling. "At least I have someone I can complain to about that name, though. What in the world was going through their heads when they chose the Savior? I mean, come on."
Mina laughed, surprised at how easy it had been to get him to admit. She was expecting that to take more effort. "I guess so, from the standpoint of the person being called that," she admitted. "It fits what you've been doing pretty perfectly, though."
"I guess," he grumbled. "It was seriously weird when we were talking about all those people being in love with me, though."
Mina's grin widened. "I'm going to have so much fun with Eri making fun of you for that," she said, laughing. For some reason, Michi just smiled too, like he still knew something important that she didn't.
"Yeah, it'll be hilarious. You can make fun of all the people that have inexplicable crushes on me," he said, eyes shining with mischief.