Izuku's ears were still ringing as his vision started returning, though it didn't do him much good with the decimated corridor filled with dust impeding his sight. He coughed, missing the built-in gas mask of his black costume.
"DEKU!" Bakugo screamed, still raging. He emerged from the dust, his skin reddened and wounds from shrapnel all over it. His arm in particular, the one with the gauntlet he had fired from, was hanging limp and visibly busted. Half of it was purple like one giant bruise. Bakugo had never been injured by his quirk like that.
Of course, it wasn't his quirk anymore.
And despite all that he started shakily raising his other arm to point its gauntlet at Izuku at point-blank range, too deranged to realize that using it would kill them both, as far as he knew at least. There was a quick swish as Izuku's Dragon Blade ignited and in a single swing cut off the gauntlet's handle Bakugo used to set off the explosion. Izuku followed with a punch to the face, and second and third. After the fourth one Bakugo wasn't trying to straighten himself back up as fast and blood was dipping down his chin. Izuku pushed him against the partially collapsed wall, one arm against his chest, the other holding a bright blue Dragon Blade in front of Bakugo's face where he could easily deliver a fatal blow. He spoke very slowly.
"You lost. Stop before you kill someone."
"Never!" Bakugo shouted spitting blood on Izuku's face. "If you think I would surrender to a villain like you, you're insane. I will beat you and the others will see things like I do soon enough. I will destroy you. You will be done for and the same goes for the idiots that take your side, especially the motorhead and your brainwashing villain fr..."
Bakugo fell quiet as Izuku swung his blade closer to him. The Dragon Blade shined even brighter than before and Izuku was holding it close enough to Bakugo's neck to make his skin blister. Izuku himself leaned in close enough that the heat was uncomfortable on his own neck. His voice when he spoke on the other hand was the coldest and most threatening it had ever been.
"If you have a problem with me, you can come fight me. I even welcome it. I am no longer the weak kid you could push around," Izuku fell quiet for several seconds, "but if you as much as pick a hair from one of those two's heads I will kill you with your own quirk and I will do it slowly till even your mother can't recognize what is left of you."
His father would have been so proud. Throughout the whole thing Izuku didn't break eye contact or even blink. He gave no reason to even imagine him being anything but 100% serious with his threat. Seeing genuine fear in Bakugo's eyes was truly satisfying.
"I AM HERE!" All Might shouted from down the corridor. Izuku's blade flashed just a little hotter, making Bakugo jolt, before Izuku extinguished it and grabbed Bakugo's tank top. He threw his former nightmare to the ground like a bag of trash.
"Young Bakugo, don't...!" All Might started saying when he arrived and stopped to look at the boy laying in a heap on the floor, then at Izuku standing over him. His costume was half torn or blown away with what was left of the upper half hanging by a narrow strip of fabric from one shoulder. His body was covered in scratches, bruises and burns he wasn't allowing the regeneration quirk to heal. As satisfying as it would have been to stand over defeated Bakugo completely unharmed, he didn't want them knowing about that quirk.
He thought he saw a hint of fear in the so-called hero's eyes.
"He attacked me after I had already captured him," Izuku said, trying to not show his feelings to the large man, "and tried to kill me."
"HE STOLE MY QUIRK!" Bakugo screamed, struggling to get up.
"Midoriya," All Might started and paused, "used his quirk legitimately to win a training battle. You used your quirk... at least indirectly, after you had already lost and in a way that could have killed him..."
He looked around at the destroyed corridor.
"both of you. We will have a talk with Aizawa and principal Nezu after the exercise. They will likely call your parents to join us."
"Are Tenya and Tokoyami okay?" Izuku asked, paying no attention to All Might who was lifting Bakugo from the floor with surprisingly little resistance.
"Young Ida is unharmed. I told him to remain where his is while the training is halted. Tokoyami was not harmed by the explosion but returned to the area we lost cameras on."
"I'm here," Tokoyami called from the opposite end of the corridor. "I came back to look for Midoriya after that explosion."
He got a thumbs up from All Might.
"Excellent work considering your teammate. Young Midoriya, how are you feeling? Can you continue?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure? After such impacts you could have injuries that aren't visible. Are you feeling okay, no nausea or light-headedness?"
"No," Izuku said and turned his back to the man. "Are you going to end the training or continue it? I don't feel like just standing here."
"Considering the three of you can still fight I see no reason to stop the training, but you need to stay away from the damaged area. Wait on this floor until I have evacuated Bakugo. I will announce when the training continues. Also, take my earpiece Midoriya. Yours seems to have broken."
Izuku took the offered device after confirming his wasn't even in his ear anymore and followed All Might away from the devastated corridor while the man carried Bakugo, who began screaming murder again at the thought of being taken away from the one holding his quirk.
For the first time Izuku took a good look at the damage. Him slapping Bakugo's gauntlet had redirected the explosion slightly to the side, carving an expanding scar on the corridor wall before busting all the way through the side and end walls into adjacent rooms that seemed quite wrecked. What kind of person would give someone so deranged such a deadly weapon?
He waited in a different corridor with Tokoyami for All Might to restart the training. Izuku focused on his breathing and on calming down from the roller coaster of emotion that was his previous fight. He still couldn't help but notice Tokoyami making nervous glances at him. Izuku turned toward him.
"Is everything alri..."
The black mass of Dark Shadow emerged from Tokoyami's body.
"Not a step closer villain or you'll wish the boom boy was back here."
Izuku sighed, too tired from fighting Bakugo to deal with the sentient quirk's antics.
"What is it that makes you act so hostile with me? From how Tokoyami talked about it you don't act like this usually"
"No, he doesn't," Tokoyami said. "I don't understand why."
"Has he ever called people villains?" Izuku asked, brushing his chin.
"No, only once when he caught a purse snatcher when I was younger."
"Because that guy was bad news, just like this one," Dark Shadow insisted.
"So, he probably has a problem with my quirk, like most people. Can't say I'm surprised." Izuku held up his bare hand and let small explosions sparkle on it for Tokoyami to see. "I wonder how the rest of the class is going to take this."
"I don't care what they think," Dark Shadow interrupted. "You will not take me from Fumi."
Izuku blinked.
"Is that what this is about? You think I am going to use my quirk to take you away?"
"Didn't you just take someone else's quirk away?"
"Yeah, but he was my enemy, and his quirk isn't sentient. Just because I can do something doesn't mean I will, and I can't think of anything stupider than stealing a sentient quirk."
"Yeah, that's what you say."
"You don't need to trust me," Izuku corrected, "just think. You seem capable of thinking, right? You aren't just some extension of Tokoyami's body he can control at will. You have your own personality, obviously."
"That doesn't mean I'm not part of him, and I like it that way."
"I know. I have read that sentient quirks are very attached to whoever has them, and if Tokoyami can't fully control you that would apply to me too if I took you from him."
"You believe it would. I would tear you apart rather than let that happen."
"And since we both know that, why do you think I would risk trying to steal you from Tokoyami?"
"Well... you might..."
"It would be really stupid of me."
"He's right Dark Shadow. I've been trying to tell you," Tokoyami said, clear irritation in his voice. "Even if he was a fellow creature of the night."
"Creature of the night?" Izuku asked wary.
"I do not mean it negatively," Tokoyami said quickly. "People often misunderstand my interests in... dark themes or expressions for such."
"I... see," Izuku said, "Dark Shadow... I am not going to take you from Tokoyami, but if we can't work together, he'll look bad in the training."
The black quirk creature stared at him for a long moment and then... huffed.
"I will cooperate, but don't think I'm not keeping an eye on you."
Izuku rolled his eyes but didn't comment more to the suspicious quirk.
"Everyone ready!" All Might's sound echoed through the building. "The training battle recommences NOW!"
"Okay," Izuku said. "You lead the way. You had more time to investigate the building and Dark Shadow can scout ahead."
"You want me to get further away from Fumi?" The quirk asked with obvious suspicion.
"Dark Shadow," Tokoyami commanded.
"... Fine."
The quirk stretched ahead of them as they got to the nearest stairwell and started climbing. They proceeded floor by floor just quick enough to peek into every room, with Dark Shadow doing most of the peeking.
"What do you think Ida is going to do now?" Tokoyami asked as they ran.
"The options are the same as before. Either he sticks to the bomb to not leave it alone or he tries to catch us by surprise with a sudden attack. Normally I'd say Tenya is going to play it safe and guard the bomb, especially since he can't use Bakugo as a distraction anymore, but he is facing two on one so he might..."
Dark Shadow peeked on another room and got a face full of armoured leg. The shadow creature got launched through the opposite door. Tenya barely stopped his momentum before doing the same, he needed to train that more.
At least his difficulty of changing direction gave Izuku enough time to push Tokoyami aside and raise his arms before Tenya came for them. The fiery shields formed over his hands just before a spinning kick hit them. The force shook every bone in Izuku's body and launched him several meters backwards. Tenya turned against Tokoyami but Dark Shadow was already back and trying to surround Tenya, who jumped out before the quirk could fully encircle him. Izuku took a few seconds to recover from Tenya's attack and then inched closer, looking for an opening. Forgetting he didn't need to watch for any other enemies, he glanced around and into a side corridor they were standing next to. The room Tenya had come from was on that side. Even if he decided to go on offensive maybe he wouldn't have left too far from the bomb.
There wasn't much time left. Tenya could win just by holding them there for a moment. Izuku bolted to the side corridor and used the earpiece to talk with Tokoyami.
"Try to hold him there. I think the bomb is close."
Izuku turned into a parallel corridor. There were multiple doors all closed with no sign of one being more important than another, but considering how far down the corridor Dark Shadow had been when Tenya attacked him. Izuku quickly counted the doors. Either the bomb was in the room where Tenya had attacked from or...
The door at the end of the corridor was wide open, hanging from a hinge and blackened in the middle, like a walking explosives factory had busted it open, too impatient to open the door normally. The fake bomb was even visible through it. Izuku ran towards the broken door with speed accumulated from a year of harsh physical training.
"Midoriya!" Tokoyami shouted in his ear, "he's com-"
A door behind Izuku flew off its hinges as Tenya kicked through it and landed behind Izuku, only bumping on the wall slightly.
"...ing"
"You've improved your braking," Izuku congratulated and kept running.
There was no way he could get to the bomb before Tenya caught him and same went for Tokoyami, except... Izuku remembered how Bakugo had propelled himself with explosions in both the entrance exam and the quirk apprehension test. There was some risk, especially while hiding his regeneration ability, but Izuku pointed his arms backwards. He could already hear Tenya's engine sound closing in. It took a bit of focus to adjust how much power he thought he was putting in the explosion.
First there was a little spark.
Then there was a huge boom and scream as Izuku felt like his arms were trying to tear themselves off. Bakugo really did this for any prolonged distance? By the time the thought reached Izuku's head he was already through the door, having somehow aimed perfectly.
A fraction of a second later all air escaped his lungs and the cabinet sized fake bomb fell on its side from the impact and Izuku slid down its side. He let himself fall on his back, breathing hard as he came back from the high of battle with a giant grin on his face. If there was one thing in the world he could agree on with Bakugo it was that winning was nice.
He was also surprised his ribs hadn't cracked from the impact. If he had had time he would have investigated if the explosion quirk really had hidden side effects. Descending on that pit of muttering he almost missed the caped gorilla's shout.
"THE HEROES... WIN!!"
There was another shout he did not miss.
"Izuku!"
Izuku pushed himself to a sitting position to face Tenya who had finally arrived in the room. His armour like costume was missing some pieces and largely blackened, at least on the front side, but the larger teen moved with no sign of being hindered by serious injury or pain. Still, Izuku couldn't be sure.
"I didn't hurt you right?"
"What...? No not really. I was surprised. You were able to catch me off guard with that explosion. I should have expected that possibility after Bakugo was defeated."
"Yes, you should have," Izuku agreed and jumped on his feet in a single quick motion.
"Are you uninjured?" Tenya asked this time.
"I'm okay, or at least no worse off than after beating McBoom. Well, that was quite a bump I guess."
Izuku nodded towards the fallen bomb with a dent on its side. Tenya didn't look convinced.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes..." Izuku looked away from Tenya and back at the dented bomb, "though I might owe that to Bakugo's quirk."
"I see," Tenya said. "I won't tell him if you don't."
"Too late for that," Izuku said and pointed at the earpiece transmitting everything they said. He sighed. "Lets get out of here."
They joined Tokoyami who had considerately waited outside the room and headed back downstairs. Izuku spent most of the time stretching his arms. They still felt like they might fall off because of the force from the explosion. He hadn't felt like that since after his early training sessions with his father and Kurogiri. It was a calm walk until they passed a side corridor leading to where Izuku and Bakugo had fought. Tenya walked all the way past it and then took a step back to look at the destroyed area.
"What happened here?"
"Bakugo," Izuku responded without stopping.
"Forget not being injured. How are you still alive?" Tenya said and took a few running steps to catch up.
"Training."
"When did we train to survive getting a building dropped on us?"
"When we tried to not get blitzed by you. You can survive anything if you get out of the way before it hits you."
No one had a counterargument for that, so they got out talking about the short fight between Tenya and Dark Shadow. All Might was already coming with the next teams: Hitoshi, a guy with a tail, Ojiro, if Izuku remembered the name correctly, Shoji, and Endeavour's son Todoroki. Hitoshi ran ahead to Izuku's group. Izuku glanced at Tenya covered in dark soot and then down at himself.
"We are okay," he said before Hitoshi could ask. "I... I beat him. I beat Bakugo. You should have seen his face when he realized I got him."
Izuku held up his open hand and let small explosions sparkle on it. Hitoshi softly punched his shoulder.
"I knew you would, even if you look like you got sucked through a jet engine."
Both of them smiled at that.
"It is good that you are still standing Midoriya, but you should still go see Recovery Girl to be safe. You can return young Bakugo's quirk there."
"I'll go after Toshi's match," Izuku said more rudely than he should have, trying to maintain his cover, "I don't want to miss it."
"Toshi?" All Might asked. Izuku pointed at Hitoshi. "I see. I think that is okay. Villain team follow me inside. Heroes wait here."
"Show them what you got," Izuku told Hitoshi with a smile. "If you lose, you'll pay for it during our evening training."
Hitoshi gulped and followed All Might inside. Izuku glanced at his opponents. Even with all their training Hitoshi could hardly win in direct physical combat, but Izuku was confident he would surprise the hero team. A moment later All Might came back out and led the trio to the control room.
As soon as Izuku and his two companions stepped into the room everyone turned to face them. Izuku drew a deep breath and observed carefully how everyone acted. A few stepped back when Izuku got close and he was confident it was not because of his slightly disturbing appearance. There were exceptions though, like Kirishima.
"Hey Midoriya, that was a totally manly battle. Even using Bakugo's quirk was somehow manly."
"Somehow?" Izuku asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Well, I mean. Even if it was an exercise... stealing is kind of wrong."
"If a villain tries to shoot you and you take away his gun, is that wrong?" Izuku asked.
"Well no, b..."
"There is no but," Izuku said and turned away from the redhead. Maybe he wasn't a bad person, but he was still raised into the prejudices of this society. Izuku much preferred to focus on the large screens across one of the walls. Hitoshi and Ojiro were already standing by the now dented fake bomb, though apparently in a different room. Something poked at the back of his leg. Tenya had found a chair from somewhere and was offering it to him.
"I know I can't convince you to leave before this fight is over, but you should at least sit down."
Izuku nodded and sat down. Tenya remained standing next to him and surprisingly Tokoyami stayed almost as close on the other side. The rest at least gave them space. All Might was looking at him from a few meters away but turned his head as soon as Izuku's narrowed eyes met his gaze.
"Right, the preparation time is almost over." He held up the little microphone in his hand. Or, maybe it was a normal sized microphone and just looked small in the boisterous hero's giant hands. "ARE YOU READY?"
"You know the whole point of the speaker system is that you don't need to shout all the time?" Izuku asked. A girl with dark purply hair and headphone jacks for earlobes nodded at that. All Might glanced at him and continued, slightly less loudly.
"Your time begins, NOW!"
Shoji was the first one to enter the building, spreading all his arms out with ears on each one of them. Almost instinctually Izuku's hand moved to get his notebook from its holder. Only halfway into the motion concern rose and he twisted to see if the notebook had survived. The corner of its holder was torched, and the notebook was blackened and torn from that corner, but at least his notes were mostly safe. By the time Todoroki walked into the building, half of his body was covered in ice and Izuku was already scribbling notes.
"Where did he get that?" Someone asked in the background, but Izuku didn't have time to see who. He was too focused on being surprised that Shoji was stepping back outside as Todoroki already declared victory.
Then Izuku blinked and the whole building was covered in ice. He instantly looked for the screens showing the villain team. To his relief both Hitoshi and Ojiro were okay, and just had their feet frozen onto the floor. With his concern relieved, Izuku was free to nerd out over Todoroki's quirk. If he ever wanted to take the quirk of any of his classmates other than Bakugo, Todoroki was certainly high on the list, even if it took Izuku years to reach the same ice output.
Todoroki then simply walked inside with seemingly no worry in the world. Hitoshi and Ojiro were still stuck in the ice, stunned at what had happened.
"Don't just stand there," Izuku whispered and almost like Hitoshi had heard Izuku, he began hitting the ice with his armguard and spoke to Ojiro.
"Use your tail to break the ice."
After a few seconds Ojiro did as Hitoshi said, but never responded out loud. Actually, Izuku noticed him pressing his lips tighter together.
Onto the blacklist Ojiro went. Getting out of the ice faster than Hitoshi and even slamming the rest of the ice trapping Hitoshi with his tail weren't enough to change that.
They didn't have time to take advantage of that situation as Todoroki walked into the room. Ojiro leaped at Todoroki, propelling himself with his tail, but Todoroki slightly twisted his right foot. A burst of ice rushed across the floor until an ice pillar burst out of it right below Ojiro. In less than a second his attack was stopped, and he was completely trapped by the ice pillar. Gasps and statements of wonder filled the monitoring room. Izuku wondered how much about that had come from the quirk and how much from training.
"It's not your fault. We are just playing on different levels," Todoroki said. He launched a similar attack towards Hitoshi only for his eyes to widen as Hitoshi darted to the side, avoiding the ice. The rest of the class observing were equally impressed.
"That attack is fast, but not as fast as Tenya," Izuku commented. The taller teen simply nodded as Hitoshi dodged another ice attack and hid behind Ojiro's ice pillar while talking to Todoroki.
"He improved greatly during our training," Tenya said. "I have only ever fought two people who are more difficult to hit."
"So," Hitoshi said back in the training building, "I guess you've been observant enough to hear how my quirk works, since Mr Boom Boom made me use it yesterday."
Todoroki didn't answer and instead sent a much wider wave of ice that passed around both sides of Ojiro's ice pillar and finally caught Hitoshi, freezing his feet on the floor again.
"Well, he did pretty well I guess, kero," one of the girls said.
"He's not done yet," Izuku said smiling. Even All Might glanced at him with a question in his eyes, but the fight wasn't over yet and there wasn't time for explanations as Hitoshi kept talking.
"Izuku might have explained my quirk to half of the class, but did he ever mention my father's quirk?"
People in the monitoring room stared at the screen confused. Their feelings were reflected on Todoroki's face, but he had enough self-control to not respond.
"Boo!"
Todoroki jolted and spun around, apparently ready to attack, with a small burst of fire flashing on his left arm, but in the process he forgot to keep his mouth shut.
"Wha..." He stopped suddenly as if he was caught in his own ice and a devious smirk creeped onto Hitoshi's face.
"Told you," Izuku said.
"Get rid of this ice and then let me restrain you."
"How did he...?" The headphone jack girl asked.
"There is no way Todoroki would have fallen for that after staying quiet for so long," Yaoyorozu stated the obvious. "He said something about his father's quir..."
She paused mid-sentence. Her head turned slowly away from the screen towards Izuku. Everyone except Tenya followed her example one by one. Izuku himself started squirming on his seat, getting uneasy with the constant and increasing attention. Some of these people hadn't reacted to him too badly, but not all were friendly either, and things could change. They were already wary about him taking Bakugo's quirk and now were increasingly focused on him. In his life so far it had usually meant nothing good and All Might's presence didn't help. He was torn between hatred and grief every time the man spoke.
"Izuku?" Tenya asked, noticing his uncomfortable squirming.
"Sorry, it has been quite a lot for one day."
"Are you sure you are okay?" All Might came closer. "It would be wisest to go to..."
He reached his hand to grab Izuku's shoulder. There was a lot that Izuku had tolerated and held himself back on but that was too much. Just as the hand that had taken his father from him was about to reach him, Izuku jolted up and away from the man. His chair fell on the floor, the sound of the impact mixed in with the sizzle of a blue Dragon Blade. Izuku's other hand was partially open. All For One burned inside him, wanting to be used.
Everyone jumped back. Even All Might took a step away as Izuku literally hissed at him.
"Don't touch me."
"Midoriya," All Might started, but his voice only made Izuku's expression harden.
"Izuku."
Izuku blinked and glanced at Tenya. He didn't resist when the larger teen grabbed his arm right above the burning blade. He even reduced the temperature instinctually with Tenya's hand so close and the blade turned into a more traditional orange. Tenya used his other hand to pull the chair back up. Izuku finally extinguished his blade once Tenya was standing between him and All Might. He looked at the floor.
"Sorry."
"Wow, what was that about," one of the boys with blond hair asked, Kaminari if Izuku wasn't wrong, "Midoriya, Ida?"
"It is not my place to tell, and I ask that you do not try to inquire about the matter from Izuku. You will only make things worse," Tenya said firmly and turned to face All Might. "With all due respect, sir. Do not try to touch him... or come closer than you have to."
"I... very well," All Might responded.
"How is Toshi doing?" Izuku asked, trying to ignore the large man.
"He just tied up Todoroki with the capture tape," Yaoyorozu answered. "How many quirks have you given him?"
Many of the slower members of the class looked surprised as she stated something that apparently hadn't been obvious yet.
"He has two quirks," Izuku said quietly. "Toshi's father wanted to help him and gave him his own quirk after we got admitted to UA."
"So manly," Kirishima said randomly.
"Wait, you can give quirks to other people?" Kaminari asked.
"If I choose to and someone gives up a quirk to give away," Izuku said, now focused on the screens again. Shoji had realized something had gone wrong and was running through the building with extra ears formed on his arms. He reached the correct floor with little time to spare. Ojiro jumped out of a nearby door, trying to catch his opponent by surprise like Tenya had done, but before his tail even swung at Shoji, the six-armed teen was already ready to grab it and swung Ojiro on the ground much like Izuku had done to Bakugo.
Izuku smiled. Ojiro deserved that after how he treated Hitoshi.
"HEY!" Hitoshi shouted from down the corridor. Shoji visibly shook but...
He didn't say anything to respond. Even as three of his arms extended and split to restrain Ojiro the rest of him was frozen in place and staring at Hitoshi. A few seconds later he slapped one of his free hands on the mask covering his mouth and began running at Hitoshi.
"What is wrong... octopus man?"
Even though Izuku knew Hitoshi was just trying to make Shoji respond, he grimaced at the insult that Shoji most certainly had heard too many times. Hitoshi's words seemed to shake Shoji, so he was likely also using Surprise with his words. Still, Shoji resisted and reached out with his remaining two arms that stretched towards Hitoshi at high speed.
He evaded them with the same grace he had done with Todoroki's ice and slammed Shoji's arm with one of his forearm guards. It was unclear if he managed to actually hurt Shoji, but it didn't seem to slow down his six-armed opponent...
Who promptly spun around and threw Ojiro at him.
Hitoshi avoided his flying ally, but in the narrow corridor it was enough of a distraction that he narrowly failed to do the same with Shoji's second grapple, this time not slowed down by dragging around another person. His opponent's much thicker arms fully encircled and restrained Hitoshi and Ojiro suffered the same fate almost at the same time.
Izuku's face dropped seeing Hitoshi lose, but the analytical side of his mind was already hard at work on picking the fight apart.
"It is quite surprising that Shoji was able to resist responding to Hitoshi," Tenya commented.
"Yes," Izuku mumbled and brushed his chin. "He has used his transforming arms to speak so far. Maybe he can't or isn't used to speaking normally, with his normal mouth. That could have impacted his instincts when reacting to Surprise. Or maybe he is just more focused and could resist it unusually well."
"THE HERO TEAM WINS!" All Might declared and Izuku tensed. Then he got up.
"I guess I'll go to see the nurse. At least the loudmouth won't be there."
"That is good," Tenya said, "though can you do that without ending up in an another fight with Bakugo?"
Izuku froze. "Shit."
"Language," All Might said.
"Shut up All Might."
"Izuku," Tenya pleaded.
Izuku took a deep breath and sat back down, trying to ignore the muttering of the class.
"I'll go after Bakugo gets kicked out of there."
"Midoriya..." All Might said with some mix of concern and demand.
"Shouldn't you be preparing the next teams for their battle?" Izuku asked.
"... Right," the so-called hero said slowly and left the room with the next group of students. Izuku visibly relaxed and while he wasn't ready to slump down in front of most of the class, he did lean against the backrest of his chair, looking at the ceiling. He had probably screwed up again and would need to come up with an excuse of hating All Might that didn't involve his father.
Oh wait...
He didn't.
The man already represented everything he hated in this society and then there was... Izuku sniffed as the thought of his mother came to his mind.
"Izuku?"
"Bad memories," Izuku whispered to Tenya. "Bakugo and All Might on the same day... Going to have nightmares tonight."
"So, a cloak of darkness shadows your life as well?" Tokoyami commented. Dark Shadow peeked out from behind him without a word.
"You don't know half of it," Izuku admitted, or perhaps understated, and closed his eyes. He was tired and didn't care about the whispered discussions around him. Approaching footsteps and All Might's voice, on the other hand...
"I can convince him," Hitoshi's voice came from the open door. Izuku opened his eyes and leaned even further back to see the door behind him, although upside down.
"I hope you don't mean with your quirk."
"If he was in a bad enough condition to justify that you would not have let him wait... I hope."
Izuku looked at Tenya. "Seems I won't have a choice to not see Recovery Girl. Toshi has turned traitor and allied with All Might."
"That means he is worried for you. Maybe... he can come along to brainwash Bakugo if he tries to attack you."
"Hmm, no. After all that Bakugo did, I don't want either of you near him. He has gotten even more deranged than before."
"Then it's good we don't have to," Hitoshi commented, having come in while they talked. "All Might called Recovery Girl. Apparently, you didn't hurt Bakugo enough since she is already going to transfer him somewhere else and doesn't think he needs more of her treatments right now."
"Okay, then I'll go," Izuku responded and looked at All Might as he got up. "At least it should be less noisy there."
He turned back to face his friends. "Not sure how long this is going to take, but at least we'll see each other after school for our own training. Both of you lost. Have to fix that."
Both of them shuddered as Izuku walked out of the room.