"Welcome," Izuku greeted with a simple smile, hesitant to show any more excitement while welcoming a new guest at his house. Kirishima barely met his eyes, spending most of his time looking past Izuku at the large house behind him.
"Hey Midoriya," Kirishima responded. "Wow, you got a cool place here. I'm starting to suspect Ida was serious with the house comment yesterday. So, this is where you train?"
"Partially," Izuku said. "Some things have needed more space, but this should do at least for the morning. I hope you've recovered from yesterday."
"Yeah, I'm okay. The biggest problem was convincing my parents."
"I know how that feels," Hitoshi said as he stretched a few meters away, wearing his UA gym uniform already. "At least they know Izuku and Tenya."
"Well, I'm here now," Kirishima said. "Thank you for having me. I know you like to keep this stuff kinda private."
"You should not worry about that," Tenya said from next to Hitoshi. "Izuku might be a bit wary of... trusting people due to some earlier experiences, but having more decent people around is good for him. He has smiled a lot more since Hitoshi came along."
"Don't underplay yourself," Hitoshi commented.
"Guys, can we get started?" Izuku side-tracked them.
"Why?" Hitoshi asked. "Are you in a hurry to try out your new unbreakable punching bag?"
"Oh, you got one too," Kirishima said. "What model do you use? I haven't managed to find one that doesn't break."
"He's talking about you," Izuku said.
"Oh, well... just be careful. I... don't want to break anyone else's hand."
"I appreciate the concern," Izuku said, "but don't even think of going easy on our training."
"Translation, he wants more of a challenge than we can give," Hitoshi added. He wasn't exactly wrong, even Tenya with his size and speed couldn't push him like he was used to with the Nomus, except in long distance dashes when there was plenty of space.
Izuku wasn't going to say that to their faces though.
"Well, I'd love to see what you got," Kirishima said with a wide smile. "I haven't really had good training partners except for some private lessons and training with Mina more recently."
"Maybe you should just stop talking and see who wins"
"I'm up for it," Kirishima said. "Just don't cut off my limbs."
"Hey," Izuku said and smirked, "Toshi and Tenya still have all of theirs."
"Izuku is joking already?" Hitoshi said. "Kirishima is doing better than I thought."
"Hitoshi," Tenya said, sounding disappointed, but the hand he rubbed his forehead with only partially hid his smile.
Izuku moved to an open area of grass. Kirishima followed and they faced each other. Tenya and Hitoshi got up to watch from the side. Izuku glanced at them without turning his head from Kirishima.
"Don't even think about using him as an excuse to take it easy."
Hitoshi let out an exaggerated sigh and they moved to the other side of the yard to spar.
"Ready?" Izuku asked Kirishima.
"Yes," the redhead responded with a smile and hardened his body. He had barely blinked when Izuku was already on him with a punch straight to the face.
Pain radiated from Izuku's hand as his entire arm shook from and felt a little numb from the impact. There might have been some fractures considering the pain and how it went away. Izuku had gotten really good at recognizing broken bones based on the pain. He hopped back to avoid a counterattack, but none came. Kirishima just tilted his head without any sign of even the slightest pain, looking at Izuku with concern in his eyes.
"Are you okay? I tried to warn y-"
"I'm okay," Izuku responded, shaking his now fine hand. "Had to try. Seems I can't do much damage without using the Dragon Blade. I wonder how much heat you can take."
"Eh?" Kirishima questioned, holding his hands in front of himself.
"I know you took one of Bakugo's explosions to the face, even if it would have been one of the smaller ones. I think you'll survive training."
"You think?"
"Welcome to the boot camp Midoriya," Hitoshi called from the other side of the yard, only for Tenya to take advantage of his distraction to pin him to the ground.
"Focus Toshi," Izuku said with a smiling before turning back towards Kirishima. "Let's continue."
Kirishima smiled and hardened again. This time he went for the offensive with a barrage of punches. His rocky appearance gave the impression of someone strong and slow, but his attacks were anything but slow. Izuku dodged the first attack easily, much to Kirishima's surprise, but as the punches kept coming Izuku started struggling as he tried to find any weaknesses he could exploit without slicing Kirishima in two like the UA robots. He didn't even know which was harder, the robots' armour or Kirishima's hardening. He'd have to come up with some kind of test for that.
One punch grazed Izuku's arm as he was a little too slow with a dodge and a sharp edge tore straight through his sleeve, cutting all the way to his skin. Kirishima tensed and pulled his arm back almost faster than he had punched with it.
"Sorry, are you okay?"
Izuku turned his arm and looked down at the cut without saying a word. His lips slowly bent into a smirk. Kirishima stared at him and gulped audibly. In a swift motion Izuku swept Kirishima's feet out from under him. With surprising agility Kirishima avoided falling down and instead backflipped back onto his feet.
As he did so, his shirt rose up enough to show that to achieve such a move had forced him to undo some of his hardening. The soles of Kirishima's shoes were barely back on the grass as Izuku charged and delivered a powerful punch straight to his stomach. He couldn't exactly describe what he hit as 'soft', but at least this time the hit hurt Kirishima more than himself.
Unfortunately it wasn't enough to bring the redhead down, and by the follow-up punch he had hardened again. Izuku hopped back, massaging his hand but with a smile on his face.
"I'd say you are tougher than you look, but in this case the look is pretty accurate."
"Thanks. I really thought you got me for a moment."
"Every quirk has limitations," Izuku responded. "I just stumbled into one of yours. It might not slow you down as much as one would expect, but you aren't as flexible while using it, or you could say you are more agile than you usually show."
"Yeah, I guess you could say so. I do my stretches but they are more difficult with my quirk. It can be pretty useful in a fight, but it is pretty simple and straightforward."
"It's amazing," Izuku almost shouted and started talking faster than he intended. "You just need to find different ways of using it, or even just improve to use it better. Like if you could switch faster between hardened and unhardened, I wouldn't have gotten that hit in."
Izuku already had a notebook open, and he was taking notes on this new discovery while muttering to himself.
"Where did you get that?"
"It's better not to worry about that," Hitoshi said, joining the duo while taking a sip of water. "There are some questions that aren't meant to be answered."
Tenya sighed next to Hitoshi.
"He had a holster made that keeps a notebook against his back like the equipment belt in his hero costume, except this one is hidden under his shirt."
"Don't tell him that," Hitoshi elbowed Tenya's side.
"It's just a regular notebook," Izuku said without slowing down with his note taking. "The other one is still hidden."
"Other?" Kirishima asked.
"He has a whole separate notebook for us and our training," Tenya explained.
"Shouldn't you be training?" Izuku asked as he closed the notebook. "Okay, let's get back to work. I still have a rock to crack."
Hitoshi and Tenya barely had time to get out of the way before Izuku and Kirishima were at it again. It was much the same as before. Izuku's punches did nothing and avoiding Kirishima's got gradually harder, until Izuku caught one of his extended arms and threw Kirishima over his shoulder on the ground. He was on top of the redhead in an instant but couldn't do any more damage than before. He tried to just grab and restrain his opponent, but Kirishima smirked and pushed back, his hardened arms stronger than humanly possible without a strength quirk. Izuku tried to back off, but Kirishima had a hold of his wrists.
"Got you."
"You think so," Izuku responded and activated the Dragon Blade on both his arms, slowly starting with low heat. Smoke began rising from under Kirishima's hands. He was still stubbornly holding onto Izuku, but as Izuku upped the temperature Kirishima's expression tensed. Finally, he let go with a small hiss. Izuku was on his feet two meters away before that was over.
"You are pretty good, and really tough with your quirk. I really can't seem to beat it with quirkless combat."
He crouched again in a battle-ready stance, but this time with his blades lit and formed into shields on both arms.
"Heh, things are getting interesting then," Kirishima, back on his feet, responded and charged. Izuku again evaded the first few attacks, but then he blocked one with his flaming shields. Kirishima yanked his arm back before the heat had any chance of burning through his hardening, but the impact had already happened. Izuku got pushed back. His whole body shook while his arms felt numb.
"Well, at least you really aren't holding back for training."
"Eh, how should I put this..." Kirishima scratched his head. Izuku raised his eyebrows.
"You are holding back?"
"Well, yes. Don't take it the wrong way," Kirishima said quickly. "You... well you don't have any durability quirks. If I didn't hold back a direct hit could... kill you, or break bones at least."
Izuku looked at Kirishima for a moment and then quickly walked past him, grabbing his arm with one hand, a notebook already on the other. He dragged Kirishima across the front yard to a large boulder poking out of the ground. Izuku pointed at it.
"Punch that, as hard as you can."
"Are you sure? I don't want to mess up your yard."
"Just do it. My notes aren't going to be any good if I can't estimate your real strength with your quirk."
"Okay, if you insist. You should stay back.
Kirishima pulled one hardened arm back and then in wide swing threw a single massive punch. When his fist hit the surface of the boulder the impact appeared almost like an explosion as the shattering of the stone on the surface launched small shrapnel and left behind a crater around Kirishima's arm. His fist sunk even deeper, and the boulder cracked in two well beyond it.
Izuku whistled, impressed, as he rarely was while, internally struggling to squash the urge to take Kirishima's quirk.
"Forget what I said before. My bones are glad you held back."
"I could say the same. I like my arms where they are."
Izuku rubbed his chin, quiet for a moment, and smirked.
"This isn't really developing our skills. Want to try a no quirks round? You shouldn't rely on yours stopping every attack."
"Bring it on."
To be fair to Kirishima, even without his quirk he gave a surprising amount of challenge to Izuku. Over multiple rounds of sparring, unable to take hits like before but also not restricted by his quirk, his style changed to a more mobile and agile one, making him harder to hit. It didn't save him from multiple meetings with the grass though. His quirk might have been hard to crack, but in quirkless combat Izuku was still ahead. They kept going round after round until both were laying on the ground full of bruises and breathing hard, wide smiles on both of their faces.
Hitoshi came to stand next to Izuku and looked down toward him for a moment. Then he glanced at Kirishima and turned to face nearby Tenya.
"Seems we chose the right one."
"I believe so," Tenya responded. "I just wish one of them at least had the common sense to stop before going too far."
"So..." Hitoshi started, "lunch?"
"Yes please," Izuku said, not getting up.
"We'll get things ready," Hitoshi said and turned to leave. As soon as he started walking Izuku noticed a slight limp in his step. Izuku pushed himself up to a half laying position supported by his arms.
"Is your leg okay?"
"Good enough," Hitoshi stopped to respond. "Unlike you two Tenya has some restraint. I think my back is still sensitive from yesterday despite Recovery Girl's treatment. Started acting out while we trained. I'll go see her again on Monday."
"Don't wait for that if it gets any worse. I got good doctors and quirk healers on speed-dial."
"I know," Hitoshi said as he kept walking, "I've met them all already,"
"I'd ask why," Kirishima started, "but after the last couple of hours I think I understand. Midoriya doesn't mess around with training."
"If we hadn't taken our training seriously some, or all of us, would have died yesterday," Izuku said. "I don't want anyone here getting hurt, but I'd rather send you to a doctor than a morgue."
"I... guess that makes sense. Being a hero can be dangerous."
"Depends on if you are worth the title. If you want to call yourself a hero, you need to be willing to get hurt or killed so others don't. Some 'heroes' only fight when they are confident of victory and can claim glory with minimal risk."
"You really think so?"
"I know it. I've suffered for it."
"Suffered... how?"
"I..." Izuku almost responded but choked up. Without another word he got up and went after Hitoshi.
"That topic is something he won't easily talk about," Tenya told Kirishima quietly behind Izuku. "Please don't try to ask about it. He will likely open up about some things if he ever feels he can trust you unconditionally, but not before. Just remember that if it ever happens, that will be the day he will need your support the most."
Izuku looked back over his shoulder.
"Tenya," Izuku said louder than needed, making his larger friend flinch. "Are you two coming?"
"Uh, of course."
When they got inside Hitoshi was already bringing the chicken salad to the table. They couldn't eat anything too heavy before the afternoon training, so protein shakes would keep them going until the evening. They had just finished with lunch when the doorbell rang.
Izuku of course tensed right away. The only people who had any business to visit, and enter through the door, were already there.
"I assume you aren't expecting anyone," Tenya said.
"No."
Izuku got up from where he had been sitting and headed to the door. The trio of his guests followed but stayed further back, just curious. Even as Izuku reached to open the door his other hand was tense and ready to ignite the Dragon Blade. He came closer to do so than he should have as he saw the familiar man with a long jacket.
"Detective..." he paused just in time to look like he didn't have everything of the man memorized, while also grasping at the Calm Mind, "Tsukauchi, I thought you were supposed to interview us next week."
"Yes, about the USJ incident. However, something else has come up. May I come in?"
Izuku stayed quiet for few seconds, wondering if he had any valid excuse to not allow the man inside. Besides being on the other side, he didn't exactly have a reason to hate the man like with All Might.
"Yes, of course." He stepped out of the way to let the man in. It didn't take long for the perceptive detective to notice the others.
"I see you have company. I apologize if I interrupted anything."
"Don't worry about it," Izuku said as he followed the man inside. "We were just having a lunch break from training. So, what made you come here?"
"Right. What was your last contact with Katsuki Bakugo?"
And there went any positivity Izuku's quests had managed to cultivate over the morning. His expression fell into an empty stare.
"On Tuesday when leaving school as he and his mother finally realized his actions were going to have actual consequences."
"And you haven't heard of him since?"
"Thankfully not. Why are you suddenly asking about the walking bomb threat?"
"Midoriya, he has gone missing. No one has seen him since yesterday evening. His mother is afraid of what might have happened."
Izuku looked at the man for several second, then the floor, and eventually his friends.
"I doubt anything has happened to him. Most of the time he is the most dangerous person present. If he has gone missing that means he never accepted his own responsibility for what is happening. In the best case he is just trying to escape, but knowing him he will blame others and might seek revenge. Considering his earlier crimes, I hope you treat this as chasing an escaped suspect, not a missing person."
"I am aware of your plans to pursue charges, but until evidence is presented to the police, we are approaching this as a teenager gone missing. If you know anything that might help, any place he might have gone to..."
"No," Izuku said and turned away from the man. "For most of my life I've tried to avoid him and have been very successful at that for the past year. So no, I don't know where he likes to hide out."
Izuku paused.
"You should keep an eye on T...Hitoshi's and Tenya's houses. If Bakugo decides he wants revenge he'll come after me."
"Then we should stake out this house," Tsukauchi said.
"No need to. It has more security than you think, and if Bakugo comes here," Izuku faced Tsukauchi again with a cold stare. "I can... I have to face him myself. The real problem is that he might try to get to me through them."
Izuku nodded towards Tenya and Hitoshi. "He's already threatened them for no other reason than being my friends, and because he hates Toshi's quirk almost as much as my own."
"If that is really a possibility I can request some monitoring, but that would include all of you, and there is a limit on what I can do on your word alone. Do you have any evidence of the threat?"
"That specific threat, no. Bakugo destroyed all of the cameras before making it, but I can relay you the material about is tendency for violence we are preparing to use in court. Actually, never mind. I'll get some security myself."
The detective looked at Izuku for a few seconds and then put his hand on Izuku's shoulder, probably thinking Izuku didn't realize his finger was discreetly touching skin on the side of his neck. Izuku held onto the Calm Mind he had already been using and let the quirk slowly take over more.
"If you are really that worried, I should talk with your parents. Are they home?"
At least he didn't realize, Izuku knew the man had investigated him. That meant Izuku was another step ahead.
"No. My father works abroad. Probably just went to sleep. My mother is dead." The Calm Mind barely kept Izuku's voice steady. "I live alone, when I don't have friends over."
"I'm sorry."
"I don't need your sorry. Just find the walking bomb factory before something explodes."
Izuku slapped Tsukauchi's hand away from his shoulder, hoping he had managed to hide his lies.
"We will do our best. If you remember or hear anything about him, please contact me, and please relay my number to your father," Tsukauchi said, offering a business card. Izuku snatched it from his hand without any customary politeness and without touching the man's fingers.
"Do you need anything else? We need to get back to training, now even more than before."
"No, not on this matter. We will keep looking for Bakugo and look into the possibility he might pose a threat."
"You know the charges I'm pressing include attempted murder?" Izuku asked.
Tsukauchi rubbed his forehead.
"I'm aware. I will be in contact as needed, and please ask your father to contact me."
Izuku gave barely a noticeable nod and escorted the man out. He drew a deep breath as soon as the door clicked closed.
"Are you okay?" Hitoshi asked. Izuku hadn't even noticed him approaching.
"I'm worried. I didn't expect Bakugo to disappear. Now I can't tell what he is going to do."
"Izuku," Hitoshi said more forcefully. "You just talked about your mother with a stranger and didn't as much as stutter."
And there was another danger of Calm Mind. Izuku looked down, hiding his expression.
"I didn't want to... I was more focused on what Bakugo might do."
"To us," Hitoshi added. It wasn't a question.
"I know how you feel about all this," Tenya said, "but you should remember he is a police officer when talking with him."
"We have bigger things to worry about than my politeness," Izuku said, looking at Tenya. "How's the security at your house?"
"You don't need to worry about me. My family recognizes that being heroes makes us targets."
"How about...?" Izuku turned to look at Hitoshi.
"I... have a lock on my door."
Izuku looked at him for a few second.
"Everyone here could destroy your door in a few seconds at most. Need to get something better... by Monday."
"I won't even bother trying to refuse."
"Good. Let's get back to training. It is our best security."
Izuku brought his arm over Hitoshi's shoulder and strolled back deeper inside the house where Kirishima was waiting. Izuku didn't take long to meet his stare.
"Do you really think Bakugo could be that dangerous?"
"Yes... Didn't he hit you with an explosion on Monday?"
"Well, there was that one when I woke him up from the brainwashing, but that was just a little puff."
"For you maybe." Izuku stopped and detached from Hitoshi to stand straight facing Kirishima. "You hardened back then didn't you."
"Well, yeah. It's basically an instinct in a situation like that."
"And you wouldn't call that explosion a 'little puff' without that instinct. If you want to be a hero that protects others, you can't think about things based on how much they would hurt you. That 'puff' could have easily blinded someone else at the very least, probably worse."
Kirishima opened his mouth to respond, closed it. and looked down thoughtful. Slowly, Izuku could see a bit of shame appear in his expression.
"I didn't think about it that way."
"No, you didn't. That's why you are going to practice using your brain in a fight for the afternoon. You are going to train with Toshi while I work with Tenya, and afterwards you are going to do ten push-ups for every time he manages to brainwash you, if you want dinner that is."
Kirishima smiled.
"Is that supposed to be a threat? I'll do twenty."
"You are supposed to avoid getting brainwashed."
"Oh, right."
Izuku shook his head.
"One more thing," he said and went to a nearby dresser. He pulled out a small first aid pack and bunch of tourniquets he had bought right after USJ. He dumped them on Kirishima's hands. The redhead looked at him confused. Hitoshi smirked and quoted principal Nezu.
"Hero's first duty is to rescue."
"Figure out how to carry some of these on your costume. There is no point in saving people from villains if you can't keep them alive long enough for that to matter."
"He forced, I mean donated us the same set," Hitoshi added. "It's not just you."
"Oh, okay, thanks. I'll promise to help someone with these," Kirishima smiled and Izuku responded in kind without even thinking.
"Let's get going."
"Where?" Kirishima asked.
"To a beach, Tenya and I can't do our next training here. You brought a swimming suit like I asked?"
"Yes. I was wondering why."
"Don't forget the papers," Tenya added.
Izuku took the written permission from a private beach club, and the same legal papers he carried while they trained for the entrance exams.
Kirishima looked around as they stepped through the gate of the beach club, a large wooden building looking over the beach with a massive terrace as long as the building.
"Oh, this place. My parents like to come here during summer. Do they really let us train here?"
"Oh, Midoriya-san!" An older man in a fancy suit approached. "I am happy to see you here again, and... with more friends than before I see. I'm sorry, I feel I have seen you before but..."
"This is Kirishima. He is our classmate who joined us for weekend training."
"Ah, young Kirishima. I didn't recognize you with the new hair colour." The man focused back on Izuku. "We have restricted your area of the beach. The dinner will be ready at the same time as before. Please let me know if you need anything else."
"So, I guess they do let us train here."
"They do. My father owns this place," Izuku said. "Except you two are going to train in the water. The water resistance makes moving around a bit more difficult that way, and you don't need to worry about throwing each other around."
"You mean Kirishima tossing me around."
"Either he drinks sea water by the end of the day, and not because of brainwashing, or you will join him in doing push-ups."
"We can have a competition." Kirishima smirked without the least concern about Izuku's threats, and Izuku found it difficult not to feel happy to have the redhead around as they passed a restaurant and headed to the dressing rooms. As soon as Izuku got his shirt off he reached to feel the lumps that were his new jet-quirk. He wasn't used to them and could barely avoid being constantly distracted by the foreign sensations.
Now he had to train using them without breaking his bones like the previous evening.
There weren't too many people on the beach that early in the spring, despite the day being relatively warm for the time, at least warm enough to be comfortable. Though even Kirishima's smile briefly wavered as soon as he stepped into the water. Izuku stood just beyond the waterline next to Tenya, who was describing how he felt his engines and controlled their power, with some extra tips from his hero brother Ingenium.
Izuku had already figured out how to activate the quirk, but controlling it, let alone his movement, was a whole different matter. The slits in his back opened and started blasting out air, a little too much of it.
Izuku's feet left the ground, and he was already well over the water before he managed to lean back enough to halt his forward momentum. After almost falling on his back, he spread his arms, dipped his foot in the water, and managed to balance himself upright, kind of hovering over the water.
"Good, now focus on keeping the output stable as you try to move," Tenya called out behind him.
Izuku did his best, but as he leaned forward, he moved a little too fast, tried to change direction, accidentally changed the power output of the quirk, and landed face first in the water, almost exactly at the same time as Hitoshi a few meters away. Hitoshi got up, spitting sea water, and glanced at Izuku.
"Nice to see you on your face for once."
"Don't get used to it," Izuku responded, and his jets flared.
"Let me have this. Usually it's you who makes people eat dirt, mostly me."
"At least it was premium dirt at a central location," Izuku said and softly elbowed Hitoshi's side.
"And this is premium seawater at an expensive beach club," Hitoshi shot back, splashing water on Izuku.
"So go and make Kirishima drink some," Izuku responded, but that made Hitoshi's smile disappear. Izuku put his hand on Hitoshi's shoulder.
"I know he's strong, especially after fighting him all morning, but you can't let that make you doubt yourself. Doing so will just make you hesitate and do worse. Even when he is using his quirk, just remember you can also do things that he can't, even if they aren't physical."
"I guess, though my arms are already hurting from thinking about all the push-ups."
"That means they work, but how about this. If I slam into the water more times than you, I'll join you in doing the push-ups."
"Deal."
All four of them were still doing push-ups when the sun went down. Tenya joined the other three just because he felt wrong not doing it with them.