So far, the second battle trial in their first ever heroics lesson was proceeding as expected. Kirishima and Uraraka were deep in conversation while Iida attempted to do the same with Bakugo. The blond wasn’t even listening. Toshinori called for them to begin and Bakugo ran off, leaving his partner behind. Realistically, Iida would have been better to patrol, but of course Bakugo wanted to get in on the action as soon as possible.
The hero team stuck together as they entered the building. Given Kirishima’s quirk, he could perhaps be forgiven if he charged in, but Izuku was glad to see he was showing at least some caution. Bakugo snuck up on them on the second floor. He swung around a corner and aimed an explosion at them. Kirishima pushed Uraraka to one side and took the blast with his hardened body. There was no sound so they couldn’t hear what was being said, but Kirishima ran forward to engage Bakugo while Uraraka ran off.
The ensuing fight was relatively evenly matched. Kirishima’s hardening was a good counter to Bakugo’s explosions. When blast after blast failed to make the red head yield, it only served to make the blonde even angrier. The explosions grew even stronger, and Bakugo got creative. He took advantage of Kirishima’s hesitation to fly all around him, throwing blasts at different parts, trying to find a gap in the hardening.
Kirishima wasn’t doing badly by any means. He’d actually landed a few good hits on Bakugo, and if what he felt from the boy was any indication, they hurt quite a bit. Unfortunately, Kirishima didn’t have enough endurance yet to constantly use his quirk like this. They’d been fighting for nearly ten out of the fifteen minutes and he was getting exhausted. He kept his hardening up as much as he could, but the blasts were starting to punch through. Izuku did not like the bloodlust he was feeling from Bakugo.
“This is going too far All Might,” he said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll stop things if they get out of hand.”
“They already are! This is just training. There’s no reason for Bakugo to be this relentless.”
“It just means he’s taking things seriously.”
Izuku grit his teeth. He was barely concentrating on what Uraraka and Iida were doing, and only vaguely aware of the other people in the room grumbling similar sentiments to him.
On screen, Kirishima tried making a tactical retreat. It was a solid move, giving him a chance to rest. Unfortunately Bakugo was hot on his heels and cornered him in a long corridor. He levelled one of his oversized gauntlets at Kirishima and Izuku froze. There was only one thing those could be filled with. He didn’t hear what was said, but he felt the small excitement in Bakugo and the rush of fear in Kirishima.
“Stop the fight!”
“Young Mikumo, just because your friend isn’t doing as well as you’d like, it doesn’t mean you get to call off the fight.”
“Look at what’s happening! He’s gonna kill him!”
Toshinori looked away from Izuku and his eyes widened.
“Bakugo, don’t you dare pull that pin!”
Bakugo didn’t stop. Would he be able to make a shield from this distance? Kirishima braced, summoning whatever reserves of strength he had left. Bakugo pulled the pin. Whatever excitement he had been feeling rapidly gave way to worry and concern as the blast built but by then it was too late. A great plume of explosive fire erupted from the gauntlet. The cameras in the corridor were fried and even the control room shook from the force of it.
Nobody moved for a second, but then Toshinori quickly spoke into the comms, trying to reach Kirishima. The only reason Izuku wasn’t throttling the man right now was that he could See the boy. He was mostly unhurt, still scared but not in serious danger.
“Bakugo, using force like that, indoors, is a very poor decision whether you’re a hero, or a villain. Do something like that again and your team will automatically lose this trial!”
“That’s not the point. At minimum, he should be pulled from this exercise for that stunt,” Izuku said.
“Mikumo, need I remind you that I am the teacher here. My decision is final,” Toshinori said tersely.
Kirishima had been pushed back by the blast but he was still on his feet. He couldn’t quite make out the structure from this distance, but he Saw that Kirishima was teetering at the edge of a large hole. Bakugo took off his gauntlets, his form a bright mixture of guilt and slowly receding panic. Kirishima shakily stepped away from the edge and slumped against the wall.
Neither of them got the chance to do more because suddenly Toshinori shouted.
“Uraraka has captured the bomb! Hero team wins!”
In the chaos of Bakugo’s attack, Izuku had completely ignored the other two. By the looks of it, Uraraka had managed to touch Iida, since he was floating and moving about weirdly. Whatever peace had been established below them was shattered. Bakugo stormed off in anger, and Kirishima followed after him, happiness and relief in his form.
Quite a few people hurried over when they arrived back in the control room, whether it was to congratulate them or fuss over their condition. Izuku was in the latter group. He beelined straight for Kirishima. The boys hero costume being shirtless showed off his muscles, but it also meant he couldn’t hide the small burns on his forearms and side.
“You did really well Kirishima. It was really scary to watch!” Kaminari said.
“Yeah, are you alright? Do you need to go see Recovery Girl?” Ashido asked.
“It was a little scary, but I’m alright,” Kirishima said, his smile not quite beaming.
Unfortunately, nobody believed him.
“Kirishima, I must insist that you go to Recovery Girl!” Iida said.
Izuku ignored them all. Green ribbons wrapped around his arms and he reached and took one of Kirishima’s. The magic flowed into his skin. The burn was minor, barely first degree which was a testament to the boys quirk, but Izuku was determined. He’d had plenty of burns before, and they sucked immensely. Kirishima didn’t resist as he finished with one arm and then moved onto the second.
When Izuku finished, he lifted up Kirishima’s right arm to heal his side. This burn was a little worse but still minor. He couldn’t help checking everywhere else he could see, just in case. He needed to make sure, he needed to know, his friend needed to be alright!
Two strong hands held onto his wrists, bringing his hurried inspection to a halt. Kirishima held onto him, directing a small, genuine smile at him.
“Mikumo, I’m ok now. You can stop.”
Izuku took a deep breath in, because he couldn’t deny it now. He could count on one hand the number of people he cared about and still have fingers to spare, and now, undeniably, Kirishima was on that list. He was his first friend since Bakugo, and he did not want to lose him like he’d lost Kacchan.
But Kirishima was still here. A little banged up from a fight, but still here and Izuku healed him. As much as some of the fear from facing Bakugo’s blast was still present, it was slowly ebbing away. He was fine. Izuku’s head dropped.
“Ok.”
Kirishima gave his wrists a last light squeeze and then let them go. Izuku stepped back and let others fuss over him. Bakugo was standing to one side and Toshinori was floundering. He eventually got everyone’s attention with a pointed cough.
“Alright, after that explosive second trial, let’s review!”
Izuku let Yaoyorozu take the lead on this one, since he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop the rant that would follow. This was their first heroics lesson! Most people in this room wouldn’t have been able to use their quirks for combat before the entrance exam, and none of them had been able to practise with their costumes. Bakugo’s gauntlets were a prime example. The boys worry and concern when he’d fired them obviously showed he hadn’t known the blast would be that strong, but by that point it was too late to stop it. He’d even taken them off!
Honestly, why hadn’t Toshinori just had them do basic training, get a feel for how their quirks could be used for combat and figure out what their support gear was capable of. It would have been so much simpler than this convoluted scenario. Someone could have gotten seriously hurt. Kirishima very nearly had, and had Bakugo continued to try attacking after that blast, Izuku would have portaled in and defended his friend.
It was only Kirishima’s steady presence at his side that kept him calm. That and the fact that Yaoyorozu had been just as critical of Bakugo as he would have been. Uraraka was declared MVP for recovering so quickly from distraction but overall, the atmosphere after the second battle trial was fairly muted.
Fortunately it picked up as the other teams went. People did seem to be excited to train, which was nice to see, and thankfully they seemed to be showing more restraint after seeing what Bakugo did. The most excessive was Todoroki, who froze the entire building to trap the villain team and secure the win, but even that wasn’t so bad as he melted the ice immediately after winning.
In all, their first heroics lesson was a bit of a mixed bag. Toshinori led them back to the entrance to Ground Beta and gave them some parting words before zooming off. They traipsed back to the changing rooms, tired from the day’s activities but determined to do better. Despite Toshinori not handling the lesson well, their excitement hadn’t dwindled much.
“This is gonna be intense if every training session is like this,” Sato said.
“Yeah, but I hope we do some basic training before diving into scenarios like that again,” Ojiro said.
“Maybe he was trying to see where we already were?” Shoji said, “like Aizawa and the quirk assessment?”
A few of the boys shrugged. Izuku let them talk, wondering what he should do next. He should probably tell Nezu about what happened, but knowing him, the principal was already watching just in case. They’d talk this evening. Lost in his thoughts, most of the class had packed up and left by the time Izuku finished. He stowed the last of his costume in its case when he felt a presence walk up behind him. He turned just as they reached out to him.
“Oh um, hey Mikumo!” Kaminari said.
“Kaminari? Is everything alright?”
“Well, about what you said after our battle trial, about you helping me learn control? Did you mean it?”
Oh, he said he’d meet Kaminari after school. There were other things he should probably be doing, but helping someone like this would help calm him down. And if his classmate learned some more control, then that was even better.
“Of course I did!” Izuku said, happy to feel Kaminari’s relief, “stick around after the final bell. We’ll go somewhere to test some things.”
The blonde beamed at him, thanking profusely. They walked back to class together. Everyone was hanging around the room, some sitting, some standing. There wasn’t long before the final bell, so Izuku shot Nezu a text asking where the best place to go to help Kaminari would be. He got a response a second later. Ten minutes passed and the final bell rung. Izuku watched as the class slowly emptied until it was just him and the blonde.
“You ready?”
“Absolutely!”
“Then let’s go.”
Nezu watched the two leave the classroom. It was hard not to be curious about Mikumo, especially when there was the possibility of seeing new magic. He would have to quiz the boy later to find out what he did. Learning that he wanted to help one of his classmates learn greater control of his quirk was very admirable, and Nezu would always seek to nurture that instinct in his students.
There was a knock at the door which he knew was coming ever since he’d watched the battle trials in Toshinori’s first lesson. Objectively speaking, the lesson hadn’t gone that badly, though that was less due to Toshinori’s teaching and more the skill and restraint of the students, bar Bakugo. That trial in particular had been a mess, and Nezu had watched and rewatched what happened at least five times, both in the building and the control room. It didn’t surprise him that Toshinori wanted to come speak with him.
The door opened and Toshinori entered, followed by Aizawa. Nezu gestured to the seats opposite him.
“Gentlemen, to what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Um, I have some questions about UA’s discipline procedure,” Toshinori said.
“Oh? Was the handbook I gave you not clear?”
“It was! It was!” Toshinori hurriedly said, “I just wanted to be sure I was applying it correctly.”
“And I didn’t give you the answer you wanted,” Aizawa added.
“I see,” Nezu said, fixing his glare on Toshinori, “then how can I make things clearer?”
“Well um, in my lesson, one of the students was being very disrespectful and kept challenging my authority. I wanted to give him a detention but Aizawa said that was too far,” Toshinori said.
“Are you referring to Mikumo telling you things were getting out of hand? Then I hardly see how that is deserving of any punishment,” Nezu said.
“At the most, it would be worthy of a warning, which you gave him and he heeded,” Aizawa said.
“But surely such disrespect requires stronger discipline than that, otherwise it would only encourage others to act in the same manner,” Toshinori said.
“Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t mean they’re being disrespectful,” Aizawa said.
“Indeed. All Might, I watched the footage from the control room and what Mikumo said was not disrespectful. He was trying to get you to act to stop a situation from getting out of control, which it did,” Nezu said, “if anyone in this situation deserves punishment, it is either young Bakugo or yourself.”
“What?” Toshinori sputtered.
“Bakugo ignored your explicit instructions and launched an attack that could have had serious consequences, using support gear he had no experience with using. You put untrained children in a position to hurt each other with no set limits for how hard they should go,” Nezu said, “an argument could be made of inexperience; teaching for you, and fighting like that for Bakugo. As such, all I can do for now is to give you a formal warning.”
This was how Nezu always handled new teachers, especially those who were heroes. Mistakes were inevitable, and he easily forgave small inconsequential ones, but for serious ones like this he used a three strikes system. A few teachers over the years had received one strike, very few had received two. Only one teacher had received three, and he’d been fired and escorted off the property immediately. Receiving a strike was a serious matter, and Nezu poured all of that seriousness into the look he levelled at Toshinori. If the way Toshinori gulped was anything to go by, the message was received clearly.
“Aizawa, I trust that you’ll do the same with Bakugo?”
The other man nodded.
“In that case, there isn’t anything else to discuss, unless something else happened in your lesson that I missed in the tapes?”
“No, there’s nothing else,” Toshinori said, “it’s just, Mikumo. There’s something about him that makes me uneasy.”
“Trust me when I say that you have nothing to worry about from Mikumo,” Nezu said.
That was a lie. Toshinori had much to fear from Mikumo, but there was no way Nezy would tell him. It was much more fun watching the man try and argue in a way that was polite and not calling Nezu out. The man gave up without even trying. He stood and bowed, thanking him as he left the room. Then it was just him and Aizawa.
“As loath as I am to admit it, I have to agree with All Might about Mikumo,” Aizawa said, “there’s something about him that makes me uneasy too.”
“How so?”
“I’ve seen versatile quirks before, but his is just ridiculous. He can make energy weapons, open portals, blast lightning and can heal? There’s never been a single quirk that could do all that, ever,” he said.
“There’s also what he said when I met him a couple of months ago. He said somebody had been trying to have sex with him constantly. He might have played it off but that isn’t a normal thing to happen to a fifteen year old boy. I’m worried about the situation he was in if he didn’t even care about that.”
“Do you trust me Aizawa?” Nezu asked.
Aizawa seemed taken aback by the question.
“I’ll rephrase, do you trust me to have the best interest of our students in mind?”
“Do I trust that you wouldn’t willingly leave a student who you knew was in a bad situation? Of course I do,” Aizawa said.
“Then you can rest assured that Mikumo is safe.”
Aizawa studied his expression for a long while. One of the advantages of being an animal was that it was a lot harder for people to read his facial expressions and body language. Unfortunately, Aizawa was very good at doing both, so it was harder to hide things from the man.
“He’s not a friends kid, is he?”
“He is.”
It technically wasn’t a lie either, and Aizawa knew he wasn’t getting anything more out of him. With a sigh, he slunk out of the room, looking even more exhausted than usual. He was a very sharp man, so Nezu would have to think about how to handle things. Also with Toshinori. He didn’t seem suspicious about Mikumo’s identity, but even Nezu could admit that the things Mikumo did didn’t make a lot of sense to ordinary people. This would require careful thought, so he poured himself a cup of tea and leaned back in his chair.
At least for now he could be content that Mikumo really was safe.