44 Chapter 44 - A Blissful Day of Youth

CAW CHIRP TWEET TWOOT!

BACACK!

TWE TWE!

The sound of birds and roosters' cries echoed through the morning sky. Izuku rubbed his eyes, yawned, and opened his eyes in a daze.

Then, as his mind reorganized itself and slowly woke up from its long, blissful slumber, Izuku widened his eyes and shot up from his bed. He looked out of the window and saw the horizon dyed red and orange by the morning sun.

"Whew…" He heaved a sigh of relief and patted his chest. He ruffled his fluffy green hair, slumped his shoulders, and pulled his blanket away.

It was already April, meaning a few months have passed since the entrance exam ended. It also meant it has already been more than a month since he started working in Ryuji's field of work.

His room was much larger than before, and one glance outside the window showed a view unlike what his previous apartment showed.

Izuku slowly reached out his hand to grab his phone to check what he missed out on. A lot has happened over the course of an entire month, and only now was he getting the hang of it.

He habitually opened the curtains and pulled down his notifications from the phone. As usual, he was greeted by tons of emails, DMs, followers, and more on various social media platforms.

At first, it was hard to track, with Izuku constantly worrying about what was happening every single time heard the ding sound. But with time, he got used to it and became more and more indifferent to it.

Clearing his notification inbox, he browsed through the personalized emails sent by his manager, the person which Ryuji recommended back when they first started posting videos on Metube and expanding their online content.

"Oh? A sponsor from Boh Kaiser?" His eyes lit up.

Boh Kaiser was a famous company that recently gained popularity in the past 5 years. Their main business was selling anime, manga, and novel content in a vast array of genres. They give a ton of help to aspiring mangakas out there and are even starting to create their own online manga distribution platform.

Izuku was a fan of this company, so upon seeing this deal, he immediately agreed to sponsor it.

"Oh, wait. Do I even have time to record today?" Izuku scratched his head with an embarrassed grin. "Oh well, it's not like I have to post daily, although Ryuji is insisting that we do that since we recently started to earn ad revenue from our videos."

Izuku stood up and stretched. He felt his rusty muscles and stick joints regain their usual mobility. It was still early, so he had the time to spare for a quick morning workout.

A while later, he walked outside his room with a towel in hand. As soon as he arrived at the kitchen, he saw his mother chopping some carrots and potatoes while boiling some water.

"Good morning, Mom." Izuku greeted with a jubilant smile. He grabbed a cup and poured some water from the sink.

"Good morning, Izuku!" His mom gave him a warm smile. "Time sure does fly, school is already starting!"

"Yeah." Izuku nodded his head, put the cup back in its place, and chuckled.

"Don't be so nervous. You're in the same class as Katsuki-un and Ryuji-kun, right?" asked Inko Midoriya, beaming a smile at the chopped carrots and potatoes in front of her.

"Mmm!" Izuku's eyes glimmered with excitement. "I thought we would be in different classes, so I'm happy that it's the opposite instead!"

"Hehehe, just be sure to not cause a ruckus on your first day of class. I constantly receive messages from Ryuji-kun asking if you're being reckless again. Sigh, I do wonder how you're almost breaking your arm at least once a month at this point."

"Aha… I will."

Izuku looked away in guilt. What she said was indeed true, but it was an unavoidable conundrum. Even though he hasn't used his quirk at full power since the last time it was used at 100% back at the entrance exam, his constant spars and fights with Ryuji and Katsuki caused him to get a few bruises and fractures here and there.

Dragon Paradigm Arts, while strong and powerful, required a lot of technique and finesse. Using One for All to what his body could handle takes a lot of mental energy to handle, coupled with executing the techniques flawlessly so as to not waste an ounce of his strength, it gave rise to him accidentally using One for All at higher percentages.

Luckily for him, he only accidentally used One for All at a few percentages higher than his body's current limit and could be easily healed by Ryuji's quirk. 'Although it is strange how he's even capable of mending wounds and fractures through illusions.'

"I'll be taking a shower then!" Izuku turned around and walked away.

Katsuki stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Before, while he could confidently say he wasn't ugly, he could say the same for being handsome. He considered himself merely average in terms of appearance with a pretty acceptable fashion sense of a typical gym goer.

Now a few months later, he touched his face and inspected his body's reflection in the mirror with a weird gaze.

His bare upper body showcased his chiseled muscles and bulging veins. His arms were exceptionally developed and riddled with various scars, some from training and others from the activation of his quirk.

At first, they only served to make him appear more boorish and a warmonger, but through a certain man's invisible hand, it instead made him all the more attractive.

Katsuki unknowingly wore a subtle smirk on his face as he flexed his arms when he suddenly froze. "What… am I doing?"

He stared at himself, confused by his own actions. Why was he doing this? What prompted him to do this? When did he start to do this?

Was it joy that he was experiencing? Why was he admiring himself like a doofus in front of the mirror? Was he starting to become… narcissistic?

He felt revolted by that realization. How could he act that way? How could he think that way?!

'This is all because of that bastard!' Katsuki cursed.

It was human nature to shift the blame onto others, and Katsuki did it without any bit of his shame on his own character. But, in a way, he was right. If Ryuji wasn't so greedy over money and melded with their bodies to have them become his fellow models so he could grab more money from Buki-san, Katsuki would have remained above average in terms of looks and appearance.

Katsuki ignored his random train of thoughts and walked out of the bathroom, heading toward his bedroom to put on his school uniform.

"Did you bring your umbrella? Are you sure you didn't forget anything? What about your money?" Inko Midoriy asked worriedly.

While she didn't know exactly what her son's school life was like, she could still imagine what it would be like for a quirkless boy to attend a school full of kids with immature minds. So, she felt anxious and nervous for her son who was returning back to school, in UA no less!

She didn't know how this even happened. She watched the recording of the exam that occurred months ago, and she still doubted what she saw to this day.

How did Izuku even destroy that giant zero-pointer in the first place?! How come he has a quirk all of a sudden? What she saw back then was a video that defied all logic.

Still, she trusted her son and remained quiet, but this didn't dissipate her worries regarding her son's school experience.

"I'm fine, Mom." Izuku wore a grateful grin and tied his verdant green sneakers. Izuku could understand his mother's worries, but she still hasn't realized just how much has changed since then.

It wasn't the same back when he was still quirkless. Things were a lot different.

"I'm going out now!" Izuku stood up and looked back at his mother. He grinned confidently.

Inko Midoriya stared at her son worriedly, but she sighed and closed her eyes. "Fine."

"Hehe." Izuku chuckled, opened the door, walked through it, and with one final goodbye, walked out.

As he walked down the stairs and arrived at the streets, he saw his friend, Katsuki, already waiting for him across the street.

"Kacchan!" Izuku smiled and crossed the street excitedly. Each of his steps had a small hop to it.

"Good morning, Deku." Katsuki grinned and slung his bag across his shoulders. He looked around him and saw the numerous eyes of strangers staring at the both of them.

'Tch, I don't get how that bastard enjoys all this attention constantly.' Katsuki silently clicked his tongue and looked away. "Let's go."

"What about Ryuji-san?" Izuku asked with worried eyes.

"He can handle himself, he's the 'Golden Dragon' after all." Katsuki snorted.

He hated that name down to his very core. It was simply too childish for him to take it seriously. He even feels annoyed that he has to associate himself with a person named Golden Dragon in the first place. But there was nothing he could do, he has already been shoved down this rabbit hole for more than eleven months already.

"Well, that is true." Izuku nodded his head and grabbed the straps of his big. A big smile was plastered on his face.

"Hehehe, I still can't believe I'm a UA student now!" Izuku gushed. "My past self wouldn't even believe that if I traveled back in time and said it to him."

"I also wouldn't believe that." Katsuki teased, then paused. 'Did I just… tease him?'

His eyes turned blank.

"That's also true." Izuku chuckled and waited for a response, but there was none. He looked to the side and saw Katsuki's blank eyes.

"Umm, Kacchan?" Izuku poked Katsuki on the shoulder, bringing him out of his dazed state and into the world of the living.

"N-Nothing." Katsuki shook his head and looked away.

Izuku felt that there was something wrong with Katsuki, but he couldn't point his finger as to what that is. So, he simply ignored it and went with the flow, "Okay."

The pedestrians walking along the slightly crowded streets of Musutafu were continuously met with petals of cherry blossoms falling from the array of Sakura trees all along the side of the streets.

It was a beautiful sight indeed. It was the sign of joyous spring.

Schoolgirls roamed the place wearing their cute uniforms, displaying the vibrancy of youth. Hormonal teenagers gawked at them at the sides of the streets, murmuring among one another as their slithery eyes feasted upon this beautiful sight.

On the other hand, the girls brimming with youth gawked at two boys instead.

The two boys were handsome that they felt like two princes that walked straight out of a fairytale.

One was a war hero with thick eyebrows and a strong chin. His fierce eyes that stared ahead held an unknown power within them that captivated whoever looks at him.

Beside the blond-haired prince was a boy with fluffy green hair. He wasn't that small and was in fact pretty average in height, but when he stood beside the war prince, he appeared cute and petite. His bubbly eyes full of innocence and child-like excitement melted the hearts of the random strangers all around them.

"Kya! They're just so cute together!"

"Wait, isn't that UA's uniform?!"

"Oh my god, are they from UA?!"

"No way!"

Just as their voices started to get louder, a loud shout grabbed all of their attention in one go.

"Katsuki! Izuku! Fancy meeting you here!"

Ryuji's valiant and dashing figure appeared across the side of the street. On his mouth was a simple toast with peanut butter spread across one side. His uniform was haphazardly put on like he was in a rush when he wore it.

Cherry blossoms fluttered in a whirl around him, falling down gracefully from the air.

The conditions were simply too perfect.

A high school boy late for school, with a piece of toast in his mouth, running at full speed in a futile attempt to not be late. The only thing that was missing was when he accidentally bumps across a girl and a love story then starts.

And bump he did, just not with a girl.

HONK!

Bang!

His body flung across the street in a spectacular fashion. Eyes landed on his limp body that flew across the street and in front of Izuku and Katsuki.

From the car, a young girl hurriedly walked out with the same UA uniform as them. It was the young mistress known as Momo Yaoyorozu!

"Oh my god! Are you okay?!" She was about to run over to check on the random stranger's body, when all of a sudden, Katsuki kicked the dead body's stomach.

"Stop pretending dead, we're running late for Christ's sake!" Katsuki angrily reminded.

"Oh fuck!" The corpse suddenly lifted its head and stared at Katsuki with widened eyes. "You're right!"

"Let's skedaddle already! And what are you all staring at for?! Never seen a talking corpse before?!" Ryuji mocked and leaped off the ground.

Then, as soon as his feet landed on the ground, he took off into a running sprint and left the two behind.

"Uh…" Momo stood there, stumped.

Izuku looked at her apologetically and bowed his head. "We're sorry for the inconvenience, miss!"

"Stop apologizing! We're also running late, Deku!" Katsuki grabbed Izuku by the collar and dragged him across the street.

Momo was left there alone, confused and bewildered by what she just witnessed.

AN: This chapter has 2298 words.

You know what ain't blissful? My fucking headache. So yeah, fuck you, I don't have the brainpower to edit this chapter and I don't care about your enjoyment so complain all you want.

(May 28, 2023 - 549th day of writing)

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