34 Back to UA

At the end of the internship, Kirishima and Mina returned to the mainland, not after saying goodbye to Gang Orca of course.

"I expect to see great things from you, young man, and remember to keep your head levelled, and you'll be a great hero. And the same to you, young lady."

He shook Mina's hands, and she returned it with vigour. But now that they had returned, it was a Sunday, meaning they had time to spend.

Arriving at the pier, Kirishima's parents stood waiting for them. "Oh, honey!" Kurhina ran, pulling Kirishima in a tight hug. "I was so worried for you."

'Mom,' he smiled, tightening the hug. "I'm alright, Mom."

His father, Rio, soon followed after wrapping the both of them in a hug. It was a short and warming moment, so much so that even Mina joined in.

The ride back home was pleasant, excluding all the questions his parents asked them. All the while, Mina held onto Kirishima's hands in the back seat.

'I'm glad you've found someone.' Kushina thought, peering back at the two, she caught eye with Mina, sending the girl a proud mother's smile and earning a flush from her.

The day went by smoothly; they spent most of their time at home, and Kirishima did not skip his training in the back garden, where Mina also joined him.

And like that, the day had gone. Kushina drove Mina home, and the Kirishimas spent the night watching movies together before they headed to bed.

"Eijiro, a moment," Rio waited behind as his wife went off to bed. He motioned for his son to sit across from him.

'How can I approach this?' he pondered, 'you've grown so much so quickly, and you've just been through a real fight with a villain...' There were so many ways to go about it.

"Are you alright, son?"

A sigh left Kirishima. "Honestly, I'm doing better now, great even; Mina's to thank for that, and Gang Orca, I'm doing great!" He gave a firm, resolute smile, no hesitation, no faltering and no lies.

"Hah, you've got the same look your mother does," Rio chuckled. "Alright, but if anything is wrong, if your mind feels weighed down, you know you can talk to me, right?"

With a nod, the two went to bed. Kirishima was ready for tomorrow.

'I think I've grown a bit for my uniform,' Kirishima fiddled with his tie on his way to UA; he left early to meet Mei in the support department.

Just as he reached the doors, they opened the tinkerer in question, beaming, "What took you so long? I've been up all night!"

She dragged him in with childlike glee. "I got your message when you came back, and I was inspired! An increasing set of weighted clothes? Pht, hahahaha! Easy as quadratic equations and calculus!"

She brought him to a work desk with heavily armoured suits, "but a gravity chamber! Hahaha! I did it! I fucking did it!"

"What did I say about swearing?" Power Loader spoke from across the room.

"Sorry!"

'Woah, she did it in a single night?' Kirishima was awed by the gravity chamber, or pod, for a better word; it was half the size of his classroom. Focusing he turned to Mei.

"And it can increase the gravity by up to 25 times. Want to give it a try? I'll keep working on it before the days are over."

"Oh yeah," Kirishima stepped in, removing his blazer, and walking to the centre of the monitor, he activated the gravity chamber, and the room closed.

"Take it easy and break my baby!"

"Yeah, I got it; now let's start with three." He pushed the button, and slowly the weight on his body increased.

*Thud*

Gravity pushed him down to his knees, and with a heavy breath, he rose. It was already becoming a workout trying to keep himself standing; his thighs were burning and his skin felt like lead. With a deep breath, he flexed.

He raised his hardening halfway and could move with greater ease. 'Something I realised Flexi Harden gave me the best returns on my training.'

In this state, he could maximise his quirk's passive effect of repairing and strengthening his body to become better. He pushed the gravity to five, then seven, and finally ten. At that point, he began to feel the burn from before, making his steps and movements even slower. Turning off the machine, he grinned.

"Mei, you are amazing!" He gave her a crisp high five. "But how can I take this out of here?"

"Oh yeah, it breaks apart into smaller components; you should be able to carry it after a few trips." She added, "Oh, and before you leave here,"

She handed him a slip, and his eyes looked for answers.

"It's for a hair stylist; his quirk is to make hair grow; that way you can keep it short," she motioned to his mass of red hair. "Since most of your hero's costume's going to be made out of it, I've got a crate where you can drop it off; it's next to my fabricator so I can make your hero gear easier."

With the good news, he asked if he could cut his hair and place what he could in there, and she nodded. Though Kirishima loved having large hair, it was a pain in the ass to comb, and with that done, he went to class. On his way, he got a message from Kaminari and Sero with pictures of Bakugo's new hairstyle. Courtesy of Best Jeanist.

'Oh, I'm making this my wallpaper.' He chuckled while walking into class.

"Oh my god, he's alive!" Sero smiled. "And he got a trim!"

"I told you!" Mina said, "What took you so long, and you're no longer keeping the longer hair?"

"First of all good morning everyone." He smiled and waved to the class.

"Second, I was talking to Mei about some equipment; and third, I got a barber that can grow my hair for me, so there's no need to keep it huge anymore," Kirishima said, fist-bumping Sero as he sat down.

'I guess I should pack some spare clothes if we ever go to the cinema again,' Mina hummed.

"But seriously, though I saw on the newsman, I'm sorry about the loss," he said, giving a sombre smile.

"Mn, I'm doing well now. And it made me stronger too!" He flexed his muscles.

'I want to say I'm surprised by the response, but it's Kirishima,' Sero chuckled.

"Likewise," Iida chimed in, "just like Midoriya and Todoroki, I'm glad you're doing better after encountering a villain."

"Oh, did you see the picture?" Kaminari snickered, turning to Bakugo.

"Oh, you mean Bakugo's fresh cut?" He faces the glaring boy showing the picture and says, "It's now our group's wallpaper."

"Godfucking Dammit, delete that!" He went to grab his phone. Kirishima backed off and looked into the distance. "No, I don't think I will."

...

Soon enough, the entirety of class 1A gathered outside the training site.

"I am here! This is what I would usually say to you all, but we have no time for that. On to our foundational hero training! It's been a while, boys and girls. I hope you've all learned well under your mentors." Allmight smiled brightly.

"I learned nothing except the true nature of women," Mineta sulked in the back.

"You need to cool it, man; you've been like this all day," Kaminari patted his friend's back.

Allmight went on to explain the session, which involved rescue training. It was a race in the playground "Gamma" which was a large, densely packed construction site to make it seem like a complex labyrinth. Everyone would split into four groups of five, and when the signal was given, they had to travel the area to the location to see who arrived first.

"And of course, keep the surrounding damages to a minimum!" He aimed those words at Bakugo.

"Tch, don't point fingers."

"How much do you want to bet he blows the place apart?" Kaminari whispered to Mineta, angering the explosive teen.

"I want in on this," Sero joined. "Guys, come on," Kirishima spoke up.

"The real bet should be how many buildings he destroys." The boys paused for a moment and nodded together.

Jokes aside, the starting group was picked out: Mina, Sero, Ojiro, Iida, and Midoriya. And it went as much as expected; Midoriya's movements, though refined and faster, were not yet used to being in such an acrobatic environment resulting in him falling and coming in last place.

"I'm impressed to see such great improvements. If you'd all like afterwards, I can give some pointers on where to improve."

"Wait, for real?" Kirishima asked, surprised.

"Sounds like the perfect opportunity to grow as a hero; what better way than to learn from the number one hero himself?" Iida said.

"Of course, I've been in the field for nearly forty years, and I'd be more than happy to share all my experience." Allmight gave the beaming class a thumbs up; he did see potential in all of them: 'This will give me time with Midoriya as well as Young Kirishima. Though I don't have a lot of time myself, I've read books and taught, and it helps me get in the zone when I eventually retire.'

Anyway, the next group was Kirishima, Tokoyami, Shouji, Yaoyorozu, and Mineta.

"This is an interesting setup. It'll be challenging for the majority of them to traverse; Shouji with his Dupli-Arms can move like Sero." Midoriya went on a rambling session on everyone's factors and how that could help them win.

"Maybe, but I think Kirishima's going to surprise you all." Mina smiled.

"Why's that?" Todoroki asked with genuine curiosity.

"Hihi, you're not the only ones who've grown a lot in the past week," she said with a toothy grin, shouting, "You better win, Eijiro!

"Alright, on your marks!" Allmight began, "Set!" He raised his hand and said, "Go!"

The signal went off, and everyone rushed, Shouji like Sero, extending his duplicate like a grappling hook and going off.

Mineta ran, and Yaoyorozu followed before making a bicycle pass him.

And Kirishima stood at the starting line and said, "Alright!" He got down in a position to leap, his legs tensed with hardening halfway, and he sprung off the ground.

*Crack!*

The pavement gave way beneath his force. Mineta, who was running past, always froze seeing the shadow fly above him, and Yaoyorozu as well. 'What?' Even Shouji.

"Holy shit!" Allmight shouted, "In three leaps! Young Kirishima reached the finish line!"

'I thought I could cross it in just one leap.' Kirishima thought about stretching his legs.