Chapter 9

Despite knowing he didn't need to and probably wasn't expected to after the previous days breakdown, Izuku still showed up to school the next day. A few people gave him some concerned looks, others who weren't present quickly caught up by those who were. " Hey Akitani." He glanced over to see Yanagi looking at him with a worried expression. " Are you… sure you should be here today?"

" If this is about yesterday, I'm sorry for worrying you. But I'm fine now. I should so long as Bakugo keeps his distance. I have a… thing about explosions. I live with my uncle now. A villain… he killed my parents. Blew their car up. I barely managed to escape myself. Ever since then…"

" It's fine. Don't worry about it."

" I'd just… rather pretend that didn't happen is all."

" Right." Yanagi smiled. " So. How do you think today will go? Apparently, All Might might be taking out Hero Lessons this afternoon." Izuku forced a starstruck smile.

" Seriously? That would be amazing." He said, outwardly happy but inwardly seething. He hated the fact All Might was a teacher. Seeing that grinning idiot multiple times a week, the same broken excuse for a man who told him he couldn't be a hero. To be realistic. In a way, he was right. But that didn't mean he wanted to break his spotless teeth anymore.

The class grew silent suddenly. Izuku looked up and froze. An annoyed expression on his face, Bakugo entered the room. He glanced up, saw Izuku and looked back down. " Hey. Akitani." He called. Izuku remained silent. " Sorry. I… know that probably ain't shit from me. I thought you were someone important to me. But I was wrong. I didn't mean it." He looked over. " I'm still gonna be number one though. None of you extras can stop that." Izuku was stunned. Katsuki Bakugo owning up to his mistakes and apologizing? He'd sooner had believe hell could freeze over, the sky could fall and that dead would rise just to breakdance i in the streets. He mentioned losing an important person to him. Surely Bakugo couldn't have meant him. Izuku watched him quietly. Was he finally growing up?

" I don't forgive you." Izuku called. " But I accept your apology. Just give me space."

" Fine." Bakugo huffed. Izuku leaned back in his chair. It was too little too late.

Aizawa seemed shocked to see him when he entered the classroom. Regardless, he continued home room like normal. So did the rest of the teachers. It seemed everyone assumed it was best to just let the topic die. Even so, Izuku couldn't help but notice nervous glances every so often from his peers. People also avoided Bakugo like the plague during lunch break after hearing what he did. For someone as popular and well loved as Bakugo was in Aldera to be avoided and abandoned made Izuku happier than it probably should have. Especially seeing as he was the one with a few friends to talk too.

Then came the fated lesson. The two lessons after lunch was completely taken by Hero training, led by the man himself, All Might. Izuku clutched his arm tight. Bakugo had broken him. He couldn't let All Might do the same. He just couldn't. He had to be stronger than that.

All Might entered the room as loud and bombastic as Izuku would have imagined, bursting in the room in his Silver Age attire, making the room gasp in awe at the majesty of the Number One Hero. Izuku faked the same actions but inside he had other questions. Like how many at UA knew about his condition. That would be interesting to know. The man had clearly memorised a script Nedzu or someone had given him since he explained the lesson plan without many holes in his explanation. Then he presented the class with a number of suitcases and told to meet in Ground Beta, blasting off. Izuku sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.

Izuku's costume, if you could even call it that, was made to be pretty simplistic. Since his quirk was focused around his legs, he had his suits trousers and boots be specially fitted with devices that alleviate the air pressure that builds up through the use of his quirks. The rest of his suit, however, was just a simple design. Nothing heavy enough to weigh him down. In the end, he settled with a minimalist design. A red shirt with black gloves, a few pouches tied down to a belt to store things in and a more bulkier bottom half that ended up looking more like suit trousers due to the materials needing to be a bit more weighty than his top to allow for the pressure aliviators. Tomura had wanted to add some things. As had Mina, Toga and, surprisingly, Dabi but he decided simple was better and mailed it off. He was surprised to find a mafia styled coat added to the design when he got it though. He'd have to ask Kurogiri how the extra page with his handwriting got there. Still, he could always take it off if he needed too and it was comfortable, so he let it slide.

He took time to look around at the costumes of the other on his way out. Iida's was very obviously inspired by his brother, with the suit of armour idea he had going on. Reiko had an elegant, if a bit short, yukata with a furred colour and black mask. Bakugo, bombastic and over the top as ever, had taken to wearing a sleeveless, black costume with flame hair pieces and grenade like gauntlet on his arms. Others were either over the top, like Aoyama's glittering cape and knight costume, to simplistic, like Jiro who looked like she just pulled some clothes from her closet at home and put them on, to somewhere in between, like Komori's mushroom designed witch outfit.

Izuku threw up the collar of his coat and pulled at his sleeves as he entered ground Beta. " You know what they say." All Might began. " Clothes make the man. And I see you all have put together quite the fine assortment of costumes. Now then, before we start, any questions." Izuku smirked as he watched half his class bombard the number one hero with questions, some relevant and some not. Watching the man squirm doing something he was clearly out of his depth in was cathartic for him. Izuku couldn't be a hero, or so he claimed. All Might clearly couldn't be a teacher. Maybe he should've been realistic before using his position to get a job here. " All right. Let me get to the explanation!" All Might announced, glancing down at a sheet of paper. Izuku sighed. Definitely a script.

All Might, or rather his script, described the situation pretty well. The class would be split into ten teams of two randomly and then randomly given a designation, either Hero or Villain, before randomly being forced to face off against one another, one team of Heroes vs one team of Villains. The arena would be a building in Ground Beta. The goal would be simple. The Villain team sets up a fake bomb anywhere in the building. The Heroes have simply to touch the bomb to win. The Villains are on a fifteen minute time limit to defend the bomb. If each side takes down both members of the opposite team, they automatically win. A fairly simple game all things considered.

Izuku smirked slightly when he was put on the Villain team alongside Komori in team B. He looked over the other teams. He felt sorry for Iida having to put up with Bakugo. However, Bakugo was in team D, another Villain team. He wondered if that decision was as random as All Might said it was or if they were put in the same faction to purposely avoid a confrontation like had happened the day before. He noticed Komori in her red and white spotted outfit approach him out of the corner of her eyes. " Hey. You're Akitani right?"

" Yeah. Mikumo Akitani. You're… Komori, right?"

" Yep. That's me. Kinoko Kimori. Nice to mush you."

" Mush… me?"

" No. Mush you. Y'know. Like Mushroom." Izuku remained silent. " Sorry. Bad joke."

" It was." Izuku agreed. " So, your quirk let's you grow Mushrooms?"

" Yep. All sizes. All kinds. As long as I know that they exist and how they work, I can spread their spores and grow 'em."

" I see. You were in Ground Beta in the exam too weren't you? You shut down robots by covering them in Mushrooms."

" Ah. I thought I recognised you yesterday. You're that guy who was flying around in the entrance exam."

" Yeah. My quirk is Tempest. I channel wind in my legs and use it in a number of ways. I can jump high, walk on air or fire air as a projectile." Izuku scratched the back of his head. " Not really sure how I'll do in doors though. It could be an issue."

" I'm sure you'll do well. You seem pretty strong." Komori said, smiling. " Come on. Let's think up a plan."

" Sure. But first of all, what are the abilities of some of your mushrooms?"

If yesterday was a test of physical prowess, then today was a test of ingenuity at least for half the class. The Villain team were given free reign for where to hide their bombs from their opponents. The height of this ingenuity was probably already reached in the first round with Awase and Yaorarozu on the Villain Team. Combining their quirks, they were able to lower the bomb on a pulley system down the back of the building and then weld the bomb to the wall, sitting on it until the timer ran out. Their opponents, Sero and Kirishima, never thought to look out of the windows for them, so wasted their time checking the rooms in the building until the timer ran out. All Might didn't seem too impressed by it. Probably not a bloody enough solution for him. Izuku, on the other hand, thought the strategy was well done. After all, Villains never did play fair.

Bakugo and Iida went second, taking on Aoyama and Yui. It ended as fast as Izuku had expected when he heard the words "Bakugo" and "Villain" in one statement. After all, Bakugo never was one to pull his punches nor was he any sort of patient. Even if he had changed his attitude, those facts hadn't changed here. He left Iida behind, ambushed the two and removed them from the board in less than a minute. Swift, decisive and above all, messy. As to be expected from Bakugo.

Izuku found out more of what Yanagi's quirk could do in her match. She was paired with Ojiro, facing off against the hero team. Having Ojiro destroy a few walls with his tail, she was able to make use of the rubble to fire repeated ranged assaults at Shoji, perfectly pairing with Ojiro's melee barrage. Izuku thought they'd won, forgetting as the Villain team had what Shoji's partner, Kuriro's, quirk was. Thanks his quirk allowed him to fuse and travel through black substances, the black paint of the corridors made traveling easy for him, allowing him to easily move around Yanagi and Ojiro while Shoji played distracting, reappearing behind them and touching the bomb. Izuku decided he needed to know the specifics of his classmates quirks for later use.

The fourth match was the most boring match of them all. Tokoyami and Asui facing off against Sato and Koda. Or, as it ended up being, just Sato. Koda was a bit timid, so, even in a simple exercise like this, he didn't really work well with others. He wondered how someone like that even got into the Hero Course. The most interesting thing about the Villain team was their preparation. Even though Tokoyami and Asui moved for an ambush strategy, Sato was ready for them. In fact, he seemed to know he was coming. But, since Sato's quirk wasn't intelligence based, Izuku had to wonder if Koda had helped in his own way after all. It ended with a Hero victory regardless, but it made Izuku think about the hidden potential of his classmates.

Finally, it was his turn. He and Kimori agreed to hide their bomb on the third floor, exactly half way through the building. This was so Komori could spread her spores in both directions in case they suddenly got attack from above instead of below. Of course, this was made before Izuku even knew his opponent. He was worried about two people when he made that decision: Tokoyami and Shoji. Both could easily scale a building if they so wanted to. However, as the teams dwindled down, they were left with the odd pair of Jiro and Kaminari.

Izuku knew Kaminari's quirk at a base level from the previous day. He could generate electricity. A lot of it if yesterday's ball throw was any example. However, he figured that he probably had a limit. Jiro on the other hand, he knew nothing about. She was pretty quiet, not interacting with anyone aside from the occasional snide remark here or there. Her quirk seemed to have something to do with her headphone jack like earlobes, but Izuku couldn't say for sure whether or not that was from a mutation or not.

Izuku stood outside the room, waiting. Komori had been asked to wait inside, only acting when Izuku said too. He had a good view of both stair wells from his place. He just had to wait for them to climb onto his floor. Thankfully, that hadn't taken long.

Kaminari's hands sparked mere moments after he spotted Izuku. " You sure you're alright to do this?" He asked.

" Worried?" Izuku chuckled. " Appreciate it, but don't hold back on my account." Wind channeled in Izuku's legs. " I won't hold back against you." Kaminari grinned.

" Well. You asked for it."

" Wait, you idiot. Somethings wrong here." Jiro told him. " There's something in the-"

" No need to worry about that. I got this." Kaminari chuckled. Lightning burst and crackled all over his arms. He grinned as he pulled back, ready to fire his electricity forwards

" Komori! Now! Izuku shouted. In an instant, Mushrooms began sprouting all over the corridor. Unfettered, Kaminari fired , the current bursting through the air. But not as far as he wanted. As they spread, they struck the mass of mushrooms steadily continuing to grow and were halted. Izuku barely had to dodge. He smirked, pulling back his leg for a kick. Then he stopped, confused. Kaminari had started wandering around with a dopey grin on his face.

" Hey! What the hell?" Jiro shouted, shaking her partner. Izuku wondered what the heck just happened to Kaminari. Regardless, he couldn't stop now. He unleashed a powerful Air Shot through the Mushrooms, kicking up the spores they released. Jiro, a shocked expression on her face, suddenly collapsed to the floor. " What… What just…"

" Hypholoma Fasciculare." Komori proudly stated as she stepped out of the room. " Also known as the Sulfur Tuft. It's spores can be used as a paralytic. Don't worry. I made sure to drastically reduce the amount of spores they could produce before I spread them out. I'd hate to have accidentally killed a classmate on my second day." The cross eyed girl smiled.

" The plan was pretty simple. All we needed was a gust of wind, and I'm pretty good at making those." Izuku shrugged. " You alright?"

" Not… right now." Jiro groaned. Izuku laughed nervously. Then he looked over to Kaminari. He wondered what had happened to the boy. He just sort of… short circuited he supposed would be right. Perhaps with too much power running through his body, his brain got caught in some sort of an system overload and shut down momentarily, leaving him. Well, brainless. He helped the up and out of the building, the paralytic spores being so diluted that Jiro starting moving again after only 5 minutes. Kaminari however stayed down and was taken to Recovery Girl. Izuku frowned. What was going on with that boy?

" What's on your mind today, Midoriya?" Kurogiri asked, cleaning a glass while Izuku sat at the bar scribbling things down in a notebook.

" Nothing. Just working on my notes on my classmates."

" You've been staring at that page for ten minutes."

" Huh?" Izuku looked up, confused. " Have I?" Izuku looked back at his book. Denki Kaminari's page stared back at him. Todays events ran back through his mind. Something bothered him. There were times were someones body couldn't acclimate to their quirk properly. Dabi was the perfect example. His flames were incredibly intense but his skin got burned by it if he used it too much. But Kaminari was different. Because he'd recognised the reaction. It was an overload, made from the electricity not being able to disperse properly into the ground. But Izuku couldn't for the life of him figure out why it was occurring. Cause the electricity could easily pass through his skin and clothing, so it should return to the ground naturally. The reason was bugging the hell out of him.

" Is there an issue?"

" Yeah. Kind of." Izuku explained to Kurogiri the situation and everything that had happened today with Kaminari in the Battle Training lesson earlier that day. Kurogiri hummed. He place the glass he was cleaning down.

" I see. Fascinating." Kurogiri said slowly. " I wonder if he himself is unaware of how electricity moves."

" Huh? What do you mean?"

" Well, electricity needs to disperse in the ground or it will simply overload the source, as you well know. However, what is the main protection against electricity?" Izuku's eyes widened.

" Rubber." He breathed. " You're saying he never noticed that?"

" It's possible. However, if his shoes and that in the design specifications of his costume are just regular shoes or boots, then it's entirely possible…"

" No, you're right. I'm such an idiot. I never noticed." Izuku hastily wrote down the idea.

" Are you thinking of helping him?"

" I am." He said. " It annoys me knowing someone overlooked something that obvious. Hero or not, someone has to tell him." Kurogiri laughed.

" All Might truly was wrong about you."

" Yeah. Shame he never realised that."

Izuku slammed his hands down on Kaminari's desk the next morning. " H-Huh? Akitani? What are you-"

" Sorry, Kaminari. But I need to see your shoes."