(This was originally an SI fic but then she grew a personality and I forgot to put SI knowledge...
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Blood Runs Thicker (MHA OC Fic)
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1.0 Problems
(This was originally an SI fic but then she grew a personality and I forgot to put SI knowledge in there so yeah. Proofread by the awesome Gorgoneion. Thanks for the help man!)
Chapter One: Problems
I think I was an accident.
My parents never really said so, but I was born during the tail end of my dad's heyday of crime and my mother's burgeoning writing career.
I remember the bright summer day we left our stately house. I had been playing in the acre large backyard with some babysitters.
"Lea! Get the ball Lea!" My 'Uncle' Quickshot, a short dusky skinned young man, called out, making me scowl. I was three, not a dog. I still obliged, tottering towards the ball and grabbing it from the ground. I tottered back towards him where he grabbed the ball out of my hands and threw it again.
I gave him the flattest look possible and fell down onto the ground in protest.
"Hey!" He protested, flailing his arms around.
"Quickshot, you shouldn't just do the same thing over and over again with her. It's quite boring." 'Aunt' Verve drawled slowly, petting her girlfriend's, Nautilus, hair in her lap.
"Blood said I need her to get exercising. What else are you supposed to do with a kid?" He asked, with a sigh.
"Tag, hide and seek … There's a lot of ideas out there if you just use your brain." She said dryly. The ensuing argument was interrupted by my dad bursting into the backyard. He was sweating and breathing heavily
"Guys, get out of here! The police will be here soon." He exclaimed, scooping me up causing me to giggle.
"Wait what? What happened?" Quickshot asked.
"Red Dead got discovered, the police finally tracked us down." He said urgently as my mom came out with three suitcases. He repositioned me in his arms. "Lea honey, we're going on a trip."
I loved trips! "Yay!"
Dad pulled a cabinet open and punched open the bottom to pull out some money that he handed to Quickshot. "Here's some money."
"This is more than I asked for." He protested.
"You'll need it to get out of town, it'll be no place for a pickpocket soon." He said.
"Where are you headed?" Verve asked.
"Japan, where I met Hina." He said, as he walked to our car. Hina was my mom. I waved goodbye to my Aunties, Uncle, and unknowingly, my house as well.
000
The new apartment was small and cramped despite the lack of stuff we had. I hated it.
"Dad I miss our stuff!" I whined.
"I know honey," He said tiredly. Dad was covered in aches and bruises from somewhere he went at night. He tucked me into bed. "But it's time for you to go to bed okay?"
"Okay." I said sullenly.
Later that night, I woke up from a nightmare and carefully clambered out of bed, avoiding the dark shapes and shadows of the night. I walked down the hallway, slowing down as I heard something strange.
Crying.
I crept closer to hear my mom talking through tears.
" … awful, it's awful, why do they call me a whore …"
"I'm sorry honey. I'm sorry." My dad whispered.
I turned around and crawled back into bed.
Life was like that for a few years.
Then my mom's light novels took off, which pleased and disappointed her. My mom's true passion was historical fiction novels, not trashy light novel fiction, but my mom's new editor insisted due to Japan's different marketplace and the lack of interest in history. He also insisted on her using a male pseudonym to up sales, which surprised a lot of fans later on let me tell you.
My room was shared with two other siblings, Ranka and Kazu. Ranka and Kazu had bunk beds while I had a futon on the floor. The walls were of course, covered in All-Might posters and we had two computers for our use. Mornings were always rough for me, as I'd wake up slowly with one eyelid at a time. And more than likely, an elbow drop from one of my more rambunctious siblings.
"Augh!" I coughed, before smacking Kazu with my pillow at mach speed. He squawked as I sat up and continued the assault, but my dad opened the door and caught the pillow with his hand giving me a stern look. Dad was a big guy, about six foot ten inches, with a build like Dwayne Johnson, and dirty blonde hair that was cropped. His face was always cleanly shaven as Dad said Mom didn't like his beard.
"Lea, no killing your brother with a pillow. Kazu, no elbow dropping your sister." Dad chided.
"But it's fuuun." He whined. My dad lightly swatted him on the head. Kazu had black hair, messy like Dad's while Ranka had honey blonde hair like our grandmother. I inherited dad's dirty blond hair though at least it was straight like Mom's hair.
"C'mon, I made breakfast." He said as he looked at us expectantly. I got up quickly as Dad was a great cook. I scooped my bowl of rice and poured out the miso soup. Mom was there, typing at her notebook while sipping her coffee absentmindedly. She had long shining black hair and dark eyes, with inky words swirling around her head. Dad kissed Mom on the forehead while surreptitiously pushing the notebook away and putting her breakfast in front of her. She lightly grumbled in her coffee while picking up her spoon to eat.
"Ah, Leanne." Dad spoke up suddenly, once everyone was situated at the table. I twitched at the full first name. Never a good sign. "I spoke to one of my old friends and they said they could take you in at the end of your school year as an apprenticeship. Do you remember Auntie Nautilus and her wife Verve?"
It was vaguely familiar. They were controversial villains that struck out against companies that polluted the land and water. I remember Verve giving me flowers from her hair.
"Yeah-," I started.
"Aren't they like, eco terrorists?" Ranka said, scrunching up her face.
"Ranka!" Mom scolded, making Ranka shrink back. Dad coughed.
"They prefer vigilante protesters." He said scratching the back of his neck. "Not a term you want to bandy about with them. Anyways, does that sound good?"
Not really. "Yes."
He beamed, making me feel guilty. "Great! I'll ring them up later."
"Remember, there's after school parent teacher meetings today." Mom reminded as she sipped her coffee. He nodded as he started packing lunches for everyone.
000
The parent teacher meetings went well really, except for when they didn't. Dad was puffed up with pride by the glowing report of my teacher and I was fairly pleased with everything up to then.
"Overall, Lea is a bright girl, but there's one thing I don't understand." Mrs. Kishinami said. "Why isn't she applying to any hero academy schools?"
I froze in the middle of mentally patting myself on the back.
"She has the academic scores to easily get into a prestigious school, and with her quirk, why she could even go to U.A.-," My teacher then made the mistake of looking up from her paperwork at my dad's face. She quickly paled at the cold look in my dad's eyes.
"I thank you for your opinion Mrs. Kishinami, but I think you've overstepped your boundaries and that this meeting is over." He said, looking far from the friendly man who had made cookies at every year's bake sale. She stuttered as he stood up and pointedly grabbed my hand as I made an apologetic face and ran to keep up with his quick steps. We walked until we hit the town's park, where Dad finally let go of my hand and sat on a bench, making it creak from his weight. I huffed, feeling irritated and sore on my hand.
"What was that Dad?!" I snapped in English. He sighed as he looked up at the evening sky.
" … I'm sorry." He said, quietly. "You know I want the best for you right, Leanne?"
I frowned. "Yeah Dad, I know."
"I got real mad … no, I wasn't angry." He sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. "I was afraid. You know what they'd do to our family if they found out who we were."
I was happy the fading light hid most of my bitterness. Not who we were Dad. Just you.
"Not to mention, heroes … I want you to understand something Leanne. You know what's the worst thing that can happen to a villain?" He looked at my blank face. "They get arrested. You know what's the worst thing that can happen to a hero?"
He looked shaken up. "They die."
We went home with that quiet solemn statement hanging over us.
000
Kazu and Ranka were only one year apart which meant their friends were all the same so they both had the same sleepovers. I was at home, watching TV with Dad when there was a polite knock at the door. Mom was writing her next garbage fire so Dad got up to get the door while I continued to watch to find out if Saito's dog was really okay in the next episode.
I heard two pairs of feet, making me blink and look over the shoulder of the couch. Dad invited them in? Dad was intensely embarrassed of the house at the best of times, and we didn't even clean up.
My curiosity was even more peaked when I saw the person in question was made out of swirling black mist! What a quirk! I squinted to see if I could see anything substantial inside of him, but the black mist eluded my eyes. He wore a rather nice suit though.
"Lea, could you make some tea for our guest? The good pot, okay?" Dad said, as I headed into the kitchen to make tea. I decided to break out the good tea as well as if this guy was good enough for the good pot, he was good enough for the good tea. I put the tea leaves in the infuser and put it inside the teapot, while waiting for the water to boil.
"So have you heard the news?" Our guest said, somehow nibbling on our honey cookies.
"No?" Dad said, unwrapping his own honey cookie plastic.
"William Marston got out of jail a few days ago on parole for good behavior." I blinked. That was Dad's old gang leader. I remember the faint scent of wood and a hat on my head.
Dad seemed to get choked up. "What! Do you know if he has an address or-,"
The man raised a misty hand to stop him.
"No idea on an address, Mr. Tanaka. He disappeared right afterwards, for revenge I presume." The water finally started boiling and I poured it into the teapot.
"Revenge … I don't understand." I put the teacups on the nice wooden decorative tray with all the peacocks and deer on it and brought it out to them.
"Rumour in the underground was that someone in the gang sold them out." He accepted his poured cup of tea and sipped at it quietly. It had been a cold wet night. I snuck a look at Dad and he looked angry.
"It wasn't me, if that's what you were thinking!" He snarled, his veins fit to bursting. I rubbed his shoulder to remind him to not spurt blood all over our guest. It seemed to remind him I was here and he looked embarrassed.
"Ah this is my daughter Leanne and this is Mr. Kurogiri." He said.
"Ah, pleased to meet you." Mr. Kurogiri said, somehow inclining his head in a nod. "I'm not here to accuse you of anything, Mr. Tanaka. I was just merely informing you, since you seemed to have pulled your head out of the underground completely."
He nodded, his eyes seemingly uneasy. "Yes, I've been taking care of my family for the last twelve years."
"Admirable, but perhaps it's time to come out of retirement." Mr. Kurogiri insinuated.
Dad set his lips in a thin line. "I am very happy-,"
"All for One demands it." Dad jerked back and for the first time, I saw open fear on his face.
"I, I had no idea." Dad stammered out, making me feel ill at ease.
Mr. Kurogiri waved him off. "It's alright. He likes to be discreet nowadays."
"I guess if it's him … I warn you, I'm not at my best." He winced.
"You'll have plenty of time to get back into shape. Our debut mission isn't for a while." Mr. Kurogiri said. "As for your daughter, we'd like her to go to U.A."
"What." He and I said.
"We'd like to be appraised of the going ons and how their lessons are structured." Mr. Kurogiri said.
"I'm interning under Nautilus and Verve." I said quickly. Dad put a warning hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sure they'll understand if you change your mind." He said. "Your scores are so good, how can you not try U.A.?"
How did he know my scores are good? I felt a shiver go down my spine. "There's no guarantee I'll pass."
Mr. Kurogiri shrugged. "Any other hero school you'd get in automatically with your quirk and academics. It'd be … greatly preferable to be U.A. however."
"She'll get in." Dad said suddenly. Mr. Kurogiri smiled with his eyes.
"Excellent. Well I've taken enough of your time. Here's our card." He handed Dad a matte white business card and Dad escorted him to the front where he pulled his coat off the hanger rack. He bid my Dad goodbye and walked off into the rain. My Dad closed the door and sank to his knees, shaking.
"Dad? Oh my god, Dad are you okay?" I said, checking his forehead while feeling foolish.
"I'm, I'm okay Lea." He said, before turning to me and grabbing me by the shoulders. "You have to get into U.A."
"What, why?! Why's what that creep said so important?!" I exclaimed.
"Lea, understand that All for One is the crime boss of all Japan. He was going to be the crime boss of the world if All Might didn't stop him." Dad said. "If he says we jump, we only ask how high once we're already jumping."
"But you said I was going to intern with Nautilus and Verve." I said, confused.
"Lea, the plan has changed."
000
I wished that everyone didn't think I should go do something with my quirk.
I didn't want to be a hero or a villain, truth be told. I was too much of a coward for that. I flinched at bugs, I hated heights, the list goes on and on.
I mean, it was every kid's dream to go to U.A., but I tempered that dream with the reminder that things could go to shit very very fast and they'd expect me to do things and I wouldn't do them-
Anyways, it'd be a real mess in reality.
I wondered who this All For One guy was. There were no internet articles on him as far as I could tell, but he scared the ever-loving shit out of my dad, who was exercising and making me exercise and disappearing at odd times of the night. Mom wasn't pleased with it either, but she coped by withdrawing into her writing, which left me to be the one to read bedtime stories to Ranka and Kazu.
By the way, they were young, not stupid. They sensed something had changed badly within the household and started to act out more.
"I don't want you to go!" Ranka yelled out, holding onto my waist.
Like this, for instance. I shook my leg uselessly and looked at my dad expectantly. He sighed as he knelt down and peeled Ranka off my leg carefully. Kazu was crying loudly, which surprised me, but dad picked him up on his shoulders as well to console him.
"I'm just going to the exam, Ranka." I said, tiredly. "I'll be back in no time."
"You'll be back as a dumb hero!" Ranka accused.
"You have so much faith in me." I said drily. We all packed into the small car, with Ranka and Kazu fussing about being put in the booster seats. I popped a Tylenol for my incoming headache from Kazu crying in the backseat. Eventually, we managed to get to the entrance of U.A. without anyone killing each other.
"Bye guys. I'll see you later!" I said to the car as it pulled away. I looked at the U.A. entrance, feeling small in the presence of a building that symbolized a huge change in my life.
Maybe I wanted to do this. A little. But never, never like this …
I entered the auditorium, amazed by how big it was. There were at least a thousand different faces in the auditorium. Right? I wasn't great at math. I sidled into a seat, feeling out of place and nervous.
"WELCOME TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE! EVERYBODY SAY 'HEY'!!" Present Mic shouted.
There was a resounding silence as I and everyone else said nothing. What?
"Well that's cool, my examinee listeners!" He did a bombastic pose. "I'm here to present the guidelines of your practical!! Are you ready?!"
"This is how the test will go! You'll be experiencing ten minute long 'mock cityscape maneuvers'!!!" He shouted. "Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation you'll each head to your assigned testing location!!"
He seemed to click something on a remote and a new image of a pixelated Present Mic appeared. It went through a pixelated cityscape and kicked a robot in the face.
"Each site is filled with kinds of fake villains! Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty level!!"
"Use your quirks to disable these fake villains and earn points! That's your goal, listeners! Of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited!"
Then there was a shout by a fellow participant in the middle of the theatre room.
"May I ask a question?!" Wow he was loud. I was impressed that I could hear him from all the way over here. "There appear to be no fewer than four types of faux villains on this handout! Such an error is highly unbecoming of U.A.! We're all here today in hopes of being molded into model heroes!"
Wow, he didn't know the name of embarrassment. I'd die of shame before calling out U.A. in their own house.
"And you, with the curly hair!" He said pointing at someone I couldn't see. "You've been muttering this entire time … It's distracting! If this is a game to you, then leave immediately!"
Jeez, that was harsh. What sort of jerk pointed someone out for muttering? I resolved to give him a good kick in the pants later.
"Alright, alright." Mic said. "Examinee 7111, nice catch! The fourth fake villain gets you zero points!! He's more of an obstacle! Have you all played Super Mario Brothers?!"
No, that game was super ancient! Jeez, whoever designed this thing was a huge nerd.
"It's kind of a thwomp! Only one at each site, a "gimmick" that'll rampage around in close quarters!" Did it have a limited territory or something? I wish I could ask questions but it just wasn't practical. "That's enough from me!! I'll leave my listeners with our school motto!! Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life.' "
Standing above your circumstances huh … I felt a twist in my stomach.
"PLUS ULTRA!!" This time everyone really did cheer.
000
U.A had an insane amount of land if you thought about it. Enough space to have several mock cities that needed a bus to get us there. These thoughts kept my mind busy as I started painting blood on the concrete wall surrounding the city. I dipped my brush on my skin and blood soaked into it, and I ignored the murmurs around me until someone decided to yell at me.
"Hey, don't graffitti on the walls of U.A. property!" Some blonde dude yelled at me. I gave him a quick glare as I stepped back and let my masterpiece peel itself off the wall. People's murmurs increased as my blood unicorn tossed its mane for show. Concrete would make it slower than dirt but much tougher, which would be needed if the enemies were made out of metal or something equally durable. I pulled on the handle I drew and sat awkwardly side saddle on it, grateful that my power could bend to make a seat.
"Oh … I guess it comes right off! Haha sorry about that!" He said, before extending a hand. "I'm Kaminari Denki!"
I take the outstretched hand just as Present Mic shouted, "And begin!"
Without thinking, I speed up my bloodstallion and drag the poor boy along with me who fortunately at least gets a clue and pulls himself on the back. To my surprise, he starts whooping at the speed we gallop at and crush our first poor robot.
"Alas, poor Yorick!" It yelled before shutting off.
"Hey can you let me off in a cluster of robots?" He asked, as my bloodstallion rushed off to the next. "Not that this isn't awesome, but I need to earn some points too."
Since sabotage wasn't allowed … "Sure." Then a dark shadow fell upon us.
"For Yorick!" The robots yelled, as they jumped down from the buildings in the alleyway I was dumb enough to ride right in.
"Drop me off!" Denki demanded. I blinked. Was he insane? But time was ticking down and he seemed self assured. I push him off lightly and with the lack of extra weight weighing me down, galloped free. I heard a massive electrical burst sound and turned around to see quite the lightshow. I was still blinking spots out of my eyes as I rammed into my next robot.
"Curse you Buttstallion!" It cried out.
"My unicorn is not a buttstallion!" I yelled angrily at it as I rode away. Man, these robots were annoying with their ancient cultural references. I destroyed my seventh robot when the fabled 0-pointer came out.
And boy, was he fucking huge.
I looked up, and up, and up. "Nope." I turned my horse right around, kicked another robot in the head for good measure, and trotted right out of there.
Chapter One: Problems
I think I was an accident.
My parents never really said so, but I was born during the tail end of my dad's heyday of crime and my mother's burgeoning writing career.
I remember the bright summer day we left our stately house. I had been playing in the acre large backyard with some babysitters.
"Lea! Get the ball Lea!" My 'Uncle' Quickshot, a short dusky skinned young man, called out, making me scowl. I was three, not a dog. I still obliged, tottering towards the ball and grabbing it from the ground. I tottered back towards him where he grabbed the ball out of my hands and threw it again.
I gave him the flattest look possible and fell down onto the ground in protest.
"Hey!" He protested, flailing his arms around.
"Quickshot, you shouldn't just do the same thing over and over again with her. It's quite boring." 'Aunt' Verve drawled slowly, petting her girlfriend's, Nautilus, hair in her lap.
"Blood said I need her to get exercising. What else are you supposed to do with a kid?" He asked, with a sigh.
"Tag, hide and seek … There's a lot of ideas out there if you just use your brain." She said dryly. The ensuing argument was interrupted by my dad bursting into the backyard. He was sweating and breathing heavily
"Guys, get out of here! The police will be here soon." He exclaimed, scooping me up causing me to giggle.
"Wait what? What happened?" Quickshot asked.
"Red Dead got discovered, the police finally tracked us down." He said urgently as my mom came out with three suitcases. He repositioned me in his arms. "Lea honey, we're going on a trip."
I loved trips! "Yay!"
Dad pulled a cabinet open and punched open the bottom to pull out some money that he handed to Quickshot. "Here's some money."
"This is more than I asked for." He protested.
"You'll need it to get out of town, it'll be no place for a pickpocket soon." He said.
"Where are you headed?" Verve asked.
"Japan, where I met Hina." He said, as he walked to our car. Hina was my mom. I waved goodbye to my Aunties, Uncle, and unknowingly, my house as well.
000
The new apartment was small and cramped despite the lack of stuff we had. I hated it.
"Dad I miss our stuff!" I whined.
"I know honey," He said tiredly. Dad was covered in aches and bruises from somewhere he went at night. He tucked me into bed. "But it's time for you to go to bed okay?"
"Okay." I said sullenly.
Later that night, I woke up from a nightmare and carefully clambered out of bed, avoiding the dark shapes and shadows of the night. I walked down the hallway, slowing down as I heard something strange.
Crying.
I crept closer to hear my mom talking through tears.
" … awful, it's awful, why do they call me a whore …"
"I'm sorry honey. I'm sorry." My dad whispered.
I turned around and crawled back into bed.
Life was like that for a few years.
Then my mom's light novels took off, which pleased and disappointed her. My mom's true passion was historical fiction novels, not trashy light novel fiction, but my mom's new editor insisted due to Japan's different marketplace and the lack of interest in history. He also insisted on her using a male pseudonym to up sales, which surprised a lot of fans later on let me tell you.
My room was shared with two other siblings, Ranka and Kazu. Ranka and Kazu had bunk beds while I had a futon on the floor. The walls were of course, covered in All-Might posters and we had two computers for our use. Mornings were always rough for me, as I'd wake up slowly with one eyelid at a time. And more than likely, an elbow drop from one of my more rambunctious siblings.
"Augh!" I coughed, before smacking Kazu with my pillow at mach speed. He squawked as I sat up and continued the assault, but my dad opened the door and caught the pillow with his hand giving me a stern look. Dad was a big guy, about six foot ten inches, with a build like Dwayne Johnson, and dirty blonde hair that was cropped. His face was always cleanly shaven as Dad said Mom didn't like his beard.
"Lea, no killing your brother with a pillow. Kazu, no elbow dropping your sister." Dad chided.
"But it's fuuun." He whined. My dad lightly swatted him on the head. Kazu had black hair, messy like Dad's while Ranka had honey blonde hair like our grandmother. I inherited dad's dirty blond hair though at least it was straight like Mom's hair.
"C'mon, I made breakfast." He said as he looked at us expectantly. I got up quickly as Dad was a great cook. I scooped my bowl of rice and poured out the miso soup. Mom was there, typing at her notebook while sipping her coffee absentmindedly. She had long shining black hair and dark eyes, with inky words swirling around her head. Dad kissed Mom on the forehead while surreptitiously pushing the notebook away and putting her breakfast in front of her. She lightly grumbled in her coffee while picking up her spoon to eat.
"Ah, Leanne." Dad spoke up suddenly, once everyone was situated at the table. I twitched at the full first name. Never a good sign. "I spoke to one of my old friends and they said they could take you in at the end of your school year as an apprenticeship. Do you remember Auntie Nautilus and her wife Verve?"
It was vaguely familiar. They were controversial villains that struck out against companies that polluted the land and water. I remember Verve giving me flowers from her hair.
"Yeah-," I started.
"Aren't they like, eco terrorists?" Ranka said, scrunching up her face.
"Ranka!" Mom scolded, making Ranka shrink back. Dad coughed.
"They prefer vigilante protesters." He said scratching the back of his neck. "Not a term you want to bandy about with them. Anyways, does that sound good?"
Not really. "Yes."
He beamed, making me feel guilty. "Great! I'll ring them up later."
"Remember, there's after school parent teacher meetings today." Mom reminded as she sipped her coffee. He nodded as he started packing lunches for everyone.
000
The parent teacher meetings went well really, except for when they didn't. Dad was puffed up with pride by the glowing report of my teacher and I was fairly pleased with everything up to then.
"Overall, Lea is a bright girl, but there's one thing I don't understand." Mrs. Kishinami said. "Why isn't she applying to any hero academy schools?"
I froze in the middle of mentally patting myself on the back.
"She has the academic scores to easily get into a prestigious school, and with her quirk, why she could even go to U.A.-," My teacher then made the mistake of looking up from her paperwork at my dad's face. She quickly paled at the cold look in my dad's eyes.
"I thank you for your opinion Mrs. Kishinami, but I think you've overstepped your boundaries and that this meeting is over." He said, looking far from the friendly man who had made cookies at every year's bake sale. She stuttered as he stood up and pointedly grabbed my hand as I made an apologetic face and ran to keep up with his quick steps. We walked until we hit the town's park, where Dad finally let go of my hand and sat on a bench, making it creak from his weight. I huffed, feeling irritated and sore on my hand.
"What was that Dad?!" I snapped in English. He sighed as he looked up at the evening sky.
" … I'm sorry." He said, quietly. "You know I want the best for you right, Leanne?"
I frowned. "Yeah Dad, I know."
"I got real mad … no, I wasn't angry." He sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. "I was afraid. You know what they'd do to our family if they found out who we were."
I was happy the fading light hid most of my bitterness. Not who we were Dad. Just you.
"Not to mention, heroes … I want you to understand something Leanne. You know what's the worst thing that can happen to a villain?" He looked at my blank face. "They get arrested. You know what's the worst thing that can happen to a hero?"
He looked shaken up. "They die."
We went home with that quiet solemn statement hanging over us.
000
Kazu and Ranka were only one year apart which meant their friends were all the same so they both had the same sleepovers. I was at home, watching TV with Dad when there was a polite knock at the door. Mom was writing her next garbage fire so Dad got up to get the door while I continued to watch to find out if Saito's dog was really okay in the next episode.
I heard two pairs of feet, making me blink and look over the shoulder of the couch. Dad invited them in? Dad was intensely embarrassed of the house at the best of times, and we didn't even clean up.
My curiosity was even more peaked when I saw the person in question was made out of swirling black mist! What a quirk! I squinted to see if I could see anything substantial inside of him, but the black mist eluded my eyes. He wore a rather nice suit though.
"Lea, could you make some tea for our guest? The good pot, okay?" Dad said, as I headed into the kitchen to make tea. I decided to break out the good tea as well as if this guy was good enough for the good pot, he was good enough for the good tea. I put the tea leaves in the infuser and put it inside the teapot, while waiting for the water to boil.
"So have you heard the news?" Our guest said, somehow nibbling on our honey cookies.
"No?" Dad said, unwrapping his own honey cookie plastic.
"William Marston got out of jail a few days ago on parole for good behavior." I blinked. That was Dad's old gang leader. I remember the faint scent of wood and a hat on my head.
Dad seemed to get choked up. "What! Do you know if he has an address or-,"
The man raised a misty hand to stop him.
"No idea on an address, Mr. Tanaka. He disappeared right afterwards, for revenge I presume." The water finally started boiling and I poured it into the teapot.
"Revenge … I don't understand." I put the teacups on the nice wooden decorative tray with all the peacocks and deer on it and brought it out to them.
"Rumour in the underground was that someone in the gang sold them out." He accepted his poured cup of tea and sipped at it quietly. It had been a cold wet night. I snuck a look at Dad and he looked angry.
"It wasn't me, if that's what you were thinking!" He snarled, his veins fit to bursting. I rubbed his shoulder to remind him to not spurt blood all over our guest. It seemed to remind him I was here and he looked embarrassed.
"Ah this is my daughter Leanne and this is Mr. Kurogiri." He said.
"Ah, pleased to meet you." Mr. Kurogiri said, somehow inclining his head in a nod. "I'm not here to accuse you of anything, Mr. Tanaka. I was just merely informing you, since you seemed to have pulled your head out of the underground completely."
He nodded, his eyes seemingly uneasy. "Yes, I've been taking care of my family for the last twelve years."
"Admirable, but perhaps it's time to come out of retirement." Mr. Kurogiri insinuated.
Dad set his lips in a thin line. "I am very happy-,"
"All for One demands it." Dad jerked back and for the first time, I saw open fear on his face.
"I, I had no idea." Dad stammered out, making me feel ill at ease.
Mr. Kurogiri waved him off. "It's alright. He likes to be discreet nowadays."
"I guess if it's him … I warn you, I'm not at my best." He winced.
"You'll have plenty of time to get back into shape. Our debut mission isn't for a while." Mr. Kurogiri said. "As for your daughter, we'd like her to go to U.A."
"What." He and I said.
"We'd like to be appraised of the going ons and how their lessons are structured." Mr. Kurogiri said.
"I'm interning under Nautilus and Verve." I said quickly. Dad put a warning hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sure they'll understand if you change your mind." He said. "Your scores are so good, how can you not try U.A.?"
How did he know my scores are good? I felt a shiver go down my spine. "There's no guarantee I'll pass."
Mr. Kurogiri shrugged. "Any other hero school you'd get in automatically with your quirk and academics. It'd be … greatly preferable to be U.A. however."
"She'll get in." Dad said suddenly. Mr. Kurogiri smiled with his eyes.
"Excellent. Well I've taken enough of your time. Here's our card." He handed Dad a matte white business card and Dad escorted him to the front where he pulled his coat off the hanger rack. He bid my Dad goodbye and walked off into the rain. My Dad closed the door and sank to his knees, shaking.
"Dad? Oh my god, Dad are you okay?" I said, checking his forehead while feeling foolish.
"I'm, I'm okay Lea." He said, before turning to me and grabbing me by the shoulders. "You have to get into U.A."
"What, why?! Why's what that creep said so important?!" I exclaimed.
"Lea, understand that All for One is the crime boss of all Japan. He was going to be the crime boss of the world if All Might didn't stop him." Dad said. "If he says we jump, we only ask how high once we're already jumping."
"But you said I was going to intern with Nautilus and Verve." I said, confused.
"Lea, the plan has changed."
000
I wished that everyone didn't think I should go do something with my quirk.
I didn't want to be a hero or a villain, truth be told. I was too much of a coward for that. I flinched at bugs, I hated heights, the list goes on and on.
I mean, it was every kid's dream to go to U.A., but I tempered that dream with the reminder that things could go to shit very very fast and they'd expect me to do things and I wouldn't do them-
Anyways, it'd be a real mess in reality.
I wondered who this All For One guy was. There were no internet articles on him as far as I could tell, but he scared the ever-loving shit out of my dad, who was exercising and making me exercise and disappearing at odd times of the night. Mom wasn't pleased with it either, but she coped by withdrawing into her writing, which left me to be the one to read bedtime stories to Ranka and Kazu.
By the way, they were young, not stupid. They sensed something had changed badly within the household and started to act out more.
"I don't want you to go!" Ranka yelled out, holding onto my waist.
Like this, for instance. I shook my leg uselessly and looked at my dad expectantly. He sighed as he knelt down and peeled Ranka off my leg carefully. Kazu was crying loudly, which surprised me, but dad picked him up on his shoulders as well to console him.
"I'm just going to the exam, Ranka." I said, tiredly. "I'll be back in no time."
"You'll be back as a dumb hero!" Ranka accused.
"You have so much faith in me." I said drily. We all packed into the small car, with Ranka and Kazu fussing about being put in the booster seats. I popped a Tylenol for my incoming headache from Kazu crying in the backseat. Eventually, we managed to get to the entrance of U.A. without anyone killing each other.
"Bye guys. I'll see you later!" I said to the car as it pulled away. I looked at the U.A. entrance, feeling small in the presence of a building that symbolized a huge change in my life.
Maybe I wanted to do this. A little. But never, never like this …
I entered the auditorium, amazed by how big it was. There were at least a thousand different faces in the auditorium. Right? I wasn't great at math. I sidled into a seat, feeling out of place and nervous.
"WELCOME TO TODAY'S LIVE PERFORMANCE! EVERYBODY SAY 'HEY'!!" Present Mic shouted.
There was a resounding silence as I and everyone else said nothing. What?
"Well that's cool, my examinee listeners!" He did a bombastic pose. "I'm here to present the guidelines of your practical!! Are you ready?!"
"This is how the test will go! You'll be experiencing ten minute long 'mock cityscape maneuvers'!!!" He shouted. "Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation you'll each head to your assigned testing location!!"
He seemed to click something on a remote and a new image of a pixelated Present Mic appeared. It went through a pixelated cityscape and kicked a robot in the face.
"Each site is filled with kinds of fake villains! Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty level!!"
"Use your quirks to disable these fake villains and earn points! That's your goal, listeners! Of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited!"
Then there was a shout by a fellow participant in the middle of the theatre room.
"May I ask a question?!" Wow he was loud. I was impressed that I could hear him from all the way over here. "There appear to be no fewer than four types of faux villains on this handout! Such an error is highly unbecoming of U.A.! We're all here today in hopes of being molded into model heroes!"
Wow, he didn't know the name of embarrassment. I'd die of shame before calling out U.A. in their own house.
"And you, with the curly hair!" He said pointing at someone I couldn't see. "You've been muttering this entire time … It's distracting! If this is a game to you, then leave immediately!"
Jeez, that was harsh. What sort of jerk pointed someone out for muttering? I resolved to give him a good kick in the pants later.
"Alright, alright." Mic said. "Examinee 7111, nice catch! The fourth fake villain gets you zero points!! He's more of an obstacle! Have you all played Super Mario Brothers?!"
No, that game was super ancient! Jeez, whoever designed this thing was a huge nerd.
"It's kind of a thwomp! Only one at each site, a "gimmick" that'll rampage around in close quarters!" Did it have a limited territory or something? I wish I could ask questions but it just wasn't practical. "That's enough from me!! I'll leave my listeners with our school motto!! Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life.' "
Standing above your circumstances huh … I felt a twist in my stomach.
"PLUS ULTRA!!" This time everyone really did cheer.
000
U.A had an insane amount of land if you thought about it. Enough space to have several mock cities that needed a bus to get us there. These thoughts kept my mind busy as I started painting blood on the concrete wall surrounding the city. I dipped my brush on my skin and blood soaked into it, and I ignored the murmurs around me until someone decided to yell at me.
"Hey, don't graffitti on the walls of U.A. property!" Some blonde dude yelled at me. I gave him a quick glare as I stepped back and let my masterpiece peel itself off the wall. People's murmurs increased as my blood unicorn tossed its mane for show. Concrete would make it slower than dirt but much tougher, which would be needed if the enemies were made out of metal or something equally durable. I pulled on the handle I drew and sat awkwardly side saddle on it, grateful that my power could bend to make a seat.
"Oh … I guess it comes right off! Haha sorry about that!" He said, before extending a hand. "I'm Kaminari Denki!"
I take the outstretched hand just as Present Mic shouted, "And begin!"
Without thinking, I speed up my bloodstallion and drag the poor boy along with me who fortunately at least gets a clue and pulls himself on the back. To my surprise, he starts whooping at the speed we gallop at and crush our first poor robot.
"Alas, poor Yorick!" It yelled before shutting off.
"Hey can you let me off in a cluster of robots?" He asked, as my bloodstallion rushed off to the next. "Not that this isn't awesome, but I need to earn some points too."
Since sabotage wasn't allowed … "Sure." Then a dark shadow fell upon us.
"For Yorick!" The robots yelled, as they jumped down from the buildings in the alleyway I was dumb enough to ride right in.
"Drop me off!" Denki demanded. I blinked. Was he insane? But time was ticking down and he seemed self assured. I push him off lightly and with the lack of extra weight weighing me down, galloped free. I heard a massive electrical burst sound and turned around to see quite the lightshow. I was still blinking spots out of my eyes as I rammed into my next robot.
"Curse you Buttstallion!" It cried out.
"My unicorn is not a buttstallion!" I yelled angrily at it as I rode away. Man, these robots were annoying with their ancient cultural references. I destroyed my seventh robot when the fabled 0-pointer came out.
And boy, was he fucking huge.
I looked up, and up, and up. "Nope." I turned my horse right around, kicked another robot in the head for good measure, and trotted right out of there.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Considering the actual meaning of "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb", the title is making me suspect that the bonds she makes in UA, freely chosen, will eventually trump the familial bonds that keeps her under the control of All For One.
Honesty you could throw in SI knowledge after she taken a nasty hit to the head or really seeing All Might in person.
That's wrong. The whole blood of the covenant thing is more modern and not the actual meaning
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
Iirc it was blood on the battlefield.
Maybe so, but by now its a commonly accepted phrase, so even if its wrong the phrase itself is still relevant to popular culture, and any points made with it may as well be valid
Stupid would be to assume that they would be safe from All For One anywhere. All Might's too busy to sit around guarding one family 24/7, even if you don't know about his time limit. If All For One's goons can crack UA's security, Witness Protection would be no challenge at all, and with Kurogiri's Quirk, All For One's minions could be in, paint the walls with the family's blood, and be out in the time it takes a guard to check out a weird noise. Lea's dad is backed into a corner and he can't see any way out that doesn't involve obeying All For One's orders.
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
So all for one has absolute ability to get any public figure cape. Which is why he ambushed his greatest enemies in the dead of night and the top fifty list of public figures is filled with mysterious deaths. Ua is good but not necesarily a milatary installation. And there are more than all might to help.
I rewrote most of the first chapter and I need a beta reader.
2.0 Dancing
Chapter 2: Dancing
I sat down on the steps waiting for my dad to come. I think I did pretty good, earning about 50 points. The written exam was tomorrow and I figured I'll do well enough on that. I pulled out a math book to study.
"Hey nice girl." A doofy voice called out to me. I blinked and turned to see Denki tottering towards me with a stupid look on his face. A girl with earphone jacks and short purple hair rolled her eyes as she trotted after him. She looked slightly mussed up from the exam, with concrete dust ingrained in the knees of her jeans.
"Sorry, he gets like this every time he uses a large amount of electricity. I'm just glad the giant robot didn't step on him while he was like this in the exam." She explained.
"No, don't worry, I know him. I was in the same city as him." I said, as Denki sat down next to me and dopily smiled.
"Oh?" She sat on the other side of me. "I'm Jirou Kyoka by the way."
"I'm Tanaka Leanne. I let him ride my horse I made out of my quirk."
"Oh, are you American or something?" She asked interested.
"American!" Denki declared.
"Uh, kinda? My dad's a white mutt from America as he likes to say and my mom's full japanese on her side. It's how I got my hair I guess." I laughed awkwardly.
"Oh cool. Have you visited America?" She asked, delving into a question I didn't really want to answer. Fortunately my dad pulled up to the curb that very moment and I was saved from answering.
"Ah, my ride's here. See you Jirou, Kaminari!" I exclaimed, getting up to my feet and running faster than I really should. I slid into the front seat and watched them as my Dad drove away. I hoped they passed the exam, they seemed nice enough even if I had to keep them at arm's length. There was a longing inside of me for some real friends, but I knew everyone would reject me as soon as they found out my family's past, especially kids in a goddamn hero course. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't notice my Dad didn't say a word to me until halfway through the trip.
"Dad?" I asked, hesitantly.
"Yes, Lea?" He answered, tone a tad more quiet than it usually was.
"What's wrong?" I asked, as he sighed.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to be this way, I know you were looking forward to spending spring with Verve and Nautilus in Italy." He said. Italy sounded pretty cool until you realized that they probably intended to piss off the government of Italy. It was just as terrifying as it sounded.
"It's okay Dad." I said, with as much sincerity as I could muster.
"So, how was the exam?" He asked.
"It was fun." I said, hesitantly. "I crushed some weird robots with a unicorn and I met some people. They were nice."
"Now remember, no inviting them over to the house, no matter how nice they are." He repeated his well worn words.
"I know Dad." I said with a huff and a roll of my eyes. "They'll send you and mom to jail and send us to foster care. I know."
"Good." He mussed my hair with a hand. We finally got home and my Dad set me on some exercises as soon as I changed out of my clothes. I stretched, then jogged a few miles while listening to music, and went through some of my dad's exercise equipment in the basement. Then Dad went through quirk lessons on how to best use my quirk to its fullest.
A week later, I found myself with a letter from UA with my family crowded around me. I ripped it open and pulled out the letter and a hologram projector was inserted inside. I read the letter first, while holding the expensive hologram projector in the other hand.
I nearly dropped it in shock.
"You got in! You got in, you got in!" Ranka yelled. Contrary brat. Said she wasn't excited at all and now she was jumping. Dazed, I placed the hologram projector on the table and activated it by squeezing the sides. A screen lit up in the air above the table and an image of a white mouse with a scar over one of his eyes in a dapper suit appeared.
"Hello! I am Principal Nedzu of UA." He introduced himself with a smile. "Tanaka Leanne acquitted herself admirably in the test and earned 51 points defeating the villain proxies. However, Villain points are not the only way we test for as we also test for Rescue points! You were seen cooperating with another student so you also earned ten rescue points as well! We look forward to seeing you in class 1-A in the spring!"
I heard my dad leave and close the door to the basement with a firm push. This was probably the first time a parent had been disappointed by a kid going to UA, I thought miserably. Mom sighed.
"I'll take you out. What do you want, ice cream?" But I was already shaking my head no. I didn't really want to go out. She patted me on the shoulder as I headed up to my room, leaving Mom with a ice cream hungry Ranka and Kazu. I sat down at the computer desk and tried to distract myself with scrolling a forum on superheroes I found. It was pretty well organized, with a Versus forum I liked to argue in with some guy named GreenTeaBoi and amusingly enough, a Real Life fanfiction forum. I went in there for a laugh sometimes, because there was nothing like people shipping two celebrity heroes that had nothing in common. Like Hawks and Endeavor?! Endeavor was as prickly as a cactus according to all reports and Hawks was notoriously flippant! They never even met!
I dived in there now, laughing hysterically at people writing Wash and Yoroimusha together in a gentle coffee shop romance. Then the phone rang and I sighed, knowing Dad would be too deep into a exercise session to hear it and Mom was out of the house with Ranka and Kazu. I went to the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the handle.
"Hello?"
"Hello, this is Kurogiri." I felt a chill go down my spine. "Did you get in?"
"Yes sir." I said stiffly.
"Excellent. Your first assignment is to give us your class schedule. Enter this phone number into your phone," He rattled off a phone number. "And text the schedule to us using that."
"Okay."
"This will be the first assignment of many." He hung up, leaving me to stare at the phone in anger and despair.
000
Dad took me to an underground fighting arena the next day. You know, the illegal kind. But it was after hours so we weren't going to fight for the crowds or anything. It was a large warehouse with a steel cage surrounding a wrestling ring and bleachers surrounding it.
"This is Natsu. He's letting us use the gym before the fights." Dad said, grabbing the arm of the dark skinned man with a strange metallic shine to his skin. I shook his hand afterwards, wondering if the metallic feel of his hand was due to his quirk.
"Nice to meet your daughter. She looks like she's going to be a spitfire like you." He rumbled, which made me blush.
We stepped inside the cage afterwards in fighting gear. I stared nervously at my Dad who rolled his neck. I knew we were doing this but the reality of it set in as my dad began his stretching reps.
"Remember Leanne, this is an all out quirk battle. Use your brain but also use your body. I let you slack off now for too long. I've taught you all the techniques I could, now you're going to learn how to fight." He said, as he stood up and then ran at me. I dodged to the side and gulped before taking a blow to the shoulder. I rolled on the mat, bleeding momentum before managing to get to my feet and run away.
He was faster than me and caught up fairly quickly, but I had drawn a line and the blood worm snapped around his feet. His quirk overpowered mine in an instant, but I used that instant to close the distance and sweep his feet. He fell, but kipped up instantly and put me in a hold that had me straining to leave.
"Lea, blood is your steel! It is your life and weapon! You can use it to escape this hold and more!" He shouted. I felt like he was waiting for something as minutes passed. He sighed, and let me go in a heap. He was disappointed.
"Again."
The next three weeks were full of fighting my dad and I arrived early at UA with bruises and aches. I trudged through the hallways of UA, looking for my classroom door. I opened the door to see a few people inside already, the guy from the auditorium who yelled and a girl with a long black ponytail and serious eyes. I rolled my shoulders nervously as they stood up and approached me.
"Hello! I am Iida Tenya! Pleased to make your acquaintance!" He exclaimed loudly as I reluctantly took his hand.
"I'm Yaoyorozu Momo. Pleased to make your acquaintance as well." She said more sedately.
"I'm Tanaka Leanne." I said, looking Iida in the face with a frown as I shook her hand as well. "Weren't you the guy that yelled at that kid in the auditorium?"
"Uhm," Iida said, suddenly looking embarrassed.
"Yeah, that was kinda rude, ya know?" I said, folding my arms. Then Denki and Kyouka filed in, distracting me from Iida. I waved at them excitedly and they came over as Iida finally gathered himself enough to speak. Or rather, shout.
"I was merely correcting a distraction in the auditorium!" Iida moved his arms for punctuation, before mumbling, "Besides he turned out to be the superior candidate by far …"
"Hey, Tanaka!" Denki greeted with a smile. "Glad to see you made it!"
"You too!" I said, smiling back. Jirou gave me a two fingered salute as a greeting. "How're you guys?"
"We're well," Jirou said. "No thanks to this dumbass. He got us lost before I took charge of navigating."
"Hey, the hallways here are confusing!" He protested, goodnaturedly. Not that confusing, I thought.
"They were quite easy for me …" Yaoyorozu voiced aloud. Denki pouted as Jirou and I laughed. Then someone stuck their head through the door. Yes, you read that right.
"Tanaka Leanne?" The blonde exclaimed. "I'm here to bring you to the principal's office!"
Everyone stared at me and I visibly shrunk, feeling on edge, as my feet led me to the door. "Hey I didn't do anything!"
"It's her first day afterall." Kyouka said, raising her eyebrows.
"I bet it's for graffitti." Denki said sagely, making me want to hit him.
"Don't worry, Principal Nedzu is very nice!" The blonde boy assured me as he marched next to me. "I'm sure you're not in trouble or anything!"
Then why is he calling me to the office …
000
This was agonizing.
I was in a stately room, with a wonderful view of UA, books everywhere. Nedzu sat across from me in what must have been a custom built chair and me in a plush comfortable chair.
In the twenty minutes I've been here, he hadn't said a word. Just served me good tea, exceptional tea really, and looked at me with his knowing eyes. I couldn't explain it, but those eyes knew.
I finally finished my tea and set it down. "Principal Nedzu, can I ask why you called me here?" I was proud of my lack of stutter. My insides were fluttering despite the warm tea.
"Oh, I just wanted to discuss your mother's books. They're quite exceptional for their genre." He said, gently.
"Oh, really? Mom would be pleased to hear that from Principal of UA …" I demurred.
"I'm particularly interested in the character of Daisuke the thief." He continued. "He's written very compassionately with the narrative never condemning him surprisingly enough. It's a unique perspective on a villain."
I swallowed. Daisuke was based on Dad, though he was a minor character. "Yes, Mom likes to write all her characters as people."
"She's very good at it! Daisuke comes across as a Robin Hood figure at times. In fact, I'd say all of the villains of the books are presented as interesting figures of personable stature and charismatic delivery." He said, before pouring himself more tea. "Most books have villains as tortured figures at best and hideous caricatures at worst."
I fingered the tea cup. "Light novels tend to be that way."
"Not just light novels. Most modern fiction write villains that way. It's rather boring, so your mother's books are an interesting take." He said, smiling. "Though it's not without its controversy."
"Huh?" I never heard of something like that.
"Some people say that your mother's books are too sympathetic to villains, and in the more vocal corners, promote villainy." He explained. "It's nonsense, of course. Books do not make villains."
"Of course not." I repeated, feeling off balance.
"I find that there are two types of villains in this world. Ones that choose to be villains and others that are forced into villainy." I froze. The mouse sipped his tea. "The latter are quite tragic figures I find."
"Ah, but I've taken enough of your time! I just want you to know, my door is always open." Principal Nedzu said, cheerfully, walking with me to the door. I nodded dumbly before leaving. After walking a few moments, I realized Principal Nedzu was walking with me.
"Sir?" I said tentatively.
"Oh, don't mind me, I just want to see how Aizawa, your homeroom teacher, is doing." He said, waving a paw.
I sat down on the steps waiting for my dad to come. I think I did pretty good, earning about 50 points. The written exam was tomorrow and I figured I'll do well enough on that. I pulled out a math book to study.
"Hey nice girl." A doofy voice called out to me. I blinked and turned to see Denki tottering towards me with a stupid look on his face. A girl with earphone jacks and short purple hair rolled her eyes as she trotted after him. She looked slightly mussed up from the exam, with concrete dust ingrained in the knees of her jeans.
"Sorry, he gets like this every time he uses a large amount of electricity. I'm just glad the giant robot didn't step on him while he was like this in the exam." She explained.
"No, don't worry, I know him. I was in the same city as him." I said, as Denki sat down next to me and dopily smiled.
"Oh?" She sat on the other side of me. "I'm Jirou Kyoka by the way."
"I'm Tanaka Leanne. I let him ride my horse I made out of my quirk."
"Oh, are you American or something?" She asked interested.
"American!" Denki declared.
"Uh, kinda? My dad's a white mutt from America as he likes to say and my mom's full japanese on her side. It's how I got my hair I guess." I laughed awkwardly.
"Oh cool. Have you visited America?" She asked, delving into a question I didn't really want to answer. Fortunately my dad pulled up to the curb that very moment and I was saved from answering.
"Ah, my ride's here. See you Jirou, Kaminari!" I exclaimed, getting up to my feet and running faster than I really should. I slid into the front seat and watched them as my Dad drove away. I hoped they passed the exam, they seemed nice enough even if I had to keep them at arm's length. There was a longing inside of me for some real friends, but I knew everyone would reject me as soon as they found out my family's past, especially kids in a goddamn hero course. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't notice my Dad didn't say a word to me until halfway through the trip.
"Dad?" I asked, hesitantly.
"Yes, Lea?" He answered, tone a tad more quiet than it usually was.
"What's wrong?" I asked, as he sighed.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't supposed to be this way, I know you were looking forward to spending spring with Verve and Nautilus in Italy." He said. Italy sounded pretty cool until you realized that they probably intended to piss off the government of Italy. It was just as terrifying as it sounded.
"It's okay Dad." I said, with as much sincerity as I could muster.
"So, how was the exam?" He asked.
"It was fun." I said, hesitantly. "I crushed some weird robots with a unicorn and I met some people. They were nice."
"Now remember, no inviting them over to the house, no matter how nice they are." He repeated his well worn words.
"I know Dad." I said with a huff and a roll of my eyes. "They'll send you and mom to jail and send us to foster care. I know."
"Good." He mussed my hair with a hand. We finally got home and my Dad set me on some exercises as soon as I changed out of my clothes. I stretched, then jogged a few miles while listening to music, and went through some of my dad's exercise equipment in the basement. Then Dad went through quirk lessons on how to best use my quirk to its fullest.
A week later, I found myself with a letter from UA with my family crowded around me. I ripped it open and pulled out the letter and a hologram projector was inserted inside. I read the letter first, while holding the expensive hologram projector in the other hand.
I nearly dropped it in shock.
"You got in! You got in, you got in!" Ranka yelled. Contrary brat. Said she wasn't excited at all and now she was jumping. Dazed, I placed the hologram projector on the table and activated it by squeezing the sides. A screen lit up in the air above the table and an image of a white mouse with a scar over one of his eyes in a dapper suit appeared.
"Hello! I am Principal Nedzu of UA." He introduced himself with a smile. "Tanaka Leanne acquitted herself admirably in the test and earned 51 points defeating the villain proxies. However, Villain points are not the only way we test for as we also test for Rescue points! You were seen cooperating with another student so you also earned ten rescue points as well! We look forward to seeing you in class 1-A in the spring!"
I heard my dad leave and close the door to the basement with a firm push. This was probably the first time a parent had been disappointed by a kid going to UA, I thought miserably. Mom sighed.
"I'll take you out. What do you want, ice cream?" But I was already shaking my head no. I didn't really want to go out. She patted me on the shoulder as I headed up to my room, leaving Mom with a ice cream hungry Ranka and Kazu. I sat down at the computer desk and tried to distract myself with scrolling a forum on superheroes I found. It was pretty well organized, with a Versus forum I liked to argue in with some guy named GreenTeaBoi and amusingly enough, a Real Life fanfiction forum. I went in there for a laugh sometimes, because there was nothing like people shipping two celebrity heroes that had nothing in common. Like Hawks and Endeavor?! Endeavor was as prickly as a cactus according to all reports and Hawks was notoriously flippant! They never even met!
I dived in there now, laughing hysterically at people writing Wash and Yoroimusha together in a gentle coffee shop romance. Then the phone rang and I sighed, knowing Dad would be too deep into a exercise session to hear it and Mom was out of the house with Ranka and Kazu. I went to the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the handle.
"Hello?"
"Hello, this is Kurogiri." I felt a chill go down my spine. "Did you get in?"
"Yes sir." I said stiffly.
"Excellent. Your first assignment is to give us your class schedule. Enter this phone number into your phone," He rattled off a phone number. "And text the schedule to us using that."
"Okay."
"This will be the first assignment of many." He hung up, leaving me to stare at the phone in anger and despair.
000
Dad took me to an underground fighting arena the next day. You know, the illegal kind. But it was after hours so we weren't going to fight for the crowds or anything. It was a large warehouse with a steel cage surrounding a wrestling ring and bleachers surrounding it.
"This is Natsu. He's letting us use the gym before the fights." Dad said, grabbing the arm of the dark skinned man with a strange metallic shine to his skin. I shook his hand afterwards, wondering if the metallic feel of his hand was due to his quirk.
"Nice to meet your daughter. She looks like she's going to be a spitfire like you." He rumbled, which made me blush.
We stepped inside the cage afterwards in fighting gear. I stared nervously at my Dad who rolled his neck. I knew we were doing this but the reality of it set in as my dad began his stretching reps.
"Remember Leanne, this is an all out quirk battle. Use your brain but also use your body. I let you slack off now for too long. I've taught you all the techniques I could, now you're going to learn how to fight." He said, as he stood up and then ran at me. I dodged to the side and gulped before taking a blow to the shoulder. I rolled on the mat, bleeding momentum before managing to get to my feet and run away.
He was faster than me and caught up fairly quickly, but I had drawn a line and the blood worm snapped around his feet. His quirk overpowered mine in an instant, but I used that instant to close the distance and sweep his feet. He fell, but kipped up instantly and put me in a hold that had me straining to leave.
"Lea, blood is your steel! It is your life and weapon! You can use it to escape this hold and more!" He shouted. I felt like he was waiting for something as minutes passed. He sighed, and let me go in a heap. He was disappointed.
"Again."
The next three weeks were full of fighting my dad and I arrived early at UA with bruises and aches. I trudged through the hallways of UA, looking for my classroom door. I opened the door to see a few people inside already, the guy from the auditorium who yelled and a girl with a long black ponytail and serious eyes. I rolled my shoulders nervously as they stood up and approached me.
"Hello! I am Iida Tenya! Pleased to make your acquaintance!" He exclaimed loudly as I reluctantly took his hand.
"I'm Yaoyorozu Momo. Pleased to make your acquaintance as well." She said more sedately.
"I'm Tanaka Leanne." I said, looking Iida in the face with a frown as I shook her hand as well. "Weren't you the guy that yelled at that kid in the auditorium?"
"Uhm," Iida said, suddenly looking embarrassed.
"Yeah, that was kinda rude, ya know?" I said, folding my arms. Then Denki and Kyouka filed in, distracting me from Iida. I waved at them excitedly and they came over as Iida finally gathered himself enough to speak. Or rather, shout.
"I was merely correcting a distraction in the auditorium!" Iida moved his arms for punctuation, before mumbling, "Besides he turned out to be the superior candidate by far …"
"Hey, Tanaka!" Denki greeted with a smile. "Glad to see you made it!"
"You too!" I said, smiling back. Jirou gave me a two fingered salute as a greeting. "How're you guys?"
"We're well," Jirou said. "No thanks to this dumbass. He got us lost before I took charge of navigating."
"Hey, the hallways here are confusing!" He protested, goodnaturedly. Not that confusing, I thought.
"They were quite easy for me …" Yaoyorozu voiced aloud. Denki pouted as Jirou and I laughed. Then someone stuck their head through the door. Yes, you read that right.
"Tanaka Leanne?" The blonde exclaimed. "I'm here to bring you to the principal's office!"
Everyone stared at me and I visibly shrunk, feeling on edge, as my feet led me to the door. "Hey I didn't do anything!"
"It's her first day afterall." Kyouka said, raising her eyebrows.
"I bet it's for graffitti." Denki said sagely, making me want to hit him.
"Don't worry, Principal Nedzu is very nice!" The blonde boy assured me as he marched next to me. "I'm sure you're not in trouble or anything!"
Then why is he calling me to the office …
000
This was agonizing.
I was in a stately room, with a wonderful view of UA, books everywhere. Nedzu sat across from me in what must have been a custom built chair and me in a plush comfortable chair.
In the twenty minutes I've been here, he hadn't said a word. Just served me good tea, exceptional tea really, and looked at me with his knowing eyes. I couldn't explain it, but those eyes knew.
I finally finished my tea and set it down. "Principal Nedzu, can I ask why you called me here?" I was proud of my lack of stutter. My insides were fluttering despite the warm tea.
"Oh, I just wanted to discuss your mother's books. They're quite exceptional for their genre." He said, gently.
"Oh, really? Mom would be pleased to hear that from Principal of UA …" I demurred.
"I'm particularly interested in the character of Daisuke the thief." He continued. "He's written very compassionately with the narrative never condemning him surprisingly enough. It's a unique perspective on a villain."
I swallowed. Daisuke was based on Dad, though he was a minor character. "Yes, Mom likes to write all her characters as people."
"She's very good at it! Daisuke comes across as a Robin Hood figure at times. In fact, I'd say all of the villains of the books are presented as interesting figures of personable stature and charismatic delivery." He said, before pouring himself more tea. "Most books have villains as tortured figures at best and hideous caricatures at worst."
I fingered the tea cup. "Light novels tend to be that way."
"Not just light novels. Most modern fiction write villains that way. It's rather boring, so your mother's books are an interesting take." He said, smiling. "Though it's not without its controversy."
"Huh?" I never heard of something like that.
"Some people say that your mother's books are too sympathetic to villains, and in the more vocal corners, promote villainy." He explained. "It's nonsense, of course. Books do not make villains."
"Of course not." I repeated, feeling off balance.
"I find that there are two types of villains in this world. Ones that choose to be villains and others that are forced into villainy." I froze. The mouse sipped his tea. "The latter are quite tragic figures I find."
"Ah, but I've taken enough of your time! I just want you to know, my door is always open." Principal Nedzu said, cheerfully, walking with me to the door. I nodded dumbly before leaving. After walking a few moments, I realized Principal Nedzu was walking with me.
"Sir?" I said tentatively.
"Oh, don't mind me, I just want to see how Aizawa, your homeroom teacher, is doing." He said, waving a paw.
He knows. Nedzu knows about her situation
They have a brother too yknow.
- Location
- Little Rock, AR
Sorry. Get them both out. Bunk with aizawa. He does Dad things well. Remember the Daddypillar.
Catching All For One in an ambush would probably be a case of "I'm not locked in here with you, YOU are locked in here with ME." The guy is powerful enough to take on All Might himself, and even though he lost their last fight, he still all but crippled All Might, doing damage serious enough that even Recovery Girl couldn't fix it, leaving All Might only able to do hero work for a maximum of 3 hours a day.
If they're going to ambush AfO then there's every reason to have AllMight leading the ambush. And as we saw from the kidnapping arc, he is still strong enough to defeat AfO. Presumably even stronger since he hasn't strained himself in USJ yet
- Location
- England
Of course Nedzu knows his quirk makes him ridiculously intelligent
White Lantern
A really overpowered Mary Sue self insert
- Location
- Sector 2184
I wouldn't be surprised if nedzu didn't actually know and besides he doesn't have any proof
mdkcde
"Emotions are prohibited"
- Location
- Nani Sore?
Tanaka Leanne: "WowthanksI'msaved!"
3.0 Bonds in Battle
Chapter 3: Bonds in Battle
I found that the homeroom classroom was empty except for some curriculum papers and a note on the chalkboard telling me to go outside and get dressed in my gym clothes.
I arrived with principal Nedzu to see a green haired boy throw an incredible pitch. Principal Nedzu clapped as I nodded, impressed.
"Sensei, I can still move." He said to our teacher. He grinned, before turning to me.
"Nice to see you've finally arrived." My teacher said drily. His eyes lingered on Nedzu.
"Sorry, Aizawa, for keeping her for so long. Time got away from me." Principal Nedzu said apologetically. Aizawa shrugged, seemingly accepting the answer.
"Tanaka, you're up next, throw the ball as hard as you can. You're free to use your quirk. You can finish the rest of the tests later. Lowest score gets expelled." He said, pulling out a ball from his pocket and tossing it towards me. I blinked.
Lowest score gets expelled?! That actually … sounded okay.
I drew an arm on the dirt and had it throw the ball a decent distance, before disappearing back into the crowd of my classmates. Denki slipped next to me, raising his eyebrows.
"So what did the principal want to talk to you about?" He asked.
"Ah, he uh, wanted to talk about my mom's books." I said, feeling each word like a lie.
"Oh cool, your mom writes? What does she write about? I'm Mina Ashido by the way." Mina said, jumping into the conversation.
"Ah she writes the BloodLight Chronicles." I said, before being blasted by a wall of noise from my classmates.
"The BloodLight Chronicles?!" Denki squealed.
"They're my favorite book series, you have to get your mom to tell me what's up with Rui-," Jirou exclaimed.
"Forget Rui, what's with the cliffhanger in the last book?" Mina interrupted.
"Could she sign my copy?" The green haired boy gushed.
"Enough." Aizawa said. "She'll talk to you about Katsuka when the tests are over."
"How does he know about Katsuka?" Mina whispered in fear.
The rest of the tests passed in a blur, ending with me feeling weak and unsteady on my feet by the end of it even with careful partitioning of my blood. Halfway through the tests, Aizawa seemed to frown and step forward, but Principal Nedzu stopped him with a paw on his knee, shaking his head no. This made Aizawa scowl, but he relented with a folding of his arms.
I wondered at the byplay.
At the end of the tests, Aizawa presented the scores and announced with a grin, that it was all a ruse to get us to use our quirks to the fullest.
Denki clasped my shoulder and grinned in relief. "I'm glad it wasn't real."
"Uh, yeah, me too." I said awkwardly.
"Midoriya and Tanaka," Aizawa announced. "Have the old lady fix you guys up. Tomorrow will be even more rigorous. Prepare yourselves."
He walked off with Principal Nedzu. The class migrated to the changing rooms with everyone introducing themselves to me and asking about my mom's books to my surprise. I carefully avoided giving spoilers, and promised to bring my mom to school for signings some day. Then I headed off to the nurse's office with Midoriya.
"I couldn't believe that a quirkless girl like Erin could do so much!" Midoriya waved his arms about.
Midoriya sure loved my mom's books, I thought.
"Yeah, Mom based her off this quirkless person she knew a while back." I said, shrugging. Honey Ramirez was someone Mom still talked to from our old life.
"Really? That explains why she feels so real-," Midoriya shut his mouth abruptly, earning him a weird look from me.
" … yeah, she's a great character." I said. We finally arrived at the nurse's office and got healed, with my blood being quickly replenished by her quirk. It was a strange feeling to become reinvigorated and then tired.
Then we were done for the day. I walked down the walkway of UA idly, before hearing two sets of footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Kyouka and Denki running towards me.
"Hey Leanne!" Denki exclaimed.
"Please, no more talking about the BloodLight Chronicles." I said, holding up a hand. "I've had enough for one day."
"Haha, sorry." He said, sheepishly. "Everyone just found it really cool. Those books are awesome!"
"Yeah, they're super popular." Kyouka said.
"Well uh," I couldn't exactly say that Mom didn't think much of them. "Mom doesn't talk about her books' popularity."
"Oh why?" Kyouka asked, her earjacks raised in curiosity.
"I guess she doesn't want to brag to her own children." I said, shrugging. We were in front of U.A. now, loitering on the sidewalk.
"Hey you wanna go with us to the local arcade here?" Denki asked.
"Sorry, my dad's picking me up right about now and he'll be real irritated if he came all the way here for nothing." I said as way of explanation.
"How about tomorrow?" He asked.
"Uh, maybe! I'll ask my dad and see what he says." I said, knowing full well he'd say no.
"Sure, let's exchange phone numbers then!" I blinked in surprise even as I took my phone out and typed in phone numbers. I then waved goodbye to them and waited for my dad as I looked at my phone contact list. I hovered above Denki's and Kyouka's text chats before going to Kurogiri's and sending him a photo of my school curriculum.
Eventually, my dad picked me up. I slid into the seat and buckled up.
"Hey Lea, how was school today?"
"It was …" I searched for a proper generalizing lie. "Good."
000
The next day, Denki grinned as he slid his plate of food in front of me. I blinked at him as I tilted my head. Jirou slid her plate next to his and gave a wave to me.
"Why are you guys here?" I asked.
"Because we want to." Jirou said dryly. Denki rolled his eyes.
"Don't be a jerk. We're here to hang out with you 'cause you're cool." Denki grinned even wider as he was rewarded with a blush from me. Jirou nodded, though she gave Denki a wary side eye.
"Yeah, Kaminari told me you're pretty good at drawing." Jirou said, before starting in on her curry rice.
"Yeah, I like to draw in my spare time." I said shyly.
"Oh really? That's cool as hell. The most I can do is stick figures." Denki remarked, biting into his fish.
"Same. Oh hey, do you have a sketchbook or something?" Jirou asked, making me duck my head.
"I uh, don't really like sharing it." I explained.
"What, do you draw yaoi or something?" Jirou asked bluntly, causing Denki to choke on his food.
"You don't just ask someone if they draw yaoi." Denki hissed as I exclaimed, "No!"
"Just asking." Jirou said, her mouth twitching at the sides.
"It's just private." I said, giving her a glare.
Denki tried not to think of dicks. He failed. At that point, he gave Jirou a punch on the shoulder causing her to flick her earjack at his cheek painfully which then devolved into a slap fight. I stared before eating one of my fries.
000
Eventually they had to go back to class and await the introduction of their newest teacher, which was supposedly All-Might. I was nervous as hell, scribbling on the margins of a piece of paper with a pen. The door then burst open.
"I AM ... Opening the door like a normal person!" All Might shouted, walking through in his Silver Age costume. A murmur of excitement spread throughout the class.
"Hero basic training! The class that'll put you through all sorts of special training to mold you into special heroes!" All Might flexed in front of the desk. "Today's activity is this! Combat training!"
He then clicked a remote that he swiped from the desk. "And for that … You'll need these!"
Cabinets slid out of the wall with boxes with numbers on them inside. "In accordance with the quirk registry and the special request forms you filled out before being admitted …"
"COSTUMES!" Everyone cheered.
"After you change, come out to Ground Beta!" He declared. We all rushed to the cabinets and grabbed our respective box, except for Midoriya. I wondered why for a moment, before shrugging. Maybe he made his own costume?
We all headed to our respective changing rooms. As I changed, it became clear I had some of the most layers so I was dressing the slowest. My costume was a sort of shinto priestess thing with flexible metal plates over my pants and a extendable giant brush. I blinked as I looked at some of the costumes around me.
"What the fuck?" I muttered.
"Language, kero." Tsuyu admonished.
"Sorry, Tsuyu-chan." I said, staring at Yaoyorozu. "But that costume is terrible."
Yaoyorozu blinked. "This was made by the best designer money could buy."
"Then that designer is a pervert." I said flatly. "Even I could do better and I don't even have a degree."
"Then prove it." Yaoyorozu said, crossing her arms.
Everyone in the changing room oohed. I swallowed, but Yaoyorozu had thrown down the gauntlet and I had no choice but to step up. I pulled out a piece of folder paper and a pencil and quickly made a sketch of sort of swimsuit esque costume with a front velcro opening and a open back. Her belt moved up under her chest as well as it having elbow pads and kneepads and runner's shoes. I added a visor for good measure.
" … that's pretty good." Yaoyorozu admitted. "Why did you give me a visor?"
"So you can look up information using wifi. Your power depends on you knowing how an object is composed of, right?" I knew this from from the first day power testing day. Yaoyorozu wasn't shy about sharing her power details with us.
"Yeah. A better idea than carrying books I suppose …" Yaoyorozu said, looking thoughtful.
"Do me next, do me next!" Mina said, jumping up and down behind my shoulder.
"Could you redesign my costume too? Mine is kinda embarrassing …" Uraraka chimed in, looking at her heels with a frown.
"Okay, okay." I said, feeling slightly hurried as I made two new quick sketches for Mina and Uraraka.
"I'm fine with my costume, kero, but you're pretty good at costume design." Tsuyu said, peering down at her sketchpad.
"It's a hobby." I said distractedly. I ripped out the two sketches and handed them to Uraraka and Mina.
"Oh wow, I never thought of putting more fur!" Mina said excitedly. "I'll look like a giant moth like this! Thanks Leanne!"
"Thank you Tanaka." Uraraka echoed, smiling at the picture. I felt embarrassed. It was just a quick sketch after all, nothing special.
"C'mon guys let's get going, I bet the guys are already done." Jirou complained, tugging on Yaoyorozu's arm. We left the changing rooms to the outside world of Ground Beta. I frowned at how much better some of the guys' costumes were. Except for Mineta, the poor bastard.
"Everyone here?! Looking good!" All Might boomed. "Now it's time for combat training!"
"Teacher! Will we be doing cityscape maneuvers as this is the battleground used in the entrance exam?!" Iida immediately asked.
"No, you'll be going to step two!" All-Might declared with two of his fingers up. "It seems like most villain fights take place outside, but in actuality, villains appear inside more often."
"Prisons, house arrest, backroom deals-In this society full of heroes, the truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows." He explained. I shuddered. "In this class, you'll be split into heroes and villains and fight 2 on 2 battles indoors."
"Without basic training?" Tsuyu questioned.
"This is training to understand those same basics!" All-Might exclaimed, clenching a fist. "This time there is no robot to beat up!"
Then everyone clamored with questions, causing All-Might to fluster and shout, "I will answer all of your questions in a timely manner!"
"Now listen here, the situation is that villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in their hideout. The heroes are trying to stop that. The heroes need to catch the villains or get the nuclear weapon back in the allotted time. The villains need to protect the nuclear weapon the whole time or catch the heroes."
"Now teams will be decided by lots!" All Might declared with a paper box he had been keeping … somewhere.
"Really!? That's so haphazard!" Iida burst out.
"Pros often have to create makeshift teams with heroes from other agencies, so maybe that's why?" Midoriya suggested.
"I see … I apologize for my rudeness!"
"It's fine, let's do this quickly!"
Lots were drawn quickly. Team A was Jirou Kyoka and Midoriya Izuku, which disappointed me a little. I wanted to hang out with her.
Team B was Ojiro Mashirao and Me, which wasn't too bad even if I didn't know the boy. He seemed nice.
Team C was Bakugo Katsuki and Aoyama Yuga, an … unusual pair.
Team D was Asui Tsuyu and Shoji Mezo. What a stable group of people!
Team E was Kirishima Eijiro and Todoroki Shouto, which seemed to annoy Todoroki due to the aggressive friendliness of Kirishima.
Team F was Sero Hanta and Uraraka Ochako, which was bound to be annoyingly mobile for any team against them.
Team G was Tokoyami Fumikage and Mineta Minoru. Mineta said birds are hot. I prayed for Tokoyami.
Team H was Kaminari Denki and Iida Tenya. I wonder if Denki would be able to soothe Iida's straightforward strict ways or just clash frictionally.
Team I was Koda Koji and Ashido Mina, which seemed good for Koda's withdrawn and shy ways.
Team J was Yaoyorozu Momo and Sato Rikido. They oozed self confidence and power!
Team A and C were the first to to get selected, with Bakugo and Midoriya exchanging glances I noted, one more heated than the other. Team A would be the heroes while Team C would be the villains. Kyoka and Denki exchanged fistbumps as she walked out with Midoriya.
"Good luck Jirou!" I called out as she passed me. She grinned lazily and mouthed thanks. I went to stand next to my partner, Ojiro.
"So who do you think is going to win?" I asked Ojiro as the villain team began to set up.
"Uhm, it's hard to say. Aoyama's laser is definitely powerful but he can only use it for a second or he gets a stomachache as he's admitted himself. Bakugo's quirk is overall powerful, but …" He trailed off as Bakugo began to yell at Aoyama for some reason.
"He seems like an asshole and reduces team synergy down to zero?" I offered helpfully.
"Yeah." Ojiro laughed. "Midoriya's quirk is really strong too, but it seems to hurt him. They both seem like nice people though so their team synergy is probably better. Honestly it could be anyone's game."
"I guess, though I'm definitely betting on Jirou and Midoriya." I said, closing my eyes and nodding self importantly.
"What's your quirk exactly by the way? I know it has something to do with blood." Ojiro inquired.
"Ah! I can create two dimensional creatures from drawing blood from my skin and drawing it on surfaces upon which it copies the properties of." I said, clasping my hands excitedly. "So if I draw it on concrete, it becomes as tough as concrete! The drawback is I'm limited to the blood I have in my body."
"Wow that's useful. All I have is my tail." He said abashed.
"Your tail is fucking strong as hell." I argued, folding my arms. "I saw your scores in the power testing. You're a monster up close!"
"Haha thanks." Ojiro said, scratching the back of his head. "How do you think we should work together?"
"I was thinking I'd create a bunch of small creatures and have them help herd our enemies toward you." I suggested in a quiet whisper. Everyone else in the room was now potential rivals.
"That sounds promising-," Ojiro whispered back before All-Might cleared his throat loudly to end all the conversations.
"The five minutes are up!" He declared. "Now let's start the indoor combat training of Team A and Team C!"
I stared at the screens, before speaking up. "Teacher, wouldn't it make sense for us to be able to listen in to their conversations to assess their strategy abilities?"
All-Might laughed nervously. "This was set up for me beforehand. I don't really know how to manage the controls to enable that. Maybe next time!"
I nodded in understanding even as I tracked the movements of Jirou and Midoriya. It looks like they infiltrated the lower floors successfully. But Bakugo was leaving Aoyama behind! He looked pissed. Aoyama was looking into a mirror, checking his hair.
"Wha-, he's leaving Aoyama behind!" Mina protested.
"He's being an idiot. Aoyama doesn't have the stamina to protect the bomb by themselves." Todoroki said curtly.
"Not to mention he's going into a 2 on 1. Does he have a plan, Sensei?" Yaoyorozu questioned, flipping her hand elegantly.
"Ah-," All-Might spoke, before Bakugou discovered Izuku and Kyouka and did a jumping smash into the wall! Midoriya dodged backwards while Kyouka had thrown herself to the ground before rolling to her feet and sending a wall of sound from her speaker shoes. Bakugou dodged back into the hallway, but half of him got caught and he slammed into the corner wall hard.
"A surprise attack?!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"I doubt it." I mumbled. Everyone looked at me in surprise. I shuffled my feet nervously at the mass attention. "Kyouka heard him coming a mile away with her hearing. They sprung the trap on purpose."
"That is correct, young Tanaka!" All-Might boomed, with a grin. "They were discussing it over the comms!"
Kyouka kept a wall of sound on Bakugou, pinning him against the wall, while Midoriya dashed forward with the capture tape. However, Bakugou somehow managed to blast Midoriya away by forcing his arm out. He then swiveled his arm, muscles bulging, towards Kyouka and unleashed a huge blast that knocked her off her feet and into a wall herself. Midoriya dashed back in as Kyouka seems dazed, and caught Bakugou's arm as he tried to punch him. In an amazing display of technique, he flipped him and while Bakugou is trying to catch his breath, snapped the capture tape around his wrist.
Bakugou screamed something and lunged at Midoriya with an open palm.
"Stop." All Might boomed into the mic, halting Bakugou's sudden attack. "You lost, Bakugou. Retire to the monitor room."
Bakugou dropped his arm as his eyes widened. He seemed to shake as Midoriya and Kyouka took stock of themselves and edged away from the panic attack he seemed to be having. All Might ended up having to go to him and lead him away from the building as Midoriya and Kyouka tackled the panicking Aoyama who blasted the room with laser blasts, but lack of stamina and intervals of rest led to his pinning by Midoriya and a bomb touch by Kyouka. The whole class except Bakugou cheered as All Might declared their win.
Midoriya seemed dazed as he walked inside the monitor room with a grinning Kyouka. Denki whooped as he high fived Kyouka and Midoriya.
"Now, I'd say the VIP of this match was Jirou!" All Might declared.
"Hm, not Midoriya? He didn't even use his quirk kero!" Asui questioned.
"I wonder why?! Does anyone know!?" All Might shouted, putting his hand up in the air.
"I know why Teacher." Yaoyorozu replied. "It's because Jirou was the most flexible in the scenario. From what I saw, Bakugo's every action was motivated by a personal grudge and that blinded him to Jirou's obvious abilities. Midoriya was impressive but less impressive in that most of the work went to Jirou's load. His tactical sense was solid, but it relied heavily on anticipating Bakugou and Jirou's own ability. Aoyama … Needs to work on his stamina and independent sense of tactics. When Bakugou left, he should have adapted to the new strategy instead of flailing. Perhaps attacking with Bakugou or establishing a stronger defensive position."
There was a short silence.
"Yes … You're correct …" All Might said.
"We've got to start at the bottom and work up! And if we don't earnestly critique each other ..." Yaoyorozu put her hands on her hips and huffed. "We'll never be top heroes!"
All Might cleared his voice. "I'll choose the next team!"
It was Team E, Kirishima and Todoroki, versus Team B, Ojirou and me.
Ah dog shit.
I found that the homeroom classroom was empty except for some curriculum papers and a note on the chalkboard telling me to go outside and get dressed in my gym clothes.
I arrived with principal Nedzu to see a green haired boy throw an incredible pitch. Principal Nedzu clapped as I nodded, impressed.
"Sensei, I can still move." He said to our teacher. He grinned, before turning to me.
"Nice to see you've finally arrived." My teacher said drily. His eyes lingered on Nedzu.
"Sorry, Aizawa, for keeping her for so long. Time got away from me." Principal Nedzu said apologetically. Aizawa shrugged, seemingly accepting the answer.
"Tanaka, you're up next, throw the ball as hard as you can. You're free to use your quirk. You can finish the rest of the tests later. Lowest score gets expelled." He said, pulling out a ball from his pocket and tossing it towards me. I blinked.
Lowest score gets expelled?! That actually … sounded okay.
I drew an arm on the dirt and had it throw the ball a decent distance, before disappearing back into the crowd of my classmates. Denki slipped next to me, raising his eyebrows.
"So what did the principal want to talk to you about?" He asked.
"Ah, he uh, wanted to talk about my mom's books." I said, feeling each word like a lie.
"Oh cool, your mom writes? What does she write about? I'm Mina Ashido by the way." Mina said, jumping into the conversation.
"Ah she writes the BloodLight Chronicles." I said, before being blasted by a wall of noise from my classmates.
"The BloodLight Chronicles?!" Denki squealed.
"They're my favorite book series, you have to get your mom to tell me what's up with Rui-," Jirou exclaimed.
"Forget Rui, what's with the cliffhanger in the last book?" Mina interrupted.
"Could she sign my copy?" The green haired boy gushed.
"Enough." Aizawa said. "She'll talk to you about Katsuka when the tests are over."
"How does he know about Katsuka?" Mina whispered in fear.
The rest of the tests passed in a blur, ending with me feeling weak and unsteady on my feet by the end of it even with careful partitioning of my blood. Halfway through the tests, Aizawa seemed to frown and step forward, but Principal Nedzu stopped him with a paw on his knee, shaking his head no. This made Aizawa scowl, but he relented with a folding of his arms.
I wondered at the byplay.
At the end of the tests, Aizawa presented the scores and announced with a grin, that it was all a ruse to get us to use our quirks to the fullest.
Denki clasped my shoulder and grinned in relief. "I'm glad it wasn't real."
"Uh, yeah, me too." I said awkwardly.
"Midoriya and Tanaka," Aizawa announced. "Have the old lady fix you guys up. Tomorrow will be even more rigorous. Prepare yourselves."
He walked off with Principal Nedzu. The class migrated to the changing rooms with everyone introducing themselves to me and asking about my mom's books to my surprise. I carefully avoided giving spoilers, and promised to bring my mom to school for signings some day. Then I headed off to the nurse's office with Midoriya.
"I couldn't believe that a quirkless girl like Erin could do so much!" Midoriya waved his arms about.
Midoriya sure loved my mom's books, I thought.
"Yeah, Mom based her off this quirkless person she knew a while back." I said, shrugging. Honey Ramirez was someone Mom still talked to from our old life.
"Really? That explains why she feels so real-," Midoriya shut his mouth abruptly, earning him a weird look from me.
" … yeah, she's a great character." I said. We finally arrived at the nurse's office and got healed, with my blood being quickly replenished by her quirk. It was a strange feeling to become reinvigorated and then tired.
Then we were done for the day. I walked down the walkway of UA idly, before hearing two sets of footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Kyouka and Denki running towards me.
"Hey Leanne!" Denki exclaimed.
"Please, no more talking about the BloodLight Chronicles." I said, holding up a hand. "I've had enough for one day."
"Haha, sorry." He said, sheepishly. "Everyone just found it really cool. Those books are awesome!"
"Yeah, they're super popular." Kyouka said.
"Well uh," I couldn't exactly say that Mom didn't think much of them. "Mom doesn't talk about her books' popularity."
"Oh why?" Kyouka asked, her earjacks raised in curiosity.
"I guess she doesn't want to brag to her own children." I said, shrugging. We were in front of U.A. now, loitering on the sidewalk.
"Hey you wanna go with us to the local arcade here?" Denki asked.
"Sorry, my dad's picking me up right about now and he'll be real irritated if he came all the way here for nothing." I said as way of explanation.
"How about tomorrow?" He asked.
"Uh, maybe! I'll ask my dad and see what he says." I said, knowing full well he'd say no.
"Sure, let's exchange phone numbers then!" I blinked in surprise even as I took my phone out and typed in phone numbers. I then waved goodbye to them and waited for my dad as I looked at my phone contact list. I hovered above Denki's and Kyouka's text chats before going to Kurogiri's and sending him a photo of my school curriculum.
Eventually, my dad picked me up. I slid into the seat and buckled up.
"Hey Lea, how was school today?"
"It was …" I searched for a proper generalizing lie. "Good."
000
The next day, Denki grinned as he slid his plate of food in front of me. I blinked at him as I tilted my head. Jirou slid her plate next to his and gave a wave to me.
"Why are you guys here?" I asked.
"Because we want to." Jirou said dryly. Denki rolled his eyes.
"Don't be a jerk. We're here to hang out with you 'cause you're cool." Denki grinned even wider as he was rewarded with a blush from me. Jirou nodded, though she gave Denki a wary side eye.
"Yeah, Kaminari told me you're pretty good at drawing." Jirou said, before starting in on her curry rice.
"Yeah, I like to draw in my spare time." I said shyly.
"Oh really? That's cool as hell. The most I can do is stick figures." Denki remarked, biting into his fish.
"Same. Oh hey, do you have a sketchbook or something?" Jirou asked, making me duck my head.
"I uh, don't really like sharing it." I explained.
"What, do you draw yaoi or something?" Jirou asked bluntly, causing Denki to choke on his food.
"You don't just ask someone if they draw yaoi." Denki hissed as I exclaimed, "No!"
"Just asking." Jirou said, her mouth twitching at the sides.
"It's just private." I said, giving her a glare.
Denki tried not to think of dicks. He failed. At that point, he gave Jirou a punch on the shoulder causing her to flick her earjack at his cheek painfully which then devolved into a slap fight. I stared before eating one of my fries.
000
Eventually they had to go back to class and await the introduction of their newest teacher, which was supposedly All-Might. I was nervous as hell, scribbling on the margins of a piece of paper with a pen. The door then burst open.
"I AM ... Opening the door like a normal person!" All Might shouted, walking through in his Silver Age costume. A murmur of excitement spread throughout the class.
"Hero basic training! The class that'll put you through all sorts of special training to mold you into special heroes!" All Might flexed in front of the desk. "Today's activity is this! Combat training!"
He then clicked a remote that he swiped from the desk. "And for that … You'll need these!"
Cabinets slid out of the wall with boxes with numbers on them inside. "In accordance with the quirk registry and the special request forms you filled out before being admitted …"
"COSTUMES!" Everyone cheered.
"After you change, come out to Ground Beta!" He declared. We all rushed to the cabinets and grabbed our respective box, except for Midoriya. I wondered why for a moment, before shrugging. Maybe he made his own costume?
We all headed to our respective changing rooms. As I changed, it became clear I had some of the most layers so I was dressing the slowest. My costume was a sort of shinto priestess thing with flexible metal plates over my pants and a extendable giant brush. I blinked as I looked at some of the costumes around me.
"What the fuck?" I muttered.
"Language, kero." Tsuyu admonished.
"Sorry, Tsuyu-chan." I said, staring at Yaoyorozu. "But that costume is terrible."
Yaoyorozu blinked. "This was made by the best designer money could buy."
"Then that designer is a pervert." I said flatly. "Even I could do better and I don't even have a degree."
"Then prove it." Yaoyorozu said, crossing her arms.
Everyone in the changing room oohed. I swallowed, but Yaoyorozu had thrown down the gauntlet and I had no choice but to step up. I pulled out a piece of folder paper and a pencil and quickly made a sketch of sort of swimsuit esque costume with a front velcro opening and a open back. Her belt moved up under her chest as well as it having elbow pads and kneepads and runner's shoes. I added a visor for good measure.
" … that's pretty good." Yaoyorozu admitted. "Why did you give me a visor?"
"So you can look up information using wifi. Your power depends on you knowing how an object is composed of, right?" I knew this from from the first day power testing day. Yaoyorozu wasn't shy about sharing her power details with us.
"Yeah. A better idea than carrying books I suppose …" Yaoyorozu said, looking thoughtful.
"Do me next, do me next!" Mina said, jumping up and down behind my shoulder.
"Could you redesign my costume too? Mine is kinda embarrassing …" Uraraka chimed in, looking at her heels with a frown.
"Okay, okay." I said, feeling slightly hurried as I made two new quick sketches for Mina and Uraraka.
"I'm fine with my costume, kero, but you're pretty good at costume design." Tsuyu said, peering down at her sketchpad.
"It's a hobby." I said distractedly. I ripped out the two sketches and handed them to Uraraka and Mina.
"Oh wow, I never thought of putting more fur!" Mina said excitedly. "I'll look like a giant moth like this! Thanks Leanne!"
"Thank you Tanaka." Uraraka echoed, smiling at the picture. I felt embarrassed. It was just a quick sketch after all, nothing special.
"C'mon guys let's get going, I bet the guys are already done." Jirou complained, tugging on Yaoyorozu's arm. We left the changing rooms to the outside world of Ground Beta. I frowned at how much better some of the guys' costumes were. Except for Mineta, the poor bastard.
"Everyone here?! Looking good!" All Might boomed. "Now it's time for combat training!"
"Teacher! Will we be doing cityscape maneuvers as this is the battleground used in the entrance exam?!" Iida immediately asked.
"No, you'll be going to step two!" All-Might declared with two of his fingers up. "It seems like most villain fights take place outside, but in actuality, villains appear inside more often."
"Prisons, house arrest, backroom deals-In this society full of heroes, the truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows." He explained. I shuddered. "In this class, you'll be split into heroes and villains and fight 2 on 2 battles indoors."
"Without basic training?" Tsuyu questioned.
"This is training to understand those same basics!" All-Might exclaimed, clenching a fist. "This time there is no robot to beat up!"
Then everyone clamored with questions, causing All-Might to fluster and shout, "I will answer all of your questions in a timely manner!"
"Now listen here, the situation is that villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in their hideout. The heroes are trying to stop that. The heroes need to catch the villains or get the nuclear weapon back in the allotted time. The villains need to protect the nuclear weapon the whole time or catch the heroes."
"Now teams will be decided by lots!" All Might declared with a paper box he had been keeping … somewhere.
"Really!? That's so haphazard!" Iida burst out.
"Pros often have to create makeshift teams with heroes from other agencies, so maybe that's why?" Midoriya suggested.
"I see … I apologize for my rudeness!"
"It's fine, let's do this quickly!"
Lots were drawn quickly. Team A was Jirou Kyoka and Midoriya Izuku, which disappointed me a little. I wanted to hang out with her.
Team B was Ojiro Mashirao and Me, which wasn't too bad even if I didn't know the boy. He seemed nice.
Team C was Bakugo Katsuki and Aoyama Yuga, an … unusual pair.
Team D was Asui Tsuyu and Shoji Mezo. What a stable group of people!
Team E was Kirishima Eijiro and Todoroki Shouto, which seemed to annoy Todoroki due to the aggressive friendliness of Kirishima.
Team F was Sero Hanta and Uraraka Ochako, which was bound to be annoyingly mobile for any team against them.
Team G was Tokoyami Fumikage and Mineta Minoru. Mineta said birds are hot. I prayed for Tokoyami.
Team H was Kaminari Denki and Iida Tenya. I wonder if Denki would be able to soothe Iida's straightforward strict ways or just clash frictionally.
Team I was Koda Koji and Ashido Mina, which seemed good for Koda's withdrawn and shy ways.
Team J was Yaoyorozu Momo and Sato Rikido. They oozed self confidence and power!
Team A and C were the first to to get selected, with Bakugo and Midoriya exchanging glances I noted, one more heated than the other. Team A would be the heroes while Team C would be the villains. Kyoka and Denki exchanged fistbumps as she walked out with Midoriya.
"Good luck Jirou!" I called out as she passed me. She grinned lazily and mouthed thanks. I went to stand next to my partner, Ojiro.
"So who do you think is going to win?" I asked Ojiro as the villain team began to set up.
"Uhm, it's hard to say. Aoyama's laser is definitely powerful but he can only use it for a second or he gets a stomachache as he's admitted himself. Bakugo's quirk is overall powerful, but …" He trailed off as Bakugo began to yell at Aoyama for some reason.
"He seems like an asshole and reduces team synergy down to zero?" I offered helpfully.
"Yeah." Ojiro laughed. "Midoriya's quirk is really strong too, but it seems to hurt him. They both seem like nice people though so their team synergy is probably better. Honestly it could be anyone's game."
"I guess, though I'm definitely betting on Jirou and Midoriya." I said, closing my eyes and nodding self importantly.
"What's your quirk exactly by the way? I know it has something to do with blood." Ojiro inquired.
"Ah! I can create two dimensional creatures from drawing blood from my skin and drawing it on surfaces upon which it copies the properties of." I said, clasping my hands excitedly. "So if I draw it on concrete, it becomes as tough as concrete! The drawback is I'm limited to the blood I have in my body."
"Wow that's useful. All I have is my tail." He said abashed.
"Your tail is fucking strong as hell." I argued, folding my arms. "I saw your scores in the power testing. You're a monster up close!"
"Haha thanks." Ojiro said, scratching the back of his head. "How do you think we should work together?"
"I was thinking I'd create a bunch of small creatures and have them help herd our enemies toward you." I suggested in a quiet whisper. Everyone else in the room was now potential rivals.
"That sounds promising-," Ojiro whispered back before All-Might cleared his throat loudly to end all the conversations.
"The five minutes are up!" He declared. "Now let's start the indoor combat training of Team A and Team C!"
I stared at the screens, before speaking up. "Teacher, wouldn't it make sense for us to be able to listen in to their conversations to assess their strategy abilities?"
All-Might laughed nervously. "This was set up for me beforehand. I don't really know how to manage the controls to enable that. Maybe next time!"
I nodded in understanding even as I tracked the movements of Jirou and Midoriya. It looks like they infiltrated the lower floors successfully. But Bakugo was leaving Aoyama behind! He looked pissed. Aoyama was looking into a mirror, checking his hair.
"Wha-, he's leaving Aoyama behind!" Mina protested.
"He's being an idiot. Aoyama doesn't have the stamina to protect the bomb by themselves." Todoroki said curtly.
"Not to mention he's going into a 2 on 1. Does he have a plan, Sensei?" Yaoyorozu questioned, flipping her hand elegantly.
"Ah-," All-Might spoke, before Bakugou discovered Izuku and Kyouka and did a jumping smash into the wall! Midoriya dodged backwards while Kyouka had thrown herself to the ground before rolling to her feet and sending a wall of sound from her speaker shoes. Bakugou dodged back into the hallway, but half of him got caught and he slammed into the corner wall hard.
"A surprise attack?!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"I doubt it." I mumbled. Everyone looked at me in surprise. I shuffled my feet nervously at the mass attention. "Kyouka heard him coming a mile away with her hearing. They sprung the trap on purpose."
"That is correct, young Tanaka!" All-Might boomed, with a grin. "They were discussing it over the comms!"
Kyouka kept a wall of sound on Bakugou, pinning him against the wall, while Midoriya dashed forward with the capture tape. However, Bakugou somehow managed to blast Midoriya away by forcing his arm out. He then swiveled his arm, muscles bulging, towards Kyouka and unleashed a huge blast that knocked her off her feet and into a wall herself. Midoriya dashed back in as Kyouka seems dazed, and caught Bakugou's arm as he tried to punch him. In an amazing display of technique, he flipped him and while Bakugou is trying to catch his breath, snapped the capture tape around his wrist.
Bakugou screamed something and lunged at Midoriya with an open palm.
"Stop." All Might boomed into the mic, halting Bakugou's sudden attack. "You lost, Bakugou. Retire to the monitor room."
Bakugou dropped his arm as his eyes widened. He seemed to shake as Midoriya and Kyouka took stock of themselves and edged away from the panic attack he seemed to be having. All Might ended up having to go to him and lead him away from the building as Midoriya and Kyouka tackled the panicking Aoyama who blasted the room with laser blasts, but lack of stamina and intervals of rest led to his pinning by Midoriya and a bomb touch by Kyouka. The whole class except Bakugou cheered as All Might declared their win.
Midoriya seemed dazed as he walked inside the monitor room with a grinning Kyouka. Denki whooped as he high fived Kyouka and Midoriya.
"Now, I'd say the VIP of this match was Jirou!" All Might declared.
"Hm, not Midoriya? He didn't even use his quirk kero!" Asui questioned.
"I wonder why?! Does anyone know!?" All Might shouted, putting his hand up in the air.
"I know why Teacher." Yaoyorozu replied. "It's because Jirou was the most flexible in the scenario. From what I saw, Bakugo's every action was motivated by a personal grudge and that blinded him to Jirou's obvious abilities. Midoriya was impressive but less impressive in that most of the work went to Jirou's load. His tactical sense was solid, but it relied heavily on anticipating Bakugou and Jirou's own ability. Aoyama … Needs to work on his stamina and independent sense of tactics. When Bakugou left, he should have adapted to the new strategy instead of flailing. Perhaps attacking with Bakugou or establishing a stronger defensive position."
There was a short silence.
"Yes … You're correct …" All Might said.
"We've got to start at the bottom and work up! And if we don't earnestly critique each other ..." Yaoyorozu put her hands on her hips and huffed. "We'll never be top heroes!"
All Might cleared his voice. "I'll choose the next team!"
It was Team E, Kirishima and Todoroki, versus Team B, Ojirou and me.
Ah dog shit.
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