"I heard about what happened to you at Kamino." Gang Orca said, steepling his hands over his desk. "I wanted to take a moment to congratulate you, and tell you that I am proud of both what you did and what you were able to overcome."
"T-thank you." I said, standing in his office, nervously tapping my claws against the floor. "Even so I'm, um, I'm sorry but I don't think I'm ready to…"
I trailed off, looking around Gang Orca's office. It had been a few days since the mall incident, most of which I'd spent catching up on sleep, but I hadn't wanted to put off my scheduled therapy. No matter how much Gang Orca terrified me to my core.
"I understand." He nodded his massive head slowly. "It is only one step along your path. Still, it is good that you seek to better yourself by going to therapy."
"Y-yeah. Just one of the steps." I said, taking a deep breath. "I've been doing some thinking. You've… helped me realize something about myself."
"Oh?"
"Back when we first started… you asked if I was a human in my nightmares. I didn't get it then, but now I think… I'm not really afraid of water, or sharks, or… being human. Or, I mean, I am, but those are just… expressions of the same greater whole."
"Like two icebergs that seem separate on the surface, but when you look deeper you realize they're the same."
"Right. And… what I'm really afraid of is helplessness and feeling vulnerable." My tail curled anxiously, scales scraping against Gang Orca's carpet. "I'm afraid of being in the water because it makes me feel helpless. I'm afraid of being human because I feel vulnerable in that form. It's all connected. And because of that… I can't fix one without the other. Like trying to walk forward one foot while the other is stuck in quicksand."
"A good analogy." Gang Orca smiled, and I had to suppress a shiver at the sight of the rows of razor-sharp teeth. "But also because of that, making progress with one problem makes dealing with the other easier."
He gestured below. Gang Orca's office was built over a floor of thick glass somehow made hard enough to withstand even my weight. It was fully translucent, giving a clear view of the vast aquarium tank below. Mercifully well-lit, I could tell that there was nothing in there, but that failed to quell the shudder arising from the base of my neck.
"Are you prepared to go ahead with today's session?"
"Yes. I'm ready."
After the first session all those months ago, we'd continued regular sessions, training in an obstacle course before moving on to underwater training. For today, I'd be going into the tank… and Gang Orca was going to turn the lights off.
"I trust in you to make that call. However, there will be a couple of ground rules. If you cannot take it anymore, give me three pings and I will turn on the lights. I won't be going into the water with you, but I will monitor things from here and if I see things going out of hand I will interrupt the session."
I nodded.
Behind me, there were two entrances out of Gang Orca's office. One led through a glass tunnel down to the main body of the building, while the other opened up to the aquarium below, the water gently sloshing around.
I stepped past the ladder and slipped into the water, tucking my wings against my sides as I swam to the bottom, taking a look around. The tank was cubical in nature, save for the glass tube extending from the base of the tank and leading up, containing the stairway to Gang Orca's office. The rest of it was lined with rocky texture alongside the occasional sea plant undulating softly in the current, but no actual sealife. When we'd first started underwater training I had asked Gang Orca if he removed the fish for me each time, but apparently he used this tank for underwater sparring and didn't want to put them in danger, a realistic training environment be damned.
There are not enough words in the languages of humanity to convey just how little I wanted to imagine what underwater sparring with Gang Orca was like.
The tank was huge in its proportions: I was a good fifteen meters from snout to tail tip last I measured, and you could have fit at least ten of me end on end without hitting anything. I settled in the middle of the aquarium, and tried to prepare myself.
All in all, I was a good swimmer. I could hold my breath for over ten minutes, my tail gave me excellent propulsion, I was reasonably hydrodynamic with my wings folded and my eyes had a translucent lid meant to protect them from debris while flying that also kept the water from stinging my eyes like swimming goggles.
But for all that, I still felt out of my element.
I heard Gang Orca tap on the glass ceiling twice in quick succession, and then the tank was plunged into complete darkness.
I felt my throat constrict as the black enveloped me. There was a tiny bit of light that I realized was coming from the glow of my eyes, but it only just about let me see my own limbs if I moved them around. I might as well have been in the depths of the ocean.
Click.
Listening intently to the returning echo, I formed the mental map in my head, just like Gang Orca had taught me. The aquarium was empty. It was fine. There was nothing there.
And yet, for some reason, that failed to calm my nerves as I peered into the abyss.
Eyes that could pick out a mouse in a cornfield from four kilometers away strained to focus on something, anything, but to little avail. My darkvision was excellent, but the tank was designed for as close to complete darkness as humanly possible, and the glow of my eyes was only enough to cast indistinct, barely perceptible shadows flickering at the edge of my vision.
Total darkness would have been less torturous, but for some reason I couldn't seem to will my eyes to close.
Click.
Nothing.
Except… I heard something. Vibrations in the water. Faint, but there, bouncing off the walls in a repeating rhythm.
Click.
Empty. The aquarium was empty. But how could that be? Gang Orca wouldn't put something in here… but then why…
Click.
I heard it but there's nothing there!
Click.
It was maddening.
I tried to calm myself and think about it rationally. If something was making noise in the water, I should be able to locate it. I strained my ears, trying to parse the source of the noise from the echoes. It was…
I was hearing my own heartbeat, hammering in my chest. It was powerful enough and my hearing acute enough that I could hear the echoes bouncing off of the aquarium walls.
Just echoes, nothing more.
I tried to relax. There was nothing there. Just me, the darkness, and the jackhammer sound of my heartbeat. But if there was something there, I wouldn't be able to hear it over the noise.
I was just sitting here in the darkness, blind and deaf, glowing and shouting my position for everyone to behold. There could be something right next to me and I would never know.
Indistinct shapes moved in the darkness. Were they shadows, products of my own mind, or something more?
I couldn't breathe. Rationally, I knew that I could hold my breath for far longer, but the primitive need to inhale and exhale refused to be denied.
Panic welled within me. I wanted to scream.
Click click click.
Light flooded into my world, illuminating the empty aquarium with painful clarity, but I was already halfway to the exit. I burst from the tank in a flood of water, taking in a shuddering breath of relief as my claws found solid floor beneath them.
Droplets fell on Gang Orca's nice carpet, vapor shrouding around me. I hadn't even realized my body temperature had skyrocketed, extreme fear triggering the reflex just as surely as anger.
"It's over. You are out. You are safe."
Gang Orca did not approach me, and for that I was grateful, but his voice was firm and reassuring, something I could center my thoughts on. He didn't say "it's alright" or that the aquarium had been empty the whole time, only that I was safe now. He talked, and eventually I was able to get my breathing under control, at least enough to speak.
"That was horrible."
"You were in there for five minutes." Gang Orca explained.
"Felt like thirty seconds." I mumbled in surprise. "And an hour. At the same time."
"How was it?" He asked, before clarifying. "I know that it may seem obvious, but it is valuable to put your feelings to words."
"It was horrible. But… I did it. It was progress. I wasn't expecting to last even that long." I said, my breathing still a little shallow. "And… I got out when it became too much."
"Rather than try to power through it until you had a breakdown?" Gang Orca asked, pointedly enough that there was no doubt what he was talking about.
"That's already hit the news?" I groaned.
"That you can turn human again? Yes." He nodded in confirmation. "I do not believe most people would have the personal experience to put together that you had a full-blown meltdown just from the descriptions, however."
"I'm not sure if that's any better, if they think I just assaulted that guy for no reason."
"I didn't say it was." Gang Orca said bluntly, sitting back behind his desk. "That is beside the scope of our session, however. Your sister is far more capable of advising you about public relations than I am. I wanted to see if you'd learned your lesson, and to your credit, you have. That is good. But it was still incredibly irresponsible of you to jump cold turkey into trying to be human again full-time."
"I realize that now." I mumbled.
"See that you do." He said, steepling his hands. "It is like you said, your thalassophobia and fears of being human stem from the same source. And as such, the treatment should be the same. Exposure in limited doses, in a safe environment, where you can end it if it becomes overwhelming. Ideally, try finding an activity you enjoy, perhaps something you missed doing. Positive association is a crude but key aspect of psychology. Can you think of anything like that?"
"I… yeah." I said, gears churning in my head. Something I enjoy, something I missed… "I think I've got it."
"Good. Now, I believe our session is at an end. I realize it was on the shorter side, but I believe it's for the best, unless you have something else you wanted to talk about. It would be unwise to keep going after such a stressful experience."
I held in my sigh, accepting the chastisement.
"Actually, there is something I wanted to say." I said, fidgeting in place. "Not related to the therapy… well, it is, but not- not directly."
"Oh?" He said, inclining his head. "Go ahead, then. I would be happy to help
"It's not- well. I'm just going to say it." I said, feeling awkward. "I wanted to thank you for doing this, when you didn't need to. Even if I know you said you did, but still. Thank you."
"I see." Gang Orca said with an even nod, but there was a definite warmth in his voice. "In that case, you are most certainly welcome."
"What you said about helping people being the essence of heroism… it stuck with me. At Kamino… I was about to die. But there was somebody that needed my help. And what you said… it was one of the things that helped me keep going. Helped me push through, and realize what kind of Hero I want to be. Someone who helps people."
-----
A knock resounded on my door, though I'd heard the approaching footsteps long before that. There was comfort in that, being able to properly remain aware of my surroundings again.
"Come in."
The door slid open as Yui, Pony, Itsuka and Setsuna piled into my new room.
"Wow! There's so much… space!" Pony exclaimed, looking around in wonder.
To create my new room Cementoss had knocked down several walls and floors to combine together a few of the empty rooms adjacent to my old one, and then pushed the external wall outwards for good measure.
The end result was a truly cavernous room that dwarfed even the one that I'd had back home. I could stand on my hind legs and my horn wouldn't even touch the ceiling, and horizontally each wall was at least three times my own length from the opposite side. There were three doors: two dragon-sized, one leading into the dormitory's common room and another opposite to it. The one regular-sized door, and the one my friends had just arrived through was my old one, still accessible from the second floor of the building. There was a small balcony there, a few chairs and a small staircase leading to the ground floor.
"I would have thought Cementoss was going to remove the old door." Pony noted, the question apparent in her voice.
"He was originally going to, but I asked him to keep it." I shrugged my massive shoulders. "Means I don't have to look down on you when I'm talking to you guys."
It turns out that standing on all fours and holding my head up puts me at roughly eye level with somebody on the balcony.
"What, you don't want us filthy two-legs contaminating your new carpets?" Setsuna grinned.
"Yes, it's so nice when people get it without having to be told." I rolled my eyes. "No, you can come down. It's just something I thought would be nice to have."
"You weren't kidding about the carpet." Yui muttered, her foot sinking slightly into the soft material.
"Yeah…" I shrugged once more. "It's more… it feels better for me. I don't like my claws scraping against a hard surface."
"With your ears, no wonder."
"Geez, way to make a girl self-conscious."
The others suddenly froze, a panicked expression flashing into Itsuka's face.
"I'm so, so, sorr-"
"That... was a joke." I muttered quietly, causing them to stiffen up again.
"...Oh."
"Sorry. Shouldn't have joked about… that."
"No no no, it's my fault. I didn't realize it. You're…"
"Less of an emotionally volatile mess when I'm a dragon?"
"I was going to say more confident." Itsuka frowned. "You shouldn't say those sorts of things about yourself."
"Well, it's the truth."
"That doesn't mean using negative language to talk about yourself is healthy."
"...I guess." I grunted noncommittally. "Anyway, you were here to take a look at my new room. Not that there's a lot to look at, I mostly just brought my stuff over from home and you've already seen that."
"I haven't!" Pony exclaimed cheerfully, bouncing back and forth on her hooves. "Ooh! Pillows!'
"I see Mount Pillow grows ever larger." Setsuna said with a grin, nodding at the pile of cushions that served as my bed.
"What sort of dragon would I be if I didn't have a lair?"
"I've been reliably informed that foreboding caverns high up in the mountains are more traditional." Yui noted drily. "Volcanoes, in particular."
"Nah. Could I do this in some damp cave?" I said, flopping onto the pile and wiggling my body until I sunk into it. Each pillow was the size of a regular mattress, and there were over a hundred of them, forming a veritable mountain that I could burrow into until bits of my wings, tail and horns were poking out.
I dug myself out while the others laughed, shaking off the last of the pillows. "But yeah. I've got my things set up here: computer, miniatures, collections, my own little kitchen…"
"What's that door lead to?" Pony asked, gesturing towards the large doorway at the back of the room.
"Well, they decided to go all-in on making sure I could stay as a dragon if I wanted." I said, walking up to the door and nudging it open with a claw. "So here's my bathroom."
The walls were covered with ceramic tiles while a carpet of water-resistant, soft plastic was laid on the floor. There was an assembly of showerheads linked to one control valve, appropriately scaled for my claws. There was a mirror, some cabinets, a toilet, and a device extending from the wall consisting of bristles at the end of a long rod.
"Is that a giant electric toothbrush?" Yui asked as they followed me inside.
"Yes."
"Wow, they really did think of everything."
"And if you'd líke to check this out." I said as I walked up to the other door leading even further beyond, unable to entirely hold back my giddiness.
Behind the glass door was a third room, the floor similarly covered but the walls were made out of wood. Most of the room was empty, besides a massive pile of foam pillows and a large device mounted on the far wall, a metal box with small rocks stacked on top of it.
"It's a sauna."
"Alright, now I'm jealous." Setsuna pouted. "Why don't our rooms come with personal saunas?"
"Would you use it if they did?" Yui asked.
"No, but I'm outraged I don't have the option to choose not to."
"Anyway, there's one more thing I wanted to show you guys." I said, closing the sauna door and heading back to the main room, the others following me curiously. I led them to the small kitchenette in the corner of my room, with a fridge, stove, oven, several cabinets and a small table.
"But we saw this already?"
"Well, uh." I said, suddenly feeling awkward. "Why don't you check inside the oven?"
Pony crouched down to open the oven door, peering within.
"There's… a bunch of pies here?" She said, taking a closer look. "Why does this one have my name on… oh!"
"Because it's for you, you big dummy." I shook my head in exasperation.
Pony's response was to catapult herself at me, hugging me as best as she could when her hands didn't even reach halfway around my neck.
"You're the best friend ever!"
"You made these?" Yui asked, pulling out one of the plates. There were four of them, each with a little name tag stuck to them.
"Don't look so surprised, I told you I know how to bake." I said. "They're thank-you pies. For all four of you."
"You didn't need to do all this-" Itsuka began.
"My gratitude is non-negotiable." I insisted, my voice firm. "You guys… are the best friends I could have ever asked for."
"Still… this must've taken hours." Itsuka said. "Forcing yourself to spend all that time as a human…"
"I like baking." I cut her off again, sitting down by the table and folding my forelimbs. "And I like my friends. I didn't force myself to do anything, I even got to eat the ones I messed up. So… please. There's cutlery in the cupboard and vanilla cream in the fridge. You don't have to eat the whole thing in one fitting, but I thought it'd be nice to…"
"Of course we'd like to have pie with you." Yui said, kicking Itsuka in the shins. "And we're all very thankful for this gift and really appreciate it."
"Yeah! Of course." Itsuka agreed, as if only just now realizing something. "Thank you."
I let out a sigh or relief as my friends piled around the table, starting to dig into the pastries.
There had been one more reason I'd asked Cementoss to incorporate my old door. It was… it was stupid. I couldn't even properly articulate it. It was just… when he'd mentioned removing it, it had felt wrong.
It was stupid.
I remembered talking to Vlad King, expressing my worries about living in the dorms so close to my classmates.
But right now… even the tiniest, most insignificant amount of extra distance from my friends made my stomach turn.
I've been working on a bit of a project recently, combining two of my favorite hobbies:
Printer is Anycubic Mono, STL is this, and painted with GW Citadel paints.
I had it 3d-printed by a friend and painted it myself to use as a proxy model in my Warhammer Age of Sigmar army. I know it doesn't match Ryuuzaki perfectly (She's more muscular and has a more saurian headshape as well as plates running along her belly), but it's the closest I could get and could serve to indicate what an older Ryuuzaki might look like.
"I'm sure you're all wondering what the next step is going to be, now that classes are starting again."
Vlad King spoke to the gathered class, arranged in a semicircle in Training Ground Gamma, a huge but featureless hall with a concrete floor.
"Over the course of the summer, you have strengthened your Quirks and pushed yourselves to new levels. Now comes the time to put that to practice, because the next stage of your training will be to acquire your Provisional Hero Licenses."
I felt my heart skip a beat, my tail curling around my feet. Provisional Hero Licenses… these would officially empower us to act as Heroes, without the supervision of a Pro-Hero. All around me I saw my classmates having similar reactions, standing taller with gleams in their eyes, excited whispering breaking out amongst the crowd.
"I see you still remember what those are. Excellent." Vlad King crossed his arms. "Remember, however, that they are only provisional licenses, contingent upon either an emergency, or working under a properly licensed Hero. Not a sanction to go looking for trouble on your own."
I did not need to follow his eyes to know who he was looking at.
"Now!" He clapped his hands together. "The test is as difficult as it is important, and we have more preparations to do. Today, you will be coming up with your super moves."
The door behind him opened, admitting Cementoss and Ectoplasm.
"You will be tested on many criteria." The latter continued where Vlad King had left off. "Leadership, charisma, mobility, decision-making, intelligence gathering and communication. But in these times, the most important of them all will be combat prowess. Your ability to subdue villains."
"If you can act with decisive, stable moves to take down your opponents, you're already halfway there." Cementoss added, raising a finger. "That's where super moves come in: these are your go-to's. A varied arsenal is good, but especially when you don't have a lot of experience it's important to have a few moves you've honed to a perfection. One who has practiced a single kick ten thousand times is far more fearsome than he who has practiced ten thousand kicks only once."
He put his hands on the floor of the warehouse, the concrete flowing like liquid as it rose to form hills, cliffs and pillars of a variety of sizes and shapes. Some formed clusters of tiny targets, others' peaks rose nearly to the ceiling.
"In other words, you'll be training to enhance your use of your Quirks and forming your own super moves through some Plus Ultra training!" Ectoplasm added as he opened his mouth, glowing silvery smoke pouring out to form countless copies across Cementoss' concrete landscape, taking up positions. "I will be your opponent!"
"Remember, a Super Move can be anything: attack, defence, mobility, stealth, capture, battlefield control or manipulation." Vlad King explained. "Combine your Quirk with your equipment, skills and experiences to put together a cohesive and effective whole. I know many of you have been thinking about or working on your Super Moves already, so show us what you have!"
"Yes! Please allow me to demonstrate my Super Moves!" Yoarashi announced with unbridled enthusiasm. "I have prepared several, in the name of Plus Ultra!"
"As expected…" Tsubaraba blanched.
"Indeed! My favourite and ultimate move is of course Heaven-Splitting Thunderstrike, but alas, it requires certain weather conditions that cannot be guaranteed, so I cannot show it off here!" He paused for a moment, before adding: "Also, it cannot be performed indoors. As such, I can only demonstrate my lesser moves, such as Spiralling Typhoon Slash!"
He brought his hands together over his head and made a downward chopping motion, a blade of condensed wind forming along the movement and slashing outward. It flew forward to cleave one of the concrete targets in two, the upper half collapsing to the floor.
"I devised it before the Sports Festival to counteract hardened enemies, such as our very own Tatsuma!"
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Indeed you should, for that is what it is!" He exclaimed triumphantly. "In fact, even with these preparations, you proved the superiority of your fiery spirit on the battlefield!"
"Didn't you have another move to show us…?" Yanagi questioned with a tilt of her head.
"Corrrect!" He announced, rolling r's "Behold my Pressure Bomb Cyclone!"
Yoarashi threw his arms up towards the ceiling and gathered wind into two spiralling cyclones over each hand. He began condensing them, shrinking the columns of churning air as he forced them together. When the air had been compressed into a sphere the size of a football between his hands, he sent it out, impacting against a concrete target. It detonated with a boom that made me wince and my ears feel weird, shattering the target into rubble.
"By modulating the strength, I can also use it to stun my opponents!"
"Doubling down on range and area control, huh?" Ectoplasm commented. "That's good, just don't let yourself get caught in hand to hand."
"Believe me sir, I have many plans to address that!" Yoarashi replied, throwing his head back for a laugh. "Alas, my hot-blooded spirit could not allow me to train more than three Super Moves already!
"Even though two of them are the same thing, just shaped differently- hey!" Setsuna drawled sarcastically, but I gently tapped her over the head with the tip of my tail.
"Don't rain on his parade." I told her.
"Practice those moves with Cementoss and Ectoplasm. Even when it feels like you've got it down keep working on them, because there's always something to improve." Vlad King spoke to Yoarashi, but it was clear his words were meant for the whole class. "Accuracy, speed, efficiency, different targets, different environments, variations, all of it and more. You have to be able to perform the Super Move like it's second nature, in any situation you come across. Just because it feels easy on the training grounds is no excuse to slack off, because it's a different matter entirely when you're dead on your feet from exhaustion and being pummelled by an opponent." He finished, turning to regard the rest of us. "Now, I'll be going through the class one by one, and looking at where you're at. Would anybody like to volunteer to go next?"
To my surprise, I saw Yanagi raise her hand. She was usually very quiet and reserved, even if she was very wordy when she did speak up.
"How should we proceed, should we find ourselves in the position of not having any ideas for these special maneuvers?" She asked, fiddling with the hem of her kimono. "As my Quirk necessitates nearby objects to work with, I can't plan around what I'll have access to in the field of battle."
"It's perfectly fine to still be a little lost." Vlad King said. "Or if you just have a general idea, or if you've already got it down and just need to hone it to perfection. That's what this class is for, to bring you all up to speed."
"In your case, Yanagi, I would recommend speaking to the Support Department to try to find equipment you could carry with you to use your Quirk on." Cementoss spoke up, reaching for a container on his belt. He clipped it open, revealing small concrete tablets. "Even if it's not much, I've found that it helps to have something for emergencies. Perhaps a pouch of ball bearings would be useful to you?"
"For similar reasons, I also can't really learn Super Moves." Monoma admitted, shaking his head. "No point in training for specific moves when I can't count on having access to those Quirks."
"Correct. But that's why we have something else in mind for you today." One of the Ectoplasm clones said, stepping closer. "You've had plenty of training adapting to new Quirks and how to fight with them. But at some point in your career, you will run into a situation where you won't have any Quirks stockpiled, and no friendlies to draw them from. What will you do then?"
"Copy them from the villains." Monoma smiled.
"Indeed. But how will you take on an opponent with a Quirk, without one of your own?"
"Spoiler warning: you don't." Setsuna stage-whispered.
Before I could get to her Ectoplasm's head whipped around, his white eyes peering at her.
"Do not be so quick to resort to mockery. It is not an enviable position to be in, to have to stand in the face of a far superior opponent with little hope of victory, yet knowing that you must do so." Then, he returned his attention to Monoma. "Ideally, your opponent wouldn't know you can copy a Quirk at a touch, and thus wouldn't know to keep their distance, but as a Hero you are always working at an informational disadvantage. As such, we'll be working with the assumption…"
As they went off I turned to Setsuna, a remark at the tip of my tongue, but it fell away as I saw that Ectoplasm had more than made his point. Her normally patchy skin had faded into nearly-uniform pale, her eyes wide and glassy.
"Setsuna?"
"So, are you gonna lecture me again?"
"I think Ectoplasm made his point." Probably better than he'd even realized.
"Yeah yeah." She started, before catching herself. "Fuck. Yeah. I'll apologize to Blondie later."
I let it go, tuning back in to watch Itsuka clap her hands together, a visible shockwave rippling outward through the air that sent the clones flying.
"An area effect like that is an invaluable addition to your hand-to-hand arsenal." Vlad King spoke with an approving tone. "Precision will be key. Yoarashi! You're our expert on aerodynamics, work with her to improve her control. This will be important training for you as well, as teaching someone else is also a step on your own path towards mastery."
I watched them from the corner of my eye, even as the class proceeded. Kuroiro had developed the ability to control whatever he was possessing to a limited degree, and by adding a black cloak to his uniform he could use his Quirk on it and move stealthily. Tsuburaba was working on creating different shapes out of solidified air, while Awase had added thick metal plates to his costume which he could repurpose to bind an opponent.
Komori… I wasn't really sure what she was doing.
"This is my Splitgill Lung Strike!" She announced cheerfully, spreading her arms wide.
Lung…? What does that mean?
"Uh, is something supposed to happen?" Tetsutetsu asked, scratching his head.
"Just wait a moment, please!"
Suddenly, the Ectoplasm clone began coughing, at first merely clearing his throat, but soon he was reduced to agonized spasms, gasping for air.
"What was that?"
"I directed some of my schizophyllum commune spores to grow in his throat."
"...Komori, what the fuck." Kaibara questioned, mirroring the reactions evident on the faces of much of the rest of the class. "That's way too cruel."
"It's effective." Komori snapped indignantly.
"She has a point, you know." Monoma spoke up, twirling his stopwatch with his index finger. "It's not the sort of move that you should use casually, but if someone's life was on the line… I'd rather the villain suffer some discomfort than let innocents die."
"We're talking about growing mushrooms inside someone's throat and choking them out!" Tetsutetsu growled. "That's something a villain would do."
"They tried to kill us! In our sleep!" Komori exploded with fury that I hadn't thought the tiny girl was capable of. "It's easy for you to talk a big game when your skin can turn into steel, but not all of us are so lucky!" She jabbed Tetsutetsu on the chest. I didn't think I'd ever seen Komori even get angry before. "How do you expect me to subdue someone five times my bodyweight and probably with super strength to boot, then?! Shall I just lightly spray some spores in their direction and wait for them to oblige?!"
"Enough." Vlad King boomed as he stepped between the two, physically pushing them apart. "Tetsutetsu, Kaibara, I don't want to hear you using that kind of language about your classmates ever again. If you truly believe there's a problem, you come to me or another teacher. Is this understood?"
The two of them looked sulky, but didn't argue.
Vlad King knelt to address Komori, whose burst of anger seemed to have gone as quickly as it had come, sniffing as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her costume.
"I understand that what happened that night has affected all of us." He said, his remaining eye shining with sympathy. "I'm not forbidding you from using that move. But you have to be careful. You go just a little too far, and someone could end up dead. In addition to your regular therapy, I'm assigning you additional lessons with Recovery Girl."
"Vlad King-Sensei!" I spoke up before I'd even properly processed the thought. "As Vice Class President, I must object!"
"You do not believe additional training is necessary?" He asked neutrally, looking up at me.
"That is not what I meant. I object to singling out Komori. Even if her Quirk appears disturbing, any of us are capable of seriously injuring or killing someone with our Quirks. I-" I choked slightly, bile rising in my throat as I remembered the taste of human flesh. It was like pork. "I could do that simply by stepping on someone. Therefore, I believe that I should also receive this additional training. And suggest that we should all partake, as a class."
"Yeah!" Itsuka joined in. "As the Class President, I second that motion. I could easily injure someone with my strength, and I believe all of us could benefit from it."
"I'm inclined to agree." Monoma added, his eyes twinkling. "Who knows what kind of damage I could do with a strange and unfamiliar Quirk I picked up on the battlefield?"
"A true hero never gives up a chance to better themselves!" Yoarashi said.
The others joined in one by one, eventually even Kaibara, until only Tetsutetsu was left, crossing his arms defiantly. Even he couldn't last long under Itsuka's disapproving gaze.
"Fine, I guess punching someone with a steel fist could hurt 'em pretty bad…"
"Very well. I will make the arrangements." Vlad King said slowly, but there was an odd ghost of a smile on his mouth as he looked at me, before it was gone like it had never existed.
The class went on. Shiozaki showed off her Crucifixion technique, trapping her opponent in a ball of vines suspended in the air. Honenuki could tunnel through the ground by swimming, softening it in front of him and solidifying it behind him. He'd added an air tank and a GPS to his costume to help with navigating.
But that smile continued to bother me. What did it mean? Did Vlad King approve? Did he want me to speak up? Why couldn't he just say it himself?
Except… thinking about it, what would have happened if he had? I could picture it in my head. Groaning and complaining about boring safety lessons after hours. Worse, Komori would be an easy conduit for that frustration. 'She's the one who skirted the line, so why do we all need to be punished?'
If he knew us well enough to know at least one of us would speak up… that son of- He got us to volunteer for extra lessons of our own initiative, and because it was presented as solidarity for our classmate instead of collective punishment, he managed to strengthen the class spirit while he was at it, instead of dividing it.
And if he was wrong, he could still change his mind and 'come up' with it himself. It was manipulative, but I couldn't help but respect his dedication.
Returning my attention to the rest of the class, I saw Setsuna separate her hands at the wrist, new ones growing in their place before separating again. Before long, some twenty-odd disembodied fists floated in the air, each of them grabbing a small device from her belt.
"Gecko Rush!"
The fists flew forward in a barrage, the devices crackling with electricity as the Ectoplasm clone fell to the ground, convulsing. Tokage turned us, proudly thrusting her chest forward with her hands on her hips.
"I don't know what they taught you in Middle School Biology, but geckos don't have tasers." Yui noted.
"They could if you're not a coward."
"Why don't we have tasers?" Tsubaraba complained.
"You could, if you took the certification course like she did." Vlad King explained. "And passed the written and practical exam."
"Eeeehhh…"
"The tasers might be effective, but only hold so much charge and you won't be able to bring them everywhere." Vlad King said, turning to Setsuna. "I want you to also train for a version without them."
"Fiiiineee…"
Bondo concentrated his glue into a spitball that he could shoot at greater distances than merely spraying. Fukidashi's Quirk was basically nothing but Super Moves, so he had plenty to work with.
When it was Yui's turn, she stepped forward, announcing her attack with a blank face.
"Telescopic Impact."
She pulled out a collapsible baton from her belt, swinging it over her head in the direction of one of Ectoplasm's clones. As it descended her Quirk activated, the baton rapidly expanding in size until it reached the concrete pillar. She was forced to let go of it, allowing the eighteen wheeler-size rod to fall with earthshaking force, squashing the clone.
Yui tapped the baton once, shrinking it down to its original size, and then collapsed it back into a pocket on her belt. Then, she pulled down her right sleeve, showing off a wrist-mounted support item. She reached into one of the pouches on her costume, pulling out what seemed to be a smooth pebble, and loaded it into the item.
"Siege Catapult."
I could make out the click of a spring mechanism being released as the pebble was flung towards the concrete pillars. It began growing mid-air- Yui must have shrunken down boulders to use as ammunition -and hit home with incredible force, retaining its velocity despite the drastic increase in mass.
"You'll want to focus on accuracy and situational awareness." Ectoplasm, or at least one of his clones, said. "The baton is a good idea, but I noticed that once you've expanded it you can't control its trajectory anymore, so you have to be certain of your targeting. Same with the boulders, and not just for accuracy. Those things can cause serious damage if you miss."
"Understood." Yui nodded. "I have several different sizes of boulders, and I can adjust the spring force of the catapult." She paused for a moment, before continuing. "I will also speak with the Support Department about alternative projectile materials."
"Good." Vlad King nodded. "Get spares of the baton and the catapult as well, and shrink them down so you can keep them on you. With a Quirk that needs objects to use it on, you don't want to be caught without them or disarmed."
Yui stepped back as Rin came forward to demonstrate how he could extend his scales like hedgehog spines, shielding himself from attack. Kaibara was practicing rotating his legs to bounce around.
Tetsutetsu… was Tetsutetsu.
"Steel Justice Charge! I run at my opponent and pound them to submission with my fists!"
"That just sounds like what he does every time…" Yui commented quietly as Tetsutetsu ran off.
"It might seem simple, but it's actually quite clever." Itsuna explained, raising a finger. "He's yelling and charging towards the enemy, drawing attention to himself and away from his teammates or civilians. Most villains wouldn't expect a Hero to simply charge at them, putting them on the back foot, and he's forcing them to react to him instead."
I glanced at Tetsutetsu, who was yelling at the top of his lungs while slowly punching the concrete pillar to pieces.
"I… really don't think he thought about it that far…"
"Well, maybe it is simple, but is that so bad?" Itsuka replied, a strange defensive edge to her voice. "He's doing what works, with what he has. That's admirable."
Setsuna and Uui gave Itsuka odd looks, but said nothing.
"Yeah, I didn't mean to sound so negative." I mumbled. "Sorry."
"My turn now!" Pony announced cheerfully. "Dash Hammer: Horn Express!"
Six of her horns slotted into the stirrups in her costume, locking in place and rocketing her forward at lightning speed. She zipped across the warehouse, zig-zagging between the concrete cliffs and pillars. Her top speed wasn't anything special compared to speedsters like Iida or even Midoriya, but her maneuverability was insane. With telekinetic control over her movements she could stop, turn or change direction at the speed of thought, even mid-air. She finished off with a flying roundhouse kick, her hoof obliterating the Ectoplasm clone's head and sending it spinning through the air, before it dissolved into silvery smoke.
It was easy to forget that despite her tiny size, Pony had inherited parts of her parents' Mutant Quirks, and her kicks hit hard even without the velocity imparted by her horns behind them.
"Good use of your mobility, you can avoid enemy attacks and confuse them about where you're coming from." Ectoplasm told her. "Locking all of your horns in place leaves you open to counterattack if the enemy sees through it, however. Consider detaching one or two horns to shield yourself a moment before the impact, even if it costs you some of your velocity."
"Also, talk to the Support Department about adding some impact-resistant padding to your costume." Vlad King added. "We don't want you to get injured flying around."
"Got it!" She replied.
After Pony, there were only two left.
"After my loss to Miss Tatsuma in the Sports Festival, I spent some time thinking about how to best proceed." Shishida explained. "For the first time, I had met someone who was bigger, stronger, faster, tougher and more skilled than I was. Furthermore I realized I would continue to meet such opponents, and brute force would prove insufficient. Alas, I realized I had already found the answer during our battle on impulse."
"You could transform." I stated plainly. "While I could not."
"Quite. Not just that, I found that I could transform quickly and frequently, and honed that advantage with training. The result of this training is the maneuver I am calling 'Re-Beast'." He said, turning towards me as he transformed into his beast form. "Miss Tatsuma, if you would please attempt to strike me?"
"Well, if you're sure." I took a slight run up and charged at him, swinging a fist towards his head. Just before the impact he de-transformed, allowing my fist to sail over him, before re-transforming, grabbing a hold of my forelimb and doing the best impression of a judo throw possible when the target is a giant dragon instead of a human. I landed on my back with a thud, smoothly rolling onto my feet.
"It's a good trick to keep the enemy off balance, but don't rely on it too much." Vlad King told him. "If an enemy knows where to strike, you've just made yourself a softer target."
"Of course. I have not neglected my regular training regimen either, it is merely that it is not quite conspicuous enough to warrant Super Move status."
There was something that was bothering me, however.
"Just one question." I spoke up, eyeing him. "It's been almost five months since the Sports Festival. You made this style to counter opponents like me. But in all this time, you didn't ask me to spar with you to test it?"
"It did not feel proper to flaunt the fact that I could transform, when your situation clearly caused you distress."
I felt a wave of annoyance pass through me. It was thoughtful of him, sure, but it felt... patronizing, to have him decide I was too fragile to know what he was up to.
Still, I didn't voice the thought so as to not appear ungrateful, and soon I was spared from the awkward silence.
"Tatsuma!" Vlad King turned to look up at me. "You're up. Show us what you've got."
"Right." I shook my head, gathering my thoughts. "Endeavour taught me a lot about controlling my flames, but… I'm a dragon first and fire-user second. I can't just copy his moves and expect them to work for me. So instead… I've been coming up with my own style, combining the two instead of trying to separate them.
I picked out my target, a huge concrete pillar nearly my size Cementoss had left jutting out of the floor for just such a purpose. I breathed in, my entire body coiling like a taut spring, muscles bunching up beneath white scales. Then, with one explosive movement I accelerated into a charge, my claws gouging grooves into the floor.
Right before impact I exhaled, flames billowing out of my mouth, but instead of spreading out they wrapped around my right forelimb, covering it in a layer of swirling orange fire. I swiped horizontally, flame-sheathed claws slicing through the concrete like butter. The pillar fell backwards, separated into multiple pieces, the edges glowing red-hot.
"Layering your flame breath on top of your physical strikes, taking advantage of increased control at close ranges. Impressive." Vlad King nodded as I walked back. "Why the claws? Would not a headbutt be more devastating?"
"It obstructs my view, and my control is not good enough to leave openings for my eyes yet." I replied. "Ultimately I want to form it into a reactive cloak around me, covering my body and protecting me against attacks but able to be shifted around for offense, or even ejected in a jet for mobility. But that's still far in the future."
"No hesitation." Vlad King nodded again approvingly. "Very good. Do you have a name for this technique?"
"I don't-"
"Furnace Fist Style!" Pony cut me off, pumping a fist into the air with enthusiasm.
"That's not what it's called!"
"Well, what is it called, then?"
"Nothing! It doesn't have a name!" I almost went to fold my arms until I remembered that I was a quadruped at the moment and couldn't do that without falling over. "It's silly."
"Ah." Vlad King replied, as only a teacher who's probably heard the same argument year after year can.
"Hey!" Setsuna called out.
"I don't judge you, so don't judge me."
"You don't have to name your Super Moves, but it's a useful shorthand." Vlad King explained. "When I call out that I'm using Blood Binding Art, my fellow Heroes know that I'm about to snare the feet of the opponents, and that they should take advantage of that. When you hear Endeavour say 'Prominence Burn', you know that you need to vacate the area because he's using his strongest attack."
"It still feels pretentious to call my attacks." I muttered.
"All-Might calls his attacks."
"And I'm not All-Might." I said, tossing my neck in frustration.
"Then don't call them out in battle." Vlad King said. "Having a name for a move is useful in general, and If you don't come up with one, the public will. They love that sort of stuff."
"Ooh! That's right!" Pony cheered. "Furnace Fist Style is going to look so cool on your Hero Wiki article!"
"It's not called that stop calling it that."
-----
"What on earth are you wearing?"
"It's a school uniform, Setsuna." I mumbled self-consciously, fiddling with my tie as I sat behind my desk. "I don't know if you've noticed, but you're wearing one too."
"No, but, I mean that's a boys uniform."
"Technically, yes." I said, trying not to show my nervousness as I pulled out the UA Student's Handbook from my back pocket. "But if you'd like to check for yourself, there's no rule saying that girls can't wear the boys' uniform, and vice versa. Only that you should wear one or the other."
"And they just allowed that? I refuse to believe Nedzu didn't realize the loophole when writing it."
"Actually, he said that it's intentional."
"Wait, so I could have been wearing pants instead of a skirt this whole time?" Setsuna exclaimed, slamming her palms on her desk.
"Would you have?"
"No, but I'm outraged I didn't know I had a choice." She huffed, before turning back to glance up at me. "So, uh, I thought you got permission to attend class as a dragon?"
"I did, yeah, but… you know, I'm just testing the waters. S-seeing how it feels." I mumbled. "In small doses. Like-like Itsuka said."
She was quiet for a long moment. "That's really brave of you."
"Well, um, I might still… decide to g-go back if it becomes too much."
Goddammit. Here I was again, reduced to a stuttering mess.
I sat down behind my desk, booting up my tablet. Because yeah, even with fingers I still couldn't write. Three years without fine motor skills will do that to you. Even if I worked my ass off to one day regain that ability… I'd probably never have neat or tidy handwriting again.
The rest of 1-B filtered into the classroom one by one, variations of my conversation with Setsuna playing out several times. Why I was in human form, why I was wearing pants, offering support… I loved them for it, but it was also tiring, and I breathed a sigh of relief when Ectoplasm arrived to start Mathematics.
Schoolwork had become easier once I'd gotten used to the fact that I just couldn't remember it from before, but it was still rough. All of my memories from… back then were growing hazy with every passing year, and only the ones colored with strong emotions seemed to retain any sort of clarity.
Algebra was not one of those memories.
Which left me in a pickle. Hero Students were not allowed to neglect academic subjects, and what would have been excellence in another school was merely passable at UA, Plus Ultra and all that. To excel, you would need to be a certified genius.
And I wasn't a genius.
I was good, certainly, and had some frankly unfair advantages like already being a proficient English speaker, but academically I was merely middle of the road. It was… frustrating. I felt like I wasn't living up to Ryuko's recommendation.
I tried to focus on the lesson instead, tapping away at my tablet as I made notes. That, at least, was a point in the favor of humanity: fingers were a lot more useful than claws.
That was about where it ended, however.
Even merely following Ectoplasm's lecture was significantly harder- I had 20/20 vision and no hearing problems, yes, but I was used to being able to hear a pin drop in a busy cafeteria and having eyesight better than an eagle. It felt like I was wearing earplugs and eyeglasses of the wrong prescription.
And that wasn't even talking about all the aches and itches that were part and parcel of the human experience. Seriously, I wanted to have words with whoever designed my nervous system to give me an uncontrollable urge to scratch various parts of my body every so often. My clothes chafed and my tie felt like it was choking me.
All in all, I wasn't a fan.
After the outburst at the mall, it felt easier to examine my own feelings, especially as I switched between forms regularly.
I felt out of my element in human form. Exactly as I had in the water. Like I was… floating, helpless.
My fists clenched, forearm muscles pulling taut against the sleeves.
It was fine. I looked around myself. I was in class, surrounded by my friends.
I took a deep, calming breath, and allowed myself to relax. I unclenched my fingers one by one, counting to twenty, and then tuned back in on the lesson on trigonometry.
Eventually, the bell rang and it was over. I'd lasted a full lesson. I sighed, slumping out of my seat to pack up my tablet.
"Eeeeeee-"
Pony hurled herself at me, her head colliding with my abdomen. She staggered backward slightly from the impact, dazed, before throwing her hands around me. I returned the hug as best I could despite the fact that I was taller than her by more than two heads.
"What's the occasion?"
"Don't need one!"
Well, I couldn't argue with that. Alright, so maybe there was another upside to humanity in addition to fingers: hugs.
Hugs were great.
"So how does it feel, not being the tallest person in our class anymore?"
I gave Setsuna a bland look as Pony pulled away to go pack up her own stuff.
"Lies and slander. None of you are taller than me."
"Bondo is."
I looked at the quiet, yellow-skinned boy, and scowled. He'd always been tall and broad, and it seemed that he'd put on even more height over the summer.
"He's not taller than me. Look." I stepped next to him and moved my hand over our heads to illustrate. "See?"
"Ryuuzaki, horns don't count for measuring height."
"Of course they count!" I huffed, crossing my arms. "Pony, horns count right?"
"Definitely." Pony, who hadn't listened to a word either of us had said before then, replied without hesitation.
"See?"
"She's biased." Setsuna retorted immediately.
"No, she's a subject matter expert with personal experience."
"Which makes her biased."
"Then everyone on the planet is biased- either they have horns or don't have horns. No matter which it is, they have a stake in the matter."
"You're impossible." Setsuna rolled her eyes. "Also, if horns count, then so does Bondo's… squiggly thing."
"It's floppy, it's more like his hair. Not comparable to horns at all."
"Do I get a say in this?" Bondo asked, scratching the side of his head.
"No." We both said at the same time.
"Hmm. Well, I'll leave you to it then."
I breathed in slowly, looking around. Most of the class had already left or were in the process of doing so. Itsuka and Yui were off to study English, leaving just me, Setsuna and Pony. I paused, trying to figure out how to say what I wanted to.
"You know you can just spit it out instead of looking at us all shifty." Setsuna said.
"I don't have anything to spit out." I mumbled.
"Ryuuzaki, you are the worst liar in the history of liars."
"Ehh… the thing is.." I fiddled with my fingers. "You remember that weight machine Cementoss made for me to train in my dragon form with? With the pulley system and slabs of concrete?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I… might not have realized how much stronger I'd been getting over the summer, and snapped the nanofiber cable he gave me." I felt my face heating up. "And it's going to be a few days before the Support Department can get a new and thicker one. Sssooo since Hound Dog cleared me to start going to the normal gym, I was going to give that a shot. AndIwaswonderingifeitherofyouwouldliketocomewithmebecause-"
"Sorry, I'm having a video call with my parents." Pony said apologetically.
"Oh!" Setsuna exclaimed, her face lighting up with excitement. "I'll come with you, there's something cool I've been meaning to show you! I just need to grab my gym clothing from the changing room!"
"Great!" I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I need to do the same, anyway. I haven't unwrapped my gym uniform from the packaging yet."
-----
I tugged on the short-sleeved shirt, completing the uniform. It fit nicely, even around the shoulders and biceps- I'd just forwarded the measurements from Konichi to the Support Department. It was comfortable, made of high-quality fabric, and there was something exhilarating about finally seeing the familiar, stylized U and A symbol on my chest. It conveyed a sense of belonging.
And… it just looked nice. You know, I hadn't gotten around to thinking about my hero costume yet…
"Alright!"
At the other side of the changing room, I saw that Setsuna had finished changing, pulling a bundle of something out of her locker and tucking it under her arm.
"I'm ready to go." She called out.
"...Why do you have an extra set of clothing with you?"
"You'll see." Setsuna replied mysteriously, gesturing for me to follow her. "Come on."
UA's gym took up its own wing of the building, with different rooms for different kinds of exercise. I glanced through a few of the doors we walked past, seeing endless rows of treadmills, leg presses, rowing machines and other exercise equipment I didn't even know the names of. Not just vast in numbers but in variation, different kinds and sizes of machines.
Setsuna clearly had a destination in mind, walking with purpose as she took us to a specific door. Inside was an expansive room with a soft lat covering the floor, the walls lined with racks upon racks of dumbbells. There were benches and seats scattered around the room, many of them occupied with students doing exercises and lifting weights. Setsuna didn't seem interested in any of them, leading me to a far corner of the room.
I saw… two disembodied hands floating mid-air, rhythmically lifting a pair of dumbbells over and over again.
"Ta-dah!"
"...Are those… your arms?"
"Yep!" Setsuna thrust her chest forward proudly. "After Kamino, I figured out a way to sneak in some extra physical training."
"And that… works?!"
"Sure does. My range is big enough to keep doing it from the dorms, so I can be here in the gym sixteen hours a day." Her arms popped off her shoulders, the other two taking their place. "Just have to make sure to pop in every so often to replace them."
"Huh. Wait. So if you can now grow extra arms, what about other body parts? How far does it go?"
"I'm glad you asked that." She grinned, dropping the bundle of clothes onto the floor.
Then her head split open. The two halves peeled aside as her exposed brain floated free from her skull, stem and all. Bundles of nerves were already starting to extend outwards as it floated over to the discarded gym clothing, while Setsuna's head closed back up. She reached down to hold up the shirt's collar, letting the brain float inside before stepping back to watch as the bundle wiggled and slowly rose. Exposed bone, muscle and eventually skin pushed out from the openings, forming human limbs.
After maybe twenty seconds or so, Setsuna reached down to pull the other Setsuna to stand, the two of them turning to me with identical expressions of smugness, hands on their hips.
"There you go!" They spoke in unison, creating a weird chorus effect. "What do ya think?"
"...You could have warned me." I said when I finally found my words, crossing my arms.
"Aww, you don't think it's cool?"
"I mean it is, but it's also kind of horrifying. I got to see your innards." 'Kind of' being the polite understatement of the century. "So you can clone yourself?"
"Horrifying, says the giant dragon who could just walk through a building without even slowing." The two Setsunas mumbled. "But no, not exactly cloning. More like meat puppets." The newer Setsuna reached over to rap her knuckles on the other's forehead. "The lights are on but nobody's home. See?"
"You can't grow another brain?"
"No, that's the main limitation of my Quirk, it doesn't work on my brain. I can't split it, which means I can't grow more of them, and my regeneration always starts from whichever piece has my brain, I can't grow a new leg from a toe. I assume I'll die if my brain is destroyed, but obviously I can't exactly test that."
"Huh. Well, that's still pretty damn cool. You could make an army of doppelgangers, do all sorts of things."
"Yeah, aaall kinds of things~" She winked up at me.
"...Huh?"
"Nevermind." She sighed. "Anyway, I still only have one brain so I only have so much processing power to go around. Trying to pilot multiple different bodies doing different things quickly starts to feel like trying to write an essay with your left arm and play table tennis with your right, while tapping your foot to the tune of the Imperial March. It's much easier to have them copy your movements-" she said as she raised two right arms and wiggled her fingers in sync- "or do something really simple and repetitive, that doesn't require much concentration."
"Like lifting dumbbells or doing sit-ups. That's pretty clever. You can work out for excessive amounts without having to commit the time to it."
"That's right." Setsuna fingergunned up at me. "And if I leave a head here, I get to watch cute guys and gals working out all day." She seemed to be waiting for a reaction, but when she didn't get whatever she was looking for, her shoulders slumped slightly. "Anyway, that's enough about me. So, where were you planning to start?"
"Well… I don't really know." I wrung my hands. "I haven't… really been to gyms a lot. Or nearly at all."
"Wait, really? You haven't been to the gym before?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow, her gaze falling on my arms. "Obviously there was the whole dragon thing, but not even before all that?"
"Well… Mom was pretty strict about how much I was allowed to train. You know, not neglecting school work and stuff. I ended up focusing on training with my Quirk first, since that'd be more important to getting into a Hero School." I shrugged helplessly. "Didn't think I'd get stuck as a dragon."
"Huh. In that case…" A grin slowly emerged on Setsuna's features. "Then we're going to hit the weights. This I gotta see."
"...Are we not in the weight room right now?"
"No, not these." Setsuna smiled. "I'm talking about real weights."
-----
We'd left Setsuna's doppelganger behind to continue her workout as we moved on. The room that she led me to was much like the one before, just with the dumbbell racks switched out for barbells and separate weights. There were lifting cages and benches scattered here and there, and on the far end of the room was a row of machines that I didn't recognize the function of.
"Yo! Tokage! Tatsuma! Over here!"
Turning my head, I saw Yoarashi sitting by one of the racks, a water bottle in his hand. With him were Tetsutetsu, Kirishima and that one big, muscular guy from 1-A. Sato I think his name was?
"Even better." Setsuna grinned. "Let's go talk to the guys."
The four of them had obviously been in the middle of a workout, and from the amount of sweat I saw on their foreheads, they'd been going at it.
"Should've known you meatheads would head for the gym straight from class." Setsuna called out to them with a sly grin as we approached.
"What, like you didn't?" Tetsutetsu fired back with a smile. "It's only been twenty minutes."
Setsuna merely laughed, elbowing me in the side.
"I'm just showing her the ropes around here."
Sato was looking me up and down, before breaking out into a friendly smile.
"You're Tatsuma, right?"
He was tall, not quite as much as Yoarashi but far broader, with a barrel chest and obvious muscle mass.
"Yeah, that's me."
"Damn, didn't realize you were so buff. Then again, your dragon form's pretty ripped too, saw you pushing up that boulder at the camp. Pretty impressive!"
"Thank you." I said, a little unsure on how to respond to the compliment.
"So!" Setsuna clapped her hands, drawing my attention again as she stepped forward to stand slightly between me and the boys. "What have you guys been up to here?" She asked with a slight grin. "Measuring your manliness?"
"We've been holding a heroic contest of might!" Yoarashi announced. "An ultimate test of each other's willpower, hot blood and dedication!"
"Exactly what I said." Setsuna replied with a straight face.
"We're having a weightlifting competition." Sato explained. "We each take turns with the others spotting, and once everyone's had a turn we increase the weight. Last one to drop out wins."
Curious, I walked closer to the rack behind Yoarashi. Mounted on it was a large barbell, a long metal rod with multiple circular weight plates added on to each end. Deciding to test my luck, I grabbed the bar by the middle and lifted. It made a metallic groan as it rose off the rack, the bar bending slightly under the weight of the plates. I felt the weight in my hand, but it wasn't too hard to lift.
"This is the one you've been competing over, right?" I asked as I turned back toward the group.
The others looked at me with stunned expressions.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Not… necessarily." Kirishima began slowly, as if nervous. "It's just… I mean…
"What Rockyboy here is trying to say is that that weight is normally meant to be lifted with two hands." Setsuna cackled.
-----
Apparently, I'd managed to kill the mood with that stunt, and none of them felt like continuing the competition because 'we already know who won'. I'd felt bad, but the boys seemed to shrug it off, instead deciding to stick around to help me figure out weightlifting.
"Uh, are you sure this is a good amount of weight?" I asked, testing the bar. "It's… not that heavy."
"Wait, that's still not enough for you?" Tetsutetsu boggled, looking at the thick metal plates mounted on the reinforced bar, substantially bigger than the one before. "Just how strong are you?"
"Well, um, that's… what we're here to find out." I mumbled, avoiding his gaze. "It's like… I'd probably struggle to lift this with one arm, but with two it's not really a challenge."
"That's good!" Sato replied with a thumbs-up. "You don't want to start learning weightlifting with something you can barely lift. You need to get comfortable with the movements and reps before that."
"Your hot-blooded spirit must be tempered before it can be fully unleashed!"
"I guess that makes sense." I conceded, trying not to roll my eyes at Yoarashi.
"And besides, repetition is king in lifting." Sato went on." It's fun to test your limits, but for actual exercise you gotta be able to do the reps over and over, and you can't do that if you're exhausted after just a couple of lifts."
"Huh. You guys seem to know a lot about this stuff."
"Well yeah, we didn't put on all this beef sitting at home!" Sato replied enthusiastically., flexing his own sizeable bicep. "Though I understand you've had your own path."
"Why don't we finally get a move on?" Setsuna crossed her arms, looking strangely annoyed.
"Let's get going then!" Kirishima said enthusiastically, stepping up next to me. "So, the first thing you gotta know is how to grip the bar. Seems simple, right? But there's some nuance to it. Palms-down is the easiest, and so that's what we'll be starting with, but ya just can't lift as much with it. Palms-up offers a better grip, but the range of motion is limited so it's not much use for most exercises.
"You can also mix, one palm up and the other down. It's more versatile, but ya gotta switch it up or else you're gonna pull a muscle." Tetsutetsu added. "Unless of course, ya use that to strengthen your muscles so they won't pull so easily!"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works." Setsuna replied dryly.
"Armwrestle me for it then, lizard girl."
"Sure, but there's no rule specifying how many right arms I can use."
"Why don't we start with something simple, like front squats?" Sato suggested, ignoring the other two and stepping up to the rack next to me. "First, you'll want to stand underneath the bar like this, so that it's resting on your collarbone, against your neck. Now put your hands on the bar, palms away from you. Get a good grip, and then lift the bar off the rack."
I mirrored his movements, lifting the barbell into the air. It was a little heavy, but nothing I couldn't easily manage.
"Now, set your feet apart a little, and bend your knees to lower yourself down like this. Keep your chest upright, don't bend over. Stop when your hips are level with your knees or if you feel like you're losing your balance, and push yourself up to stand. That's one rep."
Once again I repeated Sato's movements, powering the bar up and down. Despite the relative lightness of the weight, my stance felt annoyingly shaky, unstable.
"That's why you start with a lower weight." Kirishima said. "You gotta turn your feet outward more. Gives you a better footing."
"Alright." I corrected my stance and repeated the motion, immediately noticing the improvement. It felt… not good, but satisfying. Like I was regaining control over my body.
I did the rep until it felt adequately familiar, and then it swiftly became boring in its lack of challenge. But that was, in a way, good. Better boring and mundane than strange, weird or uncomfortable.
"Well damn, that sure was something to watch." Sato said as I re-racked the weight. "I probably couldn't even get that weight off the rack."
Setsuna scowled at him, but didn't say anything.
"So, uh, you don't use your Quirk while lifting weights?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Nah. Well, of course you gotta train your Quirk and how to handle it, but for just working out it's more fun to go without. See that area over there?" He gestured towards the row of machines I hadn't recognized when we came in. "That's for the ultra-dense weights. They've got these robot arms to act as spotters, that hold on to the bar and keep it from falling if you drop it. 'Cuz if you drop a twenty-ton weight on somebody's foot, not even Recovery Girl's bringing it back."
" 's so boring." Tetsutetsu complained. "No sense of adventure."
"We may still have need to head over there!" Yoarashi announced with unwavering enthusiasm, gesturing toward the bar I'd just used. "Tatsuma has already triumphed over some of the heaviest weights available."
"You guys really don't need to." I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head. "It's fine."
"Nonsense. We come by every day, but it's only gonna be your first time at the gym once. We're happy to help." Sato said, leaning against one of the weight racks.
"I bet you are." Setsuna scoffed.
Seriously, what the hell was up with her? First she wanted us to go over and talk to the boys, but now she was acting like their very presence offended her, especially Sato.
"We can still practice the moves here with the smaller weights though, right?" I said, trying to defuse the tension. "So what's next?"
"We could do rows next?" Kirishima suggested. "Bakugo taught me those."
Bakugo. I still needed to thank him for the save against the League.
"By the way, where's the 'splodey boy himself?" Setsuna asked Kirishima. "He usually hangs around you, doesn't he?"
"Oh, he's in house arrest." Sato replied. "Got caught fighting with Midoriya in one of the training grounds at night."
"Wait, Midoriya?" She asked incredulously.
"Well the thing is, Bakugo got caught by the villains." Kirishima said, seemingly torn between not wanting to gossip and defending his friend. "And then Tatsuma got caught trying to save Midoriya who was trying to save him. Leading to the whole Kamino thing. He, uh, I think he took the whole thing pretty hard, y-know?"
I could see that. Which, if I'd seen anything of him in the last half a year, probably meant that he'd see my gratitude as a way to humiliate him by forcing him to acknowledge that I had gotten caught because of him.
I sighed internally. Bakugo was a deeply unpleasant individual to deal with, and I had no desire to spend time with him. To be frank, he was a terrible Hero.
But he was, nevertheless, a Hero. He had saved my life. Twice over, first with the tracker and when Shigaraki had been about to kill me. From what the others had told me he had thrown himself into danger mere moments after having been rescued.
And for that he deserved my thanks, no matter how little I looked forward to it. Even if he didn't want them.
----
"Come on, you can do it!"
"Unleash your heroic spirit! Plus Ultra!"
My arms and shoulders burned with strain as I struggled to lift the bar upward. I was laying horizontally on a bench with the others gathered around me as I tried to press the barbell back up again.
The others cheered as I finally hoisted the bar up, biceps pushing against the sleeves of my gym uniform. It made a metallic clang as I returned it to the rack, letting out a breath of relief as I pulled myself to sit. Behind me, the machine beeped and several more robotic arms unfolded to remove the high-density weight plates from the bar and return them to storage.
"Well, I think that's going to be it from me. I'm wiped out." I said, taking a drink out of the water bottle Setsuna offered me. We'd been at it for a while, and once we'd moved to the heavier weights I'd found myself tiring.
"I would hope so, considering you just bench pressed over a metric ton."
"A-anyway, thanks guys." I said, rubbing the back of my head. "You've been a real help, but I'll let you get back to your own training now."
We said our goodbyes to the boys, leaving in high spirits.
A good workout… felt good. I felt like I was finally making progress in mastering my own body. It felt satisfying to know that all those hours spent pushing a giant boulder up a hill had counted for something. For once, I didn't feel weak or clumsy or stupid.
I was still riding that high while Setsuna and I left the gym.
"Well, that was pretty fun!" I said as we walked back into the 1-B girls' changing room. "Thanks for coming with me."
"Somebody had to." Setsuna smiled. "Who knows what bad habits you would have picked up otherwise. Next thing you know, Tetsutetsu has you try to balance a barbell between your horns."
"You say that, but if you really think about it…" I trailed off as Setsuna descended into a fit of giggles.
I was looking forward to a nice, warm shower: as I'd discovered, there was another downside to humanity that I'd just discovered.
"Look at this. Ugh." I ran a hand over my forehead, and then flicked droplets of sweat towards Setsuna. "Disgusting. I miss not having sweat glands. Man, when you think about it-"
"Don't say it…"
"-Reptiles really are superior beings."
"It's not reptiles, you're just a cheating cheater!" Setsuna pointed an indignant finger at me. "Real animals are supposed to drop dead if they just build up heat with no way to disperse it! Sweat is actually an ingenious way of thermal regulation, but you just- just ignore basic biology!"
"Alright, let me amend my statement. Dragons really are superior beings. Does that make it better?"
The sound of splintering wood filled the yard as the oak tree leaned to the side, upturned roots churning up dirt and grass. I jerked away, my claws leaving impressions on the lawn as I moved, glancing around to see if anyone had seen me.
The dormitory's yard was empty, illuminated by the mid-evening sun blazing in the sky. Tsubaraba, Kaibara and Monoma had gone to the movies out in the city, Setsuna and Shiozaki were at the gym, while the others were inside in the lounge or in their rooms, leaving me alone on the front lawn, standing around next to a tree conspicuously tilted to one side.
Or at least I was supposed to be alone. The muffled, rapid intake and exhale of air suspiciously close to someone trying to hold in laughter told a different story.
"I can hear you, Yui." I sighed, turning towards the front door.
"Were you trying to scratch yourself on that tree?" She said she stepped into the yard from behind one of the marble columns around the front door, her shoulders shaking with constrained laughter.
"...No."
"Liar." She said, accompanied by another burst of giggles. "Did you- did you find that you can't reach your back anymore, and that's why you needed a scratching post?"
My silence was all the answer she needed to erupt into full-on laughter, doubling over entirely.
"Well, that's not something you see every day." Itsuka said as she stepped out the front door, glancing at Yui before looking around. "Wait, Ryuuzaki, is that tree… tilted?"
"She can't reach her back anymore. She got too buff." Yui giggled. "So she used it as a scratching post. Like a cat." She lost it again, clutching her stomach.
"Har har har, laugh at my misery why don't you."
"I thought you couldn't get itchy?" Itsuka asked. "That's what you were complaining about as a human."
"Humans are itchier." I corrected her. Already it was creeping back in, along my back and spine. "The itching sometimes starts a few days before I molt my scales, but they won't come loose yet. And since the itching is underneath the scales…"
"Your own toughness works against you, due to the amount of force required." She glanced at the tree. "Why not just turn human?"
"I don't have scales that itch in my human form." I pointed out. "So it doesn't really do anything to help."
"Well, it's a good thing you have friends." Yui finally managed to pull herself together, unshrinking her handbag from her pocket. She pulled out a steel brush and started enlarging it, laying it on the ground as it got too big to hold. "Here."
"Uh, I'm still not going to be able to reach over there with that."
"'Friends' is a plural form." Itsuka rolled her eyes, her hands expanding as she grabbed the brush. "Did you forget what my Quirk is?"
"...I may in fact be an idiot."
"Now roll over so I can reach your back."
And that's how I found myself being scratched with a gigantic metal brush, Itsuka's super-strength grinding the steel bristles across my scales.
It felt like true bliss. Sweet relief washed over me, relaxing bunched-up muscles, and my tail began to involuntarily thump against the ground.
I could have stayed there for an eternity, but eventually I became dimly aware of approaching footsteps behind us, coming to a halt.
I sprung to my feet in alarm, nearly knocking Itsuka over as I whirled about to see a pair of older men in overcoats and suits standing on the path to the dormitory, looking somewhat perplexed.
"Miss Tatsuma?" The older of the two cleared his throat, flashing us a police badge. "Detectives Himura and Samada. We would like to have a talk with you about the details of the Kamino Incident."
"Uh, sure?" I replied, trying not to die of embarrassment. "I already gave my account about what happened though. I'm not really sure what else I could tell you guys."
"We saw the transcript, but there's a few clarifications we wanted to ask for." The younger, presumably Samada, said with a friendly smile. "We'd just like to go over certain details from your testimony with you, back at the station."
"Alright, but… I have lessons in half an hour."
"I'm afraid we must impose." Himura said gruffly, with a look that told me they weren't really asking. "Your teachers have already been informed."
"Well, um, okay." I replied unsurely, turning to Itsuka and Yui. "Tell the others where I am then?"
"We will. Take care of yourself!"
I nodded. "I guess I'm good to go then? Might as well get it over with."
"You need to deactivate your Quirk first, Miss Tatsuma." Himura said with some irritation.
"...Oh, right." I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Imagine a bottle. The bottle is human-shaped. You force yourself into the bottle, and become-
I stumbled a little as I opened my eyes, back on two feet again. I hadn't been planning on going out in my human form so I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, but I didn't think the Detectives would appreciate having to wait for me to change.
Himura scowled up at me, probably as he realized I still towered a head and a half over him in human form, but said nothing and only gestured for me to follow. For some reason, I got the impression he didn't like me.
I felt a pang of hunger deep in my stomach as I walked after the two Detectives, and pulled out an energy bar from my pocket and popped it into my mouth. Transformation still took out quite a bit from me, three years out of practice as I was.
We made it past UA's gates and out into the parking yard when I realized something.
"I need to call my parents."
Himura's moustache curled in irritation, but Samada stepped in, giving me a reassuring smile.
"That's fine, go ahead."
I fished my phone out of my pocket, turning it on. Since whatever I had on me disappeared whenever I transformed, I'd had to get a second mobile phone to keep on my human form.
"Hello?"
"Hi mom, Ryuuzaki here. Um, the police wanted to talk to me about some stuff, so they're taking me to the station."
Mom was quiet for a moment. "Did you get arrested?"
"What?! No! They just wanted some clarifications about my testimony. You know, from Kamino."
"...I see." I heard her sigh, and I could picture her pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm in the middle of an art presentation in Kyoto, even if I leave right now it'll be at least an hour until I can get there. And Kenshin is delivering a foal at the Musutafu Horse Club. Did you call your sister already?"
"Ryuko's on a mission up in Hokkaido today, remember?"
"Of all the days…" Mom mumbled. "Are you sure you can't convince the officers to put it off?
"They were pretty insistent…"
"Of course they were." She sighed. "Alright then, I'm going to call our lawyer and have him meet you at the station."
"Mr. Uehara? I thought we were supposed to go to his office to meet up next weekend to talk about my case. I haven't even talked to him in person yet."
"We're paying him a lot of money, so might as well get our worth out of it. And he's already got all of your files and info so he's up to speed on your situation."
"Still, don't you think that's a little much? They just want to question me about some stuff, no big deal."
"Lawyers are there so things don't turn into big deals." She replied. "Uehara's a professional, I met with him just yesterday. He'll look after you."
"Alright…"
"It's gonna be fine. But if you do get arrested, call me immediately."
"Mom! I'm not going to get arrested."
"Alright, I believe you. Anyway, I need to call Uehara. We'll talk later."
We said our goodbyes, and I put my phone back in my pocket.
"Mom is sending our lawyer to the station to accompany me."
Himura made a scoffing noise, but nodded. "And his name?"
"Uh, Uehara. Shirou Uehara."
"Very well." He grunted. "Now let's get going, we don't have all day."
As Samada pulled open the back door to the patrol car, I realized I was going to have to deal with my mortal enemy again.
Japanese car seats.
-----
We arrived at the Musutafu Police Station without much fanfare. I'd never actually been to the before, a large sturdily built structure with few windows. A remnant of more lawless times, when the police and heroes were under near-constant siege. Time before the coming of All-Might. And now he was gone once more.
The police car pulled up to a folding door, and Himura flashed his badge through the window. We were admitted into a large parking garage, filled with patrol cars and vans of different kinds, and I extracted myself from the back seat, stretching my legs to try to return some sensation to them. The trip through the building was quick, navigating through several hallways into a separate wing of the building, to a meeting room.
The first indication that something was wrong I got was the officer standing by the door fitted in full tactical gear: body armour, helmet and all, with an assault rifle held in one-handed grip as he held the door to the conference room open for us.
I slowed down, my mouth halfway open, unsure what to say or do, but Himura put a hand on my shoulder and gently but firmly guided me inside. The room was small and windowless, with a single light source casting illumination down on a circular table, and as I stepped in I noticed soundproofing strips around the doorframe.
The officer pulled the door closed and stepped in behind us, standing guard by the entrance. I took a chair by the table and the Detectives sat down opposite to me, Samada on my left and Himura on the right.
"So, uh…"
There was a recording device attached to the table, and Himura reached over to click it on.
"Beginning recording. In attendance are Detectives Kenta Himura, Taichi Samada, Officer Kiyoshi Kaneko and Ryuuzaki Tatsuma. We are here for questioning regarding the Kamino Incident, case number one-three-six-nine-eleven."
"Miss Tatsuma, we've gone over your testimony and wanted to ask about some of the details pertinent to the case." Samada explained. "Specifically, exactly what happened during the period of your captivity under the villain group known as the League of Villains."
"I'm… not sure what there is to say?" I said, wringing my hands nervously. "I was captured alongside Bakugo and taken to the League's hideout. He tried to fight his way out, but we were stopped. I was able to activate my tracking device and hide it, before being taken to meet the League's leader All For One. He decided to kill me to hurt All-Might, who arrived at the last second to save me. It should all be in the report."
"We know." Himura grunted. "However, after reviewing the situation we have reason to believe it may not have been the whole truth."
"And what would that reason be?" I asked, feeling a chill in the bottom of my stomach.
"In 2170, three years ago, you were attacked by the villain Katsuke Fujiwara. In the attack, your Quirk was permanently damaged, leaving you unable to return to human form. Is this correct?" Samada asked.
"It is." I swallowed.
"And yet, here we are." He gestured towards me. "I'm sure you understand that it arouses certain suspicions when you've seemingly miraculously recovered your damaged Quirk immediately after having spent an extended amount of time alone with a notoriously manipulative villain with the power to affect Quirks."
"It's- it's not like that!" I couldn't help but raise my voice. "T-the reason I couldn't change was psychosomatic. A mental issue I wasn't able to overcome until… Kamino. It had nothing to do with All For One!"
"I want to believe you, Miss Tatsuma, but there is no record of anything like that in your medical history or Quirk registry." Samada said.
"It was diagnosed by Dr. Shield back in June. On I-Island."
"Would that be the same Dr. Shield who is currently in prison on numerous charges, most prominently Criminal Conspiracy with the mercenary villain Wolfram, a known affiliate of All For One?" Himura asked pointedly.
I was left speechless, trying to formulate something coherent, but nothing came out.
"Is there someone who could collaborate on your story?" Samada asked gently. "Anyone you told about the diagnosis before Kamino?"
"...No." I mumbled. "I realize that it wasn't- That I should've- But you have to believe me! I fought against Wolfram! And the League at Kashyyyk and the Camp and Kamino! All For One nearly killed me, All-Might saw that!"
"And that is to your credit." Samada said. "We don't want to jump to conclusions. But while we don't doubt All-Might, what he saw could have been staged. Especially as, according to the EMTs, by the time they got to you they could find no discernable injuries on you."
"That's because I- I healed when I transformed…" I trailed off, realizing that that still left me with nothing but my word to go off of.
"All For One is a master of deception and manipulation." Himura said. "It would be just like him to sacrifice some pawns to protect another, or even subvert one of his enemies."
I felt tears of frustration welling up in the corner of my eye. They had it all wrong and they just wouldn't believe me.
"...You really think I'm a mole for All For One?"
Suddenly, the smallness of the room made sense, the reason it felt so suffocating.
It's too small for me to transform in.
And I was starting to think that wasn't a coincidence.
"Those are the sorts of questions that our job is to find the answers to." Samada explained. "I am sorry, but you must understand that this all looks quite suspect to us in the Police. Especially when we already suspect there to be a mole within UA. How else could they have known the location of the Training Camp?"
I felt sick, All For One's mocking voice rang in my ears.
You, miraculously recovering your Quirk and escaping from me? Nobody would believe it.
"So is that it, then?" I said, slumping in my seat, rubbing my face. "Am I under arrest?"
The two Detectives glanced at each other, before Samada spoke up. "You are not under arrest at this time. We would merely like to get to the bottom of this."
"F-fine. But I want my lawyer here before we go any further."
It's going to be alright. I've done nothing wrong, I have nothing to hide. I just have to get them to see that.
"That is acceptable." Samada said in a conciliatory tone. "We can wait for him to arrive."
"He should have been here already." Himura grunted, checking his watch. "What could possibly take him so long?"
"Um… I don't have his phone number but I can shoot my mom a message…" I said, digging out my phone again.
I texted her, but didn't get any response. I pocketed the phone and settled to wait. The awkward silence stretched on, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Just when Himura looked like he was about to explode, there was a leisurely knock on the door. The officer by the door, Kaneko according to Himura, opened it to admit a short, portly figure. It was a man in his late fifties with a receding hairline of dark brown, and a wide walrus mustache. His considerable belly was stuffed into a green suit, and a pair of beady spectacles sat on his nose.
"Mr. Uehara, I presume?" Samada asked, rising from his chair to offer him a handshake.
"Indeed!" The man shook Samada's hand enthusiastically. "Shiro Uehara, at your service."
"Detective Samada. This is Detective Himura, Officer Kaneko, and you of course know Miss Tatsuma." Samada said. "In addition, I must notify you that this conversation is being recorded."
Uehara nodded deeply before waddling his way over to me, thrusting his hand out to me. "It is good to meet you, Ryuuzaki! May I call you that?"
"Uh, sure." I replied. His hand felt greasy as I shook it.
"Marvelous!" He exclaimed, sitting down between me and Samada. "Now, what seems to be the situation here?"
"Well, uh…" I trailed off, unsure what to say. "They want to know if I'm a spy for All For One."
"Ah, I see." Uehara said, scratching his mustache. "Now that's quite a serious allegation. What makes you believe she would do something so horrible?"
"We do not believe anything yet." Samada said. "We are merely investigating all possibilities and getting the facts straight."
"Uh-huh." Uehara glanced at Kaneko by the door,
"Certain precautions are necessary in this world that we live in." Himura rebutted. "Are you aware that Miss Tatsuma here could raze this entire building to the ground in a matter of minutes with her Quirk?"
For some reason, Uehara's expression almost seemed pleased.
"So quick to assume the worst, are you?"
"Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but I've been in this business for thirty years, and I've seen it all. All For One has his fingers in every pie." Himura growled. "Heroes who just wanted some inconvenient weakness taken care of. Villains who needed a bit of extra power. Quirkless kids who've always dreamed of having powers. Civilians who never wanted their Quirks. He's got ways of snaring everyone." He pulled a folder out of his pocket. "You think your client is squeaky-clean herself?"
"Himura…"
"Stow it, Samada." Himura snapped.
He laid the folder on the table in front of me, and I opened it, taking out several photographs.
The first one was of me standing over Tokoyami in the Sports Festival, smoke streaming out of my nostrils and eyes glowing red, looking as though I was about to kill him.
The next one was an image capture from a clip of uploaded cell phone footage, filmed through the glass doors of Kashyyyk Mall. It showed me tearing a grey-skinned, ape-like Nomu limb from limb with my teeth and claws.
Third was a picture of the stump of a human arm, massive teeth marks visible in the wound where the arm had been severed above the bicep.
And lastly… there was another phone camera shot, from just last week. Sometimes, it took a third-person perspective to properly appreciate just how intimidating I could look. Muscles bulging, red eyes and sharp teeth twisted into a snarl, a grown man dangling from my grip like a child, a good foot off the ground.
I slumped my shoulders, unable to even muster the energy to argue and passed the photos to Uehara. What do I even say to that?
Uehara seemed fascinated with the photos, flipping through them several times before seemingly realizing everyone was waiting on him and clearing his throat.
"I see…" He trailed off again, rubbing his chin in thought. The silence stretched on uncomfortably, until he snapped his fingers. "The recordings!"
He gestured at the recorder on the table.
"As a lawyer, I have the absolute right to review the records of my client's interrogation."
That all felt... a little weird, but I'd already screwed up by running my mouth before the trained lawyer got here so I just followed his lead.
"Questioning." Samada corrected, sounding exasperated. "This is not a formal interrogation."
"Yes yes, that's right. I'll need the recordings from before my arrival."
Samada glanced at Himura, whose expression seemed to communicate 'just humor him'.
I expected him to go make a copy somewhere, but instead he simply clicked a few buttons on the recorder, pulled out his phone to make a quick call and sat back down. It seemed like Uehara had been expecting it as well, glancing several times between the recorder and Samada, but a moment later there was another knock on the door. Once again the guard opened it to let in an assistant, who handed Samada a stack of papers, before bowing and leaving.
"Here are the automatically-produced transcripts of the questioning, Mr. Uehara." Samada said, handing the stack to the man.
"Ah, thank you. Hmmm…" He sat down to flip through the pages, going forward and back quite a few times and making humming noises. The moment stretched on, and I was starting to feel even weirder. It was almost like he was… stalling.
"Aha!" He finally said, rolling his shoulders. "You didn't tell her she had the right to remain silent when you brought her here. What she's said here cannot be used in the court of law."
"That is… not a thing. There are no Miranda Rights in Japan, and she hasn't been arrested. This is ridiculous." Samada complained, and frankly I had to agree with him. Even I knew that. "Did you even go to law school?"
"No."
My train of thought came to a screeching halt.
"What do you mean-"
The rest of the Detective's sentence turned into an unintelligible gurgle as a knife blade sank into his throat. Uehara pulled it out in a spray of arterial blood and in one smooth motion threw it across the room at Kaneko by the door before the man had had the chance to so much as raise his weapon.
My hands moved on autopilot to catch Samada as he fell, while my mind was filled with white noise. I was dimly aware of Himura leaping over the table at Uehara, only for the dumpy lawyer to grab the Detective by the wrist and throw him to the floor before pulling out another knife from his jacket and stabbing him deep in the chest.
But all of that happened on the periphery as with fumbling hands I ripped a piece of Samada's sleeve and tried to press it to his throat. But the knife had cut through nearly the entire throat, t-there was just so much blood…
There was a bubbling noise coming from behind me.
I lowered Samada's body to the floor and glanced at Kaneko, slumped on the ground, the point of the knife driven through his eye socket.
I took in a shuddering breath, and turned around.
Uehara was melting.
His flesh ran like wax, as did his clothes, all turning into bubbling grey liquid. And from that liquid emerged a teenage girl at most a few years older than me, her ash-blonde hair styled into a pair of buns. Her mouth was drawn into an ecstatic smile, licking her pronounced canines as she looked at me with bright yellow eyes.
I'd never actually seen her before, but I'd burned the photographs I'd seen into memory.
"Whew, that charade was getting old fast. But finally, we meet again." Himiko Toga smiled up at me, gesturing with her knife. "Hello, Ryuuzaki. We've got loads to talk about."
I just stared at her, struck dumb, unable to move, speak or act as I struggled to process how quickly the situation had changed and three people had died. My vision was still swimming, my ears buzzing, my limbs feeling numb and powerless. I recognized the symptoms of shock on some detached level.
Her smile drooped a little as the silence stretched on, and she twirled her knife. "You know, if you don't want to talk we could just cut to the point here, if you'd prefer."
"What is there to talk about?" I forced out from between gritted teeth, trying to make the susurrus in my ears go away. Deep, controlled breaths.
"Lots of things, like I said." She perked up at my response. "Ya know, I've been trying to get an opportunity to talk to you one on one for a while, but that school of yours has things locked down real tight! Couldn't even get past the gates, sheesh. But here I am!"
There was a lull that began to drag on, as she clearly expected a response. My brain was still trying to catch up, but I had enough of my wits about me to realize I had to keep her talking.
"What- what did you do to Uehara?" I choked out. "How did you get here?"
"All I had to do was stake out your house and follow your family around for a while. From there, I realized it'd be much easier to stalk your lawyer and tag along when you met with him."
Now that got my blood flowing again and some feeling into my limbs.
"You- if you've touched a hair on my parents-"
"You'll rip me apart and splatter yourself with my blood, like Stain?" She blushed.
I grit my teeth, but let it go. Don't get distracted, just think.
You're in a room too small to transform in, and there's a psychopathic serial killer between you and the door. What do you do?
Scream for help? If nobody's picked up on the commotion yet there's no guarantee anyone will hear me, and then I'm dead.
Run? I'd never make it.
Fight?
I looked at the knife in Toga's hand, still glistening with Detective Himura's blood. A chill ran through me, memories of blood gushing out of me, unable to stop my life slowly slipping away.
I bit my lip, trying to shake myself out of it. Focus!
"And what's so important that you just had to talk to me?"
Think. I need more time to think. I need a plan.
"Huh?" She tilted her head as if she was surprised by the very concept of the question. "It's because we're the same."
"We're nothing alike."
"You don't get it? We both want the same thing, to live our lives the way we want without everyone telling us to stop being weird and act normal."
I reached over to my pocket and thumbed my panic button through the fabric of my jeans. But it would take a while for UA to contact the police station and for them to react. I couldn't rely on it.
"What do you mean?"
"My 'normal' is sucking the blood of those I love and becoming them." She explained, sounding exasperated, like she was explaining it to a small child. "Your 'normal' is being a dragon."
…
"I saw it at the mall, how you struggled to fit in, be what everyone expected you to be. And how you looked at the world that wasn't built for you, that never truly accepted you."
"You're insane." I saw the eager look on her face crumple, but I pressed on.
"My 'normal' doesn't endanger anyone. My 'normal' doesn't hurt anyone. And if it did, even the idea of pursuing it, heedless of the harm it caused to others… makes me sick to the stomach."
"No no no! You were supposed to get it!"
Toga stamped her feet in childish anger, but a gurgling rasp from the floor by her feet drew my attention. Himura. I could see his chest rise and fall. He was still alive.
He must have hit his head on the floor, and the knife had missed anything immediately lethal. If he got medical attention, he could live through this. But that meant I'd have to act fast. Can't keep stalling.
Think, Ryuuzaki, think. Can't transform, can't fight, can't run, can't call for help. What can you do, what can you use?
"I really thought you'd understand what it's like, that I'd found somebody I could talk to." She shook her head in disappointment. "But I guess it doesn't matter. In a few moments, you will."
There is nothing.
She started smiling again, passing her knife between each hand as she walked closer.
Unless…
"Because you'll be me."
I sprang forward.
Not at her, I genuinely don't believe my legs would have carried me if I'd tried. Not the door either, I would have been dead from a knife through the back long before I'd make it.
No, I lunged for Kaneko's assault rifle.
"Stay back!" I shouted as I grabbed it off the floor, brandishing it in Toga's direction. "Put the knife on the floor or I will shoot!"
"So fierce!" She smiled happily. "It's very cute. But do you really think I'd believe a school girl knows how to fire an assault rifle?"
I said nothing, the familiar feeling of the stock resting against my shoulder bringing back a flood of distant memories. I didn't recognize the exact model of the gun, but a rifle was a rifle. They hadn't changed much in a hundred and fifty-odd years. Trying to keep my hands from shaking, I flicked the safety off and racked the bolt handle to chamber a round. No time to check if there really was live ammo in the magazine, it was do or die.
I had never been a good shot, and I was unbelievably out of practice. Toga was standing over Himura, I couldn't- I couldn't risk it. So instead, as her eyes widened in surprise and alarm, I raised the barrel to the ceiling and fired. I really hoped that the floor was sturdy enough to stop a bullet as I pulled the trigger once, twice and thrice, the cacophonous booms filling the room.
If that didn't get the attention of the rest of the station, then nothing would.
I lowered the gun again and brandished the smoking barrel towards Toga, ignoring the tremors in my arms. My whole body was so tense I felt ill. I couldn't speak, I couldn't breathe.
And then, just like that, Toga scowled and dashed to the door, licking blood off her blade as she went. She dashed out the door, grey liquid already bubbling over her as she shifted into the form of Detective Himura.
My knees buckled, falling to the floor. My head swam, my ears ringing. I tossed the gun to the other side of the room and crawled forward on my elbows, putting a hand on Himura's wrist.
I felt a pulse, weak but there. He was alive. With modern medicine and healing Quirks, he'd make it.
Suddenly, the tenseness that had held my entire body taut released all at once, my heartbeat racing a million miles an hour and my breaths coming in quick and shallow.
I sat myself down, trying to compose myself. It was over now. I'd done it. Even though I was human, I had made it. I was alive.
I was alive.
A moment was all that I allowed myself, before starting to strip Himura's jacket and ripping it to stop the bleeding, while waiting for the police to arrive.
-----
A/N:
So, it's that time of the year again. The material for the law school entrance exam will be published soon, and I'm once again going to focus on studying.
I've got a pretty good feeling about the exams this year, I got within two points last year and I know I could have done it if I'd managed my time better. Now I know exactly what I need to improve upon, and the exam is transitioning to digital from pen and paper this year, so that should help with writing speed. I should be fine as long as I focus. Luckily this year there's no reservist field exercises or two-tier exams, so I should be able to start writing again in May.
Thank you to all of my readers, and I'll see you again soon.
So, as you might know, every spring and summer I fall off the radar for a few months due to university entrance exams. The price of free education is stiff competition for available spots, and every year I've ended disappointed, which has obviously been quite difficult.
Well, not anymore. Because I have just received the official acceptance letter from the law school I applied to.
As a celebration, a friend of mine got some cool art drawn for me:
The handcuffs felt kind of flimsy around my wrists, like I could snap them open if I really tried. But I figured with the advent of Quirks the chain links might have been made of something sturdier than plain steel these days, and I wasn't in a hurry to test the theory either way.
They had given me the opportunity to clean up at least, after the paramedics had checked me over. So now I was just waiting for them to get their ducks in a row and confirm I had not, in fact, murdered three people with my bare hands and somehow hidden the body of the third.
Sigh.
I heard the door latch open, and a burly man in a suit entered, with a set of curved horns and four eyes, an extra pair right above the first. Following him was Detective Himura, looking pale and significantly more dishevelled than before, but mercifully alive. He may have been an ass, but it took a weight off my shoulders to know that he'd made it. Before the door closed behind the two of them I caught sight of the armed guard standing outside.
"Miss Tatsuma, I am Chief Shinoda, in charge of the Musutafu Police." The man addressed me, drawing my attention back to him. "First of all, let me get those off of you: we reviewed the recordings and they confirmed your account. I am sorry for the inconvenience, but we had to take extra measures, considering the circumstances."
I just sighed, but let him unlock the cuffs, massaging my wrists as they were freed.
"Yeah, crazy how none of those measures stopped Toga from simply waltzing in and stabbing people." I mumbled bitterly as I stood up from the chair I'd been sitting down in.
"There is no need for that." Shinoda replied sternly. "But it is true that we are, nonetheless, in your debt. It was your quick thinking and actions that saved Detective Himura's life, after our own security protocols failed to catch the villain."
"I suppose." I said, just feeling tired. I arched an eyebrow at Himura, who had remained quiet since entering the room, looking everywhere but at me. "Should you be up and walking around this soon?"
"I wear a vest under my jacket, it took most of the blow." He grunted, refusing to meet my gaze. "The knife didn't go in very deep, but I hit my head on the corner of the table as I went down. I was out of it for most of what happened."
I nodded, but didn't say anything. Let him sweat.
"And… I insisted on coming here. Because I owe you my apologies." He ground out, the admission clearly difficult for him. "We brought you here under suspicion, but when the push came to shove, you saved my life."
"You're welcome." I muttered after a long moment. "So, uh, what happened? Was Toga caught?"
"Unfortunately, no." Shinoda explained. "She managed to slip away under the guise of Detective Himura, concocting a story that you had attacked him. By the time we had found the real Himura and verified the truth, she was already gone."
"That's… just great." I said, massaging my temples. "And what about… Samada and Kaneko?"
"...They were pronounced dead on the scene." Shinoda shook his head. "Mr. Uehara was also found dead in his car three blocks from here by nearby patrol officers. I am sorry."
I looked down at my feet for a long while.
"So, what about the whole spy business? Am I free to go, or…?"
"We've come to the decision that-"
Shinoda began, but was interrupted by a commotion in the hallway outside, raised voices carrying through the thick door.
"Sir, you can't just barge in here-"
"Are you going to stop me, young man?"
"N-no, sir. I just-"
"Then I am going in."
The door creaked open as All-Might's near-skeletal figure entered, clad in a blue suit and a red tie. It was the first time I'd seen the man since Kamino, and if such a thing was possible he looked even worse. Deep lines of exhaustion and worry were carved across his face, dark bags under his eyes. But even so, there was a furious energy to his movements and fire in his gaze as he marched over to me, while Shinoda looked like a fish had jumped down his throat and Himura had gone pale as a bedsheet.
"Young Tatsuma!" All-Might said as he put a hand on my shoulder, looking me up and down. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." I sighed. "I'm not hurt."
Even in his current state All-Might was one of the few people to stand taller than I did, and although his hunched posture cost him a good few inches I still had to crane my neck back a little to look him in the eyes.
Now I guess I know how everyone else feels around me.
"There is more to being alright than just being unhurt, Young Tatsuma."
"I'm fine." I replied, hoping my eyes communicated just how much I didn't want to unpack my feelings in front of the police. To my relief, All-Might nodded seriously, turning towards the two policemen.
"You." He growled, poking a bony finger at the larger man's chest. "Young Shinoda, what is the meaning of this?"
"All-Might, sir, we are dealing with a shapeshifting assassin. We had to keep her in custody until we could verify her story."
"No, that is not what I meant, though it is bad enough on its own. I am talking about why your detectives pulled one of my students, a fifteen-year old child, out of school to be interrogated like a criminal!" He thundered. "And you, Himura, I thought better of you."
"Our suspicions were reasonable." The Detective tried to defend himself. "She suddenly developed new abilities after coming into contact with a villain known for his ability to manipulate Quirks. A villain with a known propensity for using said ability to extract favours and create moles to work for him."
"It is not a new ability, merely regaining an old one. One that was discovered on I-Island, months before the Kamino Incident."
"And she did not reveal this to anyone until after Kamino? Why?" Himura countered. "You have to admit it all looked quite suspect."
"Did you not read my reports?" All-Might growled. "He was about to kill her."
"With all due respect sir, such things can be faked, framed to give her an alibi." The Detective continued to argue.
"Not this one. I was called in by Young Tatsuma's classmates, who stumbled on the hideout while searching for her. There was no chance All For One could have known I was coming, let alone at that specific moment in time." All-Might shook his head. "I know All For One, he would not have voluntarily left himself open to attack, even if it was to bait an opponent. His twisted pride would not allow himself to do so." He glanced back at me. "And I saw her. I saw her injuries, I saw the fear of death in her eyes. Nobody is that good of an actor. Nobody."
"All-Might, we-" Shinoda began, but All-Might forged on.
"And, if you thought I had been deceived, if you doubted my testimony and experience, you could have and should have brought me to be questioned and for the details to be checked over. Not a child who has already suffered far too much. But instead you latched on to your preconceived notions and discarded anything that didn't suit your narrative. This sort of shoddy policework is exactly the sort that erodes people's trust in the institutions meant to protect them. I expected better from the both of you, after the many years we've known each other."
"...What we were trying to say before you arrived, All-Might," Shinoda cleared his throat, "is that while we had our suspicions, we consider that our questions have been satisfactorily answered. In addition, a mole would have found it much easier to let Detective Himura perish, and so remove the one on her trail."
"Hmph. Rest assured this will not be the end of this. I will be speaking with the Commissioner-General regarding your conduct today." All-Might turned towards me, his expression softening. "Young Tatsuma, shall we go?"
I nodded wordlessly, not saying anything to either of the two policemen as I followed All-Might out of the room.
-----
"You never should have had to go through that. I am sorry." All-Might said as we walked out into the parking lot, pinching his nose. "I came as fast as I could once I received the word."
"It's fine." I said, shuffling my feet. "So, um, I'm… really sorry, but… do you remember what the first thing you ever said to me was?" I hesitated. "Or, uh, maybe-"
"Ah, I believe I admonished you for taking a defeatist mindset during the Heroes versus Villains scenario." To my surprise he rattled off the answer without hesitation. "To you specifically, that is. Addressing you as part of a group, that would have been when I apologized for surprising everyone by arriving through the window."
"You remember all that?"
"Well, you know how it is." He replied, seeming slightly embarrassed. "Teaching young heroes, seeing them grow and mature… there are few fonder memories that I have." He shook his head. "But why… ah. Ah."
"I know it's silly, after everything you said inside, but…" I trailed off, words choking my throat.
"No, no, it is alright. More than alright." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "The fear, the uncertainty… they are some of the longest-lasting effects a villain leaves behind. It is perfectly natural to feel that way."
I couldn't take it anymore, and wrapped All-Might into a crushing bear hug.
-----
It had begun to rain by the time we headed back to UA, droplets pitter-pattering against the roof of All-Might's car. I sat in the shotgun seat, knees pulled up into my chest, watching the streets pass by, lost in thought.
"All-Might?" I ventured after a long while.
"Yes, Young Tatsuma?"
"...Do you think I should have killed Toga?"
"Why do you ask that?" He asked, sounding concerned and alarmed.
"When she attacked… I had the opportunity to... I had a gun. I could've taken her down. Maybe. But… I was scared. Scared I'd hit Detective Himura. My hands were shaking. But a small part of me was… scared to kill someone. I've thought about it before, but I've never… I've never actually…" I trailed off.
All-Might was silent for a moment, before tugging on the steering wheel to pull to a stop on the side of the road and turning to face me.
"Young Tatsuma. You were not responsible for handling what transpired."
"I guess." I mumbled. "But I'd like to know anyway."
"No." All-Might replied with conviction. "It is never wrong for a hero not to take a life."
"What about All For One?" I asked quietly. "Did you try to kill him?"
"...Yes. I did." He admitted after a moment.
"Then why…?"
"It can be right to take a life. But it is never wrong not to." He explained soberly. "Many heroes and policemen would tell you otherwise, if you asked them. And I do not hold that against them. But taking a life is a monumental thing. Putting an end to a living, breathing, thinking, dreaming person's entire existence, forever. Being unable to bring yourself to do so… I refuse to believe that to be weakness."
"But… what if they go on to kill someone?"
"Then that is on their head!" All-Might thundered, before his voice lowered again as he looked at me. "You are not responsible for the actions of a villain. They chose to do what they did."
"Not all of them." I muttered. "What about the ones that are just… sick? Or who never got the chance to choose?"
"You are not responsible for their circumstances either." He spoke softly. "No one can hold up responsibility for an entire society on their shoulders."
He looked out the window, leaning against the steering wheel.
"...Even I could not."
We fell into a long silence, broken only by the sound of the rain outside and the cars passing by. Just when All-Might seemed like he was about to pull back into the traffic, I opened my mouth.
"You know…" I ventured. "When Himura asked why I'd never told anyone about my inability to transform being a mental block…"
"You don't have to say it." He said kindly. "You don't need to explain yourself."
"But I want to." I said, taking a deep breath. "It's because I was ashamed. I felt like… if it was a physical block, it would have been out of my control. I couldn't do anything about it. But when Dr. Shield explained it to me, I felt ashamed of myself. I felt ashamed that it was me who couldn't face the world like everyone else did, me who forced everyone to accommodate me."
"And… that was why you asked me about how I could, back at I-Island." He said, horrified realization dawning on his face. "I told you about how those who could face danger in spite of their powerlessness were the truly brave. I did not… intend for it to come across as disparaging."
"I admit, I didn't take it in the spirit that it was given. I felt… inadequate. But the more I thought about it… you know Superman, the old comic book hero?"
"Young Tatsuma, remember who you are talking to." He said with some amusement "I lived in America for over a decade."
"Right." My face flushed with embarrassment. "So… I was reading about him, and one of the things that came up was the idea of… 'A man who is invincible cannot truly be brave.' And I guess at the back of my head that's how I used to think about you. But knowing the truth, that wasn't the case at all. You could be the most powerful man on the planet, but only for a little while at a time, and every time you used that power, a little bit of it went away. But you didn't try to cling to it, you used it every chance you could to help those in need, even if it meant accelerating your own path to being reduced to a powerless cripple. And at Kamino, you faced All For One to protect me. Even though you were running out of power, even though you knew it could be the end of your Hero career. And I think I finally got that… it wasn't about me. Once I'd realized that, it didn't feel disparaging, or make me feel inadequate. It felt… inspiring. And when I was at my lowest, it helped push me forward and gave me courage to let go of my dragon form."
I was starting to get embarrassed by my own rambling, scratching the back of my head awkwardly, but All-Might was listening to my words with rapt attention.
"I know you… probably get this a lot, but I just wanted to say thank you. You helped me through the hardest moment of my life. Your example inspired me to be a Hero."
All-Might was silent for a long time, the quiet interrupted only by the sound of my own heartbeat.
"I have heard such words before, that is true." His voice had an odd quality to it, tinted with emotion. "But I don't believe… I don't believe I've ever heard it ever said of my true form. That I managed to inspire someone not with my power, but my lack of it. You are… very welcome, Young Tatsuma. And thank you."
The rest of the journey home passed by in far warmer spirits, and soon enough we pulled up on the UA gates.
"There is only so much I can do in the state that I am, but please, if you ever need my help, you have only to ask."
"There is one thing." I said after a moment of consideration. "When I was face to face with Toga, for all my strength, I still felt clumsy and helpless. I… need to learn how to fight as a human."
The room I found myself in was one of UA's many training gyms, a thick padded mat covering the floor. Wall-mounted racks held a myriad of different equipment: punching bags, padded swords, staffs and other weapons, dummies, and more.
All-Might greeted me with a raised hand as I entered, dressed in a blue shirt and grey pants, only this time they were properly tailored to his reduced frame.
"Ah, good to see you again, Young Tatsuma. Are you ready for your first lesson?"
"Yeah." I said, rolling my shoulders. I had opted for the UA gym uniform despite the fact that this wasn't an official class activity, just because it was nice being able to wear it. "Where do we begin?"
"That's the spirit!" He flashed me his trademark thumbs-up, even if the effect was a little lessened by how skeletal his hand was. "Since you are already familiar with the more theoretical aspects of combat, I thought we could skip the basics and see where you are at. So to start us off, I want you to attack me."
"Uh, like right now?" I scratched the back of my head, eyeing the former Pro-Hero, who now looked more like a starvation victim. "Are you sure…?
"I assure you, I will be fine." All-Might waved off my concern. "I might not have my old strength, but my reflexes are as keen as ever!"
"Well, if you say so…" I paused for a moment, before cocking back a fist and throwing a punch at All-Might.
Despite his assurances his eyes widened in alarm as he saw my fist coming for him, but narrowly stepped aside, sending me stumbling past him. To my credit I didn't totally embarrass myself by falling over, but the tips of my ears burned as I recovered my footing and turned back towards All-Might.
"Ah…" He looked a little rattled, but quickly composed himself. "Thank you, I believe that is enough for me to work with. Can you tell what you did wrong there?"
"I overcommitted into the swing, and couldn't pull it back when you dodged."
"True, but the greater mistake was made in choosing your method of attack. Why a punch?"
"Well, uh…" I trailed off, taken back by the question. "Isn't that what you do?"
"You are certainly correct that most of my famous Smashes are based on boxing moves. However!" He said, raising a finger. "That is because I usually face multiple or especially dangerous enemies that must be neutralized as quickly as possible. But a true Hero must always know what he's doing if he's raising his fists for a fight, and it takes a lot of precision and skill to take someone down with a punch without hurting them. I have found that, when you have the advantage of strength, the safest and easiest way to restrain a singular opponent is this."
All-Might reached over to take my right arm, guiding it to grab him by the front of his shirt, and then the left to grab him by the wrist. "A faster and more skilled opponent can run rings around you in a fistfight, but raw strength counts for a lot more in a grapple. Now, try to restrain me as I attempt to break free."
He struggled to twist out of my grip, but it didn't take much effort to hold him in place. It vaguely felt like trying to restrain a little kid. Unsure what to do, I ended up just lifting All-Might bodily into the air, leaving him squirming in my grip.
"As you can see, for all my years of experience with hand to hand there's very little I can do from this position." He said a little sheepishly. He nodded down at me, and I put him down on the floor again. "That is not to say that such things are meaningless, but no amount of skill will let you outwrestle someone five or ten times stronger than you are. So it is in your interests to convert the fight into a grapple."
"Maximize my advantage and leverage it to win, huh?"
"Hm?"
"That's something Ryuko always used to tell me when we were training." I explained. "She told me that when you get into a fight, the best way to win is to figure out what you're better at than your opponent, and then how you use those advantages to win. For example my dragon form is heavier than hers, so to beat her I needed to bodycheck her and push her around."
"Ah! That is good advice!" He flashed me another thumbs-up. "Now, there are two parts to this training, how to grab someone, and what to do once you have. In the interests of safety, we will be starting with the second part."
All-Might walked over to the wall-mounted rack, grabbing a faceless training dummy similar to the ones we'd used for rescue training at USJ, dressed in a grey tunic. He nearly dropped it to the floor, grunting with the effort of trying to lift the dummy until I stepped up beside him and lifted it for him.
"Ah, thank you. Would you hold it up for me? Now let's see…" He fiddled with a panel at the dummy's back while I held it upright, until suddenly it went rigid, standing on its own two legs. "Right, that did it! This is one of UA's training dummy robots, designed and built by the Support Department. It won't fight back, but it's programmed to try to self-correct back to the neutral position, simulating the feeling of resistance trying to restrain a real person. It also has a network of sensors that will warn you if you are handling it too roughly, and would have caused an injury."
I stepped back leaving the dummy to stand by itself.
"Now, there's three main areas you have to pay attention to, in order of priority. The first are the head and the neck, the vulnerable zones. You have to be careful not to apply too much force or pressure here, or you risk hurting your target more than you need to." He said, running a hand along the dummy's shoulders. "The second are the legs and pelvis. Legs are a human's strongest limbs, and if you control them you control their movements. You want to restrain them to prevent them from escaping your hold."
"And to prevent them from kicking you, I assume."
"That, too, but legs are awkward to use as weapons. Speaking of which, third come the hands, which most opponents will use to try to hurt you, so you have to restrain them to protect yourself." He explained. "Jabbing fingers into eyes, pulling hair, blows to the head or groin and stomach area, those are the sorts of things desperate people resort to given the chance."
I winced. It's fine. Human means more vulnerable than dragon. I accept this.
"Now, that grip I showed you earlier is an ideal starting point. Your left hand restrains their right, as most people are right-handed and will default to using it to attack. Your right grabs the front of their shirt or shoulder, so you can control the movements of their upper torso."
I stepped up to the dummy, following his instructions.
"Put your right hand a little higher." He corrected my stance. "It will give you better leverage, rather than working against the center of their balance."
"Alright. So where to go from here?"
"With your strength, that lifting move you did there can be quite useful for rendering your opponent vulnerable. Their feet are off the ground so they're not going anywhere, they're disorientated, and it leaves them open to further moves. But it's not sustainable as a hold because it leaves your opponent free to attack you with their legs and free hand. Just because they can't escape doesn't mean they can't hurt you."
"So I need to get them on the ground." I mused.
"That's right. With your opponent's legs off the floor they can't really stop you from throwing them on the ground." He paused for a moment, before adding on. "By 'throw' I don't mean that literally, not unless you know what you're doing. You want to hold on to them, make sure not to crack their head against the floor, and so that you can pin them in place."
"So… like this?" Step in close, twist, lift, throw.
I slammed the dummy into the mat, feeling an odd sense of deja vu. A memory came unbidden to me, one that I'd long since forgotten. The feeling of the mat beneath my feet, the stance, the movements… had I practiced it in another life?
"Yes, that's it exactly!" All-Might smiled, oblivious to my shock. "Are you sure this is your first time doing this? That was textbook."
"I… probably saw someone use it before." I offered weakly. I must have practiced martial arts at least to some degree, before… before I'd died. And then I'd forgotten about it. "Maybe at the Sports Festival?"
"Quite possible! In any case, you'll want to flip your opponent on their stomach, holding their hands behind their back. Apply weight to their legs and pelvis, and there is very little they can do from there." He explained. "Now, let us reset and repeat."
From there on, we went through multiple repetitions, before moving into incremental variations of positions and approaches. What to do if your opponent does something different, or under certain circumstances. Then we moved on to the basics of defending myself, how to block incoming attacks.
After several hours, there was a hesitant but sharp knock on the gym door.
"Come in!" All-Might called out, clearly expecting the new arrival.
The door clicked open to admit Midoriya, clad in his own gym uniform like mine. He raised his hand in polite greeting as he approached.
"Hello, All-Might, Tatsuma."
"Ah, good, you are here." All-Might nodded. "Young Tatsuma and I were going through proper grappling forms, but any proper training must involve putting the theory to practice. This will be an opportunity for you as well, Young Midoriya, to hone your hand to hand skills."
Midoriya nodded immediately, but I had my doubts.
"Wouldn't… it be better to spar against someone my own size? More fair?"
"Young Tatsuma, how tall are you?" All-Might asked.
"Uh… just shy of two meters."
"And what is the average height in Japan?"
"...I don't know?"
"It is one hundred and sixty-five centimeters. So you have about thirty-five centimeters of height on the average opponent you'll have to fight, and probably double the weight. You train for the situation you expect to face, and that means fighting people smaller than you are."
"But there still are people my size. My dad, you, Vlad King, Bondo, Shoji from 1-A, Endeavour, Gang Orca… what am I supposed to do if I end up fighting someone like that?"
"Then you should seek to retreat and avoid confrontation until you can use your Quirk and transform." All-Might said bluntly. "The fact of the matter is, the main focus of your training will still have to be your dragon form, and combined with three years of disuse, you will always be at a disadvantage fighting in your human form."
"It's about prioritization, right?" Midoriya piped up, only to shirk back as the both of us turned toward him. "Uhm- If you fight one out of a hundred battles in your human form, and one out of a hundred of those against someone of equal size… you can't center your training around the outliers.
"I guess that makes sense." I mumbled. "Alright then, how do we do this?"
"Like I said, there are two parts to this. Now you know what to do when you get your hands on your opponent, so we must move on to how to get your hands on them." All-Might said. "The terms are simple. Young Tatsuma, you win by restraining Young Midoriya, while he wins if you fall to the mat."
That seemed… substantially easier for him. But then again I guess I did just point out myself the inherent unfairness of fighting someone twice your size.
"Any other rules?" I asked, scratching the back of my head nervously.
"No Quirks, no blows to the head or below the belt, and no leaving the mat. Other than that…" All-Might said as he stepped back and off the mat. "Well, exercise common sense."
"Right, so…" Midoriya turned towards me, dropping to a low combat stance and bringing up his hands. "Good luck!"
"Uh, same to you." I fumbled, my thoughts racing. Midoriya had significantly more hand to hand combat experience than I did, so I needed to be careful. But I couldn't just play passive either.
I lunged forward, trying to grab a hold of him, but Midoriya ducked below my hand and barreled into my legs. My balance, already off-center due to the forward movement, teetered past the point of no return, and with a mighty thump I hit the mat, Midoriya deftly rolling out from beneath me.
Well, that was embarrassing.
I pulled back up on my feet, dusting myself off. "Alright, that was a wash. Let's go again."
Right. Bend your knees and widen your stance. That's what Hound Dog had taught me. I should use my superior reach and-
I had to hastily ward off a punch from Midoriya, who'd taken the opportunity to attack while I was busy thinking. It didn't actually hurt as I blocked the blow with my forearm, but it certainly shook me.
I tried to retaliate with an attempt to grab him, but Midoriya was out of my reach again by the time I had gathered my wits. He grabbed my arm before I could snatch it away and pulled on it, causing me to overbalance and plant my face on the mat.
"I think… you're thinking too much." Midoriya mused. "When you're fighting as a dragon, you have to plan three steps ahead because you can't react quickly, right? But fighting as a human is more dynamic, more reactive. You don't have the same inertia behind you, and have to make split-second decisions to change tracks depending on the situation."
"Yeah well." I grunted as I pulled myself back up. "Easier said than done."
"It will come with time." All-Might said. "Time and repetition."
This time I waited to let Midoriya make the first move, ready to catch him as he came at me. I managed to get my hands on him, but before I could lift him into the air he lashed out with his foot, catching mine just as I was stepping on it, sweeping it from underneath me and causing us both to go down in a heap.
I sighed. This was going to be a long day.
-----
"This… is not going to work."
I suppressed a sigh as Midnight laid the folder titled 'Support Department Request Form' back on the table. I was sitting on the floor of the meeting room, my tail curled around my feet.
"Why not? What's wrong with it?"
In response, she tilted the folder back towards me, pulling out the reference images and descriptions I'd put in.
"Bulletproof vest. Armoured jacket and pants. Fully enclosed ballistic helmet. Combat boots. The problem is that hero costumes are supposed to have flair to them, and tell the world of your unique identity as a Hero." The older woman explained as she tapped the forms in turn. "This? This looks like something out of the covert art of an American first-person shooter."
"So? It's practical." I defended my creation. "My dragon form has plenty of flair and identity to it, I don't need any of it from my human form costume."
"On the contrary, that's exactly why you need it." She glanced up at me. "To counteract the fact that your dragon form is terrifying."
I blinked, taken aback.
"Look, I don't want to be a jerk about this, I know you're a sweet kid, but we have to talk about your image to the public. And let's just say it has some issues. I'm sure I don't need to show you any of the images circulating the internet, but they're some pretty brutal stuff. You nearly beat down that Shinso kid from Gen Ed, you gave Shishida a trashing, nearly barbecued Tokoyami, you tore apart a Nomu on primetime television and you ate Stain's arm." She counted off each incident with a finger, before raising her hand to forestall my arguments. "Now I know that last one was an accident and there were extenuating circumstances to the other ones too, I'm not here to insinuate anything. But I'm here to talk honestly and realistically about what the public sees in you. And a lot of them have trouble remembering there's a fifteen year old girl beneath the gigantic fire-breathing doom reptile."
"So you want to show her to them." I grunted unhappily.
"Your human form is pretty intimidating already except for the baby face, between all the muscle and height. Slap an enclosed helmet and full-coverage body armour on top of that and it's going to be a PR nightmare."
"Iida wears full on plate armour, helmet and all, and he doesn't seem to have any issues." I pointed out a little petulantly.
"And he doesn't have anything he needs to counteract." Midnight retorted. "Plus he's fully committed to the knight in shining armour theme, manners and all."
"So what exactly do you suggest? I am not wearing spandex." I snorted.
"First of all, it's not spandex, it's nanofiber. We don't send people out there without any protection. Second, I've had this exact conversation several times already this year, just like I do every year." She sighed, taking off her glasses and massaging the bridge of her nose. "Yes, we get it, the costumes look a little goofy at times. But that's part of the point, to put people at ease. I'm sure you remember from history classes what it was like when Pro-Heroes first emerged."
I grunted in the affirmative.
"Society was dominated by Warlords who used their Quirks to oppress the population." She carried on. "The flashy costumes were a deliberate choice to reassure people that they weren't just trading one flavour of thug for another, and the same rationale applies today. We are not soldiers, we aren't even police, we're Pro-Heroes. If you're worried about protection we can get you an open face helmet with a visor, but you can't look like a special forces operative."
"...Fine, the helmet can go. It'd probably get stuffy anyway. But the vest is non-negotiable. I am not getting shot again."
Midnight winced. "That's a fair compromise. If you take away the helmet and some of the padding, make the jacket into a short-sleeved one, that could work. It would go a long way towards making you seem more casual and approachable."
"Alright, but I'm keeping the fingerless gloves."
"Any particular reason?" She raised an eyebrow.
I averted my eyes, my ears twitching. "...They look really, really cool."
-----
"All-Might's been giving you private lessons? Man, that's so unfair." Kuroiro griped over the dinner table. "How'd you manage that?"
I was curled on the floor of the main room of the 1-B dormitory while the others ate, using my tail as a pillow to rest my head.
"I asked." I replied bluntly. "Did you?"
"Well no, I mean come on, it's All-Might." He said, twirling his fork in his fingers. "He's got to be super busy… oh."
"Oh indeed." Itsuka said, placing her own tray on the table with a pointedly heavy sound. "You know, he's probably pretty happy to just have things to do. It can't be easy adjusting to retirement like that."
"If you want to ask him for lessons, just do it." Monoma added in. "You've all seen him in Heroics lessons, he's not intimidating at all to talk to."
"So, uh, Ryuuzaki, have you heard from the police since… the attack?" Pony asked quietly.
"No." I shook my head. "They said the issue was dropped, and it seems to have stayed that way."
"Man, what was up with that in the first place?" Yoarashi mused. "Thinking you of all people were a spy?"
I sighed. "I guess I can understand… sort of, where they came from. I didn't tell anyone about the reason I couldn't turn back. I just wish that they hadn't been such assholes about it, springing it on me like that."
"You didn't tell us either." Yui pointed out. "There was over a month between I-Island and… well. You know."
"Yeah…" I mumbled. "I just felt… ashamed about it. I'm over it now, it's just…"
"Is that why you were so tired when we went shopping for the training camp gear?" Pony asked with concern. "Because you were losing sleep over it?"
"...Yeah."
"Ryuuzaki… we don't want to pressure you into anything, but in the future, if there's something bothering you like that, we're here for you." Itsuka said. "You can talk to us."
"I guess…" I trailed off, before shaking my head. No, they deserved a better answer than that. "I'll… I'll try being more open about things."
"So anyway, how'd you know how to use an assault rifle?" Setsuna asked. "That's not the sort of thing you'd usually pick up."
"Eh, uh, you know, video games." I mumbled, turning my head away.
She looked like she was about to follow up on the question, but I was saved by the doorbell. A moment later one of UA's delivery drones rolled in, carrying a package in its tray-arm.
"Good evening, meatbags!" It announced cheerfully as it stopped in front of me. "I have a delivery from the Support Department to Ryuuzaki Tatsuma!"
"That was quick." I noted as I rose to my feet, carefully using my claws to lift the package.
"Yeah, well, apparently it wasn't a very complicated order. Not that I care!" The bot announced cheerfully, before reversing gears and whirring away back towards the door. "And with that, my job here is done!"
"Is that-"
"Yep!" I answered Pony with enthusiasm, turning to head towards my room. "Wait a minute, I am going to go change."
A moment later I returned to the common room, after a quick transformation and change of clothing.
"It looks so good!" Itsuka gushed excitedly, while everyone crowded around me. "You came up with it all by yourself?"
"Yeah."
I'd always had my vest for my dragon form, but it had always been something borne out of a necessity, just an adaptation of my school uniform. This, this was designed by me, for me. It felt mine. Short-sleeved blue jacket, gray cargo pants, white combat boots, bulletproof vest, and of course, a pair of black fingerless gloves.
"Wait a minute…" Yui mused, inspecting the small white dragon symbol on my vest. "I've seen that icon before, on your miniatures." She squinted up at me. "Did you ask the Support Department to copy it onto your costume?"
"...Maybe." I said, but I couldn't suppress the smile. "It's not like the company that invented it is around to claim copyright."
"You big nerd." Yui said, but there was no heat in it.
Setsuna reached up to playfully swat at my stomach, before shaking her stinging fist. "Oof. What's the vest filled with, your own scales?"
"Yep, several folded layers. According to ballistic testing it's practically impenetrable to handheld weapons, to the point that energy transfer is a much bigger threat than being pierced."
Not just that, I'd asked the Support Department to make it properly heavy and form-fitting, giving a feeling of weight and solidity to it, pressing down on me.
It almost felt like scales.
Classes are going to start in a few weeks and I have a move ahead of me so my update rate might not be the greatest for the coming months, plus I've got a couple of other writing projects going on, but I'll see what I can do.
