[X] 'Caffeine-fuelled fury' has been selected
"-olutely not. This entire plan is ridiculous - do you want to jeopardise your career - your place in the school!? Or are you just that desperate to get a criminal record?"
She took a break from her rant to take a sip of water; you took your chance.
"Pleeeaaase…?"
"No. I am not helping you break into the school, even if it is for a… wait - why are you even doing this in the first place?!"
"To make sure that they've let Izuku pass. I'm… worried, I think. I-If they fail him just because he doesn't have a quirk…"
"Couldn't you just arrange a meeting or something?"
"The average reply time is seven to eight months, according to their site."
"Ah."
Unsurprisingly, a school run by what were effectively celebrities got its fair share of fanmail. The two of you shared a moment of silence for the poor, underpaid intern whos job it was to wade through them all.
"Even so, there still has to be a better way of getting in touch than this. I don't have the words to describe how irresponsible this is."
Although she wanted to continue her lecture, she stopped at the expression on your face. Concern for another human was a rare emotion in you - this was something that was seriously upsetting her child, and the last thing Yuuko wanted to do was dismiss it. And besides, quirk-based discrimination was her specialty:
"Kaede… If you want my honest opinion? There were only ever two outcomes no matter what he scored in the exam: One, they'll think of the short term benefits of accepting a quirkless student, and let him pass. They'll focus on all the positive attention they'll get for being 'inclusive', and market him as proof that, what was it again, 'anyone can be a hero if they try their best'. On the other hand, someone who thinks in longer periods of time that their next paycheck might step in and point out how it would encourage vigilantism in some of the stupider quirkless of previous generations. Hundreds of people with no training or equipment taking to the streets, trying to make up for the countless years spent wallowing in their own self-pity… can you imagine how many would die?"
You nodded, slowly. It was a rather... bleak perspective of things to take, but that was to be expected when it came to your mom, so you accepted her take with a grain of salt. Weird phrase, that - if someone was being salty, then why would adding more salt reduce the sodium levels?
"Still…" She sighed again. You offered her an emotional support centipede, which she waved off "You're set on this, aren't you? If I can't change your mind, I guess I could…"
She was talking more to herself as she moved towards the phone, hanging on the wall by the door to the kitchen. What was she going to..? You froze - she wouldn't. Right?
Ah, so this was what people meant when they say 'like ice water down your spine'.
She dialled a number, glancing back over to you while it rung. You didn't see which one, but she… she wouldn't turn on you and call-
"Hey, Ryou. Could you pick up some more meat on your way back? I think they had a three for two on lamb until the end of the month."
See? Everything's fine.
"Oh, and maybe another bottle of that nice brandy, if they have it? Heh - yeah, it's one of those days again. You're going to love hearing this once you get back."
She grinned viciously at you- she'd made you worry on purpose, the-!
"Thanks, dear. Bye~" She hung up, and moved back to sit with you, still grinning "See what it feels like for us? Not knowing whether or not you're about to go and do something st… not very well thought through."
Oh.
Oh. Now you felt bad.
Upon noticing how she'd only made you more despondent, she flicked your ear "I'm not asking you to stop! It wouldn't be you if you didn't wind up in hospital every other month."
"Mom, I don't do that any more!"
"Nurse's office still counts." She flicked you again "Now let me get back to my moral learning thing, dammit. My point is, can you at least keep us in mind when you're off doing stupid things?"
"...I'll try."
"It's not a literal thing, Kaede."
"Oh. Okay then!"
"Thanks. And if you really want to make me happy, you're going to promise to take some supplies..."
---
You left the house, carrying a bag filled with gradually defrosting meat, a map of the school's interior, and a spider. Turns out the official site for UA kept a downloadable copy, for both visitors and bragging rights. 'Look at me - I've got so many fancy facilities that I only take two classes per year!' Well, two classes that actually mattered. You could understand the practicality of allowing the students in the support and management classes to learn and work alongside heroes-in-training at the site, but general studies? Why? If they were lacking in space for classrooms (only two classes oh no you knew you should have tried to take out some of the competition ahhhhh), why bother wasting space on all the facilities for the general subjects? It just seemed… unnecessarily cruel to make the general studies students work within arms reach of their failed dreams, but tonight, you hoped that the existence of the course would work to your advantage.
General studies was… fine. You wouldn't mind it.
De-kun could have all your points from the exam, if that was what he needed to be happy.
Your claws dug into the wall, allowing you, with a bit of trial and error, to pull yourself up by your arms. It was quicker to bulk up you upper body than to mess around with your leg structure so that you could use all four limbs. Digitigrade legs were the best in general terms, just... not so much when it came to climbing - they were too long, or they didn't bend in the right way. Or maybe it was how your spine and shoulders were angled? Another reason to add to the list of why you should be allowed to eat your horse legged friend; you kept a list now, because De-kun was firmly opposed to you eating people unless you gave him better excuses than 'because I can'.
It was slow going, but eventually, you nearly reached the top - one last push! You pulled yourself with enough force to shred your own muscles, and cleared the top of the wall with several feet to spare, unwittingly avoiding the pressure sensors along the top.
Unfortunately, your landing was not as successful - let's just say that it was a good thing that you had fresh materials on hand with which to repair yourself. As you slowly pulled your bones back together, you remembered that you had access to gecko cells, and could have just climbed the wall without wasting so much time separating your claws from your ribs.
You were lucky that there were no guards to hear your swearing.
---
After you were done fixing yourself, silently thanking your mom's foresight (how could she have possibly anticipated that you'd accidentally cause serious bodily harm to yourself?), you approached the main body of the school.
How to get inside? The front door was too exposed to try, and judging by the lights on one of the upper floors, there were still staff inside, so you couldn't just break a window undetected.
Eventually, your answer came in the form of a certain familiar blond skeleton-man. You were 'tactically concealing your presence which is definitely not the same as hiding shut up' in a random bush, having been alerted to his presence by the sound of something heavy crashing to the ground, followed by a loud hiss. You'd logically assumed that you'd accidentally wound up inside a horror film, and so had concealed yourself, in order to better tackle-hug whichever giant monster had appeared.
Although Blond Skeleton-man was sort of cute, he was still a disappointment. However, he did unlock the back door for you. He was also kind enough to let you in! Well, he didn't intentionally do so, but he got so excited when Bael hugged his face that he didn't notice when you slipped inside.
---
Once he was done playing with Bael, you followed the man up several flights of stairs to the origin of the lights. He'd left the poor spider all alone outside… maybe they had a rule against allowing pets inside the building? Hm, that would be problematic, but you'd deal with it when the time came. You heard your target greet the skeleton as he stepped inside - the oversized mouse had a recognisable voice.
The door to the conference room wasn't fully closed, so you could've heard everything even without your enhanced hearing.
"Sorry I'm late; my bus was cancelled, so I had to-"
"Are you-? For fucks sake, Toshinori - we could have waited! You need to stop pushing yourself like this!"
Whatever the new voice was attempting to say devolved into a low growl towards the end, which was talked over by a more familiar nurse.
"If I recall correctly, you promised me that you wouldn't strain yourself."
Oooh, she did not sound pleased about… er, whatever it was the intern had done to piss her off. Several other voices joined in with similar sentiments, creating an unintelligible symphony of Disappoint. To the relief of your ears (was that discount-Yomiel in there?! Why did he have a microphone?!?), a bored voice that you didn't recognise shut them up:
"Can we just get back to why we're all here?"
"I-I agree with Aizawa; I'm very sorry for causing all of you concern…"
"Not all of us."
"-although your support is greatly appreciated."
Somehow, you could hear the intern's defeated slouch. You decided that you didn't like this Aizawa person - he was rude, and he'd upset the cute skeleton man. You waited just outside the door, intending on cornering the headmaster after the meeting was done to arrange a deal, when they said something to catch your attention.
"-Midoriya Izuku. Now, marketing suggested that I accept his application, but as we all know..." The majority of the room joined the headmaster in the last part "What marketing wants is the last thing anyone with a functioning brain should."
You got the feeling that this sort of thing came up a lot; you stifled a laugh, unsure what to feel at their response.
"Okay, to be fair, they have had some… passable ideas in the past, and this appears to be one of them. I trust you've all read their e-mail regarding the new applicant?" There were murmurs of agreement all round "Good. Then I'd like to leave this up to you."
Skele-intern chose that moment to speak up:
"Before the vote, I'd just like to say that... I've spoken with this boy, and from what I've gathered, he is the ideal material for a hero. He may not have a quirk, but this shouldn't have… I shouldn't… Well, to put it simply, equipment can make up for a lack of power, but what drives a hero… the lengths they will go to in order to meet those goals… those are irreplaceable."
This guy held a lot of power for an intern… and he knew De-kun? Well, they did speak a bit in the nurse's office, but that hardly seemed like enough time to-
"Where are you going, Aizawa?"
"Coffee break."
"There's a machine over there."
"Mmph, bathroom then."
You heard him shut the door as he left, from your position around the nearest corner. Which way was he going?
Light footsteps, barely audible even to you, heading in your direction.
You tried to run, only to find yourself suspended upside down.
"What are you doing here?"
This was bad. He was glaring at you, you couldn't move, anohnopleasewhatshappeninghelpyoucantfeelanythingwhatshappeningHELPSOMEBODYohgodohgod-
"-ine, you can have it back".
You stopped flailing - when had you started? Your wrists, ankles were bleeding around where the hero's… scarf (?) held them. You'd also broken your left leg, somehow - it was pulled at a weird angle. What had just happened? The hero noticed your confusion.
"My quirk. I can cancel out yours. You didn't take it too well. Now answer me: what are you doing here?"
Well, this was the most terrifying hero you'd ever met; you spoke quickly.
"I wanted to make sure that you guys let Izuku in. I-it's the only thing h-"
"Why didn't you arrange a meeting?"
"Have you seen the waiting list?!"
"There could have been other methods to get our attention…"
"I only had a small window of opportunity before the paperwork got filed. Plus...I don't work well under pressure."
"Evidently. Final question: why, exactly, shouldn't I just throw you out right now?"
He seemed to be taking far too much enjoyment in this; you had to make a decision, and quickly. Before he got bored.
Main Action:
[ ] Violence!
[ ] Words!
[ ] Spider!
Additional Actions: Write-in
---
AN: I can imagine that sudden disconnection from extrasensory quirks would be… uncomfortable.
Yuuko is a little melodramatic. This is understandable, as she is fuelled by the salt that can only be created from disappointing anime endings. Kado, Virgin Soul, looking at you here. Do any of you have any series you got too attached to to drop after the romance tumors started consuming the entire plotline?
Chapter takes longer because I'm spending more time drawing. But next time is the teacher interlude, so I guess that makes up for it…