Chapter Text
Nezu had promised that Mikumo’s curriculum would be more accelerated than most. And while it was nice to skip the general education courses and not have to sit through basic English and math courses, even All for One himself was perplexed at some of the courses made available to him at UA.
“Hero Law II… And Ethics.” He read out loud as he made his way through the halls. If either of these classes were separate it would have made sense. But the fact that Ethics was tacked on at the end of a second year course… or was it a third year course since he doubted any of his classmates would be taking any sort of legal classes in their first year? Did Nezu expect him to have already memorized basic hero legislature? Was the ethics for specifically tricky laws, or was it just squeezed in there with the thought that heroes didn’t need to know much on that topic anyways since they were just naturally expected to be good?
Mikumo didn’t have much time to go over his arrangement much. The page had been shoved in his face as Aizawa was eager to get rid of him, relieved that at the very least he wouldn’t be with his class the full time. Although didn’t the other UA faculty teach the rest of the subjects anyways? Mostly it meant he didn’t get much of a chance to speak with Izuku. He didn’t seem too happy about how the entire ordeal went. Or at least Izuku’s awkward way of showing upset of ‘I don’t want to openly say anything and offend you, but I don’t want to make direct eye contact with you just yet’. Sue him for not thinking he should endure bone breaking injuries on his first day of class. Oh well, he’d speak with him during lunch whether he wanted to directly engage with his problems or not.
As Mikumo entered his new classroom it was hard to tell just from looking at the students what year this was. Honestly, all these kids looked the same age to Mikumo. The advent of quirks did not help throwing in wild cards that made people look animalistic to literal baby faces. At a school like UA, appearances that helped you stand out like say- bright cyan hair, angel wings, or floating glowing energy balls- then so long as you didn’t cross that “too scary line” your differences were encouraged.
Although in Mikumo’s case, his difference of simply not being familiar was more than enough to get him a dirty look from a girl with a translucent quality skin and a light sheen that gave it the quality of a nearly dead glow stick. “Hey, you lost, kid?”
Mikumo looked up at the class number. 3A. “No, just a special case.” He insisted as he glanced around the class. He was sure to get an even less than open welcome here. Honestly, he rather not stand out. He didn’t have the benefit of Izuku in the classroom to distract him. Maybe he’d learn something interesting about the other side of the hero system, but he really didn’t care too much. Better to just stay under the radar, not pick any fights, and at least try and stay quiet.
“Hey! Special is right! I know you!” An energetic voice shouted from across the classroom. The blonde hair and blue eyes from afar made Mikumo fear for a moment for the second coming of All Might, but after a few moments he recognized him as well.
“I’m surprised you do. We only met once.” Mikumo admitted. What was his name? Oh yes- the Sports Festival exhibitionist Izuku had been nervously gushing about. Togata Mirio.
“Well, you’ve got some pretty big people watching over you.” Togata admitted. “And no wonder if you’re in our class on the first day! Wow- you really must have knocked that exam out of the park!”
Mikumo let out a soft chuckle. “Apparently so. Nezu has my entire schedule shuffled around from the support course to third year heroics courses.”
“I didn’t even know first years could do that!” A new bubbly voice chimed in. The girl was like a tornado, already not having been far behind Togata, but she made herself impossible to ignore. “So you must be some kind of super genius then! Ooh! That must be your quirk! Some kind of memorization? Supercomputer learning? Absorbing info right off the pages? Tell me tell me tell me! What’s your quirk!?” She asked eagerly practically floating off the ground buzzing with energy.
Mikumo sighed. So much for staying under the radar. “The ability for the first question a person asks upon meeting me to be the nature of my quirk.”
“Hado-chan… Please… you’re probably just making him nervous…” A gloomy kid mumbled from behind her.
“Oh come on! I just got to know! At the very least you’ve got to say how you managed to score your way into a bunch of special classes! I’d love to switch out math and English for more hero courses! Ooh- or if you can do support stuff, I’d love to find out how I can make my own hero gauntlets!” The girl was talking at a mile a minute before she managed to even introduce herself.
Togata only managed another laugh as he patted her on the shoulder to try and literally bring her back to earth. “Hado-chan can be a bit enthusiastic.” He then turned to his dark haired friend behind him as if hoping for him to introduce himself, but he seemed to slowly be backing up and making his way to his seat. “And I’m sure Amajiki-kun would like you to feel right at home here too.” He said emphasizing hoping that he’d step up a bit. No such luck. If anything, that caused the young man to retreat even further. And Mikumo thought Izuku had anxiety problems.
“I’m just looking for a quiet simple class. Assuming this class is pure academics, I’ll just be taking notes and hopefully I can get through all of this without issue.” Mikumo said honestly. He had no intentions of starting any study groups or being any teachers pet. So long as there weren’t any Bakugo-like figures in the class, he could hopefully keep his head down.
Togata gave him a thumbs up. “Well, you get what you put in. Might be a bit rough for you with the jump in grade level, but if Nezu thinks you can handle it, I’m sure you’ll be fine!”
It was almost time for the next period to begin. The third years already had their accustomed seats. There were a few empty seats to choose from. Mikumo assumed not everyone could last the rigorous course load at UA, and at some point you couldn’t really drop a student and expect their replacement to be able to catch up.
It was then that it occurred to Mikumo that Togata managed to expertly dodge the question of Mikumo’s quirklessness- at least for now. Did he even know? He hadn’t asked when they met, but it wasn’t like he was the main focus of their brief meeting. But he hadn’t asked Izuku on his either. His rude mentor could have informed him, but whether he didn’t know or didn’t care about quirks Mikumo still had some modicum of respect for him. He redirected a potentially uncomfortable topic to make a new student in an unfamiliar environment feel welcome. Honestly, that small act was probably the most heroic thing he’d seen all day in a supposed school for heroes. He supposed it was another comparison to All Might. He might look like a blonde oaf at first glance, but he had a way of putting people at ease.
The bell rang out, but the entire class was already seated at attention and ready. A stark contrast from the chaos that was 1-A. This group was already trained and ready for their instructor. There was dead silence, yet Mikumo felt like some kind of pre-quirk era Western music should be playing as Snipe made his way to the door.
“You all know by now that I don’t like wasting my first day on syllabi or lesson plans. You can all read that at home for yourselves.” The pro hero said tossing stacks of papers on each front row. The students began passing them around, quickly and quietly taking it as business as usual.
That was, except for one blue haired chatterbug in the front row. “Snipe, sir! We’ve got a new student that doesn’t know that! Why don’t you ask him to come up and introduce himself! Oh! And you can ask him his quirk, his blood type, his hometown, his favorite movie, if he has any pets-”
“He can speak for himself, Miss Hado.” Snipe said with a glare. One which was soon directed at Mikumo- or at least he assumed so because of the mask. “Don’t have much time to waste on that. You got 15 seconds. Shoot.”
Mikumo didn’t even want to bother with going to the front of the class so he didn’t even bother. He certainly wasn’t going to go through Hado’s long list of questions. He stood up, bringing attention to the near back of the class. “Akatani Mikumo. The point of special treatment- like being moved to an advanced class is to use it for one’s own betterment. I want to use it to pass this class in peace. Please don’t give me a second thought.” He sat down as near quickly as he got up with seconds to spare.
Snipe seemed pleased by the brief introduction. “Special treatment… Heroes ‘got a lot of that going around. You think that gives you the right to break the law whenever you feel like it?”
The class went back to dead silence. “Well, anyone?” Seeing a certain someone about to open their mouth he quickly corrected himself “Besides Miss Hado?” The pout on her face was noted but he was used to it by now.
Togata’s hand shot up, giving him a nod of approval from the professor. “Well, of course not. Heroes have to be a good example after all. We especially can’t be above the law. The rules are there for a reason.” He’d been on patrol plenty of times where even if he didn’t know the exact reason why a rule was in place, Sir explained it to him later. That there was a chain of command in place. Even if little rules may not make sense all the time, they helped everything moved more smoothly.
“Trick question!” Snipe called out firing a blank right above the blonde’s head causing him to nearly jump out of his seat. “Sure, heroes can’t break the law ‘whenever ya feel like it’. But if you stay rigid and follow the rules every time, you’re gunna to find yourself in a place where the rules are gunna cost ya. Lives get lost because you were trying to follow protocol rather than follow your gut.”
“Well, yeah if it’s a life or death situation…” Togata tried to argue. “But you shouldn’t really break protocol unless you’re absolutely sure.”
“You think all those times are going to be big life or death scenarios?” Snipe posed. “Take our special new transfer student. Nezu bended the rules. Hardly a life or death situation. But newbie, why don’t you tell me a few of the negatives to breaking some of those rules.”
Great, and now he was being literally made an example of. Mikumo took a breath. “Well, for one it could open the floodgates for others wanting similar special treatment. There’s plenty of heroes with children who are convinced their children are talented enough for advanced courses even if UA already has one of the best known- and already difficult- hero courses. It also means more work on Nezu’s part for having to arrange a special curriculum for me. If I do fail, it means no reason to make exceptions in the future as well look bad on his part for sticking his reputation out for an odd case.” Mikumo leaned back in his chair, hoping his analysis was sufficient to go back to sulking away. He really hoped this wasn’t one of those classes with a lot of class participation.
Snipe wasn’t sure if those had just been weighing on his mind or if he just was good at thinking on the spot. The later would make this class more interesting. “And what about the positives?”
Mikumo raised an eyebrow. He didn’t care that the ball was back in his court this soon, but the list was much shorter. “Well… it could help to set up a possible system for other possible advanced cases in the future. It would mean a possible handful of more promising hero candidates in every generation, but that’s only assuming I’d have much better prospects. It might simply be a slightly accelerated program as opposed to anything better.” Honestly, Mikumo didn’t like the idea of something like that in place. Already he felt like heroes were coming out at too young of an age. To say that he’d be a precedent for them to come out earlier? He was kind of cheating considering he already had years of experience under his belt. Was coming to UA like this a mistake? Besides the obvious reasons of having the most dangerous supervillain in the world walk the halls of a hero school.
“You’re thinking only of the big picture… what about you?” Snipe asked. “The rules were bended for your future… That’s a part of the equation too.”
Now that just made this even more ridiculous. Mikumo almost wanted to laugh out loud. He had no idea the irony of what he was suggesting. “So all the consequences that could come for future classes at UA… there is value in considering weighing them against the needs of the individual- me. The needs of the all versus the needs of the one.”
“As heroes, it’s the question we’re asking every day.” Snipe confirmed. “We save everyone we can… But you got to figure out when enough is enough. You got to break some rules. Might not be able to keep a building in one piece while saving a person’s life. Can’t always keep in formation with your squad while chasing the villain down. Ethics is all about our moral choices. Law is about the line in the sand the government decides we shouldn’t cross. This class is about when we decide where those two meet. Is every answer right? Nope. But what’s important is that you follow through. That when the moment comes, you’re not caught between a crossroads trying to decide what’s the right thing to do. Here, you’re going to pick your battles so when the time comes to fight them, you’ll shoot straight with as few regrets as possible.”
The idea of that just seemed more interesting than anything that Mikumo could learn from a book. Oh sure, he’d gone through ethics classes before. When you were near immortal, why not audit a few college courses out of boredom? But none really from the perspective of hero law. He just assumed all heroes broke the law whenever they felt like it and that the cops didn’t care. It was a given that their license gave them a free pass to do whatever they wanted. But were there actual consequences? Or was there a constant genuine mental debate of at what point was it ok for them to break the law?
Would this be the kind of class his brother would have loved or hated? True, it was a part of hero school, but his brother liked things when there was a simple answer. When there was a right and wrong and when evil was clear. Would he want to be discussing over why it might be ok to cross certain lines, or would learning this together have helped them come to an understanding?
Still, so far he was getting more out of this class than he was expecting. And by that he didn’t think he’d get much out of any class without Izuku out of it. Maybe he could pick something up past pure information.
--o--
It seemed that bright haired energetic girls that had a problem staying still or quiet would be a reoccurring problem for Mikumo at UA. The name of that problem for Introduction to Support Gear was Mei Hatsume. She was a headache that would be on his mind all year. If he was still in the business of recruitment, he would have said she was an asset to look out for. Instead he now needed to watch out about being within her line of fire.
But for now, he was more concerned about how Izuku was doing. Who cared if he didn’t share similar general education subjects as him? He’d have lunch with him now. And then there was hero course classes in the afternoon. That was another headache he’d have to watch Izuku like a hawk for. Who knew what the teachers had planned for them? If it was anything like the entrance exam it would be over the top and dangerous. Well, that’s what he was here for- to be Izuku’s personal bodyguard.
Both of the supposed brothers approached the cafeteria from opposite sides of the hallway. Izuku had been mumbling to himself but the moment he noticed Mikumo, he bit his tongue and looked away awkwardly. Still, he didn’t go in the opposite direction or anything as Mikumo approached him. Part of Mikumo wished he’d taken the initiative to chat it up with some of his classmates. The brown haired girl with the bright cheeks seemed nice. Although this did make it simpler to catch him alone.
“So how was class?” Mikumo asked providing an easy introduction.
“Uh… pretty normal actually.” Izuku admitted. “You know… besides the fact that all the classes were taught by pro heroes.”
Mikumo rolled his eyes. “Overkill if you ask me.” He highly doubted every single one of those teachers had more than a basic license to teach in that field. “I’m sure there are plenty of more qualified general education teachers- They should really only be teaching the fields they specialize in. I seriously doubt you need someone like Ectoplasm teaching you science.”
“Actually, he teaches math.” Izuku piped in.
Mikumo groaned. “I’m sure there’s a pun about multiplication in there considering his quirk.” That wasn’t enough to qualify him to teach, although considering it was just general education, not like it was brain science.
“Still… I didn’t expect you to be missing for all morning classes.” Izuku mumbled.
Mikumo tried to shrug it off. “I did mention that I’d be substituting a few in… Something about me being advanced enough to skip over a few general courses.” The less Izuku knew about how advanced the better. He didn’t want Izuku to feel too overwhelmed about the gap between them and compare them too much. The fact was, he did have plenty of more advantages. He wasn’t your typical ‘quirkless kid’.
“Yeah… that’s what I thought too.” Izuku admitted. “Except… There’s a lot of varying levels in our class.” It was a real puzzle. “One of the kids… well… his brain kind of ‘short circuits’. I think it’s a side effect of his quirk-”
“-So he probably claims as an excuse-”
“-To the point that I’m not even sure how he passed the general exam… And yet there’s another girl in class that memorizes all these chemical formulas for her quirk. She’s got genius level memorization! I can already tell she’s way smarter than everyone else in the room- academically anyways. But, they’re still considered in the same class level? Are they going to be getting the same assignments? Or is she just going to have a much easier school year? The division just seems really off.” Izuku mumbled trying to get all this information across.
“Impressive… and you got all this from one day of classes?” Mikumo really had to hand it to Izuku’s analysis skills.
“My point is… I’m sure everyone’s on plenty of different academic levels with different subjects, but if they still grouped everyone in the same class… what does that mean about the kind of level you’re on?” Izuku had clearly put a lot of thought of this and looked his brother dead in the eye. Advanced at UA was already a huge deal. They were in a class with people that were recommended, children of heroes, and from previous prep schools. But none of them had the same kind of treatment.
Mikumo was impressed indeed. “Astute observation.” He mumbled. He was trying to figure out exactly what to say. What kind of information to give? “It’s just different classes… What’s the big deal?”
“Different?” Izuku asked. “I thought you said the classes were more advanced?”
“No… I said I was more advanced.” He at least didn’t lie to Izuku on that front.
Still, in Izuku’s eyes he might as well have. It felt like he was intentionally hiding things from him. “So what classes are you taking then?”
This shouldn’t have been a big deal, but he just continued to press. The more Mikumo deflected, he knew the more suspicious he made himself look. Damn it, he didn’t even get a chance to smooth over earlier today and he was already digging himself a new hole. “First year general education was too easy for me so I’m taking all kinds of different courses.” Frankly, all of high school was too easy for him, but no need to go into that now. “It’s a little of everything. So… This morning it was Hero Law and Ethics… Introduction to Support Gear… Introduction to Hero Marketing.” At this point he needed to just be up front about everything, so it didn’t look like he was keeping some kind of big secret from him. Or at least, in this aspect.
Izuku was awestruck by the confession. “That’s… incredible… I’ve never heard of anyone being dual enrolled in different courses at UA… The hero program alone is supposed to be super strenuous- and you’re already doing it with no quirk.”
Even if that wasn’t the case, somehow it hurt even more to hear it from Izuku. Had his tune changed so soon now that he had a quirk of his own? “Maybe that’s exactly why I need a different approach. I need every tool at my disposal that I can get. And if I already have basic education covered, I might get more out of something like extra support gear expertise than reading over your shoulder while you analyze pros in English.”
It was better than what Mikumo really wanted to say. ‘Why does a lack of a quirk matter?’ The truth was, he wasn’t sure if Izuku really could be here in his shoes if he was still quirkless. That entrance exam? It wasn’t designed for people without unfair advantages like Mikumo had. Maybe if they did play dirty and found out the exact specifications of the test and came in with some kind of support object or underwent specific training, they could have pushed Izuku through. But unfortunately, Izuku didn’t think that way. It wasn’t that he wanted to play fair. The world was unfair and he knew that- or at least he hoped he had seen that by now. But to cheat like that wouldn’t mean showing what he was fully capable of. No, if he couldn’t pass the test proving his worth, then it wasn’t worth it to him. He didn’t understand that sometimes you had to do whatever it takes to survive. For both heroes and villains, when it came down to it you had to survive the battle to fight another day. And right now so long as Mikumo was playing quirkless, he wasn’t going to sit and cry over being ‘less’ capable than his classmates. He’d take advantage of every loophole he could get.
“I guess… you always did seem kind of bored in class.” Izuku admitted. Bakugo certainly had pointed out on several occasions that he wasn’t challenging himself even to the point of accusing him of purposely holding himself back for who knows what reason. “And if this does help you find some extra bit of knowledge to be a hero, it could only help. I guess… I just never really thought too much about how far ahead you were. I mean, I knew you were smart but for UA to move around your courses like this… Maybe you really do have some kind of learning or intelligence quirk.”
It all just went to quirks being the answer. No, that accusation just annoyed Mikumo even further. Yes, there was an advantage that Izuku didn’t know about, but that was age and experience. Accusing everything to be the work of quirks was like blaming all his hard work over the years on a magical wizard. “You of all people should know how insulting that statement is. I didn’t get into UA because of a magical gene. I got in because I outsmarted the bastards that made this system.” Even if the heroes didn’t know it and he probably wouldn’t cause trouble for them, the fact that he managed to slip in under their noses was still a matter of pride. It was further proof that their system that they held so dearly was still broken and flawed. And he did it without using the multitude of quirks he was famous for. The anger he felt right now came from his pride being insulted.
Not only that, but the accusation of his success being due to a mysterious quirk felt a tad hypocritical coming from Izuku too. “We both worked hard to get into UA despite the odds against us. We endured the burden that came with being quirkless. But sure- would you like to dig up my x-rays to confirm my extra toe joint? Then again, that might not be so accurate a determination of quirklessness considering your ‘late bloomer’ status. How lucky it emerged just right when you needed it. Maybe if I jump into certain death too, I’ll suddenly awaken my quirk’s ‘hidden potential.’” He taunted with the venom unintentionally dripping from his lips.
“STOP!” Izuku stammered. The last thing he wanted was someone to jump into the jaws of death in the hopes of getting a quirk. Something about those words felt far too familiar.
‘Just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life… And take a swan dive off the roof of the building’
“I get it… I’m sorry…” Izuku hung his head low. “I didn’t mean it like… I didn’t mean to upset you like that.” He had just been theorizing like he usually did with quirks. He didn’t realize how personal it was once the lens was on Mikumo. Usually he didn’t seem to care about his lack of a quirk. But the idea of him having one was more offensive to him?
They’d talked about what quirk they might want if they could choose in the past. Izuku wanting something like All Might’s not necessarily for his level of god-like power, but an advanced level of strength, speed and stamina is a good base kit for any to work with. Mikumo preferred more mental abilities- either ones to disable a villain easily and get a hostage out of the way or something of telekinetic nature that would be useful in just about any situation. But he was very calm and casual talking about it then. Was it different when it was hypothetical as opposed to when Izuku actually did have a quirk now, and he was wondering if maybe Mikumo had some kind of hidden potential? Was it because he was like all the other kids at school taking bets on what kind of secret quirk their weird new classmate might have? Was he secretly jealous that Izuku got a quirk and he didn’t? Or that Izuku hadn’t realized that Mikumo really had been working harder than he seemed to be and he just insinuated that his devil may care attitude was because of a quirk?
“I’m sorry…” Izuku repeated again unable to meet his gaze. “I… I guess you always just seemed to make things so easy without even trying. It would be easier to believe that some quirk was behind it. I guess that just makes you even more amazing if it really is all due to hard work.”
Seeing Izuku in this pathetic state finally got Mikumo to take a step back. He didn’t mean to lash out at Izuku like that. He supposed certain feelings that he hadn’t acknowledged were bottled up. “I’m sorry too… I shouldn’t have responded like that… I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” He was the last person he should be snapping at.
“I just never thought about how you might feel about… You always acted like you don’t care about having a quirk.” Izuku admitted.
“I don’t.” Mikumo waved off defensively. “Sorry, I was just stressed about… other things. And it came off the wrong way.” He lied. He was embarrassed that he found a poor outlet for his emotions. But to be fair, he had been used to having plenty of sources to take his frustrations out in the past. So far they’d oozed out mostly in just sarcasm and private jokes to himself. This was a low blow. This was the last person he wanted to hurt. He’d need to figure something out to better manage what he was still sure was just teenage hormones. He’d been in this form for over a year now and he still hadn’t managed a solution to that apparently.
“Are you sure?” Izuku asked suspicious. That was a whole lot of anger for someone who claimed to not care. “We never really talked about how you feel about me getting a quirk….” Mostly because Izuku didn’t want to put the subject of One for All on the spot and lead to questions he couldn’t actually answer. “But maybe we should… If it would make you feel…”
Although as Mikumo realized what he was insinuating, he couldn’t help bursting out laughing. He had to cover his mouth to keep himself from looking like a complete idiot in front of the cafeteria. “Oh god have you got the wrong idea.” Sure, to some extent he still wanted One for All. But not in the way that Izuku assumed. “This isn’t some quirk jealousy thing- I’m not that petty.”
And now Izuku was just perplexed. Wow was Mikumo just showing a rainbow of emotions today. Was it really stress then. First day of school jitters? “Uh… well… I guess that’s good then… But… if it really is stress… you know you can talk to me about it, right?”
Maybe this was something Mikumo could use to retake control of this entire mess. “Well… the truth is… all these new classes… I guess I just feel kind of lonely.” He feigned. “You’re my only friend and now… I don’t know anyone well in these different groups. Some of them are upper classmen. It’s kind of intimidating.” It was as good of an excuse of a stressor as any.
“Really?” Izuku wondered. Those things really bothered him? He sort of thought Mikumo didn’t care about what everyone else thought and that he wasn’t interested in others. Then again, he at least had Izuku. So did he need to find at least one good friend in his new classes. “I’m sure you’ll meet new people… That you’ll find someone.”
“Well, there was this one upper classman… Do you remember Togata who we met on the beach?” As the two began to buy their lunch and share their meal, both of them went over their day. Izuku was more impressed with his teachers being able to recognize every single one of them. By the time Mikumo had finished talking about how marketing would suck out his soul by the end of the year, Izuku at least hoped he’d calmed his brother’s nerves some. He seemed to at least have a few people he could connect with.
“And if anything we still have Homeroom and Hero Course together, right?” Izuku said hopefully.
“It’s those times I’m worried about too…” Mikumo admitted shaking his head. Honestly, this was what really concerned him. “This morning… during homeroom… you were that willing to break your bones for an assessment test?”
“He said he was going to expel the lowest ranked student!” Izuku exclaimed in his defense.
“It was just a test! How are you supposed to make it to graduation if you’re breaking your bones on every exam!” Mikumo fired back. “Besides- even if he was serious, I’m sure that with the training we underwent, unless our invisible classmate is secretly a world class body builder, you’d at least have beaten her.”
“I’d have to use my quirk eventually.” Izuku mumbled, not wanting to admit that he wasn’t even thinking about beating the other classmates (even if he was impressed by some of their flashier feats). He had just wanted to figure out how to do his best and he thought he came up with a clever solution with minimal damage. “I’ve got to keep practicing with it to figure out how to best control it.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s with trial and error… Izuku, I’m really worried about you. If you injured yourself in just the assessment, how bad is the actual hero class going to be?” Mikumo confessed sincerely. How many times would his pleas for Izuku to be more careful fall on deaf ears.
“I always knew being a hero would be dangerous…”
“But this is just school!” Mikumo exclaimed. “There are enough risks on the field let alone in the classroom… Please, all I’m asking is that before you go ahead and use your quirk in the same way over and over again expecting different results don’t use it until you can figure out how to use it safely.”
“But… if I don’t use it… I’m going to fail-”
“There are worse things than failing a class.” Mikumo said with his hand gently hovering over Izuku’s injured hand. “What if you do permanent damage to yourself?” To be honest, he had no idea what training was like for a One for All wielder, but considering the lack of countless injuries, he doubted a slew of self-harm was part of the general course. The quirk grew stronger with each generation. All Might was more powerful than any of them. Was the quirk now too much for a person to handle? No… if anyone could do it, it was Izuku. At the very least, he needed to stop treating his body like it could regenerate bones like a lizard’s tail.
“It’s not just about the class… I need to figure this quirk out… I need to be the best hero I can be. I can’t do that if I’m holding myself back.” Izuku couldn’t let All Might down. He couldn’t slow down- he needed to show the world that he was here. All Might couldn’t hold the world up forever. Soon, he was going to leave a gap that Izuku needed to fill. The world couldn’t just wait for another symbol of peace.
As usual, it felt like everything Mikumo said was going in one ear and out the other. Izuku was so single minded it was frustrating. Sometimes he could be so clever. And sometimes he was so much like the heroes Mikumo hated. “The best hero you can be is one with a fully functioning set of arms and legs! I’m not asking you to never use your quirk again. Just don’t injure yourself because UA told you to ‘go beyond’ and show them what you’ve got. Discover your limits at your own pace. And please… let me help you.”
He knew Izuku was holding back on the quirk talk concerning One for All because All Might probably swore him to secrecy. Hell, if he really was a late bloomer he knew Izuku would be talking nonstop about ways he could best utilize his quirk. “If you really need to keep secrets…I don’t care. You don’t have to tell me everything. Just… Explain whatever you can to help me understand. I want to help you figure this out too so you don’t hurt yourself again.” Even if All for One had seen its rival quirk in battle, that didn’t mean he understood completely how it worked. Besides, Mikumo wasn’t supposed to have that knowledge anyways. For him to help Izuku, he needed him to trust him. Even if that meant not trusting him with his entire secret.
Izuku had been frustrated with Mikumo this morning. It felt like he didn’t understand- especially when Aizawa claimed he was holding himself back. Sometimes it felt like their philosophies were the exact opposite. Izuku wanted to give everything he had to being a hero. Mikumo was calculated and weighed the risks. In a hostage situation, Izuku would probably risk everything to save everyone while Mikumo would focus on the few he was certain he could save. But right now… they wanted the same thing. They both wanted Izuku to master his quirk. It’s not like he wanted to continue breaking his bones but… there wasn’t exactly a way to safely use his quirk. If All Might himself who had the quirk wasn’t sure how to approach it, could Mikumo really figure it out? Well, they did just establish that he was some kind of unprecedented prodigy for UA to allow him to take all these different courses. Maybe he could offer some new perspective to One for All.