Chapitre 179: 11
Three nights until the U.A. Festival.
Any Hero Course student would be training their ass off in every free moment.
Any Support Course student would be putting some finishing touches on their current masterpieces.
Any Business Course student would be checking lists of names and Quirks, looking for the most marketable of their fellow teens for later works.
Some General Education students, especially first-years, would be looking to prove their worthiness, to take a spot in the Hero Course.
Unless you didn't care at all about the competition or thought you had nothing to gain from the extra credits, you would be preparing for the event.
Or unless you were Izuku Midoriya.
He was training, of course. There wasn't a minute in his life that didn't feel wasted if he wasn't trying his absolute best to push himself or others to their limits and beyond.
But he wasn't training any harder than he'd been for the last weeks. Surpassing this limit, which experts would already identify at a glance like an insane, borderline-suicidal method, would have destroyed his body with no chances of recover.
He knew. He had tried before.
If someone had told him in his first life that he could have reached a control over seventeen percent of [One For All] before the U.A. Sports Festival, he'd have laughed.
...Ok no, he would have cried. Old Izuku tended to cry a lot.
This Izuku, instead, gritted his teeth through the pain. And smiled.
Because seventeen percent was just what he needed to really be someone's hero.
He stepped lightly off his bed, careful to minimize the noise made on the wooden floor.
Taking his phone from the nightstand, he opened his most encrypted conversation and started typing in.
YOU: Operation confirmed. I'm moving now.
YOU: I'll be there by 3:42.
YOU: Remember Eraser Head.
N: Confident to the minute, are you? We'll be waiting.
He pocketed the device and left the room, reminding himself to leave a note for his mother: "I'm needed at school very early for a representative-only assignment. See you later, love you!"
Having avoided giving Inko a heart attack by not finding him in the morning, he put on his costume and left home for the cold night air of Musutafu.
The girl's eyes fluttered open slowly, seeing only the darkness of her room.
It could be called a nursery, albeit barely. It was small, even for a kid's room. It had a bed, a colored rug, a stool for those who had to watch her, and a grand total of three toys: a tiny yellow ball, an incomplete set of wooden block letters, and a doll wearing a blue dress that she didn't even like.
This was the space where she was made to spend around half of her time, to recuperate from the other half. Simply thinking about the hours spent in the cold, white laboratory, strapped to a chair until they couldn't take anything more from her, made her shiver.
Her sleep had never been quiet. The times when she dreamed of what little she remembered of her grandpa were getting few and far between. Most of her nights were just the continuation of the nightmare her daily life was.
The pain was the consequence of being a Curse. What she deserved.
She could feel the pillow under her, beneath the layer made by the blanket that covered her head completely, leaving just enough space for her nose and eyes. She always bundled herself up as tightly as she could before, but it didn't keep her safe now. She was the monster anyway.
She then realized that even in the deepest hours of the night, when she happened to stir awake in terror and tears, there had always been a tiny red dot of light in the upper corner closer to the door. They could watch her from there, so that she wouldn't make trouble. They had made sure she knew they could.
Yet now the dot wasn't shining.
She raised herself a little, her form still covered by the whitish blanket and her curiosity getting the better of her fear for once. It was easy to end up looking for anything out of place when the entirety of her life was divided between monotony and suffering.
Something was happening on the other side of the door. She could hear some clattering, similar to the sound the key made, but also different, longer.
She moved down again when the noise stopped and the handle turned, making its typical creaky noise. She trembled, clutching her pillow and pretending to sleep.
Were they coming for her so late? But there was no light yet, and she was still so tired...
She expected light to hit her eyelids, the dreadful sound of his white shoes as he stepped in carelessly, and the growl he made as he kicked a toy out of his path. But none of those came.
Instead, her ears barely caught the sound of much lighter steps approaching the bed, and a whispered voice she'd never heard before.
"Hi, Eri. My name is Izuku. I'm sorry if I woke you up."
It was so gentle. No one talked to her like that.
She turned slowly, keeping half of her face hidden by raising the edge of her bedsheets.
A few steps away, she saw a boy. A small object on his palm cast a soft warm light to reveal his features.
The first thing she noticed was his smile. Nobody here showed their mouth to her, hiding everything behind those beaks. But he was, and it reminded her of how grandpa used to smile for her. His eyes were beautiful, so green, greener than grass and trees. He was looking right at her, and he wasn't frowning, or angry, or scared. His hair was a darker green, with some black too, and it was as messy as hers! His clothes were just as green, but his shoes were red, like her eyes!
She was going to open her mouth, but he'd raised a finger to his mouth.
"We don't want Overhaul to hear us, so just whisper like I'm doing, ok?" He still talked in that friendly way, as if he was trying to make her feel at ease. But it wasn't like when he tried to make her do things, it wasn't intimidating.
"You-You are not with Overhaul?" she muttered, almost unable to grasp the concept. How could there be people not with him here?
He shook his head. "No, I'm a hero, Eri. I've come to bring you away from here."
She stopped at that, her eyes growing wider in fear.
"N-no!" She remembered to keep her voice down just in time. "He-he'll hurt you! He h-hurts those who are nice t-to me, and I-I'll hurt you too, b-because-"
"Eri, can I come closer?" he interrupted her, still not changing his smile, looking at her without disgust.
Why had he asked? They never asked anything, they just did whatever they wanted.
She nodded slowly and he approached the bed gently, keeping his steps light. He avoided a wooden block, not stepping on it or kicking it. Izuku kneeled before her, getting his eyes in front of hers. She could reach him if she wanted to.
"Do you want to leave this place, Eri?" he spoke, moving the palm of his hand in front of her. "Do you want him to stop? To see the sky, to play outside, to eat apples and candies, and to do whatever you want?"
He was saying so many things, but that wasn't possible, was it? She couldn't escape. He would hurt people. She would hurt people!
"I-I c-can't he-he w-will-"
No, no, no. She was a Curse, a Curse- and- and-
She noticed the tears rushing down her face only when her vision got too blurry to see clearly and that he'd moved only when his arms circled around her, holding her closer. His fluffy hair was brushing her cheek, and the way he was holding her was so familiar... Who else had held her this way?
"It's alright, Eri. Everything's alright. You won't hurt me, and I'm not going to leave you. I'll never let you go."
She could feel a hand caressing her head, slowly, carefully. It wasn't rough, it wasn't hurting.
- It's nice... -
Eri dropped her head lower onto his neck, sobbing, unable to contain the knot of emotions that had been buried by fear and loneliness.
Izuku moved his hands away just for the few moments necessary to grab the blanket by its corners and to bundle her up, raising her so that she was resting on his chest in a makeshift pouch. She held on his clothes' trims as he made sure that she would be kept warm despite the late hour.
"It's alright now, Eri. I am here, I have you. We're leaving this horrible place."
- ...turn left, turn right, keep going, turn right, go upstairs, turn left, stop for eleven seconds, turn right, hide behind the door, turn right, go downstairs but stop halfway for five seconds, continue, turn left, reach the door, unlock-one-two-three-four-five-six locks, exit and close quietly, turn right and skirt wall for ten meters, hide in the bush, let the patrol pass, stay down and move, reach the tree, wait for the lookout to turn right... and jump. -
Izuku flew to the nearest light pole, his legs powered up by all the power he could manage. Reaching the nearest light pole he grabbed it with [Blackwhip] as he descended. The speed gathered was enough to make them shoot forward as he repeated the process until they were a few kilometers away.
The kid was still sniffling as he held her, unwilling to let go for even a second.
"Eri, I need to ask you a favor," he said, dropping down, both to hide and to look directly at her more easily. "I want you to use your power on me. Do you think you could do that?"
She immediately tensed, grabbing at his costume with her tiny fingers.
"M-My curse makes p-people di-disappear. I-I don't want t-to make you disappear."
He smiled as gently as he could, putting his forehead on hers.
"You would never hurt me, Eri. I promise you won't. Your power is a miracle, not a curse, and it will help save many, many people, just like I am now saving you." He retracted to see her eyes, still scared, but now holding something they were lacking a few minutes before: hope. "You can help us never see Overhaul again, and I trust you. Do you trust me?"
Once again, he put the final decision in the little girl's hands. Spending some minutes like this wasn't time wasted. Nothing he'd done for her ever was.
"O-Okay," she responded timidly, shifting to a sort of panicky tone. "B-But I don't know h-how. I-it just happens to me, I can't-"
"I can teach you." Izuku placed one of his hands on hers, knowing that he could fit it all in his palm. He tenderly moved it up, to let them both rest on her horn.
"This horn makes you special, you know? There are some beautiful creatures called unicorns that have one just like yours. Their hair is as white as snow, and they are some of the kindest animals out there. They especially like gentle girls like you."
He always started with that. It felt like a bedtime story, which felt apt for the sleepiness she was certainly feeling.
"Your magic, like theirs, is in your horn. Can you feel it, how it's warm when you touch it?" It wasn't to him, but she had told him that's how it felt to her when she started to use her Quirk. It was a good way for her to gauge how much energy she could use in any given moment.
Eri spent a couple of seconds with her eyes closed before nodding, her eyes filled with concentration. In the meantime, he had removed his gloves.
"Good, you're doing great. Now, your hands are very cold, because it's late. Can you feel that when my hand touches yours, they get warmer?" She nodded again, moving all of her fingers to hold his as he brushed them with his thumb. "Imagine to move some of the warmth from your horn to my hand. Slowly, close your eyes, breath in and breathe out, and try to make my hands warmer."
She obliged, doing her best to follow his instructions, which technically were her own. In the end, she was the best at knowing how her Quirk operated, and he was proud of how much she'd taken after him in her analysis skills.
Little by little the brownish horn started to glow brightly making him feel the familiar sensation of [Rewind] itching to affect his body.
Thankfully, he'd know how to counter the destructive side effect from the very first time.
He held her closer as he bent his knees, gathering the maximum output of One For All in his body, but concentrating on his legs. A good taste of when he'd have full access to it again.
- Nana, can I use [Float], please? -
"Just bring her to safety, kid," the Seventh Holder responded, her voice broken with worry. Given her tone, she had surely been crying. Observing his reunion with Eri was one of those harsh but important moments for her. Bittersweet.
- Thank you, I will. -
He'd learned the precise direction of the jump ages ago, and it wasn't even remotely the first time he'd done it. At this point, covering four hundred kilometers in two minutes was as easy as breathing. But he would need to be careful. Not because he was worried about hurting Eri, no, that wouldn't happen.
He just wanted her to be able to enjoy the view.
"Look, Eri, isn't the sky beautiful?" he exclaimed, letting her take in the full majesty of a clear night sky.
She opened those innocent red orbs of her, making them fill with wonder as they reflected the moon's light. Her mouth opened to mimic her heart's state, finally turning into a wide smile. She didn't need to say a word to convey her feelings, because he could understand her perfectly.
He loved flying. The sensation of being virtually weightless, the pounding adrenaline, the sheer freedom, the air messing up his hair further.
His mind couldn't help but wander to all those late afternoons he'd spent together with Ochaco, so far away from their problems down on the ground. But those moments were more than a lifetime ago, and he had to take care of their treasure first.
Izuku's control was perfect as he reached the ground with the grace of an acrobat, without making a single dent in the asphalt, just a few feet away from U.A.'s open gate.
Nezu was waiting on Aizawa's shoulder as the man stepped forward, his eyes turning red. The glow on Eri's horn disappeared, as if it had never been there, just as he turned off his own Quirk.
- Immediate reaction, good. Nezu stuck with the plan. -
"You've got a lot of explaining to do, Problem Child," the Pro mumbled, crossing his arms.
Izuku moved his gaze on the chimera. "So you've said nothing yet, thank you. My trust in you has been renewed, principal."
"Think nothing of it, Midoriya," the not-a-rat laughed heartily. "Consider it a repayment for the entertainment you provide me and my staff with. Should we head inside?"
Izuku nodded, moving Eri as to held her from beneath with his arm. "Eri, those two are my friends, Aizawa and Nezu. They'll help me keep you safe."
She nodded, moving her eyes from him to the duo, before stifling a yawn.
He moved his other hand to caress her hair again, cradling her slowly. "You must be tired. I'm sorry this took so long, but we're home now. Sleep, I'll still be with you when you wake up."
She responded by resuming her previous position, letting herself be lulled to the first comfortable night she'd had in years.
As the two stepped away from the kid's room and walked towards the principal's office, Aizawa spoke seriously. There was something downcast in his tone.
"He's only a boy, Nezu."
"A boy who has a collective age higher than the two of us combined. My, it could be higher than the combination of the age of every teacher in U.A. if what he said about his experience is true."
"You believe him completely?"
The rat clicked his tongue. "He really did have information that was impossible to get. And we've both seen how he is dealing with his classmates' Quirks. He's not analyzing; he knows how they could grow and is pushing them forward by months in a couple of hours."
That did make sense. The boy could have been a genius, of course, but that kind of analysis wasn't born out of just a couple hours of looking at a person. Thought, knowing the secret, he kind of wished that the first option had been the right one.
- He knows about us... And Oboro... -
"I guess," he grunted. "But I'm afraid for his psyche. He has told us so little, and that was enough to make my stomach churn."
"His sanity does concern me," the not-a-rat admitted. "We'll schedule him with Hound Dog soon enough. And we'll see how his suggestions pan out. It may be due time for some changes in our institution, after all."
He raised an eyebrow. "The dorms aren't enough?"
"Ohoh, no. Those are but the starting point," the other cackled. "You'll see what I'm talking about later on. Midoriya was the one to suggest the small changes to the Sports Festival we prepared for last week."
Shota shook his head and sighed.
If Nezu was laughing like this, the students were in for a very nasty set of surprises.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone