章 875: 43
Chapter 43: Chapter #42 | Dissension In The Ranks
Notes:
Hello everyone and, once again, welcome back! Sorry for the delay but big changes are here for me and this story. First it should be noted that I've decided to pick up writing full time and am spending most of my time writing a fiction novel I hope to get published. I've a few from scratch worlds I want to write in. This doesn't mean that this story will be stopping! IN FACT it means the opposite. We'll be increasing the pace and you all should be getting a chapter every week! Woo, consistency!
Second, and this is a big one, I've made some minor edits to previous chapters. Now this isn't an announcement that there will be heavy editing. While there are scenes I'd like to phrase slightly differently they aren't integral and would just be editing to make it seem less like I am new to writing. Those scenes likely won't be seeing attention until the story is over. If ever. I may keep them in so I can see my own writing growth. The scenes that have been altered have been changed either because it was giving the wrong idea or because I realized when I took a step back that I was writing myself into a corner that I didn't like.
Midoriya's conversation with OFA in Chapter 19 has seen alterations! This is because I wanted it to feel less like All For One simply gave up. Little more intimidating without changing the core premise of the scene. I also introduced a couple important concepts.
Chapters 37, 38, 40, and 42 have also seen some minor revisions. I wanted Midoriya in more of a begrudging TA role and the course change to fall more on Nedzu even if it is both of their doing. As things were going I was writing myself into a corner and I didn't like the direction the story was taking. I'd much rather make the alteration now than later down the line. These changes are more word choice and tone.
My advice would be to go and read those sections, these are MY chapter numbers by the way not the site, again if only skimming it! Otherwise a couple comments may not make 100% sense in this chapter. I'm glad to have the time to write this again and, once more, sorry for the delay. Onwards to the story and weekly updates! Enjoy everyone!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Kayama felt her brows scrunch together even as she scowled and reached a hand up to rub between them. She wanted to claim it was exhaustion that was doing her mind in. Midnight had been called in early that morning when a noncombative Class A threat had been cornered. The reprisal from the masked man had been swift once she had arrived on the scene. Evidently, the police hadn't expected him to have a gas mask, and their definition of noncombative was that the target had gone out of his way to avoid fighting. Kayama grimaced, rubbing her ribs. That had changed as soon as hero support had arrived.
"-yama." Kayama's head popped up from her place at the table in the teacher's lounge, eyes searching around for the source of the noise. Her eyes locked with Inui and she grunted.
"Sorry, wasn't listening. What'd you ask?" Inui frowned, but it was Aizawa that responded.
"We asked if you'd noticed any students that could do with at least one session with Inui." Kayama shook her head slowly before mulling over the question and giving a noncommittal sound.
"Yeah, I've noticed a couple that could probably do with a session at least. I'll send the student files to you in a bit." Aizawa shifted over to look at the file in front of Kayama. His own eyebrows scrunched together before a long-suffering sigh escaped his lips.
"First time you've run into them?" Kayama's head snapped around.
"You know them?"
"You catch them?" Kayama scowled at Aizawa even as he shook his head.
"There's the answer to your question. I have no clue who this is, much like I have no clue who the others are." Aizawa pulled a keyring out before opening the file safe that the teachers had installed in the lounge. More often than not, they worked on sensitive cases in the lounge where the heroes could bounce ideas off of their colleagues. It was more secure to have the communal safe than to leave the files out in the open. Certainly more convenient, for certain cases, than going all the way back to their individual safes in their offices.
The file that Aizawa handed to Kayama had the woman's jaw clenching. "How many are there?"
"We don't know that, either. The police and affiliated heroes have caught only a couple and, while we have their names and that tattoo, the interrogation got us nowhere. Perfectly silent until several big-name lawyers got them out."
Kayama once again scowled, staring at the odd tattoo on the page. A squirrel wrapped in a spiral around and down the forearm. Four lines formed the nordic knots of the tail, while runes and knots of white ink decorated a black body that ended in the head of the squirrel at the wrist. "This is pretty unique. Are you telling me that no one has noticed this?"
"Evidently not, and even most undercover heroes are reporting no knowledge or sightings."
"How 'bout askin Midoriya?" Both heads turned to Snipe. The man had his hand up under his mask and was crunching into some kind of breakfast bar, as evident by the crumbs falling out of the crinkling package.
"No." Aizawa scowled at the suggestion, while Snipe merely shrugged. Kayama and several other teachers all looked over at the terse declaration.
"Why precisely would Midoriya know anything about these guys?" Aizawa ducked his face into his scarf, looking away. Snipe simply continued to eat his crumbs bar. "Anyone? Why exactly does one of our hero students possibly know about a criminal organization?"
"Maybe because Midoriya's part of one himself?" The bitter voice came from Kurose, shocking several other teachers.
"Now I may not like the man, and his attempted input on my lesson plans are getting particularly annoying, but accusing him of being a criminal seems like an extreme, do you not think?"
Kurose snorted inside of her spacesuit. "He killed a group of criminals for trying to break into his company's headquarters only a few years ago. Do you seriously think he did nothing illegal with all that money before investing in U.A? Come on, Ishiyama. He's the CEO of a major company. They're all dirty. He's just a killer, as well."
Aizawa spoke up in response. "I was there, Kurose. He eliminated a threat from trained operatives."
Kurose remained stoic. "Sounds like he could have detained them to me."
Kayama finally stepped back into the conversation by shouting. "WHY would one of our students know about this criminal organization? Aizawa? Snipe?" A short chuckle from the end of the table had everyone jerking and snapping their heads to the side. Freshly arrived, presumably from the vent above him, and quietly watching the chaos from where he sat, the college president sipped on his cup of tea.
"Well, I'd have to assume that it's because Midoriya is one of the most infamous information brokers in the Japanese underworld right now." The smile from Nedzu showed the rows of razor-sharp teeth in his muzzle, sending chills down the teachers' spines. "Of course, he only works with nonviolent offenders."
"And why the hell hasn't he been arrested? Why is he in our hero course?"
The chimera just raised an eyebrow at Kurose's horrified question. "I'll have you know the board quite likes his wallet. He has put a lot of money into the school, and most of the time, they enjoy talking to Midoriya when they invite him to meetings. Knowing things he shouldn't isn't a crime, Kurose, and good luck proving he obtained the information illegally. The governments have had the SIT investigating him since his company was attacked."
"That doesn't mean selling the information is legal!"
Nedzu just shrugged. "We all find it useful. He doesn't side with just anyone, and we would like to keep it that way. Connections are useful, anyway. By the way, everyone, since Ishiyama was kind enough to mention it, Midoriya is one of my students. My class may have special qualifications, and while they may be allowed to act as teaching assistants should you ask for it, they are not teachers. They cannot actually run the class nor decide the lesson plan. Am I understood?" Nedzu stared hard at Aizawa. He was fine with Midoriya running the conditioning week. It was just running, after all. But now that 1-A was moving into proper training, he wanted Aizawa out of his sleeping bag.
Aizawa nodded slightly while the other teachers grunted in response. "Now, I really should get going. The board wanted to speak with me about that new, wonderfully lemon-scented building that Ishiyama will be finishing up today. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, everyone!" Even as he finished his sentence, Nedzu was already jumping upwards onto the wall. He skittered back into the vent, leaving the teachers shuddering at the clicking of the chimera's claws.
Kayama looked back down at the files in front of her. If what the president had said was true, then asking Midoriya might be her best bet at tracking this man down again quickly. Something about all of this was niggling at the back of her mind, though, and for the life of her, Kayama couldn't place what it was. "Oh, shit, right. Student files. One second, Inui."
…
"I'm ALIVE again!" Ashido leaned back in her seat and groaned, Hagakure snickering from her own place at the table. The two were seated at one of the cafes in U.A's village, or, as the president liked to call it, U.A. Town Center. One thing the president had been keen on during the construction of his school had been security. After several arguments on how to actually accomplish that, a plan was eventually drawn up for the creation of the U.A. Town Center, the main plaza on the edge of the property connecting miles of roads leading to dorms, school buildings, training fields, bunkers, and whatever else was decided to be constructed on U.A. land.
The main plaza was a swathe of commercial buildings where students could come and purchase anything they might need for their stay at the college. Restaurants and cafes were spread between parks and decorative topiary, providing the perfect place where students could recharge between classes. Student workers filled the job slots, while a handful of vetted adults ran the venues and oversaw supply deliveries to the tunnel network running beneath the plaza.
"You know, when Midoriya said that we'd need to wean ourselves back to normal amounts of caffeine, I thought he'd be joking." Ashido scowled down at the cups of pure espresso both she and Hagakure were nursing.
"Hey, at least he isn't trying to sell us coffee like some kind of drug dealer." Hagakure gestured with her cup before shrugging her shoulders. Another moment of silence occurred as the two stared out at the students milling between buildings.
It seemed so easy to forget that while U.A. was a top hero school, it did still teach other things, that the school had actual degrees you could earn instead of licenses. Seeing all of the students, though, forced the thought back into the forefront of the brain. What were the other students here for? Were they aiming to become doctors? Lawyers? Programmers?
Unbidden, Hagakure wondered what she was doing in the hero course. She didn't have a quirk for this, and if it had only been a week, then how was she going to survive years of worse? It wasn't like she'd be missed if she left. She never was. The thought left her as quickly as it came. She'd already survived a week of training, and the teachers apparently valued her quirk. A stray thought was all it was. Kind of like imagining kicking a crying baby on a plane. Hagakure chuckled at the dark thought before letting that go, too.
Ashido's smirk was mirthless. She'd reached a very different line of thought, still on the coffee. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be Shinso, either, right now. Though the look on Aizawa's face when he found out that Midoriya's blend was gone was almost worth this tired hell."
Hagakure was confused momentarily as she brought herself back to the same line of thought. Before she could respond though, both of the girls' phones buzzed on the table. Ashido picked hers up and hummed. "Group text, apparently a couple of us are being requested over in the support labs." Hagakure gave a longing gaze to the confectionaries displayed inside the cafe. She sighed. Guess the plan of another coffee and a scone was out. Maybe to-go…
Ashido stretched, her t-shirt rising up at Hagakure's eye level, giving the girl an eyeful of toned pink abs before the show was over. "Welp, away we go, I guess." Ashido picked up her own espresso before waiting for Hagakure to do the same. Again, Hagakure sighed. No, not to-go, she supposed.
…
Midoriya sipped his own coffee, even as he maneuvered holographic designs around the support lab. Powerloader had practically demanded the technology be installed into the support labs, and Hatsume had been more than happy to oblige the request. As much as she liked having a physical manifestation of her design plans, she had become rather accustomed to using digital copies of her planning work. The first time Hatsume had shown off the technology to the support courses was in a workshop teaching them how to make use of the newly integrated machinery. The students from every year were practically drooling over the new installments. Evidently, while the civilian market still had work to be done, Hatsume had agreed to push developer kits out to prospective members of the field that would like to make use of the hardware.
A little early in Midoriya's opinion, but then again, he was a bit of a perfectionist as a geneticist. He had to be, after all. He'd read the filed paperwork, and since it was all completed properly, that's all there was to it. If Hatsume thought that she and her department's project was ready, then it was. Nevertheless, Midoriya continued sipping his coffee while waiting on the students he'd called for. Some of the students, he had no complaints about. Some of the others, rather, had submitted gods awful costume designs.
He looked up as the door opened, quirking an eyebrow when he processed who he was looking at. "Ah, Tokoyami. Sorry for calling you here on your day off."
"That is fine, I was simply completing some menial tasks. What is it that you require?" Midoriya shook his head.
"Sorry again, I'm not the one that wants you. I have no problem with your submission. Actually, Mei wanted to talk to you about some gadgets you might incorporate with your hero costume. You'll find her-" Midoriya cut off at the sound of Testing Chamber One violently exploding. Midoriya grinned sheepishly. "Well, you'll find her in there. The good news is that since it just exploded, you should be good for-" Another explosion vibrated the air. Both stared silently at each other. "NOW you should be good for a little bit."
Tokoyami gave the door to the testing chamber a long stare, even as Dark Shadow popped out from beneath his jacket. "Uh, do you think we can just, you know, come back later?"
Midoriya looked at the bird shadow in its yellow eyes before deadpanning. "Do that and she'll find you, instead." Tokoyami sighed, even as several people entered the room behind him. He walked over to the door and entered, coughing, as black smoke blew out around him.
"Now, how is everyone doing today?" As prim and proper as ever, Yaoyorozu didn't seem particularly perturbed one way or another, which only made the rest look particularly bedraggled. Mina and Hagakure looked tired, even with the espresso he could smell in their cups. But overall, they seemed to be relatively put together. Uraraka and Iida, on the other hand, looked like a bus had hit them, tired and disheveled. Tsu was a surprise. He hadn't called her here, but from the way she was watching Uraraka, Midoriya would have guessed that Tsu had helped the girl here. Uraraka simply glared at him for the question.
"Wishing I had painkillers." Midoriya winced. Uraraka was up and walking, both a miracle and a testament to the girl's willpower, but painkillers wouldn't help now that she was healed from the surgery. It was just a matter of waiting while her body adjusted to the new nervous system and accompanying sensations.
"Yes, well, you know what I have to say on that."
"All too well. What are we doing here?"
Midoriya clapped his hands at the subject change. "A welcome change of topic. There are problems with all of your costumes that I thought we should address before everyone starts wearing them again tomorrow."
Iida spoke up first, chopping one arm downward, seemingly livelier now that his costume was called into question. "There is nothing wrong with my costume, Midoriya. It has gone through many generations of development!"
Midoriya's eye twitched at the movement. "Iida, I'm well aware that even your grandfather wore that death can. But did you forget that the same costume nearly put metal shards through your engine block not too long ago?"
"And it also protected me, otherwise. A building fell on us, Midoriya! No costume is going to protect me from that!"
"If you run into something at your top speed in that costume, you are going to need to be pried out of it, Iida."
"No! I have no interest in changing my family's costume. We have done plenty of research and continue to do so! We'll manage quite well, thanks."
Midoriya growled softly under his breath. Iida, I'm going to need you to pull the tradition staff far enough out of your ass that you can't taste the greenheart. "Iida, I am concerned about your safety. That costume is going to get one of you killed."
"Five generations of heroes say otherwise, Midoriya! I have no interest in changing my costume." Midoriya wanted to bang his head on the table. Stupid heroes. Stupid traditions. Stupid death can.
"Fine." The word was practically dragged from Midoriya. "Will you at least go talk to Mei about materials? That way, we don't have to worry about it turning into a crushed aluminum can if you trip."
Iida relaxed slightly at the compromise. "I suppose I can talk with your partner about material choices. Your company may have something our own technicians haven't tried yet. Where is she?" Midoriya pointed towards the still smoking doorway of Testing Chamber One. "Oh…" Iida grimaced a little before walking over and through the doorway.
"Kero. I tend to speak my mind, Midoriya."
"Okay?" Midoriya trailed the word off, expecting Tsu to continue in some way.
"It's a dick move to expect everyone here to change their costumes. Kero." Midoriya snorted. He honestly couldn't help it. "Did you even ask if they wanted to change their costumes?" Tsu scowled as Midoriya continued to chortle.
Midoriya waved his hand, even as the other clamped down on his mouth. "Sorry, sorry. It's just been a while since someone actually called me out on something. Not many people are actually willing to say something like that to me anymore. They try to tiptoe around things like that. Wasn't expecting it. You're right, of course. How many of you actually want to change your costumes?" Only Yaoyorozu and Uraraka raised their hands.
Midoriya sighed, and Ashido shrugged. "Sorry, I like my costume. Just want it acid-proofed."
Midoriya once again deadpanned. "You have no storage at all. Can I at least offer you a utility belt? A leg pouch? Something?"
Ashido paused. "Can you make the leg pouch tie-dye?" Midoriya groaned, his hands going up in surrender.
"You're doing this just to annoy me. Fine. You can have a tie-dye leg pouch. I hate it, but I'm not the one who gets the final choice on this. The new costume will be ready for tomorrow."
"New costume?" Ashido's eyebrows knit together. "Isn't it just a leg pouch?"
Midoriya rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Did any of you read the email that went out on Friday?" When he only received shaken heads, he nodded. "Okay. Everyone's costumes are in for basic material changes, regardless of costume design changes. Cloth and leather are getting switched out for proper protective fibers. Aramids and such, bullet resistance, slash resistance, etcetera. A few of you were called in by me to change your costumes while we are doing this. You," Midoriya pointed at Hagakure, "don't get a choice. The administration decided that your costume isn't acceptable."
Ashido raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with Hagakure's costu-" A few beats of silence followed as the girls seemed to stop and think back. "She- she did have a costume on, right?" A small eep had them all looking at a very bashful Hagakure who was attempting to hide her invisible face.
"Uraraka, there are a few things you'll need to be aware of with your physical changes so that you can redesign your costume to suit. Yaoyorozu, we'll have to run some material tests, but we should be able to find you a nice solution that doesn't involve being half-naked and unprotected. Ashido, I'll relay what you said to Mei and we'll get it taken care of. You're free to go if you don't want to stay and help these three." Midoriya groaned and stretched his arms over his head. Audible cracks could be heard from the man's bones as he stood up, and his shirt sleeves dropped just far enough that Ashido caught a glimpse of something black on his inner wrist.
Ashido smirked and decided that if he were going to be such a dick, she'd have to get back at him. "Oooh, what's this I see? Is Midoriya Izuku, the CEO of a major company and prospective hero, all inked up like some big, bad Yakuza member?" Midoriya gave Ashido a confused look, even as his heart jumped into his throat. How? I don't have any major tattoos in this- Wait.
Midoriya glanced at his wrist and chuckled, unbuttoning his sleeve cuff. "I lost a bet and had to get a tattoo. They didn't realize I'd get a small thing on my wrist, rather than the big one they were hoping for. See? It's nothing really." Ashido pouted at the lack of a reaction before shrugging. She'd just have to find something else. Midoriya rebuttoned his shirt before turning to get to work, once again covering the small acorn on his wrist shaped out of nordic knots.
Notes:
We're VERY close to the USJ incident only a chapter or two to go! Internet points to those who have guesses as to the Tattoos.
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