Capítulo 2319: 61
"Izuku!"
Izuku looked over to the grey recliner that took up a decent portion of the 1-A common room. On it sat Eri, her small stature quite the contrast to the large and wide shape of the seat. Not that there was much space actually left on or around the seat, Izuku noted, given the small crowd gathered around her.
Tsu was braiding Eri's hair while Uraraka stood nearby, talking to the girl. Kirishima was on the opposite side of the seat and was occasionally adding in his own parts in between Eri and Uraraka conversation. Ashido stood off to the side, seemingly content to merely watch Eri.
It seemed that whatever topic Eri, Uraraka, and Kirishima were talking about involved Izuku in some way, considering Eri's sudden outburst.
"Yes Eri?" Izuku eventually responded.
"I know that you can tell bugs what to do," Eri said with a tilted head. "It was really cool watching it, even if it was a bit scary for a little bit. But Ochako-chan said that you can do more than that?"
"Oh, definitely!" Izuku smiled. "I can do a bit more of a variety than just bugs. You want to see?"
Eri furiously nodded her head in response. With that, Izuku called upon Spurt. He knew that the crab could reach the downstairs himself.
In the meantime, Izuku walked over to Eri, putting a hand to his hair to gather along some bugs.
"You see," Izuku began, "my power isn't really as simple as controlling bugs." Izuku pulled his hand away from his hair, revealing an assortment of bugs. A centipede skittered around his wrist while a few fliers arose into the air. A lone firefly lit itself up and made its way onto Eri's nose, eliciting a giggle from the girl.
"I still can't get over the fact that you keep bugs in your hair, man," Kaminari suddenly said from his spot on a nearby couch.
"I can never be too prepared, you know." Izuku glanced towards Kaminari, and then turned back towards Eri. Surprisingly, he also found the other four of his classmates watching him, waiting for him to continue his explanation.
"Anyways Eri, you see, the firefly on your nose is an insect. While the centipede on my wrist is part of the myriapoda subphylum. And then you have these little guys."
Izuku lifted his other hand, and out of his sleeves appeared a spider. It crawled its way to his fingertips, where it began spinning a web to hang from and eventually dangled itself from Izuku's fingers. As it stilled, the others could properly see its pitch black coloring and had a red marking on its abdomen.
"Arachnids," Izuku continued. "While arachnids also consider scorpions and ticks, they most prominently feature spiders. Especially beauties like this black widow." Izuku took a glance at Eri, spending a few moments in thought before he spoke out.
"You want to hold her?"
Eri's eyes widened. Immediately, she began nodding her head and held out her hand.
"Umm…" Kirishima began, "Are you sure that's a good idea, Midoriya?"
Izuku merely glanced over at Kirishima. In turn, he rubbed the back of his head as he remained under Izuku's eyes.
"Right, right," Kirishima said. "Go ahead. You know what you're doing."
Izuku nodded and then ushered his hand forward. Eri tentatively held her hand out, and the black widow dropped from its web and into Eri's hand. It circled around Eri's hand, scuttling around as Eri watched on in awe.
"Cool," she said, her eyes twinkling in delight.
"Oh shit," Kaminari muttered. "We have another one."
"Language Kaminari!"
Kaminari yelped, a rather familiar appendage having struck him in his side, causing the reaction.
"You're literally right next to an impressionable child!" Jirou continued.
"Oh come on!" Kaminari whined. "You're all the way in the kitchen! And I'm like, seven feet away from her! Stop being such a helicopter!"
Izuku cleared his throat. "As I was saying before we were interrupted by Kaminari for a second time—"
"Sorry dude."
"Right. Now," Izuku met Eri's eyes with his own, "it's important that you don't just go touching things like spiders on your own. They can bite you, and it can hurt a lot. You might even get sick because of it."
"But it's okay right now because she's listening to you, right?" Eri questioned.
"Yup," Izuku confirmed. "I make sure that all the bugs within my radius are at the very least passive unless someone's in danger."
"But Mineta gets bit and stung all the time?" Uraraka questioned.
"Hmm…" Tsu put a finger to her chin. "When I think about it, that only happens when he's doing something particularly inappropriate. And I've noticed that he's gotten better at restraining himself, so it happens less often."
Tsu turned her head towards Izuku. "Am I right, Midoriya?"
Rather than answer, Izuku merely shrugged.
"Okay," Eri interrupted, eyes still locked in rapt attention to the spider on her hand. "But these are all still bugs, right? Ochako-chan said you can do more?"
"Oh, right. Spurt should—"
A scream echoed amongst the walls of the dorms. A few sprung to their feet, ready to face a potential threat, others freezing in alarm.
"And there he is," Izuku muttered.
"Midoriya!" Hagakure yelled, "Why is your coco crab in the elevator?!"
"Coconut crab!" Izuku corrected. "And he was using it to get down here! Eri wanted to see him!"
"I'll go get him!" Ashido said without a beat, skipping off towards the elevator. A few seconds later, she came back with Spurt in her arms, hugging him to her chest.
"Wow," Eri said, her mouth hanging open. "He's big."
"Indeed he is," Izuku said. "Spurt here is a coconut crab. And his kind usually grows this big."
"So you can control crabs too?"
"Yeah. And other crustaceans too, like lobsters. When you consider all of that — the insects and crustaceans together — rather than bug control, I have arthropod control."
"Heh."
Izuku narrowed his eyes. What?
"Can I hold him too?"
"Sure!" Ashido said for Izuku. "He really likes headpats and coconuts, just so you know. And I'm pretty sure we still have coconut… let me check!"
As Eri went ahead and interacted with Spurt, his bugs picked up on something headed towards the dorms. It was rather obvious what it was, given the roll of the wheels and the low, almost silent creaking of metal.
It was a wheelchair. And there was only one person on campus at the moment who had need of one for any reason.
"Looks like it's time."
But so soon? What does he want to talk about, anyways?
"I don't know, but he doesn't seem to like you. So I say keep your guard."
But I didn't even do anything to him!
"We have some!" Ashido exclaimed, arriving back with a small bag of coconut slices.
"Ashido," Izuku said.
The pink skinned girl turned to him in response.
"Mind tending to Spurt while he plays with Eri until I get back? I've got to do something."
"Sure Midoriya!" Ashido said, as cheerful as usual. "Hurry back! Or don't! I'm fine with either! I'll get some quality time with Spurt here either way!"
Izuku nodded. "Thanks, Ashido."
Izuku opened the door long before the unannounced guest behind it could knock to announce his presence.
When Sir Nighteye fully came into Izuku's view, the man's fist had just missed the wooden body of the door, continuing forward with no resistance.
Nighteye's reflexes stopped him from accidentally hitting Izuku, who himself didn't move from his position in the doorway.
"Ah, Sir Nighteye," Izuku greeted. "I didn't expect to see you to come knocking on our door. Is there something you need from us? Looking for Togata-senpai, perhaps?"
"No," Nighteye responded, his voice low and gruff. "I was looking for you, actually."
Just as he had said that, Nighteye's gaze shifted behind Izuku. With the use of his bugs, Izuku easily figured out why.
"Oh!" Kirishima exclaimed as he passed by the doorway. "Sir Nighteye! What are you doing here?"
"Hello Kirishima," Nighteye said. His gaze shifted back to Izuku, where it remained even as he continued to converse with Kirishima. "I'm just here to collect Midoriya. I have some business with him."
"He's not even trying to hide his discontent. He obviously thinks that there's something going on with you."
Mhm.
"Oh, that's cool!" Kirishima said. "Well, I guess that I won't keep you." Kirishima turned back around and out of view of the doorway, back towards what Izuku noticed was towards Eri.
With the disruption gone, that left Nighteye and Izuku alone in the doorway, a brief span of silence reigning over the two as they both looked at the other.
"Let's take a walk, Midoriya," Nighteye eventually said. "I have some things that I've been meaning to discuss with you for some time now."
He backed away from the doorway without another word, spinning his wheelchair around and gesturing for Izuku to follow. Izuku followed through with his request.
"So," Izuku began once they were a little ways away from the dorms, "I've noticed the Togata-senpai has been progressing well with his control over One For All. Especially when considering the fact that he's gained All Might's predecessor's quirk."
"Indeed," Nighteye responded. "Though, such a development was unprecedented. It was quite a surprise when Mirio began to float during one of our training sessions."
"Even with a quirk like yours?" Izuku questioned.
Nighteye grunted. "I don't like using my quirk on others without reason. You know this."
"So you haven't activated your Foresight on Togata yet?"
"No."
An uneasy silence fell between the two then, the duo continuing their stroll well around the confines of UA's campus. And although Nighteye seemed content in prolonging whatever thing it was he wanted to talk about, Izuku definitely wasn't.
"Is All Might not going to join us?" Izuku asked.
Nighteye hummed. "No. The topic at hand doesn't concern him."
"That topic being…"
"Hmm. I'm sure you know."
Izuku sighed. "Let's drop the pretense, please. What do you want, Sir?"
Nighteye's wheelchair stopped in its tracks. Nighteye himself turned to face Izuku, who too had stopped. Nighteye's eyes narrowed in observation, darting all over Izuku's face.
Eventually, Nighteye turned away, his wheelchair starting back up again and moving him forward. Izuku fell in step with him.
"I used my Foresight on you, Midoriya. Back during the raid on the Eight Precepts of Death."
"You did?"
"Right before the fight. Against Overhaul."
"And…"
"And I didn't see anything. Or, at least, anything that made sense."
Izuku's face scrunched in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Nighteye scoffed. "It's why I told you to stay, really. I couldn't discern your fate; you were going to be a liability, you were an uncontrollable variable. And I did what I thought would best increase our chances at beating Chisaki at the time."
"By sidelining me, you mean." Izuku grumbled.
"Essentially."
Izuku let out a huff. "You almost died. Togata almost died. And you're telling me that you left me out of the fight because I was a liability? I could have easily taken that clock hair guy! My costume doesn't leave for any exposed parts but the back of my head! And my bugs would have acted as a natural buffer against his speed! And that would have left you to help with Overhaul!"
"We are not here to talk about what you could have done, or what could have been. What's done is done."
"Then what are we here for?"
"You were supposed to die."
Izuku opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"But you also weren't. Both futures occured at the same time."
Izuku blinked. He let the silence continue to allow Nighteye to continue.
"A simple, inexperienced boy with the mere ability to control bugs shouldn't have stood a chance against a man like Overhaul. No matter his phobia for germs and in turn bugs, the man himself combined with his quirk and his experience had you outmatched. You should have died. And I was expecting it to happen."
"You died. I saw you die, crumpled and unmoving up on the surface. And as it turns out, you were. But you weren't dead like you were supposed to be. Despite all the odds, Overhaul lost to you." Nighteye paused. "A mere boy who controls bugs. It's a rather intriguing conundrum. An impossibility, I would have thought."
"This 'mere boy' decimated Overhaul!" Izuku spouted. "And where were you during all of this? Face first on the concrete paralyzed with shrapnel in your back. What good did you do?"
Izuku instantly put his hands over his mouth.
QA!
"What? It's true. Besides, aren't you listening to him? This bastard's being an ungrateful little—"
"Thank you very much for that, Midoriya," Nighteye interrupted.
Izuku sputtered for a response. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"I'm sure you didn't." Nighteye laughed, the sound deep and hollow. "But alas, that isn't the cusp of the problem. I have little care for your fate. I have little care for my paralysis. No, what bothers me are the implications of you blocking my quirk."
Nigheye sighed. "Tell me Midoriya, have you ever been shot in the head?"
Izuku froze in step, his body tensing up in caution. "What?"
"Sorry, sorry," Nighteye waved. "That came out wrong. Let me rephrase: Have you recently robbed any banks? Or perhaps… gone around gallivanting on rooftops in costume? Done anything illegal, recently?"
"...What?"
"How about riding on dogs the size of horses or cars? Seen any beams of golden light lately?"
Those sound like some of the things you've told me about, QA.
"What exactly are you saying here, Nighteye?" Izuku asked. "What does this even have to do with any—"
"I have my suspicions that you are engaging in villainous activities," Nighteye snapped, cutting Izuku off. "Or, at the very least, vigilantism. It explains all the things I've seen while reviewing what little I was able to see of your history. Things like… robbing banks."
…
Seriously? Izuku let out an internal laugh.
Well, at least this isn't like with Nezu. He doesn't have an inkling of a clue about you. Though, that begs the question of why he was seeing only glimpses of your life, and nothing of mine.
"Right…"
Izuku knew the sound of that tone.
So you are doing something that prevents him from seeing all of you, then?
"I may as well take your silence as a c—"
"Are you kidding?" Izuku took his turn with interruptions. "Me? Engaging in villainous activities?"
"How else do you explain what I saw?"
"Hear me out. How do you feel about disposing of a body? I promise that I'd be for your own safety."
What? No! Besides, it's not like I'm going to tell him about you… In fact, I don't really want to tell him anything. I have no obligation to.
"Out of spite, is it? Don't like all these accusations he's throwing around? I know the feeling. I've been there."
He doesn't even know me! And he's saying I'm a villain!
"Then don't."
What?
"Don't tell him anything. Power play it. He doesn't have any concrete evidence of his claims aside from what he thinks he's saying. Besides, the only thing that you actually are guilty of is vigilantism, and you're completely off the hook on that account. So, deny it. And if he ends up getting aggressive, you can pull the Kaniyasiki card. Or the Edgeshot card. Maye the Nezu card, or heck, the Safety Commission card. There's nothing Nighteye can feasibly do to you."
That seems unnecessarily complicated.
"Can you think up a way to explain away the criminal activities he saw?"
"Trying to think up an excuse?" Nighteye asked. "It's pauses like this that make me question your allegiance."
"I really don't like the way this conversation is going."
Neither am I. But I can't really leave now, can I?
"Hmm… try to pick up that orb weaver, steer Nighteye from his current path."
What— Oh. I see.
Izuku took a turn on the path, going the opposite of where Nighteye was going.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
Izuku didn't respond, instead doing as QA suggested and bending down to pick up the spider. He put the spider in his hair before turning back to face Nighteye, who had abandoned his previous path and entered the one Izuku was on.
"Sorry about that," Izuku said. "I've been looking for an Orb Weaver for awhile, you see, and I—"
Nighteye tsked. He started up his wheelchair again and continued on his way. Right down the path Izuku wanted him to.
"I don't trust you," Nighteye said. "And I don't like you knowing about All Might and Mirio. I don't trust you with a secret like One For All."
Wow. That's just… Izuku harrumphed. I might just go with your suggestion.
"What I do in my free time is none of your business, Sir. And excuse me for my terseness, but you don't know me. What right do you have accusing me of such things? And what exactly are you going to do about me knowing about One For All, Nighteye?"
"That's exactly my problem, Midoriya. I don't know you. You can block my Foresight. There's something going on with you that you're keeping a secret. But All Might and Mirio seem convinced that you're some little angel."
"I'm not at liberty to tell you anything," Izuku said.
Nighteye let out a growl.
"I was hesitant with Nezu. And I still think he's a good guy. But this guy right here, I don't like him."
Nighteye's remaining hand tightened around his armrests, and he turned towards Izuku with a scowl. "What—"
"Mirai? Midoriya? What are you two doing here?"
"And there we go. Problem solved."
Nighteye snapped his head at the question, the person asking it all too familiar to the man.
"Oh. Uh, All Might. It's... nothing." Nighteye began to move away past All Might, but not before turning back towards Izuku one final time.
"I'll be keeping tabs on you, Midoriya."
As Nighteye furthered himself away from the two, All Might sent a questioning gaze towards Izuku.
"What was that about, my boy?"
Izuku sighed. "Nothing to worry about, All Might. Just some things that Nighteye wanted to talk to me about."
"Well, alrighty then! I'll leave you alone then. Are you heading back to the dorms?"
Izuku nodded. "Yep, I was telling Eri some things about bugs when…"
Izuku's attention suddenly took a nosedive, another one of his usual losses of coherence taking over.
"Uh…" All Might breathed, "is everything alright, Midoriya?"
Izuku snapped back to attention. "Yes. No. Not really. I need to get back to the dorms. And you should get yourself to a television, All Might."
"Any specific reason why?"
"It's Endeavor. A nomu just attacked him. And it doesn't look too good."
A/N: So, it was kind of a downward spiral. Nighteye's being a little passive aggressive about what he thinks he knows. QA is aware of this, and isn't planning on taking any of it, especially with Izuku getting caught in the crossfire. Izuku gets caught up in it, and things spiral out of control. Makes sense? Seems reasonable? What do you all think?
Anyhow, we're back to some of the more main parts of canon next time (meaning Joint Training, that is). So, there's that to look forward to!
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