Capítulo 2263: 5
"So, Izuku, where might we be going today?" asked Manga to his green-headed friend.
Said boy was moving in an anxious pace, obvious nervousness running through his veins. He looked on to his bubble-headed friend, responding with a tirade that he'd been planning in his head for this very moment.
"Well, I sort of came into a slight problem." Izuku admitted. "You see, I… met this girl a couple of months ago. She's really nice... and a… a really good friend. And... well…"
"Oh?" A pair of circles sprouted on the boy's bubble, one appearing with an bent line above it.
Makeshift eyes and a subsequent arched eyebrow of intrigue. Izuku noted.
"Don't tell me. You… like this girl, don't you?" asked Manga.
Izuku immediately responded. "But of course! She's been so nice to me and everything! It's refreshing, you know, having someone like her around. She doesn't even care about my muttering or anything like that. She's a… a very good friend."
Manga sighed. "Ah, so innocent."
"Wha—what? What do you mean?"
Manga's bubble shook. "Nevermind. Anyway, the girl?"
"Oh! Uh, well, you see, I agreed to help her with something the other day. One of her projects. The problem is that, well, I was sort of caught up in the moment. I forget that you wanted to hang out today and well, now the two things come into conflict. I— I was wondering if the three of us could just spend the day together. It was the best I could come up with. I—if you don't have a problem with it, that is."
Manga laughed.
After a few seconds, he began to talk. "Sorry, sorry. I'm not laughing at your idea. It's just, this is so you, you know. Worrying about something so unsubstantial. You don't have to worry about things like this, Izuku. Of course I'm fine with it. Besides, miss out on a chance of a new friend? Fat chance!"
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. "I… thank you, Manga. You don't know how much this means to me."
Manga nodded. "As long as she isn't like that Bakugou guy that I met. That guy, honestly…"
"Ah! No, no. Hatsume's nothing like Ka— Bakugou."
"I know, I know. You said that she's nice after all. I'm willing to believe your impressions of people."
The two friends walked on, conversing about the most recent debut of heroes that month. Unknown to Manga, Izuku had insects patrolling their surroundings. Izuku was searching for any crimes in progress or new hideouts that had come about in the last day since he walked this route. Thankfully, it seemed that the criminals of the city had done no such thing as of current moment. Still, Izuku kept his bugs on watch, yearning for conflict.
It wasn't long until they reached the scrapyard.
"This place is kinda big. You say that this friend of yours just has the whole place to herself?'
Izuku nodded. "Well, her parents own the lot, actually. Hatsume has free reign to do whatever she wants in there. Her strive for invention just so happens to fit right as well in the yard." Izuku tilted his head. "Or maybe her love her invention was inspired by the lot. I'm not entirely sure."
The two walked into the scrapyard, Izuku calling out to Hatsume.
"Hatsume? I'm here! Please stop tinkering with your stuff! At least until I get there. We both know the contents of your boots are volatile enough to— Duck!!"
Izuku jumped to the side, behind a broken dishwasher.
Unfortunately, Manga was too absorbed in examining his surroundings, too slow to respond to the warning. A metal casing rushing onto his figure. But fortunately, the debris just ricocheted off of his head, leaving no apparent damage.
Manga turned around. "What was that?!?"
Izuku came out from behind his cover. "Sorry Manga, that was probably one of the propulsors we were working on yesterday." Izuku turned his head towards where the projectile had originated from, yelling out into the distance. "Hatsume! I told you that you need to be more careful with your things! You could've hurt somebody with that!"
The inventor appeared from behind a pile of scrap, drawn to the sound of her assistant's arrival. "Izuku! You came! And you brought help!"
"Help?" sweatdropped Manga.
"But of course!" she said, taking a step forward, fist taking shape in the air. "By stepping foot into my domain, you've submitted yourself to the task of creating my babies!"
"Babies?" Manga asked, dozens of exclamation points appearing all around his face.
"Ah but never mind that!" Hatsume said, walking back to the pair of boots she was working on. Izuku and Manga followed.
Hatsume continued, "So, Mr. Bubblehead…"
"Ah, Manga, actually. Manga Fukidashi."
"Well alright, Manga. I've got to say, you've got a really nice head."
"Oh, thanks! It may be a bit unconventional, but I've grown used to it after all this time. Besides, I think it fits right well with my quirk."
"And what's that?" questioned Hatsume as she began securing the soles of his boots.
"Well, it—
"Oh!" interrupted Hatsume. "Izuku, scratch our current work. The propulsions are too bulky. I noticed it when that one from a while ago just blasted off. Too volatile. We need to consider turbines instead!" Izuku got out a notebook — one specifically designated for Hatsume's invention ideas — and began to write down possible applications of turbine powered boots.
"Anyway," said Hatsume, "go on."
"Right. Well, uh… What was your name again?"
"Hatsume Mei! And don't forget it!"
"Right! Well, since you asked, Mei, my quirk is comic! I can physically manifest sounds with my voice. Unfortunately, the more I use my quirk, the sorer my throat gets." He demonstrated his quirk by announcing 'BOING,' which produced a platform that he bounced a rock off of.
"Interesting… You say your throat gets sore after a while?"
Manga nodded.
"Well, I'm not an expert in biology, but perhaps I can whip something up to counteract that. A type of humidifier for your throat, maybe? Hmm… this might be a difficult one." Hatsume brought out one of her own notebooks, writing down possible ideas as they came from her mind.
Manga was surprised at the girl's willingness to offset his quirk's drawbacks. "Oh, there's no need to—"
"Ah!" yelled out Hatsume. Both Manga and Izuku jumped at this, the latter dropping the notebook he was writing in. "Izuku! You still haven't told me about your quirk! You should tell me! Think of all the wonderful babies we can make together to synergize it!"
Izuku froze halfway bending downwards as he went to pick up his fallen notebook.
Oh no.
"Hmm. That is a good point, Izuku," added Manga. "I remember you saying you didn't want to talk about it when we first met."
Oh no. No. No. No. They… they want to know about my— my quirk. About… about the bugs. They bugs, the insects, the legs, the skittering — What… would they think?
"Izuku?"
They would run. Run away scared. They would longer wan— want to be frie—
Izuku took a deep breath.
No. They're— they're my friends. They've been nice to me ever since we met! Manga's so nice that he plays around with the younger kids we pass by. And Hatsume is pretty understanding, she wouldn't ridicule me for such a thing, would she? I— I should just come out with it, be straight with them. And then —
Manga chimed in. "Look, Izuku, I know that you said that you want to keep that info to yourself, and that's completely fine with me. You're free to keep to yourself to whatever yo—"
"Umm." Izuku interrupted. He looked away from his friends, taking glances at the junk and scrap that littered their surroundings instead. "My quirk…"
His two friends waited with bated breath, waiting for Izuku's response.
"My quirk… I… I haven't told anyone about my quirk, actually. Nobody knows about it. Not even my mom."
Hatsume rose an eyebrow. Manga manifested a pair and one rose too. There was a long moment of silence.
It's now or never.
The silence broke abruptly. "I control bugs."
…
…
"That's it?" asked Manga.
Izuku blinked. "What?"
"You control bugs?" asked Hatsume, hand under her chin. "How, exactly?"
"We—Well, I—"
"Show me," demanded Hatsume.
Izuku gulped. So far so good. He connected to a swarm of flies from a nearby dumpster, calling them over.
Think non-scary. Something fun. Something that wouldn't scare them. Like… like the circus! There's nothing scary from the circus!
The flies arrived, responding to Izuku's commands. They formed a ring in the air, the miniature swarm hovering in a rotating shape. Individual flies were given the order to fly loops and nosedives through the air, and eventually make their way through the hoop.
"I've gotta admit, that's actually kinda cool, Izuku," voiced Manga.
Izuku looked toward his friend. "Ah… Really?"
"Yup!"
"There's… nothing wrong with it? Having insects so close to you guys, I mean."
"Not that I can see with it," voiced Manga. "Why? Was it that Bakugou jerk again? Has he been putting in your head that your quirk is bad?"
"Ah! No… I just thought that, well… the bugs would be… would create a bad image, is all."
"Pfft! As if!" announced Hatsume. If anything, your problem if that you're too squishy."
"...Huh?"
"You know, squishy! Well, that and pretty scrawny, too. I mean, look at those noodle arms of yours! I bet you couldn't carry a car!"
"Umm… I'm pretty sure that I couldn't carry a car normally unless I had a strength quirk."
Hatsume scoffed. "And what about my babies? They would increase your strength ten-fold!"
Izuku pondered upon that factor. "Well, I suppose they could… But I'd rather not have any… uhm… augmentations to that category. My fighting style wouldn't necessarily need the use of unrefined brute strength."
"Fine," she whined. "Be all that with your 'no strength-providing exoskeleton apparatus' mindset. There are plenty of other things I could work upon. Like pouches! Special ones that can hold multiple insect species at once! Or maybe a costume to make up for that vulnerable body or yours!"
Izuku interjected. "Oh, uh, Hatsume." Said girl looked back at him. "I, umm, I'm sort of already working on that, actually."
"You are?"
"Yeah, I have this project going on at home with a couple of Golden Orb spiders. I have them making a costume for me in my free time. I can only have them working when I'm within two blocks of my house, though. That's how far my reach is. I have a couple containers to keep them in for when I leave, to make sure mom doesn't kill them or they wander off too far. I only have ten at the moment, so progress is kind of slow. But at least it's pure spider silk, so—"
"Wait! Pure spider silk!?! You can just tell them to make however much you want?!"
Izuku began to rub the back off his head. "Uh, yeah. The only problem is making sure the spiders don't over exhaust themselves."
"Why don't you make more?" asked Manga.
Hatsume and Izuku turned to him. "Huh?" they both asked.
"Oh, umm, you know. You probably have both male and female spiders, right?"
"Yeah. Three females and seven males," informed Izuku.
"Good. Well, there you go!"
Izuku scratched his head. "I don't get it."
Manga made a face.
(ーー;)
He sighed, "Never mind. Best to let you figure it out."
"Oh!" Hatsume interjected. "That's why you had—" she paused, her eyes zooming in on Izuku's head, " —still have bugs in your hair! Quick access defense! I like it!"
"You have bugs in your hair?" Manga questioned.
Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "Uh, yeah... You guys… You guys want to see?"
They nodded. Good. Still not scared. Actually want to see my bugs. You're doing good, keep going. You can actually do this, can actually go through wit —
"Ahem."
"Ah! Yes!" Izuku yelped, reaching into his hair. When he pulled it away, out came a house centipede with it, its dozens of squirming legs coming along. "This is Rikai! He's one of the first bugs that I allowed into my hair."
He named it?
Ooh! Centipedes too! Think of the irritation bombs I could make with their poison!
"Hmm. I'm gonna have to get used to having insects around pretty closely, aren't I?" mused Manga.
"Oi! Don't be a party pooper!," Hatsume said, encroaching into Manga's personal space. "Think of all the possibilities that can come upon us with these bugs! I, for one, don't care for the fear factor! Bugs are bugs, marvelous and wondrous applications all over!"
Manga rose his hands in surrender, backing off from the rather too close girl. "I didn't mean it like that! I mean, I think the bugs are pretty cool when you think of it! I'm just worried I'll accidentally swallow one or something like that!"
Izuku smiled. They really don't care. The fact that I control bugs doesn't faze them in the slightest. Hatsume and Manga… They really are great friends.
But then he grimaced. Another problem came to mind. I need to tell Sensei. He's been as good to me as Hatsume and Manga have. He has the right to know as well.
"And if he kicks you out of the dojo?"
...I still have my skills as they are now. I can adapt.
The next day had Izuku in front of the dojo of Kage Kawabata. The place wasn't actually open yet, Izuku having arrived a long time before the day's scheduled meeting. Still, Izuku was certain that his teacher to be present at the dojo. The man basically lived there, after all.
Well, that and he also checked with his bugs. The man was definitely inside, sitting in a crossed legged position in front of a table with tea, reading a book. It didn't seem that he was leaving anytime soon.
Izuku took a deep breath, gazing upon the front of the building. This was a moment he'd been dreading for for a long time. He'd felt bad the first time he had arrived at the dojo, getting in through a lie. The fact that his sensei had essentially brought him in based on his quirklessness didn't bode so well with him either. He knew that he would have to tell the truth one day, no matter how much it scared him.
But with yesterday, with the time he spent with Hatusume and Manga, he was feeling more optimistic. Perhaps not everyone would avoid him out of fear. Perhaps some could actually accept his quirk. He just hoped that Kawabata was like that, as well.
He began to walk up the steps, hand ready to knock on the imposing barrier between himself and an uncertain fate. He was surprised when the door opened at its own accord, Kage Kawabata standing in the doorway.
"Midoriya. Nice morning we're having, isn't it? Come! Come in! We have much to discuss."
Discuss? What does he mean? And how did he know I was at the door?
A tap on his shoulder. He looked up to find the arm to be that of his sensei.
Izuku gave out a nervous laugh. He walked in after the older man. I really need to get that muttering under control. It could prove disastrous in real combat.
The two sat upon the low standing table.
"Tea?" asked Kawabata.
Izuku nodded. Kawabata poured him a cup. Izuku drank it sparingly, drawing out the time to hold off for the moment he decided to say anything. It was during this timeframe that Izuku began to panic in his head.
What will he think? What's going to happen? Will he be scared? I control bugs, after all. I wouldn't blame him. But this needs to be done. I owe it to him to tell him the truth. He's taught me so much. I can't go on lying to him.
He took a sip, but discovered a lack of heat and liquid emanating from the china cup. Empty.
He sighed. He looked up, looking at Kawabata straight in the eyes.
Izuku gulped. "Sensei… I've… I've got a confession to make."
The man merely nodded, edging Izuku to continue.
"I… I… lied to you. When we first met." The waterworks began, tears falling from Izuku's eyes. "I said that I was quirkless, but.. But… I'm not. I can… I can control bugs. And with scaringly fine control too. Enough that I could become a hero with just that. But— But— I was just so—" his breath hitched, and he went to wipe his face with his sleeve. He opened his mouth to continue, but was interrupted by Kawabata.
"Calm yourself, Midoriya. No need to shed tears over such a dilemma."
"But Sensei! I—"
"I already know about it. Your quirk, that is. I've known for quite some time, actually."
"But… but… but…"
"But why? How? Why haven't I kicked you out yet?"
Izuku gave a slight nod, looking to the ground in shame.
Kawabata took another sip of tea. He continued, "I never did tell you about my own quirk, Midoriya. I never felt the need to inform you of it, and usually never do with most of my students."
Another sip. " Cognition , is what it's called. In short, I can sense brainwaves, as well as the things that the thoughts I pick up on are directed at. Just a moment ago, when you flew those insects in here, I sensed them. They were screaming thoughts of [Resolve] and [Confession] and [Guilt]. I could tell you were nearby, and had deduced your reasoning for being here. I knew that you had finally decided to tell me of you quirk."
"That's how you knew I was at the door."
Kawabata nodded. "Yes."
"How… How long have you known?"
"It was one of our first lessons together, actually, when you had that fly stuck in my sleeve."
"I found that I could track your movements, if I wanted," Izuku said in resignation.
"Yes. I was rather surprised at first, and I almost called you out right then. The supposed quirkless boy suddenly demonstrating a mental connection to a random fly? And the the two of them having the same emotions at the time? If that didn't scream 'quirk,' well…"
"I… I understand, sensei." Izuku went to stand. "I'll… I'll just pack up my things an—"
"Not so fast, Midoriya." Izuku faltered, but obliged to listen to his teacher. He settled back down.
"As I was saying," continued Kawabata, "I was rather perturbed when I discover the truth. But," he emphasised, " your thoughts showed your true self. [Guilt], [Dishonor], and - what surprised me the most - [Fear]. I understood then that you weren't withholding the information of your quirk for an advantage, but rather as a factor of you being afraid of using it. The mind of a young child can be rather quick to judge when you consider the nature of insects. Not many show them any kindness, after all."
Izuku looked up, blinking a couple times. Does that mean...
The man took another sip from his tea. "That, is what I've judged your character on, Midoriya. Your mind, and what I've gathered from you during your time here. And you, Izuku, are a good person. You shouldn't let your quirk determine your character. Don't forget that."
The tears had cleared up by now, them being replaced by a rather minute smile, the relief apparent on his face. "I— Thank you, sensei. I appreciate all that you've done for me. And— And I understand if want to get rid of m—".
"You need not fret, Midoriya. I do not plan in any time in the future to ban you from this dojo. You still deserve a place in here as much as anyone."
"Re—Really?!"
"Yes. Just promise me one thing."
"Of course, sensei!" came the boy with the outright outstanding smile.
"You do your best to get into U.A. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You have the means to become a great hero, someday."
Notes:
And there we have chapter five! A bit more of a character building chapter this time around, but fret not! You action seeking fans will get what you want next time. Anyhow, how do you guys think so far? Good? Bad? Anything you think I should take notice of?
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