U.A. High School

“Good Morning, Mr. Wayne. I’m Momo Yaoyorozu, Vice Class rep of class 1-A.” The dark-haired female student said as she came into his office. She was wearing her school uniform today, instead of the bathing suit of a hero costume she had on yesterday.

“Good Morning, Momo. Please, take a seat.” John said, leafing through his files to find hers. She was supposed to be his last student from 1-A, not the first. “What happened to Yugi Aoyama?”

“He called in sick today.”

“Ahh. Well, hope he gets well soon. Now, while you’re in this office, just call me John.” He said, then went through his spiel about keeping these meetings relaxed and informal again. “So, Momo, how are you doing since the attack?”

“Honestly, I was fine with it after the incident initially, but ever since you spoke to us, I keep trying to think of what I, and by extension, we all could have done better.”

“And what did you come up with?” 

“Several things. First, randomized group training.”

“What does that involve?” He said, curious at what she was thinking. Her docket said she was the highest-scoring applicant in the written assessment for the U.A. entrance exam and was considered a genius.  

“I was already planning on running study groups with the weaker students in class, to help everyone improve their test scores going forward. I want to expand on that further and have us work in small groups and discover new ways we could support each other. I want to put forward a plan to the Principal to incorporate a new training program I designed into our curriculum. We would be randomly grouped together and immediately given a scenario without any prior knowledge of it. Scores would be based on speed, teamwork, and successful completion of the objective. Furthermore, I would…”

John sat there for another ten minutes as Momo laid out several of her ideas to him, pulling a small whiteboard and markers from her arm to explain each idea, along with ways they could be implemented. He could see value in a few of them, but wasn’t quite sure how they went from a counseling session to a sales pitch to change the school’s curriculum. However, he could tell she was really stressed over something as well.

“Momo, stop.” He said when she erased her board and started to explain yet another idea. “Some of these ideas sound good on paper, though I’m not sure we have the budget to have your class fight a small army of giant robots on a weekly basis. But we drifted far off topic. How are you doing since the attack?”

She sighed, setting the board on her lap. “I’m probably overthinking things, no, I am overthinking things, but I can’t help it. I see where I’m weak and am working to improve myself, but I can also see where others are weak and want them to improve as well. I just… I want to see everyone succeed. I don’t want us to be as helpless as we were when… when the villains attacked.”

He nodded, her thoughts mirroring her words. “That is a good attitude to have.”

“You don’t think I’m overdoing it?”

He laughed. “A little, yes, but you already identified several issues and came up with a path to move forward. Just remember that no matter how smart you are, you’re still just a teenager. Don’t be in such a rush to become an adult.” He then leaned forward, a little more serious now. “What do you like to do in your free time?”

“Study, train, do research.”

“So nothing fun? Do you go out with your friends after school or on the weekends at all?”

“Sometimes we go out for dinner and desserts. I need to eat a lot to use my Quirk.”

“Well, I’d like to suggest you take a day to go hang out and reconnect with your friends. It doesn’t have to be for a whole day, but try to mix in a little fun into your life again.”

“A little fun? These villains attacked us, and you want me to have fun?” She replied, sounding skeptical.

“I want you to find a way to distract your mind from focusing on it, even just for a little bit. Then you can come back to your ideas, your plans. I want to see if you can find a different, more realistic way to implement them. Not every student will be willing to give up their free time to train more like you, but if you can flesh a few of these ideas of yours out, I would be willing to talk to Mr. Principal and Mr. Aizawa about seeing if they could be worked into a lesson or two.”

“You would do that for me?”

“Yes, but only if you promise me you will take some time to be a kid for a bit.” 

“I’m not a kid, though.”

“No, you’re not, but you are young enough that you should be flirting with boys and talking about your favorite singers with your friends, not building complete lesson plans. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use that big brain of yours to do that, I’m just saying you need to take a little time to give it a break now and again.

Listen, I’ll pencil you in for next Monday afternoon, and we can go over your ideas together. If it looks good, I’ll schedule a time with the Principal to see if we can incorporate a few of them. You just need to promise me you will take a break or two between now and then and focus on yourself for a bit.” 

“I’ll do it! Thank you, John!” She said, jumping up excitedly, sending the whiteboard that was in her lap flying. “Oh! Sorry!”

“Heh, it’s fine. Now, I think our time is up for today. Send the next student in, please.” He said, then added once she was by the door. “And remember, Momo, have a bit of fun. You’re only young once.”

“Just so you are aware, the principal told me your secret,” John said, looking at the green-haired kid across from him. Izuku Midoriya was lying on the chaise lounge across from him instead of beside him in the recliner, several of his fingers wrapped up in bandages.

What is this kid doing that keeps breaking his fingers? Is this something to do with his Quirk?

“T-that is fine. I didn’t expect we would be able to keep it a secret forever.”

“So, how are you feeling since the attack?”

The kid didn’t answer right away, trying to order his thoughts. John was getting a ton of information from his scouter skill, from being scared of villains and worried about All Might, to a sense of determination to get stronger so he could protect everyone.

“I… I can’t… that Twilight Knight just killed those two villains with barely a word. He didn’t offer them a chance to surrender, he just… killed them.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“I-I want to condemn him for taking the law into his own hands, but… he saved everyone. Even All Might couldn’t stop the villains. If… if I had only been stronger, I might have been able to help, but every time I use even a fraction of the power, my bones break.” 

{I need to get stronger, I need to be able to protect everyone, else I’m not worthy of the power gifted to me.}

“It isn’t your fault.”

“What?”

“You’re blaming yourself. You’re not the one who attacked the school; it was this League of Villains. They attacked with the intent to kill All Might and sow chaos by killing or capturing all of you. You’re not at fault here. Sure, you need to learn to control your powers, but don’t blame yourself for the actions of others.”

“If I could control my power, I could have helped stop them! I could have helped bring them to justice instead of them being killed.”

John almost asked if he thought they didn’t receive the justice they deserved, but bit that back. This was a teenager who was still learning about the realities of life, not an adult who should know better.

“No, Midoriya, that is unfair to you. You and your classmates are still learning the basics of being heroes. If you applied that same logic, then why didn’t Momo make a cannon? Why didn’t Shota freeze them? How about Bakugo? Why didn’t he make them explode? It’s the same answer for everyone else in your class; you’re all students. You’re still learning, growing stronger. I’m positive you will make a fine hero someday, but you can’t expect to know everything right now. So continue to train, to grow stronger, but don’t blame yourself for the actions of a villain.

As for this Twilight Knight, I wouldn’t judge him through such a narrow lens. I’m sure he was more concerned with the lives of the innocent than the lives of the guilty. Maybe he assessed that if he tried to bring them in, they would have either beaten him or used one of you as a hostage. You might never know his motives, but I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. The world isn’t quite so black and white.”

“Do you think he was right to kill them like that?”

“I think that anyone who threatens children’s lives deserves far worse than what they received, but that is my own opinion. Technically, he was in the wrong according to Japan’s laws, but he saved people from villains who might have killed you all, or worse.” John replied, then realised they were straying from the interview’s intent. “So, you are having problems with controlling your powers? What can you tell me about that?”

They discussed various subjects for the remainder of their time. John penciled him for a follow-up interview later, wanting to get deeper into some of the other issues the kid was having. After Midoriya left the room, he stood up and looked out the window, deep in thought. The kids’ Quirk was incredible from the way he described it, able to snap a finger and nearly empty a small lake of water just from the air pressure the motion generated. Just from that alone, he could see why Nezu wanted him trained in One For All. 

Still, there has to be a better way than breaking his bones every time he uses it. That is just plain cruel to expect him to keep doing that to get stronger.

He put that thought to the side as a knock at his door announced the arrival of his next appointment. “Come in!”

A young man with red and white hair stepped into his office, a serious expression on his scarred face. “I was told to come here.”

“Please come in and sit down,” John replied, activating his Quirk and Scouter again. After listening to this kid’s thoughts the other day, he knew he was going to need all the help he could get from his skills.

Shoto Todoroki was a very troubled young man with a very difficult home life. Quiet and aloof, he wanted to do everything in his power to become a better hero than his father, all while only using half of his Quirk’s power. That would be difficult to achieve on its own, since his father was Endevor, the current number two hero in Japan.

The man is a great hero, but a horrible parent. This poor kid was even attacked by his own mother at one point with a kettle of boiling water. I can’t even imagine what that would do to someone. This… this is going to be a challenge.

Rolling up his metaphorical sleeves, John got to work.

That Night

Jaku City

*Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta*

John was practicing on a speedbag that Rumi had pulled out from somewhere, working on the timing of his punches. She had him doing a series of different exercises tonight, ending with some rather extreme stretching beside the koi pond. She was incredibly flexible for someone who was so muscular, and he couldn’t help but admire her as she demonstrated the stretches she wanted him to do. Then she proceeded to fold him up like a pretzel, nearly taking him out of commission as she pushed him through.

“Relax. Ease into the stretch, then push deeper. That’s it, deeper. Now hold it.” She said into his ear at one point, her heavy breasts pushing into his back as she leaned on him. Little John reacted despite the pain he was feeling in his legs as he was forced to grab his feet.

Down boy. Now isn’t the time! 

After they finished, she left, intending to patrol a nearby city that night, leaving John alone. Once he was sure she was gone, he healed himself and continued to repeat the training again and again over the next few hours, the Substance X in his body fueling his development even further. The mindless work let him go over a few things from the day.

He managed to get through the rest of Class 1-A and 1-B that day, scheduling a few students from both classes for follow-up appointments. Anan and All Might were no-shows, the former having been given a few days off to recover from the attack from last night, the latter taking a short leave of absence from the school.

Nezu assured him that they would both be back soon and he would be able to talk with them then. John was concerned about Anan and wanted to stop by her place to check on her, but he didn’t really know her as John. He thought about visiting her as TK, but that had its own problems.

How would TK even know where she lived? That would just be weird. Maybe I’ll just give her a call from work tomorrow.

Aizawa did show up, but he just lay on the lounge for a while, wrapped up in his sleeping bag, and complained about all the extra work he had to do with All Might being absent. From what John could tell, the attack didn’t seem to bother him too much; he was more annoyed about having to pick up All Might’s slack while he was out on the unplanned leave.

He did notice a strange occurrence happening. For whatever reason, class 1-B seemed to be developing animosity towards class 1-A because they were attacked by the villains, becoming almost jealous of the fact that they got to experience a real battle. It made no bloody sense to him why you would want to be attacked by villains, but it was nearly their whole class that felt that way. He had a few ideas on how he would deal with this, but he needed to chew on them a bit more first.

That was a tomorrow problem. For tonight, he was going to continue to train for as long as the Substance X held out, making the most out of this dive that he could.

*Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta, Thump-ta-ta-ta-ta*

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep