Thursday Afternoon

U.A. High School

Front Entrance

The next few days blew by for John. He supervised some relay training with the students on Monday and continued to conduct interviews all afternoon. Momo had been unable to disconnect his helmet, so they made a trip to her family’s shop after school, where her father had to use some weird tool to force the magnets to release. He left the suit there so they could fix its issues, though the man assured John that it would be serviceable in a couple of days. 

He trained with Rumi and Yu in the evenings, finally getting to cook his steaks. Rumi devoured hers and was eyeballing his, which he ended up feeding her a few bites from his fork. They also practiced dancing in the evenings, which turned out to be mainly a problem with her footwear more than anything else. So she took to wearing heels around the dojo while he worked out. She was getting more cuddly at night, sleeping naked beside him and forcing Little John between her butt cheeks. He swore she was teasing him at this point and vowed he would find a way to do the same to her. 

Tuesday went by much the same, with both Thirteen and All Might officially beginning their leave of absences. All Might had stayed an extra day because of the Sports Festival incident, but Nezu forced him to go, giving him a sat phone that he would call only if it was necessary for him to return. 

Wednesday was quieter, as the girls were out that evening doing something, leaving John to his own devices. After doing some chores, he did some research before he started to train. Apparently, as a hero, he could carry his sword with him. Even the current number two hero wielded a pair of swords when he fought villains. He would have to change his scabbard and wrap the hilt, as the word TRUTH that was embedded on its hilt was rather distinctive. So he took some of the sports wraps from the dojo and started to cover it up. 

That led him down a whole new rabbit hole for nearly an hour, as the first few times he did it, it would tear off almost immediately when he started swinging the sword around. A quick online search then showed him that it was a skill traditional weapons makers learned, and that there were many different techniques you could use to make a proper wrap. He put his phone away and went back to training instead, leaving the wrap problem for another day.

Thursday was quiet as well, other than an excited Mei and Momo invading his office at lunchtime. The latter wanted to go over their training plan for Friday, and the former was there to help build some of the devices they would be deploying. John humoured the two of them, then worked out for the remainder of his lunch. 

That led him to where he was now, walking outside the school, intent on going home, when Midoriya appeared beside him. 

“Mr. Wayne? Do you have time today?”

“Time for what?” He asked, confused.

“My training. All Might said you would be able to help me while he was gone.” He said quietly, mindful of others nearby. People knew he had a powerful Quirk, but it still wasn’t public knowledge that he had One For All.

Help him? How? I said I would look out for him, not train him.

“Well… I’m no-” He started to say, then paused. He did have an idea, but needed more information on One For All first. “Listen, I’m headed to a dojo in Jaku City. Is that near where you live?”

“No, I live here in town with my mom.”

“Okay, where did you two go and train at then?”

“All over the place, wherever it was quiet. Sometimes here, other times in abandoned warehouses. We did a lot of training on a beach before I even got into U.A.”

“Well, let’s… take a walk behind the sports stadium where the obstacle course is. That place should be clear of people this time of day.” He said, then shot Nezu a somewhat cryptic message with his intentions. After seeing Midoriya in action during the festival, he didn’t want people to come running if OFA blew up some trees on school property.

The principal shot back that he would be outside in a moment and wanted to be present for today’s training. 

Well, so much for doing this in secret.  

A few moments later, the ratman showed up, and the three of them made their way over to the obstacle course. Nezu made some idle banter along the way, talking about how he was interested in seeing how John’s class would go tomorrow and how impressed he was with Midoriya’s showing at the festival. 

After hearing Thirteens thoughts the other day, John just wished he could read the ratman’s mind.

“Tell me how you activate OFA,” John asked once they arrived at the place where the giant robots had been destroyed. All traces of them were gone now, leaving a wide open patch of dirt.

“I focus a small amount of its power in my fingers and release it. I think of it like an egg in the microwave, and have to be very careful when I use it.”

“How much power is that?”

“Around five percent, I think. There is a lot in here, and if I’m not careful, I’m afraid it could kill me.”

“So you focus five percent of your total power on your fingers, then release it?”

“Yeah, that’s about it.”

“Okay. This is going to sound a bit weird, but can you try and take just that five percent, and instead of focusing it on that one spot, spread it throughout your whole body?”

“Are you sure?”

“I thought about it a few days ago when I was being corrected while training with Mirko. I wasn’t sure it would work for your situation, but you’re focusing a lot of energy on fragile bones in your hand. If you spread that same energy out over your body, you might not get the same explosive power, but you should be able to spread out the load to the rest of your joints.”

And if I’m wrong, I’ll hit him with a Holy Light spell, and we chalk this up to a mistake.

Nezu didn’t say anything, seemingly content to watch them from a dozen or so feet away. John didn’t bother paying attention to him, keeping his focus on Midoriya.

Midoriya nodded, then focused inwards. Nothing happened at first, though John could hear him mumbling something about eggs, then the power started to flicker off the boy. Lines of bright bluish-green energy formed around his body, crackling in the evening air.

“Okay… this feels weird,” Midoriya said.

“Try moving,” John replied, stepping to the side.

Midoriya pushed off the ground and flew forward rather rapidly, then tumbled and skidded to a halt near the edge of the dirt. John jogged over to him in concern. “You okay?”

“Yes… Yes… I… Did I just do that?”

“You did, kid. Are you sure nothing broke?”

“No. My ankle is a little sore, but everything else feels fine.”

“Okay, give me a sec,” John said, then walked into the bushes, spying something that was missed in the cleanup. He rolled out a large sheet of metal from one of the robots onto the dirt. “I want you to try that again, but this time hit this.”

“Sure!” Midoriya focused again. More blue lightning formed around him. He stood beside the metal and wound up to punch it with a wild haymaker.

“Stop!” John said before the kid struck. “Who in the world taught you to punch like that? Focus on your form. Godlike Quirk or not, you are just going to end up breaking your wrist anyway if you punch something like that. Just give it a jab.” John used one hand to show him what he meant, while the other supported the metal plate. 

Midoriya nodded, then assumed an actual stance beside the plate, showing that he did have some basic martial arts training. He slammed his fist into the metal and sent it flying across the dirt to land on the opposite side of the clearing. 

“Great job, kid. How’s your hand?”

“It’s sore, but it’s not broken. Wait! It’s not broken! OH, THANK YOU, MR. WAYNE!!!” He shouted, then hugged John and started to cry. 

“You did the work, kid, not me. Sometimes, you just need a little boost to get you going in the right direction.” John said, patting the boy on the shoulder. 

He sent that piece of metal nearly a hundred feet with just a jab? That was easily a hundred pounds or more. And that is only five percent of his power? Where would he send it at full power? Orbit? God, this world is terrifying at times.  

Nezu hummed to himself as he watched John and young Midoriya train with OFA. He pulled out his phone and messaged his dear friend, Nighteye.

[You’re Foresight has been proven correct. The outsider was indeed able to get Midoriya on the correct path.]

He put his phone away and continued to watch. It was fascinating to see Nighteye’s revised prophecies unfold before him, as the arrival of this new teacher changed the fate of the world. There was still a significant amount of destruction on the horizon; that part had not changed. But this man, no, this paladin known as the Twilight Knight, would help bring about much-needed reforms to their world.

“Hmm, I should have brought some tea out with me to enjoy this show with. No matter, it remains entertaining nonetheless.” He mused, then shoved his hands in his pockets. He would have to bring some better training-

*WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!*

Three blasts of air blew over him, knocking him to the ground. He looked over at the two of them and was surprised. John was sparing with Midoriya now, somehow dodging the punches the kid was sending at him with OFA activated. He returned with open hand slaps, smacking the kid who kept dropping his guard, then bent out of the way of the telegraphed strikes. 

 I suppose he has been training with Mirko. Dodging those strikes would be easy compared to keeping up with that woman.

He moved back a ways and sat down in the grass to watch the show. This was just the next step for young Midoriya, and the Twilight Knight was showing him that he still had a long way to go.

That Evening

Hosu City Hospital

“Brother! You’re awake!” Tenya said, entering the hospital room.

“Good Evening, Tenya. Yeah, awake is one way to put it. How are you doing?” Tensei Ida, also known as the pro hero Ingenium, replied, smiling over at his younger brother.

“Better now that I know you’re going to be okay!”

“Well, I’m alive. The Hero Killer didn’t kill me, but Tenya… I… I might not be able to walk again.”

“No! That can’t be! You’re Ingenium… how…”

“It’s okay. Here, come give your brother a hug and tell me about the festival. I really want to know how you did.” He replied, his voice strained. He was still coming to grips with his new reality and could really use a distraction. 

The two of them talked for the next hour about the sports festival and how Tenya did. He admonished his brother for thinking that placing third wasn’t good enough, though he had a good laugh when his brother explained what that engineering student did to him. The topic soon changed to something that had apparently been bothering his brother, and something that he hadn’t faced in a long time until recently. Fear.

“Yeah, I was scared when I fought villains for the first time. We were responding to a robbery in progress; the man’s Quirk was the ability to spew acid that could eat metal. When I engaged him, he splashed my armour with some of that acid, and it started to melt through my helmet and chest piece. I really thought I was going to die.”

“How did you get through it?”

“Honestly, I never really did. I still wake up at night sometimes, remembering my helmet melting before my eyes, the burning feeling on my chest. I knocked him out, and thankfully, Recovery Girl was still an active hero at the time, and nearby, so she healed me before I was scarred, but my mental scars never left. The only reason I kept going for a while was that I knew that every time I stopped a villain, I was making the world a safer place for everyone else. Besides, I had a little brother who thought I was an invincible hero. I couldn’t let him down, could I?”

“Making the world a safer place. I guess I can do that too.”

“What made you want to ask me that? Is it the U.S.J. Incident?” Tensei asked, wondering what brought his usually stoic and straight-laced brother to ask about his past.

“Yeah. Our new school counsellor said it is okay to be scared, that it is normal. He then told me to ask you about it when I got a chance. You have been so busy, we really didn’t have time to talk for a while, so I put it aside. Sorry, it seems like a minor thing to be worried about, considering the situation.”

“Hey, I’m hurt, not dead. I still might walk again, albeit with crutches. You can always come to your big brother with your concerns; that is what a big brother is for. I might bonk your head if it’s really dumb, but I’ll always listen.” He replied, squeezing Tenya’s hand. “Now, any ideas on which Hero agency you want to intern with?”

The two of them talked late into the evening, supporting each other as brothers are supposed to do. If nothing else, the Ida family always had strong bonds and would support each other, look out for each other. Or in some cases, take vengeance for each other. 

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep