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My Hero Academia: Aura Farming
- Thread starter The Synonym
- Start date
Poisonn9i
I am so lost.
- Joined
- May 12, 2023
- Messages
- 136
- Likes received
- 5,521
The fuck?!
La brava with the clutch of the century over here
Gobble'n
Bend over
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2023
- Messages
- 760
- Likes received
- 6,982
"That implies that I spend time thinking about you. Spoiler alert, I don't."
Tearence
Getting some practice in, huh?
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2019
- Messages
- 9
- Likes received
- 34
That is move villainous rather than Aura Maxxing.
It would have been better to take Bakugos hands palm to palm, see how he could not budget Taka, that if he tried to do an explosion, he risks blowing his own hands up, hoping to blow Taka's.
Chapter 56
New
The Synonym
Writer of things, and money wanter
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2025
- Messages
- 70
- Likes received
- 8,143
Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters, and you'll help me make ends meet while doing so.
patreon.com/TheSynonym
────────────────────────
[Shhh]
────────────────────────
…
After Bakugo's whole fiasco, the last class of the day continued as normal—just with a heavier air. A declaration of war like that couldn't simply be brushed off.
Along the hour, odd glances were thrown Taka and Bakugo's way several times, and one person even shed a few held-back tears after the whole spectacle.
Still, even with the awkward mood both culprits had created, class gradually came to an end without issue.
When the school bell rang, Ectoplasm dismissed them and declared the school day over before picking his things up and leaving.
Immediately, everyone began packing up as well.
As the room started to move, a figure approached Taka while he gathered his things.
"Man, you really don't know the meaning of moderation, do you?" Jiro said, bag on and arms crossed, her expression deadpan.
"Moderation sometimes isn't enough," Taka replied calmly as he continued packing.
She didn't know how to respond to that. She could argue that had been straight-up bullying—but from what she knew about Bakugo… maybe moderation actually wasn't enough with him.
"Still, did you have to say the whole 'What's wrong, did you find something on the ground?' line?" she said, mimicking Taka's deep tone.
Taka paused mid-book shove.
Then, after a brief pause, he nodded.
"Like I said, moderation is not enough."
'Plus, I've been wanting to say that one for a while,' he added mentally.
Jiro's eyes squinted into narrow, dissatisfied slits. Clearly able to tell there was something not being said, but having no way to prove it.
Such were the struggles of not being born with mind-reading powers.
Close by, Midoriya slightly tilted his head towards them, wanting to speak up about the whole situation—he was partially the reason it even started, after all.
But with Bakugo sitting right in front of him, he held his tongue. Given how he got handled at the start of class, it wouldn't surprise him if he was more volatile than usual.
'Still… training, huh?' he thought, secretly (not really) looking at Taka out of the corner of his eye. 'Did All Might really ask him to help me?'
Was... his performance so far so disappointing that he had to ask a classmate of his to help him?
After a moment of gloomy silence, Midoriya shook his head.
'No.'
Sure, he hadn't been able to do anything during the villain attack, and he was still unable to use his quirk without blowing up a limb, but thinking like that felt too extreme—especially after the talk he and All Might had just had about the—
His eyes widened as something clicked.
'So that's it… It's because of the Sports Festival!' he realized, staring down at his hands. 'He must have asked Takahashi-san to help me prepare for the festival because of his strength…'
Once again, he sneakily turned to look at Taka.
'But even if he is strong… will he even be able to help me?' His brows creased dubiously, 'My problem is that my body can't handle One For All's power output. What can Takahashi-san even do about that?'
Although their Quirks seemed similar—both buffing physical abilities—in reality, they were completely different.
From what he'd overheard, Takahashi's physical strength translated into even stronger telekinetic power.
He, on the other hand, had to use his strength just to withstand his Quirk's output.
One needed strength to increase his power.
The other needed strength to endure his power.
Maybe, in those opposites, All Might had seen something Taka could teach him?
'—Or maybe he'll just teach me to fight. He seemed pretty experienced in his fight against Sato… and that mutant villain,' Midoriya mused, recalling Taka's baffling performance—and then realizing his own lack of experience.
At their first combat exercise, Sato had also said he had learned a lot from their fight.
Both were apparently even staying after class to train along with other classmates, so maybe Taka's training was effective?
'Maybe I should ask.' He thought, preparing to turn to his classmate to ask for more details. "Hmm?"
But before he could even finish the turn, lots of noise coming from outside the door stopped him.
As it did for whatever else everyone was doing.
They turned toward the entrance, baffled.
To their shock, a crowd had gathered outside, all peeking in with curious looks, like kids at a zoo.
"W-what the hell?" Kaminari muttered, creeped out by the sudden attention.
Uraraka, who had been about to leave, found the doorway completely blocked. "What is this? What happened?!"
Others just stared, confused or annoyed.
"Come on, we can't get out!" Kirishima complained.
Iida stepped forward. "Who are you all? Please stop blocking the entrance. It prevents us from passing."
The crowd ignored him, leaving him to clench his fist in frustration.
Thankfully, a hand patted his shoulder.
"Takahashi-san!" Iida exclaimed as he turned and saw who it was.
Taka stepped forward, walking toward the crowd with a calm stride.
"It's him!"
"He's the one who fought the villains!"
"He looks kinda intimidating…"
"Isn't he also the one who calmed everyone down when the press invaded?"
Murmurs erupted the moment he appeared.
Thorough them all, Taka remained completely unbothered.
He reached the door and stared the crowd down. "You're blocking the exit. Watching is fine, but leave a space so my classmates can leave."
The crowd didn't react at first, continuing to look him up and down as if he was a rare creature.
"Move."
"...!"
Only after he repeated himself—this time less gently—did they jump into action, opening a path instantly.
Once a proper path had formed, Taka huffed in satisfaction and turned back toward his desk to finish packing.
—That was the plan, but before he could walk away, a voice rose from within the crowd.
"I came to see what the famous Class 1-A was like, but you seem pretty full of yourself. Don't tell me all of you act like that?"
Taka turned toward the source: a purple-haired student pushing his way to the front.
Instantly, he recognized him, although he had already expected him to be lurking somewhere amidst the crowd.
Shinso. The guy with mind control abilities—so long as you answered him, at least.
'So even though Bakugo wasn't the one who spoke, he still makes his little comments… Well, I guess ragebaiting is his biggest advantage.' Taka mused, tilting his head slightly.
Even if Taka had asked the crowd to move politely, he doubted this guy would have said anything nicer.
He had to act like a jerk—just enough for everyone here to get fed up with him, increasing the chances they'd react and answer to his provocations at the Sports Festival… and hand him the win.
"I have to say… what a disappointment." Shinso continued, eyeing the whole place as if it were beneath him. "You know, there are plenty of us who weren't able to get into the hero course, so we enrolled in other departments. But guess what? The school has given us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they might consider our transfer into the hero course… while also transferring someone out."
"Transfer someone out?!" Inside the classroom, those with less stellar performance repeated worriedly.
Taka didn't say anything; he simply stared at Shinso without worry—though he did flick a look to Jiro, who had been one of those who screamed in worry.
The purplehead snorted at Taka's silence. "Anyway, the point of all this is…" He pointed straight at Taka. "If you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. A declaration of war, if you may."
Silence fell as Shinso finished his threat, some inside sweatdropped at his boldness, while others just looked at him boredly.
Taka, on the other hand, simply stared quietly, letting the silence stretch out.
After enough time passed that it got awkward, Shinso frowned. "... You got anything to say to that?"
Taka blinked lazily.
Then lifted a finger to his mouth.
He didn't let out a sound, but the meaning was crystal clear.
Shhh.
Shinso's eyes shot wide.
"What's with that?"
"Rude."
"He sure is arrogant."
The crowd didn't seem to like the gesture much.
But that hadn't been meant for them.
Finishing his gesture, Taka smirked and then turned around to go back to his things.
That small smirk cemented it, shaking Shinso to his core.
'Does he know?' he thought, eyes wide and cold sweat filling his back.
While he left Shinso to spiral on his own, and the crowd to continue watching, Taka arrived back at his seat.
"What was with that shushing gesture?" Jiro deadpanned.
Taka raised an eyebrow. "You asked me for moderation, didn't you?"
"That was your definition of moderation?" she asked in disbelief.
A beat of silence passed.
"By the way, you and me are gonna be training during these next two weeks too." Taka suddenly pointed out.
"Eh?"
Another beat of silence followed, one filled with confusion.
Then suddenly, Jiro pointed at herself. "Me?!"
Taka nodded calmly, already grabbing his backpack and swinging it over one shoulder. "I heard that 'Transfer someone out?!' from you earlier. If you're so worried about getting kicked out, I might as well help you."
"N-no, I'm fine, that was… you know, crowd pressure."
Taka gave her a deadpan look. "Fairly sure there wasn't a prior arrangement to yell at the same time as others."
"W-we might have, you never know!"
"..."
"Please have mercy."
…
°
°
°
| After classes, skies of the outskirts of Shizuoka |
…
As Taka flew at incredible speed across the orange-tinged sky, the distant city pulled closer and closer with each second. Yet his mind remained away from it, uncaring of his approaching destination.
'Aura Farming, huh?' He mused, recalling his performance today.
He'd say he'd done fairly well; his gains were pretty good for a relatively normal day.
Bakugo and Shinso had even volunteered to help him, letting him flex plenty once again. Yet for some reason—
'I'm not feeling it.' He thought, brow furrowing slightly.
All day, something bothered him. Every time he tried to aura farm, he felt more self-conscious than usual.
Ultimately, he powered through it, sure, but the wrongness never left.
'It must be… that,' Taka thought, his expression tightening.
Ever since yesterday's realization, the idea of aura farming felt off. After all, it was an obsession that had led him to forget a kid who was currently being tortured for profit.
Since then, the thought of going on with it as if nothing had happened, and obsessing over it again, bothered him.
As did the whole act he'd been putting up since entering U.A.
He felt like a clown performing for no one while the house burned down.
He'd thought about it a lot, and it wasn't just Eri. There were countless awful things happening out there, right now.
And what was he doing with all the power he had?
Playing pretend.
He tried ignoring it, telling himself it was just temporary guilt. But despite accepting it logically, the feeling didn't leave. It kept nagging at him, asking what the hell he was doing while a little girl was being cut apart or worse and rebuilt into drugs.
Sure, he had sent several of his clones to do the investigation and look for the Hassaikai's whereabouts while he dealt with his responsibilities at school. And even if he had stayed to help with the search, his clones were so many that his addition would be a minimal increase in manpower.
Yet, going to school, doing his usual aura farming routine while his clones did all the heavy lifting to find Eri…
It only made the feeling worse.
Was aura farming really so important that he had to pour his everything into it?
Was an aura farmer even supposed to obsess this much with it?
Was he really one… or just a clown putting on an act good enough to fool everyone so far?
Could he... even call what he was now, an aura farmer?
"..."
Taka fell silent at his own questions, his knuckles whitening as frustration boiled in him, and he imagined beating down Chisaki good one he found his base.
He continued like that through the rest of the trip, letting his thoughts run wild as he observed the great view from hundreds of feet in the air, taking deep breaths every now and then.
Not long after, he reached his usual landing point.
A quick dive later, his feet hit the ground, dust blowing slightly upon his landing.
After that, he made the rest of the way on foot.
Not toward home—toward his base.
The Rockibase.
He got there quickly. After confirming no one was watching, he flew inside.
A minute later, he opened the door to the informatics room.
"You're back?"
"It was about damn time."
A group of clones looked up at him, their expressions matching his seriousness.
Taka stepped inside, eyeing them and the large board behind them. It showed a map of Japan, some spots marked with red pins, others blue. One clone sat with a laptop on his lap, typing away with a focused—and tired—look.
"Any progress?" Taka asked.
"What do you think?" the laptop clone answered without looking up.
One clone stepped away from the group and approached him.
"We said a week, but honestly? So far, it's been hard to find even the slightest clue. They keep everything lowkey. No personal info, no slips, nothing. And whatever they do show, it's probably not accessible with our current skills."
Taka frowned, falling into deep thought.
"Should we pry the answers out by hand? Surely there's some villains out there who know where they are."
A clone from the back spoke up. "If we do that, there's a chance they'll hear something and relocate. I think they mentioned they had multiple hideouts in the show."
"Right, right…" Taka clicked his tongue.
A clone lifted a hand lazily. "How about we go pry the answers from Nighteye? Surely that guy knows where they are. He'd been investigating them for a while in the show, right?"
"I'm fairly sure Nezu won't tolerate that much. We'll be already pissing him off by returning as Rockinesis, let's not add more reasons for him to spill the beans after this," Another clone said, deadpan on his face.
The clone from earlier shrugged. "I didn't say we had to be violent. We can just ask him. The guy can see the future; he should be able to tell we are going to speedblitz through Overhaul's base as soon as we find it."
"Nighteye…" Taka muttered, frown deepening. "Didn't Midoriya meet Eri in the same city as that guy?"
Silence filled the room.
Taka frowned, turning to them with a done gaze. "You guys didn't think of that?"
"We were busy checking for information online!" One of the retorted.
"And we only have one laptop! No matter how many we are, the number of laptops won't increase!"
"Some of us even flew to rumored spots we found online across several cities to check them!"
Taka sighed, massaging his temple. "Forget it. That narrows it down, right? We only need to search across the city where Nighteye's agency is located."
The clones nodded. Albeit, one of them still didn't look sure.
"Uhm, I don't quite recall the layout of the house… Do any of you?"
There was silence once again.
The clone spoke again. "Even if we find it, maybe we'll skim over it. A city is a big place…"
"We just need to find information about it now that we narrowed the area down to one city," Taka said, eyes narrowing. "And as someone has already said, we can just ask Nighteye for it. He should know how our involvement will end, given his foresight."
"But what if he recognizes us as Rockinesis? It won't be long before Nezu gets a wind of it."
Taka didn't even flinch at the question. "Doesn't matter. We were gonna ignore our deal with him sooner or later. I'm not postponing this for the sake of some stupid plan to aura farm anymore."
The clone nodded, somewhat wry-looking.
Another clone spoke again, his tone not so optimistic. "What if he doesn't tell us? We are a vigilante, maybe he won't even want to look into our future—or even if he does, maybe he won't even care about what he sees."
"Then…" Taka spoke, but he couldn't answer that instantly, his eyes narrowing at the complications.
Ultimately, however, he answered without hesitation.
"We survey the entire city, no matter how long that takes."
A collective nod followed, some wry, others just as determined. There wasn't a single rebuttal.
It seemed the time to raid the Hassaikai was approaching.
At least, that was the case—
—Bzzz—
Until Taka's phone buzzed.
"...?"
Frowning, he picked it up, gestured for the clones to shut up for a second, and glanced at the screen.
An unknown number.
He picked it up without much thought.
But as he put the phone up to his ear…
{"Well, well, well, we meet at last, my greatest rival, Rockinesis.}
-Click-
Taka hung up.
…
────────────────────────
-To Be Continued...-
────────────────────────
(A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was really busy this week. Whenever I arrived home I was demolished, and probably slept less than 5 hours each day.
But alas, I'm free now. And I'm gonna sleep 12 hours from now on.
Until my classes start again...
Anyway, the plot moves. How was the reflection? Hopefully, the character development is showing; it was a pain to write.)
patreon.com/TheSynonym
────────────────────────
[Shhh]
────────────────────────
…
After Bakugo's whole fiasco, the last class of the day continued as normal—just with a heavier air. A declaration of war like that couldn't simply be brushed off.
Along the hour, odd glances were thrown Taka and Bakugo's way several times, and one person even shed a few held-back tears after the whole spectacle.
Still, even with the awkward mood both culprits had created, class gradually came to an end without issue.
When the school bell rang, Ectoplasm dismissed them and declared the school day over before picking his things up and leaving.
Immediately, everyone began packing up as well.
As the room started to move, a figure approached Taka while he gathered his things.
"Man, you really don't know the meaning of moderation, do you?" Jiro said, bag on and arms crossed, her expression deadpan.
"Moderation sometimes isn't enough," Taka replied calmly as he continued packing.
She didn't know how to respond to that. She could argue that had been straight-up bullying—but from what she knew about Bakugo… maybe moderation actually wasn't enough with him.
"Still, did you have to say the whole 'What's wrong, did you find something on the ground?' line?" she said, mimicking Taka's deep tone.
Taka paused mid-book shove.
Then, after a brief pause, he nodded.
"Like I said, moderation is not enough."
'Plus, I've been wanting to say that one for a while,' he added mentally.
Jiro's eyes squinted into narrow, dissatisfied slits. Clearly able to tell there was something not being said, but having no way to prove it.
Such were the struggles of not being born with mind-reading powers.
Close by, Midoriya slightly tilted his head towards them, wanting to speak up about the whole situation—he was partially the reason it even started, after all.
But with Bakugo sitting right in front of him, he held his tongue. Given how he got handled at the start of class, it wouldn't surprise him if he was more volatile than usual.
'Still… training, huh?' he thought, secretly (not really) looking at Taka out of the corner of his eye. 'Did All Might really ask him to help me?'
Was... his performance so far so disappointing that he had to ask a classmate of his to help him?
After a moment of gloomy silence, Midoriya shook his head.
'No.'
Sure, he hadn't been able to do anything during the villain attack, and he was still unable to use his quirk without blowing up a limb, but thinking like that felt too extreme—especially after the talk he and All Might had just had about the—
His eyes widened as something clicked.
'So that's it… It's because of the Sports Festival!' he realized, staring down at his hands. 'He must have asked Takahashi-san to help me prepare for the festival because of his strength…'
Once again, he sneakily turned to look at Taka.
'But even if he is strong… will he even be able to help me?' His brows creased dubiously, 'My problem is that my body can't handle One For All's power output. What can Takahashi-san even do about that?'
Although their Quirks seemed similar—both buffing physical abilities—in reality, they were completely different.
From what he'd overheard, Takahashi's physical strength translated into even stronger telekinetic power.
He, on the other hand, had to use his strength just to withstand his Quirk's output.
One needed strength to increase his power.
The other needed strength to endure his power.
Maybe, in those opposites, All Might had seen something Taka could teach him?
'—Or maybe he'll just teach me to fight. He seemed pretty experienced in his fight against Sato… and that mutant villain,' Midoriya mused, recalling Taka's baffling performance—and then realizing his own lack of experience.
At their first combat exercise, Sato had also said he had learned a lot from their fight.
Both were apparently even staying after class to train along with other classmates, so maybe Taka's training was effective?
'Maybe I should ask.' He thought, preparing to turn to his classmate to ask for more details. "Hmm?"
But before he could even finish the turn, lots of noise coming from outside the door stopped him.
As it did for whatever else everyone was doing.
They turned toward the entrance, baffled.
To their shock, a crowd had gathered outside, all peeking in with curious looks, like kids at a zoo.
"W-what the hell?" Kaminari muttered, creeped out by the sudden attention.
Uraraka, who had been about to leave, found the doorway completely blocked. "What is this? What happened?!"
Others just stared, confused or annoyed.
"Come on, we can't get out!" Kirishima complained.
Iida stepped forward. "Who are you all? Please stop blocking the entrance. It prevents us from passing."
The crowd ignored him, leaving him to clench his fist in frustration.
Thankfully, a hand patted his shoulder.
"Takahashi-san!" Iida exclaimed as he turned and saw who it was.
Taka stepped forward, walking toward the crowd with a calm stride.
"It's him!"
"He's the one who fought the villains!"
"He looks kinda intimidating…"
"Isn't he also the one who calmed everyone down when the press invaded?"
Murmurs erupted the moment he appeared.
Thorough them all, Taka remained completely unbothered.
He reached the door and stared the crowd down. "You're blocking the exit. Watching is fine, but leave a space so my classmates can leave."
The crowd didn't react at first, continuing to look him up and down as if he was a rare creature.
"Move."
"...!"
Only after he repeated himself—this time less gently—did they jump into action, opening a path instantly.
Once a proper path had formed, Taka huffed in satisfaction and turned back toward his desk to finish packing.
—That was the plan, but before he could walk away, a voice rose from within the crowd.
"I came to see what the famous Class 1-A was like, but you seem pretty full of yourself. Don't tell me all of you act like that?"
Taka turned toward the source: a purple-haired student pushing his way to the front.
Instantly, he recognized him, although he had already expected him to be lurking somewhere amidst the crowd.
Shinso. The guy with mind control abilities—so long as you answered him, at least.
'So even though Bakugo wasn't the one who spoke, he still makes his little comments… Well, I guess ragebaiting is his biggest advantage.' Taka mused, tilting his head slightly.
Even if Taka had asked the crowd to move politely, he doubted this guy would have said anything nicer.
He had to act like a jerk—just enough for everyone here to get fed up with him, increasing the chances they'd react and answer to his provocations at the Sports Festival… and hand him the win.
"I have to say… what a disappointment." Shinso continued, eyeing the whole place as if it were beneath him. "You know, there are plenty of us who weren't able to get into the hero course, so we enrolled in other departments. But guess what? The school has given us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they might consider our transfer into the hero course… while also transferring someone out."
"Transfer someone out?!" Inside the classroom, those with less stellar performance repeated worriedly.
Taka didn't say anything; he simply stared at Shinso without worry—though he did flick a look to Jiro, who had been one of those who screamed in worry.
The purplehead snorted at Taka's silence. "Anyway, the point of all this is…" He pointed straight at Taka. "If you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. A declaration of war, if you may."
Silence fell as Shinso finished his threat, some inside sweatdropped at his boldness, while others just looked at him boredly.
Taka, on the other hand, simply stared quietly, letting the silence stretch out.
After enough time passed that it got awkward, Shinso frowned. "... You got anything to say to that?"
Taka blinked lazily.
Then lifted a finger to his mouth.
He didn't let out a sound, but the meaning was crystal clear.
Shhh.
Shinso's eyes shot wide.
"What's with that?"
"Rude."
"He sure is arrogant."
The crowd didn't seem to like the gesture much.
But that hadn't been meant for them.
Finishing his gesture, Taka smirked and then turned around to go back to his things.
That small smirk cemented it, shaking Shinso to his core.
'Does he know?' he thought, eyes wide and cold sweat filling his back.
While he left Shinso to spiral on his own, and the crowd to continue watching, Taka arrived back at his seat.
"What was with that shushing gesture?" Jiro deadpanned.
Taka raised an eyebrow. "You asked me for moderation, didn't you?"
"That was your definition of moderation?" she asked in disbelief.
A beat of silence passed.
"By the way, you and me are gonna be training during these next two weeks too." Taka suddenly pointed out.
"Eh?"
Another beat of silence followed, one filled with confusion.
Then suddenly, Jiro pointed at herself. "Me?!"
Taka nodded calmly, already grabbing his backpack and swinging it over one shoulder. "I heard that 'Transfer someone out?!' from you earlier. If you're so worried about getting kicked out, I might as well help you."
"N-no, I'm fine, that was… you know, crowd pressure."
Taka gave her a deadpan look. "Fairly sure there wasn't a prior arrangement to yell at the same time as others."
"W-we might have, you never know!"
"..."
"Please have mercy."
…
°
°
°
| After classes, skies of the outskirts of Shizuoka |
…
As Taka flew at incredible speed across the orange-tinged sky, the distant city pulled closer and closer with each second. Yet his mind remained away from it, uncaring of his approaching destination.
'Aura Farming, huh?' He mused, recalling his performance today.
He'd say he'd done fairly well; his gains were pretty good for a relatively normal day.
Bakugo and Shinso had even volunteered to help him, letting him flex plenty once again. Yet for some reason—
'I'm not feeling it.' He thought, brow furrowing slightly.
All day, something bothered him. Every time he tried to aura farm, he felt more self-conscious than usual.
Ultimately, he powered through it, sure, but the wrongness never left.
'It must be… that,' Taka thought, his expression tightening.
Ever since yesterday's realization, the idea of aura farming felt off. After all, it was an obsession that had led him to forget a kid who was currently being tortured for profit.
Since then, the thought of going on with it as if nothing had happened, and obsessing over it again, bothered him.
As did the whole act he'd been putting up since entering U.A.
He felt like a clown performing for no one while the house burned down.
He'd thought about it a lot, and it wasn't just Eri. There were countless awful things happening out there, right now.
And what was he doing with all the power he had?
Playing pretend.
He tried ignoring it, telling himself it was just temporary guilt. But despite accepting it logically, the feeling didn't leave. It kept nagging at him, asking what the hell he was doing while a little girl was being cut apart or worse and rebuilt into drugs.
Sure, he had sent several of his clones to do the investigation and look for the Hassaikai's whereabouts while he dealt with his responsibilities at school. And even if he had stayed to help with the search, his clones were so many that his addition would be a minimal increase in manpower.
Yet, going to school, doing his usual aura farming routine while his clones did all the heavy lifting to find Eri…
It only made the feeling worse.
Was aura farming really so important that he had to pour his everything into it?
Was an aura farmer even supposed to obsess this much with it?
Was he really one… or just a clown putting on an act good enough to fool everyone so far?
Could he... even call what he was now, an aura farmer?
"..."
Taka fell silent at his own questions, his knuckles whitening as frustration boiled in him, and he imagined beating down Chisaki good one he found his base.
He continued like that through the rest of the trip, letting his thoughts run wild as he observed the great view from hundreds of feet in the air, taking deep breaths every now and then.
Not long after, he reached his usual landing point.
A quick dive later, his feet hit the ground, dust blowing slightly upon his landing.
After that, he made the rest of the way on foot.
Not toward home—toward his base.
The Rockibase.
He got there quickly. After confirming no one was watching, he flew inside.
A minute later, he opened the door to the informatics room.
"You're back?"
"It was about damn time."
A group of clones looked up at him, their expressions matching his seriousness.
Taka stepped inside, eyeing them and the large board behind them. It showed a map of Japan, some spots marked with red pins, others blue. One clone sat with a laptop on his lap, typing away with a focused—and tired—look.
"Any progress?" Taka asked.
"What do you think?" the laptop clone answered without looking up.
One clone stepped away from the group and approached him.
"We said a week, but honestly? So far, it's been hard to find even the slightest clue. They keep everything lowkey. No personal info, no slips, nothing. And whatever they do show, it's probably not accessible with our current skills."
Taka frowned, falling into deep thought.
"Should we pry the answers out by hand? Surely there's some villains out there who know where they are."
A clone from the back spoke up. "If we do that, there's a chance they'll hear something and relocate. I think they mentioned they had multiple hideouts in the show."
"Right, right…" Taka clicked his tongue.
A clone lifted a hand lazily. "How about we go pry the answers from Nighteye? Surely that guy knows where they are. He'd been investigating them for a while in the show, right?"
"I'm fairly sure Nezu won't tolerate that much. We'll be already pissing him off by returning as Rockinesis, let's not add more reasons for him to spill the beans after this," Another clone said, deadpan on his face.
The clone from earlier shrugged. "I didn't say we had to be violent. We can just ask him. The guy can see the future; he should be able to tell we are going to speedblitz through Overhaul's base as soon as we find it."
"Nighteye…" Taka muttered, frown deepening. "Didn't Midoriya meet Eri in the same city as that guy?"
Silence filled the room.
Taka frowned, turning to them with a done gaze. "You guys didn't think of that?"
"We were busy checking for information online!" One of the retorted.
"And we only have one laptop! No matter how many we are, the number of laptops won't increase!"
"Some of us even flew to rumored spots we found online across several cities to check them!"
Taka sighed, massaging his temple. "Forget it. That narrows it down, right? We only need to search across the city where Nighteye's agency is located."
The clones nodded. Albeit, one of them still didn't look sure.
"Uhm, I don't quite recall the layout of the house… Do any of you?"
There was silence once again.
The clone spoke again. "Even if we find it, maybe we'll skim over it. A city is a big place…"
"We just need to find information about it now that we narrowed the area down to one city," Taka said, eyes narrowing. "And as someone has already said, we can just ask Nighteye for it. He should know how our involvement will end, given his foresight."
"But what if he recognizes us as Rockinesis? It won't be long before Nezu gets a wind of it."
Taka didn't even flinch at the question. "Doesn't matter. We were gonna ignore our deal with him sooner or later. I'm not postponing this for the sake of some stupid plan to aura farm anymore."
The clone nodded, somewhat wry-looking.
Another clone spoke again, his tone not so optimistic. "What if he doesn't tell us? We are a vigilante, maybe he won't even want to look into our future—or even if he does, maybe he won't even care about what he sees."
"Then…" Taka spoke, but he couldn't answer that instantly, his eyes narrowing at the complications.
Ultimately, however, he answered without hesitation.
"We survey the entire city, no matter how long that takes."
A collective nod followed, some wry, others just as determined. There wasn't a single rebuttal.
It seemed the time to raid the Hassaikai was approaching.
At least, that was the case—
—Bzzz—
Until Taka's phone buzzed.
"...?"
Frowning, he picked it up, gestured for the clones to shut up for a second, and glanced at the screen.
An unknown number.
He picked it up without much thought.
But as he put the phone up to his ear…
{"Well, well, well, we meet at last, my greatest rival, Rockinesis.}
-Click-
Taka hung up.
…
────────────────────────
-To Be Continued...-
────────────────────────
(A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was really busy this week. Whenever I arrived home I was demolished, and probably slept less than 5 hours each day.
But alas, I'm free now. And I'm gonna sleep 12 hours from now on.
Until my classes start again...
Anyway, the plot moves. How was the reflection? Hopefully, the character development is showing; it was a pain to write.)
TheDanny
Experienced.
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Honestly this reminds of this one meme I couldn't stop laughing at.
Kek
Gobble'n
Bend over
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The problem is that you are a dumbass.
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LeonT
Standard issue carrot muncher
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I can 100% see him saying that exact line with the most serious face he can muster.
ModerationArt
The James Hook of Handholding
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Last edited:
MorbiIIionaire
Versed in the lewd.
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Nooo lol I want to see him and Gentle interact lmaoo
sergey54321060
Cunnysseur
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Hm, Taka could recruit Gentle and LaBrava, they might be villains, but they will help if they learn about Eri's situation
Selias
Well worn.
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I'm glad he finally realized it.
Chapter 57
New
The Synonym
Writer of things, and money wanter
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Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters, and you'll help me make ends meet while doing so.
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────────────────────────
[Training Start]
────────────────────────
…
"Who was it?" one of the clones asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Trouble I don't want to deal with right now," Taka declared, already halfway through pocketing his phone.
—Bzzz—
Sadly, trouble wasn't going to walk away that easily.
His clones gave him a weird look, which Taka ignored as he lifted the phone again.
Unknown number again.
-Click-
Answering it, he put it to his ear—
{"We meet at last, my greatest rival, Rockinesis!"}
"I heard you the first time."
{"Then why did you hang up?!"}
Taka winced at the angry yell but ignored it.
"Who are you? What the hell do you want?"
{"I see you've already lost sight of your surroundings. It is I, the rising star, who will one day surpass you in fame and prestige!"}
"..."
{"Gentle Criminal!"}
{"And La Brava!"} a tiny voice added in the background.
A pause followed as Taka blinked in disbelief.
Then he facepalmed.
'It's that guy?'
After hearing both names, it didn't take long for memories of their small arc to resurface.
And as they did, Taka's finger hesitated over the hang-up button.
He really didn't want to deal with this right now. Between Eri and the Sports Festival, his plate was full enough without adding whatever this guy wanted.
But knowing a simple "no" wouldn't get rid of him, Taka forced his thumb away from the button and let the guy talk first.
"So? What do you want?"
{"As expected from my greatest rival, you don't even hesitate to admit your identity. Very well, we will tell you why we contacted you. The truth is, after your unmatched rise online, something we humbly admit, surpassed ours by a little margin, we considered offering you an alliance so we could attain even further fame together. Great minds think alike, after all… At least that was the plan, until the fateful day you retired to become a U.A. student."}
Taka recalled the day he fought Gigantomachia—also the day he ended his illegal activities as Rockinesis.
'So these two had their sights on me since then? Guess Nezu couldn't erase that trace.'
{"I may be a villain—an infamous one at that—but obstructing the newer generations is not something I would do, especially not that of a promising future hero. So after you discarded your past as a vigilante and became a mere student, we decided to focus on our own path and let you live your life away from your criminal days in peace… At least until recently."}
Taka raised an eyebrow. What had he done to—
His gaze turned deadpan as he saw his clones across the room: some standing beside a board filled with possible Hassaikai locations, another sitting alone with a laptop, and the rest gathered around a huge table like they were holding a conference.
'Don't tell me—'
{"We've seen your movements, Rockinesis. We know you're planning something big… And against the Yakuza, of all people. What could have possibly sparked this reinsertion into crime? Does it have something to do with the incident at your school? Were they perhaps the ones behind the attack on U.A., and now you are out seeking revenge? Well?!"}
"Why are you so worked up all of a sudden?"
{"Ahem, my apologies. The point is—you're coming back, are you not?"}
"..."
Taka didn't know how to answer that.
He had hoped to keep this whole operation low-profile enough that Nezu wouldn't catch wind of it… But maybe that was asking too much, considering the rat's intelligence.
So was this going to be an official return of Rockinesis?
Taka's brow furrowed.
"If it is, what's it to you? And how did you even know what I was doing?"
{"Hahaha, don't underestimate your greatest rivals, Rockinesis. La Brava here is an expert in this sort of thing; it didn't take her a single second to find out what you were doing!"}
'She was?' Taka blinked. '…Hold up. She was.'
That changed… everything.
Or—well, not everything. Just one very important thing.
"Alright. Yeah, I'm gonna be raiding the Hassaikai… and probably as Rockinesis again," Taka confessed, eyes narrowing. "Again, what's it to you?"
{"We want to join you, of course! Aid you in this perilous battle!"}
"You want to mooch off me."
{"A-ahem, that's a bit of an oversimplification. We wish to aid you in this raid—and boost both our view counts by the thousands once it's all over."}
"You mean your view count."
{"Yes."}
Seeing Gentle finally be honest, Taka sighed and dragged a hand down one side of his face.
Normally, he'd ignore this kind of thing, but…
'Hacking… exactly what we need right now.'
Taka's eyes glistened as he looked over his clones—and at the almost nonexistent progress they had made after an entire day.
If he got La Brava on his team, finding the Hassaikai's base without knocking on Nighteye's door might actually become possible.
And fast at that.
For a moment, Taka fell into deep silence, thinking everything over to make sure he wasn't missing any problem in all of this.
He recalled both of their personalities, searched in his mind for their backstories to make sure he wasn't dealing with psychos or anything, and then the role they had played in the later arcs.
Until finally, his eyes snapped open, resolute.
As much as he didn't want to deal with troublesome guys like them, for once, this whole operation wasn't about what he wanted or not.
It was about what he had to do.
"Alright, let's make a collab," Taka said.
{"What's a collab…?"} Gentle's voice sounded slightly away from the phone, genuinely confused.
La Brava's hushed whisper followed—very much audible. {"It's what a temporary alliance is called online, Gentle!"}
{"I see. Very well then, let's make that collage!"}
{"Collab, Gentle!"}
{"—Collab. I meant collab."}
"..." Taka sweatdropped.
Was partnering with these two really going to be okay?
'Still, this should make everything a whole lot easier,' he thought, a small snort curling his mouth upward.
Now, his plan would advance by leaps and bounds, not needing to worry so much about not having the means or skills to get the information he wanted.
'I should learn, though,' He mused, clearly not liking having been so helpless earlier.
After that, both parties agreed on a meeting time and place for tomorrow, agreeing that just talking this over the phone wasn't ideal.
Then, the call ended.
Heaving a sigh, Taka stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
Then, right away—
-Snap-
He snapped his fingers, and following that, all his clones around him began vanishing.
He took a deep breath as the influx of information arrived, massaging his temple to dampen the weird feeling a little.
Once it was over, he picked up his things and began leaving the base. Preparing to finally go back home.
As he walked away, however, his eyes glistened with a red light.
"Now all that rests... is training my future opponents."
…
°
°
°
| The next day, at U.A. |
…
After a whole new day of school, filled with regular classes, which Taka navigated with ease using his clones' studying sessions to stay at the top, Hero Basic Training's period finally arrived—and with it, a whole free hour for students to train however they desired arrived too.
Right now, Taka and Midoriya were at Ground Beta, walking side to side, searching for a zone far away from everyone else so their training wouldn't be interrupted. Along the way, not a single word was exchanged by the similarly asocial teenagers.
It continued that way until they reached a section of the fake city untouched by the chaos of training, with plenty of buildings around to break.
"Here should do," Taka muttered before turning to Midoriya. "Alright, tell me about your Quirk."
"M-my Quirk?" Midoriya flinched immediately.
The topic always made him nervous. He was aware he tended to talk too much, and being asked directly about one of his biggest secrets was enough to make him freeze. What if he blurted more than he should?!
But after a moment of thought, he pushed the anxiety aside. All Might expected the best from him for the upcoming Festival—he couldn't pass up a chance to improve just because he was afraid he'd let on more than he should.
"My Quirk… uh…"
Sadly, determination didn't magically make the words come out right.
"It gives you superstrength?" Taka offered.
"Y-yes! That! It's, uhm, pretty explosive strength, and, well…" Midoriya's words fell apart again.
"It damages your body when you use it?" Taka asked, looking even more deadpan.
"That! Exactly!"
'Why does it feel like I'm the one with One For All here?' Taka thought, baffled.
In truth, Midoriya just hadn't put much thought so far into what specifics he should give when asked. He just knew the Quirk had been officially documented as an enhancer-type he had awakened late.
He also didn't know much about One For All itself, other than that it was a Quirk that could be passed down to other people, and that it was what gave All Might his strength.
"Is that all?" Taka pressed.
"Well, uh…" Midoriya looked at his fist as though replaying every moment he'd used the Quirk. "I think so. I can reinforce parts of my body and use that strength through them—although, as you said, it damages them."
Taka nodded silently, as if thinking deeply.
And he was—just not about making a training plan like Midoriya assumed.
He was thinking of how to bring up his knowledge from the show without revealing more than he was supposed to know.
Still, the Quirk wasn't all that complicated, so it didn't take long for him to figure something out.
"So, seeing that it breaks your body when you use it, it's not strength inherent to your body—but rather raw energy or something else inside you that gives you all that power, but that your body ultimately can't handle," He pointed out.
"Hm," Midoriya nodded, unsure where this was going.
"…Then can't you control the output?"
"Huh?" Midoriya frowned, as if Taka were speaking another language.
Taka simply glared at him impassively.
"If it's energy, and the current output destroys your body… can't you just lower the output you release so... you know, your body doesn't get destroyed?"
Midoriya blinked.
"No? I mean… It shouldn't… maybe?" The greenhead stopped talking as he slowly realized that there wasn't any mistake in that logic.
So far, he had only been focusing on not breaking his body when using the Quirk, but while trying to use it at full capacity—in a way, trying to imitate All Might.
Since that was the hero's output, he had unconsciously decided he wouldn't and couldn't try or settle for anything less.
'Instead of imagining the egg not breaking inside the microwave… Maybe I should try to turn down the temperature first!'
As if attaining enlightenment, Midoriya clenched both fists and entered deep concentration.
His face scrunched as he struggled, electricity-like energy sparking around him. Taka simply watched in silence, arms crossed in patient waiting.
The greenhead's grind continued for at least five minutes, trying, failing, and trying again.
Since the energy wasn't being released as Midoriya remained still, he didn't get injured for the times he accidentally used 100%, making the attempt much easier on his part, and on Taka's, who sighed in relief seeing that he wouldn't need to use his healing.
Eventually, something changed. Midoriya lifted a fist, his breath getting caught.
Despite his hero suit covering it, it emitted raw power... However, way less than in earlier attempts.
Midoriya smiled at it, eyes brimming with excitement.
He looked at Taka, as if looking for approval.
Instead, Taka jerked his head toward the building beside them.
Midoriya blinked, then nodded, understanding what he meant.
—Boom!—
The next second, he threw a punch.
Normally, even at that distance, the building would've collapsed—or at least a large section of it. Such was the power of the 100% Smash.
Yet once the dust settled, the building stood perfectly intact, making Midoriya gasp in relief and excitement.
"I… I did it!"
His head snapped back to Taka, a wide smile on his face.
Taka, however, couldn't truthfully smile back.
He massaged his face. 'Come on, Taka, he's not dumb, you're just biased because you already knew the steps he took in the show... Even though they were pretty obvious steps.'
In the end, he opted for giving Midoriya a nod of recognition. "Although it's not your full output, at your current level, even the smallest boost should help a lot in the upcoming festival, considering that without it you'd be pretty much Quirkless."
Midoriya nodded, excited.
He immediately started shadowboxing, using his new control to throw powerful, but not devastating punches. His face full of excitement, albeit getting mixed with the pain of struggle as he tried changing the Quirk's power from one fist to another with each jab he threw.
And while he did that, Taka noticed a new problem, frowning as he scratched the back of his head with a troubled expression.
However, he didn't point it out instantly; instead, he remained silent, observing Midoriya testing his new unrestricted access to his power like an excited kid, his finger tapping his arm as his eyes squinted in displeasure.
'I'd love to tell him what he is missing to speed this up…' Taka thought, sighing under his breath. 'But I guess there's a reason teachers are always ambiguous as hell. If he doesn't discover it by himself, he won't build up proper confidence.'
Right now, Midoriya kept pushing the power to singular parts of his body—instead of through all of it for a uniform and complete boost to his movement.
If he just handed Midoriya the answers right away, the progress could be fast, sure. But this wasn't just about powering the greenhead up.
It was about making him a worthwhile opponent.
And for that, the greenhead had to achieve his progress on his own.
The most he could do was give him hints and let him figure the rest on his own.
'Well, I can give him hints, and…'
Taka uncrossed his arms, his usual pokerface being disrupted by the small smirk rising on his face.
'... Pressure him a bit.'
Midoriya continued shadowboxing, slowly and very pausingly, as he struggled to change the enhancement from one hand to another so quickly.
However, his focus was broken when—all of a sudden—a burst of air reached him and shook him a little.
He turned slightly, confusion spread across his features as he saw Taka, now surrounded in a crimson aura that flowed calmly like waves of an ocean.
"T-Takahashi-san?"
Taka rolled his neck, loosening his shoulders. "Since you already figured it out, let's spar."
Midoriya stepped back. "H-hold on, I'm still completely unaccustomed to switching the enhancements this fast—I won't be able to fight back at a—"
"Then perhaps you—" Taka let the word drag as he crouched, aura rippling.
—SWOOSH!—
And then he reappeared—right in front of Midoriya, fist fully drawn back.
"—are missing something."
—BAM!—
Unable to block, Midoriya helplessly received the punch, getting launched backward, and rolling while skidding uncontrollably across the floor until he finally slowed down.
During those last rolls, he managed to catch himself, glaring back at where Taka had been with a shocked expression.
Only, Taka was no longer there.
A sharp sound cut through the air at immense speed, forcing Midoriya's eyes to dart around in panic, searching for his unwanted opponent.
Sadly, by then it was too late—someone appeared at his side.
—BAM!—
A hook connected, sending him tumbling again, this time sideways.
—Thud!—
"Ack!"
He crashed into a nearby building, the impact knocking the air out of him and causing a small portion of dust to rise.
"Ugh..."
After a second of confusion, he pushed himself right up again, shaking his head to clear the dizziness.
But the moment he looked up—Taka was already rushing him.
Midoriya reacted quickly, sending a gust of air at Taka with his newly controlled output, hoping to slow him down.
Yet right before it hit, Taka simply shifted course as easily as breathing, bouncing off a nearby wall before closing in again.
—BAM!—
Another punch connected—an uppercut—lifting Midoriya off the ground due to the sheer force.
Luckily, that upward momentum helped him regain his footing. Right away, Midoriya planted himself, head snapping toward his already-moving opponent, who zigzagged left to right like chaos incarnate.
"Like that, you won't be up to par, Midoriya. Think!"
Taka's voice reached him as he blurred around the field, forcing a bead of sweat down the panicked Midoriya's forehead.
'What does he mean? What am I missing?!'
The blur suddenly dashed straight toward him again.
Midoriya reacted faster this time—barely. He jumped away from the impact and scrambled upright.
'What is it? What is it?!'
Without looking back, he ran. Not to escape, but to gain distance, a momentary tactical retreat to gather his thoughts.
Behind him, emerging from the dust, Taka smirked slightly.
"Like that damn monkey says, nothing better than a beating to force knowledge into people."
…
────────────────────────
-To Be Continued...-
────────────────────────
(A/N: The temporary villain and vigilante alliance has formed. The Shie Hassaikai truly doesn't stand a chance.
Also, Midoriya is now in his training arc. Can't have him break his fingers each time he attacks, can't I? Although that has some aura, I admit.)
patreon.com/TheSynonym
────────────────────────
[Training Start]
────────────────────────
…
"Who was it?" one of the clones asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Trouble I don't want to deal with right now," Taka declared, already halfway through pocketing his phone.
—Bzzz—
Sadly, trouble wasn't going to walk away that easily.
His clones gave him a weird look, which Taka ignored as he lifted the phone again.
Unknown number again.
-Click-
Answering it, he put it to his ear—
{"We meet at last, my greatest rival, Rockinesis!"}
"I heard you the first time."
{"Then why did you hang up?!"}
Taka winced at the angry yell but ignored it.
"Who are you? What the hell do you want?"
{"I see you've already lost sight of your surroundings. It is I, the rising star, who will one day surpass you in fame and prestige!"}
"..."
{"Gentle Criminal!"}
{"And La Brava!"} a tiny voice added in the background.
A pause followed as Taka blinked in disbelief.
Then he facepalmed.
'It's that guy?'
After hearing both names, it didn't take long for memories of their small arc to resurface.
And as they did, Taka's finger hesitated over the hang-up button.
He really didn't want to deal with this right now. Between Eri and the Sports Festival, his plate was full enough without adding whatever this guy wanted.
But knowing a simple "no" wouldn't get rid of him, Taka forced his thumb away from the button and let the guy talk first.
"So? What do you want?"
{"As expected from my greatest rival, you don't even hesitate to admit your identity. Very well, we will tell you why we contacted you. The truth is, after your unmatched rise online, something we humbly admit, surpassed ours by a little margin, we considered offering you an alliance so we could attain even further fame together. Great minds think alike, after all… At least that was the plan, until the fateful day you retired to become a U.A. student."}
Taka recalled the day he fought Gigantomachia—also the day he ended his illegal activities as Rockinesis.
'So these two had their sights on me since then? Guess Nezu couldn't erase that trace.'
{"I may be a villain—an infamous one at that—but obstructing the newer generations is not something I would do, especially not that of a promising future hero. So after you discarded your past as a vigilante and became a mere student, we decided to focus on our own path and let you live your life away from your criminal days in peace… At least until recently."}
Taka raised an eyebrow. What had he done to—
His gaze turned deadpan as he saw his clones across the room: some standing beside a board filled with possible Hassaikai locations, another sitting alone with a laptop, and the rest gathered around a huge table like they were holding a conference.
'Don't tell me—'
{"We've seen your movements, Rockinesis. We know you're planning something big… And against the Yakuza, of all people. What could have possibly sparked this reinsertion into crime? Does it have something to do with the incident at your school? Were they perhaps the ones behind the attack on U.A., and now you are out seeking revenge? Well?!"}
"Why are you so worked up all of a sudden?"
{"Ahem, my apologies. The point is—you're coming back, are you not?"}
"..."
Taka didn't know how to answer that.
He had hoped to keep this whole operation low-profile enough that Nezu wouldn't catch wind of it… But maybe that was asking too much, considering the rat's intelligence.
So was this going to be an official return of Rockinesis?
Taka's brow furrowed.
"If it is, what's it to you? And how did you even know what I was doing?"
{"Hahaha, don't underestimate your greatest rivals, Rockinesis. La Brava here is an expert in this sort of thing; it didn't take her a single second to find out what you were doing!"}
'She was?' Taka blinked. '…Hold up. She was.'
That changed… everything.
Or—well, not everything. Just one very important thing.
"Alright. Yeah, I'm gonna be raiding the Hassaikai… and probably as Rockinesis again," Taka confessed, eyes narrowing. "Again, what's it to you?"
{"We want to join you, of course! Aid you in this perilous battle!"}
"You want to mooch off me."
{"A-ahem, that's a bit of an oversimplification. We wish to aid you in this raid—and boost both our view counts by the thousands once it's all over."}
"You mean your view count."
{"Yes."}
Seeing Gentle finally be honest, Taka sighed and dragged a hand down one side of his face.
Normally, he'd ignore this kind of thing, but…
'Hacking… exactly what we need right now.'
Taka's eyes glistened as he looked over his clones—and at the almost nonexistent progress they had made after an entire day.
If he got La Brava on his team, finding the Hassaikai's base without knocking on Nighteye's door might actually become possible.
And fast at that.
For a moment, Taka fell into deep silence, thinking everything over to make sure he wasn't missing any problem in all of this.
He recalled both of their personalities, searched in his mind for their backstories to make sure he wasn't dealing with psychos or anything, and then the role they had played in the later arcs.
Until finally, his eyes snapped open, resolute.
As much as he didn't want to deal with troublesome guys like them, for once, this whole operation wasn't about what he wanted or not.
It was about what he had to do.
"Alright, let's make a collab," Taka said.
{"What's a collab…?"} Gentle's voice sounded slightly away from the phone, genuinely confused.
La Brava's hushed whisper followed—very much audible. {"It's what a temporary alliance is called online, Gentle!"}
{"I see. Very well then, let's make that collage!"}
{"Collab, Gentle!"}
{"—Collab. I meant collab."}
"..." Taka sweatdropped.
Was partnering with these two really going to be okay?
'Still, this should make everything a whole lot easier,' he thought, a small snort curling his mouth upward.
Now, his plan would advance by leaps and bounds, not needing to worry so much about not having the means or skills to get the information he wanted.
'I should learn, though,' He mused, clearly not liking having been so helpless earlier.
After that, both parties agreed on a meeting time and place for tomorrow, agreeing that just talking this over the phone wasn't ideal.
Then, the call ended.
Heaving a sigh, Taka stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
Then, right away—
-Snap-
He snapped his fingers, and following that, all his clones around him began vanishing.
He took a deep breath as the influx of information arrived, massaging his temple to dampen the weird feeling a little.
Once it was over, he picked up his things and began leaving the base. Preparing to finally go back home.
As he walked away, however, his eyes glistened with a red light.
"Now all that rests... is training my future opponents."
…
°
°
°
| The next day, at U.A. |
…
After a whole new day of school, filled with regular classes, which Taka navigated with ease using his clones' studying sessions to stay at the top, Hero Basic Training's period finally arrived—and with it, a whole free hour for students to train however they desired arrived too.
Right now, Taka and Midoriya were at Ground Beta, walking side to side, searching for a zone far away from everyone else so their training wouldn't be interrupted. Along the way, not a single word was exchanged by the similarly asocial teenagers.
It continued that way until they reached a section of the fake city untouched by the chaos of training, with plenty of buildings around to break.
"Here should do," Taka muttered before turning to Midoriya. "Alright, tell me about your Quirk."
"M-my Quirk?" Midoriya flinched immediately.
The topic always made him nervous. He was aware he tended to talk too much, and being asked directly about one of his biggest secrets was enough to make him freeze. What if he blurted more than he should?!
But after a moment of thought, he pushed the anxiety aside. All Might expected the best from him for the upcoming Festival—he couldn't pass up a chance to improve just because he was afraid he'd let on more than he should.
"My Quirk… uh…"
Sadly, determination didn't magically make the words come out right.
"It gives you superstrength?" Taka offered.
"Y-yes! That! It's, uhm, pretty explosive strength, and, well…" Midoriya's words fell apart again.
"It damages your body when you use it?" Taka asked, looking even more deadpan.
"That! Exactly!"
'Why does it feel like I'm the one with One For All here?' Taka thought, baffled.
In truth, Midoriya just hadn't put much thought so far into what specifics he should give when asked. He just knew the Quirk had been officially documented as an enhancer-type he had awakened late.
He also didn't know much about One For All itself, other than that it was a Quirk that could be passed down to other people, and that it was what gave All Might his strength.
"Is that all?" Taka pressed.
"Well, uh…" Midoriya looked at his fist as though replaying every moment he'd used the Quirk. "I think so. I can reinforce parts of my body and use that strength through them—although, as you said, it damages them."
Taka nodded silently, as if thinking deeply.
And he was—just not about making a training plan like Midoriya assumed.
He was thinking of how to bring up his knowledge from the show without revealing more than he was supposed to know.
Still, the Quirk wasn't all that complicated, so it didn't take long for him to figure something out.
"So, seeing that it breaks your body when you use it, it's not strength inherent to your body—but rather raw energy or something else inside you that gives you all that power, but that your body ultimately can't handle," He pointed out.
"Hm," Midoriya nodded, unsure where this was going.
"…Then can't you control the output?"
"Huh?" Midoriya frowned, as if Taka were speaking another language.
Taka simply glared at him impassively.
"If it's energy, and the current output destroys your body… can't you just lower the output you release so... you know, your body doesn't get destroyed?"
Midoriya blinked.
"No? I mean… It shouldn't… maybe?" The greenhead stopped talking as he slowly realized that there wasn't any mistake in that logic.
So far, he had only been focusing on not breaking his body when using the Quirk, but while trying to use it at full capacity—in a way, trying to imitate All Might.
Since that was the hero's output, he had unconsciously decided he wouldn't and couldn't try or settle for anything less.
'Instead of imagining the egg not breaking inside the microwave… Maybe I should try to turn down the temperature first!'
As if attaining enlightenment, Midoriya clenched both fists and entered deep concentration.
His face scrunched as he struggled, electricity-like energy sparking around him. Taka simply watched in silence, arms crossed in patient waiting.
The greenhead's grind continued for at least five minutes, trying, failing, and trying again.
Since the energy wasn't being released as Midoriya remained still, he didn't get injured for the times he accidentally used 100%, making the attempt much easier on his part, and on Taka's, who sighed in relief seeing that he wouldn't need to use his healing.
Eventually, something changed. Midoriya lifted a fist, his breath getting caught.
Despite his hero suit covering it, it emitted raw power... However, way less than in earlier attempts.
Midoriya smiled at it, eyes brimming with excitement.
He looked at Taka, as if looking for approval.
Instead, Taka jerked his head toward the building beside them.
Midoriya blinked, then nodded, understanding what he meant.
—Boom!—
The next second, he threw a punch.
Normally, even at that distance, the building would've collapsed—or at least a large section of it. Such was the power of the 100% Smash.
Yet once the dust settled, the building stood perfectly intact, making Midoriya gasp in relief and excitement.
"I… I did it!"
His head snapped back to Taka, a wide smile on his face.
Taka, however, couldn't truthfully smile back.
He massaged his face. 'Come on, Taka, he's not dumb, you're just biased because you already knew the steps he took in the show... Even though they were pretty obvious steps.'
In the end, he opted for giving Midoriya a nod of recognition. "Although it's not your full output, at your current level, even the smallest boost should help a lot in the upcoming festival, considering that without it you'd be pretty much Quirkless."
Midoriya nodded, excited.
He immediately started shadowboxing, using his new control to throw powerful, but not devastating punches. His face full of excitement, albeit getting mixed with the pain of struggle as he tried changing the Quirk's power from one fist to another with each jab he threw.
And while he did that, Taka noticed a new problem, frowning as he scratched the back of his head with a troubled expression.
However, he didn't point it out instantly; instead, he remained silent, observing Midoriya testing his new unrestricted access to his power like an excited kid, his finger tapping his arm as his eyes squinted in displeasure.
'I'd love to tell him what he is missing to speed this up…' Taka thought, sighing under his breath. 'But I guess there's a reason teachers are always ambiguous as hell. If he doesn't discover it by himself, he won't build up proper confidence.'
Right now, Midoriya kept pushing the power to singular parts of his body—instead of through all of it for a uniform and complete boost to his movement.
If he just handed Midoriya the answers right away, the progress could be fast, sure. But this wasn't just about powering the greenhead up.
It was about making him a worthwhile opponent.
And for that, the greenhead had to achieve his progress on his own.
The most he could do was give him hints and let him figure the rest on his own.
'Well, I can give him hints, and…'
Taka uncrossed his arms, his usual pokerface being disrupted by the small smirk rising on his face.
'... Pressure him a bit.'
Midoriya continued shadowboxing, slowly and very pausingly, as he struggled to change the enhancement from one hand to another so quickly.
However, his focus was broken when—all of a sudden—a burst of air reached him and shook him a little.
He turned slightly, confusion spread across his features as he saw Taka, now surrounded in a crimson aura that flowed calmly like waves of an ocean.
"T-Takahashi-san?"
Taka rolled his neck, loosening his shoulders. "Since you already figured it out, let's spar."
Midoriya stepped back. "H-hold on, I'm still completely unaccustomed to switching the enhancements this fast—I won't be able to fight back at a—"
"Then perhaps you—" Taka let the word drag as he crouched, aura rippling.
—SWOOSH!—
And then he reappeared—right in front of Midoriya, fist fully drawn back.
"—are missing something."
—BAM!—
Unable to block, Midoriya helplessly received the punch, getting launched backward, and rolling while skidding uncontrollably across the floor until he finally slowed down.
During those last rolls, he managed to catch himself, glaring back at where Taka had been with a shocked expression.
Only, Taka was no longer there.
A sharp sound cut through the air at immense speed, forcing Midoriya's eyes to dart around in panic, searching for his unwanted opponent.
Sadly, by then it was too late—someone appeared at his side.
—BAM!—
A hook connected, sending him tumbling again, this time sideways.
—Thud!—
"Ack!"
He crashed into a nearby building, the impact knocking the air out of him and causing a small portion of dust to rise.
"Ugh..."
After a second of confusion, he pushed himself right up again, shaking his head to clear the dizziness.
But the moment he looked up—Taka was already rushing him.
Midoriya reacted quickly, sending a gust of air at Taka with his newly controlled output, hoping to slow him down.
Yet right before it hit, Taka simply shifted course as easily as breathing, bouncing off a nearby wall before closing in again.
—BAM!—
Another punch connected—an uppercut—lifting Midoriya off the ground due to the sheer force.
Luckily, that upward momentum helped him regain his footing. Right away, Midoriya planted himself, head snapping toward his already-moving opponent, who zigzagged left to right like chaos incarnate.
"Like that, you won't be up to par, Midoriya. Think!"
Taka's voice reached him as he blurred around the field, forcing a bead of sweat down the panicked Midoriya's forehead.
'What does he mean? What am I missing?!'
The blur suddenly dashed straight toward him again.
Midoriya reacted faster this time—barely. He jumped away from the impact and scrambled upright.
'What is it? What is it?!'
Without looking back, he ran. Not to escape, but to gain distance, a momentary tactical retreat to gather his thoughts.
Behind him, emerging from the dust, Taka smirked slightly.
"Like that damn monkey says, nothing better than a beating to force knowledge into people."
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: The temporary villain and vigilante alliance has formed. The Shie Hassaikai truly doesn't stand a chance.
Also, Midoriya is now in his training arc. Can't have him break his fingers each time he attacks, can't I? Although that has some aura, I admit.)
Kachellzz
Not too sore, are you?
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All his classmates and teachers are going to view Taka as ridiculously competent teacher when they see Deku's progress. He fixed a 'lifetime' (how aware are people that he only recently 'awakened' his quirk?' of issues in a single setting.
Gobble'n
Bend over
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Call him challenged if it makes you feel better.
Poisonn9i
I am so lost.
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With how Izuku analysed quirks his whole life, the only reason he failed to figure it out, was PROBABLY because he didn't think of OFA as a normal quirk. Cause subconsciously glorified it because All Might gave it to him. Or something like that.
Chapter 58
New
The Synonym
Writer of things, and money wanter
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Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters, and you'll help me make ends meet while doing so.
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[Training Continues]
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...
'What does he want me to do?!'
Midoriya scrambled his brain for answers as he ran at full speed, turning corners, diving into alleyways—anything to shake off his pursuer.
At one point, he even used his new OFA control to boost his legs, trying to get away faster.
Maybe that was the point?
No, it wasn't. Taka just kept chasing him down to beat him again.
So what was he missing?
'How did things even come to this?' Midoriya wondered, recalling how it all spiraled into this weird situation.
After figuring out the lower-output trick, Taka had immediately forced him into a spar and, for some reason, hadn't held back at all.
At first, Midoriya assumed Taka wanted him to shorten the time it took to focus the Quirk into whatever limb he intended to use, so he tried fighting back, pushing his burst of power to arms, then legs, then arms again, whatever was needed to adjust to Taka's speed and actually be able to defend himself.
But after failing miserably to keep up, even like that, and getting beaten up a few more times, he finally understood. No matter how much faster he got at switching the power around, he simply wouldn't be able to react to Taka's current speed.
He was hopelessly outmatched.
For a moment, he wondered if Taka was overestimating him, and that was why he was being so harsh.
But he soon realized that wasn't it.
He'd seen Taka fight before—if Taka wanted, he could knock him out with one hit. Easily. He was sure of that.
Yet instead, Taka struck him repeatedly, but only at a level Midoriya could withstand.
He was holding back, while still showing no mercy.
Outmatching him completely… while also restraining himself.
Why?!
'He said I was missing something, but what in the world is it?!'
Panicked, Midoriya looked behind him—
—and saw Taka inches away, eyes locked onto his.
"...!"
Terrified, he made an awkward, almost-falling turn and scrambled into a nearby building.
Ground Beta was the same place where they'd done combat exercises, which meant the interiors would also have a maze-like layout. If he used it to shake Taka off his trail for a moment… he might get enough breathing room to think.
He rushed inside, sprinting up the building, taking random turns through the labyrinth until he felt he was deep enough.
Once he reached a part of the building even he couldn't recognize, he collapsed on all fours, panting hard as sweat dripped from his forehead.
Wheezing, he forced himself to sit against a metal wall, face scrunching from the strain in his lungs.
'What is it…? What am I missing?'
The moment he had silence, his mind fired up instantly, running at full speed.
'What does Takahashi-san want me to achieve here? He's holding back, but still fighting at a level I can't catch up to, nor learn anything from—unless he wants to teach me to take a beating.'
He glared at his fist, letting a small amount of power flow into it.
'By holding back his hits, he's making sure I can keep fighting… But if so, what's he trying to accomplish by overwhelming me this much? Is he expecting me to fight back against that? I can't—his technique is superior, and his speed is absurd. Even if I learn to switch enhancements faster than ever, I doubt it would matter against that kind of speed…'
Frustrated, he clawed at his hair.
'So what is it? Does he want me to somehow figure out another way to fight at his same level? Impossible. I'm nowhere near that right now. To do that, I'd need to draw out more of my Quirk, but that would damage my body and turn me into a liability… which defeats the whole purpose of him teaching me to lower the output in the first place.'
His eyes widened—just slightly—as an idea clicked.
'So he wants me to fight with the same percentage of power I can handle right now… but if the way I'm using it isn't working, then… is he telling me to use my power differently?'
He glared at his hands again, transferring energy into them, only to then move it towards his legs.
As he did, a frown took over his face.
If channeling power only into the parts he needed wasn't the answer… what else could he do?
What would let him fight at Taka's level?
'Speed,' Midoriya blinked, 'Takahashi-san keeps overwhelming me with speed, yet doesn't seem to be hitting me with much force… so he must want me to be able to respond to that.'
Switching OFA from his legs to his fists was too slow. Even if he shortened the delay to the minimum, that wouldn't be enough; there would always be a tiny gap where his brain had to process the switch. A tiny gap that, given Taka's speed, would prove fatal.
'But All Might doesn't seem to need to switch… wait—he doesn't!'
That's when it hit him.
All Might had the same Quirk, yet he never seemed to enhance individual parts, nor to focus on changing the strength from one limb to another.
Why?
Because All Might never boosted a single limb.
"The key… is to distribute the enhancement over my whole body!"
—Boom!—
His thought cut off as the wall next to him exploded, a cloud of dust shooting upward.
From the dust stepped his classmate, eyes locked on him.
"T-Takahashi-san…!" Midoriya flinched, taking a step back. "I-I figured it out! I have to use my Quirk over my whole body for a full, constant enhancement! That way, there won't be any gaps where I'm switching power from one limb to another, because there won't be any switches in the first place!"
Taka gave a calm, slow nod.
"...!" Seeing he hadn't been mistaken, Midoriya began to exhale in relief, thinking that, having realized the key to the problem, the pursuit would end—
—sadly, her realized his mistake when he saw Taka already taking his battle stance again.
"Eh?"
"Well?" His classmate tilted his head. "Do it."
Seconds later, explosions echoed through the building, left and right, chasing something through the floors.
Some nearby students paused their own training, eyebrows rising at the noise in curiosity.
That curiosity got an answer quickly.
—BOOOM!—
A blast tore apart one of the outer walls. From the hole, a green figure stepped out, wide-eyed as he checked his surroundings and then stared down at the drop below.
"I-is that Midoriya?" Sero asked, stunned.
"D-deku?!" Uraraka's eyebrows shot up.
Iida adjusted his glasses. Why was Midoriya that high up?
And again—they got their answer fast.
"H-he's jumping!"
Midoriya suddenly sprinted out of the building and leapt with all his strength.
Iida panicked. "Ah—Midoriya, it's not worth it!"
He looked ready to run in and catch him—
But to everyone's shock—
—Thud!—
Midoriya landed on the ground two floors below without even rolling.
Electricity-like energy crackled around him.
Then, from the same building, another figure stepped out.
"Takahashi-san?!" Iida exclaimed in disbelief.
Sero sweatdropped slightly at the sight. "Right, he said he was gonna be training Midoriya… but what kind of hellish training is that?!"
Back in the conflict zone, Taka floated down from the broken floor, descending toward the recovering Midoriya.
"Looks like you managed it."
Midoriya inhaled sharply, staring at himself with wide, amazed eyes.
"I did it…"
He could feel the power flowing evenly now. His speed, reflexes, and strength had all jumped significantly—even though he was only using around three percent of OFA's total output.
At last, he had taken a step forward in the path to make All Might proud.
"With this…" His eyes lifted toward Taka, fire igniting in them.
The air shifted, and the ground cracked as he kicked off, shooting toward Taka at unprecedented speed, winding up a devastating punch.
"I CAN FIGHT!"
—BAM!—
Sadly, his hype ended the moment a giant crimson hand bitch-slapped him into the ground, embedding him in a sprawled pose.
Thus ended Splatdoriya, knocked unconscious instantly.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Taka squinted before sighing, pointing a hand at him. Healing energy slowly wrapped around Midoriya—invisible, of course.
As the energy did its job, though, Taka huffed as his mouth curled slightly upward.
'One less thing on my to-do list.'
…
°
°
°
| Minutes later… |
…
Taka was now walking alone through Ground Beta, admiring the mock city with a look of wonder.
'Does Nezu pay a ton of money to fix this constantly, or does he slave Cementoss away for that?'
After a moment of thought—and noticing the area had plenty of materials beyond concrete—he concluded that the concrete parts were handled by Cementoss, while the rest came from the school's funds.
'That, or there's one hero for each material here, and the school saves millions in manpower.'
Snorting at the thought, Taka looked up, kneeled for a moment…
Then shot into the sky the next second, landing on a nearby rooftop a moment later.
From there, he surveyed the whole area, gathering his thoughts.
After Midoriya got beaten into the ground—literally—Taka stayed with him until he woke up. With the healing he'd given him, it didn't take long. But he didn't leave him pristine; he didn't want the greenhead to suspect anything, so he was gonna have to deal with some muscle pain for a while.
Then he told Midoriya to work on using his still-unnamed "Full Cowl" more fluidly. Right now, what he needed was to internalize the process and make it instinctual while fighting.
The fighting part would come later; for now, he was gonna have the greenhead get accustomed to entering and going from the state.
Once he dominated it, he'd be ready for a proper spar.
'Hopefully, he won't take long.'
And so, he left the greenhead to his own devices while he headed elsewhere—where he was now.
'Still, that's one bullshit power,' Taka thought, grimacing slightly.
He hadn't asked the exact percentage, but judging from the original timeline, Midoriya couldn't be above 5%.
Yet that much was enough to give him what Taka estimated as around 1,500 physical stats.
Absurd, to say the least.
Roughly twice than what he estimated Seiji had—though that was purely physical. The monkey had insane agility, flexibility, whatever powers monkeys had, and was simply better at using his own speed, making him far more of a nightmare.
But still—bullshit.
He shuddered slightly from thinking just how much more the greenhead would be growing in the following months, once his percentage began reaching bigger numbers, until he ultimately attained the 100%, just like in the—
'Actually, I don't think he ever reached it properly in the show… He just kinda lost his powers after.'
Taka blinked slowly.
'So, if I manage to bring him to his greatest potential… wouldn't it be even more awesome when I beat him?'
His mouth curved slightly at the idea, a smirk forming—
Then dropping.
'I'm doing it again.'
He sighed, sitting down on the border of the building's ceiling, and letting the air ruffle his hair slightly.
The Aura Farming system. Because of it, his path to be an aura farmer was set, whether he wanted it or not.
It was his main source of strength, and the only thing that separated him from the weak quirkless kid he used to be.
But perhaps in that desperation or addiction to grow stronger, he may have grown obsessed. Forgetting Eri, occasionally seeing his classmates as a source of aura rather than his friends or acquaintances, and forcing an edgy mask onto himself because that's what he had thought would grant him the most aura.
Luckily, he had managed to realize it before he might have fully become a sociopath obsessed with being in the spotlight, no matter the cost.
Maybe he was exaggerating a little there. Perhaps he could have noticed his state later. But by then, how many things could he have done but hadn't because they hadn't fit in his perfect scenery to aura farm?
'What kind of aura farmer do I want to be?' Taka thought, staring at the blue sky above.
Right now, no matter how much he looked at himself, he was merely a pretender with too much strength. Granted, it was working, given his rising aura numbers.
"But is that all I want to be?"
Leaving Rockinesis aside, was the awe his classmates and whoever else had given him aura points, truly aimed at Takahashi Fukumoto?
Or was it aimed at the mask he had built because that's what he had thought would be optimal?
And most importantly… did he even want the awe to go to that mask instead of himself?
That brought the question back again. What kind of aura farmer did he want to be?
It didn't take him long to reach the answer.
"One who draws awe effortlessly, whether consciously or not."
Basically—not a mask, not a charade.
To be edgy when he felt like it, cocky when he felt like it, and chill when he felt like it, and not when it "seemed" like the right option.
A constant awe-drawer, no matter the state, moment, or atmosphere.
An aura farmer, true to himself.
<Ding!>
<New Mission!>
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Having broken out of the illusion of false aura farming, it's time for you to shed that shiny but imperfect shell and become what you were meant to be.
The Aura Farmer, Takahashi Fukumoto.
And for that, what better start than to mend the mistake you made.]
Conditions for completion:
▸Wipe out the Shie Hassaikai.
▸Rescue Eri successfully.
▸Do it however you please.
Reward: +1000 Aura | Gain the skill [The Throne]
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Taka raised an eyebrow.
'It's been a while since I got a mission.'
He had even begun wondering if his system had run out of them.
'Maybe it was just waiting for me to snap out of it.' Taka snorted, a small smile forming on his face. 'Well, I guess it wouldn't be right to disappoint it.'
This was something he was going to do regardless of the mission, but if the system wanted to toss in some rewards, then so be it.
Though…
'What the hell do you mean by "Do it however you please"?'
<It means, show me what you got, Aura Farmer Takahashi.>
A brief pause followed.
Then Taka let out a choked snort.
"That shit is so corny."
Ultimately, however, he looked at the screen with a wide smile, his expression more vibrant than it had been in a long while.
"But sure. I'll give you a performance worthy of being remembered for years to come."
Having declared so, he heaved a sigh and stood up for good.
"Now then, enough self-reflection. Time to get busy again."
Following those words, he squinted as he surveyed the entirety of Ground Beta—at least until he found what he was looking for.
Or who.
A mile or so away, Jiro was currently sitting on a piece of debris, heaving repeatedly after finishing her normal workout.
As for why she was just working out, and not training with her Quirk…
"What am I gonna do?" she muttered, rubbing her earlobe while looking at it helplessly. "Am I even gonna be able to do anything at the festival?"
Her current dilemma stemmed from the festival's regulations: no supporting equipment, except for the support course, or really special cases—like Aoyama.
That meant she wouldn't be able to use her Stereo Boots, one of her key pieces of equipment that allowed her to channel her Quirk offensively by plugging her earlobes into them and firing a soundwave.
But if she wasn't gonna be allowed to use them… where did that leave her?
Her Quirk without that support gear only really helped with reconnaissance, letting her pick up sound waves more easily when her earlobes were plugged into solid surfaces like the ground or a wall.
But offensively?
Maybe if she stabbed opponents with them, she could transmit soundwaves that way.
But that'd end pretty gruesomely… probably.
Aside from that, at most, her earlobes were just stabby little things.
And she doubted their efficiency in that regard.
So, no matter how she looked at it, her Quirk was gonna be completely useless at the festival.
She could only hope the festival events wouldn't require too much combat without her support gear.
But even if they didn't…
'At this rate, I won't have anything to show…' She sighed, remembering how important internships were, and how being unable to stand out meant being left behind compared to her classmates.
"Stupid rules…" she groaned.
"You sound troubled."
A voice coming from behind startled her.
Slowly, with a completely done expression, she turned.
Only to see Taka floating behind her—upside down—his face leveled with hers.
"Boo."
"Gyaaaaaa!"
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Some progress has been made for Midoriya and Taka this chapter, both power and character-wise. Like Taka said, Midoriya now just has to get accustomed to his new way of fighting, and then he and Taka will begin training more basic aspects that the greenhead is currently lacking at.
Also, as for the approximation I made of Midoriya's power, given that the 5% full cowl of Midoriya in the show felt really lacking compared to how much more powerful it should be considering the scope of the 100%, I'll just assume it's exponential, and the further the percentage goes, the more power is acquired. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense, and it's a pain in the ass to try to power scale.
So, just because his 3% is roughly 1,500 in physical stats, it doesn't mean his 100% translates into just 50,000 in physical stats.
I'm honestly still pondering where to place prime All Might, considering some of his feats might as well be exaggerations of the anime for the sake of spectacle, just like many feats of other characters through the show—Like a clip I saw of Mirio somehow punching a Nomu with superhuman force—but for now, I'm picturing the 100% of both Midoriya and All Might to be between 100,000 and 500,000
Perhaps settling for 500,000 might be the best, or it might be me overestimating them. I might change my mind later.
Right now, the current AFO and All Might are below 100,000 in stats, which is something I'm fairly sure of. But they should have been fairly stronger in their prime. Both because neither was in a constant critical condition, and because both lost plenty after that fight. All Might lost raw power, and AFO lost plenty of Quirks.
Anyway, enough powerscaling. It only makes my head throb.)
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[Training Continues]
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...
'What does he want me to do?!'
Midoriya scrambled his brain for answers as he ran at full speed, turning corners, diving into alleyways—anything to shake off his pursuer.
At one point, he even used his new OFA control to boost his legs, trying to get away faster.
Maybe that was the point?
No, it wasn't. Taka just kept chasing him down to beat him again.
So what was he missing?
'How did things even come to this?' Midoriya wondered, recalling how it all spiraled into this weird situation.
After figuring out the lower-output trick, Taka had immediately forced him into a spar and, for some reason, hadn't held back at all.
At first, Midoriya assumed Taka wanted him to shorten the time it took to focus the Quirk into whatever limb he intended to use, so he tried fighting back, pushing his burst of power to arms, then legs, then arms again, whatever was needed to adjust to Taka's speed and actually be able to defend himself.
But after failing miserably to keep up, even like that, and getting beaten up a few more times, he finally understood. No matter how much faster he got at switching the power around, he simply wouldn't be able to react to Taka's current speed.
He was hopelessly outmatched.
For a moment, he wondered if Taka was overestimating him, and that was why he was being so harsh.
But he soon realized that wasn't it.
He'd seen Taka fight before—if Taka wanted, he could knock him out with one hit. Easily. He was sure of that.
Yet instead, Taka struck him repeatedly, but only at a level Midoriya could withstand.
He was holding back, while still showing no mercy.
Outmatching him completely… while also restraining himself.
Why?!
'He said I was missing something, but what in the world is it?!'
Panicked, Midoriya looked behind him—
—and saw Taka inches away, eyes locked onto his.
"...!"
Terrified, he made an awkward, almost-falling turn and scrambled into a nearby building.
Ground Beta was the same place where they'd done combat exercises, which meant the interiors would also have a maze-like layout. If he used it to shake Taka off his trail for a moment… he might get enough breathing room to think.
He rushed inside, sprinting up the building, taking random turns through the labyrinth until he felt he was deep enough.
Once he reached a part of the building even he couldn't recognize, he collapsed on all fours, panting hard as sweat dripped from his forehead.
Wheezing, he forced himself to sit against a metal wall, face scrunching from the strain in his lungs.
'What is it…? What am I missing?'
The moment he had silence, his mind fired up instantly, running at full speed.
'What does Takahashi-san want me to achieve here? He's holding back, but still fighting at a level I can't catch up to, nor learn anything from—unless he wants to teach me to take a beating.'
He glared at his fist, letting a small amount of power flow into it.
'By holding back his hits, he's making sure I can keep fighting… But if so, what's he trying to accomplish by overwhelming me this much? Is he expecting me to fight back against that? I can't—his technique is superior, and his speed is absurd. Even if I learn to switch enhancements faster than ever, I doubt it would matter against that kind of speed…'
Frustrated, he clawed at his hair.
'So what is it? Does he want me to somehow figure out another way to fight at his same level? Impossible. I'm nowhere near that right now. To do that, I'd need to draw out more of my Quirk, but that would damage my body and turn me into a liability… which defeats the whole purpose of him teaching me to lower the output in the first place.'
His eyes widened—just slightly—as an idea clicked.
'So he wants me to fight with the same percentage of power I can handle right now… but if the way I'm using it isn't working, then… is he telling me to use my power differently?'
He glared at his hands again, transferring energy into them, only to then move it towards his legs.
As he did, a frown took over his face.
If channeling power only into the parts he needed wasn't the answer… what else could he do?
What would let him fight at Taka's level?
'Speed,' Midoriya blinked, 'Takahashi-san keeps overwhelming me with speed, yet doesn't seem to be hitting me with much force… so he must want me to be able to respond to that.'
Switching OFA from his legs to his fists was too slow. Even if he shortened the delay to the minimum, that wouldn't be enough; there would always be a tiny gap where his brain had to process the switch. A tiny gap that, given Taka's speed, would prove fatal.
'But All Might doesn't seem to need to switch… wait—he doesn't!'
That's when it hit him.
All Might had the same Quirk, yet he never seemed to enhance individual parts, nor to focus on changing the strength from one limb to another.
Why?
Because All Might never boosted a single limb.
"The key… is to distribute the enhancement over my whole body!"
—Boom!—
His thought cut off as the wall next to him exploded, a cloud of dust shooting upward.
From the dust stepped his classmate, eyes locked on him.
"T-Takahashi-san…!" Midoriya flinched, taking a step back. "I-I figured it out! I have to use my Quirk over my whole body for a full, constant enhancement! That way, there won't be any gaps where I'm switching power from one limb to another, because there won't be any switches in the first place!"
Taka gave a calm, slow nod.
"...!" Seeing he hadn't been mistaken, Midoriya began to exhale in relief, thinking that, having realized the key to the problem, the pursuit would end—
—sadly, her realized his mistake when he saw Taka already taking his battle stance again.
"Eh?"
"Well?" His classmate tilted his head. "Do it."
Seconds later, explosions echoed through the building, left and right, chasing something through the floors.
Some nearby students paused their own training, eyebrows rising at the noise in curiosity.
That curiosity got an answer quickly.
—BOOOM!—
A blast tore apart one of the outer walls. From the hole, a green figure stepped out, wide-eyed as he checked his surroundings and then stared down at the drop below.
"I-is that Midoriya?" Sero asked, stunned.
"D-deku?!" Uraraka's eyebrows shot up.
Iida adjusted his glasses. Why was Midoriya that high up?
And again—they got their answer fast.
"H-he's jumping!"
Midoriya suddenly sprinted out of the building and leapt with all his strength.
Iida panicked. "Ah—Midoriya, it's not worth it!"
He looked ready to run in and catch him—
But to everyone's shock—
—Thud!—
Midoriya landed on the ground two floors below without even rolling.
Electricity-like energy crackled around him.
Then, from the same building, another figure stepped out.
"Takahashi-san?!" Iida exclaimed in disbelief.
Sero sweatdropped slightly at the sight. "Right, he said he was gonna be training Midoriya… but what kind of hellish training is that?!"
Back in the conflict zone, Taka floated down from the broken floor, descending toward the recovering Midoriya.
"Looks like you managed it."
Midoriya inhaled sharply, staring at himself with wide, amazed eyes.
"I did it…"
He could feel the power flowing evenly now. His speed, reflexes, and strength had all jumped significantly—even though he was only using around three percent of OFA's total output.
At last, he had taken a step forward in the path to make All Might proud.
"With this…" His eyes lifted toward Taka, fire igniting in them.
The air shifted, and the ground cracked as he kicked off, shooting toward Taka at unprecedented speed, winding up a devastating punch.
"I CAN FIGHT!"
—BAM!—
Sadly, his hype ended the moment a giant crimson hand bitch-slapped him into the ground, embedding him in a sprawled pose.
Thus ended Splatdoriya, knocked unconscious instantly.
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Taka squinted before sighing, pointing a hand at him. Healing energy slowly wrapped around Midoriya—invisible, of course.
As the energy did its job, though, Taka huffed as his mouth curled slightly upward.
'One less thing on my to-do list.'
…
°
°
°
| Minutes later… |
…
Taka was now walking alone through Ground Beta, admiring the mock city with a look of wonder.
'Does Nezu pay a ton of money to fix this constantly, or does he slave Cementoss away for that?'
After a moment of thought—and noticing the area had plenty of materials beyond concrete—he concluded that the concrete parts were handled by Cementoss, while the rest came from the school's funds.
'That, or there's one hero for each material here, and the school saves millions in manpower.'
Snorting at the thought, Taka looked up, kneeled for a moment…
Then shot into the sky the next second, landing on a nearby rooftop a moment later.
From there, he surveyed the whole area, gathering his thoughts.
After Midoriya got beaten into the ground—literally—Taka stayed with him until he woke up. With the healing he'd given him, it didn't take long. But he didn't leave him pristine; he didn't want the greenhead to suspect anything, so he was gonna have to deal with some muscle pain for a while.
Then he told Midoriya to work on using his still-unnamed "Full Cowl" more fluidly. Right now, what he needed was to internalize the process and make it instinctual while fighting.
The fighting part would come later; for now, he was gonna have the greenhead get accustomed to entering and going from the state.
Once he dominated it, he'd be ready for a proper spar.
'Hopefully, he won't take long.'
And so, he left the greenhead to his own devices while he headed elsewhere—where he was now.
'Still, that's one bullshit power,' Taka thought, grimacing slightly.
He hadn't asked the exact percentage, but judging from the original timeline, Midoriya couldn't be above 5%.
Yet that much was enough to give him what Taka estimated as around 1,500 physical stats.
Absurd, to say the least.
Roughly twice than what he estimated Seiji had—though that was purely physical. The monkey had insane agility, flexibility, whatever powers monkeys had, and was simply better at using his own speed, making him far more of a nightmare.
But still—bullshit.
He shuddered slightly from thinking just how much more the greenhead would be growing in the following months, once his percentage began reaching bigger numbers, until he ultimately attained the 100%, just like in the—
'Actually, I don't think he ever reached it properly in the show… He just kinda lost his powers after.'
Taka blinked slowly.
'So, if I manage to bring him to his greatest potential… wouldn't it be even more awesome when I beat him?'
His mouth curved slightly at the idea, a smirk forming—
Then dropping.
'I'm doing it again.'
He sighed, sitting down on the border of the building's ceiling, and letting the air ruffle his hair slightly.
The Aura Farming system. Because of it, his path to be an aura farmer was set, whether he wanted it or not.
It was his main source of strength, and the only thing that separated him from the weak quirkless kid he used to be.
But perhaps in that desperation or addiction to grow stronger, he may have grown obsessed. Forgetting Eri, occasionally seeing his classmates as a source of aura rather than his friends or acquaintances, and forcing an edgy mask onto himself because that's what he had thought would grant him the most aura.
Luckily, he had managed to realize it before he might have fully become a sociopath obsessed with being in the spotlight, no matter the cost.
Maybe he was exaggerating a little there. Perhaps he could have noticed his state later. But by then, how many things could he have done but hadn't because they hadn't fit in his perfect scenery to aura farm?
'What kind of aura farmer do I want to be?' Taka thought, staring at the blue sky above.
Right now, no matter how much he looked at himself, he was merely a pretender with too much strength. Granted, it was working, given his rising aura numbers.
"But is that all I want to be?"
Leaving Rockinesis aside, was the awe his classmates and whoever else had given him aura points, truly aimed at Takahashi Fukumoto?
Or was it aimed at the mask he had built because that's what he had thought would be optimal?
And most importantly… did he even want the awe to go to that mask instead of himself?
That brought the question back again. What kind of aura farmer did he want to be?
It didn't take him long to reach the answer.
"One who draws awe effortlessly, whether consciously or not."
Basically—not a mask, not a charade.
To be edgy when he felt like it, cocky when he felt like it, and chill when he felt like it, and not when it "seemed" like the right option.
A constant awe-drawer, no matter the state, moment, or atmosphere.
An aura farmer, true to himself.
<Ding!>
<New Mission!>
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Having broken out of the illusion of false aura farming, it's time for you to shed that shiny but imperfect shell and become what you were meant to be.
The Aura Farmer, Takahashi Fukumoto.
And for that, what better start than to mend the mistake you made.]
Conditions for completion:
▸Wipe out the Shie Hassaikai.
▸Rescue Eri successfully.
▸Do it however you please.
Reward: +1000 Aura | Gain the skill [The Throne]
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
Taka raised an eyebrow.
'It's been a while since I got a mission.'
He had even begun wondering if his system had run out of them.
'Maybe it was just waiting for me to snap out of it.' Taka snorted, a small smile forming on his face. 'Well, I guess it wouldn't be right to disappoint it.'
This was something he was going to do regardless of the mission, but if the system wanted to toss in some rewards, then so be it.
Though…
'What the hell do you mean by "Do it however you please"?'
<It means, show me what you got, Aura Farmer Takahashi.>
A brief pause followed.
Then Taka let out a choked snort.
"That shit is so corny."
Ultimately, however, he looked at the screen with a wide smile, his expression more vibrant than it had been in a long while.
"But sure. I'll give you a performance worthy of being remembered for years to come."
Having declared so, he heaved a sigh and stood up for good.
"Now then, enough self-reflection. Time to get busy again."
Following those words, he squinted as he surveyed the entirety of Ground Beta—at least until he found what he was looking for.
Or who.
A mile or so away, Jiro was currently sitting on a piece of debris, heaving repeatedly after finishing her normal workout.
As for why she was just working out, and not training with her Quirk…
"What am I gonna do?" she muttered, rubbing her earlobe while looking at it helplessly. "Am I even gonna be able to do anything at the festival?"
Her current dilemma stemmed from the festival's regulations: no supporting equipment, except for the support course, or really special cases—like Aoyama.
That meant she wouldn't be able to use her Stereo Boots, one of her key pieces of equipment that allowed her to channel her Quirk offensively by plugging her earlobes into them and firing a soundwave.
But if she wasn't gonna be allowed to use them… where did that leave her?
Her Quirk without that support gear only really helped with reconnaissance, letting her pick up sound waves more easily when her earlobes were plugged into solid surfaces like the ground or a wall.
But offensively?
Maybe if she stabbed opponents with them, she could transmit soundwaves that way.
But that'd end pretty gruesomely… probably.
Aside from that, at most, her earlobes were just stabby little things.
And she doubted their efficiency in that regard.
So, no matter how she looked at it, her Quirk was gonna be completely useless at the festival.
She could only hope the festival events wouldn't require too much combat without her support gear.
But even if they didn't…
'At this rate, I won't have anything to show…' She sighed, remembering how important internships were, and how being unable to stand out meant being left behind compared to her classmates.
"Stupid rules…" she groaned.
"You sound troubled."
A voice coming from behind startled her.
Slowly, with a completely done expression, she turned.
Only to see Taka floating behind her—upside down—his face leveled with hers.
"Boo."
"Gyaaaaaa!"
…
────────────────────────
-To Be Continued...-
────────────────────────
(A/N: Some progress has been made for Midoriya and Taka this chapter, both power and character-wise. Like Taka said, Midoriya now just has to get accustomed to his new way of fighting, and then he and Taka will begin training more basic aspects that the greenhead is currently lacking at.
Also, as for the approximation I made of Midoriya's power, given that the 5% full cowl of Midoriya in the show felt really lacking compared to how much more powerful it should be considering the scope of the 100%, I'll just assume it's exponential, and the further the percentage goes, the more power is acquired. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense, and it's a pain in the ass to try to power scale.
So, just because his 3% is roughly 1,500 in physical stats, it doesn't mean his 100% translates into just 50,000 in physical stats.
I'm honestly still pondering where to place prime All Might, considering some of his feats might as well be exaggerations of the anime for the sake of spectacle, just like many feats of other characters through the show—Like a clip I saw of Mirio somehow punching a Nomu with superhuman force—but for now, I'm picturing the 100% of both Midoriya and All Might to be between 100,000 and 500,000
Perhaps settling for 500,000 might be the best, or it might be me overestimating them. I might change my mind later.
Right now, the current AFO and All Might are below 100,000 in stats, which is something I'm fairly sure of. But they should have been fairly stronger in their prime. Both because neither was in a constant critical condition, and because both lost plenty after that fight. All Might lost raw power, and AFO lost plenty of Quirks.
Anyway, enough powerscaling. It only makes my head throb.)
Genilea
Hi Why Bye
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All for one? more like all for nothing(IDK why but the joke just appeared in my head)
MorbiIIionaire
Versed in the lewd.
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Nice bit of self reflection, as funny as the aura farming is. The way he does it must be lonely and a bit draining. Nice to see him want to find a way to farm without forcing it.
zoldw
Getting out there.
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All Might in Vigilantes is literally a God. Afo glazes him, he lifts towers and crosses 1000s of kms in minutes. They do a very good job of showing how much society depended on him. He was the true hero in strength, speed, charisma etc. Always on the clock too
I think at the end of the anime, hori power creeped everyone up a bit because other wise the whole "we are the greatest heroes" falls apart. All might is pre canon though. I think he is perfectly rated
I think at the end of the anime, hori power creeped everyone up a bit because other wise the whole "we are the greatest heroes" falls apart. All might is pre canon though. I think he is perfectly rated
Dahaka1e
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Power creep was there from the very beginning. When Bakugo, who had been unable to train his Quirk for most of his life (that same quirk that was a weak piece of crap, without the accumulation of explosive sweat in a separate reservoir), defeated Todoroki, who had the best teachers, hellish body and Quirk training since early childhood, and eugenics for generations.
Todoroki should have gone and defeated Bakugou, almost quirkless; his skills should be close to Eraserhead's.
And then Bakugou somehow defeated Midoria at 8% in close combat.
And, of course later, everyone became capable of reacting to supersonic and almost hypersonic speeds, regardless of their quirk.
zoldw
Getting out there.
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isn't that just bakugo creep? author loved that little ragemonster