Quirky (Boku no Hero Academia/Mahou Sensei Negima crossover)

[OverMaster]

Mahou Sensei Negima! is the creation and intellectual property of Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha.

Boku no Hero Academia is the creation and intellectual property of Horikoshi Kohei and Shueisha.

---

Quirky.

Part Five.

---

Hatsume Mei jumped off the robot, landing on her feet easily before them.

"So you are Negi Springfield!" she laughed and shook Negi's hand vigorously. "Let me see..." She felt his arm up and down. "Better muscle definition than I was expecting. I suppose you wouldn't have been accepted otherwise, though."

"Good afternoon, Hatsume-san, it's a real pleasure to-" he began.

She started ushering him in as the doors closed behind them. "The Principal himself called to explain the details of your case; you must be a quite relevant individual if he took a personal interest!" she feistily said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as they walked. "Over there, the prototypes are already built so it's only a matter of testing them!"

Chisame didn't move from her spot. "Ahem!"

Hatsume looked back at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hasegawa Chisame, his legal guardian."

"Then why are you standing there instead of coming with him?" Hatsume asked, starting to walk again. After a second of bristling, Chisame followed them. The pink haired student gestured at dozens and dozens of robots, vehicles, and bizantyne machinery lining up the walls of the gigantic workshop. And it was a workshop, rather than a laboratory; Chisame, whose apartment had been half turned into a laboratory by Hakase through the two years prior, could tell that difference. "These are all my babies! If anyone tries to claim otherwise they will lie, as collaborations are stored elsewhere! Which ones do you like best? Perhaps you'd like being told in lenght about them, before we-"

"Thanks, but we are on a tight schedule!" Chisame called out from behind the duo. Negi began sweating.

Hatsume rolled her eyes at her. "Don't tell me so. What a pity," she said, showing her none of the exhuberance she showed him.

Negi tried clearing his throat. "Hatsume-san... while all of these achievements look very impressive, the nature of my issue is... I dare saying that it is biological, but you appear to be a specialist on mechanics..."

"THE specialist on mechanics!" she wagged her finger. "You are right that I'm not going to 'cure' you, as I don't believe there's anything to be cured, and very clearly neither does the Principal. If your so called stripping sneezes are linked to your Quirk, it's for the best to find a way to contain them rather than attempting to eliminate them."

Negi nodded. Besides, it wasn't like anyone there would know how to solve that question of magical origins when nobody back at his world could.

She led him to a chair that looked too much like Old Sparky for Chisame's comfort. "Take a seat and relax," Hatsume said.

Negi sat down, and Hatsume opened a large metal filer standing next to the seat. She took out a light transparent artifact, rather similar to a nebulizer mask, and secured it on Negi's lower face. It covered his nose, mouth and chin. Almost gently, she clicked it in place, tugged on it to make sure it wouldn't fall off, and connected it to a hose coming from a square tank a few steps from them.

"Does it inconvenience your breathing?" Hatsume asked, stepping back. Chisame watched carefully.

"No, not at all," Negi said.

Hatsume put on a wicked grin. "Nor does it interrupt your vocalization! Just like I expected! Now to turn on the pepper." She pressed a button on the tank.

"Wait, did you just say... Pepper!" Negi shouted, the mask blowing onto his face, and he jerked ahead, sneezing at the top of his lungs. "ACHOOOOOOO!"

Before Chisame could even protest, she and Hatsume stood there, completely naked, and Negi covered his eyes, blushing. Chisame dropped to her knees and hugged her upper body. "Kyaaaaa!"

"Oh, it was completely obliterated, such a lung fortitude!" Hatsume marveled, leaning towards Negi without concern for her nudity.

"Please put some clothes on already!" he said.

"You are insane! I thought had met insane scientists but you are worse than either of them!" Chisame said, staying crouched on the floor. "I'm going to sue! I'll strip you of... that is, I'll take all the money you have!"

Hatsume reached into another drawer and pulled out two long lab coats, dropping one on Chisame and putting the other on, without bothering to button it up. "Put on this and stop whining." She grabbed another, sturdier looking 'nebulizer' and put it on the trembling Negi. "Model I was not quite up to the task, but I'll forgive you. Sometimes a few babies need to be disposed of for the sake of science!"

"I really hope you don't mean that literally, you freak!" Chisame shrieked, buttoning her coat up. "Let me out of here before you try again..."

Hatsume was pressing the button again already. "PEPPER!"

"ACHOOOOO!"

"YAAAAAAA!" Chisame said.

Hatsume flung another coat at her. "An interesting challenge!" She threw another coat over her own shoulders and put a third model on Negi's face, despite his protests. "Stay still and we'll end sooner so you can meet your schedule, Negi-san! PEPPER!"

"ACHOOOOOOO!"

"FUWAAAAAAA!" Chisame foamed off the mouth.

A fresh coat hit her on the face. "Ho ho ho, you won't beat me yet!" Hatsume boasted, leaning over Negi so his face was smothered between her breasts as she put another mask on him. "This is the Deluxe Edition! Ultralight, manufactured from state-of-arts materials, yet able to stand even heavy artillery fire at close distances! PEPPER!"

"ACHOOOOO!" Negi sneezed again, but this time, he didn't blew the mask off, nor the coats off the girls.

Chisame blinked. "... success?"

"Success!" Hatsume laughed.

Negi smiled and breathed out. "What a relief! Thank you, I can see how this would help, now please accept my apologies and let us-"

"Trying with a second dose! PEPPER!" Hatsume said maniacally, releasing more dust on Negi's nose.

"ACHOOOOOOOOO!"

"I HATE YOU!" Chisame said as they were stripped again.

Hatsume chuckled, turning around and looking for more coats, bending over so Negi had to avert his gaze. He already had seen everything regardless, but it was the spirit of the question.

"So it won't stand more than a single sneeze, that's fine, all you need is carrying spares on your costume, and as soon as you sneeze into one, switch to a fresh one." This time she did bother with all the buttons of the coat, and only then gave another to Chisame, as an afterthought. Hasegawa angrily snatched it from her. "I assume that you don't like me much for some reason?"

"GWLF!"

"But we have just met, what is the reason for that animosity?"

"GWLF!"

Hatsume shrugged. "To each their own." She smiled at the flushed Negi. And then she tapped on a side of the mask she was holding. "Each of these has a miniature radio so you can communicate with your teammates and the headquarters, without the need to use your hands. And if you don't want to have the enemy reading your lips as you speak, and frankly who would, this other button makes the surface opaque. Quite useful, isn't it!?"

Negi had to admit it was. "Th-Thank you, Hatsume-san..."

"I wouldn't advise you to wear them at all hours, though," Hatsume shook her finger. "Only on the battlefield."

"Why?" Chisame grumbled, standing back up.

"It's just not healthy, to wear a mask at all times, even though this one filters the air and cleans the atmosphere, maintaining a minimal weight." Hatsume sighed. "On the battlefield, it is a need, since many of your partners might rely on their costumes for maximum efficiency, and your sneezing could be a liability for them. But for everyday interactions, you should be fine just avoiding sneezing on them as much as you can. That is what you have done so far, isn't it?"

Negi nodded.

She gave him a pretty smile and pinched his cheek. "A good obedient soldier, I like that in a man! Especially since you now have to marry me, as you have seen me, a virginal innocent, naked."

"AAAAHHHH!?" Negi panicked.

Hatsume laughed. "As if! You have to be less naive, age nonwithstanding, or you'll be tricked easily by any two-bit villain, Negi-san!"

"I'll leave you living on the streets!" Chisame promised.

Ignoring her, Hatsume ranted to Negi. "I was told by the Principal that your sneezes didn't affect your own clothes, so I was expecting a less advanced, cheaper model would suffice, but it took the elite type to contain your youthful lungs! The academia's budget will survive it, I guess. If it always had been that easy, you always could have restrained them with a simple cloth mask anyway!"

Negi rubbed his nose. "To be honest, I had never thought of that."

"You never thought of minimizing the collateral you did on us?!" Chisame said.

Negi blushed.

"YOU HAVE LIKED SEEING US LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME, HAVEN'T YOU?!" Chisame roared.

"Of course not, Chisameeeeeeee...!"

"Of course yes, because you are a man, youuuuuuuu...!"

Hatsume looked back and forth between them. "Is that why you were so fast to accept that joke, Negi-san? Because she already tricked you into illegal marriage under the same pretenses?"

"You'll hear of my lawyers before weekend!" Chisame threatened. By the time she told All Might about this he'd surely be happy to pay her legal expenses!

"I'll add you to the list of lawsuits," Hatsume nodded, taking out an electric notepad and adding her to the end of a long sequence of names in it.

 

[OverMaster]

After Hatsume called one of her colleagues to bring new clothes for Negi and Chisame, they finally could exit her workshop and head to their new quarters.

"Look at the bright side," he told her while they walked down the hallway, "you won't have to suffer any more embarrassing misshaps while on the battlefield, at least."

"The only places where I'll be safe now are those places where people will be trying to kill me! Oh joy!" Chisame said.

Negi winced. "If you're worried about me staying in the female wing, the girls will understand just like they did in Mahora, I'm certain of that."

"They will be too accepting, like they were in Mahora!" Chisame said.

"They didn't mob me, did they?" He sulked again. I am losing my touch, am I not? Is it because I'm growing up? But Father always was like that no matter his age! Maybe I have received too many hits on the face?

"The way that dinosaur girl looked at you..." she grumbled.

"Tokage-san? She only was being friendly."

"You would think so, you also were being so friendly to her, but right, as long as you both love dinosaurs, right? What kind of woman still fangirls dinosaurs when she's fifteen?"

"Dinosaurs are always awesome!" Negi smiled.

"Your legal guardian!" Chisame huffed. "Why in the world did you need a legal guardian? Inugami wasn't given a legal guardian!"

"He was though. Inko-san was named his legal guardian," Negi said.

"What! Why didn't she assume guardianship over you too!?"

Negi shrugged. "All Might arranged all of that, ask him!"

Chisame sighed as they stopped before a door. "I can't wait until we find Kagurazaka, how didn't you drive her completely insane? And now, odds are our roommate will be that dinosaur girl and we'll have to suffer her all day long..."

She opened the door and found Jiro Kyoka sitting on the lower bunk of a dual bed, listening to music in an i-pad.

Jiro turned her face towards them and fell into a short pause. "... oh. So I'm rooming with you guys? Geeze."

Chisame pondered her situation. "Could have been worse," she allowed after a moment, and stepped in.

Meanwhile, Izuku was setting his luggage down in another of the living quarters.

His new roommate extended his arms open, showing him the black Goth decor of their rooms. "You surely will not mind I started working on it before you arrived," Tokoyami said. "Behold, I even brought my own bed." He pointed at a black coffin set before the bunks. "If its placement bothers you, I always could move it somewhere else."

Izuku's eyebrow twitched. "No... It's fine where it is..."

"You have my gratitude," Tokoyami nodded. "Excuse my manners, you haven't been introduced to Dark Shadow yet, have you?"

A towering black creature of darkness rose from Tokoyami's proximities and loomed over Izuku, as if staring down at him with glowing yellow eyes.

"He dislikes light greatly. So we would be thankful if you would keep the glow of your computer and phones down as much as possible," Tokoyami said.

"Ah ha ha ha, yep, I'll keep it in mind," Izuku said stiffly, and sat down on his bunk.

Elsewhere, Bakugo sat at the edge of his own bunk, staring blankly at his new roommate.

Koda smiled kindly and began talking to him in hand language.

I'm glad we were assigned together! Mom and Dad say I need to make good, strong willed friends to help my emotional development. Let's do our best this year and beyond, Bakugo-san!

Bakugo's eyebrow twitched. Is he flipping me off or what? What do I even tell him? If I tell him anything I'll show I don't understand what the hell is he saying! I'll look like an idiot! How am I supposed to deal with this kind of idiot?! I have a fucking headache already, maybe I should just go to sleep already? When did everything get so difficult, these people are freaks!

And yet elsewhere, Kotaro stared at his new roommate.

His roommate stared back at him.

Then Kotaro smirked and bumped his fist on the chest of the much taller, hairy boy.

"Hey, I like this twist of events, pal! I can tell we're gonna be good friends! We're like two peas in a pond!"

Shishida Jurota smiled a tad awkwardly and adjusted his glasses. "Likewise, Inugami-kun. It may be somewhat difficult for you to adjust to coexistence with me, as I lack any previous experience dealing with little brother figures, but I hope our difference in ages and backgrounds won't be an obstacle for our comraderie."

"Sheesh, it's like rooming with a more badass looking Negi!"

Chachamaru and her new roommate sat facing each other across their dinner table.

"You know, this isn't meant to offend, since I look like a frog, but you really look a lot like an android, kero kero."

"The term for female robotic lifeforms would be gynoid, but yes, I have heard that before. Don't concern yourself over offending me, Asui-san."

"Call me Tsuyu, kero. By the way, what is that thing in your luggage, kero kero?" She pointed at a big winding key poking out of Karakuri's belongings.

"It is something I need for... because of medical orders from my mother, who is a doctor. Please be understanding if I have to head into Negi-sensei's room at least once a day, he is the one best equiped to deal with it."

"Sensei, kero?" She tilted her head aside.

Sakurako blinked at her new roommate.

"Don't worry, you won't even notice I'm here half of the time! Over half the time, even!" The floating white glove gave her a V sign. Sakurako kept on staring at her, or an approximation of it, dubiously. "... you don't want me to be naked around you, do you? Would you feel better if you actually could notice I'm here at all times?"

"Sort of. Sorry, Hagakure-san," Sakurako said, extending a tightly squeezed hand towards her, a plain white tee shirt held in it.

 

[OverMaster]

Another day.

Aizawa stood on the front lawn of the academy, with his arms folded behind his back, and facing his class. The students all wore all dark blue sports uniforms, with a stylized 'UAI design on large white letters on the front.

"Today we are starting your real education," the teacher told them. "I'm going to test you. I know you just came from an admission test, but guess what, children? In the world of heroism, every day is a test. I have the right to expel any of you at any given time if I consider you have failed, as long as I'm proved not to have manipulated or interfered in your efforts in any ways not approved by the rules. Keep in mind that means there are times where I am authorized to interfere with your efforts."

He glared quietly at them, noticing Ashido's eyelids were starting to get heavy and Mineta and Kaminari were starting to look at the girls. "Do you find that boring? In our lines of duty, getting bored and drifting from attention often gets you killed." He made a motion of slicing his throat with a finger. "Is that fair? Go complain to the villains on being unfair. Oh, wait, you won't, because I won't let you get that far if you don't take this seriously."

Jiro elbowed Mina on the ribs. "Eh? Eh? Whassap...?" the pink skinned girl came back to full senses.

"Softball. Long distance jump. Endurance running. Push ups. High jumps. Disc throwing. Short distance sprinting," Aizawa looked at the sky. "Through your early education, you weren't allowed to use your Quirks for any of those. Not anymore. Hey, Bakugo," he called out. "How long could you throw the ball in middle high?"

"67 meters," Katsuki said.

Aizawa tossed him a ball, and Bakugo easily caught it in the air. "Now try throwing it using your Quirk. You can do whatever you want with it as long as you don't step out of that circle..." He pointed at a nearby white circle painted on the grounds.

"Got it," Bakugo said, stepping in there.

"... and you don't injure anyone else," Aizawa finished smoothly.

Bakugo grunted and shrugged. He rolled his arm around once and got into a position to throw. He smirked. "If that's what you wish, then..."

He threw his arm back, his hand seeming to overheat with a powerful motion, and there was the sound of a loud explosion. The ball itself seemed to burn and glow as it flew upwards, high into the sky, and vanished into an impressive burst through the clouds.

"GO TO HELL, MAN!"

"Dammit," Chisame mouthed. "He's not all words after all..."

Izuku sighed. "That's why he's so scary, Chisame-san."

The ball finally dropped back to earth, smoking and half burnt but still mostly held together.

"They build them to last, so don't be gentle," Aizawa told the students, pointing at the ball. He held a handheld device over it, then showed the numbers in it to his classroom. "705.2 meters. Now you see the difference?"

The students gasped in awe. Even Chisame had to admit to herself that had been impressive.

"By the way, good calling on throwing it upwards," Aizawa told Bakugo.

The blond snarled. "You didn't want me to hurt anyone, did you?"

Iida's eyebrow twitched. Was, was that part a test too? Like, testing his recklessness? he thought. What if he HAD tossed it ahead at that speed? 702.5... It would have gone far enough to-

"COOL!" Kirishima gushed. "We can go all out now! This is what I wanted for...!"

Ashido punched the air. "This really is a school of heroes!"

"It's gonna be a blast!" Kaminari said.

Aizawa hummed. "You think so, huh? You still don't get it. Fine, since you think it's all fun and games, let's play a favorite game of mine. It's called 'The Lowest Scoring Student is Punted Out'."

"By whom?" Bakugo said hopefully.

"By me, and non literally, so don't start getting ideas!" Aizawa said. "You have three years of training ahead of you. Three years no loser or wimp, as you would say, could go through without cracking. If you're going to be a load on the system, you might as well drop off today."

Chachamaru raised her hand. "Sensei, what would happen if all of us scored excellently? Someone would still score at the bottom. Would that person still deserve an expulsion?"

"That's not going to happen and you know it. Don't mock your classmates like that just because you were the top scorer, Karakuri," he told her.

"But I'm not trying to mock them..."

"Stop proposing impossible scenarios then," Aizawa said. "There are clear underachievers here and we all know it."

His calmly cold gaze went over all of them, and Chisame, Izuku and Mineta shivered.

Aizawa smirked slightly. "Plus Ultra. The game is afoot now."

 

[OverMaster]

Fate Averruncus finished his cup of black hot coffee and put it down.

He closed the book and pondered his next course of action. Other than the old woman behind the counter, the white haired pale boy was the only person in that eerily silent public library. People in this world just didn't read physical, paper books anymore. Everything was digital. Fate found that utterly deplorable.

Worse than that, however, was the absence of any magic users in this world. Minutes after his arrival, in a remote and tiny village in the hills of Northern France, he had realized he was not in Mundus Magicus or the Earth of his dimension. He had learned quickly that most people on this world relied on physical inheritance traits they would call 'Quirks', and as such they had long lost any faith on magic.

It was more than that though. Fate had spent months traveling across the world and looking for any old magic users anywhere, people from before the Age of Quirks whom he could strongarm into aiding him return to Cosmo Entelecheia, and yet he had found none. It wasn't that magic didn't exist in this world—part of what had drawn him to this city in Japan was its strong leylines, which he could feel pulsing under his feet—but nobody seemed to have figured out how to use it, at any point of history.

Every data on magic he found in ancient tomes and dusty volumes was rubbish, made up chicanery, written by charlatans and conmen.

He had found no vampires such as Mc Dowell either, although legends of them still existed. He couldn't locate anyone who could help him with his enterprise of heading back home and reporting to Dynamis, much less fulfilling his creator's plans, so he would have to start acting on his own.

The raw magic still existed, and he was a skilled mage, he only needed handwork to replace Dynamis and the young ladies, so he could gather resources and establish a workable Gateport of his own. It would take time and effort; but he was patient and a tireless servant, and there was no shortage at all of superpowered beings who could aim him, as muscle and workers at the very least, it was only a matter of recruiting them.

Much like the girls, many youngsters in this world had been disappointed by society if not outright destroyed by it. He had been gathering information on them for a while then and pummeled rumors from several minor 'villains' about a rumored big boss figure of the underworld, an almost mythical boogeyman who allegedly manipulated crime from the shadows, who might be useful as a provider if he indeed was real. It was not like he could turn to the proper authorities.

He had waited enough to find real magic there. It was time he started working his own.
The sooner he returned to the organization and made up for the lost time, the better.

Fate Averruncus put the last book on magic back in its shelf, dryly thanked the librarian, and left the building to look for minions to recruit.

He had heard about a so-called 'League of Villains' hiding somewhere in the city, and perhaps they could help him achieve what he wanted. If not, well, he always could petrify them, then look again elsewhere. Once again, patience was one of his virtues.

---

Mundus Magicus.

The oasis in the distance, at first, appeared to be another mirage. The freckled girl even said it so outright, her voice dry and tired.

"That's just another mirage, Setsuna-san…"

"It's not," the fair skinned, black haired girl said, her firm steps hastening over the sand hill. Her right hand tightened around the handle of the sword sheathed on her hip, and she pulled it out, keeping it by her side. The other two girls marching behind this young woman traded jaded looks and kept on following her, because what else was there to do?

Everything else around was sand, after all. There was nowhere else to go. It had been that way for nearly a week now, since leaving the closest village, and their water reserves were running out.

"It's not. I can smell it. The water, the plants, they are all real," the girl at the lead said, closing the distance almost faster than the other two could keep up with. And sure enough, soon they were on fertile grounds, a fresh garden at the middle of the dunes. The two girls closing the formation breathed deeply, basking in the tropical freshness and glad to have left the scorching desert behind.

Palmer trees and fig trees surrounded several small lagoons, cranes and storks flying around them. Bushes full of fruit abounded, and for a moment, the girl with short black hair and the girl with short and messy brown hair wished they could just stay there from then on. But not the other girl. Instead of being relieved, she had blossomed into fury.

She called out a name, her voice strong and resolved. "RAKAN!"

She stopped, eyeing a large house at the other end of the oasis. "RAKAN!" she repeated. "Be a man and come out!"

A distant bird made a call.

"RAKAN!" the angry girl repeated. "Face the consequences of your gross irresponsibility!"

"Setsuna, maybe he just left. Maybe he's somewhere else," the other black haired teenager said.

"Going? Where!?" the freckled girl asked. "There's nowhere else to go around here but kilometers and kilometers of sand!"

Her classmate raised her hands. "I don't know. He has to leave at some point, right? To do his gladiator combat things when he feels like it, like that guy told us."

"He is here, I can feel it," the girl at the lead seethed. "He is just too cowardly to face us. To admit he did wrong, and that because of that, he ruined our lives. RAKAAAAAAAN!"

A strong deep voice came from behind them. "What?"

"YAAAAAAHHHHH!" the two girls behind her turned around, screaming in surprise. A giant of a muscleman with long hair that was so blonde it was almost white stood there, wearing faded brown pants and an open jacket that showed off his impressive pectorals. He was tanned all over, with a red headband around his temples.

He grinned down at them, with a lecherous glint in his eyes. "Well well, now this is devotion to your cause!" he said. "Not many fangirls are bold enough to come here, if you needed autographs you could've just approached me at the arena! It'll be three hundred gold pieces each…"

The girl named Setsuna spun around to point her blade up at him. "So it's you! Jack Rakan! Just like in that picture!" she roared.

"You'll have to be more specific. Which picture?" Jack Rakan said innocently. "If it's one of those nudies, they were edits, you'll notice because they altered the size of my—"

"Don't play innocent, you, you monster!" Setsuna spat fire at him. "You were supposed to meet Negi Springfield's party at the Gateport! Don't you remember that!?"

The face of Jack Rakan sobered up suddenly. "So. Are you friends of the boy?"

"We were there with him when he was attacked!" Setsuna growled. "We haven't seen him, or the rest of our friends, ever since!"

Jack Rakan sat down on a big boulder. "I thought all of you had been killed, huh…"

"Don't act so damn casual, remorseless freak!" Setsuna shouted. "Were you in cahoots with them!?"

"With whom?"

"With the people who attacked us!"

"I don't even know who attacked you."

"Then, if you weren't in league with them, why didn't you were there!?"

Rakan began picking his nose. "Because I didn't want to go…"

The other two girls had their eyes bugging out. "Whaaat!?" they chorused.

The tanned titan shrugged. "It was a bother, and I thought you'd come here eventually anyway, so why to go? I wasn't being paid enough anyway."

Setsuna's eyebrow twitched. "Is that… Is that why you failed to meet your promise to the son of your comrade!?"

"Look, I didn't make any promise to Nagi's son, I made the deal with your Principal Whatever his Name, Eishun's dad in law, but then I realized he was scamming me, and that's in bad faith, right? Like, he has money to spare and yet—"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU…!" Setsuna bristled, and the girl with freckles actually had to step in between them.

"Setsuna-san, please, no! Don't commit homicide!"

"Nobody will know, we are far from civilization. Let's just bury him by the lake, leave and never talk about this again," the third girl said.

Rakan pointed at her and laughed. "Hah, I like you, kid! What's your name?"

"My name is None of Your Business, thank you," she said icily.

The freckled girl sighed. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Look," she told Rakan, "I'm Murakami Natsumi, and these are Kugimiya Madoka and Sakurazaki Setsuna. All of us are students of Negi-sensei."

"So they were saying the truth after all, Nagi's son became a schoolteacher," Rakan rubbed his powerful jawline, majestic enough to put All Might's in shame. "They are never paid enough, that's why they couldn't meet my price. Reminds me of that time I traveled through dimensions and ended up in Roshtaria, and there was this Fujisawa guy—"

Sakurazaki Setsuna had flash stepped around Natsumi and pressed the edge of her sword against Rakan's throat. "You will help us find our friends, to make up for your disgusting felony. Or else."

Rakan grinned, highly amused. "Perky little baby! Do you seriously think you can hurt me?"

She kicked him in the crotch, putting as much strength in the kick as she could.

He only shrugged vaguely. "That wasn't a bad one," he admitted.

Setsuna pulled her aching foot back, hoping she hadn't crushed it. "You have to…" she said.

His face sobered again. "I know."

"You owe us that much…" she insisted, her face starting to collapse on the edge of tears.

"I never thought that'd happen. Really," he said, tone softening. "Who was it? Who did it?"

"There was this short boy. He was very pale and had short white hair…" Natsumi began explaining.

"Only one boy? He did that to your whole school trip party?" Jack Rakan asked.

"Well, he had this crazy swordsgirl with him, Setsuna-san says she met her in Kyoto, and I know it can sound difficult to believe, but he began throwing spells at us, and then the whole thing exploded and we ended up here!" Natsumi waved her arms around.

Rakan hummed and frowned carefully. "White haired boy… Don't tell me they're at it again…"

"Who?" Kugimiya asked him.

Instead of answering, Rakan grinned. "This could be FUN!"

"Oh, for the sake of—" Kugimiya said.

The giant sprang back to his feet. "We'll discuss my fee later, as soon as we find Nagi's boy! How many of you are there to find?"

Setsuna blinked and began counting with her fingers. "Uhhhh… Let's see, counting Chisame and Kakizaki, and the Narutaki twins, there were, uhh… and then there were Anya and Cocone… Am I supposed to count Sayo too? Like twenty three other girls and a boy."

While watching dirty movies in the Midoriya apartment without Inko's knowledge, Chamo flinched and wondered aloud, "Why do I feel I'm being overlooked again!?"

"A Casanova like his dad, I'm so proud!" Rakan laughed loudly, and dusted his hands off. "Even a boy for the sake of variety! Not bad at all!"

Setsuna narrowed her eyes. "We aren't Negi-sensei's harem…"

"Sometimes I wonder," Natsumi said.

"Well, let me gather some things and we'll be on our way, things were getting boring here anyway," Rakan smiled at them. "Always a pleasure to travel with three lovely sweeties! Just tell me where you have NOT looked for them and we'll start from there!"

"One more thing," Setsuna said.

"Yeah?"

"While we are doing that… Train me."

"Excuse me, what?"

"You heard me the first time!"

Rakan rolled his eyes back. "That'd count you extra! Charging it on that old skinflint won't do, I won't be shortchanged again, I have a reputation to keep!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Not again! Madoka, help me hold her back…!" Natsumi whined.

Kugimiya sighed and began rubbing her forehead in circles. When would life give her a break?

---

"Sprint race..." Aizawa said.

It was a 50-meter dash.

Iida placed himself at the starting line, breathed deeply, and began running as soon as Aisawa gave the "Go!" sign.

And then it was over, just like that.

Chisame blinked. "Whuh happened?"

"3.04 seconds," Aizawa looked at the timer. Iida nodded stoically. Then he saw Chachamaru clapping softly, and smoke sizzled out of his ears.

Chisame sweated. This guy... He makes Kasuga look like a tortoise! What kind of bundle did I get myself into!?

---

"Aoyama," Aizawa called out.

"Yessir!" The blond stepped into his position. He gave everyone a smarmy look, rubbed his chin to pass himself off as interesting, and turned around. He pulled his shirt up and shot his navel blast.

It took it to the half point of the track in barely over a blink, so he landed on his butt. Unfazed, he got back up, pulled his shirt up again, and shot once more, propelling himself the rest of the way to the finishing line.

"And that," he said in a loud tone, dusting himself off, "is how your use a Quirk in a competition!"

"5:51 seconds. Acceptable," Aizawa reported.

Even the most stupid Quirk can be useful! But all I have is a stupid stick that plugs into computers... Chisame anguished.

---

"SPEED BURST!" Bakugo shouted, and he shoved his hands backwards. "TURBO!"

He blasted ahead and rocketed through the finish line in a matter of...

"4.13 seconds," Aizawa said. "What was your average in junior high?"

"5:58," Bakugo put his hands off patting his own hips lightly. "Not bad, eh, Snailku?" he called out towards where Deku panted, supporting himself on a wall.

"Don't listen to him, 7:02 isn't bad at all since most of your training was based around enhancing your muscle mass and long term stamina, rather than your speed in short bursts," Negi said, helpfully offering him a glass of cold water. He looked at Chisame. "Neither is a 7:15! Since you used to be so bad in PE, it's a remarkable feat that you have improved this much in such a short-"

She groaned from where she was facefirst on a bench while Chachamaru fanned her. "Just shut up, my world is still spinning..."

Aizawa looked quiety at them. Something was off here...

---

"Asui," Aizawa gestured at her.

"Call me... Right, Teacher. Sorry, kero." The frog girl placed herself on all fours, and began running down the track.

Aizawa looked at the timer. "Not the worst of times," he told himself, predicting her final result already, "but neither specially remark-"

Tsuyu opened her mouth wide. Her tongue came out, stretching itself almost grotesquely and reaching the ending line long before the rest of her did.

Aizawa stopped the timer immediately. "... well played."

---

Negi took his place, gracefully assuming an elegant position.

"Cantus Bellax," he whispered, and then shot himself ahead.

A sonic boom flew across his surroundings, and everyone could just blink as dust blew onto their faces.

Aizawa began rubbing his eyes off with a fist immediately.

Chachamaru looked at the timer for him. "Even much better than I could have possibly imagined. Looks like I am not the top scorer anymore in at least one category..."

"Why do you sound so happy about it?" Aizawa asked irritably.

Tokage gushed. "Wow, this kid really is a box of surprises...!"

Aaaaarrrghhh! Chisame thought. I just can't leave him alone with this kind of predator around! Look at her freaking face! And Karakuri is too much of a pushover! I've gotta think of something...

---

"Height jump..." Aizawa said.

Once more, Bakugo used his fists to help himself, propelled up by matching explosions and easily flying way above the bar.

"Okay," Mina pouted, "but if he ever loses his hands, what then?"

---

Mineta stepped before the bar. He looked up, up, up, up, up at it, so high above his reach.

He plucked a ball from his head, tossed it to the ground, and jumped on it. He bounced lightly on it a few times, and then took impulse and made a really big jump, passing far above the bar and laughing his behind out.

"Ah ha ha ha ha! How do you like that! You thought I'd fail just 'cause I'm small, didn't you!? I had it all calculated, down to-" He began falling. "The landing! I forgot the landing!"

He landed on his face, and his legs twisted around in a rather painful looking way.

"The leap itself was impeccable, only the landing itself failed," Aizawa droned. "It can be worked on, I suppose."

"Maybe we should call Recovery Girl for him?" Izuku sounded, chiding himself for vindicativeness unfit a hero, but surely even All Might would understand.

"I'm not that bad," Mineta said from the dirt.

A SD Pop Step appeared on the lower right corner of the screen, wagging her finger. "That is why high distance landings should be left to professionals with the appropiate Quirk!"

---

Okay, Uraraka, you can't use your Quirk on yourself without vomiting, Aizawa thought as Ochako came to stand before the bar. So what are you going to do? You can't elevate the ground under yourself, we are asking you to jump, so that doesn't count. You have no option but to perform an average jump, and given the rest of your stats...

Ochako calmly took her shoes off. She held them up, then knocked on the soles, a loud, strong sound clearly audible for everyone. She threw them up.

The shoes lost gravity at midway, floating in the air. Ochako timed herself, focused on the exact place, and jumped. She managed to land on her feet exactly on the hovering footwear, and used them as a platform for an extra jump, which took her far above the bar. She made it past it, spun towards the ground, and when she was about to hit the ground, only then she touched herself and landed softly, with lessened but not eliminated gravity.

She took a hand to her mouth and made a nauseous sound, but she didn't vomit.

Aizawa facepalmed.

"That counts..." Yaoyorozu said softly, edging close to him with her arms folded behind her back.

"I know!" Aizawa said.

---

"Test your Strenght..." Aizawa said.

Izuku inhaled and focused the eye of his mind, remembering All Might's words.

"So you don't hurt yourself, imagine yourself using One for All, but not 100%," the emaciated Toshinori said. "Use only what you need for the task at hand. You'll get used to it over time!"

"But I need getting it right now!" Izuku said. "And if I don't put all of myself into the task, I just cannot get anything done!"

Toshinori tapped on his own skull. "You can't swat on flies with a wooden club! Use the flyswatter! It's not that difficult! Do it strongly but gently, strongly but gently!"

The boy gulped and pulled on the device he had been given, trying to be strong but gentle, strong but gentle...

"63 Kg!" he said. "That isn't bad at all, is it, Sen-"

"Whooooaaa!" Kaminari said, gushing at Mezo's results. "540 Kg! Great job, man! I don't think even Top Scorer-chan can beat it!"

Mezo lowered his head humbly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Izuku's face grew ashen.

"You can do it, Karakuri-san," Iida said as Chachamaru was given the device. "Don't pay attention to those who would discourage you!"

Chachamaru nodded. "Thank you, Iida-san."

Iida's glasses fogged up. Already, she remembers my name...

Negi smiled at her. "He's absolutely right! I know you won't disappoint, Chachamaru!"

She looked down at him, and smoke blew out her ears. She pulled on the device, and it exploded into bits.

"What... How do you measure her, then!?" a bewildered Mina looked at Aizawa.

He shrugged, unblinking. "Over nine thousand...?"

---

At least with this one, I can do something, Chisame said, stepping to the device. She took a hold of it with one hand while in the other she held her sceptre. She pulled.

"77 Kg," she said, and pointed at the small screen. She could have added more points, but she wanted to make it believable.

Aizawa squinted. "Are you sure you haven't just used your Quirk to alter the results, Hasegawa?"

"I am actually this strong, Sensei," she said innocently.

"No offense, but I would like to see some further proof of it, even if only to make sure you haven't cheated."

Chisame blinked and looked at Negi. He smiled nervously.

She looked at Aizawa again. "But it won't be part of the test itself, will it?"

"Technically no," he had to say, since according to the rules the test was only based around the machine. "This is only an extra confirmation."

"Glad to hear that. Negi, c'me here, please," she said sweetly.

He came in, still smiling. "Yes, Chisame?"

BONK!

Negi twitched in a small crater in the ground, his face buried in the dirt.

In a ladylike fashion, Chisame shook her hand with the sceptre in it. "See? Strong. How else could I hurt someone as strong as him?"

"You heard me clearly when I said that you cannot hurt anyone in the t- Oh, in the tests, of course," Aizawa said as Chisame smiled at him. "I walked right into that one."

Mineta pointed and barked, "That's just standard Tsundere Romantic Violence on Love Interest Power! It doesn't count!"

"Romantic?" Tokage asked, sounding oddly troubled for a second.

"Romantic!?" Chisame growled. "C'me here and I'll show you how I'm just as strong with anyone!"

Mineta backed away quickly. "I retire the objection!"

Yaoyorozu looked at Jiro. "I-Isn't against the normatives to hurt classmates at all, period? Is, is he impressed enough by her audacy that he is overlooking-" She trailed off, feeling Aizawa's quiet gaze on her.

Jiro shrugged apathetically. "I believe we are all just playing Calvinball by this point."

"Wh-What is Calvinball?"

 

[OverMaster]

For their final test of the day, they were told to throw the ball.

Bakugo stepped ahead and tried to take the ball from Aizawa. "Not again, you already did it," the older man pulled his hand back.

"But I can do it even better this time," Bakugo said.

"You'll have plenty other chances," Aizawa told him. Bakugo smirked at the certainty of his staying, and nodded, walking away. Aizawa threw the ball at another student. "Tokage, do the honors, will you?"

"Gladly, Sensei!" she grinned, catching the ball. She smiled back at Negi, took aim upwards, and threw… her hand up.

The hand flew until it disappeared from sight. Then Setsuna recalled it to her arm, the ball no longer in it, and counted patiently.

Eventually, the ball came back to earth. "698.00," Aizawa read.

Setsuna put her fists on her hips. "And that's after I'm winded out from the day!"

"Ah, I get it," Kirishima said, looking up, "the hand made the toss when it was going as far as it could, and then—"

"Thanks for explaining the joke, Kirishima-san," Jiro deadpanned. "Very helpful!"

Aizawa tossed a ball at Mineta. "Your turn. Throw it as far as you can."

The tiny boy looked at the ball as it landed on his outstretched hand and sighed. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

He plucked a ball out of his head and stuck it on the tossing ball, carefully covering the latter with the former, until it was fully wrapped by it. He gave it a squeeze and nodded to himself while question marks appeared over the heads of everyone else, even Aizawa.

Mineta sighed miserably again. He held the ball over his own head and tossed it down at his skull as hard as he could. The ball bounced off him and flew up, up, and away, until it disappeared into the sky.

It returned several moments later, as he wobbled in place and fainted with spirals on his eyes. It crashed down and Aizawa took a very calm reading of the sticky mess. "202.7 meters. Not all that bad. Good use of your Quirk's specifics," he said, taking notes.

Todoroki looked down at the knocked out Mineta. "I don't think he can hear you."

"Does that really count?" Mina wondered.

"He still used his Quirk. He was asked to do so, not to stay conscious after doing it," Ochako replied.

"But he's just gonna be a load if he's left unconscious every time he does that!" Mina insisted.

"I don't think he's going to use that strategy every time he has to attack with something... Would he?" Yaoyorozu said meekly.

"He only needs to train his skull so it becomes more resilient. Beating down on it every day should do the trick. I'll help him," Bakugo offered. He bashed his fists together.

Mineta sat up. "That kind of training I don't need!"

---

"Uraraka," Aizawa said.

"Yessir!" Uraraka accepted the ball from him. Izuku noted that he didn't throw it at her, but he gave it on her own hand, rather gently. Maybe she had earned his respect through the tests?

Uraraka smiled, gave Izuku a brief look back, winded like a pro baseball ace, and threw the ball up. "Zero Gravity, wheeeeeee!"

The ball slowly floated up, up, up, and vanished with a twinkle.

They waited. And waited. And waited.

"It's not coming back, is it?" Todoroki asked.

Ochako pulled a sniffling martial salute at the sky. "Goodbye, Comrade, may you have a happy life in the stars!" She turned to Aizawa and giggled, bopping herself on the head. "Sorry, I just realized I have just wasted valuable academy resources!"

Aizawa held the height meter. It had an infinite sign. "You've gotta be kidding me!" Ashido gasped, and Bakugo facepalmed so hard Izuku was afraid he'd burn his face off. Todoroki flinched for some reason.

---

After most of the others came along and did either excellently or reasonably well, it was only up to Chisame and Izuku. Hasegawa was sure Aizawa had singled them out because they were the lowest ranking. She sighed and took her place, as Negi reassured her, "You can do it."

Aizawa looked evenly at the small boy, and then gestured at the girl. "Before you do it, what if you come here a moment, Hasegawa?" He stepped back from the others and Chisame obeyed, after hesitating.

"What is it, Sensei?"

Aizawa glared quietly at her, folding his arms. "It's come down to Midoriya and you, have you realized that? If you do really well at this, and he fails, you'll have secured your spot for now. If you fail and he does well, you're out."

She gulped. "I understand, Sensei."

"Let me see that staff thing of yours," he extended a hand.

"Why?"

"Just let me, okay?"

"I'm not going to use it for this…"

"Just humor me," he said, patience chipping a bit.

Chisame sighed. "Adeat." The scepter flickered into her right hand, and she gave it to him.

Aizawa examined it. "Is that 'adeat' word necessary to activate it?"

"It helps me concentrate, Sensei."

"This… isn't technology, is it?" He turned it around, very slowly. "That would be cheating…"

She extended her arm and summoned it back to her hand, the staff disappearing for a moment before appearing back in her hand. Then she gave it back to him. "If it were technology, could I do this? Does this kind of technology even exist yet?"

"If it existed, our job would be far more difficult, Hasegawa, that much I can tell you." He kept on looking at it, unblinking. Finally, he returned it. "It does indeed seem to be a part of you. Go there and don't disappoint the boy."

Chisame blushed ever so briefly and walked back while he looked after her pensively.

"He is checking her out, isn't he," Ashido was whispering, leaning towards Jiro.

"Academic harassment," Kyoka whispered back.

"I'm not," Aizawa said.

"Damn, he's got a good hearing," Mina whispered.

Chisame took a deep breath and got in place again. She looked up, and winced. It wasn't like Negi needed her around, did he? And she couldn't break the lifetime dream of Midoriya. She still would live at the apartment, and they'd still meet at least once a week, and even if Negi moved on and forgot her, that was good riddance to bad rubbish, she had been an awful partner and friend to him anyway, and he deserved much better, and she wasn't cut to be a hero, and—

Then she saw Tokage standing next to Negi, casually.

Chisame tightened her teeth.

How did Bakugo do it? That wasn't all Quirk, was it? From her stomach, she could feel, there was something else to it, the stuff that separated actual champions from talented people, that drive she had never had, except while being Chiu, but this was different, this was…

She tried to think like Bakugo, and saw a smiling face of Kakizaki in the sky, laughing at her while a smaller Tokage snickered under Misa.

"Oh, Negi-kun, come here with us!" Kakizaki giggled, pulling Negi away from Chisame and dragging him towards the others. "We're having so much fun over there!"

Chisame seethed, her eyes burned, and she spun her arm around. "The power…" she shouted.

"OF HATRED!-!-" she growled, and threw the ball up, going far quicker and more powerfully than her classmates had expected, making them blink a few times.

"Damn," Bakugo whispered. "She unlocked it!"

Aizawa followed its trajectory with his tired gaze, and after a few moments it fell back to Chisame's feet. He read on it.

"195.98."

Chisame blinked. Damn, that still leaves me below Mineta. I was hoping to best him and let him drop to the bottom. Now, if Midoriya fails… and everything will be my fault and everyone will hate me and… if he pulls it off… I'm out and it's not like it matters, but… but… I don't hate Kakizaki THAT much? Why!?

"Hasegawa, stop daydreaming and get off the area," Aizawa said. "It's Midoriya's turn so we all can go home."

Chisame did so, reluctantly.

---

Chisame stopped nexto to Izuku and whispered to him, "Don't even think of forfeiting because of me."

"I won't," Izuku promised, and he stepped ahead to stop on the pitching mound. Aizawa tossed him the ball, and he caught it.

The boy inhaled and frowned, looking up. She didn't even want to be here. She'll be fine, he reassured himself. On the other hand, I can't disappoint Mom, or All Might. I've gotta do this!

So that wasn't the problem in his mind, or he tried to tell himself so. The problem was how to do it.

'Gentle but strong' isn't an option. I'm not in control yet! I'm not that good yet! If I'm going to do this, I'll have to go 100%!

He'd have to take that risk. He clenched his buttocks, threw his arm back, and put his mind into the task.

Then, just as he felt his arm starting to bulk up, he also felt a strong tug on it, and he stopped.

Izuku looked back. "Eh?"

Aizawa was staring fixedly at him while gripping him with one of the strips coming from his scarf. "Midoriya," he said sternly, still talking from where he had his talk with Chisame. "Why won't you come here for a second?"

Izuku walked there while the others whispered among themselves.

"What now?" Kaminari asked.

"Maybe he's gonna expel him already. That throw was gonna be shit as the posture was useless," Bakugo said.

"That would beat the point of the exercise..." Ochako said.

Negi gulped. Maybe he should help him with a wind spell? As long as he was discreet, maybe nobody would notice...

"What is it, Sensei?" Izuku asked.

"What were you going to do?" Aizawa asked in turn.

"I only was about to do what you told me..."

"Don't play dumb with me, Midoriya. You were going to use your Quirk so I had to cancel it so you wouldn't wreck yourself again. You know who I am, don't you?"

He nodded. "Eraser Head, the underground hero."

"That's right, that's me." The red eyes remained unblinking. "You did your homework, but that isn't enough to be a hero. Not killing yourself every time you use your Quirk also counts."

"I wasn't going to kill myself..."

"Only because we have a specialist, but her patience isn't infinite, and neither is mine. Did you think I wouldn't check on the students I was assigned? I saw your footage, and everyone else's, Midoriya. If your Quirk destroys you like that, why are you even here?"

Mina was starting to nap on her feet again.

"But..." Izuku said. "Mineta-san's two best feats also hurt him, and you didn't-"

"Mineta bounced back to his feet right after!" Aizawa hissed. "You fell unconscious and needed Recovery Girl! Otherwise you'd have spent weeks, months in a hospital! Do you think you can do this WITHOUT collapsing again...?"

Izuku nodded.

After a moment, the strap released him. "If you cannot, I'll expulse you, last place or not," the teacher said. "Maybe not right now, but it'll be a matter of time. I'm not going to have you crippling yourself on my watch."

"I'm just mastering it. I'll get the full handle of the Quirk soon."

The man finally blinked again. Izuku got the idea it was only because he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

"Prove it."

Izuku nodded again, and he was too glad to return to the mound, shaking violently, even if only to get away from him.

He stared at the sky for several moments, lost in thought.

"You gonna do it today or not!?" Bakugo called out. Jiro had to tell herself that, jerk or not, he had a good point.

Izuku pulled his arm back once more. Negi reached, subtly, for the practicioner wand he had kept hidden on the back of his shirt, the one he had on himself during the assault on the Gateport, and the one he had been using since he lost his father's staff. Midoriya's arm wasn't inflating. He had to act quickly if he wanted to make a difference...

Then he felt Chachamaru's hand on his arm, stopping him. The gynoid shook her head. "No," she said softly. "Like the Master would say, this is something Midoriya-san has to do himself."

"But-!"

Nobody was paying attention to them. Izuku was closing his eyes and tossing upwards.

The ball flew into the sky like a rocket.

Negi's eyes widened.

Chachamaru, only then, let go of his arm. She made one of her gentle smiles. "I knew he could do it."

The ball kept on flying. Bakugo stared after it in awe.

Kirishima tightened a fist. "He has it in him after all!"

Asui nodded slowly while Uraraka gave a jump in place. "Midoriya-san...!"

Izuku panted, smiling to himself, as the ball finally flew down to earth, crashing with a small explosion.

Aizawa approached the resulting crater blowing a thin column of smoke. He took readings and said, "717.98."

"WHAT?!" Bakugo said.

"If you hadn't slacked so much in the other tests, you might have scored decently, Midoriya," Aizawa said, taking notes casually. "As it is, you rank third last. Your ass is safe for now."

"WHAT?!" Bakugo said.

"So that makes it that Mineta Minoru is second last, and Hasegawa Chisame is dead last..."

"Go get that thing fixed!" Bakugo roared. "No way he could have topped mine...!"

Chisame's face seemed to have gone slightly gray. Negi looked about to cry all of a sudden, and Tokage looked down at him with mild concern.

"But I still get to stay, right?" Mineta said.

Jiro elbowed Mina in the ribs again. "Huh? Eh? Whu? Did it happen again?"

Aizawa applied some eyedrops on himself, and said in a casual tone, "By the way, I lied."

"I knew it!" Bakugo said. "But what the fuck was the point of that mindgame, as if any of us would believe that Deku-!"

"No, what I mean is, I'm not going to expulse anyone. Yet," Aizawa said blandly.

Chisame tensed up.

The rest of the students stared at him.

"Sensei..." Yaoyorozu said tentatively. "Are you saying that... you have supplied... intentionally inexact information in the context of... a school test?"

"Villains will lie to you all the time. Get used to being lied to constantly," Aizawa said apathetically. Negi smiled widely, now leaking tears but born from happiness. Chachamaru reached with a finger and wiped his cheek delicately.

Iida blinked, smiled slowly, and then noticed something about Midoriya. Although the shorter boy was forcing a clenched smile, his right arm hung by his side, and he held it in pain. But the arm itself seemed to be fine, so what...

Iida's gaze went further down, and he saw Midoriya's pointer finger, which was bleeding, as if it had been made to burst from inside. Did he... just concentrate ALL of his Quirk in his fingertip...!?

"By the way, Midoriya, go to the nursery and have 'that thing' looked at," Aizawa turned away and began leaving. "It shouldn't be enough to demand for Recovery Girl. See you all tomorrow. Don't grow confident. I won't be always so merciful."

"What, what, for fuck's sake, what!" Bakugo said, then stared venomously at Izuku. "Deku...!"

"Yes...?" Izuku sighed with a tired wheeze.

Bakugo gritted his teeth, looking about to spit fire, and then stomped out.

Chisame still stood there, her glasses all fogged up.

She felt Chachamaru's hand on her head, patting it gently." There, Chisame-san, there. Don't you feel better now?"

"What in the world has just happened," Chisame said absently while Negi hugged her.

"Dude," Mineta said, walking up to Izuku. "I think some bone's poking out now!"

---

Aizawa doubled around the corner of the school and stopped, sighing. "You can walk out now..."

All Might, in his full muscular glory and wearing a snazzy gray suit, stepped out from behind a very thin tree, flashing a huge and shiny smile. "Congratulations on getting such an outstanding group of pupils, Eraser Head!"

Aizawa looked at him with hollow quietness. "How do you do that?"

"Ah ha ha! A mere matter of concentration to flex my muscles in such a way that allows me to-" He paused at Aizawa's absolute lack of amusement. "Look, I just bulked up and I'd been scrawny while hiding there, okay? Don't be a killjoy."

"No, what I mean is, how do you get your clothes to expand and shrink with you? I've never understood..."

"Pym Particles!"

"If you don't ever want to give a honest answer then don't answer, period."

All Might chuckled. "That doesn't matter, let's talk about our future instead! The children. Eraser Head, you liar! What are we going to do with you..."

"A salary raise might be a good way to start."

"That's to be discussed with Nedzu, not me. Sorry, Superfriend!"

"I'd rather put my tongue in a meat grinder."

"You have expulsed whole classes in a single day, and now look at yourself," All Might said with good humor, wagging his finger. "Either you've grown soft, or they are all stellar material!"

"They are stellar headaches, alright. But I'd rather try to keep a few of them on the straight and narrow today than having to fight all of them as villains tomorrow." He put on more eyedrops.

"Give them a break, would you ever accuse Young Karakuri of becoming a villainess?"

"She is prime minion material. Obedient to a fault, unquestioning, and those eyes. She even sounds like she has experience."

Somewhere else, Evangeline A.K. Mc Dowell sat on her porch, looking into the woodlands with something resembling sadness, but mostly boredom.

"If only I still had at least Judas Iscariot to make up for her loss."

Aizawa looked through his class lineup. "Negi Springfield is something else... terrifying talent from someone still so incredibly young. Too intelligent and too emotional at once, if he ever became a villain he'd be the kind of threat that takes a whole fantasy manga to take down."

"Fantasy?" All Might asked.

Aizawa shrugged. "Figure of speech. Even his techniques are like something a kid came up with after reading too many fantasy stories. That's natural from someone his age, I suppose? Uraraka Ochako is... at first I wanted to boot her out. She seemed to have the attention span of a squirrel."

"Nedzu may be part squirrel," All Might said.

"Still with that? He has to be like 80% weasel, where are you getting the squirrel idea from? Like I was saying, Uraraka looked like that at first, but I've grown convinced there's real method to her insanity. She might be playing dumb. We'll see. Bakugo Katsuki is classic school shooter material, it'll pay to keep an eye on him."

"Oh, no, the real school shooters are the quiet ones and you should know," All Might said.

"There are all kinds!" Aizawa exhaled tiredly. "Todoroki is... Endeavour's kid. There's no way we can overlook that."

"No. No, we cannot..."

The two shared a long quiet look and then Aizawa told the blond, "That Midoriya boy, you have a personal interest on him, don't you?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You looked at him the most, and it's conveniently weird that he only develops his Quirk at random times. By this age any kid with that kind of potential has already learned how to control it, at least a tiny bit. Yet he hasn't. Why do you think is that, mmmm?"

"Late bloomer?"

Aizawa stayed expressionless, then moved on, "Hasegawa Chisame. Complete lack of her heart being into it, and that's even when one compares her to Miss Sleepy Majin Buu. At least she's thrilled by the idea of being a heroine, Hasegawa acts like she has no desire at all to even be in this school..."

"I believe there is some old saying about this kind of situation," All Might stroke his jaw, "how does it go? Glass houses and stones or something like that..."

"My, but aren't we on a roll today," Aizawa snarked. "Mr. Icon being a smartass, bring on the press. I'm serious, Might. She appears to actively resent being here, unless it comes to the Springfield boy. Frankly, that is a bit creepy. I'm not sure I like that."

"She's a good girl."

"If it had been up to me, I'd have expulsed her," Aizawa said after a moment. "But I didn't do it for two reasons. One," he held a finger up. "I could see Negi Springfield relies too much, emotionally, on her. He's got incredible potential for someone that young, one we just can't afford to lose, much less let him become a villain. I always can expel her later after he's grown more confident on himself. Two," he held another finger up. "I looked at her Quirk, and... I couldn't cancel it. That's not a Quirk. I don't know what it is, but I know what it isn't, and it isn't tech, and it isn't a Quirk. I'm going to learn what it is."

He glared coldly at All Might. "But of course you already know, don't you?"

All Might chuckled. "Would you believe me if I told you it's magic?"

"Very funny," Eraser Head said. "Have it your way then, Yagi. For now."

"Don't be like that!"

Aizawa headed towards the building. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go pick a few things up before heading home..."

"Aizawa, wait."

"Now what?"

"The petrifying marauder. Got any more news on him?"

Aizawa looked back at him. "No. Nothing else. Still the same MO. Still destroys all cameras before leaving a scene, still leaves everyone turned into stone. At least hasn't attacked civilians or heroes yet."

"It's only a matter of time before a hero runs into him," All Might predicted grimly.

"I guess so. 'Him'? Or her. What makes you so sure it's a man?"

"Just a hunch."

Aizawa frowned. "Look, if you've got any clues, you must share them with us..."

"Nothing to act on just yet," All Might shook his head, dearly hoping he wasn't commiting a terrible mistake. "Not a word about this to the children, naturally."

"It's what the Commission wants, after all."

Both men shared an uncomfortable silence, and then Aizawa went into the building and closed the door after himself.

All Might struggled with his thoughts. If this was indeed the same petrifying boy Young Negi had talked about, then dealing with him would be a double edged sword. On one hand, provoking him before the rest of heroes had any knowledge about magic would be disastrous. They had never dealt with magic before. Magic was a pretty much unstoppable factor, even for them. And he shuddered to think about what the government could do if they did beat him and surrendered him to custody. If they learned the secrets of magic, there was no way of telling what some of the higher ups could do with it.

Not to mention, it could potentially ruin the lives of Young Negi and his friends forever. If, through that boy, knowledge about them being part of that magical world also leaked out, they might be seized, and he'd be forced to make a stand to protect them, potentially triggering a Civil War across the hero community. Endeavour would no doubt side against him on that matter. Not to mention that, as soon as Young Negi learned about that boy being there, he'd foolishly run off to confront him...

On the other hand, heroes did need to know if they were in danger. It had been only one week since those attacks had started, and yet maybe he already had wasted priceless time holding onto those suspicions.

He had to talk with Nedzu. He would know what to do.

He still hated having to do it though. Nedzu was scary...

The Symbol of Peace turned around and he, too, headed home.

---

Next: Fate of the League of Villains.