[24] Quirk Queries

[All Might POV]

Wednesday, 9:30am

"Save us, heroes! At least save my daughter!"

I adjusted course without hesitation, landing behind a villain who had cornered a family against a storefront. The mother clutched her child, eyes wide with terror.

"Fear not, good family!" I announced, channeling One For All through my body. "I am here!"

The villain spun around, but too late. "MISSOURI SMASH!"

My chop connected with his neck, and he dropped. I scooped up the mother and daughter, moving them to safety in one fluid motion.

"All safe now," I said, giving them my signature smile. "Just another morning in the neighborhood!"

"All Might!" Mt. Lady's voice called out as she approached, her expression a mix of admiration and mild annoyance. "Taking all the glory again, I see."

"Ah, Young Takeyama! Just happened to be passing by."

She crossed her arms. "Right. Like you just 'happened' to be passing by the last three incidents this morning."

Another cry for help interrupted my thoughts. A car chase, by the sound of it.

"Duty calls!" I said to Mt. Lady. "Keep up the good work!"

As I launched myself skyward, my mind returned to Sakamoto. His quirk's activation... it was too similar to his capabilities. The timing of the boy's appearance, his uncanny knowledge, that familiar glint in his eyes-

The screech of tires snapped me back to reality. The stolen vehicle weaved through traffic below. I landed in its path, my hand out. The car slammed into my palm, crumpling like paper.

Phones flashed around me as I secured the criminal. I smiled and waved, but my thoughts remained troubled. If Sakamoto really was his son... what was the endgame?

"All Might!" A police officer ran up. "There's a hostage situation at Musutafu Bank!"

Perfect. The bank was near U.A. - I could make it to class on time if I wrapped this up quickly. I launched myself toward the bank. The situation was straightforward enough - three armed robbers, ten hostages. Standard procedure.

"VILLAINS!" I announced, bursting through the doors. "YOUR CRIME SPREE ENDS HERE!"

They turned, guns raised. Too slow. One punch sent them sprawling.

As I checked on the hostages, my reflection caught my eye in a broken window. My true form stared back - gaunt, worn, running out of time.

"You're amazing, All Might!" One of the hostages gushed as I led them outside.

I smiled, but it felt heavier than usual. The symbol of peace couldn't show doubt or fear. Not when there were still people who needed saving.

"Just doing my job, citizen!" I assured them. "Now, if you'll excuse me - I have a class to teach!"

Young Midoriya would need to be ready. If my suspicions about Sakamoto were correct, the real test of One For All's next wielder might come sooner than any of us expected.

Only time would tell. And time, as I knew all too well, was something I had precious little of left.

[Akira's POV:]

Wednesday, 1:30 pm

I shifted in my seat as Jane continued playing with my hair, her fingers weaving through the strands with practiced ease. The classroom had that post-lunch energy - some students half-asleep, others chatting quietly.

"You know," Jane mused, "your hair's getting pretty long. Thinking of growing it out?"

"Hadn't really thought about it," I said, stifling a yawn. "Just been too lazy to cut it."

Todo leaned over from his desk. "Besto friendo, you should consider a top knot like mine. It's both practical and stylish."

"Hard pass."

Kan-sensei walked in, his presence immediately commanding attention. Behind him, a stack of papers floated through the air.

"Listen up," he said, setting the papers on his desk. "We're having a joint training exercise with Class 1-A today. Practical rescue training."

The room erupted in chatter. Monoma practically jumped out of his seat.

"Finally! A chance to show those 1-A elitists what real heroes look like!"

Kendo's hand stretched across three desks to chop him on the neck. "Sit down, Monoma."

Kan-sensei cleared his throat. "Eraserhead, Thirteen, All Might, and myself will be observing. Wear your costumes if you want, but remember they might hinder you. We're going by bus. Be at the front of the school by 2:00. That's all."

As we headed to the locker rooms, theories about Class 1-A flew wild.

"I heard they've got someone who can create anything," Setsuna said, her head literally turning 180 degrees to join the conversation behind her.

"Fam, I bet they're all super basic," Camie drawled. "Like, probably just strength enhancement and stuff."

"Their quirks don't matter," Rei cut in, his voice cold. "What matters is how they use them."

"Facts," Jane agreed. "Though I'm curious about their rescue tactics."

Todo nodded enthusiastically. "Perhaps we'll find someone worthy of being our rival!"

The group split as we reached the locker rooms. Inside, the guys immediately dove into speculation.

"You think the girls in 1-A are cute?" Kaibara asked, pulling on his costume.

"I wonder..." I started.

"Don't even start," Kaibara interrupted. "You already have Camie and Jane fawning over you. Leave some for the rest of us."

I raised an eyebrow, pulling my shirt over my head. "Really? Hadn't noticed."

"Bull. Shit." Monoma pointed accusingly. "You're just playing dumb."

"The only thing you need to worry about," I said, grinning, "is if there's a girl in 1-A whose family is loaded."

"Of course that's what you care about," Todo laughed. "Truly, your priorities are an inspiration to us all, besto friendo!"

"Hey, a man's got to have standards," I defended. "And mine happen to include a healthy bank account."

"What about personality?" Kaibara asked.

"Optional."

"Intelligence?" Rei suggested.

"Negotiable."

"Basic human decency?" Todo tried.

"Now you're just being picky."

"You know we can hear everything you guys are saying over there, right?" Jane's voice called from the other side of the lockers.

The room went dead silent.

"By the way, Akira," she continued, amusement clear in her voice, "I'm secretly the daughter of a media conglomerate operating in the United States."

"Really?" I called back, adjusting my costume's collar.

"No. But the look on your face right now is probably priceless."

Laughter erupted from both sides of the locker room. I couldn't help but join in, shaking my head.

"She got you good," Kaibara snickered.

"Whatever," I said, closing my locker. "At least I'm honest about my shallow standards."

"That's... not the defense you think it is," Rei pointed out.

We finished changing and gathered outside. The girls were already there, Camie taking selfies while Setsuna literally gave herself a hand with her equipment checks.

"Ready to show Class 1-A what we're made of?" Monoma asked, that familiar competitive gleam in his eyes.

"Sure," I said, checking my watch. "As long as they're made of money."

This time, Kendo's chop caught me instead of Monoma. "Both of you, behave."

I rubbed my neck where Kendo had chopped me. Her strikes were getting more precise - probably from all the practice on Monoma.

The doors of U.A.'s main building swung open, and Class 1-A emerged. Twenty students in varying states of costume-readiness.

"THAT'S HIM!" A spiky-haired blonde pointed at me, his face contorted in what I assumed was meant to be rage but looked more like constipation. "THE BASTARD WHO TOOK OUT THE ZERO POINTER!"

I stared at him blankly. The angry voice triggered something, but-

"Oh right," I said, remembering the entrance exam. "The Pomeranian. Congrats on making it into U.A."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A POMERANIAN?!" 

A tall guy with glasses chopped the air with robotic movements. "Bakugo! Such hostility towards our fellow students is unbecoming of U.A. heroes!"

"Shut it, Four-Eyes!"

"He did take down that zero pointer pretty efficiently," Ibara noted quietly.

Camie nodded. "For real fam, it was like, super clean."

I noticed a kid with messy green hair staring at me from Class 1-A's group. He clutched a notebook to his chest, practically vibrating with barely contained questions. When our eyes met, he startled like a spooked rabbit.

"Um, excuse me!" He rushed over, bowing repeatedly. "I'm Izuku Midoriya from Class 1-A! Would you mind telling me more about how it works?"

I glanced at the notebook he'd opened - pages filled with detailed sketches and analysis of various quirks. Interesting kid.

"Sure," I said, keeping my voice casual. "It's called Kinetic Assimilation. Basically, I can absorb and redirect energy."

Midoriya's pen flew across the page. "Like Kaminari's electricity? Or more similar to kinetic impact absorption?"

"Well..." I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "It's more like... quantum tunneling through parallel energy states."

His pen stopped. "What?"

"You know how string theory suggests multiple dimensions vibrating at different frequencies?" I gestured vaguely. "My quirk lets me tap into those quantum fluctuations to manipulate energy states across dimensional barriers."

Midoriya's eyes widened. "That's... incredible! But how do you account for the conservation of energy across dimensional boundaries?"

"Simple - I utilize quantum entanglement to maintain energy equilibrium between parallel states." I was on a roll now. "The tricky part is managing the temporal displacement caused by cross-dimensional energy transfer."

"Temporal displacement?" He scribbled frantically. "You mean your quirk affects time?"

"Only on a quantum level. See, when you-"

"Hi there!" A cheerful voice interrupted. A pink-skinned girl bounded over, floating gloves hovering beside her. "I'm Mina Ashido! Are you the one Bakugo's been yelling about?"

"Guilty," I said, secretly relieved at the interruption before Midoriya could catch on to my complete nonsense. "Akira Sakamoto. Nice to meet you."

"Your quirk sounds super complicated," she said, the gloves doing a little dance around her head. "Mine's way simpler - I just melt stuff with acid!"

"That actually sounds more dangerous than complicated," I noted, eyeing the gloves. "Are those support items?"

"Oh no, these belong to Hagakure!" Ashido pointed at... nothing next to her. "She's invisible!"

"Present!" The gloves waved.

"An invisible girl?" I raised an eyebrow. "That's got to be useful for hero work."

"Not when she keeps sneaking up on people in the locker room," Ashido laughed.

"That was one time!" The gloves protested. "And it was an accident!"

"Sure it was," Ashido winked. "Just like it was an accident when you-"

I watched the gloves flail in protest as Ashido continued teasing her invisible classmate. Behind them, Midoriya was still muttering to himself, scribbling equations that would probably give a quantum physicist a headache. I almost felt bad about the nonsense I'd fed him. 

As I was about to come clean, someone cleared their throat behind me. I turned to find a tall girl with a spiky ponytail and a rather... revealing costume.

"Excuse me, are you Sakamoto-san?" she asked, her posture perfect. "Kendo-san mentioned you're the vice representative for Class 1-B."

"That's right," I said, taking in her costume design. Needs easy skin access. "And you are?"

"Momo Yaoyorozu, vice representative of Class 1-A." She bowed slightly. "I thought it would be good to introduce myself, since we'll likely be working together during joint exercises."

"Smart thinking," I said, matching her formal tone. "Though I have to ask - creation quirk?"

Her eyes widened. "Yes, actually. How did you know?"

I gestured vaguely at her costume. "The design. Needs lots of exposed skin, but it's practical rather than flashy. Creation quirks usually need direct contact with air to work properly."

"That's... very observant," she said, looking impressed. "I can create any non-living material from my body, as long as I understand its molecular structure."

"Useful. Rich family?"

She blinked. "I... yes, but why-"

"Advanced education, probably private tutors. You'd need an extensive knowledge of chemistry and physics to make the most of that quirk."

"You got all that just from-"

"The way you hold yourself, your speech patterns, the quality of your costume. Plus, creation quirks are expensive to maintain. The caloric intake alone would bankrupt most families."

Yaoyorozu stared at me for a moment before letting out a small laugh. "You're quite the analyst, Sakamoto-san."

"Please, call me Akira. And it's nothing special - just pattern recognition. And a little bit of eavesdropping on some conversations."

We started walking toward the buses, falling into step naturally.

"So what's your quirk?" she asked. "I heard Midoriya-san asking about it earlier, but the explanation seemed rather..."

"Complete nonsense?" I grinned. "Yeah, I was just messing with him. It's called Kinetic Assimilation. I absorb and redirect energy."

"Oh! Like a capacitor?"

"More or less. Though it works with most forms of energy, not just electrical."

"Fascinating! Have you considered-"

A gray blur wrapped around my wrist, yanking me sideways. I stumbled, barely keeping my feet as Jane's tail dragged me toward the bus.

"What was that for?" I asked, but Jane and Camie were deep in conversation.

"We should hit up that new cafe after training," Camie said, scrolling through her phone.

"The one with the cat butler theme?" Jane asked, her tail still firmly around my wrist.

"Nah fam, the one with like, the underground jazz vibe?"

"Oh! I heard their tiramisu is amazing."

I tried to pull free, but Jane's tail just tightened. "Hey, I was in the middle of-"

"They do this thing where they infuse the coffee with nitrogen," Jane continued, completely ignoring me.

"For real? That's so extra," Camie grinned. "I'm in."

"Great, Akira's buying."

"I'm what now?"

"You heard me," Jane said, finally releasing my wrist as we reached the bus. "Consider it payment for saving you from yourself."

"Saving me from- what are you talking about?"

Camie patted my shoulder. "Trust, fam. We got your back."

They climbed onto the bus, leaving me standing there confused. Through the window, I saw Yaoyorozu wave goodbye before boarding her own bus. 

"Women," Todo said sagely, appearing beside me. "Truly mysterious creatures, eh, besto friendo?"

"You're not helping."

"Was I supposed to be?"

We boarded the bus, finding most of the seats already taken. I ended up next to Rei, who acknowledged me with a slight nod before returning to his book.

"What's that about?" I asked, nodding toward Jane and Camie, who were now discussing dessert preferences with disturbing intensity.

"If you haven't figured it out," Rei said without looking up, "I'm not going to explain it."

"You know what? I preferred it when you were just the quiet, brooding type."

"I still am. You're just annoying enough to merit responses."

From the front of the bus, Monoma stood up dramatically. "Fellow warriors of 1-B! Today we show those 1-A upstarts-"

Kendo's hand stretched across three rows, delivering her signature chop. "Sit down and behave."

"You know," I said to Rei, "I'm starting to think that's just their weird form of flirting."

"Don't let either of them hear you say that," he replied, turning a page. "I'd rather not have to explain to Kan-sensei why there's a student-shaped hole in the bus roof."

"Your concern is touching."

"Not concern. I just don't want to fill out the incident report paperwork."

The bus lurched forward, and conversations settled into a comfortable buzz. I closed my eyes, letting my thoughts drift to the upcoming exercise. Rescue training meant environmental hazards, probably civilians to evacuate. Team coordination would be key.

The bus turned onto a side road, and I caught glimpses of dome-like structures through the trees. USJ - the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Designed to recreate various disaster scenarios for rescue training.

"Bet you ten thousand yen Monoma tries to copy at least three 1-A quirks in the first ten minutes," I said to Rei.

"I don't take sucker bets."

"Twenty thousand says Kendo stops him before he gets to two."

"Now that's just stealing my money."

The bus slowed to a stop, and through the window I could see the 1-A bus pulling up alongside us. Aizawa and Thirteen stood waiting at the entrance.

"Everyone out!" Kan-sensei called. "And remember - this is rescue training, not a competition."

"Tell that to Monoma," someone muttered.

As we filed off the bus, I caught Jane watching me with that unnervingly knowing look she sometimes got.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said, her tail swishing behind her. "Just wondering if you'll figure it out before or after someone has to spell it out for you."

"Figure what out?"

She just smiled and walked away, leaving me with the distinct feeling I was missing something obvious.

"Women," Todo said again, clapping me on the shoulder. "Truly-"

"If you say 'mysterious creatures' one more time, I'm telling Kendo you've been enabling Monoma's behavior."

"You wouldn't dare, besto friendo!"

"Try me."