39

Chapter Text

"So, how do you think they're doing?"

Down in the stadium arena below Izuku, a multitude of aspiring hero students were currently undergoing their Provisional License Exam. A huge battle was raging on, the various schools combating it out to see who would pass and receive their provisional licenses. The aim of the first test was simple: each student was given three targets to place on their body and six balls to use to attack. Eliminate two targets with the provided balls, and you'd pass to the next round. Have all three of your targets light up, and you were out.

Izuku thought that Class 1-A was faring pretty well. The majority of the class had grouped up into a formidable defense to defend against the other schools. There were a couple splinter groups of course - most notably the lone Todoroki and the Bakugo trio. And they were in danger of defeat due to their quirks having been broadcasted long before during the sports festival.

"Well, everyone's doing surprisingly well. Except for Bakugo, of course. Loved how he got turned into a weird meatball thing. Funny how your little electric friend was able to win a fight that Bakugo couldn't. So much for being superior to you."

"It's because he's really taken up to training," Izuku added. "He became a lot more determined after our final exam against Nezu. That, and he actually became really nice after. He took some of my tips and trained up. And I actually consider him a friend now despite our past… transgressions."

"It's funny how that works, huh? It seems as if we get people's respect through fear and simply outmaneuvering our opponents."

"Yeah…" Izuku straightened himself up and shook his head. He took a breath. 

He eyed the other occupied seats of the stadium. There were full of teachers, adults, and various other officials watching the event. Down below, the various students battled on, determination painted on their faces as they aimed for a spot in the next round. And then there was him, the single outlier among them all. A student sitting up in the stands, rather than fighting in the arena down below.

"QA?" 

"Yes, Izuku?"

"How do you…" He cut himself off, shaking his head. "What do you think about this?"

"...About what?"

"You know, all this… 'working with the police' stuff. I'm basically absconding from the Provisional License Exam. All I need to do is some police raid, and I get a license, guaranteed. I'm not putting in the same effort as everybody else. I'm getting what's basically a head start. It… it feels like I'm cheating, to an extent."

"Are you forgetting the fact that this is actually a punishment?"

"Doesn't seem so to me. It's just a bit of red tape, some moderate restrictions here and there, and a set of rules to follow. It's not too bad."

"Heh. Could've fooled me. Don't you see? It's just a matter of time until they up the ante and squeeze you for what you're worth until you run dry,"  QA evoked, her voice in obvious disdain.

"Or, what happens when some criminal uses their backwards contacts in the force to get you? Then they'll know your face, and your family, and the location of your home. What then?"

"You're being paranoid," Izuku said. 

"It isn't paranoia if I have reasonable cause and justification and evidence to the contrary. It's saved me plenty of times."

"I don't care, QA. I'm doing this. I'll face the consequences, if there even are any, when we get to them. I'm not going to just cut loose and turn villain."

"Right… Of course not." QA sighed. " But still, you shouldn't let the police dictate your every move, Izuku. You need to think more for yourself in these matters. The law doesn't always have your best interests in mind."

Izuku's face scrunched up. "That right there. That's something that I don't understand." 

"What do you mean?"

Izuku could almost see QA rising an eyebrow in confusion. "It's just, why are you so against the police?" Izuku asked. "They haven't done anything all that bad to us… me."

"And if they do? They bend over backwards to have you on their side now, but what happens they no longer find you useful to them? Suddenly, you might find yourself behind bars."

"They wouldn't do that." Izuku shook his head. "Is this something you picked up from where you're from? What kind of place would make you even expect something like that? And you think that same of heroes, too. This place is different from wherever you're from. The police and heroes are supposed to protect us. Not act like villains."

QA didn't respond back. In fact, Izuku could feel her leaving the forefront of his mind, retreating to wherever she hid whenever Izuku couldn't reach her.

Izuku let our a deep breath. Despite his frustration, he was fine with QA just randomly ditching him by this point. She was being just as secretive as usual.

Izuku looked down back at the chaos reigning down below. Sighing, Izuku relented his vision back to his bugs. In return, he gained an all encompassing view of his classmates as the bugs zooming back and forth between them 

Minutes passed, and the first round was finally nearing its end. Eventually, Izuku sensed one of the more distinctive bugs that he had earlier planted returning to his location. Aizawa was coming back, and with somebody in tow. 

A quick glimpse revealed Ms. Joke, who was basically hanging off of Aizawa. Ms. Joke was talking on and on, Aizawa not responding to any of her attempts to get a rouse out of him. Aizawa simply walked, trudging forward with unwanted cargo. 

However, if Izuku looked just hard enough, it was almost as if — and dare he say it — Aizawa was more relaxed. Almost like a miniscule smile was about to burst into place. Almost.

"Huh. Weird."

The duo eventually reached their destination and reached Izuku.

"Oh? Is this him?" Ms. Joke asked. Izuku suddenly found the hero zooming all around him, vigorously observing him from every angle with glee. "This the troublemaker you're watching over? He so doesn't seem like one."

"Yes," Aizawa replied, stoic as ever. "This is him. His name's Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya, as I'm sure you know, this is Ms. Joke. Keep caution around her, or you'll regret it."

Ms. Joke playfully hit Aizawa's arm. "Oh, please. That was one time. And it wasn't my fault!"

"Mhm." Aizawa sat down right next to Izuku.

Ms. Joke, meanwhile, took a seat directly behind them. However, this didn't prevent her from beginning a conversation, and immediately dragging Izuku in.

"So, you're the kid giving Eraser even more bags under his eyes, eh?" Ms. Joke laughed. "I've got to say, I'm impressed!" She held her hand out. "Nice to meet you, Midoriya!"

Izuku shook her hand, and felt a small tingle run along the length of his body. Ms. Joke herself had a blue aura surrounding her own body. A telltale of her using her quirk, Outburst. Ms. Joke immediately began laughing herself off. However, that changed when she noticed her target continuing to stare blankly at her. She quirked an eyebrow at Izuku. 

"You're not laughing? Weird." 

She turned to Aizawa, raising a hand between her mouth and Izuku.

"You've definitely got a strange kid, Eraser. He didn't laugh at all! There aren't too many people who haven't laughed at me before!" The words were said with the general makeup as a whisper, but definitely loud enough to be heard by Izuku with his own ears. It was plain as day that she was joking around.

After her mini rant, Aizawa turned a lazy eye toward Ms. Joke. "Right."

Aizawa turned back towards Izuku, a sudden unsettling smile appearing on his face. "We still haven't talked about your punishments, have we?"

"Uh…" Izuku let out a broken laugh. "No. At least, not the full extent of it, Aizawa-sensei. I've only done those two hundred laps so far."

Aizawa nodded. "It's a good thing you remembered. You'll continue with that until the next month. But I'm feeling generous, so I'll cut it down to seventy-five laps a day."

"Sheesh, Eraser. That's a bit harsh, ain't it?" Ms. Joke questioned, butting in and planted herself between the two. "What'd the kid do? Rob a bank or something?"

"Yes." Aizawa didn't waste any time contemplating the question.

"Hey!" Izuku exclaimed. "I did not! You guys just caught me while I was out on pa—"

A carbon-alloy fibrous cloth suddenly found its way around Izuku's mouth, effectively silencing him. Aizawa gave him a look before letting him go.

"Also, you're getting cleaning duty for the next two months. I expect the entire dorm to be spotless until then."

"Of course, Aizawa-sensei!"

Aizawa nodded. "Also—"

The stadium's buzzers rang out, signifying the end of the first round. Izuku took it as his chance. 

"Right!" Izuku abruptly stood up. "Sorry Aizawa-sensei, but I need to use the restroom. I've been waiting for the end of the round so I could. We'll continue talking later." He immediately sped off without glancing back.

Once he was far enough away and out of Aizawa's sight, Izuku slowed down, letting out a sigh of relief. He didn't actually need to go — he just really just wanted to get away from Aizawa.

He was a little ways away from the restroom, somewhere that ranged at around a minute or two walk from his seat. He could take his time before having to return.

"Nice one. Very subtle."

"Hey!" Izuku whined. "Aizawa's scary, you know."

"Mhm. There are scarier things than him."

"And I'm not saying there aren't. I've already had to fight things like that. Like the league. Or their nomu."

"Oh yes, that monster. I've got to say, you did quite well during that attack. Much better than I did against my first encounter with a strengthened hyper regenerator, at least."

"You're telling me that you went against something similar to that USJ nomu before?"

He finally arrived at the restroom. He swung the door open with little grace, having checked beforehand with his bugs and finding the place devoid of human life.

"We did. Though Lung was a bit smarter. And objectively stronger."

Walking in, Izuku walked himself to the sink. The mirror revealed a few bags under Izuku's eyes; nothing too noticeable, but present none the same.

The training sessions and tests demanded by him by the police took a lot from him, and paired with his normal school studies and Aizawa's punishments it was becoming a bit overbearing.

A quick turn of the faucet later and Izuku was reinvigorated as the sting of cold water met his face.

"I wonder how the others are going to do," Izuku wondered aloud. "1-B doesn't start their own until 3:00, and their all the way in Osaka."

"I actually think that they'll do better than your class. They have more team synergy than your class does."

"You think?" Izuku thought on. He turned the faucet off and went to dry himself off. "I suppose that I can see where you're coming from. They don't really have someone like Bakugo. The closest thing to that would be Monoma, and even he has the sense of the importance of team… work."

Izuku paused. 

His bugs had spotted an odd peculiarity. There was a girl. She had brown eyes and brown shoulder length hair, a Shiketsu cap adorned on her head, and a slim balck bodysuit. She whistled a merry tune as she walked, her head bobbing side to side.

As with everyone else, Izuku had been tracking her with his bugs. And normally, she wasn't someone Izuku would have taken note of. The problem was that she had just entered the restroom that Izuku was in. The male's restroom.

QA noticed too, if her silence was anything to go by.

Izuku turned to face the stranger. "Uh… Hi?"

The girl ignored him and instead went up to one of the sinks and looked into the mirror. She took out a bottle of perfume and began spraying herself with it, the green fumes filling the air.

"Umm…" Izuku said slowly, "I'm not sure if you noticed, but this is actually the guy's restroom." Izuku quickly jerked his hands up. "Or maybe you did! And you just, um…" Izuku turned away. 

The girl suddenly turned his way. "Oh, I know that, Izuku!" 

Izuku stilled. She knew his name…

And then he began coughing, almost taking on the urge to hurl right where he was. He shook his head, eyeing his surroundings. It was the perfume.

The girl was already spraying more of the stuff by the door. "Sorry 'bout that!" the girl chirped. Then she threw the rest, the glass shattering once it reached the single overhead vent in the room. "Caustic's stuff can really stink when he wants it to, huh?"

"The shapeshifter!"

Izuku's arm moved by instinct, snapping in position to catch his attacker's arm. The girl's arm stayed firm where it was, preventing it and her own knife from plunging into Izuku's eye.

The still-disguised Toga smiled. "Nice catch, Izuku."

Izuku pushed back, launching Toga a fair distance away. Izuku himself swiftly bent down and reached down for his ankle, retrieving one of the more recent additions of his arsenal. After a quick unfastening of a strap, a glistening knife flashed into the open air, Izuku taking a ready stance.

He reached out for his bugs, but found them to be of no use. Toga had planned ahead, and with the vent and her own body being covered in Caustic's ooze, she was utterly immune to his bugs at the moment.

"What do you want, Toga?" Izuku asked, not relaxing from his stance.

Toga smiled. "What do I want?" She pointed her knife to her own mouth as if pondering the question. Her toothy smile widened. "Can't I just want to be here with you?"

Izuku shivered. Her voice was tinged in obsession as per usual.

The two began circling around each other, eyes tranced and focused on the other ready for the other to pounce.

Izuku made the first move, dashing forward aiming to strike Toga down. Toga, quite predictably, parried the knife and went in for a counter. Izuku swiped and parried back, a sea of sparks flaring between the two.

"Aren't these little meetups fun?" asked Toga, her eyes shining in mischief. She kicked forward, pushing Izuku back in a huff of air.

Izuku shook his head in frustration, reorienting himself in preparation for an attack. However, it didn't come. Toga simply stayed where she was, smiling at him.

"Okay, seriously. What do you want?" Izuku pointed his knife at her.

"You can't use your bugs, so just go in for the kill. She's been too much of a needle in our side for too long."

Izuku ignored QA. 

Toga relaxed her stance, lowering her knife. Izuku didn't reciprocate. 

"I just wanted to have some fun before I left. Is that so hard to believe?"

Honestly, no. Izuku found that easily believable.

"And why exactly are you here for?" Izuku asked, eyes narrowing. "I had my bugs on you the entire first round. I wasn't watching you specifically per say, but I did notice you a couple times. Why are you even taking that form and taking the test?"

Toga giggled. "That's a secret." 

Izuku picked up some movement with his bugs. Aizawa was coming his way. The sight of his teacher brought something upon his mind. Stupid! Why didn't I just alert Aizawa in the first place?!? He'd be here by now if I had!

He decided to remedy the situation. He focused on his connection to his bugs, forming a small swarm to alert his wayward teacher.

"Ah, ah ah," Toga singsonged, wagging a finger in Izuku's direction. Izuku himself halted his swarm.

"What?" Izuku asked, ready to spring his bugs and alert Aizawa at any moment. 

Toga reached behind towards her waist. Toga didn't take out a weapon. Instead, her hand clutched a small batch of vials. 

Izuku stilled. If anything, the sight of those vials was even worse than a weapon.

"You wouldn't want me to use these, would you?" She shook the vials, the blood within swishing along the walls of the vial. "I can frame your friends for all kinds of things."

"Whose blood did you get?" Izuku stepped forward.

Toga swiped her hand away. "No touching, Izuku," she giggled again. 

Aizawa was still a minute or so away. He wasn't making any effort to get to the restroom in a hurry.

Izuku growled. "And why shouldn't I just knock those out of your hands right now?"

Toga twirled her knife around in the hand that was absent of vials. "Because then I'll use the ones that I stashed away. And then I'll just call Kurogiri to warp me out. I've been standing in the same location for a good amount of time. He already has my coordinates."

Was it possible? Did Toga have the time to hide away extra vials? He hadn't been watching her the entire time of course, not when he didn't have a reason to be suspicious of her. But she likely wasn't bluffing about Kurogiri. His range wasn't a known factor, afterall.

"If you let me go nicely," Toga continued, "I'll reconsider. I'll just use the vials in case of emergency, or if the situation is dire enough."

Aizawa was still a ways away. Izuku needed to stall. "Nobody would believe that they did whatever things you're planning to do."

A glint entered her eyes. "But the stain on their reputation would last. And people will always wonder when they see them, 'is that kid really that psycho I saw on t.v.?'"

Did Izuku want to risk that? Did he dare risk his friends to capture Toga? How much of their public image would be at risk, anyways?

"Tick tock!" She exclaimed. "If you don't make a decision soon I'll just default to the harsher option!"

"What?! How is that—" Izuku stopped himself

"And," Toga added, "if Mr. Eraser comes barging in here, I'll know that you tattled." 

Aizawa wasn't getting any closer. After a few moments hesitation, Izuku sighed. "Fine. Just go."

Toga's face blossomed in joy. "Really! Thanks Izuku!" She turned her back towards him and grabbed the door, holding it slightly ajar. Before she left, however, she spared one last glance at Izuku. "Hope we can play again soon! I just love how your blood tastes, you know." She licked her lips and left.

The silence of the restroom stretched for what seemed like hours.

"Damnit."

"Yeah." 

The door to the restroom finally opened with an audible creak. "Midoriya, what—" Aizawa's words came to an abrupt halt. He came into view in the doorway, the sleeve of his arm covering his nose. 

"What's with this smell?"

Izuku's eyes widened. "Oh! Uh… sorry, Aizawa-sensei. Something I ate didn't agree well with my stomach."

"Mhm." Aizawa's hummed, his eyes narrowing. They shifted down to Izuku's arm. "And what's with that cut?"

Izuku furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. It was only then, as Aizawa mentioned it, that Izuku noticed a small trail of blood seeping out of a small incision on his arm.

Huh. Didn't even notice it. Guess she actually got another taste today.

"And what's with the knife?" Aizawa's voice rang out again, this time much more serious.

"W-wha—?" Izuku noticed that he was still clutching his knife in his hands. His eyes widened in realization.

"I—it's, It's not what it looks like! I just… I was… There was a leech! And it was a little hungry. So I fed it."

Aizawa blinked. "And where's this leech now?"

"I already dragged it down the sink," Izuku immediately replied.

"Hmm." Aizawa glared at Izuku, his eyes reaching deep for any hint of deception.

Aizawa turned. "Fine. Hurry it up in here, then. The second round's about to start." The door swung open and closed, again leaving Izuku to be the only physical person left in the restroom.

Izuku sagged his shoulders. "Why'd he have to take so long getting here?"

Further away, his bugs were trailing Toga, just outside of the stench that covered her body. Suddenly she stopped. She eyed one of Izuku's lone bugs and smiled.

"Bye Izuku! I'll see you next time!" And she faded away, merged and consumed by a swirling black mist.

Notes:

And that's that. More things and stuff. Not much else to tell. Also, sorry if this chapter's a bit later than usual. Had some stuff going on. But hey, it's still Sunday, so It's still on time.