3

"You move too slowly, Midoriya." A swipe was made at his legs, barely dodged in lieu of their swiftness.

"I try, sensei." A strike made towards the older man's arms, deflected effortlessly with the appearance of two well placed sticks.

"Indeed you try, but is it enough?" The master wove in through his student's left side, then to his right, creating an endless onslaught of clashes that the younger boy was barely able to escape. A single swipe made through — again, at the legs. Izuku fell to the floor.

A deep, gasping breath, came from the exhausted boy. His sparring partner, on the other hand, stood with an aura of calm - no fatigue apparent in his stature.

"Good job, Midoriya," said Kawabata. "That was ten seconds longer than your record. Five hundred more and I think you'll be ready to face down a common thug."

Izuke chortled. "Very funny, sensei." 

"Thank you, Izuku. Nice to know that this elderly man can still entertain his students even after all these years."

The two were the only people present at the dojo at the moment, the others having fallen for the sensei's supposed cancelation of the day's session. Izuku didn't fall for the ruse for one second.

Izuku got up and began to clean up, their session having come to an end. Even so, there was something he'd been thinking of for the past few days. If anything, now — with him and sensei alone — was the best time to bring it up.

"Sensei," voiced Izuku, "I…" he paused.

"Yes?" asked Kawabata.

"Well, you see… I— Never mind."

"Tsk-tsk-tsk. That won't do. What was lesson number three again, Izuku?"

"Hesitation won't do you any good in combat, Kawabata-sensei."

"Precisely. Now, let's just picture your thoughts as a battlefield, something of which wouldn't say is too far from the truth, given from your mannerisms." Izuku shied away and smiled, not really refuting the claims. "What is it you want to tell me?"

Izuku stood silent for a few moments. Do I really want to tell him? Sure, he'd probably know just how to solve it, or if anything was wrong at all, or if it was just him. But to say it out loud? Well...

He eventually revealed his thoughts. "It's just… I've been here for awhile now, sensei, and I feel like… like… I feel like I've stagnated. I've practiced day in and day out, yet I feel like it's not enough. Will I be ready? Will they accept me? Can I still be a hero? Even without my… my—

The click-clack of two wooden sticks disrupted Izuku. Kawabata shook his head. "You and your muttering."

The teacher stared at his student, his stance shifting from martial artist master back to that of a simple old man. The only thing that stood out were his crossed arms. He eventually spoke.

"In all seriousness, Midoriya, the year and a half that you've spent here has done wonders to your body. What was once a feeble, flimsy stick is now an elegant, sturdy bokken. In fact, a few more months and you just may be able to match up to my nephew. And he's been training since he was four! Your drive and spirit truly inspire me, Midoriya, and don't you forget it."

Izuku gulped in hesitation, almost unsure. "I… thank you, Kawabata-sensei."

The older man nodded. "And thank you. You've made me realize something, Midoriya. I've ignored how your life goes on outside these walls for awhile now, focusing on your drive and will in our sessions. I've blinded myself to one side of your problem. And if I'm not mistaken, you have very little of a personal life outside of training at this point, if any at all. If anything, you need to calm down and relax. You are still a kid, afterall."

One of Izuku's eyebrows rose in question. "Meaning…"

"Don't attend any sessions for a week."

Both eyebrows shot up this time. "But sensei! I—"

"Nope," the older man cut in. "Think this as a part of your training. Break it, and the deal is off. Got it?"

Midoriya furiously shook his head.

"Good. You need to learn that training isn't all there is to life. Even with your circumstances. So go out; have fun. Be with your friends, or something. I don't care really. Just don't stress yourself out over physical training."

"Yes, sensei."

It'd been two days since his sensei had forbidden him from training. Two days void of the exhausting effort he had grown used to. It almost had felt as if he was wasting time, time he could spend bettering himself — preparing to be a hero.

But he had his quirk, at least. That was something he could still train, something his sensei hadn't prohibited him from using.

He still felt bad for lying to his sensei about his supposed quirklessness. He'd gotten in to the dojo because his sensei believed in his drive to become a hero without a quirk. And behind his sensei's back he was using said quirk to engage in vigilante activities.

But a necessary action, Izuku reminded himself. Bugs were not welcomed by society. Mounds of maggots in food, infestations of cockroaches in a home; his quirk would bring too many reminders to such horrors. People wouldn't accept him.

Besides, with the way things are going now I could just juggle around two personas. My hero identity, and a vigilante one.

Izuku brushed away his hair from his face. It was a lot longer than it had been before, something he'd decided due to its given benefit to his quirk.

He was walking around the city again, donning the shades and cane to emulate the blind. But he was not in search of any crimes, this time. He was in search for something else entirely — golden orb weavers, to be exact. He'd only found two of the spiders around his apartment when he checked. They wouldn't be enough, considering what he was planning to do with them.

He walked forward through the sidewalk, weaving through the people as they passed by.

A hive of hornets… Some flys, some maggots… Aha! There we are. One golden orb coming rig—

Izuku felt himself fall over. He'd tripped over… something; it felt kind of fleshy though. A person then. He felt for his face; the shaded glasses were fine, it seemed. A couple insects responded to his brief pain. He pushed them away.

"Ah! I'm so sorry! That was my completely fault, just crouching on the sidewalk like that. Here, let me get you up."

A hand came into view. Izuku took it and hoisted himself up. The hand was attached to what seemed to be… a speech bubble. Huh?

" So sorry. Look at me, causing a hazard for the blind. Are you okay? Nothing broken anywhere?" The boy's head grew and shrunk in size, the circular white bubble doing little to hide his levels of distress.

Wow, must be his quirk then. But a simple bubble head? Probably not. It must have some sort of other use, then. Text display, perhaps? That would serve a lot of uses in education and such. I wonder how durable the thing is. Can it withstand more harm than a regular head can? Is it weaker? Maybe it could act a—

"Ahem." It was the bubble head boy.

Ah shoot. He was mumbling. Again. And I'm still doing it. Perhaps I should—

"Uh… sorry," Izuku said. "I just, get sort of excited whenever I see a new quirk. Yours just turns out to match all the criteria of 'uniqueness'. Sorry about that."

The boy made a sound that indicated a smile. "No worries, I don't mind. But, if anything, we should be focusing on you."

"Me?" asked Izuku.

"Yeah! You fell over! And it's all my fault! There wasn't any way you could have seen me, and I was just crouching there in the middle of the sidewalk. A complete hazard for someone blind!"

Huh? Blind? What does he mean tha—

"Oh!" Izuku gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not, uhm, I'm not... blind, actually."

"Oh," the unnamed boy tilted his head. "Then what's with the whole…" He motioned the glasses. And the cane.

"It— It's uh, it's because of my quirk, actually."

"Oh?" he voiced in confusion. "What kind of quirk would make you need to look like a blind person? Seems like a weird sort of necessity, I mean. No offense."

Izuku swayed his feet in place. "Well… I—" I what? Control bugs? Yeah, I can order each insect individually if I wanted. I can see through them, too. Then, I could make the insects crawl into your orifices as you sleep, or ensure botflies find just the right place to—

" I'd… I'd rather not say."

"Oh." A pregnant pause. "Well, that's fine then." The boy held his arm out. "In that case, my name is Manga Fukidashi, and my quirk is Comic! I'm sorry for making you fall over."

"No, no! It's fine." Izuku looked at the outstretched hand. He slowly went to grab it. He shook the hand. "It's my fault anyway, Fukidashi-san. I— I wasn't paying attention. I'm, uh, Midoriya, by the way. Izuku Midoriya."

Fukidashi crossed his arms in an 'X' shape. "Uh-uh. Nope! None of that, Midoriya."

What? Did I do something wrong? Already? "I—"

"None of that 'Fukidashi-san' stuff. We're friends now, and I'll only accept the usage of my first name from now on."

Izuku blinked. Friends? Is he—really... "Well, I… uh," deep breaths. "In that case, Manga," said boy rose two thumbs up, "it's nice to meet you. And, uh... I'm sorry for running into you."

"Ah, it's no problem man. Just a common mistake. I know how quirks can be."

Izuku shook his head, "But that doesn't excus —"

"Alright, alright," Manga interrupted. "How 'bout this. I'm kinda new to the neighborhood, just moved in actually. You can show me around the city. You know, show me all the cool places you know of. What'd you say?"

Sh—show him around? Like… like, hanging out? And he said we were... friends? He… nobody wanted to just hang out with him. Not after he learned he was quirkless. Perhaps...

"I, uh, yes, Manga." He opened his pack and placed his 'blind man's costume' into it. "Come over this way, I know this really cool ice cream parlor over yonder…"

The spiders could wait, I suppose.

"How did you discover such a good ice cream place, Izuku?" questioned Manga as he dug into brownie fudge sundae.

The two were currently in the ice cream parlour Izuku utilized during his first stakeout. It'd taken a few hours to get there, considering the detours they had ended up taking to several shopping places and a few parks. They eventually reached their original destination, however, and both were pretty tired by the time they got there. They voted to take up some ice cream.

Meanwhile, Izuku was watching in fascination. He was wondering if taking Manga to a place to eat was a good idea. After all, as far as he could tell, Manga lacked a mouth. Either that or the boy across from him simply didn't need to eat, or had some other way of doing so. But seeing him now, well, it was fairly interesting seei —

"Your doing it again, Izuku."

"Ah!" the green headed boy was shaken from his thoughts. "Uh, sorry again, Manga."

The head shook in response, the thin base swirling it left to right. "Like I said a while ago, no worries. If anything, the muttering is really you. Fits you very well, I think."

And there we are again. A first. He didn't think there was anything wrong with my muttering. The other kids back at school always found him weird for it. But Manga, here, he...

"Thank you. That… that means a lot to me, Fukidashi-san."

"Uh-uh!" This time, a giant red 'X' appeared in his head. "Manga, remember?"

"Of course." Izuku smiled." Thank you, Manga."

It was already late in the evening by the time the two had reached Manga's house, the sun just beginning to set down upon the horizon. Izuku hadn't noticed the time at first, only realizing when he'd gotten in front of the door.

He ended up calling his mom with the Fukidashi's phone, relieving her worries when he said he was at a friend's house. Fortunately for Izuku, Manga's family wasn't home at the moment right then; he wasn't really sure how he felt meeting new people, after all. Manga was already enough for the day.

He went to leave, even though Manga insisted that he could stay over. He declined - after all, he still had a couple passengers on him that he didn't want to leave lying about where they could be found as he slept.

And so, when the door of the Fukidashi residence closed, Izuku was left in the dark. It was a first, Izuku had never been out so late before while alone. It was a truly new experience. In fact, all things considering, he was rather interested in the nighttime atmosphere.

I suppose I could explore for a bit. Go and get those spiders from earlier, too. I have time.

He started off in the general direction of home, albeit very slowly. His insects scouted out ahead to watch for any dangers. He eventually turned upon the corner where he had gathered three golden orb weavers. The spiders descended upon him from a second-story window sill. Upon reaching him, they settled on his hair, the long strands acting sufficiently to hide them in plain sight. They joined the twenty or so others that had been hidden in his bush of a haircut that had been there the entire day.

Izuku had grown more comfortable to the presence of insects since he had gotten his quirk; a factor he believed was inevitable due to the intimacy that he would have with the insects that shared his mindspace. For months, they were his only friends. The insects in his hair were no exception, and even acted as a wayward comfort — a means of protection if he really required it.

But now that he had met Manga… Well, at least he now had a friend he could talk back and forth with. And all thanks to sensei, too. I guess I know what he meant now, and why he didn't want me to be practicing martial arts all the time.

Spiders safely secured, he walked home.

Or he would of, if if his insects hadn't taken a whiff of gunpowder about half a block away. His insects gravitated toward the area. What he saw made him stop in place.

A mugging. There was a man, based on the burly build the insects had seen. He was holding a woman against the wall of an alleyway. Where were the heroes? Was there nobody nearby? A gun glistened in the moonlight.

A Gun? Shoot! I need to get over there, quick! He took a step forward, but stopped himself.

I… Interfering with the crime itself? That was vigilantism. He shook his head. But he'd already done that - just, just not with his physical body itself. Could he reall — The gun cocked.

He began sprinting toward the direction of the crime. He then quickly open up his pack to the section that wasn't filled with stuff. He shoved the bag over his head. Need to remain unidentifiable. And I can still see with my bugs, after all.

He came upon the scene with his own eyes. Both figures glanced in his direction. Oh shoot. Spotted already. Should of thought this through a little more.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing here, punk! Can't you see I'm a little busy?" yelled the man. Izuku ensured he and all his bugs kept their eyes on the man.

Did he really think I would just go away as if nothing was happening?

"Hey! What did I just say? Why you still here?" the man yelled. The woman quivered in his hold.

Apparently so. He went to grab for his eskrima sticks at his waist. But… they weren't there. Shoot, I forgot. I don't have my things with me.  

"Ah, hell. How's your quirk canceling mine out?" Canceling out? What does he mea — The gun was then pointed in his direction. Izuku froze.

"Look here, punk. I've been stalking these streets for years, and not once have I been caught!" A single hornet landed on his hand. "And I'm not gonna let som— What the?" He looked at his hand. "Holy—" The man flailed his hand around, dislodging the hornet. The gun was also sent flying to the ground.

Izuku didn't waste any time. He placed a fly on each of the man's limbs and ran up to him. The thug provided a rudimentary defense against Izuku's Muay Thai, barely blocking the blows laid to his sides. But the bugs allowed Izuku to predict the man's movements and block the oncoming attacks. Izuku then sweep at the criminal's feet. The man tumbled.

Izuku placed all his focus on the fallen man then. He went for his opponent, planning t—

What was I doing, again? He felt a hit to his side. He fell over.

What happened? He was on the ground, splayed before the man he had just tripped up.

"Strange," mused the man." My quirk worked then. Why didn't it a while ago?" The man stopped before Izuku. "Eh, no matter. A single man isn't going to stop me now. I've been on these streets for years, picking off of the innocents one by one. Easy targets, they are." The man took out a knife.

A— A knife. Shoot. No way that I can get up in time, to move, or do something to— "Bugs! I can —"

"Now, why don't you just lay there while I—Gah!"

The man fell over, his head having been hit by a heavy bag It was the woman from earlier. She hit the man over the head a couple more times.

Izuku blinked. The woman eventually turned to him, and helped him up. "I… Thank you for that," voiced Izuku.

"You kidding?" asked the woman. "If anything, I should be thanking you. He caught me by surprise and then blamo! He had me against the wall. Don't know how I didn't hear him coming, though. I should have been, given my ears," she pointed, the ears no doubt enlarged due to her quirk. "Anyways, thanks, uhm… Who are you anyways? Bag-head-man or something?"

Ah shoot. Still being a vigilante, right now. "I, uh, gotta go. Crime to fight and stuff!" Izuku ran off again, making as much distance as he could from the scene.

That was a close one. That guy, he almost...

Izuku hid himself into another alley. He made sure he wasn't being followed by spreading all of his bugs everywhere. Thankfully, he wasn't. He removed the bag from his head.

I... I just saved someone. I know that I really shouldn't have, that maybe I should have just called the police, just maybe. I almost died, even, but… That was kind of… exhilarating, actually. Izuku shook his head and slapped his cheeks.

Get it together. Still need to get home, after all. Izuku hoisted himself up. He shook his head. I need more practice after all.

Izuku walked on home, and didn't stop until he reached his bed.

 A couple more days later had Izuku inside the dojo, training away with his peers and his sensei.

"Thank you, Kawabata-sensei," voiced Izuku. "I understand now why you wanted me to refrain from martial arts for a week."

Kawabata-sensei smiled. "What did I tell you? People your age need more than just work, after all." The man took up a stance.

"Did you learn anything about yourself, Izuku?"

"Plenty, sensei. There was so much I didn't really get until the last week."

"Good. Now, get ready. Your stance is all off. You'd easily fall to a two-bit thug."

Izuku smiled. "Of course, sensei."

Notes:

And there closes the curtain on chapter three of Flight of the Dragonfly. How are Izuku's extracurricular outings going to be influencing things? Well, for now you'll just have to wait and see. Next time we'll be focusing on matters closer to home, and yet another new arrival to the story's center stage.

And just as a reminder, any characters, setting, or ideas of the web serial Worm don't belong to me, but are delegated to its author John C. McCrae.

'Till next time everyone. Ciao!