Chapter 10

Quirk Research Journal, entry no. 1,751

Losing to Momo and Aoyama during the battle training burned a little, but on the bright side of things I learned another key limitation of my quirk—namely, the fact that it doesn't seem to react to energy-based attacks, even ones that have concussive force. This is a pretty big weakness, and as such I should do my best to figure out a way to cover it. I've also decided to test for other possible weaknesses or exceptions to my quirk going forward; thankfully, it's the weekend, so I have a couple of days before the USJ incident is scheduled to occur. Still not as much time as I'd like, and probably not enough time to develop any real protection against the energy weakness, but the more knowledge the better.

Knowing mom would probably have a bit of a freakout if she realized I was experimenting with ways to hurt myself, I decided to hold the experiments on the beach as Izuku worked out with All-Might...

"Okay, test one: fire and/or heat. Fire and heat involve some level of kinetic energy reactions, so if any exception to the energy weakness exists it would likely be here."

Setting my phone on the tripod so it could continue recording me, I turned on the small portable stove and waited for it to get good and hot.

"First, control measurement," I said, punching the portable bag I had made with the measuring equipment inside five times. "Control is... over five punches, average 150j. Starting test, heat without flame."

I then turned to the portable stove and held my hand over it, slowly bringing it closer until I felt enough heat that I didn't want to go further. I didn't feel anything with my quirk, but just to be safe I held my hand there for roughly three minutes before punching the bag again.

"Hmm... 150j. No change, though that's no surprise."

I casually looked over at Izuku and All-Might as the former did some basic exercises while the latter guided him. Izuku had come a long way since Junior High; he had a little more confidence than in canon before getting One for All, but he had still been rather submissive to Bakugo. Once he got it, though, the difference was night and day, and already he had made far more progress than in canon.

Who knows, he might be ready to go for Full Cowling before the sports festival.

All the more reason for me to work on my own quirk; I knew that eventually Izuku would leave everyone in the dust in terms of raw power, myself included, but I didn't intend to let that be an excuse to not increase and improve my own quirk to its logical limits and beyond. I repeated the stovetop experiment a couple of more times just to make sure, getting the same results as before. With that out of the way, I turned the portable stove off and moved to a small firepit I'd made in the sand with various bits of tinder; after igniting it with the aid of a lighter, I began the next test.

"Heat with flame..."

As I held my hands over the fire, I felt the same lack of energy gain, confirmed when the control numbers didn't change. Sighing, I put out the fire with a bucket of water, then turned off the phone.

Quirk Research Journal, entry no. 1,752

One of the more frustrating limitations in trying to understand my weakness to energy-based attacks is that there's no real way to replicate anything beyond just basic fire. Aoyama's navel laser didn't give me anything, but while I would definitely bet that the same will apply to other forms of energy, science doesn't operate on assumptions. I can't definitively state that the weakness extends to all forms of energy without further testing, but again there's not exactly any way to test it. With that in mind, I'm focusing on designing a defense based around the assumption just in case; I can't make the materials on my own—I'll need the help of the support class for that—but I can at least get some designs jotted down.

The first and most obvious solution is some sort of ablative material that will "burn away" upon being struck by energy attacks; I've read some interesting things about (theoretical) regenerative ablative material in hero science magazines, and odds are Mei Hatsume will have some idea of how to make something like that if poss—

"Ow!"

I winced in pain and stuck my finger in my mouth; suddenly, having a minor epiphany, I took it out and looked at the papercut.

...possible. Also, I think I just discovered another potential weakness, one that I might be able to fix more readily.

Quirk Research Journal, entry no. 1,753

As I suspected based on the papercut and from further testing, it seems my quirk doesn't protect me from cutting attacks; in the event I encounter Stain (I have a few ideas on how to head that particular problem off at the pass), that'll be a serious issue. As such, I decided on a workable defense: cloth padding lining my costume. If gambeson armor worked in the days of swords, it'll work for me. While I obviously I can't go for the full thickness at the moment without potentially sacrificing my mobility—I'll have to trust in my ability to dodge for now and avoid direct hits—it should give me just enough protection until I can meet Hatsume and get some form of Kevlar or something. Getting the fabric is simple enough—there's a crafting store in Shibuya that caught my eye and should have what I need—but actually making the alterations to my costume will most likely consume the entire rest of the weekend.

There's one last issue that cost me the match against Momo and Aoyama: a lack of tactical skill and knowledge. Of course, going up against the best tactician in 1-A didn't help, but there is absolutely a ton of room for improvement on my end. I've asked All-Might to give Izuku and I some pointers on tactics, and checked out several books from the local library (holy cow, I've been here for six years and it still blows my mind that they still have those in this day and age) involving strategy. None of that will really help as much as actual experience will, but it should provide a basic level of general understanding that I can build off of in the future. I can't afford to get sloppy, not with so many bad things looming ahead.

As I left the school lunch line and looked for wherever Izuku was in the cafeteria, I was interrupted by a familiar voice:

"KEIKKUN~! Over here, come sit with us!"

Looking in the direction of the shout, I saw that it belonged to none other than Ashido, who was waving at me with a huge smile on her face; next to her sat Momo and Jiro, both of whom seemed slightly embarrassed by the ever-excitable pink girl. Across from them sat Kirishima and Kaminari, the former of which was waving as well. I briefly entertained continuing my search for my adoptive brother before deciding to accept the invitation; it made sense to get to know my fellow classmates better after all (well, more like getting them to know me, since I recalled their personalities in the anime). Seeing an open spot across from Momo, I slid in next to Kirishima and sat down with my tray as Ashido continued her best impression of a chipmunk on a caffeine overload.

"So how's it going, Keikkun? Where's Izukkun? Ooh, what did you get for lunch—"

"Before you go any further," Jiro said, "maybe you should ask if he's actually okay with that nickname you gave him."

Ashido turned to look at the punk rock girl as if she were insane. "Whaaat? But it's such a cute nickname..."

I chuckled nervously. "Hey, it's alright, I don't mind. I've honestly never had a nickname before, anyway."

The pink girl beamed at me before turning back to Jiro. "See? He's fine with it!... OOH WAIT! I just thought of something even better!"

Before anyone could interrupt, she pointed at me before pointing at my two fellow guys in turn. "Casey—Keikkun... Kaminari... and Kirishima! Two of you have a 'K' in your names if you write them in English letters, and Casey written in Japanese starts with 'Kei'!"

Oh, please don't suggest what I suspect you are...

"KEI-KEI-KEI!"

it took every ounce of strength I had not to facepalm at that. Before I could explain the issue with it, Momo spoke up for me. "Umm... Ashido, I don't think that's a good name, considering it's also the name of a terrorist organization from the 20th and 21st centuries."

Kirishima looked at her in confusion. "Huh? Where'd you learn that?"

"From a history book. I read a lot. Heck, I spend a lot of time at the library—"

I found myself leaning in a bit at that. "Wait, you too? I thought I was the only one here who still hung out there..."

She smiled happily. "Of course! Why restrict your studies to school when there's so much more to learn out there?"

Kaminari rolled his eyes a bit. "Because there's so much better to do with your time off..."

"Like what?" I asked.

"Well, on weekends I usually head to Shimokitazawa* and check out the concert venues there; They usually have some pretty decent music playing every night."

"I've never really spent that much time in that area," I said. "What sort of music do you like?"

"Electronic stuff, rave music, things like that."

It was now Jiro's turn to roll her eyes. "Hmph. I prefer the rock venues, especially the ones playing covers of 20th-century stuff."

"Wait," Kaminari blinked, "isn't that stuff, like, super-old?"

Jiro's response was a slap to the face via her earlobes. "Don't disrespect the classics! If you'd listened to X's** earlier stuff before they lost Taiji, or even western groups like the Clash, you'd ditch your mass-marketed crap in a heartbeat."

"Holy crap," I said, "You just named one of my favorite metal bands and one of my favorite punk bands."

She looked at me with a mix of surprise and suspicion. "Yeah? Or are you just saying that? If you're such a fan, what are your favorite songs of theirs?"

It took me zero seconds to respond. "'Sadistic Desire' for X, and every single song on 'London Calling' by the Clash."

That got a slight smirk. "Good taste on the first part, but 'Give 'em Enough Rope' was the better Clash album."

"SANKEI!"

All eyes turned back to Ashido, who had leapt out of her seat, thrusting her fist in the air with exaggerated drama. Momo was the first to respond. "...Were you spending this entire conversation trying to think up a new nickname?"

"Heehee~! Nah, I got most of it," Ashido said, sitting back down with a giggle before turning to me. "I'm surprised, though, Keikkun—you have kind of interesting tastes!"

Kirishima flashed his signature toothy grin as well. "Yeah, definitely! Metal is about as manly as music can get!"

Kaminari sighed a bit. "Well, I gotta admit, I like a little bit of rock here and there. They have a few venues around the Shimokitazawa area, too, but I haven't been to one in a long time. Maybe we should all go to one next weekend?"

Everyone nodded at the suggestion, though Jiro had one last remark. "Okay, fine, but I'm picking the venue—I don't trust Kaminari's taste."

Before the electric boy could retort, the school alarm blared; it didn't take me long to realize what it meant. Crap! I forgot about the infiltration thing! As everyone made their way to the doors in a panic, we found ourselves starting to feel the crush of the crowd. As the press of bodies started making things rather uncomfortable, I found myself looking around for a certain bespectacled student. Dammit, Iida, where are you?

To my surprise, it wasn't Iida who floated above the crowd, but Izuku; as he reached the ceiling, he pushed off and ran across the top of the crowd to the emergency exit, standing there confidently and shouting. "EVERYONE STAY CALM! IT'S JUST THE PRESS!"

No one was more shocked than me. I mean, I was aware of how much my brother had changed from canon and how much faster he'd progressed since gaining One for All, but this particular butterfly took me completely by surprise. Even more surprising was the stark difference between how he looked up there and how Iida looked in the anime and manga; whereas the latter looked super-awkward and kind of stupid up there, Izuku looked... well, the closest comparison I could think of right off-bat was that of a proud general standing above his loyal troops, giving confidence in a nervous moment. In short, he looked like a genuine leader. Like a hero.

Kirishima grinned widely before summing all that up in his own signature manner. "Wow, that's super-manly!"

Seeing Deku up there threw Bakugo for a loop once again; the words he'd heard during the battle training came back to him.

"From now on, Deku is the name of a hero!"

He felt a smoldering rage build, but for some bizarre reason he couldn't fathom, that rage seemed to slowly fizzle out the more he looked at the formerly-quirkless loser.

"Tch! He acts tough..." Bakugo averted his gaze and stoked his irritation again. That asshole...

More words from the battle training came to mind.

"I used to think you were amazing, Kacchan," The jerk had said. "I used to think your confidence was something to admire, but that was just because I didn't have any when it came to you, up until the moment I got my quirk. Even though Casey helped me, you were always so far ahead and above me that I was still scared of you... but as time went on, I started to see you for who you really are."

That part was infuriating enough; what came later on in the battle was worse.

"You want to be a hero, but you don't act like one! Even though you're perfectly capable of it! Deep down, you know it, too! And yet, you get angry when people don't give you real respect... if you want respect, start being worthy of it! IF YOU WANT TO BE A HERO, BE HEROIC!"

Bakugo had tried his best to tune out those words, but seeing Deku standing above everyone else brought them back; the thought of them stoked his anger again. That bastard! What the hell does he know? He's still a weakling...

That, above all else, became Bakugo's internal mantra for the rest of the day. And yet, it did nothing to drown out Deku's words.

Next up is the USJ arc, and the first genuine derail!

*Shimokitazawa is an entertainment and fashion district in Tokyo, known for its fashion shops and live concert venues. It seemed appropriate.

** Known outside of Japan as "X Japan" to differentiate them from the American punk band "X". Taiji Sawada was their bassist, and one of the most badass bassists ever to walk the earth.