57

Chapter 57: Skitter

A/N: This chapter of Flight of the Dragonfly presents to you a variety of things. From a little bit of the aftermath of Kentaro's proposal, to some small talk about ropes, and long-winded mutterings! Hope you all enjoy!

Izuku pushed the phone closer to his ear. "Are you sure that guys haven't found anything yet? You didn't miss anything? Skip over some sort of files? Asked all your informants? How about consultants? Maybe—"

"Midoriya," Kaniko interrupted, her voice sounding soft over the phone. "It's barely been over a week. There's a lot that we still need to go over. Unexplored leads, underground heroes, rumors and such, you know? You need to relax. Six months is plenty of time. Besides, wouldn't it be better if the Force took awhile before we find any results? I mean, unless you're saying that you're actually eager to take—"

"No!" Izuku exclaimed. "Of course I wouldn't be! I just…" Izuku sighed, slumping in his seat. He leaned his head onto the couch so that his eyes were viewing the ceiling of the common room.

"Look, Midoriya," Kaniko cut in. "I know that you're anxious. But let's face the facts. It doesn't matter when we find this elusive Nine, just as long as it's within the timeframe Kentaro set up for you."

"I— I know that, Kaniko."

"Then stop thinking about it!" Kaniko exclaimed. "Honestly! What was Edgeshot thinking? The Nine are dangerous; the body of that League member proves it! Edgeshot shouldn't have been bringing you and that Setsuna girl over to chase some psychopathic murder hobos, no matter how skilled you are! You wouldn't have gotten in this situation in the first place if he left you out of it!"

Izuku remembered some of the things QA had told him about Kentaro. "I… I'm not so sure about that. Kentaro probably would have come after me sooner or later. He specifically mentioned how he was interested in me, remember? If anything, it's better that everything happened this way. At least now The Nine don't have a reason to be literally storming UA's gates."

"Nobody could be that stupid. I mean, sure, the League did it, but it was far from UA's campus. Even someone like Kentaro would have enough sense not to attack a school of hero students head on?"

"I'm not too sure, honestly," QA added. "Jack's done worse in the past. If anything, he'd like the challenge; there weren't any schools specifically designed for heroes back on my Earth."

"Hmph. He might just be crazy enough to attempt it," Izuku told Kaniko.

"If you say so," Kaniko sighed. "Look, if we find anything, we'll tell you as fast as we're able to, okay? For now, try to keep your mind off Kentaro, The Nine and… Nine, alright? Your guys' culture festival is literally tomorrow! You should be worrying about that instead!"

"I'll try," Izuku said.

"You better," Kaniko ordered. "And you're sure that you're good? That cut healing alright?"

Upon its mention Izuku raided his hand, fingers lingering over the faint scar that had been left on his cheek. Recovery Girl had done the best that she could - Kentaro's cheek had gone all the way through his cheek, after all, and it took ages before Izuku had even been able to reach Recovery Girl for healing. All in all, most of the damage was able o be fixed, leaving behind only a faint reminder of what Kentaro had done.

"I'm doing fine, Kaniko. I promise."

Kaniko sighed. "If ya say so. Well, later, Midoriya. Stay safe, you here?" And with that, the call ended.

"She's right, you know. There's nothing that we can do right now, not unless we have some information on Nine suddenly appears on your lap."

Izuku sighed, closing his eyes. So what? I just sit here and do nothing?

"For now. If we end up getting too close to the deadline… Well, we could always go out, like you did before."

Under vigilante terms, you mean?

"Mhm."

Izuku went to rub his forehead. If we really need too, I will. But I don't really want to test how loosely the police are going to let me run around the streets again.

"Good. Just keep it in mind, at least. And just so you know, your friend—"

I know. I noticed… Thanks, though.

"Heh. Noticed, did you? Well, alright. I'll leave you to it."

Yeah…

"Ahem… Uh..."

Izuku opened his eyes and reoriented himself so that he could properly view the origin of the voice. "Yeah, Momo?" he asked.

Momo smiled, holding out a steaming cup towards Izuku. "Tea?"

Izuku smiled in return and took the offered cup. "Thanks."

Izuku took a long sniff of the heated beverage before taking a sip. "Golden Tips Imperial, eh?"

"Oh?" Momo took a seat beside Izuku, her own tea in hand. "You recognize it?" she asked, her face basked in delight.

Izuku let out a chuckle. "Yeah. Let's just say that… somebody's really rubbed off on me."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, idly drinking their tea. That is, until Mom decided to speak up.

"Are you sure that you should be having conversations with the police in the common room? Aren't they confidential?"

Izuku rose an eye. "Meaning…?"

"Well," Momo started," I mean, the others…"

"Ah," Izuku muttered in realization. It might have been late, but there were still a good number of his classmates in the common room. The festival was tomorrow, and the simple prospect of it had everybody in a restless frenzy.

There were a few still preparing for tomorrow, like Aoyama who was making extra checks on the equipment, but mostly everyone else was simply lounging around and socializing. A couple of said individuals had been nearby when Izuku had gotten his call from Kaniko, and they had ended up watching Izuku with something of a cross between worry and as his voice grew louder and more worried.

"It's fine," Izuku said, his voice tired. "It's nothing that you guys won't find out about eventually if everything ends up going how it's supposed to."

"Oh," Momo frowned. "And you're sure that it's nothing you can talk about now? Even if you say that we'll find out eventually?"

Izuku shook his head. "It's fine Momo, really. It's nothing to be worried about." Izuku took on a smile. "I've still got time."

"Ah! Mes excuses, Yaoyorozu!" Aoyama suddenly cut in, walking towards the duo with some rope in his hand.

"Yes, Aoyama?" Momo asked, taking a sip of her tea.

Aoyama stood before the two and held out the rope in his hands. "This rope that will be carrying moi tomorrow! And as you can see, it is rather frayed! If you wouldn't mind, could you make another?"

Momo took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Eventually, she nodded. "Of course, Aoyama. Just hold for a sec—"

"Ah, Momo!" Izuku interrupted. "Hold up!"

Momo paused. "Yes, Izuku?"

"You're pretty tired, aren't you?" Izuku asked. "You were already making a whole bunch of last minute supplies for the performance tomorrow, weren't you? Especially after Bakugou blew up a third drum set."

Momo chuckled. "It's fine, Izuku. Besides, you can't expect Aoyama to hang off of frayed rope, do you? Unless you're confident in your abilities to catch him in case he falls?"

"I uh… No, of course not… But still, you should be resting! The class needs every one of our star members in tip top shape! Especially you, Momo!"

"Star… member?" Momo mumbled. "But still, the rope—"

"Ah, but that's the thing," Izuku interrupted. "I have some rope in my room."

Kaminari — who was sitting on the next couch over — did a spit take of his own tea.

"You do?!" Momo exclaimed.

"Mhm. And their spider-silk ones, so they're extra sturdy."

"Oh,you mean like your costume?" Momo said in awe. "You wouldn't mind letting me see them sometime, would you? Some visualization would help if I try to make my own."

Izuku nodded. "Sure!"

"Great! I— Oh!" She turned back towards Aoyama. "Sorry, we got a little carried away there. But how about it? Are you fine with using Izuku's rope for the performance tomorrow?"

A bright smile appeared on Aoyoma's face. "Very much so! Spider silk isn't an easy-to-come-by material, after all! I'd loved to be held up in its graces!"

Momo nodded. She then attempted to take a sip of her tea, but looked down into her cup to find it empty. "Oh." She sighed. "Well, I suppose I should take your advice and head to bed tonight, Izuku."

Momo stood up and bid the rest of the remaining class a good night. A chorus of simple phrases rang out as Momo retreated to her room.

As she left, Izuku felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to find the hand belonging to Aoyama.

"Thank you, Midoriya. Much appreciated!" Aoyama winked, and then walked away.

Izuku himself furrowed his brows. What was that wink for?

"Why would you think that I know?"

Before Izuku could reply with a counter, Kaminari slid in the seat next to Izuku.

"You have rope in your room?!" Kaminari all but whispered.

Izuku blinked. "Umm… yeah?"

"And you just have them sitting in your room? For— for what reason, exactly?"

"Uh, well, I've been waiting to use it on someone—" Kaminari inhaled rather harshly "—and each coil has been custom made for my likes and needs."

"So, like, they're all fresh?"

Izuku nodded. "Yep. All ne— Oh, wait! That's right. I've used them on Bakugou a couple times—"

"You did what! I— Gah! Ow ow ow!" Kaminari was suddenly stabbed by two separate instances of ear jacks.

"Stop trying to misinterpret what Midoriya's saying on purpose, Kaminari," Jirou said.

Kaminari continued to squirm in place, still being attacked by Jirou. "Alright, alright! I give!"

Meanwhile, Izuku continued to look on in confusion. First Aoyama, and now Kaminari. What exactly are they trying to tell me?

Izuku swore that he heard what sounded like a chuckle from QA. Well, that and he could almost feel QA shrugging her metaphysical shoulders in response.

"Alright, are we all ready!?" Ashido asked, peering out to the dance crew. The chorus of 'yeahs!' that followed suit had Ashido jumping in joy.

"Alrighty then, awesome! Now everybody, just make sure that you all— hey! Wait a minute!" Her eyes focused in on a bundle of dark green and black hair further back behind the group. "Midoriya, what are you doing down here?"

Izuku jerked towards Ashido's voice. "Huh?"

Ashido had a knowing look on her face. "You were busy doing something with your bugs again, weren't you?"

"Um…" Izuku rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe?"

"Uh huh." Ashido nodded in a rather overemphasized manner. "And what were you doing, exactly?"

"I was just… looking for someone," Izuku said rather meekly.

"Well, is this person that you're looking for of any significant importance?"

"No—"

"Then that doesn't matter right now!" Ashido expressed, her arms flailing. "The show starts in ten minutes! You need to be up in the rafters with the special effects crew!"

"Sure, ju—"

"NOW!"

Izuku jumped in place. Without another word, he hurriedly went ahead in following Ashido's commands and made his way to the ladder that would lead him to the rest of his team.

As he climbed the ladder, Izuku shook his head at Ashido's antics. He had forgotten that the pink-skinned girl had gotten worked up like this whenever anything that resembled a celebration was in danger of being messed with.

Of course, he had only learned of it recently — due to what Ashido had done to Mineta during Momo's birthday party — but it'd be best if he kept that piece of info, lest he face Ashido's wrath.

Izuku shook his head away from his thoughts as he reached the top of the ladder, meeting up with the rest of the effects crew.

"Ah, Midoirya!" Kirishima greeted, patting Izuku on the back. "There you are, man! We were getting a bit worried that you weren't going to show!"

"I wouldn't do that to you guys," Izuku said.

"Of course not!" Kirishima exclaimed with a smile. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, what were you doing that had you running late?"

"I was looking for someone— Oh, right. I was looking for her!" Izuku turned towards Kirishima. "Just in case I end up spending more that I realize, you wouldn't mind getting my attention right before the show, would you?"

"Course not! Go right ahead."

Izuku nodded and immersed himself in his swarm. As per usual, he felt all of the bugs all over campus, and even within some distances beyond. His three block radius was as strong as ever, and he used that to his advantage.

The small portion of his swarm that he had been using before Ashido had interrupted him had continued to mull around in the general vicinity he had left them — that being above the grounds of the festival.

He immediately set them into motion, searching the grounds for his target. The small bundles of swarms flew past various students and festival goers with relative ease. The majority of the school had more or less gotten used to the random swarms that would come and go from time to time, so his search was met with a lot less screams of terror that they had brought before.

The lack of resistance to his scouting swarms quickened his search, and it wasn't long until he found his target and promptly formed a swarm clone right in front of them.

"Ms. Joke!"

The pro hero in question raised her eyes in response. "Oh! Oh oh! You're that bug kid! Erm… What was your name again? Maehata? Minatoya? Oh, that's right! Midoriya!"

The swarm clone nodded. "Yup, Midoriya it is."

"Ha ha! Nice! How's it going kid? Still causing Shota headaches? Oh, and you wouldn't happen to know where he is, do you?"

"I'm doing fine, thanks! And of course I'm still causing some trouble for Aizawa; it's kinda one of my things now. And that's actually why I was trying to find you!"

"Oh? Really?"

The swarm eagerly shook its head. "Yep! I'm gonna bring you to Aizawa. This way, both you and I get a laugh in!"

Ms. Joke let out a full blown guffaw, quite easily piecing together what Izuku wanted.

The clone gestured both its arms towards where the upcoming performance was stationed to occur." "Now, if you wouldn't mind following me—"

He paused. It was a slight thing, something he had almost not noticed. Movement; footsteps, specifically. Right within the forest just outside of UA.

Can't panic. Don't panic. It'll look suspicious. Nezu might even notice through all the cameras he has throughout the entire campus. Wait, maybe there are sensors in the forest? It's right outside of UA, after all. It'd be a weak point; unless that's why Hound Dog's out there? Wait, is this another one of Nezu's tests? No, no, stop being so paranoid… Unless...

"Midoriya?" Ms. Joke asked. "Something wrong? You bug thingy stopped moving. And now it's making this weird buzzing sound and—"

The swarm clone's head jerked towards Ms. Joke.

"Ah! There we go!" the pro hero said. "I was worried there for a sec—"

"Sorry Ms. Joke. I just, um… noticed something. Heh heh. Umm… Well, let's go!" The swarm gestured for Ms. Joke to follow. "My class is performing a mini-concert over in the auditorium. Aizawa's gonna be there; probably in the back."

QA! Mind making small talk with Ms. Joke while I go investigate?

"You know, the way my shard works with you is a bit weird. I mean, you and I have essentially the same power, but it's slightly different. Your sensory input essentially had no limits at the start, for example. However, in turn your ability to multitask has suffered as a result. I mean, the one-conversation-at-a-time thing I understand; your ability to use your swarms to do maybe one or two different things while you do something else entirely with your body, is something I don't really get, however. I'm wondering how much of that is you subconsciously limiting yourself, and how much of that is because of me. Because let me tell you right now, I know that you're completely capable of it. Though, I suppose that you did get a weird tradeoff in return, with what how Spurt and some of your other bugs are now—"

Can we talk about this later please?

"Hmm? Oh, sure. Go on ahead. Though, do try to stress your multitasking capabilities more, alright? They'll be useful in the future, Izuku."

Izuku felt QA taking control of the clone, freeing up his control "Yeah, strange how that works, huh?" QA responded to a question from Ms. Joke that Izuku hadn't heard, but he didn't dwell on it.

Already, Izuku was diverting his attention away from his current swarm body and to the millions of bugs in the nearby forest.

Even before he fully went to investigate, Izuku knew that the footsteps didn't belong. Hound Dog was roaming around and barking and growling every few seconds, so he was fairly noticeable and easy to track. Ectoplasm was a bit harder to notice, though Izuku could at least tell that he was close to Hound Dog at all times.

The thing was, they were at the moment the only two people supposed to be watching the forest, and they were currently stalking away from UA. The other two pairs of footsteps were making their way towards UA.

Within moments, his eyes made up millions within the forest, and it wasn't long until he noticed the two intruders. One was a rather tall man, one with graying hair and a rather fine suit. The woman was shorter, and sported pink hair. Normally, the duo wouldn't have been anyone Izuku would have batted an eye at. However, their status as Gentle Criminal and La Brava — a notorious villain duo with a heavy online presence — changed that completely.

His focus shot back to his own body. He needed to stop them. As Nezu had said, even just a hint of trouble would have the festival being canceled without argument. And Izuku couldn't have that; not with his class's excitement for their performance, not for his friends' excitement, and not for his Eri's happiness on the line.

He made a move towards the ladder, completely ready to sprint towards the villain duo's location. That is, until he felt a hand grasp his shoulder. Izuku turned to face the owner of the hand, and in turn found Todoroki looking at him.

"Midoriya."

"Um…" Izuku gulped. "Yeah?"

"Where are you going?"

"Umm— I… I need to do something!"

"What?! Kirishima suddenly exclaimed, bounding up to the two. "What do you mean you need to do something?! The show's gonna start in a few minutes!"

"Y—yeah! But—" Izuku said the first thing that came to mind. "The rope! I still need to get the rope for Aoyama!"

"But Aoyama already has it? / Didn't you give it to him this morning!" both Tooroki and Kirishima said at the same time.

Aoyama walked over, with the spider silk rope in question already tied around his waist. "He did indeed, you two! And I must say, it is rather comfy; much more than I thought it already would be!"

"See?" Kirishima said. "You didn't forget it! Now come on, get into position! We're gonna start soon!"

The rest saw that as a dismissal, each of the crew planting themselves into their assigned spots, and leaving Izuku standing alone.

"Can't I have a break?" Izuku muttered under his breath. "Just for once?" Izuku walked over to his assigned position. He couldn't leave; not without causing a stir. He needed things to be kept under wraps: Gentle Criminal and La Brava needed to be taken down. Meanwhile, Hound Dog and Ectoplasm can't catch wind of anything involved with them happening.

Izuku sighed. Three way multitasking it is.

A/N: Yeah, Gentle and La Brava fight is next chapter. So prepare for that, I suppose!