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Chapter Text

A young girl looked at her parents nervously. They smiled and encouraged her to go ahead. She took a deep breath and, clutching a small ema in one hand and a 5-yen coin in the other, walked up to an offerings box.

Dropping the coin into the box and hanging the ema on the wall, she knelt down on a clean mat and clapped her hands together. “Please give me good luck and safety on my school field trip.” She spoke quietly before standing and running back to her parents.

It was only brief, but when she glanced back at the shrine as they walked towards the stairs to Musutafu, she could swear that she saw a slight movement behind the shoji. 

She paused, ignoring that her parents hadn’t realized she stopped moving. The figure seemed to be waiting for her to leave. She smiled, knowing that her wish would be answered by the god of the shrine. 

Midoriya Izuku watched the last family leave as he prepared to close up for the night. Stepping out, he picked up all of the coins in the offerings box and gently took all of the wooden plaques off of the wall. 

He looked over each one, admiring the handwriting and what each ema said before returning into the shrine.

His stomach growled when the familiar scent of chicken katsu and steamed rice hit him. 

Hastily putting the shrine offerings into a glass jar and setting the plaques into a wooden box, he walked into the kitchen to see his mother working on dinner.

“Hey mama, I got the emas and offerings.” He began, grabbing dishes to set the table. “There were a lot of visitors today!”

His mother looked over at him with a smile. “That’s wonderful, Izuku! You can work on them after dinner.”

He agreed as she walked over to the table and set down their meal. They dug in, making amiable conversation throughout the meal.

After dinner, he took the box of emas up into his bedroom.

Sitting down cross-legged at a chabudai, he pulled out a neat stack of talismans from a drawer and set out a bottle of ink and a brush.

Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes momentarily. He felt his quirk flow through his body, like laying in the sun. When he opened his eyes once again, they glowed dimly, his pupils turning white.

He picked up the first ema, reading it as he listened to the whispered prayer of the sender.

Taking his brush and taking one of the talismans, he made careful and measured strokes, answering the wish. He set the talisman aside to dry and moved on to the next, repeating the process.

It took about an hour to finish making the talismans, tying each with a differently colored string before returning to the front of the shrine and hanging them up in their respective places, each having a label for their sender. 

He stepped back to appreciate his work, he turned around to watch the setting sun with a satisfied sigh.

It was a terrifying ordeal, being 5 years old and starting to see creatures that no one else saw.

He noticed that they stayed away from the grounds of the shrine, opting to watch from the forest. 

It took a few months before he cautiously entered the woods one morning. He noted that the wind had picked up as soon as he stepped past the tree line, the telling chill of winter being carried with it.

He didn’t see any of the creatures as he wandered the woods. A whisper to his right made him turn his head to look further into the woods.

He didn’t see anything at first, until he felt a soft gust of wind guiding his head to look up.

Lounging on the branch of a maple, a young man watched him with gray eyes and a slight smile. “What are you doing out in the woods, young Kannushi?” He asked, his voice flowing smoothly as he dropped a red and orange leaf down to land on Izuku's head.

Izuku tilted his head in wonder, the leaf sliding off and falling to the ground. “Who are you?” He asked, ignoring the previous question.

The man sat up, golden wings making their appearance with a short flash of light. He glided off the branch and knelt in front of Izuku. “I am the wind, little one.” He twirled a finger, and the wind picked up slightly, blowing autumn leaves to the ground around them. “My name is Isetsuhiko.”

Izuku held out his hand to the man politely. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, it’s nice to meet you Isetsu- Isetsiko- Iset-”

Isetsuhiko chuckled as Izuku attempted to say his name, returning the gesture and shaking his hand. “You can just call me Ise for now.”

Izuku nodded. “Okay, Ise-sama!” He paused for a moment, remembering what Ise had said when they first met. “What did you call me before?”

Ise looked back towards the shrine. “Kannushi, you’re the lord of this shrine.” He looked back down at Izuku. “But you'll need a god to help you along. I have been waiting and now that your quirk has manifested, I would like to offer my power and guidance to you.”

Izuku glanced back at the shrine. “The lord?” He turned back to Ise and looked down at his hand before suddenly realizing what Ise had just said. “This is my quirk?!” He squealed, excitedly bouncing in place.

Ise nodded, amused. “Yes, young Kannushi, you can speak with the unseen and have the ability to pass between the spirit world and the living world just as I can.”

Izuku looked up from his hand at Ise. “You want to help me?” When Ise nodded again, Izuku smiled and nodded as well. “Okay, what do I do?”

Ise brushed Izuku’s bangs away with a hand and kissed his forehead, a gentle light glowed faintly on that spot after he pulled away.

They looked at each other for a moment, the spirit connection clicking into place, finishing a puzzle Izuku didn’t know was there until it was completed.

He smiled widely at Ise. “Welcome to the family, Ise-sama!” He took his hand and started tugging him towards the shrine. “Can mama say hi to you?”

Isetsuhiko allowed himself to be pulled towards the shrine, stepping out of the tree line and onto the grounds. “I’m afraid not, Kannushi and the spiritually gifted are the only ones from this world who can see and speak with gods and spirits.”

Izuku turned back to him, stopping just before the door. “Oh... What do I say to her, then?”

Ise stopped next to him, looking at the shoji and listening to Izuku’s mother humming a tune as she swept the genkan. “You can tell her the truth, but let me teach you something that will help her believe that you quirk has manifested.” He stepped away from the shoji and sat down, motioning for Izuku to do the same.

Izuku sat down in front of Ise and watched him with fascination as he pulled out an acorn, handing it to Izuku.

“Your mother has a form of telekinesis, as do you, thanks to her blood running within you and your connection to the spirit world.” He held his hand over the acorn in Izuku’s palm, making it float a few inches above his hand.

Izuku looked attentively and nodded, Isetsuhiko let the acorn fall back into his palm. “You likely felt where your quirk lies earlier, focus on that feeling once again and hold a hand over the acorn.”
Izuku furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, focusing on a point just behind his sternum while holding a hand over his palm.

It took a couple of attempts, having to refocus each time before the acorn wiggled, immediately causing Izuku to shout with joy and lose his focus again.

“Good job, young Kannushi, give it another go and don’t lose focus this time.”

Izuku hummed in acknowledgement and repeated the action, pulling on the strings of his quirk, the now familiar tug behind his sternum giving him the focus he needed. The acorn swayed and lifted from his palm, Izuku smiled but didn’t lose his focus this time.

Ise chuckled and ruffled Izuku’s hair gently. “Congratulations. Let’s go show your mother now, yeah?”

Izuku happily jumped to his feet, running towards the shoji as Ise stood and followed him inside.

His mother was ecstatic when Izuku made the acorn float again, hugging him and telling him how proud she was.

Izuku backed out of the hug and glanced at Ise, feeling nervous about telling her his full quirk.

Ise gave a small nod of encouragement. “Um, hey mama?”

Inko looked at him with a smile. “What is it, ‘Zuku-kun?”

He fiddled with his hands and looked up at her. “I can do more things with my quirk,” she tilted her head but waited for him to continue. “Uh, I can see spirits?” He looked over at Ise who nodded again. “And I can talk to them too...” He stayed quiet after that.

Inko looked at him, a confused furrow in her brow, before relaxing again. “Okay baby, you don’t have to explain everything to me just yet, but I’ll be here when you’re ready.” He nodded and she kissed the top of his head before standing. “Go ahead and wash up and change out of your outside clothes, dinner is almost ready!”

She waited for his assent before smiling and going to the kitchen.

He looked up at Ise. “I don’t think she believed me…”

Ise gave him a reassuring smile. “She will, Izuku-kun, you’ll just have to show her when you learn more.”

Izuku nodded but was still worried that she wouldn't believe him.

Ise turned towards the shoji that led outside and looked over at Izuku. “I’m going to fix up some things on the shrine grounds for you, I won’t be long.”

Izuku tilted his head but nodded. “Okay, Ise-sama, be safe!”

With that, they both departed from each other, Izuku climbing up the stairs to get to his room while Isetsuhiko headed outside to upgrade the barriers on the grounds and lay his claim on the shrine. 

It was already well kept and maintained by Izuku’s mother, so he didn’t have to reinforce the barriers by much.

Izuku smiled to himself. He was 13 now and it didn’t take long to convince his mother of his true quirk, which came in the form of his eyes glowing when he was writing on an ema during a shrine festival. It was quite the shock, but she took it in stride. 

Isetsuhiko advised them to only register his quirk as minor telekinesis because of the rarity of his true quirk. 

Inko didn’t need any convincing on that part; she had heard stories about how the HPSC reacts to rare and powerful quirks and knew that if they were fully honest of his abilities, she may never see her son again.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts as he turned to lay in his bed for some much-needed sleep.

Chapter Text

Izuku stretched his arms above his head, soaking up the late spring sun. A gentle breeze carried the smells of the forest and the flower garden that he and his mother planted a month back.

Isetsuhiko would be returning from a mandatory meeting that the gods in the Shizuoka area had set up. He had been gone for nearly a week and he was getting antsy to get back to quirk training.

He sighed and let his arms swing down to his sides, hopping off the porch without using the stairs and starting his morning jog. 

At the start of the previous year, he made a plan to start running in the mornings before school and he’d stuck with it except for that one freak blizzard. 

Visitors wouldn’t start arriving at the shrine until after he was already at school. 

The shrine’s popularity had been steadily increasing ever since Ise became the god of the Midoriya shrine and Izuku took up more of the responsibility of a Kannushi.

The only strange thing he had noticed as his quirk continued to develop and strengthen was how he could hear the prayers that the visitors whispered or thought. 

It doesn’t happen often, only when the wish is especially powerful or emotional or when he was reading the emas. He’d accepted it as graciously as he could despite it being a bit disconcerting when it happened out of nowhere.

He returned home from his run and took a quick shower while his mother set out breakfast for the both of them.

“Thanks, mom!” Izuku smiles at her as he sits down at the table and plates up his portion.

Inko does the same. “You have that big test today, right? Better eat a bit extra so that you can be at the top of your game.”

Izuku nodded and took an extra egg and rice to his plate. “Yeah I do, but I’m not too worried about it, it’s an easy class.”

Izuku reached the school in time to hear the first bell. 

Making his way towards his classroom, he thought about what he wanted to do after school ended.

Since Isetsuhiko was coming back, there was no doubt he’d get more quirk training from him. 

But aside from that, he might work on his plans for Greenery Day, a holiday coming up next week. 

The flower garden was flourishing and some of the spring fruits and vegetables were ready to eat. All he really needed was a list of decorations and gifts for his visitors. Should he make invitation posters to hang around town? That could increase the foot traffic to the shrine which is beneficial to both the visitors and the shrine.

His thoughts were cut off as the teacher walked in, holding a stack of test sheets and calling for order in the classroom.

Katsuki was sitting ahead of him and to the left. 

They had drifted apart just before middle school started after Katsuki learned that Izuku didn’t want to be a hero like the promise they had made when they were younger. 

They weren’t outright avoiding each other or fighting, it was more that they took a step back. Izuku hoped that they could eventually become friends again, but his duties to the shrine held him back from a lot of social interaction outside of school. 

Maybe in high school it would be a different story.

The test packets were handed out and Izuku breezed through them. 

Math and science came naturally to him; lots of memorization and concept comprehension.

As he was finishing up the last page of the test, he felt the telltale signs of his quirk activating passively. This usually only happened when someone with strong feelings came onto the shrine grounds.

He anticipated the prayer, managing to finish his test and return to his seat before he heard it.

It was an older man speaking, his voice taut with grief and a twinge of something else. Something angry and desperate.

“I have heard the rumors of this shrine’s ability to make prayers come true.” He began, and Izuku could tell that he was whispering the words out loud. “My wife, she was a pro hero and died on the field.” Izuku listened intently, already feeling a slight lump in his throat at the raw emotion in the man’s prayer. “She was murdered by the Hero Killer.. She was trying to save another hero but neither of them made it.” 

He was starting to feel uneasy at the change in the man’s tone at the mention of the Hero Killer.

Of course, Izuku knew who that was. Stain wasn’t subtle about his activities. The fact that someone traveled so far just to get to his shrine must mean that his prayer wasn’t going to be an easy one to answer.

“I know that this is a huge request, but I’m begging for justice for my wife and all of the heroes who fell at his hands.” The man was saying other things but Izuku was frozen on that line.

He wanted justice against Stain. What was he supposed to do about that? He’d never been in a fight before aside from the mandatory self-defense class his school sponsored. 

But that was against the instructor and other students in a sanctioned space with soft mats and padded armor. This... This might be a bigger bite than he can chew.

The bell ringing made him jump. 

He hastily grabbed his backpack and continued with the school day on autopilot. 

He was deep enough in thought on how he could go about answering this man’s wish that he didn’t notice a pair of scarlet eyes following his movement as he left the classroom. 

By the time school let out for the day, Izuku was exhausted. 

He had come up with a couple of tentative plans; he could find what he can about the Hero Killer online and make a thorough analysis on him to send to the police; he could see if he could get a favor from one of the other gods… But he has little to no experience talking to any of them other than Isetsuhiko; the last idea had a zero percent chance of succeeding, that being a 13 year old could handle going after Stain by himself, not to mention that would be an act of vigilantism.

He got home and immediately felt the wind pick up, swirling around him. He looks up at the torii he was about to walk under and beams when he sees the familiar gray eyes and golden wings of his friend.

Isetsuhiko wasn’t exactly tall, but he held himself in a way that commanded respect. A dark teal sweater long-sleeve sat loosely over a white collared shirt, cream pleated trousers with a black belt to finish the look. He combed a hand through his wind-swept blond hair, hopping off the torii to land in front of him, black boots lightly scuffing the ground as he landed.

“I hope I didn’t miss anything big while I was gone.” He asked while ruffling Izuku’s hair, who reacted with a swatting hand. Ise looked at him expectantly, because of course he knew that something was bothering him.

Izuku huffed slightly and looked towards the emas on the shrine wall. “I heard someone’s prayer while I was at school earlier, I’ve been trying to figure out how to find a solution but there’s no easy way to answer this one.”

Isetsuhiko glanced over at the emas before motioning for him to follow him over to the shrine. “Go ahead and grab the one that you’ve been stuck on, I’ll see what I can do to help.”

He nodded, relieved to have Ise back. He only looked at the plaques for a moment before grabbing the one he’d been worried about, handing it to Ise to read.

Izuku watched Ise raise his eyebrows as he read the ema. “I have one solution that’s the most likely, one that’s a bit of a stretch, and one that is the last resort if even possible.” He took the ema when Ise finished reading it.

Ise thought for a bit before responding. “This is a pretty serious prayer and will not have an easy solution.” Izuku nodded and Ise continued. “Let me talk to some of the gods around here, more communication between gods is one of the new ‘rules’ that our little group came up with at the meeting.”

“Okay, I don’t think that I can answer this one any time soon.” He started collecting the other emas and the offerings box.

“Don’t worry, young Kannushi, you don’t have to work on this one alone.” Ise followed Izuku into the shrine. “Especially with this being your first major prayer.”

Izuku nodded, setting the offerings box down and putting away the emas to work on later. “Thank you for your help and guidance, Ise-san, I really appreciate it.”

Upon hearing his voice, Inko stepped out of the kitchen. “Is Isetsuhiko-sama here? I hope that your week-long meeting wasn’t too strenuous.” Despite the fact that she couldn’t see him, she still made an effort to greet and make one-sided conversation with him.

“Yeah, he’s going to be helping me with one of the emas later.” Izuku followed his mother back into the kitchen. “Want any help in here?” At her affirmative, he set the table and made sure the vegetables didn't burn in the pan while she kneaded the dough for dumplings.

Izuku sat at the table in his room, meticulously working through each talisman and double-checking his work before moving on.

Ise decided to visit one of the other gods in the area in a minor emergency meeting and said that he’d be back later that night or in the morning at the latest.

Izuku sighed and set his brush down to grab some colorful strings to put on the talismans. He set aside the vengeance ema and put the rest away to be brought to storage.

Stretching, he checked the time and realized that it was already nearly 1 am. Ise might not be back for a while longer, then.

Going through his nightly routine, his mind kept wandering back to the mystery visitor and how grief-stricken he sounded. Izuku shook his head to clear it and decided to call it a night.

Isetsuhiko POV

Isetsuhiko had gone to visit another minor god’s shrine, Futodama. 

She had the ability to see many possibilities of future events. She could accurately predict which of the possibilities would be the most likely and how that would shape the world.

After hearing the dilemma, Futodama clasped her hands together in front of her and hummed in thought. 

After a short pause she met his eyes. “This will not be an easy road for the young Kannushi. The probability of him having to face this foe is higher than his more peaceful ideals.” She shook her head as she ran through all of the possibilities. “This prayer has opened a door that can not be shut, and the floor has turned into a slide. His future has been directly tied to this event, and I can not see any way for him to avoid it.”

Ise rubbed a hand along his jaw. “So, this is a prophecy, then?”

She affirmed. “Yes, something this unavoidable and cemented into his path is a prophecy. He must face Stain in order to close the doors that could destroy this world.”

Ise paled at the thought. “Is Stain that big of a deal? Who would he kill that would cause the downfall of humanity?”

Futodama shook her head. “Stain is a stepping stone towards a bigger goal. Without this battle, the sequential events that could save humanity can not be reached.”

Isetsuhiko took a minute to absorb this information. He couldn’t tell Izuku that the entire world’s destruction or salvation was resting on his shoulders, that cloak of burden would smother him and drown him in the fabrics of self-doubt and overwhelm. But he couldn't keep that part a secret from him, either.

He shook his head and looked at Futodama. “Thank you for your wisdom, Futodama-sama, I will be sure to keep you updated on Izuku-kun’s final decision.” He gave her a respectful bow which she returned with a farewell.

Turning and spreading his wings to take to the sky, Ise couldn’t help but wonder how this will affect his own divinity. 

He was a minor god who controlled the winds in Musutafu and some surrounding areas, there was no way he’d be as useful to Izuku as someone like Fujin. Not the mention that the gods couldn't directly change what happened in the living world.

He took a breath, wishing that he was able to give his own prayers as he moved on to talk to another god about the situation. He had to find the best way to guide the young Kannushi.

Chapter Text

Izuku had just finished his morning run when Isetsuhiko returned. 

Immediately he could tell that something seemed off with him. Ise normally had a calm demeanor and aloofness that flowed like the wind currents. 

Right now, though, he had a knit in his brow, his mouth was slightly downturned, and the tension in his shoulders was clear from 10 meters away. 

“Ise-san? What’s going on?” Izuku questioned, jogging to meet up with the god. 

Ise looked at him, hesitation showing in his features. “I spoke with the goddess Futodama and some other gods about your situation..” Izuku tilted his head and made an affirmative hum, encouraging Ise to continue. “She can see all possible futures and pick out which are the most likely to come true. Sometimes, when a future is so potent and nearly impossible to stray from, we call them prophecies. They are almost guaranteed to come true.” 

Izuku’s eyes widened, already catching on to the implications. “Your hesitation makes me think this isn’t as simple as sending the police a file on Stain.” 

Isetsuhiko shook his head. “No. I know that you are peaceful and aren’t one to resort to violence, if ever.” Ise crossed his arms, his brows furrowing deeper than before. “She told me that you would have to face Stain in battle in order to fulfill this prophecy.”

Izuku let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes momentarily. “I figured it would be something like that. I can’t believe that my last resort option turned out to be my only resort option.” 

He bit his cheek and looked away from Ise. 

How was he going to accomplish this? Going after the Hero Killer could result in his early grave or, if he survived and somehow managed to beat Stain, he would be committing an act of vigilantism if not villainy. He’d never done anything illegal in his life that he could recall, so jumping straight into wanna-be hero mode and bringing his mindset all the way back to his 6 year old self was too much to think about right now. Would he even have the mental strength to fight someone?

Izuku felt arms wrap around him as Ise pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry it had to turn out this way, young Kannushi. Prophecies are never fair, and I’ll do my best to help you prepare for this.” Izuku returned the hug, hands gripping the back of Ise’s sweater. He can’t cry now, not when he had a prophecy to fulfill. 

The rest of the morning was spent on planning how to tell his mother of his fate. She would no doubt freak out if he didn’t phrase it correctly. Well, to be honest, she would probably freak out anyway. 

It kind of reminded him of the time he tripped down the last 4 steps at the bottom of the shrine entrance; he skinned his hands and chipped one of his baby teeth. She was a hair away from buying a safety leash in order to catch him if he fell again. It was such a relief when she decided not to, in favor of teaching him independence and safety. 

He was pacing his room, waiting for his mother to eventually call him down for lunch. He was planning on telling her right after they finished eating. 

“How do I explain it to her without her having a heart attack?” He stopped in the middle of his room, looking over at Isetsuhiko desperately. He was perched at the edge of his bed, one foot resting against the mattress while the other tapped idly against the floor. “Hey mom so I got a prayer asking for vengeance against the Hero Killer himself and now I find out that it has turned into a prophecy where I have to fight Stain and beat him or bad things are going to happen in this world and when I do fight him I’ll become a vigilante and the police and heroes will be after me and they’ll probably throw me in Tartarus for life if they catch me.” He paused, gasping for breath after his rant. 

“Breathe, Izuku-kun, one step at a time.” Ise stood and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Why not start off with explaining the prayer to her? After that, you can ease into it and let her control the flow of the conversation.”

Izuku looked up at Ise and nodded. “Yeah.. Yeah that’s a good plan. Let her lead, she can absorb the information as we go. Okay, I think I can do this.”

As if on cue, Inko called for him to join her for lunch. Izuku gave Ise one last look of trepidation before turning and heading downstairs.

Lunch started off fairly quiet on Izuku's part, his mother was perfectly content with chattering about work or whatever else she felt like. 

He knew that she could tell that something was off with him and was just trying to get his mind off of it, but this wasn’t something that he could ignore. 

There was a lull in the conversation and he took his chance. “So.. Yesterday, I got a prayer that was a lot to take in.” He glanced up at his mom, who seemed relieved that he was sharing what was wrong. 

“What did it ask you to do?” She questioned, taking a sip of her tea. 

Izuku cleared his throat. “It was a man who was grieving the loss of his wife. He traveled very far to come to the shrine. His wife was a pro hero and she died defending another hero from their attacker.” He paused, anticipating some kind of reaction. She had a slight look of dawning comprehension as he continued. “He prayed for revenge against her attacker and justice for everyone affected.”

Inko nodded slowly and he could tell that she was trying to keep a level head. “Who is this attacker and how are you going to bring them to justice?” She laced her fingers together to calm her nerves.

He looked down at his hands, worrying the hem of his shirt. “Well, Isetsuhiko-san went to some of the other gods and it was recommended that I should take him down in a fight.” His mother took in a slow breath and nodded for him to continue. “The attacker is pretty well known, he used to be a vigilante but recently got put in the villain’s registry. Um..” Stop stalling, just spit it out, she’s trying to stay calm for his sake so he needed to step up. “It’s the Hero Killer: Stain.” He spoke the last part very quietly, avoiding looking at his mother when he said it. 

After a bit of silence on her part, he looked over to her. 

She had a carefully neutral face on. “Why did they say that you should fight him?” She looked like she wanted to say more but she knew it wouldn’t help anything.

“Well, Ise-san said that he went to a prophetic god of sorts and she said that it was a prophecy for me to defeat Stain in battle.” Ise was looking at the table rather than at either of them, he switched his gaze over to Izuku when he felt him looking and nodded. “Prophecies are not something that you can easily go against. And defying a prophecy can have some very bad consequences.”

Inko nodded again, taking another sip of her tea. He could see her hands tremble slightly and his heart clenched for her. He never wanted to make her feel this way, it wasn’t fair to her.

After a tense minute of silence where they both just looked at each other, Inko finally blinked and sighed. “I don’t like what you have to do, and I am still trying to wrap my head around how the spirit world works but..” She started tearing up a bit and Izuku knew it was only a matter of time before he joined her in the waterworks. “I trust that you know what you’re doing.” 

She wiped her eyes before tears would begin to fall, then set her face hard and determined, she glanced around the rest of the room. “And Isetsuhiko-sama, you better make sure my boy comes home safe and in one piece.”

Isetsuhiko’s wings jolted in surprise at being addressed before he chuckled. “You don’t have to threaten me in order to make that happen. He is under my care and protection, I will do everything in my power to keep him safe.” 

Izuku relayed that to his mother and she finally seemed to relax a bit. “You said that you have to fight the Hero Killer yourself, but isn’t that illegal?” 

Izuku nodded and Inko hummed in thought. “Well… You’re nearing the end of middle school now and looking into prospective high schools.” Izuku tilted his head, not quite picking up what she’s getting at. “I think that you should apply for UA’s heroics course to get your provisional license. That way you will not only get the training you’ll need but also be able to complete that prophecy without the risk of getting arrested.”

Izuku stared at her for a second. UA? Heroics? Him? No way, he gave up on that dream a long time ago. But… Did he only give up on it because it seemed unreachable or because he truly didn’t want to be a hero anymore? He had to admit, his mother recommending UA to him made his stomach twist with anxiety but also a twinge of excitement.

“That’s a really good idea, Izuku-kun.” Ise adds in. “Applying for UA will help you prepare and also keep tabs on everything happening all around. Students like to gossip so you’ll be hearing news left and right, you can use that to your advantage.”

Izuku nodded. “Okay… Okay. Yes. I’ll give it a try.” He worried the hem of his shirt again. “Do you think I could actually get into the hero course?” He questioned, looking at the both of them.

Inko and Ise gave confirmations at the same time. 

He felt… Happy? Nervous? Something. But he knows it wasn’t all bad. Getting into UA used to be his ultimate dream, and maybe it still was to some degree.

Inko clapped her hands together. “Right! Now that the air has been cleared, I say let’s go get some ice cream in town.” She stood, picking up their dishes. “Isetsuhiko-sama, you’re free to join us, though I don’t know if you can eat ice cream here?” She pondered that for a bit while they got ready to head out. 

Ise huffed in amusement when Izuku also started speculating about the probability of a spirit ice cream vendor being around. “That’s not really how it works, young Kannushi.” 

Izuku rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly. “Yeah I should’ve already known that.”

Ise shook his head, ruffling Izuku’s hair as they headed out the door, feeling a tad bit lighter now that a tentative plan has been set into place.

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of days after telling his mother about the prophecy and he could definitely tell that she was still hung up about it.

Inko had barely let him out of her sight except for when absolutely necessary while trying to play it off as learning what her son did as a Kannushi. 

He sighed, crashing back on his bed and covering his eyes with his arm and letting his feet hang over the edge. He loved his mother and knew that she was reacting much better to the news than he initially thought, but that didn’t change the fact that he had been feeling increasingly crowded and overstimulated in his own home. 

He didn’t realize how much he liked his alone time until he hit the third day of being borderline coddled by his mother. 

He picked up his phone to check the time. 

He had about an hour before he needed to meet up with Isetsuhiko at the torii to depart for the spirit world. He was going to be spending the night there with Ise, which he hadn’t mentioned to his mom yet… She’d be fine, she trusted Ise and knew that Izuku had been to the spirit world before (It was only a few times when he was a lot younger, he didn’tremember it very well because he was only there for at most 15 minutes each time he went; it was always some kind of emergency on Ise’s part and he was usually with Izuku when they happened). 

Sitting up, he decided to start getting ready a bit early so that he had an excuse to stay upstairs and in his own personal bubble; especially considering the fact that if he went downstairs, he would immediately be forced into social interactions that he desperately needed a break from before his trip. 

Setting out an outfit he deemed spirit world-worthy, he snatched up a clean towel before heading to shower while humming a new song he overheard on the radio the other day but couldn’t remember the lyrics to. 

Stretching as he waited under the torii, he went over everything that he and Isetsuhiko were going to do when they got to the spirit world. 

The first order of business was for Ise to introduce him to some of the residents there that could be useful to him later down the line. After that, he was taking him to a dojo that could teach him a style of martial art that was apparently super rare in the living world. They would take a break and rest for the night in a spirit world equivalent of a bed and breakfast before making the trek back to the living world. 

Izuku wasn’t really sure why Isetsuhiko wanted them to stay in the spirit world overnight, his educated guess would be something that had something to do with the energy there being different from the living world. 

Maybe it would react with his quirk and make it stronger? Either that, or Ise just wanted to spend some time with the other people there, he seemed pretty adamant on going to that specific bed and breakfast. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt the wind pick up. Looking around, he spotted Ise gracefully landing and walking over to him. 

“Are you ready for your first trip to the spirit world?” He grinned when Izuku was about to protest it being his first time there. “Your first planned trip there, that better?” He amended, amused. 

“Yeah! I wasn’t sure what to wear so I hope this isn’t too casual.” He looked down at his black jeans, pale yellow t-shirt, and dark green button-up cardigan that he left unbuttoned with a slight frown.

“You look fine, there’s no need to fret over your outfit being too casual.” He turned and motioned for Izuku to follow him and they walked side by side towards the forest by the shrine. “You won’t be meeting anyone with a big enough name or reputation to require formal wear.”

Izuku nodded in understanding, walking through the trees. He noticed that they were following a barely visible trail, weaving through the greenery as they traversed deeper into the forest.

Eventually, Isetsuhiko stopped in front of a river and turned to face Izuku. “This is the easiest bridge to the spirit world for us, it’s close to the shrine and is pretty straightforward on crossing over.” He pointed towards a literal bridge laying across the river. 

It was a sturdy wooden bridge, stained dark and slightly arched. The railing on each side had metal bars sandwiched between wooden poles. There are metal archways on both ends of the bridge, a lantern hanging from them. 

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting it to actually be a bridge.” He commented, walking along the bank towards it. “I thought that we would have to crawl through a rabbit hole or summon a magic portal by drawing a door in chalk and knocking on it.”

Ise rolled his eyes. “You watch too many pre-quirk movies, kid.” 

Izuku laughed. “I didn’t think you would know what I was referencing.” He stopped right before the bridge and lightly touched the railing.

“Just follow my lead, you’re a Kannushi so you aren’t an intruder and would actually be pretty well respected if people found out who you were.” At his continued hesitation Ise ruffled his hair until Izuku squawked in protest. “Come on, Alice, this’ll be easier than falling down a hole.” Izuku nodded and stepped onto the bridge, following Ise. 

At first, Izuku didn’t notice any difference as he walked across the bridge. The river still flowed smoothly underfoot, and the forest was still full of the sounds of birds and insects, the wind gently making the trees sway. Then he hit the midway point of the bridge and his ears popped; the sounds of the forest started to dull as new sounds took their place. 

He remembered this happening the other times he was crossing into the spirit world, but this time felt different from before. 

He had been under 7 years old when he visited the spirit world before so his memories about it were hazy. 

He started hearing whispers and chatter around him, noticing the same creatures that would lurk in alleyways and dark parts of the forest.

He did his best to keep himself upright and confident-looking as his eyes scanned his surroundings. He tried not to hesitate as they stepped off of the bridge and continued along the path that was now much wider and more worn than back in the living world. 

He startled slightly when Ise took his hand and moved it up for Izuku to hold onto the crook of his elbow. Izuku understood the suggestion and immediately felt a lot more secure having contact with his god. 

They walked in silence until the trees began to clear and he saw some buildings in the distance.

“We will be visiting three people today before heading to the dojo,” Ise started, steering them towards one of the cobblestone streets. “We’re heading towards Ayari-chan’s shop. She’s a tengu who specializes in craftsmanship, her main focus is metal and fabrics, but she works on other things as well.” They turned down a side street and Izuku could already see a wooden sign with the kanji that meant blacksmith and forge. “Her partner, Rowa-chan, is usually the one who takes care of the smithing side while Ayari-chan uses her strong vision and steady hands to weave threads with remarkable ease. They have a kid, Outo-kun, and he is quite the handf–” He got abruptly cut off when something small with black, opalescent wings dropped down out of nowhere on top of his head and screeched like a banshee when Ise tried to grab at them. 

Izuku was forced to let go of Ise’s elbow in favor of trying to help remove the beast (Child?) still clamoring around on his head.

He froze when it suddenly looked over at him, grinning ferally before launching at him without warning. He squeaked in surprise but he managed to catch the child.

He glanced over at Isetsuhiko, who was busy straightening out his messy hair.

“Outo-kunnnn, get back here, you rascal!” A feminine voice called with mock anger. 

The kid started giggling like a madman as he climbed over Izuku’s shoulder and onto his back with the ease of a spider navigating its web. He made a shushing sound and Izuku almost started laughing along with him. 

A woman came out of the smithing shop. She had short, spiky red hair sticking out in all directions and her equally red wings were ruffled as she crossed her arms and looked directly at Izuku. She was wearing a green sleeveless faux-turtleneck and black shorts with frayed ends and a pair of slippers. She put a hand on her hip as she cocked it to the side. “I can see you, Outo-kun, you aren’t as good at hiding as you are at running away.”

“Ah, Ayari-chan, it’s good to see you.” Ise greeted as Outo huffed before taking flight and gliding over to Ayari. 

Ayari looked over at Ise with a big smile. “Hiko-kun!” Hiko-kun…? “It’s been a while, is this the young Kannushi you were mentioning?” At Isetsuhiko’s nod, she turns towards Izuku. “Ayari at your service! I deeply apologize for my son’s lack of manners, he gets hyper after lunch.”

Izuku straightened out his shirt and pulled his cardigan back into place, walking closer to the tengu. “No no! Don’t apologize, it’s okay.” He briefly looks down at Outo, who was suddenly very shy and hiding his face behind Ayari’s legs. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, the Kannushi of the Midoriya shrine.”

“Come on in! I’ll make us some tea.” She turned and held the door open for them. 

The three of them were now comfortably seated around a round wooden chabudai, hot cups of tea in hand. Their home was just above the shop and looked like a classic suburban shop-house combo. 

Ayari started talking, setting her tea down. “I’m sure Hiko-kun here told you what my partner and I do here, already?” At Izuku’s affirmative hum, she continued. “We have heard of your little predicament, sucks that you got such a big prophecy at such a young age.” 

Izuku gave a small shrug. “I don’t know how time-sensitive this prophecy is, but if it came this early in my life then it must be something that I have a few years to complete.” 

Ayari nodded, sitting back with her arms crossed. “Hiko-chan suggested that Rowa and I develop armor for you, a costume of sorts.” Izuku’s eyes widened at the thought, he had so many ideas of what he might want for a costume. Ayari grinned, sensing his excitement. “That’s the look I want to see. I’ll need to take your measurements, a color scheme to work with, and the fighting style you want to use.” 

Izuku nodded, contemplating. He had already drawn up a few different drafts of fighting styles that would work with him and his quirk. He would need to only use the telekinesis aspect of his quirk since that was what he was registered as, which meant that if he had throwing knives or a bow and arrows, he would easily be able to bring them back to his person. He was concerned about the amount of damage that those kinds of weapons could do to someone, but he knew that they might be vital if he got into a particularly hairy situation. He knew that he wanted a bo staff to be his weapon of choice. Its versatility would be very useful, and it most likely wouldn’t do any permanent damage to his assailant. It would also be a good idea to hide his identity, so a mask would be a good idea, maybe one that could alter his voice as well. He wanted it to resemble something that he’ll be known for, like sneakiness or efficiency with quick takedowns. Maybe an animal that had that kind of symbolism?

He took a moment away from his thoughts to glance up at Ayari, who was looking at him in thought. “You’ve already got a lot of this figured out already, that’s perfect.” Izuku went red when he realized he had been speaking his inner monologue out loud. “I can work with that, what colors do you want? You said you’d want to be known for sneakiness so I would suggest dark or muted colors that won’t draw attention.”

“I was thinking maybe black or dark green, there are a couple of heroes in the living world that I was basing some of my ideas on.” 

“Awesome, alright then, let’s get your measurements and I’ll show you some of my works.” She levered herself up and waited for Izuku to do the same before leading him away.

Izuku yawned tiredly as they finished meeting the last person on Isetsuhiko’s list. The other two had been informants of sorts, having minor abilities that allowed them to eavesdrop on the living world. 

Ise led them towards the dojo. “Be prepared, Izuku-kun.” He warned without further explanation, which definitely helped calm his nerves as they approached the shoji of the building. Ise stood aside and gestured for Izuku to go first.

He gave Ise a dirty look, already knowing that he was knowingly walking into a trap. 

Sliding the shoji open, he stepped into the dojo, feigning a casual, relaxed stride as he awaited the guaranteed trap to trigger. 

It didn’t take long for the trap to reveal itself. The only warning he got was the slightest scuff of a foot against tatami to his left before he suddenly found himself on the ground, staring at the ceiling with his back aching where he had landed on the ground. 

He laid there, stunned for a minute before a smiling stranger came into his view, followed by an amused Isetsuhiko.

“Ope, sorry, kid, I thought you were someone else.” The person laughed before grabbing his hand to bring him up to a sitting position. 

“It’s fine! I’ve never been judo-flipped before so that was… An interesting experience.” He stood up and straightened out his askew clothes for the second time that day. 

“Call me Tsukasa.” They held out a hand to him. 

Izuku took it as he got a better look at Tsukasa’s appearance. 

They looked like someone you would find in the living world, unsurprising by the fact that they used to be living. They were slightly older, maybe in their 40s, wearing a classic martial arts outfit, white with a black belt tied around their waist. They had freckles dotting their cheeks and neck, dazzlingly blue eyes, and long black hair that was tied up in a loose bun. 

Tsukasa quirked their mouth into a grin and Izuku realized he was probably staring for a second too long. “Um, Midoriya Izuku, I’m the Kannushi of the Midoriya shrine.” He gave a small bow, still shaking Tsukasa’s hand at the same time. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Ah, you’re the prophecy kid that Isetsuhiko-kun was talking about.” Izuku gave them a nod, wondering who all Ise told about the prophecy. “I can teach you what I know but, just a warning, I’ll be throwing you into the deep end before easing back to techniques and proper stances.” Izuku nodded again. “Right, I am a master of the long-forgotten martial art of bokator. It deals with hundreds of ways to use your limbs as weapons, and you can also incorporate tools into the style as well. I will teach you both hand-to-hand and weapon melee.” They gestured towards a rack of bamboo staffs positioned against the far wall. 

Izuku perked up at the staff collection. They were very similar to the bo staff he planned on getting so that worked out perfectly. 

Izuku looks back at Tsukasa. “I’ll do my best, Tsukasa-sensei.”

Chapter Text

Izuku groaned as his muscles protested walking.

He wasn’t expecting to immediately start his training after just meeting Tsukasa, but he shouldn’t have been surprised about it, what with the warning of throwing him into the deep end.

Isetsuhiko chuckled, giving him a sympathetic look. “That’s one of the reasons why I said we should spend the night here. It’ll be much easier to return to the living world after you’re rested up.” 

Izuku was grateful of Ise’s consideration but was still very curious on what the other reasons for spending the night here were.

Ise led them to a very nice-looking building. A large sign across the front read “Chatani Inn and Hot Springs.” Izuku perked up very quickly at the thought of hot springs. 

“This is one of my favorite places here, it’s a great place to recharge. And the owners are also very nice.” His tone slightly changed when mentioning the owners and Izuku raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Very nice? Sounds like they are a little more than nice to you.” Izuku laughed when Ise’s wings ruffled slightly and he scratched his cheek, looking away from Izuku. He was spot on with his theory. 

Ise cleared his throat and they walked into the inn together.

Izuku looked around curiously while Ise went to get them checked in. 

Wooden support beams were exposed, the floor was also wooden in the reception area. He ccould see a few doors across from the entrance, each one had a sign above it with an identifying image painted on it. Steam for the hot springs, a bed for the sleeping quarters part of the building, and the last one has chopsticks and a bowl for the cafeteria. 

Ise returned not long after and handed Izuku a key before heading towards the door with the bed sign.

Their room was homey but not too small. The floor had a tan carpet, there were two twin beds next to each other in the far corner with a nightstand separating them, a desk with a mirror attached to it against another wall, and there was an open door that led to a bathroom and another with the shower and bath. 

He hummed in approval as he set down his bag, looking over at Ise. “Can we go to the hot springs right now? I’ve been thinking about it non-stop since I read the sign. It’s been forever since I’ve been to one! Is it mineral water that makes your skin feel silky soft afterwards? How big are the springs?” He practically buzzed in excitement, bouncing in place as Ise grinned in amusement.

“Easy there, you’ll see when we get there.” Ise was already heading back towards the door with a gesture to follow. Izuku did without hesitation. 

The springs were gorgeous! There was one large pool in the middle with a couple of smaller ones surrounding it. There were a couple of lounge chairs a little ways from the water.

A couple of patrons were scattered around, also enjoying the springs. 

Isetushiko headed towards the big pool and Izuku followed him. 

He tested the water with a foot, finding that the temperature was hot but nothing he wouldn’t get used to. He stepped fully into the water and sank down with a sigh. Ise slid in next to him, copying his sigh and leaning back against the wall of the pool. 

“This is so nice, thanks for bringing me here, Ise-san.” He felt the need to say it quietly so as to not ruin the relaxed ambience. 

Isetsuhiko hummed absentmindedly, wetting a cloth to lay over his eyes and forehead. “Of course, I figured I should show you a popular hotspot while we were here.”

Izuku ran a hand down the wall of the pool, the texture of the water-worn stone was satisfying to touch. 

He closed his eyes and also leaned back against the side of the pool, the water soothing his sore muscles. 

He idly listened to some quiet conversations of the other patrons and the occasional ripple of water. 

Izuku blearily opened his eyes when a finger poked his cheek repeatedly. 

Ise was looking at him and pulling his hand away from his face. “You fell asleep, kid.” He said quietly. 

Izuku straightened up and shook the remaining drowsiness before stretching, feeling ten times better than before. “I don’t usually fall asleep in public, sorry. How long was I out for?”

Isetsuhiko shrugged. “Only around 20 minutes give or take.” He shifted to get out of the water. “Come dry off, they called everyone for dinner.”

His stomach growled at the thought of food, he had only eaten the snacks from the informants he met earlier that day and a protein bar from Tsukasa so he was quite excited to have a full meal. 

They dried off and dressed quickly before heading to the cafeteria area, which was more like an extra-large dining room than an actual cafeteria. 

The food was delicious and he was able to try a few different entrees from other cultures. He happily nibbled on some kind of sweet German dumpling as they headed back to their room. 

“Well, it’s getting fairly late. I’ll probably be up for a bit longer, but you should get some sleep.” Isetsuhiko said as he preened his feathers. 

“Ah, trying to get me to sleep so you can go find whoever it is you’ve been dying to see this whole time.” He replied with an amused grin at the way Ise jolted at the comment. It’s pretty easy to fluster the god if you know what to say.

Ise sputtered a bit, turning red. “It’s not– It really isn’t like– That wasn't my motive for coming here!” He blushed more when Izuku laughed, flattening his ruffled-up wings as he recomposed himself. 

Ise shook his head. “You really are something, Izuku-kun.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I won’t be gone long, the door locks automatically so if you have to leave the room for any reason, make sure to grab your key.” 

He stood as Izuku hummed in agreement and ruffled Izuku’s hair as he passed by. 

“Have fun, Ise-san!” He said it a bit more genuinely than jokingly, feeling a bit bad for embarrassing him, even if it was just the two of them. 

Isetsuhiko gave him a small wave as he left the room, heading off to whatever side quest he had planned. 

Izuku flopped down on the bed and sighed in contentment. He pulled the blankets over himself, sighing as he closed his eyes. 

His mother hadn’t reacted as badly as he thought to him telling her he’d be staying the night in the spirit world, which he was quite relieved by. 

She was probably distracting herself with making decorations for Greenery Day that was a couple of days away. 

He hoped it would go as well as it did last year. Everything had been going according to plan so far, and he had his planned performance memorized and perfected for the festival. This would be the first time he’d ever danced in front of a crowd, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous about it. 

He turned onto his other side and shoved his face into the pillow, pushing aside his anxieties and allowing sleep to eventually take him. 

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up earlier than he usually did to go on his run before his mother woke up. 

Brushing his teeth and fixing his hair before changing into his running clothes, he quietly went downstairs to the genkan to slip on his shoes. 

He headed outside, pausing on the porch to enjoy the brisk morning air. 

The sun had only just begun to rise, everything still gray and dew glistening on the grass. The last of the stars had begun to fade, replaced with bright blues and pillowy whites. 

It was May 4th, Greenery Day, a holiday that has been celebrated since pre-quirk times in place of an emperor’s birthday as a testament to his love of plants and nature. 

They had started hosting festivals for this holiday when he was 8 and it continued getting more popular each year.

He hopped off the porch and started his run, hoping that it would help clear his head from the worry that his performance would fail. 

It was about 8 am when his mother came downstairs with a yawn and a greeting. They ate a quick and easy breakfast together before starting preparations for the festival later that evening.

Inko had picked up a bunch of groceries to make finger foods for the guests, most of which were easy to assemble. They also had some drinks and pitchers that she had made the day before in the fridge. 

They weren’t entirely sure how many guests they would have this year, but they knew that the shrine was gaining popularity pretty quickly so his mother deciding to double the batch didn’t seem too excessive.

The food platters were finished by 10 am and the Midoriyas spent the rest of the morning and afternoon working outside on the shrine grounds. 

Izuku tasked himself with setting up the stage for his performance. 

Bringing out a portable pop-up platform they had bought for this occasion, he set it up off to the side of the shrine by the forest. 

Using his telekinesis, he raised four posts and hooked up fairy lights to them, winding up each post before connecting them to the other posts, making a border and crossing them in the middle. 

Finally, he dragged out a couple of large speakers from their storage room (‘Dragged’ meaning weightlessly floated using his quirk), setting them on both sides of the stage and making sure their wireless connection worked properly. He turned on some background music and moved on to his next task.

Inko made herself busy setting up tables, putting small pots with various flowers and other plants for guests to take home on them. They had also set out a large stack of baskets by the community garden for anyone to collect some of the fruits and vegetables.

Izuku joined her with the preparations after finishing the stage. They sang and danced to the songs that played, carefree laughter occasionally interrupting their work. 

It took a while, but his mom had started to go back to normal; she felt comfortable letting Izuku walk to and from school and go on his morning jogs without texting her about it beforehand, along with not needing to be by his side whenever he was home to soothe her anxieties. 

It was nice having their normal rhythm return and to be able to laugh and joke with each other without worrying about his inevitable future each time they got too comfortable.

It was a little past 3 pm by the time they were finished. 

Izuku made his mother settle down on one of the lawn chairs as he went inside to fetch a late lunch for them. 

Once they were seated, they got to take a look at the fruits of their hours-long labor.

“I'd say it looks even better than last year’s festival.” His mother commented as she took a bite of the sandwich that he had made for her.

Izuku hummed in thought, looking around. “We have a lot more gifts for visitors than last time thanks to the garden we started a couple months ago.” He looked over to his mother and smiled when he saw how relaxed she was. “This is going to be a great festival, mom.” He paused for a moment, frowning. “Well, it might be great on your side but not mine if my performance flops.”

She shook her head. “Don’t even suggest it going wrong, ‘Zuku-kun, you’ve been practicing that every day after school since you came up with the routine.” 

Izuku sipped his drink, still feeling pretty anxious at the thought of messing up in front of a crowd. 

His mother continued when he didn’t immediately reply. “I know it’s scary to perform, and I know your dance is more modern than what older generations are used to, but it reflects who you are as a person.” She gave him a reassuring smile. “And you’re damn good at it.” 

He almost chokes on his drink when Inko semi-cursed, looking at her with a surprised laugh.

“I knew that would break you out of your anxious spell.” She said with a laugh.

Izuku sighed, amused. “Thanks, mom, that helped a lot. Just talking to you did, too.” 

They’re packing up their lunch by the time that Isetsuhiko arrived, keeping the winds at bay so decorations wouldn’t go flying. 

Izuku waved at him as Ise took a look around with a pleased smile. “It looks really good, I’m sure our guests will love this year’s festival.”

“Thanks, Ise-san, I think so too.” Izuku looked around, proud of their work. Checking the time, he saw that they had about 20 minutes left before the festival was set to begin.

Inko takes his empty dishes from his hands. “Go and make sure your outfit is set out and the speakers are working, I can take care of this.”

He nodded in agreement before heading inside and upstairs to check his outfit over. 

It was a fairly simple outfit made up of black pleated slacks and a dark green long-sleeve button up. He decided to add on a gold chain necklace with a golden feather on the end that symbolized his connection with Isetsuhiko. 

His performance wasn’t until 7, after the sun would have set for the night. 

The stage would be open for guests to dance on before and after his performance. 

He headed back downstairs and outside to check up on the speakers, making sure it was connected to his laptop and not his phone. He idly wondered how long the guests would stay for. 

He noticed that Inko had already almost finished setting out trays of food, plates and utensils, and drinks and cups by the time he was done with quality checks. He turned on his “Greenery Day” playlist that he updated every year, setting it to shuffle. 

He headed over to the torii and looked down the stairs, seeing some of his more regular visitors already heading up. 

He sent them a friendly wave before going to fetch the “Go Green, Musutafu!” pamphlets that he and his mom made to hand out to guests; the pamphlets outlined some of the different nature attractions and parks in the city along with the various facilities that collect recyclables from Musutafu. 

The festival was in full swing by 5:30. 

The crowd was nearly double what it was last year, the number that Inko had accurately guessed and was very prepared for. 

Izuku was politely chatting with his guests as he made his way through each group. 

He looked over when he heard his mother calling for him. 

Slipping through the crowd he paused when he saw the Bakugou family standing by Inko. Katsuki was looking at him with an unreadable expression while Mitsuki and Masaru gave him friendly greetings. 

“Ah, Izuku-kun, it’s good to see you again.” Masaru said, smililng. 

Mitsuki nodded in agreement. “Yeah, kid, it’s been too long! You should come visit us some time.”

Izuku smiled and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “I’m sorry it’s been a while, it’s good to see you all again as well.” 

He glanced at Katsuki, who had looked away from him in favor of drinking one of the soda’s that Inko saved for friends. 

Thinking that he got the hint that Katsuki wasn’t really interested in talking to him, Izuku tried to think of a way to leave the situation. 

Mitsuki patted her son on the shoulder, causing him to look over to her. “You two should go hang out while us adults catch up.” She gave a look that said not to argue. 

“Yes, ma’am.” Izuku said, awkwardly motioning for Katsuki to come with. 

With a bit of hesitation, Katsuki followed him. 

They start to walk around the shrine ground’s perimeter, both quiet and not looking at each other. 

Izuku ended up clearing his throat and glancing over to Katsuki. “So… Do you have any summer plans?” Big yikes. Small talk with someone who used to be your best friend? Great start.

Katsuki gave him a strange look. “Small talk?” He grunted in response. 

Izuku laughed nervously before Katsuki continued. “Not much planned. My parents are taking us to Okinawa for a couple of weeks in July. I'll be working part time at their shop before school starts up again, and in my downtime I’m gonna be training for entrance exams.”

Izuku hummed in response, looking back at the ground as they walked.

“What are your plans?” He glanced back up, a bit pleased that he wanted to keep the conversation going. 

Izuku clasped his hands together in front of him. “I’ll be practicing using my quirk and working here in the shrine. I… I’m also…” He hesitated, wondering how the blond was going to react. Katsuki waited patiently for him to continue, hands resting in his pockets. “Um.. Well, it was mom’s idea, really.” He swallowed. “I’m going to be applying for UA next year.” 

Katsuki was quiet for a bit, slowing his pace to a stop. 

Izuku turned around to face him nervously. “Like for support or general studies?” He questioned, though he could tell that he already knew which department he was going to be applying to. 

Izuku shook his head. “No. The heroics course, she said that getting a hero license would be a good idea.” He couldn’t really elaborate on why so he just hoped that Katsuki would accept that reason. 

Katsuki folded his arms and Izuku tried not to shrink at his piercing eyes. “So you want to be a hero again? When did that happen?” His tone was nonchalant, but he could tell his mind was whirling at Izuku’s confession.

He shrugged slightly, unsure of his thoughts on the matter. “She came up with the idea just last week. It’s not really that I want to become a hero again, more that I need to? Sorry, it’s kind of hard to explain.” He scuffed the ground with his shoe, waiting for Katsuki’s response.

He looked up a moment later after he saw Katsuki relax his arms down to his sides and step around Izuku to continue walking. “You don’t gotta explain it to me, we haven’t been very close in a while so I get it, but..” A grin appeared on the boy’s face, sharp and challenging. “You better get into the same class as me. I need a new punching bag.”

Izuku scoffed, catching up to him and smacking his arm. A confidence was brewing in his chest that he didn’t realize was there until Katsuki extended that olive branch. “Yeah, right. I might not be a fighter but I can still take you down, no problem.”

Katsuki laughed, lightly shoving the shorter boy to the side with ease. “You can prove it when we train together over summer break.” He looked at Izuku after giving his not-question, who nodded with a smile.

“Sure, Katsuki-kun, we can work out a schedule.” His phone alarm buzzed, telling him he had 45 minutes until his performance and that he needed to get ready. His anxieties started to return and he quickened his pace back towards the shrine, Katsuki catching up without issue. “I’m so sorry, I have to get ready for my performance. Are you guys planning on sticking around afterwards?”

Katsuki shrugged. “Not sure. I know that mom had to get ready for a business trip and I doubt dad will want to stick around without the social one being there.” 

Izuku nodded, feeling Masaru on a spiritual level. “Right, well, in case we don’t see each other before you leave.” He pulled out his phone and handed it to Katsuki. “It’ll be easier to make plans this way.” The blond nodded and typed in his number, sending himself a text before giving his phone back to him. 

They departed at the shrine’s front door, Katsuki heading off to find wherever his parents disappeared to. Izuku smiled to himself as he headed upstairs, was it really that easy to get his best friend back? He just had to talk to him and find a shared interest? Sure, that interest was the same one that they used to have and that also semi-ended their friendship before, but it still worked out in the end. 

Izuku’s heart was racing and he hadn't even stepped onto the stage yet. 

There were a lot of people out there, all waiting for him to perform and probably expecting him not to mess up. 

Isetsuhiko landed lightly next to him and Izuku looked over. 

“Nerves?” He asked and Izuku nodded. “Yeah, I get it. You'll do just fine, young Kannushi. Plus,” Ise glances across the crowd in a specific direction and Izuku follows his gaze, “I brought you a cheer squad.”

Izuku’s eyes widened when he saw Ayari, Rowa, and Outo waving at him with smiles on their faces. He also recognized a few others that were from the spirit world who he had briefly spoken to. 

He looked back over at Ise in surprise. “When did you invite all of them and how did I not hear about it?” He felt a smile sneaking its way onto his face. Friends from both sides of his quirk were coming to see him, giving him the boost he needed to stamp down his anxiety.

Ise smiled and crossed his arms. “When we were at the Chatani Inn and Hot Springs after I left the room before you went to bed.” 

Izuku snorted at the memory, earning a light cuff against his head and slightly ruffled feathers in his vision. “Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have made assumptions back then.” He laughed, still thoroughly amused.

Ise shook his head and sighed before resting a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Get up there and show them your skills, Izuku-kun, you’ll do great.” With that, Ise headed back towards Ayari and her family with a final thumbs up to Izuku. 

He took a deep breath before stepping into the middle of the stage. The crowd quieted down fairly quickly, which Izuku was quite relieved by. 

He gave his mother a nod and she pressed play on his song. He got into position with his hands at his sides. 

The first few notes of a piano began to play and Izuku allowed his mind to fall into the zone. 

His arms raised and foot slid across the stage. The light fabric of his shirt ruffles and shifts with him as he twisted, bent, and turned. 

The singer smoothly joined the pianist as gentle raps of a drum and symbol played. 

The audience disappeared into a green mist. It was just him and his music now.

All he could see were the stage below and string lights above. 

All he could hear was the song, his breath as he breathed in on an upwards motion, and then out as his arms came back down and crossed in front of him.

He felt the wind carrying him through his movements. Swaying and stepping forwards, and when the current pulled him back, he went with it willingly. 

Figures in the mist started to come back into view as the song reached its end. 

His mother, Isetsuhiko, Ayari, Rowa, Outo, Katsuki, followed by the rest of the crowd re-solidified from the green mist. 

He felt his heart pick back up as his anxiety slightly spiked as he finished the song. He heard the crowd clap and his family cheered loudly for him as he gave a bow and left the stage.

His mom switched the music back to the designated playlist to let the guests enjoy the dance floor once again before walking over to give Izuku a big hug. “You did so good, baby! That had to have been your best performance of that song yet.” She praised.

Izuku blushed and thanked her before heading inside to wash his face and clear his head. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the dance, which was a big plus. 

Chapter Text

The eventual adrenaline crash from his performance made Izuku lose all desire for social interaction. 

He did his best to greet the spirits without seeming out of it; they all understood how the spirit-to-living world system worked and just gave him their compliments before moving on to mingle with each other. 

It was nearing 9 pm and the majority of the visitors were still enjoying the festivities. Inko had cut the lights on one side of the shrine so that the stars were clearly visible, leaving the string lights on the stage along with the lights around the tables. 

Izuku finally decided he was done with social interactions. Everyone was entertaining themselves, Katsuki and his parents had left not long after Izuku’s performance, and Isetsuhiko had left to walk the spirits home, so he probably wasn’t needed anymore.

It was too loud outside to sleep so he decided to take a trip into town just to walk around. 

It was a really nice night out and a night time jog sounded like the perfect way to end his night.

Izuku walked past the torii and down the stairs into town and made plans to head south, then east to the coast before circling back home. The trip would take around an hour, which was a bit longer than his usual morning jogs, but he liked the idea of spending some extra time away.

He was still wearing his dance clothes but had changed into his running shoes before he left. He was lucky that his long sleeve was breezy or he’d probably overheat before he hit the 30-minute mark of his run. 

Jogging down the sidewalk, he was about 20 minutes into his trip and was creeping closer and closer to Southside Musutafu. He had heard that this area was one of the more dangerous parts of the city, but he wasn’t worried since he’d never experienced anything like that on his morning jogs before. 

Just as he was thinking that he heard a crash and a grunt of pain coming from an alleyway he was just about to pass by. Stopping just before the alley he stopped and crouched down, peering over the corner to see what had caused the commotion.

“You’re really making this more difficult than it has to be.” A tall and fairly bulky man said to another man who was laying with his back against a dumpster. The noise was probably that guy getting thrown against it. 

Izuku scanned the scene. There was a briefcase and a duffel bag off to the side, indicating some sort of trade deal. But considering the fact that they were fighting meant that something had gone wrong.

Izuku pulled out his phone and turned on the silent SOS feature before pocketing it again. 

He was planning on just waiting until a hero or police arrived until the attacker grabbed the other man by the collar and lifted him into the air. 

He was yelling at him about not having enough money for the deal while the smaller man was trying to dissuade the man from attacking further. 

Izuku realized he would have to distract the man to keep him from further hurting or even killing the buyer.

Steeling himself, he stepped out to the entrance to the alleyway and cleared his throat. Both men immediately snapped their heads towards him and Izuku did his best not to recoil and bolt. 

The attacker dropped the other man, who crumpled to the ground when he landed. “What do you want, kid? You’re not dressed for someone in Southside, get out of here if you know what’s good for you.” He growled, a warning not to engage laced in his voice. 

“U-um, I’m sorry, sir, I think I got lost.” He started, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. The man on the ground had slowly begun to crawl backwards, further into the alley. “So you’re a Southsider then, I take it? Seems pretty rough out here.” He forced his hands back to his sides, trying to appear less anxious than he was feeling. 

The attacker fully turned towards him, taking a couple of steps towards him. “I ain’t here for chitchat so you should just fuck off before you regret sticking around.” He flexed a hand and Izuku could see the telltale signs of some kind of transformation quirk that either hardened the man’s skin or something similar. An offensive quirk for sure. 

“Ah, not really a conversationalist, got it.” He saw that the other guy had disappeared, along with the briefcase and duffle bag. 

Oops, well, heroes and police will be scouting the area and should find him. The attacker looked back into the alleyway only to see that the man and his supplies were gone. 

Izuku stuck a thumb out to point down the sidewalk. “Right, then, I’ll just… I’ll just get going, sorry for bothering you.” 

He turned to try and leave but was quickly stopped by a tight grip on his wrist. “Oh, no you don’t. You distract me on purpose to let the other guy leave?” He pulled Izuku into the alley with ease, causing the younger to wince as his arm was squeezed too tightly. “You were in on it, weren’t you, thought you could waltz in and get away with the bounty.”

Izuku shook his head, vehemently denying it. “No, sir! That wasn’t my intention at all, please let me go, I won’t tell anyo–” He got cut off as he got thrown against the dumpster.

Is that this guy’s signature move or something? Izuku tried not to focus on the pain shooting through his back. 

The man, who was now dubbed Dumpster, raised a fist and reached out with his other hand to grab him by the collar of his shirt. 

Recognizing that pattern as well, Izuku quickly ducked away from Dumpster’s hand. “The police are on the way!” He shouted as he scrambled to stand back up while avoiding Dumpster’s frankly sloppy punches. “You should stop attacking me if you don’t want child abuse added to your record.” 

That seemed to have been the wrong thing to say because instead of causing him to back off, Dumpster only seemed to get more aggressive. Was he actually going to kill Izuku before he inevitably got hauled off to jail? One last victim?

Izuku had been doing a pretty good job at dodging Dumpster’s attacks, but staying on the defensive was really putting a strain on his legs. He took another step back, dodging yet another punch as Dumpster yelled incoherently, and to his horror he felt his back hit the brick wall of the alleyway. 

His eyes widened as Dumpster threw a fist right at his chest, he didn't have time to dodge this one. He threw his hands up and shut his eyes, feeling his quirk suddenly activate. He heard a loud crash and something hitting the floor. 

Opening his eyes, he saw that Dumpster was no longer in front of him, but rather slumped against the wall on the other side of the alley. He put a hand on his mouth as he realized he just used his quirk to attack someone. Sure, it was self-defense, but there were no cameras nor witnesses to prove it. 

Carefully approaching Dumpster, he didn’t have to get too close to see that he was still breathing.

Izuku checked his phone to find that it had barely been 5 minutes since he sent out the SOS. He sighed and lightly rubbed his back where he’d hit the actual dumpster, not the man. 

Not long after that, he heard sirens heading his way as well as footsteps running towards the alleyway. Izuku tensed up, hoping it wasn’t some coworker or lackey that Dumpster might’ve had around in case anything went wrong.

He relaxed once he saw the man flash his hero license his way before turning to look at the man and back at Izuku. “What happened?” He asked, before, “wait, actually, let’s wait until the police get here.” 

Izuku nodded and watched as the hero pulled the man into a position that he could cuff him in. He looked young, probably a new underground hero since Izuku had never seen him before. 

The police arrived shortly after and Dumpster was waking up at the same time. A police officer approached Izuku while others dragged the man towards the car to get questioned.

“Good evening.” The officer started. “Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about what happened here?” At Izuku’s nod, she pulled out a small notepad and pen. “Okay, do you need any medical attention?” Izuku shook his head with a short no. “Good good, then go ahead and start from the beginning up until this point.”

Izuku relayed the story, pausing and hesitating a bit too long when he gets to the part where he had to reveal the fact that he used his quirk against the man. 

The officer gives him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, you aren’t in any trouble, your account for what happened tells us that you were a victim and not an offender.” Not to mention the fact that he was a short, well-dressed junior high school aged kid. 

Izuku nodded and took a breath, looking down at the ground. “I used my quirk when he was about to punch me in the chest and I couldn’t dodge… I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to, it just happened and I hurt him.” He looked back up at the officer a moment later, seeing her writing in the notepad before looking back up at Izuku.

“Using your quirk in self defense isn’t a chargeable offense, don’t worry, Midoriya-kun.” Izuku calmed down marginally. “Thank you for your cooperation, do you have an escort home or should I send one of my officers to give you a ride? Your parents must be worried sick about you.”

Izuku paled and scrambled to check the time, it was coming up on 10 pm and he likely wouldn’t get back until almost 11 if he walked back. 

He turned and sheepishly scratched the side of his cheek. “If you wouldn’t mind giving me a ride home, I would greatly appreciate it.” 

The officer nodded and said something into her radio before gesturing for Izuku to follow her out of the alleyway.

The ride back to the shrine was kind of awkward on Izuku’s part. Apparently, the officer was someone who had a prayer answered recently and had actually been at the festival prior to her night shift. 

Izuku was polite and even threw in his two cents every now and then during the 5-minute drive. 

“Thank you so much for the ride, come by the shrine some time and we can treat you to lunch.” He said with a smile. 

“I might just take you up on that!” The officer practically cheered. “Stay safe, alright? And try not going to Southside so late at night, it’s too dangerous.” She gave a final farewell before driving away, leaving Izuku to walk upstairs with a whirling mind. 

He used his quirk on someone. He used his quirk to attack someone. And the police said it was fine? Just because it was self-defense? He guessed that made sense, but when did it become self-defense in the first place?

And what would have happened if he hadn’t been there. Would that other guy, he’ll call him Thief because he stole those two bags, would Dumpster have killed Thief? Or severely maimed him at the very least? It was obvious to him that he wasn’t going to stop even when Thief was on the ground. 

He shook his head as he removed his shoes in the genkan and quietly slipped upstairs and into his room. 

If he wanted to be able to save people, even bad people, he would have to wait until his second year in UA if he got in. How many people would die or have their lives permanently changed while they waited for him to be able to save them legally?

Ayari and Rowa were nearly finished with his hero costume, from what they told him earlier that night, so he wouldn’t have to worry about not being protected. Plus, his costume covered up his hair and his face so he would be pretty much completely anonymous. 

Izuku pulled out a notebook and set up his laptop to start research into laws and vigilantes. He might as well be prepared if he wants to do this.

Chapter Text

Izuku got woken up before his alarm by a finger repeatedly poking his cheek. 

He scrunched up his face and pulled the blanket over his head. “Nooo, 5 more minutes.” He whined, hoping his plea would be listened to by whoever woke him up. 

He heard Isetsuhiko chuckle. “Okay, I guess I’ll go and see why Ayari-kun sent me an urgent message asking for you.”

Izuku was up and already pulling clothes out of his closet to change into before he even finished the sentence. “You better not be lying just to get me up for some errand, Isetsuhiko-san.” He says with a mock warning tone. 

Ise shook his head, amused. “I would have just dragged you out of bed either way, you overslept.”

Checking the time, Izuku realizes it was already past 9 when he was usually up by 8 on weekends, 7 on school days.

It had been 5 days since Greenery Day, and he was quite relieved that Saturday had finally arrived. 

A lot of his classmates had come to the festival and watched his performance; while all of their comments to him were compliments or requests for him to teach them, it was way too much attention to handle. 

“Do you think that the urgent message was that she finished my costume? Oh wait, maybe something went wrong, and she couldn’t finish it for some reason. What if she realized something would go wrong with the transfer of spirit world materials into the living world and I can’t use it here?” He continued muttering his worries until Ise put a hand on his head, making him look up.

“Relax, young Kannushi. I’m very sure that it was your first guess. Ayari-kun and Rowa-kun have made clothes for others to take into the living world before.”

Izuku nodded and Ise let him finish finding his spirit world outfit. He still tried to dress nicely when visiting, it didn’t feel right to wear something overly casual.

He yawned as he headed to the bathroom to start his morning routine. He felt excitement but also apprehension about his hero (Vigilante?) costume. What if he didn’t like it? He and Ayari had talked in great detail about what he wanted, so he should have more confidence in her work. 

He came out of the bathroom and headed downstairs, Ise was waiting by the genkan while his mother was setting up breakfast. 

“Hey, mom! I have to head to the spirit world to pick up my hero costume.” She looked up and seemed to be about to protest as Izuku pulled his shoes on. “We’ll be quick, I promise!”

Inko sighed but smiled. “Okay, ‘Zuku-kun, but I get first dibs on seeing you in your costume when you get back!”

Izuku gave her a farewell and headed out, Ise following him. 

The trip to the spirit world went smoothly, Izuku was already memorizing where the important places were as they headed down the cobblestone road towards Ayari and Rowa’s shop. 

They called out a greeting as they entered the shop. 

Ayari poked her head out from around the corner and smiled widely. “I bet you already know, but your costume is done! We just added the finishing touches yesterday.” She disappeared back around the corner, only a beckoning hand communicating for them to enter.

Izuku quickly headed towards the adjacent room to find Rowa holding a small case with a handle. There’s a tag with his name written neatly on it. She held it out to Izuku with a smile. 

He took it with a respectful nod. “Thank you so much, Rowa-san, Ayari-san.”

Opening the case, he found a neatly folded costume in black and green. He set the case down on a nearby table so he could lay out the individual articles of clothing.

There was a dark green undershirt that looked and felt like it was made of a durable material. The neckline went all the way up his neck and the sleeves were long and skintight at the wrists.

The overshirt was black and slightly baggy. Green lines ran up and down the sides, outlining the other features the overshirt had along with two square designs on either side of the chest. It had a hood with drawstrings that were connected by a green cord lock. The long sleeves had shoulder pockets with zippers; the cuffs were thick and green and went from his wrist halfway up his forearm, it felt like it had some kind of mechanical bits inside of it. The waistline had an elastic drawstring that was also connected by a green cord lock. 

There was also a pair of simple black gloves, the fingers and palm having extra grip for weapons.

His pants were also slightly baggy like his overshirt. Green lines outlined the many, many pockets as well as running diagonally across the thighs and shins of the pants. The waistline had a drawstring on the inside and belt loops on the outside. The pant cuffs were skintight and elastic, perfect for tucking into boots. 

The utility belt was also black with a green box buckle and a few different pouches for various items he might need.

The last thing was handed to him by Ayari. It was a pair of black steel-toed combat boots with green laces. 

After he finished examining each article he turned to the couple with a smile. “It looks even better than I imagined.”

Ayari was quick to answer. “Go and try it on! We have one last surprise once you’re dressed.”

Izuku tilted his head curiously, but did as he was told. 

It was very easy to put on the outfit despite having so many drawstrings. The undershirt was breathable and the whole outfit seemed to be temperature regulated. 

Heading back out with his new costume on, he saw that Ayari was holding something behind her back while Isetsuhiko and Rowa were giving him a few praises. 

He blushed and thanked them as Ayari approached him.

“I know you weren’t sure what you wanted your mask to be based on, so Rowa and I took some creative liberties and chose for you. I hope you agree with our decision.” With that, she pulled the mask out from behind her and handed it to Izuku.

He stared at it for a bit, running a hand across the grooves. 

“A fox?” He asked. The mask was black and green, following his theme.

Ayari nodded. “The kitsune are quick, sneaky, and can disappear from hairy situations with ease.”

“We figured it was fairly on brand with your goal.” Rowa added in. She was normally very quiet so her talking meant that she was quite excited about this project.

He smiled at them. “I love it, it’s perfect!” He put on the mask, the straps clicking into place automatically behind his head. 

It was easy to breathe in, and the entire mask was almost invisible to him, not limiting his vision. 

“Oh! I forgot one last surprise.” He watched as Ayari turned to look at Rowa. “Babe, can you get the lights?”

She nodded and the lights clicked off a moment later. It was nearly pitch black in the windowless room. 

Izuku felt a hand grab his wrist and a moment later a finger press on the thick cuff. 

Suddenly, he is glowing, giving off just enough light to see the room without much issue. 

He looked down and saw that all of the green lines on his costume were lit up. 

“Very impressive.” Ise commented as he glanced around the room.

Ayari clicked another button on the wrist cuff, and it dimmed the light, then switched it back to the brighter version. “I figured that you would most likely be out at night when you get your license, what with your whole sneakiness vibe, so we installed lights into your costume in case you have the need for it.”

“This is amazing, Ayari-san.” She turned off his costume and the room lights came back on. “What can I do to repay you?”

She held up a hand to wave him off. “Just save the world like the prophecy says, that will be more than enough.”

Izuku nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

Taking off the costume took a bit longer than putting it on did, but it folded up easily and fit back into the case snuggly. 

“Your work is just as impressive and meticulous as ever. We greatly appreciate your help.” Isetsuhiko said. Ayari hugged him goodbye and Rowa gave him a smile.

Izuku agreed and bowed to the couple. “Thank you so much for making me my costume. It is more than I could have ever imagined.”

“Don't worry about the formalities, young Kannushi.” Ayari said as she pushed his shoulder to get him to stand upright. “It was our pleasure; we haven’t gotten to make clothes for the living world in a while. It’s one of Rowa’s favorites when we get an order for the living world.” 

He smiled brightly at the two and they said their farewells before he and Ise departed.

Izuku had a skip in his step as he opened the shoji and called for his mom. 

She was in the lounge room reading a book. She looked up as Izuku came in, nearly tripping over himself with how quickly he threw his shoes off.

“Welcome home, Izuku-kun! How was your trip?” She closed her book as Izuku held up the case.

“It’s done! They finished my costume and it’s incredible.” 

He was about to start rambling about it but Ise interrupted him. “Why don’t you go try it on and show her before you spoil all the details?” 

“Right! Right, I’ll go do that.” He looked back at his mom. “I’m gonna go change so you can see it!” He rushed off to the downstairs bathroom to change, leaving an amused Ise and Inko in the lounge.

Inko chuckled, happy to see her son so excited. “Ah, Isetsuhiko-san, I hope to never see that smile of his fade.” She felt a soft rush of wind swirl around her to let her know that Ise agreed with the sentiment. 

Izuku returned not long after, holding his mask in his hand. He did a little spin for his mini audience. 

His mother clapped her hands together as she exclaimed her excitement. “Oh, ‘Zuku-kun! It looks so good, Ayari-san and Rowa-san did a great job. And what’s that in your hand?” She prompted.

“It’s one of the final touches! They took it into their own hands to pick out what my mask should look like, and I think it matches what I’m aiming for.” He put the mask into place, feeling the clasps automatically close behind his head. He also clicked on the lights to his suit.

“You look like a real spy-style hero, perfect for stealth missions.” She complimented.

“If I decide to stay a hero after I fulfill the prophecy, I think I’m going to go underground. You already know that I don’t really like unwanted attention and being a limelight hero would be full of that.” Inko nodded in understanding.

“Whatever you choose, I’ll be in your corner, Izuku-kun. I can handle the shrine when you’re busy with hero work.”

“Me as well.” Isetsuhiko added in. “I’ve worked in a shrine where the owners couldn’t see or hear me before and I don’t mind doing it again.”

Izuku took his mask off, turning off the lights at the same time before smiling at them. “Thank you, I don’t know what I want to do yet but I won't let this costume go to waste.” 

Inko checked the time before ushering Izuku to change and quickly eat his late breakfast. They were already running late on Saturday chores around the shrine, and they were going shopping later. 

After being busy all day, Izuku and his mother decided to have a movie night before heading to bed. Ise only stuck around for one movie before leaving so it was just the two of them relaxing on the couch. 

They had finished their fourth movie and eaten the container of sour candy Izuku picked out at the store before his mother decided to call it a night. 

He cleaned up the lounge room a bit before returning to his own room. 

He stared at the case for a long time, considering wearing it and going out. Then he would backtrack and worry about the possibility of things going wrong. Vigilantism was pretty illegal.

Isn’t lying about your quirk illegal, too? A thought popped up in his head. A quick search later told him that falsifying a quirk in the registry was extremely illegal, even if it was telling the partial truth like in his case. So, he had been a criminal this whole time? He didn’t realize how bad faking a quirk was. 

Well, if he was already committing a crime every minute of every day, might as well add another one on top of it, right?

He put on his costume, equipping the weapons that Rowa had made for him. He checked himself over in the mirror, admiring all the details and care that they had put into his costume. 

Finally working up the nerve to head downstairs, he put his boots on when he reached the genkan before quietly slipping outside. 

He had ventured to Southside the last time he’d gone out, but he got lucky winning that fight. He decided to start on the east side of town by the coast and work his way around the area. 

Staying in the shadows, Izuku got to the coastline without any issues. Picking a direction, he started heading north, weaving between buildings and through alleyways. 

He kept the lights of his suit off, opting for the stealthier side of his suit. His boots did a great job at muffling his footsteps, he felt practically invisible. 

It wasn’t until he had gone west for a bit and turned to start heading south that he came across his first crime of the night. 

A classic mugging like what he’d seen in movies. Some guy intimidating a much smaller and obviously non-confrontational victim into giving him his belongings. 

Remembering that he had to get the mugger to make the first swing, he quietly entered the alleyway, going unnoticed by the two, until he reached a point just a few meters away. 

He had read the manual that Ayari included in the case and a voice modifier was one of the features that his mask had. 

Switching it on, he heard a much older version of his own voice when he spoke. “Hey.” He started, turning on his suit's lights and trying to don a more authoritative persona. The mugger looked over and immediately moved away from the smaller guy. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”

The mugger nervously clasped and unclasped his grip on the knife he was holding. “I’ve never seen you before. You a hero?”

“Something like that.” Izuku kept a hand on his thigh pocket that holds a collapsible bo staff. “Why don’t you give that guy his stuff back and surrender quietly. This doesn’t have to be a messy ordeal.”

He saw the grip the mugger had on the knife tighten. “What do you mean, 'something like that?' What are you?” His voice had gotten a bit harsher, clearly starting to get over his initial fear. 

“What I am is trying to do the right thing and keep someone from getting mugged.” Izuku deflected from the question. He pulled out the bo staff, his thumb hovering the button that would extend it. “If you don’t stand down, I won’t have any other choice than to force you to.”

The man sneered, starting to approach him. “So you’re just a wannabe with a fancy costume. Get out of here, shorty, or you’ll be next.”

He took a slow breath, not changing his stance as the mugger walked towards him. He was being underestimated; he could use this to his advantage. “I might be short but I’m not a wannabe. Last warning, stand down.”

The mugger laughed. “Like hell I will.” Without any further comment, the man swiped his knife at Izuku. 

He practiced fighting against people with different types of weapons in his first two lessons with Tsukasa so while he was new to combat, he wasn’t unprepared for it. 

He ducked out of the way. The man was slow but now he could count his attacks as self-defense. 

Moving his thumb, Izuku activates his bo staff, watching with satisfaction as it extends to slightly under his own height. He was in close quarters with the mugger. 

He changed his stance quickly from the defensive one he was in before, staying low and bringing the staff back; both hands secured firmly, he shifts his weight and thrusts the bo forwards. It made solid contact against the man’s sternum, causing him to stumble back with a surprised grunt. 

Izuku didn’t wait for him to recover before jumping up, planting one foot on the mugger’s leg to launch himself up. He twists slightly, bringing his free leg to knee the side of his head. He pushed off and watched the mugger fall against the wall of the alleyway. 

He looked up at Izuku, dazed and shocked at how fast he moved and how hard he hit. 

Izuku prepped his bo staff again, waiting for the mugger’s next move. 

“W-wait! I yield, I yield.” The man pulled out a wallet and a couple of other things before tossing them at the victim. 

Izuku nodded. “Sit down and stay there.” He gestured at the other guy. “Call the police. I’ll watch him until then.”

The victim obeyed, phoning the cops and relaying what happened. 

The mugger kept his hands in the air and Izuku kept his bo ready. “You really aren’t a hero?” He asked and took Izuku’s silence as an affirmative. “So, you’re a vigilante or something, then?”

“Or something.” Izuku repeated. He still legally wasn’t a vigilante, more of a cosplayer with skill.

He retracted the bo staff and pocketed it as he heard the police arriving. His anxiety had started to spike, and he should probably leave before he embarrassed himself. 

The mugger didn’t look like he was going anywhere so Izuku turned to the other guy. “I’m heading out now. The police will be able to take care of you from here on.”

“Thank you, sir, thank you.” The victim said, giving him a bow. 

“No worries, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” He heard car doors shut as police started exiting their vehicles. 

He high-tailed it out of there, not wanting the awkward back and forth of “Yeah I’m wearing a hero costume but I’m not a hero, and I’m not a vigilante either because I reacted in self-defense” argument he was sure to have if he stayed. 

He was gone by the time the police got to the alleyway and cuffed the mugger. Because he had already left, he missed the man in a tan trench coat taking down the description the victim gave of him with a tired kind of intrigue.

Stopping to breathe and calm his nerves before moving on to finish his patrol. He could definitely get used to this feeling.

Chapter Text

The weekend came and went by far too quickly. Izuku only went out in his hero costume that one time, but he was already craving the idea of going patrolling again. 

He had bought a green composite notebook to write down plans for his nightly endeavors and ended up pulling an all-nighter and filling the entire notebook in his excitement.

He made the mistake of telling his mother the truth when she asked how he slept, and she was not happy with him. She nearly made him stay home from school so he could sleep. Yeah, it took quite a bit of convincing to let him go. 

He mainly wanted to go because he was planning on asking Katsuki to hang out after school. He had been a little too preoccupied by the other students last week and he didn't get the chance to ask him then. 

Izuku managed to leave the shrine early to get a drink at a cafe that was on the way. Coffee wasn’t something that he normally indulged in, but he had a feeling that when his patrols became more frequent, this cafe would learn his face and order pretty quickly. 

Getting to Aldera, half-full coffee in hand, he felt a bit more prepared for his sudden rise in popularity with the other students. 

Some of them actually managed to convince him to teach them how to dance. He felt like a couple of those requests were actually flirts but he couldn’t and wouldn’t confirm that. 

The thought of being in a relationship freaked him out, even if it was something he was interested in.

He shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about that, he had way too many other things going on that adding romance on top of it all would tip him over the edge.

He sat down at his seat and opened up his desk, only to find a letter sitting on top of his stuff. Curious, he opened the letter, immediately closing it and putting it in his backpack when the first sentence was “Dear Izuku-kun. You don’t know me yet, but I saw your performance on Greenery Day and I couldn’t stop thinking about you since.” He was fairly certain it was signed with a heart.

He thought he could handle things now that nearly a week has gone by since the festival, but he clearly overestimated his ability to deal with social things.

He wanted to bang his head onto his desk. He wouldn’t do that because that would draw attention, so he’ll have to settle for withering away on the inside. 

He got pulled from his anxious thoughts when the teacher called attention and began class. 

When lunch came around, he decided to go up to the roof to eat alone. Last week, his usually sparse lunch table was filled up with his classmates and he didn’t really want to have a repeat of that right now.

Maybe he’d open up and make some friends when he felt more prepared mentally. Right now, though? Nah. 

He heard the door open just as he was tucking in and had a very strong desire to take a swan dive off of the roof but that was a great way to break bones. He idly wondered if he could make himself fly using telekinesis as he waited for whoever came upstairs to reveal themself. 

He felt all of his tension drain away when he saw Katsuki looking around before spotting him and beelining for him. 

“Thank gods, I thought you were someone else, anyone else, really.” He sighed in relief as he watched Katsuki sit down.

“You seriously hate people that much, huh?” He commented as he opened up his own lunch. 

“No no! That’s not it. I’m just not used to the attention.” He hesitated before pulling the letter out of his backpack. “And I found this in my desk earlier, I haven’t actually read all of it yet.” He held it out and Katsuki took it and opened it with curiosity.

Izuku watched him react to the letter, feeling himself turn red in embarrassment when Katsuki looked back over at him with a raised eyebrow. He put his face in his hands. “Please, don’t tell me who it was. I’d rather just pretend I never got it.”

He looked back over at Katsuki with a frown when the other boy started laughing. “It’s not funny, it’s mortifying!” He exclaimed.

Katsuki handed him the letter back with an amused grin. “You’ve been spending way too much time holed up in that shrine, green bean.”

Izuku shrugged, scratching his cheek. That was probably true, but he wasn't going to agree with him. “What, do you get love letters so often that my reaction is over the top to you?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Your reaction is over the top because you have no social life, not because you never get love letters.”

“You didn’t answer my question! And I do to have a social life.” He retorted indignantly. He then realized that he was still holding the accursed love letter. Shoving into his backpack again he looked back at Katsuki. “Oh, that reminds me, do you want to hang out after school today?”

He started digging into his lunch as he waited for his response.

Katsuki took a bite of his own lunch before answering. “Sure. I was actually going to ask you that, too.”

Looking up at the blond boy, Izuku tapped his temple. “One and the same, despite the fact we haven’t talked in a few years.” He said through a mouthful. 

“Shut up and chew your food, you nerd.” He smacked Izuku upside the head when he opened his mouth to talk with his mouth full again.

He swallowed, almost choking before chugging his water bottle. “Yeah yeah, I forgot little things like that bothered you.”

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang and they both looked down at their half-eaten lunches. 

“It’ll be your fault if I starve.” Katsuki stated as he put his lunch away. 

Izuku rolled his eyes as he stood up, swinging his backpack on. “Whiner. I’ll see you after school?” 

“Yeah, meet me at the front gate. You have a plan on where we’re going?” Izuku shook his head and Katsuki sighed. “Figured. You should really start planning ahead better.”

Izuku shrugged. “I usually do, you just don’t have high standards, so I didn’t think it mattered.” He ducked as Katsuki tried smacking him again. He bolted for the door, cackling, with Katsuki in hot pursuit and sparking hands. 

“Get back here, nerd! You can’t just dodge a rightfully deserved slap!” Izuku reached the bottom floor, already winded from laughing. 

It was good having his best friend again. He didn’t realize how much he missed this.

The end of the school day couldn’t come soon enough for Izuku as he all but sprinted to the school gate. Katsuki had yet to arrive, which made sense considering how fast Izuku went. 

He saw his friend not too long later and waved to him with a goofy smile. 

“Geez, someone’s excited.” Katsuki said flatly, planting a hand on top of the boy’s head, but Izuku could tell that he was excited too. 

Izuku started leading the way as they walked. “I decided to actually make plans for us since you complained about it earlier.”

“Hey, I don’t complain. You were disrespecting your elder.” Katsuki huffs as Izuku snorts. 

“You’re like 3 months older than me, you mango.” He replied before taking a sharp turn down a street.

“The fuck did you just call me?” At Izuku’s silence he continued. “You gotta get better at offensive nicknames because calling someone a mango isn’t offensive.”

Izuku glanced back at him with a grin. “I don’t know, you seem pretty offended to me. Oh! We’re here.” 

Looking up, Katsuki saw the sign for an arcade.

 “I thought you might want to have a competition?” Izuku said happily.

Instead of replying, he just tapped his temple before walking in.

“Annnd I’ll take that as a yes.” He followed the blond inside. “Any game you want to start with?” He asked, looking at the games available. 

Katsuki glanced around before pointing towards a sharpshooters VR game. Izuku hummed in interest as he dug out some coins. 

“I hope you know I’m at a disadvantage because I’ve never played one of these before.” He reasoned as they put on the headsets and grabbed the pistols. 

“Ha! That’s no excuse, loser.” Katsuki replied as he readied his weapon. 

Izuku sighed as he raised the gun. “I hope you know you’re going to suffer in the game I’m choosing, Baka-go.”

It was some kind of zombie apocalypse simulator. They were stationary and had to wait for the zombies to come to them. There was also no aim aid, so they were flying blind. 

Katsuki chose one of the hardest difficulties, much to his annoyance.

The game lasted a lot longer than he was expecting. Turned out, he’s a pretty decent aim and managed to keep himself from dying for a good 7 rounds before he succumbed to the zombies’ rage. 

“Damn it! I was doing so good too…” Izuku groaned in frustration when his character died.

Katsuki laughed as he took off the headset. “You just gotta get good.” 

Izuku punched him in the arm. “My turn!” He immediately turned around and led them to a specific part of the arcade.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Katsuki said empathetically as he looked at the game. 

“Nope! You chose your specialty, I get to choose mine.” Izuku says cheerily as he stepped up onto the dance machine. 

Katsuki sighed and stood on the dance pad next to his. “Fine. But I get the same excuse you made.” 

Izuku grinned at him as the machine started up. “Glad you accepted my reasoning on why I lost.”

With that, the dance was on. 

He went easy on his friend and only chose hard difficulty and not extreme, because he was a nice person. 

The music started playing and they were in sync for the first quarter of it. Then the first bridge happened, and it was downhill from there, at least for Katsuki. 

He danced fluidly and with ease while Katsuki’s movements were more jagged and sharp. Kind of like their personalities. 

The dance ended and Katsuki was a bit winded at having to dance for a nearly 10-minute-long hyper techno song. 

Izuku stretched a bit. “You wanna go again? That was just a warmup for me.”

He glared at the other boy. “You’re sadistic, I hope you know that.”

“Only towards specific people, my lemon friend.” Izuku replied easily. “Get it? Because you’re a sour loser?”

“That’s not the saying, nerd.” 

“Right right. Anyways, it’s your pick again!” Izuku replied, excited.  

They ended up spending nearly 3 hours at the arcade until his mother texted him that dinner was almost ready.

As Katsuki walked Izuku home he looked over at the boy. “It was good hanging out with you again.” He said genuinely.

Izuku glanced at him with a grin. “Yeah, that was really fun! You should come for dinner some time, I’m sure mom would love to see you again.”

“Mine, too. She asks about you at least twice a month. It’s annoying.” Katsuki said, though there was no annoyance when he said it.  

Izuku smiled fondly at the thought of Mitsuki wanting to know about his wellbeing. “That sounds nice. Maybe we could have a barbeque with everyone or something?”

Katsuki hummed in acknowledgement as they reached the stairs to the shrine. “See you tomorrow, ‘Zuku.”

Izuku felt a wave of warmth at being addressed by his childhood nickname. “See you tomorrow, Kacchan!” With that, he turned and headed up the stairs, skipping steps as he went. 

Katsuki watched him go before turning around and heading back towards his own house, wearing a small smile only seen by himself.

Chapter Text

It was the first weekend of June and about a month after Izuku began his vigilantism hobby. It took him two weeks to figure out his vigilante name but eventually decided to just go with what his costume was based on, ‘Kitsune.’ It was easy to say and fit his brand. 

And now, he had the opportunity to test out his vigilantism in a different city!

His mom was taking the both of them to celebrate her friend’s birthday. Kaminari Shiden was her name. Inko was primarily pen pals with her, but Kaminari was turning 40 on Saturday the 6th and she decided it was the perfect time to visit her decade-long friend. 

Izuku was more than happy to tag along with his mother, though he was a bit nervous when she mentioned Kaminari’s son, Denki, would also be coming with them. He hoped that Denki would be easy to get along with, though it would be nice to meet a kid his age that didn’t go to his school or come to his shrine. 

“Izuku-kun! Are you all packed up? Remember, we’re gonna be in Saitama for the weekend!” His mother called from downstairs. 

“Yeah, I am! I’ll be down in a minute, mom!” Izuku yelled back. He grabbed his travel backpack, double checking that everything was there. Toiletries? Check. Sunscreen? His mom has that. Changes of clothes? Check. His vigilante outfit? Triple check. 

He bounded downstairs, jumping off the last few steps. 

“Be careful! You know I don’t like it when you jump off the stairs. Do you remember what happened when you were 4? You knocked out three baby teeth!” She scolded. 

Izuku laughed. “Mom, it was only one baby tooth, and I only chipped it!”

She mocked an eyeroll. “Fine fine, curse your perfect memory. Are you ready to go?”

“Yep!” He bounced on his heels and his mother laughed at his excitement. 

They locked up the shrine and headed to the train station. 

The train ride went smoothly and Izuku followed Inko as she beelined towards a specific cafe. 

Upon entering, he noticed who he thought was Shiden and her son Denki. They were chatting while idly sipping their drinks. 

“Shi-chan!” His mother called out warmly as she approached the two. “It’s so good to see you again. And this must be little Denki-kun, I haven’t seen you since you first got your quirk.”

“Hey hey, Inki-chan!” Shiden stood and gave her a big bear hug. “Ready to get the big 40 out of the way? I hope you know we’re doing the same thing for you next month.” Shiden was a tall woman with coarse yellow hair and dark purple eyes. Her son was similar, except he had a lightning streak in his hair and yellow eyes. 

Inko laughed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way!” 

Shiden glanced behind her and noticed Izuku. She stepped around her friend and gave him a shoulder pat. “You’ve gotten so big, Izu-kun! I hope you’ve been taking care of the shrine and not giving your mother a hard time, yeah?”

Izuku gave her a polite bow. “Of course, Kaminari-san!” When he straightened back up, he saw Denki approaching with a smile very similar to his mother. “Oh, you’re Kaminari Denki, yes?”

“Yeah! And it’s Midoriya Izuku? Good to meet you.”

“Same for you.” Izuku replied a bit awkwardly. 

Shiden and Inko both clap their hands together at the same time. “All right!” “Let’s get this show on the road!”

Their sons exchanged a glance. Their mothers being in perfect sync with each other and both having this much energy was a recipe for chaos. 

Izuku and Denki sighed in unison as they jogged to catch up to their mothers, who were already almost at the end of the street.

Their first stop was at a bonsai art museum. Izuku learned that Denki was also applying for the heroics course at UA, which they bonded over pretty quickly. 

“So, your lifelong best friend is also going to be applying for the heroics course?” Denki asked as they waited for their mothers to move on to the next bonsai exhibit. 

“Yeah, his quirk is crazy strong and he’s one of the top students at my junior high school. He’ll for sure get into class 1-A no problem.” Izuku responded, totally not fanboying over Katsuki. “Oh! I forgot to ask, what’s your quirk, Kaminari-kun?”

Denki grinned and lifted up a hand, it sparked with electricity. “It’s called Electrification! I can store and discharge electricity from any part of my body. Pretty useful, right?”

Izuku almost grabbed his hand to get a closer look but then realized he would electrocute himself if he did so he opted to not touch the electric hand. “Woahh, that’s so cool! Can you shoot the electricity or is it like a cloak? Are you able to charge up other objects to use in combat, like a copper ball or something? Is there a limit on the amount of electricity you can make?” He stopped himself and leaned back, sheepish. “Sorry, I get a bit excited about quirks.”

The electric boy still had a grin on his face, but he seems like he’s having a bit of a hard time keeping up with his questions. He laughed. “It’s fine! Hey, if you want to, we can text each other and maybe set up some summer training? You mentioned that you and your friend will be training over the summer too.” 

Izuku nodded enthusiastically, pulling out his phone. “That would be great! You kind of remind me of Katsuki-kun, but less fiery and more smooth. You two really personify your quirks.” 

Denki tilted his head but smiled. “Uh, thanks, I’ve never been told that before.” He took Izuku’s phone to add his number into it. Their mothers were moving on to the next exhibit, so they kept talking while walking. “What’s your quirk?”

Izuku used his telekinesis to float Denki’s phone back to him while pulling his own phone to himself. “Minor telekinesis. Though, I’ve been practicing it a lot and I can pick up the equivalent of a small car now. Over the summer, I want to practice how much weight I can pick up and how many individual objects I can hold.” 

Denki took his phone from mid-air. “Super cool, dude! I think we’ll have the entrance exam in the bag.” He paused for a moment, suddenly getting a bit embarrassed. “Though, the written portion might be my weak spot.” He further explained when Izuku tilted his head in curiosity. “I’m dyslexic, so timed tests and most things that require reading and writing are… Really hard.”

Izuku hummed in understanding. “I can help you study for the written exams, if you think that might help?”

“Sure! Thanks, Midoriya-kun.”

They both looked up at their mothers when their names got called. 

“Come on, slow pokes!” Shiden called. “We’re hungry and we have a hot pot and karaoke dinner to get to!”

“I could eat.” Denki said as they hurried to catch up with their parents for the umpteenth time.

“Yeah, but what’s that about karaoke she mentioned?” Izuku questioned with uncertainty. Knowing his mother, and her twin at this point, they were going to force him to sing. He prayed that it was one of those private room deals. 

The hot pot dinner was, in fact, a private room, much to his relief. 

“Do you like karaoke?” Izuku asked Denki quietly as they were led to their reserved room.

Denki shrugged. “No clue. I’ve only ever sung in the shower or when doing chores, really. I've always wanted to be in a band, though.”

“I’ve never done it either, but I’m glad it’s just going to be us four.”

“Inki-chan, you get to go first!” Shiden said as they sat down at their table.

“What?! I am not! This was your idea, Shi-chan!” His mother protested. “I do not sing in front of people.” She glanced at Izuku. “In front of people not a part of the shrine.” She corrected.

Shiden rolled her eyes. “Fine fine. But if I’m the first one to do a song, I get to pick which one you do.”

Inko gasped before looking at Izuku with pleading eyes. 

He did his best to try to fight against his mother’s persuasion, he really did, but he ended up volunteering because he loves her.

‘This is nothing like my dancing performance, I’m not prepared for this.’ He thought as he stepped up to the mini stage and grabbed the remote to pick a song. 

He picked a pop song that was released a couple years ago. It was by a pretty popular artist, a real crowd pleaser. The other three would, in theory, sing along so he wouldn’t technically be performing by himself. 

Just as predicted, the other three were super into it and sang almost louder than he did while using the karaoke machine. 

“Wow, Midoriya-kun!” Denki praised, giving a double thumbs up. “Perfect song to start off the night, and you have a great voice.”

Izuku smiled, watching as Shiden got up onto the mini stage and picked out a rock song. “I wanted to start off with something I thought everyone would know.” He started preparing his dinner plate, his mother and Denki following suit.

Denki nodded in agreement, then his face lit up when his mother’s song started up. “I love this one!” He exclaimed before singing along.

Izuku listened to Shiden’s and then Denki’s songs with amusement as he ate, they were pretty good singers and very passionate about rock.

The hot pot and karaoke ended up lasting about 3 hours.

He and his mother got to their hotel room just after 8 pm. Izuku was exhausted but in a very good mood, satisfied with the way the day went. 

He was glad that he found another friend that would be going to UA. He hoped they could all be in the same class together. 

Crashing on the bed, he decided to call it early. He was planning on being up at around 11:30 to look into patrol routes in Saitama so he wanted as much sleep as he could get. 

His alarm went off at 11:30 and he groggily shut it off. He stretched and sat up, checking his phone. His mom had sent him a quick text saying she’d be out until around 3 am with Shiden. 

That works out way better than he was expecting. He just planned on arranging pillows and towels to mimic him sleeping in bed, but he didn’t need to do that anymore!

Pulling his laptop out of his backpack, he looked at the tentative patrol routes he had come up with when his mother had first told him about the weekend trip. If he left at midnight, then he had less than 3 hours of patrolling. He should shoot for 2 hours, just in case something went wrong. 

Choosing his patrol route, he put on his vigilante outfit. If he kept his overshirt tied around his waist and his mask tucked away, he looked almost completely normal, although very color-coded, so it would be easy to get out of the hotel. 

Stepping outside, he slipped into a nearby alley and, after making sure no one could see him, pulled his overshirt and mask on. 

Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, he scaled the roof via the fire escape. Jumping across roofs in the bigger city was quite an experience. The jumps were larger and much higher up, so he was pretty thankful that using telekinesis on his shoes worked how he predicted. 

It had only been 5 minutes when he got his first alert to a villain fight. 

Leaning over the ledge of the roof, he could tell that they were both villains and were clearly having some kind of territory feud that was getting destructive. He took a deep breath and hopped off the 4-story building into the alleyway. Slowing his descent with his quirk, he landed silently and pulled out his bo staff. 

Gripping the bo staff and keeping his thumb just above the activation button, he switched on his voice changer and turned on the lights to his suit. 

“I suggest you chill out before you cause any more property damage.” He called out loudly, taking a couple of steps towards the two villains. 

They glanced over at him, one sneered while the other seemed a lot more cautious. 

“What’s it to ya, pipsqueak?” The sneering villain said. He didn’t seem to have a combat-oriented quirk, but he was built . The villain got a pretty annoyed side eye from the other guy.

“That’s Kitsune, to you.” He said. “And I don’t take kindly to people unnecessarily destroying poor, innocent dumpsters.” He gestured sadly to the pretty badly dented dumpster. 

The sneering guy laughed and took a few menacing steps towards Kitsune while pounding a fist into his other hand. “This is a turf fight, it’s none of your business if we destroy what’s rightfully ours.”

Kitsune dropped into an offensive stance, hand itching to activate his bo staff. He had to wait, just until the villain threw the first punch. 

It only took a second longer of standing his ground before the villain lunged for him. He activated his bo staff and brought it down on the guy’s head. 

He stumbled forwards, giving Kitsune the room to kick his hip, further knocking him off balance. He cursed at himself when he noticed the other villain had already run off.

‘Strong but clumsy,’ Kitsune thought as they continued to exchange blows. ‘His speed isn’t bad but he’s too big for this alleyway to do anything meaningful.’

Kitsune finally managed to knock him out with a precise blow. After tying him up, he clicked the emergency button that would alert the authorities to a pinned location, allowing him to continue on without the location following him. 

It was about 1:30 am and he had taken on six different incidents. This city was busy, and it was kind of exhausting. It made him happy that he lived in Musutafu but he was also a bit upset that he hadn’t noticed a single underground hero yet. Did they even exist in Saitama?

A scream caught his attention, and he hurried in that direction. It was two men trying to mug a couple with a child. 

Both men had some kind of canine mutation quirk, the couple and child didn’t have any physical mutations and looked pretty scared. 

Jumping off the roof, he landed directly on the shoulders of one the muggers, one with a wolf-like quirk, not really caring about the whole ‘self-defense’ aspect of his vigilantism in this instance. The wolf huffed in surprise before he dropped to the ground unconscious after a hard hit to the back of the head. 

Kitsune jumped back as the other mugger, one with a hound-quirk, swung a bat at him. Twirling his bo staff, he hopped a couple times to get to a more advantageous position. 

The hound growled angrily. “What’s a fox doing in dog territory?” He did something strange with his free hand, but Kitsune couldn’t tell what.

“Keeping innocents from getting mauled.” He responded before lunging at the hound. 

He was pretty fast and skilled with a weapon, but Kitsune’s smaller stature and longer weapon put him ahead. 

He had just dealt the knockout when he heard a pack of dogs howling. ‘That’s really bad, isn’t it.’

“Get out of here, fast!” Kitsune ordered the small family. They quickly scurried out of the alleyway just as four new canine mutation criminals came up the opposite way. 

‘Oh boy, I just had to save the worst for last, didn’t I.’ He thought just as the front two, who both seemed to have greyhound mutations, tried flanking him on either side. 

He leapt into the air and flipped upside down, using his telekinesis to keep him afloat momentarily as he spun quickly, hitting both greyhounds with his bo staff as he twisted and knocking them against opposite walls. 

Kitsune landed just in time to be charged by a staff dual-wielding collie. He managed to block the first staff with his bo, but he had to stop the other with his hand, making his arm jerk awkwardly from the force. 

He was just about to make a counterattack when he got kicked by the final criminal, a rottweiler mutation, and he slammed into the alley wall with a pained grunt. His bo went flying out of reach. 

He dropped down when the collie tried smashing his face with the butt of her pole and immediately got kicked to the ground by the rottie again. 

The rottie stepped on his chest as he tried scrambling away from them, pinning him to the floor. “Foxes don’t belong here.” She scolded. “Guess you have to learn that the hard way.”

They both started laughing as the collie raised both of her staffs to bring down on Izuku’s head. 

He tries not to close his eyes as the weapons come down at his face, but he could only suppress a flinch to a certain extent. 

Kitsune shut his eyes, anticipating the hit. 

Instead, he heard the collie yelp in surprise and a body hitting the ground, he opened his eyes again just as the weight of the rottie’s foot on his chest lifted away. He jumped up as quickly as he could, wincing at the twinge in his chest. 

He stared in shock as he watched a new participant joining the fray, though it was already practically over as he saw the newcomer tying up the canine pack. 

Kitsune quickly did the same with the criminals closest to him, he hit his emergency button and approached his potential ally. 

“You alright, foxy?” He turned to Kitsune with a tilt of his head. His voice was deep, he noted. The best way to describe his jumpsuit gear was it looked like a galaxy. Blues, purples, blacks, and small splotches of pink covered the full body jumpsuit. He had a black cowl and goggles that hid all features. He was a good 10 cm taller than him. 

Kitsune nods. “Y-yeah, thanks for the assist, mr…?”

“Yonaka.” He responded smoothly. “And you are?”

“Kitsune.” He said, much less suavely. 

“You must not be from around here to be taking on the Inu no Mure in their own territory and by yourself.” Yonaka stated, putting a hand on his hip. 

“That’s what they call themselves? How original.” He snorted. “But you’re right, I’m a vigilante down in the Shizuoka prefecture.” Wait, was this guy a hero?

Yonaka pauses, thinking about something. “I like your look." He complimented. "Let’s exchange numbers, vigilantes should stick together, yeah?” Oh good, another vigilante. He pulled out his phone and tossed it to him. 

He fumbled but caught it, slightly flustered at the random compliment. “S-sure, yeah, good idea. I like your look, too.” He handed his own burner to Yonaka. 

He heard Yonaka hum in amusement before they traded phones again. A siren sounded nearby, signaling their time to depart. “Take care of yourself, Kitsune. Call me if you need anything, I’ll see about coming down to Shizuoka some time.”

Kitsune nodded. “Same to you, Yonaka. Southside Musutafu is my usual playground.” He called as he climbed the building.

When he glanced down in the alleyway again, Yonaka was already gone. He bolted for the hotel after realizing he was 20 minutes away and it was already 2:30.

He flopped onto his bed after tucking away his gear, pulling the blankets over himself and wincing when his ribs twinged again. His shoulder also hurt, great.

He stared up at the ceiling in contemplation. ‘Yonaka, huh? Dead of night. I wonder what kind of ally you could become.’ He was kind of excited at the idea of having another vigilante to patrol with, even if it likely wouldn't happen for a while.

Chapter Text

Izuku fanned himself as he walked home, Katsuki walking beside him. 

“I really hope it will cool down for the festival, it’ll be torture setting everything up.” He complained. 

“Why are you whining so much? Your quirk can do pretty much all of the work for you while you stand in the shade of the porch, ‘Zuku.” Katsuki replied with an eye roll.

Izuku shrugged. “It doesn’t feel right using telekinesis on things I don’t necessarily need to, it’s like I’m cheating or something.”

Katsuki snorted. “Yeah. Okay. I was giving you an easy solution but if you want to make your life harder, go for it.”

They reached the stairs and started climbing up them, racing each other in the last half. Katsuki used explosions to shoot up the last few steps to win. 

Izuku gave him a dirty look when he caught up. “What did I just say about using a quirk when you don’t have to? Cheater.” Katsuki laughed as they headed to the shoji of the shrine. 

“We’re home!” Izuku called out as they removed their shoes and headed into the lounge. 

Denki was sitting at the chabudai, carefully folding paper cranes; his mother sat next to him, cutting strips of colorful paper and hole punching one end to make tanazaku wishing papers for the visitors to hang on the bamboo tree his mother had delivered earlier that day. 

Denki looked up and waved at him. “Hey, welcome back, Mido-kun!”

Izuku smiled before gesturing to Katsuki. “This is Bakugo Katsuki, the friend who I’m going to be training with over the summer.” He introduced.

“I can introduce myself, nerd.” Katsuki huffed, but there’s no annoyance in his voice. “You’re Kaminari Denki, right? Izuku wouldn’t shut up about you and your cool quirk.”

Denki blushed and scratched his cheek. “Ah, thank you. I didn’t know I was such a popular topic.”

“Hey! I go on rants about everyone’s quirks!” Izuku defended himself, embarrassed at the callout. “A-anyways, how are the decorations coming along? Now that I’m here, can we bring out the streamers to make some fukingashi?” He asked, changing the topic. 

Shiden perked up. “Aw, yeah! I’ve been waiting to put my masterful crafting skills to good use. Cutting out tanazaku isn’t exactly challenging.” She loosely tied a string on the end of one of the wishing papers and set it on the stack she made. “You’re really working us like dogs, you know?”

Inko had come downstairs while they were talking. “Oh, quit your complaining.” She chided, amused. “You’ve been staying here since my birthday a few days ago, consider it rent!”

“You invited us to stay for Tanabata!” Shiden argued, laughing. 

Izuku retrieved the streamers, and they set to work. 

Hanging up the last of the fukingdashi, they all took a step back and admired the finished product. 

Denki and Katsuki got along swimmingly; with Denki’s smoothly chaotic personality meshing with Katsuki’s brash and explosive attitude. It made Izuku very excited for the summer training they were going to do. 

“I think it looks wonderful!” “I gotta say, we did a great job making the decorations.” Inko and Shiden said at the same time.  

Izuku nodded in agreement then remembered something. “When do the food vendors get here, mom? It’s almost 5 and the festival starts at 6.”

“We have three venders coming between 5-5:30.” She responded as they went back inside to get a drink. “They should be selling soumen noodles, takoyaki, cabbage pancakes, and some flavored drinks.”

Shiden took a sip of her lemonade. “Oh, I can’t wait to get my hands on some of that soumen.”

Izuku and Denki hummedd in agreement while Katsuki downed his lemonade in a few seconds. 

Isetsuhiko POV  

The festival was in full swing and Isetsuhiko arrived around two hours into it. He lounged lazily on the roof of the shrine, watching over the visitors. 

He noted that there were a lot more spirits out this evening than usual, some particularly benign spirits would pass into the shrine grounds and linger before moving on. 

He yawned and was about to hop off of the roof when he saw Izuku heading towards the forest by the shrine. Looking a bit closer, he saw the Kannushi approach a spirit before kneeling next to it, offering it some takoyaki. 

The spirit, a kitsune, accepted the food offering. He watched with curiosity as they talked, too far away to really hear them, before Izuku straightened up. There was a flash of light coming from the fox before an androgynous-looking person appeared in the kitsune’s stead, dressed in a punk style with lip, nose, and ear piercings. 

Ise narrowed his eyes as Izuku invited the kitsune onto the shrine grounds. 

Straightening up, he stretched out his wings and glided over to the two. “Who’s this, young Kannushi?” He trusted Izuku but still wanted to make sure the kitsune wasn't there to cause harm. 

“A new friend.” Izuku replied with a smile as he glanced back at the kitsune.

The kitsune bows politely. “I am Koki, steadfast and flower bud.” They introduced. 

“I am Isetsuhiko, god of the wind and guardian of this shrine.” He responded with a respectful nod. “Why has a fox spirit taken an interest in the young Kannushi?”

Koki straightened up, they weren’t much taller than Izuku. “I have been observing this shrine and the family residing within and I wish to offer my services as a familiar, if you would have me.” The kitsune said. 

Ise looked over at Izuku. “Is that what you wish, Izuku-kun?” He asked. 

Izuku paused for a moment, considering, before nodding. “It’s been us three for coming up on nine years now, it would be nice to have a new addition.”

“Do you know how to accept a familiar?” Izuku nodded again. “Very well, then.”

He watched the young Kannushi turn to the fox, who slightly bows their head. Izuku kissed Koki’s forehead, his eyes flashing briefly. When he backs away again, a soft light glows where he had kissed them. 

The soft buzz of a new member of the shrine settled within Izuku and Isetsuhiko. "Welcome to the family!" Izuku said happily. 

“Can you materialize for the living to see you?” Ise asked as they returned to the festivities. 

“Yes, I can keep a physical form for up to 12 hours.” Koki replied proudly. 

“I hope you like it here, Koki-chan!” Izuku said, excited. 

Koki smiled. “Thank you for having me, I’ll do what I can to serve the shrine.”

Izuku POV

Izuku was very happy with the way the night had gone.

Getting to hang out with Denki and Katsuki during the festival was great, and he was relieved that they got along so well. 

When he first noticed Koki, his quirk alerted him that the fox was a spirit. 

He had decided to give talking to them a shot, since he didn’t usually speak with spirits while in the living world. 

He was kind of shocked when they offered to become his familiar. He’d had passing thoughts wondering what it would be like, but he never expected it to actually happen. 

He could feel Koki’s soft presence in the back of his mind, it felt different from Ise’s presence, but no less comforting. 

Izuku was taken away from his thoughts when his phone buzzed. Pulling it out of his pocket, he checked the message. 

Foxy and Galaxy

Yonaka (9:23 pm): Weekly life status check. I am alive and well. Are you celebrating the star festival, Foxy?

Kitsune (9:24 pm): Weekly life status check. I’m also alive and doing good.

Kitsune (9:24 pm): I’m currently at a shrine festival celebrating Tanabata now! Are you?

Yonaka (9:27 pm): I went to a parade that wasn’t far from where I live in Saitama. I got to hang a tanazaku on a potted bamboo tree that was in one of the parade floats. 

Kitsune (9:30 pm): Did you get to try any festival food?

Kitsune (9:30 pm): Musutafu had a small parade close to UA but I didn’t go to it

Yonaka (9:32 pm): Yeah, the soumen noodles were good but nothing beats the yakitori here.

Yonaka (9:32 pm): Another status update. I’ll be coming to Musutafu on the 18th, will you be free then?

Kitsune (9:36 pm): I should be free! You’ll have just missed my birthday, actually

Yonaka (9:38 pm): Consider it a late birthday gift, then. Mine just passed a few days ago. 

Kitsune (9:39 pm): Happy late birthday.

Kitsune (9:39 pm): So, we’re both cancers?  

Yonaka (9:43 pm): Is that a zodiac thing? I don’t really keep up with those. 

Kitsune (9:45 pm): Shocked face emoji I’ll have to teach you the ways of the zodiac, it’s surprisingly accurate

Yonaka (9:46 pm): I guess there’s no way out of it. 

Kitsune (9:50 pm): I’ll meet you at XX store at midnight, sound good to you?

Yonaka (9:50 pm): Yeah, that works for me. I’ll see you in a couple weeks. 

Kitsune (9:51 pm): See you then!

Yonaka has gone offline.

Kitsune has gone offline.

Izuku grinned at his phone. This night couldn’t get any better. Yonaka was coming to visit! 

It had been a month since he had seen the vigilante. 

They started up the habit of checking in on each other every Monday; they would sprinkle in casual conversation, but nothing identifying. Learning each other's birthdays was the most personal thing they'd shared so far.

Izuku was a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to truly be close friends with Yonaka, but that was just the way anonymous vigilantes worked. Maybe that will change in the future.

Pocketing his phone, he started helping his mother and the Kaminari’s took down decorations before turning in for the night.

Izuku didn’t actually go to sleep, instead doing a quick patrol to make sure no one was getting too rowdy with the celebrations. It was mostly drunk people but none of them caused trouble, he actually ended up helping a couple of them get back to their homes.

He flopped onto his bed, rolling over and pulling the sheet over himself. He didn't think he enjoyed being around drunk people; they were too loud and lacked common sense a lot of the time. 

He shut his eyes, knowing he was already very antsy very impatient for the 18th to come around.

Chapter Text

The 15th of July had finally rolled around, and with it came Izuku’s 14th birthday! 

His mother had told him to invite some friends over and she’d make dinner and dessert for everyone. He’d been thinking pretty hard about who to invite. 

Katsuki for sure, Denki’s mom said that he couldn’t go 2 hours out of town on a school night so he wouldn’t be coming (Though he did promise to call Izuku to serenade him a happy birthday), and lastly, some of the students who wanted dance lessons from him.

So, it was only four people, but that was more than enough for him.

He and Katsuki walked to the shrine together, Izuku having to slow his pace when Denki called him.

They talked for over 30 minutes and Katsuki would occasionally add onto whatever they were talking about.

He ended the call after Denki sang him a very opera-esque version of happy birthday, much to his amused delight.

His mother had decided on hot pot for dinner and he recognized the new trend. Both Shiden and his mother had hot pot for their birthdays. 

Oh well, he wasn’t complaining.

Koki had materialized as a human to help out as well.

His mother hadn’t been too weirded out by the sudden addition to the household, though she did tell him to ask her before he invited anyone else to live with them. He had sheepishly apologized and agreed to her request.

The other three students he’d invited arrived either right at or just before 6 pm. 

“Happy Birthday, Midoriya-kun!” One of his classmates, Neiko, said as she came in with a covered glass baking pan. 

“Thanks for being here, Neiko-chan!” He replied cheerily. 

“I brought some Italian bread rolls for everyone.” Inko immediately directed her on where to put the food.

The other two, Aoki and Kaiba, arrived not long after with board games and soda.

Koki took the soda to bring to where they were keeping the food on the dining table. They also turned on music from Izuku’s laptop.

“The hot pot is ready! You guys should eat before you go off doing whatever teenagers do.” His mother called out before heading upstairs with a plate she had previously prepared. 

“Thanks, mom!” Izuku called as he and his friends gathered for dinner.

“How else have you spent your birthday so far, Midoriya-kun?” Aoki asked, dipping a piece of meat into the boiling soup. 

Izuku tossed a couple of veggies into his soup. “Well, I went on my morning run like usual, then school, and when I came back home, Katsuki and I played some video games before setting up for the party.” He recounted. 

Katsuki snorted, taking a bite of cooked fish. “It’s not playing if you keep dying 30 seconds into the match.” 

“I did not! I was alive for at least a minute.” He argued with a laugh and Katsuki rolled his eyes.

The rest of the dinner went along a similar vein; getting to know each other in an out-of-school scenario was always so different, but not unenjoyable.

They’d just finished their fifth card game, which Kaiba had won the majority of, when they decided to move on to a different game. 

A fun and upbeat song started playing and Izuku nodded his head slightly to the tune. 

Aoki leaned into his vision with a glint in his eye. “Impromptu dance lesson?” He suggested with a grin. 

Izuku laughed. “Sure, if everyone else wants to.” He stood up when the others agreed, Katsuki mildly reluctant, but he was being lenient for his birthday.

He ran them through the moves and steps they’d learned from the previous three sessions he’d taught before selecting a specific song that those moves would work with. 

The next 45 minutes were filled with directions on Izuku’s part, curses on Katsuki’s part, and laughter from the other three. 

By the end of the lesson, they could all dance the song somewhat in sync with each other.

His mother had come back downstairs and watched them run through the song one final time before clapping. “That was so good! You should really think about performing for the talent show at Aldera.”

“Thanks, Midoriya-san!” Kaiba said. “I think I need to practice my pivots a lot more before I could even consider performing.”

Izuku argued with his critique. “I know that it feels like you’re moving like a robot when you pivot, but it really does look smooth like it’s supposed to.” Kaiba beamed and thanked him.

“Are you guys ready for cake? You’ve been practicing for almost an hour and sugar will be the perfect way to end the night!” Inko asked as she pulled the cake out of the fridge and the teens gathered around.

After singing and blowing out candles, Izuku was given the honor of cutting the cake. 

It was nearing 10 when all of his friends headed out for the night, and he helped his mom and Koki clean up.

“Thanks for helping out with the party.” Izuku said as they were about to split off for the night. 

“Of course, baby!” His mother replied happily. “It’s nice to see you bringing friends over. I was starting to get worried about your asocialness.” 

Izuku scoffed, amused. “Hey! Just because I didn’t bring them home doesn’t mean I didn’t have friends.”

“Okay okay. Have a good night, ‘Zuku-kun, happy birthday.” She gave him a big hug and forehead kiss before heading off to her room. 

Koki had disappeared somewhere outside like they usually do, being nocturnal and all. 

Izuku retired to his own room, making a note to start his patrol at 11. This would mark almost 2 months of vigilantism! He’d been improving a lot, especially with training from Tsukasa in the spirit world and his other trainer in the living world.

30 minutes later, he found himself sneaking downstairs with his gear. Slipping on his boots, he headed out, quietly locking the shoji. 

He turned around and froze when he spotted Koki in their fox form watching him. 

“Uh… I can explain?” He said. He hadn’t been able to go out patrolling since before Tanabata, meaning he hadn’t patrolled since Koki joined their shrine. 

Koki hopped up next to him. “I know you’ve been going out since you first started, I want to come with you this time.” They said in an absolute way that meant 'don't argue with me'.

Izuku thought about it for a moment before agreeing. “You can alert me to any crimes happening, how does that sound?”

Koki dipped their head in confirmation and the two kitsune were off to patrol. 

Deciding to patrol a less dangerous area for his first time patrolling with his familiar, he headed towards the west side of Musutafu that he sometimes patrolled at. 

Koki ran ahead to start scouting while Kitsune jumped across the roofs of the business district. 

He immediately reacted when he heard Koki’s call, sharp and loud, coming from an alleyway to his right. This was so much easier. 

Kitsune easily took down a quirk-discriminator attacking a kid. He helped the young girl with a cat mutation, checking over her injuries and gently treating the ones that were worse than others while speaking soothingly to her.

He waited until he heard sirens coming their way. “All right, can you stay here on the sidewalk and wait for the police officer to talk to you? I’ll be nearby just in case anything happens, don’t worry.” He assured.

“O-okay…” She mumbled, uncertain. “Thank you, Kitsune-san.”

He gently scratched her head. “No problem. Take care of yourself, yeah?”

With her confirmation, he fled to the roof of a building before leaving when the police finally arrived. 

He had been patrolling for nearly 3 hours when he finally decided to take a break. 

Settling down on a maybe 7-story building, he pulled out some of the leftover cut fruit and chips from his birthday. Pulling his mask up to sit on top of his head, he started snacking and watching the city below. 

Musutafu truly was a beautiful city. He could see UA from this vantage point, too! 

He felt a bit of anxiety at the thought of the test being less than a year away. He was also really excited about it, though! If he, Katsuki, and Denki got into the same class, they’d be the best trio.

He got pulled from his thoughts when Koki made their alarm cry from behind him on the roof.

He quickly pulled his mask back down and whirled around, making sure his voice changer hadn’t turned off. 

He almost choked on the strawberry he was still chewing when he saw the number one underground hero, Eraserhead, standing on the other side of the roof. He had picked up his old habit of analyzing heroes and their quirks ever since he started going on patrols, so naturally he knew a ton about this hero. 

He zipped up his bag of snacks before stuffing it into one of his pockets. “What can I do for you, Eraserhead?” He called out, his voice not betraying the fact that he was about to explode from seeing one of his favorite heroes. He truly idolized the man for his ideals and fighting style; he had been theorizing and trying to figure out what his capture scarf was made of in the hope that he could replicate something similar. 

He watched the hero approach, stopping about 4 meters from Kitsune. “I saw you sitting on the edge of the roof and came up to investigate.” He replied gruffly. 

He blinked. Oh. Oh! That’s what he thought he was doing? “No, no. I was just taking a break.” He replied quickly, waving his arms to clear away his initial idea.

Eraserhead looked at him through his yellow goggles. “Taking a break? Who are you?”

Welp. Try to be vague? “I’m Kitsune. I’ve only been in the underground scene for two months now.” He responded, trying to not come off as nervous. 

He saw the hero raise an eyebrow. “Kitsune. So, you’re the new vigilante who mainly patrols in Southside?”

Shit. He was seriously not expecting his name to have reached the police already. “Uhm. Yes, that’s me. I don’t usually leave Southside when on patrols.” He took a miniscule step back.

Eraserhead definitely noticed his shift from being open to looking for a way to exit the conversation. 

He saw a flash of red from behind the goggles before a strange void appeared in his chest. Putting a hand on his chest, he glanced over to where Koki was just standing seconds ago, they were gone. 

He felt a stab of panic. He knew that this was just Eraser’s quirk, but it still scared him to have lost his connection with the spirit world.

He realized that Eraserhead must have been speaking by the way he was looking at him expectantly. “Huh?” He replied dumbly, mind still whirling. 

“I asked you if you know that you’re wanted for arrest?” He repeated, and the red flash disappeared. 

Kitsune felt the warmth of Isetsuhiko and Koki settle back in his chest once again and breathed a sigh of relief. “Wanted? For what?” He questioned, pretending that he didn’t already know the number of laws he had broken with his activities. 

“Vigilantism, assault and battery, disturbing the peace, and a couple others I didn’t bother memorizing.” He replied in a bored tone. “It’ll be easier for the both of us if you come to the station without resistance. Your sentence will also be a lot lighter if you do, I’m the first hero to interact with you.”

Yeahhh, no. His mom would freak out if she found out he was wanted for multiple crimes. He couldn’t put her through that, especially since she already had the whole Stain prophecy heart attack.

“I found the easiest way for you to escape.” Koki called from his left side. 

“Hey, uh. While that’s a great piece of advice you just gave me, I can’t really afford to be arrested right now.” Kitsune replied, getting ready to bolt as Koki ran him through the plan in case his quirk got erased again. 

Eraserhead sighed. “I figured. I hate to do this to you. You’d make a great hero if you get onto the right side of the law, Kitsune.” He said, grabbing his capture weapon. 

He heard Koki yell “Now!” before his quirk was erased again and he was bolting for the edge of the roof. He took out his bo staff and jumped off the roof blindly while trusting Koki’s plan. He heard Eraserhead shout his name just as he spotted the powerline that they told him about; ziplining on a line that could potentially shock him to death was terrifying, but he felt his quirk come back again. 

He let go and free fell about 5 stories before using his telekinesis to slow his descent. Once he landed on the ground, Koki called for him and he sprinted after them. 

He was out of breath by the time they got back to the shrine. Koki had taken him around in a maze-like pattern to ensure that they would lose the underground hero. They had doubled back while he kept running in order to double check Eraserhead’s location before saying it was safe.

He put his hands on his knees at the torii, pulling off his mask and trying to catch his breath. “Thanks, Koki-chan.” He said as he straightened up and made his way to the shrine.

“Of course.” Koki responded. “I’d like to accompany you on your patrols from now on, that was a very close call.”

Izuku nodded as they stepped up to the shoji. “I think I actually would have gotten arrested if it weren’t for you.” He said quietly as they went inside.

Heading upstairs, he had a sudden feeling of dread when he saw the light to his room on. He was positive that he turned it off before he left. Did his mom find him missing? He could just say he went on a night run, but how long had it been since she noticed? Not to mention the fact that he was wearing his hero outfit.

Taking a breath, he entered his room. Letting it out when he saw Isetsuhiko pacing his room, with a worried expression on his face. 

He looked up when Izuku came in and immediately rushed over to him. “What happened? You disappeared twice, do you know what disappearing from your god usually means?” He ranted as he made sure Izuku wasn't injured. “It means that you died.” He said seriously before pulling him into a hug.

“I’m sorry, Isetsuhiko-san.” He replied, returning his hug, a bit shocked. “My quirk got temporarily erased by someone while I was out. I’m okay, though. Not injured at all.”

Koki had come upstairs around this time. “Yeah, he was with me the whole time, I was making sure nothing happened.” They said.

Ise backed out of the hug and shook his head slightly, confused. “Where were you?”

Izuku looked down and scuffed the ground with his foot. “I was on patrol…”

“Patrol, meaning?” Ise asked.

Izuku bit his cheek before looking up at the wind god. “I’m a vigilante and I’ve been going out on patrols ever since I got my hero outfit.” He said in a rush, keeping his voiced hush on the off chance that his mother was in the hallway.

Ise visibly relaxed. “Oh. Why didn’t you tell me before something like this happened?”

It was Izuku’s turn to be extremely confused. “Wait, you’re not mad?”

Ise huffed a laugh. “No. This is what you’re training for, getting field experience is a good idea. I don’t really care about the laws as long as you aren’t being immoral.”

He shook his head. “Never. I’ve always been very careful to not severely injure anyone.” He denied vehemently. 

“That’s that, then.” He said, then looked over at Koki. “So, you’re accompanying him on his patrols?”

“Yes, this was the first time I joined him, though.” They responded. 

Ise nodded. “Okay, I want you to go with him whenever he patrols. Good job on keeping him safe.” He turned to address Izuku again. “You can trust me with anything, young Kannushi, I don’t want you hiding aspects of your life because you are afraid I won’t accept it.” 

When Izuku gave him confirmation, Ise let out a relieved sigh. “I’ll be back tomorrow, I would like to have a schedule of your patrols if you have one.” He said as he headed towards the bedroom door. 

“Of course, Ise-san. I’ll get it to you when you’re back.” He replied as the god left. 

He changed out of his vigilante gear before grabbing a towel to shower before bed. Who knew that sprinting for nearly 20 minutes without a break in the middle of summer would make you sweat through every item of clothing you had on?

Crisis averted. 

No more secrets around Isetsuhiko. It wasn't right to not tell him in the first place.

Chapter Text

The last day of classes have passed and with it comes summer break. Izuku is excited about having more free time to fill up with non-school related activities.

He lounges on the porch, enjoying the warm Saturday night as he ponders his choices.

Isetsuhiko said that he can visit the spirit world outside of training with Tsukasa as long as Koki goes with him; he’s hoping to visit Ayari and Rowa next week to catch up, since he hasn’t seen them since Greenery Day. Maybe he’ll get to explore a bit? Koki must have some spots they like going to. 

He, Katsuki, and Denki have already made a schedule for meeting up to train for the entrance exam. They’re planning on training together at least once a week and will be alternating between quirk and physical practice.

To make things fairer on Denki, they alternation between Musutafu and Saitama each practice. 

Speaking of Saitama, Yonaka had texted Izuku saying that he was on the way an hour ago. He can’t head to the train station to wait for the vigilante since he’ll be in his civvies, so they’ll be meeting in front of an old store 15 minutes away from the border of Southside Musutafu at midnight, which was in about an hour and a half. 

Koki is in their human form next to him on the porch, leaning back on their hands. They’re both waiting for it to finally be an appropriate time to leave, one being impatient and the other unbothered by the time ticking by so slowly. 

He sighs for the fifth time in the past hour as he scrolls on his phone, occasionally sending a text or reply to Yonaka and Denki. 

“Time is a spiteful thing, you know.” He looks over when Koki speaks. “Impatience makes it move slower.”

Izuku falls back onto the porch with a groan, massaging his forehead. “I know, I know, but I haven’t seen Yonaka in almost 2 months! Isn’t that me being patient enough already?” He asks rhetorically.

“Why not find something to distract yourself with? That doesn’t involve using your phone.” Koki stands and transforms back into a fox before turning back to Izuku. “You could double check your gear or find the patrol route you want to take tonight?” They smack a paw on his face when he doesn’t immediately reply, causing him to make an indignant noise as he turns his face away. “Come on, don’t make me do all the work.”

“I’ve been prepared for this since Yonaka first told me he was coming to visit, I think I’d go crazy if I focus any more on vigi- Hey!” He’s cut off as Koki snatches his phone in their mouth as he pulls it out to look at it again. 

He swipes for it but the kitsune was already bolting around the shrine. Izuku gives chase, using his quirk to pinpoint the spiritual energy of his familiar as they circle around the shrine.

After a long 2-player game of keep away, Koki finally jumps back on the porch and drops the phone. Watching with amusement when Izuku catches up to them a few seconds later.

“How are you so fast?” Izuku asks, winded.

“Think that was enough distraction for you?” They ask as he takes his phone to check the time.

“I’ll still be a good 20 minutes early, but that’s better than earlier.” He replies, already heading inside to get changed.

45 minutes later, Kitsune and Koki are perched on the roof of the building that Yonaka would be meeting them at. 

Kitsune kicks their legs as they hang over the edge of the roof, watching the occasional passerby.

“Do you think we’ll be good at the whole teamwork thing?” He asks after sitting in silence for a while. “What if our vigilante styles don’t mesh? Or our moral compasses are too different?”

Koki nips at his sleeve. “Stop being so pessimistic. You will never know what Yonaka is like on patrol until it happens.” 

“You’re right, sorry.” Sighing, he checks his phone. Yonaka had said that he was on the way from the train station about 10 minutes prior, meaning he should be arriving any minute now. 

He stands just as Koki sounds the alarm of someone approaching; turning, he sees Yonaka climbing up to the roof on the opposite side as them. 

He walks over to the other vigilante, smiling despite knowing that he can’t see it behind the mask. Yonaka gives him a peace sign, “‘sup.”

Kitsune copied the peace sign, stopping in front of him. “Hey,” he panics on the inside when he realized he hadn’t turned on his voice modifier. Covertly turning it back on, he cleared his throat before continuing. “You ready to patrol? I’ve got a route set up that should work for two.”

Yonaka pats his chigiriki. “Yeah, I’ll follow your lead. I’ve never patrolled in Musutafu before.”

Nodding, he glances down at Koki, who dips their head before turning to run ahead of them. “All right! We’re going to Southside, which is similar to the part of Saitama I was patrolling at before.” He says as he runs towards the closest roof. 

Kitsune checks to make sure that Yonaka was following and notices that he looks a bit awkward jumping across the roof, though he is keeping up with his pace. After seeing the same slightly awkward jump, he slows down a bit. “Do you use rooftops when you patrol?”

He shakes his head. “No, the buildings in Saitama aren't this close together. I’ll be fine, I’ve done parkour before.” He assures.

“Okay, just let me know if a jump is too far.” He makes a mental note to not use his quirk, though he doesn’t think this route requires it. 

It wasn’t long before he heard Koki’s call a few buildings away. He switches directions and stops at the ledge of the building that they were perching on, Yonaka crouching down next to him a couple seconds later. 

There was an active one v two quirk fight going on in the alleyway. The one fighting alone appeared to have some kind of goat or bull-quirk based on the long and slightly curved horns and irregular face shape, the other two had ball joints in all of her joints and stone covering his hands. 

“The solo fighter was the one who instigated, she has a vendetta against the one with the rock fists.” Koki explains as Kistune prepped to turn on the lights to his suit. 

“Watch out for the mutation quirk, it looks like she’s the main aggressor. None of them look sober, either.” He says quietly to Yonaka. He’s about to jump down when he remembers that Yonaka doesn’t do rooftop patrols and might not know how to safely descend a 2-story building. 

He watches as the vigilante takes a quick glance around while Kitsune is talking before positioning himself to jump. “Right. I’ll back you up.” He replies before silently dropping down to a windowsill 4 meters above the ground. 

Grinning to himself at seeing Yonaka’s quick adaptation to new terrain, he switched on his lights and jumped down a few meters away from the squabble.

“Is a fight really something you want to be doing while under the influence?” He calls out to them, hand resting on his bo staff in his pocket. 

“We don’t need your help, Kitsune.” The girl with the joint-quirk growls as she ducks behind her friend to dodge a punch from the mutant quirk. The other two also stopped to turn their focus to glare at him. 

He holds a hand up in a placating motion. “I’m sure you can solve whatever is going on without public quirk use or disturbing the peace.” 

“What do you know?!” The bull-quirk woman shouts, fists balling up and changing her stance to charge him.

‘Very aggressive, this can’t be talked down.’ He notes as the guy with stone hands also prepared to jump him; he was fairly certain he heard him mutter something about killing him. “No chance you’ll back down peacefully?” He asks, pulling his bo staff out. 

“You’re funny, Kitsune.” The guy snorts in amusement. “I have to thank you, though, you really united us against one force!” The bull-quirk charged at the vigilante before he had finished speaking. 

Kitsune extended his bo staff but waited when he heard Koki call that Yonaka was dropping down; just like promised, the chain of the vigilante’s chigiriki wrapped around one of her horns before she was pulled off course as he landed behind her. Not being able to stop her own momentum, she headbutted the brick wall of the alleyway and dropped to the ground. 

Before the other two could fully process the fact that it was a two v three, not a one v three, Kitsune was descending upon them. He cracked his staff on stone hands’ jaw, causing him to stagger away, before leaping up at the ball-joint quirk girl; planting his left foot onto her hip, he swung his right knee around and made contact with the side of her head. 

Yonaka jumped in to finish off stone hands as Kitsune stepped back to secure the two others. 

“Nice job, Foxy.” Yonaka says as they finish zip tying their hands. 

He suppresses the urge to embarrassedly bounce on his feet at the compliment. “You too! I think we work pretty well together.” He replies while clicking the emergency signal. 

Koki’s alarm call makes Kitsune turn and beckon for the other vigilante to follow him to the next crime-in-action. 

They ended up taking care of three incidents within the first hour of patrol before criminal activity tanked. 

It was nearing 2 am, about half an hour after their fifth ‘arrest,’ and Koki had made their third loop around the block with no crimes to report. 

Kitsune leads Yonaka to a 5-story building before pulling out a couple of protein bars and juice pouches and tossing one of each at him. “Figured now is a good time for a break.” He says as he sits on the edge of the roof, facing away from the vigilante. 

“Thanks.” He hears the shuffle of the other sitting down close to him as he lifts up his mask to eat. “How late do you usually patrol until?”

Izuku makes a small hum before holding up three fingers. 

“Me too, but I usually start at 11.” He hears the crackling of a wrapper and they both go silent while overlooking the city. 

He downs his juice pouch before the trash in his suit and pulling his mask back down. Making sure his voice modifier was on this time before speaking. “My patrols are usually scheduled to start between 11-12 and end at 3-3:30.”

He hears Yonaka crinkle the juice pouch before there’s a small shuffle as he stands up. “Are the nights usually like this?” He asks and Kitsune knows it’s safe to look at him again. 

He pushes himself up and stretches. “During the school season, yeah. I haven’t really been a vigilante long enough to know if it’s different when students don’t have classes.”

Yonaka tilts his head curiously. “How long have you been a vigilante for?”

He pauses, tallying. “About 10 weeks, I think?”

The vigilante perks up. “Looks like I have you beat, I’m coming up on 4 months now.” His tone is slightly smug.

“Is that a challenge?” He says, amused, dropping into a more offensive position.

Yonaka changes his stance to a combat defensive. “Maybe. What’re you gonna do about it, Foxy?”

He hears Koki say they’d keep a lookout, and he could swear there was an eye roll in their tone of voice just as he lunges at the other vigilante. 

Yonaka was a pretty good hand to hand fighter, using a mix of jiu jitsu and street fighting; his style was built for immobilization, being able to smoothly grapple, trip, and hold his opponents down. 

Kitsune’s bokator style was built for precise attacks and in-and-out KOs. He used a lot of high kicks and strategically placed hits, only utilizing grappling methods to make way for a different move.

It was a challenge for both of them, and timing was a huge factor. In fact, it was timing that did Kitsune in.

When Yonaka reached a hand out to begin a grapple, Kitsune grabbed his wrist and threaded his leg behind the vigilante’s shoulder, hooking his boot against his throat.* He was successful in bringing the other to the ground, but couldn’t move out of the way quick enough; he felt two strong grips pull on his leg and hip before he was being pulled to the side and down with more force than he was expecting. 

He landed flat on his back and didn’t get the chance to even move before Yonaka was on top of him, one hand held his forearm and the other kept his shoulder pinned. There was no easy way to get free, he wasn’t expecting the vigilante to seem so relaxed with the amount of pressure he was keeping Kitsune down with.

There’s a short pause, both parties catching their breath, before he notices something interesting about him. 

“Your hair matches your gear!” Kitsune suddenly exclaims, noticing dark purple or blue hair poking out of the vigilante’s hood. 

Yonaka releases his arm to tuck his hair back under the hood. “That weird kick you did earlier fucked up my hood.” He mutters. Even with both arms free, Kitsune is still struggling to free himself from the vigilante’s straddle. He stops when he hears him laughing. “You’re really having that hard of a time getting out of this?”

He wants to stick his tongue out at the other, but he knows he wouldn’t be able to see it. “Just gimme a minute, it’ll happen.” He argues. 

After a moment and Yonaka crossing his arms to watch him try and fail, he finally taps out.

“I’ll show you the ropes with jiu jitsu if you teach me some of whatever you were doing.” He says, helping the other up before dusting himself off. 

“Deal.” Kitsune agrees. “So, wait, did you base your costume off of your hair or is that unrelated?”

“I’ll reveal that secret if you tell me why you chose green for a traditionally red animal.” 

He hums in thought. ‘It’s only fair, since I learned something about him.’ Shrugging, he reaches up to hold his mask in place while tugging a part of his hood down. 

Yonaka snorts. “You’re a green kitsune because your hair is green?”

“Green is also one of my favorite colors!” He retorts, slightly embarrassed as he fixes his hood. “Now, reveal your secret to me, Galaxy.”

He sighs. “Yeah, it’s mostly because of my hair.”

“Oh? Mostly?” Kitsune presses, glancing over when Koki jumps up onto the roof again.

“Some people have described my quirk similarly.” Yonaka replies, stretching. “I’ll explain it another day, not now.” He says when Kitsune perks up at the mention of a quirk. 

“Okay, okay. I understand.” His phone’s alarm buzzes in his pocket, he pulls it out to shut it off. “Damn, it’s already 3 am? Are you leaving tonight or staying in Musutafu?” He starts leading the way down the fire escape to get to street level. 

“I’m heading back to Saitama, the night train comes every couple hours here which…” Kitsune glances over and sees Yonaka checking his phone. “The next one should be getting here in a little under an hour.”

“That works out pretty well, we’re about 30 minutes from the station.” They reach the bottom and start heading north.

They walk in amiable silence for a bit until they’re out of Southside. “Do you know when you’ll be coming up to patrol on my turf?”

“I probably can at some point during the summer. I’ll actually be coming to Saitama every other week with a friend, though I don’t know if we’ll be staying overnight or not.” He wonders if he should update the schedule with his friends or fly solo for night trips like Yonaka did tonight.

“That’s fine, we can work something out later.” He replies smoothly. 

“Yeah, sounds good.” He has so many different things to fit into his schedule, but he doesn’t mind making room for scheduled patrols with his vigilante friend. 

It’s nearing 4 am when Izuku finally makes it home. Tip-toeing upstairs despite being exhausted, he quietly shuts his door. Quickly changing into comfortable clothes, he flops into bed, Koki is quick to join him.

“Not doubting your teamwork or moral compatibility with Yonaka-kun anymore, I presume?” They ask as he scratches the top of their head. They laid their head down and closed their eyes.

“Nope. I think we mesh pretty well, actually.” He replies with a smile. “It doesn’t beat our patrol harmony, though.”

Koki peaks an eye open to look at him. “I’d be rather offended to find that you didn’t think your own familiar harmonized with you as well as with someone you aren’t spiritually bonded to.”

Izuku hums in thought, closing his eyes. “Is it possible to spiritually bond with someone else?” He asks with a yawn.

“Not as far as I know. The best two living beings can achieve is synergy, where their spirits circle each other but don’t touch.” 

‘A synergy, huh? I wonder how different that would feel compared to the connection I have with Isetsuhiko and Koki.’

He falls asleep thinking about new ways of using his quirk.

Chapter Text

A Montage of the Happenings During the Summer Before Entrance Exams:

Izuku, Katsuki, and Denki meet every Saturday, alternating which city they went to for practice. Katsuki put his focus into precision attacks for his quirk and quirkless combat, Denki worked on building a tolerance for how many volts he could release at one time along with building muscle, and Izuku practiced accuracy with his telekinesis and his reflexes for countering attacks. 

Izuku also found a new obstacle for his telekinesis in a very unfortunate way one late-July evening. It had started off so normal, a quirked spar with Denki to help each other’s combat skill.

Denki lunged at Izuku, a hand buzzing with electricity on its way to grab his bare arm. Without much room for thinking, he used telekinesis to launch Denki a good 3 meters away. 

Everything was fine for all of 2 seconds, before a splitting headache made him double over.

“Woah! Izu-kun, you okay?” Denki asks, running over to him. 

Katsuki joins them not long after. “What happened?”

“I-” Izuku is quickly cut off as he throws up the lunch they just had 30 minutes prior. 

Denki takes a couple steps back. “I think it’s a quirk rebound. He threw me away with telekinesis then immediately collapsed."

They both watch as Izuku gives a thumbs up to confirm, still hunched over. 

“Is it just nausea or what?” Katsuki asked, putting a hand to rub circles on Izuku’s shoulder. 

“Head hurts.” He says shortly, wincing.

“I have a friend that gets a migraine if she overuses her quirk, I bet it’s like that.” Denki says, grabbing a water bottle for Izuku to wash his mouth out with.

He takes it and spits out a mouthful of water before drinking some of it. He looks down at the ground where the light doesn't hit his eyes too directly. “It might have something to do with the fact that you’re living and breathing. I’ve never tried using my quirk on other people or animals before. Hell, I haven’t used it on myself except my shoes.”

“At least you learned this obstacle now and not while trying to save someone.” Katsuki says.

“Should we call it a day?” Denki asks. They say their farewells as they depart, Katsuki walking Izuku back to the shrine before heading home. 

Izuku wasn’t able to patrol with Yonaka as often as he would have liked. While going once or twice a month wasn’t bad, it still wasn’t frequent enough for him. They were both very busy with life. 

Whenever they did patrol, though, it became almost tradition to spar at the end of the night. Yonaka would teach him jiu jitsu and he would return the favor with bokator. 

He has found himself becoming quite fond of the vigilante, even if they still don’t know anything about each other except for hair color and food preferences. He was very different from Katsuki and Denki but still pushed him to improve his skills like they did. He hoped he was doing the same for Yonaka. 

Something that he found quite amusing was how perplexed Yonaka continuously became when he revealed things about the crimes that they handle that he wouldn't normally have known if not for Koki. He would always laugh and say he'd tell his secret if he revealed his quirk and why it was related to a galaxy; he has yet to accept the deal.

Something that Kitsune found rather annoying about his vigilante patrols was Eraserhead popping up in Southside more often. It started not long after school let out for the summer. 

He can sense spiritual signatures and whether or not they’re human, animal, or spirit, but he can’t distinguish between them unless it’s Isetsuhiko or Koki.

In mid-August, during one of the fateful nights where Koki spots Eraserhead perched on a rooftop, Kitsune decides to climb up to figure out his motive. 

“If there’s a need to get away but your quirk is gone, there’s a fire escape adjacent to the hero, and I saw a couple of open windows on the opposite side that you’d probably be able to slip into and I can give you more instructions when your quirk is back.” Koki says as the two of them make their way towards the 6-story building that Eraserhead is on. 

“Right, thank you, Koki-chan.” Kitsune replies, trying to fight against his nerves telling him not to interact with the hero. He hasn’t actually talked to Eraserhead since they first met about a month ago. 

Using a mix of climbing up via windowsills, and giving himself small boosts using his telekinesis, he finally makes it on top of the building. 

“From what I could tell, he’s on break.” Koki reports. “He also knows you’re here already.”

That makes it a bit less awkward to talk first, then. Clicking on the lights to his costume, he walks towards the hero, watching as he turns to face him. “Been seeing you in Southside a lot more often.” He comments, feeling marginally more relaxed when Eraserhead doesn’t immediately grab his capture scarf or activate his quirk. 

“It’s not because I’m actively searching for you.” The hero responds, slurping a jelly pouch. “My patrol routes fluctuate based on when school is in session or not.”

Kitsune hums in contemplation. “You have kids or something, then?”

“Or something.” He grunts in response. 

“Why go to Southside to patrol? Don’t the authorities generally avoid patrolling here?” Taking a chance and trusting that Koki will warn him, he takes a few steps around the hero to stand at the edge of the roof a few meters away from him. 

“That’s exactly why I do it.” He looks over at Eraserhead, who had turned back around to face the city. “I’m one of the only heroes, underground or limelight, who patrols here. Otherwise, it’s vigilantes like yourself taking the law into your own hands that help keep order here.”

Kitsune sits down, hugging a knee while the other hangs off the edge. “I never fully comprehended how abandoned Southside was when I first started. It’s not just here, either, it’s everywhere. I visited Saitama a couple months back and there wasn’t a single hero around. I ended up being saved by another vigilante when I got myself in a tough situation.” He tilts his head towards the hero, who was looking back at him. “I’ll become a legal hero one day, Eraserhead-san, but I can’t just stand by and let people get hurt when I can do something about it now.”

“Don’t be formal with me, Kitsune.” He replies gruffly. “You have a strong sense of justice. I remember being like you, once, but I never had the courage to become a vigilante.” 

Koki’s alarm call echoes up to his ears and he straightens up. Eraserhead also became more alert at seeing the sudden tension in the vigilante’s posture. 

Kitsune quickly stood up. “There’s something happening over there,” he points to where he can sense Koki’s spirit.

The hero stands, already preparing to descend the building. “How do you know?”

“Uh, intuition?” He mutters, uncertain how to answer that. “I can get us both down there faster if you trust me.” He offers out a hand to the hero, swallowing down his anxiety about allying with someone who's supposed to arrest him. 

He hears Koki call again, meaning the crime-in-action was still ongoing. 

After a moment’s hesitation, Eraser approached and stepped up on the ledge next to him. “This isn’t the first time I’ve worked with a vigilante, and certainly won’t be the last.” He says while allowing Kitsune to link their arms. 

“Step off on three.” He says. He knows that if he only uses his quirk on their shoes, he can carry himself, Katsuki, and Denki. Kitsune counts down and they step off in sync; he focuses on making their descent more of a slide than a shoot. 

“Prepare for landing, I’m letting go when we’re 2-meters from the ground.” He warns, he hears Eraserhead confirm that he heard him. He sees Koki staring at the two of them as they float down. 

“Dropping now!” They release their linked arms at the same time Kitsune releases his telekinesis, tucking and rolling. 

“Quirk discrimination.” Koki says shortly. “The one by himself is the victim, but he’s holding his own fairly well.”

Kitsune looks over at the hero on the other side of the alleyway, giving him a nod to lead the way. 

Both of them have fight styles that deal with quick and efficient takedowns. However, Kitsune’s form of a takedown is knocking out his opponent while Eraserhead uses his capture scarf to immobilize.

They worked smoothly together; not quite like he and Yonaka, but not bad either. The hero had at least a decade of experience over his head and he’d very likely be lagging behind if Koki hadn’t been coaching him from the sidelines. 

It was an unfair fight on the victim’s part, his quirk was considered ‘villainous’ by the group of four others. They got there just when one of the instigators knocked out the other guy, they attacked the duo without warning. 

Three of them went for Kitsune, being more recognizable in the Southside, while the fourth and arguably most tedious of them attacked Eraserhead. 

It was a difficult fight, Kitsune took more than a few blows while taking two of the three out before Eraserhead teamed back up with him. 

After it ended and all four of them were tied or cuffed, Kitsune finally checked himself over for injuries. “What was up with them? I’ve never seen a group that illogical and aggressive before.” He grimaces as he presses on his ribs where he got elbowed. 

“It looked like two of them used trigger.” Eraserhead said, crouching on the ground not far from where they fought. 

Approaching, Kitsune sees a syringe on the ground. “Trigger?”

“It’s a new quirk-enhancing drug going around the black market. The drug makes the user irrational and aggressive.” He explains, taking out his phone to text someone before standing again. “Are you hurt? I couldn’t tell what was happening on your side while dealing with the leader.”

Kitsune straightened up, testing his joints and muscles. He shook his head. “The worst I got was an elbow to the ribs.” 

Eraserhead nods as sirens sound distantly. “Get going, I’m on your case and you’re already coming up on 4th most wanted on the vigilante registry in Shizuoka, 8th in Japan.”

“Thank you, Eraserhead.” He turns to climb the building, stopping halfway up when his name is called.

“Let me know when you have your license, the detective on your case can waive most of your charges.” The hero turns away after receiving an affirmative from the vigilante.  

February 26th, 2241, 5:12 am

Izuku is woken up nearly an hour before his alarm to someone banging on the bedroom door. 

“What that fuck…” He curses quietly while slipping out of bed and opening his door groggily. Katsuki and Denki were in the hallway, grinning at him. 

“Entrance exams!” Denki exclaims excitedly. 

“Are in like 3 hours.” Izuku replies, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Why didn’t you guys call me or something? I always keep my phone’s ringer on when I sleep.”

Katsuki smirked. “Because that wouldn’t annoy you enough.” Denki snickered and nodded in agreement. 

“Oh I’ll show you guys what it truly means to be annoyed when I place 1st in the exams.” Izuku boasted with a laugh. He pushed past his friends to do his morning routine slightly out of order than normal.

“Hah?! We all know it’s going to be me, bean sprout.” Katsuki insulted. 

Izuku steps out of the bathroom, pausing from brushing his teeth. “You called me that like yesterday, very unoriginal.”

“I’ll show you unoriginal.” He mutters, turning to chill in Izuku’s room until he was finished.

“What does that even mean...?” Denki questions, very confused as he follows Katsuki.

All three of them had different rooms for the written exams, so they promised to meet back up after exams were over. 

Going through the written exam, Izuku was feeling very good about what he had been helping the other two study. Almost all of the questions related to what they learned. He finished fairly early, with a couple others getting done about the same time as him. 

He texted his mom that the exams were going well so far. Koki walked with him as they prepared for the practical exam; they were a part of his quirk, technically, so this was allowed, right?

They head off with the rest of the examinees to a large auditorium where the rules of the practical exam will be explained. 

Izuku and Katsuki sit next to each other since they came from the same middle school. 

Not long after Present Mic began to explain the exam, Izuku felt a piece of paper hit his hand on the table. He glanced at Katsuki before looking down at the note. “I’m getting 1st place, broccoli head.”

Izuku grins before quietly taking out a flashcard and writing a note back. “You should have made a wish at the shrine before we left bc that’s a pretty hefty dream.”

Katsuki takes the note and reads it before taking a new notecard and handing it to him upside down.

Flipping it over, he suppresses a snort when all that’s on there is a poorly drawn middle finger.

“No wonder you failed art class.” He whispered and Katsuki flicked him on the forehead. 

They’re both distracted when a boy with dark blue hair stood straight up, holding the paper that was passed out to them earlier in one hand with the other raised all the way. He asks something about the paper being wrong before turning to glare at Katsuki and him. 

“And you two over there,” he points at them and Izuku immediately feels awkward. “You’ve been giggling this entire time. It’s distracting.” He narrows his eyes at them. 

“If you get distracted by something as quiet as we were being, it sounds like you have some more training to do.” Katsuki retorts, smiling and crossing his arms. 

“All right, all right, Listeners!” Present Mic interrupts, pulling attention back to himself. “To answer your question…” He keeps talking but Izuku has kinda tuned out as he studies the paper they were given. 

Four robots, ranging from 0-3 points. What about the people without combat-forward quirks? He remembers seeing a support gear form on the website, but not everyone can afford support gear right away… There must be more to this than meets the eye. 

Izuku shook his hands out and looked at the gate to the fake city before switching his gaze to all of the contestants; a lot of them had equipment, and they all seemed pretty confident. He was feeling good about the exam as well, already having nearly a year of combat practice. 

Koki alerts him to someone behind him and he glances over. It was the guy that called him and Katsuki out for being loud. He backs away when he reaches a hand out to touch his shoulder. “What are you doing here?” Izuku tilted his head in confusion but couldn’t respond before he continued on with his point. “Are you and your friend taking the entrance exam to interfere with everyone else?”

“Interfering?” He steels himself, knowing the crowd is watching them, looking for signs of weakness. He’s already sure of himself as a vigilante and a Kannushi, is he sure of himself as a hero student? “I am here for the same reason as the rest of you.” He makes eye contact with as many of them as he can. “To become a hero and better our future.” 

His heart is thudding in his chest as he watches the other examinees eventually look away before looking up at the blue-haired boy. 

“Okay, start!” Everyone looks up when they hear Present Mic’s voice yelling out. 

He begins to say something else but Izuku along with maybe three others are the first to realize that it was time to start the battle and began running. Koki sprinted ahead and he followed their lead. 

He found that his telekinesis was incredibly effective against the robots. He would estimate where the power source was located and practically rip it from the inside out along with breaking the joints to stop their movement. 

The first four minutes were filled with sprinting, jumping, and crushing as he followed Koki through the fake city. ‘30 points.’ He tallies as he takes out another 2-pointer just as Present Mic calls out the 6-minute mark.

He paused to catch his breath, waiting for Koki. When they do call, it’s an alarm bark that they only make when someone is in trouble. Not hesitating for a second, Izuku bolts in that direction just in time to find someone with a non-combat related quirk being cornered by a 3-pointer and two 2-pointers. The short dagger that she brought with her was not as effective as she must have thought.

He crushes the first 2-pointer’s power source before ripping away a portion of the outer shell of the other two. “Pull out as many wires as you can.” He tells the girl while keeping the robots frozen. 

She stares at him for a moment. “Hurry up! I can’t hold them still forever.” He insists. She nods and does as he had asked before. He gives her a smile before turning and following Koki onwards. 

He’s just reached 36 points when the 2-minute mark is called, and a rumbling causes him and Koki to crouch to the ground and watch as dust kicks up. 

“What the fuck?” He says for the second time that day. Katsuki is really getting to him. 

The robot was massive, like bigger than massive. And it’s worth 0-points? What’s its purpose?

Izuku watches as it raises a fist. “Brace!” He shouts to some of the examinees around him as the fist comes down and a blast of wind and dust hits them. 

Coughing, he straightens up and watches as the majority of the other students are running back towards the entrance. 

Koki’s alarm call sounds up ahead, towards the robot. When did they run that way? Whatever, he runs towards his familiar just as he sees a girl struggling to free herself from under a cement slab. 

“The robot is about to drop more rubble on you two, you don’t have time to move her right now!” Koki barks sharply as Izuku was about to try and get her freed. 

Izuku wants to argue but he knows that they’re right. The robot’s hand is moving to clamp down on the building directly next to them. 

Raising up his hands, he activates his telekinesis to stop the robot; he feels a painful yank behind his sternum as his quirk goes into overdrive. He pushes harder when he hears the trapped girl yelp in pain as she tries moving. 

There’s a creaking in the joints as he bends them the opposite way, then a screech as metal collapses in on itself to destroy the power source, then a deafening boom as the 0-pointer topples over backwards. 

He races over to the girl, knowing he has maybe 10 seconds before his quirk rebounds on him. Thankfully, she had managed to free herself, though she’s looking a bit green; he slows down and stops in front of her. 

“Hey, you o-” He’s cut off as she throws up, then his migraine hits in full force and he’s joining her. 

They stay crouched on the ground across from each other for a solid 20 seconds before making eye contact; she starts laughing and he joins in but then winces when his head protests. 

She lifts up a hand for him to high five. “Thanks for the save! That was so cool!” She exclaims as he accepts her high five. 

“Yeah, anytime.” He says. “Uh, I’ve never overused my quirk quite that badly before.” He sways a bit. “I think I need a nap.” And with that, the lights went out.

Chapter Text

Slowly coming to, Izuku can immediately tell what woke him up. The other two members of the self-proclaimed Battle Trio were whispering and stifling laughter; then he felt something scratchy rub on his cheek.

He flinched away from it, causing his two friends to laugh. Opening his eyes, he can see that he was in a nurse’s office. Denki is holding a blue marker and Katsuki has a red one hovering over his face. 

“You had better not have done what I think you just did.” He grumbles, starting to wipe his cheek before Katsuki grabs his wrist to stop him. 

“You said you weren’t surprised that I flunked art class, I just wanted to show you how much I’ve improved.” He laughs, pulling out his phone to take a picture. 

Denki nods seriously. “I just wanted to draw on your face.”

Izuku sighs deeply when Katsuki shows him what he looked like; red circles that mimic Pikachu’s cheeks, a blue unibrow and crow’s feet, red and blue stars replace his more prominent freckles, and two red spikes from the bottom of his lip to his chin. “How did you guys have time to do this without the nurse catching you?” He asks, incredulous.

“She said she’d be back later, had to go to a meeting of some kind.” Katsuki explains, and he realizes that Denki’s been drawing on his arm without him noticing. 

“I’m gonna kill you guys.” He started to sit up then a ring of pain stabbed his brain, and he laid back down. “Ouch.” He says blandly, touching the side of his head. 

“Yeahhh, you really overdid it with your quirk, you’ve been out cold for like 3 hours.” Denki says. “We heard through the grapevine that you took down the 0-pointer in 10 seconds flat.”

Izuku covers his eyes with an arm to shut out the light. “I didn’t count how long it took, I just knew it was the only way to keep one of the examinees safe.”

“So, you actually took down that godzilla of a robot by yourself?” Denki replies, thoroughly impressed. 

“That’s what I just said, right?” He mumbles. “How many villain points did you guys get?”

“I counted at least 50, I kinda stopped paying attention halfway through.” Katsuki responds, taking to drawing on Izuku’s other arm. 

“I’m pretty sure I racked up 40?” Denki says.

Izuku groans in misery. “Seriously? I only got 36, and just when I was boasting about getting first place…” 

He feels his arm get moved away from his face, then two long lines on his forehead that make an obvious L, before his arm is replaced gently. “And you were the only one injured out of the three of us. Sucks to be you.” Katsuki says without sympathy.

An old woman’s voice interrupts their bullying. “All right! Out! Midoriya-kun needs to rest without distraction.” He hears Katsuki start to argue then a thwack sound and a hiss of pain. “I said out! He’ll be released after I get his vitals.”

Katsuki huffs and Denki sighs but they say their goodbyes and leave. 

Izuku uncovers his face but shields his eyes from the light as he looks over. Recovery Girl was by the head of the bed, clicking around on a laptop. “How are you feeling, dearie?”

“Like the 0-pointer was the one that crushed me and not the other way around.” He mumbles. “Is that girl okay?”

“Uraraka-chan is doing just fine, thanks to you. She came to visit earlier to make sure you were okay after you passed out.” She responds before doing a routine vitals check.

“Oh, that was nice of her.” He replies. ‘She was worried enough to go out of her way to check on a complete stranger?’ 

Recovery Girl hums as she inputs data into the laptop. “There isn’t much we can do about quirk exhaustion except give you painkillers through an IV.” She gestures to the arm that Denki had been drawing on. 

“Thank you so much, Recovery Girl-sama. Could I have something to wipe all of this off, please? They already got a photo of their ‘art,’ and I don’t want to walk around like this.” He asks, looking at the random doodles everywhere. 

Katsuki and Denki were waiting for Izuku in the hall when he finally got released. 

“Aw, our masterpiece.” Denki says sadly upon seeing that the drawings had been washed away. 

Izuku pushes up his sunglasses, grateful at how much they helped. “You already got a picture of it, didn’t you?”

“No, Katsu-kun did.” He whines. 

“Just send it in our group chat? The one we’ve been using since last summer?” 

“Damn, who knew how irritable migraine-Izuku could be.” Katsuki commented as he sent the photo. 

“Feeling like your brain is being stabbed with blunt knives isn’t exactly gonna make me Ms. Joke. Sorry, though.” He mutters, letting Denki grab the door for him when the boy had jumped ahead of them. 

“Don’t worry about it! I can’t even talk or think properly when I overuse my quirk.” 

The sun was on its way to setting as they left UA. Katsuki had let his mom know what happened, so she wasn’t too worried about him coming home late. 

“Want us to leave you be or can we hang out for a bit?” Denki asks as they get to the shoji of the shrine.

“You can hang out; I can’t say I’ll be fully focused, but it’ll be a nice distraction.” Izuku replies, leading his friends up to his room. 

He keeps his overhead light off but turns on his desk lamp before taking off the sunglasses.

“What did you think about the written exam? I already asked Katsu-kun, but everything we studied over the summer was a perfect fit in there, right?” Denki asks, on the 5th round against Katsuki in some kind of multiplayer game. 

“I thought so too, we really got lucky with the topics we focused on.” He replies, rubbing a hand against his temple. “Hey, Kacchan?” He asks wearily. 

Katsuki grunts in response, so he continues. “Can you give me a head massage? Like the one Auntie Mitsuki does.”

“Sure, this round is almost over, anyways.”

Izuku’s phone buzzes on the desk, he smiles to himself when he checks who it was. 

Galaxy and Foxy

Yonaka has come online.

Yonaka (7:07 pm): Hey, you free for an impromptu patrol tonight? I’m in town.

Kitsune has come online.

Kitsune (7:09 pm): I wish I could, but I overused my quirk and have had a migraine the past few hours.

Yonaka (7:10 pm): Ouch. Feel better soon. We can schedule something later.

Kitsune (7:13 pm): If you’re free before your patrol, did you want to just hang out? There are some nice parks in Musutafu. 

Yonaka (7:16 pm): Sure, just let me know what time and where.

Kitsune (7:20 pm): 9 pm at Hiroki Trail?

Yonaka (7:22 pm): *Thumbs Up Emoji* See you then.

Kitsune (7:22 pm): See you in a few couple hours!

Yonaka has gone offline.

Kitsune has gone offline.

“What are you smiling about, nerd?” Izuku looks up and realizes their game must have ended. Katsuki was looking at him while Denki was finding some solo game to play. 

“Oh, just some meme… For nerds.” He shuts off his phone and sets it aside as Katsuki stands up. 

“Whatever. Sit on the ground, watch Denki play his game.” Izuku slides off the bed and Katsuki takes his place behind him. “Where do you want me to focus on?”

“It’s like the back of my head and my temples.” When Izuku was younger, there was a year where he would get semi-frequent headaches because of his quirk. His mom and Auntie Mitsuki learned where pressure points were to help him; Katsuki somehow picked up that skill too and was pretty good at it. 

The one thing that wasn’t helping, however, was the fact that Denki chose a particularly difficult action-oriented video game. Katsuki was back-seat gaming for him and Denki would animatedly praise or condemn his advice. 

It was funny, for sure, but the changes in volume were not doing his migraine any favors. 

Izuku ended up having to politely kick his friends out just before 9 pm so he could get to the park in time.

“Are you sure you don’t want me coming along this time?” Koki asked, somewhat anxiously. They were leaning against his doorway with their arms crossed.

Izuku shook his head, pulling on his vigilante gear. “Nah, it’s not a patrol, and we aren’t even going anywhere close to Southside.” His phone dings, signaling that Yonaka was heading out. “I’ll be back in a couple hours, if you get worried you can just call me using mom’s phone.”

Koki didn’t look pleased but dipped their head. “Okay, but if you aren’t back by midnight, I’m coming to find you.”

He laughs, pocketing his phone. “Right, right. See you later, Koki-chan.” 

Yonaka was sitting at the base of a tree when Kitsune arrived. “There’s a bench like 5 meters to your right, you know.” He stopped in front of the vigilante, amused. 

He stands up and shrugs. “How’s your head feeling?”

“Better than before, the dark and quiet helps.” He backs away and starts down a trial as his friend follows. “What are you doing in town?”

Yonaka falls into step with him as they walk through the forested path. “Just visiting for the day, I have some friends here.”

“Civilian friends?” He asks and the vigilante nods. “That’s cool! That reminds me, do you know any other vigilantes?”

He hums. “A couple, but I’m not close with any of them.”

“Aw, I feel special.” Kitsune puts a hand on the cheek of his mask. “You’re the only one that I know. I haven’t seen any others on my patrols.”

“The vigilantes I’ve met are pretty skittish… You alright there?” He jolts, realizing he’s been slowing down. 

“Oh! Yeah. Just a bit tired.” He responds sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, we can take a break.” Yonaka points to a bench not too far ahead. “Your quirk can give you migraines?”

“Yeah, it’s not usually this bad, though.” Kitsune sits down, partially moving his mask to rub his temple.

“Me too, when I overuse mine.” He leans back against the bench, resting his arms over the backrest.

He repositions his mask again. “You have a mental quirk?” He tilts his head curiously.

Yonaka nods. “Yeah. It rebounds if I use it for too long.”

He sighs. “I’ll piece together all of the hints you give me one of these days.” 

His friend laughs. “I’ve been keeping it vague, but I want to hear your guesses.”

Kitsune stands back up again so they can keep walking. “Well, you said people have described it as ‘similar to a galaxy,’ you mentioned that they’ve also referred to it as villainous when we were texting a few weeks ago, and just now you said it’s a time-based mental quirk.” Yonaka nods to each of the descriptors as they continue down the path. “Can you make illusions that only the people you choose can see?”

He shakes his head. “Nope. Good guess, though.”

“What about like a rose-tinted glasses or cupid’s bow kind of thing, like you make people enamored with you?” He taps his mask in thought.

The vigilante laughs. “You’re pretty creative, I’ll give you that.”

Kitsune jumps ahead and turns, walking backwards to face Yonaka. “You didn’t answer with a yes or no, meaning it might be emotion-based. Quick, change my mood!” His friend chuckles and shakes his head. He laughs too, then winces as his migraine makes him remember it isn’t done torturing him. “Or maybe a painkiller quirk, that would be nice.”

“Wish I could help, but that’s not my quirk either.” 

He tilts his head in thought, then trips on a straggling branch and decides to just let gravity take him. 

Yonaka stops in front of him and crosses his arms. “You kinda asked for that.”

“I didn’t do anything to mother nature.” He groans, levering himself back up.

“Is that a lake over there?” He interrupts.

He turns to where the vigilante is looking. “Oh, yeah it is. I didn’t realize we were this deep into the park already.” He leads the way to a grassy clearing overlooking the lake before flopping down. 

Yonaka sits down next to him as he rolls over onto his back.

“Say, are you staying overnight in Musutafu?” He asks, turning his head towards him.

“I was thinking about it, but there aren’t very many options for me.” He responds, scooting down to lay on his back as well. 

“I could recommend some cheap hotels, if you want? If money is the issue.”

His friend shakes his head. “Nah, money’s not the issue.” He pauses, looking up at the stars. “I’m not 18 so I can’t get a room without an adult signing off on it.”

Kitsune gasps. “No way! Me too, I was wondering how close in age we were.” 

Yonaka huffs a laugh. “Two of the most wanted vigilantes in Japan aren’t even legal adults yet.”

“What’s your rank in Saitama? I think I just hit the 2nd most wanted in Shizuoka, who knew that the police would start seeing a trend in the way I ‘arrest’ people and send an anonymous tip.” He chuckles. 

“Last time I checked, I was in the top 5, but I don’t remember the exact number.” He pulls out his phone to search for something. “Oh, we’re right next to each other in Japan’s vigilante registry.”

Kitsune turns to look. “Damn, you’re in 4th and I’m in 5th? I was hoping I would have surpassed you by now.” He stretches and folds his arms behind his head.

“My city is bigger, so I’ve had more crimes to take care of.” He sighs, pulling his goggles up to his forehead. “Speaking of my city, Musutafu has a lot less light pollution than Saitama, there are so many stars here.”

He hums in agreement, looking at the stars and any constellations he can identify. “We’ll have to do this again when there’s a meteor shower.” 

“Just text me, I’ll find the time to come.” Yonaka replies. 

“Did you grow up in Saitama?” He asks with a yawn. 

“Yeah, I’ve lived almost everywhere in that city.” His friend starts talking a bit about his childhood. He lets his eyes close, making a small comment in response to something he had said. He found himself falling into a lull as Yonaka recounts some stories. ‘His voice is smooth, almost hypnotic, is it related to his quirk?’ He thinks idly. 

Someone is humming a song he recognizes. It's prequirk era. Glass Animals? “I know that one...” He mutters sleepily, rolling onto his side and curling up. His head bumps into something. 

He hears a soft chuckle and cracks an eye open. There’s a soft glare of a phone screen in his immediate vision, partially obscured by a knee. Turning his head to look up at the owner of said knee, he sees Yonaka looking down at him. His goggles were still on his forehead, his eyes looked dark, but he couldn’t tell what color they were. 

“You’ve been out for a few hours, figured I’d let you sleep.” His friend says quietly. 

“A few hours?” He pulled out his phone and, sure enough, it was already almost 1 am. He bolts upright. “Ah! I’m sorry, you’re missing out on patrol.” He apologizes, feeling a mix of embarrassment and guilt. 

“If it bothered me, I would have woken you up.” He replies easily, pulling his goggles back over his eyes. 

Pushing himself to his feet, Yonaka stands a moment later. “I’ll still make it up to you some time. You ready to head back?” 

They walk back through the forest, Kitsune finding that his migraine is a lot lighter. 

Once on the other side, Yonaka lightly punches his shoulder. “I’ll catch you next time, Foxy.”

He hums an affirmation, smiling. “Yeah! See you later, Galaxy, it was nice catching up.”

Izuku lightly sings the same song that he woke up to Yonaka humming. ‘Yonaka is close to my age, huh?’ He feels a small rush of affection for the vigilante. ‘Why does that change the way I see him?’

He was about 5 minutes from the shrine when Koki made their appearance, walking up to him in their human form. “Took you long enough to come out, I was starting to wonder if my quirk was playing tricks on me.” He chides.

“I did tell you I’d come and find you if you weren’t back by midnight. I’ve been keeping an eye on you since I found you out cold next to your vigilante friend, you’re getting pretty comfortable around him.” They said, giving him an amused smirk. 

“What’s that look you’re giving me for?” He blushes and looks away. 

“Oh nothing. Your spiritual signature just doesn’t fluctuate like this around Katsuki-kun or Denki-kun.” Koki replies.

“Shhh it’s not like that!” He opens the shoji with a bit more force than necessary, cringing and hoping that didn’t wake up his mom.

“Sure.” Is all they say, transforming into a fox once they were back in his room.

“I’m serious, Koki-chan.” Izuku insists, pulling off his vigilante clothes. “I barely know anything about him.”

They yawn and curl up on the bed. “You teenagers are so unsure of your emotions.”

He groans, laying down and pulling the blanket over his head. “You’re making my migraine come back.”

Izuku anxiously paced by the mailbox. His exam results letter should be arriving today, and of course the mailman would be late. 

He took a breath to calm down, sitting down on the stairs. “Good to see you took my advice about impatience.” He glanced over as Koki sat down next to him. 

“Yeah, I’m trying.” He scoots up a step and runs a hand through their hair. “Can I braid your hair?”

Koki shrugs. “I don’t care. I usually pull it into a bun if it’s annoying or just transform.”

He separates their hair into a few sections. “My hair isn’t very long, but I used to braid mom’s hair when I was younger.”

“That’s nice.” They respond, keeping watch for the mailman while Izuku is distracted. 

Not too long later, Izuku is bursting back into the shrine and into his room, letter clutched in both hands. 

He tears it open, and a black disc drops onto his desk. He stares at it as a projection blinks to life. 

“Good morning! Am I a dog, am I a mouse, am I a bear? Most importantly, I am the principal of UA!” Izuku’s mouth drops open, staring at the white animal. The principal is telling him whether he got into UA or not?

“Firstly, I wanted to thank you for considering this prestigious school.” Is that him saying he failed? He holds his breath as the principal continues. “On your written exam, you got a perfect score. I was rather impressed with what you wrote in the essay portion.” He blinks, Principal Nedzu was impressed with him?

“Moving over to the practical exam. You used your knowledge of robotics to your advantage to pinpoint where to aim your quirk for swift and efficient takedowns. You scored 36 villain points overall.” A couple clips of him fighting the robots in the exam played. 

“With your written exam and the points you earned fighting the villains, you already have a passing score.” He sucks in a breath, forgetting he was holding it. He passed! Why did the principal have to give him a heart attack in the beginning?

“But,” oh no, “fighting villains was not the only way we scored the practical exam.” He knew there was a catch. “Yes, being able to take down villains is important in heroism; it shows your strength, dexterity, and ability to handle yourself in stressful situations. Another aspect of heroism is your ability to help your allies and save victims.” Some more recaps of his exam showed. 

“We scored this aspect using rescue points. A panel of judges each gave a set number of points to the examinees based on their teamwork and aid to others. Throughout the exam, you were conscious of the other examinees. Your most impressive action, however, was your willingness to put yourself at risk in order to save one of the examinees.” It was weird, seeing a 3rd person view of him taking down the 0-pointer. He was kinda scary looking, to be honest. “Because of this, the panel awarded you with 60 rescue points.”

Once again, his mouth drops open. 60 points?? “Your total score is 96 points. The highest score that this school has seen was 103, leaving you at the second highest score in the history of UA.” The principal claps his hands together. “I would like to see you in my office after the first day of classes lets out. Welcome to UA!”

Izuku swallows. ‘The principal wants to see me when school starts? What could he want with me?’

“There’s a letter in the envelope, too.” Koki says, having been leaning on the chair he’s sitting on the whole time. 

He pulls out the letter. There was a summary of results along with a list of the top 10 students. It looked like he was placed in class 1-A. 

“Quit looking so dumbstruck, you can start cheering now, Izuku-kun. You did great.” They said with a smile. 

“I got in! I actually got in! I scored number one in the practical and the written exam??” He scratched his head, then saw that both Katsuki and Denki were in the top 10 as well. 

The Battle Trio

Midoriya Izuku (Snap)

Kaminari Denki (Crackle)

Bakugo Katsuki (Pop)

Snap (7:19 am): I scored 96 points, I told you guys I’d get 1st place.

Crackle (7:23 am): Oh my god, you scored so high! I haven’t gotten my letter yet

Pop (7:23 am): Wtf? I deserve to be in first place, I got the most villain points.

Pop (7:25 am): Mine just got delivered.

Snap (7:26 am): Want me to send the top 10 scoreboard?

Crackle (7:26 am): I’m scared but do it

Snap (7:27 am): *img_00732* We’re all on it!

Crackle (7:28 am): Congrats on getting 1st and 2nd place you guys! You totally deserve it

Pop (7:29 am): I’ll still be top in the class. What class did you get in?

Snap (7:32 am): Class 1-A

Pop (7:32 am): Looks like I will get to crush you, I’m in 1-A too.

Crackle (7:33 am): I’ll let you guys know when my letter comes in, I hope we’re all in 1-A together!

Snap (7:33 am): I hope so, too!

Pop (7:34 am): I’ll beat your ass if you don’t, Denki.

Crackle (7:34 am): You’re not as scary over text

Pop (7:35 am): I will come to your house.

Crackle (7:35 am): Nevermind

Snap has gone offline. 

Izuku sighs. Two out of the three of them know for sure are in the same class. Denki should be finding out tomorrow or the next day when his letter arrives. 

“Come on, let’s go on your morning run. You can tell your mom when she’s awake.” Koki says, straightening up from looking over his shoulder.

“Right!” He hops up from his chair and heads downstairs.

Chapter Text

Izuku and Katsuki walk to class from the train together. He was brimming with excitement; he was going to UA! One of the most prestigious hero schools in Japan. 

Katsuki gave his shoulder a shove to keep walking when he stopped to stare at the school. “We’ve stopped here dozens of times just so you could look at the school from the outside. Don’t you want to see the inside, now?”

“Right! Right, I can’t believe we got in.” He says as they enter the school grounds.

Katsuki huffs a laugh. “That’s like the twentieth time you’ve said that since we got on the train. Yes, I’m excited, but today is just orientation day, not even an actual school day.”

Izuku shrugs, stopping at class 1-A. “We get to meet our homeroom teacher and the other staff members, orientation is a very important day.” He walks in after his friend opens the door. 

Denki immediately jumps up from his desk and heads over to the two. “The Battle Trio made it to class 1-A! Can you believe it?”

He shakes his head excitedly. “I’ve been asking Kacchan that since we got on the train! He’s getting pretty annoyed with me.” He laughs. 

Before they could continue their conversation, the blue-haired boy that questioned Izuku’s heroic integrity approached them. 

“Good morning.” He says, rather stoically. “I am from Somei Private Academy. My name is Iida Tenya.” It looked like he was primarily addressing Izuku but still stood as though speaking to all three of them. 

“O-oh, I’m Midoriya Izuku. From Aldera Middle School.” He replies, feeling a bit off put by the way he talks so intensely. “It’s nice to meet you, Iida-kun.”

The other two give introductions and Katsuki is about to say something snarky when Iida continues. “Midoriya-kun, I would like to apologize about my rudeness before the practical exam. I should not have accused you of attempting to sabotage the other examinees.” He gives a small bow. 

Izuku quickly waves his hands around to get him to straighten back up. “It’s okay! Water under the bridge, I understand why you thought that.”

“Still.” Iida insists, straightening up. “You also realized there was more to the practical exam, didn’t you?”

He pauses and tilts his head, but Iida is already talking again. “I had no idea. I hate to admit it, but you are better than me.”

“Hah?! What about me? I scored second place!” Katsuki interrupts.

“Oh! That curly hair! You’re that plan-looking boy!” A girl says from behind him, and he turns to see the girl he saved during the practical. Uraraka is what Recovery Girl said, right?

‘Plain-looking?’ He thinks, not sure if that was offensive or not. 

“I’m so glad to see you got into 1-A! You totally deserved it with how you crushed that 0-pointer with your mind!” She beats her fist into her hand and starts excitedly continuing on a tangent.

Izuku stutters out a thank you. “Looks like you already have a fan, future hero.” Denki says with a smirk. ‘I don’t want fans, I’m going to be underground.’ He thinks wearily. 

Katsuki pokes him on the shoulder, and he glances over, only to see his friend pointing at something in the hallway. 

Before Izuku could look at what he was pointing at, a voice interrupts Uraraka, scolding them.

In 5 seconds flat the group of five students were in their seats as Eraserhead walked through the door. 

‘Huh, I wonder if he’ll recognize me or not without my suit.’ Izuku wonders as they’re made to change into tracksuits and meet on the field. ‘Wait, aren’t we supposed to go to the orientation?’

His confusion quickly turned into exchanging competitive glances with Denki and Katsuki. 

“Midoriya, you finished at the top of the practical exam, correct?” He asks, looking at him with a bored expression.

Izuku jumps and straightens up. Why does he have to be the center of attention?

“In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?”

“Um, about 15 meters, sir.” He replies, watching as Aizawa pulls out a softball and tosses it to him. 

“Then, try doing it with your quirk.”

Izuku walks up to the pitch, rolling the ball between his hands before glancing back at Katsuki and Denki. They looked so ready to beat him in the tests, and he lost all of his previous anxiety. 

He grins at his friends before turning and pulling his arm back to throw the ball.

‘One thing that I never showcased to either of them,’ he thinks smugly, activating his telekinesis before launching the ball, ‘is that I can change the acceleration of objects.’ The ball shoots from his hand and into the very far distance; Izuku looks back and sees the shocked expressions of his friends.

Aizawa shows the screen of his handheld, showing the distance he threw the ball to. “505.8 meters.” 

The class erupts in shock and Izuku ducks his head as he returns to stand between Katsuki and Denki. They both punch his arms and exclaim that they didn’t know he could do that, and he just laughs.

Denki, unfortunately, ended up only placing 11th while Izuku and Katsuki were 4th and 3rd, respectively. 

Watching the rest of the students do their tests, Izuku found himself kind of drawn to the more colorful students. A boy, Kirishima Eijirou, who had bright red hair and eyes, but he could see black roots starting to grow in. A girl, Ashido Mina, who was completely pink with cute yellow horns and black sclera. And a boy, Shinsou Hitoshi, who had dark purple hair and lavender eyes. 

Glancing at the test results, he sees that Kirishima scored 8th, Shinsou scored 9th, and Ashido scored 10th. Pretty impressive for the colorsquad; would he and Denki be considered a part of the colorsquad? He has green hair and Denki has yellow hair… 

He ponders the answer as Katsuki acts as his navigator all the way to the shrine, having failed to engage him in conversation despite flicking his forehead a few times. 

Izuku wakes up to Koki jumping on him in their fox form. He groans and checks his phone. “Koki-chaaaan, my alarm doesn’t go off for another half an hour.”

They stood at the head of the bed, looking amused. “I want to come with you to school this time.”

He yawns and sits up, rubbing an eye. “Why? Won’t mom need you to help around the shrine?”

They huff. “I already did the chores that she had on the checklist a couple hours ago. Come on, you already refused when I asked to come with you to orientation, then you said that your class did a quirk test instead. What if there’s another test today?” Foreshadowing, much?

He sighs and pats them on the head. “Fine, fine. Just try not to distract me, okay?”

Koki hops off the bed as Izuku stands. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

And thus, the pair get ready for the day, although a bit earlier than planned. 

Izuku meets up with Katsuki like usual, Koki walking along in their human form. “Hey, Katsuki-kun!” He says cheerily.

Katsuki grunts in response, yawning. 

They hop on the train and exchange random hero memes as they head to school.

Izuku is at his desk in heroics, Koki hopping up on his shoulders in their fox form. The school day had been pretty good so far, although English with Present Mic was a bit much. 

His school day being pretty good quickly had confusion and shock mixed in when their heroics teacher walked in. All Might was giving them an energetic speech, but Izuku couldn’t focus on anything he was saying; not because he was the number one hero, no. It was because All Might had eight spirits bonded with each other. He felt Koki tense up on his shoulders. 

Izuku could physically see seven of them; they were as clear as the spirits he sees wandering freely. He reached up and poked Koki, silently asking for an explanation. 

“I don’t know what’s going on.” They admit. “I’ve never seen human spirits bonded to each other before, they would need to transform into something else and these are definitely still human. Not to mention that these bonds are so strong that I don’t think that they or All Might could break them if he wanted to.”

He’s so transfixed with studying each of the seven spirits that he doesn’t notice everyone is getting up until a brief case is dropped on his desk, courtesy of Denki.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Denki comments. “Were you actually intimidated by All Might?”

‘Yeah, that’s not it at all.’ Izuku thinks while shaking his head, standing up and grabbing his stuff.

Because he can’t exactly wear his vigilante outfit without risking being recognized, Izuku decided to base his hero costume on Isetsuhiko. It was a simple black jumpsuit with gold scroll patterns on it, along with a gold utility belt that had dozens of marbles designed for combat tucked inside. He had a gold circular shawl with a hood, the back of the shawl was split and had black embroidery to resemble feathers. His arms from mid-bicep down were covered in black bandages that he can use as a capture weapon of sorts; Eraserhead is his favorite hero, how can anyone blame him? The bandages were fire, water, shock, tear/puncture, and corrosion proof and would coil back into shape after he releases his telekinesis on them. In his pants pockets he had throwing knives, and his black and gold boots were similar to Kitsune’s where they pack an extra punch when he kicks.

The battle trials are explained, and teams are picked out. Much to Izuku’s amusement, it’s almost the entire colorsquad going against each other. 

Izuku and Shinsou were paired against Denki and Ashido. He’s curious to see how well he does as a villain; the only times he’s been a villain were when he and Katsuki played as children. 

The villains were given 5 minutes to find the bomb and come up with a plan before the heroes were sent in. 

Izuku stretches his arms out in front of him, testing out the mechanics of his capture weapon with curiosity. Koki walked in front of them, scouting. 

“So, what’s your quirk?” Shinsou asks after they find the bomb room. 

“I have a minor telekinesis quirk. What’s yours?” He replies, knocking on the bomb curiously.

“Brainwashing. If someone answers a question I ask, I can control them to a certain degree.” Izuku perks up, fascinated. 

“That’s really cool! How many people can you brainwash at one time?” He stops himself from bombarding him with questions.

“Only one at a time.” He replies smoothly. “What can you do with your quirk?”

“I recently found out that I can change the acceleration and velocity of objects that I throw and catch, like you saw during the quirk apprehension test.” He starts. “I can lift and move most things except for people or intelligent creatures, for some reason.” He demonstrates with the capture bandages he’s been messing around with. 

Shinsou nods in understanding. “We have about 2 minutes left, we should come up with a plan of some kind.”

Izuku hums, thinking. “Well, we’re the villains in this fight, so we need to act like villains do. Villains in organized crime tend to be pretty sneaky, so could we do something like that?”

“That’s a good start. Teamwork is also pretty big in this exercise, so what if when we attack the heroes, we have a tag team of sorts?” He suggests. 

He tilts his head before nodding. “Yeah! Like one of us takes out one hero while the other guards the bomb, then we swap?”

“Exactly.” Shinsou replies. 

Izuku grins and claps his hands together once. “Right! I think that I should go first. I know Kaminari Denki and his fight style, so I should be able to take him out if you want to take Ashido-chan?”

Shinsou agrees and Izuku hurries down to the 2nd floor just as All Might calls for the heroes to begin. 

He sneaks through the hallways, waiting for Koki’s recon. He doesn’t really need their help, however, as he hears the heroes talking from the stairwell a few hallways down. 

‘Now, to find a place to hide and wait.’ He thinks to himself, glancing around before zeroing in on an askew wall panel close to the ceiling a good 6 meters up. ‘Perfect.’

He raised his hands and wiggled the panel using his quirk, successfully pulling the panel off and lowering it to himself. He hides the panel in another hallway before returning, Koki calls that they’re about 15 seconds from reaching him. 

Izuku took a breath and backed away from the wall; taking a running start, he jumped, using his telekinesis on his boots to boost himself up before scrambling onto his perch. The hole in the wall was about 7-10 cm deep, so he had to use his quirk to keep himself steady as he watched Denki and Ashido turn down the hallway he’s hiding in. Denki was following slightly behind Ashido. 

He waited with bated breath as they walk past, not looking towards the ceiling or his hiding spot the entire time. 

Izuku silently let himself float to the ground, loosening his capture bandages before reaching into his utility belt pockets and grabbing a few marbles. 

He followed them for a few seconds until they’re about to walk past an adjacent hallway. Breathing in, he made the marbles float in front of himself before flicking his fingers and rocketing the marbles over the heroes’ heads so that they clatter at the end of the hall. 

He watches Ashido and Denki snap to attention before quietly making their way towards the noise. 

Grinning to himself, he picks up his pace until he’s about a meter and a half behind Denki and about to walk past the adjacent hallway; lifting his hands, satisfied at how easily the bandages were responding to his quirk, he makes the capture weapon shoot out and wrap around Denki’s mouth and torso, pinning his arms in the process. Lifting him up, he pulled him down the hallway as quickly as he could go.

He set Denki down just as his friend used his quirk to try and shock Izuku into letting him go. His capture bandages absorbed the electricity just as they were designed to do. He heard Ashido calling for him and knew that he had to move quickly. 

He tuts at his friend, using his capture weapon to pull Denki’s arms in front of him before binding his wrists with the capture tape provided for the battle trial. 

“Target captured.” He whispered into his earpiece, releasing his friend from the capture bandages and giving him a sympathetic head pat.

“Good. Let me know when you reach the fifth floor, and I’ll head out.” Shinsou replies as Izuku quietly moves through the hallways, Koki keeping him updated on Ashido’s position. 

He reaches the fifth floor and gives Shinsou a fist bump as they pass by each other. 

Playing with his new costume a bit, he waits for updates from Shinsou. 

About 3 minutes later, All Might’s booming voice calls the match. They won in barely 10 minutes and the heroes hadn’t even found the bomb room. 

Izuku heads downstairs and meets up with the other three at the front door. He gives Shinsou a smile as he jogs over to walk next to him. “That was a really good match! You took out Ashido-chan faster than I got Denki-kun.”

Shinsou glances at him for a moment before giving a small grin. “Don’t undersell yourself, you had to catch Kaminari-kun without alerting his teammate. I had it easy in comparison.”

He rubs the back of his head. “Thanks, Shinsou-kun.”

“Izuku-kun!” Denki interrupts. “That sneak attack was a cheap move. You should have faced me like a real man.”

Izuku laughs. “It was strategic, not cheap! You didn’t see the behind the scenes on how I managed to get you without Ashido-chan noticing. I climbed a 6-meter wall!”

“I agree that it was strategically planned. He probably could have handled a two on one, but since he was half the team it wouldn’t have been a good idea to risk capture.” Shinsou says.

Izuku gives him a thumbs up and clicks his tongue. “Let’s just see what All Might thinks.” Denki sighs.

All Might stated the same thing that Shinsou said, along with Yaoyorozu, who was a surprisingly good analyst. Izuku gives Denki an 'I told you so' smirk, receiving a glare in return.

Heading home that day, his mind wandered back to the seven spirits attached to All Might and what they could mean. That kind of spirit bond is not like what he has with Koki and Isetsuhiko; it looked like those spirits were fused with the hero, but they didn’t seem upset or like they were suffering so it wasn’t malevolent. Was All Might secretly some kind of god? Gods have a different spiritual signature, so that’s not it. He was definitely a human, just a weird one.

If Koki didn’t know what was going on, maybe Isetsuhiko would. He made a mental note to ask him when he’s at the shrine next.

He kind of wants to try talking to the seven spirits, but that isn't exactly possible without outing himself to the number one hero.

And speaking of outing himself, Izuku has started to wonder if he should reveal his full quirk to Katsuki and Denki. He had never considered it necessary before, since it was second nature to lie about it, but it's starting to feel weird hiding the truth from his best friends.

Chapter Text

Izuku was feeling pretty anxious on Tuesday morning. His mom and Isetsuhiko were at the shrine, giving him the perfect opportunity to ask them if he can tell Denki and Katsuki his quirk. 

Should he really be so worried about it? The worst they’ll say is no. He frowns at his omelet, contemplating the cons.

“‘Zuku-kun?”

But what if they say yes and he tells his friends, and they react badly? What if they think he’s weird for being able to talk to gods and spirits?

“Izuku-kun? Snap out of it, please.”

Or what if they’re mad at him for not telling them sooner? He hasn’t had to deal with social conflict like that before, how would he approach gaining their trust again?

He’s snapped out of his thoughts when Isetsuhiko ruffles his hair. He looks up at his mom, who’s looking at him with concern. 

“Why are you frowning at your omelet? Is something wrong with it?” She asks, looking between him and the omelet.

“O-oh, no, sorry mom.” He tries to continue eating but stops after a moment. “I… wanted to ask you something. You too, Isetsuhiko-san.”

“Please tell me it’s not another prophecy thing.” His mom says, only half joking. 

He shakes his head. “No, but it is related to my quirk.” He pokes at his food, he’s already thought of a million ways to ask this, all he has to do is do it. “I was wondering if I could tell Katsuki-kun and Denki-kun what my real quirk is?” 

“Is that all? You had me worried that there was something wrong.” Isetsuhiko responds, amused. “If you trust them not to put you in danger, I don’t see the harm in telling your friends.”

“It’s your quirk, baby.” His mom says, smiling. “Bakugo-kun and Kaminari-kun have been there for you since you started hanging out with them.”

Izuku sighs, relieved. “If I had known it would be this easy, I would’ve asked you a lot sooner.”

Ise chuckles. “Thank you for asking us about it first.”

“Don’t be afraid of asking me or Isetsuhiko-san about anything, ‘Zuku-kun!” His mom reassures, then adds on, “now finish your breakfast before you’re late for school.”

When Aizawa announces that they need to pick a class representative and deputy and Iida calls for an election to be held, Izuku and Denki glance at each other and their telepathic connection tingles, they smirk and nod. It’s time to cause a little chaos and headaches for the class.

The winner of the election had 3 votes and Izuku stifles an audible laugh when the class groans. 

“How did the hyper pomeranian win the election!?” Kirishima exclaims, but Izuku can see him hiding a grin. He knew he secretly liked Katsuki, competitive nature and all.

He can already see the stress lines forming on Yaoyorozu and their teacher’s face. She got voted as the deputy class rep but handled her composure professionally when they both headed up to the front of the class. 

Aizawa was in his sleeping bag sitting against the wall with a very tired expression. “That’s all I had planned for homeroom today. Be quiet for the last few minutes before classes start.” With that, he closes his eyes and slumps to the floor.

Koki had insisted on coming with him to school again. Izuku isn’t opposed to them tagging along, but he has definitely noticed their more mischievous behaviors when they get bored during class. 

Case in point: Midway through English class with Yamada, Izuku had to try very hard to ignore the fact that Koki was snooping around on his teacher’s desk, even going as far as to push one of the papers to the side to see underneath. He internally cringes when he sees Tokoyami’s head turn towards the desk because of the movement. 

Yeah, he’s going to have a talk with them about how often they can go to school with him. 

Katsuki was laughing at them during lunch a couple hours later. “You two do realize that you’re in 1-A too, right? If I was actually going to make this class a nightmare, you would be suffering just as much as everyone else.”

“I mean, we already had to handle what you were like during our summer training.” Denki reasons, “might as well let our peers know what we went through.”

Izuku laughs as Katsuki argues that he wasn’t that bad. He very vividly remembers the boy chucking softballs at him to test his telekinetic abilities. Yeah, he got a few new bruises because of that training session.

“Hey, Kacchan, Den-kun,” Izuku says after there’s a short lull in their conversation. “Do you guys want to come over to my house for a bit after school?”

Katsuki seemed to have noticed that something was a bit off about the way he asked that, and Denki gave him a curious look. 

“Sure, I have time.” Denki says and Katsuki agrees.

And so, a few hours later, Izuku finds himself sitting on his bed while Katsuki and Denki play a co-op video game. 

Koki was lying next to him in their fox form. He feels them nudge him and he looks over. “They’re waiting for you to talk.” They said expectantly. 

He sighs and nods. “Soo,” he starts nervously, and he watches Katsuki pause the game and look over at him. “I’ve been keeping a secret from you guys.” Great way to start. 

“It’s just gonna stay a secret if you’re vague like that.” Katsuki says plainly, but he turns to face Izuku fully. 

“You can tell us, ‘Zuku-kun, we don’t bite.” Denki says, then, “well, Katsu-kun might, but I don’t.”

He laughs, getting rid of some of his anxiety. “Yeah, I know.” He takes a breath. “Well, so, you know how my quirk is telekinesis and all?”

“Yeah?” Katsuki asks, his face twisting into confusion because this was not the turn he was expecting. 

“It’s not actually telekinesis. Like, yes, I can use telekinesis, but that’s not everything I can do with my quirk.” He worries the hem of his shirt. 

“Can you use telekinesis on water or air? Because that would be some Avatar-level powers.” Denki suggests. 

“No, well, maybe? But that’s not what I was talking about.” He looks over when Koki sighs. 

“Want some help, Izuku-kun?” They ask.

Izuku looks at them with pleading eyes and they huff in amusement before sitting up and stretching; he watches as the slight translucency of their fur solidifies and Denki startles at the sudden appearance of a seemingly random fox. “What he’s trying to say is that telekinesis has little to do with the true nature of his quirk.” They start, looking between the two shocked faces of his friends. “Izuku-kun’s quirk is simply titled Kannushi. He can see, hear, and interact with the spirit world and do everything that goes with the role of a shrine lord.”

Katsuki is the first to say something, albeit a bit confused. “So, who are you?”

Koki chuckles before hopping off the bed and transforming into their human form. “I am Koki, Izuku-kun’s familiar.”

“The shrine hand?!” Denki exclaims, bewildered. “Wait, why didn’t you tell us? Is there like a secret law where you can’t tell other people that spirits actually exist?”

Izuku shakes his head. “Nah, it would spell trouble if the HPSC found out. Mom and the god of this shrine said that they’d try taking advantage of my quirk. I was also kind of afraid you guys would be mad at me for not telling you sooner…”

“You nerd, why would we be mad at you for keeping it a secret? I’ve never even heard of a quirk like that before so it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to share it for your own safety.” Katsuki says with a huff, having recovered from the initial shock of seeing Koki appear out of nowhere. “How can you use telekinesis if that’s not your quirk?”

“You can talk to gods?!” Denki yells. 

“Isetsuhiko is the god that protects our shrine,” Izuku explains. “When my quirk first manifested, he joined the shrine and taught me how to use telekinesis, then told me that I had that ability because of my mom. Something about having her blood in me?”

“Koki-san mentioned that you were the lord of this shrine, plus your quirk is literally ‘Kannushi,’ what do you do? Did that dance have something to do with it?” Katsuki asks. 

“Uhh, a few different things so far…” Izuku opens his desk drawer and pulls out the notebook where he kept with details about his quirk, sitting on the ground with the others. “I can imbue energy into items, like talismans. When someone with heightened or malicious emotions comes to the shrine, I’ll know about it; I can also hear their prayer if it’s strong enough. Along with being able to see and interact with them, I can accept non-human spirits as my familiar, I only have Koki-chan right now; gods can also accept me into their group, so when Isetsuhiko-san did that he became the god of this shrine, but I don’t know if I can be more than one god's Kannushi.” He tilts his head before grabbing a pen and writing a note into his notebook. “But that’s about it right now.”

“You’re a witch!” Denki suddenly exclaimed excitedly and Izuku looked at him with confusion. “You have a familiar who is a fox, you can talk to spirits, and you can basically cast spells using talismans. That’s totally a stereotypical witch.”

Izuku pauses for a moment before laughing. “I guess so? I never really considered it before.”

Katsuki grabs his notebook to look at. “Any other secrets, witchy shrine lord-san?”

He snorts at the nickname then glances at Koki with a silent question. They dip their head in assent, so he pulls the suitcase with his vigilante costume out from under his bed. “Well, yeah.” He opens it and pulls out his Kitsune mask. “I’m kind of Japan’s 5th most wanted vigilante?” He chuckles sheepishly as his friends gape at him. 

“Y-you’re-” Denki starts cracking up and taking the mask to admire. “A super wanted vigilante criminal. In Japan’s most prestigious hero school. In class 1-A, the highest-ranking heroics class. That’s pretty badass, ‘Zu-kun.”

“How did you, goodie-two shoes who would cry at the thought of jaywalking, become one of the biggest vigilantes in the whole of Japan?” Katsuki asks, grinning. 

“Well, it was actually during the Greenery Day festival.” Izuku rubs the back of his head. “I went for a run to take a break from people and ended up in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong; if I hadn’t been there to save that guy, he could have actually died… I couldn’t just wait to get my provisional license to help people.”

Denki is pulling out his full suit, thoroughly impressed. “That’s so cool, dude! What’s it like being out there illegally fighting crime?”

Izuku clicks the cuff to turn on the lights and Denki exclaims, Katsuki also grabs a sleeve to look at his costume. “It’s really fun. I met this other vigilante, who turned out to be 4th on the registry, and we go patrolling together sometimes. I also met Aizawa-sensei on patrol, and we have a cordial partnership going on, though he did try arresting me first.”

Katsuki bursts out laughing. “You almost got arrested by our homeroom teacher? That’s hilarious.”

“He’s really scary! You should have seen him when we first met, he was all ‘I hate having to arrest you, you could make a great hero one day,’ and I was like ‘I’m going to jump off this building while my quirk is erased because Koki-chan told me to just so I can run away.’” The trio laughs when Koki starts explaining their plan, not wanting to sound reckless. 

“Does anyone else know except for everyone in this room?” Denki asks. “About the vigilante thing, I would be shocked if your mom didn’t know about your quirk.”

“Isetsuhiko-san does; he found out after my quirk got erased. Apparently my quirk disappearing was akin to me dying, so it was quite the shock when I came home to find him in near hysterics.” Izuku replies, still feeling bad about scaring his god so badly. “And man, getting my quirk erased felt terrible. It was like a void opened up in my chest and it was so cold.” He puts his hand on his sternum, shuddering at the thought. 

He put his costume away after his friends were done looking at it.

They talked and laughed until Denki’s mom called him asking where he was, so they decided to call it a night. Denki made him promise to take a video of him jumping across roofs on patrol, meaning he’ll have to go patrolling again soon; he was surprised to find that he actually hadn’t been on patrol in over two weeks now, so he was really overdue. Maybe he could go to Saitama to visit Yonaka over the weekend?

Friday morning rolled around and Izuku and his mom were enjoying breakfast in the lounge while watching hero news. It was the end of their first week in school and he feels like so much has already happened; finding out that Aizawa was his homeroom teacher, the battle trials, the weird false intruder alarm, making new friends, and now telling Denki and Katsuki two of his biggest secrets. 

He never mentioned the prophecy to them, should he? They might want to help if he did, so maybe he shouldn’t yet. 

His mother sighs contentedly. “I’m so glad that Bakugou-kun and Kaminari-kun were so interested in your quirk.” She says out of the blue. He had told her during dinner after his friends left and she wasn’t surprised that Izuku had been stressing about keeping it a secret from them. 

He smiles and nods. “Yeah, me too.”

She stands up and starts heading into the kitchen with her empty plate and Izuku realizes he had been distracted by the news and hadn’t eaten much. 

“Have you started making plans for Greenery Day in a couple of weeks? Your performance was a big hit, maybe you could do one again!” She calls from the kitchen. 

Izuku is about to respond when he’s once again distracted by the news, but not out of fascination for the heroes on screen. 

“The Hero Killer: Stain struck again late last night, April 8th in the Hosu District. Pro hero Symphony, the music hero, was found dead after a citizen found her unresponsive in the business district. Authorities have been unable to…” The news reporter is drowned out by Izuku’s plate clattering to the ground, staring in horror. 

Stain struck again… Stain struck again. And he killed someone else. How many people has he killed since Izuku received his prophecy? He’s been putting it off, only seeing Stain as a faraway goal that he wouldn’t have to deal with for a while longer. He has to stop him, and soon, before anyone else gets hurt. 

“Izuku-kun? What’s wrong?” His mom returns to the lounge and stops when she sees what’s on the tv. “Oh dear…”

Izuku looks up at her with tears welling in his eyes. “Mom… What do I do?”

She kneels down in front of him and cups his face in her hands. “You’re working on getting your hero license, we all knew that this was going to be a long road.”

“But he’s out there killing people right now , how can I just wait? How many more are going to die because of me?” He puts his hands on her forearms, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. He knows that she doesn’t want him going out there yet, but what other choice does he have? Keep letting more people die?

She sets her face sternly. “Don’t talk like that. This isn’t your fault, so don’t blame yourself.” She pulls him into a hug when he starts crying harder. “I know how it feels, to think you’re powerless.” She murmurs, stroking a hand through his hair. “But you are so strong, Izuku-kun, don’t forget that. It might not be now, but Stain will come to justice.”

He buries his face into her shirt. If he were so strong, Stain wouldn’t be on the streets anymore. “It’s so hard waiting.” 

“I know, baby, I know.” She squeezes him in comfort.

Chapter Text

Izuku did his best to get rid of the red puffiness, but crying so early in the morning isn’t the easiest thing to hide. 

“You look terrible.” Is all he got from Katsuki, though he can see the mild concern. 

“What’s wrong?” Denki adds on, looking more blatantly concerned.

He laughs awkwardly. “Nothing, nothing! Just saw something sad on tv earlier.”

Katsuki narrows his eyes, skeptical, but couldn’t say anything before Aizawa announces his arrival. 

“Rescue training.” He states blandly, by way of explaining what they were going to be doing today. 

Izuku looks over when Denki leans towards him. “This shouldn’t be too difficult for you.” He whispers, grinning. 

He snorts and shakes his head. “I’ve never done rescue in disasters before.” He replies in a hushed tone. “And don’t talk about that in class, do you want me to get in trouble?” He whisper-scolds. 

Denki signs an apology before the homeroom bell rings. 

When it was finally time to board their bus to the rescue zone, Izuku found himself sitting next to Shinsou and Denki.

“What do you think about the surprise rescue training, Shinsou-kun?” He asks with a smile.

“It’ll be a good practice, but I was expecting to focus on regular rescues first, not disaster training.” He replies, glancing out of the window. 

Izuku hums. “I never considered that, it would make more sense to start with basic rescue.”

Denki leans over so he can see both of them clearly. “Doesn’t the syllabus say we’re having rescue basics on Tuesday?”

He pulls out his phone to double check. “Yeah, we do. Today is just a field trip.”

The bus comes to a stop not long later and they file out. 

Izuku all but squeals in delight when he sees Thirteen waiting for them, hearing Uraraka reacting the same way. He reached to his side without looking and pulled Denki closer. “It’s Thirteen-san! The space hero,” he introduces, eyes fixed on the hero. 

“They specialize in search and rescue, I’ve done so much research into them and their feats.” He gives a couple examples of what they’ve done in their career before he glances over at Denki, who was listening intently to his excited rant. His eyes drift up and he notices that Shinsou was looking at him with a small grin, but he quickly turns away when he sees Izuku watching him. 

Thirteen had been explaining their quirk and the USJ, then Aizawa starts talking about what they were going to be doing here before the lights suddenly cut out. 

“What’s going on?” He hears Denki murmur.

Izuku watches as Aizawa suddenly turns around to face the central plaza, then his blood runs cold when an ear-piercing howl cuts through the confused silence; a swirling dark purple portal was forming in front of the fountain on the plaza and, along with villains, yokai were spilling out. 

There were yokai he had only ever seen in books there, and none of them were good news. ‘Man, I really should have let Koki come with me today,’ he thinks in horror. The yokai circled around the villains, some sitting on their shoulders; they were laughing, screaming, and chattering, making a cacophony of noise that made him a bit dizzy. He felt his quirk tingle and some kind of a layer surrounded him; he'll have to look into that later.

Izuku jumped when two hands landed on his shoulders and shook him. He looks over to see Denki looking at him with concern. “Thirteen-san is evacuating us. Let’s go, Izuku-kun.” He says urgently. 

He glances back at the plaza, seeing that Aizawa had already jumped down there to fight. There were yokai coming up the stairs as he turned to follow the rest of the class. 

He stops when another purple portal appears in front of the entrance, then his stomach twists when the user of the quirk appears. He couldn’t physically see anything, but there was something very wrong about the spiritual energy coming off of him. It felt screwed up and painful, like multiple different spiritual signatures were mixed together. 

Izuku was so distracted trying to figure out what was wrong with the portal user that he didn’t listen to what he was saying before Katsuki and Kirishima both jumped forwards to attack. 

And then, they were being surrounded by dark purple. It was cold and it buffeted his clothes like wind; when his vision comes back, he yelps in surprise at seeing that he’s plummeting 10 meters towards a massive lake. 

He activates his quirk on his shoes and slows his descent before dropping into the water.

It was freezing, this is horrible. Glancing around, a large ship was the closest piece of land to him, so he made his way towards it, using his quirk to propel himself forwards. 

Izuku stops when Denki surfaces, gasping. “Denki-kun!” He calls out, redirecting towards him. 

Denki seemed to be having a bit of a hard time staying afloat. “It’s so cold.” He says when Izuku reaches him. 

“Hang on, I’m getting you on the ship, okay?” He says, unraveling his capture bandages and wrapping them around Denki before yeeting him towards the ship; he hears his friend exclaim in surprise before landing safely in the ship. 

Izuku starts swimming towards the ladder to get himself up when he feels a hand grab his leg and pull him under. He winces at the strong grip, looking down to see a villain smiling menacingly at him. 

‘Okay, fuck you, dude.’ He thinks in annoyance, pulling out three marbles and activating his telekinesis on them. They zoom through the water, building momentum, before crashing into the side of the villain’s head and hand. 

The villain shouts in pain, releasing Izuku.

He’s about to make a break for the surface again when he notices Shinsou under the water, taking on two villains by himself. Water yokai were swimming around, laughing and shouting encouragement to the villains. 

He doesn’t know how long he’s been underwater for, but he’s looking pretty exhausted and keeps getting dragged back down when he tries to swim upwards. 

Without a second thought, he jets himself towards his classmate before using his capture bandages to bang the two villains' heads together. The water yokai shout in dismay and scatter as he grabs Shinsou tightly before they’re propelling upwards quickly. 

They both gasp for air when they reach the surface and fly several meters into the air. He releases one of his hands from holding onto his classmate, wrapping the capture bandages around the railing of the ship. Boosting them both with his quirk, he manages to pull Shinsou high enough for Denki to grab him so Izuku can get himself up without the added weight. 

“Are you both okay?” Izuku asks, glad to be out of the freezing lake. 

Shinsou heaves for breath, doubled over on the ground, but gives a thumbs up. 

“I’m fine, but I was really worried when you didn’t resurface for almost a full minute.” Denki admits, patting Shinsou on the back. 

He glances over the railing, seeing a huge group of villains. “How are we going to get out of this?”

Denki comes over next to him to look over the edge as well, then ducks down to look at them. “I could electrocute them? Your capture weapon is shock proof, so you could just hold me over the edge so I don’t shock you guys too.” He suggests. 

“You won’t accidentally overdo it, right? You’ve always kind of struggled with using your quirk in water.” Izuku asks, worried. 

He shakes his head, grabbing his arm and raising a fist in determination. “No, I’ve been practicing!”

“It’s worth a try.” Shinsou says after they both look at him for his opinion. “Just, please don’t hit us, I’d rather not be drowned and electrocuted within 5 minutes of each other.”

Izuku wraps his capture bandages around Denki’s waist with one arm, then on the ship's railing with the other. “Okay, we have to go quickly before they get suspicious. Jump off, I’ll follow you, my capture weapon should be long enough for you to reach the water.”

Denki nodded and took a breath before hopping over the railing, Izuku following suit. He used his quirk to reduce the recoil. 

Just as he had hoped, Denki could just touch the water. “Take this, you villain wannabes!” He hears his friend shout before the water is sparkling with electricity. 

The villains yell and cry out in pain and surprise as they’re suddenly enveloped in electrified water; he shocks them for a solid 10 seconds before releasing his quirk and Izuku drags them both back to the top of the ship. 

After confirming that the villains were all unconscious, Izuku turned to the other two. “I can get us out of this lake faster than normal, but we’ll have to travel underwater, if that’s okay with you guys.”

When they both agree, Izuku jumps back into the freezing lake. When all three of them are in the water once again, he uses his capture bandages to secure them to himself. “Okay, hold on tight.” He says, activating his quirk on all of their shoes before they’re shooting through the water.

They resurface a few meters from shore and Izuku lets the two go. They trudge to the edge and Izuku once again freezes when he sees the swarm of yokai in the central plaza; they were jeering and howling in joy, meaning something bad was happening over there.

“Are you worried about Aizawa-sensei?” Shinsou asks after Izuku was staring for a bit too long. He looks towards the commotion when he nods. “I am, too. He’s fighting on his own over there to protect us.”

“Should we go and help him?” Izuku asks, glancing between the two. “Four is better than one by a long shot.”

Denki thinks for a moment, looking at the crowd of villains. “Okay. Yeah, we totally got this.”

They all duck down as the fight moved closer to where they were. For the second time that day, Izuku’s stomach churns when he looks at a massive man with an exposed brain and a beak smiling with sharp teeth; there were at least four unique spiritual signatures in him, and they felt just as painful and jumbled as with the portal villain. 

They peek out and watch Aizawa take down four villains before facing a man with severed hands all over his body and face. He was creepy as hell, and he was saying something about him not being the final boss?

Izuku suppressed a gasp when the bird man appeared behind Aizawa in a flash and reached out to grab his head in a hand. 

“Aizawa-sensei!” He leapt out of the water, knowing that this would put him out of commission, before grabbing the bird man with his quirk. He forced him to release his teacher by crushing the tendons in his hand, and then, with a yell that tore his throat, he launched the man hard enough that he crashed through the dome of the USJ. He pulled Aizawa towards him, noting with relief that he wasn’t severely injured. 

“You guys,” is all Aizawa can say before Izuku’s head splits, and he doubles over with a hiss of pain. 

Denki is by his side in less than a second. “He can’t use his quirk on living things without a major rebound,” he explains after someone asks what happened. “Come on, Izu-kun, we have to get you out of here.”

He screwed his eyes shut as his friend pulled his arm over his shoulder and held his waist to brace him as they started walking. 

“Shinsou-kun, with me.” He vaguely hears Aizawa say before the sounds of fighting continued behind him. 

There’s a hysterical laugh close by and Izuku can tell it was coming from one of the yokai. “Ah! Little shrine lord dropped his ward! I wonder what Kannushi souls taste like.” That’s really bad, isn’t it. He felt a strange prickling and could tell that the yokai was coming closer.

With what strength he has left, he puts all of his focus into rebuilding whatever ward he had passively created before. 

“Don’t be like that, Kannushi!” Another yokai complains.

“We’re keeping an eye on you, just wait until your guard is down!” The original yokai yells gleefully, but Izuku can feel its spiritual signature retreating. 

“Almost there, the stairs are coming up so you might have to watch where you're stepping.” Denki tells him. 

He squints as he opens his eyes, seeing the very long staircase to the entrance just ahead. “Don’t think I can do it,” he mutters, feeling dizzy at forcing his quirk to stay on. 

“Yes, you can,” he reassures. “I can do that static thing that helps when we’re up-” He looks over when his friend cuts himself off, feeling a mix of fear and horror when a purple portal appears next to Denki. 

He tries pulling Denki away from the portal as a pale hand reaches for them, but there’s no way they can move out of the way in time. 

Rapid footsteps come from the stairs before the portal is being covered in ice, including the hand. He blearily looked over, noticing Todoroki was standing on the stairs and Katsuki was jumping down next to them. 

“He threw that weird exposed-brain villain, it really messed him up.” Denki explains when Katsuki was close enough. 

“You damn nerd, always overdoing it…” His friend scolded before he found himself being pulled onto Katsuki’s back. “Hang on, the villains are coming this way, we have to get you away from the danger.”

He feels nauseated at the slight jostle as his friend starts up the stairs. “Gonna be sick.” He warns, doing his best to hold onto Katsuki. 

“You puke, you walk.” Katsuki replies, not making any move to drop Izuku. 

“Mm okay.” He muttered. “Hey, make sure I don’t fall down the stairs…” 

“Wh-” And he was out, trusting that Katsuki wouldn’t drop him.