Chapter Text
Keigo blinked.
What… just happened?
His whole body ached, his ankle pulsing, and his wings were hanging on by a thread. It felt like he’d just run a mile, and had to carry someone in his arms while doing it.
“The Cavalry battle has concluded!”
Keigo’s eyes widen, head darting around the arena to try and gather his bearings. Ice coated parts of the field, students were battered and bruised, and Todoroki stood victorious atop the leaderboard.
The cavalry battle was over? What happened, last thing he remembered he was-
That boy.
He looks around, and spots the boy with purple hair depositing some headbands in a box, a smug look on his face. That little…
Eyes narrowing, Keigo approaches him with a nasty look, about to give the boy a piece of his mind. Clearly, he’d used some sort of quirk on the other, and he wasn’t just going to let that slide.
But then, he pauses.
The last thing he remembered was responding to the boy's question. Was that the trigger? Or was he able to activate by just talking?
He didn’t have enough information, and as the final game approached, he couldn't take any more risks. So, he bit his tongue, and turned around. It stung, having to silence his anger, but he’d learned what battles to pick and what battles to concede. He was used to being quiet.
“Not every fight is winnable with raw strength alone, so you have to use your cunning and wit to end up on top. Sometimes, patience is a virtue. You don't always have to act first.”
He needed information.
Food was just what Keigo needed to clear his head and heal his body. After filling his tray with three servings of lunch, he took a seat with Hagakure, dragging Tokoyami along with him despite the boys' clear annoyance. He had to learn about everything that happened while he was “out”, after all, especially since it seems like Tokoyami really showed his talents in the cavalry battle.
As he waited for the other girls to grab their lunch and join them, he pulled out his phone to text his mom.
Keigo:
> One on one battles are soon
> Are you here?
Keigo waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But his mom never responded. Never even opened the text. If she wasn’t checking her phone, it meant she was probably still asleep.
So, not here.
Keigo tries not to feel bitter, but the sourness still creeps up his throat like bile as he shoves his phone in his pocket and tries to bury the feeling by stuffing more food down his mouth. He was competing soon, he had to focus. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by something as stupid as disappointment.
Besides, he never should have gotten his hopes up in the first place. She’s never come. She never would.
“Yaoyorozu. Jirou.”
Keigo’s ears perked up when he heard Kaminari and Mineta, pulled from his thoughts by their slimy approach. Kaminari was on thin ice, but Mineta was deep in Keigo’s bad books after the numerous comments he had made about his classmates. His friends, he reminds himself.
And it was clear that wasn’t changing any time soon, as Mineta so casually and confidently crafts a lie to get the girls into cheerleader uniforms. Keigo was honestly surprised that Yaoyorozu didn’t immediately see through their flimsy scheme, but the girl was always a bit too trusting. Either that, or Keigo was too paranoid.
Either way, he wasn’t going to just let his friends face possible embarrassment alone.
“Hey… Yaoyorozu, can you make one extra costume?”
To no one's surprise, it was a setup.
The cheerleaders were flown in from the US to cheer for the festival, and there was zero expectation for the female students to follow suit. Well, the female students, and Keigo. Honestly, he made the crop top work, even if he insisted on wearing a long sleeve shirt underneath to keep his numerous scars covered. The skirt was a bit much, even for him, but the look on Kaminari’s face made it clear that even the shorts were making the boy question some things about himself.
The girls were clearly embarrassed to have been so easily tricked, Yaoyorozu most of all, but he and Hagekure teamed up to insist that they should just roll with it. Many of them would be fighting in the tournament very soon, so it was the perfect way to destress and not let the boys win.
Besides, they couldn’t let Yaoyorozu’s hard work go to waste?
But before they could get to the sidegames and cheerleading, the students had to gather to learn about the final leg of the sports festival: The fighting tournament. The rules were pretty self explanatory, but before they could draw lots, they needed to even out the numbers.
Due to Shinso and Keigo working as a pair, and the runner up team working as a quartet, two students would need to be bumped up to bring the number to 16 and avoid any unfair advantages. Those two were Ibara Shiozaki and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (which, this poor kid, why would his parents do that to him?) from class 1-B, who seemed like fierce competitors, and whose quirks he was unfamiliar with.
His first opponent would be Mina. Her quirk could possibly cause him issues if it melted any of his feathers, but he was confident he’d be able to grab her and push her out of the ring before that became a problem.
Next would be Yaoyorozu or Tokoyami, two people he considered friends, and two people he was ready to defeat. It was all friendly competition at the end of the day, and Keigo needed to land on top. The commission was watching, and he’d already messed up the first two legs of the competition, so he couldn’t afford any more failures.
He made friends. He was settling in. They couldn’t take this away from him, now. Please.
“Izuku Midoriya?”
Keigo’s wings perked up at the sound of a familiar voice, eyes immediately searching for its source. A familiar puff of purple hair was talking to another familiar puff of green hair (did they coordinate hairstyles?), and he was immediately on edge, knowing what scheme the boy was pulling.
Keigo and Midoriya admittedly hadn’t talked much in or outside of class, but he felt a strong sense of camaraderie to the boy who’d helped save his life during the USJ incident, and he couldn’t let him get tricked.
“A pleasure, so you excited?”
“Uh, yea-” Before Midoriya could finish his sentence, a hand clamped over his mouth. Keigo smiled at the pair, arm wrapped around the others shoulders as he eyed up Shinso. While his expression seemed friendly, his eyes conveyed a silent threat. Mess with him and you’re done.
Shinso smirked, letting out a small huff of laughter before turning and walking away. Once the threat was gone, Keigo let go of Midoriya, who turned to face him with a look of confusion.
“Uh, Tokunaga, what's the deal?”
Keigo’s smile fell from his lips, sending shivers up Midoriya’s spine as the blonde's eyes tracked Shinso from afar, cold and calculating. The boy had never seen such a serious look on his classmate before, not since USJ. Whatever it was, it had to be serious…
“Also, why are you in a cheerleading uniform?”
Keigo was surprisingly good at cheerleading, he learned. Maybe in another life he would have been one, if the commission never found him… Nah, probably not.
Still, he was having fun. He tossed Hagakure up into the air, teaming up with Uraraka to keep her airborne as she waved her pom poms around in joy. Due to her quirk, she was often overlooked or ignored, so it felt amazing to give her a chance in the spotlight.
And Keigo himself didn’t mind the extra attention, having been media trained for years by that point. The commission had plans to make him a very public hero with a high approval rating, and that involved being appealing to a wide demographic. This was just practice for the real deal, so he was able to quickly fall into a rhythm.
But soon the break was over, and the remaining participants had to prepare for the upcoming battles.
Keigo took his seat in the Class 1-A bleachers, taking a spot next to Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu, who both wished him luck. His battle was the one right before theirs, which meant they would be too busy preparing to watch it. Still, the support warmed his heart.
But that battle was far off. Right now, his focus was on the one about to begin.
His mind wanders back to his talk with Midoriya in the field…
“Wait, mind control?”
“Yeah, I think so. I was talking to some of the other students he teamed with during the obstacle course, and they all completely blanked out after talking to Shinsou. It seems like any sort of response to him triggers it.”
“So… What should I do?”
“Just don't respond to anything he says. He’ll likely try to goad you into responding, once he realizes I told you about all this, but bite your tongue. Do. Not. Respond. If you do, you lose.”
“Come on, Midoriya…” Keigo mumbles under his breath as the two challengers step into the ring. The green haired boy was full of nerves, body stiff as a board. It was in stark contrast to Shinso, who carried the same relaxed and disinterested aura he had in the hallway.
Due to the distance, nobody could hear what they were saying to each other, which was great for Shinso. He could say whatever he wanted to goad the other into speaking, without having to worry about public opinion.
And clearly, it worked, as only moments after Midoriya began to sprint forward, he halted.
“Damn it.” Keigo mumbled, head falling into his hands as he watched Midoriya slowly walk towards the edge of the ring, the match already decided before it ever truly began. “I told you not to say anything…”
“Well, there is a chance. I watched the live feed of the cavalry battle back during our break, and I noticed that at the end of the battle, we didn’t quite stick the landing. I guess controlling my wings was a bit harder than he thought!”
At this point, the only way for Midoriya to break his hold would be some sort of physical stimulus, but the chances of that happening were slim to none.
“Either way, I landed on my ankle weirdly, and it was at that moment I woke up. Now, it's just a hunch, but I think any sort of physical pain might break his hold…”
Just when he was steps away from walking out of bounds, the entire stadium suddenly erupted in heavy winds. Midoriya… broke his own fingers to escape Shinso’s hold?!
“Jeez, nearly gave me a heart attack…” Keigo mumbled as he let out a sigh of relief, leaning back in his chair. At this point, Midoriya wouldn’t make the same mistakes again, and Shinso had no chance of beating him on strength alone. The outcome of the match changed in an instant.
A smile creeped onto his face, watching the boy get thrown out of the ring. His class was on their A game, they deserved to be here. They were going to fight with everything they had.
Game over, Hitoshi Shinso.
His match with Mina went as expected. While she was certainly strong, her acid had no effect against him if it could never hit. Employing his usual methods, Keigo sent his feathers forward the second the match began and pushed her out before she had a moment to think.
Keigo honestly felt a little bad with how quickly it was over, but the matchup was far from ideal for her. She needed to get close to her opponents to use her acid, and if Keigo was good for anything, it was keeping out of range. Still, he bowed and told her she did well, because she did manage to score a spot in the top 16.
With his first match over, Keigo was able to sit back and relax. There would be another three matches until the round was over, and two more matches in the second round until he had to face either Tokoyami or Yaoyorozu.
Using his ample time wisely, Keigo started heading towards the cafeteria to pick up another snack, already hungry after all that cheerleading. In his defense, he had the equivalent to an extra pair of arms sticking out of his back, which required way more nutrients to keep healthy. Shoji probably ate just as much as him!
Distracted by his own self defense, he didn’t notice the person exiting from the hallway to his left, causing him to bump into them. Luckily for them (and not so luckily for Keigo), they were built like a brick wall. They were rather warm, too, flames emanating off their body. They almost looked like…
Endeavour?!
“You should watch where you are going.” The man said, voice gruff with hints of annoyance. He wasn’t outright rude to Keigo, but it was clear he didn’t really have the patience to deal with some kid who couldn’t watch where he was going.
Keigo was awestruck, staring up at his literal hero face to face. Oh. My. God. Ok, stay calm, you have to look cool in front of him. He can't know that you’re a fanboy, or that you cuddle a tiny plush version of him every night.
“Sorry, sir! Was just so caught up in my match I wasn’t keeping track of where I was going. Won't happen again, scouts honour!” To emphasize his point, he presses a hand to his chest and bows deeply. The older man nods his head in acceptance, and that was where the interaction seems to reach its end. Endeavor was about to keep walking when he paused, turning back to look at Keigo as if something had just occurred to him.
“You, you are one of the kids in Shoto’s class. You got in on recommendation.”
Keigo’s eyes widened. Endeavour knows who he is? Smiling, his feather puffs up as he folds his hands behind his head. “Yup, that's me! Keigo Tokunaga, at your service.”
Endeavor continues to stare for a moment, making the young boy feel like he was being examined under a microscope. It was only then that something occurred to him.
His quirk.
Endeavor had arrested his father years ago, he couldn’t possibly remember some no name villain like him, right? Besides, he is far from the only person with a red feather quirk. He’s always looked more like his mom, anyway, so there was no way Endeavor could possibly recognize him. Right?
Before his thoughts could spiral any further, the large man hummed, before turning away once more and walking off. Keigo let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, shaking the nervousness out of his feathers.
He didn’t often worry about people recognizing him. The commission had completely scrubbed him and his mothers past life from public record, and his father had no reason to blab about the family he saw as nothing more than a curse. Even his fathers criminal record was protected, just in case anyone got too close and realized the family resemblance. The only people who could possibly make the connection were those at the scene when he was caught, and what reason would Endeavor have to remember him?
Calming his nerves, Keigo continued towards the cafeteria, letting the shadow of Takami fade away into the darkest crevices of his soul a while longer.