Archive of Our Own

At some point in the last few years, Izumi realized that certain goals were easier to achieve than others. 

Over the long and arduous process of getting Shouchan away from his father, Izumi had learned that an ideal outcome and a realistic outcome were two very different things. If Izumi could have had her way, Shouchan would have left with her the same day they met all those years ago. Instead, it took finding Touya, convincing him to help, and then years of struggle, evidence gathering, and patience followed by a drawn-out court battle to finally free Shouto from his father’s control and that horrible noose around his neck. 

Ideal versus realistic.

She stared at the high school application form in front of her. Izumi considered the path that lay ahead and whether her dream was ideal or realistic. 

As kids, she and Kacchan would play heroes and villains, and Kacchan always talked about how the two of them would be a team—hero and sidekick. 

Shouchan also wanted to be a hero. His father hadn’t spoiled that dream, thankfully, and he’d been able to pick up a healthy training regimen after moving in with his brother. 

Both of them were aiming for UA, aiming for the top, and had the strength, confidence, and quirks to get there. No one questioned whether or not Katsuki Bakugou or Shouto Todoroki had what it took to get into the most prestigious hero academy in Japan.

All her life Izumi wanted to be a hero; she wanted to help people. Play eventually turned into real training, working on strength, endurance, speed, flexibility, and even fighting. Touya had been a big help, and frequently taught Izumi how to fight dirty whenever she’d come over to help him with their plan to save Shouto from Endeavor. Izumi was also a terrifying genius—Touya’s words—when it came to quirk analysis, which she had applied to improve her own quirk meticulously. 

The problem, however, was that Soul Strings was in no way a combat quirk. The ability to see a manifestation of the relationships that connected people to each other had a wide range of potential uses, but fighting was not one of them. Izumi knew; she’d tried to find one for years. In a fight, Izumi was effectively quirkless.  

So, despite Kacchan’s exuberant declarations and Shouchan’s quiet encouragement, Izumi wondered if UA—if being a hero—was a realistic dream or merely an ideal one for her. The acceptance rate for the hero course was very low, and the entrance exam was notoriously difficult. The written exam was nothing to sneeze at, but the real worry for Izumi would be the practical exam. 

Her pencil tapped against her desk as she continued to stare at the application, an annoyed frown slowly overtaking her features.

It didn’t make sense. There were plenty of heroes out there who specialized in rescue or support, heroes who weren’t fighters, and it irked her that UA’s hero course seemed to completely dismiss that class of hero. Their support course was for inventors and gadgeteers, people who created support gear for heroes, and did not include—as Izumi believed it should—support-class heroes. Business course, as the name implied, was designed for the business side of heroics, and while her analytical skills might get her in, it wasn’t what she wanted. General Studies was even worse, designed to be a catch-all generic high school education with no hero training whatsoever. 

Getting into the hero course without a combat quirk to show off during the practical sounded impossible, and yet… it had to happen, didn’t it? Off the top of her head, Izumi could name half a dozen different pro heroes, UA alums, who didn’t do villain takedowns. They’d gotten in somehow… 

“Michan,” Kacchan’s irritated growl drew her gaze away from the blank application form. “What is taking so damn long? You forget how to write all of a sudden?”

“No, sorry. Just lost in thought.” Izumi sighed.

Kacchan rolled his eyes. “What’s there to think about? You know where we’re going; hurry it up. Unless you wanna be late meeting IcyHot for training.”

With a shake of her head and a practiced twirl of her pencil, Izumi quickly filled out the application under Kacchan’s watchful eye. Maybe the circumstances weren’t ideal, but that hadn’t stopped her before, and it wouldn’t stop her now. 

After all, she’d learned a while ago: just because some goals weren’t easy, didn’t mean they weren't worth it.

~*~*~

The Todoroki siblings had been granted control of the estate upon Enji’s incarceration, which included the house they’d all grown up in. None of the four had wanted to stay there, however, and so the property had been sold. Even with the stain on his reputation, the home of the former number two hero still sold for a sizable sum. While Fuyumi, Shouto’s only sister, was in charge of the family’s finances, she was more than happy to allocate funds for whatever the siblings needed. 

Fuyumi got a small house for herself and their mother, once she was released from the medical center. It was a bit outside of the main city districts, somewhere quiet where they could just exist away from the hustle and bustle and noise. It was calm and perfect, only disturbed by the three Todoroki brothers—but that was perfect too.

Natsuo had gone off to college the same year Enji had been convicted. His tuition and housing were covered easily, and without the looming presence of their father, he made efforts to come home whenever he could. 

Touya and Shouto had a small condo near Musutafu’s main district. They would have joined Fuyumi and their mother in the small house on the outskirts, but they all agreed it would be better for Shouto—and by extension, Touya—to be closer to UA. They visited regularly though. Other than the condo, the primary expense for the two rescued brothers was the frequent use of a training facility that allowed the use of quirks as destructive as Cremation and Half-Hot Half-Cold. 

It was this facility that Touya brought the three UA hopefuls to whenever they practiced with quirks. The building itself was huge, separated out into five heavily modified training rooms with the administrative office in the front. Izumi, Shouchan, Kacchan, and Touya were regulars, recognized and greeted by the staff whenever they came in.

Their time in the training facility was usually spent trying to improve their actual quirks. Touya had them focus on things like control and endurance, saving sparring for the second half of their session. When Izumi and Kacchan met the brothers at the facility, Touya took one look at Izumi’s sour mood and decided they’d start with sparring.

Training with Shouchan always cheered Izumi from even her lowest moments. There was just something about the rush of adrenaline in her veins, the burn of muscles, the momentary rejection of gravity as she vaulted and lept and dodged across the field that made the negative bullshit in the world seem just a little further away, just a little less important. All that mattered was the next attack, the next counter, the next move; there was no room for negativity and certainly no room for doubt in a fight. She trusted in her training, trusted in her body and mind to work together and overcome all obstacles. 

Touya had started her training only a couple of years after they met, though he was reluctant at first—reasonably so considering what they were working toward at the time—but he’d caved eventually. Izumi didn’t have a combat quirk, would never have a combat quirk, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t throw a punch or hold a weapon. She learned hand-to-hand and how to fight dirty from Touya, acrobatics and parkour from Kacchan, and took formal lessons on how to wield both sai and tonfa—”Do you really need both?”, “Redundancy, Kacchan. You should always have backups for your backups.”—combined all together… Izumi practically danced as she fought. 

Once Shouchan was able to join, though, he became her favorite partner. He challenged her, forced her to move faster, go longer, think harder. The brutal training he’d endured under Endeavor’s tutelage had accomplished one thing, if nothing else: Shouto was a beast on the sparring mat. Add his quirk to the mix and Izumi lost almost every time. 

Izumi didn’t let her frequent losses get her down though. She still learned something with every fight, and Shouchan’s quirk was amazing ; she could happily spend hours studying and analyzing it—had done, in fact. They didn’t get to spar with quirks all that often, unfortunately. Because of the admittedly destructive nature of the boys’ quirks, they couldn’t practice with them outside of the facility, and they could only book a room there so often.

Luckily for her, today was one such day.

Still in a less than pleasant mood from school, Izumi went for Shouchan as soon as they were geared up and dragged him to the sparring ring. Touya and Kacchan moved to the side to observe without comment. 

Shouchan sized her up from across the ring with a calculated glance and then launched a jet of flame to begin the match. Izumi dodged left and stayed low, keeping her body level with and close to the flame to obscure her location as she closed the distance. Shouchan doused the flame and slid his right foot forward and ice began to form along the ground in an attempt to trap her. Izumi jumped into a forward handspring, using the tonfa in her hands to hit the ice first so Shouchan wouldn’t be able to encase her hands as she used his ice to propel herself closer. As much as she hated abandoning her weapons, that’s what the backups were for. As another jet of flame made its way toward her while she was still in the air, Izumi tucked in close and brought her feet forward to meet the fire on the thick, reinforced soles of her boots rather than anything flammable. The heat from Shouchan’s fire was still intense, stealing the breath from her lungs and making her skin feel tight, but the adrenaline that coursed through her veins as she continued to fall into the fire felt amazing. 

Her boots met Shouchan’s arms as he attempted to block her, braced to take the sudden weight of her landing. Izumi used him as a springboard, kicking out with her legs and launching herself up and over his head to land on her feet just behind him. Off-balance from her jump, Shouchan didn’t have time to turn around before she slammed her foot into the soft spot above the back of his knee. That leg crumpled, but Shouchan caught himself on his right hand and used the connection to the ground to send more ice out in a semicircle behind him to keep her back. 

Without eyes on her, he wouldn’t be able to direct the ice to trap her limbs, so Izumi jumped, landing on top of the growing ice and ran along the jagged edges, and then slid along the smooth interior until she was on the ground next to Shouchan. Ice immediately rose up at her feet, encasing her legs between one breath and the next, but she was close enough to him to bring her sai up to his temple.

The two of them held there, iced from her waist down and him with an aborted knockout hit still poised at the point of potential contact, breathing only a little heavy. They looked at each other appraisingly. 

“Draw?” 

“Draw.” Izumi agreed, lowering her weapons. 

Shouchan released her from the ice while Touya started in on the larger spires. When he freed the tonfa, he tossed them to Izumi. “Not bad. Any injuries?”

“Bruises,” Shouchan confirmed calmly.

Touya nodded and turned to Izumi. “Any burns?”

“No, I’m fine.”

In the next match, Touya took Shouchan’s spot. Since his fire always burned much hotter than Shouto’s, Izumi couldn’t use the same tactics to get in close. If she stayed close to Cremation’s blue flames, she’d burn. 

They squared off, and Izumi charged. One of the first lessons Touya had taught her was that a real fight doesn’t have a go signal, so she never bothered to wait for one before beginning a match against him. As she ran, she pulled one of her sai from its sheath and hurled it at him as he began to use his quirk, forcing him to either dodge or deflect. Either option would throw off his aim enough for her to dodge his fire easily. He dodged, shifting his shoulder away from the weapon while keeping one hand pointed in her direction. She drew a tonfa and adjusted her course slightly to come up on his now exposed back, aiming a kick right between his shoulder blades. He turned quickly and caught her foot before the kick could land. Her boots were designed to be fire-resistant, but that only meant so much against Cremation. As soon as he activated his quirk again, she’d have seconds to get herself free before the heat began to cook her foot. Izumi slammed the remaining sai down on his left wrist, catching it in the weapon’s yoku, and twisted, forcing him to release her foot. With the weakened grip, Izumi pulled her leg down, slipping free of his other hand before his flames could eat through her boots. With her forward momentum, she slammed the butt of her tonfa against his sternum. As he gasped for breath, she ducked down and swept her leg out, tripping him, and then held the tonfa to his throat to claim the win.

“I regret everything,” Touya groaned as he picked himself up off the mat.

Izumi giggled, bouncing lightly on her toes. “Aw, don’t be like that Touya-nii.”

The older man narrowed his cerulean eyes at her. She’d long since stopped being intimidated by his menacing glare, though, so she just smiled brightly in response.

“Brat.” Touya rolled his eyes and then turned to Kacchan. “You’re up, Explodo-boy. Show me you’ve finally learned to fucking dodge.”

“Don’t need to dodge. Your attacks ain’t shit, Staples.” Kacchan cracked his neck a few times and took Izumi’s place on the mat.

After collecting her sai, Izumi cheerfully took a seat next to Shouchan as the other two began their spar. He graced her with a small smile before turning his attention to the others as well. These training sessions were becoming more and more frequent as the UA entrance exam loomed ever closer, and they were all determined to learn as much as they could before then. 

They stopped for dinner and headed back to Touya and Shouchan’s condo, eating together around the Todoroki sibling’s small table, when the conversation turned toward the inevitable. 

“The exam is less than a year away; we need to ramp up on quirk training for all of you,” Touya remarked. 

“Michan’s quirk won’t do shit in a fight,” Kacchan objected.

“There’s more to hero work than fighting,” Izumi reminded him automatically. 

“Of fucking course there is, but that’s not what we’re doing is it? Before you can show all those useless extras how good you are at the soft shit, you gotta prove you can handle the fun part.” 

Shouchan’s brow twitched in a small frown. “Rescue work is just as important as combat. We should try to improve both skills.”

“True,” Touya agreed. “But Bakugou has a point. The practical exam doesn’t test how good your rescue work is. I know you haven’t found a way to use it in a fight, but that’s all the more reason to increase quirk training with those two. If you can’t use your own quirk to fight, you need to be able to take them down even when they use theirs. At least some of the time.”

Izumi sighed. The practical should test rescue skills. What kind of hero course didn’t care about one of the focal tenants of being a hero? 

“Izuchan?” Shouchan bumped her shoulder lightly. 

“The practical isn’t fair.” Izumi hated that she was essentially whining, but it was just so frustrating. “There are plenty of heroes who specialize in rescue; they should have an exam for that.”

“Life isn’t fair, Midoriya.” Touya gestured to the numerous burns stretched across his face and arms. “You brats have a shot at being what heroes should be, but the system doesn’t care about that. Before you can prove you can do it the right way, you gotta prove you can do it their way.”

“It should be the same thing,” Izumi whispered and pushed her plate away, appetite officially gone.

~*~*~

The following day was an off day. Touya was strict about taking appropriate breaks so that they didn’t overwork themselves, so despite the looming entrance exam, they wouldn’t train. Normally, Izumi agreed wholeheartedly with this, but school had been particularly frustrating today.

After submitting their choices for high school the day before, the teacher was supposed to go over potential career choices, but had blithely tossed the career assessments aside and said that of course, they all wanted to be heroes. It caused a minor riot and a lot of illegal quirk use as the students cheered. Normally, Izumi would have brushed aside the teacher’s ineptitude, too used to it by now to try to raise a fuss, but then he’d singled her out.

The teachers, and more than a few students, had made no secret of their opinion of Izumi’s dreams of being a hero. She didn’t have a flashy quirk, she didn’t have a combat quirk, and a lot of people felt she was riding Kacchan’s coattails, banking on his inevitable success to achieve her dream. It had caused more than a few fights between Kacchan and students who were too stupid or brazen to keep those comments to themselves in his earshot. 

The teachers blamed Izumi, unwilling to damage Kacchan’s chances by putting the fights on his record. It had taken years, but Izumi had eventually gotten Kacchan to stop instigating fights. At the teacher’s comment today, Izumi worried all that hard work was about to go up in flames. 

“Midoriya, UA isn’t going to let you in just because your friend is a promising hero. You have to show promise as well, which, with your quirk, I’m afraid you just don’t.” 

The class twittered with mirth and shot Izumi smug or pitying glances as she fought to keep her face calm. 

Kacchan had no such restraint. He snarled as he slammed his hand down, releasing an explosion against the wood. Before he could go off on the class or the teacher, Izumi tugged lightly at the string connecting her and Kacchan to get his attention. When his head snapped to her, she shook her head minutely. It wasn’t worth starting a fight. 

Begrudgingly, Kacchan sat back down and settled for glaring at the teacher for the rest of class. When the bell finally rang, the classroom emptied quickly, eager to be away from Kacchan’s simmering anger. 

“Midoriya, stay a moment.” The teacher ordered as Izumi packed her bag. When Kacchan settled back into his chair, clearly intending to wait, the teacher dismissed him. “Go on Bakugou, student-teacher meetings are not open to friends.”

“Didn’t stop you saying whatever shit you wanted in front of the whole class.” Kacchan snapped. 

“Kacchan,” Izumi sighed, tired and fed up. She just wanted whatever this meeting was over with. 

He narrowed ruby red eyes at her in annoyance, but stood, grabbing his bag roughly. As he neared, he whispered, “Don’t let this asshole tell you what you can or can’t be. He doesn’t know shit, and you’re going to show him how wrong he is when we’re pros.” 

Izumi gave him a small smile in thanks, and Kacchan gave their teacher one last withering glare before slamming the classroom door behind him. 

The teacher handed her a fresh high school selection sheet. “I want you to take this seriously this time, Midoriya. Bakugou has been overly generous to encourage your delusion, but as your teacher, it’s my job to get you to see reality. Quite frankly, someone should have told you this a long time ago. With your quirk, you’d be as helpful as a Quirkless in a fight. There’s no place for you in UA’s hero course.”

“I wasn’t aware you were on the UA acceptance board.” Izumi could feel the anger bubbling behind her chest, and the sting of tears built at the corner of her eyes. 

The teacher tsked and glared at her. “Don’t push it, Midoriya. You’re relatively smart—for a girl—you knew you couldn’t play pretend forever. Bakugou has the potential to be a great hero. He has the drive, the work ethic, the quirk… but I’m worried his bright future may be at risk. You’re a distraction, holding him back the way you do. For his sake, if not your own, think carefully and turn this in to me tomorrow.”

Dazed, Izumi took the paper and left. 

It hadn’t been a secret that her teacher’s opinion of her was low, the man had not hidden his distaste, but she hadn’t imagined he’d say anything so condescending. In just that short conversation—if it could be called that—he’d revealed blatant quirk discrimination and sexism. If she had the desire, she could probably make a case for a lawsuit. More surprising than any of that, had been his belief that she was somehow holding Kacchan back from achieving greatness. The only thing she was conceivably holding him back from was detention when he lost his temper and took it out on students and staff. 

“Ridiculous.” Izumi tamped down the urge to crumple the form into a ball and toss it into the trash. She would do as that pathetic, clueless, deluded teacher had requested and return it to him in the morning after thinking very carefully on which color ink to write UA Hero Course in. Maybe, if she was still feeling particularly vindictive when she got home, she’d write it in glitter.

Kacchan was not waiting for her when she exited the building, but that was completely fine and expected. He was a creature of habit, and on days when they weren’t training with the Todoroki brothers, Kacchan practiced his freerunning and parkour. With her quirk, she could find him no matter which route he took, and he trusted Izumi to be able to catch up if she wanted to join him.  

Before she met up with Kacchan, Izumi wanted to change. While she could freerun in her uniform, she preferred not to. Eager to join Kacchan on his run, she took the quickest path home and ducked under a bridge as a shortcut.

Halfway through the underpass, an odd sound had the hairs on the back of Izumi’s neck stand at attention as a feeling of danger crept up her spine. Turning slowly, Izumi looked behind her in time to see tendrils of dark, toxic sludge rise up from a nearby manhole cover until they coalesced into a towering mass at least a head taller than her and wide enough to nearly touch the walls of the underpass. The roiling, amorphous slime had no discernible features until it reached its full height, revealing two cruel eyes and a sinister smile.

A villain. 

Izumi didn’t carry her weapons to school, and even if she did, she doubted she’d be able to do anything to someone whose body was mostly liquid. She had to run. Turning on her heel to sprint for the other side of the underpass, Izumi recoiled in disgust as she felt a slimy tendril wrap up and around her leg. 

“Now where do you think you’re going? I need to borrow that body of yours, kid.” The gurgling voice of the villain echoed off the walls of the underpass as more tendrils wrapped around her limbs, pulling her back. 

The entire mass of the sludge villain slammed into her, knocking the breath from her lungs. As she gasped for air, the villain plunged a tendril down her throat, and no amount of thrashing on her part could tear herself free. Desperate and scared, Izumi found the three threads that connected her to Kacchan, Shouchan, and Touya and pulled with all the strength she could muster. 

“It’ll be easier for both of us if you don’t fight back.” The villain scolded her as she continued to struggle against his hold, frantically pulling on her strings to call for help.

Izumi couldn’t breathe, she had no idea how long she’d be able to hold out against the villain, or even if her friends were close enough to get here in time. Her phone was buzzing in her pocket, probably one of her friends, but she had no way to answer other than to continue to pull on their connection frantically. 

“I had no idea he was in the city. I gotta get out of here fast before he finds me.” The sludge villain muttered and Izumi hoped whoever he was, kicked this bastard’s ass when he caught up to him. 

The edges of Izumi’s vision were going dark, though whether that was due to lack of oxygen or because the sludge villain had almost fully surrounded her, she couldn’t tell. She could feel herself getting weaker; she couldn’t keep fighting physically and mentally at full strength. Her friends would need the pull to find her, and fighting against sludge was proving futile. She had to prioritize. Deciding to cease almost all resistance, Izumi focused on the strings that would eventually—hopefully—bring rescue. 

Distantly, like listening to something from underwater, Izumi heard a clang of something heavy and metal striking concrete, and she felt the villain shift around her to face the noise. It sounded like someone was talking, but she couldn’t make out who or what was said. The volume in the underpass suddenly increased, and Izumi thought someone might have been fighting, but it was so hard to tell and she was slipping closer and closer to unconsciousness. 

A gale-force wind slammed into the sludge villain, and then all at once, she was free as the villain was blown away. As she fell, a distinct silhouette straightened up. Izumi questioned if she was maybe hallucinating because she could have sworn that her savior looked like All Might.

She lost consciousness before she could decide whether or not she was right.

~*~*~

There were less pleasant ways to be woken up than being repeatedly, if gently, slapped on the cheek, but Izumi was hard-pressed to think of them as she was jolted out of unconsciousness. Groggily, she glared up at whoever was hitting her, half expecting to see Touya or Kacchan. Instead, Izumi stared up into the face of the number one hero, All Might.

Suddenly very much wide awake, Izumi jumped and let out a startled squeak.

“Oh good! Thought I’d lost you there.” All Might said with his signature smile.

Managing to keep her internal screaming internal , Izumi gazed up at the mountain of a man in front of her in awe. It was really him! All Might! He wasn’t in uniform, but there was no mistaking him for anyone else. Slowly, she got to her feet, doing her best to school her features, but probably failing. 

“Looks like you’re moving around alright.” All Might appraised. “Sorry ‘bout that back there. I didn’t mean to get you caught up in my justicing.”

Izumi was ready to brush his apology aside until something very odd caught her eye. What she had originally assumed was a woven necklace, was actually the strangest soul string Izumi had ever seen. The string itself was composed of multiple strands. It wasn’t just thick like Shouchan’s noose had been, it was made of many different strings, woven together into one.

If that weren’t strange enough, it started from his heart, looped up loosely around his neck, and then came back down to his heart again. All Might was acting as both anchor points. She’d never seen someone be both anchor points for a soul string. The very nature of soul strings was that they showed the connection between people. One person couldn’t be both anchor points. 

Frantically, Izumi ran through any possible theory that could account for what she was looking at, but only two options really made even the slightest sense. Unable to contain her curiosity, Izumi interrupted whatever All Might had been saying—she felt a little bad about not listening—and asked, “Are you possessed? Or is your quirk sentient?” 

All Might choked on nothing, coughing into his hand, before looking at Izumi with concern. “What?”

“I’m so sorry, All Might, sir.” Izumi bowed respectfully before looking back up at his odd soul string. “My quirk allows me to see a physical manifestation of the connections between people. I call them soul strings. You have one unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It’s connected solely to you , and the only explanations I could think of were either that you were possessed, which normally I wouldn’t suggest but considering that sludge villain was trying to take over my body, I can’t really eliminate it as a possibility anymore, or it’s a connection between you and your quirk, which would imply that your quirk is sentient since connections only form between two thinking, feeling individuals. Well, I say two, but even there your string is odd. It’s more like...seven? I think? Yes. Seven strings all woven together–”

“My girl, that’s enough.” All Might’s tone was no longer the charming, friendly tone she’d always heard from the hero on TV. Now he sounded stern and...worried, almost.

Ducking her head again, Izumi shut her mouth with effort. She’d upset All Might , and after he’d saved her! Izumi was so embarrassed. 

“I’m afraid you’ve uncovered a closely guarded secret, my girl. I have to ask that you tell no one what you’ve just told me.” All Might ordered.

“O-of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you trouble.” Izumi winced.

“You meant no harm,” he consoled. “I do have questions, but no time to ask them at the moment. If you would permit, I would like to meet you tomorrow to discuss this.”

Izumi nodded frantically. “Yes, that would be fine!”

“Excellent!” For a moment the cheerful tone was back before he continued more seriously. “Meet me on Dagobah Beach tomorrow morning at six. Come alone.”

Had it been anyone other than All Might saying that, Izumi would have been suspicious of their motives. Perhaps she still should have been, but her idolization of the hero before her rejected the very possibility of nefarious motives and she readily agreed to his request, quickly creating a string between the two of them so she could find him on the beach tomorrow.

After getting her confirmation, All Might gave her another of his signature smiles and leaped away, clearing an enormous distance in a single bound, leaving Izumi alone next to the underpass to quietly freak out over what had just happened.

Izumi had no idea what to focus her freakout on first. She’d just met All Might and had accidentally uncovered a secret she shouldn’t have, and instead of keeping her mouth shut, she had asked All Might, the number one hero, the Symbol of Peace if he was possessed! What was wrong with her?! Of course, she’d only had the opportunity to stick her foot so far down her mouth because she’d nearly died and been saved by All Might! 

She’d nearly died.

She’d panicked while almost dying and pulled on her friends’ strings.

She’d frantically and repeatedly tugged on those strings and then abruptly stopped . 

“ Izumi! ”

Oh crap.

Izumi turned toward the scream in time to see Shouchan jump off the back of Touya’s motorcycle and fling himself over the bridge, creating an ice ramp to control his descent, ignoring Touya’s shouts for him to be careful. As soon as he was able, he jumped off the ramp and sprinted the rest of the distance between them. 

Still shaky from everything that had happened, Izumi reached a hand out to him as he approached and he used it to pull her to him, enveloping her in a bone-crushing hug. “You’re alive, thank the gods.”

“I’m sorry, Shouto, I should have called when the villain was taken care of, but–”

“Villain?” Touya had made his way to them as well. “You were attacked?”

“Are you hurt?” Shouchan pulled back, holding her shoulders as he looked her over.

Several popping explosions preceded Kacchan’s arrival as he dropped out of the sky to land next to their group. “Let her go IcyHot! If she isn’t dead, I’m gonna kill her myself!”

“Bakugou!” Touya snapped in warning as Shouchan pulled her close again and glared at the explosive blonde.

“She was attacked by a villain,” Shouchan said. 

Kacchan’s palms popped with rapid explosions. “What the fuck happened? Where is the bastard?”

“Izuchan?” Shouchan brushed lightly at Izumi’s hair, cajoling her to look up.

Stepping out of Shouchan’s hug was difficult, but she needed to be able to see everyone as she explained what had happened. Going over the sludge villain’s attack would be less than fun, but she owed it to them after scaring them so badly. 

“There was a sludge villain; he tried to drown me or suffocate me or something. I couldn’t fight him off because his body was mostly liquid. I thought I was going to die, so I pulled on our connection. I’m sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Just before I lost consciousness though, you’ll never believe what happened! All Might saved me! He was here! I talked to All Might, you guys! He’s so much cooler in person!”

“Un-fucking-believable,” Kacchan groaned. 

“It’s true! Kacchan, he was amazing! He took out the villain with one hit, just blew him completely to bits, and then he made sure I was okay and then–” Izumi cut herself off, almost sharing with them exactly what All Might had asked her not to share. She frowned.

“Of course he was amazing. It’s fucking All Might. What the hell, why are you pouting?”

“I forgot to ask for his autograph.” Izumi lamented. It was true, she’d been so distracted by his weird soul string that she hadn’t gotten the chance to ask for an autograph.

Touya and Kacchan both rolled their eyes at her.

Shouchan took her wrist and gently pulled her closer so he could look closely at her eyes. “You said the villain tried to suffocate you. We should get you to a hospital, make sure you’re okay.”

“Also you smell like shit,” Touya remarked, wrinkling his nose.

“Well, I was completely enveloped by a sludge villain who crawled out of the sewer before shoving his gross ass sludge tentacles down my throat, so…” 

“Fucking gross.”

“Definitely hospital.” Shouchan decided.

“I’ll take her.” Touya agreed. “You two, calmly , go tell Inko what happened and to meet us at Musutafu General.”

“Yeah, alright.” Kacchan sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You better not fucking scare us like that again, Michan. Don’t get so fucking star-struck next time you forget to pick up the phone and let us know you aren’t dead.”

“Kacchan, it was All Might . You can’t really blame me.”

“Tch.”

With one last hug from Shouchan and a light punch to her shoulder from Kacchan, the two headed off toward Izumi’s apartment to go tell her mother what had happened while Touya helped her up over the wall next to the bridge before quickly melting Shouchan’s ice ramp. Once the clean up was done, he pulled himself up over the wall and led her to his motorcycle. 

“Hold on tight,” Touya warned, making sure she settled on the seat correctly. 

Izumi threw her arms around his waist and pressed her forehead between his shoulder blades. “Thank you for coming for me. I’m sorry I scared you guys.”

“That sludge guy is lucky All Might got there first. If it had been me, he’d be dead. Nobody fucks with my little sister.” Touya reached over his shoulder to ruffle her hair quickly before revving the engine and speeding off toward the hospital.

Izumi didn’t doubt that Touya meant every word. Shouto wasn’t the only one that used to have a noose connecting him to Endeavor. Touya’s had existed a lot longer, and he’d allowed it to fester in his soul before Izumi was finally able to remove it and heal some of the damage. It left scars though, just like the physical scars across his body. As a result, his moral compass would never point true north, but he wasn’t as lost as he used to be. Taking Shouto in helped, as did training the three of them to be heroes. Even if he wasn’t perfect, Izumi loved him like the older brother she’d never had. It made her pleasantly warm inside to hear he felt the same.

~*~*~

Thanks to healing quirks, Izumi was treated quickly. A doctor specializing in the removal of toxins used her quirk to clear Izumi’s airway and lungs. It was unpleasant, hacking and coughing up bits of sludge villain until she was clear, but if it meant she wouldn’t get sick it was a fair trade.

Izumi’s mother hadn’t taken the news well, but once she was able to see for herself that Izumi was fine, she calmed down a bit. It had been a struggle to get her mom to agree to weapon training as a kid, but Izumi knew that her mom still supported her dream. She just didn’t like seeing Izumi in danger, as any mother would. Knowing that Izumi’s friends were training right along with her helped as well. Inko trusted the three of them to watch out for each other.

Thankfully, Izumi wasn’t required to stay overnight for observation, and the five of them left the hospital only a few hours later. Izumi’s mom insisted on making dinner for all of them, and none of the boys were in the habit of turning down a home-cooked meal, so they all made their way back to Izumi’s apartment.

After dinner, Izumi turned in early since she had to wake up early to meet All Might on Dagobah Beach. Since she couldn’t tell anyone that, however, she cited being tired from the events of the day instead. She said goodnight to her friends and kissed her mom’s cheek before making her way to her room to pass out.

When her alarm went off, Izumi slapped it before the noise could wake her mom. Climbing out of bed, Izumi showered quickly before getting dressed and grabbing what she’d need for school. She left a note on the fridge for her mom letting her know she had an errand to run this morning and that she’d be back in time for dinner before running out the door. 

Dagobah Beach was a decent run from her apartment, but Izumi wasn’t unaccustomed to running for fun and exercise. When she arrived, breathing only a little heavily, she took the time to look over the place while she regulated her heart rate. Dagobah was more of a trash heap than a beach, which was a shame. There were mountains of discarded and rusted appliances, scrap metal, even a few cars, and that’s just what she could see at a glance. Who knew what might be hiding under all that junk.

Izumi climbed down the steps to the beach and followed the string she’d tied to All Might the day before when he asked to meet. She was glad she had the forethought to do so, as even All Might’s towering figure was hard to spot among the trash and they hadn’t exactly exchanged contact information.

“Good morning, All Might.” Izumi bowed respectfully. 

“Ah, you made it! Good!” The hero smiled. “And right on time. Very punctual…”

Izumi blushed and realized she’d never introduced herself. “Midoriya Izumi. I’m so sorry, again, for yesterday.”

“Young Midoriya,” All Might crossed his arms over his enormous chest and looked her over carefully. “I would like to ask you a few questions before I answer your question from yesterday.”

“Of course.”

“Your quirk allows you to see strings, correct?”

“A physical manifestation of connection. I call them strings, yes.”

All Might hummed thoughtfully. “An interesting quirk. Can you tell me more?”

“I can, but…” Izumi paused and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “I analyze quirks as a hobby; not everyone is as interested in it as I am. Do you want the full analysis or just the basics?”

“A useful hobby, my girl. I believe, given the circumstances, I will take the full analysis.” All Might requested.

Izumi nodded quickly and took a breath. “A soul string is a representation of the connection between two people. It forms when strong or frequent emotion creates a link. I can see this link, and if I look at it closely, I can usually tell what sort of emotions formed it. I can even weaken or cut someone’s strings, but I don’t unless the string is dangerous.”

“How would a string be dangerous?” All Might asked.

“Usually a string only exists when the emotions that formed it are positive; negative emotion is more likely to sever or weaken a string than create a lasting one, but there are exceptions. Sometimes, like in cases of abuse, the negative emotions are potent enough that a string will still form. Strings like that can be dangerous; they’re like a poison for the spirit. It can hurt the essence of who that person is if they let it. People can heal themselves with things like therapy, but if I can cut the string, I can remove the source of the poison. It doesn’t heal the damage that’s already been done, but it prevents further harm to the spirit provided the string doesn’t have the chance to reform.” Izumi hesitated only a little before deciding it was worth mentioning one of All Might’s other strings while she was on the topic. “I feel like I should mention that you have what I would classify as a dangerous string. Not the one I saw yesterday, but one of your others.”

“I see.” All Might mused. “We’ll get back to that. For now, please continue.”

“Right. If I can see someone, I can create a temporary connection between myself and that person, but they aren’t genuine so I don’t keep them beyond what I need the string for. With the temporary string, or with any genuine one I already have, I can follow a soul string to locate someone as long as I’m connected to one of the anchors.”

“What’s the range? Is there a limit?”

“Yes, I’ve been working on extending it, but there is a limit.” While Kacchan and Shouchan worked on improving their quirks for combat, she tested the limits of this part of her quirk. She’d made a lot of progress since finding Touya all those years ago. “The range depends on a few factors. If I’m using one of my genuine connections to locate the other anchor—my mother for example—I haven’t found the limit to my range, but to be fair, no one I know really travels very far. The furthest out I’ve ever followed a series of strings was to Tokyo, but I definitely suffered for it afterward. I’ll keep pushing it though. It’s one of the most useful things I can do with my quirk, and I want to take it as far as I can.”

“From the sound of it, that quirk would be extremely helpful for locating missing persons and other investigative work.” All Might remarked thoughtfully.

“Exactly! I want to be a hero.” Izumi smiled. “I could find kidnapping victims, or follow a villain wherever they go, or locate trapped civilians during a disaster! It has so many potential applications. I can even use my own strings to draw someone to me. Not a compulsion. I can’t force them to come to me; it’s more like a nudge or suggestion that they can choose to ignore, but I wouldn’t need to make a sound to call for help, and it’s not a signal that can be jammed.”

“You’ve given this a lot of thought, I see.”

Izumi nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve wanted to be a hero since I was old enough to know what a hero was. There’s nothing nobler than those who dedicate their lives to helping others. My friends and I are training as hard as we can to get into UA next year.”

All Might gave her a thumbs up. “An admirable goal, and an impressive start, Young Midoriya.”

“I’m glad you think so. It means a lot coming from you.” Izumi confessed. “A lot of people don’t think I can be a hero because I can’t use my quirk to fight.”

“Is that so? That does make it harder, I’m afraid.” All Might said with a frown. “Young Midoriya, being a hero is quite dangerous. I won’t discount your abilities; you will likely excel in using your quirk as you’ve described, but you will still face villains. It is inevitable as a hero. In those cases, up against a villain with a quirk they can use against you, you will be at a distinct disadvantage. That’s just the reality. Your quirk would be well utilized in the police force, and you wouldn’t have to risk yourself against villains. It’s worth considering.”

Izumi clenched her jaw but said nothing in response. It hurt to hear that All Might thought she couldn’t do it because she didn’t have a combat quirk. He was wrong—she hoped—but it still hurt. She doubted anything she could say would change his mind.

Instead, Izumi took a calming breath before meeting All Might’s eyes again. “I promise, I will give your suggestion the consideration it deserves. Did you have any other questions?”

“Ah, I apologize. We did seem to get sidetracked.” All Might coughed into his fist. “About what you observed yesterday, can you elaborate?”

Izumi concentrated on the odd string. “There’s definitely more than one...source, I suppose. It’s all one string, but there are seven strands all woven together. Inseparable, but still distinct. It’s so odd… As I mentioned, I can sense the emotions that form strings, but it’s almost like each strand of this string has a completely different emotional input. There’s an overall emotion, too, and I think that’s what you put into the string, but considering both ends of the string connect to you, your input should—theoretically—be all there is. I’ve never seen someone be both anchors before, though, so all of this is guesswork.”

“So, best guess. What do you think it is?” All Might asked.

Izumi considered carefully before answering. Thankfully, All Might didn’t push her to answer right away and she took the time to probe a little more into the string. The strongest emotions were pride and love; they were more potent, fresher. Other strands were comprised of determination, trust, duty, and purpose, in addition to pride. Several strands contributed the same emotion, but she could still tell they were from separate sources. The way they connected to each other was intriguing as well. Each strand was directly connected to the one before it and the one after it, except two: the first and the last.

Nothing in what she felt gave her the sense of possession, however. There was no overwhelming sense of ownership or malice or anything she might associate with someone forced to play hostage in their own body, which was a relief. It meant that her second guess was probably the correct one.

“I don’t think you’re possessed. Far more likely is this string is from your quirk, and that quirk is at least a little sentient. The emotions tied to it are all wrapped up in things like duty and pride, though there are a few others in there. The strands themselves are connected in a linear fashion, one feeding into the next and so on. I’d say it’s remembering a little of everyone who had the quirk before you, but that’s a lot more of a literal interpretation of quirks getting passed down from parent to child than I’m used to. Besides that, I don’t get any parental emotions from any of the strands. The closest is the most recent strand, probably whoever you got the quirk from. There’s a lot of pride and love in that strand, but with a mentor/mentee feel to it. 

“So… Taking all of that into account—and otherwise ignoring how I thought quirks worked—my best guess is that your quirk has been passed down from person to person, carrying a little of each previous holder along the way, and was passed to you not from a parent, but from a mentor—somehow. Beyond that, the quirk itself has a strong sense of duty and is proud of what you’ve done with it so far, so good job.”

All Might was silent after she finished her assessment. It made Izumi nervous, but she stood by what she’d said. No one knew what All Might’s quirk was, it was one of the most hotly debated topics on hero forums, so if she had somehow discovered the truth it wasn’t unreasonable to assume that was a Big Deal. All Might was probably deciding how to handle the fact she’d deduced his secret.

While she waited for All Might to make a decision, she shifted her focus to the other string that had caught her attention. The string was connected to All Might’s left side and practically pulsed with malice and contempt. Izumi didn’t want to delve too deeply into the other emotions feeding the string, but it surprised her that the hostility and rancor didn’t just come from whoever was on the other side. All Might fed those emotions right back toward the other anchor. 

“You’ve got a lot of animosity for whoever this is,” Izumi commented distractedly, looking intently at the dangerous string.

“Excuse me?” All Might jumped slightly.

“Not your quirk! Sorry, I’m looking at the dangerous string. Whoever it is definitely hates you right back. Like. A lot. So much.” Izumi exhaled heavily and shook her head. “I suppose as the number one hero you’ve probably got a few villains who actively dislike you, but this is on another level.”

“Am I connected to a lot of villains?”

Izumi quickly tested the other strings and then shook her head. “No, it’s just the one. Not completely surprising. Like I said, negative emotions don’t typically form strings unless they’re really strong or both anchors think about the other a lot. Both of you have been feeding this one with some powerful emotions for a while now.”

“I appreciate your concern, Young Midoriya, but no need to worry! That could have been only one villain, and he is dead.” All Might tried to assure her.

Izumi was not comforted in the least. Concerned, she hurried to explain. “If the other anchor was dead, the string wouldn’t still be intact. Whoever this is, he’s still alive.”

All Might paled. 

“I can help.” Izumi offered, disturbed by All Might’s reaction. “If you’d like, I can find where he is–”

“No!” All Might shouted, reaching out and grasping Izumi’s shoulder as if to stop her from moving. Surprised, she looked up at the hero. She could see how he trembled slightly, how wide eyed his stare had become, and hear the higher pitch of his voice.

All Might was afraid .

“I wouldn’t physically be there,” Izumi promised. “I’d just follow the string in my mind.”

“Young Midoriya,” All Might put his other hand on her shoulder as well and looked her straight in the eye. “Under no circumstances are you to follow that string unless you hear otherwise from me directly. The man on the other end is the single most dangerous villain Japan has ever created, and he has unimaginable power. Until I can say with absolute certainty that he doesn’t possess the ability to sense your presence as you tap into something he is directly connected to, I cannot allow you to take that risk.”

All Izumi could manage was a shaky nod to show her agreement.

“Thank you, my girl.” All Might released her. “It seems you’ve stumbled upon something very dangerous due to my curiosity. For that, I apologize.”

“My own fault really,” Izumi murmured. “I asked you about your quirk, and I’m the one who poked my nose where it didn’t belong, so it’s not really your fault.”

“About that–”

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

All Might smiled again. “I appreciate that, and I thank you for your assessment. I had suspected that the quirk might be sentient, but it’s good to know for sure, and it is a comfort to know that I have made my mentor proud.”

“You’re welcome.” Izumi returned his smile with one of her own. 

“Perhaps one day I will tell you the details, but I’m afraid things have become much more complicated and now is not the time.” All Might sighed.

Izumi felt a little guilty for complicating things; she wanted to help people, not make things worse. “Logically I know it’s better to know that your nemesis is actually alive, but I can’t help but feel guilty. Are you sure I can’t help?”

“You have helped, my girl.” All Might promised. “Without your insight, he would have been able to continue with his schemes with me none the wiser. Now I know to look for him.”

“But I could find him.”

“I will not put an innocent civilian in his path.” All Might refused again. “Until I can guarantee your safety, I will not risk drawing his attention to you.”

Izumi worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “You really think following the string—something he doesn’t know exists and can’t see—would draw his attention? How would he even know?”

“I don’t know that he would, but until I know he won’t, it’s not worth the risk. That’s my final answer, Young Midoriya.”

“Okay,” Izumi relented. She would trust All Might to handle his own nemesis. If he changed his mind, he could probably find her pretty easily. 

Straightening her shoulders, Izumi prepared to remove the temporary string she’d created the day before, but was surprised to find that a genuine string had formed around the temporary one. Tentatively, she examined the string between herself and All Might, interested to see what had caused it to form. From her own side, she found what she expected. Admiration, respect, hope, gratitude, and a bit of devotion. From All Might, she also found admiration, respect, and gratitude along with a strong desire to protect. 

“Is something wrong, Young Midoriya?” All Might asked gently.

“We formed a string,” Izumi whispered, touched. 

All Might laughed heartily. “You seem surprised!”

“I am, I mean I can form a temporary connection on a whim, but a genuine connection doesn’t happen like that. It takes both anchors feeding positive emotions into a potential connection for it to form. I just… I never thought you’d think positively about me? I mean, I essentially stumbled upon your biggest secret and nearly shouted it when we first met, and then today I gave you some pretty bad news, but you still–” Izumi cleared her throat. “You still admire me for something, and you respect me, and… I didn’t expect that.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. There is great potential in you, my girl. Everything I’ve seen today and yesterday has shown me that.” All Might stated calmly.

“Thank you.” Izumi bowed. “I’ll try not to disappoint you.”

All Might placed his hand on her shoulder once again, though far more gently this time. “I may be the number one hero, but it’s recently come to my attention that I am not infallible.”

Confused, Izumi glanced up.“Sir?” 

“The only person you should worry about disappointing, Young Midoriya, is yourself.” All Might squeezed her shoulder before letting go. “Now, I’m afraid it’s time for me to go, and I’m sure you have classes to get to.”

Izumi jumped and checked the time on her phone. There was time for her to get to school on time if she hurried a little, and it should leave her just enough extra time to fill out her high school selection form before homeroom. She knew just which colors to use too.

Later, taking her seat next to Kacchan, Izumi couldn’t hide the pleased smirk as she admired the red, blue, and yellow glitter adorning her fingers. It would take some vigorous washing to get it all off later, but she just couldn’t give less of a fuck at that moment. Totally worth it.

“The fuck are you so smug about?” Kacchan muttered, giving her fingers a wary glance.

“Just admiring a job well done. That’s all.”

Kacchan raised an eyebrow, but wisely did not comment further.

~*~*~

Despite the world-altering information Izumi had recently learned, very little changed in her world over the next ten months. Training continued, school dragged on, and Izumi hung out with her friends just like she had before meeting All Might. Keeping what she knew a secret from Kacchan, Shouchan, and Touya wasn’t always easy, but she’d promised All Might she wouldn’t tell anyone, and Izumi was always true to her word.

True to his word, Touya increased their quirk training in both frequency and intensity as the UA entrance exam crept ever closer. Izumi used the time they didn’t spar to try to increase the range on her quirk, and to practice following two or more strings at once. Timing was everything during a disaster; if she could, she wanted to find as many people at once as she could. It was slow going and gave her migraines, but she was improving.

Touya also insisted she increase her weapon drills. She was going to have to fight, he asserted, so she needed to be the best she could be. Izumi didn’t necessarily disagree—in theory—but she had been thinking more and more about what All Might had told her all those months ago on the beach, and about her own beliefs regarding how the entrance exam was structured.

Izumi had a plan. 

It was risky, she acknowledged, but it was also important. Just in case, she also had a backup ready should she need it. Hours and hours of research and documenting her findings had caused more than a little missed sleep, but it was worth it. Izumi was proud of what she’d done and would be more than happy to prove to anyone who questioned her decision exactly why she was right.

The only part of the plan that Izumi felt bad about was the fact that she didn’t tell Kacchan, Shouchan, or Touya anything about it. She didn’t want to risk distracting them during the exam, and she didn’t want to risk Touya letting anything slip to the other two either. She would tell them after, when it would be too late for them to stop her or worry.

The day finally arrived and Izumi felt an odd mix of confidence and nervousness beyond all reason. She was as ready as she could be. Her backup plan was prepared, all the necessary paperwork to allow her to bring her sai and tonfa was submitted and approved, she’d gotten a good night’s sleep, and her mom had breakfast ready by the time she was dressed. Despite all that, today would decide the course of the rest of her life, and there was no getting around how nerve-wracking that fact was.

“You’re going to be amazing.” Her mom hugged her tight. “I’m so proud of you, Izumi. No matter what happens.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Izumi hugged her back just as tight before letting go and opening the door.

Just as they’d planned, Kacchan was waiting to head over to UA together. Inko snagged Kacchan in a hug as well, much to the boy's consternation. He patted her awkwardly on the back while Izumi tried not to giggle too obviously. When Inko finally released Kacchan and let them leave, Izumi lost the fight with her mirth and laughed at her friend’s obvious discomfort.

“Shut the hell up.” He grumbled.

“No, can’t.” Izumi continued to giggle. “Oh, I needed that today.”

“We’re gonna kick ass, Michan. Don’t doubt it.”

Izumi nodded, mustering her confidence. “That exam won’t know what hit it.”

“Damn straight.” 

They met Shouchan at the gates to UA and the three of them walked in together. With them at her side, Izumi felt like she could take whatever challenge lay ahead. She just hoped that same certainty wouldn’t abandon her when she’d need it most.

Registration was surprisingly quick and efficient considering how many students were present, but soon enough they were ushered into various classrooms to take the written exam. This part of the entrance exam was relatively easy. Between studying with her friends and her own extracurricular studies, Izumi was confident she’d passed if not outright aced it. 

Following the written exam, the students gathered in an auditorium for a brief presentation before the practical exam. Izumi grabbed Kacchan and Shouchan by the hands and pulled them into the room so they could get good seats together. Shouchan followed, an amused smirk dancing across his lips, while Kacchan scowled and muttered about not needing his hand held.

When pro-hero Present Mic made his way on stage, Izumi nearly squealed in delight and grabbed her friend’s hands again in excitement. “Ohmygod it’s the Voice-Hero: Present Mic, this is so cool! I can’t believe we’re really going to be taught by pro heroes , UA is so amazing!”

“Get a grip, Michan,” Kacchan growled and tried to free his hand.

“Seems like she has a pretty firm grip, Bakugou,” Shouchan replied in his calm tone.

Whatever response Kacchan was going to make to Shouchan’s sass was drowned out when Present Mic addressed the auditorium with his quirk amplified voice and the orientation began. When the hero mentioned the various exam locations, Izumi pulled out her registration card to see which exam area she would be in. Shouchan and Kacchan followed her example and she was relieved to see that none of them were in the same area.

“Makes sense to separate the kids who may know each other. Avoids anyone making teams with their friends.” Shouchan commented. 

“Probably just luck that we’re all in a different battle center since you didn’t go to the same middle school as me and Kacchan,” Izumi added. “Of course, if they’d put the two of you in the same area, I don’t know there’d be points left for anyone else.”

“If they were worthy of going to UA, they’d find a way no matter who was in the same battle center.” Kacchan scoffed, but she could still see the pleased smirk at the corner of his mouth from her comment.

Izumi returned her focus to the front as Present Mic continued to describe the mock battle they were about to enter. To her surprise, a student stood up and called Present Mic out on a potential omission in his presentation before whirling around and pointing an agitated finger at her.

“You with the unkempt hair.” The boy glared. 

Izumi patted her hair self-consciously as she felt heat rise in her cheeks for being called out. 

“You’ve been muttering this entire time,” the boy accused. “Stop that. If you can’t bother to take this seriously, then leave. You’re distracting the rest of us.”

“Sorry.” Izumi slumped down in her chair and covered her mouth. 

As the other kids around them laughed at her, Kacchan popped his knuckles. “I hope he’s in my battle center so I can teach him some respect.”

“No attacking the other students during the exam.” Shouchan reminded him. “We’ll find him after instead.”

Kacchan bared his teeth in a grin, “Good plan.”

“Please no,” Izumi whined. “Just leave it.”

Thankfully Present Mic took control of the auditorium again and addressed the question the uptight boy had about missing information. Apparently, there would be a robot on the field worth zero points. Izumi found that a little odd, but she was sure the school had a reason for it. Present Mic’s recommendation was just to run away from it since it wasn’t worth taking out.

After the orientation wrapped up, the students were directed to a few locker rooms where they were able to change out of their middle school uniforms and into what they were going to wear in the battle centers. Izumi dashed inside and claimed a locker before changing. First on was a pair of black leggings adorned with green spiderwebs—a gift from Touya—followed by her black ankle boots with superb grip for parkour and freerunning. Next, she traded her blouse and tie for a green and black, three-quarter sleeve underarmor shirt. It kept her cool and didn’t have any loose fabric to get caught on anything. Finally, Izumi buckled on her weapon harnesses. Her tonfa went in the upper sheaths, nestled comfortably between her shoulder blades, and the sai went into the sheaths at her hips. She tested the fit and accessibility of each weapon briefly before deciding she was ready. She stuffed her bag in her locker and then jogged out of the locker room to meet her friends before they had to separate again to go to the different battle centers.

Scanning the area, it wasn’t hard to find Shouchan even without using her quirk. His distinct red and white hair stood out like a beacon and she followed it happily. She took a moment to privately admire the breadth of his shoulders and muscle definition of his arms now on display with his grey tank top. The rest of his outfit consisted of dark brown cargo pants and his snow boots, but he didn’t really need anything else. It was a good look. 

“Shouchan!” Izumi bounced up to him with a smile. 

“Izuchan,” he turned to her. “Would you like me to braid your hair?”

Relieved, she thanked him with a quick bow. “Please.”

Izumi had never mastered the ability to braid her own hair, usually just throwing it up into a messy tail, but she didn’t want to run the risk of it getting in the way today. Shouchan had readily taken on the responsibility of braiding her hair when she wanted it done, so he’d probably expected her to ask.

Kacchan found them when Shouchan was about halfway done with the braid. “This about what that kid said?”

“No.” Izumi denied and then pouted. “Maybe a little.”

“Uh huh.” Kacchan crossed his arms. His outfit was a lot like Shouchan’s. Tank top—black—and cargo pants—also black—with his favorite boots, which were only mostly black with orange accents. “The fuck are you wearing, where’s your padding?”

“You say that like you expect me to get hit.” She deflected with a grin.

Kacchan glared at her. “You’re smarter than that. Even the best pros still get hit occasionally. You should be wearing padding.”

“No one else is wearing armor or padding. I’ll be fine.” Izumi promised.

Shouchan finished her braid and tied it off with the elastic band she handed him. “That should hold through the exam at least.”

“Thank you, Shouchan.”

The call to board the various buses went out and she gave each of them a brief hug for luck before running to catch her designated bus. The ride to the battle center was fairly short, but it was long enough for Izumi to begin her plan.

Carefully running her eyes over everyone on her bus, Izumi created and attached a temporary string to each student. This was the most vital part of her plan, so she made sure to triple check that she didn’t miss anyone. Satisfied that her net of strings was complete, Izumi exited the bus calmly as it rolled to a stop at their designated battle center.

The students gathered at a gate easily two stories tall and Izumi kept her eye on it as she mentally checked each of the new strings. To her dismay, the same boy who had called her out during orientation approached her, face stern, as she waited for the test to begin.

“Before you say anything,” Izumi preempted him, “I got all of the necessary paperwork for my gear submitted and approved weeks ago.”

He stopped and crossed his arms. “That’s good. I was concerned–”

“I figured since you thought I wasn’t taking this seriously before.” Izumi softened her words with a small, friendly smile. “I’m going to stretch a bit, but you can keep talking if you’d like.”

“I apologize for disturbing you.”

“You didn’t,” Izumi assured him as she began to stretch her legs. She thought about giving him a heads up about Kacchan and Shouchan, but she was mostly sure they were kidding. Or at least that she could stop them from actually trying to confront the stern teen in front of her.

“Well then, good luck to you.”

“And you.” Izumi smiled again and switched legs.

Eye on the door, she saw the moment it opened and raced forward. Present Mic stood on a platform above the gates and cheered as she ran. “That’s the spirit, listener! There are no countdowns in battle! Go, go, go!”

The sound of lots of feet running began from behind her, but Izumi didn’t stop to pay them mind, already aiming for the nearest building. Izumi lucked out with the setup of the battleground; lots of buildings relatively close together. It was all too easy to scale the closest building and get a good vantage point. 

The entrance exam had officially begun. Izumi tossed aside all of her nerves and buckled down. What she had planned would require focus and she couldn’t afford to be distracted by doubt or worry. She only had ten minutes, but ten minutes could feel like an age during a fight. That didn’t mean she could relax, though. She would have to move fast at a moment's notice, and she would have to be ready to do it again and again until the time was up.

There.

The first opportunity to enact her plan presented itself and Izumi took off like a shot, racing across three rooftops before dropping once, twice off a fire escape to get to the ground. Her target was down, but he didn’t look injured. He was frozen, staring down the intimidating red eye of a two-pointer. As the robot struck, Izumi was ready with her sai in a cross block to protect the student behind her.

“You hurt?” She called. “Do you need help getting up?”

“No. No, I’m okay. Just winded.” He replied and she heard him get to his feet.

“Good.” Izumi shoved the robot’s striking arm back and then stepped back gesturing for the student to take her place. “All yours.”

Surprised, but not willing to give her the chance to change her mind, the student leaped forward to tackle the robot as Izumi retreated back up the fire escape to the roof.

The ability to sense when someone she was connected to was hurt or in trouble had been discovered entirely on accident. By continually tapping into the string connecting her to Shouchan, she had begun to sense his current emotional state. Izumi didn’t know if the ability would have developed eventually or not, but as she grew more and more determined to help Shouchan escape his father, she used the new ability to sense when Shouchan was hurt during his so-called training with Endeavor. Once she’d figured out what was happening, she’d done two things. First, she always made sure to check on Shouchan and get photographic evidence of the results of those sessions. Second, she trained the hell out of the ability until she could reliably sense danger and pain even along temporary strings.

Over the course of the next eight minutes, Izumi used this ability in conjunction with her ability to follow a string to find someone to complete the practical exam for UA’s hero course her way. Whenever she got a sense of trouble or pain, Izumi found the student in danger, and helped them either escape or recover enough to keep going. She refused to disable a single robot, focusing instead on rescue and support, and letting the other student get the killing blow and the points associated with it.

Izumi knew she ran the risk of failing the exam by doing this. Getting points was the only way to pass the exam, but that just went to prove how flawed the exam really was. Her backup plan was waiting for her in her locker and Izumi would make sure to drop the fifteen-page paper explaining why she’d done what she’d done in the school’s mailbox before she left.

With luck, it would be enough to get her in, but even if it wasn’t, Izumi would still be proud of her choice. 

Two minutes to go until the end of the exam and the ground shook and all of her new strings trembled in fear. Confused, she surveyed the faux cityscape looking for the cause. There, towards the center of the city but making its way closer with every ground-shattering step, the zero-pointer. The colossal beast of a bot towered over the buildings it mercilessly crushed in its path, leaving behind a trail of dust and debris.

According to the movement of her strings, the students were taking Present Mic’s advice to heart and were booking it for the entrance to the city.

All but one.

Worried, Izumi focused on that stationary string as she made her way closer. In addition to the fear, there was a good deal of pain. Izumi quickened her pace, practically flying over rooftops until she finally got eyes on her target. A girl was trapped under a slab of concrete, futilely struggling to escape as the zero-pointer crawled ever closer. 

In a blink, Izumi flung herself off the roof she’d been on, using the rubble of concrete and destroyed robots to make her way down seven stories in less than a few seconds. Her knees protested the jarring landing, but she ignored it as she sprinted for the girl, skidding to a stop next to her.

“Hey. Need a hand?”

The girl looked up at Izumi with hope and relief shining in her eyes. “I’m stuck. I can’t reach it to use my quirk.”

“Anything hurt?” Izumi asked calmly, though it was hard to ignore the approaching robot ready to put an abrupt end to their lives.

“No.” The girl grunted, still struggling under the concrete slab. “Nothing too bad.”

Liar, Izumi wanted to accuse, but she didn’t have the time to argue. “Okay, let’s see if we can’t get this off of you and then get the hell out of here.”

Izumi tucked herself onto the asphalt, ignoring the tonfa on her back and the small rocks and bits of buildings that dug into her arms and shoulders as she got situated. Road rash would be the least of her worries if she couldn’t get them out of here. 

“Wh-what are you doing?” The girl asked.

“Concrete is heavy. You can push more than you can lift and your legs are stronger than your arms, so…” Izumi planted her feet, took a fortifying breath, and then heaved against the slab pinning the girl to the ground. She didn’t have to move it a lot, just enough to allow the girl to move either out of the way or enough to use her quirk, whatever it was.

The slab shifted, rising slowly under Izumi’s efforts until the girl was able to wriggle enough to slap her hand on the concrete. The abrupt absence of resistance against her legs as the concrete slab’s gravity was nullified sent the slab rocketing up to shatter against the robot’s face and Izumi grunted at the sudden release of pressure.

“Whoops.” Izumi giggled.

They helped each other to their feet and jogged away from the robot toward the main gate as Present Mic announced the end of the exam. The girl was definitely limping, so Izumi slung her arm over her shoulder and took most of her weight off her injured leg.

“I’m Uraraka Ochaco.” The girl introduced herself with a cheery smile. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Midoriya Izumi, and that's what heroes do, right?”

Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. “I hope we both make it. Did you keep track of how many points you got?”

Izumi chuckled. “Yeah, you?”

“I think I only got twenty-five or so. I hope it’s enough. I probably could have gotten more, but when I saw you help some of the other students, I remembered what kind of hero I want to be. Fighting villains is important, but I want to be a rescue hero, like Thirteen! So I stopped to help a few people. I know it cost me a few points, but I think it was worth it. I hope so.”

“Helping someone is always worth it.” Izumi comforted her. “I want to be a rescue and support hero too.”

Uraraka giggled. “I sort of figured.”

When they finally got to the gates, Izumi bounced excitedly upon seeing Recovery Girl. “It’s the Youthful Heroine: Recovery Girl! Her quirk is so amazing, and she’s one of the few pro heroes who doesn’t do any fighting! She’s so amazing!”

The elderly heroine made her way over to the two of them, glancing over them with a critical eye. “Any injuries, dearies?”

Izumi helped Uraraka sit so the nurse could take a look. One kiss on the forehead later and Uraraka was healed but tired. Izumi sat with her on the bus back to the main campus to make sure she stayed awake, but when it looked like Uraraka wasn’t about to fall asleep, Izumi felt better about saying goodbye when the bus came to a halt.

“Hopefully we’ll see each other in class.” Izumi waved. 

“You bet!” Uraraka pumped her fist in the air before waving bye, heading for the locker rooms.

Izumi unraveled all of her temporary strings as she waited for Shouchan and Kacchan to find her, sending them both a light tug to point them in her direction. They didn’t take very long to reach her, an aura of satisfaction coming from them both.

“How’d it go?” She asked lightly.

“Wasn’t that hard.” Kacchan shrugged. “Whatever.”

“I was surprised as well.” Shouchan agreed. “I expected UA to present more of a challenge.”

Together, they made their way back to the locker rooms to change back out of their workout gear, and Izumi pulled her backup plan out of her bag before joining the boys again.

“Before we leave, I’d like to drop something off. It’ll be quick, I promise.” Izumi started walking back toward the main building and her friends followed. Navigating the halls of UA wasn’t the easiest, but there were a few signs pointing her where she wanted to go.

As she slipped her backup plan under the big, ornate doors of the principal’s office, Kacchan eyed her suspiciously. “What the hell was that?”

“My backup plan.”

The boys looked at each other before turning back to Izumi. She’d already started walking, so they were quick to follow.

“Why do you need a backup plan?” 

“A backup to what?”

Izumi refused to hang her head or show even the smallest hint of doubt, but she wouldn’t answer while they were still in the building. Instead, she hurried to the gates, ignoring her friend’s increasingly worried questions until they were off the grounds. 

Once the UA gates were behind them, she finally explained. “I needed a backup plan in case my plan for the entrance exam went poorly.”

“Wait, Izuchan,” Shouchan touched her wrist gently to have her look at him. His eyes were filled with concern, “What happened during the exam?”

“Nothing bad,” she promised. “I did exactly what I set out to do.”

“What the fuck did you do?” Kacchan demanded.

“UA’s entrance exam is flawed. Deeply, truly flawed. You both know it. It’s unfairly biased toward physical quirks, and completely disregards the focal tenant of what it means to be a hero! To save people. And yes, Kacchan, before you say it, I know that fighting villains is a way to save people, but it isn’t the only way.” Izumi stopped walking and turned to face both of them. “How was that supposed to test our ability to help trapped civilians? How was it supposed to test our ability to help during an evacuation? How was it supposed to test our ability to help our fellow heroes ?! They throw us together in a battleground with a time limit and a finite number of available points, and if you don’t think only about yourself you can kiss your dream of being a hero goodbye. It actively discourages cooperation! 

“The worst part is that it’s really just a reflection of how the hero profession is structured. Pros fight for the top spots on the billboard because it means a bigger paycheck; fall far enough down the list and you may not even be a hero anymore if you can’t get an agency to sign you. And how is the billboard decided? Popularity and villain takedowns. I just… I couldn’t just go along with it. I want to be a hero because I want to help people . So that’s exactly what I did. Over the course of ten minutes, I saved or helped seventeen students, and accumulated exactly zero points.”

“ Fuck! ” Kacchan cursed emphatically.

Shouchan clenched his jaw so tightly she could see the muscle twitch, and when he exhaled a heavy sigh, she could see his breath crystalize in the air as his control over his quirk slipped. 

Izumi knew they wouldn’t be thrilled, but she needed them to understand. “That paper I slid under the principal’s door was an essay I wrote to explain why the current entrance exam is unheroic and why proving I can help is just as important as proving I can destroy a robot. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to sway them, but it was all I could do.”

“No, no! You could have just beat the shit out of some bots like we did. Like you were supposed to!” Kacchan roared. “What if this gambit fails? You got no points ! We’ve been planning for this day since we were four, Izumi! How could you just throw all of that away?”

Izumi swallowed thickly around the lump in her throat. Kacchan was furious and hurt and she’d done that; without consulting him beforehand, she’d put everything she’d worked for—what they’d both worked for—on the line. The soul string connecting them was flooding her mind with his churning emotions of betrayal and anger and fear making it hard to breathe. Izumi had to do something to calm the storm her choice had created before it threatened to tear their string apart.

“I didn’t throw it away. I didn’t .” Izumi insisted, blinking back the tears threatening to fall. “Listen, okay. I didn’t do this on a whim. For the last year, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to understand how UA could produce heroes like Recovery Girl, Uwabami, LunchRush, Ragdoll, and so many others that focus entirely on rescue or support if the only thing they test applicants for is their ability to fight. It doesn't make sense.”

“They sucked it up and fought for their shot at UA!” Kacchan spat. “They knew what they had to do and they did it. Fuck, Izumi! I get the system isn’t fucking perfect, but you’re never going to be able to change it unless you’re in it . Today was not the day to try to prove a damn point!”

“Yes, today! Today and every day! What is right shouldn’t be put aside because it’s hard or because it’s inconvenient. ‘Oh, it’s just one day Izumi, it’s just one test, it’s just one time’ but it’s never just one! If we agree to compromise one time, when do we stop? What kind of message does it send that only some rights are worth defending? Only some wrongs are worth fighting? And when does it finally matter enough to stand your ground and say not this time?” 

It wasn’t until Izumi stopped to catch her breath that she realized she’d been shouting, only inches from Kacchan’s shocked face. Forcing herself to take a step back, Izumi looked away from the shaken faces of her best friends. 

Quieter, calmer, but no less firm, Izumi continued, “What is right matters. Every time. Every day.”

The silence echoed around them as the boys took the time to consider her argument. Izumi waited eagerly for them to finally understand what she’d been struggling with for months. How many conversations had they had about the exam, and how many times had one or more of them tried to tell her to just do what was expected, just ignore the unfairness of it. She understood why they wanted her to preserve the status quo and she wasn’t angry or disappointed in them for it, but she needed them to see why she couldn’t do it.

“Fuck.” Kacchan yielded quietly. He ran his hands through his hair in agitation as he growled, frustrated. 

Shouchan crossed his arms and stared her down with an unreadable expression. “I don’t disagree with what you’ve said, but was this the right way? Some fights take time. I know you know that, but you’ve risked it all on this.”

“It was a risk, but maybe it wasn’t as big a risk as we think.” Izumi offered. When the other two looked at her confused, she leaned a little closer and lowered her voice. “Think about it. Those four heroes I mentioned? They don’t fight at all. Somehow they still managed to get into UA, and maybe they fought during the exam, but can we really expect them to have fought better than the hundreds of other applicants who did have combat quirks?”

“What are you saying?” Shouchan asked.

“Maybe they got the acceptance board’s attention another way. Maybe they did something similar to what I did that made up for their lack of combat experience. Maybe UA can’t or won’t advertise there’s another way to pass the exam, but it would explain how heroes with absolutely no combat skills number among their alumni.”

“Tch, sounds like wishful thinking.” 

Shouchan shrugged at Kacchan’s skepticism. “It does make a certain amount of sense.”

The blond rolled his eyes and started walking, Izumi and Shouchan falling into step with him. 

“Whatever the result of this protest or whatever, you still should have told us you were planning to do this,” Kacchan grumbled.

“Whatever the result of my protest,” Izumi began bitingly, “the two of you still deserve to get into UA, and I didn’t want to mess that up for you. If you failed because you were too worried about me, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself.”

“Like your stupid-ass decisions would be enough to keep me from kicking ass.” Kacchan scoffed. 

Izumi laughed happily, accepting Kacchan’s boasting as the forgiveness it was, and slung her arms through each of theirs, pulling them just a bit closer as they walked to the train station. For once, Kacchan suffered her affection without his usual grumbling and just shoved his hand in his pocket, trapping her arm to his side. Shouchan smiled at her and kept walking, content to maintain the sudden contact. 

Tentatively, she examined both strings connected to her best friends, just to be sure. Kacchan was annoyed, but the hurt had faded under a new layer of respect. He was still worried, but thankfully, the string was as strong as ever. Shouchan’s string sang with admiration and pride, though he also carried notes of worry underneath. There was nothing she could do to soothe their worry, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t also worried, but it was out of their hands. 

After years of hard work, rigorous training, and careful planning, after all the blood, sweat, and tears shed to get to this day, all that was left to do now was wait.