Chapter 69: Breaking Yourself

With how early it was, many in class A thought it cruel that they had been woken up and told to be ready in 30 minutes or else they'd miss breakfast. Even people like Iida, who was typically the model student, were slow to start in the morning, like an old car whose engine needed some extra effort first thing in the morning.

Ashido and Kaminari nearly cried when, after the feast they had been served the night prior, they were given water, juice, and oatmeal so bland that it had to have taken effort to leave it nearly tasteless. Even the banana seemed like a slap in the face as it was just the one for each of them. Mineta was the worst off, as after he had been delivered to the teachers, it was more Vlad than Eraser who wasn't happy with him and had him write out 'I shall respect myself and women' for 2 extra hours after the rest had gone to bed.

But he would get no sympathy from the rest as they dragged themselves outside, finding that their teacher, who always seemed tired and done with life, was wide awake. This left some wondering if he was just an extreme example of a night owl.

“We’re training our quirks?” Yaoyorozu asked, Iida off to the side, making sure a sleepy Sero didn't fall over.

"Class B's already up and should be training, as fellow students at U.A., it wouldn't be right if you let them pull ahead. I expect you all to give this your best, or else there'll be consequences." Aizawa, true to form, didn’t greet, didn’t ask-he ordered and turned to walk off into the forest, his class having but the one option to follow after him.

“What consequences?” Kaminari asked, only to gulp when Aizawa turned to look at him over his shoulder. The man had a terrifying grin on his face, the look of a slasher who had cornered you.

“You really want to know?” Kaminari hurriedly shook his head, and Aizawa's grin faded back to his typical bored expression. “As I thought, don’t ask questions like that then.”

Scar aside, Todoroki had a question about this. "But how will we get that done? We have 20 unique powers in our class alone, with class B, which doubles it. It'll be lucky if even 5 or more can use similar training methods, couldn't we have stayed at school where there is more specialised equipment and teachers?"

“Don’t jinx us, Todoroki!” Ashido hissed at him, to which Todoroki was much like with most social norms, in the dark.

"He's not wrong to assume that, and I did voice similar concerns," Aizawa responded as they moved, some fearing he would turn and announce they were heading back.

He wasn’t that cruel, but he wouldn’t speak up about it.

"However, it was decided that we could achieve similar results while still conducting a summer training camp, if not greater, considering the change of scenery and the fact you'll be close to the teachers 24/7," Aizawa replied, though part of why was that the location was so far out of the way, so far from anyone who could stumble onto them, that they were betting that the League couldn't find them. U.A. might have been more secure, but the board didn't want it getting out that there was another attack, even if, like the first, it would be repelled.

So, to stop that attack from happening without being able to strike at the League, you just hide where their targets were.

“Could you explain how this training will go then?” Iida asked as they walked through the forest.

"Quirks, despite their uniqueness and how much they play fast and loose with the laws of physics and biology, still operate similarly to a muscle. When you train, you're slowly tearing muscle fibres, which grow back stronger with proper rest and diet.” Aizawa explained it, his eye going to some of their classmates, such as Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu, but returning to the path ahead.

“So that means…” He started as they broke out of the trees and into the clearing, where they could see class B already hard at work.

“To improve your quirks, you need to break your quirks, and that starts today.” Aizawa declared, though for his students, the sight that met them was one of shock, horror, and fear as they realised at that moment that Aizawa was not kidding.

Fukidashi’s session crackled with sound: he screamed “Shpah,” sending slicing shockwaves through trees and boulders, then pivoted to roar “Bash,” hammering his targets with fist‑like blows. He capped each attack with a thunderous “Boom,” detonating colossal explosions overhead, testing the depth and destructive limits of his onomatopoeic power.

Honenuki focused on expanding his softening radius. He'd unleash a glass‑soft patch of earth, swim through it, then burst out, release his quirk, and re‑soften fresh terrain on the opposite side. Each circuit pushed his range farther and forced him to sustain the quirk longer—his breathing ragged.

Kendo's "Big Fist" drills combined raw power and endurance. She alternated between pummelling logs into kindling and hoisting hefty boulders, crushing them slowly in her enlarged palms. The repeated smashing, gripping, and crushing left her arms trembling. Yet, she never paused—her giant fists relentlessly shattering obstacles one after another.

Kodai trailed behind, gathering the shattered wood and stone. With a touch, they swell them beyond car‑size, and when she brought her hands together and released her quirk, they returned to their previous sizes. Cycling through objects faster each lap, striving to handle more mass at once and lengthen the duration of her size modulation.

Midoriya and Koharu, fully transformed, formed massive air intakes along their bodies. Using this to feed their flames, they unleashed concentrated flame streams and massive fireballs skyward, their stone bodies cracking under the strain. Izuku’s right arm cannon ruptured before he willed it to reform, reinforcing it to prevent a repeat. Each burst tested their reinforced bodies' limits as the two pushed their firepower further.

Tetsutetsu stood firm under their onslaught, his steel‑reinforced skin glowing molten orange. Between every volley, he hammered out push‑ups, sit‑ups, squats, and deadlifts with super‑strength weights, then plunged into a nearby surface pool. Steam hissed around him as the cold water sapped his heat—only for him to crawl out grinning: “Again, Midoriya—my steel needs the best heat‑treat you’ve got!”

They found Shiozaki at the edge of the clearing, hands clasped, vines unfurling like emerald tentacles. Her quirk snaked through grass, forest, and rocky outcrops, hunting hidden "hostage," "civilian," and "villain" markers. Stretching her reach so far tested her control—and her senses—as each vine tip probed dense underbrush and jagged stone in search of its target.

Within the foods, Tsunotori skated on her horn tips, zig‑zagging among shrubs and fallen logs. She squeezed off precision shots behind natural cover, angling blasts through branches to strike distant targets. When dirt‑monster dummies materialized, she halted and unleashed sustained cannon volleys, drilling into the earth itself in a boast both horn regeneration and firing rate.

Awase darted between trees, clutching twig bundles, rocks, and scavenged scraps. Given only five seconds per load, he welded functional tools, weapons, and barriers—no finesse, only durability. Each fuse‑and‑run cycle demanded ever‑faster quirk bursts and atomic‑level focus to meld materials before the timer expired.

Kamakiri sprinted, climbed, and slid through an invisible obstacle course along a cliff trail. Blades extended from his limbs to slice through hanging vines, overgrown roots, and solid rock. When an edge snapped, he merely swore, let a fresh blade form, and pressed on—using his curved swords to carve footholds up near‑vertical faces.

Shishida roamed all zones, alternating between human and beast form. He strapped hefty logs and boulders to his back in beast mode, sprinting through the woods to build endurance. Switching back to human, he'd perform several weight training sets, then shift again—each transformation growing quicker and more seamless.

Deep in the forest, Komori jogged while spawning mushroom spores. Fungi erupted around her in waves, and she pushed to increase both spore density and dispersal radius—even as Midoriya's heat blasted nearby, threatening to dry out her fragile blooms.

Tokage’s severed fragments flitted through every sector, mapping terrain and relaying intel. When a shard drifted into a fireball and burned away, she grimaced, regenerated a new piece, and resumed recon—each lost tail a means to improve her stamina and regenerative limits.

Rin made Tokage’s recon pieces his primary targets—peppering each floating shard with razor‑sharp scales until he abandoned it. He turned and hammered his scale‑coated fists into boulders to increase their durability.

Bondo stood nearby, firing a relentless adhesive torrent into the forest undergrowth—trying to improve the glue's bonding strength and his quirk's continuous output.

Tsuburaba and Yanagi jogged in tandem. She hurled uprooted branches and rocks while he formed solid‑air barriers to intercept each missile, both dripping sweat as they extended the barrier's duration and telekinetic heft.

Kuroiro melted into shadowy surfaces, surfacing to animate ever‑larger rocks and logs—straining to expand his command over complex, massive objects.

Kaibara drilled his spinning limbs into the quarry's face, carving grooves with arms, legs, and torso as he gradually climbed the sheer rock—building rotational stamina and drill‑force endurance.

Monoma darted between classmates, copying and applying quirks in real time—juggling each new ability to stretch his copy duration and store additional quirks, reinforcing his adaptability under fatigue.

“This is what you have planned for us?” Sero weakly asked, shaking a little at the madness that awaited them.

“Are we sure this isn’t some sort of collective punishment for Mineta being a pervert?” Ashido asked, scared that Eraser was finally showing off that slasher energy she was sure he had.

Eraser didn't answer the question, instead choosing to explain: “Emitters will be training to raise their limits and maximise their power, and those with transformation and mutant types will be working on stamina and longevity. This would typically happen naturally, but we don't have the time for that and will be trying to force those changes."

“When we join, that's still 40 students, and it's not like we're grouping up. How will you guys manage?" Jiro asked.

"Which is why we chose this location, so we can rely on the Wild Wild Pussycats," Vlad replied as he approached, joined by the hero team.

“That’s right, 4 kittens in one litter!” Ragdoll declared, a wide-eyed smile on her face, and her arms on her waist.

“All your feline fantasies are here, say meow!” For class A, they had already seen this the previous day, moments before Sero made the mistake of bringing up Pixie-Bob's age.

“Meow us to land a helping paw!”  Ragdoll spun around, seemingly bursting with energy despite the early hour.

"We're champions serving up justice with our tails!" Some of class A gulped at the sight of Tiger, as even without training, the man put out such a menacing aura that one would think he was a villain.

“Puurfectly cute and cat-like heroes,” Pixie-bob finished the little routine.

“We’re the Wild Wild Pussycats!" They performed a pose for the students, "Full version!" They added that they were together.

“Fucking hell, that’s the 8th blade this hour!” The amusing if not wholesome moment was ruined by how they could hear Kamakiri cursing in the distance, followed by a similar shout from Shiozaki for him to watch his language.

“You don’t need to worry your little heads, I’m Ragdoll and my quirk is Search. I can look at up to 100 people and know everything about them, like their locations and weaknesses!” Ragdoll explained, her wide eyes blinking incessantly as if each pump of her excited heart dried out her eyes.

“As you kittens saw yesterday, with my Earth Flow, I can create the idea training grounds for each of you!” She winked, but the students of class-A only groaned as they recalled the hours they spent slugging through her hundreds of earth beasts.

“My quirk is called Telepath. I can give advice to multiple people at once.” Mandalay gave them a thumbs up.

"I'm Tiger, here to beat you guys to a pulp." Tiger’s part…left them confused.

“Is…is that going to be helpful or…?” As with Eraser here and Vlad, Sato asked if they needed someone to train them like that? At least, he hoped that it was. Otherwise, Tiger was going to be someone's sparing partner, and considering how his finals went, they were going to get their butts handed to them.

Tiger pointed towards Shoji, Kirishima, and Sato. "All your kids with strength quirks, time for Tiger's bootcamp! You see, Tetsutetsu and Shishida are already sweating, and it's time you join them!" His words were emphasised as they saw a jet of bright green flames shooting into the air. Tetsutetsu crawled out from the surface pool, getting doused in those same green flames moments later.

“You want us to get incinerated?!” Sato yelled, slack-jawed.

Tiger's menacing aura worsened as he locked in on the sugar quirk user. “What’s the matter? Don’t you want to burn some fat, be plus ultra?” Sato bit his tongue, knowing that no matter what he said, he was dead meat.

Seeing his students get cowed, Eraser gave them some extra context: "This is the second reason why we chose an off-campus location for your training. With how much has been going on, it would have been hard to spare the staff needed to train just the first years."

Vlad took things from there. "However, as you have heard, seen, and experienced, the Wild Wild Pussycats are an ideal group to make up for that difference as we try to boost your quirks in a single summer." He crossed his arms, as this was going to perhaps the most intense training camp U.A. had done, particularly with first years, but the world wasn't giving them the chance to take things slow.

"Like Tiger said, I expect each of you to give this your best, and then some. Understand?" Eraser asked his students, who replied with a collective 'yes, sir'. Nodding, he gestured to the field and got out of the way so that the WWP could do their thing. Then get to it."

Sometime later, with class A joining in on the training, Midoriya collapsed to his knees, Koharu wobbling as she pressed against him, trying to absorb more of his power to restock. Still, with how much he had burned, he wasn't sure he had much to give. “I’ve never…this is intense…”

His vents felt dried out from all the warm air rushing through them, his dual arm cannons covered in cracks, pieces falling off. He had to force his body to dedicate more resources to repairing and reinforcing the vital portions. This…not even I-island had been this taxing, as his battles through intense had been shorter affairs, which he had helped in. This… was the first time he had used his quirk at near max power for well over an hour.

“Come on…I can take it, keep it coming…” Tetsutetsu might have said them, but he was already on his hands and knees, his body still bright orange. No doubt he had to work to keep his quirk active as if he dropped it when his skin was that hot…

But Midoriya couldn't just sit on his hands, so what if he was tired? Was this the most intense workout he's ever done? Or that it was only 7AM?! 'I made it into U.A. despite everything, I've been blessed with friends and people I can rely on. I can't disappoint them by not improving and showing that their interest, their investment in me, wasn't wrong!'

Too many believed in him for him to just lie down and give up. He'll keep burning, brighter and hotter, until he can master this training and achieve even greater levels of heat and fire. So, with his determination reaffirmed, he got up and slammed his arms together, melding them into one giant, intricately carved cannon.

As his air vents whirred to life, he yelled out at Tetsutetsu. “Tetsutetsu, get ready…else you’ll end up a mile of melted metal!”

Tetsutetsu, similarly exhausted, laughed at the warning, spotting the building heat within that cannon. Koharu's open jaws, and he only forced himself to his feet, continuing with his sets of squats as he faced down the inferno. "That's what I want to hear, I'm gonna forge my steel into something great, and I'm going to need as much firepower as you can give!"

From the treeline, a small boy, Kota, watched things. He didn't say a word, and his face looked far too serious and resentful to match what one would expect from a boy his age, but ultimately, he dismissed the student's training and left.

Line Break

As morning turned to afternoon and the sun moved from rising in the east to descending towards the horizon in the west, the students trained, trained, and trained more. The valley's typical silence was uprooted by rock shattering, trees crumbling, ice screening into experience, flames roaring overhead, and explosions rocking the area.

Eventually, mercifully, the WWP announced that they had completed training for the day and that it was time for dinner. Most were too exhausted to point out they had skipped lunch…again.

Getting to the campsite, they didn't find meals waiting for them, but instead ingredients and the necessary cookware to use them all.

“Remember what I said? We’re not feeding you!” Pixie Bob declared, standing beside a pile of fresh meat and other ingredients.

"If you want to eat, you must make your own meals! Starting with curry!" Ragdoll’s arm spun like a fan blade as she declared what they’ll need to make.

"Yes, ma'am…" The group of tired, dirty, and sore students grumbled. Still, if they expected sympathy from the two members of the WWP, they were sorely mistaken.

Ragdoll just laughed at them, tears forming in her eyes as she seemed to take real joy in their suffering, just like a real cat. "Oh man, you guys look exhausted, but that doesn't mean you can stop making sloppy cat food! If you do, you'll just go to bed hungry, so good luuuuckk!"

Hearing that seemed to bring light to a bulb in Iida and Midoriya's heads, the latter snapping his fingers, having gained his 6th wind of the day. "Oh, that makes perfect sense. Whenever I had people visit the shrine, it didn't matter if I was tired; I needed to ensure that they were well seen to, and that if need be, there was something to eat."

Iida was the same, though for different reasons. “And for hero work, it would only make sense that part of aiding someone in a rescue operation isn’t just tending to injuries, but ensuring they have food and water.” The two shared a glance; the rest were too tired to get involved.

“Then we have only one option here, Iida.” Midoriya's face grew serious, as he might not live or work there anymore. Still, he had never not taken his duties as a shrine maiden seriously, and wouldn't let go of those teachings now.

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Midoriya! Everyone, let’s make the most delicious curry ever!” Iida called out to the rest, the two working to get everyone in line so that they could divide up tasks. Eraser and Vlad watched from the sidelines, happy they didn't need to spell it out for their students.

“Hey, Todoroki, can we get a fire overhear, too?” Ashido called out, as she was one of the people assigned to one of the 8 fireplaces where they'd cook. Others handled other tasks like peeling the vegetables, washing those that had been peeled, cutting, or just getting the spices sorted. Todoroki was with the fire group for perhaps obvious reasons.

“Rely on others and you’ll never learn how to start a fire yourself; you should focus on learning new skills.” Yaoyorozu lightly Ashido for asking such a question, missing how Jiro looked away.

‘She says as she just makes a lighter.’ She thought as Yaomomo just popped a lighter out like it was nothing. She wasn't learning any news and didn't seem to have an issue.

“I can help if that’s okay.” Midoriya approached Ashido and Uraraka, his hand already shifted, his finger acting like the nozzle for a small flame thrower, one which he had already used for his and two other fires.

"Go for it, Midori," Ashido replied, smiling widely as she stepped aside.

“M-Midori?” Midoriya asked, his face growing red at the odd nickname.

"Well, yeah, Midori. It's really cute, don't you think?" Ashido replied, which only made Midoriya's face all the redder.

“Wha-I mean, but-” Poor boy had no way to handle this. As it was one thing when Tokage did it, she was just being a tease, but from what Tsu told him, Ashido wasn’t like that, so she must think he was cute…oh my gosh, she thought he was cute!

“No pouching, he’s our Hebimi.” Tokage came up behind him, holding his head to her bosom, getting jealous looks from Mineta and Kaminari. However, the boys of class B either ignored it or just chuckled as Midoriya's face resembled a strawberry by now. "Come on, Hebimi, avoid the pink girl, hang out with praying mantis instead." She let him stay just long enough to light up Ashido's fire before pulling him long to where Kamakiri was, the boy not pleased with the praying mantis comment.

“Tokage, I swear to God-OW!” Shiozaki smacked him upside the head, meeting his glare with a disproving frown.

“There shall be no swearing of any kind here.” She reminded him, as she had not been happy with how much he and Bakugo had been cursing through the air, the two seemingly wanting the entire world to hear how much they needed their mouths washed out with soap.

Hagakure asked, her sleeve gesturing in Shiozaki and Kamakiri’s general direction. “You guys have a Ms. Rules, too? We have Iida, Mr. Rule.”

"Wouldn't that mean they're married?" Bondo asked, getting a gasp from Mina and Hagakure, who always looked for romantic drama and fluff.

“Oh my Gosh, they totally are!” Hagakure cheered, to which Iida was quick to deny.

"We are not. Please refrain from such baseless accusations, Hagakure!" Iida told her, but it seemed like she wasn't listening. Meanwhile, Monoma noticed that Shiozaki hadn't reacted to the comment.

“You’re not denying it, Shiozaki. Something to say?” Monoma asked, to which she sighed as she washed some greens.

“I’m not because it’s false, simple as that.” Shiozaki’s cheeks grew just a little pinker, Kendo blinking in surprise at the sight. Besides, I don't even know Iida all that well. Perhaps when the time is right, we will begin a courtship."

“I was right!” That hadn’t gone unseen as Hagakure laughed in victory.

“That’s not what she said.” Kaibara sighed.

Line break

“We did it!” The two classes cheered, all looking at the bowls of curry they had prepared for themselves. It wasn’t pretty, nor did it look uniform as was expected from so many cooks, but with the sun down and the lanterns on, none cared as they dug into their meals.

“Oh man, if I got this stuff at a restaurant, I’ll send this crap back, but after today, I’ll eat every bite!” Kirishima declared as he ate his food.

"It's not as good as last night's meal, but it seems arrogant to not wish to eat it. I think we did a good job." Shiozaki noted that, while it wasn't the best, she rarely cooked food to be particularly delicious. Focused more on if it was filling with taste being third, as the second priority was if it was affordable.

"Yes, but there is always room to improve. I wouldn't want to feed people food they didn't like." Honenuki noted.

“Wow, you’re shovelling it down, aren’t you, Momo?” Ashido noticed that, as Yaomomo, maintaining perfect table manners despite being sat with Sero and Kirishima, who were wolfing down their plates, kept a measured pace.

Yaoyorozu pulled back from her 2nd plate, as she was eating as fast as the rest, just with more manners. "Yes, well, it's a consequence of my quirk. It transforms lipids into new matter to create the things I wish."

Sero thought about the explanation before he made an offhanded comment. “Like poop.”

Yaoyorozu didn't take kindly to this and started to sulk, to which Jiro smacked some sense into Sero for making another insensitive comment in as many days. “Apologise!”

“Sorry!”

“It is it, or does Sero have a bad habit of getting his foot in his mouth?” Yanagi asked, as it wasn't hard for the two groups to listen in on conversations, it wasn't like they separated into classes as people sat where they pleased.

"Maybe he wishes to erase one mistake with another," Shoda suggested as Jiro kept at Sero’s case.

Asui didn't pay attention to Sero getting punished. Instead, she focused on her friend, who was feeding his snake some raw meat he had kept aside while he ate bowl after bowl of curry without any signs of stopping. "You're eating more than Yaoyorozu. Is your quirk similar?"

“Hmm!” Midoriya sounded, taking a moment to finish chewing and swallowing before he spoke. "A furnace needs fuel, and while I can't eat food or coal, food is my fuel…at least, I think I can't eat coal, my body still needs to digest it, but maybe…" He tapped his chin, looking towards the forest and its many trees. It would be advantageous as he could carry small bits of wood if he ever needed a pick-up in the field instead of carrying food.

"Before you try such, please remember to consult Recovery Girl. It wouldn't do if we have to call the hospital to pump oak out of your stomach." Tokage reminded him of that, to which Midoriya chuckled and agreed. He didn't want to anger the school nurse, even if he could shift forms, burn away the wood, and let his body repair itself.

“It’s eating a lot.” Kaminari, who had found a seat with them, pointed out that as Koharu just swallowed meat chunk after meat chunk, it was pretty sure she had eaten what could be considered 2 cats' worth of meat by now, or maybe 10 fat rats.

“She’s eating a lot,” Tetsutetsu corrected him, glaring at the blonde until he nodded his head and uttered a quirk apology. Huffing, Tetsutetsu continued, "And of course she does; she was training with the rest of us."

"Some training, though, I was basically Ojiro's punching bag for the entire day," Kirishima called out. Ojiro added that it wasn't what he had been expecting either.

"At least you guys got to do something. I was stuck with that battery the entire day." Kaminari had his own grievances about the training. It was all the more painful when he saw that the same battery he had been hooked to was powering the lights instead of connecting them to the building's fuse box.

"I can sympathise at least a little, as if you recall I copied your quirk a few times…" Monoma reminded him, as he had used their quirks at least 2 twice during the training, some being harder to train with than others.

“How were you getting around so fast?” Kendo asked, as she hadn't focused much on him or anyone really.

"I ran, and luckily, I could meet with Iida and Shishida. I copied their quirks several times. Growing engines out of your shins is quite the experience." Monoma gestured to his legs.

“Kota, it’s time for dinner! Where are you?” They paused as they heard Mandalay call out to the kid they saw, one who they learned was her nephew. Glancing to the side, Midoriya spotted the kid, who, instead of heading inside for what they could assume was a better meal than what the students made, turned and walked off into the dark forest.

"You have that look in your eye, Hebimi," Tokage told him, her gaze catching the boy and Midoriya's gaze in the now-empty spot. Go ahead, I'll keep your fourth plate safe, " she told him, to which Tsunotori scoffed.

“As if any of us are dumb enough to take it, he might take a bite out of us.” She told them.

“Where did you get that assumption?” Midoriya asked, his eyes narrowing as his friends laughed at the joke.

Line Break

Kota would have liked the silence, but it seemed like his tummy had other ideas. It angrily growled even as he tried to ignore it, the best he could. “When in doubt, follow the grumbling.” He jumped to his feet, surprised to see someone approaching.

That surprise turned into anger as he recognized him as one of the hero students who had shown up yesterday. “How’d you find this place?” Midoriya gestured to his shoulder, where Koharu's head was resting. She was still hungry but wasn't about to let her human leave unsupervised.

"Oh, well, Koharu's pretty good at tracking people. I brought you some curry. It's not the best, but it'll fill your stomach." Midoriya lifted the bowl for emphasis, placing a spoon in it. Despite his stomach grumbling again at the sight of the offering, Kota rejected it.

"Whatever, I'm not hungry, so you can forget about my secret hideout because I don't want to hang out with you." He stated that he just wanted the older boy to leave.

Unfortunately for him, if Midoriya picked up on that, he wouldn't have abided by it. Instead, choosing to look around the area. “Wow, I didn’t realise. You picked a really good spot for a secret hideout; you have a great view of things here.” It reminded him of the shrine's renovated bathhouse and its view.

“Like I care about what a dummy like you thinks,” Kota shot back, looking towards the forest, his head bowed in growing anger. "Spending your entire life improving your quirk, all you want to do is show off."

Midoriya frowned at the statement, as he could pick up on the anger there, but also…something deeper; he wasn't sure what, but it was there. So he had to tread carefully here, as Kota wasn't like the kids on TV and certainly wasn't like All Might, Ryukyu, or Hado-sempai. He had to do this his own way…whatever that was.

“Well, that’s true with some. But I like to believe that it’s not all people.” Midoriya stated.

“Yeah, and how would you know?” Kota asked him, meeting a small smile on the green-haired boy's face.

"Because I don't want to show off, I want to help people. And I think my entire class is the same. Sure, we like to show off occasionally, but we're trying to be heroes to help people…I'm trying to help people." Midoriya stated, but Kota wasn't nearly as receptive as he hoped.

“Like I believe that, all your people do is label people with ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ and kill each other over it. People call me a kid, but you all act worse than I do. All you do is quirk this and quirk that. I'm sick of it, so just leave me alone!" Kota yelled at him, putting as much spite as he could into it, which was a lot for a child who should still be in kindergarten.

Midoriya was half convinced the kid was related to the Bakugo, as only Aunt Mitsuki and Bakugo had ever been this…expressive, though again, there was something different. With those two, it was anger, yes, but also a sense of confidence, and certainly he wished he could have. Kota…Kota was just angry, and what Koharu suspected was bitter. But what could a child be so deeply bitter about?

Well, Midoriya had at least something to play there, as he had some experience with the painful, piercing emotion called bitterness.

"I think…I can understand that, just a little. My quirk…well, if you saw us training, you would have seen it. I was the one made of stone and spewing fire. It's a part of me, the same as my eyes and hair, but for a long time, I…I hated it. I hated it because people treated me differently because of it, and it led me down a pretty bad path." Midoriya's hold on the plate shook, as the unpleasant memories he actively tried not to think about came to the surface. Kota seemed to listen, at least to this, so while he didn't like it, Midoriya kept talking.

"Many people think like that, caring more for quirks than people. And many do awful things because of it, but I like to…No, I want to believe that there are also good people.” Midoriya shook his head at the end, as if not for those good people, he wouldn’t even be here. Heck, he might not have been at the shrine as it was thanks to the people of the small town who helped him rebuild it, who accepted the odd boy who cross-dressed, and when things went sideways, stuck with him.

If nothing else, it was his proof that there were good people, like the League or Stain, even if there were bad people.

He didn't know it, but he started to smile as his stomach felt a little lighter. "People like my mentors and classmates who couldn't give a hoot about my quirk. Maybe you're the same or completely different, but…if you please, think about it."

He raised the plate again, but only this time, Kota could see it steaming again. Wait, how did he-

"I'll leave you be. I heated your curry. Nothing beats a warm meal, right?" Midoriya turned a little cheeky as he gently placed the plate down before backing away. Turning to leave, he made sure to add one last thing: "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about your spot!"

Line Break

I've never so much hated how many ideas I can just get while going through life, because I know I can only ever maybe focus on a couple. The rest just join the ever-lengthening list of WIPs, which never will be finished. Even for stuff which should have just been once-off, or that I didn't touch again, it happens as I'm been thinking about Path of Flames, the AU where Izuku remained at the shrine(and the world basically was worse off for it, like holy shit did things get dark and I didn't even get to show half of it).

This chapter's opening was a little hard to manage, as I needed to spend a lot of time figuring things out. I wanted a scene that was both funny and fitting to the setting and the purpose of the camp, and I think I managed that pretty well, but I'll let you all be the judge.