Mind Games - Chapter 44:

I'd had my chats with the other kids in class, noting the way Aizawa's breathing was a little too regular for actual sleep as I did so. The answers mostly lined up with what I'd found on my rummaging through their online records, though some things they obviously kept to themselves. To be fair, though, I didn't exactly outline every strength and weakness of my own quirk during our quick five-minute conversations either.

Not that I really could, but I didn't try, either.

Neiko's quirk was something like superspeed, though I was still on the fence if it actually accelerated her to a faster speed, slowed everything else down, or potentially altered the flow of time. The last one was a fringe possibility, but one that I wanted to investigate. At any rate, though, she thought she wasn't particularly suited to hero work given that her quirk was only limited to a certain specific radius, needed thirty seconds to lock in, and couldn't be moved unless she was willing and able to pay another half-minute to set up a new 'field.' Or, rather, the zone. Since she'd named her quirk 'In The Zone.'

In other words, she didn't understand her own capabilities, had chronic self-esteem issues, and a habit of learned helplessness from a broken home that had followed her into a life of fucking with the system as a disrespectful and criminal street kid who couldn't imagine themselves being anything better. From the sound of it, her 'senile' grandfather was apparently the only person in her life who thought she had a future worth investing in, including herself.

I mean, that was if you read between the constant cursing, bad attitude, and general disdain for any and every system of authority that existed.

I'm going to turn that girl into the kind of combat monster that will be able to 1v1 a team of pro-heroes by the end of the year.

Sakura was just about in the same boat. He was, quite obviously, from the Greater Usagiyama Clan. Who, being rabbit-heteromorphs, were prolific breeders. But it was considered extraordinarily rude to actually say that out loud and borderline bigoted, so I kept it to myself. His quirk, childishly called, 'Hopping Mad,' made him the preeminent problem child of his generation and someone who was either going to become a great hero, spend their life in a medicated stupor, or be killed during a prison riot.

Some quirks just didn't give you many options.

His was one of them. He didn't have anger management issues, he had subscriptions. He'd been to six different primary schools, expelled from all but the third and last due to graduation ceremonies. There were a litany of restraining orders against the kid, dozens of criminal charges that had been quietly hushed up to prevent scandals, and about twenty felony vigilante marks on his record.

He didn't need to say who'd crushed those charges between her thighs and I didn't need to ask.

He'd take a little bit more time, but once he was able to effectively moderate his quirk's influence on his psyche, I was pretty sure he would be a great hero.

Sakae had actually been interesting, in that a great deal of her – skirt today – data was not as easily reached as that of the other students. I put that down to her being both a foreign national – born in Germany – and having parents who were both heroes. Her mother was semi-retired, still retaining an active license, but only taking work occasionally. Her father was the more active of the two, but didn't often go into the field and did a lot of diplomatic work under a private firm.

The biracial teen honestly had one of the most terrifying quirks I'd ever heard of... and that was really saying something. 'Foggy Night' was an utter lie of a name, if I'd ever heard one, but at least it kept anyone from realizing that she could bring most modern nations to their knees if she knew where to apply it. Basically, she was able to deploy a semi-real 'fog' that would start eating away at people's intelligence, 'borrowing' that processing power to amplify her hacking ability.

Thankfully, she had the cleanest record of all of the 1-A students... except for me, at least, and the only thing noteworthy I'd found was an incident from her middle school – the Japanese one, not the German – where a group of bullies was publicly outed, their reputations destroyed, and great shame brought upon the school for allowing their crimes to go unpunished.

...I will need to talk to the kid about collateral damage, but considering her capabilities, it's kind of a miracle she stopped where she did.

Though stopping short of doing a more permanent kind of damage past reputational was likely why Nezu allowed her in his school at all.

Yoake? Her quirk was 'Solar Dragon.' A type of transformation quirk that, well... it turned her into a dragon. An eastern-style dragon, though, not a western one like her cousin. Also, the dragon in question was on fire with solar flames. And partially made of solar flames, actually. Yes, miracle materials did exist in this world and with enough clout people could access them, but... there were limits. Specifically, when someone needed an outfit that was stretchy enough to cover a giant transformation-style quirk, could also resist tearing from sharp scales emerging all over someone's body, and endure extreme heat due to quirk-created plasma.

She, very unsurprisingly, had a number of public indecency charges on her record. Much like Sakura, those charges were dismissed or crushed under the weight of nepotism due to her own family relations within the system. However, those incidents had also crushed her self-esteem and turned her into a total outcast in her middle school. Oh, and it probably didn't help that her quirk, powered by the sun as it was, gave her something of a tendency to unconsciously expose skin, either.

Guys thought a girl who couldn't prevent herself from tearing apart her clothes was an easy lay and girls thought she was stripping intentionally to get attention from their boyfriends, so she'd been damned by both genders. Unlike Sakura who'd actually come to terms with being legitimately angry for good reasons, Yoake had mostly repressed her anger and was having exceptional trouble dealing with her quirk because of that fact.

So she'd get the same percussive psychic maintenance that the Berserker Bunny Boy did and I'd have her mostly functional and moderately more healthy in three months or so.

All in all?

Not the disaster in the making that I'd feared upon first impressions.

And, yes, I was planning to do Eraserhead's job for him over the course of the next month.

Someone had to, and for various reasons, it wasn't going to be him.

“Hey, so... what is your quirk, anyway?” Sakura asked as I finished up the last of my notes, the pink rabbit heteromorph scratching at his cheek sleepily. “I checked out your channel and you never said.”

“He didn't?” Neiko asked, flicking a glance towards Sakura before settling on me with mild suspicion, an expression that I was beginning to suspect was her default setting. “You keeping people in suspense or what?”

“My quirk is brainwashing,” I replied bluntly, barely looking up from my notes as I pulled out a few highlighters and a different color pen to add onto things. “Under the correct conditions, I can take control of you and force you to do what I want. Verbal orders only, though, so if you can keep me from speaking to you, you're in the clear.”

For now, at least.

At some point I'd arrange a 'quirk awakening' and throw that saving grace out the window.

“Whoa... no wonder you kept that a secret,” Sakura whistled lowly. “Man, your channel would take a nosedive with a quirk like that.”

“Is it really that bad?” Sakae asked, quirking her head. “I mean, a quirk that can mind control someone would be invaluable to taking down villains quickly and effectively.”

“Pfft, yeah, but as much as that Day One Douche was spouting bullshit, he wasn't wrong,” Neiko snorted, casting me a look of something like pity. “Bootstrap there? His quirk makes him DOA as far as making nice with the normies goes.”

“But he's putting in the work to be a hero!” Sakae asserted, looking between us in surprise and disbelief. “He's already in UA! Doesn't that mean anything?”

“To the people who don't like my quirk?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “It means I'm just that good at hiding my true intentions and, therefore, am more dangerous because of it. Someone with a power like mine who can pretend to be a hero, lulling everyone into a false sense of security? They should preemptively send me to Tartarus before my 'evil scheme' gets underway.”

There was a long moment of silence as that sank in.

“Mmm... I don't like to speak poorly of others,” Yoake began, drawing attention to herself and emitting a small squeak when eyes turned her way. “Eep! I mean... but that's the way a lot of people are, they just... don't like you if you aren't what they think you should be.”

“It's wrong,” Sakae shook her head, looking down at her desk and narrowing her eyes. “I-I'll be a hero who changes that, then!”

Neiko and Sakura snorted softly, their expressions turning sour when they realized they'd mimicked each other. But, still, the amusement – if not outright derision – made Sakae duck her head. We were interrupted, though, by the zombie-like groan of our teacher who rose up from his sleeping bag grave, rubbing his head tiredly.

“For what it's worth, that's a laudable goal,” Eraserhead sighed. “Confronting decades of illogical discrimination based on what a quirk could do instead of what its user is actually applying it to is something that would benefit society and befit a hero. But, first you'll have to actually get there.”

Standing up, Aizawa popped his neck and looked us all over. “You seem to have made... acceptable use of your time. Next up, you'll have your first heroics combat class. UA wants to get a baseline performance, much like with the general quirk assessment we did yesterday, but this is more of a trial by fire. To that end, I'll be turning you over to your next instructor.”

Aizawa looked over to the door and, after a beat, sighed.

Honestly, I'd abstractly wondered who it would be given that we were a year early for All Might to show up. I mean, I hardly expected the blond superman to engage in enough unprompted self-reflection to seek out an apprentice early, given that he was now hale and hearty and had a kid to take care of.

Don't get me wrong, I'd like for that to be the case, but... and I mean this in the kindest way possible, Toshinori was always something of a meathead.

I mean... 'Clench your butt cheeks and yell SMASH'?

Really, my guy? That's your best shot?

Idly, I contemplated the old Two Stupid Dogs meme from ages past. 'Aww... that's so cute, but it's WRONG!'

But anyway, with All Might otherwise occupied, I wondered who they'd tapped to be our-

“I AM HERE! COMING THROUGH THE DOOR like a normal person!” The blond behemoth of a man grinned widely as he threw the door open and stepped through.

My eyes popped wide as gasps flew around the few occupants in the room, all movement stilling abruptly. All Might stood grandly in the doorway, just like the symbol of peace he epitomized, ready to take all comers. His costume, though, was... it wasn't something I'd seen on the man outside of a few old reports and documentaries.

The bodysuit was mainly black with white cutouts around his arms and either side of his torso, red accents surrounding all of it with just the barest hint of the yellow-gold his later costumes had much more of. Also unique were the thick metal reinforcements around his lower legs, wrapping his feet in a layer of what were likely advanced alloys sourced from I-Island or some other think-tank. Topping off the entire ensemble was an ankle-length cape lined with a deep burgundy inner coloring and a sky blue on the outer side.

But... why is he here?! How the fuck did I meet destiny on the road I took to avoid it!? Seriously!

With a record-scratching, my brain flipped to another channel as I noticed the other thing different about All Might.

“Bring your child to work day isn't for months,” Aizawa stated dryly, his own slightly-bloodshot eyes lingering on the same thing I was staring at.

Or, person. Not thing.

Red flannel shirt, blue coveralls, and a white jacket with gold stars on top of that.

“I could not find a babysitter!” All Might stated loudly and proudly, Eri ducking her head into her adoptive father's bicep as we collectively stared at her. “I apologize for the inconvenience and take full responsibility!”

Aizawa stared at the man for a long moment, then rolled his eyes and sighed. “You know what? Not my problem. Try to keep him under control, will you Eri?”

“Uh-yes?” Eri squeaked, nodding as Aizawa walked past and out of the room. “Thank you, Mr. Eraserhead!”

The dark-clad hero twitched slightly at being addressed so, and even I had to admit that I wasn't unaffected by the cuteness. Though the way Eri's eyes returned to the class and swept it before her red eyes locked on me-

Her pupils shrank.

“Hello students of 1-A!” All Might grinned, hefting the child in his arms slightly. “This is Eri, she'll be joining us for the exercise today... as an observer, obviously!”

“Yo,” the pot-smoking bunny waved, making a valiant effort at looking unimpressed, though his stilted body language gave him away.

“...they got All Might to be our teacher?” Neiko muttered in disbelief.

“Eeeeeeee!” Yoake... said? It was certainly a noise coming from her mouth, at least.

“Whoa...” Sakae muttered.

I, however, was still silent. Initially because of the sheer shock of seeing canon decide that it was going to make a surprise appearance a year early, but now because of the small child staring at me in crippling fear. My shoulders slumped and I slowly reached up behind my head, noting the clear stiffening of Eri in All Might's arms as I hit the release for my mask. The unicorn blinked in surprise as the demonic face-guard fell away and I pulled down the cloth underneath to fully expose my face to her.

“Hey kid,” I nodded at her with a small smile. “Sorry if the mask was scaring you.”

Which, yeah... no rewards for guessing why that'd be the case. A darkly-dressed looming figure with the dead-eyed gaze of an insomniac and a warped mask covering the bottom half of their face would be something that the child was absolutely justified to be afraid of.

“O-oh! Thank you, young Bootstrap!” All Might chuckled awkwardly before reaching over and ruffling Eri's hair. “I'm sorry I didn't notice, Eri.”

“Ish fine,” Eri shook her head, before blinking and turning back to me in surprise. “W-wait! Y-you're Mister Bootstrap! I thought you sang songs on the internet!”

My mouth dropped open and All Might – Fucking All Might – had the grace to look mortified and sheepish as his daughter pointed at me.

Unable to contain myself, I snorted and dissolved into laughter.

The rest of the class, I could feel, was openly staring at the interaction.

“Dude... I didn't think he had a funny bone,” Sakura muttered.

That only set me off further.

…

It was my fault.

I couldn't help it.

I’d nearly made a little girl cry and had to repent.

“...now you young man, are from across the sea~”

Sakura blinked pointing at himself and I gave him a devilish grin as Eri clapped her hands.

“You come from two long lines of royaaal-teee~”

The berserker jerked and snorted, while I slid over to Eri and gave her a gentle nudge as she giggled. “I'm a royal myself, on my mother's side.”

Then I was back. “Your lifestyle's high~”

Sakura perked up at this, looking interested.

“But your funds as low~” His shoulders slumped and his ears drooped as the rest of our classmates snickered. “You need to marry a little honey who's daddy got dough.”

I shot Neiko a speculative look in the last part, drawing a blush and snort as she visibly fought the urge to flip me off due only to the child in the room.

“Parents cut you off, huh, playboy?” I asked rhetorically, nudging Sakura again and almost missed the wince at that before he gave me a forced grin. “Now ya'll gotta get hitched, but hitchin' ties ya' down. You just wanna' be free. Hop from place to place... but freedom takes green.”

Sakura perked up again, waggling a finger at me like I'd said some great truth.

Which, you know... I had.

“It's the green – it's the green – it's the green you need... and when I looked into the future, it's the green that I see.”

Sakura seemed very interested, now, but I had a new target.

“On you, little man? I don't wanna waste much time~”

All Might blinked rapidly as I slid over to him, his jaw clenching as his body shook subtly. The rest of the class looked on in wide-eyed disbelief and no little horror as I nudged the Symbol of Peace with a sad shake of my head. But they weren't who I was doing this for.

“You've been pushed around all your life~”

Toshimori's lips went white at the line, a terrible sparkle of joy shining in his eyes. I waved my hand negligently as I sighed theatrically.

Eri giggled as she watched the scene unfold further, her eyes and lips pulled wide.

“You've been pushed around by your mother, and your sister, and your brother~”

Several of my classmates continued to stare in mounting shock as I continued to humorously defame the greatest hero alive today.

“~and if you were married? You'd be pushed'round by your wife~”

I thought for a moment that the blond Hercules was going to topple over at that.

“But in your future? The you I see~”

Not quite able to stop myself, I gave the man a meaningful glance as I placed more weight on the next words.

“Is exactly the man you've always wanted to be!”

From there, I corralled Sakura through the outro, All Might being more than willing to 'shake a poor sinner's hand.' Then I swept Eri into a few playful spins for 'transformation central,' which got an excited squeal out of her as I deposited her into All Might's waiting arms.

“Yoooou can blame my frieeeends on the ooother siiiide!”

Finally, the music cut out, and I took a bow as my audience gave me a standing ovation.

“Yaaaay! Mister Bootstrap's awesome!” Eri called, clapping her hands vigorously. “Daddy, Daddy! He sings so well, doesn't he?!”

All Might froze briefly, then practically melted with a smile so soft and sincere I made a mental note to have Sakae hack Nezu's surveillance system to get a copy I could frame for the man.

“A truly stunning performance.”

All of us, save Eri, who was still obliviously bouncing along to the beat of the song. On cue, we all turned to the dark and lanky form of our homeroom teacher, leaning against the doorway of our classroom. On his face, he wore a look that was so thoroughly done that it was, in fact, done with things that humanity had not yet discovered yet. It was the Mona Lisa of 'I'm done with this shit.' An epic masterpiece of 'put me out of my misery, please.'

“Boostrap, I'd ask All Might to explain the impromptu song and dance number, but my faith in him is currently at a recently-discovered new low,” Eraserhead stated. “So would you care to explain?”

“Spur of the moment morale-boosting activity before the class engages in a mock battle scenario, sir,” I stated, utter bullshit rolling off my tongue. “Specifically in reference to Article Six of the student handbook, subsection ten.”

Yes, UA had a clause in their handbook about spontaneous musical numbers. In their defense, quirks were weird, I was pretty sure Present Mic had added that as a joke, and Nezu was a filthy troll.

Aizawa narrowed his bloodshot eyes at me, a trace of his quirk leaking into them as he tried to cow me.

“I'm sure the principal would back me up on it, sir,” I stated, completely serious.

There was a beat of silence as Eri finally realized that there might be something to be concerned over. The cessation of her happy swaying and childlike whimsy brought a... series of intense emotions to the teacher's face as his glance weighed down on her for a long moment.

Then, Eraserhead closed his eyes, took a deep breath through his nose, and stepped out of the doorway. His tone conveying utter disgust with the entire situation, he pointed down the hall. “Go do something productive before I change my mind.”

Instinctively knowing that we'd all pushed our luck precisely as far as it was possible to do so for the day, we all hurried along like naughty little children who'd been properly chastised.

Even All Might.

Especially All Might.

Sakura clapped a hand on my shoulder as he passed, whispering lowly, “I think you're my new hero, dude. Freaking wizard, man.”

“Y-you sing well,” Yoake smiled, dipping her head in an abbreviated bow before hurrying off.

“U-uum, if you want the footage for your stream, I've got it recorded?” Sakae offered awkwardly. “I've never seen the movie, but it sounds fun!”

Neiko sighed and checked me with her shoulder. “Smooth moves. Maybe take the stick out of your ass more often?”

That was about as close to a legitimate compliment as I was probably going to get.

It was at that moment, though, as the rest of my classmates sped off to don their costumes, that I felt the hand of the all-mighty press down on me. Looking over my shoulder at the taller man, I raised my eyebrows. “Sir?”

His gaze was even heavier than his hand as he squeezed my shoulder once and nodded, his blue eyes slipping over to Eri. “Young Shinso... thank you.”

I met the man's gaze and nodded, looking down the hallway and shrugging. “Just had a feeling she could use a smile, that's all. Didn't really think anything of it.”

I felt something shift in the greater web of chance and fate, at that moment, deep and meaningful.

All Might squeezed my shoulder again, just a hair off painful. “That's an important instinct to heed, young Shinso. The best advice I can give to an aspiring hero is... listen to that calling when you feel it.”

I snorted and nodded, wondering what had changed in that invisible metaphysical web. “I'll remember that, sir.”

“Good!” All Might chuckled, lifting his arm and pointing down the corridor. “Now, a hero always finishes their work on time! Even if they start late! To the training ground!”

~~~

So, first is the vote count. Mind Games takes first again, with Butler Boy a solid second. The rest are pretty much as expected and I'll try to get the top-tier poll up in the next day or two. Also, I'm feeling a New Ron chapter sometime this month. Not sure when, but that's on the docket. Thank you for your patience. Now, the update...

You ever had one of those chapters that just doesn't turn out the way you thought it would?

Like... I'm not upset or anything, just... this wasn't the plan and it happened and I don't know why.

But here's the chapter, you be the judge.

Next is a Nezu interlude, god help me.