Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 266 THE BIG THREE

By Monday everyone was excited to be back in class. Everyone but me. I might have gone a little overboard with the vigilante crap. There were way too many people that wanted their revenge. I was going to have to dole some justice out piece by piece. Unlike Kira in Death Note, I couldn’t kill these people by writing their names in a book. I had to do actual work to find them. 

My army of shadow clones were out finding me these people that had escaped justice. More than a few were in the impenetrable prison, Tartarus. But I had a plan for that. Others had left town, but there were still a few that had stuck around. I’d already killed one guy that used a little girl as a human shield. After he got away he kept her by his side, doing some very bad things. He dumped her on the side of the road, guessing she was dead. She somehow survived but was traumatized and never left her room. The villain didn’t know why he was killed, but I felt justified with my actions. 

Momo was less awkward around me now that we had our conversation. I would catch her looking at me now and then as she sat behind me. A smile on her lips she appeared happy. Though I still wasn’t sure where we had ended up. Toru was a little upset I had given Momo hints about our relationship dynamic, but I assured her it wouldn’t get out. 

“Quiet down,” Aizawa ordered as he walked in. Everyone stopped talking dutifully. 

“Now that you all have your Provisional Licenses, we can begin the next stage, actual hero work,” Aizawa announced. His voice still bored I didn’t think he was conveying the excitement that he meant to. 

“What do you mean, sir?” Ida asked, raising his hand high. 

“I am saying that up until now, you were not allowed to do hero work. We had the issues with the League of Villains. You using your quirks at that time was only allowed because it was either on school grounds, or during school functions. As you know, if you tried to use your quirks without my or another teacher’s express permission, you would have been penalized or reprimanded. Your Licenses are the first step in allowing you to use your quirks outside of those regulations. Now, you may use your powers under the direct supervision of fully licensed heroes. Also if you or someone’s life is threatened you are allowed to step in to use your quirk.”

That was one thing I didn’t understand about this world. A god-given power like a quirk should be able to be used whenever you want. It was like saying you can’t use your left arm. But somehow the government tried to regulate everything. In my opinion quirks should only be limited for those that chose to use them for evil. This was one of many things I hoped to fix, but that was a long-term goal. I had plenty of fires to put out until I could tackle that. 

Aizawa began again. “That brings me to your internships,” he said. 

“Internships?” Momo asked. 

“Yes, you all did your best in the Sports Festival. Every one of you was able to train under a hero after that. Now that you have your Provisional Hero License, you will be expected to intern under a hero. Monitor and learn from them. You will not be expected to use your quirk to apprehend criminals. Not right away anyway. But it is time you start to get a feel for what being a hero really means. Patrolling, using investigative powers, and a whole lot of waiting around until you can apprehend those that cause harm.” 

“I thought you said that the work studies after the Sports Festival were the only time we would be working with heroes,” Uraraka said. 

“It is rare to have so many first years with Provisional Licenses,” Aizawa said. “But with the increase in villains, we thought it best to push you all. And now that you have them, it only makes sense for you to use them. With that, I will introduce you to the guest speakers for class.” Aizawa turned to the door and 3 students walked in. 

My periwinkle haired girlfriend, Nejire, was one of them. She flashed me a wide smile and winked as she stood in front of the class. On either side of her were 2 boys. One had a Sasuke vibe. Black hair he appeared depressed or scared, or both. On the other side of Nejire was his opposite. A tall blonde haired boy with a muscular frame. His face reminded me of Tintin. 

“Hello Class 1-A,” the man said with a wide smile. “Man it’s been so long since I’ve been in this room. Hasn’t changed a bit. Anyway, I’m Mirio Togata. We are here to talk about internships.” He looked to Nejire. 

“Hi,” she said excitedly. “I’m Nejire Hado, but you can call me Nejire-chan. That’s my hero name,” she giggled happily. I did my best to not act like I was watching her, but most of the boys in class were. She nudged the gloomy guy next to her. 

“I um, I’m Takai Amajiki,” he said, his head bowed as he stood in front of us. 

“Great,” Mirio said. “I have met a few of you.” He shot me a finger gun. I wasn’t sure how to take that, but he kept on. “For those of you who don’t know, we are known as the Big 3. That name has been used for years to describe the top 3 prospective heroes of the school. I remember sitting there and getting told the same information you are about to hear.”

“How are the Big 3 chosen?” Midoriya asked as he raised his hand. Writing notes in his beat up notebook all the while. 

“Back in the day these spots were picked by a huge battle royale between all the students,” Nejire said excitedly. “It was this big event that all the students got to watch. I remember that year. There was blood everywhere. Recovery Girl had to work for hours that day.” She slowly frowned. “Now it’s done through the Sports Festival. The top 3 usually get the spots.”

“But hey, what’s up with that mask,” she asked Tentacle. He always wore a mouth mask like Kakashi. Then she turned to Todoroki. “And how’d you get that burn on your face?” 

“Her ADD is kicking in,” Toru mumbled. 

“Yeah, hey Nejire-chan,” I said as if I didn’t know her. “Are you planning to intern with Ryukyu again?” 

“Oh right, I forgot we all interned there,” she said excitedly. “We should do that again. I had a lot of fun.” We of course had discussed how we should act if we ran into each other outside. Nejire didn’t like to be seen as someone in a relationship. In her final year of school she wanted to be seen as someone that focused on her future hero career. Not to be bogged down with one person. I didn’t much mind since Toru and I were out in the open. At first I had been hesitant, but she had proven that she was trustworthy. 

“I see that the Big 3 are as off the wall as ever,” Aizawa mumbled. 

“Please don’t worry, Eraserhead,” Mirio said quickly. “I’m the key performer here today.” He turned back to the class. “Now a creed I typically follow is, ‘The journey ahead is full of difficulties.’ That is something you all need to remember as you keep on your hero journey. You might be asking yourselves why 3 random students were entrusted to teach you what you need to know for these internships. I get it. But trust me. We have all been where you are. Though I don’t think we got our Provisional Licenses our first year.” He put his hand up to his chin as he thought.

“I got it. Instead of talking about it. Why don’t I just show you what it takes. How about you all fight me?!” 

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Aizawa said. 

“Oh come on, it sounds fun,” Nejire said. “I’m curious how some of you would fare against him.” Nejire gave me another wink. She wasn’t the best at being subtle. 

“Yeah,” Mirio said. “We have been trained to fight for years. Talking isn’t our strong suit. I think they would understand better if they experienced what it took with their own bodies.” 

Aizawa groaned slowly then said, “Do as you like.” 

We were soon off to the locker and changing into our gym clothes. “Those Big 3 are weird,” Eijiro said. He was the red head in class. I remembered his name for once. This Dual Processing skill was really helping me remember a lot of random information I hadn’t bothered to learn before. 

“Weston, you have to tell me the story of you and that blue haired girl,” Mineta said while drooling. “Did you really intern with her for your work study?” 

“Oh yeah, she’s pretty great,” I said. “Strong too. I wouldn’t mess with her if I was you.”

“I wonder if I can talk her into playing with my grapes,” he said in a creepy tone. Looking around no one was paying attention so I sent a small ball of chakra and hit him with it. The power of it made him hit his head on the locker in front of him. “What was that?” 

“Karma,” I assured. “I’m looking forward to fighting that Mirio guy.” 

“He didn’t seem that strong,” Todoroki said.

“He’s the top student for a reason,” I assured. “I wouldn’t take him lightly.” I mentally went through my plan to take him out. I was going to have to be careful to not go too far. I didn’t want to lose against him, but I didn’t want to win either. If I stood out too much with too many skills then that would be less skills that my Villain Slayer persona could use. I’d have to stick to physical and my quirk. It was about time I practiced the kinetic absorption and reflection anyway. With my blowback gone I hoped it would be easier. 

We left the locker room into one of the many training gyms throughout the school. This one had some large boulders scattered around. The girls joined us and we waited for Mirio to start. Nejire and the other guy…I’d already forgotten his name, stood off to the side with Aizawa. 

“How do you want to do this?” Todoroki asked.

“You can come at me all at once,” Mirio said, stretching out as he stood in front of us. 

“I feel like you’re underestimating us,” Eijiro said. 

“Fine with me!” Bakugo yelled as he was propelled forward by his explosions. As he got closer Mirio’s clothes slipped off of him. Revealing thick muscles the man covered his dick expertly, but as Bakugo went in to punch him his fist passed right through. Once Bakugo was thrown past by his momentum Mirio twisted, kicking the angry guy hard in the side. He landed with a grunt against a rock and was dazed. 

“Feel free to continue,” Mirio said happily. Todoroki sent a huge wave of us. Mirio appeared to get hit by it, but I felt his Haki move through the ground and pop up underneath me. I jumped back as he materialized out of the floor. 

How I understood Mirio’s power was it was like Kitty Pryde’s from Marvel. He could pass through anything. Unlike Kitty Pryde, he didn’t suck at it. Focusing on fighting he moved through people and objects expertly. As he beat up my class mates I focused on my Haki as I watched him. 

Spiritual Energy was in everything. I had hoped that where he made himself incorporeal I could tell some sort of difference, but there was nothing. Maybe a slight shifting of energy, but I wasn’t skilled enough to tell the difference. I charged my eyes with Nen next. Using Gyo was useless as well. Because he couldn’t use his Lifeforce it wasn’t like he was shifting it around. 

Frowning, I decided to hang back as the fully naked man knocked back students. Toru was knocked down and I promised myself to avenge her. Bakugo got back up and opted to throw a huge explosion at Mirio, but still there was no reaction. He was down once more. Midoriya did the best against him. Lightning coursing around his body sporadically. He used more and more of his quirk to become stronger. But it wasn’t long until he was knocked down as well. 

That was when Mirio turned to face me. “Not going to join?” He asked, a wide smile on his face. 

“Oh no, I just wanted to take you on myself,” I said. Punching my knuckles together as we approached one another. 

“Good,” Mirio said. “I hear I should worry about you.” 

“I see I should worry about you. You’ve really worked hard with your quirk,” I said. “I feel like I shouldn’t go easy on you.” 

“I would prefer you didn’t,” the man said. We stopped a few paces from one another. 

“Want me to get naked too?” I asked. 

“Oh no, I’ve heard stories. I don’t want to see something like that.” I barked a laugh and the fight started. He absorbed himself into the ground. I could feel him move just barely under the surface then shot up in the air. I jumped up to meet him. My fist passing through him I kept it in his body, forcing him to stay incorporeal in that area. 

He moved to elbow me in the head but I moved it out of the way to absorb it in my shoulder. My other arm grabbed his arm but then passed through it. My other fist still inside of him I swiped at him, trying to grab a part that was still physical. 

Mirio kicked me in the gut but I grabbed his leg. Physical this time I sent a huge wave of heat into it. His skin turned red, burning but he gritted his teeth. Kicking me with his other hand I raised the temperature around us but his kick was used to push him out of my reach. 

“You’re the first man I’ve ever been inside,” I said. 

Mirio laughed loudly. “I’m most people’s first!” Our fight began again. We kept it to the ground this time. He feigned punches at me but I could feel when he really meant them. I didn’t flinch back, striking randomly. He couldn’t make his entire body incorporeal at all times or he would pass through the floor. He punched and kicked me while I did the same to him. Connecting half of the time we stayed rooted in the same spot as we tested one another. 

Pulling heat from behind me I sent it to him in a huge wave. He quickly began to sweat and his body turned red from the extreme heat. Swiping his legs he became horizontal to the ground, but as I tried to punch him in the gut he grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled his whole body through me. Once past me he kicked me in the back of the head. 

Catching myself before I hit the ground I kicked back, connecting with his hand that was trying to catch him. The appendage forced his body to twirl around. I kicked again but passed through. 

We fought like that for a good 10 minutes. Neither giving up as we tried to connect. At one point he tried to grab my elbow. I charged it with Haki and he didn’t pass through. He gave me a shocked look but I then released it. His hand moved through. 

With that knowledge I knew I could beat him, but that wasn’t the goal. I was trying to show him that I wasn’t like the others. Not some push over that he could beat in a few hits I took everything and gave back more. My mind processing ideas on where he had to be corporeal I connected every now and then only to be met with a few more punches to the face. 

It was a fun fight, and when we were both breathing heavily Aizawa finally stepped in. “I think that’s enough,” he said. 

“It was just getting good,” Mirio said. 

“Yeah, aren’t you all about training?” I asked the teacher. 

“I am, but we were here for a specific reason,” he said. 

“Right,” Mirio said. Walking over he grabbed his discarded clothes and put them on as he spoke. “Now a few of you might think I have a strong quirk.” 

“You’re damn right,” Sero said. “It was basically a cheat.”

“You’re wrong,” Mirio assured. “I used to be the lowest ranked student in our grade. My quirk is called Permeation. I am able to make parts of my body incorporeal. Passing through them. But when I first started training, I could barely pass through a wall. Because my power takes focus. I have to keep 1 foot physical, then pass my other foot through the wall, then turn it physical before I can let the rest of my body get through. But as you saw I have trained enough to do it on the fly.” 

He turned to the students who had woken up a while ago and watched our fight. “There are no weak quirks. Just weak minds. Your quirk can be used in any way that you want if you put the time and effort in to figure it out. That is something you can learn over time, but the real world application will help all of you take your powers to the next level.” His fists at his hips in a Superman pose he studied the students 1 by 1. 

“I remember my first internship. We were trying to stop a robbery. And I was expected to pass through a wall to help get eyes on the robbers. I was so scared I nearly wet myself. But that moment my body did what it had to to help those hostages. I wasn’t training to be a hero to become stronger. I was doing it to help people. Which you will all need to remember as you go out into the world. Fighting isn’t always part of this job. But at the threat of pain even your quirk will surprise you. So I recommend you all remember this moment when you are out there in the real world.”

I couldn’t help but like the guy. Energetic and serious about training I was already looking forward to a rematch. Fighting him was like a puzzle. Trying to figure out where and when to strike as everything passed through him was an interesting experience. 

“We should do this again,” Mirio said, turning to me. 

“I agree,” I said. I turned to see Nejire at the side of the room. Toru had made her way over to her and the girls were whispering some things I could guess. Looking forward to a night with the 2 of them I wanted to lock Mirio down on another spar when an announcement went out over the PA system. 

“Weston Watanabe to the 3rd year teacher’s lounge, please,” the voice said. 

“What did you do now?” Aizawa asked in annoyance. 

“No idea,” I said truthfully but was off soon enough.