The inside of the lodge was completely cozy, and Ren forgave the mountain entirely the moment he saw the feast spread out along the central table.
There was grilled river fish and steaming bowls of rice, mountain vegetables in three different sauces, a pot of curry big enough to bathe in, and a stack of fresh baked bread that Mina lunged at with the enthusiasm of a starving animal. Whatever mercy the Pussycats lacked on the trail, they more than made up for in the kitchen.
"This is the best thing that's happened to me all day!" Mina blurted between bites, dropping onto the bench with a grin. "The acid threat is officially canceled!"
Tiger set a tray of skewers on the table and nodded.
"That's the spirit, Ashido! A hero who doesn't eat is a hero who ends up passed out in the middle of a mission. Burn that into your brain."
Ren dropped onto the bench across from Mina and let the food do its work, the pounding behind his eyes finally quieting as the warmth and the rice replaced it. Pixie-Bob immediately claimed the seat next to him, way closer than the empty bench to his left called for, and rested her chin on one hand to watch him eat.
"So, cutie, tell me about yourself. Single, taken, open to some personal tutoring?" she said, walking two fingers across the table toward his plate.
"Ahem... I'd say it's complicated," he answered, "which doesn't mean I can't appreciate good company when the universe drops it in my lap. And about that personal tutoring, boss, we can talk whenever you want."
Pixie-Bob let out an excited squeal and fanned her face with her free hand.
"Kyaaa! I love it! This agency just got so much more interesting!"
"Ugh... I'm gonna be sick and throw up in the curry," Mina announced from across the table as she stabbed a vegetable with her chopsticks. "And for the record, lady with the blue hair, I did everything I could to defend your honor! The problem is Ren's a hopeless pervert."
Across the table, Mandalay set her teacup down without a sound, moving out of habit while she watched the chaos.
"Pixie-Bob, eat and stop interrogating the intern, he's barely been here twenty minutes." Then she turned to Ren, and her expression softened a little. "Don't mind her. You'll be working mostly with Ragdoll and Tiger. Ragdoll will train your mind, Tiger your body, though with a Quirk like yours the two go hand in hand more than you think."
She paused briefly, sizing him up with professional calm.
"I'll be handling the rescue drills, and both of you will be taking part," she added, glancing at Mina out of the corner of her eye. "Yes, both. We don't often get interns who can surf down a hillside."
Her tone got a little firmer, though it didn't lose the warmth.
"You're going to be useful, Mina."
Mina straightened up, thrilled to be included in the conversation.
"Ehhhh? Really? I'm not here just to haul water and watch the bald genius do cool stuff?"
"You're here to learn how to pull a stranger off a cliff in pitch dark with your bare hands," Mandalay said simply. "Ren's the one who needs special treatment. You're already halfway to being a rescue hero, you just don't know it yet."
For once, Mina had no comeback. She looked down at her plate with her cheeks a little red and shoved another piece of bread in her mouth to hide it.
Ren caught it and let her have the moment. His eyes drifted, without meaning to, toward the small TV mounted in the corner of the dining room, where a muted news channel was running the afternoon headlines.
"Hey," Ragdoll's voice cut through his thoughts, "you drifted off for a second there. Headache back?"
"Something like that." Ren pulled his attention back to the table. "I was just thinking about how far from everything we are up here."
"Mmm." Ragdoll didn't push. "That's the mountain for you, kitty. It's so quiet up here that even when you worry, things go on happening just the same." She gave him a light, friendly shoulder bump. "So eat well, okay? You're gonna need every bit of energy tomorrow." She paused, and the curiosity crept back into her voice. "Besides... I still wanna figure out what you're hiding in there. It's super weird that I can't see it, and now I want to find out even more."
Annoyingly good advice from a cute girl with cat ears.
"Yeah," Ren admitted, and picked up his chopsticks again. "Yeah, okay."
***
The room they gave him was small and clean, with a futon on the floor and a window that looked out into the dark of the forest. Mina's room was two doors down, and he could hear her through the walls, already on a video call with Toru, narrating the fight with the dirt monsters at top volume with sound effects he was pretty sure he hadn't actually made.
Ren sat on the edge of the futon and finally answered the wall of messages that had piled up during dinner.
*Ren: Survived. The forest tried to eat us, your warning that they were going to bury me was disturbingly accurate. Pixie-Bob is exactly as bad as your forum said. Also, we had an amazing meal.*
The reply came instantly, before he'd even put the phone down.
*Nejire: YOU SURVIVED?? What do you mean survived, what tried to eat you, START FROM THE BEGINNING. Also, Pixie-Bob flirted with you, right? I know it, I can feel it, I need her hero ranking so I can be jealous in an organized way.*
Ren considered lying and dismissed it immediately. Nejire always found out about everything, and lying to her never ended well for anyone.
*Ren: She flirted with me and I flirted back plus interest until she ran out of words, I couldn't just turn her down, I'm a gentleman of impeccable conduct after all. And adjust your jealousy to medium: Pixie-Bob calls everyone kitty.*
*Nejire: LOL I knew you were gonna embrace the danger instead of dodging it, I know you. Jealousy adjusted to medium. I'm proud and offended. Now SEND ME the picture of the tree you never sent me.*
He sent her the photo he'd taken that afternoon and, after thinking about it for a second, a second one of his own filthy, exhausted face under the room's bare bulb, dirt smeared all over his bald head.
*Ren: Trees, as requested. And me, also as requested. There's something weird, by the way. Ragdoll's Quirk didn't work on me, and now she's obsessed. Honestly, it kinda gives me the creeps.*
*Nejire: That's super weird and kinda awesome?? My boyfriend's a ghost to radar. Tomorrow we investigate together, send me everything. NOW SLEEP, you've got training at dawn, I read the schedule All Might's office sent, yes I asked for it, I support your career, remember?*
Ren stared at the message for a second, typed out a good night, set the phone face down and lay back on the futon with one arm behind his head. On the other side of the wall, Mina's story had reached the part where she took down nine golems all on her own, which was a pretty generous accounting of the actual events.
Ragdoll's right. There's nothing I can do for any of them from up here, so I'm gonna learn what I came to learn.
He closed his eyes.
At dawn, then. This is gonna hurt like hell, and for some weird reason I can't wait.
It didn't feel like anywhere near enough time had passed when a chipper voice went off inside his head, way too bright for a sky that was still almost black.
"Good morning, kitty! Mandalay here. Come on, up you get, the day isn't gonna wait for us. See you on the porch in ten minutes, and bring that little head of yours ready to work, because we've got a very busy day ahead."
Ren stayed perfectly still, staring at the ceiling, while two doors down he heard Mina let out the exact same scream he was swallowing.
"Kyaaaaaa...! Get out of my heaaaaad!"
...I'm going to find whoever invented telepathy, and we're going to have a very long chat.
***
For Ren, the first day was just beginning, but for two of his classmates that first day was already behind them. It had all kicked off a day earlier, when the whole class had scattered across half the country, and while he was still rattling along on the train up to the mountain, Ochako Uraraka had walked through the doors of Ryukyu's agency for the first time with her backpack clutched to her chest and her heart pounding.
Come on, Ochako... You've got this. It's a Top 10 hero's agency, how exciting! Just don't mess up on your first day... Come on, smile and give it your all.
She hadn't managed three steps toward the reception desk when a gust of air whipped her hair and a fast girl planted herself right in her face, hovering at eye level.
"OCHAKOOO! You're here, you're here, you're here!" Nejire landed in front of her spinning in the air, blue hair fluttering everywhere. "You have no idea how happy I am to have a partner here! Are you nervous? I was so nervous my first day, did you eat a good breakfast, did you bring the new costume, I still remember when you fought Inko, I almost died from the excitement!"
"Nejire-senpai, slower, please!" Ochako let out a shaky laugh as Nejire grabbed both her hands and shook them. "Yes, I ate. And yes, I brought the new costume. But please don't make me relive that fight... I still get a little embarrassed thinking I did all that."
"But that's what makes it awesome!" Nejire answered, tugging gently at her arm toward the elevator. "I bet from today on you're gonna surprise a whole lot of people! Oh, and tell me about Ren! What's he like in class? I have so many questions! Also, they say that forest is huge and kinda scary, is that true?"
"You're worried the forest is gonna eat him too?" Ochako laughed. "I thought I was the only one."
"He's my boyfriend, of course I'm worried!" Nejire's hands flew to her cheeks. "Though honestly, I'm more worried about that hero, Pixie-Bob, because I read that she flirts with anything that moves as long as it's a cute guy and Ren's a cute guy. But whatever, I trust my Ren, he's too... no, forget it, he's definitely gonna fall right into her claws, I mean, have you actually looked at him up close? When the sun hits, his head shines like a pearl, I just stand there staring, it's not normal for someone to shine that much, he looks like a walking lightbulb."
At the back of the office, behind a tidy desk, a blonde woman looked up from her papers. Her bangs covered half her face, and between her parted lips a tongue tip peeked out along with slightly sharp teeth.
"He shines?" Ryukyu asked, betrayed by a tone of very evident interest. "Are we talking a faint reflection, or something that actually catches the eye from far away?"
"Loads, it sparkles everywhere!" Nejire exclaimed, spinning in the air until she was hovering upside down while she waved her hands enthusiastically. "At the U.A. festival, the reflection almost blinded the stadium's main camera."
"...Fascinating," Ryukyu murmured, staying for a second with her eyes fixed on nothing before shaking her head with a subtle clearing of her throat and rearranging the reports on her desk. "Ahem, both of you, focus, please, time is short."
"Hey, hey..." Nejire whispered, leaning in close to Ochako with a mischievous smile. "Ryukyu loves shiny things. It's a very dragon thing! So don't mention gold or jewels... because then she gets all excited and the whole morning gets away from us."
Ryukyu came around the desk and offered Ochako her hand, composed now and with her calm back in place.
"Uraraka Ochako. Welcome," she said in a serene tone. "I want you to be clear about something from the start. You didn't come here to watch from the sidelines or run errands. You came to learn how to fight from the air. You are going to fly."
"F-fly...? Ah... Yes! Well... Thank you so much, Ryukyu-san! It's an honor to be able to learn from you. I'll give it my very best!" Ochako gave a quick bow, with a nervous smile.
"I know. That's why I called for you." Ryukyu held her gaze calmly. "But I want you to understand something, Uraraka. I did not choose you because someone spoke well of you, or because your name appeared on a list. I saw you during the Sports Festival. I was in the heroes' box when your Quirk evolved... and in that moment I decided I wanted you to do your internship at my agency."
Ochako was speechless for a second.
"You... you saw me? Live?"
"I've been watching you. Before, you needed to touch an object with your fingertips to activate your Quirk, correct?" Ryukyu asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Yes. If I didn't touch it directly, nothing would happen," Ochako answered with a nod.
"But now it is different. Those pink bubbles trigger the effect just by grazing an object. And once something starts floating, it can pass that state on by touching something else." Ryukyu paused briefly before going on. "In addition, the weight limit that used to restrict your Quirk seems to have increased. Is my assessment correct?"
"Yes... that's exactly right," Ochako admitted, a little surprised at how quickly she'd understood it. "But... I still don't control it very well. Sometimes the bubbles come out without me wanting them to and I end up making things float by accident... and if too many appear, especially when I'm also making myself float, I get really dizzy."
"The dizziness is something we will train until you can stay in the air for hours without it affecting your performance," Ryukyu said. "But I want you to understand something, Uraraka. Your Quirk has changed, and that means the way you fight has to change too. You are no longer just a rescue hero who can defend herself. Now you can dominate the airspace. If you control the height, you control the pace of the fight. Force the enemy to fight where you have the advantage, not where they do. If you do that, you will have turned your Quirk into a weapon just as valuable for capturing as it is for protecting."
"When you put it that way...?" Ochako's eyes slowly widened. "Honestly... it really does sound incredible."
"That's because it is incredible!" Nejire hooked onto her shoulder with a huge grin. "I fight in the air throwing waves, and you're gonna fight in the air floating a ton of stuff! Just picture it! The villains aren't gonna know where any of it is coming from! We're gonna give them the worst headache of their lives!"
The training field was on the rooftop, a huge fenced in space with containment nets and scattered with practice concrete blocks. Ryukyu planted herself in the middle, took a deep breath, and in a flash her body stretched and grew into a massive dragon that took up half the rooftop, wings folded and yellow eyes glowing.
"Climb onto my back," Ryukyu said. Her voice, deeper in her dragon form, vibrated with power, but it kept the same calm as always. "We'll start with a basic exercise. I'll fly. You will keep your balance without holding on with your hands. Use your Quirk to hold yourself up. At the same time, keep six of these blocks floating around you with those bubbles. If one falls, we start over. Precision is just as important as staying in the air."
"S-six? But on the ground I can barely handle four before my stomach flips!" Ochako protested, climbing up onto Ryukyu anyway.
"That is why we will do it in the air," Ryukyu said as she spread her wings. "Up there you will not be able to depend on the ground. You will depend on your Quirk. Stay calm, control your floating, and trust in what you can do, Uraraka."
Ryukyu leapt off the rooftop, and Ochako's stomach dropped to her feet as the whole city opened up below.
"AAAAH! Okay, okay, zero gravity on me, zero gravity on me!" Ochako ran her hands over her own body, and the vertigo melted away while the wind rushed in her ears. "The blocks, I need the blocks!"
She stretched her hands toward the receding rooftop, and from her fingertips several pink bubbles sprang free and shot out until they grazed six concrete blocks, which peeled off the ground wrapped in her Quirk's pink glow and climbed up through the air after the dragon. Nejire floated off to one side, clapping like she was at a concert.
"THAT'S IT, OCHAKO! Hold them, hold them! Ryukyu-san, spin!"
"Hold on tight, I am going to turn," Ryukyu warned, and banked into a tight spiral.
Two blocks slipped out of Ochako's grasp and shot off toward the containment net.
"NO, NO, COME BACK!" she shouted, extending her hand toward them.
And then an idea came to her. Instead of chasing each block with her eyes the way she had been, she stopped looking at them separately and felt all six of them at once, six points of weight hanging from her fingertips. The two runaways braked in midair, turned around, and came back to their orbit around the dragon.
"You did it! Ryukyu-san, she did it!"
"I saw everything," Ryukyu said as she tilted her flight toward the rooftop and started the descent. "You stopped thinking about how many there were and started sensing them as a single whole. That is the difference, Uraraka. You are not moving objects anymore. You are controlling the space around you."
They landed with a heavy thump, and Ryukyu returned to her human form while Ochako let herself slide down onto the concrete on shaky legs, the six blocks crashing down around her with a boom.
"I... did I really do it...?" Ochako panted, still not believing it. Little by little a smile lit up her face. "I did it! Ryukyu-san... I really did it!"
Ryukyu leaned down to her level and ruffled her hair gently.
"Yes. You did. And this was only the beginning," she answered, letting a small smile show. "Rest for a moment. Afterward we will go eat and continue training. You have great potential, Uraraka. If you keep working like this, very soon you will be able to face even much stronger opponents. Just remember this. Do not give up when it seems like you cannot move forward. That is precisely when you grow the most."
I did it... I really did it, Ochako thought as she stayed sprawled out on the concrete, her chest rising and falling from the effort. Mom... Dad... just wait for me a little longer. I'm going to keep working hard until I become a hero you can be proud of.
At that same hour, on the other side of the city, Toru Hagakure's first day was kicking off in a pretty different way.
She was standing in the middle of a silent, empty dojo, with nothing but her gloves and boots visible, turning in place without finding anyone.
"Helloooo? Edgeshot-san? At the front desk they told me to come up to the third floor and wait here..." Her hands scratched at the back of her neck. "I hope I didn't get the wrong dojo, that would be so embarrassing."
"You didn't."
"Kyaaaaaaaa!"
Toru jumped half a meter in the air. The voice had come from right behind her, and when she spun around, a slim man in a red and blue ninja outfit was standing where a second ago there had only been empty wall, arms crossed and half his face hidden by a mask.
"DORON!"
"AAAH! From where...? How...? I was looking right there and no one was there!" Her hands flew up to her chest. "That was incredible! Teach me, you have to teach me how you did that, please!"
"That is the first lesson," Edgeshot replied, without uncrossing his arms. "A ninja does not appear. A ninja stops hiding at the exact right moment, and the difference between those two things is everything."
Toru tilted her head at his words.
"Ooooh, so deep!" she let out between giggles, raising a hand as if she was waving. "But, um... with all due respect, Edgeshot-san, I already live hidden around the clock! That's my whole Quirk, you know? No one can see me even a tiny bit. Sometimes people even say it's kind of a boring power... though I don't really agree with them!"
Edgeshot watched her for a long moment, and his posture relaxed slightly.
"Sit," he said, and settled himself down on the tatami with his legs crossed. "I am going to tell you something once, so listen well."
Toru dropped down in front of him, hands on her knees.
"All my life I have trained to disappear," Edgeshot said calmly, without raising his voice. "I have compressed my body until it became a line, I have learned to move without a sound, to leave no presence behind. Even in front of someone looking directly at me, I can become something they do not perceive."
He paused briefly.
"But you do not need any of that. You are already invisible by nature."
"D-do you... really believe that?" Hagakure's voice hung in the air, nervous, as if she wasn't used to being the center of attention even when she was.
Edgeshot inclined his head.
"My combat style seeks to eliminate presence. Yours already eliminates it. The difference is that mine is controlled. Yours... is still instinctive."
He turned his body slightly.
"What I can teach you... is to decide what it means to be present without being detected."
Toru went quiet, which was a personal record.
"Ooooh! That was so cool it made me wanna jump even though nobody can see it!" she said with almost overflowing excitement. "Yes, yes! The first test sounds amazing! I'm ready, ready, ready! I'm gonna be the quietest ninja in the whole world, I promise!"
"Then let us start with the basics." Edgeshot rose to his feet without making the slightest sound and pointed to the far end of the dojo, where a small bell hung from a thin thread. "Cross the dojo and touch that bell without making it ring. You have until I finish counting to ten."
"Easy!" Toru sprang up and took off toward the back.
On her third step, one of her boots came down on a loose board that creaked in the middle of the silence, and the bell didn't even come into it.
"Zero, and you lost before I started counting," Edgeshot said.
"WHAAAT?! That's not fair, I hadn't even really started the challenge yet!" Toru kicked at the air. "The board was loose, it was the board, not me!"
"The floor is always loose, and the villain is always listening." Edgeshot crossed the dojo in absolute silence and gave her a light tap on the shoulder. "The board is not going to change, Hagakure, you are the one who has to change. Again, and this time, before you move your foot, ask the floor if it is going to give you away."
Toru let out a grunt of frustration, shook out her gloves, and went back to the starting line.
"You'll see. By the end of the week I'm gonna steal your lunch right out of your hand and you won't even notice."
"You are welcome to try," Edgeshot answered.
Toru started off again, this time putting the tip of her foot down first and measuring every centimeter of the tatami before letting her weight fall, and she made it one step farther than the last time before another board betrayed her.
"Four steps," Edgeshot counted. "Last time it was three, so you are already improving."
"Four steps are four steps!" Toru celebrated, raising both gloves in the air. "Note that down, Edgeshot-san, progress confirmed!"
He did not note anything down, though he did not correct her either.
A Quirk that everyone calls boring, he thought, watching the pair of gloves that was already getting ready for the next attempt with a stubbornness he had not seen in a very long time.
That first day was not easy for either of them. Ochako ended up with legs like jelly and a smile that didn't leave her face all afternoon, and Toru went to bed counting loose boards inside her head, swearing that by the end of the weekend she'd cross the entire dojo without pulling a single sound out of the floor. The next day, when the sun still hadn't come up, a second round was waiting for both of them, and for a bald boy lost on the mountain, the very first one.
*********
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