"Alright then, first Midoriya... when you try to control that power, what kind of image do you have... or rather, when controlling your Quirk, what are you trying to do?"
"I, image?"
"Yes. It's not like you're intentionally trying to make it go out of control, right? Up until now, when you could manage it on your own, you were 'trying to control it,' right? And the content of that, I guess I should say? Rather than me suddenly talking about what kind of image I use, I thought it would be better to properly understand what Midoriya has been doing first."
"O, oh I see... yeah. I..."
And when I asked him about it... apparently it's about 'feeling.'
Huh? What? An egg in a microwave? Lowering the wattage? Shortening the timer?
Continuously ruminating on the image of the egg not exploding, just focusing solely on that.
"You're an idiot."
"Whaaaat!?"
I couldn't help but interrupt and say it.
But I think it can't be helped.
According to Midoriya, that training... or rather, that control method was apparently taught to him by someone he was indebted to... but let me say this clearly.
That person probably has zero talent... for teaching others.
"I, is that so...?"
"...I don't want to speak ill of someone Midoriya respects, but I definitely think so. That person is probably the type who can do everything they want through feeling alone, in other words a natural genius, right?"
When I asked that, Midoriya's face clearly showed 'How did you know!?' He's really expressive and fun to watch, honestly.
But as I thought... it's that kind of thinking or teaching method that such people tend to have.
The basics, or rather, the most important thing when teaching beginners is teaching in a way that's 'easy to understand,' and then 'grasping some kind of starting point,' no matter what it is... and they're not doing that.
Who in the world really taught that to Midoriya? It's infuriating.
Because of that terrible teaching method, Midoriya's growth might have been hindered... if he'd obediently followed just that advice and trained, Midoriya would never have been able to achieve control, it would have remained a distant dream.
Well, they probably didn't mean any harm, and that person might have genuinely cared about Midoriya in their own way... but still, it's terrible.
"...Okay, I understand Midoriya's way of thinking and his current position, so to speak... shall we start training?"
"Y, yes... please take care of me."
"No need for formal language, we're classmates... it makes me tense too."
"First, Midoriya... if possible, could you stop thinking with that egg and microwave thing?"
"Huh!? W, why? W, well, if you say I should stop, I will..."
"This is just my subjective opinion... the expression is somewhat hard to understand, and besides, that's fundamentally about what you shouldn't do, right? An egg in a microwave, that's the exploding one."
Midoriya seems to be thinking with the 'image of the egg not exploding'... but starting with the result or image of a 'failure example' or 'what you shouldn't do' somehow...
"In other words, that self-destruction is the 'egg exploding.' Well, I don't think it's completely wrong, but images tend to be pulled toward what you first imagine, and converting something that already has the image of 'doing something' to 'not doing it' is quite difficult, you know? Especially if you don't know how to do it. Rather than that, I think it's better to clearly picture the 'image of success.'"
"Image of success... I see. But then, what should I picture... like All Might using his special move to defeat enemies?"
"...Come to think of it, Midoriya always connects everything to All Might. Is it because you're a fan?"
"Huh!? A, w, well... yeah. I've admired him since I was little... a, and also, this Quirk is... the same Enhancement-type, so I can't help but be conscious of him."
Ah, come to think of it, Midoriya always... or rather, when he gets serious, he always says 'SMASH!!'... Is that because he's an All Might fan too?
I heard he's a hardcore hero otaku, or rather beyond that to maniac level, and if that passion is directed there, I can understand that he's a big All Might fan and conscious of him...
...What is it? My intuition is telling me it's not just that...
...Does Midoriya, no, that Quirk... have some secret?
Something he doesn't want to tell anyone... and something that, if not exactly connected to All Might, at least makes him unable to help being conscious of All Might...
...Well, thinking about it won't help. If Midoriya doesn't intend to talk about it, asking would be pointless anyway.
For now, let's work with what we know and what we can do with the materials we have.
"'All Might's special move scene' might be good as an image of success... but at this point, Midoriya hasn't established any path to get there. Having an image is fine, but suddenly trying to aim for that is Not Good. You wouldn't expect someone who's never held a baseball bat to suddenly step up to the plate and hit a home run, right?"
"O, oh I see... that's right. Yeah."
A perfect analogy just came smoothly out of my mouth, so let's use this.
To hit a home run in a baseball game, it's not like you can just hold a bat and stand in the batter's box... that would never work. There are countless things to do before reaching that point.
Train your body to be able to generate enough power to hit the ball beyond the outfield into the spectator seats.
Learn how to grip the bat, and how to swing it. To efficiently exert power and transmit it.
Learn to hit the ball with the bat. If you can't hit it, nothing works.
There are probably various other things to do, but only after properly learning these step by step, further increasing proficiency through repetitive practice to the limit, and finally choosing and using a good bat with proper performance that suits you... can you reach the goal of a home run.
If Midoriya's 'home run' is a perfectly controlled strike, then he's missing everything needed to get there.
Almost all the necessary processes are missing. This is also somewhat strange...
"Midoriya, I want to ask one more thing... I only heard Bakugo yelling about it before, but did your 'Quirk' manifest recently?"
"Huh... a, yeah... around right before the entrance exam, I guess. It was unusually late-blooming with no precedent... so that's why... it hasn't been that long since I could use it, and that's also why I can't control it at all."