Trust the fall (on hold)

Confrontation

Izuku was getting slightly annoyed with his classmates. Some of the boys, Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero more specifically, had asked him why he hadn't come into the hot springs. He'd given them the obvious lie of "I'm too tired." But he had hoped they'd be smart enough to at least see that he didn't want to talk about, and they had dropped it. However, after waking up in the morning, far too early for Izuku's liking, the girls had heard about his disappearance too. He liked them, he really did, but they could also be very frustrating.

The only reason he hadn't exploded from all the frustration was hearing about how Mineta had been stopped by Kota, the small boy who was being looked after by the Pussycats. It got slightly less funny when he heard the boy had fallen, but luckily Iida had been fast enough to catch the boy.

He ignored more of the questions from his classmates, instead focusing on Kota. It seemed he hadn't warmed to them at all, maybe becoming even more hostile towards them. Izuku had been told to work with Tiger, the one male member of the Pussycats, to strengthen both himself and his combat abilities. He'd already been doing stretches and moves for a while before 1B walked out, Shinso within them.

He couldn't focus on them too much, having to pay attention to his movements. Suddenly, Tiger told him to throw a punch at him, Izuku quickly obliged, surprised when the man bent his body out of the way of the hit, being just fast enough to dodge the attack the man sent back.

Tiger bared his teeth in a grin. "Not bad pup! Now get back to it!"

"Yes sir!" Izuku shouted, returning to his moves as Tiger went over to the new 1B class members who would be joining Izuku in his training.
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Shinso found himself in a very unique situation. He didn't have a physical quirk to improve and had to have another person to practice on.

To his surprise, Aizawa volunteered.

"You need to improve using both your physical skills and quirk in tandem. I will be fighting with you, you need to try and catch me off guard either with your quirk or a physical attack. If I deem that you aren't using your quirk enough we will focus on using it for a bit, trying to strengthen your control both in complexity and number of people it can be used on at a time." Shinso simply nodded in response, he was ready to improve, especially with Aizawa's help.
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He really really hated Aizawa. Not really, but the man seemed to be taking every chance to knock him down, capitalising on every distraction or mistake. By the time they stopped, Shinso was sore in places he didn't even know he had, and he swore he could see a smile on the black haired man's face.

He was so tired he almost didn't notice Kota sneaking off. He obviously wasn't the only one who did though, as soon after Izuku followed. Shinso merely shook his head. He really liked his friend but he was too caring. It led to him being nosy, he remembered the boy's reaction when he told him about how he was bullied over his quirk in his other schools. He'd never seen someone so calmly ask for someone's name so they could go cause irreversible damage to them.

Either way, he just hoped his friend would be slightly more sensitive this time. Kota was just a child after all.

Shinso groaned as he laid his head on the table. He had a terrible feeling he'd have to clean up after the green haired boy very soon.
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Izuku followed Kota, a safe enough distance behind him that he wasn't noticed. He saw him head onto an outcrop near the edge of the Pussycat's territory. He decided to make himself known.

"Hey Kota, I brought you some curry?" He lifted it up so the boy could see it clearly, but he was utterly ignored.

He sat the plate down. "It was worth a shot."

They sat in silence, Kota clearly not wanting to interact with the potential hero. Finally Izuku broke the silence. "I'm sorry."

Kota looked up, a somewhat shocked look on his face, which soon morphed into one of slight anger. "Did Mandalay tell you about them?!"

"No, it just took me a little while to make the connection. I remembered the news report, and the connection between the Pussycat's and the heroes Waterhose."

When Kota didn't reply, Izuku stood up. "Sorry if I upset you, I'll leave you alone. You should come back soon though, I'm sure Mandalay is worried about where you are." When Kota's face showed a flash of panic, Izuku continued "and don't worry, I won't tell them about this spot."

Izuku walked away, but the lack of any other noise meant the quiet sniffles from behind him were very audible. Everyone was like a twist of the knife in his heart.
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Izuku shot up, emerging from his nightmare.

Another one about Bakugo. That would've been bad enough, remembering the beatings he'd received from the boy made it very hard to socialise around him the next day, but it also morphed into him watching Aizawa laying on the hospital bed after the USJ incident, except this time he wasn't awake. The heart monitor beeped, until it started to slow then stop, Izuku watched as his teacher died right in front of him, the buzzing filling his ears like static, almost sending him into a panic attack.

He wiped his brow, calming his heart rate. He scrunched his eyes closed, and clenched his fists, trying to force the images from his mind. He knew he wouldn't get back to sleep, but he could get an early jog in.

He checked his phone, reading the time as 03:00.

Never mind, a very very early jog.

At least he could still function enough to train like this.

Unfortunately, training isn't the only thing that would be happening tomorrow, not that any of the heroes or heroes in training were aware of it.
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Deep in the woods, a black haired man stood, with a blonde haired girl and a man in a suit beside him, he ignored the girls complaints about her costume.

Soon it would be time.

A/N updates are going to slow slightly, tests and stuff. Sorry for any long wait, and have a great day!