The Last || My Hero Academia X Demon Slayer

20

After my fight with Shinsou, Shoto-kun had pulled me away from the seats, to the same hallway he'd previously spilled his life story to me. There was one difference, and that was that he was standing where I had been and I was where he was. I waited for him to start, luckily not having to wait long.

"At the USJ, you were with Tsuyu right?" I nodded, letting him continue. "I need you to explain what happened, what you did, because I had felt a chill and then you had somehow generated a huge not-quite-wave but you haven't shown that before while everyone else knows at least the basics of everyone else's. No one knows what your quirk is. ... Sorry for ranting."

I allowed myself a few deep breaths to calm myself while internally I was kinda freaking out. What should I say? Oh I'm quirkless, but I know this ancient fighting technique that I use, I'm actually really surprised Bakugou hasn't told everyone? Oh Kami, what if he's not telling anyone so he can look smug when they inevitably get angry and mean at me? What if-

"Izuku... you're mumbling?" Oh, bad habits die hard I guess. His comment does push me back into the past- almost, I remember everything Urokodaki had done to train me like the back of my hand- and how he would throw small pebbles at me whenever I would mumble "to keep my thoughts in my head"

"Ah right, sorry. Shoto-kun, what are your thoughts on quirkless people? I just want to know."

He looked briefly surprised before answering. "I've never met one thanks to him. I'm not really sure."

I wasn't surprised by this, I had been thinking about Endeavor during the fight before Shinsou had been asking me about... touchy subjects. Like my quirk and alleged hero costume (apparently the General Education thinks I have a "super traditional costume" which somehow translates to a cowboy-esque look). "Oh right, sorry... Shoto-kun, you have asked me to believe you, so I have to ask the same thing of you." He nodded, silently allowing me to continue. "I- I'm quirkless. The pinky toe joint isn't solid evidence I don't have one, but it's never manifested. Even so, I don't have the Quirk Factor to have one. I physically am like a person from like 2030 or something. I have tonsils and an appendix and everything. Ah, I ranted again, sorry." He had seemed to almost space out while I was talking, at least until I apologized.

Grabbing my shoulders tight, I could feel the faint temperature differences in his hands. "Izuku, please don't apologize for ranting. But... how? I'm just... really confused." We could hear Present Mic announcing that the next round would start in a few minutes since one of the students was having stomach issues.

"Shoto-kun, you can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, I need you to promise me this."

"I... I promise. Unless you're hurting yourself or something." I paused before continuing.

"I can agree to that... I use a... technique called Breathing, specifically Water Breathing mostly. I kind of know how to use an almost Flame Breathing too, but I can't really get it to work. I learned it when I was on the mountain."

"When we first met."

"Ah, yeah. There's these different kinds of Breathing Styles,and they're like specific breathing patterns that increase the lung capacity of someone, increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood, which make you stronger and tend to help you stay in the moment. Breathing Styles all originate from these five fundamental breathing styles based on elements, or at least that's how it was explained to me. Water, Flame, Wind, Stone, and Thunder. From there, really strong swordsmen were able to put their own spins on the styles, developing their own unique techniques. Out of the nine last Hashira, or Golden Pillars since they were like the last ones, only four actually followed one of the fundamental breathing styles, funnily enough. Supposedly, or at least Tanjiro said so, I could concentrate my breathing so much that I can will my own torn blood vessels into closing through breathing, effectively staunching the bleeding, if I were to get hurt."

"So you like mentally control Oxygen to get strong. All without a quirk. Izuku, that sounds like a quirk."

"It originates from a time before quirks, even before the Modern Age. It's impossible for me to have a quirk Shoto-kun, so don't entertain the idea, I'm... okay with not having a quirk."

Their conversation was broken with Todoroki being called to the arena.

--

When Izuku returned to the seats, the only person to have appeared to have noticed was Bakugou, but he fortunately stayed quiet, despite Izuku being able to feel the hatred and anger. Shoto-kun and Sero walked onto the concrete, Sero appearing to have new pants on. Immediately after the whistle was blown however, Izuku figured out his bicolored friend was actually frustrated, clearly Izuku should start texting him a bit more about Breathing.

A huge glacier was formed, completely encasing Sero.

When the contestants did return to the stands, almost everyone swarmed Sero, telling him he did the best he could have done. Izuku simply walked to his friend and led him to seats slightly further away from everyone else. When the winner sat down however, he was surprised by being glomped on by the shorter boy.

It took 7 minutes, even with Endeavor's help, to melt the ice as Shoto-kun was told he didn't need to help.