All For Some

Chapter 25: And There Be Media

Izuku leaned back on the car seat between Tenya and Hitoshi while listening to the former discussing their homework for the day, despite them already doing all of it together the previous evening. Hitoshi was quietly sipping his coffee from a large thermos. How he could drink that much of the stuff and still look either tired or calm most of the time Izuku couldn't tell, although brainwashing induced sleep had left both of them much more rested than usual.

"Midoriya-san," the driver said, stopping Izuku from dozing off. "We are arriving at the UA, but there is a crowd preventing me from driving all the way to the gate."

Izuku leaned forward between the front seats to see what was going on and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Media? Leave us here. We'll try to get past them by foot," he said.

"As you wish," the driver said and pulled over.

As they walked closer it became obvious that these weren't just friendly harmless reporters, more like a swarm of piranhas that sucked in any student trying not to be late to class. The noise of overlapping questions and demands alone was so much it was a wonder if they could even get clear recordings of anyone's answers to the questions. Izuku and Hitoshi tried to use Tenya as a battering ram to get through, but even so it only took a few seconds for some reporters to push in between them. Instinct told Izuku to throw the nosy woman on the ground like he had done in his fight with Bakugo, but the more rational and calm side of his brain won out. Hitoshi had already disappeared in the crowd behind him.

"Good morning. Are you a student from the hero course? How do you feel about having All Might as a teacher?"

"After one lesson, not impressed and don't really care what people think about it."

"That is a surprising answer since most..."

Izuku turned away from the woman, trying to squeeze past some other people harassing other students.

"Wait... I... Have you encountered the quirk stealing student?"

Izuku stopped. How in the word did she know about that? Even people at Aldera hadn't made enough noise about his quirk to have reporters chase after him.

"We heard there is a student whose quirk lets him take away other people's quirks permanently with a single touch. Are you concerned about someone with that kind of quirk going to the same school?"

Izuku turned to face the woman again and she actually shut up from his stare.

"Why should I be worried about that?" Izuku asked.

"Because... aren't you concerned for the safety of your quirk?"

"No more than for my life with the majority of students whose quirk could be used to kill me. Just the day before yesterday I saw one student score high enough in a grip strength test to crush a person's skull. He turned out to be an okay guy so far by the way. So, I don't really have a reason to 'fear' him for that."

"I see," the reporter said, seriously seeming disappointed at the answer but soon got more determination in her eyes. "Have you even seen the quirk stealer?"

"No one in this school is called that, but if you mean the person who can transfer quirks between people you could say I've met him," Izuku kept thinking if he should give the answer that was easier to him or the one that would give him some chance of influencing people's views, maybe. It wasn't like his face would remain a secret with this kind of media frenzy and the woman had made him more annoyed than afraid.

"...every time I look in the mirror."

"So what is h... Mirror?" the reporter started and paused. She took a step back. "You are the quirk stealer!?"