The Emperor's Dragon

Studying With Friends

Izuku had to admit that living on his own was interesting. Apart from the fact he had to do his own cooking and cleaning, there was also the fact he could do group work at home. Today was one example of that and he wasn't entirely sure how it had happened.

Ms Kanri had given them a group assignment and somehow Zellia had organised to be in his group, along with several others she deemed suitable. Ms Kanri had given him a look but he'd announced that next group assignment everyone should have a new team. It had gotten him an approving look from the teacher.

Then Zellia had invited the entire group to his place to work on their assignment. He suspected she wanted to meet his mother, Windy Chui because she'd given him one hell of an odd look when he'd lead the small group to his apartment. It wasn't in the best part of town and it wasn't in a shiny new high rise. It was in a six storey block of flats and he was on the third floor. There were no lifts. He'd lead them up the stairs and explained that he was living alone.

Most of the group looked impressed. Thankfully he had four glasses so could give them all a glass of water as they settled down around his small table. From there, they'd begun their assignment. Izuku wasn't sure why they couldn't have done it at UA but they were here now.

"Who do you think's going to win the sports festival?" Te asked. Te Shinkei was half Japanese, half Chinese and while his parents were hoping he would become a Doctor, Te was interested in heroes and in managing them. He'd never even thought of being a hero with his quirk. It was one of those odd ones. He could tell, with absolute accuracy when someone was about to develop carpal tunnel syndrome, how bad it would be and if they had to see a professional about it now. Te joked he could be a super specialist since after studying for a bit, he knew most of the treatments and knew which one's would be the most effective.

But he wanted to manage heroes. Since he was in UA's management course Izuku knew he had the brains and the drive to give it a good go.

"Oh, one of the big three," Korei replied instantly. He sounded sure of the prediction. Korei was the son of Konai Simmu, who was the CEO of Ize Kremu. It was a large company that focused on defense contracts. Not providing weapons. They focused on keeping the bases running. They did the grunt work there, trimming the lawns, collecting the rubbish, and making sure the non military assets were kept in good condition.

"Big three?" Izuku asked.

"It's what they are calling three of the third year students who got summer internships with some really big heroes. Everyone is waiting to see how much they've improved," Zellia told him immediately.

"Yeah, they sucked last year," Korei chuckled.

"Who'd they intern with?"

"Sir Nighteye!" Te called excitedly.

"Not all three of them!" Zellia chided before she sighed. "Mirio interned with Sir Nighteye, Nejire with Ryukyu and Tamaki with FatGum."

Izuku blinked. Those were very recognisable hero names. "How do you know they've improved?"

Korei gave him a disbelieving look. "You don't intern with heroes like that and not improve," he announced.

He nodded at that. It made sense.

"Besides, all the interns Fat Gum has taken have risen in the Sport's Festival rankings, same with Ryukyu's."

"I don't need to know about Sir Nighteye," Izuku said. He already knew that the man had never taken on an intern before.

"Yeah," Te agreed. "Mirio is the unknown there, but..." the boy shook his head. "He has to have improved. Sir Nighteye wouldn't have kept him on if he hadn't."