•Manipulation• [BNHA × Male!OC]

Chapter 138: MORTAL KOMBAT

For the bigger half of the afternoon, Endeavor had locked himself away in his office.

Shoto surmised he was probably looking for the message hidden within his copy of the book.

"Ah but..." Endeavor's sidekick, Burnin', spoke, bringing Shoto's focus back into the room.

They had been in the middle of learning the ropes of the Endeavor agency.

"Since Endeavor only wanted to train Shoto, you two would probably be with us sidekicks," she smiled apologetically at Midoriya and Katsuki.

"HAH?!" Katsuki scoffed.

"I came here to see the number one!" he protested.

Midoriya tried to calm the boy down but Shoto agreed with the sentiment.

"That's not right, I'll try to speak with him," he declared, barely taking a step towards Endeavor's office when the doors slid open.

Out stepped the man himself.

Something in the way he seemed to regard the interns before him had changed.

Perhaps Shoto was the only one capable of telling, but it was plain as day.

Something in Hawk's message had changed the man's mind.

Except, our main characters would never manage to get their hands on the message, so all they could do was guess.

Yes, they could not have known that Hawks had been warning of the impending attack of the Liberation army, nor that they'd begin in four months.

For now, all the public and these students knew about the Liberation army, was the Deika incident that occurred not too long ago.

The city reportedly defended itself against villains, and did so successfully. A terribly drab story that even the news stopped circulating in a matter of days.

Just between you and me, that was a cover story for what really happened.

It involved the league and how they came to be involved with the Meta Liberation Army.

But that story will come at a later time.

For now, the interns also would not know that the purpose of the hero internship was to use student heroes as the last line of defense in the event of a full-out war with the Liberation army.

Which is why the three were rather shocked at Endeavor's words.

"Shoto, Deku, Bakugou, you three will be with me."

_________________________________________

"Alright, next you," Endeavor turned his focus onto Katsuki.

It seemed the man had been serious in his intentions to teach the three of them.

He was being awfully comprehensive, beginning by asking Katsuki and Midoriya what they wanted to get better at by being here.

Midoriya, as expected, had muttered on and on about the various aspects of his quirk that he'd micro analyzed down to the percentages. Such as his air pressure attack and his new Black Whip.

Somehow, Endeavor seemed to understand what the boy meant.

But now it was Katsuki's turn.

"I want to know what I can't do. That's why I came here."

His answer was curt, to the point, and so deeply reflective of Katsuki's nature it was almost laughable.

In fact, Burnin' did.

She laughed rather loudly.

"I MEANT WHAT I SAID DAMNIT!" He huffed, looking down at his palms.

"With my Explosion I've been able to do everything I've wanted. Even with this one quirk, I can become the strongest." his palm crackled and popped with small orange bursts.

"But I learn that being strong isn't enough to be truly strong. And the only person to give me critique has disappeared." he looked up, locking his eyes onto Endeavor and not looking away.

"So I came to find out what I need in order to surpass the number one hero."

I bet Ryo would have been real happy to see this boy's character development.

And you can bet that was what Shoto thought as well as he watched the scene play out before him.

"Can I come too?" he found himself asking as Endeavor led the boys outside.

"YOU'RE HERE TO LEARN FLASHFIRE FIST RIGHT?!" It was an exclamation made purely out of the anxiety that it would be untrue.

It was funny how antsy Enji could get about his son.

"I've put into practice the training you've drilled into me since I was a kid," he replied.

Well, if the previous scene showed Katsuki's character development, you could say that this one would be showing Shoto's.

You're really missing out Ryo...

-

-

ACK THE FOURTH WALL-

"Looking back, my head was filled with pointless hatred towards you," he looked downwards, as though playing back the memories in his head.

"But after entering UA, spending time with these guys, competing and... heeding someone's advice," he looked up, "my eyes were opened."

"Endeavor," he faced his father head on, "in the end I'm just doing what you've always wanted."

The man kept his expression unreadable as he replied to the first connection he'd had with his son in years.

"Even if that works for now, you'll soon reach the limits of that power."

"I want you to remember," Shoto spoke up again, mouth pressed into a tight line. 

"The one I admired was the person I'd watched on TV with Mom," breaking news! Endeavor's son was an All Might fan all along!

"I came here as a fledgling hero in order to become someone worthy of being a hero, of my own free will." he balled his hands into fists.

"I came here to use you. Sorry I'm only here because it's convenient, Number One."

Critical hit! How will Shoto finish this?!

"So don't put on the parent act in front of my friends."

FATALITY!!!

-

Enji seemed to take a beat to think something through in his head.

Then...

"Alright, I got it."

The three interns blinked.

That was it?

"From now on, I'll look at you three as heroes." he remarked before walking off.

Katsuki looked over at Shoto.

He'd felt slightly vindicated after Shoto's thorough dressing down of his old man.

But a part of him was still worried about how all this would affect the half-and-half boy.

His daddy issues had ruled so much of his life up to now after all.

But even that sliver of concern melted away as he looked at Shoto's face.

'hah, it was pointless to worry.'

After all, the boy had a smile on his face.