Kazue wanted to die. He felt like he already had one foot in the grave, but, quite frankly, didn't care. Even school was better than being forcefully cooped up in his room, unable to do the slightest amount of work for the agency.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the brunet just so happened to be enrolled in the hero course of his local high school. So he'd 'snuck' out of the house while his father was at work, knowing he'd probably be subjected to a lecture when the school day was over. Their house had cameras all over. There was no 'sneaking' in or out.

Actually, that was a lie. Fueki did it all the time to leave slightly burnt cookies on the kitchen counter.

Oh, look, there was the door to 1-A!

Kazue lifted his good arm and slid it open abruptly, promptly giving almost the entire class a heart attack in the process. His eyes scanned the room quickly from under the bandages, finding solace in the fact that no one was missing other than himself.

"Dude, I thought you were in the hospital!" Kaminari immediately exclaimed, Kirishima more or less saying the exact thing only milliseconds behind.

"I was. I left," Kazue replied bluntly, trudging past his classmates to his seat. He stared at his desk, barely catching himself from letting his head fall to it like always. That wouldn't exactly be a great idea after getting it fractured by the ground and glorified Big Bird the day before yesterday.

"Are you alright?!" Iida questioned in a loud voice, arms chopping the air robotically.

The brunet blinked, considering the question for a long moment before replying with a simple, "Sure." Why the hell did everyone care so much? He was injured, he had surgery and was hopped up on at least five different drugs, ergo he was technically fine. What was the big deal?

As if on cue, the door slid open to reveal a similarly-mummified Aizawa. "Morning," the man greeted flatly, shoulder hunched.

The class exploded, even more so than they had when Kazue had walked in. "Aizawa-sensei, you're also back too soon!"

"Also?" he asked rhetorically, head turning to look directly at a certain brown-haired teen and sigh. "Didn't I tell you not to come and get some rest?"

"I was bored," Kazue mumbled, slouching even lower in his chair. Besides, he also wanted to speak with All Might again, and the easiest way to get in contact with the Number One was to just suck it up and go to school.

Ignore the fact that he had the man's number saved on his phone.

Iida's hand shot up a second time, even faster than before. "So you're alright, Aizawa-sensei?"

The hero continued on his way behind the teaching podium, turning to face the class. "My well-being doesn't matter. More importantly, the fight is not over yet."

Way to scare the entire class, Kazue mentally congratulated the man, having an inkling of an idea what he was referring to.

"The Yūei Sports Festival is drawing near," Aizawa stated ominously.

Kazue wished he could cover both of his ears the moment the last word left the teacher's mouth, cringing as they exploded with a cry of 'THAT'S A SUPER NORMAL SCHOOL EVENT!'

Instead, he just settled for reaching in his pocket and pushing the scroll wheel on a small device down to the lowest level. After what'd happened, Kazue had painstakingly put together a volume toggle for his hearing aids so he could change it without the use of his watch. When you had one arm in a full cast, you couldn't exactly use a watch's apps without taking it off to tap the screen.

Either way, Kazue was a little concerned with what the future held for him. On one hand, his injury could prevent him from participating in the Festival. Meaning, he could just watch from the stands and didn't actually have to do anything that would get the attention of the pros. On the other hand, Aerogale had made several snide remarks over the years about how the only people who had a chance to win were ones with powerful, flashy Quirks.

Ugh. The decision on whether or not to carry out the small plan he'd formulated in his mind was a pain in the ass to make.

~-~-~-~

Kazue ended up slipping out of the classroom as soon as Cementoss's class ended, not wanting to stick around and be forced into talking about the Sports Festival. It was lunch time, and he had a date with the manga in his bag.

And potentially ask Hamasaki if it'd been Midnight who'd allowed her to sit on the roof. It seemed too much like the plot of a shitty romance story to be any other explanation.

Well, it could also be a coincidence, but he at least wanted to narrow the possibilities down for the sake of his own mind.

"Kimura-shōnen!" a very American voice exclaimed as All Might skidded out of an adjoining hall, nearly slamming into the wall in the process. "Would you do me a favor and meet me in the lounge?"

Kazue blinked at the eccentric blond's appearance, eyes narrowing. "What happened when I was unconscious? You were there afterwards, weren't you?" he asked rhetorically, noting the drastic change in the hero's time limit.

All Might flashed a wide grin, albeit a bit strained. "I'll answer all your questions there!" he replied, holding up a boxed lunch wrapped in a patterned blue furoshiki. "Bring your lunch."

And with that, the hero sped off in the blink of an eye. Although... he was definitely slower than he had been before, and with the bird mutation at the USJ having that sort of strength and Quirk combination...

Was All Might's worsened condition because of that creature? It was the most logical assumption by far, and if that was true...then what was to say whoever was pulling the strings couldn't make more mutations, let alone his musings in the hospital if there already was? Stronger, faster, more powerful ones. If the Number One hero had trouble defeating it to the point where it'd strained his Quirk that much, then what did that say for every hero beneath?

It appeared that Horimiya would have to wait.

~-~-~-~

Kazue glanced up at the 'in use' sign on the door to the lounge, snorted, and slid it open with his foot without so much as a second thought.

"Ah, perfect timing!" Skinny Might chuckled, gesturing for him to come in and close the door. "Take a seat."

Midoriya appeared to be stuck on the loading screen, staring at Kazue in a mixture of relief, apprehension, and... was that shame? It was kind of easy to read what he was thinking when he wore his heart on his sleeve.

The brunet obliged, sitting down on the opposite side of the couch that All Might was sitting on. "Midoriya-san," he greeted as he split his chopsticks, having a vague idea of what was going on.

"K-Kimura-kun," the other boy stammered in reply, eyes wide.

All Might rubbed his hands together, an intense look in his sunken blue eyes. "Midoriya-shōnen, I want you to take Kimura-shōnen's offer to train you and One For All."

Midoriya looked between his mentor and his classmate before nodding once, eyes squeezed shut. "Yes, sir! Erm, where will..."

"Ground Gamma or Dreynen Agency," Kazue replied to the unfinished question, shooting All Might a look. "With a teacher's permission we can go to the former, as for the latter... well, I'd have to explain the situation to Otou-san. A dumbed down version, of course, just mentioning that you can't control your Quirk very well."

The shorter term practically jolted in his seat at the second option, the look on his face being the same one all of Katashi's fans wore before they asked him to autograph something.

Oh no.

Was... was Midoriya a fanboy?

"Gym Gamma would be a better choice, if I'm being honest," Kazue continued flatly, trying to avoid bringing a potential fanboy into the agency. Aerogale would eat it up, and Iwata would be all friendly while stressing about his homework that was due by midnight, but his father... Well, he wasn't quite as charismatic and tolerant inside the agency than he was outside. "I looked into it earlier. Cementoss does routine repairs every morning, and for a power-based Quirk like yours, I'd rather not destroy state-of-the-art gym equipment."

Midoriya looked disappointed, trying and failing to hide it. "Okay."

"Be there after school," the brunet mumbled, moving aside the bandages over his mouth so he could actually eat. Although the damage to the lower half of his face hadn't been anything close to that done to the upper half, the doctors hadn't taken any chances. "I'll meet you there."

"But what about your injuries?" Midoriya questioned. Kazue could practically feel the other boy's eyes boring into his cast-encased arm and bandage-covered face.

He half-shrugged, lifting a rice ball to his mouth and taking a bite. "I'll just be using my Quirk at a basic level, not doing a specialized workout and straining it," Kazue answered warningly after swallowing, letting him know that the next two weeks before the Sports Festival weren't going to be a walk in the park.

Midoriya sweatdropped. "You really thought this out, didn't you?"

"I was going to train you eventually whether you said yes or no," Kazue snorted, recalling all the work he'd done ever since the Quirk Apprehension Test solely for that purpose. Whereas most of the other students had little to no issues with control and could easily work on their Quirks now that they were at Yūei, Midoriya was a special case. He'd gotten his Quirk only a few months before and was rendered 'unfit for duty' by a single use. "Like I said before, a hero who can't control their Quirk is a danger to society."

"I wouldn't go that far," Skinny Might chuckled nervously, hands up in a placating gesture. "You both still have three years before you graduate."

"True enough, but you want Midoriya-san to stand out at the Sports Festival without destroying his bones," the brunet guessed, gesturing in the air with his chopsticks as he spoke. "Even Aerogale wouldn't send in a request, and he loves flashy power Quirks more than anything."

Midoriya winced, but his eyes lit up a moment later at the mention of Katashi's sidekick. "You know Zephyr Hero: Aerogale?! Wait, that's a stupid question, he's one of Dreynen's sidekicks. Which means that you also know Seismic Hero: Tecton...do you know the top-"

Kazue deadpanned at the slight fanboy attack, deftly cutting Midoriya off before he started going crazy. "Yes," he sighed, wishing he could let his head slam into the nearest flat surface. "I've met them all at least once, alright? Can we drop the subject?"

"Erm- Sorry," the green-haired teen apologized, awkwardly scratching the back of his head with a nervous smile.

Kazue let out a tired breath of air, continuing eating his neglected tray of food. The next two weeks were going to be a pain in the ass. But first...he needed to pay a visit to the nurse's office after school, and tell All Might a theory he'd been brewing up during his sleepless nights since the USJ. Preferably in private, because Midoriya didn't seem that great at keeping secrets and Kazue didn't quite think that All Might wanted anyone to know about the creator of One For All.

Wahoo chapter 19~

And Izuku's finally going to be trained by Kazue because his indecisive ass had to have All Might tell him to do it first. Meaning there won't be nearly as much Bone Juice™ in the future as canon. Sorry Gran Torino and his fish snacks or whatever.