Last chapter before we finally get into the Sports Festival arc. It's taken way too long to get there, to be honest, but I'll make it up to you guys by going full try-hard on the fight scenes. Kazue's been training in martial arts from basically the second he could walk. 

No more bs like the Shigaraki fight scene that I half-assed because I'd never written a fight before. This is anime; the protagonists have five-minute internal monologues in the span of a millisecond. (Please note, there will be no actual monologues. Only fairly short critiquing of fighting styles, predictions, and analysis in between kicking ass.)

~-~-~-~

"Before we do shit, I'm gonna establish that I'm well aware I'm an idiot," stated the teen sitting across from Kazue, slouched in his chair and a scowl on his face.

Adachi Takibi, the abrasive former ring fighter that Fueki had requested he tutor. For what, the brunet wasn't certain, but it most definitely wasn't because the older boy was going back to school. He knew that much, at least.

"Excellent," Kazue deadpanned. At least he was self-aware, a good start to nearly everything. "Today, we're going to establish what exactly it is you want to learn. I can't plan without your input."

Adachi tilted his head back to gaze up at the ceiling of the break room, arms folded in front of his chest. "Laws, probably. Dunno how many I've broken, and it's fucking annoying hiding from the cops all the time."

Kazue figured it was a good enough start, beginning to compile a mental schedule with the topic first on the list. If today was used to create the schedule, then he'd have until the next session to fully formulate a viable plan of action. He wasn't at all fazed by the casual mention of criminal activity, considering the fact that Fueki had quite the extensive record herself. "Continue."

"Uhhhh..." came the helpful response, drawn out far longer than necessary. "I guess... I dropped out after junior high, so literally what you're learning." Adachi peered over at him. "Or what you've already learned, or whatever the hell. Shun claims you're a child prodigy or something."

Finally, Kazue found himself thinking. Someone who didn't immediately jump to the word 'genius' without knowing what it really meant. "Alright," he agreed, recalling each lesson he'd been awake for thus far in the school year. Yūei's courses were apparently more difficult than standard, but it wasn't overly taxing to reduce them down to it. "Now then, let's establish..."

He began to list out the potential schedules to Adachi, with subjects and number of subjects changing in each. They could do one subject per session, or two subjects, etcetera, etcetera. Based upon the older teen's half-assed responses, Kazue was able to determine that a single subject per session was the preferred method.

They spent the first half-hour compiling the schedule. After that, Kazue began the run-down of Japan's laws. There were far too many to list all in one sitting, so he settled for the basics. No civilian ownership of firearms, no public Quirk usage by an unlicensed individual, and several more that had Adachi rolling his eyes and cursing under his breath.

By the time the session ended, Adachi had completely lost interest in cooperating. The only incentive for him to not storm out of the break room and leave... Fueki had probably threatened him in some way. She had a habit of doing that. If Kazue had to guess, she had denied his privileges to spar with her.

"Fuck it, I'm out," the older teen said the second the clock indicated an hour had passed, shoving out of his chair. He slung his bag over his shoulder without ceremony, stalked over to the door, and barged out into the hall. "Oh shit-"

Kazue muffled a snicker when Adachi ran headfirst into none other than Aerogale. The blue-haired man yelped in surprise, activating his Quirk on reflex and blasting the red-eyed loudmouth off of him with a gust of wind. "Nice going, Adachi-san," he called out mildly, raising an eyebrow at the fallen teen at his feet.

It only took a second for Aerogale to locate who'd ran into him. The hero cringed at the sight of Adachi clambering back to his feet, breathing hard and swiping the back of his hand at a trickle of blood running down from his nose. Aerogale looked up at Kazue, a wavering smile frozen on his face. "You're my witness!" he blurted out. "He ran into me!"

"Sure," the brunet agreed, expertly ignoring the murderous glares Adachi was flinging at the both of them. No matter what he wanted to do, the older boy couldn't attack either of them unless he wanted to face repercussions. Not to mention that Aerogale, no matter how idiotic he was sometimes, was still a pro hero in the top twenty. He wouldn't go down easy, and one angry teenager stood no chance, former ring fighter or not. "Adachi-san, please watch where you're going in the future."

Adachi's mouth curled into a mildly psychotic grin. "How about you fuckers just stay out of my way?" he suggested in a dangerous tone, tendrils of smoke rising from the rubber soles of his shoes.

Kazue stood, his height matching the older teen's since Adachi wasn't overly tall. "I would consider the consequences of threatening a pro-hero and a hero student if I were you, Adachi-san," he warned, keeping his voice calm and level. He was well-within range to make contact with Fueki's ward, thus giving him the advantage. "Should you make the wrong choice, it will end badly for you."

The former fighter was on thin ice as it already was, with an extensive criminal record ready to be served should someone report his actions. His only saving grace was that Fueki had vouched for him, but her emotions were compromised when it came to Adachi. People changed quickly, and the two hadn't seen one another in quite some time.

Adachi clenched his fists, clearly still full of anger, but the smoke gradually subsided and only the smell of burnt rubber remained. "Fine," he gritted out, his crimson gaze meeting Kazue's with fire raging within. "But only if you promise me this, hero: when that damn arm of yours is fixed, spar with me."

"Done," Kazue agreed instantly, unfazed at the demand. He already had one fight lined up with another abrasive individual after the Sports Festival, what was one more? Now that he thought of it, Daguchi and Adachi had similar personalities. What was up with him and attracting the ire of arrogant fools?

Aerogale facepalmed, casting his blue eyes over through his fingers to look at the two. "You two scare me," he sighed, shook his head, and walked off.

~-~-~-~

The rest of the days leading up to the Sports Festival passed quickly. After Midoriya had experienced thirty percent of One For All—even if it was for a mere one minute—the shorter boy had tackled training with more vigor than Kazue had thought possible.

Actually, he took that back. He'd predicted such a reaction upon making the plan to begin with and had written Midoriya's training regimen accordingly. Kazue always planned ahead for any situation possible, no matter whether it occurred or not. Hence why his training methods were so effective. In the span of less than two weeks, Midoriya was able to use three percent of One For All for over half of the training session.

There was no doubt in his mind that All Might's successor was the best student he'd ever had, even in comparison to every intern Aerogale had taken on in the past. Midoriya was an excellent student and took his criticisms in stride, improving in leaps and bounds—literally.

Now... if only everyone could be that understanding.

"The last time I healed you, you used your Quirk to accelerate the process much too fast," Recovery Girl scolded, poking his sternum with her cane that was modeled after a syringe. "Fully healing a wound like that would drain you of every bit of stamina you have!"

Kazue was sitting on one of the beds in the nurse's office the day before the Sports Festival, and had just proposed that she fully heal him right then and there so he could participate in the event.

His lips quirked upwards when the elderly woman fell into his trap with barely any prompting. He'd been prepared for her to mention stamina, something he already had quite a bit of. It was a necessity when running on so little sleep. Besides that... "I'm prepared for that," Kazue replied. "I assume you've been informed of the true nature of my Quirk?"

Recovery Quirk fumed at the mention of it, even if the gesture was more endearing rather than out of anger. It was obvious she cared for every person under her care, and Kazue was no exception. "Yes, I remember. I had to re-do your files!"

Ah, yes, paperwork. Something Kazue had to do on the daily for his father's idiot of a sidekick, alongside a decent portion of the agency's actual official reports. It was all looked over by Katashi before he signed off on the papers, of course, but the time it took for that was minimal compared to the actual work.

"My apologies," the brunet replied genuinely. He preferred not to use his Quirk on people he wasn't training or fighting, but his injury had been annoying enough to warrant intervention. It still was annoying, seeing as his arm remained encased in a cloth cast while bandages wrapped around his forehead. As for the paperwork... well, changing the details of his Quirk wouldn't have actually taken that long. A name change and a section added for another half. Besides, it wasn't as if the summaries ever described his Quirk in detail. Something like that would take hours for even an efficient worker. "But I will ask you again to reconsider fully healing me."

The healer squinted at him suspiciously, but her curious expression told him to continue. Out of everyone in existence, the person who knew the most about his Quirk was his father, followed by the slightly psychotic individual known as the principal. Katashi had gone to Yūei, after all, as a member of Class 1-B.

"Diminish allows me to take in the Quirk energy of others to use as my own, whether for Amplify or through physical exertion," Kazue summarized bluntly, figuring that he might as well divulge some of the more intricate details of his relatively newfound abilities. He hadn't been training with his father ever since the other half had manifested for nothing. "As of right now, I possess the energy of one-and-a-half fully-grown, healthy adults alongside my own. The healing of my injuries won't even make me lose consciousness."

His father had allowed him to take half of his own energy, and Iwata had also contributed. Aerogale had protested, but had allowed for his to be used as well. 

Recovery Girl studied him for a long, tenuous second as she appeared to consider his proposition. "Very well," she finally agreed, then thumped him again in the chest with her cane. "You've won this one, but don't worry me by injuring yourself like that again, young man!"

"I wasn't planning on getting injured any time in the future, but I'll be sure to let you know two weeks in advance should it make its way onto my schedule," Kazue deadpanned.

"Cheeky one, aren't you?" the healer tutted with a warm smile, moving closer within range to use her Quirk.

The brunet stayed perfectly still when Recovery Girl's lips extended—an odd part of her Quirk, considering there was no logical reason why it was needed—and made contact with the side of his face. A green glow encased both his right arm and momentarily tinged his vision, and then it was gone.

Kazue immediately reached up and undid the bandage around his forehead, unwrapping the material until his hair touched skin again. He unceremoniously tossed it in the nearby garbage bin, then withdrew the knife he'd brought from the backpack at the foot of the bed. Then the teen slashed through the cloth encasing his arm before the school nurse could say a single word, told hold of the scraps, and threw them away.

He reached up with his freed hand to ghost his fingers across the right side of his forehead, pausing upon brushing against the slightly-raised skin indicating a scar. Just as he'd predicted, a Nōmu created with the intention to murder All Might slamming his head into the ground had enough power to leave a mark.

"My first major scar," Kazue commented dryly, feeling the jagged shape of the now-old wound despite it having been stitched closed. Of course it was on his face. At least his hair covered the majority of the scar, seeing as he'd grown it long enough to conceal the devices within his ears. "Fantastic."

~-~-~-~

"So. Any plan of attack for the Sports Festival you'd care to share, Kazue?" Katashi asked, gesturing with his chopsticks as he spoke. A mug of steaming coffee sat on the low table next to his bowl of rice, far more alluring than his rhetorical question to the half-asleep yet fully attentive teen sitting on the opposite side.

"Stop beating around the bush," Kazue stated flatly, contemplating whether or not he should get a refill of his own mug. No matter if he was tired or not, coffee was an essential for every morning and he wasn't quite sure if he could function properly without it. In all technicalities, yes, Kazue could function perfectly fine without the drink, but everything was always better with a bit of warmth and caffeine.

His father smirked at the bluntness of the demand, taking a sip of caffeinated heaven. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?" he queried, yet another rhetorical question. Katashi wasn't an imbecile; he knew his son better than anyone. He was well-aware that nothing was a secret in the Kimura household, even if they occasionally pretended otherwise. "Fine, I'll tell you the challenge early."

"Liar," Kazue played along. Both of them knew exactly how this morning would play out. Katashi would pretend not to have a challenge for the Sports Festival, and Kazue would call him out on it. Katashi would claim that he was 'cheating' by getting it told to him 'early', and Kazue would call him out on it again. As for what the challenge would be...

"I want you to only use my Quirk during the one-on-one fights," Katashi proposed, setting down his chopsticks to lay across his bowl. He leaned forward on the table, completely serious. "The Sports Festival is an excellent opportunity to make use of Diminish."

Ah. Of course his father would tell him to use the half of the Quirk he had less experience with for what was the most important portion of the entire event. While the two previous rounds determined who made it into the last and final round, most pros only truly paid attention to the final fights to see who had the best combat ability or potential.

The challenge was perfect, save for the fact that the entire situation was a pain in the ass to begin with. If Kazue had his way back before the school year had even started, he would've likely been the first Support Course student to win the event over the heroes-in-training.

"Diminish isn't very flashy," Kazue commented, knowing that the event would be televised worldwide for anyone to see. It was also the gateway for students to gain internships with pros, which, in turn, might lead to work studies with those same pros after the students gained their provisional licenses. Flashy Quirks always did better when it came to receiving offers from pros, and that was a fact heavily backed up by statistics.

His father just raised an eyebrow, telling him with a single look, 'You know exactly what to do.'

It was true. Kazue did know exactly what to do. Even if he and his father were far from the standard image of a 'proper' family, the level of mutual understanding in their relationship was not one to be taken lightly. Before Kazue had been his mother, who had also possessed Amplify and the enhanced processing power that came with it. Granted, she didn't have an eidetic memory like he did, but her intelligence had allowed her to forge a connection with the equally intelligent Katashi.

A connection that had been passed down from mother to son.

The brunet felt a smirk grow on his lips, mirroring the one his father wore. "Fine," he agreed to the wordless instruction, finally deciding that he did, in fact, need a coffee refill and standing up. "I'll do it."

*casually throws information about Kazue's mom into the plot*

I don't even have a name for her yet 😭

Any suggestions? I gotta keep the Kimura family tradition of having given names that also start with K.

Another question: what do you guys think of Takibi (aka Adachi) so far? He will be more relevant as the plot carries on, so I want to see where your opinions lie so I can write his development accordingly.