During his morning training run, Izuku was jogging while rubbing his face.
"Just how hard did I pinch myself last night…? Why hasn't the swelling gone down yet…"Izuku had absolutely no idea that the dream he experienced was anything but real.
"Hm… if I really have to swear an oath, then it has to be All Might," he muttered to himself."If I transfer that kind of power to him, his own strength would weaken, right? I really don't want All Might—the Number One Hero—to fall from his pedestal so soon…"
All Might's slender figure appeared clearly in Izuku's thoughts.
"Hehe… I still want to swear my oath to him."
"Oi, Deku?"
While Izuku was running with a faint smile on his face, Bakugo Katsuki had somehow appeared behind him without making a sound.
"What's with that idiot's swollen face? And what's with that stupid grin?"Bakugo followed cautiously from behind.
"Just this once… I'll follow this trash."The way Bakugo was acting made him look suspiciously like a stalker.
This time, Izuku didn't run his usual route.Instead, he headed straight toward the city center.
"When did this damn Deku get so good at running?"Bakugo was breathing a little harder now. If it weren't for his Quirk, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep up.
"Boss, I'll take five hundred grams of pork."
Izuku lifted his knees high in place as he jogged, and the butcher handed over the freshly cut pork.
"Hey kid, what happened to your face? That swelling's huge."
"Huh? Did it get bigger?"
"It's really big."The butcher carefully poked the large swollen lump on Izuku's cheek.
"OW OW OW OW OW!!!"
Izuku collapsed straight onto the ground in pain.
"Hey—hey! Kid, are you okay?!"
"Deku!"
Bakugo rushed over as the butcher came out to help, yanking Izuku back to his feet.
"You useless idiot! What the hell are you doing?! Your face looks like a pig's!"
"S-sorry, sorry! That's my fault—I should've noticed earlier. But, Kacchan… why are you here?"
"I—I'm obviously here to buy pork!"Bakugo snapped."Boss, give me five hundred grams of pork."
"Well, if you're buying meat, I won't bother you. I need to hurry home and apply medicine anyway. See you."
Izuku bolted off at full speed.
As expected… he really was scared of Kacchan.
"That useless idiot… I wonder if he even got into U.A."Bakugo muttered.
"Whatever. Might as well tell the old hag to make pork cutlet rice tonight."
Bakugo stared gloomily at the pork in his hand, then looked in the direction Izuku had run off to, lost in thought.
After returning home, Izuku immediately grabbed his topical ointment and went into the bathroom.
Facing the mirror, he carefully applied the medicine to his face.After that, he stuck a medicated patch onto the swollen side of his cheek.
Looking at his reflection—one side swollen, the other normal—Izuku's perfectionism kicked in.
He placed a patch on the other cheek as well.
Just as he was considering whether to add another layer, his phone suddenly rang.
It was a text message from All Might.
Izuku pulled out his phone and read it word by word.
"Come to the seaside park tonight."
"All Might contacted me again!!!"
Izuku stayed excited for a long time afterward.
That evening, Izuku jogged all the way to Seaside Park.
All Might had been waiting there for quite a while.
"All Might!"
Izuku looked at him with tears welling up in his eyes.All Might was currently in his thin, ordinary form.
"Who's that?!"From a pavilion in the distance, two figures seemed to be on a date.
"All Might?! No way! Where?!"
All Might quickly whispered to Izuku.
"Repeat after me: 'I mistook him for someone else.'"
"I—I mistook him for someone else!"Izuku waved apologetically toward the pavilion, mortified.
"Congratulations on passing."
All Might held out his hand, and Izuku high-fived him.
"I should clarify first—I didn't tell the school about our relationship."
"Given your personality, you'd probably think that wasn't fair."(And I wasn't one of the judges.)
"Still… All Might being a U.A. teacher really shocked me."
"I didn't tell you earlier because this couldn't be revealed before the school officially announced it."
"But I still can't control One For All properly," Izuku said guiltily, looking at his hands."One punch or kick and I end up crippling myself… just like this time…"
"Well, that can't really be helped," All Might said calmly."You can't expect someone who suddenly grows a tail to use it freely right away. But after training, it becomes different."
"So… that means this is only the beginning for me?"
"That's right."
After talking deep into the night, Izuku finally understood why he kept breaking his arms and legs—he simply hadn't mastered the power yet.
"This strength… I'll have to keep getting used to it."
After class one day, Izuku was called into the teacher's office.
Bakugo Katsuki was there as well.
"I never expected our class to produce two U.A. candidates," the teacher said."And one of them is even—well, I won't say more. In any case, keep working hard and don't disappoint your teachers' and classmates' guidance and care."
"Yes. Thank you, teacher."(Aside from academics, you never really cared about me though…)
"Tch."(When did I ever get any 'care' from you? And why the hell did that useless Deku get into U.A.? He must've cheated!)
As soon as they left the office, Bakugo dragged Izuku into a corner of the school.
"You piece of trash! What dirty tricks did you use to get in?! Transfer schools already!!!"
Bakugo grabbed Izuku by the collar, roaring in rage.
"I'm sorry, Kacchan," Izuku said firmly, gripping Bakugo's wrist."There's a lot I could agree to… but this one thing, I can't."
"Because someone told me… 'You can become a hero.'""He told me… 'This is something you earned yourself.'"