The Origin of something new (mha ff)

Chapter 35

"When will she come again? She hasn't been with me for so long, won't she come?" Izuku looked at Eri and didn't know what to answer. "She wants to come, but she can't yet. She's sick at the moment." "I don't want her to be sick." "Neither do I." He mumbled it more than he said it out loud. Kaede had been absent for two whole weeks now and the phone that kept ringing in her room reminded them all too painfully of her absence. "I'm turning this shit off, I can't hear it anymore!!!" Katsuki had run to her room one evening to get the phone. Strangely, he seemed relieved at that, as if he was up to something. "Who was it?" Katsuki looked rather thoughtful. "Some cop said she requested a case and to come pick up the folders. Do you think she wants to solve it as a mission for our team?" "I have absolutely no idea." Eri snapped Izuku out of his thoughts. "I'll just draw a picture for her and she'll be fine!" He smiled happily. "That will help!"

...

Kaede returned after two weeks and was escorted around the UA compound on a Saturday. Not everyone was in the dormitory when she arrived, and she was glad of that. She was so embarrassed to get all the attention when everyone came up to her and asked her questions. Tsuyu stood reservedly in the corner of the room and Kaede had a very bad feeling about it. "Do you know where Aizawa is?" At some point she had gotten tired of all the questions. "He's training with a student from General. Hitoshi Shinsou." Perplexed, Kaede turned to Izuku. "Isn't that the one from the sports festival? With the purple hair?" "Yes, that's the one. He turned out pretty good." "Do you know where, can you show me?"

Izuku led her to one of the UA's many training grounds, where Shinsou was currently concentrating on catching targets, while Aizawa stood by with a sullen expression, watching him. He turned as the footsteps of Izuku and Kaede approached. A broad smile reached his eyes and Kaede grinned as she came to stand beside him. "So you're back?" "Looks like it." He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "I'm glad you're all right." "I was fine a two weeks ago. They could have let me go, but they wanted to run the tests 'while I was there' or something." She rolled her eyes. "Fucking Karens." "I'm not sure they pass for Karens, but fine." "So you're really training him?" "Yeah, I filled out those forms I told you about too. Now that you're here, I might as well introduce you directly." "Hitoshi!" Izuku was gone, but now Shinsou came to kaede. "This is Kaede, you must have seen her at the sports festival." "I heard you were in hospital, I'm glad you're feeling better." She nodded, "Yeah, me too." Awkward silence. "How about you two fight each other sometime. No Quirk, just physical combat." Shinsou cast worried glances around. "But she just got out of the hospital today..." "I had no physical injuries, it's fine. Now I'm going to give you a real going over and show you what you'll experience when you transfer to the hero course." He frowned and turned to Aizawa. "Why does she know about this." Aizawa glanced briefly at Kaede. "I talked to her about it, no one else knows." Shinsou nodded, though not satisfied. "So, get into fighting position in the middle now. The fight is over when the other is immobilised." They lined up and as soon as the start signal sounded, they still stood alertly at their positions. "Then show me what you've got!", Shinsou called. Slowly, kaede moved closer, then launched into a kick, which Shinsou dodged. When he went in for the attack himself, she grabbed his leg and twisted it without hesitation. He twisted the rest of his body with it and landed on the ground. One hand on his head and knees in his back, she looked up at Aizawa. "Kaede wins. Next round." This time Shinsou sprinted straight at her, but then immediately flew over her shoulders as well. Before she could turn around, he rolled away and was back on his feet. He knocked her over and it ended in a scuffle on the dusty floor. Kaede pulled her knee up, not knowing what exactly she had hit. He groaned briefly but kept pressure on her body. She gave in, no longer leaning against it and letting him think he had won. His grip loosened and Kaede took advantage. With a jerk, she freed herself and rolled over so that Shinsou was under her again. She pressed his face into the churning dust and slid back and forth on his back so that he could no longer fight back. "Looks like kaede has won again. Next round." Out of breath, she helped Shinsou up. Aizawa didn't give them a break. They had to fight each other, again and again, and Kaede won every single time. "Good, I think that's enough. Shinsou should have a good picture of the hero course now." Drenched in sweat, Shinsou sank to the ground. "How can you be so good?! I don't stand a chance against you." Aizawa came up to the two. "We will change that. Kaede, would you agree to train with Shinsou in hand-to-hand combat so I can deal with his Quirk? We can speed up the process of his transfer many times over." Kaede wanted to say yes straight away, but she waited a moment. She showed Shinsou that she was thinking about it until she agreed. "Yes, I'll be happy to help him." Aizawa nodded with satisfaction. "In general, you have more theory than practice, after all, so it will remain with tutoring sessions of this kind. I expect a lot from you, Shinsou."

As she walked with Aizawa to the teachers' wing, she asked him: "Don't you think you're putting too much pressure on him?" Aizawa thought before giving her an answer. "He has high goals that he wants to achieve. By pressuring him, I'm only helping him to achieve them faster." "But what if he puts a lot more pressure on himself and then fails completely?" "I- I don't know, do you know what he feels?" Her expression darkened. "You know I'm not going to just poke around in other people's feelings. I don't have the right to, nor do I even want to." "I understand." Silently they walked on until Aizawa found another subject. "Midnight suggested something... I think you'd better be there to minimise the damage. She wants to have a 'girls night' with Eri and I'm pretty sure I don't want to know what she means by that." Kaede had gone pale. "Oh no, I have to save her." "Yup, Eri was asking for you anyway. All the time. She cried her ears off to everyone she was with. I think because of your absence she'll be even more attached to you than before." Kaede didn't know what to say to that. She was happy that Eri liked her, but she also had a bad conscience. Why did Eri like her at all? "Do you want to relax for now or go straight to Eri?" "Are they going to do tests on Eri too?" The question had been burning on her lips since she was in the hospital herself. Perplexed, Aizawa looked at her. "No they won't, we'll prevent that." She nodded and it was only when he saw the pain in her gaze which she tried to hide that he realised what he had just said. It almost came across as if he would do anything to make sure Eri didn't have to endure these tests, and on kaede's part it didn't matter. "Kaede it's not-" "The only thing I want is for Eri not to have to go through the same thing I did. I don't want her to endure my pain." She took a shaky breath. "But it hurts so much to see how everyone cares for her, when the only thing I had at that time was myself." She took another deep breath in and out, wiped her eyes and put her smile back on. "I'm going to relax for now, thank you." But she didn't go any further into the teacher's wing where she was supposed to be resting. She turned and left. Izuku and Katsuki had actually been on their way to All might, but now they stood frozen behind a corner, hoping not to be caught. Katsuki had pulled Izuku back just before he would have gone around the corner. He wanted to listen, and when it came to Eri, Izuku too became listening. Now they stood there, Katsuki's hand on Izuku's mouth, staring at each other in disbelief. Many questions buzzed through the minds of the two boys. What kind of tests had she been talking about and what had Kaede even been through? "Someone should go and check on her." Uncertainly, Izuku detached himself. "Well, definitely not me." Katsuki raised his hands. "It would be best to get one of the girls, but by then Kaede will be gone." Izuku waited for katsuki to respond, to no avail. "Then I will go." "You'll only make it worse Deku." Izuku was losing patience with Katsuki. This was not about their rivalry. "Then what, katsuki?" He emphasised the name, chewing it and spitting it out as he never did. "Fine, I'll go." Katsuki turned on his heel and stomped off in the direction Kaede had gone. Izuku just sighed and looked after him. Something told him it was a good decision. He had to keep watching Kaede. Getting information from Katsuki later would be difficult.