Technical Support

Chapter 5

The two friends reached a street crossing when Ayano spoke. "You can go on ahead. I have business to attend to."

Misunderstanding her intentions, Midoriya grew frantic. "O-Oh no! D-Did I cross the line earlier!? I-I didn't mean to upset you! I just thought you mi—" The girl held up a hand to silence him.

"Relax, I am not upset with you. I have an appointment with a support company around here. They are affiliated with one of the schools I wish to apply to and they have agreed to let me come see some of their facilities." She reassured him.

Midoriya smiled. "That's great, Aya-chan! You're already doing so much..." He looked down at the still damp notebook in his hand. He was feeling slightly down on himself because of Bakugou's words, and Ayano's early actions on her dreams only made him feel as though he were inadequate for his own goals.

The brown-haired girl laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her. "You're going to be a hero just like All Might, aren't you?" Midoriya's eyes widened. The fact that she said, 'going to be' instead of 'want to be' showed just how much faith she had in him.

The boy teared up at the thought. He quickly rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve to dry the tears before they could fall. He gave a determined nod, and Ayano gently smiled in return. "Then, how are you going to reassure me?" She asked

"With a dependable smile, even through adversity!!!" Midoriya exclaimed, giving a bright smile. He turned around and began to run off for home. "Thanks, Aya-chan!" She kept her eyes on him until he was out of sight, then turned to walk off to her own destination.

Ayano walked through the building's gigantic doors and walked up to the receptionist. "Good afternoon. My name is Sasaki Ayano from Oridera Junior High School. I have an appointment to tour your facilities today."

The receptionist beamed. "Oh, yes! I'll call down your guide right away! You can have a seat here." She motioned to the many chairs and sofas in the lobby.

Her guide soon walked through the elevator doors, gave her a standard greeting, and walked her through the building. Ayano grew more and more excited throughout the tour. She had very limited options, working with what she could find at home and what her father could lend her.

She was one of the many that were eager to go to high school. Whereas most were excited to learn heroics, she was excited about expanding her support items. She would finally have the means and mechanics to create more complex devices.

Her guide saved her the room she was most enthusiastic about for last. "And here is where we conduct experiments for costume requests from hero high schools." Ayano's eyes sparkled and she couldn't contain her smile. This was probably one of the moments where she easily showed the most expression in her life.

Still staring into the room through the window, she asked, "The students of Ketsubutsu Academy request their costumes to be made here, correct?" The guide blinked in confusion, but then opened his mouth in realization.

"Oh! Actually, we have recently changed policies and we are no longer affiliated with Ketsubutsu Academy. Instead, we will be affiliated with U.A. High School!" He revealed excitedly.

Ayano finally tore her eyes away from the many machines and looked at the guide in disbelief. "U.A.? The number one school for heroics. That U.A.?" The man nodded. "Yes! It seems they were a bit unsatisfied with their previous support company, so now they have agreed to make a contract with us!"

"I see..." She thanked the man for his time and proceeded to walk back home in deep thought. "This certainly changes things...Perhaps U.A. is taking their other departments more seriously. Regardless, they are a top-notch school in almost every aspect. Maybe I shou—"

Her thoughts were interrupted by loud explosions from nearby. Thinking that it was another villain, Ayano contemplated whether or not she should go to the source because of her concern for Midoriya being in the vicinity.

She shook her head, continuing to walk back home. "No, that tour was thirty minutes long. Surely, he would have made it home by now."

She stopped again. "However, if he somehow didn't make it home yet, he would be crazy enough to turn around and look for the heroes fighting this villain..."

Ayano turned around again, walking towards the sound of the explosions. She picked up her pace, turning into a jog and then turning into a full out sprint.

"Midoriya Izuku, I hate you so much..." She muttered.

Seeing a huge mass of people and scorch marks on the sides of buildings, she knew this was where the villain would be. Not being tall enough to see over all the people and not wanting to push through them, she hopped up onto the street railings for a better view.

As soon as she got a slight overhead view, her eyes widened in horror to see Bakugou being engulfed by a sludge-like monster and Midoriya dashing straight in to help. "Izuku!!!"

It was too late, he flung his backpack at the villain and was trying to grasp at the sludge. Noticing that none of the heroes were helping and realizing she had no time to hesitate before both of the boys were killed, she strapped on her bionic arm to her right hand. She launched the grappling hook at full speed, puncturing into the side of the wall nearby.

She retracted the rope, pulling herself towards the wall and soaring over the heads of people. "Aya-chan!!!" Ignoring Midoriya, she took out her modified joy buzzer and threw it towards the sludge monster, throwing it to the side furthest away from where Bakugou was.

The villain and Bakugou both screamed in pain, but it was short. The shock from the buzzer wasn't enough to incapacitate the monster. The villain turned to her. "Another pest!! Stop getting in my way!" He lunged at her.

Having no other options left, the girl detached from the wall and quickly changed her bionic arm to strap to her left hand. She set the power to its maximum range and aimed the wind tunnel at the villain coming towards her. She held onto her left arm with her right hand, preparing for the kickback.

An incredible amount of air pressure shot out of the tunnel at the villain, leaving a gaping hole in him, but also leaving some holes in the girl's flesh. Not being able to completely withstand the air pressure, the device exploded on her arm. The two boys looked on in horror. "AYANO!!"

The combined pressure of the air and the explosion pushed her far back. As she was falling back, she could see All Might punching the sludge monster to oblivion through her rapidly blurring vision.

She felt the arms of someone catching her and she could feel some rain droplets on her face. The person who caught her was shouting for something, but she couldn't make out what because the explosion from earlier affected her hearing. Everything was surrounded by a ringing noise.

Ayano was fading in and out of consciousness, fighting to stay awake to make sure that Bakugou and Midoriya were safe. She felt herself being put onto a gurney and put all of her effort into turning her head to the side.

She saw a blurry Midoriya running to her, Bakugou further behind him. "Ayano!!" Midoriya called to her with tears in his eyes. Her eyes were half shut, twitching and fighting the pain. She gave him a weak smile.

"G-Glad...you...K-Ka...chan...s-safe..." She barely choked out before she completely lost consciousness.