My Hero Academia: Next Gen

Chapter 30: Backyard Theories

A rush of air flew out of Eri's lips as she crumpled to her knees, tears welling at the corners of her eyes. Deku's eyes widened and he sped over to her side, holding her upright. "It's okay, Eri! Look, I'm completely fine!"

"I-I'm so glad," she said through her tears. "I'm so glad!"

He wrapped his arms around her and she squeezed him back tightly, digging her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. It was soft, but so much baggier than it had been just moments ago. Behind her, Eri could hear her friends whispering to each other quickly, their words lost on her. As soon as she turned to look at them, their voices stopped, and she frowned slightly. What had they been saying?

"See, I told you that you could do it," Aizawa said, coming up to them and softly putting a hand on her head. "Now, all you have to do is use your power on him again. If my theory is correct, when you rewind him he will revert back to his older body, which is now the former version of himself." He nodded at her. "Go ahead. Try it."

Feeling much more confident now that she saw that Deku was alright, Eri nodded much more quickly and stood back up. "Okay," she said, her voice tight but steady. "Let's try it."

Deku gave her his hands and she stared at his face, praying that her dad's theory would be correct. Her power flowed out of her again, her horn glowing a little brighter than before. She felt her face grow warm as she carefully studied him, but she found that she didn't mind the heat. What mattered was right in front of her.

She watched him, waiting to see if his features would grow even softer, which would mean that her father was wrong and her quirk didn't reverse back to previous forms, simply back in time and further. She wondered what would happen if that was the case. If she couldn't change him back, he would be stuck as a child again. Fear filled her as she thought of the consequences of this theory not working, but she suppressed it deep inside her chest. She couldn't think like that. Not now.

Eri stared at Deku's jawline and her eyes widened when she saw it starting to sharpen again, growing more squared off and chiseled, just like it had been before. "It's working!" she exclaimed, a smile widening on her face. "It's working! He's getting older again!"

And it was true. His muscles, which she hadn't even realized had grown smaller, grew back to their adult size, his eyes losing their round edge and gaining more of a mature shape. There was no dramatic change, but everyone in that backyard knew that there was a difference in how he looked.

As soon as Deku looked twenty-three again, Eri took her hands away and stopped her power. She stared down at her palms, a giddy grin growing. "I did it," she whispered. "I did it!" Suddenly, she was laughing and running into her father's arms, calling out, "I did it, I did it!"

Aizawa had one of his rare smiles on his face as he hugged her tightly. "I knew you could," he said, his voice filled with joy.

Uraraka rushed over to look over Deku and nodded as she tested his temperature with the back of her hand. "He looks normal," she confirmed.

Amano whistled. "And I didn't even have to do a thing."

"Thankfully," Torredo added.

Himei shook his head. "That is some crazy power right there," he said, his expression a mixture of awe and apprehension.

Yoru nodded. "I'm just glad she's a hero-to-be and not a villain. Can you imagine coming up against that kind of power in combat? Where a single touch can make you completely defenseless?"

Eri turned to Aizawa, determination written on her face. "Okay, what's next?"

The next two hours were spent with Eri alternating between Deku and Uraraka, testing different theories now that they knew it was possible to turn back into their older self. The first thing they did was see if Eri could turn Uraraka into a middle schooler, which she did. After that was elementary school, preschool, and then finally a baby. At that point, Eri started getting nervous about rewinding too far, since they were so close to no longer existing, and they all agreed that about two-years-old was as young as they dared go.