Chapter 70: The Trainer's Manual

The halls of U.A., normally bustling with student chatter, were eerily silent. The euphoria from the Hero Names class had evaporated, replaced by an anticipatory tension that weighed on the shoulders of Team Midoriya. They followed Midnight, whose usual seductive walk now had a solemn air, like the advance of a judge leading them to their sentencing.

"Do you think we're in trouble?" Toru whispered, her voice barely a wisp of air directed at Ochako. "Maybe it was because of the rocket in the obstacle course? Maybe we broke one of the stadium's safety rules."

"I don't know..." Ochako replied in the same low tone, her hands nervously fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. "But for the four of us to be called in together... it can't be a coincidence."

Momo, walking with her usual poise, though with a telling stiffness in her posture, offered her own analysis. "Principal Nezu isn't a disciplinarian in the traditional sense. He's a strategist. If he wanted to punish us, he would have tasked Aizawa-sensei with it. This summons is to gather information. The question is... what information?"

Midnight, who seemed to have supernatural hearing, noticed their nervousness. She turned as they walked, her smile reassuring, though with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"Relax, kids. The principal doesn't bite. Well, not very often," she winked, her gaze lingering for a moment longer than necessary on Izuku. "You made a very, very big impression at the festival. Not just on the sponsors, but on the entire faculty. Sometimes, when something is that impressive, rational people like the principal want to understand how it works, so they can help it keep growing."

Her comment, while reassuring, didn't do much to calm their nerves. They arrived at a massive wooden door at the end of a hallway on the top floor: the principal's office. Midnight knocked softly.

"Come in," a cheerful voice said from inside.

Principal Nezu's office was less an office and more a command center with a spectacular view. An entire wall was a panoramic window offering a breathtaking perspective of the city. The air smelled of high-quality tea and the subtle fragrance of polished wood.

"Ah, welcome!" Nezu said from behind his enormous desk, a small white figure in a world of giants. "Come in, come in. A spot of tea? I've just received an exquisite Darjeeling blend. Please, sit."

All Might, in his imposing heroic form, stood by the window, his back to them, arms crossed. His face, reflected in the glass, was unusually serious.

Once the team was settled on a comfortable sofa and Nezu had served them tea with impeccable hospitality, the principal took a moment to look at them. His tone was analytical and courteous, but the intensity in his small rodent eyes was unmistakable.

"First and foremost, allow me to congratulate you. All four of you. What you accomplished at the sports festival was not just a victory; it was a demonstration of synergy and growth that has redefined many of our pedagogical expectations," he paused, letting the words sink in. "And that is precisely why you are here. As Midnight-sensei told you, this is not a disciplinary meeting. Quite the contrary. It is a meeting to try to understand a series of... wonderful anomalies."

He placed a tablet on the coffee table, which lit up to display several files. He tapped the first one, revealing a chart of Izuku's vital signs from the infirmary.

"Let's start with the most baffling event," Nezu said. "Midoriya-kun, according to three separate diagnoses from the country's top specialists, your condition after the USJ attack was, to be blunt, terminal. Massive organ damage, multiple fractures... Yet, within a few hours, while you were theoretically alone with Miss Yaoyorozu, Miss Uraraka, and your mother, you experienced a full recovery. An unprecedented medical anomaly that defies several known laws of biology."

Before they could react, he swiped to the next file. It showed Toru's learning curve.

"Then, we have this exponential growth," he continued, his voice still cheerful. "Miss Hagakure, until just a few weeks ago, your record indicated you had no conscious control over your Quirk. Now, you can activate and deactivate it at will and have developed offensive applications. A developmental curve that would normally take years of specialized training."

He moved to the last file, an analysis of Ochako's semifinal match.

"And finally, the raw power," Nezu's gaze fell on Ochako. "Miss Uraraka, your display of power in your match against Todoroki-kun exceeded the maximum projections for your Quirk by a conservative estimate of five hundred percent. You not only destroyed a combat arena designed to withstand high-impact Quirks, but you also generated localized gravitational distortions. Simply put, what you did should not be possible."

He turned off the screen and looked at them, his black eyes shining with an unfathomable intelligence.

"As I said, we are not here out of mere curiosity. We are here because these anomalies, while wonderful, are an unknown factor. And in our line of work, an unknown factor this potent, if not understood, can be incredibly dangerous. For you."

All Might finally turned around. The concern on his face was paternal and genuine, softening the intimidating atmosphere.

"Young ones," he said, his voice rumbling softly. "What you did was more than heroic. I am incredibly proud."

He placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder, a gesture of support.

"But that demonstration of power, that perfect coordination, has put you on the map in a very dangerous way. The League of Villains and others lurking in the shadows now see you not as mere students, but as high-priority threats... or as incredibly valuable assets. To protect you, to help you grow safely, we need to understand. This isn't an order. It's a request. Help us help you."

Midnight, sitting in a chair next to the desk, added in a softer tone, "You're safe here, kids. There are no wrong answers. We just want to understand."

The four students exchanged a long, silent look. They didn't need words. It was a decision they had made together, like a single organism. They were a team, and they would face this together.

Izuku, as their leader, took a deep breath.

"Principal Nezu, All Might-sensei, Midnight-sensei... you're right," he began, his voice quiet but firm with the weight of the truth. "Things have been happening. Things that even I can't fully explain."

And then, he began his story.

He explained the history of his Quirk, "Trainer." How he had thought it was useless, only good for teaching tricks to the neighborhood dogs. He described the humiliation, the resignation, and the fear of being a nobody in a world of gods.

He recounted the exact moment during the entrance exam: the panic, the fear for an injured Ochako, and the desperation. And how, in that instant, his Quirk had screamed at him for the first time, not with words, but with data. A flood of cold, precise information about her hidden potential, about exercises, limits, evolutionary paths... a complete "user manual" for her power.

"A user manual?" All Might asked, fascinated.

"Yes. It's the best way to describe it. It appears in my mind as text, as diagrams. I see the Quirk not as a magical power, but as a system. With its rules, its bugs, and its potential for upgrades."

He confessed why he had kept it a secret, his voice dropping to a vulnerable whisper.

"It was the first time anything like that had happened. I was afraid. Afraid it was a fluke, a hallucination. Afraid that if I said it out loud, it would disappear. Afraid of going back to being... useless Deku."

Nezu, who had been listening with absolute concentration, his small paws clasped together, intervened. His voice was soft, but his question was sharp as a scalpel.

"Fascinating. An empathetic and pedagogical analysis Quirk. That explains the accelerated growth of your teammates. It's an incredible teaching tool. But it doesn't explain the momentary power spikes. The 'boost' that Uraraka-san demonstrated to destroy the arena, or the one Yaoyorozu-san used to create an arsenal at the USJ. That goes beyond simple teaching."

Izuku swallowed hard. It was time for the full revelation.

"There's... more," he admitted. "My Quirk doesn't just read. It also writes. I can... give my team a 'boost,' a temporary enhancement. I can inject my own energy into their system so they can surpass their current limits. And in return..."

He paused, bracing himself for the strangest part.

"In return, when I form a strong bond with them, when our Quirks connect, my own body is permanently upgraded. I assimilate the fundamentals of their Quirks. From Ochako, I gained near-perfect agility and balance. From Momo, accelerated cellular regeneration. From Toru, a light refraction that makes me harder to hit. From my mother... I gained control over my own body's vectors, boosting my strength and speed. We grow together. They get a temporary boost, and I get a permanent upgrade."

The room fell into a stunned silence. Nezu looked like a child who had just discovered that Santa Claus was real and also piloted a mecha. All Might was visibly impressed, a hand on his chin, processing the implications.

But it was Midnight who broke the silence. Her eyes shone with a mixture of professional interest and a very, very personal curiosity.

"A Quirk that empowers others and empowers itself through a bond..." she said, leaning forward, her voice an intrigued purr. "Fascinating. I've never heard of anything like it. Young Midoriya, could you show us? How exactly does the 'enhancement' process work?"

The question was genuine, but her flirtatious tone and intense gaze made the room's temperature climb ten degrees.

"Could you... enhance me, temporarily?" she added, her smile widening.

Izuku's face, which had been serious and confident during his confession, turned the color of a stop sign. The girls behind him exchanged a look of, "Oh no, here comes the worst part."

"W-Well... um... you see, Midnight-sensei..." he began to stammer. "There's a... a requirement for the energy transfer and the high-level analysis. For... for the 'boost' to work optimally... there has to be... physical contact."

Midnight raised an eyebrow, her smile not faltering. "Physical contact? Like holding my hand, my little prodigy?"

The nickname, so unexpected, threw him off even more. "N-Not... exactly. The... the system is more efficient, the information is more complete, and the power transfer is stronger... the more... intimate... the contact is."

The air in the office became thick.

"Intimate?" Midnight repeated, her voice now a seductive whisper.

Izuku wished his Quirk would let him teleport to another planet. He surrendered to the inevitable, humiliating truth.

"For the deepest analysis and the strongest enhancement... I need to touch... um... key power zones. Points where the Quirk's energy or its biological foundations are most concentrated. Like... the chest. Or... or the butt."

All Might choked on his own breath, his heroic form seeming to deflate a little from sheer disbelief. Nezu covered his mouth with a paw, his small shoulders shaking as he tried to contain a laugh that threatened to become maniacal.

And on Midnight's face, a slow, incredibly intrigued, and very, very dangerous smile began to form.