Spacetime Anomaly: MHA Fanfic

Chapter 9.3: Making The Most Out Of An "Uncomfortable" Situation

With that cleared up, one by one the students walked over to All Might to pick lettered buttons to make up the teams. To summarize, Izuku and Hagakure made up Team A, Momo and Todoroki made up Team B, Mineta and Shoji made up Team C, Iida and Bakugo made up Team D, Mina and Aoyama made up Team E, Sato and Koda made up Team F, Jiro and Kaminari made up Team G, Tokoyami and Asui made up Team H, Sero and Uraraka made up Team I, and finally Ojiro and Kirishima made up Team J.

With the teams picked, All Might produced two more ballot boxes labeled Villain and Hero respectively and picked two buttons from each box. After dramatically pulling out two buttons, one black and the other white, he said, "Alright! For the first round, we'll have Team A as the Heroes and Team B as the Villains."

Izuku happy to go first smiled before looking around to find his partner. When he found her, however, a look of confusion settled into his face before shock of exponentially increasing intensity gradually threatened his sanity. Eventually, the attention of the entire class found its way converged on his form as mental power manifested in his immediate surroundings.

As Iida took in Izuku's utterly grim disposition as he stared at the floor, he asked, "Midoriya-san, what's wrong?"

"Hagakure isn't wearing clothes..." Though he stated it simply, it was conveyed such that a foreigner would think he was talking about someone dying.

"Well… that's only natural, isn't it? She wouldn't be able to make use of her Invisibility Quirk with clothes on," Iida retorted.

Unfortunately, his words only deepened Izuku's grievances as he said, "For one, her Quirk isn't Invisibility, it has to do with warping light. But more importantly… I can see her." He didn't dare lift his head from staring at the floor as a thick cover of shame overwhelmed him. To him, this was highly immoral! Moreover, it didn't help that most of the class shared the same sentiment. Well, most aside from Kaminari and Mineta who seemed to be dying of envy.

Fortunately, Hagakure was more understanding that anyone expected as she walked over to his side and said, "Welp, it's not like I didn't prepare myself for this. I mean, all Quirks have weaknesses, right? There was bound to be someone who could see me out in the field." Only Izuku could see as her face flushed mildly as she added, "I just didn't think it would be this soon..."

All Might being the teacher responsible for the Foundational Heroics Class, naturally jumped in to mediate, saying, "Glad to see this doesn't bother you too badly, young Hagakure." He turned to the rest of the class that were giving Izuku odd looks and actually backed him up despite their past, adding, "To reiterate young Hagakure's words, Quirks come in all shapes and size, so there's bound to be perfect counters to everyone. All of you should follow her example and prepare for the worst."

Seeing everyone calm down, especially Izuku, whose chaotic mental state was on the verge of starting a spatial storm, All Might continue on with the exercise, saying, "Now, to continue the Battle Trial, the Villain Team will go into the building first. You'll be given five minutes to strategize and move the fake bomb before the Heroes enter and the timer starts."

He turned to Momo and Todoroki and said, "For this exercise, you'll need to develop a villain mindset. To make the most out of this practical experience, don't hold back!"

…

As the two teams left to start the first round of today's Battle Trials, Izuku and Hagakure silently found themselves on the ground level outside the building. Izuku still unable to look Hagakure in the eyes, had his back to her as he said, "So… You really didn't know that your Quirk wasn't Invisibility?"

"Right… I heard you mention something about warping light? What is that all about?" Unlike Izuku, Hagakure didn't feel nearly as self-conscious as a girl her age should for being looked at in the nude. After all, she couldn't even see herself, so, it was mostly all conceptual as she didn't know what it was like to be eyed by… well anyone, really.

"Ah, figures… You remember when we met on the first day? When I asked you if I could copy your technique? Well, I honestly thought you were actively using your Quirk to practice concealing yourself by warping light over the space that makes up your body. I could see it because one of my abilities let's me see through space."

"So you're saying my Quirk warps light?"

"Mhmm… I'm not really sure if it's light refraction or something else, but in any case please do some tests with me. I don't think I can live with myself If I have to keep working with you while you're n.a.k.e.d like this."

A bit offended, Hagakure asked, "Am I that ugly?"

"Ugly?" Izuku eyes narrowed dangerously as he whipped his head in her direction and stared into her eyes with the face of someone about to perform brain surgery. "I'm a healthy fifteen-year-old boy and you're a n.a.k.e.d beauty. I'd say it was distracting, but that wouldn't be the half of it..."

With lips pursed and a brow raised, Hagakure skeptically asked, "N.a.k.e.d Beauty? Sorry, but even I can't see myself." Izuku didn't seem like the type to lie, so she continued asking, "Can you describe me?"

Face crimsoning once again, Izuku cringed as he took a couple of steps away from his partner. He thought, 'Describe her? Doesn't she realize she's asking me to look over her body even more?' Still, as a certified doctor, he managed to keep himself from devolving into an idiotic teen as he accelerated his perception of time and looked her over with predominantly golden-colored eyes in a fraction of a second.

With slight difficulty, he said, "You, um… you're a bit short standing at around 1.5 meters tall, you have pretty white hair and eyes and the rest… let's just say, your boy is slender yet curvy with unblemished slightly pale white skin. If you weren't invisible by default, I wouldn't find it out of the ordinary to see you on TV advertising beauty products."

Now sharing in Izuku's embarrassment, Hagakure's would-be invisible face blushed as she finally started to truly believe Izuku could see her. While it was true that she didn't know what she looked like, she did have some photos of herself before her Quirk manifested when she was three years old. So after being told that she had white hair and eyes, something that only her family might have known, from Izuku, the gravity of her situation came to full light.

"Anyway," Izuku pushed through to avoid the path Hagakure was driving their conversation, "Since we're already at this point, do you mind if I study your technique, now? I mean, I know you're not actively warping light around you, but maybe I can help you if I figure out what your body is doing naturally."

"Uh… sure," Despite her mild embarrassment, Izuku had already seen her n.a.k.e.d; it really couldn't get much worse.

So, with a little over two minutes to go before the Battle Trial began, Izuku gave her an appreciative nod and let spatial power once more consume the natural emerald color of his eyes, turning them golden in the process. He found it unbelievably easy to concentrate on breaking down Hagakure's "Innate Warping Technique," as he liked to call it, despite the process involving staring at her b.a.r.e body without reservations.

To him, it wasn't like he was looking at Hagakure the person, more so than it was him just looking at a model human body. Moreover, because he had already gone through the process of finding additional applications of his Spacetime powers and Hagakure's invisibility was, in fact, a more refined version of a warping technique he had already discovered, before the round began, Hagakure could actually see Izuku started to fade in and out of existence; apparently, learning her invisibility at record pace.

Previously, Izuku had used a similar yet crude method of warping space around his body to hide his form as he flew to the sludge villain ten months prior. However, comparing that method to the technique Izuku was devising from watching how light behaving as it warped around Hagakure seamlessly was like comparing the punch of a drunken fool and a martial arts master. Sure, both did the same thing in essence, but one was crass and unsightly and the other had finesse and hidden power.

Perhaps against the overwhelming majority of people, Izuku's initial warp concealing method would succeed in doing its job. But to trained professionals, capable villains, he would stick out like a sore thumb. Not to mention he was wasting spatial power like a water faucet gone rogue as he warped unnecessary space at odd, unrealistic angles.

Now after getting a good look at the mechanism behind Hagakure's passive invisibility, of how light naturally curved around her body ever so perfectly, Izuku more or less understood how best to conceal himself. Moreover, he went above and beyond Hagakure's innate limit and applied the technique not just towards himself, but to his clothes as well.