Chapter 39: Trainer Midoriya's Disastrous Second Round!

Izuku was leaning against the kitchen counter, running water over the scratches on his wrists. They weren't a big deal, but they still stung a little.

My first war wound in active duty.

Ibara emerged from the bathroom already dressed, her hair still damp. When she saw Izuku by the sink, she lowered her head slightly and stopped at a careful distance, not daring to take another step for fear of causing a second disaster.

"Sensei, I beg you to tend to that wrist," Ibara murmured, keeping her eyes downcast. "That injury was the result of my carelessness, and it would not be right for you to ignore it as though nothing had happened."

"Shiozaki-san, seriously, nothing bad happened here," Izuku answered, turning off the faucet and shaking the water from his fingers. "You got scared, your vines got scared with you, and in the end they wrapped around me to protect you. If you think about it, it was actually a pretty sweet gesture on their part."

Ibara finally lifted her eyes to him.

"I would appreciate it if you would not try to turn my lack of control into something worthy of praise, sensei."

"I'm just saying your vines have pretty good taste in who they pick to hug."

"..."

Izuku was opening his mouth to keep going when a third voice interrupted the conversation from the end of the hallway.

"What are you two talking about at this hour?"

Yu shuffled into the kitchen, still in her robe with her hair a complete mess. She yawned halfway through, but when she saw the two of them she woke up pretty fast.

"Hold on. Why do I feel like something weird is going on here?"

"I-It's a really long story, but I swear I didn't do anything bad," Izuku said, raising both hands in surrender.

"It was my fault, Yu-san. Izuku-sensei did nothing wrong," Ibara hurried to say, bowing. "I went into the bathroom and forgot to lock the door. He didn't know I was in there and ended up walking in by accident."

Ibara took a moment to straighten back up.

"Then I got scared and my vines reacted before I could control them... I'm truly sorry."

Yu still had her eyes half closed with sleep, but seeing her so mortified she finally let out a sigh.

"Ugh, Shiozaki. You don't have to make a whole tragedy out of this," she muttered, rubbing an eye. "Just... next time lock the door, please." She shot Izuku a sideways glance. "Especially considering there's a certain pervert wandering around this house."

Hey... that was an insult aimed at me.

"In my defense," Izuku said, "I was washing my wounds and minding my own business when you walked in here to accuse me."

"An exemplary pervert is still a pervert." Yu held up three fingers in front of his face. "Three days. You've spent three days straight racking up weird scenes with women, and we haven't even hit the weekend yet."

"I'll take that as a compliment on my productivity."

"..."

"Yu-san," Ibara said modestly, "if you would permit me... it wouldn't be right for me to accept your hospitality after causing you so much trouble without offering anything in return. Please, allow me at least to help you with breakfast."

"You don't need to play maid," Yu replied, finally giving in with a sigh. "As long as you lock the door next time before you shower, we're even. Although... since you offered, I'm not gonna turn down one of your breakfasts either."

"Then it will be an honor to prepare it for you, Yu-san."

Ibara bowed again in thanks, while Yu poured herself a cup of coffee, wondering why the hell she'd gotten up so early.

*

Izuku looked at his wrists again while Ibara opened one of the kitchen drawers looking for something to cover the scratches. She only found silverware, closed it, and tried the next one.

Watching her, Izuku remembered what had happened in the bathroom.

Wait, if her vines react to protect her and end up hurting whoever's next to her... that's a serious problem for a hero.

"I've got it."

Ibara stopped searching and turned to him with a bandage she'd finally found.

"You've got what, sensei?"

Izuku stepped closer and, carried away by excitement, squeezed her cheeks between his hands.

"Bingo! We've got a new goal!"

"Whaff arf you fawking abouff, henfhei?" Ibara tried to speak, her cheeks squished between his hands.

"Think about it for a second." He let her go and stepped back. "One day you're gonna show up to a fire, or a collapse, and you're gonna want to pull someone out with your vines. But if you panic like today, you won't rescue that person, you'll hand them back more hurt than they were."

Ibara lowered one of her vines in front of her and carefully ran her fingers between the thorns.

"I understand."

"I'm not saying your Quirk is dangerous. You control it really well. But when you react on instinct, it's different, right?"

"Yes." Ibara kept examining the vine as she answered. "If I lose command of them in a moment of fear, an innocent person could pay for my lack of control."

"That's why we're gonna fix it today." Izuku smiled at her calmly. "So this afternoon we're gonna work on it."

Ibara looked up at him.

"What do you propose?"

"That they learn to hold onto someone without hurting them. Slowly at first, and then we'll see how they react when I put you under a little pressure."

Yu was still near the counter with her coffee. Hearing him talk about training, she took another sip before jumping in.

"I have a lot of faith in you, you crappy assistant."

"Your faith in me is touching, boss."

"Faith in your ability to come back injured."

"..."

"..."

*

And that was how the two of them ended up alone in Gym Gamma. Nemuri was busy with other matters and Yu had left for her hero shift.

Before starting, Izuku sat on the edge of the platform and opened the lunch Yu had packed for him that morning. The bento was a lot more carefully put together than he'd expected. When he took out the napkin, he found a small lipstick mark on one corner, and next to the food, a jar of wound cream.

Izuku picked up the jar and looked at it for a moment.

When did she get this?

Then he looked at the napkin again.

She spends the whole morning complaining about me and then makes me stuff like this... I knew it. She likes me.

Izuku slipped the jar into his pocket and turned his attention back to Ibara, who was waiting for him in the middle of the gym.

"Alright, this is gonna have two parts," he explained. "First I want to see how well your vines move when there's danger nearby, so we understand what we're working with. And then, the important part, they need to learn how to hold onto someone without leaving them full of holes."

"I understand the first part. And how do we practice the second, sensei?"

"You're gonna attack those targets over there while holding onto me at the same time. Two things at once. If you can hit them without hitting me, we win the day."

Ibara frowned slightly.

"Sensei, after what happened this morning, I am not certain that using you as a test subject is the most prudent decision."

"Don't worry about that, Ibara, just trust me."

UA is way too generous letting us wreck their practice robots without so much as filling out a form. And to think that not so long ago I was the weirdo who just took notes...

"Let's start with something simple, Ibara." He stepped closer and shook out his hands. "Grab me with your vines, but don't turn me into a pincushion, okay? There's the whole lesson for today in one sentence."

Ibara clasped her hands in front of her chest and slightly bowed her head.

"I shall do everything within my power, sensei. I will make certain no thorn causes you harm."

"That's what I want to hear. You don't need to get it perfect on the first try."

"I appreciate your trust." She closed her eyes for a moment, as though offering a brief prayer. "I hope to prove it has not been placed in vain."

"One more thing before we start. When you attack one of those targets, don't think about piercing it. Think about pushing it away. Getting it out of the way without leaving a single hole in it. Can you do that?"

Ibara studied the targets for a few seconds.

"I understand. To restrain rather than to wound..." She nodded solemnly. "It is not the most natural way to use my vines, but if I can learn to subdue someone without causing unnecessary harm, I consider it my duty to master it."

"Exactly. Though, with how fast you usually attack, we're gonna have to teach you a little patience."

Ibara slowly turned her gaze toward him.

"Sensei, I fear that observation is unjust."

"Oh, is it?"

"Patience is a virtue I strive to cultivate diligently."

Ibara took a breath and closed her eyes for a moment before extending her vines toward the targets. At first, her movements were clumsy and uneven: some struck harder, others stopped before reaching their mark, as she split her attention between the attack and the far more delicate task of keeping Izuku held without hurting him.

He stayed quiet, watching as a pair of stems wound around his waist. This time there were no yanks or thorns digging in where they shouldn't; the vines held him with a surprisingly soft firmness, as if Ibara was learning to measure every inch of pressure.

"That's it, much better!" Izuku cheered her on. "See? You can hold onto me without turning my waist into an acupuncture project."

"It... it's true."

Ibara looked down at the vines wrapped around him with a small smile.

"I am not causing him any harm."

"And believe me, I'm the first one celebrating that."

She ignored the comment for the sake of her mental health.

"Now try the target on the left while you keep holding me," Izuku went on, pointing at it with one hand. "Two things at once. You've got this."

A vine shot out and knocked the target down in a single blow. The one around Izuku's waist, on the other hand, stayed in place without squeezing any harder.

Ibara opened her eyes and looked first at the target, then at Izuku.

"I did it..." she said, surprised.

She looked down at the vine still holding him and smiled.

"Sensei, I did it without hurting you!"

"That's my student!" Izuku raised a fist, cheering her on. "One more! Don't lose the rhythm."

Ibara nodded right away and focused on the targets again.

And in that exact moment of happy distraction, one of the targets Izuku had left programmed fired a rubber projectile straight at him. A vine reacted instantly to intercept it and did its job perfectly. The problem was what the stem did as it pulled back: its thorns caught on Ibara's training clothes and, with a single yank, tore them off without her noticing a thing.

Izuku saw with perfect clarity how the garment went flying through the air and how Ibara's breasts bounced as they came free.

What kind of ecchi scene is this?!

Izuku had already been suffering with the thorns throughout the whole practice, and now the punishment to his skin was joined by the punishment to his eyes. He swallowed hard as he tried to communicate what his eyes were seeing.

"Uh... Shiozaki."

Ibara turned to him with her eyes lit up. This time, her excitement broke through a bit of her usual composure.

"Did you see it, sensei?! This time I didn't hurt you!" she exclaimed, looking at her own vines with pride. "Not a single thorn! Ah... thank God. At last they are learning to hold back their strength..."

"Uh, ohh, y-yeah, that was excellent... But, um... your clothes tore."

Huh?

Ibara took a moment to catch what he was referring to. Then she slowly lowered her gaze to her own body.

"..."

When it fully sank in, a deep blush spread across her face.

"S-Sensei?! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"Because I just noticed too!"

"Merciful Lord... grant me the serenity to bear this humiliation."

"And why are you suddenly putting the blame on me?!"

The vines around Ibara started bristling all at once, responding to their owner's outburst. Izuku paled; he knew all too well what that movement meant.

"W-W-Wait, Ibara, don't make any sudden movements, breathe with me, inhale, exhale, inhale... Oh, shi..."

FSSSH.

"Shiozakiiiiiiiiii."

FSSSH.

"I'm sorry!"

"SHIOZAKIIIIIIIIIII!"

*

Five seconds later, the room fell completely silent.

Izuku was sprawled on his back on the gym floor, with an alarming number of thorns scattered all over his body, staring at the ceiling through half closed eyes.

"They killed... they killed an innocent man," he muttered, without the strength to even lift an arm.

Ibara dropped to her knees beside him, not caring in the slightest that she was in her underwear.

"Sensei!" She leaned over him, completely alarmed. "Sensei, please, answer me! Can you hear me?"

Day one trying to avoid getting hurt by Ibara's thorns: Failed.

Ibara laced her hands together and bowed her head. She was so frightened by what she'd just done that, instead of thinking about what to do first, she started to pray.

"Father, have mercy on this young man who has fallen while carrying out a noble task, and forgive this clumsy sinner who was the instrument of his misfortune..."

Izuku rolled his eyes and gathered what little strength he had left to shout.

"WE NEED TO TEND TO THE WOUNDED IMMEDIATELY!"

The shout caught Ibara by surprise. When she tried to stand up too fast, she lost her balance and fell forward right onto Izuku's crotch.

"Pffffffff."

At what point did I think being a trainer for heroines was my ninja way? Izuku thought, eyes watering.

*

A while later, once the disaster had settled down, Ibara was kneeling by his side with a small pair of tweezers, pulling the thorns out one by one with a motherly gentleness. Izuku lay in nothing but his underwear, resigned to his fate, holding the jar of cream Yu had packed in his bento.

Yu... my beautiful Yu, you're an angel disguised as a grumpy woman. You knew this training was gonna end in tragedy.

He felt like crying with gratitude when he realized his boss had prepared for disaster even before he left the house.

"Alright," he sighed. "Next time I come up with a brilliant training idea, I'm gonna take a moment to think it over twice. Or maybe three times, just in case."

"That would be an act of great wisdom, sensei," Ibara replied without looking up from her work, pulling out another thorn with the utmost care.

Ibara took a bit of cream on her fingers and began to spread it gently over the marks her thorns had left. She was still breathing a little fast and avoided looking directly at him as she worked.

In a single day she'd gone through the worst embarrassment of her life twice in front of the same person.

*

After a few minutes that felt like an eternity, Ibara ended up lying on the floor next to Izuku, breathing heavily. She kept her hands crossed over her abdomen, as if even resting required a certain dignity.

Izuku raised a trembling hand and took hers.

"By the way, Ibara... you don't have to call me sensei."

Her eyes opened at once.

"Have I been too presumptuous in addressing you with such familiarity? I beg your forgiveness, I never meant to be disrespectful in any way..."

"I'm not upset," he interrupted her gently. "I'm just saying you can call me Izuku."

Izuku gave her a few affectionate pats on the chest, convinced he was patting her stomach.

She took his wrist gently and returned his hand to safer territory.

"I fully trust in the purity of your intentions. Unfortunately, I am beginning to seriously distrust your sense of direction."

A vine stretched out and gave Izuku a warning tap on the forehead.

"Consider it a moderate penance."

"What about calling me Izuku?" he asked.

She looked away, her breath uneven.

"I can do that... Izuku-san. But I would appreciate it if your hands did not acquire the same familiarity as our names."

Izuku let out a tired laugh. The truth was, this girl was growing on him more and more.

"Hey, by the way... how are we gonna get you some clothes?"

Ibara looked down at what was left of her training clothes and then raised her eyes to him. Her vines closed a little tighter around her, forming an improvised covering to give her back some decency.

"I imagine the gym must have some sort of emergency uniform for cases like this," she went on, doing her best to keep her solemnity.

"Yep. I like this exhibitionist girl," Izuku murmured.

Ibara slowly turned her head toward him. The blush covering her cheeks deepened as a vine stretched out and gave him another tap on the forehead.

"And that was another moderate penance."

"...I'm starting to suspect you enjoy punishing me."

"Do not confuse justice with enjoyment," she replied, looking away. "Besides... I like you too, though you possess the singular talent of turning every pleasant moment into a test of my patience."

---

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