Training with Mirko

(Sorry for the long wait. I've had a lot on my plate recently, and while I have been making it a point to work on my CHYOA stories when I can, it still takes a while to churn out work. I'll still make it a point to work on my chapters, though.)

Izuku walked up to the building Mirko told him to go to. To say he was nervous was an understatement. While he tried not to get his hopes up, Mirko had given him hope that his dreams weren't dead, and he wasn't sure if he could handle them breaking for a second time. The building he was sent to looked like a fancy apartment complex, though it seemed the top floor differed significantly from the others. The walls bulged outwards from the building, and it looked like they were added on after the building was completed and then reinforced.

Izuku nervously walked up to the building and used the intercom.

"H-hello?" Izuku said.

"Who is this?" the gruff voice of Mirko asked.

"I-it's Izuku Midoriya," Izuku replied nervously. "Y-you told me to-" Before he could finish, the door buzzed and unlocked.

"'Bout fucking time you got here," Mirko growled. "Head up to the top floor." Izuku nodded, despite knowing she couldn't see him, and moved to the top floor. He expected to see a luxury penthouse, and he wasn't wrong, but he was shocked to see what looked like a basketball court in the middle of the large living room. Before Izuku could look around, Mirko walked out of a different room wearing a sports bra and basketball shorts. She looked at Izuku, taking in his skinny body before speaking.

"Did you bring workout clothes?"

"W-What?" Mirko didn't say anything about that, just to come over. She hadn't explained what they would do; Mirko just said they would "see how unrealistic his dream was." Izuku would assume they would be looking over his options, or maybe she wanted to give him a pep talk. Neither option seemed to fit with Mirko, a punch-first and ask-later kind of girl, but it was the only thing that made sense. Izuku should've known better.

"I'll take that as a "no." Strip down to your underwear, and let's get started."

"What?!" Izuku repeated with more ****. His face was now heating up over the idea of stripping in front of a pretty woman like Mirko. "I-I can't-" Before Izuku could properly refuse her order, the rabbit woman started grabbing and pulling his clothes off. Any protests the boy made were muffled by his shirt covering his head. Midoriya briefly tried to struggle against Mirko, but that somehow helped her strip him as he found himself missing his shirt, pants, and even his socks and shoes a few seconds later. He stood there in nothing but his boxers as Mirko examined his body in much more detail than he was comfortable with. His only saving grace at the moment was that he wasn't wearing his All Might-themed underwear, which would drive this situation from embarrassing to mortifying.

"Figured as much," Mirko muttered in disapproval. "Not an ounce of muscle. Seriously, how the Hell did you even entertain the idea of being a Hero without working out?!"

"I-I mean..." Izuku muttered, taken aback by Mirko's question. "I... didn't see the point..."

"The point is Hero work is physically demanding," Mirko growled. "Even Heroes whose quirks and specialties don't require them to get their hands dirty have to stay in shape. They have to be ready to handle multiple crises every day! What the hell do you think you're gonna accomplish with this pudgy body of yours!"

"I... I..." Izuku was at a loss for words. Mirko was right; Heroes needed to be strong, not just with their Quirk, but with their bodies. Izuku knew this, but never did anything about it because he knew it would be a miracle to even be on track for a Hero career. And that was the problem, wasn't it? Even as Izuku stubbornly clung to his dream, deep down, even he didn't believe in himself, so he never put in the hard work that was needed.

As Izuku mentally reeled over this self-realization, Mirko started moving various workout equipment to the center of the room.

"So this is what we're going to do," the Rabbit Heroine began. "I'm going to train you. Both in exercise and combat. After a couple of months, we'll see where you are and I'll decide whether you should give up on being a hero or not."

"R-really?" Izuku asked. He was both amazed and confused. He couldn't understand why Mirko was doing all of this for him. Sure, she was a Hero, but Mirko famously only cared about fighting villains over all other aspects of the job. Going out of her way to train an 18-year-old seemed out of character for her. He could chalk up their earlier talk as her making sure some dumb kid didn't kill himself, but everything after that was... odd to say the least.

However, Izuku didn't have time to wonder about that as Mirko started drilling him on his new workout routine. Mirko made it clear she was going to put every single muscle Izuku had through the ringer, and that was before she started teaching him how to fight.

Needless to say, the boy had a lot more to worry about than Mirko's odd behavior.