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When the vestiges had first started talking to Izuku outside his dreams, he’d believed this an unprecedented opportunity to obtain the wisdom of his seniors and aid his development as a hero. Boy, had he ever been disillusioned fast.
As Aizawa stood with his back turned writing on the blackboard, En said, “That man has an ass I could bounce a ten-yen coin off.”
Nana giggled. “I’ll say. That there is a high-quality hunk.” In response to Izuku’s glare, she shrugged. “What? I’m married, not dead. Well, I guess I am dead.”
Izuku groaned and rubbed his forehead. Out of the corner of his mouth, he hissed, “I was trying to glare you into silence. You’re distracting me.”
With a cheerful grin, Nana mimed locking her mouth and throwing away the key.
Unfortunately, as soon as one vestige stopped talking, one of the other six started. The Second spoke over Aizawa. “That’s a completely inaccurate portrayal of history! The Prime Minster hated metahumans with a passion. He even shipped his own daughter off to a boarding school in Europe after she developed a power. He was hardly ‘a voice of reason and moderation.’ Talk about winners writing the history books.”
Izuku was torn between curiosity about the real experiences of a contemporary historical figure and the need to pass his history exam. Since Aizawa had scolded him yesterday for not paying attention in class, necessity won out. He whispered, “I’d love to hear more about that later, but right now I need to take notes.”
The Third said, “Now he’s claiming that Evil Eye Cursed Dark Lord was the greatest vigilante of the era! What nonsense, that man never attacked anything more dangerous than a stray racoon, much less All for One. Leader and I didn’t even get mentions. I demand that you set the record straight with your teacher.”
Sweetly, Izuku whispered, “How am I supposed to do that when you still won’t tell me your name?”
With a pout, the Third turned his back and resumed staring at the wall.
Yoichi said, “I told you my name, and I say you should tell your teacher that the first professional Japanese hero team formed again five years earlier than he said. He’ll probably be pleased and impressed that you remembered the correct date.”
Izuku could use some brownie points after Aizawa had caught him shouting at a vestige yesterday. “Are you sure?”
“Positive!” Yoichi beamed.
Izuku raised his hand. “Excuse me? Mr. Aizawa, I believe the first professional hero team formed five years earlier than that.”
Shouto said, “Yes! That’s what I’ve been telling everyone.”
This instantly gave Izuku a bad feeling.
Aizawa stared wearily. “Yes, there’s a popular conspiracy theory that the Prime Minister was secretly using heroes for five years before he reported it to the public, but I expect you to take off your tinfoil hat and use the correct date on the exam.”
Face flaming, Izuku sank down in his seat. Shouto winked and mouthed, “Don’t be afraid to speak the truth to power.”
Yoichi said, “I’m sorry! For the record, I was telling the truth.”
“I’m sure you were.” Izuku sighed. He’d become more cynical ever since the vestiges had revealed to him how much of his history textbooks were inaccurate.
Without looking at him, Aizawa called, “Stop talking in class, Midoriya.”
Izuku flushed even harder. He stared down at his notes, which had more doodles than text.
For the next five minutes, Izuku tried his hardest to concentrate. The ghosts even left him alone. But his mind kept skipping away. He couldn’t even blame the vestiges this time, they were behaving. Except for All Might’s wispy and silent half-ghost, who’d started fighting invisible villains, his punches mimicking whatever All Might was doing in the real world. Judging from the way he kept leaping in the air, the real All Might must be fighting a flying villain. Was it a wings or a floating quirk? Dammit, Izuku had totally lost track of what Aizawa was saying!
En drifted over. “Do you have trouble concentrating in class? I used to, as well. For me, chewing gum and squeeze balls helped.”
It was on the tip of Izuku’s tongue to say the vestiges were half his problem, but that actually sounded like good advice. Not daring speak again, he wrote on his paper, Thank you. I’ll try that.
A paper floated out of his back. Banjo said, “I took the liberty of correcting your math homework. You had two problems wrong.”
All the other One for All users stared at him.
En said, “Banjo was math champion in high school.” Everyone stared even harder.
Hikage said, “I wrote your literature essay for you. When I was living in the forest, I read a lot of books.”
Up until that point, Izuku hadn’t realized that he’d forgotten about the Japanese literature essay due today. He teared up. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you all.”
Aizawa cleared his throat. “Is my lecture making you cry, Midoriya?”
Izuku stuttered. “No, I…uh…I’m sorry, Mr. Aizawa.” He covered his face with his hands.
Yoichi said, “None of this is your fault.”
Izuku nodded gratefully.
Yoichi continued, “I’m going to fix this.”
“Thank y—” Izuku noticed the grin on Yoichi’s face and realized the First probably didn’t mean he was going to make his fellow vestiges shut up. “Wait—”
But he’d spoken too late. With a flash of green light, Yoichi’s ghostly form merged with Izuku’s body.
His legs no longer under his control, Izuku shot to his feet. His eyes blazed with green lightning. An impossibly deep voice bellowed, “Aizawa, it’s not Nineth’s fault that he’s distracted. He has seven ghosts talking in his ear. Also, most of your history books are full of incorrect government propaganda, and I would know because I was there. Stop punishing him for correct answers. I’m friends with all the local cats, and if you don’t give Nineth a good grade, then I’ll tell them to never let you pet them ever again.” He stopped and used Izuku’s lips to frown. “Was that too harsh? I might have been too harsh. The good news is, Sixth and Seventh would like to tell you that you have a perfect ass.”
Izuku sagged back down in his seat, the life gone out of him. As Yoichi’s ghostly form reappeared, he shot Izuku a thumbs-up.
The chalk slipped from Aizawa’s face as he stared at the space where the ghost had been. Two pink dots formed on his cheeks.
The entire class dissolved into chaotic shouting.
Izuku buried his face in his hands. Now he understood why All Might had been celebrating so hard after Izuku had absorbed enough of One for All that the ghosts had started following him around instead.
His loyalty to his mentor warred with a desperate need for peace and quiet, and something inside him finally broke. “You all know what? Yesterday, All Might told me how much he misses having all of you follow him around and talk to him. Why don’t you go bug—I mean, help him?”