A Precise Note Chapter 23 - Flaws

“I am.”

Kacchan had put him on the spot, but, at the same time, Kacchan had provided him the greatest ammunition he needed to provide an outward-facing flaw he could use to deflect attention.

People generally are averse to individuals who seem outwardly perfect without a visible flaw. From the Pratfall Effect, to Do-Gooder Derogation, the general consensus is that appearing too ‘good,’ too ‘pure,’ and too ‘flawless’ can be a hindrance rather than a benefit, whereas exposing a perceived flaw, mistake, or weakness can make one appear more ‘human.’

Izuku did not believe he was too ‘good’ a person, However, after what Himiko told him, he became aware of the possibility that others who only saw the outward shell, his outward actions, would most likely think so. Thus, Kacchan’s actions, either wittingly or unwittingly, had provided Izuku what he needed to dispel that fatal illusion.

Oh, he’s perfect, but he’s a womanizer—

Oh, he’s a 10/10, but he likes women a bit too much—

That ‘but’ was crucial. The ‘but’ indicated a contradiction, and contradictions made people human. Physically, Izuku was aware he had no flaws. His teeth were so perfect they shone and blinded people, his body was flawless, as if carved from stone by one of the Italian Greats, and his appearance was good enough to become a world-class model with zero effort. Mentally, he had one or two hiccups, but no one was going to be strolling through his mind to see them, and Izuku would never allow those to be seen regardless. Socially, likewise, he appeared to have no flaws. If anything, his social background would paint a picture of someone almost too perfect, having gone from quirkless, bullied, and shunned, to where he was now. It was a rags-to-riches, pauper-to-prince story that would only make him appear even more perfect.

That was a problem.

Izuku did not want to appear overly perfect.

Himiko’s words still lingered in his ears.

‘Izuku-kun’s Quirk is Perfection.’

Perfection was beyond human. It was suspicious. Being suspicious meant inviting more scrutiny, and inviting more scrutiny meant increasing the odds of others uncovering his true goals.

Of the three facets, he could not give himself physical flaws, and he could not allow anyone to be aware of his mental ones, which left only the social aspect he could sacrifice to dispel the appearance of perfection.

It had to be a flaw that, whilst still generally accepted as a flaw and disapproved of, it was, to varying degrees, socially acceptable. Of the Seven Deadly Sins of the pre-Quirk Era religious philosophy, Lust was the least contemptible. A person prone to wrath was disliked, a person who was gluttonous provoked disgust, a person needlessly slothful evoked discontent, a person overtly greedy or envious of others aroused contempt, and a person excessively proud incited schadenfreude and prayers for their downfall. 

Womanizing, being a ‘playboy’ was the easiest flaw that would cause many to click their tongues, but it was also a flaw they would begrudgingly accept. It’s only natural, they would say. With his looks, what did you expect? They would grumble. If I looked like that, I’d do the same, they would mutter.

It was, if Izuku was being honest, a flaw he had no qualms indulging to the fullest.

“I am whore, Kacchan,” Izuku admitted, fine-tuning his emotions to the same lackadaisical state as though he were speaking about the weather. “It’s very liberating to be properly identified. Thank you.”

Kacchan opened his lips, pointed, tried to conceive of some reply, but acceptance of the accusation had left him no different from a defused bomb. He ran his hand through his hair. “The… hell?”

“Um… am I missing something? Haha, confused…” Toru blinked.

Izuku got up to his feet, moved over to Toru, and took her hand. Honestly, he was the only one capable of doing so, as he was the only one who could see her hand to begin with, and then he took Shiozaki’s hand, who was still staring.

“Eh? M-Midoriya-san?”

“M-Midoriya-kun?”

Using flawless, precise, carefully controlled movements. He twirled them both, and, at the end of the twirl, pulled them both close to him, putting his arms around their waists.

Kacchan looked as though All Might had converted to villainy.

Shinso-san looked as though the world was ending.

Kaminari-san was staring with wide, sparkling eyes, as if he had seen the doors of heaven. 

“Girls didn’t give me any attention before I got my Quirk,” Izuku admitted truthfully. “I think, because of that, I can’t resist girls at all.”

Izuku turned to Toru and then to Shiozaki and smiled.

“I'm the kind of scum that can’t be satisfied with just one beautiful girl.”

The admission swept across the room like lightning.

Both of them blushed up a furious storm. No one could see Toru, so only Shiozaki appeared to be blushing.

Neither of them said anything, not a word of rebuke, nor a word of complaint, nor a grumble. Izuku calculated as much. Toru was already aware that he had a ‘girlfriend’ and had been willing to go on a date with her despite that, which indicated her flexibility on the matter. Moreover, as he was the only one who could see her, she would not be willing to lose him even if it meant having to share him. Shiozaki, on the other hand, had grown up in a cult, and the idea of polygamy was not only something she was familiar with, but something she was openly expecting.

If he had pulled this stunt with Saiko, she probably would have pushed him away. With Himiko… Izuku genuinely could not predict her reaction. However, due to taking those factors into account, due to his understanding of both girls, neither Shiozaki nor Toru rejected him. Both, instead, merely covered their red, heated faces and looked away in embarrassment.

“S-shameless…” Shiozaki stammered.

“M-Midoriya-kun… you’ve hijacked my first impression! Embarrassed!”

None of their internal reasons, nor his calculations, however, were known to the other boys in the class.

Kaminari thumped his chest with his fist as tears leaked from his eyes. “MIDORIYA MY MAN! You’re a bro! A true bro! The bro-est! The bro-est of all! AH! MY BRUDDA!”

Kacchan looked as if he had swallowed not one, not two, but maybe three or four bitter lemons back-to-back. Shinso turned away, trying his hardest to act unconcerned. Izuku let go of both girls, spinning them with a precision only he possessed, until Shiozaki was back in her seat, and only Toru was left in his hands, still red-faced and dazed.

I should thank Kacchan for this opportunity.

The truth was, attempting to deny the accusation would not only paint him in a bad light, it would paint what he was doing as somehow morally or ethically wrong, and that he was aware of it, embarrassed at it, or mortified by it.

Izuku was not.

Embarrassment? The notion that he could feel embarrassed from being the center of attention of multiple girls was embarrassing in and of itself. Multiple girls were attracted to him, either due to his appearance, his charisma, or his deeds or words. Humiliation? What was there to be humiliated about Mortification? What reason was there to be mortified? He felt neither of those things.

Why should he?

“Toru-san, would you be willing to join me at the school workshop later?”

“W-workshop?”

“So we can work on creating your hero outfit together.”

It was possible to create a set of clothes using one’s hair to allow their clothes to work with their quirk; however, due to Toru’s invisibility quirk, her hair strands were invisible. The effort and labor that would be needed to work with invisible material would be intense, and it was not something the girl or anyone without intensely specialized equipment was capable of doing. Even then, it wouldn’t be easy at all.

As such, Izuku was 99% certain that Toru’s current Hero Outfit, the one that students were required to make or bring themselves and use for practicals, was just her being naked. Maybe with a set of gloves or some boots for added protection. While it wouldn’t be a concern for literally anyone else, as the only person in the world who could always see her…

“Oh. Oh. Right! You can… that’s right… My current outfit would be… … um… hard on you… Midoriya-kun.”

“Very.”

Her cheeks burned even redder. For the first time, Izuku felt a strange sense of… enjoyment at being the only one who could see Toru’s flustered expressions. There was a certain privacy to it he could not explain, from knowing they were his and his alone to enjoy. Fortunately, even if he did ‘fix’ her, allowing her to be visible, her invisibility would still not work on him, meaning that sense of intimacy would never truly be gone.

Toru left his grasp with a hop in her step, moving towards her seat at the back of the class, somehow trying to make herself even more invisible than she already was, and soothe her embarrassment. Izuku had no need to do so, and thus, could still stand at the front of the class smiling as though nothing had happened.

“Mi-do-ri-ya, my man,” Kaminari chipped in. “You’ve totally amped me up. I don’t think I’ve been this shocked by anyone since… myself!”

Kaminari smacked his palms, and lightning danced off of them.

“We’ve got to go a few rounds later, man! After school, maybe?”

“Rounds?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Like…” He bounced on the balls of his feet. “You can’t expect the most Electrifying Man in Hero Entertainment to let someone else be more electrifying than him, can you?”

Kaminari-san…

Kaminari Denki was like Kacchan.

He's strong.

A lot of people who would be coming to Class 1A were no doubt going to be strong. They were going to be like Kacchan, and they were going to be the best of the best, and the elites of the elites, all of whom were gunning for the position and title of No.1.

Unfortunately… Kaminari-san… I’m beyond strength. 

Izuku had been disillusioned ever since learning about how corrupt the Public Hero Safety Commission was and the complicity involved within it. He was still searching for answers to that complicity, and as days passed and he found no answers, every Pro-Hero who maintained silence was complicit. His respect and idolization for Pro Heroes had dwindled greatly.

If even the No. 1 Pro Hero, his greatest idol, was complicit in a corrupt system, of what merit was being the champion of that system? If the influence and prestige provided by being the No. 1 Pro Hero was not even enough to overturn a corrupt system, of what use was it? How could one claim to be a Symbol of Peace when they arbitrarily selected whose peace they protected?

Izuku’s goals had long gone beyond being the No. 1 Pro Hero.

If he succeeded in his goal to rid the world of quirks, what value would that title have?

If he didn’t succeed in his goal, it meant he was either dead or imprisoned; thus, what value would that title have?

The title and esteem of “Number 1 Student” was something Izuku held pride in, yet similar disinterest for. The only reason he would maintain it was to make his mother happy and for the benefits and connections that would come from it. 

Kaminari’s challenge was earnest, but underneath the earnestness was a desire for competition. However, Izuku had grown above competing with others.

What was the point? 

There was no one on his level, physically, academically, socially, and even mentally.

No one was his equal, and no one could compare.

After all, he was p—

A shudder ran through Izuku’s spine as he stopped that thought in its tracks. His back went stiff.

I’m what…?

That dangerous thought that had come to him had terrified him. He needed to dissuade himself of it as soon as he could. An overinflated sense of one’s abilities was often quoted as the cause of the downfall of many men.

Kaminari… yes… his quirk is Electrification. No visible alterations or notable physiological differences. A pure emitter type, with potential side effects as a mutant type. Side-ability of limited precognition via reading brainwaves and surface thoughts. Combat ability…

Izuku perfectly memorized Kaminari catching Kacchan's punch. Kacchan hadn't augmented it with his explosions, but all the same, that was no small feat, and pointed to the boy’s keen reflexes. Kacchan's punches were no joke. Izuku sparred with him every day, and he was vividly aware of their speed and the fact that they only got faster and faster and faster. Kacchan was training so he'd be able to throw a punch so fast that Izuku's automatic reflexes wouldn't be able to dodge.

Yet Kaminari Denki caught it without so much as blinking.

Maybe… yes… Kaminari-san…?

“There’s no need to wait till later. We can do it here and now.”

Everyone turned to stare at him. Kacchan's brows narrowed immediately. “Oi… Izuku… the hell?"

“Er… here?" Kaminari scratched his head. “In the class?"

“I need to confirm something."

Kaminari blinked owlishly, then he grinned. “Shocker after shocker, damn, Midoriya, you sure you don’t have an electric quirk?”

Izuku smiled. “Maybe I’ll consider getting one.”

“Having a fight in the middle of the classroom, on the first day of the semester, is stupid," Shinso called out. “And prone to be punished.”

“Um… that doesn’t seem like a good idea… Midoriya-kun… worried, haha…” Toru chipped in nervously.

Shiozaki slowly nodded. “It wouldn’t be… wise, if you end up making a mess of the classroom.”

"We won't," Izuku said, assuredly. “Don’t worry. We won’t be using anything flashy. Right, Kaminari-san?

“But flashy is what I’m best known for!"

“Kaminari-san…”

“Fine, fine, no flashy stuff,” Kaminari sighed. “First to land a hit instead?"

You really think you can hit me? 

Izuku couldn’t help the soft chuckle that came from the thought of it.

“That works."

They moved to the front of the classroom. Izuku counted about five feet between them. Kaminari excitedly bounced on his feet, and Izuku moved into a casual, open stance. The boy's eyes sparked with yellow, crackling electricity. His hair stood on end. They spiked upwards, almost as though he were undergoing some sort of anime transformation.

The classroom was silent enough that Izuku could hear individual breaths. Kaminari was his only focus; nothing else entered his vision, and nothing else was his concern. There, in that split second of absolute concentration, he noticed a change in Kaminari Denki.

A smirk.

“Alright… at the toss of a pen…" Kacchan grabbed a pen. “Three… two… one…"

The pen soared. Midoriya's conscious thought lagged several seconds behind reality. The world slowed to an absolute crawl. Kaminari lunged. While everyone else was frozen, Kaminari moved at regular speed. His right fist came swinging through the air. Izuku estimated he was moving at least six-to-ten times faster than the average human.

Izuku’s eyes crinkled in surprise.

Augmentation. He’s augmenting his body’s physical speed beyond human limits through his Electrification Quirk?

If this were a contest of pure speed, Izuku admitted he would lose. However, the core of Precision, the core of his Quirk, did not lie in speed, but in Precision.

All day long, Izuku, even before he possessed his Quirk, had done nothing but analyze and theorize different quirks and their strengths and weaknesses. There was no way he would not theorize about his own. His theory was that, barring area-of-effect attacks and long-range barrages, there was nothing he could not react to in time.

What his body was reacting to wasn’t Kaminari’s speed, but rather, the subconscious windups, motions, flexes, turns, and shifts that predated his next action. Izuku’s eyes were sharp. There were colors he could see that others could not, and ranges of vision he could perceive that others were not aware of. His full spectrum of vision was keener than any human, and only certain animals would be able to compare.  The only way to avoid him seeing the windups and thus evading an attack would be to wear a full black cloak that hid every single motion, which Kaminari did not.

Izuku’s right hand snapped upwards in an open palm, obscuring Kaminari’s field of view. He weaved under the punch as a gust of air swept forward. Denki’s eyes went wide. He, too, mimicked the action, weaving and bringing his left fist or an uppercut.

Izuku avoided it, wasting zero effort as he spun on the balls of his feet. The uppercut moved at an odd angle and became a flurry of jabs. Each one, he avoided, swaying left, then right, then left, then right again.

Kaminari’s windups were clear and too obvious. Izuku instantly sensed that Kaminari was the ‘Toru’ of fighting. Just as Toru did not know how to hide her expressions because no one had ever been able to see them, Kaminari did not know how to mask or feint his attacks because no one had ever been able to react to them.

It did not help that Kaminari himself was a fairly straightforward individual with a fairly simple mindset, and that showed in his straightforward, simple attacks. Compared to Kacchan, who had learned to mix feints, unorthodox attacks, attacks from irregular angles, attacks from below, above, using even dirty tactics like feinting a low-blow, feinting a gut-punch, and even pretending to toss pocket sand— 

Kaminari fought ‘cleanly.’

Thus, he fought ‘predictably.’

Afterimages blurred. Izuku bobbed and weaved with the flawless precision of the pre-Quirk Era’s greats, and Kaminari’s punches continued like lightning. He was Ali, floating like a Butterfly. He was Lee, flowing like water. Each punch pierced the air and left it with the faint crackling sensation of static. Each attack was comparable to a barrage let loose from a semi-automatic, and Izuku's brow lifted as the speed began to ramp up considerably.

He can go even faster?

Kaminari had begun moving faster. He began adding feints into the mix. The feints were few and far between, but they were erratic and random, and keeping track of them started to force Izuku to begin stepping backwards as he avoided the attacks. 

I see.

Izuku’s eyes shone.

If it were the him of several months ago, he would have been caught off guard. No, if it were the him who hadn’t gone on a date with Toru, the him who hadn’t spent several hours thinking about her invisibility quirk, how best she could use it effectively, how best it could be used for heroics, he would have been caught flatfooted. However, Izuku constantly learned from those around him. He was always learning from others and improving through that.

Toru told him she was the girl with the world’s brightest smile.

Izuku believed it was only his right to match her.

Izuku smiled.

His teeth, when put on full display, were very shiny.

Glimpsing them at the right angle, especially when unexpected, and in the heat of combat, was enough to force one to close their eyes shut, or divert their gaze purely out of instinct. It was human instinct to squint, recoil, or turn away from a sudden brightness. No one could stare directly into the sun unless they had a few screws missing.

This—

Kaminari Denki had more than a few screws missing.

Staring into the bright, shiny teeth, his attacks continued, without stopping, not even registering the brightness. Izuku’s tactic, perhaps, would have worked on anyone else, but he had grossly underestimated Kaminari’s refusal to adhere to common sense.

It was as if the boy’s photoreceptors had been completely fried along with his brain.

Caught off guard by the ineffectiveness of the tactic, he was forced onto the defensive, moving backwards, backstepping, evading, weaving, until he was forced with his back against the door, and forced into an angle where he could not dodge. Thus— 

SMACK.

Izuku's own fist extended, outward, slamming into Denki's face, only to be caught by a hand, and Denki's own fist, extended, directly into Izuku's face, only to be caught by Izuku's hand. 

They were deadlocked.

Neither of them could attack the other, and neither of them could defend.

The echo of plastic on ceramic resounded louder than anything Izuku had ever heard.

The pen, which signified the start of their fight, finally hit the floor.

“Whoa," Kaminari said, with wide eyes. “You're… really, really good…"

“You're augmenting your muscles by stimulating them with electricity," Izuku noted. “But that wouldn't make them move that fast. You're… bypassing commands from your brain entirely and using electricity to move your muscles… so your attacks aren’t registering on a conscious level. That’s why they can’t be interrupted by external stimuli… It’s like a current that flows and has to keep flowing."

“Hey! Hey! No dissecting my secret techniques! Not cool!" Kaminari didn't look all that offended, despite his words. “You were dodging entirely on instinct, weren't you? Man, that’s broken. But, I don’t get it, why didn’t you try to attack?”

Izuku only smiled. 

At the end of the day, Precision makes my abilities only above those of a World-Class Athlete.  Even pushed to its extreme limit, I can never ‘move faster than a locomotive.’ Even if my punching speed is ten, twenty, forty times faster than the World’s Greatest Boxer… compared to someone moving at the speed of electricity, it would still be laughably slow.

“That’s a secret technique of my own.”

There were other ways I could take you out, but whether those would work would be an exercise comparable to invoking Zeno’s Paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise… 

In pure speed, he could not compete. Reacting was the best he could do when against true superhuman speed. The only way he could see himself stopping Denki was simply to not fight him, or to come prepared specifically against him, or to outlast him in sheer stamina in a large, open space.

Without having sufficient time and preparation, victory could not be guaranteed.

“But really, Midoriya, you're scary, man. No one’s ever been able to dodge my attacks before. They never even see it coming. Usually I’m like ‘bzzzt’ and bam! They don’t know what hits ‘em. What's your quirk called?"

“Precision."

Kaminari let go of his hand, and Izuku let go of Kaminari's hand. The boy grinned at him and wrapped his arm around him.

“You’re a real bro, man," Denki said. “I get it. Hell, I can’t even be jealous. I see why the girls like you. You’re almost as electrifying as I am."

He turned back to look at the girls and whispered. “But you gotta promise to leave some girls for the rest of us. It’s a shocking confession, but I’m not a monk, man! I’m begging you here!”

Izuku smiled.

“Ah… eh? It’s over? I didn’t see anything… confused…” Toru muttered.

“W-what just… happened?" Shiozaki stared.

“I don't know," Shinso muttered. “They… were too fast."

The only one who wasn’t looking lost was Kacchan. Kacchan didn’t believe it. Izuku himself had trouble accepting it. 

I've never been cornered before…

Izuku replayed the fight over and over in a floating screen at the corner of his vision. The weakness, the painful flaw of Precision, were there, clear and visible. The limits it had, the restraints it possessed were things he theorized, but now, confirming it…

Against an enemy that can fly with high maneuverability…

Against an enemy that can teleport…

Against an enemy with overwhelming speed…

Against an enemy that can barrage me with attacks in an area too large to evade… 

He needed to cover those weaknesses. He needed to eliminate those flaws. He needed to. He needed to.

He needed to. He needed to. He needed to.

There was an itch. It was the same itch he got when he saw the uneven forks amongst his mother's cutlery that demanded he throw them out. It was the same itch he got when he looked at his food served into a disorderly mess and had to organize it into precise, well-ordered portions before he ate. The same itch he got at seeing filth and dirt and grime. A nauseating feeling from the depths of his soul that spoke to a revulsion he could not ignore.

How?

The weaknesses, those flaws, were not things his Quirk could overcome on its own.

Not without another Quirk.

The thought seemed foolish to even consider. Yet, he was reconsidering it, as he had, before Kaminari entered the classroom.

A drug that can bestow quirks. A method to bestow other quirks to myself.

The world had confirmed that attempting to implant quirks into others was an exercise doomed to failure. The bodies of people could not withstand more than one quirk, and the results of those ghastly experiments often left the individuals subjected to such things as broken, lifeless husks.

But those people did not have Precision.

With Precision, he could personally finetune his body and allow it to ‘accept’ other Quirks, just as he had managed to use Precision on Suzume and allow it to ‘change’ her Quirk, putting an exception code for him, and only him, and just as he planned to use it to edit Toru’s quirk factor and ‘shut off’ her permanent invisibility.

Across one of the many floating boards in his vision, Izuku noted the board where the actions he’d done to Suzume were recorded, and a board where information about Shiozaki’s cult was listed, and he found a strange connection.

Bestowing Quirks… and Taking Quirks…

In theory, what I did to Suzume can be considered as ‘Bestowing’ my quirk… I left behind a piece of myself, which would manifest in her future children.

If I can leave a piece of myself in my Quirk and thus, put it in her Quirk…

Do… Do all Quirks all contain a piece of their holders? 

Izuku pondered it.

No, that wouldn’t be possible. If it were so, it would mean the person the Followers of One worship who can bestow and take Quirks would be taking several identities and conflicting personality traits with him… and bestowing a Quirk would also bestow different personalities upon the individual.

Izuku shot a fleeting glance at Shiozaki.

I’ll have to ask her. If the people who were recorded to have been ‘bestowed’ Quirks in her Cult suddenly showed significant personality changes… However, those could just be a result of the nature of the Quirk itself. Like my Precision, it changed my personality, that doesn’t mean I was ‘given’ this quirk…

Izuku believed it to be a needless concern, but even then, there was no harm in being prudent.

To err on the side of caution, if I am to choose a second quirk to obtain… I’ll need to choose a person whose blood is similar to mine, and a person who has absolutely no ill-will towards me. It should ensure the lowest odds of rejection.

“Thank you, Kaminari-san,” Izuku rubbed his hand. “This spar has been very helpful.”

“Yeah, man. Uh, are you okay? You've been scratching something furious...”

Izuku stared at his hand. The same hand he used to catch Kaminari's punch. Long, red scratches had dug deep into his otherwise flawless skin.

The sight revolted him.

“I'm fine. Mild allergies.”

Izuku pinned a new item to his floating board.

Obtain A Second Quirk.

Once he obtained another Quirk, he would cover those limited weaknesses, those unsightly, disgusting flaws of Precision. Once he did, his Quirk, would again return to being...

Perfect.