ShuraZero
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Chapter 31: The Pulse of the Vine
🕑 Added 2025-10-03 05:12:12 +0000 UTC"I need to understand how a new subject reacts to neutral contact on the shoulders before I can even consider moving on to more... specific applications in other areas."
Izuku's statement, so clinical and so blatantly personal, hung in the air of the observation room.
Yu was petrified, the blood rushing to her cheeks until she felt her ears burn. Had she just heard Izuku discuss the "density and comfort" of her backside as if it were a data point for a report? Yes, she definitely had.
Mirko, on the other hand, let out a laugh so loud and genuine it made the windowpane vibrate. She leaned back, slapping the wall with her palm.
"I can't believe it! The kid really has no filter!" she exclaimed between laughs. "This is better than cable TV!"
Nemuri fanned her face with her hand. "You have to admit, his approach is... methodical. Although his social skills could use an intensive workshop. Or ten."
Down on the gym floor, Ibara blinked, her expression a mix of saintly patience and utter confusion. She had come expecting a training session, not an ergonomic analysis of her fellow heroines.
"Excuse me?" Ibara asked, her voice barely a whisper that didn't reach the observation room.
Yu was about to intervene. She was going to hit the intercom button, shout something, anything to stop this madness before Izuku decided to publish a scientific paper on the tactile properties of professional heroines. But a firm hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her. It was Mirko.
"Hold it right there, Takeyama," the rabbit heroine said. Her laughter had subsided, but her eyes shone with a new, genuine curiosity. "He's talked a big game. Made a lot of promises. I want to see if the kid has more than just words. I want to see where he's going with this."
"Rumi, he's embarrassing the poor girl. And me," Yu protested quietly, though without much conviction.
Nemuri nodded, seconding Mirko's motion. "I agree. The show is just getting started. Besides, look at him. He's not joking; he's completely focused. Give your protégé a chance, Yu chan. Let's see what kind of magician he really is."
Defeated and outnumbered, Yu crossed her arms and fell silent, shooting Izuku a look through the glass that promised a brutal interrogation later.
Izuku, completely oblivious to the storm he had caused in the observation room, approached Ibara. He knelt in front of her, his expression shifting from that of an analyst to a calm, focused coach.
"Ready, Shiozaki san?"
"I believe so, Midoriya san," she replied, though her voice sounded a little less certain than before. What exactly was he going to do to her?
With a slow, deliberate movement, Izuku placed his hands on her shoulders. Ibara tensed for an instant, waiting for... she didn't know what. A jolt of energy? A mental command?
But nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. Just the warmth of his hands grounding her. His calm, solid presence. Slowly, under the steadiness of his touch, the muscles in her shoulders began to relax without her even realizing it.
From Izuku's perspective, he wasn't analyzing cold data. He was listening. He closed his eyes, completely ignoring the spectators, and focused solely on the point of contact. He was searching for a sensation, a subtle vibration that would tell him about Ibara's Quirk. He was searching for the pulse of her power. And after a moment of stillness, he found it.
"Good," he murmured, opening his eyes. His gaze was clear and direct. "I can feel it. You have an incredible foundation. Strong and calm."
Ibara was surprised. "Really?"
"Yes. But you're too... polite with your power," he continued, his voice an intense whisper. "You ask it for permission instead of ordering it to act. You feel it's a blessing you must treat with reverence, right?"
Her eyes widened, completely bewildered. How could he know that? That was exactly how she felt. "Well, yes. My Quirk is a gift..."
"It's a part of you," he interrupted, but not rudely, only with conviction. "Don't think of your vines as hair. They aren't an accessory. They're your bones and muscles extending beyond your skin. They are your shields, your claws, your whips. They are your will, manifested physically. Feel the ground beneath you. Do you feel its solidity? That's your power source. You don't have to ask for permission to use it. It's already yours. Now, imagine that solidity rising to protect you, not because you ask it to, but because you command it to."
He stood up and, without taking his eyes off Ibara, addressed the observation room. "Mirko san. Throw something at her."
In the room, Mirko blinked. "What? Is he talking to me?"
Izuku nodded. "One of those medicine balls. Not with your full strength, obviously. Just to test her reaction. Throw it at the center of her torso."
Mirko grinned maliciously. "With pleasure."
She picked up a ten kilo ball from the rack and bounced it in her hand. Through the intercom, her voice boomed into the gym. "Get ready, plant girl. I'm not gonna hold back much."
Ibara panicked. "Wait, I...!"
"Don't panic, Ibara," Izuku's voice anchored her. "Don't think. Don't plan. Your body already knows what to do. Feel the danger and protect yourself! Now!"
Mirko threw the ball. It carried enough speed and weight to break a normal person's ribs. Ibara let out a small, choked cry and threw her hands up on pure instinct, squeezing her eyes shut.
And then it happened.
Her vines exploded forward from her head like a living, coordinated wall. They wove and intertwined in a fraction of a second, forming a circular shield, incredibly dense and with a complex geometric pattern.
The medicine ball hit the shield with a dull thud and, instead of bouncing off violently, it was absorbed. The vines cushioned the impact, giving way slightly before stopping the ball completely, gently catching it in their center.
There was a moment of absolute silence.
"Whoa..." was all Mirko said, genuinely impressed. "Okay. That was good."
"The kinetic energy dissipation was perfect," Nemuri murmured, jotting something down on her tablet. "The energy was completely neutralized. Her defensive instinct is first class."
Yu just stared, her mouth slightly open. A wave of pride in Izuku's success washed over her, but just beneath it, a new pang of that strange feeling in her chest churned her stomach.
In the gym, Ibara's vines gently placed the ball on the floor. She stared at her own shield, amazed, as if it belonged to someone else.
"I... I didn't know I could do that," she whispered.
"Of course you can," Izuku said, approaching her with a satisfied smile. "You just had to stop being so polite. Your power responded to your instinct, not your manners. Good. That's defense. Now, let's move on to something more... active."
He stood in front of her, about five meters away.
"Your attack is too slow," he declared. "Too predictable. You extend your vines very directly, without force. They need a whip. A crack. They have to be a weapon, not an invitation."
"A crack?" she repeated, confused.
"Yes. The speed doesn't come from the tip; it comes from the base. From the core of your body. I want you to hit me."
Ibara looked at him, horrified. "What? No! I could never do such a thing! I could hurt you!"
"You're not going to hurt me," he said with an exasperating calm. "I've taken hits from Mirko. Believe me, I can take a vine. Trust me. Launch a single vine. Try to hit me right here, in the chest."
She hesitated, clearly torn between her duty as a student and her concern. Finally, she nodded.
She focused and a single vine shot toward him. It moved with decent speed, but its movement was so telegraphed it was easy to see coming. Izuku simply took a step to the side, and the vine passed harmlessly by him.
"See? Too slow," he said, not with mockery, only analysis. "You're not using your body. You're using your neck. You're thinking too much about the target and not the origin of the movement. Come here."
She approached him cautiously. He positioned himself behind her.
"Get into an attack stance. Relax your shoulders."
She obeyed, her heart pounding from his proximity. He placed a hand on her lower back. The contact made her flinch.
"The problem is here," he said, his voice a murmur right next to her ear. "You're not connecting your Quirk to your center of power."
His other hand settled on her hip, guiding her to turn slightly. "You have to rotate your hips. The energy travels from the ground, up your legs, explodes in your hips, and shoots out through the vine with explosive force."
Ibara was trying to process the technical instruction, but the contact of his hands was keeping her from thinking clearly. She could feel the heat of his palm through the fabric of her suit.
And then, with a purely clinical audacity that made Yu choke back a silent scream, his hand slid down from her hip, landing with shocking familiarity on the curve of her backside. He gave it a firm, professional squeeze.
"The power comes from here," he said, his tone completely serious. "It all comes from the hips and glutes. You have to squeeze here at the moment of release. It's an explosive movement. Do you feel it? Feel how these muscles tense when you start to turn."
Ibara definitely felt something. A heat that spread rapidly through her entire body, making her knees feel weak.
"Y-yes, sir," she managed to say.
"Good. Now, forget about me. Look at that training dummy over there," he ordered. "Feel the connection from your feet to your head. And when I say 'now,' I want you to unleash all that power in a single movement. Don't think. Just do it."
She nodded, her face showing absolute concentration and a blush so intense she felt her skin burn. He didn't move his hand.
"Ready?" he whispered.
She nodded again.
"Now!"
The instant he shouted the command, Ibara's body reacted on pure instinct. She violently twisted her hips, squeezed the muscles as he'd told her, and propelled a vine forward.
CRACK!
The sound was a sharp, violent snap. The vine moved so fast it was almost a green blur. It struck the training dummy in the center of the chest with incredible force, leaving a deep dent in the metal and making the target stagger violently on its base.
Silence returned to the room, broken only by Ibara's ragged breathing. She looked at the damaged dummy, then turned to look at Izuku, who was still standing behind her.
He smiled at her, finally removing his hand.
"See?" he said. "I told you. A whip."
The training session ended an hour later. Ibara was exhausted, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead, but her eyes shone with a new, fierce emotion.
While Ibara gathered her things, Mirko approached Izuku in the hallway. She punched him on the shoulder, hard enough to make him stumble.
"Alright, kid," she said, and her voice held a tone of grudging respect. "Maybe you didn't make a bad choice after all. The girl's got potential. A lot of it."
Nemuri joined them, her smile enigmatic. "Your teaching method is... very practical, Izuku kun. Very... hands on. I'm sure Shiozaki san will appreciate your dedication to her... fundamental development."
Izuku just blinked. "It's the most efficient way to convey muscle memory."
Mirko and Nemuri exchanged a look. The boy was a lost cause.
Yu remained silent. She was incredibly proud of Izuku's skill. He had achieved in one hour what would have taken other teachers months. But seeing the way he'd done it, the ease with which he had touched Ibara, the physical intimacy of his method... it churned her stomach.
They left the U.A. building together. The sun was beginning to set.
"Thank you so much for today, Midoriya san," Ibara said, giving a deep bow. "It was... revealing. I never imagined my Quirk could be like this."
"This is just the beginning, Ibara," he said, using her first name for the first time. "You have a lot of power. You just need someone to help you let it out."
They talked enthusiastically for a few minutes about the possibilities for the next session. Yu walked beside them in silence, feeling like a stranger.
Finally, they reached the stop where Ibara's path split from theirs. She said her goodbyes and left.
Izuku watched her go, a smile of satisfaction on his face. He turned to Yu, his enthusiasm irrepressible.
"Did you see that, Yu? Her reaction time was reduced by sixty percent! And the force of the impact was, at a minimum, three hundred percent greater. If we can maintain this progression..."
He stopped. The expression on Yu's face was not one of celebration. It was complicated, indecipherable.
They walked in silence for a while. When they were about to reach their street, Yu stopped.
Izuku stopped with her, his enthusiasm finally fading.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, his voice soft.
Yu looked at him, her pink eyes reflecting an internal conflict. A mix of pride, anger, and confusion.
"That way of training..." she said, her voice barely a whisper. "With your hands. On her back... on her... well, you know where."
Izuku looked at her, not understanding the emotion behind the question. He answered with the only truth he knew.
"Yes," he said, his sincerity absolute. "It's necessary. To feel her Quirk. To guide her body. Her energy was stagnating. I had to physically show her how to channel it from her core. I can't teach her if I can't feel how it flows. It's the only way I know."
She held his gaze, searching for something she didn't find. And then, she asked the question that would change everything all over again.
"So..." she said, her voice a challenge, a plea, and an invitation. "...when are you going to train me like that again?"
