Chapter 45: Sir Nighteye
They arrive at Nighteye's agency with setting sun at their backs.
"I've mentioned this before, but Sir really values humor, so you should try to make him laugh at least once," Togata says as he reaches out his hand to open the door.
When they walk in, they're greeted by Sir Nighteye and one of his sidekicks, a girl with light-blue skin and darker-blue bobbed hair. Nighteye sits behind a desk at the back of the room. He wears a very typical-looking business suit. Aside from the two blonde streaks in his green hair, he looks remarkably ordinary. He watches their approach with a stern expression on their face. Togata puts one hand on Katsuki's shoulder and the other on Izuku's and pushes them a step ahead of him.
"These are the two I told you about yesterday," he says.
Nighteye looks them over. "Midoriya I've heard enough about from both you and All Might. The other one, however…" His eyes settle on Katsuki.
"He helped me out–" Togata starts.
"I'm aware," Nighteye says. "Why don't you and Bubble Girl leave us for a minute?"
Togata hesitates briefly before he salutes enthusiastically and turns to the door. He gives them a quick call of "good luck!" before he goes. The blue girl follows him out. Once the door closes, there is silence.
"This internship would clearly be beneficial to you, but what benefit is it to me?" Nighteye turns to Izuku, pushing up his glasses with a well-practiced intensity. "I still haven't acknowledged you."
Izuku stands still under the weight of Nighteye's gaze. Before he even starts to respond, Katsuki takes the form they need stamped from his backpack and slaps it down on the desk in front of him.
"What do you even know of our abilities? An internship is a perfect opportunity to see whether someone is worthy of acknowledgement."
Izuku scrambles to grab his form from his backpack and places it (a little more gently) on the desk.
"All Might didn't make the wrong choice–please give me a chance to prove that."
Nighteye picks up the stamp–the one they need–and tosses it up in the air a couple of times. Katsuki's eyes follow it's progress. He knows Nighteye is probably just messing with them at this point, but the fact that they need the stamp doesn't change. After a couple of times, Nighteye grabs the stamp out of the air and slams it down halfway between their forms. The dull thud resounds through the room. Katsuki tenses slightly in shock. What the fuck.
"I'll give you three minutes. If one of you is holding onto the stamp by that time, I'll accept that person," he says, his hand never leaving the stamp. "I won't try to attack, and I don't care what happens to this room."
With one stamp and two of them, there's a bit of a problem. Nighteye sets a timer and places it on the desk, where it's clearly visible. He pushes his chair back, and it screeches over the floor. As he rises to his full height, Katsuki is suddenly reminded of how tall Nighteye is. As All Might's sidekick, he was short in comparison, but compared to any normal-sized human being, he's ridiculously tall. Katsuki drops his backpack to the floor and kicks it out of the way.
After starting the timer, Nighteye steps out from behind his desk to stand more toward the center of the room. Aside from the desk, the floor is empty. There are a couple of bookshelves around the periphery of the room and several All Might posters tacked to the walls. Nighteye's quirk is foresight, though beyond its name, Katsuki doesn't know much, and not knowing puts him at a tactical disadvantage.
He charges forward with his palms sparking. Izuku attacks from the other side a moment later. Nighteye dodges both of them with an annoying sort of ease. Katsuki skids to a halt just before slamming into the wall and the limited edition All Might poster on it.
"You're slow," Nighteye says, dodging another attempt to take the stamp.
The timer reads 2:00.
Katsuki grits his teeth. As much as he hates to admit it, Nighteye is faster than him. With one minute gone out of three, it's clear that they have to switch strategies. Other than blowing shit up, Katsuki doesn't have a whole lot of ideas. Fighting to take something rather than just knockout his opponent isn't something he's given a lot of thought.
The timer reads 1:26, but neither of them is anywhere near getting the stamp.
Katsuki's eyes catch on the sprinkler in the middle of the ceiling. A memory of Iida mentioning the inconveniences of being a glasses-wearer on a rainy day comes to mind.
"Oi Deku, don't lose focus."
Izuku looks up from catching his breath, and they're eyes meet for a moment,
Katsuki runs forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Izuku move as well. Before he reaches Nighteye, he uses an explosion to launch him into the air and sets off a second right below the sprinkler. Water sprays down from the ceiling. Izuku doesn't waver from his course. His fingers are a millisecond away from closing around the stamp when Nighteye's focus switches from the sprinkler to him.
Izuku almost loses his balance as he puts his foot down on the wet floor. Katsuki is close enough to reach out a hand and steady him.
"I almost had it," Izuku says, and Katsuki curses.
They're running out of time and out of options. Izuku straightens up as Nighteye turns to face them again, removing his glasses
"Not a bad idea," he says, placing the frames on his desk. "But I could defeat people of your level with my eyes closed."
Katsuki opens his mouth to retort, but Izuku distracts him with a hand on his shoulder.
"If it's just for a second, I can draw out more power…I'll get his attention somehow," Izuku says.
The light of his quirk travels up his body, and before Katsuki can say anything, a green light flickers to life. As he dives toward Nighteye once more, Katsuki swears he can feel a breeze. Since Izuku has already moved, he has no choice but to follow. Katsuki clenches his jaw and blasts himself forward. Izuku's increased speed is enough that for just an instant, Nighteye loses track of Katsuki. That instant is enough.
The timer reads 0:02, and Katsuki barely manages to snatch the stamp out of Nighteye's grasp.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone