Chapter 217 - 2-6

Chapter 2

Izuku knew it would take his mother a long time to calm down, and he planned on making the most of it, especially since Eraserhead was sitting (awkwardly) outside of Nedzu's office with him. Izuku wanted his mother to know everything, so All Might was in there with his mother and Nedzu, going over everything the principal thought they needed to explain.

"Ummm... Eraserhead-san-"

Izuku hesitated when Eraserhead interrupted him, "I'll be training you for the next ten months, so call me Aizawa-sensei, Midoriya. Now, what is it?" (Aizawa didn't add that he would probably be Aizawa-sensei for the next three years after that, as well).

"Okay Aizawa-sensei, then... ummm... my mother will probably be in there for a while, can we... ummm... c-can we try the suggestions I had f-for your quirk?"

He would need to work on the boy's confidence, Aizawa thought. "Sure kid, I'll call a colleague to test it out, and tomorrow you'll do a set of examinations so next time we'll be able to do it directly with you".

Aizawa took out his cell phone and texted the teacher's chat, he might as well start to introduce them to each other early, get it out of the way.

He stood up and started walking towards the gym, but after reaching the first turn in the hallway he turned back, "Are you coming Midoriya? We need to be in the gym for this". The kid scrambled off his seat and hurried after him. Aizawa noticed his dejected expression morphing passing through confusion and landing on delight. Yep, confidence training is a must for daylight heroes.

Eraserhead: Who's on facility and can come to the main gym?

Loudmouth: I'm at home Sho, where you should be as well...

Vamp: I'm On My Way! right now, what's it for?

Principal??? changed their name to PrincipalPrincipal.

PrincipalPrincipal: Record everything Aizawa-kun.

Loudmouth: Vlad fix your settings that autocorrect makes you look like a boomer

Aizawa put his phone away with a sigh and hurried. Vlad King's quirk was much more straightforward than his, but he still hoped the kid would have some surprises for him. He could hear the kid muttering all the way behind him, still excited to be at U.A.

Sekijiro Kan was curious as to what his colleague wanted this late after hours (half past six P.M. is his post-lessons, pre-patrol naptime, after all), and he was almost done grading exams anyway, so he decided to break the monotony by going to the gym himself. When he arrived, he saw Eraserhead and some middle schooler talking animatedly (well, as animated as Aizawa could get, but the green-haired kid more than made up for the lack of energy).

"Oh my god, it's Vlad King! You're such an amazing hero! C-can I have your autograph?" The kid was nearly vibrating.

If Kan was more observant, more on guard, he may have noticed Aizawa smirking, "Midoriya, why don't you have Vlad King sign his dedicated page on your notebooks? He could even take a peek at the notes".

"W-would you really? I have so many questions, a-and ideas if you w-want to see... But Aizawa sensei, w-w'ere here f-for you, b-but if you're both..."

Aizawa-sensei? Didn't he expel his entire class this year? "Kid speak up." He couldn't understand anything from the muttering boy. He saw the boy nervously write something in a notebook where did that come from? and hand it to him. Kan did a double take, looking at a series of embarrassingly detailed diagrams and sketches of him in various combat poses, with color-coded annotations. Extremely astute observations, that Kan hadn't made in the twenty-four years he had possessed his quirk.

Blue for observations (who knew that his blood whips made a sine wave that correlated to the amount of blood he solidified, and who would have thought of dynamically solidifying and liquefying blood to make the whips less predictable? This kid, apparently). Red for weaknesses (Fuck, he actually didn't know if mixing his blood with other liquids would negate his control over it, and poisoning his blood when it was out of his body!? Kan shivered). The most important were the questions, in orange. Kan almost forgot about the other people in the gym with him.

Could he control blood outside of his line of sight? How fast did his body regenerate blood? Could he use blood bags from the blood he donated? Did his solidified blood liquefy when he slept? Would his ability to lose more blood than a regular human could fade if his quirk was erased? That last question was the one that the kid hastily scrawled before handing him the notebook, he probably came up with it since he was in the same place as Eraserhead.

He raised his head as he heard a schadenfreude-laden chuckle. "Why don't you sign the notebook, Kan?" It was then that Kan understood that the kid must have a spread dedicated to Eraserhead, and his colleague must have undergone this very same system shock (and if he were honest with himself, blow to his self-esteem and confidence. A middle schooler had done better than him at understanding his own quirk, without having talked to him even once).

"S-sure, of course". He signed the notebook, careful not to cover any of the annotations, he would be going over them pedantically. Now, to figure out what they were here for.

Aizawa took in Kan's shock, and basked in it before getting back to business, "Midoriya, this is Vlad King, but you should call him Kan-sensei when you're in school. Do you have a preference on where to begin the tests?"

Today was the day! The combination of gathering his courage and investigating may have taken him a month, but finally, today was the day Kirishima Eijiro made a new friend! He was worried when the green-haired kid didn't show up at the dojo, since Eijiro intended to get to know him that day. Eijiro was always curious about the cute boy who would turn from jittery and shy to focused and decisive and the sparring mats. Eijiro really wanted to get to know the other boy, but he stopped coming right when Eijiro worked up the courage to approach.

When the other boy continued to be a no-show the week after that, Eijiro made a plan. It took him a couple of more days to prepare, and then he braced himself and went to the kid's school, Aldera Junior High, to wait at the gate and meet him. Three days later he still hadn't seen him, but by asking around he learned three things: The boy was Midoriya Izuku, tho bo- Midoriya had stopped coming to school the day after he stopped coming to the dojo, and Midoriya was heavily bullied by some asshat named Bakugou, who was apparently the king of the school. He also learned that they both wanted to be heroes! Wouldn't it be awesome if they ended up at U.A. together?

Eijiro promised himself he wouldn't give up. He approached the faculty and explained that he was a friend of Midoriya's (a future friend! but it still counted) from the dojo they both trained at and was worried and wanted to know his address. The uninterested secretary told him that Midoriya's mother had withdrawn him from school almost two weeks ago, and then gave him his address with frightening apathy. Well, luckily I don't mean him harm, Eijiro hummed to himself a few days later, after he had (again) hyped himself up to approach Midoriya.

He saw Midoriya (lucky!) on his way home, carrying overflowing grocery bags and looking around suspiciously. Alright, it's make or break, fake it till you make it, and be confident and friendly! "Hi! Midoriya-san, right? I'm Kirishima Eijiro from the dojo! Haven't seen you in a while!".

Midoriya jumped and almost dropped something from his bags, a... rock? Was he carrying grocery bags full of rocks? "H-hi Kirishima-san, I remember you," Midoriya gave him a nervous smile, but his eyes started dancing around much more frantically, "Ummm, this is actually a bad time, do you, ummm, want to exchange numbers and talk later?"

Eijiro was as thrilled as he was confused "Yeah sure, my number is XX-XXXX-XXX, also do you want help with those bags of... rocks?"

Midoriya started looking really panicked "My number is XX-XXXX-XXX, and... ummm...Th-there's nothing in the rules against getting help, b-but it's very important that the rocks don't touch the ground. E-even a single one-"

It was then that Eijiro heard a weird whistle pass through the air, and saw a bizarre man with a mirrored vizor jump from the roof while sending a whip(?) towards Midoriya.

Aizawa felt bad, the kid needed more friends. So he waited until they exchanged numbers before attacking (Midoriya let his surprise stop him, they could have talked while walking). Midoriya should have known better than to stop, and seeing his growing panic the longer he stood in place was... more satisfying than Aizawa would ever admit.

Midoriya jumped to the side, and paled when he saw a rock fall from his bag "Catch the rock Kirishima-san!" Good, he was using his surroundings and asking for help.

The Kirishima boy lunged to grab the rock "Holy crap Midoriya is that a villain? What's happening should I get help?" Aizawa intensified his onslaught, preventing Midoriya from answering. Kirishima started running away, disappointing Aizawa thought.

He changed his mind when he heard the boy yelling for a hero, and warning other civilians of a villain attack and to stay away. He saw the fear increase in Midoriya's eyes, Midoriya knew that any heroes that were on regular patrol in the area had been briefed on what to do in these situations. His smile widened when he heard Kamui Woods answer Kirishima and start running towards them. He heard the other heroes chortle through the comms and start heading towards the show.

Kirishima sighed in relief as he followed Kamui Woods towards Midoriya, his fist whitening as he gripped Midoriya's rock. He turned the corner and saw Midoriya summersault over the villain's scarf, still not dropping any rocks beyond that first one. Kamui Woods was preparing to attack, and he heard a feminine voice gasp beside him, Mount Lady! "Phew, I made it, this should be good". Good Kirishima thought?

Then, Kamui Woods unleashed his branches... toward Midoriya. What? W-was Midoriya a villain? No way!He saw Kamui release a second branch, to Midoriya's right, and somehow Midoriya dodged both the scarf and Kamui Wood's branches.

"That's great Kamui Woods-san! Another branch at a thirty-three-degree angle does help you cover the blind spots from you're branching patterns!" Kirishima gave up on figuring out what was happening when Midoriya's eyes glinted like those of an anime villain. "Unfortunately for you, you're helping Eraserhead-san, and you forgot that I'm the one who came up with that move!"

With lightning speed, Midoriya let go of one of his bags, grabbed the not-villain's scarf, and wrapped it around two of Kamui Wood's branches. Then he reached behind him to catch his bag (of rocks, Kirishima kept thinking back to the fact that it was A. Bag. Of. Rocks.) before the scarf could grab it. His triumphant laugh was caught short when a spray of water forced him to duck and roll. Backdraft burst out of an alley "You know the rules Midoriya! Any heroes can respond to a call as long as they're on active patrol!"

Midoriya caught his bags again and then slipped on a puddle of water. The bags flew in the air, and with them the rocks. It was like a scene from a movie, the rocks flew out in slow motion, and then suddenly Midoriya's eyes glowed pink, and the rocks froze in the air.

Izuku was desperate. If he reached the safe zone without dropping a single rock, they would start working on his quirk. That was the deal. Still, he didn't regret stopping to talk to Kirishima. Would he actually make a friend? That was worth doing this exercise again, in his opinion. That didn't mean he would give up! Three heroes against him, but no super moves. He felt the familiar buildup of energy, but he still didn't know what to do with it. The closer an attack came to hitting him, the more the energy built up.

Then... he slipped. He managed to catch himself instinctively, but not his bags. No. No! "No!"

Izuku froze. So did Aizawa-sensei, Kamui Woods, and Backdraft. He activated his quirk, and like so many stories of emitter quirks, he instinctively knew what to do. The rocks floated in three circles around him, like rings around a planet. He looked towards Backdraft (Aizawa-sensei and Kamui woods were less of a threat, having to deal with their entangled weapons), and shot the rocks towards the fireman hero. The rock shot out from him in a pattern, How suitable, a triangle formation with secondary peaks. A mountain, Izuku realized. What they lost by its predictability they made up for in speed, and Izuku quickly started moving from side to side to make the pattern less predictable. Then suddenly it stopped.

Izuku staggered in place, surprised at the sudden absence of rocks, when he felt capture cuffs around his wrists. "Cool quirk kiddo, did you just figure it out?" Mount Lady snuck up on him, when did she even get here?

"Y-yeah, I-it makes sense though, small objects from my mom, and then a direct energy emitter component from dad. And... patterns. That means my ability to analyze patterns was a secondary adaptation!" Izuku muttered with bright eyes, finally! He didn't notice the proud glint in Aizawa's eyes, behind his new mirrored vizor.

"You know what this means, right Midoriya? From tomorrow the real training starts". Izuku knew he should have shivered in fear, but he only nodded toward his teacher, filled with determination and excitement.

Eight months after the faux-villain incident, as they called it, Eijiro didn't know whether to be grateful to his new friend for convincing Aizawa-sensei to let him join in on the training (only three times a week after school) or buy a fake identity and vanish into the shadows, live off the grid. He was running, with his own bags of rocks clenched tightly in his hands. He now knew exactly why Midoriya was so terrified of dropping even a single one. He dodged to the right, then left. His pursuer was Midoriya himself. At least he was using petals as his ammo this time. Those were the most simple to dodge, only shooting in a straight line. At least this would be their last exercise.

Tomorrow Izuku would get All Might's quirk (and wasn't that a shock! But Eijiro agreed that there really wasn't anyone better, no matter how much Midoriya argued.) Then, they would take the entrance exam to U.A. High, and begin their career as heroes.

Chapter 3

"You ready Midobro?" Eijiro shoulder-tapped his newest (and admittedly closest) friend.

"I-I think so! I trained a lot for this, I got a handle on my quirk," Izuku fist pumped in the air, then seemingly deflated "B-but we can't bring anything inside with us, so I won't have ammo to start with... and Nezu said that the written test I'll be given will be slightly different than the standard test, s-since I've matriculated out of highschool a-and I usually discover test patterns by the third question and then unless the question are..."

Eijiro sweatdropped, he didn't understand how some bullies messed up Izuku's confidence, but he felt some very unheroic emotions towards them. "Midobro! Man! You. Have. Got. This! Do you feel... it... already?" They both looked around themselves not-at-all suspiciously, and only when they saw that the coast was clear did Izuku lean closer to him.

"Not yet, Yagi-san said it would take a few hours to digest, and even then we don't know how it'll interact with my quirk..." Eijiro still didn't get (man, not completely getting things seemed to be a theme when it came to his understanding of Izuku) why they only transferred All Might's quirk the morning of the exam, but from what he gathered from the various explanations, it was a combination of having Izuku's body in top condition (All Might), quirks usually evolving under real-time stressful conditions (Izuku), Eraserhead being available to be on scene only today (Eraserhead and Present Mic) and... dramatic effect (Nezu).

Either way, Eijiro was pumped. For his friend, and for himself. He never felt more ready for anything in his life. Between tutoring with Izuku, who was a genius, and training with him under various heroes, Eijiro knew he was the best version of himself he could be! He was so busy hyping himself up, that he totally missed a spiky-haired blond kid shoulder check Izuku roughly.

The yelling snapped Eijiro back to reality, "Watch it you useless nerd! I'll be waiting to see you cry after you fail". He only saw the back of that kid stomping away in a huff.

While he turned to check on his friend, he heard Izuku sigh "Don't worry about it Kirishima-kun, it was bound to happen. Bakugou will get into U.A., he's too talented and hardworking for the school to take him".

"Come on Midobro, no way they'll accept a bully! Does Nezu know?"

Izuku couldn't help himself, he let out a little giggle, "Of course Nezu knows, how can he not know? Even if we weren't friends he would have access to records and security footage from all middle schools of the different ap-" As usual, Izuku got really into whatever he was saying, but different from usual, the stress from the exam, the chaotic atmosphere of thousands of applicants, and his laugh when he was explaining, caused him to lose track of his environment (Eijiro sent a small prayer that Eraserhead didn't see that).

Izuku tripped, almost in slow motion, until they both heard a clapping sound and Izuku started... floating? "Woah is that-" "Oh sorry I didn't mean to use-"

Eijiro was about to ask if that was a new part of his quirk, but a tall girl with a borderline panicked expression touched her hands together and as she said "release" Izuku fell to the ground (well, with his reflexes, he spun himself halfway and landed on his feet. "I'm so sorry!" The girl bowed, I thought it would be bad luck to trip so I used my quirk on you! That was incredibly rude please forgive me".

Izuku went red in the face and started stammering that it was fine (the petals in his eyes were fluttering around like crazy, something the girl definitelynoticed), and Eijiro stepped in to salvage the situation "It's fine! You had good intentions and it worked out! Midobro didn't trip!" The girl looked confused at the moniker, "Oh sorry, I'm Kirishima Eijiro and he's Midoriya Izuku" Izuku managed to stammer out a "Nice to meet you".

"I'm Uraraka Ochako! Good luck with the exam, I'm really nervous". It was like those words triggered something in Izuku, and he jumped to reassure the Uraraka, all nervousness forgotten.

"Y-You have nothing to worry about Uraraka-san! Your quirk is really cool! Five-contact gravity nullification is useful for combat, subjugation, and rescue heroics, and you can probably use it for infiltration too, since you can fly high and people don't usually check the sky or windows on high floors! Plus you think fast on your feet since you helped me the moment you saw I tripped!" Yup, Izuku's priorities were definitely 'help people' first, and 'freak out' second (tied with 'fanboy over heroes', which made for an amusing scene every single time they met a new hero over the last eight months).

Uraraka's face grew redder with each word, and the conversation soon devolved into them bowing and thanking each other. Eijiro knew it was time to step in (again!) "Well, maybe we can all exchange numbers and get together after the exam? I think we're almost out of time". With his phone already out, the other two were quick to follow his lead.

Izuku didn't really understand the point of his written exam, since Nezu told him that instead of writing answers, he would be writing questions. His only directives were to write a mix of quirk analysis questions, villain encounter scenarios, and miscellaneous hypotheticals that could be relevant to hero work. Oh, and to write them in ascending order of difficulty, starting with extremely simple ones that could be solved by an average middle schooler. He didn't get the point of it, but he had fun nonetheless.

It got even better when there were answers to his scenarios and he could elaborate in real time! And he had to balance several of them at the same time! It was like running a roleplaying game or some collaborative improv exercise, with the addition of memory and situational positioning! He should ask Nezu to do this more often!

Intelli Saiko was frustrated. She heard huffs of frustration from the other recommended exam applicants and took comfort in the fact she wasn't alone. They already did the practical portion of the exam a week ago, but Nezu said that this year the format was changing and the written portion would be done with the rest of the contestants. The upside was that they could observe the general practical exam if they wanted to.

The new format had them sitting in front of a computer and answering scenarios that would update in real time depending on their answers. Was this a new A.I. or were there heroes and HSPC personnel doing this?

This scenario is a hostage situation that takes place on international waters. A cruise ship has encountered a support gear smuggling operation that has taken them hostage. The ship has fifty passengers and forty three crewmembers. Among the passengers, there are seven important personages that would have diplomatic immunity if they were in any country's territory. Eight of the passengers are teenagers, three are children between the ages of four and six. 

There are twelve villains, of them seven have close-range combat quirks that are not instantly lethal, and three of those are empowered in water. Two villains have long-range quirks, one of which is limited water manipulation (limited range and volume, initially unknown). 

You are a hero that was on vacation on the cruise ship. Your quirk is limited flight and communication with avians. Explain your priorities and how you would go about achieving them.

Intelli slapped herself on both cheeks. Priorities would be villain subjugation, mitigation of casualties, and prevention of international incidents. She would obviously choose mitigation of casualties and go along with the villains, persuading the crew and passengers to temporarily do the same. She does not have enough information about the subsequent villain's actions to make a plan, and she would like information about the crewmembers' quirks and how many of them are of her nationality (meaning she can authorize them to use quirks).

There are eighteen crewmembers of your nationality, their quirks are unknown unless you ask. The villains split the hostages into seven groups of around twelve people, a single combat capable villain guarding each group. The ship is still moving but you don't know if a villain is steering or the hostage crewmembers. You hear yelling and explosions from the next room when the wall to your right (villain's left) bursts. One of the children has either activated or awakened their quirk - Laser Vision.

Intelli stared at the screen. She felt a single tear trickle down her cheek. She heard a scream of despair and she didn't even know if it was hers or one of the other applicants.

Izuku stared at the screen. This had to be some sort of bug. The only words on the screen were FUCK FUCK THIS SCENARIO FUCK FUCK WHAT THE FUCK IS LASER EYES WHO THE FUCK BRINGS THEIR KIDS ON A CRUISE WHAT THE FUCK FUCK THIS.

That was already the third scenario that had that kind of response. Nezu only told him not to worry and that meant he got full marks for that specific scenario. Oh well, almost done, and then the pre-practical briefing.

"YEEAAAAH!!" Two voices echoed in the frankly enormous hall. His and Midobro's. But they couldn't just leave Present Mic hanging!

"That's the spirit listeners! The exam has you entering a fake city and combating robots, each robot has a point value of between one and three-"

"Excuse me!" Some blue-haired kid raised his hand, "You said that there are three robots, but this pamphlet says there are four. If this is an oversigh- Hey, you with the green hair, please don't interrupt when someone else is speaking!"

Come on Midobro, stand up for yourself! "A-actually, Present Mic said that each robot had a point value, not that each t-type of robot has a point v-value... M-maybe there are four types of robots, but robots have different point values individually regardless of their type?" Yes! Good answer!

"I see, I apologize for jumping to conclusions". The kid bowed and sat down hastily.

After a few long seconds of silence, Present Mic cleared his throat, "Ahem, actually each point value belongs to a single type, and there is one robot type that is worth zero points, you can think of it more like an obstacle. Although Mido- Although the listener with the green hair had a very plausible idea, each point value corresponds to a stronger robot, since this is an exam we want to keep the scenario simple".

Ochako found herself in the same testing zone as the scary blue-haired kid and Midoriya who seemed like really smart and had really pretty eyes, he got her quirk in one activation and even stood up to Blue Hair! The testing zone was a huge city, and all the applicants were stretched outside of it. "H-hi U-Uraraka," Midoriya approached her and she jumped a bit, "Y-you don't have anything to be nervous about! I think your quirk is perfect for this! You can lift robots and drop them or throw them at each other, and also drop rubble on them from rooftops! This scenario is perfect for you!"

Wow. He was really smart. She only thought of one of those things, and the least efficient one at that!That was both a hit and a boost to her confidence at the same time (more of a boost thankfully). She pumped her fist, "Y-yeah! We got this, We'll go to U.A. together and crush this exam!"

"START!"

Midoriya was off, everyone else (including her) was still in shock, but she took after Midoriya before she heard Present Mic behind her "What are you waiting for? Real life doesn't have a countdown!"

She saw Midoriya run ahead, fist sized chunks of rubble floating in rings around him (Like a planet, she thought) as he zipped from side to side shooting them out in weird waves, totally demolishing the robots in front of him. After he ran out of debris various shards from the robots started floating around him, and he shot those forward in horizontal lines in front of him, just the width of the street, so he didn't miss a single robot!

Well, time to put what he said into practice, and maybe learn from him! She started touching the shrapnel left behind by him and shooting it like throwing stars, releasing her quirk right before impact. It was a lesser version of what Midoriya did, but it was very effective. When the robots started to get too close to her, she changed it up, again to one of Midoriya's strategies. Touching a three-point robot, she lifted it like a club and started bashing everything around her. She sort of felt like a berserker queen, but... she liked it.

--

That's sixty, that has to be good! Good thin too because I'm too nauseous to float anything other than shrapnel at this point. She started running towards a cluster of one-point robots, preparing her throwing-shrapnel, when the ground started to shake, and out of nowhere a giant robot emerged, she was so shocked that she didn't notice a huge rock falling towards her from a broken building. "AAAHH" She yelled in pain, the zero-point robot advancing in her direction. No way this is how I go. Then suddenly she saw red sneakers in front of her eyes, and above her Midoriya stood, surrounded by green lightning.

Izuku heard Uraraka's shout, and instinctively started running towards her. There was no way he could take on the zero-pointer, his bullets weren't big enough or fast enough, but he might be able to help her. Then it clicked. He saw that Uraraka was trapped under a boulder, the zero-pointer almost above her, and a pool of heat exploded from his stomach. Before he could understand what was happening, a wave of green translucent energy erupted from him and enveloped the zero-pointer. His quirk evolved, boosted by OFA.

A red half-circle halo appeared above the zero-pointer, with a notch marking two-thirds of it. Izuku jumped and realized he wasn't falling. He started shooting out bullets, but he realized he had no ammo. Man I wish I could analyze my own patterns, this is way too much. Black energy darts enveloped in a light pink radiance shot out from him, and when they hit the zero-pointer the red halo started to empty, turning grey from right to left.

"BOSS BATTLE BOSS BATTLE!" A ghost with white hair was rolling around the phantasmal ground of the vestige realm in OFA, "Best quirk ever!", Yoichi Shigaraki, the first holder of OFA declared.

Opposed to him, Daigoro Banjo looked in despair, "M-my quirk. B-blackwhip. I-it's pink now." A few other vestiges laughed at him, mostly those whose quirk the ninth holder didn't use yet.

Most vocal was Nana Shimura, the seventh holder of OFA, whose quirk, Float, Izuku was obviously using to fly. "Lighten up, he's a good kid, and it's obvious our quirks are changing to suit him".

An empty bar appeared hovering beneath Izuku, slowly filling up with red, an angered screech echoed in the vestige realm "I DO NOT CONSENT TO THIS USE OF MY QUIRK!"

Nana again came to Izuku's defense, "Lighten up Bruce, he's charging energy, that's Fa-Jin at its best!"

There's that energy, Izuku thought. It builds up faster the closer I get to the zero-pointer's attacks. He could feel the energy bar below him filling up with red energy, even as he was evading the robot's accelerating attacks. But what happens when it's full? And what will happen when the zero-pointer's health(?) halo reaches the two-thirds notch?

The silence in the observation room was deafening. Momo Yaoyorozu could sense some tension running between the teachers and a tall blond that was sitting next to principal Nezu. By this point the screens were all focused on the flying green-haired boy who was shooting energy at the giant robot. Certainly more interesting than our practical.

One of the teachers, a scruffy man with bags under his eyes, placed a firm hand on the lanky blond's shoulder. "Is this what you expected? Tell me, did you and Nezu plan this for your so called dramatic effect?" His eyes were bloodshot.

Nezu turned to him, with what Momo could swear was a smile (it was hard to read him), "Now now Aizawa, there are potential students here". She swore the principal winked at her.

"Powerloader, should the Zero-Pointer be able to do that?" Vlad King asked with a small shiver in his voice. They all turned to the screen, to see what had him rattled. The red halo above the robot reached its two third notch, and the robot was glowing.

"N-no, definitely not!" Powerloader yelled as the robot began to shift like some transformer. It grew two separate arms, and all of its hands opened up to reveal laser shooters.

Nezu simply cackled "Incredible, his quirk empowers his enemies in a way that makes fighting them beneficial for him! The Zero-Pointer is stuck shooting in fixed patterns now, even if those shots are more powerful and faster than before!"

"Before?! It didn't HAVE energy shots before! What the fu-" "Powerloader, Students here!" "-dge is going on!"

"WAIT!" The thin blond guy yelled, focusing all attention on him. "Izuku's energy bar is almost full". Izuku? Did the teachers all know him? 

They all leaned forward,and then the bar underneath Izuku filled up, right as he corckscrewed between two laser beams. He stood in place, and his shooting ceased. a pinkish glow surrounded him and the lasers that hit him simply bounced of the pink barrier. Suddenly an enormous lotus of black energy surrounded by a pink halo manifested behind him. The boy, Izuku apparently, sent both his hands out in front of him, and the petals of the lotus shot out towards the robot...

And completely eviscerated it.

The boy was floating in the air, above the ruined remains of the robot (that were larger than it initially was, since he somehow caused it to evolve?), and then the lightning around him dissipated, and he started falling. Before the teachers could jump, a camera zoomed in on some girl slapping him in mid-air, dragging him slowly to the ground, and hurling.

Chapter 4

Izuku woke up to the sounds of yelling, cheering, and arguing. "We should give him a warm welcome! It doesn't matter what you think, since it's not yourquirk anymore, is it?" A feminine voice Izuku didn't recognize.

"Yeah lighten up! We're in an honest to god Danmaku! I doubt any of us could have made One For All any cooler than the Ninth here!" Another unrecognizable voice, masculine this time?

"Oh oh Yoichi he's waking up!" Several figured were crouched over Izuku, and when he wanted to speak he found his mouth... simply wasn't there.

Before he could panic, the feminine voice, belonging to a muscular woman with untamed black hair, calmed him down "Woah there Ninth, chill, you're safe!"

A few seconds of silence passed, "Oh yeah umm you can't talk. Soooo, I guess I'll just answer the questions I'll think you have... First of all, my name is Nana Shimura, and yes, I AM that pretty naturally-"

The woman, Nana, was cut off by a disgruntled silver-haired man with a tall spiked ponytail, who yanked her back by the collar. "Get up Ninth. As you may have surmised, since at least you've got a good head on your shoulders, this place is One For All. We're all the previous holders of the quirk, and I'll make things quick since I've got a bone to pick with you."

Izuku stood shakily under the glare of the white haired man. "The short of it is that you'll get access to our quirks incrementally, but when you activate OFA suddenly then they'll simply integrate into your quirk in the most suitable manner. Usually we'd need to approve of you for you to be able to use our quirks, but since you have the most unreasonable birth quirk I've seen since All For One, that only stands when you use our quirks separately".

"I approve by the way!" Nana interjected, "Mine is Float and it allowed me to, ummm, float. But after I got OFA it evolved and allowed me to fly. And it seems that your base quirk doesn't really modify it much hehe. That means that you'll probably be able to use it on its own soon!".

Izuku looked around, and saw that he was in a completely grey realm, and most of the figures were still shadowed, probably those whose quirk he hadn't used yet, if he could understand the preliminary pattern. "Woah kiddo think a bit slower, not all of us are braniacs". Nana jolted him out of his own head. Ah, makes sense that they could hear his thoughts, this was inside his mind.

"Yeah of course", an unkempt man with long white hair waved to him, "I'm Yoichi Shigaraki, the first, the loud but nice one is Nana Shimura, the seventh, Spiky and mad is Bruce, the third, and Muscles McBald-" "Hey! Wha-" "Nope, you wanted to sit and be miserable, you get introduced by me, Uhhh, yeah he's the fifth user. Welp, looks like you're waking up, see ya!"

In the infirmary, Eijiro was sitting between Uraraka and All Might, in his skinny form, with principal Nezu on All Might's head. Eraserhead was leaning on the wall behind them, and Recovery Girl was muttering over the sleeping form of Izuku.

The awkward atmosphere was almost stifling for him.

After a few minutes of silence, All Might tried to force some levity, "Well, at least we know how his quirk evolved..."

"Do we, Yagi? Because I can't exactly explain what happened there". The impatience in Eraserhead's voice was palpable.

"Ummmm... did you... ummm... expect Midoriya-kun's quirk to evolve in the exam?" Eijiro wanted to facepalm. Uraraka was still there, and she was definitely not in the know (yet).

All Might took his smartphone out and started to fiddle with it, but Eijiro saw that he was just opening and closing his messages over and over. Principal Nezu was grooming himself, Eraserhead was suddenly asleep (or pretending to be sleeping). Crud, he was the last to react.

"Ummm... Kirishima-kun? You've known Midoriya for a while now, right? Was what he did normal for him?" He almost caved under Uraraka's intense gaze, he really couldn't throw anyone else under the bus, since they would all be his teachers, so he deflected.

"Well, I've known Midobro for a bout half a year, and he was always training his quirk... I was at a different testing site than you two so I don't know what exaaaaactly you mean?" He stretched the end of his words, anything to give him more time to think, when Izuku stirred awake.

"Midobro are you okay?" "Midoriya-kun how are you feeling?!" Eijiro and Uraraka spoke simultaneously, barely giving Izuku time to open his eyes.

While he was cleaning the last remnants of sleep from his face, he mumbled something about verification of One For All and dreams. "What was that, young Midoriya?" All Might must have caught on to something there.

"Ah All Might, was your mentor's name Nana Shimura?" Izuku finally opened his eyes and froze upon making I contact with Uraraka. If the situation wasn't so tense, Eijiro would have laughed at how his face flickered between blushing, mortification, and terror at giving away a big secret. As it was, he just tried to make himself as least noticeable as possible.

Any chance of them playing it off vanished when All Might choked in surprise, Eraserhead sighed, and Nezu laughed and asked. "Izuku, where did you learn that?"

Izuku looked at Nezu, then at Uraraka, then at Nezu again, "We'll explain everything to her, besides, she got in," At this point Nezu turned to Uraraka, "Congratulations Uraraka-san, this is Your Hero Academia".

Izuku deadpanned, but cleared his throat, "Well, when I was passed out, I woke up inside OFA... or something..." He kept sending glances at Uraraka, who was looking more and more confused, "And there were these ghosts, like of the previous holders of OFA".

"...Spooky..." All Might mumbled in a small voice.

"Anyway, so some of them were blurry but some spoke to me, and so OFA can integrate all of the previous holders' quirks into my base quirk, and that's what happened in the exam, but I might be getting access to each of them separately too..."

"Are you sure you should be telling me this?" Uraraka finally interjected, "This all sounds really top secret and weird or like you're all playing a prank on me, where's All Might, why is everyone ignoring that you're just talking like he's here?" She gradually became more frantic as she kept questioning everything, when a large puff of smoke shut her up.

"HELLO YOUNG URARAKA, I AM HERE!" All Might buffed himself up, and immediately poofed down into his true form.

A few more seconds of awkward silence passed, that seemed to be the theme in the infirmary, when Izuku suddenly leapt forward to catch Uraraka's prone body... Since she apparently fainted at the revelations.

Chapter 5

"-ou panicked afte-" Ochako blinked, hearing voices around her but not completely understanding them.

"-mber to look aro-" A gruff voice belonging to one of the teachers, the scraggly one with messy hair?

"But Aizawa-sensei, All Might spille... ...olution befo-" Kirishima-kun's voice, Ochako was almost completely awake now, the events leading to her fainting rushing back.

"Midoriya still could have made a quick cover, his only blunder was asking about All Might's mentor, which could have been brushed off as dream delirium, you should know better than to get distracted by a girl, Midoriya".

Ochako sat up right as Midoriya-san responded "I didn't get distracted because she's a pretty girl! All Might choked at my question!"

Midoriya made eye contact with Ochako, a thick awkwardness filled the room faster than the gas from Midnight's quirk. The teacher, Aizawa-sensei's, eyes glinted dangerously. "Midoriya, I distinctly do not remember saying anything about a pretty girl". With his revenge seemingly being had, he got up and left.

"G-good morning Uraraka-san, Ummm I-I mean, it's not m-morning but I hope you s-slept well, OH ummm, that you're okay I mean". Midoriya went redder at every word (and Ochako couldn't help but think that he was rather pretty himself), Kirishima and principal Nezu grinning behind him.

Ochako couldn't help herself from chuckling, but when she saw Midoriya's face darken in hurt she immediately clarified, "No no! I'm alright it's just a lot! Thank you for worrying. And! Thank you for your help during the exam! You were all Woosh! Pewpewpew! And then the giant robot went Zrrrpt and you had this giant flower go Boom and then it all exploded like Kblam!" In her excitement she didn't even notice her exaggerated hand movements miming the entire narration, until Midoriya giggled and brought her out of it.

Principal Nezu cleared his throat, "Izuku, this year there were 36% less examinees for the hero course, and between 38%-41% less in the other courses, why?" Ochako had no idea where the sudden interjection came from, and didn't have time to think before Midoriya (Wait, the principal called him Izuku?) answered.

"Well, the academic entry requirements were identical, as were the non-recommended practical and written exams - unless you gave me false guidelines when you asked me to write the written exam-" Write the written exam? What? "-no other school has had a larger than normal sum of applicants until U.A. sent examination acceptance or rejection letters, after which there was an influx of applicants to other schools. Negligible for each school, but adding up to nearly 35% for heroics... So, the same amount of exam hopefuls wanted to attend... there must have been some hidden requirement this year that made attending the test more difficult - AH! you did more extensive background checks because of the shifts in heroic landscape and faculty in U.A.!"

"Perfect deduction, Izuku. Now, this means Uraraka-san has been vetted, and I already let slip that she had been accepted, so feel free to fill her in". Nezu made towards leaving, but stopped for a last question, "We're still on for game night tomorrow, correct?" Midoriya nodded enthusiastically.

She felt a callused hand on her shoulder, "I had so many questions too, I understand. Just ask away, and remember you're not going through this alone". Kirishima-san spoke with an overacted shadow on his face, but it couldn't hide his grin.

Izuku was probably having the best week of his life (so far)! He had been meeting with Kirishima and Ochako almost daily, talking and training. Sometimes Kirishima said he couldn't come, so it was just him and Ochako. It was during one of these training sessions that he finally understood how to use Float.

--

Izuku knew he shouldn't use his height so blatantly against Uraraka, but every time he came up from ducking under one of her reaches, he couldn't help himself. By tilting his head twelve degrees forward, he could poke her in the eyes with the top of his hair. The first time he did it he laughed so hard that Uraraka wouldn't float him down until she got a stomachache. The next thing he tried was tilting sixteen degrees forward, to get his hair in her mouth. While that was distracting, it was unpleasant enough for both of them that he simply didn't try again. Eyes though? Those were fair game.

Slowly Uraraka adapted, leaning back or aiming lower, but Izuku was almost always a step faster. Until she leaned forward. Right as Izuku was shifting himself up toward her face. Instead of his hair in her face, it was his face in her... something else. She let out a strangled eep, and they both fell over. For the first time in his life, Izuku lost track of time. Usually his heartbeats and breath were a good indicator. Now, both his heartbeat and his breathing became erratic as Uraraka above him filled his line of sight (he didn't know if she literally filled it all, since he didn't even try looking away). Worse, her own erratic heartbeats and breath intermingled with his, making everything more confusing.

A few seconds or minutes or hours later, she got up and reached out a hand to help him as well. They were both as quiet as they were red (meaning, more than ever before in their lives). Only when Uraraka looked down and then back into his eyes did Izuku realize he was at the same height as her, making level eye-contact. A quirk induced growth spurt? One of the unknown quirks from the previous users? the power of love? He was brought out of his embarrassing and disjointed thoughts when Uraraka touched her fingers together.

"Release" Nothing. "Release!" Nothing. "O-oh no, Izuku I think I got you stuck like that!" Izuku? B-but he had more important things to do than think about that development, like stopping her from crying or feeling bad! "N-no O-Ocha-Ochako, It's probably my q-quirk, not yours, ummm, remember? It can do all sorts of things".

"Don't worry I-Izuku, I'll h-hold on to you so you won't float away! Don't worry, okay?!" Ochako wore a determined expression on her face and grabbed on to his arm tightly. Izuku didn't know exactly why, but having her hold on to him so tightly made him float higher. Wait, if I can't analyze what's happening that well then it must be my quirk.

He looked to his worried yet determined friend, "It's okay, this is definitely part of my quirk, ummm, either Float or some unknown factor. I'll try to control it, b-but, don't let go?" If he could see into the vestiege realm, he would have gotten the distinct impression that Nana was snickering at how his voice shifted from calm and soothing to blushing and panicked in the span of a couple of seconds.

It took him a few long seconds, (maybe longer than it would have if he didn't have a strong incentive to not figure out his quirk, in the form of Ochako holding on to him tightly), but eventually Izuku managed to control his movements left and right, and finally to land.

"Way to go Izuku!" Ochako cheered, although, did she sound a little disappointed? "Do you think you know how use it now? You're really smart so you'll definitely get it!"

"Ummm, I don't know exactly how to activate it... do you th-think you could help me O-Ochako?" He honestly didn't know how to activate it yet, but he also wasn't going to look for alternatives to the only method he already knew.

"Oh, sure," by her blush, she must have caught on to the fact that they switched to given names, "what do need me to do?"

"W-Well, it activated when... when... when you hugged me!" Izuku had his eyes shut tight and his head tilted down, his blood was pumping so hard in his ears that he couldn't hear her definitely negativeresponse. Then, Izuku felt her arms wrap around him and suddenly he felt weightless again.

--

It took them time, and a lot of embarrassment, but eventually Izuku got the hang of using Float. Apparently it allowed him to completely fly, though not with the insane speed and precision as when he activated OFA in its entirety.

They had to move from full hugs to one armed hugs, then to her holding his arm, then to holding hands. Of course that made them realize that they never checked the opposite direction!

Luckily, Izuku could also activate float by hugging her.

They interspersed the quirk training with spars, and after almost three hours of practice, they were red in the face from exertion (definitely not blushes).

"I-I think I can control it now, Ochako. I only n-need to think about... it... now to start Float".

"Oh that's great I-Izuku! amazing!" Her genuine smile turned bashful, "but if you need to... then just tell me and I'll help you again. Maybe it needs to stay recharged?"

Nana Shimura was howling with laughter. "D-did you hear that? Stay recharged? What does she think that even means? Oh my god this is too funny please tell me that one of you has a secret memory recording and projection quirk they haven't told us about".

"Thanks! I couldn't have done it without you! Really Ochako you're such an incredible friend", Izuku told her with his blindingly bright smile.

She hoped he hadn't realized how hard her heart was beating during the training, and she was self aware enough to realize that it wasn't all adrenaline and exercise that got her there. In the few seconds of silence Ochako realized that she and Izuku had drawn closer, like a slow motion version of one of the tens of hugs they just shared. Tilting her head down and looking into his eyes, she realized that they both knew this hug would be different, it would be a hug just because they wanted to hug-

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late! I brought snacks and soda!" Kirishima burst into the training room without noticing the incredibly dense tension he just shattered.

Nezu held out a paw and Kayama Nemuri, the pro heroine Midnight, grumbled as she shoved a few bills into it.

"You could have stopped it you know. Don't you want to get Izuku a girlfriend? Heck, with his charm and power he could get three!"

Nezu calmly folded the money into his wallet, "Of course I want him to get a girlfriend, but I also don't want to interfere with his life in a controlling manner". Nezu was still wrapping his head around having a genuine, no ulterior motives or working relationships, friend. He found that it was a very pleasant aspect to life. Why, he even found himself so content at times that he stopped scheming for revenge some nights.

"And while I do hope that Izuku will be happy whoever he ends up with, I do hope that Uraraka will be the one". He completely ignored Midnight's suggestive eyebrow wiggles at the idea of multiple partners. He thought that just wouldn't sit right with the boy, even if he still couldn't understand human mating habits.

Izuku, Ochako, and Eijiro approached the tall door, they were somewhat early, but it was still surprising how silent the class was - only a few giggles and muted conversations.

"Together on the count of three?" Eijiro asked and both his friends nodded. "One. Two. THRE-" The door opened before they could finish, and a tall blue haired kid (who Izuku argued with during the exam orientation) stood before them.

"Excuse me, are you going to loiter outside and make noise? You are disturbing the students. If you are not part of the class I must request that you leave- Oh I apologize I did not recognize you, you must be here since you got accepted, right?" When the blue haired kid recognized Midobro, he changed his tune fast.

"I am Iida Tenya", he bowed at a ninety degree angle and gestured for them to enter.

"Oh, I'm Kirishima Eijiro, and these are Uraraka Ochako" Uraraka waived her hand to the students in the class, who were by now paying attention, "and Midoriya Izuku". Midobro also started to make a small wave with his hand, but the sound of a gasp made them all turn around.

Realizing she had drawn all the attention to herself, a tall girl with a black spiky ponytail reddened slightly and cleared her throat, "I apologize for my outburst Midoriya-san, but I must ask how you managed the written exam? In the rankings we received I was third, with an evaluation of 'Adequate knowledge of sciences and quirk law, but needs work on flexibility and adapting to unknown quirks and partial information'. You on the other hand, were ranked first and your evaluation was public... 'victory'? Was there some sort of technique or trick to manage the written scenarios that I missed, I must admit that I spent the last week reading case studies and materials regarding the scenarios that stumped me."

"Wait what are you talking about, Midoriya Izuku is the one that got first on the written exam, but his score was simply N/A, right?" A smaller teenager with a purple bob-cut asked, and everyone turned expectantly towards Midoriya.

Eijiro hadn't noticed, but the class had filled up while they were all talking, and every single one of them was laser focused on Midobro.

"W-wait, y-you were the one with the joint agency operation against the drug manufacturers where one of the heroes was actually an addict and tried to sabotage it?"

While the tall girl nodded, Eijiro felt a hand on his shoulder, "Hey man, what are they talking about? We only got grades on our written, right?"

"Oh yeah, they're talking about some other thing I think, Midobro got N/A on the written exam for us since he was the one who wrote it-" Eijiro turned to see who was talking to him and saw a guy around his height with blond hair and a black stripe in it. Close. Eijiro cleared his throat, "Yeah, so Midobro did some other written exam, he said it was really fun".

When they turned back to Midoriya they saw him apologizing to the tall girl "I'm sorry Yaoyorozu-san, I didn't know the scenarios were for other examinees, Nezu only told me to evaluate each participant after they were all done!"

"Midoriya-san, what do you mean each participant, weren't you only in charge of my scenario?" The girl, Yaoyorozu something, looked between apprehensive and confused.

"Ah n-no, part of my exam was to be able to adapt all scenarios simultaneously without mixing them up, I was the only one writing the scenarios". Izuku noticed the increased focus on him, and suddenly turned to the door. Eijiro was sure he was going to bolt for it when he suddenly bowed "Ah Aizawa-sensei, sorry for not seeing you earlier".

Everyone turned to the door, only to see Aizawa sigh and climb out of a sleeping bag on the floor "Well, I wanted to see how long it took you all to notice me, but I should have known better with Midoriya in this class- No, don't dare say sorry for having a good situational awareness Midoriya," he pre-empted Midobro's apology, "Everyone, get to you seats. Not you Midoriya get up here".

When everyone was seated in front of a grumpy Aizawa and shy Midoriya, the teacher spoke again, "I am Aizawa Shota, and I'll be your homeroom teacher. This is Midoriya Izuku, he will be my TA for all non-Heroics classes except for English and Literature, during which he will be observing Class 1-B's Heroics classes. Now get changed into your sports gear and meet me behind at the field behind the school. You can ask Midoriya any questions on the way, but you have five minutes".

Aizawa left, leaving a shocked class behind him. Most shocked of all though, was Midoriya, who looked to be completely blindsided by everything his teacher just dropped on them.

Chapter 6

The stress ball in his hand was almost destroyed. It would have been the fifth one since he received the results of the entrance exam.

--

"Congratulations Bakugo-san, this is your hero academia!"

Katsuki could barely hear the hologram rat. Too many shocks. He wasn't surprised the nerd got first on the written exam, his quirk was like a cheat (he just didn't know what N/A meant). But the practical? It was bad enough that he only got fourth place, with 77 villain points, but three people beat him? Third place was some Urawhatever, with 68 villain points and 20 rescue points. What the hell are rescue points?! But the two that came in first beat him out even in villain points. Some Kirisomething got fucking 82 villain points and 15 rescue points. And the fucking nerd, somehow, with his fucking useless quirk, got 101 villain points and 74 fucking rescue points. They would have beaten him even without those stupid hidden points.

--

"Did you hear me Bakugo-san? This is very important". The stupid rat looked at him from his stupid desk. Katsuki didn't understand why he was called to the principal's office on the first day, but whatever.

"Yeah yeah I heard you" he answered with a handwave.

"The only reason we admitted you was because Izuku personally intervened. Most of the staff were against it, seeing your history with bullying and personality evaluation. Please remember that, Bakugo-san, and stay on your best behavior. Especially towards Izuku". Katsuki swore that he saw some evil glint in the rat's eyes when he talked about Izuku.

With grit teeth, Katsuki nodded his head, the stress ball flaking in his hand, "Got it, I'm going to class-"

"Ah, your class is on the way to the field behind the building, for a quirk apprehension test".

Katsuki growled and stormed off to join the extras that would be in his class. Now the nerd wouldn't be able to cheat, everyone would see how useless his quirk is and he'd be kicked out! At least that thought cheered him up. Now he only hoped to be in class with those other two extras so he could also prove that he was also better than them.

"A-All right everyone, it took you all seven minutes and forty-four seconds to change and arrive, we'll need to improve on that so please notice what you think took the most of your time. As heroes we need to move quickly form place to place, and also change our gear at a moments notice... so... ummm... yeah, even though we're only on our way to the first quirk apprehension text, there's already stuff to learn!" The TA was smiling nervously, while the girl with the brown hair and the spiky red-haired kid were shooting him a non-discreet thumbs up. Toru thought it was a bit funny how jittery he was seeing as he was supposed to be leading the class.

After an awkward moment of silence, he spoke again. "So, we all did physical tests in middle school, this will be like that only we'll be allowed to use our quirks". Great, already at a disadvantage, Toru thought bitterly. The pink girl next to her, Ashido Mina, was about to jump and say something when Midoriya stopped her. "Ah! I hope none of you will treat this like a game or like a fun exercise!" he was looking directly at Ashido, like he somehow knew, "It's important to get a baseline for how our quirks interact with our bodies in different modes of movement and strain, and how powerful the activation of our quirk in each of those modes can be. I expect you all to give it your best, since this will be the yardstick by which you will measure yourself throughout the year!"

Toru could have sworn that she heard their actualteacher scoff, and Midoriya's eyes darting to him told her she was correct. "R-Right! Yoarashi-sa-"

"YES!" a tall boy with a shaved head leaped up with a raised hand.

Midoriya seemed taken aback, but gathered himself and cleared his throat while looking at a list Aizawa-sensei gave him, "You came in first in the recommended exam's practical portion, so please come and help me demonstrate. What was your record for the ball throw in middle school?"

"NO PROBLEM!" Yoarashi stepped forward while bowing, "IN MI-"

"Ah ah wait please Yoarashi-san!" The tall boy froze in place comically, and Midoriya almost sprinted towards the rest of the students. He finally stopped in front of a short thin girl with a purple bob cut, "Jiro-san, right? Is your enhanced hearing only through the extended jacks, or through the typical cochlear system as well?"

Jiro was gaping at him, as were the rest of the students. The longer the silence continued the more he started fidgeting, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention on him. Toru once again wondered how someone so timid could be their TA. Luckily for him, Jiro snapped back and answered.

"Only through the jacks, but how did-?"

"Oh you were wincing when Yoarashi-san spoke, and I thought that this whole thing would probably get loud. Ummm, hold on", Midoriya looked around, but when he couldn't find what he was looking for he glanced worriedly at Aizawa, and removed his tie, "You can wrap this around the jacks, meanwhile I'll ask Nezu to send over some protective gear".

He went back to the front while texting on his phone, and then turned back to them. "Right, thank you for waiting Yoarashi-san, please make sure to speak in a lower volume unless your quirk necessitates a louder volume, in which case we can start to look into support gear for that".

"NO PR- no problem Midoriya-san!" Somehow he was able to convey yelling while whispering. "the way you noticed your classmate's discomfort and immediately did something to help is suuuper inspiring! I can see why you're the teaching assistant, we already have so much to learn from you!"

Midoriya blushed and cleared his throat (Again, does he have something stuck there or is he just bad with praise?) "I'm sure you'll all pass me in no time! So... middle school?"

"Yes! In middle school I could throw the ball almost 80 meters without use of my quirk"! Ei-eightymeters? Toru looked around and saw that she wasn't the only one shocked by that number. Midoriya simply handed him a ball and asked him to throw it with his quirk.

Yoarashi looked pumped, he probably has some super useful quirk for that. No stop! Toru you got into the hero course, and this is only the start! No bitterness! Toru was torn out of her spiraling thoughts by an enormous gust of wind that blow most of the students on their backs. Midoriya looked at his measurement device and read out "Eight hundred and twenty one meters! Way to go Yoarashi-san!"

Yoarashi bowed at his waist, and went back to the class. Midoriya looked a bit apprehensive, but still steeled himself to say something.

"Look, Yoarashi-san has a really cool quirk, and it was also super useful for ball throws, right?" The students nodded, hesitating. "Yeah, ummm, but not everyone has a quirk that's good for throwing balls. Or ummm, fighting or stealth or anything. W-What I want to say is that this is only one kind of benchmark. Jiro-san probably can't throw a ball further by hearing it well, but a quirk like hers would be essential for any hero collaboration! Wait ummm, so what I';m trying to say is that you should all give it your all, even if you think this is biased and unfair and that your quirk won't be any help. Sometimes heroes get a bad match-up, and we also need to deal with those... Sorry I'm rambling ummm yeah... so the first event is the 50 meter dash".

Mina finally got her chance to pair up with Eijiro during the seated toe touch. "Soooo Eiji, is that the new friend you've been gushing about all year?" Eijiro blushed at her wiggling eyebrows and suggestive tone.

"Yeah, but it's not like that", He breathed out slowly, "I think he and Uraraka-san like each other, and even if not, I'm not sure if he, you know..."

"Is a batter's batter? Prefers the harpoon to the cannon? Some other thinly veiled metaphor?" Eijiro shot her an unimpressed look, even though Mina was definitely proud of herself for that first one. "Well, his loss either way, but I see what you meant at least".

And Mina really did see. The green haired TA ran from student to student, asking them some short questions about their quirks and giving them some advice. Sometimes he would glance at Aizawa and let a student re-do an exercise after talking. She saw that completely black-with-white-hair student talking to him after the 50 meter dash, and then redoing it, except the second time he threw a baseball, jumped into its shadow, and jumped out at the end. He looked more surprised than Midoriya did, which amused Mina. "Don't look so smug, wait till he hits you with a few questions. There are pros who don't know their quirks as well as he does".

Eijiro left her with those ominous words, and she almost screamed when she heard Midoriya's voice from behind her. "Ashido-san, right? Would you mind if I asked you some questions about your quirk?" Mina turned to him and nodded. "Right, so, is there a limit to the PH levels of acids you can make? Can you make any acid you want? How about sever-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Mina was saved(?) by a blond kid barging in on them, with explosions sparking from his hands. She would have felt relieved if she hadn't seen Midoriya flinch in fear from right in front of her. He literally froze, but before Mina could ask him what's wrong, their (actual) teacher restrained the new kid.

"Bakugo you will control yourself or I will send you right back to Nezu, and from there to Gen-Ed or home, is that understood?" At this point the entire class was looking at them.

"Tch, fine" He responded, while not looking close to fine in Mina's opinion. She could have sworn that Aizawa looked worriedly toward Midoriya for a fraction of a second.

"Come with me I'll catch you up on the tests".

When Mina turned back, Midoriya looked completely out of it. "Midoriya? Oh! Can I call you Midori? That's so much easier! Plus it sounds cuter too, you can be Midori-sensei!" She winked at Eijiro who was looking worried, and grinned as he nodded at her. She would definitely get him right back into action!

"O-Oh, I guess? B-but not sensei, I'm not a teacher! M-Midori is fine though" With a high five, Mina answered his questions, or at least tried to. Yeah, now she could understand why everyone he chatted with looked both happy and miserable after...

--

The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully, even though it seemed that the faculty acted like Midoriya was the actual teacher. She was sure Present Mic was looking at memes while Midori was teaching them English. The only thing she would need to take care of was the death glares she was getting from Uraraka, ever since she called Midori Midori out loud. She found her chance right after lunch.

"Hiya, Uraraka, right? Can I call you Ochako? Maybe Ocha? I'm Ashido Mina, but only Mina is fine!" Positive energy bomb! Prevent the anger and jealousy! Mina saw the uncertain expression on Uraraka's face and knew she already won.

"Uh, hi! Yeah I'm Uraraka Ochako... yeah a nickname is fine, I think?" She looked genuinely confused, so Mina leaped at the opportunity.

"I'm trying to give everyone nicknames, it'll bring the whole class closer! I wanted to explain that to Midori but Blasty interrupted us." Ocha's shoulders sagged a fraction in relief, Okay she definitely liked Midori, now it was her sacred duty to bring them together! "Say Ocha, you and Midori are pretty close, right?"

"W-W-What? N-no what are you talking about?" Ahhh that blush! She lived for that kind of reaction, time to release the pressure for today's attack, 

"Really? I talked with Eiji and he said the three of yo were pretty close friends, right?" Mina grinned at Ocha's super obvious reactions.

"Y-yeah, we're friends... All three of us I mean! Yeah... Oh look class is starting Izuku will be disappointed if we're late!"

Mina turned when she heard another voice beside her, "She didn't even notice she called him Izuku, did she?" It took her a bit, but Mina realized that the floating school uniform beside her was probably the invisible girl.

"Nope!" Mina smirked with a popped P, and reached out a hand, "Ashido Mina, expert on all things dance, acid, or love related".

She felt her classmate and soon-to-be co-conspirator grasp it in a shake, "Hagakure Toru, Connoisseur of romance and relationships, both budding and grown".

Yagi was grateful that his (or Nezu's, or all every pro he's met by now's) protege helped him with the lesson plan. His original wasn't bad, but it was definitely reckless. Izuku kept the outline but changed enough to make it virtually unrecognizable. The only thing they disagreed about was whether they should be in costume or not, but Izuku convinced him that they should vet the costumes after getting to know the students better.

"All right zygotes!" He chuckled inwardly, who would have thought that Young Izuku would be the leaststar struck in their first lesson, "The first lesson will be split into three parts. Each of you will write down what aspects of heroism they think they are suited for, and what uses of their quirk can help. Then, we will pair up randomly, each student in a pair will be either a villain or a hero, also randomly, and you will draw from a set of random scenarios with different victory conditions for each scenario"...

Yagi saw that he was beginning to lose them, "We can get to the rest later, for now everyone write down what they think they are most suited for in heroism, and what about their quirk could help that!" They all looked hesitant but got to writing after they saw Izuku write his note. 

"Perfect young Izuku, now draw a number from the box..." Izuku winced, and when Yagi saw the rest of the students look between him and Izuku, (while Uraraka and Kirishima lowered their heads in dismay) he realized he probably shouldn't have called Izuku by his given name. Well, he would simply try to not acknowledge it.

One by one the students handed in their papers and drew a number from a box, after which they drew whether they would by a hero or villain, and finally the scenarios:

--

Hero Tsunotori Pony VS Villain Kaminari Denki in a stakeout over a drug deal.

Hero Hagakure Toru VS Villain Iida Tenya in a chase with stolen goods.

Hero Tokoyami Fumikage VS Villain Kirishima Eijiro in combat.

Heroes Yanagi Reiko, Mezo Shoji VS Villain Jiro Kyoka where the villain must escape a building.

Hero Kuroiro Shihai VS Villains Uraraka Ochako, Yoarashi Inasa in combat till backup arrives.

Heroes Midoriya Izuku, Momo Yaoyorozu VS Villains Todoroki Shoto, Asui Tsuyu where the villains must protect a bomb from heroes.

Hero Sero Hanta VS Villain Ashido Mina in hostage situation.

Hero Bakugo Katsuki VS Villain Aoyama Yuga where the hero has to move an item from location A to B.

Match 1: Hero Tsunotori Pony VS Villain Kaminari Denki.

Pony was grateful to Midoriya that he was willing to translate everything, and then also make sure that there were handouts in English for her after he realized she didn't know enough Japanese. She broke out of her thoughts when she saw Kaminari slink through an alley. He could write any number of minutes between three and six, and choose a location on the map. If Pony caught him before he reached the location and the amount of time passed, they both lost (she caught the villain but lost the buyer). If he managed to get away to a safe house he would win, and if she caught him during the deal then she would win.

She prepared herself, he was looking around and up, but he couldn't see her through the crate she was hiding in. She saw him crouch toward one of the possible marked locations, and store a bag in a crack. Right when he was bent over in the least convenient position, Pony struck! She sent out her horns extremely fast (if she could toot her own horn) and almost landed a perfect hit.

She... expected both more and less. He reacted quickly enough, and the horns only landed a glancing blow. However, he didn't know where she was, so he chose to let out a burst of lightning all around himself. She was thankful she wasn't near him, and since it seemed that attack took a lot out of him, she ran up and captured him.

Result: Hero Wins!

Match 2: Hero Hagakure Toru VS Villain Iida Tenya

A high speed chase against a villain with a speed quirk. Of course. She tried, she ran after him, tried to use her athleticism to reach higher ground and throw things to trip him, but it was a matter of minutes until he got away.

She heard Midoriya in her earpiece, right as All-Might was declaring that the villain team won, "Don't worry Hagakure-san, you had a good plan and did the best you could, now you could think of incorporating a ranged support item! That's what we're here for, to learn!"

Toru sniffled a little and smiled. She was definitely learning.

Result: Villain Wins!

Match 3: Hero Tokoyami Fumikage VS Villain Kirishima Eijiro

Eijiro was thankful for all the training with Midobro. No way he would have been so efficient and creative with his quirk otherwise. He might have still won simply on account of his stamina, but now? He felt that he had an unfair advantage.

The moment Tokoyami's quirk, Dark Shadow, erupted out and wrapped him, Eijiro started rapidly activating and deactivating his hardening. Midobro said that it could be used for utility, since it changed the volume and shape of his body, but also if he could make himself vibrate fast enough through it, for offense. For this match utility was enough.

The minute he was grabbed, he hardened and de-hardened, immediately moving around to take more volume. The more he repeated the more room he had, until he slipped out of Dark Shadow's grasp and lunged toward Tokoyami, where he swiftly dispatched the raven headed student in close combat.

Result: Villain Wins!

Match 4: Heroes Yanagi Reiko, Mezo Shoji VS Villain Jiro Kyoka

Reiko was paired with the loud boy with a wind quirk, but when they drew a scenario it said 'Hero to scenario 4 Villain to scenario 5'. It seemed that fates have conspired to keep her away from the dark-shrouded boys in class. If only she were the villain she would be matched up against Kuroiro-san (whose ghast-white hair matched her own and night-black skin could rival the darkest of shadows). As it was, she would still give her best effort to work with her partner.

"Though she may hear our voices at all times, we shall entomb the nefarious villain in this very building." Her partner looked at her as if he were trying to figure out what she meant.

"Ah, I can enhance my senses as well, Yanagi-san", he demonstrated by growing multiple ears on the edges of his multiple limbs, "She needs to escape within five minutes or it's our win, so I'll monitor her and we can intercept her together".

She followed Mezo around for almost two minutes, believing in his senses, when suddenly he cringed and fell back. A loud boom echoed from the building, and a window shattered as the villain leapt out of it.

"I know all the weaknesses of having sharp senses! You'll never catch me heroes!" As she was gloating in the air, Reiko grasped at her shoe with her quirk, and pulled.

"Woaaah what?!" The villain landed with a thus on the ground, and Reiko restrained her with capture tape.

"The shadows harbor many villains, but it is the heroes who lurk in it are no less righteous than their counterparts in the light".

Result: Heroes win!

Match 5: Hero Kuroiro Shihai VS Villains Uraraka Ochako, Yoarashi Inasa in combat till backup arrives.

Inasa was having a great start to his school career! If he were to be honest with himself, he sort of enrolled out of spite simply to defeat Endeavor's kid. Luckily for him, the rest of the class was full of passion! Their TA was inspiring and smart, everyone (except Endeavor's kid) was nice and really driven! 

Uraraka noticed immediately how Kuroiro's quirk worked, and they worked together to clear away debris that could cause shadows. After that, it was a simple matter for her to negate his gravity and him to propel himself forward on his wind, until they apprehended Kuroiro.

"LOOKS LIKE WE MAKE A GREAT TEAM, RIGHT URARAKA-SAN?" He turned and saw her wave at Midoriya enthusiastically, and the green haired teacher(?) reciprocated. HOW PASSIONATE!

"Oh, ummm yeah! you were really good Yoarashi-san"! She smiled at him while walking toward Midoriya.

Result: Villains win!

Match 6: Heroes Midoriya Izuku, Yaoyorozu Momo VS Villains Todoroki Shoto, Asui Tsuyu

Shoto was infuriated inside. Not only was he not alone, they even sent one of the heroes to join him. His teammates were Asui and Yaoyorozu, but he wasn't listening to what they were saying. The moment All Might yelled START Shoto unleashed a giant iceberg to cover the building. He felt a little bad for his teammates but any second All Might would declare his victory and he would destroy the glacier.

That didn't happen. Instead, the window shattered and Midoriya flew inside, surrounded by ice shards that surrounded him in a crystalline structure. The shot out in a spread pattern, enveloped in a pink halo, and with every chunk of ice they broke his enemy made himself more ammo. He could hardly keep track of Midoriya flying around, until the green haired boy flew straight behind him, and lifted Asui in his hands.

"Todoroki-san, thaw hew out! Use your fire! She's weak to cold!" Midoriya looked panicked, tears in his eyes, as he held Asui close to his chest. Shoto froze at that second. What? That wasn't how it was supposed to go! Out of instinct he sent an attack toward his enemy, and saw Midoriya's eyes narrow.

"Fine," Midoriya growled, eyes shards multiplying around him, "If that's how you want it," The pink glow intensified, and the shards froze in place. "That's how it'll be!" Suddenly the ice ricocheted around the narrow room, Midoriya weaved gracefully between the innumerable icy daggers, at some point he picked up Yaoyorozu as well. Shoto felt the ice pelt him from all directions, and then the air left his lungs when Midoriya rammed into him.

"Hero Wins" All Might declared, and just like that the shards fell to the floor. The room was almost clear of ice after Midoriya's barrage, and the boy rushed toward him from where he held onto the bomb. "It's over now Todoroki-san, warm them up. Asui-san is going to get permanent damage".

Shoto looked at the girls in Midoriya's arms, both shivering but Asui was starting to look blue, "I... I can't..." Shoto knew he was wrong, but he couldn't move, he could barely ay anything. Midoriya looked at him with such immense disappointment that Shoto was rendered speechless.

As he flew out to find Recovery Girl, Shoto was reminded not of his father, who was always disappointed by holding him up to some standard that was always shifting but of his mother. When Shoto was five and he broke his sister's Ryuuku figure. Shoto insisted that it wasn't his fault, but they both knew it was, and one disappointed look from her was enough to send him apologizing into Fuyumi's arms.

A look that said It's okay you did something wrong, you just need to fix it.

Result: Hero wins.

Match 7: Hero Sero Hanta VS Villain Ashido Mina in hostage situation.

Mina knew that her opponent was as shaken up as she was by that last match. But she hoped that he would shake himself out of it and face her with everything he has. Her win condition was to defeat him, escape the building, or survive five minutes, without him winning. The problem was, she had no idea what Sero's win conditions were, and she knew he had some additional lose conditions.

The location was the third floor of an office building, cubicles giving her cover. She had five mannequins to serve as hostages. Whelp, time to think like a villain.

She tied three hostages with a rope (separately), and took the lightest one with her. The fifth she tossed out the window. Sero leapt with his tape to secure the hostage. That's good, that means he'll lose if one of them dies. Lucky Midori asked me so much about my acid yesterday, and I had time to train!

Mina threw two more hostages and left them hanging by rope, and drizzled acids of different strength on each rope. They would release the hostages at seperate times. The fourth hostage she tied taught in a wheeled chair, along with a rope that would soon snap, sending the hostage careening out of the window.

--

Mina didn't realize she was cackling, but the entire class did, while they observed in shocked silence as she built villainous mechanisms worthy of Dick Dastardly.

--

Mina sprinted down with the last hostage, and when she exited the building Sero was in front of her, just like she planned. Three stories above them, a window shattered and the last unaccounted for mannequin flew to the ground. Sero looked at her, then at the hostage, then back at her. He was mouthing a question but quickly shot himself up to rescue the mannequin, letting Mina escape.

Result: Villain wins.

Match 8: Hero Bakugo Katsuki VS Villain Aoyama Yuga in where the hero has to move an item from location A to B.

Katsuki was pissed.

Sparkles tried saying something but Katsuki just told him to fuck off. He took his item and didn't bother listening to anything else. He charged ahead until he saw Sparkles, and then veered off course to attack his opponent instead of proceeding to his destination. If he beat him up Katsuki would win anyway.

"Damn it stop running you fucking extra!" Why the fuck was Sparkles not staying to fight? He probably knew Katsuki would crush him. He chased the blond kid around, until he heard a voice from his earpiece.

"VILLAIN WINS!"

Sparkles stopped in place and panted, but Katsuki was frozen in place. "You had to move the item within three minutes, young Bakugo".

Result: Villain wins.

Fuck that

Izuku made it back with Yaoyorozu and Tsu (as she insisted) half way through Bakugo's match. Maybe that will knock some sense into him.

He saw All Might gesture to him, and Izuku took over.

"All right, first of all great job everybody!" Bakugou and Shoto bristled. "These match ups were random, and so were the scenarios. Sometimes a rescue hero encounters a villain, sometimes you team up with people randomly, a hero's work is predictable in its unpredictability".

Izuku looked around to see who was more despondent and who less. He'd need to report that back to Aizawa. "Now, at the start of the lesson you each wrote down some things. I'd like everyone to write down the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents, and if they had any, team mates. I'll write down what I saw for each of you, and for those whose matches I missed, I'll review the footage and have it to you by half an hour after school is over, if you wold wait. F-For homework," Izuku stuttered over his words. HE was assigning homework?

"For homework I'd like you all to review what you wrote, and what others wrote about you, and write what you agree with and disagree with, and why. It can also be yuou changing your minds about what you wrote after being in an unfamiliar match-up and scenario".

Izuku saw the class talking among themselves, and started writing. While each of them had one or two briefs, he had nineteen. Ah well, the day is almost over. The rest of the week would be costumes, review, and regular classes, but tomorrow he also had class 1B's heroics. At least the quirks were all so cool. Izuku couldn't help but smile.