Chapter 4: First Day Trials
Izuku was starting to panic. He had tried to call and text Toshinori multiple times in the past couple days, but his mentor hadn't answered at all. To be frank, Izuku was starting to overthink the situation, maybe more than usual.
Okay, it was pretty bad.
Really bad.
I messed up. I must have. Was he actually disappointed? Was he just faking his approval? Did I actually fail the Exams? I thought 31 points was enough but I heard that rude boy announce that he had like 45 points, and that was even before the zero-pointer showed up. Or maybe he was freaked out by my Quirk evolving? Is it scary? Oh god, what if he asks for One for All back so he can find a new successor? I'd be so ashamed, I'd be a failure, I'd be disowned-
"Izuku? Izuku, sweetie? Honey, you're scaring me." He jolted in his seat, his eyes rising from where he had been staring blankly at his food to see his mother's worried face. "You're staring at your fish. Is everything alright? Do you want something else?" He swallowed heavily, looking down.
"It's nothing. I just… spaced out a little." His mother smiled sympathetically, reaching across the table to pat him gently on the hand. She stood up, taking her bowls and plate to the sink, making Izuku wonder how long he had been freaking out.
As she started washing her dishes, she looked back at Izuku with a look in her eye. "You're worried about how you did on the Exam, huh?"
He looked up in surprise, then replied with a simple nod, unsure if he should disclose the whole truth.
Inko hummed knowingly, a small smile gracing her otherwise worried features. She placed her plate on the drying rack, then dried her hands off on the towel hanging from the oven handle.
"I get it. Everyone else has had their Quirks for so much longer than you, and they've had time to hone their skills. You've had ten months where everyone else has had ten years. But despite that..." Her smile spread a little wider and became gentler and sweet. A little more genuine. "You've made so much incredible progress. And even if you don't get into U.A., that's their loss! I'm so proud of you for even trying. There's always Ketsubutsu or Shiketsu... ah, but the commute would be atrocious!" She walked over to him and placed gentle hands on either side of his head, pressing a kiss against his forehead. "I love you. My incredible boy."
"Mom." Izuku hastily swiped at the tears forming in his eyes, shooting up from his seat to crush his mother in a hug. She laughed wetly, her arms wrapping around his body.
"Gosh, you've grown! I remember when you were up to my chin, and now it's the other way around!" They shared a laugh at that, a real, pleasant laugh; they stood there a moment longer, just basking in each other's presence, and Izuku felt some of the weight on his shoulders come cascading off. What was he thinking before? His mother was the personification of kindness. No matter what, she would understand whatever he told her.
But despite that...
He couldn't tell her about what had happened with Toshinori. It was a dilemma for him to figure out on his own.
He pulled her head into his shoulder, resting his weary head atop hers. "I love you, Mom."
-
Toshinori was, in a few words, freaking the fuck out.
He had kind of had his suspicions before, the way the boy went on about people's Quirks and his uncanny Copy ability. But they had felt unwarranted; plenty of people had some variety of Copy, and some even could visualize other's Quirks as he did. Not many, but enough. It just wasn't probable that Izuku, the most heroic boy he had ever met, was the spawn of that man. It was just a weird coincidence that they looked alike. Round chins with strong jaws, short and curly hair, intelligent eyes-
Toshinori had been freaking out for a week. He had been pacing at the phone, chewing on his paranoia, feeling like a fool. On the one hand, it was foolish of him to act this way; this was Izuku, the bravest, kindest boy that Toshinori had ever met. The boy had even reminded him of Nana on multiple occasions- to be fair, so did his mother. It was the hair.
But on the other hand, for his Copy to suddenly turn permanent after receiving One for All made him freak out. He wasn't even sure why! It couldn't take Quirks- yet- and the boy hadn't seen his father in a decade- so he said- and there was absolutely no way he would betray the secret of One for All. God, I would die. But the fact that One for All was made by him, and Quirk Copy's upgrade being so similar to his... No, that's ridiculous! Dammit!
Before he could further divulge his paranoia, the phone rang. Toshinori was on it in a moment. "Hello?"
"All Might, it's True Man. I've got some information." Toshinori sat down in the nearest seat, that being his comforter. Ironically, the cushiony seat brought him little actual comfort. "I guess I'm reporting the lack of information. This Hisashi guy... there's not a lot on him. He doesn't have a registered Quirk, there are no pictures of him anywhere, and he disappeared off the face of the Earth almost a decade ago. All Might, does this guy have anything to do with-"
"I have to go."
Toshinori was freaking out.
He should probably call Inko.
Probably.
-
Izuku didn't talk to his mother much the following week. They still ate together, but mealtimes were filled with awkward silence. He didn't mean to shut her out, but Toshinori's distance had left him scatterbrained, to the point where he could barely think, let alone conversate. Of course, that had to change eventually.
"Izuku! I-Izuku!" The boy's gaze shot up from where he had been staring at the floor, the weight in his hand coming to a halt mid-curl. There, practically collapsed upon the open door frame, was his mother clutching a letter. His brain registered the U.A. logo on the wax seal a moment later. "It's here! Your letter!" He jumped up from his seat, dropping the weight onto the couch. He walked over to his mother on shaky legs and took the letter from her with tender hands. Almost as if in a trance, he walked past her, meandering to his room and closing the door without another word.
He was nervous. God, was he nervous. He stared at the letter like it would foretell his doom, and depending on his results, he supposed it could. Finally, after what felt like hours but what must have been minutes, he swiped a finger between the flap and the main envelope, pulling out a... oh, a holodisk. He placed the disk gingerly on his desk, and a holographic projection of All Might immediately popped up. "I AM HERE! AS A PROJECTION!" To be completely honest, Izuku almost screamed, but he managed to throw his hands over his mouth in time.
"Surprised? You ought to be! You see, I've been in Musutafu so much recently because, from this year onwards, I'm going to be the Heroics teacher at my very own alma mater! Young Midoriya!" All Might's signature grin faltered slightly as he announced the name, probably only noticeable to Izuku himself. "You passed the Written Exam with a respectable score of 85/100! Not the best of the best, but impressive nonetheless! Now, the interesting part!"
The visual of All Might in his bold banana suit was minimized, being overtaken by a list titled "VILLAIN."
"You got 33 Villain points during the Practical!" The number filled itself in. "The competition was pretty stiff this year- you passed in 15th place!" Izuku leaned back in his seat, letting loose a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He had done it. "Rather, that would be your place if we only had Villain points."
Izuku's eyebrows raised. What?
"You see, we have a secret point system that depends entirely on good deeds!" The list titled "VILLAIN" moved to the left of the screen, and a list titled "RESCUE" sprung onto the screen beside it. "Rescue points! Come on, what kind of a Hero school would only reward you for beating up Villains? Who do you think the principal is, Endeavour? Now, look here, young I- Midoriya!"
The two lists and the screen with All Might got smaller, dominated by a video of… him. Oh shit, that was him. "Firstly, you committed a random act of helpfulness towards another student. Not only did you assist him in taking down an opponent, but you also provided him with a weapon. You also lit something of a fire under him!" And there, in HD, were those exact actions.
Everything had felt fast when using One for All, but he could barely see himself move on video. He was out of sight one second; the next, the robot was split in half, and he stood in front of the wreck. Shortly following that video was one of the lavender-haired boy beating the shit out of some robot with his improvised weapon. Izuku was impressed with the feral look on his face. "By the way, despite his best efforts, he still failed. But thanks to his show of Heroic spirit, Pro Hero Eraserhead has decided to take the boy under his wing! Expect to see him in class eventually! Young Midoriya, you were rewarded ten rescue points for all these actions! Then, of course, there was your big finale-" The video changed to him destroying the zero-pointer. Wow, he almost looked like an actual Hero until he started falling.
"Despite the possibility of severe injury and fatality, you rushed in to save someone- in an incredible display of power, no less! Even without all of that, you would have earned full points for just destroying the thing! 60 points! Young Midoriya, you passed the Practical Exam with a total of 103 points! Not only did you pass, but you also passed in first place!" Through the shock of that announcement, Izuku idly wondered how pissed off Bakugou was at losing to him. If he had gotten his letter already, he was probably subatomic.
All Might spread his arms wide in welcome. "Welcome to your Hero academia, young Midoriya!"
And without any further fanfare, the video cut off, the room once again dim with the loss of its temporary light source. Izuku swallowed heavily, feeling like he had the executioner's sword pressed to his neck. He had almost expected Toshinori to explain himself right there, and he didn't know if he was disappointed or relieved that he hadn't. Finally, he shook off the feeling enough to stand, stomping his feet to get the blood in his legs flowing properly again. With a sigh, he opened his bedroom door, illuminating the worried face of his mother standing there. He managed a tiny grin and a thumbs up. Her teared-up eyes sprung a leak, and she leaped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she sobbed happy tears into his shirt. He held her back, his smile turning a little more genuine.
Maybe everything will be fine.
-
Everything was not fine.
Izuku had gotten out the door quickly enough, despite his struggle with his tie and some haggling from his mother. After reassuring her multiple times that he had his handkerchief, she let him leave. The ride to the school was uneventful, but not unpleasant, even with his nerves shaking him like a ragdoll. But now that he was finally here, in front of his new class…
Class 1-A... why is the door so freaking big…?! Oh God, what if I try to open the door and it's too heavy, and someone on the other side has to open it for me, and they all laugh at me- He pinched himself on the hand hard enough to draw blood. It's fine. As long as that mean guy from the Exam and Kacchan aren't here, I'll be fine. The door, to his surprise, slid open easily. The classroom, to his chagrin, contained a very loud blond and an equally loud navy-haired boy.
"Where do you get off telling me what to do?!" Bakugou, his jacket undone, shirt untucked, and tie completely missing, sat at his desk with his feet kicked up onto it, shooting a smug smirk at the boy standing over him. The boy huffed, chopping one arm as if physically reprimanding the air.
"You are disrespecting this fine establishment, our upperclassmen, and the people who made this desk by kicking your feet up onto it! Once again, I will ask you to remove your feet from this esteemed woodwork!"
"Who the hell even are you?" The tall boy stood straight, his neck flushing. Izuku quickly realized that was his tell for when he was embarrassed. Good to know.
"My apologies for not properly introducing myself! I am Iida Tenya of Somei Private Middle School!" He said it with an air of pride, but Bakugou barked out a harsh, humorless laugh.
"Somei, huh? So you're some dumb rich kid born with a stick up his ass. Oh, I'm gonna have fun crushing you!"
"What?! 'Crushing me?!' This is a Hero school!" Iida was interrupted from his rather annoying tirade when he very visibly noticed that the classroom door was open, straightening up and chopping a hand at Izuku, who nearly fainted as the entire class's attention was drawn to him by the rude boy's behavior.
"G-good morn-morning...!" he managed to eke out.
Iida began marching his way over. "Good morning! I am Iida Tenya, of Somei-!"
Waving his hands, Izuku took a step back. "Yeah, I know who you are!" The boy stopped in his tracks, and someone muffled a snicker. Realizing he had come off ruder than intended, Izuku waved his hands even faster. "W-what I mean is, yeah! Nice to meet you. I'm M-Midoriya Izuku." Iida bowed slightly, his tone dropping lower.
"Midoriya… at first, I thought you were only at the Exam to fool around and distract the rest of us. I even considered that you were a staff member designed to do just that. But you realized the truth of the test! If it hadn't been an exam- to clarify, if it were a real Villain, then of course I also would have-"
"That's a lie."
Iida blinked, straightening up. "H-huh?"
Izuku stared at him with cold eyes, his bangs partially covering them as he tilted his head forward. "I said that's a lie," he barked in a sharp, quiet voice. "I saw you running away with everybody else, and I saw the look on your face. If it were real, you still would have run, and the girl I saved would have died. I didn't do it because of the points, I did it because that's what Heroes do; if it only mattered to you because of the points, you should take your own advice and leave. Got it?" He clamped his mouth shut with an audible clack, meeting Iida's wide eyes with an unflinching stare.
A new, bubbly voice broke this staring contest. "Hey, it's you! The nerdy boy with the Copy Quirk!" Izuku broke eye contact with Iida to look behind him, his angry face already dissipated at the sound of the voice. Iida took a step back as if freed from some kind of paralysis.
"O-oh, I guess I never managed to introduce myself," he muttered, scratching his cheek. "I'm Midoriya Izuku. Much better than 'the nerdy boy,' I think."
"Sorry," she giggled, "but you did geek out about my Quirk before you even knew my name. I'm Uraraka Ochako, by the way! It's nice to finally meet you properly!"
She stuck out her hand, one pinky sticking outwards, and he took it with a pleasant smile to match her own. "Likewise."
"If you're just here to make friends, then I suggest you leave," a gruff voice practically growled out at the two from behind Uraraka. They both looked down to see-
Primary Core is bright red, secondary Cores centered on his eyes... oh! Izuku blinked, recognizing the man's face from a video he had seen a while back. "It's Eraserhead." The man blinked, unzipping his sleeping bag to stand up properly. Was he going for a scare tactic? "He's our homeroom teacher. We should shut up and sit down now." Taking his seat behind Bakugou while still pointedly ignoring him, Izuku directed his attention to the teacher, who was now front and center behind a podium.
"I'm Mr. Aizawa. You took almost six seconds to properly quiet down, and only one of you recognized me. None of you noticed me sitting there the entire time, though. Completely irrational. Do better if you want to survive. Now," he reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a pile of clothes, "put on these gym uniforms and meet me out back in five minutes. Be on time." Without any further ado, the man left. After a few beats of surprised silence, the class went to grab the gym clothes and made their way to the lockers to get changed.
Stepping into the locker room behind a tall, tanned boy with full lips and a bright, deep yellow Quirklight, Izuku took a second to take stock of everything in there before making his way to one of the benches. He sat down with a sigh, giving himself a moment to catalog everyone's Quirklights.
There was the red-haired boy with the stiff and hard-looking Quirklight, a deep crimson similar to the red Quirk in One for All. He's got some sort of hardening or durability Quirk.
A plain-looking boy was blushing as he changed. He had a cyan Quirklight and a tail. Just a tail. That one's obvious.
The boy with straight black hair and odd-looking elbows was already shirtless. He was sporting a jagged almost-orange Quirklight. Something comes out of those elbows, but I'm stumped as to what.
Bakugou, as explosive as ever, was bothering the people changing near him. I know everything about his.
Another yellow Quirklight, jagged yet fluid, sported by a boy with a ridiculous blond hairdo marked by a black streak. Electricity, without a doubt.
The tall, multi-armed boy he recognized from his Exam arena with a gorgeous indigo Quirklight had gotten in a stall to change, but he was still very visible with his height. He can turn the ends of his arms into sensory organs... can they be any organ from any animal?
A similarly tall boy with a jagged rock fixture for hair was timidly peeking out from another one of the shower dividers. He had a nice, calming brown Quirklight, a very earthy tone. Is that head his Quirk or a dominant Mutant gene?
The boy with a raven's head, wielding a writhing Quirklight made of pitch black and dark purple. He was silent as he changed to avoid drawing attention to himself. It's like his Quirk's alive...
Another blond, his Quirklight positively shimmering blue, like the ocean when the sun hits it at the right angle. He had a secondary Core right over the center of his stomach, correlating with the belt he was wearing. I remember him firing lasers from his belly... why does it look weird? It seems... off.
Iida, with his navy Quirklight and obvious engines. He's probably really fast with a Quirk like that. I kinda wanna race him.
A rather short boy for their age group sported an odd hairdo with a Quirklight the same burgundy as red wine. Grapes?
And there was the oddest of the bunch, the boy with the clashing Quirklight. One half was baby blue, rigid yet in constant motion; the other half was a fiery orange, and its movements mirrored flames. Two Quirks...? Is he like me? Izuku's heart skipped a beat at the prospect, not in a pleasant way. He'd have to keep his eyes on that one.
He was interrupted from his rapid-fire mental note-taking by Bakugou coming over and roughly chopping him on the head. Izuku mentally thanked him and changed quickly, almost beating the explosive blond outside. As it was, they were almost the last two out. Mr. Aizawa raised an eyebrow but waited quietly for the last few out: the boy with an electricity Quirk, the rocky-headed guy, and a… floating female uniform. Oh, she was invisible- if Izuku squinted, he could make out the shimmering of her near-translucent Quirklight.
"You managed to get out here in five minutes. Average. I expect better, but it's a good start. Anyway, we're doing our physical evaluations now." The crowd of students was silent for a moment until Uraraka finally voiced her surprise.
"Wait, seriously, right now? What about orientation-?"
"Principal Nedzu lets me run my classes how I see fit," Mr. Aizawa explained. "I'm pretty sure it's a bribe to keep my rare Quirk in his furry little mitts, but I digress- I get to decide the schedule, so I've decided we're skipping orientation and getting right to it." He produced a softball from somewhere, probably a pouch on the back of his belt. "I'm sure you've all taken physicals in middle school. Midoriya, since you got first in the Entrance Exam, you get to throw first. What was your record for the softball throw in middle school?"
Izuku tilted his head. "Around 48 meters, I think? I don't remember exactly."
Mr. Aizawa nodded amicably, then tossed the softball to Izuku, who easily caught it. "Get in that circle and do it with your Quirk." Izuku blinked at him owlishly, then began nervously making his way to the circle painted on the track. To the whole class, Mr. Aizawa continued, "In middle school, they don't let you use your Quirks for these tests, even though they're physical parts of your body. It's totally irrational, but the Ministry of Education doesn't want to admit there's a problem with it. However, we run things differently here at U.A." A gross approximation of a smile stretched his features, making it painfully obvious that smiling was not a common activity for the gruff Hero. "We're here to bully your Quirks until they either give out or get stronger. But first, we need a baseline. Midoriya, when you're ready."
Izuku nodded, letting the dial in his right arm up to 10% with a click-click-clack. The air around him crackled with energy, and he gritted his teeth at the pain that came with pushing it to his limit. He reared back his arm, tightening his grip on the ball minutely. With a grunt of effort, he threw the ball.
It flopped to a halt, way too close.
61.4 meters.
Izuku hissed as he gripped his wrist, the sudden deactivation of One for All surprising him. It was almost like the hand on his Quirk dial was forcibly removed, blocking his usage of it. He looked up to Aizawa, whose eyes were red, and his hair was floating.
"I Erased it." The man launched the end of what Izuku quickly remembered was not a normal scarf. Wrapped thoroughly, Izuku could only watch and dread as the man approached, both hands holding the floating metal cloth tightly. "All Might's Quirk. The one you copied. That's not yours." Izuku gulped. Mr. Aizawa blinked, his eyes turning back to their normal black as he continued to glare. "I said to use yours, not his. You won't make it here if you have to rely so much on others. We don't need another All Might. If all you can do is that, you should never have bothered enrolling here." Izuku looked down, nodding slightly despite his roiling emotions. Mr. Aizawa released his hold on Izuku, who stepped back into the ring and picked up the other ball he hadn't noticed before. "You have one more shot."
Izuku gritted his teeth, quickly coming to a decision. If I try to use One for All again, he'll Erase my Quirk, and then that's it. But maybe... He looked over at Mr. Aizawa and sent the tendrils of his Quirklight outwards, snapping up the schematics of the Hero's Quirk and adding it to his small collection. Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then his eyes flew open, and he activated Erasure on Mr. Aizawa.
He reared back his arm yet again, straining to keep Mr. Aizawa in his sights.
He let 10% of One for All flow through his arm. Tears started to fall from his agonized eyes.
And, finally, he flung his arm forward, throwing the ball with as much power as he could safely muster. The ball broke the sound barrier almost immediately, which broke Izuku's concentration on the Hero. Erasure... He makes it look easy, but that second felt like an eternity!
"Mr. Aizawa." The man looked down from where he had been staring, straining to see the ball's re-entry. Izuku glared at him, his left hand clenched tightly around his shaking right wrist. "It's not your Quirk when I use it, and it's not All Might's, either. This is my Quirk, all of it."
1057.95 meters.
Another creepy grin spread across the teacher's face, though there was something genuine in how his eyes wrinkled with it. "Is that right?"
The almost good moment was utterly annihilated by a feral yell. Bakugou ran towards Izuku, hands held at his waist, palms already crackling with explosions.
-
Katsuki had honestly wondered if it would be like before.
He knew he had passed the Written Exam without difficulty, and his still-aching wrists were a testament to his prowess in the Physical Exam. But despite all of that, he didn't top either Exam. And number one on the Physical was...
Deku. Weak, Quirkless, irrational Deku.
Katsuki had confronted the bastard the next time he had seen him, grabbing him by the collar of his uniform's jacket and slamming him into a wall after school. His palms heated up, and his fingertips crackled with intent; despite that, no words came from his mouth. So he stared at Deku, full of rage and shock and awe. And Deku said, staring him down like he did the day the Slime Villain had attacked, a fierce look in his eye, "I'm going to U.A., and you can't stop me." Katsuki had walked away, words still lodged in his throat.
So he had known Deku had made it into U.A., which he forced himself to come to terms with. Okay, it was just more opportunities to prove how much better he was. Of course, some wretched higher power forced them to be classmates. Katsuki was still grinding his teeth at that.
But that wasn't the end of it. No, why would it be? After that smug bastard of a teacher rubbed his second place in his face all over again, Deku had gone up to throw first. Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek when the bastard announced his middle school score; it was 20 meters under his own. Weak. Then when Deku threw, the teacher activated his Quirk like there was something there to block, and he almost barked a laugh when Teach snagged Deku with his scarf.
"I wonder what he's saying..." Katsuki looked to his right, seeing the girl with chubby cheeks that Deku had been chatting up earlier, putting a finger to her chin.
He scoffed. "Probably telling him to get his act together. The Quirkless top of the leaderboards needs to do better than that." The thought made Katsuki's chest squeeze, but he ignored it.
The Somei bastard looked surprised at him, chopping a hand down in that annoying tic of his. "What do you mean, Quirkless? Do you not know what he did during the Entrance Exam?" The pink-cheeked girl nodded in agreement, and Katsuki was taken aback.
"What the hell are you talking about-?"
KRAKOOM!
1057.95 meters, the reader said.
"...What the fuck...?"
-
"Deku, you son of a bitch, first you beat me in the Entrance Exam, and now you have a fucking Quirk?! Explain yourself, right now-!" The blond's threat was cut off by Aizawa wrapping him up in his capture weapon, stopping his momentum instantly. Both Izuku and Mr. Aizawa used Erasure on him at that same moment, although Izuku did it more on a strange instinct than anything else.
"Behave, or you're out of here. Clear?" The concise, blunt statement left no obvious room for argument, so after straining for a moment longer in the weaponized scarf, Bakugou conceded and gave a short nod. Satisfied enough, Izuku and Mr. Aizawa released Erasure, and Aizawa recalled his capture weapon. Hoping his apology was clear in his eyes, Izuku quickly scurried past Bakugou to rejoin the rest of the class, where almost everyone promptly bombarded him.
"That was awesome! But why didn't you use Zero Gravity?" Uraraka put a finger to her chin, and Izuku mentally kicked himself. Dumbass! I just had to make a big deal about using One for All...!
Next to her, a girl with a viscous purple Quirklight and pink skin nodded vigorously. "You threw the ball stupid hard...! How strong are you?!"
"It kinda hurt my ears..."
"I thought you were super meek before, but that strength...!"
"That was super manly!"
"This looks like it's gonna be fun!"
"Fun? Did I seriously just hear that?" The crowd of Hero students whipped their heads around collectively to see their teacher wearing the same fake grin from before. His eyes had gone bloodshot from using his Quirk, and his capture weapon floated ominously around his shoulders. It was like seeing the visage of Death if Death wore pajamas to work. "This isn't a game, and it isn't fun. I'll raise the stakes if you want it to be a game. That'd be fun." His grin stretched further, bordering maniacal. "The person who comes in last on this is automatically expelled."
This was, of course, met with outcry.
"It's only the first day!"
"That's so unfair!"
"Unfair, you say?" Mr. Aizawa's predatory grin turned into a frown, and he hid his face in his capture weapon, eyes hidden by his long shaggy hair. "There's no room for fairness here. Natural disasters, Villain attacks, robbery, assault, murder... this is a world of unfairness. If you want to survive, you must learn that quickly. Welcome to the Hero Course!" He tilted his head back, removing his bangs from his eyes with a hand. There was something new in his eyes, but his maniacal grin was the same. "Do your best, or get the hell out. The real thing starts here."
Izuku clenched his fist, looking around at all of his new classmates. He was impressed by how every single one looked more determined than before, and he felt his drive rekindle. Let's do this!
"Alright, fifty-meter dash." That odd look evaporated from Mr. Aizawa's eyes, and he jabbed a finger at Izuku. "Midoriya, Bakugou, you're up first." Izuku gulped, looking to his left to meet Bakugou's eye- he quickly looked away to avoid the rage and confusion boiling beneath the surface. Re-centering his thoughts, he took a deep breath, walking forward first and taking his place at the designated starting line. Exactly fifty meters ahead was a photo finish camera that would note exactly when either of them moved through its field of vision. Quickly calling forth Zero Gravity, Izuku stood with his right hand hovering over his left. Bakugou, practically fuming, held his hands out behind him. As soon as Aizawa called start, Izuku slapped himself on the hand and rocketed forward with a One for All enhanced leap, zooming past the robot-
"1.81 seconds!"
-and not stopping until Mr. Aizawa snagged him with his capture weapon. Bakugou yelled as he pushed his Explosions to grow yet larger, and he shot past the robot only moments after Izuku.
"3.14 seconds!"
"DAMMIT! FUCK! FUCK!" Bakugou, obviously dissatisfied with his results, let loose Explosion after Explosion at nothing in particular, up until Mr. Aizawa erased his Quirk and told him to "get his sorry ass back before I expel you on the spot."
Iida and a girl with a pretty verdant Quirklight and odd features were up next. Iida set himself up in what was his stiff interpretation of a runner's position, and the girl crouched down in a stance akin to a frog about to leap. Seeing as how she started hopping forward after Mr. Aizawa called start, Izuku figured she had a frog or toad Mutation. Idly, after the two runners had finished, Izuku realized her Quirked run time was the same as Bakugou's old Quirkless one. He dispelled the thought quickly, instead focusing on the tests ahead.
-
TEST #2: GRIP STRENGTH
Izuku activated One for All in his arm at 10% again, squeezing the grip test as hard as he could. Using his whole arm was probably overkill if the "ERROR" displayed on the screen was anything to go by. The thing breaking apart in his hands was also rather telling. The blond boy, the one Izuku thought had an electricity Quirk, bounded over from where he had been bothering the tall multi-limbed boy.
"Wha- You broke it! Holy shit, I thought Shouji was impressive, but that's-!" The tall boy, Shouji, walked over upon hearing his name. A mouth sprouted from one of his several rounded appendages.
"I got a grip strength of 540 kilograms," the limb-mouth said. "You must be powerful to have broken it. Good job."
Izuku thanked him, bowing deeply to hide his embarrassment at the easy praise, then walked over to Mr. Aizawa to show him the broken grip strength test. The Hero sighed, muttering something along the lines of "problem child," but he ultimately took the busted test and waved Izuku off.
Izuku walked over to the wall to observe the rest of the test-goers, completely missing the cold stare of the dual-Quirked boy.
-
TEST #3: STANDING LONG JUMP
The odd blond boy with the belly button laser easily cleared the standing long jump, as did Bakugou, who did so with a little more ease and several more explosions and cussing. Izuku charged his legs with One for All and leaped forward, not putting much thought into the easy jump.
He landed in sand, and looked down, shocked. What? But I used One for...
Looking back, he realized what had happened: he had entirely cleared the sand pit that they were using, and had landed in the next one over. Oops.
Mr. Aizawa was already walking away, leaving the rest of the class to stare in awe.
-
TEST #4: REPEATED SIDE STEPS
After trying to do side steps with just 1% in either leg, Izuku discovered he couldn't keep the Quirk constantly active. Instead, it was like a super meter in a fighting game: it was used, recharged after a moment, then used again as long as the "dial" was still turned up. Even though it renewed quickly, there was still too much delay to use it effectively. Izuku decided to do this particular test Quirkless instead of trying to mess around with One for All.
He finished up relatively easily and looked around, catching sight of an odd competitor among the rest.
The short boy with the strange hairdo had actually removed parts of his hair. Apparently, the rounded balls of his mohawk were individual entities, and the boy was devastating the sidesteps by somehow bouncing between two piles of them. He looked up at Izuku, fat tears rolling down his cheeks.
"I'm stuck."
-
TEST #5: SOFTBALL THROW
They were back around the horn to the ball test, and Aizawa tossed a ball underhand to Bakugou, who caught it with one hand. A feral grin stretched across his face, and Izuku couldn't help but cringe. The boy walked into the circle and closed his eyes, his face dropping to a serene look for only a moment as he winded up. Feral grin returning, he flung his arm forward, igniting the ball in a massive explosion. "DIE!"
705.2 meters!
"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" He stomped back to the crowd of students with his hands shoved in his pockets, trying to glare a hole into the turf. Uraraka, looking unimpressed, took her turn next. She picked up the ball with all five fingers touching and gave it a light toss, sending it up and away. Finally, after a minute or two of waiting, Aizawa held up the recording device.
ERROR
"Error?! What does that mean?"
Izuku looked over to the girl with pink skin, who had made the outburst. "Well," he said, scratching his head, "it probably means the device has lost track of the ball. If she never releases her Quirk, it's unlikely that it will fall in the first place, even considering stuff like atmospheric friction. So yeah?"
Uraraka won that test.
-
The class stood in front of Mr. Aizawa with bated breath, save the few people still panting from the Distance Run test. They were too busy trying to catch their breath in the first place. Aizawa was completely blank-faced, staring directly ahead as he held a holoprojector. "Okay, here are the results." With no fanfare, he pressed a button on the device, and the results were projected up in front of the class.
YAOYOROZU MOMO: 1st
TODOROKI SHOUTO: 2nd
MIDORIYA IZUKU: 3rd
BAKUGOU KATSUKI: 4th
IIDA TENYA: 5th
SHOUJI MEZOU: 6th
KIRISHIMA EIJIROU: 7th
OJIRO MASHIRAO: 8th
ASHIDO MINA: 9th
URARAKA OCHAKO: 10th
ASUI TSUYU: 11th
SATOU RIKIDOU: 12th
TOKOYAMI FUMIKAGE: 13th
KOUDA KOUJI: 14th
AOYAMA YUUGA: 15th
SERO HANTA: 16th
JIROU KYOUKA: 17th
KAMINARI DENKI: 18th
HAGAKURE TOORU: 19th
MINETA MINORU: 20th
Only third? That's pretty good, considering the competition. Izuku looked over to the two-Quirked boy who had beaten him. Any Hero nerd worth their salt knew the name Todoroki, seeing as how it was the one and only Endeavor's surname, meaning that Izuku was classmates with the son of the second highest-ranked Hero in the country.
The short boy hung his head, tears streaking down his face as he clenched his hands. Izuku wondered briefly what it would be like to be in his position. Maybe if I were still Quirkless... The boy, Mineta, lifted his head, staring Mr. Aizawa in the eye. "I-I can't go! I have to become a Hero! I have t-to become strong and cool a-and popular!" Aizawa cocked an eyebrow, pocketing the holoprojector.
"No one's going home." Izuku could practically hear the grass rustling between the cracks of the artificial track. Aizawa cracked his maniacal grin once again, eyes still blank and staring ahead. "That was a logical ruse meant to encourage you to do your best."
Another beat of silence, then overlapping cries of outrage as the student's emotions overflowed.
A girl with a strange prismatic Quirklight, who Izuku realized was the girl in first place, placed a dainty hand on her chest. "Well, of course. Was it not obvious? There's no way even the harshest teacher would expel someone on the first day."
"Actually..." Izuku spoke up, attracting the class' attention. He faltered slightly under their collective gazes but continued. "I, uh, asked around," as in he asked Toshinori before, "and heard that Mr. Aizawa expelled the entire class last year. If we hadn't shown we had room to grow, he probably would have expelled somebody or even everybody." Yaoyorozu looked horrified at that revelation, as did the rest of the class, especially Mineta.
Mr. Aizawa nodded appreciatively to Izuku. "Right. You all could have done practically everything better, but it also could have been worse. Class dismissed." And with that, their strange new teacher turned exactly 180 degrees around and left.
-
"All Might." The Hero in question jumped at the voice, pocketing his phone with fumbling hands. His grin was only slightly crooked as he winked and shot a thumbs-up.
"Mr. Aizawa," he started with false boldness, "funny seeing you here!"
"There is nothing humorous about this situation," Aizawa grumbled, glaring steadfastly at Toshinori. "If there was, I'd be laughing. Am I laughing, All Might?"
This guy was scary.
"Business as usual, I see." Toshinori's smile fell, and he debuffed after checking around. "I noticed you used your Quirk on young Midoriya. Why? Was he about to do something foolish?"
Aizawa looked away, expression slightly miffed. "No. I wanted to test his mettle. See how much of an All Might nerd he is, see if he was restricting himself to your Quirk on purpose."
Toshinori crossed his arms. "Mhm?"
"Well, he is. But he was willing to use my own Quirk on me to use it, so at least he isn't entirelyinfatuated with just your Quirk. I flipped a coin to decide whether I should praise him or expel him on the spot."
"...And?"
"It landed on its side, so I did neither."
Toshunori huffed, amused. "I'm sure. Yes, young Midoriya has taken to my Quirk exceedingly well. I'll tell him to focus on his own, though, if it would keep your pants out of a twist."
Aizawa folded his own arms, staring blankly at Toshinori while unwittingly copying his stance. Toshinori's grin widened until, finally, Aizawa just rolled his eyes again and walked away without another word.
Staring after him, Toshinori couldn't help the chuckle that slipped past his lips. Tough crowd. He looked around the corner of the building, directing his gaze to the students who were still standing there dumbfounded. His eyes fell upon Izuku, and his heart clenched. He wanted to go over and say something, but... not yet. Not until he was sure.
He really should call Tsukauchi back.
-
"Hey, wait up!"
Izuku turned as he was passing through the front gates, identifying the voice as Uraraka's. She was waving an arm and jogging to catch up to him; keeping pace with her was that Iida guy, who was walking with a rather stiff gait. As soon as they had slowed down and got in range for conversation at a reasonable volume, Iida bowed at a perfect 90 degrees.
"I need to apologize to you. Although it was not my intention, I ended up offending you. Please accept my sincere apology."
Izuku smiled genuinely. "It's okay. I overreacted earlier. The zero-pointer was scary; to be honest, the only reason I fought it was because I was worried about Uraraka here." The girl in question blushed crimson, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, while Iida turned to her in shock.
"He had mentioned saving someone from the zero-pointer before, but that was you?"
"Uh," she smiled up at Iida, still flushed red in embarrassment. "Yeah, I got trapped under some rubble in front of it. I don't know if it would have noticed me and stopped, and I guess Midoriya had the same thought..." Iida was silent for a moment, before suddenly bowing before Uraraka as well, going into a full dogeza.
"I sincerely apologize for my cowardice. I'm very, very glad that you're alright."
She knelt and patted him on the shoulder with a cheery grin. He quickly righted himself. "Don't be too harsh on yourself! You had no way of knowing. Thank you for your apology, though. You're a nice guy, Iida, though you are a bit stiff." Izuku laughed at that, and Iida looked between them in confusion. Feeling as though they had properly reconciled, Izuku kept walking, quickly followed by Uraraka and Iida.
"Oh, Midoriya, by the way..." Izuku turned to his right to see the short girl put a finger to her chin in what was becoming an increasingly familiar habit. "That loud boy, Bakugou, called you Deku earlier. What was that about?"
Izuku scratched his cheek, wondering if he should avoid the question. Deciding not to, he said, "He's called me that ever since we were kids. It's one way to read my first name, but it's also derived from the word for 'useless doll,' dekunobou. Uh, see, m-my Quirk kinda manifested really late, and so we, uh, everyone thought I was Quirkless. It's basically his way of trying to keep me in my place." He looked down at his hand, clenching and unclenching it, feeling the thrumming power of One for All just beneath the surface.
Uraraka tilted her head, a frown on her face. "He sounds like a dick." Izuku choked on air. "So you were a late bloomer, huh? When did yours come in, then?" Izuku picked his gaze back up, giving her a sheepish grin.
"W-well, I'd been able to temporarily copy Quirks since about ten, almost eleven months ago now. The first time I used that super strength, which was also the first time I permanently copied a Quirk... t-that was about a month before the Entrance Exam. As of right now, I only have the super strength, your Zero Gravity, and now Mr. Aizawa's Erasure." Uraraka's eyes shot wide open, and Iida stumbled slightly in his pace.
"Wait, back up?!" Uraraka waved her hands in front of herself. "That's super crazy! You used that strength Quirk like a pro, but you only barely got it in time for the Exam?!" Izuku laughed, picking at his fingernails.
"I can only use around 10% of the power in that Quirk. I busted myself up like that during the Entrance Exam because I used all 100% of it. I'm not... not strong enough." Maybe I'm not worthy, either. Was Mr. Aizawa right...?
He was interrupted from his spiraling by a small, gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see Uraraka smiling at him kindly.
"Well, I think you're being too harsh on yourself! C'mon, we're only in our first year here!" Iida nodded in agreement, chopping a hand to punctuate it. "And also, I think Deku sounds pretty cool! It sounds like 'I can do it' where I'm from, y'know. Dekiru!" She pumped a fist in the air, making Izuku start to grin. "When I first heard Bakugou call you that, I thought it was pretty funny that he was saying something like that in such a rude way."
Izuku finally caved and laughed aloud. "Even if he did mean it in a nice way, he would still say it rudely. That's just how he is." They all laughed at that, and Izuku felt like a regular high school boy. He wasn't the inheritor of some tremendous power, his father wasn't some mysterious bastard that scared even All Might, and he didn't have to worry about blowing up limbs or becoming the Number One Hero.
For now, Izuku could pretend that everything was alright.