Ch. 10: Unorthodox
Ochako sat down at a table in the common room with Minoru, Tsuyu and Eri as they ate their dinner… or at least tried. Miso pork soup, with freshly baked honey-glazed rolls on the side and a bowl of teriyaki beef over rice was all Ochako could be bothered to grab as her worry for her friend overpowered her hunger. The same could be said for Eri as Tsu basically had to coax her into actually touching her food. Minoru seemed to be the least concerned as he readily devoured his meal.
"Eri, come on," Tsu pleaded, "You have to eat."
"What about bro?" she asked, anxiety filling her voice, "Is he okay?"
"Considering what I heard when I passed by his room on the way down, I'd say he's fine."
"...'What you heard'?"
"Let it be known, Izuku snores," Minoru leaned in towards the girls, "like… bad. Like, I can hear him in my room, bad."
"Oh, so that's why you slept on the living room floor!" Ochako thought back to when they stayed the night at the Midoriyas.
"How Eri spent a year and a half with that is beyond me considering I couldn't last five minutes."
"Well, at least we can be assured that he's breathing but…"
"You're worried about his new memories involving Boomstick, right?" Ochako nodded as she sampled her soup.
"Mmh, her cooking is still amazing," she muttered, causing the others to snicker, "Izu said that Bakugou was his best friend but what friend calls another 'useless'?"
"And then, years later, tries to attack him in front of witnesses?" Tsu added, a bit unnerved by his willingness to hurt others.
"What kinda hero school lets that in? The guy must have been a troublemaker in middle school and yet he was let in? Is it just me, or does something seem fishy about that?" the others nodded as Eri suddenly moved out of her chair to hide under the table.
"Eri?"
"May I sit with you all?" Ochako looked to see that Iida from earlier had arrived with a tray of his own food. He seemed apprehensive, even a bit nervous. Minoru just shrugged as Tsu tried to coax Eri out from under the table.
"Sure, Iida, but try not to sit too close to Eri. She doesn't like strangers,"
"A-Ah, I see," Iida stammered out as he took a seat next to Ochako, "I've actually been meaning to ask but why is she here?" Ochako looked around and saw that quite a few of the other students were looking their way before quickly turning away from them.
"Oh, it's because Mrs. Midoriya and Zuku are here," Minoru explained quickly, as if he had prepared the lie beforehand.
"Ah, so is she his sister then?"
"Yep, that's exactly right!" Ochako nervously agreed, though Minoru had to sigh from how bad her acting was.
"I mean, what are they going to do, throw her out onto the streets?" Tsu added as she finally managed to bring Eri back up, looking at Iida with immediate suspicion.
"Is he here for my blood?" she asked, causing Iida to nearly choke on his soup. Ochako began slapping his back to help him cough it back up.
"I-I… excuse me, what?"
"No, Eri, he's not here for your blood. He's our classmate and he's here to become a hero like your bro," Tsu rubbed Eri's head softly, "Same as everyone else here."
"Okay… but I still don't like him," Eri added, shocking Iida again.
"Hey, that's cool. I don't like him either," Minoru added with a smirk, earning a glare from Tsu and a giggle from Ochako. Iida, however, was beginning to feel that his life at U.A. wasn't going to be exactly what he thought it was.
Izuku opened his eyes to see nothing but black, empty darkness. The throbbing pain in his head was gone and was replaced with a bunch of his memories of Bakugou and all the times they spent together when they were little. He was warm and cozy from the comforter lying over him. He was soon able to recognize the dark room as his dorm room as he sat up to turn the nearby All Might lamp on. His eyes burned at the sudden light as he took a look at his phone. It was a little after eleven at night so everyone would be asleep by now.
It also meant he had been asleep for over seven hours now. He sighed as he wondered what he was going to do about tomorrow. He was obviously going to be questioned by his friends, his mother, maybe even Aizawa too while they were at it. He did want to talk to them about it to hopefully deal with this heavy feeling in his stomach, but what would he say? The memories are just four-year-olds being four… for the most part.
'Deku, huh?' Izuku thought with a sad chuckle, as he added to the list of life events he's had, 'I had a terrible best friend who treated me like dirt, diagnosed quirkless in a world of superpowers, I was kidnapped to be a science experiment by a supervillain, my only parent in five years was killed by a villain who hasn't discovered the wonders of moisturizer, became a thief who steals money and traumatized children to find him and I'm being held prisoner at the greatest hero school in Japan run by a badger-looking dude in a suit. What a life I'm living. About the only thing I had going right for me was Eri, Ochako, Tsu, and Minoru and Mom..." Izuku looked down at his phone and did some quick math in his head. It was eleven now but in San Francisco it would be a little after seven in the morning.
Maybe there was someone awake he could talk to. Izuku quickly dialed the number his mother gave him and waited anxiously, not really expecting anyone to pick up.
"Hello?" Izuku's breath hitched in his throat as someone picked up. He took a deep breath before answering.
"D-Dad?" He stuttered out, nervous. This was only the second time they talked and the first time in six months.
"Izuku?" Hisashi asked in surprise.
"Y-Yeah. Yeah, I-it's me."
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," He said cheerfully, helping to ease Izuku's nerves, "What's up? It's been a while."
"I… I just need to talk with someone and everyone's asleep right now…"
"I just got up myself, believe it or not. I'm free to talk if you need it," Izuku sighed heavily as he laid back down on the bed.
"I ran into Kacchan today and found out he's in my class,"
"Kacchan?"
"Katsuki Bakugou?"
"Bakugou…?" Izuku could hear a slap on the other line, "Oh, Mitsuki's kid? Completely forgot she had a kid," Izuku had to stifle a chuckle.
"I remember overhearing her a while ago saying something about hating you."
"That I'm a man who should be working closer to home with his wife and son, yeah, I get it. It's pretty much her catchphrase, I've heard it so much."
"She's not wrong,"
"Oh, I know she's not wrong. She's right, in fact," Hisashi admitted, "I personally wanted us to move to the States when you were born but your mother was against it. She believed it would be better for you that you grew up in Japan."
"Yeah, well… I guess things didn't pan out..." Izuku muttered wistfully. Hisashi could be heard leaning back into a creaky chair.
"I still remember the call I received from Inko when you went missing…" He revealed with pain in his voice from having to remember the day his son vanished, "You have no idea how happy I am that you're safe and sound again."
"For now, anyway," Izuku replied cynically. Sure, he was safe for now but that could change real fast, real soon.
"Don't talk like that. It's bad for my heart," Hisashi replied with a weary sigh, "Anyway, what's this about Bakugou?"
"Well… you know how I'm missing a lot of memories?"
"Yes, Inko mentioned it a little after you came home."
"Well, I got a few more back today when Kacchan called me by the nickname he used to call me," Hisashi hummed for Izuku to continue as the boy placed a hand to his forehead, "I remember… standing up to him and a few other kids after they were bullying this one kid with his quirk and getting beaten up for it. I remember going on adventures with him and this one time, he fell off a log and I went down to help him. He seemed… angry about that but it's still a bit foggy for me. Certain parts of the memories are still clear to me but others... are like I'm looking at them through muddy waters."
Hisashi didn't respond right away, only giving a small "Hmm…" to tell Izuku that he was listening. After a few more seconds of tense silence, he finally spoke again.
"So… what do you think of all this?"
"Well… personally, I… It feels right now like there's two parts of me," Izuku confessed as he sat up, "One that wants to be friends with Kacchan again… and the other that wants him as far away from me as possible."
"Understandable. What happened after you got your memories back?"
"He tried to attack me," Izuku said blankly, causing the sound of spewed coffee to come through the other line.
"WHAT?!" Hisashi exclaimed in shock and rage, "Was he expelled?!"
"I don't know, I've been asleep since then," Izuku responded in surprise from his father's reaction, "But Mom just said she was going to talk with him about it,"
"Oh, I hope he got forty lashes from the Inko whip!" Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at his dad's anger.
"You sound more upset about it than I do."
"Of course, I'm upset. What father wouldn't be?" Hisashi argued emphatically. "If you want my advice, you'll either need to find a way to work around him or earn his respect if he hasn't been expelled yet,"
"Huh?"
"Izuku, you're in a situation where it's not possible to avoid interacting with others," Hisashi stressed solemnly, "You're a hero-in-training learning with people you very well may have to work with. It's better you figure out how you're going to handle him now while there aren't lives on the line."
"I get that but…" Izuku stopped himself. He knew his dad was right but it didn't help matters all that much.
"Ah damn, I need to get ready for work." Izuku's heart sank a little. While his dad did help a little, there was still more he wanted to talk about, "Why don't we continue this conversation another time?"
"Okay, Dad. I'll make more of an effort to call you from now on."
"I'll be looking forward to it. Love you, Son,"
"Love you too, Dad," Izuku hung up the phone before being left with his thoughts. He took a deep breath as he felt like a bit of the weight on his chest had lifted but it was all the way gone yet. At the very least, he could tell his dad wasn't a deadbeat or something like that. He walked over to his desk and eyed his current project. He needs to find a way around Bakugou, hmm? The best way to start was the way he was most comfortable with.
Quirk Analysis.
Ochako walked down the steps to the common room, letting out a loud yawn as she did.
'The dorms are nice and all but I'm not used to sleeping here,' she thought tiredly as she wiped her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat as she spied Izuku eating some leftover dinner they saved for him while writing feverishly in his notebook.
"His quirk lets him sweat nitroglycerin from his palms so facing him in a group would be ill-advised." Izuku mumbled, completely oblivious to Ochako's presence as she walked up. "I'm not sure how much it's grown but most likely it's enough to cause major damage to a wide area if he could get that many villain points on the exam. It may also be possible that he could sustain flight if he could produce enough nitro quickly enough. I'd need a chance to actually see it in action to make more accurate judgements to his power."
"Izu, what are you doing?"
"Gah!" Izuku screeched as he fell out of his chair, knocking his soup over onto himself and the floor, "Ah… God damn it."
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Ochako quickly ran towards the kitchen, "I'll get some paper towels!" When she returned, Izuku had already changed into clean lounge pants and a t-shirt while holding the soiled clothes he was wearing in his hands as he picked up the knocked over soup bowl. "I sometimes envy you with how useful your quirk is."
"Targeted Warp is so handy that I feel I'd be lost without it. It's too bad I can't move liquid with it since I just stained the carpets with miso."
"I'm sorry I surprised you," she handed him the paper towels, "With you, I didn't think anything could get the jump on you like I did." Izuku and Ochako quickly did what they could before Izuku walked over to a storage closet and brought back some powdered carpet cleaner. "How did you know we had that?"
"Mom's the caretaker, remember?" After cleaning up the mess together, the two sat down at the table, looking at Izuku's Quirk Notebook with glasses of water for both of them.
"You're thinking about Bakugou, huh?" She worriedly said as she looked over his notes again.
"Kinda hard to think about anything else," Izuku scratched his head as he groaned, "All these memories I had as a kid, some clear as yesterday, some so foggy it's like looking through frosted glass. Some good, a lot bad. All of it, a bit overwhelming."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not right now. Minoru and Tsu aren't here and I know they'll ask," Izuku turned to her and gave her the best smile he could manage, "We'll talk in the morning. I should be ready to tell you guys about it then."
"Okay, we'll hold you to it," Ochako stood up, taking her glass in hand, "Just, don't try and plan to fight him anymore."
"I'm not planning to fight him," Izuku shook his head, "I'm preparing in case I have to."
Aizawa crawled into the 1-A common room the next day in his sleeping bag as it was filled with chatter as everyone just hung around, getting to know each other but in small groups of three or four. He counted 18 in total, missing only the spiky blond Bakugou, and the recommended student, Todoroki. He started counting to sixty waiting to see how many people would see him there. Midoriya and his friends all noticed him slide in and gave him confused looks before they returned to talking over something that seemed uncomfortable to the boy. A part of him was curious at what they were talking about but first…
*BWAAAAAAAAAAA* They needed to be introduced to how things work here. The sound of an air horn blared out through the common room, surprising everyone as they all turned to look at the scruffy caterpillar on the floor.
"Only four of you noticed that I entered the room after I laid here for sixty seconds in a bright yellow sleeping bag," Aizawa began as everyone gathered around the disheveled man as he got out of said sleeping bag, "Yeah, that's not going to work. Heroes, at the very least, have to be aware of their surroundings, or they could end up stabbed in broad daylight." Everyone just stared on with bewildered looks on their faces except the one student who knew who he was. Aizawa tossed the horn to Izuku before continuing, "My name is Shouta Aizawa, your homeroom teacher." Aizawa felt a twinge of amusement when the class reacted with various levels of shock from hearing that the hobo in front of them was their teacher. He then pulled a blue gym uniform with a U and A on the jacket and pants out from the bag, "Each of you should have received one of these. Put them on, and meet me over at the field east of the main building in ten minutes. Someone, go and get Bakugou and Todoroki. This is mandatory for all of you," Aizawa then walked out, leaving nothing but confusion in his wake.
"And just like that, he leaves like a normal person, sleeping bag and all," Tsuyu dryly joked, trying to shatter the uneasiness of the room.
"That guy's our teacher?" Kaminari, a blond with a black streak in the shape of a lightning bolt, asked, completely lost on what happened.
"Yep, and I don't want to find out what happens if we don't listen," Izuku replied as he walked over to the elevator to go to his room, "I have a feeling it wouldn't be anything good."
"What? A quirk assessment test?" the class shouted in unison. It was nearly midday now as the sun was halfway down the sky.
"But school doesn't start till tomorrow!" Ochako pointed out.
"You all arrived yesterday so you've had more than enough time to settle in," Aizawa countered with his back to the class, "If you want to make it in the big leagues, you can't afford to waste any time. Besides, you should take any opportunity to improve yourselves if you want to go far. This is one such opportunity." The class grew quiet and apprehensive. "Here at U.A., the teachers are not bound by silly things like traditions and are allowed to run the class however they like, with no real restrictions. Put it another way, I make all of the rules and you will follow them, or else," Izuku looked at the class around him. Some gasped at the knowledge that their teacher had so much power over them while the more level headed students stood firm, unafraid.
"Quite an unorthodox method of teaching…" Izuku could hear Iida mutter under his breath. He was used to Aizawa's shenanigans by now but he knew that the man didn't make idle threats.
"You've all taken standardized tests most of your lives," he held up a phone, showing eight events listed on it, "But you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before. The country's still trying to tell people that we're all created equal by not letting those with the most power excel. It's irrational, counterproductive, and idiotic and we can only hope that the Ministry of Education will figure that out sometime this decade but I won't hold my breath," Aizawa spoke with clear contempt for the aversion of progress by the world. He turned to look at Izuku, "Midoriya, you scored the highest in the entrance exam," He could also hear some of his classmates behind him muttering between themselves, though he couldn't make out anything specific. Bakugou turned to look at him, angry at being reminded of the fact. Izuku saw this out of the corner of his eye but ignored him. Aizawa also happened to notice but put the thought away before continuing. He pulled out a ball and lobbed it to Izuku, "You'll stand in the circle behind me and throw that ball twice. Once without your quirk for a baseline, the second with it."
"Wait, sir," Iida spoke up, "Why does he need to throw it twice? Can't he just use his junior high score for a baseline?" Izuku internally sighed at the question though Aizawa answered without missing a beat.
"To visually show you what I'm talking about."
"..."
"..."
"I understand completely, sir!" Iida finally spoke with more robotic hand gestures, causing almost everyone else to nearly fall over themselves.
'Well, he gave up easily!' Izuku thought with a chuckle as he tagged the ball and walked into the circle, a bit nervous as everyone's attention was drawn to him.
"Whenever you're ready," Izuku nodded before winding up to throw and launching the ball as far as he could.
"Sixty-two meters," Aizawa said aloud as he showed the read-out to the class, "Now you'll see the difference in ability when you apply your quirks. Midoriya," Izuku summoned the ball back and this time, instead of throwing it, the ball just vanished from his hand with a pop. Ordinarily, Aizawa wouldn't have accepted that since Izuku didn't actually throw the ball, but he knew better than anyone what the boy was capable of so he decided to let it slide. Less wasted time, the better, "Okay, maybe a bitextreme of an example but..." When Aizawa showed the screen again, jaws hit the floors, "I think you can understand the concept."
"400 KILOMETERS?!" Kirishima, a boy with spiky red hair and sharp teeth shouted in awe. Izuku gave a shy smile as his friends started chuckling amongst themselves as everyone stared. Bakugou, however, was fuming.
He hadn't seen Deku in years but he was told he was quirkless. Then he just shows up out of nowhere, takes his top spot in the entrance exam, and he can just warp things?!
'Wait… warping? H-He's the gray-haired bastard from that slime asshole! He was missing all this time while Auntie Inko was freaking out over him and yet he was just fine?! What the hell is going on?!' Bakugou had seen enough, "DEKU!" Izuku and everyone else turned to look at the blond as he screamed, "You've got some explaining to do!" Bakugou shouted as small explosions roared from his fingers before they were suddenly stopped. He looked at his hand in surprise before he was quickly bound by Aizawa and his scarf.
"Really? Two incidents in two days?" Bakugou looked at Aizawa as his hair stood straight up and red eyes stared him down, "You really want to be expelled that badly?"
"Where'd my quirk go?" Bakugou shouted as he struggled against the capture scarf. "And why the hell is this scarf so strong?!"
"I erased it. As long as I'm looking at you, your quirk doesn't exist. That's my quirk," Aizawa stated as he glared at Bakugou, "As for the scarf, it's a special capture weapon made of carbon fiber and a special metal alloy. Don't make me have to use my quirk. It gives me dry eye."
"That power's amazing!" The class shouted in unison at Aizawa's quirk.
"You're wasting time. Step back in line or leave and don't come back. I don't care which," Bakugou glared at Aizawa as he was released from the tape before walking back to the group. Izuku sighed. It wouldn't be good to get into a fight before the year even started. "Now, back to what I was talking about," Aizawa pulled out the phone again and showed the two scores side by side, "All of you need to know your maximum capabilities as it's the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero, as well the type of pro you should strive to become."
"Oh wow, I want to go! That looks like fun!" Ashido cried out.
"We get to use our quirks as much as we want? Awesome!" Sero, a boy with giant, cylinder elbows, exclaimed excitedly. Though Izuku just sighed. They didn't know that Aizawa doesn't do things because it's fun.
"It looks like fun?" He said just loud enough to be heard. "You have three years to become a hero and you think this will be all parties and games?" He then gave a sinister smirk to the crowd, "Idiots. Today you'll be taking part in eight tests. The one in last place will be judged as hopeless and immediately thrown out of the hero course." The class gasped in horror at the ultimatum being thrown their way. "Like I said, this is my class and I decide how it's run, understand? If you have a problem with that, I'm sure it's nice in the general studies course." Izuku surveyed his classmates as he took his place among them. Everyone seemed at least a little nervous except for Yaoyorozu, the red- and white-haired boy with a scar over his left eye Todoroki, and Bakugou. It would figure that the most confident people in the class would look at this with an almost eerie calm about them. Ochako was about to speak up but Izuku stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and wink.
'Don't worry, it'll be fine.' Ochako looked at him, concerned but ultimately sighed and decided to trust him.
"Is it really fair to throw one of us out before school even started?" she said under her breath but Aizawa heard her all the same.
"It's not but neither are villains, natural disasters or cataclysms. The world is full of unfairness and it's our jobs as heroes to combat that unfairness. You want to be a pro? You'll need to give everything you've got and then give even more. For the next three years, we'll be throwing one terrible hardship after another at you. So, go beyond. Plus ultra. Show me that it wasn't a mistake to let you in here." He smirked as he waved for the class to bring it. Iida pulled out a sports bottle full of orange juice before taking a quick drink.
'So, this is how the greatest hero course in the country is run. I must admit, it's beyond anything I could have ever think of but I have no choice but to go along with it.'
'I'll blow these nerds out of the water, including that filthy worm Deku,' Bakugou and Izuku shared a glance, neither one willing to back down.
"Now that we're all understanding each other, let the games begin."
First Event: 50 Meter Dash:
"Hey, Iida," Izuku said as he extended a friendly hand for a shake, "Good luck out there!'
"Ah, to you a-" Iida was about to shake before he remembered Izuku's quirk and looked at Izuku with an unamused glare.
"I almost got you, didn't I?" Izuku put on a bright smile as the two lined up, ready to run. Iida had to stop himself from smiling, lest he give Izuku the pleasure of thinking he's funny.
"Runners, on your marks," the camera at the end of track said, "Ready?" *Bang* Izuku warped a rock into both hands and threw one as hard as he could with Body Burst, warped to it, threw the other one and warped to it and managed to cross the finish line, though not before Iida blew past him.
Iida: 3.04 seconds.
Midoriya: 3.99 seconds.
"Aheh heh, just edged out four seconds…" Izuku said with a chuckle as he walked up to Iida. "You really are fast, Iida."
"If this was longer than 50 meters, I could have gotten up to fourth gear but as it stands, this is my best."
"Oh, so you need more acceleration then," Izuku asked with interest as his notebook came into his hand.
"If you two are done, move aside for the others." Aizawa ordered without looking up from his phone.
"Yes sir!" the two yelled, stepping out of the way for everyone else.
The rest of the class did what they could with what they had with mixed results.
Ochako lightened her clothes and her body and sprinted with One For All: 4.02. Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the score. 'Making herself lighter did that much? Something's... off about this girl,' He quickly filed the run away for later and returned to watching the tests.
Tsuyu hopped her way down the course: 5.58.
Minoru threw his grapes at the ground where he would land and bounced his way down: 5.51. He then got really snooty about beating Tsuyu at something before she threatened to slap him with her tongue.
Bakugou merely used his explosions to propel himself: 4.04. He then could be heard screaming for not being fast enough.
Todoroki made a giant ice wall and had it push him down the course: 3.74. Even Iida was impressed at the level of speed that the ice user could produce.
Yaoyorozu, however, pushed the limits of acceptability as she pulled a moped out of her stomach. Aizawa took one look at it before pressing the button to begin the test: 4.37.
Izuku, sitting on the ground with notebook in hand, made sure to write down each and every observation he could about his classmates and their quirks.
Second Event: Grip Strength
Shoji, a student with six arms webbed together by skin, with three hands, gripped the small device as hard as he could getting a score of 540kg.
"Geez, Shoji, want to leave some hope for the rest of us?" Minoru said as he stared at the read-out, lamenting his meager 48kg,
"I know, you're such a beast!" Sero exclaimed in awe.
"Holy crap, Uraraka! Is that even legal?!" The boys looked at the bashful Ochako and a shocked but invisible Hagakure, holding up a reading of 999kg, impressing everyone. She had placed the sensor between her fingers on the floor and merely increased the gravity of her body, which caused her to max out the sensor as it was sandwiched between her fingers and her palm. The class turned to Aizawa.
"I'll allow it," he said, causing the group to gather around her in amazement as she got up from the floor, leaving a small divot in the floor where her extremely heavy body used to be.
"Haha… I guess I'm stronger than I look… heh heh…" she nervously tried backing away slowly as everyone looked at the score. Tsuyu tried to match it but could only get a grip strength of 220kg with her tongue.
"Aw. I wanted to beat Ocha at something… ribbit..." she said in her usual monotone, betraying her disappointment.
'She put the sensor between two impossibly heavy objects and let gravity do the rest to trick the test. That was a clever move she pulled,' Aizawa thought as he looked at her score. 'Even if it had nothing to do with her grip, she found a way to max out the device. A creative solution to increase her score. Not bad at all.'
Third Event: Standing Long Jump
Bakugou flew over it like he did the first event. Aoyama, a blond boy with a princely haircut and seemingly permanent sparkle around him used his laser to fly as well. Then Izuku monkey-barred his way across by throwing his rocks upward, warping his way to them and doing that repeatedly until he crossed the sandbox. Ochako jumped using her zero gravity, Tsuyu just cleared it in one hop and Minoru shot himself over it with his grapes as bounce pads… only to completely fail the landing and smashing into the ground, face first.
Fourth Event: Repeated Side Steps
Minoru created two walls of grapes to his left and right before jumping into one, hand first. He then started bouncing back and forth rapidly while T-posing so his bare hands hit first and his clothes didn't stick.
"Behold, as I dominate the scoreboard!" he shouted, confident that this one was his to win. Izuku walked up next to him with a smirk to take his turn and just marked both boxes and started warping between the two at a faster pace than Minoru. "Oh, now you're just showing off!" he angrily shouted. The pace started to slow from overuse just before the timer ran out, with Izuku having to take a deep breath afterward. Izuku turned to his friend and gave him another smirk.
"Sorry about that, Minoru, but I think I've still got you beat."
Fifth Event: Ball Throw
Izuku sat this one out since he already "threw" the ball into the next town over so in exchange, he got relegated to ball retrieval duties. Tsuyu and Iida both had the same idea, kicking the softball for 156 and 321 meters respectively. Minoru, taking inspiration from the two, began wrapping the ball in his grapes before kicking it, launching it about 120 meters, though it, of course, had no bounce once it got back to the ground. Bakugou, however, blew them all out of the water, letting off a huge blast in his throw, causing the ball to land 705 meters away. Bakugou had a wild grin as he walked away, content with the result. He stared at Izuku as if demanding him to top that bt actually throwing the ball. Izuku ignored him and refocused on his other classmates. He chuckled a little as Ochako eventually walked up to throw. He looked at Aizawa and wondered if he also knew exactly what was going to happen. Ochako pressed her fingers to the ball, wound up and threw it, watching the ball sail away into the sky. And sail, and sail, and sail, until no one could even see it anymore. Aizawa just looked away from the sky at his phone and showed it to the class, completely unfazed by what was caught on it.
"Infinity?!" the class shouted in disbelief. Ochako released the ball but Aizawa noticed that it didn't seem to be coming down.
"Midoriya, get the ball back from orbit, will ya?" Aizawa ordered, only for Izuku to shake his head.
"It doesn't work like that," Izuku corrected, "I have to know exactly where it is to warp it to me."
"So, it's stuck up there?" Aizawa rubbed his tired eyes as Ochako simply pushed her index fingers together, embarrassed that she sent the ball into space.
"Well, if you want to give me a telescope to find it, I might," Without warning, Yaoyorozu appeared next to him, holding one.
"Here you go, Midoriya," She said in a sweet voice which did nothing to stop Izuku from being surprised at being handed an actual telescope.
"I-wait, what?!" Izuku cried out in shock as he held the object in his hands. He looked around to place it somewhere but he noticed that a crowd had started to form over by the fence line. "What's going on?"
"Looks like we have an audience." Iida remarked, "They arrived a couple minutes after Bakugou threw his pitch so they were probably wondering what that explosion was," He continued before recognizing one of the members of the crowd. A giant of a man with white hair and a fang-filled frown on his face wearing a red jumpsuit with two tubes running out from his back into his gauntlets. "Isn't that the hero, Vlad King?"
"Yeah, he's supposed to be the homeroom teacher of Class 1-B if I remember right," Izuku answered his friend. Aizawa walked over to the fence, out of his student's earshot. Well, most of them. Jirou placed one of her jacks into the ground, allowing her to listen in.
"Can I help you, Vlad?" Aizawa asked, uninterested in dealing with this.
"What do you think you're doing, Eraser?" Vlad asked, tone irritated. Aizawa eyebrow quirked upwards at the question, as if it should be plainly obvious what he was doing.
"Watching my class throw softballs into space," Aizawa stated matter-of-factly, "Is there a problem?"
"You know that classes don't start till-"
"Yes, and I don't care. They're all here now and that means they're ready to learn. Besides, the sooner I have some workable data on these kids, the easier it'll be in the long run," He then gestured to the students surrounding Vlad, "If you've come to complain about my class getting ahead of yours, you don't have to wait until the school year 'starts' to get your students ready." Vlad scoffed before speaking to his class.
"Class, change of plans, we'll be doing our own tests." He began to walk away, beckoning the others to follow.
"Yes, sir!" 1-B agreed in unison, a fire lit under all of them. After Aizawa cleared out the non-hero course onlookers that came as well, he returned to his class and pulled out another softball.
"What a waste of my time… Yaoyorozu, you're next. Use this spare," she nodded before catching the ball he threw and then pulled a cannon out of her stomach, followed by a gunpowder charge and a fuse.
End of the Tests
The final tests were seated toe-touch which only the most limber of the class had any real excellence at, the sit-ups where Aizawa had to stop Ochako since her quirk meant she was light enough to be doing it for about five minutes too long for his tastes and the distance run, which was completely owned by Yaoyorozu and her game-breaking moped. After everything was said and done, the class nervously waited to see who was leaving their class today.
"Alright, time to give you your results," Aizawa announced, "I've ranked you all from best to worst based on your performances in each test. You should all have a pretty good idea of your standing already. I'll just pull up the whole list as it's not worth going over each individual score." Aizawa pressed a button on his phone, causing a hologram of the standings to appear.
1: Momo Yaoyorozu
2: Shouto Todoroki
3: Ochako Uraraka
4: Izuku Midoriya
5: Katsuki Bakugou
6: Tenya Iida
7: Fumikage Tokoyami
8: Mezo Shoji
9: Mashirao Ojiro
10: Eijiro Kirishima
11: Mina Ashido
12: Tsuyu Asui
13: Koji Koda
14: Rikido Sato
15: Yuya Aoyama
16: Hanta Sero
17: Denki Kaminari
18: Kyoka Jirou
19: Minoru Mineta
20: Toru Hagakure
A gasp ran out to Izuku's left as he looked at the invisible girl. He could see her clothes shaking as she stared at the screen. Everyone else turned to look at her with sympathy… except Minoru who was so relieved it wasn't him that he fell to the ground.
"Oh, yeah, I was lying about kicking out last place," Aizawa dryly stated.
"WHAT?!" the class shouted.
"YES!" Hagakure cheered as she jumped up and down, relieved that she could stay.
"Heroes put their lives on the line every day. I needed to make sure that you would all rise to the occasion and the best way to do that is to tell you that you had something to lose, like your dreams and ambitions." Aizawa then gave an attempt at a wide smile, "Or to put it another way, a logical deception I made to make sure you all work hard." The whole class looked at Aizawa, incredulous that he would completely lie to them about throwing them out of the hero course.
"Did you all not notice?" Yaoyorozu asked, "Sorry, I guess I should have said something,"
"Yeah, you should have!"
"We're done for today. All of you get plenty of rest tonight as your training will only be getting harder from here on out."
"Yes, Mr. Aizawa!" The class bowed as Aizawa walked away, leaving the class to head back to the dorms. As he was leaving, Izuku noticed that Bakugou hadn't moved since the scores were announced but decided to leave him be and catch up with Ochako and the others. He didn't want to risk another incident.
'Fifth place?! Behind Deku?! Behind that round-faced girlfriend of his… that cheating moped girl... that Frosty the Asshat?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!' Bakugou clenched his hands so hard he thought he would bleed. 'Then there's his quirk… Auntie Inko's quirk is pulling small things to her and his dad breathes fire. How does warping around with rocks and shit have anything to do with all that?! Then, he shows up and "saves" me from the sludge bastard while at the same time being reported as dead! What the hell is he hiding?! He's probably laughing it up, thinking he's got me fooled while having the balls to call me "Kacchan" like he did when we were kids,' He turned to stomp his way back to the dorms. 'I'll rip the truth from his still breathing lips if I have to!'
Aizawa watched Bakugou leave and felt a bit concerned with the boy. 'Why do I always get the difficult children?' He had originally written off what Inko told him about yesterday but having seen what he saw today, it was clear she wasn't raising a fuss to protect her son. Bakugou was going to be a pain in the ass, he just knew it. He turned a corner beyond the bleachers to see All Might in a suit and tie, hiding just beyond it.
"That was a rotten move, Aizawa," Aizawa turned to look at the pro, who looked less than impressed with him. Not that he cared really.
"All Might. So, you were watching. I thought I saw that garish suit of yours. What, no talk shows today?" Aizawa snarked.
"A 'logical deception', huh? That's real cute, but you're not exactly known for being merciful," All Might accused, "Last year, you kicked your entire class out and after they worked to get back in during the Sports Festival, they were handed over to Midnight out of the class' shared fear of you. You've never had a problem throwing out students if you thought them unworthy. You were planning to kick that young girl out, weren't you?"
"Not her specifically, but I don't see a reason to kick her out... so I didn't. All of them have potential so it's not a rational decision to just kick someone out for just being at the bottom of the class… at least not yet. I may end up having to expel someone this year with the way things are going but we'll see. If they don't have what it takes, it would be cruel to delude them into thinking they do. It gets people killed." All Might began to ponder his words.
'You have a strange sense of kindness, Aizawa but I've always known that,' "...So, what about the standouts? Anyone catch your eye?" Aizawa raised an eyebrow at the question but couldn't think of a reason to why All Might was asking other than curiosity.
"Outside of the top five, everyone is… about where I thought they'd land. Nothing really surprised me outside of a few flashes of creativity. Midoriya, whose performance was within expectations, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki proved to be worthy of those recommendations and Bakugou finished lower than I expected but his individual scores were better than what I had anticipated. I have to say the biggest surprise was Uraraka though," Aizawa noticed that All Might's grin had widened, "She'll go far with that quirk of hers."
"So, you see the same thing in her that I do, hmm?" All Might joyfully pointed a finger at Aizawa, who began to walk away with a wide smirk.
"Ah, you were in her corner this entire time, huh?" All Might immediately froze up as he realized his poor choice of words, "At least wait for the school year to start before playing favorites, All Might."
"Oh, god, I'm so glad he didn't pick me!" Minoru said as he fell down onto Izuku's bed as his friend went over his notes of his classmates' quirks.
"You really bought it, hook, line, and sinker, didn't you?" Izuku teased as he flipped through his notebook.
"You really think he was lying about kicking someone out?" Minoru asked, doubt lingering in his words, "I mean, doesn't it seem like there's more to it than just wanting us to try hard?"
"Hmm... " Izuku began to think about it. 'Considering Mr. Aizawa's not afraid to make things up for kicks, it's not hard to believe he did all that for a laugh and to test us. But… there's something that's been bothering me now that I think about it.'
"Anyway, I do owe you for your help with my quirk," Izuku was ripped from his thoughts as Minoru spoke, "I don't think I would figure out half as much on my own," Minoru said with a genuine smile of appreciation.
"You would've if you had any real ambition to try," Izuku pointed out with a smile, "We can add that debt to the lost bet you also owe me. 35th place, was it?"
"I praise and thank you for your help and you just back a bus on me. True friend, you are. I was in the top ten in the written test, you know so I'd call it a tie," Minoru groaned, before deciding to change the subject, "So, what did you think of the girls in our class, barring the ones we know?"
"Still trying to get me a date?"
"As your self-identified wingman, I can't stop trying till you're taken." Izuku sighed before he turned around to face his friend.
"I've known them for a day and you want my opinion of them? All I've got is superficial things and their quirks. I didn't even eat dinner with you guys last night."
"Well, considering your love of all things quirks and heroes and my love of all things superficial, I'd say we've got more than enough for a conversation," Minoru said with a sly grin. A knock on the door interrupted the two.
"Midoriya, it's Iida, may I come in?" The two were surprised to hear Iida's voice on the other side but both just shrugged before Izuku called out.
"Sure, Iida, it's open!" Iida opened the door and saw Minoru sitting on the bed across from Izuku and his desk.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Iida took a look around the room at all the All Might memorabilia, including the red and blue striped curtains with white stars in the stripes. The only thing out of place was the telescope from earlier. Izuku apparently decided to keep it, although for what, Iida wasn't sure. "I see you're a big fan of All Might."
"I just really look up to him," Izuku nervously replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Understandable since he's the number one hero after all. He is a shining example of what it means to be a hero!" Iida praised before clearing his throat, "What were you two talking about?"
"I'm trying to get Zuku here to get a date," Minoru stated with complete nonchalance.
"Did you have to tell him that?!" Izuku glared at Minoru for telling Iida. If looks could kill, there would be a purple and red stain on the wall and bed.
"You're looking to date someone?" Iida asked innocently.
"No!" Izuku cried, "He's just trying to set me up with someone... which is not what I want right now!"
"But, if you don't act soon, you risk missing out as all the girls hook up with someone else who will give them the time of day," Minoru countered, earning an irritated sigh from Izuku
"Look, can we just drop this? I doubt Iida came all the way up here just to listen about my lack of a love life."
"Ah, of course!" Iida exclaimed, suddenly remembering why he came up here, "It was decided that we should all get together tonight and learn about each other since we're all going to be in the same class! I believe it would be a good idea to build a sense of unity in the class and allow us to unwind after Aizawa's test!" Izuku and Minoru shared a glance before the grape boy motioned to the door.
"Sounds good, Iida. We'll be right down."
"Excellent! I look forward to knowing more about you both," Iida turned around but then stopped himself as he remembered something. "Also, I've been meaning to apologize to you," Izuku and Minoru looked at him as he bowed his head, unsure of what he was talking about.
"Apologize for what?"
"I had mistaken you for a hooligan at the entrance exam but I saw your score on the board downstairs. It's clear to me that you were much more aware of the true nature of the test, weren't you?"
"The true nature of the test…? Oh, you're talking about the rescue points, right?" Iida nodded, causing Izuku to bashfully scratch his head, "Um... actually no," Izuku admitted, "I hadn't even given it a single thought until All Might told me in the acceptance letter."
"Then that makes your actions all the more impressive to me!" Iida exclaimed while pointing his rigid hand at Izuku, "You went out of your way to help others even though it would do nothing for you, like a hero is supposed to act!" Iida clenched his hands in frustration as he looked away towards one of the All Might posters, "I, however, only cared about myself and did very little for anyone else. I only got rescue points because I happened to accidentally help someone."
"Iida," Izuku began with a sigh, "There's no point beating yourself over it. You got in, didn't you? No one's expecting you to be a perfect human being."
"We mostly expect you not to be an asshole," Minoru jabbed, earning an annoyed glare from Izuku.
"...Mineta's choice of words aside, you're both right," Iida agreed as he adjust his glasses, "I will just have to work hard to be a better hero!"
"And we can start by getting to know everyone else in our class," Minoru suggested as he and Iida started to walk out of the room, "And that means you'll get to know if any of the girls in our class are right for you!"
"Drop it!" Izuku said as he stood up to follow. As he exited his room, he saw his two friends standing still as Bakugou stomped down the hall, face seething with rage. Minoru looked ready to bolt while Iida seemed completely baffled at his classmate's rage.
"Deku! This time, you're going to talk, you hear me?!"