Chapter 4
"Man, this place is so big! 1-A...1-A..." Izuku ran through the halls of U.A. High as his first day at the school finally arrived. He finally arrived at the door for his classroom. "Aw man, I hope I'm not in the same classroom as the scary people..." Izuku immediately thought of Katsuki and the boy from the entrance exam as he began to slide open the door.
"Take your feet of the desk!"
"Huh?"
"Don't you think that's disrespectful to the U.A. upperclassmen and the people who made the desk?" Just. His. Luck. BOTH of them were here, and the blue haired boy was already beginning to get into with Katsuki who sat with his leg on the desk.
"Ha! Nope! What junior high did you even go to, you side character?" Katsuki asked with his usual smug grin.
"I attended Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Iida." Tenya said introducing himself to Katsuki.
"Somei? So you're some kind of fucking elite, aren't you? I'm gonna have fun stomping you into the ground." Katsuki said intimidating the taller boy.
"Stomp me into the dirt? And you actually want to be a hero?" Tenya asked in pure horror before both boys noticed Izuku standing in the doorway. Then the whole class turned their attention to him, causing the usually timid boy to jump slightly. "Good morning! I'm from So-"
"It's alright, I heard." Izuku said raising his hand to the boy as he walked over to him. "I'm Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Iida."
"Midoriya, you realized there was something more to that practical exam, didn't you?" Tenya said gritting his teeth. "And I didn't...I hate to admit it but you're better than me."
'Sorry. I actually didn't realize anything.' Izuku thought before feeling a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Hayato standing behind him with a banana in his hand. "H-Hayato?!"
"You!"
"I made it too, buddy. All Might didn't tell you?" Hayato said finishing up his fruit. Izuku jumped him for a hug making his best friend wince in pain. "Izuku, buddy, I'm still sore in some places."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Izuku said letting him go and noticing the slight limp Hayato had.
"Oh, you're the loud guy from the test." Hayato said walking into the classroom and noticing Tenya standing nearby.
"I'm from Somei Private Academy, my name is Tenya Iida."
"Hayato Kiryuu, sorry for the harsh words back then. Just don't like when people pick on my best friend." Hayato said before limping over to his seat.
"Oh, that curly hair! You're the boy from the exam!" Izuku turned around to see that Ochaco had just walked in, happy to see him. "That punch you did was awesome!"
"I-I mean it was nothing! Th-Th-Thank you for trying to split your points with me!" Izuku yelled covering his now red face with his arms before quickly bowing to the girl in front of him.
"How did you know about that?" Ochaco asked as it hit her what Izuku was talking about.
"Oh, uh-"
"If you're here to make friends, you're in the wrong place." The four standing at the front of the class looked behind Ochaco and Izuku to see that, currently in a yellow sleeping bag on the ground, a pale man with long black hair laid looking at them. Ochaco, Izuku, and Iida all froze from shock while Hayato made his way to his seat. "Eight seconds for you to be quiet, you need to work on that. This is the hero course, time is limited and kids these days are so irrational." The man said as he unzipped his sleeping back to stand up.
'A teacher? So that means he's a pro hero too. Except I've never seen anyone as worn out as him.' Izuku thought as he studied the man from head to toe, from his all black clothing to the odd scarf around his neck.
"I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Nice to meet you all." Aizawa said introducing himself to his class. The entire class jumped slightly as they were all in the dark as to who their teacher was going to be. He lifted up his sleeping bag and reached into it, pulling out a blue tracksuit with white markings becoming a "U" around the collar and an "A" on the waist. "It's kind of sudden, but put this on and head out to the field."
"A Quirk Assessment Test?!" Was the general reaction from the class as they all stood across from their teacher, all dressed in the tracksuit he had shown them before.
"I hope none of you were expecting anything traditional from your first day, the selling point of this school is how unrestricted we can be with our methods. That's how we teach and that's how you're all going to learn for the next three years. Besides, you kids have been doing this since Junior High, right?" Aizawa said taking out a phone to show eight different exercises. "All those physical exams where you were banned from using your Quirks, we're gonna change it up a bit. Bakugo, you finished at the top of the practical exam, right?" Aizawa asked getting Katsuki's attention. "In Junior High, what was your best result for the softball throw?"
"67 meters." Katsuki said as he crossed his arms, trying to remember the best he could.
"Then, try doing it with your Quirk." Aizawa said taking out a softball from his pocket and throwing it over to the boy, who caught it with one hand and walked over to a shotput ring behind his teacher. "Do whatever you want, just stay in the circle. Now hurry up, and you better give it everything you've got."
"Alright then..." Katsuki said stretching his arms. He looked forward and entered a pitching position. "DIE!" Katsuki pulled back the best he could and threw the ball, boosting it with an explosion.
"...die?" Izuku asked himself quietly as his expression deadpanned, watching the ball skyrocket into the distance.
"Always know your maximum as a starting point. That's the most rational way to form the foundation of a hero." Aizawa said as he turned to face his class, showing Katsuki's score as 705.2 meters. The whole class clapped from amazement as Katsuki walked back to them, with a victorious smile on his face.
"705 meters? Seriously?" A boy with orange-blond hair with a black streak across said as he took a step back.
"This looks so fun!" A pink girl with pink hair and horns yelled as she happily jumped from excitement.
"This looks fun? You have three years here, are you sure you're gonna keep that attitude the entire time?" Aizawa asked making the class tense up, quickly draining their excitement from them. "Alright then, whoever comes in last place after all eight tests will be judged to have no potential to be a hero. And as a result, the punishment will be immediate expulsion." The entire class screamed from shock while Hayato closed his eyes, feeling a sharp pain in his legs. "We're free to do whatever the hell we want with you kids. So welcome to U.A.'s hero course."
"This might be a little difficult for me." Hayato said as he reached into his pockets to take out a pair of pills and threw them into his mouth.
"For you? Hayato, I can only use One for All at zero or a hundred percent!" Izuku whispered into his best friend's ear. Hayato sighed and elbowed Izuku hard into his stomach area, immediately knocking the wind out of him.
"Mr. Aizawa, Izuku's not feeling so well so I'm gonna take him to the bathroom!" Hayato said grabbing Izuku while their teacher just waved them off. The two quickly made their way out of sight from the class and Hayato pushed Izuku against the wall. "What the hell is the matter with you?"
"With me?! You just hit me in the stoma-" Izuku yelled as he took in a deep breath. Hayato covered Izuku's mouth to keep him from yelling further, not noticing their blond mentor was hiding from them as well: watching them in the distance.
"Izuku, we made it this far. Are you going to give up on me now because you're worried about getting hurt?" Hayato asked making Izuku shake his head. "I brought painkillers because I didn't want to let you down. We have THREE years here, if you're gonna chicken out day one then you might as well grab one of your hairs and shove that Quirk back down All Might's throat." He removed his hand from his best friend's mouth. "You're my best friend and All Might chose you as his successor. You're the smart one out of the two of us, figure it out if you don't wanna go home on a stretcher." Hayato said tapping Izuku's forehead. He began walking back while Izuku looked at his right hand.
'How do I manage to do this?' Izuku asked himself before following Hayato back to the class.
"Alright so the first test is the 50-meter dash. Iida and Kiryuu, to the line." Aizawa said as the two re-joined the group. Tenya and Hayato nodded at each other and walked over to a track and went into the starting positions.
"Ready? Get set..." Hayato chuckled and activated his quirk as a camera on a tripod at the end of the track counted the two down. "Go!" Tenya and Hayato took off, with the former running as fast as he could in that short distance: reaching the end almost immediately. But what shocked him the most was that when he crossed, Hayato was already standing in front of him with a victorious smile.
"What?!"
"1.15 seconds. 3.04 seconds." The camera announced as the class looked at Hayato in shock. Hayato held up a peace sign to the group and began walking over, leaving Tenya staring at him in pure disbelief.
"Impossible..." A spiky red haired boy said as Hayato walked past him and to Izuku's side.
'I can only go third gear for fifty meters...but he was on a completely different level.' Tenya thought to himself as he walked back into the group, letting the exhaust ports on his calves cool down.
"They were in their elements. Next, Bakugo and Midoriya." Aizawa announced making Katsuki and Izuku walk over to the track and ready themselves.
"Ready? Get set..." Izuku gulped as he could feel the bloodlust emanating from Katsuki. "Go!" Both boys took off, with Katsuki holding his hands back and Izuku running as fast as he could.
"Let's see how you bastards like my Explosive Speed!" Explosions began firing from Katsuki's hand, propelling him into the air and forward, crossing the line as the camera recorded his time.
"4.13 seconds." Then Izuku crossed, beginning to breathe heavily. "7.02 seconds."
"When I use both of my hands, the force disperses...but Deku could be screwed..." Katsuki said as he looked at the smoke coming from his palms before looking at the already exhausted Izuku. He shook his head, letting out a growl while Hayato chuckled.
"Someone's worried about you." Hayato said quietly to himself before placing a handful of raisins in his mouth while their teacher called over the next pair to run.
"If I may ask, why do you keep food in your pockets?" Hayato turned around mid-chew, to see a girl with long black haired tied into a spiky ponytail looking at him.
"Oh, my raisins? They're my energy snacks." Hayato quickly gulped down what he had in his mouth and took out the small red box that held his snacks in from his pocket.
"Energy snacks?" The girl asked confused at the box of raisins being held in front of her.
"I gotta refuel, we have a lot of tests coming up and I can't risk losing power during any of them." Hayato explained putting the box away.
"Yaoyorozu, Uraraka. Come on, you're up." Aizawa said making the girl nod and walk over to the track.
"You talked to a girl!" Izuku whisper-yelled to Hayato, who looked at him confused by his excitement.
"Izuku, I can handle talking to one. Just keeping the conversation is what's tough, especially with one as pretty as her." Hayato said putting the box away in his pocket.
Following the 50-meter dash, the class continued with the next three exams: grip strength, long jump, and repeated side steps. And currently both Hayato and Katsuki were confident in their abilities as they kept scoring among the highest in the current exams. But the one concerning the two, even if Katsuki could never admit it, was Izuku. Restricted by his fear of hurting himself or using too much power with One for All, Izuku currently held one of the lowest scores, only a completely invisible girl was doing worse than him at the moment. But he knew that the fifth test, the Softball throw, was his saving grace. If he could score high enough on this: he would be safe from the expulsion punishment. Even with the long-distance run, sit-ups, or seated toe touch: he knew that a test involving strength was perfect for him and One for All.
"Uraraka, throw." Ochaco nodded and walked up to where Katsuki had thrown the ball from earlier, and threw the ball watching it climb higher and higher into the air. Aizawa nodded and showed the screen on his phone, revealing the score was reading "infinity" for the girl.
"Infinity?!"
"Whoa, that's awesome!" Ochaco blushed and nodded sheepishly at the praises from her classmates.
"Midoriya, go." Izuku nodded and walked up, grabbing the Softball and holding it in both of his hands.
'It's now or never. I came too far to let All Might, Hayato, and Mom down.' Izuku readied himself and took a deep breath, activating One for All.
"It doesn't look good for Midoriya if he continues the way he has." Tenya said earning a worried nod from Ochaco, making Katsuki chuckle.
"Of course not, he's a Quirkless loser, you know?" Katsuki said making Hayato grit his teeth.
"Quirkless?! You mean you don't know what he did during the entrance exam?" Tenya asked confusing the boy.
"Huh?"
'It's about time, huh?' Aizawa looked at Izuku, grabbing his scarf as the boy closed his eyes.
'I won't let you down, I'll become a hero.' Izuku's arm began to glow as the power of One for All surged through it. He reeled his arm back as he remembered when All Might chose him to be his successor, when his mother congratulated him for being accepted to U.A, and when Hayato had met him in the playground all those years ago. But when he threw the ball, he was shocked to see it land only meters away from him. "B-But...I swore I activated it."
"I erased your Quirk, that's why." Izuku turned to his side to see Aizawa, now the complete opposite of how he looked before. His hair flowing upwards, his eyes glowing red, his scarf was now flowing up and spread out more, and under the scarf rested a pair of gold goggles around his neck. "Damn that test, it's clearly not rational enough when even a brat like you got accepted.
"You erased my Quirk?" Izuku asked himself quietly before it all came together for him once he laid eyes on the goggles. "You can erase people's Quirks just by looking at them, I know who you are. The Erasure Hero: Eraser Head!"
"Eraser? Never heard of him."
"He's an underground hero, he tends to avoid the spotlight compared to other heroes because he thinks it gets in the way." Hayato said earning the attention of his classmates.
"From what I saw, kid, you can't control that Quirk of yours even if your life depended on it." Aizawa said as he walked over to the boy. "You want to break everything and have someone else save you again, don't you?"
"N-No sir, that's not what I-" Izuku was cut off by Aizawa's scarf extending wrapping around him and pulling him closer.
"Whatever your intention, I'm saying that's what others around you will be forced to do." Aizawa said keeping his glowing eyes focused on the boy. "It doesn't matter if you're as courageous as they come and the most selfless hero out there: you'll be utterly useless if you become a ragdoll after saving only one person. Izuku Midoriya, you can't become a hero with that power of yours, you'll only end up being a liability."
"Um, Mr. Aizawa?" Aizawa turned his head hearing Hayato call his name. "I've known about his Quirk for a long time, if I can: I'd like to have a moment with him."
"Do whatever you want, just make it quick." Aizawa said as his scarf and hair went back to normal and his eyes stopped glowing. Hayato rushed over to Izuku's side and pulled him away. 'But whatever you do, that kid is a lost cause. He has no potential whatsoever.'
"What's the matter?" Hayato asked putting his hands on Izuku's shoulders.
"Mr. Aizawa's right, I can't control this power. If I try to go 100%, then he's just gonna erase my Quirk again if my arm doesn't shatter again." Izuku explained making Hayato sigh. "I keep visualizing what All Might told me and it just doesn't work." Izuku sighed while Hayato crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
"What did All Might say?"
"He said to remember the feeling I had when I activated it for the first time, like an egg in a microwave and trying to keep it from exploding."
"And when was this?" Izuku tensed up remembering that after he had been accepted: he had met All Might at Dagoba Beach to discuss being his successor and controlling One for All...the only problem was that the meeting was supposed to be a secret and Hayato had no clue. "Well, Izuku?"
"It was before school started, but I just can't seem to control it no matter how much I try. He said to remember the feeling and that it's the secret to controlling this awesome power." Izuku explained making Hayato sigh.
"But Izuku, remember that you and All Might are two different kinds of people. How he controls One for All is different because he's been with it for decades, you've only had it for a little over a month." Hayato said placing his hands on his sides. "When you first activated it, what happened?"
"Well I felt like this like bzzt or woosh feeling and-" Izuku was stopped by Hayato raising his right hand to stop him.
"Not what you FELT, what HAPPENED."
"Well, I put all the force I had into my legs to jump into the air. And then I put everything I had into my arm to punch the villain, and next thing I knew I was falling with all three broken." Izuku explained making Hayato nod.
"You put everything you had into your legs and they broke. Then you put everything into your arm and it broke. You see the problem?" Hayato said earning a nod from his best friend. "You're too impulsive, you haven't had the kind of practice to put that kind of force on your body."
"But I don't have any other way to control it."
"Alright, then let's see it like this. Your body is a fighter jet and it shoots the most destructive and powerful missiles. The triggers to fire them are extremely sensitive so: you can't slam your finger on it, otherwise you'll fire everything you've got when you don't have to, and you can't press it too softly, otherwise nothing'll fire. Forget controlling it with your feelings. Control it with what you have up here." Hayato said poking the side of Izuku's head. "Once the pilot up here knows what it's doing, then you can leave it to the guy down here." Hayato moved his finger from the side of Izuku's head and down to where his heart was located.
"But All Might-"
"Izuku! You're not All Might! Don't force yourself to be like All Might!" Hayato whisper-yelled as he pulled his best friend closer by the collar. "The student isn't the teacher, so don't try acting like him." Hayato let him go and began making his way back to the group.
"Don't force myself to be like All Might and use my brain?" Izuku asked himself as he picked up the Softball.
"Whenever you're ready, Midoriya. You have two more turns." Aizawa said making Izuku nod and ready himself to throw the ball again. He reeled back and threw the ball, trying to push the power of One for All into his body again. But yet again, the ball landed as far as it did the last time. "I didn't do it that time, did you let me get into your head or what?"
"Sorry sir, I just had a lot on my mind."
"One more time." Aizawa said as Izuku grabbed the ball once again. He closed his eyes and readied himself one last time, focusing the best he could on using his Quirk.
'I used too much the first time, and Mr. Aizawa erased my Quirk. I tried using too little and I wound up using nothing. What do I do?' Izuku closed his eyes and reeled back, ready to throw the ball. 'Wait! If I use it all on my arm then I'm going to break it, but what if I focus it at the last point of contact as I throw the ball? My fingertip!' Izuku felt the power of One for All surge throughout his body and into the tip of his index finger. He threw his arm forward, throwing the ball with all his strength and rolling it off his finger. The class looked on in shock as the ball skyrocketed into the air, blowing a gust of wind behind it that sent everybody backwards.
"What kind of monster is this kid?" Aizawa asked as Izuku's new score came in, seeing it was 705.3 meters.
"Who's a ragdoll? I've got the power to keep going!" Izuku yelled as he hid his now swollen finger from his teacher. Aizawa couldn't help but smile in disbelief before watching someone dash past him and towards Izuku.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT, DEKU?! AREN'T YOU QUIRKLESS, YOU LITTLE SHI-" Katsuki extended his hands forward, explosions sparking from his palms, making Izuku scream in fear. But before he could reach him, Aizawa's scarf had gone and wrapped itself around him, effectively keeping him in place.
"Damn it, don't make me keep using my Quirk...it gives me dry eye!" Aizawa yelled revealing that he had once again activated his Quirk, before pulling the boy back to the group. He sighed and deactivated his Quirk, taking out a bottle of eye drops and placing one drop in each of his eyes.
"Alright, I'm not gonna waste my breath to explain how the totals get calculated. I'm just gonna show the results, it's just the totals of all the tests added together." Aizawa said as he held his phone flat to project the results for the Quirk assessment. Izuku took a deep breath and looked at his currently bandaged hand, lucky for him that Hayato had more painkillers with him to numb the pain from using One for All before. The remaining tests all went as he expected, he did well on the sit-ups and seated toe-touch thanks to the kind of workouts he did with All Might, only the long-distance run gave him a hard time from already feeling extremely exhausted. He looked up and read the scores, smiling at the results.
Quirk Assessment Test:
1. Momo Yaoyorozu 2. Shoto Todoroki
3. Katsuki Bakugo 4. Hayato Kiryuu
5. Tenya Iida 6. Fumikage Tokoyami
7. Mezo Shoji 8. Mashirao Ojiro
9. Ejiro Kirishima 10. Mina Ashido
11. Ochaco Uraraka 12. Koji Koda
13. Izuku Midoriya 14. Tsuyu Asui
15. Yuga Aoyama 16. Hanta Sero
17. Denki Kaminari 18. Kyoka Jiro
19. Hitoshi Shinso 20. Toru Hagakure
"Oh and I was lying about expulsion, by the way." The entire class went quiet and looked at their teacher in shock as Aizawa revealed his lie to the class. "It was all a rational lie to get you to use your Quirk the best you could." The entire class, save for a few, let out a scream of shock: especially Izuku.
"Of course that was a lie. It should've been obvious if you thought it through." The girl Hayato talked to before said, looking at her classmates in disbelief.
'It wasn't obvious...' Was the consensus thought from the bottom five.
"Midoriya, is your finger healed?" Tenya asked as he caught up to the green haired boy after school. Izuku nodded and showed his currently bandaged finger making the taller boy smile. "You know, I was really taken aback by Mr. Aizawa. I thought this school is the best of the best...but to encourage your students on a lie? How absurd." Tenya said as the two began walking towards the school gates.
"Hey! You two! Going to the station? Wait for me!" The two turned around hearing running and saw Ochaco was making her way towards them.
"Uraraka?"
"You're the girl who scored infinity." Tenya said as the girl happy caught up to them.
"I'm Ochaco Uraraka. And you're...Tenya Iida." Ochaco said looking at the blue haired speedster. "And you're Deku Midoriya, right?"
"Deku?!" Izuku jumped hearing his childhood nickname come from her mouth.
"But that's what Bakugo called you during the test right?"
"Well...my name is Izuku but Kacchan gave me that name to make fun of me as a kid." Izuku explained while hiding an embarrassed blush from his two classmates.
"He gave you a name to insult you?" Tenya asked placing his hand on his chin.
"Oh really? I'm sorry about that...it just sounded really cute." Ochaco said making Izuku's blush take over his entire face.
"I'm Deku then!" Izuku yelled surprising Tenya while Ochaco smiled at him.
"You're accepting it too early! Wasn't that an insult?!" Tenya asked making Izuku hide his face before a thought crossed his mind. "Oh, Midoriya?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"Your friend, where is he?" Tenya asked making Izuku revert back to normal, realizing what he was referring to.
"Hayato went to see Recovery Girl to do something about his muscles still aching." Izuku explained making Tenya sigh.
"Oh, your friend is so cool! How long have you known him?" Ochaco asked as they continued making their way off campus.
"Well, he's been my best friend for over ten years now." Izuku said making Ochaco squeal in delight.
"He's a speedster like Iida, right?"
"Yeah."
"But I'm curious, when he did the 50-meter dash with me: he crossed in a second. But when we did the long-distance run: he was so much slower than he was before." Tenya said making Ochaco think back to that exam and nod as she remembered Tenya overtaking Hayato in an instant, the complete opposite of the very first test.
"Well you see, Hayato's Quirk can be seen in very different ways. But when it comes to how he maintains his speed is like a car: the faster you make it go, then the more gas it burns. Hayato can reach top speed instantly, but he can't keep it up for long." Izuku explained as he pointed at a car that zoomed past them when they made it to the sidewalk.
"But I heard that he ran so fast that he made a wall of wind during his practical exam and kept it up for the last two minutes." Tenya pointed out, making Izuku nod.
"He could, but look what forcing himself did to him. It's been over a month and parts of his body still aches. His Quirk damages his body more than people understand if he pushes himself."
"How so?" Ochaco asked getting her face close to Izuku's, unknowingly making him blush from his timid nature.
"W-Well, you know what Electrolytes are, right?"
"I've heard of them but I dunno what they are exactly." Ochaco said looking up in confusion.
"They're an extremely important mineral in our bodies, they carry an electrical charge that act like a sort of battery to everything in our bodies' systems." Tenya explained while Ochaco feigned understanding, while in reality she had completely zoned out when he started talking.
"Well, the way his Quirk works is that his body takes the charge from them and basically charges up his muscles. But the problem is that when you start having less and less, your body starts failing. Your blood doesn't clot and it becomes more acidic, if you have a wound then your body can't make new tissue to make scars, but the worst part is that they help send nerve signals across your body and your muscles start acting different." Izuku explained making Ochaco and Tenya's eyes widen. "They can't contract so moving your legs or arms or any muscle would be impossible or difficult, and the danger from that comes from our hearts being a muscle. I always tried keeping him from making a mistake like that because the last thing I ever wanted to see was my best friend running so hard that when he stopped: so did his heart. Thank goodness Recovery Girl helped him get more than enough back that day, now he's just suffering pain from over exerting himself to that extent."
"You two are really close, huh?" Ochaco said smiling at Izuku who returned the smile.
"The closest."
Chapter 5
"I am...entering like a completely normal person!" All Might yelled as he made his way into the 1-A classroom. The class lit up and smiled as he proudly marched to Aizawa's podium.
"He really IS a teacher here!" The orange-blond haired boy said as the number one hero smiled at the class.
"And his costume is from the Silver Age, it's so outdated but iconic at the same time, ribbit." A green-haired girl said as the class noticed All Might's red, white, and blue costume.
"Alright then, it's time for some basic heroic training. And to kick off the year, we'll be meeting at Ground Gamma. But of course, this is a heroics class so you will all need these!" All Might yelled as he took out a remote, making four panels come out from the wall with five boxes being held inside each one, except for the fourth one that was currently holding only four. "Inside these cases are your first hero costumes based off the applications you made before the year started! Get dressed and I'll meet you all there."
'The weird thing is I didn't see a costume for Young Midoriya, his number is 18 isn't it?' All Might waited at the entrance of the mock city he would proctoring his first lesson in. He heard the gates open and watched as Class 1-A proudly marched in, all dressed in their hero costumes. But what caught his attention the most was the last one who came running in, sporting a bright green tracksuit with a face mask and what looked to be rabbit ears on the head, and he knew immediately it was his successor. Of course he realized the odd design on the face mask was to be a mock of his smile, and the rabbit ears were to be a mock of the tufts of his hair that stood up. He couldn't help but cover his mouth to mask his laughter. 'So obvious.'
"Wow, Deku! Talk about sleek, I probably should've been more specific with mine...all they gave me was a skintight bodysuit." Izuku looked to see Ochaco running towards him, sporting a pink face shield and a black and pink bodysuit that highlighted her curves. Lucky for him, the face mask was hiding the fact the majority of his face was now red.
"I think it looks good on you, Ochaco." The two turned to see Hayato walking towards them, wearing a white leather bodysuit with yellow gloves and boots,
"So cool, Hayato! It's the opposite of Iida's!" Ochaco pointed out as Tenya stood nearby, wearing white knight-like armor for his costume.
"I'm built for speed, so I need to have a suit that works for speed. It looks like leather but it's actually a material that protects my body from friction and it has a meter in the cowl that checks my body's status." Hayato explained, pointing at a piece of his costume resembling a black hood in the back, before snickering at his best friend's design. "You're not fooling anyone bud. But it was nice that your mom was the one who made it." Hayato said patting his back.
"And the colors? Because of your hair?" Ochaco asked earning a shrug.
"I dunno, my mom was always against a color scheme like this. Something inside me thinks it works." Hayato said before reaching behind his head and putting the cowl on, now hiding his eyes behind white lenses while the majority of his face was covered by the black cowl. All Might noticed this and gasped as he envisioned a yellow cape on Hayato's body and his body growing slightly in terms of muscle and height.
'He looks just like him...'
"Alright so now that we're all here: it's time to announce today's lesson! We're going to be partaking in battle simulations, we're going to break this class of twenty into ten teams of two. One group will be acting as villains hiding a bomb, while another will be acting as heroes working to capture them. Now, reach into the box and we'll split you all up into your teams!" All Might reached behind him and took out a red box with a hole on the top. The students reached in one by one and the teams were:
Team A: Izuku Midoriya and Ochaco Uraraka
Team B: Shoto Todoroki and Mezo Shoji
Team C: Momo Yaoyorozu and Hayato Kiryuu
Team D: Tenya Iida and Katsuki Bakugo
Team E: Yuga Aoyama and Mina Ashido
Team F: Koji Koda and Hitoshi Shinso
Team G: Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jiro
Team H: Fumikage Tokoyami and Tsuyu Asui
Team I: Mashirao Ojiro and Toru Hagakure
Team J: Eijiro Kirishima and Hanta Sero
"Alright then...and our first teams to battle will be: these!" All Might then pulled out two more boxes and reached in, pulling out two balls with a black one having the letter D and a red one having the letter A.
'Me...versus Kacchan?' Izuku turned his head to see Katsuki was glaring at him, currently wearing a black leather jacket with an orange X across his chest, a belt with several grenades strapped around it, a black mask resembling an explosion, and two large gauntlets resembling grenades on his arms.
"Bring it, Deku." Katsuki said before the rest of the class left to follow All Might.
"Villains, you have five minutes to get ready! Heroes will enter when those five minutes are up and will have 15 minutes to deactivate the bomb! Everyone else, come with me!" All Might announced as the group made their way into a nearby building.
"Alright, the bomb is set Bakugo." Tenya said as he patted the side of a tall, rocket-like bomb. "Papier-mache?"
"Hey." Tenya turned around to see Katsuki kept his attention towards the door. "Deku has a Quirk, right?"
"Yes."
"Good." Katsuki growled as he headed for the door. "I can't wait to see what that shithead can do."
"Wait! Where are you going?" Tenya was only answered by the door opening and slamming shut.
"Deku, are you nervous?" Ochaco asked as the two walked into the building. She turned to see Izuku was walking carefully with a slight tremble.
"Very."
"Why?"
"I've never won a fight against Kacchan." Izuku said as the two neared a corner. He poked his head out slightly to scope out the hall, before nodding and motioning for them to continue walking.
"Is he that strong?" Ochaco asked as they carefully opened a nearby door. Izuku poked his head in and saw that the room was empty. He looked forward towards a flight of stairs and pointed at it making Ochaco hurry to it.
"Kacchan was always at the top. When his Quirk manifested, everybody praised him for it." Izuku said following her up the stairs. "He put in the practice and I guess I was always his training dummy."
"Is that why he talks the way he does?"
"Kacchan's mom has an explosive temper so I used to think he got it from her. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against his parents: I actually miss the days when I used to see them a lot. But the older I got, I learned that he got a swelled head from everybody praising him and his Quirk, it's why he acts like he's superior to everyone else." The two did the same that they did on the previous floor, with Izuku scoping out the halls and rooms while Ochaco would hurry across to the next floor. "And because my Quirk came into my life way later than it normally should've, he just assumed what everyone else did: I was Quirkless."
"That doesn't seem really fair, what did Hayato do about it?"
"Hayato tried stopping Kacchan almost every time when we grew up. He wound up getting blasted by him too since he couldn't control his Quirk either." Izuku explained as they reached the third floor. He pulled Ochaco against the wall and lifted a finger as he heard footsteps nearby. "That has to be him...I'll draw his attention while you get to Iida and the bomb." Izuku walked forward normally before ducking suddenly. He looked up to see Katsuki soaring over his head with an explosion firing from his hand, making it collide against the wall behind him.
"FOUND YOU, DEKU! YOU AND ROUND FACE AREN'T GONNA PASS THIS TEST!"
"Round face?!" Ochaco screamed in surprise before Izuku turned to her.
"Go!"
"WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" Katsuki extended his arm to fire at the girl, but Izuku reached for his arm and used all his normal strength to pull Katsuki over his shoulder. He yelled in pain as he managed to flip his childhood bully to the ground, but the explosion still fired and hit his leg, burning off his pant leg.
"Uraraka, go now!" Ochaco nodded and dashed past the two while Izuku took a step back to protect his leg even more.
"Lucky shot, prick." Katsuki stood back up and held his right arm forward and placed his left hand on a key near the end of it. "Now, get ready to get blasted the fuck out of here." He began pulling the key out, revealing it to be a pin, while a hole above his hand began to glow. He finished pulling the pin out and a stream of fire burst from the hole and grazed Izuku's head and burst through the wall. Katsuki began to laugh as Izuku fell to one knee, holding the left side of his face which was now completely exposed. "How do you like that?!" Izuku growled and pulled his mask off his face and costume, throwing it to the side.
'A weapon like that is too dangerous for use in a building like this. But knowing Kacchan...' Izuku made a break towards the boy, making him ready the gauntlet on his left side. But before he could pull its pin, Izuku delivered a hard uppercut to his chin and ripped off one of the grenades from his waist. '...he'll have made stun and smoke grenades!' He threw the grenade at the ground and it exploded, covering every inch of the hallway in smoke, while he made his escape for the stairs.
"If that had even touched Midoriya..."
"His whole head would've been blown clean off!" The entire class watched in horror as they saw Izuku and Katsuki's battle from a control room. On the screen it showed the hallways in the building and the rooms, showing Ochaco running and searching through every room while Tenya waited patiently by the fake bomb.
'Good job, Young Midoriya. While you took two hits, you managed to use your enemy's arsenal against him to make a strategic escape.' All Might said before noticing how calm Hayato was nearby. "Young Kiryuu, you're unusually calm while your best friend was in peril."
"Because Bakugo knows not to deal a fatal blow to Izuku, especially if he still wants to be a hero. And Izuku's been on the receiving end on those explosions for years, he might not be safe from them but he knows how to avoid the worst hits." Hayato explained as they watched Izuku run up the stairs and hid in a room on the fourth floor. "Especially since I can already see what he's planning."
"How so?" All Might asked as Hayato's statement caught the attention of everyone else in the room.
"Izuku can't use his Quirk to the fullest, otherwise he'd seriously injure Bakugo. Ochaco's about to reach the room where Iida is and most likely knows that she'll be avoiding a confrontation since his Quirk is more suited for combat than hers. But, what if he could use Bakugo to give her the opportunity to get to the bomb?" Hayato said making All Might nod. "Bakugo is an uncontrollable beast when he's angry, so why don't you rattle his cage and make him angrier? The layout of the building they chose has the rooms all located above one another and Iida is only the floor up. Bakugo has the ability to take down walls like nothing, so the same could be said for floors."
"Once Kacchan gets close enough, I'll make him fire an explosion into the ceiling so Uraraka can use that moment to get to the bomb." Izuku said to himself as he looked up, knowing that in the one of the floors above them: Tenya was waiting for them. "I have the chance to prove myself to Kacchan, that I'm not as useless as he thinks!"
"DEKU!" The door to the room blew open and in walked Katsuki, fuming from what Izuku had done to him before. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! AND YOU SUDDENLY HAVE A QUIRK NOW?! DEFENSELESS IZUKU ALL OF A SUDDEN HAS WHAT HE NEEDED TO BE A HERO, WHAT KIND OF FUCKING JOKE IS THAT?!"
"...the only joke here is you." Izuku grit his teeth and explosions fired off Katsuki's hands, signaling he was getting angrier. "My name Deku...it's not an insult to me anymore! DEKU ISN'T A LOSER ANYMORE, DEKU IS THE NAME OF A HERO!"
"A LOSER WILL ALWAYS BE A LOSER, WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?!" Katsuki yelled as he fired a powerful explosion towards him. Izuku dodged by sliding to the side and grabbed an empty crate, throwing it at him. Katsuki destroyed the crate instantly only to be met with a powerful kick to the face from his enemy. He grit his teeth and grabbed Izuku's leg, heating it up to burn it before throwing him into a pillar. "YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND ON THE SAME STAGE AS ME?! USE YOUR QUIRK ALREADY, COME ON!"
"I don't need to think, I KNOW I can!" Izuku stood back up and felt the power of One for All surge into his body. He let out a deep breath and felt the energy diminish greatly. 'I should push it down to five percent at the very least and transfer the power to my arms and legs. If I don't keep my focus, I could put too much and break them.'
"YOU'RE A REAL COMEDIAN TODAY!" Katsuki fired another explosion but was shocked to see that the boy he once used to use like a moving target, just jumped over him with ease, and the blast instead destroyed the pillar he threw him into. Izuku landed behind him and delivered a punch to his back, knocking the air out of Katsuki's body.
"What was that?" Ochaco asked as she felt the building shake from Katsuki's explosions. She opened the door slowly and saw Tenya and the bomb near the end of the room.
"Well well hero, you've finally made it! I will capture you and use this bomb to level this entire city!" Tenya yelled before the explosion that hit the pillar made him fall to his feet. "What's going on?!"
"Deku...please be safe..."
"Fuck you...that shot was nothing but cheap..." Katsuki said standing back up from the hit. Izuku chuckled and took a step back feeling a slight pain in his arms and legs. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
"You've done nothing but say that, but you know what? YOU SHOULD JUST SHUT UP!" This was the final straw. Katsuki began firing explosion after explosion and used it to propel himself towards Izuku. The boy smiled and jumped forward, grabbing Katsuki's arms in mid-air and pointing them towards the ceiling. The explosions Katsuki was about to hit him with fired up and into the ceiling, unknowingly knocking Tenya away and making the ground under the bomb begin to crumble. Izuku slammed his feet into Bakugo's chest and used him to jump through the hole he had made, while pushing Katsuki hard into the ground. He turned around to see Ochaco standing near the doorway, looking at him in shock.
"Deku?!"
"Uraraka, you're up!" Ochaco nodded and ran towards Izuku. He grabbed her arms and spun her around, throwing her towards the bomb that now began to fall into the floor below. She grabbed hold of it just before the bomb could touch the ground behind Katsuki and made it float in mid-air.
The entire class watched what Izuku had just done and stood speechless, especially All Might. He reached down and picked up a microphone, turning it on.
"H-Heroes..."
"...WIIIIIN!" All Might's voice played through the entire building while Tenya screamed from shock and Katsuki began to scream from frustration. Ochaco fixed the position of the bomb and put it so it would land straight up while Izuku walked over to help Tenya up. "All of you make your way to the control room so the next team can go."
"Need some help?" Izuku asked as he extended his arm to his friend. Tenya nodded and grabbed it, while the boy helped him stand up.
"That was amazing, Midoriya. You somehow got control of that Quirk of yours." Tenya said making Izuku shake his head.
"I didn't control it, I was just keeping it from putting too much force." Izuku said making Tenya laugh. "What?"
"You managed to control it, even if it was just for a minute. But what about Bakugo?" Tenya said as the two looked into the floor beneath team, seeing only Ochaco was in the room.
"I think I finally got to him." Izuku said before the two began to walk out.
"Young Kiryuu and Yaoyorozu, you two are up next as villains. Young Kaminari and Jiro, you both will be the heroes." All Might said, earning a nod from the four students, but then the door opened and in walked Katsuki: still fuming. Following him was Tenya, Izuku, and Ochaco, all three with a smile on their faces. "Young Bakugo, I wish to have a word with you before the next trial. The rest of you, good job. Especially you, Young Midoriya."
"Thank you!" Izuku yelled bowing to his mentor. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Hayato giving him a thumbs up. "Hayato?"
"You and I have some work to do after school. See you after we ace this!" Hayato yelled as he and Momo both walked away, followed by a purple haired girl and the orange-blond haired boy.
"Young Midoriya, if I may have a minute with you." Izuku turned around again to see his predecessor motioning him over. He walked over to the older man who bent down to whisper in his ear. "How did you control One for All so easily?"
"It wasn't easy." Izuku said grabbing his right arm. "My bones felt like they were going to snap if I continued at even five percent. If anything I might have a small fracture."
"I see, go see Recovery Girl so she could also tend to those burns." All Might said making Izuku nod. He quickly wrote him a note and Izuku left, feeling Katsuki glaring at him. "Young Bakugo, that was extremely careless and dangerous." Katsuki turned to see the towering figure of All Might standing over him.
"Tch. Whatever."
"It's not whatever, I see real promise in you to be a hero." Katsuki hid his eyes as he began to tremble. "I understand how it must feel. Always known as the winner, that feeling that you will never lose, it's all something I've experienced first hand. And I know how it feels to lose." All Might said as he remembered his youth, and the day he lost HIS predecessor to the most dangerous villain to ever exist.
"I didn't lose, that nerd got lucky."
"It's a big world out there, you're not always going to be the best. It's why we have to work harder and learn from our experiences so that we can grow and continue to climb until we reach our destination." All Might placed his hand on the top of Katsuki's head. "Young Midoriya learned that lesson from growing up with you, now it's time you learn as well."
"So, what do you think we should do?" Momo asked as she and Hayato stood in the room where they decided to hide their bomb.
"Depends, we have three options considering our situation." Hayato responded as he looked at the door. "One, we split up to cover more ground. I'll leave the room and try to stop Kaminari and Jiro before they can get to the room while you stay here to watch the bomb. Two, we both stay here to cover the bomb. We leave the door with a trap and we both handle them head on to watch the bomb if they get through it. Three, we trap them like prey. We either leave something in another room or we bait them to come here, and once they fall for it: we capture them and pass the test."
"We need to play it safely. As I recall, Kaminari's Quirk allows him to emit and surround himself with electricity. And Jiro's jacks amplify her hearing, so for all we know she could be listening to us at this very moment." Momo said making Hayato chuckle.
"I think I know. It's not very hero-like but we're playing villains at the moment." Hayato bent down and picked up a rock that was laying in the middle of the room. He looked at the door and threw it as hard and as fast as possible. Momo covered her ears as the impact made a loud clanging sound.
"What are you doing?!"
"You said Jiro's Quirk amplifies sound for her right?" Momo nodded. "When anything relies heavily on sound, like sonar, a loud sound will always disrupt it. "If she was listening: then that must've gotten to her."
"So then what tactic are we using?"
"We've cut Jiro off from listening to us while also giving away out position. It's better if I cut them off before they reach us." Hayato opened the door and began to leave. "I know you can create things from your body, so I might need something so I can take out Kaminari quicker."
"You're pretty confident."
"My best friend decided to be a show off, I can't fall behind him."
"Damn that Hayato, he and Midoriya are fast thinkers." Kyoka said as she held her right ear in pain. She and Denki made their way upstairs to where she had heard Momo and Hayato's voices come from. "They were on the third floor, I just wish I could've heard what they were planning."
"You did a great job by just locating them." Denki said as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He lifted up his other hand as yellow electricity sparked from it. "Now it's my turn."
"Good luck with that, heroes." The two turned around as something zoomed past them.
"Hayato came to stop us!" Kyoka yelled as a shadow began to head towards them.
"Take this, 50,000 volts!" Denki pushed Kyoka away as electricity began sparking off of him. But he fell backwards as a black cloth surrounded him. Kyoka looked in surprise as Hayato quickly tied the blanket around with tape. "What is this, bro?!" Denki asked as Hayato laid him down on the ground.
"Oh this? I had Momo make me a rubber blanket." Hayato said before suddenly his ears began ringing. He turned around to see Jiro pointing her boot at him while one of her earphone jacks were plugged into an attachment on the side, firing powerful sound waves at him.
"Stay where you are, villain." Kyoka said as she grabbed a roll of tape from her pocket and started walking towards him. He pressed his earpiece and covered both of his ears while the girl neared him.
"Y-You were right, she's blasting me with sound from her speakers!"
"And she has you immobilized?" Momo asked through the earpiece.
"I can't stand!"
"Then attack her from below!" Hayato turned around and kicked Kyoka's speaker, disconnecting her jack from them while tripping her. Before she could land on the ground, Hayato activated his Quirk and caught her, placing a strip of his tape to stick her jacks to her arms.
"Caught you." Kyoka blushed slightly as she noticed how Hayato was holding and smiling at her.
"VILLAINS WIN!" They heard All Might's voice ring throughout the building as Hayato placed Kyoka down and untied Denki.
"Man, that was quicker than Midoriya and Bakugo's." Denki said while Momo made her way to them.
"You know, that wasn't cool what you did before." Kyoka said as she rubbed her ear. Hayato laughed sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.
"I know, I'm sorry. Gotta be a bit of a jerk if you're playing the bad guy."
"I'm sorry I wasn't useful to you, Kiryuu. I should've been more attentive and aided you in taking them down." Momo said placing a hand on her chest. Hayato shook his head and removed his cowl.
"All I did was run, literally. You made the blanket to wrap him like sushi and you told me how to stop her, you were the most important part of the plan." Hayato said as they began to leave the building. "I went ahead because if they caught me, I knew you could protect the bomb and handle at least one of them. I needed the blanket to protect myself from Static over here, I just wish I knew about that sound wave thing ahead of time too."
"Where'd you learn to be so attentive?" Denki asked making Hayato laugh.
"Izuku. He's the brains and the brawn between the two of us."
"Man, today was so awesome!" Hayato yelled happily as he and Izuku left school grounds, hours after the school day had finished.
"Yeah. But what did you want to talk about?" Izuku asked before Hayato pulled him close.
"Two things: One for All, and girls."
"Girls?!" Izuku jumped back as he began blushing heavily. "W-What do girls have to do with anything?!"
"Izuku, I saw how you were checking out Ochaco today." Hayato said as he made an hourglass motion with his hands. "I saw your eyes, you were checking her out in that outfit."
"Th-That's not true!"
"I bet little Izuku got excited when he found out he got to stay close to that cutie for the exam."
"S-Stop it! Or should I ask you about Yaoyorozu?!"
"And say what?"
"Sh-She has such a revealing outfit!"
"Oh, yeah that's true." Hayato said nonchalantly. "I didn't even pay attention."
"D-Don't tell me you like Uraraka!"
"Ochaco? Nah man, she's yours." Hayato smiled as he imagined the two together. "From what I saw, you two have the hots for each other."
"S-Stop lying!"
"Ochaco Midoriya? Nice ring to it." Izuku's face was completely red by this point. "But...if I'm being completely honest, Momo is pretty nice."
"Aha! You do like Yaoyorozu!"
"Dude it's only our second day, relax. Besides, what you did with One for All today was more important." Hayato said with his happy and nonchalant demeanor suddenly changed to a more serious one. "You did what we've been trying to get you to do. What DID you even do?"
"I kept the energy of One for All at a bare minimum and distributed it in more than one place." Izuku explained making Hayato smile. "But I still wound up hurting myself."
"Izuku. That image with the egg doesn't work for you. You and I are two different people, I can't tell you what to imagine to understand it. But, you and I are going to be partners when we're heroes. If I need to be the one to push you to understand how your powers work, I'll do it." Hayato said before activating his Quirk. "You see what I'm doing? I'm distributing my Quirk throughout my ENTIRE body. Not just one leg or the other, the way my grandpa taught me was that if you plug too many things into one outlet: you're gonna short circuit the outlet."
"So, what are you saying?"
"You're the smart one! You didn't hurt yourself a lot today by keeping it in both your arms and legs at once, but you still fractured the arm you hit Bakugo with! Think for a moment!" Izuku's eyes widened as he realized what Hayato was getting to.
"If I distribute it across my entire body, I can have my body get used to the feeling of One for All..."
"You're getting it." Hayato deactivated his Quirk and fell to one knee, feeling weaker. "One burst at a time isn't enough."
"I need to keep it in a constant and steady stream, increasing it in force as time goes on." Izuku said as he looked at his hands happily. "I understand now."
"You what?"
"I said, I understand now!" Izuku yelled before helping his best friend stand up.
"I hope he won't be too shocked by this sudden visit..." All Might said in his true form as he knocked on the door of a rundown apartment building. He was shocked to see the door was opened by a tall, gray-haired man. "Oh sorry, I thought this was Sorahiko Torino's home."
"Toshinori? Is that you?" He looked down to see a small, white-haired old man walking with a cane behind the taller man.
"I'm sorry, I've been busy now with life as a teacher. But, I wished to talk to you about something." All Might said before turning his attention to the taller man. "Oh forgive me, I'm Toshinori Yagi."
"Kazuma Kiryuu." The older man said surprising All Might. "I know who you are, All Might. I'm Hayato's grandfather."
"Come in, we have some Taiyaki." Sorahiko said guiding the number one hero in. All three sat at the nearby table, with a plate of fish shaped pastries in front of them. "So, what have you come here to say after all this time?"
"Today, Kazuma's grandson was in my Heroics class. I wanted to see if you would one day mentor him, as I'm far too inexperienced with a Quirk like his."
"That's actually what I'm here about..." Kazuma said catching his attention. "Sorahiko is to take guardianship of Hayato soon. I'm far too sick now to make it to the end of the month." Kazuma said to All Might, shocking him. "I'm sure you knew that his grandfather is his guardian, but I was diagnosed with end-stage terminal cancer months ago."
"...does Young Kiryuu know about this?"
"I haven't told him, frankly I barely had the strength to come all the way here. But he's just starting out his journey to be a hero, I don't want to ruin that for him by distracting him from his studies." Kazuma said while Sorahiko sighed. "Sorahiko was the only person I could count on to take care of him when I'm gone."
"I see...and how do you know each other?"
"Bah! That boy was in your class and you didn't see the resemblance?! Some apprentice you are." Sorahiko said hitting All Might's hand with his stick. He remembered Hayato's hero costume and looked at a nearby photo of Sorahiko in his younger days, dressed as the way he envisioned Hayato before.
"...I didn't know you had a child."
"My Towa removed me from her life decades ago...but to know a daughter of mine would leave her own child behind? I can't help but feel like a failure as a father." Sorahiko sighed before looking at the two. "I'm too old to take care of a child now, but I know I can try to make up for the mistakes I made with my own daughter if I can finish seeing my grandson grow, especially with what you had told me in that letter months ago, Toshinori. But I need the time to ready myself to be a caretaker again, caring for my daughter after her mother's death took quite a toll on me."
"Well, the U.A. Sports Festival is next month. He'll be participating with his class, you can see what he's like when it takes place. I'll leave you two to finish your conversation." All Might said before heading towards the door. "It'll look like a blast from the past, I can promise you that."