Chapter 18: Facing her final exam
The rest of her school year was a whirlwind, and now their final exam was upon them. Class 1-B did not know what to expect when they arrived at the staging area and saw Present Mic and Class 2-B waiting for them.
"Good afternoon listeners! Today's the day for your final exam!"
Kan-sensei followed up. "Now in previous semesters, you have fought alongside your classmates, but this exam will be different, and you will also be partnered up with classmates from a different year."
Present Mic held up a device and brought up a large hologram of one of the training grounds, which began to rotate. "This is going to be a joint mission between first years and second years!" Three red silhouettes appeared on the map, one large angry face and two stick figures. "One of your instructors will be acting as a villain inside the training area, and each of them will also be accompanied by two third year students acting as their henchmen!" He pushed another button, and a bunch of green dots appeared in the buildings, as well as a green zone near the entrance of the area. "In addition, we have imported a whole bunch of training dummies fresh from the USJ!"
Kan took over again. "Each group has two objectives! For the second year students, your primary goal is to capture the villain. For the first year students, your primary goal is to evacuate as many civilians to the safe zone as possible, and keep them safe from any attack - either the henchmen as directed by the villain, or the villain themselves. However! This is a team effort - each team can only pass if both objectives are met."
"So work together!" Present Mic yelled. "While you each have your objectives, that doesn't change the fact that sometimes someone is more suited to the task! For some of these teams, a first year may be more suited to taking down the villain, so will need to work with the second years to complete that goal. Or perhaps a second year student is an aspiring rescue specialist! Recognizing that in the field is an important skill to have!"
Finally, a test against actual live opponents! Himiko understood the use of robots primarily as a tool against first year students - they don't even have their provisional licenses yet, after all. But she still felt handicapped when fighting against robots given her talents.
With anticipation she waited for Present Mic to display the teams for the exam.
Training Ground Beta:
Instructor: Snipe
Third Years: ? ?
Class 2-B:
Nejire Hado
Mirio Togata
Class 1-B:
Himiko Midoriya
Tomoe Sakura
With a confused look she made eye contact with Sakura. Since the school classifies both of them as possessing specialist quirks, instead of combat quirks, they are normally assigned to different teams. They quickly partnered up and went over to the second year students and to find the other half of their team.
"Nice to meet you! I am Mirio Togata, also known as Le Million!"
"And I am Nejire Hado, also known as Nejire." Nejire rushed over to Himiko. "Oh you are so cute! You have cat eyes and fangs! Are your hair buns supposed to complete the cat image?"
Himiko felt herself getting annoyed. "Way to ruin my hairstyle for me." She swatted Nejire's hand away before she could touch her hair. "I am Himiko Midoriya, also known as Carmilla."
Sakura bowed. "And I am Tomoe Sakura, also known as Shadowseer. Let's do our best!"
"So what are your quirks? Nejire and I are considered two of the three strongest students in our year, so we were surprised to find ourselves partnered together."
"So you're not the only two who thought that huh?" Himiko responded. "My quirk is transform! By drinking someone's blood, I can copy them perfectly! Speaking of which, are both of you ok with me drawing some of your blood? That way I can transform into either of you during the test."
"As long as you don't bite me!" Nejire giggled.
"Sure! It's how your quirk works after all. And what is your quirk?" Mirio asked Sakura.
"My quirk is sensory enhancement. I can greatly boost any of my senses to extraordinary levels. I also can temporarily boost a single sense for someone else with physical contact."
"Hmm." Mirio was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "We know we are going to be facing Snipe, but we don't know who the third years are going to be."
"Since Mirio's quirk puts him at a distinct advantage over Snipe, they have to be really strong." Nejire suggested.
"Especially with my quirk backing him up." Sakura added.
"So that's where Nejire and I come in?" Himiko asked.
"Probably! There's no way they are going to make this simple on us. I can think of a few third years that would counter Nejire or myself, but we won't know until the test actually begins."
The four found their bus and departed for the training ground, brainstorming a variety of plans to deal with the villains. Once on the bus Himiko also pulled out a pair of syringes and with practiced proficiency took a vial of blood from each of them. Himiko took comfort from the fact that neither student seemed bothered when she pulled the vials out of the syringes and drank them.
Once they reached the training ground, they waited with a nervous tension, until they heard Present Mic over the earpieces. "Students, your test begins now!"
The four of them immediately entered the training ground and reached the 'evacuation zone' for the civilians, before Sakura began to enhance her senses to gather information.
"So what can you tell us, Shadowseer?" Mirio asked.
"Nothing!" Sakura sounded tense. "T-there's no sound whatsoever!"
"What?" Himiko exclaimed. "Let me hear!" She grabbed her friend's hand.
Sakura just looked at her and nodded, and Himiko felt the sense of vertigo she always felt when her hearing had to adjust to being influenced by her friend's quirk. And then she noticed it. While all around she could hear various ambient noises, from one central building it was as if the whole thing was just dead. There was no noise whatsoever.
"I guess Silencer is one of our opponents then." Mirio explained. "That makes sense, since he would counter one of our biggest advantages." Seeing the confused expressions the others were making, he quickly explained. "Silencer's quirk is to create a zone of absolute silence. No sound will travel in or out of the zone. If you're not used to it, it actually is super disorienting and can mess with your sense of balance. I wouldn't be surprised if his classmates have trained to fight alongside him, though!"
"I don't know if my helmet will be enough to counter that." Sakura admitted. "It's designed to work when there's too much noise, not when there is no noise."
"I should be ok." Mirio offered. "Part of Permeation means that I don't actually hear anything when my quirk is active, so I had to get used to fighting without sound. Or anything, really!"
"Still, from what you are describing, Silencer being paired with Snipe is bad news for us." Sakura continued. "Which makes sense, that our opponents would be tailored to account for the combination of quirks our team has."
"So our first priority is taking out Silencer then." Himiko said. "Not only will he mess us up, but we lose our advantage of knowing where they are."
"It does seem that way. There is also the fact that we don't know who the second 3rd year student is. They will also be a problem."
"At this point they are pro-heroes in all but name, so whomever it is it's going to be tough."
"Do we even want to go after them while they're holed up in the building? Le Million would be fighting three on one if we did that!" Himiko asked.
"I think we should begin to evacuate the civilians first." Nejire said. "Right now we don't know what the villain is going to do, but we do know they aren't moving - and Shadowseer-chan can tell us if they do move, right?"
"Yes, it is very easy to track the area of Silencer's quirk."
"Then as long as they remain inside the one building, we have control of the battlefield - and there are civilians waiting to be rescued. I say we take this opportunity to complete that objective."
Everyone agreed and the group split up. Sakura went with Nejire while Himiko went with Le Million to find the training dummies and return them to the extraction zone.
They had managed to recover about half of the 'civilians' before Sakura spoke up. "There's movement! Silencer is on the move towards the extraction site, hiding one person. The last person is staying behind - I can hear someone in the building still.
"Alright, Shadowseer guide me to where Silencer is, I'll take him on." Mirio called over the radio.
To enact this part of their plan, Himiko and Mirio found a quiet corner where Himiko removed her coat and boots, and then transformed into Mirio. Then the two Mirios left together, with the real one moving to engage Silencer. Himiko, meanwhile, began to make her way to the central building where she was supposed to meet up with Nejire. While the villain team wouldn't be able to coordinate over radio, they still had the unknown of the second third year student, so they had to keep the villains guessing as well.
Himiko saw Nejire in the air moving to meet up, but before she could land she started dodging back and forth. "Snipe is still in the central building! I can't stay out in the open like this."
"Keep him distracted!" Himiko called over the radio. "I am going to try to make it inside the building."
Himiko watched as Nejire landed on a rooftop and used that as cover while trying to fight back with her own wave motion blasts. Taking the opportunity, she ran across the training ground, only to hear a shot ring out. She barely made it behind a wall in time.
"Crap! He knows I'm not Mirio!"
"What do we do?" Nejire asked through the radio.
As if on cue, a few moments later they heard a burst of static on the radio, and suddenly could hear Mirio. "Silencer is down! But we have another problem. His partner is Rebound!"
"Who's that?" Sakura quickly asked over the radio.
"His quirk lets him deflect any force applied to him! I can't land a punch!"
Himiko looked up at Nejire's position. "Nejire, think we can swap with Le Million?"
"That's a good call! Get over here and I'll handle Snipe!"
"Carmilla, get behind your current building and I'll pick you up."
Himiko fell back and found Nejire landing. Nejire merely nodded to her and held out her arms. Himiko hopped into them and let herself be carried, bridal-style, to where Mirio was currently fighting Rebound to a stalemate. Mirio's Permeation meant that Rebound couldn't land a solid hit, while Rebound was causing all of Mirio's punches and jabs to bounce off harmlessly.
"Le Million, we've got this. Go handle Snipe!" Nejire calls out as she lands.
Himiko slipped out of her arms onto the ground. "I'm going to see if his quirk makes him immune to being stabbed."
Pulling out her knives, Himiko quickly dashed into the fray while Nejire moved to intercept Rebound and prevent him from chasing Mirio. The two women managed to pin Rebound between them, and discovered the same thing Mirio had - Nejire's wave motion blasts bounced harmlessly into the sky, and Himiko felt like the blades of her knives were just bouncing off of him.
"Sorry, those won't work either!" He called out confidently. "The harder you attack me, the more my quirk will repel you!"
The gears in Himiko's brain began to turn. His quirk repels with force equal to that applied. So I might be able to grapple him. Or… that's it!
"Nejire, grab him!" Himiko shouted.
"On it, Carmilla!"
Nejire managed to grab Rebound and was currently trying to hold him. That gave Himiko the opening she needed. Rushing up behind Rebound, she jumped onto his back. Even with the two of them, she wasn't sure if they would be able to subdue him fast enough. But Himiko had another idea in mind. She drew her knife and very gently placed it on Rebound's shoulder. Finding that he wasn't able to repel it, she began to slide it downward with just enough force to break skin.
Rebound screamed as her idea had the intended effect, and with a sudden surge of adrenaline managed to shove Nejire back and throw Himiko off of him. She landed on the ground several feet away, but she did what she was hoping to do - he was now bleeding from a large gash on his shoulder.
"That hurt!"
"Sorry not sorry!" She flashed him a grin as she pushed herself up. "Next time don't tell me how your quirk works!" Retrieving her knife she once again walked forward.
Facing the prospect of having to deal with another tag team attack, Rebound raised his hands in defeat. "I surrender!"
"Aww, I wanted to see how many more cuts I could make!" Himiko visibly pouted.
This caused Nejire to laugh. "Carmilla, you are so weird!"
"That's rich, coming from you!" Despite the comment, Himiko still found herself beaming.
"I was impressed you figured out my quirk so quickly." Rebound said as he allowed himself to be cuffed by Nejire.
"I have two people in my life who do quirk analysis 'for fun'" Himiko made sure to use air quotes when she emphasized the fun part. "I may have picked up a few things over the past year, so when you described your quirk I figured it out."
"Not many people are willing to try grappling moves on me." Rebound admits.
Suddenly Present Mic cut in over their radios. "Team Hado and Togata have successfully subdued all of the villains, they are the first team to do so!"
Nejire and Himiko held an unconscious Silencer between the two of them as they guided Rebound back to the entrance, where Sakura was waiting for them. Soon afterwards, they were joined by Mirio guiding Snipe.
"We can't celebrate just yet! First we have to save the rest of those civilians and finish this test!" Mirio called out as he was walking up.
"On it!" The others agreed, and once again scattered to finish their final objective.
No longer having to worry about the villains and being guided by Sakura, they were able to quickly gather up the rest of the civilian dummies, only to once again hear Present Mic call out over the headset. "Team Hado and Togata are the first ones to pass the test!"
After uncuffing the other three, the six students and instructor all boarded the bus and returned to the staging area, listening for their friend's teams as Present Mic called out each of the 10 teams passing the exam. The third years were both caught up talking to Snipe, while Nejire and Sakura had struck up a conversation on the way back, leaving Himiko to talk to Mirio.
"I was meaning to ask, but who is into quirk analysis?" Mirio asked her.
"The first is Emily - she's another of our classmates. Both of her parents are researchers at a support company and she apparently picked it up from them, even if she herself is in the hero course. The second is my younger brother Izu. I mean Izuku. He's just a genius."
"Oh! I didn't realize you had a younger brother. Is he planning on becoming an analyst or something?"
Himiko shook her head. "Nope! He's actually going to be among the first years in next year's hero course! He um. He is an extremely late bloomer with his quirk, to the point we thought he was going to have to take the entrance exam quirkless? He was developing his analysis as a way to compensate for that."
"Oh wow, that's late! That is super cool though!"
"Yeah…" Himiko frowned. "But since I also fight essentially quirkless, I have picked up a few things along the way."
"Hence the knives?"
"Yep!"
"I'm impressed! Izuku Midoriya huh. I'll have to keep an eye out for him."
The bus returned to the staging area where the seven got out. Snipe and the third years departed to the building where Present Mic and Kan-Sensei were watching the exams and they continued chatting until other buses began pulling in, dropping off other groups. Eventually Nejire and Mirio left when their friends came back, leaving Himiko and Sakura waiting for their own friends to return.
"What took you so long? It wouldn't have done well for one of our recommended students to actually fail her final exam!" Himiko called when Emily returned, seeing as she was part of the 9th group to finish.
"Ugh! We got Eraserhead and one of the top three third years! It was brutal." Emily visibly shuddered as she remembered the experience. "But we did it! That's what matters, right?"
"Yep! We're all moving on!" Hideo cheered. "The gang's staying together!"
As they were packing up for the final time as first years, Himiko found herself hanging back. Once most of the class had left she approached her teacher and bowed.
"Kan-sensei, thank you for everything you have taught me!"
Kan merely laughed. "Don't sound so sad, you're acting like you will never see me again!"
Himiko crossed her arms and looked away, a blush rising to her cheeks. "Yeah well, this is the last time you'll be my teacher! I'll miss it. And I'll miss our weekend lessons."
Kan gently put an arm on her shoulder "It was my pleasure, little Midoriya. And just because I don't have anything more to teach you about heroics doesn't mean you won't see me again."
She turned to look at him. "Really?"
"I'll still be teaching here, after all! If you want to talk about anything you can always track me down around the school."
"I will take you up on that."
"I hope you do! I would be sad if my favorite student just abandons me because I am done personally teaching her."
Himiko found a smile forming. "Thanks! I promise I won't forget you! You've done so much for me!"
Kan smiled back. "You are growing into a fine young hero. You've come so far from when I first saw you. And I'm proud to have been a part of that."
"N-now you're going to make me cry!" Himiko pulled Kan into a surprise hug.
"I'll see you next semester, little Midoriya." Once he recovered Kan returned the hug.
"Y-yep! See you then!"
"Itadakimasu!"
To celebrate completing the first year of school, Himiko and her friends decided to go out for dinner. Since Himiko won the argument of where to go, they were currently at her favorite all you can eat barbeque.
"It's unfair how little you need to cook that, you can eat so much faster than us!" Hideo complained as Himiko was already pulling her beef and pork off of the grill.
Himiko just grinned, baring her fangs as she ate the first piece of beef. "My quirk has enough drawbacks, I've got to enjoy the benefits!"
"Related to that - don't ever let her pick a movie to watch, by the way."
"Why's that?"
"Himi absolutely loves slasher movies, but for all the wrong reasons."
"I can't help it, they are so funny to me!" Himiko defended herself.
"It really ruins the effect when we are trying to let ourselves be scared by what is happening, only to hear Himiko giggling at the movie."
Himiko visibly pouts. "Well next time we'll watch a Rom-Com then!"
Atsuko smiled and looked at her friends. "I'm all for that."
"Of course you would be, you created a monster!"
"They are great, it's not my fault that Himi has good taste."
"I've already accepted my fate." Hideo spoke up as he looked at Atsuko.
Atsuko stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Speaking of you two, when are you finally going on your first date?" Himiko asked.
Atsuko brightened. "Next week! With how close White Day was to finals, we decided to wait until school was out before we had it."
"Couldn't you have asked her out, you know, earlier?" Emily asked Hideo. "Instead of waiting until White Day?"
Hideo merely smiled and shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"
"Some of us like cheesy romantic gestures." Atsuko added, before faking a gasp. "Wait, or are you upset that nobody got you anything for White Day?"
"Not at all!" Emily said too quickly, her cheeks turning pink.
"So there is someone you like then?" Sakura asked pointedly.
"I bet she has a thing for Izuku." Hideo said. "Those two bouncing off of each other is something else."
"Yes Emily, what is your opinion on Izu?" Himiko put down her chopsticks and was staring daggers at her friend.
Emily meanwhile was blushing up a storm. "Eww! Gross! Izuku's like little brother material at best!"
"Good!" Satisfied with the answer, Himiko picked up her chopsticks and returned to her meal.
"There is someone, but I'm pretty sure they don't like me back." Emily admitted quietly, staring down at her plate.
"You never know unless you try, right?" Atsuko tried to encourage her.
"What about you Tomoe?" Emily asked, trying to shift the conversation off of her.
"None of you, if that's what you're asking."
The table broke out into laughter.
"You all are great friends and have helped me grow a lot, but you all have an energy that would be too much for me. I'd like to find someone who is more quiet and reserved."
"You are all about the quiet romantic evenings, huh?"
Sakura smiled fondly at that. "That does sound lovely, yes. Two people, warm tea, and a good book."
"That does sound nice, especially after a day of heroics." Atsuko admitted, before turning to Himiko. "Ok, Himi, your turn. What about you?"
"Of course I've thought about it! I just haven't found anyone yet." Himiko admitted, feeling a blush creeping into her cheeks. "Between hanging out with you guys, my lessons with Kan-sensei, and helping Izu out I just haven't had the time." She shrugged helplessly. "Maybe next year? Kan's already said I need to broaden my horizons and Izu's going to have a whole school to bother."
"Well, what would you be looking for?" Emily asked, curious.
"In another life, I may actually have fallen for Izu." Himiko admitted, hiding the lower half of her face in her hands as the blush continued to spread across her cheeks. "He accepted me for who I was, even at my lowest. I know I'm not exactly the easiest person to get along with, but I just want someone like that - someone who likes me for who I am."
"I'm sure there is someone out there like that. We like you just the way you are, after all." Sakura said, but Himiko was too busy staring down to miss the meaningful glance she gave across the table.
"Yeah!" Himiko finally looked up after getting her blushing under control, a smile breaking out across her face. "I'm sure of it! I just have to find them."
The group continued talking and enjoying their meal until their designated time was up. Once outside, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways for the evening.
As she was heading home she heard someone calling out to her "Carmilla!"
Pausing, Himiko turned and saw a lady jogging up to her. She was wearing a sweater with its hood up and different glasses, but the same feeling that she felt during her internship came back to her. She mentally set herself on edge, and began eyeing escape routes. There were still some crowds around, so she hoped this person wasn't going to try anything, but she was still worried about being attacked.
"Yep, that's me." Himiko forced a fake smile on her face. "Pro-hero in training!"
"I know, I'm a big fan!" As the woman stopped in front of Himiko she noticed the same two-toned hair hiding behind the hood. She was then caught off guard when she saw the woman grab her glasses and raise them, revealing purple eyes and a stare that somehow felt even more intense as she studied Himiko's face. "I've been watching you with great interest."
Himiko swallowed a lump in her throat. "I-I'm flattered. Any particular reason?"
The lady seemed satisfied with what she saw, her face suddenly softening as a smile spread across it. "Your quirk is amazing! I hope you do great things with it! Just - remember what's important about being a hero, ok?"
Himiko tried to respond but the woman seemed to not be listening anymore as she lowered her glasses and checked her watch. She threw Himiko one last smile before she quickly walked away, only to turn around and give one last wave before disappearing into a crowd.
Himiko could only look down the street in confusion.
"What was that about?"
Izuku was sitting in the living room with Himiko and Emily, his notebook open to his concept art and ideas for his costume. His costume order for school was due soon, and he was trying to finalize it, while the other two were talking about ideas to improve their own hero costumes.
"At least you got rid of the silly All Might mask design." Himiko said.
"It made sense to younger me!" Izuku tried to defend himself.
"Just like all of those hero names huh?"
Izuku felt his face turning bright red as he remembered them. "T-Thats not important right now! After seeing Sakura and Atsuko's costumes, swapping from a cloth mask and rebreather to a full helmet makes sense."
"Are you going to try and cram a bunch of equipment in there like Tomoe though?" Emily asked, as she scrolled through a massive catalog of support gear on her tablet.
Izuku shook his head. "No, I think the communication equipment will be helpful, and the full environment filters to start. Since I'm going to be on the front lines most of the time I'm not sure how much I'd really use anything else?"
"Makes sense." Emily paused and wrote down some notes for herself.
"Also, why a green jumpsuit?" Himiko asked her brother.
Izuku was giving Himiko a funny look. He then pointed to his hair. "You know our last name is Midoriya right?"
Himiko looked like she was having a moment of revelation as her eyes darted from Izuku to Inko. From where she was sitting, she leaned over to look into a mirror, her messy ash-blonde hair a stark contrast to the rest of her family's hair color. She immediately spun around to face Inko. "Mom, can I get my hair dyed green to match you two?"
Inko had to stifle a laugh and just gave her daughter a warm smile. "Now that Izu has pointed it out, you want to match? You can do that. We just have to find a good shade of green that fits you."
Izuku looked up and saw a slight blush on Emily's face as she was gawking at Himiko. A ghost of a smile crawled on his face as he looked at his sister. "So, about that green color?"
Himiko spun back to the table and crossed her arms in a huff. "Fine, you win! You can have your green jumpsuit."
Izuku opened up the paper catalog provided to him and flipped to the materials section, trying to find a good material that was fireproof and had decent thermal regulation properties. He eventually opted for a form-fitting bodysuit to help regulate his temperature and then the outer jumpsuit with a fireproof material. It wasn't going to absorb any blows for him, but with his reaction time using One For All going up, he was hoping to use his quirk for that anyways.
Finally, Izuku grabbed the sheet of paper from the center and began selecting equipment for his own utility belt. Over the past year Himiko's friend group - driven mostly by Emily and Sakura - began to write up a list of standardized support tools for the five of them to use. Since Izuku basically had free reign to order equipment, he didn't see any reason to reinvent the wheel and ordered the supplies that made the most sense for him.
He looked up to see his sister had stolen Emily's tablet and the two were now browsing hair dyes, their own costume request forms forgotten, and found himself smiling.
It was going to be a good year, he could feel it.
Chapter 19: Quirk Assessment Exam
Izuku was filled with nervous energy as he got ready for the day. Today was his first day actually attending UA! When he made his way to the living room, Himiko burst out laughing.
"Izu, you need to learn how to tie your tie!"
Izuku looked down at his tie, mentally compared it to Himiko's, and blushed. "I-I never had to do this before!"
Inko walked over and straightened it out for him. "It's ok dear, I know you're excited about today. I'll have to show you how to do it later." Once she was done she pulled him into a hug. "My baby boy, all grown up! I'm so proud of you!"
"T-thanks mom."
Pulling away, Inko also gave Himiko a hug before the two finally departed for the train station. Continuing her tradition, once they arrived at their stop Himiko waited for Atsuko before they walked the rest of the way to campus. Once they reached the main building, Izuku broke off from the two.
"I'll see you after school Izu."
Izuku looked momentarily confused. "Wait, won't I see you at the opening ceremonies?"
Himiko merely laughed while Atsuko had a guilty look on her face as the pair walked away from him, leaving Izuku feeling confused. Shaking his head to clear it, Izuku proceeded inside UA and began to look for his homeroom, beginning to feel nervous as he began to think about who could be in it.
I hope Bakugo isn't in my homeroom. It was nice when I didn't have to worry about him.
Unfortunately, Izuku's hopes were dashed the moment he opened the door and he saw Katsuki with his feet up on a desk arguing with the tall blue-haired student from the entrance exam. Apparently the tall student didn't like Katsuki leaning his feet up on a desk, while Katsuki was already trying to establish himself as better than everyone else. Wincing at the thought of being in the same class as those two, Izuku tried to sneak into the classroom.
However, as soon as he stepped through the door the blue-haired student noticed him and rushed over. "You were the student in our group who figured out that there was more to the test! I wanted to apologize to you for misjudging you during the exam. I am Tenya Iida."
Izuku was shocked for a moment, before he recovered and rubbed the back of his head. "Y-yeah. I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you."
"I must say I was impressed. I would love to learn how you figured it out!"
Izuku continued to laugh nervously. "I-I'm not sure I could explain it, but I can try?"
Before Iida could respond Izuku heard a familiar voice behind them. "Hey, it's you! Your name is Izuku Midoriya, right?"
Izuku turned around and saw Uraraka smiling at him. He found it infectious and smiled back. "Hi! And you're Uraraka?"
"Yep! I tried to thank you for saving me during the exam, but they said you were passed out in the Nurse's Office and wouldn't be awake for a while." She held her hands behind her back. "I am glad you made it in! I was worried about you from the way you were talking at the end of the exam."
"I need to thank you as well. F-for saving me from falling. Also for trying to talk to Present Mic like that after the exam!"
"Wait? How did you know about that?"
"U-uhm… it actually came up in my acceptance letter?" Izuku laughed nervously.
Ochako found herself blushing. "T-that was supposed to be a secret! I couldn't help it though, you were so cool!"
Izuku felt his face heating up, but was saved by a voice behind them.
"It took ten seconds for someone to notice me."
Everyone in the class paused and turned to see a scruffy-looking man laying on the ground in a yellow full-body sleeping bag.
"That is unacceptable if you want to be a hero." He stood up and unzipped himself from his sleeping bag. As he stepped out Izuku recognized him as Eraserhead, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. Himiko had already warned him about how strict he was.
"In an emergency, a few seconds like that could mean the difference between life and death. Consider this your first lesson." He walked behind his desk, sleeping bag still in hand, and pulled out a box from behind the desk. "Here are your gym uniforms. You are going to put them on and follow me."
"B-but what about the opening ceremony!" Ochako protested.
Aizawa merely looked at her. "A pointless waste of time. Teachers here have a lot of leeway in how we run our classes, and so today we're going to do something more productive and test your quirks out."
Aizawa passed out the gym uniforms and led the students to the locker rooms where they all changed, before reconvening outside at the training field.
"Bakugo, you had the top score in the practical portion of the entrance exam, come here." Aizawa was standing next to a circle painted on the ground.
When Bakugo had entered the circle, Aizawa casually tossed him a ball. "We are going to go through the standard eight physical assessment tests today. They are the same ones you did in middle school. What was your furthest throw in the ball toss?"
"About 65 meters."
"In middle school they still don't allow the use of quirks, thanks to outdated quirk laws forbidding their general use. But now that you're training to be pro heroes, you operate under different rules. Try throwing the ball with your quirk."
Bakugo got a satisfied look on his face. "Finally!" He prepared a wind up and when he threw the ball he powered it with an explosion "DIE!"
The class watched as the ball got launched, before turning back to Aizawa who was holding a monitoring device. He turned the device around, revealing the results to the class. 705 meters
"This sounds fun!"
"Yeah, a chance to really go all out!"
Aizawa turned to glare at the class and Izuku felt himself visibly wince. "You think this is just going to be fun and games? Well then, let's start the next lesson. This is supposed to test your potential. The person coming in last place clearly has none, and will be expelled."
The class collectively gasped. "Wait, you can't do that!" Ochako began to protest. "That's not fair!"
"You want fair? You're in the wrong business. Let this be your second lesson - society isn't fair. It's your job as heroes to fight against this unfairness."
"Can he really expel someone?" A pink girl asked.
Aizawa looked directly at Izuku. "Tell them, Midoriya."
Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat as he saw all of his classmates turn to look at him. He hated being singled out like this. "Aizawa-sensei expelled his entire class last year over a training incident."
"What?!" A tall girl with a long ponytail exclaimed. "I thought he was bluffing?"
Izuku was about to explain about how half the class was able to re-enroll later, but Aizawa seemed to have other ideas. "I expect you all to take this seriously. Your quirks give you each a unique advantage, it is up to you to figure out how to use them during these assessment tests."
Looking down at his hand, Izuku suddenly realized what Emily meant. It would have been bad if I couldn't control One For All. It's still not instinctive, but I will be ok for these tests.
As the students grouped up around the ball toss, Ochako once again turned to him. "How did you know what Aizawa did last year?"
Izuku laughed nervously. "I um, have an older sister who goes here. It was kind of a big deal when Aizawa expelled his entire class last year."
"Oh man, I can imagine!" Ochako shuddered. "Hopefully nothing like that happens to us!"
Izuku looked at their teacher. "He wants us to give it our all. His students last year weren't taking things seriously."
That seemed to give Ochako pause. She looked like she was about to say something but then Aizawa called his name. "Good luck!" She called, giving him a thumb's up.
Izuku felt Aizawa glaring at him as he caught the ball. Looking down at his hand he began concentrating, feeling the energy of One For All dancing along his skin as he pushed five percent of its power into his arm. He pulled back into a wind up, and threw the ball.
Only to see it land a disappointingly short distance away. Izuku looked at the ball, and then his arm in confusion, only to feel Aizawa's presence behind him. He quickly spun around to face his teacher.
"In case you are wondering, I erased your quirk when I saw you using it." Looking up, Izuku saw Aizawa's eyes were wide open, red veins visible in them. "Nezu warned me, and I saw the footage from your entrance exam. Are you planning on breaking yourself again with your quirk?"
"N-No sir!" Izuku held up his hand and pushed some energy into it. "I actually have been practicing a lot with it!"
Aizawa seemed to brighten at that as he released his quirk. "Good. I was warned that you may try something foolish, and I won't stand for that. What would happen if you broke your arm but didn't finish a villain off?"
Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat, but refused to break eye contact. "I know I am not as powerful as my classmates yet, but I am not going to break my arm for some fitness test."
"Good. It sounds like you may have some promise after all."
Aizawa turned around, before turning his head to look at Izuku out of the corner of his eye. "One more thing. I already know All Might is fond of you, but that won't stop me from expelling you if you are out of line."
Izuku merely nodded in response as Aizawa returned to his previous position. "I'll give you one more try, this time I won't erase your quirk."
Picking up another ball, Izuku once again focused on channeling One For All into his hand before throwing it.
And at the moment of release, he felt soreness and stiffness in his arm. He quickly pulled it to his chest and began feeling it with his other arm. Crap! Aizawa's words got to me, I put too much energy in. Ok, nothing feels broken, and I didn't feel the pain that came along with fractures. I think I avoided eight percent at least! Izuku could feel Aizawa glaring at him, so he held up his arm, fighting through the soreness and flexing all of his fingers to prove his point. "I didn't break anything!"
Aizawa didn't say anything, but held up his device.
659 meters
Sighing in relief, Izuku began to walk back to continue his conversation with Ochako. Only to see Katsuki storming towards him. Fortunately, Katsuki only made it part way there before he was suddenly wrapped up in Aizawa's capture weapon.
"What the hell is this for?" Katsuki yelled at the teacher.
"Why are you attacking your fellow students?" Aizawa asked pointedly, before releasing Katsuki from the capture weapon. "Don't do that again. Or need I remind you that I can expel you at any time?"
Growling, Katsuki stomped back off, standing away from the rest of the students.
"What was that about?" Ochako asked when Izuku returned to the rest of the students.
"We um, went to middle school together, and he doesn't really like me." Izuku admitted.
"That really sucks. Maybe he'll calm down this year?"
"I hope so." Izuku stopped looking at Katsuki and returned his attention to his right arm, massaging it with his left to work the stiffness out.
"Are you ok?"
"Y-yeah! I just overdid it a little bit back there and my arm is sore as a result."
"That sucks! I guess with how strong you are there's going to be some drawbacks?"
Izuku merely laughed. "Y-yeah! I can usually control it, though." He frowned as he looked at his arm.
After the first test, the somber tone that had surrounded the students began to lift, and a few students began cheering for their classmates during the 50-meter dash. With those students suffering nothing more than a glare from Aizawa, a few more began cheering for the grip strength test, and by the end, almost everyone was encouraging each other, praising them as they figured out creative ways to use their quirks to pass each exam.
Everyone except Katsuki, who merely stood off to the side when it was not his turn and alternated between glaring at Izuku and ignoring everyone as if they were beneath him.
Finally, they finished the exams and gathered around Aizawa as his device began tabulating data. While Izuku wasn't personally worried, he still glanced around at his classmates, seeing the fear and worry on several of their faces. This isn't right. He was imagining himself in last place - if he never encountered All Might, if he managed to make it in despite being quirkless, only to have his chance ripped away on the first day of school.
It's a hero's job to fight against unfairness. Aizawa had told them, but what if he never had the chance to be a hero to begin with?
With the press of a button, Aizawa displayed the scores
1st place - Momo Yaoyorozu
…
4th place - Izuku Midoriya
5th place - Tenya Iida
…
11th place - Ochako Uraraka
…
20th place - Minoru Mineta
Izuku clenched his fist as he looked at the short boy who came in last place and saw he was already crying. He took a step forward and opened his mouth to speak, but Aizawa spoke first.
"By the way, nobody is getting expelled."
"What?!" The class collectively asked.
"It was a logical ruse." Aizawa gave them all a satisfied smile. "I needed to make sure that you all were taking this seriously."
"Why would he call Midoriya out like that at the beginning then?" The tall girl - Momo Yaoyorozu - asked.
"It's because he wanted us to believe the threat was real." Izuku said, looking at the ground. "By having me confirm that he's willing to expel students, nobody would think that he was bluffing, and everyone would be forced to take this seriously."
"I'm glad to see that you figured it out, Midoriya."
Izuku looked at Aizawa. "I-I don't appreciate you using me like that!"
Aizawa merely looked at Izuku for a few moments, while the class watched. "Then next time remember my previous lesson."
Izuku put his thumb on his lip as he considered his words, before nodding to Aizawa, satisfied with the answer. "I will!"
"Now return to the classroom. Syllabi for your classes will be on your desks, and there are still presentations from our school counselors as well as the head of our support department before you are dismissed for the day."
As Izuku was packing up, Iida came up to him. "Midoriya, would you mind if I walked to the train station with you?"
"Sure!" Izuku smiled as he closed his bag.
"Something has been bothering me - what did Aizawa mean when he told you to remember his previous lesson? You seemed happy with his answer, but I still haven't figured it out."
"Remember the hidden score of the entrance exam?"
"Of course!"
"It was a warning that this is not the only time we are going to have hidden elements in our scores. He will be testing us - like today where he was threatening to expel a student - to gauge our reactions. On one hand, there is the natural reaction we would have as students. However, there are times he will be looking for the response he would expect from a hero."
"I see! At the entrance exam, I was worried about my own safety. After all, if I was injured by the giant robot, I would not be able to earn any more points. However you acted as a hero would, and rushed back to save Uraraka."
"Yes, Exactly!" Izuku smiled and nodded. "Aizawa was saying we will be facing more scenarios like that."
"I will admit, this wasn't what I was expecting from school."
Izuku threw his bag over his shoulder and began to walk to the door. "Well, this school produces some of the country's top heroes for a reason, right?"
"Hmm. You do raise a good point. Perhaps there is something to these non-traditional teaching methods after all!"
The two changed their shoes at their lockers and then left the building. As they made their way down the stairs, Izuku slowed down as he began looking around for his sister. It seemed like all of the other students had already left for the day, and Himiko didn't wait for him.
"Hey guys, wait up!" They heard a familiar voice and turned around to see Ochako racing to catch up. "You're going to the train station too right?"
"Yep!"
"Same here! Can I join you guys?"
"Sure!"
"It would be our pleasure Uraraka." Tenya turned to Izuku. "You seemed like you were looking for someone, is there anyone else we should be waiting for?"
Izuku looked at Tenya. "I was actually wondering if my sister was going to wait for me." He looked at the mostly empty pathway. "I guess the quirk assessment ran long enough that she left with her friends already."
"Oh, right, you did mention you have a sister who also attends UA."
"Yeah, she just started her second year here."
"I can't wait to meet her!"
"Wait, did your sister tell you about the entrance exam?" A switch seems to have been flipped as Iida stopped in his tracks and gave Izuku a hard stare.
Izuku laughed nervously. "Actually no! She was warned there would be consequences if she revealed anything about the entrance exam to me."
The answer seemed to satisfy Iida as he slammed his fist into his palm. "Of course! It was foolish of me to suspect anything less from such a prestigious institution!" He smiled at Izuku. "In that case, I will be interested in meeting her as well. I imagine she will have valuable insight for us first years!"
Izuku could only laugh nervously. "Y-yeah. I'm sure you will meet her tomorrow after school, if we walk together again?"
"Sounds great!"
"I do not mind at all."
As they were walking and talking, Izuku felt himself smiling as a strange warmth blossomed in his chest - for the first time he was making friends on his own, instead of simply tagging along with Himiko's friends.
When Izuku finally got home, he called out from the entryway. "Hey, I'm ho-ack!"
Himiko had tackled him and wrapped him in a tight embrace. "Yay! Izu survived his first day!"
"H-hi Himi. You knew I was going to have Aizawa as my homeroom teacher, didn't you?"
"Kan-sensei may have let slip that you weren't going to be in his homeroom." Himiko admitted as she let go of her brother, giving him an innocent look. "And it wouldn't have been fair of me to warn you!"
"I think I managed to impress him, at least? Or at least kept him from expelling me." He laughed nervously as he pushed himself off the floor.
"Aizawa is super scary, but deep down he cares. At least that's what Fuwa keeps telling Emily."
Inko finally came to meet Izuku at the entrance as well. "How are your classmates this year?"
"Unfortunately I'm in the same class as Bakugo after all. At least our classmates this year seem like they won't let him get away with his usual nonsense." Izuku frowned, but then his face brightened. "Oh! But I met a couple nice people today! I think we're friends now?"
"Yay! Izu made friends!" Himiko cheered, before giving Izuku the predatory look that always scares him. "I can't wait to meet them tomorrow."
Chapter 20: His explosive battle trial
"I~ Zu~ Ku~ Kun~" Izuku heard his sister approaching, barely having time to brace himself on the table before she slammed into him, wrapping him in a hug. "How is your first real day at UA going?" Himiko looked around the table, a huge smile on her face. "Are these all your new friends?"
Izuku's face was turning red from the attention. "H-hey Himi. Yeah, these are some of my new classmates!"
She quickly let Izuku go to stand up and wave at them. "Hi! I'm Himiko Midoriya, Izuku's older sister. I'm a year ahead of you all in Class 2-B. Nice to meet you all!"
Izuku looked around at the people seated at the table. Tsuyu's face remained unreadable, Uraraka was staring wide-eyed at Himiko, and Iida looked like he was about to read Himiko the riot act. He felt the heat leaving his face as he rubbed the back of his neck.
Finally, Tsuyu spoke up. "I'm Tsuyu Asui, kero."
"I-I'm Ochako Uraraka, nice to meet you!"
"Running, ignoring personal space, ignoring the safety of other students for no good reason! I can't believe an upperclassman would be so lax!"
"C-calm down Iida!" Izuku laughed nervously before turning to Himiko. "That is Tenya Iida, he is a bit strict about rules."
Himiko just rolled her eyes and giggled. "Oh, I can't wait until you meet the rest of my friends!"
Ochako and Tsuyu turned questioning gazes to Izuku.
"S-she is friends with both of her class's recommendation students." Izuku said, as if that would offer some sort of explanation.
"I don't see what's so funny about meeting recommendation students? Clearly they should be quite smart and talented!"
"Todoroki is also smart and talented, kero." Tsuyu pointed out.
Himiko merely laughed. "Well, it was nice meeting all of you, but I've got to get back to my friends! I'm sure I'll be seeing all of you around!" With that she turned around and began skipping away.
Izuku watched as she went to a different table with her own group of friends, and he noticed that Habiki had his phone out and was recording the whole time. When she sits down she flashes him a huge smile and waves before turning her attention to her own lunch. Sighing he turned around and faced the group he was sitting with before grabbing his chopsticks.
"She is scary, kero."
Ochako nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I didn't expect her to be so different from you!"
"I must question how someone so undisciplined managed to make it through the first year here!"
"Sorry about that!" Izuku nervously laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "She can be kind of overwhelming, but she is really a great person, I promise!" Izuku shot a look back over at the table she was sitting at. "I'm pretty sure she did that on purpose."
After lunch they all returned to their homeroom waiting for Heroics class to begin. Suddenly from behind the door they hear. "I am… walking through the door normally!"
Izuku perked up and looked as the door slammed open, and All Might walked into the room. "Good afternoon, aspiring heroes! Today I am your teacher!"
"Wow!"
"So Cool!"
"I can't believe All Might is our teacher!"
"Today we will be evaluating your skills against actual opponents!" He held up a small card that read 'Combat'
"Finally, a chance to show you extras who's the best." Bakugo declared loudly.
"We will be holding mock two on two team battles. But first things first! All heroes need their costumes!" He held out a remote and pushed a button, and lockers hidden in the wall opened, revealing 20 cases.
The twenty students excitedly retrieved their costume cases and left for the changing rooms, slowly regrouping outside the school as they trickled out of the locker room.
Izuku was busy looking over his costume to make sure everything was in place when he heard Ochako coming up behind him. "Hey Midoriya! Your costume looks amazing!"
Izuku turned around to see Uraraka and was momentarily stunned by how pretty she was. "H-hey Uraraka. Y-your costume looks good too!"
"Thanks! It's kind of embarrassing though." Uraraka was blushing and rubbing the back of her head. "I didn't realize they would make it a skintight bodysuit?"
"That's actually a problem with support companies." Izuku recalls. "If you don't specify how you want your clothes to fit they default to skintight bodysuits. However, if it would make you more comfortable, you could add a second loose-fitting outer layer?"
"Really?"
Izuku nodded, rolling up one of his sleeves to reveal the black bodysuit underneath. "I actually ended up doing that with my costume, I have a skintight bodysuit underneath, and then a looser fitting jumpsuit."
"That's a great idea!" Uraraka pumped her fist in the air. "And I can always pick one of the suits later! I'll have to do that!"
"Aww, I would love having even a skintight bodysuit or anything!" Toru came up wearing… gloves and a pair of boots.
Izuku just gave her a look of disbelief. "Please tell me that you've got more to your costume Hagakure."
"What? No! How would I be able to use my invisibility then?"
"Seriously? They didn't tell you about infused fabrics when you put your order in for your costume?"
"Infu-what?"
Izuku sighed and wondered how she was overlooked. "For some heroes, normal costume materials just don't work with their quirks. For those heroes, there are support companies that specialize specifically in taking a hero's hair and turning it into the fibers for a costume. That allows them to create costumes that specifically work with a user's quirk. For example, If my sister uses her quirk, any normal clothing would be destroyed, so she has a black bodysuit infused with fabric made from her hair - that way when she activates her quirk, she will always have a bodysuit on afterwards."
"Why didn't I hear about this!" Izuku and the growing crowd saw Toru emoting violently. "I love my hair, but if I could wear a bodysuit that could turn invisible that would totally be worth it!"
"I will admit I didn't know about this either." Momo said. "My quirk requires me to have as much skin as possible exposed for my object creation, but if I had some sort of costume that would let me create objects through it that would be wonderful."
"Well for you that's easy to test." Izuku pointed to Yaoyorozu's hair. "Try creating an object out of the back of your head."
Momo's eyes widened, and then she closed her eyes and concentrated. Suddenly the students saw a Russian nesting doll pop out of her hair and drop to the ground. She looked at it in surprise. "I never thought to try that before!"
"See? So you both could benefit from that."
"Thank you Midoriya!" both of the girls said simultaneously.
"We will have to go talk to Power Loader after class."
"Definitely!"
"Count me in!"
"Kero." The small celebration was disrupted by Tsuyu croaking and looking somewhere. Following her gaze, they saw Minoru gawking at his female classmates. She suddenly shot her tongue out and used it to slap him upside the head, knocking him to the ground.
"Those costumes are amazing! The hero course is the best!" They heard him cry out from the ground.
"Eww! Gross!" Hagakure went over and slapped him. "You should know better!"
After Mineta was dealt with, Momo turned back to Izuku. "I'm surprised you know so much about costumes."
"Yeah well, Emily's parents are both researchers at a support company, so I happened to pick up a few things."
"Who is Emily?" Ochako asked.
"She's one of Himi's friends, one of the recommendation students in class 2-B."
"She may be smart, but what are we getting into if we meet her?" Tsuyu asked.
Izuku just laughed nervously. "She's not that bad? She's just enthusiastic."
"Izuku, after lunch today, I question your definition of enthusiastic." Tsuyu replied.
"I-I guess that's fair." Izuku conceded. "I'm just a novice at support gear compared to her. She has spent years brainstorming ideas for all kinds of quirks, trying to come up with support equipment that would allow quirks to be used in new and interesting ways, even if she doesn't have the ability to create them herself."
"I wouldn't mind meeting her, actually." Momo said. "I'd love to hear what kind of gear she could come up with for my creation quirk."
"I'm sure Izuku can arrange the meeting and you can report back, kero."
Izuku merely sighed and conceded. "I'll let her know. I'm sure she'd love to meet everyone in our class eventually."
Once the remaining members of class 1-A arrived they were all led out to a training ground, where All Might explained the basics of how the battle trial worked, and then began drawing lots for partners.
"Yes! Midoriya, we're partners!" Ochako cheered when they were paired up.
Izuku found her enthusiasm infectious. "Yeah!"
That excitement lasted up until they saw who they were facing.
"Team Midoriya and Uraraka will be the heroes, facing Team Bakugo and Iida as the villains!" All Might announced, holding the two numbered balls in his hand.
"Villains, you have 10 minutes to set up. Heroes, here are the blueprints to the building, you may use the time to begin planning."
Izuku took the plans and began looking them over.
"Are you ok Midoriya? You're shaking."
"Y-yeah." Izuku turned to face Ochako. "I just am worried about taking Bakugo head on."
"He's kind of scary isn't he?"
"Yeah. And I can guarantee he's going to come straight for me." He looked down at the blueprints and began mumbling. "Maybe we can use that to our advantage."
"How so?"
"Bakugo isn't going to care about the bomb. He's only going to have one objective, and that's trying to beat me down. That means Iida will be the only one actually guarding the bomb." He began to point out likely places for them to store the device. "This is actually the opposite of what they should be doing. Iida has the mobility advantage and by being forced to remain on guard duty, that takes away his biggest advantage. If I distract Bakugo, that would give you a chance to go directly for the bomb."
"How are you planning on distracting him?" Ochako asked, concerned.
"By fighting him, obviously!" He tried to give her a nervous smile. "Or at least running around dodging him. I don't know if I can stop him completely though, and the drawback to this plan is that it forces you to take on Iida alone - if I tried to back you up, Bakugo would just follow me and we'd be forced to fight both of them at the same time."
"Will you actually be ok fighting him? Considering how nervous you are already! Wouldn't it make more sense if we both tried taking down Bakugo?"
Izuku clenched his fist and shook his head. "I've seen enough of his fighting style, I know how he works. And I just have to keep him occupied long enough for you to capture the bomb!"
Seeing the determination on his face, Ochako nodded. "If you're ok with that, then we can go with that plan."
"Of course!" Izuku gave her a nervous smile before he lowered the faceplate of his helmet, locking it into place. "Radio check."
Ochako tapped the earpiece she had received. "I can hear you."
The pair approached the front of the building, waiting for the signal.
"Heroes, you may begin!" They heard All Might announce, and the pair walked into the building.
As predicted, it didn't take long for them to hear explosions and Katsuki's angry yelling. "DEKU! GET OUT HERE!"
Izuku turned to his teammate. "Go Uraraka!"
With a determined nod Ochako broke off down a side hallway, racing for the stairs. As Izuku had predicted, Katsuki was completely ignoring her.
Izuku meanwhile, took a deep breath and looked down at his fists. It's different this time. You know what he does, you have been training under Pro Heroes! And you have One For All.
"Kacchan, what's taking you so long?!" Izuku yelled out.
That had the intended effect as he saw Katsuki come flying out of a hallway and landing in front of him.
"Deku. You've always been hiding, letting other people fight your battles. Meanwhile you've always been looking down on me, haven't you? Well now you don't have anybody to shield you from me. DIE!"
Katsuki used his explosions to leap at him, and Izuku watched his movements, getting in position. When Katsuki got close he deftly sidestepped him and grabbed his arm, slamming him into the ground.
"You're too predictable Kacchan. You always open with a right hook."
Izuku powered up his fist and tried to land a disabling blow while he was on the ground, but Katsuki used explosions to push himself away from Izuku, who merely ended up punching the ground.
"Too slow Deku!"
Izuku grimaced. Crap, he must have noticed it takes me a moment to use One For All yesterday, because I don't want to risk overdoing it.
Once he was several feet away Katsuki kicked himself up to standing position, before he used his explosions to race back in. Izuku saw him winding up and prepared to counter him again, only for Bakugo to change his tactics at the last moment. He used his left hand to blast behind Izuku, and used his right hand to hit him with an explosion.
Izuku stumbled forward from the blast. Looks like my costume is keeping me safe from the fire, but he can still shove me around with the force behind the blasts. Izuku looked at Katsuki. Time to see if he realizes that.
Pouring energy into both of his arms, Izuku raced directly at Katsuki, who tried to hit him with an explosion. Using his left arm to absorb the blast, Izuku then swung with his right, landing a solid body blow that sent Katsuki flying.
"I see, you just had to make your costume fireproof because of me huh? If I scare you so much, maybe you should have listened to me and never applied."
Izuku began to feel rage building inside of him. "I used to be scared of you! I used to admire you. But I'm not afraid of you anymore! I am going to beat you and prove who is really stronger!"
"Oh really?" Katsuki laughed and brought up his right bracer, using his left hand to reveal a firing pin and hooking his right thumb into it. "Your suit may be fireproof. Let's test its limits then."
The two of them heard All Might cut in on the radio channel. "I must remind you that you are supposed to limit the force you are using against your opponents!"
"He'll be fine as long as he runs!" Katsuki yelled as he pulled the pin.
Izuku's eyes went wide with realization and he dodged into a side corridor, just in time for a huge blast to fill the corridor.
"I saw you talking with our classmates earlier. You think you're pretty cool huh? Just because you know someone who happens to be good at this sort of stuff? Well these bracers are more than just decoration, they let me store up my sweat. Pretty awesome, aren't they? I guess you're not the only one who knows a thing or two about costume design."
"I never said-"
"You didn't have to say it! I know what you were thinking! You're always thinking you're better than me!" Bakugo bit out. "How long have you been hiding your quirk? How many years were you acting like you were quirkless for pity? Just to laugh at me behind my back!"
Izuku tried his best to ignore the taunts and began running to the stairwell. Hopefully Bakugo's own voice was enough to cover his movements.
Meanwhile All Might once again came back on radio. "Bakugo, it is not wise for a villain to destroy his own base. At this rate you will cause your team to fail if you use your bracers recklessly again."
Once on the second floor Izuku had a few moments of freedom, only for Ochako to suddenly cut in on the radio. "Midoriya! I found the bomb, but there's a problem!"
"What's that?"
"Iida has removed every object from this floor, the only things here are me, him, and the bomb. I don't have a way to get it!"
"Has he seen you yet?"
"No."
"Can you go back-"
"Crap! He saw me!" He heard panic in her voice. "He's now monologuing at me!"
Izuku tried to think of ways to help his teammate, but he didn't have long before he heard Katsuki again.
"Deku! Stop running and accept your beatdown! Or feel free to admit the truth, that you really are worthless, and quit the hero course."
Izuku began trying to find his way to the next stairwell, but made a wrong turn and ran face first into Katsuki, who had a feral grin on his face.
"Fine, if explosions can't put you in your place, I guess I'll do it the old fashioned way!" He rocketed forward with explosions again, this time using the speed to land a solid kick against Izuku's head.
Izuku was thankful for his helmet absorbing the worst of the blow, and he punched Katsuki in the chest. Katsuki wasn't going to let him have the time he needed to use One For All properly, so he was going to have to rely on his own strength and skill.
The two traded blows back and forth until Izuku managed to hook Katsuki's leg and once again knock him to the ground. He took a risk and tried powering up One For All quickly to land a finishing blow, but once again Katsuki was too fast for him. At least when he landed the blow Izuku didn't feel any feedback, which he was thankful for. I guess life or death combat is helping me fine tune my control.
"Crap, Midoriya we don't have much time left! And Iida's keeping me pinned up here!"
Izuku looked at Katsuki, and suddenly had a terrible idea. If I can get him to fire his large blast again…
"Uraraka, be prepared to run to the wall on my signal."
"W-what are you going to do?"
"Make some debris for you." Izuku then walked to the center of the room. "You may be learning Kacchan, but so am I!" He dropped into a fighting stance.
Katsuki scoffed. "You're learning how to give up, all right." He raised both of his gauntlets and hooked his thumbs into the firing pins.
"Are you seriously going to try using that again on me?" Izuku pushed One For All's energy into his legs.
"Of course. You're an idiot if you think I'm going to go easy on you! Let's see if you can take this, DIE!"
Izuku used one leg to leap at the wall and his other leg to kick off of it, using the burst of speed to race towards Bakugo as he watched him pull the pin on his left bracers. Charging up a punch, Izuku ducked at the last second and hit the bracer with an uppercut.
"Ochako, now!" He shouted into the headset.
Izuku watched as Katsuki's arm was pushed upward, causing the explosion to blast vertically through the roof.
And then he heard the second pin hit the ground, and everything exploded.
Ochako barely had time to react when she heard Izuku call out 'now' on the radio, diving to the side of the room before a huge column of flame blasted through the floor in the center of the room. She didn't know how Izuku did it, but as soon as it dissipated she began running, touching as much of the debris as she could find while under the cover provided by the smoke.
When the smoke cleared, she was ready. Iida had, smartly, retreteated to be near the bomb. Hoisting the remains of a pillar, she launched it at him like a javelin, forcing him to dodge.
"Release!" She shouted, initiating the second wave of her attack and causing the debris to fall down on the room, distracting him as he was being pelted by the debris and being forced to avoid the larger chunks. Using the several precious seconds she had bought herself, she used her quirk on herself and kicked off of a pillar, floating over to the bomb and touching it before Iida had a chance to recover.
"H-Heroes win!" They heard All Might announce over the comms, but something in his voice was off.
"Midoriya, we did it!" Ochako cheered, but there was only silence on the other line.
"Midoriya?"
Iida walked over, with a serious look on his face. "Something must have happened downstairs, Bakugo isn't responding either!"
The two raced downstairs, only to see Katsuki standing there, staring at a broken window.
Izuku was nowhere to be found.
"What happened?" Iida asked.
Ochako didn't hear Katsuki's answer as she began to realize what happened, her eyes widening before she raced over to the window and looked outside. There, about twenty meters away, she saw Izuku being loaded onto a stretcher by medical drones.
She spun around as she heard Tenya coming up behind her. "All Might has called us all back to the control room, let's see what he has to say."
Ochako merely crossed her arms and glared. "Fine."
"Ow." When Izuku woke up he felt sore all over, but didn't feel any burns or breaks, which he was thankful for.
"When I told you I didn't want to see you again, I didn't mean just because you've misused One For All!" Recovery Girl scolded him as she entered the room.
"How bad was it?" Izuku felt almost afraid to ask.
"Surprisingly little, given the circumstances." Recovery girl looked at the computer next to his bed. "Your costume kept you safe from any burns, and your helmet protected your head when you hit the ground, but you still suffered several fractures from being blown out of a second story window."
"S-sorry."
Recovery Girl just gave him a look. "Why are you apologizing? You weren't the one who fired the blast."
"I should have seen it coming and avoided it." Izuku stared at the ceiling.
Recovery Girl sighed and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"
Izuku didn't have time to respond, however, as Aizawa entered the room. "It seems like there is a history between you and Bakugou. Even after being told not to, he fired his gauntlets a second time, and at point blank range. Fortunately for you, it was only partially full, otherwise it would have been a lot worse."
"I see." Izuku looked down at the bed. "With the number of explosions he was firing off I thought the second bracer was still empty."
"Your plan was a reasonable one, turning your opponent's strength against them. You are lucky your costume was designed to handle explosions." Aizawa folded his arms and looked at him. "Something tells me there's a reason for that."
Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat, refusing to look up. "Y-yeah."
"And that is why I am here. All Might had me review the audio logs."
Izuku winced.
"I'm going to ask this once, and I'm expecting the truth. What is the history between you and Bakugo?"
Izuku sighed and then raised his head to look at Aizawa with determination etched onto his face. "It all started when we were four and my doctor declared me quirkless…"
After the four remaining mock combats, All Might gave each of the students a tablet containing their performance results before dismissing them back to their classroom. There they began reviewing their results, either by themselves or in small groups, until Aizawa came into the classroom.
"Bakugo, come with me." Aizawa announced.
Grumbling, Katsuki stood up and followed Aizawa out of the classroom and down to the teacher's lounge, where he saw a large stack of books sitting on the table.
"What the hell are these?"
"Bakugo, have you ever heard of quirk discrimination, or quirkism for short?"
Katsuki frowned. "No, what is that?"
"It's the belief that someone is superior to someone else due to the quirk they possess - or if they are quirkless."
Katsuki scowled at that, not liking where this was going. "What does that have to do with me?"
"I have heard some disturbing things from Midoriya, and am going to ask you plainly - were you abusive to Izuku Midoriya because you thought he was quirkless?"
Katsuki didn't answer him, but instead turned to leave. "I don't have time for this."
But before he could leave he felt Aizawa's capture weapon around his arms and chest, keeping him in place. "Wrong answer."
"What the hell do you want me to say?!"
"Right now? Nothing." Aizawa indicated the tower of books. "Instead, you have a special assignment. You are to read up on the history of quirk discrimination, as well as the terrorist group known as the Meta-Liberation Army, well known quirk supremecists. You then have until the end of the semester to do two things. First, you need to write an essay explaining to me that you understand all of the flaws with the MLAs philosophy. Second, you need to prove to me that you, personally, are not influenced by quirkism. If you cannot do that, you must instead show me how you are trying to overcome your inherent quirkism."
"And if I don't?"
"Then you will be expelled."
That caused Katsuki to whip around and glare at his teacher. "What the hell!?"
"We have enough bad heroes in society. What was the second lesson I taught you yesterday?"
"It is a hero's job to fight the unfairness in society."
"Good, you were listening." Aizawa grinned. "Now tell me, if a hero personally perpetuates a toxic behavior, are they going to help make society better?"
Katsuki looked down and growled. "No."
"Also correct. There are enough bad heroes out there already. I will not have one of my students join their ranks. You keep claiming you want to be the number one hero. Now tell me, what kind of society would we live in if the number one hero was willing to tell a quirkless kid to take a swan dive off of a building and hope for a quirk next time?"
Katsuki's blood turned to ice. His head shot up and he stared at Aizawa, who only gave him an impassive stare back. "Or, if you would prefer, I can just expel you now, and ensure you are blacklisted from every hero school in the country."
"Why don't you then?"
"That was my original plan. But then Midoriya begged me to give you a chance. He seems to think you will prove me wrong."
Hearing that made Katsuki angry. "You're damned right I will! I'll take your stupid assignment and ace it!"
Aizawa merely gave him a smile that would scare anyone else, but just pissed Katsuki off more. "Good."
After Recovery Girl finally dismissed him and he dropped off the damaged pieces of his costume with Power Loader, Izuku returned to his homeroom. When he opened the door he saw everyone was still reviewing the results from the day, except for one notable absence.
"Where is Bakugo?" Izuku asked.
"Aizawa pulled him away for a private meeting." Iida told him.
Izuku sighed. I guess Aizawa wasn't wasting any time then.
"Umm, Midoriya? This is gonna sound kind of weird but why are you down there?" Denki asked, confusion on his face as he was pointing out the window.
Worried, Izuku rushed over to the window and looked outside. He saw Katsuki walking towards the exit of the school, and, more importantly, he also saw a very angry Himiko, who was currently transformed and waiting at the gate with her arms crossed.
"Oh no."