Chapter 6: Secrets
By the time Izuku had changed back into his street clothes and gotten prepared to leave the UA campus, the adrenaline surge from the end of the practical portion of the exam had long since run down, and he was feeling tired and more than ready to go home.
Of course, he was extremely glad he'd been able to help that nice girl, and he was even pleased that the test had forced him to do more than simply fly around and shoot energy beams. However, he'd never needed to make a construct as big as the one of Mt. Lady he'd created to fight the zero pointer, and it had taken more out of him than he'd expected.
I'll have to work on that before the school year starts, he thought, already trying to figure out when he could go off planet to practice.
"Hey, wait up!"
He turned to spy a familiar brunette jogging up towards him and stopped to allow her to catch up.
"Um, hi," Izuku said.
He was a little too tired to be quite as wound up and nervous as he was before, but this was still an actual, real live girl. One who was his age, even.
"I wanted to thank you," she said. "You really saved me today."
"Oh, um, well…I mean, it was nothing, and I, uh…" he stammered helplessly, bowled over by the simple, sincere expression of gratitude.
She laughed, though not in the malicious way he was all too accustomed to having directed at him.
"You know, if you're going to be a pro hero, you should probably get used to people thanking you," she remarked.
"Uh…"
"Excuse me!"
They both turned to see the tall boy with the glasses rushing forward. Izuku tensed, wondering what he'd done to upset him this time, and was shocked when the other boy instead came to an abrupt halt and then bowed deeply from the waist.
"I wanted to apologize to you!" he said, voice barely below a shout. "I believed you were a troublemaker, but when the zero pointer emerged, you moved to help another while I ran!"
"Oh, um, that's okay," he said awkwardly, the apology catching him only slightly less flat footed than the girl's gratitude. "I'm sure it was an honest mistake?"
The other boy was about to say something when yet another figure approached them.
"Hey there, little listeners!" Present Mic called cheerfully. "Sorry to interrupt what looks like a real sweet impromptu jam session, but one of our staff wants a word with you before you leave…Midoriya, was it?"
Izuku felt his blood run cold but did his best not to show it. "M-Me?" he pointed to himself with a shaking hand.
His best probably wasn't very good.
"Yup! Shouldn't take more than a few minutes," Present Mic said cheerfully, either not noticing the green haired boy's discomfort or pretending not to. "Come on."
Izuku nodded and followed Present Mic off, managing to mumble a goodbye to his new acquaintances.
"He seemed most uncomfortable at being requested by a member of the staff," the blue-haired young man remarked once the two were gone, making a chopping motion with his hands.
"Well, it is easy to immediately jump to the conclusion that you're in trouble for something, in that sort of situation," the brunette replied reasonably.
"I can't deny that, but considering what just happened, it seems far more likely that whoever requested him simply wishes to commend him on his performance!"
The girl held back a giggle at how formal he sounded. "Yeah. I hope that's what that's about, anyway," she said. "I'm Ochako Uraraka, by the way."
"Tenya Iida! A pleasure to meet you!"
They knew.
That was the only thing Izuku could think as he followed Present Mic through the school's winding hallways, feeling like he was being marched to the gallows.
He didn't know how they could possibly know, but somehow, at least one of them did. One of them knew he was really Quirkless and was about to inform him that his application was going to be thrown into the shredder.
He was probably also about to discover that there was some law against faking a Quirk, too. And they'd probably try to force him to hand over his power ring to ensure he never did it again, and so they could make copies and give the duplicates to people who already had amazing Quirks and—
"And here we are!" Present Mic announced, stopping at the door to a teacher's lounge and interrupting Izuku's spiral. "Feel free to ask a staff member for help if you get turned around on your way out, once you're finished."
Izuku nodded. He briefly considered just…not going into the room after Present Mic left without waiting for him to head in. However, he decided that would only be delaying the inevitable, and probably earn himself more trouble than whatever he was already in.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku opened the door, walked inside the room, and promptly did a double take.
"All Might?!"
The number one hero, currently in his skinny form, laughed and briefly sent blood flying before he covered his mouth with a handkerchief.
"And this is why I asked Mic to bring you here, instead of going down myself," he remarked, mirth shining in his sunken blue eyes.
"H-He said one of the UA staff wanted to speak to me," Izuku stammered.
On the one hand, All Might's presence explained how they knew, because he had told the pro that he was Quirkless all those months ago, so naturally him conjuring a life-sized replica of Mt. Lady in her giant form to combat the zero pointer would come off as a little suspicious to him.
One the other hand, All Might being here at all just did not compute in Izuku's brain.
"Ah, yes, well, Principal Nezu may have offered me a position at UA," All Might said, belatedly cagey. "Please don't tell anyone, though. It's not supposed to be public yet."
Izuku might've laughed if he wasn't still so shocked and terrified. All Might could use the fact that he was really Quirkless to destroy any chance he had of ever becoming a pro hero, and here he was asking Izuku to keep something so relatively minor a secret!
"I…of course," he managed to get out instead.
All Might nodded. "Thank you," he said. "Anyway, before anything else, I wanted to apologize to you, young Midoriya."
"…what?" Izuku was so surprised that he forgot for a moment to be afraid of how this was going to play out.
"It was wrong of me…no, not just wrong, it was both hypocritical and unbecoming of me to tell you that you couldn't be a hero," All Might said. "Later that day, you showed me just how wrong I was when youwere the most heroic person present after that ooze villain escaped, despite your lack of a Quirk. I tried to find you to apologize then, but it was like you had disappeared off the face of the Earth."
Izuku chuckled nervously, both at All Might's choice of words and the reminder that the injured pro knew he was actually Quirkless. "It…it's fine."
"You forgive people quickly," All Might noted. "I hope it's not because forgiveness has been demanded of you too many times in the past."
His mind immediately flashed back to numerous incidents where a teacher or other authority figure had ordered him to tell Kacchan or someone else that had hit him or broken something of his that it was fine, no hard feelings, despite the other party not being the least bit contrite about it. He made a mental note to discuss that the next time he went to Mogo, assuming All Might didn't just destroy any chance he had of becoming a pro hero right now.
He wondered if the Corps would keep a Green Lantern who couldn't legally operate on his own home planet and never would be able to.
Izuku abruptly realized that he'd been quiet for too long at this point. "I just don't like to hold grudges," he said. "Especially against people who made honest mistakes."
All Might looked like he didn't quite believe him, but he didn't push the issue. "A noble aim," he said instead.
"Um, thank you," Izuku said.
"Now, with that taken care of, it's time for the obvious question," All Might said.
Izuku tensed.
"You told me you were Quirkless when we met all those months ago," the pro hero continued. "When I saw you taking the practical, I asked Principal Nezu for your file, and it did indeed show that you were registered as such until fairly recently, when your registration was changed to show that you have a Quirk named 'Green Light.' "
Izuku swallowed. He'd had a minor freakout about changing that, but there was really no way around it. His mother had informed him that it was common for those to be changed a couple of times as young people discovered new nuances about how their Quirks functioned, telling him that she'd had to get her own updated when she'd discovered that her Quirk only worked on small objects, and that no one at the records office would look twice.
He supposed she'd been right. Neither of them had ever accounted for All Might, though.
In hindsight, that was looking extremely foolish. Izuku had just assumed that he'd probably never garner the number one hero's attention again, even if he successfully managed to become a pro hero. He certainly hadn't foreseen All Might becoming a teacher at UA!
"So, young man, how did you get that Quirk?" the number one hero asked.
"Oh, um, you know, just a late bloomer," he said.
All Might looked unamused. "Is that so?" he asked. "Quite the surprise then, since there's never been a case of a Quirk naturally manifesting in someone after the age of seven. You'd have already been twice that when you got yours."
"Wow, really? I guess I broke a record then," Izuku said with a nervous chuckle that made him sound like a liar even to himself.
All Might's frown deepened, then he seemed to reach a decision and leaned back in his chair. "Because you've kept the secret of my injury and my weak form so far, I'm going to let you in on another one, so long as you swear to never repeat it," he said. "It'll make it clear why it's so important that I know about this."
"Um, okay," Izuku said. "I mean, I swear, I'll keep it a secret, too."
All Might nodded. "Many years ago, I faced an extremely dangerous villain with the power to steal and transfer Quirks," he said. "I've long believed him to be dead, but I never had absolute confirmation of that. If there's any chance he's still alive and plotting his return, I need to know about it as soon as possible."
Izuku's eyes widened. "And you think—?"
"I can't ignore the possibility," All Might said. "Mind you, I'm not accusing you of being a villain. There's no law against receiving a Quirk from someone else. And this villain often liked to present himself as a benevolent figure. A guardian angel who would swoop in and give someone something that they desperately need. He expects repayment, of course, but will downplay that part until it's time to collect…and his victim realizes they've made a deal with the devil."
"All Might…"
"I understand, better than you might expect, just how tempting it would be to have someone offer you a Quirk out of the blue, and how easy it would be to let that temptation make you throw caution to the wind," All Might went on, his sunken blue eyes piercing. "I swear to you, young Midoriya, on my honor as a hero, if you tell me now that that's what happened, I'll do everything I can for you. I'll make sure your loved ones are protected and put all my weight behind making sure you're not punished for the actions of that villain. Assuming that the stolen Quirk can't be returned to its rightful owner, I'll even advocate for you to be allowed to continue pursuing a career in heroics."
Izuku abruptly realized that the number one hero wasn't just determined, he was also terrified. He remembered what All Might had said about smiling to hide his fear.
"This villain is the one who gave you your injury, wasn't he?" he blurted out.
All Might hesitated for only a moment before nodding once. "He was."
Izuku sighed. It was obvious that there was no way All Might would let him just leave without explaining where his new powers came from.
"I wasn't given a Quirk," he said. "I…I'm not sure you'll believe what did happen to me."
"Try me," All Might replied. "Believe me, I've seen some strange things in my career."
Izuku raised his hand and allowed the power ring on his middle finger to shimmer into visibility, the light glinting off the viridian metal. "Super advanced aliens who seek to bring order and justice to the universe created rings that give people super powers, and one of them chose me the day of the ooze monster's attack."
All Might was visibly thrown for a loop. "Well, young man, I must say, that is indeed one of the most fantastic things I've ever heard."
"It's true, though. I still don't have a Quirk," Izuku whispered. "The ring just lets me fake it."
All Might tilted his head. "Young man…I don't want to be cruel to you. Frankly, I feel like I already did too much of that on the day we met," he said. "But I can't just let this go. I need to be sure you're not in league with my old foe."
Izuku nodded and took the ring off his finger. "Try it," he said, holding it out to the pro hero.
Even though he knew that All Might was someone who could be trusted with awesome power, Izuku's hand still shook as he held the ring out.
Old habits—and old expectations—died hard, and Izuku couldn't help but think that the first person who realized he was Quirkless would take the ring from him, because as a Quirkless Deku, he was clearly the least deserving of its power, no matter what Mogo or the Guardians had to say about it.
Also, while allowing someone else to try his power ring wasn't strictly against the rules, he felt quite safe in assuming that neither Salakk nor the Guardians would be exactly thrilled about this.
All Might examined the ring warily for a moment before taking it and sliding it onto a long, bony finger.
"My goodness!" he exclaimed as green light haloed his form, though his clothes didn't change into a Green Lantern uniform, Izuku noted. "How do you…use this thing?"
Izuku might've giggled at how mystified the pro sounded if not for how serious the whole situation was. "You really just…will things to happen," he said. "There's a bit more to it, but that's the basic idea."
All Might frowned in concentration.
Izuku let out a yelp and dove out of the way of the glowing green fist that suddenly erupted out of the ring, which narrowly missed him and slammed into the far wall with enough force to put a crater in the plaster.
"E-Emerald smash," he said weakly.
"I'm so sorry about that!" All Might exclaimed, speckles of blood flying. "I didn't mean to attack you, I was just trying to figure out how to use this thing, and that just…happened!"
"That's really okay," Izuku said. "Um, but I'll just take that back now if you don't mind…"
The ring glowed with a gentle jade light and flew off of All Might's hand, returning to its place on Izuku's finger before shimmering and vanishing from sight once more.
"How am I going to explain this to Nezu?" All Might was muttering to himself, studying the damage to the wall with dismay.
Izuku cleared his throat. "So, um, do you believe me now?"
He knew there was a chance the answer would be no. In all his time studying and analyzing Quirks, he'd never encountered one that allowed someone to generate an object that empowered another person like a Green Lantern ring, even temporarily. Or one that would allow him to both do the things he'd done during the test and weave an illusion to make the ring look real when it wasn't.
However, compared to "space aliens empowered a random Quirkless kid" it was entirely possible that All Might would find the idea of such a Quirk to be more plausible.
"Yes, I do," All Might said. "Thank you for answering my questions, young man, and for not holding this old man's lapse in judgement on the day we met against me."
Izuku blinked. "That's it?" he blurted out, then wanted to smack himself for it.
All Might tilted his head. "Were you expecting something more?"
"Um, well, I just admitted that I don't actually have a Quirk. In fact, that I faked having one," he said with a wince, realizing it probably wasn't a great idea to include that second sentence. "And you're just…letting me go?"
All Might smiled. It was nothing like the ones he'd display when doing hero work, and not just because he was in his skinny form. Yet there was something warmer there for it.
"I see no reason to deny the world a future hero just because someone recognized his potential and chose to give him a power, rather than him gaining it via genetic good fortune," All Might said.
"Thank you, All Might," Izuku went limp with relief.
"No thanks necessary, young Midoriya," All Might said. "Now, it's probably best that you run along. Wouldn't want your family getting worried about you."
"Right, thanks," Izuku agreed, more than happy to take the chance to finally escape. "I hope I see you at UA!"
"Remember, that's a secret!"
"Right, of course!" Izuku said as he made his exit at last.
That dent in the wall really was going to be a nuisance, All Might mused after Izuku had left.
Nezu would want to know how it got there, and it would be hard to come up with an explanation that neither revealed the true nature of young Midoriya's "Quirk" nor made it seem like his encounter with the young man had gotten violent for a moment.
At least he supposedly stopped planting surveillance devices in the teachers' lounges after the staff threatened to quit en masse over it, he mused.
Well, it would be a headache, and Nezu would no doubt see through any story he concocted, but it wasn't the end of the world. It had been worth it, to confirm that All for One wasn't involved.
Unfortunately, it looked like someone—or at least, something—had realized how exceptional young Midoriya was and had beaten him to the punch.
He was glad now that he hadn't held out and waited in hopes of finding young Midoriya again before moving forward with alternate plans for a successor. The young man already had enough on his plate as it was, having to deal with being the ambassador-slash-champion of a race of super advanced aliens.
He normally would've been extremely skeptical of such a story, but it was impossible to doubt after having worn that ring and felt its otherworldly power.
In any case, it would be hard enough for him to explain suddenly gaining such a powerful "Quirk" to anyone who knew he'd been Quirkless his whole life. Having to explain a super strength Quirk in addition to his Green Lantern powers would be impossible. Besides, it was simply unfair to place the weight of One for All on him along with that power ring.
No, he just needed to accept that space aliens had beaten him to the punch with a potential ideal successor.
Now there's something I never thought I'd have happen, he mused.
Izuku mostly kept to himself after the entrance exam, slipping off to Dagobah beach as soon as school let out every day to finish cleaning the last of the garbage there. Everyone at Aldera assumed he'd failed the entrance exam miserably, and he was content to let them keep believing that.
He really hadn't given it much thought before, but it was going to be awkward if he got accepted into UA and everyone found out.
Despite that, he was still filled with a mixture of giddy relief and deep anxiety when his mother announced that he'd gotten a letter from UA in the mail one afternoon.
Ducking into his room, Izuku tore open the envelope, and was surprised when a small metal disk fell out.
Before he could even wonder what it was, it projected a hologram into the air above itself.
"I am here!" All Might boomed. "As a projection!"
"Huh, guess him joining UA isn't so secret anymore," Izuku muttered to himself.
"Once again, I must apologize for misjudging you on the day we met, young Midoriya. I don't lie when I say it's a source of great regret for me," the pro hero said, his famous smiling dimming a bit.
No longer terrified that All Might was about to reveal him as a fraud and strip him of his shot at his dream, Izuku felt almost absurdly touched by this. One of the most powerful people in the country was apologizing to him, when so many others had made him feel miserable and had only laughed about it.
"But, now isn't the time to reflect on the past, it's a time to think of the future!" All Might proclaimed dramatically, just before someone's hand entered the picture and motioned for the number one hero to speed things up, prompting a brief, muffled conversation between him and whoever the hand belonged to.
"All Might can be surprisingly awkward sometimes," Izuku noted.
"Your performance on the written was comfortably in the top twenty percent of applicants," All Might continued, "and your score on the practical was nothing short of spectacular, I'm happy to say! You easily dispatched enough robots to earn 55 villain points! More than enough to gain entry to the hero course!"
"Yes!" Izuku pumped his fist.
"But!"
The green haired boy froze mid motion. He quickly told himself that if All Might was about to tell him that he was disqualified, the pro wouldn't have been all smiles and congratulations this whole time. Also, if he was going to pull the rug out from under Izuku, he would've done it the day of the test.
Still, all the logic in the world couldn't prevent the trickle of fear in his heart.
"There's more to the test than what the proctor explains!" All Might said, pointing at the camera. "What kind of hero school wouldn't reward students for displaying heroic behavior?" he asked as the image shifted to recordings of Izuku swooping in to save other applicants in peril from the robots, culminating in him saving that brunette from the zero pointer with his constructs.
"Not the kind of school that UA wants to be!" All Might proclaimed. "Which is why there's another way to earn points on the practical: rescue points! For your heroic deeds during the test, the facility awarded you a whopping 75 points! That brings your total up to a staggering 130, which not only puts you into first place but is also a new record!"
Izuku's eyes widened, jaw going slack with shock. First place? The record score? Him?
"At this point, it goes without saying that you're in, young Midoriya!" All Might said. "It is my pleasure to welcome you…to your hero academia!"
Izuku started crying with joy the moment the recording ended.
Chapter 7: First Day
"Do you have your tissues? What about your handkerchief?" Inko asked as Izuku hurriedly put on his shoes, desperate to not be late for his first day at UA.
"Yes, I have them!" he said, heading for the door. "Gotta go!"
"Izuku, wait!" Inko called.
"Yes?" he asked, trying not to let his impatience turn into irritation with his mother.
"You're really cool, Izuku," she said, giving him a watery smile. "And you belong at UA. I don't know anything more about ancient space aliens than what you've told me, but these Guardians made a good choice when they gave you that ring."
He smiled. "Thanks, Mom. I'll see you later!"
A short train ride later, and he was walking onto the UA campus as a student for the first time.
Izuku couldn't help but be a little awed by it. The citadel of the Guardians on Oa was much bigger than the main building, but this was still UA.
Also, while not the largest building he'd ever been in, it was still huge. He got a little turned around, and didn't find the classroom until it was closer to the start of the school day than he would've liked. Still, he found the door to his homeroom with a few minutes to spare.
Izuku almost wasn't surprised when the first thing he encountered upon opening it was the blue-haired, bespectacled guy from the entrance exam barking at Kacchan to get his feet off the desk, and Kacchan throwing out one of his casual death threats in turn.
"That's reprehensible!" the guy with the glasses exclaimed. "Are you sure you even want to be a hero with that kind of attitude?!"
"Shut the hell up, Four Eyes, before I show you your place!" Kacchan snapped.
The other young man was about to retort when he noticed Izuku. Seemingly forgetting his dispute with the explosive blonde, he practically rounded on Izuku. "You! I believe that Present Mic said your name was Midoriya, correct?"
Izuku blinked, shocked that he'd remembered. "Um, yes, that's me, Izuku Midoriya."
"I'm Tenya Iida," he smiled. "I'm glad we can finally introduce ourselves properly, as we were interrupted on the day of the exam."
"Oh, yeah, nice to formally meet you, too," Izuku said, slightly awkward.
He wasn't the most social of creatures to begin with, and it was especially difficult to be at ease with Kacchan glaring daggers at him.
"I must commend you again for realizing the correct course of action during the entrance exam and acting to save Uraraka," Iida said. "You saw things that I didn't until after the test had concluded!"
Despite not daring to look directly at him, Izuku could still see a vein throbbing in Kacchan's forehead.
"You mean the rescue points?" he asked, blinking. "I didn't know about those. I just couldn't stand by while she was in danger." He added, making a mental note that the nice girl's name was apparently Uraraka.
"Then you're even more deserving!"
"Hey, it…it wasn't that big of a deal," Izuku stammered out, both uncomfortable with the praise and wanting it to stop before Kacchan went nuclear.
"Oh, hey, Midoriya!" a new voice called from the doorway. "That's your name, right? I'm glad to see you here! You looked so worried when Present Mic said somebody wanted to talk to you, but I guess it was okay, right?"
Izuku blinked, turning to find the nice girl standing there. "Oh, um, yeah, it was fine," he said. He felt nearly bowled over, in a good way, by the amount of bubbly positive energy the girl was putting out. "Uh, Uraraka, right?"
"Yup, that's me. Ochako Uraraka," she confirmed with a nod. "I—"
"If you're just here to socialize, you may as well leave now," yet another new voice spoke, in something between a mumble and a tired groan.
Everyone looked down to see…a yellow sleeping bag laying in the hallway. A hand reached out and unzipped it part of the way, revealing a disheveled, tired looking man with long black hair drinking a jelly packet.
The class slowly went silent, everyone staring at the guy as he stood up and shed the sleeping bag. "It took you eight seconds to quiet down," he said. "Time is a precious resource, and you can't afford to waste it. You lot aren't very rational, are you?"
Everyone just stared at the man, wondering who this very bedraggled looking individual was.
"I'm Shota Aizawa, your homeroom teacher. Pleased to meet you," he added, sounding like the brief pleasantry had cost him far more effort than he'd wanted to spend.
The shocked silence continued as everyone took in the fact that this man was a teacher, and their teacher, at that.
Aizawa held out one of the school's blue and white gym uniforms. "Now put these on and head out to the grounds," he said. "Quickly now."
"…why?" Uraraka blurted out, the strangeness of the whole scene finally catching up to her.
"I'm going to be testing your Quirks," Aizawa answered, his tone suggesting he felt the question was very silly.
"But what about orientation? Or the guidance sessions?" Uraraka sputtered.
"Meaningless ceremonies," Aizawa replied flatly. "No time to waste if you want to become heroes. Now move." He added, making it clear that he'd brook no further arguments.
Izuku wasn't so sure that the usual day one activities were pointless, but with little choice, he headed down to the locker rooms, quickly swapped his regular school uniform for the PE one, and made his way to the grounds, along with the other students in Class 1-A.
"Middle schools in this country refuse to allow students to use their Quirks on the standard physical tests," Aizawa was saying as everyone lined up. "It's irrational. The education department is just procrastinating."
Izuku arched an eyebrow at that. On paper, people without hero licenses weren't supposed to be regularly using their Quirks, and thus couldn't really be expected to have a good enough grip on them to safely apply them to physical exams. This went double for people with powerful ones that could potentially cause injury or mayhem if used improperly. From that viewpoint, not allowing students to use their Quirks was the only sane—the only rational—course of action.
On the other hand, Izuku knew all too well that students used their Quirks all the time, and teachers just looked the other way, especially when it was the students with the flashy, powerful Quirks were doing it. So expecting students to have a good handle on their Quirks by the time they reached high school was in many ways simply acknowledging reality.
Still, something didn't sit right about it with Izuku. No middle school principal had the power to change the country's laws governing Quirk usage, after all, so it felt like Aizawa was grumpy at them for not totally disregarding the rules.
He also had a sneaking suspicion the man would extend that annoyance to anyone who didn't have a great grip on their Quirk already, despite the fact that technically they shouldn't have been able to practice with them that much.
For his own part, Izuku was just glad that Arisa had trained him thoroughly on how to use his power ring.
"Midoriya," Aizawa spoke.
Izuku stiffened. "Yes, sir?"
Aizawa gestured for him to step into a large circle drawn on the field and tossed him a softball. "How far could you throw in middle school?"
"Fifty-six meters," Izuku answered.
"Great," Aizawa grunted. "Now try it with your Quirk. Do whatever, so long as you don't leave the circle."
Izuku nodded, quickly deciding how best to handle this. A beam of green light shot out from the currently invisible ring on his finger and quickly formed into a construct of All Might.
"What the fuck?!" Kacchan snarled, startling Izuku so much that the construct winked out.
Izuku belatedly realized that this was the first time the blond boy had ever seen his "Quirk" in action.
"Explain yourself, Deku!" Kacchan roared.
He went rocketing towards his target, using explosions from his hands to propel himself at greater speeds. For his own part, some of Izuku's Lantern training must've kicked in, because he automatically brought his protective aura up and got into a defensive stance, even as the larger part of him wanted to cower in terror.
Seconds before Kacchan could reach him, however, a strip of cloth suddenly wrapped itself around him, stopping him cold. The explosions erupting in his palms fizzled out.
"What the hell is this cloth?" the explosive boy growled as he struggled against it.
"It's my capture weapon," Aizawa said. "Made of carbon fibers and a special alloy weave. Now quit using your Quirk already, I'm getting dry eye over here."
"The Erasure Hero: Eraserhead," Izuku whispered, finally figuring out the pro hero identity of their homeroom teacher.
Kacchan struggled a bit more but finally relented, allowing Aizawa to stop using his Quick and withdraw his capture weapon.
"What a waste of time," the pro hero grunted. "Midoriya, proceed."
"R-Right," Izuku said.
Most of the rest of the class murmured to each other, surprised that their teacher would just continue like normal after that, without doing anything to the student who'd just tried to attack another unprovoked. Izuku, however, wasn't the least bit incredulous; three years at Aldera made it the expected outcome where Kacchan was involved. Focusing his willpower once more, he dropped his protective aura and created the All Might construct again, handing the softball to it.
The ring construct wound up like a major league pitcher, then hurled the softball with tremendousforce, rivaling what the real number one hero could muster.
There was a loud crack as the ball broke through the sound barrier, causing one girl with what looked like aux jacks dangling from her earlobes to wince.
"Huh, must've made it into orbit," Aizawa remarked as he held up his phone so the class could see. The device was currently displaying an infinity symbol.
"Whoa, amazing!"
"The infinity sign actually came up!"
"So we can use our Quirks for real? The hero course is awesome!"
Something dangerous sparked in Aizawa's surly gaze. "You're hoping to become heroes after only three years here…and you think it'll be all fun and games?" he asked. "Right. The student with the lowest score will be deemed hopeless and expelled from the hero course."
"It's only the first day! Expelling someone so soon is totally unfair!" Uraraka protested.
"The world is full of unfair things," Aizawa retorted. "Heroes are called upon to correct that unfairness, but you need to be run through the wringer before you'll be ready for that. As a teacher at UA, I'm empowered to do exactly that. I can expel you at any time, for any reason. So use all your strength to overcome it all. Go Plus Ultra. Or get out. If you're expecting to spend your evenings hanging out at McDonald's, you may as well spare all the time and exit the hero course now."
There was no more talk about how awesome UA was after that, no more excitement. The students turned to the tests with single-minded determination.
For his part, Izuku had little trouble with the events themselves, easily able to use the power of his Green Lantern ring to help him through them. For the 50-meter dash, he created a construct of Ingenium and placed himself inside of it, much to the surprise of Iida. He simply flew over the sand pit for the standing long jump. Green Might returned for the grip strength test.
Not every test was one he could easily use the ring to assist himself with, but still, he was soon confident that he'd be well above the bottom of the pack.
Yet with each success, he felt like a pit was forming in his stomach and getting bigger.
He didn't really have a Quirk. Was someone who did—someone who deserved to be there—going to be expelled because he was using the ring to cheat, for personal gain?
No, stop it! He thought, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.
Izuku reminded himself that Salakk had given him the okay to use the power from his Green Lantern ring to pursue a career in heroics. His mother had told him just that morning that he belonged at UA. All Might himself had had no issue with Izuku going to UA, after he'd learned the truth about his "Quirk."
It still didn't quite blunt the feeling that he was doing something terribly wrong, and Izuku wondered if he would forever feel like a fraud in hero society, assuming he achieved his goal.
Seeking to distract himself from that depressing thought, Izuku spent the time he spent waiting on the sidelines observing his classmates, using his old love of Quirk analysis to occupy his mind instead.
Everyone had such cool Quirks, which was just to be expected from UA students, but he quickly noticed a pattern as he watched them. Almost everyone was able to use their Quirk to excel at one or two events, but only a handful were able to do it with almost every event.
Really, the only ones who were managing that, aside from himself, were Kacchan, a boy with a large scar on his face and ice generation powers, and a tall girl with her black hair in a ponytail who seemed to be able to pull any object she wanted from her own body.
He paid particular attention to this last one, both because he was insanely curious about such a versatile Quirk—what were the limits? How many things could she make at once? Was there any substance she couldn't make? The questions were seemingly endless—and because her ability to create things was so similar to his own power to make constructs.
His eyes widened as he watched her create a pair of shoes with springs to help her in the side-to-side stepping, struck by the cleverness of it.
I should've done that! He thought, recalling his own mediocre performance on that exercise.
Izuku grimaced as the ponytailed girl's ingenuity made him realize how much he'd been limiting himself. Virtually every construct he'd ever made since he'd gone past giant fists and spheres had been various pro heroes. Of course, given how many heroes there were and how varied their Quirks were (not to mention his own encyclopedic knowledge of them), he still had a significant number of tools in his toolbox. But this test had already proved that there were some situations that those wouldn't cover, and creating a construct of a pro hero took more time, willpower, and mental focus than making a simple object.
The only problem would be shifting his way of thinking; his brain just automatically went to heroes whenever he was confronted with a complex problem.
Arisa had praised him for his ability to create such elaborate and powerful constructs so quickly, but now he felt like he'd skipped learning an important skill, having gone from very basic constructs directly to more advanced ones.
It figures I'm actually really good at something for once and it comes back to bite me, he thought.
Izuku reached up and slapped both his cheeks with his hands, trying to snap himself out of it. This just meant that he had to work on it going forward, to get more creative with his "Quirk" and go plus ultra!
Unfortunately, most of the events were already over. He wasn't able to come up with anything to help him with the seated toe-touch (though neither did almost anyone else), and he also initially came up blank when Aizawa announced they'd finish up with an endurance test.
Then the raven-haired girl opened her gym top and pulled a small motor scooter out of her body.
"Oh!" he breathed, before focusing his will into the ring and creating a construct of a bicycle.
He could've made a motor vehicle of some sort, of course, but a bike was still a huge advantage, and he saw no reason not to get some exercise during this test.
Unlike with the previous tests, Aizawa allowed them all to do this one at once. Nearly everyone started off strong, despite having gone through the rest of the series of tests already, but it wasn't too long before several students slowed and eventually stopped, with the kid with the purple balls for hair being first, probably thanks to his short legs.
Kacchan, the guy with the scar, and the pink-skinned girl lasted longer than average, first using their Quirks to help propel them and then simply jogging when they exhausted them. When Iida's engines sputtered and he was forced to stop, only Izuku and the creation girl remained, neither of them having any difficulty so far.
"Okay, that's enough," Aizawa grunted. "I'm giving you both top marks on this one."
Izuku stood, allowing his construct to disappear into nothingness, while the girl brought her scooter to a stop and parked it next to the track.
"Explaining how the scores are tabulated to rank you all would take too long, so here they are," Aizawa said, pressing a button on a remote control he had, which projected a hologram of the list into the air.
Izuku smiled at seeing he was in second place, only behind someone named Momo Yaoyorozu, who he assumed was the girl with the object creation Quirk.
The short boy with the purple balls for hair let out a horrified sounding squeak, and Izuku gave him a sympathetic look, the guilt he'd felt earlier returning in full force.
"Also, I was lying about expelling someone," Aizawa added, with a grin Izuku could only describe as sadistic. "That was a rational deception, meant to bring out your best efforts."
Most of the class reacted with shock and horror, with Yaoyorozu being one of the rare exceptions. "Well, of course it was a lie," she said. "I thought it was obvious. Should I have said something?" she added.
Everyone was still too stunned to answer her.
"Anyway, we're done here," Aizawa said, abruptly turning away and jamming his hands in his pockets. "Your papers about the curriculum and all that are back in the classroom. Make sure to pick them up before you leave for the day."
"All Might," Aizawa grunted as he turned around the corner of one of the nearby buildings, unsurprised to see the huge pro in his awful, pinstriped yellow suit. "I see you were watching me. I would've thought a man in your position wouldn't be so keen to waste time."
The number one hero ignored the jab. "I merely wanted a look at the class I'll be teaching soon," he said instead.
It was a lie, of course. He'd mainly been curious to see how well the young man who might've been successor had things gone different would perform, and if he could actually keep that ring invisible when under stress.
"Uh huh," Aizawa grunted. "And it has nothing to do with you still being paranoid about Midoriya for some reason?"
"Not at all," All Might replied.
The underground pro's expression shifted to one of mild, sleepy surprise at the other's easy denial. Apparently, he'd expected the number one to either be cagey about the subject or respond with nervous stammering.
"What did you think of them?" All Might asked, seeking to move past the moment.
"They're not completely without potential," Aizawa muttered tiredly.
"Mmm," All Might hummed thoughtfully. "You know, it may not be my place to say this, considering I'm a complete newbie when it comes to teaching, but was it really a good idea to lie to them all, and on the first day at that?"
Aizawa stopped and silently appraised All Might for a moment, possibly wondering if the blond man knew where the deception truly was.
As it turned out, All Might did know, a cursory glance at the school records he was now privy to having made him aware of how quick the underground pro was to expel students. The lie hadn't been the threat of expulsion, it had been the claim that he'd never intended to carry it out to begin with.
Not that it made a difference. Even if the students didn't know the exact source of the dishonestly, they still knew he'd lied to them.
"You're right," Aizawa said eventually. "It's not your place."
And with that, he turned and continued walking off.
"Excuse me!" Izuku called, running forward.
He thought he'd lost track of the creation girl after the students had all gone back to their respective locker rooms to change out of gym clothes and into their regular uniforms. Izuku had swapped outfits at basically warp speed, not wanting to be in the locker room with a still seething Kacchan for a moment longer than necessary and then waited around in the classroom after grabbing the syllabus and other documents that were waiting there for them, hoping to get a chance to speak to her. However, the explosive blonde had appeared first, and Izuku had decided to make himself scarce again, opting to try and catch her outside instead.
He'd just about given up on getting to speak to her when he'd spotted her talking to the girl with the aux jacks dangling from her earlobes near the entrance to the school.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" she asked as Izuku drew near, while the shorter girl eyed him warily.
"I-I wanted to thank you," he stammered out, suddenly having trouble properly forming words and regretting his decision to seek this girl out like this.
She was really very pretty, more so than he'd realized during the tests. She was also quite curvy, especially for their age, something the shapeless PE uniforms had largely concealed but was a lot easier to see now that she was in the regular school uniform.
She tilted her head slightly, looking confused. "Whatever for?" she asked. "And may I ask your name?"
"Um, I'm Izuku Midoriya," he managed to get out. "And you're Yaoyorozu, right? The one who got the top score on the test today?"
She nodded. "Yes, that's me, and this Kyoka Jirou," she said, indicating the shorter girl.
" 'Sup," she greeted him with a nod.
"So, what was it that you're thanking me for?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Izuku's face reddened, feeling like a moron for needing to be asked that a second time. "Watching the way you use your Quirk helped me use my own more intelligently," he got out, talking only a little too fast. "I don't think I would've done nearly as well on the endurance test at the end without your example. I wanted to thank you for that, and I hope you don't mind if I continue to use some of your ideas on what to create in a situation." He added with a bow.
"Oh, you're very welcome, then, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu said with a pleased smile. "And of course, I don't mind! In fact, I take it as a compliment."
"Hey, no offense to either one of you, but could you really not have thought to make a bike for that test without watching what Yaoyorozu did?" Jirou asked, though she looked a lot less wary of him than she had a second ago.
He blushed again. "I mean, probably. Eventually," he said. "My Quirk came in really late, so I don't really have as much experience with it as most people. And my mind just sort of always goes to heroes. I usually don't make stuff, even if it would make more sense. I'm hoping to work on that."
Yaoyorozu smiled kindly at him, which didn't do anything for the redness in his face. "I hope we can all help each other become better future heroes, so I'll be happy if I can assist you with that. In fact…" she checked her wristwatch. "My driver won't be here for a while, since we got out so much earlier than expected. I'm feeling a bit peckish after those tests. Why don't we get something to eat and we can talk about it?"
"Sure!" Izuku squeaked without stopping to think about it, voice at least half an octave higher than normal, causing Jirou to smirk. Yaoyorozu either didn't notice how awkward he was or was polite enough to pretend not to.
He might've wondered about the "my driver" remark if he hadn't been using all his faculties to try to keep at least some semblance of composure while talking to a gorgeous girl.
"Lovely," Yaoyorozu smiled. "Jirou, would you like to join us?"
"That would be cool, but I have other stuff I gotta do," Jirou replied. "Have fun, you two."
Oh, okay, suddenly I'm doing something that sort of looks like a date with a girl who looks like she belongs on a magazine cover or something. Impossibly Stunning Women Monthly, he swallowed, then steeled himself. Yaoyorozu didn't deserve to be treated differently because of how she looked.
Also, a lot of female pro heroes were extremely attractive—popularity was always beneficial to pro heroes, at least those who didn't go underground. And the simple fact of the matter was that good looking people tended to be more popular, something that often hit female pro heroes harder than their male counterparts—so he supposed he'd have to get used to interacting with beautiful women at some point if he wanted to be a hero himself.
No fear.
By sheer force of will, he managed to make himself act at least relatively normal as they walked away from the UA campus in search of a snack, the two exchanging small talk as they went. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before his nervousness at talking to a pretty girl he'd just met today started to ebb. It didn't go away entirely, to be sure, but it diminished enough that it took minimal effort to maintain his composure. Or at least, for him to seem reasonably sane.
"I hope I didn't come off as arrogant to everybody back there," Yaoyorozu said. "I really just assumed that everyone would realize that Mr. Aizawa was bluffing with his expulsion threat!"
"I don't think it'll be an issue," he said, even though he privately thought she had seemed a little arrogant then. "I'm sure people will realize you didn't mean it to come off that way when they get to know you." He added sincerely. Yaoyorozu was very proper and formal but very nice for all that.
"How did you know he was bluffing, by the way?" Izuku asked.
"He kept talking about being rational and logical," Yaoyorozu answered. "It would've been very irrational to expel someone on the first day, and as a result of that physical test, which limited how creative a number of us could be with their Quirks. However, if he wanted to make everyone try as hard as possible, then it made more sense."
Izuku realized he couldn't find a hole in her logic. "You're really smart, Yaoyorozu."
"Oh, thank you. I do try, and I've had the benefit of some of the best tutors," she said, a dusting of red appearing on her cheeks.
Cute! Izuku thought, nearly getting overwhelmed again.
"I'm not entirely sure that that 'ruse' was really a good thing to do, though," he said, somehow forcing his mind back to the conversation.
Maybe it was just because the first people to believe in him were all about courage and overcoming fear, but the underground pro's scare tactics definitely rubbed him the wrong way.
"I can't say I disagree. While it may have made sense in the short term, I know that I'll certainly be on guard for more such ruses in the future," Yaoyorozu said. "But enough of that for now. Let's choose a place to eat."
A small, rarely heard from subversive streak in Izuku wanted to suggest McDonalds, but he quickly dismissed the idea. While his main power was his Green Lantern ring, he still made sure to get in shape, and greasy fast food wasn't really compatible with a pro hero diet. He doubted that Yaoyorozu would like it, either.
They eventually selected a build-your-own-salad-bowl type restaurant. It was part of a chain that had rapidly become popular in Japan, but Yaoyorozu was clearly unfamiliar with the process of ordering, following his lead to the point that she ordered almost exactly the same thing he did, only swapping out the chicken for salmon. She smiled the whole time, though, like the whole experience was a wonderful novelty.
By this point, Izuku was becoming increasingly sure that she came from money, probably quite a lot of it, but he refrained from remarking on it.
"So, you said you believe I can help you use your Quirk more effectively?" Yaoyorozu asked between daintily taking bites of her salad.
Izuku nodded. "Right," he agreed. "Like I said, my Quirk came in really late. I've done my best to train with it, but I guess I don't think as creatively as I'd believed."
"How late did your Quirk come in, and what exactly is it, if you don't mind my asking?" Yaoyorozu inquired.
"I got it about ten months before the entrance exam," he answered, getting a soft gasp in response.
"A Quirk awakening so late is unprecedented!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed softly.
He nodded. "Believe me, no one was more shocked than me," he said. "As for what it is, I call it Green Light. It allows me to generate, well, green light, that I can use to create a protective aura around myself, fly, shoot energy blasts, or create what I call constructs."
To demonstrate, he created a pint-sized construct of All Might. The green version of the number one hero gave Yaoyorozu a jaunty salute before quickly fading into nothingness.
"That's an extremely versatile Quirk!" she remarked, smiling delightedly.
He blushed. "Thanks, though I'd say yours is even more versatile."
"I can't say I agree," Yaoyorozu replied. "I certainly can't fly."
"But the things you create actually stick around once you've made them," he countered. "If I lose focus, my constructs just disappear."
Yaoyorozu looked ready to argue further but then shook her head. "This debate isn't getting us anywhere," she said. "Why do you have trouble with making constructs that aren't pro heroes?"
"I guess I'm just too much of a hero fanboy for my mind to go anywhere else," he admitted, blushing.
She giggled, covering her mouth with a hand.
"It works a lot," he added. "But not always, and it's not as efficient as creating a construct of a simpler object when one will do the job just as well. So, I was hoping to maybe get some pointers from you?" he shyly asked the last part.
There were actually stars in her eyes at that. "Of course! I'd be happy to!" she said. "Since your Quirk is different, I'm sure your limitations are too, but I hope any tips I can offer will be helpful! Normally when I need to choose what to create, I like to…"
She went on for a good twenty minutes, Izuku eagerly recording everything she told him in one of his notebooks. Yaoyorozu was correct in that they had very different limits on their abilities, and therefore not all the advice she had to give was applicable to him, but a lot of it would be really valuable all the same. And hearing about how her Quirk worked alongside it was super interesting as well.
"Oh, look at the time!" Yaoyorozu said eventually, checking her wristwatch again, well after their bowls were empty. "I have to get back soon. I don't want to leave my driver waiting."
"Um, before you go, one more thing, please?" he asked.
She nodded and gestured for him to go on.
"I, uh, I made a habit of analyzing heroes' Quirks since I was little a kid," he stammered out. "I've always loved it, trying to figure out exactly how they worked and coming up with new potential applications for them. But I've had trouble doing it with my own. Guess it's kind of a blind spot for me. I was wondering if it would be okay if I did an analysis of yours? I think it might help me come up with more uses for my own Quirk, and I'd share it with you, of course. But you don't have to say yes! I know a lot of people in my old school thought it would be creepy, so I'd understand if—"
"Midoriya," she cut him off gently. "It would be fine with me if you wanted to do that."
"Thanks, Yaoyorozu!"
"You're very welcome," she smiled. "I hope it helps you, and I look forward to seeing the results of your analysis."
Chapter 8: Battle Trials, Part 1
When she'd given Midoriya permission to do an analysis of her Quirk, Momo really hadn't given it much thought afterwards aside from hoping it would help him improve the use of his own, despite his promise to share that analysis with her.
At most, she'd expected he would eventually provide her with some moderately useful insight, though more likely it would be a suggestion that she attempt to make a specific item with her Quirk. Most people did that sort of thing when they learned about Creation.
Ultimately, she'd given him permission to do the analysis because he clearly believed it would help him further his mastery of his own, very late emerging Quirk. Momo didn't need or expect anything in return, and if the promised analysis had failed to ever materialize, she never would've brought it up with her classmate.
So she was more than a little caught by surprise when he shyly presented her with a notebook the next morning before homeroom began.
"Is this the analysis you mentioned yesterday?" she asked, even though he had clearly written "Quirk Analysis: Creation" on the front in a slightly messy hand.
Midoriya nodded. "I, um, was able to write a lot more than usual, because your Quirk is so versatile, and because you told me so much about it yesterday," he said bashfully. "I think it really helped me organize my thoughts when it comes to using my constructs better. I h-hope it can help you, too."
"Thank you, Midoriya, I'll give it a look," she said, accepting the notebook.
He nodded rapidly, face red, and the warning bell chose that moment to go off. "I guess we'd better get to class," Midoriya said.
He waited long enough for her to agree before making a hasty retreat, and Momo allowed herself a brief giggle before she also started making her way to the classroom. The young man's shyness was rather adorable, and she had to give him credit for working to overcome it in order to seek her out in hopes of improving his use of his Quirk and helping her in return.
Making it to homeroom comfortably before it started, she cracked open the notebook and took a quick look, surprised to find a rather good pencil sketch of herself from the shoulders up on the first page.
The first few paragraphs contained conclusions and observations about Creation that she had made years ago: that she needed exposed skin in order to create things, that the potential to run out of lipids and the time she needed to create things were the main weaknesses of her Quirk, and that for her, knowledge was literally power, as the more things she knew the composition of and the schematics for, the more things were in her arsenal.
At least he didn't immediately launch into the list of support items and other gadgets I should create, she mused, lips quirking into a small smile.
An extensive checklist of objects and gadgets she should create with her Quirk in a combat or disaster situation was pretty much what everyone who'd ever attempted to help with it had ever produced, including the private Quirk counselors her parents had hired after she'd informed them that she intended to pursue a career as a pro hero. Midoriya had surprised her once already, but she couldn't imagine he could've done more than that in one night, especially given the sheer amount he'd apparently written.
The next portion pointed out that, where her Quirk was concerned, efficiency was using the simplest, least massive creations possible to achieve whatever her goal happened to be at the given moment, which was…interesting. It wasn't news to her exactly, as she was certainly aware that simpler things were easier and quicker for her to create, and that smaller objects taxed her reserves less. However, that wasn't quite how she'd thought about it when using her Quirk, especially as she'd gotten better at creating larger, more complicated objects over time.
At the very least, he's given me a useful new reference point when it comes to how I view problems, she mused with a small smile.
Then she moved to the section containing suggestions, and her dark eyes widened as she skimmed the first couple of paragraphs.
She spent just about all of her "ordinary" classes reading through the notebook. Good thing she was a top student, and the first day was largely about going over the syllabus of each class anyway.
"I am…coming through the door like a regular person!" All Might proclaimed as he burst into the classroom for their first real Heroics class, clad in his silver age costume.
The buzz of whispered conversation from the class was electric as All Might strode toward the podium, which looked almost comically undersized before the huge pro hero. For his own part, Izuku was just glad that he wouldn't have to keep this secret anymore; having to remain silent while everyone wondered who the heroics teacher would be had been killing him!
He'd never realized how difficult it could be to keep a secret when he actually had people who wanted to talk to him.
"No time to dally, zygotes!" All Might proclaimed. "This is the class that teaches you the basics of how to be pro heroes! It also gives a ton of credits!" he added with a chuckle. "So let's dive right into today's activity!"
He held out a card that had the word "Battle" written on it in big, bold letters.
The buzz of excited murmurs returned, this time mixed with surprise and a bit of trepidation from a few, who were taken aback at having this so early.
Izuku decided he didn't like the way-too-wide grin on Kacchan's face one bit.
"And for battle training, you're going to need these!" All Might said, pressing a button on a small remote and causing the classroom's far wall to open up, shelves with numerous numbered containers on them.
Everyone realized what was in there before the number one hero even said anything, giddy excitement permeating the class at getting their real hero costumes.
"Get changed and then come to training ground beta, on the double!" All Might said, marching out of the room as there was a small stampede for the cases.
Izuku hung back until after Kacchan had muscled his way to the front and grabbed his costume first, long experience having taught him that to do anything else wasn't remotely worth the hassle. Once the explosive blonde got what he wanted, Izuku moved forward, grabbed his case, and scurried over to the locker room to change.
His haste and nervousness at potentially being thrown into a situation where Bakugo had full permission to attack him or, even worse, one of his new friends couldn't overcome his awe at opening the case containing his hero costume.
Which was perhaps a little bit silly, really, considering that the design he'd sent into the support company was basically the same outfit he'd settled on for his Green Lantern attire when on Oa. He really didn't need someone to make a costume for him, but he'd rather not have to explain how his "Quirk" could generate an outfit for him, in addition to everything else.
Still, he was putting on his hero costume. No one would ever be able to convince Izuku that that wasn't awesome.
Finished changing, he headed out of the locker room and toward the first real exercise of his hero course education.
Momo was one of the first students to report to ground beta, so she took a few minutes to review part of the notebook that Midoriya had given her again before striking up a conversation with Uraraka.
"I wish I'd been more specific with my costume request," the brunette said. "This outfit is so tight and puffy."
"I think it compliments you very well," Momo replied.
"Thanks," the brunette replied. "What about you? Did you want your costume to be that, uh, revealing?"
"Oh, I'm quite happy with the design of mine, thank you," Momo assured her. "I need as much exposed skin as possible to properly use my Quirk."
"And you're not…embarrassed about that?" Uraraka asked.
"I've made a point of training in revealing outfits to get over my self-consciousness," she replied.
"Did you do it around a bunch of gross little creeps?" Jirou asked as she approached the two of them, looking warily at the short boy with the purple balls for hair who was leering at them.
"That's…not something I've had experience with yet," Momo admitted, hoping she didn't have to work with him during this exercise.
"Mm," Jirou grunted. "Personally, I'm just glad my Quirk doesn't require a lot of skin exposure or a tight outfit or anything, and not just because my figure's not much to look at."
Momo was about to tell Jirou that she was very pretty when Izuku jogged out to join the rest of the class.
"Oh hey, Midoriya!" Uraraka greeted him. "Cool costume, really stylish!"
Momo nodded in agreement. Midoriya's costume consisted of green, light body armor, white gloves and knee guards, and green boots over a black bodysuit. It really was a very nice design. She wasn't sure how practical the outfit truly was, but she supposed his ability to generate a protective aura with his Quirk would make that largely irrelevant.
Not as versatile as my Quirk indeed, she mentally scoffed, smiling slightly.
"It's very nice," she added. "Having an emblem on the chest is an interesting choice. I thought those had mostly fallen out of fashion outside of the US."
"They have," Midoriya answered, reaching up to scratch the back of his head bashfully. "I guess it just sort of…felt right?"
The gesture, plus the clingy material of the black bodysuit, allowed Momo to realize for the first time just how muscular Midoriya actually was, her eyes widening slightly at the way his chiseled biceps bulged with the movement.
Before anyone could comment further, All Might strode out. "Looking good, my students!" he said. "So let's begin the battle training!"
He explained the way the battle trial would work: teams of two would face off, with one team playing the role of villains attempting to protect a large bomb, while the other would act as heroes attempting to reach and secure the weapon. If someone could wrap some clear tape around a member of the opposing team, that person would be considered captured and removed from the match. If one of the heroes could touch the bomb, their team would immediately win. However, there was a time limit, so the villain team could win simply by running out the clock.
The number one hero seemed a bit overwhelmed when the students started asking questions, especially when Iida asked if choosing teams by drawing lots was the best way.
"It makes sense, really," Midoriya said. "Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot during emergencies."
Momo nodded in silent approval, privately a little surprised that Iida had needed that pointed out to him.
They all quickly drew their lots, and Momo was somewhat disappointed when she wasn't placed on a team with any the people she knew already (friends? Momo would dearly love to have friends her own age for once), instead getting paired up with the boy with the tail, Ojiro as team C.
All Might quickly drew another set of lots to determine which team would be against who. She heard Midoriya release a quiet hiss as the number one hero announced her team would be up against team D, which consisted of Iida and Bakugo.
"Be careful," he told her softly. "Kacchan, um, Bakugo's very good at using his Quirk, and he can be very…" Midoriya trailed off, clearly looking for the right word.
"Team A!" All Might called, which Midoriya was on. "You're up first as villains in round one, against team B!"
Midoriya gave her one more worried look before he scurried off, leaving Momo wondering what he was so concerned about.
After all, this was only a training exercise, right?
"Hi, I don't think we've exchanged names before. I'm Tsuyu Asui," Izuku's partner said as they made their way to the bomb room. "Please call me Tsu."
"I'm Izuku Midoriya," he replied as he absent-mindedly sent a small cascade of emerald caltrops falling down the stairs behind them. "Any ideas on how we should approach this?"
"I think it's best if I stay away from Todoroki, ribbit," Asui replied, tapping a finger to her chin. "My frog biology means I start going into hibernation mode if I get too cold, so his ice powers could easily put me out of commission."
A bad Quirk matchup then, he thought. Not really fair, but it happens all the time in real life, something that heroes have to deal with. It's still weird that Todoroki has only used ice so far, though. With that name and being a recommended student, I assume he's Endeavor's son, so why no fire? Does he really have none, or is he not using it for some reason?
"Midoriya, you're mumbling," Asui broke into his thoughts.
"Oh, sorry," he said, even as he unleashed more traps, along with an emerald CCTV camera. "Anyway, how do you think you'd do against Shoji?"
"Certainly better than against Todoroki," Asui replied. "He's strong, but I'm fast and agile. So long as I don't let him get a grip on me, my odds are good."
Izuku nodded. "Okay, in that case, if it comes to a fight, I'll take Todoroki and you handle him," he said. "But if we're lucky, the traps will stop them." He added as he erected a glowing green fence around the faux bomb.
Asui turned her gaze back to the hallway they had just from. The whole thing practically pulsed with green light from the numerous constructs Izuku had left behind them.
"Hard to believe that they wouldn't," she remarked. "But I suppose if anyone in our class can just bull through, it would be Todoroki, ribbit."
"How do you want to approach this?" Shoji asked as he and Todoroki approached the building, waiting for All Might to give them the signal to begin over the earpieces that the teacher had handed out to them all.
"Just stay out of my way," the shorter boy said.
Shoji's eyes narrowed. "I don't think—"
"And time starts now!" All Might's voice cracked over the radio.
Ignoring Shoji, Todoroki strode forward and placed a hand on the side of the building. Immediately, ice began to spread out from beneath his palm, rapidly expanding to cover the wall. The multi-armed boy's eyes widened when, in seconds, the entire building is completely encased in a thick layer of ice.
Then…nothing. Todoroki and Shoji shared a look, wondering whether being trapped in ice was enough to count as capturing the villains.
"Mon dieu!"
"That is one crazy display of power!"
The control room where All Might and the students not currently doing the exercise was abuzz with awed students, many of them never having personally witnessed a Quirk with so much raw power in action before.
"It's very impressive," Yaoyarozu said. "However…"
"…if Todoroki was expecting to land a knock-out with that, he failed," Uraraka finished with a grin, gesturing to the monitor that showed the feed from the room with the bomb.
Midoriya had put his protective aura up and hastily started floating in midair when Todoroki's ice had begun to encroach on the room to avoid being frozen himself. Not only that, but he'd been able to do the same for Asui, generating constructs of a thick winter coat and a wool cap (complete with pom-pom on the top) to keep the cold from getting to her.
"I can't believe he can just shrug off having the building frozen around him like that!" Mineta exclaimed. "If I was there, I'd be a grape-cicle by now!"
Kirishima grinned, pumping his fist. "Looks like this first matchup is going to be a real clash of the titans!" he said. "So manly!"
"The clock is still ticking, heroes!" All Might's voice crackled over their earpieces. "Get a move on!"
Todoroki's eyes narrowed. He supposed it was possible that their teacher was making them go through the motions of completing the exercise even when their opponents were trapped in ice blocks—frankly, it seemed like something All Might would do—but something told him that wasn't the case.
He'd learned a long time ago to trust his instincts.
"Wait here," he ordered his teammate.
Despite the mask he wore, it was obvious that Shoji wasn't happy about that. He agreed, however, no doubt able to feel the intense cold even from outside the building.
"This won't take long," Todoroki said as he entered the building.
"He's coming, ribbit," Asui observed, looking at a bank of green monitors that Izuku had created, which were displaying the feeds from the CCTV camera constructs that he'd left around the building earlier.
Izuku silently thanked Momo again; with a little bit of tweaking to account for the differences in their abilities, the techniques she'd given him on how to avoid decision paralysis and choose what to create were nothing short of game changing for him.
Now if only his traps were more effective, he mused, watching as Todoroki used his ice to push them aside.
"We better get ready," Asui said.
Izuku nodded, the two getting into position.
The door swung open, revealing Todoroki.
Izuku and Asui both pulled the levers on the modest green catapults they were manning, sending a couple of massive snowballs flying at their opponent.
If Todoroki was caught by surprise, he didn't let it slow him down one bit. A wall of ice blocked the doorway then surged forwards like a wave, blocking the snowy assault and forcing Izuku and Asui to scurry away from the catapult constructs, which quickly winked out of existence.
Izuku quickly rang up a new construct, this one a huge Gatling gun type device. However, when he pulled the trigger, it began to rapid fire snowballs rather bullets.
At the same time, Asui leaped into the air, bouncing off one of the concrete pillars in the room and at Todoroki.
Their foe scowled, a layer of frost forming over one side of his body. Another wave of ice exploded outwards, wrapping around both Izuku and Asui like the hand of a giant and sending them rushing backwards.
"Ribbit…" Asui groaned softly, head lolling forwards as the cold got to her, rapidly slowing her metabolism and making her drowsy.
"It's over," Todoroki said, his breath steaming in the air as he spoke. "Give up."
"No," Izuku responded, pouring willpower into his ring.
Emerald flames danced around the construct of the number two hero as it advanced on Todoroki.
Izuku first suspected that something was wrong when the boy with the two-toned hair released a sound that was a strangled combination of a yelp and a growl. He was certain of it when Todoroki, who'd been so composed earlier, started frantically hurling icicles at the construct of Endeavor, most of which were reduced to steam before they reached their target.
Todoroki was so fixated on the Endeavor construct that he didn't even notice when Asui managed to break free and, despite a noticeable sluggishness to her movements, grabbed her roll of capture tape and wrapped it around his wrist.
"Todoroki has been captured!" All Might announced.
Izuku immediately dismissed the construct. For a moment, he thought that Todoroki was going to attack him despite being eliminated, but he regained control of himself with a visible effort.
"I'm sorry," Izuku said. "I didn't know. I—"
"It's nothing," Todoroki interrupted him.
Izuku didn't agree with that, but he recognized the tone of finality in the other hero student's voice. It was clear that Todoroki would not be talking about it right now.
"You okay, Asui?" Izuku asked as he created a couple of hand warmers for her.
"Call me Tsu," she said as she slipped them inside her emerald coat. "And I'm fine, thanks."
He nodded. "Shoji's on his way up now," he said, recreating one of the monitors, which showed the multi-armed teen carefully picking his way through the icy hallways and slick stairwells.
"Yes," Asui agreed. "But—"
"Time's up! Villain team wins!" All Might announced.
"That," Asui said.
"Well done, students!" All Might said as the two teams returned to the control room. "A very impressive display of power from the hero team, but the villain team showed that clever countermeasures and team work can overcome raw might!"
Todoroki just grunted in response.
"Can anyone tell me who was the MVP of this match?" All Might asked.
"I mean…it has to be Midoriya, right?" Sato asked. He seemed uncertain, as though he thought it had to be a trick question, thanks to how obvious the answer seemed.
"Indeed, but can anyone list the reasons why?"
Yaoyorozu raised a hand. "I can, sir. Midoriya was able to not only use his Quirk to protect himself and his partner from Todoroki's initial attack, but he was also able to shield Asui from the cold, as well as laying traps and surveillance devices. His effectiveness in combating Todoroki was also undeniable. All of it displayed the extreme versatility of his Quirk," she said, giving him a quick smile before proceeding. "Todoroki gave an impressive display but completely failed to exercise any teamwork, sidelining his partner entirely. Asui acted decisively and was able to capture Todoroki, but while her contributions were significant, it's clear that Midoriya was the main factor in his team's victory."
"Ahem, yes," All Might looked taken aback. "You forgot to add that Midoriya was the most stylish of the group, but you nailed all the most important parts. The MVP of this match was indeed young Midoriya! But none of you here are losers so long as you learned something from it. Always remember that no matter how powerful your Quirks may be, you'll regularly need to depend on other heroes out in the field if you want the best possible results! Now, onto the next match! Team C versus team D!"
Izuku's pleased smile quickly morphed into a grimace as he looked at the darkly scowling Kacchan standing in the back.