Authors note:
Speaking: "…"
Thinking: '…'
___________
One Month Later
U.A. High General Entrance Exam
Three people were currently walking towards the gates of Japan's best hero school, three renowned Quirk scientists: Asahi Daigo, Katsuki Bakugo, and Izuku Midoriya. Asahi was in his regular clothes, while the two newly appointed U.A. teachers wore their recently approved hero costumes.
Katsuki was dressed in one of the casual long-sleeved yukatas Thorin had gifted him years ago. It was black with military green highlights and a bright orange obi around his waist. As always, his feet were bare.
Izuku, on the other hand, wore a stylish black and green formal suit with a matching tie. A black cylinder hat with a green strap sat atop his head, and a Colombian masquerade mask, matching the same color scheme, completely covered his eyes. Of course, he also carried his trusty cane.
With his hands behind his head, Katsuki walked in annoyance, complaining about the one detail the design company had rejected in his costume, his sword.
"Ahh, it's so annoying not getting to take my blade. Those damn design nerds don't know how fighting works."
"Well, your blade is very large and could be seen as threatening," Asahi pointed out, much to the explosive hero's dismay.
"Of course it is! That was the intention, moron!" the ash-blond hero shouted.
"Well, it's not like you can't summon it if you ever need it in battle; you're just not allowed to openly carry it," Izuku calmly stated.
"I don't need your opinion, Izuku, not when you're allowed to openly carry a weapon that can rip apart the fabric of space," he complained as they finally reached their destination, the teacher observation room.
Walking in, all three were immediately greeted by Nezu.
"Ah, you're finally here. I'm glad you could make it," the rodent mused with a smile.
"Of course, Principal. We wouldn't dare miss the entrance exam," Izuku replied politely.
"And I hope you don't mind that I tagged along, Nezu. This is a spectacle I simply couldn't allow myself to miss," Asahi said in a friendly manner.
"Not at all. In fact, I was counting on it. You see, an old friend of yours is waiting in the other room. He'd like to watch the exam with you, if you're interested, of course," the mouse-like principal explained, earning a look of confusion mixed with excitement from the phoenix man.
"Oh? Why, of course, I'd like to. But who might that be?"
"Patience, my dear friend. You'll see once you enter," Nezu said, taking him by the hand and leading him away.
"Now I'm curious as well, who could he be talking about?" Izuku wondered aloud.
As he did, a familiar black-haired teacher walked up to him with a stern expression.
"So, you're the new hires. When I heard Nezu had accepted two 18-year-olds as U.A. teachers, I was skeptical. But because of your background at TUQS, I know you're at least more competent in teaching than our other new teacher," he said.
"Eraser, you look as tired as ever. I know a guy you'd probably get along with great," Dynamight said bluntly, referring to Hitoshi.
They watched as a short blond man walked up behind the seasoned pro hero.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Eraserhead. And All Might, it's been a while," Izuku said, addressing the two heroes respectfully.
"Indeed, young Midoriya, it has been a while. I see you're doing quite well these days. And please, just call me Toshinori, my days as All Might have long since passed," the blond man responded.
"I understand, Toshinori. I only recently got the opportunity to teach here, and I'm interested to see who will await me in the hero course. Also, while we're working, please feel free to use my new hero name, Joker," Izuku clarified.
Toshinori caught the subtle hint in Izuku's words regarding his successor.
A bit perplexed, Eraserhead questioned, "You two know each other?"
Chuckling lightheartedly, the former No.1 hero answered, "Believe it or not, young Joker here is actually the one responsible for treating my injuries. If I hadn't met him two years ago, I would've had to retire much sooner."
Izuku simply nodded in agreement.
"I see. Then you'd better pay Recovery Girl a visit one of these days, I'm sure she'd love to chat with a fellow healer," Eraser suggested tiredly.
"Certainly. But I do believe there's something else much more interesting right now. The practical exam is about to start, right?" the mystery hero asked, looking toward the section of the room with the wall of screens.
"You're right. Let's continue this conversation another day," Eraser said as they all took seats among the other teachers, observing the applicants on the monitors.
Fifteen minutes passed, and the extremely large Zero-Pointer robots were released in each of the different mock cities where participants had to destroy robots to gain points for entry into the hero course. When the exam concluded, many teachers were stunned by this year's results.
"Astounding! This year's batch really is exceptional. To think five applicants single-handedly defeated a Zero-Pointer robot in five different testing grounds. Truly, this year will be one for the books," Cementoss commented, looking at the screens displaying the scraps of the Zero-Pointer robots.
"They might be powerful, but some of them don't seem to have done it to save others. Look at this one, it's like she doesn't even care. She doesn't have a single hidden rescue point," Eraser noted, pointing at a girl with deep purple hair that transitioned into neon blue at the tips.
"Yes, well, at least the student with the highest amount of points acted like a true hero, saving others left and right. Wasn't he the one who turned down his recommendation?" Midnight commented with a seductive smile, referring to Inasa.
"Well, regardless, all five of them have the top scores, so we will accept them, even if they destroyed my precious robots," a hero named Power Loader grumbled in annoyance.
"I know, but the DJ girl is going to be in my class. Then we'll see if she really has the potential to be a great hero," Eraser stated firmly.
Quietly, Izuku walked over to Toshinori for a quick chat.
"So, I assume you're happy he made it?"
"You knew, huh?" the former pro answered with a smile.
"It was the reason why I made that suggestion to you all those years ago. I thought you might see the same potential I did in him that day," Izuku answered knowingly.
"Then I'm glad you did. He might just be the perfect candidate for the Quirk. It's just... I don't think I'm the best teacher. At least, that's what I've been told," Toshinori admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well, that's why I'm here. When I heard you'd finally retired, I knew you had to have passed it on. So, I applied here to help you with teaching, since I had a hunch you'd want to enroll him here," Joker explained.
"So I'm that easy to read, huh? Well, I thank you nevertheless. I'm sure you'll do a better job at teaching than me," Toshinori conceded.
Afterward, the teachers held a meeting about student placements, which took about an hour, especially since Eraserhead had already set his sights on who he wanted for Class 1-A.
By then, Asahi had already left for home, taking his old friend with him. So, the two aura users headed home by themselves.