Wow. The doors are really big.
That was the first impression Izuku had when he arrived in front of the classroom for Class 1-A. When he woke up this morning, he had a truly good night's sleep, the full eight hours. The hot chocolate that his mother had prepared had tasted especially succulent, and Frieren… well, she was still spending most of her time reading either the books from the Midoriya home library or off the internet.
However, as he made his way into the door, he heard him. He was abrasive and rude, as always. Izuku felt an incoming headache just from listening to him speak. And, by the nine circles of hell, Bakugo was here. Bakugo was to be his classmate here in Class 1-A.
"Get your feet off the desk this instant! Such behavior is unbecoming of a hero student of UA!" Ah, it was Mr. Blue Hair Glasses! He was the one who pointed at and called out Izuku for mumbling and talking during the practical exam's general assembly. He didn't what to feel about the taller boy as he lectured Bakugo of all people (that is like choosing death) about the ethical considerations of sitting on a desk in UA. On one hand, he seemed to be the strict, hardass type, but at the same time, seeing someone finally stand up to Bakugo and tell him off was… quite the sight.
"Ew, you're from some elitist place, huh?" Bakugo mouthed off. "You're just an extra like everyone else here!"
"Naw, come on, that ain't very manly to say, bro." Another student, a red-headed boy Izuku remembered from the practical exam, added fire to the flames. "Like, that's just not proper talk for bros like us!"
Bakugo growled, which was the primary response he had to basically anyone who interacted with him. "We are not bros! I don't even know who you are, Shitty-Hair!"
Izuku scanned the room. There were a few familiar faces from the practical exam. There was the frog girl, with oversized eyes and green hair, as well as the blonde guy with a lightning bolt on his hair. The others were completely new to Izuku. Of course, as he had predicted long ago, Fumikage was here too, along with Uraraka. The two of them were busy talking among themselves and hadn't actually noticed that he had arrived yet. Though it was really Dark Shadow and Uraraka who were talking while Fumikage idly drew doodles on his notebook.
"DEKU?! What are you doing here?!"
Izuku rolled his eyes. Great. He had been found. He had been detected, seen, and locked on by the heat-seeking missile that was Bakugo. And, yet again, he was supposed to be classmates with this guy. And how else does he greet Izuku but by the nickname that means 'useless'?"
'Hello, Bakugo," Izuku deadpanned. "I'm enrolled in this class so… I'm here in the classroom?"
"Don't get sarcastic with me, Deku!" Bakugo hissed. "How did your quirkless ass get in here? Did Birdbrain's HSPC dad get you in?!"
"For the record," Fumikage said, "My father had nothing to do with Midoriya's entrance into UA. And he was only misdiagnosed as quirkless and only manifested it recently. Learn the difference."
"Oh really?" Bakugo looked between the two of them. Uraraka watched the conversation unfold, unsure how to respond to it. The tall, blue-haired guy approached, chopping the air with his arms. "You all must cease this pointless conversation at once! I saw Midoriya's quirk with my own eyes, and so did the others in Testing Area C. Why, he destroyed the Zero Pointer with an enormous beam of light! He entered UA by merit, just like the rest of us!"
"Yeah, saw it too. What he did was so manly!" The redhead exclaimed. Izuku shrank into his assigned seat in second-hand embarrassment. Is manly the only adjective this guy knows?
Frog Girl raised her hand. "Same here, kero."
Fumikage and Uraraka simply nodded. Nothing more needed to be said for their part. As for the others, it was a mixed bag. A boy that looked like a walking mountain was visibly shocked, though he hid behind his backpack. Another kid with red and white hair simply stared at Izuku with a neutral expression, making him feel rather uneasy at his gaze. A dwarf with purple orbs for hair had his jaw fall to the floor at the revelation, while a really tall guy with six, webbed arms, was still obviously surprised despite the fact that he was wearing a mask. There was a pink-skinned girl with horns and black eyes, who looked intrigued in the same way a gossiper was. Then there was… a floating school uniform? No, no, is that person invisible?!
"So there you have it," Izuku shrugged at Bakugo. "I'm not quirkless, not anymore. I'm not Deku, either."
Bakugo let out a huff. Well, if multiple people had seen him use a 'quirk', then there was no way to argue with that. The blonde returned to his assigned seat, this time refraining from sitting on the desk.
As Bakugo left, Mr. Blue Hair Glasses came closer to Izuku… and bowed his head. "I hope you can forgive me, Midoriya. I had severely misjudged you."
Izuku took a few seconds to process that. "Is this about the general assembly?"
"Yes. I… put everyone's attention on you. I humiliated you in front of everyone! I thought less of you, but you saw through the exam's inner workings and took first place! Truly, you are a superior student!"
Izuku frantically waved his hands at the taller boy. What on Earth was he talking about?! "No, no! Don't be like that! I just did what I thought was right at the moment. I didn't see through anything, or whatever… either way, no hard feelings about the whole general assembly thing. That's in the past, so… yeah. What's your name?"
"Iida Tenya," he replied. "It is good to meet you!"
"Iida, as in Ingenium?!" Oh my! There was someone in his class who was part of a family of generational pro-heroes! Izuku was a big fan of Ingenium too, as he was the perfect mix of approachable and steadfast.
"Yes! Iida Tensei is older brother! I seek to become a great hero like him one day!"
"OOOH! Sometime, I should get his autograph!"
"Ugh. So noisy."
The entire class turned their attention to the caterpillar with a human head that just appeared on the front door. The human head in question had shabby black hair and a distinct lack of grooming in general. The caterpillar would metamorpshize into a man, one with black overalls and a strange coil of cloth around his neck, like a scarf. On his hips was a utility belt, while on the nook of his neck were a pair of goggles with gridded eyeslits.
"Who let a homeless guy into the school?"
"Does he ever use a comb?"
"Scary…"
"I think he needs a full eight hours of sleep."
Well, they didn't know him, and for Aizawa, that was completely fine. After all, he's an underground hero. Barely anyone should be privy to his identity if he was doing his job right. "How rude, calling me homeless. I am Aizawa Shota, your homeroom teacher. Put on your gym uniforms and meet me in the training grounds. Hurry up so that you'll get into the orientation on time."
No one needed any more instructions after that as everyone rushed to get changed.
They're all so slow.
Aizawa watched as the students of Class 1-A arrived on either alone or in groups. Still… how long does it take for them to put on a gym uniform? What do their mothers teach them?
"Ten minutes. That's how long it took you to get here. The gym uniforms aren't even that complicated to put on," Aizawa crowed. "Anyway, we will be conducting a quirk assessment. I need to know where you are on your quirks, how much improvement you need, and where you need to improve." He then turned his attention to the loud and rude one. "Bakugo. What is your record for throwing a ball?"
"75 meters," Bakugo replied.
Aizawa held out a ball to him. It wasn't just any ordinary ball. It had a tracker inside it and was made of material strong enough to withstand even Endeavour's flames. Such is the glory of UA's insane budget. "I need you to use your quirk however you see fit to throw this ball as far as you can. Remain in this circle," Aizawa pointed at said circle, "...when you make the throw."
Aizawa watched as Bakugo geared up to throw the ball and then… he screamed "DIE!" of all things. With a mighty explosion, the ball went flying to the sky, never to be seen again.
Why.
Why did he have to deal with someone who uses "die" for a simple ball throw? Damn Nezu and his machinations.
"751.3 meters," Aizawa said, almost sounding bored. He shut out the sounds of excited students, except for the one who said that this was going to be so much fun. Fun… and hero work? Putting those two things together is a complete oxymoron. "Fun? You do realize that you'll be risking your lives for the public's safety, yes? That's not even going into the worst enemy that you will be dealing with as pro-heroes…" Aizawa broke into a manic smile, which made some of the students shift uneasily. "Bureaucracy and paperwork. Do you even know how long it takes for the district attorney's office to even begin to see our requests? Two weeks, at best. That's not even assuming that you're in a populous area like Tokyo where there are so many incident reports to sift through to the point that the bureaucrats are overwhelmed. And we heroes have to deal with their delays so, so, so much, it will drive you insane. You will be filling up so many forms every time someone questions a choice you made, like applying a little bit of force on a criminal, because 'oh no my rights.' Sometimes I wish we'd copy the Americans and let us have a bit more leeway in dealing with these idiots, but nooo, they want us to 'explore every possible avenue' even as people are about to get shanked to death."
The students stared at him. They were terrified. Good.
"Anyway," Aizawa straightened his jacket. "As I said, you'll be risking your lives as heroes. Even the rescue heroes. Don't think that I don't know which of you are aiming to become those, I read through all of your files twice. You'll have to fight and incapacitate villains with one hand tied behind your back, while they can come at you with everything they got. So, I implore you to take this seriously. And if you don't? Well, I'll know, and that will reflect on your record… and grades. Now," the teacher produced another ball. "Your turn, Midoriya."
The students watched with bated breath as the first-place examinee for this year approached the circle. Unlike the exam, he didn't have his staff with which to aim and fire those laser beams of death, so Aizawa wondered just what he'd do. Will he make those circles, but with his hands? Or will they appear around him? Will he even use magic circles?
Midoriya held the ball in the palm of his hand. He was… staring at it?
"Be quick, Midoriya," Aizawa droned. "You will be late for your orientation if you don't finish your part in about ten seconds."
"Ah, yes, Sensei!" Midoriya nodded. Now, he looked a little more sure about what to do. He held up his hand with the ball still in it. The entire class gasped as a rather sizable magic circle appeared in front of Midoriya. As for Aizawa, he was supremely intrigued by seeing this kid's quirk up close, even if his face would make everyone think he was bored of the whole thing.
"Zoltraak." Huh. Is that another part of "pretending to be a mage?"
A beam of blue light blasted out of the magic circle, carrying the ball with it. The beam kept going until it had gone into the distance. As for the actual distance that the ball traveled…
"5,000 meters. You just sent one of our balls five kilometers away." Aizawa is considering saying something about billing Midoriya and Bakugo for sending the balls into oblivion, but that would be a little too much.
Aizawa then scanned the students again. They were amazed by the display of power that Izuku did. Uraraka high-fived with Tokoyami's sentient quirk. Ashido, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari were clapping. Kyoka… well, she was still covering her ears. As for Bakugo… Aizawa could see that he was shivering in rage.
He'll have to check the history between these two students. He knew they both came from Aldera Middle School, but beyond that, their files didn't say much other than praising Bakugo for his high grades and 'excellent qualities.' It appeared that attitude wasn't included in those qualities, and that was something Aizawa had to stamp sooner than later. He had obvious anger issues, as well as intense jealousy and a superiority complex. After all, he did keep calling his classmates extras while waiting for Aizawa to come into the room.
If he were a student in 1-A, Aizawa would very much prefer to have a clingy, touchy-feely person around than that.
But Midoriya was a whole other can of worms. For one thing, Aizawa's Erasure quirk locked onto quirk factors and, well, locked them away. He can do it to anyone he's looking at. But as he looks at Midoriya, there is nothing to lock on to. It is as if he didn't even have a quirk factor to begin with, though what he has seen so far throws that notion out of the window.
Maybe it has something to do with him awakening his quirk so late. Recovery Girl might know. But this was... concerning, to say the least. If he can't erase Midoriya's quirk should it ever go out of control or if he turned to villainy (though that seemed unlikely), then they would need a full pro hero to stop him. Maybe even one of the top twenty would have to be sent.
Either way, the assessment kept on going. The top four most promising students of Class 1-A, at least in terms of the strengths of their quirks, were Midoriya Izuku, Bakugo Katsuki, Todoroki Shoto, and Tokoyami Fumikage. The others showed relatively good promise, but as far as power goes, these four were the strongest.
There were just… some issues.
Notes:Yeah, no, Aizawa in this universe doesn't threaten expulsion every five seconds.
But also, imagine being Aizawa and top four strongest in your class are:
Specimen #1: Quirk can't be erased and has self-sacrificial tendencies.
Specimen #2: If Inside Out were to happen in his head four out of five emotions would just be clones of Anger.
Specimen #3: Daddy issues.
Specimen #4: Has a sussy dad that has some sway in the HPSC + a sentient quirk that can go into a berserk rage.
I'd be tired and grumpy all the time, too.
As the day dragged on, all the general education subjects blazed through. Math was taught by Ectoplasm, a rather apt position for him given that he multiplied himself with his quirk. Present Mic, in turn, was the English teacher. Other than All Might, he was probably the only other person in the staff that spoke English well enough that he may as well have the red, white, and blue in his veins. Cementoss taught Literature, which was… well, there was nothing about being a walking cement block that controls cement that could connect to Literature, so that was just that. History and Art, however, were taught by Midnight.
Midnight was… a bit much. One of his classmates, the dwarf with purple balls for hair, was all but drooling at the admittedly beautiful teacher… but she was a teacher… teaching underage kids. Why… why does she still use her dominatrix-themed costume in class?
Knowing that the Principal was really a mouse/bear/rat/whatever chimera with intelligence, he may have let it happen simply because he doesn't understand human thought that well. But if the hyper intelligent rat couldn't understand human thought, how did he become Principal? And if he did understand how humans worked, then why was Midnight teaching while dressed like that?
Could it be that he allowed it because he thought it be funny?
As morning dragged towards lunchtime, and then the afternoon classes, Izuku's mind started drifting elsewhere. He could still feel Bakugo's glare burn holes through his uniform and the very depths of his soul. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
He had been too busy thinking about what to do if Bakugo ever tried to do his normal antics with him again to really focus in Thirteen's physics subject. To be quite honest, running to the teachers the moment an explosion goes off wasn't the first thing he had in mind. Back in Aldera, all the teaching staff praised Bakugo. He was the star student, the paragon of all that is good and just. He had excellent grades and the most powerful quirk out of all the students of Aldera Middle School. Izuku's grades, meanwhile, were just marginally worse, mostly because he had trouble sleeping and often had his lunch stolen (it's difficult to think when you're hungry).
Izuku chastised himself for almost drifting back to the old mentality of not trusting teachers. This place is UA, for hell's sake! Aldera Middle School is like the stain on the wall that wouldn't come off no matter how much you scrubbed it. That middle school was Izuku's personal hell, and he for sure was glad that Frieren came to his life and taught him magic. As for Frieren… she's probably still reading right now.
She never gets bored.
"Izuku. Are you alright?"
Izuku blinked. Fumikage was looking at him. While his bird head didn't really allow him to be physically expressive, he was quite obviously worried.
"Huh? What?"
"You have been starring into empty space for the last five minutes, Izuku. Tell me, what's our class right now?"
"Uh…" Izuku shook his head, as if to shake the information out of his brain. "Heroics?"
"Good, you are correct. It appears that you are still lucid."
"Hey, it's not like I didn't sleep eight hours last night."
"The sleeping pills have been helpful, yes?" Sleeping pills were the codename for the sleep spell that Frieren had been using to put him to sleep. He was having a hard time learning it for himself because he couldn't imagine himself going to sleep on time. But Frieren very well could.
"They have been, yeah-"
"I AM ENTERING… LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"
When Izuku thought of who would the heroics class teacher for 1-A, he had several theories. Ectoplasm was one, as his clones would be able to watch all the students spar and fight from different angles. Aizawa, meanwhile, had been talking about what it was like to be a hero quite a lot back in the homeroom this morning and the quirk assessment he carried out. If he spoke so much about the "reality of heroism", then him being also the heroics class teacher wasn't that off the table. He also didn't have any other subject so far today, too. It just made some sense.
The third and correct theory was that All Might, being the newest member of UA's faculty, would also be teaching heroics. Out of all the teaching staff, he probably had the most experience. All Might was… what, 50+? The Symbol of Peace was getting in the years, that's for sure.
But again…
IT'S ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT IS HIS TEACHER!
"Oh! It's All Might!"
"Is that a cape? Capes are impractical, eh."
"That's his Silver Age costume! So manly!"
"Good afternoon All Might-sensei, kero."
"He is… so loud…"
"Good afternoon, you zygotes!" All Might began with his signature booming voice. Everyone watched and listened intently, for it wasn't every day that you'd have the Number One Hero in such close proximity, let alone talking to you . It was an even rarer occurrence for him to be a teacher.
Come to think of it , Izuku pondered as he watched All Might pose, Sir Nighteye was the first and only sidekick he ever had. Why did he never take on any afterwards, I wonder…?
"You all know who I am, so let us not waste any more time!" All Might's apparent excitement and high energy was very infectious, so half the class were springed and primed to jump from their seats. "The Support Department has built and delivered your costumes according to your specifications, so you will be wearing them for your first heroics class!"
As if in cue, twenty hidden compartments in the wall just beside the blackboard came out, bearing the numbers 1 to 20. "The compartment with your costume corresponds with your seating arrangement. Meet me in the Control Room once you're changed!"
The class went into a chorus in response. "Yes, All Might-sensei!"
Izuku quickly got changed into his hero costume. Outwardly, he looked like he was going to cosplay in the latest fantasy convention (it's not like anyone suspected that he was an actual mage, hah!). He wore a simple green cloak, with a black undershirt, brown leather boots, similarly black pants, and a pointy hat (woe be to anyone that laughs at that. He was also one for practicality, though, so underneath that undershirt was some kevlar body armor that could resist bullets or projectile quirks. And, of course, he wanted there to be some semblance of All Might worship on his costume… so his cloak's hood had two tufts of cloth that would point upward when the hood was worn.
"You're really going in for the mage persona, huh?" Uraraka bounded towards him with a curious look.
"Oh, Uraraka! You are…" Izuku glanced at Uraraka's form-fitting, space-themed costume. "...very pink."
"I don't know why they made it so form-fitting, ugh," Uraraka grumbled. "It's a bit hard to breath, you know?"
Fumikage strode into view from his assigned changing room, bedecked in a black cloak. Other than that, there wasn't much to see… though chances are there was a whole utility belt underneath that cloak."I see that another has chosen to don a cloak."
"Cloak buddies for life!" Izuku grinned at his friend. Fumikage simply bowed a little, his shoulders shaking. He was obviously trying his best to stifle a laugh at that.
That was when Tenya walked into view with a very knight-like costume. With his sabaton and helmet, he looked even taller. "Tenya! You look like-"
"Ingenium, yes!" Tenya replied. "My costume is a homage to that of my dear brother, for I wish to bring honor to my family name!"
"A noble goal, Iida," Izuku beamed at his taller classmate. He couldn't see it, but he just knew Tenya was smiling too. "Since we're all changed, we should go, like, now."
"Oh, of course!" Uraraka started towards the door. "Let's not keep All Might waiting!"
"Sixteen… seventeen… twenty, all right, you are all here!" All Might boomed over the assembled Class 1-A. "Now, for your first heroics class, you will be partaking in a Battle Trial. You will be divided into teams of two, further divided into Villain and Hero teams. For this scenario, the villain team will be tasked with protecting a fake bomb within this building." The control room's main screen then showed said building, a six-story apartment complex. "The heroes will attempt to infiltrate the villain stronghold and neutralize the bomb. You may accomplish this by touching the bomb. As for your opponents, the heroes will also be provided with restraints that, when placed on a member of the opposing villain team's hands, will mark said villain team member as taken out of the exercise. Any questions?"
Immediately, the class burst into a cacophony of questions.
"How much damage can we do the building?"
"How long do the villains have to prepare?"
"Can we destroy everything instead?"
"Can I break my opponent's bones?"
"Can we pick our teammates?"
All Might was immediately overwhelmed. Izuku resisted a snicker; as much as he idolized All Might, something about seeing him be a beginner at teaching was… endearing, somehow? Like it was comforting to know that the Symbol of Peace was a person like anyone else, getting overwhelmed by crowds?
"Please, one at a time! And yes, the villains have five minutes to prepare their traps. You may move the bomb and all the assorted furniture in the building. No, you may not destroy the building; for villains, that's like destroying your own base, and for heroes, that would be too much collateral damage. And no, you cannot break anyone's bones. Try not to harm each other too much. I do not want Recovery Girl to bash our heads in."
Oh my. Even All Might was afraid of Recovery Girl.
"And no, your teammates will be decided at random. And the teams for the first match will be decided… now."
The screen began to spin a roulette of names. Please not Bakugo, please not him, please not him, not him- FUCK!
"Ah, so it is, then. For our first Battle Trial, the villain team will be Midoriya Izuku and Iida Tenya. The hero team will be Tokoyami Fumikage and Bakugo Katsuki! Now, proceed to the testing area with your teammates, and begin planning!"
This… will be an interesting fight.
"I'm sorry, Izuku, that I will have to fight you," Fumikage said apologetically. "And alongside your bully of all people…"
"Don't worry, Fumi," Izuku smiled at the bird-headed teen. "It's all good."
"HEY BIRDBRAIN! YOU COMING OR WHAT?!"
"And that's my cue," Fumikage sighed. "As tempting it may be to sabotage Bakugo's chances of victory over you… I will not be holding back should we meet in combat."
"Oh, I'm sure he won't let you."
Fumikage looked to the side. "That is… not comforting to hear."
A few minutes later, Tenya and Izuku were holed up in the building with the bomb in the center of the room. "So," Izuku began, "I have a plan. Bakugo will surely immediately go hunting for me-"
"Why is that?" Iida asked. "That is simply not logical! Why the pettiness?"
"We… have a history." Izuku looked away. "He really doesn't like me, for some reason."
Iida's raised eyebrow wasn't visible from within his helmet, but he did let out an audible sigh. "If it is not comfortable for you to discuss now, then don't. It can be for later. Now, what is your strategy?"
"Bakugo wants to chase me around. Even if the bomb was in front of him, he'll gun for me first. My mag- my quirk will be most useful here, guarding the bomb. My energy barriers and tendrils will make it difficult for either of them to actually touch the bomb, or me, for that matter. As for you, Iida, I need you to go out there and harass them with your speed. Piss off Bakugo enough and he might just decide to chase you instead. As for Tokoyami, his quirk gets stronger in darkness, so avoid dark areas where Dark Shadow might get the drop on you. Push all the light switches so that he has to waste time breaking them. My quirk produces a lot of light, so it wouldn't be hard for me to fight him off."
"Alright," Iida nodded. "Your… language is not becoming of a UA student, but I can understand where you are coming from. Just try not to pursue him too, alright?"
"Eh," Izuku shrugged. "If he were in mortal danger I'd save him too." He recalled the sludge incident, where Frieren used a powerful wind spell to blow the sludge villain off of Bakugo. Izuku was so ready to jump in through the cordon and risk himself. "Anyway, if you're good, let's split up and prepare to defend."
"We should-"
"Shut up, Birdbrain. I'll go get Deku and teach him a lesson, you go for the bomb and maybe Glasses if you catch him. Otherwise, stay out of my way!"
Fumikage could only facepalm as Bakugo stormed off by himself into the building. Why does he even try? "Dark Shadow. Start scouting."
"Why should we even do this when our ally is a griefer?"
"Just do it. If he doesn't want us to get in his way, then we won't. But if you see any of them…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Poor Tokoyami," Uraraka commented as she and the rest of the class watched the mock battle through the Control Room's screens. Bakugo had rushed into the building, alone, while Fumikage instructed Dark Shadow to extend himself upward and start peering into the windows.
"I can feel the second-hand disappointment in here," Yaoyorozu quietly muttered. "Bakugo is obviously not a team player. Midoriya and Iida, meanwhile, are coordinating rather well and playing to their individual strengths."
"I bet he plays Yasuo mid in League," Kaminari added. "Then flames his team when he dies ten times while trying to go 1v5."
"Kero, what…?"
"League isn't manly at all, my man. It's like the unmanliest of all games"
"That would actually explain a lot," Jiro commented. Several heads turned at her at once. "What? It's not like I play."
"Good," Kirishima chuckled. "Otherwise you would be so unmanly."
"I'm… I'm a girl, how am I supposed to be-"
"Shush!" Mina silenced them both. "This is where the fun begins! Look!"
"Glasses," Katsuki growled as he narrowly dodged a kick from Tenya's armored boot and retaliated with an explosion, which Tenya also dodged. "Where is Deku?!"
"Who?" Iida asked.
"Your loser of a teammate, damn you!"
"I'm sorry, but his name is Midoriya Izuku, not Deku, or whatever," Tenya accelerated again and aimed for yet another kick, this time actually hitting Katsuki at the back and making him shriek in rage. "What is it between you two, anyway?"
"None of your business!" Katsuki ignited sparks in his hands and threw an explosion forward and collapsed an entire wall. Tenya dodged before the explosion could hit him, but even beneath his armored costume he could feel the heat of the blast. His sweater, parts of which jutted out of the joints and open areas of his costume, was partially singed. As for his hair, it was covered with soot and dust, a testament to Katsuki's powerful explosion quirk. "Midoriya," he called through the comms provided for each team. "I've encountered Bakugo, but I am unable to delay him! He is filling the floor with debris and impeding my mobility!"
"Ugh. I guess I can blast him myself, then. You go look for Fumi. Err, Tokoyami and disrupt whatever he's doing. Knowing him, he's probably using Dark Shadow to scout for me and the bomb."
"On it!" Tenya sped away, searching for the shadowy bird. He would quickly find Dark Shadow, his tether leading towards one of the windows. The sentient quirk quickly saw him and charged at the speedster with a shriek. He's on the ground outside, then, Tenya thought, and ran away from Dark Shadow, who then started cursing as he found he could no longer follow Tenya.
"Finally."
Izuku lazily looked at the doorway, where Bakugo appeared. His old classmate wasn't even remotely interested in the fake bomb. "So, its you. Can we let go of this childish… whatever this is?"
"No! You've always looked down on me, Deku!" Bakugo screeched. "And now you've got a quirk? You've been hiding it all this time, huh? You've been laughing at me, you useless Deku?! Well, I'm about to teach you a lesson! You see, my quirk detonates my sweat. My gauntlets store those, and look at that! I have quite a lot stored!"
"Let's just get this over with," Izuku sighed. Frieren often told him about not engaging the enemy in unnecessary verbal spats. That is, unless they're demons. Then do them dirty, in front of their mothers if possible.
"You… you…" Bakugo quivered in rage. "How dare you be so casual with me?! I am the best! You and everyone in this school will know that fact here and now!" With that, he began pulling the pin on the grenade-like gauntlet on his right hand.
"Stop, young Bakugo! That kind of attack in such close range will severely injure or kill him!"
"It won't matter if he dodges!" Bakugo laughed maniacally. "Now Deku, face your reckoning!"
BOOM!
An enormous explosion tore through the room. Those in the Control Room watched with bated breath, while Iida and Tokoyami, who had been fighting in the road outside the building, looked upwards in mixed alarm and awe.
Iida used that moment of confusion to tie the restraints around Fumikage's hands. He was faster than Fumikage could command Dark Shadow.
As the smoke cleared, a glowing barrier of blue hexagons became visible to the cameras. Izuku was behind it, looking at Bakugo with a slightly rattled expression. Crap, I wasn't sure if Skeldus could have blocked that huge explosion! That took out half of my mana!
"Your fancy barriers aren't going to stop me a second time, Deku!" Bakugo blasted off, aiming for Izuku from above. Izuku immediately summoned Skeldus again, blocking the attack before pointing the staff upward, aiming at a flying Bakugo.
"Zoltraak!" The beam that came out of Izuku's staff streamed towards Bakugo faster than he could react, slamming him against the ceiling.
"Blau Kraken," Izuku muttered. Tentacles made of mana erupted from at least a dozen different magic circles, all encircling and restraining Bakugo.
"Bakugo, I think you need to see a therapist about your anger issues and your weird obsession with me," Izuku deadpanned. Seeing Bakugo try to make sparks on his hands, he cast Skeldus around them, creating miniature magic barriers around the blonde's hands.
"You will rue this day, Deku! I'll put you in your place, you'll see!"
"On the contrary. I really wish that you'd grow up, Bakugo," Izuku shook his head. "You see, I am no longer the scared little Deku that you used to bully. I am not the quirkless loser anymore. I am not your stepping stone, or an extra in your origin story."
Izuku invoked Blau Kraken again, this time using it to tie the restraints around Bakugo's hands. "I wish… that things never changed between us, Bakugo," Izuku continued despite Bakugo's iridescent red eyes staring death into him. "I really wish that we were still friends. You were a brother to me, Bakugo. I never met my dad, either, so your dad was the closest thing I had to that. But you changed things between us ever since I was misdiagnosed as quirkless. And so I had to change as well."
"And so it concludes! Victory goes to Iida Tenya and Midoriya Izuku! All participants, please proceed to the exit now."
Winning against Bakugo sure tastes good. Poor Fumikage, though. They didn't even get to fight!
With the events of the Battle Trial fresh in his mind, Izuku woke up. It was Saturday, so there were no classes.
As he exited his room to prepare breakfast, he found his mother quietly kneeling in front of his father's shrine. It was a simple thing, bearing a picture depicting a happy and smiling Hisashi during his wedding day with Inko. Izuku looked a lot like his father, from the curly hair and the freckles.
"Do you remember what day it is, Izuku?" Inko asked.
Izuku juggled his memory. It was…
"Dad's death anniversary," Izuku replied. It was a strange feeling indeed. On one hand, Midoriya Hisashi was certainly his father and his mother's husband. But he never met Hisashi. He sometimes thought about what his life could have been like had Hisashi remained alive and well to this day. Maybe they'd be close.
Hisashi died when Inko was still pregnant with Izuku. He was an operator in the JSDF, with a special license that allowed him to use his firebreathing quirk in combat. Izuku was too busy being in his mother's womb to see what happened when Inko received the news, but Mitsuki (Bakugo's mom) said that she was utterly devastated. The only reason she even slept or ate was that she knew it wouldn't be good for the infant within her if she started fasting and skipping on sleep, so she forced herself to eat and sleep.
The hows and whys of his death were rather vague. His commanding officer, who conveyed the news to Inko, said that he was killed in combat while deployed in a UN peacekeeping mission in Mongolia, where an especially powerful quirked warlord named Ganzorig Khan, leading at the head of the creatively named "Ganzorig's Horde" constantly threatened the status quo between the East Siberian Commonwealth (one of the six successor states to the Russian Federation that arose after the Dawn of Quirks; of the other five, only the New Novgorod Republic and Imperium of Muscovy were of any real interest) and the Empire of the Northern Han (one of three successors to the People's Republic of China, along with the Republic of China and Greater Turkestan). Any other details were omitted, and Hisashi was buried with a covered casket. They said that Ganzorig tore him into several pieces just as he finished regenerating from a full blast of Hisashi's emerald flame.
How could Izuku mourn for someone that he never met, he wondered?
"That's right," Inko looked longingly at her late husband's picture. "I miss him so much, Izuku, even after all this time. But... we'll keep going. He'd want us to."
Izuku glanced downward. "I wish I'd met Dad, too."
"Mom, why do all the other kids have a dad?"
Inko looked down at her three-year-old son. Izuku had been observing the other kids in the park, who were usually accompanied by both parents. Sometimes a pet, too. "Well, Izuku… your dad is… far away. He went away when I was still pregnant with you."
"Can I meet him one day?"
Inko tried not to cry. No. Not in front of Izuku, not in front of everyone here. "I like to think that we will meet him again, Izuku."
"Huh… okay…"
It would be about three years later when Izuku fully understood just how far away his father was.
"Frieren-san… mom and I will be going out for a little bit," Izuku stepped into view of the ancient elf mage. She had been busy reading yet another book about relatively minor medical issues and the ways to resolve them. She'd probably be reading it all day.
Frieren looked up from the couch. She was wearing a white t-shirt that Inko let her borrow and pants, also from Inko. Had Izuku not been the one that summoned her to this world and became privy to her actual origins, he would've thought that she was just someone with a pointy ear quirk. "Keep yourselves safe, Izuku," she said with that same stoic, but still obviously caring tone. For both of them, it probably felt like it had just been a day since they first met.
"Thanks, Frieren-san," Izuku nodded.
"What's the occasion, then?"
Izuku let that question stew for a few seconds. "It's my dad's death anniversary. It's been 14 years since it happened."
"Oh. You will be visiting his resting place?" Frieren asked. Frieren was well-accustomed to resting places. After all, when she visited Eisen, he was praying in front of his parents' gravestones. As for Himmel's tomb… she had been one of those that were present when he was buried. She'd also seen Hisashi's shrine a few times while passing by Inko's room, but she had never asked her what it was.
"We are, but we'll be going to the mall tonight too," Izuku replied. "To celebrate life on his behalf, you know. He may not be here, but he's still in our hearts." Though I never really met him…
Inko stepped into the room, dressed in mostly white attire. "Frieren," she began, adjusting her shoulder bag. "You should accompany us."
Frieren looked back at the books around her. On the one hand, she had been very invested in reading them… but on the other hand, she had all the time in the world. "Alright, then. But why? I'm not-"
"Oh, nonsense, you're basically one of us now," Inko waved her away. "If we meet anyone we know and asks about you, we'll just say you're a family friend that's visiting from Germany."
"She's not exactly 'visiting', mom," Izuku said.
"Right, but she's stuck here with us, so we may as well…"
"Actually, I can go back any time I want," Frieren butted in.
Every bit of sound died in that moment. Izuku would be the one to break the silence, speaking slowly. "What did you just say?"
"I can reverse the summoning spell and go back to my world whenever I wish," Frieren shrugged. "But this world is very interesting. So much to know and learn. And, well, you are very interesting." To be quite honest, Frieren had decided that any time not spent learning the scientific knowledge of this world should be used in getting to know the people around her. Like the Midoriyas… and Izuku's friends, she supposed.
Inko stared at her. Her shoulder bag was just about to fall off her shoulder as she gawked. "You're going to watch us grow old before you go back, aren't you?"
Frieren simply nodded. "Maybe. There is a lot to learn here."
"That is… so kind of you," Inko sounded like she was going to cry. "My son just yanked you through dimensions and you're just… staying because you want to?"
"Why, yes. Is that… unusual?"
"Mom, she's a thousand years old, she's seen entire civilizations rise and fall," Izuku reminded. "But, thank you, Frieren-san. That's actually comforting to hear."
"Hmmm?"
"Well…" Izuku fidgeted. "A small part of me is wondering if you're staying with us and bothering to train me at all with magic merely because you're stuck with us. That you don't have a choice. But hearing that you can go back any time you want and you still want to stick around…"
"Come on, then," Inko took Frieren's hand and pulled her off the couch. "You need to be properly introduced to Hisashi."
"But… how-"
"Oh shush! Izuku, you told me yesterday that you gained some new friends in UA, right?"
"Uh, yeah," Izuku recalled that Iida and Uraraka might as well be friends now. "What about them?"
"Tell them to meet us in the mall later, as well as Fumikage."
"Mom…?"
"I got a bonus at work. Hisashi would have liked us to share our blessings with others, and I also want to get to know your friends more," Inko smiled. She knew well that he never had friends. Fumikage and Dark Shadow barely counted because they rarely met and hung out in the first place until they got accepted into UA along with Izuku. Now, he had four.
Izuku pulled out his phone and looked through his contacts. He had… six. He had his mother's number, along with Fumikage, Uraraka's, Tenya's, and Aizawa-sensei's, the latter coming into his phone because the teacher was adamant that he be contacted should he encounter any issues a pro hero might be needed for. And then there's Frieren's number. She had used some kind of transmutation spell to turn a few rocks to gold before selling them to a pawnshop, and then some more. Eventually, she got around to buying a phone. Izuku later told her not to keep selling transmuted gold to the pawnshop to avoid crashing the economy. "Iida's is already rich, though."
"Well, that just means we can split the bill."
"Mom…"
"His brother is Ingenium. I'm sure that if you insist, his brother's agency can-"
"Mom, nooooo…"
About twenty minutes later, the Midoriyas and Frieren arrived in the military cemetery. Midoriya Hisashi's gravestone was a simple white, with an engraving that so said, "A loving husband and father. Fallen in the line of duty for those he loved."
The military cemetery was huge. The majority of those buried there died during the Great Quirk Wars or World War III about two hundred years ago. Half of the world's nations split apart under Quirked warlords and the other half either retained the loyalty of their quirked citizens or brought them to heel. The UN nearly dissolved as the US started integrating quirks into their military, followed by most other great powers. East Asia, being the epicenter of the quirk population, succeeded primarily with the second option. Then someone with a geomancy quirk went all crazy and raised an entire island off the Western European coast, which would then become the nations of Otheon and Klayd, a bunch of aquatic quirk users built a city called Atlantis in the middle of the Atlantic, and the French beheaded at least three self-proclaimed emperors within about a year. North Korea collapsed when a man with a radiation quirk vaporized the entire Kim Dynasty, the Philippines had half of its senate eaten by a man that could turn into a giant crocodile, a family of dragons wrestled control of northern China from the CCP, and someone in the British isles raised all the royals buried in Westminster Abbey into undeath just to annoy everyone else. He also put the undead Queen Elizabeth II into a walking war machine and called it the Royal Dreadnought.
The Dawn of Quirks was not a good time to be alive.
Now that they were, what followed was a solemn routine that Inko did every year. She lit several incense sticks, and prayed that her husband became a happy man in his next incarnation. She then placed a bouquet of flowers in front of the stone.
Frieren watched. She was familiar with human rituals, to an extent. She had observed them again and again over the course of her long life, so at this point nothing surprised her. Incense she had seen before. Flowers was another common thing.
What differed, however, was that she was actually feeling… something. Inko and Izuku had basically been in her life for the last ten months. Or rather, she arrived into their lives and settled herself in nicely and cozily. She then taught Izuku magic to be a hero, like Himmel the Hero. She genuinely liked him, too. He was like a green-headed, smaller, younger Himmel.
When they returned home, Izuku quickly got to inviting Iida, Fumikage, and Uraraka to the mall. And, well, they were all his friends now, weren't they? He might as well make a group chat with all four of them. Fumikage and Uraraka were already talking to each other. Sprinkle in Iida, who had a rather amicable relationship Izuku, and it would be complete.
As Inko went to rest for a little bit before the mall foray, and Frieren went back to reading, Izuku proceeded to create the group chat. He hovered his thumb over the create button, wondering what kind of name he should give the group.
After about a minute of brainstorming with himself, he couldn't think of a name, so he went ahead with creating it.
MagicBroccoli: Hi everyone. My mom wants you to come along with us to the Musutafu in about four hours. Are you free?
Iida Tenya: It will be a great honor to meet with your mother!
MagicBroccoli: Also, the person who mentored me with my quirk will be there. She's a family friend from Germany, though she's been staying here for quite a while.
Uraraka Ochaco: I'd love to! But I'm on a really tight budget.
MagicBroccoli: Who said you'll be paying? My mom wants to treat us. She wants to meet you, my friends, after all.
ThePrinceOfShadows: Greetings. I would be glad to partake in this gathering.
ThePrinceOfShadows changed Uraraka Ochaco's nickname to Saggitarius A*
ThePrinceOfShadows changed Iida Tenya's nickname to SonicTheHedgehog
Sagittarius A*: You named me after the biggest black hole in the galaxy?
SonicTheHedgehog: What is the meaning of this Tokoyami? Why am I… a hedgehog?
ThePrinceOfShadows: Apologies. Dark Shadow keeps stealing my phone and putting ridiculous nicknames on all my contacts. It can be aggravating. I can remove them if you wish.
Sagittarius A*: No, no! It's fine. I like space things, after all. And it's oddly fitting with my gravity altering quirk.
SonicTheHedgehog: I have searched the internet and it appears that Sonic the Hedgehog is a hedgehog that's fast and… blue? This is actually… fitting.
Izuku chuckled. Dark Shadow is an absolute genius.
MagicBroccoli: Alright, so we'll be meeting at the Musutafu Mall at about 2:00 PM. You'll all be there?
ThePrinceOfShadows: I will be.
Sagittarius A*: Yeah!
SonicTheHedgehog: I will be there on the exact time! A member of the Iida family is always punctual!
Izuku smiled to himself as he got his friends over. What a joy! But now he has to tell Frieren what not to tell them.
It would quickly turn out that she already had her own contingencies, though, so Izuku didn't need to tell her. Well, that just left the gathering itself…
As expected, Iida was there at exactly 2:00 PM. Uraraka arrived about five minutes later, while Fumikage took another ten minutes. As it turned out, he got distracted in the supermarket and all the apples there.
"I forgot that you really liked apples, Fumi," Izuku said as the birdboy approached. Fumikage didn't even attempt to tell him off for using the same doting nickname that Dark Shadow gave to him. Whether or not he was completely alright with it or just resigned himself to that fate would remain unknown.
"What?" Fumikage asked, his voice muffled by the fact that he was chewing at an apple.
Izuku chuckled. "I said that you really like apples, man." He spied his mother and Frieren approaching from the side; Inko had dragged Frieren along shopping since they had arrived at the mall about twenty minutes early. "Oh, Iida, Uraraka, meet my mom, Midoriya Inko, and my mentor, Frieren."
Iida bowed down with all his might. "It is good to meet you, Ms. Midoriya and Ms. Frieren! I am Iida Tenya! I am honored to tell you that your son and student has so far been an exemplary classmate in UA!"
"Hi, Iida, can't believe that I'm face to face with Ingenium's little brother!" Inko laughed.
"Hello Ms. Midoriya, Frieren, I'm Uraraka Ochaco," Uraraka greeted in turn. "He's been fun to hang around with."
"Heh." Frieren chuckled.
"So you taught Midoriya how to use his quirk?" Iida asked. "I must ask how you did it, for he is currently one of the most promising hero students in our class."
"It's just as he probably told you," Frieren replied. Unlike the first time she spoke, she was now speaking Japanese. She hadn't been idle in the language department in the last ten months, either, and had taken to studying the language of the place she found herself summoned to. To others, she'd have an odd accent, but that was it. "He sees himself as a mage to make his imagination into reality."
"Oh! Your quirks must be similar then."
"You could say that…" Frieren smirked knowingly.
It didn't take it long for the six of them to get divided. Inko dragged Frieren and Uraraka into a shopping spree, while Izuku, Fumikage, and Iida waited outside of the department store on a bench.
"Revelry in the dark," Fumikage suddenly said broodingly.
"Huh?" Izuku had no idea where that came from.
"Nothing… it's something I say at random times."
"I trust that you are not up to actual revelry, Tokoyami?" Iida asked. His arms looked like they were ready to start chopping.
"No, goodness, no," Fumikage shook his head. "I wouldn't. Dealing with Dark Shadow is already enough revelry as it is."
"That reminds me," Izuku turned towards Fumikage. "Your quirk manifested at 4 years old, right?"
"Right. What does this have to do with anything?"
"So Dark Shadow is 11 years old. He's like a younger brother that's always around you."
Ah. That made so much sense. And that explains so much.
"So that is why he is like a bratty child. He IS a bratty child."
"Dark Shadow's vocabulary is unbecoming, especially at such a young age!" Iida started chopping his hands. "When I fled from him he started calling me names!"
Fumikage paused for a moment like he was in deep thought. "He just said that he's not sorry and he'll say it again."
"You can do that without him coming out?"
"Yes, we are in constant communication all day. However, when he comes out, that mind-to-mind communication becomes tenuous. That's when I have to verbally issue commands."
"I'm sorry, that must be difficult."
"My condolences, Tokoyami."
"I wouldn't have it any other way, actually," Fumikage replied. "He may be a bratty child… but he is my bratty child."
"I take it back," Izuku shook his head. "That is so nice to have."
"Tokoyami, please teach him good manners!"
"...what do you think I've been doing for the last 11 years?"
Uraraka was already tired. By the Buddha, Inko was a fast shopper! She kept stopping at every aisle and product that caught her eye… and then proceeds to not buy anything ! Uraraka had, throughout her life, only bought things that she needed and then she bailed.
As for Frieren, she just kept going along with. She was… curious. Despite her stoic demeanor, she kept up with Inko, commenting about what Izuku's mother was currently checking out.
What an odd duo.
For a moment, Inko pressed on, slightly leaving Uraraka and Frieren behind. Uraraka's legs were already aching, and she wanted nothing less than to sit down. "Are you well, Uraraka?"
Frieren was talking to her now. She was stoic and slightly monotone, but she also sounded like she genuinely had an interest in the world around her. She didn't sound bored, or uncaring. Rather, she was just… that. "Oh, yes! Just a bit winded. I didn't know Izuku's mother can be like that."
"I didn't either," Frieren idly commented as they slowly walked on, just keeping Inko within sight. "So, is he doing well in class?"
"Mhm!" Uraraka nodded. "He's honestly just amazing. And a quirk that works with imagination… he's the strongest among us, I think!"
"I have great confidence that he will grow to be a great hero," Frieren nodded. Just like Himmel. "As for you, what kind of hero do you aspire to be? I heard from him that your quirk nullifies gravity and motion?"
"Well, I'm aiming to be a rescue hero," Uraraka replied. "With my quirk, even the heaviest of debris won't matter. Though… please don't judge me, but the reason I want to be a hero is… well, money."
Frieren didn't raise an eyebrow, instead letting Uraraka continue. "So, my parents run a construction company, but we don't do that well in the business. By becoming a hero, I aim to earn enough money to help my parents. Though I also want to help people. To be honest, really, I don't know where one ends and the other begins."
"There is no shame in wishing to help one's parents," Frieren replied. Goddess knows that she, the most powerful mage in the world besides Serie, couldn't even help her own parents when the demons attacked their village in their effort to exterminate the elven race. That has always been… a sore memory for her.
"So, what about you Ms. Frieren?" Uraraka asked. "If you taught Midoriya then you must be really strong, but I don't think you're a pro hero." She'd looked up Frieren's name online, and nothing came up except for some pages in German. Google translate revealed her name was... Freezing?
Is that an alias, or something? Sounds like a name a hero with an ice quirk would use...
"I was a hero once," Frieren replied. "Perhaps I still am. But before that, I had been spending my time in idle contemplation and gardening, all by myself. That is, until a great hero came to me and asked for my aid. I was initially disinterested… but he managed to convince me. Our exploits are not known," not in this world, at least , "...but I do not mind. My greatest goal in life is knowledge and study. Learning how to do things is just as fun as actually doing them."
Uraraka simply nodded along. Midoriya's teacher sounded so awesome, huh?
As soon as Saturday ended, Sunday passed by in a blaze and suddenly Izuku was back at UA, and thus, back in the reality that was the hero course.
So it wasn't a dream after all.
"Good morning, children," Aizawa stepped through the door. Several members of Class 1-A rushed to their seats at his sudden, though punctual entrance. Others were already seated but took a full second to notice that he was even there. A few, like Izuku, were already in their seats and on attention, expecting him to enter the classroom at exactly the allotted time for homeroom.
The teacher scanned the initially chaotic situation in front of him. "I expect that by 8:00 AM, all of you are already seated," he directed his eyes at Kaminari, Mineta, and Ashido, who had been the ones milling about when he came in. "I also expect that you have your attention up front here or that you immediately notice that I'm here as soon as I enter. A lapse in attention can be a fatal mistake in your future careers as heroes."
The response was subdued and quiet like they were truly and thoroughly ashamed of themselves. "Yes, Aizawa-sensei."
"Now," Aizawa began, tapping at the chalkboard. "You will be doing something very important today, one that will determine your place in this school for the years to come." He let that thought linger in the uncertain air, and the students shifted uneasily. What kind of decision will they have to make today? What will they be doing that's so important?
"You'll be choosing your class representatives. A class president, vice president, and a treasurer."
Izuku let out a sigh of relief, as did so many of his classmates. It was just normal school stuff for once!
"I am clearly the best choice for class representative!" Mineta exclaimed. "I will make every girl here happy!"
"What about us guys?" Kaminari asked.
"Nah, you can take care of yourselves."
"Yaomomo can be treasurer, she can just print out money for us to use."
"Ashido…" Yaoyorozu shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'll have you know that I'm legally obligated to not do that."
"Huh?! Why?!"
"Inflation. Printing more money just makes it worth less."
Izuku chuckled. He remembered how Frieren transmuted rocks into gold and sold a rather amount of those to a pawnshop. Apparently, the spell is useless for making counterfeit currency in her world, as anyone with magical talent and skill will know if a gold nugget used to be an ordinary rock. But here? There's no way for anyone other than Frieren and Izuku to know that, and she took advantage of that fact.
"Well, your family is rich," Ashido replied. Once again, Momo shook her head.
"My parents are rather adamant that I manage my own finances without too much help from their end," the zaibatsu heiress sighed. "Something about making sure I don't become too spoiled-"
That was when Bakugo screeched. "WHY ARE YOU EXTRAS WASTING TIME?! IT'S OBVIOUS THAT I SHOULD BE CLASS PRESIDENT!"
"I don't care who you choose as long as you do it within the allotted time for homeroom," Aizawa grumbled as he returned to his sleeping bag and began crawling away. "When you make your decision, just send the names of those you chose in the group chat."
"Your personality is basically a flaming pile of trash, Bakugo," Kaminari said with a joking grin. Izuku found it slightly unnerving that anyone was actually smiling at Bakugo like that, but he supposed that there is always a first time for everything. "No one would vote for you. What are you gonna have us do, lick your shoes?"
"No, you moron! You'll just acknowledge that I'm the best!"
"I'm sorry, but didn't you lose in the Battle Trial?"
"Why you-"
Iida then stood up and began chopping the air with his hands. "Everyone quiet down at once! We are indeed wasting time like this! I was once class president in my class back in Soumei Private School, so it will be my honor to facilitate this voting process! Let us first see who wishes to be exempt from being nominated. Raise your hands if you don't want to be nominated."
Several hands went up. There was Koda; Izuku was sure that he hadn't heard the rocky-looking boy speak even just once for the last week that he had been attending UA. Then Fumikage raised his hand; of course, while one might argue that dealing with a bratty child (Dark Shadow) that lives with and in you 24/7 gives you some experience with herding cats (the cats being teenagers in this case), leading things just isn't his thing. Izuku also raised his hand. He just couldn't imagine himself being a class officer. He never was one back in middle school or in any past grades. And Todoroki Shoto raised his hand as well.
"My father would be pleased if I became a class officer," Shoto deadpanned. Iida tilted his head, not sure he was understanding the logic behind Shoto's decision. "Therefore, I do not wish to be nominated as a class officer."
Wow.
One can only wonder what it's like being Endeavour's kid. He was grumpy to the public, but Izuku always thought he was the kind of person that did nothing but work and work. Also… that scar on Todoroki's face… who did that? Was it Endeavour? Izuku had been considering asking ever since he recognized Shoto's surname when they were first called up for introductions, but… Shoto was rather intimidating. Izuku couldn't even find an opportunity to strike up a conversation, anyway, since he always went in and out of class so fast.
Still, one thing was clear. Shoto did not like his dad.
"Anyone else?" Iida asked. A floating glove, scratch that, Hagakure raised her hand, as well as Jiro and Aoyama. Iida went to work writing down the names on the chalkboard. "Alright, so with exemptions out of the way, it's time for nominations. A nominee has to be nominated by someone else, and there should be at least two nominees per position."
As the nominations came in, the nominees for class president were Iida himself and Yaoyorozu. Vice presidential candidates were Yaoyorozu and Kaminari (the latter was jokingly nominated by Mineta, but Iida wrote the electric boy's name down either way). Treasurer nominees included, yet again, Yaoyorozu, and… Uraraka. Izuku nominated her because she was one for being strict with budgets. Uraraka was a little shocked that anyone would nominate her for anything.
"Nominations are done… let us begin voting!" Iida chopped the air.
In the end, Iida became class president. Yaoyorozu was voted into the vice presidency, leaving Uraraka as the sole candidate for treasurer.
"It will be our honor to serve you, our classmates!" Iida loudly proclaimed.
Yaoyorozu deadpanned. She had expected people to still vote her in as treasurer simply because she came from a rich family, but things can take an unexpected turn at any time. "I suppose that this is an acceptable arrangement."
"Uhhh, what they said!" Uraraka followed up. "I promise that I will definitely not be corrupt!"
Chuckles erupted at that. She wouldn't… right?
No, definitely not, Izuku thought.
"You're done? Good," Aizawa had snuck back into the classroom in his cocoon/sleeping bag. Somehow, this surprised no one. "You're dismissed for homeroom. Be on time for your next class."
"Yes, sensei!"
A few classes blazed past. Literature with Cementoss. Math with Ectoplasm. Art with Midnight. English with Present Mic. And then Izuku's second most favorite time of the day… lunch.
Lunch Rush was an exemplary chef, that's for sure. Apparently, his family line was partially descended from a certain English chef named Gordon Ramsay from the pre-quirk era, and he is seen as some kind of great culinary icon in many cooking schools. After all, when the Dawn of Quirks came about and broke the world, people from the most chaotic regions fled to more stable places. Japan was particularly stable, having been able to stave off destruction by properly integrating the quirked population.
And, with his quirk, Lunch Rush could cook anything from any cuisine. Izuku, on that particular day, had a craving for Italian, and was currently munching on a bowl of baked cheese macaroni. He was hyperfocused on the food, barely listening as Fumikage and Iida discussed international news of all things. Uraraka, meanwhile, was busy eating, too.
"I just learned yesterday that the Empire of the Northern Han is sending a delegation to Japan in a few weeks," Iida said with an intently listening Fumikage (and Dark Shadow trying to eat an apple, just for it to pass right through his ethereal body) beside him.
"The algorithm ensured that I learned of that as well," Fumikage replied as he scrolled a newsfeed on his phone, having found an article detailing the event in question in just a few seconds. "It appears that the Storm Dragon, Miao Ying, will be visiting."
"How strange. The Northern Han sent the most aloof member of their ruling dynasty to do diplomacy…"
"I heard that she is her father's favorite."
"How insane. No parent should favor a single child over the others!"
Izuku had his mind on other things. Heroics class was next. What is All Might going to teach them next? How is he going to teach them this time around? Will it be another mock battle? Oh my, he hoped that he didn't have to fight Bakugo again, or worse, be teamed up with him. A teacher or two might have the bright idea of pairing them together for the sake of learning to cooperate with people one doesn't like. That thought… is rather uncomfortable. Until Bakugo gets around to not being antagonistic at every turn then maybe…
A loud, shrill ringing rudely sent Izuku back to reality. It was-
"The school alarm! There's an intruder on the school grounds!"
"A villain is here?!"
"Quick, run for your lives!"
"No, everyone, please head to the evacuation corridor in an orderly fashion- hey!"
Iida's words were drowned out as a tidal wave of students overtook him and his three friends. They were carried along helplessly, except for Izuku, who… took off the ground with his Flight magic (that was of no surprise; he used his Flight during the first quirk assessment with Aizawa) and started spying the windows outside. Instead of a legion of villains, there were a bunch of reporters and journalists with cameras and microphones. A tired-looking Aizawa (really, the man was always tired) and a more bombastic Present Mic were warding them off from actually entering, but it looked like they were going to overwhelm the two teachers with their sheer mass of numbers.
"Guys! It's just a bunch of reporters!"
Fumikage muttered at the mention of reporters. "That's worse…"
"Really, Tokoyami?" Iida frowned. "Alright, we need to relay this news. Uraraka, use your quirk on me. Midoriya, pick me up and hold me in the air so that the student body can see me as I speak."
Izuku's mind paused at that. "Wait. Did you just tell me to pick you up?"
"Yes," Iida nodded.
"Alright," Uraraka touched Iida on the shoulder and made him weightless. "Go for it, Midoriya!"
Fumikage simply looked up. This will be hilarious to see.
And so Izuku floated downward and held Iida from underneath his arms, hoisting him up for everyone to see. "EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN!" Iida exclaimed.
The sight of a student being held up by another student in midair was surreal, to say the least, but it worked as intended. Everyone now had their attention on him, though some students kept jostling forward.
"There are no villains on the campus!" Iida proclaimed. "There is merely a crowd of reports outside. Our teachers are resolving the situation as we speak, so there is no need to panic! Please, proceed back to our classrooms in an orderly fashion!"
Iida's words had an immediate effect. The panic subsided and the students dispersed. Eventually, the hallway was left mostly empty save for the four hero students and a few others.
"Midoriya…"
"Huh? What?"
"You can put me down now…"
"OH! Right."
Click. Click. Click. Clickclickclickclickclick-
Iida and Izuku looked down just to see Dark Shadow holding up Fumikage's phone and spamming its camera. "Dark Shadow, we needed only one picture," Fumikage reminded.
"But now we have a lot of choices."
"Whatever, just send them all to our group chat… no, Dark Shadow, not the 1-A group chat! The one with JUST THE FOUR OF US!"
"Oops."
"Oh no," Uraraka said as she checked her phone, too. "Ashido put a heart reaction."
"That was fast."
"Damn it, Dark Shadow!"
As it turned out, the teasing was relentless. Kaminari had quickly sent an edited the Long Cat meme and captioned it, "POV: You're panicking in UA." Ashido commented that it was "very adorable."
Aizawa had put a laugh react on the collage of images before immediately retracting it, but not before Yaoyorozu saw it.
As it turned out, the dour man did have a sense of humor after all.
"If anyone mentions the laugh react one more time I'm throwing them out of this bus."
"You wouldn't actually do that, sensei?" Kirishima asked. "That would be unmanly."
Aizawa stared at the back of the bus with such intensity that his eyes seemed to bury into his students' souls. Great. His image as this hard-nosed, grumpy teacher was beginning to crumble, and all because he was actually amused at seeing Midoriya carrying Iida around like a cat. "Try me."
"Okay, sensei! We won't mention it again!"
And then they all laughed. This is hell. This is Aizawa's personal hell. But this is a hell that he would gladly trudge through. Though… the students didn't know this, but the UA barrier had been breached. Someone turned the gate that could survive a direct hit from a bunker buster bomb to dust. The teachers and UA's robotic defences had been on heightened alert ever since that happened, but nothing out of the ordinary had been seen within the campus so far. Still…
"Alright, we're here," Aizawa droned as the bus stopped in front of an enormous dome (which was still within the utterly gigantic UA campus). "Change into your costumes before you enter."
"Yes, sensei!"
"Welcome to the USJ!"
Izuku could only marvel at the sight before him. There were at least six different self-contained environments; a downpour zone, a fire zone, a mountain zone, a water zone, and an urban zone. Truly, UA's budget was infinite, and Principal Nezu was excellent at evading taxes. There was just Thirteen and Aizawa here, though; All Might was conspicuously absent despite him being 1-A's supposed heroics teacher. Meanwhile, Uraraka was geeking out beside him, because Space Hero Thirteen just happened to be her favorite hero.
"Oooooooh my Mido!" Uraraka shook him with barely contained excitement. "It's Thirteen! The best rescue hero out there!"
"Ah yes, I see that I have a fan here!" Thirteen said, her voice muffled by her suit's filters. "Anyway, this is the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Here, we will be learning how to react to different situations where people need to be rescued. However, before we continue, can anyone tell me what my quirk is?"
"Black Hole, Thirteen-sensei!" Uraraka was basically jumping up and down now. "You can turn any and all debris to dust!"
"Yes, it can certainly do that, but it can also kill someone if I'm not careful," Thirteen replied, making the students fall into a more somber mood. "The quirks we have are sometimes incredibly dangerous, and if applied incorrectly, could harm or kill the people we're supposed to be saving." It wasn't obvious from within her helmet, but Thirteen scanned the students Aizawa had dubbed in the teachers' group chat as the "Four Problem Children of the Apocalypse," as well as Ashido, whose acid could melt a person just as well as it could melt debris, and Kaminari, who could electrocute everyone around him. Honestly, if anyone here used their quirks wrong, they could kill somebody by accident. Except maybe for Hagakure.
"Now, for our first-"
This was when Izuku felt it. Frieren had taught him to use Soul Sight, so when a dark circle appeared in the center of the USJ's central plaza, what he saw… was painful to the eyes. The first to come out was a being of misty darkness, with glowing yellow arrows that could be reminiscent to Dark Shadow. However, what set this person from the sentient quirk was that looking at them with Soul Sight was simply agonizing. It was like amalgamation, a mixture of souls and traces of traces of mana that simply should not be smashed together like that. And yet, there they were, their soul a multicolored kaleidoscope of strange, constantly shifting colors, as if these constituent parts were constantly fighting for dominance only to be held back from total control.
And then more of these… people came out of what was clearly a bunch of portals. Izuku could only sense smug malevolence from them. There was hatred, there was opportunistic greed, and there was thirst all mixed between them. Then there was an even worse sight that came out, so much so that Izuku just turned off Soul Sight. The last... person to step out of the portal was a gigantic creature with an exposed brain, bulging eyes, a monstrous musculature complimented by its enormous size, a birdlike beak with sharp teeth, and unsettling blue skin. It looked forward, staring at nothing in particular as it... lacked eyelids.
"Is this part of the exercise?" Kaminari nervously asked. He and just about everyone else already knew, though, that these were hostiles in front of them.
"Where's All Might?" The apparent leader, a man covered all over with severed hands and possessing a very poor sense of hygiene, looked around the area. "The schedule said he will be here… oh well, I guess we'll just get some XP for the party by farming you minions."
"Those are villains! Everyone, get back! Thirteen, protect the students!" Aizawa commanded. "Jiro, Kaminari, try to contact the other teachers!"
"Can't, sensei!" Kaminari shook his head. "We're being jammed!"
Aizawa looked up at the USJ's roof. "And the alarms aren't working… damn it. We've been hacked. You'll have to get out through the door. Go! I'll delay them." But before the teacher could jump into the fray, Izuku ran to his side. "Midoriya? Damn it, I just told you to stay back!"
"I will, sensei!" Izuku nodded, knowing full well that unless he was directly attacked, he was not allowed to use his "quirk" in combat. "But not before I give you a buff that'll help you!"
"What do you-"
"Magische Panzer!" Izuku chanted. As soon as the words left his mouth, a set of shimmering armor pieces appeared around Aizawa's body. "This should keep you safe, sensei!"
"Thank you, Midoriya," Aizawa replied as he put his goggles over his eyes. "Now go and evacuate! Get the other teachers here!" The Erasure then jumped, unleashing his capture cloth to bash the villains against each other. Honestly, if not for the real danger of death in the situation, it might have even been entertaining to watch the villains get flustered as soon as they discover their quirks not working anymore.
As Izuku fled back with the rest of the students and Thirteen towards the door, the same creature of mist appeared before them with his warp quirk. He spoke in a deep, distorted voice. "I am afraid that I cannot allow you to-"
Thirteen immediately opened one of her suit's fingers, the black hole that writhed within her beginning to suck away at the mist villain. However, the mist villain was quick to react, opening portals in front of and behind Thirteen, making her own quirk attack her. The rescue hero screamed in agony as her suit's rear was torn apart and vaporised, eliciting a gasp of collective horror from the students behind her. Except for one.
"DIE!"
Bakugo screeched in gleeful rage as he flew towards the mist villain, sparks crackling in his hands. The ensuing explosion interrupted the villain's portal quirk, freeing Thirteen from her ordeal. Bakugo quickly jumped back before the mist villain could trap him with a portal. Despite the fact that his teacher had been severely injured, he had a manic grin on his face, as if battle was his very lifeblood.
"Thirteen's hurt very bad!" Uraraka said, inspecting the damage underneath the heroine's torn spacesuit. "Yaoyorozu-"
"I'm on it," the zaibatsu heiress began creating bandages and applied it to Thirteen's back. The mist villain looked at the students, and sighed.
"Your efforts are in vain. You will all-"
Before he could finish speaking, about a dozen beams of light coruscated towards the mist villain. Some were redirected back at Izuku with portals, but fully expecting him to repeat the same trick he did with Thirteen, Izuku was ready to summon Skeldus, easily blocking the redirected Zoltraaks. The Zoltraaks that didn't get intercepted, however, had hit something else entirely.
The USJ's front door exploded. Bakugo unleashed another flurry of explosions at the mist villain as Kirishima hardened and tried to tackle him. Dark Shadow emerged from Fumikage, rushing towards the villain.The villain, however, used his portals to his advantage. The explosions hit Dark Shadow and Kirishima instead, sending them flying.
The misty villain, though he completely lacked a mouth or anything, really, chuckled. "That is what Master Tomura would call friendly fire. You cannot escape, even-"
That was when Izuku summoned Blau Kraken, bidding the mana tentacles to come out of the ground in an attempt to ensare the mist villain. "Iida!" Izuku screamed at the speedster. "Get out there, class rep! You have to tell the teachers!"
"But-"
"Just run already, Iida! You're the only one that's fast enough!"
As the mist villain began to sever the mana tentacles by creating portals within them, Iida began to run. The villain's attention would be taken up by Bakugo screaming and throwing explosions, while Izuku unleashed nearly three dozen low-powered Zoltraaks, each of which would be no more painful than a prick of a needle should they connect, but the villain wouldn't know that. Furthermore, Todoroki came about, sending in a rapidly creeping glacier that the mist villain blocked with a portal, wasting his time redirecting each of the beams, ice, and explosions until Iida was out of the door and running.
"How… irritating!" The mist villain was visibly agitated, and his mist began to expand. "Die!"
Darkness engulfed Izuku and his classmates in an instant. He then found himself falling, only to reorient himself in midair with Flight. He felt and heard the patter of a downpour around him.
Oh.
He's in the downpour zone, all alone, for now. The mist villain must have separated 1-A at random to ensure that the horde of lackeys would kill them.
He needs to find his classmates, and fast.