Chapter Text
Katsuki Bakugo
Something's up with Deku, no scratch that. Something’s been up with Deku for a while, somehow that little pest managed to not only get the backbone to actually stand against me instead of cowering like the wimp he is was, but he also has the skills to actually fight back? Something’s up, no one simply turns into that, especially not Deku. What on earth would allow a whimpering coward like Deku who would cry at so much as a glance towards him, transform into the confident and shockingly capable individual he is now?
Deku went from being a persistent obstacle in my way that just wouldn’t stay down, to an actual contestant in my journey to the top. And the worst part is, I have no clue how it happened, I can’t trace it back to any one event, I can’t figure out if I said or did something to make him think he had a chance. All I can do is look at half of the puzzle pieces and just try to picture how they come together without even being allowed to slot the pieces together.
All I know is what I overheard from the old hag when she was talking with auntie Inko about Deku, apparently he met some random extras who were training at dagobah, and for some unknown reason they decided to include Deku in their training. It would be perfect, I would just go over there, find those extras and show them exactly how much of a worthless Deku he is, but no matter when I go to look, or where In the trashheap of a beach I look I can’t find them. It’s like they know when and where I’m going to be before I do, not to mention I only figured out he was even getting trained about 2 weeks before I told him to kill himself the teacher said he was planning to go to U.A. like I was.
It got worse after the Sludge villain thing, that extra was able to overpower and surprise me, ME. I couldn’t even blast the villain extra to hell because my hands were pointed away, didn’t stop me from trying my hardest. Then out of nowhere comes Deku once more, he grabbed a wrecked street sign and started dancing around the Sludge extra’s attacks, then when he finally got close enough the Deku pole vaulted up and went for the Sludge extra’s eyes! Since when did Deku have the guts and skills to do any of that?
Even when I confronted him afterwards he looked relieved to see me, RELIEVED. I don’t know what wires he crossed in that head of his but whatever happened must’ve been what convinced him he could actually stand against me.
No matter, I’ll just train so hard that all of my weaknesses limits, will get broken and Deku won’t stand a snowflake's chance in hell against me. If the nerd thinks he can get into U.A. and insult me then it’s going to be so much sweeter when he tries the entrance exam and gets told-
Midoriya Residence: Edda
“No. We are not going to attend the entrance exam, we have no real interest in becoming heroes, and besides the exam is to filter out the best of the best and we have not learned nearly as much as the best should have.” It was starting to get irritating how often Izuku Midoriya attempted to convince us to join in the exam. While we would do remarkably well in the physical test, our lack of knowledge about this realms history and politics would make the written portion much more difficult if not impossible for us to complete without extensive lessons. Not only would we be committing to the longest journey of our existence second only to our journey against the One Above All, but even ignoring that as our attempts at acquiring a job have shown us, without a proper background and history records about us, the chances of us being even allowed in are close to none. And yet the kid simply won’t give up, perhaps being offered to be trained under his Idol encouraged him to make another attempt.
“But you would get the chance to become heroes, U.A. is a school first and foremost, it’s just that their main export is Heroes, You’d get to travel the world and help people, not to mention that you both said it yourself, you love facing strong foes. While not every villain will be as strong as your previous foes, you’d still be able to face off against those who have honed their powers for evil! Come on, at least give it a try, if you fail, then you fail. But if you get in? Then-”
“Key word being IF child, IF we get in than we will be subject to more intense scrutiny from your government, as we have no known origin, no family, no past beyond what we have built in the here and now, and if we do not get in than we will still receive such intense scrutiny by virtue of them ensuring we do not fall into the realm of villainy as many who have failed such tasks often do. Such a risk is too great to consider. We will not attempt the entrance exam.” Izuku Midoriya’s headstrongness is one of his strongest features, second only to his mind, but does he not realize the potential danger we may be put in by attempting the exam. It is simply a risk too great for me to consider.
Aven on the other hand. “Come on Edda, the kids got his heart in the right place, tell me you didn’t want to dispense justice as a protostar, to iron out the crooked edges of life so that everyone can live better. We are being handed the chance to do that on a silver platter, all we have to do is learn more about this realm's logics and whatnot, even if we get hunted down or whatever it is you think may happen. We can handle it, we’ve faced Summum, we’ve faced the Fused, we’ve even faced the Angel and Demon, are you going to tell me you're more afraid of some folks in suits?” Unbidden a memory resurfaces, of a time long ago when I looked upon the grace and might of the Angel and was in awe. A time that has long since passed.
“Clearly I cannot convince either of you of the dangers of this, you may attend the exam Aven, but make no mistake I will not be pressured into this.” I would spend no more time with these two, because despite my attempts at indifference, Aven was right, there once was a young protostar dreaming of fixing the world that seemed so broken, but that naive kid is dead, she died when a phoenix tore through their peaceful little town, she died when her naivety led her own guardians to their fading. That girl is gone, and she would do well to forget her no matter how much she just wants to join them and become a true hero just as she always dreamed of.
U.A. Principals Office: Principal Nezu
1 Week Later
It was always interesting to have a meeting be requested between himself and Yagi Toshinori, partially because Yagi seems to prefer getting their regularly scheduled meetings done with as soon as possible, so him requesting one is strange in and of itself, but especially when he stated in his message that it was about his future as a hero, to most it would simply be him speaking of his plans for the future, but to one Principal it was a codeword for speaking of the number one heroes quirks future. What could it be? I wonder, the program I designed hasn’t informed me of him acting outside of his limit yet, so it’s unlikely that his condition is deteriorating, but the odds of him finding a successor just out and about is incredibly small (he did the math of course). Of course the most straightforward way to determine exactly what the situation is about is to ask directly, but that removes so much of the enjoyment gained from picking it apart and examining it from every angle, but alas, Yagi is already at his door and it wouldn’t do for him not to properly greet him after all.
The door opened just as Yagi went to knock, but being more used to it than most others he simply used his raised hand to push the door the rest of the way open before closing it behind him. A quick glance from him and a quick nod from me was all he needed to un-tense and sit down in one of the chairs. “I found my successor. But I am concerned with the individuals he surrounds himself with, particularly how one of them managed to determine I was the number one hero without anything being said to suggest so.”
Well it’s not often one garners my curiosity, more so when I haven’t even met or heard of them. A few quick clicks on my personal computer and I have the citizen and quirk registry for all of japan up on one of my monitors. “Well it would do well for me to learn about these individuals, what are their names?” Two separate tabs should be sufficient for this, more can be added if necessary.
Yagi takes a moment to breathe before answering. “My successor is named Izuku Midoriya, he is quirkless and yet is incredibly physically and mentally capable, he was able to quickly and safely disable the sludge villain from a week ago. I only know his friends by their first name, a young girl known as Edda and a young boy known as Aven. I believe the two may be either related or good friends but I haven’t known them for very long.”
It didn’t take long to locate the successor, records confirming that the kid is in fact quirkless, alongside a series of reports against him from his teachers, but given how Yagi is vouching for the kid and how good of a judge of character he is it is safe to say that the reports are tinted. What was difficult to find was the other two, as with only the first name to work with it became much more difficult to locate them, and when he did there were only listed records about them currently being employed and owning a small apartment, no childhood, no family members, they merely appeared and got to work. “How interesting, I can’t find anything on those two outside of a job and a home. Tell me more about them.” It was plain to see just how uncomfortable Yagi was under my piercing stare, but I just found my newest project and I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.
Much later I would peruse the applicants for the entrance exam, and listed right there in neat little printing was a name that drew a feral smile upon my face. For right near the top, as the newest applicant that was accepted was Aven. Oh how interesting.
Midoriya Household: Aven
1 Month later (9 Months to the Entrance Exam
Aven was not panicking. “Uh, kid?” If Aven was panicking he would know and would know why. “I got a letter from U.A. any idea why it’s here?” He was very good at controlling his emotions, a trick you learn on the streets, show the right face to the right people and you can make it to tomorrow. “Oh, uh, have you opened it yet?” So Aven is not panicking, but he is feeling … What's the word, anxious? Apprehensive? Something like that. “No, I was wondering if you had an idea before I opened it.” Even if he was panicking he wouldn’t show it, you don’t survive in the streets by freezing up. “Well maybe something was wrong with your application and they are letting you know so you can fix it. Whatever it is, just open it.” You also don’t survive by postponing what needs to be done and yet look at him now. “Alright give me a second.”
My claws tear through the seam like butter and I carefully fish out the letter stored inside, I open it up and start reading, then I finish reading, and I read it again to make sure I read it right. Then once more just to be certain, then with a definitely not shaky voice I said. “The principal of U.A. wants to talk to me and Edda.” It’s very good that I wasn’t panicking, because it’s hard to calm down another panicking individual when you yourself are panicking.
Entrance to U.A.
1 Week later
The entrance to U.A. was impressive, massive gates emblazoned with the insignia of the school, the massive building behind those gates looming over him like the golden tower used to it was all very awe inspiring. “You know the most likely reason for this is to expand on our non-existent past and such right Aven?” It would be more so if Edda wasn’t listing off every possible thing that could go wrong with this meeting, it was a wonder he even managed to convince her to come along in the first place.
“As I have said, we will never know if we don’t go. You agreed to come so stop complaining and let’s go.” At this rate we may never even make it to the meeting in the first place. The fact of the matter is that if we were to deny the meeting it would be even more suspicious, which is what got Edda to actually agree to come with, although it seems to not have stopped her from attempting to list every possible reason why we would be asked to come here.
I pull the guest badge I got from the letter and scan it against the console by the gate, it beeps an affirmative and the gates open to beckon us inside, I step through almost immediately but Edda takes a few extra seconds to enter. Almost as if it was waiting for us, the gates close again and I turn my attention to the main building, while partially obscured by the large walls, I can now see the full scope of its size and construction. It’s not as tall or grand as the Gilded Tower, nor is it as sleek and captivating as the flooded gardens, but its construction and design are impressive in their own right.
Edda’s usual ranting falters at the sight of the grand construction and I’m reminded that Blue Cores have a tendency to more aesthetic constructions, she’s probably admiring the view in her own way. And as much as I wish to tease her about being speechless, I know this is probably the best way to get her moving, so I restrain myself and just head towards the building, knowing that she’ll catch up to witness more of this construction, she always was a sucker for architecture.
Well before we reach the front door I detect a Cores presence behind them, it’s muted in the same way all the others are so I figure it must be a quirked individual, what’s odd is how non-descript it’s presence is, I can’t get a proper read on what their abilities could even possibly be, but as cautious and apprehensive I am about facing an unknown factor. I figure if the worst comes to worst we could probably take them on.
A little before I reach the steps leading to the door (Edda a few steps behind me), the door opens to reveal a rather disheveled individual, their black long hair and mostly monochrome colors make me immediately think of a faded Old One, but their presence doesn’t match. They take a moment to look us over and sighs slightly before speaking. “You must be Edda and Aven. The principal sent me to escort you over to him, it would be illogical to make you wander when you’ve never been here before. Follow me.”
I don’t argue and Edda doesn’t object as we both follow behind the monochrome individual, I tuck the fact that the principal prefers the male reference away for later and turn my attention back to Edda. While she seems slightly tense, she still seems preoccupied by the architecture that we are walking through and as time passes without us being ambushed or whatever she’s thinking might happen she slowly untenses. After a few minutes of our walk Edda surprises me by asking a question to our monochrome guide. “Do you have any idea why the principal wishes to speak with us? The letter was not that informative and there was not much information on this sort of thing happening in the past.”
Our guide sighs once more before responding. “I can count on one hand the amount of times someone has been personally requested to speak with Nezu and every time it happens his only answer was ‘curiosity’, so no, I don’t know why he’s called for you two.” So the principal is known as Nezu, why the two separate identifiers? Is he perhaps trying to confuse others? The image being painted about this Nezu isn’t pretty, but I’m not scared. The Demon had a more negative reputation than this Nezu did and they still seemed pretty alright to me.
We walked in silence for the better part of half an hour before we reached a large black door, with a metallic handle along the right side reaching to the floor and to the ceiling, our guide went up to the door and raised their hand to knock, but before their fist connected a slight command from beyond the door caused the door to open preemptively, our guide took this in stride and simply pushed the door the rest of the way in before turning back to me and Edda and beckoning us inside with a jerk of his head.
Inside was a rather well furnished office space, with plenty of shelving space for a variety of records and awards, in the middle of the room lied a large desk with two monitors set off to the side, leaving the center of the desk clear bar from a small set of porcelain cups and a tea pot, three seats sat on the edge closest to the door while across the desk lied another much grander chair. But what really caught my attention was the individual sitting in the grand chair.
They were small, only just smaller than an ice sprite, with a pure white form covered by a perfectly set up suit and red tie. Despite their small size and the generally weak yet fast feeling from their core, I could tell that this individual was not to be messed with. While doubtlessly we could best them in direct combat, both me and Edda know that that only matters if you can get close enough to them.
“Why hello you two, please take a seat, I have a few questions I wish to ask you. Aizawa, if you have no other callings feel free to join.” At this our guide, now named Aizawa, glared at Nezu for a few seconds before taking a seat on the left most chair, I then went and took a seat in the middle chair. Knowing that Edda dislikes being confined and would be more irritable if she was forced to sit in the middle. She soon sat down in the right most seat and Nezu proceeded to pour out some tea for all of us.
I figured if it was being offered it would be rude to refuse and used what little social training I have to make sure I don’t disrespect Nezu, while attempting to drink while abstract is a thing I have gotten a hang of (as actualizing is most often seen as a declaration of battle), doing so now seems to require more effort than it used to.
“Now then, I noticed that your recorded history is rather lacking, no known family members, no place or even date of birth, not to mention how for all intents and purposes you have only started existing about 6 months ago. Now logic dictates that that can’t be right, but I would like to hear it from you, why is there so little information on you two?” Wow, straight into the question Edda was afraid about, I suppose that he’s had plenty of time to research about us so he figures he might as well knock the question out at the start, but still, couldn’t you bear to use a little more tact?
“Well sir, your right, for all intents and purposes we have only been around for about a year,” Honesty will go a long way here, and despite how much I don’t want to mess with him, I can tell he holds no ill will to either of us, it’s more than likely he just seeks to protect those under him, so I ignore the appalled feeling from Edda and continue talking, “we woke up on Dagobah beach and were greeted by Izuku Midoriya. After some talking with his mother she agreed to help us get settled and we helped the kid train. The simple answer as to why there is so little information is because we haven’t been around for as long as any of you have.”
For a minute no one speaks or even moves, Aizawa seems somewhat shocked but mostly skeptical, and Nezu seems to be deliberating, Edda is simply silent and I don’t want to interrupt this moment of silence. It’s eventually broken when Nezu says “Well now, despite all common conjecture, I am inclined to believe you.” What?
It seems my surprise is matched by both Edda and Aizawa, although Edda is more dumbfounded while Aizawa seems more in disbelief. “If I may ask, what makes you so inclined to believe me? Even I understand that my story seems pretty far-fetched, and I’m the one who experienced it!”
“Well it’s rather simple, Aven. I am widely considered the smartest being in Japan, if not the world, and if there is one thing truly smart individuals know, it’s that there is so much more they do not know. As such, until either I can disprove your story or you rescind it, I shall take it as fact that you two simply did not exist until a year ago. But that is not my only question for you two, I noticed that only Aven here submitted themselves as a participant in the hero entrance exam,” at this he turned to more directly face Edda, showing that he was asking her directly, “For what reason do you not wish to attempt the exam?”
Isn’t that the question of the past month or so, and every time she simply responds with- “I have no interest in serving those who hold no will to achieve their own ambitions.”-’I hold no interest in-’ wait, what? “If I am to serve someone, it shall be because I respect their own will and strength, not because of the position they hold in a hierarchy that is so clearly corrupt. To put it simply, one must earn my respect, and this ‘Heroes Association’ is almost laughable at how obviously corrupt it is. That is my answer.” She- she never spoke of this, was that why she tried to dissuade me? Why didn’t she say so! Was it because of the kid? Did she not want to dissuade the kid from his ultimate goal?
Once more the room was silent for a minute or so. Aizawa looked genuinely surprised while Nezu was simply still. After what must’ve been at least 10 minutes had passed, Nezu had started giggling, it soon progressed to laughing, and a few more moments later he was full on cackling! Edda looked the same way I was feeling at the moment, and Aizawa seemed to bear a face of pure dread at the cackling principal.
It seemed like an hour had passed but it was likely a little more like 3 minutes before the principal finally calmed himself down, but it took him another minute to pour himself a new cup of tea and drink some of it before he spoke again. “That, Edda. Is precisely why you should be a hero.”