Chapter Text
“Introduce yourselves.”
Two students stood at the front of the classroom. One of them was absolutely massive; a brown buzzcut sitting on top of a frame that looked like it was chiseled off of an image from pre-Quirk comic books. He stood in front of the class ramrod straight, eyes full of focus. He spoke, and Izuku could feel his head hurt a bit with how powerfully his voice carried in the room.
“Hello, everyone!” the student bellowed, bowing deeply. “My name is Yoarashi Inasa, and it’s truly an honor to be here with you guys! My Quirk lets me control the air that’s around me!” He continued, air gently flowing around his uniform, giving him the appearance of a Hero standing on a rooftop, the wing blowing his cape back, looking like he was farming nothing but aura. Instinctively, Izuku pulled out his current notebook and started jotting down notes on Inasa’s quirk.
Mineta was barely able to glance over Midoriya’s shoulder where he was able to take a look at a small section of his notes, and he found himself flabbergasted at the sheer detail that he was getting into. He made a mental note to have Midoriya help him understand his quirk better at some point down the line.
Inasa took a seat in one of the empty seats, a smirk forming on his face when he read the note that denoted his desk was formerly Shoto Todoroki’s. The next student bowed and pulled out a sheet of paper, rolled up into a scroll.
“Special greetings to you, my fellow Heroics students.” The student said in an almost hilariously bad British accent. My name is Danjuro Tobita, and my Quirk lets me make anything I touch elastic, as I will demonstrate with this pencil!” He pulled out a pencil from his breast pocket and activated his quirk. He grabbed it by both ends with 3 fingers and pulled, the pencil stretching and sagging in the process. He brought his hands back together and deactivated his Quirk, then proceeded to attempt to break it. Attempt, as in he failed to even crack the pencil, much to the class's amusement. He put the pencil back in his pocket and went to the last empty seat in the class.
Aizawa then spent the first bit of the day going over everyone’s results from the QAT, to which Izuku continued to take notes on his classmates, his notebook filling up very quickly in the process.
Homeroom passed way quicker than anyone expected. The bell rang right as Aizawa wrapped up the last of his analyses, and in walked the very recognizable pro Hero, Midnight, in full costume, which looked extremely scandalous to anyone that didn’t know who they were looking at.
After all, who did they think was responsible for the regulations on Hero costumes?
Most of the boys in the class (and quite a few of the girls) averted their eyes, trying to not look her in the eyes with blushes on their faces. Midnight, to everyone’s surprise, was the school’s Art History teacher, which entails the history of how Heroes presented themselves and the evolution over the two centuries of Heroics. Izuku noted how she slipped in out of her Midnight persona as the lesson carried on; She was Aizawa-sensei when she was introducing the curriculum and the first lesson, but flipped her switch to help keep the class’ attention focused.
Izuku found this class surprisingly enthralling; for all of his childhood focusing on how All Might was in public, how he presented himself to the public wasn’t something his brain ever processed, he found himself paying a lot of attention to her lesson.
“HEY-YO!” a loud voice boomed as a tall blond head of hair bounded into the classroom. Those with particularly sensitive ears covered them on reflex as Present Mic introduced himself as the English teacher. Fitting as he had a world-famous podcast that discussed current topics and whatever drama was going on in the Heroics world. “Oh relax, little listeners; that was just my inside voice!” Mic teased. The class quickly learned that Present Mic and Hizashi Yamada were the exact same person, not a character that he puts on like Midnight did.
Throughout the day, one thing became abundantly clear to everyone; U.A was just another school, and sometimes their days were going to be mundane, boring days that are going to go extremely slowly for everyone.
Lunch came sooner than people anticipated, however, and Izuku had stars in his eyes when he learned Lunch Ruch, one of Japan’s greatest Disaster Heroes, was in charge of U.A’s food program. As he had always imagined it would be, his lunch was to die for. He sat down at a table in the cafeteria, and found himself joined by a few of his classmates, a couple of whom he hadn’t met yet.
“How are you enjoying your classes so far, Midoriya-san?” Momo asked Izuku, taking a seat next to the green-haired boy.
Izuku swallowed his food. “Th-They’re interesting for sure. I didn’t think that heroics was this involved, for sure. I mean, I didn’t think Midnight was so knowledgeable on how and why Heroes present themselves the way they do!”
Momo smiled. “That’s my sister for you.”
Kaminari sat down, having caught that last sentence. “Your sister?!” he asked.
Momo looked sheepish. “Y-yes, my sister. Well, not by birth, but she was a distant cousin of my mother who came under our purview when her parents found themselves… unable to take care of her anymore. Eventually they filed the paperwork to fully adopt her the year before she enrolled here at U.A.” The trio found themselves joined by a couple other students from their class, as well as one from the other class.
“Momo! Glad to know you survived Eraserhead’s first day!” a green-haired girl exclaimed, taking a seat next to Momo. She had messy green hair, and Izuku could swear she had a small bit of blonde hair on the ends. Her teeth were pointy and her eyes were dark green, the irises slitted like a reptile.
“Good to see you too, Setsuna. How’s Vlad’s class going for you?” Momo asked.
“Boring as heck. Like, couldn’t they make these more exciting for us? Or are they just making us painfully aware of how the real world is?” Setsuna complained.
“Thank you!” A pink girl echoed from across the table. “Mina Ashido, from Class 1-A.” She reached her hand over the table.
“Setsuna Tokage, Class 1-B.” Setsuna smiled, her detached hand shaking Mina’s.
“No but for real, these classes are soooo boring! Where’s the zazz and the flash at?” Mina whined, taking a sip of her water. Kaminari concurred as he took a bite from the burger he had ordered.
“Cementoss is just as stiff and his lessons have no flavor to them… this burger, however, has nothing but flavor. Lunch Rush’s reputation is what it is for a reason, I guess.” Kaminari shrugged. Izuku laughed, tension leaving his shoulders. It was nice, everyone having the same feelings as him and not making fun of him for having those feelings. As everyone bantered amongst each other, he could feel what lingering tension he felt about being in a new school slowly leave his body.
“Modern Literature was supposed to be us discussing the moralities of being a Hero and the decisions we make, but I’m inclined to agree, Kaminari-san.” Momo nodded agreeingly. “If I may be frank for a second; Ishiyama-sensei is quite bland and flavorless, unlike this delicious curry in front of me.” Her eyes sparkled as she took another bite of her lunch.
“I-I mean at least Quirk Analysis was fun…” Izuku muttered from behind his bowl of the second-best katsudon he’s ever eaten.
“Of course you’d think it was fun, Izuku.” Kaminari teased, a warm smile on his face. “You were nose deep in your notebook just scribbling away at whatever he went over with us. Like, no Eraserhead, I had no idea at all I was using my quirk wrong.” Denki remarked sarcastically.
“Ours was most of the same, Aizawa-sensei tore each of us a new one when he looked at Vlad King’s notes from our QAT earlier that morning, saying that we should have a better understanding of how we can use our quirks to maximise our abilities.” Setsuna whined. “Why does he have to be such a hard-ass though? He could at least try to be a little nicer…”
“He is nicer, especially after he married Midnight. You should have seen how unlikeable he was when Nemuri brought him home after they got engaged; my father was… shall we say, deadeye-ing him the entire time.” Momo explained. “I am still not sure whether or not the two of them even see eye to eye.”
Setsuna snorted, before laughing. “I’m sorry, Momo, but the idea of Eraserhead and your dad seeing eye… that-that's too funny.”
Mina cocked an eyebrow. “Are we missing something here, Tokage-san?” She leaned forward, resting her chin in her hands. She pointed between the two of them. “How exactly do you two know each other?”
Momo’s eyes widened, then cleared her throat. “O-Oh right, Setsuna and I know each other from the various meetings that would happen at my father’s business. Her older brother is a lead engineer for the organization’s support branch, and while he and my father would be in meetings constantly, Setsuna and I would wander the compound and see what everyone was doing, whether it was in QA, Theoreticals, or the production floor.”
“Yeah, the security there hated me because I’d use my quirk-” she popped her head off and floated it around the table before setting it in the middle of the table, where she spun it around as if it was on a turntable, “to look around in the places I shouldn’t be in. No matter how much Momo assured them I wasn’t up to anything bad-”
“Malicious!”
“Whatever, point is that we go way back and her dad and my brother both recommended me for U.A, and so here we are!” Setsuna wrapped up, reassembling her body.
Mina’s eyes took on a mischievous glint, however. She sensed something from Setsuna, something… fun. “I like you already. So,” she leaned in towards Setsuna, “who do you think’s the cutest in your class?”
Setsuna smirked right back. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she retorted.
“You haven’t seen my class; I have been in hell for the past few hours surrounded by mostly cute people.” Mina fired back. Izuku was surprised to hear that someone thought he was cute.
“Join the club, girl. I’m getting tortured just sitting here with you guys!”
Make that two people, apparently. Today was going way better than Izuku had ever thought possible. Ashido and Tokage-san both thought he was cute?
“Duh, I mean, have you looked in a mirror lately, Broccoli?” Setsuna answered. Izuku’s face turned red and he ducked his head onto the table. He was talking out his thoughts again! He whined to himself out of embarrassment.
Mina decided to not help the matter at all: “Dude, you’re like the top of my list. The list goes something like you, then Uraraka, then Tsu, then Koda, then… shit who did I have after Koda?” She struggled.
“So where do you have me?” Denki asked as innocently as he could muster. Mina made a show of looking him up and down before answering.
“Somewhere in the upper half.”
Lunch ended shortly afterwards, and unfortunately for everyone, the day didn’t get much more exciting. Of course Izuku paid attention to everything and took diligent notes as usual, but as the day went on he could sense an anxiety rising in the class. It wasn’t a nervous anxiety, more like an excited anxiety, like the class could sense something was coming and they didn’t know what it was. The thing is, they knew exactly what it was, but not what it was going to be:
Heroics.
“Does anyone have a clue who our teacher is going to be?” Hanta asked.
“I wonder if it’s just going to be Aizawa-sensei again.” Tooru responded. “He’s already our Analysis teacher, I wonder if that’s just one part of Heroics.”
“Have you seen the media that everyone says is swarming outside of the school?” Inasa asked the class. Everyone shook their head. “Oh… Well, I came in early after the principal called me late last night, and there were a few news stations parked out front. They were talking about a Hero joining UA as a Heroics teacher, and if I know the media well, they don’t swarm for anyone that isn’t a high-ranking Hero.”
“No shot it’s Mirko, dude.” Mineta said.
“Why the fuck do you want it to be Mirko, you damn grape?” Katsuki chided Mineta. Izuku just laughed when he heard that; Katsuki seemingly didn’t understand Mirko’s appeal, despite her style being exactly what he looks for in a Hero.
“Dude. High-rank, media circus, and hot as fuck?”
“She’s a solo Hero, dumbass. It’s going to be someone dumb like Yoroi Musha or Wash, just watch.”
The door opens, and in a divine act of perfect timing, a booming voice echoes.
“I AM HERE… TO TEACH YOU GUYS HOW TO BE HEROES!”
The class, Katsuki included, sat in complete awe as All Might revealed himself to be the Heroics teacher. Aizawa walked in right behind him, not saying anything as All Might had the class’ attention. He moved to his podium and pressed a button, revealing 18 suitcases from the wall.
“Holy shit it’s All Might!”
“No way! Is that his Silver Age costume?”
“Man, we're going to be the best Heroes with him teaching us!”
Izuku couldn’t stop the smile that was on his face from appearing. He knew from the jump that All Might was going to be the Heroics teacher, but seeing everyone, especially Kacchan, in awe at the Number One Hero made him feel happy, like for one solid moment everything was okay.
Because All Might Was Here.
“HAHAHAHA!” All Might laughed. The reactions of everyone being in awe of his presence never got old to him. I KNOW EVERYONE HERE KNOWS WHO I AM, SO THIS MAKES THINGS A LOT SIMPLER! IF YOU LOOK BEHIND YOUNG AIZAWA, THERE ARE BRIEFCASES WITH YOUR HERO COSTUMES INSIDE! OUR SUPPORT PROGRAM WERE BUSY THE PAST FEW DAYS BUILDING YOUR HERO COSTUMES EXACTLY AS YOU DESIGNED THEM! NOW, WE WILL BE MEETING UP AT GROUND BETA FOR YOUR FIRST LESSON!” All Might explained, as he sprinted out of the classroom. Izuku swore he could see the telltale steam from him deflating, but paid no mind.
The class sat there in shock that All Might didn’t stick around long. Katsuki was the first one to get up from his seat and grab his case. “He’s expecting us to be on it, extras.” He grumbled out, looking at everyone with the same look he gives everyone: expectation and underlying anger. He walked out of the room, and the class quickly got up and grabbed their cases, Izuku not far behind everyone, following Katsuki.
“I’m losing time.”
All Might rounded the corner to the elevator as he deflated back to his true form. Toshinori hit the button for the ground floor and sat down in the elevator. He leaned back, his head hitting the railing. ‘I’m losing time. My body’s straining every time I buff up and be All Might, and I don’t know how much longer I have.’ The door opened, and Toshinori was thankful no one was waiting for it and could see him on the ground.
Yagi aren’t meant to be weak, after all.
He picked himself up off the floor and made his way out of the building.
‘Eventually I'm gonna have to rip the band-aid off and learn to just be Toshinori Yagi, because those 2 hours that Chiyo said I had left are rapidly shrinking. I burned a lot of energy yesterday stopping that villain…’
Izuku zipped up his costume, and looked in the mirror as he walked by. His mother helped him design it: it was bright teal, with white framing that went down the sides and sleeves. His mask was one that covered his head; around his mouth was a hardened plastic piece emblazoned with a design resembling a large smile not unlike All Might’s. Two fabric ears stuck up from the top of his head, and his eyes were visible from the holes on his face. Elbow and knee pads, alongside white gloves and a red belt completed his outfit. He stuck with his normal shoes, as they were the only things that fit him, and he didn’t know if the Support classes knew how to design shoes the way he liked, so he left them off of his design sheet he had submitted.
He left the locker room, and he saw Kaminari in his costume; He looked rather casual in his costume, a black tracksuit that had white lightning bolts on the jacket, which was unzipped showing a plain white shirt. On his head he had a single earpiece, with what looked like an antenna sticking out from it.
“Hey, Izuku!” Kaminari called out to Izuku, making his way over to him. “So, Rabbit, who’s your Batman supposed to be?” He teased lightly. Izuku blushed underneath his hood.
“I-It was supposed to be modeled after All Might’s hair…” Izuku reached up to his antennae, lightly rubbing them, feeling the wire that kept them upright.
“I was thinking he looked quite like Bugs Bunny, in all honesty.” Danjuro mentioned, walking alongside the two. Izuku was familiar enough with the character, but he didn’t see it.
The 3 of them gathered with the rest of the class, who were all lined up side by side. Izuku could see a mixture of looks on everyone's faces: Momo looked extremely uncomfortable, holding her arms close to her chest in an effort to hide how exposed she felt; Mina was ecstatic, dancing in place back and forth, looking like she’s trying to stay as limber as possible, and Izuku spotted a floating pair of gloves that he presumed was Tooru.
All Might walked out of a small building besides a larger, much taller building. “EVERYONE IS HERE, AMAZING WORK! NOW, FOR YOUR FIRST LESSON IN HEROICS, WE HAVE A CLASSIC STAPLE: HEROES VERSUS VILLAINS!”
He motioned beside him. “THE BUILDING BEHIND US IS WHERE THE TRIAL WILL TAKE PLACE! THE VILLAINS HAVE PLANTED A BOMB INSIDE AND IT IS GOING TO BE UP TO THE HEROES TO DISARM IT!” He pulled out a baseball cap. “INSIDE HERE ARE 20 PIECES OF PAPER, EACH WITH A LETTER ON IT. WHAT LETTER YOU DRAW WILL DETERMINE WHO YOUR PARTNER IS FOR THIS EXERCISE! NOW, PLEASE COME FORTH AND DRAW YOUR LOT!”
The class all walked up and drew their pieces of paper. Izuku grabbed one out and opened it up.
E.
“I got B!” Denki called out, and he saw Momo raise her scrap of paper up in response. Denki pumped his fist and held his hand up for a high five, but Momo just smiled innocently. Denki’s hand faltered a bit, and Izuku just chuckled to himself.
“Uh… Izuku, right? You drew E?” Izuku looked over and he saw…. Nothing. He looked down and saw the pair of gloves from earlier holding a piece that said “E” as well.
“O-Oh, uh, y-yeah, I did. Tooru Hagakure, right?” Izuku asked.
“Yep! You already know my Quirk is Invisibility, and I’m really good at stealth! It’s how I got through the Exam!” She beamed. Izuku’s brain was already working with ideas of how they could go about the Trial. He had one question though.
“Do you know how to fight?” he asked her.
“Fight?... Uh…. No, I thought the school was going to be teaching us how to fight…” Tooru confessed sheepishly.
“Then how did…”
“The Robots? You didn’t see the off switches on the backs of them?” She answered. Izuku internally facepalmed at himself.
All Might cleared his throat, and the class, now split off into their teams, returned their attention to the Hero. “NOW THEN! THE FIRST TEAMS THAT WILL BE FACING OFF ARE GOING TO BE TEAMS H AND F! TEAM H WILL BE THE VILLAINS AND TEAM F AS THE HEROES! TEAM H HAS 5 MINUTES TO SET UP, AND TEAM F SHOULD SPEND THAT TIME PLANNING THEIR MOVE. THE REST OF YOU WILL BE WATCHING FROM THE CONTROL ROOM NEXT DOOR!”