Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku wasn’t quite sure what was happening. Just a few minutes ago, he was getting beat up behind the cafeteria and now he was in his teacher’s office. His bruises were in the midst of forming and he was incredibly sore. This teacher was a new one, and judging by some of her classes, quirkist. Those with powerful quirks were superior in her eyes.

Sayaka-sensei made him stand.

She had him affixed with a mean glare and Izuku had no idea what he’d done, “I know I’ve turned a blind eye for a while, Midoriya, but I cannot stand idly by anymore.”

Hope bloomed in his chest, was she saying what he thought she was? Was she really going to stand up for him? In most of his time as a student, teachers had always just looked away while his classmates tormented him. Maybe he wouldn’t have to cower in fear any longer.

“I simply can’t let you continue down this path,” his heart sunk, of course -even as he was beaten and bruised- it would all get pinned on him, “You have to stop aggravating the other students. Your actions are taking a toll on their attendance. How do you think that reflects on me? Or on them?”

Izuku ducked his head and tears sprung up in his eyes as that hopeless feeling sprung up in his chest. Why was she doing this to him?

“I’m going to have to take action against this behavior, Midoriya,” she said sternly, but what could be worse than the bruises that littered his body and how he had to lie to his mom every day? “I’m putting this on your record,” she said.

Izuku’s blood felt like ice in his veins and his nails dug into his palm. He looked up at Sayaka-sensei, pale as a sheet. Her eyes held no mercy and he shivered. Or maybe it was a flinch.

“I-“ his voice wavered and he bit down on his bottom lip, “I don’t understand what I did wrong,” he started slowly, not trying to confront her too directly but determined to keep his ground. He had to be brave. He conjured an image of All Might in his head and swallowed his fear, “Sayaka-sensei, they were the ones who dragged me out there, I wanted to go back to class but they started hitting me and-“

She snapped at him as quick as she could, “Midoriya, your other teachers may have fallen to these blatant lies, judging by your otherwise clean record,” she seethed, “but I can assure you that they will not work on me. I have spoken to these students before and they all have bright minds and strong quirks, why would they do something so cruel?” the teacher sneered at him.

“You’re taking your jealousy too far and if I don’t step in it’s going to affect their futures.”

He took a step back. His hands were shaking and Izuku was terrified. There was no escaping this.

If this went on his record, he would really have no chance at going to U.A. The prestigious school didn’t accept people with discrepancies in their files. On top of that, they just started accepting quirkless people into the hero course (not that any had made it in), his chances were getting lower and lower.

He suspected that his teacher knew this too. Or if anything, she knew it would affect his high school choice. Tears fell down his face and she excused him back to class.

He couldn’t focus for the rest of the day, his head too gone into a pool of despair.

For a while, he kept getting the same punishments. He had about three marks on his personal record just because he was being bullied. Sayaka-sensei refused to see the truth. Or maybe she did see it and just didn’t care about him, as long as it didn’t affect her other ‘quirked’ students.

After he got his fourth mark, Izuku started taking his lunch to the abandoned bathroom on the other side of the building, he one no one went to, and eating there. He’d jolt out of seat the second the bell rang and hide.

However, the bruises and darkness in his life persisted as he had no escape after school.

Light came back into his life after All Might told him he could be a hero. He started training and building up his body strength. Breaks and lunch were no longer spent hiding in the bathroom but spent resting at his desk. The bullying still didn’t come to a complete stop even as he got stronger and more capable.

Sometimes he would find spider-lily flowers and threatening notes on his desk but he just threw them in the trash and tried to hold back his tears until he got home. He avoided the other kids after school by running to the beach every day, even if it wasn’t a scheduled beach day.

If he wanted to be a hero, he had to stay focused on his training.

It went well and he kept at it until the whole beach was cleaned up and it was time for the U.A exam. On top of U.A, he applied to, Shiketsu, Ketsubutsu, and some low-profile hero schools nearby. His mom also encouraged him to apply to some non-heroic schools but he didn’t put a lot of effort into those applications.

The U.A exam was definitely the hardest. While the written exam went as well as he expected, the practical was actually insane and he broke more bones in one hour than he had his entire life. After that, All Might helped him prepare for the later Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu exams.

His ‘preparation’ included some hand to hand and power training. They both agreed that using the power like he had at the exam had done him no good. There was a whole week between the exams for the three big schools and Izuku spent all of his time training. He went to school, of course, but it was with weights on all his limbs.

On the weekend, All Might introduced him to his own teacher Gran Torino. He was a spry old man who ran circles around Izuku and would jump up to ruffle his hair.

The Ketsubutsu exam ended up going much better even though he only had a week more to prepare than for the U.A exam. If anything, it was a real confidence booster as he handled the more reasonable practical almost better than the average candidate.

It was one day with Gran Torino -four days before the Shiketsu exam- that they came up with ‘Full Cowling.’ Instead of focusing all his power in one area, he spread it throughout his body. He could only use three percent at the moment, but he was building it up quickly.

The Shiketsu exam ended up going well because of all the extra training he did with the two heroes. It was formatted as an obstacle course where the students were presented with multiple obstacles that encouraged them to put their skills to the task. At the end, they had to fight one of the staff in a light spar.

Izuku thought that it went well overall and he returned home with a smile on his face, but when he got back, it was to bad news. His mom sat at the dinner table with red eyes and a very thin letter from U.A. They both knew what that meant.

He snatched the letter from off his table and went up to his room to read it and cry.

It was short and concise. Izuku had scored well on the practical through ‘rescue points’ and had gotten in the top percentile for the written exam but because of the marks against him on his personal record and some bad recommendations from his teachers, he would not be attending U.A the upcoming school year. It was signed by some random board member that Izuku had never heard of before.

The teen spent around an hour crying. Even if he got into the other hero schools, he felt like he had let down All Might and he didn’t know how to make it up to him. He couldn’t do anything right, even with a quirk. Maybe he was just a deku. When he could finally pull himself together, he checked his phone.

There was a message from the number one hero himself.

All Might!!!

Young Midoriya, how are you doing?

You

I didn’t pass the U.A exam

I’m so sorry, I really tried my best and I still let you down.

All Might!!!

You could never, how about we go get some ice cream and talk?

Izuku’s fingers hovered over the screen of his phone. He really hoped All Might wouldn’t demand his quirk back or anything. But Izuku wouldn’t blame him if he did. In the end, he agreed to meet the emaciated man at the closest ice cream place.

It was a cold afternoon, but the teen didn’t mind.

When he got there, All Might was waiting for him with a sorbet for himself and Izuku’s favorite: strawberry ice cream. Izuku joined the adult on the wooden bench he was sitting on before bursting into a litany of apologies and tears.

They got a few looks from passing strangers but Izuku didn’t notice them as All Might frantically tried to calm him down.

“How are you?” All Might asked.

Izuku furrowed his brow, “You already asked that, over text.”

“Ah, but you didn’t give me an answer, you just apologized, for no reason might I add.”

The teen flushed and looked down, “I guess I feel sad. I really wanted to go to U.A but even placing in the exam wasn’t enough. My record messed everything up for me,” he said, feeling his eyes tear up a bit more.

All Might gave him a heavy pat on the back, “Why was that, you’re a very respectable young man. I can’t imagine you causing trouble.”

Izuku fidgeted with his track pants -he still hadn’t taken them off from the Shiketsu exam- and felt his cheeks catch fire. Was he really going to have to explain it to his hero? He felt a bit mortified, “Um, when I was quirkless- well, kids don’t,” Izuku took in a deep breath, “It started when I found out I didn’t have a quirk.”

Izuku looked up to see All Might’s worried face and looked back down to continue with the story, “At first it was just Kacchan and his friends. They weren’t very nice to me. But as I got older, it spread through the class and Kacchan just got worse. They didn’t like that I was different than they were I guess.”

He frowned at the memories, “Young Midoriya, are you saying you were bullied from the time you were four?” the hero asked, the strain evident in his voice.

The teen didn’t make any kind of response, “Usually the teachers didn’t pay any attention to it or me, but we recently got a new teacher and- some of my classmates liked to“ beat me up, kick me over and over, use their quirks on me, suicide bait me, “pick on me-” he settled for, his voice picking up in tone, “and she whenever we were late to class, she would blame it on me. It didn’t take long for her to put it on my personal record. After it happened four times, I started eating, um, elsewhere and then I stopped getting blamed so much.”

If he looked to his side, he would see All Might’s fist clenched as tight as it could go. “I see,” he said through clenched teeth, “I was going to tell you when you got in, but I was hired as a teacher at U.A so I could find a successor. Obviously, I don’t really need that job now that I’ve found you. Maybe I should tell Nedzu I can’t,” All Might pondered and Izuku’s eyes widened as he looked up at his hero.

“No way! You should totally teach there, it’ll be like full circle, y’know? Super cool,” Izuku said enthusiastically. The hero gave him a curious glance and Izuku continued, “Even if I can’t go to U.A, you’ll be able to really inspire the upcoming class of heroes!” he added with a smile.

The hero shook his head with a grin, “You really are too selfless.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

All Might just kept smiling, knowing he had made the right decision.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Shouta scowled at his attendance list. He was supposed to have twenty students, but while there were twenty different spots, one of them had been crossed out in black ink and he was left with nineteen.

This hadn’t happened to him before. His class sheets were made by Nedzu and then passed to the board members so they could make any final calls and changes, which they rarely did. Most of them were too terrified of the principal to question any decision he made. This must have been one of their rare changes.

He gripped the paper tight and headed to Nedzu’s office. There was a month until school started, and he wanted to make sure everything was in order so that he could have the rest of his days free. As much as he wanted, he knew that he couldn’t leave this to the last minute.

He didn’t bother to knock before entering. With the cameras all around the place, Nedzu had to know he was arriving.

He greeted Nedzu with a nod and slumped into one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. Nedzu’s nose twitched a little and Shouta placed the paper on the desk, “Is this something I should be worried about?” he asked, knowing that Nedzu would catch on.

Nedzu’s eyes quickly looked over the sheet of paper and his eyes narrowed, “This is a problem, I don’t know why he got crossed off. I need to make a call.”

Well wasn’t that just great? Shouta rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair even more.

Nedzu hopped off his chair and out his door.

The underground hero really tried not to listen to the call, but it was hard not to.

As Nedzu talked, Shouta took in all of the information he could. Whoever had been crossed off the list was going to end up at Shiketsu because they had too many marks on their personal record. So why did Nedzu care so much?

The conversation continued as well as Shouta’s eavesdropping. For some reason this kid had been involved with bullying and from what he was hearing, he had been on the receiving end. Why that had ended up on his record confused Shouta to no end.

Before Nedzu hung up on whoever he had called he said, loud and clearly, “I will investigate their junior high immediately.”

And with that, the principal entered his office yet again: a knowing smirk clear on his face.

That little rat knew Shouta could hear him the entire time and was testing him. He knew that Shouta would end up investigating what had happened. Because if Nedzu, of all creatures, had an interest in this student, then they had to be interesting.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

His first day at Shiketsu had Izuku quaking with excitement. It would be his first fresh start ever. No one from his last school would be going there and no one knew of his previously quirkless status. He had total control of how he presented himself, nothing to hold him back.

Going to U.A would’ve been a bit more difficult as Katsuki had gotten in there, as the top scorer no less. It had almost been expected by his class. The whole class clapped for him and absolutely no one had been surprised.

However, when it was announced that Izuku had gotten into the Shiketsu hero course, his entire class had gone silent. It didn't last long because soon enough the entire class was laughing as if if was the best joke they'd ever heard. Izuku had decided that he wouldn’t tell anyone about his new quirk. It had been a bit late to make friends and he didn’t really care much for his bullies.

After it was announced that he was going to a hero school, Kacchan had blown up (literally) but the cruel treatment had mostly stopped. It didn't stop Sayaka-sensei from sending him mean looks.

Despite all these events he was pretty sure no one really believed him. Kacchan kept demanding how he'd tricked the teachers into claiming he'd gotten into a hero school. No matter how many times Izuku had insisted that it was the truth, there had been no convincing him.

Getting into Shiketsu had been a bit surprising to the teen. Fresh from getting denied from U.A, he really hadn’t expected it. They were almost on the same level after all. But lo and behold, he’d made it.

However, Shiketsu hadn’t missed the marks on his personal record. His letter had come with a warning. If he acts out like Aldera had said he would and doesn’t hold himself to the integrity that the school prides itself on, he’d be kicked out without a second thought.

He’d gotten a similar warning when he’d been accepted to Ketsubutsu but paid it no heed. Shiketsu would be a much better fit for him.

His mom sent him off to the train with a big hug and a kiss on the top of his head before tugging on his hat. He was so excited. This was his first step to becoming a hero after all. The first half of his train ride was a bit dull. He was standing in the middle of the train car and waiting patiently, scrolling through Hero Watch was usually interesting enough, until he spotted another Shiketsu student.

The uniform drew his eyes instantly but the person who wore it was much bigger and taller than Izuku. It fit him so well. Embarrassed, Izuku quickly looked back down.

However, things didn’t always work out how he wanted and the other student came over to Izuku.

“A fellow Shiketsu student!” he said, his voice was loud and took over the car. A lot of the people on the train went silent and shot him a glare. Izuku flushed red and looked up at him. And kept looking up. Wow, he was really tall.

“Hi, I’m Midoriya Izuku,” he said, offering his hand to shake.

The other teen returned the gesture in kind and with a very tight grip, “It’s very nice to meet you Midoriya, I’m Yoarashi Inasa.” After a few hearty shakes, Izuku pulled his hand from the grip. “Are you also a first year Midoriya?” Yoarashi asked eagerly.

Izuku nodded his head, “Yeah, I’m nervous but also really excited, y’know?”

The two of them fell into easy conversation until they got to their stop. As they walked the final journey to Shiketsu, they started talking about the exam, “I thought it was kind of fun,” Yoarashi admitted with a grin.

Izuku gave him a look, “Maybe compared to the U.A exam, now that was crazy. Did you take it?” Izuku asked politely.

Yoarashi’s hand nervously scratched the back of his head, it was the first break in his confidence that Izuku had seen, “Actually, I was recommended. I passed and everything, but I decided Shiketsu was the better choice.”

Suddenly, Izuku didn’t know what to say, “Recommendation? That’s incredible, Yoarashi. I hope we both do well at Shiketsu then!”

“Tell me about the test though, I haven’t heard much about it,” Yoarashi encouraged.

Izuku ended up going on a whole rant about the test and their use of robots and rescue points, “For example, I didn’t take down a single point-worthy robot but because I rescued this girl from one, I ended up getting sixty points which bumped me into the top ten in the exam!” he said eagerly.

“So, you also got in but decided on Shiketsu?” Yoarashi tried to confirm.

Izuku scowled at the ground, “It’s complicated.”

They went silent for a few seconds until Yoarashi spotted the school, “How exciting! We are finally going to embark on our journeys to become wonderful heroes!”

The shorter teen laughed along and followed Yoarashi’s long strides to the front gate.

The rest of the day went remarkably well. The welcoming ceremony was as boring as any other school but Izuku paid attention to the best of his ability.

Yoarashi ended up going on stage because he’d gotten first in the practical exam. He gave a short yet encouraging speech and gave Izuku a thumbs-up from stage. It didn’t exactly create the reaction Yoarashi had probably been looking for as it just caused Izuku to turn bright red and hide his head behind his arms.

After the ceremony, Izuku stayed close to Yoarashi and they ended up getting along well in class as well. They didn’t have their hero class until tomorrow so Izuku hadn’t quite seen the taller boy’s quirk in person, but from how Yoarashi described it, it was pretty powerful.

His teachers were all super nice and they actually called on him when he raised his hand. He tried to push away the thoughts that claimed it was only because he had a quirk now and if he didn’t they’d continue to look over him.

Homeroom was hilarious; but he wasn’t sure if that was because his teacher was genuinely funny or because his teacher was Ms. Joke: a hero with a quirk to cause uncontrollable laughter. Despite this knowledge, he was leaning towards the former. Fukukado Emi had a bright personality and seemed to actually enjoy teaching.

She had given him a curious glance before excusing them from school but he knew better than to question it. It was probably just because of his precarious status at the school and the warning he’d gotten when he was accepted.

When Izuku got home, the first thing he did was call All Might to gush about how much of a good time he was having. On the train home, he’d even gotten a Yoarashi’s number. That expanded his contacts list to five people! But he’d never used Kacchan’s contact so he wasn’t sure if he could really count it. Four, then!

All Might laughed and described how the first day of U.A had gone for him at Izuku’s request. From what he heard, Kacchan was as explosive as ever. But their teacher Eraserhead seemed pretty badass. The second their call ended Izuku was itching to do his own research on the underground hero.

Things were working out better than he could’ve imagined.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

It had been a long day. Dealing with students was never his forte and it looked like he couldn’t just expel this entire class. What a bother. On top of that, Shouta still hadn’t found out the name of his missing student. He didn’t even know what he looked like. It was as frustrating as frustrating could get.

The teacher gathered up his papers to put them in his desk. All of his students were still seated in their chairs and chatting quietly; he was ready to dismiss them but there were just a few more minutes left before the bell.

Then Uraraka came up to him, she had a worried look on her face.

“Um- Aizawa-sensei?” she started. Shouta looked up at her and motioned for her to continue, “I’m actually looking for another student. I know he got in because, well- he saved me in the practical exam so he must’ve gotten rescue points like me. But he’s not in either heroics class. I wanted to thank him and I was wondering if he was supposed to be in the empty desk and just couldn’t make it today.” She said quickly, fidgeting with her hands.

Shouta straightened at her words, “What’s his name?” he asked, hiding his interest behind a mask of apathy.

His student blushed bright red, “I don’t actually know, I’m sorry.”

The teacher let out a sigh and forced himself to be patient with her, “That’s okay, can you tell me what he looks like? I’ll try my best to find out some information about him.”

Uraraka’s eyes widened, like she didn’t expect this from him. A warranted reaction. Before she could speak the bell rang and Shouta haphazardly waved everyone off before allowing Uraraka to continue. She said he was pretty plain looking with green hair and freckles.

Not exactly what Shouta had been expecting but he allowed it. He waved off Uraraka and looked at his empty classroom.

Shit, he’d meant to call over Iida so he could deliver a message to Tensei. Well, he always had tomorrow. And the rest of the year. Shouta groaned and collapsed back into his chair. He was not looking forward to this class.

He gathered his things and headed to the teacher lounge. There was a computer there that he could use to search through records and the like. Inside was All Might, fumbling for his ringing phone. Shouta easily ignored him and headed to the computer.

“Young Midoriya! What a pleasure to hear from you, how was your first day?” he asked kindly. Shouta shot him a look and the hero excused himself from the lounge to take his call in private.

Shouta rolled his eyes and pulled up applicants from the entrance exam. He scrolled through them mindlessly, stopping every time he saw green hair. What a pain. Luckily there were only two candidates with green hair and freckles and only one of them had been in the same practical exam location as Uraraka.

Midoriya Izuku.

Wait, is that who Yagi had been talking to? Shouta’s lips pursed, this was getting curiouser and curiouser. He pulled up the footage of Midoriya in the practical exam and sure enough he’d racked up sixty points saving Uraraka in a move that majorly incapacitated him. With fine control, that quirk could probably do a lot more. Interesting.

He dug further into Midoriya’s records and, sure enough, Nedzu had cleared him to be put into Shouta’s class. But then the teen was shot down by the board for having four marks against him on his personal record. All of them were for delinquency. They had been put in by one Sayaka Ujiko: a new teacher at Aldera Junior High. Included with them was a harsh note about Midoriya dragging down the potential of his classmates.

Shouta stared at the picture of Midoriya. He was nervous and meek looking. When he’d been fighting in the practical he showed courage and seemed earnest, if not awkward.

The underground hero usually prided himself on his analysis of character and he couldn’t see any delinquency in this teen. Maybe it had something to do with the school. He checked the results for applicants from that school and one of them was Bakugou Katsuki. If this Midoriya had marks, then surely Bakugou did as well?

With the kid’s loud outburst and angry nature, he couldn’t imagine him having a clean record. Shouta switched over to his student’s file on the computer and it was perfectly clean. But where Midoriya had a bad note, Sayaka had left a glowing recommendation about his leadership and strength in the classroom.

Things definitely weren’t adding up. How bad could this Midoriya kid be for him to have a worse record than Bakugou?

Bakugou, the kid who made threatening gestures towards his classmates and literally shouted ‘Die’ during his ball throw?

None of this was adding up.

Either these records weren’t showing the whole truth or Bakugou had gone through a major personality shift, in the wrong direction.

The next day, he made sure to pull Bakugou after class to talk to him. He brought Midoriya’s file, printed out and easy to read, for Bakugou.

Bakugou stood in front of him with a master glare, “I assume you don’t know why I called you here but a Midoriya Izuku was supposed to be in my class, but due to further complications didn’t make it. Do you know him?”

The teen scoffed, “Yeah, I know Deku, no way could he have made it to your class.”

Shouta looked over the teen. His arms were crossed and his stance was wide, “Why not? He has a powerful quirk, scored well in the practical exam, and-“

“I don’t know what information you’re looking at, but Deku is quirkless,” he spat like it was a curse. That would definitely be something Shouta would have to look into.

“From what I’ve seen, he most definitely is not, maybe you don’t know him as well as you think,” Shouta informed him, ignoring the interruption.

This just made Bakugou angrier, “I’ve known him as long as his own family, Aizawa-sensei, you’ve got the wrong guy,” and with that, his student excused himself.

Shouta looked down at the file he’d printed out. Where it said quirk, all Midoriya had put was ‘Superpower.’ Vague but fitting of his quirk. He most definitely did not have the wrong kid. But how did he go through junior high without Bakugou being aware of his quirk? Bakugou prided himself on his quirk and judged people by their own.

Is it possible that Midoriya had just developed- no, that was unheard of.

When he stepped out of the classroom, Uraraka was waiting for him.

He totally forgot about her request, “I found your friend, Midoriya Izuku. He passed the exam but could not be admitted due to his personal record. It goes against U.A’s policy.”

Uraraka looked confused, “Do you mean that he had marks against him? But he was so sweet, the records must have gotten mixed up!” she insisted, voicing a doubt Shouta was having himself.

The teacher just shook his head.

Uraraka looked down, thanked him, and went on her way. At least Shouta wasn’t the only one who was confused.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Emi was stumped. When she’d gotten her class assignment, she’d been ready to support every one of her students. This would be her first class at Shiketsu, after all. She would miss Kestubutsu but she was better off here. She’d recently moved agencies and her being here meant being closer to her hero work. The better benefits definitely weren’t hurting either.

To get a better understanding of the class she’d be walking into that first day, she looked through all of their files and quirks and strengths from junior high. They all seemed like a wonderful class but one student had a red flag on his folder: Midoriya Izuku.

This wouldn’t be her first time dealing with a flagged student. There had been some at Ketsubutsu, of course, and they usually just had similar problems of controlling their temper or quirk in junior high. They were the ones that took the most convincing when it came to group projects and team ups.

In Midoriya’s picture, he looked like a darling, but the red flag meant he’d gotten marked down in junior high. She wasn’t really sure what to expect when she got to class. The report said he ‘brought down the potential of other students’ so maybe he was a bit self-centered? Or he thwarted his classmate’s success so he could rise to top.

He had to have some kind of flaw to work around as he became a hero, right? Wrong.

The only thing about his character that she could see needing improvement was his recklessness and lack of confidence (which Yoarashi had been steadily building up). There was nothing reminiscent of his red flag. He was a model student who got along well his teachers and classmates.

Just in the first few days he’d built up comradery and offered his help with school-work.

She’d spoken with him a few times, of course; she wanted to lay out his position at the school and find out more about him and what made him tick. But he’d been perfectly understanding and good natured the whole conversation. He didn’t have an attitude or any cruelty in his heart, which was obvious from her conversations with him.

He was always happy to talk about quirks and analyze battles (something that many past students of her’s seemed to despise) and always turned in exemplary work. He was focused in class and his other teachers said he often participated as well.

Emi had no idea what to do. Or rather, she had no idea what had happened for the boy to either get a red flag or have a major personality shift.

She’d thought about talking to the boy’s mother, but good behavior didn’t exactly warrant ‘talk with parents’ and kids tended to freak out when their teachers wanted to have that meeting.

Then, U.A was attacked on their own campus and the next day Midoriya came back with red eyes. Emi held him back after homeroom while the rest of the students went to their next class.

“Midoriya,” she started off gently, “How are you doing?”

He gave her a weak smile and wiped his eyes, “I’m sorry Fukukado-sensei, I have an old classmate who goes to U.A and I was just so worried from them last night.”

“I see, have you known them long?”

Midoriya let out a watery chuckle, “Since I was born, they don’t like me very much though,” he said, clutching at his upper arm.

Emi narrowed her eyes, “Did they go to Aldera Junior High as well?” she question, Midoriya nodded his head, “Hmm, well you can be excused to your next class, I hope you start to feel better Midoriya.”

He nodded and headed off to hero training. She hoped she didn’t make him too late.

Emi watched them throughout their classes. By week two he was turning out to be one of the top students in hero studies and in the classroom. He’d built up a cute group of friends but remained friendly with the others in the class. He’d come far from who he was in his application photo and file. He   was much more than an anxious teen with a lack of self-confidence.

When he and Yoarashi were paired up together, they were unstoppable. It really brought to light that they would be the two she would recommend for the provisional license exam. It was crazy that she knew this early, but a lot of their classmate’s development was pushed by the two young men and, still, they weren’t progressing as quickly.

 But her curiosity weighed on her more and more as the days went on.

On the second Friday of the school year, Emi asked Midoriya to talk with her after school and assured his that he wasn’t in trouble. He didn’t look like he believed her.

When the time came, Emi watched as all of her kids flooded out of the dorm and a cautious Yoarashi promised to wait by the gate for Midoriya. The teen waved him off with a smile and went to go greet Emi.

“How has your day been?” she asked to start off with, Midoiya just gave her a generic and short answer so she got to her main point, “Okay, well, obviously I didn’t call you over to talk about your day. I was hoping that you could help me understand how you got flagged by your old school. From what I’ve seen, you’re a model student and are always respective of your classmates and teachers.”

Midoriya blushed at the praise and scratched at his arms through his uniform. His hat was sitting a bit loose on his head, but Emi made no comment on it, she’d never been fond of them to begin with.

“My quirk didn’t come until this year and because of that my classmate’s didn’t, er, like me very much. So lunches didn’t always go well. Then whenever we were late to class, I got all the blame. With the blame, came marks. I’m sorry for the trouble,” he said, bowing his head.

But Emi was shocked. Midoriya had been as vague as possible but even an idiot could tell that he’d been bullied from that story. Then to get blamed for his treatment by his teacher was horrible.

“Midoriya, did you ever report this behavior?” she asked, concerned for her student, he shook his head, “That’s okay, I’ll just-“

Midoriya’s eyes widened, “You really don’t have to, I know those forms are probably a lot of work and you’re a hero and teacher. Plus, I’m okay now so it doesn’t matter.”

Emi narrowed her eyes, it would be near impossible for her to just ignore the mistreatment of one of her best students. If she let this stand then other students could get similar treatment, quirkless or not, and she would not stand for that. She didn’t bring that up, however. Emi got the feeling that Midoriya just wanted to leave this in the past and she would help him with that.

“At the very least, I’m going to petition the flag on your file. You don’t deserve it and it shouldn’t be following you around like it is, okay?” she asked gently. Midoriya’s eyes had gone glassy and he nodded slowly.

All Emi wanted to do was give him a hug, but she restrained herself, “Can I leave now? I don’t want Yoarashi to miss the train because of me,” he said politely.

“As long as you know that none of this is your fault, okay Midoriya?” she asked with a stare. He nodded bashfully, thanked her and went on his way.

This was a lot to unpack. She might need some help.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Izuku had never had so much fun at school before. On top of having Yoarashi as his friend, he’d made friends with a whole group in his first-year class. It was everything he could’ve imagined.

Classes were incredible. His core subjects were taught by normal teachers but all of his hero classes were taught by experts in the field ranging from heroes themselves to those familiar with running agencies and support technicians. It was a different experience than what he might’ve gotten at U.A where all the classes were taught by heroes.

Plus, his friends here were so supportive and Izuku wouldn’t trade them for anything. The longer he was at Shiketsu, the more he never wanted to leave. U.A was a dream of the past for him. He often heard his mom on the phone with Mitsuki talking about the differences in the two hero schools.

His homeroom teacher, Ms. Joke(!), actually seemed to care about him. It wasn’t really something he was experienced with nor did he expect. She’d recently pulled him aside to talk about his past schooling and actually believed him. Shiketsu was practically a whole new world compared to Aldera.

“Izuku!” his mom called up to his room, “Your friend Yoarashi is here!”

He grinned, grabbed a stray hoodie and ran downstairs. His mom was probably as happy as he was with Shiketsu since he had friends for once. Yoarashi had come over for dinner one night and his mom didn’t stop smiling the entire night.

Once he was down, he greeted his friend and was quick to pull on his bright red shoes and hug his mom goodbye. They were out the door in seconds.

“I’m so excited, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out with friends!” Izuku gushed, not mentioning that it had in-fact been a little under ten years.

Yoarashi quickly agreed, “I agree, I’ve been so busy training that it’s taken away from these important moments,” he ended by pumping his fist into the air which had Izuku laughing to kingdom come. Yoarashi was always so passionate about everything he did.

“When we get there can we check out the-“

Before he could even finish his sentence, he was loudly interrupted with a, “Deku!!!”

Izuku’s eyes widened and he looked over his shoulder to see none other than Kacchan. He was standing next to a red-haired teen who was looking at him, confused.

Welp, time to run, “Yoarashi, let’s head to the station quickly, I think I can hear it coming!” he lied.

Yoarashi didn’t even bother questioning how Izuku could ‘hear’ the train so far away, he paid a quick glance behind them and started walking with extra stride in his step. When Izuku wasn’t walking quite as fast he grabbed Izuku’s hand and started pulling him along. They weren’t quite running but it was close enough.

Kacchan didn’t follow.

When they were a few blocks away and much closer to the train station they both came to a stop and started laughing. Yoarashi let go of his hand and they resumed a normal pace.

“That’s one way to avoid people, Midoriya. Why did he call you ‘Deku?’” Yoarashi asked bluntly.

Izuku hummed thoughtfully, “We’ve known each other since we were in diapers. When I didn’t get my quirk at the same time as everyone else he started calling me ‘Deku,’ it’s another way to read my name. It’s supposed to mean ‘useless.’”

Izuku looked up to see Yoarashi’s face turn a bit mean looking, an expression he’d never seen on his easily excitable friend, “I see, I don’t think I like him at all then.”

“That’s Kacchan for you,” he said with a shrug, “Before I was interrupted, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind going to the hero store, I’m a bit-of-a-fanboy,” he added, rushed and embarrassed.

“Really! I always admire when people have passions! I’ll totally go with you!” Yoarashi said with a grin and Izuku relaxed, of course Yoarashi would see it that way.

The train ride passed comfortably. Yoarashi was talking about the hero that had recommended him and how they met and Izuku was listening attentively. Izuku had obviously heard of Ectoplasm before, he was an amazing hero as well as a teacher at U.A, but it was still interesting to hear Yoarashi talk about them. It wasn’t so different from how Izuku met All Might.

That led to a conversation about how the recommendation exam went and Yoarashi scowled a bit at the ground before briefly describing the process. Izuku didn’t push but noted it in his mind for when it came back up later.

When they got to the mall, it was pretty crowded, as expected for a Saturday. Yoarashi grabbed his hand again so they wouldn’t get separated and they braved the crowd towards the hero store. Inside, it was only a little bit less crowded and they were greeted by all kids of hero merch.

“Is there any specific hero merch you’re looking for?” Yoarashi asked politely.

Izuku turned towards him with a grin, “Ms. Joke!”

Yoarashi looked at him for a sec, a bit confused, “You want merch for, our teacher?”

The shorter teen pouted, “Of course! I’ve never had such a supportive teacher, so I want to support Fukukado-sensei in turn!”

“As always, you are so admirable,” Yoarashi said, clutching at his heart with his free hand.

“Will you help me look?” Izuku asked. His friend quickly agreed, and they split up in search of Ms. Joke merch.

Izuku was the first to find it, he picked out a silicone bracelet embellished with the smiley faces found on Ms. Joke’s hero outfit as well as a keychain to hang with his many other hero keychains in his room. Back at home, he had a whole corner dedicated to keychains, some were from conventions and others were official merchandise.

Once he got what he’d come for he went to grab Yoarashi, which wasn’t very hard considering how tall the other teen was. The teen was frozen in front of the Endeavor section, the scowl that had been on his face when he talked about the recommendation exam was back.

Izuku approached him slowly and put a small hand on his friend’s shoulder, “Yoarashi, is everything okay?”

“Do you like Endeavor?” Yoarashi asked silently, Izuku had never heard him be this quiet before and gave a non-committal shrug. Honestly, the hero was a bit too brash for his taste and as he and All Might are often pitted against each other and on T.V he’d never truly supported him, “I used to, but when I met him, he shrugged off my passions and goals in an instance.”

Izuku winced, he knew how painful it could be to be disregarded by a personal hero.

“I strive to be better than him in everything I do,” Yoarashi said with clenched fists. Izuku edged one of his hands into Yoarashi’s hands.

“I believe in you,” he said with a smile.

His friend smiled back at him and wrapped Izuku up in a hug, “We’ll get there together,” he promised.

After making the purchases he needed to make, they headed back into the crowd. “Where to now, Yoarashi? Since I chose this store you get to choose the next, okay?”

The taller teen looked over the crowd, “Can we get some pretzels first? I’m a bit hungry,” he said and sure enough his stomach growled in response.

Izuku laughed and they headed over to go get some food. Somehow, they managed to find an empty table to sit at in the food court. Izuku sat down alone to hold the table and Yoarashi went to go get food for them.

Just as the teen was about to pull out his phone to scroll through twitter someone called his name, “Midoriya!”

He looked around for the girl’s voice to find the girl from the U.A practical exam. She was standing with the scary guy, also from the exam. His eyes widened and he returned a shy wave. How did she know his name? He couldn’t remember introducing himself.

She came over, dragging her friend, “It’s so good to see you! After I didn’t see you in class, I got kind of sad. Thank you for saving me in the exam!” she said earnestly, bowing a little bit.

Izuku’s face was probably bright red at this point, “Um, likewise,” he trailed off, still not knowing her name.

“You can call me Uraraka, and this is Iida!” she said, pulling up her stiff friend.

Suddenly, Iida was bowing at exactly ninety degrees, “I wanted to apologize for my behavior at the exam. You truly saw the point of it, and I admired your heroic actions!”

The green haired boy started stammering and whatnot, “It’s okay, Iida. How’s U.A going?” he asked conversationally.

“It’s pretty intense, everything is really hard,” Uraraka lamented, “But most of our classmates are super nice and interesting.” Izuku nodded, that most was probably due to Kacchan. “Where did you end up going to school?”

“Oh, I’m going to Shiketsu!” Izuku said with pride, “It’s super fun and I’m learning a lot!” he said with a smile.

Uraraka’s eyes widened, “Wow! That’s a really good school!” she cheered, “Anyway, this might be weird since we’ve not talked since the exam but as U.A students we get a ticket to the sports festival which is coming up soon! Would you like mine?”

Izuku’s jaw dropped open, she was just offering him a ticket to the best event all year? All Might had suggested he go and even offered to buy a ticket for him so he could observe and learn, but Izuku had still been considering it.

“What about your parents? Won’t they want the ticket?”

The girl laughed, “They do, but they also can’t make it on time, so they’ll be watching at home.”

Iida nodded, “I understand, my brother is trying to get work off that day: it’s been hard for him.

“What does he do?” Izuku asked curiously.

“My brother is none other than the hero Ingenium!” he said proudly, chopping the air with his arm.

Izuku started to fanboy a bit, “That’s incredible! I’ve always wanted to meet him! He has the most number of sidekicks in the area!”

The blue haired teen looked like he was about to go on about his brother but Uraraka elbowed him in the side, “So can you come?” she asked.

Before Izuku could answer, Yoarashi came back and put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, “Where are you guys going?” he asked, before handing Izuku his bag of cinnamon pretzel bites.

Izuku turned to look up at Yoarashi, “I met these guys at the U.A exam, they invited me to the Sports Festival!”

His friend gave a big smile, “I am also attending! If you went, we could sit together!” he said loudly.

There were practically stars in Izuku’s eyes, “Whoa, you’re right!” Izuku accepted Uraraka’s offer and exchanged his phone number with the two U.A students. 

At this rate, his contacts list would be full by the end of high school!

Chapter Text

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Sundays were for cat cafes. Aside from teaching, that was one of the consistencies in Shouta’s life. Shouta enjoyed the atmosphere and calm very much.

The only problem with it was that his routine wasn’t exactly a secret. Some of his colleagues from U.A and hero work knew he went there and weren’t afraid to use that against him. The only reason he didn’t change was because it would’ve been too much of a hassle. The staff here knew who he was, his order, and he was familiar with the cats.

However, all those reasons seemed pointless when he heard a shrill, “Eraser!”

He turned his head with a scowl. He had a cat in his lap which was essentially trapping him. He couldn’t just leave or move tables if she came to sit with him. So he stayed still.

“Why are you here?” he asked and turned to face Fukukado.

She laughed and scratched the back of her head, “I actually have something I need your help with, sweety,” she sat at his table across from him and put down her sweet looking drink.

“No. Go away.”

She pouted, “Aww, Eraser, don’t be like that,” then in an instance, she dropped the goofy exterior and looked serious for the first time since he’d met her, “It’s actually very serious. I started teaching at Shiketsu and in my class there was a kid who had a red flag on his file. But when I got him in my class it didn’t line up at all. He’s one of the sweetest kids I’ve met.”

Shouta narrowed his eyes, this story was starting to sound familiar.

“I ended up confronting him about it and apparently his quirk came late which earned him lesser treatment from his peers and teachers. He was blamed for getting bullied, Eraser,” Fukukado was looking into her drink with a frown, an expression he didn’t even know she was capable of making, “I need your help to investigate Aldera Junior High.”

In a flash, all of the dots connected in his head. Her student was Midoriya Izuku. When he brought up the name, she confirmed it with a shocked expression and he went on to explain that U.A had turned him down because of those marks on his personal record but he was supposed to be in Class 1-A.

Fukukado let out a long sigh, “Figures, I just petitioned to get the flag taken off his file, but it’ll take a week, at least, to get approved.”

“I’ll help you. I’d been planning to visit regardless of your story. Did he directly mention any teachers?”

The other hero shook her head. Shouta would have to stick with what he knew. Sayaka was the one who’d reported Midoriya so she would be his first stop. When he confirmed his plan with her, she let out a sigh of relief.

“I knew I could count on you Eraser, you’re really husband material,” she affirmed with a grin.

Shouta rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. With that, Fukukado grabbed her drink and took off. Finally, he could relax.

Aldera Junior High looked pretty standard as far as junior high campuses went, but that’s not what he was here for. According to online, Sayaka had mousy brown hair and violet eyes paired with what looked to be a permanent scowl.

He’d handed off his last homeroom to Yamada so that he could track her down at school and get some answers from her. He entered the school easily with a flash of his hero ID and was directed to the teacher’s lounge by a student.

Inside, Sayaka was at a desk grading papers. He approached smoothly and put on a blank face, “Sayaka, correct?”

Her purple eyes turned up to look at him and widened when she saw his hero license, “Ah, yes. What can I do for you, ‘Eraserhead?’”

“There have been some suspicious events surrounding one Midoriya Izuku and I wanted to ask around his junior high about them. Can you help me?”

Her lips pursed and a mean look crossed her face. She quickly schooled her features and responded, “Ah, yes. The quirkless boy,” so that’s how she remembered him, things were already going poorly, “I should’ve figured that he’d do something wrong. You know, I think he must’ve cheated on the exam, otherwise, he never would’ve gotten into Shiketsu.”

“Why would he cheat?” Shouta gritted out.

Sayaka busied herself with putting away the papers she’d been working on while answering, “It was obvious that he was jealous of the other students because they had strong quirks. He would pick fights with them and come back to class late covered in bruises. A true delinquent if you ask me,” she said, clicking her tongue.

Shouta hummed ‘thoughtfully,’ he wasn’t sure if he should just ask bluntly or not but figured he had nothing to lose, “Do you tend to favor those with strong quirks in your class, Sayaka?”

She had the courtesy to look offended for a split second but for all the wrong reasons, “Of course, hero-sama. You of all people, as a hero, would know that strong quirks are what we need to move forward as a species. And I know that most of the teachers here think the same, I’m just the first one to do something about it.”

Shouta felt disgusted. No wonder the kid had all those marks against him, “And are you familiar as well with Bakugou Katsuki?”

 An ugly smile quickly overtook her face, “Ah yes, he was one of my best students. And unfortunately, Midoriya’s favorite target. He even reported him for bullying once to get him in trouble! Of course, that was before I was here but we at Aldera Junior High recognized Bakugou’s potential to be a hero and that Midoriya was just jealous of him: his request was ignored.”

She continued, “Bakugou is at U.A; now, imagine what would’ve happened had he not trusted him,” she said with a sickly smile.

Shouta’s blood felt like it had frozen. Bakugou had been brash and mean at times but Shouta had no idea he’d been a bully. If that was the case, then he didn’t even belong at U.A. He’d done his own research on the treatment of quirkless students and it wasn’t pretty. There was physical abuse and mental abuse, including suicide baiting, destruction of property, physical confrontation, group attacks and the like. How many of these had Bakugou taken part in?

“I see, well thank you for your input, I have more than enough information now.”

Shouta turned post-haste and left. He’d have to have talks with other teachers to make a full report but judging by that encounter, it was the whole school that had a problem.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Izuku wakes up in an unfamiliar place and is sleeping on a futon. He groggily sits up and looks around the room to find out that it wasn’t unfamiliar at all. He was at Yoarashi’s house. His friend had invited him over so they could go to the U.A Sports Festival together.

The hero who had recommended him to U.A had bought Yoarashi’s ticket and had offered to drive the two of them and take them out to dinner afterwards. To keep the driving to a minimum, Yoarashi had invited Izuku over to his house for a sleepover. Another thing he hadn’t done since he was really young.

Yoarashi’s family had been really nice. He obviously shared his outgoing personality with his mom whereas his dad was more, dare Izuku say, normal. They were a sweet family. When Yoarashi and his mom were hyping each other up over a conversation, his dad just watched the exchange with a smile on his face. Izuku found himself doing the same.

It was so similar yet different to how Kacchan was with his mom. Those two could shout at each other for hours. This version was so much more wholesome.

Izuku looked towards the bed to see his friend still dead asleep. He was pressing his head into his arm and drooling a little bit. Izuku chuckled and pulled out his phone. He had a text from his mom telling him to have fun today and a message from Uraraka.

Uraraka

ahhhh! I’m so nervous about the festival.

crossing my fingers and hoping I do well >^<

You

I know you will Uraraka! You’re gonna rock that stadium!

aaww you’re too sweet O////O

guess what! Iida managed to convince his brother to come!

he said you were the main selling point!

he really wants to make up for his behavior ig

No way!!! I’m so excited to meet him!

Will you catch me if I faint from excitement?

always! Haha, but pls don’t faint

I’ll do my best but I can’t make any promises

you’re going with your boyfriend, right?

Boyfriend??? O.O

the tall guy? Oh no, you guys aren’t dating, are you?

Haha no we’re just good friends

And yeah, his hero mentor is taking us in their car.

ait, did you guys already have your work-study??

Ummm, no. His mentor is from when he was recommended to U.A.

I don’t know if we have work study :/

he was recommended???

he must be crazy strong then, wow!

He is lol

Oops! GOtta go, he just woke up!

Yoarashi woke up with a start and startled Izuku. There were no slow stretches or big yawns in his process. The second his eyes were open he was jumping out of bed and getting ready. Izuku, despite waking up twenty minutes earlier, was still wrapped up in his blanket.

His friend was like a whirlwind around his room, grabbing everything he needed.

Izuku liked to take his time on days like this where he didn’t have to really get out of bed until later, but he followed in his friend’s footsteps and got changed.

“Good morning, Midoriya,” Yoarashi greeted him with a big pat on his back. Izuku returned the greeting and Yoarashi jumped into retelling the dream he had last night which was a lot for Izuku to take in when he was this tired.

He nodded along at the right points and followed his friend to breakfast.

Today was going to be great!

Izuku groaned at the familiar shout. Did Kacchan always have to be so loud?

Getting into the Sports Festival had gone smoothly. Ectoplasm walked them through the gates to get their tickets checked and then left with the promise to meet at the gate once the festival was over. While Ectoplasm wasn’t going to be participating in set up for the festival there were a few things he had to take care of.

After that, Yoarashi and Izuku quickly located Iida and Uraraka and were waiting for Iida’s brother to arrive so that he could introduce them. The conversation had been going well, talking about previous festivals and possible events. Of course, they were interrupted by Kacchan.

“Deku!” he shouted, “What the fuck are you doing here?” the teen demanded to know.

Izuku rolled his eyes before turning around, “Does it really matter, Kacchan? Why do you even care?”

This quickly fueled the teen’s anger, “Fuck you! I don't know how you're actually at Shiketsu or how you're still there, I didn't know you could fake a quirk,” he accused.

Ugh, Izuku was suddenly very glad he hadn’t gone to U.A if Kacchan was this willing to make a scene, “Who said I was faking?”

“Deku-“ he growled before he was cut off by the red head Izuku had seen with him last time.

The red head pulled the blonde away, “Sorry about that bro, Bakubro is a little bit on edge today!” he said before turning them in the other direction.

When Izuku looked to his side Yoarashi looked angry while his U.A friends just looked confused.

“You know Bakugou?” Uraraka exclaimed once he was gone.

Izuku nodded his head solemnly, “Unfortunately,” he said, getting a laugh out of the girl.

“I thought your first name was ‘Izuku,’ why was he calling you ‘Deku?’” Iida asked politely.

Yoarashi took it upon himself to explain that it was supposed to be an insult which in turn caused Iida to apologize not just for Bakugou’s behavior but also his crudeness.

Uraraka was pouting, “Aww, I thought it was kinda cute. Like ‘dekiru,’ you can do it! Y’know?”

“That’s a sweet notion,” Izuku pondered. It might even make a good hero name. Dekiru.

Iida’s phone went off with a ding and he pulled it out of his pocket, “Tensei is here!” he announced and Izuku’s smile spread all across his face, “He should be here pretty quickly since we’re near the front.

True to his words, Ingenium arrived within a minute and took the time to greet each of them individually. Izuku, without shame, pulled his notebook out of his backpack and offered it to the hero to sign, “If you could sign this it would mean a lot. I really admire your work!” he said earnestly.

The hero took it with a chuckle and signed the page Izuku had done his analysis on, “This is some solid information, you must have been analyzing heroes for a while, huh?”

When Izuku’s face went aflame and his brain melted down for a second, Yoarashi used that moment to express Izuku’s passions for analysis and how he was top of their class. Izuku buried his face behind his arms, this was too embarrassing!

Izuku tried to ignore how Uraraka leaned over to Iida and whispered, “At least he didn’t faint,” Iida barely suppressed his grin.

A bell rang somewhere in the background and Iida and Uraraka both went pale. Iida gave them all a deep bow and they ran off with little to no explanation.

“This is your guys’ first Sports Festival, right? Do you want me to show you around?” Ingenium offered and the two Shiketsu students eagerly accepted.

The hero led them around and told them about the various activities offered (the giant ‘Mount Lady Slide,’ the ‘All Might Strength Test,’ the game section) while splicing in some stories from the Sports Festivals he’d been in.

It was enlightening to hear and Izuku and Yoarashi were aiming to do every activity they could in between events! Soon enough, everyone was encouraged to find a seat and the two teens were joined by Ingenium in the stands.

The first two events were very interesting to watch. Kacchan and some other Class 1-A student crushed the competition in the race, but the cavalry ended up going a bit different. Everyone was after Kacchan and it ended up being a very tight event.

From what Ingenium had explained to them, U.A usually had at least one group event in the beginning. Izuku had noticed that before but as the hero explained it was to demonstrate the up and coming heroes’ abilities to collaborate with others, which was important for when they went to work-study.

“Does Shiketsu have any work study?” the hero asked politely.

Izuku pursed his lips; admittedly, he didn’t know. It had never been mentioned to him.

However, Yoarashi was prepared with a response, “Work study is never mandated but it is optional as an elective if you are in good standing with the school. I was thinking about doing some with Ectoplasm. Midoriya, did you have any work-study in mind?”

The teen turned bright red. Fukukado-sensei had petitioned for his flag to be removed but it had taken a bit longer to be enacted then they had expected. He’d gotten the notice of removal last week, “I actually hadn’t heard about it because until right now, I, uh, wasn’t in ‘good standing until recently.’”

At this, Ingenium frowned and Yoarashi looked at him like a blank face. He couldn’t tell if they were disappointed or confused.

“Hm, that doesn’t really make sense, you seem like a great kid, Midoriya!” Ingenium cheered. Izuku hid his face and mumbled his thanks.

Once intermission was officially called the three of them headed down to the events area. Ingenium excused himself to go talk to some of the teachers who were apparently his friends. Yoarashi and Izuku used the intermission time to complete their goal of doing all the events.

They had a fun time at all of them but Izuku’s favorite had to be the hero games. It was essentially a pro-hero-based arcade where you got to work on taking down different past villains. Growing up with no friends gave him ample time to perfect his combo smashes and strategies. Yoarashi clearly enjoyed the section that was quirk-allowed. It was full of festival type games and served to prove fine tuning with quirks.

Izuku had never been good at festival games so he was useless at it even with his strength. Yoarashi did win him a green bunny though and that was sweet of him.

Near the end, Uraraka and Iida came up to them at a food stall. The two Shiketsu students gave them their best wishes and congratulated them for doing so well at the first two challenges. They talked for a few minutes until Ingenium came back into Izuku’s eyesight.

He was standing next to a scruffy man that Izuku recognized as Eraserhead from his and All Might’s calls and his own research on the hero, “Hey, isn’t that your teacher Eraserhead?”

Iida looked over his shoulder and gave an affirmation, “Yes! He and my brother were in the same U.A class so they are quite familiar with each other.”

Izuku looked down at his shoes and then back up at his friends, “Would- Would you introduce me to him, please?”

“You know about our teacher?” Uraraka exclaims, “Literally no one ever knows who he is!”

Oops, that’s a valid point. Izuku didn’t know about him until All Might started teaching here, “You know me, classic hero fanboy,” he said.

Uraraka laughed him off and led them all over to the two pro heroes. Once they stopped talking to look at the teens Uraraka started to introduce them, “Aizawa-sensei, as you know this is Midoriya Izuku and his friend Yoarashi, they’re visiting from Shiketsu.”

Izuku sunk into a bow and Yoarashi followed suit, when they came back Izuku pulled out his notebook again and opened it up to his Eraserhead page, “If you could sign this it would mean a lot, sir!” he said in a jumble of words. He wasn’t totally sure if they even came out in the right order if Eraserhead’s confused face was anything to go by.

Or maybe no one had ever asked him for an autograph before.

Either way, the longer the pro hesitated the more Izuku started to get worried. Eventually the notebook and pen were taken from his grasp and Izuku finally got a signature. Maybe even his first underground hero signature. He’d have to check.

When he handed it back Izuku gave him many thanks. But when Izuku looked down it wasn’t only a signature. It was a phone number and a small message, Izuku grew pale as he read it and nodded in affirmation to the hero.

If his friends caught the exchange, they didn’t say anything about it. But that was okay, it was something he wanted to stay private anyway. Izuku didn’t necessarily want to go around spilling how his last school had treated him so horribly that an underground hero and the police force were working to get most of the teachers fired and the school itself passed under new administration. That was kind of awkward.

That same bell from before rang out again and Ingenium joined the two teens again to watch the Sports Festival. The last section ended up being quite surprising. Which maybe Izuku should’ve predicted for U.A.

A general education student made it all the way to the semifinals only to get taken out because his quirk had been revealed. Either way, Izuku had a crazy ton of respect for him.

Predictably, Kacchan came out on top. As Yoarashi and Izuku didn’t really care for the medal ceremony, they ended up heading back to the events section only to find that most of them had been closed off. There was a bit of a transition time between the end of the matches and the medal ceremony so the two of them camped out on some picnic tables and went over some of the quirks they saw and liked.

Izuku had a few pages in his notebook for the quirks he saw and was excited to talk about them. Then All Might, in all his muscled glory, appeared out of nowhere and it was Izuku’s turn to see Yoarashi panic.

“Young Midoriya!” He shouted, “Will you introduce me to your friend?”

Izuku looked over to Yoarashi to see his jaw dropped and his eyes wide, “Of course! This is my friend Yoarashi! I think I’ve mentioned him a few times.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Young Yoarashi!” All Might boomed, Yoarashi did his best to return the greeting with his usual gumption but the shock probably got to him and he was a bit more quiet than usual, “How did you two enjoy the festival?”

‘It was great, not so surprising that Kacchan won though,” he added with an awkward laugh.

At this, All Might frowned a bit, “I see, well I must leave to hand out the medals, hope to see you soon, Young Midoriya!” he said, referencing the training session they had set up.

The two teens waved to him goodbye and continued their waiting game.

“Since when are you familiar with the number one hero???” Yoarashi demanded.

“Haha, it’s kind of a long story.”

Luckily, Yoarashi knew him well enough to see that Izuku didn’t want to talk about it and dropped the subject.

Once they left, Ectoplasm took them to a nice restaurant for dinner and they talked easily about the Sports Festival, the students, and how Shiketsu differed in academics.

Izuku had been right, it had been an awesome day.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

With all of the students at their work-study, Shouta has a considerable amount of free time compared to his usual hours. Midoriya Izuku did not have this luxury.

But still, he’d agreed to meet with Shouta and Detective Tsukauchi at the precinct after his school day even though it meant going in the wrong direction from his house.

Even though it was the teen who chose the time, when he walked in, he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. But there was also a look of determination in his eyes. When they’d been texting, it had taken a bit for Shouta to convince him to give a statement. And even then, he knew it hadn’t been all him.

“Midoriya, thank you for coming in,” Shouta said when he first greeted the teen.

Midoriya gave him a shaky smile, “If I don’t do this, the same thing or worse could happen to someone else.”

It wasn’t exactly the reason Shouta had been hoping for – where was this kid’s self-preservation? – but it would do, “I understand,” he said truthfully.

He led the teen into a private room where Tsukauchi was waiting. The detective’s eyes widened in recognition but Shouta set aside that reaction, it wasn’t the time for that.

Midoriya sat on one side of the table on the inside while the hero and the detective took the other. The teen was very fidgeting and didn’t look either adult in the eye. Tsukauchi turned the recorder, in the middle of them all, on.

“Midoriya, it’s nice to meet you, my name is Tsukauchi Naomasa and I’m a detective here. Do you understand why you’re here?”

“To talk about my junior high, right?”

Tsukauchi nodded, “Would you rather just talk about it or would it be easier for you to answer prompted questions?”

Midoriya took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second, “It’s okay, I can tell you about my experience.”

And Shouta listened as his story unfolded: it was full of all kinds of things a kid should never have to go through and teachers that never supported him.

Aldera was going down.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Izuku waved at a few civilians before shifting into a run so he could catch up with All Might. After the Sports Festival, Izuku brought up the idea of doing work-study and All Might instantly offered being the one Izuku could shadow. And so, for two hours every other day, Izuku would don his green costume, wait for All Might to show up and he would watch his hero take out villains.

He was only allowed to use his quirk to fight if All Might gave him expressed permission and Izuku was doing his best with that. Either way it was incredibly fun to chase All Might all over the city, interact with civilians by keeping them away from the fight, and maybe take out a bad guy or two along the way.

Yoarashi had been doing the same with Ectoplasm and sometimes they would bump into each other on patrol. Those encounters were always relatively short though as they were always headed in different directions. Once, they did help with crowd control together while their mentors were busy taking someone out together, but it had been kind of nerve wracking.

Out of their whole class, they were two out of five students who were participating in work study. Izuku had thought it would be more popular until he found out that the students weren’t doing it because most of them usually had a hard time finding a hero to work with and shadow. Unlike U.A, they had to do the work themselves and didn’t get to decide from a stack of letters.

The scariest thing that Izuku had encountered was the Hero Killer. While he and All Might were on patrol, the villain nicked him with his blade to paralyze him and pulled him into an alley while his mentor had been busy with fans and accused Izuku of not being a true hero. Apparently, he thought that Izuku was just using the number one hero to get fans.

Izuku had thought it a ridiculous notion that the Hero Killer thought he had to protect All Might’s incredibility from a first-year hero student, but he didn’t mention that. Soon enough All Might noticed his disappearance. By the time the hero got there, Izuku’s paralysis had worn off and his mentor told him to use his quirk. Izuku used it to escape the villain’s clutches so that his mentor could take him out.

Then they headed to the precinct to hand him in and Izuku resolutely made zero eye contact with Detective Tsukauchi. Last he heard, Aldera had been cancelled for a week for new management to take over but they would still be carefully monitored. It hadn’t made a huge splash in the world and barely made it into the newspaper, but it meant a lot to Izuku. Even if he had been embarrassed to share everything that had happened to him.

He had to stop his work study for a few weeks nearing the end of the semester so that he could study. He and Yoarashi had formed a study group with some of their other friends and it got a bit intense as they stayed up late and ewre super focused the whole time. But it was totally worth it after exams were over. They took some time to themselves and headed to the beach.

It was hot, the water was nice, and they just had a nice day.

Shiketsu didn’t have any summer training camps which gave Izuku ample time to hang out with his friends some more and continue his work study with All Might. Izuku even got to go to Tokyo with his mom which had been a blast. She wanted to reward him for doing so well in school.

U.A, on the other hand, did have a summer training camp. He heard it from his mom who’d heard it from Mitsuki. Apparently, the other mom had been complaining about not being able to take their usual family trip with her son since Kacchan would be training.

When Izuku texted Uraraka about it she seemed excited. But she had a lot of shopping to do and wasn’t sure where to start. Naturally, Izuku offered to help and ended up getting dragged into a whole class trip to the mall.

Izuku had thought it might be weird since he didn’t know any of her classmates other than Iida and Kacchan (who was not attending) but it ended up going well. They were all super nice people and got along with him with ease.

He started the trip with Uraraka so he could help her pick out some good training equipment. He didn’t get any for himself because his mom had been complaining that he already had way too much and had to hold himself back the whole time. They ended up picking her up some weights and a cheap compression sleeve for her stomach to see if it would help with her nausea.

For lunch, he and Uraraka ate with Mina and Kirishima. Mina was a pretty energetic girl and they talked easily about her performance at the Sports Festival. He had a ton of questions about her quirk and how she used it with her fighting style which she was happy to answer.

Kirishima was the guy Izuku always saw with Kacchan. Despite who he hung out with, he was a super cheery guy. Izuku had to commend him for his patience with Kacchan. He knew first-hand how prickly Kacchan could be and was surprised how Kirishima was still intact.

That led to Kirishima giving him an up-close demonstration of his quirk, “Bakugou can try but he won’t get very far,” he joked.

At the end of the trip Izuku’s contact list was a little bit fuller and he invited Uraraka over to his house for dinner. Apparently, she was living alone in an apartment nearby and his mom was always happy to have people over.

At the end of the day, Izuku wished her luck with the summer camp and slept easily that night - exhausted from socializing so much.

While 1-A would be practicing and training their quirks to the max, Izuku was taking in all he could by shadowing All Might. They started taking more late-night patrols so Izuku could see more of the nitty gritty life of a hero.

It was on one of these patrols that All Might got the call. Izuku only heard his mentor’s half but it sounded serious. All Might was clearly trying his best not to give too much away but that just made Izuku more worried.

After he hung up, he led Izuku back to his agency and de-transformed in the safety of his office, “All Might?” Izuku asked hesitantly, “What happened?”

“I have bad news, Young Midoriya, you might want to sit down for this,” All Might started, Izuku followed suit on one of the wooden chairs at the desk, “The U.A summer camp was attacked by the League of Villains.”

They sat in the silence of that statement for a few seconds, Izuku didn’t even know what to say. Where should he start? Were Uraraka and Iida okay? What about the other students? Their teacher? Kacchan?

“There was one casualty: Mineta Minoru and the kid of one of the accompanying heroes was put into a coma. And I’m sorry to announce that Bakugou Katsuki was kidnapped alongside Ragdoll, a member of the Pussy Cats.”

Izuku’s life froze in that moment. Kidnapped? What would the League of Villains even want with Bakugou Katsuki? Was it a show of power? He had so many questions he wanted to ask but couldn’t get the words out of his mouth.

“They took Kacchan?” was all he could force out. His eyes filled with tears for the boy who tormented him all throughout middle school and junior high. He crouched further into the chair and sunk his head into his hands. His shoulders heaved as loud, ugly sobs erupted from his mouth.

His tears wouldn’t stop flowing even as All Might wrapped his arms around Izuku.

The hero tried to comfort him with promises of rescue, but they were hard to believe in his state of shock. Kacchan was stuck with villains and there was nothing Izuku could do.

All Might took him home after his tears mostly stopped and his mom was talking to Kacchan’s parents. He gave them both hugs before retreating to his room. He sent a text to his other friends from U.A wishing for their safety and then cried himself to sleep.

The next few days passed in a blur of hospitals and sleep. His mom ended up calling Yoarashi over to help coax him out of his room and they visited the hospital together. The second he got back home he went back to sleeping.

He felt numb and his emotions were raw. He’d long run out of tears so he was left with dry sobs that he couldn’t control. It was on the third day of his visit to the hospital that he heard about the student’s plans to go get Kacchan back while the heroes worked on fighting the villains.

While Izuku was tempted to join into their conversation, he didn’t want to risk getting a flag on his file right after he’d gotten the first one off. Somehow, he’d have to convince All Might to let him help.

The fourth day after Kacchan’s kidnapping, Izuku got up all by himself and did his best to shake off his fog of depression. He ate breakfast with his mom before heading to All Might’s agency with no warning. The receptionist, Filo, gave him a polite wave and he went in. It helped to be recognized.

In one of the meeting rooms was a large amount of heroes. They all had very serious looks on their faces and there were two pinned locations on their map. One of them was in Kamino. He waited outside the door. If he was going to convince All Might to let him come, it’d have to be with the hero alone. If he did it in front of all those other heroes, it would be ten to one against him.

After thirty minutes of listening to their muffled conversation, the heroes flooded out of the room. He made eye contact with Aizawa and quickly looked away.

Once all of the other heroes were gone Izuku silently entered the meeting room. All Might was giving the map a mean stare before he let himself deflate.

Izuku let the door close behind him and approached his mentor, “All Might,” he started cautiously. The hero turned and upon seeing Izuku, gave him a big hug that had Izuku’s feet leaving the ground as he was lifted.

“Young Midoriya, what are you doing here?” he asked, seeming a bit concerned.

Izuku shifted on his feet, preparing himself to say what he wanted. When he looked straight into All Might’s eyes he felt a burst of courage and, “I want to go with you guys to save Kacchan!” he blurted out.

All Might’s eyes widened before his face took on a ‘stern look,’ he wasn’t very good at it, “Young Midoriya, I cannot allow that. You don’t even have your provisional license!”

But Izuku had to hold his ground, “I don’t even need to fight, I just want to do something. Kacchan hasn’t always been the best in the past but he doesn’t deserve this.”

At this, All Might frowned and Izuku realized he might have said a bit too much, “Izuku,” the hero stressed, “It would be best for you to just stay home and-“

“If you don’t let me go with you, I’ll go by myself,” Izuku blurted. He couldn’t just sit idly by while Kacchan’s life could be at risk, “I’m not the only student who wants to help, you know. But at least I have practice rescuing civilians from villains while the heroes take care of the villains.”

His hero gave him a look before it seemed like he was considering it, “How much of your quirk can you currently use in Full Cowl?”

Izuku smiled, “Around 20-25%!”

“If I let you come, can you promise to stay away from combat?” Izuku nodded in response, “And you won’t enter until all of the heroes have?” Another nod, “And once you get Young Bakugou, you’ll leave?”

“I promise, All Might.”

There was a solemn silence between the two for a second, “Then I suppose I need to tell you about the origin of your quirk, One for All.”

Izuku stood outside the door and waited for most of the fighting to calm down per his promise with All Might. He’s right behind the barricade of police officers that enter and heading over to All Might who is standing right next to Kacchan.

All the villains were restrained and kept still. It was the perfect time to lead Kacchan out of the building. It almost felt too easy. Like there was something about to pop out from around the corner.

Izuku pushed away that feeling and took in his childhood friend. Remarkably, he hadn’t been hurt by the villains but for rope burns around his wrists, “Kacchan, you’re okay!”

That’s when it all went to shit. Noumus popped out of the air and attacked the heroes. Izuku had never seen one before as he hadn’t been present when they attacked in Hosu. They were terrifyingly ugly creatures with skin pushed to the limit and bulging eyes.

Izuku grabbed Kacchan’s wrist and started to pull him towards the door. Oddly enough, the teen didn’t resist. They ran as fast as they could to the door but once they were almost there, Izuku’s grip on Kacchan loosened. It almost felt like Kacchan was literally slipping through his fingers.

When he looked back it turned out that that was exactly what had happened. Izuku watched as the other teen dissolved into black ink. He tried to claw at it; either to get Kacchan out of it or to get taken along with him he wasn’t sure. It was to no avail.

He watched as the process continued with the other villains and the heroes tried to dive at them as well. Nothing happened and the noumus multiplied.

All Might took care of seven in one move while the other heroes all handled at least one themselves. Quiet drove itself into the room. Just moments ago, the heroes had been on the cusp of a win.

All Might ran out of the room and Izuku had a feeling he knew where he was going, the warehouse in Kamino. His mentor took off with a large jump but Izuku would have to put in a bit more effort. He activated his Full Cowl and took off after him.

As he ran, Kacchan was the only thing on his mind. He didn’t truly consider the other boy his friend anymore, but they were too closely linked for Izuku not to care about him. He would never be able to face the teen’s parents again if he didn’t rescue him today.

It took him a minute and a half to run to the now demolished warehouse which had been destroyed courtesy of Mount Lady who was now laying defeated in the distance. When he finally got there, he let go of his Full Cowl only to freeze in response. All Might and All for One were locked into a high paced battle but the evil coming from All Might’s foe had Izuku feeling like he was dying.

Izuku grimaced, turned Full Cowl back on, and looked for Kacchan. The villains behind the two over-powered men looked like they were preparing to make an escape. The one with white hair was reaching to grab Kacchan and Izuku rushed over.

He pushed the white-haired man to the side and stood in front of Kacchan in a defensive stance. He backed up, hoping the blonde would do the same behind him but eventually bumped into a defiant chest, “Kacchan,” he hissed, “We need to go. I’ll hold them back and you run in the opposite direction, okay?”

“Fuck you, I can handle them too,” he growled defiantly.

Izuku watched as the white-haired man grew closer, a creepy smile taking over his cracked lips peeked through the hand clamped onto his face, “Then you leave me no choice,” Izuku shot back before, in a clean move he struck at the pressure point on Kacchan’s neck, but before the teen could fall Izuku caught him in his arms.

Then, he was running. He promised All Might he wouldn’t directly engage and depending on how you looked at the situation, that push could go either way. Izuku was barely thinking as he made his way through the wreckage and rumble.

Someone behind him shouted, “Twice, Dabi,” and a wave of heat came hurtling towards him, Izuku barely dodged it but he could feel another one being built up. When he turned back, all he saw were blue flames. He shifts his weight to move out of the way of the flames again but when it disappears it leaves behind a man covered in purple, puckered scars.

The the man is held together by metal staples that pinch his skin together everywhere the burns touch his unaffected skin. The villain shoots him a grin that sends chills down Izuku’s whole body and he stops thinking. All he knows is that he has to get out of there and keep Kacchan safe.

Before he can even register what’s happening to him, black tendrils shoot out of his back and shoot at the villain. When that doesn’t stop him, the tendrils grow sharper and crash into his abdomen.

Izuku flinches back for a moment as he watches blood leak out of the villain’s stomach. Did he just accidentally kill this man with an out of control power?

Then the man crumbles into an unrecognizable pile of sludge. When Izuku looks back at the villains he sees the same exact man scowling at him. It must have been a clone. Izuku lets out a shallow breath and looks down at the teen in his arms. They’re both safe.

But the power coming from within him isn’t satisfied. It wreaths and tears into the ground. All Izuku wants to do is curl up and let it do what it wants but they’re not totally in the clear. He braces himself and runs forward.

Sometimes, the tendrils push into the ground and propel Izuku forward as if following his whims, but Izuku is too shocked to notice. He heaves heavy breaths as using Full Cowl too much starts to wear on him.

His vision starts to blur and all of the rocks start to blend into one grey blob. He snaps himself out of the haze and forces his body to go harder. In the distance he hears someone call his name, “Midoriya!” and why did it sound so familiar?

His name is called again, but they’re closer this time. He recognizes the voice as one of his friends but he can’t distinguish anything more. As Full Cowl drains from his body and the tendrils start to retract as well, his feet start dragging and one moment he’s running but the next he’s falling and falling.

The last thing he feels is arms wrapped around his shoulders and the pressure on his body fades as he collapses into the warmth.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Sitting in the waiting room has Shouta on edge. It always makes him a bit frustrated to be stuck in this position with nothing to do.

When he’s working as a hero, he can at least do something to reassure the uncertainty of the world and correct it, but now, everything is in the hands of the doctors.

On a couch nearby, Midoriya Inko is smushed between All Might and Ms. Joke, the two heroes are supplying her with reassurances and tissues. Her son had been unconscious and his problem children helped him and Bakugou to the hospital alongside the heroes.

Bakugou, on the other hand, was in a room somewhere being smothered by his parents, you could tell from the yelling. His student had come out of it all with relatively no injuries but for the abrasions along his wrists.

Earlier, the nurse for Midoriya had come out saying that most of the teen’s condition was due to quirk exhaustion and he should be waking soon. Meanwhile, they’d be running tests on his condition to make sure there was nothing else affecting him.

When they got that news, Shouta had been expecting the kid to be asleep for another whole day which is why he was so surprised when the nurse came out hours later to announce that he was already awake and his tests had gone well.

He watched as the two heroes and the civilian rushed through the doors to go greet the kid. In his hands, he clutched the letter in his hands; Nedzu had insisted on it but at this rate, Shouta didn’t think Midoriya would want to transfer into U.A anytime soon.

|Xx+XxX+xX|

Izuku decided that he didn’t like waking up in the hospital very much at all. His eyelids felt like lead weights that he had to push open and his entire body felt like a giant pulled muscle. Not to mention how his mind was still reeling from that odd dream. Or, would vision be the better term? He had to talk to All Might about this.

Not so long ago he had no quirks to worry about, now he had six more headed his way? The now named ‘black-whip’ would just be a start.

Man, what he would do for a glass of water.

Thankfully, a nurse noticed his cognizance and immediately came to check on him, “Midoriya, so glad to see you awake. I’m going to grab your family, is there anything I can get for you when I come back?” she asked sweetly.

“Umm- can I get some water?” he croaked. The nurse came up to the bed and handed him some water that was already there on a nightstand next to him, “Oh, I didn’t see that.”

The nurse laughed before heading to the waiting room.

By the time he had drained the water, the nurse returned with his mom, All Might, and Ms. Joke in tow. In seconds, he had his mom’s warm arms snug around him, “I’m so proud of you Izuku,” she cried into his shoulder.

His own eyes started to water up and he returned the hug in kind, “Thanks, mom.”

Fukukado-sensei was the next to greet him, “You did crazy well!” she beamed before ruffling his hair (as if it wasn’t messy enough already). She told him she was proud and to email her if he needed anything before heading out.

Up until this point, All Might had been standing in the corner of the room awkwardly but now he was moving to the side of his bed that his mom wasn’t on, “I have to agree with them, you truly demonstrated the heart of a hero,” he commended and Izuku felt the tears release from his eyes and the hero took him into a hug as well.

“Is Kacchan okay?” Izuku couldn’t help but ask and felt relief course through his body when they both assured him that he was safe inside the hospital, “What about,” Izuku looked between All Might and his mom, “All for One?”

All Might pulled away from the hug and nodded solemnly, “He has been taken care of and put into Tartarus.” Izuku let out a heavy sigh.

“Izuku, why did you never tell me that you had gotten All Might to train you for high school?” his mom suddenly asked, looking straight at the hero. She’d met All Might in his ‘deflated form’ before and knew that Izuku had been doing his work study with the number one hero, but she shouldn’t know that they were the same person! What was happening?

“She knows?” he blurted out, looking at All Might.

The hero just gave him a wry smile, “I’m afraid that, at this point, everyone knows.”

(Later, Izuku would watch and re-watch the defeat of All for One and All Might’s declaration of, ‘You’re next,’ but now all he could do was ponder in silence.)

“Sorry I didn’t tell you, mom.” He said after a few moments, tilting his head down a bit.

She patted his back, “That’s alright, sweetie. We can talk about it over dinner, I invited Yagi to eat with us.” Izuku looked up at her with wonder in his eyes before turning to look at All Might who gave him a thumbs up.

Before they could continue talking there was a knock on the door and Eraserhead walked in, “Midoriya could I talk with you?” Both Izuku and his mom looked up at the underground hero before he specified that he wanted to talk to the teen.

Izuku watched, dumbfounded, as his mom excused herself and All Might to go grab Izuku some snacks from the gift store. She directed the hero by linking their arms together.

Aizawa took a seat in the chair next to his bed, “I understand that you’re currently at Shiketsu right now, but the principal of U.A, Nedzu, wants to offer you back your place in Class 1-A.” The scruffy looking man took a letter out from his scarf and handed it to Izuku.

It was much thicker than the rejection letter he had already received but, “I don’t want this though?” he said dumbly, “I’ve never been so supported at a school than I am at Shiketsu. My teacher actually cares for my well-being, I have actual friends, no one hates me, and my class hasn’t been targeted by a large-scale villain group. Why would I want to leave?” Izuku handed the letter back to the teacher without even opening it.

Aizawa grabbed it with a long sigh, “I figured you would say something like that. Nedzu couldn’t help but try.”

“Is there anything else?” Izuku asked when Aizawa didn’t leave.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, U.A doesn’t accept people with multiple marks on their personal record,” Izuku nodded, “then I’m sure you’re aware that we have a strict anti-bullying policy. You were very brave to speak up against your school, but I have to ask if there any students in particular that you want to bring up now,” Aizawa asked, looking at Izuku with his blood red eyes.

The message was clear, if Izuku chose to speak up against Kacchan, he’d be kicked out of the school. And it seemed like Aizawa was almost encouraging him, despite the teen being his own student.

Izuku took a deep breath, “I know what you’re trying to tell me, but it’s okay. I believe that people can change, and I can only hope that Ka- the kids who bullied me are able to move forward past their actions.”

 Aizawa’s lips pulled into a thin line, “I understand. I look forward to seeing the hero you become, Midoriya.”

“Thank you, Aizawa,” Izuku said and watched as the teacher got out of his teacher and left the room.

Izuku looked out the window, he would have to get his power under control first, but he knew that nothing would stop him from going out to save people.