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"I am ashamed," the boy said, pausing to push his glasses back up his face, "Ashamed that I did not realize the true purpose of the exam as you did, er—"
Izuku nodded, waiting for the scary person in front of him to finish his thought. The silence stretched on, long enough for the first half of his sentence to form meaning in Izuku's brain. "Oh, uh, Midoriya! And I didn't realize—about the exam I mean! I just got lucky."
"In that case, you are all the more to be commended. I'm Iida Tenya, and—"
"Save the laurels, ya ding dong," Kacchan drawled. He was already seated behind them, legs draped across the desk in front of him. "Deku cheated."
Iida turned back, folding his arms. "That is a serious accusation for any—"
"I didn't!" Izuku exclaimed, then stopped. He had interrupted whatever Iida was going to say.
Kacchan turned to face him, eyes narrowing. "There is no other way you could have gotten in."
"I wouldn't do that!" Izuku insisted, "Not even as much as I want to go to U.A, not even if I knew how!" He stopped, biting his lip. Did Kacchan not already know how he felt about this school and about heroics? He would never disrespect either institution by cheating in a million years. Still, if Kacchan did not know it already, nothing he could say would illuminate him. The only way to get your point across with him was to do something.
Before he knew it, his fingers were fiddling with the knot of his tie.
"The people here, they all tried their hardest," Izuku began. "We tried our hardest. It wouldn't be fair to take somebody's spot, not if they earned it." Miraculously, the knot came out with barely any effort. Pulling it free from his shirt collar, Izuku dropped it, moved on to pulling his arms out of his blazer.
"I worked really hard, Kacchan. All last year—you saw me fall asleep in class that one time!" The blazer fell after the tie. Untucking his shirt, Izuku set to work on the buttons. "I was training to get stronger. I put in the effort to be here—just like all of you. Because that means something. Everyone who is here—they're here because they earned it."
Pulling his arms out of the sleeves, he held them out, palms up. "Look Kacchan."
Kacchan narrowed his eyes again and said nothing. But he had to see—Izuku's insane training regime had left evidence. Every part of him was shaped differently now, sharper and toned. Kacchan had to know—had to realize that if Izuku had worked hard to get here, then his own efforts were also substantial.
It was at that point that Izuku realized that he was standing in front of his new class without a shirt on.
Slowly, he turned his head to face the rest of his new classmates. Whatever conversation had been going on had ground to a halt as everyone turned to stare at him. And there by the door—it was the nice girl from the entrance exam. Whatever greeting she might have had for him had died on her lips as her mouth hung slack jawed.
Izuku felt ridiculous—how many times had he dreamt about showing up to school only to realize he had some kind of wardrobe malfunction? How many times had he woken in relief, certain that he would never leave the house looking so stupid in real life? How had he managed to do this to himself on his first day at U.A. ?
Well, that was simple. The answer was Kacchan.
"Dude, you're so strong!" The speaker was a boy with vibrant spiky hair, He punched the air as he continued, "That's super manly! You work out a lot?"
"Um—" Izuku stuttered.
"You're breaking dress code."
Izuku spun to see—a man laying on the ground behind him. In a vibrant yellow sleeping bag.
"That's pretty rich coming from you, kero," another student said, "You look like a caterpillar." She had long hair and a wide mouth. Turning, she caught Izuku staring blankly at her and smiled. "Kero, I say whatever I want."
"Through no fault of his own," the man continued, unzipping his sleeping bag and standing up, "This young man has the right idea. All of you head to the locker rooms and change into your gym uniforms."
Despite the contrary instruction, Izuku took this moment to quickly put his shirt back on.
"What about the opening ceremony?" Iida countered.
"We don't have time for things like that in the hero course," the man said, starting to walk away. He did not get very far before turning back to address the classroom again. "In case you didn't realize—I'm Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher."
Izuku stooped to grab his blazer and tie. It was very difficult to pick them up while trying to button his shirt with his other hand. He put the blazer on as he followed his classmates down the hall, but shoved the tie into his pocket. There was no sense trying to put it on if he was about to change clothes anyway.
"You sure showed him!" someone said, slinging an arm around Izuku's shoulder as they walked. "That jerk was no match for your quick wit! I'm Kaminari."
Izuku turned his head slightly to look at his new companion. Kaminari gave him a quick thumbs up, patted his shoulder, and walked away.
Maybe this had not been as terrible of a decision as he had feared.
Kacchan was on the other side of the group, slouched with his hands in his pockets, staring intently at the tops of his shoes. Why was he grumpy? Shouldn't he be happy that Izuku had proved that he had earned his spot here—that they had all earned what they had?
Maybe—maybe Kacchan had not been insisting he was a cheat because he believed it, but because he wanted to—because he needed to believe not that Izuku was strong, but that he was stronger. In that case, he had done the exact wrong thing.
No, that was silly. Kacchan? Insecure in his abilities? It was about as likely as Izuku developing another quirk.